The Butterfly Effect: Re-Written
By Sango Nanami and Kyra
"Hey, Levi..." the orange-haired girl said as she leaned up next to her lover, who was still asleep. His face was so cute like this. Relaxed, calm, almost worry-free. She played with his hair and kissed him on the cheek as an attempt to tease him awake. As per usual, the two had spent the night making love until they both had completely run out of stamina. Although, if a mission was as important as today's is, they would spare themselves the energy to make sure there was no doubt that they'd come back alive, but that previous night, Petra had a feeling. Almost a foreboding one. The same feeling she got the night before wall Maria fell, and the night before the mission where her twin brother, Ian had died. A change in habit was what first came to mind, and of course, her sweet captain didn't object. However, it didn't change the fact that there was an important mission today, and sadly, the unforgiving clock had finally struck six a.m
She had thought of something called 'the butterfly effect' the night before. The slightest change in the past could drastically change the future. If her feeling was right, and disaster were to strike tomorrow, maybe a change of habit stood a chance to prevent it. Even if it was just a slight one, the threat of death was always eminent, so at least this way, if she were to die, she'd die remembering her captain's warm, loving embrace.
"Leeeeevi..." she whispered again. He opened his gorgeous blue eyes.
"Hi." He turned over to face her, sleep still lingering in his eyes.
"Come on, it's time to wake ah-!" she yelped in surprise when he pulled her into his embrace like a child cuddling a teddy bear.
"No... ten more minutes..." Levi drowsily whined, running his hands over the soft lines in her body. Almost as if hiding himself from the early light, he buried his head in his pillow. He of all people knew what was coming. He knew people would die on this mission, and he vowed to keep his squad safe, especially Eren and Petra... Especially Petra... He cherished each night they spent together. The heat, the passion, the love. The only thing he missed out on his entire life was love. Sure there were some prostitutes here and there, but that was a long time ago, and that was nothing compared to what he felt now.
"Levi, I don't feel good, let go..." Petra whined
"Excuses, excuses..." he replied pulling tightening his embrace. "It's just nerves, don't worry about it."
"Mhm..." she responded in that sleepy voice of hers. Finally, the morning bugle sounded. The wretched daylight had finally won the battle. Now came the challenging part; leaving Levi's room without getting caught. Quickly, she kissed him again, threw on her night gown, and dashed to the women's bathroom down the hall. It wasn't the stealthiest way, but in a few minutes, that hallway would be crowded with soldiers ready for a shower. Levi was half-tempted to walk down the hall behind her and hand her the pair of panties she accidentally left behind. But that could wait until tonight.
"Whoa, that eager to get a shower, Pet?" a teammate of hers noticed her dash into the room. Of course, Abigail was always up early to shower and get ready first, eager to impress the commander with her punctuality. Coming to an abrupt stop in the doorway didn't help Petra's stomach ache. Immediately, she covered her mouth.
"Oh, it doesn't smell that bad in here." Abigail jokingly sneered at her friend
"I've just felt like crap since I woke up. That's..." She ran to the nearest toilet, Abigail in tow to hold back her hair as she emptied the contents of her stomach.
"Jesus, are you okay?" Abigail asked
"I'm just nervous..." Petra replied.
"You're gonna be fine, we've all got captain Levi. He and commander Erwin will always protect us. Okay?" Abigail couldn't think of what to say to her friend, so made up the most inspiring thing she could.
After showering, it was off to breakfast, then to the gates of wall Rose. The commander's new system of titan spotting was genius. So far, there were no casualties.
That is, until the female titan showed up.
"PETRA, WE NEED TO REGROUP! PETRA!" She heard the voice, but she couldn't move. Too fast. Too fast to outrun, too fast to slip by. So fast. How could her eyes have regenerated in less than thirty seconds? Gunther and Erd had already fallen to the female titan. Two elite soldiers. How did this happen? She thought she would be able to change this sort of outcome. How? Why did she prioritize only one eye? Why was she doing this? Then it happened. Petra felt a giant foot pin her against a nearby tree. Everything felt as if it had shattered instantly. She fell to the ground in the worst pain imaginable. It was growing dark. No, this couldn't be it.
"No, please, God. I haven't even told Levi I loved him. I never told him the future I want with him. The wedding, the house, the family... we were supposed to destroy the titans together." she thought to herself, silently praying as she stared up at the tree canopy. It was a beautiful day. Sunlight showing through the new summer leaves. Blood was filling her lungs. She coughed and saw another shadow of the female titan kicking Auruo, who landed about three feet from where she was, and a flash of lightning as Eren transformed. Her old friend looked up at her from his spot, just as barely conscious as she was.
