Ch. 13 - A Growing Family

"A year already," I mused, accepting a cup of tea when Levi offered it. I took a sip, appreciating the warmth of it for a moment as floral notes wafted up towards my nose. "I almost can't believe it. The past year has gone by so quickly."

"It went by really fast," Farlan agreed before reclining and letting out a long, low whistle. "It doesn't seem like that much time has gone by."

"It did," Levi said, ever so level-headed. Cool, gunmetal eyes of gray met mine. "And you've proven to be more useful than Farlan."

"Hey," Farlan said immediately, intent on defending himself. "I am useful!"

"You are," I assured him. "Levi's just making an attempt at a joke. And besides, you are useful, just clearly not as useful as I am." I thought it over for a moment, or at least I pretended to, letting my gaze drift up and one index finger tap my chin, as though lost in thought. "No one can snore as loud as you and keep everyone up for hours on end."

"Oh, please," Farlan huffed, and I knew by the mischievous look in his eyes that he was intending to tease me right back - and strike back harder than I had. I prepared myself for it, but I still found myself flustered by his words: "Like you two were asleep last night, anyway."

My cheeks burned with embarrassment and I nearly slapped his arm reflexively. "Zip it, you."

Farlan shrugged before taking a sip of his tea to hide his smile, foregoing replying for now. Of course, it was useless for him to even attempt to hide his smile, because when he lowered the cup from his lips, there was a mischievous smile proudly stretched across them. "You two were awfully quiet about it, though."

When Levi sent him a look, and I scoffed, he let out a laugh, one that proved he was rather pleased with himself.

"So much has happened in just a year, huh?"

"I just can't wrap my head around it," I said, happy that the conversation was getting back on track. "It just doesn't feel like it's been nearly that long."

"Let's hope your second year goes just as well as the first," Farlan said.

I smiled at him and took a long draught of my tea, savoring the taste. "Let us hope."

—

"I can't believe we're doing this," Farlan muttered, looking down at the list in his hands, still whining despite the fact it'd been several minutes since we left - or were actually rather forcefully escorted from our own home - to run some errands, leaving Levi at home doing the cleaning. "I mean, who does he think he is? Sending us out for this shit."

"There are worse ways to spend a Saturday," I said thoughtfully.

"Really? Name one," Farlan challenged.

I didn't have to think long to come up with an answer. "Oh, let's see. Here's one: being at home cleaning while he's going on a rampage. I don't know about you, but I prefer this. Besides, it's not like any of this is easy to find down here. We can take all day to do it, and hopefully he'll be out of his funk by the time we get back."

"You've got a point," Farlan said, considering it and looking back at the list. "This list sucks. Look there," he said, pointing at one of the items. "A dustpan. A fucking dustpan! Where does he think we're going to find one down here?"

"Who knows," I said with a sigh. Even if we did return home after getting only some of the items, he would only send us back out - unless we claimed to look everywhere, in which case we'd have to be out for a lot longer. So regardless... it would be a long day. "But we can say we looked but couldn't find any and go back home with a few things. So long as we make it believable, how would he know?"

"That's a good idea," Farlan said. "Thank goodness you're here. As our esteemed actress, if anyone can convince him, it would be you."

"Honestly," I said, thinking it over and ignoring the title he granted me, "I doubt anyone sells dustpans anymore, at least not for too high a price. So I say we don't even look, we just get the usual stuff and let Levi try and find one later."

"I'm in," Farlan said. "I'm fine just sweeping it out the door. What good does picking it up do, just to chuck it outside anyway?"

We made it to a shop, intending only to buy whatever dried foods were available, but as soon as I started gathering what we needed, Farlan leaned over my shoulder to speak to the shopkeeper. "Excuse me sir, do you happen to have any dustpans?"

"Hm? No buddy, we don't."

I slapped Farlan's arm, fighting the urge to laugh. "Don't butt in," I chastised. "Just be quiet, look pretty, and pay for everything."

"Ma'am, yes ma'am," Farlan said playfully, smiling widely.

—

"Do we have any plans for today, then?" Farlan turned to Levi, waiting for his answer, and even I looked over. Levi didn't answer right away. He took his time pouring for himself another cup of tea, and then met Farlan's waiting gaze.

"If I tell you with Amaya right here, it would ruin the surprise, wouldn't it?"

—

"Amaya," I heard through my door, of course recognizing the voice right away to belong to Levi. I exhaled quickly and composed myself as best I could. I sat up in bed, wiped my eyes, and hoped my voice wouldn't crack through even the simple act of calling back to him. I took a deep breath to steady myself before finally answering him.

"Yes, Levi?"

