Levi Has A Pet

Summary: Levi has a pet, an unusual one, but it's a pet and he likes it with all of his dark little heart. It's small, undemanding and, most of all, clean. But it's a blast from the past and when word gets out, everyone wants it. Levi has to make sure his unique pet remains his and free. Eren, already done with this BS 2000 years ago, gets dragged into it. He's not complaining, despite his complaining.

Levi really hadn't even thought when he'd thrown the punch. He'd been ruled by emotions and instinct, if he was being honest. His last memories of Floch Forster was him damaging the plane and Hange having to stay back to buy them time, resulting in his oldest friend's death, therefore there was a lot of festering rage he'd never had the chance to deal with at the mere sight of the redhead and he hadn't even known it existed or had been transferred to this life, too, until his fist connected with Floch's face and the force of his punch sent the man flying right off of Hange's property, onto the street, all but sailing over a police cruiser parked outside.

To Forster's credit, he only yelped once, probably at the surprise of it, and didn't make another sound when he slammed into the concrete behind the police car, but Levi's worries were far from over now that he'd punched the redhead. Even without acknowledging the other person's presence, Levi was well aware cops were required to move around in pairs, as partners, whether it be a regular patrol or they are given a case to check out, so he was already expecting retaliation way before the baton tried to slam into the side of his head. He dodged effortlessly, dropped into a near split on the ground and kicked out a leg to topple over Floch's partner.

A startled, familiar feminine yelp was followed by the thud of a body and a groan of pain from an abused tailbone, which had Levi whipping around with wide eyes to find none other than Petra Ral sitting dazed on the floor before she scrambled to grab either her baton or a gun to intimidate Levi with. Levi instinctively slammed the weapon out of her hand, causing her to yelp again at the abuse she was experiencing, but Levi didn't do anything else and she stopped trying to attack him.

That, however, couldn't be said for the third person on Hange's porch who, upon seeing Levi crouched low, tried to kick him in the head, to either knock him out or disorient him, Levi didn't know and didn't care, because he caught the speeding leg with an ease that shouldn't be possible in a normal human. He was literally one second away from twisting the caught appendage in such a way that would shatter the kneecap and probably break the ankle when he heard Moblit call out from within the house.

"Mike? What are you doing here? And why are you attacking poor Levi!?"

"'Poor'!?" None other than Mike Zacharius exclaimed, looking down at the teenager with wild, disbelieving eyes. "Poor, Moblit!? He was seconds away from destroying my leg! He sent Floch flying ten meters! If anyone's poor in this situation, it's us! Get your rabid dog away from us!"

Levi snarled at that and gave the leg a harsh tug, though nowhere near enough to cause any real damage, but Mike yelped in a way Levi had never heard the mustached blond do in their past life and suddenly, Levi remembered his own promise to himself and looked around for a proper sewer to throw Mike into.

"You! You just assaulted an officer of the law! That's a felony worth at least a couple of months in prison!" Petra accused, pointing a finger at Levi in the most childish manner Levi had ever seen from her if she wasn't arguing with Olou.

"What's all this commotion?" Hange asked as she and the others poked their heads out of various rooms to see what was going on.

"Ma'am, if you'd please get this thing off of my leg, we could possibly discuss things like civilized human beings," Mike said in the steadiest voice he could manage while Levi still held his previous limb in a death grip with a ferocious scowl on his face.

"Levi, it's okay, you can let go of him, he's a friend from work," Moblit reassured and Mike nodded hastily in agreement, just to keep his limb safe and intact.

"I just came to see if Hange-san knew what happened to Moblit after the incident yesterday since no one saw him and the boss was getting worried about his safety and health. We figured since he'd gotten so close with Hange-san, she must know where he is."

"And that required the presence of the police?" Pieck asked with crossed arms over her chest, looking a bit suspicious.

