"Hi everyone! Levi, I need to talk to… you…. What the hell is going on here?" Zoë stopped abruptly under the door of the dining area in the guard quarters, staring at the scene before her.

"Commander!" Jean, Armin and four of the soldiers that had accompanied Historia here retreated a few hasty steps backwards, forming a protective semi-circle around her. The belligerent wall of house guards they were facing moved an equal amount of steps forward, their hands on the weapons at their belts.

"Stand the fuck down!" Zoë hollered and pushed to the front, "what do you think you're doing?"

"We demand an apology!" the biggest of the guards spat, his face blotched with angry red dots. "We've been robbed, insulted, and humiliated by your soldiers. We will not tolerate such behavior!"

"I see. Where is Basil?" Zoë stood on tiptoes to get a better look at who else was in the room. Man, these men were tall and bulky, almost like small Titans.

"Our Commander eats upstairs," the leader of the group said stiffly. "I'm the one in charge here."

"Wrong, I am. You all take a step back now," she puffed up her chest and glared up at the guard as menacingly as she could. "And I mean now."

"She's Council Hange's daughter," someone whispered at the back, followed by "what, really?", "Feisty," "She's the highest ranking officer here,", "careful, she's crazy - I heard she throws people who annoy her off the wall!" and similar comments. She intensified her glare, opening her one eye as far as possible for emphasis.

"Hange-san, sorry," the leader grumbled and waved his hand at his men. "Retreat. Back, you idiots. Now!"

"Thank you. My soldiers meant no harm. Why don't you sit like civilized people?" Zoë suggested. "The food will go cold, don't waste it!"

"It already is cold," Jean said behind her. "Damn mess. I don't even understand why they got so worked up?"

"Annika drank all their liquor," Armin said unhappily. "And it sounds like she stole things? It was a deliberate provocation."

"Where are Eren, Mikasa and Levi?" And Annika. And Treibel! Her head started swirling with unpleasant scenarios. She had to find Levi immediately if they wanted to keep on top of this situation but it looked like he was dealing with his own crisis.

"Captain Levi went outside with Annika, Commander," Armin informed her. "She was picking a fight with the house guards."

Zoë looked at the untouched food on the plates and suppressed a flash of anxiety and… she wasn't jealous, was she? But thinking of Levi together with voluptuous, ravishing Annika had always had a very negative effect on her mood. No use denying that they looked very good together.

"I want you to sit down and eat something," she said quietly, keeping an eye on the house guards who had taken their seats at the far end, throwing the occasional aggressive glance in their direction.

"Eren was picking a fight too," Jean chimed in sullenly, "and he insulted Mikasa. He stormed out soon after Captain Levi left."

"And Mikasa went after him of course," Armin added.

Zoë nodded, feeling her unease grow rapidly. "Listen to me," she lowered her voice even further. "You need to find Eren and calm him down. I want you guys to stick together closely. Go find Historia too and await further orders."

"Are we in peril?" Armin asked, his eyes growing round. "Did Council Hange reveal his plans to you?"

"Yes and no," Zoë said. "Many things are in motion and we need to plan as we go. Make sure Eren doesn't do anything rash for the time being."

"That's impossible," Jean frowned. "I've never seen him quite so worked up and that means something considering that "worked up" pretty much defines him."

"Something is up," Armin nodded. "I wondered whether he might have remembered something? From the previous owners of the Titans? Something upsetting."

"Why?" Zoë turned to him, "does that happen frequently? Do you remember things from Bertold's life?"

Armin shook his head. "Not really, Commander. I just… sometimes…," he colored deeply. "I have to think of Annie."

Jean made a disgusted sound.

"I can't help it!" Armin defended himself.

"So it's possible Eren had an unpleasant memory," Zoë mused. "But what would set him off like this? Something about his family? His father?"

"Possible," Armin nodded. "He had big issues coming to terms with his father's decisions to murder the Reiss family and his own role in all this... this… I mean, it's about the survival of our entire race!"

"Understandable," Zoë nodded. "Might it have something to do with his breakdown at the medal ceremony? I know he said it was just a panic attack but I wonder..."

"He never changed that story," Armin shook his head. "But yes, I also believe what is happening to him now is related to that time."

