Prompt : Week 2 : i) gore/blood ii) fears/phobias iii) party
Rules: Tag your stuff as #levihan, #levihan spook fest, #levihanweek #week 2
Isabel, Levi's 18 year old sister, entered her kitchen and was instantly wowed by the gleaming kitchen countertop, wall and floor.
It was not this clean when I left it this morning, she thought.
Usually the colours of the wall and marble counter top was off white, and the floor a dark grey, and also covered in oil and grime. Isabel placed a finger on the table top and dragged it against the smooth clean counter. She glanced at the stove area, at the sink and the drying rack and found everything to be equally clean and sparkling. Isabel made a mental note to buy some pot coasters the next time she visit town.
Then she turned around to exit the kitchen got another surprise in the form of a slightly taller brother leaning on the wall of the kitchen's entrance.
"See that you have been busy with life and not doing any cleaning," the brother commented.
Isabel replied by jumping him, "Ahh it's good to see you too!"
Her brother smiled as he patted the girl on her back just before she let go.
"Thank you Aniki for helping m, I am so super busy and in the middle of my final examination and only will be free next week. Hey, at least I did a lot of cooking at home instead of eating out and spending money." Isabel then placed her hands on Levi's shoulders and turned him around, "For your hard work let me make you tea. Go sit in the front."
Seeing that her brother did as told she re-entered the kitchen to make tea. Isabel lived with her other adopted brother, 20 year old Farlan who went to Shiganshina Vocational College after signing up with the Reserve Army. They had followed Levi since they were his legal 'children' to take advantage of the free education and house provided by the army. Despite Shiganshina being among the nearest planet to human's protective wall where danger lurks everyday, life in Shiganshina was pretty good. Though they were Levi's legally adopted children, Isabel and Farlan saw him as their big brother.
After she was finished preparing a pot of tea, she placed the pot on a tray with three sets of cups and plates and headed out.
"Levi, Aniki, how's the security at Maria?" Isabel asked as she set down the tray on the table and began pouring a cup for Levi. She missed calling his name and if she wasn't way younger than Levi she would've called him by name, but at the same time calling him Aniki makes her feel loved and protected.
Levi rolled his eyes as he answered her, "Same old, same old, with a dash of shitty Titan every few months."
Levi eyed the tea, he was picky with his tea preparation but he trusted Isabel to know his preferences.
"They don't know how to quit those stupid titans, how many usually?" Isabel asked.
"Usually only a small ship with twenty or less Titans. The big Titan ships had not come for years, the last time since I joined the army, that was six years ago according to Captain Erwin."
Isabel didn't know much about Titan, never seen a book on it nor having experience fighting it. But she had seen the Scouting Legion recruitment video to know that they were larger than human, naked, acts stupid and had no genitals. It was also a curiosity of hers how the Titan managed to not breathe before entering Wall Maria's atmosphere.
"How are school and training?" Levi asked as he sipped his tea. As citizens nearest to Wall Maria, Isabel and Farlan had to go to training as they were all drafted into the Reserve Army upon turning 15. However their training hours were much less than Levi's.
"Training's fun, and school is alright. I managed to get a B+ average. Anyway, we are training on the 3DMG this week and passed the beginner's stage with flying colours. It's hard to pretend to be a newbie at 3DMG."
Levi smiled as he reminisced the secret training he did with Isabel and Farlan. Civilians weren't allowed to handle the 3DMG but Levi had special clearance as a high ranking officer so he brought his home. He wanted his loved ones to be able to use them in case the Reserve Army were called into duty.
As the siblings chat about other mundane things the main door to the two room apartment opened and Farlan walked in. "Levi, you're home. How's the journey?"
"Farlan, you're just in time. Come have tea," Isabel cut his question with an invitation to eaT.
Farlan set down his bag on a low table and lifted a plastic bag in his hand, "And I also brought cake when I received the message that our beloved brother is back."
"Great, I even prepared a knife and plates already. Wash your hands first," Isabel said cheerfully.
Farlan deposited the cake on the table and bowed down to give Levi a quick hug before entering the kitchen. Isabel looked fondly at her two brothers and realized that moments like these were rare. Ever since she came to know Levi and Farlan, they had depended on each other until Aniki was acquired by the military. Instead of staying back they followed him. Isabel noticed that Levi was looking at her with a questioning look, so she decided to entertain his concern with something else.
