Levi's stomach growled. He haven't eaten in three days. Life in the underground city is hard and despite being only twelve, majority fear him especially since he's known for his fighting skills. Usually he fight in an arena where people would bet and if he wins, which is always, he earn money to feed himself but due to this year's food shortages, people rarely spend money on entertainment.
He head towards the tunnel leading to the stairway all the way to the outside world thinking about stealing some food.
He squinted when he reaches all the way up. The sun is usually this bright but living in the dark underground makes him not used to brightness. The area near the entrance of the tunnel is usually empty and he walked further until he reaches the town area.
The town is pretty quiet today. Probably due to the food shortages.
'They're all empty' he looked at the stores nearby 'It's hard to steal when they're empty'
"Dad! I wanted to see the government building!"
"Alex don't run!"
Levi turned and saw a family of three in the courtyard. The boy is around four years old and he has dark brown hair, the same color with his father's.
"Peter, we should go now" the woman said to her husband, she just exited the building. She has honey colored hair which she tied in a bun.
"Alright Anna" Peter said "Where's Petra?"
"I placed her in the babysitting service" Anna answered
"Where are we going?" Alex asked
"We're getting permission to get our own land son" Alex answered
"Why should we need permission?"
As the father rambled on while the family went away, Levi walked towards where they're standing at earlier and saw the store where the woman exited from. He looked through the window and saw babies in cribs. The window read "Catherine babysitting service"
He was about to leave but something caught his eye. It was a baby girl on his right. She didn't even look a year old and wasn't the prettiest baby in the room but there's something about her that draw him towards her.
She looked at him with her big round yellow-brown coloured eyes and he stared at her back. She surprised him by smiling at him showing him her toothless mouth. He glared at her in response but it only makes her smile wider and raised her arms towards him, wanted to be held and carried by him.
"What a weird baby" he said gruffly and shakes his head. He looked at the sticker showing her name on her crib 'Petra'
He looked at the store and there didn't seem to be anyone in there. His stomach growled so before anyone notices his presence, he went inside quietly and he approaches the table located behind the cribs. He opened the drawers and was dissapointed that he couldn't find any money.
He approaches the cribs, hoping that one of the babies have jewelries such as earrings or necklaces he could take. He manages to get three pairs of earrings and a necklace.
"Rich bastards" he said sourly. Only people living in the capital would think of baby jewelries. He stopped at the last crib where Petra is. Her baby clothes are plain and simple compared to the rest of the other babies in the room and she didn't have any jewelries on her. Levi can tell that she's not from a rich family compared with the rest of the babies.
She looked at him and gave him the same smile she did previously when he looked at her through the window. He raised his hand towards her and she grabbed his fingers with her small hands and played with it. His hand landed on her clothing and a piece of red ribbon is loose. He tug it until it's separated from her clothing and pocketed it.
She raised her arms towards him begging to be carried. He didn't know what came over him but unconsciouly he picked her up from the cradle. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head on his shoulder. He could feel her soft breathing on his neck.
The door inside the store suddenly opened and a woman emerged. She looked at him in surprise.
"Hey! Who are-"
Without thinking, he ran out of the store and headed towards the road leading him back towards the tunnel. Luckily the street is empty so there aren't many people who saw him especially when the lady comes out of the store and shouted for the police to go after him.
He hide in an empty alley and look around. When he saw that no one is following him, he quietly breathes a sigh of relief. He felt a soft hand on his cheeck and realized that he's still holding a baby.
"I'm going crazy" he muttered. He couldn't leave her at some random place but he also couldn't bring her back to that babysitting place. That woman would have him arrested. Petra's small hand keep stroking his cheeck and he saw her smiled at him. He leaned against the wall and sat while she's on his lap. He stroked her cheeck and she giggled in response.
'Soo soft' he never hold a baby before. He was raised under Kenny Ackerman until he reaches nine before he ran away from home into the underground city. He didn't realize that the sun started to go down and now it's already evening.
'I played with this baby for five hours?!' he thought to himself crazily, he didn't even feel hungry.
