CHAPTER 14: A JOB WELL DONE

Historia Riess

Historia had been in some extremely magnificent rooms in her life.

This wasn't one of them.

Patrick had set them up in what must have been his own bedroom. She sat on the foot of his bed, feet propped up like a child, arms wrapped around herself. It did nothing to ward off the cold.

Levi slept fitfully in the blankets next to her.

She found it hard to bring herself to fall asleep after the incident downstairs a few hours prior, and, despite exhaustion pulling on eyes like anvils, she stared continually at the undecorated walls.

The room was hardly wider than the hallway to it. However, no art or extravagant tapestries hung from these walls. No gold trim or pain adorned the wooden planks. The only light came from a small candle flickering on the desk and window opening to the street lights outside. The room contained only three pieces of furniture, the bed, a small desk, and a desk chair.

True to his word, Patrick had laid a bed of blankets for her to sleep on down on the floor. It was a beyond sweet gesture that tugged at her heart. And her eyes.

She yawned again, rubbing sleep from them.

If—no, when they reached the surface again, the first thing on her agenda, after taking an hour long bath, would be to relocate Patrik and his family to the surface and provide them with anything they needed for the rest of their lives.

Okay, no. That was dramatic. But in all seriousness, they owed him their lives. She shuddered at the thought of spending another night in the Island. And how much longer would Levi have made it without medicine? They would have been caught for sure.

Yes.

She would ensure Patrik was richly rewarded for his help.

Maybe rebuilding the bar would be a good start.

Levi stirred, and she glanced at him.

His eyes blinked open, confused but aware.

"Captain?" She asked with hesitation.

"Where are we…?" He croaked out, coughing at the end.

She took another glance at the room. "We're with Patrik. Do you remember anything?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by another coughing fit. Historia grabbed a glass of water from the floor, offering it to him. He accepted it without a word, sitting up and chugging the contents down.

"Thank you." He rasped out. "And no, all I remember is Burns and we were going back to Coldwater..." he trailed off, wincing.

"Yeah, well, you didn't miss much. Nothing good anyways." She tried to sound positive. She moved off the bed, coming around to check Levi's temperature.

He flinched when her cold wrist touched his head. He was still warm, but his fever had definitely gone down. .

She sighed in relief. Maybe things were finally taking a small turn for the better.

"We're with Patrik?" He asked.

She nodded returning to her seat at the foot of the bed. "We ran into him in the marketplace. I was—er, trying to find Nile. Found Patrik instead."

"Nile's still gone then?"

"I don't know where he is."

"Shit." Levi said after a pause.

"That about sums it up."

"How long have we been here?" He spoke up again.

Historia looked around as she thought back. "A couple hours? I'm not sure. We got here and then I fell asleep but then Len woke me up and it's been at least two hours since then."

Levi looked like a child trying to read out of a difficult textbook. "Len? The brother?"

"Yeah. He's...not very friendly for being a preacher."

"He's a preacher?"

"Yeah." She snorted. "And a real jerk."

"What happened?"

She thought for a moment. "He...well, he didn't expect to find us here when he got home and wasn't too pleased about it."

"Oh."

They sat in silence for a few moments. Historia was glad to hear his breathing evening out to a steady pace. Much better than the rasping gasps last night.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, feeling stupid for asking such an obvious question.

Levi didn't so much answer as grunt out, "Fine."

"Well that's one good thing." She smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes.

Another silence lapsed. She couldn't tell if he didn't want to talk, didn't have the energy to talk, or just didn't like talking to her in general. She couldn't blame him for any of the options.

But since she couldn't fall asleep and a question kept nagging at her mind, she at last broke the silence again.

"Hey Captain Levi?"

"Hmm…?"

"What was that place we went to last night? Down in the Island?"

He didn't answer for long enough that she thought he may have fallen back asleep.

"It was where I grew up."

She perked up, interested. Levi rarely talked about his childhood. Sometimes she forgot he was ever a child. "You grew up there? With your parents?"

