Hanji had told them they needed to get to Nicholas Lovof before he decided to come down and join the party (she discretely pulled Isanna away and apologized for ruining her 'juicy' moment with Erwin, but Isanna ignored her), because once the noble lord was downstairs, it would be near to impossible to strike a deal with him what with the crowd of guests filling the house; attracting attention was the last thing Erwin wanted, especially since Commander Shadis had entrusted him to take care of the matter. 

"You're free to go up the floors, just don't make too much noise, and don't fucking drag me into your mess." Baldrick had made sure to drill it in their brains earlier on. He then proceeded to tell them to use the staircase at the back of the house and not the ones in first floor because he didn't want the guests making a fuss - something Erwin agreed with him on, which was a rarity. 

Now, the group of four disguised soldiers were stalking up the cold staircase at the back of the mansion that led directly to the second floor, their view of the grassy backyard and evening stars sporadically littering the sky as the breeze softly slapped their skin. Isanna was right behind Erwin, and then followed by Hanji, then Mike was tailing them at the bottom of their file as they walked up the stairs.

Erwin had asked Isanna if she was cold as they walked up the stairs (being the perfect gentleman he was), with the girl shaking her head and refusing his offer of wearing his jacket. The girl could practically feel Hanji and Mike's mocking grins shooting at the back of her skull (could they be any more obvious) but didn't look back to acknowledge them.

"Are you sure little Lovof isn't going to betray us anytime soon?" Isanna asked whilst scanning their surroundings as they entered into the corridor of the second floor; the walls were painted a decorous pigment of hazel wood, the floor in a darker shade, and the ceiling a tone somewhere between the two. The light hanging from the bulbs above provided enough vision for the group as they made their way down the wide hall.

Erwin kept a steady eye around them. "He won't. He wouldn't risk ruining his life when I hand the papers to the General."

Isanna pursed her lips in a hum. Fair point. Baldrick valued his stable life too much for that, besides, he had a wife to take care of.

The halls were winding, curling with a series of twists and turns with countless doors meters between each other in both sides of the wall, and the girl wondered what kind of rooms were behind such doors. It wasn't like this was a hotel of some sorts.

The walk between them was silent save for the soft clacking of heels from Isanna and Hanji's sandals, with not one of them daring to disrupt the suspenseful silence; then, Isanna and Mike felt it.

For Isanna, it was the distant sound of rushed footsteps, coming from more than five pairs of feet; for Mike, it was their human odors prickling his nostrils.

"Erwin, they're here."

Right after Isanna's warning, Erwin leaned and pushed the door to his left while pulling her inside with him, leaving Mike and Hanji to intercept what they guessed were Lovof's personal guards.

"If only we had our gear, I would've just zipped to the third floor and crash into Lovof's office," Isanna grumbled just as the noise of battle from the corridor began. She wasn't that worried for Hanji and Mike since they were one of their strongest soldiers, and she knew the brunette was still more than capable of bringing down measly human guards even when she was rocking heels. Hanji was a badass like that.

Erwin gave her no response following her complaint, instead walking over to the window that overlooked the front garden of the mansion. He placed a hand on the windowsill and poked his head out of the frame as the breeze flowed past his cheeks, his neck craned to see how far was the nearest window to the next floor.

"It's not that far." He leaned back inside and looked at Isanna, his eyes trailing down her outfit. "Can you climb up?"

Isanna tsked and stalked past him, wasting no time in gripping the sides of the window frame while positioning a heel on the sill. "I've been through situations much worse, Erwin."

Erwin's lips twitched into a subtle smirk before he helped steadied Isanna's figure as she climbed out of the window. "Watch your foot."

"If I catch you peeking at me," Isanna said as she clenched her jaw and heaved herself up, eyeing the window a few spaces to her upper right, "I'm gouging your beautiful blue eyes out with my heels."

"You know I would never do that."

Yes, Isanna knew full well Erwin wasn't going to do something as perverted as peeking at her underwear - he was too much of a gentleman for that. But dammit, he should've at least showed some slight interest.

The girl dramatically rolled her eyes before she took in a sharp breath and lifted herself up, mounting her figure over the window and was alerted when she realized it didn't lead to a room but directly to the hallway.

And, just her godforsaken luck, there were dozens of guards stationed just literal few steps away from her.

Isanna stared at them; they stared at her.

Then, she flipped her hair and cocked a smirk. "Hello, boys."

And just like that, short chaos ensued.