Yep, I winced right away. It was clear just how forced my voice sounded. It didn't sound casual or calm, it sounded like I was barely holding myself together. But, really, that was accurate, wasn't it?

A moment passed where he didn't answer, and I didn't make a noise. I simply waited to see what he wanted. The sooner I could get back to my crying, the better. "I'm coming in," he said, and I momentarily panicked. I was probably a mess right now. No, scratch that, I was definitely a mess right now.

I had just spent half an hour crying and he picked now to walk in? He picked now to care, to come check on me? For the love of-

He opened the door. It was a damn good thing I was facing away from it, so that he wouldn't see my bloodshot eyes and face raw with emotion. "What do you want, Levi?"

Shit, that was harsh, wasn't it? If he noticed, or if he even cared, he didn't voice as much. He only cleared his throat before saying, "I came to check on you."

My eyes opened with surprise and I wanted to smile at how awkward he sounded, but I couldn't.

"Well," I said, trying to make my voice more authoritative, "you know you can't just walk into someone's room like that, especially a woman. What if I had been indecent?"

"You would've said so," he answered, and I would've been upset if it wasn't true. The door closed behind him, and he walked further into the room. With each footfall I heard, indicating that he was one step closer, I mentally cursed, until at last he stopped by the other side of the bed. "Amaya, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," I said forcefully, but even as I said it I heard my voice hitch as another wave of tears threatened to fall as I was reminded of why exactly I was upset in the first place.

"Clearly," Levi deadpanned. He was unconvinced; I don't know why I fooled myself into thinking that I could fool him in the first place. He sat down on the edge of the bed and I could feel the slight dip in the mattress from the shifting of weight.

"Listen, Amaya," he instructed, and I did as told. "You never miss Saturday morning breakfasts with us, even if you're sick... Which is disgusting, by the way, stop doing that." If I had been less upset, I know I would've laughed at that, but I was far more interested in what he was about to say. "But you missed it today. And you're not sick, because you're not complaining about it. So, if I'm right in my reasoning, which you know I am, then it must be something else. So spill it."

"It's not anything important," I said, hoping he'd just leave me alone. But really, I knew that realistically, that wasn't going to happen. "You can just go back into the living room. I'll get cleaned up here and be out in a few minutes."

"No," he said firmly. "You're not acting like yourself. There's no way you'd be any help to us on the job today. Farlan and I will go, once you tell me what's wrong, so you can relax."

"Why do you even want to know?" I asked a bit more harshly than it was meant to be. It was unfair of me, I knew that. But I'd already said it, and I glanced at him sidelong to gauge his reaction. Fortunately, Levi didn't flinch at my tone, but his eyebrows did furrow in either confusion or frustration. I wasn't quite sure which. "Why do you care?"

"I don't," Levi said, taking a few seconds to consider his words before answering. "But if you tell me, then I can figure out why I want to know."

"I don't feel like telling a story right now," I said softly, lifting my head to finally look at him properly. If he was surprised by the look in my eyes, it was shown only in his eyes, in the way that they widened slightly.

"Don't push yourself," Levi said, then gestured towards the door with a slight movement of his head. "Do you want me to go?"

"You can stay," I said. "I'd like the company."

His eyes traveled downwards, finally catching sight of what I had in my hands: El's military patch. "Is that your father's?"

"It is," I answered, looking down at it as well. I handed it to him, and he took it slowly and carefully, as though the threaded patch would come undone in his very hands if he wasn't careful.

"I haven't seen you this upset," Levi said, eyes directed still downwards toward the patch. One of his thumbs grazed over the emblem, and I let out a sigh.

"Yeah," I said, unsure of what else to say. "I don't usually... I mean, it still hurts, but it hasn't made me so emotional in a while."

"Is it the anniversary of his death or something?"

"No, no," I answered. "Nothing like that. No, it's just a normal day. I think I kinda just woke up and thought I was back there, only to realize... Well. You know." He nodded in understanding, his eyes finding my profile. "Just a normal day, and I miss it more than the big days, somehow. I miss just the normal day at work, eating dinner together as a family, and talking at the table more than I miss things like birthdays. Does that make sense?"

"The normal days were your life," Levi said. "It makes sense to miss them."

"I took it for granted," I said quietly. "All of it."

"But now," he said evenly, "you can live the rest of your life with that lesson. You won't make the same mistake again."

"I guess not," I said in agreement. "You're right." Nodding resolutely and surely, I mustered up the best smile I could and faced him. "So, I won't miss today. We've got a job, right? Give me a few minutes to freshen up, and-"

"No, Amaya," Levi said, surprising me. "Stay here today. Farlan and I will take care of it."

