Chapter 20: Breach

Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin

Previously: Erwin and the others come over to the manor. Petra comforts Levi after a tough expedition. He also initiates sex with her for the first time.

Relief and happiness welled up in him at the sight of the manor. Finally, after a miserable week, he could go home and relax. Just thinking about the comforts and the peace that awaited him further urged him to ride faster. The sun was almost done setting when he arrived. Usually he was able to reach late in the evening but he had been held back this time. Chores had increased per soldier due to how many men and women had perished in the last expedition. And he was further made late when Erwin had ambushed him with an awkward request.

A hot bath, Levi decided, would be the best way to put the week behind him.

With anticipation clear on his face, he left his horse in the capable hands of the stable boy and hurried to his bedroom. To his annoyance, there were no servants in the hallway. Normally there was a maid or a manservant scurrying about here and there so he wouldn't need to hunt one down and order a bath be drawn for him, but there was no one around.

Apparently, his wife must have had the same idea, to melt the worries and troubles of her week away by taking a relaxing hot bath, because she was sitting in a large tub full of hot water when he entered the bathroom.

"Levi! You're here." Petra sat up, arms over the rim of the tub.

He let out a groan. "Petra, I do not have the energy to satisfy your Titan-sized libido right now."

"No reason we can't simply bathe together."

The steam rising from the water was too tempting to resist. Too impatient to wait for the servants to draw him a separate bath, he began stripping.

"Come here," Petra invited, gesturing him to join her side of the tub instead of sitting in the opposite end.

The added mass of his body caused some spillage when he joined her. Levi let her pull him in, lowering himself deeper into the amazing bath. If he had any energy he would have become aroused by her chest against his back. Her breasts were even more glorious wet. He lowered himself when he felt her warm fingers running through his hair, massaging his scalp.

"How does that feel?"

"Mmm. Keep going."

Petra could feel him relax and continued to move her fingers through his hair. There was so much she wanted to tell him. Go over the stressful and annoying things she had experienced over the week, the fun stories, gossip with him, use him as a sounding board for ideas, and pick his brain about decisions she was having difficulty making, but it did feel nice to enjoy the silence and the hot bath. Knowing she was helping him release tension did make her feel more at ease also.

At one point, she was sure he had fallen asleep. Then he inhaled deeply and ran his wet, warm hands over his face.

"Long week?" Petra guessed.

"Too long." It was nice telling her about everything. Maybe this was why Hange babbled so much. It felt good to share. Especially in a hot bath with a beautiful naked woman. "What about you?" Levi asked when he finished, feeling lighter and better.

"Ugh, you will not believe the week I've been having, either." Petra went on to say everything she had been holding in and wanting to complain and talk to him about.

Eventually, the water started to go lukewarm but they were too content to move.

"Our skin's getting all pruny," Levi commented, his wrinkled fingers playing with hers.

"I'm too lazy to move. Carry me."

"I'm not your horse."

"You're my husband. It's in your job description."

"I never agreed to that in our contract."

"You've been doing a lot of things to me that you also never agreed to."

"And you want me to keep doing those things to you, don't you?"

"Well, I can't carry you. You're like a tiny house, all hard and heavy." Petra placed her hands on his shoulders, pushing him. "At least move so I can try to get up."

Levi didn't bother pretending and kept his eyes glued to her naked body, at the water droplets running over her skin. "You're getting the floor all wet," he said, admiring her glistening body. She stuck her tongue out at him, tying the robe after drying herself. He caught the towel she tossed him when he finally exited the tub.

"I'm going to tell the servants to bring up the dinner."

Petra was lying on her back in bed, robe tied loosely, displaying a good portion of her breasts. Sometimes Levi thought she did it purposefully to fuck with him. You'd have to try to make it look like that. "Your robe is loose," he said, sitting against the headboard while they waited for the food to be brought up.

She turned her head to the side, smiling invitingly at him. "Why don't you come over here and fix it?"

