Chapter Text
As he looked around the private living room of Lady Azumabito’s estate, Armin couldn't bear to meet the defeated gazes of his comrades. Even Captain Levi, who was known for his stoic nature in the worst situations, appeared visibly shaken by the outcome of the rally for Eldian rights and Eren's sudden disappearance. The dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced than ever, and he sat slouched on one of the many leather chaises with fingers digging into his sleeves. A layer of dark stubble framed his angular jaw, softening the usual sharpness of his expression. Armin had never seen Levi go without a shave, not even when they were being hunted by their own government and were forced to hide out in the woods and abandoned warehouses. Armin risked a glance at the opposite corner of the room, where Mikasa stood, staring out a window with her fists clenched at her sides. Her expression was blank, but the almost invisible tremor of her shoulders betrayed her grief. He looked to Conny and Sasha, desperate for someone to break through the thick haze of loss and confusion. But even they were silent, and the plate of food resting on the coffee table in front of them sat untouched. Armin ran a hand through his disheveled blonde locks and turned back to Lady Azumabito, who stood with hands clasped over her charcoal pencil skirt, staring at them with pity in her dark eyes.
"Lady Azumabito, is there nothing else we can do? There must be someone left in this world who would ally with us, someone who hasn't let prejudice cloud their judgement."
The ambassador's lips pursed, deepening the age lines, and sharpening her features. Her eyes flicked briefly to Mikasa, then returned to his.
"There is one other I can think of, but it would take days to travel there. The roads out of Marley are heavily patrolled. Countless Eldians have been caught trying to flee their internment zones. You would have to travel by horse, across the desert, to even hope to get there without being caught. That is the least of the possible dangers you would face, and she still might turn you away. I didn't bother to mention it before, because the chance of success is so slim."
Next to him, Commander Hange lifted their head from between their knees, a spark of hope returning to their eyes. Armin gladly let them take the reins.
"We're more than accustomed to traveling by horseback through difficult terrain. I said it before. If there's even a chance of opposing Marley without complying with Zeke's plan, we must take it. Please tell us who this woman is and how to get to her."
With a deep sigh, Lady Azumabito stepped out of her pointed black heels and took a seat in a well-worn leather armchair, crossing her legs at the ankle and folding her hands in her lap. The ambassador sat with back straight and a reluctant expression. His comrades straightened from their slump, sensing the sudden tension in the air.
"Very well. There is a woman who many assume to be nothing more than legend. It is said that like Ymir, she made a deal with the devil for immortality. She built a sanctuary city where all those who wished to take refuge from the senseless violence of the world’s wars could escape to. Her people call her "Koroleva Demonov", the Queen of Demons. No one knows where the city is. The only thing I can offer you is part of a map that came to me by chance years ago.”
Lady Azumabito paused and fixed Commander Hange with a stern look.
“If you choose to set out to find it, you'll have to do so on your own. If you're caught, I can't afford to have any of my people captured with you. Marley will rain bombs down on Hizuru for daring to help you. Do you still wish to take this chance, knowing that you are more than likely to be turned away?"
Hange turned to each of them, waiting for an objection. Conny, Jean, and Sasha offered grim, but hopeful smiles. Mikasa only nodded. They all knew she'd do anything to bring Eren home. Their gaze skipped over Armin, knowing that he was the most desperate to find another solution, and focused on Levi. He was the most likely to oppose the possible suicide mission. Armin imagined the captain’s harsh tone as he argued that it was too dangerous, that they couldn’t afford to put the rest of the Survey Corps’ veterans at risk for the miniscule chance of success. Armin then imagined the heated argument that would ensue as Commander Hange tried to convince him. The same scene had played out a dozen times before since Hange took command. So, it came as a surprise when the dour captain instead sighed, dragging a hand over his stubble, and combing his long fingers through already tousled locks, and fixed Lady Azumabito with his signature blank expression.
"How soon can we leave?"
"Before the sun rises tomorrow."
