-
I am so sorry for missing the deadline of the update guys, but now that I am officially in Christmas break, I'll make sure updates stay as consistent as possible so that they can get right back on schedule!

Also, small disclaimer, this chapter contains sensitive content and themes, so please proceed with caution everyone! Other than that, hope you guys enjoy another longer chapter and i'll see you guys in the next one!
-

Usually Levi didn't sleep for a few hours a night, and somehow it was becoming even less hours with everything he suddenly on his plate, so when Onyankopon suggested that Levi was just too riled up, frustrated and out of sorts to think clearly and that it would be best that Levi just slept on it, he had been really against it.

Levi didn't think it would work and that if he didn't end up sleeping like he usually did, keeping himself up, he would spend most of the night just thinking about what was happening to him.

Feeling horror and the impending fear that he was running out of time with every passing second and that very thought kept him up at night even more than usual. He knew that not having his powers would catch up to him but he still refused to admit he needed to team up with you. It was a game of back and forth himself that he felt was driving him to the edge of insanity.

But somehow, it turns out that he was more worn out than he thought he was. Even if he didn't sleep for more than just a couple hours, when it was morning again, Levi woke up with some sort of epiphany.

Just before he'd gone to bed, it felt like his mind was going in circles, like he had been staring up at his ceiling in bed for hours and he felt like his head would explode, but he didn't even notice he fell asleep until he woke up the next morning and a thought had finally occurred to him.

There was somehow some part of his brain that was listening to his stubbornness about refusing to work with you, and he somehow convinced himself he'd found a loophole in this whole situation.

A solution where he wouldn't have to be your bodyguard, where he could just maybe do things on his own terms and not have to rely on anyone else. Or at least that's what he thought. He'd somehow managed to convince himself that with this solution, his tattoo would no longer be in danger in your hands and it would come back to him sooner than he thought.

He didn't know that he was so deep into his own denial even his own ideas were going in circles just because he wouldn't give in, but no one has been able to break into that exterior and knock some sense into him.

Which is why, as soon as Levi woke up in the morning and his idea suddenly dawned on him, he shot up from his bed and started getting ready, feeling awfully confident about the alternative that he'd come up with.

After Levi finished getting ready to look presentable for the day, he headed out of his room in the Scouts Foundation and started heading for his office, that was in the same hallway as his bedroom and living space.

Soon, when getting to his office, which had a very different demeanor than he did the night before, he started walking towards the bar in his office.

It was pretty straightforward the way he grabbed all of his supplies to make his favorite tea as if it was second nature to him. He'd first made his way around the bar, heading towards the stoves and began to boil the water he'd put in the kettle that always uses.

Then, after that was done, he pulled the kettle out of the stove and walked back around to the front of the bar and let the water cool a bit. After that, he did the usual process of putting the tea bag first inside the cup, and then proceeding to pour the hot water over the teabag and the cup, that was already placed over a saucer.

He was just waiting for it to let it steep for a couple minutes and the aroma of the tea was already doing wonders for him in soothing him in the early hours of the morning. This is exactly what he'd needed to gather his thoughts correctly.

Unlike the night before, his shoulders weren't tense and had risen up as his anger did, they were sunken and relaxed as the smell of tea soothed him. His head was hanging low, sure, but he was just taking in the serenity that he was feeling from doing his usual morning routine.

His raven bangs fell over his face and he closed his eyes lightly. He didn't even want to think about his behavior the night before because he had been so immersed into his panic that it's only when he woke up that he realized how ridiculous this situation was in the first place.

Levi was so relaxed that he didn't even react when he suddenly heard the door to his office open, and soon after, he heard Onyankopon's voice echo across the room. Levi lifted his head and opened his eyes but still didn't look back.

"Morning, Levi," Onyankopon greeted, which was responded to with a soft hum from Levi. Onyankopon made his way around the bar and stood right in front of his boss.

"Morning," Levi replied gruffly as he finally realized that his tea was steeped enough, so he took out the tea bag and not wasted a second to wrap his fingers around the rim of the cup, and raised it up to his lips. Onyankopon crossed his arms in front of him and studied his boss' body language carefully.

He seemed very different from the day before and it seems like he was more level-headed now. He thought about the chances that Levi actually took his advice about getting some sleep but he didn't know how true that was. Most of the time, just a couple hours was enough for his boss to get through the day and to get his head cleared, for the most part.

"I guess you're feeling better," Onyankopon said, and Levi looked at his assistant as he took a sip of his tea, so Onyankopon could only see Levi's piercing eyes looking at him.

Levi put down his cup of tea on the saucer and put both of his hands on the table, gripping the edge of it as he slightly leaned forward in place.

"Well, I did get some sleep like you told me to," Levi started, and Onyankopon's face immediately brightened in surprise hearing his boss say that, but before he could say anything else like he knew his assistant wanted to, Levi raised his hand in the air and stopped Onyankopon from cutting him off.

"Before you go bouncing off the walls, It wasn't that much of an improvement from the hours I usually sleep, but It surprised me that I woke up feeling a lot better. Also made me realize how much of an idiot I was last night," Levi said, and even after hearing that, Onyankopon's smile still didn't waver, and in fact he was excited to hear his boss' thoughts.

A smug look crossed Onyankopon's face. "Should I feel honored? That only happens once every blue moon," He teased, and Levi rolled his eyes, knowing that having admitted he took his assistant's advice would come back to bite him in the ass.

Onyankopon will never let him live it down. "Don't flatter yourself, it's not a big deal," Levi muttered, but Onyankopon's smug expression still didn't drop.

Onyankopon shrugged and his smirk grew. "Oh but it is. I'm going to rub it in your face from now on as much as I can. And also you finally decided to be y/n's bodyguard?" He asked, but after hearing that, Levi pushed himself off of the table and looked at his assistant with a threatening glare, even if he knew that wasn't going to do anything because Onyankopon was basically desensitized to it.

"Careful," Levi warned, but Onyankopon simply nodded, and his expression turned a little more neutral but was also ready to hear what his boss had to say next. It's clear that he got to think about stuff overnight.

"And I'm seeing things more clearly now but let's not push it. I haven't gone that crazy yet," Levi assured his assistant, but Onyankopon looked at him skeptically. He knew that Levi had begun to live in delusion from the moment he lost his tattoo, but if he wanted to leave this room, he was just going to keep his mouth shut and not say any of that.

So instead, Onyankopon opted to go another way when it came to his questions about what Levi came up with. "Okay, then. So if you didn't change your mind, then, what did change, though? You obviously seem to be in a better mood," Onyankopon asked, and he watched as Levi took a couple seconds to answer as he raked his hand back through his hair, but then he put his hands back on the the table.

He was about to tell what he thought of the moment that he opened his eyes and his mind just had a lightbulb moment. Well, not so much of a lightbulb moment, but just an idea to delay the inevitable.

"Well I did come up with an idea after I woke up," Levi said and Onyankopon nodded as a curious look came onto his face. If he hadn't changed his mind about being your bodyguard, then what did he come up with that could be as good of a temporary solution as the one you suggested.

"Oh, do tell," Onyankopon said as he began to reach under the table to get some supplies of his own to prepare his own breakfast. Levi ignored Onyankopon' sass and just continued to say what he'd been thinking.

  "The moment I woke up, I realized that this situation might not be as bad as I thought. I think I might have overreacted a little," Levi said, muttering the last part to himself as he looked off to the side in shame for a bit, but Onyankopon pursed his lips to fight back a laugh.

But instead of laughing, he just settled for a teasing smile and just saying; "Shocker," He said, turning away for a second, avoiding Levi's annoyance that he could sense was rising just from that comment.

"Keep that up and I'll wipe that smile off your face," He heard Levi say as Onyankopon turned his body around and grabbed some more ingredients for his food. Yup, he's back. He heard Levi sigh, and then decided not to comment anymore until Levi finished his thoughts, because maybe he'd be onto something.

"As I was saying, I started to see the silver lining. My tattoo still hasn't disappeared, and at least it's in y/n's wrist. Not necessarily safe, but it's there," Levi continued, but Onyankopon turned back around as he raised an eyebrow at his boss' words. It seems like there was something missing there, he was expecting something more.

Already having what he needed for his breakfast, Onyankopon came back to stand in front of his boss and laid everything out in front of him, getting to work. "But how will you use it at all? How will you make sure it stays there until you find a way to get it back? She won't let you near her and just use her when you need to do deals," Onyankopon asked curiously, trying to see where his boss was getting at, not realizing he was being roped into Levi's ideas unknowingly. It was like the blind leading the blind in that room and neither of them were realizing it.

"I haven't thought about that part yet, but, I realized this morning that the reason I didn't get my tattoo back last night when I jumped into the water with y/n," Levi said, but Onyankopon lowered his head as he started occupying himself and preparing his own breakfast, refusing to let Levi see his face when he said those last few words. But he just couldn't help himself, he needed to say something back,

"Sure, 'jumped'," Onyankopon muttered, but Levi heard it loud and clear. The raven leaned forward as he glared daggers at his assistant, watching as Onyankopon tried to keep busy. He hadn't let go of his little quips ever since he came into the room.

"Did you forget to leave your shitty sarcasm outside when you came in here?" Levi said, and Onyankopon raised his head and pursed his lips, turning his head to the side for a second, concealing his teasing smile.

"Alright. Carry on," He said, and Levi nodded once and leaned back again, leaning his body forward as he kept his hands on the edge of the table. "As I was saying, I think that the conditions of getting it back have to be the same as when it was transferred," Levi started, but Onyankopon's hand froze and looked up at his boss, tilting his head in puzzlement.

"What kind of conditions?" Onyankopon said as he put both hands on the table and his eyebrows furrowed. He watched as Levi seemed to go deep into thought for a second, but quickly started explaining.

"I mean, the location, the temperature of the water that night, the weather, and just anything that resembles that night has to be the same. Maybe that's what will get my powers back," Levi said, and after hearing that, Onyankopon considered it for a couple seconds and shrugged, even if there was still a lot of uncertainty in his eyes and his voice.

"I mean...I guess it makes sense. But are you sure it'll work? You seemed pretty confident yesterday too with the plan you had and look how that turned out," Onyankopon pointed out, and that seemed to send Levi into an even deeper train of thought. But Levi raised his left hand and began rubbing it on his neck back and forth, he let out a huff through his nose and then looked up at Onyankopon with a simple shrug.

"I'm running out of options, and I don't have the luxury of waiting around anymore. It doesn't hurt to consider it," Levi said as he dropped his left hand from his neck and grabbed his teacup by the rim and took yet another sip of his tea, and then set it back down.