"I will."

"Levi, you untied it completely."

"Did I?" He took in her exposed body, tempting him to touch her and squeeze her and do so much more.

"You look like you're having dirty thoughts in your head."

"You mean about doing things like this?" His finger trailed up her thigh, teasing her before wetting it and slipping it into her. Watching her squirm and make pleasured little sounds aroused him greatly. "Do that again," he said.

Petra felt the mattress dip when he placed his free next to her head, hovering over her. "You mean this?" She squeezed her breasts for him. Levi seemed to like it, a lot. But she didn't just want to touch only herself. Using one hand, she untied his robe while he still worked her. "You're already raring to go."

"Not yet."

They continued to play with each other's bodies until she couldn't take it anymore.

Petra placed both her hands on his, taking him out of her, saying, "I don't want this now." Now she wanted the real thing.

"Happy to oblige," Levi said, gripping her hips as she positioned him in just the right way.

Petra smiled and sighed when he gave her what she wanted, again and again. Levi ground his body down on hers, kissing her.

And then they were interrupted by a knock at the door. "Dinner, sir, my lady."

Levi felt his heart freeze and pulled back. While she blinked confusedly at his sudden loss, he tossed her robe closed before adjusting his.

It was sweet that he put protecting her modesty before his. Though Petra found it unnecessary. "Why did you stop? Just tell him to come in and he'll leave the food and leave." When Levi shot her a dismayed look, she shrugged. "I'm sure all servants have seen something like this at one point." Nobles weren't very shy at times about carnal activities in their homes—or sometimes other people' homes—and there was no harm if a servant saw something now and then. In fact, the help liked to gossip so it was good for them to see something occasionally and they could spread it around that things were going well between the mistress of the manor and her husband.

It would be a lie to say he wasn't aroused at the thought of someone seeing him make love to his wife. Levi still felt too uncomfortable to actually do it, though. "No."

"Fine," Petra grumbled, heading for the door. "But mark my words, after we eat you're going to finish what you started."

Dinner consisted of honeyed roast duck with onions and soup and fresh, soft bread with some wine to wash it down.

"I forgot how hungry I was." Petra ate happily, filling up.

While his wife gushed about how much she loved the way the cooks made the bread, Levi thought to the awkward conversation he had with Erwin before leaving.

"I heard you wanted to talk."

"Take a seat."

Levi had been hoping it was quick. He was impatient to get home and unwind. Levi often felt comfortable standing when most wouldn't during a conversation. So if Erwin was requesting he take a seat, it might end up taking a while or be a serious conversation. Or both.

"As you know, the last expedition severely impacted our chances of getting approval from the Royal Government about setting up an outpost in Titan territory." Erwin wanted to go about that operation differently than Shadis had but now they may not even get a chance at all.

"Okay, so?"

"Your wife is well connected. Her favorite uncle, from what you've told me and I've heard, has a niece that plays a key role and could influence a positive outcome for us."

"Why use a middleman? Why can't you just ask Petra directly?"

"Because it would be more effective coming from you."

"How? This is your area of expertise."

"Our positions are different." When Levi continued not to get it, Erwin elaborated a little more, "You have certain advantages that I don't. Especially since after that last expedition, our outpost proposal might look like a money pit so I thought it would be more effective for you to ask her."

Levi finally understood what he was alluding to. "So what, you want me to use my dick to somehow convince her to use her influence to help the Royal Government approve our request?"

"I wish you wouldn't put it so vulgarly. And that wasn't quite what I meant."

"Good. Cause that sounded an awful lot like you wanted to whore me out, even if it is to my own wife who I'm already banging."

"I was referring to, you know, pillow talk. Since, like you said, you two already have that intimate connection."

Levi gave him a blank look.

For a moment, Erwin was at a loss. Did Levi truly have no idea what that meant? "It means that you have influence over her in a way that I don't. I can provide arguments and plans and try to convince her that way. But you have her ear in a...different way. It'll be different coming from you. Spouses of powerful people hold certain power. Sometimes it can be more effective going through them than approaching the person directly. Your word weighs more than mine."