Levi’s stare shifted to Commander Hange, catching the barest traces of her long-hidden excitement for the unknown. Out of the corner of his eye, Armin watched Conny and Sasha grip the edges of the couch and lean forward, eyes comically wide and chests still as they waited for Levi's answer. When Levi huffed, lifted himself from the couch and exited without a word, Commander Hange beamed (when is the last time Armin had seen so much as a smirk?), and addressed the eager scouts.
"Pack your bags! We're gonna do some scouting!"
Sasha and Conny jumped from their seat with identical whoops and looped arms with a grumbling, reluctant Jean as they dragged him from the room.
Lady Azumabito excused herself to make the arrangements.
Commander Hange clapped him on the shoulder as they left. Mikasa remained, still silent and trembling, the movement more noticeable without anything to distract him. Armin padded across the lush burgundy carpet and put a tentative arm around her shoulder.
"We'll get him back Mikasa. Together, we'll convince this woman to help us, and then we can plan an extraction for Eren."
"How can you be sure? How do you know it won't go horribly wrong like everything else?"
Armin's breath hitched as Mikasa peeked out from underneath her hair, dark eyes shimmering with unshed tears. It had been years since he’d seen her cry. The trauma they'd been through had numbed her to most things. Armin pulled her against his chest and tucked her head under his chin.
"Because we have no other choice. Zeke's plan has to be stopped."
Quiet tears wet his shirt as Mikasa's hands bunched the snowy fabric between her fists. Armin held her quaking body in his arms, happy to have enough of his wary friend's trust to console her. No words need be said about the cause of her grief. Armin too felt the ache of loss, the confusion, and the anger at Eren's sudden abandonment. Their embrace lasted until well after the last light from the sun disappeared, and the moon took her place in the sky to watch over them.
Levi’s POV
By the time the first hints of sunlight shifted the sky from black to gray, the veteran scouts were saddled and ready to depart. Levi sat tall in his saddle as Lady Azumabito approached them. She held up a folded square of discolored parchment, its edges torn and smudged.
"This map holds the secret to the hidden city. It is the only copy and it's at least a hundred years old, so please be careful with it. The map is coded. I have the cypher for you as well, but I suggest you either memorize it or keep them separate. Marley has wanted to get their hands on the sanctuary city for almost a century."
She held the paper out to them. Hange took it with an almost reverent touch and pulled a smaller fold of parchment out. The faded lettering on the cypher was barely legible, and Levi had his doubts about its ability to lead them anywhere but straight to their deaths. He gave Hange a sour look as they held the map out to him, while Mikasa took the cypher. He understood why they wanted him to safeguard it. Levi and Mikasa were the least likely of the group to die or be captured, but the thought of being held responsible for another important, possibly life-changing item made his stomach clench. Hange's knowing smile made him scowl as he tore the aged parchment from her hand, disappointed when the thing didn’t tear. He ignored both his Commander's and Lady Kiyomi's scandalized expressions, tucking the map inside the hidden pocket sewn into the inside of his trousers.
"We're ready to go. Where is it that we're going exactly?"
Kiyomi pursed her lips at his curt tone but chose not to comment.
"There is a private road out of this estate. Follow it to the back gate. From there, head Northwest at until you reach the edge of the desert. The map will lead you from there. Remember, Marley patrols all the roads into and out of its territory, so stay as far away from the road as possible. I wish you luck."
Hange retrieved a compass from their saddle bag, confirmed the correct direction with Armin, whose navigational skills were more trustworthy than theirs, and offered Kiyomi a salute as they urged their horse forward. Levi followed behind, and the rest of the troupe fell in line behind them in two neat columns. With no threat of titans, but the very real threat of ambush by Marleyan soldiers, Armin had decided the best tactic was to ride close together. In the large double column, each rider could keep an eye out for attack from all sides and report it immediately. Lady Kiyomi was kind enough to arm them with unserialized Marleyan rifles that couldn't be traced back to her. Sasha, who was both the best shot of the group and who had an uncanny ability to pick out an approaching threat even before Mikasa or himself, took up the rear position. The group chatted amongst themselves as they traveled through the sloping countryside of the Azumabito estate, but as the gate appeared on the horizon, they fell silent.
