I was super determined to get this chapter posted today because it's July 25th (for another 40 minutes in my time zone!) and this chapter is Christmas so like... Christmas in July or something I guess.

Unfortunately my rush means this probably isn't as well-edited as it should be but I'm out most of tomorrow so tbh I'd probably not be doing any more editing anyway.

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Eren had planned to tell Mikasa about the Survey Corps' plan after the dishes had been done and the cutlery put away. He'd insisted on finishing the last of the cleaning himself, scrubbing the kitchen spotless until Mikasa finally came in yawning to tell him she was going to sleep.

They woke up late the next day, freezing rain outside creating an eerie hiss of white noise as the tiny frozen droplets pelted the windows. Eren made coffee and pancakes, steeling himself for the inevitable while Mikasa and Armin had a "discussion" about the legality of watching a digital copy of Frosty the Snowman that was of somewhat questionable origin. Mikasa argued that street-level superhero pay was shit while Armin's moral cortex waged a war between Marco's coding and the entreaties of his human family. Armin finally caved when Mikasa threatened to put him into suspend rather than offend the moral sensibilities that Marco had written into his code. For all that Armin's "brain" was zeroes and ones, those added up to very real emotions that developed the more he interacted with people and he had become as much a part of their little family as he could without a physical form.

The cartoon snowman and children were singing their final reprise of "Frosty the Snowman" when Eren finally gathered up the nerve to say anything.

"So… the Survey Corps got some new info." Eren could see Mikasa turn to stare at him and continued to stare determinedly at the screen.

"New info?" He could hear the wariness in her voice and shifted uncomfortably.

"Yeah so it turns out that Grisha had a safety deposit box at the bank that got robbed in October and that's what they were after." Mikasa inhaled sharply, he glanced over to her side of the couch for a moment and saw her tense posture. "So the robbery was just a screen."

"Why is that important?" Her tone was wary.

"Turns out there's another deposit box he has."

"Okay…?" Her brows furrowed as she tried to puzzle it out.

"I'm listed as the co-owner." Eren swallowed and turned to face Mikasa fully now, waiting for the question.

"And? Where is –" Mikasa's lips parted and her eyes began to widen, her posture going slack and her voice barely a whisper. "No."

"I don't have a fucking choice."

"Like hell you don't." Her body had tensed up and the words came out as an ugly snarl.

"If they want it I need to go and get it."

"How about if they want it so badly they can get it for their own damn selves."

"They tried. The bank won't release it unless I'm physically there. They think there's a biological comp–"

"Of course there is." The furious look on Mikasa's face had Eren shrinking back into the couch and the pile of blankets around him. "Do they even know what's in it?"

"No." He cringed back as she exploded again.

"So they want you to go back to Shiganshina for some stupid box and they don't even know what's in it?"

"Yeah." The words came out smaller than Eren intended and yet they still provoked Mikasa further; furious tears were clinging to the corners of her eyes as she gesticulated wildly, flailing her hands.

"Do they know what's in Shiganshina? Do they?! There's nothing there except dead people! My parents, our mother, Hannes? Everyone is dead." Eren watched as her hands came up to her face, heard the shaky inhale hidden behind her fingers. Shifting closer, he put his arms around her and pulled her in close. The rest of her words were muffled and punctuated by the occasional steadying breath. "They're all dead, all of them. I don't want you to die too."

"I'm not going to die." His arms tightened around her. "The plan is to leave in the morning then drive all day and stay over outside of Shiganshina, hit the bank in the morning and haul ass back to Trost."

"That's the brilliant plan?" Mikasa pulled back and wiped her eyes, giving Eren a skeptical look. "Who came up with that one?"

"The Survey Corps."

"And they're going with you?"

"Well sort– um, yeah, what did you think? I'm going alone?"

"Eren, you're a reckless dumbass sometimes. I wouldn't completely put it past you."

"Wow, give me some credit."

"I'm going with you." Mikasa stated it as a matter of fact, commanding in spite of tear drops still clinging to her lashes.

"You can't."

"Why the hell not?"

"Well why do you need to go?"

"To make sure you're safe."

"Mikasa, please."

"I am not losing you." It came out as a growl. "Not again."

"They have a plan, Mikasa."

"Yeah and the last time they had a plan it went wrong and two of their own got killed. Pardon my lack of faith."

"What about everyone else, huh? It's getting rough on the street. You say you don't want me to go to Shiganshina because I might die? Ymir has a fractured wrist and Krista's TK migraines are back because they've been dealing with so much shit in their patrol area. Sasha nearly had her head blown off last week by some freak who juggles bombs and knives and he's still out there. Things are getting bad and you need to be here."

"You know I hate taking sides in arguments but…" Eren and Mikasa's heads jerked up, instinctively looking for the source of Armin's voice and finding a speaker rather than a body. "Things are getting really rough in Trost and if Eren's going to be with the Survey Corps then it shouldn't be too bad. Especially if he's only going to be gone for a day and a half."

"See? Armin agrees."

