** Word Glossary: * Akuma (Devil/Demon) * Jiyū (Freedom) * Sensō (War)

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Everything had gone to shit.

Their entire world had changed in one untraceable moment- mixed in with so many others. If only they could have pinpointed the exact action or word that had set them on their course. Perhaps they could have avoided it. . . Maybe it was always going to happen… or maybe they had brought it on themselves. The blame rested on all of them, regardless.

A solitary figure lay outside the now smoldering building that had once been a restaurant. His ears were ringing and he was covered in soot and debris from the previous explosion. Finally stirring from the rubble, the man groaned audibly. His head pounded violently, threatening to split open if given half the chance. Though luckily, besides the killer migraine and possible concussion and bruising, the Akuma was still in one piece. . . Others hadn't been so lucky. None of his nearby comrades were still breathing. If he hadn't moved when he did, he'd most likely have joined them.

Slowly, gauging his surroundings, the right hand man of the Jiyū Crime Family registered the burning building. He'd been standing directly outside the restaurant with a small security detail before the bomb had gone off. . . but that meant that-

Oh shit…

"Erwin…!" The name was a hiss passed through clenched teeth, as the small man rose from the cement and rushed towards the flames. In one swift flourish, he'd disrobed from his suit coat and placed it over his head- doing his best to avoid the streaks of fire that kissed the doorway and what was left of the ceiling and floor. He'd visited this place thousands of times over the years. . . Now it was gone.

Bits of charred body parts and gore littered what was left of the walls- along with what was left of the patrons and workers that had been in the blast radius. Those left alive were crying, screaming. . . while those remaining lay limp and silent.

For one terrible minute the Akuma took it all in. He looked in vain for his employer for some time. Dread rose in his chest, until he finally spotted a tuft of familiar blonde hair, half-way buried by bits of brick and plaster.

The Head of the Jiyū Family wasn't moving.

In seconds, the Akuma was to his boss, throwing the rubble to the side and calling his name. Still no response. He was covered by fresh burns and in the spot where his right arm had once been, now only a bloody stump remained. It'd been blown off just above the elbow.

There was so much blood. . .

"Damnit Erwin, stay with me!" The Akuma tied a tourniquet from his own neck tie, before he hefted the much larger man up in his arms. He began to slowly drag his boss towards the door- sweating and cursing at the insane amount of weight he was trying to shift.

"...Leave me behind… you don't have time-"

Erwin wasn't dead then. Good.

The smaller man scoffed at the hoarse command, tightening his grip and renewing his efforts. "Not a chance. Either shut up and let me drag your sorry ass out of here, or use your feet and help me. Your choice."

He could feel the intense blue eyes studying his face, as Erwin began to interject. "Levi-"

Levi Ackerman, or the Akuma as he was so often called, didn't reply. He'd already said his piece. Talking wouldn't get them out of this mess. And inaction would get them both killed. The rafters that hadn't been taken out by the blast looked precarious. They could fall at any second and bury them both. If the initial hit didn't kill them, the fire and smoke surely would.

With some difficulty, Erwin set his feet to the floor and began to walk alongside his second in command. The height difference between the two men made their progress labored. But it would have gone much slower if Erwin hadn't been able to walk at all. His steps were unsteady, but Levi didn't allow him to fall. As they walked over the corpses of those that had been killed in the bomb blast and out into the afternoon sun, Erwin swayed dangerously. Despite the well placed tourniquet he was still losing blood.

Without a word, Levi helped his boss sit on the pavement, before he pulled one of the two custom made Dual Berettas that he usually had holstered in a harness beneath his suit coat. He handed it to Erwin, giving a nod, before he turned to go back into the building. He'd spotted several people who were still alive. He could try to save several more until the first responders and firemen showed up.

Just as he was about to cross the threshold, the rafters creaked loudly. It was an unearthly din that was followed by said planks falling in a storm of wood, ashes, and flames. Levi watched frozen as the ceiling hailed down on the survivors burying them in a matter of seconds- their screams piercing both his eardrums and his soul.

The fire burnt him as he moved away from the doorway. "Damnit…" Stormy gray eyes grew cold as the reality set in. Then he took off running for the car. He hadn't been able to go in to save the others- but he could still save Erwin. He could only hope that the vehicle hadn't been blown sky high as well.

Whenever Erwin left the Jiyū Compound, he always insisted on two SUVs. One legit, one with a decoy. For once, the Yakuza Boss's paranoia had paid off. While one car had slashed tires and a smoking hood, the other- farther down the block- seemed virtually untouched.

