They waited for what seemed like hours, which then stretched into actual hours.

Mikasa's body was stiff from crouching down, and her fingers numb from gripping her blades tightly. The wait had caused her to feel more wound up as it went on so when Levi stood up and moved into her line of vision suddenly, she felt her heart leap into her throat. She was surprised by his movement was all.

"They're not coming. They didn't take the bait after all," Levi's voice was gruff from the long silence and tense waiting.

Mikasa's muscles protested before languishing in relief when she got up and stretched. She watched as Levi began putting away his blades and removing his gear.

"Should we wait a little longer?" She asked, even as she followed suit.

"No. It's been hours. If this had been a real meeting, we would've adjourned by now anyways. If they didn't come to hide themselves away before it started, I doubted that they'd come later."

"Alright," Mikasa removed her blades and placed them on a nearby table. Her hands went to unbuckle the harness around her torso, and the few attachments she managed to attach to her harness underneath her skirt. Mikasa had lamented the impracticality of fighting in a dress earlier when she had changed into it, so maybe she should be glad that she hadn't needed to fight.

Damn. The release trigger of one of her finger grips caught on the lining of her skirt as she went to remove the wire connecting it to her harness. She wanted to avoid tearing a hole in her dress if she could since it was such a nice gift from Historia.

Levi looked up to see her struggling against the bunched-up fabric of her dress when he finished putting his gear away, "What are you doing?"

"Something is caught on my dress and I'd really like not to rip it," Mikasa explained, growing more annoyed that she couldn't seem to find where it had caught. As dexterous as she was, it was hard to twist down to gather the fabric at the back of her skirt. Her ministrations grew less delicate and more frustrated.

He watched her struggle for another minute before crouching down at her side, "You're taking forever, brat. Let me help."

Mikasa hesitated for a moment, before gathering one side of her dress to her mid-thigh for him. With care, Levi traced the wire still attached to her harness to the finger grip that snagged against her dress. He wiggled the release trigger to free the delicate material from the steel weapon and proceeded to unbuckle it for her, with a gentleness that surprised Mikasa. She willed her body not to react. She felt like a live wire, sure to shock him if he touched her skin.

He stood up to hand her that remaining piece of maneuvering gear, and Mikasa thanked him as the hem of her dress swished back down to her feet. She turned away from him to stow away her equipment, grateful to put some distance between them as her heart hammered away. Mikasa thought she was more levelheaded now that a few hours and the focus of the mission had stood between them and their kiss, but having him so close to her and tensely waiting to feel if he would brush up against her bare skin, had thrown her off balance again. Was she disappointed he hadn't?

"What do we do now?" she asked, hoping to distract herself from her thoughts.

"Now we go back to that insipid party to find Hange and tell them their shitty fucking plan didn't work."

"At least we got to avoid other people for a while," Mikasa offered as she smoothed the wrinkles on her dress that formed from crouching for so long. She frowned a little when she noticed Levi still looked immaculate, as if he had spent the last few hours ironing his suit and cravat.

Levi let out an exhale that sounded suspiciously like a laugh, "Yeah, at least we got to do that."

They blew out the candles that had burned low during their stakeout before they stepped back into the hallway. It looked as undisturbed as it had been when they first got there. It was then that uneasiness and disappointment crept in. They had nothing to show for a month's worth of planning, and their enemy was still out there. She knew that some missions didn't pan out, and that she should be glad that this one was uneventful since there could've been an entire castle-full of people at risk. But it meant they still didn't know what new danger they were facing. Mikasa felt a pang when she realized that she still needed to make sure Eren was okay.

"What do you think went wrong with our plan?" Mikasa's voice softly broke the silence.

Levi ran a hand through his hair, "Could've been a lot of things. Maybe the information we leaked didn't reach the right ears. Maybe we overestimated their ability."

"Maybe," she was skeptical.

Levi responded assuredly, "We'll find them. We'll get another opportunity."

We. It had been a while since they had worked so closely together, and Mikasa hadn't been sure she would get the chance again. There hadn't been a need for them to partner closely as they had when the Anti-Personnel Control Squad had been a threat. More recently, being highly skilled soldiers meant that they were overseeing the training of newer recruits as they built up the Scouting Legion again.

And of course, there was her misstep that she was still making up for. She fervently hoped that she hadn't ruined things again tonight. When they walked past the curtain that she had unceremoniously pulled them behind, Mikasa started, "About earlier—"

"You don't need to apologize."

That surprised her. Out of reflex, she pushed back, "Why not?"

"Are you sorry?" he watched her out of the corner of his eye.

Mikasa didn't answer. She met his sideways gaze to search his expression, but he gave nothing away so she opted to stay quiet. Perhaps in a way, her silence was its own unspoken admission. She just wasn't sure of what. But she did feel some part of the tension ease in the air, and she went off of that as a good sign.

