Levi and Annika, Survey Corps Headquarters - December 19, 845

It was fucking cold this morning with a biting wind that drove tears into his eyes as it whipped his cape around him in the courtyard, attacking his ears, fingers, and toes with icy cruelty. But even though his extremities felt like they were about to wither and fall off, Levi felt a rather unusual excitement: the gloomy air was full of that strange taste and feel that indicated a winter miracle.

Snow!

Nobody had caught on last year that he had never seen snow before - because he was an expert at keeping emotions off his face. After his mother's death, Levi had very quickly learned from Kenny that even just the glimpse of an emotion gave his enemies an opening to attack where it hurt the most. Hide them well or even better, have no emotions at all… something he had never managed. Instead he was choke full of stupid emotions, every day.

Which, all things considered, was no tragedy. Nobody here was an enemy. The Survey Corps had made a place for him in its midst, accepting him as someone to rely on, to respect, even. It had happened after his unexpected return from the Underground, so subtle a shift in his fellow soldier's behavior that it had taken him several days to notice. No, nobody here was an enemy - they were his comrades, every one of them.

But that didn't mean he would show them his emotions. There was only one person here whom he had dropped his guard with completely and… he would never do it again. It had brought nothing but trouble and pain.

With a small sigh, Levi turned his face up to the grey laden sky. He'd sneak up onto the roof later where nobody could see him make a fool of himself. He'd stick out his tongue as far as he could to catch the pretty flakes that would start drifting from the sky soon. He'd watch their graceful descent to earth, from up above where no human had ever been. And he would ask Hanji…

No. He would not ask Hanji.

Even though he was burning with questions about why sometimes, the sky sent a mere trickle, sometimes a heavy downpour, sometimes ice as fat as goose eggs, and sometimes the miracle of snow. Hanji certainly knew these things but he'd just get entirely lost in the sound of her voice, lost in her excitement that was very freakish yet irresistibly cute and suddenly… he would lose all sense of the here and now again, not knowing what was real, what was memories, what was dreams…. and only her could bring him back, could speed up time and anchor him in reality and that was...

Levi inhaled sharply and balled his ice-cold hands into tight fists. Why could he not get a fucking grip on himself? The world within the walls was full of women, many of them willing to spend quality time with him. More so now that his status as "humanity's strongest soldier" had been cemented by silly and fast spreading tales about his miraculous return from the dead. But no, he could not stop comparing them to Hanji when they strutted around him to show off their assets. Not one of them interested him. Boring. Dull. Superficial.

Fuck this. Levi groaned miserably. He needed some tea.

"Hey," a female voice said behind him, making him tense in sudden alarm. No enemies here? Well. That did not exactly apply to this person.

"Annika," he slowly turned towards the newcomer, eyes narrowed and ready for anything. But there was no belligerence in her, only softness. Her locks were buried underneath an opulent fur hat and her face half-hidden by a fluffy pink scarf. She radiated innocence, which was fucking hilarious. She was an excellent actress - so good that she managed to even fool herself.

"Watcha doing, Levi?" she looked at him with eyes that sparkled despite the overcast sky. "Scowling at nothing?"

"Thinking about how to get rid of you," he snapped. Oh, he had heard how she had risen from the quasi dead just like him. The mystery that surrounded her was like a beacon for pretty much all the male members of the Corps - it drew them like moths to the flame.

"Awww, come now," her mouth turned into a perfect pout. "I know you're excited to see me."

"You do?" he started walking forward and noticed that she was quick to follow. She meant business.

"I almost died," her voice quivered as if she were close to tears. "Have mercy."

"I know the feeling," he replied. "Many thanks for that."

"Can we talk, Levi?"

"We're already talking, Annika," she kept pace with his strides. But there was a very faint limp in her gait so that Levi slowed down a fraction before he realized what he had done and sped up again.

"You know that I was under the impression that we were doing what's best for you."

"We?"

"There was an agreement."

"Which you conveniently fucked up by making an agreement with Erwin too. I heard all about it."

"Come on now," her pout deepened, "that's what we always do in the Underground. Make two or three-way deals in case one of them falls through."

