Chapter 20

When Levi eventually rouses from his unconscious state, he finds himself with incredibly blurred vision, head throbbing painfully, and his hands cable tied behind his back. He feels a cold hardness against his back, a massive contrast to the scorching sun that had been beating off his skin in what seems like moments ago. Now, the air is just as stuffy but he seems to be inside a room, a bare room with what feels like concrete floors, as if any flooring that had been there prior has just been ripped from the ground.

"Lance Corp…. oral…Corp…. La-…." Levi can hear someone calling to him, it's a voice he recognises but it's muffled, and he wants to tell whoever it is to speak clearer and stop mumbling, and what's that strange ringing sound?

"Le…. Vi…. you hear us?" A new voice begins, a familiar voice, definitely belonging to a female, but he can't place it. What the hell is that ringing noise? And why is everybody mumbling so much? He just wants to sleep. Levi can't understand it, he knows he's missing something rather important, but he can't remember what it is.

Then it hits him. He and his squad had been scouting the estate believed to be headquarters for the Underground. Armin had tried to warm him that there was something not right about the scene, but he had ignored him and then…. Hange! He remembers Hange telling him…. about a trap. Then everything went dark.

The realisation makes Levi shoot up before he remembers the pain in his head and would have doubled over if it hadn't been for the angle in which his hands are bound. This is bad, he needs to find out where he is and fast. He blinks several times, trying to clear the blurriness from his vision and it takes a few attempts before he sees the outline of a figure leaning, or at least trying to lean over him.

"Lance Corporal! Can you hear us?" One of the voices speaks more clearly, and Levi realises the ringing had been in his own head. He blinks a few more times and a dishevelled Armin appears before him.

"Arlert? What happened kid? Where the fuck are we? Where is everyone else?" Levi asks, surprised at dry and rough his own voice sounds out loud.

"We're here, Levi." Petra pipes up on his right, he can hear that she's not too far away but he can't quite manoeuvre his body to face them, "We're all here, we're okay but Oluo and Eld took a bit of a beating. You're definitely in the worst condition right now."

It wasn't exactly a comfort for Levi to hear that, but it certainly made him feel a little better knowing everyone is at least in one piece and breathing. He attempts to straighten himself upright, his limbs all seem to be intact, but his head feels like it weighs a tonne. Concussion, no doubt about it, and a swift kick to the ribs if he's correct, it wouldn't be the first time in his life.

"Lance Corporal, maybe you shouldn't move just yet, you've been out for a couple hours. You need to try taking it slow." Armin implores, concern written all over his face, "There could be some internal damage, and you're most likely concussed."

"I think I know what I'm doing Arlert, it's not the first time I've been knocked out cold on my ass." Levi insists, noticing that Armin's hands are also behind his back and shifting to look over to the rest of his comrades. There is a wall adjacent to where he is propped up and Oluo, Eld and Gunther are laying against it, the former two breathing a little heavily, clearly in a bit of pain. Petra is sitting in the corner between Levi and the others, knees pulled to her chest.

Her legs are bare, in fact all of their legs are bare, shoulders too, and Levi looks down to find his own clothes have also been stripped from him at some point. He wears nothing but his vest top, olive green and soaking with numerous bodily fluids, and his black underwear and socks.

Armin is on his left, kneeling over him and scrutinising his face and body for any signs of hidden injury. Levi notices that while the boy looks a little bit rattled, out of all of them he's definitely the least battered, as if their captors had taken extra care when obtaining him. Speaking of which….

"What the hell happened? The last thing I can remember was yelling for you all to retreat and I could hear Hange too…. but after that it's all a bit fuzzy. I think I can remember being in some sort of vehicle? It might have been a dream." Levi says, looking between Armin and Petra for answers.

Armin nods, "They came up behind us, grabbed me and hit you on the back of the head, I couldn't tell what with, but it must have been heavy to knock you out for so long. I tried to free myself, but they pinned me down and tied my hands, stuck a bag over my head too. Thought they were going to shoot me before I could feel us moving."

