Whee, chapter 2 I wrote this at the same time I wrote chapter one so figured I should just put it up.
I own nothing as usual. No socks, no shoes and no characters :(

"Hanji… Wake up." Hanji flailed in her sleep as someone had the gull to wake her, "Hanji, wake up or I'll throw you on the ground, I promise."

"Ughhhh,?" She groaned rolling over to meet two irritated grey eyes as her own eyes opened, "What do you want Levi?" she mumbled.

"You, out of my bed." He replied grumpily. She took a good look at him, his clothes were wrinkled, his eyes were bloodshot, his mood was sour, wait, that last one was nothing really new. "You look angry." She observed as she put on her glasses, "Didn't you sleep well?" She asked, finally sitting up in the bed to look at him better.

"No Hanji, I did not sleep well in that jungle that you call your room, I couldn't even find the bed. I ended up sleeping on the floor in the hallway outside of the door."

"Whaaat? My room isn't that bad!" She insisted, "I mean sure it's a bit messy but-" he scoffed and she flashed him a dirty look.

"Hanji, I order you to clean your room today." His tone was no nonsense, but she was sure this had to be a joke.

"Are you kidding me? You can't make me clean my room!"

"Do I look like I am joking?" He asked unamused, and while he didn't look like even the slightest joke was in his mind, she laughed anyway.

"You're not making me clean my room, I don't care what you say. It's your job to keep me safe right? Well you just worry about that and I'll just worry about my research." She scoffed a bit offended that he even attempted to tell her what to do. Besides, as far as she was concerned, her room was in order. Specimens by the window, petri dishes under the bed, important notes on and next to the bed, clothes in three distinct piles of; clean, gross, and holy crap that smells went on the floor, and everything else fell where it fell until she picked it up. What was wrong with that?

"Hanji, keeping you safe is my job and you are a danger to yourself when it comes to that room. Fix it." He ordered, as he pushed her from his room, "And I don't want to see, or hear a word from you unless you're dying until your dammed room is clean, and if it's not clean when I wake up, I'll clean it as I see fit." He added slamming the door in her stunned face as he turned to face his bed with love in his tired eyes "I've missed you." he sighed before falling into the sheets, exhausted, trying to forget that Hanji had just been laying in them. When you're as tired as he was, a lot of things are easy to forget, like the fact that Hanji hated being told what to do with her lab and her research more than anything, it was like a direct offense to her.

"Did he just-" Hanji stood in disbelief as the door slammed in her barely away and suddenly furious face, "He just slammed the door in my face!" He wouldn't listen to her theory on the disappearance of the titans, but he had the time to tell her to clean her room? Who the hell did he think he was? Her lab, her room, her space and no one could tell her what to do in her space, NO ONE!

In a state of fury, Hanji flew down the hallway, ignoring the guards eyes on her and ran up to her room taking a good look around. "He thinks my room is such a mess? He thinks he can tell me to clean it up? My research is my life! If I don't clean it up, he might try and trash everything! I can't have that." She murmured to herself as she looked around her room, "Before anything else, I must protect the research!" She declared with a fire in her eyes and determination in her heart.

-

Levi awoke feeling much calmer and far less irritable than before as the soft orange light that indicated the end of daytime came in through his window. "I can't believe I slept through the whole day." He mumbled to himself flinging his feet over the side of the bed. He had some paperwork to finish up that day and somethings to take care of in the fortress that he now figured might end up being put off to tomorrow thanks to Shitty Glasses and her stupid messy room. Scratching the back of his neck and yawning, Levi briefly wondered what miracle had allowed him to sleep without her running in here and talking about titans again. Then he remembered that right before he went to bed he said something to her… What was it? He remembered seeing a shocked look on her face right before he slammed the door, but what he said was a blank….

"Ah well, must not have been horribly important." He told himself as he stood up, but even though he said that, rather than taking a shower the way he wanted to, he found himself trudging, still a touch sleepily to Hanji's room, after all, he still had to fix her door so that she could have her stupid mess of a room ba-

"Hanji?" All thoughts in his mind ceased as he reached her door and found the room clear of all mess. So clear that it was completely empty with only her bed and a desk left behind, and that's when he remembered that he'd threatened to clean her room. "Why did I do that?" He groaned as he walked into the hallway to find the men in charge of guarding her.

