Chance d'une vie = Chance of a Lifetime

March, 842

The Underground City was such a vile, wretched place, but damn, it looked so beautiful from up above it all.

The first time he successfully used omni-directional mobility gear, he felt free– freer than he had ever felt before in his entire life in this subterrestrial world. Never before had he experienced the sensation of wind in his hair, on his face, drying his eyes and making him blink away mist as he and Furlan zipped overhead. The city looked so dingy, dark, and drab from down below, but up some tens of metres above, the oil lanterns near every door frame sparkled like the pictures of stars he'd seen in fairy tale books as a child. The ever-changing position of their bodies in the sky gave Levi a new perspective of the lights of the Underground, as well as the streets, the alleys, and even the mundane and squarish buildings that all seemed like they were pressed out of a cookie cutter. The illumination from below them reflected in his faint blue eyes, and kissed the apples of his pale cheeks along with the breeze.

After a few months of constant practise, the Shadow of the Underground had a new tactic up his sleeve for getting around quickly, and to his knowledge, he and Furlan were the only two with ODM gear. What that meant for them was a monopoly on the skies of the cavern, a dominance over the city that no other gang could dream of coming close to.

Mama did wonder how they got ahold of such a thing, but Furlan charismatically explained it away as something that he and Levi found for a cheap price at a merchant stall. Surprisingly, Kuchel never questioned Furlan's explanations, because he was far too good at crafting them confidently and delivering them effortlessly. Levi had come to expect such things from him now, especially now that Furlan lived in their home with them. He'd been forced to relocate after a pyromaniac decided to burn his complex down, and Levi's dear mother had insisted that he come to live with them. "After all, there is a spare room! We can move what's in there into storage. Levi, you could even room with him if you wanted to– after all, I doubt you want to sleep in the same room with your mama forever."

That made him internally groan, but he would rather have gotten pantsed in public than admit that he was mildly, very mildly, unnerved about the idea of sleeping in a room with someone other than his mother. It was all he knew aside from sleeping alone when Kenny was around. For ten years straight, Levi had only ever slept in his mother's warm embrace, and for nearly the last decade, he'd slept in the same room as her to quell his worries about her safety. Almost twenty combined years of sleeping near the same companion made him hesitant about change, and was sure that he would not get to sleep for quite some time with Furlan as a roommate, no matter how polite and quiet he was. The raven-haired man had no choice but to agree, whether he liked it or not, because he knew that she was right.

However, at this exact moment, he and Furlan were neither soaring above the town, nor were they sipping tea with his mother. Instead, they were out-manoeuvring Military Police officers that were after them because someone (and by someone, that meant Furlan) had gotten caught trying to snatch up gas canisters. They had enough back at home, but more couldn't hurt, right?

That was what Levi thought until this moment, and he felt nothing but irritation at their situation. He wasn't worried in the slightest– just fucking annoyed.

They had a plan for this sort of thing, and sprung it into action with a quick exchange of glances. In a mere blink of an eye, they split apart, swinging through narrow alleys and through any obstacle they could to lose the MPs. When Levi got to the edge of the city, he shot his grapples into the ceiling of the cavern, and when his heels hit the stone, he took a breath and stayed quiet. Hanging upside down now with the stalactites that threatened the citizens below every day if they decided to come crashing down. The curved toe of his black boots helped him stay put and cling tight to the rock like a fly on the wall, and his darkened eyes glimpsed below him, with his hair cascading down from his scalp with the help of gravity.

Beneath him, the Military Police officers finally emerged after trying to make their way through the alleys, looking around them to see they had come to a dead end. Being so far above their heads, they would have had no clue that their suspect was dangling so many metres up. No one would even think to look there, and that was exactly why he was hiding this way.

It took them some time to give up, but eventually Levi was able to lower himself safely without the fear of being seized and tossed into a prison cell. With the gear, he landed down in a dark and desolate alleyway that seemed abandoned enough, so he took the time to check himself over to make sure he hadn't lost anything important during his escape. After a quick shuffle and a pat pat over his pockets, the young man was satisfied and started on his way back home, deciding to walk so that any MPs who had stuck around wouldn't hear the whirring sound.