"Her fears are completely founded." Eren deflated slightly at Armin's sharp words. "You need to do exactly what they tell you."

"Alright, alright." He raised his hands placatingly and tried to ignore the look Mikasa was giving him. "I promise to do everything L- they say."

"So when are they planning on doing this?"

"Uh…" Eren stared at Mikasa like a deer in the headlights, her eyes slowly narrowing the longer his silence dragged out. "The uh, the day after Christmas."

"What?!"

.

Their Christmases had been quiet for years now. Things had been a bit tattered and rough after Grisha left; the wrapping paper less shiny, the dinner less sumptuous on a single factory worker's wages. Hannes had tried, but Eren's surly response to his attempt at celebrating the holiday as a family that first year had resulted in nothing more than a nicer than average dinner and gifts handed out unceremoniously. Eren could feel a dull ache bloom in his chest when he remembered it. Memories of that last Christmas with his mother had begun to stretch and fade with time and yet Hannes' sad and tired eyes were seared deep in his memory, opening up the yawning pit of guilt residing at the bottom of his stomach.

And now things were quiet. No attempts at anything grandiose, just a three foot tall plastic tree on their coffee table and a string of lights running across the walls of the living room. Dinner was no different than usual and gifts were simple things; a new red scarf and a biography of Jacques Cousteau.

This year the peaceful emptiness of their shared silent solitude was stifled by the tangible tension in the air. Eren tried his best to ignore Mikasa's intent gaze, unwilling to ignite another "discussion" about his upcoming trip. The more Eren tried to avoid sparking any sort of argument the stonier the silence became until finally the only sound left was the ending credits for Die Hard. The sun had long since gone down and the only light came from the glow of the television screen, eerie shadows flickering and stretching across the room. He watched the shadows shift and grow and shrink until one caught his eye that seemed to only be getting bigger, advancing as the others shifted and retreated. His breath caught and he felt his heart beating as though he had been running a marathon. Fear paralyzed him for a moment as he watched the shadow spread before finally he unfroze and reached quickly for the lamp next to him, turning it on quickly and blinding himself.

"What the hell, Eren?" Mikasa was squinting at him, shielding her eyes in pain. There was nothing across the room and his ears finally told him what his eyes had not; beyond the windows a truck drove by slowly, its lumbering shadow moving soporifically across the room.

"Thought I saw a mouse." The lie came out as barely a mumble.

"Well, was it one?" He looked over at Mikasa, clearly frustrated as she glowered. "The landlord was supposed to have taken care of it two months ago."

"It's fine, just a shadow."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, I think I'm just kind of tired."

"Well, you should get some sleep anyway. It's midnight already and I'm not sure when you're leaving but I'm pretty sure you aren't getting eight hours now."

"Getting picked up at seven. I'm going to shower, should I say good night now?"

"Yeah, probably going to sleep in a few." They looked at one another awkwardly until Mikasa grabbed him and pulled him into an un-gentle hug, putting in effort to not hold him so tightly that his face went purple. They clung to each other for full minutes, each the other's life raft in their stormy lives.

"Okay, starting to hear my pulse." Mikasa gave him an apologetic look as she dropped her arms and allowed him to move back.

"I should go with–"

"No."

"It's not safe."

"Well maybe things will get more safe once we find out what's in the box."

"That's a really big 'if' there, Eren."

"I'm not having this argument again."

"Sorry if I don't want to lose my fucking family again."

"I'm going to be fine, okay? Just going to sit back and sleep in a car, sleep in probably a bed, go to a bank, sleep in a car and then I'll be back." Eren gave her a tentative smile. "Honestly sounds better than the past few months. I really need to catch up on my sleep."

"Call me whenever you stop off to eat or get gas. And when you get to wherever you're sleeping. And when you're heading back. And when you stop to –"

"Alright, I get it." Eren let out an exasperated sigh. "Armin will be tracking my phone anyway, right?"

"As long as you don't go out of signal range." Armin's voice was admonishing and if he had a body, Eren imagined that he might be frowning.

"I'm going to be on the highway, not in the backwoods."

"Just be careful okay?"

"I will, but how many times do I need to remind you it's not like I'm going alone?"

"Just don't get kidnapped again."

"I've been trying to not get kidnapped again for a while now…" Eren held up his hands as Mikasa shot him a sour look. He gave her a lopsided smile in response as he stood up. "But seriously, I need to shower and get some sleep."

"If I'm not awake when you're leaving, wake me up to say good bye."

"Will do."

.

Sleep eluded him as he stared at the clock on his night stand and counted down the seconds, then minutes, then hours. There was less than an hour of nothingness before he woke up five minutes early, turning off the 4.45am alarm before it had a chance to go off. There was an unread text in his inbox timestamped from barely more than a half hour prior.

[Asshole McFuckface: 04.13] Text when you're awake.

