"Bonne mère de soirée, bon père de soirée", muttered Levi to his parent's graves.
"Today was a tedious first day at work, you'd think being a private detective was child's play.", chuckled Levi.
He always looked up to his parents when he was a child, always mimicked his parents, they were his idols, the best detectives in the city. " One day, you'll be the best, Levi cher", his mom would tell him. It's been eighteen years now, how time flies, one day they were with him, the next day they die in a gas leak accident at work.
"Its my 25th birthday today", he smiled a sad smile that didn't reach his eyes, "I love you, thank you both, for the gift of life".
Mikasa was always surrounded by death, from the moment she first breathed air, she exhaled death, like a poisonous flower, she thought to herself.
Her eyes started tearing up, she hastily said hello to her birth mother's grave-whom she's visited countless times in her life- and walked towards her family's grave, the Jaegers, the only family she ever knew, gone. "Mom, dad, Eren", she whispered, "I really miss you".
She quickly wiped her tears away; she hated crying in front of the dead, it disturbed their peace. "I felt like visiting you after my first day at Nursuring School, just when I thought I could finally live with you guys again, death takes you away from me".
It was her father's idea, he insisted on sending her to a boarding school for the elite students in Europe when she was 11. Last year, only weeks before she came back for vacation, a hellish fire devoured the whole house at night, turning her family to dust, turning everything to ash, people only noticed when it was too late, since her family lived in a remote area.
Mikasa was traumatised, spent days and nights crying in her little room in the boarding school, she had no where else to go, no one left to love her. She passed her last school year in a trance, and now here she was, trying hard, to keep moving forward. Never give up, Eren always said, she is fighting, trying to live, if not for herself, then at least for her brother.
Levi bid his goodbye and was walking out of the cemetery, when he noticed a tall and slim figure with short black hair at the Jaeger's graves. This must be their stepdaughter, he thought incredulously. Levi sympathised the poor girl, he didn't even realise he was walking towards her until she turned around and glanced at him with the saddest eyes he'd ever seen.
"Uhm, hello, you must be Mikasa?"
The girl's dark wet eyes widened a bit, "Hi, uhm, yes I am, I'm sorry, but have we met before?" she asked in a serious semi-embarrassed manner.
Levi smiled his dry smile, "No, it's just the Jaegers, I was part of the investigating team, you must be their daughter. I'm sorry for your loss", Levi said,
Mikasa nodded appreciatingly. " Thank you, I'm sorry for yours too".
"Apologies for interrupting your visit", Levi said curtly.
"It's alright, I was leaving anyway, it was nice meeting you mister?",
"Levi Bonhomme, just call me Levi, and the pleasure is mine", they shook hands. "If you need anything, please don't hesitate to give our agency a visit", he gave her his business card.
Mikasa smiled, read Levi Bonhomme, private detective with all his contact information, address, and office number. "Okay, sure I'll keep that in mind, thank you".
She said goodbye, and walked away brusquely her red scarf flailing in the wind, she was disoriented, a handsome stranger approaches her and offers her help, who coincidentally knows about her family, Mikasa felt a bit skeptic about that, she almost threw his business card but then thought better of it and put it in her bag, you never know when you'd need someone like that, she thought to herself.
"Destiny is usually just around the corner. Like a thief, a hooker, or a lottery vendor: its three most common personifications. But what destiny does not do is home visits. You have to go for it." -Shadow of the Wind
"Here's your check dear", the plump waitress said enthusiastically,
"Thank you ma'am", said Mikasa, closing the book she was reading. It was getting pretty late and the coffee shop was starting to get crowded. A good sign for me to leave, she thought.
It's been a long first week, and Mikasa couldn't help but think about Levi and what he could know about her folks. She never really understood how a whole house would turn to ashes like this, did they not smell smoke at all? Were they that deep in sleep? It never really left her mind, but the more she thought about it the more confused it made her. Her mom was a kind housewife, her father an honorable doctor; Eren was a normal high school student like her, so why would she think that anyone would want to harm them? She shook off the morbid thoughts.
"What the hell do you think you're doing Blondie?" barked Levi at his apprentice, Armin was sitting on the floor with countless files sprawled around him, every one of the steel cabinets open with many lettered cases. Other than the mess on the ground the room was spotless. An elegant black wooden desk in front of the window, one wall covered entirely with a black wooden bookshelf, it was mostly filled with books and magazines, but the first two rows were covered with medals and countless certificates and other useless prizes Levi got from work.
"I go grab a coffee and you start sniffing through my stuff and turning my office into a mess? And I though I told you that file is off limits".
"But the Jaeger's case is itching my nerves sir, I never knew he was a forensic doctor working here in the past!" Armin's eyes were bright, its like he got off on knowing things.
"Oh for the love of God, I didn't ask for a kid, give me that", Levi grabbed the file.
"Hey a picture fell down" Armin held the photo, "Oh isn't this dr. jaeger ? And who're these two? OH! These are your parents aren't they; you totally look like them! That's epic! Did they all work together? And who's this third guy?",
Levi sighed, "Yeah, these are my parents, and that's dr. Grisha Jaeger alright, and his colleague, they worked here a long time ago. Now give me the damn photo please, and forget about this case, it's closed anyway".
Armin was clearly downhearted "if it's closed anyway then why can't I read it?",
Levi rubbed his temples, "If I give it to you will you get off my neck",
"yes sir!" Armin said with renewed excitement.
"But give me the photo, you don't need it anyway".
"Alright! Thank you very much sir, have a good weekend sir!" Armin embraced the file like a kid holding his brand new toy and practically hopped out of the office.
"If you lose it then don't bother coming back to work Arlert!" shouted Levi behind him. I hope I don't regret this, he thought to himself.
