Chapter Text
Chapter 3
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
“Fuck!” Thought Levi as he tried to fit in the small space between two apartment blocks, so he could finally lose the big, stupid hounds that had been pursuing him since the early morning.
He turned sideways and slid between the walls, his small frame allowing him to pass through easily.
He grimaced as the filth from the walls dragged on his clothes and face, but he still pushed through until he exited on the other side.
He was downright filthy now, covered in soot, dirt, and cobwebs, but at least he didn’t have the hounds at his heels anymore.
This was all Kenny’s fault.
When he realized he was being followed this morning, Levi ran directly back to the building Kenny was using as a hideout.
Instead of helping, Kenny, that son of bitch, upon hearing that some men were following his only nephew, kicked Levi out and told him to come back when he didn’t bring any trouble with him.
“After all the work I do for your sorry ass… ” thought Levi bitterly while he walked away so the alphas wouldn't go snooping inside the building.
So, Levi spent the entire morning running around to escape the men chasing him.
They didn’t wear any identifiable clothing, and Levi couldn’t know who they were working for.
His uncle had enough enemies that it would be impossible to know which one decided that capturing Levi would be the perfect retaliation.
“Fucking assholes,” murmured the omega, and he shivered at the idea of being captured again because of his stupid uncle.
He clutched his right hand in his left as phantom pain hit him.
He held them close to his chest as he moved through the dirty streets of the underground, trying to pass unobserved.
He seemed to be the most popular tool for revenge among his uncle’s enemies, as proven by the two missing fingers on his right hand and the collection of scars on his whole body.
Squeezing himself between two buildings has proven to be the right tactic, as his pursuers were nowhere to be seen now.
Tucking his head close to his chest, Levi set off to return to the neighborhood where his uncle operated.
He didn’t realize how far he had run until he looked around and didn’t recognize any of the streets.
He knew it was dangerous for him to be so far away from home. The Underground was an unforgiving place, especially for an omega walking alone, even if it was one as suppressed as he was.
Long time usage of various (mostly illegal) forms of suppressants and scent patches has fucked up Levi's hormonal balance so much that he now smells more like a beta than an omega.
It wasn't bad, all things considered. Passing as a beta allowed him a much safer life and a lot less trouble.
He kept walking, and people on the streets paid him little mind as they were busy with their own survival.
Even with his filthy appearance, he wasn't a strange sight.
After all, clean drinkable water was a luxury not many could afford down here, let alone use it to wash themselves or their clothes.
Levi sniffed his surroundings as he walked, trying to detect any scent from those two alphas, but he couldn't smell anything out of the ordinary.
Just the usual smell of stale hot air, mixed with sewage, body odor, and human misery.
The closer he got to his block, the more he relaxed.
He was almost home again; he could see the building in front of him, just five more minutes, and he could finally wash himself.
Now that the adrenaline rush had subsided, he could feel every single speck of dirt clinging to his body, the sticky feeling of the cobwebs on his face, and the smell of soot up his nose.
Levi wanted to scratch his skin off just to get rid of that feeling.
Finally, he reached the front door of his “home,” and he didn't waste any time opening it and running up the stairs towards the apartment he shared with Kenny.
“Kenny, you fucking bastard!” He pushed the door open only to stop in his tracks immediately.
Kenny was sitting in his armchair as usual, relaxed with a cigarette in hand.
But the two men who had been following him were sitting on his side, on the sofa where Levi slept.
“You have to be fucking kidding me.”
“Levi!” His uncle got up and walked up to him, embracing Levi in a clumsy hug.
“Kenny?” Levi was confused by the sudden affection and tried to squirm away; Kenny had never hugged him, not even as a small brat.
His uncle stepped back but kept his hands on his shoulder, keeping him planted in front of him, and smiled with his crooked teeth that so much resembled Levi's.
The expression was so foreign that Levi tried to step back again, uncomfortable with his smile, but his uncle's strong hands squeezed his shoulders, stopping him.
“I’m glad you came back early! I have wonderful news for you, but go wash yourself first while I talk with these two gentlemen.”
