Sakura Petals
Genre: Fantasy AU!
Rating: PG-13, M (some parts)
Pairing: CaptainLevi! x Co-CaptainReader!
Setting: Pre-Rumbling, Takes place in between seasons 3 and 4 of AOT when the dream team travels undercover to Marley right before the raid on Liberio.
Summary: You never thought you'd live in a world without titans. Let alone outside of the walls. After the reclamation of Wall Maria, things seemed to speed up so much that the past four years seem to blur together. The countless meetings, driving the titans to extinction, being promoted to captain, even all of the new Marleyean allies that you've come to know and befriend all seem like distant memories now. The only thing that seems to be staying in place in your life is him. Levi. Which, I suppose, makes sense considering the man absolutely hates change. Actually, the man seems to hate everything. Or, so you thought.
(Trigger Warning! Mentions of abuse and death.)
"Do you have a reason to be out past curfew, or are you just stupid?" Levi asks dryly, shoving his hands in his pockets as he walks up to you.
At the sound of his voice, you turn towards him, a small smile playing faintly on your lips as you respond, "guess I'm stupid then." A soft chuckle rumbles in your chest and you turn back to face the moonlit ocean. The waves seem to blur into one as the moonlight dances across them, and you bring your knees up a little closer to your chest.
A sardonic smile ghosts at the corner of his lips, "If you're stupid, it's a wonder you've made it this far."
A laugh tears its way out of your throat and you glance up at him from your seated spot, "Well, in that case, I must be a genius, huh?"
He snorts softly, a quiet 'tch' following suit as he shakes his head, plopping down beside you, "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
The air between you silences and for a few moments, the quiet sound of crickets chirping is almost snuffed out by the crashing of the waves against the sand. This sort of peace is nice, however fleeting it may be, especially in this line of work.
Levi clears his throat quietly, dusting a bit of sand off his pants leg as he raises his knee up, laying his arm over it. He lets out a huff before he speaks, "Speaking of..." His voice trails off for a moment, almost like he's hesitant to say what's on his mind before he gently shakes his head and begins again, "Did you come out here 'cause you couldn't sleep?"
Running a tired hand through your hair, you let out a soft sigh before flashing him a sheepish smile, "Yea, the nightmares seem to have gotten worse...if that's even possible."
Levi looks at you, and for the shortest of seconds, you swear you see his expression soften a bit before quickly returning to his usual aloof demeanor. He takes a moment to study you, almost like he's assessing you before he finally opens his mouth to speak, "They'll subside eventually."
He doesn't avert his gaze, nor does he reach out to touch you. Instead, he climbs to his feet, brushing the sand off his clothes before offering a hand to you, "Come on, let's get back to the camp. Perhaps the walk and night air will help put your mind at ease so you can sleep."
You glance at his hand, then up to his piercing grey eyes. If there's one thing that's absolutely undeniable, it's that Levi is, for lack of a better word, breathtaking. Every feature. Every dip. Every crease, curve and line, perfectly crafted. Sculpted into the gorgeous man that stands before you.
Swallowing thickly, you take his hand, trying to ignore the way this simple action has your heart beating so hard it feels like it's going to come straight out of your chest. He pulls you up with ease, his hand lingering on yours for a moment longer than it should, before he pulls away.
He tucks his hands back into his pockets as the two of you begin to make your way back to the designated campsite. For the first couple minutes, neither of you speak. The only sound filling the silence being the distant crickets and the leaves crunching beneath your feet as you walk.
Then, Levi clears his throat again, "Would you like to talk about the nightmare?"
"The usual," You respond, almost too nonchalantly, "Mae, my sister... her death was the choice tonight."
He nods. "It's important to let them go," he says, his tone almost a suggestion to himself, "You can't change the past, but you can determine the future." He tilts his head up, his eyes trained on the stars and moon shining brightly above you, "The only ones that matter now are those still standing. Think of the living. Remember the dead after everything is done."
His eyes then descend to you and he offers a small, almost unnoticeable smile, "We still have a job to do after all."
You look at him, subconsciously studying and memorizing every detail of his face and engraining it into your memory, nodding, "Yea..."
As you realize your falling into those beautiful dark eyes of his, you suddenly snap out of your daydream, shaking your head a bit and blinking as you avert your gaze. Clearing your throat, you huff out a soft laugh and ask, "Since when did you become a therapist?"