Now I need to find that blonde jackass so we can visit the-

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a horrible, wheezy cough echoing down an alleyway that he passed by. Stopping in his tracks, he backtracked a bit and turned to looked down the shadowy corridor. "Hello? Who's there?"

Levi was only met with a louder, more violent coughing fit that made him realise that it was not coming from an adult. That was a child hacking up a lung. Quickly, he made his way into the shadows and came across a pile of crates, stacked into a makeshift shelter against a stone wall. He could hear the shaky and unsteady breathing mixed with a mucousy and pathetic whine, and squatted down in front of the figure that was huddled under what seemed to be a crusty, ratty blanket. "Oi, kid, are you okay? Do you need help?"

When the person looked up at them and the blanket fell back, it revealed a girl that seemed to be no older than fifteen or sixteen, her green eyes dull with sickness and her red hair matted at the ends. In a way, she reminded him of himself at a younger age, helpless and scared of this cruel world that never ceased to claw at the little bit of happiness you could find in the Underground.

With his features softening, Levi sat back on the ground, bending his legs at the knee and resting his heels against the dirt. "Hey, it's alright. I'm not going to hurt you. What's your name?"

"I-Isabel." She croaked, her voice sounding frail and delicate. "Isabel Magnolia."

"Well… Hi, Isabel. I'm Levi. Just Levi. Where are your parents?"

"Dead."

The response made him sigh, and he chewed at the soft interior of his cheek for a moment as he pondered just what to do. Levi remembered how vulnerable it felt to be so young and to feel like everyone you loved was gone forever.

"Do you want help?"

At first, Isabel seemed hesitant, as though he were the last person in the world that she would want to trust, but in her emerald eyes he could see her weighing the options. Before she could decide, the dark-haired man shifted and crouched in front of her once more, extending a hand to her. "My mama is at home. She can help clean you up, and we can give you a hot meal and medicine. You don't wanna die out here, do ya?"

It took her a long moment, but eventually, her boney hand reached to take his. "N-No, I don't. I don't wanna die."

"Good choice. C'mon, let's get you back to my house."

Levi ended up having to carry her back, because the ailment that was enveloping her gaunt body had caused her legs to give out under her own weight. All the way back, he gave her a piggyback ride, because holding her in his arms didn't seem to please her very much. Soon he realised that it was due to her clothing being thin and spotty, and respected her privacy as much as he could as he carried her back.

Kuchel was worried. Levi had told her that he'd be back at a certain time, and that time had long since passed. He was an hour and a half late getting home, and while the middle-aged woman didn't doubt that he could take care of himself lest something bad happen, she still worried. She was his mother, after all. If anything happened to her baby, she'd make the perpetrator pay.

It was right when she was going to head out to look for him when he returned, using his foot to get the door open more after jiggling the door handle open quickly. It seemed strange, but when Kuchel saw the girl he was carrying on his back, a look of worry spread over her features. "Oh goodness, Levi, who is this? What happened?" She inquired, helping him bring the poor girl inside and getting her sat down in a chair.

"I found her hacking up a lung in an alley, Ma'. I think she's sick. Her name is Isabel." Levi replied, taking a moment to take the ODM gear off his legs. Kuchel's brow furrowed, wondering for a moment why her son was stumbling around dark alleys, but nevertheless, she squatted down in front of the girl to give her a gentle smile.

"Hey there, sweetie. My name is Kuchel, but you can call me Mama if you want to. Do you want a nice hot bath? I can make you some tea afterwards, or some soup… and we can get you into some nice new clothes. Does any of that sound good, Isabel?" She whispered, watching the girl's expression. Something in her green eyes made Kuchel's heart strings pull taut and strain, because she remembered being this age, and she herself had only been a few years older when she was forced into prostitution. It was a look that the noirette could read on many women in the Underground, one that she was sure that she had had on her face when she was that young.

Isabel had seen things that no child should see, and gone through things that no child should go through.

Eventually, Isabel agreed to all of the suggestions that Kuchel had made, and the older woman helped her to her feet. "Levi, baby, start up a pot of soup for me, please. I'm going to give her a bath. While it cooks, if you could grab some of your old clothes for her to use, that would be good too. She seems to be about your size."

