The air was still and silent.

Within twenty-three days, Levi had worked his ass off to follow through halfway with the original plan, and then managed to capture the Reiss family members and Kenny Ackerman's men. He'd left them in the hands of Erwin to deal with, knowing that he would make the right choices when it came to the justice of peace within the Walls. He immediately rushed out to the battlefield the moment the criminals had been secured.

But... it was all for naught. The only reason Levi had been giving it his all was to return to Chi's side; that was all he wanted, to see her smile again, and to be with her! He couldn't give two shits about dealing with the government and the mess they'd created.

And still yet, in the end, all he could do was watch as the woman he loved gave herself up for the sake of humanity and the Deviants.

She was gone.

"You... you!" Levi gasped, stumbling over to the crystal. He collapsed against it, his eyes never leaving Chi's last smile. "You—you fucking idiot! Why would you do this...? Why the hell did you do this?!"

The cycle seemed so repetitive; if only he had arrived earlier, he could've fought Violet off in place of Chi. He'd lost her once more—only, this time, there was no way he could get her back.

Slamming the butt of his sword's grip against the crystal, he screamed, "You promised me, you idiot! You said that we'd see this through together, and that you would keep your end of the promise. You said you were going to make me laugh, didn't you?!" His face was full of anguish as he cried out, tears dribbling down his cheeks only to soak into his ragged cloak. "Do I look like I am laughing?!"

Levi rested his entire body against the hard rock, his eyes glued to the melancholic smile Chi wore. By now, his weeping had reduced to small, quiet sobs. "I was going to make you my wife, you idiot. You were going to be my Chisaki Ackerman! We were going to live in a world where we could see the endless sky together, but now you've—you've—" His voice broke and he was stuck harboring his anguish.

When a large hand gently touched his shoulder, he turned around to find himself facing the big man from earlier—Ruff.

"We weep with you," he said with a nod, his face sullen and pale. "As comrades of the Survey Corps and our Chisaki Matsumoto, the Deviants suffer with the Survey Corps as one." Ruff stepped aside, allowing Levi to see the entire brigade wearing similar expressions: astonishment, anger, agony, bereave, disbelief, anguish, regret, and many, many more. Many soldiers also let their tears fall.

Clare had awakened and was staring at the large crystal in shock, her mouth and eyes agape, tears slowly trickling down her cheeks. Alabaster m held her tightly in his arms, his teeth gritted, tears also staining his face. Seeing such pain in the eyes of others did not aid the aching in Levi's chest; he looked away and turned back to Chi, resting his forehead against the hard, glittering rock.

Alarm grew in his chest when a few people pushed their way to the front; in the bout of his despair, he'd forgotten that he'd brought all of the available soldiers along with him. He lifted his head and spotted some of Chi's friends: Jean, Connie, Sasha, Armin, Mikasa—and Eren.

Above all, it was Eren who looked the most hurt; not on his face, but through his eyes. The tears magnified and reflected his starry irises, its viridescent colors flashing.

"Chi," he breathed, breaking into a run as he approached the crystal. "Chi!" When he approached the large rock, he smashed his blade against it, but the fortified steel only shattered and dropped to the ground in fragments. "Chi... don't leave us like this!"

"Chi!" the others chorused, running up to where Eren stood rigid, pounding against the rock with his fist. They joined in the mourning, their fists clenched by their sides. Connie gripped his head, groaning about how the situation had ended up just like Annie's.

Sasha sobbed against the crystal, complaining about how much she would miss her meal-buddy.

Jean ground his teeth in regret.

Armin could only fall to his knees, trembling.

Mikasa was silent and watching, gazing as Eren shook with remorse for his good friend.

"Chi, how could you do this?" Eren questioned, looking at the frozen girl. "How could you do this to yourself? Don't you care about the people you left behind?!" He slammed a fist against the crystal again. "You're going to leave with all of the answers we need, just the others did?"

"That's enough, Eren," Mikasa coaxed gently, resting a hand on Eren's shoulder. "She's gone."

"But... there has to be a way we can free her! I know there is! She is the only reason humanity has gotten this far. If it weren't for her, we wouldn't even be here today. If it weren't for her, we would've never met the Deviants and defeated the titans. But before we could even thank her for what she's done, she's already gone and given up the ultimate sacrifice...!"

