HUMANITY'S STRONGEST

Chapter 37: Passing Years

Be aware that now we are starting to get into where this story meets the manga. Keep in mind that this is my own version, so it will deviate from the manga storyline. There are, however, still spoilers if you have not read the manga or watched the anime. We are now getting into the realm of 'No Regrets' and you will see spoilers and occasional quotes from the OVA manga. Needless to say, I don't own Attack on Titan or any of its characters . . . Marco would still be alive if I did! :P

Zoe had no intention of ever letting go of her perfect partner, now that she'd finally succeeded in finding and capturing him; Levi didn't mind. Over the next five years, their relationship grew to a point where he actually considered Zoe to be a true and trusted friend. Grandmother was the only other person in the world that Levi considered a true friend. He gradually became comfortable telling Zoe everything about what he learned and about his past, including the scars left on him by Kenny. The only thing he refused to tell anyone was about his family and his being noble born; he had promised his mother, after all.

She was thrilled to pieces when he finally showed her he could play piano. He was an extremely talented pianist and he loved to play, but he told her he feared that playing revealed too much about himself and his past. Very few 'commoners' could play piano. He had taught himself to play guitar instead, since that was considered a peasant's instrument. If you were a noble, you might learn to play the lute, but never a guitar. Levi preferred the guitar, since he felt it had a much richer tone. But every once in a while, when sure no one else was around, he would let Zoe convince him to play something on a piano for her.

The children grew, and most moved on to make their own way in the world. Hannah, Claymore and Henry all stayed and helped caring for the children that Levi brought home (he could never ignore a child's cry). Hannah's motherly instincts had come out when she was still a child, always mothering the others and was a tremendous help to Levi. Now, at the age of nineteen, she was a truly lovely young woman. She loved working with the children and making sure they had all the love and opportunities she had received from Levi.

He had taught her far more than just how to clean. He also taught her to sew, knit, crochet and cook. One day she decided that she wanted to play the harp. He had a devil of a time getting a hold of one (since behind wall Sheena was the only place to get one), but he finally did. He was then was faced with trying to teach her how to play it. He spent several weeks figuring the thing out, but since he had learned piano, he could read music and once he knew what note each string was, he could play with amazing proficiency in just over a month. The look on the girl's face when she saw the harp was priceless. She enjoyed every moment of sitting on "Papa's" lap learning to play. There were practical things as well, such as reading and writing, arithmetic, history, and science.

Hannah's younger brother, Henry, was a handsome, bespectacled teen with a passion for books and learning, and Levi was only too happy to indulge the boy's passion. Like Levi himself, Henry devoured every book handed to him. The child was quite brilliant. His greatest interest lay in a things living. He became a fabulous bee keeper and was great with caring for the goats and chickens. He was also wildly successful with the vegetable and flower gardens. He too, stayed to help raise the orphans and care for the animals and gardens that provided the food for them.

Finally, there was Claymore. He was a natural born leader and a Jack-of-all-trades. His leadership led to getting everyone in trouble a couple of times, such as when he led them all onto the roof, but none of them could get down. That resulted in no dessert for a month! He also loved reading, but loved writing more. He had developed that from listening to all the stories that Levi had told him growing up. Levi even made up stories as he went sometime, and Claymore loved doing the same. He also learned to play guitar from Levi. He was now a very mature and very handsome nineteen year old that felt the best way to pay Levi back for his kindness was to continue with his work and freeing up Levi to focus on other things, such as killing titans.

Levi usually had about a dozen kids of varying ages in his care at any given time. He saw to it that they never went hungry and were never cold. He taught them everything they would need to know to be successful members of society and taught them anything they wanted to learn as well. If he couldn't teach them himself, he would find someone who could. Those children were the only light he had in a very dark world.

There were two kids that really stood out; the two he had brought back with him from the Underground – Farlan Church and Isabel Magnolia. They'd had an extra rough start in life, and were extra tough themselves as a result. Farlan was seventeen and Isabel fifteen. Both had begun joining Levi on his bounty hunting treks to the Underground. They would follow him anywhere; especially Isabel, who seemed to have a case of Big Brother/Hero Worship syndrome. Levi couldn't help but treat these two differently than the others. It had already been too late to shield them from the true horrors of the world when he first found them.

He taught them to use the ODM gear so they could keep up with him as he hunted down bounties. No matter how many he brought in, the supply never seemed to dwindle . . . kind of like titans. They took to the training almost as well as he had. They learned to fight and to use their blades effectively. Isabel was enthusiastic about everything she did, but especially about flying around using the gear, just like Big Brother did.

As a team, they were the bane of the Underground. There was no hiding and no escaping them once they had their sights on a target. No mercy, no second chances; if you were wanted, you would be brought in. That's not to say that there weren't people out there still foolish enough to challenge Levi. The would see a small, seemingly delicate young man and assume he would be an easy target. There was just no way that such a tiny little mouse of a man could be the great and terrible Levi! This was the very thing the he liked about being small; people underestimated him, and that was always an advantage. No matter who challenged him, he would mercilessly put them down.

