Chapter Text
It was at times like this that Levi believed the world was a terrible, unjust place. If it weren’t, he wouldn’t be on his current mission, hoping with everything in him that he would succeed. And dreading the consequences of his failure.
Several days ago, two dragons had ravaged the city of Stohess, and then fled in separate directions. Levi was currently pursuing one of them north, his destination being an abandoned fortress (Castle Utgard, if he remembered the name correctly) that would make a likely hiding place for a dragon. Yet he did not intend to slay the dragon; the situation was not that simple.
In the kingdom of Sina, it was a common and accepted practice for the nobility to keep dragons as symbols of status and power. Wealth and immense magical prowess were, apparently, not adequate marks of power. So they kept dragons, in order to maintain their own positions in the social hierarchy, and also to make Sina a nation to be feared in the eyes of others.
Yet there was a dark side to all this. Dragons were not just powerful. They were also sentient, possessing the same intelligence and emotions as humans. Additionally, they could also live far longer than humans, though that was only the case with wild dragons. Those dragons that were owned by nobles were lucky if they lived as long as humans, once they were captured and sold to the highest bidder.
It was a horrifically cruel and barbaric practice. Being powerful, noble, and intelligent beings, dragons were not willing to submit to being bought and sold like chattel. And so, the nobles, and the wealthy merchants who profited off the trade, had to make them submit. By spell, or brute force, or both, they succeeded. But not always. Occasionally, there were dragons who broke free of their chains, and rose up against those who had enslaved them.
As had been the case with the dragons that had ravaged Stohess. The way Levi heard it, the two dragons had been brought into the city to go on the auction block. When they had been woken up before the auction, all hell had broken loose. Nothing had managed to stop the dragons from shattering their chains, and the two of them had rained fire and blood down on the city before they departed. Much of the city lay in ruins, and parts of it were still on fire when Levi and his squad had been there to question the merchant who had brought the dragons into the city. As well as find other sources on information as to the dragon’s potential whereabouts.
Not that Levi blamed the dragons for what they did. If asked, he would, truthfully, respond that he was on the dragon’s side in this matter. Though he did mourn the loss of innocent human lives, he understood why the dragons had been angry enough to ravage Stohess. After all, they had been captured only to be sold. Why should they have any sympathy for humans after an experience like that?
So Levi pursued the dragon. Though his reasons were very different than one might expect. While many openly supported (or at least, didn’t question) the ownership of dragons, not everyone felt that way. Levi was one such person, as was Erwin Smith, and those under his command. Erwin commanded the Survey Corps, one of the branches (or, to many, a former branch) of Sina’s military. The Survey Corps was unpopular for many reasons, one of which was the reason for Levi’s current mission.
As Levi rode his horse into the courtyard of the ruined castle, he could already see evidence of the dragon’s presence. Claw marks and foot prints on the ground marked where the dragon had landed. Across the courtyard, he could see massive claw marks on the rotted wooden doors of the keep, where the dragon had slashed them open. Levi dismounted from his horse, and made his way over to the keep. He had not yet seen the dragon in the flesh, though he did not doubt that would happen soon enough.
Once inside, he could see more evidence of the dragon’s presence in the form of more claw marks on the stone floor. As he took in the state of the hall, he noticed that another, smaller door on the left side of the enormous room had also been slashed open. Levi immediately went to investigate this, and found that the doorway opened on a set of stairs going down into the earth.
Castle Utgard’s dungeons were rumored to be deep and expansive, so it was logical that they would make a good hiding place. But what was strange was the fact that the dragon had slashed the door open in the first place. Dragons were large, and even if the stairwell were large enough to fit one (it wasn’t), a dragon would never be able to fit through the doorway.
It was strange, and a wave of uneasiness washed over him. Despite his unease, Levi knew he couldn’t abandon his mission here. He had to find the dragon within the castle. Find the dragon, and somehow convince them to follow him to safety. That part would be far easier said than done, but he had to try. Because Sina’s Military Police were tracking the dragon as well, the way they did whenever they were tasked with putting down a dragon that went rogue.
