~ 5 ~
"The ones that love us least, are the ones we'll die to please."
~ Paul Westerberg
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The incident with the policemen was now a few months ago, most of Charlotte's wounds were completely healed, they actually healed a lot faster than anyone expected.
The doctor did a good job stitching up her wounds so there would mostly be no marks left. But there was this one on her shoulder, the spot where she got shot...
It left an ugly scar.
Levi and Charlotte were just sitting next to each other at a table in their house. Levi was wordlessly cleaning his knife while Charlotte was eating an apple and had a cup of tea standing in front of her.
Her blue and brown eyes looked forward at the four boys and Furlan, that where sitting a little distance away. She listened to what they were saying, taking another sip from her tea.
"Stop slurping." Levi spoke from beside her, still having his eyes fixated on his knife.
Charlotte only rolled her eyes and put the cup down again, continuing to eat her apple.
"Here, your reward for the last two times." Furlan spoke, handing the three boys their earned money.
Then he turned around to the fourth one, also handing him the money, but by the way of how Furlan was holding the money and the reaction of the boy, Charlotte knew that he gave him some extra for some reason. She only squinted her eyes and took another bite from her apple.
"Stop smacking." Levi commented once again.
"I'm not!" She argued back. Levi laid his knife on the table, holding out his open palm to Charlotte.
Without needing to think, she handed him her own knife, pulling it out of her pocket and laying it in his hand. He immediately began to clean it as well. At this point, the boys began to leave.
"Let's go, bye!"
"Yo!"
"Work has gotten loads easier since we got our hands on ODM gear." Furlan spoke after they left, turning to Levi and Charlotte now. "And everyone gets a better cut."
"Some of us seem to get more of it." Levi spoke emotionlessly.
Charlotte only steadied her head on her palm, looking at Furlan with her big blue and brown eyes before taking another bite of her apple.
"...What he means is, why did you give Yan more than the others?" She asked with a full mouth, making Levi's eyebrow twitch. Furlan didn't say anything at first.
"Why's that?" Levi calmly asked him.
"...Well, I'm sure you noticed that Yan's leg is only getting worse lately. Medicine is far too expensive and the price keeps going up. Shit, it's all because of these damn Underground merchants." Furlan said, seeming very bothered by it.
"And did you two hear that the stair toll went up again?" Charlotte asked, not looking up from her apple.
"Yes." Levi answered shortly, while Furlan's face only went sour.
"All the stairs can name their own price, so they charge whatever they want. Even if you pay enough to leave, you just get deported if you're not a resident of the surface. It's why so many people get bad legs here—lack of sunlight. Not that they can do anything about it." Furlan said, his eyes looking deep in thought.
"Your mother suffered from this as well, didn't she?" Levi started, still not looking up at the blonde male. "So that's why...still, it looked like a chunk of change."
"It's severance pay. He can't do this anymore. Hopefully, it'll help him find a good hospital." Furlan answered, slumping down on the sofa and looking down with a sad look.
"I see."
"How much money do we have to save, to finally get out of this shithole?" Furlan asked no one in particular.
Fuck knows...
All of a sudden, they heard a loud bang from outside, making Levi and Furlan instantly jump to their feet. Levi handed Charlotte her knife back, before taking his own.
Charlotte took her knife, also standing up while still holding her almost finished apple in hand.
Furlan positioned himself next to the door, nodding to both Levi and Charlotte before opening the door with one swift motion.
Instantly, a person came crashing through the door, landing harshly on the ground. It was a girl with red hair bound into two low ponytails. Charlotte only raised an eyebrow at her.
"Oh man, just some kid? Don't scare us like that." Furlan said, also looking down at her.
"....I'm not a kid...I'm not...a kid!" She spoke up, glaring up at them, still laying on the ground in this weird position, like she was holding her stomach. Charlotte stepped a few steps forward, now standing next to Levi.
