"Have you heard of someone called Appius Tybur?" Zoë asked Maria, twirling the white name card between her fingers so that the golden lettering flashed in the light of the sun that flooded through the large windows at this time of the day.

"No. Who is that?" Maria was using a hand broom to brush the remnants of their lunch off the desk. Zoë had been fortunate enough to get her share of bread and pastry too. That baker husband of Maria's definitely knew what he was doing; his business was going to go on the revamped list of suppliers for the Survey Corps.

"A lawyer," Zoë put the name card on her desk to stare at it, as if the piece of cardboard could reveal more about the strange man with the predator eyes. "Or so he says."

"Why should I have heard of a lawyer?" Maria chuckled. "I'm a good, hard-working citizen and have no trouble with the law."

"It's just strange," Zoë mused, eying the fat letter that had been delivered from the high court just this morning.

"What is strange?"

"That guy. Him approaching me yesterday. I don't know… well, everything is strange about him."

"You should ask Flegel," Maria suggested. "He knows everyone in Trost."

"Good idea," Zoë stretched and suppressed a yawn, eying Maria's tidy desk. "Are you headed home soon?"

"Yes. We're done."

"We're d… what do you mean?"

"Done," Maria beamed. "All the documents have been filed away according to the new system. Just make sure you always put them back where you took them from and you'll be fine. Oh and if new stuff comes in… ack, you know. File them in the right section."

"What?" Zoë sprang to her feet. Done so fast? She couldn't quite believe it but… yes. The office looked very orderly. "Does that mean… Will you not come anymore?"

Maria shook her head. "Nope. I did what Levi asked me to do. The debt is repaid."

"But…"

Maria laughed at her. "You'll be fine. Just remember to put your tasks and meetings down on the correct day. Put that agenda on your desk so you always see it. And…"

"But how will I know what time it is?!"

Maria lifted her eyebrows.

"You cannot leave," Zoë shook her head vigorously. "I need you as my assistant. I'll pay you… more. You are getting paid, are you not?"

Maria looked thoughtful. "It's not about money. I am not sure my husband would like it."

"What? Why not?" Zoë stumbled around the desk. "Let me meet him. I'll talk to him."

"Okay?" Maria still looked doubtful.

Zoë moaned in desperation. "I need someone as well organized as you. Someone who tells me where I need to be at which time."

"Like: you have a meeting with Commanders Dok and Pixis today?"

"I do?!"

"Yes," Maria grinned, "at 2pm. Commander Dok is coming to meet you guys here."

"What is the meeting about?"

"You called it. I think you wanted to talk about the new recruiting scheme."

"Oh shit. I completely forgot," Zoë tore at her hair in a short fit of panic. She had indeed insisted on that meeting. She was woefully unprepared.

"You put together notes the other day," Maria pointed at Zoë's desk. "You put them in one of the drawers. You also stayed up all night to familiarize yourself with the Survey Corps supply chains and had a few ideas how to improve it."

"Yes, now I remember," Zoë murmured, ripping open drawers next to recover her ideas. "In here, you say?"

"Yes," Maria came over to help. "It's where you put them…"

No notes were found in the drawer. Maria and Zoë exchanged a glance, then both dissolved into laughter.

"This is not going to work, is it," Maria giggled.

"Please stay a bit longer," Zoë wheezed, "I am not doing this deliberately, I just…"

"There's no space in that head of yours for boring things, I get it," Maria emptied the contents of the drawers onto the desk and started to go through it in search of the notes. "I'll talk to my husband."

There was a knock at the door. Sasha and Connie stuck their heads in, curious about what was going on that caused such merriment.

"Fetch Flegel for me," Zoë told them. "I have to ask him about someone. And tell Floch to oversee the deliveries this afternoon, a bunch of supplies are coming in. I'll be out."

After that meeting with the other Commanders, she would have to go see that lawyer. She turned the name card and stared at the address of Tybur's office at the back. How had he known about the content of the letter that was delivered to her this morning?

Her petition to move the court hearing to another date next month had been denied. Levi was to appear in court on the morrow, 8am sharp. Non-compliance was punishable by up to four days in prison.

There was no way Levi could be in Mitras tomorrow morning.

She shouldn't have sent him away. All the more so because it increasingly felt to her like someone had very much wanted him to be gone.

