Dedicated Chapter Song: Your Reality - Doki Doki Literature Club OST
Every day I imagine a future where I can be with you.
(Anna and Levi)
Bwang! Bwang! Bwang! Above the buzzing heads of the Scouting Legion tolled the church bell of the wedding venue. A wedding was such a luxury and rarity that the entirety of the Military Divisions had attended. Talk about massive pressure. It made Annalise Kasahara no less nervous as her best friends Rubianne Lariviere and Zoë Hanji helped her get ready.
"I can't believe this is even real," Anna exhaled as she stared into the mirror at herself. Hanji was helping to curl the bride's hair while Ruby was working on her makeup and fixing up her dress. The gown Erwin had custom ordered needed the slightest bit of tweaking by the time it was ready to be worn, but Anna felt a great sense of power in wearing it.
She felt like a goddess. Looked like one too. "You're quite the lucky woman, Anna." Hanji complimented. "Honestly we never even thought Levi would look at someone the way he looks at you. This is such a big event for the entire population. Are you nervous?" Anna laughed. "Of course I am! I thought we said it was to be a small affair, not have the entire army under one venue!"
"Zackary insisted." Ruby sighed, tucking back a curl of her red and black hair. "You look absolutely stunning, Anna." She smiled. Anna gulped at her reflection. She was even more beautiful than the time she'd gone to the Division Party with Levi and Erwin. "All that's left is the veil." Hanji said, then realized it wasn't in the room. "Crap! I must've left it in my other bag! Wait here, Anna. Ruby, you come with me. We need to make sure the bouquet is perfect."
"Roger that." Ruby giggled and followed the older woman. "Uh, guys?" Anna turned around but they were already out of the hall. With a sigh she stepped off the small pedestal she'd been standing on and grabbed the edges of her dress, watching herself in the mirror. "How did we get here?" she whispered to herself.
"Anna?" rang a familiar voice around the corner. "Ah! Levi!" She shrieked, quickly running to the archway and hiding beside the wall. "D-Don't come in!" she said, flustered. "You aren't supposed to see me before the wedding! It's bad luck. God knows we don't need anymore of that."
"Don't worry," Levi spoke, leaning his back against the same wall, just on the other side of her. "I'm not peeking."
"Then...why are you here?" Anna questioned.
"I had to hear your voice. At least once," he admitted. "To remind me that I'm not dreaming."
"Don't back out on me now. You promised we'd do this together." Anna reminded him.
"I'm not backing out. You'd better not either. Don't leave me standing at the alter or I'll cut you. Understood?"
Anna grinned. "And don't ditch me for the Maid of Honor or I'll cut you." she giggled at their tropes, then took a breath and exhaled. "I.... I love you, Levi..." there was a certain strange edge to her voice. Like she was sad for some reason. "I can't wait to marry you."
"I love you, too, Anna. Forever and always."
Anna cast her eyes downward to catch a glimpse of his hand. He was wearing black leather gloves. With a smile she reached out and curled her fingers around his, smiling at the sudden hitch of his breath. Slowly, Anna closed her eyes like she was praying. Praying that this went well. Praying that nothing bad happened. Quietly, she began to hum, which soon turned to song.
"I close my eyes and I can see the world that's waiting up for me...that I call my own." Levi's head slowly raised at the sound of her voice, his eyes brightening. "Through the dark, through the door, through where no one's been before. But it feels like home."
Anna opened her eyes and craned her head to the archway, looking down at their hands. "They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy. They can say, they can say I've lost my mind," she let out a small laugh. "I don't care, I don't care, so call me crazy. We can live in a world that we design..." her voice slowly trailed off before picking up again, this time Levi joining her.
"'Cause every night I lie in bed. The brightest colors fill my head. A million dreams are keeping me awake." they sang together. "I think of what the world could be. A vision of the one I see. A million dreams is all it's gonna take..." Anna quieted her voice to listen to him. "A million dreams for the world we're gonna make..." Levi sang softly.
Anna closed her eyes once again and rested her head against the wall, feeling the vibrations of his voice in the back of her head. "There's a house we can build. Every room inside is filled with things from far away," Anna could see the house then. With their children playing with dolls and wooden swords, hoping to one day be like their Mommy and Daddy. "The special things I compile. Each one there to make you smile on a rainy day."
