Notes: Please go to my profile and read the short one shot called "Oh the irony" this one is about how Erwin and Eren met on this fic. It was an story I wrote for a facebook contest some time ago, and it's chronologically located just before this chapter.
Chapter 4: Past, Present and Future, Part I
"Will you tell me your story, Christa?" The brunette asked the blonde, once it was clear they would not be able to fall asleep that night.
"I will, it doesn't matter, we're never getting out of here." Resigned and trying to hold back her tears, the Young woman sat on the floor of that filthy room, rearranging the blankets that served as a makeshift bed for both of them.
Ymir sat next to Christa and put her arm around her shoulders, the gesture showing her support, although it did not do much, seeing as they were in the same situation and failed to see a way out. It had been a while since they accepted their terrible faith; an even longer one for Ymir, who had been there for a few years. Seeing her friend's precarious situation, it did not take long for Christa to see that the same fate awaited her, despite having only been there for a couple of months.
Both women lived in a small room of what appeared to be a motel, used as a brothel. Both had been tricked, kidnapped and forced to work as prostitutes. There were other young women to to whom this had also happened. The treatment they received was inhumane: they ate once a day and always remained in locked up in the room, with no beds or other amenities, and washing up was reserved for when they had clients to attend to.
"Ymir, I-I really …" The blonde started but was interrupted by the sound of keys in the lock. A tall, unkempt man entered; he approached the women and roughly took Christa by the arm.
"You have work, you better clean up. You disgust me!" The man nearly dragged the blonde, while she tried not to cry. When she saw this, Ymir stood up and seized the man by the other arm.
"Let me take her place! Please." She begged. The man's face became a moue of revulsion and indignation. He shook her off with a slap, the strength of the blow, coupled with her weakness due to malnourishment, managing to drop her on the ground.
"I've told you to not touch me with your dirty hands or talk to me." He snarled. "You think the client wants a disgusting old whore like you? Don't make me laugh!" He mocked, his expression shifted before he spat on Ymir's face, pulling Christa out of the room and leaving her on the floor, near tears; but she did not cry out of sadness, rather frustration, impotence and stress, at not being able to protect the woman she loved.
The pimp took Christa to another room, which served as bathroom, quickly stripped her and started hosing her down; the girl cried because the cold, pressurized water hurt her. Next, he threw her a towel and told her to dry off while he found her a change of clothes. He returned and handed her a pink bra with sequins and matching bottoms, which left nothing to the imagination, as the fabric was translucent, but still created an illusion of covering her body.
The blond was pushed to another room, this time one of the many numbered bedrooms, with tasteless, cheap decor. From the furniture that filled the space, since the only thing they needed was a bed, to the sheets, carpets and drapes; they screamed "ordinary, low and cheap". It was by no means high-end brothel, but the earnings were enough and the clients abundant.
Inside the room was an older man who could have been in his fifties. The man looked rather dirty and disheveled; his shirt was stained with unknown substances, likely his dinner, and it also had sweat stains around his armpits, chest and back. What topped off the unpleasant ensemble was the man's obesity, evident in his swollen stomach, which protruded from under his shirt and above his pants, and was covered in hair. Once she laid eyes upon him, Christa wanted to cry once more, but had to hold back, aware of the cruel punishments that would befall her if she failed to perform her duties correctly.
"All yours! Enjoy!" the pimp remarked, leaving her in that room with the filthy being who she was to sate sexually.
"Hey, baby. We're gonna have a lot of fun today." His lustful and repulsive eyes looked at the young woman up and down, inspecting her appearance, the man even began salivating. "I hope you know how to suck it good." Christa could only stare, terrified and disgusted at the vision before her, and resign herself to what awaited her that night.
Ymir, in the room where she remained, kept crying, knowing the atrocities Christa must be facing. After all, she had gone through them countless times during the previous years.