"I see. One agreement with Xandra and Renzo, one with Erwin and one with those fucking outsiders who think they have a right to use Undergrounders however they want?"

She stopped, gripping his arm hard: "No."

Her eyes held sincerity and regret. It gave Levi pause before he remembered who this was. Annika. Annika the Red Demon who had no heart and no soul.

"No, Levi. I would never… I would never betray you like this. It was Renzo who broke the deal and handed you over. It gave him the opportunity to move against everyone who was loyal to Xandra and purge the entire Underground of his opponents."

As if one bloodbath wasn't enough. Fucking scum, the lot of them deserved to die. "And you were quite the hero, I heard. What was in it for you? Saving poor girls from an Underground fate… for what? Money?"

"Shut up," Annika hissed at him. "You know exactly that I always stood up for those women, always! I know how easily I could have become one of them if you hadn't…"

"No," Levi interrupted her coldly. "There are no debts between us. Not a single one. You chose your life and I chose mine and I want you to fucking stay away from me."

Annika snorted.

"I don't want you here," Levi doubled down, "and I will do anything to convince Erwin it's a bad idea to let you join the military."

"Oh really?" she chuckled. "Do you think they'll let me go once they see how good I am? You need every man and woman you can get. This Survey Corps of yours is frigging insane."

Levi pressed his lips together. She'd probably graduate top of her class. She'd probably also snap at one point and kill her entire squad over a sideway glance she didn't appreciate. But… not his problem.

"What if I tell you that I'm here because Kenny asked me to?"

Levi stopped dead in his tracks, feeling how the blood left his face. "What?"

"I knew that would get your attention," Annika's face turned unexpectedly grim. "You know I've always considered him my mentor."

"Oh yes, I know," Levi had been there. He had seen how a little girl had been turned into a ruthless killer. And how that little girl had loved every second of it.

"I don't understand why you hate him so much. He's been nothing but fair, always. He saved me so many times."

Levi was too surprised about the turn this conversation was taking to laugh. What a fucking joke! Kenny… fair? Kenny was deranged, a serial killer who took pleasure in turning children into warped little monsters.

"You want me to believe that you are here… because Kenny asked you to? Asked you to do what? Make my life miserable? It may come as a surprise to you but I like it here. I like these people. I don't need you - or Kenny - or any other dick from the Underground to spoil it for me."

"Do you like it because of her?"

Levi felt violence surge inside of him. Annika saw it too and took a hasty step away from him. This was why he did not want her near him: Because she embodied a life that was pointless, where humans killed humans over scraps, just to live for an extra few hours. That had been his life before he had met Erwin. But it was no longer his life.

"She's watching."

"What?"

"Your Zoë. She's watching from one of the windows behind you. Should I hug and kiss you to see how she reacts?"

"Leave her out of this." Levi resisted the urge to turn around and look up. He would see Hanji later, in the laboratory in the basement. She'd give him concoctions and look at him expectantly. She'd probe his mind, Levi, what do you remember? She was trying to help him, but he knew nothing, still knew nothing about who he was and why he was supposed to be special.

You. I remember you, Hanji, only you. I thought you were dead and it almost killed me. I wake every night from nightmares in which you die, burnt to ash by fires, ripped to pieces by Titans. When will this end?

"You've become weird," Annika shrugged. "You always went and got what you wanted before. Why are you sulking around? Why are you not together if she means this much to you?"

Why? Levi suppressed the bitter laugh that wanted to escape from his throat.

"None of your fucking business!" he heard himself say. "What is it that Kenny wants?"

"Eyes on you," Annika replied, watching him closely. "Nothing else."

"Why?" Levi snorted. "Is he afraid his former protege might get kidnapped again?"

"In fact… yes," Annika frowned.

"Truly hilarious," Levi shook his head in astonishment. "What a load of bullshit. Then tell me, why did they take me prisoner?"

"I… I don't actually know. I heard things of course. That you're… that you're kind of special. I've seen you fight, so I kinda believe that you're not like other people."

She knew nothing it seemed. It was a relief. Maybe Kenny didn't know anything either: But he was cunning enough to recognize something valuable and stick to it until he could turn it into profit.

An experiment. A soldier programmed to protect the royal bloodline. If there are no royals for you to protect, you imprint on someone else. Do you understand?

