Another rivamika story for tumblr's rivamika week, this time i wrote a multichapter with a little bit of my "Ackerman theory", so beware, because there are a few SPOILERS ahead...
Disclaimer: Shingeki belongs to Isayama...if it was mine, Levi and Mikasa would be a couple already...
Steel Garden
1. Forget Me Nots
Erwin and Levi were locked in the office, at the light of the oil lamps, reading the latest private reports that Pixis had entrusted Erwin. Apparently, a new recruit had the ability to become titan at own will... more or less. The big problem was the loss of control experienced while doing so, apparently, the guy forgot most of his humanity. That had been demonstrated when he was ordered to grab and carry a rock large enough to seal the hole created by the colossal titan, the titan boy had tried to kill her sister, another recruit named Mikasa Ackerman.
Levi was startled by a thousandth of a second, that surname might not appear among the recruits only for coincidence
-Make sure the girl doesn't have anything to do with the military police Erwin –
-She is the adoptive sister of the titan boy, Levi, there is nothing to worry, Pixis said she dedicates herself to protect him, you saw her yourself Levi, the two of them and the young blonde boy with them were present at the tragedy of Shiganshina
-the Asian? It is that Mikasa Ackerman?
- Yes, that's why I insist she is no threat to us
- Tch - took a SIP of tea
- We must guarantee that Eren Jaeger joins the squadron Levi, if military police put hands over him we will lose valuable information and a key part to defeat the Titans and recover the wall María...
Levi wasn't listening anymore, his mind began to wander, looking for pictures of the time when he was also an Ackerman among his memories, finding the face of a beautiful woman, white complexion, almond-shaped eyes and long, black hair in a corner. His name could not be other than Mei. When he was no more than a scared child, Mei was almost a young adult, who certainly was there with Kenny to be exploited for her beauty.
Erwin terminated the meeting, asking for Levi to accompany him to see the Titan boy as soon as Pixis allowed it. So he continued to remember Mei...Wandering around the headquarters, he managed to remember that Mei slept well into the afternoon while the other guys and himself trained and ran around the terrain of the House until their legs did not respond to them. Before dinner, Mei was up and a walked through the garden, guarded by one of the older guys and, therefore, a man of trust for Kenny.
He remembered that boy as much as Mei, but never dared to ask him his name. One afternoon the Ackerman House received a shipment of 50 wooden boxes, filled with tableware and fine silverware, Levi could not hold his curiosity by the glittering glasses and the porcelain cups painted with floral motifs, so he took a couple out of the package. He knew he was never going to drink tea in one of these cups and much less would he share the wine in these cups, so it was enough for him to look at the little masterpieces... until Kenny came to the winery. He hit him beastly, as so often in the past, and put him under lock and key in the smallest room in the house; a room without bathroom and windows that most likely served as a closet before the arrival of all the children.
Three days would he be locked up in his small prison, seeing the light in the corridors only when the tall and blonde boy who was always accompanying Mei gave him water and cold soup in the latest hours of the night
-Hang in there for a while longer kiddo, you'll see, Kenny will get you out of here in a breathe
The small and still innocent Levi clung to the hope that the young man offered him and endured the best way he could the whole three days of his punishment. When he went out and saw the face of Kenny, understood that the ruthless man was impressed that he had survived and so, without knowing, the guy without a name gave Levi a slightly longer lasting gift... his rebelliousness.
Much later, when he was already the most valuable member of the Ackerman "family" for his incredible battle skills, Levi witnessed the biggest scandal he had memory of...Kenny appeared at dinnertime, screaming incomprehensible things and spitting all over the place like a dog with rabies; behind him walked like swarm the older guys, who did not leave closet without opening, then left on foot and on horseback not to return until two days later with the crushing news: Mei and his companion had escaped to never return again.
Other young women replaced Mei and life on that damn House continued as it was before, but the Levi's consciousness about his captivity never burned brighter than that time; It would be forever in his mind the idea that escape was possible, which he would eventually accomplish.
Once free, he never again think of Mei and the blond guy until this day, in which fate put him face to face with another Ackerman…
He imagined that the most plausible scenario was that the couple fled towards the outer wall to the smallest and most secluded community. To reduce the possibility of someone finding them,they adopted the surname of the man who in the internal walls could well have been as feared as a titan, and as was logical, they had started a family they believed was safe; but something had happened (Levi took a mental reminder to find out what had been) and the girl had finished in Shiganshina with an adoptive family...
When he saw her more carefully in Eren Jaeger's trial he had no doubt that she was Mei's daughter: she had inherited her beautiful features and her relative serenity, but when he saw her later on the battlefield, he realized that she had also inherited the ability to fight of his father, he saw fight with reckless clients more than once...Levi felt committed, to say the least, with Mikasa and the loss of his squad presented an opportunity to become her protector and her teacher.
It would be clear after a few training sessions that Mikasa was everything but docile, but was positively surprised by her unwavering discipline and the fast pace in which she learned every movement he tried to teach her. Levi surprised himself spellbound with his face when taking dinner and found her looking at him also when he went to supervise the stables.
He began to look for excuses to punish Jaeger without realizing it, because it was well known that minutes later Mikasa would be in his office, demanding him to withdraw the punishment from Eren. He complied most of the times, but others, for the pure pleasure of seeing the girl blushed with rage, with moist lips and messy hair, he retained the punishment and endured one little longer. In the end, Levi reminded her that he was still her superior and that she had no option other than suck it. She stormed out of the office and Jaeger secretly (but of course he knew).
When Hanji monopolized the Titan boy with her experiments, Levi saw Mikasa in his office to try to teach her offensive and defensive techniques which would help her in the following mission; It was then when the young woman was more quiet by his side, asking occasional questions and approaching him without the aim of hurting him. Then Levi took advantage to study her factions and let himself be surrounded by her fresh smell of forest.
One afternoon that the legion received orders for a new expedition, Mikasa went to his office, concerned that Eren would be positioned far from Levi and herself for the first time. He tried to listen to her fears and when she fell silent, he dared to say:
- do you trust me, Mikasa? – he savored her first name coming out of his lips
-Yes -was the plain response he got
-you must also rely on Erwin then, he is the most intelligent man I know, and if he considers that Jaeger will be safe, then I hope that he will
mikasa bit her lower lip - and if something goes wrong?-
-Then I'll be there to control the situation
She nodded and went out quietly. Levi stayed there, in his seat, suddenly overwhelmed by fear... fear to not fulfill what he had implicitly promised to Mikasa, fear of not being able to protect her now that she had become inadvertently a central part in his life.
He suffered quietly a few minutes whe he understood that the need of protecting her as a symbol of gratitude towards their parents had slowly transformed into a love he could not find a source or a time…
He loved her, he loved her desperately, and he needed for her to be safe and sound. He could not afford losing someone else…
When he was more calm, he thanked the heavens while sipping on his afternoon tea for every little causality that led him to find Mikasa at this time, when the answers for the titan mistery were so close to them, and when the Ackerman House was just a bad memory of his past. He held in his toughts Mei and the blonde man, the people who gave him without noticing the greatest strength he could ever want in his life: hope, rebelliousness, freedom an Mikasa Ackerman.
TBC...