Pretty soon, the smell of alcohol and numerous bodies grew stronger. Evidently the ball was just reaching its peak, and the guests of honors' absences hadn't gone unnoticed. The cloud of whispers that had followed them around earlier enveloped them again as soon as they reentered the room. Mikasa felt numerous eyes follow them, as they had before, and she self-consciously smoothed down her dress again, knowing it was useless. She dreaded having to put up with more tasteless conversations. Levi led them through the crowd steadily enough to be polite, but briskly enough that no one stop them to chat. Mikasa was thankful.

"Hange's over there," Mikasa spotted their head through the crowd, and Levi set a new course.

Mikasa looked around Hange and saw that Eren wasn't there. She felt momentary panic, before realizing that Armin, Sasha, Connie and Jean were gone too. They must all still be together. Mikasa exhaled the breath she had been holding. Hange looked calm and was chatting with Commander Pixis, so it must mean that it had all gone without a hitch and her friends were still hanging around their assigned location. That shouldn't be surprising given how uneventful her and Levi's mission had been.

"Eren and the others aren't back yet. I can go get them and let them know they can come back," Mikasa said to ask for her dismissal.

"Alright, I'll fill Hange in," Levi assented, "I'll see you in a bit."

He looked like he was going to say something else, but evidently decided against it. She gave him a half-nod and slipped back into the crowd and out the other side of the ballroom. Eren and Armin were positioned in a room in the south wing of the castle that was closer to the main ballroom to ensure there was coverage from Queen Historia's guards and the patrol groups. It wouldn't take her long to get to them, and it gave her a few minutes to herself.

For the first time all night, she was alone with the luxury to let her thoughts run rampant. And they ran down the hallway, to the wing of the castle she had just come from and dove behind a heavy window drape. This thing with Levi was… new. Wasn't it? Mikasa had never thought herself as attracted to her exacting captain before. Though they had a rocky start, she had come around to him and admired his leadership, following majority of his orders and improvising on just a select few. And once they started spending more time together, she even came to admit that she enjoyed his company during the late hours they would work on their respective paperwork together. But attraction?

Even as she thought this, Mikasa knew that his small brushes against her—even before their kiss—shouldn't have affected her so much if she was oblivious to Levi. Before she tried to convince herself that the kiss was solely for their mission's benefit, Mikasa admitted that she had enjoyed it. The way he crushed his lips to hers and worked his tongue against hers had a familiar intensity that set her aflame. But it had been his light touch that made her want to burst.

Now that she was alone, she took a steadying breath and exhaled deeply to help that pressure in her chest deflate. Mikasa imagined all of her lingering indulgent thoughts expelled from her body with the air. Maybe she was confusing attraction with a heady mix of novelty and adrenaline. But like Captain Levi said, it wouldn't happen again. It was pointless to dwell on it.

Mikasa already made it to the southern wing and found that she was really looking forward to getting to salvage some time with her friends. She wanted nothing more than to kick off her shoes and sit in a circle with her friends as they drank and talked and laughed without a worry in the world. It would be a wonderful distraction from the other events of her night. Eren and Armin would greet her with an emphatic "Where have you been?!," Sasha and Connie would pass her whatever bottle of booze they were drinking from, and Jean would enthusiastically gesture for them to make room for her to sit down next to him.

Mikasa could practically hear their chatter when she opened the door to their room.

Except it was empty.

"Wha-"

In the split second before her body moved reflexively, hot steam filled the air, aggressively blowing against her. Her eyes screwed shut in the heat, and her arms flew up to block the blast.

Titan steam?! She thought frantically. But the room was too small to fit a Titan, and she didn't hear the low ceiling crumble from a transformation.

Something grabbed one of her arms and wrenched her into the room, the door slamming behind her. Her arm was twisted painfully, almost out of its socket, but Mikasa threw her head backwards into her attacker and pulled herself free, tearing the sleeve of her dress.

She quickly tested her shoulder and was gratified to find it wasn't dislocated. She still couldn't see through the steam, the best she could do was squint in the hot, opaque air, but she got into a battle stance.

A fist caught the right side of Mikasa's face, but she recovered instantaneously and sent a kick in the direction that it came from. Her foot connected with something solid and she felt her inertia transfer into that object, which let out a loud grunt of pain.

So she was fighting humans.

Something was moving behind her and Mikasa moved sideways in time to avoid a punch aimed at her middle. Hand to hand combat meant that her attackers hopefully didn't have blades, probably because they were too conspicuous and difficult to hide, and they didn't want to use guns that would be loud enough to draw attention.

