(AoT Oneshot) The Runt She Left Behind: Kenny Ackerman x Reader

The runt she left behind

"Kuchel? Oh! If yer talking about Olympia she ain't for sale anymore, someone got her sick a while back!"

"Olympia? Is sick?" I thought to myself, my one friend that I had met in the underground was feeling ill, I sighed at the thought, wishing she had told me sooner so I could have saved up money to buy her medicine.

It wasn't easy living in the underground, I had lived here all my life, thugs would often try to rob others of the little wealth and possessions they had, it was a constant battle between life and death.

I had also been one of the many unfortunate souls condemned to the harsh life of the underground, but I had adapted to it, I was able to provide for myself. I had even got myself a job at the local brothel where Olympia worked, however the ones running the brothel decided I was a bit too inquisitive to work in the exact same profession, so I served as a barmaid of sorts.

"Oi!" A sharp voice caught my attention, I diverted my attention to the man behind the counter and stopped cleaning the dirty mugs.

"Y-yes?" I asked warily, the man looked like a shady character, with rugged features and a harsh tone of voice, of course, such people were no strangers To me in the underground...

"Ya know Kuchel right?....er....I mean Olympia....take me to her!" He commanded, I silently nodded in agreement, this man's aura seems dangerous and I most definitely don't want to get on his bad side.

I lead him through the corridors, remembering how far away Olympia's
room was, the man walking only a few steps behind me in silence, as if he were taking in every detail of the corridors.

"Hey...." He sighed

"Mmmmm?" I responded, most men in the underground tended to ignore me unless I had something to offer, I was actually suprised that this man was attempting to make conversation with me.

"Don't....get the wrong idea....she's my sister" he looked around awkwardly, the thought of this shocked me.

Olympia had a brother? How come I had never been told, we're best friends, and she's kept a secret as large as this

Internally I was thrown off, but I couldn't make a big deal about it, not here...

"We're here!" I shouted, trying to avoid having to fake a response for the confession he had made

"oh, thanks, wait there will ya? I just might buy a meal for my lovely sister...." He stated plainly before walking in and slamming the door behind him.

I waited there for what felt like hours, curious of was going on that was taking so long, I decided to place my head lightly against the door in attempts to hear some of the conversation.

"Woah, woah woah, woah woah.....ya seem to have lost a lot of weight... Kuchel" the man said, with what sounded like a half mortified yet half shocked

I couldn't stand the waiting, whatever was happening in there didn't sound good, I lightly knocked on the door." Sir! Is everything okay in there?" I asked politely, hoping not to aggravate the man.

"Why don't ya come see for yourself?" The man retorted bitterly, now aware I was listening into what was going on.

When I entered I saw a horrible sight, the room was filthy, but more importantly, laying on the bed was the body of my best friend, instinctively I covered my mouth to suppress the sound of my shriek, tears were welling up in my eyes....

"She's dead" a nonchalant voice stated from the corner of the room, The man looked over at the same time as me, spotting a small, frail looking child huddling against a wall, the child seemed extremely malnourished. It really did hurt my heart to see such misfortune.

"And you? Are you alive" the man asked in annoyance

A few moments of silence passed, the boy's condition was grave, I could visibly see him fighting back unconsciousness, Instinctively I was unsure what to do, do in stay and watch the scenario unfold, or do I rush out to get something to feed the small child.
"Hey? You can understand me, can't ya? The man pressed, I took his sudden shift of attention to the boy as a queue to go find something that would provide him with nourishment.

Racing down the hallway at full speed, I grabbed an apple and left he money on the counter, the boy could collapse at any given moment and I had no time to spare, when I had returned the man had shifted his position to lean against the wall opposing the young boy.

"Levi, just Levi" the boy responded weakly.

The man muttered something under his breath, before responding to "Levi" confidently.

"I'm Kenny, Just Kenny...I knew Kuchel, nice to meet ya"

Not wanting to wait any longer, I lightly knocked on the door, catching both the attention of Levi and Kenny.

"Uh, I'm sorry to interrupt, but you look hungry..Levi..." I awkwardly walk over to the young boy who is watching me carefully as I slowly hand him the apple.

"please take this" I smile kindly at the boy, trying to make myself seem as little a threat as possible, Kenny scoffs in the background.

"Well isn't that lovely!" Kenny mocks! "Never thought I'd see such an act of kindness down in this shit-hole!"

I was shocked at his profanity, however from what I gathered I had no right to interfere with personal matters such as this, my best guess was that this boy...Levi...is Kenny's nephew.

After I had failed to respond to Kenny's taunt, he sighed.

"Well I guess someone's going to have to teach this runt the basics..." He looks over in annoyance at Levi who was gratefully eating the apple in silence.

"Come on....we're going!" Kenny stands up, Levi slowly gets up, trailing behind him and they proceed to walk out of the room, leaving me to ponder.

However after a few minutes, the silence is broken by Kenny, yet again.

"Hey! Lady! Aren't ya coming?" Kenny bluntly asks, with an impatient and expectant look on his face.

"W-what? Me?" I say in shock.

"Of course I'm talking to you! Ya idiot! Who else would I be talking to?" He dead-panned

"Of what use would I be to the both of you?" I asked slightly embarrassed, unsure of what Kenny was asking me.

"Well the kid's going to need someone to teach him how to do stuff such as clean, you're going to act as a replacement mother of sorts" he said bossily he seemed intent on you assisting him in raising the boy.

As I was about to politely decline, my thoughts consumed me, thoughts of Levi, Thoughts of Olympia, and how much she had done to help me. Taking one last glance at the corpse of my beloved friend, after everything she's done for me I owe her, I owe her this at the very least.

"Fine, I'll do it."