Secret Life

Where is He?!

"Levi-Heichō! There you are!" Petra yells running toward me.

"What is it, Petra?" I ask affixing my saber to my hip.

"Hanji wants to meet everyone for a few minutes in Erwin-Danchō's office before we go downstairs."

I freeze for a few seconds then follow her to Erwin's office, mind racing. Did she want to go ahead and tell them? Give them a heads up on what could happen? What the hell is she thinking? Did she already tell the brat while they were out?

"HEY SHORT STUFF!" Shitty Glasses yells waving at Petra and I as we walk through the door.

"Tch." I look around to see all the senior officers. Is she really...?

"Now that everyone is here," Hanji starts seriously, "I wanted to let everyone know that Jaeger will be here soon."

"What do you mean, Zoë?" Erwin asks. "Was he not in your care yesterday morning?"

"Yes, but he decided to stay behind with some old friends in town. An emergency came up when we were leaving."

"Shit Glasses, are you telling us hours after the fact that the shitty brat is with people we don't know about doing who knows what?" I ask slowly. Knew it - shouldn't have let her have him outside of HQ.

"Well - when you put it that way," she says bashfully. "However, these friends were just as overprotective of him as his sister, so..."

"But it's just as Heichō said, we don't know them, and - despite Jaeger being close to them - we don't know who's out to hurt him or not," Petra interjects. "They might've been friends some time ago, but things are different now."

"They wouldn't happen to be the women from his trial, would they?" Erwin asks.

"Indeed they are," Hanji answers gleefully.

"Women? From his trial?" Gunther asks Erwin.

"You mean that buxom woman who almost bit Danchō's head off?" Eld asks Hanji.

"The very one," Hanji answers laughing. "That's why I'm sure he's in good hands. But," Hanji adds turning serious again, "there's another reason why I called this little shindig." Oh God, she's gonna tell them. I need to sto- "Eren wants us to acknowledge him as a stranger when he comes back, though he didn't explain why." Huh?

"What?"

"A stranger? He's anything but, and he knows it!"

"And he didn't explain? Does it have to do with that 'emergency' that came up?"

"Like I said, I don't know why he said this; he said this for me to follow, but I figured it'd only be fair if we all did this as a show of support for him," Hanji answers briefly holding my eye. Does this mean she told him, or she found out something where telling him isn't necessary?

Erwin speaks up, "I'm sure Eren wouldn't do this unless he felt he's doing what's best for those he cares about. With that, until he comes back and explains himself, we will abide by his request through Zoë and treat him as a visiting guest. In the meantime, our focus is this very important meeting. We must be aware of any tricks he decide to pull if he does manage to get Zackly to join us. I have received news that Commander Pixis is on his way here, so we must be on top of everything. Anything else, Zoë?"

"Nope, that's all." What the hell happened yesterday?

"Okay. Now, gather your respective squads and let's start things in motion. Dismissed."

***

The first to show up is Commander-in-Chief Darius Zackly, looking worn but welcoming; he especially loves the tour Eld and Oluo's squads decide to give him while we wait on the others.