In the first week of May, Commander Shadis called Erwin into his office and briefed him on a plan to conduct a reconnaissance expedition out of Shiganshina in eight days. Erwin hadn't had a full night's sleep in three weeks, and every word out of Shadis's mouth sounded like it came from underwater, and even though Erwin nodded along automatically as his commander explained the mission details, he was already calculating how many Scouts were going to die.

When Shadis had finished, Erwin stared down at the marked map spread across the desk. He was so tired, and arguing wasn't going to do any good, but of course he was going to argue anyway.

"Sir, we've never traveled that far out before."

"I'm aware," Shadis snapped. His eyes were just as bloodshot as Erwin's were.

Ten miles outside the walls—without the formation. Based on those factors alone, at least half of them wouldn't make it back.

"The territory outside Shiganshina is unusually crowded with Titans," Erwin continued. "It's been that way for months."

Atypical Titan congestion. That would bump the casualties up to at least 70%.

"That's why we're going," Shadis said coldly. "We need to find out why."

And on top of everything, Shadis was still their commander. Shadis would be out there, giving orders that were just half a minute too slow, making decisions that were just a degree or two off from what they should be. It wasn't that Shadis was stupid. He wasn't a bad person—or even a bad leader.

He just wasn't good enough.

75%, Erwin decided. Maybe higher.

"We could use the formation, sir," he began, but Shadis cut him off immediately.

"Out of the question."

"Sir, last fall you said it was brilliant. You said that we couldn't use it because we needed to survive near the walls before we could push out farther. Now you want to push out farther, and you still don't want to implement it." Erwin spoke flatly, already knowing he had no chance of persuading his commander. He had known for months why Shadis didn't use the formation. It wasn't that he didn't want to—it was that he couldn't. The long-range formation only worked with a commander who knew how to use it, someone who could split his brain into a hundred parts, imagine a thousand different scenarios, and make decisions in the half second before the Titans did.

But Shadis was stubborn. He wanted to prove he could do it his own way.

Erwin already knew he couldn't.

"It's not happening," Shadis growled. "And this is starting to sound like insubordination."

"Apologies, sir," Erwin said quietly, surprised at his own numbness. "How many soldiers are you planning to take?"

"A hundred. Give or take a few. I haven't picked every squad yet."

As Erwin stared down at the map, something sparked inside his weary, sleep-deprived brain. A thought occurred to him.

"Permission to make a request, sir?" Erwin asked.

"Yes, of course," Shadis muttered without looking Erwin in the eye.

"Don't take Levi's squad, sir."

Shadis's eyes narrowed. "That's a strange request from someone who already seems to think this expedition is going to end in failure. You can't possibly think we'll be better off without him?"

We need him alive. I need him alive.

"I'm uneasy about his habitual insubordination, sir," Erwin said. "This is a complex operation, and I'm concerned that he'll endanger the mission by ignoring direct orders."

"I don't think that—"

"Please," Erwin interrupted. "If you've ever valued my advice on anything, please. Do this one thing for me."

Shadis stared at Erwin as if trying to see into his mind, as if he wanted to take Erwin's brain apart and put it back together to find out how it worked.

Then he nodded.

Erwin ate in the mess hall late that night, but only because Tegan Lewis had spotted him walking across the grounds, taken one look at his face, and threatened to force feed him if he didn't go to dinner. Almost everyone had left already, and Erwin had absolutely no appetite, but he forced himself to take bite after bite as he stared at the wall.

"Can I sit here?"

He looked up to see Levi, who had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Erwin motioned listlessly at the seat across from him, and Levi slid into it.

"What are you doing here?" Erwin asked, noting the empty table in front of Levi.

"Hange said you looked like shit, and Lewis said you'd be here—well, actually, she said you'd better be here, or she'd do a lot of things to you that I won't repeat."

"I look like shit," Erwin mused, lifting a spoonful of soup and watching it fall back into the bowl. "Nice of Hange to say."

"I didn't need her to tell me. You've been a walking zombie for weeks."

Ever since Premier Zachary had denied the motion to dissolve the Survey Corps, Shadis had re-doubled his attempts to prove that the regiment was worthwhile. He was sending out small scouting bands more frequently than ever before. Once every few days, there was a new operation to manage, and almost all of that responsibility had fallen on Erwin. On top of that, he was still writing plans and running the daily training regimen.

