Humanity's Strongest Woman

by xDollfie

In every empire, there is an epic era that defies the boundaries of time and immortalized itself in the history books. For mankind, an epic era they will never forget has finally emerged. The war between humanity and Titans has finally come to a head. Love cease to exist in a time like this, but they found it, and promised that it'll be worth it. Every stubborn inch of it [LEVIXOC]

36. Taking Chances

A/N: In light of the horrible pandemic occurring in the world right now, I hope all of you are safe and things are well! Hopefully, this chapter would be a good distraction from what's happening right now ):

Also, I've created a poll on my profile, if you have the time please vote! While you're there, my new profile picture is a fanart of Ida in her soldier uniform & dress, representing her two sides. It's drawn by OKISURA on twitter!

Thank you to my beta reader: 92 is half of 99 and blackbutler415 for giving me your opinion!

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Humanity's Strongest Woman by xDollfie

Chapter 32 — Taking Chances

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It stretched out as far as she could see, a vast land filled with nothing but sand. The sky was of a dark blue hue and was filled with endless stars. An ethereal light graced the sky, emitting a blue cerulean tinge that seemed to glow. She saw that the magical path of the aurora concentrated on a singular pillar of light that spread out into thousands of light paths.

It was beautiful, breathtakingly heart-stoppingly beautiful.

But she wasn't focused on her surroundings, instead, she found herself drawn to the woman in front of her. Her straight red hair cascaded like a stream of blood down to her face, her emerald green eyes haunting and dead-like, her white nightgown tattered and torn. She held her head low and she was unmoving, but Ivy could recognize the figure in front of her anywhere.

This sight delighted her more than the beautiful scenery.

"Mother dearest," Ivy called, her tone unctuous and smooth. "Why did you bring me here?"

Elsie Starke stood eerily still. Her profile looked lonesome and the deathlike pallor of her skin stretched over her protruding bones. She made no moves to respond to her. Ivy wasn't even sure if she was breathing.

"Mother," Ivy reiterated sweetly again.

She felt herself moving to reach out to her heart's truest desire; her family that she never got to know, the part that she was missing her whole life. Ivy had heard from Zeke that sometimes — especially when the previous host was of a similar bloodline — a Titan Shifter could tap into the memories of their predecessor, so perhaps she could even talk to Elsie. She had waited for this day ever since she devoured her mother; this memory inheritance that would reunite both mother and child.

Her heart began to thump furiously in excitement. Finally, her mother and she were one. Finally, she could forever keep her unknown family within her. She could be whole again; a complete person. Her desolate mind told her that her salvation was finally here.

Ivy grabbed her arm, her nails digging into Elsie's cold flesh.

Her mother's skin was icy and unbearably dead.

"Mother, do you not recognize me?" Ivy whispered, her voice coming out in a dry crack. "Are you angry I killed you? Don't be mad. We're finally one again, we complete each other, isn't that great? Mm?"

When Elsie did not respond again, she shook her placatingly and her mother swayed with every force she exerted. Still, Elsie did not even move on her own at all, always holding her head low as locks of her scarlet hair littered her face.

Desperate, Ivy tried to get a reaction. "Don't you want to talk to me, mom? It's me, your daughter—"

"You're not the one."

An unfamiliar feminine voice echoed around her, hauntingly like a stalking shadow. It was so, so chilling that Ivy felt her throat closing up when she heard it. She did not know where the source of the voice was coming from, and it certainly was not Elsie's voice.

"You're not the one."

The haunting voice reverberated around her again and Ivy felt chills skating through every surface of her skin. She scoured the area around her, wondering where the voice was coming from. It sounded like it was coming from somewhere far, but she could see no one else other than Elsie in front of her.

From her peripheral vision, Ivy finally saw Elsie move her head, lifting it up. This movement excited her greatly and her throat grew dry, her heart tripled in speed, and her fingers that were still holding onto Elsie started trembling hysterically.

Finally, finally, finally!

"Mother—"

Her words died in the back of her throat and her eyes expanded, stunned at the sight in front of her. Ivy's heart raced to an abrupt stop. Because a while ago, this person in front of her was undoubtedly Elsie Starke, but now... it was a different woman than she was holding onto.

Her familiar shade of ruby red hair tumbled across her shoulders in curls, her green eyes were the same shade of emerald, and yet Ivy did not recognize who this person was.

All she knew was that she was enthrallingly beautiful, and that tears were streaming down her angelic face. She looked so despaired, so anguished as if she had witnessed all the misery of the entire world and she wanted nothing more than to die.

"You're not the one," the woman's saccharine sweet lips moved and repeated the same words again. The tone of her voice carried the same emotions that were prominent on her features. "You have not fully awakened, you're not the one."

Ivy forced her vocal cords to work, painfully drawn to the woman in front of her. She could not take her eyes off her face. "W — Who—"

In one fluid movement, the woman closed the gap between them and her long fingers curled around her neck. The wooden bangles on her wrist and ankles made a sound as she moved. Ivy thought she had screamed, but nothing came out of her throat. She felt the woman's chokehold on her tighten, and Ivy could only stare at the strange figure in front of her — absorbing her never-ending despair.

"Go," said the woman. Her haunting poignant voice echoed in the space around her, reverberating in her ears. "You cannot inherit my will."

Just as the words escaped the strange woman's lips, Ivy's world melted away and she was immersed briefly in a chasm of black before colors once again began to fold around her.

.

.

.

She heard the voices before she started to piece together her reality.

"Get Captain Zeke! She's waking up!"

"Ivy? Ivy?! Can you hear me?!"

Her protective instincts overtook her and Ivy bolted up from the lying position she was in. Immediately, both of her hands lunged for Bertholdt who was peering worriedly at her.

The way he hovered over her...

She felt threatened and victimized just like she was years ago.

"AH!" Bertholdt cried in shock, losing his footing. He stumbled over at the sudden force.

He fell to the floor and Ivy pounced on him, straddling his body as she began to mercilessly attack his face with her nails. She was screaming hysterically, losing all sense of control. "Don't touch me! I'll kill you! I'll kill—"

"Wait! Wait! It's me!" Bertholdt blurted out in a panic, trying to shield his face from her blows. "It's me! It's me, it's Bertholdt Hoover! The Colossal Titan!"

He heard hurried footsteps rushing into the room and a panicked cry to 'grab her' before the deranged woman was finally dragged off him. His Titan Shifter's power immediately began to kick in, healing the scratches that Ivy had inflicted on him.

"Bertholdt! Are you okay?!" Reiner was immediately by his side, guiding him to a sitting position.

Bertholdt swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded stiffly, his rounded eyes never leaving Ivy as she thrashed violently and cried, restrained in an armlock in Zeke's arms. The edges of her insanity were clearly marked on her features. "I'll kill all of you! Every single one of you damn bastards! I'll kill—"

"Ivy! Calm down!" Zeke shouted, gnashing his teeth together as he tried to control her. Her violent thrashing had hit his glasses. "Ivy! It's me, Zeke!"

As if the name was the trigger for her to snap back into reality, Ivy immediately stopped moving. "Z — Zeke-san…?" she whispered, digesting the name. "Zeke-san…"

Zeke exhaled a tired sigh and released his grip on her. He adjusted his spectacles back to the correct position. "Ivy it's me," he reiterated soothingly. "It's me..."

Her eyes bloomed and Ivy gasped, pivoting around to face him. She wrapped her arm around him with joy. "Hehe! Zeke-san you're here! I missed you!"

"Hey! What's with the noise!" An enraged Marleyan soldier burst into the room with a rifle in hand. "I told you fucking devils to keep it down!"

"Sorry about that sir," Zeke apologized, fabricating respect. "It's nothing."

The Marleyan soldier's expression twisted in annoyance.

"Tch, you might be warriors, but don't forget that you're nothing more than a devil!" The Marleyan soldier snapped angrily, breathing out heavily from his nose. He regarded Zeke with an air of condescension. "Commander Magath is expecting your report, wonder-boy. He sent a telegram, get going."

Zeke nodded once. "Understood."

The soldier shot another heated glare at the Warriors in the room before he stormed out of the room, mumbling something incoherent under his breath that sounded like curse words. Zeke was sure he caught the words 'devil' and 'disgusting', but he paid it no mind, he was used to the insults.

"Ivy, we're back at the ship," Zeke informed her sternly. She was still hugging him and did not move his arms to return her embrace. "Control yourself."

"Eh?" Ivy pulled herself away from him, tilting her head innocently. "I thought we were in Shiganshina?"

"You were the one who forced Reiner to spar with you," Zeke reminded her of the events that had happened before, frowning. "He knocked you out and you were unconscious till now — we had to bring you back because you wouldn't wake up no matter what. What did I tell you? It takes time for your body to get used to your powers, you shouldn't be fighting—"

"But I did it! Didn't I? Didn't I?" Ivy interrupted him in glee, jumping for joy. "I shifted! I stole a Titan Shifter's powers from the Paradis devils! I'm finally complete again!"

Zeke ignored her. Ivy often said odd things and he generally let them slide, knowing that her sanity often slipped from her. He instead refocused the conversation. "However, thanks to that we've discovered what kind of abilities your Titan has. Reiner?"

At Zeke's prompt, Reiner elaborated on his recount. "Her Titan has advanced regenerative abilities — uncanny to other Titan Shifters normal regenerative abilities. Her wounds heal almost instantaneously and but… she lacks endurance in fights. From what I've seen, her Titan is also able to harden and crystallize its skin."

"How fun! I remembered it, Armoured!" Ivy exclaimed elatedly, fluttering her eyelashes. "Neh, Zeke-san does this mean I am of use to Marley now right?"

Zeke's brows creased as he exhaled a maddening breath. "It's hard to say. You've inherited an unknown Titan Shifter that has not appeared in our long history. And let me remind you, Ivy, you did not even get permission from Marley to do so."

"They'll feed her to another warrior candidate?" Bertholdt blurted out, horrified at that thought.

"No, they won't, Colossal!" Ivy declared, skipping towards him. She smiled wickedly as she played with a lock of her scarlet hair. "I'm a too important specimen for them to let me die! I'm Marley's beloved plaything, so don't worry about it!"

Bertholdt swallowed, taking an instinctive step back away from her. He threw a definitive glance at Reiner, who seemed equally as disturbed at her sudden closeness. The pair was still getting used to being around Ivy.

While she looked eerily similar to Ida Starke, Ivy had a prominent mole on her cheek, she was much, much taller and her personality was completely different. Reiner also noted that Ivy's features were also sharper than Ida's, and she wore her hair long without bangs and parted in the middle.

Needless to say, they still needed some time to get used to being around her — especially so for Reiner. Bertholdt knew that his best friend was reminded of the friends they've betrayed every time he saw her.

Zeke sighed and motioned for the two boys to follow him. "Get some rest, Ivy. We'll go back to Shingahinsa soon to wait for them to show up."

Ivy twirled a strand of her long hair in her finger and waved them off. "Okay!"

The trio left the room in silence. Zeke waited for the door to close before turning to Reiner. "What is it that you're hiding, Reiner? If there's anything else you noticed, you should let me know."

"Her Titan... It's strange." Reiner admitted nervously, submitting to the genuine mystification in Zeke's eyes. "When she emerged from her Titan she cried in pain and fainted. She even puked blood… It was… almost as if she had sustained her injuries from her Titan form…"

"Wait," Bertholt interjected, confused. "You mean that her physical body felt pain even when she was in her Titan? That doesn't make any sense, humans with the power of the Titans do not feel pain if their Titan forms are damaged…"

"That's not what it looks like," Reiner countered, his expression was dark. "Her human body had no visible injuries… but I'm certain she felt pain when she was in her Titan form."

"Heh, so her Titan might just be a double-edged sword," Zeke concluded with a scoff, pushing his glasses up his nose bridge. "I see, keep this from her for now. I'll report this to Commander Magath."

"Captain Zeke," Bertholdt prompted, looking genuinely horrified at his nonchalant attitude. "But isn't it strange how she doesn't seem to remember how much she was suffering after she emerged from her Titan though…?"

"She tends to shut out any form of pain from her memory," Zeke informed him. Dry amusement glinted in his hollow eyes as a thought struck him. "Perhaps in that sense, she really is the perfect welder for this mysterious new Titan. I'm sure you both can see by now, she's not exactly… normal. Pain is nothing to her."

Zeke slowly absorbed the pair's disturbed expression and exhaled a sigh when they didn't reply. He tucked his hand into his pocket and added, "Don't let it bother you, she's been through a lot. Focus on the mission."

"But… why is someone born in Paradis Island at Marley?" Bertholdt questioned nervously. "She looks like…"

"Ida Starke, mm?" Zeke finished from him, remembering the name that the two teenagers had told him. "I'm guessing that her twin sister. Her uncle shipped her off here when she was a baby in order to strike a deal with Marley. She was only recently released to the battlefield. Her existence was top-secret information, so it's not like you would know."

"But she's just a normal girl," Reiner debated, frowning. "Even if she is from Paradis, what would Marley want with her?"

"Her bloodline is special," Zeke elaborated. "It was said that members of her line are able to undergo an awakening that grants them superior super-human strength. The Tybur family even confirmed it. Marley probably wanted to capitalize on it for their war endeavors."

"She doesn't seem that strong to me," noted Reiner. "From our fight, she's… pretty normal. Skilled, but nothing particularly amazing."

Zeke regarded him with a small wry smile. "That's because she is unable to fully awaken."

"Huh?"

"It's nothing, you don't need to know about that." Zeke brushed the subject off. He quickly turned and started walking through the narrow hallway of the ship. "You two should get some rest as well, I'll report to General Magath. We'll head back to Shiganshina tomorrow morning."

"By the way…" Zeke stopped mid-stride just as a dreaded thought struck him. "This… Ida Starke is she strong?"

"Yes," Reiner confirmed, a steel edge growing in his voice. "But… Captain Levi is stronger. Like I told you before, he's the main soldier that you need to be careful of, Captain. He's dangerous."

"I see." Zeke mused flatly, continuing his walk. "No matter, they will be coming soon. We'll only have to wait."

"What if they don't come?"

Zeke waved his hand languidly, still walking. "I'll take my chances, Reiner."

o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o

Her hands dunked into the wooden sink and she splashed a handful of cold water on her face to chase away her sleep. When she was done, she patted her face dry with the towel garlanded around her neck and stared at her reflection in the mirror.

Ida was finally released from her imprisonment when Erwin came to fetch them after finding out from Armin that they were trapped in the stockades. He had assured an infuriated Levi that he had reprimanded Hanji and warned her that this should not happen again, but it did little to assuage his anger.

In fact, if it wasn't for the urgent meeting, Ida was sure that Levi would've gone on a rampage in the headquarters for Hanji. She grimaced bitterly when she remembered that she practically used Levi's lap as a makeshift pillow.

Mother of Titans, not again!

Her hands gripped the edges of the sink in dismay. She was bewildered that Levi actually permitted such a thing — she had expected him to wake her up! Ida mentally slapped herself for falling asleep on his shoulder. She had little insight on how the hell did she manage to migrate to his lap instead.

In addition, Levi's face looked particularly more worn-out and dead this morning. Ida surmised that he didn't manage to get any amount of sleep — he probably didn't want to wake her. At least Erwin seemed to outwardly ignore the position they were in. The last thing she needed was her father asking her questions about the status of their relationship, questions that Ida herself wasn't even capable of answering.

