AUTHOR'S NOTE: Lookie that! A new chapter less than 24 hours after the previous one! I guess I'm making up for lost time while I was missing a finger. I dubbed this one 'Chapter 4.5', because it wasn't planned at all until I finished chapter 4, but I realized a little... something... was missing between chapters 4 and 5. And so this was born. Enjoy!

UPDATE- 6/15/2014: Looking at this the next day, I realized I made a lot of errors that I completely missed in my review/editing phase. I'd been up for about 30 hours, so I was tired as hell and, obviously now with my mind more clear I can see the mistakes easier. So, I fixed them! Don't worry. ^_^

'Fucking Bastards…'

Levi groaned into his pillow, laying face-down on the mattress that made his bed. It had been almost a unanimous decision when they'd gotten their tattoos that he would be the first to go. As far as he could remember, because he was pretty sure he'd blacked out at one point, it hadn't been a pleasant experience. The man had taken one of the strange machines in hand and flipped a switch, causing it to spring to life. He didn't know how the machine worked. He read in one of Cecil's books one time that there used to be a thing called 'electricity' that caused all sorts of machines to work, as well as provide light more bright than any fire could produce, but that science had been lost long ago. Still, the gun-shaped machine whirred with a power unlike any he'd seen before, and when it descended upon the skin of his back…

Levi was no stranger to pain, especially since he and Lucius had been living on the streets and below ground. He'd had fractures and broken bones, abrasions, lacerations, burns and concussions. He'd even accidentally sliced the very tip of his finger off while sharpening one of his knives one day(AN: 1) But when he felt the needles stabbing into his skin repeatedly, a hundred times a minute for what seemed like hours, the pain had eventually gotten to be almost too much. He remembered biting down on his bundled up shirt to stop himself from breaking his teeth against each other. He remembered Lucius and Rafa holding his hands, and a look of uneasiness on Abdal's normally smug face. That had given him a feeling of elation before he'd blacked out.

When he awoke about a half hour later, Niall had just been finishing up his tattoo, and rubbing his back down with a cool, wet cloth that felt much better than it should have. His back was on fire! It took the help of both Lucius and Cecilius to help him off the table and to replace his shirt once his back had been covered in a bandage. Afterwards, he'd sat next to Lucius in the corner of the shop and napped with his head on his brother's shoulder for a few hours while the others took their turns.

Over all, they were there for nearly a whole day, and returned to their hideout across the lake the next night, all sore and exhausted. Rafa, who had by far taken the process the worst (The poor girl had screamed and cried nearly the whole time), was out cold and Levi carried her home on his back, ignoring the intense burning of having her extra weight pressing against the fresh tattoo. They'd all decided it would be best to take the next few days off. They had enough food left over from their last run to last a couple days if they rationed it well, so they opted for lounging around the hideout.

He'd been lying on his mattress since he'd woken up an hour ago, thinking about nothing and anything at all. He found, something that had been occupying his mind a lot lately, besides their inevitable death whenever Abdal decided they would attempt their attack on the Police, was his mother. He'd thought he'd grown accustomed to life without her, but having the past couple of days just to himself and his thoughts- the first couple of days he's had such time for four years- he couldn't help but find himself thinking of her.

Truth of the matter is, he really missed her. And he felt ashamed because he wanted to be strong for his brother, and now for Max and Rafa, who, despite his best interests, really looked up to him. But when he thought of his mother, he felt like a scared little boy again and all he wanted to do was curl up under the thin blanket and cry. He hadn't cried in so long, he wondered if his eyes could even produce tears anymore. He felt helpless when he thought of how he would never see his mother again. On how it was impossible to see her again. Unless an afterlife, like the one he'd read about in another of Cecil's books, really did exist. If it did… maybe he and Lucius would be joining her there soon.

And when he thought about it that way, dying in Abdal's obscene plan didn't sound so bad.