"It's been a time," Erwin said.

"Are you avoiding me? I haven't seen you since the hearing."

It wasn't quite true, but Erwin knew what Levi meant. In the months-long haze of meetings, training drills, traveling to and from the walls with various small scouting groups, he had interacted with Levi only in passing—hurried good mornings in the hallway, barked orders in the field, small nods of recognition across the briefing room.

"Like I said, it's been a time," Erwin said. "You and your squad have been doing well, though."

Leaning back, Levi let out a small, frustrated grunt. "Yeah—on stupid, shitty missions that don't matter."

Despite himself, Erwin cracked a small smile. "You disagree with Commander Shadis's current strategy?"

"Obviously," Levi grumbled. "And you can tell him I said that."

"Well, if you're so eager to go on a real expedition, then—" But Erwin stopped himself. For a moment, he stared at Levi's face.

"What?"

"Levi," Erwin said, his voice suddenly low and serious. "Shadis is sending out an expedition in eight days. A real one. Out of Shiganshina."

"Finally."

"No," Erwin said. "You're not going."

"What?" Levi's mouth fell open. "The bastard isn't even takingme?"

"I asked him not to."

"Why the hell—"

"It's going to be a disaster," Erwin interrupted. "We're going ten miles out without using the formation. The casualty rate will be astronomical."

"Then send me," Levi insisted. "It'll be worse without me. You know it will."

"I do," Erwin said quietly. "I know. But you could also end up as one of the casualties."

"I'm not going to die," Levi scoffed, but Erwin held up a hand to stop him.

"Please, Levi," he said. "Just…don't argue. Do what you're told. At least this once."

For a long moment, Levi held Erwin's gaze—then, finally, he looked down.

"Okay," he said. "Are you going?"

"Yes."

"How do you know you'll make it back?"

Erwin shrugged. "I don't."

"He's a menace," Levi spat.

"He's just a man," Erwin said.

Eight days later, a force of just over one hundred Scouts set out from the gates of Shiganshina. Levi's squad had traveled to the district as well but would remain in the city in case the expedition needed backup. This was mostly a formality. The Scouts would be so far away from the walls that nobody in Shiganshina could possibly see a flare.

In the coming years, whenever Erwin tried to think back on the forty-eight hours of the expedition just before Wall Maria fell, he found that the more he tried to remember, the less he could piece together. For the most part, he remembered fleeting images—but he couldn't put them in order, couldn't even be sure that his memories were real and not just pictures invented by his own fevered brain.

He remembered the first Titans they encountered. He remembered that they had only made it about four miles out, that there had been absolutely no warning (if we only had spotters on the outside, if we were only using the flares), and that the crowd of Titans plowed through their ranks as if they were crashing through an ocean.

He remembered the Titan that severed Tegan Lewis's head from her body. He remembered the pitch of her scream, the crack of teeth breaking through skin and bone and arteries.

He remembered sending Abel Nayeri's squad into a forest crawling with Titans, knowing that they would never return, but knowing there was a chance (30%, maybe 40% if they were lucky) that they would cause enough of a distraction for the rest of the force to escape just a little bit farther north.

He remembered Moses Braun disappearing into the mouth of a Titan, one bitten arm dropping from the Titan's jaws. He remembered the splat sound the arm made when it splashed into a puddle. Erwin picked it up. There was no one else around to do it.

He remembered the slimy mud coating his cracked skin as he and a few others stretched out flat in the reeds next to a algae-green lake, waiting for a group of Titans to pass, hoping the scent of rotting vegetation would disguise the smell of human prey. He remembered the shrieks as the Titans found them anyway, the iron smell of blood and the sickly crack of bone as Erwin killed Titan after Titan—but not quickly enough to save the others.

He remembered a freezing downpour that soaked his cloak and clothes, that pooled inside his boots, that cascaded down the rocks and rushed over the field of human arms and legs, heads and torsos, water mingling with blood until the muddy earth was flooded with rivers of red.

He remembered one boy who called for his mother just before he died. The kid couldn't have been older than fourteen. The scream was halfway out of his mouth when the Titan crushed his head like a berry.

The taste, the smell, the clammy sensation of terror in the air—all these things he remembered, but never in his life would he manage to remember exactly how the survivors had made it home. Whenever he played the images back, whenever he tried to imagine it, he remembered that kid's face splintering between the Titan's teeth, and then the sight of Wall Maria in the distance—with nothing at all in between.

