The Fight for Mankind

The Tale of the Hawke Part Two

ERWIN

Levi's face twisted in disgust as he heard the story of how the Sparhawkes of the underground met their untimely ends, and I felt a touch of sorrow for the family because this story was all too close to home.

What men won't do to each other.

"He was only 11, and small for his age, we all were." Jannick continued on as Levi's eyes remained riveted to his face, "That's what happens when there isn't enough food, you don't grow right, that and he hadn't hit his growth spurt yet. He did grow into a big bastard once he started eating good though, towering head and height over most people."

I wonder if that's why Levi is the height he is, a lack of food throughout most of his young life.

"Anyway, I slid up the window and entered the room, I dunno why I did, maybe I was hoping that Jenny wasn't really dead. I didn't fully understand the concept of death myself, but I learnt it that day. I remember crying over her body when the floorboards started to creak, and that's when I saw Rowan's fingers poking through the gaps. He was trapped 'cos his daddy's dead body was on top of where he was hiding, so I helped him out, and when Rowan came out from hiding covered in his daddy's blood, he was clutching this big ole' book like it was the most important thing in the world." Jannick explained, and that was the bit I found most interesting about his story, and I hoped Levi would see it too.

"What was the book?" Levi quizzed not failing to disappoint as his eyes flitted back to me before moving back to Jannick's lined face.

"It was a family book, he wouldn't tell me what was in, and I can't read so I never learned what it said, I did peak in it once though, there was a lot of writing and some interesting drawings of people and weapons and one of the walls and some Titans but Rowan never explained any of it to me," Jannick shrugged as if it was nothing, not understanding the implications of what he had just described but I did and so did Levi, "He said if I knew what was in that book I would end up like his family, I stopped asking after that."

Rowan Sparhawke knew about the Titan within the walls, that could explain why the order was after him, it didn't explain how he knew though or who wrote it in that book.

"What happened after they killed his family?" Levi moved Jannick along, eager to hear the rest of Rowan's quite remarkable story that lead to the birth of his equally remarkable grandchildren.

"I took Rowan to my momma, I told her some men had broken in and had done bad things to Rowan's family, she didn't believe me though when I said it had been MPs, she smacked me hard and told me not to say that again. I remember her being afraid." Jannick frowned to himself before shaking his head and continuing on with his story, "She took Rowan in after that, but he never stuck around long, neither did I for that matter. As soon as we were old enough, we were out in the city earning our way with petty theft and low-level crime to make ends meet. Story of the underground."

Just like Levi, I wonder if Aurora knows she willing choose to fall in love with a man that had such a similar story as her dead Grandfather.

"As Rowan got older, he became stronger, freakishly strong, like Jenny had been and he knew his way around any fight because he was violent and exceptional with weapons as well as with his fist, a parting gift from his daddy. We used that to our advantage and started taking money in bets in an illegal fighting ring, Rowan would do the fighting, and I would take bets because I couldn't hold my own for shit. Rowan won every time, he even gave himself a fancy stage name, 'the Hawke', people lapped that shit up, and we made a pretty penny. Eventually, we bought my folks place when they died and his old home too, made it ours and ate well most nights. Pretty soon we got to being comfortable, and Rowan continued with the odd fight to add to his private reserves because Rowan wanted out of the underground. He kept saying it wasn't safe for him, that he needed to be topside." Jannick shared and in doing so, answered the question as to how the Sparhawkes of Shiganshina were connected to the Sparhawkes of the underground.