Birdie (Levi x OC)

eighty-nine

It was during one of my many walks through the forest behind headquarters that Eren spoke to me.

"Birdie!"

The voice cracked through the silence. I turned, the heavy hem of my long skirt sweeping through the grass and dirt. My hair caught in a sudden, sharp gust of wind, whipping across my face.

"Eren? What are you doing out here? You're supposed to be—" I stopped. My brow furrowed, a strange, static-like pressure building behind my eyes. Where was he supposed to be? The memory felt like trying to grip sand.

"It's fine, Birdie," he cut in, his voice unnervingly steady. He raised a hand, a small motion that seemed to still the very air around us. "I stepped away for a moment. It's just us."

"Is everything okay?" I took a step toward him, the fabric of my skirt bunching and snagging against a protruding root. I braced for the familiar shoot of pain in my bad leg, but it felt...muffled. "You seem sad."

"Yeah. I'm okay," he said, though his eyes told me a different story. "Just got back from talking to the Captain."

"The Captain?" My heart gave a small thud. Levi wasn't even at headquarters. The logic of the world was beginning to fray at the edges like an old tapestry.

Eren hummed thoughtfully. "We talked about a lot. A little bit about you."

"I'm not in trouble, am I?" The seriousness in his gaze put me on edge.

"Nothing like that, Birdie," he said with a ghost of a smile. "I just have things I want to tell you, too. Let's have a seat."

He motioned to a massive, moss-slicked rock. I sat with a habitual groan, gathering the dark folds of my skirt to my side as I reached down to readjust my brace. But my fingers met only the soft linen of the dress. There was no leather, no metal, no weight. I stared at my lap, confused. Eren didn't look away; he stared hard at my leg, his jaw tight.

"I'm going to destroy the world, Birdie."

He said it with a terrifying lack of emotion. Deadpanned. Cold.

I froze, my hands still buried in the fabric of my skirt. I looked up, searching his face for a punchline that wasn't coming. "Pardon me?"

"I said I'm going to destroy the world." Eren turned his gaze to the sky. High above, a lone bird cawed, its dark silhouette slicing through the blue.

"What are you talking about, Eren?"

As the question left my lips, reality buckled. The cramped, shadowed woods behind headquarters dissolved. The smell of dry pine was swallowed by the scent of cool water and damp earth.

Suddenly, we weren't on a rock, but a wood log. The forest opened into a clearing. Before us lay a pond; a body of water that didn't ripple, even in the breeze. On the far bank, a doe emerged from the mist of the ferns, followed by two fawns. Their coats were covered with spots, their ears twitching in peaceful increments as they nuzzled the tall grass.

My long skirt now spilled over the side of the log like a waterfall, resting atop lush, green moss that looked too soft to be real.

"I'm going to start the Rumbling," he said. I whipped my head toward him, but the boy I knew was gone.

He looked older. His hair, dark and heavy, fell past his shoulders. Faint titan marks burned into the skin beneath his eyes like scars that refused to heal.

"Where are we?" I whispered, my voice trembling. "How did we get here?"

"We're outside the walls. But it doesn't matter, Birdie," he murmured, his voice sounding as if it were coming from everywhere at once. "You won't remember this until afterwards, anyway."