Onyankopon went back to setting up what he wanted to eat, and after a couple seconds of reviewing in his head everything his boss suggested he would try to do, Onyankopon sighed. "Maybe," He muttered, finishing up putting together his breakfast.

But just as the two of them started to get back into their rhythms of doing their own thing, Onyankopon stopped his movements altogether and started glancing around warily while his nostrils became upturned in disgust at a weird scent that he suddenly sensed in the room.

"Do you smell burning?" He asked, taking a couple sniffs into the air. Levi didn't look up to face his assistant and got ahold of the rim of his tea cup. "Maybe you burnt your own food," Levi started as he took another sip of his tea. "Never took you for a good chef anyway." He said, and Onyankopon looked at him indignantly.

He gasped dramatically, a fake pained expression on his face. "I'm an excellent chef, thank you." He defended himself, holding his plate up with his breakfast all set up for Levi to see.

When he gained no other reaction, he simply spun around to observe the surroundings. "It smells like burning meat though." Onyankopon added, still not being able to ignore that there was a weird smell in the air that he couldn't quite place yet.

Levi simply rolled his eyes, a scoff escaping his lips. "How are you smelling burning meat?" He asked, not having caught the smell quite yet that his assistant was picking up.

But the second he voiced his thoughts, he could smell it too. The pungent stench of charred meat suffocated the duo in the room, and Levi had to hold back the cough building up in his throat.

Levi's face twisted with discomfort as soon as he started feeling it. "Wait, you're right," he admitted, sending Onyankopon a small glare as he set down his cup and looked up. "It's like you're grilling up a steak or something in here." Levi said, and Onyankopon returned his boss' expression, and folded his arms across his chest. "Clearly, I am not grilling a steak." He deadpanned.

"No shit." Levi said to him and then started looking around the room, just like Onyankopon was doing before, in an attempt to find the source of the smell. If no one was grilling anything, where could the smell be coming from?

He heaved a heavy sigh, blowing the air out through his mouth with a sudden uncomfortable feeling of heat settling in the room. "Onyankopon, is it hot in here?" Levi asked all of a sudden, grabbing the front of his shirt and started to air it out. How was this happening all of a sudden?

Onyankopon spun around to face Levi, a confused look settling on his features. "No, I don't think so. You could be coming down with something." He faced away again, continuing to look for the source of the burning and the sudden feeling of heat coming into the room. "I'm not coming down with something," Levi raised a hand to pitch the bridge of his nose out of annoyance, Onyankopon getting on his last nerve this early in the morning.

But as Levi expected more comments from Onyankopon, it never happened. Instead, as soon as he lifted his hand, his eyes widened, because a flame sat on the tip of his finger glittering in his grey hues.

Levi blinked at it a couple times, trying to see if his eyes were playing tricks on him, but once he realized this was all very real, all he could say was; "Onyankopon." Levi said simply, almost in a daze as if to comprehend what he was looking at.

He hummed, turning back around once more, but when he did, he froze when he saw what Levi called him for. As he stared, he noticed the very thing Levi had requested him to focus on; the burning embers, flickers of orange and yellow staring right back at the pair.

"Well, that's not good," he stated, still staring at the tip of Levi's finger. "Does that not burn at all? Why is that happening?" He asked cluelessly and Levi glared at Onyankopon as the effects of the flame were slowly but surely starting to sting his skin.

"Hell if I know. Why are you asking me? Of course it burns!" Levi snaps, sending an icy glare to Onyankopon, internally hoping the flame could transfer from his finger to the man just for his dumb question.

"Holy shit- Fuck- this hurts!" Levi said as he gripped onto the table harder and tried to get a closer look at the flame, trying to understand how this was happening, but then it suddenly hit him what this was. And Onyankopon said it for him. This is exactly what Levi had been fearing and dreading this entire time.

"Is that how 'spontaneous combustion' works?" Onyankopon asked and Levi kept glaring at his assistant, but also considered his question for a second, because even if he knew he would suffer spontaneous combustion without his powers, he had no idea this is what it would look like. "I suppose so." Levi muttered and Onyankopon was quick to respond.

"Shit," Onyankopon repeated, briefly looking around before locking his gaze back to the flame. He was puzzled, his mind rushing to think of a solution to the problem, because how do you put off a fire that appeared out of nowhere with no explanation whatsoever? Levi was becoming very annoyed with the way Onyankopon seemed to be tweaking in place trying to figure out what to do about this, but failing to get his body to move.

"If you don't help me put this fire out," Levi warned, a deadly stare taking over his features. His spare hand gripped the counter, the knuckles slowly turning white.

He grit his teeth painfully, the scorching heat beginning to permanently burn his skin in a way that he would never wish on anyone, and even on his worst enemy. It was becoming far too unbearable.

Onyankopon's eyes widened, came back down to Earth, and he did the only thing he could think of doing once his brain started to cooperate. He came around the counter of the bar, stepped closer to Levi, bending forward slightly so he was eye level with the flame.

Levi froze at what Onyankopon was doing. He was blowing on his finger. He huffed out a puff of air straight towards the flame that was still burning atop Levi's fingertip. But Levi couldn't reply; he simply stared, too confused with what just happened.

Before he could comment on it, the burning and stinging sensation started to get worse than before, scorching and charring the skin, turning his finger a bright crimson color. It was a stark contrast against the paleness of his knuckles as he gripped the counter even harder, if that was possible.

He too started to blow out air onto his fingertip in an attempt to put out the fire. If you can't beat em', join em', right? But to their disappointment, the fire wouldn't go out, no matter how much they tried to blow it out.

Soon enough, Onyankopon and Levi were both aggressively huffing and puffing out air, growing more desperate to put this flame out. It was starting to burn Levi's skin beyond repair, and he could feel the layers beginning to melt off completely, threatening to permanently damage his skin cells, and the more they attempted it, the more it sent agonizing pain through Levi's body.

Panic grew inside Levi as he felt like he couldn't even think straight with how painful it was. The two were both so invested, so set on putting this fire out by  themselves that they failed to miss the sound of Levi's office opening, followed by the sound of quickly approaching footsteps.

"Levi! Did you manage to recover your..." The voice said, and both Levi and Onyankopon's heads snapped up and saw none other than Petra. As Petra had opened the door, she almost couldn't believe her eyes; she had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

Levi was gripping his finger with such force, the skin was beginning to turn white from the lack of blood circulation. Meanwhile, Onyankopon was hunched over Levi's hand, aggressively blowing out puffs of air to put out the growing flame on his fingertip. "What is going on?" She asked with so much bewilderment at what she was witnessing. What did she just walk into?

Onyankopon's eyes widened as he realized that Petra just gave away that she knew about what was happening between you, Levi, and his tattoo, when Levi had told him he wanted nobody else to find out about it.

"Nothing!" Onyankopon quickly interrupted, trying to cover up that Petra had revealed what he did, but failed to miss the deadly glare radiating from his boss."You told her?" Levi almost growled, his grip on his finger only tightened as Onyankopon continued his attempt to put out the growing fire.

Onyankopon huffed in defeat, stopping his attempt for a measly moment. "I had to! I was scared for my life!" Another puff of air. And another. Yet no avail; the flame was still burning brightly atop Levi's hand. He glanced over at Petra, who was still standing dumbfounded in the doorway.

"Would you care to help instead of just standing there?" He snapped and Petra was quick to react. She quickly nodded, rushing over towards the duo to help them out. She too started to blow out huffs and puffs of air in an attempt to put out the fire. Yet it only grew; the specks of golden yellow and burnt orange doubled in size as the fire continued to burn his skin agonizingly.

Onyankopon grabbed Levi's hand, wanting to stabilize it and the fire while using his spare to fan the flame, another attempt to put it out. Levi hissed in pure torture, squeezing his eyes shut to try and minimise the pain.

"It's just getting worse, nothing's working!" Onyankopon announced, and Levi lifted his head from having it hand low and turned to glare at his assistant. "You don't say," Levi spat out with pure spite, his jaw clenching, teeth gritted.

Onyankopon ignored his boss' snark and paused, leaning back to examine Levi's hand. He pointed, a confused expression painting his features. "Do you think the oxygen we're adding is fueling the flame?" He said and Levi's eyes widened, and he gritted his teeth together in annoyance.

"First of all, it's not oxygen we're adding," Levi started, glancing up at Onyankopon with a sour face, truly fed up with this. "And second, none of us are scientists, so cut that shit out." He said and Onyankopon rolled his eyes and opened his mouth, preparing to return a snarky comment until Levi groaned out in pain again.

It was becoming increasingly hard for Levi to pretend this wasn't tearing him apart. "This is too damn hot," he chokes out, practically collapsing, resting his other hand on his knee as he folds over in half. Onyankopon supported Levi the best he could, keeping his hand around Levi's wrist, forcing him to stay up-right as best he could because Levi wasn't handing on for long.

Meanwhile, Petra had thought of an idea and walked over towards the kitchen in the middle of this chaos and filled a small bucket with ice cold water. She quickly walked back over towards the duo, who were still trying their own methods of putting this damn fire out. As Onyankopon was about to attempt to blow the fire out again, Petra threw the water at Levi's hand, interrupting Onyankopon's actions altogether once and for all.

Finally, the fire was out with a small sizzle, a couple seconds of silence passed after that and Petra stood proudly with a hand on her hip as she had succeeded at such a simple task the other two were failing miserably at.

However, her aim was slightly off, and so she glanced to the side and gasped. Onyankopon was drenched in water from head to toe. He stood there bewildered. With a sigh, he huffed the water away from his lips, wiped the water from his eyes, and his grip finally loosening from Levi's hand.

Levi pulled his arm away from Onyankopon, balancing it on the counter, his once lit hand now in front of his face with bafflement written all over his face. He could see clearly now the way that the skin on his fingertip was a bright scarlet, the skin cells were surely burnt to a crisp and would take longer to heal than any ordinary burn. "What the fuck was that?" Petra asked, the now empty bucket still in her hands, finally setting it back on the counter.

That's when Levi could finally think clearly and he said the only thing he could think of in that moment. "The spontaneous combustion started," He muttered to himself in horror. Levi knew what this meant, and it wasn't good. He was out of time.

He didn't have nearly as much time to think anymore of a new plan to not have to be your bodyguard and that's what hurt him the more to realize. As much as he pained him to admit it, knowing that his body just caught on fire because he's stalling to think of a new plan, he needed your help. And he needed it urgently. He needed free access to his tattoo at all times, which is still within your possession. The only way he could get this was by accepting your offer of becoming your bodyguard.