The guard had been informed of their arrival and opened the gate for them with a wary eye and a stiff 'good luck'; another reminder of what most people thought of Eldians. Levi wondered, not for the first time, whether they were wasting their time, but the glimmer of hope in his comrade’s eyes kept him from speaking his thoughts aloud. After forcing her to take up the role of queen and putting her in the spotlight, he was as desperate to protect Historia as the rest of them. Eren's abandonment was another in a long list of personal failures on his part. If there was even the slimmest chance he could stop Zeke's shitty plan from being enacted, he would stay his natural pessimism until it became clear there was no hope.
Hange double checked their heading as the guard shut the gate behind them, and the group pressed onwards. The grass on the other side of the Azumabito estate was as tall as the horses. This made for great camouflage, but also took twice as long to travel through and made keeping their bearing difficult. Hange stopped the troupe several times to check they were still going in the right direction, and by the time the sun had sunk too low to ride safely and they were forced to make camp, they couldn't have covered more than fifty kilometers. Levi sipped at the bowl of bone broth Hange had cooked up, thankful despite its simplicity, to be eating something other than potatoes.
The commander waited until everyone had eaten their fill, before holding their hand out to Mikasa, who pulled the cypher from her breast pocket. Levi handed her the map without a word, and leaned over to watch as Hange and Armin opened it up, holding one of the crystals taken from the Reiss caverns over the map for light. The former underground thug had some experience with coded messages. As he looked over the complicated lettering, which was in a foreign language that had to be translated through a dictionary Kiyomi had provided before it could even be deciphered, Levi could tell that this coding was on par with something Erwin would have written. Without the cypher, there would be no chance of reading the map. He watched as Armin and Hange laid the map out in front of them, using their tin cups as weights to hold it down.
On the map was a worn, unmarked depiction of the desert they were meant to reach, bordered by what Levi recognized to be the main state of Marley. Inside the desert area, rather than terrain features or anything someone would expect to see when looking at a map, there were several rows of faded gibberish, separated into two letter pairs by vertical lines. Levi counted eighty-one coded words, with only a few duplicates, and stifled a groan. This would take time to decipher. Time that they were preciously short on. It would be just their luck for Marley to launch an attack on Paradis while it's best chance of survival was squatting around a campfire chasing fairytales. On his left side, Armin's bright blue eyes that remind him too much of Erwin roved over the page of nonsense in half the time it had taken Levi to decide they were in trouble. The spark of recognition in those eyes and the excited grin that graced Armin's lips eased some of Levi's concern.
"It's a Playfair cipher. I read about them in one of the books from Commander Erwin's personal library. See how the words are split into pairs? You put the keyword into a five-by-five square box, fill in the rest with the alphabet, excluding any duplicate letters and the letter J, then follow a set of rules to decipher what each letter pair is replaced with."
Armin pulled a spare bit of parchment from his trouser pocket. Hange bounced in their seat as they handed him a fountain pen they'd bought at one of the market stalls. Levi recalled them babbling in his ear about how cheap it was compared to back home. He leaned in, watching Armin’s hand flit across the page with well disguised fascination. He was no stranger to encrypted messages. Much of his communication on jobs in the underground was done in code. The ease with which Armin translated the message, however, was impressive. The boy was a marvel, truly; every bit as genius as Erwin had always claimed. Once finished, Armin held the translation up for them to read. His looping scrawl proved to be almost as difficult to decipher as the map itself. Levi raised a brow at the boy, who flushed under his scrutiny and rushed to explain.
"Travel three moons North and West. When only sand you see on either side, to the port you have arrived. In light, only sand be seen. By dark, the Ferryman shall be revealed. Be not afraid of burning eyes. The Ferryman is on your side. A question the ferryman will speak. You must answer Peace. Be warned, if your words are found untrue, the Ferryman shall be friend no more. If in honest need you speak, Ferryman shall lead you to the Queen."
