Seven hours ago
"She's right behind us, Blitz," Levi grumbled, angrily tightening the reins, "stop turning your head, you idiotic horse!"
They had ridden fast for the last hour and a half but not as fast as Levi had wished to go because Mr. Randy Stallion kept slowing down for his mare, not realizing that all female creatures were by default impressed by rippling muscle and great speed and therefore all the more willing after witnessing activities that involved said muscles and said speed.
Or... wait. What if that was one of those lies Survey Corps members had fed him? Levi threw a look over his shoulder, watching with a deep frown how Blatz was laboring to catch up with them. His comrades had occasionally - granted only when exceedingly drunk - dared prank him with false information about what women liked, thinking that funny for whatever obscure reasons. So, maybe... Hmmm... indeed, the mare didn't look like she was much impressed by Blitz' speed - quite the opposite. Her brown coat was wet with sweat, and so much foam was flying from her mouth it was visible at a considerable distance.
With an annoyed click of his tongue, Levi let Blitz fall into a slow trot until Blatz had caught up with them. Both horses nickered happily, nodding to each other with graceful dips of their head. They were almost disgustingly lovey-dovey, Levi thought with a suppressed shudder, concentrating his attention once more on the tracks on the ground.
Two horses. Some hours ago. Thanks to the soft ground, the hoof prints were clearly visible.
The grassland around Hange estate was not flat like he was used to from the area in the South, but hilly, forcing riders to weave their path around the mounds if they did not want to tire their horses by going up and down. Further up North, outside the Walls, the gentle hills would turn into steep mountains. Not that Levi had ever been there, and neither did he plan to ever go. Even just the idea of such huge piles of solid stone put him on edge. He had read in a book how dangerous it was to venture up to the top, with stones falling on one's head out of nowhere, sudden weather changes turning the narrow paths into torrential waterways and making it likely that one lost one's footing and fell hundreds of meters to one's death.
Granted, the rolling hills here, however pleasing to the eyes, did not have a good effect on his nerves either - he kept half expecting Titans to be hiding behind each soft swell before his brain recalled he was still safe within Wall Rose. Here, the enemy wasn't a bunch of huge, mindless maneaters. Here, the enemy had carefully manicured, soft-skinned hands, and waited for the next opportunity to use his formidable power to crush whoever tried to stand in his way.
Here, the enemy was people like Council Hange.
Levi felt a burning rage when he thought of that man's demeanor, his cold, calculating eyes, his ruthlessness and dangerous intelligence. Levi had strong survival instincts that had served him well ever since Kenny had saved him from starvation more than twenty years ago. But somehow, Council Hange had the ability to cloud those instincts, to rob him of the necessary certainties to walk through life with his usual confidence. He made Levi hesitate when he shouldn't. He made him question things, even made him doubt feelings that were stronger than what he had ever known before. He destabilized him, made him feel like things were slipping from his hands, inexorably.
No wonder then that ever since coming to Hange estate, the feeling of being lost in an unknown territory with ground made of quicksand had intensified. It felt like something ominous was about to happen, something he should see coming but just couldn't grasp. Something someone like Erwin would have easily dealt with, just because he was so used to handling nobles, knew all their underhanded tricks. But Erwin was gone, thanks to Levi's fate-charged decision that felt too often like it had condemned all of them.
Because Hanji... Hanji wasn't well, his fear for her was part of this feeling of impending doom he carried around with himself. He should trust in her abilities to lead them into a better future - but how could he when he had seen the future in which she died pointlessly?
Levi had no doubt that Council Hange would realize very soon that Eren's grand promise to alter Uri's punishment that made the noble family's infertile had been a bluff. Eren did not have that ability. Touching Historia Reiss in human form only let him tap into the Founder's true powers in a limited way. Glimpses of the future, glimpses of the past, wiping people's minds when they were right in front of him on the path.
So how do we change the future?
Levi had no clue. Neither had Eren. He would have laughed if it weren't giving him acid reflux to think about what he had seen in his dreams.
Feeling a strange sense of urgency, he forced Blitz into a slightly quicker gait, turned a hill - and pulled up short in surprise. There was a skeletal tree in front of him, its white color a stark contrast to the luscious green of the grassy hill behind it. And bound to that tree, a man.
