WriterTitan @writertitan - Tumblr Blog

Sep 15, 2025

Perennial // Part 8 (Final)

a/n: imagine my anguish when i realized i hadn't posted the last little bit of this fic here. MY BAD ILY

pairing: levi x fem!reader

overall themes: fantasy AU, strangers to lovers, traveling through realms, explicit content

part 8 themes: **NSFW** AND 18+ ONLY!! sexually explicit content!!! also angst, themes surrounding death and rebirth, violence.

Hange and Levi wasted no time in attempting to concoct a plan to leave the safehouse. When you asked about it, confused as to why you’d leave the safehouse, Hange went off into one of their famous and welcomed tangents.

“If Marley has this much control over the government already, it’s possible they know the location of all our safehouses and are beginning their searches to find Erwin. Honestly, it’s lucky they haven’t barged in here yet, knowing that Reiner has already taken you from this place. He probably shat his pants when you transported yourself away without a verse mirror or sigil, so I’m assuming he’s double checking that you didn’t accidentally slip back into the human realm. Anyway, we wouldn’t be the Scouts if we didn’t have some extra-charmed and hidden places that we’ve conveniently forgotten to inform the other regiments about.”

Their eyes seemed to shine as they spoke, glasses glinting mischievously in the dim light.

“Where are we going?” you asked, leaning against the wall as you watched Hange look over some maps.

“Utgard Castle,” Hange announced, pointing to it on the map. “We’ll hopefully meet up with the rest of the Scouts there.”

“Does everyone know that this is the meeting point?” You were a little surprised and impressed at how efficient the Scouts seemed to be.

“We’ve been preparing for something like this for a while,” Levi answered, arms folded across his chest. “All Scouts have been informed to head to the castle if shit hits the fan, which it has. I just don’t agree that we should do it now, even with the threat of the MPs and Marley smoking us out.”

Before Hange could answer, the door quietly opened to reveal who you now knew to be a Scout named Armin. His blue eyes found Hange’s brown eyes, which had lit up at the sight of Armin.

“Back so soon?”

Armin had come in earlier with another, higher-ranking Scout named Miche, to start going over logistics. It had been immediately decided that Erwin and Miche would leave the safehouse to check the surroundings and make sure escaping would be possible, and Armin had been assigned to stand guard at the entrance to the safehouse. You had voiced worry over Erwin leaving, since it was Erwin who had wanted posters being passed around Shiganshina, but everyone, including Erwin, seemed amused.

“He’s the commander of the Scouts, Emb,” Hange said after he’d headed out with Miche. “He’s brilliant and has always been able to outsmart everyone else. Too smart for his own good, really. They won’t catch him unless he wants to be caught.”

With Armin standing at the door, it could only mean that Erwin and Miche were back. At the thought of that, you sighed in relief.

“Miche and Erwin are putting stronger charms around the entrance. That will keep the Warriors busy trying to undo them all, and it’ll probably trick them into believing we’re still hiding out in this safehouse,” Armin said. “They’re wanting to know if we’re ready to head to the castle.”

“Not now.”

“Yes.”

Levi and Hange had replied at the same time, causing Armin to blink.

“Shut up, Four Eyes. We need to wait and learn what Erwin and Miche report. It could actually be more dangerous to leave now,” Levi snapped. Only you saw the way his eyes flashed to you for a moment.

“Hange is right. We better move out as soon as possible.”

From behind Armin, Erwin appeared. He seemed to loom over the much smaller Armin, tall and broad, as he came into view.

Levi’s eyes flashed and his jaw clenched, but he said nothing, choosing to respect his commander’s final decision.

“Everything’s clear outside. There were a few Marleyan troops in MP uniforms, but we’ve subdued them for the time being. Waiting it out isn’t an option, even though it’s dark out. We’ve got just enough time to make it to Utgard Castle,” Erwin said. “We’ll need to get to Norcheck Temple to use the verse mirror there. ”

In an instant, Levi was at your side. His eyes were on yours, and he looked determined and a little stern.

“You don’t leave my sight at all until we get to that fucking castle, understand?”

You gave him a frown but nodded once. While you understood he was being protective, sometimes it was irritating how bossy he was.

“We’ve got more problems, though,” another voice said.

Miche stepped into the room, making it even more crowded, and you all turned your attention to him.

He raised a new piece of paper, this time with a familiar face sketched on it.

You felt your stomach turn as you stared at the sketch of Levi’s face.

“The Marleyans are already controlling the narrative. They’ve informed the public that the Scouts brought the human and Levi is protecting her, and have called for his capture, dead or alive. All the civilian whispers I’ve heard are…not good. They’re angry about the human being here, and angry with the Scouts for sheltering her, which gives more leverage to Marley and Military Police to detain the Scouts to earn public favor.”

“But I don’t understand,” you blurted out, instinctively clutching Levi’s hand. He squeezed yours back. “I thought…Hange told me that the Embla myths are overall pretty positive. How can the public have a negative opinion of me, if I’m some sort of living myth?”

“The Warriors are clever little bastards,” Miche sighed. “They’re spinning the story and saying that you have the power to turn Eldians into mortals and that’s why you’re here.”

“I see,” Hange murmured.

Armin and Erwin both seemed to finally understand, as if it had all clicked into place. It was eerie how similar they could be.

“It was a risky move, but they pulled it off,” Armin said, eyes wide. “That’s quite a gamble.”

“Yes,” Erwin murmured, then turned to you. “I think Marley’s plans have changed. They were originally betting on you agreeing to help them. Now that that’s not an option, this is their next move. They’re painting you out to be a very dangerous individual, and the public will insist on the military taking some sort of action against you. It’s one thing to praise a myth, and quite another to actually see it come to fruition. They’ll blame whatever happens next on you.”

As you listened to Erwin, you could feel Levi getting more distraught beside you. And, although you were terrified at what kind of situation you were suddenly thrust into, you tried your best to comfort Levi, your thumb stroking the back of hand to calm him down.

“How do you think they’re planning on merging the realms using Embla?” Armin asked Erwin, looking genuinely very curious.

“I don’t know yet,” Erwin admitted, “but we have to act fast. Armin, what do you think our first steps should be?”

Armin looked caught off guard, swallowing thickly, but you could see the wheels in his head turning as he thought about it.

“I don’t know if it makes sense to reveal that Marley has infiltrated the government. The Scouts don’t have a lot of credibility right now anyway, so it may not be believed, but it could also cause mass panic. Our biggest mission right now should be to get to Utgard Castle and meet up with the others. We’ll take a tally on who made it…because some Scouts may have already been captured. We should find out if anyone has more intel. I think Jean met up with Annie in Mitras, but I don’t know what came of that. She’s an MP, and it could be that she’s working with Marley now, if she didn’t resist their coup.”

By the time Armin finished talking, everyone was already moving into action.

“Put this on,” Levi insisted, pulling something over your shoulders.

It was a standard shawl with a hood, nothing fancy, but that was the point. You watched as they all did the same, all of them ignoring their green capes that you now knew to be part of their uniform. It made you sad to know that they had to hide themselves in this way.

Both moons in the sky were bright and lit the way towards Norcheck Temple. You were surprised to learn how light-footed all of them were, even Erwin, the biggest and stockiest of the bunch. It shouldn’t have been such a surprise, seeing as they were soldiers, but you couldn’t help but admire and be a little unsettled at how good they were at hiding their tracks and stealthing through a city like this.

The wanted posters featuring Levi and Erwin were already plastered throughout the city, and it made you feel sick. Feelings of fear but also anger began to course through you, making you feel tense. Nobody was going to hurt Levi, especially not because of you. You wouldn’t be able to live with yourself if something happened to him. A poster of Levi that was already vandalized made you grit your teeth. It showcased two X’s over his eyes and a red line across his neck. Nothing too gruesome, but grim and disrespectful. Anger overtook the fear inside of you, and you felt yourself go rigid. From out of the corner of your eye, you saw Miche turn towards you and sniff, but thought nothing of it. When you caught his gaze, he looked a little stunned, but said nothing.

Walking into the forest was easy, maybe too easy, until you heard some sirens and bells ringing from the city.

“They just found all the soldiers we handled,” Miche commented, a little smirk playing on his face. “Can smell their fear from here.”

You stuck to less traveled paths in the forest, which made you focus on how embarrassed you felt from how loud your footsteps were. Every snap of a branch and rustle of leaves from accidentally tumbling towards a tree made your face grow hot, but Levi’s hand never loosened its grip on yours.

When the temple came into view, you let out a breath you hadn’t realized you’d been holding, relief washing over you.

Erwin turned toward you and Levi, his eyes on the captain.

“You two go in first,” he instructed, his gaze suddenly scanning the area. “We’ll take care of these ones.”

“Huh?” you whispered, but you received your answer in the form of a gunshot that made Levi spring into action. He threw you over his shoulder easily and started running towards the lake that surrounded the temple. The small stepping stones barely had time to emerge before Levi was running on them, balanced and quick as he approached Norcheck Temple.

You lifted your head to see the commotion, registering a uniformed trio that had tried to blitz your group. One was a woman holding a rifle, who couldn’t aim at Hange in time before they lunged at her. Hange knocked her to the floor, but the woman was fast, and was able to slam the end of the rifle into Hange’s temple. You screamed as Hange slumped to the ground, unmoving.

The other two were men who were already pinned down to the ground by Erwin and Miche, while Armin was racing after you and Levi. He barely needed to look where he was walking, and was looking over his shoulder occasionally to see what was going on. His hand was fishing something out of his pocket, and you watched as he pulled out a small pistol to aim and shoot at the woman running towards you. He missed, and she barely blinked an eye as the bullet whizzed past her. She was fast, so fast that she caused Armin to lose his balance and fall into the lake as she caught up to him and faked trying to push him.

Then, her eyes were focused on you, looking almost feral as they glinted in the moonlight.

“Levi, she’s catching up to us!” you said, squirming in Levi’s iron grip.

“Stop moving!” he ordered you, but it was too late. You were too panicked and squirming too much, feeling useless just being carried around, and it was bad enough to make Levi lose his balance. The two of you tumbled into the lake, still several feet away from the temple. The woman dove in after you and, by the time you came up for air, she was already putting her hands on you, a hand twisting into your hair.

“Don’t make this harder than it has to be,” she warned you, but you were still in full panic mode, thrashing in the water and trying to slap her away while simultaneously trying to keep afloat.

“Get away from me!” you screamed, satisfied when one of your legs connected with her shin underwater and made her yelp in pain.

Levi had come up behind her. But before he could get his arms around her neck, she noticed his presence and threw an elbow back, the blow landing on his face and making him lose his grip on her.

Blood spurted from his nose and he looked dazed, which was enough to put you in a fury. It was odd, to go from terrified to enraged so quickly, but it was like you could barely control it. Even your very blood felt hot as a fire ignited in you.

And that buzzing. That buzzing was back.

The air felt electric, but so did your blood. You barely even needed to try to keep yourself afloat, as if the water was just accommodating itself around you. The lethal look in the woman’s eyes vanished. Instead, it was replaced by the same type of terror you’d just been feeling.

“Get away from me, and get away from him,” you seethed.

You’d meant to slap her.

You raised your arm, palm facing out, intent on slamming it into her face. However, something else happened.

As your arm swung towards her, hand wanting so badly to connect with her cheek, it was like something surged out of you. Like the electricity you were feeling had found an outlet. Your hand didn’t make contact, but this power that had been inside of you did. A surge of it raged against the soldier and you watched in shock as she was catapulted from the water and hurtled back onto line, right by Erwin and Miche and a still unconscious Hange.

Levi’s eyes widened, Armin looked gobsmacked, but the adrenaline was the push you needed to get your ass into gear.

“Let’s go!” you told them, already hoisting yourself up onto the stepping stones. It was hard to keep yourself balanced, but you managed it, only needing to endure it for a few more steps before you were finally in front of the temple.

Once you got inside the temple, you stood in front of the mirror, panting and still angry, but now feeling the shock and horror set in.

“We were being followed,” you breathed out, looking to Levi and reaching out for him. You examined his face, his bloody nose, but he looked okay.

“Yeah, you were the loudest thing in the fucking forest, it wasn’t hard to track us down,” Levi deadpanned, forcing you to face the mirror. “I’m fine. You know the drill.”

You took his hand, but this time, Armin came up next to you to take your hand as well. You noticed his hand was trembling.

“It’ll be easier with all three of us,” he told you with a gentle smile. His eyes were frantic, however.

“It doesn’t affect her like it does us,” Levi said to Armin. “Let’s go.”

“It doesn’t?” Armin asked, surprise overtaking the frantic look in his eyes, but Levi shot him a glare.

“Armin, focus.”

As you moved through the verse mirror, you closed your eyes and squeezed Levi’s hand, hoping that Erwin, Hange, and Miche would follow you soon. They looked like they had overtaken the other soldiers easily, and you had no doubt that Erwin and Miche could bring Hange over, but you still felt the need to wish for their safe passage through the mirror. The fear of them being seriously hurt was overwhelming.

When you finally felt like you’d fully passed through, you opened your eyes. You were in a cramped room, facing a closed wooden door with warm light peeking through the cracks. The room was bare, save for the mirror and some unknown things covered in tarp. It smelled musty, and the walls were made of stone.

Armin and Levi didn’t seem to tired out from the verse mirror. If it had been hard on them, they didn’t show it.

