Part VIII
The Meaning of Freedom

"Put a cover over the sofa before you put her on it." Levi ordered as he stirred his tea, pulling out a chair from under the table near to him to take a seat.

Farlan rolled his eyes, but he was that used to living alongside Levi, he should've done it without even being asked. Once covered with a clean sheet, Farlan lead Fury over to the sofa so she could sit down. Finally sighing with relief. Both men stayed quiet, allowing her to gather her thoughts. Fury looked around the apartment. It was spotless. All the pictures were straight, the furniture clean. Was she still in the Underground? Levi continued stirring his tea like it was form of ritual, before he picked it up with one hand that almost covered the top of the cup and he took a sip out of it. Fury watched him. Was he really Kenny's nephew? Had she finally gained contact with him? As much as she wanted to blurt out Kenny's name, her pain within her stomach was overwhelming and she clenched it.

"You aren't… pregnant are ya?" Farlan asked, his eyebrow raised, though a show of genuine worry.

"No!" Fury finally spoke in a form of a disgusted hiss, slightly offended at the same time. "If you hadn't noticed I was punched in my stomach a few times. Tends to hurt that, you know?"

"Sarcasm." Levi pointed out, raising his eyebrow.

Farlan sighed. "Right… so… your name?" Fury didn't answer straight away. "You gotta have one, right?"

"Fury. That's all." Farlan's eyes widened. He and Levi had heard that name around their area a few times. Levi didn't react. In fact, he didn't seem all the surprised to begin with.

"Well, you're definitely not with those from the lower district. Is… that you real name?" Farlan then asked.

"Are expecting more sarcasm, Farlan?" Asked Levi, sipping his tea and causing Farlan to become agitated.

"It's… just a name." Fury muttered. "Someone started calling me it a while back and I guess it just… grew on me." She then looked over at Levi, barely acknowledging Farlan's presence.

"You know you have yourself a little reputation around this district?" Spoke Farlan, sitting on the sofa next to Fury. "You're not well known to take it easy on people. Or so they say."

Fury looked at Farlan and she frowned. "I tend not to if they don't deserve it."

"And how would you know?" Asked Levi, causing eyebrows to raise from the both of them. "How would you know if they deserve it or not?"

"You live a certain way for so long that it tends to get easy spotting the bad types…" Fury sighed, and the two young men did not respond as she had made her point. Levi himself couldn't argue with it, having to remind himself of his short days with his mother, who did all she could for him on her own.

"You seem capable of looking out for yourself." Levi then went on to say. "Even capable of, I dunno… involving yourself with MP's?"

"Good, he did as he was told then." Fury muttered as Farlan pointed at himself and then rolling his eyes. Why did he feel used all of a sudden?

"That's not what I'm talking about." Levi then went on to say. Not once has he moved his gaze to look at her. He was talking, but never really directly at her. "Your stunt cost me a fair amount of money."

"Let me guess… You want repaying? Well, do I look like I carry stacks of money around with me in a place like this?"

Sarcasm. Fury was good at that.

"You don't understand…" Interrupted Farlan, looking down. "That money wasn't just for me and Levi. It was to help pay for some people down here with major problems with their legs to get them up to the surface so that they could get treatment."

Fury didn't respond, though even she could admit she felt slightly guilty right now. "You know what I mean, right?" Farlan continued. "Folks legs can get real bad down here, due to the lack of sunlight. If not treated, they get amputated."

Fury hummed, putting a hand on her leg, knowing that even her own were aching more than they usually do lately."…How was I supposed to know? You made it look rather convincing that you needed help." She then frowned, crossing her arms, doing her best to hide any emotion that showed care. She couldn't. He said it was a show of weakness, after all.

"That was the plan." Spoke Levi. "Distraction was the key." Now he was making her feel worse. "And with your little stunt, the MP's are more focused on us than before."

"So, we need more assistance ourselves." Farlan pointed out, smiling in a way the slightly unnerved Fury. "We're already on thin ice with the other districts as it is. They won't help forever."

"I'm trying to determine if you're at all like those…-"

"Don't go there." Scolded Levi before Fury could even finish her speculation. "We're not like those pricks you're so familiar with."

"We live quite clean lives, so to speak!" Laughed Farlan. "Literally. We clean everyday…" Fury raised her eyebrow. What were these two offering?

"And so will you." Levi continued. "That's if you want to have a roof over your head."

Fury shook her head. "Excuse me, but I haven't even agreed to any of this!"

"It's simple!" Grinned Farlan. "We help you, now you help us. Until we get that money back, we want you to pitch in and help. Ya know, seeing as how you were the one that caused us to lose it, right?."

"You're trying to make me feel guilty." Fury pointed out, and she wasn't okay with that.

"Look, I get it. You can handle yourself." Interrupted Levi again. "Quite frankly, I couldn't care less how good you are." He took one final sip of his tea. "All I care about is seeing things get done. Down here, you receive help expect to help back as a favour. Make sure you clean up after yourself, and keep yourself clean, whilst living under this roof." He stood up, clean his empty cup of tea and departed for his room, not even allowing Fury to decline the offer. This offended her.

Fury sighed, leaning back on the sofa as she still clutched her stomach. "What's the meaning of freedom?" She spoke aloud, causing Farlan to peak an interest. "I escape one problem, I encounter another. I just want to live for myself, but in a better world than this."

"There are worse places to be right now than here with me and Levi…" Farlan muttered. "Obvious you've been through a few tough patches. I won't dig for more. But my view of freedom is belonging. Feeling like you're wanted."

"That's emotional need, not the meaning of something." Fury bluntly pointed out, causing Farlan to pout.

"Well, what's your meaning then?!" He sharply asked, wanting to move on.

"To be up there with the rest of them." Fury replied, causing Farlan's eyes to widen. "To know what fresh air smells like, to feel the heat off the sun. Sure, we don't worry much about the Titans down here, but up there, they all have my meaning of freedom. I may not care that much for people in general, but if people can live up there, who had the right to decide people had to live like this down here?"

Farlan then chuckled. "You're gonna do just fine alongside me and Levi. We too strive to gain citizenship up on the surface. But it costs to get up there. And it costs a damn lot." It was starting to make sense to Fury now. "So we do what we can to gain that money to buy our way up there, but that takes time. Helping others along the way, well that's just a bonus. We're not all bad people down here and may be you'll come to realise that."

"Do I have a choice? Shorty didn't give me much of one." Farlan waved his hands with speed at Fury's latter words, his face showed worry.

"Crap, don't ever say that around Levi, he'd eat you alive!"

Fury rolled her eyes. "I'd like to see him try…"

"Yeah... We're all gonna get along juuuuust fine..." Sighed Farlan, his own attempt at sarcasm.