"Levi, are you sure?"

"Yes. If it's hitting harder today for you, then stay back. It's a routine job anyway. You won't miss much."

At that, I smiled a true smile, which only grew when Levi pressed the patch gently back into my hands. "Thank you, Levi."

"You don't need to thank me," he said coolly, "for something like this."

"But I will anyway," I remarked cheekily.

He rolled his eyes, doing his best not to click his tongue, too, if I had to guess. "Whatever you want, brat."

—

Farlan scoffed, an indignant sort of sound that expressed all the distaste he had in his body at the moment. "Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't aware you suddenly became a party planner, Levi." He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the couch. "Maybe we can all change our professions, hm? Levi the party planner, Farlan the decorations specialist, and Amaya the woman who dresses pretty and hands out sweets."

I couldn't hold my laugh back even if I wanted to. "Wow, seems like you've got this all figured out, don't you?"

"The pieces are all there," Farlan said snarkily, looking right at me, and if not for the playful look in his eyes, I might have thought he was really, truly offended. "We just have to find you a dress."

"I didn't plan a party," Levi cut in, looking at Farlan. I set my chin in my hand, propping my elbow against my other hand, so that I could hide my smile behind my fingers at their little argument.

"Well, you've planned something," Farlan insisted, frowning. "Clearly, I'm not important enough to you. I wasn't involved in the planning, nor have you ever planned anything for me." Levi clicked his tongue and shook his head at Farlan's whining, playful though it was. "Remember my past birthday? That was the first time I've ever had a party, and it was because Amaya planned it all by herself."

"Next year," I proposed, "I'll plan for your entire birth week. How about that?"

"I'd like that," Farlan said, looking at me with a smile. "See? That's why you're my favorite, Amaya."

—

"Look down there," I said, and as always, he was acutely aware of my movements just as I was of his when we were out and about, and so Farlan followed my gaze from where he stood next to me and sighed.

"Those poor kids, huh?"

"Why they can't just leave the younger ones alone is beyond me," I huffed, watching as three large kids beat up a small group of much younger, much weaker, children. "How awful."

"They'll make great Military Policemen one day," Farlan mused, "preying on the weak ones like that." If it wasn't true of their new regime, I'd have whacked his arm for that one. But then, suddenly, he said, "Let's go help them."

"What?"

We weren't heroes. We didn't go saving people all the time; we did things that had benefits for us. Not that I was opposed to helping people out, we did that more often than not through our jobs and the work we did around the city. It was just that we didn't go around saving everyone we saw who was in a bad spot. We'd never stop, otherwise.

"We passed by so many bullies on the way here," I said, "so why this group?"

Farlan looked back down at the children and set his hands on his hips as a thoughtful sort of look adorned his face. "I recognize those kids. They're the sons of the nobles that run the pricier stairways. They go around like they own the place, beating up the kids who can't defend themselves - which is pretty much all of them."

I took a closer look, and sure enough, it was easy to tell that they were nobility. Their clothes were too clean, and they were too pudgy. They weren't regulars of the underground city, clearly. "You're right, those aren't kids fighting over scraps," I noted. "Why don't the MP's do anything about it?"

"They can't," Farlan said, "and I doubt half of them would want to waste the energy. They can't lose the revenue from the nobles and if they punish their sons for something like this? They'd pull their funding for the soldiers in an instant. So, we should-"

Before he even finished his sentence, I had already leapt from the roof of the warehouse we had stopped to rest on. Seamlessly and without more than a grunt, I shot out a wire and swung down towards the bullies. I heard Farlan right behind me as I came up right behind one of the bullies and, swinging upwards again, grabbed him by the collar and yanked him up behind me. Farlan cued in on what I was doing and grabbed one of them himself, leaving only one down on the ground.

The last lone bully didn't seem to realize that he was alone. Reaching the roof of a house, I dropped the bully down and Farlan followed suit. The bully I had dropped down gulped and went to jump off the roof despite it being quite high up, being a roof of course, but I grabbed his collar again and held him back. I yanked him backwards, sending stumbling back onto the roof, and held him still.

He didn't protest any more, verbally, physically, or otherwise. Satisfied and assured that he would behave now, I looked back down to the ground, where the last bully was still threatening the three frail children. I set my free hand on my hip and looked at Farlan, wondering silently if there was anything more that we should do.

He caught onto the question in my gaze, for he shook his head in response and crossed his arms in front of his chest. The three kids finally stopped cowering, realizing that they now outnumbered him. They looked at each other, wicked smiles taking over their faces.

"Go on," I whispered, urging them on. "Do it."

