The Path Back to You | Levi x OC

Chapter 65 - The Basement

Levi

Levi was quietly terrified. He had never seen Anya as she was now. It felt as though half of him had fallen dormant, as though he was on his own despite her being right next to him. He led the way up to the wall, where they discovered Eren hugging a bewildered Armin. Although Hange hadn't come to find them, Levi had needed to get out of that room, and he was loath to let Anya stay there alone. He watched her, wondering what was going on in her head. She seemed to completely ignore Eren and Armin and instead went to stand twenty or so metres away, gazing down at the corpses of the Scouts who had followed Erwin into hell. Armin called out for him, dragging his attention away from her.
"Captain Levi! What in the world happened here?! I remember...Bertholdt becoming a Titan. What about the others?! Are they okay?!"
"That's as far back as you remember?" he asked, readying to fire a signal gun for the others.
"Huh?"
"Eren, tell him everything."
As Eren began relaying what had happened to his wide-eyed friend, Levi began walking to Anya. When her legs suddenly collapsed from under her he caught her just in time.
"It's all right. I've got you."
She was trembling all over and he remained with her until the others arrived next to Eren and Armin.
"Stay here. I'll bring you some water in a moment."
He returned to the group, knowing that they were worried about her just as much as he was. He exchanged an anxious glance with Hange.
"Well, Armin? All up to speed?" he asked.
"Are you telling me...the Scout regiment...is the ten of us here...and that's it?" he asked.
"For the time being," said Jean, who kept looking over at Anya. "The fighting ended four hours ago. We've been looking for survivors but...none yet."
"S-So we managed to seal the walls of Shiganshina but Reiner, the Beast Titan, and one other escaped. Bertholdt was captured... Then...there was a dispute...about using the injection on Commander Erwin or me... And I...turned into a Titan and ate B-Bertholdt..."
Armin heaved, and Jean hurriedly passed him the waterskin. He gulped down its contents, his face the picture of horror as he tried to stop hyperventilating.
"Why...did you pick me?" he asked quietly. "No matter how you look at it, wasn't Commander Erwin the right one to bring back? Captain! Why did you give me the injection?!"
"Tch." Levi kicked Eren in the backside. "I told you to tell him everything. The thing is, it seems your two friends here didn't think that way," he explained, gesturing to Mikasa and Eren. He had to ease the kid's guilt, somehow, no matter how painful it was. He hadn't asked for any of this. "They stood up to me, prepared to draw blood."
"We'll take whatever punishment comes," said Eren, bowing his head.
"You'll be disciplined for insubordination but... Does taking the punishment allow you to do anything?" Hange asked.
"No..."
"However," said Levi, folding his arms and looking over to Anya, "the final decision to choose you was mine. No... I chose this to be the place where Erwin dies."
"I don't understand... There's no way it was okay to let Erwin die. If the commander is gone, how...how will we go on?"
Levi refused to show even a hint of his battle against the guilt threatening to crush him, though Armin wasn't making it easy. Neither was Hange.
"I agree. I thought it should've been used on Erwin, if we're being brutally honest," she confessed. "No...it's a shame we were put in that position. Anyways, Erwin entrusted Levi with the decision to use it. And Levi ended up choosing you. There's nothing more to say. Erwin's life and a Titan's power rest on your shoulders. No matter what anyone says, that's part of who you are now, Armin."
"Does that mean...I need to be...Erwin's replacement?" he asked. "No way... I can't..."
Everyone froze as Anya vomited over the side of the wall. Jean leapt up with a waterskin, but Levi stepped into his path and held out an arm to stop him.
"Don't," he warned, worried about how she'd react. He turned to look at Armin. "You'll never be Erwin's replacement. But I know you have a strength that nobody else has but you. I won't regret my decision. However, don't make these guys regret it," he said, putting his hands on Mikasa and Eren's heads. "Nor anyone else. And don't regret it yourself, either. That is your mission."
"Well, being the successor of Erwin as Commander of the Scouts, we're kind of in the same boat. From here on out, we'll have to grin and bear it," said Hange. She got to her feet. "Now then. If it's not a problem for Armin, we should get going. Levi, Eren, Mikasa and I will go investigate. The rest of you keep watch atop the wall. Eren, do you still have the key?"
"Yeah," he said, pulling the key out on its chain around his neck. "Right here."
"Good. Get ready."
"Um... What about Captain Anya?" Jean asked.
Levi took the waterskin from him and beckoned Hange to follow with a jerk of his head.
"How is she?" she asked quietly.
"She won't speak. I don't know how she is. I don't know a damn thing."
"That's not true. Think back to how we felt when we thought she was dead, then imagine we found her alive and either Erwin or I chose to let her die and save Armin instead."
Levi flinched. It was harsh, but true. Nevertheless, Hange apologised.
"I'm sorry. That was cruel of me."
"Maybe it's what I deserve."
"No, Levi. You don't."
They finally reached Anya who was staring, wide-eyed, at the ground. Hange crouched down and placed a hand on her back.
"Here; you need to drink."
Anya took the waterskin and drank from it until it was empty. She handed it back to Hange.
"Good. We're going to the basement with Eren and Mikasa now. You-"
Anya scrambled to her feet, the smallest flicker of determination passing over her face. It seemed she would be joining them.
"You sure you're up to it?" Hange asked.
Anya simply waited.
"All right. Let's go," said Levi.