As Levi hopped in and turned the ignition, he felt more than a little relief when the engine turned with no complaint. "Well played, Erwin, you intelligent bastard."

He sped back to the street in front of the restaurant. Erwin still sat slumped over on the sidewalk. He was quite the sight: ghostly pale skin, matted hair, soaked in blood with an arm missing. But his intelligent blue eyes instantly lifted as the car pulled up. He'd fingered the beretta's trigger purposefully, before recognizing his subordinate and lowering the weapon.

"Can you stand one more time?"

Erwin nodded and allowed the Akuma to help him once more. As Levi closed the passenger side door, he could hear the sirens in the distance growing louder. He hadn't been able to hear them before- due to the adrenaline and previous ringing in his eardrums. But now, it was so loud that it set his teeth on edge.

As he pulled the car out of park and hit the accelerator, Erwin did his best to keep pressure on his own wound. He now pressed Levi's ruined suit coat to his stub- but his eyes kept rolling up into his head.

"Hey!" Levi spared a glance at the Jiyū Head, physically tapping the man's shoulder to draw his attention. "Try to stay awake. We don't know the extent of your injuries yet."

Erwin didn't seem to hear him at first. As if he were in a daze. But then, just before his eyes began to droop again, he spoke. Surprisingly his usual deep voice was almost back to its regular timbre and volume. "Listen to me, Levi. . .. The Sensō's weren't responsible."

Levi scowled. That made no sense, considering the fact that the Sensō Syndicate had been their natural enemies for years. It made even less sense when you accounted for the fact that the Head of the Sensō Family had been the one to request the restaurant meet in the first place. None of them would have been at that restaurant if a truce meeting hadn't been called.

Levi might have genuinely questioned the intel if it had come from anyone else. But he took Erwin at his word. He'd rightfully earned that respect over years of camaraderie and friendship. But it was still hard to believe.

"Then who did this?"

Erwin's expression was grim, as he put more pressure to his bloody stump with his palm. "...It was the cops."

Now, Levi turned to give him a confused stare. "What? Why would the fuzz start a turf war? Most of them are in our pocket, or Tybur's."

Erwin shook his head at the mention of the Sensō Clan Leader. "Willy Tyber was killed in the blast. An officer approached our table with a cell phone on speaker. The same technology that killed almost everyone inside. The bomb was addressed to the Family Heads."

Levi cursed under his breath. "Who was on the phone?"

"Police Chief Zeke Yeager." Before Levi could ask, Erwin continued, "I recognized his voice. He also mentioned a 'New Beginning for Paradis City'. The same slogan was used en masse when he was appointed to his new position a year ago. . . It's too much of a coincidence."

"...Then we're fucked."

Erwin offered a strange smile as he once again closed his eyes. "As astute as ever. . . if not a bit crude. War is upon us, whether we like it or not."

Levi couldn't see the humor in the situation… but then again, he wasn't sure what Erwin's smile meant. Probably was a side-effect of the blood loss and pain… That, or they really were screwed.

.

.

If his cell phone hadn't been broken in the blast, Levi would have called ahead to the compound, but he hadn't had the option. Though as he pulled up to the gate, he was able to pass along word of their coming to the main building.

Upon parking the car, Miche had come out with several others to help Erwin inside on a stretcher. A regular hospital had been out of the question. But once again, luck was on their side. Seeing as the Syndicate had their own resident doctor.

Levi went ahead of the group, calling out as soon as the personalized sick bay was within distance. "Hange?"

"LEVI! In here, darling~!"

Hange's back was to him as he entered the small clinic, much to his annoyance. The feeling was magnified when she began to speak in her usual way. "Hello Handsome~! It's lovely to see you, though I doubt you'd come here without a reason. Please don't tell me you busted up your knuckles again? You've gotta stop punching people-"

"Shut it, Four-Eyes," he snapped, interrupting her. "Erwin needs you."

Immediately the odd female turned around to look at him, her usually happy face now slack beneath her mass of untamable hair and glasses. "What!? What happened?"

"Bomb," he said, grimacing. "Burned most of his body and took his arm off."

Hange began to prep as Levi was speaking- going over to the fridge on the far side of the bay to grab several bags of blood. As she began to set up her equipment for a blood transfusion, she asked, "Shit… You weren't able to retrieve the limb for me to try and sew back on, I presume?"

"Nothing left to retrieve."

Hange accepted his answer by asking yet another question. "Anything else I should know about?"

