I

Levi stared in the distance, hands tucked in his pockets. Beside him, his partner, First Class investigator Petra Ral, tightened her grip on her suitcase. The wind blew, her locks of hair sweeping and hiding her hazel eyes. Levi was staring ahead, as if he could see everything happening in the Wards below him. The rain was obscuring the view, and all they could see were glimmering dots in the darkness. Well, she assumed he was seeing the same thing.

"Sir, maybe we should–"

He held one finger in her direction to silence her. His eyes narrowed and he titled his chin higher. Thunder ripped apart the sky, and the lighting made him like an avenging god. He was the only investigator in CCG to wear a black coat instead of their traditional white. It made his skin ever paler and his steely eyes glint like a hawk looking down on his prey. He then glanced at her, his gaze so intense that she almost flinched.

"Let's do this."

He picked his suitcase and leaped from the building. Petra gasped in horror and rushed to the edge, careful not to slip on the wet metal. She saw nothing but something shifting in the shadows. Her heart clenched as she imagined the man plummeting to the ground, but then again she knew better than to underestimate her superior. Still, he should've considered warning her! A burst of light forced her to blink away, her retinas burning. Then, her ears perked up as she heard a familiar whooshing sound. Levi was standing in nothingness in front of her, wings sprouting from his shoulder blades. They were crackling, sheer energy emanating for them. The rain sizzled as it touched the ukaku kagune. He was known for his Quinque, a strong and deadly pair of wings, one coloured white and the other navy blue – Flügel di Freiheit, it was named.

"We're moving to the 11th Ward." She nodded nervously, wondering how she would manage to reach him in time. Her eyes surely reflected her questioning because he added, "I'll wait for you."

Of course you won't, she sighed inwardly. "Alright," was her voiced response. "I'll hurry, sir."

Wordlessly, he swivelled and soared in the sky. She watched him until he vanished in the grey clouds, hoping he wouldn't get too wet and catch a cold. Then she spun on her heels and climbed down stairs four at a time, almost breaking her neck as she nearly missed her footing. She had worked for a while with CCG's youngest senior investigator to know he never waited for others. She had never dared asking why, but using what little knowledge she had of him and her feminine intuition, she went as far as to explain it with the need for protection. Levi knew he was good – hell, he was outstanding – but he knew his limits. He preferred pushing himself first and then let others on the scene if he had been drained. So it was the way he worked. Still, Petra found it difficult as his subordinate to be forced to fall back when she knew she could help. She had been trained to slay ghouls at the Academy and had sworn to perform her duty; why wouldn't he let her do her damn job?

Fortunately, they had been standing on the borders of the 10th Ward, so she didn't have to run through an entire district. She had done it once, and when she'd reached him he was sitting with six dead Ghouls around him. Not this time. She dashed in the empty streets, rain hitting her coat and boots splashing in puddles. The 11th Ward was still evacuated, so she didn't have to dodge people in her race. It made it far easier but the atmosphere seemed heavier, gloomier, and the shadows seemed to close on her. Was a ghoul lurking around and considering her as his next meal? She ground her teeth together, refusing to let this vicious poison called fear creep in her veins and focused on the goal instead. If Levi had thrown himself headfirst in these shadows, then it was her duty to bring him back from them unharmed. Even if it cost her a limb or her life.

A bloodcurdling sound broke the thundering of the rain. Its source was near. If the source was near, so was the executioner. With renewed energy, she sprinted on the left, her breath coming in short pants. She was ready. She was ready since her assignment with Levi, since her graduation, since the beginning of her training. When she rounded a corner, she found her superior standing atop a building, his face as stoical as ever. He was gazing down on a gigantic, twitching form in the darkness of the alley. She had never seen a ghoul this huge before, or perhaps it was only its kagune which made him look even more colossal. The ghoul turned to stare at her; Petra froze. One red eye was glowing in the darkness. Only one.

"What the–?"

Before she could finish, a red tentacle shot from the darkness but she had anticipated the move. She activated her Quinque, which materialised just in time to ward off the attack. Still, the impact pushed her back of a few meters. She whirled her Quinque away and the tentacle drew back, curling upward as it aimed for Levi's position. It lunged at the building with so much speed she saw nothing but a blur, yet the ghoul's target had disappeared. Levi was standing beside her. She didn't have to turn around to know; she could sense his imposing presence.

"One-eyed ghouls are very rare," he informed her calmly, as if talking over a cup of coffee. "I've never seen one before."

"Hange would be ecstatic," Petra whispered, easily picturing the scientist bouncing around.

Levi huffed, "I don't care about shitty four-eyes. Our job's to eliminate it, period."

