A/N: I do not own Attack on Titan.

I meant to get this out sooner but a combination of exhaustion, writer's block, and binge-watching all of John Oliver's Last Week Tonight threw me off track. Get out and vote y'all!

Biggest thanks to Greenprozium for always dropping a line. I sincerely appreciate it. I'm dedicating this chapter to you my loyal reviewer~ Mikasa and Levi do have a sad past. Hopefully the future will be better!

Sorry for any bad grammar or spelling!

Without Consequence


Levi awoke in a creaky wooden chair. He felt disoriented upon realizing that he was not in the safety of his apartment. Paradis and its 3DMG remained connected to his senses. Then Kenny's face flashed before his eyes. It was the last thing he saw before blacking out outside the orphanage.

Jean. Was he here? Where was Mikasa?

He jerked forward only to ring a pair of snug shackles around his ankles and wrists. The movement must have set off an alarm of some sort because a small device on a desk in front of him began beeping loudly. Fear of an explosion was quelled when the noisy machine began projecting moving pictures in holographic form. The sudden grainy appearance of recorded footage played.

"Camera's rolling, Dr. Fritz." Someone announced off-screen. A reel was rattling.

"Thank you, Hange." The snow white haired doctor had his back towards the screen. He ceremoniously cleared his throat, lifted his head, and regarded a Kenny that appeared literally twenty years younger. "Number eighty-seven. Kenneth Ackerman. Do you identify as heterosexual?"

Kenny was picking at the dirt under his nails. "What did Yeager put?"

"Mr. Ackerman, this study is confidential. I'm not at liberty to disclose the responses of other members in your infantry."

A wave of distortion made the next few seconds inaudible. It finally cut back in. "Let's move on, shall we? How frequent were the visits to brothels during your last tour, ?"

"Compared to here in the Mid-East? Anytime the sun went down. But the...women here are different. "

"How so?"

"Some know who we are and aren't too keen on our occupation here. It's a gamble. I'd rather be beating myself off than having some undercover extremist bitch trying to hack my dick into pieces."

"So the threat against your safety is the reason for the decreased frequency of sexual activity. Would you say your training serves as a sufficient outlet?"

Kenny snorted. "Can't fuck the barrel of a gun, doc."

"I see." Dr. Fritz nodded. He lifted a hand up and his assistant rushed over with what Levi immediately recognized as a Paradis prototype. It could fit perfectly over the human skull.

"Per the waiver on file, you acknowledged that participation in this study would mean revisiting some of your repressed memories. We've tested this device many times now. Ms. Zoë here can vouch for my work. It's harmless."

A much younger Hange tensed at being called "Ms. Zoë." Finally gathering composure, they weakly spoke in agreement before retreating to the back of the room. The footage began rolling and flickering again. Dr Fritz approached Kenny with Paradis in his hands. He was carefully bringing the metallic sides to his subject's head before the soldier stopped him. "What's the end goal, doc? I recall some terrible or fantastic experience I've had and then what?"

"The psyche of a soldier is quite a mystery, Mr. Ackerman. What motivates your dedication or what drives you to do what you do is a unique phenomenon. We hope to decrease the chances of your experiences impacting your ability to rehabilitate into society once we withdraw from the Mid-East theater. Furthermore, we hope to revolutionize how soldiers spend their... down time."

Paradis was now connected. Kenny interrupted the doctor again. "You mean change how we fuck whores and shoot shit up?"

"If you were able to do those things without putting your safety on the line, then it would lessen risks and increase concentration on more important matters such as your training or your performance on the battlefield."

"Are you trying to cut sex out of the picture then?"

"Dear God no," the doctor pressed something on the device. "I'm trying to figure out how to simulate it in the virtual world."

The film skipped to Hange coaxing a dark brown-haired woman into an MRI machine chamber. Dr. Fritz observations rang from what Levi assumed was an intercom system. "Karla, this is part of our SOP for surrogate mothers. Grisha and Dina are grateful for—"

Black screen.

Kenny waltzed in like a professor finishing up his latest lecture. Once his sinister eyes draped over Levi, the latter struggled against his restraints. The same machine that held in the video was now in Kenny's hands. He was twirling it, toying with it.

"I don't know where to begin, kiddo. Zeke's been trying to alter memories with this thing. Figured I take a stab at it while actually inside a virtual world. It may work better this way."

"How do you know about Yeager?"

"Oh I know all about them. The one you're working for. The one you're sleeping with."

