"It is always with the best intentions that the worst work is done."

~Oscar Wilde

-Emmryn's POV-

The next day, Levi was called into a meeting about the next move the Survey Corps would be taking, and he ordered me to come along as well. I don't think I was exactly invited, but try telling that to my overprotective husband. No one dared argue with him after the hell they had all gone through the day before. As we reached the meeting room, I was surprised to see Mikasa and Armin there as well as Eren and Jean. Of course, Hanji and Erwin were there as well, and I had to force myself not to immediately punch two out of the 8 people in the room.

Levi had told me the night before what had happened on the expedition and had mentioned that Mikasa being a dumbass is essentially what caused him to mess up his ankle which severely pissed me off. They go over the plan of using Eren as a decoy to lure out the female titan, who Armin tells us he believes to be Annie Leonhart. At that, Eren began to snap and claim that there was no way that it was true, and that it was wrong to target her without knowing for sure. That really rubbed me the wrong way. I stood up and slammed my hands on the table, startling everyone as I glared fiercely at Eren.

"So worrying about hurting somebody's feelings is more important than possibly catching one of the biggest risks to the lives of thousands of people? Get your head out of your ass, Jaeger! If she isn't, we can apologize and seem like assholes. But if she is the female titan, we will save lives! Or was sacrificing the lives of my comrades not enough for you to see the gravity of the situation we are in?!" I yelled angrily earning stunned expressions from everyone in the room. Levi took my hand and pulled me back into my chair, rubbing soothing circles on the back of my hand trying to help me calm down without saying anything in front of everyone else. Eren returned my glare.

"Then, maybe you should have been there to help protect them then! You're supposedly this great soldier, but your ass was back here because you couldn't protect yourself from some Underground thugs!" Eren snapped back, and I felt Levi's grip tighten protectively around my hand. I was livid, but before I could put the little shit in his place, Erwin cut in.

"ENOUGH! Both of you need to be quiet and listen. Emmryn, you will not even be part of this mission so if you cannot stop interrupting this meeting, I'm going to ask you to leave," Erwin stated plainly. I bristled at that and spoke up again, my voice much more even and calm than before.

"No way in hell am I not coming on this mission," I argued.

"You're injured," Erwin pointed out, and I scoffed.

"So? Levi is injured too, and you're still insisting on bringing him along," I countered, "Besides according to my probation, anytime I am not forced to stay back from an expedition, I'm supposed to be under Levi's supervision. I know you don't give a shit about me, Commander, but I don't think the Survey Corps can really afford to piss off the MPs more than this plan already will." Most of the room stares at me with their jaws dropped. I may not be an officer, and Erwin may see me as expendable. But I'm a Smith through and through, and if there was one thing Smiths could do, it was use our words as weapons. Mikasa scoffed at my comment.

"Maybe you shouldn't come if you can't control your emotions regarding your romantic life," she sneered, successfully setting me off.

"Oh really, Mikasa. And whose lack of control over their romantic feelings for their adopted brother almost got my husband killed?" I sneered back, about ready to punch her in the face. I had always liked Mikasa during training, but the fact that her recklessness almost got Levi killed and she had the balls to act like I was an emotional bitch. Nope. Nuh uh. Not gonna fly with me today.

"I said enough. Both of you. Emmryn, you make a good point. Anything to put us less on the MP's shit list will be beneficial for the mission. You may come, but you will be on the escort squad with me, Kirschtein, and Levi, and you are absolutely not to leave his side throughout the entirety of the mission. Understood?" Erwin gave in with a stern look. I nodded and gave him a half-hearted salute.

"Thank you, Commander," I responded before sitting back down beside Levi who looked at me, concern just barely showing in his steel gray eyes. I gave him a small smile as the meeting continued. At the end of it, Erwin requested that I stay back, and when Levi didn't move to leave, Erwin ordered him to leave us alone earning an irritated click of the tongue from Levi. Not wanting to push my luck anymore than I already had, I softly told Levi to go and that I would be fine. He didn't seem convinced, but he nodded before leaving the room.

"What is it you needed to talk to me about, Commander?" I asked, keeping my face and my voice as neutral as I could.

"How are you doing with everything?" Erwin asked, concern showing in his clear blue eyes causing me to scoff.

"I'm sorry, but since when the fuck do you actually care how I'm doing, Commander?" I snapped angrily, keeping my voice even but filled with anger. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"Emmryn, I did that so that we could capture those men responsible for what happened to you in the Underground with evidence," he tried to defend himself, earning a glare from me.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Were the various bruises and the medical evaluation done by Hanji when I was brought here from the capital not enough evidence?" I demanded, and the bastard shook his head.

