Fuck . Anya thought as she felt the all too familiar restraint on her hands - gripped together, unable to move them free from the hold. She used the glass paneling of the kitchen window to steal a glance at her attacker, noticing he was wearing a royal guard uniform. She averted her eyes to his wrist, and immediately noticed the tattoo barely showing under the gloves - akin to the wings of freedom, but with two rifles crossed above it. A symbol she knew to belong to the Yeagerists.
Shit. What am I going to do? She thought to herself, as her instincts kicked in. For a moment, everything felt as if it was moving slower. Adrenaline and Cortisol rushed her veins, a feeling she was akin to. A feeling she felt every day in the underground, a feeling she felt every time she had to fight for her life.
Without a moment's hesitation, she lifted her foot upwards, kicking back until she felt the man's grip on her hands loosen from the pain radiating through him. She used this as an opportunity to swing her head back with force, hitting the man's nose with the back of her skull.
Immediately upon her wrists feeling their release, she grabbed the kettle off the stove, and with one hand pulled back the man's head by his hair. The other hand held the screaming tea kettle by its handle, and aimed the stream for his eyes as she pushed forward, spilling the burning hot liquid on the man's face as he let out a piercing scream.
She turned on her heels, as she ran towards the kitchen door she spotted a knife block - she knew these to be Niccolo's favorites, sharper than any others in the kitchen. She grabbed one she always saw him using, knowing it was likely the most used and thus, the one most often sharpened. She could feel every footstep, every breath in her lungs as she ran.
Clenching the knife in one hand, she began making her way back to her and Levi's room. Somehow, she felt as if they were there to take another victim - someone who they could use as leverage against Historia. Someone she was close to. That left three options.
The young princessOne of the 104th, whoever they could find alone.
Or...
Levi.
And there was no way in hell she was going to let harm come to any of them.
She would scream until she woke up the whole damn Palace, hell - she would wake up all of Mitras. She would fight until her very death if it meant protecting any of them. The little girl who may have well been Levi's own daughter by how much he loved her, the young men and women who showed her so much kindness and were starting to treat her like the mother so many of them had lost, and the love of her life - her sweet Levi , the man of her dreams. No - there was no way they were going to take any of them tonight.
"INTRUDERS!" She shouted, running up the stairs as she felt a hand on her ankle, coming down on her hands as she fell with a loud thud. The man who grabbed her ankle, she recognized as the guard who was supposed to be guarding the entrance door. "INTRUDERS!" she shouted again, as loud as she could force her lungs to.
Almost as if the adrenaline coursing through her veins controlled her, she stabbed the knife through the arm of the man who had grabbed her ankle, twisting it as she pulled it back up and staining Historia's pristinely white carpets red with his blood.
As she took the knife out with a twist, she thrust it back down into another spot on the man's arm before bringing it back up, pulling it out in front of her defensively. "I'll - I'll kill you!" she screamed, kicking her feet into the man's chest in a failed attempt to get him away from her quicker, as she turned to run back up the stairs.
Behind him, the man who she had encountered in the kitchen was making his way towards her. "Help!" She cried out, facing the hall as she screamed - hoping someone, anyone, was awake. It was then that she saw Levi open their bedroom door, a cane in one hand - having changed into his pajamas.
"Oi! What is going - " he started before turning the corner to see the scene in front of him. His mouth hung agape, and for the first time in his life, Levi felt completely useless - frozen in place for only a second, before feeling the entire weight of his body crash to the ground.
Almost as soon as she saw him standing there, she recognized the outline of the guard from the hall as he pushed Levi down, Pinning him to the ground.
"Levi! No!" She screamed as she kicked the man who had been holding her ankle, sending him down the stairs and towards the man who she had first encountered. "Let him go!" She demanded as she lunged at the man holding down Levi, digging the knife in his back. She pressed it in deep, but not deep enough - it fell right out of her grasp.
Anya realized her mistake as the man tossed her off him and down the stairs, her frail body landing in the arms of her original attacker.
