Levi groaned as Hanji bolted into another shop. "Levi, look at all these guns!" She reached for one, Levi grabbing her sleeve and dragging her back into the streets. "Stop touching everything! We're at the black markets and if you break something they'll break you."

Hanji snorted, "Black market, huh? Then why is it so open to the public?"

"This whole street is dedicated to it. Now shut up and look for suspicious characters."

Hanji chuckled, "You mean everyone?"

"Tch. I guess suspicious characters include you, you freak. What I mean is, look for someone that looks like a kidnapper—or something like that. If you see someone with murderous intent in their eyes, go after them."

Hanji laughed nervously, "Wouldn't that be you?"

"If I hear one more wisecrack about—"

"Hey!" Hanji squealed, "Isn't that blood in a jar over there?! How much do they sell it for?! Is it human or titan?!"

"Hanji, focus!" Levi snarled.

"Sorry, sorry. I got distracted. This place is a gold mine—although, it smells like a dead Titan…which is glorious."

Levi rolled his eyes. "Tch. This place is more like a death wish if you keep touching every—"

"I'll kill all of you!" A yell interrupted.

Levi sighed in annoyance. "Was that Jaeger?"

Hanji shrugged, "It could be anyone."

Another yell echoed from the streets, "Eren you're going to get us killed!"

"That was Kirschstein." Levi grunted. "I guess we'd better go check on them."

"You go on ahead." Hanji rubbed her hands together. "I want to go check out that jar of blood."

"Oh no you don't, you loon." Levi snorted. "You're coming with me. You'll get into trouble if I leave you alone."

"Don't be a butt, Levi."

"Tch. I'm the ultimate butt. Now come on." He dragged her away from the blood-colored jar, and headed for the other side of the street. "Let's slap around some cadets."

He dragged Hanji down the street, his eyes widening to see Eren and Jean flying into a wall, a group of grown men storming towards them, children laughing from behind."

Levi let out an inhuman groan, "Oh great—just great. They were picking on little kids with mammoth-sized older brothers. How are these brats still alive?"

"Are you going to help them?"

A man swung at Jean, Eren managing to shove him out of the way before the man could strike him in the face. Levi shrugged, "I could always not help, but I guess if I don't those brats will die. Erwin would probably kill me for that, right?"

Hanji smirked, "I don't know. You could always tell him they killed each other."

"If they die I'll use that."

Another one of the men lunged; Jean and Eren luckily made another narrow escape. Levi sighed in defeat. "Alright, I'm going in. Don't touch any merchandise while I'm gone. I can only save so many idiots."

Hanji watched impatiently as Levi jumped into the fight, storming into the alley the thugs had chased Jean and Eren into. She gazed longingly at the market, but restrained herself. She could always buy the jar without Levi noticing, but he'd kill her.

Yep.

He'd kill her.

Before long, Erena nd Jean bolted towards her, crying in unison, "Hanji!"

"Hey guys!" Hanji grinned. "How's shorty doing?"

"That—that guy called Levi small…" Jean panted, "And—and now the thug is on the ground. The other guys are fighting him in the alley now."

Hanji sighed, "Idiots. They're probably bleeding then. It's a shame they're in an alley. I would have loved to watch him slap around some—oh hey, he's back."

Levi emerged alley, bloodstains on his shirt and hands. "They'll be fine."

"But uh—well…" Eren pointed at the bloodstains.

"Tch. Everyone walks around with blood on them down here. Now you two—why were you picking on their brothers or kids or whatever?"

Eren looked at the ground. "They started throwing food at us so we went after them."

"Tch. Typical of you two to start a—wait. Wasn't Arlert with you?"

Jean's eyes widened, "Crap. We must have left him…at the shop…alone…"

Levi narrowed his eyes. "You two just left him there by himself? You left him alone to—to chase after street brats?"

Eren cringed at the glare. "I guess we did. Man, he's probably really mad…"

"Or dead." Levi snapped, "But hey, you nearly beat up some kids, so I hope you two idiots are happy with yourselves—after I told all of you not to wander off, or leave each other alone."

Hanji cleared her throat, "Uh—if he's by himself now, shouldn't we go find him?"

"Yeah." Levi snorted, "Unless Jaeger and Kirschstein want to go find some more kids to torment?"

"Those kids were the ones that started it." Eren challenged.

Levi gripped his collar, murderous intent set within his eyes. "Do you really want to argue with me, Jaeger? Now? After I just beat up some men and could kill you down here with no one giving half a damn?"

