Author's Note: Thank you Hanna for your review, it honestly made my day! This is a bit of a short chapter, so hopefully I'll get the next one up quick. Hopefully you all enjoy, though 3
Chapter Four: Drag Me Down
The sound of a cocking gun is terrifying; there is no doubt about that. It was also a sound Levi had never expected to hear and that was a bad thing.
That meant he was taken by surprise and he froze unexpectedly with this new problem, limbs momentarily stunned by this new scenario. Consequently the man responded equally fast as he watched the young thief tense in shock. The man tilted the gun away and lashed outwards, a leg connecting heavily with the young boys own legs. He swept them out from underneath him, sending Levi falling to the ground before he could even react. It was quickly followed by a sharp, painful kick to his left leg. It struck deep into the muscle and he suppressed a groan. The man knelt down beside his face, "you shouldn't have hit him." His voice was low, calm and dangerous, he moved to stand up, but at the last moment he lashed outwards once more, but this time with his fist. His fist met Levi's left cheek, and Levi felt his lip split on impact. He shakily got to his feet; he spat, blood falling to the floor. Breathing heavily he narrowed his eyes.
The man kicked him again. He once more kicked Levi's legs out from underneath him. And he fell to the floor in an ungraceful heap.
Levi, fast as he was, couldn't seem to be able to get his arms up quick enough as the ground rushed to meet him. His left arm absorbed part of the fall, but his right landed awkwardly and he was rewarded with a sharp stab of pain as the wrist twisted. He grunted in pain, twisting his body so that he took the wait off of his right side. Looking upwards he placed on his coldest glare, before raising his browneyes to meet the man that had sent him so unceremoniously onto the hard, dirty ground, again. Because by god was this ground dirty.
The man didn't even flinch under his withering look; all he did, instead, was raise a single eyebrow as though he found the boys glare somewhat childish. His weapon, however, was still pointed at Levi. Levi, finding his most threatening look doing nothing (which was very rare) directed his gaze to the weapon being pointed at him, his lip tightening as he looked at it. There were not many of them around and those that had the privilege to carry them were those with the rank. This meant that the man in front of him must be some high ranking official within the garrison. He had power and Levi had made that assumption after a single glance. It was especially noticeable by the way he looked down upon Levi with contempt. Just as the world might have it this was also very unfortunate for the young thief. He was not going to get out of this one like he had so many times before.
The weapon he held was smaller than the rifles most of the soldiers were capable of using. They had a smaller barrel, and well, everything about them was smaller, except for the fact that it still had the potential to kill him or seriously ruin his body. So Levi remained silent, pressing his lips tightly together so as to not let loose a snarky reply that could end badly. The garrison soldier he had beaten up groaned as he got to his feet. When he turned to look at Levi the anger burning within his eyes was enough to make Levi smirk, he raised a challenging eyebrow at the man, almost begging him to take a swung and see what would come of it. The soldier's lips twisted into a snarl and he stepped forwards, Levi prepared to wriggle out of the way, but the soldier to his left subtly shifted the weapon so that the nozzle was in view of his face. Levi flinched at the movement, and cursed himself silently for being so stupid; the man wasn't going to shoot him, was he? If he was wouldn't he of already done it?
If he wasn't so uncertain of the man's intentions Levi would have moved, but with the uncertainty hanging over him like a dark storm cloud he didn't budge and instead faced the furious soldier. Bringing his leg upwards the soldier thrusted forwards, shoving his boot into Levi's stomach. He pulled back and did this twice more, each kick hitting Levi in the stomach. The young boy bent over, each hit sucking the air from his lungs, sending sharp, rapid spikes of pain through his entire body. By the time the third kick had been delivered he was on his hands and knees, gasping for air that would not go into his lungs. Each breath caused another rush of agony, but he fought through it like he always had, his lips parting and closing as he willed the air to go back into his winded lungs. Vaguely he heard the sound of voices. Stars danced across his vision, his legs shook, his arms shook and he wasn't sure he'd be able to stand.
Levi had been in far worse situations, but he would never get use to pain, it was uncomfortable, annoying and had a knack for staying and never fading. It was like dirt, filthy, unhygienic and a nuisance. And just like dirt he despised it, but he could also do nothing to prevent it. He wondered briefly why the man wasn't still kicking him; after all he had dished out a lot worse than what he had been given. He knew that the soldier would have a broken nose, a few cracked ribs, a split lip and numerous amounts of cuts, gashes and bruises all over his body. That was a lot more than what he had received. After a few more moments of painful gulping and gasping the air finally entered his lungs and he turned a spinning head upwards to see the soldier that had kicked him moving to stand beside his sister. Levi looked away from him, his stomach twisting as he saw the look on his sister's face. She looked mortified, a hand clasped over her lips as though what she had just seen had been a nightmare.