How was he supposed to approach this? It was called pillow talk, wasn't it? Did that mean they had to be lying down and about to go to sleep or something?

Levi felt like an idiot. This was not his forte. Ah, fuck it, he thought. "The last expedition really fucked our chances of getting approval for the outpost we wanted to put in Titan territory."

"It'll be a very hard sell now," Petra agreed.

"Look, Erwin wanted me to do some pillow talk nonsense to see if you could help us get approval through some back channel cousin or aunt or something. But I have no idea what the hell that means, so there."

Petra burst into laughter. "Levi Ackerman, subtle you are not."

"No shit." It was a quality she liked very much about him. If the point was to get her help, wasn't it better to go about it in his usual, blunt way and just ask her? Knowing her, she'd be more receptive this way.

"Well, Uncle Leo's niece from his wife's side is very respected in Mitras. She used to hold a high position in the Mint in the Industrial City before transferring to the capital in Sina. The sourcing of government funds is one of her responsibilities." Petra sighed, crossing her arm. "I won't lie. This won't be easy. And I can't promise any results. All I can do is talk to Uncle Leo and see if he can reach out to Luiza."

"Of course. Thank you. Anything you can do would be great."

"You know," she teased him, "normally, by definition, you're supposed to have sex with me first before we get to pillow talk."

"Well, now that you mention it," he said, reaching to untie her robe, "I do believe I have some unfinished business to take care of..."

Warm sunlight shone through the windows on either of her sides. Aside from the sound of her pen scratching the papers, it was quiet and still. Petra was fully immersed in her work. Tedious as it sometimes could be, she loved it when she was fully focused and getting things done. There was something almost comforting and definitely satisfying about watching the files and stacks of papers decrease as she kept resolving the issues. She hated to be interrupted when she was in her zone so the servants knew not to bother her when she had been holed up in her study for hours. Without a sound, they would place her food nearby and leave her be in peace.

Typically if anyone walked in and interrupted her flow it would be Levi. He would pester her about eating or going for a walk or having sex or whatever struck his fancy. Reluctantly, she'd be dragged away from the files. It was never the same coming back to finish the paperwork. The interruption in the rhythm would mess everything up and make her feel slow and needing to reference books and files again to refresh the details. It always took a while to get back into the swing of it and wrap things up. Still, she couldn't deny how much she loved spending that time with Levi.

So when frantic knocking came from the door, followed by an urgent "Lady Petra!" she knew it had to be serious.

Yet she couldn't help but scowl at the door and called out irritably for being interrupted, "What?!"

When the woman actually stepped into the room without permission Petra felt her stomach clench. Pale-faced and stricken, Greta muttered a quick apology but Petra's mind was abuzz with panic.

Had something happened to her family? Was there some horrible disease outbreak? Was there a revolt? When Greta spoke, the words barely registered in Petra's head.

Unable to wrap her head around it, she said, "I'm sorry, what?" Confusion laced her tone, firmly believing she misunderstood. Yes, that had to be it. There was no way she heard what she thought she heard. That was impossible.

"It's Wall Maria. My lady, it's been taken by the Titans," Greta repeated, shaken.

"What do you mean taken by the Titans? Wall Maria is 50 meters tall." Petra stated as if that would make the woman realize what she was saying was absurd and that would be the end of that.

Greta shook her head fervently. "It was destroyed by a Titan. One bigger than the Wall. Then another Titan rammed through the inner gate and Titans came flooding in." She held out a half-folded piece of paper.

It was from one of Petra's cousins, a captain in the Garrison who had dreamed of becoming a military captain since he was young. Not brave enough to go for the Survey Corps, Jannick had picked the Garrison over the Military Police to snub his grandmother, who had hounded him since he was a child to gain a top-ranking position in the MPs as she had. A dismayed look came over Petra's face as she quickly read the note, obviously written in a rush, about what had happened and assuring her he was safe in Krolva.