"On it, Ma'." He nodded, grabbing a handkerchief to tie his obsidian locks out of his face so that he could get to work, not bothering to take off the straps to the ODM gear.

Eventually, Kuchel got Isabel undressed and into the lukewarm water of the basin, grabbing the soap and beginning to wash her up. It had been so long since she'd given someone a bath like this, and it reminded her of when Levi was still small enough to fit in a bucket for a rinse. Oh, how adorable he was…

Not that he wasn't still cute, of course. He'd always be her itty bitty baby boy.

"So, baby, how old are you?" She whispered, rubbing some soap onto Isabel's back and rinsing it off, being careful of the bumps that were protruding from her skinny back along her spine.

"Fifteen, I think." The redhead's reply was faintly spoken, and Kuchel sighed. Only fifteen, and she looked even younger from being so thin and small. The Underground was such an unforgiving place to be born, and an even more unforgiving place to live.

"Oh, I see. You are very beautiful, Isabel. I wish I had red hair as pretty as yours." She told her, taking some time to lather said copper hair and promptly rinse it. "It reminds me of the hair of a friend I had a long time ago."

"You had?" The young girl asked, turning her face to glance up at Kuchel with her darling, grassy green eyes. "What happened to her?"

The mild simper that had been present on Kuchel's face disappeared, and she continued to scrub the dirt off Isabel's pale skin. "One day, she went to go meet someone and talk to them. She never came back. No one ever found her. I hope she's alive, but my gut tells me something happened to her. I try to just keep the good memories in my mind, not the sad ones. Upsetting memories will only weigh you down, and I want to live the rest of my life as happily as I can."

"That sounds like something my Mama would have said."

Kuchel stopped scrubbing her, realising that Isabel had droplets running down her cheeks that hadn't come from washing her hair or skin. They were tears– salty, unkind tears that dared to touch her sweet cheeks. Putting the soap down and rinsing her hand off, the older woman reached to touch Isabel's face kindly, wiping the tears away with her thumb. "Oh baby, I didn't mean to make you upset. Whatever you need, I'm here. You can trust me."

"I-I just miss my mama… my papa…" The redhead whimpered, more tears beginning to drop from her eyes and into the tub of cool water. Without hesitation, Kuchel readjusted herself and put her arms around the poor girl, bringing her close to embrace her. At first, Isabel seemed tense.

"It's okay, honey. You can cry it all out– I'll hold you, I'll protect you, and I'll keep you safe. Okay?"

Saying those words made the floodgates bend and break under the sheer weight of Isabel's cascading tears, and Kuchel caressed her hair as she sobbed into her chest. "I-I miss them so much, Miss Kuchel. They got killed by robbers and I n-never got to tell them goodbye, or that I loved them. I want them back so badly."

"I know, baby girl, I know."

It took awhile for them to emerge from the bathroom, with Kuchel having held Isabel until she had no more tears left to cry. By the time they came out, Levi had prepared a nice vegetable soup, and his mother had made sure that Isabel was in some of his old clothes. They were baggy but would keep her warm, and covered most of her body up. The little girl inhaled the food they provided for her, and when Furlan came home, he seemed startled to find a near-emaciated girl at the dinner table.

"Hey, um, who is this?"

"Furlan, this is Isabel. Isabel, this is Furlan. He lives with us, and is a very nice young man." Kuchel explained, standing behind the fifteen-year-old as she brushed out her hair. At first, there seemed to be tension, but the blonde-haired man sat down at the table and gave the newcomer a charming smile. Typical Furlan.

"Well hey there, Isabel. Nice to meet ya. Did Levi find ya?" When his question was met with a shy nod and a slurp of soup, he chuckled and leaned back. "I see. Well, we're happy you're here. How long are you gonna be with us?"

Before her son could utter a word from his already-parted lips, Kuchel chimed, "As long as she wants to stay with us. We have a bed and food to spare, and she needs to rest up with that nasty cough. Right, Isabel?"

"That would be nice, Miss Kuchel. I appreciate all you've done to help me. You too, Levi-bro…"

That made Levi perk up, glancing at her over the brim of his teacup. "'Bro?'"

