Two minutes.
That was all that Isabel gave you to sink into your silent stupor.
You stared wordlessly at the door to your bedroom, now shut. Inside, you weren't sure of whether to laugh or scream or cry. Mostly, it was all three – but only on the inside. Your face was nothing but a mask, covering the raging chaos within. Two minutes was all she gave you before she came and knelt on the floor before the bed - which you only just blankly registered - and slapped you as hard as she could.
It was strange - you heard the smack, and you saw the world whip around to the left suddenly - but you didn't feel the pain immediately. You saw the shock on Mikasa's face as she reached for you, her onyx eyes wide. Even though you knew that she was Mikasa, and that she was your friend, you couldn't help the surge of sudden hatred for those eyes.
And as you contemplated that, the pain came full force.
"What the hell, Magnolia?!" You gasped, reaching a hand up to cup your stinging cheek. Tears came, unbidden, to your eyes as you searched for a red-haired girl at your feet - and then started. Petra and Isabel were looking at each other with open, honest looks - suddenly riveted by what they found on each other's faces.
Jean cleared his throat from where he and Eren were leaning against the door, prepared to block anyone from coming in. "If you two are going to start kissing, let me know - I'll turn around."
"Would you, though?" Marco looked up at him from where he was sat against your wall, watching Isabel with a frankness that was almost scary. "I would have thought you'd have pulled up a chair and some popcorn." You watched as Jean's colour darkened from his normal paleness to a colour that was quite accurate when asking someone to imitate a plum.
Sasha perked up at the mention of food, giving Isabel a subtle warning touch on her shoulder before she stood up and faced Jean with both hands on her hips. "It's hardly like you'd see kissing anywhere else, is it?"
"Old joke," Connie scoffed.
Isabel broke out of her reverie of Petra then - and used her new-found focus to look at you with a raised eyebrow. "Well, we know that Jean's been kissed at least once -"
You allowed your friends to distract you. "Isabel Magnolia, I am thirty seconds away from killing you and you are not helping!"
You smiled at Jean's embarrassed wail but used the following conversations that people were having to think. At this point, what did you truly know?
You had been the unofficial princess of humans. You had been an excellent student, would have been an excellent soldier. Isabel loved you. You adored your friends, would give up anything to keep them happy.
Anything to do with Levi, though, was a blurry mess.
You had indeed been a mock princess. And what did you want, truly?
The answer to that question lingered on your lips so that you could taste the words.
Human princess. Titan queen.
Petra was looking at you with a mixture of pity and helplessness, and you merely gave her an empty look - even allowing your eyes to flick down to the ring on her finger. It was so bright, so pretty - and when you mentally compared it to the iron band around your finger, it made yours seem so much darker and foreboding. "I know that you've always hated me," Petra said, her voice softly but firmly rising above the chatter of your friends. "But I want to talk to you, now - and only after I've finished are you allowed to make your decision about me."
Isabel cast an assessing glare at her before shrugging and turning to you. You contemplated it, for a brief second, but could you handle hearing more? The last thing you'd heard had knocked the world out from underneath your feet. Had Levi ever truly loved you? When had it crossed from merely being a job to actually caring for you - or had he ever crossed that line?
Sasha stepped into your line of vision, and the righteousness that shone in her brown eyes was amazing enough that you didn't say another word. "It was not Y/N that you nearly froze half to death," Sasha said, and Connie sat up a bit straighter. "It was my best friend and me. So I will hear your story, Petra Ral - I will hear and judge."
Petra drew herself up.
She was no longer the girl you'd known, but a glimpse of the soldier you had once seen yourself – when she'd unleashed the damper on her capabilities and done what she'd been trained to do. To kill titans.
"When Levi, Farlan and Isabel were first brought here, and Levi was the one placed in our team, I knew that he was something else. I won't deny that I developed feelings for him. But more important than that, I knew that myself and the others were put in a team with him in order to control him in case he went astray - but that turned around pretty quick. A man like that wouldn't have been anything but the leader. I knew that Isabel hated me for it - because I was the one nearest him, instead of her and Farlan, as they were sent to school. After a month, my father came to visit and arranged a marriage between myself and Levi; I was pleasantly happy, I suppose. I had a great amount of respect for him, after all - and there isn't much opportunity for love and marriage in our line of work."
"I knew you had a crush on him," Isabel grumbled, but Sasha kicked her quickly. Petra merely gave her a look before continuing.
"And so, we were engaged - and then Erwin came to me, telling me about how there had been an arrival at Assassination Academy, and how her story had made Dot Pixis worry. Gave him nightmares. He told me that the girl would be jaded, cold and broken - but that the girl would probably know things that could bring titans to their downfall. And he told me about his plan to make her love someone so deeply that she'd come out of that broken shell to share the information. I hated the plan from the start, and not just because he chose the one destined to be mine. He chose Levi because he was the only one who truly didn't seem to care - Erwin counted on the fact that Levi would not fall for you as you would fall for him."
From the start, you'd noted how Levi had kept his eyes truly dull and grey. You'd noted how he was dangerous, and that he couldn't smile; but how many times had he smiled at you?
"I hated the plan even before I knew your name. Y/N. Y/N. The name followed me all of the way to Assassination Academy, where I would be keeping an eye on Levi and an eye on you - I heard the grass whisper it as they danced in the winds, and how the students quietened when they said your name. I hated the plan because I knew without a doubt that it was fundamentally wrong; Y/N would hurt, be hurt even more than what her past had done."
"You knew about my past," you said, your eyes fixed on her. "Then why did you need to read my file? Why kidnap Sasha and Connie to threaten me about my file if you knew exactly what was in it?"