"Thank the Walls," Treibel exclaimed with a voice gone hoarse from, one could easily guess it, screaming for help. "It's you, Levi!"
"It's Captain Levi," Levi drove Blitz forward and looked down at Treibel from the height of the saddle. "Let me guess: Annika did this?"
Treibel nodded, his sunburnt face turning even redder from embarrassment.
"What an idiot you are," Levi mused. "Did she use her 'purr-purr-I'm-puckering-my-lips'-trick on you?"
"I told her to turn back, that there still was time, that we would beg for forgiveness! She pretended to listen but at the first chance she got, she hit me over the head."
"Yeah, you're an idiot," Levi dismounted. "How long ago was that?"
"Hours!" Treibel sobbed. "I'm so damn thirsty."
"Did she take your horse?"
"Yes!"
Levi considered the situation for a few moments. He felt relief because it looked like he had not completely misjudged Annika after their rushed and angry conversation in the courtyard the night before.
"Please, do you have water?" Treibel pleaded. "Give me some?"
"Quiet, I am thinking," Levi snapped, yet reached for the water skin he had tied to his saddle. "You met Annika here during the night?"
"What does that matter, fucking untie me!" Treibel raged, feeble pulling against the rope that tied him.
"Didn't you used to speak all uppity and cultured?" Levi pulled a face, reaching for the knife in his boot to cut Treibel's bonds. "Fucking amazing how the right company can change that."
As soon as the rope no longer held him upright, Treibel's legs buckled. He gasped when Levi's thrown water skin hit him square in the chest. "My arms," he moaned. "I can't feel them."
"Stop whining like a child," Levi scolded him. "It's just the lack of blood circulation. Was it night or not when you last saw her?"
"No!" Treibel had managed to grab the water skin but uncorking it was currently beyond his ability. "She left in the morning."
"Good," Levi nodded, watching him struggle with something akin to glee. He had never taken a liking to the proper, popular Treibel, even though the guy had always been painstakingly polite in his interactions with him. Yes, Levi held grudges. And just being the former fiance of Zoë Hange deserved a lifetime of grudges. How dare someone like Treibel even think he deserved Hanji! "You can ride on the second horse."
"But...," Treibel looked troubled. "There's no saddle!"
"How do people like you even become soldiers," Levi shook his head. "Very well. You can ride my horse if he lets you and I'll take dear Blatz here. Yes, I sometimes surprise myself by how nice I am."
"Why are you wearing Hange livery?" Treibel asked after drinking deeply, eying him suspiciously with newfound energy.
"Black is my color," Levi grumbled. "Besides, some Ackermans have a thing for Hanges, did you not know?"
"Yeah, it's no secret about you and Commander Hange," Treibel snorted, "the way you're devouring her with your eyes. Or should I say stripping her?"
"What?" Levi's voice dropped dangerously but Treibel, either because he was an even bigger idiot than he had previously thought or because he did not care about angering him, which amounted to the same thing, just shrugged.
"It's particularly amusing because you think nobody notices," Treibel smirked. He swung himself into the saddle, needing three attempts. Loser. And then, traitorous Blitz did not in the least object - that would cost him an extra ration of grain. Treibel turned his head around, ready to ride back to the estate.
"Not this way," Levi snapped, swinging himself on Blatz' back and patting her neck soothingly until she stopped dancing sideways. "We're going after Annika."
"We are?" Treibel sat a little straighter. "Why, do you want to kill her?"
"Yes, all the time," Levi retorted, "but not today. We have a bit of a situation at the estate. Lord Tybur is arriving very soon. And I fear this is not going to end well for us."
"Us...?"
"The Survey Corps," Levi explained. "I don't care that you're Military Police right now, you served with us, so I consider you one of us."
"Oh. I didn't expect you to... to say something nice like that." To Levi's great moritification, Treibel fucking blushed.
"Shut your trap!" Levi snapped, cringing so much Blatz began her nervous dancing again. "If I am not mistaken, Annika works for Tybur, but I have reason to believe she might have reconsidered her loyalties after a little chat we had."
"You... you want to get her back?" Treibel asked, his eyes growing round and hopeful. The fucking idiot wore his heart on his sleeve and if Levi had to predict what lay in his future, it was a horrible, gruesome death.