"Whatever it is, let's hope he confides in us," Zoë stood up. "Eat, make peace with the house guards - then find Eren and Mikasa and go to Historia's room. She's on the third floor, four doors down when you use the main staircase. It is unlikely my father will make a move against you but in case he does - you and Eren have my permission to transform."

"What?" Armin's eyes grew big again. "Surely you mean outside the house though. At a safe distance?"

"If you can," she felt a twinge in her heart at the thought of her mother and her brother being buried underneath the rubble of a collapsing house. "I'm going to look for Levi now. Later, we will all meet up and discuss our next steps."

Erwin wouldn't have cared. She remembered Stohess, she remembered the retrieval of Eren when he was kidnapped, she remembered Orvud, she remembered Shiganshina. Erwin had always gambled with human lives, his eyes firmly on their ultimate goal. Collateral damage? Deplorable but a necessity.

But she… she was different. You have to be ruthless in your position or you won't make it for long, her father had said. Sound advice or him mocking her? Maybe she really was too soft but she couldn't bring herself to consider sacrificing anyone. Eren, Historia, Mikasa… or Levi.

She'd rather sacrifice herself.

###

Zoë found Levi upstairs in the servant's courtyard, sitting on an overturned box, his face covered with his hands. He was alone. His shoulders stiffened at the sound of the door closing but relaxed quickly upon realizing it was her.

"Hanji," he said, his voice thick with a fleeting emotion she couldn't quite fathom. "Have you come to tell me they killed each other downstairs?"

"Levi, what are you doing here alone?"

It was quite dark in the space enclosed by walls on all sides, the sun had set and the first tentative stars were twinkling in the deep blue above. But when he lifted his face to look at her, she drew back in shock.

"What… is that blood?! Levi, what happened?"

A few hasty steps took her to his side. She grabbed his hands and moved his arms sideways to be able to check for wounds.

"Are you hurt?"

He was covered in what looked like blood and a whole layer of dark dirt, the white of his eyes the only thing that stood out.

"No," he said, pulling his hands from her grip. "Don't touch me."

"Levi, we need to talk," she said, not heeding his words but brushing her fingers over his face in an attempt to remove the worst of the grime. "My father…"

"I said not to touch me," he growled, slapping her hand away. "Behave like my Commander, dammit, everybody can see us."

She drew back a step, pressing her lips together. "We do not need to keep up this charade. My father knows… or at least suspects we're a couple. And…"

"Is that so?" Levi got to his feet, swaying just a little. But she saw it.

"You are hurt!" Zoë exclaimed.

"I said I'm not," he shook his head. "Annika is gone. Treibel went after her to get her back before you could realize she deserted. He wouldn't let himself be convinced it's pointless. Idiot."

"Deserted… damn, Levi. Is this what I think it is?"

"If you think she went to give Tybur intel about the lay of the land and about what your father's defenses look like, yep, you are right."

"It was her all along, wasn't it," Zoë sighed. "Selling secrets to various people over the years."

"Looks like it," Levi sounded unusually tired and defeated. "Makes me wonder why Erwin was so eager to have her on the force. Normally he was a very perceptive bastard. And it would seriously mar my memory of him if he fell for her act."

Zoë pulled a face. There wasn't a single man who hadn't drooled over Annika in the military. Erwin had been a flesh and blood human though one could have gotten a different impression from the way he had carried himself. She wouldn't put it beyond Annika to even get someone as in control as him to show a male's typical weakness.

"I was never quite sure who sent Annika in Erwin's direction. Xandra? Renzo? Or… your uncle?"

Or… but no. Her father could not have been involved. Or could he? The task to manage the Commanders of the Survey Corps… given to the Hange family.

"Annika was Kenny's creature through and through as long as the bastard was alive," Levi's voice turned bitter. "But she's adept at dancing at multiple weddings at the same time. Anyway, she's gone now."

"Care to explain why you let her go?" Zoë asked after a brief moment of hesitation.

"Because I'm a sentimental fool," Levi answered, lifting his face to look at her. "I just couldn't… I'm sorry, Commander. I'm ready to accept any punishment you see fit."

