A/N: Here's chapter 6! It's a longer one, so I hope you enjoy!
Warnings for this chapter: Attempted rape, strong language, violence/blood.
The descriptions aren't too explicit, but I wanted to add the warning in anyway just in case.
Chapter 6
"Isabel and Farlan"
Risa wasn't sure how much time had passed since Isabel and Farlan died. It almost felt like an eternity, but it must have been more than two and a half weeks. Risa had a hard time keeping track of time since the days dragged on longer than they ever had. There was still a feeling of a void in her departed friend's place since the group was dealing with the grief that accompanied losing them. Of course, that was to be expected considering that they were their partners. They were their dear friends.
Levi took the loss the hardest. He was never one to show much emotion, and yet, he still didn't. He never talked about it or how he felt, and Risa didn't push him to do so. She figured that he would talk when he felt up to it. She decided that she would wait as long as it took after promising Isabel that she wouldn't give up on him. With that being said, Levi was a bit nicer to her now that Isabel and Farlan were gone, which made the grief much more bearable for Risa. That didn't mean that the distance between them was breaking. He still held her at an icy distance most of the time. Each day that passed, it felt like the distance between them was slowly getting closer and closer together. The only thing that kept her going was the promise she made to Isabel. Isabel was right. Whether Levi wanted to admit it or not, he needed Risa. And eventually, she wanted him to understand that, no matter how long it took. She would wait for him.
Risa sighed for what felt like the millionth time as she stared at the cracked window she was sitting in front of. The trio was currently staying in a cabin on the outskirts of a small town. With her elbow propped up on the window sill and her hand resting against her cheek, she watched as the sun began to rise from its slumber, welcoming the dawn of a new day. There was something about the sunrise each morning that calmed her. Maybe it was the sign of hope for another day. As bad as things got, the sun always came up the next day. But then Risa would always think back to that tragic day that started it all where she lost both of her parents, or the day when she lost Isabel and Farlan. Thinking back on those days caused her hope to falter.
Coming out of her thoughts, Risa heard heavy footsteps against the creaky floorboards behind her. Then a voice followed. "You're up early."
"You're one to talk, Eren," she answered in a monotonous voice. This particular morning, she was feeling quite dreary. Despite her obvious mood, Eren still approached her.
Eren sat down next to his sister, smiling gently. "Yeah, but I'm not the one who stayed up the entire night."
She brushed off his comment. Then she looked over at him. Eren noticed an emptiness in her gaze as he looked into her turquoise eyes.
"How is he?"
Eren's face clouded over, looking down sadly. "He's the same as always. Nothing much has changed."
Risa was not surprised at all by Eren's answer. She wasn't sure why she asked him in the first place. "I just wish there was a way to get him to talk to us," she said sorrowfully.
"Hey."
The siblings turned around to see Levi standing behind them. He was glaring down at them, giving them a sign that he had been standing there for a while. Which meant that he overheard their conversation about him.
"I don't need you two worrying about me. I'm fine," he hissed. Risa wasn't sure why exactly he was that angry over it. He obviously wasn't okay. If he would just admit it, everything would be easier for all of them. "If you two have time to sit around talking, then you have time to get up and get your asses out the door. We need to get to Chicago, but right now you're wasting time."
Risa bit her lip, thinking about how much more strict he had become. It seemed as though he was always finding something to yell at them for. And as much as she wanted to talk back to him, she couldn't. He was grieving in his own way, and apparently finding things to be angry about and taking it out on others was it.
"Yes, sir," Eren grumbled under his breath as he stood up. He gave Risa his hand and helped her stand up.
So, the three of them stepped back into the cruel and unforgiving world once again. It bothered Risa that Levi still hadn't bothered to tell her and Eren where it was that they were going. All she knew was that they had to stop in Chicago along the way for supplies.
It made her nervous thinking about going to Chicago. Chicago was an enormous city enclosed with three walls built around it. It was the largest quarantine zone in the country and it was extremely hard to enter. Risa had heard many stories during her travels of the tests and security one had to go through to be able to get in.
