A/N: I do not own Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin. I do own a fish, though, so there's that.

- THE UPCOMING -

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Mikasa Ackerman was a fucking mess.

The idle girl looked at herself in the pristine mirror carefully, studying her pale face and chapped lips with her dark eyes. An unknowing eye would have automatically assumed the Asian to be a simple girl, with no past or future to shed a tear towards.

But as soon as her long sleeves began to roll back, her trousers replaced with shorts and the makeup that she had carefully painted onto her face was wiped off, they would have seen every bruise, every scar that her body had ever held.

Mikasa reminds herself often that she had chosen her own path.

That it wasn't held against her will, that in a way she had inflicted those bruises herself.

She reminds herself that it was because of her that everyone she had ever loved was caught in a web that she had unknowingly woven with her own hands.

With a gentle sigh, Mikasa closed her eyes as she began to wrap her red scarf around the lower area of her face and neck as a pitiful way to conceal her identity for the upcoming fight.

The light from passing cars flashed in her dark room as she carefully wrapped her used handwraps around her wrists and knuckles, pulling the material tightly as she patiently completed her ritual.

Her eyes occasionally glanced towards her smart phone, waiting for the screen to briefly light up the dimly lit room, alerting her that her ride for tonight's match has arrived outside the apartment.

Mikasa stood up from her seat once she completed wrapping her fists and walked to the center of her bedroom, where there was no furniture in her way. Although, it wouldn't have made a difference if she had decided to move to any other area inside the room. It was practically bare, save for the vanity sitting across the door and the plain mattress placed onto the dirt-free floor. (Levi probably would have killed her before she could even think about tracking the apartment with her dirty shoes.)

The seventeen year old threw a few punches into the air, using her left hand to jab the space in front of her, bouncing between her toes lightly. Mikasa hadn't put on her black belt for a good seven years, but the karate moves and kickboxing combos Levi showed her less than a year ago came easy.

Mikasa's phone vibrated twice, the sound similar to the "thump thump" of her heartbeat. She could easily distinguish the beating sound in her ears if they were either from her cell phone or her own body. Usually, her heart would be pumping furiously for a few moments thanks to a certain brunet named Eren Jaeger, a feeling that would last a few moments until the butterflies growing in her stomach would finally settle down. On the other hand, her phone would beat for a fleeting two seconds before ending abruptly. That, and of course her phone would be fucking louder than her heartbeat. It was meant to gain her attention.

Frozen in place, the familiar rhythm allowed a pair of expressive green eyes to make a guest appearance into Mikasa's mind once again. She blinked towards the phone in silently. (What would Eren think of her if he found out that she had been participating in a fight club? Concerned? Angry?)

Suddenly, Mikasa snatched the phone from the wooden vanity, shoving it into her pocket as she grabbed a black sweater hanging off of her door knob.

Without turning her back, Mikasa slammed the door to her room shut before exiting the empty apartment. The scarf-clad girl had no worries towards the thought of Levi finding out about her "activities." He was the one who suggested the idea to her, supporting her rash decision in legitimately joining the ring with emotionless eyes.

Mikasa tied her converse knock-offs before locking the door to their apartment, jogging lightly towards the entrance and exit doors. She wasn't exactly nervous about the risk of her losing to her opponents.

By now, Mikasa was already used to winning.

- PRESENT -

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"I'm not taking her."

Petra stared at Levi dumbfounded, her mouth wide open and left eye twitching. She was about to speak against the man before Erwin interrupted her before she could even open her mouth.

"Levi, you're her only existing relative left. Make this easier for the social workers."

"She's what, sixteen? Girls her age are only going to shit over everything I own and take my money. She's old enough for emancipation, anyways."

Levi took another sip from his tea cup as he stared at Erwin across from him on his old couch, the colour already fading from overuse.

"Her parents were killed, Levi. She's probably too traumatized to take care of herself after all of that," Erwin continued.

The shorter man scoffed. "If she's really related to me, then she's probably perfectly capable of handling it."

Erwin sighed, suppressing the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. Petra sat beside him, frowning down at the warm cup of tea in her hands instead of the apathetic man in front of her.