She felt her heart swell at the thought that Levi was so considerate of her. Ida did not miss the blanket on her person when she woke up. She knew that he could be such a sweetheart if he wanted to, and she felt special that this gentler side of him was only known to her.

Get a grip of yourself, Ida, a voice sounded in her head, reminding her of the status of their awkward relationship. It's nothing, you're over analyzing things as usual.

When she was done with washing up and berating herself, she made her way to Erwin's office.

Her heartbeat slowed when she saw Levi walking from the other end of the hallway. His eye bags were more pronounced and he looked a hundred times crankier than usual. Crap.

Steeling herself, she tried to make small talk. "Good morning, sir."

"Morning," he murmured flatly, not even making eye contact with her. He opened the door to Erwin's office and immediately, his shoulder was held captive in a vice grip of unadulterated psychotic frenzy when Hanji bolted towards him.

"Oh my god, Levi! You wouldn't believe it!" Hanji screamed frantically to his face. "Look at what they found! This is amazing—"

There was a notable crack of teeth snapping together and Hanji's incoherent rambling stopped when a scowling Levi abruptly shoved his hand into her face.

"Say another word, and I'll snap your Titan obsessed neck," he hissed, clearly not forgetting about the little prank she pulled yesterday.

Ida could tell Levi's patience was swiftly running dry, yet even with threats and him glaring daggers at her, Hanji refused to listen, too caught up in her train of thoughts. She shoved his hand off her.

"If you're going to kill me can it be after I analyzed it?!" Hanji bellowed to his face and turned around swiftly, sprinting to the item on the desk. She flung her hands out in the air, a mad maniacal expression plastered on her face. "OH MY GOD! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! THIS IS A BREAKTHROUGH!"

"Squad leader! Please control yourself!" Mobilt cried desperately. "We're in a meeting!"

Having enough with her antics, Ida stormed forward in an exasperated rage. Grabbing her collar, she dragged her closer to her face and snarled, "I still haven't thanked you for what you did last night you bloody—"

"Ida." Erwin admonished from behind his desk and she bristled at his tone. "Later."

"Tch," Ida grunted but relented. She threw a last lethal glare at the woman in front of her who was still sheepishly grinning, before pushing her away.

Once released from Ida's clutches, Hanji instantly ran behind Mobilt, using him as a meat shield. "You two are no fun!" she complained with an awful pout. "We should be celebrating! Why are you angry at me?"

A vein throbbed in Ida's temple at her nonchalant attitude and she could not hold it back. She charged forward again, her hands outstretched as she tried to grab her. But Hanji quickly moved around her, dragging Mobilt around like a physical shield as she literally shook the contents out from him.

"IDA STOP—EEK!" Hanji screamed when she barely missed the violent grasp from the infuriated red-haired woman.

"Stop hiding behind Mobilt you stupid specs!"

Mobilt screamed in horror. "I — IDA! WA — WAIT!"

"Stop it you two," Erwin stated firmly, physically interceding between the two of them while Mobilt thanked his lucky stars. He held onto Ida's shoulder firmly. "Enough, Ida."

Ida huffed belligerently in anger, glaring at Hanji who peered nervously at her from behind Mobilt's shoulder.

'I will kill you later' she mouthed a warning, to which the Titan Scientist grinned even wider.

'Did you enjoy your night?' Hanji mouthed back, sticking her tongue out childishly.

Ida seethed in silence. Her lip twitched. Oh, she'll kill her alright. One way or another, she would definitely find some way to torture her later.

"Oi Erwin, what is this about?" Levi asserted, crossing his arms. "Ida stop glaring at the bitch and focus."

Unfortunately, Levi's question subsequently triggered Hanji's maniacal side again and she launched into an explanation on Erwin's behalf.

"The excavation squad found this weird contraception at Jaron Starke's lab! I believe that it is responsible for making the Titan Serums!" she screeched enthusiastically. "I can't believe this! This is soooooo exciting! To think of all the possibilities I can come up with by studying it!"

At this point it was highly apparent to everyone in the office that the last of Hanji's sanity had finally left her when she gripped her hair, a crazed laugh escaping her lips. Levi grimaced darkly. If it wasn't for the fact that this crazed idiot was vital to their research on Titans, Ida was sure he wouldn't have hesitated to snap her neck on the spot.

Erwin exhaled loudly, forced to accept her momentary relapse as Mobilt hurried to calm her down before she over-excites herself.

With the psychotic woman occupied in her own thoughts, Levi pressured the composed Commander for more information. "So, what is this all about?"

"Anka from the Garrison delivered this morning," Erwin motioned to the item on his office table. "It was found in Jaron Starke's demolished lab."

Levi narrowed his eyes at the strange item, scrutinizing it. It was a brown box with a strange cracked bulb on it and there was a wire connecting it to something that had snapped off. It was partially destroyed, but from what he could see, there were also a bunch of odd wires connected together within the box.

Ida moved forward curiously, tilting her head. "So... this thing can create Titan serums that could change humans into Titans?"

"It's just one of Hanji's theories and she won't believe anything else otherwise. Our mechanics and engineers could not fathom what it is, unfortunately, which led her to come to that conclusion." Erwin explained coolly. "Which brings me to the question, Ida do you know what it is?"

Ida's lips stretched into a straight line, realizing why she was called. They needed her weird 'powers' that she had discovered at the night of the ball. They needed to utilize this 'Will of Odina' that Seth had talked about.

Cautiously, she approached the item.

Nothing.

No mind-blowing headaches, no sudden crazed burst of information from nowhere, Ida felt absolutely nothing as she observed the strange item. Shit.

"It's no good," she shook her head sadly, displeased. "I don't know what it is either. Maybe this stupid Will of Odina is a fluke."

"Will of Odina?" Erwin echoed after her for clarification, intrigued.

Levi's gray eyes narrowed. "What's that?"

"It's what Fischer calls these stupid headaches of mine. He said that Jaron used to get these headaches as well and he called it the Will of Odina." Ida informed them briskly. "I asked him about it yesterday — took me the entire damned morning to question him as I couldn't be sure if he was lying. But I think he's not lying. He doesn't know how to trigger it either. I believe this power is the reason why Jaron knows so much."

So was this the reason why she was talking with him? Levi couldn't help but feel slightly relieved that Ida was only tolerating Seth's attempts to talk to her because she wanted more information out of him — but he didn't let anything show on his countenance. Perhaps he had been rather rash in thinking otherwise. After all, hadn't Ida stated that she loathed him?

"That's unfortunate," Erwin nodded his head, a calm wave of contemplation cloaking his taut features. "I'll hand this over to Hanji then. Maybe she's right."

"Sorry, I couldn't be of much help," Ida grimaced bitterly at her uselessness.

"You can't help it," Erwin said smoothly, motioning for Mobilt to stop attempting to calm Hanji down and to come over to retrieve the item. "Also, there's another matter we would need to discuss Ida."

Her eyebrow quirked up. "Mhm?"

Erwin went around the office table and took his seat. "I'm sure you're aware that Elsie Starke was taken by a quadrupedal Titan?" he asked sternly in a professional manner.

"Was it another Titan Shifter?"

"We can't confirm that as there was another person on top of the Titan, riding it," Erwin informed her tonelessly. "That person might be piloting a mindless Titan for all we know."

Her body went rigid on its own accord, this was the first time she was hearing of this. "What?"

"And that person…" Erwin intoned, his blue eyes turning hard as he continued, "Has red hair according to Armin."

She could feel her lungs squeezing unrelentingly as if trying to pressure her to suck in more air. Ida knew exactly what Erwin was insinuating, "You suspect that it's another Starke?"

Erwin nodded stiffly as a confirmation. "The birth reports are all jumbled up after the fall of Wall Maria, but for the nobility, it was pretty easy for us to dig up information," he took a copy of the report and slid it across the desk for her to see. "The only issue is, according to official documents, you're the last remaining Starke."

She stared at the report, her fingernails dug into her palm's flesh. "But it doesn't prove anything does it?" Ida inquired darkly. "Historia was an illegitimate daughter as well but her birth reports have been altered by the previous Royal Government."

Erwin was silently pleased with how perceptive she was. His voice reverberated with gravity. "Exactly."

"We can't assume that it's another Starke member on the basis of their shitty hair," Levi voiced out in his customary bitterness, finding himself staring at the Ida beside him to gauge her reaction — she looked shocked from the sudden influx of information.

"However we cannot rule out that possibility either." Erwin countered with a sharp edge. "Which brings me to the bigger question: do you know anything, Ida?"

Ida felt her heart drop to the endless pit of her stomach. "I… don't…"

"Understood," said Erwin rigidly with an air of calmness. "I'll need you to participate in some experiments that Hanji proposed, if this 'Will Of Odina' is able to transmit information to you, we need it."

Levi's expression darkened, not liking the sound of the proposition. "Oi, Erwin. You're giving her to that lunatic?"

"It's fine." Ida quickly assured him with a calm hand to his arm, stopping him from protesting further. "I've to do my part. We all do."

Erwin nodded once. "Then it's settled."

With a loud exhale, Ida cursed silently at her helplessness — if she truly was the devil's daughter with a special bloodline, then surely she could do better than this. What good was this 'special power' that Elsie described if she couldn't help with anything? Any information at this point in time could mean the success or failure of the impending operation to retake Wall Maria in an attempt to reach Grisha Yeager's basement.

Any information could mean the life or death of the people she loved — the people Ida so desperately wanted to protect.

Useless, she cursed herself inwardly, feeling a shadow of self-loathing penetrate her. That bastard Jaron could do this, right? How pathetically useless she was. So much for wanting to help. If she could help more, if she could do something with this stupid Will Of Odina, she could—

Her destructive thoughts immediately went into a standstill when Ida felt her body go rigid as an overwhelming pain overcame her. It was if needles were pricking her brain. She clenched her teeth and let out a groan of anguish, collapsing to the ground on her knees, unable to withstand the pain.

Then a physical image came to her; a memory.

It was so vividly clear, almost as though she was there in person.

She was in a grandiose room and there he was — the very man she loathed — sitting on a cushioned chair behind his desk, dressed in finery as befitted his noble heritage. Jaron looked much younger and his fiery red hair was slick back fashionably. She saw the crest ring of the Starke family on his jewel-studded hand and his fingers were grasping onto a curved box… and he was… talking to it?

Strange, she thought and her eyes trailed the curved item seeing that it was connected to…

A box…?

When she finally snapped back to reality, Erwin and Levi were squatting beside her, appraising her with concerned eyes mixed with confusion and knowing.

"Ida? Can you hear me?"

She gasped while she slowly pieced the mental puzzles together, ignoring their calls for her.

"..That isn't something to create Titan serums…" she muttered, slowly turning to the partially destroyed box in Mobilt's hands. "That's a… communication device…?"

Her revelation had finally caused Hanji to snap out of her fanatical breakdown and sprinted towards her in haste. "What do you mean Ida?!" she demanded frantically. "Communication device?!"

Levi stood up disapprovingly, stopping her from getting any closer to Ida with a menacing glare. "Give her some fucking space, Hanji."

Erwin helped her off the floor as Ida clutched onto her head, gritting her teeth. "I don't know for certain, there should be another item attached to it... It's shaped like a curved handle and you can speak to it…" she mumbled softly with all her remaining strength. "...I saw Jaron Starke using it…"

"You saw?" Erwin repeated for clarification, eyes wide.

Ida only nodded once as confirmation. She didn't know how she felt about this. She still couldn't comprehend the specifics behind these strange powers of hers. Her main concern was another question that was at the forefront of her mind: why did she awaken it only now?

Levi's eyes turned into suspicious slits. "Do you know who that bastard was talking to?"

Ida bit her bottom lip. "No…"

"To the enemies outside the Walls perhaps." Erwin offered calmly, deadlocking his firm blue eyes with the redhead's wary green ones. "It makes sense, Ida. You said that Jaron knew that Wall Maria would fall."

"So, if we fix that damned thing, we can communicate with them?" Levi stated impertinently accompanied by a haunting expression.

"If we have technology capable of fixing it, Levi," Erwin returned monotonously.

He walked to his desk and took a folder from it, handing it to the disorientated redhead who took it uneasily with slightly trembling fingers. "The excavation squad also found some half-burnt notes that survived — it seems that Jaron was studying Titans more than anything."

"Tch." Levi scoffed sardonically, darting a disgusted look at Hanji who had gone into a state of shock as Mobilt supported her. "No wonder that lunatic relapsed at the sight of it."

Ida exhaled loudly in resignation, knowing where this was headed. "I'll work with Hanji to decipher it. Hopefully, something comes to me again."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Hanji wailed, tugging on her hair when she finally came to terms with the egregious turn of events. "It can't be! And I was so sure that it produced Titan serums! What am I going to do?!"

Mobilt panicked at her relapse. "Not again!"

"Guess I'd have to spend some time with the freak then," Ida mumbled begrudgingly, grimacing as she thought about what horrors she would have to endure. "Hanji, let's go to your office. Tell me everything you know about Titans."

The prospect of experimenting with a willing Ida was the only thing that roused Hanji from her maniacal state. In a blink of an eye, her frantic wailing stopped. She bolted to Ida and clasped her hands. The redhead cringed when she leered towards her, way too close for comfort.

Hanji's eyes were shimmering with hope. "Finally Ida! You finally understood the importance of studying Titans! I'll tell you everything—"

"Important things only," Ida growled sharply, cutting her off mid-rant. "I won't hesitate to sock all of your teeth out of your mouth if you waste my time."

Erwin cleared his throat, commanding their attention. "Then it's settled. This meeting is dismissed."

At that, Hanji, Mobilt, Levi, and Ida trickled out of the room in a single file. Hanji was bubbling with unbridled excitement and poor Mobilt looked as though he was about to pass out.

Ida sighed, discontented at her predicament, did she truly sign herself up for days with that lunatic? She wondered how Eren could even stand her being around her seeing as he had been spending more and more time with her for his shifting experiments.

Just as she was hit with an influx of dread, a cool voice snapped her out of her disgruntled state. "Ida."

She turned around instantly, surprised that he was talking to her. "Yeah?"

Levi averted his eyes away but his presence was still overwhelming to her. "Bring my tea to my office later," he commanded with a supercilious air.

Ida blinked, digesting his words with exaggerated slowness.

Wait, here she thought Levi would immediately go back to avoiding her, and yet he was asking her to bring him his usual cup of tea? How strange. Back in the past, she would always bring him his tea, but ever since she got back, Levi had never once asked her for it, knowing that it would only spark unnecessary conversation between them.

And there was nothing else to talk about between them, right?

So what's changed?

Ida eyed him suspiciously, but his expression did not show any inclination of what he was truly thinking. Was this one of his mood swings again? They seemed to be happening often, judging from his demeanor yesterday. Maybe this is his way of getting revenge for last night?

She pursed her lips, coming to the conclusion that this was certainly the result of just another one of his stupid mood swings.

"I'll get Eren to do it, sir," she replied dismissively, earning a heated glare from him when he finally turned his gaze on her. Ida softened when she noticed the prominent dark circles under his eyes. "But… Thanks for everything last night. You shouldn't have."