Did she have a right to feel this bolt of anger at his confession? Levi was only human too, whatever the rumors about him and his superhuman strength. He had once loved Annika, she assumed, or at least had deeply cared for her. Likely that she had used all her considerable guile on him just now. And yet… "Did you bathe in blood together or what before you told her to walk away?" she asked sharply.

Levi looked down on himself, disgust showing on his dirty face. Then she saw it.

"You are hurt after all!" She grabbed his arm, pointing to a dark wetness on his side. "The damn bitch!"

"Huh," he sounded surprised. "Just a scratch. From Esmelda."

"Esm… okay, follow me," she grabbed his hand and pulled. "You're coming with me, Captain, and you are going to tell me every single detail about what happened."

She took him into the house, up the servant stairs and to the third floor, where her assigned room was. Historia was settled not at all far from it, bringing the entire Survey Corps close together once the younglings would come up from dinner. She had Levi sit on one of the pretty armchairs after she had pushed him inside. He seemed truly out of it, which became all the more clear when he actually sat down on the expensive velvet upholstery despite his sullied clothes, which wasn't like him at all. Zoë tugged on the bell pull, watching him intently.

"Did you hit your head?"

"No," he answered but she was pretty sure only that could be the cause of his off behavior and sluggishness.

"Okay, then tell me all there is to tell, soldier!"

"Yes," he straightened a little. "Commander, Annika was creating a scene so I took her outside. I confronted her about working for someone else."

"Did she admit to working for Tybur?" Zoë pulled up a chair and sat down in front of him.

"Yes." But he hesitated and frowned. "Actually, no. But she didn't deny it either. Then, Esmelda threw soot on us and attacked her with a knife. Anni would have killed her so I intervened."

"But Esmelda told me she was happy in her new life when I saw her earlier!"

Levi tsk-ed. Okay, no need to tell her it was stupid to believe that someone robbed of her life would truly be happy and that Esmelda would have told the truth in front of her mother. Much more likely that Esmelda had grasped the opportunity to avenge herself for Annika's actions in the Underground, which had led to Esmelda becoming a servant for life in the Hange household.

"The clearly not very happy Esmelda wanted to kill the unconscious Annika next - and so I intervened again, this time to protect Anni."

"Where did Esmelda go?"

Levi shrugged. "Back into her hole, I guess. The entire estate is crawling with Undergrounders, did you know that? I hope they won't do anything truly stupid."

"Such as…?"

"They seem to be under the impression that with me here, the time has come to stage a revolution."

"Great," she pulled at her hair, "as if we didn't have enough problems already!"

"Are you alright?" Alarmed by her desperate tone, Levi sat a little straighter and focused his eyes on her. "No longer dizzy?"

She shook her head. "All good. Dinner was horrid though and… well. There's things I need to tell y…"

A knock at the door interrupted her. "Yes," Zoë called out. A maid poked her head in, saw Levi and turned utterly red. An Undergrounder too? Or, considering what he had just said, maybe the question was who among the lower servants wasn't an Undergrounder here!

"Send up warm water, please," Zoë said, "and something to eat for him. Wait… a bathtub and warm water and then something to eat. Also salve and bandages."

"Yes, m'lady," the maid curtsied and shut the door after herself.

"I shouldn't be here with you," Levi grumbled. "But if you think your father is suspicious enough as it is...?"

"Yes, about that…," Zoë swallowed. How to break it to Levi? She had left her family's presence at the first opportunity, driven by the need to tell him everything she had learned but now… he looked uncommonly vulnerable in his disheveled, dirty state. Damn if that didn't bring out protective instincts in her she would never tell him about because she was damn certain the prickly little grump wouldn't appreciate being fussed over.

"I wanted to bring you a book," Levi said, "but now I left it downstairs in my quarters."

"A book?"

"From the library," he explained, "I went there earlier. I thought you'd like it, it was full of weird-ass drawings of machines and bolts and mechanisms and other such things you go gaga about."

"Oh Levi," Zoë felt a lump in her throat. "That's very sweet of you."

"Yeah," he murmured. "I remembered you were once ready to fall off a roof and die for a book."

"I remember too," she said and began humming the underground song. … a cage is not a cage if you choose to ignore the bars - a man will not be kept below if he reaches for the stars…

"Don't," Levi said, his voice dropping deliciously low.