Petra blinked, and looked around at Sasha. The girl was still standing tall, her arms crossed. "I thought of everything I could do to protect the girl, to make it better for her. And so, after you introducing yourself to me and telling me how lonely you were, I thought that if I could make you furious - because fury and isolation work so well - then maybe you'd leave, or do something entirely drastic and get yourself expelled. I thought that if I made you absolutely furious at the system of the school, since it allowed me to do what I wanted, you would leave. That you'd flee from the school and head for the city, and live out an ordinary life where your friends wouldn't be kidnapped by the "special operations" squad and be allowed by the law to be left there. I thought that if I arrested you, you'd be banished for your so-called 'crimes' - and then you'd be forced to leave, and to never be hurt by the plan that Erwin and Levi had thought up."
"You arrested Y/N," repeated Marco, hoarsely, "because you were trying to protect her?"
"Why else would I have arrested her?" Petra breathed a laugh. "Did you really think I'd be that pathetic? I'm a soldier. I've seen more than enough rubbish to cut the pathetic act. In the pit fights, too, I thought about driving you over the edge, thinking about how I could turn on Isabel, even - but then you saved her. You were going to sacrifice yourself and your pride to get yourself out, so that she could continue to be on the trip, so that you wouldn't have to hurt her. And then I knew... I knew you were every bit of what Erwin had said. You were cold, jaded and utterly broken. But you were mending - healing so completely that you didn't even care about your revenge for me in the face of hurting someone that you loved. And how could I tell you about Levi's plan when it would have broken you all over again?"
"You kept telling me," you said, your voice surprisingly steady. "No matter what I did - you kept saying how I was a good person. Why?"
Petra's eyes twinkled. "You told me yourself how alone you were - how your words kept them away. So I figured that a gentle reminder of words would probably reach you, wherever you were; I just told the truth and hoped you understood them as well as I did."
"Shit," Connie blurted. "And I was so happy to go on hating you because of what you did to Sasha and Y/N."
"Sorry to burst your bubble," Petra smiled, but it faded as her gaze wandered to the door and who had recently disappeared behind it. Yours, too - you hadn't realized that you'd been smiling until you also felt Levi's absence like a punch to the chest. Petra moved to sit next to you, Mikasa moving slightly to accommodate for her. "He loved you, Y/N. I think you should know that. Truly, he does - you didn't see how he changed after he met you. You didn't see how his eyes followed you when you were in the room or glared at any boys you were with. You didn't see how frantic he was when we finally got wind of your whereabouts."
"But he let me go," you said.
Petra shook her head. "You made him drop you, Y/N, and you know it. You made yourself water and let yourself dance through his fingers, thinking that you would be the one hurting more because of how you would fall onto the ground. But you never considered that - if you were water - Levi was dying of thirst. So he may have dropped you, because that's what you wanted - but give him a chance, and I promise you that he'll catch you again."
You couldn't help but let some of the tears fall - because at the start of this, you'd been so sure that you'd lost one of the strongest allies that you'd had in the world. But you had not truly lost him - not yet. And instead of losing someone, you'd instead gained an ally so steadfast that she'd allow you and your friends to detest her for a year instead of allowing you to pay the price of being hurt.
So you reached a hand out to Petra, who blinked twice before she understood. She gripped your hand, accepting the handshake for what it was - an offer of friendship, of partnership. Something so simple that it hardly seemed fair, for all that she'd gone through - but you'd never have guessed that fact from how Petra's eyes welled up and she grinned a gorgeous smile.
"We have a problem now, though," Isabel groaned, standing up and waltzing over to Jean and Eren. The latter smirked at her as she leaned coyly against him. "The Seven Deadly Sins doesn't have enough names for all of us! What are we going to do?"
"Are you telling me that we're all part of the same team now?" Jean gaped, glancing at Marco. They'd just been a pair before, you remembered. And Mikasa and Armin merely shrugged at each other - they'd always been a three. "I don't want to work with you lot - you all smelt of death and arrogance."
"Blame Y/N and Isabel," Sasha grumbled. "If it were just Connie and I, it would have smelt much nicer. Like food."
"Rotten food," Armin muttered, and then yelped as Sasha swiftly kicked his side. "How about we just have sub-teams?"
"Oh, great adviser," Olyver gasped dramatically, looking as though he was severely confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Isabel and Christa both looked at you with the same bemused expression, but it was the latter that began speaking to you. "He's you're cleaner, right?" You nodded, earning a glare from said cleaner. "Is he any good?" You hesitated before nodding again - if only because Olyver gave you another simmering glare that almost burnt you as it met your face. "Alright, then he can be in our team as well."
"Still, I'm not quite understanding the sub-teams," Isabel interjected.
"Surprise, surprise," Jean said under his breath.
"There will be seven sub-teams," you humoured Isabel, smiling softly. "There will be a team gluttony, and a team pride and so on. But they'll all come under the big team of the Seven Deadly Sins."
"I suppose that way, if we ever get back to school –" Isabel shook herself, regaining her composure and grinning evilly at Mikasa and Armin, "when we get back to school, we might actually have competition. We always mopped the floor with you lot back in first year."
"Marco and I never particularly tried," Jean posed, before being elbowed in the ribs by his partner. "Anyway, we've been a team for the weeks of second year. Don't you have anything nice to say about that time spent with us?"
"You did fall, once," Sasha mused.
"I call dibs on not being team Gluttony," Marco called over the general distress, raising his hand energetically.
You laughed. "And since you're all in my house, in my city, I call dibs on deciding on where all of you go. And what the teams will do to help me in the next couple of days that you're here."
"You have jobs for us all?" Mikasa asked immediately, but then leaned back with a curious gleam in her eyes. "Is this anything to do with the wallet, by any chance?"