"Tch. What kind of an idiot falls asleep that quickly." Levi remarked, stressing every single syllabus with mockery and hatred. "Your head is just as heavy as I remembered it."

She snorted at his remark. "I knew you would say something like that."

"Ida!" Hanji called loudly from the end of the hallway, waving her over. "Hurry up!"

"I got to go," Ida told him calmly, not looking at him in the end. "Try to get some sleep, don't overwork yourself."

"Tch." Levi scoffed impertinently. "I'm busy, brat."

"Ida! Our beloved Titans are waiting for us! You can date later!"

A nerve throbbed in her temple and a steel edge lined her jaw. Ida wanted to shove a Titan right down Hanji's throat at that moment. "Shut up! I'm coming!" she screeched back belligerently. "Just give me one moment!"

"Alright!" Hanji squealed excitedly. "Don't take too long! You love-birds can make-up all you want when we're done!"

Exhaling loudly in annoyance, she ignored Hanji's suggestive comments and she threw one last look at Levi, before turning her heel to where Hanji was. "I'll get going then, sir."

"Wait."

She raised her brow curiously and stopped mid-walk. "Yes, sir?"

He gazed at her curiously through suspicious slits, wondering why he even stopped her from leaving. Ida looked the same, she acted the same, but as Levi looked at her now, there was a desire stirring within him that he didn't know he harbored before. It felt different. He was aware of his attachment to her before, but now it seemed to have intensified tenfolds.

More than anything, he wanted to keep her by his side, to look at her, to talk to her, to even feel her. He did not want her to leave his side.

This desire to retain Ida by his side was choking and blinding, and no matter how much he tried to suppress it, his commendable willpower was nothing but a pathetic force against it. Before he knew it, his lips parted and he started to transit his desire into words.

"Ida—"

"What is it?" she cut through his sentence, her expression weary but alert. "If it's not important, can it wait?"

The remaining words stopped at the back of the throat — what was he thinking? This was hardly the appropriate time nor was it appropriate to say it. How could he shamelessly ask her to stay beside him? After all that he had done to her — after all that she had been through?

"Nothing," Levi said flatly, his expression stoic. "Don't forget my tea."

"I won't," Ida replied with a smile that hitched his breath in his throat. "Don't worry about it."

She turned and walked away, and this time, no matter how much he desired to hold her back, Levi let her go.

The damned brat, he cursed internally as he watched her walk away, feeling his mood sour at that sight. Didn't you say you'll stay at my side?

o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o

Livid irritation was all Levi felt Ida walked away from him and it was an emotion he found annoyingly stuck him for the entire day. She was so much warmer towards him last night, but the moment they left the cells, Ida was back to her cold indifference.

Stinking brat. He mentally cursed her again, unable to concentrate on the report in front of him. His eyes couldn't focus on the small print and he found himself frustratingly illiterate. Unfortunately, this aggravation was only growing by the second, showing no signs of slowing down.

It was a soul-consuming desire that was festering within him, a desire that he felt burning in his fingertips the moment he came to a startling revelation that he was indeed in love with her. For Levi, this revelation felt like it would be the equivalent of him finding out that he'd been diagnosed with some incurable disease.

Deep in the subconscious crevices of his mind, Levi knew somehow that he had known this fact for a long time now — how else was he able to explain this thundering attachment to her? Call it naivety, call it stupidity or call it plain denial — Levi just didn't want to entertain the fact that he had grown to love her, because admitting it was as good as a death sentence for him.

And yet even knowing that, Levi had ultimately sentenced himself to death last night.

How fucking irrational.

Levi slumped back on his head and put his head in his hands, not moving a twitch at the sound of a knock on his door. "What?" he answered, his raspy voice muffled by the hands still covering his face.

Eren peeked in, then pushed the door wide. "Sir!" he chirped, placing a steaming cup of tea in front of him. His bright smile dissipated instantly when Levi peered up to look at him; his expression was hideous and annoyed. If looks could kill, Eren was sure he would've combusted on the spot.

Quickly, Eren slid the teacup closer to him. "Your tea!"

Right, he remembered, Ida did say she would send Eren to fetch his tea. It was a stupid excuse he conjured at the heat of the moment to get her back by his side, and it had backfired on him splendidly.

Every iota of wariness disappeared from Levi's gray eyes and he picked the cup up in the same odd fashion he always did. "Thanks."

A low, angry growl emitted from the depths of his chest. Argh, how frustrating, he mentally groaned, realizing that just the thought of Ida had once again ignited the desire within him to see her, to talk to her, and to ultimately possess her. Truth to be told, Levi wasn't even sure how long he could forcibly suppress it — the intensity of his desire burned in such a way, he was sure it would consume him sooner or later.

Eren turned his heel to make a quick escape upon sensing the severity of his rancorous mood.

"Eren."

Eren gulped dryly and spun around. "Captain?"

"What tea is this?" Levi demanded placidly in a deadpan. "It's not my usual black tea."

"It's chamomile tea, sir," Eren replied. "Ida-san said it'll help you sleep. She said you didn't have a good sleep last night. I can bring you a new cup of tea with your usual if you want."

Levi stared at the steaming teacup pensively. He broke out into a smirk, feeling his splenetic mood slowly fade away, and with it all the troubles that have been plaguing him for the past hours.

"That troublesome brat…" he scoffed snidely. "Doing something so damned unnecessary…"

Levi found himself staring at the steaming teacup for another moment like he was expecting for it to retort back like Ida herself.

'If you're so unappreciative then hand it over, you damned midget!' — Ida would surely retort something like this back and he felt the side of his lips twitch upwards at that thought. She was, indeed, amusing to be around. Aggravatingly petulant she might be, but Levi wouldn't deny there was something fascinating about her that commanded his unwavering attention.

She was a star glowing from her core, from her soul. The way she allowed him to just a small fragment of her light was enough to have him addicted. She was made of magic that was not for the world to see, only him, and just him could see it.

"You're dismissed, Eren." Levi cleared his throat, going back to his usual deadpan countenance when he saw Eren was watching him inquisitively.

He picked up his quill as soon as Eren had left, but his eyes again wandered to the teacup. He frowned, placing the quill down. Instead of getting back to his paperwork immediately, Levi found himself leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes.

Yes, perhaps he should take a rest.

Because at the rate that he was going, the steely resolve that he had forcibly enforced within him of severing ties with Ida was wavering. Did he truly make the right decision?

For such a perceptive man, Levi should've known better — one had to be careful of what one buried because it might just grow into something more.

And now… Levi wasn't just attached to this damned woman, he loved her, he was sure.

What was once just an attachment had blossomed into something more.

He should've seen the signs. For a long time now, they were comrades that spoke like lovers, and that seemed to be enough in the past, for two broken soldiers who were scared to love one another. But it wasn't enough now. It certainly wasn't enough for Ida, and deep down, Levi was sure that it wasn't enough for him. How else could he explain this feeling?

And so, was it okay? To take the chance and drop the fear? Could he possibly disregard every rational argument and just take the plunge? But even if he did take his chances, how could he convince her after all that he did? What was the next step? He couldn't possibly just walk up to her and confess, could he? Ida could be an infuriatingly spiteful person when she wanted to be.

Frankly, Levi didn't even know the first step about getting her back to his side.

All he knew was that there was a desire simmering within him that burned his soul and threatened to wipe his existence, and it was enough of a proof to tell Levi that he needed her back.

Even if she was his condemnation to hell.

He opened his eyes and grit his teeth. Damn it. Levi resentfully decided that he would take his chances simply because he had no other choice.

o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o

What the flying hell.

She stared at the state of the room incredulously. Slowly, she traipsed through the room, her feet sinking in the abomination of books and other knick-knacks. The state of Hanji's office was appalling to say the very least — it was absolutely filthy. Her wary green eyes snagged on her a couple of beakers by the shelves; there were strange, flesh-colored objects suspended in a green liquid in it.

She suppressed a shudder, Ida didn't even want to think about which Titan it belonged to.

"This is a disgrace," Ida voiced dreadfully, turning up her nose in disgust. "You need at least a hundred Levis to clean this filthy place up."

Mobilt shrugged sheepishly.. "Why do you think he never steps a foot into her office?"

"Yeah, he'll probably get a seizure if he comes here," she agreed bitterly, crossing her arms. "Where's Hanji?"

"She had an urgent meeting with the Corps engineers," Mobilt answered. "They're currently in the middle of developing a weapon to break through the Armoured Titan's hardened skin."

"Great." Ida grimaced, heading for the door. "Let's get to cleaning while we wait for her to come back. I'm not staying here if it's in this filthy state."

"Urgh, you really are just another Captain Levi aren't you?" Mobilt groaned when Ida handed him a broom. He proceeded to sweep the floor, disgruntled. "Really, only you two could think about cleaning at a time like—"

When Ida bestowed him with an icy glare that could rival glaciers, Mobilt gulped and got back to work in silence.

For the next few hours, Ida and Mobilt diligently sweep, scrubbed and sorted Hanji's sorry-state of an office in an attempt to turn it into a more livable state. Ida had braced her heart for whatever abomination she might find. Alas, that didn't stop her from retching when she found a hat that Hanji had woven from the hair of the late Sawney and Bean.

Knowing that it was Hanji's precious memento, Ida did not even bat an eyelash when she threw it into the charcoal brazier that heated the office, earning a horrified scream from Mobilt before he proceeded to brood about how Hanji 'would descend into a hysterical fit when she finds out'.

Indeed revenge is sweet, she thought snarkily, not perturbed by the scandalized state of Hanji's most trusted aide. She felt better now that she had sated the malicious thoughts that had plagued the night prior.

When they were almost done with their cleaning, a knock drew their attention to the door.

"Ida-san?" Connie handed her a stack of papers. "These are from Captain."

"Thanks."

"What's that?" Mobilt scooted nearer to her, curious. Ida did not even take one look at the report and tossed it to him.

"Reports about the maintenance of my assets," she answered monotonously. "I left the maintenance of every Starke business to a hired accountant, and the management of my properties was passed onto Levi."

Mobilt's brow creased in confusion. "You gave full control of your estates to him?"

"Yeah," she nodded numbly.

"You're not even going to read it?" Connie prompted, confused at her nonchalant behavior.

"Nope, not interested."

"Holy crap," Mobilt gasped in awe when he saw the numbers on the report. "Y — You're really rich!"

Ida shrugged, disinterested. She had run through the past reports a few times in private out of curiosity and she couldn't deny she was surprised as to how wealthy she actually was. The income inequality gap within the Walls was appalling.

Intrigued by Mobilt's declaration, Connie walked over to him to peer at the contents of the report. His eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets. "Oh my god!"

"It's nothing," stated Ida sternly, her brows furrowing at their reactions. "Put the report down and get back to work."

Mobilt was appalled at her indifference. "You really won't scan through this once at least?"

"It's just a formality seeing as the assets he's managing is rightfully mine by birthright," Ida replied, wiping the office desk. "Most of my money is used to fund the Survey Corps, so I thought it was best I leave it to him. It's as good as giving him free rein of what to do with it."

There was another reason as to why she had handed control over her estate to Levi that Ida did not deign to inform Mobilt, but she didn't really see the need to. She had accepted the inheritance because it was part of her duty to humanity — not because she wanted it.

Willingly accepting it by her own would only mean that she was accepting that she was part of a defiled bloodline of sinners and Ida would never accept that. She might've played the role she was told to for the greater good of mankind, but she wasn't about to accept it whole-heartedly.

Because, truth to God, Ida was disgusted with the Starkes more so than anything. It was a mixture of naivety and denial, but she didn't want to acknowledge that she was one of them, and Ida would be damned if she allowed anyone else to tell her otherwise. This was her life and she was going to do what she wanted with it. Destiny? She didn't believe in it.

And so, it was easier for her to shove all responsibility on someone else. The lesser she was reminded of it, the better.

"Hey, there's a note here." Connie pointed to the piece of paper sticking out from the report.

"What?" Ida walked to the pair and grabbed the report. Her eyes expanded in curiosity when she saw a small paper slipped in between the sheets.

Extracting it out, she read the contents:

'Take this winter solstice break to visit some of your shitty estates and stop dumping all your shit onto me. I've enough on my hands already. There are some estates that need renovation maintenance and they won't do shit unless they receive the verbal consent from you. Reply to me when you see this so I know you aren't pissing around.'

The edges of her lips curled. The note was undoubtedly from Levi, Ida could recognize his handwriting. But the traces of her smile quickly evaporated as a dreaded thought struck her — was this Levi's new way of drawing lines between them? By sending stupid notes?

This thought should've incensed her, and it was unexplainable on her part, but she felt a strange numbness instead. Ida stared at the note, astounded by her reaction. Perhaps she was starting to accept that it was just impossible between them.

As she read the note again, Ida was reminded that the Longest Night was around the corner and all soldiers of the Military were given a few days of leave to visit their families. It was a holiday that many scouts eagerly looked forward to.

Winter solstice, Ida thought despondently, releasing a long sigh.

She was unlike the soldiers who looked forward to the holiday. In fact, she had spent every break and off-day in the headquarters, so the thought of spending winter solstice with someone else was a strange idea to her. She didn't really see the hype around it.

But it wasn't to say that she hadn't spent her winter solstice with someone before.

Back then, it was only Levi and her.

Two different broken souls who belonged nowhere and had nowhere else to go; completely detached from the word 'family'.

Before she knew it, Ida started lingering in the dangerous sentimental memories she had hidden deep within the wells of her subconscious. Even if she knew inherently that it would surely stir up a torrent of emotions, she allowed it to play.

"Your tea," she announced, sliding a teacup towards him.

"Thanks," Levi murmured in the same low voice, barely even looking at her. He was too engrossed in the report in front of him. At his dismissive behavior, Ida cleared her throat and slid a piece of cake she was holding towards him, catching his full attention.

"What the hell is this?" he demanded flatly. "I don't want it, you can eat it yourself."

From his expression, Ida surmised that Levi thought that the cake she was holding was for herself. It was not strange to see her holding a piece of a cake she supposed, seeing that he was well aware of her cankerous sweet tooth.

"It's for you," she admitted after a hesitant pause.

Levi barely raised an eyebrow. "I don't want it."

"Petra and the rest didn't want to leave for winter solstice break," she confessed, taking a seat beside him. "...They didn't want you to be alone on the Longest Night."

She smirked when Levi's scowl darkened and she knew from his reaction that he understood the true purpose of the cake.

"How unnecessary," he spat caustically, though his voice was missing its usual bitterness.

"I know you hate useless formalities," she held his gaze. "So I didn't prepare anything much."

"It's unlike you to even partake in shitty things like this," he growled irritably, going back to reading his report.

She shrugged. "I promised the rest that I'll celebrate it with you. I heard that in the past they threw a small celebration for you after they came back from their winter solstice breaks with their families, but you forbade them from doing it again."

"Because it's unnecessary and a complete waste of time and resources," Levi groused. "There's nothing to celebrate, they've too much free time."

"Still, just take a bite of it." Ida insisted, holding out a spoon for him to take. "I'll get into trouble with the rest if you don't."

"I dislike sweet things," Levi rebuffed tonelessly.

"If you don't eat it I'll get Hanji to throw a celebration when she's back," Ida threatened with a sweet smile, her tone not matching her expression. "You wouldn't want everyone to know that… the winter solstice falls on your birthday would you?"

