A Time With You Again

9

Chapter 9: Memories of the Midnight Sun

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~Levi~

Lying there in the dark, (Y/N)'s eyes were closed as I stared at her silently. She asked me earlier what I was dreaming about... more like flashbacks.

~Earlier When Dreaming/Remembering~

After telling the brats to get away, I stood there on the rooftop exhausted from battle same as the others. With the serum-filled syringe in hand, I step over to Erwin, kneeling beside him I roll up the sleeve to his arm and place the needle at the inside of his elbow.

I thought back to what Kenny told me, how we're all a slave to something, looking at the brats, even Erwin. They couldn't keep going unless they were drunk on something. Before the needle could even pierce the skin Erwin's arm jolted and swings away from me. He began to say something in a raspy tone.

"Erwin?" I say in slight shock to him resisting the serum.

Then at that moment, I thought back to when I had told him to give up on his dream and die for us... to lead the recruits into hell while I take care of the beast titan. There was only one thing left for me to do, and so I gave the serum to Armin. I wasn't going to call Erwin back into this hell.

Within seconds I had flown off towards the others while Armin transformed into a mindless titan, leaving Bertholdt's body behind I hoped Armin would take it. I had taken Erwin with me to salvage his body as we all watched Armin take Bertholdt into his hands slowly bringing him to his mouth. I could hear him screaming for help, but no one came to his aid.

Seconds later the screaming stopped and Armin consumed the Colossal titan. "Why?" Floch asks.

I looked at him for a split second then forward. "Can't we just let him go?" I ask him. Slowly I pivot towards Hanji and Erwin, looking down at him resting peacefully. "His only choice was to become the devil, and it was us who wanted that for him, not only that but he's free from this hell now. But we were going to call him back into it, just like you. So I think we ought to let him rest." I tell Floch.

Moments pass by as I move in a little closer, same as Hanji, she places her hand on his face. "Erwin... about that promise, I'd take out the beast titan looks like we're going to have to wait," I say hoping he'd still hear me.

Hanji then placed her other hand on the other side of his head as she looked down at him. She pulled up his upper eyelids to check his pupils. "He's gone," she says.

"Oh."

~Present~

(Y/N) let out a sigh as I continued to watch her. "I can feel you staring," she says rather loudly startling me at first.

"So?" I ask.

"It's weird, makes me feel like your planning my murder or something," she says as she turns her back to me.

"Well, it's gotta be someone," I say playing along.

Grabbing her shoulder I pull her back so she was resuming her previous position of lying on her back. "Glad to know," she says.

I roll my arms as my arm drapes over her abdomen. "I'm changing the topic now... you asked me earlier what I was dreaming about that made me punch you." I bring up, I decided I'd start opening up. I thought it would put her mind at ease and be honest with her.

As she turned on her side facing me, I could see her face contort into curiousness. "Yeah," she says.

I rest my head on the pillow and dart my eyes away from hers. It was hard to get out due to the fact that once I told her, the images would remain fresh in my brain, not that they weren't already. "I was remembering when I was about to save Erwin," I tell her.

She didn't say anything, not that I expected her to. "Before that, I had gotten into an argument with Mikasa and Eren about who should get it since Armin was badly injured as well, on the brink of death. I had chosen to give it to Erwin but he refused, so instead Armin got it. After I had turned Armin I took Erwin with me to another rooftop where Hanji and Floch were sitting." I continue.

"Floch asked me why I didn't give it to Erwin. I thought Erwin should be allowed to rest now... and not have to endure the hell any longer." I finish.

My hand that was laying gently on the mattress soon was covered by hers', her thumb caressing the side of my hand gently as a sympathetic gesture. "As long as you made a choice you won't regret, I'm sure Erwin will be proud of you, all of you," she says.

I didn't expect her to understand how I felt, she had missed out on so much. I wanted to explain everything to her, but just like her, my memory was beginning to slowly fade. I began taking notice a few days ago when I was in the kitchen making lunch, I had forgotten my mother's name, but thankfully with everything (Y/N) had written down for her research I had a place to look and remember. But if we kept going like this, remaining in this time, my memories would soon fade and I wouldn't remember them at all.

I didn't want to push (Y/N) either, I wanted to take this time to relax for a moment before heading back into the hell that would be our lives. I wanted to take time to learn about her world and how she grew up in it. I just hoped within a few weeks we'd be back home, in 851.

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