/

An almost dark room, the moonlight falling through the open window was the only source of light.

He was standing across from the single-bed, but he wasn't really there. It was like floating somewhere between time and space.

It was a simple room in a student dorm and on the small bed, tow students - two lovers - were lying in each other's arms, promising each other eternity. He knew that they hadn't left the room for the whole weekend.

The clock tower, which was standing down in the centre of the little campus, stroke midnight.

He knew what was about to come next. He had already gone through this situation once, and then again and again -

in his sleep.

Footsteps were heard in front of the door, then a knock. Fierce. Decisive.

The two students jerked up and the door flew open before any of them could have said anything. A man entered and pressed the light-switch. His eyes stopped briefly on the young woman, mustering her curiously, before he looked at the young man next to her. "You have to leave."

The boy, who just had turned 19 three days ago, looked alarmed. "Why?"

"I'll tell you everything in the car," the man said with a quick side-glance at the brown haired girl.

"I'm not going anywhere before you explain what's up," the boy said stubbornly.

"It has to do something with your father."

"What about him?" the boy asked with anger in his voice.

He shook his head, whispering a pained no. No, don't say anything else. But he knew that no one heard him. As well as he knew that even if, by any wonder, the boy would hear him and actually listen, it wouldn't change anything.

Not in reality at least.

"He can't order me to come back now! He has promised that I can finish this!"

The man sighed and stepped closer. He had dark bags under his eyes and his usually shaved chin was covered with beard stubbles. Everything on him indicated that he hadn't slept for days, even the crumpled shirt under the brown sport coat. "Erwin, please," the man started and the boy, Erwin, tensed up. The man, his uncle, was using his real name.

Erwin's girlfriend looked at him with a confused mien; she didn't know him as Erwin.

"The Don is dead. I am so sorry."

He remembered this moment all to well. Until one minute ago, he had just been a normal student, and his biggest problem back then was whether or not he did well on his history exam. And in the other moment, his carefully made-up world broke apart. His father, the Don of the Survey Corps was dead. Which made Erwin the successor; if he would be able to get the members to accept him as their leader. He saw his dream-self slowly stand up, a dead expression on his face, his movements robot-like.

That was the exact moment everything inside him died. The moment, he became aware that he had to become a monster, in order to survive.

His girlfriend was screaming and shouting at him, using the name she knew him under, demanding an explanation. She looked confused and hurt.

He saw himself stepping out of the room, without turning back to her, his uncle following him outside.

/

"Erwin! Erwin! Wake up, you fucking idiot!" Levi grabbed Erwin's shirt with both hands, trying to shake the Don out of his sleep.

Levi had been surprised to find Erwin sleeping in his arm-chair, in the first place. Even though he had been close to the Don for some years; that was the first time Levi had seen Erwin asleep. But even when the blonde was asleep, his slumbering face had no soft, peaceful features; it looked more like he was in great pain.

"Wha-" Erwin's eyes flew open and his body jerked away from Levi's touch.

"Levi, what are you doing here?" the blonde asked after a few seconds that it took to sort his thoughts. "Aren't you supposed to be in Kuşadasi until Friday?"

"I am," Levi started and set down on the closest chair to him, "but Shadis sent his men after us. So we figured it'd be best to come home."

The Don looked at him with a furrowed brow, while trying to smooth down the messy hair on the back of his head. "Shadis?"

"Don't know who sent him though," Levi admitted. He put out a half-empty pack of cigarettes - that he always carried in a pocket of his worn-out leather jacket - and put it on the desk without taking a cig out. 'Officially' he had stopped smoking two months ago - mostly due to Hanji's aggressive anti-smoking speeches she held every time he lit one - but he still couldn't get himself to throw the pack away. Nicotine had been the only drug he had allowed himself to use. It calmed him down. Having the pack with him, kept him more or less sane. That way he knew that he always had something when it would come to the crunch.

A moment passed in silence, both of the men lost in their own thoughts.

It was Levi, who broke it. "You look like shit. Are you alright?"

Erwin looked up to him. The Don's face was pale and his otherwise steady gaze looked lifeless. Levi could tell that there was something that bothered the man, but instead of giving an answer to that question, Erwin changed the subject. "I think Shadis works for the Wall-Cult."

If it would have been any other name, Levi would have just ignored it and repeated his former question. But ... "The Wall-Cult? What the hell do they want from us?"

"Our deaths, probably." Erwin said, with no emotions in his voice. There was no sign if it was meant only sarcastically or not.

Now it was Levi's turn to eye the Don with a raised brow. "How come?"

Up until that time, the Wall-Cult had left the Survey Corps alone. It wasn't a secret that each of them wanted the other destroyed, but both organisations managed to mind their own business. It resembled the cold war: every one of them trying to take over the power without attacking the other one directly. A dangerous game, which left no room for mistakes.