He did.

Let me make sure that you fully understand, her father had said and had shown him a forbidden book, half eaten by bookworms. A book describing experiments with a serum that turned certain human beings into perfect soldiers. Worse, into soldiers that lived for one purpose only - to obey their king. Obedient slaves to their masters.

I cannot want her. I'm not a slave. It will pass. What I feel means nothing.

Every night when he couldn't sleep, he searched for a reason not to believe it. Every night, he failed. Council Hange had said a string of words to him with no meaning though eerily familiar. These words had turned him into a mindless puppet from one second to the next. He had fought it, fought it so hard he had passed out, but in the end, it was pointless. I cannot fight it. I am that weak.

Levi, what do you remember? He wouldn't tell her. He couldn't. He would just learn how to be a soldier in the same unit she was in without getting overwhelmed by need and emotions every time he saw her.

"What do you want for your birthday?" Annika took his arm and drew him forward.

"My birthday? Since when is that a thing?" He shook her arm off. If she was really here at Kenny's behest, he had to humor her. One of these days, he wanted to return to the Underground and kill Renzo Church in the most gruesome way possible. It wouldn't hurt to have Kenny in the background to help him.

"Since there are too many women ogling you like they want to rip your clothes off the first chance they get. Is everyone in this Survey Corps horny all the time?"

Levi scowled at her. "You've got a vivid imagination."

"Erwin said I can join the Training Corps as soon as I'm well enough. Isn't he a nice one?"

"Erwin is many things, but nice isn't one of them."

Annika laughed. "I like him. Very uptight and proper. Wanna bet he'll bed me before the year is over?"

"Good luck with that," Levi snorted. "Why don't you fuck off and go back where you came from if you lose this bet?"

"Okay," Annika's grin deepend. "Challenge accepted. You know what? I really like it here too. And I don't mean to leave."

###

Levi and Hanji, Survey Corps Headquarters - Early February 846

"Fuck, Hanji. Watch where you're going!"

"Oh, sorry, Levi. I didn't see you."

Levi scowled as he rubbed a fast-forming bump on this forehead. "I can see why. Your glasses are too filthy. Disgusting!"

"They are?" Hanji went cross-eyed when she attempted to see for herself. "I didn't notice."

Levi groaned. "That's why you're called shitty glasses. Doesn't that idiot Moblit help you as he should?"

"Um," Hanji frowned and looked around. "I haven't seen him in a while, I think. I've been working."

Levi pressed his lips together angrily. He'd have to give Moblit a dressing down today. Letting Hanji drink thirteen tankards for example… wasn't that dangerous? Of course she had found out he had bet on her and had felt the urge to prove a point but… he tilted his head to study her in the gloomy light of the oil lamps. Hair: like a bird's nest. Glasses: better throw them away before something became alive on them. Skin: pale, blotchy, unclean. Cheeks: hollow.

"Come to the kitchen with me," he ordered her. If Moblit didn't do his job, he had to. Besides, it had been ages that he had talked to Hanji.

"I don't have time," she shook her head, "I was just about to…," a look of confusion spread on her face. "Huh. What was I doing?"

"Probably carrying this… thing," he pointed at a metal contraption that she held in her hand, "somewhere?"

She looked down at the object. "Oh! Yes, you are right. Thank you."

"Mush brain."

"Shorty," she narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you getting smaller as time goes by? I remembered you taller. About… this high? Maybe I'd see you better if you were."

"I shrink away from your filth, that is why," Levi retorted. Her amber eyes softened. He took a step forward before he could check himself.

"How have you been, Levi?" she asked, her voice gentle. "Feels like I haven't seen you in ages."

Dammit. It still took that little to make him reel. Don't say my name like this, he wanted to yell. By the Walls, I miss you, I miss you so much, it's not getting better, it's not at all getting better.

"I've been excellent," he claimed. "I'm just so glad I don't need to spend time in that dirty hole of yours anymore."

Oh no. Now she looked hurt?

"I mean… because the experiments were not going…"

"I know what you think," Hanji snapped at him. "You and Erwin and the other dullards. Hange is crazy, Hange is obsessed, Hange is a menace, blabla, yadda yadda. Just you wait and see! I will certainly..."