The next thing he remembered clearly was plodding back through the gates. There were twenty of them. Out of over a hundred Scouts, only twenty had returned alive. As they trudged along the street, eyes fixed on the ground, Erwin happened to look up and make eye contact with a young boy. The boy's face was so hopeful.

Erwin turned away.

An old woman pushed out of the crowd, calling her son's name over and over.

Moses. Moses. My son, Moses, I can't find him…

As if from somewhere far away, Erwin watched as Shadis handed her a severed arm wrapped in a green cloak. He watched as the woman begged Shadis to tell her that her son had died for a reason. He watched as the threads holding Shadis together finally snapped, as he screamed in front of the whole world that he was a failure, that Moses had died for nothing, that the Scout Regiment was exactly as useless and destructive as their opponents had always claimed.

As the twenty survivors stumbled through the inner gate of the city with a haunted look in their eyes, flanked by Levi's reserve squad, Erwin already knew that Shadis would never again give another order as commander of the Survey Corps. He knew even before Shadis approached him an hour later, pulling him aside to walk a few steps away from the rest of the group.

His commander's eyes were downcast, defeated.

"Erwin. I want you to take my command." Shadis said, handing Erwin a sealed document. "Effective immediately."

Erwin turned to look at his commander's face, then nodded.

"It won't be official until the Regiment Council votes to confirm you," Shadis continued, his voice thin and quavering. "But they will."

Erwin didn't trust himself to speak.

"I know what my opinion is worth now." Shadis drew in a ragged, shaking breath. "But you deserve this command more than anyone ever has."

"Thank you," Erwin said. Shadis turned to walk ahead, leaving Erwin behind, gripping the commission in both his hands. Then Shadis stopped—and spun back around.

"Erwin."

Erwin looked Shadis in the eye but didn't speak.

"Forgive me," his former commander said.

There was a long pause.

"I do," Erwin said quietly.

And suddenly, Hange was there, shoving Scouts aside until she barreled straight into Erwin, nearly knocking him over.

"Hange, what—"

"They're in," she panted, grabbing Erwin by the shoulders, and the raw fear in her voice froze all the blood in Erwin's body. "Word just got to us—they broke the gate—they're in the city—we have to go back, Erwin, they're here, they're inside, they're here—"

As soon as they had reached the heart of Shiganshina, Erwin dismounted. He was shouting orders before his feet had even hit the dirt, yelling through the running crowd of panicked citizens.

"Hange!"

"Sir!"

"Get me Levi. Now."

"Yes, sir!" She bolted toward the rear of their formation, but Erwin grabbed her arm.

"Wait. After you send him here, take ten Scouts to the western side of the gates. Form a quadrant from the wall to the southernmost point below the gate—about a quarter mile out, where the forest begins. I'll fill the quadrant on the other side. Fire a flare for each Titan you see heading toward the gates—red for regular, black for Abnormal. Kill Titans when you have a good shot, but don't take stupid risks. You decide when to engage—nobody moves a muscle unless you order them to."

"Sir, I don't have the authority to—"

"Congratulations on the promotion. Now go! And tell Levi to bring his squad!"

She scampered off. In the distance, something made a crashing sound, and Erwin looked up to see a Titan several streets away, lumbering into the heart of the city. Erwin spun slowly and spotted more and more Titan heads, jutting out above uneven rooftops, reaching down to grab tiny human bodies that Erwin could barely see.

He could hear the screaming though.

"Erwin—"

"Commander," Erwin corrected sharply, whirling to face a stunned Bradley Zion. "Bring the other ten Scouts—everyone Hange doesn't take—and come back here."

"Sir!" Bradley followed Hange, nearly slamming into Levi as he came barreling up to Erwin.

"Dover's bringing the others," Levi said, skidding to a halt beside Erwin. He looked out at the infested city, eyes widening in horror.

"You're going to guard the gate," Erwin interrupted. "You and your squad."

"But—"

"No. Don't argue. You asked where I'd put you and this is where I'm putting you. We'll thin the crowd before it gets to you, but there will still be too many to kill all of them. Don't try. Take out enough of them to give the Garrison a chance."

Hange reappeared, pushing past Erwin and Levi, her makeshift squad following behind. She gave Erwin a thumbs up and a grim smile as she passed by before riding off toward the gates. Erwin turned back to Levi.

