END GAME

Chapter 23: Kikazaru (Hear No Evil)

Bit of blood... acid... an autopsy. Have fun.

Levi was by Petra's side in an instant, cataloging her wounds as he went.

Her ginger hair was bloodstained and matted around her ears. Rather, where her ears should have been. The cartilage had been eaten away, leaving a misshapen nub on the side of her face. Bloody and mottled flesh dappled the surrounding area, stretching across a portion of both cheeks. Some of her hair had been scorched away, leaving a lopsided oval-shaped patch of disfigured skin on either side of her face.

Petra convulsed, blood bubbling out the corner of her mouth. Amber eyes darted around, glazed and only somewhat lucid. She must have been drugged.

Every breath seemed to be a struggle, but she managed to draw them in, breath after breath. There was a knife lodged firmly in her chest, just beneath the breastbone. Was anything vital there? He couldn't remember, but he was pretty sure the answer was a no.

A large, dark stain covered the front of her uniform. How long had she been lying there? How much time did she have left? Why was she even alive? Did the Titans not have time to finish the job?

Levi pressed his fingers to Petra's throat. Her pulse throbbed faintly beneath his fingers. It was soft and slow, but it seemed like it would last a little longer. "Make some bandages," he said over his shoulder, hoping Officer Snow had something that could be converted into temporary wrappings. "Then radio in and tell them we found Petra. We'll need a way to get her out."

How did they get out if they brought her down here? Then again, they had an entire hour to take them, not to mention the ten minutes or so it took to get people here. Dammit… How the hell are we going to get her out?

Petra raised her hand and clasped his wrist. Her fingers were wet with blood. "They've… they've got Oluo," she gasped.

"I know," Levi said, cursing himself inwardly. Could she even hear him? If they hadn't burned her eardrums away, perhaps she could.

"Sargent Thompson, we found Officer Ral. Downstairs, in the basement. There's a panel behind the desk. We'll need something to pull her out with. Get an ambulance here."

"Copy that… An ambulance is about three minutes away. We'll send some people in to help you get her out."

Snow stuck the radio back onto his belt and crouched beside Levi, a knife in his hand. "I'll have to cut up some of her uniform." Levi nodded and watched as the officer started carefully slicing away at Petra's uniform pants, cutting it into patches. He passed each patch to Levi.

The raven-haired man waited impatiently as Snow handed the patches of fabric to him, waiting for enough so he could make a makeshift bandage. This is going to make a shitty ass bandage, but it'll have to work.

"Cut a long strip. Or tie a few together." Snow nodded and kept cutting. This time, he cut a long strip from knee to ankle off the other leg. Levi ripped Petra's shirt open, exposing the wound and the knife.

It was buried halfway into her chest. Blood bubbled out from around the edges to run down her stomach. "Petra, I'm going to have to stabilize this."

Her head rolled to the side, her amber eyes unfocused. How much blood had she lost? How much pain was she in? Blood bubbled around the edge of the knife as Levi slowly pushed it up. Petra grimaced and whimpered in pain, but she managed not to scream.

"Hurry up," Levi muttered. Snow shoved a wad of cloth into the shorter man's hands and Levi went to work. He wrapped one of the strips around the edge of the blade, pressed up against her skin. That would slow the bleeding for a few minutes. Then he started packing more of the strips around the bottom and right edge in an attempt to stabilize the knife until a surgeon could examine it.

Snow passed Levi the longer strips. Deft hands worked the strips around Petra and bound the larger strips of cloth into place, holding them and the knife in a somewhat secure arrangement. It would only last a few minutes, hopefully long enough for them to get her out of the basement and into the hands of the paramedics.

Petra slumped back against the generator once the knot was tied, her body limp and her chest heaving. A burst of static shot through the air and startled both men.

"Alright, we've got a team up here waiting on you to bring her into the open. You're gonna have to tie her so we can hoist her up."

Levi glanced up at Petra's face. Her eyes were shut and her face was pale and covered in sweat and blood. Hopefully she wouldn't feel them tying a rope around her.

"Sir, we've found a guy on the top floor. He's not breathing. It's pretty bad too. There's lots of blood, too much. Alright, we just identified him as Oluo Bossard."

