Lost: Part 1

"Hanji!"

"Huh?"

She turned around in time to see a large hand that was heading straight for her. As nimble as she was, Hanji was only mere inches away from the titan's fingertips when she reacted quickly enough. She somersaulted from the low branch and pressed the trigger to shoot out the grapple hooks of her gear. The sharp metal pierced another nearby tree's bark and with another pull of the trigger, her wire retracted and yanked her entire body through the air out of the titan's range.

"Major Hanji!" one of the members of her newly formed team called out to her.

"I'm a-okay!" she called back.

Her words were suddenly shoved back down her throat for a titan had appeared from her blind spot, its arm lashing out at her at a faster than average speed.

"Ah," Hanji breathed.

Then, out of nowhere, a rapid flash of movement flickered behind the titan's head and the monster flew forward from the hit stricken to its neck. It landed with a large thud as Hanji herself made stable contact with the ground.

"Levi!"

"Watch yourself," Levi said, detaching his blunt blades with one swift click and immediately attaching new, sharp ones, "One mistake and you're as good as dead, Shitty Four Eyes."

"I know, I know," Hanji laughed, getting up and gripping her hilts firmly, "You don't need to tell me a million times."

The ground began to shake among the chaos around them and two titans suddenly appeared from behind the small patch of trees a few yards away, tearing the greenery down like they were twigs. They were coming fast with their hulky legs trying their best to run accordingly.

"Move!" Levi said, shooting out his grapple hooks to gain momentum up in the air.

Staying too long on the ground was too dangerous, especially when in the midst of heavy combat. And Hanji, as always, was too caught up in observing her beloved titans to actually be alertly cautious like the rest. With their numbers continually dwindling left and right, they could not afford to be distracted even for one second. Eventually there would be no one to back anyone up when need be.

Levi redirected his wire to pull his body right behind the advancing titans and struck down one of them with swift ease, his movements as smooth and agile as ever. It was an easy kill and felt insignificant in his long list of individual victories, but the job wasn't close to being done. Hanji followed suit to redirect her line of movement to position herself behind the other titan's neck, but suddenly it halted and heavily pivoted to completely turn its whole body around.

"Huh?" she gasped, taken by surprise. A titan was retreating away? She'd never seen anything like that before. Titans always pursued human flesh no matter what the circumstances were and yet this one she was about to slaughter was starting to running away.

Hanji then felt elation overwhelm her at the sight and began to follow it without giving the situation a second thought. She didn't know what was going on, but that was what made it even more exciting to her. As far as the human race knew, titans had never retreated in the face of combat and the fact that this particular one defied that knowledge made her want to know more. And in order for her to know, she had to get it in her grasp somehow. It was a titan, almost three times her height, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. She had to go after it.

"Hanji," Levi called, landing on a branch after quickly slaying a titan, "Where do you think you're going?"

"I've got to have this one!" she called back excitedly with one of her enticed, large grins on her face, "I've never seen one retreat like this before; it's got to be a special one, Levi. I know it! I need to have it!"

"Tch," Levi clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Hanji's antics were really starting to get on his nerves more than usual. It was always Hanji Zoe- and only Hanji Zoe- who willingly risked her skin to chase after titans like they were prizes to keep. He didn't know if it was bravery, utter stupidity, genuine passion, or all of the above… but all he knew for sure was that the woman was reckless and would for sure turn up dead one day if no one was to keep an close eye on her. And today wasn't going to be that day. No, not on his watch.

"Levi, go after her!" Erwin bellowed over to him as he dodged the deathly reach of an eight-meter titan.

Levi didn't respond, subconsciously noting to himself that he didn't need the commander to tell him to act, and just initiated his pursuit after Hanji.

The titan she was chasing was unusually fast on its feet and Levi was faintly surprised at how easily Hanji was keeping up even while dodging other titans and their human opponents along the way. When the woman wanted something, it apparently brought out the better side of her… and Levi considered the term 'better' loosely whenever he referred to it.

"Corporal!" Petra called when she noticed them pass by but went unnoticed.

"Huh, looks like Hanji's getting herself into another bundle of shit again," Auruo sneered, landing atop a tree branch after consecutively slicing the back of two titans' necks.

"You should be worrying about yourself, Auruo," Erd commented, landing beside him and then jumping off to fend another titan closing in, "Levi will handle it."

"Hah, not like I actually care what happens to the bitch," Auruo shrugged and smirked. He then jumped off the branch and shot out his grapple hooks to quickly evade another titan behind him.

"And Levi's just her damn babysitter."

"You're mine," Hanji said to herself with pure determination.