The military was especially tight in the city. There were three branches of military within each city; The Survey Corps, Military Police, and Garrison. The Garrison was in charge of guarding the city and making sure that the Infected stayed out. Anyone infected trying to get in was immediately killed on sight. The Military Police was in charge of punishing all crime in the city, including breaking curfew, entering the city illegally, smuggling goods in and out of the city, and so on. The Survey Corps was the most dangerous military branch to be in. They were the ones who were brave enough to go outside the walls and fight the Infected. Their ultimate goal was to eradicate all Infected in the country while scientists worked to find a vaccine. However, the latest that Risa heard, no progress had been made in the past five years. They claimed that they would eventually reach a breakthrough, but she didn't buy any of it. Still, everyone hoped that one day the world would return to the way it was five years ago, before the outbreak happened. As long as there was still a tiny sliver of hope, a majority of the world refused to give up.
But there were still people out there fighting for another day of life, including her, Eren, and Levi. It all started to seem so pointless to her. She and her brother didn't have anyone left to come back to when everything would become normal again. Now that Isabel and Farlan were gone, she didn't have any friends. All they had was each other, but sometimes it still didn't seem like it was enough. And Risa didn't know what motivated Levi to keep going. What was his end goal, she wondered? Every day that passed by without knowing that answer, she grew more angrier with him.
She recalled a day years ago when it was just her and Eren, wandering around the ends of the earth. It was a rather peaceful summer day for them. They were lying side by side out on the porch of a run down house.
"[Name], why do we keep fighting?" Eren asked her. He looked as though he was in deep thought with his eyes closed. There was a content look on his face.
Risa looked over at him quizzically, unsure of why he asked that kind of question so suddenly. "What do you mean?"
He propped himself up on his elbow, looking over at her. "What are we doing out here? We live in a dangerous world, yet we still fight to make sure we live to see another day." His head turned away from her. He gazed out over the horizon, watching the sun slowly start to set. "I have my reasons. I just want to hear yours."
Risa hummed quietly, carefully thinking his question over. "Maybe I'd still like to believe that one day, everything will go back to normal." Eren listened quietly as she spoke. "It's just hard to think that way sometimes. Every once in awhile, I start to wonder if I'm being too naive to think like that…" Then, she sat up. "What's your reason for fighting?"
A smile grew on his face and he reached out to take her hand. "I just want to see you smile again. You know, the way that you used to."
And that's what brought Risa back.
. . .
I just want to see you smile again.
. . .
Those words replayed in her mind over and over again, reminding her of why she she had never given up in the first place. Eren still had hope, so what right did she have be so negative? Her brother was fighting for her, so she felt as though she had to do the same for him. It was the least she could do.
Why had she decided to give up so easily? She hated herself for it, but she couldn't afford to waste time thinking like that. In order to become stronger, she had to let go of all of those negative feelings.
"Risa." She heard her name being called repeatedly. "Risa? Hello? Are you in there?" She looked over to see that Eren was peering into her face. It caught her off guard.
Jumping from being startled, she pulled away from him and shoved him away from her. "What is it?"
"Were you thinking about something?" Eren questioned. "You looked pretty deep in thought." He pressed his lips together and looked at her thoughtfully. It seemed like she had a habit of spacing out like that.
"No, it was nothing," she replied simply, not missing a beat. Clearing her throat, she turned away from him. "Sorry for spacing out."
"Come on," Levi complained, interrupting their conversation. "You're holding us up."
"Sorry," she apologized, feeling a sense of determination bubble up inside of her. A smile crept onto her face as she followed Levi, adding a small spring in her step. For the first time in awhile, she truly felt hope again. This time, she was determined to let nothing break it down. No matter what happened, she would always hang on to that hope like her life depended on it. In all honesty, her life really did depend on it. It was one of the only things she had left in this world. God forbid she ever lose sight of it again.
Then another week had passed. At that point in their journey, they were only a few days away from Chicago according to Levi.
One night, they stopped in yet another abandoned neighborhood to rest for the night. Once they settled in, Risa sat down at the table with Eren and Levi to eat dinner. They were starting to run out food, so no one knew for sure if they would make it last until they arrived in Chicago. Food had been scarce those days, so their best bet was to ration it as much as they could and wait until they could restock in Chicago.
After a silent dinner, Levi got up from the table. He went outside to the backyard, taking a bottle of whiskey with him. He had been especially quiet that day, and Risa wasn't really sure why.
Risa and Eren spent the rest of the evening together. For a little while, it felt like old times with just the two of them. She didn't want that moment to end because every moment she got with Eren, whether it was one minute or an hour, it was so precious to her.
He eventually said goodnight to her a few hours later and went upstairs to sleep. By that time, Levi still hadn't come inside, so Risa went out to check on him.
