note one: okay, so this was a story i had originally posted under my previous account darkestlight33 and i don't know if some of you remember me or remember reading it, but i decided to repost it. and i know some of you might be wondering why i deleted my account in the first place. and it was because i was drowning in a pool of depression and indecision. and i took it out on my stories.

note two: i had to edit this one because this was written back when we didn't know jack about levy and i called him rivaille. Haha.

WHITE SKY
by: darkestlight33 (now aero-breaking)

"I don't know how it is you are so familiar to me—or why it feels less like I am getting to know you and more as though I am remembering who you are. How every smile, every whisper brings me closer to the impossible conclusion that I have known you before, I have loved you before—in another time, a different place—some other existence."
—Lang Leav, Soul Mates

Inspiration: random things. game of thrones (kind off).

Mikasa first meets Levi, officially, on the day of their wedding. She had stubbornly looked at the floor, blinking back tears, and clenching the skirt of her dress when she had been before the priest. Even though she had promised herself that she wouldn't oppose the Yeagers when they finally decided to choose a husband for her. She would do anything for them, after they had willingly taken her in, saving her from the brothels, after her parents had died.

However, she still didn't want to marry. There were so many things that she was giving up, things that she had found comfort in. The army had been no place for a woman, but it had been her escape. For two years she had dressed up as a boy to be in the military as a foot soldier, her adoptive parents had thought she had been at a convent in a far away castle. She had kept her step brother safe from far away, not risking discovery.

The reason why her adopted family, commoners of the kingdom, had agreed to let her marry him was because he was a knight of Erwin Smith, who was an old friend of the Yeagers and Marquess of Trost. It had been a way to assure her future, so when Eren finally married and took over the duty of doctor, she wouldn't be in the way. The knight was considered the best in the whole kingdom and it was an honor to marry him. Or at least that was what half the town had said when word of their engagement had been announced.

Mikasa thinks it a miracle that The Great Sir Levi agreed to marry her. Because even with all her unparalleled beauty the fact that she had been kidnapped by sex slave traders would never be overlooked by the people of Shiganshina.

She knows people have spread rumors about how they had had their way with her and so on and so forth. But they hadn't. Eren had gotten there first, but nobody ever brought that up. Mikasa supposed that the town's people only spread the rumors that they found the most scandalous. She doesn't really get it, a nine-year-old boy had killed two men, and she the other and they only talked about the rape that never happened. Mikasa supposed that the stupidity of the world was beyond her.

Their wedding takes place in Trost, Erwin Smith invites the whole town, and when the whole thing is said and done she is Lady Ackerman wife of Lord Levi, the kingdoms greatest knight.

Mikasa dreads the moment the festivities end. So far, her new husband hadn't touched her unless absolutely necessary. They hadn't exchanged that many words either. When they had sat at the table—half the town getting stupidly drunk around them—they were introduced to each other by Irvin, that had been awkwardness and forced politeness, at least form her end anyway. Mikasa was not stupid. She knows what was expected of her once Levi decided to retire to his—now their—house. Her stepmother had said: It is your duty to satisfy your husband. Don't let the tramps do it for you.

Mikasa hates it. She doesn't want to please a man she has barely just met, him being her distant superior doesn't count. She says distant because even though he had higher rank, she had been under orders of Keith Shadis. She hadn't ever spoken to him anyway, just seen him from afar when he was crossing the thick mud and when he sparred with one of the soldiers.

In the camps, when the men decided to tell stories by the campfire, she had admired him. He was a foreigner, just like her, and he had raised the ranks against all the odds and then gone and become a knight. He was what she had aspired to be, maybe that's why she hated him so much at the moment. Because he, by agreeing to marry her, had unintentionally crushed all her chances of becoming a knight. (Later, when all anger and resentment has dissipated, she'd think of all the things that could have gone wrong and what would have happened if anyone had ever found out about her gender.) At the moment all she wanted to do was take her burning hot soup and accidentally—okay, no—intentionally drop it on his lap. He'd have a terrible burn.

She feels him observing her through his peripheral vision, those two years of dressing up as boy in the military had to have been for something, right? Paranoia would follow her for the rest of her life. Suddenly he stood up. For a split second everyone was silent, then they all started cheering and whistling like the drunkards they were. Mikasa silently trailed behind him.

