Goodbyes were something Levi Ackerman was used to. Telling his sister Mikasa goodbye when they ended their Skype calls, telling his friends goodbye when he'd go home early from parties, telling his mother goodbye after he'd visit home for the weekend. Goodbye was just a word Levi knew very well in his twenty-one years of living.
And of course, that didn't count all of the times he had to say goodbye in his past lives.
Levi never believed in past lives before. If there wasn't scientific proof for it, why should he put his faith in it? But the dreams he had were uncanny, terrifying at some moments. It wasn't just the fact that they repeated themselves and were always consistent. In one set of his dreams, he was a thug living in an underground city. He had two companions, a handsome man named Farlan and a fun pain in the ass teenager named Isabel. Levi had written it off as some subconscious fantasy until he was a senior in high school and he met a girl named Isabel who looked exactly like the Isabel he dreamed about. He had no explanation for it and it unnerved him. His dreams could be downright horrific and if they were visions from his past, it made him think he wasn't destined for happiness.
His first set of dreams took place in the past he was taught so much about in school. The Titan Era. He was a thug turned soldier for the famous Survey Corps, renowned for their bravery and skill. He, Farlan, and Isabel were close friends and comrades. Levi had feelings for his male companion, but given the dog eat dog nature of their world, love wasn't something Levi could express freely. He'd always had an inkling that Farlan returned the feelings, but like Levi, he did nothing to advance the friendship. He was killed during an expedition right in front of Levi's eyes. He tried to save his friend but he was too late and the two parted for the very first time.
The second set of dreams, he and Farlan acted on their attraction to each other. It was sometime in the 1700s and they would sneak away from their apprentice duties to be with each other. Those moments were sweeter than wine, filled with loving kisses, warm embraces, and hot touches. Everything was pure bliss until a war broke out. Levi was drafted and had to leave to fight in the dense forests of places he didn't know. Saying goodbye to Farlan had been hard, although he wouldn't outright admit it, but he'd promised Farlan he would do his best to come home in one piece. He did, but it was in a pine box with a gunshot wound in his head.
The third and final set seemed to be placed in the fifties. He and Farlan once again were lovers, hiding their relationship from the disapproving world. They were constrained to passionate nights in cars parked deep in the forest and secret sleepovers when their parents were gone. Everything was blissful and Levi was ashamed to admit it lead him into a false sense of security. In this lifetime, his last goodbye to Farlan had been when they were hanging out with their friend Isabel. They ran out of beer and Farlan was the only one able to legally buy beer so he offered to go to the corner store and get more. If Levi had known it was the last time he'd see Farlan alive, he would have done more than give him a peck on the cheek and a weak, "See ya." But the next time he saw Farlan was when he and Isabel went out to search for him after he failed to come home in an found his body in the riverbed, slurs carved into his back.
That's not to say all of his dreams were depressing. In between these dreams Levi caught glimpses of happiness. In some dreams he and Farlan were together and happy. They were able to live their lives together and only be separated by death due to natural causes. But those glimpses into the past were rare and seldom in nature. Dreams of love gone wrong plagued Levi and made him worry for his future. In all his dreams he'd been with this guy Farlan, but in this lifetime he'd never met or ever seen a guy that looked like him. For all Levi knew, Isabel was a serendipitous occurrence and Farlan was just a figment of his imagination. But with all the frequency and the consistency of these dreams, he was starting to think that maybe past lives were a thing and somehow he was able to see into the past.
Levi didn't like looking to the past. He didn't like wallowing in his regrets. And he sure as hell didn't like goodbyes. Whether it was in his nature or because of past experiences, he just didn't like them.
His most recent goodbye had been to his childhood best friend Petra Ral fourteen minutes and thirty-three seconds ago when she had to go to cheer practice. His phone buzzed as she texted him, letting him know she'd made it to the football field safely. He texted her back quickly and shoved his phone back into his pocket as he walked into the campus coffee and tea café. He'd been coming here ever since his freshman year. Petra would go to cheer practice, he'd sit in the café and wait for her to finish, enjoy a cup of black tea, and then once she was done cheering they'd go have dinner. That had been his Thursday afternoon ever since he started college and he didn't see his routine ever changing.
Levi plopped down into his usual spot in the comfy armchair near the window. He pulled out his copy of Heart of Darkness and started reading. The faint notes of piano music waltzed through the air with the quiet conversations of friends and couples around him. It was by no means loud, but for some reason noises distracted him and he ended up having to reread passages over and over again to understand them, even though he had read this book several times before.
Fuck, what's wrong with me today, he gritted his teeth, staring at the book's pages. Why can't I focus? This is an easy read. It's not like I'm trying to plow through some Ernest Hemingway or something. The soft chiming of bells tinkled through the air as the door to the café opened and a group came in. They weren't anything special. A girl with cat-like eyes, a burly guy, and a tiny blonde that couldn't have been taller than five feet. But as the last guy entered the café, Levi's heart nearly stopped.
The guy had ash-colored hair, bright purple streaks popping against the muted natural color of his hair. He had snakebite piercings sparkling under his lips. He worse pleasantly tight pants and what looked like a very worn and very loved Green Day T-shirt. The guy was very pretty and incredibly familiar to Levi. Fuck me, he thought, staring at this guy in utter disbelief. It can't be him. It can't be Farlan. His heart was racing and pounding in his chest as if he'd just run a mile. Before he could look away, the guy looked over at him and their eyes locked.
Shit. Levi knew those blue eyes anywhere. How many times had he seen them before? How many lifetimes had he spent looking into those eyes? The spark of recognition lit up Farlan's eyes. He broke eye contact first, talking to the cat-eyed girl and handing her some money before walking over to Levi. What do I say? I can't tell him, "hey, I keep having dreams that may or may not be from my past lives and you're in all of them as my boyfriend. How are you doing?" Farlan dropped himself into the armchair across from Levi, a cocky grin on his face.
"Are your legs sore? Because I swear you've been running through my dreams every night," he said, the corners of his lips twitching as he fought back a laugh.
"You call that a pick up line?" Levi asked, rolling his eyes as he resisted the urge to laugh. "Where'd you get that shit from, from a popsicle stick?"
"Are you saying popsicle stick jokes are crap?" Farlan inquired, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Yeah." Farlan laughed heartily and stuck his hand out to Levi.
"I'm Farlan. It's nice to meet you," he said, a bright smile on his face. Levi stuck out his hand.
"Levi," he introduced himself, although judging by Farlan's looks it wasn't needed. If his dreams were anything to go by, they were destined to say goodbye one way or the other. It'd be a goodbye he would dread, but he put those dark memories and thoughts away for a moment.
Here was the chance to relish a wonderful hello instead of a grim goodbye and Levi had every intention of enjoying that.