The Last Alternative
AN: We may not know the actual truth behind the Titans, but I have a theory that I will use in this fic. On that note, it's technically mostly spoiler-free since you can't tell the difference between what's been released in the manga and what I'm taking creative license with. Well, unless you don't know the identities of the Colossal and Armored titans.
Pairings: Some Levi/Mikasa, though the pairing will not be the focus of the story. Hints of French Fries (Jean/Sasha).
Genre: Suspense/Action/Mystery.
The moment she walked in, there were hands clutching at her sides. Mikasa lashed out intuitively, but they had been preparing for her every move, and sometimes the cleverness of humanity was a lot more dangerous than the strength of the titans. She felt herself being thrown into a chair, arms held down by some kind of curtains were drawn shut and the room darkened before she could see their faces.
"Quick, get the ropes!" The voice to her right yelled. Mikasa processed it immediately: female, twenties or thirties, medium-to-tall in height. Judging from the feel of the hands suddenly tying her arms, the second one was male.
She remained quiet while they tied her to the chair, only because she had never been used to screaming. They'd tried to sell her to the black market once and she hadn't uttered a word. Despite that, Mikasa could still feel herself shaking from fear. She'd always found it strange when the rest of the Scouting Legion called her fearless. She wasn't fearless. Fearlessness was for fools that got killed. She just wasn't afraid of titans, because there were better things to be afraid of. Like humans.
"All right, kiddo," the male voice to her left spoke as she squinted at him in the darkness. "Listen, we need to make this quick. You're going to tell us what happened out there. You're going to mention everything that Commander Erwin conveniently failed to write in his report."
Mikasa didn't say a word, but she could feel their eyes fixed on her. She looked down at the dark floor, trying to adjust her eyes to the dim light enough to see their faces. Apart from the two that had restrained her, there were three others in the room. She could hear their breathing.
The female voice sighed. "We should probably mention that we are not going to guarantee you your life in any way. In fact, we have to leave your corpse behind. You can decide whether it will be a pretty corpse or an ugly one."
They spoke with a very distinctive dialect. Mikasa tried to remember where she'd heard it, but all she could conclude was that they weren't from Wall Maria, where everyone spoke in the same uneducated lilt that she once had.
"Are you sure about that?" The voice went on, and suddenly they downturned her left hand on the chair, and there was something sharp at the point where her skin met her fingernail. "We already know that someone as young as you will start talking after a single fingernail. But you'll be in pain while you talk, and we'd much rather prevent that."
Mikasa gritted her teeth and forced herself to calm down, but she realized that there would be a larger chance of the rest of the Scouting Legion finding out if she held them at bay for a while. "Why do you want to know?" She asked quietly.
The knife inched further under her nail. "Those are private matters, girl. Nothing you need to be concerned about."
She tried again. "Do you know who I am?" It would be beneficial to know if they'd targeted her in particular, or if their goal had just been someone under Erwin's command who had been at Castle Utgard. And if they answered no, there was also a possibility that Eren was in the same position, in which case she would have to take a risk.
"Sure we do," the man scoffed. "Do you think we'd just happen upon the one person equal to a hundred soldiers in skill? It's too bad titan-fighting is a very narrow range of talent."
So they knew. Mikasa almost sighed in relief, because that meant Eren was safe. Having ascertained that, she fell back into silence again.
"Ok, let's make this a more organized procedure. How much does your group know about the walls? Did that 'Pastor Nick' of yours end up talking?"
She frowned. That was a strange question to ask. Mikasa had no idea where Pastor Nick was, and she'd only barely heard of the man's existence through Hanji's rambling. These people were assuming that she was privy to all their secrets because of her skill. The thought almost made her smile, because Corporal Levi didn't find it particularly useful to go around preaching all the knowledge he gained.
"I don't know."
She could almost hear his frown.
"Listen, kid, you're going to die here anyway. You're at the farthest end of the inn, and we have people installed downstairs to prevent any onlookers. No one will hear you, and there's no one you have to pretend to be loyal to. So loosen up and prevent yourself some pain."
Mikasa stopped listening and turned her attention to wondering who they were. They acted with all the decorum of street-thugs, but their dialects were well-refined and they were interested in what the Commander had left out, which meant they were high-up enough to know what he had reported. Was this the military police? No, that was improbable. She had heard that Commander Erwin was in good relations with the head of the Military.
She didn't notice the glaring pain until the nail of her smallest finger clattered to the floor. The knife that had gotten rid of it was poised under her nose, allowing her to smell the metallic stench of blood. Mikasa bit her lip to stop the scream of pain, because it was slowly growing, starting from her quivering finger and spreading fire up her arm. She didn't want to know what the spot looked like.
