[PSA: Okay, so it has been brought to my attention that apparently I am easy to be mistaken for a female. Let's get this straight right now: I am a guy. I have a {Censored}. And despite my feminine tendencies I am male and I wish to be seen as such. Thank you for listening. Actual author's note at the end.]
[Levi's room, Five Minutes Later]
"I dated her back when we still went to school together. I had originally rejected her but ended up just giving her a chance. It was nice for about a month before she just started acting different."
Levi takes in a deep breath before continuing, a look of sadness on his face.
"She wanted more, asked for expensive gifts and whenever I told her no, she would threaten me. I spent months just feeling captive in the relationship and finally got the courage to leave… when I found her cheating on me."
Memories flow into Levi's mind and the heartbreak of seeing her treat him the way she did fills him with rage.
Natsuki begins to speak. "L-Levi I didn't kno-" "Just go."
Levi continues. "I wanna be alone right now, so can you just go. Tell Sayori too, but I really just don't want to see anyone for a while."
Natsuki starts to say something before stopping herself and leaving. The sound of the door opening fills the room as Lycan walk through.
"Vi, you good in here? I heard the front door slam s-" His eyes widen at the sight before him though.
Levi's holding a razor blade and a blue pill in his hands, with a look of contemplation following it.
[A few minutes later]
"When did you start again?" Lycan sits across from Levi with the box of razors on the table between them.
"...I haven't cut yet." He admits, "I bought the box but I couldn't bring myself to break the promise."
Lycan sighs. "Vi, you have to talk to someone about it. This- It really isn't healthy. You could kill yourself like this." Tears flow down his face.
"I know that! But it's hard to tell anyone about this without putting the one secret I have in the open! How am I supposed to jus-" Lycan cuts him off with a hug.
"Just talk to anyone. Me, Liz, Mom or Dad, I don't care who you talk to as long as you don't do this. Please Vi, I don't wanna bury my brother."
Levi's arms barely make it onto his brother.
"How about we go melt these razors and we can talk? I-I think it'd be a good start…" Levi walks back, looking Lycan in the eye.
He nods before walking into his room and coming back out with a foundry. "Come on."
Lycan walks out of Levi's room, the light sound of snoring coming from his brother.
'I hope he at least tries to get help. I know I can't do much."
He walks into the kitchen to find some form of food to eat before he realizes the kitchen is essentially void of anything edible.
'Must be eating out all the time.' Lycan walks to the door and pulls his hoodie before grabbing his bandana and covering his eyes up.
He leaves the apartment only to bump into another person.
Monika falls flat and looks up to see a messy head of white hair. The man holds out a hand to her. "Are you okay miss?" He speaks.
'He looks… familiar?' She shakes the thought before accepting his hand.
"I'm fine. Just a bit cold from the rain." She answers. "Do you know where I can find someone named Levi? Levi Redwood to be exact."
"He just went to sleep." Lycan tells her.
She nods, "Tell him I need to talk to him tomorrow at school then." Lycan just walks off with a thumbs up back at her.
'Who was he? He sounded so, nostalgic...'
[The Next Morning]
"You sure you wanna go into school today? I could call you in sick." Levi shakes his head.
"I'll be fine. I just… need to keep to myself a bit." Lycan gives him a look of concern but changes the subject.
"Well since you're going out I might as well let you know someone came around here looking for you last night. Some brown haired girl with green eyes. She said she needed to talk to you at school." He explains.
Levi nods. "I'm headed out then. See you later." He leaves the apartment.
Lycan opens up his contacts and calls a number.
"Hey, I need to talk to you for a bit."
[School Rooftop]
"Oh, you're already here." Levi hears the door behind him open to see the club president standing there with her binder in her hands. "Do you have an answer or am I to go look for another pianist?"
"...I'm still unsure of how truthful you are with this but since you are a friend of Natsuki I will give you a chance. Now, what are we playing?" Monika gives in, but only with the intention of getting it over with.