“We made it,” Armin sighed, his gaze turning just for a moment towards the mirror. “The two of you should keep going. I’ll wait here for the others.”

“I’ll send some Scouts over, in case those three ran into any more trouble,” Levi said, already tugging you along.

You followed him out of the room, and the rest of the castle wasn’t much better than that musty room. Outside of the room, there was nothing but the entrance and a staircase that spiraled up, along with scattered wooden crates and more tarp-covered things. There were voices upstairs, which Levi guided you towards.

“Who’s there?” a demanding voice asked, and Levi sighed in irritation.

“It’s me,” he announced, then paused, looked at you, and added, “and the girl.”

The voices shushed, before someone raced down the stairs to meet you halfway. He was a boy, as young as Armin, with a buzzed haircut and light eyes.

“Wow, a human! Wait, why are you both soaking wet?”

“Connie, settle down,” Levi ordered, his voice low. “Who else has made it to the castle so far?”

You went up the rest of the way, Levi gently leaving you to stand away from the small group of Scouts. They all stared at you, until Levi barked an order to leave you alone and focus. You shivered, the air much cooler in the castle, and the fact that you were sopping wet from head to toe wasn’t helping.

You learned names but had trouble keeping up. Connie was the buzzcut boy, Sasha was the girl with the ponytail next to him. There was a Nanaba, a Historia, and a Mikasa, but you weren’t quite sure who was who. They were still waiting on two others named Eren and Jean to come in from the capital.

“What’s the plan?” Connie asked as Levi talked to the woman with the short blonde hair. Nanaba. She was the only one of the same rank as Levi.

As soon as he asked the question, footsteps echoed off the stone walls and stone staircase, making everyone tense until four heads came into view. You visibly relaxed when you saw Erwin and Armin coming up together, with Miche carrying Hange on his back. Hange was conscious again, but definitely looked a little out of it.

“Glad you’re here,” Levi said, nodding towards Armin, who looked comfortably dry despite also being plunged into the lake. “We’re still waiting for Jean and Eren to get here, so no intel just yet. Got a plan in the meantime?”

Before Armin could answer, there was a heavy thud downstairs. You jumped a little, backing up against the wall, and Levi was quick to get back by you.

“Hello?”

The voice sounded strained, but everyone seemed to also relax once they recognized it.

“It’s Jean!” Connie said, already racing down the stairs. Mikasa and Armin were on his tail, all of them scrambling to see their friend.

“I guess it’ll be a while before we get a fully functional plan,” Levi sighed, turning to you. His eyes softened a bit, before he offered his hand. “Come with me.”

You willingly followed him to a private room. The door clicked shut behind him, muffling the sounds of the others outside. It was dark, until suddenly some lamps ignited and cast a warm glow around you, no doubt Levi’s doing.

“It’s still so strange how easily you can do that,” you said, mostly to yourself, your eyes flickering from Levi’s to the lamps in wonder. Magic was just natural for him, just another part of who he was.

“Look who’s talking,” Levi said. You turned back to face him, taking in the sight of him taking off his cloak and tossing it onto a rickety wooden table in the corner. He folded his arms over his chest, staring you down expectantly. It made you shrink back, a little shocked.

“What do you mean?”

“How did you do that, back at the temple?” he asked, his eyes unwavering. “You used magic.”

You’d been so focused on just getting to the castle and adjusting to the new people and new surroundings that your brain had pushed your little magic stint to the backburner. As the memory raced back to the front of your mind, your breath caught in your throat.

“Oh yeah,” you whispered, blinking once. You couldn’t help the trembling of your hands as you brought them up close to your face, examining them as if they had the answers. You looked up at Levi, almost stuttering as you said, “I don’t know how I did that. It just…happened.”

“Walk me through it,” he said, voice much gentler this time. He seemed to relax exponentially at the realization that you’d done it without realizing.

“Are you mad?” you asked, frowning a bit. It was ridiculous – why would he be mad? But to see him so stern with you was unsettling. It reminded you of when you’d first met, how closed off he was with you. He’d softened just now, back into the Levi that had let you in. But he’d been off since hurrying you and Armin into the verse mirror at Norchek Temple. “Of course I’m not mad,” Levi said, moving forward until he was right in front of you. His hand reached up to undo the clasp of your cloak, pulling it off your shoulders. You shivered, the cool air hitting the damp clothes that clung to your body.

“Can you do a little magic to dry us off?” you asked between chattering teeth, hugging yourself and wincing at the squelching sound your clothes made when you touched them. “I was kind of hoping you could try to do that,” Levi said, and he looked like he meant every word. “You’re getting stronger, Emb. Try and walk me through what happened at the lake, and let’s test it out here.”

You sighed and drew your brows together as you thought back, biting the inside of your cheek.

“I was really scared when that soldier got to us. I didn’t know how to fight back well enough when we were in the lake, and my mind was all over the place. But then, when she hurt you, it was just like…my whole body felt electrified and focused. I went from being scared to being angry that she’d hurt you, and all I could think about was making her get away from the both of us. All I wanted was for her to get away. I meant to slap her, but my hand never even connected with her stupid face. I guess it was magic that left me. It felt like an invisible force that surged out of my hand and sent her flying. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

Levi nodded once.

“Did it feel similar to when you escaped from Reiner?” he questioned. You nodded, realization coming over you.

“Actually yeah, it was almost exactly the same. The buzzing was less intense in the air, but I could still feel it inside of me, like it was in my blood or something. When I was running from Reiner, all I could think about was making my way back to you. I just wanted to see you again. And then…there you were when I opened the door,” you said.

“Your body and mind are growing accustomed to using intent,” Levi said, his hands gently prying yours away from your torso. “Intent is hard to master when you’re new to magic. Try and focus your energy on getting us dry.”

He held your hands in his impossibly warm ones, stepping so close to you that you could feel his breath fan over your face. It distracted you for a moment, but you tried to do as you were told. You closed your eyes and took a deep breath to center yourself, the desire to be warm and dry being the only thought you had.

It was difficult; the other times your magic had worked without you knowing it, you’d had an overwhelming desire to get what you wanted. The overwhelming desire to see Levi, the overwhelming desire to rid yourself of that soldier, it had consumed your mind. And, while you wanted to not be soaking and shivering, it wasn’t a desire that came with the same urgency as the others. Now that you had to be more aware of your power and intent, it didn’t come so easily.

Slowly, though, your mind focused only on the want to be dry. It got easier when Levi entered your thoughts, and you remembered that he was just as miserable and wet as you. The surge of power pulsed through you, not as powerful as the other times, but enough to spike your adrenaline.

There were no coherent thoughts, just the general wish to be clean and dry, and it felt like a wave of something washed over you briefly. When you opened your eyes again, you blinked in surprise to see that it had really worked. Levi was dry and so were you.

Your eyes lit up and you gave Levi a huge grin, looking down at yourself and grasping at your clothes.

Not a drop of water on them.

“I did it!” you exclaimed, shocked but happy.

You expected Levi to celebrate with you, if only in his sarcastic way, but he merely gave you a short-lived smile before he leaned in to kiss your forehead, his lips lingering there.

“Are you sure you’re not mad?” you asked, your smile dying down. “You just seem so tense, Levi.”

“I’m not mad, I’m just…I don’t like being reminded of what could happen to you, once you fully become an Eldian,” Levi murmured, his face still close to yours. His eyes held yours and you could finally see the emotion behind them, how worried he was. Of course, it all made sense now. The more you eased into your new sense of being as an Eldian, the more the myths rang true.

Instead of saying anything, you closed the barely-there gap between you and kissed him. It was soft and quick, but you hoped it conveyed what you couldn’t say with words. That you loved him, and it would be okay, and you trusted him to protect you.

When you pulled away, you lifted an arm up to smell your clothes because you’d caught a whiff of lake water. When you realized that it was, in fact, the smell of the lake that was still clinging to you, you scrunched up your nose.

“I guess it didn’t work as well as I thought,” you mumbled. “There’s still…residue on me.”

“Yeah, drying spells are only good for drying. It’s not like taking a bath,” Levi explained. “Try telling that to Hange, though. Disgusting.”

You laughed a little at that but turned your attention back to the door when someone knocked on it. Armin entered a moment later, looking a little apprehensive, like he was nervous he was interrupting.

“Jean and Eren are back,” he announced, mostly talking to Levi. “They brought Annie with them.”

Levi raised an eyebrow at the mention of Annie’s name. Armin seemed to be uneasy, too. Naturally, it made you curious.

“Is there a problem with Annie?” you asked.

“She’s with the Military Police,” Levi told you.

“Eren is pretty adamant that they helped her escape. She swears she wasn’t cooperating with Marley and has intel,” Armin said, but he seemed conflicted, his blue eyes showing how unsure he was. “Commander Erwin wants you both to come and hear her out so we can start strategizing.”

“We’ll be out in a second,” Levi said, and that was Armin’s cue to leave, the door remaining ajar.

You stared at each other in silence for a moment, until you whooshed out a breath and gave him a small smile, a silent signal that you were ready.

“I guess I’m an honorary Scout now, huh?” you teased, holding onto Levi’s arm as he guided you out of the room.

Levi didn’t seem to like your joke too much.

“You don’t want to be a Scout,” he said finally.

A hum of quiet discontent left you, and you chose to ignore the humming in your veins.

------------------

The day passed by slowly. Exhaustion crept into your bones from the lack of sleep, but you were adamant on staying awake and helping everyone else out despite Levi’s protesting that you should rest.

After speaking with Annie until dawn broke out, it seemed everyone shook her off as a threat. Everyone except Levi, who didn’t hide his suspicious glares her way every once in a while. Hange and even Erwin had told him to relax in hushed whispers, but Levi kept his guard up around her all day, especially when you were around.

She’d made a pretty convincing case, especially with Jean and Eren advocating for her, and did provide good intel that seemed to help with Erwin and Armin’s plans. It was true that Marley had infiltrated the Military Police and Garrison branches of the Eldian military, so the Scouts were the last line of defense and Marley’s biggest concern at the moment. Though there were some Scouts at the castle, there were many unaccounted for. When you’d brought this up to Levi, he mentioned some good news and some bad news, the good news being that, because they’d been anticipating this, there were set locations for Scouts to hide. The bad news being that there was a high likelihood that many of his comrades had already been arrested, and subjected to horrors you didn’t want to think about to get information on the leadership’s whereabouts.

And your whereabouts.

You thought back to last evening and getting the news from Miche that civilians were calling for your capture, and now were calling for the arrests of Erwin and Levi. They wanted Levi dead or alive, specifically. It could only get worse as the news spread.

Shaking those thoughts from your head, you tried to focus on the task at hand, which was allegedly simple: opening the door to your new bedroom.

Utgard Castle was an abandoned castle and much of it had turned to rubble over the years, but there were still living quarters that were suitable. Much of the day had been cleaning duty for the Scouts, with you helping as much as possible, but Hange had also turned you into a little science experiment as well.

After Annie had been dismissed and the other Scouts had slumped off for quick naps before getting to work on making the castle somewhat comfortable to hide out in, Levi had made Erwin, Miche, Hange stay back, as well as Armin, all of you gathered around a wooden table that had seen better days and smelled of rot.

Levi had wasted no time in revealing that you’d done magic before coming here, with Armin as witness, and then again just before the meeting with Annie, and Erwin and Miche seemed to have something click for them.

“I knew there it wouldn’t have been possible for Captain Levi to throw her all the way over to us,” Miche snickered, but his expression turned serious as he looked at you. “You’re getting stronger. I can smell it in you, the magic. You smell more and more like an Eldian each day.”

“The aura around you is also less human,” Hange mused, cocking their head to one side. “We haven’t needed to give you more doses of tohka oil.”

“Armin, it shouldn’t need to be said, but be sure to keep this to yourself,” Erwin said to the younger soldier, who nodded once in understanding.

“Yes, sir.”

Erwin had turned to Hange then and murmured something to them, which had Hange nodding as well.

They both turned to you, but Hange especially had a glint in their eye.

“I think it’s time to put you to the test, dear Embla,” they announced, a sneaky grin playing at their lips. “I’d like to see just how powerful you are.”

Which led you to now. Hange had instructed you all day on doing simple tasks but having you use magic instead of physical force. Some things you had been able to do without too much fuss, like filling previously empty buckets with water, and heating up some stew for lunch, but this new task of opening the door was proving to be more difficult.

You were standing directly in front of the door, brows furrowed in concentration as you willed it to open, but nothing was happening. With a sigh, you stepped forward and pressed your forehead against the door, wondering what the matter was. Why was this particular task so hard? Something felt blocked to you; no matter how hard you willed for it to open, it didn’t happen.

You straightened up when you heard footsteps approaching, looking in the direction they were coming from. The hallway only had small windows carved out of the stone wall, making the lighting a little dim, but the late evening sun illuminated the silhouette just enough to make out that it was Hange, probably returning to see your progress. They had specifically instructed you not to go inside the room unless you had opened the door using your magic.

“No luck?” they asked, a knowing smile on their lips, and you frowned.

“This one is tricky,” you admitted. “I don’t know why.”

“Because it’s a trick,” Hange said casually, leaning against the wall next to the door. “I charmed it so it would be next to impossible to open with magic.”

“Hange!” you groaned, a little relieved but also a little annoyed. “Why would you have me standing here like an idiot to try and open it when you knew I wouldn’t be able to?”

“Magic isn’t just about knowing how to use it, it’s about knowing when it’s been used. Did you feel different when you were trying to open the door?”

