Mikasa could hear the steady rumble of conversation hum through the walls, and it sounded like the celebration was already in swing below her. She wanted more than anything to be downstairs with her friends, a small plate of hors d'oeuvres in hand while she tried her best to stop Eren and Jean from bickering. Armin would be chatting with her about the history of the castle or the style of its architecture, and Sasha would be flagging down each server to add to her pile of hors d'oeuvres. The announcement of the guests of honor would just be a small interlude that she and her friends would stay politely quiet for as they waited for it to end and wouldn't think about again as they indulged in champagne. But not tonight.
Instead, four weeks of careful planning, training and traveling later, she stood alone in a grand, but empty sitting room. She was the first out of Queen Historia, Captain Levi, and herself to arrive. The order of events was for the Queen to be announced, and Historia would in turn give a speech about the Ackermans before announcing Mikasa and Captain Levi and they would descend down the stairs.
It was too quiet in this empty room, and too loud in the ballroom. Mikasa's ears felt muffled from the sound gradient. She thought back to just a few hours ago when Sasha and their two roommates where fussing over her getting ready, and found that she missed their chaotic buzz of conversation. In order to fit all the soldiers who came from the Scouts and Garrison, they had had to bunk four soldiers together in a room so Mikasa shared a room with Sasha and two other girls. The Military Police had the luxury of remaining in their usual housing.
"Reminds me of our trainee days," Sasha had smiled ruefully when they first got to their room.
They had arrived three days in advance to the ball, and Mikasa and Captain Levi had spent every possible moment learning the grounds of the castle. They finally began sparring together again this past month because the captain had decided it was necessary to prepare for the mission. Once they arrived, they had spent hours combing through the halls of the castle.
Mikasa decided to pass the time while she waited for Levi and Historia by mentally cataloging the hallways, potential hiding spots in the different rooms, and different patrol routes and scheduled shifts again. She was still lost in these thoughts when the door opened again.
"Ackerman," Levi said finally after a long moment.
"We're both 'Ackerman.' That's the point of tonight," Mikasa pointed out.
"I could just call you 'brat'" he retorted, drawing a small smile to her face.
"I don't know. I think 'shorty' has a nice ring to it, don't you?" The vacuum of sound around them made it feel like they were far away from others, and it was making her feel brave.
Maybe it was affecting him too. Levi didn't take the bait, but instead told her, "You look nice."
"Thank you," Mikasa said, a little caught off guard by the compliment, "You clean up nicely yourself."
"Tch," he sounded amused. Good, she had hoped he would appreciate her wording.
And it's true, he did look good. He was wearing a dark suit that contrasted his perfectly white and pristine cravat. Levi looked even more polished than usual, even with his impossibly high standard. Mikasa thought that he could be mistaken for aristocracy here in Mitras while looking like that, even though he would be disgusted at the very thought. More than how he looks was the way he carries himself, which no aristocrat could possibly match. It came from years of unrelenting drive and mission. Mikasa openly admired how composed he was now, and berated herself for the small knot in her stomach.
Too soon and yet not soon enough, Queen Historia entered the room, accompanied by her personal guards.
"Hello, Heichou. It's good to see you again."
"I'm not your captain any longer, Queen Historia," Levi pointed out as both he and Mikasa salute her.
"All the same," Historia replied before regarding Mikasa, "Mikasa, you look wonderful."
"Thank you, Your Highness," Mikasa voiced her appreciation, her hand smoothing over the dress Historia had gifted her the first day they had arrived. Truth be told, Mikasa had been so busy, that she hadn't even wondered whether or not it would fit until an hour ago. The first thing she had noticed about it was that it was red, almost the same color as her scarf. Knowing Historia, it wasn't a coincidence. The long sleeves were fitted and the length ran to just barely brushing the floor.
It was elegant, and most importantly mobile. Mikasa had tested it out earlier in her room, and was pleased that it wouldn't restrict her movement during a fight. The skirt was also loose enough for her to buckle her ODM harness and a small dagger in its sheath in place underneath it. The leather straps around her thighs had felt strange on her bare skin, but now it offered the comfort of familiarity.
"Are you ready?" Queen Historia asked the pair.
They nodded, and Queen Historia walked through the doors to stand atop the grand staircase. Still hidden in the room, Mikasa and Captain Levi could hear the thunderous cheering and applause for their queen and then the beginnings of her speech.
Mikasa wished again that she were an anonymous guest in the sea of faces that they would be in front of in just a few minutes. Earlier today, Eren had found her in her room to ask her again, "Are you sure you don't want me to walk down with to you?"