"No," Levi interrupted her. "That's not what I think." Not at all.

I think that not spending time with you alone in the lab is the only way I can forget you. That it's how I can break those ties that bind me to you.

"Well, I don't care what you think," Hanji huffed angrily.

"Good," Levi scowled.

"Oh, I meant to ask you: What are you going to do with the money?"

"What money?"

"The money you won because I drank thirteen tankards like you predicted!"

"None of your fucking business."

Actually, he'd like to tell her and hear her say that he was doing something good. He was saving it to buy grave slots for Isabel and Furlan in the main Survey Corps cemetery. Expensive shit. But they deserved it.

"Rage dwarf," she stared at him defiantly. "Gods, you're in an unpleasant mood today, Captain Levi."

"That's not true, I was in a perfectly good mood before you ran me over."

"I'm leaving," she was already turning to go.

"Kitchen?" Levi tried again.

"What would I want in the kitchen?" she turned back to stare at him. Filthy, unkempt - much too desirable. Sometimes, he walked somewhere and caught a whiff of her scent, lingering in the corridors long after she had gone - and it undid him. That was the depth of his lunacy. A whiff was enough.

"Er... I need to show you something," Levi lied.

"O… okay?" she frowned. "What is it?"

"It's a very interesting kind of… animal," he continued lying. "I have never seen one before I wanted your opinion about its… provenance and…"

"Is it from the outside?" she yelled.

"Um, yes. Maybe," he nodded. "But… no, don't run! You'll only bump into…"

Instant collision.

"Fuck!" someone who had just turned a corner screamed. "You fucking idiot, watch where you're going!"

It was Annika. Levi had completely forgotten that they had agreed to meet today because she had some free time. Fuck. Bad timing. He had wanted to trick Hanji into eating a proper meal. Drink some clean water. Relax a little. Be… happy.

"Oh, it's you," Hanji said moodily when she recognized the redhead in her Training Corps uniform and threw Levi an angry look over her shoulder like any of this was his fault.

"You clumsy oaf," Annika scowled. "You almost trampled me to death."

"No big loss there," Hanji snarled. "Looking for the Rage Dwarf? He's right here, in a splendid mood."

"He always is when he's about to meet with me," Annika challenged Hange with flashing eyes.

"You're more than welcome to him," Hanji exclaimed.

"Then why don't you move aside and leave us alone?"

Seriously?

"I just remembered something very important," Levi murmured and turned sharply on his heel.

"L… Levi!" Annika shouted. "Wait! I have news for you from the Underground, wait!"

She often had. That was why he kept meeting with her. News about Renzo. And news about Kenny. Ties… ties to his old life that he could not yet undo however much he wanted to. Nothing made sense but he had the feeling that it should, that it was there, somewhere in his past. That it was just him, his inability to understand and put the pieces together…

"I guess that animal of yours can wait then," Hanji huffed and hurried away without even a backward glance. He almost ran after her but…

Hanji had stopped smiling. She was always busy, always obsessing over something. It should have satisfied him to see that she had no lingering feelings towards him - it was what he had wanted, right? He had to fight this need that was programmed into him, fight this bond that made him a slave.

Anything for freedom. Anything.

###

Levi and his Squad, Survey Corps Headquarters, Mass Hall - February 13, 846

"They really suit each other," Petra was beaming, shoving mashed potatoes into her mouth at lightning speed, "I've always shipped them."

"Ship them? Where to?" Oluo frowned in confusion.

"That's just an expression," Petra scowled. "It means to anticipate and support two people getting together. Never heard that term before?"

"I still don't see what ships have got to do with that…?"

"Man, you guys are old," Petra shook her head in aggravation.

"We are?" Eld looked puzzled. "Captain Levi, are we old?"

The mass hall was abuzz with the news. Hanji and Mike, back together since last night. A team outing of Team Hange and Team Mike turned romantic. Apparently, the pair had been "shipped" by many all along. It made Levi want to do very violent things to everyone.

"Very old for Survey Corps standards," he managed to say like he wasn't imagining Mike's dripping head on a spike in 3D. "Would we have that many Titan kills otherwise?"