"No. Just me and mom."

"That must have been hard."

He grunted in agreement.

Historia asked her next question before she could stop herself."Where is she now?"

Levi shifted, turning away from her a fraction. She immediately chastised herself.

Oh Historia you idiot! Why did you ask that?

"She died. Right in front of me." His voice was a hoarse whisper, and she guessed it wasn't because of his fever this time.

"Levi I am so sorry, I shouldn't have—"

"It's fine. Same thing happened to you right?"

"I—I...yeah." She fumbled for words, hot with embarrassment from her tactlessness and that he'd known such a personal detail from her life. "How did you know that?"

She saw him shrug, even in the darkness. "Word got around. I think it was mentioned in a list of crimes reported against Rod? Can't remember for sure. Couldn't have been easy for you though."

Just like that, the conversation had been turned to her, but she was at a loss for what to say.

"No." She managed at last. "It was horrible, but I was so young. I didn't really know what was going on."

"It wears on you though."

"It does."

Another thought struck her. "I'm really sorry."

"For what?" He asked, voice dragging.

"That your mom died."

"It's not your fault."

"But-" She started.

He raised an eyebrow at her, somehow managing to look intimidating despite being weak and worn out on a pile of blankets

She sighed. "Nothing."

It is my fault we came here in the first place…

"What was she like?" She changed the subject.

"Who?" Came the gruff reply.

"Your mother. What was she like?"

Levi didn't answer again. She glanced at him, wondering if he might have fallen asleep. He was staring at the ceiling, eyes clouded over.

As the silence drew out, she wanted to take back the question. It didn't really matter. She had just been curious, and maybe trying to help him get his mind off the present.

"I don't remember." He said softly.

Historia frowned. He was lying, she could tell by his voice. It was the same one she used when anyone asked her about her own past. But she didn't press. There were some things better left unsaid.

"But I do know one thing." He muttered. "I know she chose to live here. Underground."

"What? Why would she choose that?"

"For me." His answer was soft, as if cherishing the implication of the words. "I didn't even know until recently, but my name; Ackerman. We aren't, my family, the bloodline wasn't welcome in the walls. I don't know why. But they would have killed me for it. That's why I've always been just Levi. And it worked. She saved me."

Because of his blood.

Historia tried to picture a woman who fit the picture of being the mother of someone like Captain Levi but struggled. The closest thing she could picture was someone like her sister. Freida. Only she looked more like Levi. Sharper features and darker hair.

She smiled. "I wish I could have met her."

Levi grunted again, changing the subject. "How is the bartender?"

"He's good." She said, welcoming the topic change. "And you're not going to believe this, but he's the key to everything! He's literally been doing what we came down here to do for years! That girl we saw at the bar? She's here right now and another boy too. He was trying to get them above ground the day we met him! And Levi, he wants to help us! He has notes and maps and—

She abruptly cut off as something downstairs crashed, the sound echoing up the stairs.

Both she and Levi eyes shot to the door, towards the source.

Two voices argued loudly below. Male. Angry.

Patrik and Len.

"...but the brother..?" Levi raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm guessing he's not a fan?"

Historia gulped. "Hang on," She whispered. "I'm going to go listen."

"Be careful." Levi nodded back, watching her tiptoe through the door.

She crept back along the short upstairs hallway to the landing of the stairs, careful not to shift her weight too fast and make a creaking sound on the floorboards.

At the landing she stopped, holding her breath and listening intently.

"...how could you say that? What's wrong with you?"

Shit.

Len was back. And he sounded livid.

"Nothing is wrong." Patrik's calm but reasoning voice came next. "And I meant what I said. Throwing them out is the biggest mistake you'll ever make."

"And why is that? Give me one god damn reason why I shouldn't storm upstairs and kill them myself?"

"Well for starters that's morbid and beyond you."

Historia heard Len scoff before Patrik continued.

"And second because that girl you keep insulting is Queen Historia."