She looked up at Levi, tears in her eyes, as the man held him down. He was screaming in spite of his mouth being covered, he was thrashing - undoubtedly getting hurt in the process, his eyes locked to her instead of paying attention to his own situation, trying so hard to rescue her. She continued to scream for help, she screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping that someone would wake up - Historia, Niccolo, Reiner - it didn't matter. As long as someone came, not even for her - for him.
Another hand found its way to Anya's mouth, this time enveloped by a rag. An ether like scent coating the rag that covered her mouth. She tasted something sweet in her mouth, and felt queasy.
Before she knew it her vision was going black and her hearing was getting distant, the last thing she could see was Levi, pinned against the ground. The last thing she heard were his screams, begging them not to take her away. "Levi...I love you" she murmured as she fell into the arms of a stranger.
No , there was no way this was happening. There was no way Levi was going to allow for them to take her. Not now, that after twenty-two years that they had been reunited at last, there was no way he was letting them take her from him. He focused, and gave a harsh kick on the stomach of the man who had him pinned down. His fist landed on the man's face, knocking his head on the side. Before the man knew it, he was flipped over. His back against Levi's chest as Levi snapped his neck with a rough jerk of his hands on each side of the man's face.
He pushed the lifeless body off him and he grabbed his cane. Levi stood up on his feet with a grunt and he limped his way to the stairs. Dammit. He so much wished he had never gotten that damn injury, that damn explosion that left him crippled and weak. Dammit. There was no way he was letting that damned injury get in his way of saving his Anya. No one was allowed to touch her.
But by the time he reached the stairs, she was passed out in the arms of a man disguised as a Royal Guard, and the man ran. Dammit. There was no way Levi could chase after him. He could barely walk.
Levi crashed on his knees. That damned, useless cane still in his hands. He was useless . He couldn't protect his Anya like he used to. Useless. That one person in this damned life of his that mattered the most to him was taken away and he could do nothing. Useless. Useless.
As Levi sat there, the minutes passing for what seemed like forever as he watched them disappear in the endless rooms of the Palace, Armin came rushing to his side - followed closely by Annie.
"What happened! There's blood everywhere?" Armin asked, helping Levi to his feet - unable to ignore the tears that rolled down his former Captain's cheeks. "What happened!?" Armin exclaimed as he looked into the man's grey eyes, drowning in sorrow.
Levi was quick to wrap his arms around Armin, seeing so much of Erwin in the young man. "They took her," he whispered as he clung to the boy, grabbing the fabric of his shirt and sobbing in his arms. "They took her away from me,"
"Who? Who did they take?" Annie asked, fear penetrating her voice. She knew the answer in her heart, she just needed confirmation. Before Levi could speak another word, Annie took off towards the gate. Armin let go of him, leaving him on his knees again, as he followed after her.
It didn't take long for the combination of Levi's cries and Annie and Armin's screaming match in front of the palace - Armin demanding Annie stay in the palace where it's safe, Annie demanding she go find Anya - to wake the others, as they all made their way downstairs - one by one.
First Historia, with her daughter in her arms. Then Reiner and Pieck, with Connie and Hitch following close behind. Next was Falco, with Gabi on his heels. Finally, Jean and Mikasa made their way down, bringing Niccolo with them. As Levi was forced to repeat what happened again and again over the course of the entire night as his friends slowly joined him, as Law Enforcement questioned him, while he sat there helpless on the ground, it all started to make sense to Armin.
"There's traitors in the guard." He stated clearly, as if it hadn't been obvious all along.
"Oh, no shit. You think so Armin?" Mikasa growled as she opened the door, hellbent on finding Anya but knowing it was now too far gone to do anything. The morning light was creeping in, it was sunrise.
It had been at least 5 hours since Anya was kidnapped. As Mikasa looked to the distance, she spotted a man with red hair walking towards the entrance to the palace, a box tucked under one arm. She recognized the uniform he was wearing, "YOU!" Mikasa screamed as she went running towards the man, slamming him to the ground.
The man was thrown to the ground, and dragged to the palace doors by Mikasa. She threw him at Reiner, who restrained him while Jean took the box from him. "We meet again captain " the redhead said as he stared at Levi with a grin. "Trust me, you'll want to see what's in that box."