Shrugging, you stood up from your bed and stalked to your desk, digging into the wallet and withdrawing a slip of paper from the inner pocket. You idly tossed the leather wallet to Jean, who rolled his eyes but still ran a speculative eye into its folds, searching for any money. "It's nothing at all to do with the wallet," you said, managing to sound wounded by Mikasa's accusations. Christa sighed from where she settled herself on your bed, swinging her legs like a child.
"Nothing, my ass," Ymir stated, and Marco elbowed her as Petra and Isabel giggled in unison.
"This is actually super exciting," Isabel said, her cheeks flushed and a grin stretching her face. "I never really considered how cool we were, with the team name 'Seven Deadly Sins,' and all. We're so cool!"
"If that's what you think warrants as 'cool'," Jean replied haughtily, although you could see the sparkle in his eyes as he eagerly waited for you to say your piece, "then I pity whoever you deem as hot. Y/N, if you even think about putting me into a team with her, I can and will destroy you."
"You really think you'd be able to?" Eren said coyly, to which Jean shot him a wounded look. "That being said, don't put me with Jean, please! I don't think that he could handle it..."
You waved a lazy hand, closing your eyes as you ran through the scraps of plans. You'd been planning to do many things – but you'd banked on having time. And on the fact you'd instead be using the children that lived under your roof.
Minor changes, you told yourself. Changes that would fit the task, the team, the people you had that were willing to help you.
Because they trusted you.
"I'm not going to let stupid things like your own choices come into it - each team will have an aim, and a goal, and a matter of steps to complete by the end of the four days you have left. I'll place each of you in a team considering your personality - no matter how deplorable -" you said, allowing your eyes to look over Jean and Eren slowly. "And considering how well or badly you get on."
"At this point, I don't even know if she's lying," Connie muttered feverishly to Sasha, who giggled and gave you a knowing glance.
You allowed your friends to descend into an argument that was in equal measures disparaging Jean and claiming superiority of every other member of your crew. You ran your eyes over the scribbled pages of writing that had taken up your desk, plots and ploys to get what you wanted in the form of scrunched, messy letters.
"I've got it," you said, quietly. It wasn't until you looked up and allowed yourself to come back to the present that you realized everyone else was eagerly looking at you. "Which team do you want to know first?"
Isabel couldn't contain herself. "Team Sloth!" She said, saying the title that she'd had originally, in the first year. "I'm on it, right? That was my team back when we were all together!"
"Team Sloth will be made up of two people," you said, sliding your eyes to one of them. Olyver gulped as you smiled evilly at him. "Olyver and Ymir will be on Team Sloth, arranging the movements and activities of everyone else around them. You'll be setting up a few affairs that I'll detail you in on later."
"Wha-" Isabel started to say, unease suddenly written over her face. "What about me? Sloth is me!"
"At the time they called you Sloth," Ymir stated, a strange look passing over her face, "I hear you were swathed in blankets. It hardly fits you now."
"And it fits you?" Isabel indignantly said, an argument on her lips - but the words died as she saw how many jumpers Ymir had dumped around her, obviously preparing for Christa but in actuality serving herself. "I can't believe your cleaner is stealing my job from me. Shut up, Y/N – I know you're not saying anything, but I can hear your thoughts mocking me."
"I would never," you said, affronted. Isabel pulled a face at you as you cast a wounded gaze around – to general disbelief.
"It's you and me, huh?" Olyver attempted to smile at Ymir, but the glare she was already giving him made him look morosely and deliberately at Mikasa before shooting you a betrayed expression.
"Isabel and Marco will make up Team Envy," you continued, shooting a wink at Marco. "Their aim will be revolving around the fairness of the Underground and actually getting an equal society around here – since Isabel sounded so wounded by it earlier."
"Impossible," blurted Olyver, but he shut up quickly upon seeing Isabel's cutting glare.
"You think we can't do it?" She said, with a gently caress to her voice that spoke murder louder than any action ever could. She linked arms with Marco faultlessly, the boy looking over his shoulder apologetically at Jean. "I don't quite get why either Marco or myself is in this team -"
"Are you saying you haven't been constantly trying to catch up to Y/N this past year?" Sasha quietly said, as though she hadn't realized that she'd spoken. Isabel fell silent, keeping her eyes firmly away from you and fixed on her. Sasha seemed to sense it, then, that weight of Isabel Magnolia's full attention. "I'm sorry! I'm tired, I don't know what I'm saying..."
"You knew exactly what you were saying," Isabel said softly. "You knew what I was thinking all this time?"
You met Jean's eyes from where they started to shine with - tears? He must have seen the panic settle on your face, because he quickly rubbed his face and trained his features into neutrality - he'd been waiting for this particular confrontation for a while. "Of course I knew," Sasha said, raising an eyebrow. "We were all thinking it. We all knew what you were doing, and we had no idea how to stop you."
"Why would you have stopped me?" Isabel said, her face unusually serious. "Didn't you want me to be the new Pride? I constantly tried to fill that hole left - I thought you wanted me to?"
"We - god, you idiot - of course we wanted the hole filled!" Connie piped up, standing to the left of Sasha. "But not by you; if you filled that hole, we'd still have one - but this time, it would have been where you were! We'd already lost Y/N - why would we have wanted to lose you too?"
"Oh my god, I'm Team Envy," Isabel whispered, and a laugh burst through the room at the sight of her tugging Sasha into a tight embrace, cupping her face as tears spilled. "I'm such an idiot, oh my god -"
"At least you're you," Olyver said, but shut up quickly at Sasha's raised eyebrow.