Levi hands her a folder of sheet music. "This is all the music you will have to play during the cover. There's also a flyer for a recording studio I'd like you to meet me at in about erm.. two weeks? It'd be before that festival I know you've been planning for. The lyrics for your part are in there too, you can sing right? I'll give you a fourth of what I'm getting paid and that should be it." Monika looks dazed by the time everything is said.
"I… I think I didn't hear half of the things you said. But alright." She breathes in. "But, if I'm going to help you… I'm going to need you to tell Natsuki the truth."
The redhead's face shows shock and instant refusal. "I can't do that Monika. I can't put her in that situation." He states firmly. "Not after the last time. I refuse to put anyone outside my family in the situation like that again. Monika if you don't want to help then go ahead, sorry for wasting your time."
"Why won't you tell her? Didn't you say she was your best friend?" Monika doesn't let up. He's obviously aggravated. "You wouldn't understand."
"Well then make me understand Levi! I don't like keeping secrets from my friend!" She retorts before Levi snaps around to her. "WELL I DON'T LIKE KEEPING SECRETS FROM THE PERSON I LOVE, BUT THAT'S HOW IT HAS TO BE!"
The rooftop is silent as Levi realizes what he just said. "...Now you know. Is that what you wanted? A confession? Well I'm sorry I'm too in love with my best friend to be able to let her know how it is to be in the spotlight. I'm sorry that all these years I've kept my feelings to myself while I hoped I would see her again. I'm fucking sorry that I spent so much time involved in other things to try and get back in touch with her. But this is how it is to be in the spotlight, to have people who look up to you. Everyone I've dated either used me to be popular or hated how much time I have to spend on this. She's the only thing that makes me feel like I'm worth a damn so if I seem too fucking afraid to tell her the truth about my identity, then you can go fuck yourself."
He storms off and leaves Monika. She blinks before everything finally hits her. 'What did I just do?
[A/N: A NEW CHALLENGER HAS APPEARED! Take it away Erica!]
Okay, this is ericagoldfarb again, and because of Yuki's insane writer's block, i'm taking the chapter from here. Make sure to read my current fanfic, The New Hero in Town, as well as my completed Dreams of Doki Doki. And finally, as the one and only Yuki would say, leggo!
Levi storms off in a blind rage back to his house, and instantly pulls his bedsheets over him, crying himself to sleep. Nobody else bothered him in his sorrowful rage.
Meanwhile, Monika wanders nowhere in particular, regret slowly eating away at her. She's so consumed by this regret that she doesn't notice the man that crashes into her, seeming to have came out of nowhere.
Both her and the man fall to the ground, and Monika focuses her gaze at the man she collided with.
"Oh, I'm sorry…" The tall man before her has dark brown hair and light brown eyes, and is well-built, yet has a calm and soothing voice. He also seems somewhat familiar…
Monika swallows up her sadness and replies to his apology. "It's all right. I didn't see you there, that's all."
Monika gets up, but the man stays on the ground, staring into her eyes.
"Are you…" He points.
"Wait, do I know you?" The brunette asks the man.
"No, no…" He turns his head around and it seems like he's talking to the air. "Wait, what universe is this, Reality?"
As if the air replied back, he clutches his head in surprise, then composes himself and gets up. "Sorry about that…" He laughs.
"Come to think of it…" Monika takes a good look at the man before him. "You know, you seem somewhat familiar…"
"Urk…" He pauses before speaking his next sentence. "Well, does the name 'Xavier' ring a bell?"
"You know, that seems really familiar to me, but I can't seem to get a grasp on it." Monika clutches her chin in thought.
"Ha ha… Anyways, do you mind letting me know where I can find a Levi Redwood?" The man asks this question with no sense of bloodlust or suspicion.
Monika thinks for a second before revealing to him directions. "Ok, so, if you go down that street…"
After she finishes, the man named Xavier walks down the road in the direction Monika prescribed.
Good… I've finally found him… Funny I ran into Monika, though… Wonder why she doesn't have her memories? Maybe it's just because I killed the other… I wonder if I still have my access to the code? If I do…
Levi's eyes open, still dry from crying. His dehydration gave him a splitting headache, and he felt too heavy to even get out of bed. A thick bush of hair is in his face. He moves it to the side of his head, and sees a man in his room.
