These characters are under copyright by Hajime Isayama and/or Kodansha Comics or others. This is a work of fanfiction, for no monetary gain.
Chapter 37 – Betrayals
Erwin was relieved to see Levi finally enter the Officer's Mess, looking like his usual bleached and starched and pressed self, save for the pulled stitching on the right leg of his immaculate white uniform pants. Erwin admired every centimeter of his slender little subordinate with a new appreciation, drinking in each subtly rippling lean muscle. Levi was alive, he was his, and he was going to enjoy every second he could watching, and hopefully soon, touching the man.
"Stop fucking me with your eyes. People are watching," Levi snarled, as he sat down at the table across from him.
Damn. Apparently the shower hadn't put the prickly man in a better mood. "What's wrong?"
"I want my damned leg back! Do you have any idea how hard it is to thoroughly clean a tub when you can't kneel properly? Who the fuck had the brilliant idea of putting bathtubs in the Officers' Quarters in the first place? Like any sane person would want to soak in his own filth. All I need is the showerhead and a stall floor. Why can't we just have showers, like the rest of the men?" Levi bitched.
The men used a communal shower. No way was he allowing anyone else to see Levi naked. "Some people like taking baths. Soaking away the soreness from strained muscles, the tension after a long, hard day," Erwin said, taking a deep drink of juice.
"That's what fucking's for. Give me a long, hard cock over filthy bathwater any day," Levi snapped.
Erwin choked and sprayed his juice all over the table, fortunately just missing Levi.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? What are you, twelve? Honestly, Armin gets less flustered than you, when I flirt with him," Levi scoffed, glaring at him and the table in disgust.
Erwin slammed the glass down onto the table, shattering it. "What the fuck is wrong with me? What the hell crawled up your ass? And it better not have been Arlert or Yeager. Why the fuck are you flirting with Arlert?" Erwin bellowed back.
"Shit! Erwin, you're bleeding!" Levi cried, snatching up the formerly pristine white napkin that was now splattered with juice, and reaching for his hand.
"Answer the damned question!" Erwin roared, pulling his hand away.
"Not until you let me see your hand!" Levi demanded, rolling over the table and grabbing his hand, tugging it towards him.
Erwin yanked it back, misjudging how determined Levi was to see it. Levi didn't let go, but instead flew into him, knocking him out of his chair and tackling him onto the floor, where to his growing fury, he was effectively pinned.
Both of the new Captains and two of the new Lieutenants ran up and Levi started yammering at them in Greek, as if he'd spoken it all his life. Pixis had known he'd spoken Greek. Levi had fucking broken into his office to visit the bald bastard. Was teaching Pixis to pick locks the only payment the man had demanded for his silence? Or had Levi maybe sucked the man's cock, too, to shut him up? After what Pixis had said in Stohess to that other Captain, he wouldn't be surprised. How many of those men in his special Squads had Pixis sampled?
"Commander Erwin! Don't make me sedate you again!" Hange yelled, right in his face.
Where the hell had Hange come from? Erwin kept struggling, glaring up at Levi and then he froze. That wasn't Levi. It was Captain Grunwald holding him, pinning him. What the fuck? "Where the hell is Levi?"
"Don't loosen your grip! He might be playing possum. Or completely batshit crazy at this point. Just don't let him go," Hange urged.
"I wouldn't dare risk it. Stavros isn't too happy with him at the moment. He's lucky it wasn't Andreas he attacked," the new Captain said.
Attacked? He'd attacked someo... "Levi! What happened? What did I do?"
"You mean you don't remember? You sucker punched him. Twice. First in the jaw, and then in the leg. His injured leg," Hange said, peering at him as intently as if he was one of her test subjects that had just done something intriguing.
"I hit Levi? In the face? In his leg?" Erwin asked in disbelief.
"Shit. As soon as Doctor Donaldson is done checking Levi, you need to see him. All those symptoms you've been having, I thought it was from your concussion, but I think you might have Acute Stress Disorder too, if you're getting violent without even realizing it, attacking and blacking it out afterwards. Crap. We can't let Miller know about this. We need to put a different spin on it, or he's going to go to Zackly to get you removed from command."