You nodded slowly, raising a brow, before saying, “Yeah…it felt like there was some sort of block. Like literally talking to a brick wall.”

“A lot of sealing spells feel that way. If you’d eventually just tried to physically open the door, you would have also found it extremely difficult to open with brute strength. It takes a combination of physical and magical effort to undo. A different version of this type of magic is what verse mirrors use, so I’m very curious to know why you can move through those without using much energy, but a seal seems to be hard on you.”

Before you could reply, Hange pushed off the wall to stand next to you, their eyes on the door.

“Now that you know it’s been charmed, I want you to actually use your magic. See if you can detect the magic, and then see if you can undo it.”

“How do I do that?” you asked, turning to face Hange, who still kept their eyes ahead.

“Instincts,” was all they said.

You grumbled under your breath but focused your attention on the door again, this time with the goal being to identify the charms put into place.

At first, nothing really changed for you. It was the same door you’d been looking at all this time, and you hadn’t gotten the slightest notion before that there was anything amiss. Still, you took a deep breath and cleared your mind, closing your eyes to help your concentration.

The longer you kept your eyes closed, the more you could…notice something. You weren’t looking at anything, obviously, but it was like you could still see something in your mind’s eye. It was like a barrier over the door, hiding it from you, protecting it.

You inhaled sharply and opened your eyes, afraid that you wouldn’t be able to see it physically, but you were surprised to see that the door looked a little warped. It looked normal but also didn’t, now that you knew what you were looking for.

“Oh,” you breathed out, blinking in surprise.

“What do you see?” Hange asked, already very well knowing the answer.

“I can’t describe it very well, but it’s like there’s a pane of glass over the door. Very clean, very unnoticeable glass,” you answered, your adrenaline spiking at the thrill of figuring it out.

“Break it.”

You took another deep breath, confused as to how you were supposed to do that, but decided to keep going on instinct like Hange had instructed.

Maybe it was like breaking actual glass – if you focused on your magic like that, and acted like you were breaking actual glass, maybe it would undo the charms.

When you tried that and nothing happened, though, you slumped your shoulders and went back to square one.

“It’s hard to undo charms,” Hange told you, encouragement lacing their voice as they continued to say, “but I know you can do it, or at least figure out the way to do it. I didn’t make these too strong, just in case, but it’s okay if you can only figure out how to use your magic without actually being able to apply it.”

You closed your eyes again, still seeing that metaphysical glint taunting you, and you sighed as you thought harder on how to undo the seals.

They were weak charms, according to Hange, so it couldn’t be that bad. How could you undo it? How could you break through?

Maybe you were thinking about this with human logic. This would have to be Eldian logic. You’d have to think like an Eldian, think with your magic.

That familiar electric hum came to live in your veins as you focused on the seal, letting your magic take over your instincts. You gasped a little when you felt your power pulse out of you, invisible tendrils of it prodding at the barrier. It was different this, though. This time, the intention took a different shape. You felt whispers of it in your blood. You concentrated harder, ignoring the pulsing headache you were getting, and watched in wonder as you created a barrier of your own. Instead of it looking like glass, however, it surprised you to feel it manifest. Heat, like fire. You stepped forward, hands keeping an even control on your new shield of sorts.

In a moment, your own sealing spell had been created and had pressed into the seal Hange had set, and it was like you were setting it on fire, destroying it with something stronger. Your hands could almost feel it, the energies being melted together, and you used your physical body to keep your magic there, fighting at Hange's charms.

Unbeknownst to you, Hange was watching in delighted shock, and you hadn’t noticed Levi come down the hall just in time to witness your breakthrough.

Your spell dissipated along with Hange’s, and you found yourself exhaling loudly and feeling a little dizzy.

“I did it,” you said, but the lack of energy in your words is what alarmed Levi, always so hyperaware of how you were doing.

“Take it easy,” he warned you, but your head was already spinning and you were teetering on your feet, unable to keep your balance.

He caught you before you could hit the ground and you willingly slumped against him, closing your eyes to get rid of some of the nausea creeping in.

“Emb, are you okay?” Hange asked, worry lacing their words. You couldn’t answer, but nodded meekly. You heard the door open and you were suddenly being carried in Levi’s arms and hurried into the room, the musty, cold air hitting you and actually making you feel a little better.

When you opened your eyes, the nausea and dizziness had ebbed away, and you were lying on the cot that was in the corner of the room. Warm sunlight poured into the only window in the room, dust particles dancing in the rays, and then there was Levi, hovering over you with startled eyes. Hange stayed back by the door, concern etched on their face.

“You’re bleeding,” Levi murmured, and you lifted a hand to wipe at the warmth you felt seeping from your nose. You wiped the wetness from the top of your mouth and bottom of your nose and, when you pulled your hand away to look, you made a face when you saw blood. It was a startling shade of red, too vibrant, and you took the handkerchief Levi offered gratefully.

You wiped your hand and your nose, attempting to sit up, but Levi gently but firmly kept you laying down.

“I think that’s enough practice for today,” he said with a tone of finality. There’d be no arguing with him about it.

“The sun is going down anyway,” Hange said, then yawned. “Everyone’s been working hard all day. We all deserve a meal and some shuteye.”

“I’ll bring your dinner,” Levi told you, but you whined in protest, sitting up despite Levi’s glaring.

“I’ll be fine, I just overdid it a little,” you said. “And you said I could help you keep watch tonight.”

Everyone had been taking turns guarding the verse mirror today, just in case anyone decided to come through. Whether it be Scouts or more unwelcome guests, Erwin didn’t want to take the risk of leaving it unattended and letting someone sneak in. After dinner, Levi would have the first shift of the night, right up until midnight. You hadn’t been given any night watch shifts, so you’d asked Levi if he’d like some company, and he’d agreed. You didn’t want him to go back on his word.

Levi pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing before eventually turning his attention back to you.

“Let’s compromise. You lay down and get your energy back up. You eat your dinner in here. Then, you can come and guard the mirror with me. Sound good?”

“Will you also eat dinner with me in here?” you countered.

“I can do that,” Levi relented. You relaxed and then nodded, agreeing to those terms, and you said your goodbyes to Hange before turning to Levi once again.

“Why does it feel like you’re keeping me away from the others?” you asked him, raising a brow.

“You’re too observant for your own good, you little brat,” Levi sighed, sitting at the edge of the cot. He leaned in to kiss your forehead, his lips lingering, before he pulled away to give you a much softer gaze.

“So you are,” you confirmed, frowning a bit.

Why would he do that? You knew he wasn’t very cool with Annie being around and generally didn’t want people slacking off on their chores to gawk at you or pester you with questions, but it seemed almost unfair to keep you away like this. The way everyone had interacted with you had been harmless so far.

“I’m not trying to keep you isolated from the others. I don’t trust Annie, though, and while the others haven’t given me any indication that they have negative feelings about you or are believing the propaganda, I just feel…protective. I’ve been able to keep you safe and hidden until now. Please bear with me. It’s hard to have you so out in the open,” he confessed.

You worried your bottom lip, taking in his answer. It made sense, of course, but you knew you had to give him a truth he wasn’t willing to hear.

“I can’t be hidden away forever, Levi. That’s not a life. I can’t let fear rule over me anymore and I don’t want you to let fear cloud your judgment,” you told him.

Levi, as predicted, didn’t like to hear that, but said nothing in response aside from a low, “I’ll be back with your dinner,” before leaving the room. You curled up into the cot, the mattress and sheets scratchy against your skin, but you were secretly glad to get some rest. Breaking the seal had taken a lot out of you, but the exhaustion was mostly mental. You dared to say it was deeper than that, like your actual power had taken a hit. Hange had seemed surprised – you’d have to talk to them about it another time.

You dozed off just for a bit, until the door opened again, and Levi came in balancing a tray of food.

“We’ll hurry and eat because I have to be back to relieve Jean. He’s being such a shit about having to eat while on guard,” Levi complained, but his tone was lighthearted and it made you smile.

Throughout the day, you caught glimpses of what Levi was like as a captain. He was a little bit of a hardass, but he cared for his comrades, and it was evident in his treatment of them. Like with him relieving Jean of his shift. Technically, you knew Levi still had some time before it was his turn, but he was willing to let Jean off early to get some sleep and take over for him, despite his complaints.

The two of you ate in silence, mostly to not waste more time, but you could also feel Levi’s eyes on you, flickering your way occasionally.

“I’m fine, Levi,” you reminded him, giving an exaggerated smile. “The bloody nose was just for a second. It was the most complicated thing I’ve done with magic so far, so I call it a win.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to get some sleep?” Levi prodded, but you gave him a glare.

“I’m really looking forward to spending some time with you,” you said. “We’ve both been busy today. I don’t really want to go to sleep alone.”

At that, Levi seemed to agree with you. He dropped the subject and finished up his stew, waiting for you to get your last bites in before the two of you set off back into the heart of the castle, where the room with the verse mirror was located.

Everyone had gone to their rooms, so the place was quiet and empty. Candles were lit all around, casting a buttery glow around you, and you admired the way some of the lanterns and wax candlesticks floated in the air, suspended by magic. You weren’t sure if you’d ever truly get used to that.

As you and Levi headed back into the room with the mirror, you were relieved to see that lanterns had been lit in there as well. There were two wooden chairs in the corner, Levi taking the one closest to the mirror, while you took the other.

With a contented sigh, you rested your head on his shoulder, eyes on the mirror. It looked like any other mirror right then, a dim reflection of the room looking back at you. No evidence of anyone coming through it anytime soon.

“You should try and sleep. It’s technically just my watch,” Levi said, but you shook your head, lifting it to look at him.

“No way. I’ll be your source of entertainment,” you teased, taking the opportunity to swing your legs into his lap. He gave you a look, but made no moves to push them off.

“More like a source of distraction,” he said, but leaned into your touch when you put your hand to his cheek. He kissed your palm before murmuring into it, “Be good.”

Your face grew hot but you smiled bashfully, moving your hand to brush his hair off his forehead.

He was right. You were on duty, so you needed to act like it. Still, now that you had your energy back, it was hard to keep your hands off of Levi. You made do with snuggling up into his side, your mind and body at ease now that you had him close and all to yourself.

The two of you stayed like that for a long time, holding each other close and basking in the comfortable silence, the warmth of your bodies staving off the chill of the castle.

Eventually, though, after a couple of hours, you spoke up.

“How long are we going to be here? At the castle?” you asked.

“Surprised it took you this long to start with the questions,” Levi replied instantly, but you just jabbed him in the side with your elbow.

“Answer me.”

“I don’t know, that’s up to Erwin to decide,” Levi said. “We have to think of a way to defeat Marley with little to no resources. It’s not that easy.”

You hummed in response, mulling things over. Reiner suddenly appeared in your mind, making you tense up, and Levi seemed to notice.

“Are you okay? Emb?”

The image of Reiner had startled you and sickened you. Now that you knew what he was up to, what he had planned for you all this time, just the thought of him made you want to hurl. The betrayal still stung. Him being alive wasn’t a relief, it was a threat. It wasn’t that long ago that you would have given anything to have him back, but now? Now, you wanted him to be dead for real.

You did the only thing you knew you could do to make the thought of him disappear. In one smooth motion, you shifted yourself to straddle Levi’s lap, hands buried in his hair as you pulled him in for a kiss. Your lips melded to his forcefully, knocking all other thoughts out of you, just as you’d intended. The two of you pressed into each other, seeking the closeness, until Levi broke away, a little breathless.

“We can’t,” he whispered, his gray eyes searing into yours.

Wordlessly, you moved off of him, but made him stand as well. You grabbed the chair he’d been sitting in to position it directly in front of the verse mirror, then gently pushed him to sit back down. Instead of straddling him while facing him as you sat back down, you sat so your back was pressed into his chest, facing your reflection in the mirror.

“There,” you whispered, leaning against him. “We’re paying full attention to the mirror.”

You could see something flash in Levi’s eyes. He gave into you then, his body responding as you pushed your ass against the crotch of his pants, your eyes staring at his reflection. He was staring at you, his eyes floating from your face to your chest, and then down to your waist. He didn’t say a thing as his hands slowly brought the material of your skirts up, until it was all pooled around your hips. Your breath caught in your throat as his hands ghosted over the plush skin of your inner thighs, always intentionally avoiding going any higher. One hand moved up to cup your breast through your shirt, earning him a little breath of pleasure from you, and you watched with hungry eyes as he began to undo the buttons of your shirt, tugging the cotton off of your shoulders.

There you were, shirt and skirt around your middle, nearly bared to him.

Levi leaned in to press a slow kiss to the back of your shoulder, leaving a trail along your back until he stopped at the nape of your neck. You felt him nip at you there and you wriggled on his lap, swaying your hips on top of him until you felt the beginnings of an erection form.

“Insatiable,” he chided you, his hands moving to still your hips.

You whined at first, thinking he was making you stop fully, but he quickly quelled your fears by trailing his hand down from your hips, to your mound, rubbing you through your panties. Your whines turned into moans and your eyes fluttered shut, but Levi had other plans.

“Keep your eyes open,” Levi murmured into your ear, his lips brushing along the shell of it. “We’re on watch. Don’t slack off.”

You swallowed thickly and opened your eyes again, meeting your reflection’s gaze. Your eyes were glossy and glazed over from pleasure already, your lips were parted slightly, and you did a full scan of your body to admire your pebbled nipples and soaked panties.

