Disclaimer: I do not own SnK, either the manga or anime. Any material taken from either source is not mine. The original character and plot, however, belong to me.

Chapter Three: Someone else

"As if the MPs don't already despise us."

"I didn't think you cared so much."

"Tch. I don't give a shit about what those mutts think."

Maia turns to look at Levi as they ride next to each other on the way to the old headquarters.

"Then what is it, Levi?"

Levi turns to look at her as well. He doesn't need to –he has memorized every inch of her face– but he always finds it pleasant to stare at her. Pleasant things are hard to find, he knows, so he will take all he can get. All he will allow himself, that is. His face does not betray his desire to look at her own, staying placid and carefully emotionless, but he has a feeling she can see right through him.

"He had a gun," he reminds her softly.

"And I had you," her reply is simple.

Levi is about to say something else to her, to chide her for putting herself in that fool's potential line of probably unpredictable fire, if he knew anything about the relatively zero action the MPs saw in the capital. He wants to say something so he can ignore the burning heat that sears through his abdomen at her words, her voice. He is stopped by the sound of Oluo's obnoxious drawl. Maia turns to look forward as well.

"Don't get cocky, rookie," he is saying to Eren, leaning over on his horse to get closer to the boy. Maia frowns, makes a clicking noise with her mouth when she spots Eren's shoulders tense up, his whole body stiffen.

"I don't know about this Titan business," Oluo continues, "but the idea of Captain Levi chaperoning a pissant like you makes me–"

Maia makes the noise again and Levi watches as Oluo's horse somehow finds the only rock along their smoothed path. The jolting movement causes Oluo to bite down on his tongue. A few crimson sprinkles of blood shoot out as he brings his hands up to his mouth.

"Thun of a bith!" He calls out as best he can around his bleeding and now swelling tongue. Oluo looks down at his horse. "Whaths the mather with you, huh? Outh!" He complains some more though only half is comprehensible.

Levi's lips quirk upwards ever so slightly as he glances over at Maia. Those horses were absolutely devoted to her. He remembers a time when he thought it was strange, but that was many moons ago now. She loves them with her whole heart, those horses. And Eren seemed to be growing on the petite woman next to him as well. Oluo was unaware, but Maia definitely asked his horse, in a way that only Maia knew how, to falter its steps on purpose.

"Maybe you would have been fine," he says to her then, "since these beasts seem to think you shit gold."

Maia laughs lightly at his vulgarity. It sounds like a song as it rings through the air. He is distracted by it, by the music of her laughter, as he rides next to her, looking at the face he doesn't even need to look at because he has committed every plane, every inch, to memory. From a distance, always from a distance, he has made sure to capture her features in his mind.

He needed to in case...in case...

Her voice, smooth like honey, breaks Levi from his thoughts which are quickly going to a deep, dark, depressing place.

"I'm going to go chat with Petra," she informs him. "Eyes on the road, Lee."

Lee.

She is the only person in the history of human existence who has given him a nickname and not been maimed or berated in some way. Even more, she is the only person in all of humanity's time walking this slowly dying, hellish, Titan infested world whom he has allowed to continue calling him said nickname. He watches her go without another word, though he is sure to throw her a nasty look which he knows she knows he doesn't even really mean.

Lee.

He shakes his head as if to empty his ears of her sweet voice filtering through them. It dances along his eardrums and sinks deep into his very being, her voice does. It is the only melody he thinks he could hear forever.

Levi sighs.

Things don't last forever anymore.

Not with Death constantly knocking on your door.

Or, in Wall Maria's case...

Pounding it down.

"I wish you'd bitten your tongue off and died from blood loss…"

Eren is listening to Petra and Oluo talking to each other from his spot next to the stables. He is working on adjusting the bridle of one of Squad Levi's horses (he thinks it might belong to Eld?). The horse sniffs at Eren's hair, seems to pause to think, and then nuzzles his cheek affectionately. Eren muses that the horse must deem him safe and non-threatening, which is a lot more than he can say about the humans in this squad.

"I'm your comrade in arms! That's not funny…"

The conversation is more of Oluo acting completely suggestive towards Petra while Petra is easily deflecting his pathetic attempts at seduction. Eren can't decide if he is serious or not, but he thinks that maybe Petra would have beaten Oluo to the ground if he ever went too far. There are a lot more layers to this squad than he first realized. Everyone is so familiar with each other, as if they are secretly all of one mind. He guesses they would have to be with their track record out in Titan Country. He surveys the group while another member's horse (wait, was this one Eld's?) nudges him in the shoulder to get his attention.

Gunther Schultz. Seven solo kills. Forty assists.

Maia Beckett. Five solo kills. Thirty assists.

Petra Ral. Ten solo kills. Forty-eight assists.

