Part 60
Confront Thy Maker

Fury ran. And she ran with all she had, to make sure she could get back to Isaah. Her emotions still conflicted, however. Was she wanting to protect this boy because protection was something she had little of herself when she was child?

Fury could barely remember her childhood. A part of her life she's worked hard to erase from her mind.

And from what little she could remember was simply being passed from family to family. Never able to settle for too long. There was no way her parents thought that far, right? Though Fury knew some blame was upon herself. As she grew, she became more despondent and more restless. Perhaps the families that fostered her just couldn't handle whatever behaviour she exhibited. Maybe this was how Fury ended up working for thugs and lowlifes. It certainly led her to meeting Kenny Ackerman.

Self-reflecting aside, the chapel came into her view. And the woman emitted an breath of relief at seeing young Isaah gazing down into the cavern that had been created by Rod Reiss. The world around her hung silent.

The flames of regret had dimmed and the ground beneath Fury's feet no longer moved from the rumbling of Rod dragging his Titan across the surface. She had hoped that it had been dealt with.

"Isaah!" Fury called out, still running up to him as her call caused the boy to jump at the startle, turning around to see the one who came back to the Village. "… You actually did as you're told…" She then breathed; coming to a stop as all Isaah could do was nod. With the panic subdued, he clearly had a moment to think about the death that surrounded him this day.

But what could Fury say? She's never had a positive way with words, so perhaps it was best to say nothing at all.

"Come on. There's something I need to check down there…"

With Isaah following behind, Fury scaled down the sunken earth and back into the newly formed crystal cavern.

A straight line of hallowed ground lay in debris before her, from the drag of Rod's Titan that aimed to go directly to the Walls. Her eyes narrowed. She needed to see if she could find anybody.

Though more than likely to find bodies. But more specifically, Fury pondered if Kenny made it out. She had unfinished business with that murderer.

The foot of her boot kicked aside light debris as her eyes scanned the mess around her. Fury's frustration grew at not finding anything. As her fist clenched, the anchoring of an ODM was heard to be grappling near to her.

"… Levi…" She muttered, already knowing he had kept his word.

"It's him you sent me to?" Isaah questioned in his disapproval attitude, watching as Levi walked closer to both himself and Fury; clutching a rifle close to his chest.

"You're looking for him to?" Levi questioned, walking past Isaah, barely acknowledging the boy was there.

Fury turned her shoulder to Levi. They knew they both had every right to be looking for him and Fury replied with a nod. "Having debris fall on him is a death that wouldn't suit that man. But… I just had to look. To be sure. There's his squad to be concerned about too."

"There's no doubt in my mind that their flattened bodies are under this crap somewhere." Levi muttered, using his eyes to look himself. "Though you're right about Kenny. A pointless death would bore him."

"Captain!" Came to nearby echo of a soldier that Levi had brought with him for back up. Both he and Fury looked up at the bank, seeing the worried expression upon the soldier's face. "We've found him, Sir!"

He coughed. Sluggishly dragging his weakened body to finally allow it to rest back on a nearby tree. One of the lucky ones untouched by fire.


He coughed again. Blood spilling from his mouth as he took off his hat, resting it on his lap. Another cough as half of his face seared in pain from the burns it had received, and the cuts he had been given through his abdomen from his encounter with his proteges. His breathing was heavy. Almost gasping for each breath of air he needed to intake.

"Kenny." One name. Spoken by Levi as he and Fury stood looking down at him. How the table of power had shifted.

Isaah waited in the distance by the side of the panicked soldier, who carefully had his own rifle aimed at Kenny.

"Oh great…" Kenny scoffed, though it was clear his pain withheld his true sarcasm. "The both of you?"

"Your squad. They lay crushed beneath debris." Levi spoke on, looking past the man's attempted ruse to play games. "Looks like we're even now, you're the only survivor."

"… It would seem that way." Kenny acknowledged, closing his eyes momentarily as Fury was slowly beginning to struggle at being in his presence. And yet seeing Kenny Ackerman so weak and brittle... It made things even more difficult. Perhaps for the both of them.

Fury etched closer to Levi, to mutter her words to him. "With those cuts and burns… his blood loss is too much. I don't think we can help him…"

With struggle, Kenny opened his eyes. "I wonder…" He croaked, using what strength he had left to pull out something he was able to take from Rod.

A syringe. Attached to a bottle of blue liquid that Rod used to become the monster that was his Titan. "If I inject this… I become a Titan. One of the dumb fuckers, though… Unfortunately. But… For while, it will extend my life."

Neither Levi or Fury mustered any words of reply. A moment of silence befell them as Kenny's hand simply remained on top of the box containing the injection. Fury decided to brush her shoulder past Levi's, a scowl on her face as she wasn't in the mood to be waiting on idealistic choices.

"You've had plenty of time to stick that filth in you." She hissed. "So why haven't you?"

Kenny made his next excuse. "If I don't inject it right… I might end up like he did… All piggy looking."

"I know you're not sitting here just waiting to die." Levi surmised. "So on with your next excuse."