"Yeah! I… I've seen you and Furlan zipping up above the rooftops with the manoeuvre gear, like birds in the sky… I wanna do that someday. Could you two teach me, maybe?"

Kuchel's silvery eyes flickered between the two boys, waiting to see what one of them said. Furlan diverted his gaze away from the raven-haired woman with the brush in her hand, and towards that silent, brooding son of hers. His aqua-tinted eyes met with Furlan's, and he gave a simple nod after a moment of pondering. "I don't see why not. Mama, while we teach her, I'd like to teach you, too."

"Teach me how to use ODM gear?" She raised a black brow, placing the brush on the table so she could begin to braid Isabel's soft, freshly-washed locks. "What could an old lady like me need to use that stuff for?"

"In case of an emergency." Levi answered, standing and placing the teacup on the table before making his way to the door. "We'll start when she's feeling better."

His response gave her more questions than answers, but he went back out of the house before she could interrogate him any further on the matter.

He is a bundle of mystery that I can't always understand. I miss when he was my tiny little baby and I could tell how he was feeling based on his cries alone. It feels like that was all so long ago...

…

Early October, 843

Days in the Underground City always seemed ordinary, until they suddenly weren't.

Today was one of those days. It was time for a heist, and a good one at that. Furlan had scouted out a near-perfect location, one where there were supposedly gems and gold to steal. The thought of such riches up for grabs made Levi's mind race. Maybe this would be the big break he needed to afford a damn citizenship certificate, or passage on one of the city's many stairwells. Maybe this would finally be the key to getting him and his dear mother out of this fucking nightmare of a cave, this pit of hell that was an endless chasm of nothing but darkness that sucked the soul out of you. He had no idea how he had survived in it for almost twenty-four years, or how his mother had lived in it for nearly forty-three.

Oh, how he yearned to see the Sun, to feel the fresh wind on his face, to smell the grass and the trees that his mother had told him about. Hell, he even wanted to find a big field of flowers and bury himself in them. The thought of living in a meadow for the rest of his life was a calming idea, and one he didn't mind all that much.

This heist was going to be one step closer to his freedom, to being freed from the cage of the dank, dark, dismal Underground City. He could feel it.

Through the alleyways they zipped and swooshed, with Isabel cheering to herself as they swung along by citizens on the ground below. It felt strange at first, having people watch him from down below and point as he flew by, but now it was nothing out of the ordinary. To some, what they were doing was heroic– robbing tycoons of everything they had bought to swindle the unfortunate denizens of the subterranean metropolis. To Levi, Furlan, and Isabel, however, it was just a way to get by, a way to make a living and feed themselves.

They landed near the target location, lifting up their grey hoods and making their way the rest of the way on foot, with Levi at the head of the party. He was always the leader, although he thought that Furlan was the better one for the role, being so much taller than Isabel or him. Nevertheless, he pressed on, his eyes darting around analytically in order to take in every detail he could of their surroundings. He did not want to take any chance of being ambushed by a rival group, or a gaggle of Military Police officers.

The group did stumble upon a troop right outside the location, and Levi's eyes narrowed at the harrowing sight before them as he stopped in his tracks. The silence was almost as deafening as the pathetic whimpers of the woman on the ground in the alley ahead, her body curled into the fetal position on the dusty, dirty ground as a few hooded figured kicked at her sides and sneered at her, jabbing at her appearance and other horrible things.

The dark-haired man caught a glimpse of the woman's face, and it made his stomach churn. She was no older than his own mother, and the thought of her in the same position made his blood boil away and reduce to a roux of rage.

It was quite surprising to the gang of hooligans when Levi shot his grapple into one of their throats and killed the poor son of a bitch on the spot.

The blood pooled under his corpse, and Levi growled, taking a step forward and brandishing a knife with a blade so clean that he could see his reflection in the ultrahard steel. "Leave her alone you fucking cowards. Don't you have anything better to do than to bully an innocent woman?"

The tallest one in the group had not turned to look at Levi when the other member had been taken down by his grapple. Instead, he waited for the inky-haired young man to finish before turning to look him in the eyes. When their gazes met, Levi's throat tightened ever-so-slightly, almost unnoticeably.

