Disclaimer: Many characters wouldn't have to die if I own it.

One would think that being a part of something that can be considered as supernatural would guarantee said individuals to believe in miracles. While it certainly takes a miracle for Levi to believe in that, it is more or less a miracle (too) that made Levi tone down his cursing as he speaks with their Commander, Dot Pixis. Although he looks and smells like a drunken old man most of the time, his mind remains sharp and rational. He looks at you with volume and the mirth in his eyes is worrying, like he knows your biggest secret and that is enough to make anyone feel uncomfortable.

Levi levels the old man's stare with a hopefully unreadable expression. He is not scared of him, he actually respects the man when he isn't acting like a loony, but Pixis can be very cunning too. He could announce that your entire family's been eaten alive by a monster with a perfectly amused expression if there's a promise of a good drink at the end. He isn't cruel but practical. Erwin is like that too, so Levi remains wary of the both of them.

"Commander Pixis." Levi salutes. He was summoned a week after he'd given the Deceased Department a good verbal beating. Words such as 'responsibility', 'bastards', and 'die' were flown so casually it's almost a scripted moment on Levi's part. The D.D isn't so lucky though. When there is someone angry with you and you know that that person can very well gut you in a second, the least you could do is listen quietly, or shudder. Whichever is fine as long as you don't talk back; that's life-preservation instincts kicking in.

"Ah, Rivaille." Pixis greets back, not looking to Levi as he continues to stare at the enormous set of paintings above them. Levi remains a few steps away from him and debated standing beside the commander if ever his presence is welcomed. Whatever the members of Survey Corps gossip about him, it doesn't change the fact that he can be polite, but only to those beings he respects. It's just that there is not so many of them.

They are at the Vatican City, right inside the Sistine Chapel and as to why Pixis called him here, he has an idea. This is probably going to be one those almost friendly, serious talks wherein Pixis will act like the old man he is while asking silly questions, but gives Levi a moral lesson in the end. Like he's a child. Unfortunately, Levi can't read Pixis' mind since it only works with humans.

"Humor this old man, and point out where the Creation of Adam is." Pixis says eventually. Damn, Levi is right and he has no time for art history lessons.

The paintings are huge, bright-colored and easily visible from the floor. But these are old, probably from the 1500s if Levi remembers correctly. More than 130 feet long too, and that's just only the ceiling. There are so many figures and these are mostly religious scenes from the catholic bible. Levi thinks that Pixis feel comfortable in here since it's almost as old as them. They are obviously older but then again, not many places are.

You can see that these are valuable parts of human history with the way the chapel is cleaned and guarded. Levi approves and thinks why they all can't treat everything else like that too.

Levi points at the highest section of the ceiling, at the image of a bearded old man dressed in swirling cloaks and on the lower left, a man who's completely nude.

Pixis hums in acknowledgement, silently pleased that the younger officer is a lot more cultured than Levi himself lets on.

"Most people believe that they are created in the image and likeness of God." Pixis tells him.

Levi stares at the painting, it's good that their visions are a lot better than humans and sees the details of the fresco like he's standing right in front of it. "You mean the bearded guy?" He asks.

"Ah yes, the bearded guy." The commander echoes, amused.

"I can see the resemblance." Levi comments. "Well? Are we from him too?" He asks casually, and while Levi is naturally not a talkative person, it is common knowledge that they didn't just sprout off the ground and started existing. Unlike humans who have mothers and fathers, their origins are unknown. The Survey Corps and the Deceased Department amongst other clusters that doesn't fall to the human category doesn't really have a concrete idea how they happened.

But that hardly matters most of the time, because they know their purpose. They've been given tasks and as long as they have responsibilities, they don't question anything. Not even who gave them the orders. In a way, that's how they differ from humans. They might all look the same, but what's inside is a completely different matter.

If possible, Pixis' focus on the painting intensifies, "There is a possibility." He says, "The Muslims have Allah. There is Buddha for the Chinese and the Father of Jesus for the Christians. These humans, they think they have different creators."

"Don't they?" Levi asks, "No one really knows for sure. Not even us. "

Pixis looks at him finally. Levi stares back and although he is shorter than the commander, he doesn't feel inferior. "That is not the point." The old man says, "The point is we shouldn't question who He is. It's enough to have faith."

Levi frowns. "I don't follow you, Commander."

