The Younger Ackerman?

Chapter 5

We were five months into the school year. Five months and still, Levi hadn't recognised me. I made my way out of Ms Hanji's science lab.

"Hey! Lillie! Just stay back for a moment please!" She shouted behind me. I rolled my eyes as some of my classmates laughed and pointed at me. I stood in the corner and waited for Hanji to hurry up. "Lillie? Your surname isn't Jackson is it?" I looked at her, shocked at her question. It was true. I nodded, still slightly aghast. "Lillie Ackerman, right?" My name wasn't Ackerman but I didn't know my surname before Levi gave me his.

"Yeah." I was so quiet. I didn't expect that. I hadn't thought of someone else recognising me before Levi.

"As in the young one from Levi's squad? The Lillie Ackerman?" She put emphasis on 'the'. I nodded. "Oh wow. Levi talks so much about you. You were practically his daughter." I smiled. It was true. For pretty much the entire war, I acted as his daughter. Many people actually thought we were related but they normally assumed that we were siblings and not how we saw ourselves. We had a large enough age gap for me to be his daughter. We were inseparable then but now he didn't even know who I was.

"How did you know?" I said, holding back the tears that were threatening to spill. I couldn't let myself cry. I never cried in front of people anymore. She looked into the distance thinking, I guess. I took a shaky breath and held the small locket in my pocket. The locket was Petra's. She had given it to me just before she was killed. I had one thing from each of them, other than Levi of course. I still remember that day.

We were running. We dived into the long grass for cover. I heard a shriek and a cry and noticed Heichou Levi running towards a figure. As I raised myself from theground, I saw a man holding Petra up by her neck.

"Let her go!" I screamed at the man. I was stupid. A soldier shouldn't have done that. Then again, I was only ten. He just laughed and I felt my legs leave the ground as another man picked me up and put a knife to my neck. I blacked out soon after watching the others be picked up, one by one.

We were taken somewhere and locked into a black room. Everyone else was chained to the wall, but I was left on the floor in the corner. Everyone was crying, even Levi was. No one knew what was going to happen and Heichou was blaming himself for this whole thing. I crawled over to him and laid at his feet, almost like a little dog would. It was only then did I realise that I couldn't feel any tears in my eyes at all. In amongst this chaos, I was still slightly calm. Then, the men came back. They dragged me back into the corner and began torturing the others, trying to get information about where the rest of the squads were. If they'd have told them then their lives would have been spared but the country would have been easily defeated.

"Li-Lillie." I looked up at Petra as she struggled to say my name. We hadn't had eaten in almost a week. Levi had blacked out and was hanging limply from the wall. "I already know that we're not going to make it out of here."I hung my head. I didn't want to hear it. I needed positivity not this. "But, I also know that you and Levi will get out." What was she getting at? I knew that they didn't care if we all died. "Levi has been working on a plan to save us all but I don't think it's going to work. I think that you can get out with him." She struggled to form sentences through her bloodied mouth and heavy panting. "We want you to take one thing from each of us to give to Levi at some point. Give it to him on an anniversary of our deaths."

"Don't say that. You might not!" I cried at her.

"No. Lillie. It's inevitable. I'm sorry but it's true. Please just listen to me Lillie. Take one thing from each of us. Something that he will recognise as ours." I looked to the floor. I hated this but I knew that it was probably a good idea.

"Fine. But you're gonna try and stay alive." I stood on shaky legs and made my way over toher. Petra gave me her locket with a tiny flower inside; Olou gave me a small badge that was designed in the shape of two wings; Gunther gave me a small notebook with drawings in, and Eld gave me a knife with its black and gold sheathe that had been hiding in his boot.

Ten minutes after I had laidback down, hiding the things in my jacket, the men came back in. They made sure that Levi was awake and aware before they started. First they went up to Gunther. They water boarded him until he drowned. He begged for his life but they weren't going to stop. He drowned crying and apologising. Then they moved on to Eld. They grabbed a knife and cut small gashes, similar to the ones they had been carving into Levi the entire time. Then they carved a cross on his chest and plunged the knife into his heart. He choked on his own blood, also apologising. Olou had a sword held on his neck, slowly drawing blood before they pulled it across sharply and cut it straight off. He also apologized.

"You gonna tell us yet?" They said to Levi after every time they killed another comrade. Everytime he said no. Then they moved on. They were torturing him by forcing him to watch his friends being killed. Petra was the worst. Not only was she forced to watch the others being killed but her death was just appalling. They started by breaking each one of her fingers and toes one by one. The crunches of her bones filled the room. Then they ripped them all off, one by one. She screamed the entire time. It was piercing. After that, they pulled each one of her teeth out slowly. Within moments she was gagging on the blood. I was surprised that she hadn't blacked out yet.

"I'm sorry." She whispered before they stabbed her in the throat. She died from the slow deprivation of oxygen. It was too slow. It took almost five minutes, including the torture, for her to die. But, still, Levi refused to talk. I began to shudder as the man turned to me.

"I'm not going to kill such a young, pretty thing. I'm going to have a little fun." Even I knew what that meant. I shuffled as far into the corner as possible to try and get away from the monster. He started laughing. Not a nice laugh but a cold, sadistic laugh. I saw Levi fall to the ground as he used his own blood to slip the shackles from his wrists. He turned into full killing mode and began slaughtering everyone. I felt an arm wrap around me and run away from him. A hand covered my mouth.

"Don't worry. I'm not here to hurt you." I nodded but stayed tense in his grip.

He took me away and saved me but left Levi. "I couldn't save you both." He told me later on."You have more life ahead of you and he looked like that he could deal with it." I nodded and laid down to sleep. Tomorrow was just another day of fighting but tonight, I was safe.

"Lillie? Are you alright, sweetie?" I looked up. Hanji was sat next to me, hand on my shoulder and a worried expression covering her face. The flashback seemed real. I was actually there again. I could even taste the blood in the air. Hanji wiped away a tear, bringing me fully back into reality.
"Yeah. Sorry. Painful flashbacks." I muttered. She nodded, went over to her desk and pulled some things out. She held out some tissues and a small bar of chocolate. I took it gratefully and she pulled me into a hug. She was a good hugger. I giggled slightly and she looked at me. "What?"

"You do really nice hugs and I just found the thought really random so laughed. Apparently you're also very good at cheering people up." We both laughed and hugged again. "Shall we go find Eren and Levi then? They'll be missing me."

"You wish." I joked. She faked upset but laughed quite soon after. "Yeah. Let's go. Thanks Hanji." She didn't say anything but dragged me out of her classroom and towards the tutor base.