She felt a rush of appreciation that he had sought her out to check on her. Even though Eren could be obtuse and hotheaded, he always knew when she needed him. She had reassured him, "I'll be walking down with the captain, and it's alright. I just have to go down some stairs when Historia says it's time, that's all."
Now she wasn't so sure of her words. Her thoughts scattered when Captain Levi strode next to her and placed her arm onto his. He muttered to her, "Don't worry. It's just a stupid party and everyone here has their heads so far up their asses they won't even be able to see us anyways."
She almost laughed, but doesn't get the chance to when Historia's voice rang out, "With that, please welcome our dear guests of honor, Captain Levi Ackerman and Officer Mikasa Ackerman."
Levi guided them out to the top of the staircase and Mikasa could feel the heat of the many bodies below them rise up. Hundreds of faces peered up towards them and from this height, they looked like baby Titans, mouths wide open, hungry and ready to devour their next meal. The applause and cheering were loud and Mikasa couldn't distinguish any particular words in the din. If she had her scarf, she would've pulled it up to hide her face. If she had a choice, she would rather face off against a number of Aberrants.
Instead, Mikasa focused on the feeling of her arm against her captain's, a physical tether. As he led them to start walking down the stairs, she felt his hand give hers a small squeeze. Right. The mission.
Mikasa schooled her expression into that of a placid smile and made use of their vantage point, scanning the crowd as they slowly descended. I would stay close to the periphery of the room if I might need to make a stealthy getaway, Mikasa reasoned and focused on those parts of the room, Possibly close to one of the doors.
Levi maintained his ever-stoic look, was studying the faces of the audience before him, searching for any hint of hostility. Most of the guests had an open look of awe and Levi wanted nothing more than to wipe that look off of their faces. So fickle. Most of these people had been blissfully unaware of the crimes against the Ackerman bloodline, and some who were old enough might have known about it since it continued until the previous generation. And now, just because their queen told them to venerate the Ackermans, they would.
As they neared the crowd, Levi could make out the expressions of two particular idiots waiting for them at the foot of the stairs. Eren was watching so intently that Levi is surprised he hasn't bore holes into Mikasa. Next to him, Jean was steadily turning red, his eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. He looked more like a fish than a horse at that moment, Levi forced himself not to roll his eyes.
When they reached the last step, the party resumed, Ackermans no longer their main focus. Levi relinquished his hold on Mikasa's arm as Eren bounded closer to them, "Mika!"
They only got a few moments with their teammates before dignitaries and aristocrats lined up to pay their respects to the guests of honor, and Mikasa's genuine smile, reserved for close friends, slipped back under an aloof mask. They spent the next hour moving throughout the room, making conversation with attendees and fielding the crowd, all the while keeping Eren and Queen Historia visible in their proximity.
To anyone watching, it would appear like the typical mindless chatter of the royal court, but Mikasa and Levi were both trying to eliminate suspects as they spoke with each guest. Neither gave the sign yet that they had been dubious of one of the guests nor had they received the signal from Hange that the patrols had picked up on anything suspicious. But the hair on the back of Mikasa's neck remained standing, her instincts yelled at her that the people they were looking for were in the room. Levi similarly had to force himself to ignore the prickling sensation of being watched and not being able to confront them yet.
Just as Mikasa felt like she was reaching her wits end with keeping up her façade to talk with other guests, Levi pulled her gently by the wrist, "Dance with me."
Surprised, Mikasa allowed herself to be led by him, one of her hands in his, and the other coming to rest on his shoulder. He guided her with his leading hand, and kept the other on the small of her back. It would've been considered proper if the back of her dress didn't swoop so low. Mikasa tried to ignore the heat of his hand searing into her exposed skin.
"There are two people who have been following us for the past hour," Levi mumbled into her ear. Of course. He was using the manufactured closeness between them so they can talk more freely.
Mikasa had seen them too. They had been in her periphery all night, as if trying their best to stay close but hidden.
"I saw them. They're edging towards the dance floor now," Mikasa replied.
He turned her to the music, and she took the opportunity as she spun outward to take a probing look. Arms back around her partner, Mikasa reported back, "No obvious weapons on them and they haven't tried approaching Eren or Historia. What should we do?"
"It's almost time for us to stake out the meeting room. Follow my lead," Levi instructed, "We'll have to be quick about it."
He guided her, still dancing to the music towards the edge of the dance floor, as if they were naturally taking their leave and just so happened to land in front of the two strangers. The song ended with a flourish, and Levi was quietly impressed by how well Mikasa was able to feint surprise when she nearly walked into the people standing closest to them.