"Willem." His voice was low, and rumbled in his throat with a warning. "I didn't think I'd ever have seen your ugly fucking mug ever again. Here I thought you'd have stumbled your brain-dead ass over a cliff and into the depths of the shit-filled sewers. What a pity that you're still around, I feel sorry for your mama."

"I feel sorry for your mama, Levi." Willem sneered, taking some steps forward towards the shorter man. Levi took some strides forward as well, not intimidated by his old enemy in the slightest– after all, he was far more skilled than this good-for-nothing leech. What was there to be afraid of except for his sheer idiocy and cowardice?

"I heard she got throttled by a schmuck, that he almost fucked her to death. Is that true, Levi? How does it feel, knowing your mother is a fucking whore. Maybe I should go pay her a visit. Maybe I'll marry her and become your fuckin' step-dad, I'll beat your ass and ground you from ever leaving the house again." Willem continued, snickering as though he thought he were the funniest man in the world.

Little did he know that the black-haired man was unphased by any bit of what he said. He had heard these insults a thousand times, and they did nothing to rile him up like they had so long ago. He knew his mother was happy and safe, and that was all that mattered. Jerks like this didn't matter to him, and neither did their silly little tales that they concocted for their sick kicks.

"Let the lady go, Willem. Or I'll make you regret it." Willem's words didn't deign a reply from Levi, and he stared up at him, grey-hued gaze cold and unwavering.

Will scoffed, prodding Levi's chest with a boney finger. "Oh yeah, and what will you do if I don't? Gonna run home to the brothel? To your harlot mommy? Gonna go tell on me?"

"No." His tone was flatter than a pancake, more icy than the oh-so-famed snow that fell in the winter. Levi wondered for a moment how cold it felt. "I'll just kill you like I did to your little lackey. I don't like killin', but if you don't leave that innocent woman out of this, I have no choice."

"Hah. You've got no chance against me, Vi. I'd run along before you get hurt and Mama's gotta kiss your boo-boos better."

"I'm not afraid of you." Levi sighed, almost in pure ennui, his expression void of any strong emotion. He watched as Willem put his hand in his pocket, rolling his neck to crack and stretch a muscle.

"Then I guess you'll die braver than most, Levi."

The knife that was swiped at his throat missed its target by a longshot, only grazing the top of the shorter young man's head. Some stray hairs got snipped off, but Levi was quick and efficient, feeling the familiar burning in his veins that had saved him so many times in the past. He knew just what to do, and when his mind was set on it, there was no way to stop him.

It started with an uppercut to Willem's jaw, then a rapid kick to sweep his feet out from under him. His opponent was so sluggish in comparison, being slower than molasses and dumber than a bucket of rocks. Levi got successive hits on him easily, dodging every single half-ass swing and thrust of the knee that Willem attempted in order to try to hook a blow against the blue-eyed man's abdomen.

It was all over when Levi felt another surge of energy coursing through his veins, prickling under his skin and bursting forth from the final punch that he planted straight into Will's cheek. The crack of his cheekbone echoed through the cramped alleyway, followed by a wail of sheer agony as the weight of the injury finally got processed in his tiny brain.

The fight hadn't been long, but had ended with Levi being victorious, which was no surprise to anyone watching. The Shadow of the Underground was known for being the fastest, most dangerous man in the city, and everyone watching the fight knew that they were witnessing the skill of a legend.

With a guttural scoff, Levi grabbed Willem's crumpled form up from the ground by his hair, making him look him in the eyes. The injured man's skin was torn open where the bone had pierced through the flesh, but the raven-haired man had seen far worse in his time. Far, far worse. Ignoring the pathetic whimper to let him go, Levi's expression darkened as he leaned his face closer to Will's, so near that he could smell the reeking stench of booze and cheap cigarettes. How fucking digusting.

"You think you're so marvelous, like the sweet flesh of a juicy piece of fruit. Well, guess what, Willem? You're the fucking rind, the pith, the pit– you were born to be picked apart and thrown away like the trash you are."

He glared at him for a few more moments before tossing him back to the dusty ground, reaching into his pocket to pull out a handkerchief and wipe his fingers off. Without so much as a glance upwards at the rest of Willem's goonies, he said plainly, "You'd better start running– before the Shadow of the Underground catches you."

