Levi almost scowled, but settled on just creasing the left corner of his lip and sucking air through it in his signature "tch." He didn't usually have to bother getting nervous around women since they were already nervous around him. Usually in the "positive" way that attraction made people nervous (though Levi preferred the "negative" fear-driven nervousness more often). He was told it was because he was the badass dark-hero type that everybody fell for at some point - that his dark hair that covered darker eyes and plain, almost stone-like face, was somehow attractive.

But this woman didn't seem to even look at him as she said those words - her orange hair that flowed around the small island of the top of her ear didn't turn to reveal a face, but slightly shook as she spoke quite deliberately. And those words were already echoing in Levi's mind. While his initial reaction was the first time he was disappointed that a woman didn't seem to care about him, he was realizing the what the words she said were.

Isabel had said that. Some how, in the middle of the warm, somewhat too noisy, certainly too dirty bar, Levi was transported to the dirtier underground city where he made a clean enclave with Isabel and Furlan. And she had once told him those words. Levi remembered vaguely muttering some disagreement and walking away, knowing that Furlan had the more reassuring words. But that moment stuck with him - that thought of having somebody else depend on him so much was new then. And in really changed how he thought about those two. And all the other people who came to depend on him in a similar way.

"What do you mean?" he mustered up a response.

"Exactly what I said. I don't exist tomorrow. And I didn't exist yesterday."

"I'll give you the best night of your life."

She smirked. "Well, it's my only night." At least, Levi thought she smirked based on the side of her lips, but her voice seemed to waver underneath the sarcasm.

"Really?" Levi frowned. He glanced at the notebook she was holding, thinking if he should apologize, but unsure how to phrase it.

She finally turned, showing a cute small nose, thin but expressive lips, and hazel eyes that seemed to radiate their shine. Levi expected her to be that pretty - that was more of less why he approached. Some instinct told him that he'd been waiting for this.

"Really." She said, back in the flat tone she first responded with.

"Why tell me that?" he blurted out coldly. He caught up to the train of thought that had diverted to the back of his mind - that the words she uttered were uncomfortably familiar.

"Can we go somewhere quieter?" She said, folding her notebook and placing it into her small white tote bag.

"Sure," Levi said, unsure of what she meant. She wordlessly headed for the door, thanking the bartender. Levi followed, preserving the odd silence.

Outside, she sighed and proceeded to cross the street to an empty parking lot. Levi considered her black and green checkered sundress as she led him. He felt less well-dressed in his lose, slightly worn T-shirt and his default skinny jeans. Even her shoes seemed to be better - her mat black flats versus his fraying vans.

He almost walked into her as he pondered whether the difference in dress warranted another apology, and spiraling into despair as he tallied that he already owed her two of those in what felt like fewer than two minutes.

"You beat your boss in 5D chess today, right?" she asked him as he stopped, muttering a "sorry," as he stumbled to avoid walking into her.

"What?"

"You see, I'm like a pawn in that game. I can only move across time branches in one direction."

Levi understood the metaphor. That wasn't confusing to him. He was used to pawns in 5D chess. He just promoted one a few hours ago to corner his ingratiating boss. The point was that this woman was convinced that she couldn't advance her current world much, but leap time branches to alter other timelines. He almost wanted to correct her imperfect simile since pawns did affect their present timeline in 5D chess, but the fact that she knew about his opponent bothered him even more.

"How do you know that?" he asked - realizing that he'd really meant to ask that about her first words too.

"You told me." Levi realized that that was a fairly obvious answer.

"So I told you to tell me about yourself in," he began realizing the answer to his questions, but hesitating to express it, "those words."

"Isabel's."

"OK." Levi knew that she had to be special in some way. Not many people knew about Isabel. Only his recent chess opponent knew about both the game and Isabel. "So Erwin put you up to this?"

"No. You did."

"In another timeline."

"Yes. In my last version of today."

"So that notebook-" he began wondering.

"Yes."

"Can I see it?"

"You'll ruin my only night."

"It's," Levi began and then cancelled a smile, swallowing his words has he realized that her tone was actually quite sad. "I've done that before," he decided.

"Yes, and it helped, but not that much."

"Why?"

"The problem became too emotional." She rubbed her eyes. "Sorry," she smiled for the first time, "I don't mean to sound that analytical. But I can't help myself."

Levi was not sure why, but he really wanted to help her. And he apparently had in... her past. If this really was some trick, he'd at least beat Erwin again.

Levi beat Erwin. So the day was a good day. Modus ponens. And promoting the pawn to a queen was perfect. Just a beautiful set up for his future along a different time branch, where the queen was poised to defend the rook attack there. And it was defending a different mating sequence on the present board.

On his bus back home, though, the day took a bit of a turn. An oddly poetic one. Levi didn't usually care for writing, much less any of the creative sort. But the orange of the post-it left by his seat felt familiar. Squinting to read the small tiny scrawl, he found:

If a moth flew to flame

and knew what became,

you'd say it was to blame.

But I walk to this fire,

Seeing ash at the pyre,

The end of my desire.

Because ash is not dust,

So burn I really must,

To leave a blackened crust.

I can only believe,

That you will grieve,

So I'm not gone when I leave.

(A/N: お久しぶりです

It's been a long 6 years.

But I just wrote this on r/WritingPrompts/comments/o8lbd4/wp_you_are_in_a_bar_and_see_the_most_stunning/ and thought it fit here too.

So here's some absurdly jarring change in writing style.)