"Count the flares. Red for regular, black for Abnormal. You'll know what's coming. Go!"

Levi nodded, then disappeared, already yelling something about Dover and "the rest of you brats."

Waiting for Bradley to return with the others, Erwin plucked a soldier in a Garrison uniform out of the rushing crowd.

"Who's in charge of the Garrison here?" he asked.

"Officer Mora," the soldier replied. "But…"

"What are your orders?"

The soldier froze. "She's dead. A Titan..."

Erwin cursed silently. "What's your name?"

"Hugo."

"You're in charge now, Hugo. Gather whoever you can find, and—"

"Hold on, who are you to—"

"Commander Erwin Smith of the Survey Corps, and you're going to do what I say right the hell now. Get whoever you can find, man the cannons at the inner gate, and fire at will."

"Sir, the accuracy of those cannons is—"

"Don't give me excuses. If you don't keep them out of the gate, Wall Maria falls. Pick someone trustworthy, send them with a contingent to help load the ferries. The mission's over when everyone's out of the city."

Or dead, Erwin thought.

"What are you waiting for? Go!"

Hugo saluted, then fled, disappearing into the crowd. Erwin stared up into the sky, the waves of terrified, screaming citizens parting around him as if he were a rock breaking the current. He pictured the formation: himself to the east of the gate, Hange to the west, Levi directly south. Two layers of defense, and even then, some Titans would still slip through.

The mission is over when everyone's out of the city, he repeated to himself. Not when every Titan is dead.

Bradley appeared at Erwin's right hand, nine other soldiers riding up behind him. Up ahead, Levi's squad had already set off at a breakneck pace toward the outer gate.

"We're behind! Go!" Erwin shouted. In one smooth motion, he mounted his horse and spurred it into a gallop. The others followed behind, Bradley racing alongside him.

"Getting back out of the gate will be the worst part," Erwin told Bradley, eyes fixed on the street ahead. "Avoid, don't engage unless you have to. The conditions inside the gate will be godawful for ODM gear. Once we're out, we turn east, form a quadrant. We kill what Titans we can, we fire flares to alert Levi of the rest. Pass it back."

Bradley fell back, passing the orders along to the rest of the Scouts. Erwin rounded the corner and caught his first sight of the gate ahead. He drew in a sharp, involuntary breath.

The Titans were shoving through the gate, practically piling on top of one another, clogging the hole in their eagerness to reach their prey. Erwin pulled on his reins a little, slowing his horse's gallop. It was hopeless. Even if they had their full force, they would still never manage to keep even half the Titans out of the city.

Fight until everyone's out. Don't think about anything else.

Up ahead, Levi and his squad were approaching the gate. Levi shouted something that Erwin couldn't hear, and their formation broke apart, each Scout heading for a separate gap—some slipping between Titan legs, some sliding beneath the arms of crawling Titans, some even grappling up and over Titan shoulders while their horses galloped beneath. Within a few seconds, the entire squad had disappeared into the fray.

Had Hange's squad made it out through this glut of Titan bodies? Erwin scanned the ground for human remains. There was a spatter of blood to the left, a severed leg to the right—but otherwise, the street leading up to the gate was clean. At least some of them must have made it.

But there was no more time to think about it. Erwin and the others were already breaking formation to avoid the reach of Titan hands, swerving in serpentine patterns around the plodding of Titan feet. The clotted gate was a second or two away.

"Find a gap and go!" Erwin yelled, his order nearly swallowed in the pounding of hooves. He aimed for an empty space between a pair of stumbling legs, held his breath, and galloped forward. All at once, there were Titan parts in every direction, but it was impossible to tell what parts belonged to which Titans. Erwin hacked at a huge heel that threatened to knock him to the ground, leapt from his horse to vault over a grasping Titan hand, then landed again just in time to burst out beneath the open blue sky.

Around him, other Scouts were emerging from the gate out into the field.

"This way!" Erwin yelled, turning east, narrowly avoiding a charging Abnormal with swinging arms. Someone to his left screamed, yanked from his horse by a Titan's hand. Erwin moved to engage his gear, but someone else was quicker—with almost inhuman speed, a small figure whizzed past Erwin's ear, launched into a spin, and ripped through the Titan's nape.

"Thank you!" Erwin yelled at Levi as he passed.