"I'm not even doing anything," Zoë answered with an artless flutter of her eyelashes. "But I will tell you to take your clothes off as soon as the water arrives."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes," she fluttered some more, the lashes of her covered eyes brushing against the eye patch uncomfortably.

"So how is my squad?"

Zoë swallowed when Levi began pulling at his boots.

"Well enough when I last saw them. But Eren ran off, Mikasa followed him."

"Yes," the first boot came off with a soft plop. "I saw Eren."

"You did? When?"

"Not too long ago."

"Did he seem…," the second boot came off. Levi put both of them next to his chair in perfect order, then took his socks off, "... strange?"

"Not particularly," Levi said, though he looked a little troubled. "Historia was with him."

"Historia?! You must be mistaken!" Zoë sprang up. "She should be safe and sound in her room, which is not far from here!"

"That's where they were headed," Levi said and took off his uniform jacket, looking at it ruefully. "Don't worry, Hanji. I'm sure they're fine. Though I do think Eren should come clean about his feelings for Mikasa. His behavior towards her is unacceptably nasty."

"Do you think I should say something to him?"

"Yes."

"Okay. As soon as you're cleaned up and bandaged, we are going to rendezvous with them."

"As soon as…?" Levi lifted an eyebrow at her with the tiniest of pouts.

That made her laugh. "I am trying to keep my hands off you. But apparently, all of the Hange women have a weakness for Ackerman men!"

Which wasn't exactly the topic she had wanted to talk to him about. Her heart started beating faster. Dammit. This wasn't going to be easy. Should she just say: Levi, my father actually knew how to control you all along like you feared - but don't freak out, I have it all under control?

"Really?" he seemed unconvinced. "All of the women?"

"My mother made it sound like it. Elior was an Ackerman who lived here during my grandmother's time. She had the hots for him - I'm not so sure whether the feelings were mutual though."

"He lived here?" Levi gingerly unwound his ascot. The look he gave his sullied clothes was just too pitiful.

"Yes, there seems to be a history of Ackermans living on the noble family estates. Probably after you guys pissed off the King? I am guessing that certain nobles wanted to use your family as collateral, a warning to the King not to mess with them. I'm assuming that not everyone was happy with King Fritz' decision to sit around and wait for someone to call his bluff."

"Huh," Levi began unbuttoning his shirt. "Hange women like Ackerman men... Does that mean you cannot help it?"

"Seems that way," she grinned. "It's in my blood." As soon as the words had left her lips, she momentarily froze. "Oh my god, Levi!" she squealed. "What if we are related?"

His hands stopped unbuttoning his shirt. "Excuse me, what now?"

"I am almost certain my mother also had something going on with the last Ackerman who lived here! What if she and him… you know… had sex! An affair! And they had a baby! Me!"

Levi tiled his dirty face to the side. "Like hell we are related, Hanji. There is not a single similar thing between us. And you do look like your father a lot, I'm sorry to say."

"Oh," she pressed her hand to her fast beating heart. "You're right."

"Are there any records of these Ackermans that lived here?" Levi asked, putting his very dirty shirt over a chair. The wound over his ribs, she saw, really wasn't much more than a scratch, it had stopped bleeding but would need proper cleaning. "It could be interesting."

"Keep on your trousers until the water is here," Zoë demanded.

"Why?" a small smile appeared on Levi's lips. "Because you cannot help but jump my bones?"

"I don't want any maids to faint," Zoë scoffed. "They all go red in the face when they see you even with your clothes on."

Levi turned serious instantly. "I will have to talk to the lot of them as soon as possible. I don't want them to endanger themselves because the fools believe I am here to lead an Underground revolution!"

"Do they…," she cleared her throat. "Do they know about… you know… me, you, the… the Underground wedding?"

"Don't get your panties in a knot over that again," he said. "Who cares what people know and think. That maid already saw me in your room. Everybody below will know by now too. Question is how much longer before your father hears about it and how much he really does not care about it."

"My father wants to feed Eren to Tybur," Zoë blurted out. "Who probably has Titan serum."

Levi sucked in air. "Makes sense. So did your father use us to draw Tybur out?"