His attention was drawn away from his thoughts when he heard joyous laughter from the corner of the room. He lifted his head out of the rock-hard pillow and peered at the two intruders. Cecil and Lucius were huddled together over a book, big stupid grins across both their faces.

Even though the room was shared by him and Lucius alone, a portion of Cecil's book collection had gathered in there. Not that he minded much. He knew how to read, and could do so quite well, so the books kept him entertained when he had a bit of spare time, which he felt he had way too much of in just the past few days.

Aside from that, he didn't mind because he knew Cecil meant a lot to his brother.

Whether it was just the best friendship he'd ever seen or some type of romance blossoming between the two boys, Levi didn't know, but whenever Cecil entered the room, the older Ackerman brother lit up like he'd just come away from an extremely successful steal. The two had bonded over books, and Lucius had quickly grown to love stories as much as the red head did, and when the brothers had some time alone, the talk was often filled with Cecil or stories that Lucius and Cecil had read together. He even talked about becoming a novelist with Cecil when their rebellion was over and they could all live in absolute peace again.

Levi was glad his brother had made such a good friend in the other boy. And he liked Cecil, no matter how much the other stood up for Abdal or took the older boy's side in any spats he and Levi had. Which, thankfully had died down a bit the past couple days. He didn't know if it was just because it was down time, or if Abdal was finally starting to change his ways. He did appear to be rather perturbed when Levi had been in pain during the tattoo…

Whatever the reason, he was just glad Abdal had left him alone. Aside from his back hurting, he had a headache and hadn't felt very motivated to do anything buy lay around the hideout all day. He knew the others probably felt the same (In fact, Max had been complaining quite loudly about how much he hurt nonstop, even when his brother would smooth the salve the artist had given them over the young boy's back), but he was feeling like absolute crap.

He groaned again, alerting the other boys of his presence in the room. Of course, he knew they knew he was there, but he figured they probably thought he was still sleeping. This thought was assured when they both jumped. Lucius turned to face him, a slight blush creeping over his face.

"S-sorry, Levi… did we wake you up?"

He smiled lightly. "No… you're just making my headache worse than it already is…"

Cecilius scratched the back of his neck, laughing nervously. "Sorry… I just wanted to show Lucius this book of jokes I found."

"And by 'found', you mean stole…. Right?"

Cecil shrugged, obviously not denying the fact. "If you want, we could just go to another room…"

Before Levi could open his mouth to respond, there was a rather loud commotion coming from the Grand Hall. He'd overheard earlier that Abdal, Linn, and Gev were going on a trip across the lake for some supplies, but hadn't expected them back for quite a while yet. He tensed up momentarily, expecting the worst, before he heard a familiar voice calling everyone to the Hall for a meeting.

"Well, forget your joke book for now…" Levi huffed, getting up from his bed and quickly straightening out the blankets before straightening out his clothes. He brought the collar of his shirt to his nose, cringing a bit at the smell. He'd attempted to bathe and wash his clothes in the lake like usual the night they returned after the tattoos, but submerging his back in water had only made the pain worse and he hadn't attempted it again since. His skin crawled at the thought of how disgusting he'd allowed himself to get. He pushed his disgust aside for now, vowing to take a bath later. "Our leader needs us."

The other two didn't miss the hint of sarcasm when Levi referred to Abdal as their 'leader'. They both knew he still disliked the older boy, and despised thinking of him as any kind of authoritative figure. And, they felt anxious while heading down to the Grand Hall with him, knowing how violent things had almost turned last time a meeting had been held.

Once there, they saw what had made such a loud noise upon the three's entrance. Two complete sets of 3D-Manuever Gear, as well as several sets of extra blades, lay strewn across the marble floor. Lucius, standing between his brother and his best friend, stared wondrously at them. They were shiny and beautiful, and everything he'd remembered from his father's own set. But… He didn't know what to think of them being lain out at his feet like this. He looked up to the leader for answers.