"It was a truck." Petra confirms, "I didn't get bagged, they stuck a gag on me instead. Oluo was beaten in front of me until he complied, I think they wanted to me to watch. Their faces were on show but I couldn't get a good look at them Levi, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, I think we'll be getting a visit from them soon enough anyway." Levi says darkly.

"What makes you say that?" Gunther asks, speaking up for the first time since Levi has woken up.

"Because they didn't cover their faces, what does that tell you?" Levi questions, looking at Gunther directly in the eye before the younger man lowers his head and Petra shivers next to him.

"Well shit." Oluo remarks from where he is lying, still not moving a muscle.

"What? What does that mean? Lance Corporal?" Armin asks fearfully, looking to Levi for answers.

"Well, in my experience…." Levi begins, shifting to face Armin with a resigned expression, "It means that they don't plan on us making it out of this alive."

After a few hours, Levi's head begins to clear a little more and he starts assessing their surroundings in a bit more depth. The room is small, probably no larger than a child's bedroom, in fact it most likely is a stripped bedroom of one of the children the captors have abducted and sold in the past. The windows are boarded, the walls are stained and the cracks in the door show it to be bolted from the outside. All in all, Levi concludes pretty quickly, that they are located in an abandoned family home.

"It's a house, this is a house! We're in somebody's home." Levi exclaims, looking towards the others for confirmation.

"Yeah, I guessed that not long after we arrived." Armin says "Not that it helps much, there is no way to tell where we even are. Even if we could get in contact with somebody, what would we even tell them?"

"We were in the truck for around 30 minutes give or take, and travelling at around 70 miles per hour, that gives them about a 40-mile radius in every direction. Fuck knows how anybody will ever find us in that, face it guys, we're done for." Eld complains, lightly banging the back of his head off the wall he's resting against.

"You can't think like that Eld!" Petra yelps, "What would Nifa think if she heard you talking like that?"

Eld says nothing more, simply shuts his eyes and stops banging his head. Levi is about to give him some reassurance when the door swings open and two Caucasian men make their way inside.

"Well well now, look who's finally decided to join the land of the living…. For now." The taller of the two remarks, staring straight at Levi and brandishing a knife in his hands. The other man simply huffs and takes the time to walk around the room, assessing each and every one of them closely. Levi knows his jaw is almost to the floor, for no other reason than the accent that the first man spoke with.

"You're…. you're one of ours…." Levi says in disbelief, looking back at the man who is still staring at him, "You're not from here…. you and I, all of us, we're the same."

At this, the first man stalks towards Levi and strikes him sharply across the face so hard that he ends up smacking his head on the radiator he's pressed against.

"We. Are. Not. The. Same." The man seethes, spitting on Levi's face and rubbing his saliva into his skin. Levi recoils in disgust and the man chuckles in response.

"We are the Underground." The other man speaks up, "We are the Devil, risen up from the depths of hell and we've been created to destroy the world."

"Cities will be burned to the ground, men will succumb to their most depraved desires, teenagers will be destroyed from the inside out with the high they craved so hard in the first place. The entire planet will be cleansed and only the worthy will be allowed to stand in it's wake. We are here, to create our own Paradise." The first man finishes, holding out his arms, palms facing upwards and the knife glinting menacingly.

Levi stares between the two men accusingly, "But why? What do you possibly have to gain from that? You want to destroy the world? What the fuck has the world ever done to you?!"

"AND WHAT THE FUCK HAS THE WORLD EVER DONE FOR US?! HUH?! We're scum, born into squalor and the world turned it's back on us, left us to die in a rotting grave!" The first man screams, wrapping a hand around Levi's neck and squeezing hard, but not enough to cut off air supply completely.

"But then, we were found by the saviours, by the Underground. They re-baptised us, gave us new names and a place in the cleansed world. We have a home, a family, with over a thousand brothers and sisters. And we won't let you pigs take that away from us…."

"Wait, a THOUSAND brothers and sisters?!" Armin blurts loudly, and it's all Levi can do not to kick him with his bound legs. The first man from before smirks a little before lifting his hand to stroke Armin's cheek. Levi waits for the smack, but it never comes.