Wind whipped through the bell tower, stinging Eren's face and hands. Everything was cold. Everything was numb. He could barely think straight through the fog of exhaustion that was starting to cloud his thoughts. The note was clutched in one hand. Emerald eyes stared at it, not quite seeing the words written on it. Can we even stop them? God, I feel useless… We need help. We can't keep this up.

He glanced at Officer Charles, who was still staring at him, concern plastered across his face. Eren shook his head. "We should head back down. There's nothing here."

"You sure?"

"I'm positive." No point. No point at all. Nothing's here. There wasn't going to be.

A small burst of static crackled over Charles' radio. Eren turned towards him, half of his mind focused on the radio, the other half painfully blank.

"This is Sargent Thompson from the Trost area. We have found a young woman, identified as Petra Ral. We have also found a young man, identified as Oluo Bossard. Ral is still alive, but in critical condition. She's on her way to a hospital right now. The location will not be disclosed. Eren Jaeger is to report to his station immediately."

Eren clenched the note a little tighter. Wild good chase… They're trying to wear us down. They're trying to keep us from noticing something. Damn… I can't remember what. Something about the victims? What about the poems? Shit… what is it? He ground his fingers into his forehead and started to wrack his mind for ideas. Think, think, think, think dammit think!

No thoughts came. "No surprise there…" he muttered.

"We should head down then," Charles said. He had to raise his voice above the wind.

Eren nodded and looked out at the city skyline, with the dark sky slowly brightening behind it. Emerald eyes hardened and he clenched his hands. "I'll kill them…" he muttered. "They will pay. Even if it kills me…" He turned around.

Officer Charles stared at him for a moment. "Eren… is there something wrong with your eyes?" Eren blinked and shook his head, confused. Charles rubbed his eyes and stared at Eren a little harder than before. "Must've been the lights… come on, we've gotta go."

Eren nodded and followed Officer Charles back down through the hatch. My eyes…? What's wrong with my eyes? Eren clambered down the ladder. The descent to ground level was a blur of disjointed thoughts. The murders, the poems, Levi, the church, the alley, the letters, the guy that had called them at the church, Levi, the letters, the poems, G, the vial, and Levi. None of it made sense. None of it was connecting. Eren stumbled out onto the street, halfway paying attention.

There's something I'm missing I know there is… I just can't think of what is it. This is why they sped up the killings: so we can't think, can't process, and can't see what they're doing until it's too late. What is it? What could it be?

Armin slowly sat up in bed, careful of the arm around his waist. His room was still dark, but the curtains were half-open and the sky was starting to grow light. Blue eyes flickered to the right, towards the owner of the arm around his waist.

Annie shifted a bit, her eyes still shut tight. Blonde hair was spread out across the white pillow beneath her head, freed from her usual bun. Her breaths were even and slow.

When did Annie come in…? Armin rubbed his neck and set his hand on top of Annie's. The small, thin hand felt cold beneath his. There was something on her fingers. Sky blue eyes narrowed as Armin stared hard in the gloom. Annie's fingertips were smudged with some black substance and something was caked under her nails.

She must've been too tired to clean up last night. Armin gently pulled her arm away in preparation to stand. Hell… I don't even remember her coming in… Must've been out cold. I wonder what she was doing last night… He glanced back at her as she slept peacefully, her chest rising and falling evenly. She looked tired, as if she had been up all night and had only just crawled into bed a few minutes earlier.

Annie… Armin leaned over and smoothed some of her hair back. He kissed her forehead and smiled. Probably just something at work. She works too hard. That's why I love her though. He slid off the bed and quietly shut the door when he left the room.

It took a few minutes, but soon he had a hot cup of coffee in hand that he sipped at as he leaned against the kitchen counter. Faint thumps seeped through from his neighbor's apartment. They were probably fighting again. Don't they ever get tired of it, fighting all hours of the day and night? I'm amazed one of them isn't dead yet.

The caffeine started to make its way to his brain, slowly pulling him out of his sleepy daze. Armin stretched and let out a happy sigh. It's a good morning. Annie's in my room. It's quiet. I'm almost finished with the Maneuvering Gear… I wonder how Eren is doing. He hasn't called in a while.