Farlan was just as invested as I was, if not more. He leaned forward, as though the few extra centimeters would allow him to see them so much more clearly, but what was clear was how much he was rooting for the children. I leaned forward slightly to see better too, when finally one of the kids summoned his nerve and pushed the bully over. Now in the clear, the three of them ran off together, the sound of their triumphant, shocked laughter reaching us.

I smiled. The bully looked around, just now realizing that the others were missing. Farlan and I shared a look, and latched our hooks onto the building across the street. Leaving the two up there to find their own way down, we set off again into the night.

"You know," I said, looking at Farlan as we flew, "you like to act all tough, Farlan, but really, you're not."

"Of course I'm tough," he said petulantly.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "No, you're not. You're too kind."

"I am not – listen, don't go saying that so loud, alright? I already get pegged as the weak one of our group; I don't need people knowing I'm nice, too."

I smiled. "You say that as though being nice is a bad thing. You're not tough, but you're not weak, either, Farlan. Don't believe otherwise, got it?"

Farlan sighed and finally smiled. "You got it, boss."

—

With no job planned for the day, there was really nothing to do. At all. Well, besides relax. Visiting Mason was out of the question because he still had work at his regular job, though even then I didn't feel like singing right now, anyway. It wasn't like I had anyone else I could go visit either... Everyone I knew was either dead or was hunting for me and my group.

Really, the day was just meant for us to relax, and so we did. Levi didn't want us to push ourselves today, and boy, did we take advantage of it. Even Levi seemed content to stay in today, which was more surprising than anything else. To any observer, he seemed to be particularly lax about most things he did, but that was only if you looked at just him, and if you didn't know him. Anyone who knew him as well as I did knew that he was in reality very insecure about the decisions he made and, as the appointed leader of our group, many of the decisions were put on him to make.

Sometimes, the decisions didn't even matter because things went wrong to the point that really, anything we did would lead to the same outcome or simply wouldn't matter. But others...

Levi made a lot of mistakes. In actuality, he wasn't as perfect as I'd been led to believe. Farlan, when we met, had painted Levi as some sort of saint, powerful and almost all-seeing. But now that I had met him, I knew the truth, though I could see as plain as day why they might think as such... partly because I had believed it, too.

When we walk by people on the street, they'd recognize us as the thugs who fought against their oppressors and worked to help them. And while this was mostly true, we simply weren't the heroes we were perceived as. There was no helping that, I suppose, because it was the opinion of the people, and it wasn't like we could convince them otherwise (not like we'd want to), but it placed a lot of pressure on us, especially on Levi.

Levi wouldn't ever admit that he made a mistake outright, but we knew. Or, at least, I knew, because I could tell, though I'm sure Farlan could read him about as well as I could. In only a year of knowing him, Levi and I had seemingly clicked right away.

Farlan, of course, was respected and loved and I cared about him deeply, but Levi and I seemed to think similarly on a lot of things, in a lot of ways, even if we went about them differently. And already, I could tell when something was off with him.

It was strange. I'd never been so good at reading people, before. While difficult at first, I could read his expression pretty well now, if I said so myself. There would be slight tension in his jaw, for example, which would clue me into how he was feeling. Even something as simple as looking into his eyes spoke volumes about him and his mood.

There was apparently a saying about eyes being the window into the soul, or something along those lines, and this was true. Levi's eyes truly were the key to knowing how he was feeling. He was so good at hiding everything externally, to being stoic enough to the point of seeming overwhelmingly brute and rude, but he was so much more than that. It only took a good look into his eyes to know that.

I was interrupted from my thoughts by someone sitting next to me. I looked over and smiled at Farlan as he sent me a simple greeting. "Amaya," he said, "have you enjoyed your first year with us? Be honest, but only if it's good. Lie to me if it's bad."

I chuckled and nodded my head. There was no use lying to him, was there? "Joining you guys was one of the best decisions I've made," I answered honestly.

Farlan looked skeptical. "I know I said to lie, but that's overdoing it a little, don't you think?"

"No," I said earnestly, "Because it's the truth."

"Aw, jeez," Farlan said, grinning from ear to ear now. He threw his arms around me, dragging me against his chest for a tight, suffocating hug. "Hear that, Levi? She loves it here!"

—

Months Later:

I got up from my spot in bed, grabbed my sweater that was hanging on the bedpost, and put it on. It wouldn't do me well to sit in here and read all day, would it? No, it wouldn't, despite how calming it was after such a hectic morning.

