Living in the Underground was difficult to say the least, food was a rarity, you life was constantly in danger no matter who you were and fun was practically illegal. Life hated you no matter how old you were, the elderly got thrown aside by the younger generations and the youngsters fought tooth and nail daily to live... nobody won down in that hell hole.

Leah was young when she realised she wasn't a she at all, when she realised she was born in the wrong body . She never liked her hair long and her fingers would always itch for the scissors when it began to brush her shoulders but she would always will herself to keep it long for her mother. Whenever she came home from a rough day with a client, which were most days, she would run her hands through her hair and she would even sometimes braid it, relaxing them both in the process.

She could remember how happy her mother had been to have "a little princess to spoil" but she never understood it really. However, Leah never told her of her discomfort in her body- she was sad enough as it was.

She wasn't a stupid child, she had a rough understanding of her mother's job. She had "clients" and they would give her money so she would spend time with them- it didn't seem too bad and he didn't understand why she would never tell her how her day went but she never pressed, she cared for her daughter and spoiling "her princess" seemed to cheer her up so she always let it be. She also didn't miss the looks the men would give them when they made their way through the streets.

When his mother was working Leah would stay with their neighbour, a lady younger than her mother but she knew she had the same job as her. Every so often when she sat on her bed waiting to go home she would stare at Leah with pity in her eyes.

"What ever you do dear, make sure you don't follow in Kuchel's footsteps... by whatever means necessary and if a man tries to touch you kick him between his legs and run as fast as you can, okay?" Leah could only nod, not really understanding what she was talking about but she filled the advice away for later. Any advice was useful in the Underground.

xXx

Leah was six when her mother started to feel ill, she told her it was nothing to worry about but she saw the way her cheeks bones were becoming more prominent and her eyes were sinking back into her skull and something deep in the back of her young mind whispered that she wouldn't last long- she sadly had to agree.

Soon enough her mother didn't even have the energy to leave her bed and all Leah could do was sit by her head and count her raspy breaths. Because she was bed bound she couldn't work and no work meant no money... so no food. It only took a couple of days for her to fade away until her breathing stopped altogether, encasing the room in a early silence.

"Mum? Wake up please" she stood next to her, lightly poking her arm, she got no response at all.

She didn't know what to do so she sat by her bed, pulled her knees up to her chest and hid her head. She didn't cry, she couldn't afford to waste the liquid.

Leah could do nothing but sit there and wait, for what? She didn't know but she waited. She felt so lost, it had just been her and her mother against the world for so long but now she was suddenly thrown into the deep end with no hand to hold- it scared her shitless.

After almost a week of sitting there a man entered the room, he was tall with a stern face and his body was hidden by a long coat. He sucked in a breath when he saw her mother- she held an almost skeletal appearance now, she looked nothing like she should have, Leah hardly recognised her.

"You Kuchel's kid?" The man's raspy voice questioned, all Leah did was nod not trusting her voice "You gotta name?" Yes she does have a name but it's not the one meant for her. Leah was too lady-like as the other women would say, one even said it was "a good name to get clients" whatever that meant, maybe this was her chance to give herself a name that reflected who she's meant to be... she felt giddy at the thought.

"I ain't got all day, kid" the man prompted.

She lifted her eyes from the floor to stare into the man's eyes "my name... is... Levi" yes that felt right, for the first time in her short life it suddenly felt right to say her own name. Maybe she could finally ditch the "she" too, now that was an exciting thought.

"Right then Levi, name's Kenny, lets get going."

Levi had to suppress a grin as she jogged after the man, she paused to lay one last goodbye kiss on her mother's forehead and pulled the blanket over her face...

At least one of them managed to escape this hell hole.

xXx

Levi had been with Kenny for four years, in that time the older man had referred to him as "he" because he didn't know any didn't know any different, after all he had introduced himself as "Levi, Kuchel's son" and Kenny had no reason to question it. He had learnt everything he needed to know, by no means was Kenny a good man but he was smart and did what ever he needed to do to survive in the Underground- a ten year old Levi could respect that.

He had learnt several things from Kenny over the years, the most useful ones were: how to defend himself, how to ration his food and most importantly, how to pickpocket.

