Free-Falling, a Levihan Fanfic

Chapter 7

Time heals not all wounds, but only enough to make him look forward to new beginnings. He's at the skydiving center teaching first-time jumpers the basic procedures, having rejoined his group as an instructor. It's been a month so far. Even some of the college students have signed up for basic tandem skydiving lessons after they have found out that Levi Ackerman's the record-holder for the most number of aerial stunts done. Aside from promoting Levi's classes by posting skydiving videos of him on the web, Erwin had to pull some strings with the owner of the skydiving center, but they're able to find a morning schedule that works for Levi. Mikasa will just have to open the store for him on certain days.

Now the young ones are staring at him wide-eyed with wonder and excitement. Levi begins the short lecture with basic warm-ups for strengthening their core muscles and legs. Afterwards, the students proceed with the dirt-dive, simulating how they would climb out of the plane, doing ground drills for their arches, canopy deployments, and other emergency procedures.

"So if you end up on your back in the air, you can do two things," Levi tells the curious students. They're all furiously scribbling down his words on their notebooks, eager to learn more from him. He then continues, "First, try to tuck your feet in and finish off the flip. That will help you balance your weight all throughout the fall. Second, you can also roll over, so that your stomach, and not your back, is facing the ground. Any questions?"

There's an awkward silence for a while and Levi's afraid he's not meeting their expectations.

And then one person raises his hand. "You are so amazing! Can we see you do a stunt now?"

They all look at him like that's the only reason why they came to his class.

He sighs, picking up his gear. "Fine."

The room explodes from their cheers, all the kids jumping up and down like madmen, like they're his entire cheering squad, a bunch of self-proclaimed fans. That's all they've been waiting for, it seems.

The newbies are still whooping when they hop on the plane, with Levi trailing along like he's the student all this time. But seeing them so happy makes him somehow content. They have requested for a backflip which he grudgingly obliged to, after a lot of insistent nagging from them.

Once he's done giving his last lecture points to his students, Levi exits the plane in the air with the stunt they requested from him. The freefall is the same as always, his mind just blank and free, no thoughts about the heartbreak or of work or any other sign of stress. Maybe this is what they call self-healing. He can keep doing this and then maybe he'll eventually forget about everything that has happened in the past, maybe even start fresh.

He steeply angles himself at 45 degrees this time while falling, orienting his head down and arching his body as much as he can. He can feel the blood rushing into his temples, his veins pounding under his skin. Levi then maneuvers himself to release the canopy once he reads the altimeter and realizes that he's halfway through the ground after jumping 12,000 feet from the plane. The flight is almost over as he floats through the air. He then finds the best spot to land on just right beside the small pond. The soles of his shoes scrape the surface, water splashing around him and sending onlookers cheering as he skids through. The moment he finds solid footing on the grassy field, he hears two voices coming up to him.

"Perfect landing as always, Boss!"

"Not even Oluo can copy that."

He looks up and sees Petra and her husband. Two things he notices: first, the wedding rings on both of their fingers, and second, the baby bump highly-evident on Petra's stomach. But somehow, he doesn't have the urge to barf and scowl.