"Seriously, what were you thinking?" growled Levi. "What if I hadn't found the letter? Do you realize what could've happened to you?"

The room was a small office at the Military HQ. Levi leaned on the wall, clenching his jaw. He looked over his shoulder to observe Sophie sitting on a chair next to him, with her handcuffed hands resting on her lap.

"Calm down, Levi," instructed Hange. They sat on top of a desk in front of the pair, using their hands as support. The incoming light from the window behind them contoured the Commander's silhouette like a halo.

"I…I didn't know about any of it, I swear," babbled Sophie, fixing her gaze on the floor. Her loose, long hair covered her face, making Levi unable to read her expression. "I was only supposed to send the information."

Levi scoffed, "You, Erwin…I swear I'm surrounded by a bunch of clever lunatics."

"Wow, thanks," replied Hange with sarcasm.

Levi shook his head. He ignored Hange's comment and referred to Sophie once more, "Couldn't you just talk to us?"

Sophie threw her head back. Levi got a clearer view of her face; the swollen left cheek from her arrest was in a better condition than her right side. There were traces of blood on her eyebrow and lips and bruises on her forehead and nose. Despite Levi's insistence, she had brushed over what had happened at the cell. Even with all the accusations and evidence against Sophie, he couldn't wait to see Asbel behind bars and have a shot at beating him up.

"Would you have believed me if I had?" she asked. "You didn't seem very receptive at my cell."

Before Levi could counter, Hange jumped off the table and stomped towards Levi. "Wait, you went to her cell?"

Levi wasn't intimidated by their tone or imposing presence. He rolled his eyes, "Does it matter now?"

"Great." They lifted their arms in resignation. "I've barely been the Commander for six months. Erwin is still controlling us from the grave, the Chief of Engineering turns out to be a traitor, and the Squad Captain doesn't even care to follow my orders." After the rant, they sighed, "I was supposed to count on you."

Levi and Sophie wavered in their places. He looked away, clenching his jaw to hide the shame present in his expression. Not only had he let Sophie down, but also Hange.

"I'm just… I'm really sorry," whispered Sophie. "I mean it. There is no excuse for what I've done." She looked at Hange and said with a broken voice, "I'm so sorry. I deserve your hate."

Hange grunted, "All those years working together…I thought I could trust you."

Levi wanted to remain observant, but he decided to contribute. "To be fair, you shouldn't have told her half of the things she wrote on those documents, Hange."

The Commander quickly turned to Levi, babbling at his remark. "Really? Are you going to defend her now?"

"No. I'm just saying that everyone makes mistakes, especially when it comes to trust," he clarified. Sophie and Hange looked at him, confused. "We all believed in the wrong people. Stop crying about it and move on."

To Levi, trust had proven to be a powerful but vulnerable force. It had been enough to follow Erwin in his crazy missions, believe in Eren as a savior of Humanity, or take both Asbel and Sophie's words at face value. However, just like him, Hange and Sophie had learned the hard way that trusting someone wasn't a guarantee of being right.

From the corner of his eye, he could distinguish Sophie staring at him, perplexed. He continued to fix his gaze on Hange instead, who—surprisingly—seemed to have more trouble handling their emotions than her.

Hange scoffed, "Yeah, right, whatever." They looked at Sophie, softening their gaze. "At least you backtracked when you had to. I respect that," they sighed. Hange leaned on the edge of the table before adding, "There is something that still bugs me, though."

"Huh?" Sophie shook her head, moving away some of the hair strands covering her face.

"How did you manage to get all those letters without getting caught?"

"Oh, right," she sighed. "When I started working at Engineering, I did a lot of calligraphy studies so people wouldn't notice my…shortcomings. I intercepted the letters and made exact copies of them to replace the originals, in case someone planned on hiding or destroying them."

Levi grinned as she talked. "Smart girl," he thought.

Hange frowned. "But many of them weren't even addressed to you. How did you get those?"

"Uh." Sophie gulped and looked away. Levi slid closer to her, worried by her reaction. He couldn't see her face, but he could sense discomfort in her tone as she continued, "So…you are probably aware of my reputation with the men in Mitras."

Hange smirked, "Of course I am. Anyone with at least one eye and one ear knows about it. Your walks of shame almost add up to a marathon," they said with scorn. Hange's expression quickly changed from jokester to concern. "Oh," they whispered as they lowered their head. Levi switched his gaze back and forth between the two, confused about the conversation.

