As to not keep you from the story I have placed the Author's note at the bottom. Enjoy.

"I guess us Ackerman's must stick together and all…"

Agony.

Blind, hot agony.

It was dark, black as pitch, and pain, pain everywhere. He could only feel his body collapse altogether to the ground, slumping to his knees.

Faintly he could hear the sounds of battle, human vs. human (something that sadly at this point he is used to), the clang of metal on metal, and the tell tail battle cry of a scarf wearing cadet.

That battle cry, he's heard from her before.

A cry of a girl who was about to lose everything again.

Slowly he could feel the blade of his former master slide out of him, something that would have hurt like a bitch if he wasn't already numb, before scoffing lightly.

"Tch, didn't realize you had another person that could fight like a demon on your side. Guess natural skill runs in the name huh? I would say blood but that isn't necessarily true my pet?"

A cough.

It was he could feel the blood dripping down his chin.

Had he had the power or the energy or the actual ability to he would have a sent a string of curse words his way. Even in his days training under the bastard he called his pseudo father has always, he had quite the dirty mouth.

"Anti-human suppression squad! Retreat!"

There was the sound of hurried footsteps. Then there was silence and Levi felt he was alone.

He could feel his conscious slipping, and with it the ability to think straight. It felt like years that he laid there alone, slowly bleeding out until he heard the loud clunk of feet hitting the ground, and the running footsteps hitting the ground towards him.

"Heichou?"

He forced his eyes open with whatever strength he had left, taking a second to marvel at how the bright sun's light passed through the canopy above (no matter how many times he's seen it before in expeditions, he never truly gets tired of it), before a small flash of red flashes in his vision.

Tsk. Ackerman. She would be the last person to come to my aid when her brother is being kidnapped.

"Heichou?" He hears he ask again, a little more softly this time, placing a pale, slender on hand the gaping hole in his chest.

He was slipping again. Even opening his eye was causing him to go faster.

"Levi….Ackerman…?"

And he blacked out.

He had lost his sense of time after the second time he had lost consciousness.

Every time he had managed to open his eyes and be able to become somewhat aware of his surroundings (which was averaging at about ten seconds) he would always catch a glimpse of a bright red ratty scarf, and charcoal eyes that seemingly brighten whenever he opened his, and raven hair that framed her face perfectly.

She was always there, this much he knew, tending to him as he slipped in and out of consciousness.

It surprised him really. He would have figured that she would be out there chasing after Jaeger, the only thing she really seemed to care about, and humanity's god damn hope for fuck's sake.

Yet she was here, hovering over him, taking care of him as he recovered peacefully in sleep.

So it was only natural for him to be surprised that the day he finally fully awakened that she was not in the room, right there on the wooden chair placed next to his bedside.

He hadn't felt this alert in what felt like years, and he relished the feeling of being able to hear the common buzz and activity of the scouting legion's headquarters and the feeling of the coarse bed sheets under his once seemingly numb skin.

He spent what felt like days staring at the ceiling, slowly being welcomed back to the land of the living.

The door creaked open behind him, and he craned his neck despite the pain to look. Brown boots came in first, as the head of Mikasa Ackerman peeked through the door.

Her eyes feel on him immediately, widening at the sight of his alertness, and lips turning up to a small, relieved smile.

"Captain, you're awake." She stated as she made her way over to his bedside, kneeling down and touching his forehead with the back of her hand.

He didn't like being coddled, but there was something relaxing about her touch that made him hesitate pushing her away.

"Of course I'm awake brat."

She remained silent and went to go retrieve something behind her, most likely bandages. He frowned to himself. Mikasa would be the first to protest at the name of brat.

"So…what happened? You know, after I blacked out? After I was defeated…" The words felt heavy and his tongue like sandpaper as he rasped the words out. For him, humanity's strongest, to admit defeat was about as difficult as actually defeating him.

He saw her stiffen; her shoulders pull back as she pulled bandages from one of the drawers in the room.

"Not so well…I'm afraid." She moved over to back to him. "Now if you would please sit up captain. You are in need of fresh bandages."

