Capítulo 47: Chapter 47 The Clash
Levi traded blows back and forth with Kenny, shocked at how one sided the fight was swiftly becoming. Kenny's eyes were glowing red, that extra push of strength within him had awakened. Yet despite how it had always been enough to push him to victory in the past, Kenny was proving to be too much. Levi had dropped into something of a fighting retreat for a while now, and yet it seemed with every step his time was coming closer and closer.
Another punch was blocked by his arm, but Levi's limbs were getting worn ragged by the constant attacks. Every block was becoming harder and harder, and things needed to change. As Kenny threw another cross towards him, Levi sidestepped and caught it, flipping Kenny over and onto the mans back. Kenny may have had an advantage over Levi, but they were still close enough for Levi to deal some damage.
With Kenny temporarily immobilised, Levi leapt away from him, only to immediately come under attack by other MP's. These were a troop from the headquarters, and rode through the street on their horses and fired up at him with muskets. It was much less of a threat than the Ki users had been, but it was almost enough to catch him fully off guard.
Several rounds smacked against his back, his Ki hardened skin strong enough to resist them, but it still hurt like hell. As he soared away, Levi watched as one MP who was following him with his gun and aiming to fire, was suddenly thrown from his seat by a flying kick. Erwin moved to the next MP and the next, crashing through each of them with powerful blows and careful strikes of the sword with his blunt ends.
Levi's attention was soon wrested back to Kenny however as the man recovered and chased after him. Levi made sure to keep his distance however, wondering if perhaps he could leverage the age difference between them and make Kenny exhaust himself first. There seemed to be signs he was right, as Kenny seemed slower and slower in catching up to him. Eventually, after Levi leapt away from him again, he seemed to stop entirely.
The blow to Levi's back proved that had not been accidental however.
Levi was thrown back towards Kenny, who caught him and slammed him down into the rooftop beneath his feet, tiles shattering and beams of wood bending and breaking.
"You just don't know when to quit, do ya boy?"
Levi growled but hesitated on immediately lashing out at Kenny. If the man wanted to gloat, maybe it was best to let him do so.
"You son of a bitch," Levi didn't need to fake the venom in his voice, "why the hell is a man like you working with the Military Police!?"
"It's a funny little world ain't it?" He paused to hold out his hand as one of his MP lackeys threw him a new hat that he slipped on proudly. "People like you and I, I guess we just had to find something in life we're good at. Truth is, all you need in life is a hobby, something to enjoy. I've found mine, and thanks to little Gohan it's more than I ever dreamed was possible."
He held up a ball of Ki with fascination, looking at it with an almost obsessive glee.
"We really didn't know a damn thing in this world did we? Not when there was a secret like this just waiting to be unleashed. I feel decades younger already."
He punctuated his remark by kicking at the edge of the building, parts of the wall and roof flying away as he did so. Levi stumbled with the shake of the house but recovered quickly to leap away. Kenny held out his hand, Ki blast at the ready but Levi struck first.
"SOLAR FLARE!"
The next time he saw Gohan, he owed him a big thank you for teaching him that move. Kenny's Ki blast went wide, Levi had no time to spare a thought for anyone who might have been caught in the attack.
"LEVI!"
Eld's voice rang out from the street, he and Erwin were saddled up on two of the horses with others held tight by the reigns. He flew down and landed on one of the horses, whipping the reigns as all three of them took off headed towards the wall. They would be out in the open field before then, which would hopefully be enough to break free of their pursuers.
"Where are the others!?"
"Gunther is covering us ahead, Oluo and Petra are gone!"
Levi's heart went cold. Two of his men, some of the strongest soldiers he had trained and led, now gone. He swallowed it down, he didn't have time to mourn them, only to focus on the ride.
Cresting over a rooftop, Gunther was wrapped around an MP as they fought. Gunther kicked the man away, the MP's crashing into the gutter of a building and bending around the back. Despite the gargle of pain from his lips, the MP did not stop. Sitting himself up he aimed his gun on Gunther as he landed on one of their horses.
Not even seconds after mounting up, Gunther's horse was shot out from underneath him, flipping him over the top and crashing down into the street. He moved quickly, flying up and towards the spare horse that Erwin held. As his fingertips touched the reigns, a Ki blast hit him in the back and exploded.
A smoke cloud disappeared him from view as they raced away, and by the time they were down the street Levi could see what his senses had already confirmed for him. Gunther's body lay still in the street, Kenny stood over him in smug victory. Levi wanted to turn back, to face Kenny down for the murders of his comrades.
