A/N: I DO NOT OWN THE LAST OF US OR ANY PART OF THE NAUGHTY DOG FRANCHISE OR ATTACK ON TITAN. THIS IS SIMPLY FAN WORK.
[Part 1]
Ever since the Titan outbreak occurred, cities and villages were pillaged and left in ruins. The population was cut by 75%, but gratefully, the spread of infection had been slowed down. However, with the Underground City in complete shambles and the surface still drawing breath, citizens were forced into quarantine zones, building walls between each and calling them Districts to create a more home-like feel.
There were at least six Districts the citizens were most affiliated with: Shiganshina, Stohess, Trost, Mitras, Karanes, and Klorva.
Surrounding these districts from the greater horrors of the world were giant walls: Wall Maria, Wall Rose, and Wall Sina.
Those walls served to protect what was left of humanity; but they were deemed useless when humans became Titans inside the walls and began their blind siege, laying waste to the cities and villages near Wall Maria and forcing citizens to evacuate behind the next wall.
The military wanted desperately to separate the humans from the Titans, but occasionally, people would sneak past the District lines to smuggle supplies and extra food. Some even ventured into the destroyed-yet-restricted cities, only to find themselves infected on the way home.
Through advancements in science while studying the infection, the military resorted to using blood samples to detect infected civilians — they would take blood samples from each suspicious person and place them into a Petri dish. Should the dish even begin to moisten from the inside, the subject was infected with the Titan virus and was shot down on sight.
Many refused to be executed by the ones that were protecting them; so they remained obedient and stayed behind the walls. They dared not to venture beyond, continuously slowing down the spread of infection.
The wall was their guardian, and they prayed everyday that no harm would come to it.
However, there was a group that refused to live life as it was in the quarantine zones — a group that wanted to find a cure to the Titan infection.
They were known as the Shift, but who they were exactly remained a secret to everyone. They simply promised citizens freedom and a way to fight back against the so-called repressive military. But of course, the military was not too amicable about them. All of the Shift members were wanted by the military — cold and dead.
There was no place for them behind the walls. They only disrupted the peace.
But not everyone interpreted peace in the same way.
Years have passed ever since Farlan and Isabel were taken by the Titans; and Levi was as bitter as ever.
He awoke from a dreamless sleep, seeing the dark ceiling above him as he sat up from the dusty couch. He rubbed his eyes and then the bridge of his nose, head pounding from a heavy drink the night before. He just wanted to forget about everything — everything that happened to his only family. Was that too much to ask? Or perhaps it was best that he remembered? No matter how much he drank, his troubles were never washed away.
There was a knock on the door, and he stood up, rolling his aching shoulder. His face was a hair's distance from the door, squinting to look through the peep-hole. He saw a distorted image of a young, ginger-haired woman standing at the door. She looked at the peep-hole herself and waved shyly. Seeing her as familiar, he removed the locks and opened the door.
It was his partner in crime: Petra Ral.
He closed the door as she strolled in, short hair bouncing lightly and clothes slightly dirtied, front to back. It was annoying to Levi, having to live a new life with clothes always being dirty. Sometimes he wished he lived in places like behind Wall Sina, just for the cleanliness, but all he could do was fake a grin and bear it.
"Good morning, Levi," Petra greeted innocently.
But he was not amused.
"I have some interesting news for you," she smiled happily as she leaned against the back table of the living room. "Very interesting actually."
"Where the hell were you," Levi barked.
She hesitated, hearing the bitterness in his voice. Her smile was wiped away. She then replied slowly, "Trost District. We had to get our medicine... remember? And our ration cards...?"
He stared into her amber eyes, irritated that he was left out in an operation that was supposed to be handled by the both of them. After all, it was dangerous to be in the streets by yourself especially when people were starving out there for food and anything else they could get their hands on. But then his eyes wandered to a red and purple mark on her cheek, slightly swollen but was definitely fresh.