Levi stopped breathing.

"The Beast or whatever wanted to take over the director's job so Dr. Zoë would have to fork over the findings for this sex simulation mess. It's crucial to see if clones have the same reproductive behaviors as humans. If fucking fuels them." Kenny neared Levi, left rigid by shock.

"I'm no psychologist but if the point of making copies of soldiers is to mold them into battle-ready fighting machines then they need to fight. The orphanage didn't work out. Reiss let me keep running the fighting circle even after he went and started Eldia Inc."

"Where's Mika-"

Abruptly, Kenny let the ends of Paradis slide behind Levi's ears. It fit tightly around the crown of his head. "Don't worry about her," the older man condescendingly comforted. "She's meant for carrying, not killing."

Before Levi could ask what the hell that was suppose to mean, Paradis was switched on. He could feel the thread of his memories being torn apart then resewn with those of Kenny's. Their needles took him through the veteran's sordid life. Guns in the Mid-East. Women in brothels. Rod Reiss's plan to re-invade with an army of human drones. At last, the soul-crushing loneliness that stalked Kenny at the bottom of bottles all these years.

The scenes of Kenny's descent into despair did not play like a movie but it gushed into Levi's mind like water from a fire hydrant. His sense of self was bubbling away as he was being replaced. All judgmental sentiment towards Kenny's wrongdoings faded. The voices in his head told him it had all been for the greater good and Levi believed it. Turning in Kuchel to Reiss for genetic testing. Turning the orphanage into a fighting ring.

And now Levi was turning. The whole virtual world was spinning. Loud cheering replaced the serene office setting. He was standing on a platform above the heads of hundreds. Perhaps even thousands. Were they doing another circuit as a part of infantry training? No, that couldn't have been right. Other soldiers and their familiar faces surrounded them, however, and made Levi think maybe he really was back in the Mid-East.

xxxXXXxxx

Everything hurt. Eren stepped out from Wings of Freedom only to be ambushed by Kenny. Where was Levi. Levi. Levi. Asphalt and broken bones. Then the bitter man drove away after a phone call.

"Saved by the bell, Rogue." Kenny chuckled over Eren's beaten body. The phone in Eren's pocket had been crushed and the glass of the screen scratched at the threads of his server's uniform. Once he was left alone in agony, Eren hoped that Levi hadn't logged in to the virtual community. Kenny had plans to put him in the ring no doubt.

Armin arrived like a guardian angel in a jalopy. On the way to the hospital Armin explained how he figured something was up when Eren and Mikasa weren't at the duplex. Even from his hospital bed, Eren demanded Armin lend him his VR equipment. He'd track down the Ackermans himself. Once he was logged in, the aching of his bones faded and he was once again his indescribable avatar self.

Until he stood against a brainwashed Levi, who fought him viciously. Attacks so speedy that it left Eren little time to recuperate. All the while, the blood-thirsty spectators screamed for more violence. Of course Kenny just let Eren come in without any resistance. Levi's victory against him would be proof enough that the ex-soldier's plan had succeeded and no one could stop the moving train.

"Why don't you try to hit me, Grisha?" Eren was being stared down at by Levi, whose once loving eyes were now too far gone and like those of Kenny's. Yet Eren heard the question over the sound of strangers screaming for them to tear each other apart. When the steam from his wounds cleared, he was back on his feet.

Eren responded, "I know you're in there, Levi. Don't let this idiot undo everything you've worked for."

It only earned him a confused stare from Levi's steely grey eyes. Eren persisted.

"I'm on your side. So is Mikasa. Please remember that."

Levi raised his fist to strike again but the sound of the walls being torn through interrupted the assault. Armed officers stormed into the arena with the insignia of CPB on their backs. It stunned both Levi and his victim. They were incapacitating every member in the crowd and stirring utter chaos. Levi had discarded Eren to the hard ground like a rag doll and attempted escape but an officer seized him by an electric prod-looking weapon. Eren wanted to reciprocate that pain but found himself held back as well.

The lead officer removed their helmet. Had Levi been in the right mind he would have recognized him as that timid rookie from EM. Bertholdt Hoover. His expression was neutral yet firm. "Servers traced to the Underground. Other accomplices may be on the premises. Spread out." he ordered into a wire tucked into his breast. Then he grabbed hold of Levi while facing Eren.

"Levi Ackerman. You're facing indictment for the murder of Senator Theo Magath."