"Take a good look, boys." Abdal smirked as the others joined them in the Grand Hall. Rafa and Linn made no objections to being called 'boys'. Abdal referred to everyone as 'boys' (Well, he referred to Levi as 'brat', but it was close enough). "Aren't they pretty? And they're all ours!"

Levi shook his head in disbelief. The 3D gear was some of the most precious equipment owned by the Military. He wondered how daft the Police had to be to let a few kids steal two whole complete sets.

"You'll never believe how we got them, either!" Abdal continued, clearly excited, "That tattoo artist we visited the other day, Niall? Well, he got into an argument with one of the Military Police stationed across the lake. Knocked the fucker out cold. And when his buddy came in, he knocked that fucker out as well!"

"Niall's awesome!" Max cheered.

"You bet your ass he is, Maxy." Abdal beemed, kneeling down to pick up one of the sets. "Well, when he saw us, Niall was more than happy to strip the two of all their gear and hand it over to us! He said 'consider it an apology for making that poor girl cry.'"

Everyone's eyes slid over to Rafa, who was blushing furiously.

Linn spoke up then, throwing her arms wide in excitement. "Don't you guys see what this means, though? We now have two sets of 3D-Manuever Gear… if we learn to use it, we could have the upper hand in our attack on the Military Police in a few weeks!"

Levi scoffed, still thinking it ridiculous that any of them felt they stood the slightest chance against the Military Police.

"I want us to start training with these right away… Brat, Ackerman, you two know the basics of sword fighting, right?" Levi and Lucius nodded, the former with a death glare. "Great, so I'll leave you in charge of teaching everyone else to fight. Since none of us know the gear, we'll just have to dabble with it. Enjoy the next three days, boys. Because after that, it's nothing but hard work and training!"

After a few more days of resting and letting their tattoos heal, it was time to begin training with the stolen gear. Not too far away from their hideout, on the very edge of the Underground City's cavern-like walls, was an abandoned factory that they deemed perfect for their training. It was huge, and, during construction, they'd never gotten around to installing whatever machines would have been in the factory for whatever uses. Either that, or they'd been stripped by thieves and sold for parts. So the place was basically one big empty training grounds for them.

Fortunately for them as well, they had plenty of leftover hilts from blades they'd stolen in the past that the extra swords weren't a problem to use. Levi and Lucius were primarily in charge of teaching the others how to properly use the swords, recalling what their father had taught them in the past about combat. The older boys picked it up quite easily, though Jerick, Max, and the girls appeared to have a little difficulty. Lucius offered to give each of them one-on-one lessons later on.

Unfortunately for them, the 3DMG did not come with an instruction manual. And, though the twins had seen the gear up close and personal from their father's equipment, they never quite realized how many fucking straps the thing had. It was absolute hell trying to get the things on, and even after almost an hour of struggling with the various pieces of leather and metal, they weren't completely positive they had it right. Nevertheless, Levi and Lucius were soon suited up and ready to give the gear a try for the very first time.

"You guys should try balancing first! That's what big brother says they do in basic training!" Max chirped, hoping up and down excitedly from one of the suspended walkways above the large interior room of the factory.

"Alright alright, calm down…" Levi grumbled, fidgeting with the metal contraptions hanging at his hips. It didn't take him too long to find the triggers that would release the grappling hooks, though there were three in total on the hilt. The largest of all three was the one that shot the hooks, and the smaller two were to reel yourself in and release the hooks from whatever they'd been shot into respectively (AN: 2). After carefully aiming them towards a balcony above his head, he pressed the largest trigger. With almost enough force to push him backwards, the hooks released, shooting upwards with a whirr and embedding in the metal thirty feet above.

'Now…. How to retract the cord just a little so I lift in the air….'

He knew it was one of the smaller triggers, but he had no idea which one. Taking a deep breath and hoping that this didn't shoot him up to smash his head against the ceiling in a bloody explosion, he pressed the top trigger, just gently.