Levi blinked. His steel eyes narrowed, and his scowl deepened. He blinked again.
"What kind of shit directions are those? How are we supposed to find anything with that?"
Armin flinched and the proud expression slipped away. Levi regretted his outburst. For as much as the boy and Erwin were similar, they were still worlds apart. His former Commander would have chided Levi for his temper and moved on, ever confident in his own intellect. Levi sighed, carding his hand through bangs that had been left alone too long.
"What does it mean, Armin?"
The boy recovered, but still looked troubled as he answered.
"Well, the first part is easy. We travel Northwest for three nights until we're surrounded by desert. My guess is that it's leading us to the center. The port I think is a disguised name for the camp where this Ferryman collects refugees to lead to the city, and he only appears at night. The last part is simple as well. We'll most likely be asked about our intentions. If they're found to be harmful, they'll defend themselves. They need a way to make sure spies aren't sneaking into the city disguised as refugees. The burning eyes though...I'm not sure what that means. It could be a reference to the Ferryman’s distrust until we prove ourselves, but there isn't really a need to put that in the message."
Hange, who had been uncommonly silent until now, chimed in at full volume from Levi's right side, forcing him to suppress a jump.
"Miss Kiyomi said that the protector of the city was said to be some kind of demon. Maybe they have a way to transfer this power, like the titan power, and it makes them look frightening. You wouldn't want a refugee to be caught off guard and terrified. They might run off and tell someone."
Levi rolled his eyes, unwilling to put much stock in stories of demons. Titans were one thing, but they ended up just being unfortunate humans. He found it hard to believe there could be another kind of monster in the world. People made up wild stories to cope with the real horrors of the world. Armin, however, took Hange's words in stride.
"That's a good possibility. We should be prepared to defend ourselves. There's no guarantee these people will feel any differently about Eldians than the rest of the world."
They fell into silence. Mikasa had left to take the first watch some time ago, and the other brats passed out the moment their bellies were full. In the flickering shadows cast by the firelight, Armin, with his shortened hair, could easily be mistaken for his former Commander. The boyish features were harder to make out. Levi stood, brushing imaginary dirt from his trousers and ignoring the uncomfortable squirming of guilt in his gut.
"I'll go take-over for the gloomy brat. You should get to sleep. We'll want to head out before sunrise to make as much ground as we can before the heat stops us."
They set off as soon as there was enough light to travel by the next morning, confused by the riddle and disheartened, but refusing to give up. On a positive note, the tall grass shifted into hard clay with sparse vegetation a few hours into their ride. It made the group easy to spot, but thankfully they didn't run into any random Marleyan patrols, and the group was able to cover twice as much distance. As the sun set on their third day of riding, the scouts set up camp against an outcropping of red clay boulders. In the distance, the flat ground rose into rolling sand dunes as far as they could see. According to the riddle, the Ferryman should be nearby. Hange had told them that with luck, they should stumble on the Ferryman's encampment before they died from thirst or succumbed to the scorching heat. Levi would force the group to turn back before it came to that, even if he had to drag the gloomy brat by her hair.
Levi and company set out into the desert the next morning in high spirits. They made good time in the early hours, but soon the scorching early afternoon sun beat down on their backs without mercy. None of them were dressed to combat such intense heat. Levi's black leather loafers felt like sticking his damn feet in a pile of lit coals, and his thick cotton button-down stuck to his back, drenched with disgusting sweat. Conny and Jean had taken theirs off some time ago, fashioning the fabric into an odd wrap over their heads with part of the shirt draped over their necks. Levi stubbornly refused to follow suit. The idea of a sweat soaked shirt dripping down the back of his neck made Levi shudder. A few hours later, after the punishing heat forced them to stop for the day, the captain was glad not to have copied the boys as they moaned about the camp, the skin of their backs glowing red and blistering in several places.