"H-h-hi..." he said.
"Hi..." she replied before hacking up blood.
"Petra, I can't... I can't move..." Auruo looked so scared. She knew he loved her, but she saw him more as a little brother. It was a shame. Auruo would have made some girl very happy. She felt it would be fitting to do what she could to keep him awake and alive until help came, or at the very least, make him feel better in his last moments.
"It's...go-a be o-kay." she let out a smile before coughing again.
"Where- where's cap?" he asked. The blood in her lungs was starting to overcome her. She was breathing as hard as she could, but at this position, it was useless. Some blood got on her face, but most of it stayed in her trachea.
"He'll... come" she managed to spit out some words as the asphyxiation started to take hold. Pure agony.
"Petra... I'm so scared... I think I pissed myself again..." Auruo tried to laugh, but started coughing as well. His bones had snapped, puncturing his lungs and organs. He only had to wait until death's merciful grip finally took him. Petra tried moving to face him, but the slightest twitch felt as if she were being torn in two.
"It...go-a...e... o-ay" she repeated, taking in as much air as she could. She said it over and over to him for what seemed like an eternity until the blood filled her mouth again. She tried coughing it up, but more replaced it. She couldn't breathe.
"Petra?" Auruo asked as he started to fall asleep. His teammate and friend started twitching and jerking around trying to move her head to get rid of what was blocking her airway. Fighting and fighting until finally, it went black.
"I love you." he whispered as he closed his eyes for the last time.
Levi swung between trees after tree with his 3D maneuver gear. He needed to find the others. He had heard nothing from them and seen none of them. Anxiety. Fear. Anger that they hadn't followed orders. He got angrier and angrier as one by one, he found their bodies. Erd, Gunther, Auruo... Every one of them were dead. Then, that's when he saw her. That familiar orange hair and golden eye. He instantly dropped to the ground.
He put two fingers on her neck to feel for a pulse. Nothing. She was still warm, though. This couldn't be happening. No, this couldn't happen... This wouldn't happen! He wouldn't let it! In a surge of desperation, he gently laid her broken body onto the ground and unbuttoned her shirt, and cut off her bra so he could try CPR to get her heart going again. He tried and tried. Pushing on her chest and forcing air into her over and over again. The only change was more and more blood escaped her mouth. Fighting back tears, he turned her over to try and clear her airway with no luck. He turned her over on her back and tried CPR again.
Finally, after three minutes, the longest amount of time he could spare without attracting titans, he stopped. Now he had a choice to make. Bring her body over to the medic cart to see if there was anything at all they do, or go after Eren, who was fighting the female titan currently. She didn't stand a chance, but still. The possibility is slim of saving her, but existent. She wouldn't have wanted him to sacrifice the mission for her safety. No. It was not going to end here. He's humanity's strongest, and he's damn well going to act like it for once. Gently, he went up to the trees with her body. Hanji and the medical cart wouldn't be far. Ten trees away to be precise. Counting down, he did what he could to get a response from Petra.
"Oi, wake up. It's not funny anymore." No response, nine trees to go
"Petra Ral, this is an order, wake up." Nothing. Seven trees to go
"We'll never have sex again if you don't wake up." five trees to go
"For fuck's sake, after the mission, I was going to propose." four trees to go. Eren was roaring in the distance. Loud booms could be heard as either of the titans hit the ground
"Petra, I'm gonna drop you off with Shitty Glasses, and you'll be okay." three trees to go. He adjusted his hold of her so that she was over his shoulder almost like a ragdoll. What a horrible feeling. Quickly, he grabbed a flare indicating an emergency, and fired it. Two more trees to go. The medical team saw it, and got what they could ready. First aid kits, hand oxygen pumps, anything mobile enough to bring on a mission. One more tree to go. By now, his cloak was covered in blood, and he couldn't care less. He just wanted Petra back. He would trade anything for that.
He gently laid her down on the cot set up with soldiers surrounding the perimeter. Some were already wounded, some were tending to them. Hanji immediately checked for a pulse, shook her head, and said the most vicious word Levi had ever heard her say.
"Next."
"Like hell, next!" he had finally snapped at this. He hadn't given up, Petra hadn't, and Hanji better not.
"Levi, I'm sorry, but..."