We'd had a job, like all days, but things had nearly gone wrong for me. I'd slipped and missed my mark when trying to kill a target of ours, and if not for Farlan's quick thinking - because Levi had been too far away to do anything at that moment - it would have all been ruined. But thankfully, Farlan had my back, and the man hadn't been able to scream or make a noise other than his final dying gasp.

The job had not been compromised. Thank goodness.

When we had completed it, got what we needed, and escaped, Levi had chewed me the hell out on a rooftop. It'd been rough. It wasn't that he'd been concerned only for the good of the job, but the man we were after had been a trained killer and if he had seen me, he wouldn't have needed to call his personal guards, because he'd have been more than capable of killing me with any of the weapons he had on him.

I suppose, in some twisted way, that he was worried about me, but that didn't make it any easier to see him so upset. The thought of it, even now, hours later, had a familiar pang of pain striking my heart. To make him so worried...

It was awful, but I was doing what I could to get my mind off it. Maybe some tea would help.

I rubbed my arms; even through the sweater, there was a chilliness in my bones I couldn't shake. It was supposedly one of the warmer months of the year, at least above ground, but down here... A chill was in the city today.

I stepped out into the main room and shut my door gently behind me. Levi was sitting at the kitchen table while Farlan was busy distributing money to some of our clients for a recent job we'd done. They were familiar faces, a few of which called out polite greetings to me, which I returned.

We might call them clients, but they were really partners of ours. They dug around and got us intel, and they were all incredibly good at what they did. We kept our circle small, and occasionally one would die or quit, but most of these men were kind-hearted, hard-working, and told great stories. These were men that, at the end of the day, we might visit at a pub for a night of cards and drinking. These four were regulars among regulars of ours: Jason, Yan, Nicholas, and Thom.

I released a quiet breath through my lips and lowered myself to sit in the chair to the left of Levi's. He nodded to me, and I returned the gesture with a smile. While cordial now, there was something indiscernible in his eyes right now that I could surely figure out if he would only look at me again. But he didn't. His gaze was fixed on the knife of his blade as he polished it, and I resigned myself to have a talk with him later.

"Levi," I said quietly so as not to interrupt, calling his attention to me. "Could we go on a walk later, just you and me?" One of his eyebrows rose, but his answer came quickly in the form of a nod. "Thank you. I just want to talk to you about some things." It was obvious, of course, what I wanted to talk about. But now that it was in place, I leaned back in my chair and waited for Farlan to be done.

"Here," Farlan said, counting the money, "sorry to keep you." He stepped forward and handed a wad of money to each of the men in turn, Nicholas being first. "For today and the last time." Nicholas smiled and began counting up his share while Farlan readied the next one. "Here you go," Farlan said, finally handing Yan his share.

"Ah," he said, reaching out, "thank-"

From my spot at the table, I could see Yan's face clearly, and so I could tell when he was surprised by something. I watched his expression closely, his features defined but not terribly difficult to read. His brown hair and eyes didn't make him stand out from a crowd, and he was easily one of the better people we had worked with, but what would make Farlan give him an extra cut of the money? That was, of course, the only thing I could think of that would surprise him enough to gauge a reaction like that.

I smiled briefly. Farlan's generosity would one day get the better of him. He was too kind to live in a place like this. I could only wonder if he consulted with Levi before giving Yan extra. Yan looked up at Farlan but Farlan looked away before Yan could even speak up.

"Don't spend it all at once, guys," he advised. He set a hand on his hip. "You'll draw attention."

The three men on the couch stood. "We know. Let's go!" The three of them started out of the house with murmured agreements, but Yan hesitated. He then followed them out, and shut the door behind them. I looked at Farlan, who met my eyes mischievously, knowing that I had caught on.

"Work has gotten loads easier since we got our hands on ODM gear," Farlan said uselessly. Of course, we all knew that. Even before I had joined them, they'd had gear. But I had to agree. With it, everything was far simpler. "And," he added, crossing the room to near the couch, but not quite to sit yet, "since you joined us, Amaya."

No matter what happened this morning? That's what I wanted to ask, but the look in Farlan's eyes told me that he already knew I would, and so he answered with a reassuring smile, which I took to mean that he meant it even considering this morning's mess, which put my heart at ease, at least for now.

"And everyone gets a bigger cut."

Levi inspected his knife, the very picture of nonchalance as Farlan's words faded away to the far corners of the room. I stood and headed into the kitchen to begin making for myself a pot of tea, remembering that it was the only reason I had come out here in the first place.

"Some of us seem to get more of it," Levi said.

Ah, I thought, so he hadn't consulted with Levi first. Bold move.

"Why's that?"