“Uh?” Levi was about to ask what the fuck he was talking about, but the firm grip on his shoulders was a warning enough that this wasn’t the time for questions. “Uh, yeah, just give me a minute, I’m gonna get changed…”.
Levi walked to his uncle’s room to retrieve some clean clothes from their shared wardrobe, then closed himself in the bathroom to wash.
Well, calling it a bathroom was an exaggeration; it was more of a tiled room with a water drain in the center.
There was a rudimentary toilet and sink, but no shower or bath, so they could only wash by standing directly over the drain and using a cup to collect water from a barrel and pour it over themselves.
It wasn’t ideal, the water was always cold, and it made a mess in the room, but it was far more than what many people had, so Levi didn’t feel like being ungrateful for it.
He washed himself quickly and got dressed without cleaning the bathroom; he didn’t have time for it now, so it was better just to leave it a mess, even if it killed him.
He walked back to the living room, his hair still wet and dripping, and found his uncle deep in conversation with the two men; they were speaking in hushed tones, clearly intending to exclude Levi from the conversation.
He heard his name and the acronym FBEO before they all turned to him, halting their conversation.
“Levi, sit with us, please,” Kenny motioned him towards a chair they usually kept in the kitchen, and Levi felt a surge of annoyance at being confined to the most uncomfortable seat in his own home.
The air was thick with smell; the combined musk of three Alphas, all squeezed in a small space, was almost too much for Levi.
It felt suffocating and made him feel unsafe.
Still, he was too stubborn to squirm, so Levi sat down carefully, hiding his mangled hand under his thigh and doing his best not to show how uncomfortable the situation made him.
“So,” Levi started, “What’s going on?”
Kenny opened his mouth to say something, but one of the two alphas beat him to it.
He smiled, the expression bordering on predatory, and passed a little envelope to the omega, who took it without opening it.
“Mr. Ackerman, the present communication was supposed to be sent to your address but since you never provided one, we had to bring it to you in person…”
The alpha seemed to wait for Levi to open the envelope, but as the omega kept just staring at him, he sighed and got up from the couch.
“We are here to inform you that the FBEO has finally found a match for you.
The meeting with your new Alpha will take place this Friday at the address and time provided in the communication we gave you. We are sure you will….”
“Wait a second!” Levi interrupted the monologing man, “the fuck you mean you found a match? I haven't been on the registry for five years ‘cause I can't get knocked up, I'm no good for a shitty Alpha.”
“We are aware that you were deemed infertile on your last medical visit, but upon further inspection, we realized there had been a mix-up with the tests, and it turns out you are actually perfectly healthy and able to conceive.”
The man smiled at him, not at all fazed by Levi’s crass language.
Frowning, Levi turned to his uncle, who wore an unreadable expression.
This wasn’t good, mainly because the “tests” that had been run on him were fake.
Kenny had paid a pretty penny to get Levi deemed unable to conceive and, therefore, taken down the registry so that he could continue to work for him.
His uncle was many things: a scheming bastard, a liar, a thief, and, allegedly, a murderer. Still, he would never look down on someone because of his gender, so even if his nephew was an omega, Kenny still considered him an invaluable asset for his “business”.
If these two dogs came here talking about how Levi had been mistakenly deemed infertile, it meant that someone was also pulling the threads, probably paying a lot of money, to target Levi specifically.
But for what reason?
Could they have figured out who the attacker at the annual gala in Mitras was?
No, that was impossible; otherwise, Levi would have been publicly hanged just to discourage any other aspiring terrorists.
Whoever sent these two after him must have had other reasons, but Levi couldn’t figure out what they were.
Surely it wasn’t about sex. Levi knew what he looked like, and no sane man would want that in his bed, unless this Alpha had some kind of fetish for disfigured omegas.
An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach at the idea.
Of all the things Levi considered disgusting, the idea of being pimped out to some shitty Alpha just to be knocked up over and over again was the worst.
Many pitied him for the horrible scars that painted his face and body, and for a time, he despised them too.
But as he grew older, he realized that those scars he loathed so much were also his armour; he was unappealing to most and therefore safe.
Being pretty and an omega was near a death sentence in the Underground, where beautiful things were scarce.
