Chapter Text
“Have you ever seen a Nymph before?” The question seemingly came out of nowhere and Levi stopped in his tracks to give the odd scientist a long stare.
“No...have you?” He questioned in a bored, uninterested tone. Levi didn't bother waiting for a response and continued his slow trek up the steep, uneven surface. Hanji frowned at the man and picked up the pace to catch up with him, she shivered as the cool autumn air brushed against her dry skin and hugged herself tightly to keep any warmth from escaping her being.
She tried striking up a conversation again. “It's a bit cooler than I thought it'd be today, huh?” As soon as those words left her brittle lips, a strong wind gusted through, making her yelp lightly as the nearly icy air almost made her lose her footing and nipped at her red, numb ears.
“Maybe you should've checked the weather and wore heavier clothes today, shitty glasses.” The small man stopped for a brief moment to remove the large mountain pack from his back and shrug his thick winter coat off his broad shoulders. Before Hanji could question his actions, a coat was tossed in her face. She pulled the warm item off of her head and made a small noise of confusion in the back of her throat.
“Put that on.” He threw his bag back on his back and kept hiking, just enjoying the sound of the dead, dried leaves crunching under his heavy combat boots.
After about thirty or so minutes, they were finally at the top of the mountain, the two of them stopped and just took in the beautiful scenery laid out before them. The tall, thin trees seemed to stretch on forever and ever into the hazy, orange afternoon sky. The clouds were thin and the sun was low but still shining brightly enough to make the crystal clear water gleam. The tiny flowers that resided on the very edges of the lake dripped with leftover morning dew, swaying lightly in the cool wind.
Levi took off his backpack and laid a small blanket down to sit on, watching with curiosity as Hanji worked her 'magic'. She took out a few empty glass vials and a magnifying glass, beginning her search for whatever she was looking for. She walked up to the water and knelt down, looking through her magnifying glass as she observed the water and the plants that were growing alongside it.
She poked and prodded at the yellow monkeyflower and cattails, lifting up its leaves and feeling the soil around the plants for whatever reason. It didn't take long for Levi to grow bored, tired of watching Hanji molest plants and finally decided to ask what in the Hell she was looking for in the first place.
“What the fuck are you looking for??” The impatience was clear and strong in his voice, he wasn't sure he could spend a few days here with her if all she was going to do was stare into the depths of the lake and harass flowers all day.
She stood up and huffed in exasperation at Levi, putting her hands on her hips and pouting at him. “I didn't tell you?”
“No!”
She brushed her hair aside as she walked back over to their temporary campsite and set her materials down. “Well...don't tell anyone about this, I don't want anyone to think I'm bonkers, hehe!” She giggled.
Levi wanted to comment on that and tell her that everyone and their grandmother in town thought she was insane but kept it to himself.
“Well? What is it?”
She crawled up to him and cupped her hands around his left ear as she whispered, “I'm looking for Naiads!”
…..
All was silent except for the natural sounds of nature. The water lapped at the moist, muddy shore, bugs buzzed annoyingly, and the peaceful sound of the water rushing from the waterfall were the only things making noise.
Levi gave Hanji a long, un-amused stare. “What the fuck is a Naiad?!”
The scientist rubbed her hands together and her face was a bright rose-red as she stared out at the lake with starry eyes. “Water Nymphs!”
At those words, Levi stood up abruptly and begun packing his things, he didn't have time for Hanji's fantasy bullshit, the only reason he agreed to coming along with her was because her husband Erwin was too busy to take the trip with her and didn't want her to go alone.
“W-wait! Levi, don't be like that!”
“Nope! Pack your shit, we're leaving.” He hissed through gritted teeth. While he was stuffing his blanket back into the bag, a hand caught his wrist.
“Levi, Levi, please. I know this sounds silly but...but I'm genuinely curious! I know there's more out there, we can't be the only ones on this planet!” Her voice was almost desperate and he knew that he wouldn't be able to say no to her.
He just sighed and pulled the blanket back out, spreading it on the ground once more and taking a seat on the soft fabric. Hanji cheered happily and thanked him a thousand times, she tried to embrace him but he kept pushing her away so she just shrugged and went back to observing the area.
Soon, the sun begun to fall and the sky grew a little darker, now a mixture of lavender and a peachy-pink color instead of the bright orange it was earlier in the day. The brunette stood up, stretching her cramped muscles a little bit to work all the kinks out, she was done for the day, she supposed.
She stalked back over to their campsite and smiled gratefully at Levi who had already set up their tents and organized her stuff, she had never been a very neat person. Once her equipment was put away she stood up once again and started heading into the trees but was stopped by Levi's rough voice.
“Hey! Where are you going?”
“Don't worry, I'm just going to get some firewood and explore for just a little bit, okay?”
He didn't look too sure about her venturing out. “How about I get the wood?”
“No! It's fine, really! I can gather wood while looking around, two birds with one stone, right?” She grinned widely and gave him two thumbs up before disappearing into the thicket.
“Don't venture out too far, shitty glasses!”
“Got it, you big worrywart!” Was yelled back.
Levi huffed in mild annoyance, he was quite bored. Nature trips weren't really his thing, that was more Erwin and Hanji. Unlike them, he liked staying indoors in the comfort of the king-sized bed with a bottle of brandy and a good book.
He glanced out at the large body of water, watching as a few frogs leaped from Lilly-pad to Lilly-pad and a school of fish race through the clear liquid, creating light ripples in the surface wherever they swam. He stood up and pulled his thermal-shirt up over his head, toed out of the shoes and socks then pulled off his cargo pants and walked towards the water, not stepping in just yet but letting the cool water lap at his toes.