Her lack of sight heightened her other senses and she carefully listened for movement. Pivoting to her left, she charged forward to meet one of the attackers head on. She tackled them, and they fell to the ground hard, with a loud crack and their head bounced on the cobblestone. They went still, disoriented or briefly knocked out. It wouldn't be too long until they were back up so Mikasa sprang up to take care of her other opponent.

She quickly drew the small dagger she had strapped to her leg, but not even fully on her feet yet, Mikasa felt hands close around her throat. She dropped her knife as her hands flew to pull at the ones cutting off her airway. She was lifted off the ground by her throat. It was hard enough to breathe in the hot steam, but she would rather her throat burn from the boiling air than from the lack of it. It didn't matter at this point if she could see in the steam, because she knew her vision would be speckled with white.

Gritting her teeth, Mikasa tightened her hold around the hands strangling her, and steeled her core to pull herself up to kick her attacker in the abdomen. A yell of pain and surprise came and something clattered to the ground, and Mikasa was dropped as well. She coughed and heaved, trying to gain her bearings, trying desperately to feel for her dagger. She found it when it's cool metal buried itself to her shoulder.

Perhaps someone else would have cry out in anguish, but Mikasa could only react as her body knew how. She pulled it from her shoulder as quickly as she could and spun her torso around to slash through the steam. She was rewarded with the feeling of profound resistance against the dagger's edge. It dragged across long enough that she was almost sure it was someone's midsection. But before she could swipe again, a sharp blow to her head sent her sprawling on ground. The air had been so humid already, but something decidedly liquid dripped onto her cheek.

Her vision that was swimming white just minutes before was washed black.

I'm so cold.

Mikasa knew that blood flowed more freely from head wounds and tended to look worse than they actually were, but now that her wavering vision tried to focus on the floor pressed against her face, she wasn't sure. For moment, she was nine again, laying cold on top of a wooden floor.

Her eyesight steadied and the wooden floor became stone. The raised cobblestones inadvertently created gravelly canals that led little rivers of red away from her and she couldn't tell yet which red ribbons were from her body and which were of her dress. Mikasa was certain that no amount of scrubbing at these floors would revert the grout back to its light concrete after this. Not even if it were Levi scrubbing at it while on a cleaning high, filthily cursing every speck of dirt. This image brought up a small bubble of laughter in her chest and she hoped that she did stain the floor. Maybe he'll find her mess and get worked up again because of her. She was good at that.

The room was much colder than before. Her body temperature was dropping from the blood loss, and her body barely had the energy to let out a shiver. When it did, the movement caused a sharp pain in her shoulder. Oh that's right. The raven-haired girl wasn't sure if the cold stone floor or her wounds were leeching away her warmth faster. She wished she had her scarf. Goosebumps covered her bare arm pressed into the floor. So much for her effort and Levi's help to not rip her dress.

Mikasa forced herself to focus harder. If she was starting to feel cold, it meant that the shock and adrenaline were just wearing off so she probably hadn't been unconscious for very long. Seeing that she was alone now, it meant that the enemy was likely still close by, if not still inside the castle.

Fuck, Eren! Mikasa realized. He was still in danger. Her thoughts darted faster and clearer. He was supposed to be in this room. Did they capture him? No, that doesn't seem right. If they captured Eren, why would they wait around?

She walked through the logic to the conclusion that Eren most likely wasn't captured by the enemy, and another thought dawned on her. The fact they were in here means that they knew to avoid our meeting room and to come here instead.

Only a handful of people knew the room Eren was supposed to be in, and other than Hange, they were all in Captain Levi's Special Operations Squad.

They had a traitor.

Mikasa felt ill, unrelated to her injuries. But she found renewed strength in her realization, which drove her to slowly push herself to a seated position. Her head pounded, and she needed to wait for her vision to focus again. When it did, it zeroed in on her bloodied dagger a few feet away. She then recalled making solid contact with one of her ambushers with it, so it probably wasn't just her blood spilled on the ground. She staggered to her feet and picked it up.

Out of the corner of her eye, another object caught her attention. A slim box laid forgotten a corner of the room, where it must have been kicked to during the brawl. Her fingers shook when she picked it up. She had seen this before. It looked just like the case that had carried the syringe of Titan serum that saved Armin a year ago.

Mikasa didn't get the chance to open it to check its contents. The door crashed open and Mikasa whirled around, dagger at the ready. She caught sight of Captain Levi running in, armed with a knife much like her own, cold concentration etched on his face. Her sudden movement coupled with her head injury made her vision spin, but even as she fell, she felt relief run through her, "Levi."

He dove forward to cushion her fall, and this time when Mikasa's vision went black, it originated from Levi's dark hair tickling her bloodstained cheeks.

"Don't worry, it's not all mine," Mikasa managed to say.

Right before unconsciousness claimed her, Mikasa could've sworn he called out her name.