Year 844, The morning of Levi, Furlan, and Isabel being captured by Erwin.
Furlan had a grim expression on his face, looking up at the house he had so many times before. Staring up at the window and tree he had watched Anya climb down an uncountable number of times, nerves hit him as he recalled his last visit here. He sighed and looked at Levi. "OK so before we do this, are you sure you're ready?"
He could see the hesitation in Levi's eyes, even if his face didn't show it. "I guess I'm more ready than I'll ever be..." Levi looked towards Isabel, her sweet smile illuminating the otherwise gloomy aura of the place as she skipped towards the door.
"This is the place right?" She looked back and watched as the boy's nodded and quickly joined her side. She balled her fist's up and knocked on the door, giving the boys no time to back out from her plan. "Helllooooooo" her sing-songy voice called out.
Furlan's heart raced as he saw the figure opening the door. Revealing a woman about his age, with long red curls and stunning green eyes. Shit... she's still stunning... he thought to himself, smiling at the girl he once loved.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, looking at Furlan and Levi before casting her gaze on Isabel - "and who is this?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest "you really shouldn't be here you know. If he see's you two he'll skin you alive."
"Oh please, He wouldn't dare. Besides Essie –" Furlan started to say before being cut off
"Esther." She corrected
"Esther. Fine. Look, We have to find Anya. We have an opportunity..." Furlan took a step towards her, leaning his mouth to her ear and hushing his voice to a whisper "to live on the surface"
She sighed and opened the door further, letting the three inside. "Fine..." she mumbled "but this is only going to end in a fight..."
"We just need information" Levi piped up in a deadpan voice "I just need to know what happened"
"just as cold as ever, shorty" Esther looked down at him apologetically, sadness coursing through her eyes. "Levi... I've always liked you. You were always family to me, to us... so when I tell you this, just promise me you won't do anything stupid because –" she was cut off by the sound of broken glass coming from the kitchen, Levi running towards the sound with Isabel and Furlan on his heels.
The sight they were met with was a familiar one. Broken glass on the floor, empty bottles of liquor, and a lanky man hunched over in a chair. A dirty kitchen that repulsed the trio, and a smell that was a mixture of alcohol and vomit. The man looked up from his drunken haze and eyed the trio. His eyes stopped on Isabel and looked her up and down. "oh, what's this? You two dumbasses bring me a treat? A peace offering?" he said with a mischievous grin.
Isabel shifted her weight from one foot to the other, and moved her hand to the knife in her pocket. "you wish" she scoffed
"one move on her and you're dead" Furlan spoke up from the back of the group
"come anywhere near her and you're dead" Levi looked at the man with disgust "Joseph, we're not here to make peace." He had an assertive tone to his voice, one which took Joseph back slightly.
The man stood up, and walked towards Levi at the front of the group. "Oh? Then what are you here for?" His eyes moved to Furlan, standing next to Esther with a protective hand on her shoulder. "Esther, get away from that boy."
Esther looked apologetically at Furlan, and walked away. They could hear her running up the stairs, and a second pair of footstep's going to meet her.
"So why are you in my kitchen?" Joseph growled. "oh let me guess. Shortstack over here want's to know where his long-lost love is? For the millionth time, that slut is-" Before he could finish his sentence, he felt a shooting pain in his stomach as Levi kicked him. Joseph doubled over in pain, and felt a tug as his head was shot back by his hair.
There was a murderous glint in Levi's eyes, a fist full of Joseph's hair in one hand and the other making a fist. "Don't" Levi said, landing another kick to the man's ribs "call her a slut" Levi landed another kick, this time to the side of the mans face. "Tell us where she is, and you'll get to live"
The man let out a faint laugh, maniacal in its tone, before looking up at Levi. "I already told you, she's gone. She's out of all our lives forever"
Levi let go of his grip on the man's head and kicked him down – resting his foot on top of his sternum. "Tell us the truth"
"You want the truth do you?" Joseph looked up, catching the murderous glint in Levi's grey eyes. "The truth is I knew where she was, went there, and took care of things. Last time I saw her, she was covered in blood. She wouldn't give me what I wanted, so I made damn sure that little slut wasn't going to have your baby, and I left her to die. The bitch bled out, crying about how I took away her child. She put up a hell of a good fight before I left though" Before anyone else could notice the change on Levi's face and in his eyes, Joseph took Levi's disbelief and pain as an opportunity to try to overpower him – making his way up on to his feet and grabbing a knife off of the table nearby. Before Levi could process his words, Joseph was inches from his face, and Levi felt cold metal pressed against his neck and his arms frozen behind his back – snapping him out of his momentary haze.
