Chapter Text
Levi wouldn't call his life amazing. Really, he would, and does, call it shitty, and Isabel gets on at him for that, but it is and they all know it. Life in the underground is never good, and they've had it hard enough with simply surviving in the mud and filth of the underground without the military police, and occasionally the survey corps, on their tails, too.
They'd had a few close calls with the survey corps, but managed to slip through their fingers in the end.
They'd gotten their attention with the use of their own gear- stolen from the illegal market that was run down there- and how they managed to train themselves with it. They'd had to tweak the gear to work better in the underground, but Isabel was smart with gear and tech and had upgraded it.
Years later, and they still used that gear. The trio had made quite a name for themselves in the underground between their skill in stealth and thievery and combat as well. Even if they had a reputation that made the clever not challenge them and kept them somewhat safe out of fear, life was still as horrendous as it always would be in the underground. Now, they just had to deal with muggings and murder attempts every three days instead of every day and they occasionally got to drink some tea if they got their hands on it.
Levi did suppose it could be worse, though. He could still be stuck with Kenny, for example, or he could not have Isabel and Farlan by his side. Sometimes it felt like they were the only reason he ate or tried some days.
Today, in what the underground assumed was the morning- he really had no sense of day or night, of any time, and he doubted anyone else did down here, when there was no light to judge it- was eerie. There was a sense of foreboding and dread in his stomach that he couldn't shake, and it got worse as time went on. He ignored when Isabel and Farlan asked if he was okay, and couldn't help how he subconsciously kept closer to them, his hand flying to the hilt of one of his many hidden knives at the slightest sound or movement. If something was happening, it wouldn't happen to either of those two.
He stood by the boarded window of their house as they ate a poor breakfast, narrowed eyes peering out of the cracks to the streets full of zombie-like people wandering, bags under their eyes, tense with the always present threat of danger, exhausted to the bone and malnourished and cold. He didn't feel sorry for them. Feeling sorry for people got you killed.
"Oh, Levi! Stop being such a sour-puss, come eat with us!" Isabel called from behind him, and when he glanced over, she was pouting, her bottom lip jutting out. He rolled his eyes lightly, but moved away from the window and over to where they sat by the small kitchen table.
“I’m not hungry, Isabel,” Levi responded, but he picked up the glass of clean water they’d poured for him. After a quick inspection of the liquid and the glass, he deemed it safe enough to drink and took a swig. Isabel and Farlan often called him a neat freak, and Levi chose to ignore how, through the years, his cleaning habits and disgust with the rats and bugs down here had gotten worse- becoming more of an obsession with cleaning and a phobia of the dirt and the rats and the bugs. He’d been vomiting and shaking after drinking from a glass and finding a dead bug at the bottom of the glass, and he’d played it off as an illness instead of a humiliating reaction to a harmless, dead bug. Sure, it was gross, but even remembering that had Levi holding himself back from gagging and throwing up again.
And anyhow, food had been scarce lately- the military police always loved to make life harder for the people living in the underground, and for the past week they’d taken to ransacking peoples’ houses for food or anything of value. Hell- he’d even seen someone’s shitty mattress get dragged out of their house and ruined in the mud and filth outside. So, until the military police got fed up with this mean streak again, Levi chose to give most of his food to Isabel or Farlan. They needed it more, anyway.
“You’re gonna become skin and bones, Levi,” Farlan commented teasingly, taking a bit from the bread he was eating.
“I still actually eat. I’m just not having a piece of bread and shitty jam for breakfast today,” Levi retorted, lips ghosting the rim of his glass of water.
“Oh, Levi-aniki’s in a bad mood tonight,” Isabel hummed, a sly smile on her lips.
Levi gave her another eye roll. “Something’s wrong today. I can feel it,” he muttered, one hand rubbing his opposite upper arm.
“I’m sure it’s nothing, Levi. C’mon, we’ll finish this and how about we go to our little spot, then. No one else knows where it is, and we can chill for a while,” Farlan offered. Levi pursed his lips, glancing around, before giving a small nod. That’d be nice.
“Sure, yeah. Let’s do that,” he agreed, his lips twitching up in a small smile.
Isabel threw her arms in the air with a cheer slightly muffled by the bread she’d stuffed into her mouth. She said something enthusiastically that he couldn’t really make out through the bread muffling her voice, but he snorted softly at her, even if there was a small smile on his face.
“Well? Hurry up then, Isabel, we’re waiting on you,” Levi stated when he noticed Farlan had finished eating.
Less than a minute later and they were helping one another into their 3DM gear and stepping outside.
People moved out of the way for them, not wanting to chance their luck and get into trouble with any of the trio, but Levi heard the whispers. Levi the Knife, Levi the Cat, Levi the Shadow, Levi this and Levi that, because Levi was the most confrontational out of the three of them, and even they constantly asked him to teach him how he’d learned to fight like he did. Levi taught them how to defend themselves, and ignored when they asked where he’d learned how to fight.