"That's right dollface, a thousand brothers and sisters, scattered across the world. The family becomes nothing but bigger and stronger every single day, and we won't ever stop until this world is ours." The man says, almost lovingly as he caresses Armin's skin, the boy frozen to the spot at the action.

"Now now Jeremiah, you can play with the toys later, we need answers first. Namely, what the fuck you and your piss poor excuse of an Army have been doing snooping around our territory these last few weeks? Don't think we haven't noticed, you weren't exactly subtle."

"Actually Malachi, these faces are brand new. They aren't the same ones who've been running around, I would've remembered." Jeremiah insists, giving Armin another look, absent-mindedly caressing the knife he's been carrying since entering the room.

"Well if that's the case, you won't mind telling me exactly who you are then will you?" Malachi questions darkly.

"My name is Lance Corporal Levi Ackerman, and this is my squad. We were sent here to survey and raid your estate." Levi says honestly, the pain in his head beginning to come back tenfold "The plan was to free any hostages you had cooped up there and take down the Underground once and for all."

Jeremiah and Malachi let this information sink in for all of five seconds before they are both buckled over in laughter. Levi uses the time to assess the pair thoroughly, they don't look like your standard low life thugs, not by a long shot. In fact, if we were to pass them by in a standard public setting, he'd think they were simply a pair of young, obnoxious gym buffs, the type who'd snicker at his height back home before he wiped the floor with them. They aren't unattractive either, nor are they scuffed up and scarred in a way he's been used to when it comes to common criminals. Malachi has jet black hair, cut nicely, pale blue eyes and cheekbones that could cut glass while Jeremiah has sand coloured waves tied back in a low ponytail and a light smattering of stubble covering his handsome features.

"Oh, my sides are killing me!" Jeremiah complains through a bought of cackling laughter, the knife haphazardly swinging as he does so.

"Okay, that's enough of that now." Malachi insists, reigning in his own laughter, "But seriously Boss man, you're hilarious. You honestly thought that you could take down the whole underground? All of us? I almost don't want to have to break it to you."

"We're foot soldiers idiots!" Jeremiah yells loudly, "You haven't even scratched the surface of the Underground! We do the dirty work because that's what we're good at, for all intents and purposes, we're at the bottom of the food chain here. Well, apart from you that is…."

The information hits Levi like a freight train, not only has he managed to get his team captured by a pair of Underground terrorists with a god complex and absolutely no remorse for their actions, it's all been for nothing. Even if Levi and his squad are found eventually, the Underground will still be at large, losing nothing but disposable soldiers. That's if they're even found alive….

"So now that's out of the way, let's have a look at you all." Jeremiah says as he looks over them all with sadistic curiosity. He moves towards Petra and tugs at one of her braids, "Oh look at you, so pretty, I could have a lot of fun with you sweetheart."

"You stay away from her, you filthy animal!" Oluo yells at Jeremiah, who simply lifts an eyebrow in amusement. He lets go of Petra's hair and approaches Oluo. Jeremiah kicks him hard in the stomach and stomps on his lower leg until Oluo is shrieking.

"Come on now Jeremiah, that's enough. Don't ruin all the fun at once, the rest of the guys aren't even here yet. And besides, it's not like Pippi Longstocking is even your type anyway…." Malachi says, arms crossed and looking bored.

"Hmph, guess you're right. Still think we should teach this jackass a lesson on holding his tongue…." Jeremiah comments darkly, smirking at Oluo, who's wincing and moaning in discomfort.

"Plenty of time for that, for now we do deserve to have a little fun don't you think? And it looks like the goddesses were kind to us when they gave us their gifts…." Malachi says, looking straight at Levi, who flinches and unconsciously begins to move away in response to the advance.

"Ahh I see, you like the Boss man? Well you can have him, I have my eye on little blondie over there…." Jeremiah says while licking his lips and looking Armin up and down. Armin shifts so he leans a little more into Levi and away from the men looming over them.
"Ya know Jerry I have an idea, don't you think they'd look pretty amazing together? His muscles pressed against his little twink body…. God, I wanna see that so badly…." Malachi remarks, practically drooling at the sight of Armin pressing further into Levi at their leering stares. Levi simply stares Malachi down, daring him to try something.

