Angel With A Shotgun [Levi Ackerman x OC] / Attack on Titan / Shingeki no Kyojin

Code XLII: Overdrive

[not gonna lie, the piece was inspired by Hagi from Blood+ <333 ughhhh I absolutely adore this piece. the emotion and shape of this piece is absolutely astounding - especially when played by one of my favorite musicians, Yo-Yo Ma! just play it. you'll be mesmerized like I - and you'll see why my favorite instrument is the cello! despite the fact that I'm a violinist lolol]

warning: there are graphic & bloody depictions in this chapter.

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It was not long until Levi and Xora stood in the room in which Levi's lonely cello stood. A long while had passed since he'd touched it, with him being bed-ridden and all. Releasing Xora's hand, he slowly walked forward and removed it from its stand, taking the thick bow in one hand as he settled into the lone chair that stood beside the stand. His back faced Xora's still form by the door; she moved until she stood facing him.

Sitting on the cold tile floor, she crossed her legs and watched with wistful eyes as Levi properly tuned the grand instrument. Before long, he was ready; a deep breath surged through him as he gracefully raised his forearm; long, slender fingers curved at the tail of the bow, poised to play. Releasing the air in him, he placed the bow hairs against the strings and began to perform.

The cello sang the beautiful, low melodies of Bach's Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor's prelude, both haunting and absolutely enriching. It cried for the words Levi could never express in words nor tears, the sound peeling away Levi's tough outer layer to reveal the fragile glass of his heart, mind and soul. What was left of the stripped man was only this—this music. The music that revealed everything that was him and wasn't him—everything that made him nothing and made him whole. It was a complex structure of purity and corruption, an astonishing performance that Xora had never seen before.

A strange energy enveloped him as his fingertips skipped from string to string, flitting and sliding lower, then high again; it was not Levi playing the instrument anymore. Rather, it was the cello playing him. Leading him, pulling him along, creating heart-wrenching melodies as he allowed it to grip onto him. The sight alone of his thick lashes hiding his closed eyes, his gentle swaying to the trick of the notes, his eloquent movement fluidly pulling and pushing the bow along—it was all so spell-binding, so beautiful—and it wasn't a sight that was easy to tear one's eyes away from.

Finally, when the last, sharp note rang, the tension that had built in the air snapped. It almost felt as if the entire time, the two of them had been holding their breaths, finally releasing it once the bow finally left the string in one last, singing note.

They didn't say anything for awhile, merely basking in the magnificence of the note that still rang, dancing about in the air and skipping in between the seconds of Xora's heartbeats. Only then did Levi's tense body relax, the man laying the cello upon its side, placing the bow on its curves. There was a sort of crackle in the air as he met Xora's gaze again, his eyebrow twitching at the vestige of a reminiscent sorrow.

"Astounding," Xora breathed, finally shattering that deafening silence. "To no surprise."

"It was one I'd been working on since that time I visited Piquet's shop alone," Levi mentioned.

"It's quite the grand piece."

"Quite the grand piece, indeed."

It was then that their conversation was cut short by a certain four-eyed brunette that barged in without warning.

"So this is where the two of you sneaked off to, eh?" she remarked in a jokingly snide tone. "Well, well, well. I hope you didn't do anything... you know, like that, while you were alone."