Duty
Rating: T
Summary: They willingly bear the weight of endless burdens.

A/N: Not much to say, other than that I was suddenly inspired by a new headcanon.

On this day, they reunite at dusk.

Mikasa is shutting the outermost castle doors when she notices Levi's approach, with his sluggish form silhouetted against the setting sun. In this post-Titan era, she serves as the Queen's most trusted guard, while he continues to lead voyages that expand humanity's territory. With each additional journey, those destinations become more distant, but just as the idiom postulates, his ever-extending absence plants even more seeds of fondness in her heart.

No goodbyes is something they agreed upon from the beginning, for the words always sound far too ominous and final. But at least for today, the instruments that gauge her longing can finally reset again.

Welcome back. Her lips almost twitch into a smile.

What do you want for dinner? As always, his greeting is terser than hers, but a hint of relief is also embedded within the composed ocean of his eyes.

They visit the market together on the way home, bearing in mind certain objectives as they navigate through rows of produce and columns of meat. While searching for the ideal fruit, their fingers brush together time and again over an eclectic array of apples, and the blush of her skin paints yet another shade onto that existing canvas of red.

When they return to the streets side-by-side, mission completed and fingers now linked, the same whispers begin to follow them at every street corner.

Are they "together?"

Do people like them even have such feelings?

Can they serve their duties properly if they might distract each other?

Her heart throbs - burning with proof that yes, they can.

Or at least, she thinks that she can.

Tonight, Levi's kisses taste of the apple pie that still sits upon their table - her mother's old recipe, with every step followed meticulously by his diligent hands. On such evenings Mikasa knows that he doesn't hesitate to use their prized, tiny stock of cinnamon powder, for its scent reignites her most cherished of childhood memories.

However, she is no longer a child, and rather than dwelling in the past for too long she clings to the present with desperate passion. Like countless times previous, her nails dig crevices into his flesh, scratching out muffled phrases in a way somehow legible to him.

To nearly everyone else, they must retain the burdens of being Humanity's Strongest. Yet in the midst of incessant obligations, they allow themselves to be vulnerable again at every reunion and carelessly shatter beneath those undulating sheets. Only here can harnesses no longer bind them, and every haunting memory from the past diminishes against the intensity of their breaths.

Levi, she gasps again and again, her mind saturated with nothing but his presence.

He never breathes her name in return, but the tender way he cradles her climaxing hips expresses enough.

As always, he leaves without a farewell the next morning, already heading to places still unknown.

Mikasa finishes the apple pie for breakfast, quickly savoring every last crumb before departing their haven. Today is the knighting ceremony for Jean and Connie, and she cannot allow any personal bliss to cloud her vigilance during the occasion. On the way to the castle, however, she briefly wonders whether Levi will return a month or a year from now.

Hours later, as she watches the barrel of a gun being lifted in Historia's direction, Mikasa realizes that perhaps a year was too short of an assumption.

She shoves the Queen aside, allowing that sense of responsibility to subdue all thoughts of personal consequence. In the same moment, a projectile forces its way through her torso, defying all claims of her rumored invincibility yet cementing the reports of her selflessness.

As she stares blankly into the stratosphere, Mikasa wonders if the wound will scar, and if Levi's fingers will caress that new incongruity upon her skin the next time he returns - not to smooth it over, but rather as another way to cherish their shared imperfections.

No, she muses, He might scold me to oblivion first.

Though Levi receives the report at the beginning of his expedition, he does not return until all the new settlement plans are complete. When he finally reaches her weeks later, she watches him stand in the rain for hours.

Her gravestone is that of a normal citizen's, without any embellishment denoting the accolades of one who made the ultimate sacrifice. She made such a request to Armin ages ago, knowing that he would respect it despite any objections from others.

In the end, being simply "Mikasa Ackerman" may have been enough.

As Levi's sharp gaze burrow into those carved letters, she wants to tell him that no matter how long he remains, the wretched arms of mortality will restrain her from fulfilling another reunion. And even when he finally departs the earth, the infinite souls that crowd this side of the universe may still keep them apart for eons to come. Here, no one recollects the story of anyone else, for all are disoriented in their own search for what has been lost. She bears no more obligations, yet having only self is an even hollower ideal.

But under his drenched locks, Mikasa notices that Levi's eyes are determined – and wild, even more zealous than any of the moments they shared on the battleground or in their bedroom. It is then that she recognizes he will hold true to their promise, and that their reunion will still be inevitable when his time finally comes.

No goodbyes will become a duty in itself.

And so she embraces him wordlessly while masquerading as thin wisps of air, just before a formidable breeze delivers her into the skies.

Farewells have never existed between them, after all.

[Fin]

A/N: The headcanon was that even after the war, the two of them would still obey whatever they're ordered to do to the utmost degree - even if it kept them apart.