my loves, welcome to the final author's note for Long Time, No See.
there is something so uniquely wonderful about having written and published this story for the second time now, and I am so happy to have the community surrounding this story that I do, else it would have fallen flat.
as I have said, the original was written in 2015, into 2016. at the time the very first chapter was published, I was 14 years old. I am now 21. I remember sitting in my mother's apartment one weekend watching my brother play a game with my rinky-dink little laptop with me and I opened up a word document and... got working.
there was no storyboarding, there was no written plot, there was just me and a computer and an idea and I got to writing. at school, I always got great grades in my English classes and on any creative project we had; I put the two together, and coupled it with my love for Attack on Titan, and this story was born.
my best friend at the time (who I am still extremely close with) and I had watched the first episode of AoT together at his insistence at a sleepover, and for the next few weeks, we kept visiting each other to keep watching. we watched that season together and didn't shut up about it for weeks... and we still talk about it today.
the first episode of AoT aired in april of 2013. the first chapter of LTNS was published in september of 2015.
in the time it took for the second season to come out, I had read the manga and got caught up, and fell, of course, head over heels for Levi and so many other characters. I had no basis for LTNS other than that I wanted it to allow a reader to be with Levi in the present day and see the other characters. it was quite an endeavor for a young girl who had never published anything before, but the support I got right away was astounding and soon, I was publishing a ~1000 word chapter every single night until the end.
as such, it was messy. there were things I didn't quite understand, because I was so young. complex issues were tackled, but went nowhere. certain plot points were put in because I liked them as ideas, but they were never tied to each other or to anything at all. at the time, I don't think I even completely understood Levi's character, for the manga was only so far along and again, I was so young.
but it all culminated in a story that so many people loved, and still do. I, for one, could not stand to read it after it was complete and enough time passed that I matured even slightly. I couldn't bear reading through the mistakes, the strange prose, the cringy comments I left everywhere.
a lot of what I did was my attempt to emulate larger, better stories, but with a group of readers as young as I was, it was clear that it did not matter. it was beloved.
when I decided to redo it, it was not out of spite for the original, it is because I still love AoT and wanted to do right by its characters and by the wonderful people in it. I also, of course, love to write.
it is my dream to one day publish my own books. my writing here, while not perfect, stands as a stepping stone towards that dream.
rewriting LTNS has allowed me to further define my style, push my prose, and see if I could get a group of readers now older, now more mature, to enjoy it.
oh, and it also allowed me to shamelessly express my love for Levi.
over the next few days, I will republish the original, and it will stand after this version, for this is the version that better shows who I am as a writer today, but for those of you who would like to read it again, the original will be there.
this note will stand as the point between the two versions so that it is clear. it will also feature some statistics from each version as a comparative sort of analysis, mostly for me. additionally, it will have a place where you can find the approximate ages of the characters by each part of the story, for the revised version.
those will be at the end. but for now...
the continued support has been nothing short of incredible, and I will never be able to truly convey my gratitude for it all. even when I all but abandoned the original, I never stopped receiving support for it. even when I could hardly stand to read the final chapter, I was told time and time again about how it was loved - so loved. and this new version was met with so much love and support as well. I was floored. it's been just... wonderful. to explore this story again, to make it a cohesive story that older readers might enjoy - for we have grown up together, haven't we? it's all been wonderful. so thank you. a million times over and then some, thank you.
with that said, what were your favorite parts?
parts that made you cry?
parts that made you laugh?
parts that made you happy?
questions, comments, concerns, they're all welcome here. I'll do what I can to respond to everyone and everything in a timely manner.
oh, and as for the future, I've got a very long story by the name of Blue and White which is 91 chapters long with an epilogue and lots of additional parts to read. amaya is the OC, but she is very rarely described physically, if at all, and aside from using her nickname maya, I find it would likely be very easy to make it a reader insert if you like. if you haven't read it, I do recommend it.
it takes place in the world of AoT and explores not only a romance with our beloved Levi there, but also the struggles and growth of someone trying to find her place in her regiment and later, in the world. and if you don't want to read right away, that works out; I'm revising that one too. I wrote the beginning in middle school too, so I'm revising it and certain parts in the later half of the book to better reflect how I write now, and that will be starting next week, on april 8. so! that's exciting.
anyway, thank you all for reading and as always... I'll see you around. <3
- marie.
The Facts Sheet and Stats, for Nerds:
Revised Version (as of date of completion, 4/1/2022):
[Writing] Start Date: April 14, 2021 / End Date: November 14, 2021
[Publishing] Prologue + Chapter 1: May 7, 2021 / Chapter 66 + Epilogue: April 1, 2022
Time to Read: Over one full day
Original Version (as of the date it was unpublished, 5/7/2021):
[Publishing] Chapter 1: September 6, 2015 / Chapter 60: April 4, 2016
Time to Read: 12 hours
Ages of the Characters by Chapter (Rough Estimates):
[KIDS (Eren, Mikasa, Armin, etc.): 6, 7 in CH1-3; 8,9 in CH4-21; 12,13 in CH22-25; 13, 14 in CH26-32; 16, 17 in CH33-34; 17, 18 in CH35-45; 19, 20 in CH46-60; 21, 22 in CH61; 22, 23 in CH62-End]
[MCS (Y/n), Levi, Erwin, etc.): 11,12 in CH1-3; 13,14 in CH4-21; 17, 18 in CH22-25; 18, 19 in CH26-32; 21, 22 in CH33-34; 22, 23 in CH35-45; 24, 25 in CH46-60; 26, 27 in CH61; 27, 28 in CH62-End]
[Gabi, Falco: 4, 5 in Ch39-42; 6, 7 in CH46-60; 8, 9 in 61; 9, 10 in CH62 / Colt: 11 in Ch39-45; 13 in CH46-60; 15 in Ch61; 16 in CH62-End]
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Long Time, No See - Levi x Reader (Modern!AU)
Fanfiction// LONG TIME, NO SEE: Levi x Reader, Modern!AU // We met in the orphanage. You looked so unapproachable, so rude. But, as all stories go, it wasn't as it seemed. We became quick friends. Best friends, even, though you wouldn't ever admit it. But we...