###

The brats were all super excited about going camping in the woods, chattering like a flock of annoying geese. Standing to the side, watching everyone bustle about with bags full of provisions and other supplies, Levi's doubts about the whole undertaking grew. Really, what had come over him when he had suggested such an outing to the whole group of blithering teenagers? He felt… strange. Had he not known better, he would guess he was coming down with something. A flu in the summer though? What bullshit, he never got sick. But his head felt too light, there was a slight dizziness when he turned too quickly and something… something was nagging him, like he had forgotten something essential, it was most maddening.

Grumbling to himself, he noticed a maid with ample tits that were a fraction from popping from her tight bodice walk across the courtyard, broad hips swaying seductively. She blew a kiss at Eren, who colored deeply and turned his face away.

What? She was at least twice the boy's age. Levi's protective instincts flared.

"You," he barked at the maid. "Come here."

"Yes?" She smiled at him sweetly as she came over, swaying that butt, but Levi wasn't fooled. He noticed guilt and fear from a mile away.

"What's your name?" he asked brusquely.

"Caroline, Sir," she lowered her large blue eyes demurely.

Caroline? That name rang a faint bell. Did she not have a brother who had annoyed him in the past? He narrowed his eyes on her, trying to remember the details.

"You keep away from Eren," Levi snapped. "Is that understood?"

"Wh… y-yes, Sir," she stammered, her eyes full of mortification, "I only…"

"He obviously doesn't want your attention," Levi admonished her. "Bestow your sexual favors on somebody else."

"Yes, sir," that mouth… her pout was something to behold.

"Does your brother work on this farm too?" Levi asked, growing more suspicious by the second.

"M...my bro-other?" her face lost all color and she swallowed compulsively. "N… no."

Historia. Levi suddenly remembered - the memory was sluggish though as if he had to drag it from the farthest corner of his mind. They were here because Historia was a target. They were here to draw the people who wanted her out. How in hell's name had he forgotten? It had to be this blasting heat.

"He was interested in meeting Historia, right?" Levi smiled wolfishly at her. "Tell him he can come see me about that."

"Y… yes," Caroline stammered. "Please, he is a good person. Do not hurt him. Please."

"Why would I hurt him?" Levi narrowed his eyes even further. "What has he done?"

Caroline burst into loud, ugly tears.

And everybody in the courtyard turned and looked at Levi with outrage.

"What?" He lifted his hands in defense. "Just asking a few questions. Are the members of your family hunters from the Southern Territories, perchance? I bet they use arrow fletchings that are black, white and red."

For a moment, it looked like Caroline wanted to run, but apparently, she was smarter than that. She looked up into the sky and swore loudly in the dialect of the Southern forests that they knew from Sasha.

"Is she the leak?" Armin ran over and stared at the maid with big eyes. "Oh, how did we miss that before?"

"We weren't asking the right questions," Levi said, throwing a dark look in Eren's direction. The boy's green eyes were startled as he stared at Levi. The little shit. Keeping things from them again, was he?

Oh, but going camping was exactly what they needed to do, it seemed. Going camping and not putting up a guard. A nice fat honeypot full of giggling teenagers. Perfect bait.

"I'm watching you," Levi told Eren menacingly because… well, because whatever Eren was doing, Levi didn't like it.

###

"So, how did you know the court would decline my petition to move the hearing into next month?" Zoë challenged Mr. Tybur right after he had invited her to sit down in front of his massive, dark desk that had clearly been built to intimidate. His office was situated in the richest part of Trost, on the first floor of a house with a spice store below, its strong flavors seeping in through the floorboard, perfuming the air with a strange but not unpleasant mix of clove and anise seed.

He curled his thin lips into a brief smile. "I already told you: In my line of work, knowing things is paramount. Tea? Schnaps? Any other refreshments?"

"No, thank you," Zoë shook her head, watching his fine white hands with the long slender fingers as he helped himself to a drink from the decanter on the sideboard. This man had grown up in a noble household, there could not be any doubt about it. Only nobility moved like this, as if the world belonged to them.

"How long have you been in Trost, Mr. Tybur?" Zoë continued her questions.

"A few years," he settled back into his chair after pulling the heavy curtains closed a fraction so that the sun was blocked out and couldn't blind her. "I came after the Fall of Wall Maria."

"From where? Shiganshina?"

"Curious, are we, Miss Hange?" he chuckled softly and sipped a bit of liquor from the small crystal glass in his hand. "Yes, from Shiganshina. I made it out on the second boat. Barely."

"There are no other Tyburs anywhere," Zoë challenged him. "Where's the rest of your family?"

"Not here," his smile faltered. "Dead. I had a wife and a son."

