"Hope you don't mind Erwin," Levi leaned forward, his elbows resting on his thighs. "But since your arm was eaten and you're physically and emotionally exhausted, I also went ahead and made more decisions."

"What decisions?" Erwin hesitantly asked. You took that as your cue, giving Erwin the copy of the Bertholdt report.

And when your eyes glossed over the succeeding page, they only got wider the moment you saw the memo because what the fuck is Levi thinking?

Memorandum SC-850-0012

Effective immediately. Irrevocable until disbanded.

Captain Levi Ackerman, additional member:

Eren Jaeger

Krista Lenz

Phoebe Johnson

From the first whiff of damp, earthy air inside the cabin, you knew you're going to love it here.

You tailed Eren on the line. The young man was thinner than you last saw him. Gaunty and pale, the young man unenthusiastically carried two waists of firewood, flinging them with such carelessness only to carefully arrange them once they hit the ground.

Then there was Historia who went straight to the kitchen, not caring to utter a single pleasantry. There wasn't that gleam of cheeriness on the blonde goddess's eyes. If anything, they were dreary. As if life was sucked out of them and the cheerful, altruistic Krista never existed. Maybe even the future queen of the walls didn't know where Ymir was, showing her dark, lonely self.

But Eld, or rather, the old members of Levi squad, were as energetic as the hot sunny day outside.

"Man, I miss eating meat." Olou whined while putting down a box of something unknown.

"I ate some a couple of times last night." Eld nonchalantly responded.

There was a pause, then a heap of laughter and teasing noises around the men ensued, apart from Eren.

"What can I say? Perks of getting married." Eld shrugged cockily.

"Perks of getting married… What, having the same steak and bacon every dinner? HA! I like mine whatever's in season Eld! Variety's more fun!" You heard someone say, but it didn't capture your attention to look up and care.

"I bet he knows this— hey kid," Oluo said after choking on water, tossing the bloated waterskin

to Gunther. "What do tofu and your hand have in common?"

"Huh?" Eren turned around to face the source of the question. The kid looked out of it. For the first time, you pitied Eren. He looked frail and underfed underneath his loose, old shirt. His paleness didn't give the impression that he was naturally fair. Rather, he turned grey, unhealthy and dead due to the loss of blood.

No wonder he wasn't responsive. The kid was at his limits.

"I said, what do tofu and your hand have in common?" Oluo asked again in his forced, throaty voice.

"I…" Eren struggled to think. He looked uninterested not because he was, but because you could tell that the boy had a lot on his mind while being exhausted at the same time. "I-I don't know."

"Well that's easy," Olou responded cockily, unaware of Eren's disposition. "They're meat substitutes."

"You'll know that every Sunday night don't you, Oluo?" Eld said, chuckling. Gunther clicked his tongue in the background.

"Yeah, well, he thinks a blanket will cover the pumping." Gunther interjected.

"Well, better than your blanket not moving at all—"

"Gunther you small motherfuck!"

You found your place in the corners and edges of the cabin, placing torches and lamps everywhere where there were handles and hooks. You worked in silence, having a feeling that the group where Petra belongs isn't exactly the most accommodating to a gray background. Couple that with an untrustworthy face and suspicious alibi and you've quite earned the spot at the loner's table. Not to mention that you and Petra didn't exactly end on a good note.

"The captain will surely get furious if we don't unpack fast." Announced the girl you were just thinking about. She heaved a bucket half-filled with water; on the other hand, a dusting cloth. You could feel her stare at your back the moment you turned away, and you were more than willing to set some distance in between.

The coup. That's what you should be thinking right now.

Say the coup takes place and Historia gets the crown, what are the chances that you could extract power from the blue cave? It could be a potential— no, a certain future power source for Paradis. Maybe you won't need to wait until they get to Marley.

Maybe you could go home earlier than expected.

That… didn't excite you at all.

"Phoebe," Eren quietly called, his eyes urged to look at the door's direction, and the room fell quiet compared to your noisy, raging thoughts.

Levi swept his fingers under the wooden table and silently judged your cleaning incompetencies by swiping his dusty fingertips against the surface. Levi was in his casual clothes, but the man was in full gear. He moved with the sound of metallic collision that even dumping his knapsack in a random chair had to be noisy.