"My friends wondered if I have germaphobia after I kept asking people to wash their hands before touching my food. It's good to practice hygiene right Aniki? I wasn't being picky, they were acting gross constantly touching my food instead of just picking one and eating it. They all tasted the same coming from the same batch of cooking," Isabel said as she began cutting the cake.
"Tchhh, just find new ones if they can't appreciate being clean. If they see the state of your kitchen that's proof enough that you don't have germaphobia," Levi said.
Isabel laughed, her Aniki instead has some level of germaphobia always washing his hands multiple times if there were a sink and soap nearby. But she doubted that Aniki actually had germaphobia since he never minded touching dirty things when the situation needed it. She had heard Farlan telling her about Levi holding a seriously injured soldier's hand when they needed comfort, how Farlan knew that she was not sure. He was a great captain and Isabel knew she and Farlan would emulate him when they are finally soldiers themselves, always respect your comrades no matter how shitty the situation is.
Talking about comrades, Isabel remembered one of Levi's colleagues from the army though it had been years ago. Actually she met the colleague almost a decade ago, when Isabel and Farlan were still children. They came to visit Levi during his early years at Wall Maria during an open day there. She remembered that colleague because she was the only person who acknowledged them. At the time they were waiting for lunch being prepared but since there were so many visitors they had to wait outside under the hot sun. A soldier wearing a lab coat with army tag approached them and praised Levi for his awesome 3DMG skill despite being a newbie. The person saw how thirsty Isabel was and apologized for not being able to provide them a bottle of water but instead handed her a pack of candy. The sugary stuff had perked up little hungry Isabel.
"Tell us about your life over there Aniki, it's always about us here first. We are leading a good life here, now I want to know about your life there. How's that girlfriend of yours from the military?
Levi being meticulous about information quickly realized they were talking about none other than, "You mean Hange? That's a long time ago you."
Isabel instantly remembered the name from her buried memory, "Yeah, Miss Hange Zoe. Is she still around? I've got a jumbo pack in my room."
Levi couldn't tell them about Hange currently being grounded after breaking army laws a few months ago so he settled on telling them a modified version of her current status.
"She is at Stohess Uni lending her expertise there. She'll be back after her stint there ends which is right around January," he said.
"Oh, if we ever go there again I wanna visit her, or maybe she could come here. But she has family she wants to celebrate new year with right?"
Farlan walked into the room and sat down with them. "What did I miss?" he asked.
"I was asking Aniki about Miss Zoe, the nice one with candy from Aniki's unit."
Farlan didn't quite remember who Miss Zoe since it was long time ago but he remembered the candy which became Isabel's fave candy until now. He just nodded at Isabel and picked up a slice of cake and asked, "How's the cake?"
"I don't know, let's taste it," Levi said as he picked one and took a bite. He chewed it and swallowed while Isabel and Farlan scrutinized his face. "It does not smell or taste like crap," he said smiling.
"The bakery is well known for its cleanliness, and it's only an ordinary sponge cake which I hadn't eaten for a long time," Farlan replied before biting into his.
Isabel saw the smile forming on Levi's face and saw how Levi's tired face had relaxed compared to when she saw him first in the kitchen looking sleep deprived and tense. She then looked at Farlan and saw him already on his second piece of cake, and happiness settled in her heart. She smiled at how easy and sweet the moment was. Levi was here and would be for the next two weeks since he is on his quarter year break. She would definitely cherish this moment until his next visit in another few months.
Levi looked at his family adoringly. It didn't matter that he adopted them in the most unconventional way. He met them twelve years ago at a detention center in the underworld. They were held for questioning regarding a syndicate but was soon released when the real culprits were caught. By the time they were released, Isabel's and Farlan's foster families had fled the underground for somewhere else and left them homeless. Levi had bonded with them and offered his house and so they lived together working odd jobs together.