"Annika loves violence. So I'm going to promise her violence. Lots of it."
And Treibel, though he did not yet know it, would be the one to stop it.
###
Present time
It couldn't have been the blood that soaked into the expensive carpet of the pink drawing room that made Hanji lose the contents of her stomach, the knife scraping dangerously against her throat as she threw her head forward in order not to sully herself. She had seen worse, much worse: mutilated bodies of people she cared for deeply, dying horrifying deaths. Neither could it be Levi full of blood and gore, even though she felt a moment of the strongest fear at the sight of him, believing a little irrationally that he was mortally wounded. But no, he was clearly alright, the blood someone else's, she could feel his trademark killing intent coming off him in waves as he strode into the room to confront her father.
But what was it then? Blood was pounding in her eyes like a battle drum, her sight wavered and almost went out. She couldn't get a clear head. It all felt like a nightmare.
"Let her go," Levi snapped at who stood behind her, "she's one of us."
"Is she?" Annika's grin turned even more feral. "Just because she lets you sleep with her?"
"Leave my daughter alone!" Zoë's mother screamed, white as a sheet, struggling against a fat Undergrounder who pressed her body to his, laughing. Had he been a cook? Zoë wasn't sure, but the way this man put his hands on her mother repulsed her.
"If you hurt my mother, I'll kill you," Zoë growled. Hastily, she stumbled to her mother's side as soon as her captors let go, glaring at the fat man until he shrunk back. Her mother's frail body was shaking like a leaf in the wind. She threw both arms around Zoë's neck, buried her face against her chest and began to sob hysterically.
"See?" Annika's eyes glittered dangerously when she watched the scene. "Commander Hange's loyalties are with her family, what else? She will be punished just like the rest of them."
"Shut up," Levi growled. "Nobody lays a hand on Hanji."
Somebody started laughing, a rumbling sound so completely misplaced that everybody froze for a second. "Brilliant," Tybur drawled in amusement. "Your little revolution is already falling apart. Unless you have killed all the soldiers under my command, you will all be dead before the day is over."
"But we did kill them all," Levi smiled a slow smile that did a strange thing to Zoë's already upset stomach and head. "No wonder you don't know, being from the outside and all but if there is one thing I'm really good at, it's killing. Titans, people... I don't really care which."
"You...!" Tybur wanted to lunge forward, but the men who held him ripped him back by his arms, making him lose his balance temporarily.
At which point Historia stepped forward, her chin held high, carefully avoiding the body of the dead guard - and slapped Tybur with so much force, his head jerked sideways.
"You fucking bastard," she pressed out through gritted teeth. "Breed me? Breed me?"
She balled her hands into tight fists and punched her uncle into his stomach, then used the other to plant a hook underneath his now lowered chin. It was like everyone held their breaths, fascinated by her seething rage as she landed hit after hit, body, face, body, face.
"I think you made your point, Queen Historia," Levi was the one to step forward and touch her shoulder, pressing it lightly. She stopped, her chest heaving. Tybur's face was a bloody, lolling mess, dripping more red onto the sullied carpet.
"I want to kill him," Historia's anger did not seem abated in the least. "And you will let me! It's an order from your Queen, Captain Levi!"
"Hm," Levi tilted his head to the side, pressing her shoulder a little harder. "Can we wait with that?"
Historia turned around to look into his eyes and whatever she saw in them made her slump all of a sudden.
"He... he...," she drew a shaking breath. "He said..." she faltered, overcome by disgust.
"He wanted to rape her," Council Hange finished her sentence coldly. "Because the royal bloodline is precious and dying out."
"And you... you would have let him," Zoë shouted. That had made her throw up, she realized. The shock of hearing something as vile as an uncle offering to forcefully impregnate his niece and people going along with it. What had their world come to? Was this the price of freedom?
"No," Council Hange said, his voice commanding and arrogant and seemingly sincere. "There are things I would never do and things I will never allow in my house. That includes incest. Or rape. But even more importantly, I will not tolerate rebellion, however pathetic the attempt," he snapped, his eyes swiveling back to Levi. "Release me this instance, Ackerman, or bear the consequences."