She turned to the new German captain. "Captain Grunwald, I'm sure Commander Pixis wouldn't want you to let that happen. He wouldn't have listened to me, and brought the Commander with him to Stohess, if he hadn't wanted to help him," Hange reasoned.
Hange was the reason Pixis had come to see him? So Zackly had never ordered it at all? He'd known Pixis was a brilliant strategist and tactician, and oftentimes less than conventional, but he hadn't realized the extent of the risks he'd been taking. Admiration for the man once again flared, completely baffling him. A moment ago he would have tried to kill the man, if he'd seen him. Shit. He'd thought he'd survived the battle, but apparently, he was just another casualty after all, only far more deserving of falling than the men he'd sent to their deaths.
"Shit! Erwin, no! Whatever you're thinking, stop thinking it. You're going to get through this. It's temporary. Levi's going to be fine, and so are you. You just need time, some downtime. Doctor Donaldson! Levi's going to be fine, right? You need to tell Erwin that," Hange urged desperately, as the doctor approached.
The doctor knelt at Erwin's side, his expression stony. He took his patient's bloody hand in his own, tsking over it, and began cleaning it, then wrapped it in a bandage. Then he checked Erwin's eyes and his pulse, as Erwin heard the click of approaching crutches. Was it his imagination, or did they sound slower, less steady, and more heavily relied upon than before? There was the sound of other steps beside or behind Levi's, muffling them, so he couldn't be sure.
"Your prognosis, Doctor?"
Erwin barely recognized Levi's voice. It was as cold and hard as ice, and when he looked up, Levi was ignoring him, staring strictly at Donaldson. From the redness of his left cheek, he'd likely have one hell of a bruise soon. Levi's pale skin bruised easily. Erwin was glad he hadn't eaten. He suddenly felt like he was going to throw up.
"Commander Erwin is physically unfit for duty. It is my official recommendation that he be relieved of his command for a minimum of one week, in order to recover from the physical effects of his head injury," the Doctor said coolly.
"What?" Hange said, in shock. "No, wait! You can't. It's not his fault. He doesn't even remember he attacked Levi. It's not the damned concussion. I think its Acute Str…"
"Silence Squad Leader Hange. That's an order," Levi snapped.
Levi turned to face Erwin, his expression glacial. "Commander Erwin, at the recommendation of Doctor Donaldson, I pronounce you medically unfit for duty, and as your second in command, I hereby relieve you of your command, and assume command of the Survey Corps as Acting Commander. Captains Stephanos and Grunwald, you are both witness to the change in command," Levi said, as he reached down and took the bolo tie from around Erwin's neck, and transferred it to his own, as Erwin stared at him, stunned and motionless.
"Captain Stephanos, you are hereby appointed as my second in command. Captain Grunwald, you are now third in command. Squad Leader Miller remains fourth in the chain of command, and Squad Leader Hange, you remain fifth. Captain Grunwald, you and Lieutenant O'Donnell escort Erwin Smith to his quarters.
"Captain Stephanos, beginning immediately I want two guards at Erwin Smith's door at all times for his protection, while he recovers. No one is to enter his quarters without my authorization, and he is not to leave without my explicit permission. Lieutenant Theorides, bring my lunch along with your own and Captain Stephanos's to my new office. Captain Stephanos, join us there, after you make the new guard schedule. You are all dismissed."
Hange leapt to her feet, thrusting her face only centimeters from Levi's. "You little Napoleanic shit! How dare you…"
"Berner, shut up your Squad Leader and remove her from my sight, unless you want to see her spend the next week in the brig," Levi snapped coldly, and then spun around smartly, turning his back to her.
She lunged angrily for him, but both Stephanos and Theorides blocked her, and then Berner had her by the arm. "Zoe, stop. You need to calm down and back off," he pleaded.
Grunwald stood and held out a hand to assist Erwin to his feet. He took the hand numbly, and stood. How had everything gotten so messed up? Everything had been fine, for the first time in literally more days than he could remember, and now… He'd hit Levi. Twice.
How was he ever going to regain his hard won trust? With Levi's history, any kind of betrayal was a death knell to their relationship, but to have hit him… The thought of losing his command should have shaken him far worse, but he honestly didn't even care. Levi could keep his damned command, if only he could keep Levi.