"She can't breathe! Make her breathe then see what happens, you'll see!" Levi panicked, and Hanji could see this new emotion in his eyes. It was fear.
"I know she was a member of your squad and it's hard, but-"
"SHE'S NOT JUST A MEMBER OF MY SQUAD!" silence fell onto the group of soldiers as Levi shouted at his friend and teammate. It was an eerie silence. Even Eren and the female titan couldn't be heard fighting. Wait... That's when it clicked for everyone. The fight was over, but something must have happened to Eren
"I'll make a deal with you. I'll do what I can to fix up Petra for the time being, and you get Eren, okay?" Hanji sighed. Levi replied with a nod, realizing the situation's urgency. Bringing back Petra was the wrong choice, but he didn't care. Petra deserved better than to die like this.
"Don't fuck this up, Hanji." he launched his gear off into the trees, not only to rescue Eren, but to avenge his fallen squad.
After a quick examination, it was discovered that there was indeed a heartbeat, but very faint, slowly fading as the seconds passed. Finding that supplementary oxygen wasn't helping, an aspirator was used to open up her airways. She was hanging on, but by a very tight thread. Petra started to breathe on her own again, but was losing blood fast. Saving her life required a field transfusion. Luckily, there was a person with type O- blood willing to accommodate. By the time Levi had gotten back, she was comatose, but very much alive.
Once they got back, she, among other wounded, were escorted to a hospital in the Calaneth district near the gates, they were using real medical equipment to reset her bones. Sure the hospital was small, but it was better than nothing. Petra's family was upset to say the least that their daughter had been injured to where she was on death's door. Though it was still better than death. Petra needed to have almost her entire spine surgically reset, not to mention the fluid. Such a precise operation in such a high-risk place was a last resort option. There wasn't that much anesthesia, so they'd have to work fast. The first incisions were made by the doctor living there as Hanji made sure nothing was going wrong. After about two hours, the first few vertebrae had been reset, and the needed pins and bars added in to stabilize it. The doctor sat down to rest, and switched with Hanji.
Hanji made a new incision and started working on her lower spine, Levi, sitting in a chair in the corner, refused to leave, or take his eyes off of Petra. That is, until he noticed an unusual blood stain on the makeshift surgical gown she was wearing.
"Oi, four-eyes, be less messy with your tools. You got blood on her." he snapped
"What are you talking about? I haven't spilled a drop of blood. We only have a few bags available." Hanji simply shrugged off this remark, knowing it was Levi's way of being a neat freak. Levi, however wasn't pleased. The spot started growing.
"Hanji, she's bleeding." He barked.
"Where?" Hanji asked, curious as to where this mysterious stain only Levi was able to see came from. Levi cleared his throat a bit nervously.
"Between her legs." He plainly stated. Immediately, Hanji cracked up
"Levi, all that means is she got her period." She tried not to drop the surgical tools as she laughed.
"Just check and make sure she didn't hit a really sharp rock or something on the ground." he said. Hanji laughed even more. Levi just got angrier and angrier. He walked up to the table while Hanji had gone back to working on Petra's back. The smell of blood was almost too much for him. It seemed like it was everywhere. On his Jacket, on his cloak, on her clothes, now lying on the floor. Her face, even her hair... Finally, his eyes went to the source of the mystery stain, and he shamelessly lifted her gown, and pulled down her underwear.
"Is period blood supposed to be that thick?" Hanji looked over in shock, and smacked his hands away from the fabric before registering what he had just said. When it hit her though, she nearly halted the procedure, and called for the doctor, asking for sedatives to put into the IV or inject directly into a vain. Muscle relaxants, mild tranquilizers, anything at all would do. There was a possible miscarriage she needed to stop. Levi froze up when he heard that come out of her mouth. Miscarriage.
"Miscarriage as in..." he said in a near whisper
"Miscarriage as in she could very well be pregnant right now. Now help out or go."
Levi's eyes widened. Pregnant?
"Oh God..." he said to himself. Time around him nearly froze. When did this happen? They had always been so careful. At this point, his body was moving on its own, directed only by Hanji and the doctor's orders: put warm towels under her. See if the sedatives are working. Check the level of blood loss. Has it gone down? By how much? Clean up the blood and watch for any tissue. No tissue, the drugs are working. Keep those towels warm. Has the bleeding stopped?
All the while, his mind was still stuck his own questions: When did this happen, How? Why? Did she know? Why didn't she tell him?
