[Warning: This story contains underage sex, rape, and mentions of death.]
June 7 Year 851
Levi was working overtime back at the survey Corps base. We were planning to set up a base outside the walls near the wall built by the Marleyans beside the ocean. That would allow us to be on guard if anyone from beyond the ocean tries to come on Paradis. I came home early today as I had to take Farlan to the base since I couldn't find a babysitter as everyone is busy nowadays and because Farlan threw a tantrum in the middle of a meeting. I was cooking some stew for dinner when it happened. Farlan was in my arms and I could hear a tiny voice say "mama". Shock was the only word that I could use to express how I felt at that moment. I had to refrain myself from almost dropping Farlan. "Wha-What did you say?" my voice wavered with emotion. Farlan merely gave me a smile at that. I, quickly went to the dining table, letting Farlan sit on it while I stood infront of him with an excited glint to my eyes and a smile on my lips. "Honey, say mama again? You can do it right? Say mama?" I encouraged Farlan and he kept my word by repeating the words. However, while I was asking Farlan to say the one word he has learnt, Levi got into the house and just as Farlan uttered the word "mama" he got into the dining room looking for us. "Oi brat... You're being your mama's little lackey aren't you? I'm not letting you off unless you call me papa today" Levi spoke, startling me as I didn't notice him come in. That man could be as quiet as a cat. He picked Farlan up and told him, "Now brat, call me papa." and surprising both of us, Farlan stammered, "p-papa". " He never disappoints does he? After all, he's my son" I broke the silence, giving Levi a smug look. "He's my son too you know. As far as I remember, you were one gloomy and messy brat before I got you into shape." Levi told me as he looked at me with a deadpan expression. "Says the one who lost to me on our first hand to hand combat" I smirked at him. "You're forgetting the other times when I've won. You barely won against me after that." Levi stated. "Yeah until recently" my smirk increased. I've been getting stronger after Farlan was born. I'm almost as good as Levi in hand to hand combat now. Sure, I still depend mostly on my agility but my physical strength drastically increased even though it's not close to Levi's brute strength. "I have to admit that I'm impressed with how much you've improved. It puts me at ease that you'll be able to take care of yourself better" Levi told me as he looked at me with a certain softness in his eyes. This man rarely showed emotions but he never failed to show it infront of me. I could say the same for myself as we found a safe haven within ourselves. "Don't worry about me Levi. I'll be alright. We will protect Farlan with all our might too." I answered as Farlan played with Levi's cravat as he sat on Levi's lap. Levi just hummed in answer, trying to stop Farlan from wrinkling his clothes. I went into the kitchen to get the stew and bowls. I came back to find Levi who already had given up trying to stop Farlan from wrinkling up his cravat, staring at the door waiting for me to come. "He's relentless isn't he?" I smiled sympathetically at Levi since he had to tolerate the mess Farlan made. He never complained though. He loves Farlan way too much for that. "It's hard to believe he's my son" Levi grumbled. "Relax. He'll learn to clean when he's older." I chuckled as I set the table. "Hey, Levi?" I called him out. "Hmm?" he answered, turning his attention to me. "If I ever die, you need to make sure Farlan is alright. You need to live for Farlan. Promise me." I told him. "You won't die. I'd die before that happens." Levi replied to me in a serious tone. "I know I won't. Just promise me. Just in case things go wrong." I answered. Levi looked at me for a while before saying, "Alright. I promise." I was relieved as protecting Farlan and Levi was the only objective of my life.