"Stinking brat," Levi growled, snatching the spoon that she was holding. It was starting to get annoying. He laid it flat on the table and proceeded to glare at her. "I already told you—"

"Jeez, is this what happens when you get older?" Ida interrupted sternly, crossing her arms. "You get unbearably crotchety and cantankerous?"

Levi only intensified his glare at her remark and Ida scoffed harmlessly. Taking the spoon from the table again, she held it out to him again. "Just one bite and I promise I won't make a fuss, I'll even tell the rest that we celebrated your stupid birthday together — that'll satisfy them enough to put off any more ideas about throwing another celebration."

For a moment, she thought Levi would reject her proposition again for he looked incredibly disgruntled, but he only made an irritable sound with his teeth and took the spoon, digging it into the cake. Ida smiled and took her own spoon.

"Tch." Levi scoffed when he saw that she had taken a bite of the cake. "I thought you said this was for me, why the hell are you eating it too, brat?"

"Because you stupid midget," Ida popped the spoon out of her mouth and pointed it towards him accusingly. "Birthday cakes are supposed to be shared, don't you know?"

"Whatever," Levi grumbled grouchily, and much to Ida's surprise, he took another scoop of the cake.

"I didn't even realize the Longest Night was coming up," Ida murmured, making small conversation. "I feel bad for the kids that are always going hungry."

"The inflation is outrageous," Levi deadpanned, a shadow of darkness resting in his eyes.

"Yeah…" Ida hummed distractedly. "Ever since Wall Maria fell, everything's expensive. Even after the culling of Wall Maria citizens… Hah, I would've probably not survived it if I wasn't in the Underground City then and declared dead on official records."

A deafening silence fell between them and Ida realized that she had unknowingly broached on a heavy topic. It was a bad habit of hers. The last thing they should be doing right now was to mull over their circumstances.

She quickly changed the conversation. "So, seeing as it's the winter solstice, did you get me a present?"

"Why would I?" Levi retorted snarkily. He crossed his arms. "Not like you got me one, brat."

Ida wondered if Levi had gotten any gifts, he didn't seem to partake in the joyous celebrations. In fact, she was sure no one apart from his squad knew that winter solstice was his birthday. Though she hated the man, she couldn't help but feel a tad empathetic. He was a lonesome man. She turned her gaze to him, emanating with resigned sympathy.

"I don't," Ida coaxed a faint smile. "But I'll get you one next year. I promise."

For a brief moment, she could see Levi pause in his chewing and she understood why — in their line of work, they didn't even know if they would be alive next year when winter solstice comes. So what good are promises? Levi was quick to guard his emotions and his usual scowl came into play.

"I don't need one," he rebuffed coolly. "It's not as if you can manage to save whatever amount of your meager salary since you spent whatever you have on fucking sweets."

"I'll just take it out of the Survey Corps' budget!" Ida declared good-naturedly. She could feel his acidic glare digging onto her and she laughed it off. "Relax, I'm joking. I'll manage, somehow."

The pair fell back into a comfortable silence as they ate the cake. Ida wondered why the act of sharing a cake with him felt so much more intimate than it was supposed to be — maybe she should've thought this through more. Maybe, she should've bought another slice.

She observed him surreptitiously when he drank his tea. Levi certainly didn't seem to mind sharing a cake with her. Ida felt silly for thinking too much about it.

"Gunther said that you always spend your Longest Night alone," she whispered, breaking the silence. "It's the first time in years since I've spent it with someone as well."

"There's nothing to celebrate about," Levi responded flatly.

"I'm happy that I'm not alone this year though," she heard herself saying, wondering why she was telling him this. It was unlike her to confide in someone. Levi looked bothered by her remark and she pressed him to say something. "It's nice to be with someone, don't you think?"

"Tch." Levi scoffed, grimacing. He placed his teacup down. "I prefer being alone, your damned screeching gives me a headache."

She rolled her eyes dramatically, letting his insults slide off her as she always did. "Too bad, you're going to have to spend every winter solstice with me from now on," she countered snidely, pointing her spoon at him. A playful smirk graced her lips. "Two outcast loners in this big headquarters alone."

"You're the damned outcast, brat."

"If you haven't noticed, you're not a social butterfly either, sir."

Levi only glared at her and she gestured for him to continue eating the cake, which he compiled much to her astonishment. She scoffed softly in disbelief. For a man who had declared he dislikes sweet things, Levi was surprisingly complacent with her request.

When they were done with the cake, Ida stood up and took the plate and utensils to wash it. She found herself glancing at her Captain, seeing that he had already continued on with reading his reports. Somehow, despite his crass insults, Ida observed that he seemed so much more relaxed today.

"Happy birthday, Levi," she heard herself saying before she could stop herself. "I look forward to our next winter solstice together."

She turned and left with the empty plate and dirty spoons before she could take another look at the expression on his face.

A calm omnipresent serenity gripped her just as the memory ended and Ida smiled inwardly at it. How she missed her original squad, and most importantly, she missed how it was between Levi and her. It was strange indeed. At one point in time, they were so much more and yet so much less than what they are now.

They were the two survivors, the outcast loners who were far from just broken. Too damaged to seek happiness, too deranged in their own ways to even speak words of love, and too scarred to even get attached to someone.

And yet they hated and cared for each other at the same time.

Now that she thought about it, perhaps the two of them didn't have any other choice but to rely on one another. Ida didn't even know when it had started, but they started clinging to each other as if they were dying from thirst. Stuck in the crossroads between the past and present, Ida felt that she'd always known him... as if she had always been in love with him contrary to the unfounded hatred she held for him in the past.

A promise… she thought ruefully. She had promised to get him a present this year. The gears in her brain turned and memory struck her when she recalled the cravat that she had purchased in Wall Sina with Eren and Jean a few months back. With all that happened, she didn't have the chance to give it to him yet.

However, with the state of their strained relationship, Ida didn't know if it was appropriate to give to him now. It was probably best to let the distance slowly trickle in. This habit of sending notes was clearly Levi's stupid way of drawing the line between them again.

This winter solstice, she would spend it alone, or maybe with Erwin. It wasn't like she cared about winter solstice anyway, it only reminded her of her loneliness.

It is better this way, she reasoned internally when she started to feel a trickle of agony slowly encroach into her. Perhaps in due time, she would even forget about him.

As if buoyed by a secret strength, her shoulders slowly rose, squaring strong with peace and purpose that matched the calm in her eyes. Ida grabbed a quill, dipping it in the inkpot. She began to scribble something on the note before she handed it to Connie.

"Give this to Captain for me please."

o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o

The weight of the world suffocated him as he sat behind his office table. To burn with such desire and keep quiet about it was the greatest punishment one can ever bring on themselves, and Levi Ackerman was experiencing this first hand as he waited for Connie Springer to return with her reply.

Fuck this, he brooded angrily, crossing his arms. Patience was never his strong virtue, so when his impatience was accompanied by teeming anticipation, Levi didn't quite know if he could sit still any longer.

"What's taking that damned shitty brat so long?" he groused quietly to himself, watching the door of his office.

When the long-anticipated knock finally came, it nearly took him all of his self-control to not bolt out of his chair. Instead, Levi calmly leaned forward and feigned writing something on a piece of paper. "Enter."

Connie ambled into the room, handing him the note. "Captain, Ida-san said to give this to you."

With an impassive guarded expression, Levi grabbed the note and read it's contents:

'Just tell them that you're my representative and that your word represents mine. Thank you, sir. Sorry to trouble you.'

The small piece of paper furrowed in his rigid grasp as Levi digested the reply in utter complete disbelief. A dark scowl flashed through his hard features. "Did she say anything else?"

Connie looked confused at his question. "Nothing. Just only to hand it to you."

What the fuck?

Levi had thought of all ways to remind her about the upcoming winter solstice, hoping that she'll remember their promise. He had spent the last hour thinking of ways to subtly remind her of it — and this was her stupid reply? Didn't she say that they had to spend every shitty winter solstice together from then on?

For such a smart girl, Ida was certainly fucking dense.

Levi had thought about asking her out directly for winter solstice, but then he vetoed the idea as quickly as it entered his mind. He growled underneath his breath, frustrated. However, before he got truly annoyed, he reasoned that Ida was probably still angry at him, her cold treatment was justified.

Grabbing his quill, he started writing on the note.

'No. You're a damned noblewoman, start acting like one and manage your damned estates yourself. Seeing as you are an idiotic brat, if you're unsure of what to do, I guess I have no damn choice but to accompany you to Wall Sina.'

When he was done writing, he handed it back to Connie, who took it awkwardly. If he found this strange way of communication odd, he did not voice it out. Hanji's and Levi's offices weren't too far apart in the headquarters.

"Come back when you get a reply," Levi informed him brusquely.

Connie stared at him in a strange way. However, when Levi's eyes hardened, he immediately nodded and scurried out of his office to fulfill his task.

Thankfully, this time around Connie returned with a reply quickly.

Levi snatched the note that Connie was holding out to him. Anxiety plagued him as his heart raced without signs of slowing down, he truly hoped that Ida had taken the hint. Wearily, he scanned the contents of her reply:

'I understand, sir. But there's no need to trouble yourself. I'll make my way to Wall Sina myself. Sorry to be a bother.'

All of a sudden, Levi was drowning in a vortex of indignation and frustration. A plethora of anger hit him and before he could stop himself he crumpled the note into a ball and threw it across the room, earning a frightened gasp from Connie.

He stood up and slammed his hand on the table. Connie winched visibly at his sudden outburst but he could only freeze in fear when Levi snarled, "Tell that damned brat there's no fucking need to go to Wall Sina herself, I'll settle the damn renovations."

Connie backed away instinctively, "Y — Yes sir!"

Just like that, the teenager quickly bolted out of his office.

Levi gritted his teeth together and breathed out heavily, sinking back in his chair. He furiously rubbed his face in exasperation, hissing a few curse words underneath his breath. Fuck, he just didn't know the first step about getting Ida back. He supposed he could ask someone for advice, but the last time he did, he ended up asking her out to 'kill Titans together' and smashing a cake in her face.

The memory materialized a grinning Hanji in his mind and the mental image scandalized him so much, his expression darkened even further. Taking advice from someone like her again? Yeah right, when hell freezes over.

In all honesty, in times like this, the only thought prevalent in Levi's mind was that he was doomed — nothing he did had managed to calm this burning desire within him to possess her and Ida seemed just as indifferent as ever. Truthfully, Levi knew he deserved it. He was certain he had pushed her too far away.

And so, he accepted the shittiness of his life with the declaration of three horrible words that summed up the crappiness that was his fate.

"Fuck my life," he grumbled into his empty office.

Aggravated by his failed attempts to get her back to her side, Levi forced himself to focus on the reports in front of him. What the fuck was he thinking? He had better things to do than to pine for her at the moment. Ida had drawn the line clearly between them, there was no point thinking about changing anything now.

Taking chances? Yeah, fuck that.

o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o

It was a lot harder than she had expected, this stupid 'Will of Odina'.

Working with Hanji Zoe was rather easy, much to Ida's pleasant surprise. While aggravating in her fanatical behavior, Hanji had offered many theories, but the one that Ida found most sensible was that a trigger was needed for her to activate this unknown freaky power of hers.

And it was because of this theory that the only Titan Shifter available in the Survey Corps now sat in front of her, squirming in his seat, obvious in his discomfort that the two women were keenly eyeing at him as if he was a rare specimen that they were about to dissect.

"H — Hanji-san!" Eren spluttered nervously. "What is it you want me to do?"

Ida did little to assuage Eren's fear and instead crossed her slender legs, which caused the boy to flinch visibly at her movement. "Eren," she began flatly. "You've told us before that you are able to see memories of your predecessors of your Titan, yes?"

"Yeah," Eren wondered where this was headed to. "I'm certain of it. Back at Reiss Chapter, Rod Reiss and Historia managed to unlock my father's memories during the massacre of the Royal family… and I think there were times where I got glimpses of Freida Reiss's memories."

He nervously peered at Hanji during his speech, she was practically shivering in excitement. If it wasn't for Mobilt holding her back on Ida's orders, he was sure she would've charged towards him.

"Can you control it?!" Hanji asked jubilantly. "Can you control what you can see?!"

Eren backed away deeper into his chair, wary of the rabid brunette. "N — No!"

So he's the same as me, Ida rationalized in her head with a perplexed frown. He can't control what he can see as well. However, if he is able to see the memories of his predecessors, then why is it that I, a human, is able to see Jaron's memories?

"Hanji," Ida turned her attention to her. "It seems that this 'power' of mine is the same as Eren's, but it doesn't make sense… I'm clearly just a human, while he's a Titan Shifter."

"Did you… uh, check?" Eren questioned. "I didn't know I was a shifter till that incident in Trost."

Ida made a face before she lifted her thickly bandaged finger up for him to see. "I'm sure," she voiced sourly, scowling. "That lunatic pricked me over fifteen times in an attempt to get me to magically transform."

Eren gave her a sympathetic look. He understood what it was like to be tormented under Hanji's wacky experiments.

Hanji took a moment to digest her previous question. "Elsie said that the reason why you're so strong was that you have 'awakened' right? And Seth said that this 'Will of Odina' is only available to the awakened ones of your family."

Ida nodded in affirmation. "Yeah."

"And she also mentioned that your bloodline is more special than the Ackermans..." Hanji narrated pensively, tapping her finger on her chin. Her face lit up at a thought. "Does this mean that the Ackermans possess the same power as the Starkes as well?"

She turned to her trusty assistant by her side. "Should we just ask them?"

"Luckily for us, we have two Ackermans in the Survey Corps," noted Mobilt with a smile. He advanced towards the door. "I'll get Captain Levi, Squad Leader."

"No need," Ida stopped him. She pointed to the closed door of Hanji's office. "There's one just outside waiting."

Mobilt was bewildered by her statement and he moved to the door, swinging it open. As Ida had foretold, Mikasa was just outside the door, pacing up and down the hallway as she fretted about Eren who had been summoned to Hanji's office.

Her eyes lit up the moment the door opened. "Eren!" she cried, shoving past a stunned Mobilt and running to his side. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Mikasa," Eren scratched his chin. "Why are you here?"

"Mikasa, we need to ask you a few questions," Hanji interjected with a smile. Mikasa's eyes fell upon her figure with suspicion while she continued, "Have you ever been able to see your ancestors' memories?"

Mikasa looked confused with the question. "No, I haven't."

"So it's either this trait is only privy to the Starke bloodline, or it hasn't been materialized in them yet," Hanji concluded with a worrisome frown. She shrugged sadly. "There are too many possibilities."

A chasm materialized in her stomach as Ida spoke, "No, I'm sure it's the former, Hanji. This is the only possibility, Elsie did say that the Starkes is more special than the Ackermans bloodline."

Ida expelled a weary sigh, sitting up straighter. "Mikasa, Hanji told me that you've experienced a moment in your life where it felt as though a power suddenly awoke inside of you."

"Yeah." Mikasa looked perturbed and a dark cloud settled on her features.

"I experienced it too," Ida admitted. "It happened after the Wall of Maria when I killed my first man. I felt… strong."

Her heart started pounding erratically against her chest. The pit in her stomach grew deeper as every image came into her mind like a movie.