Just as he'd promised to kill the Beast Titan, she'd promised Erwin that she would go to the basement, no matter what, and discover the world's secrets. He knew how important it was to her, now more than ever. He would not deny her the chance. They went back over to the group, who now all seemed too afraid to speak, and then they left the wall and began walking through the town below. A sudden wind blew swept the street, rattling a semi-destroyed sign outside a decrepit inn. An eerie atmosphere clung to the place as though, if you listened closely enough, you would hear the screams of the dying inhabitants as they ran for their lives. On the ground next to them lay a dirty old teddy bear, no doubt dropped by a child whose life had been devoured all too soon. Up ahead, Eren and Mikasa had paused to reminisce.
"Hey. Where's your house?" Levi asked, impatient to get the hell out of there. It was not a good place for someone in the throes of grief.
"R-Right," Eren stammered. "Sorry..."
While they followed after Eren, Levi kept one eye on their surroundings and the other on Anya. She was walking just fine, but it seemed as though she was only partially with them. She was a spectre, fitting in perfectly with their sorrowful surroundings. It disconcerted him, to say the least. At last they stopped by the steps to a house that had been crushed by a large boulder.
"Is this it?" Hange asked.
"Yes."
Hange strode forward to inspect it.
"Luckily the fires didn't make it this far."
Levi went off ahead a little and kicked at some debris, while Eren and Mikasa started gathering pottery for some odd reason. They soon returned to the task at hand, and Eren located the entrance to the basement. It had been partially blocked by another boulder.
"Right here," he called. "Under this are the stairs to the basement."
"Good."
"We can use these beams to shift the rock," Hange suggested.
Levi, Mikasa and Eren grabbed one of them, while Hange grabbed the other. Anya helped her, and they just about managed to move the boulder out of the way. Eren opened the door to reveal a steep, dark passage of stone steps that led straight down to pitch blackness.
"That's a relief. It's not flooded with water," said Hange, shining a glowing, ore-filled lantern into it.
Levi produced his own lantern and began to descend the stairs. Anya went after him, followed by Eren and Mikasa, with Hange taking up the rear. At the bottom was a wooden door sealed with a padlock. Levi stepped back.
"Eren."
"Right," he replied. He took the key and fiddled with the lock, but nothing happened.
"What's wrong?" Hange asked.
Mikasa frowned.
"Eren?"
Levi's impatience grew further still.
"Hurry it up."
"This... This key...it doesn't go to this door," Eren stammered.
"What? You're kidding! I'm certain that was the key Doctor Jaeger had," said Mikasa.
Anya made as if to move forward, but Levi got there first. He shoved Eren aside and kicked a powerful leg through the door, taking off almost three of the wooden panels. He reached in and opened it, and Anya strode past and into the dark without hesitation.
"Hey, wait up," he called, lighting the way from behind.
There was a lantern on the desk, and Anya was already in the process of lighting it. The warm glow revealed a relatively small room full of books and medicine arranged meticulously in various cabinets. A simple desk stood near the entrance.
"It almost feels like a laboratory down here," Hange remarked.
Levi picked up a book and started leafing through it, while Anya prowled around examining the nooks and crannies of the room.
"My dad was a doctor, so...he was always cooped up down here mixing medicine," said Eren.
"That makes sense. In fact, if this medicine is all labelled correctly, it's stuff that's widely available. And since all the books here relate to medicine, at first glance, it's just a doctor's study. 'There's nothing suspicious here'. It's like that's what he wants people to think."
Levi closed the book and studied a bottle of pills.
"Yeah. If you're hiding stuff from the Interior Police, you wouldn't just leave it out in the open." He realised that neither Eren nor Mikasa were moving. "Hey quit standing around, brats. Erwin's hunches are rarely wrong."
They all turned when they heard a tapping sound. Anya was knocking on the desk to get their attention.
"What is it?" Levi asked.
She ignored him and beckoned Eren over, who immediately approached with the others. Anya crouched down and pointed to a side panel in the desk. The main drawers were all where you'd expect them to be, at the front of the desk, but this drawer was on its own and, in the top corner of the wood, there was a small keyhole.
Levi's eyes widened.
"Eren."
"Right!"
Eren produced the key and slowly slid it into the lock. As he turned it, they all heard the faint click to signal that it had worked.
"It opened..." He pulled the drawer open to reveal... Nothing. "It's empty?!"
Anya raised herself up on her knees and reached into the drawer. She pulled at the base of it to reveal that it had a false bottom, which she placed on the desk's surface before peering inside. She lifted the whole drawer out of the desk and put it on top of the false panel. Inside it were three books, nestled amongst a few white bundles. Hange picked up one of the white bundles and sniffed it.
"It smells like peppermint oil and charcoal. Were these treated to keep moisture and bugs away?"
"We were looking for something," Levi said, "and these must be it."
"I wonder what it was my dad wanted to show me," said Eren, placing his hand on the book in the middle.
Mikasa placed her hand over his, and they exchanged a look before opening it together. On the first page lay a picture in black and white of a man, a woman and, presumably, their infant son. Eren carefully removed it from where it had been slotted into the paper, raising it to his face to examine it.
"This is...a portrait?"
"Let me see that," said Hange. Eren handed it over. "No... It's far too detailed for this to be drawn by a person."
Anya pointed to the back of it, and Hange turned it over.
"That's Doctor Jaeger's writing," said Mikasa.
"'This is no illustration'," Hange read. "'Instead, this uses light reflected off a subject, and burns the image on special paper. It's called a 'photograph'. I come from a place outside the walls where humanity lives in elegance. Humanity has not perished. I pray the person who finds this book is a fellow patriot'."