It was yet another working day though, yet again, Hanji was up to her usual mischief - pro at excuses and apparently hide-outs as she figured no one would disturb her there. She slammed open the door, and jumped in to strike a pose forcing the two to look up startled.
"H-Hanji-san!" Eren cried, staring at her with wide eyes. There seemed to be no hostility within him. Armin, on the other hand, was sitting at the side of the bed silently. She immediately took notice to his lip which he was biting, hard, probably to keep from screaming. His eyes were blotched - lack of sleep, she dually noted. She started closer, but made sure to keep her distance just for Armin's sake.
.. And, well, the boy looked like he was going to crack any minute and she did not want people to follow the screaming and discover her temporary hide-out, "How is everything?" She asked Eren as she swiped the lone chair, and placed it towards the end of the bed, closer to Eren's legs, sitting down with her legs wide open attaining a slight blush.
"They picked a date." He said as if it was nothing.
She nodded, "I know.. Yo know how they're going to do it?"
"Hopefully they'll send me out of the walls to get ripped apart from a titan. Sounds better than what I have in mind." They both paused before they wiled in laughter - except for Armin who turned to him with a shocked expression, "I'm just kidding Armin. Do you, Hanji-san?"
She shook her head no, "The courts are keeping it under wraps for now."
"I'm curious if they're going to do a viewing." Hanji hummed in sympathy as Armin sent him - and her - yet another stone-cold stare. She wouldn't be surprised if they did. Any titan they could get their hands on they would gladly roast and send off as turkey stuffing around the pack of hungry villagers.
The scene reminded her of a few days after they had won back Wall Maria - the few titans that she kept in her lab turned to ash as it was stolen out of her lab and burned to flames, as was the testing area. Used as a large bonfire with villagers crowding around it chanting, "Monsters, die! All monsters should die!" And all she could do was watch helplessly as it crumbled into dust.
She planned to keep a low key as of now - just like the military police and the courts were. If they knew she had some of the substance found in Eren Jaeggar's basement in her custody, they probably would have gone mad. But she had no intention on letting them know, or anyone, until she was able to test it out for herself. She did not trust those 'new' scientists which the king had hired.
She had hoped to gain entry outside the walls in order to collect more materials and 'test subjects,' however, the garrisons and military police were strict on not allowing anyone out of the walls.
What were they hiding? She wondered as she flicked her glasses above her nose out of habit. Eren's voice seemed to snap her out of her thoughts, "What do you think?"
Her eyes fell to Armin who was now staring at her helplessly, "... Rather not answer that." She smiled, taking notice to their sudden shifted eyes. She heard the sound of a 'clink' and quickly jumped up to hide, but knowing that she had no where to go, turned on her heels to look at the man who stepped into the open gate, "... What are you doing here?" She whined.
"I saw you come in and I didn't want you to miss distributing water bottles to the villagers." He emphasized 'miss' with an annoyed tone then turned to Eren who perked at the sight of his previous captain. The two hadn't seen eachother for a while - as Eren paused to take notice of the new body, "Hanji, come on." He muttered, and turned to leave. His arm swung against the bars of the gate, hard, but he seemed to take no notice of it. Didn't even flinch. Eren blinked and attempted to call after him, but Levi didn't turn.
Hanji frowned and watched him stumble up the stairs, before waving goodbye to her 'friends.' She quickly ran up to follow him.
Ducking under his arm on her way passed, she bopped her head up forcing the arm which was holding the wall to snap up and grab hold of her shoulders. He gave her a weary look, but allowed her to help him up the rest of the way, beamused, she was practically dragged him the rest of the way.
As they got to the surface, his arm moved to knock hers, grabbing his arm away. He stumbled, gaining a worried look, but shrugged it off, turning to leave. He had a lot more important things to deal with like.. like..
He involuntarily frowned, and grungily moved to limp away.
"Le- Commander, wait." He stopped to acknowledge her, sending her an impatient look, though it didn't have as much affect as it had in his younger days. Being bedridden did that to him - not being able to do anything, but watch. One of humanity's most powerful soldier now deemed useless.. for a long time, "I wanted to ask you something."
He urged her to go on. He wanted to leave - go back to the HQ, stay in bed. A memory flickered in his mind - standing on the roof beside Pixis as they upheld a conversation of the latest events: his eyes involuntarily moving to where the young urchin was running around with water jugs. He remembered discreetly: the look on her face as she bent down to one of the kids, and poured sparkling water into his tiny clay cup. It was such a miraculous slight; almost missing what Pixis had said, almost, but his attention quickly drifted elsewhere as the words sunk in.
"Petra.." She muttered, causing him to snap out of his thoughts, "What was she to you?"
He stared at her as if she had grown three heads.
"Were you in love with her?"
She watched him as he hesitated - turned around to face her fully, before limping towards her. She fought the urge to help him as he neared. Was he going to slap her? She thought to herself suddenly as they were brought to eye level - well, slightly. Although their commander had grown, she was still a few inches taller than him.
