AN: Hello, my fellow RivaHisus! I have a new chapter for you. I hope you enjoy.

Song inspired for this chapter: Meatloaf - I would do anything for love (but ignore the lyrics "but I want do that"). Levi would do anything for Historia and for love. That song suits him to a tee.

Levi
...

All good things must come to an end, some wise man once said, and I wish I could punch that fool in the face.

Damn him for being so right.

Historia and I returned to the real world again at long last, having to depart once again, and already my soul yearns for her.

It's like I'm missing a piece of myself, and I wish we never had to leave that field with all the poppies.

But not all is lost. Our sweet stolen moments together, moments that may as well be an eternity, have given us enough time to plan.

Within a year's time, Historia and I will be the proud parents of a baby girl. One I have yet to see the face of because she had been too goddamn lazy to get her ass out of bed.

She definitely takes after her mother...

Our other children will be born sometime later. At least six years after our first daughter is born. Our second eldest daughter with the blue eyes of Historia and the dark hair of my mother looked to be around age five.

I was forty-seven, a scarred, crippled man with a pair of small children hanging off of him like he was a goddamn climbing frame.

Tch.

I always hated it when the children climbed all over me at the orphanage, but I guess I was able to tolerate my own children because they were mine.

I wonder if I'd finally found the courage to clean a shitty diaper, and I roll my eyes, stopping outside the door of Hange Zoe's office.

She has something to discuss with me, something of grave importance, so I reach my fist for the door, but then she calls out from within, "Come on in, Levi..."

Taking that as my cue, I push my way inside, meeting her glowing glasses. One lens captures the light, and I can tell by the looks of her that she's stumbled upon a new discovery.

I close my eyes, mentally preparing myself as I take a deep breath. Once seated in front of her, Hange tents her fingers, leaning forward on the desk and just... stares.

We stay that way for a long time: Hange staring and me sitting there with a blank expression.

"Well, don't keep me hanging, four eyes. What news do you have for me?"

Hange pushes her glasses up her nose. I shouldn't call her four eyes anymore since she's my commander, but old habits are hard to break. At least I stopped calling her shitty glasses.

"So, I've been reading some more on Ackerman history. Did you know that there was an Ackerman Knight who served a Fritz queen? Around six hundred years ago, just before a global epidemic swept the world."

I widen my eyes. "No... I did not."

Hange assesses my reaction before she continues. "Apparently, they had some secret love affair, even while the queen was married. Some legends say they may have even born heirs, yet there are no records of any Ackerman slash Fritz children from the family trees I found..."

My heart thumps in my chest as sweat gathers along my brow line. "Why are you telling this? You know I don't care for love stories."

Hange's gaze becomes solemn, and now those gleaming lenses fix pointedly on me. "Oh, trust me, Levi. This is no love story. The knight was beheaded once the nobility found out about his clandestine affair with the queen, and then the queen committed suicide three weeks later as the loss became too much to bear..."

I shift uncomfortably. Damn, that's depressing and so close to mine and Historia's story. Without thinking, I brush my hand around my neck.

Would they behead me too once they discover all the things I have done to Historia? What she has done to me?

We've done things that would make your grandmother's toes curl...

"Another interesting thing about this story: The knight had been some years older than the queen. So had the king for that matter too, yet I'm starting to notice some similar patterns and trends..."

I furrow my brows. "So, what, you think Historia and I are the reincarnations of this knight and queen?"

Hange shrugs. "Who knows. I may be a woman of science, but lately, I've started to entertain the idea of reincarnation, as you're aware."

Of course. That darn cat. I left him with Historia back at the orphanage, so Erwin II will be keeping her and the kids company from now on.

I do miss the dead birds he used to leave on the porch of a morning. I highly doubt he is Erwin, but I did see some strange things one misty night.

Putting the memory out of mind, I focus my attention on Hange again. "Well, get to the point. Stop beating around the bush."

Hange taps her fingers together, keeping them inside that steeple shape. "It seems history is repeating itself. Queen Helene and Sir Levan may not have got the chance to produce their own heirs, but... you and Historia still may be able to..."

My heart rings throughout my skull as I stare at the woman aghast. What...?

Hange rights herself, trying to comfort me at once. "I know the news will come as a shock. It's the last thing I would ever want to put you through, no, your child through, but the idea came to me when you left my office the other night..."

I watch her speechless as she rambles on. How could she have known what Historia and I had discussed? How could she know what we saw in the Path?

It... almost seems like fate...

She continues, "It was after I promised that neither Historia nor her children will have to be turned. Now Levi... what I am about to discuss with you must never leave this office. It is downright treason. Not only that but highly selfish. We are letting our affections for the girl get in the way of our seeing sense. It does make sense for Historia to inherit the Beast and become a titan of royal blood so she and Eren can enact a small-scale rumbling. But... if she were to fall pregnant... there just may be a chance she can buy us time, to come up with another way of saving Paradis. Ten months to be exact. Also, Zeke has two years left of his term, but the MPs won't wait that long. They will turn her and make her eat Zeke the moment he steps foot on the island."

I suck air through my teeth, letting it all sink in. I wouldn't put it past them, but what's stopping them from trying to turn a pregnant woman? A pregnant woman holding my child?

I grip the leather armrests of my chair, my fingernails tearing through the fabric as my thoughts take a murderous turn. I swear... I will kill any bastard who lays a hand on Historia, whether she's pregnant or not.

My vision shrinks down to a pair of pinpricks, and then everything turns black. I no longer see Hange. All I can hear is my raging heart as the anger seeps through my blood like a poison, clouding my mind.