The walk to his—their—cottage had been long and silent. Many thoughts ran through her head then. Maybe she could kill him. The realms greatest knight dies on his wedding night, yeah right. The man may be shorter than most, but Mikasa doesn't think that he earned the tittle of 'Greatest Knight' by getting his ass handed to him by a mere foot soldier, much less one that was a woman. Okay, she would willingly admit that she was by far a better fighter than most of her fellow soldiers on any given day, it's not her ego talking, she swears, but she had seen Reiner spar with him once, she had felt the pain from the crack his back had made all the way back to her tent.

So killing him, ambushing him, or maiming him was out of the question. Maybe she could talk her way out of it. But who was she kidding, she couldn't carry on a conversation with anyone that was more than three sentences long, unless it was about Eren's regular stupidity or weapons and how to use them.

She lets out a low sigh, resigning herself. She'd have to go through with it. At least she's familiar with pain and fifteen isn't such a terrible age. Her stepmother had told her of the neighbor's girl, who was married off at twelve to the smithy's apprentice. Mikasa remembers she had been a bubbly girl, last time she saw her she had two babies trailing behind her, twins, a swollen belly, baby number three, and bags under her eyes that seemed permanent.

To tell the honest, cold truth, she doesn't really care about it. Her virginity. When her mother had been alive she had told Mikasa that when she finally decided to marry, she should marry someone she loves. A week later she was burying her mother who had a slit throat and her father who had a dagger stuck in his gut. Mikasa abandoned most of her childish dreams then. She would never marry out of love anyway; the majority of the girls her age didn't have that luxury.

Mikasa pulls at her dress, for the last forty minutes it had been soaking up all the mud and water that were in her way. The rainy season in Trost, she thinks, would not be fun. Ever. She briefly wonders why the hell it was that they were walking. Where was his horse? His wagon? Whatever. Why did she have to drag her dress half way through town? On her wedding day no less.

They come to a halt at a small cottage at the end of the town; it is the last house before the forest begins. She catches her husband looking at the bottom of her dress in disgust. This marriage was going to have homicidal tendencies, she could already tell. He's about to open the door when it starts to pour, they are soaked in a matter of seconds. The shorty lets out a loud curse and visibly tenses before he regains his wits and opens the door forcefully and ushers her inside.

It's completely dark so she just stands by the door, hearing Levi trip over her things, Erwin had brought them earlier, as he tries to find and light the lamp. When he has finally found it and lighted it, she moves. The cottage is small, just two rooms, one contains the kitchen and a table, the other a bed with an armoire against one wall and two chests on either side.

"Change." He throws her one of his shirts and trousers. "You can take out your stuff tomorrow." Mikasa hesitates, isn't this the part where...things happen.

For two whole minutes she doesn't know what to do with herself. Levi takes notice but does not say anything. Mikasa feels uncertainty fill her stomach; it is one of those few times in her life were she does not know what to do. They are supposed to consummate their marriage tonight, yet he is telling her, in a roundabout way, that they will not. If the clothes he threw at her was any indication.

Levy lets out an exasperated sigh and walks behind her, she tenses. He begins pulling at the straps of her dress, "I will not touch you intimately until you let me."

She abruptly turns around, her mouth gaping. He looks at her with that expressionless face of his, "What? I won't force myself onto you." She is still gaping. "Besides, you are too young."

Mikasa finally regains her composure and lets him continue untying her dress, "Then why did you agree to marry me?"

"Erwin blackmailed me into it." Before she can punch him in the face he continues, "But I suppose it was also me wanting company." Honestly, she doesn't know if he's pulling words out of his arse or if he's serious. She choses to not say anything, the rest of the night it is silent, only the sound of the rain hitting the roof resounding through the room. She lays next to him, a full forearm of space between them, and stares blankly at the roof. Not really understanding what had just happened.

Three months pass since she married Sir Levy and, she doesn't want to admit it out loud, but she is fairly happy. Levy leaves weeks at a time, giving her all the time in the world to do the things a woman is supposed to do and still have the time to secretly train herself a mile into the woods. Even though she has left the life of a soldier she will never let anyone hurt her again, if there was ever a time when robbers or what have you threatened her again she would not idly stand by and let it happen.

As it turns out, the armoire in the bedroom contains Levy's swords, all ten of them. They were all different, some bigger than others and heavier; every time she took them out to polish them she spent a whole good twenty minutes with each of them, testing them out. Her husband, she hopes, doesn't suspect a thing. He has been kind to her, in a cold, distant sort of way, but she doubts he'll encourage her sword wielding. No man would ever stand for that.

Her husband and her had developed what some would call friendship, she calls it truce. The first time he had left for a week she had discovered his swords and had decided to clean them. When he returned he spent five minutes inspecting each of them thoroughly. She still hasn't explained to him how it was that she was able to catch him off guard and sweep his legs under him. He had laid on the floor dumbly trying to process the fact that yes, his fifteen year old wife had one upped him. He never questioned her cleaning skills again.

