Time Slip
by
Blue Sonnet (Nana_41175)
Chapter 1
Hi and welcome to my first SnK fic. It's a time travel AU where Levi goes back in time to serve as superior officer to Erwin, who is in his late teens and new to the Survey Corps. It's inspired by Funny Fanny/ Pechiko's time slip scenario (links are in my AO3 account), and I shall do my best with the smut scenes that will come later. Enjoy!
It took a week for Levi to find his legs again— an entire week before he was convinced that the ground beneath him would not give way; that he was walking in a world as solid and real as the one he'd left behind.
It also took an entire fucking week for High Command to see things his way and to give in to Levi's demands. They were not happy about it, and obviously, they still harboured doubts, despite seeing for themselves all the evidence that Levi had laid bare before them. In the end, Pixis had been instrumental in clearing the way through all the bureaucratic bullshit for him, but only after Levi had held forth a letter and a personal token in his hand.
So now here he was, in a scene so bizarre that it would have been amusing, if only Levi could still find it within himself to laugh. It was déjà vu made real as he stood on a wooden platform with all the soldiers of the Survey Corps standing at full attention before him. It was surreal, a blast from the past— or the future. Whatever. For Levi, time had ceased to flow in the single direction he had understood all his life. And after Erwin…
(Oh god, Erwin)
After Erwin, time had ceased to have any meaning to him whatsoever.
And yet here he was now, in the midst of a new world, a new reality. With his heartbeat loud in his ears, Levi scanned the crowd gathered in front of him, half-lidded eyes never giving away the apprehension and anticipation that ate at him from the inside as he searched for that bright cap of blond hair among the myriad heads before him.
The formal introduction was made by the commander of the Corps, a nonentity who would serve for some time before he was dispatched by a titan. As Levi understood it, the Corps had yet to see its tenth commander. The present one had been summoned and introduced to him some days before, of course, but it was Keith Shadis he had specifically sought out. Shadis, who had given way faster than Pixis when Levi had presented him with the small, delicate amulet wrapped in soft gauze. Shadis, who now stood just a few feet away from Levi, the intensity of his gaze enough to drill a hole in his back.
"Attention all troops," boomed the commander as he stood beside Levi. "A new captain will be joining our ranks, with orders direct from High Command. He will be fighting alongside us from now on…"
Basically, they were the same words of introduction that had ushered— would usher— Levi into the Corps, but he almost missed his cue when he finally found himin the crowd: Erwin, with his short-cropped golden hair glinting bright under the sun, just as Levi remembered. Naturally, Erwin was standing right beside Mike and it was Mike whom Levi had first spotted, towering over his fellow soldiers like an ox among sheep. Mike, with his impossible height. Mike, who was still alive, just like Erwin.
And young. Erwin looked so young, Levi thought in near disbelief, eyes running hungrily over the face that he had last seen, eyes closed and mouth forever still, on top of the funeral pyre. The man was always going to be handsome, Levi knew, but it was a novelty for him to look upon Erwin Smith and still see a hint of boyish curves around the cheeks and jaw, softening the impact of those severe cheekbones. And those blue eyes, surprisingly open and so very curious. Levi realized that he'd caught Erwin just before he'd mastered the art of veiling his eyes and masking his face, for right now, Erwin— the same Erwin who was going to hunt him down and drag him out from the Underground without so much as a lift of those thick eyebrows— was looking back at Levi frankly, his eyes alight with something akin to astonishment, and not a little wonder.
This, Levi had to admit, was something entirely new, and quite delicious.
Beside Levi, the commander cleared his throat, and without seeming to miss a beat and not bothering to uncross his arms over his chest, Levi announced nonchalantly, "the name is Levi."
A dubious murmur rose from the crowd, and Levi turned away before salutations could be made. The awkward ceremony was effectively over.
"Remember my request," Levi said to the commander and Shadis as they moved to flank him. "I want Erwin Smith."