"Seems so," she nodded. "But it doesn't really matter, does it. My father has to know that Tybur, being of royal blood, cannot properly use the power of the Founder if it breaks 'the peace'! And I bet you our enemy across the ocean knows that too. I don't see the point of giving the Reiss family back that power, even if it didn't mean killing Eren!"

A knock at the door once again interrupted her. With great aplomb, tour footmen carried in a bathtub that they put in the annexed bathroom, closely followed by a horde of maids with buckets of steaming water.

"The kitchen sent up a selection of bread, dried meat, cheese and fruit," the main maid curtsied and put a basket on the table. "The medical supplies are in there too."

"Oi, tf you see Esmelda, tell her to expect a severe thrashing from me," Levi said right after Zoë had thanked them all.

"Oh," the maid stammered and began to retreat, "yes, sorry, I'm going to…"

"Just leave us alone," Levi grumbled, "and make sure nobody disturbs us."

"Yes, sir!" she stammered and all of them went out, closing the door behind them with the softest of clicks.

"Right," he said and dropped his pants. "You coming too?"

With a gulp, she watched Levi's reproductive organ swell under her scrutiny.

"Well, I can't help it either," he turned away and walked into the bathroom, letting her ogle his tight, muscular butt.

"Levi, wait…," she hurried after him.

Grabbing the buckets, he began to pour the steaming water into the bathtub.

"Will you wash my hair?" he asked. "Or will you just stand around and stare at me."

"Do you have a plan in mind?" She took one of the soaps the servants had brought from his hand. Honeysuckle.

"Yes," he climbed into the tub and lowered himself, wincing ever so slightly when the water touched the scratch on his side. "It's a simple but effective plan: Kill Tybur. That will solve most of our problems at once."

He rubbed at his face and hands, removing the worst of the dirt with help of the other soap.

"It's him who owns those flying things," Zoë went on her knees behind his head. "If only we could get our hands on them!"

"Okay, then we'll capture him alive, torture and then kill him once he has told us all his secrets. He probably knows how to get across that ocean-thing too."

"With ships," Zoë said. "Oh, you mean to say he might have one?"

"If that asshole came here from over there, he probably has all kinds of things you covet," Levi leaned back and closed his eyes when she began scooping water over his head with her hands. She loved the feeling of his hair between her fingers when she lathered it up meticulously. She also checked for bumps on Levi's head in the process, finding nothing.

"Feels good," he murmured when she massaged his scalp. "So you're no longer angry with me?"

"Angry?"

"Because I disappeared last night without telling you where to."

"I was worried, dumbass, not angry. It could easily have ended with you dead. Then what?"

"Hmmmmm."

"What?"

"I am thinking that the huge bed over in that other room looks extremely comfortable for two. But then again, we need to rendezvous with the brats soon, don't we. Why is there never any time?"

It was true. They were always fighting someone, rushing somewhere. And now… It's strangely simple - just a word. Once uttered, would it change everything? Zoë began rinsing the soap from Levi's hair with one of the jugs. What if she just never said it? She did not want anything to change.

"Are you tired?" she asked, feeling a rush of tenderness at how peaceful he looked with his eyes clothed..

"As if," he opened his eyes to look up at her.

"I see," she moved her hands down from his head over his face to his chest. His skin was silken and warm. She bent her head down to kiss his upside-down lips. "How did you think you'd rendezvous with the kiddos? You have no clothes. I'll go talk to them by myself. You rest."

"Kiss me more," he demanded. "Don't go."

"Okay," she smiled and did as he asked.

"I think it's good that Tybus is coming here," Levi said when she lifted her tingling lips from his. "It will be easier to attack and kill him here than out there. I'm curious to hear what he has to say."

"You're thinking of Tybur when I kiss you?" she smiled. "That's very romantic."

"You sounded like you wanted to go see the brats right now so I needed to take my mind off what I want."

"Want to see the kids? No, I don't want to. But maybe I should."

"We could be quick," he dropped his voice. "I don't mind."

She laughed, stroking his temple, feeling pleased at the tell-tale sign of how much he wouldn't mind further down in the bathtub. "How very noble of you."

"What's your answer?"

"I'm glad you're not angry with me, Levi."

"Angry? Wait… what did you do?!"