They were walking through a busy street when Kenny subtly pointed out a man up ahead, Levi understood the implications- pick pocket the man so they could eat tonight. Pretty simple, he was fairly small for a ten year old, a mixture of a naturally slim figure (which he despised) and inadequate nutrition but it worked in their favour.

He stalked the man for a couple of minutes and saw his opening when the stranger stopped by a stall, he approached his newest victim's back like a cat and quickly swiped his wallet from his back pocket- it was pretty heavy so a god catch, his hopes rose at the thought of warm food tonight.

All hopes crashed to the floor when he felt a rough hand grasp his wrist, he was forced to spin to come face to face with the man he just robbed.

"What do ya think ya doin' ya little shit?" The man shouted, his face twisted in anger. All Levi could do was try to tug his hand away, he slightly panicked when the grip only tightened. The man's shouts caused a few heads to turn but most went on with heir day- stuff like this wasn't exactly out of the ordinary "ya gonna come with me kid and I'll teach ya some manners, ey?"

Levi saw red and he dropped the wallet, reached down into his boot and pulled his knife out. He hooked his foot around the man's ankle and tugged causing the fat bastard to tumble to the floor.

"Why ya little-" before he could finish his insult he had a knife was in his abdomen, Levi locked eyes with him before he removed the knife only to watch the man squirm. He spun on his heels and left him- he had it coming anyway what did he expect? He retrieved his wallet before making his way back to Kenny, excited to show him the wallet. That's when he realised he couldn't find him.

The blood pounded in his ears, his heart pounded against his ribs painfully. His hands shook, his feet tingled and his vision became disfigured, like his eyes had been covered by a film. He had to find Kenny, he couldn't stay here, he'd just killed a man! He clutched his bloody knife and his wallet against his boney chest in a desperate attempt to ground himself.

That's when he saw Kenny, well Kenny's back as he walked away from him- he opened his mouth to call for him before promptly closing it again, he suddenly understood. He had killed a man, he could take care of himself... it didn't matter his age, kids just learning to walk could be found fending for themselves down here. He was to lucky to have had a mentor for this long.

With that he composed himself and turned away from his mentor. He'd have to learn how to keep himself alive.

He would survive.

xXx

Levi was now fifteen and he was still alive... somehow, if he was to be honest he was shocked he hadn't caught a disease yet with how many rats he saw daily. It was a regular day for him, he was making his way back "home" from the market, he'd managed to steal a rather expensive watch from some Military Police dickhead so he traded that for a decent bag of food- he'd hide most of it under a floorboard in the room a little old lady gave him (she saw him in the streets and took pity on him, a stupid move on her part but he wasn't going to pass up on such a good offer).

He decided to cut through an alleyway, he wouldn't normally but there was a lot of MPs out and he didn't fancy being pushed around or having his food taken, so he took the shortcut.

His nose instinctively wrinkled when he saw the grime that covered the floor, this place was disgusting, if he ever got out he'd make sure he never saw another speck of dirt ever again- that would be the day, there was only one way to escape this place and he was determined to go down fighting.

Suddenly, he heard a groan from his left and he swivelled to face whatever made the noise, he spotted a man slumped against the wall, the amount of bottles scattered around his legs let Levi know how blackout drunk the man was, he didn't worry about him as he continued on his way- the man could hardly keep his head up. The Underground was quite obviously under the rest of the city so the residents had no idea if it was day or night, there was a "concept" though and Levi could always tell if the imaginary sun was going down when the market's stalls began to close down for the "night". It's not a perfect system by any means but it worked for the low-lifes that relied on it.

He was yanked from his thoughts when he felt an arm loop around his front and throw him into a filthy wall, his eyes flick up and he realised its that drunkard from before- he could smell the pungent stench of alcohol on his breath when he groans out a rough "Hey, baby."

Levi placed his hands on the man's shoulders and shoved, all the man did was grab his wrists with rough, sweaty hands and slam Levi's slim body against the wall harshly, the jolt caused him to drop the bag of food- shit he needed that food.

"What a pretty little thing ya are" the man mumbled into his neck Levi shuddered as he felt awful hot breath against his neck "oh, ya enjoyin' this sweetheart?"