He hated that it's come to this result, because he made such a big deal about not accepting it before to you and to Onyankopon and even after he rejected your proposal countless times, you were probably still hoping he changed his mind.

He just kept doubling down on his dignity and self-respect over and over when it came to you, and now he felt he's hitting a new low. How is it going to look when he suddenly agrees overnight on your proposition? He couldn't think of anything he could say to you as a cover.

But what other choice did he have? He needs his tattoo, he needs his powers and while he has no way of figuring out a transfer quickly enough, so being near you is his only solution at this point. He couldn't afford to be picky and selective.

Having made this decision on the spot, Levi straightened his posture and spun around on his heel, attempting to rush out of the room and head for the stairs in the back of his office. But he never made it.

Onyankopon beat him to the doorway and blocked his path with a smirk, his eyebrow slightly arched with a smug expression. His head hung low in exasperation, as if it was weighed down with the heavy thoughts of his situation. The possible solutions would soon become his troubles if he couldn't figure this out.

Petra noticed Levi and Onyankopon standing in the doorway, and a frown painted her lips as she folded her arms across her chest. "Where are you going?" She asked, realizing that she had missed a lot more than just what she'd forced Onyankopon to reveal to her, so she needed a little update.

Levi turned to look at her and put it as simple as he could possibly do it. "To find her." Levi mumbled out, but the smiles on both Onyankopon and Petra's face indicated that they heard him loud and clear, and they immediately got it.

He didn't have time for their games or their questions; his time was running out and he couldn't spare a second to stick around and answer all of their doubts. That could wait until later. He had to accept your stupid offer before it was too late, as much as he knew it would only be a hindrance to him and everything he stood for.

"Well?" Onyankopon asked, that smug expression still glazing his features. "What are you waiting for? Christmas?" His assistant said and Levi looked at him with an expressionless look on his face.

Levi rolled his eyes, but pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket regardless. He knew he needed to do this in front of these two just so they'd leave him alone and they could be up to speed.

He quickly tapped away on the screen and pulled up your contact, not taking a moment to let himself hesitate. The ball was in his court now, and he was also under the pressure as his two colleagues were watching him like a hawk would its prey. He didn't leave a second for hesitation; he couldn't hesitate now, he's running out of time.

If he didn't do this now, he never would. He couldn't back out now. Even if he hung up now, his call would be on your call history and he felt like that would somehow be even worse. He can't handle more embarrassment. He pressed the phone to his ear as he left the building, listening to the repetitive rings as he awaited your answer, feeling his colleagues stand on either side of him.

If you would only answer- Levi thought to himself in irritation at how long you were taking, but then again, the hour he was calling you at seemed justifiable for you not to answer right way. Though, as he hoped, it only took you a matter of seconds to pick up the phone, and Levi heard your familiar groan and voice on the other side of the call.

"You better be calling me for a good reason this early in the morning," he heard you huff. Or was it some kind of yawn? You must have woken up just now, then.

He once again rolled his eyes at your words, not having time to fire back at you, but he still didn't hang up. He couldn't afford to. He knew you needed this opportunity as much as he did; this would benefit the both of you.

He couldn't hang up now just because of your snarky comments. It also didn't help at all that Petra and Onyankopon weren't being subtle at all.

"She actually picked up?" Petra asked quizzically in a whisper, looking over at Onyankopon on the other side of Levi, who was waving a hand at the ginger woman to get her to be quiet. "Shut up, I can't hear her!" Onyankopon whisper-shouted back at his colleague, and she raised her hands in defense.

This was finally her chance to learn more about this mystery woman Levi and Onyankopon just refuse to talk about since this started. Levi held back a groan and closed his eyes shut in frustration for a second. He placed a hand over the speaker of his phone, scolding the two beside him.

"Would both of you shut it? It's painful enough with you two here." He scolded the two of them, and that seemed to have shut them up effectively in a second.

As instructed, the two kept quiet after that, and Levi could finally get over his own ego; he could finally accept your offer, despite the unsettling feeling in his chest for what he was about to say. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose,

"Are you home?." He said, cursing himself mentally for actually going through with this thing. "Yes." Levi couldn't miss the uncertain, confused and questioning tone in your voice, knowing you were wondering why you were asking her that when its clear she just woke up.

"I'll do it." Levi blurted out before he could back out, and it took you a couple seconds to process what he just said, because Levi wasn't exactly clear about what he was talking about and you needed a little bit more than that.

It was too early in the morning to try and figure out what he wants from that call just from that. "I think I might need little bit more than that," You said quizzically, wanting more context and not to mention feeling beyond lost and confused.

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before he continued. "I'm saying...I'll be your bodyguard." He said, and all he heard was the quick sound of rustling on the other end, followed by a gasp from you.

"You will?" It was as if someone had injected you with some kind of drug, because Levi was not expecting your reaction nor the tone it flowed through it. You seemed ecstatic that he had accepted your offer, but he couldn't make out why.

Were you simply excited over the idea of having some protection? Or because you knew you were right and he needed your help.

Whatever the reason was, his response changed you briefly, and he couldn't help the sudden urge he felt to start rushing to go and see you to seal the deal.

He didn't want to waste this phone call with idle chit chatter for no reason, so he was going to go just straight to the point now.

"I'm coming over, I need to see you. Now." He said firmly, and then he hung up, failing to let you reply to him as he practically threw his phone back into his own jacket pocket.

He made his way back towards the kitchen and picked up the bucket that Petra had used earlier to put the fire out, and soak Onyankopon from head to toe.

Silently, his colleagues watched as Levi filled it to the top with ice cubes, rushing and spilling ice cubes all over the counter as he did so out of the sheer hurry and urgency in his movements. He glanced at Petra and Onyankopon, who were simply staring at him as he raced around like a madman.

"Don't just stand there, I need to go, now!" Levi retorted at them and almost instantly, they responded and quickly started helping him, trying to shovel as many ice cubes into the bucket as they could while trying not to freeze their own hands themselves from grabbing so many at once.

As it was nearly full, Petra paused and looked up at Levi, a question on the tip of her tongue. "What's your plan for this anyway?" She asked, not really knowing or understanding what Levi's plan was from here on out, what he was thinking of or if he's just making it up as he goes along.

Levi looked up to face Petra, with the desperation still clear in his eyes. "I need to make a deal," Levi explained, placing the last couple of ice cubes into the bucket before he placed his hands on the counter, leaning his weight down and lightly drummed his fingers on the surface.

"And fast, because I'm running out of time, in case the spontaneous combustion wasn't enough of a give away for you." He said, not wasting another second to pick up the ice bucket once it was full and then headed straight for the exit of his office, leaving Petra and Onyankopon behind in silence once he went through the door and it slammed shut and all you could hear was Levi's departing footsteps.

Onyankopon and Petra looked at each other in worry after everything that just happened just dawned on them and the silence became even more deafening.

As for Levi, he doesn't think he's ever driven as fast as he did as soon as he left his office. He know he couldn't feel like more of an idiot the more this situation escalated, especially since he drove with one hand on the wheel and another with his hand inside an ice bucket.

He just got a taste of what his instant combustion will look like if he doesn't find a solution, and soon. He didn't want to take any chances anymore. He had to debase himself and agree with you just to avoid his own doom.

He felt like he was losing his dignity more and more with every second, not to mention that he had no choice now but to agree to go to you for help when he'd denied it to you so many times just the day before and he'd been so against it.

This was taking a blow to his ego and he didn't like any part of it. He was driving to your apartment now after he hung up the phone and rushed out of the Scout Foundation and you agreed to meet up with him.

With how hopeful you sounded on the phone about him changing his mind, for whatever reason it may have been, and sounding not at all resentful for him turning you down so many times, maybe he could make this work somehow.

He'd somehow have to explain to you why he was holding an ice bucket too. You were too insightful for your own good, it was unusual for anyone to be carrying an ice bucket with them, and he had no way to hide it. Levi didn't feel like explaining that he had to have it on standby or he'd burst into flames.

Every second that passed as he drove made him remember that he was continuously going back and forth on this with you, and even if he kept in mind the idea he came up with this morning, that was obviously out the window now, and that he has to begrudgingly give into this whole bodyguard idea of yours, despite how much he hated it and refused to do it in the first place.

But, he knows and was well aware that he had to make a deal now in whatever means possible, and that he needed his powers, and to do that, he needed to be your bodyguard.

Knowing that the clock was ticking, he couldn't spend time anymore thinking of new plans, and if he could bend this whole bodyguard idea to delay the inevitable, then he would do just that.

He had nothing to lose now and agreeing to this was becoming the least of his problems. He needed to shove aside the petty stubbornness he had towards you so he could get his life back.

Before, when he woke up this morning, he came up with he idea and felt optimistic, but of course his body had to remind him that he was on the clock.

Levi could see no other way around it since he knew you wouldn't let him just stop by whenever he wanted to use his powers and drag you to do deals with him. That was just terribly inconvenient. He hated to admit that you were right, that he would have to put up with your gloating and that he was wrong.

Even if he could see your point before when you first mentioned the idea, and still refused, that being by your side all the time would let him use his powers all he wanted, while protecting you and his tattoo at the same time, would let him make deals like before and it would be a much more convenient option now that he could see that he didn't have the luxury anymore to wait around for a day to roll around where the conditions were the same as the day he lost his tattoo. He could do this without forgetting what he's truly after.

Levi also realized that he had to do at least one deal to able to delay the combustion process and to give him time to think about a new plan. You knew he made deals with humans, but you have never actually seem him do that before, so that was another downside to this.

To make deals, you'd have to be joined at the hip with him and watch him do his job. It wasn't ideal because he usually did his deals alone, but now he had no choice but to take you around with him.

The whole ride there, the hand that he had on the steering wheel had been gripping the leather with a hold so tight that his hand was turning white. He hoped you didn't patronize him for finally agreeing with you, because the inner turmoil in his head wasn't helping the fact that he was losing his dignity bit by bit with this whole situation.

He didn't want you to ask any questions because he didn't feel like answering them. He didn't even know himself. All he knew is that he didn't want to burst into flames just because he thought he could handle this on his own.

He hasn't figured out how to deal with this situation at all because it's so foreign to him. He didn't know how to react, how to feel, how think and it was driving him insane.

That was how he found himself where he is now. Levi had hung up so quickly before when he left his office that he texted you right after with his free hand to tell you to meet up with him in the parking lot of your building.