Worry for Levi immediately replaced the disbelief at the situation. If it was true, if Wall Maria was Titan territory now, the Survey Corps could not sit still.

The logical and cold part of her thought about how this would help solidify the Survey Corps' position. Public opinion about them had not been kind recently. Many considered them a drain on the resources. A waste of the taxpayers' money. Any talk of dismantling them now would result in public panic.

A voice in her head pointed out the callousness of her only thinking about her husband while completely forgetting about her father. In fact, she should be more worried about her father than Levi. At least Levi was safe in Wall Rose, and he was an incredible soldier. Her father was a civilian and had been amidst the invasion in Shinganshina. Shouldn't she be fraught with worry for him? What if he was dead? Or injured?

"Send our fastest rider to Trost," she said to Greta. "I'm assuming that's where the refugees are being evacuated to." Trost was the southernmost district of Wall Rose and the closest to where her father would be. "I want to find out exactly what's going on there."

Outside the windows, she noticed the position of the sun. Dusk was almost upon them. Most likely her rider wouldn't be returning to the manor until tomorrow even if he left right away since it was to be a moonless night. Meaning Petra would have to wait overnight to learn more information.

Part of her wanted to reach out to Levi. But she didn't want to be a hindrance. The Survey Corps would need to make hasty preparations and Levi wouldn't have time to indulge her. In any case, she had her own people, her own responsibilities, to worry about. Mass panic among the general population could spell danger once word of the fall of Wall Maria spread. People, especially when scared and in a large group, tended to make stupid decisions.

On a fresh sheet of paper, she began a message to the highest Garrison captain stationed in Utopia to gather her troops. It seemed unlikely all the Garrison soldiers from a district as far away as hers would need to be utilized to help evacuate the people who lived in Wall Maria at the northernmost end of it. Titans, from what Levi had told her, were relentless and untiring. But even they'd have to take hours to circle along Wall Maria to reach the northernmost part of humanity's land, where the Utopia district stood in Wall Rose.

It's already been almost half a day since they breached. Surely the Garrison would be done evacuating the people now or would be soon. She would request the soldiers patrol the streets in higher numbers than usual to keep people's morale up and keep any potential troublemakers in check. The worst that would happen if she asked was being denied. There was no harm in making a request. Hopefully, a few days should be enough time for the government to get its bearings together and figure out what had happened and the scale of this disaster. It would also do the people good to see her out and about and she made plans to make rounds in the morning.

The businesswoman in her was also jumping to the economic ripples caused by Wall Maria's fall. How would it affect prices on meat? On flour and salt? On textiles and other resources? Is the Royal Government going to raise taxes? Assuming the Titans didn't continue their assault—if one Wall could fall, why not the other two?—they were going to need a tremendous amount of resources to house and feed and take care of the refugees that would come flooding in from Wall Maria. All those people no longer had a home and probably only the clothes on their backs and no money. At least the ones coming from Wall Maria's northern districts would have had sufficient time to gather personal property and valuables. Among the majority of the refugees though, few would be able to easily land back on their feet. As a result, the government would need to look after them and they were likely going to demand more money from the taxpayers.

Nobles were higher than commoners, but even among the common people there was classism in place. People held a sort of superiority the closer they were to the interior over those who lived closer to the Titans. And this is going to do nothing to help that issue. It would probably be the opposite.

Petra felt a headache coming. One thing at a time. A deep inhale and exhale, she made herself relax. Or at least not be as tense.

First, she needed to send the letter to the Garrison captain. Then plan the route she'd take to make her rounds and what words she could offer her people. Next was how to handle the economic crisis depending on its severity.

"How long is it going to take?"

"A week at best, maybe ten days."

"That's too long. The Titans will have consumed who knows how many humans that lived through the initial invasion and might still be hiding out there somewhere."