You watched as Levi slipped his hand beneath your underwear, fingers sliding over your slit until they found your clit, and you let out a shaky moan as he began applying feather light pressure to it. Your hips jerked forward involuntarily, wanting more pressure, but Levi hummed in disapproval, stopping his movements.

“Be good,” he reminded you, which made you pout but nod.

He got to work again, driving you crazy by circling your clit, then moving down to your hole, then back again. He was making you unbelievably wet, and using that as lubricant for your clit. Each time his finger would dip just the tiniest bit into your entrance, it was simply to gather more slick, dragging it slowly up your pussy.

It was maddening to not be able to see it, with the fabric of your panties obscuring the view. Levi seemed to think so as well, because he eventually took his hand out and tugged the fabric down, until your underwear was dangling off of one ankle.

You immediately gyrated onto his prominent erection, irritated at the fact that he was still fully clothed. But he merely cupped one of your breasts with one hand, his other on your pussy once again. This time, however, he gave you a fraction of what you wanted.

Two fingers pressed into you and curled, making you arch your back and gasp in delight. Your hands clawed at the skin of your thighs as he pumped his fingers, stretching you, his eyes moving from your face to what he was doing to you between your legs.

Everything he was doing to you made you feel like you were flying. Though it was very unlikely, the thrill of potentially getting caught made your adrenaline spike, and it made you hyperaware of every touch, every kiss, that Levi was giving you.

His lips mostly found the skin of your shoulder, but he’d tease you by moving up to your neck and finding that delicate spot that made you tingly and warm. You tilted your head to give him better access, fighting to keep your eyes open.

One of your hands moved from your thigh and you managed to get it between the two of you, instantly palming his cock through his trousers.

“Please,” you begged, voice barely above a whisper, “I want you.”

Levi growled against your skin, but let you rub him through his pants, and he retaliated by thrusting his fingers into you a little faster, a little rougher, than before. When he added a third finger, you choked out a loud moan, struggling to concentrate on stroking him while also simultaneously chasing his fingers for more.

His other hand tugged and teased at your nipple until eventually he stopped the ministrations of both of his hands, leaving you a whiny mess again. When you saw that he was hurriedly unbuttoning his pants, though, you relaxed and scooted forward a bit to help him.

The moment his hand pulled his cock from his boxers, you were already trying to position yourself to have him inside of you. Levi chuckled a little and stopped you, wanting to do it himself.

“Watch,” he reminded you, and you did as you were told. You kept your eyes on your reflections, watching through half-lidded eyes as Levi positioned his dick and slowly pushed into you, guiding you back down onto his lap.

His free hand covered your mouth, anticipating the loud groan that tore from your throat, and he muffled his own noises into your shoulder. His eyes shot to your face, and then followed your gaze down, to where you watched his cock glide into you to the hilt, until he was completely inside of you.

Instead of moving, though, he merely began massaging your clit once again, his fingers working you exactly the way he knew you loved.

The hand that had clamped over your mouth was removed and back at your breast in no time, and you took great pleasure in watching the way Levi’s hands played with you.

The stretch of him was exactly what you’d been craving. You felt full, whole, and let your body sink into his as he teased your pussy, his cock throbbing inside of you.

Soon, though, it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to just have him inside of you, you also needed him to move.

“Levi…,” you panted out, legs trembling as you clenched around him. “Fuck me, please.”

“Let’s compromise,” he grunted out, taking his hand off your pussy. “Let me watch you, and then you’ll watch me.”

Your mind was in such a lust-induced haze that the request confused you.

“What do you mean?” you breathed out, giving him a curious look in the mirror.

“Touch yourself, and then I’ll fuck you,” he said bluntly, his eyes wild and hungry as you met his gaze in the mirror.

The idea made your entire face heat up more than it already was, and you felt almost shy at the thought of doing that, which was ridiculous, seeing as you were already in such a shameless position. There you were, completely exposed in your reflection, legs spread and calves dangling off Levi’s knees.

With a shaky hand, you reached between your legs and continued where Levi left off. He watched intently, barely even blinking as you pleasured yourself, your fingers mimicking Levi’s moves as much as you could.

“It’s not the same,” you half-whined, half-moaned, but kept going, your orgasm quickly approaching, thanks to the work Levi had already done.

But you needed his touch.

In a lightning fast movement, your hand snatched Levi’s that had been resting on your thigh, and you groaned in relief as you placed his fingers back on your clit, exactly where they were wanted. This time, however, you controlled the movement of his fingers, using them to reach your high however you wanted. He let you use his hand however you pleased, his free hand still tightly cupping your breast. Levi had been caught off guard when you’d done that, you could tell, and that thought thrilled you. It was the last coherent thought you had before your high came crashing through you, and you writhed in Levi’s lap as you used his fingers to ride through your orgasm, watching Levi watch you through the mirror the entire time.

When it finally passed, you slumped against him, breathless and panting, feeling warm but still wanting more. And, now that you’d held up your end of the compromise, it was his turn to hold true to his end.

You didn’t even need to beg this time.

The moment Levi felt that you had fully come down from your orgasm, you were being lifted from the chair and set down on all fours. You shifted so you were balancing on your forearms, your hands a little too shaky to keep you stable, and you lifted your head to look at yourself in the mirror again.

You looked completely fucked out and totally surrendered to Levi, legs spread and hips lifted, back arched, clothes still pooled around your middle. Levi looked perfect, looming over you with a look of pure devotion and want.

Just as suddenly as he’d had you on your hands and knees, he was snapping his hips into you. His pace was relentless, the two of you panting and letting out needy, breathless moans.

His cock hit every spot you needed it to, almost overstimulating after such an intense orgasm, but it was exactly what you’d wanted. Levi’s jaw clenched as he moved inside you, his thrusts becoming a little rougher and sloppier. He was getting close.

As his cock brushed against your g-spot, you felt another orgasm building up. It didn’t matter that your elbows and knees were scraping against the cold stone floor of the castle, it didn’t matter that you were probably being a little too loud, it didn’t matter that you were shamelessly watching yourself getting fucked and enjoying it. All that mattered was how good it all felt.

Your jaw dropped and your eyes flitted up to catch sight of Levi’s expression, elated to see that he looked blissed out and completely gone. His brows were knit together and his teeth were clenched together, loud grunts hissing through them as he fucked you ruthlessly. He had quickened the pace, knocking the breath out of you, and it was all too much.

You couldn’t even vocalize that you were about to come again, but you were sure he could feel it. He knew your body well at this point, knew what to do and when to do it.

He’d been waiting until your second orgasm hit you like a truck. You clenched around his cock and cried out his name, walls pulsing around him as you pushed back to meet his thrusts and fuck yourself through your next-level high. Your mind completely blanked out, only pleasure filling every crevice of you, but you could still feel his cock twitching inside of you, and heard him moan the way he did when he finally came. You kept your eyes on him through the mirror, wanting to see him come. He’d wanted both of you to come together. And there you were, both of you basking in your respective orgasms, with you watching the way his jaw dropped just the slightest bit, his gaze meeting yours. He wanted to watch you, too, wanted to watch the way your eyes became even hazier, the way you seemed to glow.

When the both of you settled down, last sparks of your orgasms leaving you, Levi was quick to pull out and get you on top of him as he laid on the floor, not wanting to expose you to the cold, hard stone, and you were grateful to be warmed by him.

“Such a distraction,” he said quietly, making you laugh a little into his chest.

“Entertainment,” you corrected him, nearly purring as he brought a hand up to play with your hair.

After you finally caught your breath again, you fixed yourself up to be decent, sneaking kisses from Levi every once in a while. Your sleepiness caught up with you as you and Levi situated yourselves in the chairs once more, curled into each other.

“Sleep,” Levi whispered into your hair, his hand rubbing soothing circles into your back. “Our shift will be over soon.”

You didn’t fight him this time. A yawn slipped out as you closed your eyes, drifting off into a comfortable sleep.

------------------

Levi stood with his back to you, and he looked as if he were trembling. The closer you tried to get to him, however, the farther he seemed to get.

Your voice didn’t seem to work, either.

Finally, after mustering up all your strength, you managed to call out his name.

When he turned, your heart skipped a beat. You looked on in horror as he turned, blood staining the front of his clothes, tears streaking down his cheeks.

You nearly vomited when he saw he was holding up your limp body, your knees dragging along the soil with your head lolled back.

You woke with a start, a hand immediately rushing to press against your chest, as if to calm your heart. These dreams – nightmares – that featured Levi were getting intense. You knew it was partly because you knew the truth now, and your fears were manifesting in your dreams, but it was unsettling nonetheless. You only wanted sweet dreams of your lover.

He wasn’t in bed next to you, though that was to be expected. And, try as you might, you couldn’t operate on so little sleep like he could.

A full day had passed since your little tryst while on guard, and both of you were only getting busier. Levi was meeting with Erwin more and more, and you had your own things to do with Hange.

You sat up, stretching your arms out as a yawn escaped, and you looked out the window with bleary eyes, trying to rub the sleep out of them.

The sun wasn’t even out yet, but the pale blue sky hinted at an approaching dawn. You felt the exhaustion in your bones as you yawned and pushed yourself out of your cot, dressing for the day. As you were taming your hair, a knock sounded at the door before Hange came pushing in anyway.

“Good morning!” they greeted you cheerily, eyes gleaming behind their glasses. “Ready to try some exercises again today?”

You’d been testing your limits on your emerging powers all day yesterday, feeling out what you could do and how hard you could push yourself. You wanted to help so badly, much to Levi’s dismay, but he also knew that you could be instrumental in winning this war against Marley, and you, Erwin, and Hange never failed to remind him of that. He was outnumbered.

“Absolutely,” you told Hange with a determined nod, walking out with them to step outside. You would typically either practice in a cellar you’d found or ride a horse into the forest to shield what you were doing away from the other Scouts. The tidbit about you using magic was still supposed to be kept under wraps.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you, Hange,” you began, kicking at a small pebble as you followed Hange. It looked like they were leading you to the cellar today. “Why do you think it’s been taking so much energy for me to break through seals? Nothing else takes it out of me like that. I’m curious if you have any theories about it.”

It was the one thing that Hange went easy on yesterday. After you’d gotten weak from the first time you’d broken through their charms around your bedroom door, they had been careful not to practice that with you, just smaller versions of it here and there throughout the day.

Asking Hange their theories made them immediately brighten up; Hange was always so eager to talk about any sort of theories.

“I do, actually! It’s interesting that you seem to have opposite reactions to sealing spells and the magic used in verse mirrors. Verse mirrors are like mini portals. You were also able to transport yourself to our realm through some portal, without any fuss. Finding and moving through openings seem to be easy for you, but barriers are tougher. Your power doesn’t seem to like the blockages like sealing spells. I’m wondering if it’s because you yourself are going through a metamorphosis. Your own self is changing and no longer constrained as one thing. Constraints are perhaps hard for your magic, especially as it blossoms.”

You stepped inside the castle briefly to grab some water, and you also wanted to say hello to Levi. When you entered, however, it was eerily quiet. Concern surged through your body as you looked to Hange, who looked equally as tense as you, and you split up and began searching the castle. It didn’t take long to figure out the cause.

You froze in horror at the sight in front of you as you opened the door to the room the verse mirror was held in.

Levi and Erwin were unconscious and tied up in one corner, but the verse mirror wasn’t in use. A sigil was painted on the opposite wall with blood, and you were only able to watch as a soldier you immediately recognized threw a gagged and barely conscious Armin over his shoulder, hand outstretched towards the sigil.

“Porco,” you gasped, making him stop before his hand could make contact.

Pock’s head whipped over his shoulder to look at you, his eyes wide and startled, as if not expecting you. He stuttered out your name, but then that seemed to snap him back to reality, and he gave you a fleeting look of guilt before disappearing in the blink of an eye once he touched the sigil.

As much as you wanted to go after them, you didn’t quite know how, and also couldn’t abandon Levi.

You ran to him and Erwin, sobbing as you tried to undo the tight knots that bound their hands and ankles, but your hands were trembling too much to loosen them effectively. You jumped when you heard someone enter the room, your entire body tense as you turned to see who it was.

Annie was there, dragging Hange’s unconscious body by a rope she’d tied around their torso, her eyes empty of any emotion as they landed on you.

Levi had been right to be suspicious of her. She’d snuck her way in and feigned innocence, given intel, just to infiltrate the Scouts. The rage that spilled out of your very being was almost tangible; you could taste the coppery tang of anger on your tongue.

You didn’t move as another person entered the room, stomach turning at the sight of none other than Reiner. He oozed sorrow as he stared at you while you were crouched over Levi, subconsciously protecting him.

“How could you?” you seethed, eyes darting between Annie and Reiner. It was directed at both of them. You hated them just the same at that moment.

The electric feeling in your blood had awakened, so much stronger now, and Reiner seemed to understand what was happening right away.

“Do it now,” Annie barked.

All your training, no matter how short-lived, had been for nothing.

Before you could do any damage, Reiner lunged towards you, a syringe in one hand. He shoved the needle into your neck and injected you with the contents and, though you didn’t know what you’d just been dosed with, the effects were instant.

There was a brief moment of tunnel vision, and then nothing.

------------------------

The sun stung your eyes when you opened them again.

There was no telling how much time had passed or where you were. Fear trickled through your body as you slowly came to, sitting up to get a better feel for your surroundings.

