Wings [Levi Daughter]

Chapter Forty

The sea of stars above them had Iris at awe. She stood at the top of the barrack's roof with her father, close to the stars. She sat down on the roof and laid down. Her eyes fixed on the beautiful sight.

"So, how many stars are there?" Levi asked as he sat down beside her.

"It's too many to count." Iris said.

"Then you better start counting."

Iris chuckled and counted the stars in her mind.
Levi watched as his daughter mumbled the numbers of the stars she counted. He remembered the first time the girl saw the stars, it was when Isabel dragged him and Maria to the spot where they set the bird free. Iris was only about five years old then, and he could never forget her smile, and how she clung to Isabel.

"Done counting?" Levi asked.

"I lost count." Iris chuckled. "Any reason why you brought me here?"

"So, I wouldn't find you climbing HQ walls like a fucking thief..."

"Oh..." Iris chuckled.

"How are you, Iris?"

Iris turned to her father, confused.

"Fine..."

"The First King still talking in your head?" He knocked his knuckles on her head.

"Yeah... don't worry, it's nothing that I can't handle..."

"I can't really stop worrying... it's part of the job description of being a parent."

Iris chuckled.

"That's good to hear... but, it's a small price to pay for humanity... we all need to sacrifice something, right?"

We all must make our sacrifices.

"Be honest... if you had a choice to give that power to someone, would you?" Levi asked.

"You know I can't, I'm the only one who has the ability to take the Founding Titan without being influenced by the First King's ideology –"

"Don't think about that... if you could, would you?"

"I guess... it would be nice to have your head for yourself again, you know..." Iris shrugged. "I mean, before, I liked the idea of silence since I get to think... now, I don't really enjoy the silence, I like it when people talk around me so I wouldn't be able to hear the King."

"I see..."

Iris noticed her father's fists, they were shaking. She sat up to look at him, but he kept his gaze at the horizon. She placed her hand on his fist, catching his attention.

"When I was captured by Randal Reed, I had a dream..." Iris began.

"What is it?"

"That we live in a nice house at Wall Rose, just by the Kirschs. Isabel and Farlan were there... Mom's there too. Ever since then, I've been wondering if we could ever be that... sure Isabel and Farlan are... but... do you think we could be like that with Mom?"

"I promised you, didn't I? We'll find your Mother..."

"But... even if that happens, I doubt that we could get that peace."

Levi suddenly felt Iris' hands tremble, he turned to her and saw something he haven't seen in his daughter's eyes. Fear.

She's not Mom anymore... Iris thought.

"If you had a chance to go back to how things were... would you?" Iris asked.

Levi sighed.

"Someone told me to never regret the decisions I made, because if I did then it would affect my future decisions... I know that this isn't what you want to hear, but Iris, I don't regret anything... we might have lost so many people, the people we love, we have changed... but I don't regret taking that job on killing Erwin, and I don't regret not killing him... the only thing is, I will forever carry the pain of losing two of my best friends, and the pain of knowing that you and your mother suffered in that rat-hole because I wasn't there... and the pain of not being able to do anything now that you're suffering... that you are pressured to do something that you don't want." He muttered the last part.