When she walked out the back door, she saw that Levi was sitting on the grass, looking up at the stars sprinkled all over the night sky. Next to him, he had half a bottle of whiskey left and an empty glass next to it.
Risa walked up behind him. "Is this spot taken?" she asked him gently.
He looked up at her and nodded. There was a hint of sadness in his face and Risa knew that this was because he was in pain. She didn't say anything as she sat down next to him.
For a while, it was silent between them. Neither of them said anything to each other. All they did was gaze up at the stars shining brightly in the sky. At that moment, it was like they were alone with their thoughts. For once, the silence didn't bother Risa.
After quite some time, Levi broke the silence between them. He talked in a slow and quiet voice.
"Nights like these remind me of them."
Risa's attention turned to him and her eyes immediately widened at the thought that he was finally opening up to her. She silently urged him to go on.
"We used to sit outside together and look up at the stars," he told her, still looking up towards the sky. "For once, it felt like everything was alright, like there was peace in the world."
His gaze faltered. Now he was looking straight ahead. Risa thought quietly about his words. She knew that feeling just as well as he did.
"But now they're not here anymore." He said it so quietly that it was barely audible. But Risa listened so intently to him that she heard it.
"They still are," she whispered. "They're with us in spirit."
Levi finally turned to look at her. "Is that what you really believe?"
She stared at him for a moment before nodding her head. "Yes, I do. It's the only thing that keeps me going," she said, looking him straight in the eye. "I know how easy it is to give up hope after something like this happens, but I realized that I have to keep going. And so do you, Levi. It's what they would have wanted for you."
Levi sat there quietly as he thought about what she said. Her words resonated deep within him. Those were the words that he needed to hear all along.
"Can I ask you something?" Risa asked.
"It's a free country."
Risa smiled at his answer. Usually, he sounded annoyed with her whenever she tried talking to him. This time, he sounded like he actually wanted to listen to her. That was enough to make her feel content.
She braced herself and mustered up her courage to ask him about the one thing that had been on her mind. "Could you tell me about you met them? Isabel told me once that you saved her, but she never got the chance to tell me how. So, I was wondering if you would tell me?"
He sat still for a moment, taking her question in. She started to begin to think that he wouldn't tell her. "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," she said after a while.
"It's okay. I'll tell you."
5 Years Ago; The Day of the Outbreak
After a long day of studying, Levi decided that it was time for him to take a break. He slammed his history textbook shut before standing up from his desk chair. He put one earbud in his ear and turned on his iPod. Then he plopped down on his bed. While he waited for his roommate Farlan to get back from class, he stared up at the ceiling, thinking about the party he was going to later that night. Apparently Farlan wanted to introduce him to some girl. The thought of Farlan setting him up with a random girl made him feel exhausted.
After about twenty minutes had passed, the intercom for the dorms came on. A loud voice blasted through the speakers shouting, "Attention all students! This is an emergency! Please remain in your dorms with the door and windows locked until further notice. I repeat: remain in your dorms until—"
Levi gazed at the speakers in confusion as the sound started to crack. Then it went dead.
He sat up in bed and removed the earbud, wondering what was happening. He jumped down, and walked over to the window, opening up the curtain. There were students running around campus like madmen.
The door swung open when Farlan bursted in. He looked distressed as he desperately tried to catch his breath. "Levi, why haven't you been answering my calls?" he screamed in a panic.
"Sorry, I didn't notice you called me," Levi said, looking at his phone. But it was dead. "What the hell is going on?"
"I'll explain later, but right now we have to get out of here!"
Farlan grabbed both of their backpacks, then joined Levi over at the window and opened it up. "We have to jump out," he stated firmly.
Levi exclaimed, "What? Are you fucking crazy? We're on the second floor!"
"It's okay," Farlan told him. "There are bushes down there. We'll be fine."
He grabbed Levi's arm as Levi continuously protested. Together, they jumped out their dorm window and landed in the prickly bushes beneath them. Despite how much pain they were in, Farlan dragged Levi away. They ran from the campus, avoiding all students. Once they were outside of the university's gates, they headed for the city.
"Care to tell me what the hell is going on?" Levi asked angrily once they reached a stopping point in an alley.
Farlan looked around them, panting heavily. "We won't be safe here for long, so we have to get going soon. But basically, there's some sort of virus going around. Whatever it is, it's dangerous. It's turning people into monsters."
Monsters? Levi stared at him, wanting to think that Farlan was making up some ridiculous story. There was no way in his right mind that he would say something that crazy. But with the circumstances, he had to believe what Farlan was saying.
