if they tried to take her from him,
he'd  rip the world  apart with his
bare hands. and for some reason,
that        didn't       terrify        him.

( Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass )

WHEN SHE WAS A CHILD, ANITA LEVINE HAD BEEN ASKED BY MORE PEOPLE THAN SHE CAN REMEMBER, what she wanted to do when she grew up. Her answer was always the same: she wanted to help people, save lives, take down bad guys like in the action movies she grew up watching with her father on movie night every friday. Everyone thought that she wouldn't be able to pull that off, that it was just a little girl's silly dream. But she had proved everyone that had ever doubted her wrong the day she graduated from the academy.

As time went on, her superiors realized that her talents were better used elsewhere, and it wasn't long after she had been given her police badge that she had been offered a position as British Intelligence for the MI6. She would work there for years, until one mission went sideways and she was forced to work alongside an agent of a secret organization known as the Impossible Mission Force to get the job done.

Agent Ethan Hunt saw something in her and gave her the choice. She, of course, accepted.

Not long after becoming an IMF Agent, deep feelings had begun to develop between the two of them. They couldn't deny their obvious love for one another, however, were well aware that crossing such a line could compromise a mission and get someone killed. And so, despite the longing for something more than a partnership, they remained simply that, going from one mission to the next without so much as a foot over that line.

For a while, that was enough.

Until it wasn't.

When Anita had learned the reason why Ethan was retiring from fieldwork, her heart shattered into pieces. Once, long ago, they had talked about leaving the IMF and building a life together, but they were in too deep to ever leave their field jobs. It was where they belonged. Or so she had once thought. For he had retired from fieldwork and found that happiness, that home, in another woman's arms.

Anita went her own way after that, reluctant to take on another field partner after the former had stabbed her not in the back, but in the heart. She traveled around the world, completing mission after mission and never failing in hopes that it would heal her broken heart. But not even time could heal such a wound. She knew that she would love Ethan Hunt until the day she took her last breath.

She thought she would never see his face ever again, as he had taken to training the new recruits at headquarters while she continued to do fieldwork. But that will soon change when she is tasked with rescuing Agent Lindsey Farris from captivity in Berlin. For little does she know that Ethan Hunt has been tasked with the same mission, and now they will be forced to set aside their history and work together once again.

STARRING

Emily Blunt　　is

Anita Esmé Levine ⌖ taurus • headstrong • oberservant • just • savior complex

Tom Cruise　　　is

Ethan Matthew Hunt ⌖ leo • selfless • loyal • protective • the manifestation of destiny

WITH

florence pugh MARLA LEVINE
christian bale HAROLD LEVINE
helen mirren CLAUDIA LEVINE †
anthony hopkins ARTHUR LEVINE
ana de armas SIENNA CASTANEDA
aubrey plaza LORA RIVERA
tom hardy KURT CHAMBERS
charlize theron RHONDA LE ROUX
keanu reeves CAGE DESCHENES
anne hathaway GRACE
mission impossible cast THEIR RESPECTIVE CHARACTERS

disclaimer: i do not own mission impossible or any of their characters. all rights respectfully belong to the writers and creators. i do, however, take credit for all the original content found within this story, from the original characters, subplots, and dialogue. this story is part of a duology of books, which means that characters from the connecting book, skyfall, may appear or be mentioned.

trigger warnings: violence, gore, blood, death, torture, ptsd, alcohol, vulgar language, sexual content, etc.

dedicated to: christy sierra kelly liz daniella catie remy amara chloe nelly ashton tempestt bee clair rosie kat and to you, the reader, as well! thank you all so much for your unwavering support, it means the world to me!

author's note: i honestly wasn't sure i'd ever post this fic. but as i've hit another dark period in my life, i found myself needing a distraction. so, i started watching some of my favourite comfort movies and found myself looking back on some old ideas that i once had for a then-hypothetical mission impossible fic and decided "what the hell 🤷‍♀️" and started revamping all of those old ideas and, well, here we are

now, as you may have noticed from the summary, anita is former british intelligence and worked for the MI6 for several years. while there, she had a certain partner while on the job 👀 yes, that's right, anita levine and my love ilsa faust have a history together. their sisterly bond is so soft and cute and has been SO much fun to plan out. i honestly can't wait to write those two. as for ethan and ilsa, their relationship will be strictly platonic seeing as he is anita's man now. the only canon love interest that i'm keeping around for ethan is obviously julia bc she is an important aspect of his life and i do like the dynamic between julia and anita as well (yes they meet and it's just 😩 bc they bond over loving ethan)