"But if we run in there without making proper preparations then it won't be much of a rescue. It'll be like lambs to a slaughter."

"And we just had an expedition today so the timing couldn't be worse."

"We've only got less than two dozen Scouts left after today's expedition. Most of them are severely injured. Which means we'll have to coordinate with the Garrison and get them all caught up on our methods and ways before attempting an operation if we want to succeed. The logistics of that alone will be a headache. Imagine that plus all the planning and execution of the rescue operation."

No one was talking about retaking Wall Maria, Levi noticed, standing quietly, leaning back against the wall while the squad leaders who had gathered in the meeting room were talking and arguing. He ranked lower than them but his position was unique enough that Erwin had invited him to listen. Everyone here had been in the Corps long enough to know there was no way they were going to be able to push the Titans back. Not in one go and especially not now when they were still scrambling to mount a rescue operation and gathering information.

As if it wasn't hard enough dealing with the regular fuckers now there's a colossal and an armored one, too? Levi thought. Exactly how many of these new types were there? Two seemed bad enough. Truly he hoped they were freakish aberrants and not some new, mutated breed of Titans. Cause that's all we need.

"We don't know if there's more of the types that destroyed Wall Maria," Keith finally spoke up. The expedition seemed to have done a number on him.

While Levi had not witnessed it personally—he had been transporting an injured soldier to receive immediate medical attention thus leaving the group behind—he had heard the commander had something of a nervous breakdown in the middle of the street, screaming and crying to the mother of a deceased soldier. Had the Wall not fallen, Levi was sure the other divisions, especially the Military Police, would have taken great delight in mocking the Survey Corps by taking aim at the weak man in charge who had broken down in public. That disgraceful event would have been talked about for months. Now it would be forgotten. Drowned out by the horror of Wall Maria's fall. Most of the witnesses were probably Titan chow by now.

"And we've got no way of knowing if we'll be able to take them down," Mike said. "Especially the one being called the Armored Titan." It was difficult enough killing normal ones, he thought, but now they had armor protecting them, too? What was next? A Titan wielding a crossbow?

"We've gotta try still."

"What if they attack Wall Rose next?" Of course it was Erwin who brought up what everyone else was too scared to voice.

It was also a fear shared by the Royal Government. Causing the officials to argue whether to send in the Survey Corps soon or hold them back to fight the Titans should they come for the second Wall. And if the corps was given the approval to head out, then how many days were they to wait first? Regular expeditions took enough time to make preparations. Depending on the terrain, number of soldiers, and supplies, they had to create a specific formation. The main road leading to the gate had to be cleared out in advance. All the gear needed to be fully inspected, the supplies inventoried, the wagons loaded, and the horses readied as well. Even with rushing all of that, the rescue operation would still take some time, but throwing in unprepared Garrison soldiers and the lack of information and the Royal Government's caution meant it would take a very long time before they could head out. By that time the majority of the people who'd survived the initial attack would probably perish.

Levi sighed internally. Things had been going so well for him recently. Less than two hours ago he had been doing maintenance on his 3D gear, hoping to leave the crushing despair and pain of the failed expedition behind and have alone time with Petra in the garden, falling asleep in her arms at night. Just yesterday his biggest worry was being pestered about officially joining a squad instead of moving between several. Now Wall Maria was breached, countless people were dead, hundreds of thousands were forced into poverty, and Titans had encroached more than a third of humanity's territory and were out terrifying the unlucky souls who were still stuck there.

It was another thirty minutes before the meeting came to an end. Levi hung back to talk with Erwin and Mike. "So, you think the Royal Government will sanction an emergency expedition to recover the civilians left behind?"

"Only time will tell," Mike said, brows furrowed. "What do you think, Erwin? Will the brass authorize a rescue operation or change their minds, deeming those people a lost cause?" He could easily imagine the Royal Government prioritizing the lives of the people behind Wall Rose and declaring that the Survey Corps was to stay back and protect them rather than being sent out and killed for more mouths to feed. Not that the Corps was in any position to defend themselves, let alone fight and protect the civilians.