Kenny shifted his eyes up to them both, as they still loomed over him. And yet Kenny, through his blurred sight, didn't see the adults they had become. They were young again. Teenagers. Brimming with attitude, hormones and questions. He knew he shaped them, or at least guided them to become who they were. "I don't… want to die." He coughed. "I wanted… power. But… I think I understand why he did it after all this time… Uri." A small chuckle then came from Kenny, eyes opening just a little bit more. "Everybody I've met… They've all been the same.

Drinking.

Sex.

God.

Dreams.

Children.

Power.

… even Family.

Everyone's been focused on something to keep pushing on. Everyone… is a slave to something.

So what of you two?! What are you two slave to?"

Though Fury was taken aback, Levi knelt down and grabbed both of Kenny's shoulders. He had no time to listen to sentiment and yet, even Levi needed answers. "Tell me everything you know! Why didn't the first King want Humanity to survive?! What the hell was the actual reason as to why her next to me seems to be this last Bloodborn that the King once originally had purged?!"

And all Kenny could do was smirk. "Beats me… But… we Ackerman's opposed him… for those very reasons."

"So my last name is Ackerman too?" Levi questioned, trying to remain composed. Though that in itself came as a shock to Fury, who thought Levi was already aware of that. "So… who were you to my mother…? Why were you there visiting her the day you found me?"

Kenny then looked up at Fury, bolstering his laugh. "You didn't tell him, did ya?" He then spat out more blood that was filling into his mouth, taking his gaze back to Levi who had also looked up at Fury. "Just her brother." He then revealed.

And it finally came to Levi's realisation that Kenny was his own flesh and blood. His uncle.

"You knew that?" Levi questioned Fury, after overcoming the revelation.

Fury shook. "I thought you already knew that. I thought you knew he was your family!"

Levi looked down, allowing his mind to take it all in. The moment he discovers he still had family was in the same moment that family was now dying in front of him. He inhaled, taking his deep glare back to Kenny. "That day… Why did you leave me?"

"I wasn't… meant to be anyone's father." Kenny admitted, leaving Levi to remove his hands from the man's shoulders. "Not yours… or hers." Kenny leaned his head back against the bark of the tree. Struggling to breathe, he was then able to turn his attention to Fury. "Nothing to say? I don't remember you being the quiet type."

"No. I suppose you don't." Fury hissed. "What with all the scars you gave me from talking back."

"I guess… I could have handled things better, huh?" Kenny chuckled, gripping onto his open wound through his abdomen.

"I know that it was you." Trembled Fury, a glaze covering her eyes. "You killed my mother not minutes before I was forced out of her womb. Why? Just to follow an order? Because you were the infamous 'Kenny the Ripper'?

You were supposed to kill me too and instead, for the longest year of my miserable life, you taught me everything I know in terms of fighting and surviving. Had your own damn fun in the process too."

"Ha. Yeah… I was just following the orders of someone who wanted you and your mother dead. I didn't ask questions, was just doing it for the money." Kenny croaked. "But… I suppose things changed for the both of us when I first met ya. It was time I focused back on my own goals. Don't think I spared you because I felt sympathy. I spared you for my own gain. And to think my little fury was a Bloodborn the entire time! The man who hired me even said as much that I put you on your path to awakening. Aren't ya going to thank me?"

"I hate you." Fury hissed. Her face pained, yet her emotions too strained to show anything but anger and upset. And it was something Levi wasn't familiar with seeing either. But she admitted to him that Levi was only ever found by her because she wanted to find Kenny. Not to kill him, but just for her to tell him how much she hated him. She was now finally able to let it all out.

"I only ever wanted to scream that to you, every day. And yet how could I? A part of me actually felt guilty for telling someone that I hate them when they had given me the means to be independent. I've carried this conflict for so long… And yet it hasn't made me feel any better with finally being able to tell you how you made me feel.

… I even threw away my own name just to become what you named and made me."

He could joke on the matter. He could even make sarcastic comments. But Kenny was tired. Shown by his tilted body that still rested against the tree. He couldn't even cough anymore and the blood flowed from his mouth freely down his chin and onto his charred clothes. "… Forgive me…"

Two words. Enough to stun Levi and Fury. Kenny was not a man known to ask for forgiveness, or expected to accept others. It churned Fury's stomach. It twisted into a knot from inner turmoil. She had her response for him. But was she able to allow herself to even say it?

"You don't need forgiving. You're dying, Kenny. Just get on with it already."

That was her response. She refused to give him the forgiveness he asked for. Levi was truly expecting her to allow a man to die knowing he was forgiven, even if that forgiveness was a lie. Did anyone deserve to die with regrets? For Fury to deny him peace allowed Levi to see the conflict she had truly been dealing with.

The box containing the syringe of spinal fluid was then shoved into Levi's chest by Kenny. He made his choice.

And his choice was to die and allow someone else to be given the syringe should it be needed.

Silence surrounded them again. Levi looking at both the box and his now dead uncle. Fury had turned away.

Finally able to confront her maker after all these years, but she still felt no better for it. However, none of this was yet over for either of them.

It lingered on Levi's mind. Fury had always known that Kenny was his uncle, and yet she never revealed that to him, even when she had finally told him of how it was she herself knew of Kenny.

Why was he feeling doubt? Conflicted himself, almost. Her excuse being she thought he knew, but could Levi accept that?

Things between Levi and Fury may never be the same again.