His mother had paid for her beauty, and Levi was grateful he never had to live like her.
The silence stretched as the two sunwalkers Alpha waited for an answer from Levi, who looked at Kenny, hoping he would stop this madness, while Kenny remained silent.
He had that strange, pensive expression he wore only when thinking about a particular difficult “job”.
“Yeah, okay, but I can't get to the surface like you sunwalkers. How am I going to meet this Alpha?” Levi decided to ask just to fill the uncomfortable silence.
“You and your uncle will be issued a temporary passport to grant you entrance in Mitras so you'll be able to meet your match and, once you two are officially mated, you'll be granted full citizenship.”
The alpha that was still sitting stood up and walked towards Levi, who snarled in response.
He was a big fucker, and the omega didn’t like having his space encroached.
The piece of shit just huffed, amused by Levi’s reaction, and offered him another envelope.
“This contains your temporary pass; it’s only for the day of the encounter, and it will be extended on your alpha request as previously stated by my colleague.”
Levi refused to touch the envelope, forcing the man in a bizarre staring contest with him.
It went on for what felt like hours until Kenny himself stepped in to accept the envelope and ushered the two men out of his house.
For his part, Levi remained sitting, staring daggers at the two strangers.
As soon as they were out of the door, he jumped up.
“What the fuck were you thinking, letting those two inside!” He snarled at Kenny, who completely ignored him.
“Sit down, runt, we gotta talk about this.”
“We sure need, I ain’t going fucking anywhere and meet any fucking alpha! We need to find a way out ‘cause I ain’t gonna be anyone’s bitch.” Said Levi, who started pacing back and forth in the small room.
Kenny lowered himself back in his armchair and leveled his nephew with a severe look before leaning back and lighting another cigarette.
“You are going.” He said.
Levi stopped in his tracks.
“The fuck did you just say?”
“I said, you are going.”
They looked at each other, Kenny serious and Levi shocked.
“The fuck you mean by you are going? Have you lost your goddamn mind!?”
“No, and that’s it. You are going.” Kenny’s tone was calm, calmer than Levi had ever heard him be.
His eyes were tired, and his mouth pulled in a severe line. He had come to a decision, Levi realized with horror, and Kenny never changed his mind.
“Oh God, you lost it!” The omega looked at him, horrified, while Kenny just sat there unfazed.
“I have no clue if you smoked your brains out along those fucking cigarettes, but rest assured of one thing, Kenny, I ain’t going.”
“Yes, you are.”
They spent what felt like hours just staring at each other, Levi panting and Kenny just peacefully smoking.
The silence stretched, and the tension grew until it finally snapped like a rubber band.
It wasn’t an unusual thing for Levi and his uncle to fight and yell at each other until their voices gave out, and sometimes not until one or both of them received a bloody nose and black eye.
What was unusual was having Levi screech at the top of his lungs and calling Kenny any name he could think of while the alpha just sat there, in silence.
“You done?” Kenny asked after Levi had grown too tired to keep going on his tirade.
The omega just panted, glaring at his uncle with poorly concealed hatred.
He couldn’t believe it.
Kenny had been a shit parental figure, yes, but he had always been in Levi’s corner in one way or another.
He had offered protection; he taught him everything he needed to know to survive in this hell, he gave him food, a roof over his head, and clothes on his back.
When Levi first presented, Kenny went out of his way to find him the safest medications that were available in the Underground.
And now he just sat there, smoking, and more than ready to sell Levi to some pervert above.
There was a hole forming in Levi’s chest, and he realized that where there had been anger, now heavily sat betrayal.
“I can’t believe it, Kenny.”
“I’ve already made this mistake with your mother, Levi.” Kenny’s tone was calm, but Levi knew him well enough to perceive the grief behind that statement. “I’m not going to repeat it a second time.”
“But…!” Levi said before his uncle raised his hand, stopping him.
“Think about it, runt, this is your only chance at climbing out of here!”
“Yeah, and be made a whore for some drooling old fuck above!”
“That’s still better than staying here, you stupid kid!”
“Like hell it is!”