"Levi, snap out of it!" He heard Hanji's voice say a sentence that took a slap to the face to kick in. He was back in the real world, still standing next to Petra, doing his job of keeping the towels warm, and checking the bleeding.
"The bleeding's stopped. No signs of tissue." He said almost robotically.
"Alright, we saved it. Now, keep an eye on that, I only have a few more pins to put in." Hanji said as she went back to the spine. No other complications occurred, and Petra was quickly put into a body cast for transportation to a military hospital where it would be assured that she'd have the best care possible. The entire ride there, he didn't speak at all. It was assumed by most that Levi wouldn't leave her side because she was the only surviving member of his squad. This poor young woman, saved by nothing less than a miracle.
After a few hours, they finally had arrived, and she was rushed into yet another surgery. This one would be under top-notch doctors, and those brand new electric lights. Hanji filled in the doctors on what happened during the previous emergency surgery, and the pregnancy discovered. The surgeon looked surprised. He asked if there had been a blood test, and Hanji said no, but described the narrowly-avoided miscarriage in great detail. So much that even Levi had to shut her up.
"Well, by law, we can't do anything before getting the consent of the father, or the mother's next of kin to abandon the pregnancy if need be. This could get in the way of a lot of drugs, or procedures." the head surgeon explained.
Levi's hands started to shake. 'Abandon' was a word he knew too well. Abandoned by his mother as a child. Abandoned by his friends and comrades as they died right in front of his face. Petra, though... she never abandoned him. No matter what she did, it was always for someone else. Regardless of whether or not she knew, he couldn't bring himself to abandon her and their child.
"You're not abandoning that kid." He finally said to them. The doctors look over, confused.
"Captain Levi, with all due respect, you're her commanding officer, you really have no power over whether or not we perform an emergency abortion." the surgeon calmly stated
"Oh, so now it's an abortion?" Levi glared at them, starting to tap his foot in impatience.
"Sir, the pregnancy is risky enough already, and it's nothing short of a miracle that the fetus has survived this long, but-"
"I'm not some anti-choice idiot, but this kid's got a good shot at life so far with parents that are gonna love it, and can afford to keep it. Petra wouldn't want you throwing that away, and neither do I." Levi said. Hanji was dumbfounded by that statement. Either he was very passionate about someone else's baby, or...
"Sir, you're not the father, so despite your rank, nothing really-"
"Are you a complete airhead? I'm the father, dip shit." he snapped. The room went silent. The doctors both looked at Hanji, then Levi, then at each other, then at Levi.
"Captain... would you be willing to submit to a blood test?" the head surgeon asked
"Fine, just get her into surgery, and if one thing goes wrong, and Petra dies, or that baby is thrown away, I will personally wring all of your necks!" he viciously threatened. He hadn't eaten or slept since the mission. Levi was, at this point, beyond done with everyone there. Done with titans, done with idiot doctors, done with the entire pregnancy situation. He just wanted things to go back to normal. He wanted to go back to this morning, where the world didn't matter. It was just him, Petra, and his bedroom. He sat there in the waiting room for hours. Ignoring all requests to come back to HQ, he sat and waited, staring at the clock. How long had she been in there? Why couldn't he come in? He tapped his foot on the floor anxiously. Day had turned to night, and then back into day. By this point, Erwin stopped by, attempting to retrieve him to return for a mission report he needed to do, which was immediately met with
"Fuck off, Erwin"
Erwin left and came back with coffee, sitting down next to the man he called his friend. He handed the fatigued man a cup, and the silence continued. Erwin took a few sips of his beverage while Levi's was getting cold on the table in front of them
"Drink up, you'll need to be awake for when she gets out of the OR."
"It'll taste like shitty hospital coffee." He instantly replied.
"It's not hospital coffee. We're in wall Sina." Erwin said
"Pardon me, it's top-notch shitty hospital coffee." Levi retorted. The long silence in the waiting room continued. Levi started letting his eyes wander off of the book he was reading to observe more of the room. Overhearing conversations, he learned that one family was waiting for their grandmother who had fallen and broken her hip, one family had a child in getting an appendectomy, and one man was pacing back and forth in front of the door to the hallway, constantly asking emerging nurses about the status of his wife in labor. A situation Levi knew he would be in all too soon. He hoped this was caught early enough where they had time to prepare for the newest member of the survey corps, that is, if Petra isn't going to retire.
