Warning: This chapter includes such topics as: r*pe, sexual assault, pedophilia and suicide idealization
Mikasa's PoV
Mikasa floated in an impenetrable, pitch-black void – nothing existed around her, and the only thing the girl felt was the cold piercing through her limbs and body. Floating in this void, Mikasa subconsciously returned to her memories after her parents' murder.
When the first of her clients brutally raped her – her first time, even before her first period – how it hurt and how Mikasa then puked into the rafting for the next two hours, choking on tears and vomits.
When Mikasa first met Marina – and how, despite the horrible conditions they lived in, Marina always checked to see if Mikasa had eaten the whole meal – and how to turn off her emotions, drift off somewhere far away while serving a customer.
When Mikasa first felt emptiness – what it was like to feel nothing – and how it eased the pain eating her away from the inside – the girl didn't really understand the torment that indifference brings with it. The suffering that had accompanied her for so long since the death of her parents – from the nightmares that Mikasa had been seeing in her dreams.
It didn't matter if she was asleep or awake.
These memories were always with her, haunting her every day, endlessly. In addition, the pain that her work caused her.
She felt hopeless and terrified of living this life like that – she endured it for years, but not forever. She preferred to die rather than live such a life until death.
Levi's PoV
"What do you mean by that, Marina?" – Levi was rather frustrated by what he heard. No scratch that, Levi was in a state of cold fury, which he hid behind a mask of ice. The one he wore every day during his life in this hell.
"That her surname is Ackermann," Marina replied irritated. She may have been a cold bitch, but she wasn't stupid. Something shook the man to the core.
But Levi was puzzled by something else—Kenny's surname was Ackermann and so was his—the old man had slipped out that information during one of his unforgettable drunken ramblings. They were related to each other in some way, Levi was convinced for a long time that they were the last with that surname.
Until Marina told him the name of that girl – who wanted to kill herself, but at the same time wanted to live. Not that he blamed her or anything – living in the Underground is synonymous with hell.
Mikasa was his relative—it was hard for him to tell if she was a close one or a distant one, because he never had a chance to ask his mother, and Kenny hid a lot from him. Of course, before that damn old man ran away and disappeared without a trace.
Life for people with the surname Ackermann has always been hard and full of pain, apparently.
The problem was that the news about what Mikasa had done spread around the brothel – the owner of the brothel didn't want to hire her anymore, and Marina's hands were tied – even if she wanted to support the girl, she wouldn't have any money to raise the kid if she lost her job in the brothel.
This left Levi with a dilemma – take Mikasa to his place and bring her to use somehow, then reject her so that she would not have any connection to the criminal life, or take Mikasa to his place, while not paying any attention to the fact that he could make the girl a criminal. And an accomplice.
Mikasa was his only family by blood – they both lost every other of their loved ones who bore that cursed surname. Although Levi knew that he would probably be just as a shitty caretaker as Kenny was, he still wanted to save Mikasa from the hell of living in a brothel.
He himself saw how such a life ends.
"Do you have any ideas what to do with Mikasa?" – Marina asked sharply, putting her hand on her hand – "Even if I wanted to, I have no way to take care of her. When the boss finds out that I am taking care of her in the brothel, he will throw me out of there with her."
Levi nodded his head to show that he understood the situation.
" I don't have much of a choice. I will take her to my place, although I do not guarantee that I won't involve her in being an accomplice in crimes."
Mikasa's PoV
Mikasa opened her eyelids – she had not been in a brothel. What was even more surprising to Mikasa that she was alive. She wanted to die, and at the same time she wanted to go on living—two things that naturally contradicted each other. Two wishes, of which only one can be fulfilled.
Mikasa stood up, hissing in pain, her wrists wrapped in fresh bandages, and on the bedside table was a book, a collection of fairy tales that Marina used to read to her when Mikasa was younger.
Then Mikasa felt a strange gaze on her back – the girl turned abruptly – there stood a man with sharply defined facial features, a steely gaze and short-cut black hair.
"Who are you?" asked Mikasa suspiciously. Could this be another customer to whom the girl will be forced to do her job as a prostitute?
"Levi. Levi Ackermann," the man replied dryly and sat down on a stool in the corner of the room
Wait a moment... Ackermann?! Mikasa had heard rumors of Levi, a fearless and incredibly strong thug who took on various jobs with his crew – Isabel Magnolia and Furlan Church. However, no one mentioned Levi's name.
Mikasa, however, restrained herself and tried to behave rationally as much as possible.
"What do you want from me? Where am I?" asked Mikasa, her skinny hands clenched around the folds of her tattered and dirty dress
"If you mean your services, I'm not interested in them, and I never was. Never, even in the future " – Levi anticipated her further questions – "Marina brought you here. You're in my headquarters, in my house."
"I sincerely doubt that you are hosting me here out of good will. There is no place for the luxury of altruism or empathy in the Underworld," Mikasa said, increasingly stressed
"Because we're family, Mikasa," sighed Levi impatiently, "Marina is no longer able to keep you with her, so you've come under my care, as strange as it sounds. Me, Furlan and Isabel will train you until you can fight well enough – then you will join my squad and help us with operations."
Mikasa raised her eyebrows in surprise and relaxed her fingers clenched on her dress—then shifted her gaze to the book on the bedside table.
"But by then, you have to gain strength and body weight, because you look like death on your feet. So just focus on a recovery" Levi added, before getting up and leaving the room
But before the man left, Mikasa stopped him for a moment.
"Okay, but why are you doing this?" – Mikasa asked the obvious
Levi paused for a moment in the entrance – there was a short silence, interrupted by the creaking of the floorboards in the room.
"Because I don't want you to end up like my mother," Levi explained quietly, then walked down the stairs