"Where exactly are we going though?" Levi asked.
Farlan shrugged. "I don't know, but we're getting as far away from here as we can."
So they ran down the alleys to escape. Most of the time, they were less crowded than the streets, which made them safer to travel through.
They had reached an old part of the city that was known for the crime that took place there. It was risky to go through there, but most people avoided it, so there was a better chance of them making it out from the city.
They crept through the quiet streets with no weapons to protect themselves. They had to be ready for anything.
As they went farther down the streets, they heard a girl screaming in one of the alleys.
"No! Let go of me!" she cried. From how loud it was, they could tell she wasn't far away.
Farlan and Levi looked at each other. They could hear the sound of a group of men snickering and talking to each other. The two boys made their way to where the voices were coming from. When they reached the alley, they saw a girl surrounded by a group of three men. They had her pushed up against the wall. She was struggling to break out of their grasp as they tried to rip the clothes from her body.
"This will go a lot faster if you just cooperate," one of them said into her ear. The girl continued to kick at them as they continued to undress her.
"No! Don't touch me!"
Farlan couldn't just stand there and watch, so he ran up to the gang and pulled one of the guys away from her. He turned around to face Farlan. "Who the hell are you?" he screamed, punching Farlan in the jaw. The two other guys stopped to watch the scene, allowing the girl to escape from their grasps.
"Hey! The little bitch is getting away!"
The other two men chased after her. Noticing that they were getting away, Levi took off into a sprint to chase them down. Meanwhile, Farlan stood back up and fought his attacker back. He landed a few good punches and dodged his attacks. He lifted his right leg, landing a kick to the guy's gut. While he leaned over, clutching his stomach, Farlan delivered one final blow to his shin, knocking the man to the ground.
Farlan walked up to him and peered down at him, looking him in the face. His eyes clouded over with a deadly glare. He kicked the thug straight in the face. It was enough to knock him out for now. Blood splattered across the brick walls of the alley. Farlan didn't take another look at him as he went to help Levi.
Levi managed to tackle one of the other guys to the ground. He struggled as the man flipped Levi over onto his back. Pinning him down, the man gripped Levi's throat with one hand and pulled out a knife with the other. As the man lowered the knife toward Levi, Levi quickly grabbed his arm, trying to stop the knife from reaching his face. But this man was a lot stronger than Levi was, and he was starting to struggle for air. Levi's grip weakened and he felt himself about to lose consciousness. He shut his eyes tightly once he saw that the knife was an inch away from his face.
'This is the end,' he thought to himself, gasping for air.
This is how he was going to die.
As he started to lose his will to fight, he felt himself slip away from consciousness.
. . .
. . .
. . .
WHAM!
For a moment, Levi wasn't quite sure what had happened. The weight of the other man had suddenly been lifted. Gasping for air, Levi looked up to find that Farlan had come up and kicked the man off of him. Levi watched as the knife went flying out of the man's hands. The man struggled to get it back as Farlan had gotten on top of him, pinning him to the ground.
"Levi, get the knife!" Farlan demanded.
Levi knew that he had no time to sit around to catch his breath when there was a girl in danger. He crawled over to the knife as fast as he could to acquire it, fighting through the immense pain that he was feeling. Once he had reached it, he stood back up. His adrenaline allowed him to run off to find the girl and the other criminal while Farlan stayed behind to take care of the second guy.
Levi was now wandering the streets of the city. Night had fallen, but the electricity was out, leaving him with no light to guide his way. He gripped the knife tightly with his right hand as he looked all around him. The city was eerily quiet.
So he didn't see it coming when he felt a force turn him around and slam him into the wall of a brick building. His body felt weak as he found himself in another position where he was being strangled by a man much stronger than he was.
"You and your friend ruined my plans tonight," he seethed into Levi's face, with his grip tightening on his throat. "That bitch deserved it. She was being a tease all night, so we had to punish her."
Levi glared at the man. 'What is this guy's fucking problem?' he thought to himself.
"But she got away thanks to you," he spat. "I can't even find her, but when I do, I'll have you watch as I have my way with her. And then I'll kill the both of you."
"You're not going to lay a finger on her." Levi struggled to get his words out as his air supply was quickly being taken. But he was determined to beat him.
