Father
"Where did you get this."
Eyes widen, Levi snatched the little book away from Audrey. He turned it over and saw a familiar trace of brown liquid stain covering half of the page. The memory of Isabel spilling coffee came into mind.
"From Sara."
His eyes flicked up to Audrey, silently pressuring her to elaborate.
"When I was on my way to Wall Rose, I saw Sara Jones in the middle of my journey, she couldn't move, I wasn't strong enough to carry her..." Audrey took a deep breath, the last part was too painful to tell.
"I left her behind."
Levi lowered his sight, expression neutral but dark. The wind blew mercilessly, moving everything around them. It pulled the autumn leaves into a wild dance, naughtily messing up with his hair.
Everything was moving.
But deep inside, his heart froze.
"What else did she give you." After a long dead silence, he quietly asked. He was sure that Audrey must be keeping something she got from Sara, nothing else explained the guilt that was pouring out of her. It could be something valuable, like the golden rings, which she would desperately need since she had lost most of her possession.
Before she could answer, Levi wrapped his hand around Audrey and quickly turned her around. Grabbing her elbow, he started to run.
"What is going on?" The sudden act put Audrey in shocked, she hardly caught up with his pace, the rapid steps made her dizzy. She had no idea where they were going.
"Killers." He answered. As they turned left, they were faced with a dead end. He quickly pulled her to the exit and continue running.
"What? But why would..."
"Shut up if you don't want to get caught." He didn't look back to her as he spoke. The footsteps were getting closer, there must be at least three of them. Silent gun, perfect. No one would even notice if they died.
Levi silently cursed. He was so shocked a moment ago of what Audrey told him that he missed those men approaching. If it was not for his quick reaction, Audrey would have been dead. He had been expecting some sort of revenge from the clinic, but what happened was way more bloody than he anticipated. He thought they would secretly beat him up (although they would not have succeeded). Perhaps he shouldn't have triggered them with the black market medicine.
If he was alone tonight, the assassins would be the one who should worry about their lives. But things were more troublesome since Audrey and her daughter were right beside him. He needed to find them a hiding place before he could finish those sorry asses.
The footsteps faded slowly, but he couldn't let his guard down. Under the shield of the cloudy night, Levi found them a dim dirty street. He did not fancy the dirty part of it but it seemed to be the safest spot he could manage at the moment.
"Stay here." He commanded. The moment he let go his grab on her, Audrey held his arm reflexively. He could feel her hand shaking not entirely due to the cold air. Turning his back to them, he gave a quick glimpse to their surrounding, he was sure that they were nearby, he needed to find a way to sneak out so they wouldn't notice Audrey's hiding place.
"You're bleeding!" Audrey whispered. She pulled her hand away from his arm and found her palm wet. She wasn't able to see under the dark but she could smell the sickening taste of blood that she had become so familiar with.
"It's fine." This was not the first time he got hit by a gun, and he was pretty sure that it wouldn't be the last. Although an injured arm made fighting more difficult, Levi was sure that he would pull through. He had won fights in worse condition. "Now don't come out unless I told you to."
Audrey pulled him back before he stepped out.
"You are injured, you shouldn't go." He couldn't see her face in the dark, but her voice was trembling.
"What do you suggest? We have a tea party and wait for them to find us?"
"No, but...you...but..." Her voice was shaking more violently. Levi didn't even have the time to ensure her that everything will be fine, he stood and prepared to leave.
"I'll go." Voice still shaking, she stopped him once again before he could leave. Levi turned around, feeling annoyed and wondered if it would be easier for him to just knock her out.
"We don't have time for your stupi.."
"Listen." She grabbed his arms, desperately.
"Victoria is your daughter."
.
The clouds moved away, once again pouring down silver moonlight into the deep dark night, revealing the dual to each other, one looked confused, while the other, somehow determined.
"Sara asked me to save Victoria. She is not my daughter" Audrey made a deep, heavy inhale. "My daughter was dead."
His mouth parted a little, eyes fixed to the woman in front of him. Her eyes were nothing but honest.
At that moment, everything suddenly made sense.
Now it seemed clear why someone as stubborn as Sara chose to stay back after making a huge fight about the mission. The hesitation in Audrey's eyes when her mother asked about Victoria, the struggle and guilt she showed him. Like pieces of puzzles, everything finally went to the right place.
Audrey brought Victoria from her back, he took over the baby without knowing what he was doing. Everything felt so unreal. He wondered if he would wake up the next day and found this to be yet another crazy dreams of his.
The moment his grayish eyes met the painfully familiar blue, a foreign feeling blossomed in his heart. Neither joy nor sorrow. He wasn't even sure if he could put a name on it. But he was sure about one thing, as long as he was alive, he would never let anyone hurt her.
"Levi." As the footsteps closed up, Audrey spoke closely to his ear. "I'll go out and distract them. When they leave, you'll...Levi!"
He gently forced Victoria to her, she has no choice but to hold the baby. She wanted to shout at him but smart enough to know what not to do. Why wouldn't he listen? If anything happened to him, Audrey and Victoria would not survive. He wouldn't be able to fight all of them alone in his current state, why not just run? Stubborn man. Victoria had already lost her mother, the last thing she needed was to lose her father.
Levi jumped onto the root and turned towards her, his eyes telling her to trust him.
The next moment, he vanished into the deep cold night.
A/N: We are finally here! Ahhhh I'm so excited! I actually referred to 2 chapters in SNK to write this chapter. One is the part when Levi found out that his squad members were all dead. This helps me to get a feel of his reaction to the death of his close one. I referred the other chapter from the manga, which hasn't shown in the anime, any guess?
Please feel free to leave a review to let me know what you think. I appreciate all the favorites and follows, but reviews give me a sense of how people feel about the story.
Until next time, take care.