Isabel and Farlan were no slouches. They could hold their own in a fight too. They were just as hard and just as brutal as Levi was, if not quite as fast or as strong. The memories of their lives before Levi had pulled them from this sewer were still fresh in their minds, and it made them all that much more determined. The best part about these jobs was coming back to the surface, looking up to the sky and breathing deep of the open air.

Levi's reputation in the Underground fast became larger than life, though he was more than capable to living up to it. At one of the bars he frequented with Farlan and Isabel, there was a man that every night would balance a glass of beer on his head, and dare anyone to hit him, swearing he would never spill a drop. Levi could see the man was making a pretty good living off of this, seeing as he never lost the bet. Though an impressive feat, Levi decided it was time to break the winning streak; besides, he wanted a free beer.

The mountain of a man looked down at his small challenger and laughed. "I know you're the bane of wanted men everywhere, but there's no way someone as small as you can hit hard enough to make me spill a single drop of this beer! But it's your money to bet and it's as good as anyone else's! Swing away, little man!"

Levi said nothing, and waited patiently as a flurry of betting took place around the room. Farlan wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation, but Isabel was loudly cheering, hooting and hollering in support of her 'big brother'. In her eyes, there was nothing he couldn't do.

As the bar finally began to quiet down, now that all bets had been placed, Levi set his own money on the bar. "You'd better be able to cover that," he said dryly. He then drove his left fist into the mountain's gut with enough force to make the man immediately double over. Levi managed to catch the beer before it spilled completely, the liquid sloshing out over the braggart's head. He swallowed the remaining beer in one go. "I believe that's more than one drop spilt on your head. I win." He picked up his money along with the winnings and walked out, leaving a silent bar behind him – that is all except for Isabel, who was shouting out her pride in the victory. Levi rumpled her hair as he passed her. "Inside voice, idiot." He then smacked her lightly up the back of her head.

It did nothing to stem her excitement. Her voice was a little quieter, but not much. "I knew you'd do it, Levi. You can do anything! You're the strongest person . . . like . . . EVER!" On the surface, Levi seemed to be ignoring Isabel's rantings, but inwardly, he found her exuberance to be very amusing.

"Geez, Isabel!" Farlan groaned. "Do you ever come up for air?"

"Shut up! I'm just proud of Big Brother and I want the whole world to know how awesome he is!"

Farlan put his hand up to his forehead. "Ugh! You do know he hates to be the center of attention, don't you?"

Isabel actually stopped, a surprised look on her face. "Really?! Then why does he always show off like he does? Like when he totally beat that big man at arm wrestling and won us a free meal. That man's arms were like . . . well . . . like freakin' barrels! And then there was when he . . ."

Farlan just groaned as she continued spewing out examples. Damn! I never thought of it like that before! I hate it when she's right!

One day they were walking the streets of the underground, searching for man that was dealing military issue rifles in the underground. That in and of itself was not reason enough to get a price on his head; after all, the MPs were his source for the weapons. The price on his head resulted from his having killed three MPs that had tried to take him for more money than had been agreed to. Levi knew it wouldn't take much to find the creep. With Isabel and Farlan to back him up, his success rate for bringing in his targets alive was now 100% (provided he wanted to bring them in alive, that is – child molesters and rapist murderers were never even given a chance).

He brushed against a large man as he walked along . . . or rather, the man backed up so Levi had no choice but to brush against him. The man immediately began yelling about how much it hurt and threatening the 'little shrimp' that had just 'run somebody over'. Levi initially intended to ignore the noisy oaf. He had no time to be wasting with petty con-men.

The man began to go after Levi as the crowd in the street got the hell out of the way. "Dude! Do you even know who that is?" one person warned. The man didn't care; he had back up, after all.

Levi growled in irritation as he turned to face his attackers. The men froze as a grapple suddenly whizzed past their heads and into the wall behind them. Next thing they knew, Levi was airborne and way overhead. He released the grapple and dropped down on the first man like a ton of bricks. Levi stood on the man's chest, holding the man's throat with his boot, and turned to find the other two. He didn't worry too much about the others, because he knew that Isabel and Farlan had his back. Sure enough, Farlan stood with on foot on the man he had dropped and Isabel sat cross legged on the sad pile of a man she had taken down.

"Come on, you two. Thanks to this delay, we'll have to use our gear or will lose the target."

"Right!" they both responded.

As he took to the air, something strange caught the corner of his eye. He glance over to get a better look. What the fuck is a scout doing down here?! He's an officer no less . . . I've seen him out on some of the missions. And what's with that look he's giving me? Creepy son-of-a-bitch! Levi turned his thoughts away from the tall, blond Survey Corps officer to focus on the job he had to do, unaware that the 'creepy son-of-a-bitch' was about to become a very large part of his life.

to be continued…