"You've seen him," Farlan said through a sigh. "Yan's leg is only getting worse. The medicine's expensive and the price keeps going up." He huffed. "These damn underground merchants..." He looked over towards Levi. "You hear that the stair toll went up again?"

"Again?" Farlan looked over and nodded at me.

"Yeah," Levi then said. "Double what it was."

All I could do in response as I waited for the tea was shake my head. "Wonderful."

"Now even fewer of us will get a taste of sunlight," Farlan muttered ruefully. "All the stairs can name their own price, so they charge whatever they want. Even if you pay enough to leave, you just get deported if you're not a resident of the surface. It's why so many people get bad legs here - lack of sunlight. Not that they can do anything about it."

The last sentence he spoke was laced with extra pain, so much so that it sounded personal. I glanced up from where I stood, steeping the tea as Farlan's gaze found the floor. A reminiscent sort of glaze found his eyes and I found myself wondering just how much more I had to learn about him, and about Levi.

"There's not much any of us can do about it," I murmured, watching as Farlan nodded and dropped down onto the couch.

"Your mom was one of them," Levi said, not looking up from his knife, "wasn't she?"

The words were directed at Farlan, who sat up with a start. Whatever Levi saw in Farlan's reaction must have confirmed his suspicions, because he said, "So that's why. Still, it looked like a chunk of change."

"It's severance pay," Farlan explained. I turned and left the kitchen now, setting the pot of tea and three cups on the table. Levi looked at the pot, then up at Farlan. "He can't do this anymore. Hopefully, it'll find him a good hospital."

"I see," Levi said quietly, watching as I poured him a cup of tea. He took it when offered, and then took a slow sip. Wordlessly, I began pouring one for Farlan as well.

"Just how much more do we need to live above...?"

It was a rhetorical question, one that I was sure Farlan hadn't meant to let slip past his lips. Still, he smiled when I approached him and held the cup of tea towards him. "Thank you, Amaya."

At last, I returned to the table, offering Farlan only a smile in response, to finally pour myself a cup. But no sooner was my cup full, and I had it in both hands, was there a bang on the door that had all three of us rising to our feet. The teacups on the tables rattled with the movement, but settled quickly as we three all held our breath in anticipation.

Levi was the first to move, his knife already in hand - freshly cleaned and ready to be sullied again. I was only a pace or so behind him, but we stopped at the sound of another bang. He looked at Farlan, then back at me, the three of us coming to a collective agreement. Farlan approached the door, and set his hand around the doorknob. In his other hand was his own blade, tried and true.

Levi stayed where he was, but I came up to stand next to him, my own knife in my dominant hand. Everything went silent. We hardly dared to breathe. Farlan looked at us to ensure we were ready, and at our silent responses, Farlan threw the door open in one swift movement. A girl came tumbling in with a yelp, scraping her chin on the floor.

"Ouch!"

Goodness, she looked so young. I took a step closer but Levi held his hand out to stop me.

"This is not at all what I thought would be behind the door," I said, looking at Farlan who was just as surprised as I was, if only more disappointed. "I was expecting Nicholas to come storming in after figuring out Yan got more than him. But instead it's..."

"It's just some kid," Farlan finished for me, visibly disheartened. "Don't scare us like that." He set his hand on his hip and relaxed, and really, all three of us did, now that we knew she was no threat to us.

"I'm not a kid," the girl said determinedly. "I'm not... a kid!"

She looked up at us defiantly and my own eyes widened in surprise. "Well, holy shit."

"Yeah?" Levi spoke up. "Then I won't feel bad for chasing you out. I'll ignore the fact you got the floor dirty, so get lost."

When the girl didn't move right away, I frowned. "This is a good opportunity for you," I said. "He isn't always so charitable, so I'd take what I could get, if I were you."

She still didn't make any attempt to get up. "What, can't move?" Farlan asked now.

"I can move," she said. "So just chill out!"

She struggled to get up, and I noticed a small bundle tucked to her chest.

"What a feisty one," Farlan commented.

"It's always the redheads," I mused, getting a smile from Farlan. "Still, I'd be more impressed if she could hobble her way out of here."

The girl got to her knees with more effort than it should have taken, but we heard voices from outside. She apparently recognized them, as she grew visibly nervous, which didn't give her an easier time trying to get up.

"Over here!"

Goodness, she couldn't even sit up on her own, she only slammed back against the door in her hurry to get up. I looked out the door and shared a look with Farlan, then looked at Levi.

"Tch," Levi clicked his tongue. "You were chased here?"

"What now?" Farlan asked.

Levi didn't need to tell us to follow his lead for us to know to do so, so we followed him through the door, and on the way, Farlan leaned down to my height to whisper conspiratorially. "Bloodshed or no bloodshed today?"

