All set? Hmmm… almost.

Levi looked around the empty guest stables, frowning at the regret he felt about their imminent departure. He wasn't even sure why he liked it here so much but the devastated way Cook had looked at him when he had told her he was leaving had put a lump in his throat. And the kids… his hand went to his right trouser pocket to finger the rag doll one of the girls had made for him as a parting gift.

Tch.

No need for sentimentality, he'd be back soon. Historia wanted to enlarge the orphanage and take in more kids and he had promised to help her with the logistics - if Hanji let him take some time off that was.

Time off?

Levi snorted at the ludicrous notion as he opened stable box after stable box to check their cleanliness one last time. Of course he would not get any time off. They had a Titan problem in the outer territory that needed urgent taking care of. The monsters had to be killed so that humanity could repopulate the land between Wall Rose and Wall Maria and he was going to be the one leading these efforts. After that, he might be able to return here for a few days. That was soon enough even if he was sure to miss the harvest festival.

And then he would have to make sure there would be many more harvest festivals to come.

Spotting some straw that lay scattered in one of the last compartments, Levi went in and used a dustpan and brush to remove it. It was Titans first, human enemies after. The orphaned children deserved a good, peaceful and carefree life. Nobody and nothing had a right to threaten them.

"Are we ready to ride in half an hour, Levi?"

Levi swiveled around. How had he not heard Hanji come in? His stomach did a little somersault at the sight of her. She was in uniform like him, the green cape draped carelessly over her shoulders. The morning sunlight that filtered in through the small windows made her tied-up hair shine like molten sugar.

She looked glorious.

"Yes," he replied, trying not to stare at her like a leering lunatic.

"You arranged everything with the outrider teams?"

"Of course," he frowned. She had given him the order last night, had she not? He had distributed signal flares - just in case - but the formation was simple. Levi and Hanji in front as vanguard, Anni and Treibel as their rearguard, two more teams to the left and right. That left the brats well-guarded in the middle. He and Hanji were armed with the guns they had taken from her father's guards, the military police and the Garrison were carrying their own type of pistols. The only thing they did not have at their disposal was their vertical maneuvering equipment - but that happened to be useless in the flat grasslands against human enemies anyway.

"Okay," she nodded. "Of course you did."

Then why did she sound doubtful? Did she not trust him to do his job? Levi felt annoyed and unnerved at the same time. If she was angry with him, he had a pretty good idea why.

"Thank you for thinking of Blitz's happiness," Levi changed the topic, "but I doubt the mare he fancies can keep up with us if we need to go at high speed."

Hanji shrugged. "She'll find us."

"I hope he won't think it's necessary to wait for her."

"I am confident that you can handle your horse, Captain Levi," she brushed his concern aside.

Silence fell, her visible eye resting on him thoughtfully. Levi swallowed. Yes... he knew what this was about, but he didn't like it one bit.

"Uhm, Hanji," he grumbled. "About yesterday…"

"Yes?" Her right eyebrow went up. He realized he liked her eyebrows a lot.

"Do you… do you not like to f…," strangely, the word 'fuck' that he normally used so often got stuck in his throat, "...make love with me?" By the Walls, why was this conversation so goddamn embarrassing? "Uhm, I guess, you can tell me if that's the case and… you know…"

"Is that the impression you got?" she asked calmly, coming into the stable box. "That I did not like to 'make love'?"

Not in the least but she was displeased with him, wasn't she?

"You said we can't have sex last night and sent me away. Yeah, so I thought you… I don't know. You're my Commander. I am guessing that is a problem?"

"I see," she was standing very close by now and it was making him a little dizzy. That, he knew, happened when the blood in one's body did not flow to the head but to other parts. "Yes," she agreed. "It's a problem."

Damn, he hated to be right. He was doomed to die after all. What was he going to do with all this lust for her?

"I'm a bit sore, Levi," she extended her hand. Her fingers left his face tingling, gently moving from his brow to his chin. "That's why I did not want you in my bed last night. But it definitely doesn't mean I did not like what we did."

"Oh," he felt a rush of relief. "Good. So does that mean we can have more…"

"Let's see," she said, bending forward to brush her lips over his. Her fingers were back, stroking his face on both sides. It took his breath away. "You know what Maria told me?"

Levi shook his head, spellbound by the closeness of her lips.

"She told me that the wedding we had - it was real after all."

Oh shit. She grabbed his head hard to hold him in place, almost as if she suspected that he was about to bolt.

"She was rather outraged when I told her you said it wasn't real."

"Well," he croaked, dropping the cleaning utensils so he could bring his hands up to her nape.