"No, I mean about earlier," she smiled. "When I told you I don't want to be married to you."

"That again," he grumbled. "I thought we amply discussed it already. Or wait… did you change your mind?"

"No! It's just… you looked… hurt?"

"Hurt!" he exclaimed. "Why the fuck should I look hurt? You're crazy, Hanji."

"Maybe you felt that I treated this…," she made a gesture indicating the two of them, "... this too lightly. Maybe it... maybe it means something more to you."

Oh dammit, she was feeling the blood rushing to her cheeks. This whole conversation was still not going as planned… she was feeling all woozy.

"Means something more to me?" He echoed. "Of course it means something to me!"

"It… does?" she gulped.

Levi grabbed her head and pulled it down. "Silly goose, once four-eyes. It means a lot to me. You should have realized how much I love to fuck you!"

Zoë burst out laughing. "Aggravating little shit, what would I do without you!"

He held her head in place, staring into her eyes intently and very close. "And… maybe…. don't get married to somebody else?"

The heat that flared up between them was like an instant inferno.

"Get out of that bathtub," she panted, "right now."

He needn't be told twice. She shed her clothing on the way to the bed and he dripped water all over it. They fell on the bed together in a breathless tumble, each trying to touch and kiss as much of the other as they could reach. It turned into an arousing tussle of who was going to be on top, ending with him pinning her down. Strong little bastard.

He looked down at her, his hair continuing to drip onto her naked skin, his grey eyes blazing hotly. She quivered with excitement and need.

"I'll take you hard and fast," he growled. "I can't help myself around you."

She nodded, unable to form a coherent sentence in response. Surely, this was a form of insanity? Levi grabbed her legs and bent them up, pushing into her. He found no resistance, only sleek, quivering eagerness.

"Damn," he groaned, sinking himself into her to the hilt.

His hands twisted her nipples roughly enough to hurt - a twinge of pleasure-pain that let her excitement surge, the fire in her lower belly blazing even hotter. His mouth came down on hers hard. She moaned against his lips when he began to piston in and out of her, each stroke deep and powerful.

"Good?" he panted. "Slower?"

"No," she moaned. "No, keep going! Please, like this, yes, oh it feels... ohhhhh ...!"

"You're too damn hot," he panted. "It will never be enough, I want more and more and more..."

He kissed her again, the movement of his tongue matching the rhythm of his lower body. Zoë rose upwards on a wave of pleasure until her orgasm ripped through her in several fierce shocks. She dug her nails into Levi's shoulders, throwing her head back when she moaned out her ecstasy.

"Can't hold on any longer," he gasped and came too. She felt his ball contract several times before he slumped down on top of her.

"This would be so embarrassing if you weren't so easily satisfied," he murmured against her neck. "I think I need more practice."

They lay there catching their breaths, so close, so familiar, his body with its silken skin solid and warm above hers. Falling asleep like this was so very tempting. But…

"Levi," she whispered, stroking down the length of his back.

"Hmmmhm," he replied.

"I need to go see the kiddos. They'll be waiting for instructions."

"Damn the kiddos," he murmured, "mummy and daddy need alone time."

"Haha, as if," she pushed against him. "Move."

Grumbling, he rolled to the side and she got up, padding over to where she had shed her clothes.

"Is it really Hange women and Ackerman men?" he yawned, watching her get dressed. "Maybe it's Ackerman men who cannot help themselves when it comes to Hange women."

She pondered that question as she walked over to Historia's room shortly after. As a deeply satisfied Hange woman walking on shaking legs, she could say with authority that Levi Ackerman was damn addictive. Never enough… yes. It was never going to be enough. Did he feel the same about her? So maybe it was not the one or the other - but mutual.

When she returned to her room not much later, Levi was deep asleep, his face buried in his arms, his muscular body curled up like a child's.

Zoë sat down on the bedside and looked at his still face, watched how his chest rose and fell with his regular breath, watched the little twitching movements of his muscles.

She was a coward.

"I'm very sorry, Levi," she said.

She bent down and whispered the foreign word her father had given her into his ear.

Nothing happened.

Of course not. Her father was a liar. Was she surprised? She undressed, washed, and slipped in beside Levi, carefully covering them both with the blanket