So now, he was standing in the parking lot of your building, holding the ice bucket close to him just in case. As he waited, he got a little too consumed into his thoughts and he zoned out a bit, trying to think about he could possibly explain the ice bucket to you, and trying to come up with potential answers for any suspiciousness and hesitancy you might have towards him for suddenly changing his mind.

His foot was tapping anxiously against the floor and his fingers were drumming anxiously against the cool metal of the ice bucket. You'd sent a message you were heading down soon, why weren't you here already? Levi had no time to waste.

But then, as if the universe was listening intently to his thoughts, Levi perked up at the sound of distant footsteps coming from behind him, and it sounded like heels so he knew it was you. Levi quickly turned around, since his back had been facing the entrance to the elevators, and he saw you walk out.

He noticed that you walked out and were looking elsewhere and hadn't noticed Levi's presence yet, but Levi would make sure you knew he was there. So, Levi immediately turned on his heel and started walking towards you, and from the sound of his footsteps, you turned your head and finally saw him.

Though, when you first saw him, you made eye contact with him but then your eyes trailed down and you saw he was carrying an ice bucket for reasons that were unknown to you.

Because he was walking towards you, you just decided to stay in place and kept your arms in front of you, holding your purse with both hands. It made you a bit nervous the way he was striding towards you, but you kept your head high and hoped that what he called you for, was to tell you that had finally come around.

It was all you wanted to hear from him and it would make you feel ten times more at ease, and you'd know how to start moving forward to find a solution for both of you.

He reached you and you raised your arms from their position in front of you, to now crossing your arms while still holding onto your purse in one hand. "Your call this morning was really sudden, I didn't expect to be hearing from you so soon. But...were you serious about what you said?" You said as you looked at Levi and saw that he was looking at you with that same icy glare as always, though, this one in particular was making you shrink back a little.

You had no idea what was going on in his head or what he was thinking. He tilted his head to the side and let out a huff as he held eye contact with you.

You waited for him to say something after that, and when he did speak, your body froze and for a second you thought you'd misheard. "Yes. I decided to be your bodyguard," He said suddenly, with a simple blank expression, that rivaled yours by a lot since your eyes widened and you gasped in surprise.

You really hoped that's what he would say, but to actually have him confirm your hopes was an entirely different thing. After all that bickering last night, you must have gotten through to him.

"Really? You'll do it?" You asked with so much hopeful innocence in your voice, feeling this day starting out much better than you would have hoped.

Levi agreed to be your bodyguard, even if you still didn't know what changed his mind, and now the two of you would have much higher chances of solving each other's problems. At your question, you only receive a simple nod and a hum from him.

Your shoulders sank in relief and you let out a soft laugh as you let yourself be more relaxed now. "I'm so glad you came around. I promise, you won't regret..." You started, but then a thought came to mind and you trailed off.

You really didn't know what made him change his mind. He seemed so against it last night that you thought you were holding onto that hope that he'd change his mind by a thread.

Your eyes narrowed suspiciously and you stared at him skeptically. Sure, you were over the moon that he agreed, but suddenly you became aware that from the short time you've known Levi, he wasn't one to just fold like that after he refused your proposal so many times.

He had something else in mind, didn't he? And you wanted to know what it was. This involved the two of you now, more than before, now that the two of you have come to a single agreement.

You ignored how intensely Levi was looking at you, knowing that there was a hidden intent behind him suddenly changing his mind overnight. "Wait," You said, and Levi raised an eyebrow at you and his eyes narrowed further, feeling them pierce through you. But you continued nontheless.

"Why did you change your mind so suddenly? You were so against it last night I thought I wouldn't hear from you for a while, or ever again honestly" You said accusingly, whispering the last part to yourself, being careful with your words and not make him change his mind.

"You made it very clear that you wanted to figure out the problems with your powers on your own," You added, looking at him expectantly, wanting to know why he's suddenly so into this idea when it seemed like its the last thing on Earth he wanted to do and be a part of.

You didn't miss the way that he looked off to the side for a second, and then looked at you again, steeling and hardening his eyes again. You raised your eyebrows expectantly and watched as he visibly racled his brain for something to say.

"I couldn't stop thinking about your proposal all night, and you were right. This wil benefit both of us, so I'm on board," Levi said simply, trying to sound as convincing as possible, but by the way you looked at him with a skeptical look on your face, he knew you were having a hard time buying that.

And when your eyes trailed down again to the ice bucket he had in his hands, you were having a hard time believing it was as simple as he made it out to be. You didn't know how exactly, but in a very bizarre way, that ice bucket had something to do with this.

Levi realized were you were looking and quickly made him hold the ice bucket behind his back hurriedly, making you look at him strangely. What was wrong with him? But your attention was drawn back up to him when you heard him continue to speak, so you listened intently to what he had to say.

"It hit me this morning after I remembered everything you said. I need my powers, you need protection. I'm willing to take precious time out of my precious day to do just that," Levi explained, and you rolled your eyes and raised your hand to rub against for your forehead for a second and scrunched your face a little.

When you dropped your hand back down, you crossed your arms again and looked at him again. "You're acting weird. Even more than usual," You said to him, and he clicked his tongued at your words. But his entire demeanor still seemed very different.

He kept one arm behind his back with he ice bucket and leaned forward. "I'm not. Stop being so paranoid and just accept my help already. That's what you wanted. I just changed my mind, that's all. You were practically begging it from me last night. Do you want my help or not?" He said, and you raised your hands up defensively.

You didn't mean to offend him or anything or insinuate that you didn't want his help just because you felt he was acting a certain way. The kind of way that made you believe he was hiding something since he had a change of heart so quickly.

"I do, I want your help, but I'm just saying that you must have changed your mind for a reason I want to know what it is," You said as you looked down and let your head hang a bit low, letting your feet play push around some loose pebbles of concrete on the ground.

Though, as you looked elsewhere, Levi felt the familiar sting and heat arise in his finger once again, so his eyes widened and his breath got caught up in his throat when he saw that there was a small flame growing again in his finger. He looked back and forth between you and his finger that was catching on fire again and panic began to grow in his body all of a sudden.

"You hated the idea of it so much yesterday that I just thought-" You started, but then were cut off when you heard a loud splash, followed by a sound of sizzling dying down. Your head snapped up at the sound and your eyebrows pinched together as your face twisted in confusion when you saw Levi sticking his hand in the ice bucket that he brought.

You blinked at him a couple times and watched as he looked up at you with wide eyes and a very guilty look on his face. Your eyes darted back and forth between his face and his hand in the ice bucket.

A suspicious amount of time passed before you finally found your voice. "What was that?" You asked, watching as he forced his wide eyes to go back to normal, obviously hoping you'd ignore why he has his hand in a bucket filled with ice.

But you weren't that dense. It was hard to ignore the way he was holding it when you first spotted hi, with it, but now you felt the urge even more to ask what was the context behind it. "What was what?" He asked right back, and you looked at him incredulously. Was he seriously trying to pretend what he was doing wasn't incredibly strange?

You sighed and looked at him dead in the eye. "See? This is what I'm talking about. You have your hand in an ice bucket, and you think I'm just going to brush that off?" You said, and Levi's eyes hardened as he almost felt the need to scoff at your words.

"Well, It's none of your business," He said, and your eyebrows raised in surprise. He really wasn't making it easy for you to stop wondering what was going on with him. He was acting more and more suspicious by the second, which wasn't helping your curiosity. How was he offended that you wanted to know?

Your stance became a little more defiant, keeping your arms crossed as you looked at him without any fear. "That's where I think you're wrong. We're in this together now, you're clearly hiding something and I don't think it's so crazy that-" You started, but you were cut off when you saw the slight panic in Levi's eyes and how there was a flip of a switch in his eyes.

You didn't even have time to process that, because you watched as in the blink of an eye, he put the ice bucket on the ground, kicked away so quickly that the sound of metal against the ground made you jump and then you were forced to look back up at him when he suddenly stepped closer to you and put both of his hands on the sides of your arms and pulled you closer to the point that your faces were inches apart.

You were frozen and were looking up at him in shock and with your eyes wide and with confusion and shock lying deep beneath them.

You were taken aback by the fire in his eyes that he was looking at you with, and it was so intense that you couldn't bare it but also couldn't look away at the same time.

"You were right, before. Remember what you told me. Our futures are one in the same now, we're in the same boat and we need each other. That's what you said, right? Always remember that we're in this together now," He said to you with such hurry in this voice that it was hard to believe you were seeing this side of him so suddenly, and as much as you opened your mouth to say something back, nothing came out. Only choked sounds that you could barely form into words out of pure puzzlement.

His hand on your arms had a tight grip, but not a painful one. Only one that reminded you of the fervent fire that you could sense, feel and hear from him right now.

Did this become a lot deeper and important to him? More than you realized? There was desperation in his eyes that in a way made your eyes soften just a bit, seeing that there was clearly something else missing here that he was trying to transmit to you through the intensity of his words.

But you shook your head and swallowed hard, forcing yourself to continue looking at him. If he didn't want you to pry, then you wouldn't. He would tell you in time why this suddenly became so important to him, if he wanted to. What was important, is that the two of you had finally come to a single agreement and that's what matters.

By the way he was looking at you, you knew he was expecting an answer from you now, so you tried your best to get your voice to work and said something back to him, trying your best to ignore his weird behavior before and the fact that there was a huge puddle of water and an empty ice bucket across from the two of you.

He must have had a reason for that. Right? "Y-Yeah. You're right. I'm sorry for prying so much," You said shaking your head and letting out an involuntary nervous laugh. A few more seconds passed and Levi still hadn't let go and was still staring at you intently. You decided to add one more final thought you were having.

"So...you'll be my bodyguard, then," You started, not saying it as a question but rather a statement, just wanting confirmation from him if it was really happening. You watched as he nodded wordlessly with a hum, and his features softened slightly from the glare that he had on before.

Though, he still hadn't let go of you. You also couldn't ignore the way his gaze towards you had shifted into something you couldn't place, but you tried your best to ignore it as you continued to voice out your thoughts.

"Could you start today?" You asked hopefully, wanting to get this on the road as soon as possible while also feeling Levi's grip on your arms start to loosen little by little.

It was hard to focus on your relief of him finally agreeing when he was looking at you the way he was and you were struggling to keep eye contact, not to mention he still hasn't taken his hands off of your arms. But as soon as you asked that, you noticed that he looked away for a second and then back at you with uncertainty.

"I can. But we have to do something first," Levi said, pulling his face away from yours, but still holding onto your arms. Why do you keep fixating on that? It's not a big deal. But after he said that, something clicked in your head.