Levi had never seen a group of bumbling buffoons grab their boss and scurry off so fast in his entire life. They tripped over each other trying to get away from Furlan, Isabel, and himself, and it would have made him laugh if he hadn't been occupied looking around for the woman who had been being harassed. It seemed that during the chaos, she managed to get away, which left the three of them with the dead and dirty body of one of Willem's cronies.

He was about to keep walking to the heist location, when his attention was caught by a slow, deliberate clap coming from the shadows to their left. All three of them were set on alert, flipping their knives towards the noise and standing on guard. "Who's there?" Furlan hissed, stepping forward like a brave fool.

Out of the shadows came an older looking man, who was still clapping his hands together as he looked over the three hoodlums through his silver-rimmed glasses. "Impressive. Very impressive."

"What is, old fart?" Isabel snapped, almost jumping in place, as though she were itching for a fight of her own. "Whaddya want?"

"Relax, no need to throw your weight around and threaten me with knives like barbarians. I have a proposition for you three, after seeing your striking display of strength and quick-wittedness."

Levi raised a hand to shut Isabel up before she could yap out anything else, but kept his blade pointed at the man. "What? You think we look that desperate that we'd need a job from you? We're not mercenaries to hire for work or fighting, we're thugs. Beat it."

"If you dont wanna have to afford to eat by selling your teeth for Mitrasian dentures, I'd suggest you give my proposition a listen. Won't you hear out a kind, old man?"

"What kind of 'kind, old man' threatens young people with getting their teeth ripped out for fat cat dentures?" Furlan tsked, causing Levi to flail his hand in his direction to get him to shut up, too. Both of them had such big mouths sometimes…

"What is your offer?" Levi challenged, stepping forward and putting his knife to the man's throat. "It had better be convincing, and don't try anything funny or you'll be dead in a second."

The words that Levi heard next almost made him lose his grip on the hilt of his weapon.

"It's a job for Mr. Lovof. I can tell you the details in private, but if you three do what he needs you to, then you'll not only get a handsome sum of money, but citizenship above ground."

Lowering his knife after a moment, Levi drew in a deep breath, his eyes still trained on the old man.

"I'm listening."

…

1 Week Later

"Li-Li, where are you going?" Kuchel asked softly, standing by her son as he put his cloak on at the door. "You don't have work today. Is it overtime or something? Do you need me to stop by and drop off lunch for you?"

He looked at her face, seeing her brows knitted in motherly concern. As he fastened the clasp of his cape at his throat, he gave her a rare but gentle smile. "It's overtime, yeah, but we should be home before bedtime. Don't stay up waiting for us, alright? We'll be okay."

"Oh… alright… only if you're sure, sweetie." His blue-flurried eyes caught her biting at her lip with nervousness, but instead of ignoring it, he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hug, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek.

"Very sure, Mama. I love you."

Pulling his face back to look at her, he saw uncertainty still flashing over her features. For a moment, he wondered if she knew what was going on, if she knew what he really did to make sure they had enough money. It would be the only explanation for the untamable anxiety she seemed to have each time he went out on a day where he wasn't presumed to be working.

Maybe that was just how maternal love was.

He was shaken from his thoughts when her delicate hand reached to touch his face, and her gaze softened as a warm smile spread over her lips. "I love you too, baby. So very much. Be careful, alright? I'll see you when you get home."

The warmth that spread through him when his mother pressed a kiss to his forehead was indescribable, and it never ceased to make him feel adored.

Everything will be alright, Mama. I'm going to get us citizenship above ground. We can have a home all our own, where you can plant flowers and we can go catch fish in the river. You can show me how the sun burns your skin when you stand in it for too long, how it helps everything in the world grow. I want to see the look on your face when you see the sun again.

"I will be, Mama. I'll make sure they don't get into trouble, either." He promised, patting her hand on his face before breaking away to join Furlan and Isabel outside. Standing at the door, he checked his breast pocket for a particular piece of white cloth, and gave himself a curt nod when he felt it there.