0 0 0
Levi wanted to throw up, and not just because of the agony knifing through his leg. He'd refused to take the painkiller Donaldson had tried to prescribe. Erwin had hit him. The pain in his leg was nothing, compared to that. Hange said Erwin didn't even remember attacking him, and from the look on Erwin's face, he could see it was true.
That wasn't all she'd said. Hange had apparently reached the same conclusion as Donaldson. There was more wrong with Erwin's head than the concussion. That's what made him sick to his stomach, knowing that something was seriously wrong with the man he loved, and not being able to do anything about it, other than seeing he got the uninterrupted rest he'd needed all along, and just hope he recovered.
Hope. Tch. He might as well fucking pray. Both were completely useless, futile. He'd learned that cold hard lesson years ago. It had been beaten into him repeatedly, literally. He wasn't that pathetic weakling anymore. Erwin needed to get better, so he'd make damned sure he did. Hope had nothing to do with it.
He'd made sure Donaldson officially stated that Erwin was physically unable to retain command, not mentally unfit, and then Hange had damned near wrecked it by opening her big mouth. Her coddling Erwin wasn't helping him. That's why he'd made sure both she and her misguided efforts and Miller and his intentional betrayal were effectively neutralized, by promoting Stephanos and Grunwald above both of them in the chain of command.
Levi took out the spare key to Erwin's office that Erwin had given him years ago, but he had never used, and unlocked the door. Every other time, he'd picked the lock, just to stay in practice, but the key helped legitimize his new position.
It was a good thing his new office had a private bathroom. Levi barely made it to the toilet before throwing up. When he was finished, he stared into the polluted water in disgust and flushed away the filth with more filth. Then he turned to the sink and hesitated.
He turned on the water and watched it run, before gritting his teeth and forcing his hands under the flow. He grabbed the soap and lathered furiously, knowing how futile it was. He'd realized earlier, in his bathroom, in his shower. This was the water bugs shit and died in. He used it to wash his clothes, sheets and towels. To shower. To wash his hair. To brush his damned teeth. To fucking drink. He turned back to the toilet and gagged over it, dry heaving, save for a thin, pathetic trickle of bile.
Erwin had wanted to know what was wrong with him, before in the office, because of his stupid ingrained ritual with the socks and boots, one of the many quirks he'd finally overcome, in his new home, the Survey Corps. He'd wanted to know a lot more than that. But he'd only told him about the fish, and not the reason for it.
He was so damned flawed, and Erwin was so fucking perfect. He couldn't give him another chance to realize how stupid he was being, loving him. Erwin deserved so much better than him. Not some pathetic weakling, like that bitch Marie, but someone like Pixis, or Stephanos, or hell, just about any of the 200 new men. Not some fucked in the head gutter filth like him. He'd been more than that once, but he'd spent too long in other peoples' sewage to ever deserve someone like Erwin.
There was a knock at the door to the office. Levi forced himself to rinse his mouth with the water, and spit it out after, without gagging. He went to Erwin's desk and took off the towel, flipping it over, to the side that had lain on the desk, not the one his boots had been on. Not as if it mattered. He wiped his face with the gleaming white bug shit towel and headed for Erwin's door. His door. He opened it and ushered Theorides inside, the smell of the covered lunch he carried making him want to vomit again.
"You had no choice," Theorides volunteered speaking in Greek, apparently thinking that was why he looked sick and smelled like vomit. "What you did was for the best. He will recover now, he will heal. We will force him to get better. It is you, now, who looks more sick. Your leg is paining you, yes?" Theorides asked.
"It's nothing. I'm fine," Levi replied, in the same language. Anyone who tried to overhear wouldn't learn a damned thing. "We need to strategize, to make sure we give a consistent message to the men. I'm not worried about your men, Stephanos's or Grunwald's. It's the others. They pretty much worship Erwin, except for the fucking traitor who tried to kill us all. We need to find out who betrayed us. That's why I only want your men guarding Erwin, ones I know I can trust. Any of the others could be our traitor. Except for Eren, Mikasa and Armin. I trust them. We need them here. I don't give a shit if they're on leave, I need to see them. Go to the barracks and get them for me," Levi ordered.
"Yes sir," Theorides said stonily, snapping to attention and turning for the door.