Standing alone on the landing, her eyes widened. She felt herself freeze as though she'd been caught stealing. Patrik was giving away their secret! Just like that! And to someone who already seemed intent on harming them.

A long silence stretched out below, and Historia cowered back, wondering if she would need to fight for her life in just a few moments. She pulled a knife from her belt, hiding it in her sleeve.

"You must take me for a fool." Len's voice sounded at last. Every word was like a precise blade thrown at a target. Though she wasn't in the room with the two men, she could feel the tension, thick as Wall Maria.

"Do you really thing I'd say something that stupid if I wasn't serious?" Patrik protested. "Okay, maybe I would. But just—hold on. Hear me out, okay?"

"Fine!" Len snapped back. "Do tell what in god's name the Queen, hope of humanity's survival and ruler of the walls would be doing in the most dangerous part of society, risking her life?"

"Rescuing children."

"You can't be serious." Len's voice dripped with savage sarcasm.

"Yes! And I have my reasons! You've overheard the talk, I know you have. People come into the bar—well, they were coming into the bar, but they talked about it. And you know I can get people talking. The rumors from above? They think she's here in the city! And then a sweet girl shows up at my bar a few weeks later tailed by someone who matches Captain Levi's description perfectly? It's obvious!"

It really was. Historia made a mental note to chastise herself later on being so obvious.

"It really is obvious." Len replied. Cold. Hard.

"Right?" Patrik exclaimed, relief flooding his voice. "I mean, I know I'm a genius, but it didn't take much to figure out—"

"It's obvious that you're still just as gullible as you've always been." Len cut him off.

"I—I...what?"

"There are always rumors coming down, but most of them aren't true. You know that as well as I do. Whoever it is you have upstairs isn't the queen. My guess is that they're a couple of vagrants from the Island trying to sneak their way to the surface and using you to their advantage. Get that pounded into your thick skull would you?"

"Hey easy! Easy!" Patrik protested. "Your ears are turning red. And you didn't see the look in their eyes at the bar Len. You can't fake the look in the eyes of surface walkers."

"Patrik, listen to yourself!" Len barked back. "I can't believe...you know, the military police are out there patrolling the streets right now, and you know what rumors I've been hearing? There's two wanted criminals out there. They probably match the descriptions of your two 'friends.'" He said the word friends like it was akin with murdering children. "I might slip a note to Theo and his patrol. They'd love to be the ones to bring them in, and I'm sure there'd be a reward bounty."

"You lay one finger on them and I swear—"

But Historia had heard enough.

Trying to hold back a wave of vomit, she stumbled quietly, like a drunk kitten, back to Patrik's bedroom.

Levi's posture was taught in the bed. Alarm rang on his face as she entered.

"We have to go." She gasped. "Now!"

He understood, nodding. "Help me up."

*SLAM*

The loud crash echoed from downstairs of what could only have been the front door slamming again. Len sure did have a flare for the dramatic.

"Oh god this is not good." She panicked, putting an arm under Levi and positioning her knife in her back pocket.

Together they stumbled from the room and down the hallway. Levi coughed pathetically at her side.

"Do you have a weapon?" He rasped.

They passed a doorway, the door cracked open. Inside the slit, Historia saw a bed frame and more drawings. It must be the kids room.

"Yes." She responded. "In my pocket, but we have to get out. Len thinks we're frauds. I don't know what he's going to do."

Together they lumbered towards the stairs like an injured dog. She couldn't blame Levi for being so weak, but carrying him like this wouldn't get them far.

They reached the landing and carefully began descending the stairs.

Slowly.

One at a time.

Every hair on her neck stood on edge.

Just make it down the stairs. Down the stairs and there's probably a back door. Back to...back to the streets...

She pushed back her dread of being on the streets again and focused instead on helping a shaky Levi down the stairs.

They had nowhere to go, no options.

The front door banged open and her heart stopped.

"Len?" Patrik's surprised voice echoed up to them. He hadn't left the front room. "What are—oh god, Len get these men out of here."

"I think I've had enough of your way today." Len's unmistakeable cold tone came next.