"Oh Mal, that would be just pornographic…. You always have the best ideas." Jeremiah says, grabbing Malachi by the neck and pulling him into a hard, passionate kiss, rough and almost violent as the pair fight for dominance. The others in the room look away in a mixture of embarrassment to outright disgust at the display.

"We better get started before David and Zecariah get back, they always try and steal all the fun away, hurry up and strip them down!" Jeremiah practically moans as he pulls away from Malachi, who gropes him one last time before turning his attention to Levi, grabbing the knife from Jeremiah's hands to cut the cable ties binding his ankles.

"No!" Levi all but screeches as he kicks and flails his now free legs, "Get the fuck away from me you sick bastards! Don't you fucking dare touch me!".

"Come on Boss man, don't be like that, why don't you be a sweetheart and give me a little kiss?" Malachi says, hovering over Levi and trying to pull his lips towards his own. Just as he manages to get them to touch, Levi snarls and bites down hard enough to break the skin and draw blood. Levi is aware of the four pairs of eyes staring to his right, wide and unsure on what to do as they watch on helplessly

"Oh, would you look at this Jerry? We got ourselves a wild one! We're gonna have so much fun with you. But I admire your fire, that tenacity you have, so I'm gonna give you a little reward first. Your little blond friend here, isn't he just divine?" Malachi purrs as he gestures towards Armin, who is trying and failing to wrestle himself out of Jeremiah's grasp as the bigger man begins stripping off the boy's vest top, "Bet you've wanted to fuck the life out of him for a long time now, I certainly would if I were in your position. In fact, I'll bet you already have…. probably make him call you Lance Corporal as he chokes on your cock…."

"You are nothing but a pair of sick sons of bitches!" Levi hisses, as Malachi cackles evilly.

"Well you'd be right about that, my mom for one was a dumb whore, what about yours Jerry?" Jeremiah nods in response as he strokes Armin's now bare chest, they boy still wriggling and fighting in his hold, "Pair of worthless sluts they were, our moms, put us off women for life. That's why we're here y'know? No chance of us tarnishing the merchandise before they're sold and used by low life scumbags willing to pay enough for them. And this is our reward for all our hard work, for the long hours in the boiling sun, listening to nothing but wailing children and weeping women…. Now, we get to have sex with beautiful men like you….it almost makes it all worth it." Malachi says as he strokes Levi's bleeding face.

"I will NEVER touch him like that, I'm not going to give you the satisfaction. You can do whatever the hell you want with me, but I will not lay a hand on that boy. You'll have to cut them from my wrists before even a finger of mine touches him somewhere he doesn't want it." Levi vows, seething and glaring at Malachi as intimidatingly as he can considering the pain he's still in. Malachi punches him, hard, and yanks his head back at a harsh angle.

"I'm sure that can be arranged…."

"You don't want him!" A voice yells from Levi's left, and he's surprised to see that Armin is the one that's spoken up, "His dick doesn't work. You can try and try all you want but he'll never get hard for you. I don't think he's ever had a boner in his life. He propositioned me once, and I willingly stuck my ass out for him, begged him to take my virginity…. But he still couldn't do it, and it kills him because he's not a real man."

"Arlert…. what are you doing?" Levi whispers, unsure of where Armin is going with this. Jeremiah and Malachi, however, hang off Armin's every word, enraptured.

"It frustrates him so much that he acts out like a little slut. If he can't get it up, he goes out and bends over for any guy he can find. He's done it so much that he's riddled with STDs, his ass is so dirty that he probably won't live much longer…. You don't need him, he'd barely feel you in there anyway." Armin says finally, glancing meaningfully at Levi before Malachi drops the latter against the radiator he'd been leaning on.

And it suddenly it occurs to Levi, what the kid's plan was…. Armin was protecting him.

"Well shit, Boss man is a filthy little whore…. such a shame, I'd have loved to pin him down and claim him…. seems like I'm a little late on the uptake. Exactly many guys have you had in that filthy hole then slut? A hundred? More?" Malachi questions as he stands up and stares disgusted down at Levi's slumped form.