They talked regularly, when he was home, they sat outside their small cottage and drank tea. He would tell her off the things happening in his squad and funny tales of the soldiers when they were training.

Levy, Mikasa discovers two days into their marriage, is not someone who likes or craves attention. He likes simple things, like their cottage, he had a whole chest full of silver in their room; he had given her the key. Do whatever you want with it, he had told her. It had been his savings from the earnings that working for Erwin provided. He had said that before he had never given much thought into buying things for himself, since he was barely home anyway, he didn't need a bunch of useless things. Things are different now, he had continued, now there's you.

Mikasa had never given it much thought, but she supposed that he had been lonely for a long time. Being a great knight did not come without its downside. All his years of service he had come to a house devoid of human inhabitance, she knows first hand. Every time he comes home, she has a meal ready, a bath too, and every time he stands at the door looking like he has come into the wrong home. It is those moments when Mikasa remembers his words; I suppose it was also me wanting company.

They visit her adoptive family in Shiganshina a year into their marriage for Eren's wedding. She is relieved, the girl had persuaded Eren to abandon the soldier life. She had known Annie from when she was young, she'd never liked her, but if she could help keep Eren safe, then the girl was good enough in her book. They are enjoying the festivities until her stepmother pulls them aside and rains questions on her. Why wasn't she with child yet? Was she having trouble? Had she seen a doctor? Was Mikasa not good enough?

Mikasa is slightly overwhelmed but Levy answers for her, "I do not want children yet."

Her stepmother takes a breath of relief as if the world had been set just right. Two days later, when they are heading back home she still hasn't gotten over the thought, was she not good enough?

She would be seventeen soon and still, he did not approach her.

He leaves a day after their return on a mission Irvin needed completed. Mikasa does nothing but lay on their bed for a whole day, she knows she shouldn't be feeling insecure, but the words of Carla ring in her ear, don't let the tramps do it for you. Was Levy finding satisfaction somewhere else? The thought angers her, infuriates her. She's not entirely sure why, they are nothing more than two people living in a house together, still, she decides, picking herself up from the bed, she will confront him about it when he comes home.

All thoughts of infidelity fly out of the window when Levy comes home with a half dead man around his shoulders, "Help him."

She hasn't even processed his words when she's already sprinting all around their tiny cottage getting needles, yarn and bandages. She instructs her husband to put him on their bed, she gets a bucket of water from a barrel she had put in the kitchen when she had first began living there, and thrusts it in his hands when they are free, "Set it to boil."

She runs out of the cottage, down to the bakery a few houses over. Sasha lives there, a friend, the only one, she had made in Trost, before she knows it she is pulling Sasha behind her, the girl tripping on her feet and her husband, Jean, looking dumbly at them through the window, while she explains the situation to her. The girl understands, Mikasa knew there was a reason she put up with the annoying girl, even if the girl couldn't ever be quiet, she was reliable once it came down to it.

When she pulls Sasha into their cottage, the water has almost come to a boil, and Mikasa takes a moment to remember everything she knows about wounds and how to treat them. She gets to work immediately, shoving Levy out of their room, "You'll get in the way." She tells him when he refuses to back off.

The man's cut is deep, she remembers her stepfather telling her that cleaning the wound was important before stitching it together. She works for an hour; her fingers steady, while she sews his wound close. Most people would have taken him for dead, but Grisha had treated men like this before, and she had helped him, and with the technique of sewing the skin together they had survived. Many people didn't know about it because books on medicine were hard to come by.

Later that night, the man comes down with a terrible fever. She is wiping his forehead when Levy decided to tell her about him, "He is my second-in-command, Erd Gin." he begins, "He doesn't have a family so I couldn't take him anywhere else. I didn't take him to Erwin because that would have been a disaster."

He stops talking for a few minutes. "There are traitors amongst our ranks."

The statement hangs in the air for a long time. Finally, she asks, "What do you plan to do about it?"

"I—I don't know." And it is the first time Mikasa has seen him so weak. She takes his hand in hers and pulls his head to her chest; she runs her fingers through his hair. She doesn't say anything, she doesn't try to comfort him, she just holds him and lets him, for once, be human and not the invincible knight the kingdom believed him to be.

Erd is fully recovered in two months. He is eating like any man would and swinging his sword when he has the chance. When Levy sees that he is recovered he leaves on a mission, one that Erwin had been bugging him about for the past month.