"Get the fuck out there and start firing flares because—"

The end of Levi's sentence was lost in the rushing wind as Erwin galloped away, but he could guess the rest.

"Fan out!" Erwin shouted. "Form a quadrant!"

He changed direction, riding due south. To his right, he could see Hange doing the same. Both of them reined their horses in about a quarter mile south of the gate, roughly a thousand feet between them. On either side, the Scouts spread out and formed their semicircle around the gate. Straight ahead, Erwin could see Levi's squad through the trees, every one of them fighting for their lives.

Flares were beginning to fire all around the semicircle—waves of red, spotted by an occasional black. Erwin tasted smoke as he scanned his surroundings.

There were so many Titans.

He had intended to limit engagement as much as possible, but they had to take more pressure off of Levi's squad. Up near the gate, Erwin could see Levi zipping from earth to sky to earth again, diving in between his Scouts and the Titans, slashing through nape after nape, and none of it was enough. The outer circle had to thin the crowd somehow.

"Hange!" he yelled across the field. "We have to kill more of them!"

"Sir!" she shouted back before turning, cupping her hands, and passing the order along to the next Scout. Erwin turned to his right and repeated the order, then sent his hooks whizzing into the nearest tree and flew into battle.

Erwin fought for what felt like minutes but must have been hours. The sun kept falling, the pale spring sky melted into a cobalt blue, and Erwin hacked away at the Titan horde that just wouldn't stop coming. At first, he managed to split his attention, keeping an eye on Hange's soldiers to the west, on Bradley and his own Scouts to the east, and Levi's squad to the north. But as the oncoming Titans began to demand the attention of all his senses, as his arms and legs grew numb, he found that he could only think in terms of the pattern he followed over and over again: Spot a Titan, fire a flare. Pick off a different Titan. Spot another Titan, fire another flare. Fight another Titan. Spot, flare, Titan, repeat. Spot, flare, Titan, repeat…

In between firing a flare and flying toward his next target, Erwin made the mistake of glancing over at Hange's quadrant. His hands slipped, one arm got caught in the lines, and he heard a sickening crunch. Pain shot up his left arm. Cursing to himself, he landed on a low branch and examined his arm. The forearm jutted out at an awkward angle. He couldn't move his fingers. Broken.

With his right arm, he sent his ODM lines whizzing upward and, grunting from the immense effort, dragged himself up, lifted partially by the retracting line. He was now high enough in the tree that the Titans—most of them, anyway—wouldn't be able to reach him.

One more Titan lumbered by, then another. Erwin fired a flare for each one. He cursed again. Without his arm, he was useless. He squinted toward Shiganshina, trying to see whether Levi's squad was still fighting up by the gate, but the smoke from all the flares had obscured the already tree-obstructed view. He had no way of knowing how many others were still standing.

Then, as if responding to his thoughts, someone called out through the smoke.

"Commander!" It was Mike's voice, Erwin thought, although he couldn't actually see. "The Garrison sent word—the evacuation is over!"

That was all Erwin needed to hear.

"Fall back!" he shouted, his hoarse voice cracking. "North to the gate! Fall back!"

Whistling for his horse, praying that he hadn't wandered too far away, Erwin fumbled for a blue flare. With his one good hand, he fired the blue flame in the direction of the gate. Struggling to maneuver with only one arm, Erwin climbed down to the lowest branch and let out a sigh of relief when his horse appeared below him. Leaping down, Erwin could hear the commotion of Scouts all around him—calling horses, scrambling out of the reach of Titans, and crying out for missing comrades before finally, one by one, they began to spur their mounts back toward Shiganshina.

As Erwin raced back toward the gate, a soldier emerged from the smoke of the flares. At first, Erwin wondered why his face was so unfamiliar—but then he saw the Garrison symbol on the soldier's jacket.

"Commander Erwin?" the soldier called.

"Yes," Erwin replied, and the soldier fell in alongside him.

"They sent me to tell you," he said. "The inner gate is down."

"What?"

It couldn't be true. If the inner gate had been breached, that meant the territory between Maria and Rose was a lost cause. They had no way to plug the hole, no way to keep the Titans out.

"There was an Armored Titan, sir," the soldier said, glancing fearfully around him. No wonder—he had almost certainly never seen a Titan in person before today.

"Armored?" Erwin strained his eyes for a glimpse at the gate as it drew nearer through the smoke. "What do you mean, armored?"