"Eren. Don't you remember what happened with Annie?" Eren dug his nails into his palm. "There still isn't a way to break through to her even now. Ymir, Bertholdt, and Reiner were found and brought into captivity but they've said nothing about ways to break that crystal. We are hopeless."

"I don't care. I swear that I'll find a way!"

Levi was silent, peering at the titan shifter with a gloomy gaze. He leaned his forehead against the crystal, sighing against the cooling aura it seemed to emanate, the surface fogging slightly. Dragging his fingertips over the inconsistent ridges of the rock, he let a single tear slip out, the drop of warm liquid flashing when it hit the crystal.

Suddenly, another flash of light filled the air, this time with a blast of wind so strong it knocked back the Cadets and Ruff, Levi being the only one able to withstand its raging torrent. With the light so blinding, Levi raised his arm to cover his wet eyes, but something latched onto him, dragging him forward. Before he was able to cry out in surprise, he was shoved into the light and enveloped into something strange—something that sent peculiar tingles into his spine.

And before he knew it, he was standing in someplace strange: a forest, it seemed, with thickets and the canopy thicker than sheep's wool. Whatever sunlight that would've beamed down was completely blocked out by the thick canopy of leaves, only a strange luminous glow lighting the surroundings. Everywhere Levi spun, he was surrounded by a dense fog, the misty clouds obscuring everything around him.

"Levi!" a voice suddenly called, the sound familiar to that of an old friend. Astonished, he spun around in circles. "Oi, Levi!"

He now recognized that voice belonged to Farlan, an old friend, but the source of the sound was everywhere; it seemed as if Farlan's voice was echoing off of everything around him.

"Big brother!" came Isabel's voice the sound tearing a gasp of shock from Levi's throat. She, too, sounded as if there were a hundred doppelgangers of herself, all speaking in unison.

"Isabel?!" he screamed, running forward in a random direction where he swore he heard her voice. She kept calling out for him, and he continued running, coming to a stop when he nearly slammed into a tree. "Isabel! Farlan! Where are you?!"

The calling seized and was replaced with a sinister giggling and laughing, seeming to resonate from the very air that clung to the mist. Whipping his arm through a small waft of the fog, he shouted, "Stop fucking with me, whoever you are! Tell me where I am!"

The laughing then stopped, but in its place, more voices piped up.

"Captain Levi!" Petra called, then did Oluo, and Gunther, and Eld.

"I give you and all of humanity my life!"

"You're the greatest soldier to ever live, Captain! I'm grateful to know you."

"I look up to you a lot, you know that?"

Levi felt as if someone had smashed his gut with their fist; all of the air was expelled from his lungs as the voices continued to haunt him. His eyes were wide and flickering from side to side, his hand slashing distraughtly through his hair.

Now, Isabel and Farlan joined in. The voices taunted him, bringing Levi to his knees, his shoulders trembling. He held himself in his arms, his eyes staring into the distance, his teeth gritted.

He knew what this was, now.

It was a test of his sanity—it was the very things that haunted him, day to day, and now it was at its peak.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, sinking even lower to the ground. "I'm so, so... sorry!" Throwing his back against a tree, he gasped for air, feeling the suffocation of his regrets crush his chest.

Levi was questioning himself: would he be able to break free of the shackles of his past, or would he succumb to the weakness that held tight? Squeezing his eyes shut, he tilted his head up to cry to the forest canopy, "I just want to see her again! The soldier who saved me; she was my best friend, my lover! You've already taken away everybody precious to me. Why is this so...?!"

"What are you talking about?" a voice chimed. Levi's eyes snapped open and he found Chi in front of him, appearing just as happy and beautiful as she always was. She smiled at him, her hands clasped behind her back. "I'm right here, Levi. I've always been."

"Chi!" Levi gasped, springing to his feet. "Chi, you—you—?!"

"I never even left," she mentioned, peace written across her face. "You have to find me, though." And with that note, she pivoted, walking off into the mist.

"Wait!" Levi cried, but Chi disappeared quickly, only her hazy silhouette left. Desperate to see the face of the woman he loved so much once more, Levi sprinted forward with all of his might, chasing after her with all of the strength left in his legs. No matter how quickly he ran, no matter how hard he pushed himself, her figure seemed to get farther and farther away until it disappeared altogether.

