Warning this chapter is a flashback to Levi's childhood and it could be upsetting for many.
Contains child abuse and depictions of drug use.

The year 1994

Kenny's kitchen was filled with sweaty men and smoke. At the table a card game was ongoing but the key player himself was not taking part.

"Keep it down shitheads!"

He stubbed out his cigarette. Kenny counted the same pile of money for the second time. He happened to glance at the clock. Come to think of it, it was getting late and the brat still hadn't come home. Kenny dismissed the thought. He didn't have school tomorrow so what it matter if he was still out raking about. Kids would be kids.

Kenny licked his fingers and began to count the cash a third time. It paid to be thorough. The commotion at the table got louder and louder.

"Hey Kenny, want a line?"

One of the card players divided white powder into thin lines using the queen of diamonds. The kingpin growled in annoyance.

"Idiot, you made me lose count!"

"I- I'm sorry- I just!"

"I won't touch that shit!" Kenny snarled "I've seen all the muck that's goes into it"

Laundry detergent, rat poison and even cement powder, Kenny had used all kinds of things to make a batch go further. Not now though; the stuff he dealt was the purest in Paradis.

"Ok suit yourself" said the man, snorting the line himself. Kenny grunted and went back to his counting.

Kenny Ackerman had worked a number of trades over the years, none of them honourable. From the age of 17 he'd been a professional hit man, his services came at a high price but now Kenny didn't even need to dirty his own hands. Now he had people to do that for him, but everyone still knew him as 'Kenny the Ripper'. There were few laws left that Kenny hadn't broken. He'd smuggled, dealt and sold everything from class A drugs to prohibited firearms, he'd even briefly dabbled in the trade of human organs but decided it wasn't for him.

His current enterprise was a drug he'd created himself thanks to a new partnership with a brilliant chemist. On the streets the drug was known as "utopia" and with the rise of rave and clubbing culture, the demand for the drug was higher than the rate at which they could produce it.

In other words, big bucks.

Customers reported that utopia was like ecstasy but better; a slower but longer lasting peak and a less severe crash. Although it was every bit as lethal, heatstroke deaths among high school and college kids were being attributed to utopia. That didn't bother Kenny in the slightest though.

"If those brats are dumb enough to put that shit in their body then that's on them" he would say.

When there was a banging at the door, he leapt up angrily. His men reached for their weapons but a swift wave of Kenny's hand and they put them away. Angrily he stormed out the kitchen and towards the sound of the knocking.

"Fucking nitwit!"

He had a lot of underlings still to pay off but he'd warned them never to come directly to his home for payment.

"There better be a good damn reason for showing up here uninvited"

He ripped open the door and swallowed his words.

"Good evening Mr Ackerman."

To say Kenny was shitting his pants was an understatement. At his front door was a uniformed police officer clutching the shoulder of a small boy, 12 years old but so damn puny he could easily pass for as young as 8. Kenny glowered down at him.

"You!" "This child is yours?" said the officer.

"No, that brat is the spawn of my dead sister"

"But you are his legal guardian, yes?"

The boy would not look his uncle in the eye. He stared at the ground, his sleek black hair falling in his eyes. Kenny could have strangled him on the spot.

"What's this about?" he snarled, glaring down at his young nephew "What have you done now you little shit?"

"Mr Ackerman perhaps it's best if we talked inside"

Kenny stepped protectively across the doorframe.

"Or we could talk right here" he said, folding his arms "Look if the little bugger has smashed someone's window just tell me how much and I'll pay!"

"Mr Ackerman, I insist!" said the cop, gesturing inside. When Kenny would not budge "It's either that or we talk at the station."

That was when Kenny noticed the car. Another officer stepped out threateningly. To put up resistance would arouse suspicion.

He'd have to let them in.

Kenny sprinted into the kitchen, smacking any illicit items off the table.

"Hey! Kenny what's -"

"You stupid fuckers, shut up!"

Panicking, he stuffed all the money into a drawer. There was so much the damn thing wouldn't close.

"Mr Ackerman?" called the voice from the next room.

"Shit!"

Kenny thrust the drawer shut. His men, drunk and confounded, watched like rabbits in the headlights.

"Keep your fucking mouths shut!" he hissed "It's the pigs!"

Every face at that table blanched.

"Shit!" one of the dumber members of the group called out "They're gonna bust us!"

Kenny slammed the door on the offensive scene.

The officer was waiting in the next room. He sat on the couch with folded arms.

"Excuse my buddies" he said sardonically "They don't know how to behave."

Kenny looked up and spotted Levi peering down from the top of the stairs. He gritted his teeth.

I'll deal with you later.

His nephew scurried away. Kenny turned back his attention to the huge- ass problem in his living room.

But first I need to get rid of you.

"You want to talk?" he sneered "Then get on with it."

Kenny didn't sit down. The officer stared at him like he was expecting him to but he soon realised it was a lost cause.

"Mr Ackerman, tonight, I caught your nephew and his friends trespassing on private property"

The seasoned criminal snorted.

"That's it?"

"Mr Ackerman, I don't think you're taking this seriously."

"Would you stop it with the 'Mr Ackerman'" Kenny bristled "Mr Ackerman was my father and he was an asshole. Get to the point; do I need to pay someone?"

The officer sighed. He got out his little notebook and proceeded to lecture him about his unruly nephew. He explained how Levi had climbed onto the roof of a garage in a well-to-do neighbourhood. When a passerby told him to get down he had shown them the middle finger and leapt down onto the hood of a car.

