"You are a minute of quiet in a loud shouting world."

~Gabriel Gadfly

-Emmryn's POV-

"Captain Levi! There's been an emergency situation!"

"The fuck?" Levi muttered in a low and husky tone that was thick from sleep as we were awoken by the sound of Petra yelling and knocking on our door.

"The titans that were captured by Section Commander Hanji's squad were killed!" Petra announced, her panicked voice as well as the substance of her news causing Levi and I both to get out of bed quickly.

"Tell everyone to get ready, mount up, and meet at the exit near the stables in 10 minutes!" Levi ordered, his voice stronger now as he got up and quickly and efficiently began to put on his uniform. I tried to do the same, but getting the uniform pants on was still a bit difficult with the pain and bindings from my leg slowing me down quite a bit.

Levi took notice and instead of his normal click of a tongue in annoyance, he simply began assisting me, helping me get the straps and such fastened in record time before pulling me to his chest and pressing a firm kiss on my forehead.

"I need you to stay close to me while we are at the main base. I have a bad feeling about this," Levi admitted lowly, his voice thick with hidden emotions as I nodded in understanding. He was trying to communicate with me even though it was difficult for him. THe least I could do was be understanding and go along with his concerns.

"Alright," I agreed before pressing a small, but firm kiss on his lips, "I'll be right by you the whole time. You can't get rid of me that easily." I pulled back and winked teasingly trying to lighten the stressed aura that was now surrounding my stoic lover. He nodded in acknowledgement before tying a cravat around my neck in the shape of a bow to hide a hickey from last night and heading to the meeting spot.

Once we reached the area Hanji's titans had been being held, the sound of her wailing was overwhelming as she tackled me into a deathgrip of a hug, sobbing hysterically. In order to avoid falling, I had to put some added pressure onto my injured leg causing me to wince along with the screams of pain my ribs gave in protest against the death hug I was currently in.

Not wanting to add anything to the poor woman in front of me, I held back any whimpers and just returned her hug loosely and rubbed small circles around her back. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Levi coming up to us and he did not look happy as he glared at Hanji.

"Oi, shitty glasses, I get your titans were killed but that's not a reason to further injure my already injured wife!" Levi barked, his irritation showing ever so slightly causing all the nearby soldiers to cringe back in nervousness. Titans were scary and sure they had faced some, but a visibly angry Levi was far less common and almost as intimidating.

"I *hic* I'm sorry, Emmryn! I just *hic* They killed MY BABIESS! SAWNEYYYYY! BEANNNNN!" Hanji apologized before breaking back into hysterics before being pulled off of me by her second in command, Moblit. In seconds, Levi was back at my side glancing at me in a way that told me he was concerned.

"I'm fine, Captain," I teased with a smile which quickly became a slight grimace as another stab of pain went through my ribs. Man, Hanji really didn't hold back with that hug, did she? Levi clicked his tongue in irritation at my obvious lie before we both got distracted by Petra elbowing Oluo in the ribs HARD I can only imagine for some rude comment about how emotional Hanji was being about the death of the titans. I let out a small snicker as Oluo crumpled over, and Petra saw me watching and gave me a proud smirk that had me laughing a little louder.

"Enough," Levi said quietly but sternly to me before calling out to the rest of our squad, "Alright! Everyone from the Special Operations Squad, we are heading to the main headquarters right now!"

His orders were met with a chorus of "Yes sir"s from all of our squad members as we all mounted our horses to head back to the main base. Part of me was pretty excited. I hadn't really thanked him yet for approving mine and Levi's marriage. He didn't have to do that, but I was beyond grateful that he did.

Once we reached the main base, I noticed that it seemed a bit busier than usual. That's when I remembered. Oh yeah! The other recruits from the 104th chose what branch to join last night. I can't believe we missed that! I mean… Not that my night wasn't a million times better than some boring graduation ceremony but still…

"Eren!" "Emmryn!"

My inner rant was interrupted by two familiar voices as I looked up to see a raven haired girl and blonde haired boy running up to meet us. I smiled at the familiar faces.

"Hey Mikasa. Hey Armin!" I greeted with a small smile as Mikasa immediately ran up to Eren and began inspecting him for injuries.

"I swear that little midget better hope I never get my hands on him for what he did to you Eren!" Mikasa growled in irritation, her glare flitting briefly to Levi causing me to bite back until I met eyes with my apathetic and somewhat confused lover causing me to actually let out a chuckle.

"Emmryn! Are you okay? Weren't you injured at Trost?!" Armin inquired nervously causing me to smile at his concern as I nodded.

"Yes, I was, but the medics took care of me. My leg will take about 6 weeks to fully heal and it'll take my ribs about 4. But I'm fine. Nothing to worry about," I assured him with a small smile as he looked at me skeptically, eyeing the straps that went to my ODM gear that were around my legs and waist.

"They aren't letting you use ODM gear are they?!" I shook my head at his question.