But he couldn't.
The buildings fell away as they broke out into the open country. Other MP's moved to follow on horseback but were ordered to halt, waiting for a more sizeable force for pursuit.
"Messages will be sent to the districts," Erwin began, "they will know to arrest us on sight. The Military Police will attempt to arrest the entire regiment as well. When we reach Stohess we will need a disguise, keep an eye out for any farms or villages."
Eld shouted a confirmation but Levi was silent, only pure rage running through his veins. "Erwin… what's the plan?"
He wasn't just asking Erwin the next step, and the man knew it, Levi wanted to know how they were going to get their revenge.
"We need to find a way to get in touch with Dot. This attack likely occurred due to our growing power and influence, the nobility is scared, nobody else could be behind the attack. We will need Pixis and the Garrison on our side to address the balance."
"What about Gohan?" Eld asked, knowing that if they had wanted power, the Saiyan was the strongest being they had.
"I'm afraid he may no longer be an option."
"WHAT!?"
"This attack was coordinated to remove the military leadership. Nile and the premier are dead, we are wanted for their murder. The Military Police will rally to whoever their new leadership is chosen to be, one handpicked by the nobility undoubtedly. However, removing the Scout regiment will require the removal of our strongest personnel. We have seen their attempt on us today, there is no doubt that they will try to remove Gohan as well."
"No." Levi cut in with a shake of his head. "Gohan is the strongest of us, and today we fought the strongest of theirs. There's no way that they could have many more Ki users, not when they must have been taught by Caven and Kuno. More than that, Kenny was among them, if there was to be violence then he is their strongest. They can't bring violence against Gohan, they're not strong enough."
"Coercion then." Erwin agreed, noting that as if on cue, he could make out the sight of messenger birds flying out from Mitras. Many likely carried orders for their arrest, but at least one other would carry the orders for whatever their step two plan had been.
With the moments of silence that followed, Eld and Levi hung their heads in silence. They still did not have proper time to accept the losses of their comrades, to mourn them and their death. But they did have time to stew on it, to let their anger flow through them and their breath turn short. Rage billowed in the two soldiers, and they both vowed that their comrades would be avenged.
There was a series of knocks at the doors, and with a shout of confirmation they were all allowed inside. Keith Shadis had wondered when they would come, when his little secret would be revealed and the others would come for answers. Eren stood at the head of them, the one who most wanted answers, but he had the rest of his closest from the 104th with him alongside a woman Keith had never known.
"You knew my father."
It was biting, but it was no accusation. Only a simple statement as Keith got all the confirmation he needed that they knew the truth, or enough of it at least.
"I did."
"Mom told me that the only person he was ever close with was you, and that if anyone knew the secrets my father held it was you. Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell anyone?"
Keith leaned back in his chair, sagging as the energy was already leaving him. He interlaced his fingers in his lap as he remembered the day he met Grisha.
"The day I met your father was a day like any other. I wasn't the commander or anyone of significance, just another grunt trying to fight against impossible odds. I found him wandering alone outside of the walls, and when I asked him how he'd gotten there he claimed he didn't know. What else was I to believe? He was too shocked that we were fighting the Titans to reveal anything else. I brought him inside the walls, he was arrested, but eventually he was released and I explained things to him. He told me he had no idea how he had ended up outside the walls, he remembered none of his past save his name and that he was a doctor."
Keith sighed as he remembered the day he'd introduced Grisha at the hospital, oh the arguments he'd had to go through to give him the chance to prove himself. "He wanted me to teach him, about the Scouts and life inside of the walls. I took him to a bar to explain everything, that's where he met your mother, when Carla was a waitress there."
He noticed the woman's eyes widen, how she seemed to gasp and the hurt in her eyes. "He moved on so quickly…" She leaned forwards, looking at him with a desperate hope. "Did he-…? Did he ever mention someone? Someone else?"
He eyed her for a while before he relented. "He came to me once, telling me he felt he had feelings for someone, before he and Carla started dating. But he came to me hesitant, claiming he thought there was another he belonged to, but that he feared he would never see them again. I… encouraged him to move on, to accept that she was lost and he would never find her."
He didn't mention that it had hurt him tremendously when he found out that Grisha had been talking about Carla, given Keith's own feelings towards the beautiful woman. Not that he'd ever truly had a chance.