Levi laid his hand, cool by comparison, against his flaming cheek. He'd thought too late to retrieve a hat from his saddle bag, but the wide brim had kept the burn from worsening. As soon as camp was made and the horses fed and watered, he ordered everyone to sit the fuck down and just drink water. They had at Kiyomi's suggestion, packed triple the normal amount. Much of the weight carried by the horses were hydration sacks. Levi worried that it still wouldn’t be enough. Nothing but searing sand surrounded them for miles, not even a patch of grass in sight. The water should last them a week at least. If it took them more than that to find the refugee camp, they'd be in trouble. Levi resolved to force the group to turn back if they don't find anything by tomorrow, Hange’s protests be damned. The gloomy brat would throw a fit too, but he'd knock her out and carry her back on his shoulder if he had to. No one was dying of thirst under his watch, no matter how desperate they were.
When the brats had drunk and refilled their canteens at least twice, and the listlessness cleared from their eyes, Levi allowed them to start dinner. Sasha, in a moment of brilliance, suggested that they lash their tent canvas together to build a shade. There was no hint of rain coming, so they could just sleep under the stars. An hour later, they sat together under the makeshift shelter, still fucking hot, but at least a little less miserable. Without the light beating down on it, the sand beneath them cooled fast. An hour after the sun sank beneath the horizon, it was cold enough to lay on with bare skin. They didn’t bother with a fire that night, relying on meal bars to get them through the night and following morning. According to the map, the Ferryman should appear tonight. Levi had no clue how a whole refugee camp could just appear out of fucking nowhere, but he'd keep his mouth shut until morning, for Hange's sake.
No one seemed able to sleep, so Armin pulled out a weathered deck of cards. Levi watched from the sidelines as the rest of the 104th gathered around him with eager grins. Conny bet the rest of his allowance from Lady Azumabito that he'd beat Armin and Jean in at least one round. Even fools had to get lucky sometimes. Jean took the bet with a clap on the back, jumping away with a string of apologies when Conny cried out.
Levi turned away from the kids as Hange took a seat next to him. The spark of hope he'd glimpsed when they first learned of the sanctuary city still glimmered in their eyes, shadowed by doubt that never existed before, when everything was simple, and they knew nothing about anything. He sometimes wished they could go back to that, if only to see the carefree smile on his friend's face again.
"I know what you're going to say. You've been making your argument face for the last few hours. Can you do me a favor and just hold in the 'I told you so's' a little longer?"
Levi looked away and huffed. Only Hange would be able to glean anything different from his usual scowl.
"Yea, four eyes. I'll wait."
Together, they watched the stars blink into the sky as darkness set in. Hange rattled off the names of constellations. Levi listened with one ear, the other and both eyes scanning the dark for any sign of life emerging from the sand. Sasha, almost as expected by now, beat him to the punch. She interrupted the card game, throwing hard cards in Conny's face (he had been leaning over trying to peak at her hand) and pressing her ear to the ground.
"Captain, I hear something! It sounds like machinery moving under the sand."
Conny laughed and bent to pick up the cards, always dismissive of his friend's ability though she had yet to be wrong. The rest of the 104th stiffened in preparation, the card came abandoned.
"Where's it coming from Braus?"
Levi followed Sasha's finger to a patch of sand just beyond the edge of their camp. He squinted at the dark mass, and sure enough, noticed sand around the spot shifting unnaturally. His hand flew to his hip on reflex, fingers curling around nothing but air as Levi remembered they had left their gear behind. He hid the blunder by reaching down for the knife in his boot, the message be damned. Levi wasn’t about to leave himself unguarded just because a piece of paper said it was safe.
"Get ready. We're about to get some answers."
The brats scrambled up off the ground, faces grim and bodies ready. Armin had even drawn his own blade. Levi lifts a brow at the confident grip of his hand around the handle, surprised but impressed. These damn kids had grown so much since they'd first joined his squad.