The woman had never had a good life after all. She never knew her parents, having been abandoned at an orphanage as a baby. The place was located in the slums of that city, and thus was not the best place to grow up; it was run by people who did not care in the least about the welfare of the children in their custody. They lived off donations that were definitely used for their personal gain and whatever was left, then went on to supporting their charges.
Ymir got used to living without love, food or comforts, as did all the children she grew up with, she never knew what happiness was. When she reached her teens, she was thrown out because it was too expensive to keep, according to the orphanage owners. So, left to her own devices, the girl roamed the city streets, living off handouts or stealing from distracted passersby. Unlike many others, she never used violence to obtain money or food. She walked through life like an empty shell, devoid of feelings, hopes and dreams. For her, life made no sense, and happiness was a privilege reserved for those lucky enough to have been born to a wealthy family.
She dedicated herself to surviving for many years, until one day she had the misfortune of meeting the owners of the brothel. She was tricked with the promise of a good job and enough income to get off the streets; she was promised a bright future and, since she owned nothing, she believed she had nothing to lose. But the reality was very different from what she had been promised: she was locked up, beaten, and forced into sexual activities with any and all kinds of men, most of them old ones, who had no regard for personal hygiene.
Condemned to that new life, the young woman lost the only thing she had possessed: freedom. She lost count of the years spent inside, but they must have been three or four up to the moment Christa arrived. The small blond would not stop crying, suffering incessantly day and night; Ymir, who had never felt pity for anybody, note even herself, felt her heart break at seeing the other girl so desperate and sad. In no time, she developed a fondness for her, she tried to console her, which Christa thanked and, sometime later, was able to smile. That smile enthralled Ymir; it was beautiful, bright and made her feel calm. Ymir swore from that moment on, that she would protect Christa and keep that smile forever on her face.
Nevertheless, the conditions they were in were extremely harsh. There was nothing Ymir could do to keep Christa from being used as a sexual object, and that both frustrated and ate at her, despite having accepted her fate, she wanted to take Christa out of that place by any means necessary.
But… how?
The day on which Erwin had agreed to meet with Levi had arrived. The entrepreneur had told Erwin he would send his chauffeur to pick him up at his apartment and take him to the restaurant Levi had chosen for their dinner. The blond made sure to dress appropriately, he had to make a good impression if he intended to win over that man's trust and figure out if he really had underlying plans.
Levi's driver arrived on time to the given address, Erwin felt slightly uncomfortable sitting in that luxurious car, and considerably more when he had to get off at the restaurant; the driver even held his door open for him. His salary as chief of police was pretty high, but it still did not allow for such indulgence and he did not feel adequate in that situation.
Levi had picked a very upscale restaurant; Erwin had not been wrong in wearing his best suit. He was lead to a table where Levi awaited. The man rose and extended his hand in greeting, a small smile on his lips.
"I'm glad you came, Erwin."
"I appreciate the invitation, mister Ackerman." Erwin smiled kindly and shook his hand.
"Please! Let's stop with the formalities and call me Levi. 'Mister Ackerman' makes me feel like a decrepit old man." He motioned for Erwin to sit, he complied and sat across from Levi; some minutes later, the waiter approached to welcome them and hand them menus.
"Alright, Levi." He smiled once more. "To be honest, I feel a little embarrassed to be in such a fancy place, so please forgive me if I don't behave correctly, I'm not used to this kind of restaurant." He chuckled.
"Don't be ridiculous, I think this place suits you perfectly. And please, order whatever you like, tonight is my treat."
"I can't accept that!" He said, alarmed. "It's enough with all that you've helped the department."
"I insist. Take it as my way to thank you for your company tonight, my work doesn't allow me to go out frequently or have a lot of friends, so accept or I'll feel quite offended."
It wasn't in Erwin's best interest to disappoint Levi, and because he was a strong believer in the end justifying the means, he accepted that man's offer; he was convinced that he should become closer to him and finally discover what he was about. The prices in that restaurant were very steep, after all, he was dealing with a multimillionaire, so he relaxed and allowed himself to order whatever he wanted.
"If it's not too much to ask, may I know what exactly it is that your company does?" He ventured the question.
