I don't own Attack on Titan or the characters. Sorry for this first chapter. I have a hard time starting stories, but it will only get better from here on out.
1- And the Scent of Death Still Lingers in the Air
Maniacal laughter shook the air. The shrill, high-pitched noise rang through the alleys of Zhiganshina, unnoticed by the poor town blanketed by the sound of silence. The only person in the streets was a young man huddled in a dark alley.
He yanked a bloodstained dagger out of the mangled corpse of his victim, pausing for a less than a second before plunging it back in. Again and again deep crimson spurted into the air, soaking the man and the worn stone with blood.
A closer look at the murderer and his victim showed a dark-haired figure in his teens standing over a small boy around the same age with golden hair streaked red. His blue eyes stared unblinkingly above his killer's head.
The teen laughed drunkenly as he swiped the dagger at the already dead person in front of him. He dipped his finger in the fresh blood dripping from the body, writing one word in shining crimson letters.
Thief.
"You… I hope you're happy," he cackled. "Thief, you thief… because of what you stole from me…" His green eyes seemed to glow as red as the blood surrounding them. "I stole your life!"
The door flew open, slamming into the wall with a bang.
"Don't throw doors open. This isn't a TV drama and you'll only crack the wall," Levi said without looking up from his paperwork.
There was no reply but for heavy breathing.
He glanced up and nearly dropped his pen. Mikasa Ackerman was standing at the threshold, tears staining her face and the broken doorknob in one hand.
"What happened?" he asked crisply, stacking his papers on the desk and handing his apprentice a tissue. She only burst into tears as a response.
He sighed and took Mikasa over to her usual chair, where she promptly collapsed. To be honest, Levi wasn't particularly good at handling wailing females, or handling people in general. Perhaps that had been why he worked so well with the usually composed young woman. She was one of the few people he could call a friend, and naturally he was somewhat worried. He just preferred not to show it.
He busied himself with preparing her a cup of tea while she sniffled pathetically, discarding tissue after tissue on the floor. This roused even more concern for Levi, as Mikasa was upset enough to disregard the consequences of throwing tissues on the floor of his office. In any other situation, that would have earned her a week of desk duty.
In a few efficient movements, he gathered up the tissues and tossed them in the wastebasket, handed Mikasa a bottle of hand sanitizer, and set her cup of tea on the table in front of her. By this time she had cleaned herself up somewhat, although her nose was red and tears still threatened to spill from the rims of her eyes.
Levi pulled up a chair and sat himself in it, waiting patiently as Mikasa bawled her eyes out. He wondered what was on her mind - she seemed far too mature for breakups and friend issues, and as far as he knew, those were the only things young women ever cried about.
"Are you ready?" he asked after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence punctuated by occasional sniffles.
Mikasa nodded and blew her nose one last time. "Did I ever tell you about my family?" she began throatily.
"No." Family issues? He'd only seen her parents once, and they seemed like happy people.
"My parents were killed when I was young and I was adopted by the local doctor's family. There was him, his wife, and his son Eren. That's how it's been until now."
"And then?" Levi prompted, already dreading the answer.
"A close friend of mine, Armin Arlert, was killed last night by knife wound. I found out just now," she said, her voice cracking.
Levi stopped short. For someone who had just heard of a friend's death, she was coping remarkably well.
"The same night, Eren went missing." She failed to point out the obvious - that Eren had most likely been the killer.
"I hadn't been informed of this," he said slowly. "Have the others already arrived at the scene?"
"I believe so." Mikasa looked down, lower lip quivering, and Levi felt a rare jolt of sympathy for the girl.
"Do you want to go home?" he asked, handing her a fresh box of tissues. "You didn't have to come here."
"I don't want to go home," she sobbed. "There are policemen there right now, interrogating my parents. They think - they think Eren did it."
Levi pursed his lips. She would have found out sooner or later. Even so, he felt no need to deepen her wound.
"You came here without a jacket, didn't you," he said abruptly. "Hold on."
He returned a few minutes later with a spare coat of hers (she spent so much time in his office, he wouldn't be surprised if he found her underwear in some out-of-the-way drawer) and she was overcome with a fresh wave of tears.
He awkwardly patted her back (there was no way in hell he was hugging her) until Mikasa calmed down.
"Sorry," she sniffled. "I'll be fine in a day or so."
"It'll take you longer than that," Levi said bitterly. "Believe me, I know."
"Sir-"
"But you can cry all you want for now. No one's watching."
Mikasa fell silent and Levi returned to his paperwork. He kept one ear open and made a mental note when her breathing became even.
It was about an hour before the next disturbance: A sharp knocking on the door, which, Levi realized with a start, was still missing a doorknob from Mikasa's earlier breakdown. He got up and quickly made his way over, opening the door to some of his very own colleagues.
"Sorry, I'm pretty sure Mikasa doesn't want this now," Gunther began, "But we've gotta interrogate her."