They had managed to exchange several texts a day, but Eren hadn't responded to any of his messages for the past day or so. Mikasa had gone down to the station and demanded to see Eren the day before, but neither he nor Levi had been in. Irvin had assured her that they were fine, but their case had some new developments. Armin sipped his coffee and sat on one of the stools.

I hope he's alright… I think he's gotten in too deep with this case. Going from hacking to actual detective work… Who would have thought? It's all because of Levi. I just hope that doesn't get either of them killed.

Levi was waiting with coffee when Eren returned to the station, as was the team that was supposed to be in the station during the night. Most of them had been on a call when Levi and Eren had come in earlier that morning and Eren certainly hadn't noticed Moses roaming around. The sun was almost up, halfway over the horizon and steadily climbing.

"Any word on Petra?" he murmured as he gratefully accepted the cup of sugary caffeine.

"Critical condition," the pale man muttered. "They're not sure she's gonna live through surgery. She lost a lot of blood. A couple ribs were fractured or broken. One almost punctured a lung. They burned her ears off – Oluo's too. Oh, and they broke her back. And fractured a bone or two in her neck. It's a fucking miracle she's alive."

Levi's voice was flat. Completely void of emotion. It didn't rise with anger or grow gruff with hate. It simply stayed the same. That gave Eren reason to worry. They are… were his friends. It's hitting him harder than he wants to let on. He's closing himself in.

"Any letters? Another riddle? We found one in the bell tower." Eren pulled the note from his pocket and set it on the desk. Levi slapped an identical yellow note beside Eren's and opened his. The gray-eyed man shoved the note over to Eren and took another sip of his coffee. Eren set a hand on Levi's shoulder. It was a little reassuring that the normally irritable detective didn't knock his hand away. He looked at the note and started to read.

This game grows dull as you fail to move,
leaving us with nothing to lose.
You've fallen behind, prepare to cry,
there's another pair coming up to die.
No clues this time, not even a hint,
since that hasn't helped you with your little stint.
Those around you keep dropping like flies,
and you fail to see the one who lies.
Kikazaru can't hear the way they cried,
as his ears were burned off before he died.
Three days we gave and two we take,
so ready yourself, for your sake.

"You don't mean…"

"Oh," Levi snarled, "I think it does."

"That's horrible…"

"Look who we're dealing with."

Eren glanced up at Levi, dull green meeting lifeless gray. "So nothing?" his words were accompanied with a sigh. Eren leaned over and hit his head on the desk several times before he sat back up. "That means that anything in the note I have is useless. We're sitting ducks. God dammit… What were the letters left with them?"

"'S' and 'N,'" Levi sighed. The shorter man pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose and scrunched his face up.

Eren watched closely. Levi looked exhausted on an emotional, mental, and physical level. How much longer could the black-haired man keep going? How long could he himself keep going? He swallowed some more coffee. Levi leaned over and opened one of the desk drawers. Eren continued to watch as Levi pulled a notebook out and slapped it onto the desktop.

The pale man grabbed a pen and opened the notebook. "Eren, tell me all the letters we have." Eren tilted his head back until he could see the board with all the maps. The letters were on little cards at the bottom of the stand.

"We have a 'T', 'C', 'R', 'K', 'G', 'T', 'O', 'S', and an 'N'. The 'C' and 'K' are underlined." The pen scratching the paper was faintly audible. He snapped his head back up and looked at Levi, then what he was doing. Levi wrote down the final letter, the 'N', and set his pen down. There were two lines of letters: TCR and KGTOSN.

Levi rubbed his eyes one at a time as they stared at the letters. "We know now that 'TCR' is actually 'CTR', an acronym for Court. That form is typically used when talking about a street. Look at the map again." Eren swiveled around, taking his coffee cup with him as he turned to face the map. "Look at the southern half of Adam's River. Especially… especially Chlorba, Hermiha… Trost… Shiganshina…"

"Coffee Levi, drink coffee."

"I know that," Levi muttered. "I'm not an idiot." Eren heard him swallow quietly anyways. "So highlight any roads that have 'court' in them?"

"No, just stare at that for a few minutes." Levi snapped harshly.

"… If you say so."

Levi sighed quietly behind him. "Sorry. I shouldn't be trying to rip your head off. Actually, check to see if the crimes are concentrated anywhere. I'm too tired to remember."