"No! Get the fuck off me!" He retorted and began to squirm, trying to escape the man's hold, the man's response was to pin his legs against the wall with his thicker ones, fucking perfect. Smelly Breath began to lick his neck and Levi felt absolutely disgusted, he tried his best to keep struggling but he unconsciously froze when he felt a hand at the hem of his shirt.

If he could've just reached the knife in his boot he could have given the sicko what he deserved and be on his way but he couldn't move his limbs- he was frozen and helpless.

He shuddered when he felt that vile hand slide it's way up his stomach to his chest, he nearly threw up when that hand gripped his chest.

"Ya were just askin' for it ya little slut, weren't ya? Walkin' round with ya top stuck to ya chest, no sane man could resist ya" Levi was still stuck in place but he did feel his eyes begin to well up and his heart hammered against his chest so hard it hurt. The tears fell freely down his cheeks when that fucking hand started fondling his chest "what a good little girl" the man slurred.

"I'm a guy!" He protested through his tears. The man just chuckled and leant his full weight on him "this chest says otherwise, sweet cheeks." Without another word the creep slid his hand down to his lower back (keeping the other firmly on his wrists) and tugged him forward until their hips met, a low groan came from the bastard as he started to use Levi to get himself off.

Levi looked up at the roof, wishing it was stars rather than dirt. His thoughts drifted to his mother, she was a beautiful woman, he could understand why the men liked her so much. The longer he lived on his own the better he understood the world, and it didn't take him long to figure out what his mother's job was, he became thankful that she constantly found babysitters for him and did her best to shelter him from the horrors of life- just a shame Kenny wasn't so kind.

Now he understood what his neighbour meant all those years ago "What ever you do dear, make sure you don't follow in Kuchel's footsteps... by whatever means necessary and if a man tries to touch you kick him between his legs and run as fast as you can", his eyes widened with a thought.

Without even thinking about what the pervert was doing he used a sudden burst of energy to dislodge a knee before thrusting it skywards into the guy's crotch. The man grunted and doubled over in pain.

Levi didn't even look back when he sprinted from that alleyway and made his way home. He ran until his feet started to go numb but eventually he made it back to the lady's house, after he slammed the door closed he slid into a corner and curled into himself. He could feel those grimy hands still dripping his chest and he felt disgusting, vile and absolutely horrified with himself.

He couldn't wash, water was too precious and should be used for drinking only, so he did the only thing he could think of, he curled up in a ball and sobbed his heart out.

xXx

It took some convincing but he managed to borrow some clippers and scissors from the lady's neighbour in exchange for a couple of slices of slightly mouldy bread, not a bad exchange. It took him longer than he would've liked but eventually he ended up with short hair along the bottom of his head with longer on the top- it was a huge improvement from the mop he had before hand and gave his face a more "manly" shape.

Now, Levi was stood in topless front if the only mirror in the lady's apartment, he just glared at his reflection, the cracks made it seen like his body was far more disfigured than it actually was. A week after the alleyway issue he could still feel those disgusting hands on his chest.

He dragged his eyes over his body and almost instantly felt the urge to vomit. His skin was ghostly pale which was expected, they didn't exactly see much sun down there, even those with naturally dark skin began to pale after a few years. What really disgusted him was the shape of his torso, his shoulders were thin and slight, his waist was ridiculously narrow whilst his hip bones jutted out. That wasn't too bad- it gave him the advantage when it came to stealth but nothing more, what he seriously despised was his chest, that man was right he had a fucking girl's chest and it was hideous.

After wearing the same shirt for almost three years, he had grown into it and, despite his skeletal appearance, his shirt clung to his figure and highlighted those hideous features- fucking perfect.

He needed to get rid of those fucking breasts, he decided to call them what they were- fucking breasts and he hated them.

There was no way to get rid of them permanently, any sort of improvised operation would almost certainly end in him contracting some sort of deadly infection and he wanted to go down fighting goddammit! He refused to die because of germs.

A temporary solution would have to do, he made his way over to the loose floorboard by his "bed" and yanked it up to reveal his collection of items: stale food, the knife Kenny gave him and a very small first aid kit. He spied the bandaged and an idea came to his head. After grabbing the bandages he replaced the board and went back to the cracked mirror, with that he began to wrap his chest in the bandages, making sure to pull them tight enough.