Maybe this thing that he wants to do is why he's acting so weird, but you can't help but feel wary about it for some reason. He needed you for it, clearly, but your gaze became uncertain and you couldn't help but voice out your thoughts. "Do what?" You asked him cautiously.

He didn't say anything after that. Instead, you watched him look down and finally felt one of his hand start to trail down your arm until he grabbed your wrist with his tattoo on it. You ignored the goosebumps on your body and the chill that ran down your spine when he did that, trying to focus on what's important here.

You looked down as well, so the two of you watched as his hand made contact with your wrist, and saw the way that his tattoo on your wrist started to emit that familiar crimson glow as the light started to stretch across the branches and paths of it. You just couldn't help but gape every time that you witnessed that, and it didn't get any more astounding to you. It felt so surreal to you every time.

But that astonishment was short-lived. From one moment to another, it took you a couple seconds to realize that you and Levi were no longer in the parking lot and his powers had done their job.

At first, things were a little distorted and muffled, and even if you felt Levi still holding onto your wrist, you quickly came into the realization of where you were.

The metropolitan sounds of the city like cars beeping in the distance, strong winds wafting against you, and last but not least, the height you two were at, made you come back to your senses and your heart dropped to to your stomach as you felt all of the blood drain from your face.

"What the-" You started, cutting yourself off as you started to look around your surroundings and saw that Levi had transported the two of you to the top of the highest tower in the city. Not to mention that he decided to have both of you appear dangerously close to the edge.

Your breathing got heavier with panic bubbling inside of you as you began to realize where you were and you stumbled back by instinct to get away from the ledge, and then your body finally decided to react.

You let out a terrified scream and took as many steps back as you could, given that Levi was still standing close to the edge and holding onto your wrist tightly. You didn't even have time to wonder how Levi looked so unbothered, but you supposed you shouldn't be surprised at this point, right?

This tower in specific is the one Levi went to whenever he had to make deals, which is exactly the first thing he needed to do before he could even start his duties as your bodyguard. It's one of the towers with the highest vantage point in the city, letting him look over everything.

While Levi stood by the ledge, you were continuing to hold onto the dear life to the edge of the giant clock that was in the middle of the roof and where you could be farthest away from the ledge. You were letting out horrified whimpers of fear as you kept repeating to yourself the same mantra; don't look down, don't look down, don't look down.

"This is so high up! Are you out of your mind?" You demanded loudly at Levi, hoping he heard you even through the gusts of wind. You were screaming because of the adrenaline that was suddenly surging through your body and your heart beating against your chest painfully.

You kept your eyes shut and you were breathing and panting heavily. You hated heights. They were one of your biggest fears, and being up here was the last thing you wanted. What was he planning? What did he want?

You forced yourself to focus on the fact that Levi still hadn't said anything yet and you got the courage to open your eyes and look at him desperately. "Levi! Why did you bring me up here! Answer me!" You screamed and your voice resonated through the wind, and you went back to closing your eyes and keeping yourself as far away from the ledge as possible. But you still needed him to give you an answer. He couldn't just continue to stare forward like that without saying anything.

Though, you opened your eyes the slightest bit and all he did after that was kneel down close to the ledge and look out into the city. Because he moved to kneel down and he was still holding onto your wrist, you were forced to move down too as well.

You tried to get closer to the clock as much as possible and you finally heard him say something. "I've been using this place for years to spot people to make deals with. Stop freaking out, I won't let anything happen to you, trust me," He said, still looking out into the city. You scoffed and looked away from him.

"You mean you won't let anything happen to your tattoo, right? That's reassuring," You said, loudly for him to hear. He could have at least given you some sort of warning that he would bring you to one of the highest buildings in the city. You could have prepared yourself.

He keeps  giving you reasons to not fully trust him, though he just said that he's up here to a deal, so you knew that at the very least. A little warning would have been nice, though. You've had like 10 mini heart attacks in the span of the days you've known him because he's just so cryptic and unpredictable.

"Look, I get it, I do! But I hate heights! This is insane!" You yelled out to him, and he still looked completely unbothered. Although, at least that's what it seems like since he has his back to you.

But in reality, just as you said that, Levi felt that stinging sensation come back to his hand, so he looked down and saw that the flame in his finger was coming back and it was growing quicker than before. His breath got caught in his throat and his eyes widened. He was running out of time, he needed to make a deal.

His eyes quickly hardened and he stood up again, clearly in a rushed manner. In silent panic, he quickly began to overlook the city and see if there was anybody that he could sense he could make a deal with, all the while he hid his hand on fire from you.

After focusing hard enough, as he held onto your wrist even tighter and his tattoo glowed in a brighter red, he had to ignore your pleading whimpers as you held onto the clock and then his powers finally responded, finding someone he could make a deal with at last. "I got one, let's go!," Levi ordered sternly and your eyes widened with horror at what he meant by that.

"Go where?!" You yelled out to him as he unexpectedly suddenly tugged on your wrist, pulling you away from the clock and closer to the ledgee. And just when he seemed like he was about to make you jump with him and you closed your eyes shut and tried to prepare yourself for what you thought he was about to have you do once again, when you opened them back up again, you breathed heavily as you looked around and saw that Levi and you were somewhere else entirely.

You were trying to become familiarized with your surroundings and trying to adjust again, but all you knew is that at least the two of you were back on solid ground.

God, did he know your blood pressure and your heart rate had risen that much more because of him? He was just carelessly transporting you around the city and you were scared for your life every time he did it. It's ridiculous.

But as you were trying to get your bearings again, you weren't paying attention to what was happening to Levi. As you looked around and realized the two of you were at the lobby of a hospital, Levi's face drained of color when he saw that not only his pointer fingers was catching fire, but now a second finger, his middle finger, was catching fire too.

He breathed heavily as dread filled his entire body. He desperately started to look around the room for anything that could put out the fire with, and when he finally spotted a water dispenser across the room, he didn't hesitate to start walking towards it and tugging you with him.

"Come on, this way," He said, trying to sound as passive as he possibly could to not raise suspicion to you. Just as you began to feel a little less disoriented, you let out a yelp when you started to feel Levi start to tug you wherever he needed to go.

You could barely get your thoughts in order and he was taking you from place to place and expect you to be in the loop. You were beyond confused. Levi eventually stopped tugging on your wrist, let go of it, and you watched as his figure lightly bent over in front of a water dispenser in the corner of your eye.

Most of his body was blocking you from what he was doing, but all you could hear was water running from the dispenser.

Despite how bizarre he was being, this was none of your business so you began to let your yes trail all around the space of the hospital you were in all the while Levi let the water from the dispenser cool down his fingers successfully.

Once you'd taken in the space around you, you turned your body around again to face Levi. Your face twisted with curiosity and confusion when you slightly leaned forward to see what he was doing and saw that he was blowing on his fingers. What the hell was his deal?

You then watched as he straightened back up, reached over to take one of the plastic cups on top of the dispenser, bent down to press on the cold water tab and began fill up the cup. You didn't say a word as you witnessed this, knowing a lot less now than you did before.

When he stood back up, he turned around to face you and then he extended his hand with the cup of water out to you. You quickly took one look at Levi, then down at the water, and then back up at Levi.

"Can you hold onto this for me? Thanks," He said, grabbing your hand without his tattoo on it and putting the cup of water in your hold. You were frozen on the spot from his request but nodded numbly anyway.

"Sure, I guess..." You muttered, watching as he began to walk ahead of you, but not before he took into his grip your wrist with his tattoo once more, tugging you along with him.

He clearly seemed to be anxiously looking for something, or someone in this case, and you watched as he peeked and looked across at every hallway in the lobby and first floor of the hospital until he finally found the person he was searching for.

But when he did find that person, it was when Levi peeked around the corner, still tugging you behind him, in one of the hallways and spotted a man speaking to a doctor in front of one of the rooms in the hall.

You looked at Levi strangely and with confusion, even if you were behind him, seeing how his body tensed the moment he spotted that man with the doctor. From the looks of it, it didn't look like a positive conversation.

You looked back and forth between the man and Levi, and you were sure he was just aware as you that this man, who was clearly the father of someone here in the hospital, was currently being given terrible news from the looks of it.

You really hated to eavesdrop, but hearing snippets of the conversation from afar just made your heart clench in pain at what you were witnessing and hearing. Why were you and Levi here for this?

Both you and Levi stayed hidden around the corner, and just hearing that conversation felt so wrong. You shouldn't be here to see this, and you didn't know why Levi needed to be here to witness this either You had no idea what his plan was here, but you were starting to hate every bit of it.

You leaned forward slightly and saw that there was a certain air of determination in his eyes that only worried you further about what was going on in his head as he watched that mother talk to the doctor.

"Any additional treatment will be meaningless. Her body will reject it," The doctor said to the man, and you felt your heart shatter when you heard the suppressed sniffles and cries from that man when he heard the doctor's words.

This felt incredibly wrong to listen to, this was private and your eyebrows pinched together  you watched the way Levi zeroed in his attention towards that father, and focusing on him. Levi's eyes narrowed slightly as he continued to overhear, which forced you to overhear as well.

"Doctor, are you sure that there's nothing that can be done? Is there anything we can try?" You heard the man plea to the doctor, and his broken voice made your eyes soften and your features drop in sadness. Even if he was asking for more possibilities, he sounded so defeated that it truly broke your heart to have to be hearing any of this.

You leaned back again and tried to get further away from earshot of the conversation to try and see if that would make the words not reach you anymore, but before you could step back completely, you heard Levi's voice once again.

"We have to go over there," He said, and without any warning, he gripped your wrist tighter and began to tug you with him over to where he wanted to go.

His actions had been so sudden that his words came to you a little late, and when they did, your eyes widened. "Wait- what? Going over there?" You questioned, but Levi didn't say anything back.

He just kept going forward and bringing you with him. If he was doing what you think he was doing, then you wanted to turn back around right now.

You watched his body language and saw that his stride had so much urgency in it that it made you wonder what is possessing him to head towards that family and why he needed to do that in the first place. 

Did his powers ask him to do that? Is he here to make a deal in a hospital of all places? A place filled with heartbreak, sorrow, sadness, and distress?

If he said he granted people's wishes when he made deals, is he looking to do the same thing here? If you're right, is the way for him to make deals to take advantage of people when they're at their lowest point? Oh, you're hating the fact that you inadvertently agreed to be a part of this.

Ever since you met Levi, he admitted he's a demon and explained how his deals work, you have never seen him make a deal in person with your own eyes, so the more this went on, the more you realized that maybe you didn't want to.

