Bite Me.

19.

The fair was just a small local one, the kind where everyone knew everyone. So when Levi, Archer, Eren, Marzia and May turned up a few heads were turned. Who were these randomers with London accents infringing on their little community fair? Nevertheless, they smiled at them and offered the odd 'hello'.
'This blows,' Marzia grumbled to Archer, falling into step with him. 'I thought we'd be doing something fun...'
'We will,' he promised. 'It's all part of my plan.'
The majority of their time was spent being dragged around by May, who wanted to go on every ride, eat all the food. She had a go at the coconut shy and was desperate to win the huge stuffed bear, but could barely lift the ball- let alone throw it. Levi looked hastily over to Eren, who was momentarily distracted, and hoped he wouldn't see the way his sister's lower lip was trembling as she tried to hold back the tears. No doubt he'd blame him if she started crying.
'Fine. I'll do it,' Levi picked up her last ball and lobbed it at the coconut, literally splitting it in half. The guy managing the stall gulped.
'I believe you owe her a prize,' Levi gestured towards the bountiful prize table. He left her there to retrieve whatever it was she was after, but just as he rejoined his brother he felt small arms clinging to his leg. He looked down and saw that May had attached herself to him, hugging him tightly.
'What on earth,' he growled. 'Are you doing?'
'You're nice,' she mumbled. 'You won me a teddy.'
Archer laughed at his brother's sour expression and coaxed May into letting go, not trusting Levi to resist from killing her. He'd never been a fan of small children.

Eren kept giving Levi strange looks. He just couldn't work him out. Did he care or not? He had won May a prize in the coconut shy which was undoubtedly a caring thing to do, but now he and Archer were arguing about who was the worst brother of the two of them, and Levi was taking no hostages. Most people would probably expect that they were arguing their case from the standpoint of being the better brother, but no. They were both trying to convince Marzia they were evil. Was it a power thing? All she had asked who was more likely to kill her, which was apparently a pretty normal question in the company of vampires.
'There was this one time,' Levi smirked, as if he knew this would probably gain him many points in favour. 'When we fell out over a trivial matter. He stupidly thought he could organise for me to be assassinated- only as a joke. So as a punishment, I had two underlings pin him down and I ran him over. Three times.'
Eren couldn't believe what he was hearing- the things these two had done to each other! The fact that they argued so often no longer surprised him. The both of them had done some seriously disturbing things to one another. Archer had once killed every single one of Levi's inner circle in front of him because he was jealous of his climb to power. But the thing that tipped the balance towards Levi being the worst was something that Archer said, in the end.
'You win,' he conceded, a sly grin on his face. 'You are the worst brother. You did by far the worst thing either of us could have done. Something that I will never do.'
Levi looked furious now; at first, it had seemed like a little bit of fun but now he could see that he'd been tricked and now was being portrayed as a terrible person. He was, but that wasn't the point. He didn't want to be made to feel guilty for it.
'What did he do?' Marzia spoke with a hushed voice, having been listening intently to the rest of the conversation.
'Should I tell her, Levi?'
'Just leave it alone...'
'I think I will. After all, everybody who works alongside you should know how you make a habit of eventually abandoning everyone.'
Eren tuned in now, acutely curious.
'About a year ago, just before Levi arrived in London, we were about to capture Paris for ourselves. We never ran it, just the criminal underground. But we wanted to be the Heads of the city, so we planned to take over. We were just about to, and I was waiting for him to turn up so we could execute our attack. But he never showed up. Everybody helping us was captured, except for me. I found him a few hours later about to board a plane to England. He told me he didn't want to stay in Paris anymore, that he'd had enough of it and wanted to rule alone. I wanted to go with him, but he said any emotion was a weakness, and then he shot me through the head so I couldn't stop him as he boarded that plane. I was at the mercy of my enemies for this past year, and I no longer have any power there.'
There was a stony silence in the car, made all the more tense by Levi's stertorous breath. He was actually trembling with a violent anger, one that threatened to fill the car with blood.
'How long,' he hissed scathingly. 'Are you going to hold that against me? It happened, get over it.'
'I will stop holding your decision to abandon all emotional obligation against you when I am convinced that you are saved.'
'Saved from what?'
'Yourself. You're the only person who could cause any harm towards you.'
'We'd be more powerful if I didn't feel unnecessary things such as love and guilt.'
'Maybe. But I learnt when you abandoned me that power will never make you happy. Look at you. You're nothing without your family, Levi.'
'No. You say I'm nothing, you keep saying that. But now I'm somebody. I'm not just a criminal who runs a mafia. I am legally in control of a city and have the support of everybody in it. I don't even need you.'
'Did you consider that maybe I needed you?' Archer's voice went very quiet and flat, so quiet that Eren could hardly hear him. It was at this point that Levi finally stopped trying to make a case for himself. He didn't reply, and the rest of the car journey was spent in silence, with the pair of them trying not to get into a fist fight.