"He might have to let out some excess frustration from this morning," I considered. "So I'm counting on bloodshed."

"I'm thinking none," Farlan said surely. "A round of drinks at the pub says I'm right."

"You're on."

By then, we were able to pass through the door and take up position around it. Levi leaned against it on one side, and Farlan leaned against the other. I walked past them both and hopped up to sit on the half-wall railing we had. We weren't there long before a group of three men came into view: all burly, all scowling, and all ugly.

"Dammit," one of them hissed, "that brat bit the hell out of me. Once we catch her, I get to have fun first."

"Ain't nothing fun about a brat like that," one of his cohorts replied.

I stiffened slightly; just what kind of fun were they talking about? I don't care what this girl did, that was no just, due punishment fit to be served. "Levi," I said quietly, knowing that he had noticed the way my spine straightened up and my very aura seemed to emanate hate with the weight of his gaze on me. "Permission to kill this bastard myself?"

"Slow down," he replied, his voice no higher than a whisper to match mine, and I wondered if he too felt the desire to protect the girl huddled against our door.

The men noticed us, now, and were sure to voice it. "Hey," the leading douchebag called. "You see a filthy brat come by?"

"That's all there is 'round here," Farlan said in response.

"You'll have to be more specific," I called down from my perch. The man must have taken that as permission to approach because he started walking towards the steps leading to the house.

"Eh? Are you guys the local thugs?"

"Says the thug," Farlan said under his breath as the man reached the first landing and turned to ascend the final steps to reach us.

"Hey," he said, astonished upon seeing the girl, "I found her!"

"I knew it," said one of the man's partners as both followed the first goon. "Is she yours?"

"No," Farlan replied easily.

"Then you've got no reason to protect her," he said. "Hand her over. The brat tried to plow through Stair 11 without paying the fee."

Huh. Interesting, and more than a bit impressive.

"I'm sure you know," the man went on to say, "Stair 11 is the official stairway of Councilor Lovof. Even though she botched it, just trying is bad enough."

"And if you guys shelter her," another partner said, "you're guilty, too."

That caught the girl's attention, but I glanced over at her. She met my gaze, all the worry and fear shining clear through them, but I winked at her, doing what I could not to smile or smirk. Her fear shifted to confusion, but only for a moment.

"So hand her over already!"

The men were, to their credit, doing what they could to look intimidating. They were posturing, plain and simple, but the attempt alone was enough to make me laugh, or nearly, for I bit my tongue to keep from getting into trouble.

"Fine," said the first man when it became clear we were not going to move a muscle. "I'll get her myself!"

It was with a dry chuckle and a smirk that the man regarded me, and he continued to laugh as he passed by Levi. Of course, he made one fatal flaw, one that would prove to be quite painful.

He touched Levi's shoulder.

In what felt like shorter than even a second, Levi had retrieved his knife and drew it upwards, slicing the man's hand open. Farlan and I watched - and so did the girl and the man's cohorts, only they were far more scared than we ever were - as Levi beat the man up. The idiot was punched, elbowed, kneed, and kicked until he could barely stand, at which point Levi grabbed the larger man by the collar and held him up as though he weighed nothing.

Now that was impressive.

"Keep your filthy hands off me," Levi said, a clear and very likely threat. "You'll soil the shirt."

With a swift kick to the gut, the man was sent flying down the steps and into the arms of his cohorts. A patronizing sort of sound left Farlan, but he was smiling and standing confidently now, a hand set on his hip. "Sorry," he said, "we're clean freaks here. Wash your hands next time."

"And if you ever come around here spouting that you want to have some fun with a girl half your age," I added, "you'll lose your hands."

"They're nuts," one of them shouted. "Let's go!"

We knew better than to head inside right away. No, we stood out there until we were sure they were good and gone, and when the neighborhood was quiet again, we seemed to step back into reality as well. Levi had gotten to wiping the blood from his knife, and the girl, for her part, seemed far too shocked to do anything but stare.

"Hey," Levi said after turning to face her, "you gonna cradle that thing forever?"

"Huh?"

"You're gonna kill it," Levi said evenly.

The girl gasped, then said, "Well, I thought it likes to be warm!"

I leaned forward to see it as she revealed it, it being... a bird.

I got off the wall and crouched down in front of her. "I've never seen one so close," I said, shooting her a smile. "It's so cute."

"Why do you have a bird?" Farlan asked.

"I think it flew through a crack and got lost," she explained, "so I'm returning it to the surface."

"Whoa."

"You tried to bust through the stairs for a bird?"

