He Told Me to Live

48 | Stories

Flower girls, ring bearers, none of that mattered to me.

I didn't have a lot of friends. I didn't have parents to walk me down the aisle, nor god parents that could take their place. Historia had to force us to let her pay for the rings.

But that, all of that, didn't matter to me. It didn't matter if my ring was made of paper, as long as it was from Levi. It didn't matter if no one walked me down the aisle, as long as Levi was at the end of it. It didn't matter if there were no guests, as long as Levi was there.

And still, these things were there.

The little girl and boy I saved a few years before were walking down the aisle hand in hand, one throwing petals, the other holding the rings on a small velvet pillow.

Eddie, Ian, and Alexander acted like older brothers rather than parents, two walking down first and stopping to look back at me, while also signalling the guests the stand, then one allowing me to hold his arm as I walked across the carpeted floor, a veil and dress dragging behind me.

I smiled a bit, eyes finding Levi's just as they always do, who stood before me, with a suit that Jean forced him into.

I stepped onto the altar and blinked at the officiant, then glanced at Historia, tilting my head. Who was he?

She simply waved her hand dismissively, assuring me that she knew him.

I had asked her to plan the wedding, but I had forgotten the part about... well, her being a queen.

"There's a hell of a lot of people here," Levi pointed out.

I smiled again, staring at the large crowd that came to watch the wedding between the Phantom and Humanity's Strongest Soldier.

"Well," I took his hand, "the most important ones are here, at least."

I've never been to a wedding, so I didn't know what I had to do. Historia told me that I had to make a vow and answer any questions that the officiant asked genuinely.

So I did.

"Now for the vows." The officiant turned to me and I nodded, getting a piece of paper from Hange.

I unfolded it and slowly scanned my writing before opening my mouth.

"Levi, I don't know a lot about the topic of love. Many use it as often as they use every other word, as if it has no meaning; as if it is like the word "and", "but", or "it". But I know the meaning of it. It is a word used for those that change your life; those whose life you changed; those whom you cannot live without. Those who draw the line between surviving... and living."

I glanced at those sat in the front and smiled a bit.

"You have made my life a story. Not a lesson, not a burden, but something that makes me hope for what will happen next. You made it have meaning."

I heard sniffling from the rows of chairs before us and felt satisfied with the vow I strewn together.

"Life is short, and tomorrow isn't certain, nor is next week, nor the week after. But even if I can only live one second with you, I'd rather do that then survive a hundred years without."

A few "aw's" were heard from the crowd and I wondered if I had made it too cheesy for Levi's liking, but then the worry melted away. I knew that whatever I said, Levi would listen.

Levi got a paper from Hange as well.

"Listen, I'm not good at this kind of thing. It's not like anyone I know is good at it either, those dumbasses. But, I made you promise a ton of things, things that helped me sleep at night, even if it were only a couple of hours. I'd make you promise to never leave, to be safe, to destroy everything if you felt the need, but..."