There were locks of her hair there that he started wrapping and unwrapping around his fingers nervously. What could he say that didn't make him sound like a total dick? He had never told her that underground weddings were real - because he knew that this kind of connection with another human being was not his to have, that he had no right to bind someone to himself like this. But that night, he had almost wept... he had wanted it to be real so damn much, if just for a moment. So yeah, being an emotional fool before the big fight, he had vowed that Hanji would be his until the day he died.

A few hours later, he had died, bleeding his life out in the sand in front of thousands.

After returning unexpectedly from that place of horror afterwards, he had not dared to hope for a renewal of what he had felt and coveted that day. In a way, her father's threats had been convenient for the coward that he was. But now...

"Well?" Hanji asked, beginning to lick his lips with her tongue. "Was it real?"

"Some people would say so," he managed to press out. His hands began to roam over her shoulders, her back, her ass. He liked her ass, firm and small and perfect in his hands. He liked everything about her, actually. And he wanted her so badly, his entire body was humming with need.

"If I went down to the Underground," she murmured against his lips, "would those who remember the party consider me married to you, like Maria does?"

"Some," he repeated hoarsely, "some would."

"And you lied about it because…"

"I didn't lie. I told you it isn't real because it's only real if the couple wants it to be real!"

She kissed him hard with tongue, a very possessive, searingly hot kiss that drove all thoughts from his head in an instance and all the blood to his groin.

"Good," she growled. "Because I told you back then, I do not want to get married, ever. That marriage back then… Like you, I don't want it to be real, understood?"

"But I…"

She pulled away from him and he blinked in confusion at the anger he saw in her eye.

"A married woman has no rights at all under our law. She belongs to her husband, including everything she owns. Do you believe I want to belong to you?"

"No," Levi bristled. "Obviously not."

"Then we have an understanding," Hanji said and put her hand on the bulge in his trousers. "We have to ride out soon."

"Yes," he said but her fingers were unbuttoning his trousers and he forgot his anger and what else he had wanted to tell her. "What are you…"

She drew his erection from his pants, letting her hand slide up and down the strutting length of him, looking deep into his eyes.

"You cannot ride like this, Levi."

She was not going to hear an objection from him because it was the truth. He'd have jerked off quickly if necessary because thinking of the Beast Titan didn't always do the trick, but she had something else in mind. She went on her knees in front of him and began to lick him.

"Fuck," he groaned and his back hit the wood of the box as he staggered.

Her fingers began to cup and knead his balls. She took him into her mouth and began to suck. Levi's eyelids wanted to flutter shut but he kept his eyes on her upturned face, her lips around his swollen flesh. He balled his hands into fists to prevent himself from grabbing her head to spur her on - he had understood the message. She was in charge. She and her greedy, slurping mouth. Her loudly slurping, almost gagging mouth.

He swelled bigger at the thought of everyone who was gathering in the courtyard outside because well, the risk of discovery turned him on even more. Hanji managed to take in the full length of him, dripping saliva to the ground. Then he couldn't hold himself back any longer. He pumped his hips, deeper, faster, if one could make love to someone's mouth, this was it. He loved Hanji's mouth because it was impossible not to love everything about her. Pleasure was like a red hot sun that grew in his loins and then he exploded, shooting his jizz into her mouth, one, two, three, four hard spurts. He staggered again, his knees weak and wobbly. A wonder they didn't buckle completely when she smiled up at him saucily - and swallowed.

"Better?" she grinned, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

Better than what? Maybe she did not understand that having her once only made him want to have her a second time, a third, a fourth, etc. She was turned on herself now, he could see it in her face, the flush of her cheeks, the slight dilation of her pupils, he could smell the wetness of her pussy and he knew that he was going to be hard again in no time.

"We need to leave," she told him with a tiny frown, reading the heat in his gaze correctly, tucking his semi-hard dick back into his trousers, nimbly closing the buttons.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" he asked huskily and dammit, a little desperately - because the prospect of that would make the hours in the saddle that were ahead of them bearable.

"Let's see about that," she said. "We cannot share a tent in front of everyone."

"But they all know about us already."

"Oh yes, you made sure of that, didn't you," she narrowed her eyes at him. "Well, that still doesn't mean I want to fuck you when they're right next to us."

The way she said 'fuck you' made him quite giddy.

"Then we just pitch the tent some distance away?"

Hanji laughed. That made him giddy too.

"I'm sure we'll find a way," she got up and brushed dust from her knees. "We leave shortly. You might want to take a minute to wipe that expression off your face, Levi."

What expression? He frowned.

"Much better," she grinned. "See you out there, soldier."

###

They did find a way. He made damn sure they did.