"Where is Hanji?" He asked, but was only rewarded with confused glances, so rolling his eyes, he reworded the question, "The 'desirable woman'?"

"Ohhh! She left the fortress earlier, some of the guys went with her for protection, I think she was headed for the city."

"And you just let her go not even sure who she left with or where she was going? Do you even know what your job is?" Levi demanded kicking the man hard in the shin so that he fell to the ground. "Get up, and find her. If I see you before I see her, I promise you, you will regret it." Levi hissed befre turning to jog down the hall, his mind racing. Where would she go with all of that stuff? How could no one have stopped her, even if she was with the other guards he knew that they were just about as useful as brining along a flock of fruit flies for protection. Still in his pajamas, he flew into the stables and got on his horse preparing to head into the city, not waiting for the other guards. It was his job specifically to look after her, and now she was missing, he didn't have time to wait for those idiots, so instead he flew out of the stables, his mind racing as fast as the horse.

-

"Whooooooa! The city has really changed since the titans left!" Hanji marveled as she looked around. Buildings had been rebuilt, in a more stylish way, people dressed more lavishly, community gardens were scattered throughout the city, cafes popped up, if she had known the city inside the walls had been getting so nice, she would have left the fortress and moved her research here a long time ago rather than keeping herself in the old castle with stuffy old Levi. She scowled as she thought of Levi, the potential destroyer of research and decided she wouldn't think about him.

"Umm, Miss Hanji, mam, don't you think we should head back to the fortress? A lot of people are staring at you." One of the guards that followed her suggested meekly. It was true, a lot of men were single after the unfortunate titan attack, and most of them knew of Hanji's unwanted title at this point, so the lusty stares that were sent her way weren't shocking, but it didn't make her like them. Part of her got a bit nervous, but then despite herself, she remembered what Levi had told her the day before 'this label will only mean as much as you let it. Just live your life however you want. People might stare at you now, but who cares?' and she decided to take his advice, sure Levi might have been the murderer of research, but he gave pretty good advice.

"No, the fortress is boring, I don't ever want to go back to the fortress!" She sang taking off into the city full speed as the guards awkwardly chased after her yelling for her to come back.

-

A few hours Later
-

"Okay, I'm ready to go back to the fortress." Hanji mumbled under her breath as she fought to take in air. Three large men stood around her with greedy eyes, while two were already on the ground… unfortunately, the two on the ground were supposed to be protecting her, ah well that was her luck. They'd run a few blocks to try to escape them, but the men were as fast as they were scary.

"Look, this is my research, I can't just hand it over!" Hanji yelled over to the intimidating looking men, her bag full of notes and samples clutched to her chest. The men roared with laughter as they looked down at her.

"We don't want research," the largest of the men chuckled snatching her bag away from her and tossing it into a nearby puddle, the sound of glass breaking as it landed rang in the air, "We want you. Nobody around here remembers the last time they had a chance to be with a woman, and nobody with a title like yours Miss Hanji." He sneered, but the second Hanji's bag had been thrown away from her, she stopped listening.

"My notes!" Hanji cried, jumping towards the puddle her bag landed in. The samples she had might be broken, but her notes might have survived as long as the bag didn't sit in the puddle too long, as long as she could get to them, but the men quickly caught her and pulled her back. "Let me go!" She yelled fighting them off, but with 3 guys as big as that, she was finding it had to do so.

"Stop fighting!" one of them yelled, hitting her hard on the back of the head, causing the strap that held her glasses in place to snap, her glasses fell to the ground and Hanji realized, her notes would have to wait, her full attention had to be put forward in fighting off these guys.

"I'll never stop fighting!" She yelled as loud as she could, a bit fazed from her hit to the head, "I never stopped fighting before and I won't start now!" She swung her leg around and kicked one of the men hard in the face, sending him stumbling back and landing on the ground.

"You bitch!" The other two yelled closing in on her from behind. Hanji might not have been the strongest of the soldiers back in the day, but she was always good at planning her attack, she saw an opening and she was about to take it, when two large hands landed on her shoulders. She spun around in shock to see the man she'd just kicked standing over her, she thought he'd be down at least long enough for her to take care of the other two, get her stuff and run, but she was clearly, horribly wrong. A string of curses flew from her mouth as the other two guys moved in to hold down her arms and the man in front of her slapped her hard across the face, she flailed violently, but she couldn't get free.