Levi knows he has to play along, and well, if he wants to prevent his first ever sexual experience being a rape, "I…. I don't know, I lost count. There were so many, I don't think I could even remember all of their names if you gave me an infinite amount of time."

"Disgusting, filthy little slut." Jeremiah spits, lip curled in distaste as he continues clutching on to Armin's bare skin, "But did you hear that Mal? This one is a little virgin, and Boss man wanted him all to himself…. and he could never have him, such a pity."

"More for us then it seems…. come on Jerry, let's show him what he's missing out on." Malachi says, unbuckling his pants as Jeremiah pulls Armin to the floor, forcing him on all fours and tugging down his underwear.

Levi can faintly hear a faint growling that sounds like it's being ripped from a creature in severe agony, and soon finds it's coming from himself. He wants to lift his heavy head from the ground and gain the strength to tear his ties apart to free himself, but he can barely move and knows that any wrong movements can mean the worst for his team.

He turns away for a split second as Malachi takes his place behind Armin and Jeremiah holds his wrists flat on the floor. Petra has curled herself in against Gunther, sobbing quietly into his shoulder, the latter simply resting his head on hers in resignation at the sight in front of him. Eld doesn't look away, he sets his jaw and stares straight ahead, Levi can't tell if he's truly watching what's going on in front of him or if he's simply zoned himself out of the present moment. Oluo is still lying on the floor, but he's facing the wall now and Levi pretends not to see his shoulders shaking….

Levi turns back to look at the little blond boy being manhandled and groped against his will, strategically placed sideways by their captors to Levi so that he can have the best view in the house. Surprisingly, Armin doesn't yell out or cry, he just fixes his gaze just past Jeremiah on a section of the wall in front of him, barely moving or breathing.

"Hey Boss man, I think you should settle down now, you don't wanna miss a second of this…." Jeremiah taunts sadistically as Malachi begins pushing into the little body in front of him.

Levi doesn't look away for even a millisecond. He can't look away.

Levi can hear whimpering to his right when he wakes up in the middle of a warm night. A closer listen tells him it's Petra, they've finally brought her back after what sounds like several hours of sheer torture.

They've been here for weeks now, maybe a couple months, Levi lost count so long ago now. But no matter how many days and nights go by, their captors never seem to tire of finding new ways to torture and humiliate them. The early 'games' included contests on how long it took before one of them pissed themselves, there is no toilet, so they've had no choice but to just go where they sit, their underwear is barely there anymore and they're all beyond embarrassment or shame at this point. The first time they 'played', Gunther gave up first and as punishment, was forced to drink from the others as they one by one relieved themselves. Astonishingly, Levi found himself the tiniest bit envious as neither Jeremiah nor Malachi had brought them anything to drink in the stifling heat.

Oluo contracted quite a nasty infection trying to hold his bladder for extended periods of time and the lack of hygiene certainly didn't help matters. Despite their setting, he had been the most stubborn went it came down to bending to the will of their captors, he wanted to maintain a strong front for Petra and in doing so, became the favourite punching bag of the group. Eld and Gunther still got the random beatings here and there for nothing more than the guys wanting a little entertainment, but Oluo was the one they liked to pick on.

In order to teach Oluo a lesson after he'd said "No" one too many times for their liking, Malachi secured his bound hands to a chain from the ceiling and forced his mouth open while Jeremiah poked around ten long, thin needles straight through his tongue like piercings. The blood was running like a tap, and the sounds he made were excruciating to listen to. To make things worse, once they'd had their fill of the needle torture, they forced themselves into his mouth until their release coated his already abused and bloodied throat. The stench of blood and vomit stung Levi's eyes as Oluo retched the contents of his empty stomach that night.

Things simply got even worse when David and Zecariah came back to join in on the fun.

Zecariah is the quietest of the group and tends to like watching the torture rather than take part in it. Even when it's time for them all to take their turns getting sick pleasure from Armin's unwilling body, he doesn't physically partake, instead preferring to take photos of him after they're done, sometimes he'll record the boy's sobs when it's been quite a brutal session. David is the roughest when they violate Armin, taking pleasure from his cries and begs for him to stop rather than from the body he's wrecking. Levi is convinced it's not even the sexual aspect he's interested in, he just wants to break him. He wants to break them all.