His story made no sense at all but it matched with what Flegel had been able to tell her. Appius Tybur had made a name for himself as a lawyer for rich merchants in the last few years, often taking their side against the noble families. Could he be the disgruntled third son of a noble house? Someone who had offended his family like her, choosing a life outside nobility? Hiding one's true identity was hardly a crime, but she couldn't shake her suspicion.

"Are you working for my father?" she asked bluntly.

Tybur laughed out loud, the skin around his eyes crinkling. "No, by the Gods. No. Your father and I… we are enemies."

Enemies?

"How?" Zoë leaned forward a little.

"Oh, he backstabbed me not too long ago. He snatched a very important asset away and tried to use it against me. He failed. But only because you, Miss Hange… you and Erwin Smith stopped him."

Zoë stiffened. The documents they had on her father? Did Tybur know about them? She had just looked at them this afternoon, taking them from the sealed envelope Erwin had kept them in. Her father was quasi banished, but that evidence still posed a threat to him - she'd like to think so at least. The current government around Darius Zackly would not be lenient towards crimes of bribery and treason. A nice, quiet life in the country was preferable to a life in prison after all.

"So… you approached me because my father is behind the complaint against one of my soldiers?"

"Yes," Mr. Tybur's smooth smile was back on his lips instantly. "Your father is suing Levi Ackerman for personal reasons and I want to make sure he fails."

Zoë instantly hated the familiarity with which Mr. Tybur said Levi's name but this sure got more intriguing by the second.

"Why?"

Tybur slowly turned the small glass between his elegant fingers, looking at a point above her head as if lost in thought. "Do you know who the Ackermans were?"

Zoë shrugged. "Warriors to protect the King?"

Tybur leveled his eyes at her. "Yes. Among other things, they were that."

He put down the little glass and opened a drawer to his right, sifting through some documents. He pulled out a bundle, holding it towards her. Gingerly, she took it.

"They're Titan experiments of the Old Eldian Empire," he said. "But I'm sure you've realized that yourself. They can manifest the power of the Titans as humans, without becoming a Titan or inheriting any of the Nine Titans."

Zoë's hands shook and her throat grew tight.

"And?" she pressed out, blinking at the document she held. Titan experiments…? No. She had not realized that. Oh, but it explained a lot, didn't it? Levi… Levi's and Mikasa's above average performance. Faster, stronger, smarter, healing more quickly… Shit, what will Levi do when he finds out? He hates Titans so much.

She was holding a scientific report. She blinked again. "How old is this?" she asked.

"Not too old," Tybur replied. "Someone is trying to reproduce those experiments from hundreds of years ago."

"What?!" Hastily, Zoë began to read. And recognized the document right away. A report of horrendous torture. Dosages, substances, schedules, effects. "How… how did you get this?" She hated that her voice shook but how could she not feel nauseous after the reminder of what had been done to Levi in captivity?

"You've seen this before?" Tybur seemed surprised at the realization.

"My father thought I should know," she said stiffly, turning a page, checking for something she had missed. But it was the exact same copy of the report her father had given her, not a word more. She had not understood back then though.

"I see," Tybur nodded slowly. "And you kept him in your ranks nonetheless? You're a brave lot."

Zoë looked up sharply. "Are you implying Levi is dangerous?"

"Ha," Tybur chuckled. "The Ackermans cannot be controlled, so of course they're dangerous, just like the Titans are. Why do you think the former Kings wanted them eradicated?"

He took a deep breath, his fingers drumming on the table before he checked himself.

"The reason why we need to stop your father is that it is him who wants to breed a new line of Ackermans. He thought Levi had information on unknown aspects of the procedure. Apparently, there is a serum stored away somewhere that is needed for the final step in the transformation. The full power of the Ackermans can only be released after an injection with it."

"This…," Zoë swallowed hard as she looked at the report of torture again. "This was done to extract information from Levi?" By my father?

"As far as I know," Tybur nodded. "But apparently, someone made sure Levi wouldn't crack. He didn't reveal his knowledge."

"I don't think Levi knows anything about being an Ackerman," Zoë murmured, remembering his desperation when he had snapped on that day in her father's mansion. Can you even begin to understand what it means to suddenly have a name but it's the name of slaves, of dogs bred for a specific purpose? Tell me if you know. Tell me!

"Ah?" Tybur appeared thoughtful. "Yes, I guess that's possible. He grew up in rather dire circumstances after all."

"How do you know all this…?" she asked, her head reeling.

"I've made it my business to know," Tybur said darkly. "It took me many years to collect the relevant information."