The ghoul had emerged from its hiding spot as they talked, staggering as if exhausted. Petra took a fighting stance; it was, indeed, a one-eyed ghoul. Its left eye was shining madly with this trademark all ghouls have, but the other was coloured of a peculiar combination of blue and green. Its kagune was jerking in its back, four tentacles with a diameter of a little less than a meter swinging wildly in the air. It was clear from the saliva dripping down its mouth that it was starving. She had fought hungry ghouls before and she knew how dangerous and unpredictable they were. However, luckily for her, her superior was an expert with this type. The one standing ahead was looking at them almost lustfully, tongue rolling over its lips as it surely dreamed of sinking its teeth in their flesh.

It straightened and its kagune hurtled toward them. Petra avoided the tentacle, sending her Quinque down on it as it was trying to curl around his legs. Levi used his wings to propel himself off ground and whacked a tentacle. His Quinque sparkled and then feathers were launched from it toward the ghoul like arrows. Its kagune retracted instinctively and the damage was nil. But little did it know it was the position Levi had expected. As Petra made sure to attack on the front to keep the ghoul busy, he had slipped behind the ghoul and withdrew another Quinque as a sword. With a graceful arc, he neatly cut the base of the ghoul's kagune.

The creature screeched, its back arching as the wound fought to regenerate. Yet Levi wasn't done. He slashed it until the tentacles crumbled to ashes, and then he plunged his sword in its abdomen. The ghoul's scream stayed in its throat, coming out as an agonising wheeze. Its fingers were riddled with spasms and its eyes were wide open. Levi thrust his sword again with the same fierceness and surgical precision. Twice. Thrice. When the Quinque was finally withdrawn from its body, it collapsed on its knees like a puppet caught from its strings. The investigator delivered a swift kick in its head which sent him careening down at Petra's feet.

The body seemed squashy as it fell in the mud. Its mouth was parted, chapped lips with no blood caking them. It was completely immobile, save for the heaving of its chest as it fought desperately for breath. Petra didn't put her Quinque away, knowing the ghoul could be faking weakness to make their guard drop. She observed the thin streams of blood leaving its body to pool around it. The rain made the crimson take a coral tint, but the mud made it almost indiscernible. In a macabre manner, the blood reached her shoes already stained with soil. The ghoul's body jolted and alarms went off in her head. She took a step back and then noticed its lips moving. The rain made it impossible for her to hear from this distance.

"My sword's covered in blood," Levi cringed as he wiped it with a scrunched nose.

"Sir, I think it's trying to say something."

His scowl deepened as his sword switched back to a seemingly inoffensive pen. He approached the creature, crouching down. The ghoul's eyes opened slowly, revealing two viridian orbs showing with an emotion she couldn't quite pinpoint. It didn't seem like hunger, or rage, or even mortification. Mirroring her superior, Petra crouched. She felt like she wasn't looking at a ghoul driven mad by hunger but a teenager beaten up by bullies. Its brown hair had lost its sheen, its body was emaciated and its features looked gaunt. Its lips were slack like they had given up. Levi, however, shook him roughly by the shoulders. A twinge of anger shot within her, but it wasn't aimed at the ghoul but at the investigator. Since when she had become defensive of ghouls? They devoured humans, for God's sake, wasn't that enough of a good reason?

"I don't have all day. Either you spit it out or you don't."

The ghoul blinked; the investigators didn't. Then it took a painful intake of breath as its eyes bore through them. It was almost inaudible, but its voice was like crystal slicing the air.

"Arigatō..."

Petra's heart skipped a beat. Did it really...? Levi didn't seem to believe it either. His usual emotionless mask had, even if for a second, cracked. The ghoul was still staring at them, and now Petra could identify the emotion. It was relief. It was gratefulness. Was this one suicidal? She had never heard of a case like this and despite Hange's advancements, she had never evoked this possibility in one of her many ramblings. Her eyes roamed again on its body and the thought occurred to her: Is it even a ghoul? It looked positively human – a bruised, battered and bloodied human but still a human.

Tentatively, she raised her hand. Levi's charcoal eyes immediately darted on her but she paid it no heed. Instead, she slowly brought it down on the ghoul's forehead and brushed the wisps of hair covering it. When she looked at the ghoul to see its expression, she noted it had closed its eyes. Levi stood up quietly and walked away.

"Sir, what are you–?"

"It'll die in a minute or so. Our job here is done."

This same foreign indignation pushed her to protest. "But sir, it just thanked us."

"One more reason to why our job is done."

"Sir, with all due respect, I think–"

Levi whirled around, growling, "You think? I'm your superior, Ral. Know your place."

Petra gulped and bowed her head. "I apologise, sir... but I still think we should do something."

"And what do you suggest? Let me guess, you want to drop it as a guest for Hange."

"You said so yourself that one-eyed ghouls are rare. I'm sure it can be useful."

She watched apprehensively the investigator weigh the two options carefully. Then he muttered something she couldn't catch before grimacing, "Fine. You carry it."

Petra nodded eagerly as she turned towards the still creature behind her. She removed her coat and tightened it around the ghoul's abdomen as a makeshift bandage. Then, she slung it on her shoulder as cautiously as she could so not to worsen its conditions and followed Levi who was already fading in the darkness with his wings shining like a beacon of light.