I don't own SnK or any songs mentioned here

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."

― Marilyn Monroe

~Chapter Twenty-Five: A Gear and A Plan~

Step, step, turn. Step, step, turn.

Out of all things that he could and wanted to do, pacing wasn't one of them.

Levi's patience was thinning and his eyes swept around the room as he repeated the process of walking up and down the floors of the stupid FBI station.

He really shouldn't be here. He should be going after Eren, that trouble-magnet brat who somehow got whisked away by their enemies when Levi was only a damn couple of minutes away from the shop.

"Can you do something about him?" He heard that irritating voice ask away his question and if Levi weren't so distracted, he would have pummel the horseface's ass to tomorrow.

He searched the entire bakery when he got there, even going far to looking at the fucking garbage cans, but there was no Eren in sight. He couldn't help but curse himself for ever trusting his decisions when it came to Eren. He shouldn't have let him do whatever he wanted—so fucking reckless—but he knew that it was inevitable. No matter how much he tried to persuade him, Eren was his own person and cutting off that little freedom he had these days was something Levi couldn't just do. It would've happened, eventually, but it didn't make it less painful.

Just when he thought he had Eren within his grasp, he'd lost him again.

"Can we all calm down and think rationally?" Mike boomed, probably exhausted and on the edge just like the rest of them. Levi noted that he wasn't the only one restless; Mikasa was on the couch, looking murderous and was gripping something in her hand—is that a fucking shinai? At least, Levi wasn't the only one who was thinking of handling some weapons right now, ready to attack the first enemy in sight. Armin was tinkling with his laptop and then he watched as the blonde occupied the computer chair and went on the multiple screens right in the corner of the room where all the tech stuff was situated. Jean looked constipated, constantly glancing at Mikasa, probably making sure that he wouldn't be the unlucky one to taste her wrath. Erwin was phoning someone and Hanji was looking at her own laptop, right next to where Armin was.

It was silently chaotic; there were no words to describe their state right now. And Levi was supposed to be a lawyer and doing—I don't know, lawyer stuff? He was frustrated. He could work well with police and devising plans and all that, but his brain hadn't been working properly ever since he threatened to gun Mike in his hysteric phone-call after he'd heard that some civilians around the bakery had heard gunshots minutes before Levi got there.

"If Historia Reiss is Eren's friend, then she might have known who he is. What do you guys think?" the agent was asking the three college students in the room since they were the most helpful in this. Levi had stopped his pacing and he glared at the picture right in front of him. Someone better talk now or he'd snap.

"Kris—Historia isn't like that. I'm ninety-nine point nine percent sure that she's not involved," Armin answered for them and the other two nodded in confirmation.

Levi couldn't control the anger bubbling in his gut though and he almost growled, "What about the point one percent, Arlert?"

Those blue eyes didn't seem fazed by his outburst but he shifted uncomfortably in his seat and he could see in the corner of his eye that Hanji was shaking her head in disapproval. "She might have found out the last minute and has somehow gotten involved with it. But she'll never sell Eren out."

"There are no witnesses?" Jean asked, looking at all of them.

"No. But they said that someone saw a couple of girls at the parking lot behind the plaza," Erwin said, putting away his phone in his pocket and staring at them impassively.

"Does anyone know how to contact Historia?" Mike asked expectantly. There should be something to get around with this.

"Yeah, I do," Mikasa said, pocketing her phone from her yoga pants. Levi really didn't have the patience to wait here, but he needed to tone it down because he knew that Eren's childhood friends were trying to do their utmost effort here.

"Tell me what to do, Erwin," he silently said as his friend stood next to him. He didn't seem surprised at that rare plea from Levi but he did raise his goddamned thick eyebrows. After all this, Levi would definitely shave those eyebrows one way or the other. Unless he started talking now, which would be really helpful.

"Nothing. But be ready when the operation starts. It's obviously going to commence sooner than we'd like to since they put on their first move."

