THE GOLD BENEATH THE RUINS
CHAPTER TWELVE
Gorgeous commissioned artwork from @lanvasko (Instagram/X.com/Tiktok)
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Word count: 9,839
My gift to you all for being so patient while I've slowly tortured you ❤️
This chapter contains explicit sexual content intended for mature audiences. Please proceed only if you're comfortable with adult themes. ❤️
"A true soulmate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life." ~ Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love
THE NEXT DAY - AUGUST, YEAR 856
The trees had begun to thin hours ago. Dense stretches of green slowly gave way to sparse brush. Levi's gaze tracked the shifting landscape through the carriage window in silence as he watched the last stretch of treeline fall away piece by piece. And then... There was nothing left but pale sand that stretched toward the horizon.
Above it, seagulls circled lazily through the early evening sky. Some drifted on the air currents with idle ease, while others suddenly blitzed downward toward the land in sharp flashes of white, scavenging for one last meal before returning to the sea.
They were close now.
The realization settled ugly and heavy in Levi's chest.
The sun had begun its slow descent, spilling molten gold across the distant shoreline. By tomorrow morning, bright and early, Dahlia would board a ship and disappear across the open ocean.
His jaw tightened faintly. His mind hadn't stopped turning the entire carriage ride. Thought after thought grinding against one another without rest. Every possible outcome. Every danger waiting for her across the sea. Every image of her vanishing farther and farther from him until there was nothing left but memory and letters signed with a false name.
Beside him, Dahlia shifted slightly. At some point around the fifth hour of the miserable ten-hour trek south, she'd drifted off against him. Her head slowly lolling sideways until it came to rest against his shoulder, soft and warm and trusting.
Now she hovered somewhere between awake and asleep, quiet and heavy with exhaustion.
She still hadn't pulled away from him. If anything, she'd only settled closer over the passing hours. One arm looped around his own beneath the blanket draped across their laps, her fingers loosely curled against his forearm as she stared vaguely ahead with unfocused eyes, drifting in and out of consciousness to the carriage's steady rocking.
The weight of her against him grounded something frantic in his chest. Comforting him in a way that nothing else at this precipice could.
Jean and Connie had finally lost their war against exhaustion sometime around midday. Connie slumped hard against Jean's shoulder, mouth hanging open in an entirely undignified way, while Jean had eventually tipped sideways into him too. Their soft, uneven snoring filled the carriage in quiet intervals.
Mikasa sat nearest the opposite window, chin resting in her palm as she stared silently out toward the shoreline. Her dark eyes looked distant and hurt still. But no longer sharp in the same way they had been these last weeks.
And Armin sat with a book open in his lap, steadily turning pages in the dimming light. Though Levi had noticed more than once that the young commander's eyes occasionally stopped moving altogether, lingering on the same paragraph for several minutes at a time before forcing themselves onward again.
The ten long hours rattling down uneven roads had given Levi something he rarely allowed himself in excess. The opportunity to think. And once the initial panic and helplessness had dulled enough to stop clawing at the inside of his ribs quite so violently, his thoughts had begun to settle elsewhere.
The night before lingered heavily in his mind. Her song. Gods... that damned song.
He could still hear it if he let himself. Dahlia's rich alto pouring through the tavern in aching waves while every person she'd managed to wedge herself into the hearts of sat there unraveling beneath it. Especially him.
He remembered the way she'd looked standing on that stage. Small beneath the warm tavern lights and yet somehow commanding the entire room without effort. The fiddle tucked beneath her chin. Tears slipping soundlessly down her cheeks while she smiled anyway.
Levi's eyes lowered faintly toward the carriage floorboards as memory pressed in, recalling this morning.
They'd stopped outside Dahlia's apartment just after dawn, the street still quiet and washed in pale blue light. The windows of the neighboring buildings had remained dark while the rest of Levi Squad loaded themselves sluggishly into the carriage, exhaustion still hanging over all of them after the farewell at Maddy's.
Levi had handled most of Dahlia's things himself. Her large duffle. The weathered pack she'd carried half across the world already, carrying her extra supplies, bedroll, spare boots, and med kit. He'd packed it all carefully into the trunk of the carriage without a word.
And then he'd turned back toward her. She'd still been standing near the apartment steps. Watching him.
The sight of her had hit him so hard he'd nearly stopped breathing. She looked small in the early summer morning. The wind tugged at the loose strands of golden hair across her cheeks. Her eyes already shone with unshed tears.
And slowly... she'd held something out toward him.
Her key. No... His key again...
"I covered everything with dust sheets," she'd whispered softly, voice fragile enough that it sounded like speaking any louder might shatter her completely. "Did my best to make it like it was when you lent it to me."
His throat had closed painfully at that. Because it was impossible. Utterly impossible. Even if Dahlia never stepped foot on Paradis again, there was no version of this island untouched by her now.
Not his apartment. Not the barracks. Not his office. Not the training grounds. Not the mess hall where her laugh had become part of the background noise of daily life.
Not the stables where Jericho still searched hopefully around whenever she visited.
And especially not him. Never him.
He'd taken the key from her carefully. Their fingers brushing for the briefest second. And nodded slowly.
"...It'll be there for you," he'd murmured back quietly. "When you come back."
Dahlia's breath had hitched at that. A tiny, trembling sound. Her lips quivering as she tried unsuccessfully to keep herself together.
He'd known what he said...
When. Not if.
Because somewhere deep in his bones... deeper even than reason... he could not accept any other outcome.
Not while he could still feel her here through the quiet, golden pulse of their bond. Not while her warmth rested against his shoulder... Not while his heart would always belong to her.
A couple of weeks prior, in a moment of desperation that he still hadn't fully allowed himself to examine too closely... Levi had very seriously considered leaving with her. The thought alone still made something painful twist low in his stomach.
He hadn't told Dahlia. Because if he'd spoken the possibility aloud before knowing for certain... he wasn't sure he would've been able to face her if he had to take it back.
Levi had gone to Armin one evening after a strategy meeting had finally dissolved. The others had filtered out one by one until only the two of them remained in the dim office. He remembered standing near the window while Armin organized documents.
And finally, quietly, he'd asked:
"If I stepped away... would the regiment survive it?"
Armin had gone completely still... The boy understood immediately what he was truly asking.