"Ackerman enterprises is pioneer in technology," Levi began to explain "we have the best scientists, who develop different products, from electronics, house appliances to even medtech, and anything our clients request." In that moment, the waiter returned with their dishes, so Levi paused, but he paid no mind to his food and continued. "Did you see the news about the donation of X-ray machines to Trost hospitals, the other day?" Erwin nodded, remembering that he'd heard something about that on the news broadcast, some days prior. "Well, those special machines were developed by our company and we donated some to that hospital, which is in a lower-class district." Levi looked almost bored with his explanation, at no time did he seem to be boasting about what he was saying.
After hearing all of that, Erwin wondered if he was misjudging him, and he was just a millionaire that had nothing else to spend his fortune on, and thus donated it. He thought that maybe he rushed to form an opinion on him. Immediately his tension released, and he decided to stop being on the defensive, perhaps he could become that man's friend and could even be more useful to the police department in the future.
"That's impressive. I'm glad to know there are people like you who care about helping those in need and contribute to the development of the city." He complimented, smiling genuinely.
"Don't say that, I'm just fulfilling my duty as citizen, it's the least I can do." This time the dark-haired man began to dig in, and motioned for Erwin to do the same. Both dined quietly, with an occasional interjection about nothing too relevant. Finally, Levi insisted on getting dessert and Erwin, once more, could not deny him.
Minutes later, the waiter returned with two slices of chocolate cake. This time, the blond made sure to order the simplest thing on the menu but, unfortunately, the moment he was about to put down Erwin's plate, he accidentally dropped the cake on his lap.
"Could you be any more useless?! Look what you've done! Do they not teach you something as simple as serving a plate in a place like this?" Erwin watched, astonished, how the man's calm demeanor shifted in a seconds; like if he were a different person, he spoke cruelly to the waiter, who was bright red and had not stopped apologizing. "Quit crying and hurry up to clean this mess!" he continued reprimanding.
"Levi, I don't think it's necessary for you to get this worked up." Erwin tried to calm him, as he cleaned himself up with a napkin. The shorter man returned to his usual mood after a while, and asked the waiter for the bill, not without taking the opportunity to mention, once more and in the politest way he could, how inept he was.
"I'm sorry you had to see that." Levi apologized, "It hasn't been the best day and I hoped everything would be perfect today, but that… waiter, ruined everything."
"Not at all, the food and company were excellent." Erwin graced him with a warm smile, showing that he meant what he had said.
"I'm happy to hear that. But…" this time, Levi looked into his eyes, making Erwin tremble a little, he couldn't help but remember Silverwire each time the man looked at him so deeply. "…I think I still owe you some answers, from the day I had the pleasure to meet you."
"You're right, and I admit that our conversation was so pleasant that I completely forgot." Erwin laughed lowly.
"In that case, is it alright if we continue this at my house? I'm sure we'll be more comfortable in an idiot-free environment." He said it with such a serious tone that Erwin couldn't help but cackle at the comment, Levi seemed really bothered by the accident.
"Sounds good. I'll accompany you for a while longer, if you'll let me." He agreed with no hesitation. Levi called his driver, who immediately picked them up and took them to Levi's home.
Like any cliché millionaire, Levi's residence was an enormous mansion, with a lot more rooms than he would need in several life times. And he seemed to live on his own, in that sprawling place, only accompanied by the help and maintenance personnel. The place looked relatively 'normal', or at least lacking eccentric decor, which Erwin thought he would find there; instead, it looked ordinary, ignoring the fact that everything was top of the line, that is.
Levi guided Erwin to a study room, and told him to take a seat at the minibar, so he could pour him a drink. As he passed a side table next to one of the couches in the center of the room, the blond noted a thick volume, which he lifted to read what it was, curious to know what kind of reader Ackerman would be.
"The Count of Monte Cristo?" He said, mostly to himself.
"Have you read it?" The businessman inquired, but did not give enough time for his counterpart to reply. "A story about betrayal and a man who came back from hell itself to get revenge and justice." He explained.