Historia cursed under her breath. They were cornered. The only option now was hiding...or jumping through a window.

"Back upstairs!" She hissed at Levi. There was no way he'd be able to make it downstairs at his current speed.

"They're upstairs." Len voiced from below. "All of them."

All of them..?

But she didn't have time to think about it. They finally made it back to the landing, none too soon. Footsteps rang like alarm bells through the hallway. Lots of footsteps.

Shit.

Her hair snapped against her face as she whipped her head around, wildly searching for another option.

The door to the kids room stood, still cracked open. It was a bad idea, but what choice did she have?

She and Levi pushed through the doorway, silent as the grave as footsteps marched in cadence up the steps.

Patrik's cries and pleading were a constant chorus in the background, like a bird chirping over a battle. A sharp thud sounded, and his voice suddenly quieted.

Please please let this work. She begged to herself, pushing the door shut with a soft click. Her body pressed against the wood, the scent of it filling her nostrils. It was piney, with a sour after thought she couldn't place.

Heavy boots clanked outside. At least four people. Probably more.

Her eyes met Levi's. His expression dulled and pained. There would be no help from him. The heroic captain she had knowingly dragged into hell. Oh what good it had done.

I'm sorry. She wanted to speak, wanted to tell him he could hate her. That it was okay. It was her fault.

But no words came, not even a whisper escaped her trembling lips.

"Where are they?" Muffled shouts shot through thin walls and the children stirred in their beds.

"Check the other room."

More footsteps. The sounds of people shuffling around.

"No wait! Please STOP—"

Historia barely had time to move out of the way before

*SMASH*

The door to the bedroom flew open, hinges screaming.

Or maybe that was her screaming.

The two children jumped from their beds. Scared tired eyes tore through bundles of blankets, the new crowd of faces strange to them.

A wicked toothy grin bearing mad sauntered into the room. He had the eyes of a rat, beady and insane, but looked as though he'd finally found a proper meal. Heavy set and short, he carried the trademark attributes of other thugs she'd seen underground.

But unlike others, he wore the stark white emblem of the Military Police on his uniform.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" He took a menacing step forward, spreading his hands out in front of him.

"Four of em?" A new voice joined the rat like man in the entryway. He was a tall, scrappy looking thug. Dressed in the same uniform, but obviously too small for the coat and pants. Malnutrition. Another trademark gift from the underground. "That will pay us for weeks!" He exclaimed, his voice high pitched.

Historia's mouth was drier than sand.

Her mind was frozen.

Just do something you idiot!

A commotion from the hallway sounded and Patrik, bleeding and stumbling like a drunk, came pushing through the men into the room. They let him pass, sneering in disgust as blood stained his blond locks when he pushed them out of his face.

He positioned himself between Historia, Levi, and the men in the doorway. The children cowered behind Historia, crying silent tears.

"You've all gone too far." He straightened himself up, murder raging in his eyes. Historia wasn't sure which look scared her more, the men or Patrik's. Gone was any hint of hospitality or humor. The ocean of hate emanating from him was deep enough that she momentarily forgot about everything else.

"Leave now, or you will regret stepping foot here."

"Oi, I don't think I will." The man drew a gun from a side holster. "Now please-" He clicked the gun into place, aiming it directly at Patrik's chest. "Step aside."

Patrik stood there, dumbfounded at the gun. He looked at it like it might bite him, and then he drew his hands up, slowly, like he was debating cutting them off instead. He stepped to the side, his head lowered in shame.

Though fully clothed, Historia had never felt so exposed in her life.

"I heard you lot was causing some trouble." The man stalked towards her.

She HATED the tiny whimper that escaped her mouth, ashamed by the thought that maybe they would think it was one of the children who made the sound.

Levi chose that moment to find a well of strength.

Before Historia realized what happened, Levi slid the knife from her pocket and launched himself at the man, driving the blade into his outstretched arm. The man howled as he crumpled to the ground. His gun dropped to the floor.