Oluo Bozado. Thirty-nine solo kills. Nine assists.

Eld Jinn. Fourteen solo kills. Thirty-two assists.

Oluo is practically a Titan killing legend. Eld is Levi's second in command. Petra is one of the few females in the Scouts period and she has snagged a spot on an elite Special Operations squad. Gunther has a reputation for being calculating, precise and second only to Petra in easily maneuvering in for assists. Even their equine veterinarian has impressive statistics. Squad Levi truly is a group of Scouts to be reckoned with. Not to mention they are individuals that many look up to, aspire to be, even.

But, these people are here to restrain me when I use my Titan power. If I…

...If I go out of control…

...These people are going to kill me…

"Don't mind them," Eren nearly jumps as a voice sounds from behind him. Was all of Squad Levi light on their feet and undetectable?! He turns to find Eld patting a nearby horse. Well, so, none of the horses Eren had handled had been Eld's…

"They always do this," he reveals with a smile clear as day on his face, "like a bunch of schoolgirls. You get used to it. Oluo has an abrasive personality. He'll grow on you."

Petra chooses that moment to stalk by, grabbing at the horse whose bridle clasps Eren had been trying to tie. So it was Petra's horse…

"Yeah," she huffs, "like a tumor."

"Most handsome tumor you ever did see!" Oluo calls from his seated position at the well in the center courtyard. He has a handkerchief dabbing at the blood dribbling out of his mouth from his earlier injury. Petra rolls her eyes and scowls. Eld continues to smile.

"Ack," Gunther voices distaste as he strides up to the group with Captain Levi at his side. The height difference between the two men is almost comical, if the threat of meeting bodily harm was not so imminently present should Captain Levi ever find out about it seeming slightly humorous. "This place hasn't been used in a long time. It's fallen into disrepair."

"That's a major problem," Eld sighs as if knowing what was coming next. The shoulders of the entire team seem to deflate and Eren wonders why they all look as if something terrible is about to happen.

"Nothing is beyond repair," Levi's bored voice filters in. "Fix it up immediately."

He then proceeds to assign the squad members seemingly monumental cleaning tasks that have Eren's face paling. This place was huge, how were they supposed to–

"Jaeger," Levi's tone is cold, aloof, uninterested, "top floor. I want it spotless. Go. Now."

Eren doesn't need to be told twice. And he certainly doesn't need a time frame to know that Captain Levi means yesterday. He scurries off quickly into the compound but not before hearing him order Maia to clean these shitty stables out before we all die of exposure to fucking feces.

It has taken him nearly half the day (it is nearing time for dinner, if his stomach is any indicator, and they had arrived mid morning) to get the top floor "spotless." Well, spotless in his opinion, anyway. Eren has never cleaned so much in his entire life. He occasionally heard the other squad members grumbling from various parts of the old castle throughout the day. With the window thrown open, Eren heard Maia singing sweetly to the horses as she worked to clean out their stalls, enclosure, and troughs, as well as remove the bramble and overgrown plants from around the stable itself. She has long ago finished, speedy in her work, but still remains outside with the horses, continuing to quietly sing to them.

He sighs and straightens out his posture, hears an unpleasant pop in his back after being hunched over scrubbing for the better half of the day. Quickly, he goes through the stone hallways of the headquarters to find Captain Levi. When he approaches the room the captain occupies, he sees him staring out the window. Maia's voice floats up on the wind and fills the space of the room, echoes off the masonry around them. He must admit that Maia's voice is captivating. It's been a long while since he has heard anyone singing, what with all the awful things going on. It's a rare occurrence, one that Eren thinks should be treasured. Captain Levi's countenance suggests he thinks the same thing, but, perhaps, for a different reason.

The captain's face is calm as he listens, the part of his face visible to Eren at least. He is turned so that his right elbow is leaning on the window sill. A cloth covers his hair and another his mouth. His left eye is all that Eren can see but it is softer than usual, less severe. The skin around his temple has relaxed, the lines of worry not so prominent, the dark circles seemingly lighter. He knows it is probably a trick of the slowly waning light that is slipping through the window, but he also is still not wholly convinced Maia doesn't have special powers. Anything is possible if recent events are to be considered…

"Top floor is cleaned, sir," he hates that he has just interrupted the captain's reverie, but he also doesn't want him to think he has taken his good old time cleaning the impossibly large "attic" space. It was way larger than he thought it would be. Not an attic at all.

Levi's shoulders tense as he spins quickly to face him, pulling down the cloth over his mouth in the process. He raises a single brow at him, the dark features settling back into the lines of his face. Eren feels guilt wash over him for pulling the captain from a rare moment of peace.

"Sir," he ventures to ask when the captain makes no move to speak. "Where should I sleep in this facility?"