"We." He began, "We had to do all that. You didn't even bother to wake me up?"
A pout formed upon Petra's lips, and she spoke nervously, "You told me last night that you wanted to be left alone... Remember that?"
He scoffed at the thought and crossed his arms.
"Did you at least get the medicine?" He exhaled.
"Yes sir, I did!" She nodded happily. "I wouldn't have gone through all that trouble alone to come back empty-handed right?"
She reached into her pocket, and two bottles of pills appeared in her hand. She distinctly placed the two on the table, proud of her solo-work.
"And I got us enough ration cards to last us a couple of months!" Next to the pills — which were a mixture of ibuprofen and aspirin — she playfully slapped a stack of white, plastic cards onto the table.
At that point he was only mildly impressed, but the bruise on her face still bugged him without a doubt. He eased closer to her and lightly held her chin. She blushed softly at his touch and even more so when she also caught him staring. She looked off to the side with pursed lips, wild thoughts buzzing in and out of her as to what would happen next. He then gently tilted her head to the side to examine the fresh bruise.
"What the fuck happened," he said with a low voice.
"I was... on my way back and I got jumped..." That last word struck him hard. Whoever had assaulted her was surely going to pay, and he quickly formulated many sadistic ways to do so. He tilted her head to face his, and she suddenly stiffened from his unnerving glare. "I handled myself fine out there though..." She continued, "I'm fine, Levi."
He took one last glimpse of the bruise and sighed quietly, releasing his light hold on her soft chin. He then went into the rusted kitchen, grabbed a washcloth and soaked it with cold water, wringing it out in the sink. He approached Petra once more, placing the rolled cloth against the blemish.
"They didn't follow you here, right?" He demanded as he held the cloth against her skin.
She shook her head no, wincing in pain.
"Did you find out who they were."
"Their names don't matter." She subtly placed her hand over Levi's and pressed the wet cloth against the bruise. She sighed deeply, "But... what does matter is that he sent them after me."
Levi raised a brow. "Who did."
"Kenny Ackerman."
He paused for a moment and then turned around, speechless, leaving Petra to tend to her own injury. She watched him tense up.
"Levi?" She mumbled.
"I'm gonna fucking kill that man, I swear," Levi groaned. "But that son of a bitch is smart."
"Yes, but... he's not smart enough," Petra said. Levi looked over his shoulder at her. She tossed the cloth onto the table and walked over to his side. She then formed a mischievous look on her face. "I know where he's hiding."
Levi's eyes widened slightly. "Sure you do."
Petra nodded in assurance. "I overheard his goons talking about it. He's back in Trost in an abandoned hotel."
"Hmph," Levi straightened his cravat — the only piece of clothing that was perfectly clean on his person — and made way for the door.
Surprised by the sudden movement, Petra followed after him. "Are we really doing this?"
"You can stay here if you want. But I'm fucking going."
Petra Ral had been a loyal companion of Levi's for what seemed like ages to the both of them. She was there with him through thick and thin, being the only one that had become close to him after the deaths of Farlan and Isabel.
Ever since he arrived at the surface — of the Trost District specifically — he was accompanied by Petra. They first met at a triage with her tending to his wounds and cleaning the dried blood off of him. She admitted to him that she too was alone and had nowhere to go. Wanting to get rid of a loneliness she felt in their newly altered world, she introduced herself to him as Petra Ral. She asked for his name, but he refused to speak and simply brushed her off. Strangely enough, however, it did not seem to bother her in the least bit.
As she cleaned his superficial cuts, he noticed the lack of light in her eyes. There was no spark that normal people would have. Something precious had been taken from her, and she had been drowned in horror.
Perhaps that was something that they both had in common. They were polar opposites but also one in the same.
One day, he finally left the triage, fully healed and anxious to move on. He went through the quarantine zone, seeing all the ruined architecture and rubble that accompanied the rocky ground. There were leaning buildings, broken roofs — you name it, and it had been destroyed.