"Shut up, you pompous prick," Annika sneered at him, lifting her knife, "or we will kill your son, your daughter and your wife, right here in front of you. And then we'll go and hunt down all your other weakling molly sons. I will personally oversee them being hanged - by their dicks! Until they are ripped from their bodies and they bleed to death."
"Ah, you are the turncoat from the Underground," Council Hange remarked haughtily and seemingly unfazed. "I did have a feeling I had seen you somewhere. I know your kind. Offer them enough money and they will sell out their own mother."
"I will rip your..."
Levi's hand shot forward and closed around Annika's upper arm. "Relax. Remember what I told you."
"But I..."
"Be fucking patient, Anni. He wants you to lose your shit, can't you see?"
In Zoë's already unstable head, an ugly thought took shape. Levi and Annika. She had always known that these two had a history that had not properly ended. How many times had Levi vowed to kill Annika? How many times had he failed? It was all too clear that he still cared for the feisty redhead. This... this scheme of theirs, when had Levi cooked it up? And did the timing even matter when he had surely done it behind Zoë's back, obviously not trusting her enough to let her in on his plans?
But could she be sure she would not have tried to stop him? Zoë tightened her arms around her mother and looked over to her brother, whose fear was written all over his face. Surely, their underground staff would not plot to kill them?
"Levi Ackerman," her father said, shaking his head in what looked like amusement, "why is it that all the people with your name fail at the same thing? So much power, yet so little luck."
Zoë saw Levi hesitate. Oh, but her father was good at manipulating people. Too good.
"Don't listen to him, Levi!" she blurted out. "He has the red book in his pocket. Take it - and be free of us Hanges forever."
Levi looked at her across the room, the blood on his face dried and darkening. His eyes glittered in the light of the evening sun but she couldn't quite read them. Funny that the worst she could imagine as an outcome of this Underground Uprising far away from the Underground was to lose him again. It felt too much like a possibility.
###
Levi clutched the red book in his trembling right hand. He had not had the time to take a look at what was in it. Or maybe that was an excuse, because Levi Ackerman had to admit that despite what was said about him, he knew fear. How strange that it was such an inconspicuous object that induced it.
The purity of the white pebble stones in the driveway was no more. Levi watched some of the maids trying to remove the blood stains from the stairs before directing his steps towards the recruits, who diligently guarded their prisoners. The bodies of the dead had been moved somewhere behind the house. Undergrounders were efficient like that.
Maybe it wasn't quite right that he had ordered Eren and his friends to play a part in the uprising. And yet, Levi had needed to survive in a cut throat world for too many years not to use people if it guaranteed his own survival. One could live with dirty hands. Besides, these kids had seen enough hardship in their youth while rich bastards had led wasteful lives at their expense.
"How is Historia?" Eren's eyes were big and worried when he looked in his direction. "Can we talk to her?"
"Sure," Levi nodded, tucking the book down the back of his trousers. "She's putting on her uniform and will be down shortly."
"What will her official statement be?" Armin asked, his forehead wrinkled by a worried frown. "If she condones this uprising, we will have a civil war at our hands soon! I am assuming there are just as many Undergrounders at other estates?"
"I guess so," Levi shrugged. "I will certainly not be the one to tell them to sit still and let themselves be exploited."
The unanswered question was though: should he be the one to incite them? There were quite a few who hoped he would carry this torch of rebellion to other places. He did not like what they called him. King. King of the Underground.
"It seems that Tybur had plans to rape Historia," Levi let them know. "To make sure the royal line is strong. I doubt she will be very merciful."
The disgusted outrage this news created among the recruits was a confirmation that he had done the right thing. The disgusted outrage he felt was on par. If anything, Eren had tried to keep the importance of the royal bloodline a secret to protect Historia. Now that the secret was out though...
Someone came down the steps light footed and energetic, whistling a merry tune.
"Levi!" Annika called out. "Wait up."
She was grinning from ear to ear, still on a high after her killing spree. She had killed the majority of Tybur house guards and a good portion of the Hange house guards. Basil on the other hand had died by Levi's hand. He felt no remorse for taking a man's life because that man had tried to take Armin's.
"We found Old Man Poison," Annika informed him gleefully, "he was hiding in a cupboard like the pathetic rat he is."
"I need to talk to him," Levi frowned. "Where is he?"