Her initiation, the fights, her heightened sense of hearing, her quick instincts when it came to avoiding bullets, her agility to perform backflips and spin kicks that she had never done before in her life before the fall of Wall Maria…

Ida wanted to break out in a burst of sardonic laughter. For years she had thought that her strength was a result of her endless training. Never in her wildest dream would she have suspected that it was related to something like being part of a freaky bloodline of sinners. But despite her bitter thoughts, she felt grateful for it — this strength granted to her allowed her to protect the people she loved.

A few beats of tense silence skipped through the office, with everyone absorbing the revelation. Hanji shifted her glasses, "So… this is the awakening?"

"Probably." Ida shrugged. "It's probably the reason why the Ackermans and I are all so strong. Elsie confirmed it as well — she said that both clans will obtain the power of the Titans when we have awakened."

Her face darkened when she realized the complexities of the conversation she was about to embark on with her comrades. She moved her attention to Mikasa. "Jaron Starke wanted the Ackermans dead. I know that your memories can't be altered by the Coordinate Titan's power, but I believe there's more to it or that bastard wouldn't have ordered me to kill the Ackermans. Were the Ackermans persecuted because of this power of yours… or?"

"I don't know," Mikasa admitted. "My parents… they didn't tell me anything."

Eren bristled when he sensed that Ida's expectant gaze landed on him for his input as well. "My father told me nothing about Mikasa's family well…"

Ida pursed her lips in annoyance at how this was turning out and expelled a tired sigh. "Well… Elsie also added that it had been a long time since any Starke had awakened this power, so much so that it had become folklore among my family — apparently, only Jaron and I managed to do it."

As she said this, her eyes went wide when her mind replayed a memory of what Elsie Starke had said at the dungeons cells: "But since you have awakened, and I, a Titan… it might just be possible for me to show you."

Awakened… Titan…

"In order for me to truly tap into this power…" Ida drawled conclusively. "The Starke in question needs to be awakened and the other trigger is… a Titan Shifter…"

An upsurge of shock and understanding flickered in everyone's gaze. "That's it," declared Ida with a gasp. "I need to be in contact with a Titan Shifter — that's the trigger!"

Immediately, Ida proffered out her hand to the shocked teenager in front of her.

"What?" Eren edged away from her hand, confused.

"Take my hand, Eren," Ida stressed flatly. "We need to test this out."

Eren swallowed and looked to Hanji, but the brunette only nodded her head as his go-ahead. In trepidation, he slowly reached out and took Ida's hand. Everyone watched in bated breaths when Ida closed her eyes, waiting for something to happen.

Come on stupid Will of Odina…

Nothing.

Shit.

"Ida-san?" Eren mumbled when the grip on his hand got harder. "Did anything—"

In a sudden turn of events, Ida — who was growing increasingly annoyed at the lack of progress — stood up and forcibly pulled Eren towards her. He let out a yelp of shock as he stumbled out of the chair and their foreheads collided in a loud smack that reverberated through the office.

Thwack!

"OW!" Eren shouted and he gripped his forehead in agony. He stumbled to the floor on his knees. "That hurts!"

"Eren!" Mikasa screamed, already by his side. She snapped her incredulous eyes to Ida for an explanation, "Ida! What are you doing?!"

However, Ida was totally indifferent and her eyes hollowed as if her mind was in another place.

Fuck, that's no good either, she found herself thinking as she nervously bit on her thumb. Think, Ida, think… There has to be some way. You've got to do this.

"Ida, what are you doing?" Hanji asked, dragging her back to reality.

She grimaced darkly, sinking back down to her seat. "He's a Titan Shifter he'll live," Ida spat, bitter about the results. "Elsie showed me her memories by touching our foreheads together so... I thought maybe it's the same thing."

Mobilt chuckled nervously. "I don't think that's touching, Ida."

"Our forehead met, that's all that matters," Ida shrugged calmly, fabricating cluelessness. She was not at all bothered by the murderous death glare that Mikasa was sending her way. "In any case, nothing happened, so maybe we should look for our trigger elsewhere."

"That's unfortunate," Mobilt mused despondently, scribbling his notes about the experiment in his book.

Ida zeroed in on the assistant features, noting that he looked rather pale. "Hey, why are you sweating so much, Mobilt? You okay?"

Mobilt looked up from his book. "Huh?"

Hanji advanced towards him in concern, realizing that Ida had pointed out was true. She touched his forehead with the back of her hand. "Mobilt!" she shouted in horror. "You're burning up!"

"Oh, it's just a slight cold," Mobilt clarified patiently with an assuring smile. "Nothing to worry about."

"What do you mean it's nothing to worry about!" Hanji hollered back defiantly. She snatched the book out of his hand. "If you're unwell you should rest! Go to the infirmary!"

The assistant immediately started to protest, "B — But who is going to assist you—"

"I can handle myself just fine!" Hanji interrupted him sternly with a disapproving frown. She smacked the notebook on his head, earning an 'ouch' from him. "I'll get help elsewhere if need be, but you should go to the infirmary if you're sick! What are you thinking!"

Mobilt looked shocked and his expression said it all: who on earth in the Survey Corps would willingly volunteer to assist Hanji Zoe during one of her experiments?

Ida smiled softly at the pair, she truly admired Mobilt for his loyalty towards his Squad Leader. "Go Mobilt, I'll handle her," she offered kindly, gesturing him away with her hand. "You should rest. Come back when you feel better."

Instead of accepting her offer, Mobilt gazed at her suspiciously, unwilling to move. Past events told him that Ida had a very, very short temper and little patience for Hanji — he wanted to be here if anything happened. However, with the way Hanji was frowning disapprovingly, he supposed there was no way he could protest.

He sighed in resignation. "...Okay, I'll go to the infirmary."

The assistant looked warily at Ida one last time before he slowly made his way to the door.

Hanji's expression contorted when he left and she shook her head, "Honestly… that man pushes himself too hard."

Ida scoffed sarcastically. "Why do you think he does that?" she voiced in her customary bitterness. "If you would like to ease his troubles perhaps you should lay low on your crazy fanatical outbursts, mm?"

Hanji regarded her with a small sheepish smile and then turned to Eren, who had gotten back up on his chair with the help from Mikasa. "Eren, that'll be all for today. I'll call you if we need anything else!"

"Okay…" Eren pouted, still rubbing on his forehead.

Ida was about to say something when she sneezed, earning a concerned gasp from Hanji. "Don't tell me you're sick as well?!"

"No," she denied, rubbing the tip of her nose. "You're the one who kicked over your charcoal brazier and broke it! It's in the middle of winter, it's no wonder that Mobilt got sick!"

"But you're the one who burned my beloved Sawney and Bean!" Hanji retorted back hotly. "Oh, my poor babies! That's all I had left of them!"

Ida looked affronted. "Hold it in, shitty glasses. I won't have you going psychotic when Mobilt isn't around."

At her remark, Hanji pouted awfully, her shoulder slumping down. "Fine... I'll find another one to replace it later," she sighed. "It's pretty cold, huh?"

Ida only settled on glaring at her, because to her, the answer was glaringly obvious. Then she broke the glare and exhaled, getting off her seat.

"Whatever, let's just continue working." She walked over to Eren and poked his forehead, earning her another yelp from the boy. "And you. Don't slack off on your cleaning duties while I'm gone. There's no one to save you from the midget while I'm busy."

"Yes," Eren said with a pout, looking dejected. "I understand."

Damn it. He had thought that with his direct superiors busy with their work, he could find some time to relax.

o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o

A sharp knock on his door brought him to alertness.

"Enter."

Eren Yeager popped his head into the room, nervously eyeing at his Captain behind the desk who was reading a report.

Signature scowl, low deadpanned voice, gray eyes clear but narrowed — Eren let out the breath he was holding upon concluding his analysis, the tension easing off him when he discovered that Levi was in his usual mood. He didn't want to walk around thin ice and God knows what Levi had installed for him when he was in a particularly foul mood.

He entered the room and closed the door behind him. In the midst of the stillness of the immaculate office, Eren lingered at the center of the office fretfully, wondering why he was summoned.

"Well?" he heard Levi's low deadpan voice.

"Yes, sir?" His posture went rigid. "Uh, Jean said you were looking for me?"

Levi looked up from his report, shooting a glare through him. "I thought you went to see Hanji to help out with her experiments?"

"Yes I did, sir."

The Captain's eyes narrowed and he prompted, "And?"

Eren inwardly flinched at the steel underlying his insistent tone. Crap. He didn't know why Levi was suddenly looking for him.

"...I don't quite understand…" he admitted. "Is there something else I should say?"

"I told you to give me a report after you visited that four-eyes office," Levi remarked flatly, crossing his arms on his chest. He leaned back in his chair, oozing authoritarianism and condescension. "Or did you forget?"

Panic skidded through his body. This was the first time he had heard of this!

"No!" he lied hastily. "Hanji-san had a theory that Ida-san power could be activated by touching another Titan Shifter as a trigger, but it didn't work! They also called in Mikasa to ask about the Ackermans and we discovered that—"

"Not that." Levi interrupted icily, his gaze firmly fixed on him. His voice contained suppressed irritation. "I'll get a report from Hanji about that, I don't need a damned brat like you to repeat it to me."

Eren eyed him cautiously, afraid of where he was taking this conversation to. Frankly, it was somewhat unnerving how he still couldn't read his Captain's train of thoughts even till now. If that wasn't what Levi was asking about, then could it possibly be? Eren was growing nervous as he watched his superior's expression darkening with every passing second — oh shit, he was getting irritated.

The only time Levi ever got this irritated was whenever somebody does something stupid or did a subpar cleaning job or when Ida—

Oh.

A candle had illumined in his head and he slowly pieced together the pieces.

"Uh…" he began wearily, praying that he was right. "Are you... asking about Ida-san, sir?"

He instantly scowled at the mention of that name and Eren bristled at his adverse reaction. Where was Mikasa when he needed her?! He watched Levi scoffed indignantly. Then, after taking a deep inhalation, Levi's voice grew inflexible.

"Who the hell said I was asking about that shitty brat?"

He blanched at his statement. "Oh!" Eren squeaked, flustered that he got it wrong. He had been extra careful not to mention Ida around him and it was stupid of him to bring her up now. "Sorry, I just thought that—"

"So?" Levi interrupted him, firmly fixing his acidic glare at the Titan Shifter in front of him.

His tone told him that he was demanding a further explanation. Recognition flooded him and Eren would've laughed at the roundabout way Levi was asking about Ida if it weren't for the fact that he might not make it out of this office alive if he dared to do so.

Eren released a tired sigh. "She seems fine, she's hard at work with Hanji-san."

"Tch." Levi looked as if he was containing his anger. His finger tapped impatiently on the desk and Eren prayed that it was the answer he wanted to hear. "Is Hanji…"

"She's not mistreating her," Eren said with a nervous grin, but his smile evaporated when Levi stabbed him with another threatening glare as if to say it wasn't what he was asking for.

However, Eren knew better and he quickly decided that the best course of action was that he should just tell him everything. "I did hear that Hanji-san broke her charcoal brazier and Ida-san was complaining about it. Mobilt-san got sick as well, so Hanji-san was worried when she sneezed. She also uh... hurt her fifteen times to check if she was a Titan Shifter."

A bolt of irritation shot through Levi at his report and immediately his countenance darkened malevolently.

"Fucking shitty-glasses…" he grumbled through gritted teeth.

Levi knew that he should've protested more when Erwin gave Ida to Hanji to participate in her experiments. Ida would've probably died from anger after undergoing all the torment that Hanji would inevitably put her through.

"What you got something to say, Eren?" he snapped upon realizing that Eren was staring quizzically at him.

"N — No!" He denied, but Levi's insistent probing glare gave him no other choice but to fess up what was on his mind. "Uhm… if you're so worried, perhaps you should pay her visit…?"

As he had expected, Levi did not take his suggestion well.

"I'm busy," he remarked with a snort, showing just how laughable he found the idea. To add on to his act, he even took his quill and began scanning through the sheet of reports on his desk. "Additionally, I'm not worried — I'm pissed that shitty glasses think it's okay for her to mistreat my subordinates. It is my duty as a Captain to care for those underneath him. So wipe that ridiculous notion out of your mind."

"Yes sir..." came Eren's soft reply, but still even at his submission, Levi felt unsettled. It was glaringly obvious that Eren did not believe his explanation. His brows creased together as he observed the boy.

"You're dismissed, Eren," he ordered tonelessly.

Eren heaved a loud relieved sigh, glad that he got that over with. He could never understand the complex relationship between Levi and Ida. It was common knowledge that these two cared for each other. Was it so far-fetched to think that Levi was worried about Ida?

Admittedly, he could see why Levi would get so worked up. His first meeting with Hanji Zoe where she talked the entire night about Titans had left deep scars on his heart, and her obsessive compulsiveness behavior only meant that Hanji could be rather insensitive and unaware of those around her. This was especially true whenever Hanji fell into her 'maniacal state' as coined by Mobilt.

He was just about to pivot around and leave when Levi's voice stopped him.

"Wait."

Eren was positively stiff when he bit his lip nervously and turned halfway to face him, "Yes, sir?"

Levi's expression was as hard as stone when he used his quill and pointed to the corner of his room where his own charcoal brazier was. "It's too hot in here, throw that out for me."

Eren gaped at him. "H — Huh?"

What did he mean that it was too hot? It was in the middle of winter!

"Did I stutter, Eren?" Levi deadpanned. "Throw that damn shitty brazier out — or give it to someone who needs it, I don't care what you do with it. I don't want it in my office."

Did he mean… to give it to Ida? Eren thought, but he didn't say it out loud, knowing better than to call him out for his roundabout actions.

"Also, from what I recall the storage room has spare blankets there — I don't need them anymore, it's filthy. Throw it out as well," he ordered with a voice devoid of any emotions.

His haunting grey eyes went back to Eren to assess his level of intelligence.

"Clear?" he asked, his tone making it obvious of the answer he was expecting.

Eren swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded.

Levi seemed to approve of this act of acknowledgment. He jabbed his quill in his ink point and started furiously scribbling something on a piece of paper in front of him. He was silent for a moment before adding, "Get Jean to drop by town to get some more brooms, and while he is at it, buy back some pastries."

"Pastries, sir?" Eren echoed, absorbing everything slowly. "You mean like… sweets?"

"What, do I need your permission to eat some damn shitty pastries now?" Levi demanded with a steel-lined jaw. Eren looked as though he was going to defend himself, but he interrupted him before he could. "Tch. Just buy enough for the entire squad before any of you brats say I'm a stingy bastard."

Eren's lips twitched up into a smile when he realized what Levi was trying to do, he was right in this judgment after all. "Yes, sir! I'll make sure that some are delivered to her as well!"

"Who the fuck said it's for that brat?" Levi snarled derisively, anger predominant on his features.

Immediately, Eren's sense of relief dispelled. "I — I just assumed so, sir!"

"Tch." Levi scoffed, his lips upturned into a scowl. "And remember Eren, those sweets came from Erwin."

Eren was sweating, unable to keep up with his mood swings. "I understand."

A few beats of silence skipped by with Levi glaring at Eren with increasing intensity before he said, "I have a mission for you, Eren."

Mission? Eren's eyes lit up at the sound of it. Perhaps it was something important pertaining to the Titans?

"What is it about?"