The sunlight hurt his eyes when they came into the small opening, and he had to blink a few times to get used to it. The sky they could see was bright blue, with only one cloud in sight, and it cast shadows down into the cavern they sat in.
Levi leaned against the dirt wall, leaning one elbow on his knee. He turned his face into the sun rays that reached down to them. Here, odd patches of grass grew, and there was even one flower, small and frail, but still there, and Isabel was sitting on the ground by it, head tilted up and a wide smile on her face.
Farlan settled beside Levi, leaning back on his hands. He closed his eyes and soaked in the sun, letting out a content sigh.
“D’you really think we’ll ever get to live out there?” Farlan asked after a moment.
Levi raised an eyebrow slighty. “Maybe,” he nodded. He paused for a moment, before nodding once more. “Yes,” he said instead, turning back to look at him. Farlan’s lips twitched up slightly, and the blonde looked towards the hole above them.
“I hope so,” he said softly.
“Tch. Stop hoping, idiot, it’s already going to happen. I’ve promised you both that I’ll get you out there,” Levi responded dismissively, and Farlan smiled wider.
“Of course, Levi,” he grinned, and Levi returned it softly.
“Trust Levi-aniki, Farlan! He said he’d bring us outside, he will!” Isabel exclaimed from where she sat by the flower, her eyes glittering in the sunlight.
Farlan beamed at the girl, and threw his arm around Levi next to him, pulling him against his chest with a laugh when he lost his balance slightly, gripping the back of his shirt.
“I’d never doubt Levi!” He stated, tightening his hold on the shorter male when he tried to wiggle out of his grip.
“Cause Levi’s such a nice, generous, loving, thoughtful, caring-“
“Don’t forget sweet-natured!” Isabel perked up, grinning at Levi’s scowl and reddening cheeks.
“Oh, of course! He has a heart of pure gold, too!”
“Pure, pure gold right there,” Isabel nodded.
“You two can live out your life down here,” Levi grumbled, finally managed to slip out of Farlan’s grip without resorting to force or violence.
Farlan snorted, finally letting out his laughter, and Isabel pouted her bottom lip out again.
“You can’t get rid of us, Levi! You’ll always be haunted by us!” Isabel declared, and then she plucked the delicate flower from the ground and strode over to the boys. She pulled open Levi’s pocket on his chest and dropped the little plant in it.
“That’s what I’ll possess when you’re living it up with the nobles and Farlan and I are kicking it in the kitchen with our pet rat,” Isabel said, sticking her tongue out. Levi rolled his eyes and nudged her slightly.
“Alright, Isabel,” he responded with a snort. The girl slid down to sit next to them, wedging herself between the boys.
For a while, they were quiet. They watched the clouds through the hole pass by, listened to the birds and far off chatter they could hear, and enjoyed the peace they got.
Levi had been deep in thought when a sudden commotion from where they’d came from caught his attention, and all three of them whipped their heads around to the narrow tunnel they’d squeezed through.
“Should we go?” Isabel asked quietly when, after multiple moments passed and the commotion- indistinct yells, general clatter and chaos.
Levi narrowed his eyes, pushing himself to his feet.
“We have our gear,” he said, “we can go check it out at least. It could be something important,” he decided, and received nods from Isabel and Farlan.
They squeezed their way back into the city, keeping to the shadows and moving silently until they got to the main streets and city centre where they found the source of commotion. Unsurprisingly, it was the military police morning’s patrol. Levi knew this group tended to be more sadistic than the others.
Now, they were laughing at the remnants of a food stall they’d just trashed, and the elderly man who had been in charge of it was on the ground, looking up at the taunting police.
Levi clenched his jaw, balled his hands into fists and glared at the military police in disgust. They were spineless, ball-less, repulsive cowards. Levi had known the man to be a kind, generous person, one of the few who existed and wasn’t taken advantage of in the underground.
Isabel set her hand on his shoulder, and shook her head.
“They won’t hurt him. It’s not worth it,” she whispered. Levi kept his mouth shut, but forced his hands to relax.
Levi tried to ignore the ruthless laughter that came from the pigs, ignored the way people with hollowed out cheeks and sunken eyes eyed the mud-covered stale bread and bruised apples. One person- a god damned child- snatched one of the filthy apples.
Levi slid back into the shadows, turned around tensely. He’d hope that someone got to them before he did, to save his hands getting dirty with their filthy blood.
Farlan led the way as they went back into the alleys away from the scene.
“They’re disgusting cowards,” Levi snapped as he leaned against the wall.
Isabel gave him a sad smile and a nod. “I know. But it won’t be forever,” she offered. Levi had a retort on his tongue, but like always when it came to either Isabel or Farlan, it died, and he simply nodded.
“Let’s head back home, then, before they can raid anything,” Farlan stepped in, and Levi nodded. When Farlan took off with a whiz from his gear, he and Isabel followed behind him, blocking out the yells that called after them.