The woman leaned back in her chair, the energy leaving her body as she seemed to relent with her uncertainty. "He didn't forget…"
For Dina, she had known for a little while before meeting Carla and their children that Grisha had moved on in life. It had hurt so very much at first, but she had also known that it was understandable after a while, she had been a Titan and despite her promise to him, he had not thought they would ever be reunited.
To know that he hadn't forgotten her, that he had still cared for her… maybe that would be enough. As the tears seemed to begin to break, she suddenly stood and excused herself, walking outside and hoping the fresh air would help her.
It hadn't.
Instead, she'd found herself watching Cadets train in the distance, listening to the sounds of marching and drills and found herself thinking of her son, of their son. The son who had betrayed them, but not before they had done the same to him. This was the life they had forced him into, the life of a soldier as a child. They had wanted to save themselves, to free the Eldian people from the ghetto's and the hatred, but they had forced their son to be their warrior. Their weapon.
Carla had not done that.
Eren was not a weapon to her, despite the same yearning for freedom that these people seemed to have. Carla had told her all about how she had fought against Eren's decision to join, about how she hated his enrolment in the military. Dina had seen it as a victory when their boy had been chosen.
Was that why Grisha had chosen Carla? She was a woman who was everything Dina was not. Carla had been a nobody, a waitress, but Dina was of royal blood, of lineage. Carla was stubborn and fought with Grisha, and while Dina would not say she had no backbone, she and Grisha were too in agreement for many fights. Carla had been a loving and protective mother…
Dina had been a failure.
Fresh tears seemed to spring out, and she did her best to wipe them away and drive them back. She did not want to cry around these people, to show them her vulnerability. She wanted Grisha, she wanted her son. To hold them, to apologise, to beg for their forgiveness and to try and make things right. But her husband was dead, and he'd moved on from her long ago. Her son hated her and handed her over for death.
She was alone.
The floorboards creaked next to her, and she noticed that Ymir had stepped out to watch her.
"You aren't listening to them?"
"Eren's family drama isn't of much interest to me." She shrugged indifferently. "Even if it does seem to come up a lot… Besides, I'm meant to be keeping an eye on you."
She took a seat next to Dina but said nothing more. Instead, she simply let the silence linger as she too took in the fresh air and peaceful ambience. Dina felt the compulsion to speak, to share something from her load, but very little would come out. So Dina started small.
"The air is different here." She began. "It seems fresher, cleaner, untouched by industry."
Ymir nodded in agreement. "I don't know when I finally noticed it. I think it was as soon as I woke up, but I'd been outside the walls, in nature. I think I kept expecting it to change, to smell like the damp streets I was born in, but it never did. This place is… different."
"It's like I'm in a whole other world." Dina admitted. "Everything is so similar and yet so different. But here I'm… I'm all alone, my family is gone."
'You should really talk with Gohan more.' Ymir thought to herself, unable to not notice the similarities between the two of them. "I won't pretend I know what that's like or what you're going through. But I will tell you that the people here, the one's you know at least, you can trust in them, rely on them. Whatever you do from here on out it'll be hard to move on, but you have the chance to do it."
"No. No I don't…" Dina's voice was mournful, Ymir looked at her in confusion but didn't press her. "I can't move on, not while I still have to repent for my sins. My son… I have to save my son."
Strolling through the streets of Trost, neither Hannes nor Carla spoke much as she was wheeled back to their home. Dina had told them about where she had come from, how she had known Grisha, about their past lives together. In turn, Carla had told the others everything she had known about him, about how the only one who might know more was Keith. They had gone to speak with him, planning to meet up with them afterwards, when Carla had had some time to process it all.
Her husband, the man she had loved, still loved. A man she had a child with, their child, their son. He'd been someone she'd never truly known. And Carla, she had been a second choice for him, the rebound after losing his first wife and child. It made her feel lost, like she'd been lied to her whole life in some sick joke.
It wasn't until after they had reached their home that either of them spoke. After Hannes had pushed open the door and helped Carla move inside their small house. A bare kitchen and table with shared bedrooms, it had been a tiny thing compared to what Grisha had given her. But it was home.
"How do you feel Carla?"
She was silent for a while, unsure of what to say. "I don't know. I don't know how to feel. My husband was never who I thought he was, and I'll never be able to speak to him about why. Why he never trusted me… Was it something I-…"
"No, don't even start that thinking." Hannes took her hand in his and stroked it gently, his eyes gazing into hers. "You never did anything wrong."