Yeah, he almost forgot about that. He wasn't the only person who wanted to barge into the hotel right now, where Rod Reiss would most likely be. There were people, officials like Mike and Erwin, who had been trying to solve a case that was supposed to be buried five years ago. However, they all knew that nothing could possibly bury a lie. Everything would come out eventually.

He couldn't help but worry. It was natural to worry about the person who was the most important one in his life right now. He had lost his parents, pushed everyone away and had been lucky enough for the few friends that remained by his side. He didn't want Eren, the person who had taught him many wonderful things, to be gone from his life. He thought he had lost him before, but now Levi knew what it was like to be teetering between life and death as he thought of Eren being forever gone. He wouldn't be able to take it. He hadn't lost anyone in many years and he'd like to keep it that way.

Levi would save him, and he would prove to him that he was no pushover and that he was strong enough to protect him.

"Okay," he said with a new resolve.

It wasn't long before they gained some successful results.

Historia Reiss didn't answer her phone and Levi had to remind them that they had probably taken her as well when they kidnapped Eren. He couldn't come up with a plausible reason—the girl was hiding behind a false name and the only cause for that would be that she was trying to hide from her own family, from her father's fame. Armin came up with the theory that maybe Eren was trying to save Krista—Levi clicked his tongue at that, he would—and somehow the guys spotted him and took that chance to take him.

"What are you suggesting we do?" Mikasa asked, eyes were glinting with determination and Levi could now see how much she and Eren looked alike. He remembered the brunet saying how precious Mikasa and her family was to him because they took him in and raised him as a son after his mom died. He couldn't help but feel grateful for their existence—Eren wouldn't be who he was now if it wasn't for them.

"We can't really take action because that might put Eren in danger. We need solid information—a witness or someone who could work with us," Mike explained to them.

Levi tried to calm down. If there was only someone who could—

Love Me Like You Do suddenly tore the silence bearing down on their shoulders and if Levi was a lesser man, he would've had jumped out of his skin. Armin and Jean did. Levi couldn't fathom why would the two-toned-haired guy get startled when it was his phone that was ringing.

"Uh…" Jean looked around first and Levi was afraid that the kid would become cross-eyed—he couldn't believe that he was the other person he competed against for Eren's heart, the guy was just absolutely terrible at handling his composure. "I'll get this call…" No one said anything but they watched like hawks ready to snatch their prey from the sea (it looked like Jean was the sea in this situation and the phone was the prey) and one could tell how tense the young man was as he got his phone from the top of a pile of papers he was working on.

"Do you think we can get a witness?" Armin silently asked Mikasa and Levi heard it because he was standing within an earshot.

"I hope so, Armin. I hope so," she replied with that distant look in her eyes as she almost unconsciously hid her mouth with the red scarf around her neck. Levi felt like it wasn't something that he was supposed to know, but he knew the story of that red scarf.

"Err…" Jean began to mumble as he scrambled out of the desk. He stalked to Mike and the blonde agent looked at him as the young man started waving with his hands.

"Words, horseface. Words," Levi couldn't help but remind him. He shifted closer to where the conversation was taking place and he sensed the best friends stand from the couch.

Jean finally removed the phone away from his ear and started speaking fast. "Ymir! Ymir! She's on the phone! She's with Krista right now!"

Mikasa and Armin lunged like they were going to rip away the device off Jean and Levi wasn't any different; it looked like he was about to go on a massacre streak though. Finally, Mike and Erwin both presented their empty palms in front of the distressed student and Jean looked alternatively between the two intimidating men. He believed that Levi heard someone spewing curses and saying something along the lines of "You better hurry up, jackass, or I'll save Eren myself!"

Levi couldn't even have the heart to feel a little jealousy stirring his insides because it was Jean who Eren's friends had turned into. Well, it wasn't like they would be able to contact him through his phone when they barely knew him. He was just extremely glad that there was a way to save his Eren now. He hoped so.