"Care to explain that to someone who actually has both eyes?" said Levi, referring to Hange.

They remained silent until Sophie cleared her throat. "Those men were…not at random; they were Asbel's colleagues. I got personal with them to follow his steps and intercept those documents." Her voice started to break as she continued, "It wasn't…as fun as people may think."

"Shit, Sophie," muttered Hange, rubbing their face. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have—"

"It's fine. I had to do it," she interrupted. Hange tsked.

"That's sick," said Levi with a growl.

"Well, we both have seen and done worse in the Underground," she sighed facing Levi. He grunted in response, realizing that she was right. No matter how well-dressed and smart she had become, she was still an Underground girl willing to do anything for survival. "Asbel thought I did it as a way to get back at him, like some twisted revenge that benefited his narrative of the crazy wife. That bastard is smart, but his ego was his downfall," she concluded. With every word, her voice became harsher.

"And you couldn't tell anyone…why you were doing it, right?" said Levi. Sophie nodded in response.

Levi passed a hand through his hair and threw his head back. He clenched his fist, frustrated for not seeing the signs earlier, for not being there for her. At that moment, he just wanted to apologize and hug her. But his duty was not over yet.

Hange kneeled in front of her. "I don't think I can ever forgive you for what you did, Sophie." They adjusted their glasses, pensive, before adding, "But I can see why Erwin helped you. I'm glad we found his letter on time."

Before she could reply, a knock on the office door startled the trio. They turned their heads towards it in unison. The door opened, and a Survey Corps lieutenant entered the room.

"Commander," he greeted. "Asbel Barnes's questioning has finished. Commander Zachary requests your input in the deliberation."

Hange stood up in silence. Before leaving the room, they looked at Sophie and nodded in sympathy.

Levi and Sophie remained next to each other, quietly looking at the floor. He wanted to say something, but he didn't know where to start. He crossed his arms and grunted. The incoming light was shining directly on Sophie, but part of him couldn't bear the sight of her being tied up with a bruised face, no matter what had led up to it.

With an impulse, he grabbed the chair behind the desk and placed it in front of Sophie. He sat down, putting one leg over the other. She didn't bother to lift her head.

"Why are you here? I thought the Police would be in charge of guarding me," she mumbled, still facing the wooden floor.

"You mean the same ones Asbel bribed? Yeah, not happening," he noted. She didn't reply.

He continued to observe her in silence, wondering how it must have been for her to be alone, risking her life and reputation day after day, without knowing whether Erwin's plan would succeed. He had never expected Sophie to experience the same feelings he had every time he went onto the battlefield.

He shook his head. He had pushed himself away from her so she wouldn't suffer through the same things he had. Still, he hadn't been able to prevent it from happening.

Levi opened his mouth to say the only thing clear enough on his mind, "Sophie, I—"

"Don't you dare apologize," she interrupted, menacing. "I'm the guilty one here. Don't try to play the hero."

"I won't," he assured her with a soft voice. "I just want to know if you are okay."

His words triggered something in her. Sophie started trembling and sniffing, still keeping her head low. Levi was unable to react, but he could feel his chest tighten with the sight. Sophie lifted her chin and he got a better view of her face; the area under her eyes was coated with watery traces, and tears streamed down to her nose tip.

"The last ten years of my life have been a lie," she sobbed. "I've never been a good engineer. I've never been a good person. I'm just like my mother." She paused to look at the ceiling. "I'm a crazy woman who thought she was helping others, hurting and lying to the people close to her because of her selfish delusion. And I will die alone just like she did." The shackles jingled as she used the back of her hand to wipe away the tears. "She cursed me for living above, for breaking her promise. I deserve this. I deserve to end up like her."

Her words made Levi's skin burn, who clenched his fist to contain the anger.

"Stop that," he commanded with a military tone.

She ignored him and scoffed, "I'm a pathetic coward."

"Enough!" He stood up with one quick and strong movement, making the chair rattle as a result.

Sophie turned her head, indifferent to his showcase of frustration.

"You said it yourself; I've hurt you and the Corps. I'm horrible. That's something that none of my good intentions or messy fix-ups can make up for." She passed her hands through her face before fixing his watery, swollen eyes at Levi.

"You think you are the only one here who has hurt people?" he exasperated.

"That's n—"

"Kenny was my uncle," he admitted.

Within a split second of Levi's words, Sophie gasped, appalled. She blinked several times and opened her mouth slightly, but without emitting a single sound. Levi breathed out to recompose himself and continued, "He told me before dying. He was the only family I had left, and I killed him."