"I know." She relented, leaning into him for strength. "I know it's not actually my fault but… I don't know why; I just don't know. Maybe I'll never know…"
She took a deep breath, and he reached up a hand to gently stroke her hair. It was comfortable, it always was whenever they'd needed to be there for one another over five long hard years.
"I suppose I don't feel as guilty now." She admitted, looking up at him to flash him a small smile.
He returned it, with a small laugh alongside it. "I always said you shouldn't. But I did also say you should have told Eren by now."
"I was going to today!" She insisted, though she doubted he believed her. "Honestly! I wanted to wait for things to settle a bit first but then… everything that happened. I was going to tell him about us."
She held his hands with both of hers as they gazed into each other's eyes, before they both leaned inwards and shared a kiss.
Carla supposed such a relationship had been almost inevitable given everything that had happened. Hannes had saved the lives of her and her children after Shiganshina, using his meagre salary to get themselves a home and pulling every connection he had to avoid her being sent out on the 'reclamation' mission.
Two years of watching him help raise her children and care for them, followed by loneliness and endless worry as they left for the cadets. Their first night together had been on one of her more emotional days as she worried over her three children, a night of passion that they had called a mistake the next morning. They had lost themselves in each other that night however, and only a few nights after they made their 'mistake' again. After several nights together the hesitancy was eventually gone, the excuses they made forgotten, and they kept each other company during each night and day alone.
She had known she should tell Eren. Mikasa she didn't worry about, she was a mature one as was Gohan, but Eren? She worried about his reaction when she told him, whether he would accuse her of betraying his father or lash out at Hannes. The only time they'd had together was the short stretches of relief from the cadets training, and following Trost his life had become especially hectic.
So she kept quiet, keeping her and Hannes' relationship a secret.
But it wasn't fair to him. She knew he didn't like keeping quiet about their relationship, but he also knew that talking to anyone risked word spilling out and back to Eren. So she knew she had to tell the truth. She had just been hoping that an opportune time would eventually show itself.
It would seem not.
Breaking from the kiss, Carla wheeled herself forwards towards the kitchen. "I'll tell him tonight, over dinner. They're all coming back afterwards, so he can't act out too much with everyone around."
"Has that ever stopped him?" Hannes asked mischievously.
"Fair." She admitted, laughing as well as she reached into one of the cupboards to grab some flour and other ingredients. Cooking in the small kitchen had become one skill she'd learned to perfect over the years.
"It'll be a good chance for you and Dina to talk as well if you want. She seems nice."
"Yeah…" Carla was almost loathed to admit it, but despite Dina's obvious overwhelmed nature at all that had happened to her, she had been rather kind in her revelation. That was actually rather annoying, as hating the woman would have been far simpler emotions to deal with.
A knock at the door interrupted her musings, hearing Hannes go to answer it.
When Hannes opened the door, he was met by two gentlemen who immediately set his hair on end. They were dressed in casual clothing and were acting no different than anyone else would, but there was a roughness to the two of them.
One was taller and with a scar on his lip, dark hair being covered by a flat cap as he stared at Hannes. The other was shorter, fatter, but in a way that hid the muscle underneath. Combining that with his scruffy beard, and the man almost screamed thug despite his attitude.
"Excuse me sir, I'm looking for a man by the name of Hannes. You wouldn't happen to be him, would you?" The shorter one spoke for the two of them, flashing a fake smile that utterly failed to deceive Hannes.
"No sorry, I don't know him. I think you must have the wrong house." Hannes moved to close the door, but the shorter man put out his hand against the door.
"I'm sorry to bother you sir, but I'm afraid it's very important that I speak with him. I don't suppose you know where I could find him do you?"
"Try the bar." Hannes jerked his head to point up the street. "I heard he's a drunk, you'll probably find him there."
"Cute." The fake smile on the man's face dropped away, and he charged at Hannes, tackling him to the ground and pinning him. "GET THE GIRL!"
Hannes squirmed with the fat man on top of him, hands wrestling with each other as he was forced to watch the tall man race inside and towards the kitchen. Hannes shouted out a bark as he passed, though it was swiftly followed by the tall man screaming in pain as he fell backwards, a knife buried into his kneecap.
Fat man cried out in alarm, and Hannes took the opportunity to roll the two of them over. Hannes sat on top of the man and began throwing punches into his face as the fat man clumsily attempted to block them. From the corner of his eye Hannes spotted as the tall man reached out and threw Carla from her wheelchair, barely able to stand with only pure anger driving him.
