'Everyone sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are.'

Unknown.

31st October, 1012 CE

Witches were a legend only a few believed. Old hags with warted noses and nasally voices to some and young, desirable women in others. One a shadow of ugliness and another the radiation of beauty. Two so very different interpretations both meaning something so similar.

Witches, the incarnation of evil itself. Sent by the devil to play tricks on the mind and lead us temptations way. A witch, as well as many other things, was an alchemist. Potions, poisons and foul-tasting foods all made by the flourish of their hand.

A witch was power.

A witch was cruelty.

A witch was fate's hand.

They control what had come and what is to come thereafter. They control the motivations and causation of each and every action their puppet acts. And they laugh. They laugh with their crooked noses or their long flowing locks.

They laugh with their shadowed faces, hidden under cloaks.

And three look at the sky with ragged breaths, smiles twitching on their pale, cold lips. One tall, one small and one somewhere in-between. Their cloaks billow behind them but remain to cover their faces despite the strong winds.

'Where will we meet?' The middle one asks, her voice one of a child's.

'Scotland, that's where we shall meet Smith.' The smaller one replies, a strand of golden hair falling away from the face, pushed again the wind and not with it.

'And there, we will ruin him.' The tallest one grins and falls into the shadows, the murderous light shimmering in her eye.

-

Somewhere in Northern England.

1st November, 1012 CE

Erwin sheathed his sword with what could only be military precision, the gleaming metal dulling under the flickering candles of his bedroom. Their bedroom. Levi watched from the bed, his grey eyes sunken and tired. Or bored. Erwin could decipher which if he decided to stir up a conversation but there were yet any words that worth saying.

Erwin didn't speak if it wasn't worth speaking.

'You don't have to go, you know?' Levi muttered, his face shrouded by the curtain of black hair he shook down to avoid the piercing glare of the man opposite.

'I do, Levi. You know that.' Erwin tried to be diplomatic but the days worth of arguments weren't worth the pain.

'You say that but it's a lie and you know it. That shitty Prince is now king and you shouldn't have to fight for the dick-beard.' Ever since King Nile had taken up the throne and grown up to the solid age of twenty-five, he had begun to grow his- rather failing- beard and Levi had not resisted the temptation to create yet another slur aimed at him. It was exactly the real reason he could not fight.

King Nile has placed Levi on probation until he learnt to show some respect.

It hadn't done much, Levi was still his normal, crude self and was simply waiting for the moment he was allowed back on the field to give Nile a mouthful. No doubt, this probation would last longer than Levi expected.

'You can't call him that.'

'I can and I will.' Levi looked unimpressed, that halfway expression remaining on his face. He pushed himself off the bed anyway and approached Erwin with the scowl placed irrevocably on his face. The scowl only increased as he stood in front of Erwin only to see their incredible height difference in the mirror. If it were not for the startlingly contrasting looks, Levi could have been Erwin's child. In fact, he had even been mistaken as it on a few occasions.

'That's not going to help you get back on the battlefield.' Erwin sighed, trying to use reason to divert Levi from this inevitable path.

'But I shouldn't have been kicked off in the first place. Nile is as good a king as a pile of dog shit. He has no right to take one of the best soldiers from the legion.'

'You know that you got what you deserve.'

'You think I deserved that?' Levi raised a brow, willing to challenge Erwin. They had a pitiful amount of arguments, rarely pushing further than a few insults. Erwin was the perfect mediator until he started them himself.

'Levi, don't take your annoyance out on me. I know it's not why you're mad.' Erwin was ever the diplomat, never withholding the truth, he was an honest man and proud of being so- even if it meant for some rather brash and blunt comments.

Erwin was a master of deception and charisma but when it came to those he trusted, he was as honest as he could be in his position. A nobleman, impossibly close to the King for his position but favoured for his futuristic strategic techniques and ability to trick the enemy into anything they wanted. Erwin could bend anyone's will to his wants and it had never saved Levi from the constant unease that he was being tricked.

It had taken years for Levi to understand that Erwin trusted him with his life, just as Levi trusted him. Honesty was front and foremost in their relationship and if not with anyone else, they were candid with each other.

'It's not but I have to vent these shitty feelings somewhere.' Levi scowled, his eyebrows scrunching together as he examined himself in the mirror. Erwin called him fire yet he still didn't understand it. Passionate was not a word many described him with- to most he looked like a grumpy man who had barely skimmed adulthood yet still thought of himself as above the king. In many ways, he was.

'You're doubting yourself again.' Erwin warned, stroking a single strand of inky hair from his face, revealing the almost white skin underneath. Levi didn't have the heart to disagree with the man and gave him only a solemn nod to confirm his theory.

'You shouldn't. You're beautiful.' Levi shook his head, his mind reeling. He wasn't self-conscious not at all. He was simply a man that hadn't expected to be loved. He was bitter, crude and a repellant. He stared at the red lips that Erwin called fire and the grey eyes that Erwin called the smoke and the black hair that was the ash that settled down at the end of it.

He had accused Erwin of calling his hair grey but Erwin had only laughed. Levi was never good at taking compliments.