"Think about it," Petra started. "Who knows? Mikasa probably won't be that bad. Besides, maybe taking a break from living alone will be a nice experience!"

Before Levi could respond, Erwin spoke up. "I understand that you have some financial problems at hand, but at the age of sixteen-"

"-Financial problems?" Petra repeated his words out loud, raising an arched eyebrow at her coworker. "You never told me anything about that."

The man in question sighed, briefly gazing at his wall clock before standing up from his seat with the empty ceramic cup in his hand.

"It's not your business, Petra. It's getting late and I have work tomorrow. You two should probably leave now."

Petra looked at Levi questioningly before rising from her chair, her movements synchronized with Erwin as they gathered their tea cups from the old coffee table.

Levi watched the two with apathetic eyes as they made their way into the small kitchen. Their concern for him and the younger girl were evident, and he couldn't be any more gracious, however the choice to take in his relative was purely for him to decide. Help was unnecessary.

He glanced towards the unopened envelope lying on the counter. Levi could easily rip it into two if he wanted to. Burn the material. Hell, he could fucking eat the unsigned documents whole and shit it out hours later if he wanted to. (But of course he wouldn't, because that would have been melodramatic and disgusting.)

Or, Levi could simply throw the paper into the recycle bin. Trash, even, just to make sure that the documents wouldn't come back to haunt him in any other form to eat away at his guilt.

In a way, her life was practically in his hands. Levi had the power to ship her to Japan, or Europe, anywhere else her other surviving relatives were currently living. (Did she even have any other relatives besides him?) He could keep her in the orphanage, or even throw the poor girl out into the streets because if he had managed to do it, then why can't she?

Levi blinked. The social worker's must have been idiotic to believe that giving him the power of deciding this girl's future was a good idea. But then again, maybe their decision for her path would have ended up in even worse results compared to his.

"We will see you tomorrow."

Erwin's voice shook Levi out of his train of thought. The shorter man simply nodded in response.

Petra sent Levi a weak smile before making her way out of the apartment, Erwin blinking at Levi once more before trailing behind the shorter woman in the narrow hallway.

When the two left, he slammed the door shut, staring the unsigned forms once again.

Levi stared at the sheets for several moments before heading towards them, sighing deeply as he grabbed a dark blue disposable pen lying on the counter an arm's length away that he should have put away hours ago.

The contract was practically three miles long. The print was extremely tiny, to the point where the reader would have to squint in order to comprehend the writing. Levi had gone through all the forms earlier, reading them at least four times but even now it still felt like he hadn't completely scoured through all of the papers.

Flipping the page over, Levi was greeted with blank boxes and empty spaces filling the sheet of paper, slapping him in the face. His stomach plummeted at the thought of completing all of the paperwork. (Wait, what? Was he actually going to be doing all of this?)

Levi's head shot up, his eyebrows furrowing in thought.

He looked around the empty apartment, the sound of cars honking and driving past the building filling in the silence. The living area was small. Even though he did his best to make sure the apartment was pristine clean with no clutter at all, there was barely enough space as it was for another person to live in.

Once, he managed to live peacefully with two other roommates, and miraculously, Levi even grew fond of them. (What a disastrous tragedy that turned out to be later on.)

But not only did he have to worry about the living space, Levi also had the frighteningly low numbers on his bank account. A few years back, he had taken various illegal jobs to help make ends meet before, but for now he was positive he didn't want to go back into the business anytime soon. (Too risky. It could bring a lot of people that he talked to on a daily basis in trouble.) His younger cousin would most likely have to take up a job in order to contribute to their living situation.

"Mikasa Ackerman," Levi whispered to himself. He breathed in deeply through his nose, his decision settled and carved into stone. "Hopefully I won't have to teach you in my class. Having your guardian as your homeroom teacher as well would be pretty shitty."

A/N: yeah expect more characters to come in, of course. i was supposed to write this ages ago and didn't do it until now, mainly bc the success of my other friend prompted me to start doing something productive so here i am. the first little half was just a little show of what would be happening, basically a prologue, and i have a lot of action scenes planned out. favourite/follow/reviewing would be very helpful, because that is what motivates me to write and i am going to go zoom into space now and leave bai