"Oh," Eld smiled dreamily. "Nobody will ever get close to our numbers. I don't think it has much to do with being old though? We're just… that good!"

"I believe the Captain was making a joke," Gunther ventured a guess.

"Oh," Eld's smile faltered. "Sorry, Captain Levi. I'm sometimes slow."

A joke? Yes, this was a joke, a bloody awful one. He and Hanji had a fight yesterday. He had said very mean and insulting things to her. But why did she have to try and get back down to the Underground to buy forbidden fucking books like the biggest frigging lunatic?! But would she have drunk as much without the fight, he wondered? She had been very upset all afternoon. He should have swallowed his pride and apologized for calling her names. Then Mike would not have been the one conveniently there to listen and "comfort" her later.

No. He was wrong.

It didn't matter what he did. Didn't ships run on canals leading from one town to another? They always crossed at the exact same point, it was inevitable. Hanji had always liked Mike - he was her type, tall, blond, the physique of a wardrobe. What had happened last year between them in the Underground was nothing to her. Which was excellent since what he had thought were feelings were… fucking feelings that didn't go away - but they were not real. So actually… Levi had wanted this. Well, not this. But he had wanted distance and so he had kept his distance and she had also kept her distance. She was a fellow soldier, a bloody good one and smart and… it shouldn't at all matter to him what Hanji was doing and that she was sleeping with… the image appearing in his head of her in bed with Mike was like a blow to the gut. Okay, he wanted to go up to his room to curl up in bed with his head underneath a pillow, that's what he wanted to do.

"Why would you ship them?" Oluo was still frowning. "It's against the rules to hook up with your fellow soldiers and…"

Petra threw Levi a look full of longing. And everybody around the table noticed, including Levi. Her hopeful puppy eyes made him feel guilty on top of already feeling like crap. He scowled. Petra blushed the deepest crimson and quickly looked away.

"Be...because they're perfect for each other. His calm and her crazy match so well. I know he's been pining for ages and… imagine their children! They will be so, so cute..."

Levi slammed his tankard down on the table so hard the contents spilled over. "She can't have chi…" he shut his mouth forcefully. Why did he care? Why did he fucking care, let everyone imagine Hanji's children with Mike, tall and beautiful! It wasn't like… like he would ever have any. But Renzo had told him about his daughter when they had tortured him and he dreamed of that still, could almost taste the loss, the grief over his little daughter he had never known.

"I know it's against the rules," Petra stammered, "but sometimes, rules need to be broken, right?"

"Yeah," Eld chewed thoughtfully. "I guess I don't care much if Squad Leader Hange sleeps with Zacharias. Or maybe I do... because won't he be distracted? Perfect. Squad Mike thinks they can beat us this year? Ha! Nanaba even bet she would kill more Titans than me during the next expedition! A direct attack on my pride!"

Levi's head hurt a lot. Was he getting sick? Half the Corps had come down with a cold in the last week, maybe it was his turn now? He never got sick normally, but wasn't there a first time for everything?

"Captain Levi, you have to eat something," Petra said quietly and pushed his plate back towards him. "Didn't we want to test a special 3DMG formation this afternoon?"

"Yes," he replied. "Right."

"We could have a team outing tonight," Oluo suggested. "If others go, why don't we? Captain Levi, Eld said this morning that his sister has opened a tavern recently. Should we spend some time there after training?"

"I think that would be great!" Petra beamed.

Levi was about to tell them to shut up because he was most certainly not going on any outings when suddenly, he caught Hanji staring at him across the room. It got him right in the heart, this pensive, probing look of hers. She was so beautiful how she sat there, her special kind of beautiful, radiant, a woman who was so full of life she made even the biggest oaf look good next to her. He hated Mike and the arm he had put around Hanji's shoulder so much he could have gotten up and rammed a knife into his chest this very moment and knew at the same time that he had no right to hate him. That Mike was a good man, an excellent soldier, someone he would trust with his life.

I'm an experiment. A soldier programmed to protect the royal bloodline. If there are no royals for me to protect, I imprint on someone else. But when does it end? I kept my distance. I stayed away, I did everything I possibly could. I want this to end.

