Wings and Hammers

8. The Wedding

"Hey," Levi grabbed his best friend by the elbow, "are you nervous?"

"A little bit, I guess." Aura let out a nervous giggle. She was dressed in all white, all ready to walk down an aisle and take Erwin Smith to be her husband.

If she was to be completely honest with herself, she felt guilty. She was scared to death about Erwin finding out all the truth from sources other than herself. She just didn't know how to tell him, without causing significant damage in their relationship.

The last week had been the most perfect week she could dream of. The chemist, who was invited by Hange, had come in and formulated pills and ointments from the spinal fluid culture batches. When applied on Erwin, he had not shown any signs of side-effect.

In fact, he often complained about itches near his wound site, evidence of the fact that tissue growth was induced. While Hange had to train with her squad, Sherridan accompanied Aura while shopping.

They had been finally convinced by Queen Historia about taking the Royal Hall as the wedding venue. Everything seemed to be turning out just fine.

"It's okay," Levi tried to comfort her, "we can stay here for as long as you want to. As long as you need to, okay? Anyone raises a question, I'll break their nose. Come on, talk to me."

"It's nothing," she said, adjusting her veil in the reflection, "just.. I feel like.. I'm betraying him. You know, marrying him, while keeping this big a secret from him. I feel selfish."
"Then, tell him everything."

"You know it'd shatter him, Levi. I can't marry a man and tell him that I'm going to die in 12 years, just be ready. Yeah, I'm gonna leave behind a child to keep you company, but you'll have to take on the burden of being a single parent, in about a decade. Thank you very much for agreeing to marry me."

Levi let out a huge sigh. It had moved him too, to know that Aura would not live any longer than 12 years. It was new Titan information for him and Sherridan, but they had decided not to disclose it to Hange or Erwin or anyone else. At this point, he really wished Sherridan hadn't forgotten her glasses at the lab and discovered everything. He would have very much liked being in the dark with everyone else.

"He'll definitely know one day," he told her, "you wish to participate in the Shiganshina expedition, don't you? You think he'll just let you tag along with us?"

This was something Aura had decided by herself, without allowing either of her friends to convince her otherwise. In fact, she had put forth logic and reasoned her way into convincing Levi to help her go to Shiganshina with the Scouts.

"Levi," Aura's eyes watered up, "I can't think about it right now. I don't wanna mess today up, okay? I just wanna go out there, say my fucking vows and marry the crap out of the man I love. You were supposed to tell me positive things before we went out, weren't you?"

The wedding bells chimed outside, booming through the palace, signifying that the Maid of Honor was walking down the aisle. Levi gave Aura his hand and said, "listen, brat, this man loves you the way you are. You are not perfect, never will be. I am sorry, but that's the truth. But to him, you're the most beautiful woman alive. You're the one flame of hope in his otherwise miserable life. You're the yin to his yang and you must spend the rest of your days together, 12 years or more or less. I have seen him without you, and you without him. And, those are not pretty sights. Let's just go out, let me walk you down the aisle and, fucking give you over. My eyes are getting misty, I don't like that."
Aura smiled a little and gave him a quick hug. "Thanks, Levi, for everything. I love you."

"I love you too," the Captain sniffed, pulling her veil down over her face, "let's go."

He gave her his arm and led her out. The hall, the corridors were all decorated with peonies and lilies, the favorite flowers of the bride and the groom. Aura's eyes watered up as she and Levi stood at the threshold of the hall. Her groom stood under a canopy of pink and white peonies, holding a bouquet to give to her, as was tradition.