"Report everything Hanji and Ida is doing to me," Levi ordered tonelessly, which caused Eren's jaw to unhinge as he gaped at his orders. He immediately took note of the boy's bewilderment and added, "And I mean everything, Eren. I'd like to add that if you deign to inform anyone of this arrangement, I'll personally find you and punish you for insubordination."

Eren could only blink in response. Lost in a stupor. "Huh?"

Levi raised a brow, daring him to challenge his threat. "You think I'm not aware of your loud-mouthed shitty tendencies?"

Eren felt compelled to launch into a protest — did Levi know what he was asking? He was practically asking him to spy on Hanji, and god knows what that lunatic would do to him when she finds him stalking around her! She might even mistake his sudden interest as being fascinated by her Titan research! Who knows what she would do to him then?! He certainly didn't want to go through another ten-hour rant! In addition, Ida would maim him if she found out!

But alas, Eren vetoed that idea of protesting as quickly as it materialized. The truth was that he feared the idea of upsetting his Captain more than sitting through another one of Hanji's maniacal breakdowns.

"Y — Yes, sir…" he meekly obliged.

Levi nodded approvingly at the boy's affirmation. "Good. You're dismissed."

Eren heaved a loud sigh the moment he left the office. What the hell was he going to do now?

Today was so not his day. First, he had to deal with Hanji summoning him and then he had to maneuver his way around his Captain's erratic behavior. Try as Levi might to hide it, Eren was greatly aware of his intentions; he was concerned about Ida.

He scratched his head worriedly. A massive headache erupted as he thought through the long list of orders he just received.

o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o

There had to be something wrong with him.

He stroked his horse in front of him, his bitterness clearly etched on his features. It had been three days since Ida had joined Hanji in her experiments and he had hardly even seen her emerge from her office. The times that she did, Ida was indifferent towards him. A picturesque calm.

He couldn't help but feel uneasy. Just weeks ago, Ida would've used every method — no matter how detestable and annoying it was — to get a chance to speak to him. And now, with her no longer around to irritate him, Levi was unnerved.

What the hell? He reined in that incredulous thought. Was he really asking to be bothered?

Levi was beyond the realm bitter, but more so over the damning fact that he could not bring himself to go over to Hanji's office to check up on her — his heart urged him to go, but his mind told him to distance himself.

"Captain, there you are!"

He turned around, crossing his arms when Eren came running to him in the stables. He saluted stiffly and began his daily report. "At one this afternoon, she left Hanji-san's office to go to the toilet! She had her lunch in her office before she continued skimming through her notes till half past four, and then she went to the archive rooms, and she's still there till now! Hanji-san wanted to prick her again to test if she was a Titan Shifter but Ida-san threatened to sock her! I've also delivered the pastries, sir!"

"Mhm." Levi nodded numbly, his expression unreadable and cold. "Did she say anything else?"

"She said that Commander Erwin was an 'old fart' but he could be surprisingly considerate!" Eren recounted, clearly proud of his flawless job. "I doubt she suspects a thing, sir!"

"Tch." Levi scoffed irately at his reminder, gritting his teeth.

This was seriously getting out of control, what the hell was he doing? Asking Eren to spy on her out of all things now. What a ridiculous irrational notion. Levi felt unbearably pathetic. Never in his life did he feel this way. He was greatly aware of the amount of respect and reverence the scouts had for him, and he was never one to do things secretly, and yet there he was spying on her out of all things.

Maybe he should ask for advice after all. But who could he go to? Erwin was out of the question, it'd be awkward for him seeing as Ida was his daughter. The lunatic Hanji was a definite no. He would've gone to Mike, but he's dead and his squad consisted of inexperienced teenagers. He supposed he could just interrogate a random male scout, but what could he possibly say?

'I fucked up greatly and I fucking regret it and now my shitty direct female subordinate wouldn't stop giving me the cold shoulder?' — he'll be a laughing stock of the Survey Corps without a doubt. In addition, Levi wanted to keep his personal affairs private. There were already enough rumors in the legion as it is.

Levi would honestly much rather fight Titans with toothpicks than to deal with this tiresome bullshit he had gotten himself into. It was aggravating and it eluded his comprehension. He just didn't know how to deal with it.

He just wasn't sure of what Ida thought about him now. She certainly treated him differently. She was formal, slightly vitriolic, and annoyingly distant. No doubt she was still spiteful.

How could he take his chances when he didn't even know if there were any more chances for him to take?

"Sir?" Eren's voice invaded his mind. "Can I go now?"

Levi glared at him, miffed at the miserable state he had fallen into. "Eren stop checking up on—"

"Come here, Heichou!"

Both men froze at the sudden intrusion of the familiar voice. Ida came strolling into the stables, all smiles and laughs as Heichou barked around her and followed her. Her smile immediately vanished when she spotted the two soldiers in the stables.

"I — Ida-san!" Eren squeaked nervously, praying she didn't suspect anything. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in the archives?"

For the past three days, Eren had managed to evade her suspicions. Ida was positively baffled that he was willing to even step in Hanji's office on his own accord, but he played it off as being curious about her powers. In fact, he was so successful in his endeavors that the fanatical Hanji had even left him alone when she caught him lingering around them. Truth to be told, Eren was convinced Hanji knew what he was up to from the way she stared at him with that sly smile, but he wasn't about to report that to his Captain. Some things were better left unsaid.

"I came here to take a break, I wanted to see Heichou," Ida answered naturally. She crossed her arms and stared at him through suspicious slits. "How did you know I was in the archives?"

He mentally slapped himself for his slip of the tongue. "I — I saw you heading that direction!"

Ida didn't look convinced but before she could get in a retort, Levi swooped in to save him. "Eren, what the hell are you waiting for? You're dismissed, go report back in."

"Yes, sir!" Eren saluted and immediately started on his escape.

"Wait."

He felt the hairs on his back stand at her wintry voice. Oh crap. Did she find out? Eren's hands felt clammy and he forced himself to look at her, praying that his expression did not betray him. "Yes...?"

"Thanks for the charcoal brazier and the blankets," Ida smiled, oblivious to the anxiousness brimming within him. "I haven't got the chance to thank you, that was considerate of you."

"No problem!" he grinned sheepishly, darting a surreptitious glance at the silent Captain behind him. He swallowed nervously and quickly trudged out of the stables. "I — I have to go clean now!"

Ida heaved a loud sigh when Eren left. The boy had always been too fidgety for his own good. Was she really that intimidating? But she guessed that Levi probably just reprimanded the boy, seeing how frightened he looked.

She slowly advanced towards Levi who was casually stroking his horse, his expression unreadable. Ida wondered what was the best course of action, maybe she should leave? But Levi didn't really seem to mind, he acted just as indifferent as ever.

Stupid perfect midget, she thought bitterly.

No matter, she was capable of holding a normal conversation between them, they were adults. Ida figured that she couldn't keep avoiding him forever seeing that they were required to work together — she needed to learn not to worry so excessively about being around him. Clearly, it affected only her and not him.

"How are you?" she heard him ask in a low empty voice that carried no emotions.

She was surprised he was the one who initiated the conversation, but she didn't let it show. "Fine. What are you doing here?"

His face upturned into his signature scowl. "Came to check on the damned horses."

"I see…" she hummed, crossing her arms.

A deafening silence fell between them, heavy with foreboding tension. Ida wondered why he was asking after her, was he concerned about her? Maybe she was reading too much into it again, she had the tendency to do that so it was plausible.

It's nothing more than a Captain checking up on his subordinates underneath him, she reminded herself, forcibly remembering Levi's lame way of drawing lines by sending her notes.

Steeling herself, Ida concluded her next best strategic move was to embark on a casual conversation with him. "How's work?"

"Like shit," he replied, his expression cold. "I've paperwork up to my fucking ears."

"Tell me about it," she agreed sympathetically, bitterly remembering the pile of research notes that she had submerged herself in the past few days. "It seems that whatever I do, I can't seem to trigger my powers."

"You shouldn't push yourself too hard," Levi told her sternly. "I heard shitty-glasses injured you trying to transform you into a Titan Shifter."

She released a disgruntled scoff, holding up her bandaged finger for him to see. "That fucking lunatic kept pricking me even after I told her that I was definitely only a human," Ida complained. She frowned when she realized something was off. "Wait... How did you know about that?"

"Eren told me," Levi informed her brusquely. "That shitty brat can't keep his mouth shut."

It was a lie, Levi had to ask Eren for the information, but he decided that Ida didn't need to know that. It was much more convenient to shove the blame onto the Titan Shifter, especially when he had the reputation of gossiping.

Ida grimaced, her mind going back to how Eren had spread around the legion that Levi and she were lovers. She remembered thinking how silly the absurd rumor was. Relationships weren't exactly forbidden in the Survey Corps, but the general consensus believed that it is foolish to engage in a serious relationship due to the rate of death associated with their job, so back then she couldn't fathom how any scout would seriously believe they were together.

The irony of it all, Ida thought dourly.

"Yeah," she agreed. "Eren was always spreading stupid rumors about us back then."

He scoffed indignantly. "Funny how everyone has so much time to think about shit like that."

She felt like she was shot in the chest at his comment, wondering if he was subtly implying that she too, had too much free time on her hand to be thinking about love. Not too long ago, she had confessed and begged him to stay beside her, only to be shot down mercilessly.

Levi had left her on the Walls as she begged him to stay; he neglected their history and ultimately, abandoned their future. How stupid she was, Ida had concluded in hindsight. Weeks had passed since then, and the aftermath of her foolishness was no longer a hot, searing pain; it was a throbbing ache, a perpetual sore, and a sharp twinge.

His stark absence had created such an impact that his presence never challenged.

Deciding that giving no response was the better tactic, Ida nervously tucked her bangs behind her ears and shifted away from him. Holding a normal conversation with him was much harder than she had anticipated.

"Did you get my message from Connie?" Levi prompted when the silence threatened to slip back in again.

"Yeah," she replied uneasily. "Thanks."

"What are you doing this winter solstice?"

Her eyes blossomed at his sudden question and a wave of anxiety overcame her. Ida didn't know why he was asking something like that and she couldn't help but feel wary. "Why?"

"Just asking," Levi answered curtly.

"...I don't have any plans," she admitted, holding onto her arm. "I was thinking of asking Erwin out, maybe even bringing the brats out to celebrate… But..."

Levi stopped stroking his horse and he turned to stare at her. Ida thought her heart had stopped when she met his cold eyes. Why was Levi asking her something like this? Did he perhaps want her to go somewhere else? Knowing him, he would've stayed in the headquarters during the break. Maybe he wanted her to leave so they wouldn't be alone together?

Perhaps he was attempting to draw lines again.

She felt a sharp pinch in her heart as she thought through all the possibilities.

He bridged the gap between them, his expression completely stoic and cold. Ida started panicking and just when he was about to talk, she hastily distracted herself. "Heichou come here!"

She edged away from him when the brown dog came up to her. She squatted down and patted his head, forcibly smiling at how adorable he was. An awkward tension had settled between them and Ida felt suffocated.

Realizing that Levi was still staring intently at her, she tried to distract herself from the heat of his staunch stare. "...Do you want to touch him, Levi?"

"I honestly don't see how someone could be taken by a stupid dog," he commented impertinently, his eyebrows creasing together as he assessed the dog cleanliness level. "Did you even bathe him? He looks filthy."

"He's a really clean dog," she stated, her nervous grin still in full display. "He's named after the famous clean freak after all. How could he possibly be dirty?"

"Idiot," Levi scoffed at her remark, offense reverberating in his next statement. "Only a stinking brat like you would name a damned dog after your superior. You clearly have no respect for authority."

As soon as the statement poured from his lips, Levi regretted it. The light in Ida's eyes darkened. Shit. He regretfully watched as Ida's vibrancy evaporated as soon as he mentioned that he was her superior.

"Yeah, it was silly of me to forget that you're a heartless man," Ida retorted back, bitterness morphing on her face. Her perfectly structured jaw tightened before resentfully adding, "You're right, I should rename him, such a cute dog surely shouldn't be named after Humanity strongest, sir."

Upon earning the word 'sir', Levi immediately knew that he had said something wrong. Damn it. He had learned quickly that Ida would revert back to her cold indifference whenever she called him formally instead of using his name.

"I didn't mean that," Levi relented in a monotone, his lips thinning as he appraised her with cautious eyes.

Unfortunately, Ida did not reply to him nor did she look at him. Great, she was indeed mad.

She does look rather adorable when she's angry, Levi found himself thinking, smirking at the sight. Reaching down, he stroked the dog on its head. Heichou's tail wagged even faster.

"He likes you!" Ida declared with wide eyes, her smile genuine. She laughed softly when a memory came into her mind. "Never thought he'll take a fancy for you, he used to hate you when he was a puppy."

He regarded her with unreadable eyes. Ida was beautiful when she smiled; she looked so much more alive. Levi felt as though he would have battled a thousand Titans if only to witness her genuine smile — he wanted her to smile forever.

Her laughter died down when she noticed that Levi was once again staring at her attentively. Her heart started to beat at a relentless pace. Slowly, she stood up, but his eyes trailed her movements even then.

Biting her lower lip, she hastily looked away and tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. "Why are you—whoa!"

It all happened in an infimenstial moment. Heichou barked and playfully climbed up her figure — something that the mischievous dog was prone to doing. Only this time, Ida was caught off guard. Heichou had grown relatively big now, and when he was on his hindlegs, he reached her stomach. The sudden weight threw her off her footing.

"Shit!" Levi reached out and grabbed her before she could fall, one hand holding on her wrist and pulling her upright while the other garlanded around her waist.

"Thanks—"

She stopped and her breath stalled in her chest when she realized how close she was to him and the position they were in. The world froze around them.

Levi held her eyes in silence and Ida felt her heart skip a beat. Try as she might, she couldn't take her eyes off him. There was no seduction radiating from him, no sexual innuendos, and no blatant anger that had her feeling powerless all the time. It was just him — just Levi and the way he stared at her that captivated her, holding her prisoner under his staunch stare.

Silence presided over them. It was so quiet that Ida could hear her own heartbeat thumping in her ears frantically. She couldn't make out what he was thinking, his face appeared as neutral as it always did and she desperately wished that he would show her something else; a sign to let her know she wasn't the only one feeling butterflies in her stomach.

Ida should've said, "What do you think you're doing?", pushed him away, and proceeded to remind him that the position they were in was inappropriate for a Captain-subordinate relationship they were in, but alas, at this point, her voice somehow became lodged in her throat. She had traded logical reasoning for insanity.

She felt her entire body nearly boil over when suddenly Levi tugged her closer to him, pressing her body into his and making her feel every hard inch of his impressive physique. The movement was so sensual that Ida could feel the fibers of her body come alive, leaving her much weaker in his hold then she'd like to be. Her traitorous hands trembled as she battled the urge to run her fingertips over every muscle on his body.

His touch thundered with need and Ida felt unbearably hot.

Levi gazed at her lips as though he had never seen anything more fascinating and Ida found herself sharing in this fascination while she stared back at his lips. Slowly, he bent forward, his lips an inch away from hers and her heart thundered with a furious need while his heat continued to shroud over her. Ida knew what he was doing, he was waiting for her to make the first move, to break the barrier that they'd placed between them.

It was wrong. It was so wrong, but Ida didn't care.

