Brand New Life

Epilogue: 20 Years Later...

Hanji's POV

"Levi! Where are you?" I called out from the apartment. Everything was a mess. The reunion was today, and I made some egg salad for everyone. I needed Levi to test my food before we left. "Levi!"

"Shut up, Hanji..." He says in his normal tone. Slowly walking into the room with Iris in his arms, he slowly bounced her. "Can't you tell she's sleeping?"

Chuckling softly, I forgot that she was crying earlier... Levi has that gift of making her stop crying... "Sorry... but I need your opinion." Taking a spoon to scoop a small sample of my terrible egg salad, I handed it to Levi. "Open." I demanded.

He groaned, "I don't even know why I even married you, Hanji..."

"You love me." I say, taking Iris off his hands. "Now... tell me your honest opinion."

Levi takes a bite, immediately regretting it. He reaches for the trash bin as I turned Iris away from it. After he was done, he takes the egg salad container and dumps it in the trash. "That... is the worst egg salad I ever ate- what did you put in there?!"

Smiling, I told him the truth. "Salt, pepper, paprika, vinegar-"

"Wait wait, vinegar?"

"Yeah, wh-"

"Why?! That's terrible!"

"I mean... why not?"

He groans as he looks at the time. "We're not gonna make it if we start to boil more eggs... let's just pick up pizza. Plan B."

"Plan B..." That's when Iris started to cry. "Oh... shh... it's okay, baby... Momma's here..." I say, slowly bouncing her. Under her small pink cap, she had small sprouts of black hair and when she opened her eyes... I saw her gray eyes... just like my fake fortune-telling back in junior high... man... it was so long ago...

Levi started to grab the baby's stuff. "Hanji, we better leave right now."

"Why do you think she's crying, Levi? Hm?"

"Tch, why are you asking me?"

"Well... since you're so good at handling babies... maybe I thought you know the reason why she's crying right now- shh, it's okay, Iris... Momma's right here..."

Levi rolled his eyes, "She's probably hungry. Feed her when we get into the car."

"I-I can't breast feed her as we're-"

"Hanji, just give her a bottle or something. She is 4 months old... she should be fine drinking out of a bottle."

"You're right... where would I be without you, Levi?"

He rolls his eyes, "Probably with Erwin and not even knowing the joy of loving me, Hanji."

*   *   *

Annie's POV

Armin was setting up the decorations as we sat under a tree. Our little one, Sylvia, was sleeping in my arms. Almost 2 months old... and she was so beautiful... we might be pretty young to have a daughter, but we never regretted it.

The light breeze in the park felt nice as I stroked her cheek. She quietly coos in happiness... Armin says that she looks like a mini me...

"Annie, do you need anything else?" Looking up, I see Armin opening a bottle of water and taking gulps from it.

Shaking my head, we were about ready. "No thanks... though, I am kinda hungry. What did the others say that they were bringing?"

He sighs, "Well... Reiner said that he was gonna bring meat to grill, Sasha and Connie baked a lot of sugar... and knowing Erwin with his 4 year old and his newborn son... well... it's kinda big reunion with some new faces."

"Yep... well, I don't have to worry about the huge age difference with Sylvia here..."

"When they get older, they would be around the same age..."

"Yeah..." Taking a deep breath, I held Sylvia out, slowly and gently. "Go on, you can hold her... you deserve holding your own daughter, Armin."

He takes her carefully... and Sylvia only cooed quietly as she was handed over to her father. "Wow... she's cuter in her sleep when I hold her..."

"You think?" I ask, giggling softly. Then, I saw them. Eren and Mikasa walking with their hands holding each other. "Well well... here comes the stubborn bastard..."

"Who?" Armin turns around, "Oh... Eren... tell me, Annie, why do you call him that? A stubborn bastard?"

Shrugging, I told him my reasoning. "To be honest, how long did it take for him to actually confess his love towards her? What? 5 years? I swear... it's gonna be another year for him to ask Mikasa to marry him."

Armin snickers, "Maybe... just, maybe."

"Oi, Armin..." Eren starts to say as he walks over with a cooler trailing behind him. How did I not notice that? "Aw... she's cute..." He says as he peeps over to Sylvia. "Hi there, cutie... it's me, Eren. Your godfather."

Mikasa then whacked Eren on the shoulder, "Come on, Eren. Do you really think that a two month old baby would remember you? Of course not, dummy."

"Who are you calling dummy, dummy?"

Sighing, it was never ending... "Still childish as I remember back in junior high..."

"Oi Annie-"

"Ah, Reiner! Bertholdt! Eh? Who's that little girl behind you guys?" Armin shouts as they arrived.

I hear Reiner's familiar chuckle. "Well, Rebecca, want to introduce yourself to my friends?"

Rebecca had black hair and brown eyes, acting all nervous and gripping onto Reiner's shirt. She clutched so hard and that she buried her face into his shirt. Bertholdt knelt to the floor, whispering to her... but she never released from her adopted father.

"Rebecca, huh?" I called out. "My name is Annie... wanna come and talk to me and my friend, Mikasa?" She silently nods, "Well, come here. I'll take you away from them... they're a bit crazy, am I right?"

"Yep..."

*   *   *

3rd Person POV

Minutes later, Rebecca, Mikasa, and Annie became best friends... and with the other guests arriving with their food for the potluck. After 20 years... they remained the same... close and having those feelings that they were best friends all this time. It felt like that final day back at the garden... after all the other kids hearing Levi sing to Hanji... after that Truth or Dare game... here they were.

Even after 20 years... they truly never changed... they were still those people from the past... just living in a new life, where they can bask in the glory of the peace and freedom that the ones from the walls longed for.

And now, seeing them being joyful, having a family... and being who they would've been without the titans... it's hard to believe that they are the same ones... the heroes from within the walls were the same people as the ones who they manged to get together once more... if they were to die again... no doubt they would find their true lover again. Besides... this was their brand new life... a brand new start... for a better life. To live their lives to its finest... a chance to start all over again.

~~~

Shout out to BlueFox0407! This was an amazing story and that I enjoyed writing this so much! The idea goes towards BlueFox, as it was their idea that they suggested to me. I'm the one who just wrote it out. I hoped you all enjoyed it, especially BlueFox.