"No!" Levi cried out, shooting forward like lightning, faster than he had ever before. The trees blurred past his vision. Sweat broke out on his forehead, his cloak ripped away by the brush. Wild branches whipped at his skin, drawing thick beads of blood, but Levi ignored the searing pain and continued forward.

When sparks began to dance in his vision, he found that he'd broken out of the forest of mist and was now suspended in darkness. Twisting his neck, Levi glanced back and saw that the forest ended in a sharp precipice, the edge of the cliff dropping into an abyss of nothingness. Stretching out one arm, he caught the edge and latched on as the rest of his body was pulled down. The gravity of the abyss was strong; his fingers ached, tearing a grunt of pain from his lips.

When he glanced down, he gulped; it looked endless and hopeless, but... what was down there?

Something caught his eye—it was something that was falling—someone—but what in the world were they doing here? The material under Levi's fingers began to crumble, alarming him further.

However, he thought that he might as well let go. If there was nothing left to surround him but the darkness, then so be it.

Exhaling softly, he released his hand, twisting so he could dive down headfirst, aiming straight for the stranger down there.

As he neared them, he recognized a few features: a bloody, ragged Corps form, short almond-colored strands and... there was a ring on her left ring finger.

...He had found Chi.

"Chi!" Levi screamed, tightly pinning his arms to his side to slim his frame. His rate of falling doubled and the gap between them slowly closed until he was just an arm's reach from her. Pressing forward, he grunted when he was able to grab ahold of the sole of her boot, using that to pull her close to him. He tightly wrapped his arms around her when they came face to face, diving headfirst into nothingness. When he looked at her face, he was crestfallen to find that her eyes were closed, her lips barely parted to let out shallow breaths.

"Chi," he called, pressing his lips to her ear. "Chi! Wake up, you idiot!" But she did not stir. Chi stayed completely frozen, the only thing of her moving being her hair whipping around her shoulders. Unable to think of a way to wake her, Levi sighed in frustration and buried her face in the crook of his neck, one palm on the back of her head, the other tightly tucking her against his body.

They stayed that way for who knew how long; Levi could feel no warmth leaking from the girl's body, her pulse nearly nonexistent. It was exactly as if she were in slumber, her face painted with serenity.

"You idiot," Levi whispered after a long silence, a tear rolling away from his lashes. "When will you stop breaking my heart? Never have I shed so many tears for one person, and yet, here I am. I am willing to die for you. So wake up! I beg of you... wake up, and come back to me!"

Within their freefall, he found the strength to cry. He sobbed into Chi's hair, his tears wetting her strands before shortly slipping through the air. "Why did you have to leave me? We fought so hard for freedom for the both of us, and yet, I'll be the only one who to feel that freedom. I don't want it if I can't have it with you! What is freedom, when you spend it bound by loneliness? All I want is was to be with you, Chi. All I want is to love you!"

He wailed, crying, sobbing into her. He clutched her tight, afraid to ever let go. His anguish ran deep, cutting into his very soul.

Until he heard something.

"I'm right here," a small voice came, causing Levi's eyes to go wide. Chi slowly turned her head to face him, her open eyes wet with tears. When their gazes met, everything seemed to freeze, their fall coming to a complete stop. The world flipped and allowed their feet to touch the ground, the two instantly crumbling to their knees. "I'm sorry, Levi. I didn't mean to make you cry."

"Then come back," Levi begged, unable to let go of her. "Please, come back with me!"

To Levi's fear, Chi shook her head weakly. "But if I do, I'll bring Violet back. And I refuse to let her hurt anyone, ever again!"

"Who cares about her? Don't you realize how much pain everyone is in because you've been gone?" His voice dropped to a harsh whisper as he leaned back, showing her his face full of sorrow. "Don't you know how much you matter to your friends? To the Deviants? ...To me?"

Chi bit her lip; this was the first time she'd ever seen Levi cry, and it broke her heart.

"Even if I wanted to, I don't know how to return," Chi protested, clutching the fabric of Levi's shirt. "There's no way for me to go back, even if I tried to reverse my choices."

"If you try, you can," Levi urged, one hand cupping her cheek. "Return with me. We have the Wings of Freedom, remember? All you have to do is fly."

"Fly...?" Chi repeated, her golden gaze glimmering as she loosened her grip on Levi's shirt. Beneath their feet, something changed.

"...Just fly."