The silence that followed had stretched long enough to make Levi's pulse pound hard against his ribs.
Then Armin had looked up at him. And his eyes had been so deeply sad and regretful... he'd wanted to vomit.
"No," The commander had answered softly. "It still needs you."
Levi closed his eyes briefly now against the memory as the carriage rolled onward. Armin hadn't sugarcoated it. Hadn't tried to flatter him either. Just laid the ugly truth bare piece by piece with the same awful burdened honesty he'd carried ever since becoming commander.
No one else was operating at Levi's level yet. Captain Mumfred and Jean came closest. But Mumfred was nearing the end of his service years. Age and accumulated injuries were already beginning to catch him in quieter moments, whether the older man admitted it or not.
And Jean...? Jean would be ready someday. Levi knew that with certainty. But not yet... Soon, he'd have a squad of his own. Soon, he'd grow into the role waiting for him. But there was still a difference between potential and preparedness. And the gap between the two could get people killed.
Without Levi there, Paradis' offensive strength would suffer a wound too large to ignore.
And Armin...
Levi's jaw tightened faintly.
The young commander still hadn't taken proper leave. Not really. Every attempt had been interrupted by another crisis. Another negotiation. Another conflict. Another decision only he could make.
Everything settled over Levi like chains locking into place.
Because if Armin had looked him in the eye that night and said: We'll be fine.
Levi would've gone to Dahlia immediately. Immediately. Would've told her he was coming with her across the sea and to hell with everything else. The Scouts. The island. The war. The responsibilities.
All of it.
He would've left it behind without hesitation.
And the fact that he knew that so absolutely... so instinctively... had broken him almost as much as the thought of losing her did.
But Armin hadn't said they'd be fine.
And Levi... despite everything screaming inside him to choose differently... could not walk away knowing the cost would fall onto the shoulders of exhausted young souls forced to carry burdens they were already drowning beneath.
Duty had always demanded pieces of him. And this time... yet again... it asked for something unbearable.
* * *
By the time they finally reached the seaside inn beside the southern port, the sun had long since disappeared beyond the horizon. The world outside had darkened into deep navy, moonlight stretching across the ocean beyond the dunes.
The Scouts slowly filtered inside the warmly lit building. No one carried much energy anymore after the long ride had wrung them all dry.
Someone laughed quietly as they settled into their seats. Armin already speaking softly with the innkeeper about rooms and departure times for the morning ship.
Levi hadn't left Dahlia's side once since they'd climbed into the carriage that morning. He sat beside her at one of the smaller tables near the back of the inn while warm food and drink were brought out around them. The lantern light painted soft amber across her skin and copper through her loose curls.
He watched her openly. There wasn't any point pretending otherwise anymore. Several times throughout the meal, Dahlia caught him staring. His eyes remained exactly where they were.
And every time, something soft and unbearably sad flickered across her expression in return.
Because the horrible truth of all this had finally settled fully and completely into Levi's chest over the last several weeks.
Something he'd known already... For a long, long time.
He was completely and irrevocably in love with Dahlia Bodea.
His entire being belonged to her. And... he'd never voiced it.
What a genuine fool he was.
And now that he finally stood at the edge of losing her... he found he no longer had any desire to hide the depth of his heart.
He watched every fleeting smile she managed to summon despite the grief hanging over all of them tonight. Watched the tiny sparks of amusement that still occasionally brightened her eyes whenever Connie said something particularly idiotic. Watched the way exhaustion softened the sharper edges of her features...
Listened to every dry little quip she muttered beneath her breath. Every extended vowel that curled warmly through her accent. Every rolled 'r'. Every old Eldian curse that slipped free whenever she burned her tongue on her stew.
Levi held onto every piece with quiet desperation. Like a starving man trying to memorize the taste of something before it vanished forever.
* * *
One by one, the inn slowly quieted. The exhausted energy of the evening dulled into soft murmurs and dragging footsteps as the Scouts finally surrendered to sleep after the long journey south.
Connie had nearly fallen asleep face-first into the table before Jean and Mikasa hauled him upstairs between them with varying levels of patience. Armin lingered only long enough to finish final discussions with the innkeeper before excusing himself as well, looking about three breaths away from collapsing where he stood.
Eventually, the tavern below fell mostly silent.
But Levi remained. He stood near the large hearth at the far end of the inn, one shoulder leaning against the old brickwork beside the fire. Orange light flickered across his face while flames cracked softly behind the iron grate.
Dahlia had gone upstairs about forty minutes ago with Mikasa. Making true amends and soothing the younger woman's heart.
Levi's eyes lowered toward the dancing firelight.
He hoped she would come back down before the night ended. Just... one more conversation. One more moment. One more anything.
And if she didn't...Well. He'd earned that, he supposed.
Still, he hadn't made any move toward his own room yet. Sleep wouldn't find him tonight, no matter how hard he tried to force it. His mind was too loud and too full of her. So he stayed where he was, soaking in the warmth of the fire as though he could force it deep enough into his bones to quiet the cold gnawing through him.
And the longer the silence stretched around him, the more his thoughts turned inward. Toward every possible point where he could've chosen differently. Every moment he'd held himself back. Every retreat disguised as restraint and quiet control.
Levi had spent most of his life determined not to drown in regret.
But when it came to Dahlia... He had one singular regret that eclipsed all the others.
And it was that he'd never truly shown her how much he loved her.
He'd spent so long terrified of what loving someone that completely could do to him that he'd hidden behind caution and practicality and half-measures while she... she had laid her soul bare for him over and over again without hesitation.
And he'd loved her for it while simultaneously... being too much of a traumatized coward to meet her there completely.
Levi's jaw tightened sharply, his eyes screwing shut.
The fire cracked loudly. Then his thoughts broke as a soft creak of a floorboard sounded somewhere behind him.
He looked over his shoulder automatically.
And there she was.
His Dahlia.
Standing at the edge of the quiet inn beneath the dim lanternlight. Still dressed in her travel clothes. The soft white sleeves of her blouse rolled slightly at the wrists beneath the fitted dark-brown leather vest, hugging her frame. Long umber skirts brushed gently around her ankles as she stepped toward him.
Levi's chest tightened instantly at the sight of her.