Eren gave a nervous chuckle, "N—No, Corporal, not at all. No arguments here."

Levi released him with a "Tch," then stormed into the streets.

Hanji gave a low whistle. "He's going to have you two cleaning things for months. Anyway, let's go! Maybe we'll see more jars of blood." She hummed a happy tune as she followed after Levi, Eren and Jean trailing behind in a guilty silence.

"This is the shop you all went to, right?" Levi asked.

"Yeah," Jean nodded. "An old man runs it. This is where we ran into the kids."

Levi entered the shop, a scowl spread across his face. He saw an old man at the checkout counter, and headed in that direction. "You. You run this shop, right?"

The old man smirked, "Somebody's in a bad mood. If you were cheerier, you might have been taller."

"Why you—"

Levi took a breath, and then continued with a less irritated tone, "My name is Levi and I'm looking for somebody we lost. Can you help us?"

The old man smirked "The name's Old Man Dan. How can I help you?"

Levi pointed at Eren and Jean. "Do you recognize these two?"

Dan gazed at them, then frowned, "Yup. I remember them. They're the ones that ran off after them kids."

"They had a friend with them," Levi continued. "He was blonde."

"Yeah, I saw your blonde friend," Old Man Dan grinned, "His name was Armin, right?"

"Yeah." Levi nodded. "Did he talk to you?"

"A bit." Dan smiled, "He was good company. But I guess those two hot shots didn't think so?" He cast them a disapproving glare, and their faces paled.

Levi went on, "Do you have any idea where he went after talking to you?"

"Hmm…" Dan rubbed his beard. "I think the guy he walked off with was kind of dark-colored…he uh—he had a horse type thing on his jacket."

"The Military Police?" Jean inquired, "But—why would Armin be with them?"

Hanji snapped her fingers. "Maybe he ran into Erwin! My guess is that Erwin didn't want him to head back by himself, so he gave him an escort."

"That's exactly right, little lady." Dan grinned.

"Okay, okay. That's fine." Levi exhaled, "Thank you for your time, Dan."

"My pleasure. But uh—can I ask you a real quick question, Mister Levi?"

"What? Oh. Since you helped us, sure."

Dan spoke in almost a whisper, "That kid reminds me of a friend that used to come down here…does he have like a relative or something? One that comes down here every once in awhile?"

Armin's Grandfather?

Levi shrugged, "I don't know…"

"Arlert."

"What?"

"It was Arlert." Dan nodded at the recognition. "That's what his name was. He'd probably be that kid's Grandfather, right?"

Damn it.

"Yes." He heard Eren's voice say. "Yeah, Armin had a Grandfather, but he's dead now. What about him?"

"Jaeger…" Levi snarled.

"Nothing much." Dan chuckled, "You don't need to be suspicious. He was just a friend I used to drink with. A pal. That's all. It's a shame he's dead now though. The world could really use more people like that. You kids be on your merry way and tell that friend of yours that Old Man Dan says hello. Also tell him that he's lucky to have such good company." He gave a wink at Hanji, and she shuddered.

Levi thanked Dan for the help, and they all eagerly left the shop, Hanji's face pale. "Did that old man just wink at me? You all saw that right?"

"He may just have bad taste." Levi mocked.

"You're just jealous." Hanji snorted.

"Yes." Levi huffed, "I'm jealous. I will lay awake at night and wonder why old men don't find me attractive. In fact, I'll go in there right now and ask him how I can find some old men. Is this what you want me to tell you, shitty glasses? Is that what you're looking for?"

Hanji snapped her fingers. "Erwin's old! Ask him!"

"I wasn't being serious."

"Hey." Jean interrupted, "Do we go back to the house or check out the streets?"

"I don't know." Levi frowned. "If Hanji's guess is correct, then he should be back at our place with Springer and Blouse but…"

"But what?" Eren asked.

"I don't know. I have this feeling…"

Hanji looked at Levi with concern. "A feeling? What kind of feeling?"

"That something bad happened."

Eren paled, "Don't even make me think about that. Even if something could be wrong, where would we look?"

"Ask around." Levi suggested. "Ask somebody if they've seen something odd."

"Hanji's doing that now." Jean said.

Levi spun around to see Hanji talking with some people, and she shuffled back towards them a minute or two later. "I have good news and bad news."

"Oh great." Levi huffed. "Go on. Tell us."