"Yes," he said, not a single emotion showing on his face as he held Hanji's gaze. "Yes, let's go to that tavern."

Bloody hell, it had to end.

It was time he stopped jerking off pathetically while thinking of a woman who knew how to set him aflame by just saying his name. A woman who had ruined him for other women because nobody compared to the way she felt to his touch, the way she tasted, and the way she made him feel. But it was time to do what all men here did, all men and all women. Go out, have fun, quench your animal desires, fuck until the sun comes up, be ready for duty and death the next day.

###

Levi and Council Hange, City Council Building - Early summer of 849

"And whom is she sleeping with these days?"

Levi carefully pocketed the scroll Council Hange had handed him as a "present" for Hanji's birthday in September. Pictures of plants and animals. Hanji thought they were from him, just like her father wanted it.

"Zacharias." And if the gossip was true, with Nanaba. But Levi sure wouldn't tell her father about that. He'd only do something drastic and Levi had been working hard for years to prevent that. Years of humoring this bastard of a father who used him to spy on his daughter and on Erwin.

"Still? Good," Council Hange brushed away a bit of dust from his jacket. "How's Treibel holding up?"

Levi shrugged. "He's good."

And probably developing a stomach ulcer from stress. Erwin had put Annika in his squad. Hilarious to see him struggle.

"Still no lead on the Founder?"

Levi shook his head, eying Basil flex his fists and crack his knuckles while leaning casually against the wall. If that was supposed to be threatening, it had the opposite effect: It actually made him itch to plant his fist into the guard's tanned face once again. But Levi had found out something about himself in the past years: he could be surprisingly patient. One day, he would fight Basil. Fight and kill him. It couldn't end any other way between them. He could wait for that day.

Footsteps sounded on the marble floor to the right and Levi turned his head to see a stocky noble with a round face, short black hair and a thin black mustache approach. He did not look special but Levi noticed that Council Hange stood a little straighter.

"Lord Reiss," Hange greeted the man with a small bow. "So good to see you. How is your health?"

Reiss. Well that was a name Levi would not quickly forget. Lord Reiss, who did not resemble his half-brother even one bit, looked him up and down him unmasked curiously.

"Is that him?" he asked Council Hange. "He's much smaller than I imagined."

"Yes," Hange nodded. "It's him."

"Obedient?"

"Very."

How very like a bunch of nobles to talk about him as if he weren't there. Basil's lips quirked. Levi mouthed an obscenity at him. That stopped the smirking.

"Does he know what he is looking for?"

"The Founder," Levi answered promptly, earning himself a rebuking look from the nobles.

So this was the man who had lost that thing in the first place. That and a daughter named Frieda. The Founder, so Levi had been told, was a human, but a special one. He would immediately know when he saw him, Council Hange had claimed. His kind had that ability.

Levi had since come to the conclusion that Hange was insane. And apparently, this Reiss guy was insane too because he sprouted the same kind of nonsense.

"It's been quiet for too long," Council Hange currently said in a very low voice. "If they infiltrated us four years back, why are they not doing anything?"

"I have no answer," Lord Reiss said. "I feared they might have been behind the incident in the chapel for a while but if they had gotten their hands on it…"

"We should get in contact with Will," Council Hange urged. "We need to talk. I don't like this one bit."

"But how?" Lord Reiss laughed mirthlessly.

Council Hange turned his brown eyes on Levi. Um, what now? He was not going to be this man's errand boy and look for a guy named Will! Obedient my ass. Hange didn't know about the rule of three. Whatever he had used on Levi that first time to make him feel like a puppet had stopped working.

"He has no memories," Council Hange shook his head slowly, "like somebody wanted to make absolutely sure he would not be able to carry out his duties."

Both men stared at him like he was a delicate flower. Both of them, insane, Levi thought as he stared back. I hope Erwin is going to save me soon.

Miraculously, as if he had heard his silent plea, Commander Erwin turned a corner at the lower end of the corridor and strode towards them with long strides.

"Lord Reiss, Council Hange," he beamed at the two nobles, "I am very pleased to find you here. I wanted to thank you for your…"

Levi suppressed a grin as he waxed on about law this, favor that. Nobody could dupe nobles ilke Erwin. Though he was the son of a schoolteacher, he looked more aristocratic than all of them with his straight back, his intimidating eyebrows and his brisk way of speaking.