Eventually, he was done so he pulled his shirt back on and admired his new physique- he now had a perfectly flat "masculine" chest and he fucking loved it. Yes, it was slightly more difficult to breath but apart that he felt amazing! Despite the ache in his ribs, he could breath easier than he had in years.

With the combination of a manly torso and the shorter hair he felt like he could rule the world!

For the first time in his life he felt completely and utterly... right.

xXx

Being alone in the Underground had its advantages like only needing to fend for yourself and not having anyone to hold you back, but there were also the disadvantages like having the clean and stitch your own wounds, but also the lonely nights were heart wrenching. Levi didn't know what it was like to have companions, that is until Isabel and Farlan came along. They were the first people he had allowed to get close to him and to begin with he regretted it (it was like baby sitting), but as they grew closer he couldn't imagine life without them.

He was older than both of them, this lead to him and Isabel developing a sibling like relationship, every-time she called him "bro" he revelled in it. Farlan was more the voice of reason, he definitely looked up to Levi and admired his skill in combat, he respected the decisions the raven made for them.

Overall, they worked well as a team.

The two had no clue about Levi's 'true nature' and he was happy about that. Every time he looked in that fucking cracked mirror he felt a streak of self hatred pierce his heart, they needed him to be someone strong to look up to, if they found out he feared their view of him would change and even though he was used to being alone his heart dropped at the thought of being without them, they were family- he couldn't loose another family. So he kept his chest bandaged at all times and simply ground his teeth together to get himself through the pain and waved off any questions they had about his short breaths.

Levi had locked himself in the bathroom (the lady who he used to live with died and he had fought tooth and nail to keep the apartment), his ribs ached and his chest was covered with purple and yellow bruises that hurt like a bitch but he continued to re-bandage his chest. That was when Isabel and Farlan burst through the front door.

"Hey big bro! Come look what we swiped!" He squinted at Isabel's screech and replied with a quick "give me a sec" before finishing his bandages off, he wheezed slightly when he tightened them like a corset. When he finally emerged from the bathroom he saw Farlan in the corner grinning sheepishly, and Isabel motioning to the table in a "ta-da" motion.

He froze when his eyes flicked to the table and saw three sets of ODM gear, straps and all laid there... what the fuck?

"Where did you get this?" He questioned and approached the gear, eyeing it like it would explode any second, for all he knew it could.

"Isabel thought it would be a good idea to sneak into the MP base" Farlen replied dryly "just for food" he quickly backtracked when he saw Levi raise an eyebrow, that tended to mean 'you're in trouble you little shit.'

"But then we saw three sets of this stuff on a table left completely unguarded! We couldn't resist!"

"No, you couldn't resist" corrected the blonde man. This was... impressive really, ODM gear wasn't light by any means and could only imagine how difficult it would've been to evade capture whilst lugging one set around, never mind three.

"Why did you take this? How was this worth the risk?" He couldn't help but ask, he rested his gaze on Isabel and watched her squirm.

"Just think about it bro, we could be unstoppable!" Levi raised an eyebrow and Farlen scoffed "Think about it! We could ran sack some shit-hole and make a speedy get away, we would be gone before people have even realised they'd been robbed!" He had to admit she had a point but...

"We have no clue how to use it" and it was Farlan that replied this time with a quick snipe of "If some of the MPs can manage it, it cant be that difficult." Dammit he had a point.

"We'll start practising tomorrow" he decided and watched in amusement as Isabel fist bumped the air above her and Farlen grinned.

xXx

The next morning Levi stood up from his chair, he never slept much, two or three hours if he got lucky so he spent most of his nights watching over his companions tangled together on the single couch they owned. His mind was clearer when he knew they were safe.

As he made his way to the bathroom he snagged a set of straps on his way, his chest ached like a bastard and he had no doubt that his chest would look like a child's finger painting of bruises but if he just put it to the back of his mind he'd be okay.