David is like the others in the sense of he wants to strip them of their dignity and see them squirm, but unlike Malachi and Jeremiah, he has a more sadistic streak. He is creative when it comes to "punishments" and he likes to victimise Petra in particular. He hacked her long, beautiful hair off with a sharp knife, leaving painful welts and cuts all over her head and scalp. Every few nights or so, he'll come in without a word and carries her out of the room kicking and screaming. Levi doesn't know the exact details of what David does to her, but the blood soaking her underwear is a massive giveaway.

Tonight has been one of those nights, and Petra is curled up in her corner with Oluo snuggled next to her for comfort. He must have used his remaining energy to crawl to her side, it's been nearly a week since they've been fed anything at all, so the effort for him to do so must have been monumental.

"It…. h-hurts…." Petra cries quietly against Oluo's chest.

"I know it does, love." Oluo says comfortingly, his tongue swollen to almost twice it's usual size, making it hard to hear exactly what's being said.

"I-I wish it…. would j-just s-s-stop." Petra squeaks between sobs and sniffles, squeezing her legs together to try as her core burns and throbs each second.

"It won't be forever Petra, we'll get out of this somehow. You and I were meant to be together, we were meant to meet, get married, have children and have an amazing life together. And we will, I promise you." Oluo reassures her, looking right in her big, bronze eyes.

"And what if we don't? W-what if we never get out?"

"Then I'll live the rest of my days knowing I got to meet the most amazing woman in the world and got the privilege to die by her side."

Petra cries a little more at Oluo's words before speaking once again, "I love you Oluo."

"I love you too Petra, more than you know." Oluo replies, nuzzling as close to her as he can.

Levi doesn't fall back asleep that night.

Armin's screams are loud and painful as they resonate within the walls of the small bedroom from the corridor down the hall. Upon suggestion from David, they've decided to do something a little different and dragged Armin away from the room and into a new part of the house only Petra seems to be familiar with. The kitchen.

The screeches of agony are too much to try and ignore today, even the usually stoic Eld is trying to cover his ears by covering them with his knees. Whatever they've decided to do, it seems to be affecting Petra in a terrible way, she's simply rocking back and forward chanting "it should be me, it should be me, it should be me" over and over again, not even Oluo's hushed whispers can calm her down. Gunther can barely move or react to anything around him, it's been maybe a fortnight since David most definitely broke his ribs, Levi isn't even sure he's aware of anything that's happening around him.

Levi can't take the piercing screams anymore and concentrates hard, harder than he has on anything he's ever done before, focusing all of his strength in his wrists to try and pry the cable ties apart. He's simply been too weak to do it up until now, but the sounds of Armin's anguish are spurring him on more than he'd even been aware of, his teeth are gritted, and his flesh is being cut by the ties are he forces his wrists apart.

Eventually, his efforts are paid of and the tie snaps in two. He's under no illusions, brute strength hadn't been the only factor in breaking it, it was months old and the effort caused it to give way. Levi thinks no more on it and staggers shakily to his feet before reaching the door and pulling it open before hastily rushing closer towards the sounds of Armin.

"Arlert…." He says under his breath, as he aimlessly ambles to the kitchen. Levi knows he should probably come up with a plan of action, but his exhausted mind won't allow him anymore than 'find the kid, help the kid.'

When he reaches the doorway of the kitchen, to his horror, he finds that their captors seem to be performing what Levi can only recognise as a "boiling water enema". No wonder the kid had been practically screeching his lungs out of his body, Levi wants to tear their eyeballs out one by one.

Unfortunately, Levi isn't as strong as he once was, and ends up stumbling as he attempts to rush towards where the kitchen knives are kept, falling flat on his face and knocking everything over as he does so. The only saving grace in Levi's mind is at least they seem to have forgotten about torturing Armin for the time being, their rage and pent up anger completely focused on himself now.

"Pick him up!" David orders from where he stands, holding the boiling teapot over Armin's scourged skin. Levi attempts to pull himself off the floor, glaring at David menacingly as he does so.