She stopped on the opposite side of the small wooden table between him and the hearth, the firelight catching warm copper across her golden locks while shadows danced softly along her features.
And for a moment neither of them spoke. They simply looked at one another while the fire crackled steadily to the side.
The golden anamchara bond thrummed quietly between them in a steady, consistent hum. Like a second heartbeat nestled beside his own.
Levi and her had spent months drowning beneath the pain of it. The grief. The longing. The constant awareness of their emotions brushing against their own raw nerves until they barely knew where one of them ended and the other began anymore.
But for once... Standing here with her in the dim hush of the inn, it didn't hurt. It simply... existed in present warmth. Alive and soaring between them as they looked at one another across the firelit room.
Dahlia's lips parted slightly. "Couldn't sleep?" she murmured softly.
Levi gave a slow shake of his head. "Didn't try," he admitted quietly. "No point."
Heavy, pulsing silence followed again. The inn lobby had narrowed into something dreamlike around them. Flickering golden firelight danced across old wooden floors while the rest of the world faded somewhere beyond its warmth. And just the two of them remained.
Levi finally pushed himself away from the brick hearth behind him and stepped to the small table separating them. He stopped opposite Dahlia on the other side, close enough now to see every detail the firelight painted alive across her face.
His beautiful Dahlia.
Her curls framed her cheeks in soft disarray from the long journey. The sage green of her eyes seemed almost luminous in the room's shadows.
Levi braced both hands against the edge of the table between them, his gaze fixed helplessly on her.
Dahlia mirrored him immediately. Leaning forward the same way he had.
As though neither of them could stop answering the pull that had always existed between them.
That inevitable gravity.
The distance between them couldn't have been more than two steps...
And yet somehow it felt immeasurable.
Their eyes locked. And in the silence, everything they'd buried down for months battered against the inside of their ribs with bruising force.
Dahlia spoke first. Her voice barely rose above the soft crackling of the fire.
"...For tonight..." she whispered. "...can we be honest?"
Something inside Levi's chest tightened so sharply he almost mistook it for pain.
Without either of them seeming to consciously decide it, they both leaned farther across the table.
Closer.
Closer.
Her breath ghosted warm against his mouth.
Levi couldn't answer. Words suddenly felt laughably insufficient for something this large.
So instead, he stepped sideways around the table until he stood directly in front of her.
Close enough now that the heat of her body curled into his own.
Close enough to see the faint sheen gathering in her beautiful eyes.
Close enough to count every freckle dusting the bridge of her nose.
Levi lifted one hand slowly. And the backs of his fingers brushed softly across her cheek in a reverent caress that said more than he could have ever managed to put into words.
Gorgeous commissioned artwork from Vasko.Arts (Instagram/X.com/Tiktok)
His other hand lifted slowly, sliding carefully into the loose spill of curls at the back of her head. His fingertips grazing against her scalp in a touch so gentle. Cradling her there like she was something impossibly precious and fragile. Something already slipping through his fingers no matter how desperately he wanted to hold on.
His chest ached with it. The feeling of her beneath his hands like this.
He hadn't been allowed this closeness in so long. And now... Now the possibility existed that this might be the last time. The thought made his heart clench violently against his ribs even as it soared at the simple reality of finally touching her this way again.
Dahlia leaned into his touch immediately... Like home recognizing home in every language that the soul understood.
Levi felt her breath shudder softly in his hold. His eyes searched hers.
And finally... finally... he stopped trying to cage the truth behind his teeth.
"...I'm done lying, beautiful," he whispered roughly.
The words settled between them in aching honesty.
Dahlia's expression trembled.
And they simply looked at one another for a long moment in that same intensity that only existed between them. Like the rest of the world had fallen away entirely. Like no one else could possibly understand the depth of what lived in the silence stretching between their hearts.
Levi bent toward her slowly... reverently. His heavy-lidded gaze never left hers as the distance between them disappeared inch by inch.
His lips brushed softly against hers.
After so... so long.
A soft sound left Dahlia the moment his lips touched hers in a small, shaky breath. Something that sounded like joy and grief all tangled together into something he couldn't begin to separate.
Then she fully closed the remaining distance between them. Her lips slotted against his with desperate tenderness, and suddenly the kiss became filled with everything they could not survive saying aloud tonight.
Don't go.
Stay.
Come back to me.
The anamchara bond surged between them. Levi's breath caught sharply in his chest at the force of it. Never in his life had he felt anything like this. The golden thread binding their souls together pulsed bright and soaring and unbearably alive, flooding through him in waves so intense they nearly stole the air from his lungs entirely.
And Dahlia answered it instantly in pure joy. Yearning. Love so deep it felt ancient.
It sang back to him down the bond in harmonious warmth, wrapping around his heart until he thought he might break apart beneath the sheer enormity of it.
Her hands rose, fingers curling into the fabric of his white button-up and dragging him closer with quiet desperation. As close as she could possibly have him.
Levi's exhale stuttered warmly against her cheeks. He tilted his head slightly, his fingers tightening gently in the soft curls at the back of her head with growing warmth and intention as he held her there against him.
Their kiss deepened slowly. Relearning something they'd both been starved of for far too long. His mouth moved against hers with aching worship, his tongue tracing softly along the seam of her lips until she opened for him with a trembling breath. The taste of her hit him like a blow straight to the chest.
Gods. This woman.
The realization roared through every corner of him now without fear or restraint left to deny it.
I love her.
I love her.
Gods, I love her so much.
The kiss became both a goodbye and a beginning all at once, tangled impossibly together within the aching brilliance of the bond living between their souls.
And when they finally parted, it was only far enough to breathe the same air.
Levi rested his forehead against hers immediately, his breathing rougher now as his silver gaze searched her face. Drinking her in. Memorizing every line of her.
His thumb brushed softly along her cheek.
Then, quietly... almost pleadingly...
"Let me show you," he whispered. "Please."
Dahlia answered him with a soft nod. A shaky breath. And then another kiss.
She pressed into him again, her arms rising around his shoulders, drawing him fully into her embrace.
Levi sighed softly into the kiss. Into her. Into the overwhelming reality of finally having her against him like this again.
The curves of her body fit against his with a breathtaking sense of rightness that made something deep inside him ache. Like fate.... Inevitability. Home. She was his home.