It involved going for a walk in the small forest in which they were camping for the night. It involved getting naked in a clearing full of tiny white flowers that shimmered like gossamer in the evening sun. It involved him planting his butt on a bed of the softest moss with his back against a pine tree and Hanji sitting in his lap, riding him. His mouth could suckle on her nipples as much as it wanted, his hands could touch her butthole for extra pleasure, and it was… it was maybe the best kind of sex he had ever had, he mused when they sat there clinging to each other after their climax, the fragrant warm air brushing gently against their naked skin, his nostrils full of Hanji scent. Why?

"I don't want to move," she mumbled and sighed.

That was a problem, because his legs were falling asleep. But he would endure that for her sake. If she didn't want to move, they wouldn't. Maybe, he concluded, his brain sluggish in its contentment, maybe it was the difference between fucking and making love. Maybe it was his wish to make her feel good and when she did… he felt… soft and... happy.

"It's getting a bit chilly," she mumbled a while later.

Levi opened his eyes, finding the sky darkening, the sun gone.

"We should go back before they send out a search and rescue team," Hanji disentangled herself from him. Levi was tempted to make a grab for her because when they were no longer joined, it felt like a loss.

"Yes," he agreed instead though he did not want to go back in the least. He watched her put on her clothes. Indeed, it was a little chilly. He shivered once before he pulled up his knees and put his arms around himself.

"Should I go back first?" she asked him.

He shrugged. If she wanted to? Levi doubted that anybody would be fooled, however separate they went back to the camp. Besides, he planned to sleep in her tent tonight - for the few hours he slept and there was nothing she could do to keep him out. He would sneak in and she wouldn't even notice but he'd get to smell her and hold her.

"I'll walk the perimeter," he made a grab for his own clothes. "Need to do that anyway."

"Okay," she nodded.

She had positioned their outriders around the forest, with Eren and his gang guarded by Levi and Hanji in the middle. They had not spotted anyone all day. A bit unnerving, actually. Levi preferred to know exactly what he was up against.

"See you later?" Hanji lingered. "Uhm, Levi… it seems that you're maybe a little angry?"

Angry? No, he wasn't. Just a little… he wasn't sure what to call it. He lifted his eyebrows at her questioningly.

"I just don't think it's a good idea to flaunt our relationship in the faces of MPs and soldiers from the Garrison. The repercussions could be…"

"I understand," he cut her off. And he did. She had more to lose than him. If Dok and Pixis wanted to make a move against her and the Survey Corps, their affair was going to be the perfect reason to make life difficult for her.

He'd still sneak into her tent. That much disobedience he'd allow himself.

Hanji nodded once, then turned around and disappeared into the forest. Levi got up, shook his limbs for blood circulation and got dressed. It was still odd to be out in nature like this where there were no Titans to fear. Quite naturally, Hanji had sought shelter among trees when they could have camped anywhere. Levi wondered whether he would live long enough to experience a world without mindless Titans or whether that was an unattainable dream. As long as their race existed, as long as the enemy had Titan serum…

He didn't want to think about this right now.

Walking on foot was slow but he made it to two of the three guard posts before it got completely dark. Annika and Theodor were the last. He found Annika smoking a pungent weed next to a small fire, her hair shining brighter than the flames. There was no sign of Treibel.

"What is that?" he demanded to know, sniffing the air.

She shrugged. "Found it today when I went for a piss, it smelled like something I would like. And I do, it's very calming." She giggled. Her pupils were huge. A calm Annika was generally a good thing but not when they had to be expecting an enemy attack.

"Put it out," Levi ordered her. "It's against the rules."

"No," she grinned. "You're not my commanding officer and I don't care about the rules."

"Where's Treibel?"

"Don't know," she stretched and yawned. "He got angry at me and stomped off."

"I swear, if the two of you mess this up because you won't get rid of this damn tension…"

"Do you think I should let him fuck me?" Annika mused, tapping a finger against her lips.

"Fuck, no," Levi groaned. "That's not what I meant."

"He's rich though, right?" she inhaled and then blew smoke up into the sky, keeping her face turned up to the stars.

"Since fucking when are you a fortune hunter?" Levi scoffed. "Besides, Treibel will never marry you."

"Since I've had enough," she snapped her face back to him. "Enough, you understand? I'm thinking I deserve a good life too. And since that's not just going to happen..."

"A married woman has no rights at all under the law," Levi repeated Hanji's words. "She belongs to her husband, including everything she owns."

"Pfft, haha. Name one man you know who is not owned by his woman. Law is law, reality is reality. And since I own nothing anyway…," she shrugged. "Treibel is an uptight asshole but he wouldn't be all bad, I reckon. I don't think he'd try to hit me or anything. Yes, maybe he's even growing on me."