When he came across a circular crack in a low-built stone wall, a memory attacked him by surprise. He suddenly remembered the grappling hooks being shot from the 3DM gear and then Farlan's awkward descent. Then he recalled the faces of his dear companions — their calm, happy faces. In a matter of seconds, their faces twisted into expressions of fear, covered with blood. Those were their final expressions, moments before they were grabbed by a Titan — their terror-stricken faces were carved into his mind and could never be erased.
Levi held his breath, in silent agony. He wanted to get away.
Away from it all.
But where?
How?
Around the corner, there was a feminine shriek and the sound of a man chuckling. The noise broke him free from his terrible stupor, and he rushed over to the scene. When he finally reached the corner, he saw her.
"Petra?" Levi mumbled.
She was pressed against the wall with the man's fingers wrapped tightly around her neck. She struggled to breathe, eyes shut from the pain. When Levi took a step forward, she slowly opened her eyes and let out another pale shriek. The man before her was smiling — like a hungry Titan.
Abomination.
Swiftly, she kicked him in the kneecaps. There was a distinct cracking sound in his bones, and he fell backwards, crying out in pain.
Levi then watched her leap from the wall and grind her fists into the man's face. One, two — four times she struck at him in a blind rage, but upon realizing what she had done, she backed away. She shuddered at the sight of the man's blood on her hands and collapsed onto her knees.
"What did I do...?" she gasped. "Oh God... I thought he was a... I thought...!"
She stared at her shaking blood-stained hands. As her eyes began to well up with tears, Levi finally approached her. He stood in front of her, his body covering the grotesque sight of the unconscious stranger. He reached down and clasped her hands together, the blood dying his palms and fingers red. His touch managed to stop her trembling, and she craned her neck towards him, confused and afraid.
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to... for him to...!" She began her trembling again, and he held her hands tighter. She closed her eyes, praying to God that she could simply go home and be at peace with her surroundings — that the world can stop and rewind to better days; but life never worked like that.
She too wanted to get away from it all.
She too was broken inside.
"We're the same," Levi said to her. He helped her up and turned her away from the unconscious man. "So come with me."
It was almost noon, but the skies were too gray to depict a real morning.
Levi and Petra strolled through the alleyways, acting nonchalant to the other refugees in the quarantine zone. They walked across a road that was littered with wanted posters and garbage, suddenly finding a group of young men being forced out of an apartment.
"On your knees!" One of the soldiers barked. "Don't make any fucking moves."
Each of the men were pinned onto the ground while another soldier extracted vials of blood from their necks. The blood quickly made it into separate petri dishes for an immediate examination which would ultimately decide the fates of those men at that very moment. After sealing the last petri dish with a tight twist of the lid, the soldiers suddenly noticed the warmth of the blood inside. The petri dish began to fog up, and the soldiers all glared at the last man in line.
"This one. He's infected."
The man shook his head in panic upon hearing that last word. "No... no...! I'm not!"
Another soldier monotonously aimed his rifle at the man's head.
"Please don't!"
"Fucking Titan."
Bang.
Crows flew away from the nearby building at the sound of the rifle. Each of them called out as they flew over the corpse that was left on the side of the road.
Even the birds were taunting him.
Human beings were not the only ones that knew venturing beyond the walls was ridiculous.
Meanwhile, Levi saw the gate to Trost only a few meters ahead of him. A squad of soldiers were assigned to guarding the perimeter of that gate while only one stood directly in front of it, responsible for dealing with incoming pedestrians. Levi reached into his pocket to get his ID ready — one was necessary to be able to access any of the other districts. As he continued walking, he noticed Petra's absence from his side. He stopped and looked over his shoulder, finding her a few paces behind him, painfully watching the situation with the group of men. He trudged over to her, placing his hand on her wrist. Startled, her eyes snapped to his.
"There's no need to watch," he said to her plainly. "Let's go."
She swallowed hard and nodded, fighting the urge to look back.