His fingers stroked once more through the soft curls at the back of her head before their kiss finally slowed enough for air to exist between them again.
Dahlia didn't pull away far, incapable of it. Instead, she reached for his hand. Her fingers slid carefully between his own, and she turned, gently leading them toward the staircase.
The inn had fallen completely silent around them while its occupants slept upstairs, unaware of the world-shifting tenderness unfolding below. Only the distant crackle of the dying hearth followed quietly at their backs as they climbed the narrow staircase together.
When they reached his room, Levi released her hand only long enough to unlock the door with the inn key, his pulse thudding steadily in his chest.
Then he paused for a moment and took her in. The firelight downstairs no longer touched her here. Only the dim lantern hanging along the hallway painted soft amber across her features now. Her curls were slightly mussed from travel and his fingers. Sage green eyes shining softly beneath lowered lashes. Lips still kiss-swollen from him.
Levi committed every detail to memory with painful precision.
Then he opened the door and stepped aside for her.
Dahlia moved quietly past him into the room.
And Levi followed close behind.
The door shut with a soft click.
And the lock turned into place.
* * *
Levi's room at the inn was nothing remarkable. Just standard accommodations for traveling officers. A small hearth sat dark in the corner beside a modest writing desk. A worn settee rested along one wall opposite a queen-sized four-poster bed draped in pale linens.
The windows overlooking the shoreline had been propped open before their arrival, allowing cool sea air to drift through the room in slow summer currents. Moonlight spilled softly through the glass panes, painting silver across the floorboards and bedposts.
None of it truly registered to either of them.
The moment the door locked behind him, they found each other again instinctively.
Dahlia stepped to him first this time, and Levi met her halfway without hesitation. Their mouths collided with devastating intent, all restraint burned away.
Her fingers slid immediately back into his hair. Levi's breath caught softly as her nails scratched gently through the short undercut at the base of his skull before cradling his head closer. The sensation sent heat spreading low in his chest.
Dahlia kissed him deeper. Slowly, her tongue brushed softly across his lips in a silent request for more.
He knew with complete certainty that he would never deny her again.
Levi opened for her instantly with a rough groan breathed into her mouth. His hands slid across her waist and hips, pulling her flush against the hard planes of his body until he felt her melt into him with a sweet sigh of her own.
Perfect... She was... perfect.
And for the first time since this entire nightmare had begun, Levi's mind wasn't drowning beneath unnamed emotion. There was no panic. No guilt. No desperate confusion clawing through him.
Everything finally had a name now. Love. Devotion. Home. All these things that he would never take for granted ever again.
And because of that, he found himself startlingly present and intentional in the moment instead of consumed by it.
He let himself feel her fully as their bond thrummed warmly between them, sweet and luminous, while their hands wandered slowly over one another through layers of clothing as they reacquainted themselves with every line and curve they had once memorized.
Dahlia's fingers found the buttons of his shirt, undoing them deftly one by one without breaking their kiss.
Levi answered in kind, working open the buttons of her vest before carefully sliding the leather garment from her shoulders and letting it fall forgotten to the floor beside them. Then his hands moved lower, slowly tugging the loose tails of her blouse free from where they'd been tucked neatly into her skirts.
Dahlia parted from his mouth only enough to breathe softly against it.
"You're sure?" she whispered.
Levi didn't hesitate even for a second. "More than."
His lips drifted from hers then, pressing lingering kisses along her cheek and jaw with such aching tenderness it made something inside Dahlia visibly soften beneath his touch.
He kissed the elegant line of her neck in a slow, adoring trail. Dahlia tipped her head back automatically with a quiet sigh, exposing more of herself to him. Levi's teeth grazed gently across her pulse point in a teasing pass that made her breathing hitch warmly against his ear.
He murmured against her skin, voice low and rough with truth:
"You're it for me, Dahlia... You always have been."
He felt more than heard her soft intake of breath. Her sharp pulse fluttering beneath his lips.
Levi pressed one long, lingering kiss into the hollow of her throat.
And Dahlia swallowed hard beneath him.
Levi finally pulled back just enough to look at her. Moonlight painted silver across Dahlia's face while her eyes shone impossibly bright beneath lowered lashes. Every emotion moving through her lived openly there for him to see.
Not that he needed the visual confirmation. He already felt all of it through the bond singing quietly between them. Her love. Fear... And hope so fragile it hurt to touch.
Levi's hands rose fully to cradle her face. His thumbs resting gently beneath her cheekbones while he leaned close enough for the line of his nose to brush softly against hers.
And quietly, steadily, he said:
"I'm so sorry, Dahlia."
Her brow pinched immediately. "You don't need-"
"Let me," he whispered softly. "Please, beautiful."
The words stopped her. Dahlia's eyes glimmered with unshed tears as she searched his face, and Levi felt something inside himself settle with strange, calm certainty.
For the first time in a very long time... he wasn't hiding from himself. Wasn't fracturing apart beneath his own fear.
His voice stayed low, rough, and unwavering as he spoke.
"I was a coward."
Dahlia's breath caught.
Levi shook his head faintly, eyes never leaving hers. "I faced death and disease and titans and the end of the fucking world..." A humorless scoff slipped from him. "But I was terrified of disappointing you."
The confession scraped raw against his throat.
"Terrified that someday you'd realize I wasn't the man you thought I was." His jaw tightened slightly. "That I would never measure up to what you saw in me."
His eyes closed briefly. Then opened them again immediately because he couldn't bear losing sight of her even for a second.
"So I ran." His voice roughened further. "I pushed you away because I thought it would keep you safe. Thought if I kept distance between us..." He huffed another dry, bitter laugh at himself. "Well... All it did, in the end... was hurt you more and put you in more danger."
His gaze dropped for half a heartbeat before lifting back to hers again.
"Shows what the fuck I know."
A tear finally slipped free from Dahlia's lashes. Levi caught it instinctively with the pad of his thumb, brushing it gently away as he caressed the curve of her cheekbone.
His chest tightened painfully. "I was a scared fucking idiot," he whispered. "And I refuse to be anymore."
Emotion finally began closing around his throat now, making the last words roughen and crack slightly despite his efforts to steady them. "I refuse."