Furlan stood in helpless disbelief as Isabel moved past him, gripping her small pocket knife. For a moment, it was like time slowed down. Isabel ready to jump on this man and kill him, Levi with his arms drawn behind his back – restrained, with a blade to his neck. He knew, logically, he had to do something – however he was blinded by the pain he saw in his best friends eyes. Before Furlan could think about anything else, he reached out a hand to stop Isabel, and took her knife. He knew what he had to do, he had to make sure Levi was safe. He had failed him too many times. Its my fault this is even happening right now... Furlan thought to himself. Its my fault she's dead. It's my fault. I was supposed to be lookout . Without another thought, Furlan threw the blade at the wretched older man, hitting his exact target – the wrist holding the knife to Levi's neck. Seeing an opportunity to escape his grasp, Levi kicked the man as hard as he could, the force from the kick pushing the man back. Furlan grabbed Levi by the shirt, and Isabel by her hand, dragging them out of the house as quickly as his feet would take them. Once they were out of the house itself, he let go. His voice was shaky "we need to go home".
"What are you doing? I need to go back! I'm going to kill him!" Levi screamed, Furlan and Isabel could hear the pain in his voice, not so well masked by the hatred he held for his attacker.
"You could have gotten yourself killed" Isabel piped up, hanging her head low in shame. "Please big bro...please...don't go back there... "she let out a whimper, and started to cry.
"He knows what to say to get under your skin. Even if it's not true..."Furlan added, clearly caught in a mix of his own emotions.
"it is true" a sniffling voice said behind them. The trio turned around to familiar red curls and green eyes meeting their own "Anya... died. A few years ago. Everything he said is true. " Esther was behind them, and in her hands was a basket with a few things Levi and Furlan recognized right away – A bouquet of dried flowers he had picked for Anya on their first date, A sweater that she had 'borrowed' from Levi when they first started dating, the journal Anya wrote in everyday, a bundle of letters wrapped in string that Levi recognized as letters her wrote to her, the small knife Furlan gave her on her 13th birthday that had three initials carved into the handle, the necklace that belonged to her mother, and a small gold ring sitting on top of a letter Levi recognized as Anya's handwriting. Both of the boys eyes started to water, and Esther handed the basket to Levi. "When we went through her things, I saved these... Levi, she would have wanted you to have all this..."
Isabel froze, as tears started forming in her eyes too. "Miss... I didn't know her... but first.. they... don't they deserve to know what happened to her?" She took Esther's hand in her own, her eyes pleading for information through the tears staining her face.
"It's exactly as he said." Esther responded. "She was sold to a nice family above ground. She worked hard. She was pregnant with his baby" She pointed to Levi. "He went there, he hurt her, he left her to die."
Levi took the gold ring and swallowed down his tears. He looked at the writing of the letter it laid upon – neat, perfect. He noticed that half of the paper was ripped – "oi, what's this? Why is it ripped?"
"He tore it before we could read it" Esther explained as Furlan could hear her holding back her own tears further. "He gave us this half, but wouldn't let us have the rest. All we knew is he went to find her, and he came home one day..." Esther's voice broke as the tears started flowing like a river down her face "he came home... covered in blood...soaked. He said she's dead, and to forget she ever existed, and threw this letter at us..."
Levi looked down, noticing the red stains at the torn ends of the letter. He took out the piece of paper and chose to read it aloud.
"Dearest Esther & Emelia,
I hope this letter finds you well!