"Yes, Ma'am," Petra replied, getting to her feet and dusting herself off. Levi let go of Mike and stood up as well, offering Petra back her baton and taser gun, which she took cautiously, as if afraid they might jump out of his hands and bite her. Fair enough, really, considering Levi's reflexes it may as well seem like that would happen if he were to decide to use her weapons against her. "Since shots were fired and several first started or explosions went off yesterday, the police was required to investigate what had caused the commotion and the incident. Several scientists and staff members have gone missing in the past twenty four hours and neither the ministry of science, nor the organizers of the fair could let such a travesty go uninvestigated. Mike-san asked to come with us to check up on Moblit-san's whereabouts since they worked closely together and he was worried for his friend."

"I'm fine, I just helped Hange-san evacuate her younger cousin and guests when the commotion started," Moblit reassured and Mike probably wanted to relax at that, but he was still eyeing Levi like he was a wild bear ready to attack. Which, honestly, was an understatement.

In this house, there were six - seven, actually, since he can't deny he'd gotten to know Pieck rather well as a family friend of the Grice couple - people and one creature he honestly cared about, loved even, whom he wanted to protect. And before this house had come to stand a man who had nearly killed or caused the death of four of them and had caused enough of a shitshow besides that, even if it was all for Paradis, Levi was ready to kill him regardless, just for existing this time around. Levi didn't even care that Floch had voted to kill him after he miraculously survived the explosion Zeke caused. Levi had never overly cared for himself. But he would never forgive the danger his friends and comrades have been in, the things they've had to suffer.

Floch had had many a good men and women in the Paradis military killed so he and the Jaegerists could take over smoothly. Some of them had been Levi's personal friends, even if they had never reached the levels of intimacy as say Erwin or Hange. Some of them had been assigned to Levi, at various points in time, for training or missions.

Floch had been, in a way, more of an enemy than the Marleyians or even Eren when he had started the Rumbling. Simply because he had turned Scouts against each other. The Survey Corps had always prevailed because of their unity, their comradeship, the names of their fallen comrades that they shared and carried together so their sacrifices may never be forgotten or proven to be for nothing. Never, in the whole history of the Corps, had one person wearing the Wings of Freedom turned on another, excluding, of course, the cases of Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover, who were spies and enemies in hiding. Floch had made that happen. Hange and his squad had shed tears as they killed their comrades for survival.

It had made Floch the number two on his shit list, right after Zeke Jaeger.

Seems the bastard still holds that place, or maybe even higher now that Levi's exacted his revenge on Zeke and fulfilled his promise to Erwin in his last life. Levi has no beef with the Zeke of this time besides Zeke trying to take his pet from him like any other scientist who learned about the Hallucigenia. Floch, though ... Oh, if Levi had his blades on hand right now ...

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to come peacefully," Petra was saying and Levi gave her an irritated look. "I'm bringing you in for assaulting an officer-"

"It's fine, Ral," came Floch's voice, wheezy as he tried to fully regain his breath. He was struggling to get back to his feet and Mike was eager to rush over to help him if it meant he was out of Levi's immediate reach. As if that would save him. "I probably deserved that. I actually got off easy, for once."

"You don't even know the half of it," commented Eren as he came to stand behind Levi, leaning on the frame of the door and giving a lazy wave at the stunned redheaded Jaegerist. "Yo, 'sup."

"Eren!" Floch brightened, hurrying to righten himself and Levi narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously. A glance at Hange showed that she was turning to take a cue from Levi, too, since she was clearly as suspicious by Floch's behavior as he was. Well, the strange eagerness to please, anyway. Levi had honestly never paid too much attention to Forster last time around, so he can't be sure if the man had been an outright simp for Eren or if he had just been a bit too eager to try and imitate Erwin's ability to almost coldly sacrifice the lives of hundreds for a goal.

"Forster, you know these people?" Petra asked skeptically and Floch nodded, barely taking his eyes off of the former Titan Shifter to acknowledge his partner.

"Yeah, we go way back. Listen, Petra? Could you give us some privacy? We kind of have a lot of ... catching up to do," Floch asked but the woman gave him a skeptical look.

