Ymir's Necklace: The Secret You Hold | Levi x Reader

Part I: Fight

Hey everyone!

First, I want to thank all of you who have been engaging with this story. Your likes and messages of encouragement do not go unnoticed. I smile every time I get a notification from someone adding this to their reading lists. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Some quick notes before you begin reading:

Y/n is younger than Levi in this story (around 28 years old*).

There is a lot of smut in this story, so beware! You will be finding warnings on the beginning of such chapters.

This story is very, very romantic and a slow burn!

Please feel free to leave comments, I love seeing y'all engaging with this story!

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LEVI

The sun was setting, its departure filling the sky with hues of pink and orange. Birds danced through the air, their chorus in perfect harmony. A perfect symphony of nature.

This was, by far, Levi Ackerman's favorite time of the day—how peaceful, how delicate, he mused to himself. It surely was a stark contrast to the usual chaos ignited by the refugee camp in the wounded heart of Liberio.

He had come to learn that Marleyans, despite their propensity for loudness, exhibited an outstanding kindness and empathy towards one another. To Levi, who often found himself wandering the camp alone on his wheelchair - or occasionally being wheeled around by Gabi - this communal warmth made sense.

Throughout the three long years he had spent in the regugee camp, things had not progressed much. The Marleyan goverment had decided to fund their military instead of focusing on building their cities back. The fear of a resuring conflict clouded govermental political strategies.

And so, to that day, refugee camps prevailed.

In some ways, Levi felt as if his physical and mental state had remained as stagnant as the camp itself: after the last war, the final battle he would secretely call hell, Levi had not been able to walk entirely without help, and that's where Gabi and Falco had come into play ever since.

Gabi's company, though not particularly sought after by him due to her talkative and expressive nature—polar opposites to his own tendency towards introspection and profound silence—provided Levi with entertainment and, more significantly, a distraction from his troubled thoughts.

Or rather, his memories.

Memories of fallen friends, of cadets whom he had come to consider family. Memories of destruction and loss. Eren Jaeger might have desired to erase humanity beyond the walls, but he certainly had not erased Levi's memories, or his peiple.

"We should get going now, the sun is setting," Levi announced, breaking the contemplative silence. He narrowed his eyes as a way to take in the landscape one last time before leaving.

For the last half hour or so, Levi had been sitting quietly as he took in the landscape before his eyes.  He observed how the sun was setting beautifuly as the waves danced in the water. It almost looked like a painting, he reckoned.

"Yes, Levi," the auburn-haired girl replied, obediently pushing his wheelchair back towards the tent that served as the former captain's quarters.

In true, Levi hated that wheelchair - it brought him shame. Yet, walking had become more of a distant memory to Levi then. The thought of it brought forth a bitterness in his mouth.

Inside his tent, Falco awaited them both, finishing up the tea Levi always had before bed. Lavender.

The tent was remarkably clean, imbued with the comforting scents of the lavender tea and cinnamon leaves. This combined with the warmth of the dim light of his night oil lamp, relaxed Levi deeply.

In a matter of seconds, Gabi bid them goodnight and retreated to her own tent quietly, knowing well that it was Falco's duty to assist Levi with getting into bed.

While doing so, the blond young man handled Levi's left leg with utmost care, cautious not to inflict any unintentional pain, fully aware of Levi's numbness yet uncertain of its bounds. In true, nobody knew the details of his injury - people around him were either too afraid to ask him, or believed he would take offense in the questioning.

But the truth was his left leg never fully recovered from the final battle, unlike his right, which had healed adequately. Every once in a while Levi wondered if people would ever ask him about it, and if they did, what he would say to them.

That, he did not know for sure.

Feeling so vulnerable, so dependent, was something Levi detested. The notion of being cared for by those who were practically still children in his eyes, even if they weren't kids anymore, was a bitter pill for his pride to swallow.

Once Falco had left the tent, silence enveloped the space. It wasn't long before Levi closed his eyes shut, the numbness in his leg becoming lighter: it was odd. Just how aware he could be of a part of his body he could no longer feel.

In true, he had feel like a stranger to his own body for the longest time. And it ached: Levu reckoned there was nothing comforting about being cared for. Most days, he felt betrayed by his body and the limpness of his leg.

Soon enough, Levi's body relaxed completely - he could feel himself begin to sink into the mattress until he could no longer tell where his body ended and the bed began. The scent of lavender wafted around him, lulling him into a deeper state of relaxation.

It had never been easy for him to fall asleep - insomnia was still a nightly visitor in Levi's life. But even so, his body continued to relax as he stretched his arms behind his head. He realized he was feeling exceptionally tired that night.

That is, until a sound caught his attention. Levi's eyes opened as he felt his consciousness abruptly return.

Is that singing? Humming?, he thought to himself as he frowned in the darkness of his tent.

The melody was ethereal, almost celestial—unlike anything Levu had ever heard before. It was eerie, since most of the camp was probably sleeping by then. Who the fuck could possibly be singing in the middle of the night?

Levi's body suddenly tensed as the beautiful voice continued its haunting song.

"For so long I've waited, Ymir, Ymir...I've been waiting for your call..."

Ymir? Levi thought to himself as he frowned, confused. Was he already asleep? Teetering on the edge of consciousness? That could not be true. Was this all just a bizarre dream? Just like when you have a dream within a dream, where you think you have woken up, but really it's just your mind playing games with you.

Levi Ackerman pushed himself out of bed as best as he could, his movements hindered by the numbness of his leg. He fiercely and sloppily grabbed onto any stable surface to prevent a fall, until he held onto the edge of his bed to steady himself.

In complete silence, he hastily opened his tent and peered outside, desperate to find the source of the mysterious and captivating sound.

Looking left, then right, he found the camp eerily deserted.