After a decisive point in his life, all of Levi's dreams became similar. So similar they were basically a single recurring dream. To be more precise - one horrific nightmare.

In all of them, he was humanity's strongest soldier yet could do nothing to prevent the end of the world. After a brave but pointless fight, humanity behind the Walls was annihilated. As a consequence, mindless, gigantic Titans shuffled across the earth until all humans, all animals, all trees, bushes, and plants were pulverized, until every city, every dwelling was flattened, until all the mountains had crumbled and the air was too thick with toxic dust to breathe. When it was over, the Titans went up in smoke and Levi was the only survivor in a barren, infinite wasteland, unable to live and unable to die, a lonely ghost who was forever haunting the great nothingness.

Yes, there were variations: Sometimes, he slew Titans until his body was covered with blood and gore and his arms shook with exertion. Sometimes, he killed human beings, some who deserved it, some who didn't. Sometimes, the Walls didn't fall right away but first grew bigger and bigger until all the light was gone. Sometimes, Erwin was there, charging ahead on his white horse, laughing madly before he was ripped to pieces by a catapulted rock. Sometimes, his dead comrades fought side by side with him for a few moments, their features rotted away so that only a bit of flesh remained on their grinning skulls.

In the great scheme of things, these variations were irrelevant. Whatever the details, in the end, all the dreams were equally desolate and horrible. But even so, some stood out. Because they were even worse.

Those were the ones in which Hanji sacrificed herself to buy Levi and a bunch of other desperate survivors some time and was vaporized by the army of advancing Titans. In his dreams, he knew her selfless bravery was pointless because the end stayed the same whatever they chose to do, everything and everyone was going to die - but Hanji never listened to him, however much he begged her to stay. She said "I want to look as cool as I possibly can right now so just let me go" after saying "It's finally here, you know - it's my turn" and he, stricken by grief and despair, answered with: "Dedicate your heart", letting her go to her death instead of chaining her up somewhere to prevent it.

Why not me, why not me, why you? He should have shouted at her. What gives you the right to leave me like this? Stop! I never told you how much I need you, I cannot live without you, it will gut me, destroy me, please let me die instead of you, please!

But he never said it and then agonized over his silence for all eternity. He let her go with only one last fleeting touch, a fist to a chest... Like that could even begin to convey what he truly felt. It was called being noble. Honoring her last wish. Fuck. Who had come up with this shit?

It was a blessing that his strong self-protective instincts made him never quite remember his nightmares after waking - because they would have driven him mad. In addition, because he was human and it couldn't be helped that he had to sleep occasionally, a subconscious part of him always fought hard to wake up quickly so he wouldn't have to dream it to the end.

That night at the Hange estate after his rather abysmal performance in bed with Hanji, Levi found himself unusually tired. He didn't quite understand why his head felt like somebody had given his brain a vicious shaking, he just knew it was much harder than normal to keep his eyes open. He actually planned to wait for Hanji to come back to bed, he wanted to hold her close, skin against skin, and breathe in her scent. He wanted to hear her fall asleep and make little silly noises. Did she snore? He strongly suspected she did and was almost certain it would be adorable and annoying at the same time. But most of all, he wanted her to wake up at night, be a little confused to find him there, then make passionate love to him when her desire stirred at the tell-tale sign of his.

As he had told her just now, he would never get enough of her. Literally: There were not enough hours in a day and not enough days in a human life. It would end, it would end too soon. Was that the reason there was such a strange ache in him? It had taken root in his chest right after she had left the room, almost as if he was so addicted to her that he couldn't let her out of his sight even for a few minutes.

Turning on his back, Levi stared up at the shadowy ceiling. He missed her terribly. How fucking pathetic to miss someone who had only just left the room and would be back shortly! But apparently, he was falling even deeper in love with her now that she was ready to share a bed with him. Wrong - it was not her who had kept them apart. Levi himself had done everything to keep a distance for years, lying to himself about his feelings until it was no longer possible to lie. The blame was on him. So much time wasted. So many hours they did not get to spend together.

Levi's eyelids drooped. There was something bugging him, surfacing right before he fell asleep.