Huh? Levi rubs his eyes to make sure he's not seeing things, but the man is still there when he opens them. That's not Lycan.
"Hello, Levi Redwood." He smiles. "Let me read you through your options."
"Who are you? Why are you in my house?"
He completely ignores Levi's inquiry. "Your first option is to leave this country. I will provide all expenses for you and your family. Additionally, I'll have to wipe the memories of the four other members of the Literature club." The man laughs at the notion.
"W… Wipe?" Levi is still too tired to get up. "H- How…"
"I've had some experience with this universe in the past, personally too much experience. That lets me control the fabric of this universe, to some degree."
"Universe? What the hell are you talking about?" Levi takes a moment to examine the man before him. He wears a white tank top that shows off his toned muscles and baggy pants held up by a green belt. [Yuki: Hold up, just gonna say it here; Levi ain't beefy. He's got muscles but that don't mean they toned af. Continue.]
"Anyways, your second option is simple. I kill you." The man grins.
"What in the fuck shit are you talking about?" Levi stares at him quizzically, while on the inside, panic is starting to spread through his body.
He starts to stand up despite his exhaustion, when the man stops him. "I've already set up a check to prevent you from running away and telling your friends. I'm surprised you haven't noticed yet. Ha ha ha!" He laughs out loud.
Suddenly, Levi realizes that his clothes are more… Baggy than usual. As he steps out of his bed in preparation to make a run for it, his pants nearly fall off, but he grabs them and hoists them up just in time. "Fuck… First Monika, then this…"
Suddenly, Levi notices a reflection in the mirror. He points at it. "And who's she?" while looking at the man for an answer.
Instead of responding, he begins to laugh hysterically. "Ha ha ha! Who do you think she is?" He almost falls over on the floor in laughter.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Levi looks at the reflection in the mirror and flips his head around where he expect the second figure to be, but all he sees is the man clutching his stomach as he laughs.
No way… Levi slowly walks towards the mirror in front of him. As he moves, the girl in the reflection moves too.
"This strategy is actually really effective and-" Suddenly his phone rings. He picks it up.
"Hello?"
"Oh, really? So all my precious time and effort was for nothing, then. Thanks a lot."
"Then you can handle it from here, then."
"All right."
He hangs up. With a snap of his fingers everything goes black for Levi.
Ericagoldfarb: OK I'm lazy so I'm turning this back to Yuki. Nice save btw.
[Yuki: Why is it always the genderbending? Jeez you'd think it'd get old after the gag in DDoD and the MHA fic based around an OC that can switch a person's gender at will but nerp. Let's just get this over with.]
Ericagoldfarb: Not the first time I heard that one. Surely won't be the last.
He screams before rising in his mattress again to see himself as normal, and the man nowhere to be seen. But then he notices a note at the edge of the bed.
'Vi, I went out for a bit to run some errands. There's some takoyaki on the counter.'
"At least I have some time to think to mysel-" The doorbell rings and Levi groans, slugging himself out of the bed and tossing a random set of clothes on.
'I swear if this is Monika I'm gonna fucking flip.' He looks through the peephole to see nobody there.
Opening the door he looks to the left and right to see nobody around before a voice below him. "Seriously? I'm not that short am I?" He looks down to the pink head.
"Hey…" "Hey..." His face is slightly pink as he averts his eyes. "Do you wanna talk or...?" "Yeah…"
A few minutes later they're both sitting across from each other as Levi's takoyaki warms up in the microwave.
"Do you want to say something fir-" They both start talking at the same time. Levi stays quiet and let's Natsuki speak first.
"I'm...I'm sorry I went into your business and let Sarah blab about you. I shouldn't have and I feel like shit for having done that to you." She breathes in. "I don't want to just make you angry at me for being an idiot and never being able to fix it."
Levi stands up and walks over to her.
(SFX: Boonk)
"Ita… Hey what was that for?!" Levi lightly chopped Natsuki on her head. "Dummy you know I can't stay mad at you."