But as they stood across from eachother - the thing that stuck most were his eyes. She didn't notice it from afar, but when they were in eye shot - she immediately took notice to how.. dead they were. There was no energy within them, no fierceness that he once had, nothing.
"Why do you want to know?" The response sounded cold on his tongue, as he continued to stare at her. She looked away, moving her hand to the back of her neck to rub against it - nervously.
"Well.. It's just that.. you guys have been in one team, right? She's a girl, you're a boy. And you know, whenever we reference her, you always leave the room... and stuff." His eyes were growing blanker by the second each time she said a word, "And I heard from Monoko that apparently Petra's father was actually asking about you.. said some things.. ehehe.."
She looked back only to blink at his retreating figure, "Commander, Commander Levi!" She whined, but to no avail. He had refused to turn back to such nuisance. She frowned to glare at the ground,
"I really like you, Hanji-Sama.. and by like, I mean.. As in.. I'd like to date you.."
She let out a defeated sigh, turned around-
And stared into the eyes of Monoko and Jean who stared back at her smugly,
"Ready to start the day, Hanji-san?" They latched at her elbows and drug her away.
"Ehehhe… Nooo!"
About another month passed since the group found time for another meeting. Well, now it was just a friendly gathering. Things have changed drastically then before as new laws were set in place in the courts to follow up with the new revolution. Houses were on the brink of completion. The survey corps were no longer tied to the civilians; rather they were free from them and eachother.
There was no need for them anymore. The courts found no use for them and forced them to disband. They were sure it was the work of the military police - but they had no energy to fight it. Erwin was no longer with them, and Levi had no intention too. They assumed he had something up his sleeve, but the commander had remained quiet about it throughout the entire meeting.
As of the moment: Connie had left with Sasha and her people to replenish their clan(s). Historia had disappeared during the takeover of Wall Maria: five days before she was crowned queen of royalty(an obvious hoax for the military police which proved useful, at first.) Jean was on the heist of packing, but failed to leave as of yet.
Monoko, Samuel, Jean, Hanji, and Dans sat around each other and spoke more than ever - even Levi, who seemed interested in the conversation primarily for its subject matter.
"What if they're still hanging around?" Samuel asked, causing everyone to turn to him.
"Don't say that!"
Dans cut in, "He's not wrong. They're sneaky little bastards."
"No, they're huge." Jean responded, and they all seemed to laugh even though there was nothing funny about it. Hanji tipped her glasses over her nose, and muttered a response,
"In size, they are" causing them to turn to her, and for a moment she was quiet.. before she let out a huge grin, causing people to roll their eyes. Could she not be serious for once? Levi let out a mutter in response, although she couldn't tell if he agreed with her.
The conversation then shifted drastically when Monoko sent her a pointed look, "So." She said, gaining their attention which was previously on the unusual-acting commander, "I heard you and Moblit made it official." Shocked eyes seemed to turn to stare at her.
Hanji blinked in confusion; she had no idea what she was talking about, but played along, "Oh yes!" She screamed, gleefully, "And we're going to have to commemorate this moment!"
"How?" Dans laughed as she leaned back against her chair, tipping it back to gain enough room for her to place a leg over the table
"Strippers, lots of strippers!"
"Get your feet off the table" Levi grumbled, ceasing the laughter which erupted. Hanji stuck her tongue out at him, but complied.
"Don't worry Commander, I'm expecting you to be one of them- " gaining a blank stare, she turned to Monoko and mimicked her famous chagrin, "You too" gaining both a blush and a glare in one.
Now that she thought about it, she hadn't seen Moblit for a while. Not since-
The group continued to talk till nightfall - before Dans and Jeans called it quits and retreated to their respected rooms. Jean had a lot more packing to do, so he said, and Dans' yawns could be heard from miles away.
"Ahh, I think I should be leaving now." Hanji muttered as she looked to the squared window; darkness fell over the trees to the point where you could barely see anything unless you flashed your light on it or waited a while till your eyes fell to camera mode.
"At this time?" Hanji stood up to send Samuel a grin.
"No worries man, I know my way around."
"No offence Hanji, but you have a tendency to get lost." This time it was Monoko who spoke - sounding equally worried and unsure to let her 'friend' wander off alone especially with the military police always questioning their motives. They were out - all night, every night - and although they couldn't enforce the curfew, they made sure they were available in case any danger arouse. Which was a bunch of baloney, in their opinion.
Samuel got up from his chair and held up a hand, "I can drop you off." He offered.
What was it about men that felt like they needed to protect their woman? She was more than capable of handling herself, she had proved many times(except, perhaps, the week she had forgotten to shower. It was true: sometimes she forgot about herself in correspondence to her work. The time she found Sawyer and Bean dead - she failed to bathe and eat properly determined to find her new babies justice, and did she ever-) "It's fine, really." She responded, as she did not want them to go through so much trouble.
"No it isn't." This time, it was Levi who spoke. She quickly turned to him, but he had already shut the sliding door behind him. She whined as she fell to her chair - both Monoko and Samuel sent her a sympathetic look. She had no place to argue because their commander had spoken.