He obeyed without question, sitting up painfully, finally being able to get a good look at her at close proximity.

She avoided his gaze at all costs (was that guilt that flashed across her face?), her eyes downcast yet he didn't fail to notice the dark rings forming under them from lack of sleep. She herself seemed to be sporting few injuries (a couple of small cuts and scrapes adorned her pretty face), but she seemed o have come out of the battle mostly unscathed, a fact that relieved him more than it should.

"'Not so well' isn't the answer I was looking for." He swallowed hard. "Now don't play coy with me brat. They got away didn't they? We lost Jaeger and Historia?"

There was silence. He could feel his muscles coiling, and his blood begin to simmer above the surface. He was bracing himself for the response.

"Yes…I'm afraid so Captain. The Military Police have hold of Eren and HIstoria, and we have no idea of their location…"

He wanted to kick and scream, throw a tantrum like a child. He had failed and it may have well cost them the war they hasn't even begun. The idea angered him to no measure. To lose a war before it had begun because he couldn't defeat his own master.

He clenched his fist, took a deep breath.

Mikasa seemed to be aware of anger and chose to say no more on the topic, as she unwrapped the dirty, soaked bandages and replaced them with fresh ones. He looked down at the large gash in his chest. It would most definitely scar, and it would serve as constant reminder of this failure. He was starting to think that it would have been better if his mentor had finished him off right then and there.

Mikasa finished her handy work, and stood quietly.

"You should rest some more Heichou. I'll leave you be."

She turned to leave and he said nothing.

But just as she placed her hand on the door knob she heard his voice call out.

"Why are you here?" He said bitterly, almost sounding broken. She was frozen. "Shouldn't you be out there hunting down those bastards and Jaeger? That shitty brat is always the only thing on your mind. And Sina knows that they need your help."

There was a tense silence that only lasted a second. She opened the door with a creak and stepped fully through, only pausing to say:

"It's because…Eren isn't the only family I have to look out for now…"

And he swore that he saw a flash of a smile on her face, before shutting the door softly.

"Rest Levi…Ackerman."

And that phrase bounced in the inside of his head, all the way until sleep took him again.

He didn't know how long this schedule went on.

He would wake and she would always be there, with a tray of food waiting. He would eat under her careful supervision (she claimed that he probably wouldn't eat if she wasn't there watching him) and would only leave until she was sure he ate all his food. Then should she would leave, probably helping in the mission to determine the location of Eren and Historia, and then come back around noon to change his bandages, only to leave again and not return until nightfall where she forced him to sleep.

He felt like a child, but he knew it would be in his best interests to cooperate (at least for now) so that he may recover more quickly and be placed into the field as soon as possible. Yet, his stubborn pride was making things quite difficult.

He had received the occasional visit from Hanji and Erwin, and seeing them both alive and well made him feel a little better, as much as he hate to admit. They offered small words of consolations and wished him a fast recovery, knowing how much he hated being bed ridden.

The fact they had taken time to actually pay him a visit was more touching than what he needed it to be.

His schedule was lax and he was ripe for recovery, yet he still felt like he was gonna go mad.

Mikasa had remained as silent and stoic as she ever was, and she never brought up the conversation they had had the day he regained consciousness. She would remain quite as she changed his bandages and silent as she watched him eat, and only bothering to mumble good night when she sent him to sleep.

She might think that she was doing him a very favor by not pressing the subject.

But it was only making him more anxious.

He needed to get out. He could walk with little difficulty now, the white hot agony in chest had subsided to a dull, throbbing pain that at least now he could tolerate.

It was midnight and he couldn't sleep. Gingerly he placed his feet on the cold wooden floor, and with a loud groan of pain stood for the first time in what felt like ages. Every muscle in his body seemed to ache, and his head was beginning to pound with an unnatural pain.

But it wasn't anything that he couldn't handle. As silently as he could, and with inflicting as little pain on himself as he could, he tossed a white linen shirt over his bare chest and stuffed his feet into a pair of boots.