"You want to stay and chat with the guy who just punted you across the street without breaking a sweat just because you're simping for tall, dark and handsome?" Levi actually felt himself reach for the nearest sharp object - which was one of his small switchblades; he never walked around without at least some kind of weapon on him - for some unknown reason but then Eren all but draped himself over his former Heichou, which threw Levi off guard and made him forget about hurting Floch for a second. Petra, as sharp-eyed as she'd ever been, noticed the strange closeness between Humanity's former Strength and Hope and arched an eyebrow. "Floch, I feel you're in more danger than your oblivious ass realizes, but if you think you can deal with Mighty Mouse in protective mode, then sure, be my guest. I guess we'll just take our breaks separately today, no big deal. Just keep your radio on you and we're cool." Petra gave a polite half-bow to their group and walked off to her car, waiting for Mike who was exchanging some words with Moblit in rapid Japanese before he, too, nodded and left with barely a word of farewell to the rest of them besides Hange and Pieck.

They stood there and watched the police car drive away before Hange grabbed hold of Floch and roughly dragged him into the house by the arm. The redhead wisely did not resist but he also unwisely tried to stay close to Eren, who was still bodily draped over Levi, probably in an attempt to keep him from committing murder and forcing them to hide a body. Though Levi has no doubt in Mikasa's ability to help in that regard. The woman was the heiress to a yakuza, whether she liked it or not. She had people who were probably paid to do something like that for her.

The first thing Floch did when he was dragged into their impromptu meeting room was stare at the Hallucigenia on the table, placed between Levi and Eren so it wouldn't start fussing. "Am I tripping or does that thing look a bit like Eren's Founding Titan?"

"You're not tripping," Eren replied blandly as he tried, unsuccessfully, to drag Levi to all but sit in his lap, but Levi was having none of that. He needed to be free to react in a second in case Floch tries something stupid and Eren would be too restraining even if he wasn't actively trying to restrain him simply by Levi not wanting to accidentally hurt him if he lunges across the table or something. At least the little shit didn't pout in an effort to change his mind, though he did move closer so their knees were touching and their elbows would rub if they moved their arms. "Have you met anyone besides Petra and Mike from the past? Does anyone remember? And when did you remember?"

Floch paused at that, giving Eren a confused look. "Ral and Zacharias are from the past? Really?"

"Right," Armin said in realization. "They died before you could meet them."

"So they were Scouts?" Floch asked, an understanding glint in his eyes. "Shit, that explains Ral's spectacular right hook and Zacharias' strange instincts. Did you know he sniffed me when we met up with him to ask him about Berner? How weird can someone get!?"

Pieck arched an eyebrow. "Considering four of the people present could turn into Titans, one has superhuman abilities and all of us are reincarnations from two thousand years ago, I'd say the bar for what is considered 'weird' is pretty low."

"Or high," offered Gabi. "I mean, someone sniffing me seems way more normal compared to having tea with someone whose head I've shot right off their shoulders."

"Did you really have to bring that up?" Asked Falco in an exasperated whine while Levi just shook his head. Eren didn't seem the least bit bothered but Floch certainly seemed to be insulted for the both of them.

"Just answer the question before I kick you out of my house," Hange threatened and Floch snorted, clearly not believing she'd actually dare do that. Hange arched a challenging eyebrow. "Don't test me, boy. I've dived down the throats of at least a dozen Titans to check if they have a digestive system different from ours and I've tortured my fare share of humans before and I won't hesitate to do again."

Floch seemed incredulous. "You really think you can take me on in this life?"

"I wouldn't even have to," the scientist countered with a nod of her head towards her best friend of two lifetimes now. "I have Levi."

"Y-yeah, well I have Eren!"

"Who the fuck gave you that idea?" Eren and Levi both asked at the same time with the exact same incredulous arched eyebrow, making the redhead splutter, clearly having expected support from his idol, his 'fellow Jaegerist' from two thousand years ago, completely forgetting that, outside of the desperate, hopeless situation from back then that had cornered Paradis in every way which led to Eren's 'fall from grace', Levi and Eren were a team, were comrades. Friends, even, despite how strained that friendship could be at times because of their superior-subordinate relationship which was also thrown into the mix. "I'm never fighting Heichou or my other comrades ever again if I can help it."

"B-but!"