“Do you hear yourself!?” Kenny stood up, suddenly furious, cigarette forgotten on the ground. “How can this be better, Levi? How?”
Levi tried to answer, but was interrupted once again.
“You are just like your mother, and you’re going to die just like her if you don’t take this opportunity, so, yes, that’s final, you are going.”
Kenny sat down again, clearly done with the conversation.
Levi was honestly too tired to keep arguing, so he sat down on the couch, cringing at the smell the two alphas left behind.
Kenny was right in some way; it really was a golden opportunity for him, but Kenny had made clear to Levi that leaving wasn’t an option for him.
He needed Levi; that’s why he made sure to take him down the registry.
Why was he now so on board with sending him away?
He looked at Kenny, the man was slouching on his armchair with a pensive air.
“What did they offer you, Kenny?” Levi asked.
His uncle just looked at him before getting up and walking away.
So he was right after all, he was being sold like a whore.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
Erwin put on his military green coat before opening the door of his office, only to find Nile Dok with his hand raised to knock.
“Oh, Commander Dok, what a surprise.”
Nile scoffed at the formality before inviting himself inside Erwin’s office.
“Erwin, I need to talk to you.”
“Yeah, do as you please.” Said Erwin before closing the door and sitting behind his desk again, “What do you need? I must warn you that I have an important appointment in forty minutes, so you must be quick.”
“Are you going to meet the omega?” Nile smirked, “Saw him on the news, he looks like…mmh, trouble.”
Erwin had known Nile long enough to recognize a bait when he saw one, so he ignored him.
“Nile, what do you need?”
Nile rolled his eyes, annoyed by Erwin's seriousness, before sitting up straight, taking a folder out of his coat.
“You remember the attack at the Gala, yes?”
“Of course, I was there.”
“Well, we’ve been investigating for a month now without getting anywhere.”
Nile placed the folder on the desk, inside which were several papers containing reserved information that Erwin shouldn’t be allowed to see.
“Why are you telling me this, Nile?” Erwin asked, even if he had an idea of what his friend wanted from him already.
“I need help, and you know how much this pains me to say this, but the Survey Corps would be best equipped to deal with this than the Military Police.”
And that was true.
The Survey Corps had served as both the investigative and counter-terrorism department, as well as the foreign affairs department.
It made sense; they were the best equipped to handle these types of threats, from within and outside the country.
Then, one day, two years prior, the Ministry of Defence decided to split these two jobs between the Military Police and the Survey Corps, with the excuse of lightening the work for the SC.
Erwin never believed it, of course, but he was unable to determine what exactly prompted this change.
“Nile, you know I can’t help you with this. We aren’t allowed access to this information and do not have permission to investigate.”
“Since when do you care about what you are allowed to do?”
“Since my insubordination could jeopardize the careers of my soldiers.”
Nile huffed, annoyed.
“Erwin, come on, this isn’t a game, two people died, and the killer is still free, I have the Ministry of Defence breathing down my neck, and the families of the victims asking for results, this could cost me my career!”
Erwin shook his head.
“Nile, I know how serious this situation is, but my hands are tied; I can’t lend you my soldiers knowing what repercussions they may be facing.”
“Alright, I get it, but you can’t fault me for trying.” Nile stood up, tidying up his folder and placing it back inside his coat, “But I can’t help but suspect that maybe you aren’t helping me because deep down you are quite glad that those two died, weren’t they opposing you last time we voted?”
“Nile, if it had been me, you wouldn’t even suspect it.”
Nile smiled and shook his head.
“Yeah, I know…Well, it was nice seeing you. Come over sometimes, Marie would be delighted to see you again.”
“I will take up your offer once I have more free time, Nile. I would like to see Marie and the girls, too.” Erwin stood up, following Nile out of the door.
“I must go now, otherwise I’ll make a terrible impression by being late the first time I meet my supposed mate.”
Nile nodded before turning and walking away.
Erwin adjusted his coat before walking in the opposite direction towards the exit. He was a little late, so he would need to drive quite fast to arrive on time for the meeting.
He wouldn’t admit it, but Erwin found himself to be quite nervous.
He just hoped everything would go well and that he would find an agreement with this omega.