Dahlia blinked hard, her lips trembling softly around his name. "Levi..."
"I know you're leaving." He swallowed thickly. "I know you need to leave."
The words nearly broke him.
"And I know..." His breath shuddered faintly. "I know you may never come back."
The possibility hollowed something deep inside him every time he let himself truly look at it.
"But you might." Levi's silver eyes shone wetly in the moonlight now. "I hope above everything that you come back."
A sharp, uneven breath escaped Dahlia as she stared at him as he split himself open in front of her.
And still... Levi kept going.
"...You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, Dahlia."
The truth of it rang through every inch of him.
"Wherever you go..." His voice dropped into something softer now. More vulnerable than she'd ever heard from him. "That's where I belong."
Levi pulled in a harsher breath through his nose before continuing quietly:
"Just know..." His thumbs brushed softly against her skin again. "If you ever come back to this island..." His gaze locked with hers in full, steady... complete devotion. "I'll be here waiting for you."
His throat worked once.
"Doesn't matter how long it takes."
And gods above, in every pantheon that she believed in... he meant it with every ruined, devoted piece of himself.
"I'll be here."
Dahlia let out a broken little sob against his mouth. Another tear slipped free down her cheek.
Levi caught that one too. His thumb brushed softly across damp skin before he leaned in and kissed her fully again, deep and complete and whole.
Every ounce of yearning he'd buried over their time poured into the kiss without restraint now. Every sleepless night spent thinking of her. Every moment, he'd almost reached for her and stopped himself at the last second out of fear. Every silent act of devotion he'd hidden behind duty and distance and restraint.
All of it lived in the way his lips moved against hers now. His love. His certainty. His complete and irreversible devotion to her.
Dahlia answered him instantly. She latched onto him like she couldn't bear even an inch between them anymore, her arms winding tightly around his shoulders as she pulled him flush against her body. She breathed him in, holding onto him with trembling desperation while tears continued slipping silently down her cheeks.
And Levi... He couldn't keep it inside himself anymore. Not one more second longer.
"I love you, Dahlia..."
The words left him rough and reverent all at once.
Dahlia's breath hitched sharply against his lips, another choked sound of emotion escaping her.
Then she whispered back immediately, voice thick and raspy and unbearably tender:
"...Say it again."
Something inside Levi's chest cracked wide open. His arms tightened around her instinctively, pulling her into a crushing embrace that she melted into with a soft keening sound against his mouth.
"Love you..." he breathed brokenly against her lips. "I love you so fuckin' much."
His forehead pressed briefly against hers as emotion overwhelmed him again in strong waves.
"So much I don't know what to do with myself half the time."
A watery grin bloomed slowly across her face at that.
And Levi pulled back just enough to see it fully. See one more of her sunrise grins.
And... Gods above.
It was one of the most beautiful smiles she'd ever given him. Soft and radiant even through tears. It hit him straight in the chest with enough force to steal his breath entirely.
Dahlia's fingers brushed through the shorn hair at the nape of his neck as she whispered back, voice thick with truth and love and everything he'd ever wanted:
"I love you, Levi. Always-"
Levi kissed her again before she could finish. Harder this time. Surging and searing and overflowing with emotion too enormous for words anymore. His heart soaring inside his chest as she kissed him back like she intended to love him forever.
The rest of their clothes disappeared in a blur of wandering hands and breathless kisses.
Buttons came undone beneath trembling fingers. Fabric dragged softly against the skin before falling, completely forgotten, onto the floorboards, one piece at a time. Through it all, quiet words of devotion passed between them in broken murmurs against skin.
Beautiful. Love you. Missed you. Mine.
Levi's hands slid down her body, palms slowing and memorizing her curves. His thumbs dipping into the hollow above her hips, his fingers kneading the give and strength of her muscles... before he dipped suddenly, gripping beneath the backs of her bare thighs and lifting her effortlessly against him.
Dahlia gasped softly, her full breasts pressed tight against the hard plane of his chest. Her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist, her heat a tease and salvation against his lower abdomen, as he carried her toward the bed.
He lay her carefully against the mattress with almost reverent gentleness, settling her head against the pillow before following her down immediately.
Levi couldn't stop touching her. Couldn't stop kissing her. His mouth found the pulse point beneath her jaw again, lips and tongue lavishing slow attention there as he breathed her in greedily. His teeth marked her in a way he never allowed himself to before.
Her ever-present scent of bergamot, sage, and vanilla lavender seeped into him, and the relief he felt was sublime. He wanted her buried into every inch of him permanently.
Dahlia keened softly beneath him at the sensation, her touch scorching where her hands roamed across his skin, his shoulders, and down the hard lines of his arms.
Her fingers squeezed hard into his biceps and triceps, and Levi huffed softly against her throat before pulling away slightly to look at her face.
A sharp, crooked smirk tugged suddenly at his mouth. And... fuck... he hadn't smiled like that in far too long.
And the only person who ever truly dragged it from him... was her.
He flexed beneath her touch on purpose, and Dahlia reacted instantly. Her eyes widened slightly as his muscles tightened and bunched in warm solidity under her palms.
Her gaze darkened, then she grinned like an absolute menace before a quiet laugh burst from her.
There she is. He dragged his tongue teasingly against her earlobe before murmuring lowly against the shell of her ear, grin widening:
"Knew it. That's all you want me for."
Dahlia snorted immediately, squeezing his arms harder without an ounce of shame.
"I'm not sorry!"
Levi barked a quiet laugh, warm and rough and gone for her. He kissed her before she could keep talking, swallowing her soft, delighted laughter with a muted sigh.
His hands grew greedy. He left her mouth reluctantly, tracing along the elegant line of her throat and collarbone, lingering wherever her breath caught for him.
His lips pressed against warm skin again and again, until he grazed down to her heavy breasts. Finding her nipple and suckling, pulling her fullness into him like he was trying to worship every inch of her into memory before dawn could steal this from them.
She trembled softly beneath his attention. Her delicious touch scraped down his scalp as she buried her fingers in his black, silken locks like he was the only tether she had. It pulled a low, guttural growl from him against her skin. The flat of his tongue pulled and sucked at her breast harder, his eyes fluttering open to gaze up at her as he devoured her.
Dahlia keened and sighed for him. "Levi..."