"Interesting reading material, I see. Any reason in particular for this type of literature?"
"Of course! It's most interesting and the plot is exquisite, if you're interested, I could have a copy delivered to you." He offered.
"That's very kind of you, but maybe some other time." Erwin finally replaced the book and sat down. Levi offered him different liquors, the blond accepted a glass of whiskey. Levi poured it and, when he handed him the glass, their hands touched for an instant, and both men looked at the other reflexively; they separated their hands slowly, like nothing happened, but they held each other's gaze: platinum trying to devour sky blue, and vice versa. There was something in Erwin that exceedingly attracted Levi to him, and there was something in Levi that captivated Erwin.
"Thanks for the drink." Erwin was the first to break the silence and eye contact. "So, will you tell me why you admire Silverwire so much?" He questioned and took a sip of his drink.
"That's something you already know," the man sat next to Erwin, grabbing the glass of red wine and taking a sip before continuing "Silverwire is a hero who puts criminals in their place, besides, I've witnessed some of his feats. He's become very popular lately, and any common citizen like me ends up becoming a fan." That explanation did not quite convince Erwin, much less with the tone and disinterested look his counterpart showed.
"I see. But then, if you're such an admirer of Silverwire, why the donations to the department? I think it's pretty contradictory."
"You're wrong, Erwin," he laughed a little, showing his pearly whites for an instant "I'm not against any side, only in favor of justice. In fact, I've always found myself attracted by the strict sense of justice this city's police has, therefore for many years I've closely followed the accomplishments of the previous chiefs, and…" he shortened the distance between himself and the blond, staring deeply into the other's eyes. "…of course I follow the new one very closely. Call it a hobby, if you like." The shorter man's proximity and eyes that seemed to be poking inside of him, caused a shiver to run down Erwin's back, he and cleared his throat, watching how Levi returned to his original position to take another drink of his wine.
"Oh, really? And what kind of accomplishments are we talking about?" He followed along, somewhat interested in the topic.
"You could say I collect information about crimes, news… nothing interesting, but without realizing it, I gathered a good amount of data." Once again, Levi spoke as if it was the most boring subject in the world.
"It actually sounds very interesting," he smiled kindly "a very peculiar hobby, if you ask me."
"If you want, I can show you my collection, though it will be very boring for the chief of police, I'm sure you've studied hundreds of cases in the past."
"There's always something new to be learned, I'd love to see what you have."
"Very well, I'll show you, then…" as he spoke those words, Levi smirked, and Erwin could not decipher if he was excited, happy, or just being nice. Maybe none of those and he was only being hypocritical, but that man was too difficult to read; an enigma for the officer. "…please, follow me."
Both men rose, Levi lead Erwin through the halls of the mansion, turning to look at him every once in a while, and offering him slight smiles each time. At last, they stopped in front of a locked door and the shorter man fished for his keys to enter.
The room was covered in newspaper clippings, online articles, photos, and even several whiteboards with notes and maps on them. Levi motioned for his guest to look as much as he wanted. Erwin walked around the room, checking some of the news articles, he stopped when something piqued his interest, but it was information available to the public and nothing particularly useful.
"It's a very complete collection, Levi."
"I appreciate the compliment…" What Erwin did not know was that all of it was a front for the actual classified information the millionaire possessed, provided by his infiltrated collaborators in the department, or stolen via Isabel and Farlan's cyber-attacks to police files. Levi would definitely not grant Erwin access to his private database. "…but I warned you it'd be boring." He let out a little laugh.
"Not at all! The way the information is categorized is truly admirable."
"Please, don't make me blush." Levi joked and the blond returned his smile.
Erwin thought that it would certainly be useful to establish a friendship with that particular character; it would Benefit him immensely to have a person that interested in getting justice, and who also possessed so much money, he thought the moment would probably arrive, in which he could use his influence, contacts or fortune, at the department's convenience, that was, of course, if he played his cards right.