It was quiet. You were by yourself, sitting on top of a concrete platform in the middle of what looked to be an empty town square. Birds chirped overhead, and you could hear distant noises of some type of clanking, but that was it.

Levi’s face flashed through your mind as you stood, shoulders up to your ears and hands clenched into fists. You were on guard for anything, but everything seemed…calm. Where was he? Was he okay?

You didn’t recognize this place. Your eyes scanned the area and you turned slowly as you looked around, startling yourself when you realized something enormous was behind you.

Your eyes widened in shock at the sight.

A verse mirror, a huge one, stood tall and blocked a chunk of your view. The mirror was easily about 20 feet high and just as wide, the wooden frame worn and decorated with carvings and a stained mirror that showed no reflection, only a blurred silver screen.

That was when you felt that electricity inside of you, buzzing relentlessly, as if communicating with the mirror. You shuddered and stepped away, instinct telling you to create distance between yourself and the mirror. Something about it was ancient and powerful, so different from the other verse mirrors you’d encountered before.

“Ah, you’re finally awake,” an unfamiliar voice called from your left. Your head whirled in that direction, entire body tensed, and you knit your eyebrows together as a stranger came out from a peculiarly modern looking building. At least, modern from what you’d been used to seeing in Eldia. Were you still in Eldia?

The strange man had blond hair and wore old-fashioned looking glasses, his beard neatly trimmed. A cigarette dangled from his lips as he approached you, his entire demeanor cool and casual, like there wasn’t a single threat to be worried about.

“Where am I? And who are you?” you asked, trying your best to sound as authoritative as you could.

Levi flashed through your mind again, but this time, you remembered the way he was tied up and unconscious the last time you saw him, his raven hair obscuring his eyes, and you felt that rage bubble up to the surface.

The air crackled around you as you focused on the blond man, who had stopped approaching you, his eyes a little wide from behind his glasses. He lifted his hands up, as if in surrender, but that didn’t help you calm down. From your right, the verse mirror seemed to hum in delight.

“Whoa, let’s just relax. My name is Zeke. I’m not going to do anything,” the man – Zeke – assured you. He spoke again, this time using your name. Your real name. It disarmed you a little, not used to hearing it so much anymore. “I’m just here to let you know that Reiner’s almost here. You’d like to see him, wouldn’t you?”

“It’s not him I want to see,” you snapped. “Where’s Levi?”

Zeke seemed a little surprised at that. He said nothing at first, then looked over his shoulder towards the building he’d come out of. You both watched as the door opened, a very hurt looking Reiner stepping out into the sunlight. He walked until he was next to Zeke, his eyes always on you.

“Hey, doll,” he said, his voice so quiet that the words barely carried over to you.

You clenched your jaw and didn’t say anything in return for a moment, trying to quell your anger.

“I’m not going to ask again,” you warned. “Where is Levi?”

“He’s alive, but still unconscious,” Zeke replied.

“We’re in Marley now,” Reiner said immediately after. “Darl, I need you to think back to what we’d talked about before. Do you think you can help us?”

It felt like you were going crazy. How was he acting so gentle with you, after all this?

Your throat closed up when you realized that he probably still thought you didn’t know the truth. He was willing to sweet talk you to your own death.

“She’s not going to help.”

You whirled around to face Annie, exiting from another building. It seemed all of them were circling this square, facing the mirror and the stage.

Annie barely acknowledged you, her blue eyes fixated on Zeke.

“I picked up on enough information to know that she’s gaining more control of her power and that the Scouts told her the most likely outcome for her, based on those silly prophecies,” she told him.

Zeke frowned in disapproval, his eyes shifting from you to Annie, and then he put out his cigarette by flicking it to the ground and stomping on it. Reiner only briefly looked at Annie but then returned his gaze to you. He looked emotional, wrought with guilt and sorrow, but didn’t have the decency to look ashamed.

Magic surged inside of you as the frustration pooled in your mind and in your chest. You needed a release, your body was screaming for one, and you cried out in anger as you focused entirely on Annie, watching in twisted delight as she was violently thrown back towards the building she’d come out of. Her back hit the door with a heavy thud before she collapsed, and then you turned your attention to Zeke and Reiner, who were running straight at you.

It barely took any energy to have them slow down and then kneel in front of you, their faces contorted in pain as you held them still against their will.

Apparently, you were being watched. Your showcase of power is what ignited the town square to come alive, soldiers popping out from windows and rooftops to surround you, their own power beating against yours. You were surprised to see Eldian soldiers in the mix, trying to get their attention back, swords drawn. Ah, that had to have been the clanking you'd heard. The fight had already begun.

You had to find Levi and the rest of the Scouts that you already knew. Would it be possible to use your magic to find him?

Annie was getting up again, a vile and livid look on her face as she glared at you, and something inside of you tugged you towards the building she’d come out of. Intuitively, it felt like the place you’d find Levi.

As you tried to hurry over, a few unfamiliar soldiers, no doubt Marleyan, blocked your way, their boots thundering against the cobblestone as they tried to move in on you. Again, that burst of power released from you and hit them like an invisible wave, knocking them away to allow you to pass through.

It was too late, though.

Annie was ready for you, away from the building and out in the open. You watched in horror as Annie flicked at a ring on her finger, revealing a sharp spike hidden inside of it, her thumb instantly jabbing itself onto it. A flash of light – lightning? – struck the place she was standing, and a scream got caught in your throat as something else materialized out of thin air.

A titan.

It was Annie, blonde hair swaying in the soft breeze and blue eyes boring into you through a face made only of muscle and tendon. Her entire titan body was merely muscle and tendon, and you nearly heaved at the sight, your legs threatening to give from underneath you.

She was huge. Taller than most of the buildings. All she had to do was step on you like an insect and it would all be over. She knew she couldn't do that, though, because they needed you to unite the realms. What was her plan?

You backed away, forgetting the soldiers there, and finally screamed as you felt hands on you, tying you up and dragging you back towards the verse mirror.

Annie’s attention left you when the door to the building behind her opened, and you nearly sobbed in relief when you saw Levi rushing out, his eyes wide and panicked as they made contact with your restrained form. A couple of soldiers burst outside after him, one of them looking severely battered, the other looking like he was barely conscious. Levi was making a beeline for you, but had to pass by Annie to get to you.

Annie swung a leg back, ready to aim it forward to kick at him, but Levi was fast. You’d never seen him move so fast before. He was out of her sight before her leg could even swing forward. She regained her balance and then advanced, towards you and the stage, footsteps booming and making the cobblestone crumble, and that was when the others rushed out.

Eren was the first to come out, his green eyes blazing with fury as he glared up at Annie, and your jaw dropped as he brought his hand to his mouth and bit down, hard. Once again, a flash occurred and you watched as Eren’s titan form manifested, about the same size as Annie’s but thankfully not so grotesque looking. Annie had probably known he was a titan as well, and that's why she'd transformed. He screeched with rage as he ran after her, tackling her in a way that got both of them out of the way of the stage. The crash was deafening and almost painful to hear, and you only turned away when Levi was suddenly at your side, covered in the blood of the Marleyan soldiers who had chased after him, and most likely others who had been inside the building.

The soldiers who had dragged you back were no match for him, either. He was quick and precise, cutting them down with a dagger before hurriedly undoing your restraints.

Another boom sounded from where Reiner and Zeke had been, and you toppled over as the earth shook. As you turned to look, your eyes widened when you were met with yet another titan, standing where Reiner had once stood. You'd been so distracted that your power over him and Zeke had waned, and they were able to move again.

Reiner. You were looking at his titan. His crop of blond hair was unmistakable, but the rest of him was nearly unrecognizable underneath the armor of his titan. All three titans looked so different. You could feel Reiner’s eyes on you, but then he was racing towards Annie and Eren, shoving into the brunet. It was two against one, and your heart caught in your throat when you saw that Reiner had been able to crush Eren’s jaw.

The other Scouts had come outside and were headed straight for Zeke, who looked calm and collected. It gave you the worst feeling, and you wanted to tell them to stop and be safe, but your heart felt like it was in your throat.

“Run,” Levi whispered in your ear, but you turned to him with wild eyes, shaking your head.

“I won’t abandon any of you!” you cried out, and Levi suddenly looked pained.

“You’re such a pain in my ass,” he said bluntly, but something flashed in his eyes and he turned to Zeke for a moment before turning his attention back to you. “Zeke is also a titan and he’s going to transform. He’s waiting until everyone is close enough, but Hange can enact a shield around the squad so no one gets caught up in the blast. Our best shot is taking down Zeke and Reiner, but it looks like we’re going to need to figure out how to destroy the mirror. They clearly have plans to use it.”

He was hurrying through his explanation but you kept up easily, nodding furiously in understanding. You turned to look at the enormous verse mirror; the magic pulsing from it was still making your blood sing. It was like it was speaking only to you.

“It’s a mirror, it’ll be easy to break,” you said, but Levi shook his head.

Saying nothing, he opted for a demonstration instead. You hadn’t seen him use a lot of magic in the time you’d been in this realm, but you watched with your jaw agape as Levi let his dagger lift from his hand and into the air. Then, it was aimed towards the verse mirror and the dagger shot forward like an arrow, straight for the glass. You jumped when the air around the mirror seemed to change, and the dagger couldn’t get within a foot of the mirror – it was as though an invisible shield covered the mirror, causing the dagger to violently be flung away. Levi’s hand reached for the dagger, now several yards away, and the dagger casually flew back into his hand, his fingers gripping the handle tightly.

Despite Levi showing you that it would be a hard task to even approach the mirror, you felt like it was a trick. Maybe it would be hard for another person to approach, but not you.

“Get behind me, now,” Levi ordered, and you were thrust behind him right as another telltale sign of titan transformation happened. Your eyes squeezed shut at the blinding light and your feet skidded across the ground as a violent gust of wind struck you, but most of the reaction to Zeke’s transformation seemed to happen around you, like you were in a bubble.

It was the same for the Scouts that had been advancing on Zeke. Some of them lost their balance, like Armin, but most were simply crouched and had their arms over their heads as debris flung itself around the squad. But it wasn’t hitting them directly.

A shield. They were shielding themselves, and Levi had apparently thrown a barrier over you and him as well.

A quick glance towards the other three titans made your stomach flip. Eren was getting pummeled but was still fighting. His jaw hung loose, unhinged from his face, and one of his hands was completely crushed. Annie was trying to pin him down, and Reiner was throwing punches into his side.

By the time you turned back to see Zeke’s titan, shock had completely taken over your nervous system. You trembled in fear as you gazed up, by far the largest titan of the bunch, and the hairiest, too. He was gigantic, with glowing eyes and sharp teeth, and was grinning down at the Scouts that had been trying to attack him. Despite his size, he was pretty fast. He raised an arm and then hurled it down to try and squash the Scout squad, but they were quick to maneuver out of the way. Still, Zeke’s hand collided with the cobblestone and sent fragments flying every which way; he’d probably been ready to do that. The shield around you and Levi took a few hits and the force of Zeke’s movements knocked Levi back a little, but you were still safe.

The other Scouts were already looking to attack. You watched in astonishment as they seemed to fly through the air, all of them with swords suddenly unsheathed and charging at Zeke. Some got a few cuts, others had to dodge his arms, and from the other side of the town square, Eren shrieked in rage again and another deafening crash sounded from where he and Reiner and Annie were.

Annie was running towards Zeke, leaving Reiner to handle Eren, and Levi swore loudly when Annie swiped at Jean, who was midair. She was almost able to get him.

The shock in your system was turning back into rage. They were fighting with everything they had. And now that the battle had begun, it looked like Marley was suddenly alive with war.

Soldiers, both Eldian and Marleyan, were spilling out from windows and fighting on rooftops. You could differentiate them between the green cloaks of the Scouts and the off-white uniforms of the Marleyan soldiers. While it relieved you to know that some Eldian soldiers had escaped the Marleyan infiltration, it was short-lived relief. All hell was breaking loose, and you didn’t want to just stand there and witness it without doing your part.

You were still so inexperienced, but that intuition that you were learning to rely on was starting to kick in again. With a yell, you focused on Annie, intent on hurting her. Whatever shield was around you and Levi dissipated instantly, the force of your magic suddenly emerging and aimed directly at Annie’s titan.

She didn’t notice until your power was upon her. Instead of shoving her backwards like last time, you decided to try something different. You rendered her immobile, like you had with Reiner and Zeke earlier, keeping her limbs in place, and her eyes looked wide and panicked when she realized what you’d done. The air swirled around her, whipping her hair into her face, and Levi was shouting next to you, but not at you.

“Jean!” he was yelling, “Jean, cut Annie out of there!”

Jean was quick to follow orders. You didn’t know what Levi meant, but were about to find out. He dashed for the nape of Annie’s titan’s neck, slashing it open, and you gasped as he cut Annie herself out of her titan.

Zeke was harder to take down. The rest of the squad was landing blows on him, and you didn’t know how to focus your magic so it wouldn’t affect all of them. A quick glance towards where Eren had been made you freeze. Reiner was no longer there, billows of steam obscuring most of the view. Where was he? You couldn’t hear the explosive noises of titans fighting anymore.

But there, racing out of the steam, was Reiner, no longer in his titan form. He was headed straight for you.

Everything was happening too fast. Your mind raced, struggling to process the chaos of battle, and then gasped as all the Scouts suddenly were blown back from Zeke, feeling an electric crack of powerful magic burst from around him. It hadn’t been Zeke that had done so, but it had been someone that had managed to climb onto his shoulder. A Marleyan soldier. The shock of black hair looked familiar.