The girl avoided their hits and made sure to counterattack hitting their vital points directly, knocking the consciousness out of their systems as they fell to the floor with their eyes rolling backwards. She lifed a leg through the slit of her night-colored dress and slammed her heel right behind the nape of the last guard, shoving the side of his face to the wall with a bang.

Isanna blew a stray ginger strand from her face as she surveyed her work of unconscious bodies.

"Good work."

Looking over her shoulder, the girl saw Erwin standing in front of the window he had come through, a proud look donning his face as he watched her.

"Wow," she playfully scoffed, slowly turning her whole body to face him as she crossed her arms over her chest, giving him a mocking incredulous look, "you were just watching this whole time? I thought you were a gentleman."

A faint intrigued smirk etched on his lips as he walked past her. "You didn't seem to need my help."

"Touchè."

The duo made their way through the bodies (Erwin avoided them but Isanna pressed her heel on a few hands for good measure) and walked down the hallway, eventually reaching two mahogany double doors at the end. Erwin grasped the two gold-plaited door handles and pushed it open with a loud creak.

So dramatic, Isanna thought.

The inside of the office was wide, wider than Isanna's personal quarters back at headquarters. Book shelves decked the adjacent walls, a vintage carpet floored the tiles, and a large office desk stood a few steps ahead. There was an aged man with balding head and a tufted beard sitting behind the desk, and he didn't look too pleased at the duo's uninvited visit.

He motioned to the three guards inside the room. "Get them."

Isanna stepped forward and protectively stood in front of Erwin, her eyes immediately narrowing into slits as she met the first man with a sudden grip on his arm, twisting it around and eliciting a yelp of pain from him. She kicked him in the stomach as his figure stumbled back, pushing his two colleagues with him. The girl then lunged forward and kneed the same man in his groin, him clutching his family jewels in a curse as his knees sank on the carpet. At his lowered position, Isanna grabbed his head and used it as leverage to push her body overhead, slamming her calves into the two other men by their shoulders and pushing them down with her weight. With one last breath, she grabbed both of their heads and banged them together in a collision, before their figures slumped into the ground. The first man had recovered from the pain and was about to turn around to catch Isanna by surprise when Erwin stepped up and pressed a blade by his throat, stopping his movements.

Nicholas Lovof regarded the battle before him with gritted teeth, discretely reaching out for the drawer below his desk and itching to take out his hidden gun.

Swish!

His fingers were just inches away from the drawer when a knife whizzed threateningly past his cheek and landed on the wall behind him, a thin line of blood trickling down from the gash.

The noble lord lifted his shaking eyes, mixed with nervousness and fury as he locked gazes with Erwin.

Isanna had already taken the conscious guard from Erwin's hold and struck the side of her palm down his neck, rendering him unconscious and saving them any more potential trouble. She watched as her best friend made his way towards the table separating them from Nicholas Lovof.

"Who the hell are you and what do you want?"

"Nicholas Lovof," Erwin addressed him cooly, "I am Erwin Smith of the Survey Corps."

Nicholas' eyes widened in a series of shock, followed by realization, then anger bristling through his glare. Erwin Smith. He was no stranger to the name and the person himself; Commander Shadis always had him in their council meetings as he was the next-in-line head of the Survey Corps. He couldn't recognize him at first because of the disguise, but upon closer inspection of those stoic and calculating eyes, the man was indeed Erwin Smith.

If he's Erwin Smith then that means that girl is..

Careful eyes glanced at the woman in ginger hair. Nicholas had heard of a formidable close aide always accompanying the future Commander; rumors within the walls have been calling her the Scout Regiment's War Goddess not only because of her superb skills in battle but also because of her striking beauty.

That woman must be Isanna Herrmann.

Nicholas gritted his teeth. "I never thought Shadis would resort to such unhanded methods!"

"The Commander is not aware of this; I am acting solely on my own decision."

The noble lord knitted his brows together in confusion, the gears in his mind clacking together to hatch some sort of plan out of this untimely meeting. His fists gripped the armrest of his chair. "I know what you're trying to pull, Erwin Smith. Unfortunately for you, I have no plans on changing my vote in the council meeting - the Scouts are done for." A smug smirk contorted on his lips. "I'm sure you're not as tactless as to kill me. That won't do well on your favor, won't it?" He knew that with the position he held, Erwin would not be able to push him down to stop the petition of their disbandment, much less murder him.