"Have you ever seen a book? It's red. It contains further information on the Ackermans."

"Oh," Tybur's eyes flashed with sudden interest. "I have not. Does your father have it?"

"Maybe," Zoë said cautiously. "I just heard about it."

"I will investigate," Mr. Tybur frowned as he made a note on a notepad. The pen he used was golden, with what looked like a tiny ruby at the top. Definitely nobility. Nobody got that rich after a few years of helping merchants win lawsuits.

"So you're saying my father wants to breed Ackermans? What for?"

"He wants his own private army of supersoldiers to overthrow the government. He wants control over the Walls."

"What?!" Zoë couldn't stop her outburst. This made… this made no sense! … or did it? Maybe she didn't know her father at all.

"He tried to compromise Levi Ackerman years ago," Tybur claimed. "But he failed. This lawsuit is his latest scheme to get his hands on him once again. Levi cannot go to prison. Your father has spies there."

Zoë handed back the documents, fighting for composure. "So… What do you suggest we do?"

"Give me the mandate to defend Levi Ackerman in court."

"And then?" Zoë leaned back and cocked her head to look at the man before her. The blood was singing in her ears. She hoped she wasn't going to have a vertigo attack soon, not here, not in front of this man.

"Levi Ackerman needs to disappear until your father has been brought to justice."

Five years ago, other people had tried to make Levi disappear. It had ended in a horrible calamity for too many innocent lives. One of the mistakes his friends in the underground had made was to treat Levi like an object that had no right to decide what he wanted for himself. She would not make that same mistake, however many others she had already made.

"Do you know who the Panther is?" Zoë asked.

Tybur frowned. "No. Pan-ther? What does that mean?"

Zoë shook her head, thinking hard. "Mr. Tybur," she then said and got up from her chair. "You have the mandate to defend Levi Ackerman in court."

"I thank you," Tybur got up quickly and extended his hand to her, seeming relieved. "I think I should meet with Mr. Ackerman as soon as possible to discuss a strategy for his defense. It will be important that he keeps his calm during the hearing."

Zoë nodded absentmindedly. Should she send Connie and Sascha to fetch Levi back to Trost? The sooner, the better.

Mr. Tybur came around the desk to open the door for her. "I'm very grateful," he said, sketching a small bow as she passed him. "Thank you, Miss Hange."

"I'm the Commander of the Survey Corps," she corrected him coolly. "There's no Miss Hange here."

"Yes," his grey eyes focused on her with that hunter's intensity she had noticed before and she had to suppress a sudden shiver. "Commander, I apologize. I am certain we will work together well. Thank you for your trust."

Trust? Zoë walked down the stairs and out onto the street, nodding to one of Flegel's men who stood waiting at the corner, probably to provide protection if needed.

Trust?

If there was one thing she did not feel towards the man she had just seen then it was trust. In his line of work, it might be paramount to know things. In her line of work, people who knew this much about things this sensitive were damn suspicious.

###

Camping wasn't so bad after all, Levi decided. It was all very harmonious and enjoyable. The brats were running around in the forest trying to find something to eat while he sat leisurely on a stone in the shade, his feet in the cold stream, waiting for a fish to bite.

Queen Historia was the only one in the group who knew about fishes in streams since Sasha and Connie with their profound outdoor knowledge weren't here to enlighten them. Before taking off with Jean on a quest to find berries, Historia had instructed Levi how to fashion a fishing rod. He had followed her suggestion to catch earthworms that now sat wiggling by his side in a tin can full of wet dirt and had put the fattest one of them on the hook that was submerged in the water. The fish, once fooled by the bait to bite the hook, was to be killed with a strong bonk to its head.

Easy enough. Levi was proficient at hitting things hard to kill them.

He shifted carefully into a more comfortable position without moving the rod too much. Fish were easily spooked, Historia had said, so it was paramount that he sat very still. He did wonder a little just how long he had to sit still though. So far, not a single fish had ventured near his bait from underneath the stones in the shallow pool that formed right under one of the cataracts.

But Historia had told him that fishing required patience too, looking at him doubtfully like she thought him quite incapable of such a thing. But Levi could be patient if necessary. He'd show her just how patient.

"Fucking fish," he murmured. Carefully, he lifted the hook above the water to check the position of the worm and… "Fuck!" he exclaimed. The worm was no longer there?

After swinging the hook towards himself and catching it in his hand, he grabbed another worm from the can.

