Levi held onto the railing of the trolley as it made its way out from the downtown area, looking at it from afar. He couldn't help but be deep in thought, thinking about the mysterious sorcerer that came to his aide. Even if it was Hange, he wasn't fearful of them. If he was honest with himself, something about them seemed familiar. He couldn't seem to find the right word to describe them or this feeling. Before he knew it, he was knocked from his trance when the driver called for his stop. He stepped off and quickly went to his home, which was also the hat shop.
Once he got inside, he locked the door with both locks and walked over to the display of hats. He pulled his cravat off and lit a candle to illuminate the room, still reflecting the events of the day until he heard the bell by the door ring with the sound of the door opening. He paused from where he stood for a moment. He could have sworn he locked that door with both locks. He turned back to see who was coming in.
There before him, stood a woman with lusciously long and wavy black hair. She wore a long, satin skirt with an emerald green coat. Her nose reminded him of Hange's. Her eyes were big and black as night. Her eyes were different from Hange's though. Her eyes didn't sparkle like Hange's. Her eyes were hooded and dark. She wore an eerily warm smile on her face as she eyed Levi, looking at him up and down. Not wanting to cause any issues with a potential customer, he calmly (as best as he could muster) addressed the customer.
"Sorry, Ma'am. Store's closed, I thought I had locked the door behind me. Guess I forgot."
The woman stepped closer inside the shop, looking around with distaste. "What a tacky shop…" The woman sneered, "I've never seen such tacky little hats." The woman looked over at Levi and eyed him once more. "Yet you by far are the tackiest thing here."
Levi raised an eyebrow at the woman. There were a lot of things he wanted to say to the woman, but for the sake of his mother's shop, he bit the inside of his cheek.
"Then why not save us both the trouble and leave? Here, I'll escort you out." He moved his feet towards the door, opening it once he reached it. "And as I mentioned before, we are closed."
"Standing up to the Witch of the Waste?" She began with an eyebrow raised in return, chuffing at him before giving a sinister smile. "Now that's plucky."
Levi's eyes widened as he reached for the knife hooked onto his pants. "What? The Witch of the Waste?" he said in a low voice, gritting his teeth. Then he heard groaning behind him, forcing him to turn his head around to be greeted with two creatures he saw earlier. They reached out for him, trying to grab him as they tried to make their way inside. He turned to run only to find her sparking a yellow-green light from the hand while she moved toward him and the exit, causing a few of the sparks to hit him on her way out.
She turned back at him once she reached the door with a smirk, "You know the best part about that spell?" She asked rhetorically, "You can't tell anyone about it. Also, if you could be so kind, send my regards to Hange, please," she chuckled out before stepping completely away from the shop and closing the door to escape with her titan minions into the night.
Levi opened his eyes and moved his arms away from his head when he was embracing impact, knife still in hand. He wasn't sure why thought a knife would be a good weapon to use against a witch, but he wanted to at least say he had a fighting chance if it came down to it. He stood up straighter and looked around the shop to make sure there was no trace of her left inside. Noticing his cravat on the floor, he grumbled as he went to pick it up off the filthy floor.
"I gotta clean that– What the fuck?!" That was when Levi noticed something peculiar with his hands, there were wrinkles. Fucking. Wrinkles. While he wasn't exactly a spring chicken, he sure as hell wasn't so old for his skin to be so shriveled up and wrinkly with liver spots. He turned his palms, his body shaking at the realization of the situation as it started to set in.
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." He muttered as he reached for his face to see if the symptoms of old age had reached his face. His widening at the softness of the wrinkles around his face. He sought out the mirror in the store.
This isn't real. This is a bad dream. He walked over to the mirror and got a good look at himself. His undercut was gone, his hair had not only grayed out but also grew past the length of his jaw. He cringed when he noticed the beard on his face.
"Fuck… That IS me!" He needed to remain calm and not let his emotions get the best of him. "I can't lose my cool just yet. I don't even know how long this will last."