He left her peak with a wet pop and continued down, down. His mouth traced along the newly defined lines of muscle across her abdomen, lingering and tracing the hills and valleys of strength with fascination. He couldn't help grazing his teeth against one bump of muscle and biting down gently. Making her jolt beneath him with a startled breath as her nails dug into his shoulder blades.
"Dahlia..." His voice dropped low and rough, "The woman you are..."
She gave a soft moan at his words as he made his journey further down her body, his knees shifting along the mattress, completely entranced by every inch of this woman.
He reached her apex, his arms dipped under and around her thighs, placing them over his shoulders. His callused palms caressing her stomach, her waist, her hips. Grasping at her ass cheeks, kneading and squeezing in decadent appreciation.
His breath a warm, feathering tease against her dripping center. His eyes, whole and scarred alike, shone the palest blue in the moonlight as he gazed at her like she was the most precious thing in his world.
Her lips parted, and her eyes darkened. "My handsome man..." Dahlia whispered to him, breathless.
Levi shuddered, his lids fluttering as her words shot him in the heart with warmth.
He kept her gaze as his tongue came out in a long, greedy lick across her folds. Ending in a flick to her bundle of nerves that made her jolt, stealing her breath in a gasp. He did it again and again. Long, pressured lingering strokes as he gathered up her slick taste.
She whimpered for him beautifully, catching her bottom lip with her teeth as she stared down at him. "Levi, please..." Her hips wriggled slightly. "..need more."
He groaned deeply against her folds, obeying. Diving his tongue into her core and curling. Letting the tip of it drag as far as he could go, massaging the spongy heart of her. The straight bridge of his nose tucked tightly against her swollen clit as it steadily grew a second heartbeat.
Dahlia moaned lowly, her hips beginning to writhe and buck softly. Her fingers slipping through his hair, grasping him at the root as she ground against him.
Levi's palms grasped the fullness of her ass cheeks, squeezing them and meeting the slow rhythm of her rocking hips. Letting her fuck his tongue as he gazed up at her, heavy-lidded.
She could have it all. Take it all. He'd give her his soul if she wanted it. Hell, she already owned it. Every part of him.
The bond burst and hummed like a tuning rod between them at the lust and love between them. He growled like an animal into her, and her lips parted, forming a gorgeous 'o' as her stomach jumped and bucked under his touch.
He increased the pressure of his tongue, flattening it to lap at her core before pointedly flicking it against her swollen clit.
Her breath hitched, a broken moan escaping her lips as her thighs tightened around his head, holding him in place. He could feel her control slipping, her body responding to him in a way that made his own desire burn hotter, a fire stoked by her every gasp and tremble.
This was everything. She was everything. Her taste, her scent, the feel of her skin under his hands, the sound of her pleasure. All of it coming together into a singular, overwhelming sensation that consumed him.
The golden thread between them pulsed with every beat of their hearts, a tangible connection that bound them together in this moment. He memorized the way her body arched, the way her fingers tightened in his hair, pulling at him with a dull sting that made the small hairs at the nape of his neck stand on end.
Her hips began to move more urgently, her breath coming in ragged pants.
"Fuck- Levi," she gasped, her voice trembling with need. "I'm so close."
He redoubled his efforts, his tongue working tirelessly as he sucked and licked, pulling her swollen bud of nerves between his teeth, flicking at her in the way he still and would always remember made her fall apart. Steadily, and swiftly pushing her toward the edge.
Something deep and primal in him activated.
Levi didn't dare leave her aching pussy to speak, didn't dare stop his speed, tempo, and pressure. His mind whirred, echoing his feral thoughts in stereo. And pushing it down the golden thread between them without consciously knowing he was doing it:
Come on my tongue, Dahlia. Give yourself to me. Give me everything, beautiful.
And as if she'd heard it... Her eyes widened, her blown-out pupils stark in the shadowed moonlight. And she immediately pulled in a sharp, keening gasp.
Her back arched hard against the mattress, her thighs pressing tight to his ears. He felt the taut trembling in her muscles, and then... she let go, coming with a breathy, cried-out scream of his name. Her stomach trembling and jolting.
His heart was a cacophony of feral desire, and his mind was roiling at the possibility that he'd just spoken into her mind.
Levi did not stop. He devoured every drop that she gave him, holding her through every aftershock, prolonging her pleasure in any way he could.
Their bond flared between them in a blinding, golden wave of pure ecstasy and unconditional love. It washed over him, erasing every thought but her. Her name a chanted prayer in his thoughts as his world narrowed to this single, perfect moment as he moaned deeply... helplessly into her.
My goddess...
He finally gentled his motions, lapping at her softly until the last tremor subsided, before pressing a final, reverent kiss against her heated core.
Slowly, he withdrew, resting his cheek against her inner thigh. His own chest heaving as his breath rushed through him in ragged gasps.
Levi gazed up at her, captivated by her highlighted silhouette.
She was... utterly beautiful. Splayed blonde curls glowing white-gold in the moonlight. Her freckled cheeks and chest, flushed and glistening with sweat, her limbs languid and heavy. A soft, satisfied smile played on her lips, her eyes half-lidded and dark as she stared right back at him.
He felt a surge of fierce, overwhelming love for her, so potent it could have made him slip off the mattress right there and kneel before her.
His woman, his anamchara... his entire fucking world lay bare before him.
Dahlia's fingers loosened their grip on his hair, moving to brush the sweat-damp locks of his bangs away from his high, straight forehead. Caressing him with tender strokes that made him shiver as he panted.
"Come to me, mo ghràidh," she murmured, her voice husky and gentle.
My love.
The endearment wrapped around him. Her silken, lilting voice a siren's call that he had no choice but to obey.
He rose, moving up her body. He dipped his head, capturing her lips in a slow, deep kiss, allowing her to taste herself on his tongue.
Gently, he broke away, the space between them warm with their shared breaths. His forearms braced on either side of her as he gazed into her sage-green eyes, his expression raw with fully exposed emotion.
"Hey, beautiful..." he whispered.
Dahlia's expression softened immediately, something twinkling through the adoration in her eyes that made his chest tighten all over again.
"Hi, my handsome..." she murmured back, the corners of her mouth lifting. "Been a while."