You rolled your eyes. "Simply because I know that Sasha is immeasurably eager to learn her team - Team Gluttony, which I know will come as a shock to all of you present. Sasha and Armin will make up this team; their aim is to start being able to provide a reasonable future for these people. These people are starving - you're going to think up ways to fix that."
"I can't believe you've called Armin glutton," Eren choked on a laugh, earning himself an icy glare from said glutton boy. "I know that it fits his desire to learn more, but damn, you had enough guts to say it!"
"I wouldn't say much," you told him smugly, trying not to beam at Armin and failing miserably. "You're on team Wrath."
Several people within the room whooped and clapped him on the back, all events that started to turn his face red with either embarrassment or anger - at this point, who knew? "Serves you right - there is a thing known as far too much yelling," Mikasa said to him, grinning. You smiled at her, which made her shrink back for a moment; she knew what was coming.
"Team Lust will be made up of Christa and Mikasa," you said, your eyes finding Ymir's in the crowd and pointedly ignoring the way that she glowered at you. "Your jobs will include using any means necessary to get us all out of here after everything has happened."
"'After everything has happened'," Jean quoted, his sarcasm clear. "Why have you got to plan everything? Why couldn't you have just been a normal girl in her second year of an ordinary assassination school? I just don't understand..."
Marco elbowed him as you laughed and shot him a vivacious wink. "Where would be the fun in being ordinary? You're in Team Greed, by the way - along with Petra and Connie. You guys will - hopefully - be serving our own personal means, enforcing laws and such."
"You planned me to be within a team?" Petra asked, a smooth smile working its way to her lips. "I hadn't realized that you had such a cold heart, Y/N."
"Your mistake," shrugged Olyver, ignoring the dramatically hurt look that you showed to him - a pout and lowered eyebrows included. "If I'm not mistaken, that leaves just one person without a team - Team Pride will consist of just one person, shall it?"
"Why would you have two or three in a team where just one will do?" You gave him an angelic smile, noting the way that his eyes flew briefly to Isabel and then rested back with you. "Eren - your team will include the rest of Petra's team, so don't worry about being on your own."
"I wasn't worried," he told you, drawing himself up and giving you a confident smirk. The gesture had its desired effect in that you all smiled back at him, until Jean lightly kicked the back of his knee and Eren stumbled slightly, swearing. "Jean, I swear to god you're going to get hit -"
"So Team Pride - you," Marco said, stepping aside for Eren and Jean as they tussled. They continued tumbling on the ground as you all spoke over the sound of their barked curses. "Team Sloth - Olyver and Ymir. Team Envy - Isabel and I. Team Wrath - Eren, Levi, Eld and Gunther. Team Lust - Christa and Mikasa. Team Greed - Jean, Petra and Connie. Team Gluttony - Armin and Sasha."
"Thanks for summing that up," Petra said, dryly. "When do we start with our jobs? How are we going to do our jobs? We're no one here, with nothing."
"Untrue," you smirked. "You have me. Everyone can go to bed now, except Teams Lust and Envy. They stay here." Marco nodded to you as everyone glanced towards the clock and cursed at the time. He and Mikasa stood, grabbing Jean and Eren respectively, and shoved various people out of the door. You yelled down the corridor as an afterthought - "be back up here at seven - or I go hunting early!" It didn't matter that seven was only four hours from now; you knew that the people would handle it (at this point, you ignored team Sloth's existence entirely).
"So, great Pride," Isabel sketched a bow before falling back onto your bed. You looked around your room, seeing for the first time how big it was - and how small it had felt with everyone in it. "You called?"
"Your jobs start now," you smiled. You looked at Christa, who was leaning against Mikasa in an effort to appear awake. "Team Lust - I need you to go and interrogate as many as the children as possible and take notes - where the guard's patrols are, how often they appear, any irregularities. We don't want to get caught until the time comes. Use your charm and be nice - these children have been through a lot," you said, liking the way that Christa had cheered up upon the thought of interacting with sweethearts. You didn't bother to tell her that some of these children would sooner give up their pudding than talk to them at three in the morning. "You guys don't have to be up till ten - so do this job quick and then get some sleep."
Mikasa and Christa left, leaving Isabel sprawled on your bed and Marco perched lightly on your desk. "So if Mikasa and Christa are using their charm to seduce children," Isabel groaned sleepily, "what are we going to do?"
"You guys are going to go and buy a house," you smiled, and opened the scrap of paper from inside the man's wallet.
***
"Seven is a useless time to be awake, for heaven's sake and the love of all that's holy -"
"Shut up, Olyver," you heard Jean spit. You were kind of glad that Olyver was fitting in well enough with your friends - especially if Jean had addressed him by name. "I'm trying to sleep against Marco here, and your voice is not helping."
You threw open your bedroom door loudly, causing several yelps from the other side. Everyone was here - not counting Team Envy or all of Team Wrath, of course - and you allowed yourself to smile at that fact alone. "So - who's excited?"
"Define excited," Connie deadpanned, and for a moment you were stunned - you had only heard his voice, and not seen him - but then your eyes found him lying on the floor literally just outside your door. It was a wonder that your door hadn't hit him in the head.
"Eager to cause mayhem, hell - and in Team Greed's case, a little excitement." Jean perked up as Petra sighed through her nose and stepped to Connie's side to drag him into at what could be considered as a sitting position. "Team Greed, come in first. The rest of you, wait here for a second."
Jean's eyes scanned your bedroom with more acuteness than you were comfortable with. "The wallet's gone," he noted, causing Connie to wince up at him as he crawled in after Petra.
"What does that even matter?" Petra said idly, stepping neatly around Connie and settling herself against your wall. You shook your head at Jean as he opened his mouth to pursue the matter - at this moment in time, Petra didn't need to know that everything you did had an impact in the long scheme of things.