Levi couldn't blame her, being beaten up felt pretty much like that.
"You and your friend are in a lot of trouble, boy." A cold voice spoke and Levi's head snapped to his left to find the figure of the man with the gun.
He no longer held the gun out and instead stood with his arms crossed over his chest, looking down upon Levi with something close to superiority. Levi resisted the urge to groan as he slipped off of his hands and knees and into a sitting position. He wasn't sure his legs would hold him up if he tried to stand.
"She is my sister." He replied, allowing his tone to become something close to bored.
He loved it; it annoyed people, and besides it took so little effort to pretend to be bored then to pretend to care. His eyes flickered towards her, before returning back to the man, "and my name is Levi, not 'boy'" Levi stated. He could put up with condescending people, but he would not put up with people treating him like a child. He was not a child, he might be only a teenager, but he was more capable, strong and reliable than any of these soldiers. Yeah he might be a petty little thief but at least he had the skill to provide not only for himself, but for his sister as well. That kind of dedication meant he had earned the right to be called an adult; he had been forced to grow up faster than he should have.
Something in the man's eyes made Levi wish he hadn't spoken, and there were only a few rare people that had the ability to instil even the slightest amount of fear within the boy. It was the way they almost lit up when he had spoken his name.
"Levi is it? Most curious name." He murmured, eyes travelling over Levi. Levi eyed him, eyes burning angrily.
"Well if we are all done here I'd better be off. I have things to do." Levi raised a questioning eyebrow.
He knew it was a futile attempt, more of a way to mock the two soldiers, but he still struggled to his feet, eyes searching for the bags of salt that they had lost. Seeing one not too far away from the soldier in front of him he took a shaky step forwards, but halted when the man begun speaking again.
"I'm not sure if you had noticed, but you and your sister are in some serious trouble. Not only did you break into a secured building, but you disabled the alarms and stole one of the rarest, most essential commodities that we have. And to top it all off you beat up another soldier, now that, Levi, is enough to get you in jail for a very long time." He spoke quietly, eyes remaining on Levi the whole time.
The coldness that had once been so evident seemed to fade a touch, his words almost amused. It left Levi in stunned silence as he tried to figure this guy out, he was different, annoying, stuck up and intimidating, but he spoke as though he knew Levi, and as though he was hiding something. And Levi supposed he was, after all he had no need to tell Levi a single thing, all he had to do was arrest him and put him in a jail cell. Levi looked at him, right at him, his own eyes searching the other man's eyes, he wasn't certain of what he saw there and it made him uneasy to know that there was something there, something there that Levi wanted to find and know.
Turning around the soldier walks over to the bag of salt, he picks it up, undoing the top slightly before tying it back up tightly. Levi watched, his chest still aching painfully, his body protesting with each second of standing.
"You don't think I know that? I mean, come on man, you don't think I don't think about what I'm doing before I do it." He snorted, rolling his eyes, but keeping his tone to a drawl.
To his disgust the soldier standing by his sister snickered a few inaudible words were spoken under his breathe, but Levi caught the jist of them, something about him being a stupid, ignorant child. Dickhead, was what he said. Levi turned, this guy was really ticking him off, but the boy was determined to not let him have the satisfaction of starting another fight, not with the guy with the gun around, Levi would just end up being beaten up again. Besides Levi was trying his best to do what he did best, remain emotionless and unaffected by everything around him. It was getting hard to keep it around that dick, but he was determined to remain in a state of boredom and nonchalance.
"You think you are so tough don't you?" The man lost all humour, his voice growing cold once more, "I guess we'll see just how strong you are after a few days in a cell." He snapped, before stepping closer to Levi. Reaching behind himself he pulled out a pair of shackles. Levi physically cringed away from the sight of them. It wasn't that he hated them, even though he did, but the thing he despised the most about them was the damage it would do to his pride. His pride could not bare to suffer it. Sighing heavily he ran a hand through his hair.
Levi looked to his left, and found his sister being dragged to her feet. The solider yanked her up roughly and she yet out a yelp of pain as her arms were pulled painfully. Levi scowled darkly, "hey, you jerk-" he snapped, he didn't get to steps closer before he was grabbed from behind and spun around. The other soldier grabbed him and shoved him up against the nearest wall. His face smacked painfully against the concrete, the soldier pressed hard and yanked Levi's arms behind his back before shackling them. Levi grunted. "You're under arrest. Now let's get you to a nice warm cell." Levi would have given anything to spin around and wipe the smile off of that man's face with his own fist.
Instead he bit his lip and allowed himself to be shoved forwards and down the nearest street and towards the garrison head quarters.