Jean opened it immediately, gasping as he let it fall to the floor. Inside was Anya's nightgown - now stained with blood, the ring Levi had put on her finger when they met again, and what looked like it could have been a full wig made of her hair - cascading down slowly, scattering across the floor. Jean looked at the man in shock.
"Don't worry, she's not dead... yet ." the redhead replied. "We're giving you an extension. That 24 hours you had left? We're making it 72. But our conditions have changed." He grinned mischievously, not caring about the grip Reiner had on him or the punches that were sure to be thrown at him. "We won't lay a hand on your traitorous little slut Captain - well, at least not another hand on her..."
Suddenly, the man felt the blow of a punch from Connie - and heard the click of Piecks gun at his temple. "If you want to see either of those bitches alive again, I suggest you let me go" his voice was stern, threatening. Levi was used to seeing men like this in the underground, but never would he imagine that he would be so damned useless against one hurting the one person he loved more than anything, anyone.
"Let him go Reiner" Levi barked the order as if he was still his Captain, and Reiner complied almost by instinct. "Where is she?" He growled, standing up with help from Mikasa as he leaned his weight back onto his cane.
"You'll get her back if the Queen complies with our simple wishes, Captain." the redhead responded as he cast his gaze to Historia. "Madam Queen, like I was saying - our conditions have changed. Given our new situation, and what we have to offer you - we're expecting much more than just increased power in the kingdom."
Historia shifted, handing her daughter to Reiner as she stood to meet the man. "And what might those conditions be?"
"Ahem" He cleared his throat, looking down at Historia with a devious grin. "If you want your friends alive and returned to you unscatched, you have 72 hours to turn all power over to the Yeagerists. You may stay in the palace as a figurehead of the state - nothing more. If you do not comply, The next delivery I come to make will be the heads of that damn scientist, who won't shut up by the way, and the Captain's little slut."
Before the man could utter another word, Levi's cane came crashing on his face with a powerful blow that knocked his head to the side. He had definitely broken a tooth or two, or ten. Levi grabbed the man by the shirt. His mouth was undoubtedly overflowing with blood.
"Call her a slut again and the first head to be chopped off will be yours," Levi growled.
The man grinned, looking into Levi's eyes as his own had a darkness penetrating them. "Oh, trust me Captain - she is a good little slut. I'll never find a lay that good again. Now , your majesty... 72 hours, or they both die. And then, we'll keep taking everyone away from you, one by one ... until no one's left to defend you, your highness ."
I'll never find a lay that good again. No, there was no way they had touched his Anya. There was no way he had allowed this all to get to this . Levi felt his blood run cold. His body felt numb and for a moment he felt like he had stopped breathing. Just the thought of somebody touching her in ways that only he was allowed to, was enough to make his stomach twist and churn. How dare they touch his sweet little angel with their filthy hands? How dare they touch what she trusted only him with? How dare they look at the parts of that she only wanted him to see?
He was going to make those people pay. He was going to torture them and he was going to enjoy it greatly. Though, he did want to believe that this man was lying. This man was only trying to make him snap. He was only trying to break Humanity's Strongest. No, this man was lying. They hadn't touched his Anya.
He couldn't believe it or else he'd go insane .
Historia sighed, the scene in front of her causing havoc to run through her mind. "I'll let you know in 48" she said as she turned on her heel and walked away, grabbing her daughter from Reiner's arms as she made her way up the stairs, ignoring the body laid at the top of the staircase as she stepped over it, making her way to her daughters room.
Hitch sighed as she pulled the nightgown off the ground. She didn't want to believe her eyes. No - the blood was concentrated in one area. She held up the gown to Mikasa, closing one eye and trying to picture Anya's form wearing it. No. she thought as she looked at Levi, still on the ground, still on his knees, a look of utter disbelief and shock on his face. His pupils dilated, his fists clenched.
No, it can't be...She was...
"...Levi..." Hitch spoke, holding back a sob as she called his attention to the nightgown. "Levi. She... She was ..." She couldn't control it anymore. To think, they had done all of this, just to get back at them . She gritted her teeth impossibly tight, her jaw ached. Monsters. How dare they? They should have killed someone in this room, anyone, at this point, but not a child. Not an innocent, unborn, precious little life. "We... We were right. She was pregnant,"