Chapter Text
Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Levi. He grew up with his mother and his uncle. Their family lived in the Underground City. They only had each other in that dark, lawless city. Kuchel, his mother, worked hard along with her brother. Something as simple as a cold could kill you. Without sunlight, many people became ill. Food was hard to grow. Fresh water was hard to find. The air hung damp and cold as rust crept over every surface it could.
However, things above were just as frightening as below. Giant monsters lived there called Titans. They attacked villages leaving nothing but rubble behind. The land where Titans walked smelled as stale and metallic as the Underground.
There was a faraway city with a king and many warriors who fought the Titans. The city built tall, strong walls to defend against the Titans but it left the people inside to worry that any day the walls could fall. The day the walls went up was the last time anyone from that city breathed in fresh air. Soon, it was hard to distinguish who was truly better off: those below who fell ill day after day or those unlucky enough above to be consumed by the Titans. The city above the ground and the world built beneath it were separated for so many years that neither city trusted the other.
But those brave warriors of that faraway city fought the Titans no matter how afraid they were. They bravely charged in on their horses and rode the wind with the power of the people’s hope that one day all people would be free to enjoy sunshine, sweet air and above all things: freedom.
Kuchel and her brother, Kenny, always wished they could see that faraway city. They wished for a better life and made a plan. There was no other choice. She believed that Levi would become a great hero.
There was a secret Kuchel and her brother kept. Their family had wings and could reach for that freedom. But Kuchel was not very strong and her brother said it would be hard for them to get to the city. The city did not like people from the Underground. They especially did not like the people with wings. No one remembered the wings were there to protect the people against the Titans. So many people thought them a curse. Kuchel and Kenny knew differently. If they could hide their wings, they could find a way into that beautiful city.
That was how Kuchel believed her son could change the world. One day, he would help stop the Titans and bring those from underground to the sun and free those who lived trapped behind the walls. Levi was special. He had been born with one wing of Light from the surface and one of Darkness from underground. He could be the one to unite them both against the Titans.
Kenny smirked at his sister, “That’s good for a pop-up book.” He looked at neat, tidy print and flipped to the next page. She had drawn Humanity’s Strongest with two heavily feathered wings. The left was heavily shaded while the other seemed to glow. He stood tall and proud in some abstract place his sister had imagined. Not a single doubt clouded those grey eyes. She had captured his strength and tenacity and rendered Levi an unwavering absolute in that darkness. Levi could really fly then: freer than he could ever be wearing 3DMG. He looked back to his sister and felt her eyes staring straight through him. Looking closer at Levi’s face he spoke again, “It’ll need a little work, you know?”
She smiled back, “Yes, I know.” Kenny rarely ever really smiled. Kuchel had promised long ago she would smile enough for the both of them. Seeing him smirk was a cue that he would be on board for her next project. She fixed her long black hair up into a bun and pinned it back, “I just had to write down the outline. I think this should be my next series. It might be a little much for a children’s book, but I think we can pull it off, Kenny.”
She touched her stomach again. There was barely anything there but Kuchel often placed her hand over the bump. It was too early for her to even feel the baby kick or so much as move. They had no idea if it was going to be a boy or a girl. Kenny sighed and closed his eyes. Things the second time around were good. Kuchel could not remember much but it was for the best. She remembered being sick with her son, the Levi of years ago, but then everything went dark. There was no pain. And Kenny was grateful for that. He remembered more than she did. Ackerman genes were strong and if their good health was any indication, it seemed they had been reborn again as siblings in the same family line.
With the world being kinder, everything was much more beautiful. He was not Kenny the Ripper as he had come to be known before. He was Kenny the teacher. He was Kenny the mixed martial arts fighter. He was Kenny the self-defense instructor. He was Kenny with a happy family and a happy, healthy sister.
She wrote children’s books and painted clear blue skies. She went grocery shopping and made friends with all of their neighbors. There was no limit to her kindness and it seemed that she always had time for everyone. Kuchel’s voice was the only thing he needed to hear when he woke up in the middle of the night clutching his face. Her warm hand on his cheek tethered him to the world that felt so much like a dream. Kenny felt like the luckiest man alive to see her as happy as she was now. They had each other. That was all he needed.
Kuchel kept in contact with their cousin and his wife who had just moved into their town a few weeks ago. She was taking to single motherhood even better than Kenny could imagine. Kenny had decided he would take care of her and the baby when she told him she was pregnant. It was the proper thing to do. There were plenty of books he could read to get ready to help her.
There was still no man in the picture. Kenny hoped whoever it was that knocked up his sister at least did it consensually. She would not speak about the who, the how or why. She only knew she wanted to keep this child. Kenny also hoped for the future Shortie’s sake that his father in this life was of average height this time.
It seemed like he was asking too much again with that single thought. There was no guarantee this child would be his nephew from another life. There was no guarantee Kenny or Kuchel would even meet the Levi Ackerman of years ago or that even if they did—at least in Kenny’s case—that the boy would remember or want anything to do with them.
It would be cruel for Levi to remember. The kid was strong but he had gone through so much. All of the pain and burdens he suffered were too much for one lifetime or even two. Kenny looked at his smiling sister and the cerulean sky painted onto a half-finished canvas in the corner of her studio. The gentle wind played with her hair and the sun was warm. It was early spring and in about seven months the little bundle of joy would be here.
Whether or not it was Levi again, did not matter. Kenny could be loving. He could be kind. He could be a good uncle. There had to be a reason why he remembered that terrible time. He had cursed fate before, but looking at his sister now made him wonder. What if it was a gift? He could learn from his old mistakes without having to go through everything all over again.
Kuchel had almost died when they were children. She ‘only had a cold’ but Kenny was insistent that they take her to the hospital. He cried and pleaded with their parents. A few blood tests and a CT scan later and it was apparent she had an acute case of pneumonia. She needed to be put on oxygen, fluids and medication as soon as possible. It was the next day that Kuchel fell unconscious and several months until she was better.
He hoped that would be the only illness to befall his beautiful sister. He hoped the baby would be healthy. She had already decided on the name Levi and that she would write a book about the hero they called Humanity’s Strongest. She was so certain of things and there was no telling her it would be otherwise.
This was their life now. And it was truly beautiful.