It was Erwin who gave up the privilege of getting to talk to the witness and Mike took over, gently yet firmly grabbing the phone from Jean's sweating hands. Levi was glad that he saved himself from the experience of touching him.

"Hello, Ymir? This is Mike," the agent calmly told the impatient woman on the phone.

Levi didn't hear the side of what Ymir was saying and Mike was merely nodding and deeply humming under his voice. The atmosphere around them grew thick as the phone conversation went on; no one was willing to offer up suggestions, afraid that they would miss anything even though they could only see and hear one side's responses. Eren's friends were on the edge, like they were ready to bolt out of the door if they were ordered to, and Levi stood on his ground, prepared to enter the criminal world once again. He saw how cruel human beings were and discovered of what they were capable of doing through his interactions with the convicted, the guilty, and the victims. He thought that it was pretty horrifying; he just hadn't yet realized how frightening it really was to see someone he loved go through the same experience.

He knew who Rod Reiss was. There was a case from months ago, something that he mentioned to Erwin during his stay in the hospital, and Levi was in charge of bringing the attention of the higher-ups to the said case. Nobody wanted to touch it—they feared retribution and Levi wanted to laugh because he had already conjured what type of a man Rod Reiss was.

And he was right. But this time, he wasn't going to drop the case halfway through even if the Heavens themselves were to command him to. He would see to it that Reiss would go to jail and pay for his wrongdoings.

Mike clicked the phone shut, eyes were suddenly blazing with something—Levi recognized anticipation and apprehension, which something that made his stomach drop. But the words that he'd given them the next second were able to get his heart on track.

"It's time to collect the evidence we need. Our team will save Eren."

Levi had gone to numerous situations where his life was potentially in danger. There was that barista who almost killed him as he ambushed Levi in front of the firm with a kitchen knife, but the raven wasn't as weak as his short stature told people. He studied taekwondo and could defend himself well—he'd known that he was bound to get into these kinds of troubles when he entered the law field. He had his trusted friend, Erwin, who could guide him through the criminal maze and teach him a few tricks that he could use in his work. These people who had tried to get back at him were mostly amateurs—driven with fear, anger, and fatigue—and they barely grazed Levi. But that didn't mean that it didn't affect the lawyer.

He defended cases, shut down others, but he'd never done anything without a reason. People called him heartless—cold and unapproachable—but there were also few people who saw what he was capable of, like his Special Operation Squad. Levi didn't fall short of the law's expectation, but his moralities were tested but he accepted the challenge. He inserted his own views after taking in others' opinions to account.

But Levi knew that he'd never speak to Rod Reiss. A vile human like him didn't deserve any second chances, he thought. He'd encountered politicians and other businessmen and Levi left cases to Erwin to investigate when he knew that he wouldn't be able to do anything because these figures were protected—protected by the law, some attorneys and policemen themselves, as much as Levi hated to admit. It wasn't fair. And he knew that the only reason that Rod Reiss hadn't been successfully inspected and arrested yet was because he was being protected.

And Levi wanted concrete evidence no matter what happened.

The bright side to this was that there was another lawyer who was too enthusiastic to be the "shield of the truth" (as Eren quoted it the day he told Levi everything) and the highest-placed FBI team in the city was ready to operate a secret plan to catch Rod Reiss.

And save Eren.

But Levi couldn't help but twitch as he remembered his role—a room attendant.

Despite his complaints, he couldn't help but feel nervous and worried about their setup. Erwin was cunning enough to sneak Armin up to the rooftop of the hotel and the blonde mushroom had organized his own device of tinkling and manipulating the video surveillance equipment on the top floor, where their target was currently staying. Thanks to Ymir, they knew which floor to specifically go to, and the information that Mike had gathered the past week was sufficient enough to know who to bribe to in the security group of the hotel. It was hard work, and it was only starting.