"Oh yes, yes, sure," Annika still grinned. "You can do all the talking you want. But then, you will do what you promised me, won't you, Levi-dear?"
"Yes," Levi grumbled, feeling the questioning eyes of the recruits on him. None of them understood what a debt meant to an Undergrounder. Debts needed to be paid. All of them.
Levi followed Annika back into the house. Council Hange, Frederick and Tybur had been brought to the wine cellar and locked in there for the time being. Historia had insisted on a tribunal of sorts to decide what was to be done with the three men, to be held on the next day. This delay had likely saved their lives because the bloodlust had been dangerously high after their swift victory.
"Wait here!" Annika told Levi magnanimously in front of the big stairs, "I'll have someone fetch the rat."
She did behave like she was in charge here, didn't she. Levi found it mildly amusing but only because it was just like so many years ago, when they had built up a reputation together in the Underground. The world had been strangely alright back then, a crazy haze of perpetual violence and blissful ignorance of what was happening in the world.
Not too long and Oliver's whiny voice drew closer.
"... but he forced me to do all that, I swear, I had to follow his every whim! You know how it is, girl, one person's weakness is another person's gain, and I would never have..."
He turned a corner, Esmelda pushing him forward. Oliver's mouth opened wide when he saw who was waiting for him.
"Oh woe, oh woe," he began to wail, "he is going to kill me, he is going to kill me, yet I am no bad man, I really never wanted to hurt a ..."
Esmelda smacked him over the head with considerable force. "Shut up, you dirty weasel! I know exactly what you did to my Nii-chan, it's unforgivable!"
"Uuuuu!" Oliver whined. "May your flesh slowly rot and you be in agony for the rest of your life!"
"Cut the crap," Levi interrupted him. "I'm a little pressed for time. But I have a deal for you, old man. I'd take it if I were you."
"A... deal?" Oliver's Adam's apple bopped up and down excitedly. "You mean... you won't torture and kill me?"
"I will torture and kill you but not quite yet," Levi answered. "Hanji wants access to your labs. You will show them to her."
"Ohhhh," Oliver blinked, then began to nod frantically, "of course, of course, I would absolutely LOVE to show her my labs."
"Don't overdo it with the fake enthusiasm," Levi massaged his temples. He was beginning to develop a vicious headache. "As long as you're useful, you will stay alive. As soon as you become too annoying...," he made a meaningful gesture across his throat.
"Oh yes. Yes, I understand," Oliver still nodded, his eyes turning from fearful to calculating.
"And do you happen to know some doctors in Marley?" Levi asked casually, as if that wasn't the most important thing he wanted to know.
"Y... yes. Yes, I know some," Oliver hastened to confirm. "W... why?"
"Just good to know. Esmelda, you can lock him up again."
"With pleasure, Nii-chan," Esmelda beamed. "And thank you so much for helping us, we will never forget!"
"Try to keep from attacking each other a little longer, okay?" Levi grumbled but the girl was already prodding Oliver in the back so he would walk faster.
Maybe there was hope for Hanji's health after all, Levi thought, his pulse subtly quickening. If Marley was indeed so advanced as people said, their medicine had to be advanced too. They would know what was wrong with her ears and would be able to cure her.
If he could get her to such a doctor. If she was still speaking to him. If. But ifs had never deterred him before. He would not let them.
Hanji and her mother were still in the drawing room, the latter slumped against her daughter. Had she fainted? Or maybe she was just asleep. The settee on which they sat was bloodstained. The air was rank with the smell of death and destruction and almost made him gag.
"Hanji, how is your mother?" Levi grumbled and quickly walked over to open the glass door that led out onto the balcony.
The loathsome look Hanji shot him made his stomach clench. It was disappointment and rage and hurt all in one and even though he did not for a moment regret what had just happened, he felt regret that she felt betrayed by him like this.
I did not know whether Annika would really come back, he wanted to tell her. I had to gamble, Hanji. I had to gamble and hope that Esmelda would play along, that everyone would take up arms and rise up against their suppressors, but I did not know whether we could pull it off. And I did not tell you because you're not well, just look at yourself.
"What do you care," Hanji snapped at him, looking down at the frail body in her arms to break eye contact.