They had so many years ahead of them. Killing titans, secret rendez-vous', everything under the stars. Now, what would they do? Of course they'd kill titans, but afterwards, there'd be diapers to change, feedings, burpings, teaching a baby to walk, talk, eat, there'd be no energy or time left. No, he shouldn't look at it that way. He grabbed the cup of coffee, and, trying to get his mind off of the subject he took a sip.
"it's alright"… Levi said, going back to his book.
"Daddy, when's the baby coming?" a child that couldn't have been older than five approached the pacing man. Again, Levi's attention was drawn away, and he glanced over, trying not to look like he was staring. The man picked up his daughter and smiled.
" well, the nice doctors in there are helping mommy with having the baby, it's just taking a little longer than expected." Levi could see the worry the man was hiding from the little girl. Just from the amount of exhaustion and empty coffee cups on the table, he could tell the man had been there for a while. Longer than he had, that was for sure.
"Levi, did you hear me?" Erwin drew his attention away from the pair
"Yeah, something about the b-…." Levi nervously chugged his coffee, unable to even say the word, 'baby'.
"…. We need to figure out how far along she is. You also need to think about assembling a new squad to protect Eren. This one may have failed, but they didn't die in vain." Erwin said being met with a glare from the captain.
"….. no one else survived?" he asked
"You only attended to Petra, against my orders, by the way-.."
"I failed, Erwin!" he nearly shouted, attracting momentary stares from the entire room.
"I failed… I failed in protecting Eren, protecting my squad, protecting my own damn child! I can't protect people worth shit! How am I supposed to be a decent father if I can't even stop my friends from being killed?" He was hiding his face at this point, hanging his head, watching teardrops hit the floor.
The commander was speechless. After everything, he had never seen Levi cry at least once. He always hid his feelings. Happy or sad, they were always hidden beneath a scowl. This Levi hadn't slept, eaten, or moved from some waiting area since the mission the previous day. This Levi wasn't the one he knew. This man was at his breaking point.
"Captain Levi?" A nurse emerged from the doorway to the hospital. The two soldiers stood up immediately.
"How is she?" Levi wiped the tears away from his eyes and looked at the nurse.
"Alive…. We just barely managed to save the baby too, but we did. Ms Ral is about three months along, but the baby's heartbeat is as faint as hers. C-captain, wait!" she exclaimed as Levi stormed down the hallway followed by the nurse and Erwin.
"Where is she?" He demanded
"R-right this way." The intimidated nurse said, leading him down the hallway to a post-operation room. She opened the door, and Levi walked in, and froze.
There was Petra
Hooked up to at least three machines, she was taking long, deep breaths. Her shattered back had finally been reset, and she was in yet another body cast going from her torso to her feet, as a few fractures in her legs had been found. The tree had absorbed a large percentage of the impact, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. The nurse explained as much of what happened as she could, including surgical complications, and the two instances where her heart had stopped until the doctor signaled her to stop talking
Levi, in the meantime had pulled up a chair to the bed and sat down next to where his lover was laying. He was terrified of the thought of her death. If she were gone, his world would become that much darker. She was his hope, his salvation. The way her gentle face looked as she was asleep was the thing that sent him over the edge. As if the display in the waiting room weren't humiliating enough, he took her limp hand in his, and broke down into a sobbing fit. He couldn't keep his usual stoic expression up anymore. Erwin led the nurse and doctor out, so they didn't see humanity's strongest come undone, but that poor man had had enough of all the death and the destruction. Then a phrase Petra said so often rang through his mind;
"Have Faith."
With those words, he had an epiphany. In about six months, petra, who will probably still be in some sort of physical therapy, will deliver their baby into this hellish world of titans and corruption. They'll both have to teach that child what the world outside the walls looks like. He will exterminate the titans for the single purpose of showing that child what they saw on every mission before wall Maria fell. Birds flying freely across the sky, fields of wildflowers of different varieties that go on for miles. Wild horses, cows, deer… that thing called the ocean. He wanted nothing more than to show that baby all of that.
The road to recovery and parenthood would be a long, tedious one, but it would be worth every moment. Every midnight feeding, every diaper change, everything. Everything would be worth not only that child seeing the world outside the walls, but Levi getting a new title. More important than captain, commander, or even king
That title is "daddy."
He will have faith in this child, he would have faith in Petra. He would have faith.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: PHEW, There's chapter 1. WOOT… So, yeah. I hated the original story, so I'm putting legit effort into this puppy. I hope you enjoy the remake that requires so much researching and my co-author helping me out and such… Beh…. It's almost 1 in the morning. Goodnight.