He jolted upward a bit and, startled, released the trigger. Upon its release, he ceased to move upwards and swayed in midair, suspended a good five feet off the ground. Feeling such relief that he was still in one piece and he had a relative grasp on how this crap worked, he didn't even notice how easy it was to balance until he heard a scream to his right. He turned his head in time to find Lucius tipping forward until his head smacked against the stone ground with a sickening 'thud'. Having watched his younger brother, the other boy had managed to get his hooks in a similar swing-form and get himself a few feet off the ground. However, it didn't seem as if the elder was able to get his balance.

Levi flinched as he watched Lucius push his face off the floor, leaving a trickle of blood in its wake. "You okay….?"

Not surprisingly, Lucius was a bit agitated. He was likely embarrassed, and his nose was bleeding profusely. It was rare that Lucius got angry, but Levi didn't blame him in the least. "Does it look like I'm okay, Levi?! Does it really?" He growled, going to lower himself back to the ground so he could try it again. Unfortunately, he pressed the wrong trigger and instead jolted higher.

Now with Lucius hanging upside down, Levi tried his hardest not to laugh as he peered up at his brother. "It's the bottom trigger to release and retract the hooks, Lucius…"

"You couldn't have told me that SOONER?!"

Lucius grumbled and pressed the other trigger. The hooks released from their metal entrapment above, and the cords retracted and snapped back into the gear before gravity even had a chance to take over. Lucius fell, luckily not too far, to the floor, and landed hard on his ass.

"It's okay, Lucius. I still think you're cool." Max's small voice rang through the silence high above their heads, and that's when Levi lost it. He laughed. And he laughed hard, and he laughed freely. He couldn't remember the last time he laughed, but he doubted it felt as good as this. Even when his stomach started to cramp up, and he had to grab one of his cords to keep himself from tipping over, he continued to chuckle, only silencing himself when he saw ice-blue eyes glaring daggers at him.

"S-sorry, Lucius…"

The older boy's eyes softened, and his scowl was replaced with a soft smile. "It's okay… it's nice to hear you laughing again, Levi…"

Once the boys- both of them- had gotten the hang of balancing and what each of the different triggers on the hilt did, they tried moving across the expanse of the room. Levi seemed to be a natural, and was soon swinging across the factory room, much like a story Cecil had read Max and Rafa once about a man who lived in the jungle and swung through the trees on vines. He wished he could say Lucius was a natural expert at the gear, too, however, his brother seemed to stumble over the triggers far too often, and smacked into the floor or walls, even the ceiling once, more times than he could count.

After a good hour of flinging around the factory on the 3DMG (Or trying, on Lucius' part), Levi relinquished the gear to Gevaria and, after helping the other boy settle all the straps in the appropriate places on his body, sat back on a pile of rubble from a partially-collapsed wall and took a swig from his canteen. He'd never used the gear before today, and had no idea it would be such an intense workout.

Lucius soon joined him, after giving the gear he'd been using to Cecil, and the two sat together in silence for a bit while they watched their friends grow accustomed to balancing on the cords. Cecil, much like Lucius before him, fell flat on his face the first try. Either the gear was broken in some way, or both boys were just extremely klutzy and ungraceful.

It was probably the latter.

"So… the 3D gear is pretty amazing, isn't it?" Lucius finally spoke up, pulling his knees to his chest and watching as Gevaria was soon zipping around the large room.

"Yeah, it really is…" Levi agreed, looking across the room to where Abdal and Linn were sparring with the blades they'd brought back with the gear, then back to the two boys. "Now I know what dad was talking about when he would try describing it to us…"

"He said he'd felt freer than the birds in the sky." Lucius added, thinking back on the stories, just a few out of dozens, that their father would recite to them as kids.

"It does feel like you're flying…. Like you're weightless…"

"Like you can go anywhere… do anything…"

The two looked at each other before breaking out in laughter.