"Someone else will explain, sir," the soldier said. "But we need to get through the city. There's a ferry waiting for all of you. They've called for everyone to retreat behind Wall Rose."

Everyone?

A wave of heat rushed through Erwin's entire body at the thought of thousands of refugees, filling cities that were too small, sharing food stores that were too little, crowding streets that were too narrow…

They burst through the gates and clattered down the street. Erwin glanced around him, taking stock of who was there. He spotted Hange close behind him, five or six others riding around her. Bradley was maybe ten yards ahead, galloping next to six more survivors. Levi rode a few feet to his left, leaning forward in the saddle, head down, a white-knuckled grip on his reins. Erwin quickly counted the Scouts surrounding Levi, and his heart sank.

Only four members of Levi's squad had made it back.

"To the inner gate!" Erwin shouted. "Don't engage under any circumstances! Just go!"

And they galloped ahead, leaving Shiganshina in the hands of the Titans.

Five days later, Erwin was sitting in Shadis's old chair, behind Shadis's old desk, in Shadis's old office at the Survey Corps headquarters. Even so, he didn't feel like a usurper. If anything, he felt as though he had been wandering in the wilderness for years, and now—at last—he had come back home.

The announcement of Erwin's formal confirmation by the Regiment Council hadn't arrived yet, but it was due any day now, and Erwin had barely given it more than a passing thought anyway. Even if this weren't an emergency situation, even if there were any other potential candidates, Erwin knew he had Eli's vote—and that Eli's sheer gregariousness would overcome all other resistance. The man had too many friends to lose.

Erwin tapped his pen on the desk, his left arm hanging uselessly in a sling. Despite the inconvenience of the injury, he was immensely grateful for his unharmed right hand—especially given all the writing he was doing. His first action upon arriving at headquarters had been to send long, detailed reports of last week's events to Premier Zachary. Next, he had reorganized the contents of every folder in every drawer in Shadis's old office. Finally satisfied that he knew where everything was, he had turned his attention to the project of filling and rearranging his command positions.

Some of the decisions had been easy. He had already called Hange in and formally offered her the position of section commander. He had told her that he wanted her to pick a small team of her own to focus on research and development, testing new equipment and studying Titan behavior.

Hange's response had been to let out a piercing shriek (causing two Scouts to burst through the door, assuming that somebody was under attack), leap out of her chair, do a short dance ending in a wild movement that Erwin assumed was a fist pump, and then shake Erwin's hand so violently that he thought his other arm might be broken now too.

"I won't let you down, Commander!" she had proclaimed. With some effort, Erwin had extricated her hand from his, settled her back into her chair, and asked her to name some initial prospects for her team. Once she had calmed down a little, she had listed a few names—Moblit Berner, among others.

After Erwin had thanked and dismissed her, she had danced out of the room, yelling as she disappeared from view: "Moblit! You're never going to believe this!"

Sitting in that same chair, Bradley Zion had listened silently as Erwin asked him to continue serving in his current position as section commander. He had nodded once, thanked Erwin, and gotten up to leave. Erwin had started to say something about Tegan and Abel, but somehow the words had died before leaving his mouth.

Mike Zacharias and Kozel Floran had both accepted the last two section commander roles, which had left the squad leaders for Erwin to assign. After hours of arranging and rearranging, Erwin had finally produced a list he was happy with. He would give the new officials their assignments in the morning.

And now, a few minutes before the clock struck one, he was still sitting here, poring over papers by candlelight, all because of one name that was still scrawled into his notebook in capital letters, punctuated by a question mark.

What the hell was he supposed to do about Levi?

After a rocky beginning, Levi had proven himself capable as a squad leader. Through sheer force of will (and apparently threats of dismemberment), Levi had gained the respect of his subordinates. In the fight outside Shiganshina, they had been willing to follow him anywhere—some of them even into death.

No, the problem wasn't giving Levi authority. Erwin no longer had any doubts that Levi could not only wrangle a team of kids, but even turn them into a formidable Titan-slaying force. The problem was putting Levi under authority. Erwin couldn't remember the last time Levi had actually obeyed the command of a section commander without question. Of course he followed orders sometimes, but it wasn't because Levi magically gained a respect for authority on certain random occasions. He followed orders when he liked them. When he didn't like the orders, he ignored them.

And then there was Levi's question from their trip to the Capitol.