Levi's lips twitch at the corners, a hint of amusement in his gaze as he meets yours, "Grew up on the streets. Had to learn to speak to people somehow." He then casts his gaze downward, his eyes catching a glimpse of the scar that rests against your collarbone and disappears below your uniform shirt.
"On another note," He says, nodding to the scar, "I'm curious about that scar. Looks like it was a nasty one. Mind telling me the story behind it?"
Slowly, you raise your hand up, brushing your fingertips against the raised skin. A smile grows on your lips as you respond, "This was actually given to me by my sister. Funny how that works, right?"
He doesn't respond, nodding along instead as you continue, "We were sparring one day, out behind our house. We both wanted to be scouts when we were younger so, we pushed ourselves to train and work hard so we could become strong enough to enlist."
You pause, your smile fading a bit as the entire day comes back to you, "Well, uh, that morning, our father had gotten pissed at us for something and beat us so, we decided to go out to the barn to spar a bit. You know, take our minds off it..."
Your voice trails off a bit, more memories of the abuse you and your sister dealt with for years at the hands of your father flood your mind and you physically have to shake yourself out of your head. Blinking quickly, you take a deep breath and steal a glance towards him, forcing a smile onto your face, "Anyway, uh, there were some things said between us and she just so happened to get to a knife quicker than I could."
Slowly, you raise your fingers up to the collar of your shirt, tugging it down a bit to reveal a scar that runs from your collarbone to the area right above your breast. It's somewhat faded from age yet still sits prominently against your skin. The memory now makes that soft smile reappear on your face as you giggle a bit, "She came straight at me, would've killed me too if i didn't jump out of the way at the last second...Well, obviously not completely out of the way."
"Your father sounds like a cruel man," He comments after you finish, "You two were determined, though."
He turns to you, the dying campfire now in full view as we finally arrive back at the camp, "If you had do it all again, would you change anything?"
You take a moment to consider his words. Of course you had wondered what your life would be like if none of it had happened. If your father wasn't the piece of shit abuser that he was. If your sister never died. How different your life would be if your mother hadn't disappeared when you and Mae were little. But, you also wouldn't have all of the good memories with Mae.
"No," you respond softly, your eyes looking into his, "I don't think I would. I mean, sure, my father was a cruel bastard but...I had my sister so, it wasn't all bad."
He pauses, then nods, "I understand."
Silence embraces the air around you once again before Levi speaks up, his voice laced with a hint of amusement, "Well, I'm sure that's not the only scar she gave you."
That pulls a laugh out of you and you have to clamp a hand over your mouth to muffle the loud outburst. Allowing yourself to giggle a bit longer, eventually your hand drops and you nod to him, "Oh no, not hardly. But, we could stay out here all night and I still wouldn't be able to tell you all the stories."
For the first time tonight, Levi actually smiles at you, casting his gaze down to the ground before looking back up at you, "Perhaps another time, then. The last thing we need is an irate Erwin waking up and giving us the lecture of a lifetime."
You both snicker softly at the thought and Levi shifts his weight, signaling the end of this quiet and peaceful evening shared between you. "Get some sleep," He says, nodding to your tent, "We have an early morning tomorrow."
"Right," you agree, a shiver racking your body as you realize just how cold it actually is, "Goodnight."
With that, you offer him a soft smile before spinning on your heel and striding back to your tent, only casting a glance back towards him when you're sure he won't be looking. As soon as you reach your tent, you lean down and reach out to the zipper, yanking it up and throwing the tent flap open. The opening flops back in place after you enter and you turn to close it, zipping it all the way to ground.
You strip your clothes off, shivering slightly as you quickly pull your pajamas onto your body. As soon as your shirt slides over your body, you practically dive into the bedroll, shuffling under the blanket and wrapping it around yourself like a cocoon.
It takes you a while a finally fall asleep. The soft, distant sound of waves crashing lulling you gently, and for the first time in forever, you drift to sleep with a pleasant thought swimming in your mind.
Levi Ackerman.
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Author's note: Wow! It's been a long ass time since I posted anything on my page lol. Obviously now my interests have shifted, and I'm going to start writing a lot more anime based fanfictions. Honestly, I'm just going to start writing a lot more in general again. So, stay tuned for that!
Thank you so much for reading Part 1 of this new series. I'm not quite sure how many parts it's going to be, BUT I'm super excited to start writing again and I can't wait to share my stories with all of you! âĄ
