White. The first thing I see is white. This world is light, pure white light. I'm floating, but it isn't floating, really. I am standing, but there isn't a ground for me to stand on. I'm standing in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of this white light. It's difficult to describe what it feels like, so I'll just state the facts as I dive into the world of the machine for the first time. It starts with a line, just one line in front of me. It's thin and horizontal considering my point of view, but there's no way to assume its position from me. When I walk forward, it doesn't get closer. From there, there are quite a few lines joining in the sight. Vertical. Curved. There are lots of them and they slowly shape the world around me. I find it hard to describe a world filled with blue lines on a white empty universe for canvas, but it's just like they told me. Yet, it's different from what I imagined. The colors, when they finally join in all together, just make it even more obvious. I could never have imagined it to be this way. I had no way to believe in something like this, yet it is right there; Just in front of me. I could never have imagined the walls to be like this. Not this high. Not this massive. I expected something impressive and breathtaking, but this is beyond everything I expected...
It's out of this world.
''Levi.'' It all starts with this simple word, this name. It's his name. It's mine now. It's the name of this body I equip like a new skin I'm suddenly conscious of. It's not mine and yet, I'm in it like it's mine as I see through his eyes. ''You were reckless...''
He turns around... or rather, his head turns around slightly. It's just enough for his eyes to reach for the tall silhouette behind him. It takes a second for him to acknowledge the presence before his head turns back to look straight ahead as he resumes walking toward the gate. It looks like a small manhole at the bottom of the wall. That's how stupidly small it looks... but that's nothing to how stupidly small he is in comparison to the tall blonde catching up to him. While the blonde takes one step, he takes two to keep up with him. There's about a one head difference between them I'd say. He has to lift his chin up to look at him, when he does.
''I saved someone's life... That's all that matters, Erwin.''
The voice is cold and boring. It's not just because he seems like he's already bored by that conversation, it's like his voice doesn't have any intonation beside this one. One monotone tone firm enough to make me doubt who's the highest in rank. With that, the blonde doesn't press the issue. For an instant, I believe that the short male is the boss of the two... until another voice calls for the blonde using the title 'Commander' while his title is...
''Look! It's Corporal Levi!'' calls a childish voice somewhere in the crowd. It takes a second, but it's enough for him. He takes it all in with his eyes in that moment, incredibly sharp. It comes from a small boy. He's about ten years old, not much more. It doesn't last long enough for me to actually describe him, but I do catch one thing about him: his eyes. Even from this distance, I know. They're a kind of green you don't get to see often.
Apple Green.
Annoyed, he clicks his tongue and turns his head to look straight ahead again. A bunch of kids getting all excited over him is nothing... he doesn't care. He heard them all too often whining over his title as Humanity's Strongest. Way too often. This kid, or another, it doesn't matter. It doesn't change anything. For him, this kid is like any other kid.
It all stops. It's like pressing pause in a movie where you are the main character. Every single thing stops. Leaves stop in the middle of the air like everything else. Every single color suddenly leaves the world just like it appeared in the first place to leave it in white, white covered with blue lines. The lines disappear too. Slowly. One by one. Until it's just white, perfectly white just like pure light.
That's it, I'm back to the beginning... back to where I first entered this world.
The next step is opening my eyes. It usually is the kind of task you do without thinking. Having to actually think about it is something weird. It's actually hard to open my eyes at this moment. It's like I don't want to go back to the real world. It takes me a second to actually remember how to open them, but it all comes back to me naturally and I open them. I'm back in my reality, my world... and my body. I'm back in the office where I entered the past for the first time. I'm saying first time because, well... I just have the feeling I'm the guy they need for this job... and she confirms it. That's right, I'm the guy they need to do this and I need the money. This is a perfect deal. Everyone gets something. I'll earn money while doing nothing more than going through this guy's Fantasy-ish life; Levi's life. Isn't that simple as fuck? It's easy, if anything. It's like watching a movie... but as a part of it.
''You're synchronization rate is incredibly high! Most of the applicants couldn't even maintain the connection with the data for more than a few seconds... some couldn't even access it.''
Tablet in hand, she walks in front of me to look at my face closely. For a moment, it seems like she's just checking on me, but it's beyond that. She doesn't ask me to do anything to prove my stability yet. She just looks at me curiously. She's just looking at me, eyeing me.