"What if something happened to her?!"
He heard a woman's cry and in the same courtyard near the store, Anna is kneeling on the ground with her husband Peter rubbing her back.
"I'm really sorry ma'am, I truly am" the storekeeper kneel down and apologized while crying. There are some police near them.
"How could happened to Petra?!" Annie cried out
Levi looked at the baby in his hold and saw Petra who's now playing with his shirt. He felt guilty for accidentally taking her and thought of ways of returning her towards her family until he saw Alex walking back and forth near the courtyard slightly further from his family.
He grabbed a small rock from the ground and aim it towards Alex. It manages to land near his feet enough to grab his attention. Alex stared and him and Levi made sure to shield Petra from him. Levi gestured Alex towards him. The younger boy carefully made his way towards him and before he reaches him, Levi placed Petra on top of the boxes. She looked at him without smile this time and grabbed his fingers tightly not wanting to let him go. He stroked her cheeck on last time before he swiftly climb into the roof of another building across hers and hide behind the roof.
He saw Alex who reaches the alley looked for him and found his little sister inside.
"MOM, DAD! I FOUND PETRA!"
Soon, Petra was in her parent's arms who are now crying happily. Levi almost left but he noticed Petra stared into his direction with one of her arms raised towards him. He forces himself to look away and swiftly climb down the roof heading towards the tunnel. On the way there, he reaches into his pocket feeling the earrings and necklace he took from the other babies earlier but his hand also feel something soft. He took the item which is a red ribbon he take from Petra earlier. He didn't know why he took it knowing that a ribbon of this quality won't cost much.
The jewelries provided him two weeks of meals. By that time, food shortages are fixed thanks to the government and he's back fighting to earn his meals. He put the ribbon in a box filled with his precious things.
That was the first time he laid eyes on her but it certainly wasn't the last.
...
"She's accelerating!" Eren shouted
All of them are on horseback away from the titan. Eren was about to bite his hand but Petra stopped him.
"Trust us on this!" Petra said loudly
Eren look conflicted for a moment before he lowered his hand. The female titan reaches her hand towards Eren.
"EREN!" Petra shouted. Levi look at his back where her hand are inches from Eren's body until a figure jumped in between the two and the hand grabbed it instead of Eren.
"PETRA!" Oluo shouted.
She wriggled in the female titan's grasp and uses her knife to cut the titan's hand. She uses her wire to engage with the titan.
Levi uses his wire and headed towards her but the female titan manages to grab her and raised her. Levi stared at the honey colored girl giving him a smile before her body is smash into a tree.
"Petra" Levi froze when he saw her figure falling from the tree and landed on the ground.
Suddenly there's smoke and a male titan puches the female titan into a clearing.
"Go assist Eren!" Levi ordered the three
"But Petra-" Oluo started
"I'll take care of it" Levi said
After the three left, he ran towards her and saw her broken form. There's a pool of blood forming in the ground below her. He stared at her and closes her eyes with his hand before he uses his wire towards the female titan and assisted his team in defeating her.
...
"There aren't that many casualties" Erwin stated. There's only five casualties including Petra. Two are from the support squad and the other two are from the right flank. The survey corps manages to get Annie who's shielding herself with her crystal.
Levi looked at her wrapped in a white cloth and bend down, pulling out a small knife, and cut the wings of freedom from her jacket. His four teammates including Eren, looking at her while choking back tears.
"We were too late" Eld whispered
"No" they all turned to Levi who said it "I was"
"We didn't have time to use the plan as well" Erwin stated "If only there is-"
"Let's go" Levi said, loading into his horse
"This titan is really fast" Dita said while loading crystal coated Annie into a carriage "It manages to pass both me and Siss"
After they took off, three titans chased after them.
"Drop the one of the body" Levi ordered the two people in the carriage
"But-"
"We can't retrieve all dead bodies from expeditions. These aren't special" he said
The two nodded and pushes one of the body off the carriage. Levi looked back and the wind blow the top of the white cloth revealing Petra's honey colored hair. He can't bring himself to look away and can only stare until he can't see her corpse anymore.