"It only proved that you had been raped, not who had done that to you," he responded, and I laughed without humor.

"So having your supposed younger sister kidnapped and potentially raped again didn't bother you if it allowed you to capture those guys? Tell me, how did it feel to know that your plan fucking backfired and instead, I got shot in the stomach?" I sneered, earning a glare from Erwin at this point.

"I was trying to protect you!"

"Well you could have fucking fooled me!"

"You're a child! I don't expect you to understand!"

"So you allowed your child sister to marry a 32 year old man? What kind of sick fuck are you? If I'm such a child."

"This is just proving my point!" Erwin yelled angrily, "So go ahead and hate me or whatever you want to do. It's the price I must pay for protecting you." I laughed at this.

"You misunderstand, Commander," I answered with a smile that probably made me look like I had lost it, "I don't hate you at all. I just know longer see you as anything more than a commanding officer that has done nothing to deserve my respect. I follow your orders because I have to in order to not go to jail. Not because I see you as family, and certainly not out of respect." It's silent for a minute as I see Erwin's face morph briefly to a hurt expression before going back to his neutral stern one.

"You're dismissed, Cadet Ackerman. I will see you for the mission tomorrow. I would highly suggest following my orders from now on," he stated sternly. I gave him a normal salute before leaving the room to find Levi leaning against the wall waiting. We say nothing as he grabs my hand and holds it tightly before we begin our walk back to our room to prepare for the mission and take comfort in each other's presence.

-Time Skip to in the carriage on the way to the mission-

"Hey Eren. Your face is looking a bit horse like. Are you feeling alright?" I teased, letting out a slight chuckle at my own joke. The trip to Stohess was feeling a bit tense after the argument I had had with Erwin, and Jean looked so irritated at being dressed up as Eren that I couldn't help but make fun of him. Thankfully, Jean was a trooper and took it in stride, looking super annoyed before giving me an arrogant smirk.

"Whatever, Em, just admit that I'm looking way more handsome than usual and I may just give you the time of day," Jean flirted, and I laughed as I felt the murderous intent radiating off of my husband who I guess Jean had forgotten was sitting right beside me well within distance of being able to murder my flirtatious friend. I grabbed Levi's hand interlocking our fingers, as I winked at Jean.

"Why would I want the time of day from a brat like you when I get to go to bed every night with the hottest man in the walls?" I replied with a smirk causing Levi to tighten his grip on my hand and give me a proud smirk at my crass insinuation. Jean on the other hand paled a bit, and Erwin coughed uncomfortably. I sat back and rested my head on Levi's shoulder, very content with the entertainment I had provided to the otherwise boring journey.

Finally, I knew we had reached our destination when our carriage stopped and we were all ordered by MPs to exit the carriage. I did as I was told, staying very close to Levi without us actually holding hands. The Premier knew about mine and Levi's marriage, but the MPs didn't know about it or know that Zachary knew so it was best to hold that as a trump card if they tried to pull any bullshit.

Dok and Erwin argued as Erwin warned Dok that things were about to get dangerous in Stohess and informed him of a titan in the district. Dok scoffed at that, and I noticed one of the MPs leering at me with a lustful gaze making me glare at him.

"Should we really believe anything he says? I mean he's still bringing that little slut along with him to the capital?" the MP sneered. At that, Levi stepped in front of me and glared menacingly at the MP.

"Call my wife a slut again, and I will put you in your place, brat," he growled, clearly pissed causing all the MPs to stop and stare at him in shock. So much for keeping that as a trump card. Though I have to admit, it was pretty freaking sexy to see him stick up for me like that.

My less than pure thoughts were interrupted by the sound of 2 lightning strikes close together resonating through the district. Erwin smirked, and I felt a bit of fear and adrenaline begin to course through my veins. So it begins.

Song: Hey Brother by Avicci

A/N:

I now have a Discord server! Please check it out! I will be using it to run polls for when I will update certain stories, which stories to work on next, as well as it just being a place where people can talk about different stuff like anime, fanfiction, writing advice, and so on. That's also where I will post when I update a new story. There is also a fanart channel if any of my lovely readers want to submit fanart! It's new so the numbers aren't high yet, but I encourage anyone who is interested to please check it out! :) A clickable link should be on my profile description, but this particular website has been very stubborn about me trying to include it. So if you can't find it there, please go to my profile on WattPad. There is for sure a clickable link to my Discord server there. Same Username: TaehaNatsuki

Again, thank you for all the support on this story 3 Love Always, Taeha