She'd been chasing her titan with her gear for what felt like miles. The actual distance was still just as dangerous if she really were out a few miles, but her want- no her need- for this one exceeded her scope of reason. The titan was more than extremely valuable to her already and letting it escape was something she didn't think she could handle. Anything else was completely irrelevant.

Then, the titan gradually slowed into a stop, skidding on its heels in the last of its strides. Hanji immediately stopped atop a branch a few meters away, not feeling an ounce of pure fear. The titan slowly turned around to face her, their eyes leveled, and that was when Hanji became aware that they'd gone far from the battlefield where the rest of the Recon Corps were engaged in combat. There were no other monstrosities in sight and the sounds of screams and fighting came nowhere near her ears. Exactly how far had they come out?

"I'm going to take you back home with me, alright?" Hanji said, smiling widely and opening her arms as if inviting it to an embrace, "So don't be shy. Come here."

The titan only looked at her with its unwavering eyes and mouth hanging open in its default sadistic smile. They stood there for a few moments merely staring at each other with intent and unmoving as if one was waiting for the other to act.

"Come on now," Hanji cooed, "Don't be shy. I'm a nice hugger, trust me."

After a few more moments, the titan slowly started to make its way towards her with its arms remaining at its sides.

"Yes, that's it…" Hanji sighed happily, "Come a little closer. I don't bite."

The distance was slowly closing in between them and the titan was only less than ten meters away.

"That's it. Good. When we get home, I'll have to think of a name for you-"

Hanji's words were cut off when something huge unexpectedly clasped around her. Her 3D maneuver gear was slammed up against her back and beside her legs, sending a jolting pain all throughout her body. She instantly looked up and came face to face with a titan three meters taller than the one she had been chasing and let out a yelp. There was no way she could escape its grip now.

As quickly as he'd come to her aid before, Levi appeared behind the titan and slashed the back of its neck. Hanji felt the strong grip around her body release and she fell down to the dirt floor, barely landing safely enough to prevent her legs from breaking. She then staggered up to her feet and caught sight of Levi taking down two other four-meter titans that had appeared unnoticed.

The corporal's attention then visibly turned to the titan she'd been originally chasing. It was the last one standing.

"Don't!" Hanji yelled, "No!"

Levi disregarded her screams of opposition and went in for the final kill. This titan had already caused him more trouble than necessary, particularly the damned trouble of having to chase the crazed Hanji down along with it, and he just wanted to be rid of the nuisance. With a grunt he shot out his grappling hooks, punctured the back of the titan's neck, pulled the trigger to quickly close the distance between, and sliced off a chunk of its meat in a blink of an eye. The titan toppled down on to the ground in a mess of steam as the others had.

"Why?!" Hanji continued to scream, "Why?!"

Levi landed beside her as the last of his wire retracted back into his gear.

"Why did you have to kill him?!" Hanji shrieked in agony, grabbing on to the front of his jacket and sinking down to her knees.

"Get a hold of yourself," Levi said with a monotone. He swatted her hands off of him and glowered down at her, "You were about to die."

Hanji paused amongst her streaming tears like the realization just hit her right then. She wasn't so blinded anymore that she couldn't see that she had really been on the brink of death, especially since she'd chased a titan alone with nothing else on her mind. A precious specimen was lost, but even she knew that if she died out here outside the walls she'd have no other opportunities to experiment and learn more about her beloveds. After another pause passed, Hanji stood up from the ground and wiped the tears away with her sleeve.

"You're right! Thanks, Levi," she said happily, patting his head in appreciation, "I owe you one."

"You're a reckless idiot, woman," Levi lightly growled, taking hold of her wrist and lifting her hand off his head, "If I hadn't come after you, you'd be dead in one of those titan's stomachs."

Hanji blinked and then laughed hysterically as it were the funniest thing in the world. The Captain only frowned at her with even more irritation. He was, indeed, used to her eccentric behavior but it still never failed to get on his nerves often, especially when it forced people to get out of their own way to accommodate her. Technically being her superior as well, it wasn't exactly a smooth ride having to back up and take into account someone as… impulsive as Hanji.

"You worry too much, Cap'n. We're both still alive aren't we?" Hanji laughed as she playfully pat his back. Then she relaxed and made a full 360 turn to gaze at their surroundings, the sun starting to set behind the horizons of the mountain ranges.

"But…" she said, "Where are we?"

LeviHan for life, seriously. I ship these two so hard I basically cry of happiness going through the tag on tumblr and reading fanfiction. They complement each other so well I don't know how anyone can dislike them as a ship.

But anyway, like my other stories, the first chapter is always a trial chapter to see if what I'm writing is something people would like to read. SO if you liked this, please don't hesitate to drop a review, favorite and/or follow! :) Any kind of feedback is always welcome as well as encouraging. Constructive criticism is also appreciated.

Thanks for reading! Until next time~