Erd thanks her, over and over, and claims that he owes her his life, which is true, but she doesn't think it's a big deal. He says that anything she asks, he will do. Mikasa thinks this is a great opportunity. He probably won't like it, but he had offered.

So with a steeled voice she requests, "Fight me."

His reaction is what she expects of a knight with chivalry shoved up so far up their arse it comes out their mouth. "I could never! You saved my life and you are wife of one of my comrades! I could never raise my sword against you!"

It takes a few days, but she finally, with a few kicks to the head and a good argument, manages to convince him to fight her. He is still reluctant but once they get going, she thinks, he'll have no choice but to fight her.

Mikasa knows he is underestimating her, but she'll take what she can get. She hasn't fought in the longest while and her muscles are getting impatient. One of the good things about being married to a small man, she would never tell him this, is that his clothes fit her, the pants a bit short, but when she put on his boots you could never tell. So she pulls her hair back into a bun, takes a pair of trousers, one of his shirts, and her favorite sword from his collection and meets Erd on the clearing where she usually trained.

He had stared stupidly at her, "Do you do this often?"

She almost smiles.

They begin fighting, he doing nothing but defending himself, when Mikasa has finally had enough of his careful treading she knocks him on his back and points the sword to his throat, "Take me seriously. I healed you, I am not afraid of hurting you."

The fight begins to gain speed and pretty soon he's fighting her with all he's got. Mikasa hasn't felt this great in months, the feel of the sword in her hand and the adrenaline running through her veins.

It all comes to a screeching halt when she hears the dangerous voice of her husband, "What the hell are you doing?"

Her blood runs cold as the sword falls from her hands. One of those moments Mikasa had only ever experienced in battle occurs, where everything is going in slow motion and the blood rushing through her ears doesn't let her hear anything, as she turns to face him.

There is something almost sinister in his expression, she doesn't know what happens next, or what he had said to Erd, because when he turns abruptly away from her, heading back to their cottage, all she does is run behind him.

"Wait." She whispers, knowing full well he doesn't hear her.

When she gets out of the forest all she sees is him mounting his horse and leaving.

He doesn't come home the night and she sleeps awake. Erd had taken his leave after explaining to her that there was urgent matter to attend to on Erwin's request. He looks at her with something close to pity; she punches him in the gut. For the past year she had restrained the urge more than once and this time, she didn't even think about it.

Levy comes home a week after, like always, she has a meal prepared and the bath too. He says nothing as she leads him to the bath and begins stripping him off his armor.

When he's in the wooden tub she begins scrubbing his shoulders and arms. She had begun doing this a while ago in hopes that they would become closer. They sit in silence throughout the majority of his bath.

He breaks the silence when she is finished washing his hair, "Are you unhappy?"

Mikasa snaps her gaze to him, of all the things she had been expecting, a lecture, a strike to her face, divorce even, she had not been expecting that sort of question.

He misunderstands her silence, "If you wish, you can go back to your parents."

"NO!" Her shout surprises them both, but she doesn't stop, "I—I am sorry. I shouldn't have—It's not—" All her words get lodged in her throat and she feels like a gaping fish. She forcefully closes her mouth, so as not to make a bigger fool of herself.

She lowers her head and whispers, "I am happy."

His wet hand comes to strokes her cheek, slowly, "When Erwin first proposed that I marry you, I was really reluctant, you were too young." He lifts her chin so she's looking at him directly in the eyes, "I thought,'I will be taking this girls whole future away from her' imagine that, a twenty-eight year old man marrying a girl thirteen years younger than him."

She lays her hand on top of his, "I've heard of other girls whose husband were twenty years older."

He lets out something close to a snort, "But none of those girls were secretly soldiers."

She should be surprised but for some reason she isn't, she is curious, however, "How did you know?"

"Anyone with eyes would have been able to tell, but apparently most people are blind, since you went without being noticed. Also, Hanji can figure out a persons whole life story in an hour, probably."

She lets out a laugh, "Right."

And there, with his hands on her cheeks and the light of the lamp slowly dimming, he kisses her for the first time. It is slow and sweet and everything she had never expected out of this marriage. She brings him closer to her, placing her hands on his shoulders and not caring that her clothes were getting wet. He pulls back reluctantly and rests his forehead against hers, "Still too young."

She pinches his arm, "I'm sixteen. Most girls my age have already had their first baby."

"You are not most girls."

He kisses her again.

Mikasa is falling in love with her husband. It isn't such a strange thing, Sasha had told her, it's what usually happens. The girl had been rubbing her swollen stomach; Jean and her had finally managed to be with child. They had married out of love and Mikasa thought it sweet.