"You guys are going to go to the market place," you said, ignoring how Petra raised an eyebrow. "I want notes on every single stall that is there - what they're selling, what their names are. One of you can do that - and the other two are going to investigate the rest of the streets. I want to know who steals from who, where all of the stall owners live, if they're legal. You're going to go and get a job – at the dye stall. Secure it, somehow. Be back for dinner at seven - is that enough time?"
Petra started, but Connie leaped to his feet and grabbed both her elbow and Jean's. "Hell, yes," he said, grinning. You ignored the fact that he was only happy because he was going to be surrounded by what little food that there was in the Underground instead of his actual job and nodded towards the door.
"Send in Team Sloth?"
***
You wandered down your own hall with Eren at your side. "I'd pretend that I have no idea why that they're not here," he said, "but I think you know why." You shrugged, ignoring the fatigue that was creeping in on your mind and fogging your thoughts. You'd been up all morning, directing the teams towards their jobs. The only person that had been left as everyone had departed, chuckling and eager to get started within their teams, had been the teal-eyed and messy haired boy at your side.
"Did he not want to come?" You asked, your voice flat.
"Eld and Gunther were threatening him all night," Eren said, yawning and stretching his arms above his head. "They even stayed up in shifts, watching him so that he wouldn't come and visit you."
"Bless," you responded, coming to a halt outside the boy's room. You smiled quickly at Eren before opening the door and halted at the scene inside.
"We can explain," came a weak voice.
You whipped your head to Eren, checking that he looked as stunned as you felt. The wide-eyed boy caught your stare and you both slowly, silently turned back to the scene developing within the boy's room.
Eld and Gunther were there, their backs facing towards you just two meters way from the door, a barricade of pillows in front of them like a waist-tall pillow wall. In their hands, they clenched two pillows each, looking more than ready to sling nasty right and left hooks towards their attacker.
Levi stood like an avenger, stood atop one of the boy's beds, frozen in a weird position. From the way that his legs were splayed apart and his arms were in totally opposite directions, you could guess that he was about to storm his team's pillow fort with a wild flurry of attacks. His face was set enough that you knew he had still locked up the anger from his tale last night in his mind, but the way that his eyes danced told you enough about Eld and Gunther's intentions.
"Alright," you said, slowly. Levi's eyes flew to your face and stayed there, fastening onto your eyes with such readiness that you could almost feel the slap of it. You walked in, pulling Eren - who came unwillingly into the war zone - and shut the door behind you both, before removing your coat. Eld and Gunther wisely averted their eyes as you removed the extra layer, dumping it onto the floor alongside what seemed to be Jean's bags. Levi, however, merely raised his eyebrows and shot a dominant look at Eren, who muttered things that you couldn't hear under his breath. "Let's have a little experiment, shall we?"
"We were just - I mean, he was - we kind of -"
You waved Eld's broken words off with a smile and stepped lightly over their pillow wall, grabbing three abandoned pillows from the other beds. You threw two lightly to Eren, who looked proud after he caught both in different hands and cocked your head at him. He followed you over the wall, before standing next to Levi. "Eren and Levi, your aim is to get out of this room. Eld and Gunther, your aim is to stop them."
"What on earth do you -" Gunther didn't have the time to finish his question before Levi leaped at him, his teeth locked in what seemed like a grimace. Eld dove between his friends, heaving a mattress shield in between them so that Levi merely bounced off of the wall that had not been there a moment ago. Eren nearly laughed as Levi groaned from his position on the floor, but the grey eyed male merely shot him a glare.
"Say one word, brat, and I don't care if you're on my team - I will hit you with these pillows."
"How does he make pillows so terrifying?" You heard Eld whisper to Gunther from behind the mattress, and you heard their tense chuckles. Levi froze for a moment, and you knew why just a few seconds afterwards - it seemed like Eld and Gunther knew how to distract people and draw their attention. One of them flung a pillow at Levi from the left of the mattress, hitting him square in the face - but as it connected, feathers flew out in every single direction possible.
"OI!" You yelled, ignoring the laughter that had exploded from the males of the room. "THOSE ARE MY PROPERTY, YOU ASSES!"
"Oh, shut it, brat," Levi spluttered, feathers nestling in his hair and down his shirt. You had a few seconds of warning before he swung his pillows at you, forcing you to twist down from the bed on which you were perched and onto the cool, stone floor. "Stop moving so that I can hit you!"
"Oh, of course!" You shouted, scrambling away. Near the door, you could hear the scuffles of Eren attacking the mattress wall, which Gunther and Eld were managing to hold up very well - surprisingly. You, of all people, knew how dedicated that boy was when he was given a goal. "Now that you've commanded me to, of course I'll stop moving!"
You heard Levi mutter a string of curses before you twisted, causing his eyes to bulge in momentary panic. He hadn't actually been expecting you to stop. In the process, he was so motivated to catch you that he no longer had any control to stop himself moving - although he tried. You saw him trip and fall, snapping your wrist and throwing the pillow in his face at just the right moment. Levi Ackerman fell to the ground with a pillow in his face, feathers flying everywhere.
Laughing at the sight of his face, you twisted and ran towards the mattress-wall, leaping and kicking it with all of your might. For a moment, you thought that it had given way - but then it bounced back, turning your shout of jubilation into a yell of 'AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHWHATTHEHELLLLLL' or something else untranslatable. You were sent flying along the stone ground, scraping your elbows along the floor and joining Eren behind a bed, watching Levi recover and retake his stance on the nearest bed to the wall.
"What team are you even on?" Eren panted, his wasted efforts trying to take down the mattress wall taking their toll on his breathing.