Levi huffed the ghost of a laugh, his gaze dragging over her face like he still couldn't believe she was here beneath him.
"Too fuckin' long."
Her grin deepened. "Your fault."
He gave a small hum, lips twitching in soft amusement. "Trust. I'm aware."
One brow lifted faintly as she looked up at him, playful warmth threading through all the emotion between them.
"Gonna remedy that?"
Levi's lips brushed hers in another slow, heated pass, the corner of his mouth curling into a small smirk despite the overwhelming fullness in his heart.
"Plannin' on it."
Her arms encircled his shoulders, pulling him down into her, deepening their kiss, and Levi willingly fell. He braced his weight on one forearm, the other wrapping around her back, his fingers dragging his dull nails up her spine, between her shoulder blades, and burying deep into her curls.
He rolled them both on their sides softly. Her leg automatically came up and hooked high on his waist, pulling him tight against her as they lost themselves in their dizzying kiss. Her touch explored and squeezed his frame, anywhere she could reach.
Levi groaned softly against her lips. His thrumming length trapped between their abdomens in delicious, torturous warmth. His hand left her hair to travel back down her body, grasping her hip, her leg, kneading and pawing at her thick, muscular thigh.
One of her hands came down to grasp his waist, squeezing into his hip, the nail of her thumb tracing the low V-shaped line of his musculature. His breath hitched and stuttered. He backed his hips away just enough for his cock to fall from being trapped between them and line fully against her molten center.
The shudder that left her at that heated contact of his thumming silken steel against her. It only drove him forward with complete intention. His hips rolled slowly, dragging his thick length against her in delicious teasing slowness. The gasp she gave him was instantly tucked away in his memories.
Levi murmured against her lips, "Missed you so much, Dahlia..." His words cracked at the end as emotion swelled and squeezed his throat.
Dahlia breathed back, voice a husky rasp, "I missed you too, handsome..."
He swallowed hard. Her leg lifted higher up his waist as his palm grazed down over her curves to grasp himself and guide the head of him against her entrance. She shifted her hips, lining them up.
Their hips pushed in sync toward each other...
And he found home in the heart of her... in one, perfect slide that drew gasps from both of them.
Dahlia's breath stuttered at the fullness. Levi let out a long, labored breath from his nose as they stared into each other. His cock was buried so deeply within her. Meant. And made. And perfect. And absolutely whole.
The anamchara bond glowed beneath their skin. Thrumming through their bones. The song of it so clear in their minds... Like nothing they had experienced since the break... Having never come together in this way ever since their reality was realized and solid and true.
"I love you..." His words a breathy whisper of honest, heartbreaking truth.
Dahlia gave him a gentle, gorgeous smile, "And I love you, Levi... mo anamchara gu bràth."
My soulmate forever.
Levi blinked, his heart soaring as her words registered in his small understanding of her language... and his stupid humor activated with a small, breathless grin.
"Sure. What you said."
Dahlia laughed softly, pulling him in, "Bawbag."
"Uh huh."
They wrapped their arms around each other wholly. Levi supported her weight, holding her so close. Her breasts pressed against his chest. Their gazes locked on each other as their hips started to pull away and come together in harmonious synchronicity.
A stuttered groan left Levi's lips as he thrust in deep. She answered in kind with a breathy moan. One of her hands buried deeply in his hair, the other palming greedily at his lower back muscles. Grasping him for leverage as they ground into each other over and over.
He tucked his face into the crook of her shoulder, his breath coming out in soft gasps and pants, heating the space between them as their passion only increased more and more, like water steadily spinning into a boil.
His fingers grasped and dug into the flesh of her hip, her ass, adding his own pressure and strength to her returning thrusts.
"Gods- Dahlia..." His whisper tickling her sweat-slick skin.
Her back arched as he picked up pace and tempo, pressing herself tighter into him, fanning the eternal flame he held for her. As he overtook her rhythm, Dahlia's head fell back with a low, long moan.
Levi latched onto her exposed neck, his teeth coming down around the elegant tendon. And... without shame, without restraint... he set his possessive heart free as he claimed her in a way that he had wanted to for so fucking long.
He bit and sucked at her throat, leaving behind blushed and bruised halos. Fuck- the sight of them only fueled his lust hotter.
He growled low and feral as his hips pistoned in controlled, intentional thrusts. His grip pulling her onto his cock over and over.
Her sounds of abandon grew breathier and faster. Her nails scraped down his back, his hips, and latching into the muscle of his ass cheek with bruising greed.
"Leviiiii- ah-"
His teeth nipped at her earlobe, his tongue tracing the line to soothe the sting.
"You're my home. This is where I belong. You understand?"
Dahlia gasped hard at his words. He caught her jaw, guiding her back to meet his eye.
When he saw her flushed, blissed-out face, he surged forward, pulling her into a sloppy, searing kiss as he pumped into her.
He rolled them so her back pressed into the mattress. His arm slipped away to brace his weight at her side. Her legs immediately wrapped around his waist tightly.
He didn't lose rhythm, chasing, never ever wanting to leave her.
Their eyes met in breathless passion, silver milky scars meeting unending sage summer.
"I'm yours, beautiful."
Dahlia's lips dropped open, her blackened eyes widened. His next thrust, deep and intense and true, pulled a sharp cry from her, making her buck and arch.
Her voice left her in a shaking whimper, "Levi... fuck-"
He pulled her bottom lip between his teeth and nipped and sucked. His hips never faltering as he drove her into the bed in sweet oblivion.
"Dahlia- shit. You own me."
His words came out stuttered and breathless and so devastatingly honest in a way no one other than this goddess beneath him had ever heard from him.
Her dark eyes took on a new shine. Her chest hitching around pleasure. Dahlia shifted, her arm pulling him in as close as she could, her grip in his hair tightening. Her hips surging upward, meeting his tempo and depth in an intense mirror.
It pulled a deep guttural moan from him, his frame dipping forward in a tremor at the force of the ecstasy.
"Mine." She breathed in a feral rasp against the shell of his ear.
Levi's entire soul stuttered and jump-started.
"You're mine, Levi."
His gaze snapped to hers in hard focus. She stared right back. Pinkened, gorgeous, and perfect.
He let out on a rough breath, "Say it again."