Out of the shifting earth a silhouette rose, sand pouring off the edges and pooling at the sides as a steel hatch opened before them. The cranking of gears only Sasha heard in the beginning was loud enough to hurt his ears now, but he ignores the pain. He waited, ready for anything, for the gears to stop. Fingers flexed and tightened around the hilt of his dagger, perhaps a little eager for redemption after the disappointment of their mission in Marley.
The grinding stopped. In the dark, Levi could just make out a set of stone steps leading down under the sand.
"Footsteps, Captain. Just one set."
Sasha whispered. Levi heard them a few seconds later. He strained his eyes to see the body making the sound, counting the seconds between footsteps to determine the stranger's pace. Whoever was coming to greet them had no sense of urgency. Then, out of the black, an echoing baritone calls out to them in a thick accent Levi had never heard before. They placed a heavy emphasis on consonants at the end of words and pronounced certain vowels with a slur that had nothing to do with drink.
"Put down weapons. I am not enemy."
But the creature that followed the voice, a colossus of a man with skin pale as a corpse, scarlet eyes that burned like embers out of the black, and a set of pearlescent fangs revealed when he opened his mouth, sets Levi's instincts ablaze.
Danger. Enemy. Fight.
His fingers clenched tight around the blade and his right foot slid back, ready to spring at a moment's notice. The stranger's eyes shifted to Levi, piercing and wild as he inhaled deeply through the nose. Levi pushed the bitter memory of Mike away at the action.
"Ah. Ackermann. Put knife away, boy. Won't do you any good, anyway."
The recognition of his surname gave Levi pause. The stranger spoke with confidence, but not arrogance. If the man knew about the Ackerman's special abilities and was still unruffled at the idea of fighting Levi, there must be a reason for it. The veteran soldier had long since learned to pick his battles carefully, a lesson pounded into him first by Kenny, then solidified by his failure to anticipate Erwin's moves. Hange threw an elbow into his side and pinned him with a stern look.
Stand down before you mess everything up.
Levi replied with a huff and a glare but stowed his knife back in his boot.
Fine. If he attacks and we lose someone, It's on you.
At the edge of his vision, Levi watched Armin hesitate a moment longer before stowing his own weapon. Another burst of pride filled him. Then the stranger stepped completely into the light cast over their camp by the waning moon. His hair was a brilliant white blonde, and Levi wondered if the man would have shared Erwin and Armin's shocking blue eyes before he became this half-dead looking creature. With the immediate threat of attack gone, his eyes had shifted from vermillion to an all-encompassing black. It looked the same as the many times Levi had watched the life bleed out of his comrade’s eyes, and it did little to ease his anxiousness. He almost preferred the red.
"Not many travelers wander this far in. You don't look lost, either. How did you come by the map? None were given to Paradis."
Levi cut Hange off before they could start spewing their life story.
"How do you know we're from Paradis?"
The man tilted his head and drew another deep breath.
"The dwellers of that Island carry a unique scent."
Levi recoiled, disturbed by the thought of being identified by scent alone. Mike had never been forthcoming about his observations when he sniffed people, and Levi passed it off as a weird quirk that was sometimes useful on expeditions. Hange took his silence as an opportunity.
"The map was given to us by someone we trust. I hope you can understand why we can't reveal their identity in these times."
“Fair enough. Let's get it done then."
His eyes burned scarlet once more, and Levi felt an unfamiliar buzz in his head, like someone who didn’t belong there was trying to force their way in. On instinct, he pulled Hange's face away from the stranger’s gaze.
"Tell me. What do you seek to gain by entering the sanctuary city?"
Levi answered for Hange, fearful of her response.
"We seek peace."
Lips curled back from protruding fangs, and the man snarled at Levi like a wild animal.
"You lie, and I didn't ask you, Ackermann. I asked your Commander. Stop hiding them from me so I can ask again."
Levi and Hange exchanged a nervous glance, but he complied, watching with teeth clenched as Hange turned back to the hypnotic stare.