Levi had dressed himself up as the room service boy (he hated the title so much but his blood was curling and uncurling at the thought of what was happening to Eren at the very moment). They waited until it was late at night, past midnight, to get everything ready. Mike had actually kept from them that he had a solid plan but what he didn't expect was for Eren to be the catalyst of this operation.

He watched from the corner of the lobby as Mikasa, dressed in deep red wine skirt and pearly white blouse, walked up to the reception desk with her arm hooked with Jean who was surprisingly composed for once. If this wasn't so important, he was sure that the horseface would be shitting in his pants right now—not because the situation required to put his life on the line but because of the ball of monstrous anger close to him right now. He was wearing a suit and actually looked older with that stupid hair gelled back, and Mikasa looked mature, too, with her makeup. Their IDs were printed with different names, and Levi had to wonder if the agent that they were putting their trust into actually had a hobby of giving out false information to others.

Levi then got ready. They knew which floor to go to, and he wondered who the hell would build a goddamn eighty-story hotel. Of course, the fucking Rod Reiss would. He went to the elevators and got into the first one that opened, which was half-empty. When the doors closed, he literally could see on the mirrors how short he was compared to everyone else, but more than that, he hated his get-up. He never liked cosplaying, unless if there were other purposes that he really shouldn't think about right now, which was why he could only tap his shoe in impatience as the box went up to its passengers' desired destinations.

Then, finally, floor seventy-five. It was the highest they could reach because the other five floors were off-limits, according to their source of information. They wouldn't push their luck, but that would mean that Levi would have to practice something that he hadn't done in awhile.

Mountain climbing. Or in this case, skyscraper-climbing.

He didn't know which one was worse but he could feel in his bones that the darkness of the night and the height of the fucking building would definitely contribute to the reasons of why he never pursued the option of being a ninja. But he would never give up.

This is for Eren.

Mike was nowhere to be seen but he was with the rest of his squad, searching for the secret passage to the underground market that Eren's dad had mentioned in his video. It should be heavily secured, which was why going in fewer numbers would result in a greater chance of successfully infiltrating the said place. Mike hadn't said anything to them about what their plan was, but he told them that Armin would be watching all of them (Levi had a camera and microphone installed in his velvet vest) and he would be the one to press the alarm and signal them to move out if things went wiry. Levi thought they had less than fifty chance of surviving this alive, but he would take it. It was better than pacing in the goddamned room for hours.

He saw another room-boy pushing a cart of toiletries and whatever bottles of stuff were in there. His gray eyes drifted to the nearby door, which he knew was the supply closet, he really hoped it was that. Levi then sauntered to the man who was humming low with his voice before his hand shot up and grabbed his shoulder.

"Floor seventy is empty. They need some assistance and they assigned me here," he told him.

It might have looked suspicious but the man kept humming and left the cart to Levi. "'Kay. Be good, newbie." His heart almost stopped when he heard that but he merely smiled in discomfort, he hoped that the worker room-boy hadn't seen that. He probably did something out of their protocol or something for the guy to call him a 'newbie,' Levi wouldn't know, but the man was laidback and he was glad for that.

He walked slowly in the hallway, which was pretty large compared to hotels he'd been to during his world trips. He waited for the ding of the elevator after he went one full circle of floor seventy-five. It would be the best plan to know where to run when the situation would need him to.

When he heard the sound that he was waiting for, he followed the couple in disguise but maintained a good distance so that it wouldn't look suspicious in the cameras installed in the hallways. He knew that Armin would do something about it and Hanji might be somewhere inside the main system. She wasn't tech savvy but Levi knew that she was extremely smart for her own good.

Mikasa and Jean went inside the room that they were supposed to go. Levi followed them a couple of minutes after he pretended to be trying to get something from the cleaning closet. When he was inside, he immediately jogged to where the windows were. They got it ready sometime ago and when he felt the smoothness of the glass, a part that was hidden in the shadows of the heavy curtains, they all heard a small click and Levi knew that he got it.

Erwin was definitely good at what he did.