"You're mine. Forever." Dahlia whispered immediately. "And I'm yours."
Levi Ackerman... Humanity's so-called strongest.... was a goner.
Absolutely swept up in the passion and weightlessness of her love and claim.
Sharp emotion choked his throat, and he swallowed it down as best he could, but it was for naught. His eyes betrayed him, welling with silver as he surged forward, his grip finding her hands, threading their fingers together, and pinning her on either side of her head as he drove into her.
She squeezed back, holding him just as tightly.
Levi choked out around a groan of ecstasy, "You're mine, Dahlia." His head dipped down to her collar, nipping and sucking at her clavicle in absolute abandon. "Fuckin' mine. Always."
The slam of his hips against hers, the slap of skin on skin echoing throughout the room and out to the open-air of the shoreside inn. All of it. Every single second of this night... would live in Levi's bones... forever.
He could feel her walls trembling and pulsing around him, sucking him in, bearing down.
She moaned breathless and agonizingly desperate, "I- Levi- ngggh... Love you. Love you so much. Never want to be without you."
Levi's hand left hers and snaked between them, finding her swollen clit and circling it, massaging it, with devastating skill and memory.
He huffed out between groans and grunts, "Love you too- Fuck- Goddess, you undo me. You- ha-"
Dahlia's moans broke into stuttered gasps and choked sobs. She whimpered out in a whine:
"Tha'e gaolaich mi ort."
I love you.
Levi's eyes rolled up and back in bliss as his body drove into her. His goal of combining with her his only mission.
He managed to groan out around a low, ravelly moan, "Fuckin' love your voice... the way you speak-"
That confession and truth only made her fiercer. She nipped at his earlobe, her breath against his ear, as she whispered sweet nothings and everythings to him in rolling foreign beauty.
"Mo leannan. Mo rùn. Tha thu freagarrach dhomh foirfe."
My darling. My beloved. You're perfect for me.
A harsh shiver ran down his spine as her back arched harder, her head dropping fully back against the pillow in lost ecstasy.
Her mouth dropped open in the perfect picture of abandon.
His thumb and middle finger came together to pinch at her clit in a tight, intentional hold and roll.
"Fall for me... c'mon- "
Her bright green met his silver, her lips parted in lost cacophony. She sobbed out softly, "Fuck- I-I'm-"
"Let go, Dahlia."
She shattered with a quiet shriek, her whole body trembling, her abdomen bowstring taut, her nails digging in so deeply into him that there would be bruises and scrapes in the morning. And he. Did. Not. Care.
The shivers from the burn of her cat scratches only amplified her perfect pussy clenching around him wholly. Pulsing and sucking and milking him as he continued to thrust and pommel into her.
He was so fucking close. Holding back by just the skin of his teeth. Simply because he wanted this forever.
This moment. This view.
Her.
She cried out his name through her aftershocks in thick, breathless, wanton need....
The sound tore through what little control he had left.
And that was it.
He followed her down and up into extreme pleasure, radiating white-hot through him. His cock spilling into her, painting her walls. Filling her. Marking her.
Claiming her.
Mine.... Mine, mine, MINE.
The thought roared through him, primal and absolute. The anamchara bond flared with it. In his mind's eyes, the room swam in a haze of gold. Or was that reality?
He spoke without thought or care, the words ripped from his throat alongside the last shuddering wave of his release. Groaning out as he came, a whimpered sob on his lips against her ear:
"Dahlia- fuck- fuckin' perfect. Gorgeous- ngggh."
His arms gave out, his full weight collapsing onto her, though he braced enough at the last second to keep from crushing her completely.
They lay there, a tangled, sweating mess of limbs and heaving breaths, the pounding of their hearts a frantic, shared rhythm against their ribs. The world narrowing to the feel of her body beneath his, the scent of their exertion filling the air, and the profound, soul-deep relief that settled in his bones.
His face buried into the nook of her shoulder, panting softly, his lips pressing lazy, open-mouthed kisses where he could reach. Still buried so deeply within her, and Levi couldn't bring himself to pull away. Completely content to stay as close as she would let him.
Dahlia seemed to share the sentiment, her arms and legs still wrapped around him, holding him tightly as she slowly caught her breath.
Her words whispered against his ear, "I love you..."
"Love you too... always..."
He shifted them slightly so they could lie more comfortably. His head rested over her slowly steadying heartbeat. His lips grazing soft kisses over the tops of her breasts.
Levi lazily brought his arm up so he could read the time on his leather wristwatch.
He asked quietly, "What time do you leave?"
"9 a.m."
He pulled in a slow, calming breath, and nodded against her. "Alright..."
"What time is it?"
"Midnight thirty."
"Tired?"
"Not really."
"Me neither."
Her body betrayed her with a sneaky yawn immediately after she'd said the words.
Levi chuckled, "Liar."
Her sleepy laugh rumbled against his cheek. "Mm. Maybe... I just don't want to..." Her words drifted off.
He sat up a little and pressed a kiss to her cheek, her temple.
"...I know, beautiful..."
Silence settled around them again, easy and intimate. The moon climbed higher in the night sky over the ocean water. And wrapped around each other like this, the grief waiting just beyond the edges of the night felt... survivable. For now.
He settled back into her, his cheek pressed against her clavicle, his length softening within her. His arms wrapped around her waist wholly, holding her close.
"We have all night... For now, get some sleep, Dahlia. I got you."
She hummed softly. Some time passed, and her breathing slowly deepened beneath him. Falling into dreams safe in his hold.
This wasn't goodbye yet... Not while there were still hours left before dawn. Not while they could still wake tangled together in warmth and moonlight and love... and find one another all over again.
Levi pressed one final kiss to her chest, right above her heart. Levi's eyelids grew heavier despite himself. His arms tightened around her once before sleep finally began its slow claim. And he surrendered to it with true peace in his heart.
I may or may not have cried multiple times while writing this 😭
As always, thank you all so much for your continued support. I appreciate every single one of your kudos, comments, bookmarks, and subscriptions. I'm honored that you've continued to stick with Levi and Dahlia's story even when it's gotten downright painful.
The road ahead is admittedly still gonna be ouchie. But at the very least, now they're being fully open and honest with each other about their love. And that's not something anyone can take away from them, regardless of distance or time. ❤️
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