BENEATH (Levi: An Underground Story)

Chapter 1: To The Darkness That Awaited

It all happened so fast.

One second she stood on her chair at the table, bouncing slightly as she eagerly looked at the dessert in front of her.

It was lunch and they just had to do tradition before digging in.

Her older brothers, Alec and Bran, twins that they are each held the cake up to her as they told her to make a wish.

Taunting her lightheartedly as they took turns attempting to blow the candle atop her cake.

She giggled as she swatted them away. She was trying to concentrate. She closed her eyes as she blew the candle.

They had spent a good amount of time making it that very morning. Bustling around in the kitchen long before sunrise.

Bran, the younger twin had helped her peel the peaches, her favorite. It had been incredibly hard to find in the markets. They had spent the whole of yesterday trying to find a few.

While Alec, the older twin, prepped the other ingredients. Weighing sugar and cracking eggs as if life was at stake.

Flour had dusted every imaginable part of the kitchen and their happy banter echoed through the halls. Faces glowing in the soft morning light.

Agnes watched her children with a smile even as they made a mess. Wishing they could stay in that moment forever.

As the smoke rose from the extinguished wick, their laughter were replaced by screams. Smiles replaced by looks of terror.

The loud bang as the door was kicked open startled them all. They were faced with rifles raised at them.

Soldiers under the Military Police Regiment stormed their home. Rounding them up one by one.

Her brothers quickly moved to shield her but were soon brought to their knees. The cake a forgotten heap at the table.

Deep inside she was scared by the sudden intrusion. Although, what was happening did not surprise her somehow.

She was insightful and quick to pick up on things for a child her age. Her parents always took pride in the fact that she is wise beyond her years.

For over a few months now, she and her brothers watched worriedly as their father came home, looking older day by day.

The stress taking a toll on him. But what could they possibly do?

At night they struggled to make sense of the hushed whispers that emerged from their parents bedroom. They knew something was about to happen.

Her birthday, was the first time in a long while that joy and calmness filled the atmosphere in their humble home once more.

A welcome excuse to abandon the troubles that weighed them.

An MP came from behind her, picking her up just as she watched her panicked mother try to reach for her. Missing her just by a second.

She warily looked up at the soldier and to her 8-year old mind, he appeared to be smiling kindly. But she saw the hint of sympathy in his eyes accompanied by pity.

"Don't worry. I won't hurt you." He whispered reassuringly making her relax a little.

The soldier knew what fate awaited the family.

He believed the kids should have been spared from this circumstance.

But much like the people inside the Walls, they have nowhere else to go when the nobles turn on them.

She could hear her mother crying, her pleas an endless chant from her lips as her father was dragged from his chair at the head of the table.

She was brought to their living room to join the rest of her family. Stood between her brothers, forced to watch helplessly as the soldiers turned their house upside down.