This was becoming something you couldn't be able to bear if you saw it with your own eyes instead of leaving it to your imagination.

Eventually, Levi pulled you around a corner before you even protest and you watched as he started heading straight towards the hospital beds  that each had a divider in between and clear curtains in front of them.

You couldn't possibly figure out how Levi knew which curtain had the family of that father from before behind them, but you noticed that after taking brief glances behind each curtain, he finally slowed down in his steps when he heard the hushed words of a woman.

You couldn't make them out from afar at first, but the closer Levi and you got, the more you could make out her words. You and Levi were taking slow steps just outside the curtain and when it finally came into view who was behind the curtain, you felt your heart twist with anguish at what you were seeing.

It was a woman, a mother, kneeling in front of a little girl in her hospital bed, unconscious, who you assumed was her daughter. The little girl was connected to all sorts of tubes, she had a plastic mask over her mouth and nose and her breaths looked uneven.

The little girl seemed to be asleep right now, but the mother had her elbows propped up on the edge of the bed and had her fingers intertwined together, pressing her head against her hands, keeping her eyes shut as she reassured herself and prayed over and over that her daughter would be okay.

"I know at this point, it's too much to ask to let her live. And even if I want that more than anything, right now I'm just asking for her suffering to stop. Just for a day, it's all I'm asking for," The mother asked out loud, hoping any force in the universe was listening to her pleas and prayers.

Though, even if the help she was asking for was ironically just around the corner holding onto your wrist, its not the kind of help anybody usually asks for.

Usually when Levi picked his targets, its the people who would agree in an instant to his deals and were in their darkest of moments, and this mother seemed to fit the criteria, at least in his head.

His head was so jumbled and mingled with his own fears that Levi wasn't realizing that this case was very, very different. You had already puzzled it out, but he hadn't,  and Levi was about to have a very rude awakening.

Your breath was caught up in your throat and your eyes were wide when it finally clicked what Levi was about to do, and you were frozen, not being able to get your body to move whatsoever.

Levi and this mother were both very desperate, but for very vastly different reasons and you realized that Levi was about to take advantage of that with no remorse and for reasons that he was still refusing to tell you.

All you knew is that you wanted to get out of here before Levi dragged you into his dirty business, but you knew it was just far too late for that, wasn't it?

You stumbled forward when Levi suddenly opened the curtain with no warning or hesitation, and tugged you along with him to step into the makeshift room.

You were standing there awkwardly, looking like his hostage, and watched as Levi took a couple steps ahead of you to face the mother.

The woman heard the sound of the curtain opening and her head snapped to the side to see two people she's never seen before stepping into the small room her daughter and her were in.

She immediately stood up and she looked at the two of you with confusion and fear in her eyes and it made you want to shrink in on yourself.

You're just now discovering that you hated being looked at like that, with another person thinking you're going to harm them and do something to them, but by the look on Levi's face, it seems that he was more than used to instilling fear in others.

He probably saw it every day and by his own hand which made this even worse. The more you were a part of witnessing this made you realize that you didn't want to be here for what was about to happen and you didn't want any part of it.

"Excuse me, who are you?" The woman said as she tentative steps back and her eyes were filled with fear at the strangers who just came into her daughter's space. You were hating more and more how she was looking at the two of you when she said that, but you didn't want to be associated with this.

But it sounded like Levi either ignored the trembling in her voice and was still going forward with this, or he was trying to make it seem like he wasn't a threat. "I'm here to grant your wish," He said with a blank, yet determined look in his eyes, that made the woman blink at him, processing what he just said, trying to figure out if she was dreaming or not.

As you took a couple steps forward into the room, you took in more of it and it only made your heart sink further until it felt like an unsettling void was in your chest.

Your eyes darted back and forth between the unconscious little girl and the mother who was darting her eyes between you and Levi over and over, wondering who the two of you were. This wasn't right, this wasn't right at all, you thought to yourself with panic rushing through your veins.

"I'm a demon, exactly what you've been asking for to make all your troubles go away," Levi said bluntly and your eyes nearly bugged out of your head when you heard him just advertising his identity like that, but then again, most people who hear someone say they're some supernatural being are not always inclined to believe them, just like you were.

You had no idea if Levi just said that he was because he knew that out of the suddenness of his appearance and his deals, people just usually naturally forget they ever met him and tune it out of their memory out of instinct.

You watched as the woman looked clearly very taken aback as her face twisted with concern and even more distress. Was she going crazy? Is all she could think about, which is what most people thought when most people have Levi appear in their lives and tell them what he's telling her.

"I'm sorry? What are you talking about?" The woman said as she took steps back and used her body to shield her daughter, giving you a gut-wrenching feeling in your stomach at how this woman looked terrified for her and her daughter's life.

You wished you could explain how you were not a part of this at all, even  despite the fact you very much being an accomplice for what Levi was about to do and you being the sole reason he's able to use his powers right now to do this. You were so petrified that you couldn't get a single word to come out.

"It's as simple as signing a deal with me and your kid will be healthy for as long as she lives," Levi said and your head whipped to the side to look at him. He could do that? Could his powers really allow him to do that? Your head went back and forth between Levi, the woman, and her daughter.

There has to be more to this, because when he asked you to make a deal with him, he said there was an end of the deal that you had to fulfill, but what would this woman have to do. Your head was spinning painfully trying to figure this all out, but your thoughts were cut off by the words of the mother.

It seemed that she was finally registering what was happening and she gained the courage to stand up to the strange man saying this to her.

She didn't mess around about her daughter's health, and for someone to come in here and make these promises all of a sudden, angered her to no end.

"Look, I'll call security right now because I don't care who you think are, but you can't just come in here and-" The woman started, but then something happened that made her head snap back to look at the monitor, the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and for Levi's silver eyes to immediately look over to the EKG machine that was attached to the little girl.

Those intense and blaring sounds from the EKG were followed by the sound of the little girl starting to gasp and breath erratically as her chest began to rise and fall at an abnormal rate.

The woman forgot what she was saying and immediately turned back around to check on her daughter, frantically looking around the room for the button to call for the doctor.

Your free hand flew to your mouth in horror and your eyes flew open at the scene, feeling your heart shatter at seeing such a frail and innocent little girl suffer that way.

It didn't take another second for you to feel Levi's hand grip your wrist tighter and keep his eyes focused on what was happening in front of the the two of you. This situation had escalated so quickly that you could barely process this and what you got yourself into.

You were so focused on the well-being of that little girl that you didn't see that the intensity and the fire behind Levi's eyes was growing with every passing second and he realized that he was slowly getting the feeling that the flames would come back any second.

He had no time to waste and he needed to get this deal done now, no matter the cost, even if it went against the way he usually gets deals done. He couldn't afford to take his time anymore.

"I think we're both short on time, so I'm not going to delay this anymore," Levi said quickly and with urgency that was became more apparent to you as soon as he said that. What was he short on time for?

Is this why he's been rushing around ever since he agreed to be your bodyguard? He needed to do a deal quickly and that's why he found the most desperate person he could find? The more you were a part of this, the more fucked up you realize Levi's job is.

Your thoughts were silenced when he raised his hand in the air, with your eyes following his movements, and as you've watched him do many times before, Levi snapped his fingers and not even a second later; the EKG monitor stabilized, the beeping stopped, and the little girl's breathing went back to normal. Your mouth dropped open and you watched as the little girl's face fully of distress was now back to looking peaceful and painless.

Levi didn't usually make the wishes of the deals he makes come true until after the person agrees, and the only other time he's agreed to do that was when he helped you, and that was it.

But right now, he needed to make sure this mother agreed to make a deal with him no matter the cost, and showing her first-hand how he could take his daughter's pain away was the best way to do it.

And it worked flawlessly. After the woman watched her daughter's heart go back to a steady pace, she  truly couldn't believe what she just witnessed and she knew that it happened the moment Levi snapped his fingers.

The woman stared at the EKG for a couple seconds, then down at her daughter, and then slowly turned around to face Levi as she straightened up. You felt a lump form in your throat at how teary her eyes looked, she looked so grateful but also so confused at the same time. She sniffled and wiped her eyes from the tears that were falling down her cheeks.

Whenever her daughter has attacks like that to her heart, that mother feels the most agonizing kind of fear in her own heart that makes it feel like it goes on forever and she has to watch her daughter suffer like that, not knowing when she'll get better, but this man in front of her made it all go away in a second.

"How did you...how did do that?" The woman asked tearfully as she tried to figure out what just unfolded right before her eyes. Levi didn't exactly saying anything after that, because what he did next spoke for itself. You watched as he continued to hold up his hand that he snapped his fingers with, and both you and the woman watched as a scroll materialized from flames into thin air right into his hands.

Your breath got caught up in your throat as your mouth was left agape, because even if seeing him have a scroll appear in his hands out of nowhere was surreal enough, what you decided to focus on was the fact that even after the flames that materialized the scroll went out, it was more than obvious to you that two of his fingers finger were on fire.

Parts of his limbs were on fire and he was just standing there as if it was nothing, but you were quick to have it click in your brain that's why Levi was doing all this. He was helping nobody but himself, he wasn't interested in helping you like he needed your help, and this proved it all.

This proved his urgency, this showed you why he changed his mind so suddenly and why he didn't want to talk about it before when you asked, and now he didn't have a choice but show you up close that his fingers were only the start of what was happening to him. You watched the way his hand clenched around the scroll tighter with obvious pain that he was trying to hide for the sake of the deal.

Who knows if after you finished this deal with him if he would still go through with being your bodyguard? Did he only need you to give himself more time just so he wouldn't burst into flames and not have to ever have to be your bodyguard?

Was that it? Were you that naive? Levi was burning and his existence depended on you, and that's why he decided so quickly. And as if it couldn't get any worse, Levi started to explain the terms of the deal.

The same terms he would have given you should you have done a deal with him back then. "The conditions for this are very simple. Your daughter will be healthy for the rest of her life but you're going to hell after 10 years," Levi said and you let out a silent breath of disbelief at what you were hearing. This was a mistake, this was a mistake, this was a mistake, is all you heard in your head.

Everything was coming together in your head and it was all too much at once. He didn't say that in the car last night when he said he granted people's wishes. He sends people to their deaths after he agrees to make a wish of theirs come true, and now, his title was becoming truer than ever.

"Levi, what are you doing?" You whispered shouted to him as you tried to tug your hand away but he only gripped your wrist tighter.

He was staring straight at that mother with a look in his eye you've never seen before. Your words were clearly going in one ear and out the other.

