Searching for happiness (Attack on titan X Fairy Tail Crossover)

Chapter XXIV - A haunted house

After a long walk and an equally long train ride, we finally reached the estate of Erwin Smith. I wondered how he would react if we would mention the name Marley. Would he react in surprise or would he have expected such a thing? Actually, it would be typical for him, at least already had a premonition in this regard, because I knew no man who was far-sighted, as Erwin Smith.

As Wendy chattered next to me about what was her favorite food, we approached Erwin's estate. From a distance it looked just like at the time, as we had left it, but soon as we entered the property, immediately a bad feeling flared in me. I could not quite explain it, but I was a little worried and watchful.

"It's kind of quiet, isn't it?", Wendy suddenly said next to me, who seemed to be thinking similar thoughts. Once again I was astonished how attentive she could be.

"Too quiet.", I mumbled and my eyes darkened. Although it had never been really loud on Erwin's estate, you could still feel that many people had been busy here. There had always been footsteps or soft voices heard somewhere, a person here and there coming through a door, or some employees taking their break outside. Noticing nothing of this outside the building was quite unusual and that was what worried me. Was he planning a rest day just today? However, this reasoning seemed too naive to me and I had learned that one should always assume the worst immediately. Therefore, I immediately suspected that we were already too late and this Marley was already here.

"Something's not right here.", I hissed at the others who had apparently noticed nothing and now looked at me surprised.

"Huh?", Natsu remarked, "Why?". I forced myself not to roll my eyes annoyed.

"It is too quiet, idiot.", I muttered in response.

"Since when do you reject the silence?", Natsu commented my concerns, grinning cheekily, "Otherwise you would prefer it, if we are silent and suddenly you are scared of silence?". I felt the anger billowing in my throat and made a concerted effort to inhale and exhale quietly, otherwise I would have kicked this pink-haired bastard in his face.

"Levi knows better here.", Erza interjected and I saw that she went on alert, "We should trust his judgment.". At least one who could use her mind, I thought as I tried not to get any further upset about Natsu's stupidity.

Now more cautious and watchful, we headed for the building, which was now more and more deserted. Why was it so quiet here and why did I have the feeling that not a single soul was in this house? Maybe it had already come to a fight, I suspected. However , I could not really imagine that Erwin Smith was so easy to drive out of here or even defeat. That would not look like him. Maybe there was a simple explanation for the ghostly silence on the estate, but somehow I could not really convince myself of it. Inwardly, I already assumed that we would encounter Erwin's dead body in the house and the very thought of it almost turned my stomach. Even though I had not seen him for so many years and have had no contact with him at this time, he was still an important person in my life. When I had worked here, we had built trust and respect for each other and thus a close relationship was established. Of course I would never admit that to him and I would not call Erwin Smith a friend right away, but I could not deny that he had played and still plays an important role for me.

As if we were burglars, we kept on sneaking, anxious to be as quiet as possible. Finally, we stood in front of the large front door and when Erza carefully pressed against it, it actually opened. This only reinforced my uneasy feeling and almost automatically I summoned two elongated daggers in my hands.

As quietly as possible we entered the huge building, but after only a few steps we stopped in the entrance hall. Also, here in the house it was almost dead quiet and a cold shower ran down my spine. The last time I had seen the house so quietly had been the day the news of Isabel's and Furlan's death had been announced. No one had dared to speak a single word that day, and they had all looked at me with great compassionate eyes. Poor guy, they had all thought and cold rage had crept up in me, for I hated pity. But the current silence was different, not oppressive or full of grief, but threatening and ominous. At the latest here, an employee of Erwin would have had to meet us, but it was as if we had entered a haunted house. Damn, I thought bitterly, apparently we were actually too late. Slowly, Erza now turned to us and look at us worried.

"Something is not right here," she whispered .

"Maybe we should look in the office?", Gray said quietly and with a nod Erza turned around and walked towards the office of Erwin. In a row, we all followed her. Although Wendy had wanted to go at the end of our row, I had wordlessly shoved her in front of me. It would be reckless to let her go last and if we were ambushed I could protect her better if I walked behind her. Quietly and cautiously, we crept through the property and with every step we took, the fear of being discovered grew.

However, I had to admit that I was actually surprised that Erza still knew the exact route to Erwin's office. Determinedly she crossed several corridors until we were only a few steps away from the office door. However, I doubted that we would find anyone there. At most, Erwin's dead body or Hanji's and I was not sure if I wanted to see that.

As we kept getting closer to the door, I suddenly heard a telltale, wooden crack right behind me, and all the alarm bells inside me began to shrill. Reflexive, I drove around and that was not a second too late.

In a dark niche between two wide, wooden closets, a person had hidden, who now rushed at me with almost superhuman speed. Since she attacked me directly from behind, I had little room to react, but probably I owed it to my many years of life on the streets that I could still react in time. I could avoid a weapon by a hairbreadth and if I had not avoided, this sword would now stuck in my shoulder. My eyes shot to the person who was holding the sword and I saw a young woman. She had short black hair, a petite face, and remarkably narrow eyes that I'd never seen before. Despite her rather feminine face, her body looked very muscular and powerful, but I could not think of anything else because she was already preparing for the next attack.

"There's somebody!", I heard Lucy screaming behind me, who now had also discovered the woman, but at the same moment I had to dodge another sword thrust, which I just barely managed again. I felt the breeze of the sword on my arm and was startled by the cold precision. As fast as I could, I threw up my daggers and started a counter-attack, but the woman was able to dodge my blow perfectly and also took out another blows.

It was like we were doing a macabre dance. One took off, the other one parried and vice versa. Neither of us could score in that short time, and the speed and strength of the young woman became more and more suspicious to me. I had never faced a person who could handle my reflexes and my speed, but for this woman it all seemed easy.

"Levi!", Wendy screamed almost hysterically behind me and no sooner had she called my name, the woman froze in front of me and looked at me in amazement. Confused by this reaction, I paused for a moment, not knowing exactly what was happening. It was as if Wendy had frozen her with her voice, but it was obvious that the woman had voluntarily stopped her attacks. But why?

"Oh, you are Levi?", she asked in a melodic voice, piercing her eyes into mine.

I am very sorry that my update intervals have increased, but I'm really busy at the moment. But of course I keep on writing on this story! Thanks for your patience! :)

Published on 03-29-2019

If you liked this chapter, please consider giving it a vote.