Eren.

Eren and Historia in the courtyard, looking guilty as fuck, their huge astonished eyes turned in his direction. They had not expected him to still be there. What was it with those two? They weren't boning each other, that he was certain about. Even if Eren was behaving like the biggest dick towards Mikasa, his face always showed his true emotions for her when he thought nobody was looking. And Historia…. Levi yawned. Eating from the bushy bowl. Eren had little to offer there.

What else could they be doing then? Levi's head hurt. It felt like he should be able to remember something but whenever he tried harder to grasp the memory, it slipped away. Eren and Historia in the cave. Eren and Historia at the orphanage. Eren and Historia and… me, Levi thought. I was there with them and…

Weird, he thought, his thoughts already sluggish and muddled. It felt quite similar, the not remembering what he had been doing with the two kids in a field on a hot summer day, and the lying in this bed, trying to understand why his head felt so hollow.

Eren wipes your mind. It means he can use the powers of the Founder, the fucking liar. How?

Levi fell asleep.

The dream began. He fought Titans. People died by the thousands. He got to the part when a wall of Titans approached and they were out of time.

"It's my turn, Levi," Hanji said. It almost sounded as if she was relieved, the stupid cow. "You have to let me go."

"The fuck, Hanji!" He shouted. "No!"

And then, it became different.

There was a strange word shuddering through the air, spoken gently yet decisively, picking him up and carrying him away to that place. He was so relieved.

… White sand covers the ground, twinkling like a gazillion tiny stars, the sky is painted with trails of wavering light and it feels like home. It is Ymir's garden, the place where everything begins and everything ends. He belongs here.

A sense of peace comes over him. It makes him want to bawl his eyes out. Everything will be alright.

He feels at peace for a very brief moment only though. The Founder is approaching, Levi can feel his presence behind the dunes. Maybe Ymir is with him because Levi can pick up two sets of footsteps.

Eren is the Founder - and that changes everything, Levi understands for the first but not the last time.

Eren is not bound like the ones before him. He is the first who can end their misery. And he wants it to end with a great deal of desperation and resolve that is so typical for Eren. But just like Levi, he knows what that means. Everyone will have to die. No wonder this situation drives him insane.

"Help me," Eren whispers, his voice a desperate child's. "Captain Levi, why can you not help me?"

Levi turns towards the approaching presence but someone grabs his arm and rips him back. It is a man with dark hair and pinched mouth, ageless yet clearly ancient, somewhat familiar though a stranger.

"Come away quickly," he commands. "If he gets his hands on you…"

He draws Levi towards a small house made from a white shimmering material. The door opens by itself to let them in and closes firmly behind them, like it's aware and wants to protect them. Everything is shining white here, it's much too bright and gives Levi a piercing headache.

"Who are you?" Levi confronts the man, angered by his rude conduct.

The stranger looks him over quietly with a great deal of authority that only those possess who nobody dares to contradict. "You're here," he says. His voice is strangely breathless and echoes around the white chamber like it has no actual source. "It must be time then."

Why this makes Levi remember he has been to the place with the warm twinkling sand and the color in the sky before is unclear. But he also remembers that every time he comes to this place, he meets weird people. This guy might well be the worst yet.

The man looks at him expectantly.

"I don't know what I'm doing here," Levi grumbles once the silence gets awkward. "Can't say I like it much, it's the same every fucking time."

"You were sent here by a guardian," the man frowns at him. "That means it is time to fight."

"Guardian? Fight?" Levi laughs. Normal dreams are just so fucking silly sometimes. "Yes, I'm good at that. Whom am I fighting? You?"

There's a sudden loud boom that shakes the world and the strange man's forehead creases with worry.

"He's trying to get in."

"Eren?" But who else could it be? "Yeah, he's a hot-headed, impatient little scamp."

"You care for him?" the man asks, sounding astonished.

"Shouldn't I?" Levi asks back. "The boy was dealt an impossible card. I'm not particularly good at being a role model, but I did promise to take responsibility for him years ago. Feels like I still owe him that."