''You kind of look like him too...'' She concludes with a smile before moving back a little. It was about time. Four-Eyes really was starting to invade my personal space for too long. It was starting to get to me. ''Alright! Look up... Good. Down. Perfect. Left. Right. Can you stand?''
Of course I can. Shouldn't that be the first thing to do when you get someone out of that system? Someone got excited I guess. She barely acknowledges me after that. She gives me a tablet similar to hers, but barely explains it to me as she dives back into her own. It's footage. Footage I just went through. The crowds. The faces of thousands of people. The face of the kids. I don't even know how she manages to get through the labyrinth of corridors to lead the way with her eyes glued to the screen, but we somehow reach the elevator... and that's when she acknowledges me again.
''You'll be working on the 14th floor. Your work station will be number 14-05. Everything is in the tablet I just gave you. Keep it with you at all time. With it, you can log into the system, enter and move into the building through the areas you have access to.''
I nod and I'm about to answer verbally due to the lack of interest she seems to have in me over whatever is happening on her tablet. I am cut short by the door of the elevator opening. It leaves me speechless. Do not expect an ordinary office. Imagine the most classy and modern office you possibly can. Every workstation is surrounded by a round walls. High enough to hide you from sight when sitting... or probably even when standing in my case, but whatever. From the exterior, it looks like a cocoon and it gives something close to an intimate feeling... even without a door.
''Everyone on our floor is working on the same project as you; Project Titans. I'll be your direct boss; I'm the manager in charge of this project. Most of the staff has a different target. You're the only one with Levi... or rather, in Levi. However, Levi isn't your target.''
She explains as she leads me through everything until she reaches one empty workstation. There's nothing on the bookshelf. There's nothing on the desk. It's empty. It's mine.
''Make yourself comfortable!''
Easier said than done. If there's something I dislike about the modernity of my new office, it's the coldness. It's like a picture taken off a magazine or a Science-Fiction movie where I'd feel bad just sitting in that chair and moving it.
''Sure. Thanks.'' It's awkward. I'm not a very social person... or so I believe. It's like I never know what I'm supposed to say, but I do know what I want to ask for now. ''If Levi isn't your target of interest... who is it?''
She smiles to that question, like she's getting excited over this suddenly. She does something on her tablet real quick before motioning me to look at mine. It's a weird feeling that goes over me when I see the picture on the screen. It's like I expected this. It's the small boy I saw when I was in the machine. Somehow, I knew it would be him. It had to be him and yet, I don't even know how I could possibly know. It's impossible. I can't know him... and yet I do. This is...
''From our information, the boy is Eren Jaeger and was also known as Humanity's Last Hope. The scene you saw earlier is the first time Levi saw him.. even though he didn't know him and had no idea who he would be...''
Here it is. They're not going to make Levi a Hero in some kind of movie... or video game, they will turn the kid into the Hero. Levi is just the tool to get data on the boy. It never was about Levi, so...
''You don't have any data about the boy himself.''
''It seems the boy never had an heir for his genes to pass on... and a body was never found to maintain through conservation.''
It is weird... a part of me is relieved and I don't even begin to make sense of this feeling. Why am I relieved some stupid brat didn't have any children? Why am I relieved about the absence of a body... It should be something sad, something horrible. There's nothing good about dying without a body to mourn.
I nod to her and sit in the chair that is now mine for the first time in front of my terminal, my door to the world of Levi... and Eren. Their universe filled with Titans, the death of loved ones and strong determination. There's nothing happy about such a world, yet the woman in front of me smiles happily before leaving me to my work, her auburn ponytail bouncing when she walks.
Usually, when you start a new job, you're kind of uneasy about it. You don't know what you're suppose to do... or how to do it. That's how I usually am. I kept my job for close to ten years, it is weird for me to get into another one... or so I thought when I came in this morning, but it's not. When I press the button or when I put the headset on and open my eyes to the white world again, I know this is where I should be. It's like I know I have something to do here without knowing what it is... it's unsettling and yet, kind of motivating at the same time. It's like I waited for this to finally happen. Waited for what? What is this thing I waited for?
This time, it doesn't start with the world of Levi, it starts with my body and my clothes changing slightly into Levi. It isn't much because, like she said, I do look like him, but he is much more muscular than I am. His hands, in front of me, are rougher.
I am not Levi even though I look like him.
''Welcome Replayer Rivaille'' calls an androgynous, monotone and robotic voice in the white void of light. ''Shall we resume with the current memory?''
''Sure.''
And so the lines start to appear again... starting with the Horizon.