"Well, we have been up for what, thirty-six, forty-eight hours? I don't even remember. I stopped paying attention ten hours ago."

"Just look…"

"Alright, alright." Eren leveled his gaze and stared at the map, taking everything in. He rose after a moment. "Do you know where the colored tacks are?"

Levi flipped his hand, "Go ask Pet-… Go ask Thomas. He's handling the idiots paying their fines." Eren bit his lip, but nodded and walked away all the same. Thoughts bounced sluggishly around his head, a little livelier than earlier due to the coffee. Levi… he's got so much guilt. He couldn't stop this before it got this far… It's tearing him apart. I'm afraid of what he's gonna do. He needs to stay strong. He has to. For them.

Eren walked around several desks that had been pushed together and piled high with paper. He glanced around. Thomas… where is Thomas…? There's Thomas. The blonde police officer was in the middle of a conversation with some old, steel-haired woman with a cane and one hefty-looking purse. Eren hung back and waited as the ancient woman slowly fumbled through her purse, likely on the search for money.

Thomas, to his credit, didn't look agitated or bored. The yellow-haired man simply watched and waited with infinite patience. The old woman passed Thomas a small fistful of crinkled bills. Thomas counted through them quickly and glanced back up at the old woman. "Thank you Mrs. Bell. You have a nice day now." The old woman bobbed her head. She turned around, a serene and vacant smile on her face.

… I really hope she didn't drive here. She doesn't exactly look like she can. The old woman tottered her way past Eren and out the front doors off to the left.

Eren glanced at the couch that people sat on when waiting to be picked up and whatnot. No one else sat there. It looked comfortable. Eren tore his eyes away and stared at Thomas, green eyes wide. "Thomas, do you have any colored tacks? I need a bunch."

Thomas glanced up and blinked for a moment before he nodded. "Sure. Here you go." The blonde tossed a plastic box to Eren.

He managed to catch it and nodded his thanks before he hustled back to Levi and the map. Eren scanned the map, pushing his tired brain to the limits, as he marked the locations.

Yellow tacks for the children. Red tacks for where they had found the burned bodies of the children. Blue tacks for the first six victims. White tacks were used for the other eight victims… for the officers and Marco. Once all the tacks were in place, he stepped back and examined the map.

Most of the tacks were to the south. Most of those were set off to the east. Eren narrowed his eyes and tugged on his hair as he stared, his green eyes focused, but bleary. More of the tacks seemed to congregate around the border of Shiganshina, Trost, and Chlorba, cutting around the other Maria District. Many of those tacks were yellow.

"Hey Levi… did you ever notice that most of the tacks are in or around that little corner border of Chlorba, Trost, and Shiganshina?"

"No. I was kind of focusing on where the next damn body would be, not where they were fucking clustered around."

Eren shook his head and turned to Levi. "I suppose we should start on this second acronym then." The only response he got was a nod. Levi couldn't hide the sadness lurking in his eyes from Eren.

Levi and Eren spread the notes out on the desk in front of them and leaned over the small squares of colored paper; fresh cups of coffee were by their elbows. Irvin had simply handed him the pot when he had ducked into the break room. That was beside them too. Levi plucked the note Eren had found in the bell tower from the desk and stared at it.

'Two more moves left to play…' They've got at least two more pairs of murders left. No… they say 'Another riddle, another pair,' along with 'There's only one pair left.' Then what is their last 'move'?

Levi slid the note over to Eren. "Eren, try to see if you can come up with something about their next two 'moves.'" The jade-eyed man nodded and blinked slowly before he focused on the slips of yellow paper. Levi stared at his paper and at the letters scribbled across it.

Let's see… Court. KGTOSN. Rearrange the letters for the second one. If they keep their latest pattern, they'll have two more letters at least. Although that could easily become four depending on what happens with the last pair. The slate-eyed man pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his weary eyes momentarily. He almost couldn't get them back open. That means we're looking at a word with eight or more letters. Let's start with eight. Run through the damn alphabet.

Levi leaned back and started to scribble out possible combinations that started with K. After thirty minutes, he had only three that seemed like they could fit: Kingston, Kensington, and Knightston, that last of which was named after some obscure psychologist."Eren, have you got anything?" He received no response. Steel eyes flickered up and fixed on Eren.

