Mortal Prayer (Levi x Eren Fanfic)

Chapter 8: Devil's Hand

Levi's POV:
Eren seemed to be happy with the dog. I was against it when Hanji messaged me about it, but his eyes lit up. Something about that made me feel good. I know that there were people that Erwin had who would never see the light of day ever again. He knew how to break people down from the highest pedestal. Seeing Eren in a decent place comforted me more than if I left him alone in that room.

As Erwin and I reached the foyer, Hanji was leaning against the wall.

"I assume Eren is happy?" she asked. I shrugged and got ready to leave. Erwin winked, and Hanji smiled.

"Eren will be well kept. I swear it on my life for both of you," Erwin stated. "Well, I need to inform the staff here of our new acquaintance. Good day."

"You had better," Hanji mumbled. Erwin went back into the facility and closed the door behind them. "So you're leaving then, Levi?" I hummed in response.

"There are personal matters that I must attain to myself, shitty glasses. I'm leaving, so goodbye," I said. Hanji suddenly stepped in front of me staring me down with that knowing glare.

"You are going to go to the station." It was not a question, but a statement.

"I am," I confirmed.

"You can't go to that place, Levi. You and I both know that even with your skills, those upper laboratories will be too highly secured. If you give me time, then I can get them for you. I know how much they meant to you." I shoved Hanji away, but she made no move to stop me. "You're making a huge mistake, Levi!" she called after me. Perhaps she was right. She usually was. But, I needed to get them back.

Even if it was only their corpses.

Farlan and Isabel were two great losses beyond the personnel of my organization. If I am not the one to bury them with the honor and courage of knowing who they were, then they will be thrown away like garbage. Everyone exists for a reason, and simply existing is proof for a legacy. Should they be kept and used as experimentation dummies, I would never be able to live with myself without that sinful conviction. They are beyond this world, but they were flesh once. For what that flesh held in soul and spirit is worth more than most would comprehend. The police have already collected their bodies and would be sent for autopsies. Hanji may have been able to get them back, but I don't want to see another blemish trail along their skin.

My mother already suffered once in that place even in death. I refuse to allow Isabel and Farlan to act as the same martyrs. With Eren sustained here, I will be free of burden limits my actions. The building was secure beyond most of the city's regular measures, but the building did have one loophole. The very place which allowed me to scour the city was the one place that penetrated even the most guarded buildings: the sewers.

I had no cares if this was a faithless or unfruitful feat, however by no means was I losing to the law. The rules that society enforced was never in my grasp from the moment I was born until even now.

The prison was long gone in the distance as I arrived back in the city. With only one goal in mind, I encased myself into the sewers and began up the pipes and cement foundations until I found myself in the basement of the police station. Five floors up was the morgue where their bodies would be. Beyond that was the lab. I snapped on a pair of x-ray goggles and mentally cursed seeing an array of red laser beams twinkle among the empty floors. It'd be a pain to navigate, however not encompassed with impossibility. Nearly two hours seemed to pass of only empty hallways, empty staircases, the absence of noise, and my exasperated struggles of the climbing staircase by staircase until I saw the flickering sign above the doorway. But before I could go in, I heard a voice quietly bleed through the doors.

"Those two that Mikasa's team picked up are going up to Dr. Yeager's?"

"Yeah. The database has no identification so we don't have any living relatives who need to be informed of their deaths. As circumstances have put us here, no request is needed for Dr. Yeager to take custody of the corpses."

"I see. It's a shame to see them pass when they are so young. The one with that dark oak auburn hair didn't seem any older than 14."

"I can't disagree with you there, but they were also in league with Levi. Who's to say he didn't kidnap them and raise them as weapons."

I gritted my teeth, seething with anger upon hearing Grisha had already made his move. He had no right to cut them open. They erased themselves from society so that they wouldn't meet the same fate as their parents. It never meant that their parents never existed. It never meant that I never existed. I began to rush upstairs ignoring everything. I ran until it seemed like I could head in a straight line for the laboratory. I burst into the room, letting the glass doors break in front of me. I gasped though as I met eyes with that man.

I found myself face to face with Grisha Yeager. He looked the same as ever. That knowing look was planted in his eyes and licked my very being to the core. He held a cup of what seemed to be coffee in his hand and sipped tentatively.

"It's been quite a while, Levi. Looking for these two?" he inquired. He nonchalantly pointed behind him to where two bodies laid next to each other. My eyes widened upon realizing it was Farlan and Isabel.

"You bastard," I scowled. Grisha chuckled and shrugged.

"You already know what I do here," he stated calmly. "The forensics department rely on me to gain information. And you are going to help me. Surely you realized the closer you got to here, the less security there was. We already knew you would come. An heartless as your demeanor seems to be, you care for your subordinates and comrades all the same. Such a weak aspect that you still possess, just like your precious mother."

"Don't you even dare bring her into this!" I screamed. "You're nothing but a demon. And to think your son is missing and you're here drinking like it's an average day." All of a sudden, Grisha began to chuckle maniacally.

"Do you really think Eren is that valuable to me? His being was already enough proof to continue with my experiments. All it takes now is simply taking more body parts and DNA from you to make more," he crooned. "I don't need a son. I need a success. With you here now, I have all I need to create more genetically modified and advanced people. And you've fallen straight into my palms."

"As if! We're just getting started," I said.

"Ah! But, that is where you are wrong, Levi. This is already over for you."

Suddenly, a sharp prick stabbed the nape of my neck. I crumpled to my knees and pulled out the needle. A tranquillizer dart was nestled between my fingers. This wasn't supposed to happen. He was right. How could I be so careless? I had lost. My vision blurred, and I tried to crawl away. Two guards were dragging me and I limply fell into the bed. The last thing I saw was Grisha's smirk embedding itself into my mind.