"Leave him alone," Levi frowned. "At least until we're all safe, dammit. It's not good for a man to be…"

Besotted. Fucking besotted. Craving a female's attention, dangling from a stick if he didn't get it. Rings a bell? Dammit, he couldn't allow this to continue. He wasn't able to think straight anymore: Sneak into Hanji's tent uninvited when she had made it clear to him she wanted to fuck him in secret only? No way that was going to happen.

"...to be fucked?" Annika asked. "That's not true. Men who get fucked are much easier to handle."

"Shut up," Levi snapped at her. "Be alert, I'm going back to our main camp."

"Sleep well, sweetheart," Annika waved to him, blowing more smoke into the air, probably contemplating the pros and cons of fucking Treibel.

Trouble. Women were trouble.

Levi grunted by ways of farewell and stomped back to the forest, determined to resist Hanji's charms. At least for tonight. And then the next day. He'd not look at her. He'd ignore her even. He would think of the Beast Titan all day long, until they reached their destination. His determination growing with every step, something in Levi's peripheral vision caught his attention. Levi turned his head - and froze.

There were dancing lights in the sky.

He blinked and stared, trying to understand what he was seeing. There were at least twenty of them. Fireflies? No, that couldn't be. These lights were much bigger and damn far up, judging from their reflection off the clouds.

"Damn," he whispered and whistled sharply through his teeth. Mere moments later, Blitz trotted to his side obediently, followed closely by a brown mare, a brave little thing that had run her lungs out today in order to be with her stallion. Oh the irony, his fucking horse was much better at securing his mate's loyalty than Levi himself.

Grabbing Blitz's mane, Levi swung himself up on his bare back, nudging him forward with his heels. Blitz complied without complaint, just occasionally shaking his big head in his companion's direction, a gesture that was always answered graciously by a head dip from her.

"Should we call her Blatz, what do you think?" Levi asked Blitz, who nickered softly in response. "Blatz it is then. Hey, Blatz, you have no objections to belonging to Blitz here?"

Quite obviously, Blatz didn't care in the least about that.

"No? Figured."

Instead of laughing at the absurdity of comparing Hanji to a mare and himself to his own horse, Levi realized that he felt increasingly pissed off by what Hanji had told him in the stables this morning. Didn't want to belong to him because the law said so? Like he even wanted someone to belong to him! No, he didn't! He just liked being with her and wouldn't mind having a bit more time together than before, that was all. Why call him a liar? Why get angry at him about a stupid custom he had nothing to do with?

Fuming, Levi kept his eyes glued to the lights in front of him that moved slowly up and down, to the right and the left. Like stars that had fallen from the sky and were floating above the ground, unsure where to go. The grassland they were in stretched to all sides. In the silver starlight, the rolling meadows looked like something sinister out of a dream.

Levi rode for more than an hour until he finally was underneath the strange lights. He looked up and squinted… there were dark shapes up there, like sausages, the lights seemed attached to them, front and back. Balloons? There was a whirring sound, quite soft, but that was probably just because of the distance between him and the flying sausages.

"... hear… thing?" There was a whisper in the air and Levi stiffened, trying to see something in the dark, turning his head from side to side to locate the source of the sound.

Blitz stood stock-still, a well-trained war horse who understood instinctively when his rider suspected danger. Blatz on the other hand threw her head and whinnied nervously.

"Shit," Levi whispered.

He forced Blitz's head around and wanted to take off but Blitz planted his hooves into the soft grass, almost throwing Levi off in his determination to wait for Blatz who had danced to the side in her agitation.

"Don't move."

Levi heard one, two, three guns being cocked.

"Hands in the air!"

He lifted his hands. He could have escaped by letting himself fall off his horse. But they would likely fire and losing Blitz was not an option.

"I'll be damned," a lamp was lit, blinding Levi. "It's the Ackerman."

"You don't say," another voice said, slowly and menacingly. "A gutter rat far from home, is it?"

"What should we do with him?" someone else asked.

"Hmmmmm," Basil's grim face became visible next to the lamp. "I'm thinking we have a score to settle, me and Levi Ackerman. Isn't that right, underground cockroach?"

Oh, goodie.

"Yes," Levi replied eagerly, "I've wanted to break your legs for a very long time. Seems like the perfect night for it."

Basil laughed. "Then again, Ackerman. I could just have you shot. Right here, right now. You're completely surrounded, we're all armed - and nobody will hear you scream. Are you afraid yet?"

Afraid? Levi frowned at the stupidity of the Hange family Head Guard. He didn't even know what that felt like.