His head was propped up on his hand, pulling his cheek and lips back towards his ear. The brunette was asleep, his breaths slow and steady. Dark circles lurked under his eyes. He hadn't been sleeping well. Even so, he looked so vulnerable... so cute. Focus Levi, focus. Levi reached over and shook Eren gently, checking if the boy was out cold or not. Eren didn't respond.

The shorter man shook his head and stood. He took a moment to stretch his limbs and shake his head before he leaned over Eren. One arm snaked behind Eren's knees while the other wrapped around his arms.

Levi slowly picked Eren up, the taller man's arms and legs draped over his own. Eren's head lolled to the side and onto Levi's shoulder. The jade-eyed man was heavier than he looked, but not enough that Levi was unable to carry him. Levi walked slowly and carefully, wary of waking Eren. He needs it. These last few days… weeks have been nothing but chaotic hell. I shouldn't have dragged him into this. Eren shouldn't have to be dealing with all this shit.

Only a few glances came their way, but those were quickly adverted. It's quiet here without Petra and Oluo… without Mike, Nanaba, Mina, and Nac. It's strange. Levi made his way over to the couch near the desk Thomas sat behind. Thankfully, the couch was unoccupied. With more care than he thought he had, Levi set Eren down on the edge of the couch. When he pulled his arms back, Eren shifted a bit. "Levi..." he mumbled quietly.

Levi smiled weakly and shook his head. He walked back to his – their – desks. Papers littered them, from the yellow notes to Master's papers. Pale fingers skimmed over the thin, pathetic stack of the latter.Who is G? I feel like I should know… like there's something I'm missing. Something I can't connect. What the hell is it?

Levi gathered the papers, the notes, the pad with the letters, and a pen into his arms. Why am I moving? Oh, right. Eren's back over there, that's why. It only took a minute to gather everything together and carry it back to the couch where he had left Eren. The lanky man hadn't moved. Thomas didn't say anything when Levi sat down next to Eren, hip to hip with the younger man. His hand crept over to Eren's and Levi gripped his hand loosely.

Levi set the poems aside and picked up Master's papers. He flipped straight to the journals, the one from 1989. There's something here I didn't realize before… something that I've found the pieces to, but I haven't quite realized yet. It's something to do with G… I think. Bleary silver eyes scanned the entries. 'G is refraining from doing anything that would get his own kid pulled in, even though that brat is still in the womb.' Injecting them with viruses… strange healing abilities… Eren's memory loss… What does it all mean?

Levi shut his eyes and rubbed his forehead, slowly moving his fingers in circles. He couldn't really think straight. Between the sleepless night (or had it been two?) and the deaths of his friends, not to mention trying to hold everything back, he was exhausted. Levi sighed and leaned against Eren. His head found Eren's shoulder and his eyes stayed shut. Just a few moments…

Zoe tugged a pair of rubber gloves on with a snap. She pressed her hands together, stretched her arms out, and cracked her fingers. Moblit winced with each loud crack. "Doctor Hanji… do you want me to pull the body out?" Zoe waved her hand and started to pull out her instruments. She didn't feel like talking. Not unless it was necessary, that is. It didn't seem appropriate for Oluo.

The autopsies had ceased to be something she found fulfillment in. They had ceased to do so when her friends had started ending up on her tables instead of strangers. It was on the level of autopsying children: heart wrenching and pain-filled. Children shouldn't die so soon. Her friends shouldn't die so brutally.

Metal scraped behind her and the slight rattle of wheels as Moblit rolled out the panel Oluo was lying on. There was a soft thump and several clicks as Moblit slid Oluo's body onto one of the autopsy tables and shut the door to the cold chamber. Zoe grabbed a little metal cart littered with medical equipment and wheeled it over to the table. She waited patiently as Moblit took the white sheet covering Oluo and peeled it back.

Zoe kept her face smooth and professional as she looked at his body, something she found easier said than done. At least Petra isn't here… yet.

He didn't look as bad as he could have, but it was close. Come to think of it, the worst bodies I've seen in my entire career seemed to be coming from the same criminals: the Titans.