"... I was actually looking for Levi," Erwin frowned down at him. "Levi, don't you know we have a meeting with Lebov? Don't slack, soldier!"

"Lebov, huh," Levi remarked drily after they had rounded a corner together after a brief farewell. "You will never stop reminding me of my mistake it seems."

"Quite so," Erwin chuckled. "Next time, I'll let you stew for a little longer too. A priceless look on your face just now."

Levi recounted what he had found out, which wasn't anything they had not already known - though it was kind of curious that Lord Reiss had shown his face and had not been more cautious about what he had said in front of Levi. It seems those nobles were anxious.

"He suspects nothing?" Erwin asked with a side glance.

"I don't think so," Levi shrugged.

"But you know who does? Zoë."

Levi gritted his teeth. Yes, Hanji had confronted him more than once about his meetings with her father. Levi had always denied everything but she was not convinced.

"We should tell her," Erwin suggested.

"No!"

That hasty response earned him another one of Erwin's side glances. He had never asked Levi about him and Hanji. But he was a perceptive bastard.

"No," Levi repeated in a more measured tone. "She'll go ballistic, confront him, and my life as a double spy will be over."

"Maybe it's time for it to be over," Erwin said. "I need your full attention on the Survey Corps. We're heading out soon."

"Don't tell me Hanji has plans to catch a Titan again?"

"Of course Zoë has developed new plans how to catch a Titan again."

Levi groaned. "Tell her to fucking stop it!"

"Why don't you tell her?"

"Maybe we should both tell her."

"You first?"

"Fucking coward," Levi growled. "Yes. Me first."

###

Levi and Hanji, Survey Corps Headquarters, Rooftop - March 19, 850

"Oh! I'm sorry, Levi. I didn't know you were up here."

Hanji stood there looking unsure whether his presence on the roof meant she could not also be here even though she had brought apple cider with her and a plate of what looked like butter cookies.

"Which one was Ugly Titan again?" he asked and pointed at the sky.

"You remember?" she came forward excitedly and dropped down next to him. "That one," she pointed. "The formation with one, two… five stars. There. In the north-western sky."

"Ah, I see it," he lied. "And Winged Titan."

"Yes! You really do remember, after so many years!" Her radiant, giddy smile was a dangerous thing, still, after so many years and Levi quickly tore his eyes from her face and looked at his hands.

"So you finally did it, huh," he said quietly. "You caught a fucking Titan."

"I caught a fucking Titan, Levi!" Hanji whooped, "I caught a fucking Titan! See? You didn't believe I could do it, you can admit it now!"

"Oh, you're wrong, mush-brain," Levi replied and lifted his eyes from his hands. "I always knew you could do it. But I hoped you would fail." Because it's too dangerous. Because your success will drive you to do even crazier things next time.

"Charming as ever," she said and opened her bottle with her teeth.

I'm so fucking proud of you, Hanji, Levi thought, looking at her face as she drank straight from the bottle with long, thirsty gulps. I wish you luck, Hanji. I wish you luck. Please live a long, happy life.

"Looking forward to the new recruits that are joining soon?" Hanji offered him the plate of cookies.

"Hell no!" Levi replied and took one.

His fingers brushed hers and for a short moment, the world stilled, its cruelty forgotten, they were nothing but two humans on a rooftop underneath the stars.

What if I kiss her?

But she pulled her hand away and sighed and he quickly put the cookie into his mouth to cover his sudden embarrassment.

Four and a half years. He had not managed to sever a single tie. A mere whiff was enough to undo him.

Maybe it was time to stop fighting it.

END OF PART 1

Thanks for staying with me this long, folks! Read on if you're ready for more angst, adventure and the occasional steamy scene after Eren and the rest of the 104th Training Corps join our heroes.
After thinking long and hard about several options, I decided to leave most of the story intact - Part 2's first chapter is set after Historia Reiss' coronation ceremony. I promise closure and a happy ending for some and lots of heartbreak and tears for others.

PART 2: s/13874327/1/A-Devoted-Heart-Attack-on-Titan-LeviHan-Part-2