Yesterday's Enemy [AoT]

NINETY-NINE

'Action is most often permanent, so walk as though your footsteps will be carved in stone.'

-An extract from scholar and journalist Aksel Briggs' autobiography.

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NINETY-NINE

Wall Maria, North Region, Islet, Briggs Manor

They went up to bed shortly after that.

Lorelai would have liked to say that her father's story hadn't affected her. She would have liked to dismiss it all as just another trick. But, it lingered in her mind. It all fit together too well.

Either this was the greatest web of lies her father had ever constructed... or it was all true.

At last, Lorelai and Levi were alone in her old room. It was eerie night, the snow blasting against the window. They'd be stuck here until dawn, only then could they escape this place.

"What a load of bullshit," Levi commented, shrugging off his coat and sitting down. "I knew your father was kind of ill in the head, but, if he actually believes he has some god-given right to rule, he's gone off the deep end."

She chuckled, sitting down next to him. "Yeah, I think you're right."

"It does make you think, though," Levi began, looking up at the ceiling. "We live in a world of monsters... I guess people with magic powers isn't too far off— like the gods in the stories of old."

"Are you calling me a goddess, darling?"

He smirked. "Well, if the shoe fits."

She pressed a chaste kiss to his lips before getting up to look out the window. The storm roared ever louder. Lorelai was somewhat anxious to get out of here.

They were silent for a while. Both had the same question, but neither wanted to voice it.

"What if it were true?" Levi mumbled after a while.

"It's not, though."

"But what if it were? You and Briggs would have the same ability; you could stand against him."

"It's not true," she protested softly. Perhaps it would mean she could hope to match her father, but, it also meant Levi's feelings for her might not be wholly his own. Lorelai wouldn't believe it. She couldn't.

He guessed her thoughts. "I'm not under some kind of freaky spell, Lorelai."

"You wouldn't know if you were."

Levi sighed, walking up behind her. Gently, he eased the tension from her shoulders. "Come on, Lorelai, two years, and you think your father's little history lesson is going to be the thing that drives us apart?"

"You wouldn't care even if you were under a spell?" she turned around.

"Best spell of my life, I'd say."

Lorelai laughed, pulling him into a hug. Levi gladly wrapped his arms around her. They stayed like that for a moment, the wind howling outside.

"What's the plan?" Levi mumbled, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

"We regroup with Erwin... and then I ought to contact my associate in the press, hm?" she winked.

He smiled. "There's my Lorelai."

<>

It was a long, cold night in the manor.

Even tucked snugly against Levi, Lorelai could barely catch a wink of sleep. The room was too familiar, the feeling of it too nostalgic. Once she eventually drifted off, Lorelai's sleep was plagued with memories of her time here, all those years ago.