I am so sorry I didn't get to say goodbye. I hope you can forgive me. I have missed you both so much! I know Uncle Joseph usually sell's his girls to brothels, but I really lucked out – Turn's out Kenny was looking out for me, and I guess he convinced him to sell me to a nice family instead. They rescue girls from the underground. My new family is very nice! I have a bedroom all to myself, and a new little sister here named Sarina! They're very kind and have me sing and entertain at the bar they own. No more creepy guys on me, or having to rob the poor fuckers!
I'm not writing just to brag though, I need a favor from you.
Esther, I know you and Furlan haven't talked since you broke up – but I need you to find him and Levi – It's very important! It turns out you were right, all those nights of me puking and me feeling dizzy – I am pregnant! The doctor just confirmed it today, I should be due in December! I'm so excited, and scared – but mostly excited. If it's a girl I want to name her after Levi's mom, but if it's a boy I want to name her after Kenny – Levi would probably kill me if I did though. I've seen Kenny once since being up here, and he was nice but still a fucking bastard for leaving. Where was I? Anyway, yes – the favor – could you please let Levi and Furlan know that my new mother is willing to pay for their citizenship up here? She said it's so that we can be a family, and that she would sign the papers for us to get married so we can raise the baby together. She said every child deserves to have both their parent's, and to have a family. Also, you should probably let them know I'm pregnant. She said for them to meet her at the south staircase on September 15th, at approximately sunrise. She's getting documents in order, and will pay their tolls.
The rest of the document was ripped, but Levi could make out one more sentence by the top halves of the letters.
By the way, I have a new name and obviously a new address, It's a pretty hard name to say –
And with that, all the information known about Anya's whereabouts' was stricken from anywhere they would have had access to it.
"When did she die?" Levi asked with a calm demeanor and deadpan voice hiding his true feelings.
"... he went to visit her the day after her birthday" Esther responded, her voice riddled with fear and anxiety
"So she thought, in her dying days – that she'd see us again?" Furlan asked, holding Esthers shaky hands to his face.
"..yes... that's right" Esther responded, breathing in deep and taking in the contact from her lost love. "You know... I still love you"
Furlan nodded in response, whispering in her ear "now's not the time, but I still love you too"
"She died, thinking I was going to see her soon. Thinking we could be different. Thinking we could be..." Levi looked down at the letter in his hands, and felt a burning hatred for the man that took her away from him time and time again "she thought we could be a family..."
Isabel looked at the three people in front of her – Furlan, with his hands wrapped up in Esthers and their gazes meeting, hell – if it wasn't such bad news the scene would almost be romantic – and Levi, clutching a basket full of all he had left of the girl he loved and imagining a time when they could have had a future together. She couldn't take it, it was all too sad, too pathetic. Even if Levi couldn't be happy, didn't Furlan deserve a chance to be? She had to do something. "Miss, I want to... pay for your citizenship. We have a job where we'll get citizenship soon. If it all goes well, can I come back for you?" Isabel suggested with a smile on her face.
"She'd need to stay inside the interior" Levi quickly responded, not giving Esther time to respond
"She'd also need to bring her sister" Furlan added "but I can pay for her when we're done too..."
"You're too kind" Esther exclaimed, her tears of sadness and mourning changing to tears of joy.
Isabel smiled as Furlan and Esther kissed goodbye, promising to see each other soon. Levi took the basket, and dejectedly walked at the front of the group. Upon returning to their small home, Levi put the basket and all its contents into a box with his belongings, laying the letter flat on the top of the pile.
844, approximately three weeks after Furlan & Isabel's deaths.
Levi looked at Hange and Erwin, all three of them in their winter coats and scarves, making their way to the central bureaucratic office of the MP's, "Thank you for doing this with me. You really didn't have to." His voice was barely above a whisper, he had grown close to these two and only these two during the past few months he'd been in the scouts.
Hange smiled, and patted Levi on the head, being met with a stone-cold gaze in response. "No problem shorty! That's what friends are for"
"We're not quite his friends yet, I take it" Erwin corrected, noticing Levi's comfortability with being touched. "However, as your superior officers, it is of our own best interest to make sure you don't go doing anything that would tarnish the reputation of the scouts within the interior."