"A concussion- maybe some internal damage." 'Internal' felt rancid on his tongue. "He was at ground zero. . . Miracle the bastard survived."

Finally, Miche and the others caught up, with Erwin being carted on the makeshift stretcher. The Jiyū Head was limp, save for the hand that still held onto the makeshift tourniquet.

"Over here, fellas!" Hange gestured to the medical table she stood next to. "Lay him down for me."

Levi stood back as they carried out the task, choosing to lean against the wall as he watched Hange go to work. She deftly finished setting up the transfusion, tapped into a vein on Erwin's remaining arm and got the machine working. As the process began, Erwin's eyes opened suddenly. First confusion, then alert intelligence… then an odd sort of panic spread across his features. To the surprise of all, he immediately tried to sit up.

Levi reached out a hand to push his boss back down onto the cot. "Stop moving, you'll make yourself worse."

If the worried expression hadn't shaken Levi to his core, then Erwin grasping his hand in a vice-like grip and pulling him down close, most certainly did.

"This is far from over. . .They'll target her next. You have to get there first!"

"Her-?" When Erwin's grip became even tighter, Levi belatedly understood. "Wait. You mean your sister? Why would they go after her? I recall she was disowned by your dear old dad before his death. She isn't an active member of the Family."

"Yes," Erwin agreed, "but even so… Yeager has no scruples. He blew up a restaurant full of innocent people just to send a message. Do you really think he'd hesitate to kill her to get to me?"

He had a point.

"By that logic, I doubt any of us are safe- even in the Compound."

Erwin nodded, "Which is why you won't bring her back here after you've collected her."

Levi cocked his head to the side before sighing and rubbing a hand over his face. He was too tired for this shit. But then again, when wasn't he dead to the bone? He always said that he'd sleep when he was dead… At this rate, he'd be taking his final nap sooner rather than later.

Pushing off from the wall he said tiredly, "You're a pain in the ass, you know that?"

The statement was all the answer Erwin needed, and his expression relaxed as he squeezed their joined hands. "Thank you."

Levi looked down at their clasped, blood-coated hands, remembering another time when they'd had a similar interaction. But instead of a quiet medical bay, they'd been trapped in a muddy trench- with a never ending fire-fight pinning them down… Another life, another person ago. He was eons away from the soldier he'd been- but one thing remained the same. He was still unable to shake the death .

The Akuma, the Damned, the Devil. He was all three.

"You know where to go?" Erwin's voice broke past the memory, bringing Levi back to the present.

"Yeah. Unless you've changed your safe-house location without telling me."

"We'll meet you there, Levi. Godspeed."

Levi met Erwin's gaze steadily, before he let his hand drop and addressed the others in the room. "As soon as he can move, you get out of here. No chances- everyone armed. The cops want us six feet under."

Miche nodded his agreement, immediately getting on his cell phone and typing out a warning to all of the members of the Syndicate.

"He's in good hands," Hange assured Levi- having silently listened to the whole conversation. "Don't you worry. I'll get him out of here in a couple minutes. Lucky that I stole that ambulance last year huh? Otherwise we'd have to stay longer~!"

" Tch. Just don't get yourselves killed before I catch up to you. I'll be pissed if you leave me holding the bag."

"Alright, we'll save some of the fun for you," Hange offered him a wink- which he promptly ignored- before turning on his heel and striding from the medical bay. "Good luck, Levi~!"

After a lightning fast stop to his own quarters (to shower the conspicuous soot and blood off, quickly change clothes, pack more magazines for his berettas, and grab one of his back-up cell phones and cash) he was back to the courtyard. Though instead of one of the many SUVs he opted for his own ride.

The dark tinted windows of the sporty dark green Porsche 918 Spyder would hopefully act as extra camouflage for his purposes. He'd always loved fast cars, both for practicality and preference. Now the Akuma could only hope that he wouldn't have to test the car's limits before his task was carried out.

Pulling out of the garage and the adjoining courtyard with a screech of tires- the Devil of the Jiyū Clan watched his home disappear in his rearview mirror- before gunning his motor and hauling ass.

A/N: This idea was born from my despair of Attack on Titan coming to an end. lol It's more for fun and therapy than anything else, but I figured I would share it here. This is a complete AU- because why wouldn't we want to see Levi and Erwin as freaking Yakuza? Hah! I have no idea how long this story will end up being, so I guess we're all on this wild ride together.

I hope you all enjoy! Thanks in advance for reading and commenting! I'm always grateful for any support to my writing.