The Shift; Levi Ackerman X

Prologue

(Starts at 13 ages thru to 28.)

"I am...
I am..."
The same words echoed through hia mind, his subconscious seeping through the cracks with visions of the other side. "I am me..." It wasn't easy. The first time took hours until he fell asleep and woke up without having shifted at all, but this time. This time he broke through the walls.

"Victor!" Fists pounded against the door. "Victor, wake up, they're coming for you."

He sat up gathering his surroundings. "Mara, who is it?" His frail 13 year old body was pulled from the bed, his sister helping him out the window. "Oh, god they found us didn't they?"

Mara shushed him. "Don't speak just run. You know exactly where to go." She turned away to the shouting from outside the room before turning back. "You're our only hope now that your mother is gone. Do not trust anyone but Grisha Jaeger, & especially do not trust Zeke." Victor nodded as Mara closed the shutters, his grip on the shingles slipping every few steps down the side of the house. He prayed to whoever was listening and ran. The plans were simple. He knew them by heart. Paradis island was across the sea, through the desert and over the walls. It seemed impossible to do alone.

As the night went on till morning he made his way through town. A familiar quartet was getting ready to go aboard a small ship, exactly where he needed to go. He only had his night dress and house slippers but it had to do.
There was no other chance to get across the ocean. He sighed, sneakily making it around the dock to a jumble of ropes at the back of the boat. His eyes were locked on the group of prisoners, mainly on a man old enough to be his grandfather. He wondered how such an old man could offend the Marlayans that bad to be thrown off the wall. He snapped out of the thought back to the mission.
There were so little places to hide on such a small ship. He checked every barrel and bag choosing to just shimmy into a space between boards until he was sure no one would see him.

He held his breath too many times watching the sky darken little by little. The water sounded angry, every minute causing his heart to beat harder and harder until the noise stopped. They were nearly still, but it was loud. He peaked out of his hiding spot to see half of the crew had gotten off and the boat was tied to the dock. Slowly he creeped out, stealing a bag of food on his way off the ship. It was too good to be true but he was damn happy it was.
The crew ignored him like he wasn't there, so once he hit the sand he sprinted as fast as his feet could carry him. He could hear a man yelling and a gun cocking but there were no shots fired. Oh the joy shivered through his body once he reached a safe distance, nothing could harm him. Victor was safe.

Soon enough the sun had set and he was cold, alone. There was nothing but the sound of owls and the breeze. He decided to climb a tree knowing if he woke up late and the sun had already rose he would be titan food.
Smoke lingered in the close distance while he shivered. Someone was out there, following him or doing something unthinkable at a time like that. He ignored it to sleep once more.

Victor awoke to the sunlight, climbing down the trunk heading away from the direction he came. The smoke from the fire that night had already cleared. They would be closer, even ahead of him by then. He stopped for a moment to eat before continuing on.

Two nights on, he had been following the smoke from maybe a quarter mile away. He had seen them pass him during the night while he was awake in a tree. The same old man traveled the same direction he did seemingly showing him the way. Victor eventually caught up to the make again the next night, falling out of the tree onto a sleeping titan. He screamed but the large being didn't even move a hair.

"Hey! Kidda!" The old man grabbed him by the night dress. "You don't wanna disturb these big ol' fuckers, even at night. They may not move in the dark but they know where you're goin' when the sun comes up." He smirked dripping Victor on his bum.

"...Who are you?"

"Benji, Or Benjamin." He furrowed his brows rubbing his wooly hair. "Why is a kidda like you wonderin' around the woods at night? Shouldn't you be back on the manland wit' ya motha?"

"You mian the mainland?"

"Call it whateva." His black eyes looked to the north before hobbling onward. "This is dangerous territory for a kidda like you. I bet yo' motha worried as all hell."

Vircor frowned. "I don't have a mother. She died a long time ago and my grandparents gave me up when I was six." The man looked down to him with a sad look. "It's nothing now, not even my brother knows im alive. He got all the special stuff while they pretended like i wasn't even born."

"...It happens." The two of them continued until they reached an opening in the trees, the mountains miles behind them. There were titans littered across the plains, silent and unmoving in the darkness. "We should camp for a while before the sun rises and we have to run." The Benji sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"My wife is out here. Somewhere. She's one of these big folks wonderin'." His dark skin reflected the upcoming light in the horizon. "We had our very own farm with lots a kidda's tunning around the place. I became a saila' not too long after she was put out here. My sons have little one's themselves, my daughter's married or working for themselves. I did good by them. Damn good..."

Victor looked on in the distance at the peering walls. "That sounds nice."

"Yeah. It was." The sun rose, titans moving around the walls out to the trees. Benji stood up leaving the fire and food behind. Victor only followed after. "Head along the west while I distract 'em."

Victor gasped. "Distract them? No, you have to come with me."

Benji shook his head. "I'm not fast enough to make it that far. The best I can do is get you inside those walls without gettin' hurt." He start yelling and waving, tears beginning to fall from Victors eyes. Titans were approaching the old man as he ran away from him. Only a few strayed behind but there were enough sprinting at Benjamin that Victor had enough tim to get to the wall.
He swallowed all fear as he jumped inside a lift that was left at the base of the wall, pulling ass hard as he could on the rope to lift it off the ground. Meter after meter, watching the titans scatter off towards him after eating Benji alive, he made his way up the wall. He collapsed onto the ground once he reached the top, sobbing with the sight of the gore he had witnessed. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to script such sadness into a reality shift.