Levi snarled, rearing up at the other men in the doorway. To their credit, they looked as surprised as Historia was, but they didn't react fast enough.

Another man fell to a quick strike at his legs. Levi was grappling with a third when—

*SLAM*

A knotted fist collided with his face, sending him sprawling back into the room. He coughed, choking on what little air he could gasp in as he stumbled and fell to the floor.

Len walked into the room, looking horrified and impressed as he gazed at his fist, then at Levi, weakened on the floor, and back.

"Len, leave him alone!" Patrik yelled. "He's sick!"

"That monster just attacked us!" Len yelped back.

Levi wheezed into his sleeve. Historia though she saw a dark stain left behind.

"What you're doing is wrong." The blond haired man stood his ground. "Tell these men out. They won't come back."

Len rolled his eyes, turning from Patrik's glare. He helped two of the men to their feet.

"Just take them and get this over with." He sounded tired.

The three men, bleeding from Levi's attack, rounded in on Historia, teeth bared. She swallowed, instinctively raising her arms to shield the two kids cowering behind her.

The first thug reached down to scoop his gun off the ground. He lowered it at her again, giving Levi a swift kick in the stomach, before stalking towards her again.

"Against the wall missy." His voice was low. Dangerous.

Levi groaned from the ground.

Patrik refused to meet her eyes.

Len looked at her with hatred.

And so Historia swallowed her pride and her fear and turned to face the wall. Her arms were swiftly grabbed, and a thick rope tied them together.

This was it. The end.

"You two get up with her. NOW!" The man barked at the children who burst into tears.

"What? No!" Patrik exclaimed. Shock and fury boiled in his eyes. "You can't take them. They belong on the surface!"

"Shut it!" The man yelled at him. "NOW GET ON YER FEET!"

Naomi jumped up and pulled Amos with her. She cried as she whispered for him to place his hands behind his back, like Historia was.

It broke the young queen's heart.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THEM!" Patrik screamed as he tore across the room and attacked the thug. A few fists flew before the second and third thugs grabbed Patrik's arms and pulled him off of Theo.

"NO STOP!" He wailed. "LEN STOP THEM!"

Len looked away as Patrik struggled against the two men. They were stronger than him and pinned his arms back.

Theo took more rope and bound the arms of the two children. He dragged all three of the prisoners to the doorway.

But what about..?

"Let me have that one." Theo pointed at Patrik. The two men released him as Theo grabbed the bartender's neck, raising him against the wall in a chokehold.

"Theo stop!" Len said, realizing what was happening.

Theo ignored him, and Patrik's hands clawed at the thick fingers around his throat.

"Leave him!" Len said firmly. "That wasn't the deal."

To his credit, Patrik refused to look his brother in the eyes as he was lowered to the ground, choking as the thug released his hold on the man.

"Bastard." He rasped, coughing. "You're a fucking bastard."

"You didn't leave me with a choice." Len steeled his eyes on the ground. "Get them all out of here. Now!"

Theo looked down at Levi, still clutching his stomach and weezing. He rolled the man to his back using the toe of his boot. Levi glared up at him as he pressed his foot against his chest.

"You're a small runt, but I can see you like to cause trouble." Theo spat on the ground next to Levi's face. Levi flinched.

"But see," the thug continued. "That's not gonna work for us because boss needs you alive, and we can't have you causing trouble again now can we?"

"...go...to hell!" Levi spat through gritted teeth.

Theo laughed, taking his boot off Levi. "I'm already there."

Then he lowered his pistol and—

*BANG*

Historia gasped.

Levi screamed as the bullet tore through his right thigh. Blood streamed everywhere.

"That should do the trick." Theo looked satisfied. He nodded to the other two men. "Load these four into the wagon. We're bringing them in."

AN

Hey everyone! Hope y'all's summers are treating you well!
It's been SUPER dry and smokey here where we're at. Not super fun, but luckily we aren't near any fires or anything. I'm praying for anyone who is!

Thank you as always for the love and support y'all give to this story!
~Gamma