In Another Life | Levi x Reader/OC

Like Father, Like Daughter

"You brought me juice?"

With a huge grin adorned on her face, Paulina held two bottles of juice in her hands while adjusting herself on top of the thick branch you were seated on.

"We always used to drink juice when watching the sunset."

"Yeah, because you were like five years old," you teased.

Her face fell. "...Oh."

Shit, did you just hurt her feelings unintentionally?

She was already shuffling to hop off the tree. "I'll go get something else-"

"I didn't say I didn't want it," you replied, stopping her movement by the shoulder. "Pass it to me."

Her face lit up immediately, passing you the juice bottle while she repositioned herself on the branch. Eagerly, you grabbed the bottle and twisted open the top, taking a sip instantly.

"Hey, these taste kinda better than they used to," you proclaimed, savoring the flavor.

"This one is mixed berry. It's a lot better than the apple one. That one used to taste like piss."

You nearly choked on your next sip. "Since when did you curse?"

"Piss is hardly a curse word."

"Coming out of your mouth, it is."

"Whatever. Whatever," she waved you off, "let's talk about the real reason we're up here."

Your smile dissipated.

Man, where the fuck do I even start?

A sigh escaped your mouth. "I don't know where to begin so... just ask me questions and I'll answer them."

"Oh, don't worry," she pulled out a folded paper from the back of her pocket, "I came prepared."

You raised your eyebrows, darting your eyes across the amount of words scribbled on her page when she unfolded it. "You're gonna keep me here all night, aren't you?"

"That depends on how much you're willing to answer." She straightened out the sheet in front of her, narrowing her eyes while scanning the page. "Let's see... aha, okay. I'll ask this one first."

You were already dreading this.

"What made you change your mind about the people in Paradis? Wait, no. That's too vague. When did you first start to question your beliefs?"

You took a sip from your bottle. "Right when the others broke down the walls."

"Why's that?"

Chills shocked your spine at the memory.

All the blood. All the destruction. All the petrified faces-

You scrunched your eyes shut for a moment, then reopened them. "That's when I saw that the people from Paradis were people just like us."

"So, in other words, 'island devils' was just a term to further antagonize Eldians, right?"

"Right," you said plainly.

She hummed in response. "That matches with what I read in the documents."

You raised an eyebrow. "Documents?"

"The restricted section of the library also contained detailed accounts coming from the spies we sent to Paradis throughout the years. A lot of it was very misleading, and I was able to piece together some of the inconsistencies. Some of the ways they'd describe the Eldians there were just... bizarre. It never made sense. A few of them did actually jot down unbiased notes though. It was quite helpful."