Titans Rule, Levi Ackerman UNDER EDITING

(30) Struggles.

~3rd Person POV~

Orange bobbed atop the horizon, basking the land of the Titans in a resplendent golden hue. Hours had passed since the death of Rod Reiss, an event ironically worth celebrating. However, there was no rest for Levi Ackerman, who was out searching for someone he once considered family. Kenny Ackerman was someone Levi couldn't afford to let go. So, even if Levi now had the time to sleep after days of none, he had returned to the area where Kenny was last spotted to make sure that he was gone for good. 

Kenny Ackerman had only just gotten out of the Rod Reiss situation with his life. With excruciating burns and a slash on his stomach that wouldn't stop gushing, he knew that his life had only been prolonged for a little while. After getting attacked by the steam, Kenny had managed to drag himself out of the cavern, only to be slashed in the stomach by some random Scout and limped over to the nearest clearing of trees.

At the first tree that he saw, he drooped into it, clutching his bleeding abdomen with a grunt. He slid down the bark and let his weary limbs sprawl out below him. His eyes were heavy with exhausted but he knew that once he closed them, there was a good chance he would never open them again. Yet he was too far long to care and let them shut, heaving a large breath out of his lungs. He was ready now, ready to move on.

"Kenny," he heard a voice sound from above him. He peeped open one eye and was unsurprised to see the person who had called out to him. 

"Oh... it's you?" Kenny coughed out a splatter of blood.

"Your comrades we fought... they all ended up being crushed. Are you the only survivor?" Levi inquired, a shred of sympathy gleaming in his eyes. Despite all of the horrid things this man had undoubtedly done, Levi still held a little compassion for the man who raised him, even if it was for only a short time. 

"Seems that way," Kenny replied softly, starting to drift over to the other side again. 

"Report back. I'm fine here alone," Levi ordered the Scout next to him.

Levi examined the man in front of him. "With those burns and that blood loss... there's no helping you now."

"Is that right?" Kenny unveiled a stolen syringe of spinal fluid to Levi. "It seems that if I inject this... I'll turn into a Titan. Only one of those dumb ones I'm afraid. But for a while, it could extend my life."

Levi sneered at him. "You've had the time and strength to inject yourself. So why haven't you?"

"Yeah... That's why I was wondering... But if I don't inject it right, I'll end up like him. All messed up," Kenny lied, concealing the real reason.

Levi didn't buy his lies. "I know that you're not sitting here waiting to die. Don't you have a better excuse?"

"I don't want to die... All I wanted was power. But, I think... I understand why he did that, after all this time," Kenny was becoming more incoherent as inched closer and closer to death. 

"Huh?" Levi gave him a blank stare as Kenny chuckled deliriously. What was this madman spewing up now? 

"Everyone I've ever met... were all just the same. Drinking... Women... Worshipping God, even... Family... Children... Power. Everyone had to be drunk on somethin' to keep em' going. Everyone was a slave to somethin'... even him," Kenny hacked up another pool of blood. "A-and what are you? A hero?"

A flash of recognition went through Levi. He grabbed Kenny by the shoulders forcefully. "Kenny, tell me everything that you know! Why doesn't the First King want humanity to survive?"

"Beats me... But, we Ackermans... opposed him for that reason," Kenny splurted crimson onto Levi's face.

Levi unfazed continued to press him. "My last name happens to be Ackerman, too. You... what were you to my mother?" Levi inquired, wanting the answer to the question he'd wanted to know his whole life. Was this horrible man truly his father?