"But you are an Ackerman," the man folds his arms and glares at him. "The last Ackerman."

Levi shakes his head. "Nope. There's Mikasa too."

"The last male Ackerman," the man frowns. "Your task is to control the Founder who has strayed. You have to kill him."

Huh? Kill Eren? What fucking bullshit.

"Yeah, not going to happen," Levi folds his arms and glares too.

The man looks taken aback. Then, he curses. Fouly. "It is your duty, Ackerman!"

"Says who?" Levi takes a step in the man's direction, sizing him up. He looks fit and alert despite his age, so better not to underestimate him.

"I'm your forefather!" The man booms. "The first Ackerman!"

Great. This dream is really getting out of hand.

"We could not reach you before. Your mother deliberately shielded you and kept you away from the family. What a foolish woman, this could have ended in a disaster."

"I won't let you talk badly about my mother!" Levi growls. His mother is the one who gave him life. Without her care and love, he would have lost his humanity ages ago, to become a beast with no soul. "Family? Like I give a damn. Where were the Ackermans when she needed you? She died miserably and in pain. And where were you when Kenny was busy warping me into a monster?"

Boom, boom, boom. Is that wood splintering? Eren is in a rage, what's new.

"This is your duty so just shut your foul mouth and obey!" The first Ackerman shouts at Levi. "The Ackermans are the ultimate defense when the Founder gets out of hand. Ymir commands us to kill him!"

"Huh? Ymir told me to get lost the last time I saw her, she was quite adamant about it."

Now the Ackerman looks worried. "Then she is under his influence. He probably lied to her, poor trusting soul."

Levi has enough. Those fucking weird people and their fucking stupid riddles: "Start from the beginning or I'm out of here," he declares.

"What beginning?" the man frowns. "There is no such thing."

"Bullshit," Levi complains. "You said you are the first. That sounds like a beginning to me. Did you hatch in an egg or what?"

"To think this is all that we have left," the man groans. "A tiny maggot with an attitude! When we were so great once!"

"I guess the world has changed," Levi shrugs. "Somebody down the line pissed off the King, I hear. That didn't help with the popularity."

"It is not us who have changed," the Ackerman says pompously, "we were always true to the cause. Protect the royal family. Protect the Founder. And above all, protect Ymir. It is with her our true loyalty lies."

"Fine," Levi sighs. "Very noble. But I thought the Ackermans turned against King Fritz the 145th because they did not like his suicidal attitude? Isn't that why we are nearly extinct?"

"That was one fool's decision," the Ackerman's face turns bitter. "And a woman's fault. One of your forefathers gave away a secret he should have guarded with his life because he thought himself in love, which led to the enslavement of hundreds of Ackermans."

"What secret?"

"A word," the Ackerman sighs. "A key only given to our guardians so that they could send us to the path at the right time."

"What guardians?"

"In your age it is the Oriental Clan whom that duty falls to. Before, there were others."

"I see," Levi nods, briefly under the impression that this makes sense. "Has to be Mikasa, the other Ackerman I told you about. She's half Oriental."

But no, it doesn't make any sense.

"A bit weird to think she knew of this word and never said anything. Wait… no, why would she send me here if it's to kill Eren? She loves the idiot!"

The Ackerman gasps.

"Yeah, I cannot understand her either. Sure, the boy is handsome and I guess he has quite a lot of charisma. But he's also loud, obnoxious, has a horrible temper and gets on my nerves constantly. Anyway… this makes no sense to me, gramps. I want to wake up now, I've had enough."

"This… this is no dream, you fool!" The Ackerman shouts. "Did you not receive the serum?"

"The… serum?" Levi shudders. He has very bad memories of people bugging him about a serum.

The Ackerman grows pale. "This should not have happened. Who sent you here?"

"How should I know," Levi frowns. "I was dreaming when it happened."

"Are you…," the Ackerman's voice takes on a hysterical note. "... are you perchance in love with a woman from the Hange Clan?"

"What if I am?" It's not like this weird Ackerman has any right to prey into Levi's private affairs.

"You fool!" he cries. "You fool! They enslaved us, they used us to gain power, they are the cause of our downfall! She used the word on you and now you must obey her!"