Hell, at least Farlan was as shocked as I was.

The girl smiled and started to pet along its head and back. Did birds like being pet? I guess this one did. "I'm sure he'd rather fly in the sky than the underground," she said.

Farlan approached then, kneeling down beside her. "I believe it," he said gently, "but its wings are hurt."

"Huh? Really?"

"Oh," I said, standing, "let me see if I can't find some bandages small enough for it."

"Can you guys help it?"

"We can," I said, heading to one of our cupboards while Farlan took the bird from her. I found the smallest bandages that we had and took them out while Farlan got settled on the couch with the bird in his lap. The girl followed him, sitting on the loveseat while Levi - clearly annoyed - closed the door behind us.

I sat next to Farlan and with hushed words passed between us, we started to do what we could for the little guy. I very gently unfolded one of its wings and Farlan began to wind the bandages around it. It seemed to me that the wings were not sprained or broken or anything, but hurting from perhaps a bad landing here in the city. It allowed us to wrap the bandages around each wing, and it was a good thing especially considering we were able to check its feathers. Luckily, none were hanging awkwardly or lower than they should have.

All I could really think was how grateful I was to have been such an avid reader when I was a child. I'd read a lot about birds and it seemed that Farlan had, too, or at least that he'd seen plenty of pictures of them.

"Is it going to be ok?" The girl asked. "Does it need surgery or anything?"

"I think it'll be just fine," I assured her.

"Thankfully, nothing invasive is required," Farlan said, securing the bandage on one wing. "With a few days of rest, it'll recover, and it should be as good as new."

"You're good at that," the girl said, smiling now. She looked up at Farlan then, bright green eyes seeming to sparkle in the candlelight. "Oh, what's your name? Mine's Isabel!"

"Farlan," he answered, before nudging me with his shoulder. "This is Amaya. And he's Levi."

Isabel looked at us all in turn, a wide smile on her face. "Farlan, Amaya, and Levi-bro, huh?"

Levi, who had decided to wait it out at the kitchen table, looked over at that. "Bro?"

She offered no explanation, and I was about to remark how cute it was for her to say, but she spoke before I could. "Hey, please! Let me join you!"

Wait, what?

"You're the ones who use ODM gear, right? I've seen you! I've always been envious. You can fly around like birds! I wanna do that, too!"

She really was a spunky one, wasn't she? Goodness. Was it just part of being a redhead? Always being so damn fiery?

To my surprise, Farlan spoke first after a heavy moment of silence. "Well?"

Levi stood, foregoing answering for now.

"Please!"

Levi stopped, turning his head only to look at her. "If you wanna stay," he said slowly, "learn to clean before you learn ODM gear."

"Huh? What?!"

"Huh? What?!

It seemed that Isabel and I spoke at the same time. I had no problem bringing in another member, of course I didn't. But... It was that easy?! I'd had to... I was told to... What the fuck was this?

Farlan didn't seem to know what to do; smile at the cute reaction of Isabel, or laugh at mine. Levi ignored all of it, walking right to the front door. He opened it, stopping only to look back at me. "Aren't we going on that walk, Amaya?"

I couldn't even speak an answer. I only nodded and hurried to stand, gathering my thoughts in my head. I passed through the doorway and started down the steps, and as was growing increasingly more common on nights like this, there were people on the steps and in the courtyard before our home.

They were neighbors of ours, regulars in the neighborhood, and recently they'd taken to gathering around to chat each night. As such, they knew who I was, and when they saw the rushed, exasperated look on my face, they got out of the way and a few of them even chuckled, especially seeing Levi's leisurely pace as he followed behind me.

"Thank you, bro!"

The words found our ears even now that we'd left, and I wanted to smile but kept it from my face as I reached the bottom. "Looking frazzled there, Amaya," one man said with an easy smile of his own. "Everything alright?"

"We heard quite the ruckus out here a few minutes ago," another said. "Are the local thugs up to no good?"

Well, that made me laugh, and I sent a sly smile to the man. "Aren't we always?" There was a guitarist among them, not Mason, but I tossed a few coins into his cup. "Thought I told you not to panhandle right outside?"

"I'm bad at listening," he replied, peeking at me beneath shaggy hair draped around his face like a curtain. "You know that."

"I thought musicians were supposed to be good at that kind of thing," I mused. "I'll have to check property lines, because technically, I think three-quarters of what you make should go to us."

The man laughed, knowing I was only messing around. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Where are you two off to?" The voice came from another man.

"Nowhere in particular," I replied easily.

"That's a code," another person said. "They're off to find some trouble."

I laughed as Levi took my hand, leading me away. "Don't give our secret away!"