𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙰𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚂𝙴𝙲𝚁𝙴𝚃𝚂

18

This was her chance. Y/N knew she would never have a chance like this ever again and she had to go and get in there, now, now, now. She had been hiding out by the guarded library entrance all evening, up in the shadows, where no one would really be able to see her. She was certain that she would just have to head back to the underground, because of how long she had been waiting, but then someone else came along and hurriedly got the two guards away from the archive.

Y/N quickly made her way to the door, opening it silently and slipping inside the archives. The place was completely dark and Y/N had to get her lantern and light it. At least that meant that there was no one else in here. Just as she had expected. From what Y/N knew, not even all members of the clergy had access to all the archives. And these were the most secret archives - only very few people had access to this place and now Y/N was right here, able to steal whatever books she wanted.

She didn't really have a plan on how to get out again just yet, but she figured that she would just wing it. Levi would probably have had a good plan, but he wasn't around at the moment and they hadn't been talking in ages. Y/N had actively been avoiding him after their little conflict the other day. But she was sure that it would all soon be over. They'd soon be talking again.

If she found what she was hoping for in this place, then there was absolutely no issue anymore. She wouldn't have to go and steal anything anymore - at least not any books that were going to be too difficult to steal. She'd be able to sell on whatever got the people's interest, whatever they wanted to have. Most of those books were books that weren't straight out banned, but that were restricted. They were comparatively easy to get. But what Y/N wanted wasn't that mundane.

All the secrets of the world was a pretty big goal, but she could just feel that she was incredibly close. Once she had lit up her lantern, she took a deep breath. This archive was much smaller than she had expected. It seemed like anything she stole from here would easily be noticed, but she just had to risk it. There was no point in just staying on the fringes of what was secret knowledge anymore - Y/N needed everything. She needed it like she needed air to breathe.

She quickly walked through the rows of parchments and books and scrolls, checking if there was any common system. There wasn't really one. So Y/N just took what she could get. She took some scrolls that had interesting titles, some books that seemed incredibly old and some parchments that clearly had information on them instead of just some treaties or contracts.

In the end she came up with way more than she could reasonably carry back to the underground. But it would have to work somehow. She filled up her backpack with the books, discarded some of the scrolls and with a little effort it somehow all fit into her backpack. Y/N really hoped that she would find all the information in there that she needed to give herself some peace of mind. She really had a bad feeling about this place and she would rather not return more than necessary.

Once she was done, she went back to the door, listening closely. It was quiet. She blew out her lantern and stowed it away once more and looked under the door - no light. The guards weren't back yet from dealing with whatever they were dealing with at that moment. That meant she had to go now. Now. Otherwise chances were that she would get caught. Even now, it was risky.

Y/N quickly opened the door and slipped out into the hallway. She stopped and listened, but didn't hear anything. She figured the guards would come back the same way they disappeared in, so she took the other way, hoping it would lead around and back into the main hall from where she could use her ODM gear to disappear and head back into the underground.

It was easy enough, if she thought about it. It should be no problem at all, if everything went according to plan. Unfortunately, it didn't. Y/N was so caught up in planning her escape that she didn't hear the footsteps until it was too late. There were guards coming back through the hallway. In her direction. Y/N froze for a few minutes, completely panicked, not sure what to do.

And at that moment, the guards came around the corner and noticed her. Y/N snapped out of her trance and started running in the opposite direction. She was running and running and running, her feet beating the ground fast and hard, her breaths becoming heavy and ragged. She could feel herself becoming faint, her lungs hurting, but she couldn't stop just yet. She had to keep going, back into the main hall of the church. And from there she would hopefully be able to escape.

Once she reached the main hall, there were a whole lot of guards. They all seemed to congregate in the middle of the church, apparently looking at something. One of them turned around and looked at her, his eyes widening, as he pointed at her and shouted something to the other guards. Y/N couldn't hear it, because her heart was pounding in her ears and she had to leave. Now.

She used her ODM gear to catapult herself into the air, up into the church tower, to get away from them, before they had a chance to get to their own ODM gear. If she could manage to disappear, she could probably lay low and try to get into one of the caves and stay there for the night, hoping they would just lose her and give up on trying to find her. It might work out well for her.

She could barely catch herself as she landed on one of the wooden beams, before moving further up, the movements already committed to her memory from the many times she had been down here either on her own or with Levi. She wished Levi was here right now, no matter how much he would tell her that he had been right all along. She'd take it all just to know that there was someone there looking out for her. But she was on her own and it was her own fault.

"Go on, get her! She's getting away!" one of the guards shouted further down, just as Y/N was about to reach the bell tower through which she could escape to the outside. She could make it, if she was quick about it. Y/N just hoped that she wasn't going to make any mistakes, because she was too worried and because she was still in shock from being seen and still out of breath from all the running.

She climbed through the stone windows and found herself just outside the highest point of the church tower. She quickly eyed up the roof that she needed to land on, before catapulting herself into the air again, jumping from roof to roof quickly and without looking back. It was only when she was a safe distance away, that she climbed down from the roof and leaned against a house wall in a dark alley, breathing heavily. She could have died. She was almost caught.

This had been such a bad idea and Y/N knew that she had to be so much more careful from now on. She knew that the military police would be after her and that they wouldn't be gentle with her. They probably wouldn't do anything to her without any proof, but they might soon have enough proof to reasonably suspect her of stealing all those books. And once that happened, she'd have to go and hide. If she'd even have enough time to plan something like that.

Y/N let herself sink down on the wall, her head in her hands and her legs pulled up close to her chest. She was feeling miserable. She was nauseous as the adrenaline from the chase was wearing off, she was feeling exhausted and she had this dark, suffocating feeling in her chest that everything would soon be over. And not in the way she wanted it to be over. She had fucked up and her only chance was to somehow start a new life somewhere else and disappear.

If only there wasn't the thought of Levi. Levi who would be looking for her all over. Levi who had warned her of this exact thing. Levi who would probably die for her, if she was in any danger. She couldn't drag him into this. She couldn't possibly drag him into this and it hurt. It hurt so much.