"It seems like they got it that we're trying to take over their place," Erwin said, an amused grin flashing over his face for a second. "Zackly was here on Monday. He threatened me to stop."

"Took them long enough," Levi commented. It was stunning, just how dull the Cult was.

"Mh ... Oh, and before I forget it: Nile is back at the MP again."

"Fucking wonderful," Levi hissed. He couldn't stand that bastard and what bugged him the most was that he couldn't just kill him as he pleased. It was not like he hadn't had chances to do so in the past, - Dawk was a fucking idiot, who wouldn't be able to survive a cross-fire for 10 seconds - but for some strange reason, Erwin explicitly forbid him to do it.

"Apparently he has a new training program, and his Department gets the most attention from Zackly. This time, he picked out the recruits for it himself. Luckily he picked Jean as well.
Anyway, I have put Sasha as his contact person." And then Erwin told Levi about the things he had heard from Sasha. "Maybe it wouldn't be too bad if you put a team together, in case that Nile decides to move against us."

"In case," Levi spitted and rolled his eyes. Erwin made it sound like the police-jerk could have any other plans than attacking the Corps. "Why don't you just let me go there and blow his head up?"

"Levi." It was threateningly and probably short for: Stop it, if you plan on leaving this room with your own head whole.

The raven lifted his hands in defense, but the move had still something mocking to it. "Alright. I'll behave myself if he does."

Erwin sighed. "What are you, 12?"

"Hey, you're the one that fucked things up with Zackly. Jesus, I left you alone for 4 days and look what happened."
It wasn't entirely Erwin's fault and Levi knew it. But it bothered him nonetheless that the Don apparently wanted to make their lives as tiresome as possible with Dawk around. It was risky to attack Zackly. Hell, it would be a sheer kamikaze-act. But Dawk? No one cared about that goat-faced jerk.
"And besides, what the fuck is your problem with Dawk? Is that some other secret-agent-bullshit you've pulled through years ago?"

A heavy silence fell above them, Levi's face in an angry scowl. "Is it, Smith?"

.

He was using Smith - Erwin thought and it took him by surprise. The only time Levi had called him by his surname was years back, when he had joined the Corps. Hearing Levi call him like that had a displeasing vibe to it.

As if he had lost his trust in 'Erwin'.

Erwin mustered his subordinate. He remembered just how angry Levi had gotten last year, when he had found out about Jean. The Don could only imagine how furious Levi must be right now, thinking that Erwin might have kept another secret from him.

But the very idea that Levi really considered the option that Dawk could be a double agent was - at least in Erwin's eyes, it seemed - absurd.

Suddenly, the Don started laughing, what earned him another mad glare from Levi. "Seriously? You really think that I'd allow someone as incompetent as Nile to be a double-agent for the Corps?"

The scowl didn't fade completely. "What's the deal with him then?"

"It's complicated," Erwin offered with a serious voice again, "but I assure you that he is not one of us. He never was and will never be."

For a moment, Levi seemed to think about whether or not he should believe Erwin.

"And besides, I only said to let him alive if it wasn't absolutely necessary to kill him."

Levi sighed. "Good. But I'll find out what connection you have to him."

At that, Erwin only smiled. It was one of those 'I want to see you trying'-smiles he often gave people who wanted to prove him better. Usually, they never did.

"Anyway, I'm leaving," Levi said and stood up. Strictly speaking, he had come to see Erwin only to tell him that Hanji and he were back in town. "I'll talk to Gunther about the team and I'll let you know the names by tomorrow."

Erwin accompanied him to the elevator. The tension between them had decreased for the biggest part but it was still sensible, hanging like a dark thundercloud above them. Erwin knew that he couldn't afford to lose Levi's trust, but he couldn't tell him the truth about Dawk. Not yet.

"I know you're angry, but please trust me on this one," he said as Levi stepped in the elevator.

Levi's gaze met his and the raven answered with a short nod. Then the doors slid close.

/


Back story:
Erwin's mother had died when he was still a little child and the boy grew up with his father - who was the first Don in the Corps. Erwin had been home-schooled and he was only sent to college because he persuaded his father into sending him there.
the deal was: Erwin gets to live 4 years as a 'normal' teenager, before he would come back home and learn everything about leading the Mafia.
Unfortunately, it only lasted one year.
and there was no one back home to teach him.

/

AN: the dream part is maybe confusing - it's supposed to portray Erwin (the non-cursive 'he') being very aware that he is in a flash-back-like dream.
idk if it makes sense?

as for Nile - his cover as double agent would blow up the first second he'd open his mouth ... or it may not. ;)

anyways, thanks for reading. :)

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(p.s. if you wonder what Erwin's alias in college was - i'm rooting for Chris Evans.)