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It had become something of a daily ritual now, the handing off of food and the small smiles and thanks in return. Erwin had given the small boy, Matthias, Levi reminded himself, his name is Matthias, their address in the hopes that one day they might come to them if they needed anything. But up until now, the only times Levi and Erwin interacted with the children was during their food exchanges. More often than not, the oldest boy, Alexis would come alone, leaving the younger children in their den to keep them safe. Both men fervently hoped that he would start to trust them sooner rather than later, because fall was quickly approaching and with it came quickly dropping temperatures. The last thing they wanted was for the small pack to be left with little to no protection from the elements, but until they fully gained the trust of the oldest boy, it would be impossible to help them.
But over the past few days, it seemed as though Alexis was finally beginning to trust them a little more. He would often linger at their table, or offer them a few words of thanks, before rushing off to feed his pack. While Erwin had picked up on these small cues, he knew that they would only progress at the pace Alexis set. Erwin had begun asking small probing questions, ones that seemed innocent, but would give him better information on Alexis and his pack and more often than not, Alexis was willing to stick around a little longer and answer them.
Erwin mused on this while he and Levi waited at their usual table for Alexis to make his appearance. A small gasp and squeeze of Erwin’s thigh had him looking over his shoulder at what had surprised Levi. Alexis was peering from around the corner, but with him were two other children. Levi was sure that the fair haired girl was the one they had seen before, but the smaller child was a new addition that neither Levi or Erwin had expected. As the three children made their way towards them, Erwin and Levi waited with bated breath to greet the newcomers.
Alexis was the first to approach, making sure to keep the others behind his skinny frame. When he reached the table, he nervously looked between Erwin and Levi, gauging their reaction to his companions. Slowly he brought them forwards and introduced them to the two men.
“Erwin, Levi, these two followed me here. Asta and Emilia are a part of my pack, along with my brother and Iason.”
He motioned first to the girl on his left, then to the girl on his right,
“Asta’s been with us for a few seasons and we found Emilia in the spring.”
Erwin was the first to react, extending his arm out to carefully shake hands with the newly introduced girls. He murmured a quiet hello to both of them before letting Levi introduce himself. Rather than offer his hand, he brusquely offered the three children thick slices of the slightly sweet loaf he had been sharing with Erwin.
“As long as you three are here you might as well eat here too.”
Asta was quick to take the offered slice, sinking her teeth in and savoring the honeyed flavor. Levi was sure the kids hadn’t tasted any sweetened food in a long time, so he made sure to have another three slices ready before he offered the first set. Alexis took his slice with a small smile and thanks, nibbling carefully at the treat to indulge his sweet tooth for as long as possible. Levi was left with one slice of bread and a little girl staring blankly at him. Levi let out a long sigh,
“Kid, this one’s for you so hurry up and take it before my arm falls off.”
That finally startled a laugh out of the smallest child, yet instead of reaching for the food she raised her small arms up to Levi in an unmistakable gesture of ‘up’. Levi looked to Alexis, unsure of whether the boy would accept him picking up the smaller child. Alexis and Asta both laughed when they realized Levi’s situation, and Asta piped up,
“You’re gonna wanna pick her up. If not she’ll cry and cry and cry. And Alexis already had to leave Matti crying this morning, I don’t wanna hear no more crying today.”
Slowly and gently, Levi placed the little girl in his lap and broke of a smaller piece of bread to hand to her when she settled. Soon all three children were busy licking the sweetness off their fingers while Erwin and Levi watched attentively. Erwin more so than Levi, as Levi was also busy trying to keep Emilia’s sticky hands away from his clothes. But Emilia was nothing if not persistent and soon she had a tight hold of Levi’s shirt in one hand and was waving around a piece of the sweetbread in the other, spilling crumbs all over his lap in the process. Erwin had captured Asta’s attention and she was staring at him in fascination, while he asked Alexis about the wellbeing of his pack.
Eventually it seemed that Alexis had taken pity on Levi and his ruined outfit, because he quickly scooped up the child and balanced her on his hip.
“’M sorry she made your shirt dirty Levi. It was an accident, I swear it wasn’t a’purpose.”
Erwin was sure Levi was going to readily disagree with the boy, but was pleasantly surprised when his normally fussy partner just waved it off,
“She’s a kid, of course she’s messy. It’s fine Alexis. Now you should be getting back to the others before it gets dark, especially with the girls with you.”
Rather than argue, Alexis motioned for Asta to take the proffered bundle and with a quick chorus of ‘thank you’ and ‘goodbye’ the children were off. The two men watched them go before packing up their own things and heading back home.