Back when Kenny had found him, he was wearing his mother's white gown on his lean frame, and begged Rori to not throw it out. Ever since that day, he kept a long, folded up strip of it in his pocket, to remind him what he needed to return home to. Back when she was on the surface, he hid it away in any place he could on his person, feeling as though it was the only thing he had left of her while she was gone.

After she had come back home, he kept it on him for good luck. He hadn't died yet, so it must have been working.

Levi met up with Furlan and Isabel, who were ready to go. The plan was set into motion, and they were off.

He led the pack, their gear strapped to their thighs, and their gas canisters filled up all the way. There was no telling what kind of things would happen today, and he did not want them running on half-tanks of compressed gas.

Today was the day they were going to make contact with the target, just like Lovof's henchman told them.

"Mr. Lovof requires your assistance in retrieving a particular document from the hands of Erwin Smith, a section leader in the Survey Corps. First, you three are to let the target capture you, and then you are to follow their orders to infiltrate their ranks. Next, you will find the suspected document, and destroy it. Finally, you will need to kill the aforementioned section leader, Mr. Smith. Once you have completed this, you will need to make your way back to Mitras to make contact with a designated middleman to receive the payment and citizenship certificates. Failure is not an option."

Levi's eyes stayed forward as they kept walking, and many thoughts spun around in his mind. Where would the target make contact? When? How many people would be in the brigade? Would he need to draw blood? Would someone get hurt?

So many questions, no answers yet.

"Levi-bro, so what's the plan?"

"The plan is to go with it. We're going to go to the location for the heist as planned, and that's likely where we're going to find them."

"Alright, and when they find us, we go along with our plan?"

Levi nodded, grabbing the handles of his gear. "Right. Move out."

They each grappled their hooks into walls nearby, zooming through the air to get to the target location that was only a few blocks away. Something was already off to Levi, he could feel the tension in the air, as though they were already being watched from the inky shadows that were everywhere in the Underground.

Their heist spot was a simple one– a cart of goods, one just valuable enough to get the target to pay attention to them, but not valuable enough to get them into serious trouble. He wanted to minimise the punishments from the government, if any were to befall them after being captured.

It was when they had begun to be pursued by the target that Levi recalled something. Something important.

I never left Mama a note to tell her what was happening.

Shit.

…

9 Hours Later

Kuchel had only ever paced a few times in her life, and right now, she was wearing a fucking rut into the tiled floor in the kitchen as she walked back and forth between the table and the stove. Her eyes shot up to the door with every creak of the house, thinking that it was the handle turning in the slot. She was begging any god around who could hear her to bring her son home safely, along with his friends. Over the past few years, the older woman had grown quite close to Furlan and Isabel, almost as though they were her own children.

That was why when they didn't come home, even past bedtime, Kuchel felt like she was going to throw up everything she had eaten that day.

When the clock struck midnight a few hours later, she had had enough. She didn't care if Levi got upset for her butting in on his business, or babying him. He was her fucking son, and she was going to make sure he wasn't dead.

Throwing her cloak over her slender shoulders, she exited the home, making sure to lock the door before heading to the town square first. So many people gathered in the square of the Underground City at midnight. Someone had to know something.

Clutching the fabric around herself, she scurried to the plaza, beginning to ask every single person she came into contact with if they had seen her baby boy. "Please, has anyone seen Levi? He's shorter, black hair, blue eyes… please, has someone seen my baby?"

So many people were rude, shoving her away. Someone even pushed Kuchel straight into the ground in a drunken rage, cursing at her to get the fuck away from him.

"Get outta here, broad! No one fuckin' cares!"

Tears brimmed her grey eyes, her voice trembling in her throat as she brought herself to her feet. "P-Please, I'm just trying to find my son! Something happened to him!"

The burly man looked like he had had quite enough of Kuchel's crying, her pleading, her begging for any information about her darling son. Anything would have been enough, even the tiniest crumb of a lead, but he was tired of her. Kuchel braced herself as he raised his hand, expecting a blow to her face, when a voice rang out.

"Oi! Leave her alone!"

The man was distracted by a familiar face, and Kuchel was astonished to see none other than Rori by her side. "Oi, John. I just served ya not even ten minutes ago and here you are, hitting on poor women in your state? Go home, ya big bastard."