The man packed his stuff… meaning, it's time.

"You should have had plenty of time." He directed the comment to no one in particular. He fished his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his grayed fingertips.

"Never mind that, we'll pick up your cleaning habits some other time." Levi closed the wooden door behind him, and walked to lean his form on the sturdy divider with his arms crossed.

Historia appeared where everyone was, momentarily stealing attention from the captain. Levi regarded everyone with a calm, almost bored expression.

"Right now, we need to get organised and plan our next move."

"Is there further instruction from the commander, sir?" Petra asked.

"Yeah," Levi tossed a folded piece of paper on the table. "Hange's note. The 4 squads guarding the colossal and the ugly one were killed." Everyone was surprised.

"Did they take them, sir? Bert and Ymir?" Eren anxiously asked. "How many died this time?"

"No." Levi replied to Eren, "Well, 2 squads from the MPs, 2 from us. Miche's squad's transferring our titans to another location right now."

"How did they know where Bertholdt and the Ymir kid were?" Eld said in a curious scowl, passing the note to his immediate left which was Eren.

"Unless it was an inside job…" someone muttered loud enough, and their necks automatically twisted to your direction.

"I was with someone when that happened." You said, defending yourself.

"No one said about the time, Phoebe." Gunther replied. "Because come to think of it, you're always encountering the intelligent abnormals— in fact, you're the first tried to tip us when someone appeared the first time—"

"She was with me," Levi cut Gunther off. It earned the captain silence along with their surprised faces, one which Petra looked somewhat uncomfortable to know. Levi noticed this, prompting him to continue talking even when no one asked him to explain.

"And Hange, Erwin, Pyxis and that monk boy from Ragako were with us."

"Oh."

"But why couldn't Hange come instead? They could clarify things in person." Petra reasoned. You glanced at Levi. He clicked his tongue, his eyes wandered with subtle worry.

"Hange…" Levi trailed off, tapping the edge of the table. "Hange's gonna meet us at the rendezvous point." Levi glanced at you and continued talking with much more authority than when he trailed off. That look definitely said your talk wasn't over. What more does he want? You've practically told everything that will happen in the coup.

"Anyway, those dumb enough to believe that note, pack your bags and come with me. We were never here." Levi said as he burned the note.

And all of you dispersed. All of you except the part where Levi pulled the back of your collar, refraining you from dispersing away.

"I know you already packed days ago." Levi said, watching you as you coughed.

"The fuck— of all the places to touch me, you chose to choke—"

"Monarchy my ass— they're taking the damned titans the soldiers fought with their lives to capture," Levi said, unearthing your knapsack with one abrupt pull. How did he even know it's there?

"Bert and Ymir shouldn't be here in the first place. They should've escaped, remember?" You said gruffly while arranging the collar of your shirt.

"Of course, I remember except the fact that you need to make yourself useful so keeping you around doesn't feel like a waste of time so tell me something else— and you sure you're gonna take all that?" Levi asked as he looked momentarily entranced at the bulk of your knapsack (like he enjoyed your suffering like the sadist that he is) before the trance was popped and he was back again with a disapproving scowl.

"That looks heavy."

"Well, I can't have anyone dying on me. You need me to be useful, right?"

He cringed watching you struggle to put the other sling on your shoulder.

"When I said pack I didn't mean the whole city…"

"Well, it's too late to leave anything, sir."

"Not that you ever intended. What even is in there?"

"I don't know— a lot of useful shit, mind your own business." Your hiss sounded harsh in the ears.

"Your protection is my business."

You had to bite the inside of your cheeks. His audacity to spew cheesy lines out of the blue... with a straight face nonetheless...

"B-But all I'm getting from this sir is: if it isn't Historia and Eren they wanted, then there could be someone else who knows about the walls' secrets, otherwise, they won't try to take them."

"You mean Braun and that Zeke?" He asked quizzically as he pocketed his hands. His eyes frequently glanced at your camel hump of a backpack.

"Could be, but…" they're not supposed to be here until reclaiming wall Maria…

"But? They still could come anytime." Levi asked, hanging on your every word.

