The 5th Ackermann

7-The Promises of Birds

Published 11/20/20

     Farlan has seemed to gain the trust of Levi after the recent event. Because of this, Levi went through the trouble of retrieving another set of ODM gear.

     To say Farlan was good at it was an understatement. Although he was rough on it at first, through hard work and determination, he mastered it quickly. The ODM gear needs gas to propel the user forwards or backwards, depending on the direction they are facing (I Think). However, an occasional supply of the special gas is required. The gas lies with the Military Police. However, because he was so good, the trio would rely on Farlan to retrieve the gas for them. He had no problem at all. He always succeeded.

     (Y/N) wanted to be help to the trio as well. She worked hard on figuring out how the ODM gear is put together. If she learns how, maybe they do not have to steal new gear, but just new parts. It was a bit complicated for her, but she worked hard to understand each piece and mechanism thoroughly. Each piece had their fair share of mechanisms. (The next few paragraphs just go into explanations, you can skip if you want, highly recommend since it is kind of interesting.)

     There are two triggers that the user's index and middle finger are positioned to pull. The top trigger causes the gear to fire the anchor positioned by the user's waist. Which also means the user must use their hips to maneuver where the anchor moves. The anchor mostly needs to land in a solid, hard surface like concrete, a rock, a tree, a house, etc. The bottom trigger causes the gas the user has to propel themselves forward.

     On the top of the device, there is a slot for blades to be inserted. The blade is locked in when inserted. An auxiliary switch on the grip is used to undo this lock when switching blades. In other words, it causes the blades to release.

     The metal lever in front of the triggers are meant to pulled back and let go. Pulling the lever towards the user reels the wire that was shot from the anchor back in. Letting the lever go makes this stop.

     There is a hammer switch which enables a joystick like movement allowing the angle of fire for both anchor mechanisms to be adjusted.

     There is a wire connecting the device to the gear that releases the anchor. This allows the user to swing and do a number of moves and such. If the wires are cut, the device is nearly useless.

     Once (Y/N) understood all of it, she was confident she knew how to fix the gear. (Y/N) told Levi since Farlan would get the gas and she would be fixing gear, he should do something.

     "I'm looking after you and cleaning." Levi simply replied. Seeing as this would be his answer and he would not change his mind, (Y/N) shrugged.

     (Y/N) walked over to Farlan who was sitting on the couch and reading a book that he found on a nearby shelf. She sat next to him. She decided to start up a conversation.

"Hey, Farlan." He looked up at her. "Do you ever want to go to the surface?" She asked. "It seems like an amazing place."

     Farlan hesitated. "Yeah." He responded blankly. "There's... nothing for us down here. Practically anywhere is better than here. Apparently, the lack of sunlight makes people's legs go bad. But... It's not like knowing will do anything about it. It's what happened to my mom." Farlan looked to the side.

"I'm sorry about your mom..." (Y/N) said.

     (Y/N) never realized Farlan had thought so much about the surface. It was probably nice to be up on the surface with the sun. Even more fun to be with your family. (Y/N) decided she wanted to go to the surface. She wanted to see the sun, the clouds, the stars, everything. She would go there for her mother who never got to see any of those things. What was keeping them down here?

"The stairway." Farlan said.

"Huh?" (Y/N) said, unsure what he meant.

"There is a stairway that leads up to the surface." Farlan said. He turned to face (Y/N) now. "That's what you were thinking, right?"

      "Ignoring the signs that you're psychic, what are we waiting for?" (Y/N) said, she started smiling. If there was a stairway, it should be no problem. She thought they would have to climb a mountain of sorrow and grief. Just climb a stairway?

     "You need money. Lots of it. They won't let you past if you don't pay them. And even if you do manage to get your hands on enough money... without citizenship, you'll be sent right back into this misery" Farlan said. He hated to see (Y/N)'s face drop at the explanation. He had originally planned to go by himself, but then he met them... He wanted to see the sun with them and do things on the surface with them. He made a promise to take (Y/N) and Levi to the surface.

     Over the weeks, (Y/N) became best friends with Farlan. Levi finally "deemed" him "worthy" to be a friend of (Y/N)'s, seeing he was trustworthy. Though, he could still be seen having an eye on him occasionally. Things can happen.

     One day, the trio was running from a group of MP's for stealing food. They were in their gear, flying through the air. The Military Police could barely keep up with the trio. One of the MP's accidentally pushed the trigger that dispenses gas. This caused him to propel into the MP in front of him, causing them both to fall to the ground. The other three MP's remained pursuing them.

"Oh wow, they're terrible!" (Y/N) laughed.

"They have got to train more..." Farlan trailed off.

     Levi looked back at his sister and his friend. He enjoyed seeing his sister have so much fun. He hated to admit it, but he did begin to like Farlan. He was reliable and skilled. Levi respected that. He also knew when it was time to be serious and relax, so he wasn't annoying either. (Y/N) and Farlan having such a good moment, Levi still just had to ruin the moment.

"(Y/N)," He called.

"What?" She replied.

"Farlan." He called again.

"Yeah?" Farlan questioned.

     "Let's go." Levi said, squinting his eyes. With that, he shot his hooks into a nearby building and propelled himself into the air. Farlan, being as skilled as Levi, took off after him leaving (Y/N) in the dust. Her Stop-showing-off-Big-Bro-and-Farlan calls being useless. Still not being a master of the ODM gear, (Y/N) faltered. She fell down but caught herself a few inches from hitting the ground. She stopped nonetheless to catch her breath. She stood in the middle of the street. About five feet away from her stood a girl about the age of the three infamous thugs. She had beautiful auburn hair. The strands of hair were tied in pigtails and she had deep green eyes. She wore a white button up shirt with a gr(a/e)y vest on top. Teal pants went down to ber ankles. Her eyes sparkled in fascination as she stared at (Y/N). (Y/N), not noticing the girl, took off without a word. The girl watched as she took off. She really wanted to try that... It looked like they were birds...

     (Y/N) eventually and miraculously caught up with Farlan and Levi. They went to the hut and went inside. Little did they know, the girl had run as fast as she could to see where they went. She now knew where she could go if she gathered the courage to meet them.

     (Y/N) plopped herself on the couch. She was exhausted. It took quite awhile to catch up with the two. It may not look like it, but using ODM gear is extremely straining on the muscles. Using it at high speed makes you have to do extremely difficult moves and turns. In other words, catching up with people live Farlan and Levi extremely tiring. Levi sat down next to her and began to clean the ODM gear. He pulled out a cloth from his pocket and wiped every crevice and such. Farlan sat down on a nearby chair watching Levi work.