...
An hour after the survey corps left, a seven meter titan approaches the clear ground and saw a white cloth on the ground. She approaches further and lifted the cloth. Under the cloth is a girl with honey blonde hair with blood smearing her face. Suddenly, the girl opened her eyes and look at the titan before closing her eyes again.
The titan picked her up and run back making sure that the girl she carried didn't move around too much.
...
Levi can only froze when Petra's father started chatting about his daughter. He clenches his fist out of frustration and can't bring himself to tell her father that not only that she died but they also couldn't bring her body.
"Sir" he started and look at Peter in the eye
"She died didn't she?"
Levi look at him, slightly surprised at how the old man know.
"I can tell from yours and her teammate's looks" Peter said sadly while a tear escaped from his eyes
"I'm sorry" Levi apologized
"I know that the moment she put on that green cloak I have to prepare for the worst to happen but it still made me surprised and sad" Peter then patted Levi's shoulder
"Don't hold back if you can't. We're all humans after all"
Peter added to Levi before he left. Levi can't help picturing Peter returning back to his house telling Anna that their only daughter died. He could also picture the look on Petra's older brother, Alex, hearing the news while in capital working as a store owner and her younger brother, Albert, who's now thirteen.
"I'm sorry"
Levi turned and saw Erwin next to him. He noticed that the crowds instead of scorning them this time are now cheering at them but he didn't feel happy at all.
"For what?"
"If only we could execute the plan, maybe Petra won't-" Erwin started but Levi cut him off
"It doesn't matter"
Levi then left Erwin and headed towards his house in the capital. He needed to be alone.
...
"Who is she Terra?" a woman asked, there are three other people with her in the room
"I found her after they left. She's still alive, I saw her eyes opened" a little girl of eleven years old answered
The woman checked the girl's pulse and look at the wings of freedom in her green coat.
"Please save her!" the little girl begged
The people in the room look at the woman
"It's too dangerous, she's part of them" a man said
"Which is all the more reason to, it'll destroy their moral. Imagine fighting against a titan who's actually your old friend and comrade" the second man said "Besides, it's a good opportunity for us to try that new serum"
"Which one?" the woman asked
"The memory erasing one" the second man replied giving her a wicked smile
"I don't really care, just do it so I can go back to sleep" a third man said yawning looking disinterested
"Well I could use another experiment" the woman said and grabbed a needle
...
After Levi entered his flat, he went towards his drawer on his bedroom and bring out a brown dusty old box. He opened it and picked up a red ribbon. He ran it through his hands feeling the softness.
He sat on his chair and closed his eyes. Images of her being crushed into the tree repeated itself over and over again and this time not only he remembered Petra's but he also remembered Farlan and Isabel's deaths as well.
'I thought I learned from their deaths but I was wrong, in the end I still make the same mistake I did. I was too late to save her this time' he felt something wet trailing down on his cheeks and realized that he's crying. He wiped his tears away but more started to form.
'Everyday soldiers died and many around me died as well so why am I crying?!' he thought with frustration and keep repeating it hoping that his tears would stop but it didn't
...
Petra opened her eyes and saw four people looking at her. She couldn't make out their faces and she tried to move but her back hurts.
"This will be painful but bear with it" one them, a woman, said. She grabbed Petra's arm and injected a chemical in it.
Petra feel pain in her arms as if it's burning and the pain traveled all the way into her entire body. She couldn't hold back anymore and screamed.
She didn't know how long she screamed from the pain and after she lost her voice, she bite her lower lips soo hard that it bleed before she's unconscious from the pain.
"Give me the memory serum" the woman ordered. One of the men give her another needle with the serum in it.
"Her name is Petra" one of the men said while holding the green cloack with the name 'Petra' sewed on it. He yawned and placed it in a table.
"Well Petra" the woman hold the needle closer to the unconscious girl's arm "I hope you survived"
She injected the needle.