May 12 Year 851
"Alright, let's see who wins this time!" Hanji exclaimed as Levi and I stood in our positions near the 3DMG training grounds. Levi and I have been training together for a while and we both noticed that my speed drastically improved and I'm suddenly able to do the spinning attack that Levi and Mikasa could do. My strength also increased drastically and I defeated Levi in our last match though he still wins most of the times. "Ready, set and Go!" Hanji shouted as we both took off. "Commander! Shouldn't you be working on the plans of our new base instead of being in the training grounds?" Hanji's new second in command commented. She wasn't as efficient as Moblit but she still kept Hanji from slacking off. Hanji always preferred experiments over actual decision-making and being the commander was more of a hassle towards her. "I know I know! But I gotta choose my successor don't I? Erwin thought Tiana would make a good commander and I completely agree but even she has her drawbacks. She lets her personal feelings affect her decisions. Levi is certainly more experienced than her and without doubt a stronger soldier despite her drastic improvements. He also never lets personal feelings affect his choices. However, Tiana is much, much better at strategizing and making quick decisions." Hanji mumbled. "You already made the decision didn't you? You just enjoy watching them compete as they are almost superhuman." her assistant stated bluntly. "You know, Moblit used to let me slack off sometimes. You're too mean." Hanji complained. "YOU WEREN'T THE COMMANDER BACK THEN!" the assistant exclaimed. Meanwhile Levi got a headstart in the begining as I made a wrong move due to my inexperience. The experience was Levi's strength. He never made any wrong move. However, in my defence, I'm a quick learner. I also have other advantages in my favour, such as, my flexibility and the fact that I'm lightweight. Using my strengths and Levi's teachings, I caught up with him in no time, making flawless twists and turns. As we got closer to the area with titan dummies, I got my thunderspear ready. While we didn't fight titans anymore, titan dummies were still used so that we won't slack off as the enemy has titan shifters. Hanji and I were already working on developing a new version of the thunder spear, putting the anti-personalle squad equipment and the traditional thunderspear together as we would have to fight humans alongside titans. Skillfully, I maintained my distance from the explosion of the thunder spear as I blasted the dummies. 1, 2, 3... Just as I was done with the third dummy and was about to move to the 4th, I almost got caught up into an explosion which startled me. Levi didn't try to compete for the first three dummies as he knew that I was fast enough to get him into an explosion and thus, he turned the tables on me. He got another headstart from this but this time, I decided to use his plan against him. There were 4 more dummies left and I went for the one farthest while he blasted the ones closer. However just as I reached the last dummy, Levi used more gas to catch up and we both shot at it at the same time. The explosion was larger but we both managed to barely escape it. "Draw again huh?" I sighed as Levi flew to the tree I was standing on and stood beside me. "That's draws for the entire week. I'm proud of you" Levi told me, his eyes showing it clearly. "I wanted to win. I'd never be able to protect Farlan and you if I'm not good enough..." I sighed but Levi simply patted my head at that and said, "Tiana, don't worry about protecting me. I can do that myself. It's my duty to protect you instead. No, not just because of my duty, my life is meaningless without you two. So don't worry and be happy about how much you've improved. I'm sure you'll do better with time. You grew much faster than I did. They called me a prodigy but compared to you, I wasn't fast enough.". He suddenly looked sad and I knew that he felt as if he learned as fast as I did, his friends would've been alive. " Levi, you self taught yourself while I always had good teachers. I learned how to fight from a young age too. I had uncle Erwin, one of the best soldiers in the regiment and you, the strongest person in Paradis to train me. You had no one. I don't think I could ever have taught myself how to fight. If you had the guideline I did, you would've learned things way faster than I did. However, I still failed to protect our old squad. I couldn't do anything about uncle Erwin's death. Levi, we can't change the past. We only can protect what we have right?" I told Levi as he kept patting my head. "You're right. Anyway..." Levi started before pulling me towards himself for a small peck on my lips. "Let's go to my office. You need to be rewarded for the draw. You're getting a lot of rewards nowadays aren't you?" he finished with a smirk. "You know, I'm willing to try as hard as possible if that means I get to have sex with you more than usual." I returned the smirk to him. "Alright you lovebirds, no one wants to know what you two do in his office. That's just gross. Anyway, Tiana, we need to talk. Come to my office immediately before he drags you to his" Hanji, who just walked towards us and stood under the tree we were on, told me with her usual mischievous tone. "Yes commander!" I shouted at her with a smile before getting down from the tree. "Oi shitty glasses! Don't hold her too long" Levi shouted at her. "Yeah I know shorty! Keep your pants up!" she answered with a laugh before dragging me to her office. I got promoted as the next in line in the chain of command that day.
April 17 Year 851
I'm kept in a dark place. I'm scared. I feel insects crawling near me, sometimes on me. I want to go home. Mother said she would be proud of me if I did this... I don't need that. I want to go home. I cried for a while but that bad man hit me till I stopped. I'm scared... "Are you sure the bitch is a virgin?" I heard a deep voice outside. What's a virgin? "Yeah. She's 5 years old and the mother made sure she didn't get raped or anything." I heard that bad man's voice. I heard about rape. It's when a guy hurts you down there. I was told by Aurora's mother to stay away from men because of it. I still don't understand what a virgin is. "I better see some blood there because I'm paying a fortune for this" the other man chuckled. Blood? What? Is he going to rape me? "Trust me on this. I'll refund if there's no blood." the bad man told him before opening the door. "Oi bitch, do whatever he tells you to do or else you're dead." he told me. I knew he wasn't joking. He hit me so hard only a day back... "Okay dearie, let's see what you have here" the other man approached the corner of the room where I was huddled up. He was old and fat. I was crying but I was too scared to protest. He took my clothes off. I didn't understand why. The pain I felt when the bad man hit me was nothing compared to the pain I went through when he entered me.
I woke up with a scream with cold sweat streaming down my face, my body shaking. It was just a nightmare. A nightmare of things that actually happened. "Tiana, it's okay. You're safe." I heard Levi's voice. That's when I noticed that he was hugging me. "Sorry for waking you. I had a nightmare." I apologised. "It's okay, Tiana. You did the same for me multiple times." Levi muttered in my hair as my face was buried in his neck. We stayed like that for a while till I almost fell asleep and Farlan started crying.