Moblit had cleaned the blood from his body earlier, which made it easy to see the damage. The skin around his ears had melted into a mass of lumps, ridges, and indents of varying sizes. A lot of skin had been scorched away by the acid, leaving muscle and bone exposed. His ears were gone completely, leaving dark, gaping holes on either side of his head.

"Have you written details down on the acid burns yet?"

"Yes ma'am, I did that after I cleaned the blood away."

"Good."

Oluo's head itself was bent at an odd angle. Zoe gently took his chin and twisted his head from side to side. There was little to no resistance. It was almost possible to turn his head over ninety degrees in either direction, past his shoulders. She bent a little lower and examined his neck. Faint blue bruises dotted his neck. The size and shape of the bruises were consistent with those of fingers, large ones to be precise.

Someone had broken his neck with his or her bare hands, usually a near impossible feat. There were conditions when it could be broken with bare hands, boxing for instance, but this was something similar to what happened in movies. It looked like Oluo's murder had simply jerked his head to either side and broken – maybe even completely severed – his spinal column.

"We have a broken, possibly severed, spinal column. Rotation is over ninety degrees in either direction." Zoe let his head loll to the side and inspected Oluo's abdomen.

His attackers had taken a knife to his right side, just below his last floating rib. They had cut away a softball-sized patch of skin and muscle. Zoe leaned over and plucked a penlight from the metal try. She pointed it into the gaping hole in his stomach. With a click, she flicked the light on and peered into the gaping hole.

Moblit aided her by pulling the edges of the patch back with the probes so she could see. Even so, it took several minutes before she realized what was missing. "It appears we have a missing liver."

"A liver?"

"No Moblit, his avian air sacs. Yes, a liver!" Zoe snapped, her head shooting up.

The two stared at each other for a moment, eyes wide, and faces contorted into expressions of surprise. Zoe bowed her head and straightened up. She cleared her throat and set the light down. "… I'm sorry Moblit. That was out of line."

He shook his head, sympathy shining in his deep brown eyes. "It's alright. I know you've been stressed lately."

Zoe hummed in response and cracked her fingers once more, one by one. Moblit winced with each jarring crack. The eccentric autopsy technician snatched a scalpel from the tray and raised it. Light glinted off the polished, soon to be bloodied steel. "Let's get to work," Zoe murmured with a grim face.

Chapter 23: End

I'm sorry it took so long guys, truly. It wasn't my intention to take so long, but things happened. I had an absolutely infuriating case of writer's block and then a had a bit of an emotional breakdown. Still haven't quite sorted that out yet. That's why the quality is a little down. Don't expect another update for this for at least a week. There are some personal issues I need to sort out. I'm also amazed no one was offended by the whole desecration-of-a-church thing too.

Many manymanymanymanymany many thanks to calleyrose, the wonderful person who beta'd this chap, otherwise I would have been screwed a million times over.

Kunogi Haruka: Always so energetic, you are~ Hahaha. That he is, but he's a big ol' softie on the inside. I'd love to comment, but you'll have to find that out yourself~ soon... Haha, who knows? Thanks ^^ Dang, lucky~
Guest (potatogirl123): Haha no problem~ Hopefully that'll be soon. Thank you~ There are never enough ~ and !
ichiruzuka: Nice thought, but you'll understand why they didn't soon. Very soon.
calleyrose: Haha that is something I am proud of ^^ Yeah... he has his moments. No comment. Great~ Surprisingly, no. Haha yes it did. I know, I know . Good reward it twas.
TheOtaku2: Haha glad you think so ^^ Hahaha at least she's still alive! For now... Not really sure if I'm going to kill her TBH...
KyuubinUzumaki: Thank you ^^ Even though that latter is so. damn. slow haha. Yeah. It's partially due to memory, also due to the speed and concentration of/on the murders. Haha to the former... duty literally called? As for the latter, I kind of mentioned that in passing somewhere in here. I don't think fun and exams is possible! ooo... that sucks for you. I hope they went good!
Guest (Nyoom): If I apologize will that make you feel better?
animelover8m: Thanks o/o Yeah, things are about to get real clear. I tried. I really did.
Ayrim: Glad you do ^^ Haha it only took me two weeks and then some...