Once Kenny's name was mentioned, she eliminated every trace of a weeper from her presence; she lifted her chin and straightened her back. Her eyes, so disheartened and weak before, turned into a decisive gaze fuelled by anger.

"He wasn't a good person. You know it," she argued without compassion.

"No, he wasn't. He abandoned me, and he killed my subordinates. But he also took care of me when I had no one else. Once I saw him on the verge of death, completely wretched and alone, I thought he didn't deserve to die like that." He reminisced the sunset on Kenny's face before his last selfless action, the strike on his chest as his uncle gave him the Titan Serum; Kenny had given up his last chance of survival so Levi could save someone else. "I don't think you deserve to suffer and die alone either."

"Why not?" she countered, frowning.

Levi walked towards the window and placed his hand on the crystal. He closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of the sunlight pass to his palm. He didn't want to look at her once he removed the disguise of the soulless, brutal Captain.

"I've always sworn to protect my comrades and everyone inside these walls. And three months ago, I was sticking ODM hooks in their throats because I believed it was the right thing to do. Because I trusted that I was doing something good for Humanity and that they deserved it."

"Did they?" she mumbled. Levi remembered Sanne's screams of pain as they tortured him, the carriage woman hesitating to kill Jean, and the crushed corpses scattered over the chapel before he found Kenny.

"I don't know. I want to believe that they were our enemies. But perhaps they were only at the wrong place and time, following orders they didn't understand. If that's the case, then I'm no different than them or you. If they deserved to die like that, then so do I."

"You don't. You led Humanity to its freedom. That was your purpose, right? You helped people." Levi heard the wooden floor creaking with her footsteps as she approached him, accompanied by the clink of the shackles around her hands.

"And didn't you? You reconstructed Stohess in a heartbeat, provided us with weapons to fight all kinds of Titans, and helped Hange with whatever bizarre idea they had in mind."

"So that's it? Does that excuse everything else? Is Kenny a good person for taking care of you, despite murdering my father?" The frustration in her voice increased with every word. Levi turned around to face her. There was no point in hiding his true self from her.

"I never said that," he grunted. His sudden, brusque tone startled her. "I don't condone your actions, Sophie. Only that I understand you."

"What is there to understand? You said it yourself; I'm a cold-blooded criminal," she scoffed. Her voice didn't showcase as much confidence as she wanted to portray. At her reference, Levi regretted the hurtful words he had shouted at her cell, fueled by Asbel's narrative.

Levi lifted his chin and took a step forward, locking his eyes on her. The light from the window shone on her hair, creating an aura of grace around it. She didn't want him to behave like a hero, but he wouldn't allow her to act like a villain.

"Back at the chapel, you told me you did it because of power. But that was Asbel's goal, not yours," he recalled.

Sophie blinked and cleared her throat before approaching Levi.

"You seem awfully sure of yourself, for someone who ignored me for a decade," she said, provoking him.

He stared at her for a moment. The incoming glare from the window reflected on her eyes, highlighting her dark iris. He frowned as he realized what she was doing: pushing him away. Just like that night, in the candlelight of the Underground basement. That could only mean that he was close to something.

"If power were what you were truly after, you wouldn't have gone to Erwin's office. You wouldn't have copied those letters and sacrificed everything," he said. Sophie gulped in response. The rhythm of her breath increased, which signaled Levi that he was on the right track with his suspicion. "Everything you did was for the same reason why you fixed your dad's ODM gear after his death. The same reason why you worked every damn night at our den, or why you told the Survey Corps about us so we could live above with you." He approached her once more and whispered, "The same reason why you sent me all those letters and why you married that jerk."

"If you are going to play the detective, you might as well join Zachary and Hange in their deliberation," she seethed. Her expression seemed confident, but Levi knew that her mock only proved that she was cornered. She always did that. He scoffed in response and took another step forward. He could feel Sophie tensing up as he approached her.

He put his hands on each side of her head, gently stroking the hair strands framing her face and arranging them behind her ears. He slid his fingers down her neck until his hands rested on her shoulders. She observed him in silence, but her agitated breathing spoke volumes.

He continued, "You wanted something to call home, something safe that made all the pain worth it. Something to belong to, whether it be your basement, our gang, your work, or even Asbel."

"How…?"