"Wow, Levi, we should write poems."

"That has probably got to be the worst idea I've ever heard, dear brother."

The laughter died down a bit as Levi drifted off into thought for a moment. "Worst idea, except for this rebellion, that is."

Frowning lightly, Lucius looked over at his twin. "That still bothering you?"

"Of course it is…" Levi nodded and mirrored Lucius' sitting position, pulling his knees to his chest and resting his chin atop them. "You really think any of us will make it back alive?"

"To be completely honest…. Probably not."

That certainly didn't make the younger brother feel any better. He felt a black hole forming in the pit of his stomach, threatening to engulf his entire being and everything around him. It made him feel sick, and though he hadn't eaten much that day, he could feel it making its way back up.

Lurching to the side away from Lucius, he emptied the contents of his stomach on the stone floor.

Worry evident on his face, Lucius knelt beside his brother, rubbing the other's back lightly. "You're really freaking out about this, aren't you, Levi…?"

Levi grit his teeth, the taste of bile fresh on his tongue. He took a swig from his canteen and swished it around in his mouth before spitting it out. "And why aren't you? You just said yourself that you think we're all going to die. Do you want to die or something, Lucius?"

"Of course not…" The older Ackerman brother grimaced, looking up to where Gevaria and Cecil had started a game of tag in the air. "But everyone else seems just fine about it… they're probably just good at hiding their worry, so I figured I should try hard to hide it, too…"

Levi sat back, scooting as far away from the mess he'd made on the floor as possible. He looked over at Lucius, dubious of his words. "We should just give up on this whole mess…"

"Well, Levi… we've already committed to it, haven't we? It's permanently emblazoned on our backs…"

He sighed, curling back up into himself. "Don't remind me…"

Lucius was silent, fidgeting uncomfortably next to him. "You don't… regret it, do you…? Well, I mean… obviously you regret it, but…why? If you really wanted us to leave… Levi, if you'd left the group you know I would have come with you."

"That's the thing, though." The younger Ackerman sat back a bit, watching as Cecil tried doing somersaults with the 3D gear and only succeeded in getting himself tangled in the cords. "I didn't want you to leave… even with an insane leader who would force you to certain death, I feel you're still safer here than we would be out there on our own… And that's why I agreed to it."

"Just for me…?" Lucius frowned, a familiar feeling of guilt filling him. "You don't have to always protect me, you know…"

His proposal was met with a shake of the head. "Remember the promise I made…?"

Lucius smiled lightly, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, yeah… since dad can't protect us anymore, you have to…"

"And I couldn't protect mom, so you're my last chance." Levi finished, wrapping his arm around Lucius' shoulders in a form of hug. "Also… I just don't know what I'd do if I lost you, Lucius… you're the only thing have left in this world…"

Lucius sighed lightly, leaning into his brother's hug. "I feel the same… Yeah, there's Cecil and the others, but if I lost you, Levi, I'd have no reason to live anymore…"

"Then we'll both have to do our best not to die in this upcoming mission." Levi muttered, chewing his bottom lip nervously. "Though… if it comes down to it, I'd gladly give my own life to protect yours."

Lucius accepted that with a nod. "And I'd do the same…"

They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. Eventually, however, the silence was broken by Lucius's voice again.

"Levi… I'm glad to have you as a brother…"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: D'awww, got kinda cutesy there at the end. Brotherly love, no~? (NO! NOT INCEST!)

AN: 1- This was a little allusion to my real-world dilemma of the last two weeks... lol

AN: 2- I DON'T KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT HOW THE 3DMG WORKS! But, upon looking at blueprints of it, something I noticed was that the hilts have 3 different triggers on them. I figured one would be to shoot the hooks, one would be to propel them forward, and the last would be to retract the hooks. Makes... some form a sense, I hope.

Be sure to leave a review! The more reviews I get, the faster I get the next couple of chapters out. Plus, it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Thanks for reading!