[Eren: 04.48] awake now

He started to get dressed and was in the process of putting on a shirt when it hit him that he hadn't packed an overnight bag yet. In a panic, he tried to find an empty bag quickly while remaining as silent as possible. He found a small duffle bag that he used to use for work stuffed in the back of his closet and began to haphazardly shove in clothing, hoping that he didn't forget anything as he packed in the near-dark of his room. He checked his phone again before heading to the bathroom and saw another text from Levi.

[Asshole McFuckface: 04.50] On my way, be there in 15

A glance at the clock had him in an immediate panic; it was already a few minutes after five. He was in the process of grabbing his toothbrush when he felt his pocket vibrate, causing him to jump and nearly knock over Mikasa's bottle of tangerine face wash.

[Asshole McFuckface: 05.06] Outside

[Eren: 05.06] 10 mins

[Asshole McFuckface: 05.07] Make it 5

In the kitchen he threw a granola bar and a bottle of water in his bag, a jittery nervousness setting in as he shoved his boots on and grabbed his coat and a hat. His hand was on the doorknob when Armin called out softly.

"Mikasa is going to be furious."

"And I don't want to have a fight be the last thing we do before I head out."

"Eren, you –" He closed the door behind him before Armin could finish his sentence, nearly falling down the stairs in his hurry to leave.

Outside he didn't have to look hard to find Levi. There was only one car on the whole block that was running and it was the non-descript Honda Civic across the street, a man sitting in the car and glowering as he raised a travel mug to his lips. Eren inhaled the cold air and let out a long sigh of billowing steam before crossing the street, frost glittering under streetlights in the stillness of the dark. He had to pull hard on the car door, freezing rain from the night before giving way with a crunch. The inside of the car wasn't much warmer than the outside given how short Levi's drive there had been and he shivered as he sat down and pulled the door closed behind him. He threw his bag into the rear of the car as Levi shifted the car into gear and pulled away from the curb.

"You didn't say good bye to your sister, did you?"

"What? How did you know?"

"No lights. You were trying to not wake her up."

"I didn't want to have another fight."

"Kinda shitty of you."

"What? You want to turn back then?"

"No, we're already moving."

"So then…?"

"Just saying it's kind of shitty."

Awkward silence settled over them and Eren stared out at the dead streets, islands of light pooling under each streetlight and the occasional lit up storefront of a 24 hour convenience store. Eren groaned and leaned back.

"Fine, it was shitty." Levi remained silent as Eren shifted to look at him. "But I also didn't want to have a fight when I got maybe an hour of sleep and probably have to leave with the both of us angry and upset. It's shitty but it's not the shittiest option."

"I never said it was."

"Fucking… do you really have to be such a dick at five in the morning?"

"I'm freezing my balls off and I have an ten plus hour drive with no change-off ahead of me. You try and be Suzy Sunshine when you've got that to look forward to."

"Sorry."

"It's not your fault." They lapsed into silence, the world around them coming to life as they left the de-populated area around Trost University. Eren felt a headache creeping up, its painful fingers pressing at his temples.

"Can we stop off for breakfast? Or at least coffee."

"Did you miss the part where our ideal drive time is ten hours?"

"I'm not saying sit down, just a drive through place." Levi stopped short at a light, causing Eren to jerk forward. He turned to face him, glaring and ready to tell him off when Levi turned to face him as well, his face serious.

"I have three conditions." Levi held up a finger. "One: beverages must have a lid that does not come off ever." He held up a second finger. "Two: any food consumed cannot produce crumbs under pain of death." A third and final finger. "Three: you call your sister before she panics and flies out to track you down."

"Deal. Just pull into the first drive through you see that serves coffee."

"Can you wait until we're on the highway? I don't want to hit any fucking city traffic."

"It's going take ten minutes to get breakfast and it's not even six in the morning the day after Christmas."

"Has to be on our side of the road too."

"Fine."

Fifteen minutes later, Eren had to wonder if Levi was perfectly aware that there weren't any drive through places on their side of the street when he'd made that caveat. When they finally did stop they'd already gone ten miles on the highway and the slight twitch of Levi's mouth confirmed Eren's suspicion that Levi was indeed aware of how far they had to go before a drive through met his caveat.

"Fucking asshole."

"Just order your damn coffee."

.

There were more cars on the road when they finally pulled back onto the highway, slowing them down to the speed limit and causing Levi to frown deeply. The volume level of his "conversation" with Mikasa after getting breakfast had got him temporarily kicked out of the car and into the parking lot while Levi massaged at his temples. He'd kept the call mercifully brief and they'd been able to have a mostly-civil good bye devoid of tears or yelling which Eren counted as a win.

In the renewed quiet of the car Eren quietly ate his breakfast sandwich, not fully removing it from the wrapper and taking care not to drop any crumbs. His coffee was cool enough to drink by the time he was done eating and he drank it faster than he probably should have, the scalding liquid searing his throat as it sent a welcome heat through his body. The car was warm and his stomach full, and in spite of the caffeine Eren's eyelids began a slow descent, his exhaustion finally catching up with him. He pulled off his coat and folded it up to use as a pillow for his head, ignoring Levi's annoyed look as he settled against his makeshift pillow.

Sleep came over him, peace did not.