Armin, Hange, Mikasa, and all the rest were flying through the air. Armin rolled across the cobblestone as he crashed into the ground, Connie took a painful looking fall and stayed down, and only Mikasa and Hange managed to regain their balance in the air. Jean had landed a few feet from you and Levi, and he was in the process of restraining Annie.

Levi had also noticed Reiner, and you weren’t fast enough to stop him. Reiner looked tired but murderous as his eyes locked on Levi, and they both cried out in anger as they began to attack each other. Levi was fast and he was deceptively strong, but Reiner was also incredibly resilient with his strength. You ran to help, but a force of magic stopped you, sending you reeling away from them, closer to Zeke’s titan.

You landed painfully on your backside and grit your teeth together, glaring up at the Marleyan soldier you knew had done it.

Magic flared inside of you and you felt like you blacked out as you directed all your power to Zeke and his ally. You heard the bones of the soldier crack even from where you stood, an insect compared to Zeke’s size, and then you focused every fiber of your being into defeating Zeke.

He roared in complaint as you toppled him over, his knees crashing against the ground, and then fully falling face down, right next to where Reiner and Levi were still fighting. The force of Zeke’s fall knocked them off their balance, and you also sank to your knees, surprised at how much power it took just to get Zeke to fall.

Thankfully, everyone had been out of his way and nobody had been crushed.

Hange was rushing towards you, kneeling down with you.

“Titans are extremely difficult to control with magic. It’s different when someone is in their titan form, and they also can’t use any magic as a titan,” Hange panted out, their glasses glinting in the light. “I’m impressed you’ve been able to do anything to them at all, especially with so little training. Now let’s get you out of here. Levi will kill me if we don’t get you someplace safe. We’ve got it from here, Emb.”

“No, let me help,” you protested, but Hange was already helping you to your feet despite you feeling woozy. You had to let Hange help you stay upright.

Before Hange could say anything, a chorus of Scouts shouting “Captain Levi!” caught your attention.

You whipped your head to see that Zeke was already trying to get up, and you nearly threw up at the sight in front of you. Zeke had reached out and taken a hold of Levi, who was trapped in Zeke’s death grip. And you couldn’t do anything, not with someone else’s magic battering you down and making it hard to concentrate. Still?

You turned to see the Marleyan soldier who had been on Zeke’s shoulder, feeling the source coming from them, and you nearly fell to your knees again.

It couldn't be, but it was.

"Pieck," you choked out, your entire body trembling.

She looked frantic but strangely composed, a dangerous combo. You could see that she was favoring one leg, and you felt queasy when you realized you really had broken some bones; her shin bone was poking through her pants on her bad leg. There was pain in her eyes, but understanding, and she wasn't about to back down. She was willing to fight you. Briefly, you remembered Levi's question from what felt like ages ago.

If you fight for Eldia, but end up facing your Warrior friends, will you do what you need to do?

Could you kill your friends?

Pieck called your name, her eyes filling with tears, and she shook her head.

"I'm sorry," she said, and your heart sank.

You tried to shield yourself and Hange, or keep her magic at bay, but her power was strong, especially with you feeling tired and Hange trying to help. Still, you fought as hard as you could, even holding your hands up to get a better focus on trying to push her back. With a casual wave of her hand, she separated Hange from you and sent you flying, back to the stage where the verse mirror was.

But she overestimated the force she had to use because of all your fighting.

Your back collided into the verse mirror, and the distinctive sound of shattering glass echoed through the town square. You could feel shards of the mirror slicing into your skin and raining over you as you slumped to the ground, pain radiating from every part of your body. You heard shouts of your name, your real name, which got you out of your stupor.

Reiner was shouting for you, sounding panicked, and Levi was looking on in horror, but appeared as if he could hardly even speak because of the grip Zeke had on him.

Zeke had fully stood up to his intimidating height once again, eyes glowing as they settled on you.

“How were you able to make contact with that verse mirror?”

It was Zeke speaking, his voice terrifying and loud.

You immediately understood what he meant. Briefly, the memory of Levi’s dagger bouncing off some invisible barrier around the mirror flashed across your mind. You had been able to push past that barrier. Accidentally, yes, but you hadn’t even felt any resistance.

Again, you felt some sort of hum from the mirror. It wanted to talk to you somehow, but there was still such an unnerving feel that it brought you, so you tried to ignore it.

You were covered in your own blood, and moving even an inch was painful and made more glass dig into your skin. You just had to grin and bear it.

“It’s speaking to you, isn’t it?” Zeke asked, and you tensed up. How would he know that?

You raised your eyes up to glare at his ugly face, teeth clenched and not wanting to answer.

“It will still work,” he continued. “The mirror being shattered doesn’t mean that you can’t make it work. It’s hungry for your power, Embla. You need to give it what it wants.”

Yes, that was the unnerving feeling, he’d point a name to it.

Hunger.

The verse mirror was hungry, its magic wanted to latch onto yours. Your gut feeling told you that your guess was right on the money.

Zeke wasn’t done talking. He lifted Levi higher in the air and it was clear by the way Levi contorted his face in pain that Zeke had tightened his grip.

“We’ve waited long enough for this, Embla,” Zeke said. “Help us now, and Levi lives. Otherwise, I’ll crush his bones to dust.”

Your stomach lurched, tears prodding at your eyes when you looked at Levi, who was in so much pain, but still managed to shake his head when he caught your gaze. You knew what he meant. He didn’t want you to give in, even if it meant that he’d be killed.

You couldn’t watch him die.

It was selfish, really. How many times had he had to lose you, in your past lives, watching you die over and over again? But you couldn’t do the same thing.

After all this time and gaining so much strength, you were still a slave to fear. You were still scared.

But now, it wasn’t fear about what could happen to you, but to Levi.

Death didn’t scare you. Maybe all those lifetimes were supposed to have taught you not to fear death.

You took one last good look at Levi, the man you loved. He was too far, so you couldn’t get the miniscule details of his perfect face, but it was fine. You’d stared at him enough to be able to picture his face with your eyes closed. He would be the last thought you’d ever have.

Maybe in another life.

You knew what this verse mirror was. Its magic was prodding at yours, wanting to combine, and knowledge that you shouldn’t have had was seeping into you.

This thing was old, as old as Ymir. It was the first portal, the reason she’d been able to create this realm. How the Marleyans had found it, the mirror didn't let you in on that secret, it didn't seem to matter. If your power mixed in with the mirror’s, the possibility of merging the realms together would probably happen.

You hesitated at that.

So many humans would die, so many Eldians would die.

You couldn’t let Levi die, but you couldn’t let so many innocents die, either.

The impossibility of choice made your head hurt.

But the mirror wanted to talk, and now you were listening.

That knowledge that it was bringing you was still coming in droves. Images of who you knew to be Ymir flashed in your mind’s eye. Images of humans, Eldians, titans, all came crashing into your mind.

But the biggest piece of knowledge that it gave you was that the verse mirror wasn’t bloodthirsty. It was hungry for what you thought it was hungry for. It wanted to flex its power, with yours.

The sigil that popped up in your mind, courtesy of the verse mirror, was clear, and its intention even clearer.

Yes, this was the only way.

Gritting your teeth, you turned towards the verse mirror despite the protests of some familiar voices of the Scouts. You gathered blood on your hands, reaching up from your seated position to a patch in the mirror that had completely shattered, most of the glass off and showcasing the wooden back of the mirror.

Trembling, your shaky fingers drew on the wood, recreating the sigil with your own blood, the buzzing overpowering your hearing.

You couldn’t hear anything else, couldn’t see anything else, except for the verse mirror. Slowly, you shifted to be on your knees, bits of glass cracking under and biting into your knees, and you took a deep breath. You didn’t dare look over your shoulder for one final look at everyone, feeling that you’d lose your nerve if you did.

This would save everyone, including Levi.

Levi.

You only thought of him as you pressed your hand against the sigil, a surge of power pounding into you and pouring out of you, melting together. Blinding light filled your vision and you felt like you weren’t even in your own body anymore. The entire world disappeared, and reality seemed to shift.

The verse mirror thrummed with your conjoined power, but you felt like it was leeching from you.

Marley would never have what they wanted.

Your intentions were set. It would take everything in you. It would take everything.

Still, you couldn’t be afraid.

You cried out in pain as the beginnings of it started. How had Ymir been able to do this and survive?

Reality was splitting apart at the seams. It felt like your very soul was being tugged at, and your own sense of self was getting lost in the chaos. Why did it have to be you? Why couldn’t you just let go now? Dying rather than having to go through this would have been preferable. You were already starting to lose yourself, and reality.

What were you doing again? Did it matter? Maybe it didn’t matter.

No. You had to remember what you were doing. It did matter.

Levi.

His face anchored you to your purpose. His silvery eyes and dark hair and grumpy demeanor, the looks he reserved only for you. You had to save Levi, and everyone else.

Marley would never be able to coexist peacefully under one realm. The answer wasn’t to merge realms together, and the answer wasn’t to simply destroy this verse mirror and keep them in Eldia.

They would simply need a new realm for themselves.

You could feel it now, a new realm being created, and it was getting easier to stay within yourself. Anyone who identified with Marley’s purpose would be sent to this new realm by you, with help from the verse mirror, where they would remain.

Because on top of giving them a realm of their own, you would be sealing it.

Hange’s initial and short-lived exercises had helped, after all. You would be the one to seal the new Marleyan realm, and you would be the only one who would be able to undo the seal. That was the deal you’d made with the mirror.

Now that you were more aware of yourself again, you could feel wind whipping around you, keeping you close to the mirror. There was still nothing but light around you, keeping you focused on your mission. You wondered briefly how this looked to everyone else, but the thought quickly escaped you as you felt this third realm solidify, your magic buzzing around the edges of it, the new portal.

If you’d been able to see what was going on around you, you would have seen Marleyans seemingly disappear into a mist, some even mid-battle. Even the buildings themselves were swallowed up in the swirl of fog that had suddenly appeared, affecting nothing and no one else except those aligned with the Marleyan ideals.

You would have been relieved to see Levi be rescued by Hange just in time before he hit the ground, falling from Zeke's disappearing titan. You would have felt a deep rumble in the air itself, signifying the breakaway of a new realm, and you would have been nearly blinded by the light swirling around yourself and the verse mirror, allowing nothing and no one to come close.

The verse mirror was allowing you to be separate from it, only needing the power you’d accumulated. All of that wild, unclaimed magic that had supposedly needed to be returned into Eldia itself, it was being melded with that old, unpredictable magic trapped in the verse mirror.

If there was an opportunity to fight to claim all that power, you didn’t take it. Maybe it was fear, fear that all this work you’d done to give Marley another home would be reversed as punishment. Or maybe, it was just the fact that you could feel it wasn’t meant for you. So, you let the mirror leech from you, all this electric power vibrating against you and in you, until you were slowly becoming aware of it gradually ceasing.

Seeing and yet not seeing, you were at least aware that your plan had worked. Marley was its own realm, with those willing Marleyans inside, and now there was just one thing left to do: seal it.

With the last bit of strength you had left, you let the verse mirror do most of the grunt work.

“No one goes in, no one comes out.”

You repeated the words over and over, both in your head and out loud, until it all blended together into nearly incoherent sound. No longer separate words joined into a spell, but just one long sound.

You could feel the way the seal locked over the new realm.

Like glass.

A mirror only you could see into. A mirror that was only two-way for you. Marley would have to look upon itself.

You didn’t feel the verse mirror in front of you completely shatter. You didn’t notice the light dissipating, until things returned to normal, as much as they could after what you’d done.

The buildings were gone, Marley was gone, and the only thing left was flattened earth and blood.

You were still kneeling and it felt weird to be back in your own body again.

Slowly, the sounds of the real world returned to you. Wind, birds chirping, confused chatter behind you.

Exhausted, you looked over your shoulder, for one last look that you thought you wouldn't have been granted. A gift, from the verse mirror.

You just needed to see his face one more time.

There wasn’t an ounce of regret in you for doing what you did, not if it meant that you’d saved your person, your soulmate.

He was sitting down, leaning against Hange for support, his face pale and horrified and shocked as he looked at you. But even from where you were, you could see beyond all those emotions and feel at peace when you found what you needed. His look of love for you was in there, mixed in with everything else, and that was all you wanted to see. You could only hope that Levi saw nothing but love in your gaze, and peace.

You knew what would happen the moment you took your hand off of the sigil, but you did it anyway.

The moment your fingers retracted by the sigil you’d made with your own blood, everything was gone.

------------------------

Waking up was a surprise.

You blinked a few times, trying to grow accustomed to the bleak light of early morning. The air smelled distinctly of fresh rain.

With a groan, you sat up from where you were laying – concrete.

Flashes of a concrete stage went through your mind’s eye, causing your throat to close up in fear. Where had you seen that before? Despite all your efforts, you couldn’t recall. It felt like you’d just woken up from a very long, very tiring dream.

Looking around, you realized you were in front of the gas station you’d stopped at. Had you passed out? All you could remember was walking towards the door because of…something. A feeling you’d had. Maybe you’d accidentally hit your head on the way out.

There still wasn’t a single soul around. No signs of life. Probably a good thing, because it was a little embarrassing that you were just laying there.

Your car was still where it had been. Where were you going again? Something felt…wrong. Something was off. Still, you couldn’t quite say what was wrong.