Taking a deep, shaky breath he stepped out of his room and taking ginger steps away from his room to the outside porch where he could get his long awaited fresh air and peace and quiet.

A cold rush of cool night air burst through as he opened the door to the porch.

And a startled Mikasa almost fell on her rump.

She let out a small yelp of surprise from his sudden opening of the door, and he stumbled back in surprise of her presence.

He could already tell it was going to be a long night.

"Heichou, what are you doing up?" She asked tiredly, waving him off and turning back to her where she had been before, leaning against the railing and looking up at the moon.

He scoffed lightly. "I could ask the same about you shitty brat. Anyone from a mile away would be able to see the bags under your eyes."

She gave him a tired look (she looked so empty, and it made his chest clench) and turned back to the moon. "There's no point in arguing with you."

He didn't notice his knees were wobbling until he was about to collapse. He limped over to the rocking chair and sat down on it slowly, trying to avoid any pain. Mikasa gave him a concerned look from the corner of her eye, but said nothing. She knew that he would snap at her if she even mentioned him going to back to his room.

And so they sat there, in rather tense silence. Levi already knew there was something on her mind, gnawing at the edges until her nerves were frayed and it was probably the same thing that had been driving him mad these past for weeks.

So he waited, and he didn't have to wait long at all.

"Captain…why?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you hide it? That man…he called you Levi Ackerman…"

He took a deep sigh, and leaned back against his chair, at the very least satisfied that he had prompted the question from her after making him wait so long that it almost drove him mad.

"Why do think? Because it's my last name shit for brains."

He eyes flashed in anger, and she stood tall, glowering at him defiantly. There was that fire he had always (secretly) admired her for.

"All this time, I've been lead to believe that I had no one." He fingers dug into her palms as she made a tight fist. "That I had no one except Eren. I have at least the right know that there is still someone out there, anyone! I've you've been right in front of me this whole time, the family I have been desperately craving right under my nose! I have the right to know Levi!"

His eyes softened as he saw the glistening tears begin to form at the edges of her eyes. He stood suddenly, and gripped both of her shoulders.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you…Mikasa…but I still may not be what you are looking for. I'm not someone you would even want to be related to, I've done so many things I'm not proud of, and the name Ackerman, it wasn't even mine to begin with it. I adopted it from that man you call Captian Ackerman, I trained under the bastard but, I ran like a dog between my legs when I realized everything that man was. I'm about as clueless as you are in this situation."

He let out a long drawn out sigh. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm the family you were looking for. I'm sorry that you were lead on like that."

He swallowed the lump in his throat. He never realized that apologizing could be this difficult. "But what I can promise you is that we'll catch that bastard and we'll get our answers. I promise that we'll rescue that brat Jaeger, who is more family to you than I can ever be."

There was a complete and utter silence before she caught him in a tight embraced that knocked the wind out of him.

"No, no, no matter what we are connected." She looked down at her red scarf. "Family is not decided by whose blood you carry but by those who will stand beside you through thick and thin. Thank you Levi, thank you for everything…"

And he stood there; rubbing circles into her back as all the stress she had built up for the past couple of weeks came flooding out in the form of short sobs.

He looked up at a full moon.

"For you, I'll take the Ackerman again, and wear it with honor."

Hey everybody, its TrustintheFireflies here. I ought to change my name, much too long. Anyway, here you go, my first contribution to this fandom. I myself didn't like my own ending but this is what I get for doing one shots in various sittings. It messes with my flow of writing.

As crappy as this may be I'm still happy I could get this out there. I rarely complete things I start unfortunately, that's why I prefer writing one shots.

So this takes place directly after and includes a bit of my headcanons for the whole Ackerman ordeal in chapter 56 (also I ship Rivamika too hard to make them related). I can totally work from a platonic angle though as proven here.

I'll just finish here because I think I'll bore you guys. Please leave a review if you enjoyed (or not, I like constructive criticism) and your thoughts on this one shot. They encourage me to keep writing and I hope to continue to contribute to this fandom! Take care!

~TrustintheFireflies