"Good. No lies this time. What do you seek from the sanctuary city and its protector?"
Hange winced and bit her lip, but it was no use. Whatever power it was that Levi's Ackermann bloodline must have protected him from, Hange took the full force of it, bending to the stranger's will.
"We are in desperate need of an ally against Marley. They want to wipe Paradis from existence, and our only other hope involves sacrificing our queen to be eaten by her children."
"So, you seek war."
"No. We seek a deterrent. An ally to buy us time until we can convince the world we're not devils that need to be destroyed."
Red faded to black. The man looks around at the group, thoughtful. Hange leaned against Levi's side for support. Whatever the man had done to force the truth out of them had left Hange exhausted.
"Desperate times. I'll warn you. You are wasting your time. She won't listen...but I will take you. We'll leave tomorrow night. For now, come downstairs and get settled. Horses will be fine up here."
The man turned back towards the staircase. Levi grabbed Hange's arm as she moved to follow without question.
"Wait. You haven't even told us your name. Why should we follow you underground?"
The stranger turned his head back, and Levi struggled to make out his features in the dark. He would have to rely on instinct alone to determine if the Ferryman was lying.
"Name's Ivan. You're welcome to stay out here, but desert gets cold at night. There are warm beds downstairs. If I was going to kill you, I could have done it many times now."
It made sense, and there was no hint of deceit in Ivan's tone. Levi, however, ever wary and concerned for his comrades, had a few more matters to settle before allowing anyone to follow the Ferryman downstairs.
"You haven't told us what the hell kind of creature you are either. Not human, that's for sure."
Ivan turned around with a sigh, folding his arms across his chest.
"I'm a vampire, not that you know what that is either. I will explain that, and anything else you want to know once we're downstairs."
Hange tugged their arm out of Levi's grasp, rubbing the spot his fingers had squeezed too tight with an exasperated look.
"Come on, shorty. Do you really want to sleep in the sand? You can interrogate just as well in a basement as out here, as I recall."
Levi bit back a retort and nodded to the brats, taking up the rear as they followed Ivan and Hange down into the dark. He counted the steps in his head, making note of how deep they went. At the bottom of the stairs, the narrow hallway opened into a wide cavern, well-lit by several lanterns along the stone walls. It was all one room, with bunks tucked against the opposite wall. A fur rug surrounded by several worn chairs lay in front of the fireplace to their left. A screen separated what he assumed was the latrine, though the absence of the stench of urine and shit made him second guess. Ivan took the chair furthest from the fire, throwing an arm and leg over each side, as if he were settling down with family instead of a group of strangers. The brats and Hange took the other seats. Sasha and Conny threw themselves face first into the rug and exclaimed its softness. Mikasa hovered behind the chair Armin sat in, the only one of the group besides Levi still looking tense. He wanted to ask her if Ivan set her off as well, curious to know how similar their Ackermann instincts were. Mikasa had long since forgiven him for the stunt at Eren's trial, and accepted Levi as a capable Captain, but she still kept her distance. Levi had been torn for some time now, since learning they shared the same surname, between keeping his own distance from Mikasa due to being her direct superior and trying to build a close relationship with the only family he had left. Feeling eyes boring into him, Levi turned away from Mikasa to find Hange staring at him with a raised brow.
Are you gonna sit down?
Levi scoffed and crossed his arms tight over his chest, turning his focus to Ivan and ignoring the roll of Hange's eyes.
No.
He was going to get the answers he wanted from this...vampire, at least try to make sure they weren’t being led to their deaths.
"You said you're a vampire like it's something common. Most 'common' things don't exist on Paradis. Wanna fill me in?"
“Vampire is creature of the undead. Most of us were once humans, who were turned by older vampire."
"And what exactly does being undead mean? In my experience, yer either dead, or yer alive. There aint no in between."
If the others noticed Levi's slip into his old underground accent, (or it's similarity to Kenny's), they kept it to themselves. Igor smiled, rueful and amused. The pointed fangs poked his bottom lip.