But he couldn't understand why Erwin still looked unimpressed despite all odds.

"I wonder," Erwin mused as he took a rolled parchment out of his coat and let the paper unfold as he lifted it in front of Nicholas, his arm hovering above the desk, "will you say the same once you read this?"

Isanna stalked over and leaned against the edge of the table to the right of Nicholas, crossing her arms casually across her chest as she relished in the way his smirk faltered upon reading the contents.

"That's..." The noble's words drifted away into a pregnant silence, before his widened eyes flickered back to meet Erwin's. With panic shooting his countenance, Nicholas shot up his hand, which was now clutching around a blade that had been hidden in the cuffs of his sleeve.

But his blade never reached its target as Isanna gripped his wrist and slammed it down on the table with a thud, at the same time lifting a leg through her dress to shove Nicholas' face down with the back of her heel pushing hard on the back of his head.

"Watch it, old man," the girl threatened with daggers shooting through her eyes, "if you wanna touch him, you have to get through me."

Erwin was undaunted as he continued, "Do not sign the petition." He rolled back the paper and tucked it inside his coat. "That is all I wish to hear from you."

Nicholas grunted with gritted teeth, making an effort to shoot Erwin a glare but couldn't because of Isanna's heel pressing deeply behind his head. "Is this blackmail?!"

"No." Isanna innocently smiled at him in a tight lip. "It's a deal. You get to choose, of course. We hand these files containing all your dirty crimes to General Zackly and you spend the remainder of your life rotting behind bars, or you let the Scouts go without disbanding it."

Nobody dared to point out to her that that was exactly what blackmailing entailed.

The girl took the knife in his grip and twirled it around her fingers, before plunging it deep down on the desk, just inches away from Nicholas' face and his hand with the man flinching and paling.

Isanna licked her lips tauntingly with a smirk. "I should have you know: your first option comes with several severed fingers as a bonus."

And just like that, Nicholas made a decision.

•

After closing the deal with the noble lord, the duo had regrouped with Hanji and Mike, who didn't even look like they had broken a sweat and had come out straight from a corridor battle. The group of four made their way downstairs, with Hanji going back inside the party to inform Baldrick of their success, and in a few more minutes, they were finally on a carriage back to the temporary offices of their headquarters.

"So," Hanji drawled as she reclined in her seat beside Isanna, "that went rather smoothly than I expected."

Isanna had her arms crossed with a leg over the other, the slit in her dress dangerously exposing more skin than necessary, but she didn't care as much anymore. "Erwin's plans always go smoothly."

She glanced at the two gentlemen in front of them, Mike leaning against the side of the carriage while he had a casual look through the windows showing the dim lights of the streets of Mitras while Erwin reclined in his seat with pensive eyes as he seemed to be in deep thought.

"What's with that face?"

Isanna's sudden question caused Erwin's eyes to drift over towards her.

The girl watched as he released a mute, exhausted sigh and loosened his tie for more space for his neck, allowing Isanna to see the way his veined hand moved to show more of the skin of his collarbone.

What a fucking tease, she thought.

The man looked like a Roman god with his dark hair. Of course, she still preferred the original.

"Lovof isn't the kind of man to sit still." Erwin's voice snapped Isanna out of her thoughts. "I'll need you to stalk outside his mansion tomorrow and see if he makes any suspicious movements."

"Roger that." Isanna nodded.

"And," he added, catching the attention of the other two, "after the council meeting in a few days, I'll be needing you and Mike again to apprehend those underground criminals."

"What about me?" Hanji slightly pouted in dismay at the idea that she was left out, as Erwin turned to her.

"While we visit the Underground, you'll be handling the papers needed for the trio's recruitment to the Survey Corps. I'll get the General's permission over those three, and the rest of the process will be between you and the Military Police."

"Oh." Hanji's eyes sparkled in excitement. "Leave it to me."

As the silence filled back in, Isanna closed her eyes and leaned the back of her head against the soft wine-colored seat, relaxing her mind from the events that had occurred that night.

Her brows twitched and furrowed when her mind replayed her slow dance with Erwin.

Goddamnit, he's such a fucking prince, and for what?

First was his white horse, and not just a simple white horse, but a white horse named Maximus (she was the one who named him but still). His elegant tuxedo, dark hair (wig) and royal blue eyes were already adding more to his princely traits, but that slow fucking dance took the cake.

She remembered the way his eyes intensely bore into her, as if in that one moment, the both of them had momentarily forgotten their mission like they were the only ones in the room.