"Stay there until you get eaten," he ordered it, skewering it several times. Maybe he had to move it away from the hook's end a little more? There. Content about his handiwork, Levi threw the hook back into the shallow pool, craning his neck to check for movement in the water.

If the brats managed to catch an animal and he didn't, they'd gloat endlessly. Yes, catching a fucking fish was a matter of honor. Which was… ridiculous, Levi thought and grinned at his own ludicrousness. Like it mattered whether he caught a fish. They had provisions enough to last for a week and the farmhouse was a mere two hours away. And then he wished Hanji were here because he was... enjoying himself, as weird as that was, and she deserved to enjoy herself too. If she were next to him right now, he would enjoy himself even more.

With a sigh, he wondered how she was doing in the stuffy, dusty Trost, which heated up so much in the summer with no reprieve to be found in streams and forests and the gentle song of birds.

I miss her, Levi thought, feeling pressure in his chest. A lot.

In the many years he had been a soldier at her side, he had never been this far away from her, he realized. Not once had he gone on a mission without her. Not once.

So, whoever was trying to come for Historia better hurry up a little because he wanted to go back to Hanji, like - a lot. If she wanted to talk, he'd talk. It wasn't like it caused him physical pain to do it, he just didn't like it. At all. But he'd talk to her. He'd answer all her questions. Right after taking her to bed with him, by the Gods.

Levi shifted again, this time because of the stiffening flesh in his trousers. Excellent, he was at the point of horniness where he got an erection when thinking Hanji and bed in the same sentence.

But then he saw something on the other side of the creek that took care of the problem in his trousers very quickly.

"I'll be damned. What are you doing here?" he ground out, going on high alert.

"Fuck, I got stationed here! Not that I wanted to go to the country, the insects around here are insane!" Annika complained, stepping out from behind a bush, shaking her red mane in contempt as she scratched herself for emphasis.

Right. The military police who had been sent to cordon off the area. Of course it had to be Annika of all fucking people. And if she was here, Treibel was just around the corner too. Levi narrowed his eyes on the readhead suspiciously.

"Are you stalking me?"

"I was sent to investigate who was frolicking around in the forest," Annika sneered. "How could I have known it was you?"

"Did you notice anything suspicious?"

"Yes, you," Annika snarked. "You putting your naked feet into an ice cold stream and staring into the air like you're having a fucking good time."

"It's called fishing," Levi informed her. "It is indeed very enjoyable."

"Are you nuts?"

Levi shrugged, relaxing a little. Even Annika couldn't destroy his good mood.

"You sent me a note," she pouted, stepping on a stone to look into the stream. "I got it right before I was deployed here."

"Yeah, I did," Levi said. "We didn't get to finish our conversation the last time. How's that financé of yours?"

"Not here," Annika's pout deepened. "I bet you other women are all over him in my absence. That's the problem about rich guys."

"You might have to settle for Treibel after all," Levi suggested. "I'm sure he's not too far."

"Fuck him," Annika snapped. "He's such a nuisance. So when will you come back to the city?"

"Don't know."

"You said you'd join me in the Underground."

"Yeah. But now I'm here and that means I can't."

"It's a golden opportunity. Renzo is weakened. We should strike now."

"Maybe you haven't noticed yet," Levi drawled, "but you're quite far from the Underground as well. So nobody strikes anything. Unless I catch a fish. Then I have to strike it over the head and..."

"Do you want to sleep with me?" Annika interrupted him.

"Huh?!" Levi couldn't help his mouth from dropping open. "Are you insane?"

"Why?" She looked at him from across the creek with her head cocked to the side. "Man, did we have a good time back then."

"Maybe you forgot the part where you tried to kill me?" Levi pulled the hook from the stream. The worm was fucking gone again.

"Oh no, I recall very well. I tried several times but you're still alive and you're pissing me off big time. I'm so glad it didn't work out with us and that farm."

"Us. A farm. What the fuck are you babbling about, Annika."

"Oh, you don't know?" she flicked her hair back. "That's too bad. Xandra wanted to bring you to a faraway farm somewhere south of Karanese, where I would have nursed you back to health. We would have settled on the farm together for as long as necessary."

"I see. Did you guys plan what would happen once I throttled you?"

"Pah," she broke off a twig from a tree and threw it into the water. "You're too soft for that. You couldn't kill me even if I let you."

Soft? Levi huffed as he skewered another worm. That was the problem with women indeed. They made you soft inside. He threw the fishing rod on the ground.

"You said you had a lead on the Panther the other day?"