"Because I also fight for a world I can call home, where I don't have to sacrifice anything else. And I've done things you can't even imagine to fulfill that. That's why I understand you."

Sophie looked away and whispered, "Was the Underground…home to you?"

"In a way, yes," replied Levi, swaying his head. Despite the death and violence present in that city, the good memories replaced some of the pain he had endured.

"I'm so sorry I took that away from you," she muttered, taking a step back. Levi felt his fingers slipping away from her. "If you had never met me back then, none of his would've happened. You would've never been to the surface and suffered that much."

He grunted and gently pulled her towards him. He was tired of being the dutiful soldier: always fighting for Erwin and his comrades, but never for himself.

"You still don't get it, do you?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"Why do you think that I came back that night? Why did I follow you into that chapel? Why did I visit your cell after learning all those horrible things?"

"I…don't know," she said. He scoffed in response. For someone who had managed to deceive both Asbel and the Military, she was a dreadful liar.

"You go around playing mind games with Erwin, scheming complots on your own against one of the most powerful men inside the Walls, solving all that gibberish math I can't even begin to understand…and yet you can't put two and two together?" He moved his hands to the back of her head, intertwining his fingers with her hair. "Tell me, why do you think that I came back every time?"

"You said you had no one else," she answered without a doubt, but her eyes fluttered.

"Because I don't want anyone else," he confessed. It wasn't enough for him to express his feelings; he needed her to do the same. "Let me rephrase the question. That night at the basement, why did you move away from me?"

Sophie gulped. "Because of the same reason why you didn't reply to my letters," she whispered, leaving her mouth slightly open. "Because I didn't want to have you, only to lose you."

He smirked at her words. For him, that would've been enough admittance if the Commanders weren't gambling on Sophie's fate next door. Even with her acts of redemption, they would not easily ignore her crimes. Nothing guaranteed that the Police wouldn't enter the office at any moment and took her away from him forever. He had held back for far too long, and he was running out of time.

"I want you to tell me," he commanded, tracing her jawline with his thumbs. "Why did I kiss you that night?"

"I was drunk." She was the most hot-headed person he had ever known. And yet, he had never seen her so restricted and composed.

"We agreed that the alcohol was not to blame," he reminded her.

"You said it didn't change anything," she recalled with an imposing tone.

He scoffed, "And you believed me?"

Sophie lifted her chin and took a moment to scan his face. "I did. It seems like trusting men always gets me in trouble."

Levi chuckled, "Oh Sophie, don't blame that on us."

"Prove it," she dared him. "This is just like that night; we might never see each other again, and I'm in a rather sensitive position." She took another step. Her closeness instinctively thrilled Levi. "Prove it. Prove to me, right now, that something did change."

"How?"

"Kiss me."

His face was only an inch away from hers, and he could feel the impulse of leaning forward to meet her lips. He wanted to go back home, to go back to her. That's where his heart and feelings had always been, even after all the trouble she had brought him.

Something refrained him from giving in. Following her command would prove that, indeed, nothing had changed from that night. He would still be a lonesome Captain, clinging to his liable past. He would be holding on to her only because nothing guaranteed that he would ever see her again, and not because of his true feelings. Kissing her at that moment would be an act of desperation rather than love, and Sophie had already pursued far too many desperate men. Not doing what she had asked was the only way of demonstrating his devotion.

"That's not an elegant thing to do to a handcuffed lady," he argued as the soldier mindset took over him. Despite how much he desired to embrace her, she had underestimated his ability to block his emotions.

"I thought you weren't that basement gentleman anymore," she teased him, lifting an eyebrow. She placed her tied hands over his pounding chest. Levi could feel the air escaping her lips stroking his.

"For you, I am," he whispered. She batted her eyes in response. "Otherwise, not even Asbel would've stopped me." Slowly, he moved his hands away from her face. They locked their eyes into one another, trying to read each other's true intentions.

"Fair enough," she sighed, distancing herself from him as she removed her hands. "Captain."

Her addressing his rank made him realize that there was still much unsaid between them. Like all the letters he had replied to but never sent. She was still a criminal, albeit no different than him. However, he couldn't ignore her sacrifice, duty, and all the things she had done for the sake of fixing her mistakes.

She had given up everything for her only chance of redemption. And yet, she still considered herself unworthy of living, unworthy of him. She doubted his feelings. She even saw him as someone taking advantage of her.

He couldn't let that happen.

The door opened, and Hange entered the office. "Sophie Lhant, we have decided on your verdict."