"Just answer our questions and get out of this house before I shove a knife so far up your ass, you'll feel it in your throat," threatened Levi and Floch sputtered some more before he composed himself and actually answered their questions.

Turns out, he's met only someone called Hitch Dryas from their past life, no one else besides Mike, who he'd only met, and Petra, who was his partner and mentor in the police force for the past seven months. He didn't know Dryas' story, though she seems to be some politician's daughter or something and was on a long vacation in Japan at the moment, or Mike's beyond him working as security for big events, but he did know a bit about Petra. Apparently, she's an orphan since infancy, her natural hair color used to be black before she changed it in high school and Floch only knew that because he'd once caught her roots growing out before she could dye her hair again, she's bi and has a girlfriend but also has a secret admirer who is most definitely male, she wants to become a detective in a couple of years and has an almost unhealthy obsession with K-Pop boybands and singers, especially those with undercuts. Levi was distinctly uneasy at that last bit of information, even as Hange snickered at him and Eren suddenly had a sour look on his face.

"As for when I remembered ... I think I was in my first year of high school," Floch was finishing up with a shrug. "Once a month, I'd have horrific nightmares that were too real that didn't make sense, until the one just two years ago, in which I saw my own death. That's when I realized they weren't just dreams, but rather memories. I remembered who I was and I legally changed my name to Floch Forster-"

"Wait, your name wasn't originally the same as your past name?" Hange interrupted to ask the question that was on all of their minds.

"Uh, no?"

"What was it?" Gabi asked and Floch looked like he wasn't going to answer until he glanced at Eren and suddenly his lips were as loose as a broken pipe.

"Uhm," he looked embarrassed but carried on. "Francis Smith."

Levi couldn't hold in his snort at that, and neither could Hange, Eren or Gabi, it seemed. Moblit and Falco tried to berate their brunets, Armin looked done with his best friend and, well, Levi wasn't going to deny Eren some harmless amusement, especially if it was at Floch's expense. Did that make him petty? Yes, and he didn't give a fuck.

But then the name 'Smith' stuck out to him like a sore thumb and Levi remembered some of his musings about Floch, both from just a few minutes ago and in general, and his face turned dark. "Where are you originally from, this time around?"

"Well, that's actually a bit complicated," Floch said as he rubbed at the back of his neck. "My grandfather's from the UK, but my dad moved to France, where he met my mom, but she had a job offer here as a French teacher at Tokyo University, so dad followed her. Me and my sisters were born in Japan, so we kinda have a triple citizenship."

"Do you have any uncles or cousins?"

"Yeah, back in the UK. Why?" He asked skeptically and Levi made a pained, annoyed expression. Hange mirrored him a second later while Armin had a considering look on his face as he studied Floch. Floch seemed to catch on to their train of thought because he suddenly looked to be in frightened awe. "No. Way. I'm related to Erwin Smith!?"

"We don't know that for sure," Armin tried to interject, but Floch wasn't listening as he took out a phone and seemingly texted someone. Probably his father.

A few seconds later, he received a reply and showed it to Eren, and since Levi was sitting right next to him, he could see the clear 'Yes', too. He groaned.

"Great. Just fucking fantastic. Just what I needed in my life."

"What's with you, anyway? You seem even more high-strung than two thousand years ago," Floch observed and Levi sent him his deadliest death-stare.

"Just don't go there," advised Falco as he got up to prepare Levi some tea, probably recognizing the signs of a migraine making its way to the surface to pound away at his skull and brain. Just then, the doorbell rang and this time, it better fucking be the pizza guy, or else someone's really getting a knife shoved up their ass. "I'll get it."

"No, I'll do it," Eren interrupted, also getting up. "You bring Levi his tea," he said as he took the money Hange offered.

"If it's some secret service guys, scream," Levi all but ordered. "I'm literally ready to knock down an army at this point."

"Aren't you always?" Eren asked with a grin but nodded to show he would do as instructed before he and Falco left the room.

"Secret service? What have you gotten yourself into?" Their newest addition couldn't seem to help himself and asked, which had Levi scowling at him. He wasn't deterred this time, though.