"You have the equipment?" he asked them, and Jean hurried to unzipped the luggage that they had. Mikasa handed one material out of the contents and Levi gingerly took it. Something in the device that he was gonna use was making his head hurt, but he didn't really wanna think about it anymore.

He buckled up. Levi put the brown leather around his waist, covering the arse part of his black slacks, and then he attached everything else—the leather straps that went around his back with a small shell connecting every strap encircling his body, his shoulders, his thighs, and in the front like suspenders. There was a box and Levi had to wonder why they looked empty, like something thin or maybe blade-like objects were supposed to be in it (it reminded him of the kitchen knives block), but the box was the operating mechanism. It had gas, which Mike had explained very briefly that it was its fuel, the one that would make Levi fly. The blonde sounded so sure that Levi was going to be able to make it work, even though he had no idea what the hell he was doing—he was merely riding on his rush. There were handgrips and Mike hadn't elaborated on what was making it function but they were Levi's control of the steel wire that would shoot out of the operating box. And not to mention, there would be grappling hooks.

Levi mused about it; this equipment doesn't seem to be something that normal cops would use.

And there was that fact that it was strangely comfortable around him.

It looked like that he was somewhat thinking too deeply about an inanimate device because he got almost startled when Mikasa spoke.

"They trust Ymir right now because of Krista, so you have to make sure that you'll be able to reach her when you reach their floor."

"Krista will most likely create a diversion for us. She might not know what the hell is her father doing out here—what he's really doing—but she knows what they did to Eren and she's playing along," Jean added with all seriousness in his voice. Levi was almost convinced that the kid would make a good lawyer.

"Who's on our side over there?" he asked them, pushing out the replaced piece of the window glass aside and wow, fucking Erwin thought this so well because he was sure that he was the only one who would be able to fit due to his lithe figure. He got ready and he suddenly realized that the hooks better be goddamned dull or coated with jelly or whatever fuck is there because damaging the windows would just simply telling them SURPRISE! We're here to infiltrate your goddamned company! So better watch out!

"One is Ian Dietrich. You would know him immediately," Mikasa told him.

A detailed sketch of the guy would have been great but then again, he was the one impatient enough to do this. He'd rather wing everything—and hope that he would live to see Eren once again.

He swiftly and gracefully slid down the glass after the steel wires were blasted out and the hooks got attached on the railing of the rooftop. They picked the room for a certain reason, because the above floors would be safe for Levi as he went along with climbing to the top floor. It was no easy task, the wind was making his teeth chatter and he was still in his stupid vest but there was nothing he could do about it. He endured it. Endured the fear that he would fall to his death, his bones might be crushed halfway through the ride down the fucking eighty-story building. Endured the fear that Eren could be being harmed right now—God forbid he was being tortured or worse, not breathing anymore…

He stopped those thoughts all at once and focused on his task at hand. One hook after another, and he was relieved that it didn't malfunction under his control. His legs were kinda shaky as he climbed on but he struggled against it, planting one foot on the glass after another, becoming steadier as he went on. True to Mikasa's word, someone was waiting for him when he reached his destination. He didn't expect them until he saw a hand practically hauling him out of the dark night. He had been afraid that someone would see him on the way up so his fright had spiked the minute he realized that there was a person touching him. He didn't panic because no one else in their right mind would grab him like that if they hadn't been waiting for him.

It might be Ian, but he wasn't certain and he didn't really care. His adrenaline was coursing through his blood like superhuman sweets that was giving him this bounce on the balls of his feet.

He needed to see Eren. Right. Now.

"Oi, Shortie!" Ymir called out, half-yelling and half-whispering as she approached him. He tugged off his gear and Ian went to work of organizing it back. Their ally seemed to know more stuff than Levi had given him credit for.

"Where's Eren?" was his first question to her.

She did not look calm at all. Her hair wasn't in ponytail and her eyes looked wild as if she'd been running around in circles for hours. He briefly noted that Historia wasn't with her—and he remembered that it was that blonde he'd seen with Ymir in more than one occasion.