Isanna's hand involuntarily twitched as the image of the man softly kissing her knuckles was brought back to memory.

Her eyes finally fluttered open, only to catch Erwin's gaze on her.

The dim lights from streetlamps on the streets passed by like a blur, an occasional glint of light pouring inside the carriage before it flicked back into dimness, and the soft bumps of the road gently jerked their ride as the wheels rolled across the cobblestoned street.

Isanna lifted a silent brow at him. What is it?

Erwin prolonged a stare on her with unreadable eyes, before his lips finally parted and an unexpected name fell off his tongue.

"Marie, I - "

He seemed to realize his mistake, his eyes widening in shock at his wrong address of the girl sitting across him.

Isanna blinked at him, equally as dumbfounded.

Marie. A name that hadn't been uttered for eleven years. A name that brought back feelings of envy inside Isanna, and the name that belonged to Erwin's first love.

He called her Marie. And just like the way a key would click into place inside a lock, everything that had happened that night suddenly made sense to her.

The kiss on her knuckles, the dance he guided her across the floor, and those intense eyes full of emotion that had been following her every move that night.

Isanna realized Erwin hadn't done all of that because he somehow harbored sudden feelings for her, he hadn't done that because he saw her for who she was, but he had done all those things because he saw someone else in her.

And that someone was Marie.

::

Mike and Hanji had been giving each other looks of bewilderment as a heavy silence clouded inside the carriage, neither having any idea as to why a foreign name had been mentioned, as well as the tense staring Isanna and Erwin have engaged into.

The only Marie Mike knew was the girl his old friend Nile had fallen in love with years ago, to the point that the latter had abandoned his pursuit in the Survey Corps for her. But why was her name suddenly brought up, and from Erwin, no less?

Before anyone else could speak up, their carriage had reached their destination and stopped in front of the headquarters.

Mike could only watch as Isanna wordlessly stepped out of the carriage first, his eyes catching the silent clenching of her jaw and not shooting a backward glance as the girl stalked towards the building in a brisk pace. Erwin was the next one to move, with Mike watching as his friend tried to catch up to the retreating figure of the girl. He was about to follow when Hanji grabbed his wrist.

"I think," the brunette said as she glanced at the two who were now outside, "we should give them some privacy for a while."

::

"Isanna, wait."

Erwin was never one to raise his voice, much less to Isanna, but there was thickness and hints of strain lacing his voice as he grabbed the girl by the wrist and stopped her from climbing up the front steps of the building.

Isanna whirled around, eyes in a hard stare and her jaw tensing as the both of them now stood face to face; she could care less of the cold breeze enveloping her skin, her sleeveless gown providing her with little warmth. She just didn't want to see his face as of the moment, at least for a while. 

She watched as Erwin sighed through parted lips with a deep, contemplative frown, obviously frustrated - why, she didn't know. She could never read his thoughts clearly ever since they became adults since he had become more guarded. If she could read his thoughts, maybe they wouldn't be in this complicated situation in the first place. 

With a click of her tongue, the girl lifted a hand and roughly pulled her ginger wig down, the force ruining the updo of her natural hair that had been covered beneath the wig as dark strands fell over her shoulders. 

She looked at him in the eye.

"I'm not Marie."

Her voice trembled, something Isanna cursed herself for. This was not how she wanted her night to end. 

The look in Erwin's eyes tensed. "I am aware."

"Then why - " Isanna caught her words and told herself to calm down, that this wasn't worth getting so worked up for. 

It's been eleven fucking years, she mentally cursed. She had vowed to never allow her emotions to get the best of her ever again. For eleven years while working in the Survey Corps, she had been successful in burying her feelings for the man in front of her. For eleven years.

But just like they all said, hiding your feelings was only going to backfire. 

"Do you still love her?" 

Erwin's frown deepened at her question, with Isanna taking note of the way his whole expression faltered. This was the first time in a long while that she had seen him wear his emotions on his face instead of keeping a stoic look. He looked so conflicted, as if there was a hidden turmoil of emotions battling it out inside him. Did the similarities between her current look and Marie shook him that much?

Erwin blinked and averted his eyes from her stare, letting out another sigh. 

"It's getting late," he muttered, still not looking at her, "get some rest."

Isanna bit her lip in restrained vexation as the blond walked past her and entered the building, leaving her figure at the bottom of the front stairs. 

He didn't answer the question.