"I'm so sorry—pardon us," Mikasa apologized, making to move around them.
"Not at all. It's an honor to meet the last Ackermans," the woman with long dark hair greeted.
Both Levi and Mikasa held back a grimace. It hadn't been the bluntest thing said to them tonight, but it seemed like tact was few and far between. Their conversations had really gone one of two ways throughout the evening. Guests either asked to be regaled with their stories on the battlefield—"the bloodier the better!" they had exclaimed, or they congratulated them for having the Ackerman name restored, missing the actual point of this celebration.
Her companion then spoke up, as if picking up on the faux pas. While the woman was shorter than Levi, her companion was much taller with hair almost as bright as Armin's, Mikasa noticed, with facial hair that felt too informal for the occasion. The two seemed like an odd match.
"We've heard so many stories about your feats on the battlefield."
"Is it true that you're Humanity's Strongest?" the woman pushed forward, looking back and forth between the two of them.
Mikasa responded to the girl's question with their practiced and diplomatic answer that yes, they're strong, but they're strongest together with their Survey Corp team. Levi has both heard and bullshitted this answer so many times himself tonight.
"But what does it feel like? How do you actually feel in the moment when you're fighting?" she continued to implore. Her expression wasn't dissimilar to Hange's whenever she had been experimenting on Titans.
Mikasa looked at her strangely, and her companion turned to Levi to apologize, "Please excuse her she's just really excited to meet you both. We've been hearing about your abilities for so long now."
The woman was saying something to Mikasa at the same time and Levi felt Mikasa stiffen next to him. She looked at a loss for words and didn't react in time before the man put a hand on his companion's arm and they bid the Ackermans a good evening.
"What did you make of that? They could just be strange, but honestly, we've met even weirder people tonight," Mikasa assessed in a hushed tone, as they watched them depart, "It didn't look like they were carrying weapons on them."
Levi nodded, from his observation he didn't see any weapons on them either. He moved closer to Mikasa, pretending to brush a lock of her hair behind her ear so he could discreetly respond, "He's carrying something in his jacket pocket. It looks rectangular, but didn't seem like weapon."
Despite herself, and her focus the mission, Mikasa flushed at his proximity again. It felt almost intimate, and the feeling was amplified at the awareness of so many people around them.
"It looked like a book," she managed, fighting her blush, "Maybe he's a Wallist?"
Levi snorted, "He's not dressed like a religious buffoon."
Mikasa considered, "Well, they're not armed, and they took off in the opposite direction to Eren and Historia so I guess we can just mark them off as enthusiastic."
"Right," he agreed, and gave a cursory glance to his pocket watch, "We should start to get going now."
They rebuffed more attempts by other guests to engage them in conversation by excusing themselves to get refreshments as they made their way to the outskirts of the room. With the party picking up and more people getting inebriated, it's easy for Levi and Mikasa to exit the ballroom without much notice. The patrol was just changing guards now, which meant that they would avoid bumping into them as they ventured deeper into the eastern wing of the castle.
They walked together in silence until the sounds of the party faded away, when Levi remembered to ask her, "What did that woman say to you at the end there?"
Mikasa coughed slightly, surprised by his sudden question, "Oh, um. She commented on how strong our children were going to be, and if we were planning on starting to have them soon."
She was grateful for the dark, so he wouldn't see her face burn. She had worn altogether too much color tonight on her dress and her cheeks. And it hadn't been the first-time people mistook their surname as an indication of marriage or thought they were a couple, despite Queen Historia's introduction.
"It's okay," Levi said, "A man said that I was smart to choose a taller wife so that my kids won't be cursed with short genes."
Mikasa stifled her laughter.
They resumed walking in an amicable silence that was belied by the charged air. Mikasa told herself it was because they were nearing the crux of their mission.
As they walked down the long hallway to the room that would stage their trap, they suddenly heard a set of footsteps from a little way behind them—footsteps that were approaching quickly. Mikasa and Levi looked at one another in alarm. They had planned a large margin of time between assuming their stakeout and when the "meeting" was supposed to take place. Were their enemies moving even earlier than they expected?
She listened intently and it registered to Mikasa that the incoming footsteps were of two people failing terribly at being stealthy. A heavier set of footsteps jogged unevenly and the lighter set of footsteps kept stumbling. As they grew nearer, faint giggling accompanied the messy footfalls.
"Just two drunk idiots," Levi said under his breath.
"But we still can't be seen, and they can't stay around here," Mikasa whispered back.
"What do you suggest?" he sounded genuine in wanting to hear her ideas, when she had expected sarcasm.
