The Royal Decree (Erwin x Levi)

Chapter 21

A:n All righty, here's the new one!

Hell began anew for Levi Smith. After having been dragged off the street kicking and screaming by one very satisfied Kenny Ackerman, the man had begged his captor to at least let him go and get the children. Levi would have been a fool to think that the criminal had any regard for young lives, but he had been well aware of the fact that without him there to cater to their needs, the two would just die of starvation. Surprisingly enough, Kenny had been overjoyed at the prospect of sharing his quarters with the kids, something about having additional leverage to use against Commander Erwin. Thus, the two had picked up Mikolas and Kara from the inn, gathered Levi's scarce belongings, and gone to a new home: the home of Kenny the Ripper. Levi hated the fact that his children – and he had come to think of Mikolas as his own, at least, in part – would bear witness to the atrocities Kenny committed on a daily basis.

The man's apartment sequestered away in the attic of a small arms shop, was clean, at least, and devoid of the presence of multiple whores Levi recalled from his first stay with Kenny. The man noticed Levi's surprise and mumbled:

"They have their own place. The basement. This way they won't bring in the disease."

"Will we have to stay in the basement as well?" Levi asked, clutching the children to his chest protectively. Kenny eyed him for a moment before giving him a sick smirk.

"You will. But the kids will stay up here with me. Well, I'll tend to your injuries first, and then you can go and join the rest of the filth downstairs. Can't display damaged merchandise."

Levi sneered but said nothing. Now that Kenny had the children to blackmail him with, he would keep quiet. For the sake of Kara and Mikolas, he would bear any sort of humiliation Kenny was prone to inflict on his victims – his so-called moneymakers. While the man bandaged up his busted knee, Levi looked around the Spartan room.

"What? The décor not to your liking?" Kenny asked, fingering the wound on Levi's leg and making him hiss in pain.

"Not my place to like it," Levi replied, keeping his eyes down.

"Good boy. I see you remember the ways of the place. What did I tell you? Once a whore, always a whore."

"Kenny–,"

The man eyed him warningly.

"Boss. Just... don't hurt the kids? All right?" Levi chewed his bottom lip. "I'll do anything, just... don't hurt them."

"What kind of animal do you take me for, Levi?" The man said as he stood to put away the medical supplies. He turned towards the Corporal, eyes dark. "I wouldn't hurt a child."

"I don't want them to grow up like us."

"There is no us, Levi. I'm a businessman, and you're a whore," Kenny told him as if he were explaining basic concepts of the universe to a small child. "These kids live here now. They will have to learn to survive in the Underground. And you know that there are few ways to survive down here."

Levi sighed. "I know."

"Kara's daddy won't come for her."

"I know."

"It's you who landed them here."

"I know."

"You know. You're a fucking piece of shit parent, Levi."

"What the fuck was I supposed to do? Stay out of the Walls? Have them die out there? I had nowhere to go. I had no choice." Levi shot Kenny a look. "You had a choice."

"That being?"

"You could have let me go."

"Not my style, darling. You owe me."