Chapter VI - Let it Go
(Levi's POV)
Once I started running I didn't look back. I had no clue where I was running but at the moment I didn't quite care. As long as I was away from people, away from Eren, I wouldn't have to worry about hurting anyone. I soon found myself in the cold, snowy, mountains, snow drifting around me. I was alone.
"The snow glows white on the mountain tonight, not a footprint to be seen. A kingdom of isolation, and it looks like I'm the king." I let out a sigh. "The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside. Couldn't keep it in. Heaven knows I tried." I pull my arms close to my chest as I continue walking to nowhere. "Don't let them in. Don't let them see. Be the good boy you always have to be. Conceal, don't feel. Don't let them know." I clench my fists at my sides. "Well, now they know." I throw my other glove off and watch it drift away, carried by the wind.
"Let it go! Let it go!" Small flurries appear in my hands. I feel a smirk play on my lips, it's been a long time since I had truly felt free to be myself. "Can't hold it back anymore." I create a snowman like the one Eren and I would make as children, though this one looked more human-like than the ones before. More details were present. I had made it to look like a young boy with around shoulder length hair. He had seperate legs and arms, almost like how one of those fancy ice sculptures look, that's basically what he was made up of after all. I even added facial features, because why not? It was actually quite impressive if I do say so myself. I smirk to myself as I continue walking.
"Let it go! Let it go! Turn away and slam the door" I create snow. It sparkles, falling down around me as I walk. "I don't care what they're going to say." I let blasts of snow come from my hands to the right and then to the left. "Let the storm rage on. The cold never bothered me any." I release my cape behind me as it gets caught in the wind.
"It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small, and the fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all." I look back at the mountains behind me as they seem to shrink away. I turn away and sprint the rest of the way up the snowy hill. "It's time to see what I can do. To test the limits and break through." I throw out some magic, creating a staircase of ice connecting to the upper ledge of the mountain. "No right. No wrong. No rules for me. I'm free!" I step on the staircase's first step and the snow covering it blows away leaving a shiny, smooth, blue surface beneath it. "Let it go!" I start walking up the stairs, letting my hands rest on the railings as the snow continues to blow off it like on the first step. "Let it go! I am one with the wind and sky." I reach the top of the stairs, walking onto the mountain top. "Let it go! Let it go! You'll never see me cry. Here I stand." I plant my foot on the ground and magic surrounds me and ice forms beneath my feet, forming an elaborate snowflake on the ground. "And here I'll stay. Let the storm rage on." I raise my hands and the platform raises beneath me. Pillars start to form, growing taller as we raise. A castle beginning to form around me. Walls follow with the pillars as they rise. "My power flurries through the air into the ground." I create designs on the inner walls of the castle. "My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around." Letting magic flow through me and out, up through the pillars and to the ceiling, sealing it as sparkles of snow drift down around me. "And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast." A chandelier comes down from the ceiling, multiple points coming out of it in a beautiful design.
"I'm never going back, the past is in the past." I take my crown of my head and throw it across the room. "Let it go! Let it go!" I ruffle my hair a little bit to get it from being smoothed back. "And I'll rise like the break of dawn." A new outfit starts to appear, replacing my old one with a white suit, tinted blue, that looked kind of like my old one. (AN: Kind of like Lena's drawing from the coronation scene a few chapters back.) A blue cape flowing out behind me that glowed a bright blue in the light. "Let it go! Let it go!" I start walking towards two large doors that lead to a balcony. "That perfect boy is gone. Here I stand in the light of day." I walk outside and to the edge of the balcony. "Let the storm rage on! The cold never bothered me anyway." I walk back inside and shut the doors behind me. Perhaps Eren would be better without me.
(Eren's POV)
"Levi!" I yelled out, not really expecting an answer at this point but still trying. We had been walking for hours now, as it was now daylight, and I still hadn't seen anything that might hint at where Levi was. Maybe if he wasn't so short he would be easier to find. "Levi!" I yelled again, louder this time.
"Levi, it's me. Eren, your brother who didn't mean to make you freeze the summer. I'm sorry. I-it's all my f-fault." I spoke out, shivering from the cold. "Of course, none of it would have happened if he had just told me his secret." I chuckle. "He's a stinker." Great now I'm talking to a horse. Suddenly a huge pile of snow fell down on us, scaring my horse and knocking me off. I gasp in shock as I fall, landing in a pile of snow. "Oh, no. No, no, no! Come back!" I yell to my horse as it starts to run away, frightened, leaving me behind. "No, no, no!" I shiver. "O-okay." I grab onto the branch above me to help pull myself up, which turned out to be a big mistake as the branch takes my weight then snaps back up, knocking me down, and then making the snow fall off of it and on top of me. "Ugh." I groan at my luck in my pile of snow.
