OH MY LORD I COULDN'T POST YESTERDAY - IT GAVE ME AN ERROR MESSAGE! WWHHHYYYYY?!

So I am guessing that the title of this chapter is a BIT OF A GIVEAWAY. Yes, this is the last chapter *sob*. I have been posting this since January 5th 2017, and you guys have followed me through that. Whether you have only just come on, or you have been with me ages, I just want to say…

THANK YOU.

Especially to the serial reviewers, namely:

purplepiepie

mistalenny

Mony LaRosiere

Lacey

hollersparrow

Atreides03

analyzing

Veionyx

altraakari313

Crystal Llama

And the guest/s, you know who you are ;)

AND IF YOU ONLY POSTED ONCE, I STILL LOVE THE HELL OUTTA YOU FOR DOING SO!

Even if you didn't review, YOU STILL WILL NOT ESCAPE MA LOVE! THANK YOU FOR READING, YOU WONDERFUL PPL!

I would never have finished this thing if it wasn't for you guys.

This is the first time I have shown my writing to anyone who isn't family, teachers, or friends. It was nerve-wracking, but the response blew my mind. I will continue to write stories on here, and also, this story will soon go up on AO3 (Archive of Our Own, and my name is still SoullessQuill). My English and writing skills have greatly improved over the year too, I mean, at the start of the story I USED TO PUT FULL STOPS AFTER EVERY BIT OF SPEECH UGGGGHHHHH. Anyway, I could ramble on and on to my heart's content, but that's fucking boring, so here y'all are…

The ending of A Universal Understanding…

Enjoy.

TWO MONTHS LATER…

I was flying… I thought I would never fly again, and I couldn't do nearly as much as I used to. But still, I zipped through the air, flinging my hooks into the trees by the castle with my left arm. Upon hearing the roar of hooves up the hill, I landed and ran to the courtyard. The Scouts flooded through, looking battered and weary as usual. Levi came through amidst the crowd, his face grim. He slid off his horse, leading it into the stables, and grabbed the saddle, pausing to take in a breath. I could tell he was more than a little distressed. Silently, I put my hand on his shoulder. He turned sharply, relaxing when he saw it was me.

'Come on,' I tugged at his sleeve. He reluctantly followed. I took him to the cliff edge, surrounded by trees and a vast landscape of countryside below.

'What happened?' I questioned. He shrugged and sat on the grass, picking at it. I sat next to him.

'I don't know…'

'Yes you do,' I replied almost instantly.

He sighed and raked a hand through his hair. 'I guess… A flashback? It hasn't happened before, I don't know why the hell I am freaking out about it.' There was a growl to his tone.

'What was the flashback?'

'Two friends… I had… Died… There was a pair of Scouts today that got eaten… They really reminded me of them…' He turned away from me a little. I understood his struggle. I was honoured to be allowed to see this much of Levi's emotions. Usually, he kept all this to himself, and I must seriously have his trust to be let in like this.

'Levi… That's perfectly OK.' I scooted closer to him and prised his shoulder around to face me.

'…I just… It just… Freaked me out…' He mumbled, hiding his face and scowling harder. The sun was setting, casting golden light over the fields far below us. We were on top of the world here, even if we didn't feel like we were. We were above everyone and their petty problems, their busy day-to-day lives. That's why I liked it here. I was above the chaos. Only peace found its way here.

I pulled him towards me, and he buried his face in my neck. He was shaking a little. Snaking my arm around him, I began to sing.

'For the ones to whom we weep,

Rest in everlasting peace.

The sky is the silence,

In which pain is to cease.

No giant can touch them,

Up up, so high.

No weight can drag down,

Those who rule the skies.

If you look hard among the stars,

Their eyes will stare on back

Their cheers run rampant in the wind,

While the living attack.

The fight is for us to bear,

They have had their share.

So listen to their voices,

As whispers in the air.'

Levi stopped shaking.

'As whispers… In the air…'

LEVI

I stood under the blinding morning sun. It warmed one side of my face, leaving the other cold and shadowed. I was waiting for Novalie to finish her ODM training session. She was a good teacher, she was really patient with the slow ones and, as she had always been, she was good at explaining things. She also – miraculously – managed to use ODM despite only having one arm, although it was a rather less spectacular thing now. There were no daring nose-dives and head-over-heels. She didn't care though, she just wanted to be able to fly.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that she managed the impossible. She seemed to ignore every rule of defeat. She was undefeatable because she just wouldn't stop fighting. Sure, mentally, she had her weaknesses, but otherwise…

She was a fucking miracle.

I caught myself daydreaming, just thinking about her, and noticed I was smiling. When I snapped out of it, I realised Novalie was right beside me, staring at me in mild shock.

'You are smiling…' She murmured.

'I am happy,' I replied.

As soon as I had uttered those words, her face lit up. Her eyes shone like lanterns bursting into flame and she, too, broke into a grin. I felt the colour drain from my face and the blood rush to my cheeks.

'Then so am I,' she said. She looked like a whole different person, and in a surreal moment that felt like forever, I realised that what I was looking at right now was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. My entire body tingled, my heart thumping harder. Novalie… What are you doing to me with that smile?!

NOVALIE

Happiness flooded through me. They say pursue what makes you happy, and THIS, Levi being happy, that is what it takes. Smiling felt… Odd… But natural. It was not forced, it was entirely genuine. When I saw the look on Levi's face, I simply could not hold back laughter.

LEVI

I must be dreaming… This is music to my ears.

NOVALIE

I must be dreaming… Never have I felt so painless…

Well if so… I never want to wake up.

EPILOGUE - NOVALIE

It turns out that of everything in my past that I hated and locked away, the thing I despised the most was myself, and therefore I locked myself away with all of the trauma. I shut myself out, leaving me blank and unattached and empty. I actually repelled my own personality. I never had anyone to tell me I was OK, I was normal, I was not some anomaly. All my life, all people have been doing is try and fix me, so over the years, the only thing I thought of myself was that there was something wrong with me. It took another person for me to see differently, someone I could relate to, to a scary degree. I never thought to look back at myself until now, and I'm not perfect, I'll never be, but I get it now. I think sometimes, when you learn to understand someone, you end up coming to understand yourself.

Our life is most likely going to be a short one, but hell, it's going to be a bloody good one.

Levi Ackerman, my brother...

I love you.

I always will.

Hail to the Universal Understanding of Levi Ackerman and Novalie Kansten.