"That is exactly what undead are. In-between. We are neither living nor dead. Most of time, my heart doesn't beat. I have no need for food or drink, or even air, and blood in my veins dried up long ago. And yet, here I am talking to you, clearly alive."
Hange leaned forward in her chair, eyes bright with a familiar frenzy, and Levi let her take over for the moment.
"How does that work? What sustains you? How did you become like this? Would you mind if I took samples? This is the most fascinating thing I've seen since the Titans. If I could run some experiments, then maybe I could-"
Hange cut herself off as Ivan held up a hand. It was hard to tell through the all-consuming black irises, but he looked amused by Hange's fanatic rambling.
"Can't tell you exactly how being undead works. By all known laws of science, it shouldn't be possible. The other questions are simpler."
Ivan took a breath, Levi assumed for dramatic effect since he supposedly has no need of oxygen.
"Vampires sustain themselves off of blood. Human blood. We are unable to consume anything else. As for how I became like this. I, like many others, was turned by another vampire. The strongest of us all, and the oldest still living."
Hange shared a brief look with Levi. The similarities between a vampire's diet and a titan’s was not lost on them. He took over the conversation again.
"This Vampire. They're the so-called demon protecter of the city you're leading us to?"
"Yes. She is city's founder. Humans and Vampires alike have sought refuge there for two millennia. Every vampire within city and Ferrymen stationed around the world were created by her. The message on map calls her Queen. Her children have called her Koroleva Demonov, Queen of Demons, for near a century now. When you meet her, you may call her Sonja."
Ivan said her name with deep reverence. Levi wondered if it was of his own volition, or some strange result of being turned. He filed that thought away for later and moved on before Hange could cut him off. They were bobbing on the edge of their seat next to him.
"If this queen of yours is so powerful, why hasn't she put an end to Marley's warmongering instead of taking in endless refugees?"
"A fair question. I don't have answer. All I know is that Sonja refuses to subject her people to the horrors of war. We are trained in combat, but only if the need to defend the city arises. This is why I said you are wasting your time. Other vampires have tried to convince her before now. It didn't end well for them."
So, they were either dealing with a pacifist or a coward. That would be their luck. Still, they had come too far to back out now. Levi shoved Hange over so he could lean on the arm of their chair.
"Let's go back to this feeding off humans shit. How does that work? You're telling me a whole city is fine with its citizens being killed for food?"
Ivan’s rye chuckle set his teeth on edge. What part of that was at all funny?
"We don't eat humans, Ackermann. We're not titans. Very long time ago, before Sonja came to power, vampires would drain humans dry with little care. Sonja and her children have learned how to drink without killing. Those who live in Gavan live by Sonja’s laws. Those who break laws, she destroys."
If she could maintain that kind of control over a population of superhumans, then it may be worth their time trying to convince her to help. He could be lying of course, but Levi could usually pick up on the little ticks that betray a lie. So, unless this vampire had a perfect poker face, Levi could let down guard at least a little. There was one last question he needed answered before he let Hange have their fun.
"Why can't we leave first thing in the morning? The longer we're away from Paradis, the higher the chance Marley will stage an attack while our country is all but helpless. We don't have time to waste."
Ivan laughed again. Levi wondered when he became a comedian.
"Vampires cannot step into the sun. So, unless you'd like your only guide to burn to ash, we will travel at night."
So, if Marley attacked during the day, they were shit out of luck? Perfect.
"Fine. As soon as the sun sets. How far do we have to travel?"
"If the horses are fast and strong? Five days."
Levi left the conversation there, walking over to the bunks and claiming the one nearest the corner. He sat up in the bunk, leaning against the wall with eyes closed as he half listened to Hange rattle off question after inane question at Ivan. He trusted his and Mikasa’s instincts to warn him of any danger. The sound of Hange’s voice eventually lured him into a fitful sleep. Erwin’s face haunted him in his dream that night, pale as a corpse with familiar vermillion eyes burning into him with an accusing stare.