He was too mesmerizing and she couldn't find the strength to deny him. She couldn't even think, much less form coherent words. He was perfect to her, in every shape and form, and despite all the layers of spiteful hatred and fury, Ida wanted nothing more than to be held by him. She loved him, much more than she wanted to.

But there were so many things they had to consider; the war foreboding the background, the stars of the nights that foretold their tragedy, the cruel reality of the world they lived in that did everything to separate them.

But if it were Levi against the cruel world, then she'd choose him. Because to Ida, the world could never measure up to him.

She wanted him, more than anything else in the world.

And she was fairly certain that he wanted her too. This was his moment of vulnerability, and as wrong as it was, Ida wanted to take advantage of it.

One small little kiss wouldn't hurt, she reasoned internally. Just one more last time—

Something hot trickled from her nose, stealing her attention. Ida instinctively touched it, ready to wipe it away so that she could continue with her traitorous deluded and irrational thoughts.

Horror invaded her when Ida realized that there was blood on her fingers. Her eyes nearly bulged out of her sockets.

"My nose is bleeding!" she cried after she grazed her finger underneath her nose. "What the fuck?!"

Ida gaped at him with elevated terror — she had heard joking tales from women about getting nosebleeds when a hot guy turned them on, but never in her wildest dreams did she expected that she would actually experience something like this!

Levi stared at her in incredulous disbelief before scoffing. He released his hold on her and grumbled irritably underneath his breath, stuffing his hand in his pocket for his handkerchief.

Fucking shitty timing, he cursed inwardly. Disappointment marred his handsome face.

"Idiot," he grumbled with a dark scowl, pinching her nose with the handkerchief. "What kind of a loser gets a nosebleed at a shitty time like this?"

She gawked at him in astonishment when something unsettling occurred to her — they nearly crossed the line again and Levi wasn't angry? Was he wavering again? This hot and cold treatment from him should've infuriated her. Yet for some reason, it did not. Perhaps it would hit her later.

An amused smirk graced his lips, "What were you thinking for you to get a nosebleed, brat?"

Her cheeks turned a dozen shades of scarlet from his subtle tease, she knew what he was implying.

"Shut up!" Ida shouted instinctively through the handkerchief, utterly outraged. "I was overworking myself! I pulled an all-nighter yesterday! I — I was just tired, hence the nosebleed!"

Her immaturity and being caught at thinking something inappropriate got the best of her, so much so that she went crazy with her next words. "You think it's funny to tease me, don't you?! Sorry to say, sir, you might be humanity's strongest but you're lacking skills in 'that' department, I didn't even enjoy myself one bit back then!"

It was a big fat lie, but Ida couldn't have him thinking otherwise. Levi was just good at everything he did, some people were just that blessed — and he was especially good as a lover.

She snatched the handkerchief from his hand and glared at him as she held the piece of fabric to her bleeding nose. He scoffed as if it was the most absurd thing he ever heard.

"Tch. Really?" Levi raised a challenging brow. "From what I recalled you were—"

The bloodied handkerchief flew to his face before he could say anything more and Ida struggled to retain her breathing, debating if she should sock him in the face. Her face was nearly as red as her hair.

"Go to hell!" she snarled, baring her teeth at him. "You — You stupid clean-freak jackass! I hate you! I hope you burn in the depths of hell!"

Ida didn't care if her area above her lip was bloodied and she looked like a hot mess, she was beyond mortified at the situation. Pinching her nose, she threw one last glare at him with fire in her green eyes and bolted out of the stables before he could say anything else.

Levi scoffed irately after Ida's grand escape. He rubbed his temples, feeling an impending headache ensue. He felt something moving beside him and he snapped his heated glare to Heichou who was looking at him. The dog moved towards him, nudging its furry head on his hand as if it was consolidating him.

Somehow, Levi felt like that dog was mocking him as if it was saying: 'I gave you the chance and you still didn't succeed? How pathetic, Levi.'

"Your owner is a shitty brat, you know that?" he growled grouchily to the dog. "Does she drive you insane as well?"

Heichou only wagged his tail harder as his response, causing Levi to grit his teeth inexplicable frustration.

"Stupid dog," he cursed, storming out of the stables.

o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o

Armin Arlert was indulging in some light reading at one of the spare rooms in the headquarters, engrossed in a book that he had gotten from the archives. Now that the Military was in control of the Walls, the Survey Corps had taken the confiscated banned books that the Military Police Brigade had obtained throughout the years.

The land of ice, the salt-water lake that spread covered the world... Armin had almost forgotten about his dreams of a child. So much had happened since the fall of Wall Maria, but now that way things are looking, he couldn't help but feel hopeful.

Perhaps, just perhaps, the dreams of seeing the world outside was not just merely a pipe dream after all.

He picked up his drink beside him and he was just about to sip it when the door to the room opened with a loud slam. It took nearly all his self-control to not spill his drink all over himself.

"I — Ida-san?!" Armin stood up. He gasped when he saw the blood that was dripping down her nose like a broken tap. "What happened to your nose—"

"Don't ask," she murmured bitingly, her voice congested as she was still pinching on her nose. Ida gazed at him with hope. "I don't want to go to the infirmary, so can you please fetch me some towels, Armin? If you're not too busy that is."

"Sure!" he agreed urgently, running out of the room to gather some towels for her.

When he came back to the room, Ida was seated on the chair, two fingers still pinching on her nose in an attempt to stop the blood flow. He handed the towels to her and she quickly wiped up the blood.

"Uhm, you should tilt your head up and pinch it," he suggested softly. "It'll help the nosebleed stop quicker."

"Yeah?" Ida complied with his suggestion. "How did you know that?"

"I often get nosebleeds when I was younger," Armin smiled. There was a hint of memory dancing in his soft tone. "The kids in my hometown would always bully me so I was a frequent visitor to Dr. Yeager's clinic. He would always patch me up. Once a kid punched me and my nose wouldn't stop bleeding, and Dr. Yeager told me to do that."

She turned her gaze to him, swift and emanating with resigned sympathy. She listened to Armin's recount of his childhood with tightness in her chest. "Is that how you got to know Eren and Mikasa?"

He nodded his head. "Yeah…"

"That's nice," she murmured distractedly. "I really envy how you three stick together throughout everything."

"You sure you don't want to go to the infirmary?" Armin proposed, concern inhibiting his blue orbs. He had always seen Ida as a strong person, she must be really sick for her to have a nosebleed. "It could be serious—"

"No, I don't want to create a fuss," Ida mumbled. "It's just… from overworking that's all… I pulled a few all-nighters..."

That and because it's all Levi's fault, Ida thought sourly.

She was certain Levi was going to hold this against her for life. Gods, just thinking about the embarrassing incident made her want to hide under her blankets. While Ida admitted Levi was undoubtedly a very attractive man, who would have thought that she was capable of having nosebleeds?!

Friggin' Titans, she cursed internally. She wanted to strangle herself in disbelief.

"I see, well you shouldn't push yourself too hard," Armin told her kindly, assisting her with another towel to mop up the blood that kept trickling down her nose. "Even Captain Levi is worried about you, you should take a break."

"Worried?" Ida parroted, her eyes widened in incredulity. She couldn't swallow that bullshit statement. "You must be joking with me, Armin."

Ida could barely contain her irate scoff. Levi had cruelly left her broken and half-dead. He had walked out on her in such a way that ravaged the fibers of her being. Even if he knew just how important he was to her, Levi left her still. He left her to die even when he knew the extent of her fragility. Filled with spite, Ida concluded that 'worried' was the last thing to describe Levi's feelings towards her.

Now that she was far away from the magic of his being, Ida had regained her rationality. Levi was nothing more than a proverbial ghost to her now, and she would be damned if he allowed him to affect her again.

"You don't know?" Armin answered distractedly, folding the bloodied towel. "He got Eren to move his own charcoal brazier to Hanji-san's office along with some blankets... he was afraid that you'd catch a cold like Mobilt-san, and he even sent Jean out to purchase sweets for you."

Shock of the greatest kind paralyzed her and Ida's mind sped up to digest the startling revelations. Why hadn't she noticed this before? How could she be so blind? Why would Erwin suddenly send her sweets? And Eren suddenly hovering around her and Hanji? If Ida had to guess now, she would've surmised that he was sent by Levi to spy on her.

But the real question was why?

"Eh? You didn't know?" Armin quipped with wide eyes, absorbing her shock stature.

"No…" Ida murmured, her brows clashing together. "...Why would he do that?"

"Because he cares for you," Armin told her honestly after a hesitant pause. When Ida narrowed her eyes suspiciously in his direction, he shrugged. "It's pretty obvious if you ask me."

The Ida of yesterday would've retorted that Armin was wrong, that despite it all, nothing could've ever toppled Levi's love of his humanity and his duty. That he was a man of professionalism, and that he was the strongest, so irrecoverably perfect that he would never even fall or stray from his path. She would have argued with passion that Levi did not care about her and that if he did, he wouldn't have forsaken her so easily.

But all the logical arguments died in the back of her throat, never to form coherent sentences. Because at the moment, Ida just didn't know what to believe anymore. Suddenly, she realized something disturbingly paramount, even his behavior back at the stables was unlike him.

And now, all she could comprehend was a rising anger in her chest that needed to be quenched.

Truthfully, it was strange, Ida had thought she would've been happy to hear that he still cared for her. Instead, she was left with a plethora of frustration. Aggravated that she couldn't decipher Levi's thoughts. Livid that despite Levi dumping her in such a way, he was still acting like an altruistic white-knight hero that still cared for her.

And most of all, incensed that his contradicting actions and mixed signals made her feel less of herself.

The paranoid thoughts started to dance in her mind: Why was he doing this? Because it was fun? Because perhaps she was convenient for him? Above all, did he even love her?

It finally hit her now, the searing anger that she should've felt back the stables. Levi Ackerman was messing with her mind and Ida decided that she wasn't going to settle for it. Not ever. She was sick and tired of being the second option.

"Ida?" Armin quipped when he grew disturbed at her silence. "You okay?"

She released the pinch that was holding onto her nose and cleaned off the remaining blood with the towel that Armin proffered towards her. "Yes, don't worry about me. I'm okay."

Though her face shimmered with cheerfulness, her eyes told the truth. Armin could see right through them. He could see the pain and desperation within them. But he knew better now. He knew better to probe.

He kept his lips shut when Ida mumbled a small 'thanks' and left the room.

Oh no, Armin thought nervously. Maybe he shouldn't have told her after all.

o o o —xπ{Ö}πx — o o o

He sat in a separate chair by the wall, far away from the meeting table where the rest of the Squad Leaders were in fervent discussion with their Commander. Levi knew that he should've paid more attention to the ongoing meeting, but he found himself inherently distracted.

Gauging from Ida's reaction back at the stables hours ago, perhaps he should take the chance indeed. It did look like she still loved him. Right, maybe being direct was a good thing. But Levi wasn't particularly good with words when it came to things like this, and he didn't know how to start the conversation.

A steel edge lined his immaculate jaw. Fuck, what had he gotten himself into? Why did he have to push her away that far in the first place? She was always there beside him, all he had to do was reach out and hold her.

The initial thoughts of regret started to sprout and his rational counterpart hammered them down. Because the ugly truth was, Levi didn't know if it was indeed the right choice to bring her back to his side, even if his desire to do so was urging him on.

Frustrated with himself, Levi forcibly tried to dissipate any remaining acrimonious thoughts and re-prioritized. He would jolly well work himself to death if only it'll keep him from brooding over this relentless influx of emotions.

"We'll need more steel for the development of Thunder Spears," Dirk pointed out, flipping through a report that Hanji Zoe had written. She was excused from the current meeting seeing as she had other matters with the engineering team. "The problem is, the merchants monopolizing the trade and factories point-blank refused to sell it to us, and even if they did, the prices that they are asking for are tremendous."

"Those rich bastards." Klaus cursed. "The Walls are under the control of the Military now, it's stupid of them to not want to form a relationship with the Survey Corps."

"It's to be accounted for; with the sudden change in government they are wary." Erwin smoothed over the conversation composedly. "If we could so easily remove the nobility who had been in power since the beginning of the Walls — if we could strip their wealth and titles from them, who's to say that we won't come after them next?"

Marlene pursued her rosebud lip and pointed out, "Still, the general populace is with us."

"Many merchants within the Walls have deep roots and ties to the nobility," Erwin stressed, hoping to get his point across. "It's not something that we can change in a month."

"Tch. The only thing those pigs care about is whether you're a blue-blooded bastard or not," Levi remarked sharply, a grimace flashing on his hard visage. "Strip away their titles and wealth and you strip away their fucking pride."

"Maybe if we get Queen Historia to speak to them?" Marlene suggested.

"No, we can't bother the Queen with such trivialities." Erwin rejected the idea, his eyebrows creasing as he contemplated the situation. "The Survey Corps cannot be seen as so incompetent to need the help of the royal crown so soon. It'll spark unnecessary rumors."

"What about Ida Starke then?" Dirk offered, crossing his arms as he slouched deeper in his chair. "She's part of the nobility, isn't she?"

Ida was a good candidate indeed, a noble and a prized member of the Survey Corps — the merchants would definitely be more inclined to negotiate with her.

"That won't do, she's needed with her experiments with Hanji." Erwin rebuffed the proposition. Ida need not admit it, but he understood she hated her noble title more than anything. The last thing he wanted was to force her to exploit it. This was the least he could do for her.

A silent sigh rattled in his chest before Erwin decided on the next best solution. "This is a delicate matter, and for that, we need to send a representative to negotiate — not just any random soldier with orders, but a revered and respected figure so they wouldn't feel slighted."

He turned to the silent Captain seated away from the meeting table. "Levi, will you go?"

"Tch. If it's a damn order, just say so." Levi growled, crossing his arms. He locked his bored-like gaze with him without hesitation. "Why are you asking me, Erwin?"

"I'm aware of your distaste for the merchants and nobility," Erwin answered calmly. Frankly, he didn't know if the Captain would agree. "It'll take a few days."

Levi exercised his jaw as he thought it through. In all honesty, he would hate to be involved in a stupid matter like this, but then again, Ida might be called up to the task if he rejected it. "Fine," he agreed in a deadpan. "I'll leave tomorrow and deal with those damned pigs."

Erwin nodded stiffly when a silent understanding overcame him. He returned his gaze to the rest of the Squad Leaders. "Now that's settled, about the new influx of scouts, we have to plan the division of them into respective squads—"

He stopped himself midway of narrating the next set of agenda of the meeting when the door slammed open. Suddenly, everyone turned their stunned gazes to the woman standing by the door, emanating an aura of blatant hostility.

"Ida?" Erwin called urgently, bewildered at her appearance. "What happened?"

He stood up and was about to ask her what she was doing here, but Ida did not even spare him a single glance. Instead, she narrowed her hard green eyes straight at her desired victim for her wrathful fury.

"Excuse me," she drawled sweetly with a strained smile as she advanced towards her target. "I just need to grab someone real quick, don't mind me."

Usually, Ida would've thought twice about interrupting a meeting. While she was known to be rather impertinent, she was not such a fool to not know it was outright rude to do so. But at this moment, Ida didn't care. She couldn't sit around any longer waiting for the meeting to end. Her irate personality had gotten the better of her.

She grabbed onto Levi's hand. "Come with me."