He was tuning you out, he was ignoring you, but still making sure you couldn't get away so he could complete this deal. You wanted to get out of here.

You looked back at the mother and saw that the look on her face said that she was really considering this. She didn't look opposed, which meant that Levi's plan was working.

It took her a couple seconds to answer but when she did, hearing her answer made you look at this mother with so much sorrow. She would be willing to risk it all, whether it was real or not, for her daughter.

"If I agree to it, can you really see to it that my daughter lives?" She asked shakily and all you wanted to do was run over and give that woman a hug. She didn't know what she was getting into and you wished you could warn her but you couldn't get your mouth to work and you didn't know why.

It seems that her indecision was either ticking Levi off or it gave him more of an intensive to pressure her to agree. "Make up your mind, or i'll go find someone more willing," Levi said coldly, and again, with that same urgency and harshness in voice that  made you look at him with horror written all over your face.

How could he put this woman in that position?  You were sure he was aware of how vulnerable she was and you couldn't believe he was going to these lengths to get what he wanted.

Was that what Levi was all about? Are these the kinds of deals he made? Feeding off of people's misery and pressuring them until they agreed?

It was fucked up and you didn't know what to expect when he told you that he 'granted wishes', but it wasn't this. You were an idiot to think he had a change of heart overnight and that his deals didn't have some darker side to them. You refused to take part in this.

You knew that the words you were about to say were beyond useless, but once you finally found your voice, you realized that you needed to say something or you would never be able to live with yourself knowing you stayed quiet.

You turned your head to face Levi and concealed the distress on your face, already having accepted that this is what Levi did, you knew why he was rushing this so much, but the least you could do is to get him to be a little bit more considerate for this woman.

"Levi, you're going too far. Stop pushing her so much-" You whispered but all you got in return from him was seeing how Levi turned his head to look at you and you nearly flinched from the venom in his eyes. You gaped at him and nearly scoffed at him.

"Stay out of this," He spat, and then turned his head to look at the woman, leaving you dumbfounded. He really thought this wasn't your business to know?

He was using you in such a selfish way that you hated yourself for thinking he would ever go through with this in a way that was beneficial for the both of you. This is only helping him and you had a right to contribute if he was using you like this.

But even so, you would stand your ground and would not let yourself be dragged into his business like this any longer, even if you knew you were far deeper than you would've liked at this point.

"Levi. Let go of me, I'm not going to be a part of this. At least give her time to think about this. You think this is an easy decision to make? This is just cruel-" You started, trying to get him to at least do this another way, but your words didn't get very far because he immediately cut you off, making you flinch and look at him in shock.

"I don't have time!" He snapped as he whipped his head back to look at you and you flinched. You were forced to make eye contact with him and realize what he just said.

Did he just say he didn't have time? You'd inferred before that by the way his fingers were literally in flames that he was doing this to stop it, but just how much time does he have left then?

Did he have that little time to do a deal that he's cornering a poor woman to agree to his deals? You were forced to look down and see that it wasn't just two of his fingers on fire now, but 5 of fingers were now set on fire making you gasp quietly to yourself. This man was really a ticking time bomb, wasn't he?

You looked back up at him and saw that his eyes were still on you and glaring daggers at you, but you could care less about that.

All you could think about is how everything was coming together in your head and him glaring at you didn't faze you nearly as much as everything finally clicking in your mind about him that you were either trying to ignore ever since you met him or didn't know at all were trying to piece with everything else.

So, if he's a demon that grants people wishes in exchange for them going to hell, you should have put it together from his behavior that this is the kind of shady stuff that he did.

You hated yourself for not thinking he would do this for his own benefit and only his own gain. Every experience you've had with him so far should have told you that and you're faulting yourself for it.

He wasn't exactly subtle about the fact that he was not normal at all and you wished you could've put it together a lot sooner than now. The moment he started pressuring that woman was the moment you were starting to regret ever getting yourself involved with him. "I can't believe you're seriously doing all of this just to-" You started, but then your words go cut off by the woman and the two of you turned your heads to look at her.

"I'll do it," The woman said and you looked at her in shock, wondering how she could agree to do such a thing. You knew Levi would be able to make her wish come true, but the means that she has to go through and the sacrifice she's making feels inhuman of Levi to ask of her. Her daughter will live but in 10 years she will have to see her mother die for no reason and she'll live the rest of her life without her, and the thought alone made you want to tell her that right now before she signed that scroll.

"Just tell me what I need to do. I...I would go to worse places than hell to make sure my daughter lives and that she's happy," She said to Levi as her voice wavered and began to shake, and you both watched as tears ran down her face.

You were speechless, because as much as you would have wanted to interfere, this was unfortunately Levi's business and he already got this mother's hopes up. Even if Levi was the one who brought it up, and presented that deal, would you be any better if you were the one who extinguished that hope? You hated every minuted of this, but at least this gave you clarity.

You didn't need to be associated with Levi anymore. Not after this. You could ask Hange to find some candidates to be your bodyguard, you'd find protection from someone else, so just anything but this.

You'd hire someone, whether it would be from Hange, Grisha, Erwin, anyone, but this  just isn't something or someone you wanted to be involved with and you wished you'd known that before you even presented the idea to him.

You weren't even sure if Levi was really going to be your bodyguard after this and if he only needed you to make this one deal to give himself more time, but if that was the case, then you knew now that you wanted to stop this while there was still time.

You'd simply suggested that he'd be your bodyguard before so that both of you could benefit from each other, but after witnessing, you realized how much of a mistake it was to have ever brought it up.

You didn't know he used his powers to take advantage of people like that and It should have been enough of a red flag for you when you saw him use his powers to kill that guy.

It's your fault for not raising more questions the moment that he said he was a demon. You'd been so shocked back then that you barely registered it.

You realize that even if you told him that he could use the bodyguard job to just see it as protecting his tattoo, you knew now that he wouldn't truly be in it to have a mutual agreement between the two of you.

The only reason he changed his mind, or at least you thought he did, was for himself. You turned your head to look at the little girl and then at the mother; you became painfully aware of what was at stake now.

Levi could have solved their worries now but there was a painful future awaiting both of them and you wished you hadn't been here to witness it. But at least you knew that you could stop this before it got too out of hand and you'd be too sucked in be able to back out.

After that, everything that happened felt like a blur. As much as you hated it, you had to let Levi get keep a hold on your wrist for the entirety of the process of that woman signing that deal, but as soon as that was over, you yanked your hand away from his hold and walked out of the room and started heading straight towards the exit of the hospital as as your legs could allow you.

You were already prepared to call Hange to pick you up or just call a cab, but hearing Levi's steps quickly following after you shortly once you walked away, you decided that you wanted to be out of the building before you gave him a piece of your mind. You didn't want it to be inside in a building with enough anguish and distress inside of it. Your words would only fuel that.

You couldn't believe you fell for one of his tricks again that just ended up helping nobody else but himself. You cursed at yourself under your breath as you walked out of the doors, hearing Levi call out to you in the distance as his footsteps got closer and faster, but you ignored it until the two of you were far enough away from the building.

It was only when you stepped outside and started walking across the curb outside of the hospital that you began to slow down, but not entirely, and judging by the rhythm in Levi's footsteps, he slowed down as well and was matching your pace but he was still behind you.

You had anger simmering inside of you and you were trying to control it before saying anything but that was proving to be harder than you thought it would be.

The two of you could have continued walking in silence before leaving the premises of the hospital and that would've been fine with you, but at least that was until Levi opened his mouth and you felt like your patience was really being tested.

"That was close..." You heard him mutter to himself behind you, and that forced you to halt abruptly in place as he kept reminding you of what he did in there that bothered you so much and he looked completely oblivious to it.

And while you drove yourself crazy over that, all that he was thinking to himself is if the spontaneous combustion sped up the more he used his powers and how he noticed the flames spread more as the deal continued.

Given that Levi didn't walk past you and you didn't hear his footsteps anymore, you assumed that the moment you stopped walking, at some point, he did too and now your back was facing him as you stayed silent and tried to calm yourself down.

You closed your eyes for a second and let out a sigh, slowly turning around to face him with a blank and empty look on your face that Levi didn't seem to register because his next words nearly made you roll your eyes.

"Do you know any good tea places around here? I always get some tea after I make a new deal. " Levi said and your face turned into a more indignant expression as you gaped at him and crossed your arms in front of you. Is he really that dense to what just happened in there?

Did his desperation and his panic really blind him to the severity of the situation? Were you really going to have to be the one to explain it to him? You narrowed your eyes at him and stared at him defiantly.

"Tea? Is tea really all you're thinking about right now? Are you serious?" You challenged, and Levi raised an eyebrow at you at your tone, narrowing his gunmetal eyes right back at you.

You let out a huff at Levi's silence after that and realized you were going to have to be more specific. "In what part of your little explanation yesterday about your deals yesterday were you going to tell me that if you don't make any deals, you'll just burst into flames? You weren't going to bother to tell me what would happen after that? It would've been good to know," You said, trying to contain deep inside everything that you wanted to say buried until you absolutely needed to. You needed to keep a level-head when it comes to him.

But as always, Levi just shrugged and gave you a straight answer that he could've easily told you last night in the car. "It's simple what would happen after that. I'd just burn away," He said simply, raising the hand that he was still holding the scroll, and you watched as the the scroll just burned away into ashes into thin air.

Though, no matter how nonchalant he tried to act, he knew that from how panicked he was before, you could see he was deeply terrified of that happening to him. When he said that and finally confirmed to you what his fingers catching on fire actually meant, you raised both eyebrows in surprise at him, but also amusement.

You pursed your lips together, not being able to hide how someone as tough as Levi has something like spontaneous combustion to fear. "So you'd die on the spot? Just vanish into thin air from being engulfed in flames?" You said, and even if Levi could sense the amusement in your voice, he didn't show that he was bothered by it and continued to elaborate, which is something he could have done the night before and before he dragged you into doing one of these deals with him.

"Pretty much. It means exactly that," He said, and as soon as he said that, your face of amusement dropped and you looked at him dead in the eye and took a couple of, slow, and calculated steps towards him.

Your eyes were filled with all the anger and resentment you'd been holding deep inside you and decided that it was finally time to let it resurface.

You wanted him to know exactly just how upset you were with him that he would drag you to witness something so horrible, that he probably should have kept to himself. You could have gone your whole life without seeing what you did.

If he'd mentioned it, you would have probably found another way to get protection and would helped him to find another to get his tattoo, but once again you got fooled by him to think that he was on the same page as you, so you were at fault too.