"A soldier was killed."

"Oh shit." Jean whispered.

"But…" Hanji went on. "The good news is that Armin isn't dead. The one they found dead was from the Military Police. It was apparently less than an hour ago."

"B—but Armin was with a Military Police guy!" Eren cried.

"That's the bad news." Hanji sighed, "I'm pretty sure the guy they found dead was the one Armin was with."

"So where's Arlert supposed to be?" Levi glared. "In the damn air?"

"Levi!" Hanji snapped, "Nobody found him. There is no trace of him! There was just that dead Military Police man, some blood, and some rumors."

Eren had his fists clenched, "What kind of rumors?"

Hanji was silent.

"What kind of rumors?" Eren repeated.

Hanji looked at all of them, and then let out a depressed sigh. "The Military Police officer they found has supposedly been seen drinking at some of the bars since he's been here. One woman I talked to had heard about it from another woman, but two men were following him. Then earlier on, he was seen jumping head first into an alley with a blonde kid."

"Hanji…" Levi started, "You had better not be telling me what I think you're telling me."

Hanji's arms were shaking, "I wish I could tell you all I think everything is fine, but in all honesty, I think there's been a misunderstanding. I think that Military Police Officer was a target of the kidnappers, and there's a possibility they took Armin by mistake."

"By mistake?!" Jean yelled, "How does one even do that?!"

"It happens all the time." Levi grunted, "The criminals most likely accidently killed their target, then took Armin as a replacement. It's pretty idiotic, and terrible, but it happens."

Eren was clenching his fists so tight that Hanji had to grab his hands and stop him. "Eren, if you accidently hurt yourself like that then—"

"Yeah I know." He tore away from her. "I'll go Titan and crush us all."

"Let's try to stay calm." Levi breathed, "We have an idea of what happened, and can act accordingly. First things first we need to get back to our humble abode and talk to Erwin. I'm sure he's at least heard about that Officer's death by now and is on his way back—or may even be back."

"Yes." Hanji agreed. "We need to tell Erwin so we can come up with a plan." She eyed Jean and Eren. "You two will be the ones to tell him. After all, you're the ones that left Armin alone."

They both cringed, but nodded.

"Now that that's settled," Levi huffed, "Let's get back to Springer and Blouse before there are anymore casualties."

"But—what about Mikasa and Reiner?" Jean asked. "Do you think they're okay?"

Eren's eyes widened, "Crap. I forgot about them."

"I'm sure they're fine." Hanji quickly spoke. "After all, both of them can handle themselves, and I doubt they were stupid enough to get separated."

"Just because they can handle themselves doesn't mean trouble won't find them. Hanji, you go back with those two while I go find Mikasa and Braun."

Hanji looked surprise. "Really? You're going to interrupt their searching?"

"One of our cadets has possibly been kidnapped. I'd like us all to get back and figure out what to do as soon as possible. I'm not going to risk any more of them going missing."

Hanji smiled, "Alright. Sounds like a plan. Good luck."

"You too, shitty glasses." Levi smirked, heading off in the opposite direction.

Eren crossed his arms. "Connie and Sasha should be okay, too, right?"

"I should think so." Hanji responded. "After all, from what we assume, the criminals targeted a Military Police Officer. I doubt they've taken full of notice of us—but even so, like Levi said, now we can take necessary precautions—even though we already had precautions."

Eren swallowed at her glare, and she waved for them to follow her. "Come on, kids, let's go see if Erwin is back yet."

Hanji tottered off into the streets, Jean and Eren following behind solemnly.

"I hope he's okay, wherever he is." Jean sighed, "We really let him down."

"This is my fault." Eren snapped. "I'm the one that ran after the kids first, right? I'm the one that probably started our arguments in the first place. Jean, Mikasa is going to kill me. How will I tell her?"

Jean shrugged, a look of concern spread across his face. "I don't know. I guess when you tell everyone else. Don't forget it's my fault too. We'll have to cross that bridge in just a few minutes, but we deserve any beating she can dish out."

"True enough. We deserve more than a beating from Mikasa…"

Jean nudged him. "Try not to be too worried. Armin's smart. He'll be fine until we can get to him."

Eren smiled lightly, "Thanks, Jean."

"Well, listen to you two getting along." Hanji smirked, "Becoming friends, are we?"

They both gave her a glare, but didn't say anything the rest of the way. All they could do now was hope that everything would be okay.