While the small group made its way back to their den, night had fallen and the activity in the town had slowly dwindled and concentrated mainly around the few drinking houses. Normally Alexis would plow straight through the groups of drunk people, not caring whether he was jostled or yelled at, so long as he made it back quickly before the pickpockets and thieves came out to rob the intoxicated. But with Asta and Emila with him, he resigned himself to a long walk home as they skirted the edge of the town putting distance and buildings between themselves and the night goers.
The trio walked along the outskirts, nearing the ever present mound of junk where most of the townspeople left their trash and preparing their noses for the inevitable stink. As they quickly made their way past the rubbish pile, a small cry caught their attention. Emilia was the first to stop the other two children,
“Lexi, Asta, didja hear it? It’s a kitty!”
Alexis turned back towards the dump, hoping that whatever was out there would keep quiet, otherwise Emilia would refuse to leave until he tried to catch it and bring it home with them. Please, please, please…
And there it was again. A soft and slightly muffled cry that had Emilia immediately running towards it. Alexis let a small groan escape his lips before tugging Asta along with him to drag Emilia back with them to the den.
“Come on Emilia, we don’t have time for this. Let’s go home and share what Erwin and Levi gave us.”
Emilia was standing over a slightly covered basket when Alexis and Asta finally caught up with her. Her eyes were trained on the contents of the basket and she had gone very still. She reached for Alexis’ hand and tugged him closer, bringing him into view of the basket’s occupant.
She was so tiny. Alexis assumed it was a girl because of the squalid pink blanket that covered her, but he wouldn’t know for sure until he checked. Asta immediately knelt down and stretched her hand out to test the infant’s reaction. The little one’s cries were faint, but Asta was happy to find that the small fingers wrapped around her pinky were still strong. She turned to Alexis,
“We need to take her to Erwin.”
And for once Alexis was quick to agree.
He carried her slowly, tucked into his ragged jacket as the three of them made their way back to the den. Asta ran ahead, ensuring the path they took was clear of prying eyes and drunken fights. Emilia clung tightly to the back of his jacket, instinctively knowing that this was a time for her to be as quiet as possible.
Matthias and Iason were waiting in their den and promptly ran up to see what Alexis had wrapped up in his jacket. The younger boys drew back when they saw the infant and looked at Alexis and the girls with worry and questions in their eyes. Alexis turned to his younger brother, his face the most serious Matthias had ever seen it,
“Matti, do you still have the paper Erwin gave you? We need to go to his house right now.”
Matthias eagerly ran towards his blanket pile, knowing that Erwin’s special paper was tucked into his warmest blanket. With a triumphant cry, he held up a small slip of paper and brought it over to Alexis along with the blanket it had been hidden in.
Alexis looked over his pack and made brief eye contact with all four of them before carefully transferring the baby into Matthias’ blanket. She was so quiet now, and it made Alexis uneasy, Matthias had always been a loud child, and to have such a quiet baby in his arms was unsettling. He needed to get her to Erwin and Levi soon, it was the only thing he was sure of. Addressing his pack, he knelt to the younger kids’ eye level,
“I need all of you to stay here. I don’t know how long this will take, but you need to stay quiet and stay in here. Asta, you and Iason are in charge until I get back, keep them safe.”
The two older children, nodded seriously and began herding the younger ones back to their bed pile as Alexis checked the address once more, then headed back out into the darkness.
Levi was up late once again, insomnia and bad dreams chasing sleep far away from him, and in his mind, straight into Erwin. Erwin had turned in early and had been snoring upstairs for the past few hours, while Levi stayed in the kitchen nursing a cup of tea and a small book on biology that Hanji had lent him. He supposed he should be getting to bed, but he really didn’t want to have to deal with the snoring and pillow hogging monster that currently resided in their bedroom, so maybe he would read one more chapter and then turn in.
Or maybe he should get to bed now since he was sure hallucinations had set in and had him thinking someone was knocking on the cottage door.
And was that a baby crying?
He wearily made his way to the door, halfway convinced he was dreaming the whole thing. Except that Alexis was shivering on his front steps and he was quite sure that the wiggling, squalling bundle in the boy’s arms was most definitely a child. Without saying a word, he let the boy and his charge in, and herded them into the kitchen. Alexis rapidly began babbling as soon as he saw that Levi wasn’t going to kick him back onto the street,
“Levi I’m sorry. I didn’t know where to go and we found her in the trash and she’s so little and she started crying on the way here and I left the pack alone and I didn’t know where else to go…”
Levi’s hand on Alexis’ shoulder halted the flow of words and with a small nudge, he pushed the boy into the empty chair and jerked his thumb upwards,
“I should go wake Erwin…”