The barmaid grabbed the noirette's arm, leading her away from the crowd. When they were out of earshot, she checked Kuchel over with a sigh of relief. "Darlin' Chelly, what are ya doin' out this late at night? I went to the house to look for ya and ya weren't there!"

"I-I'm looking for Levi! Rori, something terrible must have happened to him! H-He hasn't come home. Oh Walls, what if someone hurt my baby boy? My little angel? P-Please, please, I need to find him!" Kuchel fell forward, hugging onto Rori and clutching her close as she sobbed. She and Rori had become friends after she came back to the Underground, and Levi explained to her that Rori helped to take care of him while she was away. In her utmost gratitude, Kuchel invited the blonde woman over a few times a month, when neither was busy at work, to converse about whatever life was throwing their way at the time. The black-haired woman had even been at Rori's wedding, and was quite happy for her when she got married to such a nice man.

Now, she was crying into her friend's shoulder, hanging on like Rori was the only tether she had left to reality. With Levi in potential peril, her mind was racing and thinking of every worst case scenario. It was suffocating, paralysing, and she needed to find out just what was going on.

"Oh babydoll, babydoll I was looking for ya because I think I heard somethin' about Levi."

Her gaze shot up, and she quickly wringed her fingers into Rori's blouse. "Tell me! Tell me, please! Rori what happened to my baby?"

"I-I heard some Scouts came down here, lookin' for some hoodlums. They chased three through the city with that fancy titan-killin' gear… and took them all above ground, up the Eleventh Stairwell... I heard Levi, Furlan, and Isabel were taken away in cuffs, Chelly."

Kuchel's tears ceased from her shock, and she kept a hold on Rori's shirt, mouth agape as she tried to understand what she said. "W-What? But my baby is no thug, neither are the other two… R-Rori there's gotta be a mistake!"

"Chel, I don't know what to say. I just knew I needed to tell you. I'm not sure where they're taking him."

Letting go of her shirt, Kuchel stumbled back in disbelief, resting her shoulder blades against the brick siding of a building that flanked the alleyway. Her mind was spinning, making her dizzier than she had ever felt before. Her baby? Being taken by the military? Was he really a criminal? It had to be a lie, all of it.

But she knew Rori, and she wouldn't lie about something like this.

"Sugar? What can I do to help?" Her friend whispered, leaning to look Kuchel in the eye, worry etched in her features and her blue eyes clouded with discontent.

"Nothing." The onyx-haired woman mumbled, taking a breath as her palms rested upon her knees, her gaze trained on the dirty, worn down path beneath them. Ants trailed across the soil near her feet, and she wondered for a moment just why ants were even down here.

And here she had thought she was insignificant.

At that moment, with the helpless feeling spreading through her body, Kuchel felt even smaller than those ants. She felt more puny than a pellet of dust.

"But I know that if anyone tried to hurt yer kid, you'd finally awaken those Ackerman genes of yours and rip 'em to shreds for it."

There it was again. Those words from her dear brother that never seemed to fully dissolve from the dark corners of her mind. What a stubborn old fuck, even in her own subconscious. But he was right.

They chose the wrong Ackerman to fuck with. I'm not giving up on you, Levi.

Standing up straight, a newfound expression of confidence formed over her middle-aged features, determination deep in her bones. "Thank you, Rori."

Kuchel swiftly began her march back to the house, and didn't plan on letting a single soul stop her in her mission. However, the barmaid still stood in the alley, and called after her, "W-Wait, Kuchel! What are ya plannin' on doin'?"

"Simple!" She called back, voice strong and unshaken by the fear that had been present in her body moments ago. "I'm breaking out of the Underground!"

This was the hardest chapter to write so far. I skipped over the stuff we see in ACWNR, because I assume that most people who come to this story have seen it, and that I don't need to go through the entire chase scene for you to know that they got caught, lol. Hope you enjoyed!

Also, I know Lovof can also be written Lobov, but I just went with the spelling that's in the AOT Wikia.

Thanks to StarlitScarlet (AO3) for the idea of Willem having a gang!

Song Award goes to Saved My Life by Sia. This would have also been the song that won for Chapter 1, if I had been doing the Song Awards back then. It played on repeat when Kuchel held Levi as a baby for the first time.