AN: Happy Weekend, everybody! I hope you all enjoy this chapter update.
Sorry it's been a while, but I'm back with a new chapter. The last one was quite angsty.
Song inspired for this chapter: What I Did For Love by David Guetta and Emelie Sande.
Levi and I have tea in the Path. We found a small table with two chairs with a pot of steaming tea waiting for us, and that's where we now sit as we contemplate what we saw inside the tree.
I don't believe it. Levi and I will have a family one day, and the tears threaten to seep from my eyes.
Levi looks across at me, sipping his tea in that strange fashion I have come to love, and he, too, looks just as spellbound. There's a shine to his eyes, one I have never seen before.
After all, he saw our future kids. I saw them through his memories, and they were so beautiful. The little girl had my eyes and dark hair like Levi's, and she was so precious. The little boy was blond like me but with grey eyes, and they truly exhibited both of our genes.
Those two kids were part Ackerman, part Reiss, and I can't wait to meet them one day.
I just wish we knew their names.
We had a third child too who was still sleeping in bed, and older me looked furious as she went to wake her up.
She had been eleven after all, and kids are normally lazy at that age. I had been thirty and Levi late forties. So, if she was eleven and I was thirty, then that means... I will have her at nineteen.
One year from now. But pregnancies can be as long as ten months, so I would have been aged eighteen when I fell pregnant.
I'm eighteen now. I have been for a couple of months.
My heart thumps as the tea shakes upon my saucer, and Levi narrows his eyes. "What is it?"
I stop, sucking in a breath. "It's... nothing."
Silence again. It's not that I'm worried about doing what needs to be done to have a baby; I've done plenty of that with Levi already, but still... a baby.
Are we really ready to have a baby? Especially with everything being so uncertain right now? I always knew I wanted children with Levi one day, after we found peace with Marley.
If that day ever comes.
Do I really want to bring a child into this uncertain, bloodstained world? What made us justify the right to do that to a poor child? Especially after our talk back at the farm.
Also, what had changed Levi's mind? He had been so dead set on not having children, yet the man I saw in my memories of the future had been affectionate and loving towards his kids, albeit a little grumpy.
My heart swells at the imagery. He really had been a fantastic father, just like I predicted. And I'm glad Levi has seen what a wonderful father he will be too.
I worry my lip. Levi sighs, slamming his cup onto the tablet. "Historia?"
I blink. "It's... nothing. Really..."
He grinds his jaw. "No, it's not. Talk to me. What the hell's on your mind?"
Carefully, I peer into his enraged eyes, heart whacking against my chest. I swallow. "Our... oldest daughter had been eleven years of age."
Levi shrugs. "So. What of it?"
I draw in a breath. "I had been thirty..."
Heat flashes through his eyes as he picks up his cup again. "Damn right you'd been, and fine too."
I purse my lips. I know he's still talking about me, but come on. I'm sitting right here (and thirty-year-old Historia had bigger boobs than me). I would tell him to get a room with thirty-year-old Historia like an obnoxious, jealous twit, but I button my lips.
If only we had Armin here; he's the best at math. Levi? Not so much. Unless, he just hasn't let his mind wander there. It is a lot to process.
We have seen things that have yet to happen, and have no idea what led to those events. I still have no idea what Old Lady Historia was talking about with the ice-burst stone and the Azumbito.
That's obviously way, way into the future. We have to deal with our current problem.
"That was twelve years from now, and we had an eleven-year-old daughter. It's not hard to figure out, Levi."
He keeps his shrewd eyes on me, taking another sip of his tea. When the penny drops, he chokes on his drink, and I give him a moment.
His coughing echoes across the flowery plains of the path as he catches his breath, the weight of my news bearing down on him hard. Maybe I should pat his back?
When he finally collects himself, he glances at me, and a tear drips from his eye. "But... that means you'd... you'd fall pregnant..."
"This year," I finish for him, gauging his response.