You flashed him a winning smile. "Team Pride." And with that, you yanked on the blanket that you'd subtly gripped and tugged it over him, ignoring his strangled yell that you chose not to hear. "THERE ARE CHILDREN LIVING UNDER THIS ROOF!" You yelled at him, gripping the blanket around him so that he couldn't easily escape. You felt him shake with laughter until the absence of other sound alerted you to another ongoing plot.
Levi tackled you, his arms going around your waist and his body throwing itself against yours so that you fell to the floor. "Hands off of my team mates," he said into your ear, his chest heaving against your back.
"Hands off me," you indignantly gasped, flipping your body at the waist so that you were nose to nose, your back on the floor with him above you. His leg came up to support himself, trying not to crush you - but then you both froze, his knee bumping into an area that you would have preferred it not to within this situation.
"Shit, I'm so sorry," Levi said, immediately lifting himself off of you. You scrambled back, a beam somehow working its way to your face. You tried to fight it off until the moment that Levi ran a hand down his jaw and you realized - with a rush of utter delight and satisfaction - that he was blushing. The great Levi Ackerman had his eyes on the floor, his hand covering his mouth and his face red. It got worse as he lifted his eyes to yours with an apology written in them and knew instantly why you were grinning so widely. "You can shut your face right now."
You pressed your hands to your face, cupping your burning cheeks as you contemplated smiling at him.
For a moment, you wanted to.
His own smile and blush faded as he met your eyes. "Don't say it."
"Don't say what?" You asked.
"Don't say that you forgive me," Levi said. "Because I won't accept it."
"You won't accept my forgiveness?" You repeated, faintly stunned.
"No, I won't. I haven't done anything to deserve it, yet. But I'm going to earn it, somehow."
"Bold of you to assume that I was going to forgive you," you said. But you couldn't deny that in that second, you'd thought about it. You knew that this male, right in front of you, would do anything.
Of course he would agree to make a girl fall in love with him.
Of course he would sacrifice himself and his heart for the sake of humanity.
After all, hadn't you done the same? You'd sacrificed yourself and the love you perhaps deserved for humans. But as much as you two were the same, sacrificing little pieces of yourselves for the larger picture, you weren't sure about it yet. You weren't sure if you could stand to not hate him for it.
"I'm nothing if not bold," Levi said, his eyes darkening.
"That's a lie," you said. "You're many things besides bold."
Levi quirked an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Annoying. Short. Stupid."
"Add "able to murder Y/N" to that list, and I'll be appeased."
"Never."
"Brat."
"Poodle."
At some point, the rest of Team Wrath had vacated the room - had left the mattress on the floor. Wise of them - although perhaps they knew that between the two of you, Levi and you could not be separated. Together, you could only be weathered.
You were Levi's apocalypse. He was yours, too.
Together, you were world-ending.
You knew that. But you knew enough about the world to know you'd miss it, if you allowed you and Levi to be together to destroy it. You tuned back into the real world, seeing the world of white in front of you. Levi was kneeling in front of you, his eyes looking levelly at you with enough steel that you were reminded of a weapon. The window behind him allowed for the lamp outside to shine in, illuminating his silhouette, making the few stray feathers seem almost ethereal. "I missed you," you said. "When I went away. I missed you so much that it hurt."
"I haven't been scared in a long time," Levi offered. "But not knowing if you were alright, not knowing if you were ever coming back – that was enough to destroy me."
You liked that sentiment – but you were hurt. The next sentence you offered was damning. "I don't know if I will ever be able to trust you again - and I'm angry at you."
Perhaps this is all it would be – offering small pieces of yourselves, talking about the smallest of things, one at a time, until you were both ready.
The door swung open and banged against the mattress. Levi turned slightly to send a death-filled glare towards the person opening it, and you just raised a hand in greeting. It wasn't as though either of you were in a compromising position – Levi still on his knees with you crouching more than a respectable distance away from him.
"It - it's ten o'clock," a weak voice came from the door, and you fought off the urge to sigh as you faced Christa's small smile and Mikasa's cool mask of amusement. "You said that we had to be up at ten, right?"
"Right," you said. You stood, dusting your trousers off with a few calculated swipes of your fingers – the iron ring winking at you as it moved in the light. You paused – too long. Levi was looking at it too, now. "I'm not taking it off," you said, beginning to walk lightly towards Team Lust - ignoring the irony of the situation. "It reminds me of how much I have to lose if this plan goes to hell. Plus," you added as an afterthought, "it helps me remember that you're not the only one who's engaged."
Both of you engaged to other people. His had long been in the works – a matter that was arranged by Petra's father. And yours, too – longer. Your father had probably been planning to marry you to Orion long before you killed him. You'd been planning to marry him, too.
Both of you, engaged. You, to a beast. Him, to a beauty.
How poetic, you snorted to yourself.
You didn't want to look around as you stooped to pick up your coat. "I want you and your team in my room, ten minutes. Find them and don't be late." With that, you left him in a room covered in feathers and light, linking arms with Christa and promptly dragging both her and Mikasa away as fast as you could.
{Team Sloth:}
"I don't even have a laziness issue," Olyver protested as Y/N shooed him and Ymir from her office. "Why have I got to be on this team?"
"Shut up," Ymir said blankly, her eyes dull. Olyver had seen enough of the tanned girl to guess where her mind was - or rather, who her mind was on. "I can't believe that I've got to train some children."
"Speak for yourself," Olyver replied. "I'd rather have your job."
"Liar." Olyver shot a glare at Y/N before she ushered a confused looking Team Gluttony into her office and shut the door with a smart snap.
