Hange was at the kitchen table twirling her finger around in her soup, lost in thought.

"Zoe stop playing with your food please." Hange's train of thought was broken as she heard her mother's voice.

"Sorry mom" She says as she takes her finger out of her soup. She sighs and stares out the window. "Mom can I go outside?"

"Honey it's getting late, you know what can happen at night on the street, it's dangerous."

"Mom pleeeease. I didn't get a chance to go out today! I'll be careful I promise. Besides it's not like there are any titans anywhere in wall Sina, or any of the walls."

Hange's mother shook her head "I'm sorry Zoe but no, Titans may not be an issue this far in the walls but there are still other things we have to fear at night. Now go up to your room, It's almost your bedtime."

"Yes mom…" Hange begrudgingly walks up to her room. After about a half an hour Hange tiptoed over to her parents room. She peaked inside and saw both her parents were asleep, she smiled wide, ran back to her room, grabbed her notebook and a pen, opened the window and snuck out.

Hange walked around examining everything she could and writing stuff down in her notebook. After a couple hours she was satisfied with the data she had collected and began to head home when she saw a shadowy figure behind a tree looking at her. "Hello…?" she took a few steps closer and saw the figure was a boy, Hange couldn't get a good look at him in the dark but from what she could she saw that he didn't look too much older than she was. "Who are you?"

A few moments later the boy runs off.

"Hey! Come back!" Hange runs after him.

The boy runs thru the town very fast, and although hard Hange stayed on his trail. "Wait! I just wanna talk to you!" Hange yells

Soon the boy reaches an opening that leads to the sewer, he crawls in there and disappears from sight. Hange dives in there and follows him without a moments hesitation. Getting dirty never bothered her.

She keeps running after him, the sound of both their footsteps splashing in the sewer water echoed throughout the tunnels. Hange sees the end of the tunnel straight ahead, a light illuminating from inside it. The boy runs straight into it. Hange does the same but when she gets to the end of the tunnel she stops dead in her tracks. In front of her is a large underground town. It's dank and filthy but she's still in awe at the fact that there has been a city right under her feet! she takes her book out and begins to jot down notes when she hears a voice come from an alleyway in the city a few meters in front of her.

"Why did you follow me?"

Hange looks up from her book, and walks over to the entrance of the alley. she sees the same boy she was chasing, but now in much more detail. He was about her height with black hair and small grey eyes. His face was expressionless. Other than where his pants came in contact with sewer water back there he looked completely clean. She stared at him through her big glasses.

A small growl came from the boy. "Answer me. Why did you follow me here?"

Hange was speechless.

"C'mon, I know you can talk. You were yelling at me the entire time we were running. Now why did you follow me?"

Hange swallowed. "I...Uh...wanted to talk to you."

"Didn't your mom ever teach you not to talk to strangers?"

Hange giggled "Yeah, but I never listen to her." She smiled, a wide gap where her front right tooth should be was visible.

The boy raised an eyebrow "How old are you?"

"Eight. How old are you?"

He stared at her for a few seconds "Twelve"

"Cool!" Hange exclaimed, "I'm Zoe Hange, but you can just call me Hange" She said grabbbing his hand and shaking it. "What's your name?"

The boy pulled his hand away and rubbed it on his shirt. "Levi"

"Cool name." Hange said "So what ya doing down here Levi?"

"I live here."

Hange gasped "You live here?...That's Awesome!"

"It's not as awesome as you think-"

Hange grabs levi's arm and pulls him out of the alley "C'mon you gotta give me the grand tour!"

Hange pulled Levi all around town and asked him questions about every little thing. Levi answered her questions in hopes she stop asking more, but to no avail. Only after they'd been through every part of the town and every possible question had been asked and answered did Hange finally stop and take a breather. She sat down on a curb and gestured for Levi to sit next to her, he reluctantly did so. Hange looked at him. "You hate dirt, don't you?"

Levi looked at her. "What?"

"You hate dirt, When I saw you, except for the bottom of your pants you didn't have a spec of dirt on you. and when I shook your hand, you wiped it on your shirt afterwards. You hate dirt." She said smirking

"That doesn't mean anything" Levi said.

"Clean freak"

"Don't call me that, four eyes"

"If you can call me four eyes, I can call you clean freak" Hange says with a smug look on her face.

Levi rolled his eyes "Fine whatever." He watched as Hange started writing and drawing in her notebook. "What are you doing in that thing?" he asked her

She looked up at him "Writing everything you told me about the town down. I wanna be a researcher when I grow up. so whenever I see hear or experience something interesting I always write it down in this notebook." She smiles at him. "Don't tell anyone but when I get older I actually wanna join the Scout Regiment so I can see and study a real live titan!"

"You don't wanna do that, not if you value your life and the lives of those you care about" Levi says abruptly

Hange's smile fades "What do you mean?"

"Titan's aren't something you can just pick up and examine, they're dangerous. They'll kill any human being they see with no second thoughts. I've seen it."

Hange's eyes widen. "You have?"

Levi stays quiet for a few moments. "I watched my parents die at the hands of one."

Hange put a hand over her mouth.

"He...picked them up and bit their heads off. Then swallowed the rest of their bodies whole."

Hange was speechless. There was silence between them for several moments, then Hange wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. "I'm so sorry."

Levi didn't say anything. He was stunned, and although she was filthy he didn't want to pull away."

Eventually she pulled away and looked at him. "But, It doesn't change the fact that that's what I wanna do. Infact…" She stood up "That motivated me even more."

Levi was dumbfounded at what he just heard "What…? You just wanna die don't you?"

Hange laughed "Of course not! But I have to do this, once I become of age i'm joining the cadet corps, then the military police…" she looks at him "For you."

Levi looks at her with an expressionless face "You. are. stupid." he says "I was trying to talk you out of it, how on earth are you doing this for me?"

She smiles "To avenge your parents."

Levi was taken aback at her statement.

"I'm going to learn all their secrets, and I'm going to help kill them all, for what they did to you." She squatted down and cupped his hands in hers. "I promise"

He was speechless, no one had ever promised to do something for him before. Let alone risk their life...just for him.

Hange smiled and hugged him once more. "The sun's probably gonna rise soon, I better get back above ground and take a bath before my parents wake up and see me covered in sewer water and dust. Uhg, I hate baths..." She stood up, "I'll be back soon whether you like it or not.." She started walking back towards the sewer tunnel then turned around, smiled and waved "Bye Clean Freak!"

Levi watched as she walked away, back to her world and away from his. The promise she made him lingered in his mind. She's only a child, they both are, and yet Hange seemed so adamant and sure about her future, he'd never met anyone like her before. he shook his head "You're insane four eyes…" he said as he walked back to the alleyway he called home. As he dusted the ground then laid down in the corner to sleep for the night, he found himself thinking about Hange and anxiously awaiting her return.