If you were commander—if you could implement the long-range formation—where would you put me?

The long-range formation wasn't a strike team, but a scouting strategy. The goal was defensive, not offensive. Erwin could put Levi at any single location on the front lines, but there was no guarantee that he would be where he needed to be when a Titan appeared. Every single one of those positions was integral. Breaking formation would be deadly—but the issue wasn't just that breaking formation was Levi's favorite activity. In some sense, Erwin wanted him to be able to break formation, to move with some freedom and flexibility, to go wherever the Titans were. The issue was that vacating his post would mean endangering countless others, and if Levi wanted to leave his position, no power in the walls could control him.

But every time he returned to this train of thought, Erwin's brain was flooded with images of Levi scouring the stable floors, Levi staying behind as Shadis led his expedition out of Shiganshina, Levi leading his squad outside the gates without knowing even half of Erwin's overarching strategy.

Maybe there was a power that could control Levi after all.

A soft knock interrupted Erwin's thoughts. The door swung open.

"Commander?" asked a tentative voice. The face of Maynerd, one of Shadis's old couriers, appeared around the edge of the half-open door.

"Come in," Erwin said, and the young man slipped apologetically through the door.

"I'm sorry to bother you so late," he said, "but I saw the light through the window…"

"That's all right," Erwin assured him, half of his brain still distracted by the Levi problem. "What is it?"

"A messenger just came in from the Capitol." For the first time, Erwin noticed the papers in Maynerd's hands.

"Thank you," Erwin said, gesturing at the desk. "You can set it down here—I'll read it tomorrow."

"It's, um," Maynerd began, slowly placing the papers onto the desk. "It's just that…"

For the first time, Erwin's full attention shifted to the man standing in front of him. "Is this the Regiment Council vote?" He reached for the document. "Did they—"

"They confirmed you," Maynerd said quickly. "But, um…it was close."

"Close?" Erwin sat back. "How close?"

"Eleven to nine, sir." Erwin frowned. What enemies did he have in the Regiment Council? Even those who had always disliked the Survey Corps couldn't possibly deny their importance now, and since the council had to confirm somebody as commander, there was no reason to vote against him unless some of the members opposed Erwin Smith on an individual level. But who?

"I don't know what this means, sir," Maynerd continued, "but the messenger said to make sure to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"She just said to make sure you knew that Elijah William voted against you, sir."

Erwin stared at Maynerd, who shifted uncomfortably.

"I don't know what that means, sir, that's just what she said to tell you."

"Yes," Erwin said slowly. "Thank you, Maynerd."

Elijah William. His friend, the one supporter in the Capitol that he could count on, one of the few who had defended the Survey Corps in front of Premier Zachary, the only man in the Royal Government to whom Erwin had half-confessed his real ambitions…

Erwin's eyes widened.

"If you think that I have any plans of disrupting the king's rule, then I—"

"If you don't have any such plans, then there may not be anything I can do for you."

"I think that you can trust me to move in the direction that you're hoping for."

"Then I think that you can count on me."

All his long form plans and strategies, all the times he had judged Shadis's incompetence, all his posturing and prancing and playing the political game, and the real fool had always been Erwin. His aces had made him overbold when all the while, Elijah William had been playing with a full house.

Then Erwin glanced down at his notebook. His eyes fell on the single word Levi? scrawled across the page, and he suddenly knew with absolute clarity what he needed to do.

"Do you need anything else, sir?" Maynerd asked, pulling Erwin back into the real world.

"Yes," Erwin replied, grabbing his pen and beginning to scribble furiously. "Could you bring me Levi?"

"I could, but…it's late, sir. He's probably asleep."

"He's not asleep," Erwin said without looking up. "Please bring him here."

Erwin had nearly finished writing when Levi arrived. He opened the door without knocking, stepped inside, and stood watching as Erwin added his final few sentences. Erwin laid down his pen and gestured at the seat across from him.

"You look…better," Levi said.

"As opposed to when I looked like shit, you mean? Thank you—I think." Erwin gave Levi a small smile, which Levi did not return. "I feel better."

"Even after what happened at Wall Maria?"

Erwin shrugged. "I suppose I've spent a long time expecting something like this, even if I didn't realize it. Now that it's happened, it's almost a relief."

Levi stared down at the desk. He didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry about the kids," Erwin finally said. "Your squad."