There was nothing to do but go back to your car. As you walked, you looked around for signs of your snacks. Hadn’t you grabbed some before walking out? Had you even paid? Should you be freaking out more than you were?

Being in this place was bad. Maybe this whole area was what felt wrong. It was best to get away.

Yes, get away.

You hurried to your car and turned it on, shaken up and surprised at the time that glowed from the dashboard. It really was morning; how long had you been out of it? It'd been after sunset when you'd walked into the gas station.

You’d heard of things like this happening before, people ending up in a weird place and losing time, but they’d always just been creepy urban legends. There was apparently some merit to it after all. That was unfortunate; you hated urban legends, or any sort of scary story or myth.

Thankfully, after some patting around in your jacket and pants, you found that you still had your phone. It was off, and when you turned it on, there was hardly any battery left.

No signal.

You’d have to drive off before you could contact anyone. Hopefully Pieck would be awake and able to help.

Your hands were shaky as you put your car into gear and stepped on the pedal. You were still low on gas.

------------------------

Levi stared at the shattered verse mirror, his entire body rigid and unable to move. One moment you’d been right there, light basking around you, your very soul winding with the magic of the mirror, and the next…you were gone. Just like that. It had happened in the blink of an eye, just like how the Marleyans and even Marley itself seemed to seep out of existence.

You’d had something to do with that. How did you do that? What had you done?

Reiner had been barely breathing as he faded out, bloodied and bruised. Yet, he’d kept his eyes on Levi the whole time, looking wounded. Not just physically wounded, but emotionally.

“I tried to take her away from you,” he’d whispered, his words wrapping around Levi like an invisible mist. “I didn’t mean to fall in love with her, but I did. I thought I could take her from you. Why does she always love you?”

Reiner disappeared moments before you did. Levi didn’t have enough time to even begin to ask what was happening. In the blink of an eye, everything was stripped bare of itself. They were standing in the ruins of what was once Marley’s capital, only the Scouts.

Except one Marleyan.

Zeke looked dead. For all intents and purposes, he was, but a weak cough that made blood spatter across his lips and chin revealed he had some life left in him. Likely not for much longer.

Levi snapped out of it, heart in his throat as he raced to Zeke. He wasn’t gentle with the blond. Zeke gasped as Levi’s hand shot out and gripped his hair, yanking his head up enough to be able to crouch down and look him in the eye.

“What happened?” Levi demanded to know, his eyes wild and desperate. He couldn’t keep his cool right now even if he wanted to. “Where did everything and everyone go? Why are you the only one left? Where did she go?”

Zeke’s eyes looked unfocused, but a lone tear slipped out, running down his face until it mixed with his blood.

“I’m dying. That’s why I don’t get to join the others. She figured out the only way to stop us.”

“Which is what? Be straight with me,” Levi said, shaking Zeke.

“She created a new realm,” Zeke wheezed. “There is a new Marley, somewhere else, somewhere only she can access. A sealed realm. She sealed it away and sealed the Power of the Titans away. That’s all the mirror told me, I swear. Its magic spoke to me. Its magic spoke to me…”

He was fading.

No.

Not before telling Levi where you were.

“Is that where she is, too?” Levi’s voice was loud, nearly shrill, but Zeke was hardly breathing anymore.

“She is not there,” he panted, his eyelids drooping. “You know the stories, Levi. She’s not anywhere.”

The light flickered out of his eyes and his body went limp, even as Levi shook him.

He was screaming. Levi was screaming, but it sounded far away because of his heartbeat thundering in his ears.

It took Eren, Hange, and Erwin to pull him away from Zeke’s body. At first, he thrashed and shoved them away, but then it felt like the weight of the world was upon him, and Levi couldn’t do anything but fall to his knees and let the numbness take over. He was breathing hard, throat hoarse from all his yelling, but his eyes had gone from looking wild to strangely empty. A sad emptiness.

You were gone.

You would always slip out of his fingers. He would never be able to save you, no matter how many times you would find each other. This time, for the last time.

“Give her back.”

Levi never thought he’d beg for one more lifetime with you. One more lifetime of you not remembering him, of you growing old while he stayed the same, of you leaving him behind because that was what humans did. And now here he was, begging the cosmos to give you to him again, even if it meant the pain of having to watch you cycle through lifetime after lifetime, starting over yet again.

He would take that over the alternative.

“Give her back.”

It was more forceful this time, Levi’s voice unwavering as he looked at the shattered mirror, and then up at the sky.

“Give her back!”

You belonged with him. It was cruel of the universe to dangle the possibility of you living as an Eldian, with him, and then take it away. There was no way the cosmos was that cruel, right?

Levi’s head dipped down, his hair falling over his eyes, and he clenched his jaw, hands balled into fists on his thighs.

Hange was kneeling beside him, a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

“We should go home, Levi,” they whispered, but Levi couldn’t fathom leaving this place. The last place he’d seen you.

Not without her, he wanted to say, but no words came out.

Wordlessly, he stood and shrugged Hange’s hand off his shoulder, stalking off to where the verse mirror had one stood.

It had been enormous and intimidating, rolling with power, and was now reduced to rubble, shards of glass and bits of splintered wood covering the stage it had been on. Marley had wanted this whole thing to be some sort of spectacle. Had civilians been watching?

Levi crouched down to grab the largest shard he could find, holding it up to his face. It was only large enough for him to see the reflection of his eyes.

Broken verse mirrors were volatile, at best. A shattered one, like this? It was dangerous to even be near it, especially this particular one. Even so, he couldn’t help himself. The mirror didn’t hold a lot of its old, strange, heavy power anymore. It felt empty – a feeling he could relate to.

He just wanted to see you. He didn’t even have a photo or portrait of you, and now he was supposed to go on without ever having the chance to see your face again?

He couldn’t do it.

He couldn’t live knowing that he’d never see your eyes light up at the sight of him anymore. He couldn’t live knowing that you would never smile at him again, or yell at him again, or call out his name again, or hold him again, or kiss him again, or brush his hair away from his face again, or ask him a flurry of questions again.

Levi stared and stared into the shard of glass, hoping for something, anything, to happen. Even if it made him disappear, too.

------------------------

Your car sputtered before quitting on you entirely. It had been running of fumes for the last several miles, and now you were completely out of luck. No other gas stations had come into view. In fact, not much of anything had come into view. You were out on the open road, dark clouds rolling through the sky and threatening more rain, but that was it. No other cars had zipped by from either direction, no road signs or mile markers were posted on the side of the road, and no evidence of nearby towns seemed to exist. There was nothing to help you identify where you were.

You were all alone.

And now your car was out of gas and the silence was deafening.

Normally, you would be freaking the hell out. The fact that you were able to remain calm was a little suspicious. You were a classic scaredy-cat, but it was like there was some sort of shield over all of your emotions.

With a heavy sigh, you slumped against your seat.

At the same time, something in your rearview mirror flashed.

You froze, surprised, and then reached out to angle the mirror so you could look directly into it.

Gray eyes peered back at you instead of your own.

It was like a bubble burst. That shield that had constricted your emotions and thoughts melted away as soon as you looked into those eyes.

“Levi!” you choked out, tears hot and burning along your lash line. Nothing had made sense before because you couldn't remember a single thing. Now, you remembered everything.

You weren’t supposed to be here, you didn’t want to be here. This wasn’t your world anymore, if it was even the same one you’d lived in before you’d gone to Eldia. Wherever you were was all wrong. It was like a half-assed, limbo version of the human realm.

Levi’s eyes widened in shock, and then the mirror flashed again, and you were suddenly looking into your surprised gaze.

Tears flooded your eyes and blurred your vision, and a sob ripped through you as you grabbed at your rearview mirror, angling it this way and that to see if it would bring Levi back.

You hadn’t been imagining it. You saw him. It was him.

When nothing worked, you took to trying to pry the rearview mirror off of the roof of your car, a yelp of relief leaving you when you managed to do just that.

But even holding it in your hands and positioning it in front of you did nothing to bring him back.

The tears you’d been fighting dribbled down your cheeks and you trembled as you spared a glance at the outside world. You were somewhere else. Even if you were back in the human realm, it didn’t feel like home anymore.

Ymir’s verse mirror flashed through your mind just then, and your bottom lip trembled as you tried one more time to look into the mirror in your hands. You wouldn't have anything like that here, but you had to try.

“Take me back to him,” you whimpered. “Take me back.”

Your eyes stared back at you.

------------------------

It had taken a lot of magic and a lot of strength, but Levi had gotten the job done as best as he could.

The others had since started the journey back to Eldia, with only Hange staying behind to keep him company. Erwin was already planning on the restructuring of the government, and the other Scouts were finalizing plans on how to break the news that Marley was gone while providing support for Erwin’s goals. All of it was a flurry of words and chatter that Levi didn’t bother keeping up with, not while he had a mission of his own.

It was a mess, but he’d been able to fit some broken glass together on the floor to recreate a semblance of a verse mirror. There was hardly any power left inside of it, but the thrum of magic that remained seemed to pulse through the cracks of the glass.

“This is a bad idea, Levi,” Hange sighed from behind him. He didn’t turn to look at them. “I have a bad feeling about this. You know how tricky verse mirrors can be even when they’re usable. This one is messed up beyond repair and has old magic embedded in it and you won’t be able to even walk through it. You’re playing with fire.”

He didn’t care. Nothing mattered except his one goal.

When he’d picked up that lone shard, a flash of your eyes had greeted him. It had only been for a moment, but it was enough to let him know that you were still out there. You weren’t gone, you weren’t dead, you were somewhere within reach.

Seeing your eyes just that once was enough to spring him into action and get enough glass together to peer into a broken mirror.

“I have to try,” Levi finally whispered, tearing his gaze away from the broken glass just long enough to shoot Hange a sad, desperate look. All of his composure was long gone. “I have to find her, Hange.”

Hange opened their mouth, about to respond, but sighed and nodded in understanding.

Levi turned back to the glass on the ground, leaning closer as if it would help.

Give her back.

He didn’t say the words out loud, but rather, spoke them in his mind. Something in his gut told him that the mirror would hear that clearer than actual words. That was usually the case when it came to magic, particularly old magic. Annoying.

At first, nothing happened. His heart squeezed in his chest painfully, but there wasn’t a fiber of his being that wanted to give up hope. He would get you back if it was the last thing he ever did.

Sure enough, something flickered across the glass. A ghost of something, or even someone, but it didn’t feel like you. Levi leaned in even closer, his nose practically touching a shard of glass, and then suddenly it felt like something was pulling his very soul inside, through the shards. He was very much physically still gazing over the shattered mirror, but his soul was being sucked in, ripping along the sharp edges of glass until he could feel himself somewhere else.

It was vast nothingness at first, and then he blinked, and things came into focus. All around him was sand, as far as the eye could see, and there was a large pillar of light in the distance, branching out in various directions.

“Where am I?” he murmured, and then jolted in surprise when a woman appeared before him.

She was petite, even shorter than he was, with dirty blonde hair and a neutral but serene gaze.

His blood and the magic inside of it sang at the sight of her.

Ymir.

Any words he wanted to say died before leaving his lips. The very aura around her was overwhelming, so powerful that it made him want to kneel before her. She was the beginning of everything.

She could help.

Finally, at that realization, Levi found the will to speak.

“Embla,” he whispered, unable to form a coherent sentence at first. Then, he shook his head and tried again. “The Embla. I need to know where she is. I want to be where she is.”

Ymir was silent; it felt like ages before she finally responded to him.

“She is in purgatory.”

Her voice was very soft and quiet, feminine, but the words cut through Levi like a knife.

Purgatory. There wasn’t a lot known of purgatory. It was supposed to be like another realm, between the living and the dead, but many souls merely passed through it quickly before joining the dead...unless the soul was in turmoil, and then stayed there. At least, that was the theory. There was, of course, nobody to confirm or deny the claims.

“How do I get there?” Levi asked.

“You don’t,” Ymir answered easily. “She has created her own purgatory, just like I’ve created mine.”

Ymir moved quickly. Levi didn’t even have time to blink before she was suddenly reaching out and touching him, her fingertips brushing against his forehead, and then he felt his soul transporting to another place yet again.

It felt more like a scene playing in his head but, there you were, leaning against a modern-looking vehicle with a small mirror in your hands. You looked tormented. Your surroundings lacked color, lacked life, and there seemed to be a heaviness weighing in the air.

Levi wanted to reach out and take hold of you and pull you to him, but he wasn’t there. He could only watch as you turned the mirror this way and that, and then you snapped your head up, as if hearing something. Could you feel him there? Could you see him?

No. You were looking through him, not at him.

Seconds later, you took off running, leaving the vehicle behind to run into the field of dried grass by the side of the road, and then further, into the line of trees. Levi followed, floating behind you, until you stopped, breathless, at a rushing river. You dropped to your knees on the bank, tossing the small mirror aside and leaning in towards the water.

“Be careful,” Levi warned, but you couldn’t hear him.

“She’s looking for you,” Ymir whispered in his ear, invisible to him. “She saw a glimpse of you, just like you saw a glimpse of her.”

He whirled around, trying to locate Ymir, but she was nowhere to be seen – she could only be felt, and heard.

“I’ll do anything.”

There was only one thing Levi could think to do. He was on his knees, face tilted up to the sky, and his eyes were pleading with the dull clouds before he eventually closed them and concentrated on Ymir’s presence. If he focused hard enough, he could still feel her fingertips gently pressing into the skin of his forehead.