Ugh, he isn't the submissive type but… There are a few scenarios that Levi can imagine in which obeying Hanji would be so damn hot.

"Hanji would never do something like that," Levi says decisively. "Her father though…"

"There has to be a bond for it to work," the Ackerman snaps. "Deep friendship. Or love. Otherwise it does not work. Unless her father is your dear friend, it has to be her."

Boom, boom, boom, crash.

"Well," Levi says, "sounds like Eren is in. Listen, First Ackerman - I won't kill him. Whatever duty you think I have to do that, I don't give a fuck."

"But he can end the world!"

At that moment, Levi remembers his nightmares. All of them.

And as he goes cold inside out, he realizes those aren't nightmares. It makes him so sick he almost throws up. The white world around him begins to spin, faster and faster.

"He's here," the Ackerman shouts. "Flee!"

But why should he? What he keeps seeing at night is the future. It isn't a future Levi wants.

"Eren, you fucking lunatic," he shouts. "You better get ready to tell me why I should not kill you!"

"Captain Levi," Eren answers, his voice coming from all sides. He sounds so incredibly sad. "I can fix this. Trust me. You must trust me. Please."

###

Yeah, so Hanji snored, no big surprise there.

Levi was tempted to pinch her nose shut to make the sawing sound stop but sat up instead and watched her drooling in sweet oblivion, naked and tempting and beautiful in the bed beside him. Was it really too much to ask for a little peace, a short moment of reprieve?

"Do you have something to tell me?" he asked quietly. She kept snoring.

He was glad she didn't wake. A confrontation would have to happen because even though he didn't want to believe she would deliberately subject him to what in his head he called "the Ackerman curse", what other explanation was there for what had happened to him?

In contrast to those other times he had been on the Path, he remembered everything. He had woken up with a start about an hour ago, sweating and panting like he had just run at full speed all day. Curling up into a ball and wailing in misery seemed like an excellent option but what good would it do? Being in a shitty situation with shitty options wasn't anything new to Levi - it was basically what his life came down to.

Apparently, he was unable to carry out the duty those in his family were tasked with. Too many had died, the line of knowledge broken decades ago. Without the "serum", he could not migrate to the Path fully and in the flesh - and there was no way a mere specter could kill anyone even if he had wanted to. That was Eren's luck, really. And maybe his, too.

He knew so much more now. Yet, so many questions remained.

"You will have to send me there again," Levi told Hanji, lifting his hand to brush some hair off her face, then deciding not to touch her. It would only weaken his resolve.

Somebody had put clean clothes into the room for him. They were black and smelled of starch and lilac, what else.

So what if we became the Hange's dogs after betraying the King? Levi thought as he got dressed. There's not much of a difference. Dogs are dogs.

But now he knew for certain that Council Hange's hold over him had only been imagined, nothing more. The shrewd politician had to know that too. He had simply read Levi exceptionally well and had chosen an opportune moment to use Levi's doubts and fears to keep him in check, waiting patiently for the right moment to use his ultimate weapon: His daughter. What did Hanji know?

Levi threw one last glance at her half-covered form. Whatever it was that existed between Ackerman men and Hange women - it was hard to walk away from it. Judging from his own state of mind, he couldn't even blame his ancestor for handing over the means to control his entire bloodline to his lady love. Men were fools. Men in love were even worse.

He resisted the urge to slam the door on his way out.

The mansion was quiet. To be expected, since it wasn't even close to dawn yet. It would probably be an hour or two until somebody stirred. Sufficient time to think over all the steps in his plan until he managed to convince himself he wasn't the biggest fucking idiot in the whole world.

Three and a half hours later, Levi bumped into Hanji in the azure drawing room. He would have preferred to avoid her even longer but maybe this big-ass house wasn't big enough for that.

"Levi!" Hanji stammered and blushed, why did she have to be so cute? "Where the fuck were you, I was worried! Didn't you want to wake me this morning?"

"No," he replied grimly. "I decided to let you drool in peace."