"We will have to wait and see." Erwin had a feeling the Assembly was more concerned with the people who had managed to survive and were in Wall Rose than those who were trapped outside. "Though if I am being completely honest, I think the Royal Government is far more concerned with keeping us here for their own protection. Not that we'd be able to do much in our current condition and our numbers."

"I was just thinking that myself." Mike itched for a cigarette from the tension and stress of the situation. "You know, I had wanted the Survey Corps to really become relevant again but this really wasn't how I imagined it happening."

Erwin nodded. "At least, for now, we don't have to worry about funding. I doubt we'll need to rely on your wife's generosity as much, Levi."

"I'd hold off on that kind of thinking until after we get the funds," Levi replied pessimistically. "Common sense isn't a strong suit of the Assembly as far as I'm concerned."

"It's too bad you won't be able to see her as much now," Mike teased in a light-hearted tone, needing to lighten the mood. He was still processing their horrifying and nightmarish situation and couldn't afford to fall into despair. There was time for that later when he was alone. "While the breach will help rejuvenate the necessity of the Corps, it also means we'll have to follow the same strict schedule as the rest of the military when it comes to days off."

Before, they'd been able to get weekends off as the expeditions only came every four to five weeks and there was only so much they do with chores and training and learning a new formation. Also, it was owing in part due to the high mortality rate of the expeditions that the Scouts had one perk over the Garrisons and MPs: the Scouts got to have two days off every week. Because of the sheer size of the Walls and people's inability to live decently, the other two branches of the military were busier compared to them—officially, that is. Unofficially, Mike was sure the Garrisons and MPs slacked off quite a bit daily. Enough that the Survey Corps' weekly two-day break didn't seem like much in comparison. The Survey Corps was the only group where discipline was drilled into every soldier across the entire division.

"Yes," Levi said, "that is pretty regretful. I'm really going to miss the tea."

"Really? Just the tea?"

"But it is a shame the only sane person in my life I won't get to see as much." Truthfully he would miss Petra quite a bit. Things were about to get very busy, but late at night when everyone else was asleep and there was nothing to do, nothing to distract him, he was going to start dwelling on what he was missing, making him feel alone, wishing he could be in his bed back home, his naked wife in his arms.

Erwin stood, shuffling the papers in his hands into a neat stack. "I'm going to check with some of the witnesses who've made it here. Get information from them about these two new Titans myself."

Mike also separated to check with his squad. Wanting to be by himself, Levi went to the stable see his horse. He thought about Petra's father. Was he okay? Had he made it out? He felt a pang in his heart, thinking about the people trapped in Wall Maria. How terrified they must feel, nurturing a potentially useless hope of soldiers coming to their rescue. At the rate the preparations were going and how the Royal Government was dragging its feet, he wasn't feeling optimistic for them.

That night, Levi tried to shut his mind and fall asleep quickly. As expected, he had little success. His thoughts kept circling back to the trapped people. Pity flooded him for them, scared and lonely and hungry wherever they were.

It made him feel useless so Levi instead imagined what his wife was doing. She would settle into bed, rubbing lotion on her hands, a book on the table next to her. Petra often told him she was going to read one chapter then blow out the candle. Ninety percent of the time it was a lie. She wanted to read one more chapter. Or she'd become so engrossed she'd forget completely until he had to tell her to put the book away and go to sleep.

Although Levi never minded that habit of hers. It was comforting in an unexplainable way, knowing she was heavily invested in something good and listening to her turn the pages, the almost inaudible sounds she made when something big happened in the story. It relaxed him. Maybe it was because he could fully let his guard down with her and he found it peaceful. Not many things did that for him.

Thinking about Petra provided an adequate distraction, but he still felt the gloominess and anxiety of this new threat to humanity hanging heavily in the back of his head, keeping him awake longer than usual.

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