December 7 Year 850
I remember this pain. I've had nightmares about it. Back when I was raped for the first time, I felt a pain comparable to this. However, back then, I was scared and lonely. Now, I am not scared anymore. I'm not lonely either. The pain isn't a bad thing anymore because I'm giving birth to my child. Levi's child. After what felt like an eternity, it was over. I heard the voice of my child crying. "Mrs Ackerman, you have a lovely boy!" a nurse informed me with a kind voice. Moments later, they let me hold him. That is when an unearthly feeling consumed me. It felt like a spark went down my spine and I felt more powerful than ever. My mind could only think of one thing. I had to protect my son. I had to made sure he would survive this cruel world. I felt this same feeling again after I was taken into a different room and Levi entered the room. He looked different, his emotions laid bare. This time, the unearthly feeling didn't overwhelm me as I felt it not too long ago. I had to protect this man too. This man who saved me from myself, gave me a family, gave me everything I ever dreamt of. I had to protect my family, or die doing so.
January 4 Year 826
"So you want to work here?" the pimp asked the young black haired girl. It wasn't seen often that a beautiful 16 year old girl would sell herself to prostitution. The malnourished girl merely nodded a yes. "I see. Do you have a name?" the pimp asked her. The girl shook her head saying no. "Alright. Your name is Aphrodite from now on. Your hair is all ruined. Cut it off and wear a wig. I'll call someone to help you. You need to take a bath too. You smell like a corpse." the pimp stated wrinkling his nose. The girl merely stood there. Did she have a choice? 16 years ago, her mother sold herself to a man. Her mother was a beautiful blonde woman named Anna. Anna got pregnant with her. As she grew up, Anna grew sicker, by a disease she caught by selling herself. Anna couldn't get up, she barely ever talked to her. She was only a burden. That changed with time, however. She had to fight for survival as far as she can remember, by begging for it or stealing it. When she brought her useless mother food, that woman talked to her. At first, having someone to talk to seemed like a good thing if that only required her to steal from people, however, that changed when the useless woman started soiling herself. She could understand why she was a burden to Anna, because, living in this harsh world, she had no time, nor any wish to suffer for a woman who only used her for survival. She had enough on her shoulder anyway. She couldn't get the courage to kill the woman in her sleep though. However, it seemed like the disease did exactly that. She woke up and found her dead. She didn't know what to do to the corpse so she simply left it and stumbled in the upper class whore houses and luckly for her, they were looking for prostitutes. There was no way that she would take on another burden ever again.
August 15 Year 810
The raven haired man walked the streets of the underground city. After the persecution of the Ackermans started off, they had to stay hidden from the government. While his dear brother ran to the forest near Shiganshina, he decided to move to the undergrounds. Being in the branch family, as well as being the rotten egg even in the branch family, Lucius Ackerman was disowned by both the main and the branch family. Most people in the branch family wasn't known to get an Ackerman's awakening power and Lucius wasn't an exception. Ofcourse he was nothing like Kenny, the Ackerman who made a name for himself by slitting the throats of the military police. He aimed for survival in the underground. He made his living by helping the military police illegally sell military equipments. It was an easy way to make money, which he ultimately used for survival and ofcourse, to spend his life fucking around. It was convenient for him, keeping a low profile while enjoying his life. "Lucius-san?" he heard a small voice call out. Great, now he would have to be bothered before going to work. "Yes?" he answered, looking back, his face showing irritation. He recognised the blonde woman who stood behind him. He bought her a year back. Now, she had a child in her arms. "I have been looking for you for so long! I got pregnant that time when you bought me. I'm certain it was you. I didn't have sex for a few months in that period." she exclaimed. "Oh? And what do you expect of me, Anna?" Lucius asked with a deadpan expression. "Please help me raise this child! I can't do it alone... I've been growing weaker by the day... It's probably because of someone I sold myself to... There's no way I could give this child a good life. No, sometimes, I feel like she's a burden when I go starving for days just to make sure she gets food. I'm going insane... Please help me!" Anna cried. Lucius looked away and said, "This is none of my concern. I paid you for your services and my responsibilities end there. Don't bother me or I will make sure the military police makes sure that you disappear." With that, he walked away from the woman, not giving heed to the desperate cries of the woman he left behind.
To be continued
[AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am back with the sequel of cold hearts! I won't be able to give regular updates for 3-4 months as I've got my A levels exam. I apologise for not being able to use perfect English as I am not a native English speaker. This story contains spoilers from the manga as I won't be waiting for the anime adaptation to continue with the story. Everything will be based from the manga henceforth.]