"It's a long and complicated story that has nothing to do with you," interjected Moblit, much to the surprise of the ones with their memories intact. "All you need to know is that, maybe, sometime in the near future, we might need some legal assistance to get to a boat and sail into international waters-"

"Actually-"

"Shut up, Shitty Four Eyes."

"Wow, you're really pissed, huh, shorty?"

"-so we can dispose of the Hallucigenia into the depths of the Mariana Trench," Moblit finished as though Levi and Hange hadn't spoken at all, clearly used to all sorts of bullshit, even after knowing Hange for only a short span of time.

"And why would you do that?" The police officer asked in half confusion, half skepticism.

"Because it's-none-of-your-fucking-business, that's why," Levi replied before anyone else could even think to tell the asshole anything about the Hallucigenia and its true nature. "And we don't need his help," he told Moblit seriously, who looked doubtful but was also smart enough not to get into needless arguments.

"What if I want to?" Floch challenged.

"Then I'll feed you to the first shark we run into and laugh as you meet your gruesome end."

"Shit. Why do you hate me that much?"

"You dare to ask?" He countered in a deadly tone and Floch, for once, kept his mouth shut. "Listen, brat-"

"I'm fairly sure I'm older than you this time around, but it was always hard to tell, even back then, how old you were because damn, you don't fucking age!"

"I was still born first, I lived a full life and died of old age and was then born again, therefore I have a full lifetime on you plus the nineteen years of this one, so to me, yes, you are a fucking brat. All of you are, so shut the fuck up." Thankfully, he did. "As I was saying, I'm really good at holding grudges, especially if it's against something or someone that took away someone I cared about in any way, shape or form. Unfortunately for you, Hange died because of your actions before the plane took off. Therefore, I hate you in the only way I know how to hate people, with a vengeance. I literally don't give a fuck about Zeke this time around, even if he does remember, which is still up for debate, as long as he doesn't annoy me or make my life harder than it already is. Can't say the same for you. You want to know why? Because I got my revenge last time and that's that."

"So, what? You have to kill me to stop hating me? I'm an officer of the law, even if a new one. If you kill me, there's no way you won't go to jail!" Floch said a little panicky and Levi couldn't even blame him. Floch remembered far too well just why Levi was Humanity's Strongest Soldier.

"Only if he gets caught," reminded Gabi darkly and Floch was starting to sweat. Levi gave her an approving nod and she positively beamed at him.

"Pizza's here," Eren announced as he came back into the room with Falco hot on his heels, several steaming cups in his hands, containing both tea and coffee based on the smell. "Now, I'm just going to say this before we open any of these boxes: none of you motherfuckers better not have ordered that monstrosity with pineapples, or I will find a way to start a second Rumbling."

"What's wrong with pineapple pizza?" Floch asked and got grossed out expressions from everyone else. Eren's face darkened.

"Get the fuck out before I whoop your ass into the next life."

"I'm kidding! It's a joke! Geez!"

"You don't joke about pineapples on pizza around Eren," Armin advised with a dead serious expression as Eren put down the boxes on the table and Pieck started sorting through them. "One time, the delivery guy accidentally brought up the wrong order for us and Eren nearly broke his nose. I've never been so grateful to have Levi-heichou living with us as at that moment, even if it meant we had to keep our apartment up to his cleanliness standards."

"You say that as if I didn't already force you to keep that place sparkling from the moment we moved in," said Eren with a snort as he plopped back into his seat beside Levi, dragging a capricciosa over for them to share. "You guys are slobs."

Levi nodded in agreement to that, taking a slice of pizza for himself and putting aside a few mushrooms for the Hallucigenia before he started eating. Eren, in turn, pulled off a bit of cheese-covered baloney and set it aside, which had the Hallucigenia all excited for the treats they were leaving for it. Levi swears that thing only cares about eating.

"No, you just got turned into a clean freak," countered Hange. "And Gabi and Falco are almost just as bad!"

"What do you expect?" Pieck asked with a snort around a slice of pizza she was nibbling on. "They lived with Levi after the war."