Although it was a bit too cold to swim, he was bored and this was the only entertaining thing he could do around here that came to mind. He just hoped he wouldn't get hypothermia or frostbite but it wasn't that cold so he doubted it. His body was wracked with shivers as he descended into the lake but he ignored it and continued on until the water was waist deep and began to swim.
He cleared his mind as he immersed himself into the element that felt like liquid-velvet against his skin, ducking under the surface and opening his eyes to see the bottom of the lake for himself. There were small pebbles and rigid rocks on the floor, a few submersed plants grew through the cracks of the tiny stones and swayed around freely.
A school of barbel fish swam around quickly, darting away from Levi's moving form and deeper into the water. Levi explored the bottom for a few before he came up to the surface to take in some much needed air, gulping in the oxygen almost desperately as he shook his wet hair out of his eyes, smoothing the black hair back and off his forehead. He hadn't realized he had been under the water that long, he'd have to be more careful and pay more attention next time.
Well, that was mildly entertaining, he guessed. As he started swimming towards the shoreline, a big ripple from a few feet away startled him and he froze up.
What the Hell was that?
'Okay, Levi, you're overeating...it's probably just an animal or something, it's fine.' He tried reassuring himself. He took in a deep, shaky breath and started towards the shore again, this time swimming a little faster.
Another big ripple happened and he nearly shit his pants because holy shit he could feel that ripple against his clammy skin.
It was closer.
His heart was beating rapidly, almost painfully in his chest and he felt as if his stomach had dropped to his ass with how nervous and afraid he was.
Then something that felt like fingers caressed one of his legs and he let out the most unmanly shriek ever and bolted out of the lake, tripping over his own two feet and the Water Iris plants as he stumbled onto land once again.
“Levi!? Levi, was that you!?” He looked up to see a startled, worried Hanji running through the trees and up to him, dropping the firewood she collected and quickly tugging the blanket that had been laid on the ground onto his shivering shoulders.
“What happen—wait, why are you wet, did you go for a swim?” She asked in a panicky voice, checking the shocked older man for wounds of any kind.
Levi could only nod dumbly at her. When he calmed down and came back to his senses, he pushed he away gently and explained what happened.
“T-then something fucking caressed my leg while I was trying to get out!”
Oh no.
A big, bright smile spread across Hanji's face and she started cackling weirdly and wiggling her fingers in excitement.
“Hanji, don't you dare fucking say it--”
“It was a Nymph! It has to be! You said it felt like fingers, right?” He nodded slowly and narrowed his eyes at her when she walked to the shore of the lake and knelt down, taking out a flash light and searching around for evidence of this 'Naiad', as she called it.
“Get away from the water, you idio--”
“Shh!!” She hissed, putting a finger up to her lips, signaling Levi to shut up as she listened and watched. A few silent minutes passed and before he could break the uncomfortable silence, another large ripple ripped through the surface and Hanji squealed quietly like a pig.
“Levi, look! Over there by that old wooden boat!” She said quickly in a hushed tone and pointed to said boat. He stared for a long time and when nothing happened, he was ready to call her out on her bullshit but then hands emerged from the surface, the fingertips of whoever that was looked like they had been dipped in dark-blue glitter.
His heart stopped and he stared in horror and disbelief as a head finally popped up from the water, the boat swayed as the person heaved themselves backwards up on to it and Levi stared in awe as the creature pulled her thick hair back, watching the long chestnut-brown tresses cascade down her defined-back. In her hair were a variety of random things, such as branches, gold and silver chains, water-plants and flowers and sitting on top of her head was a crown that was made of out a variety of different seashells.
Her long arms stretched up towards the sky and Levi watched as she inhaled slowly, her skin glistened in the barely-there sunlight. There were a few light-blue scales that ran down the right side of their neck and torso and when his eyes trailed down further, his face erupted like wild-fire when he noticed that the strange creature was nude.
Yup, that was definitely not a human, that was for sure.
“Hanj--” He tried to speak but stopped when the creatures thin body twisted slightly to the side to reveal a flat expanse of chest.
Oh.
It was a male.
The woma—man dipped his hands into the water. A small fish flipped around in his cupped hands and then he slowly let the water slip between his slender fingers and let out an angelic giggle as he watched the fish flop back into the cold liquid.
The two watched in awe until the creature finally noticed eyes on him and quickly turned around and wow; The Water Nymph was absolutely gorgeous, almost breath-taking. His perfect, unmarred skin was a pretty bronze color, it had a dewy look to it and seemed to glow. Levi also noticed that when he stared closely, there were a few blue scales and tiny jewels littered across his left cheek.
The creature stared at the two with the biggest, brightest sea-green eyes that Levi had ever seen before.
Unfortunately, the creatures eyes only showed fear.
He was scared of them.
“Oh, he looks scared—wait, don't go!” Hanji's screaming only seemed to frighten the Nymph even more and the creature dove with unreal speed back into the water and out of sight, it was like he wasn't even there in the first place.
Levi ignored Hanji's whining and stared into the water, mouth agape and gray eyes wide as saucers as his mind tried to reassess what had just happened here.
“How could he be scared if he was just feeling all up on me?” Hanji only shrugged at him, not really listening to what he had to say since she was in deep thought.
“What if we lure him out?” She suggested.
“No! Do you want him to hate us even more, you idiot? Let's just...let's just leave him alone for today, I'm sure he'll approach us again.”
She frowned at him, not very happy with what he said but in the end agreed with him, it was best to let the Nymph do his own thing.
If he didn't want to be bothered then so be it, they would leave him alone and act like he never existed or, if he did want to come out and reveal himself once again, then he would do so on his own.
As he stared out into the deep blue water, Levi really hoped for the latter.