"Faith is a double edged sword, Levi. Believing in something you can't see often becomes a downfall of an individual, not because he lost faith but because he believed in it blindly. I did say that it's enough to have faith, but that doesn't mean you won't do anything anymore. The course your life will take still depends on the choices you make and having faith will make that easier." He tells Levi, "It is good to have an anchor in life, to have something to hold onto when things get rough."

When Levi looks at him, there was a strange look on his face. Levi still doesn't understand him and that made Pixis heart break a little. If he explained that to a human, a human would understand somehow and that can't be faked. In the end, there are just some things words alone can't reach.

Pixis sighs. "Think of faith as barracks. During a war, whether they are injured or not, that is where soldiers fall back to. Even if it's temporary, it becomes a safe place for them."

"So humans only have faith when they are desperate?" Levi asks, frowning even deeper. For someone who can read human minds, emotions and belief are foreign topics to Levi. He can't fully understand the concept of what Pixis is trying to explain. This is one of the reasons why he thinks humans are stupid.

The commander gives him a pained expression. "Sometimes." He answers like someone shat on his drink. "Humans, by default, doesn't have faith. Life gives it to them. But they don't always take it."

Pixis' voice takes a different turn and Levi recognizes that better. Gone was the moral-lesson teaching parental voice, it is time for real business to take place. Levi straightens his stand.

"Eren Yeager was in your list during your last assignment." Pixis starts. "With Hanji Zoe, I believe."

"Yeager?" Levi asks, racking his brain about that certain mission that made him give the D.D. a verbal beating in the first place. "The Variable whose partner died?"

"Yeager's partner is not human." Pixis tells him, cutting off all the thoughts running through Levi's head. Well, that escalated down quickly.

"With all due respect, Variables are always human." Levis shots back, voice offended. "That rule is older than this damn chapel…," then after a beat. "Sir." He adds for better measure.

Pixis reached out for a file out of his jacket. The paper was folded messily, crumpled on the edges and was obviously taken out of hurry. Pixis hands it over to him. Levi takes and unfolds it with great hesitation.

"Annie Leonhardt." Pixis starts. "Human age sixteen. Permanent address unknown. Parents unknown. Goes to the school Eren Yeager used to attend although he has no known connection with him whatsoever. Never even met each other." Then in a completely monotone voice, "She's a confirmed Shifter."

The last statement made Levi's hold on the paper tighten. The photo of the blonde female on the file stares back at him, eyes blue and stoic. She has a pale complexion, hair tied at the back with her right fringe covering over the right side of her face.

"The last Shifter died during the Spanish Influenza." The commander continues. "He had a daughter who, if she survived, is supposedly ninety-eight years old right now."

Levi shakes his head "Even if they are the same person, Annie Leonhardt died last week." Levi says, "Hanji and I were there to confirm it. That's why we didn't bother with Eren Yeager anymore."

"Better remember him because you will being seeing him a lot now."

When Levi gives him a questioning look, he explains. "I want you watch over him and observe. We used to have a surveillance over one Grisha Yeager. He is Eren's father. Something about experiments and questioning origins. He is human and was brushed off by the upper management as a case of an overly-curious scientist."

Levi hands back Leonhardt's file and Pixis deposits the paper on his jacket.

"But…?" Levi prompts.

"But Grisha had resources. Classified resources anyway. Let's just say that he managed to find out something big, important enough to even make our kind jittery."

"We are still not clear on what the connection is between Grisha and Annie. Certainly, there is something that links them. And if there is one thing that we're sure of, the List we have is never wrong. She and Eren are paired Variables. Still are."

Levi's lips thinned. "What do you mean?"

"Annie Leonhardt's body is missing. We thought we'd investigate since D.D. rarely makes a mistake, not when Petra is in-charge." He gives Levi an accusing look, and of course the commander knows what he did.

"It was their responsibility." He just grumbles.

Pixis doesn't dignify that by ignoring him. "Leonhardt died last week, yes, her body is even listed as cremated but that's just what it seemed on the papers. Someone took an effort to hide this on purpose. She's literally gone."

"So you think someone stole her body."

"That or she's still alive."

Pixis let the silence settle in and it takes time. This probably poses a greater threat than what they've previously thought. There is always a bigger picture within an already huge scheme. He heard Levi sigh.