And he wasn't going to take one now.

'Can't I come with you? Nile wouldn't know, he's too cowardly to fight anyway. He doesn't see the soldiers who die for him, the bastard. We're the best soldiers and you know it, I could be the thing that that deliberates us from winning rather than losing.' Levi complained, his eyebrows setting back to their normal place but his lips were still pursed and downturned.

'You underestimate Nile. You can't fight, it's treason. I'm not letting you die because you're being stubborn. Have trust in me Levi, I'll lead us to victory.'

'Them.' He fixed, trying to rub the hurt into Erwin's skin. 'But I'll trust your judgement. I just wish that arsehole wasn't the next in line. I'd fight if you were king.' Erwin smiled down at him, turning him around away from the mirror and to his face.

'I love you.' Erwin whispered, scanning Levi as if he had to memorise it. Suddenly, Levi stepped back, his eyes wide and lips parted. He had been set askew from his set emotion, his mind had gone haywire.

All because one little, nagging thought in his corrupt mind.

'You think you're going to die, don't you?' Levi took another step back, his spine brushing against the grimy glass of the mirror- the brown spots persisted no matter how much Levi tried to scrub.

'This is your goodbye.' Erwin's mouth opened to let out some words, any words, to defend himself. But all it led to was parted lips and stale air. The pause felt like it lasted a millennia.

'Levi, that's not what it-'

'But it was.'

'I'm just preparing for the worst.'

'This was different.'

A knock resounded on the door at just the wrong moment, Erwin's lips already parted and ready to speak. 'Come in!' Erwin called, his mouth forming a very different shape to what was originally intended.

The door opened fully to let the huge man enter the room. Mike Zacharias, also known as the 'sniffing giant' by Levi, was Erwin's best friend and partner in battle. Even when Levi was fighting, he did it alone and Erwin had resorted to Mike to help him. Erwin had always been a team player.

'Are you ready?' Mike asked, his face tired and pale. It wasn't a surprise. Before a battle, sleep was fitful, dreams of previous massacres flashing through the mind. Both Erwin and Levi had helped the other through, their triggers and cures found from years of close companionship.

Erwin nodded and looked at himself in the mirror, smoothing down his riding tunic. 'Meet me down at the horses. I would like to say goodbye to Levi.' Mike nodded and closed the door behind him as he left, something Levi had to drill into him.

Levi couldn't help but feel slightly aloft at the mention of his name by Erwin's tongue still, despite what was to come. It wasn't often that he was mentioned, their relationship not hidden but not out there either. Levi was not a liked man and many people disapproved of him being with such an up and coming noble but it hadn't stopped either of them. Levi had never had a penchant for listening to others or joining the gossip, it was easy to ignore. Although, he couldn't help but admit the few insecurities it lighted early on. So, when Erwin did speak of their relationship or him, no matter how subtle, it always sent his heart skipping a beat faster.

It meant Erwin was not ashamed of him, even if he didn't dare speak his name in court.

'Levi,' Erwin called for his attention, dragging him out of his own mind and into the present. 'I'm sorry.' Erwin avoided his gaze, something he only did when shame weighed too much on his shoulders. 'I'm just morbid, is all. I see the worst. I'm as likely to die as anyone out there and without you, this will be my last time to see you.'

'Don't say that as if it's inevitable.'

'Okay.' He sighed, his head lifting just a little higher.

'You still don't believe me?'

'I do, Levi. It's just hard. It's war, neither of us are immune to that.' Levi sighed and raised his hand to Erwin's chin, trying to ignore the almost comical height difference between them.

'We're the strongest in the legion, of course we are.'

'You know that being strong does not change luck.'

'But it should.' Levi remained as stubborn as ever, folding his arms over his thin, cotton shirt.

Erwin signed, his eyes solemn. 'I'll miss you.' He grasped at Levi's hand which still lingered on his chin and wrapped the small hand within his own.

'Go, eyebrows, the dog's only going to wait for so long.' Levi sighed, unwilling to determine a permanent goodbye but the use of pet names, no matter how much like insults they sounded, never failed to put them both in a better mood.

'One last thing.' Erwin muttered, leaning down and pressing his lips to Levi's: a gentle and slow kiss that was over far too soon. 'May Hecate seal your fate well.' Levi mumbled against the flushed lips, his voice a mere whisper.

'You know I don't believe in witches.' Erwin laughed, his forehead still resting on Levi's.

'Doesn't mean I can't wish you luck.'

'I guess not.' Erwin smiled and departed with efficiency, setting his mask back into place. Outside of Levi's company, he was a stone cold man. Most people believed that he was manipulating them all into his bidding and in a way, he was. He calculated every move before anyone had made the last. He was ahead of everyone.

He was also a warrior only matched by one person: Levi himself.

It was what gave Levi hope. Erwin was strong, resilient and the best general England had ever seen. So, as he rode up to Scotland, Levi stayed at home and wished him the luck of the witches- a wish to seal his good luck. And cleaned, of course.

word count: 2035

published: 10.11.17