"Yes," she nodded. "But he doesn't go by that name anymore. He's in Trost. Come back with me and I will show you where he lives."

"Trost?" Fuck.

Annika looked at him expectantly.

"Let me think about it," Levi said, looking toward the place where their tents stood. The brats were back. He could hear Eren and Armin argue over something and Mikasa throwing in her opinion.

It was very tempting.

"You owe them nothing," Annika said with slitted eyes. "I hope you know that."

"Yeah, I do," Levi corrected her. "I promised to protect them. So that's what I'm doing."

"You could be the King of the Underworld, Levi. You know that as well."

"Ha," Levi said and kicked his fishing rod into the stream, where it was quickly carried away by the current. "Sit in the cramped dark full of dirt when we now know the world is so much larger than we thought? I don't think so."

Annika pointed her finger at some distant point. "We're stationed behind this forest. Come see me if you're ready. I'll be waiting. You know what I think? Nobody is out here. Nobody wants the Queen."

Levi shrugged and watched Annika walk away through the forest. Nobody wanted the Queen? It was possible that they had been fooled. But why?

###

They headed back the next day already after Armin fell into a fire ant hill and was bitten half to death. He looked quite horrible with pus-filled blisters springing up all over his body. Feeling very little compassion - because who was that clumsy? - Levi chose a swift pace that seemed to please his horse who apparently wanted to be back at the stables as soon as possible.

"There is a limit to pampering," he admonished it sternly, earning himself a massive eye roll, "You're still a Survey Corps horse, not a plow horse."

Which went for himself as well. The closer they got to the orphanage, the stronger that strange nagging feeling got again. Something wasn't right, even if camping had managed to muddle his head enough to make him forget. Like Annika had suggested, nobody had bitten the bait. It was marginally possible the presence of the military police had scared them off, but there had been ample opportunities for attacks before the camping trip, during the camping trip and now.

But nothing moved on the big flat plane. Nothing but huge thunderclouds that were beginning to pile up in the West.

Maybe he should go back to Trost. Maybe he should kill the Panther. And Renzo. King of the Underworld? He'd rather burn the whole place down. There was space enough out here for everybody, nobody needed to live down there anymore.

They were greeted enthusiastically by the farmhands in the fields as they drew nearer and soon, the orphanage with its several picturesque buildings came into view. Some of the children were picking berries in the garden, waving to them from afar.

"We will release Caroline from her temporary confinement," Levi told Historia. "Her brother is either very clever or not around anymore."

Historia nodded. "I don't know, Captain Levi," she said. "I'm thinking we got something wrong."

"It's possible," Levi nodded. "I'll think about what to do next. I might send word to Commander Hanji to consult with h…"

Levi's mouth dropped open. Was he seeing things? She stood at the gate, waving to them.

"Hanji?" he croaked, spurring on his horse and jumping off in front of her.

"Surprise," Hanji beamed at him.

How well she looked. Her skin was a little toned, probably from riding out here in the sun, her lips were a little parted as she smiled and light danced merrily in her one visible eye.

"Hanji," Levi repeated, making a grab for her hands. "Are you really here?"

"Yes, I'm here."

"Why?" Levi frowned at her, "what happened?"

"Nothing much," Hanji said and looked around herself. "This is a lovely place, I really should have visited sooner."

Levi became aware of the brats who were eagerly staring at them from horseback. Even Armin had temporarily forgotten his agony.

"Go look after the horses," he snapped at them and started to pull Hanji with him towards the house. "The adults need to discuss something important."

"Levi, wait, I need to…"

"Nonsense," he grumbled, pulling harder until her resistance vanished. "You need to come with me."

Hanji giggled. That sound coming from her had a very strong physical effect on Levi. It became a little difficult to breathe. He pushed open the front door to the lodgings and rushed along the corridor with her in tow.

"Do you…," he shouldered open the door to his room and pulled her inside, kicking the door shut. "Do you… do you want to talk?"

"Talk?" Hanji smiled at him brightly. "It is good to see you, Levi. You look unusually relaxed."

"Yes, you look good too," he breathed, eyeing her with mounting agitation, "are we done talking now?"

She snickered, looking around the spartan room with the small window.

"It smells of wild roses here," she marveled. "That's too strange. I dreamed about this."

"Come here," he growled, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her towards him, her scent enveloping him like an odoriferous cloud. "I have no idea what you're doing here and what is going on but I don't care. Because Hanji - I need to sleep with you right now."

"Yes," she breathed and grabbed his head to pull his lips towards hers. "That sounds like a good idea."