"We did try. Are you going to start speaking?"
Mikasa opened her mouth to say she didn't know, but she realized that would only encourage them to kill her faster. Instead, she tugged furiously at the ropes, managing to partially tear a section of one.
Almost immediately, her stomach blared with pain from someone's kick.
"Stop struggling, we don't want to waste any more rope on you-"
She didn't see anything while doubled up and trying to ignore the pulsing pain in her finger and middle, but the curtains were suddenly spread open, and she had to blink spots from her eyes as light filled the room. Within seconds, someone else was kneeling behind her, working a blade at her ropes. She turned back quickly and looked into the calm eyes of Corporal Levi.
"Sorry I'm late, brat. Don't let any of them get away," he instructed, pushing her off the chair.
Mikasa nodded and clenched her fist, heading for the closest one. It was the man from before who had ripped off her fingernail, a middle-aged guy with his hair streaked in white, holding his knife with a new sense of fear. She ignored the blade and drew her fist into his stomach, sending him crashing into the opposite wall. The pain in her finger faded from the rush of adrenaline.
"Hey-"
She turned to kick the woman behind her, stopping her mid-speech. As her capturer collapsed, Mikasa looked sharply around the room. The three others were in equal condition by the door, and Corporal Levi stood over them, patting his hands clean on his harnesses.
He looked back. "Are they unconscious?"
She turned to look at the two she'd taken down. "They are." That was when she noticed what they were wearing. "Corporal, are these people-"
"There's no time to chat, we have to leave. The others are in the cart we've prepared, and your maneuver gear is already there too," Levi interrupted. He looked back down at the three men by his feet. "Now what should we do with these bastards?..."
Mikasa watched as he took out his blade and placed it almost carefully against the first one's throat. For a second, she was convinced that the Corporal would do it. The metal glinted against the soldier's skin, yellowed under the evening light from the window. But as she looked on, he withdrew his blade, eyebrows furrowed.
"Never could kill a man," he muttered under his breath. "We'll just leave them here, then. Seems harmless to let them know they've been outwitted."
"Corporal Levi, sir," she spoke up, walking over to the one closest to her and inching her fingers under his throat. "If it's preferred, I could-"
"Don't do it, shitty brat. That's not something kids are supposed to be doing," he barked. "Just follow me out. We'll leave them to pay the rent for your room. That's punishment enough in this shitty economy."
She nodded, pattering after him as he swung himself out of the window and onto the roof of the two-story inn. As they walked along the roof-tiles, the streets below were starting to empty themselves of the more respectable people. It was late, after all. The only denizens out were the robbers and the thieves who wouldn't think twice about two people walking across a rooftop.
"Corporal, why did-"
"I should apologize," Levi told her in a thoroughly unapologetic tone. "We knew that would happen. It's why we gave you this room, actually. We needed someone to act as bait for the central military police. You were the only one that wouldn't scream and alert the inn-owners."
"So that's who they were?" She questioned as they inched along the outsides of the drainage pipes. "The Central Military Police?" She held her aching finger tightly, applying as much pressure as possible to still the throbs of pain.
"Yes. Erwin and Hanji just reported that they've killed Pastor Nick, and that we should get out before they come after us," Levi leapt down to street-level at the back of the inn building. His shoes clicked against the cobblestones as he pointed to the horse-drawn cart against the opposite wall.
"That's our cart. Get in the back with the others – yes, Eren is in there – pull the blankets up, and stay quiet. Though since it's you, I don't think I need to reiterate that. You're the brat who stayed silent while getting her nail pulled off." His eyes shone with a temporary humor before hardening again. "Keep that pressure against your finger, I'll take a look at it later."
She nodded, feeling the adrenaline seep away as the pain slowly returned in full, and then paused. "Corporal Levi, where exactly… are we going? Won't the military police be on patrol?"
"That potato girl in your division knows some cottage in the middle of nowhere where we can go to replenish supplies," he drawled. "So that's where we're going, brat."
Mikasa hesitated, and looked across at the cart. A slight shift in the rough cloth covering the back indicated that the rest of their team was probably hidden underneath it. It would be a good disguise out of Wall Sina, but where were they going after that? It had only been a few hours since Wall Rose was declared safe, and there would be military eyes scouting every inch of it for weeks.
"What are we going to do after that?" She asked again.
Levi crossed his arms. "We're going to fix this mess we call our world. Somehow. The central division of the military police is after us, but we can't wait around like shitty-glasses recommends. We're going to do something."
This was born from my realization that there aren't many plot-fics in this fandom, and there needs to be, because it has such a great and playable plot.
Feedback? I'd like to know where people think this is going.