He watched the shadows of the tree branches dancing on the ceiling. Their leaves flickered in the sunlight in a way he could see almost all their details.

Levi was peacefully trapped under his girlfriend, who didn't seem even close to waking up. After packing more stuff to move it to his apartment, they spent a night at her place. There was a weird ache in his heart when he thought about how they will have to say goodbye to this place one day. He was fond of their memories here and how safe he felt every time he came there to run from his burdens.

He turned to his side, pulling Petra's sleeping body with him. She mumbled some nonsense and nuzzled into his chest. A small smile appeared on his face before he left a kiss on her forehead and got out of bed.


"I'll be back by lunch," Levi typed on his phone. With a can of soda in his hand, he waited at the crossroad. He laid his back on the wall and scanned his surroundings. Despite it being the middle of winter, it was actually quite warm. The weather could almost be called nice if not for the mess the puddles of melted snow made everywhere.

A young man passing him stopped for a moment and handed him an old smartphone. He took it and just like that, the envoy was gone. Levi cleaned the device with an antibacterial wipe while continuing his walk in the opposite direction.

This was it, a chance of ending it all. He tapped the screen to call the only saved number and put the phone to his ear, waiting.

"Hello, Ackerman. It's good to see you finally decided to accept the invitation."

"I don't accept shit. There are better ways to contact me than framing me for a fucking murder."

The voice on the other side laughed, like he just heard an old joke between friends. Levi took a breath.

"Whatever you need, I can't help you. I'm done with all of this."

"That's not up to you, really."

"I will pay. Give me the price."

"You wanna put a price on your life?"

"Are you threatening to kill me?"

"I get nothing out of killing you." the voice sounded bored.

Levi looked around the empty park he was crossing and stopped.

"I will give you enough so you will hire someone to do whatever you want me to do," he tried, despite knowing well how irrelevant money was in this case.

"That's not very fair," the other man replied in a monotone voice and sighed.

"What do you want then?"

"You know, Levi, I don't like people ditching me. It pisses me off, in fact. That is a price you can't pay. Fortunately, I've made some friends in your town. I figured if you reject my invitation, I'll just punish you for that."

Levi's whole body tensed as he looked around yet again, as if someone might jump out on him. Without a reply, he turned around.

"That little parlor of yours, isn't it cute. What a shame you didn't invest in security cameras."

"What, did you rob me?" Levi snorted.

"No, of course not! But if you feel like saying your last goodbye to that place, I think you should hurry."

Before Levi could respond, the call ended. Frozen in place, he looked at the phone in his hand, his blood running cold. Like a bolt striking his body, he took off running back to the city.


Despite the adrenaline rush, his mind was clear. There wasn't a point in looking for a ride in that traffic. With ease, he jumped over the cars stuck on the streets, not even looking back at the people cursing him.

Just two blocks away. He tried to call Petra, but she didn't pick up. He gave up once he saw the building.

He stormed in through the front door.

"EVERYONE! OUT! NOW!"

His team, just like their clients, looked at him in confusion.

"NOW!" he repeated louder, making Eld stand up and put his tattooing machine down.

"Come on, let's go" he assured his client.

Levi passed them to hurriedly look through all the rooms.

"Go to the shop next door and tell them to evacuate," he ordered Gunther, once he noticed he followed him.

He almost ran into Connie and Sasha when entering the breakroom.

"Where's Petra?" He asked them while rushing them outside in their uniform hoodies. He remembered they were supposed to practice with her.

"I think she's upstairs. She left like 30 minutes ago. What's going on?" Asked the boy, but Levi did not have the time to explain. He rushed to the stairs instead. This all could've been just playing on his nerves, but he couldn't be sure. Fuck the parlor, as long as no one gets hurt. The Underground didn't touch normal civilians, but he wasn't sure if people associated with him were considered as such.

"Petra?!" He yelled once he entered his apartment. "Petra!"

He took a step in the direction of his bedroom, when an explosion threw off his balance.


A loud noise reached their ears. Petra and Zeke exchanged glances before standing up to look through the window, but everything seemed normal.

"Kids playing with fireworks?"Petra asked with an unsure smile, but Zeke didn't smile back.

"We can finish this meeting later. I'll see what's happened, you stay there," he said, furrowing his eyebrows.

"No way," she stated and followed him outside his office.

The cold air hit her when they got out, but she barely noticed that. From the street, they no longer had to wonder what happened. The tattoo parlor was in ruin, a sight too surreal for her mind to accept.

Petra choked on her breath and ran down the street the moment she recognized the group of people nearby.

"Everyone's here?" She asked them, noticing Connie watching her in horror. Zeke caught up to them.

"Where's the captain?" Oulo asked.

"Levi's not here," Petra replied fast.

"He was, he-"

"He said he would be back by lunch," Petra denied it angrily.

"I'll check the backdoors," Gunther said and left them right away.