He started to walk towards the back of the store when he thought maybe, just maybe it was all in his head. He walked back to the mirror and gave one last look, hoping his appearance had changed back to normal. When he noticed it remained the same as the first time he saw it, he cringed. He walked away from the mirror and started to head toward his living quarters. "Relax, Levi…" He muttered audibly.
"There's no sense in losing your cool just yet. It's a bad dream, that's all it is. Just go inside and give it one more try. You're going to see that you're back to normal." Then he thought it was best that he didn't give himself another look. There was no point in that, his appearance would stay the same. "You're going to be fine," he continued to mutter, "stay calm."
He tried to think of his next move but he couldn't think straight. The beard on his face wasn't helping either. "That's the first thing that's going to go. I'll cut my hair in the morning. No big deal." When he was satisfied with the task he had given himself, he went straight to the bathroom of his living quarters to shave the beard off. We don't even know if this will all still be here in the morning. This could go away. I'll just sleep it off. And with that, he went to bed.
—-(The next morning)-
A car pulled up next to the hat shop. A young man in his early 20s, not too much younger than Levi, with blonde hair that flared out a little had stepped out of the car. He stepped inside the workstation of the hat shop, adorning a charming smile to the workers inside.
"Guess who's here?"
"Furlan!" A young employee called out, bringing the other employees in the shop to look at the door and noticed the young man dressed sharply before them. "You're back home! Welcome back!"
"Look at you," Oulo called out to him.
"You like it?" Furlan couldn't help but flaunt his appearance. He was normally a humble guy who was thankful for what he had from how he grew up, but he can't say he didn't like being gushed over by his former coworkers. "It's all the rage in Stohess. I think the customers around here are going to like it, as well."
"Levi!" Furlan called out to him while he made his way over to where Levi usually worked. "Levi?" He walked closer and saw no one was inside.
"Your brother hasn't come downstairs today yet, Sir." Petra admitted.
"What? That's not like him. I better go check on him."
And with that, Furlan walked over to the living quarters of the shop, calling out to him. "Levi!" When he got no response, he continued his venture up the stairs, still calling to him. "Levi!"
Fuck. Levi thought when he realized his brother had been calling for him. Then he heard the door banging, thanking himself for locking it up last night before he went to bed.
"Levi!" Furlan let out exasperated, still banging on his door.
"Stay out!" Levi hollered. "Don't come in here. I'm sick as shit. I think I got a cold or something. I don't want you to catch it!"
"You sound like shit. You sound like an old man. " Furlan cringed at the thought of possibly getting Levi's sickness.
"I'm just going to stay in bed and rest all day. You go on about your day."
Furlan hesitated for a moment. "Well…" He finally said, "if you insist. If you need anything, you know where to find me." With that, Furlan walked back downstairs to the shop.
Once Levi had heard Furlan had left, he hopped out of bed and went towards the mirror to look at himself once more. Trying to stay optimistic, he tried to think of the upsides of this odd situation.
"I finally look more like an adult and not a child."
He broke out of his thoughts when he heard the employees downstairs laughing, reminding him he needed to do something about this for the long term. He changed out of the clothes he had worn the night before, grabbing a white button-down shirt and black slacks, as well as his cravat. He peered into his closet and noticed an odd black jacket. He had never seen it before and he couldn't recall anyone in his family had ever worn it. He reached for it and draped it over his shoulders. He finally reached for a rucksack to be used to carry food for the road. After feeling like he had everything he needed, he quietly snuck out of his room and creeped his way down to the kitchen, his bones cracking as he continued his path.
"Tch. Damn getting old is a bitch.." He mumbled.
After grabbing some cheese and some bread, he slipped quietly out one of the side doors of the building. He looked around to see if he could spot anyone he was familiar with but only saw a few strangers out in the street talking amongst themselves. Something about a missing prince from what he could gather from the distance he was from them. He wasn't exactly sure where he was going, he did know that he had to get some help about this curse. He might not be able to tell them what it was, but maybe they could figure it out. Hange is powerful. Maybe they could help.