I pant as I climb up a particularly large hill, my feet sinking into the snow as I go. "Snow. It had to be snow. H-he couldn't have had tropical magic that covered the fjords in white sand and warm…" I pull my cloak tighter around me and look over the top of the hill. I drift off in my thought-out-loud as I notice a smoke trail coming from a little ways through the forest. "Fire!" I chuckle to myself. And suddenly I'm sliding down the hill, my cloak gets caught on a branch and left behind as I continue down, landing in a creek. Great. Just dandy. I shiver as I quickly stand in the freezing cold water, my clothes are drenched. "Cold, cold, cold. cold, cold." I shiver and quickly make my way towards the building I had seen earlier, my clothes quickly start to freeze from the low temperatures, making me waddle slightly as I made my way to the cabin. I make my way to the entrance and waddle up the steps, stopping to hit the sign above to clear the snow off it so I could read it. "'Wandering Smith's Trading Post'. Ooh, 'and Sauna'!" I sigh happily and walk to the door, opening it and walking in. The wind slams the door shut behind me.
"Hello." I hear a voice say from beside me. I look over to where the voice came from.
"-Hmm?"
"We're having a big summer blowout." The man from behind the counter says, waving his hands enthusiastically for emphasis. He seems quite tall. He has short blond hair, but the thing that really catches my attention are his large eyebrows. He is also has one of those bolo ties on. "Half off swimming suits, clogs, and a sun balm of my own invention." He takes out a bottle of what I presume is his sun balm from under his counter and motions towards it.
"Oh. Great. For now, um, how about boots?" I ask, trying to get away from the subject. "Winter boots and clothing?" I question.
"That would be in our winter department." He gestures towards an area of the store that looks quite bare except for a few items here and there.
"Oh. Um… I was just wondering, has another young man…" I walk over to the 'winter department' and grab a pair of boots and new pair of clothes from the small stock of items they have. "The king perhaps, I don't know, passed through here?" I walk back over to the counter with my stuff in hand.
"The only one crazy enough to be out in this storm is you." He looks over at me as I set my stuff on the counter. I hear a bell ring as the door opens and someone walks in, shutting it behind them. They are covered in snow from head to toe. They stomp their feet and try to brush their-self off a bit but it doesn't seem to work very well in their favor. They look around the store as the clerk and I stare at them. "You and this person." The clerk adds. "Hello. We're having a big summer blowout right now." He grabs the lotion again to show the person as they start to walk over to the counter. I lean against the counter and hum awkwardly as they walk closer, stopping in front of me.
"Carrots." Is all the say. They have a female sounding voice, so I assume they are a girl.
"Huh?" I question. She bring their face close to mine and I lean away.
"Behind you." I look behind me before moving away.
"Oh! Right. Excuse me." I apologize as she grab the carrots and throw them on the counter before walking to another part of the store.
"Well this is quite a real howler in July, huh?" The clerk tries to make conversation with her. "Wherever could it be coming from?" She grabs an ice pick and a bundle of rope before replying.
"The North Mountain."
"North Mountain." I whisper to myself.
"That'll be 40." The clerk says to her as she sets the rest of her items on the counter.
"Forty? No, 10." She replies.
"That's not good. See, this is from our winter stock, where supply and demand are having a big problem."
"You want to talk about a supply and demand problem? I sell ice for a living." She gestures toward a sled outside with large blocks of ice tied to it.
"Ooh. That's a rough business to be in right now." I chuckle. "I mean, that is really…" She looks over to me and I clear my throat. "That's unfortunate."
"Still 40." The clerk insists. "But I will throw in a visit to Smith's sauna." He gestures to the sauna room.
"Ten is all I got. Help me out." She turns back to the clerk.
"Okay. Ten will get you this and no more." He points to the carrots.
"Okay, just tell me one thing. What was happening on the North Mountain?" I butt in. "Did it seem, magical?" She pulls off her mouth cover before answering my question.
"Yes! Now back up while I deal with the crook, here." She points to the clerk as he starts to stand up.
"What did you call me?" He asks, looking slightly angry. He was a lot taller than he looked, as he towered above the both of us.
"Okay, okay. I'm out." The girl yells as she is carried out of the store by the clerk. She hits her head on the sign above as he throws her out of the store. "Good bye." He yells as he walks back in and closes the door behind him. A reindeer runs up to meet her as she sits up in the snow, sniffing her excitedly.
"No, Sawney, I didn't get your carrots." The reindeer makes a groaning sound as it sits down next to her. "But I did find us a place to sleep. And it's free." She gestures to a barn a few feet away.
"Sorry about that," the clerk apologizes to me as he sits back down behind the counter. "Just the outfit and the boots then?" He double checks.
"Uh…" I don't really know what to say after what just happened and I glance out the window.