Lady execution Levi Ackerman x OC (ENG) 18+

Chapter LIV. Helpless in the desert of my heart

Coastal city of Paradis Island August 3, 853

"Armin, Hanje!" Theia exclaimed as she finally got a chance to see the squad members, while Nile helped them out of prison in the dark alleys. She moved Kiara higher in her arms and ran to them.

"They really imprisoned the child?" Armin asked, horrified.

"Commander, did you see Eren?" An agitated Mikasa interrupted him, Theia noticing that she didn't have her scarf wrapped around her neck like usual, but was holding it in her hands.

"Yes, I did," she answered vaguely. "Has something happened?" Mikasa looked down and their conversation was interrupted by another explosion. A heavy wave of dust engulfed the alley and Theia was forced to hold Kiara closer to her chest. "It's here," she whispered.

"What is here?" Jean repeated after her nervously.

"Marley is attacking Paradis," Nile replied while Theia thought for a moment.

"Sasha, where are the Marley kids?" She turned worriedly to the trio behind her.

"On my father's farm. It's far beyond the city, they're safe there," she assured her, but Theia continued to frown.

"Go back home and bring them to town. Flosh will definitely want to use them to blackmail Marley. If we meet someone they know, we'll return them where they belong. I can't be sure if Flosh and the others wouldn't hurt them,"

"Flosh would..." Jean's confused words were interrupted by another explosion and everyone was forced to crouch to the ground.

"Flosh killed the prime minister and the entire government! You saw it the same way I did!" Connie put his hands on Jean's shoulders and looked into his shocked face.

"We have to get out!" Levi pointed out in frustration, still holding his hand over Kiara's head to protect her from falling plaster. Theia nodded and the whole group quickly moved towards the exit from where they heard the first shots. "There's no way they've already reached the city," Levi whispered as they stopped in front of a giant door that, after a short while, Sebastian cracked off its hinges. Nifa jumped up the stairs to reach very carefully through the door and examined the hall. With a gentle nod, she turned to the group.

"It's safe outside..." her words were stopped in her throat by a bullet that quickly went through her brain and ended its activity within a second. Nifa's dead body fell through the fingers of Sebastian, who was standing beside her, to the ground to cause horror on the faces of those who remained below the stairs. Theia gasped as she couldn't take her eyes off the pool of blood that was beginning to spill onto the stairs.

"We need gear and some weapons rightnow!" Levi mentally pulled Kiara, who screamed in terror, out of Theia's weak arms. "Be quiet princess, now you have to be quiet and nothing will happen to us. I promise you," Levi hid her face in his clothes. "Theia!" He turned to his wife, who took a moment to bury all her emotions deep inside her. She was able to do it, although it still took longer and became more and more difficult. She turned her cold gaze away from the corpse to realize she hadn't heard her own daughter's scream until now. Disorientated, she ran her eyes down the corridor and passed the group deeper into the dark alleys of the underground prison.

"We have to find another way. We'll go to the north side leading to the armory. Without gear we have no chance of survival," she decided calmly and without a single objection they all followed her down the dark corridors as they listened silently to the bombs and shots coming from outside until they reached the door at the end of the corridor which was almost unenlightened. Theia knelt down and pulled a pin from her head which she inserted into the lock while Nile searched his hands unsuccessfully for a key that would fit the door.