"Well," Ymir said, glaring around at the deserted staircase. "How do we get children organised?" Olyver shrugged, his eyes on the team of three people at the base of the staircase, tugging on their various coats and weapons. Jean caught his eye and waved once, confidence brimming every inch of his person - despite the fact that he was trying to sheath a sword into a sheath clearly designed for a dagger. He flushed furiously upon realizing exactly why it wouldn't go in nicely, gave Olyver a much ruder gesture, and stomped out of the mansion - leaving his team to roll their eyes and follow him.
"Follow me to the plantation, I suppose," Olyver said, his hand finding its way to Ymir's elbow. The girl went still underneath his touch, and Olyver drew his wrist back before he could be bitten. Instead, he gave her a tentative smile and cocked his head towards the door. "I'll tell you everything that I know about the children, and their numbers."
Ymir followed him without saying much at all, walking out of the backdoor to go to the small plantation that made up a back garden. Olyver groaned as he set about preparing it, hacking at the ground with some pitchforks and hoes that Y/N had somehow procured. "This hasn't been tended to in a while," he panted, knowing that Ymir was enjoying herself immensely, watching him sweat. "I don't understand why it has to be now."
"Never mind her intentions," Ymir said, perching herself on top of an upturned wheelbarrow. "Tell me about the children."
"We let them govern themselves, pretty much," Olyver admitted, pausing for a while and resting his screaming muscles. "The only thing that we ask them to do is sign a register with their name and tick whether they're in or out. We get new children every day - ones that have travelled across the entire Underground to make it here. Y/N somehow got beds and toys and clothes - don't even ask me how, I have no idea - and the children just go about their everyday lives. Some of them fancy themselves as recruiters - they go around and try to spread the word of Y/N L/N's house, which is open to all children. Most train hard with their trainer - the captain of the guards. Others just eat our food, sleep in our beds and spend the rest of the day playing."
Ymir hummed quietly, her foot tapping against the wood of the wheelbarrow in such a way that Olyver knew she was concentrating hard. "When does this... 'Trainer' come?"
"He arrives at three in the afternoon and leaves at five - so the children work up an appetite," Olyver smiled.
"That's useless," Ymir said, much to Olyver's shock. "Honestly - I knew that Y/N was in the top sets, but she never really had to learn the basics, did she?"
"Hey," Olyver said, an automatic defense creeping into his voice. "Take it easy."
"When your children are being chased by thieves and rapists, is that what you're going to tell them? Take it easy? Are you serious?"
Olyver glanced at Ymir as she worked herself back into a frown. She heaved herself up, shooting a famous glare back at the house. "I've got an idea, and you're not going to like it."
"Isn't that a surprise?" Olyver muttered as the girl stormed back into the house, preparing himself mentally for the day ahead.
***
"Line up."
Olyver didn't blame the children for the indignant looks they shot at each other, arranging themselves along the long fence line of the back garden. Ymir had stomped into the house and yelled blue murder until every single child had moved themselves into the garden, waiting for the demon-eyed girl to give them more instructions. But they hadn't complained - they hadn't rebelled or hidden, like he'd expected them to. It seemed that Ymir knew more about the mentality of children than she let on.
"I want every single child that wants to continue living here in this courtyard in one hour - eleven o'clock. That gives you one hour to collect your siblings, friends, acquaintances and bring them here, waiting for my orders. If they don't want to come, tell them that there is no longer any place for them here, eating our food and using our heating for free. You may not want to come back - that's fine. Don't. For those that want to come back, be here in one hour." Olyver did his best to draw himself up and look like he utterly agreed with Ymir's words, despite the fact that he was utterly certain that Y/N would not like this at all. Children were looking at him - knowing his face, knowing that he was one of the adults that provided for them - and nodding, as though they understood that he was unfeeling stone, ready to walk out on these children like all the others had done.
Ymir raised an eyebrow at the stunned silence of the children. "Fifty nine minutes, now. Run along."
It only took thirty seconds for the children to scramble - over the wall, into the house, through a hole in the window - out of sight. Olyver crossed the mossy ground to where Ymir still stood tall, impassively looking along the grass. "There were less than I expected," she said, her voice quiet - knowing, as Olyver did, that whilst they could not see the children that were listening, they were there. "But I'm going to give them order. I'm going to give them purpose. That's what you and Y/N missed - children don't want just food and beds. It's a good starting place, but it's not all. They want purpose - they want dreams, to learn, to move."
Olyver blinked as Ymir handed him the pitchfork that he'd abandoned just a few minutes ago. She grabbed another one for herself, rolling up her long sleeves, and began swinging it at the dirt. Olyver blinked again at the muscles that bulged from her arms. "We have an hour," Ymir said clearly, despite the exertion that was farm work. "Make it count."
***
Olyver was leaning against the wall of the house, starting to pity the stone-faced girl as she stood alone in the middle of the garden.
The children's hour was up.
And none had come.
Yes, it was pity that was creeping into his tired, tired body. Ymir had been so quietly confident in her knowledge of the workings of children's minds, so sure of herself that this was surely a blow she could not recover from. And Y/N - Y/N had been counting on the fact that Team Sloth could manage the children. He didn't want to think about the look on the girl's face as they told her about their failure.
Because he would be damned before he let Ymir take all of the blame.
Not that the girl had impressed him, or anything. They hadn't even spoken during the hour they'd spent clearing a quarter of the garden of weeds. But it was the quiet companionship that she'd offered, the meek competition that she'd presented that had caused Olyver to value her, in a quiet and competitive way.
Olyver pushed off of the wall, his heart going out to the lonely, quiet girl. "Ymir..."