Things with Levi and her had begun to be more comfortable than before. When he wasn't paying attention she would steal kisses from him and he would take her in his lap and whisper sweet nothings into her ears. (He still wouldn't let them get carried away though.)

On occasion, she managed to convince him to spar with her, he didn't hold back, and Mikasa fell a little bit in love with him every time. He didn't think her weak and that in itself was a compliment worth more than any pretty words anyone had ever told her.

She is so busy in her own fairytale that she doesn't realize that there is a looming danger outside the town's walls.

One day Levi comes home serious and not his usual self, she welcomes him home like always, and doesn't say anything.

"We are going to war."

She drops the plate she is holding on the floor, it's contents spilling out, neither pays much attention. War was a demon in their lands, sure, castles had their regular battles for land outside the walls, but war meant that nothing was prohibited; the towns would be in danger of attack. The strongest soldiers, archers, and knights would be put in the front lines.

Her hands tremble, "You—" She doesn't get to finish her sentence because in the next second he has her pressed up against the wall, his lips on her neck.

That night they finally consummate their marriage. It is painful at first but then the world is nothing, it is only Levi and her, and she holds him as he thrusts into her. She lets his love, desperation, fear, and adoration all roll into one. She lets him know, "I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you."

And every time she says it, he repeats it back to her.

It is the greatest and saddest moment of her life. War is not ever certain, his capabilities are unparalleled but when fate turned on him, his life would not be assured.

Trost was under attack.

Mikasa had changed into Levi's clothes, sword in hand. She had been running through the streets helping people evacuate, the attack had been so unexpected, there had only been a ten minute warning. She had assured Sasha and her baby's safety first, it had pained her, but she had not been able to tell Sasha were her husband was.

There is a great panic, people are tripping and running over each other, there are lost children, and stubborn people who will not leave anything behind. It is a whole mess, when the enemy's soldiers come into view things take a turn for the worse. A fire starts and soon the whole town is up in flames.

Mikasa lays on the ground, her hands over her stomach trying desperately to stay alive long enough to see Levi again, she knows he is coming, she doesn't know how, but she is more than certain he is coming. It had been a lucky shot for her opponent, just for a second she had been distracted and he had taken the opportunity to run her through.

She had fought with all she had, remembering everything she had learned about fighting throughout her whole life. She fought desperately because she had once promised herself she would not go down without a fight. She would not sit back and take it.

As she lies on the floor looking up at the sky she notices how bright it is. She thinks it's cruel. The world was falling all around her, yet the sky was as it always was during summer. Bright. White.

She begins to see dark spots in her vision and she realizes that she is loosing consciousness. She grips her wound tight, the pain instantly jotting her awake and the spots fade. Just a little longer, she pleads herself.

Levi comes a few minutes later, she's loosing consciousness again but this time no amount of pain can make the black spots go away. He holds her hand, "You are a stupid woman."

Mikasa sees the blood pouring down his cheeks, "And you are a stupid man."

They can both feel their bodies hanging between life and death. The flames make it harder to breath and they both know that they will be falling on death's side.

Mikasa nervously makes her way into the bathroom. She closes her eyes and sets her hands on the sink. Slowly, she begins cracking her eyes open, three pink plus signs staring back at her.

She screams.

And it is so unlike her that the black haired woman hears her husband trip over something in the living room. She faintly hears him cursing the high heavens but she is too busy inspecting the pregnancy tests to pay much attention.

She can't believe it, she really, really can't. They had been trying for a year already and they had gone and seen a doctor, he had said that the chances of her having a child where slim to none. There had been other options, adoption and donor eggs, but she hadn't wanted any of that. They had kept trying on their own.

And now, that minuscule chance had presented itself. When the realization finally set in, she began squealing like a little girl.

"What the hell is going on?" Levi questions from the doorway, rubbing his knee. She turns to him; pregnancy test in hand and literally pounces on him. He barely manages to catch her in his arms, "I'm pregnant."

She has her face buried in his neck; he can feel his skin getting wet, and her shoulders shake. He hugs her tighter, he doesn't really know what to say, his heart and mind have reached a new high. His eyes begin to sting.

They both had dreams. Dreams of a time where war was inevitable and their silent love grew with the passing of the days. They dream of sword fights and rainy days spent sitting around a small wooden table drinking tea. White skies and burning buildings, they dream, dream, and dream.

He thinks, now they will finally, finally,stop dreaming.

note three: and it is done.