Eld passed her, approaching the building.

"Captain?! LEVI!"

Petra grasped him and took a shaky breath before joining his side. They couldn't see anything through the thick layers of dust in the air.

"Levi!" She screamed and bounced on her feet, gathering the courage to get in.

Eld grabbed her arm just when she took off, making her falter.

"Petra, it's dangerous!"

"He's not back there!" Gunter yelled, running back to them.

To no avail, the ginger woman tried to free her arm.

"Let me go! I need to go, I need… He isn't in there, right? He can't-" the words got stuck in her throat. She looked back and saw Oluo already calling for help. She tried to get out of his grip again and without a second thought, she bit his hand, making the poor man cry out a surprised scream.

She knew what she was doing was stupid. This didn't mean she would just stand-by and stay there. She covered her nose and mouth with her shirt while jumping through the shattered front doors.

Sirens filled the neighborhood while she ducked under shelves sticking forward from the wall.

"Levi! Are you there?!" She called, moving forward. It was unreal to see a place she knew so well covered in dirt, bricks, and parts of the furniture from his apartment. She crawled over the counter to get to the break room and froze. The shirt fell from her face as she eyed the pile of bricks and wood planks. There was a hand.

A hand sticking up from underneath.

Petra stumbled on her way to it and fell to her knees. With all the power she possessed, she grabbed a big wooden chunk and pushed it off the motionless body. She choked on her breath and with trembling hands threw a couple of bricks off his chest.

"He's here!" she called, turning her head for a second before getting closer. Carefully, she put her hands on the sides of his head and turned it facing up. The sight was terrific. Half of his face was covered in blood, with deep cuts and small glass shards sticking out of them. His eyes were slightly opened, devoid of life.

"Levi, please…" she whispered and put her ear to his chest. There was a heartbeat, she was sure. Through the fog in her mind, she barely felt it, but it was there. She held back her tears and moved up to look at him again. "Shit, shit, shit. Don't panic, it's going to be okay."

The dust in the air made her cough, but despite that, she proceeded to check on his body. He wasn't bleeding out, as far as she was aware. His legs were stuck under a dresser and she was too scared to move it alone.

She wanted to stay, keep him safe until someone comes to help, but she knew that wasn't the right thing to do. Waiting wasn't an option. Fighting all her urges to stick with him, she stood up and covered her nose and mouth while going back. She noticed the rescuers going through the building and called to them.


"Why did you go in there?! God, Petra, you can't do that, that's so stupid!"

Oluo might as well have been screaming at a wall because it was going in one ear and out the other. She was sitting on the sidewalk, looking at the building and caressing her now bandaged palm.

It had been over twenty minutes and neither the rescuers nor paramedics got out of there. Her eyes stayed set at the entrance.

"Don't you think one victim is enough?!"

She noticed Gunther approaching them. He put a hand on Oluo's arm, gently asking him to calm down, and turned his worried eyes to Petra.

"Did they tell you anything about his state?"

The woman slowly shook her head.

"They escorted me out because, apparently, I was distracting them," she said in a flat tone and held her breath before standing up. She raised to her tiptoes and embraced them both, pulling them closer. "I'm so glad you guys are okay."

"That's thanks to the captain, too," Oluo said, and when she let go of them, he explained what the situation looked like before the explosion.

Before they were able to move to a discussion, Petra noticed people coming out of the building. She tapped her friend's arm in a thankful gesture before running up to the people who carried the stretcher with Levi to the ambulance.

"Is he going to be okay?" She asked, walking along. Levis's face was covered with bandages.

"We'll take good care of him," the paramedic walking beside her assured, although it didn't calm her down much.

"Can I go with you?"

"You're family?"

"Girlfriend."

"You can go in," the woman said, but stopped Petra when she tried to follow them to the back side of the ambulance. "Front passenger seat."

"I need to see him!" Petra cried out.

"You're either staying or going to the front, we don't have time."

The back doors of the ambulance closed shut in front of Petra's eyes.


Levi watched the waves flowing up the beach to cover his bare feet, making him sink into the sand.

He sighed.

The water didn't seem dirty at all, but he was still put off. He noticed another pair of feet joining him and looked up. A peaceful-looking young woman stood beside him, looking toward the horizon. She noticed his stare and smiled lightly. She looked familiar.

"He's here," she said.

Levi's eyebrows furrowed.

"Who?"

The woman beamed as if he said something funny.

"Levi, please…" she laughed.

"I don't have time for this," he grunted and put a hand to his forehead. What was he supposed to be doing anyway? He had to go somewhere but, instead, he just stood there. There was nothing around. No one.

Aside from the woman who now seemed to be deep in thought.

"Don't panic. It's going to be okay."

Levi closed his eyes. A swarm of faces - his dead comrades - flew through his mind. It couldn't be okay, he already lost them all. He was tired.

He opened his eyes.

The salty water splashed over his white uniform pants.