Summary:Levi never believed in casting spells—until his four-year-old daughter performed one on him.
*Note: The name is pronounced as /lee-ruh/. I thought of combining Levi and Petra's name together since Isabel is used a lot of times; sequel to Captain and Soldier, set three years later.
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All his life, Levi Ackerman had been a witness to many strange and supernatural occurrences within the underground capital city of Wall Sina; from how people (the military and the monarchy bastards especially) were adamant at the hellish life below their heavenly one, up to how he and his comrades who held the reputation as mere thugs were specially eyed by the Survey Corps—and of course, above the grounds where the most inconceivable creatures are present to devour humans.
And although it seemed ridiculous for him once, he took even the fact that mankind can transform into titans seriously.
Those and other things he never imagined he'd see with his own eyes he believed in, yes—
But not this.
Levi straightens himself up on the chair to prevent himself and her from falling, but the more he struggles to defend his movements, the tighter the grip on his face becomes. Helplessly, he follows the motion of the stringed bronze coin swinging left and right in front of his face—playing interested as much as possible to avoid unnecessary eye contact with her; otherwise, he'd earn another tiny red marks on both his cheeks.
Where the hell is his wife when he needed her the most?
As soon as the coin stops swinging, Levi starts to look at her and sees her with equal confusion etched on her gray eyes; her copper hair swaying freely from her restricted deportment.
He assumes it's already over, but when he attempts to set her feet on the ground, she shakes her head and places her tiny palms in front of his face—and he sees her frown between the spaces of her fingers.
"Lira—"
"Daddy, don't move!" She says with a screech and pushes his shoulders with her hands—and he feels somewhat surprised at how strong her grip became in an instant.
Levi stops moving then and sends her a playful scowl; her own subsides afterwards and her face changes to a pleased state when he leans back and slides his palm around her small frame.
She lets out a grin. "Daddy will listen to Lira, okay?"
Instead of an answer, Levi rolls his eyes and she giggles, placing the coin once again in front of him.
A few moments later, the girl begins to swing the thread back and forth once again, and like what he did, he stares at it closely with his face now moving along with his eyes—a little more concentrated compared to how less focused he was a while ago.
"So? Why are we doing this?" He asks; his sight remained glued on the coin although he's throwing her a glance from the corner of his eyes once in a while.
She's smiling; face contorted into determination. "Lira is hypnotizing you, daddy." She answers.
"Hypnotize?" He asks, his eyes squinting a little; his attention is all on her. "Why would you hypnotize me?"
"Lira wants to make daddy do what she wants."
Levi frowns at her answer. Then he's suddenly reminded of yesterday, when his wife took their daughter out to the streets for the goddess Rose festival, and how he was perplexed to the core at his daughter babbling non-stop about how great hypnotizing was once they got home. Even he himself was surprised at how eager she is just because of one stupid deception.
Whoever started that trick needed some blade shoving up his ass.
"You know you can ask me whatever the hell—" He stops, thankful for the first time that Petra isn't home as of the moment. Levi gently strokes his four-year-old's head and in a soft voice, he says, "I mean, you can tell daddy what you want."
"Eh?" The coin stops swinging. She looks up at him, surprised and with a frown. "But mommy said that daddy doesn't ever listen!"
Levi grimaces at the memories when his wife dominated him numerous times one way or another, or when she got him say 'yes'—or a dull fine whenever she wants to get whatever reasonable thing she wants, or when he tells her to stop but she continuous sucking until he—
Oh just fuck her already.
Levi crosses his arms and narrows his eyes. "Listen here, kid. Mommy isn't the one listening most of the time."
The little girl then puts on a thinking state, her little chubby palms going on her chin for a few seconds, then she looks up at him again still with a frown. "Hey daddy, why don't you hypnotize mommy too? Lira thinks mommy will listen to daddy."
That stopped him completely.
He holds the reputation as humanity's strongest; praised and respected by people for being a man who believes in his own skills and willpower, not in a damned coin—and his wife would laugh at him if ever he agrees with his daughter's ideas.
There's no way in hell he'd do that.
Just no.
"I don't think that would do, honey."
"Eh?! But Lira saw it yesterday!" She exclaims, her arms flailing around. "That uncle makes the girl do what he wants, so Lira thinks mommy will listen to daddy."
That sounded perverted—in his ears at least.
"They do it just for tricking people so you shouldn't believe that."
She's silent after a while and he sees her eyes filled with disappointment.
"So it's impossible?"
He nods and they fall into silence. His daughter clings on her coin with a pout—clearly depressed. Somehow, he learns over the course of years that that would most likely be her reaction whenever she's upset—clearly inherited from his wife.
With a sigh, Levi straightens himself and taps her knees. She then looks up, confused.
"Are you mad at daddy?" He asks in a hushed voice, looking straight at her; his palms cupping her small face.
To his surprise, she shakes her head and gives him a wide smile.
"No!" She giggles. "Because Lira believes in daddy!"
Truly a daddy's girl.
"That's good, soldier. Now tell your captain how much you love him." He says while tickling her sides, one of the corners of his mouth curling up in a smirk.
She starts to laugh loudly, tickling him back on his chin and she leans forward and kisses his nose. "I love you captain daddy!"
Levi then smiles and mimics her action, kissing her forehead down to her nose before he mumbles, "I love you too, honey."
And they begin another round of tickling, until Levi stops and playfully glares at her.
"Well, apart from making mommy listen to daddy by hypnosis, what do you want daddy to do in the first place?"
His daughter places her index finger on her cheek and says with a smile, "Lira wants to make daddy give her a little sister or brother. It's lonely without a playmate."
He stares at her for a little while, but before he can retort, he sees Petra standing on the door with bags in her arms packed with breads and vegetables. Their daughter runs up to her and Petra lets go of the bags, bringing the little girl in her arms.
Levi stands up and walks over to Petra, kissing her on her cheek.
His sight then travels on the chair where the thread and coin lie—suddenly long forgotten.
And he starts to think that maybe, he'd actually be willing to give in to deception just once.
Fuck his reputation.
It's about time his wife should listen to him in bed anyway.
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Later that night after putting Lira to sleep, Petra wonders why her husband is naked in their bed holding a threaded bronze coin.
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A/N: Levi is utterly whipped by his lovely ladies. LOL.
This is one of the sequels to Captain and Soldier, and I wrote it because one of the rivetra gods, vic-fuentabulous, asked me to continue. Here you go, vic-san!
Oh yeah, there's also a prequel to Captain and Soldier entitled The Absolute Law, so whether you want to read that or not, it's fine.
To the guest reviewers, thank you all so much! I'm glad that you all loved my stories. Haha!
Now I'm off while I'm mourning over my dead phone battery.