Together We Fall (Childhood Friends Sequel// Levi Ackerman Fanfiction)

Chapter Ten

There were three majorly significant things to happen in Levi's life. And they all had to do with Nora.

The one problem with loving someone so much was that the mere thought of them sometimes could be nightmare inducing. Levi hadn't slept in days. Every night he saw her in his dreams and he woke up with a start, breathing heavily with sweat plastering his hair to his forehead.

He'll never forget meeting her. She stood out with her sparkling jewelry and long, perfectly braided hair. She was wearing a dainty lace dress, and was far too young to be walking around alone like that. He saw a group of young boys run after her. He rolled his eyes; he was about to turn the other way when he saw the glittering gems in one of their hands,

He couldn't help but think, "those fucking pricks".

He followed them, where they had chased the small girl into a dead end. The poor girl was terrified, trembling with her hands over her ears and her eyes slammed shut. She was begging as they sneered and snickered at her. He was going to turn around and walk away, until he heard them say they were going to play with her.

It made him snap.

He threw punches at them. They were easily bigger and older than he was, but he was enraged. How could someone try and take advantage of a little kid? He thought to Izzy, her big eyes and her naive personality. This girl was a few years younger than her, but with the same aura of ignorance.

He wiped the blood from his hands on the shirt of one of the punks, before kneeling in front of her. She smelled sweet, like flowers, despite the mud and dirt along the hem of her dress.

"Hey," he mumbled to her, gently placing his already bruised hand on her arm.

"Make it stop." Her voice was small and scared.

"I need you to do me a favor," he says as kindly as he could muster. "It's all over, okay? So I just need you to keep your eyes shut, and let me guide you. I promise I won't hurt you."

When the girl finally opened her eyes, he knew that beyond the doe eyed stare she was fighting something.

*

He remembers clearly the first time he thought, "I'm in love with her."

She was almost fourteen and he had just turned eighteen. She had gone home for three weeks for a string of events that she had to attend. She had sent him about ten letters over the days describing how much she truly hated her family.

They had already been living together for about three years. Levi had returned from the Underground two days before she returned; he was so jittery and excited to see her (though he'd never admit it) that he went back early.

He was happiest with her. He was able to just be when he was with her. Unlike in the Underground, where he always had to be stone faced as to keep his brigade of thieves in line, he was able to, as strange as it seemed, smile.

He met her at the gate of Wall Sina, where her face looked tired and dark circles sat under her eyes. Levi carried the small girl on his back the entire walk. Since she was absent from Sina often, there was no doubt in Levi's mind that they kept her up until the early hours of morning every day to be the socialite her parents always wished for.

That night after dinner, she went to her room and returned with a sealed bottle of fifty year old whiskey, a grin on her face.

"What's that?" he asked her, annoyed.

"I stole it from mother's cabinet."

"Why?"

"Because women in the inner circle are not allowed to drink until they are thirty five, but only in private and with no more than five people around."