At this point in the story Kenny burst out laughing.

"Aha! Perhaps I taught the brat something after all"

"Mr Ackerman I don't find this funny in the slightest."

"Neither do I officer" said Kenny, drying his eyes "And don't you worry he will be punished accordingly."

"For a start he could have been hurt"

"Got it!"

The officer grimaced at the kitchen door. Drunken laughter floated out.

"I mean…did you even know where your nephew was tonight?"

"You calling me a bad parent?"

The officer looked uneasy when Kenny loomed over him.

"Let's talk damages" he blurted "If you pay up front for the dent in the car I'm sure the owner will be reasonable and not press charges against a child."

"Sounds like a decent guy" mocked Kenny.

The officer sighed. He wrote something in his notebook and tore out the page.

"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt this time" he said firmly "But I hope I don't pick up your nephew again."

Kenny rolled his eyes.

"Got it, yadda yadda yadda, won't happen again!"

The officer frowned, glancing one more time at the kitchen door.

"For your sake Mr Ackerman I hope not."

The 12 year old stood at the top of the stairs trembling.

"It was all Farlan's idea!"

It was a lie but Levi hoped it would spare him from the brunt of his uncle's wrath. One of the men in the kitchen peeped through.

"Are they gone?"

But Kenny paid him no attention; his eyes were focussed only on the peaky preteen loitering at the banister. He was yet to say a word. With one finger, Kenny gestured for him to come down.

Levi swallowed and began to descend the stairs.

"We didn't know we were trespassing, it was just a game."

He forced a smile, hoping to make light of it.

"Well actually it's more of a sport" he gabbled "It's called parkour…I think"

Kenny did not smile back.

As Levi reached the bottom of the stairs his little heart pounded faster; the excuses got more desperate.

"We see older kids doing it all the time, we thought it was ok!"

Now he was right in front of his uncle, quaking in his tall shadow.

Levi had no excuses left.

"Kenny, I- I-"

"How fucking dare you!"

The crack of skin as the grown man backhanded the child brought the card game to a standstill. It was as loud as a clap.

Levi stumbled backwards, processing what had just happened. He lifted his hand to the cut on his cheek where Kenny's metal ring had caught him. That was when his uncle struck him again.

"You stupid goddamn runt!"

This time Levi cried out. He glanced desperately at the men in the kitchen but they averted their eyes. He tried to run up the stairs but Kenny caught him.

"After everything I've done for you. After everything I've taught you!"

He grabbed his young nephew and threw him to the floor.

"Are you trying to get me thrown in the clink?"

Instinctively Levi curled into a ball, knowing Kenny was going to kick him.

"I was kind enough to take you in, and this is how you repay me?"

He yelped as Kenny booted him harder.

"I'm sorry!"

"Oh I bet you are now. Who do you think pays for this roof? And all the food you eat then shit back out again!"

The child tried to cover his face so Kenny couldn't see his tears. His uncle wasn't stupid though.

"And you can stop that crying you miserable little runt!" he derided "Imagine crying at your age"

Levi tried to stop sobbing, his small body convulsed as he tried to contain it. But between the pain from the beating and his uncle's disappointment he didn't stand a chance. Tears spilled between his fingers.

"You're pathetic just like your whore mother!"

Levi curled up smaller.

"You look at me when I'm talking to you!"

Kenny lowered himself down to the child's level. Levi could smell the liquor and tobacco on his breath. It was pungent but he tried not to recoil. He squealed when Kenny grasped a fistful of his hair.

"Here's the thing brat. I don't give a rat's ass what you and your shitty little friends get up to. You can smoke crack for all I care. But if you dare bring trouble to my doorstep again, you won't have a place to live here anymore."

Levi closed his eyes tight. The grip on his hair strengthened.

"Do you understand me boy?"

The baritone of Kenny's voice reverberated through Levi's tiny frame.

"I'll make you sorry you were born!"

Levi nodded fervently and blinked the tears away. He'd brought this on himself.

"Get out of my sight!" his uncle berated, unable to resist giving him one last smack "A good brat should have gone to bed already!"

Levi didn't wait to be told twice; he scurried up the stairs and shut himself in his room. Only then did he shed tears freely.

At times Levi Ackerman was already sorry he was born. He knew his existence was a burden on Kenny and probably his mother too before she died. He wasn't planned, he wasn't supposed to exist. 'The only reason you're alive is because a condom broke' Kenny would remind him when he got too brash.

Alone in his room Levi looked in the mirror, at the cut beneath his eye. Why was he so difficult to love? His uncle had written him off as a dead loss from the moment he'd crossed the threshold.

And now he was proving him right.

The twelve year old threw all the bedding off the mattress, shrieking in frustration. This was all his fault. If only he hadn't got cocky; if only he'd ran faster when they chased him. In the end it was Farlan and Isobel's giggling that got them caught when they hid in some bushes, but even that was no excuse. He should have made them shut up or found a better place to hide.

There were so many things he could have done to avoid this and Kenny would not hate him right now.

You can smoke crack for all I care, but if you dare bring trouble to my doorstep again, you won't have a place to stay here anymore.

The youth dried his eyes and went to sleep.

Levi Ackerman learned an important lesson that night.

Committing the crime didn't get you in trouble.

But getting caught did