"What are you doing?" Levi hissed irately, resisting her pull to drag him out of the room. He stubbornly tugged his hand back, but Ida just wouldn't let go. "This is a fucking meeting—"

"I said; come with me you damn bastard," Ida demanded ferociously, shooting him a glare that was as sharp as icicles on a cold winter day. "I mean it."

Levi was having none of it — while he was appalled at her sudden behavior, he wasn't about to let her interrupt a meeting. His voice, like the dominance of his strength, was a force to be reckoned with. "Get out—"

"We need to talk, Levi Ackerman." Ida interrupted him again, not faltering one bit. She tried to pull him off the chair, but he was simply too strong. She hissed irritably through a row of gritted teeth at his non-compliance. "Now."

In a bolt of uncontrollable anger, he stood up from his chair and faced her head-on. He matched her glare with a formidable one of his own. "Get the fuck out of the room before I fucking throw you out—"

"Levi," Erwin interjected with a harsh voice. The pair turned to look at him but he only cleared his throat and gestured with his head to the door. "You can go, you're dismissed."

The expression of Erwin's countenance spoke volumes about his disapproval. The message was clear: don't start an argument about your private affairs in front of the soldiers.

"Tch." Levi seethed in silence, shooting a final glare at his Commander.

The curious stares from the other Squad Leaders rested squarely on him and he cursed a string of expletives underneath his breath. Grabbing onto Ida's wrist, he unceremoniously dragged her out of the meeting room.

A tensed silence played after the door of the meeting room slammed shut. The Squad Leaders blinked in unison, throwing vigilant glances at each other for answers, but the general consensus was that none of them knew what was happening.

Dirk was the first to break the silence. "What's up with that?"

"Lover's spat?" Klaus offered.

A loud forced cough grabbed the Squad Leaders' attention back to their Commander. Erwin released a long breath and settled back to his seat. Frowning, he momentarily thought back to Dot Pixis' words, wondering if the perspective man had miscalculated.

Because from the way things were looking, it wasn't before long that a cosmic explosion would erupt between the two elite soldiers.

Erwin had thought it wiser to let them settle it on their own, not wanting to pry and make the situation awkward, but now that he thought about it, perhaps he should step in.

Outside the meeting room, Levi dragged Ida to a scheduled hallway before he pushed her to the wall. Ida did not even permit a gasp to escape from her lips when her back hit the wall. Levi closed the distance between them and placed his hand on the wall beside her. Meanwhile, Ida only glared at him impertinently, and he could sense her suppressed anger.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Levi snapped sharply, snarling. "Barging into a damn meeting like a spoiled brat! I knew you were irrational and rash, but that was a fucking low move, even from you, Starke."

He was beyond aggravated. What was she doing? What Ida had just done would only cause more rumors between them, which will inevitably result in questions from their comrades — questions that Levi had no inclination in answering because he didn't know the answer either.

Ida's eyes glinted like green glass and she firmly reiterated her previous point. "We need to talk."

He glared at her speculatively, wanting to launch into an indignant berating session over decorum in the military, but suddenly the events at the stables returned to the forefront of his mind. His anger cooled significantly.

Of course, Ida would want answers after that stunt he pulled.

Levi wouldn't deny that he was at fault, he couldn't suppress it again. This insuppressible desire that had plagued him ever since he discovered he loved her.

Maybe the chance to properly have a conversation about their relationship was finally here. His beating heart was telling him to take it while his rational mind screamed for him to run.

"Fine." He conceded. Levi figured that it would be a good time to inform her that he would be away from the headquarters and to remind her of her duties to the squad as well. "Before that, there's also something I need to inform you, I'd be—"

"Shut up and listen," she cut through him. With the utmost velocity, Ida voiced the one question she knew would give her all the answers she needed. "What am I to you?"

The question came out of nowhere. Alarmed though he was, Levi held his gaze with her, giving no physical indication of his surprise. Unfortunately, everything about what she'd said was a danger sign that sent Levi back into the clutches of his denial.

He didn't want to talk about it.

Or more like, he didn't know how he should go about talking about it.

He needed more time to think. Because the ugly truth was, Levi needed more time to cement that this was the right thing to do.

"You interrupted a fucking meeting and demanded that your superior officer follow you to ask something like this?" Levi snapped irately, not hiding his anger. "What kind of an idiot are you? Do you have no fucking respect for—"

"I heard what you asked Eren to do," Ida interjected coldly. "Spying on me? Sending me sweets on behalf of Erwin? The charcoal brazier? That entire act back at the stables? What are you trying to do exactly, sir?"

Levi was at a loss for words. Thunderstruck, he held her gaze with rising incredulity. It took a few seconds for him to digest, and then it all came back to him — how he pushed her away, how he wanted her back, this constant wavering that so infuriated him would have certainly infuriated Ida as well. A heated, acidic hatred for himself passed through Levi. Yet again, he did not let it show.

While Ida remained a picturesque of calm, Levi was screaming inside with agony. He gave no indication of his emotional state — a tumultuous one — as he growled, "It's not what you think."

"You're confusing me," Ida admitted with a tone that was a combination of spite and coldness. "Saying things like you can offer me nothing, leaving me, but then leading me on and doing all these things."

"Interesting that you would say that," Levi growled, his voice carrying hostility. "I could say the damn same for you. You didn't throw away that shitty bracelet did you?"

He thought there was a flash of confusion in her eyes before it settled. Ida glared at him, obviously incensed at his sidestepping. "Yes, but maybe I should," she retorted edgily. "But at least I don't lead you on to think otherwise, nor do I give you false hope. What exactly do you want from me, Levi?"

"I've no interest in your shitty rambling," Levi stated coldly, his temper getting the best of him. "There is nothing wrong, Ida Starke. You're only vocalizing your own your shitty wishes—"

"Oh really?" One brow jagged high in a challenge as Ida scoffed and averted her gaze away. She looked back at him after a brief silence and smirked. "Fine, if you say you don't care, then stop doing all of this. Let me be. No regrets, isn't it? Isn't that your mantra, Ackerman?"

The sarcastic glint in her voice should've irritated him, but Levi had found that he was more irritated by her words more than anything — that she should've known that regardless of whether or not he returned her affections, he would always care for her. That he would always protect her, and that he would always be beside her.

Because the truth was Levi did care for her, more than he wanted to. He had admitted he loved her and the care and concern only came naturally.

But what Levi failed to see was that Ida didn't know that he loved her.

A strained silence emerged between them, building the tension by the layers. Just as Levi had parted his lips to speak, the sound of foreign voices invaded the vicinity. Immediately, he stepped back and retracted his arms back to his side that was keeping Ida a prisoner.

Jean along with a couple of new recruits came from the other end of the hallway, engrossed in a boisterous conversation. With a loud exhale, Levi appraised her with a menacing glower, but Ida was an equally formidable opponent, and she would not back down.

"Idiot," Levi grumbled, breathing out heavily. This wasn't the time to be arguing with her. Now that he thought about it, leaving the headquarters was a good thing. It gave him time to think. "We'll talk about this later, you should go."

Ida scoffed incredulously at his orders and she shoved him away with a firm push to his chest. "Sure, I'll get out of your sight."

She darted a glimpse at Jean and her eyes glinted like green glass, deadly and sharp. Turning back to face Levi, her lips curled into a smirk that spelled nothing but trouble. Levi would never admit it, but it made him feel uneasy.

"Good day, Captain," she drawled sardonically with a lackadaisical wave and turned her heel, advancing towards Jean. Levi stared at her attitude in perplexity, wondering what she was doing.

The group of recruits with Jean at the center stopped when they were physically blocked by Ida.

"Jean," Ida called, her countenance apathetic.

The ashen-haired male blinked at her sudden appearance. "Yes? What do you need—"

He cut himself off when Ida advanced towards him and garlanded her arms around his neck. Before the fibers of his body could even stiffen in shock, Ida pulled the taller male down to her level and tip-toed, planting a chaste kiss on his cheek before releasing him. The young recruits around him gasped resoundingly in unison, gawking at the scene in complete utter disbelief.

"I — I — I — Ida?! What on—"

Jean was floored and he stumbled backward. If it wasn't for his friends holding onto him, he was sure he would have fallen to the ground in complete shock. He was baffled beyond words, more so at the startling fact that his Captain was standing just a couple of feet behind her, looking equally as incredulous at what she had just done.

While the boys around her gaped in flabbergast, Ida simply turned around with a brilliant triumphant smile on her lips and lifted her hand, immaturely flipping off her thunderstruck Captain.

Levi could have reacted before Ida kissed him. He could've used his years of training, experience, and speed to pull her away before she could. He could've used his years of discipline. But Levi didn't, the shock rendered him handicapped. It disarmed even his Ackerman genes.

The sudden jealousy and blatant anger, combined with the disbelief dulled his mind. Levi blinked and thought he had seen red — Ida knew exactly how to antagonize him, and he should've known better than to react to it. But try as Levi might, he could not. His anger would come like an impossible build up steam, burning him on the way out, and ultimately burning the one on the receiving end.

That was the breaking point of Levi's patience. At that moment, he was blinded by a five-course serving of rage that tasted bitter, yet surprisingly satisfying. With impetuousness, he moved without thinking, ignoring his shrieking conscience, the pull to remain apathetic and unbothered. The last time Ida saw him like this, he was tearing down at the Female Titan, but even as he was advancing towards her, she felt no fear, only gratifying satisfaction.

This was her payback.

Levi grabbed Ida and dragged her away from the recruits. She didn't resist and this usually would have incurred his suspicion, but he was too blinded, too furious to even think straight.

He pushed her into his office and slammed the door shut with so much ferocity, the door shook as a show of his strength.

"Levi—"

Ida tried to talk, but Levi had already closed the gap between them. He grabbed her and pulled her close. His hands moved to cup her cheek. It was all impulse, rash and stupid, a combination of spite and insuppressible desire that had been brimming within him. His lips crashed against hers.

It was a punishing plundering kiss, driven by nothing but passion, need and anger, not love. It was a desire to possess, a desire so strong that even Levi felt his self-control slipping. He wanted to erase that kiss, he wanted so, so desperately to remove any traces of any other man on her because he wanted no one else but him to have her.

The kiss was meant to insult, meant to devour her hungrily and plunder her senses, rendering her vulnerable. But Ida was anything but vulnerable as she was back at the stables. Her mind was resoundingly clear, not muddled like Levi's was, and for the first time, she knew she had the upper hand in their relationship.

It was an opportunity she would not let slip.

She broke the kiss and pushed him to the back of the door before she planted her lips back with his. Equally as punishing, as hungry and passionately. Her lips parted and she took selfishly from him with the intent to control. Ida Starke had effectively shifted positions with him — and this time, she was the one in charge.

He kissed her back, his hands busy unbuttoning her winter Survey Corps uniform trench coat. He was drunk with the taste of her — blinded by how fervently he wanted to possess her. It was a strange resolution to their argument indeed, but he had to admit that ever since she'd returned, it had taken quite a bit of self-control and considerable bouts of anger to prevent himself from jumping on her.

But before he could continue Ida bit down hard on his lower lip and he pulled away from the sharp pain, breaking the kiss. Her hands gripped his cravat and she pulled him towards her, smirking. "Not so fun to have someone messing with your mind now, is it, Levi?"

There was no heat in her voice as if her heart beat steadily, even though Ida took a different view on her outward appearance. Her cheeks were undeniably flushed.

He was mystified with her reaction and positively thrown off guard when her smirk grew. "I might be devoted to you, but I'm not a fool nor am I someone you can conveniently swat away and demand that I come back like an obedient dog. You think too little of me, sir. I won't stay around forever, and I'll be damned if I let someone treat me like I'm merely a convenience."

She flipped his cravat and the fabric slapped his face as Levi gaped at her. He felt something odd in her, but it was dull in comparison to the anger and disbelief that were still painfully fresh.

Before he could even think it through, rage whipped through Levi like a tornado. He grabbed her shoulder and pushed her to the wall. "Do you think that I want fucking to do that? Do you think for a moment that you're just someone convenient for me? That I for one fucking enjoy this bullshit we've gotten ourselves into?"

"Bullshit?" she parroted, incensed. "Yes, Levi — all this is bullshit. You're bullshit, and until you fucking make up your mind, I do not want to talk to you, much less see you."

She tried to shove him off, but Levi wasn't about to let her leave. "Stop fucking agitating me on purpose, kissing Jean—"

"Because I wanted to, because I was spiteful, because you needed a taste of your own damned medicine," she interrupted him frostily. "I took my chances with you Levi, and can you say the same for yourself? You have no right to dictate what I can do."

His grip on her shoulder tightened and he looked like he was about to angrily retort something when a knock on the door came. "Captain, Commander Erwin called for you."

"Perfect timing," Ida scoffed sarcastically and shoved him off her. They glared at each other, both seething in a blind rage before she broke it with a sharp tilt to her head. "In the end, Levi…. we only regret the chances we didn't take."

And just like that, Ida swung open the door before he could even stop her, she knew that Levi wouldn't try anything with another presence around them.

The scout by the door was frazzled at her disheveled appearance and the blatant anger radiating off her. "S — Starke!"

He saluted her and Ida didn't spare a glance at him, her hands quickly buttoning back her jacket and fixing her hair before she hurried her way out of the door.

A vicious hurricane of anger and disbelief ripped through Levi at what had just happened between them. He ran his fingers through his hair, hissing to himself in frustration. Shit. He had lost control of himself again.

"Sir?" The scout by the door dragged him out of his incensed thoughts. A shudder passed through him when he saw Levi's intimidating glare. "Uh… Your lip…"

He wiped his lip instinctively, only to see that it was bleeding. "Tch. A fucking dog bit me."

Lev pushed past the scout by the door without another word, storming his way to find Erwin.

He was a fucking fool, indeed. How could he not see this earlier? Levi should've known from the start. In the end, we only regret the chances we didn't take, the relationship we were afraid to have, and the decisions that we waited too long to make. It was unlike him to behave like this — unlike him to be this afraid. In a sense, Ida was the more insightful one in this regard. Levi had made a vow to live with no regrets and he would be damned to go against it. If there was even a slight chance of finding happiness in his short miserable life, he would risk everything for it.

Ida was worth every fucking risk.

Taking chances? Levi Ackerman would take a thousand chances and risk everything he had labored so hard to build. He would risk it all. Whatever chaos she might bring, whatever hell that awaits them, whatever challenge the merciless cruel world would throw at them.

Because a life without her was hell on earth.

Because he desperately wanted to possess her.

Because she was the source of his power, his peace in his chaotic world, and the strength that he needed to continue fighting.

And also because she was worth it, every stubborn, fucking maddening inch of it.

---

Well, Ida finally got her revenge! It's not like she's one to stay knocked down anyway! How the tables have turned! This was a fun chapter to write, I hope you enjoyed it and it's not boring T_T

I'm actually thinking of cutting up my chapters into two parts. I understand many of you read on the go, so I thought maybe a shorter chapter would be able to retain my reader's attention better. This means that I can post more frequently of course since I don't have to draft out the full chapter before posting.

Which would you guys prefer? Please let me know! (I understand that some of you are silent readers, so I made a poll on my profile too if you have the time to vote!) Thank you!

As always, do fav/follow if you liked it! And leave a review! I love to hear your thoughts and it really motivates me to continue! I hope everyone is safe!