Angel With A Shotgun [Levi Ackerman x OC] / Attack on Titan / Shingeki no Kyojin

Code XXXIV: Fallen

content warning: death

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Finally, night had arrived. Levi finished up with the few errands and debrief he had to run over with Hange a lot later than he had anticipated; it was nearly midnight. But he wasn't the least bit surprised to find Xora still wide awake in her room, quietly slipping in without taking much notice.

"What is it you wanted to talk about?" he asked softly, joining her side by the window sill. She seemed to enjoy gazing at the moon and night sky, admiring the stars. He stared at the moonlight illuminating her serene face. Though her expression was indifferent, her eyes toiled with hundreds of mysteries.

"Firstly, I... want to formally return this to you," Xora said quietly, gently laying a golden pocketwatch upon the sill. She slid it over to him, not once tearing her eyes away from the night sky. "I know now that it is yours."

"And the note? Is it in there?"

"Check for yourself."

Levi glanced down at the timepiece tentatively, pressing his lips into a thin line. He clicked the latch release twice, and as expected, the back popped open. The small scrap of folded paper was indeed there, fluttering out to land on his palm. It looked like she had replaced it while he was gone. "...This means that you remember, don't you? You remember it all?"

"Not everything," Xora murmured, her voice far away. "There are just a few significant parts that have come back to me. A majority of my memory is still missing, but I think I—I remember the most important ones."

"Tell me about them. I want to know everything you remember. Explain it all to me. I don't care how long it takes; we can take the entire night reminiscing if you need to. I just want to hear it all from you, Xora. It's been nearly a decade since we last saw each other; seeing you after so long brings back so many... emotions. Seeing the old you, the... the real you."

"Are you sure you want to listen to me prattle about things that were, and are no longer in the present?"

"Of course."

"Then..." Xora trailed off, finally turning away from the open window. She backed toward the bed and sat on the edge, the mattress leaning in where her weight pushed against it. Levi went over to the other side and did the same, but fell to his back, letting out a long sigh. Xora, too, laid beside him.

"I'll start from the beginning."

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The Ackerman Hospital. That was your parents' hospital, and that was why you were there when my grandmother was first admitted. She had fallen, and was taken to emergency care immediately. I can't exactly remember how I was able to find my way there, but... I'd brought flowers for her. I was told  that I couldn't see her, but perhaps that was for the better, because right after that, I met you.

There was nothing else I could do with those flowers but give them to you. And then you showed me your cello. I think from then on, our friendship blossomed. My grandmother's health deteriorated quickly, and my visits to your hospital became more frequent with the passing years. Every time I returned, you'd always learned a new piece, each one even greater than the last. But I remember your favorite was Pachelbel's Canon, and it was mine, too. I'd hung on that memory for so, so long...

Somewhere along the way, we must have realized our fates were so much more intertwined than we realized. It's as if it were practically written in the stars. I remember that for your birthday—which, I don't recall exactly—I'd given you that pocketwatch as a gift. I received it from my grandmother. That day, we'd gone ice-skating, that cold December Christmas day. The damned pond... I fell in, didn't I? I can't remember much from it, only the cold, dreadful feeling, and the panic that rose in my chest at the fact that my coat and skates were dragging me under.