"Yeah." Levi let out a long, slow breath. "For what it's worth—" He cut himself off, still not looking Erwin in the eye. "I'm sorry too."

"For what?"

"Couldn't keep the brats alive." Levi had uncrossed his arms and laid both hands on the table, fidgeting subconsciously with the corner of one of Erwin's papers.

"Levi." Erwin leaned forward. "That wasn't your fault. I put your squad in the most dangerous position on the map. Frankly, I'm surprised you even got four of them out."

"You said they called me humanity's strongest, right? In the Capitol?" Levi kept his eyes fixed on the paper as he folded it, unfolded it, then folded it again. "Never mind. Forget I said anything. Why'd you call me in?"

For a moment, Erwin debated whether to push the subject, but by now he knew that look in Levi's eyes, and the stone wall was already up. There would be no breaching it tonight.

"I'm going to offer you a job," he said. "As captain."

"We don't have a captain."

"If you accept the position, we will." For the first time, Levi looked up into his eyes. "You would be the Survey Corps' first and only captain."

"What does that mean?"

"You'd report directly to me and work under my authority as commander. I'd give you your own team—the Special Operations Squad. Your role and assignments will be distinct from the other squads."

"How?"

"Our operations have always been defensive, overly cautious. From now on, we begin the battle not just for survival, but for humanity's eventual victory over the Titans. That's why we need a scalpel." He paused. "And that's you."

"I've only got four kids left."

"You'll hand-pick the rest. And you don't need to keep anyone from your old team unless you want to. Your squad is going to be an elite strike force, so you should choose the members accordingly."

Levi eyed Erwin with a hint of suspicion. "Where's my squad in the hierarchy?"

"Nowhere." Erwin smiled. "That's the point. You don't take orders from anyone but me, and I'll give you some limited authority over the rest of the force on a case-by-case basis."

"What's the catch?"

Erwin leaned back in his chair, carefully studying Levi's face. "Ever since you've joined the Survey Corps, you've been a huge pain in the ass."

That got Levi's attention. "What?"

"You've fought your subordinates, you've fought your superiors, you've committed insubordination in more ways than I even knew were possible. In nine months, you've made far more enemies than friends."

"Listen, I—"

"No, you don't have to defend yourself," Erwin interrupted. "I'm not here to lecture you."

Levi looked incredulous but fell silent anyway.

"I can't pretend I know what you've been through, because I don't," Erwin said. "I don't know why you have so much trouble trusting your superiors. And I can't make you trust me. But if I give you this position, then I need you to make me a promise."

"What is it?"

"Here at headquarters or in the Capitol, question me all you want. Make me explain myself. Hold me accountable. But out in the field, you need to follow my orders. Even if you hate them. Even if you don't understand them. Even if you don't trust me right now, even if you never trust me, even if you think I'm a blithering fool someday for asking what I ask of you, I need you to obey me anyway. Can you do that?"

Levi was silent for a moment. "I'm only reporting to you?"

"You're only reporting to me."

"Fine," Levi finally said.

"Fine?"

"Fine, I can do it."

"You don't want a day to think about it?"

"No," Levi said simply. "I know right now."

"Okay." Erwin slid a document across the desk. "That's your commission."

Levi stared at it. "Um…"

"Oh, right." Erwin took the paper back. "Can you come back tomorrow so I can walk through the details? And maybe bring a list of potential names for your squad?"

"Yeah," Levi said, rising to his feet. "But only if you promise to go to bed now."

Chuckling a little, Erwin raised his right hand. "I have to finish writing something, but as soon as I'm done, I swear that I'll go."

"You'd better," Levi grumbled as he turned toward the door.

"Wait," Erwin said.

Levi paused with his hand on the handle.

"Will you tell me the truth?" Erwin asked.

"About what?"

"Anything. Everything. Promise you won't lie to me."

"I'm a lot of things, but I've never been a liar. I think you already know that."

"I do know," Erwin said. "I know. But I need you to say it."

Levi turned around, leaning back against the door with a curious expression on his face. "What happened, Erwin?"

"I'll tell you soon," Erwin said. "But for right now, just humor me. No matter what happens—promise you'll tell me the truth."

Levi eyed Erwin for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, obviously I'll tell you the truth. If I ever decide you're a crook, an idiot, or an asshole, I promise you'll be the first to know."

"Okay." Erwin nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Go to bed, Erwin."

And Levi was gone.