"We were told she might be here," Erd continued. "Is she okay?"
Levi shrugged. "About as okay as a girl like her can be. She's asleep now, can it wait?"
"'Fraid not," Gunther said apologetically. "We have to have it in as soon as possible. Murder, you know. Top priority -"
"I know," Levi cut him off, not wanting to wait through one of his notorious rambles. "Come on in."
They followed him in and waited patiently as Levi shook her awake.
"Sorry, I'm pretty sure you don't want this now," Gunther repeated to the still-groggy Mikasa, "But we've gotta interrogate you."
She snapped into focus like a switch had been turned on inside her. "Eren didn't do it," she said firmly.
"As okay as she can be?" Erd whispered to Levi. "She's pretty okay if you ask me."
"She was wailing loudly one hour ago," Levi informed him. "I don't know what happened."
Gunther was furiously scribbling down every one of Mikasa's authoritative words.
"Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, I believe Eren is innocent. He was with me all of last night, as we were out eating dinner, and he seemed fine the whole time. There were no symptoms apparent."
Symptoms?
"How do I know you didn't just overlook them? Not that I'm accusing you of anything," he added hurriedly upon seeing Mikasa's furious face.
"I understand," she replied stiffly. Levi could almost see the disapproval radiating off her. "However, I'm sure you have heard from my parents that I've always kept a close eye on Eren."
"That still isn't enough to counter everything against him," Gunther said with a frown.
"Eren and Armin were best friends," she spat. "And no matter what labels doctors paste on him, he isn't inhuman enough to kill his own best friend."
Levi eyed the two with growing interest, drinking in every word they said. It looked like Mikasa had left a out a lot when she spoke to him.
"That's your opinion," Gunther said with a frown. "Again, we need solid evidence or at the very least another suspect before he has a chance of being acquitted."
Mikasa exhaled slowly, obviously racking her brains for an answer that fit Gunther's standards. "I'll come up with something," she said finally.
"Okay," Gunther answered, clicking his pen. "You know, we don't have anything against you or Eren. We're just doing our jobs."
"I know that," she snapped. "That doesn't mean I have to like you for it."
Erd chuckled at Gunther's hurt expression; the guy couldn't stand to be disliked by anyone. "Give it up," he said, grabbing his partner's arm. "We might be back later," he called back to Mikasa. "Good luck."
She nodded robotically. "Thank you for your time."
"Well, you know how to conceal your feelings," Levi muttered as the door swung shut.
Mikasa crossed her arms. "I've had practice."
"You know," Levi said thoughtfully, "For someone I've known for almost three years, you've told me surprisingly little about yourself. I didn't even know you had a brother. Is there a reason for that?"
Her dark eyes hardened. "I'll leave that to you to figure out," she muttered. "I'm sure you're up to the task."
"You're okay with me knowing?"
"It'd be futile to try and prevent it."
"Good answer," Levi said, pulling open the window and stopping to look back at his student, "Because I think I already know much more than you'd expect."
Paperwork was now bottom priority. Armin Arlert's murder was all over the news, and the whole police force had at least part of their mind wondering who could have done it. Levi, for one, was currently jotting down everything he knew about Mikasa and her brother.
-Mikasa - 21 - criminal law major
-Eren - ? - mentally disturbed and/or diagnosed with various conditions
-Likely murderer of Arlert
-Best friends
-Disappeared night of murder
-Motive - ?
This, he thought, was the biggest hole: What motive would Eren have for murdering his closest friend? More likely than not, the people assigned to this case had a probable motive, or else Gunther wouldn't have been so convinced that Eren committed the murder. It wouldn't be hard for him to procure this information, but it would likely only reveal even more problems.
It was a mystery, surely, but so much more than that. It wasn't often that Levi's instincts told him something, so he'd learned to trust them. And right now, all of his senses were on high alert. This case spelled danger, for him, Mikasa, and possibly all of Zhiganshina. And the one behind this? He was a menacing force, possibly insane and with a gun.
Eren Jaeger had to be caught, and fast.
Spots danced in front of the murderer's vision. He hadn't eaten or drank water in almost a day. He didn't know where he was, how he was going to get back, and why he held a bloody knife in his right hand.
I'm back! I promised a story by the end of July, then I deleted it, and now you have this. I actually planned this out, so yay for me.
So here's the way overdone crime fic, though hopefully this will have a lot more layering plotlines than just straight-out action. The main characters will likely be Eren, Mikasa, Levi, Annie, possibly Petra, and, depending on how I decide this should play out, the rest of the main cast from the anime/manga. Also, I haven't decided the pairing. I know it looks like Rivamika, but I feel more like it's going to be a brother-sister kind of thing. But everything has potential here. Your ideas?
Also, the first scene is NOT how the whole story will be. Granted, there will be blood, but it's not going to be especially violent. If you watched Attack on Titan without throwing up or screaming, you should be fine.