You could recognize that. "So that's why you need to make deals. To save yourself from burning away. And when you said you granted wishes last night, did this little detail just happen to slip out? I doubt you'd forget it. Were you planning to tell me this at any point?" You asked and watched as Levi tilted his head to the side and looked off to the side for a moment as he found the right words.

"Well-" He started, but you were quick to cut him off. You weren't done. Anything he said to you would not be perceived as the truth anymore and you would assume it would be to save his own skin, literally, and to cover up and lessen what he does. You didn't want any of that anymore.

"And whenever you finish a deal and successfully end up taking advantage of someone like you did with that woman, you just go on with your life, pretending like you just didn't ruin someone's like and celebrate with tea? I don't expect someone like you to realize how fucked up that is," You spat and just as you expected, Levi just looked at you with a blank look on his face, and it only made your anger boil inside you knowing your eyes weren't tricking you when you saw the hint of a smirk tugging at his lips. You scoffed and shook your head at him.

"I shouldn't have doubted for a second that you were the devil," You said coldly to him, recalling your recurring doubts you had about him before, but he still looked completely unfazed by your words. You watched as it was his turn to have a look of amusement in his eyes that made it take everything in you to not walk off right then and there.

"Nothing is free in this world. I've been able to live for 200 years because I grant human's wishes, just like that woman," Levi said, and this time your entire body tensed. Your hand clenched together into a fist. You've never met anyone in your life who's spoken so carelessly about human life that way, simply for their own benefit.

You gaped at him and looked off to the side to contain yourself from really snapping at him. "Are you that selfish and self-involved that you didn't care about the misery her family would have when she passes for no reason? Is it like that for every person you make deals with? You make these deals just so you don't catch on fire at any given moment and so you can have tea afterwards? Does that sound like a good life to you? How does a burden like that not stay with you forever?" You continued, truly trying to understand how anybody can live as freely as he does without having to worry about the kind of burden he carries from the lives he interrupts to do his deals. It was sickening to you.

"You're only exploiting people's misfortune and you're proud of that," You said, straight-up, wanting to say it how it is, not wanting him to deny it and waited to see if he had anything to say, even if you knew that you really had to listen to the words he said from now on to see if he would try to justify it somehow.

But just as you thought, his next words proved you right. "Is it so wrong for me to live the way I do? You wanted to do the same thing with me, to use my powers just to protect yourself, for your own benefit," He said and your mouth dropped open.

Did he really think your circumstances were the same? You did not want to be lumped into the same category as him whatsoever. You two were not the same.

"Are you really comparing our situations right now? We're not the same. Unlike you, I can just hire someone else and do your exact same job of being my bodyguard. Sure, it would have been nice to have your powers to help, but after seeing what you did in there, I don't want any part of that," You retort and keep your voice firm and stern as you keep talking to him.

You knew he couldn't be capable of a change of heart no matter how much you tried to talk him into it because he's so stuck in his ways, but you can still say what you were thinking. "As for you, your whole life revolves around the desperation, the anguish and the misfortune of other people just to keep yourself alive. It doesn't surprise me one bit that it doesn't bother you in the slightest," You said icily as you watched the way Levi still didn't seem the least bit bothered by what you were telling him.

His gunmetal eyes drilled holes into yours, becoming more serious and knowing you weren't dropping this anytime soon. "I still don't get why you're so bent out of shape about this. I grant people what they want, I save them, and you still can't see the good in it," He said, unwilling to recognize that what he's doing is wrong and he's doing more harm than good. But you were unwilling to let up about this and would tell him as much as it was necessary.

You hadn't had enough quite yet. Your eyes remained locked on his and you glare at him, letting out a soft scoff. "You call that saving people? There's nothing good about what you're doing. You're not doing it for them, you're doing it for yourself so that automatically cancels out the 'good'. How is that little girl going to feel when she grows up and she realizes that she survived because her mother died at her expense? Do you think she will ever be truly happy again? Did you ever think about that? Did you ever consider that when you're taking advantage of someone who's so vulnerable?" You said, getting more and more heated about this and letting out every single thought you had in your mind from the moment you left the hospital, not caring if he took it into account or not, if he listened, or he changed his mind, because  as of now, you just didn't have enough energy to try to understand him anymore. You were done with him, the agreement, and everything about him.

There was only silence after you said all of that to him, but should you really be surprised? You shook your head and swallowed lightly as you looked down for a moment and then looked back up at him with the same venomous glare as before.

"Why did I think you ever be able to understand any of that? Humans have this thing called guilt, remorse, regret. Have you ever heard of them?" You countered, but when you once again were met with silence on his end and he could do nothing but stare at you. "Didn't think you did," You muttered, not having it in you to even try to be disappointed or shocked at this point.

But it seems that Levi didn't have a problem with continuing to double down despite everything you've told him. There was just no getting through to him, and he was continuing to making you feel better about your decision of parting ways with him.

"Humans tends to romanticize unnecessary emotions and bring them where they don't belong. I can do my job because I can get it done without getting my feelings involved," He said coldly, and you scoffed, continuing to wonder where this man found his audacity.

You looked off to the side and then ran your hand back through your hair trying to hold back any other insult towards this man that was bubbling up in your mind. You looked at him and shook your head in disbelief. You're not going to waste your breath on him anymore.

But, there was one thing you still needed to say before you walked off and just tried to fix your problems with your own means.

You crossed your arms in front of you and your gaze on him didn't waver for a second. You stared at him dead in the eye for a couple seconds as your gaze darted all over his face.

You hated how you had an ounce of sympathy for him still, and he could probably see it in your expression right now. "You know, I know for a fact you were once human too. Don't ever try to act like you've been this emotionless and empty your entire life. Try to think about somebody else for a change," You said, and in one swift movement, you turned on your heel and began to walk away from Levi.

Levi closed his eyes shut and sighed, raising a hand to press against the bridge of his nose in exasperation. He didn't know why he expected for you to watch him do a deal and not say anything about it or be okay with it.

But in the heat of the argument, he just thought you saying that you could hire someone else and find another bodyguard was just for intimidation but he began to realize how serious you really were when you when he started running up to you, grabbed your wrist and swiftly made you stop in your tracks and then turn to face him.

"You're being ridiculous. Let's just go back to your office," He said, and you looked at him blankly. Did he not hear a word you just said? Any of it? Did not catch onto the fact that you did not want to be a part of any of this?

Even if Levi was being truthful or not about being your bodyguard, you had no reason to know if you could trust him anymore.

You thought that when he came to you and changed his mind, that he would be more upfront, but he just let you witnessed something that made you want to be the one to pull out of this agreement when you were the one who came up with it.

His desperation made him think about his one and only goal, stopping the spontaneous combustion, and failed to take into account that he needed to explain things to you first before you saw him make a deal or you'd get freaked out.

Once again, he's managed to mess it up because of his own gain and worries and he didn't know if he'd be able to come back from this with you like he did the night before.

You sighed and stared at him when you heard him say that. He really didn't get it, did he? He wasn't going anywhere with you, and he needed to understand that.

"No, Levi. I meant what I said before. We're done with this. You said I'm using you too, so guess what? I'm not going to do that knowing I'll end up on the expense of exploiting others' vulnerability like that," You started, and as it looked like this was news to him, you decided to say it again as clear as you possibly could.

"Look," You began, but with a tone of finality laced in your voice. "What I got from this is that you needed me to do this deal, right? To give yourself time to get your tattoo back all by yourself, and you did it. I'm saying that you don't have to be my bodyguard anymore, and it's okay, because I know you never really wanted to do it in the first place," You concluded, and not wanting him to keep you here anymore, you swiftly turned on your heel and started walking away, feeling the weight of Levi's eyes pressing against your back as that followed you with every step you took.

It was a steady, piercing feeling that forced you to try to ignore it as best as you could.  You refused to look back, telling yourself that you were stronger than the pull of his silent judgment. You had made your decision, and nothing—not even Levi's cold, unwavering stare—could change that.

You ignored it as best as you knew how and just let your feet take you to the main sidewalk where you could call a cab, the fastest option to get to your office on time.

It was still early, the morning air was crisp, and if luck was on your side, traffic wouldn't be as bad usual and you'd be right on time to be at work as planned. 'You had control of this', you reminded yourself.

Though, as Levi watched you walk away, his presence lingered like a shadow, his steel eyes zeroed in on you and he put his hands casually in his pockets. He wasn't discouraged or disheartened by your words.

In fact, he knew that since the idea of him being your bodyguard came from you, you wouldn't forget it walk away from it or leave it behind that easily, despite how confident you sounded just now and that it was just a matter of time before you just realized that you wouldn't last a day with a regular hire to be your bodyguard.

He was sure of a single thing: you were making a mistake. You think you can handle this on your own, that you could hire some other bodyguard and everything would be fine, Levi knew far better than that and saw beyond your surface-level words.

He also needed you to use his powers, that was very true, but for that reason, he wasn't worried because he knew you'd crack a lot faster than he would. It was just a matter of time and a waiting game.

You sounded confident now that you could handle this alone and could afford to say that you'd be fine without his powers, you sounded like you convinced yourself in the heat of the moment but he knows that once your life is at risk by that psycho again, when the stakes were high, you'll realize how much you really need him to be by your side, needing to use Levi's abilities.

He knows that despite what you said before, humans happen to surpass demons in weakness, vulnerability, and selfishness. He's certain you'll see that soon enough and you'd come running back to him asking for help.

And this wasn't arrogance, it was experience and he knew all humans were the same. Levi has made deals with enough people to know that, time and time again, humans always want to make sure that they were safe, and wanting to have something secure when staring death in the face.

He wasn't worried at all, because even if he knew that he still needed you to use his powers, you'd cave far faster than he would because was aware of the fact that humans had such a big sense of self-preservation that would eventually start kicking in and you'd be back sooner than later. It was just a matter of time and it wouldn't be long before he would be making his next deal. He was sure of it.

-
Hello! I know this isn't the usual day that I update and I'll try my best to update again on sunday to get back on schedule! I had a little bit of writer's block for this one and it set back a lot lmao But it's Christmas break and I've been loving the time that's opened up for me to write :,)

I don't have a whole lot to say for this author's note except that Ill try to get back on schefule, but I have so much more planned that's coming up in future chapters so hope you guys are excited as I am! Especially for the next few chapters- that's all I'm gonna say lol

But, anyway, I'll see you guys on Sunday (hopefully shsj) with the next chapter! Love you all so much! Thank you for everything and see you in the next one!
-