After plenty of grunting and plenty of swearing he had his straps on, all he had to do was tighten the straps, he started with his legs and worked his way up. The problem was when he had to tighten the strap that travelled across his chest, each tug caused a spike of pain to shoot through his torso. By the time he'd finished he was breathing unevenly due to the shear throbbing in his ribs, he was pretty sure his eyes were watering too but he'd never admit that to any living soul.

He could hear the others waking up so he quickly pulled himself together and exited the bathroom.

"Eyyyyy bro! Looking good!" Came the overly cheery voice of Isabell, he didn't answer but simply watched in amusement as she tried to balance on one leg to get the gear on only to tumble into Farlen. They're really hopeless sometimes.

Soon enough they were ready to go so they left their apartment through the window and snook around the alleyways (Levi tried his best not to squirm at the dirt) to the edge of the Underground city were very few people bothered to roam.

"Hey guys watch this" was all the auburn haired girl said before she jumped off the building, released her lines too late and smacked into the wall opposite them- this was going to be a long morning.

xXx

It may have taken a couple of weeks of practice- most of which led to black eyes, bruised legs or wounded prides- but they were finally getting the hang of the gear, and god did it feel good.

The pain in his chest may have been unbearable due to the pressure of the straps but that was all forgotten when the adrenaline filled his veins, the pure delight he felt as he flew through the streets was addictive and it couldn't be compared to anything he'd felt before, it was euphoric!

It hadn't taken long for each of them to develop their own style of moving with the ODM gear, Isabel adopted a more gymnastic approach, he always marvelled as he watched her twist and spin through the air- her talent of vaulting form the building was quite impressive in itself. She'd told Levi that he was very "spinny" in the air and she had compared him to a delicate ballerina- he had stormed out of the room at that and she hadn't brought it up again. Farlan was the one was struggling the most, he seemed almost too stiff as he moved and he put it down to not trusting the equipment which was understandable- they were basically placing their lives in the hands of some gas, grapples and their own reflexes.

That was what lead to the 'trust training' as Isabel called it, so they found themselves hanging from the roof of the Underground.

"So what? You want us to fall?" Questioned Isabel.

"Almost, I want you to let go, fall and catch yourself with your gear" he saw Farlen's eyes widen comically at that. Isabel seemed more than ready to go, she never was one to shy away from a challenge and before they could even get a word in she was free-falling towards the streets below. He felt the blonde man tense next to him so he placed a (hopefully) reassuring hand on his arm, he relaxed slightly as that but he only starting breathing again when they saw Isabel's feet touch the floor "see, she's perfectly fine." He could still see the hesitation in his eyes so with a sigh Levi unhooked himself and let go.

He loved the feeling of free-falling, it wasn't exciting, it was more like... fast paced relaxation, even though every muscle was tight in anticipation he felt so loose and free, flying gave him the escape from reality he so desperately craved. Soon enough the ground was electrifyingly close so he dug his grapples into the buildings, however, instead of skidding to a halt like his friends expected he used his momentum to swing himself straight back up to the roof. As he flew higher and higher his speed dropped.

Then time seemed to slow completely, he started to spin in a backflip motion, he craned his neck back to look at the beautiful city below illuminated in yellows, greens and blues. The feeling of his raven hair brushing his cheek sent chills down his spine and he felt his toes brush the dirt roof through his boots, out of the corner of his eye he spotted a slack jawed Farlan starring at him- he shot him a rare cheeky grin.

Sadly, time had to catch up with him at some point.

Before he knew it he was skidding to a stop next to Isabel only for her to launch herself at him and wrap her arms around his neck.

"Bro! That was amazing!" She shouted in his ear and he couldn't control the grin that found its way onto his face- flying brought the giddy side of him out. Soon they returned their attention back to Farlen (still hanging from the roof) and watched as he fell, his knees obviously tucked into his chest and eyes probably squeezed closed. Levi held Isabel's shoulder and gave her a pointed look that clearly said "leave him be and let him do his thing" so she settled down next to him.

They watched in awe as the blonde man smoothly made his way down to them, it wasn't long until he joined them on the rooftop, his cheeks were flushed and his eyes were sparkling with excitement. Levi was swiftly pulled into a group hug, he instinctively tensed but it didn't take much for him to relax.

He was safest with those two idiots, they would be okay.

They would survive.