The man laughed sadistically, almost maniacally, at Levi. "Oh? And why is that? You know, you're not going to stop me again. You can't." The man stopped talking to think for a moment. "Maybe I should just kill you right—"
He didn't have a chance to finish his sentence as Levi quickly inserted the pocket knife into the man's abdomen. The man looked at Levi with wide eyes, almost as if he was a deer in headlights, as Levi twisted the knife around. When he pulled out the knife, he felt warm blood spray onto him, soaking his clothes.
"I won't let you lay a finger on her," Levi spat furiously at the man. He threw his lifeless body onto the ground, not feeling any remorse for him at all. Maybe he would feel bad once he realized that he had just committed murder, but he didn't feel anything for the man at all. After all, he was a sick bastard with nothing better to do than harm an innocent girl.
He breathed heavily as he stared at the man's corpse. Then, he turned his head slowly to find Farlan standing a few feet away from him. His friend looked at him with worry and fear.
"I did what I had to do," was all that Levi said.
"We should go and find that girl," Farlan said after a while. "She might still be here or she might have left."
They searched the rest of the city for her. For awhile, they couldn't find her. But she finally popped her head out from an alley. "Is it safe to come out now?" she asked, her voice quivering.
"We took care of them," Farlan told her. "But we need to leave before they wake up."
So, they left the city and never looked back.
The next day, it rained. They found shelter under a bridge and sat there quietly, waiting for the rain to pass.
Neither of them spoke a word to each other until the girl broke the silence. "Um, thank you for saving me." She talked with a quiet whisper. "And thank you for letting me come with you."
"It's no problem," Farlan said with a smile. "I'm Farlan, and this is Levi. Sorry we never introduced ourselves earlier."
She smiled softly at them. "I'm Isabel."
Levi didn't look her way at all. He spaced out for most of the day, thinking about the events that happened the previous day. He felt like a monster for what he had done.
"So, where are we going?" Isabel asked.
Farlan answered her question. "Levi and I decided to go to L.A. to find his sister."
Isabel gasped. "But L.A. is all the way across the country!"
"We'll make it there," Farlan said.
Farlan didn't realize that in five year's time, he wouldn't even have a future. As he stared into Isabel's shining eyes, he didn't even think about the possibility that they would be taken from this world.
End of Flashback; Present Day
As Levi finished telling Risa his story, he began to slowly cry. He did his best to stop himself. Risa had no idea that it would have been that dark. But she also had no right to judge him for his past actions. Every one had to do what they could to survive. People either died keeping their morals, or they let them go so they could survive.
"I did everything that I could to keep them safe," whispered Levi through his tears. He brought a hand up to his face to hide his tears from Risa. "And yet, I couldn't save them in the end."
As she watched him, Risa felt her eyes fill with tears. She placed her hand on top of his that was resting on the ground next to her. "Their deaths weren't your fault," she told him, trying to soothe his pain. She didn't know what else she could say to him, so she just said the first thing that came to her mind. "They knew that you loved and cared for them so much. And they loved you too."
After hearing her say that, Levi allowed himself to let out his tears, letting himself break down right in front of her. This was a sight that Risa thought that she would never see. But she was thankful that he finally broke down the wall between them and opened up to her. It felt like their relationship was starting to make progress.
After he was done crying, Levi composed himself quickly. "I'm sorry that you had to listen to me ramble.
"No. I'm glad you told me," Risa smiled. "Levi, hand me that bottle of whiskey, would you?"
He did as she told him to. Then she told him to lift his glass up so she could pour whiskey into his cup. "I think we need to be happy now. Instead of mourning their deaths, I think that we should celebrate their life. So, let's make a toast to our dear friends Isabel and Farlan."
The two of them clinked their glasses together. "To Isabel and Farlan," they cheered in unison. Then, they each took a sip from their glasses.
They had sat there for another half an hour, just drinking and talking to each other. For the first time, Risa had a real conversation with him. And she had finally learned that Levi was going to find his sister. She didn't ask about her, figuring that there would be another time to do that.
Risa knew that this night was for Isabel and Farlan, and for them only. Yes, it pained her that they were both killed and she wished that it never happened. But they did not die without meaning. They were what kept her and Levi going.
Risa had spent a majority of her time searching for something to fight for.
She smiled, knowing that she finally find it.
A/N: I'm sorry for taking so long to update. I've been really busy with school and work that I haven't had much free time lately. I wanted to get this chapter out today in honor of season two of Attack on Titan coming out yesterday.
Anyway, I'm really happy with how this chapter turned out. I hope you loved reading it as much as I loved writing it. See you in the next chapter!