"He's in Rod's study room. They locked him up in there and Krista went to talk to her dad," Ymir explained to him and she was trying to calm down but Levi knew that it wasn't working. He realized that both of them were in a similar situation—they had to save the one that they loved. And they had to go soon.

"I'm assuming that all's left to do is break down the damn door?" he said as he started briskly walking and the dark-skinned woman got the hint and began leading him the way. They were guards and Ymir, who was the one that the security was familiar with, went ahead and distracted them as Levi snuck into one pillar to the next hallway. She followed him afterwards and he prayed to Gods that Mikasa was actually keeping her promise of staying put inside the hotel room because he didn't think that he would be able to successfully save all of them.

There was doubt in his heart but it was clouded with pain. He wanted to know if Eren was still safe at this second. He wanted to know if his heart was still beating.

"There's the study room," Ymir pointed out to the double mahogany doors, standing perfectly tall and strong. There were only two guards; men in black suits and Levi could almost grimace at how cliché everything was (it fucking looked like he was in an action movie or something, but his intent was real). He needed to save Eren now.

"SHUT UP! Krista, get behind me!"

They both heard that voice, loud, clear and familiar. It almost made Levi jump to the big guys in front of the door. Ymir looked like she was also one step away from doing something stupid that would ruin their whole plan, but they couldn't afford that. Levi really appreciated the fact that Ymir was actually clever enough to manage the others from getting her phone (though, how, was something that Levi didn't need an answer to). She'd heard from them what their plan was, and she and Ian had been companions-in-secret the whole time they were caged in this place.

"I'll distract them," she offered out of the blue.

Levi sharply looked at her and glared. He knew the dangers and letting someone shoulder the consequences would make Levi regret something. "No, I'll do that—"

"No," she cut him off, quickly giving him a glance before focusing on the other hallway, to the right of the study room. "I'll give you a diversion. I seriously fucking hope that we gave the others enough time to do their parts. I'll be the one to send the red flare to Armin; I'll tell those guys about the intruders."

There was only silence. Levi thought about it. This was their only plan; if he were to suddenly show up in front of them then they would probably gun him at point blank. If Ymir could successfully avert their attention somewhere else, then Levi could only hope that he had enough time to free Eren and Historia from that room. He calculated the estimated time in his head—if he were lucky enough, he could have roughly five minutes at max before everything goes ka-boom. He didn't doubt that Rod Reiss had some lines of professional killers and traitor cops in this building, and they would be there on time once they realized what was truly happening.

"Go."

And Ymir went scrambling to find Ian, he hoped. She still had to be protected by someone, no matter how strong she was.

Levi began cracking his knuckles. It had been a while since he got serious.

And serious it was he gave the two guards in front of the door. But they didn't go down without a sound; he flinched at their cries as he fractured their bones. He didn't go for the kill but rather for their point of unconsciousness but that had been proven to be difficult.

He didn't have a choice but to kick the doors open.

His eyes immediately found those Caribbean ones, widened in full shock.

Levi realized that he'd never been happy to see his Eren surprised to see him. He finally saw him. He was finally within reach. He could finally hold him. He could finally kiss him.

He was finally there. Just a couple of feet away from his outstretched arm.

A gunshot rang in the air that made his head snap to the source of the sound.

And his lips parted in shock, mirroring Eren's reaction to his grand appearance.

Because now, his uncle, Kenny Ackerman, was the one who was standing a couple of feet away from him. Holding a gun pointed at Levi.

A/N: OMG It's like official. There's like 5 more chapters of this story then ...The End. I'm gonna be sad! TvT I feel like everything is gonna end soon and i'm still waiting for all the episodes of Kuroko no Basket to come out LOL But no worries! Even if i'm about to go to college soon, I'll try to accomplish this: finish the other story that I'm about to upload in the future~ More details will be given out at the end of this :D