Carla's scream as she was thrown had Hannes moving from the fat man and across the room. He grabbed the tall man from behind, spinning and throwing him against the wall. It was no martial arts like Gohan had demonstrated to him, but Hannes had his own experience of drunken brawling that he was liberally applying to the thug. He grabbed the tall mans head and rammed it into the wall again and again until he was struck in the face by the fat man.
The tall man slumped into a moaning mess on the floor, with the fat man stepping over him without sympathy. For a moment, he and Hannes squared off at each other in silence. The fat man faked a lunge forward but seeing that Hannes only flinched and made no opening, he threw a punch that Hannes clumsily blocked. The right cross that Hannes threw back was caught by the fat man's chin.
He stumbled and Hannes was on him, throwing punch after punch into the fat man's face until he stumbled over the slumped form of his compatriot, falling backwards and cracking his head on the corner of a table.
Silence followed as the fat man went still, either unconscious or dead but Hannes didn't care which. He waited to see if anyone moved, but there was only the groans of the tall man as he clutched at the knife still in his knee.
"Carla! Are you okay!?"
Carla was struggling to get back into her wheelchair, awkwardly pulling it back up straight and lift herself into it. Hannes was by her side, lifting her in and brushing the hair out of her face as he checked her over. Aside from the pain shooting through her legs she was unharmed.
"I'm fine Hannes. We need to leave and get help."
"A little late for that I'm afraid." Another man was stood in the doorway, eyes down on the two men splayed out on the floor. "Pathetic."
Hannes moved and pulled the knife from the tall man's knee, ignoring the scream of pain as he held it towards the new man. This one was openly wearing his Military Police uniform, though he wasn't one that Hannes had ever seen before.
"Whatever you want I can tell you it won't go well for you." Hannes threatened, pointing towards the beaten men on the floor.
The military man stepped forwards uncaringly. "I don't think that'll be a problem."
He continued stepping closer to Hannes, the knife no more threatening to him then a piece of paper. Hannes lunged, stabbing towards his chest. The military man made no move to block, as Hannes watched knife simply bounce away from his chest.
It was impossible to believe even as he saw it happen, and as he saw the man grab the knife by the blade and bend it in half. The punch that followed sent Hannes flying backwards, crashing into the far wall and feeling the wind blasted out from his chest.
"HANNES!"
He shook himself off, rising unsteadily but with fists raised to strike. The military man seemed to find it all so amusing as he strode forwards, hands down casually.
"You've got some fight in you. Congratulations, but you might regret that."
He dodged the jab from Hannes, and the next punches with ease, clearly enjoying the disproportionate advantage that he held. Another punch to the chest broke one of Hannes' ribs. He didn't allow Hannes to drop, hauling him back up as he slumped and kneeing him in the stomach. He flipped the man over and the wooden beams broke beneath him as he hit the floor.
Hannes' yelp of pain was horrific for Carla to hear, but she could do nothing as she watched the man grab Hannes by his shirt, and with one hand he threw him up into the ceiling. As Hannes bounced off the ceiling and back down, the man grabbed him from the air and slammed him back into the wall.
He punched straight through the wall where Hannes' head had been, the Garrison soldier having regained enough energy to dodge and punch the man in the face. The blow bounced off harmlessly, leaving Hannes' clutching his fist in pain. Instead, Hannes was grabbed by the lapels and hurled across the room and out the front door into the street.
Hannes hit the ground in agony, clutching his broken body miserably. He managed to look around him, noting the half dozen other thugs that were warning others away from watching. The military man came out a few seconds later, hauling a squirming Carla by her shirt as she threw harmless punches into his face.
"Collect the two from inside and let's move. This is more attention than we need."
"Yes Kuno." One of them said, and two others moved inside to collect their comrades.
The name pricked something in Hannes' mind, a memory as he'd heard the name before. He remembered it as the bag came over his head and his arms were tied up. Kuno had been the name of one of the MP's Gohan had described training in his letters home. As unconsciousness began to take him, Hannes could only mutter a spiteful "fuck you" at the traitor, until finally his vision went black and he went limp in the arms of his captors.
AN: So as you can see, everything is going very well. Travelling to other places, reminiscing about meeting new people, enjoying a peaceful night with a loved one. So sweet. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, if you have any questions or just want to let me know your thoughts, please do so with a review, I love to read each and every one of them.
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Next chapter due: 29/05/23
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