(Levi Ackerman x OC) Melting A Frozen Heart ~ Attack on Titan

Chapter 34: S27 Brown

Malorie, the little girl who called a machine like her a princess, and a soldier like Levi a prince.

Annie, who'd frozen herself in time to protect her secrets—the person Chi had vowed to kill to avenge—but who was it? Petra, Oluo, Eld, and Gunther.

The vow she'd made to herself to hear Levi's laughter.

Wall Rose, being breached, separating Levi and Chi—kept together by the rings on their fingers.

Chi, running to save Eren, and sacrificing her limbs to kill just one, one more titan.

Then... it was the fateful day where she returned to Levi's side and learned the truth—the truth that she was half-titan.

And after that... what happened?

Wasn't there a promise she was supposed to remember... a promise she'd made and intended to keep?

Chi's mind was foggy as the memories piled into her head and she was overwhelmed, turning her back to the stranger to curl into fetal position.

"Hey, are you alright?" the golden-eyed boy asked, setting a hand onto her visibly shaking shoulder. "Is there something wrong?"

"N—no," Chi stuttered as she stiffened. Even though finally, finally, she'd regained her memory, she could not let it throw her out of reality. "I am fine." Straightening, she sat up and blinked away the moisture in her eyes before swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. She faced the man and asked him, "Who're you?"

"Me?" the man clarified, pointing at himself. When Chi nodded, he replied, "My name is Alabaster Galen. Nice to meet you." He held out a palm, and Chi took it firmly with a stiff shake before retracting her hand.

"Alabaster. Are you the one who saved me? Where am I?"

"Saved you? You mean, from that bitch named Violet? That wasn't me, but you could say I helped make that happen. You're at our hideout right now."

"'Our?'"

"Oh." Alabaster stood and flashed her a sweet smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he beckoned for her to follow, already starting toward the door in the corner of the room. "I think it's better to show you than to tell you."

Reluctantly, with cautious and calculating stares, she stood and followed him briskly. Together, they quietly exited and filed through a dark and dank hallway; it was quite long and seemed very old, with dust piling in the crannies where the wooden walls and floor met. Cobwebs littered the joints were the ceiling and walls connected, long abandoned by spiders.

'If Levi were here, he'd go insane,' Chi wondered, smiling at the thought.

When the two came upon a set of double doors, Alabaster opened them both in a very dramatic fashion, his smile growing even larger as light spilled into the hallway. Chi blocked the blinding brilliance with her forearm and took a few hesitant steps forward, slowly adjusting to the brightness. Inside the large room, she could hear lots of indistinct chatter, but it quieted and died away as she entered with tiny steps.

Once her eyes had gotten used to the sudden brightness, she lowered her arms and was shocked to find what she'd stumbled upon.

People—still, unmoving, with their eyes trained on her—broken into many expressions. Many had smiling faces, and many others wore shocked expressions. There were of various ages—the youngest around Chi's age, some a bit older, the oldest wrinkly and puckered, but their eyes glimmered brilliantly with immense knowledge.

They were people, sitting at half-eaten meals, at old, creaky tables, but they weren't just any strangers—they all shared different shades of golden eyes, their hair matching the exact shade of S27 brown.

Some of them had eyes that were more tawny, some more mustard, less yellow, more yolky, less blonde, more like daffodil—all the different shades of gold and bronze and yellow. But whatever the shade of their eyes, they were just like Chi.

"Oh—oh my—" she choked as loud cheering erupted from the crowd of people, an audience so large, and yet she knew the number already—nine hundred and ninety-eight. Nine hundred and ninety-eight people here clapped and hollered and cheered for her and her alone. Tears began to brim her eyes and cascaded down in large numbers, but she did nothing to prevent them as they fell silently, a dumbfounded grin finding its way onto her lips.

"You've probably already guessed it," Alabaster, chuckled, turning to face her. "We're the nine hundred and ninety-eight test subjects that came before you, the 'failures'—though it turned out that we really aren't 'failures,' and only late bloomers. We were all thrown out only days after we were first given the DNA of titans, but it was extremely fortunate we had the oldies to take care of us and hone our abilities, lest we wouldn't be here now." He pointed at a large, buff man with spikey hair, his sides shaved. "That's Ruff—the one who saved you. And we're lucky we did— we'll talk more about that later—though I think it's best for you to get accustomed, first. I know it must be overwhelming... but we have been waiting for you, Chi. We've been waiting to complete the circle."

Chi stepped forward and continued to gaze at the roaring crowd, her hands gripping the hem of her shirt tightly. For all of her life, she had always believed that she was alone. She had always believed that she was the outsider, the peculiar, strange one—and still yet, here was nearly a thousand people just like her.

"Meaning," Alabaster paused as he waved a hand towards the other golden-eyed people like a ringmaster, "that you could call us... your family."