"Don't worry, we'll be gentle… Maybe." The guy she'd kicked said with a sick sneer, as he ripped her shirt open sending the buttons on her shirt flying, but she didn't stop fighting, she kicked and fought, she screamed, no one came to her aid, but the guys couldn't get close enough to try and touch her either.

"Shit, she's not getting tired we should just knock her out." One of the guys holding her down suggested, Hanji as about to protest, but then a familiar voice echoed in that alley from behind them.

"Or maybe I should knock you out."

"Levi?!" Hanji called trying to spin around and see if it was really him.

"Oi! What trouble did you get yourself in now?" he asked as counted the number of soon to be hospital patients. The situation was pretty clear on a first glance and he didn't like it "No matter, I'll clean this up." He grit his teeth, irritated to still be in only a coat and pajamas, irritated that these pigs might have thought of themselves as men, and irritated because Hanji ran away in the first place, but mostly irritated because it was his fault she'd left.

Levi walked towards them and they let her go, knowing that if they needed all of their strength for her, they would need all of their strength is they were going to defeat the legendary Levi. The second Hanji's arms were released, she ran to her bag, yanking it out of the puddle, knowing Levi would be fine, but her heart sank as she looked opened her bag. Everything was ruined.

The fight was quick, if you could even call it that. The men were tired from trying to hold down Hanji, so Levi took advantage of that and made quick work of them, kicking them further off towards the entrance of the alley before turning to see why Hanji was huddled off in the corner all of this time. He walked slowly towards her, when he heard a crack under his foot, looking down he saw her a piece of her glasses under his shoe. He picked them up wondering just how hard she fought that her glasses strap that not once fell off while dealing with titans, came off now.

"Hanji, we're going back now, get up." He ordered, as he walked closer to her, but her back was still turned to him, she made no indication that she'd even heard him, "Hanji, did hear m-"

"My research…" a small voice that he could barely believe was hers said, "It's all gone… All of it."

"Your life is in danger and this is the crap you're worried about?" Levi snaps grabbing her arm and turning her around, but his annoyance is lost the second he does that. Her cheek is red from yelling and bruised from being slapped, her shirt is torn open and though her expression is merely sad, in his grip on her arm, he could feel her shaking. Was she afraid? The woman who played with titans was afraid? He wasn't shocked so much, but humbled seeing someone that he never thought could run around without a smile on her face babbling about titans all day afraid. It scared him a bit. If she could be afraid, then what would scare him?

"My research is all gone." She murmured again, turning away from Levi. Her research was her life, the titans were gone, her research was gone, if the titans returned she had no way to help, her purpose was gone. The cold air that blew over her skin through her open shirt, she chose to ignore, she chose to ignore the her heart beating fast from the shock of it all, she chose to ignore the way her face stung, or the fact that she was shaken and not from the cold, she chose to focus all of her shock on her research, her life's work now bled it's ink into a random city puddle and she watched it bleed with no way to save it. There were no words that could comfort her, but then a warmth came down over her.

"Put this on. It's been too many times this week I've seen you undressed." Levi murmured as his coat came down over her shoulders. Though those words were cold, she knew that those words coming from his mouth might have been the warmest thing she'd heard all day.

"Thanks." She replied, her voice still barely above a whisper as she looked down at her lost work still in shock, she made no move to get up and he made no move to make her do so, he of all people knew how important that research was to her and how shocking it was to have lost it. He would allow her to mourn, just not here.

"We have to go, Hanji. We'll get those useless guards over there to wake up and take those three pigs away to the city guards. I'll take you back to the fortress." He said, gently taking the soaking bag from her still shaking hands, before helping her to her feet and slinging it over his shoulder. The bag was gross, Hanji was all dirty, but he couldn't have cared less in that moment. The dirt was the last thing on his mind as he watched her walk pick her shattered glasses up off of the ground and sigh before letting them tumble to the ground.

"I remembered what you said the other day." she called turning around to face him, "That I should ignore the stares and just live my life, it's not as simple as it sounds." She chuckled, but the laugh was dry, empty.

Levi racked his mind trying to figure out what she was talking about, "Ah, you mean what I said when you knocked out those guards the other day?"

