(Levi Ackerman x OC) Melting A Frozen Heart ~ Attack on Titan

Chapter 45: Abyss

It was dark.

Chi never knew the world could be so dark; even though her glittering eyes were open, they saw nothing but black, black, and... black. It was as if it were night, but someone had smothered the light of the stars into bits of nothing. Something touched her shoulders; when she touched them, she realized it was her hair—or what was left of it, anyways.

Then it all came flooding back. To save her friend's life, Chi had severed what could be severed with a blade. In the spur of the moment, she chopped off the nest of hair Violet had her fingers tangled in, releasing herself from the woman's grasp.

Whether Chi liked it or not, Chi had done it out of desperation; for once, she had run out of options, and she was beginning to panic. It was a sickening sound, to hear her comrade's throat shatter, crack by crack. She could not bear it any longer.

And after that... it was a whirlwind of events that stole her breath.

Chi felt her shortened tips, the ends choppy and uneven. They just barely floated around her shoulders, a tad longer than the strands of her bangs. Curiously, she ran her fingers through them, feeling the strangely silky texture they held, not the usual unruly feeling of tangles and knots.

Letting her arms fall to her side again, Chi spun in spot and now began to search for something, perhaps a node of attention.

"Hello?" she called, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Is there anybody out there? I would like to know if I've reached the depths of hell yet. Or perhaps this is some kind of purgatory?" A few brief moments passed as she waited, but there was no answer; the only sound was the echo of her voice bouncing back to meet her ears. But wait—Annie had been crystallized too, but she was still alive—or so they'd assumed.

Perhaps.

Did that mean Chi wasn't dead yet, only cursed, or blessed, to face eternal slumber?

She waited in silence, brooding over her thoughts with a bout of confusion.

That was, until the world suddenly lit up; now, instead of complete and utter pitch dark, the world was lit aglow, golden lanterns laced with silver floating high above her head to reveal a world of green. It was a lush, beautiful environment with the most jade and luscious grasses and gardens Chi had ever seen, and winding rivers of crystal-clear water. She donned her Corps uniform, but they were still shredded and covered in blood. Despite the other-worldly beauty of the place she was in, that was not what caught her attention.

What truly caught her attention was the two people who stood in front of her.

A young man and a young woman, both who had anciently beautiful features that resembled something familiar to her own. Something spiked in her mind when she recognized instantly who they were; though the only thing she'd ever seen of the two was a photograph, it seemed as if something from her oldest days had clarified their pictures in her head.

Chisato and Akise Matsumoto stood in front of her with kind smiles, their faces shining with pride. They looked exactly as they had in the photograph; their age was absolutely timeless. A choked gasp escaped Chi's lips when Chisato spread her arms wide, calling with a brilliant smile, "My daughter, Chisaki."

"M—mother...?" Chi breathed, tears welling up in her eyes. She dashed forward and threw herself into her mother's arms, her father wrapping his around the two of them. "It's you! It's really you... !"

"It is I," her mother said gently, squeezing her daughter tightly. "You've come such a long way, strong one."

"We can't put into words how proud we are," Akise smiled as the three of them pulled away. Chi covered her mouth with her hands to stifle a sob, stray tears trickling down her cheeks. "You've achieved so much—so much more than we could've ever imagined."