His deft fingers tighten around his cup, but after a few moments, the porcelain starts to crack. His whole body becomes tense, and now he shakes. "F-fuck..."
I widen my eyes. He's not wrong; it's definitely a fucked up situation.
He rises from his chair and storms off, traipsing through the poppies. He knocks their heads off in his wake, and there's no need to take his anger out on the flowers.
I move after him. "Wait... Levi, hold on. We need to discuss—"
"Just leave me alone!"
I grit my teeth, plodding through the poppies after him but with much more grace. "Levi, don't you walk away. This is a serious discussion. This is our future!"
"I said, quiet!"
No, he didn't. He said: "Leave me alone..."
He's still as stubborn as a mule.
"Hey, I'm taking to you!"
I race after him, yanking a hold of his shoulder, and he spins around, getting right in my face. "Back off, Historia."
I don't back off. I stay right put, and something sparks inside me as I yank his cravat, choking him like he choked me three years ago. I think I even lift him off his feet a little, but that's wishful thinking.
"No. Why the hell are you being such a big child? Grow some balls and face me like a man!"
Levi stares at me speechless, as if he can't believe that I have just shouted at him. My knuckles whiten around his cravat as I hold on tighter, yet I'm barely sucking the life from him. What is he made of?
His eyes narrow, and then his jaw locks in place as he speaks through his teeth. "Let go, Historia."
My fist tightens, and he winces when I finally get my chokehold. Call it payback, but it really sucked when he threw me around like a ragdoll a few years back, but look at me now, wanting his babies...
Can you spell "messed up"?
I set my own jaw in place, making sure my eyes look as bright and furious as his. "No."
We stay that way, as man and woman discussing their possible future, and we're so screwed up. Everything is screwed up, but I'll be damned if I won't do all in my power to have that future. We can't mess it up. The tree showed us our futures for a reason.
We can and we will survive the war, and we will start a family too in the process. They say the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rarest and beautiful of all, and that can be us—that can be our child. We'll be those flowers you see growing between the cracks of paving stones. So long as there is moisture and sunlight to nurture us, we'll survive.
I will not let my present destroy my future. Not when I truly have something concrete to fight for now.
For my children and my grandchildren, I will fight. I still have yet to meet my granddaughter Frieda with her crazy phone contraption. She won't be born for a long while, but I will set the wheels of her birth in motion.
We will start a whole new generation of Ackerman-Reiss children.
"You saw our future first hand, Levi. Whatever's going to happen, we will survive."
I try not to think about his scarred, crippled image. In both of our futures, Levi had been disfigured, and what on earth's going to happen to him? He hasn't commented on it yet, but I wish we could have gotten some inside information to avoid him ending up that way.
It doesn't matter now. So long as he was alive, I don't care. We're both going to live for a very, very long time. We will grow old together. I want to be a badass eighty-year-old queen with that stark look in her vibrant blue eyes.
Finally, he closes his eyes and sighs, reaching up to loosen my fingers. I let go, and he brushes down his cravat, directing an irate "tch" my way. "Still ascertaining your dominance over me, I see. What are you going to do next? Punch me?"
At his words, I give his arm a feeble punch, and dust wafts from his sleeve. He raises an eyebrow.
It's not the same without the others around cheering me on, but I put my hands on my hips, narrowing my eyes. "Even though I've done that once already, but yes. I am not just your queen, Levi, but your wife too, and you will listen to me."
He jerks his head away, making a tsk sound. "Fine," he growls. "Talk away."
I prepare my speech, unable to stop the shaking in my voice. "Our firstborn will be born in one year from now, and you know how long a pregnancy lasts, don't you, Levi?"
"Ten months," he replies, calm and collected.
I step closer. "So, that means I need to be pregnant within the next few months."
He closes his eyes, reaching his hand up to pinch the skin between his brows. "Yes, just... how?"