"Maybe whoever this is, they're not trying to take Bert and Ymir. Maybe they're trying to divert our attention to something else. I'm not sure. Or maybe they think the kids will speak or be a leverage for the outside world. Can't be though. Those kids won't tell them shit."

"Well, they are child soldiers…" Levi sighed and clicked his tongue. " Still soldiers. "

"Sir," Eld and the rest of the squad appeared in their full gear, poncho, knapsack and all. "We're good to go."

Levi gave you a hard stare, something that said the conversation was far from over. He eventually led the group to the hill, mere minutes before the Military Police arrived.

"What could've happened to us… if we had stayed one more night there?" Gunther tightened his grip on his rifle, "And to think I lowered my guard down for half a day thinking we're going to be okay, at least for a couple of days…"

"Captain, are those… MPs?" It was Petra's turn to ask. You've reached the rendezvous point that Hange wrote in their note. At a far off distance were the Military Police's faint torches, encircling the former hideout like fireflies without the occasional blinking of their butts.

"Beats me." Levi flatly responded, paying his last, passive glance at the people that just drove you out. When the captain sat, it was you cue to let your shoulders rest, putting down the knapsack that took too much effort as much as flinging it on your back.

The buzzing of mosquitoes and frequent slapping sounds were more than enough to keep everyone preoccupied.

"Levi," Hange unceremoniously appeared from the bushes, with them was your former squad members… not that you were close.

"What did you get? Any word from Erwin?" Levi stood, meeting Hange's uneasy strides.

"Nothing, not that there's something new. It's not clear who's after us or the titans, but I have a theory."

And everyone took their own spaces to listen under the bright moonlight. When Hange was done, your grenades were too.

"I think we should prioritize Bertholdt and Ymir's safety first. Eren and Historia are safer to use at this point. The other two can betray us. Whoever's killing the MPs and Survey soldiers are acting recklessly. They don't care about being discreet anymore. Maybe they're sending a message."

"Or a distraction," Levi replied. "24 soldiers killed, 14 were from the Survey's remaining veterans. Our best ones. They're killed for a show."

"I've heard about a rumor before…" Nifa raised her hand to speak, making everyone look at her. "The Military Police has a secret squad mobilized only for a particular order. I think they're called Interior Police."

"I heard about them too." Hange agreed, "They keep people from researching or inventing anything that has to do with the outside. They usually move in the shadows so no one takes accountability for any of their handiwork. They're probably the people who killed Historia's mother too—"

"Captain Hange!"

"Ah Moblit— sorry Historia, that was insensitive of me." Hange let out an awkward giggle while scratching the back of their head. Hange regained the serious air as quick as they let out their childish expression. "They're not crossed off my list of suspects. You think they killed off our men?"

"Killed off their own men, takes no accountability but not skilled enough to kill intelligent titans." Levi sipped from his waterskin while stealing a glance at your handicraft. "They fit the modus."

"So what do we do now, Levi?" After you paid attention with momentary glances, you dropped everything you've been doing to watch your former captain bare their anxieties up front.

You watched them fidget in their seat and pick the hard corners of their fingers as Levi waited patiently for your former captain to come up with an answer. But their expression was too honest; it almost didn't need any word: Hange was uncomfortable being in charge.

Levi had to own the silence, seeing Hange was waiting for a direction— or at least an ultimatum to filter down the choices they wove in their head.

"Anyway, the way I see it, there are 2 paths we can go down: we go outside before we're stabbed in the back, or we exterminate our would be killers first." There were gasps from every member.

"So choose Hange." Levi's voice seemed louder at the silence of the night, which only made Hange's shoulder grow tense. "You're the commander-in-charge at the moment—"

"I know that, stop reminding me!"

"Then what?"

"Both of them," Hange said, after seconds of pause, they answered. "We'll do both at the same time." Hange's voice was surer— firmer, the more they spoke. "Miche's squad's in charge of watching over the shifters, my squad will gather intel about Historia's father, and Levi's squad will be our defense. Keep Eren and Historia safe."

"Huh," Levi clicked his tongue, a faint smirk lingered in his lips. "That's exactly what Erwin would say."