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jcoles · 11 years

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Digibear Drabble: Like Us

RivamikaWeek, Day 1: Iridescence - Like the colorful effect of the inside of a seashell Word Count: 1844 (short; reason for no Read More is because you can't read at all on my blog grr)

Like Us a rivamikaweek fanfic by a rivamika fangirl - - "That’s… a shit ton of water.”

“…That’s one way to describe it.”

Mikasa watched in minute fascination as the liquid expanse seemed to stretch towards their feet. All around them, clear water as far as the eye could see clashed with the white sand under their feet. For a moment, she feared that the mass of blue would take her, swallowing her whole and filling her lungs. But it couldn’t—not when they got this far. Not when they finally reached the end. Mikasa hesitated on instinct, one foot inching back in the sand.

Mikasa jerked a bit at the sudden temperature change, holding steadily onto Levi when she realized her foot was dug into the undertow. “It’s so cold,” she observed, her eyes glassy, “Just like Armin described it…”

Levi watched her as she slowly lowered herself to her knees, reaching out to touch all the water around her. He watched her as the waves retreated and she ran to catch up to them, the bottom of her knee-length pants wet with salty water—just as her cheeks surely were. He watched her as she stood at the border of water and sand, peering out into the open ocean with her hands limp at her sides.

And just for a second, two young boys were there with her, holding her palms between their angelic fingers.

Levi’s eyes widened before blinking, but when they reopened, the figures were gone. He held his head down, hands stuffed deep in his pockets. “Fuck,” he whispered as he rationalized with himself, “The sun’s messing with my mind.” As he looked up again, Mikasa was already walking along the beach a ways ahead of him, looking like she was hunting for something. Sighing, the now ex-captain followed after her, looking back once or twice to observe his footprints in the sand.

Mikasa was bending down as he caught up with her, and she grabbed something before standing up to meet his gaze. Her palm was still closed as she offered her hand to him faced down.

The man furrowed his brow as he waited to hear an explanation, holding his hand out anyway. “It better not be poisonous or slimy,” he drawled, sarcastic.

“I hope it’s neither,” Mikasa said in earnest.

As she looked at him, her eyes were shut in her smile, but the red tear burns were still prominent. He never mentioned it, though. Looking at her face a little longer than he should have, Levi finally averted his gaze to the little object in his palm. It was a brilliant white, but had a tan design on it. If he had one word to describe it, it would be “swirly.”

“What is this?” Levi glanced back up at her, not even caring about their height difference anymore.

Mikasa held his gaze for a second before peering down at his hand. “It’s a seashell,” she whispered, “They’re supposed to show you what the ocean sounds like.”

“Seriously?” Levi looked at Mikasa like she suddenly had three arms. Pinching the seashell between two fingers, he brought it up to his face. His voice was full of doubt when he observed, “But it’s so small.”

“So it would seem…” Mikasa put her hand on her chin, then slowly scanned the beach. When she spotted what she was looking for, she pointed. “Levi, over there!” She started to run up the closest dune, digging her feet in the sand and kicking it up behind her.

“Hey, wait!” Levi let a small smile loose as he watched her struggle to run fast in the thick sand. He was quick to catch up, but she had stopped so abruptly that he crashed into her and they fell down the other side of the sloped hill.

When he righted his bearings, Levi was traumatized by the amount of places he felt sand invading.

His thoughts and curses were interrupted when Mikasa outright laughed, putting a hand to her head as she choked out, “I didn’t know… You were so clumsy… Without your gear.”

“You’re the one that didn’t warn me,” Levi said, trying to hold his composure before letting out a short laugh of his own. “What the hell did you find?”

“A real seashell,” Mikasa replied, her eyes lighting up. It had to be a lot bigger than the other one, judging from the sound of her voice.

And it was.

She produced it from behind her, explaining that she kept it from breaking on the way down the dune. It was a miracle that it didn’t pierce her straight through—the shell was massive. It was almost as big as his head. Levi’s eyes widened as he stared at the foreign aquatic object. Unlike the smaller seashell, this one had spikes jutting out and a wider hole. The shell still retained a spiral-like shape, but the greatest part of it was the inside.

As Mikasa moved it around, the thin film kept changing color, like the shell contained its own eternal rainbow. Both of them couldn’t take their eyes off of it, wondering just how it worked and how long it would last.

“Why do you think it does that,” Levi asked in wonder.

“I don’t know the real term, but… Armin read it to us from a book he had. He said that there were certain objects that changed color depending on the angle and amount of light hitting it…” Her voice petered, causing Levi to tear his gaze from the glimmering object. His eyes softened as Mikasa gazed lovingly at the seashell, no doubt reminiscing on an event he was not there for.