"Did you sleep well?" Hanji's voice changed subtly, becoming more guarded and wary when she picked up on his mood. The problem was, she looked delicious with her hair all messy and her uniform wrinkled, a blatant invitation to wrinkle her more thoroughly. By the Walls, he wanted to.

"Not particularly." Understatement of the century.

"I see. Listen, there is something very important I need to t…"

The door opened and Council Hange strode in confidently, his immaculate, shining boots clicking rhythmically on the polished parquet floor.

"Council Hange," Levi stood straight. "I need a word. It's urgent."

"Very well, Ackerman," Hange said, throwing Zoë a calculating look. The way her face darkened was a thing to behold. "Alone?"

"Alone," Levi agreed, pointedly turning his back on Hanji. He heard her suck in her breath. He better be ready for their next meeting - it was going to be stormy.

"I know what you want," he informed Hanji's father as soon as the older man had closed the door to his study behind them. "I know why the Hange family was punished and with you the other noble families plotting against King Fritz."

"Why would you know about this all of a sudden?" The distrust was palpable. But wasn't that the beauty of having an enemy? No need to even try getting along with each other.

"A little birdie told me last night."

"Hmmm," Council Hange stroked his beard. "Where did you go, Ackerman?"

"A place you cannot go though I believe I once saw your father there, pleading quite desperately with the Founder."

Council Hange sat down behind his desk. He was good at keeping a straight face, the damn liar, but he had to struggle to keep the emotions at bay this time. "What do you want?"

"Tybur," Levi said coldly. "And all the interesting things he owns."

"I didn't know the likes of you are interested in money and riches," Hange scoffed.

"I don't like you at least, Hange. I know your type. You are cold, opportunistic and heartless. You don't care shit about humanity, all you are interested in is your own survival. However, I myself didn't survive in a world of cutthroats and murderers because I am a paragon of virtue either. You get what you want, I get what I want. It's that simple."

"Your conditions?"

"You are going to do exactly what I tell you from now on."

Council Hange laughed mirthlessly. "Like shit I will."

Levi shrugged. "Fine. Then your line will die out, good riddance. It's possible that won't matter anyway."

"Don't you want children with my daughter, Ackerman?" Council Hange smirked.

"No," Levi growled. "I would never subject an innocent soul to this cruel world."

Council Hange stroked his beard again. Levi didn't like the calculating look in his eyes.

"So it's Tybur against my family's ability to procreate?" The politician mused.

"That's what I said," Levi shrugged.

"What guarantees do I get?"

"I'll take you for a little tête-à-tête with the Founder."

"That teenager with the wild eyes has no power," Hange frowned. "He's no use at all. It's why I wanted Tybur here in the first place."

"Wrong," Levi snickered. "He has all the power. It's just a little hard for him to access it right now. And boy, should we be glad about that."

Historia and Eren were waiting near the stables. Council Hange was in for a nice little treat this lovely summer morning.

###

"So… how does this work exactly?"

It is eerie how time moves in this place and then again doesn't. Well, as long as he is still tethered to a life outside, he cannot possibly understand this realm and how it connects to others.

"I don't know. I am learning, step by step. Can you trust me?"

"No."

Eren laughs his sad laugh. His green eyes are fixed on something only he can see. "You have no choice, Ackerman."

That isn't true. No need to tell the brat though - the Founder cannot read his mind, small triumph that this is.

"In what follows, you will remember this conversation. I will probably not. I am merely a confused teenager in your timeline. Only here do I have full access to the memory of things past and things to come."

"That must shit you up tremendously," Levi jeers. "No wonder you're so damn tense all the time."

"The world judges me by the decision I make, never does it see the options I had to choose from. Will you be the one to understand?"

"I'm giving my very best," Levi lies down and stretches his limbs. Ah, the warmth of the sand is so pleasant at his back. "Let's hope you won't fuck up the future."

"Take a care, Ackerman. You cannot walk on the path without facing the consequences."

Levi should ask: Why do you keep wiping my mind? What are you hiding? You are not telling me everything, do you think I'm stupid?

But he keeps mute. There seems no point in taking this conversation any further. The future will happen. The question is how.