The girl held up a hand, effectively silencing him. He bit his lip, trying not to cringe at the saltiness of his own skin due to the sweat that they'd both worked up. What could he say to her, to make her understand? To make her feel better? He opened his mouth, having no clue of what to say.
And that was when the back door of the house swung open and the children walked in a quiet, orderly line into the garden. They lined up at the back first, filling the courtyard with a silent presence that was so poignant that it was almost staggering - and Olyver was shocked as they just kept coming. There were faces in the orderly crowd that he'd never seen before - but he couldn't see a single child that had decided not to come. Even the children carrying the infant bodies of their siblings were present - dutifully pulling themselves up straight as they looked towards Ymir.
She'd known, Olyver realized. She'd known that they'd come, and the children had picked up on that confidence immediately, knowing to look towards her as their leader instead of Olyver. As the final child filed through the door and quietly shut it behind them, Ymir allowed a beat of silence to pass over the assembly of children before speaking in her usual blunt voice.
"You're all two minutes late - and you'll make up for it." For a moment, Olyver was scared that the indignant looks of before would return - but there were none. There was just pure steel in the children's eyes. "I want everyone eating breakfast at seven o'clock every morning, ready to be out here for nine o'clock. You can do whatever you want before that, I don't care. But you will be here from nine o'clock until I decide you are ready to go. Do you understand?"
The children didn't hesitate to bellow their agreement, various looks of excitement being passed around. Ymir nodded to herself - and at the gesture, silence ensued. That girl's a monster, Olyver thought.
"I'm going to split you up," Ymir said, her eyes sparkling with unknown energy. "And this is how it's going to work."
***
Olyver sat down for the first time what felt like forever, at just six o'clock, and nearly moaned aloud at the pleasure of resting his body. Luckily, he clamped down on the noise, and settled for glaring at Ymir - who stood just two meters away, her arms crossed.
"You're insane," he said, before stiffening as he realized that he'd said it aloud.
"You have the world's worth of adjectives at your feet, and yet you settle for insane?" She replied coolly. They were both seated on the bench just next to the back door, watching the strange assortment of activities that were taking place. Ymir had organised everything - had placed the weakest children on gardening duty, so that they were struggling with the hoes and pitchforks. Olyver felt another pitying wave come on as he watched them wipe sweat from their foreheads, their eyes trained dutifully on their work.
"They'll get muscles soon," Ymir had said. "Once they've got muscles, they can start training how to use them."
The stronger, more able children were training with the Captain, a man who had taken one look at Ymir and had decided to do whatever she said. She'd even slapped him at one point, where he'd offered the suggestion that they start training with weapons. "The first thing that anyone has to learn," she'd snapped, "is how to move their bodies. How to defend themselves with only their hands and feet and wits."
She'd sent the burlier children out for a run around the entire Underground - stating that muscles were all very well and good, but that they were useless if they couldn't run. They hadn't gotten back yet - and wouldn't for a while, Olyver suspected.
She'd been kinder to the younger ones - sending them on cleaning, cooking and nursing duties after their two-hour fitness work out. "Skills like these are as essential as weapon handling," she'd told Olyver, over his objections that she was going to put him out of a job. He'd been running around after all of them all day, teaching them how to polish and sweep and wash.
Ymir, though - she'd done everything. She'd shown the children working in the garden how to swing, how to ration their energy. She'd even stepped in with the Captain, pointing out his flaws with footwork. Olyver had never seen anything like the monster that was his partner.
It wasn't until the runners trickled back into the courtyard and began collapsing in fatigue that Ymir decided they were done. "That's enough," Ymir called, raising her voice just slightly. "You're all done for today." Those who had enough energy - maybe two or three in total - cheered. Those who were smarter kept their mouths shut, bowed to Ymir and dragged themselves back into the house, readying themselves for the dinner that the others had prepared for them.
"We're meant to be going to for dinner at seven," Olyver groaned as Ymir grabbed his hand and tugged him harshly to his feet. "But I couldn't care less, I need food now."
"I'd argue with you," Ymir muttered, "but I understand."
Olyver shot her a grin, to which she responded with a shaky punch. They staggered their way through the house, quickly amused at how fast the children recovered and were running, shrieking and playing. Climbing the stairs were the worst part - but somehow, they found their way to the dining room that had been designated entirely for them. Ymir didn't wait for Olyver - she just opened the door and collapsed onto one of the seats in the middle, resting her head on the table. Olyver smiled again before shutting the door and joining her, groaning at the soft cushions and at the smell of food that was very close to being served to them, with any luck.
"I hear that you've managed to bewitch all of my children so that they worship you instead of me," Y/N swaggered into the dining room. All of Olyver and Ymir's attention went right to the platter that she bore in her arms, and the steam that was rising from under the lid. "How'd you manage it?" Ymir shrugged, and Y/N's eyes sparkled with amusement as she cottoned on to exactly where Olyver and Ymir were looking. "Honestly," she said, setting the platter down in front of them and whipping off the lid. Olyver nearly cried at the sight of the stew that was revealed, but settled for diving in.
"I gave you the job of training my army of children," Y/N said exasperatedly, watching as Ymir began eating with a vigor equal to none. "Not tiring yourselves out so that you acted like them."
"Shut up," Olyver said, ignoring the fact that his mouth was full of food.
"It's only half six, as well," Y/N remarked, not touching any of the food herself. She settled herself into a chair to the right of Ymir, curling herself into a more comfortable position. "You're early. I'd expected Team Sloth to be late."
"Shut up," Ymir echoed Olyver as she heaped seconds onto her plate.
"I would," Y/N sighed dramatically. "But unfortunately, I think we're about to have company." With that, Mikasa Ackerman kicked the double doors in with such foul-minded energy that Ymir choked. "Hello to you too," Y/N smiled.