Her groom's grip on her hand tightened and she felt his fingers intertwine with her own. "They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy. They can say, they can say we've lost our minds. I don't care, I don't care if they call us crazy. Runaway to a world that we design." Anna's eyes opened at the sudden thought of running away with him. She was at a loss for words.
"Every night I lie in bed," Levi sang. "The brightest colors fill my head. A million dreams are keeping me awake. I think of what the world could be. A vision of the one I see. A million dreams is all it's gonna take. A million dreams for the world we're gonna make..." At his calming and loving words Anna found her voice again.
"However big, however small, let me be part of it all," she sang alone. "Share your dreams with me. You may be right, you may be wrong," Anna shrugged a shoulder. "But say that you'll bring me along to the world you see. To the world I close my eyes to see. I close my eyes to see."
Together they sang the rest, each of them feeling the song within them "Every night I lie in bed.
The brightest colors fill my head.
A million dreams are keeping me awake. A million dreams, a million dreams. I think of what the world could be. A vision of the one I see. A million dreams is all it's gonna take. A million dreams for the world we're gonna make..." Levi slowly slipped his hand from Anna's and she watched it disappear behind the wall, listening to his footsteps fade. "...For the world we're gonna make..."
"Got it!" Hanji came rushing in a moment later with Anna's veil in her hands. "Here. Lemme put it on you." She grinned happily. Anna bowed her head in order to give the taller woman better access into placing the hair comb to the veil into her hair. "There. Doesn't she look perfect?" Hanji turned to Ruby.
"Not quite." Ruby squinted, soon holding out a bouquet of flowers. Anna reached out and took the beautiful white and blue flowers that matched her dress. "There. Now she's perfect." Ruby smiled, flattening out her own white and blue dress. "Thank you both for you help. I owe it all to the two of you." Anna sniveled.
"Don't cry! You're gonna mess up your makeup!" Ruby shrieked. "Heh, sorry. I guess I'm just really emotional. There's no telling what'll happen once I step out onto that alter." Hanji smiled as Moblit entered the room, offering out his arm to Anna. "Are you ready?" he looked surprisingly dashing with his hair combed back and a dark blue tuxedo on. Anna gratefully slipped her arm around his. "Thanks, Moby." she smiled.
"Well," she turned to her friends. "Here goes nothing."
When the wedding commenced, loud yet soft music blared from almost all directions. It was a mix of violins and pianos in an orchestra. Ruby had informed Anna that Commander Pyxis had pulled some strings in order to get them a lavish and extravagant wedding. As Anna walked down the aisle, her heterochromia eyes cast upwards at the beautiful sakura petals falling from the sky. Anna had collected a ton of them the prior night when on the beach with Levi and brought them back to the wedding.
There were so many people in the pews that Anna did not recognize. A majority of the crowd looked excited to see the bride, while some looked disinterested like they'd been dragged there. The mile-long venue was an immaculate display of white, black, blue, silver and gold. Ruby was the one who designed the color scheme in honor of both Levi and Anna.
Suddenly the anxiety kicked in and Anna just slightly stumbled on the ends of her dress, though no one truly noticed. "Breathe, Anna, it's all right." Moblit reassured her. Anna just barely nodded and regained her posture.
Upon glancing in the direction of her soon-to-be husband, dressed up in a velvet navy-blue tuxedo, Anna spotted Levi with his back to her and Eren right beside him. Apparently the marriage customs in Paradis required that the groom not glance at his bride until their hands were bound in officiate. Eren stole a quick glance at Anna, a smile taking upon his pretty-boy face that reached to his turquoise eyes. He leaned over and murmured something to Levi before he tossed Anna a wink.
Due to the loud music and people whispering, Anna was unable to catch what he said but hoped it was good. When the endless aisle finally came to a stop Anna exhaled as much as she could though she was wearing a tight corset. To her delight Darius Zackery was the one marrying them.
"Who gives this woman away?" boomed Zackery. "I do." Moblit spoke confidently, which aided Anna in not feeling like she was going to throw up. Zackery raised his grey head of hair. "Upon locking of the hands between bride and groom shall this ceremony begin." Anna hadn't even noticed Levi's hand had been outstretched the entire time until she reached for it. She felt his cool fingers gently clasp around her own and noticed then that he'd removed his gloves sometime before she'd gotten to the alter.
