Shiganshina was bleak and lifeless as we traveled through, glancing in every direction ready for something to jump out at us. My heart raced as I glanced to my older self.
"Where exactly are we going?"
"There's another church up ahead intact. Erwin and the others will choose it to set up camp. They're a few hours out if they're as punctual as they were last time." The church loomed ahead, overgrown with moss. Birds flew around happily nesting in the foundations of the crumbling building.
"It's strangely beautiful." I whispered, she shrugged.
"I spend a lot of time in dilapidated holy buildings. I never got a good solid answer as to why my life turned out this way. " we dismounted and tied the horses to a nearby ,oddly sturdy fence.
"When you said you're going to die today...does that mean you're seriously going to sacrifice yourself?" Her face clouded, she curtly nodded.
"I can't risk you dying. Not again. I'm sure that this is the answer. When I pass, my powers should transfer to you as I've absorbed them from you over the years. I told you on the ride here how to best use them. Once you receive my full power, you should innately be able to use them and end this war. What you do afterwards is completely your choice." I nodded, glancing down at my hands.
"A life without war...I never thought I'd see it. But...marley. if what you said was completely true, we'd surely have to go over there to create some kind of truce. Right?"
"I guess but that would be for the monarchy to work on. After this, you should be free." I nodded, chewing my lip.
"Wait! That's- that's Y/ns horse!"
"Levi-" I ran to the door just as he pulled it open. His arms circled my waist in an instant, his head rested on my shoulder.
"You're okay." I chuckled and pulled away.
"Of course I am but...let's not do this in front of the others. There's someone I'd like you to meet." I mused, guiding him to where my senile self sat, watching us with a small smile.
"Hi levi." He looked between us, his confusion building with every glance.
"This is y/n. Me from...another timeline."
"I'm pretty much a guardian angel, if youd believe that kind've thing."
"Oh...but you're...you must be in your sixties." She sighed, clearly irked by the comment.
"It's a long story."
"So you never had any relationship with me?"
"No. Only the brief one I had with Mike." Levis head snapped to me as I blushed.
"Before we met, when I first started out...Mike and I were together. Only for a month though. Didn't...work out." I quickly explained, the older me smiled and looked at levi.
"You take care of her well."
" I try."
"Well-"
"Oh my Maria!!! Woah! You are a freak of nature!"
"Hange!" Erwin exclaimed, she paid no attention and examined my older self.
"Woah. This really is insane. An alternate version of our y/n, did you say? Is this something to do with your powers or maybe a strange invention?" My older self shook her head.
"I don't think so. I always chalked it up to being gods plan. I was your y/n once, a long time ago now. I was killed with Farlan and Isobel and yet...came back to guide y/n, to save her." Levis expression was unreadable as he watched her.
"Her visions, they were your doing?"
"Yes. I lived through every future, watching her make mistakes over and over. It's taken fourty or so years to get her to this point. Ive seen her die more times than I can count." Levi saluted her firmly.
"I can't thank you enough."
"Don't thank me yet. This battle to come is...its unlike anything you've faced. Erens basement is a trap. It always has been. It has information and motivations behind the shifters going against humans. "
"What do you know of their information?" Erwin questioned as he neared us.
"I know that this war on humanity...its not as it seems. I can't remember much as I've only come this far once before. We are not the last of humanity, that I can say for sure. The basement...it has important information on not only our forgotten history but Erens as well. There's nothing on y/n other than the fictions I created to keep her safe."
"Lying about ymirs slayer being her ancestor is what got people hunting her!" Levi argued, I glanced to my older self.
"No plan is ever perfect. The king in a previous timeline tried to have her imprisoned out of fear she went insane whilst outside the walls. Creating the false ancestral history of y/n being related to the first titan slayer made the king believe it was in her dna to survive. I know that i put her family in danger but i was not going to sit and watch her go through that hell again." Levi didn't speak, he just gave a small nod and glanced at me before leaving. I stood and smiled down to the older woman before glancing to erwin and hange.
"You guys ask your questions...im going to check on him." I whispered and followed the shortcake, waving to cadets and friends on the way.
The cold wind hit with a fierce burst into me, sending my hair flying around wildly. I watched levi for a moment as he leaned against a wall of the church. Then, I approached.
"So, not a fan of the whole my girlfriend is a grandma thing?" I questioned, levi gave a small scoff and stared out at the dilapidated buildings surrounding us.
"I can't imagine how you felt." I slowly hooked my pinky around his.
"You think enough about me. How are you feeling? Dont deflect."
"It's fucking crazy. A past version of you dying and then being resurrected to watch over you? It sounds fucking insane. I thought I'd meet sixty year old you in another fourty years."
"You've imagined it?"
"...yeah. we've been through so much shit together that the only way we wouldn't end up like that is if you either found someone better or one of us... of course I imagined growing old with you. You're the only one worth a damn in this world." I smiled as he laced his fingers with mine. Levis face was soft, his hair seemed to stay perfect even with the wild wind.
"I never believed in soulmates or love...not until I met you."
"When you met me we were hauling your ass out of the underground."
"And you saw right through me. You were right back then. I wasn't angry, I was scared. You were the only one that had the balls to point that out to my face. It was kind of hot." He mused, a sly smile twitching at his lips.
"Well-" a bell sounded, I turned just as my older self stepped from the church.
"I'm standing first watch. Sleep. Both of you." She mused, her brow raising at me as though she was a mother scolding her child.
Levi gave a small nod and guided me inside, glancing back to my older self for a brief moment.
"Thanks. For watching over her." She made a shooing motion and we entered, finding a quiet spot to sleep.
We didn't speak but I could feel his fingers link with mine as I drifted into a deep sleep.
I awoke to the sound of war crys. I sat with a jolt and stared up at the wrinkled face of myself. That was when I could feel the fog lifting from my head. I glanced around the strange surroundings of an unfamiliar room. I moved my wrists and gasped, suddenly noticing my metal restraints.
"Stop fighting." I stared as the sixty year old woman entered the room.
"What are you doing?!"
"I'm protecting you. The fight out there...I can't see it happen again. I won't. "
"This is a fight we have to win! It's bigger than all of us. There are children, families terrified everyday that the walls could crumble down and they die next. There are children drafting themselves in the survey corps desperate to fight for the hope that their future children, future generations stand a better chance! I know it's scary, you've seen-"
"I've shown you only a fraction of it! The horrors I've seen are unimaginable! You couldn't even begin to comprehend the unending death that has surrounded me. No more. You're staying here until the fight blows over."
"No. No, you said-"
"I said I'm going to sacrifice myself. I am. I never said I'd let you fight. You die, I have to go through this crap again. I'm too old. If I have to go through all of this one more time...if you go though this again then I don't know what I'd do. So you're staying here, out of the way." I pulled on the handcuffs.
"Please. You know this isn't right!"
"Right and wrong doesn't exist. You should know that." With those final words, she closed the door behind her.