Remember Your Promise - Levi Ackerman

Chapter 5

Dedicated Chapter Song: Safe and Sound - Taylor Swift

Just close your eyes,
The sun is going down.
You'll be alright,
No one can hurt you now.
Come morning light,
You and I'll be safe and sound.
(Levi)

      "It's done. Would you like a taste, Corporal?" Anna innocently asked. Even later into the night, Anna and Levi were the only two in the mess hall. Levi had agreed to keep her company by filling out his paperwork there while she cooked and cleaned. He set down his teacup and tore his eyes away from his work. "If you're willing to give," he replied.

       Anna scooped some of her stew into a wooden bowl. It smelled delicious. She only hoped the taste proved the same result. "Here you are." she generously smiled, setting the bowl. Levi glanced at it as he set aside his paperwork. She handed him a metal spoon. "It's a shame you have to be working on your birthday." she frowned as he sipped at a spoonful.

      "What else would I be doing?" he eyed her. She shrugged. "I dunno. Celebrating?" she suggested. "It's good." he motioned to the bowl. "The stew."

      Anna frowned. "Don't change the topic. We should celebrate your birthday!" she eagerly smiled at him. "And just how do you propose we do that?" his hooded eyes watched her. "Well...  Every year on my birthday...  Ruby, Rose, and Cullen would all sneak into my room and we'd have a party. Cullen and I would dance as the twins sang shanties." she giggled.

      "That's your idea of fun?" he scoffed. Anna shook her head. "No. It's my idea of happiness. You see, I was never happier than I was those days. I knew those three cared about my birthday and how long I'd lived for. A birthday shouldn't just be another day, Captain. It should be celebrated that with those monsters out there, you've lived another year."

      "So," Levi looked up at her. "What do we do then?" Anna bit her lip, walking over to his side, extending her arm. "May I have this dance, Corporal Levi?" she smiled. He arched an eyebrow as he slipped his hand into hers. "There's no music," he stated while he took a stand.

      "I can sing," Anna replied as his arm snaked around her waist,  but they kept a respectable amount of space between each other. Anna placed one hand on his shoulder and held his hand with the other. She hummed the tune at first, her blue eyes reflecting in his silver ones.

      "2 am, where do I begin. Crying off my face again..." she sang softly. "The silent sound of loneliness wants to follow me to bed. I'm the ghost of a girl that I want to be most. I'm the shell of a girl that I used to know well." her shoulders shrugged as she gave him an expression he'd never seen on her face before.

It was like she'd accepted her fate. Like she submitted herself to him. "Dancing slowly in an empty room," she sang just a bit louder. "Can the lonely take the place of you? I sing myself a quiet lullaby. Then you go and let the lonely in to take my heart again..."

      "Too afraid, to go inside for the pain of one more loveless night...for the loneliness will stay with me..." sometime during her singing she'd moved closer to him, almost as if she was telling him she trusted him. If Anna was beginning to trust him again, it could be just the beginning of her falling in love with him again. "And hold me till I fall asleep I'm the ghost of a girl that I want to be most. I'm the shell of a girl that I used to know well." and her hand tightened around his own, showing him that she was comfortable. They swayed together, their feet moving in sync, as if they were pieces of the same puzzles, fitting together perfectly. "Dancing slowly in an empty room. Can the lonely take the place of you? I sing myself a quiet lullaby, then you go and let the lonely in to take my heart again. Broken pieces of a barely breathing story where there once was love..." that's when he saw what changed in her. She'd read that part of the diary. She knew they were once together.

"Now there's only me...And the lonely...Dancing slowly in an empty room..." her head lowered just a bit. "Can the lonely take the place of you? I sing myself a quiet lullaby...then you go and let the lonely in...to take my heart again..." she finished, her eyes becoming hooded as she hung onto every word she'd said.

      "Anna..." Levi whispered, dipping his head down, his face just a few centimeters from hers. "Look at me." he'd whispered. She felt his breath on her face and her heart raced. The memories in her head even didn't help. Luckily, the Commander did.

      "ANNAAAAA!" Hanji squealed as she rammed the door from the outside. "Ow..." she mumbled as she hit the locked door. "Oh! Commander Hanji!" Anna ran over to the door, quickly unlocking it, only to see literally the entire squad outside. "Is that stew?" Sasha Brauss popped up from behind Hanji, excitedly staring inside.

      Anna laughed and stepped aside. "Well don't just stand there in the cold, all of you. My famous stew is one to kill for. Literally." she winced, walking back to the stove counter.

      Levi glared at Hanji, grabbing her and yanking her behind a beam Anna couldn't see them behind. "This close, four eyes!" he hissed at her. "Anna has her diary. She's probably gotten to the day we first kissed. Something is swaying her mood. I don't know if she's remembering or not." he mumbled to her. "Weeeell, I may have a theory on that." Hanji grinned, showing him her report. "Remember how I said Anna's blood cells reacted to the antidote differently than Eren and Rose's? Well, that's because the serum counters only unnatural genes in her cell!" Hanji said excitedly.

      "Anna's memories were all under an unnatural influence, which is why she's experiencing memory loss! However, not every cell was affected by the serum when running the tests. Meaning, the Titan serum may have been discarded, but all of Anna's superhuman actions remain buried deep inside her."

      "Meaning...  the Anna we know is still in there somewhere?" Levi asked hopefully. "Yes! Now... it may take some time for her cells to regenerate completely back to her strongest self, but without a constant dose of the serum, Anna will be back to her old self soon."

      "How soon?" Levi demanded. "Depends. I'm not really sure but I'll take another blood sample from her. But if there's one thing for certain, Anna has definitely remembered something and she's hiding it from us."