Levi's Little Sister (AOT Fanfiction) REWRITTEN

Chapter 1: They're gone...

I woke up one morning in my chilly room, feeling a strange loneliness hanging in the air. I rubbed my eyes and glanced around my dark room. The candle that had been lit melted out during the night, and it made me nervous. I was only nine years old, so I was scared of the dark. Isabel always lit a new one before I woke up, since we shared a room, but... she's not here. Where is she? I really didn't want to get up out of the safety of my blankets, but I did, and crept down the hall towards Levi and Farlan's room.
We didn't exactly have functional doors in our house, so we always left them open. Aside from the from door, anyway. I peaked through the doorframe into their room, and it was dark and empty too.
"L...Levi? Farlan?" I whispered timidly, my tiny hands gripping the rotting doorframe.
"Big brothers?" I called, a little louder this time.
Still no answer.
I couldn't see them in their beds as my eyes adjusted to the dark. I decided to try downstairs, so with my back to the wall so I could see everything around me, I backtracked towards the staircase. On the fifth step down from the top, I felt my foot sink as I tried to stand on nothing. I let out a yelp of surprise as my foot went straight into a whole in the wooden steps. In the dark, I couldn't see the broken step Isabel had caved in a few days ago, and I had forgotten all about it. I remember Levi telling me to be careful of it, and now look at me. I had a tiny scrape from a splinter that had stuck into my leg. I pulled my foot free and limped down the rest of the stairs. I was a weak, cowardly, scared little girl, and I always had been. The underground was no place for me, but neither was up above. I've never seen the sky before, I've always been down here in the dark, hiding in my brother's shadow. Of course, I wasn't cowardly for no reason. There had been... incidents... in the past. By the time I reached the bottom, I knew my family wasn't here. Levi was always less than seconds away when I cried out, well, almost always. So I went to the table and found a small candle and a match. I quickly struck it and lit the flame, suddenly able to see my near surroundings. There was a piece of tattered paper on the table with words scratched onto it. I couldn't read all that well, but I picked it up and examined the words anyway, whispering it out to myself.
"Luna, we had to take a job on the surface, and it's too dangerous for you to come along. There's enough food and water for you until we get back, which will be in no more than two weeks, I promise. I'm sorry we didn't tell you earlier, but we'll be home before you know it. Be safe.
Levi..."
I felt tears prick my blue grey eyes, my back sliding against the wall as I fell to the ground.
"What do I do without them?" I glance down, noticing something else on the note in small print.

PS, happy birthday, little sister. Your gift is by the door.
I sat there for a moment, drying my eyes before getting up and pacing over to the door. A red piece of cloth hung off the door handle. I carefully lifted it off and examined it. Bright colours were rare down here, so I had no idea where he had gotten it. I assumed it was a headband, probably to keep my long black hair out of my face while I was cleaning. Cleaning wasn't my favourite thing to do, but it was the one thing I was good at. I stretched it over my head, looking at my small, bony fingers as they passed by my face. I always looked skinny and underfed because I had trouble eating, and we could never go to a doctor to figure out why and fix it. So there I was, a small, frail, nine year old girl, standing in the doorway of a filthy, empty house, completely alone. I didn't have any friends in the underground anymore, so I didn't know where to go from here. I didn't want to leave in case Levi came back soon. So, I did the only thing that made sense. I barred the front door and locked myself in my room with some food and water, and waited.
And waited...
And waited...
Who knows how long I was in that room, humming quietly and scribbling on the floor with charcoal and telling stories to entertain myself. I was munching on the last of the bread when I heard a thud from downstairs, then the sound of a bottle rolling.
It gave me a fright, and I squeaked in surprise before slamming a hand over my mouth. There was no sounds for a moment, but then I heard footsteps. Pace, one two, pace, one two.
I started hearing voices as the footsteps moved around on the lower floor, and my adrenaline was spiking. My breathing quickened and I was in a cold sweat.
"You sure they're not here?" Was the first thing I could make out clearly.
"Obviously, if they were they'da come running from the sound. Levi and his damn crew don't take kindly to visitors." Someone else said.
I started to panic as I heard the creek of the stairs, knowing they were coming my way.
"Search the place, take all the crap that could be worth somethin!" A man shouted. Not knowing what else to do, I slid myself under the bed, trying to regulate my breathing. Everything Levi had taught me to do if someone came in when I was alone flew out of my mind. I just covered my mouth to hide my breathing as a few tears tolled down my cheeks.
Suddenly, someone started shoving aside the boxes I had placed in the door frame.
"Well well well, what have we got here?"
"Looks like someone's home after all."
"Didn't he have a little sister? Do you think he left her behind? I'm sure someone's been living in this room recently." The man said.
I didn't dare peek out from under the bed.
"Maybe. That damn rat's little sister must be worth something down here, don't ya think? If she's still around, we could cash in."
"If for nothing else, people might pay to dish out a little payback."
My eyes widened.
I can't let them find me, I want Levi to come back, now!
"I'm sure she'll turn up, there's no way she got out of here before we came in. Keep looking." Two of the footsteps started walking away, but the last one came closer.
He's gonna find me!
I was terrified, pushing myself as far against the wall as I could, hoping I wouldn't be seen.
Until I made a sound.
A small, choked sob from my fear, I hadn't even realized I was in such a state.
The second I made the sound, the footsteps wandering around stopped cold, paused, and began stomping towards the bed.
No no no!
I could see two legs standing right next to the bed, and then he started to kneel down. I was face to face with a man I had seen a few times before, he came to the house once when we first took in Isabel, I was only very small then.
"Gotcha." He reached an arm under the bed and dragged me out as I kicked and cried out.
"LEVI!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
"For a frail little girl, you sure can kick!" He said with a sickening laugh. He threw me over his shoulder as I pounded my fists into his back. He dragged me down the stairs to his friends and threw me on the floor. I immediately scrambled backwards, and my back met with the wall.
"Look what we have here." One of them said with a click of the tongue.
I took a deep breath in, trying to remember what Levi told me to do.
"Stay calm, if I'm in the house, scream as much as you can, I'll help you. If I'm not, and no one else is, do the same thing, but especially when you get outside. Someone's bound to at least take notice, and maybe call on the military police, or me if I'm nearby. No matter what happens, just fight, and make as much commotion as you can."
Make a scene, got it. While the three were talking about what to do with me, I got up and sprinted for the door, and screamed.
"Damn brat!" One of them exclaimed, tugging me back inside. The next thing I knew, I felt something hit the back of my head, and I collapsed to the ground unconscious.

(I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! It's a lot shorter than the first chapter of the original, but I think it's also kind of like a prologue. Please let me know what you think, and I do have a few chapter prewritten so hopefully even if I lose motivation for a while it won't be too long between chapters)