"Levi?"

Hange's voice brings me back from the brink, and I close my eyes, refocusing them on her again. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth as my momentary lapse has left me dehydrated.

My small trip to murderville must have used up a lot of water in my body or something.

It was one of those trips once that awakened my powers in the past, and I swore to never become that monster ever again.

When I see someone I love in danger, I need to protect. I need to fight.

I need to cut limbs...

Farlan and Isabel had already been dead, but Historia is still alive. Therefore, I can keep my rage in check. If I start to see black, I will grab on to something to keep me grounded.

I won't go crazy. Not just yet.

I heave a breath, pinching between my brows. I seem to have a permanent crease etched into the folds of skin there. I'm that tired, stressed, and pissed.

"You... you were saying?" I rasp, my voice thick and hoarse. I even sound dangerous now.

Hange nods. "Right. Well, buying us more time was only one of two reasons. There's another..."

I move my finger away from my eyebrows, peering up at her. She leans forward. "If an Ackerman, as I hypothesized, can't be turned into a titan... well, that also means that your children can't be turned either. In theory."

My eyes expand, and I almost jump to my feet. She's right. Mine and Historia's future children will be part Ackerman. If Hange's theory is correct, then they won't have to become titan.

Hange's voice breaks through my reverie as I envision the face of my daughter, shaking my head. God, I hope she never has to awaken to her Ackerman powers. Our powers only come about through extreme stress, and she looked too innocent and sweet for such heartache.

I bet she will inherit my mom's kind disposition. Funny, I don't even know the child's name, yet I have already latched on to her.

She's my kid. My future kid. And she looked right at me.

"Since your children will already be titans, so to speak, well, it defeats the purpose of ever having to turn them. They won't have to shorten their lifespans, and furthermore, if they have royal blood too... well, we will have a whole new generation of children with the ability to enact the power of the founder and maintain the power of the titans in human form, thus, giving them the ability to maintain the rumbling for years to come..."

Her words leave the air acrid. While it's a bittersweet idea, serving as our loophole, I still can't help but worry about Historia.

While Hange's theories may indeed be correct, it's still a huge gamble (and I'm no gambling man—that was Erwin). What if my kids can still be turned? And even if they couldn't turn, who's to say they could still enact the power of the founder? It's a 50/50 chance. Their divergent bloodlines may work in harmony, creating a balance, but it's all still hypothetical.

"That... that may be, Hange, but... that plan only saves our children. What about Historia?"

Hange bows her head. "Of course. She will be turned and live out the rest of her term for another thirteen years, but none of her children will have to worry about inheriting her beast or eating her later. That vicious cycle will end with your children..."

I fly from my chair, knocking it over at last as I stare down at the woman I call commander.

My breaths intensify with each passing second as the two of us lock eyes. She regards me regrettably, and I don't mean to direct my anger at her, but it's like her words ignited a spark in me.

"I'm sorry, Levi, but... it may just have to be our last resort. We may not be able to save Historia... but at least we can save your children..."

I continue to glower at her, losing my sense of the world as that blackness eases its way into my system again. But then something stings at the back of my eyes as a frigid hand yanks on my heart, ripping it straight from my chest.

"Are... are you really suggesting that I watch the woman I love, the woman who birthed my children, to die a slow, gradual death? If she inherits that bearded shit's titan, then... she will only have thirteen years. She... she will die at thirty-two..."

The visions of our future slip further and further away as cold reality settles at last, and now I fall back into my chair, trying not to picture myself having to tell my three kids one day that their Mommy's dying.

It would have to happen two years after the vision I saw inside the tree.

Another vision of the future spirals to the fore of my mind. It's not my exact memory, but I saw it through Historia, and we had both been decrepit and old, living in a strange future city of glass and steel. We even had a whiny granddaughter, one I wanted to clout across the head, and hope soars in my chest.

No, there is another way. The tree wouldn't have shown us that future if there was no way to save Historia.

I made her promise me once that she would die an old biddy in her sleep, and it seems she may just live long enough to fulfill that vow.

I never even thought I'd live that long myself, but it appears I am going to outlive all my comrades. I must have been nearing a hundred.

Holy fucking walls.

I peer up at Hange, wondering if she will still be in my life in that future I saw through Historia, but then I shake the thought away. I can't afford to think like that now.

"All... all right. I... will get her pregnant."

Hange widens her eyes.

A smug smirk almost plays across my face. "I will put a baby inside her, and save her. I will save all our children..."

Something wells inside of Hange. I can't believe I am discussing this with her, but it seems she was the one who helped set the wheels in motion.

She has only made me more certain of what I already know.

Within the next year, I will be the father of a baby girl whose face I have yet to see. One who likes to sleep all morning.

And I can't wait to meet her.

AN: I feel Levi's pain. I always thought he cared about Historia anyway and was helping her out, even if he wasn't the father. I still think he's the hooded person from the manga, watching Historia as she entered the barn to talk to Farmer Kun. A bunch of us were theorizing a while back that Levi could be the father of the baby because Historia's child wouldn't have to become a titan. Well, who knows now, but it was a nice idea while it lasted, but it's still canon in my head 😁

Don't you just love it when Levi gets all passionate about the woman he loves? It reminds me of Flynn Rider in Tangled when he sees the Stabbingon Brothers in prison, and he demands to know what happened to Rapunzel. He even swings his cuffed hands around, and it's so damn sexy... That would so be Levi if he ever fell in love.

Well, I hope you enjoyed it. I should get the next chapter up in a few weeks. I have no definite date but watch this space...