A Beautiful Thing In This Ugly World

Levi was 14 years old when he heard the news. Mrs Jaeger had successfully delivered the baby. He couldn't care less then. It was just a child, another human being added to this merciless world. Yes, he thought life was harsh. However, their meeting had him changing his perspective.

He had been lazing around in his room as usual, having finished his school assignments dutifully. He would have met up with his friends but they were not as free as him. Not wanting to burden them, he decided to plug in his ear pieces, put the IPod on shuffle and listen to all the songs downloaded until he fell asleep. Just as the fifth last song was playing, the teenager heard a car pull over at their driveway. The noise was muffled but he could hear it plain as day and he did not appreciate it. The engine was cut off and the car doors opened, which were then slammed shut when people exited the vehicle. Levi thought the peace earlier would return but loud conversations followed after. He groaned inwardly. How long was it until everything just shut up and returned to normal? He did not know when but he hoped it was soon. He was about to doze off, half hanging from his bed, when a familiar voice prevented him from doing so.

"Levi! Could you come down and greet Mr and Mrs Jaeger?" his mother called.

Ah, so they were the guests. Levi groaned again, out loud this time, before rolling off his bed, leaving his IPod behind, and exiting his room, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. At the end of the wooden spiral staircase stood his mother, smiling dearly at him. When he was in her reach, she pulled him close and smooched him on the temple before leading him into the living room, ignoring Levi's horrified gawking at her.

Levi spotted his father sitting on his arm-chair, so ancient that it would creak with every move the person sitting on it made. The Jaeger couple was seated on one of their couches, looking as cheerful as usual. It was the same sight. Wait, no. Mrs Jaeger was holding a small bundle in her arms. Was that their child? Levi would not admit it but he, as anyone would be, was curious to see the baby. As soon as everyone arrived, the adults jumped into rounds of greetings and reminiscing while Levi flopped onto another couch, not participating in the conversations much.

During their first meeting, Mr and Mrs Jaeger were worried that they had done something to offend the boy since he would always give them short answers and was never interested in talking with them. But his mother assured them that Levi was just a boy of few words. Upon hearing that, Mrs Jaeger suggested that Levi attend one of those campaigns where youths gather and make friends out of their school who had the same interests and stuff with them. His mother instantly agreed. Levi had been truly aghast, trying to convince his mother that he certainly was not antisocial as she dragged him to a meeting held at a nearby mall. He had thought it was going to be a bad experience but it turned out to be otherwise. Till now, he was actually glad that he attended that particular meeting. He met his friends, Erwin Smith, Hanji Zoe and Mike Zakarius, there and the four never separated after they found one another. Levi could not comprehend why but he felt as if he already knew them, that he had known them all along only to run into one another again after a long time, at the right place and the right time. He decided to shake off the feeling though.

After the hustle, the adults moved on to cooing over the white bundle. Levi's father proceeded to make what he called "funny" faces. Levi found them rather silly, and perhaps mortifying, instead. His mother called names, often aww-ing when the baby made a sound. Levi decided to stick to his lonely corner on the couch but his mother pulled him over. "Come on, Levi. Meet the baby. He's really adorable!"

Levi gave in with a sigh and shuffled over to the other couch. Mrs Jaeger smiled at him, instructing him to hold the baby at a certain angle. Levi wondered why there was so much supervision needed to just hold a baby. When he finally settled the bundle right in his arms, he got the chance to take a good look at the child. As soon as their eyes met, the teenager was blown away.

He had never seen such a beautiful colour before. It was a mix between green and blue with gold flecks flying around. A close guess to what the hue was would be the tone of the Caribbean Sea. And it was not just the magnificently dyed orbs, he saw something much deeper. He saw a story reflected in those innocent, childish eyes. A story full of hardships, betrayal, gore and pain.

His chest ached suddenly and he flinched. Why did it hurt so much?

"Le-Levi! You're crying!" a voice exclaimed.

"Huh?" The boy looked up in surprise. The adults were peering at him with concern. He touched his cheek. There were wet trails on it. And he felt more droplets slide down his face.Why am I crying? 

"Ah...ah."

Levi glanced down at the young in his arms. He noticed that the tousled brown hair and tanned skin brought out the eyes. They looked more vibrant. The child's pink lips tried hard to pronounce a word.

"Lee...Lee...Leeve ei. Leef vi. Levi."

Gasps could be heard. "That's...That's his first word!" could also be heard.

But why? Levi pondered, why my name?

The baby smiled. "Levi!" he cheered.

All at once, it hit him. It hit him like a bullet through his brain. It hit him like an arrow through his heart. It hit him like a tsunami combined with a typhoon and a tornado, and made him feel. It made him remember everything. He realised that the child in his arms was Eren Jaeger and he understood why his chest hurt. And by the looks of it, it seemed that Eren remembered too but contrary to Levi, the child was elated to see him again.

Without warning, he quickly shoved Eren back into Mrs Jaeger's arms and rushed upstairs, almost tripping every now and then with the tears blinding his sight. He heard stomping of feet and his parents yelling after him and Eren wailing.

It wrenched his heart to know that he caused Eren to cry. Especially Eren. But he couldn't let the past repeat itself. Not that it would but he did not want to remember. He succeeded in locking away those memories and start a benign life anew. He did not want to harm him again. He wanted to keep Eren safe. And free. And to forget about Levi. But no, the world was brutal. It always had been.

Levi heard pounding on his bedroom door, his father threatening to break the door down if he did not unlock it. But he knew the elder man would never do that. Levi slid down against the wooden barrier blocking the outside world and curled into a ball.

He cried. He cried until he had difficulty breathing. He cried until his eyes turned red and swelled up and started stinging. He cried until snot clung onto his face and clothes, and it was disgusting but he did not care. He cried because it hurt. It hurt that the world was cruel on both him and Eren. He cried because it was also beautiful.

Too beautiful.

-End.-

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Author's Notes

I think rather than being crestfallen from meeting Eren again in the next life, Levi would be happy. But there is a reason to why he acts this way and I really want to write a sequel but I have the Sasuke And The Cat sequel to look to. So if I start on this, people will start losing interest since I will be taking a long time writing out the draft for each chapter. I dawdle a lot. Plus, Secondary school life isn't helping. I tell you, it's tough. (TAT) I hope you could give me feed backs on how OOC the characters were or how bad or good the story line is. If you're interested in the sequel or whatever, please add your opinions in the comments. I would appreciate it very much.

Thank you, lovely readers!