"Is this a black operation, commander?" The name is heavy on Levi's tongue. Another thing people doesn't normally know about him is that Levi hates being undercover. He's good with it but he doesn't have to like it.

The commander nods. "We are acting outside the management. The D.D. and everyone else doesn't need to know about this yet. The Special Corps is directly under my command so you guys are the only organization involved. Can I trust you with this?"

"Of course, sir."

Pixis starts to walk out of the chapel and he's halfway out when he stopped and looked Levi over.

"Oh, and Rivaille, I told you about faith but do you know what is worse than not having faith at all?" When Levi shakes his head, Pixis' smile is strained. "Having too much."

Eren stayed in Erwin's house longer than necessary. It's been a week. Mikasa called a hundred times over, voicemails filled with a wide variety of apologies, anger and worry. He threatened her that if she ever takes a single step closer to Erwin's house, he'll never talk to her again. It is a very petty argument but it's effective.

Eren tried not to feel guilty but his mortified expression is so visible, Erwin can't help but point it out.

"Aren't you going to call them back?" He asks, trying to be casual about it. It's not like he doesn't like Eren staying with him, it's just that his vacation is almost over and he needs to return to his post. Pixis relayed a message just the other day, stating emergencies about a covert operation and that they needed Erwin now. When he'd read the word 'please' written on the letter, he knew immediately that the commander is understating many things that he'd mentioned.

He knows that Pixis keeps tab on him, but the fact that he hasn't send anyone yet to fetch him means that the situation is a lot more serious than he lets on. And if he guesses correctly, Pixis will surely send Levi if he doesn't put his act together.

"Am I bothering you?" Eren says childishly. He is clearly not a morning person. "'Cause you know I could always go to a hotel if you have something else to do."

Erwin shakes his head and hands Eren the cup of coffee over the kitchen counter. "No, I don't mind. I just need to take care of a personal business today, it might take a few days so I'm thinking that, if you want, you can stay here while I'm gone."

Eren's face brightened up too quickly. "Hell yes!" He sputters, "I mean, yes, please! I promise I'll take good care of your house!"

"Alright," Erwin says, amused. "The keys are on the living room table. If I'm not back before you leave, just put it under the umbrella stand on the patio. There's already a spare under the doormat though."

After that, Erwin excused himself to pack his things. When Eren sees him off, he's only carrying a small duffel bag, and he wonders if that's enough clothes for a trip that is supposed to last for days. He keeps his opinions to himself though, excited to have the place all to himself and waves at the older man as his car droves off.

He runs back inside the moment the car was out of sight and plopped down on the enormous sofa. Erwin's house is not as big as the Yeager's mansion but with him all alone in this place, he feels liberated for the first in a long while.

There is no Mikasa, no Armin, no office work (after that fiasco during the board meeting, their PR told him to take a few days off which he greedily took and made a mental note to give the PR director a raise when he comes back), and no annoying meetings he's forced to attend. Amidst this bliss, Eren almost forgets about his mother too.

The sad thing about being alone though, is that you always tend to remember the bad things so Eren immediately cut off those thoughts and rummaged Erwin's DVD collection only to find a few German titles and the Titanic CD he gave him from last year's Christmas.

He watches the news first and sees the follow up reports on the car accident from last week. Apparently, the victim was a high school girl, her photo was blurred on the screen but Eren can make out the pale blonde hair and blue eyes. He feels a passing pang of sympathy but switches the telly's mode to Video anyway.

Between Titanic and some german film he barely understands, Eren have chosen the latter. Erwin thought him the basic words but it's still hard to keep up with full conversations spontaneously. It's only midday when he started watching and before he knew it, the sun is already low on the horizon. He lets the movie play on as he stands up and made a beeline to the kitchen. He hopes there's still a bit of that fish from yesterday's lunch or he'd have to make a run to the nearest convenience store. Erwin's fridge is just as empty as Eren's stomach.

There's no more of that fish but there's still a bit of miso soup and dumplings, both two days old. Eren is convinced that those are enough. No one really dies so fast with starvation anyway. He thinks of running to Café Roselia but Mikasa could be there and brushed off the idea instantly.

The rest of the night passed uneventfully and he managed to finish off all the german movies Erwin has in his little possession. His only worry before he sleeps is what he will do for tomorrow. For once, he's got nothing to do and nothing is expected of him. Everything else is simple and to think that when he comes back to being Eren Yeager, youngest CEO of Titan Corporation, these mundane chores will be so out of his reach again.