Maia's voice has stopped singing, but Eren barely registers it as Levi regards him with that cool stare of his. He should be used to the scrutiny by now, but he finds that he is really not. It still makes him wildly uncomfortable.

"Your room is in the basement."

The memory of the dungeon he had just been freed from comes barreling back to the forefront of his mind. Subconsciously he brings one hand up to his opposite wrist, as if the painful lesions from the handcuffs are still there. They have long since healed but all the same they were entirely unpleasant. He wishes Maia, or Hange or Mike, even, was here to help him.

"T-the basement? Again?"

Levi sighs. "Naturally," he says it as if Eren is the stupidest person in all of Paradis. To Levi maybe he is. "You still can't hold yourself back. If you're underground, we'll be able to restrain you even if you turn into a Titan while sleeping. That's one of the conditions we were given when they placed you in our custody. Or do you not remember after the small beatdown? It's a rule we must follow. I'm not willing to negotiate on this. My squad's safety comes first."

Levi's eyes cut over to the window and back so quickly that, once again, anyone not zeroed in on him would miss it. Ever since the first time, all the way back in that small room after his trial, Eren has taken to staring more carefully at the captain whenever in his presence. He wants to catch it each time it happens. That subtle softening of his eyes, that gentleness that washes over his features. It's as if he needs reassurance that he isn't making this all up. Something is going on here, whether Captain Levi and Maia are fully aware of it or not. There was definitely a "her safety comes first" unexpressed but absolutely implied at the end of Captain Levi's explanation.

Eren knows it is because Maia shows, for reasons he can't even begin to understand, a particular affection and affinity towards him, the boy who can turn into a Titan, and it's something that does not settle well with the captain. He doesn't know why Captain Levi has a problem with it, all he knows is that he does. One possible reason may be that Eren's powers are still dangerous and unpredictable. Eren inwardly sighs. He certainly wouldn't want someone he cares about to be caught in the crossfire should something go wrong, and knowing his luck, something would.

Eren's shoulders visibly droop. A bead of sweat appears at his temple. He is going right back to where he started in that courthouse. Eren presses his eyes shut tightly for a moment. Not the basement...not the...not a dungeon again.

So he wasn't part of the squad, Eren thinks to himself bitterly. He is just a task that comes with conditions and failsafes. A giant burden that must be endured for the possible good of humanity. Did they even think he was human? Did they even see him as one of them? Or...was he...one of...them?

"I'm going to check out the rooms you cleaned. They better not be shit. Do this one while I'm gone." Levi disappears around the corner and Eren sags against the wall behind him, completely dejected.

Captain Levi is way more closed off than Eren expected.

"Tch, the kid can't clean to save his life."

"Well hopefully it doesn't come down to that."

Levi turns to see Maia leaning against the doorframe of one of the top floor rooms he currently occupies. She is staring at Levi with an amused expression, arms crossed over her chest. Her cloak has been discarded and she has forgone her uniform jacket, wearing only her taupe colored shirt with the ODM gear straps secured over top. He tries, tries and fails, not to notice the criss-cross ties at the top of her shirt hanging open, the thin sheen of perspiration glowing on her skin.

"He's a good kid, Lee," she walks further into the room, a look on her face that clearly says she is lightly scolding him. He couldn't give a shit about disappointing anyone else, but her? Maia? He hates seeing this look in her eyes. And he hates it even more when it is directed at him.

Levi resumes checking over Jaeger's cleaning job. "I never said he wasn't. And you've known him for, what? A day? Hardly a timeframe to learn about someone's character." He scoffs again. Why she already so obviously adored the kid is still a mystery to him.

"I guess you're right. You certainly took a while to show me who you really are." She is right behind him now, "But, at any rate, you're not very kind to him."

"Since when am I kind to anyone?" He slowly turns to face her and is surprised that she is so close to him, only a few inches away from where he stands.

"I'm not anyone?" Levi knows she is teasing him. She is always fucking teasing him. The only one who can get away with it, honestly. Saying he hates it would be a lie. But he can never admit out loud that he enjoys it. The squad would never let him hear the end of it should they find out. And that would be the beginning of admitting something he knows he can never say. And she...Maia...what if during the next expedition she…

No, it is better this way.

If he says it enough, maybe one day he will believe it.

"You're not anyone," Levi finally finds his voice, impassive and uncaring as usual, but the smallest amount softer. Only for her. Always for her.

He reaches out, slowly, carefully, and begins to tie the front laces of her shirt back up. Maia's breath catches, as it always does, as it always will. She watches his face, though she doesn't have to; she has long ago committed it to memory. A pinch at the sides of his steely eyes draws her gaze. She knows he is worried about Eren – having him here, training him, helping him. The world very often weighs on Levi Ackerman's shoulders. Maia would know. She looks at him enough.