In the Underworld, Levi worked as a dispatcher delivering questionable parcels for anonymous parties. That was his main job among other errands until the army came to the underground and proceeded to lower the high crime rates by detaining almost everyone. And fate destined Captain Erwin to meet Levi there. After seeing Levi using the 3DMG to escape, he caught up with him after a few struggles and offered Levi to lend his skills with the Survey Legion in exchange for a clean slate. Erwin also suggested that Levi legally adopt Isabel and Farlan so they could receive benefits as family of a military personnel. So at 23 Levi legally became adopted father to Isabel and Farlan. But as they had known him when he was way younger they were more familiar in addressing him as a brother compared to a father figure. However Levi's love for them was boundless regardless of how they see him, as a brother or a father.
When his mother died Levi did not feel much, he was aware of her death as death was a constant occurrence where they live. She had not woken up from her bed for weeks and he was only feeding from the left overs of their neighbours who also had little to none. Levi at age 9 was aware that his mom hadn't worked for weeks and people kept coming to their room asking for payments. No one wanted to take him in since his mother promised to pay them back soon, and Levi was looking too frail to be someone's workers anyway. People thought he was five when he was almost nine at the time, he was physically small from lack of nutrition and Kuchel was a petite woman.
Then one day his mother didn't move at all nor did she make any sound and Levi knew then she was finally gone. Not long after a man came and he seemed to know Levi's mother. He took Levi away after paying a sum to Levi's mother's boss. Levi didn't know what they did to her body or whether she had a funeral ceremony, but Kenny promised that he erected a tombstone for his mother which he could visit later. So losing family member wasn't a new issue with Levi, he just preferred for it to not happen again. Now his siblings had enlisted with the Reserve Army so even if he did not like it he had to accept it. Sending them back to the Underground was not a choice since they were leading a fulfilling life albeit a hazardous existence in Shiganshina.
After tea Levi retreated to Farlan's room, as Farlan insisted on it saying that Levi really needed to sleep for the next week. Farlan bunked in front of the TV armed with layers of comforters. They had seen Levi's eye bags and preferred that he rest well during his break. Levi couldn't say no to the overwhelming love his family was giving him and obliged. He was home.
Levi entered Farlan's room where his adopted brother had already placed a fresh sheet on his bed along with Levi's old pillows. Levi smiled at the teenager's room with posters of race ships on the wall and a study table full of unorganized mess. He sighed and walked to the table to arrange the books and pieces of paper into a more peaceful looking arrangement. He decided to spring clean the apartment properly the next morning since it was a Sunday and his siblings were home. He would reward them with nice home cooked meals for the next week. He had also planned to teach Farlan some simple recipes since Isabel was getting tired of being the only one able to cook between the two of them. Farlan usually preferred to pack food from the stalls outside which Levi deemed unclean.
As Levi further planned his off days so ahead of time he saw Isabel's favourite candy on Farlan's bedside table. He picked it up and inspected it closer and it reminded him of Hange. Hange always offered the candy to him when they were sitting in a long ass meeting. She was one of a kind he thought, somedays annoying as hell but most days a good companion to have around. She was intelligent and she was a bundle of energy. Since they worked side by side in the Scouting Legion for a decade now, Levi trusted her.
Hange Zoe started as a scientist with the Scouting Legion, but since could handle the fighting side of the legion she signed up as a soldier and underwent training. She had always taken extraordinary measures to collect data for her Titan study, which was backed by Squad Leader Erwin and Commander Keith though they often ran out of funds because of political agenda. The day Hange decided to perform her experiment on the ground was the day Keith and Erwin came back from another emergency budget cut. Since she broke army laws and her being there was redundant, Commander Keith shipped her to Stohess Uni both as an example and punishment. It was also a cost cutting measure as during relative peacetime when Titan attacks were rare budget cuts were frequent. Levi had not thought about Hange for a while now. He then remembered his comm tab and fetched it from his backpack.
It turned out that Hange had sent him an email while he was cleaning the kitchen. He read the email and replied to her. He had not communicated with her for awhile and wondered if she had ditched her shitty glasses and turn into one of the proper looking lecturers. He doubted she changed much physically since she was a lazy ass in the grooming department. He wondered whether she will return to Wall Maria with changes in her attitude, but he hoped that she had not changed much. He liked her just the way she was, intelligent but organized mess at the same time, he missed nagging at her filthiness, and in the quiet of Farlan's room he admitted that he kind of missed her now that he had time to think peacefully. Should he send her something from Shiganshina? No, he thought it was better to ask her for souvenir from Stohess. He heard that the tea there was good.