Sleep finds him eventually and as he lay on Erwin's bed (he doesn't mind anyway, and his bed is bigger than the sofa!), he thinks that he will definitely choose mundane over fame anytime.

Eren knew he shouldn't have declared tonight as an 'uneventful night' until it's officially a tomorrow. It was three-thirty in the morning when he is woken up by the screeching from the gates. He blinks his eyes wearily, thoroughly conscious now after he hears the front door click open then close. Whoever the intruder is, he is familiar enough with the place and knows there's a spare key under the doormat.

He certainly isn't panicking. Being the child of a wealthy family, Eren has experienced many kidnapping attempts when he was still a boy so he should get used to these things by now. But that doesn't change the fact that Eren doesn't know if the trespasser is even a kidnapper, a burglar or worse, a serial killer.

Eren tries to remain calm, maybe he's just overthinking this. He probably just forgot to lock the gate or something? And the wind blew it open… oh but he also sure he'd locked the front door so… yep, he's positively panicking right now.

Should he call the police? Should he call Mikasa?

Eren decides that causing a fuss is not worth it, the company has so much issues right now and if the public discovers that the would-be CEO is currently boycotting his duties, he might as well dig his own grave. He thinks of how if this goes out, media will ask why is he staying at a friend's house? And that will obviously lead to more questions he'd rather not answer.

So no, Eren isn't going to call anyone. He will man-up and confront this like a real adult, serial killers be damned. He did promise Erwin that he will take care of the house. He lets go of the duvet he's been clutching for comfort and grabbed nearest blunt object he could find in the dark expanse of Erwin's bedroom.

It was the vintage alarm clock on the bedside table. Pure solid steel. This will do, he thinks and tiptoed to the side of the door. So when it opens, he can just bash the head of whoever it is. That's easier said than done, he tells himself.

Releasing a sigh, Eren decides to focus on the sound the intruder is making. There are light footsteps. Erwin's bedroom is the farthest in the hallway, there are three doors: the guest room, the bathroom and the bedroom which is his current location.

He'd often imagined being in this situation, beating up a burglar while looking cool. Like in the movies. What absurdity. The hammering against his chest is so deafening. He literally thought his heart would jump out of his ribcage and make a run for safety. He was alone and scared in this dark room and if he's going to die tonight, he wishes for it to be quick and painless. The suspense is already killing him anyway.

The creaking of the floor echoes before the guest room door opens. Two more to go. It is like the intruder is looking for something, for someone. Does he know Erwin? Because this is his house in the first place. If possible, the very thought makes Eren's heart beat even faster.

The padding of feet against the floor resumes. The second door opens. There is shuffling before the intruder decides that what he's looking for isn't there and moves to checking the next and last room.

When the door opened ever so agonizingly slow, Eren felt his breath caught up and is frozen right on the spot with the steel alarm clock raised in the air. He didn't make the slightest sound and since it is so dark the intruder walked passed him, unaware of his presence (really?). Then Eren heard a small clicking sound before the room bathes in light.

Eren's green eyes made contact with an unimpressed gray pair.

The two stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Eren in mortification, mouth hanging open with his arms in the air. And the other in mild interest, an eyebrow slightly arched.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

The silence was broken as the trespasser's low voice resonated in the room.

Then suddenly, with the adrenaline finally wearing off, Eren feels how heavy the clock he's been holding above his head really is. Indeed it is so heavy that Eren loses his grip. The steel object drops and unceremoniously hits him on the head.

It is only a matter of seconds before everything blanks out and Eren also falls to the ground with a thud.

A/N: By the way, I did a few research and found out that Levi's surname is actually Ackerman? Is that right? I've been using Rivaille up until now and I am torn between changing it and letting it be. What do you guys think?

I've talked a bit about religions in here and I hope I didn't offend anyone's belief. I did take up theology lessons before but it's nothing major or anything. This is purely fictional, with a bit of honesty regarding Faith, I guess.

Oh and I hope you don't mind the art references. I'm pretty confident that the Creation of Adam is a popular painting. Art history is actually pretty interesting. Did you know that Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel for almost five years? Just imagine how hard that was, there was no electricity back then too. I majored in arts so it makes me happy to talk about this kind of stuff haha! Apologies.

Anyway, review please :)