His nimble fingers moving across her collarbone bring a smile to her face, a heat to her cheeks. Levi was kind, in his own way, in certain moments. She knew that. He knew that she knew that. Her smile stays in place, she makes sure of it. It is warm, she has been told numerous times by many people, but for him she knows it is different. She feels the longing that wells up inside of her, deep in her bones. It physically aches some days, hurts on others. But she bears it well. She has to. She would do anything for him.

Yes, it is better this way.

If she says it enough, maybe one day she will believe it.

Levi's voice is quiet, a whisper when he continues. His fingers have made quick work of her shirt laces, palm now resting lightly on her chest, barely any pressure there, with his pointer finger lying lazily, gently, lengthwise across the delicate bone along her collar. If he did not know better, if he had less restraint, he would have caressed her skin with that forefinger, pressed his hand firmly against her skin. But he does know better. He does have enough restraint. Barely. He knows he can't. It kills him, but he knows he can't. He can feel her pulse beating underneath his hand. A steady thump thump. It is comforting. Knowing she's alive. Here. With him.

For now.

"You're someone," he tells her and he means it. He knows she knows he means it.

Maia brings a hand up, her tiny, little hand that calms giant beasts and humans alike, and places it over his. They stand like that for a few moments, looking at each other, being silent with each other, just being with each other, before she gives his fingers a small squeeze and releases him. It is all she allows herself to do, to touch. Only his hand. She can't do anything more. She fears if she does, she will never be able to stop. Maia steps back and Levi feels cold. It is a familiar feeling, one that he hates but knows well. Coldness he can deal with. Giving in to warmth? Having warmth? And then losing it?

No, he does not think he could handle that.

Before he can step back towards her, back into her warmth, that inviting, wonderful warmth, he uses every ounce of resolve he has (something he finds he does quite often when in her presence) and walks towards the door. Levi spares her one last glance, trying to convey something (he doesn't really even know what) in his stare. He hopes she can understand what even he doesn't. She has always been intuitive like that. Some days he thinks she knows him better than he knows himself. Maybe that's true.

"Levi." He closes his eyes. How is her voice so soft? And warm? Like molten sunlight. How is that possible? He opens them again and sees the setting sun's beams flooding around her form like a flood of heavenly light, if a place such as heaven even exists. He thinks that if it does, Maia would certainly belong there. Her hair, golden and gleaming, flows around her. Her eyes, glittering with some emotion he is afraid to let himself name, gaze at him and warm his veins.

She looks angelic.

"You're someone to me too."

The air rushes from his lungs and he leaves the room before he does something he can't (and wouldn't) take back.

When he gets down to where Eren is, barging in on his conversation with Petra who begins to furiously sweep a spot near the door which only makes the dust fly more, Levi scolds Eren probably harder than he should.

But what was he supposed to do? Feel that other emotion he saw in Maia's eyes? Give it a name? Acknowledge it? He can't. He won't. As much as it makes his chest feel like it is literally caving in, he can't allow himself to go there. Not with her. Not with Maia.

She is the light, pure and bright and shining. And he…

Gods, what if during the next expedition he has to watch her…

And if he allows that emotion to take over before then?...

If he allows himself to feel that?

And then she…

No.

No. He couldn't do it. He wouldn't survive it.

He had lied earlier when she was standing there bathed in the sunlight like an otherworldly creature, someone so lovely that he doesn't even think his damaged soul should even be allowed to look upon her. He had lied when he told her she is someone to him.

She is so much more than just someone.

And if he wasn't who he is, if this life wasn't what it is, with danger around every corner and the next day not guaranteed, well, then he would tell her. He would tell her exactly who she is to him. And he would allow himself to give in to that warmth, that heat, that burning desire.

He would tell her and he would never let her go.

He would tell her if life was different. If life had made him…

...someone else.

A/N: I just casually break my own damn heart when I write shit like this. These poor babies. How I love them so.

As you can see, I pulled some lines and moments from Squad Levi's journey with Eren towards the Scout's old headquarters. I thought the moment with Oluo and the horse was perfect for inserting Maia and her connection to the horses. We also got more of Eren and the emotional roller coaster that is his entire existence. I have to imagine it is hard for him to be away from Armin and Mikasa, two people who love him unconditionally and would never think he is some sort of monster. But he's doing his best at dealing with Squad Levi and also slowly picking up on the rather frustrating relationship between Levi and Maia. They're a stubborn pair, but can we really blame them?

The next chapter will take us back in time to when Levi is first "recruited" into the Scouts. I put that in quotes because, well, blackmail and a stinking puddle of mud to the face doesn't exactly scream good recruitment tactic to me.

I hope you're all liking this so far! Thanks to everyone who has favorited and followed and reviewed. I am so humbled and grateful! Stay tuned and I'll see you lovely humans next time :)