And yet, despite the hurt and maybe hate, she had made certain he would get the red book. He wanted to thank her for it but found it difficult to express what he was feeling. He didn't even know what those feelings were called, dammit.
"In case your mother wants to leave..."
"Leave?" Hanji frowned. "Why should she leave?"
"She told Esmelda about how much she hates it here. They even made plans to flee together. Well, Esmelda humored her, talking about cottages and lakes and the freedom to do what one wanted."
"Esmelda?" Hanji took a deep breath. "And how would she know?"
"She doesn't."
Levi heard the bitterness in his own voice and wondered about it. Since when did he care about the fates of others? There were thousands of girls like Esmelda in the Underground, but most did not get to grow up to be women like her.
"Where will they all go now?" Hanji asked, making a vague gesture with her hand. How tired she looked.
"Some to the cities. Some will try to live out here. Whatever they fancy," he shrugged. "They're free to do what they want now."
"I guess there's nothing to be said against that," she said quietly. "But Levi, I will not allow you to kill my father and brother."
Levi nodded.
"I'm sorry," she added. "I guess Annika was right. I'm on their side. Well, partially at least. If you do this, I will..."
"They won't be killed."
"How... how can you be sure?"
"Because I arranged a little something to remove them from the clutches of the bloodthirsty hordes. That little something is called Treibel. He will bust them out tonight."
She looked at him in silence for an unnerving while. "Are you lying to me?"
"Why would I lie to you, Hanji," he made a step in her direction. She smelled bad. Like a frightened animal about to be slaughtered. "You should take a bath and get changed," he wrinkled his nose.
"Have you had a look?"
"N... no," he touched the book in his trousers, understanding immediately what she was referring to.
"Too busy plotting, I guess," she scoffed.
"I don't regret it, Hanji," Levi frowned. "None of it."
"I see," she turned her one good eye on him again. "Good to know."
"All I'm trying to do is to protect you," Levi blurted out. Oh, fucking great. Now he sounded like one of those men.
"Ah," she just sounded tired. "That's what that feels like. Great."
"Tybur will get to keep his life in exchange for the weapons he promised. Your father can keep his life if he writes a letter to all the other noble houses. They give us guards so that we can kill all the Titans currently captured within Wall Maria or the same that happened here will happen to them."
"I see," she looked down on her hands. "And Freddie?"
"Can come hunt Titans with me if he wants. If he doesn't, I'd advise him to lay very low for the next decade."
"Did you ask Armin to help you come up with all this?"
"No!" Levi bristled. "I did it all by myself."
"I see," she repeated, looking up at him. "You know what's probably the worst about this, Levi? That you did it all by yourself. Again. Have you forgotten what happened five years ago in the Underground? How you cut me off, left me without saying goodbye after our wedding night, and then fucking died without giving me the faintest of clues what was going on? Well, I remember. I remember like it was yesterday and you know what? It still fucking hurts, Levi. And now, after everything we have been through together, you still do not tell me a thing? How am I to trust you after this?"
There was a lot he wanted to say. That he understood that it was difficult but that she could trust him to hell and back because what looked like a betrayal wasn't really a betrayal. That he would do anything for her, had done all of this for her as well. That he loved her more than life itself and that he wanted that to matter and nothing else. But words fled him and all he could do was stare at her dumbfounded, thinking that she looked fucking terrible and smelled even worse but that he wanted nothing more than to hold her tight.
"I...," he began but there was a gigantic lump in his throat, and then her mother stirred and opened her eyes, freezing in horror at the sight of him.
"Please don't hurt us," she stammered, "please, please, please don't hurt us, please..."
"Mother," Hanji said quietly, "it's alright. Levi has promised that nothing will happen to father. Is it true you want to leave him? I understand."
"Hanji," Levi stammered when she helped her mother up and guided her towards the door. "I... wait."
"You see," Hanji took a deep breath, "I already know what you mean to say. You want to go to the Underground, right? You probably promised a bunch of people, at the very least Annika. You will go whether I give you leave or not. So just go and come back as soon as it's all done."
"I will come back." He said so that there could be no doubt.
"Oh yes, of course you will, Captain Levi - it's an order," Hanji said haughtily, turned around, and left him standing there feeling foolish, tired, and defeated.