"Come and pick me up yourself you fucking, faggot coward!" Levi seethes as he raises himself to his feet.

David simply grins sadistically, angrily throwing the still halfway full kettle across the room at Levi's head, hitting Jeremiah's arm on the way. At least Levi had the good sense to duck as Jeremiah yells out in complaint at the attack. David ignores him completely, stalking over to where Levi stands in long strides and punches him square in the jaw before kicking his legs out from underneath him. In any other setting, Levi would have been able to throw him on his ass easily, David fights like a brute, slow and predictable, but his energy is all but depleted and he has nothing more to give.

David picks him up easily, yanking his arm behind his back until Levi is yelling out and walks him over to the still scorching hot stove. Levi knows exactly what's coming next and he tries to fight it for as long as possible, until his body gives out and his face is pressed down right against it.

He barely recognises his own voice, it sounds like that of a dying animal as he feels his skin tearing and burning off his face. Over the sounds of his own turmoil, he can hear Armin's wails behind him.

The sounds of it stay with him until he finally passes out.

It's another overly clammy, late night that he can't sleep an insurmountable time later when Armin addresses Levi for the first time since they met.

"Levi…. are you awake?" He asks shyly, twisting his heavy neck slowly to get a glimpse of his superior.

"Yeah kid, I'm awake…. what's wrong? Can't sleep?" Levi asks, back resting against the cool, broken radiator as he stares at the broken tiles of the ceiling, counting them again for the ninety-seventh time that day. The silver cuffs are cutting into his flesh again, as they have been since David decided they all needed something stronger to hold them more securely.

"I…. just wanted to say…. I t-think it's t-time now Levi." Armin says.

"Time for what? What are you talking about?" Levi asks concerned, turning his gaze to the boy at his side.

"I c-c-can't do this anymore…. I think I'm r-ready to die." Armin clarifies, "My body…. has nothing left to give."
"Don't you say that! Don't you ever say that, you hear me?! You…. have so much more…. left to give. There's always SOMETHING worth fighting for Armin, always." Levi implores, manoeuvring himself so that he lays right next to Armin, looking directly into his eyes, heads pressed together, "Isn't there something you fight for? Someone you fight for? You got somebody back home that you care about?"

Armin is hesitant for a few seconds before his eyes become glassy and he smiles despite himself,

"Amanda."

"Amanda? Who's Amanda kid? You love her or something?" Levi asks, hoping to keep Armin talking for as long as possible.

"Yeah, I do. I've never been in love before, not before her. She's…. s-she's my e-everything. And she's…. not…. she's not mine." Armin replies sadly, "She's with my best friend, and that's okay, I j-just want her to be happy. Not nec-necessarily with…. me. I just wish I g-got the chance to see her…. one last time."

"You will kid, you'll see her again. But the next time you see her, you've gotta promise me one thing. You gotta tell her how much you love her, tell her how much she means to you and that the very thought of her kept you breathing through all of this shit. She doesn't have to reciprocate, but she should know. Promise me you'll do that…."

"I will Levi." Armin promises, "If I make it out of this alive, I promise i'll tell her. I promise."

"You're strong Armin, you're so strong and I'm sorry…. I'm sorry…. I'm so sorry…."

Levi eventually falls asleep like that, chanting his apologies through his steady breaths. He can't even hear Armin telling him over and over again that he has nothing to apologise for.

It's after countless more days and nights have passed that Levi wakes up one morning and finally believes he's going to die.

He hasn't eaten a single bite of food in weeks, feeding any small scraps he's given to the others as they're so weak. Petra barely wakes up these days, in a constant state of drowsiness or slumber, he can't remember the last time he saw her eyes. Oluo doesn't speak anymore, whether it's because of the pain in his mouth or the fact the woman he loves is becoming more and more of a shell with every day that passes, he can't tell. Gunther has no choice but to lay flat on the floor every day and night, not shifting an inch due to the broken neck inflicted on him, he can't even move himself to go to the bathroom, simply going on himself whenever the need arises, staring up at the cracks of the ceiling. Eld is quite genuinely nothing but a broken man, he's paralysed from the waist down now with the stomping that was done to his spinal bone, Levi is sure of it, he does nothing but sit and have one sided conversations with hallucinations of his own wife.