"Fuck. Don't expect me to say please, Theorides. I'm not Pixis," Levi snapped.
Theorides turned back around, a look of surprise on his face. "I know. You are not mother hen, you are alpha wolf. You order, the pack obeys. I did not take offense. It is honor to obey. I only show my respect, yes?"
"Good. Alright then. Go," Levi demanded.
"Yes sir!" the Lieutenant said crisply, saluting, as he headed out.
That was a relief. Levi hadn't wanted any ridiculous drama. He had enough freaking drama without adding more.
Stephanos arrived before Theorides returned. Levi encouraged him in Greek to eat lunch. He had no stomach for it himself. The water they cooked with and washed the pots and dishes and utensils in was from the same damned polluted source.
"Thank you, Commander, but I will wait for Andreas, if you do not mind. We try to eat together whenever we can."
Levi nodded wordlessly. As long as the food didn't go to waste, he didn't give a shit.
When Theorides finally returned, he was alone. "Forgive me, Commander. Your friends, they are not on base. I search everywhere, and when I ask the others, they say they did not sleep in the barracks last night, and they have not seen them yet today. They think perhaps Yeager and Ackerman go to be alone and perhaps Arlert to guard them?"
"Fucking terrific. I want to be notified as soon as they return. Meanwhile, we need to make sure Erwin is safe and the base is secure." Levi knew his priorities should be the other way around, but he didn't give a damn. He was not losing Erwin to some damned Titan spy.
0 0 0
Hange opened the door to Zacharius' office silently, and tiptoed in. His office was right next door to Commander Erwin's. She couldn't risk Levi hearing, but she had to know what their own little Brutus was planning. She froze, thinking she was discovered, until she realized the voices she was hearing inside the room weren't directed at her. She apparently wasn't the first person to have the idea to spy from inside.
"Damn it, Jean, give me the glass, if you can't hear anything," Sasha Blouse huffed.
"I didn't say I couldn't hear," Jean Kirstein grumbled. "I said I couldn't understand a damned thing they said. They're not speaking any language I know. A number of those new guys are Greek, right? Well, apparently Captain Levi speaks it, because he's yakking away right along with them. Other than hearing him say their names, I didn't understand a word. But maybe they're not in trouble after all, because no matter how pissed off the Captain sounded, he actually called them by their first names. Not just Yeager, all three of them, even Mikasa."
"I told you the four of them were buddies now. Apparently Mikasa's only a frigid bitch when it comes to you, Jean. It looks like she didn't have any trouble spreading her legs for the Captain," Connie Springer sneered.
Jean dove onto him, grabbing him by the throat, while Sasha barely caught the glass in time to keep it from breaking.
"Quiet, you idiots, or we're all in trouble," Hange hissed, regretting it in the next moment, when all three of them yelped loudly, spinning to face her in panic.
"Shut the hell up!" Hange whisper-shouted. "Are you trying to get us all thrown in the brig?"
"Um…Squad Leader Hange? This isn't what it looks like," Jean whispered.
"Yeah, there's no meat in here to steal," Sasha bemoaned.
"We're doomed," Connie groaned fatalistically.
"Shut up and give me the damned glass," Hange ordered.
Cowed, Sasha handed it to her. She pressed the glass to the wall and her ear to the glass, muttering, "One of these days I'm just going to drill a damned hole."
0 0 0
Levi glared at the wall. "Damned rats," he muttered. He swung silently over to the wall, balanced carefully on his crutches, and then slammed his left foot into the wall. He heard a chorus of muted screams and shrieks, the muffled tinkle of breaking glass, and then the sound of frantic footfalls, and a door slamming against the wall.
"Idiots." He didn't give a shit who was trying to listen. Whoever it was, they were a bunch of amateurs. Their Titan spy would certainly have been far more devious.
0 0 0
Hange shook her head as she soundlessly closed the door to the room, frowning. She'd glimpsed Miller's back, as he watched the other three flee. She hoped they weren't going to get into serious trouble, but she couldn't worry about them now. She pulled out her stethoscope and listened at the wall again. Much clearer than the glass! And unlike the three who had left, while a bit of a struggle for her, she at least knew some rudimentary Greek. It was one of the languages of science, after all. She'd soon know whatever else Levi might be planning in this coup of his, the little prick.