Humanity's Strongest Hope

Chapter Ten

Strolling along with Eren by his side, Levi watched with a piercing stare as Kenny silently analysed his squad. His uncle was never one to be discreet about his intentions, Levi could only remember a handful of times when the man was ever this silent. It wasn't just mere coincidence that he showed up as soon as they left his base. He hadn't seen the man in almost two decades, it was still hard to believe that their first meeting after all this time didn't have them at each other's throats. When Kenny had left him, Levi made a vow that the next time they met he would take his uncle down. Kenny had beaten into his skull that if he ever wanted to escape the man's grip, he'd have to kill him himself. Levi always knew this day would come, but he didn't expect Kenny to ask for a truce.

After realising they were being followed, Levi had lured them away from his squad before ambushing, to his surprise, Kenny. The man wasn't easy to fool so most likely he allowed Levi to lead him away.

"Glad to see you've sharpened your skills. Bit disappointed you haven't grown much though."

Levi had to stop himself from stabbing him right then and there.

"Before you're at my throat, don't you wanna know how I found you and why I'm even here?" Kenny asked.

Levi hesitated enough for Kenny to pull out his gun before aiming it at his head, but Kenny never went to pull the trigger. Levi suspected the moment he cornered him, his uncle didn't come to kill him. For the first time, Levi could see some flicker of emotion in his uncle's eyes. The Captain refused to think too much about it, choosing instead to lower his dagger and eye his uncle suspiciously. He wasn't planning on playing one of Kenny's games, knowing the man always won.

"You've aged, old man." Levi said, hoping to direct his uncle's focus and staring at him with disinterest. "What the hell are you doing here, Kenny?"

Kenny grinned.

"Why, do I need a reason to see my only nephew?"

"After almost twenty years, I'd think so."

Kenny paused before forcing out a dry laugh.

"You little shit. You've turned into a cold bastard, that's for sure."

Levi clenched his jaw and choose not to reply.

"Alright, alright." Kenny said. "I got somethin' telling me to head north-east, said I'd find ya and a couple more brats who needed protecting. I couldn't care less but the reward was too high to pass up. Also, I was lookin' forward to seeing you in action, almost can't wait to see how you'll handle this shit fest."

Levi eyed his uncle before reluctantly putting his dagger away. Kenny wasn't one to lie when it came to profiting off of something. The man was an enigma but Levi knew enough about him to know he wasn't going to try anything funny with a reward on the line. Levi didn't trust Kenny but he trusted his instincts. It was at that moment when Eren came dashing through the woods like a crazed animal. Kenny still had his gun pointed at Levi's head and the raven knew what the scene looked like. He only hoped Eren wasn't going to pull another one of his stupid stunts and trigger Kenny's sadistic side. Luckily, his uncle was genuine about not killing him, and anyone else for that matter. What reward could be so valuable that the infamous Kenny the Ripper would throw away a perfectly good opportunity to kill Levi along with Eren?

That question was still troubling the Captain. The obvious answer would be money, but something just didn't seem right about the entire situation. Levi never got the chance to ask his uncle about that 'something.' If he got intel about their whereabouts, the only possible person who could have told Kenny was Erwin. The only problem was that that was impossible. Levi was sure Erwin had heard about Kenny, maybe even know the man was originally from the underground, but no one knew that Kenny the Ripper was Levi's very own uncle. Well, nobody aside from Levi did until today. The Captain could still feel some of his squad's lingering disbelief stares. When Kenny had introduced himself, it was fair to say that every single one of them was white as a sheet. A few didn't even believe it until it started to sink in that Levi never corrected Kenny. After shoving his uncle's arm off with more force than necessary, Levi snapped his squad back into action and everyone was back on track. Eren had lingered at his side while Kenny decided to walk at the front with their bags. Levi rolled his eyes as a few of the cadets shuffled away from Kenny. Although to be fair, the man was a mass murderer.