Armin says nothing as he stares blankly into the barely blinking eyes of Levi, they seem to share a look that says, "It's okay soldier, you've done well, and if you need to go now then that's okay."

Levi begins conjuring up images of Farlan, Isabel and the little baby she holds in her arms, and with that in mind, the idea of dying is not so abhorrent to him anymore.

He's just about ready to give in and follow the three of them into the light in his mind when his head conjures up an image of Hange instead. She's faint and she's mouthing something to him that he can't quite make out. He wants to tell her to stop being a shitty freak and speak up, but decides instead that he'll have to pay more attention if he wants to know what she's saying. He blinks a few more times, trying to clear his blurred vision and Hange becomes far more prominent than before. Another look at her suggests that she's shouting, not simply mouthing words and she looks to be wearing heavy padding. She has a large helmet on her head with two flashing lights on top of it, the lights he'd been trying to follow with Isabel and Farlan. He's seen stupid looking helmets like that before, when he would be sent on rescue missions and one couldn't be sure of the conditions they'd be met with….

And then the realisation finally hits him.

Hange is really here, wearing that ridiculous padding and helmet, she's really shouting at him, trying to bring him back into consciousness.

She's found him. She's found them all. They're going to be okay.

It's a couple weeks before Levi can be discharged by the hospital and given a clean bill of health, pretty much unscathed apart from the horrible burn scarring on the left side of his face. The scarring he'd be doomed to live with for the rest of his life.

He was pretty much quarantined during his time in hospital, practically force fed until gaining a healthy amount of weight and monitored closely by several psychologists looking for signs of depression, PTSD, suicidal tendencies or even Stockholm Syndrome. The bouts of depression and the PTSD were a given considering the treatment he'd faced at the hands of his tormentors, but he'd be damned if he'd take his own life or want anything to do with that shit hole for another second of his life, he wasn't a victim anymore. They had no power over him anymore.

Hange confirmed all four members of the Underground that had held him and his squad captive for four months were shot dead on site when their location had finally been determined. Despite the reservations that the higher ups back home had, Hange never gave up looking for them, she wouldn't allow them to become unsolved casualties of the Underground, and even if it meant she found them dead, she'd vowed to find them no matter what. She wouldn't let their disappearance remain a mystery.

After a long conversation with Hange and Erwin, via Skype call, Levi confirmed he would be handing in his official resignation from the Army and would retire from the forces for good as soon as he arrives back home in Trost, and Erwin assured him he would always have a job waiting for him at his new firm whenever he's ready to begin working again, knowing full well that living solely on an Army pension would never be enough for his best friend.

Hange confirmed a few days later that she'd be right behind Levi in handing in her own resignation as well, despite the protests of both Levi and Erwin respectively, she continued refusing to change her decision on the matter.

Levi is finishing packing up the small suitcase of his belongings that Hange had delivered to him for his hospital visit, when he thinks on how much has actually changed in a relatively short space of time. He tries not to dwell on it too much, as the memories threaten to overtake and throw him into a sudden panic attack. He knows the doctors and nurses well enough here to know that if he shows he's in any way not ready to be cleared, they'll have him back in a hospital bed quicker than it takes him to go for a shit.

He shakes his head to clear the dark thoughts and leaves the room in a hurry. On his way out of the hospital ward, he passes by the open door of Armin's room. When he looks inside, he's surprised to find Petra standing with a drip at her side, holding on to Oluo for support as they chatter away with their youngest comrade. Eld is here too, in a wheelchair as he good naturedly jokes with Armin, the younger man leaning over so Eld can affectionately ruffle his hair. He notes the absence of Gunther, but then again, a broken neck takes much longer to heal and strolls outwith his room are probably not possible at this moment, never mind viable.

Levi hesistates by the door for a few moments, considering whether or not he should go inside, when he eventually decides against it and takes once last look before he walks away, out of their sight and out of their lives forever. It's better this way, for them, for him, for everyone, he tells himself.

He pretends not to hear Armin calling after him as he walks further and further away from the ward, silent tears falling down his face with every step he takes.