It was why he had departed alone, rather than wait for his squad to complete their investigation of the matter. The Military Police had already had a head start in tracking the dragon, heightening the urgency of his departure. That, and the Military Police had never seen eye to eye with the Survey Corps. A run-in with them would have ended in blood, and that was something Levi had been keen to avoid. Not to mention that they would be less likely to spot him if he travelled alone, rather than with his squad.
So Levi pulled a torch from his belt, and murmured a low-level fire spell to light it. Magic had never been his strong suit, but he could cast small spells like this, and for that he was thankful. After entering the stairwell, Levi continued on until he reached the bottom.
It was then that he opened a large pouch on his belt, allowing a brilliant blue light to shine from within. The small glowing crystals would allow him to find his way back, should he go through all his torches. Even if he did not, they were still a useful method of marking his way back to the surface. With that, Levi set off into the dungeons, dropping the crystals to mark his path. Not only did he check the hallways; he also inspected any rooms he could access.
The dungeons were eerily quiet. Levi’s breathing and the sound of his own footsteps were the only things he could hear. He couldn’t hear any footsteps other than his own, nor hear the dragon’s breathing. Even stranger was the fact that, though he had gone quite deep into the dungeons, there had been no physical signs of the dragon’s presence, either.
Though all the initial signs had pointed to the dragon being in the castle, things didn’t add up. Something was missing, some vital clue that would explain all of the unusual things about this situation. Levi was searching for a dragon; all of the information he had received in Stohess pointed to that fact. Though if that were the case, why had all of the signs indicating a dragon’s presence vanished as soon as he entered the dungeons?
Levi’s unease seemed to be growing by the minute, and didn’t show any signs of going away. It was then that he came upon an open door hanging off its hinges. Clearly, it had been that way for a long time; after all, the castle was falling apart. When he looked through the doorway, he noticed another stairwell, no doubt leading to an even deeper level of the dungeons. He’d known that the dungeons of Castle Utgard were extensive, but a deeper level… he hadn’t expected that. Since he’d scoured the upper level and found no sign of the dragon, he was left with no choice but to descend even further into the darkness.
The further Levi ventured into the deeper level of the dungeons, the more he began to think about where he was going. And worry about it. Dragons were cunning, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was about to walk into a trap. Or worse, maybe he had already walked into the dragon’s trap, and it simply hadn’t snapped shut yet.
Regardless, he would find the dragon, one way or another. And when that happened, he hoped the two of them would be able to speak, and cooperate long enough for him to accomplish his mission; get to the dragon before the Military Police, and get the dragon to safety.
Levi stepped through another open doorway, leading into a room that was much larger than the others in the dungeon had been. What the room’s original purpose was, he did not know. Nor did he care to, since it wasn’t relevant to his mission. The room was large enough that Levi’s torch only lit a small circle around him, leaving most of the room in darkness. So Levi inspected the room, like he had the others, and found nothing but dust and cobwebs. Typical. Sighing, he turned and walked back toward the doorway, intent on continuing his search, and also hoping he didn’t walk head-first into a gout of dragon fire.
He was close to the doorway when he froze, startled at the noise behind him. The rush of leathery wings beating against the still air. The scrape of claws on stone. Levi turned around in an instant, and was met with only darkness. He could feel his heart beating faster, feel the fear bubbling up within him. So it had been a trap, one that had been carefully set… and he had blundered right into it.
But this didn’t make any sense! He had checked the room from top to bottom, inspected every corner… There was no way the dragon could have hidden from him. Though the room was large, it was not large enough to hide a dragon, especially from an inspection as meticulous as Levi’s. How had the dragon managed-?
“I knew we would meet eventually, since you insisted on being so persistent. And I know why you came here to find me. But… why did you come here alone?” Levi was rendered speechless at the sound of the deep voice. The voice was strong, and filled with determination. Yes there was also a hint of curiosity. And those same feelings burned in the green eyes that were currently staring into his own.
As the owner of the voice stepped into the light of his torch, Levi’s eyes could only widen in astonishment. Though he had thoroughly prepared for his mission, nothing could have prepared him for the sight before him. He had been told he was pursuing a dragon, by multiple sources, no less! As such, he had believed his information was reliable.
Because no one had told Levi Ackerman he was searching for a dragon shifter.