"I have this on for emergencies only. With the Walls being attacked twice so closely together, it doesn't hurt to expect the unexpected," I reassured him as he nodded in understanding.

"So who all else joined?" Eren asked the other two of the Shiganshina trio with excitement reflecting in his turquoise eyes. Just as he asked, a small group approached and we were both shocked to see 6 other people from the 104th had joined. Connie, Sasha, Krista, Ymir, Reiner, and Bertholdt all came and greeted us with excited smiles on their faces.

"Emmryn! I can't believe you never told us that you were part of the Special Operations Squad before you even came to training!" Krista exclaimed, awe in her eyes as the other recruits nodded in agreement. My apathetic expression returned as I shrugged.

"Well, you guys weren't exactly privy to that information, and now you all know so that's that," I replied nonchalantly as if I hadn't just admitted to hiding the extent of my abilities from them. I tuned out the rest of the conversations as everyone turned to focus on Eren until a familiar head of two-toned hair came rushing towards me.

"Jean! I'm surprised to see you here!" I greeted him in shock before giving him a taunting smirk, "You left poor Marco to join the Military Police by himself?" At my comment, I felt a shift in the atmosphere of the cadets from the 104th. This cannot be good.

"Em… Marco… He died at Trost…" Jean managed to get say it without his voice breaking, but I could tell that his heart was. This was not what he and Marco had signed up for when they signed up for the military and I knew it.

"What?! How?!" I demanded, trying to fight my own emotions back as my eyes went wide. Marco was one of the best recruits in the 104th. He was smart and good with the ODM gear. If anyone would have survived, my bets would have been on him and Mikasa.

"I-I don't know! I didn't know he died until we were gathering the bodies to… burn them… He died alone, Emmryn!... No one even saw him die…" Jean was close to breaking, and I could feel the eyes of several soldiers on us due to the volume of our various outbursts. Not caring about what they thought, I put a hand on Jean's shoulder in comfort which was kind of awkward considering how short I was.

"...I see…" I finally got out before looking up at him with a comforting and strong smile that I learned from watching Erwin all these years, "Well, I'm glad that you're still here. Let's fight to make sure that his death wasn't in vain!"

At that comment, Jean pulled me into a tight hug, lifting me to his height causing my feet to leave the ground. I winced a bit from the pain in my ribs before awkwardly patting his back in comfort.

"Damn… Everyone seems to have the urge to hug me super tight when my ribs are injured," I half-teased as Jean puts me back on the ground and jumps back with an apologetic expression on his face. It was then I noticed Eren's terrified expression at Jean's actions, and apparently, Jean noticed too.

"Why the hell do you look so scared, Eren?" Jean taunted with an arrogant smirk, that quickly faltered to a nervous expression with the baritone voice of my lover rang out over our group.

"Probably because you just hugged another man's injured wife in front of him and aggravated her injuries," Levi's voice was filled with irritation at this point as the entirety of the 104th looked between him and I in shock. I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly as I gave them all a slightly apologetic smile before turning to Levi.

"Don't be too harsh on him, Levi. He and I lost a close mutual friend at Trost, and Jean was just delivering the news to me. This was the 104th's first time against titans. A loss like that is hard on everyone," I pointed out as I met eyes with the handsome raven-haired man who was now in front of me. I now knew he understood, so when he clicked his tongue and began to return to his horse to give it food and water, I smiled to myself. He let it go this time. I'm glad. The entirety of the 104th recruits present stared at me with even wider eyes than before, and Jean's jaw had actually dropped.

"Riggghtttt… So I guess I should probably reintroduce myself," I joked before saluting the group in front of me with a serious expression, "My name is Emmryn Ackerman, member of the Special Operations Squad, younger sister of the current commander of the Survey Corps, Erwin Smith, and wife of Lance Corporal Levi Ackerman. Welcome to the Survey Corps!" With that, they returned my salute with awed looks on their faces until a higher up ordered them to gather up in formation to submit their ODM gear for inspection.

Levi came up beside me and grabbed my arm and began pulling me with him to Erwin's office after explaining that I was excused from the inspection due to him being fully aware that I had been busy with "other activities" last night. I followed dutifully, my eyes flitting to Jean and Oluo before landing on the sky as my thoughts drowned out the noise of the busy headquarters. Why am I always stuck saving these dumbasses from punishments caused by their own stupidity. I sighed to myself as my thoughts began to focus on the close friend I had lost. Marco, you'd better look after us from up there. You owe me after leaving me alone to deal with this idiot we call a friend.

Song: Still Here by Digital Daggers

I AM ALIVE! I am still very busy trying to get moved into a new apartment plus I just celebrated my daughter's first birthday, so I'm sorry for the lack of updates, but I promise I had a reason for it. Updates will probably be a bit slower for the next little bit, but I'm going to do my best to get out at least a chapter a week (but we will see). Thank you all again for all the support! :)