"Oh? What exactly do you think I'm going to do?" Levi questioned, the offense was clear in his voice "Do you think just cause I was raised in filth that I am –" he was cut off by Hange's excitement
"We're here! I hear they have a wonderful titan research division on the 3rd floor. Erwiiinnn... Can we please?" Hange exclaimed with a bright smile, shooting Erwin puppy-dog eyes of chocolate and honey.
Levi sighed, and held open the door for them. Erwin led the way through the halls, glowing in the early morning sun. He led Hange & Levi up a flight of stairs and down a baren corridor, to a door with a simple sign overhead. "Civilian Records Division" Levi read out loud, reaching for the doorknob.
Inside there was the bare minimum – A few waiting tables with chairs, a desk with rows of bookcases filled with files. A bell on the desk, and one on the door. Levi noticed that there were many handwritten paper signs on the walls, instructing how to request each different type of file, and ran his fingers through his hair, sighing. "This is going to take forever" he complained halfheartedly
"Not when the commander of the scout's is asking for something" Erwin snickered, looking down at Hange and Levi both confused by his comment.
"You got promoted? Hange beamed as Erwin took out his new bolo tie, and pulled out an updated identification card. "HOW COOL IS THAT!" They shouted, alerting the person in the back to their presence.
"Can I help you?" The MP officer snarled at them "damn scouts, so loud and obnoxious"
Levi was, reasonably, pissed. He walked to the desk and slammed his fists. "Do we have a problem?" He asked, a darkness in his voice that Erwin and Hange were, at this point, used to. Levi wrote down a name on a piece of paper, and handed it to the desk clerk. "We need any records for this person" he looked the MP up and down, the tone of his voice shifting to being more demanding.
"Well, sir" the MP smiled what Levi knew was a fake smile, "Records requests take 3-5 business days to process, and another 2-4 weeks to locate the file, and then another 2-3 weeks for delivery...." They began before being cut off by Erwin
"and for the 14th commander of the Survey Corps?" Erwin asked
"Well, if it's for the commander, we can typically get it done fairly quickly" they responded "However, the commander – wait, did you say 14th commander?" they asked, looking up at Erwin with fear in their eyes.
Erwin handed them the identification card from his wallet, and they took a step back before saluting. "My apologies sir. If you wait right there, we can look now." They hurried to the back, and announced to their subordinates that the commander of the Survey Corps was there, and all hands needed to be on deck to find the request.
Levi, Hange, and Erwin waited, growing inpatient by the moment. After about an hour of waiting, a young girl came out to them.
"Commander, I regret to inform you..." her voice was hesitant, and Levi looked at her with pleading eyes. "There are no records for an Anya Roff that would fit this description. Theres a few who are older, in their 50's... but none as young as this."
"what about records of those who are living in the underground city?" Erwin asked with calmness.
"none with this age range, sir. It looks like there was one Roff female, who died quite a few years back, around 825 or so." She responded
"that was her mother" Levi grumbled, looked down at the table angrily "so nothing than? You useless MP's found nothing?" he asked, making bitter eye contact with the girl
"none sir, I am so sorry" she responded, turning on her heel and walking back to the desk. Within a flash, Levi got up from his seat and walked out the door – slamming it behind him, with Hange on his heels.
"Wait! Levi!?" they exclaimed, following after him "We haven't seen the labs yet!"
Erwin sighed, getting up slowly from his chair and collecting what the two left behind – a drawing of Hange's and a paper containing illegible handwriting scribbles of Levi's. As he walked towards the door, he was stopped by the initial administrator they spoke to.
"Commander, sir" he huffed, looking like he had just run a marathon. "there was... one...thing" He panted, handing Erwin a piece of paper that looked clean and crisp. Erwin inspected it thoroughly, frowning when he read the words "Certificate of Death" at the top.