"You're not? Then I wont feel bad for chasing you out." Levi spoke in his monotone voice. "I'm just gonna forget that you made my floor dirty, so get lost." He said rudely. The girl didn't react at all.
"Why are you laying like that, can't you stand up?" Charlotte asked from beside Levi, her face not giving off any emotion in particular.
"I can move! Just chill out!" She answered, slowly moving her arms away from her stomach to stand up, revealing a little bird in a tiny nest in her hand. Charlotte's eyes immediately widened in interest.
"A feisty one." Furlan commented.
"Over there!" They heard a voice yell from a distance, the girl falling over while attempting to stand up.
"Tch, you were chased here?" Levi said, upon hearing the man's voices.
Charlotte stepped forward to look outside the door beside Furlan, seeing three men come around.
"Dammit! That brat bit the hell out of me! If we get her, I want to have fun with her first..." One of them commented, laughing.
"What do you want with a rug rat like her?" Another said.
Then, they noticed the three people standing in the doorway. The shouted up at them.
"Hey! You see a filthy brat around here?!" He yelled.
"That's all there is 'round here." Furlan answered calmly.
"Heh!?" He grunted, slowly taking his way up the stairs and to their door, his companions following behind.
"Are you guys the local thugs?" He asked, his eyes trailing to Charlotte. "And aren't you...." He trailed off, unconsciously placing his hand near his eyes for a second.
"What now?" Furlan asked, amusement on his face.
Now the three of them were blocking the entrance, Charlotte in the middle. Her face remained neutral for now.
Now the man had a good view on the girl sitting behind them on the floor. "There she is!" He said surprised.
"What a surprise...is she yours?!" He asked angrily.
"No." Furlan answered.
"Then you've got no reason to protect her. Hand her over!"
"After all, the brat tried to plow through Stair 11 without paying the fee." The second man explained.
Furlan's and Levi's eyes widened in surprise, while Charlotte only raised an eyebrow, a slight smile creeping into her face as she took a quick look back at the elder girl. The red head was just staring at the ground.
If you try to escape like an idiot, at least don't get caught. But respect anyways.
"Surely you know...Stair 11 is the official stairway of Councilor Lovof." The man spoke. "Even though she botched it, just trying is bad enough..."
"And if you guys and the brat shelter her, you're guilty, too." He said, referring to Furlan, Levi and Charlotte.
Charlotte swirled her knife around her hand, ready to jump them if they tried something.
"So hand her over already!" The third man shouted.
The leader took a step forward, right into their direction. That was enough for Charlotte.
She threw her knife at him, perfectly hitting his shoulder.
"AH!" He cried out in pain, his friends behind him stiff in shock.
But they didn't have time to react at all, because Charlotte already jumped forward with a great force.
She jumped down the stairs and on top of the shoulder of the man she just pierced. With one swift motion, she grasped the knife, pulled it out, only to slice it across the eyes of the second man, making him stumble back and fall to the ground, screaming.
She landed on the ground again. Looking up at the third man, who looked more than puzzled, mixed with fear.
While the first two men where whining loudly, Charlotte stepped forward. She kicked the third man in the balls harshly, making him sink to the ground with a silent yell.
She turned around, walking back to the door nonchalantly. "You dirty pigs can't just come inside here. That makes Levi Aniki all upset and shit." She told them in a loud voice.
Furlan grabbed his face, trying to hold in his laugh, before he too stepped forward. "Ne, don't you know that we find hygiene very important here?" He asked the crying men. "Wash yourself and then come back!"
The two man grabbed their friend with the sliced eyes, who was clearly crying the most. "They're all completely sick! Let's go!"
Charlotte looked at her bloody knife, which was grabbed from her hand by Levi, him immediately begging to clean it.
Furlan put his hand on Charlotte's head. "You're violent for a child." He stated.
"Is that something new to you?"
"No."
"Hey, how long are you planning to press it against your stomach? You'll crush it." Levi spoke to the red haired girl on the ground.
