Isilya lets out a gleeful laugh as Levi opens the door to his house for her again. They both head inside. Levi takes off his cloak and hangs it up, revealing the metal contraption and straps attached to him. He pries open the floorboards again as Isilya sits down on the floor next to him.
"That was amazing!" Isilya smiles at Levi, then closes her eyes and leans back against the wall as she thinks about what she just saw. Levi smirks to himself as he pulls out another set of the gear from the floor.
"You were practically flying. You can fly. That's awesome! What do you call that thing?" Isilya's voice gets higher as she talks, excitement getting the best of her. She opens her eyes to look at Levi when she questions him. He gestures to the pile on the floor.
"This is Omni-Directional Mobility gear. And that one is for you." Levi states, watching for Isilya's reaction. She stares at the ODM gear in front of her, then at the gear Levi wears. Her gaze flies back and forth a few times and then she looks up at him in disbelief.
"I can fly?" Isilya questions, eyes wide. Levi offers her a hand. She grabs it, pulling herself up.
"You can fly," Levi smirks. Isilya lets out a noise of excitement and throws her arms around Levi.
"Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you." Isilya squeezes Levi tight as he stands there, frozen. After a moment, Isilya pauses, realizing what she's done.
"Sorry. I'm sorry." Isilya starts to back away, but Levi's arms lightly wrap around her in return. She stops moving, surprises evident on her face. She doesn't know how to react.
Levi takes her stillness as a bad sign and pulls away. Isilya quickly hugs him tighter, laying her head on his shoulder, her nose almost touching his neck. Levi readjusts his arms, holding onto Isilya as if she'll disappear. She lets out a sigh of contentment, her breath tickling Levi's neck. They stay like that for a short while. Neither of them wants to say anything, afraid that they'll ruin the moment if they speak. But a thought yells for attention in Isilya's brain.
"Levi?" Isilya whispers against his neck. Levi lets out a grunt in response. Isilya almost laughs at him, but quickly composes herself.
"Why?" Isilya asks, still not moving from their embrace. Levi stays silent for a moment. Then he lets out a sigh.
"You can't create portals that you can travel through yet. If you end up in a situation where somebody is chasing you then you need to get away fast." Levi explains quietly. Isilya hears his unspoken words. So you don't get hurt. She smiles to herself and nuzzles his neck. Levi subconsciously tilts his head to be closer to hers.
Isilya is surprised to find that she doesn't want the moment to end. She's become attached to Levi. She's realized it before but never wanted to admit to it. But here, in his arms, Isilya can't deny it anymore. He's done so much to help her. And he continues to help her even though he tells her that he's a bad person. She knows that he's done bad things but she can't believe that he's a bad person. Not really. Not while he's holding her. Not while he does anything he can to protect her. Not as long as he goes out of his way to make her tea the way she likes it, even though it's different from his own preference. Not as long as he comes to her with scrapes and cuts, trusting her to help him.
"You stole these, didn't you?" Isilya sighs as Levi pulls away from her. He rarely shows any affection, so she almost regrets asking. She ruined the moment. But she has to know. Levi doesn't look at her as he starts taking off his ODM gear.
"It doesn't matter," Levi says. He struggles with the strap around his waist and Isilya reaches out to help him.
"Levi-" Isilya starts.
"It doesn't," Levi states, stepping back away from Isilya's attempt to help him, "What matters is that you'll be safe." He finishes taking off the gear, placing it back into the hole. Isilya watches him silently. He puts her ODM gear back under the floor as well.
"There's a third set. Just in case." Levi puts the floorboards back with a practiced speed. "We'll start practice in two days."
Isilya sits in an alleyway, facing the corner, her cloak allowing her to blend in with the shadows and the trash. She frantically opens and closes portals. She spends a few seconds looking through one. When she doesn't find what she's looking for she closes it and opens another. She makes sure to keep the portals small and hidden between her body and the corner.
"Come on. Please." She mutters to herself as she searches the city. She and Levi had agreed on three meeting spots in case the job went wrong. It had gone very wrong, and Isilya had just left the third spot. She'd searched through his house, her own building, and the tavern they occasionally met at as a halfway point between their two bases. He hadn't been in any of those places.
"Where are you?" Isilya curses as she continues to look. She tries her best to believe that what happened wasn't her fault. Logically, she knows that there was nothing she could do. That doesn't stop her from going over every detail of the plan and comparing it to what actually happened, looking for anything she could've done differently. The image of Levi getting thrown out of the window of a building repeats in her mind as she searches the city.
For the past month, Isilya has been helping Levi with some of his smaller jobs. She uses it as a way to practice with her ODM gear and her portals. She's been able to create portals that sound can travel through, but they are all very quiet. She was disappointed at first, but it works perfectly for the type of jobs that she and Levi do together, like this one. The job was a small theft and it was only to get something back that had already been stolen. They were being paid well for it and it wasn't supposed to be dangerous at all.