"Anya Michaela Roff – Date of Birth, September 1st, 820 – 5:50 in the morning. Father Unknown, Mother: Renate Roff. Date of Death... July 31st, 835 – time unknown. Cause of Death – Unknown, presumed suicide. Burial place: unknown." Erwin said out loud, sighing as he read the last lines. "Thank you. Your hard work and effort are appreciated." Erwin thanked the man, shoving the paper in his pocket. He searched the hall's for Hange and Levi, but were unable to find them until he heard Hange yelling.
"Levi no! We can't go there! They won't help us anyway!" They bellowed, Erwin noticed there was a slight tinge of shock and exasperation in their voice.
"I don't give a fuck shitty glasses, I'm going. You can go or you can stay, its up to you!" Levi stormed down the stairs, Hange and Erwin following close behind. They followed Levi into a part of town that Erwin knew to be on the shadier side, to a small hotel. Levi wasted no time in flinging the door open, and banging the bell on the desk until someone came to greet them.
"Oh, what a pleasure. The scouts are here for... services?" the thin man behind the counter said with a drawl "I never thought I'd see such respectable genetleman in such a place.''
Levi looked him dead in the eye, and hovered above him. "Shove it up your ass, I need to talk to Francis. Tell him it's Levi." The name alone seemed to startle the man, and he hurried to another room. He quickly returned with a taller man, at least as tall as Erwin, and plump.
"Levi! I never thought I'd see you back here. To what do I owe the pleasure? You know, word got around that you're dead" the plump man exclaimed, reaching out his hand for a shake from Levi.
"We both know why I'm here Francis" Levi said in a deadpan voice, clicking his tongue with the mans name.
Erwin and Hange assumed that this must be Francis. Erwin was taken back, how would Levi know the biggest trafficker in the walls? The man in front of them was responsible for an insurmountable number of people being sold like cattle. "Actually, I don't. Why don't you... Amuse me... and tell me why you're setting foot here?"
Levi rolled his eyes, and without realizing softened his gaze as he put his hands in his pockets. "it's about Anya" he said in a small, hushed tone.
"oh dear, dear Anya. I am so sorry. You two were an item correct?" he inquired, pitying the man in front of him
"You already know we were." Levi responded "and you knew that when you sold her to someone too"
The man frowned "Levi, I have no idea what you're talking about. Anya never has come through this establishment. Nor has she ever come through my hands, though I sure could have made a lot off her pretty face –"
Hange noticed the flash of anger in Levi's eyes before Erwin, and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Please sir... do you know what happened to her?" they asked, trying their best to be as kind as they could muster with this evil man.
He shook his head in response, and motioned for Levi to take a seat. "No one really knows son..." he started, showing the pity he had for Levi on his face. "From what I heard, Joseph killed her. But it's not like we can ask a dead man"
Levi's face changed – it had only been a few weeks, who had gotten to the man? "I'm sorry, what?" Levi asked, looking the man dead in the eyes.
"Joseph is dead Levi, haven't you heard? They found his body dumped in a river within Wall Rose." The man lowered his voice to a whisper, pressing his face closer to Levi's "by the way they found the body, they suspect Kenny the Ripper was the murderer"
"no shit?" Levi asked, looking at the floor and choking back tears, he turned away form the group and walked towards the door. "huh. Well, if you hear anything about her, please let me know. You can send your correspondence to the scout headquarters"
Hange and Erwin followed Levi out of the door, and down another alleyway. Levi leaned his back against the wall, and slumped down to the dirty floor below him – sitting with his hands in his pockets, Hange caught a glimpse of tears welling up in his eyes and barely escaping. Levi looked up at them, barely able to manage the words he wanted to put together. "How does someone disappear?" Levi asked Hange, who was wiping the tears from his face "how does someone just... *poof* and they're gone?"
Erwin shifted, the emotional weight of the paper in his pocket became too much to bear. He took it out, flattened it against his chest, and handed it to Levi. "they found this right after you walked out..." he began to explain, but was interrupted by the sound of Levi's sobs as he read what it had listed. Hange looked over, and quickly grabbed ahold of Levi, bringing him close to their own body, and cradling him in their arms.