She seemed surprised. "But! I thought it likes to be warm!"
"Why do you have a bird?" Furlan asked, looking down on the little bird in her hands.
"I think it flew through a crack and got lost." She answered.
"And you wanted to let him free?" Charlotte asked her, not completely convinced by her.
"Yeah! That's what I wanted."
Furlan seemed shocked. "Don't tell me, you bust through the stairs for a bird?!" Now all three of them stared at her.
"The little one belongs in the sky and not unter the ground..." She reasoned.
Charlotte kneeled down beside her. "Can I take a look at him?" She asked, holding her hands out to her.
The red head hesitated for a moment. This child just took down three grown men. But she saved her as well.
She handed her the little bird.
Charlotte examined it for a second, lightly grabbing his wings to take a better look.
"Hmmm...his wings are broken, he can't fly either way." She said.
"Huh? Really now?!"
So they doctored the little bird. Furlan held him still while Charlotte wrapped little bandages around his wings.
"This is all we can do, we don't really have other supplies." She said, holding the bird out for the red head to see.
"You're good at that!" She said with big eyes, now sitting on the sofa with the other two thugs.
"Oh! What are your names? I'm Isabelle."
"I'm Charlotte. That's Furlan." Charlotte said, pointing at Furlan beside her. "And that's my big brother Levi." She said, pointing at Levi that was sitting on a chair, away from them.
"Sister Charlie...Furlan...and Levi Aniki!"
Charlie?
"Heh? Aniki?" Levi asked slowly. Charlotte deadpanned, he would never change.
Isabelle seemed a bit embarrassed. "Uhm! Listen here! I really want to join you!"
"Eh?"
"You're the one's who use ODM gear, right? I've seen you! Even you Charlie, but it seems a bit big on you!" She said with big eyes, Charlotte only scraped her neck cheekily.
"I've always been envious. You can fly around like birds! I wanna do that, too!" Isabelle explained with excitement.
Charlotte only grinned at her, while Furlan had a small smile on his face, turning to Levi. "Well?" He said, asking his companion for his approval.
Levi stood up, walking past them, but Isabelle didn't want to give up. "Please!"
He seemed to give in. "If you wanna stay, learn to clean before you learn ODM gear." He said.
"Huh? What?!"
Charlotte stood up as well, showing Isabelle a thumbs up. "He's accepted you." She told her, giving her a small smile before leaving as well.
"Thank you, Aniki!" She heard Isabelle shout from inside, making her smirk.
Outside, Charlotte saw Levi already waiting for her. Gang members were standing outside of their door, probably having heard about the incident already.
Charlotte went down the first pair of steps, fist bumping every single one of them.
Then, she stayed still and looked at Levi. "Imma give her a chance. I don't think she's a spy or something. Well hopefully not." Charlotte spoke to her brother, walking past him and jumping down the remaining stairs.
"I'm going to Tommy's bar. You wanna come?" She asked, looking back at him. He didn't answer, just started to walkt in her direction, indicating a 'yes'.
"Don't think I don't know about the alcohol Tom sometimes gives you, stop that." Levi commanded, walking beside her, his eyes staring forward.
"Sure...I'll stop." She said nonchalantly, making Levi grunt at her lie.
While the two of them were walking down the paths of the underground, Charlotte stared up at the brown and dark "sky".
"Aniki?" She asked, her hands in her pockets and her eyes up.
"Hm?"
"Can you not leave me alone here?" She asked, making Levi frown.
"Why would you ask that?" He asked back at her, now looking at her from the side.
Charlotte only shrugged, but her face seemed bothered. "I just don't wanna be left alone."
again.
Levi sighed, returning his eyes to the path before them.
"Yeah...I won't, I would never."
That made Charlotte smile a little. "Thank's." She said, now looking up at him with a bigger smile.
"Love you, Aniki."
"...."
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