My face falls blank. I have never felt so disappointed in him. "Well, do I really have to explain the birds and the bees? You know the stork myth is complete bunk, right, Le—"
"That's not what I'm talking about!" he yells, his voice carrying over the landscape.
I cross my arms, waiting for him to get over his spat of rage. He has such a short fuse today.
"I meant how are we going to get you pregnant? We don't see each other anymore. This Path is the only place we can meet. I'm not sure if you can even get pregnant here."
I shrug. "There's no harm in trying."
He shakes his head. "Have you once felt hungry or the urge to relieve yourself, Historia? Because I sure haven't, and only gods know how long we've been here. Time is static."
What kind of question is that? But he's right. Honestly, I don't even know what I am right now. A ghost? Am I physically here or have I become a spirit?
It appears he's right. All the normal, biological processes of our bodies have been put on hold. So it only makes sense that we couldn't conceive a child too.
Levi released inside me before when we made love, but I doubt his seed would plant and grow into a baby. Everything feels so real right now, so it's hard to forget that we're not truly here.
I look away from him, wrapping my arms around myself as a cruel wind whips through my hair.
Life really can be so cruel.
It looks as if the military has got one over us again, and it's just not fair. How can I live up to my old friend's promise of living for myself if I can't even see the man I love anymore?
"But I promise, we will find a way somehow. They can't keep tabs on us all the time..." he says.
Levi takes my chin, gazing into my eyes. A small smile curves his lips. "All right. I... I will put a baby inside you, Historia. You'll get to meet your eldest daughter within the next year, I swear."
Tears spill from my eyes as I tug him closer, bushing my nose with his. "Always a man of your word, hey, but... don't you mean our daughter?"
"Tch, you mean that lazy brat who couldn't even be bothered to get out of bed to celebrate her mother's birthday? I don't think so."
I whack his shoulder. "Hey, she was at that age. Being eleven is hard, you know..."
"Tell that to your future self. You looked ready to rip her head off. I wish I could have stayed around to watch what happened next."
I nudge him playfully next. He growls and pushes me down into the poppies, landing on top of me, and now he steals the breath from my lungs with a kiss.
We may not be able to get me pregnant here, but we'll still have fun. We need these stolen moments after all since they're all we have right now.
He reaches beneath my skirt, running a calloused hand up my thigh, and I shiver when he stops between my legs. He presses his thumb against the hood of my sex, and stars burst in my eyes. I haven't even lost my panties yet, and he's already performing all kinds of magical tricks.
One day, those magic fingers of his will be gone. Levi will get into some horrific accident of some kind, but it's not worth thinking about now. All I can do is buck my hips against his fervent fingers as he rubs me like a genie lamp, making me gasp and whimper for breath.
A wet patch seeps through the cotton of my panties, and I know he feels it too. I bite my bottom lip, wisps of hair flying around my face as I pant. "Just... just take my panties off already... d-don't make me wait, idiot..."
One lewd chuckle from him, and the sound shoots straight to my core, bringing me to life. "Someone's eager."
I groan. "Just do—"
A sharp gasp escapes me as he rips my panties, planting a solid kiss to my lips, and it's like he's sucking the life from my lungs. His coarse fingers slip inside me, rocking me back and forth as he brings me to my peak.
Not far to go. I'm just about to crest the final wave...
Levi helps me climb that little bit further with just a pinch of his fingers, and now I crash headfirst into the sea, drowning in an ocean of pure, endless bliss.
Time is irrelevant as it's just me and Levi now, forever and always...
But we can't stay. We have to return since we have a new mission. A mission to meet our daughter.
And I can't wait.
AN: I hope you enjoyed chapter 13.
The next posting date will be June the 19th. I will be alternating between HMBaby and Wilted Rose, because I have found it hard to juggle writing and posting both, so at the moment I am going to see how I fare posting HMBbay one week, and then Wilted Rose the next.
Wilted Rose will be updated again next week, so look out for that one.
Thank you for reading