Usually, Isilya stays in her base or finds a secluded spot a few streets down from their target if they feel a second person may become necessary. She sets up a few small portals to look through and a small one on Levi's cloak. That way, she can talk to him to keep him informed on the things he can't see. She can tell him if somebody is coming towards him or tell him the best route to use to escape if necessary. In the last few weeks, it has proven to be a great strategy. However, today things didn't go as planned. And Isilya can't locate Levi because he lost his cloak when things started going wrong.
Isilya catches a dark figure flying through the sky as she opens a new portal. She pauses, squinting at it. It almost looks like a bird in the distance. She looks around the area that she can see through the portal and realizes where it is. She closes that portal and opens one closer to the flying object. Her breath catches in her throat as she watches Levi shoot out a hook from his ODM gear. It attaches to the wall of the cavern and he uses it to swing himself into the air again. He uses his momentum to rise through the air and releases his hook, shooting the same one out again as soon as he can. His gear must be damaged.
Isilya closes the portal and opens a smaller one that allows her to see the same area, attaching it to the inside of her cloak. She shoots her own hooks into the air, watching as they attach to the sides of two buildings. Within seconds, she's flying. She heads towards the part of town where Levi is. She isn't sure why he's so far away from where the target was, or what he's running from.
As Isilya flies above the city, she occasionally moves her arm so she can peek inside of her cloak. She watches as Levi's silhouette gets further and further away from the portal she had made. With a huff, she lands on the roof of a building and closes the portal, opening another one closer to Levi. She watches him fly by it, then launches herself into the air again.
Within minutes, Isilya can see him. She lets out a sigh of relief and wants to fly to him, but pauses to think of what she really needs to do. With a nod to herself, Isilya trails him, keeping towards the wall of the cavern and making as little noise as possible. She watches the streets below and behind Levi. He's running from something. She needs to figure out what so she can help him.
Many buildings and streets pass under Isilya before she finally sees what's going on. She flies towards the roof of a building ahead of her. As she lands, she tucks into herself and rolls, being as quiet as she can. She looks down at the street, seeing five men running after Levi, pointing and shouting at him. Isilya turns to look at Levi in the distance. The men are able to keep up with him fairly well because of his broken gear.
Isilya thinks to herself and comes up with a plan. She wishes she could create portals on moving objects from far away. It would make things easier if she could talk to Levi about what's going on. However, she's only been able to make those type of portals on things she can touch. Isilya is about to fly into the air again to put her plan in motion when she notices something else going on with Levi's gear. She opens a portal on the cavern wall near him and her eyes widen at what she sees.
He's low on gas. The way he's swinging is causing him to use too much. There's no way he will be able to keep running. Judging by the way he keeps looking back at his pursuers, he knows it, too. Isilya is confident in Levi's abilities, but taking on five guys by himself isn't something she's about to let him do.
Isilya quickly changes her plan, following and watching as the men get closer and closer to Levi. She makes sure to stay a few streets back from them. Then, once they're almost underneath Levi, their attention solely focused on catching him, Isilya rushes forwards. She uses a small amount of gas and a lot of her momentum to kick two of them in the head as she swings by them. They fall to the ground, unconscious. The other three turn back to see what happened. One of them yells and points at Isilya, cursing her out. The other two follow the gaze of the first, glaring at Isilya.
While one of the men runs to check on his friends, Levi appears. He shoots a hook into a building behind the men, allowing himself to land smoothly on the ground next to it. He doesn't slow down at all. He prepares his blades, rushing in-between the two yelling at Isilya, slashing at the back of both of their knees. They fall to the ground, screaming. They clutch at their legs. Levi walks towards the last man as he turns around.
Isilya doesn't bother watching. She knows he can handle himself. Instead, she lands and walks up to the two men Levi had cut. One of them pulls out a knife, attempting a slash at her. Isilya easily dodges it. She kicks his chest and he falls backward. She steps on his wrist, pressing down until he lets go of the knife. Using her other leg, she kicks it away from them. She puts her foot back on his chest.
The second man begins to beg, a plea dying on his lips as Isilya turns her head to stare at him from under her hood. Her glare rivals Levi's. She internally cheers to herself, glad that imitating Levi when she gets bored has paid off. With a small smirk, Isilya turns back to stare at the man under her foot.
From behind her, Isilya hears a large crash as Levi throws the other man into a window. She patiently waits. After a moment, Levi appears at her side. She looks up at him. She isn't surprised to find some blood on his cheek, but she is disappointed. How had they gotten into this mess from such an easy job? Isilya pushes the thought to the side. She reaches over to Levi and pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket, wiping the blood away and handing it to him. Levi accepts it and puts it back in his pocket. When he looks back up, he reads a question in her eyes. He lets out a breath and nods.
Isilya steps away from the men on the ground. She shoots Levi a look and launches her hooks into the side of a building, landing on top of it. She scans the area to see if anyone else has been following them. Below her, Levi finishes off the two men whose legs he had cut and the two men Isilya had left unconscious. Once he's finished, he lets out a low whistle. Isilya pokes her head over the edge of the roof, staring down at him. He nods back toward the direction she came from. She furrows her brows, but nods, taking off into the air to head back to Levi's house.