Moblit left her with a quick salute while Ruby and Hanji took their spots as bridesmaids. "Your father would have been so proud," she heard someone say but upon looking around there was no one quite close enough to speak to her.
"Bring forth the fruits that shall represent a husband that will provide for his wife," Zackery exhaled. When Anna and Levi finally turned to face each other, she found that in his right palm was a bright red apple. His eyes shimmered as he watched Anna's smile grow. A strange look of awe stirred in his eyes, just like the first time he'd ever seen the starry night sky for himself. "Upon the exchange," Zackery explained. "once the bride bites into the fruit provided by groom, she will acknowledge to all that she trusts him wholeheartedly. And in turn, the groom will do the same."
Levi kept a blank gaze as Anna reached for the apple. Anna read it as he was nervous- more than likely more so than her. Of course she trusted him. There wasn't a single doubt in her mind about that. Anna raised the red fruit to her soft pink lips and sunk her teeth into it, biting down hard with a loud "crunch". She could hear Levi's heartbeat changing once she performed that action but couldn't quite tell if that were good or bad.
Anna then handed the apple back to Levi, though he seemed to grimace just the slightest bit. Anna understood that having a half-eaten apple in his palm probably wasn't the most romantic thing in the world to him, but it was apparently tradition. Levi raised the apple to his own lips and took a bite out as well, though his eyes never left Anna's. It was quickly disposed of afterwards.
Anna gently used her tongue to inconspicuously remove any bits of apple that were lodged in her teeth. The corner of Levi's lips curled up just slightly as he watched her nose wrinkle.
"Once the bonds that tie your hearts together are placed upon the hands, the ceremony is complete," Anna craned her head to her right to see Eren as the ring-bearer, holding a dark blue velvet pillow that beared two rings. One- Anna's- was a beautiful silver band with a dark blue sapphire in the center, surrounded by smaller white diamonds. The other- Levi's- was just a simple silver band with the Wings of Freedom etched into it.
"Repeat after me," spoke Zackery. "'With this ring, I be wed unto you'," Anna slowly reached for Levi's ring, holding it gently on the tips of her fingers. "With this ring, I be wed unto you," she spoke quietly, a soft trembling in the back of her throat now that everyone in the entirety of the Military Divisions was watching her while she slipped the ring onto his finger. Levi seemed to sense her sudden fear and took a step forward, his eyes continuing to hold that awed stare as though she were the most beautiful thing in the entire universe.
He took her ring from the pillow, letting Eren return to his spot beside Armin in the groomsmen stand, and gently took Anna's left hand before repeating her actions and sliding the diamond and sapphire ring onto the fourth finger of her left hand. "With this ring, I be wed unto you," he announced ever so softly, his eyes never leaving Anna's for a second.
Anna was relieved the wedding was not like ones she'd read in fairy tales with vows and an overcomplicated ceremony. "With the powers that be, I hereby declare you husband and wife," he turned to Levi with a smirk. "You may kiss your bride, Levi Ackerman."
Anna was actually quite surprised by the sudden arm around her waist yanking her forward. She didn't complain however as Levi's cold hand caressed her cheek. His pale pink lips hovered just before hers, and Anna felt the same amount of nervousness she had felt the very first time they'd kissed. His lips pressed gently against hers as Anna's eyes fluttered shut. It was soft and tender until Levi put the slightest bit of pressure into it. His mouth moved slowly against hers and for a moment Anna forgot she was surrounded by almost a thousand people.
Finally they pulled away and everyone was standing up cheering, crying, saluting, and more. Anna let out a happy laugh as she reached for her bouquet again. "Ready?" she grinned while hundreds of girls stood up and flailed their arms about. Anna turned her back to them all and randomly threw the bundle of flowers behind her. It landed in the hands of a Military Police girl who Anna somewhat recognized. She seemed a little snobby but grinned at everyone who tried to reach for it.
That was it. They were married. There was nothing left to do. Everything was perfect.
And then...it wasn't.
Bang! Gasps erupted from all over the venue as a black smoke signal came from the center of the crowd. "What the...?" Anna exhaled, seeing a cloaked figure holding up a smoke gun. In a split second dozens upon dozens of men lifted themselves onto the rooftop of the venue, staring down at all the guests. That's where the bloodbath began.