Additionally, there was that unusual attraction he felt. The man was a puzzle; he could sense there was something he was hiding, despite having no proof whatsoever. That aside, he had to admit he was very good looking, and his attraction towards him was unlike the one towards Eren, with whom he only wished to go to bed and have a good time; rather, he figured that having sex with Levi could be a true experience, like a work of art, if he was to compare it with something. The man was so mysterious and surrounded by this enticing aura, that was awfully hard to resist. And even if Erwin refused to accept it, what had first drawn him to Levi, and what continued pushing him to become closer to him, was his resemblance to Silverwire.
To the blond, it was absurd to think that there were similarities between those two, seeing as Silverwire had never shown a part of his body besides, and he did not know what his real voice sounded like. But the height was very close, and that look; now, it was true that there could be many people with the same eye color, despite grey being rare, but that gaze that appeared to be looking into your soul made him think that both men had to be connected somehow. And the idea that it was all a product of his imagination and only showed his obsession to get Silverwire to Levi, also terrified him, thanks to the impact the man caused on him, the first time he saw him, with the criminal's mask as costume.
And Erwin bet more on that option, he knew his desire to catch that delinquent had surpassed the professional, but he could not admit it to anyone else, and he tried to deny it to himself, even so, he could not avoid externalizing his feelings. "I'll definitely catch Silverwire one day!" he exclaimed when he saw a picture of the famous hero on one of the walls, between other news. "And then you'll have that article framed in a special place amongst your collection." He smiled widely.
Levi doubted for a second, he could not interpret those statements as a threat or a simple, offhand comment. What was very clear to him was that the man was obsessed with him, and that he would do anything to catch him. Ackerman smiled genuinely and with malice, it was an interesting game and the scale was tipped to his favor, being that, if Erwin did not suspect him, the good friend façade would serve his plans going forward.
"I find myself with mixed emotions. I'll support you, but I also don't like the idea of my favorite hero getting locked up." He said almost in jest.
Before Erwin could respond, his phone started ringing, he excused himself and went out to the hall to answer it. He returned after a few minutes, looking serious.
"Levi, I'm so sorry, but I have to go. I just got a call from the office." He explained.
"Don't worry, I understand. Though it must be hard, since you'd finished your workday just a few hours ago."
"I've just been told about an emergency and it can't wait until tomorrow. Thank you for your hospitality, it was a very interesting evening and I hope we can see each other again sometime."
"You don't have to thank me, it's me who's grateful for your company. And please let my driver take you to the police department." The men shook hands goodbye and when Erwin had left, Levi got out his phone and dialed.
"Petra, what's the emergency?"
"Ah, mister Ackerman! You see, a girl just arrived at the station, she's very dirty and malnourished and she's come in making a big scene, she's in the middle of a nervous breakdown or something of the like."
"And where is the emergency in all of that? So much fuss over a filthy homeless woman?"
"Apparently, she just escaped a brothel where she'd been kept for years and she's begging us to rescue her friend."
Listening to those declarations caused a huge impact on Levi, so much so that he fell silent for a few moments and only spoke when Petra called his name, because she hadn't received a reply.
"I need you to keep me informed of everything that woman says. Especially if she gives the address of the place." He instructed.
"Understood! Please wait for my next call, we're just waiting for the chief to arrive to move on to the interrogation and taking the official statements."
"Good." Levi hung up and quickly went to another room in the mansion, which was under lock and key, and the servants were under strict instruction not to enter any of the locked rooms in the house. In said room, Levi kept his Silverwire suits and 3D maneuvering gear.
Impatient, he sat down to wait for Petra's call; he had to know that place's address and get there fast. He needed to destroy every bone in the bodies of the pigs who ran that filthy establishment and free the poor victims. He could almost feel his blades slicing into the flesh of those sick bastards who dared profit from the integrity and dignity of the women.
Although he did not admit it to himself, Ackerman had an underlying personal motive, and that made his anger flare up, and the desire to maim and kill increase every second he waited.
To be continued…