He would beg. He would beg, he would plead, he would barter, if that’s what it took to be with you again and bring you to safety.

“She belongs in Eldia,” Levi gasped out. “You saw what she did. I bet you helped her. She’s strong, she’s made of legends. No…she’s more than that. She made our legends look pathetic compared to what she could do. She’s still destined for great things. Why can’t you bring her back to me?”

“She no longer has power singing through her veins. She used it all,” Ymir murmured. “She cannot be in Eldia or be an Eldian without magic flowing through her.”

“Then she can have mine.”

The words tumbled out, but Levi didn’t give them a second thought. This is what he’d come to do. If giving his life, his power, his soul, was what it took, he would give it all away in a heartbeat. He would never regret it.

There was a pause, and then Ymir’s voice flowed through him.

“You would make a deal?”

“Yes,” Levi confirmed, nodding furiously. “I’ll make any deal you want.”

“I can give her your power. It would mean you would no longer be Eldian. Are you truly okay with giving that up?”

“I am,” Levi said firmly. “If this is the only way, then I’ll do it.”

The two of you belonged together. Of that, Levi was sure. The best case scenario in his mission was that the two of you would be reunited, as Eldians, and he’d never have to worry about losing you. But fate was fickle, and he’d also accepted the worse case scenario: that he’d have to give his life for yours.

Your life was more valuable than his. You weren’t done making history, or new legends, yet.

You’d died plenty of times before, as a human. Clearly, you had no memory of it, but you and Death had walked together throughout time, as old friends.

Levi had lived a long life. It was time to introduce himself to Death as a new and perhaps long-awaited friend. It came for everyone in the end.

It was a strange feeling, having his power drained from him. It made him lighter but heavier, more alert but also hazier, and a new sense of coldness crept on him like an inner breeze. He’d heard plenty of people describe death as being cold, but the sensation was something that no amount of explanation could truly give it justice.

He wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to you properly. All he could do was watch as you cried and stared into the river, and it occurred to him that you were probably trying to use it as some type of verse mirror.

“I can’t even say goodbye?” Levi asked, but there was no answer. He was fading from your purgatory, he was fading from Ymir’s purgatory, and then he was back in his physical body, which was also fading. Distantly, he thought he could hear Hange screaming, but that eventually faded as well.

There was nothing.

And then he walked towards the light.

------------------------

You had no idea how you’d managed to pull it off.

One moment, you were staring into a river, pleading with any higher power to just let you see Levi, to talk to him, anything, and the next, you were kneeling over a shabbily put together verse mirror, the very same one you’d used to banish Marley.

Hange had been screaming, shaking you, and when they realized they were shaking you, they froze and shut up, their eyes wide.

“Embla?” they gasped, hands dropping to their sides. “Where’s Levi? He was just where you are now. How the hell…?”

It didn’t take long to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. A whisper of the broken mirror’s power curled around your mind, filling you in, and tears sprang to your eyes when you realized what Levi had done.

He’d given you his magic to bring you back as an Eldian. He’d sacrificed that for you.

“That idiot,” you whispered, bottom lip trembling as you looked at Hange with tearful eyes. “He gave me his power.”

Hange’s eyes widened, understanding flashing through them, and they slumped onto the ground and looked up at the sky in wonder.

“There has to be a way to undo it,” you blubbered, turning back to the shards of broken glass. It didn’t matter to you if the two of you were destined to be caught up in an endless cycle of saving each other; you couldn’t live without Levi.

How could you be here in Eldia without him?

It was like the cosmos heard you, however. You watched in horror as the broken glass shattered even more, the shards breaking apart until they were reduced to powder. A gust of wind blew through what used to be the town square, scattering the powder every which way. A subtle message that no, you would not be saving Levi, and what was done was done.

Was this what it had felt like for him, every time he had to lose you while you were human?

The pain was all-consuming. This has to be worse. Yes, it was worse, because he wasn’t coming back. He was gone, all because he saved you.

You vomited onto the cobblestone and then screamed.

------------------------

Erwin and Hange gave you some days to grieve and calm down. It made you feel horrible because they were clearly struggling with loss as well, but they had decided to process it by pouring themselves into work. You couldn’t get out of bed for a day and a half, even though it was a rough and firm bed in the Scouts’ headquarters that barely allowed for comfort. Levi's old room had been offered to you, but you couldn't bring yourself to so much as stand in front of the door.

After that, you decided you needed to move your body and started looking desperately into research on what could be done. You had even located some verse mirrors to see if the same type of magic could occur, but none of them ever panned out.

Sleep didn’t ever find you, and that was okay. The rare times you did doze off, you were plagued with sweet scenes of Levi. Theoretically, you should have loved that; it was the only time you were able to see him. Somehow, though, it was much worse. Even in your dreams, you knew it wasn’t real and that, at any moment, his gentle touch and his ghost of a kiss would vanish. It was torture.

Those were only memories and wishes of Levi, not the real him. You’d never create new moments with him again.

He would have wanted you to get moving. The best you could do was allow yourself to go through the motions like a robot until, maybe one day, the pain would ebb. And you wouldn't give up on getting him back. You'd cheat Death if you had to. Still, there was so much work to do.

When you’d returned to Eldia, your memories about your accomplishment had come back full force. Everyone else seemed clued in as well, thanks to Zeke’s dying words. Erwin was counting on you to gain access to that spectrum of your power again, to see if you could locate the realm you’d created and see what was going on in there.

Now, you were at the stage of your grief where you simply didn’t want to think about it anymore. You were numb and felt cold down to your bones, and you just wanted something to occupy your mind that wasn’t centered around Levi.

You were standing next to Hange and looking at a patrolled base, soldiers moving around large pillars that were situated in front of an old town square. Visibility was low as you tried to peer in between the pillars, and you looked at Hange, frowning a bit.

“We have permission to do this, don’t worry,” Hange assured you. “Just follow me.”

You distracted yourself by looking around as Hange gave official travel documents to the head officer, and you followed them past the pillars. Instantly, you felt as though you’d just passed through some kind of barrier, and you blinked in surprise when the town square became clearer.

“This used to be the capital city,” Hange explained as you followed them towards what was once a bridge; it was barely connected anymore. “This place is where the most reliable portal is.”

You nodded but said nothing, your eyes transfixed at an archway underneath the bridge. Darkness poured out of it, and something hummed in your veins.

“We were only able to get full permission for you to enter the human realm. I’m only allowed to stand guard,” Hange said, “so you’ll have to be okay with going by yourself. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m okay,” you confirmed, swallowing thickly.

“Remember, this is just practice. See if you can feel your way around the realms to try and locate Marley,” Hange reminded you.

“I will,” you said, stepping forward, toward the arched entranceway.

“Good luck.”

You stepped into the darkness, letting your eyes adjust before continuing your path. Endless stairs greeted your vision, descending downwards, and you took a deep breath before starting your trek.

You reached into your pocket and pulled out a glass ball, giving it a squeeze to surge some magic into it and light it up so you could see better. Hange had warned you to limit your use of magic when you got into the human realm, but you didn’t feel like you were all that close to it yet.

You descended the stairs, breathing in the damp air, until you jumped a little. You’d reached the point where you were no longer walking down the stairs, and they were starting to level out. And there was some resistance in the air around you, kind of like when you were walking on a windy day and had to push against the wind.

Things seem to blur together. Everything looked the same and yet didn’t. Physically, there was still nothing but black in front of you, but the magic in your veins seemed to buzz, and your mind’s eye could detect something that you physically could not. In your mind’s eye, there was a pinprick of light.

You took one more step forward and felt that barrier loosen up around you.

It was like stepping through a mirage. There really was a light at the end, and you hurried towards it, hearing the bustle of a city.

Cars. You could hear cars honking and driving along the street.

The light got brighter, until you realized it was another arched entryway, and you snuffed out the light in your glass ball and tucked it away again before you stepped into the human realm, your eyes wide and surprised.

You’d stepped into an alleyway, and cars zoomed by at the other end.

That was quick.

You turned back to where you’d just come from. Physically, there was nothing there but a brick wall, but your mind’s eye could see that arched entrance, waiting for you to come back.

You hadn’t been able to catch a glimpse of any other realm. In fact, the jump to the human realm had been very quick. If you were supposed to be able to see between these two realms, then you certainly hadn’t been paying attention.

Oh well. Maybe just a quick look around before going back.

You reached the end of the alleyway and stepped out onto the sidewalk, where you were greeted by a busy midday in the city. The skyscrapers blocked out the hot sun, but the heat still sweltered through the street. People walked past you quickly, on their phones or chatting with someone, and no one seemed to notice you at all.

This was the city you’d almost moved to. You’d been looking forward to melting into it and becoming invisible. It was what you wanted at the time.

For just a split second, regret plagued you. Now that Levi was gone, what was the point in you being Eldian? Sure, you were given a vital role by Ymir herself, but none of it even seemed to matter. You were going to live for a very, very long time, without the man you loved. These humans didn’t know how lucky they were that they could escape into death.

What a cruel joke.

You walked down the street, losing yourself in the crowds, and eventually decided to head into a café to get a drink before heading back.

A bell jingled overhead, signaling your entrance, and you walked up to the front, your eyes fixed on the menu over the counter. It was quiet inside, immediately muffling out the sounds of the city outside.

Maybe some tea would be nice.

Your eyes flickered away from the menu to look at the barista, your order at the tip of your tongue, but it felt like the wind was knocked out of you.

He was looking at you with a raised brow, impatience brewing behind his gray eyes, and his cropped hair rustled against his temples as he nodded to you in silent greeting, and as a silent urge to say your order.

When you didn’t speak, his lips turned down before asking, “What can I get you?”

“Levi?” you choked out, tears burning along your lash line.

It was him.

It was Levi.

He looked exactly the same, just in modern clothing. He sounded the same, his voice deep and low.

But he was human.

There wasn’t an ounce of power radiating off of him. Of course. He’d given you all of it. You’d taken all of it.

Human. Levi was human.

Not truly gone. You thought he’d died.

At the sound of his name, his eyes widened just the tiniest bit, eyebrows quirking up.

“Have we met?”

Oh, no.

You nearly dropped to your knees right then and there.

He didn’t remember you. He had no memory of you at all. You’d been wrong before…this was crueler than any other outcome.

Was this what it had felt like for Levi? Every time you’d reincarnate, had he felt that same lump in his throat, had he felt like he was so heavy he couldn’t move?

Your heart was in your stomach, and his question, his lack of recognition, made any tears that had threatened to leave you suddenly vanish. It was like a cold bucket of water had been dumped on you. The man you loved more than anything had no idea who you were anymore. It made your heart numb.

What could you possibly say to him? What had he said to you all those countless times before? Were you doomed to switch places with Levi? Was it your turn to find out what he’d endured for lifetimes?

What if this was to be his only human lifetime?

“Your nametag.”

A mask of neutrality washed over your face and you nodded towards the little metal tag on his apron.

“Sorry,” you whispered. “It’s been a long day. You have the same name as somebody I used to know.”

He was still looking at you suspiciously, but seemed to buy it well enough.

“Can I just get a rose tea? Iced, please,” you said, hoping he wouldn’t notice the way your voice wavered.

The initial shock of seeing him was ebbing away, but the searing pain of having him right in front of you, knowing he was human and didn’t remember you, was starting to take over.

When Levi told you the total, you realized too late that you hadn’t brought any money. This wasn’t supposed to be a fun adventure day; you weren’t even supposed to be in here. Still, you pretended to dig in your pockets, sighing in defeat and gazing at him under your lashes.

“I forgot my wallet,” you said, struggling to breathe as you realized you had to leave. “Sorry to waste your time.”

You felt rooted in place, and it took every ounce of willpower to begin to turn away. Your eyes memorized his face one last time, just in case. Now that you knew he was here, what were you going to do? Would it be too painful to see him live out a human life? Could you try and make him fall in love with you again, even if it meant saying goodbye some decades down the line?

“Wait.”

You stopped before you could fully look away, your eyebrows knitting together.

Levi sighed, then gave you a gentler look. Your heart squeezed in your chest, remembering all the times he’d looked at you like that before.

“It’s on the house,” he said. When you gave him a confused look, he shrugged. “You said you had a long day.”

“Thanks,” you managed to say, giving him a weak smile.

You settled yourself into a table close to where he made your tea, so you could look at him. There was only a few other people inside, all tucked away into their respective corners and not wanting to be bothered. If Levi could feel your eyes on him, he didn’t seem to care. He never took his eyes off your order as he made it.

He slid the tea across the counter after a few minutes of letting it steep, and you were quick to jump out of your seat and grab it, fingers brushing against his before he could pull away.

It felt like electricity passed through the two of you. His fingers were warm and just the ghost of a touch sent waves of familiarity and longing coursing through you. His brief warmth reached your very bones.

Levi also seemed to feel what you did. His hand jerked as he pulled it away and his eyes were flickering between his fingers and your face, as if trying to figure out the mystery of what he’d just felt.

“Are you sure we’ve never met before?” he asked you carefully.

There were a million ways to answer that question, and none of them would ever be able to truly convey to him the extent of your relationship.

Instead, you opted for another weak smile, trying your hardest to keep your eyes from revealing too much as you said,

“Maybe in a past life.”

#levi x reader #levi ackerman x reader #levi ackerman fanfiction #aot fanfiction #snk fanfiction #levi attack on titan #levi ackerman fic #levi ackerman smut

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