"Yeah. I'm trying to just live my life, but how can I if this is what happens? How can I when my research is gone?" she asked, genuinely confused, people saw her differently now, her purpose from before was gone, her friends were gone, what was left?

"You idiot." Levi snorted walking over to the mouth of the alley to get his horse before turning back to face her, "Did you forget the second what else I said? I told you 'If they do try anything, they'll have to deal with me.' have I given you reason not to believe in that yet?" He asked as a look of brief shock flashed over her face.

"No… I guess not. "She said, realization washing over her.

"Exactly, so just keep living your life and let me deal with everything else. That's my job." He said. For a moment, she was still a little shell shocked, still hesitant to trust in that, but he was right, he'd given her no reason not to believe in him. Even though the last few years she's spent all of her time pent up researching in her room giving him no reason to fuss over her, these last few days he's proven that he's dedicated to his job of looking after her. Perhaps she could trust in him enough to start living her life differently. Sure her research on titans was important to her, but they were gone now, not a trace of them remained, if they appeared again, sure she'd fight, but her research meant nothing in this new world, she'd have to try and find something new to live for and do it fearlessly. Her stayed steady on Levi who was standing at the mouth of the alleyway, an impatient look in his eyes as he waited for her, the moonlight shinning down on him and she thought to herself 'I can trust those words coming from that mouth.'

"Are you coming or what?" Levi asked, perplexed by why she was just standing there staring at him with that dumb look on her face. He was more shocked when a smile appeared on her face, and not her usual crazy, over excited smile, a soft gentle, thoughtful smile.

"Yeah, I'm coming." She said softly, walking towards him, that same smile still on her face as she approached him. Ah, there it was again, the same weird knotted feeling in his stomach that he'd felt the other day when he'd seen her by the tub, was he getting sick? Had he been eating something funny? There was no way it was because of her right? They'd known each other for years and he'd never thought of her that way, not even that time, ah, wait they agreed not to forget that ever happened, but still… What the hell was going on with him?

He had to escape before he began to believe that she in fact was the cause of the sudden odd feeling in his stomach so he tore his eyes away from her and got on the horse before helping her up to get on behind him. The two guards from earlier woke up in time to ask what was happening. "Those three men that attacked you, take them in and make sure they receive proper punishment, I'll take Hanji back to the fortress, you return when you're done." He barked, before leaving the two men still semi dazed as he and Hanji took off.

He wasn't sure why he thought that leaving the alley would make the knots in his stomach go away. If anything the knots were worse now, now that her arms were linked around his waist, the faintest hint of milk and honey still clung to her skin from the day before and even with all of the fresh air around him it still seemed to find his nose, he could feel her breath on his back she so was so close. He tried to focus on the damn path, or the sky or anything but her, but her presence was demanding his attention now and he hated it.

"Levi?" She called softly from behind him moving her face closer so that from the side of his eye he could see her profile, and he swore he nearly pushed her from the horse, in mere shock that she managed to get even closer to him but he managed to keep it together.

"Hm?" He grunted as despite himself, despite knowing that he should keep his frickin eyes on the path in front of them, he turned his head a bit and looked at her like an idiot.

"I want to move to the city." She announced with a finality that he couldn't even question and that same gentle smile from earlier illuminated by the moonlight on her face and in that moment he was sure he had a heart attack. It must have been the shock of her being so close, or the shock of seeing her eyes lit up in the moonlight without her shitty glasses, or that dammed smile, but his heart did this weird spasm in his chest and it felt so out of place, so uncomfortable that he would have said anything to make her shocking face move away from him, so he said something stupid, he said; Okay.

Had he known then that the gentle smile she showed him was the prelude to mischief and more trouble than he thought possible, he would have said no immediately he would have kicked her off the horse and told her to walk to the castle, damn risking his job, hell he would've given her the horse and walked back if it meant he could have avoided everything that followed and kept living his simple working life. Alas he was utterly clueless as to what would happen in the time to come and as they rode back to the fortress in the moonlight forrest outside of the city, a gut feeling told him he agreed to something troublesome. It was only later he found out just how troublesome.

Ahhhh, I'm excited about writing this~ Please review if you have the time, it would make me a happy one. Thanks for reading.