Mikasa scanned the hallway and felt her stomach sink as she belatedly realized a flaw in their plan. They had chosen this particular meeting room mainly because it had several alcoves inside that were perfect for their planned ambush. But it was also strategically at the end of a long hallway of windows, which left nowhere for the culprits to hide if they did manage to fight their way out of the room. Right now, it also meant that short of jumping out one of the locked windows, Mikasa and Levi were the ones left with nowhere to hide with people approaching from behind them. They wouldn't make it to the room now, even if they sprinted.
Mikasa acted on the first idea that to her mind. She grabbed Levi and pulled both of them behind a floor length window curtain. Their figures caused the curtain to obviously protrude outward.
He whispered furiously, "This won't hide us."
Mikasa shushed him, and was thankful that he fell silent so she could listen for their approach.
Levi urged her again, "Oi, they'll clearly be able to see two people hiding behind here."
"That's the point!"
He looked baffled by this. But she didn't elaborate on it because the two people had come around the corner.
Levi was more focused on the two newcomers so he had little warning before Mikasa threw her arms around him and pressed herself into his body. She covered his mouth with her own to swallow the sound of surprise that he emitted. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she held their chaste kiss. He stood rigidly under her touch, and Mikasa was awkward against him. She let out an audible sigh against his lips, and Levi must have realized then that she was intentionally making their presence known. The charged air was practically electric as Levi relaxed and moved one hand to cradle the back of her head to pull her closer. She softened against him.
How many Survey Corp parties had Mikasa gone to, or more specifically tried to leave, only to feel embarrassed to come across couples who barely tried to keep their rendezvouses hidden in shadowed corners. She was familiar with burning mortification of accidentally bearing witness to their heated actions, even if the couples barely cared.
But now when it was her in the darkened corner with Levi, her captain, whose tongue was running across the seam of her lips asking for access, Mikasa felt like she had judge them too harshly. She was still hyper aware of the two people walking closer, but her focus was split as she moved her hands from Levi's neck to rake down his strong chest. More movement was good, it would make this scene more believable, Mikasa reminded herself. Levi responded in kind by repositioning his hand to grip her short hair, and ran his other hand down her side, tantalizingly light.
His kiss was almost bruising, in maddeningly sharp contrast to his touch, and it was the only thing keeping her from pushing more firmly against him. She returned the kiss in equal fervor, fighting back for dominance.
"Oh!" a giggle too girly to have originated from Mikasa rang out, "It looks like we're not the only ones who had the same idea."
A deeper voice suggested, "Let's try the powder room we passed earlier."
Another giggle consented.
Mikasa bit back a small amount of disappointment that their interlopers couldn't have walked a little more slowly. But what mattered was that her plan to drive them away while hiding themselves worked.
The heat of their kiss cooled with the retreating footsteps and Levi was no longer devouring her in the way she found that she liked. Levi broke away first, and allowed his forehead to rest against hers for a moment before letting his arms drop to his sides and stepping away.
Mikasa's stomach dropped like a stone. What had she done? She realized that she had kissed her captain and thoroughly enjoyed it, a small voice in the back of her mind added. Did she want to do it again? She roughly banished that thought from her mind. When she steadied herself enough to meet his eyes, he looked infuriatingly passive.
"That was effective," he sounded unaffected, but not disapproving.
Mikasa hated how breathy she still sounded when she could only respond, "Thanks."
"There shouldn't be any more situations where that's necessary," Levi stated, straightforwardly.
Mikasa doesn't trust her voice again, so she nodded jerkily.
"Alright, let's get going."
Mikasa was grateful to have the mission to divert her full attention to. She did her best to calm herself from their kiss, and tried to place the prickling distress to the back of her mind. There went any chance of her restoring their tentative friendship. Though, friends wasn't the right word for what they were before. She decided she would worry about it later.
When they finally got to the meeting room, Levi pulled out a key to unlock the door and they slip inside, leaving it unlocked. They lit the candles around the room, so the room was as bright as one would expect for a noteworthy meeting. They pulled out the weapons they had stashed in the closet, and quickly strapped on their harnesses, just in case.
Mikasa noticed the captain watching her as she readied her gear, almost warily. She had spent the last few months trying to regain his confidence in her, only to throw away any progress she had made by literally throwing herself at him.
"Ackerman," he started.
"I'm ready, Captain," she affirmed with conviction, cutting him off. She didn't think she could stand the mortification if he mentioned their kiss right now.
Levi gave one brisk nod.
And with that, Mikasa and Levi assumed their positions.