Birdie (Levi x OC)

twenty-seven

The treed path to the Reiss estate was quiet save for the rhythmic thud of horses' hooves. Levi broke the silence, his voice stark and serious. "Kenny the Ripper. He's going to be our biggest problem."

My mind flashed back to the rooftops, to Levi's voice echoing his past with this man. Kenny, the one who'd killed Nifa, stolen Eren and Historia, and the same man I'd seen at MP headquarters, the one who'd stopped an officer from harming me. Amidst the recent chaos, I hadn't had a chance to ask Levi about his connection to this figure.

Levi's voice cut through my thoughts. I looked at him. "Think of him as... like me. But on the enemy's side." He paused, then corrected himself. "No... with those weapons, he'll be harder to deal with."

Hange and Moblit looked grim, while the recruits' faces were etched with distress. "Then we can't possibly beat him!" Sasha exclaimed from her horse.

"Moblit!" Hange suddenly commanded. "Send word to Erwin now. Tell him where we're headed. We need backup!"

"Yes, Squad Leader!" Moblit yelled, giving Hange a quick glance before veering right, toward the Capital.

"That'll take hours!" I shouted to Hange. "Even if we wait for more military personnel, it might be too late for Eren and Historia!"

"Yeah, that bastard might get eaten before we even have a chance to save him," Jean grumbled.

"But based on what Captain said," Armin mused, deep in thought, "it doesn't seem like this Kenny the Ripper is invincible."

"Really, Armin?" I asked, looking at him to my left.

"Yes... no one's invincible," Levi muttered. "Not even him."

"Captain," I said, the formal title slipping out easily. He looked at me, slightly surprised. "You said you lived with this Kenny. Do you know anything else about him that might give us an edge?"

He looked away from me and toward the others. "I didn't even know his last name until just now. Which reminds me." He turned to Mikasa. "Apparently, it's Ackerman. You guys related?"

I whipped my head to face Mikasa in shock, having completely forgotten her last name.

"When my parents were still alive," she began, "they told me my father's family was persecuted in the inner cities. My mother's family lost her home too, possibly because she was Asian." She sighed, continuing her story. "When they met, they'd both been driven deep into the mountains. But my father never knew why the Ackerman family was persecuted. He wasn't a different race like my mother had been."

Levi fell silent for a moment, his expression serious and lost in thought. "Mikasa," he began, his voice calm, "have you ever experienced a moment in your life where it felt like a power suddenly awoke inside you?"

I looked at him, completely thrown by his question to her.

She thought for a moment, not appearing entirely surprised by it. "Yes, I did."

Levi's eyes widened. Everyone exchanged glances between the two of them.

"Kenny Ackerman told me he had a moment like that too," Levi continued. "One day... all at once, he felt a ridiculous amount of strength surge through his body. And he knew exactly what he needed to do."

"What are you two talking about?" I asked, still utterly confused by this sudden revelation. Strange powers? The Ackerman bloodline? What could this possibly mean?

Levi turned to me, a grim expression on his face. He spoke as if it pained him. "I had a moment like that too."

"What are you implying, Levi?" I asked, already knowing the answer to my question.