Levi waited in silence, respecting her. She was still young, only twenty-one years old. It didn’t matter whether it was her mom or her comrade, grieving was in her nature. Sure, she was good at repressing it, but there was no need to now. There was no one to be strong for now. Everything was over.

And everyone was gone.

It was almost surreal, the two of them being the last ones. It was a miracle he even found her amongst the sea of bodies and evaporating titan skin. He assumed he was alone in the world, cursed to live a life of permanent solitude with the knowledge of knowing the world was at its last dredges.

But she was there, gasping for him under the weight of titan bone. He almost didn’t see her, if not for the fact that she was wearing Eren’s basement key. It flashed in the sun for a split second, long enough for him to notice her movement.

They scoured the battlefield and even all the districts of all the cities for any survivors—coming up short in the end.

Five years later, and they still haven’t found anyone from the Walls to the Ocean.

Looking back on the events that happened, Levi wouldn’t have known that it all would’ve led up to here. There was no way he thought he’d end up on a beach, with her, looking at shimmering seashells. He also didn’t think he’d be happy, and yet here he was.

Mikasa was still coping, which he understood perfectly. That was human, after all. That was…

Suddenly, Levi had an epiphany. “Like us,” he muttered.

Mikasa snapped out of her reverie, giving him a weird look. Her hair came down to frame her face, now long enough to reach down her back. “What do you mean?”

“The seashell,” Levi said as he pointed to the inside, “It’s like us.”

“You’re starting to sound like Han…” Mikasa stopped, watching his reaction.

He kept going, “The outside of the shell, it’s hard and white, right? Plain? With spikes, which seem like they’re there to protect it. In a way, we’re like that, too. We guard our feelings, our emotions, our thoughts, everything with a colorless, hard shell,” he grasped Mikasa’s other hand, gripping it tenderly, “But once you see what we really are…” He moved her fingers to slide them on the inside of the seashell, letting them glide across the smooth surface, “We’re undeniably soft, and undoubtedly colorful. Human emotion can be any color, depending on the situation and how people see them. Just like...”

Levi was so wrapped up in his own speech that he didn’t see Mikasa’s eyes well up. She choked a bit before reaching to grasp his cheek. “A seashell,” she squeaked out, completing his sentence, “Just like a seashell.”

“You said Armin described this shiny effect to you, didn’t you,” Levi asked in a hushed voice as he placed his hand on hers, warming his cheek a bit more.

Mikasa nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Well, now we have a name for it, Mikasa,” Levi said as he held the shell in his free hand, twisting it slowly. The light bounced off of it, creating beautiful combinations of colors. “The Armin Effect.”

That was the last straw for her. Mikasa flung herself into Levi’s ruffled shirt, sobbing uncontrollably. He felt the tugs on his shoulders as she gripped the fabric, tugging his upper body to her head. Dropping the shell, he placed a head on her head before deciding to bring her back to the water. Levi warned her before picking her up and walking up the dune, back over the other side and sliding down onto the beach. Picking an arbitrary spot, Levi slowly placed Mikasa on the sand and sat behind her, allowing her head to fall into his chest.

The sun was still a ways up, but the two of them stayed there until sunset, watching in pure amazement at the way the sun reflected on the water. It was as if the sun revealed a hidden path on the sea, blazing a passionate red through the deep blue water.

Mikasa smiled before she whispered, “Eren…”

Levi couldn’t hear her, so he bent down and asked her what she was thinking about.

“The Eren Effect…” Mikasa pointed to the water, “I think he would like that.”

“The Eren Effect, huh…” Levi thought about it for a bit, “Ah, like how he always managed to get angry at something. Even blue water gets tainted red if Eren’s there.”

Mikasa scowled, “Now that was a long-shot.”

“I know, shut up.” Levi scoffed, running his fingers through her jet-black locks.

“But… Eren would’ve loved this,” Mikasa sighed, “That was the only reason, really.” She smiled, a bittersweet curve of her lips. The saltwater breeze ruffled her hair, and she breathed it in her lungs.

“Yeah…” Levi thought back to the two people beside Mikasa on the beach, both of them looking out at the water with her. A smile reached his face as tears of his own leaked from his eyes. With a voice only he could hear, he whispered,

“I bet he did.” - - Note: Umm, so here have some angst? Omg, I'm so sorry. I was outright tearing up as I typed this. Hopefully my other fanfics will make up for it.

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