They continued such a lighthearted topic while they ate and even Floch relaxed a bit after a while when no one else tried to kill him. Though he still got glares from time to time, if he made a comment on things they were not comfortable with hearing his opinion on. Eren seemed to mostly ignore him, which rattled the redhead the most. Though that might be because of watching the Hallucigenia feed.

After they were done eating, though, Hange pulled up the ancient scroll of Rose Fritz and had Eren start translating, noting down everything he said.

"So, just to be absolutely clear, it does say sink to the deepest of depths, right?" Hange asked to confirm when the whole text was translated and interpreted to an understandable language of modern times. "Like, it really is deepest of depths, right?"

"Yes, Hange, for the last time, yes!" Eren groaned in annoyance, glaring at the scientist. "And yes, I'm guessing it means what you think it means: the Mariana Trench! Are we going to continue in circles for the rest of the day? Mikasa already texted me and all but demanded we go back to her place and have a big tactical reunion so we can potentially deal with this shit, so I'd really appreciate it if you didn't ask me to repeat myself for the thousandth time!"

Hange pursed her lips in displeasure at him. "Still have anger issues, huh?"

Eren glared when Levi and Armin snorted.

Floch sent them offended looks.

Levi flipped him the bird. "But he does have a point, Hange. We all already got it. We got confirmation that Paradis sank, that the Coordinate is clearly still somehow active and intact, if slightly unstable, that we've all been reincarnated because we're Eldians because the Hallucigenia willed it so, for some reason, and that it's probably so we can dump it into the Mariana Trench where no one will bother it. There's no need to repeat any of this shit again since we all got it. We should move onto the next topic that needs our attention: how are we going to get that done?"

"We'd need a boat and a crew," started Pieck.

"We'd need permission to sail," continued Moblit. No one asked why he was getting himself even more involved in such a dangerous and strange matter when he didn't even have his memories. One of Hange's standing theories is that all Eldians have at least a semblance of remembrance of their past life, which would explain why Moblit was still so glued-to-the-hip with Hange or why Eren's mother had thought Levi seemed familiar despite never having seen him before in this life or some of the behaviors Bertolt, Marco and Sasha displayed that would make no sense without the context of their past life two thousand years ago. Maybe even Grisha Jaeger's behavior could be explained with impressions of memories but not actual remembrance, or even Levi's in-laws', like Uri and Frieda, who at times he really had contemplated might remember but didn't say anything so people wouldn't think they were crazy.

The world was a strange place, especially if you are an Eldian.

"We'd need diving gear. Or, well, a submarine," pointed out Hange.

"Or maybe not? I mean, we don't know how well the Ackermans take pressure, right?"

"Don't suggest something that could be so dangerous, Gabi!" Falco cried but Levi had to admit that he was now curious about that, too.

"A research or military boat, that's what we need," Eren declared, making everyone turn their attention to him. "With sonars and other sophisticated technology. Potentially just a remote control submarine, too, since I don't think any manned one can go to those depths and survive the cabin pressure they would be facing."

"This is going to be a lot harder than we first thought," commented Levi, though he'd never actually considered it to be easy in the first place. Just reaching the Trench would have been near impossible for him just a few weeks ago. Now, he could potentially get there, but he can't just dump the container with the Hallucigenia in it and let it sink to the bottom of the Trench. Ocean currents could change the trajectory, some animal might attack the container, attracted to the Hallucigenia's glow, or even if they could remotely open the container from the surface, there's no telling in which dangerous situation they might put the Hallucigenia upon its newfound freedom or if the mechanism would even work under all that pressure. There's also no telling how much pressure the glass of the Hallucigenia's container can take before it shatters; it might shatter way before they reach any humanly-unmanageable depth, leaving the Hallucigenia practically stranded and potentially injured from the glass shards where any human can reach it or where predators might eat it, potentially creating a new, if different Titan age.

Levi would really rather not deal with Godzila, thank you very much. Or a Kraken. Or one of those ugly Kaiju from Pacific Rim. Or any other monster known in the world's strange mythical literature, if he can help it.

This really was going to be harder than they first thought.