Her cheeks go a little pink. "Look 'Suki, I've been through a few things since the last time I lived here. I've had to deal with people idolizing me as the popular guy, my isolation, hell every relationship I've been in ended with them slapping me. Since I've been back you've given me nothing but all I needed to be myself again. I can't even find happiness like that in my job."
His cheeks flare up as he takes a deep breath. "I can't tell you everything, at least not now. But I'm sure that I can't hold this back anymore and if you hate me after this then I understand. But just give it a chance."
Natsuki is confused. "Idiot, what are you talking abou-" She's cut off as she feels a pressure on her lips.
...Levi is kissing her. Her mind can't process fully what's going on as she melts into him. His arms snake around her before she pulls away with a face more crimson then his hair.
"...W-what?" She covers her blush with her hands and looks away from him. He looks off to his side.
"I've liked you for a long time. No matter what I did I just couldn't push the feelings I had down. You're the only thing that makes me feel like I can live. I know I'm being cheesy and cliche but it's the truth."
Natsuki's eyes widen. "Y-you like me?" He nods.
Her cheeks somehow go even more red before her body slumps onto the table before passing out.
"'Suki!"
[A/N: IT'S FINALLY DONE! Oh dear god I started this chap on the first and it took several hits of writer's block and assist form Erica but I finally got it done. And we broke a fuckin record with the word count reaching 2900 words. Fuck I didn't think we'd get over 2500.
I honestly didn't expect to put the confession scene in until like ten chaps later but it fit with the flow of this chap. Levi was supposed to keep it to himself until he just blurted it out but nope, I fuckin accelerated the shit out of the story's progression and I don't think I regret it. Btw that was my first attempt at writing a confession scene so if it isn't as good as any other confession scene you'd see in other fics.
Leave a review, follow and/or favorite please. I might have more motivation through my writer's block if I know how people actually feel about the story.
Extra scene by Erica below. Make sure to follow her and read her fics The new Hero in Town and Dreams of Doki Doki. Cya!]
"What a day…" Levi sighs. He walks nowhere in particular, just to blow off some steam. "I'm glad everything worked out fine, though… That dream I had earlier is still giving me the creeps…"
He looks off into the distance while walking, and ended up banging into another man.
Levi falls down, and the other man almost does.
"Oh… Sorry about that! I wasn't looking where I was going!" Levi recognizes the man, from somewhere…
"Good god… And for the second time today…"
His voice… Levi recognizes him. Fear can be clearly seen in his eyes. He's… He's the guy from my dream…!
"I know what you're thinking. Yeah, I tried to kill you…" He shrugs. "But someone else is handling your elimination from here, so watch your back." He grins and walks away.
"What…" Levi stares blankly. "...Was that?"
"Also, by the way…" He turns his head back at Levi. "I drop by this universe every once in a while. If you ever need me, shoot me a text or something." The man pulls out a small handbook and rips out a chunk of paper. He takes a black fountain pen out of his pocket and scribbles some characters down, before folding it up and throwing it at Levi.
Levi juggles the paper in his hand and eventually gets a grasp on it. Before he can open it, the man opens his mouth once more.
"Call me Xavier." He says. "Xavier McEnroe."
Before Levi can say anything else to him, he walks away. "Since I'm usually not in this universe, the number will probably register as not in service or something. But when I am, you'll be sure to know."
"Wait…" Levi stutters. "Why are you…"
"Again, watch your back. My job here is done for now. One of my subordinates will take it for here, so I thought I'd give you a fair warning." Xavier continues walking. "You're in for a lot more shit from here on out, so brace for impact, I guess. Anyways, I'm outta here. I'm already behind schedule. So see ya."
"Reality." At this notion, he continues walking, and suddenly the air in front of him lights up and he walks through it like walking through an open door. Once he's through, some kind of invisible force closes the door back up, leaving Levi alone in the street.
Levi opens up the scrap of paper and dials the number into his phone.
"The number you dialed is not in service. Please check the number and dial again."
Levi holds his phone limply in his hand and stares at the place where Xavier McEnroe vanished from this universe.
"What a weird guy…"
Ericagoldfarb's Note: SIGH.