Mirage

A/N: I've been fangirling over Romi Park (yes, the woman who voices Hange in the anime) and waah she's so kawaii and I can definitely see her mirroring Hange's personality. And good Lord, can she sing! Listening to her songs made me want to watch and hear Hange singing too. Haha. Anyway, sorry for the wait! Here's the next chapter, enjoy my dears! And thank you also for the lovely reviews!

Summary: Humanity's strongest soldier had secrets of his own. So when the woman he loved died, he turns on another for pure companionship and comfort. But a night of mistake has its consequences. Levihan.

CHAPTER TEN: TERRITORIAL

The familiar sound of metal ropes sliding and clicking into place echoed against the trunks of the giant trees, the sound vibrating into the whole forest.

In all her intimidating glory, Mikasa Ackerman glided along the wind as she expertly maneuvered her gear, her goal set only upon one thing. Her eyes scanned the area and as she continuously glided with her black hair fanning all over the place, she immediately caught sight of the Titan replica. A higher-ranking soldier prepared the Titan and Mikasa firmly grasped her sword.

She slashed the foam on its nape; one meter lengthwise, ten centimetres across.

Standing on a tree branch with his back leaning against the trunk and his arms crossed before his chest, Levi watched her from a distance and hummed to himself. The girl is undoubtedly strong and her Titan-killing abilities can almost match up with his'. She also moved fast and Levi could see the fire dancing in her eyes as she used her gear and gripped her sword, like rage was fuelling her entire being. Her strike form was also flawless, deep and in exact measure.

A loud groan abruptly rang in his ears as a boy went past him, the wind blew wisps of his coal black hair. Levi trailed his eyes in the direction that the boy treaded and he caught a glimpse of dark, chocolate brown hair.

Eren Jaeger gripped his sword tightly in his hands. He let out another roar as he lashed out the nape of the Titan.

Still not good enough. Levi bit his lip before clicking his tongue, and then using his own gear, he scurried down the tree.

Eren landed on the ground and looked over his shoulder to see how he managed but a frown marred his face as he saw the little damage that he had done. The affronted look on his eyes mirrored his disappointment. He clenched his fists.

Mikasa suddenly emerged from the bushes and walked straight towards Eren, her face worried. She held out her hand, which the boy grabbed, and immediately pulled him up. She had a smile on her face as Eren dusted the dirt on his pants.

"You did good, Eren," She tried to cheer him up.

The boy let out a frustrated sigh. "But still not good enough compared to you," He looked at her eyes. "Mikasa, you should teach me sometime."

Mikasa's eyes shone and heat flamed her cheeks. "O-Of course…" she grabbed her red scarf and covered half of her face. "W-When do you want to start?"

Eren beamed at her, his blue green eyes immediately lighting up. "Anytime you want!"

Levi watched them from the darkness, scowling at the sight of two teenagers flirting in front of him. But he'll admit it though, he was slightly amused at how oblivious Eren was to Mikasa's affections for him. Watching the girl struggle everyday and seeing Eren be a complete idiot was the closest thing to entertainment he had.

Smirking, he strutted out from his position and walked towards Eren and Mikasa. "Oi you lovebirds, that's all for today." Levi had the usual scowl on his face as he confronted the two.

Mikasa let out a gasp and blushed even more as Eren turned his back to look at Levi. The boy immediately clenched his right fist and brought it to his chest as a salute. "Roger, Captain."

Levi glared at him. "Eren, I see you have not improved a bit. You should take this training seriously and man up," He gritted his teeth. "If you go out there and encounter a Titan all by yourself, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't stand a chance and just maybe shit yourself and die."

The brown-haired boy looked down on his feet.

Mikasa stepped forward and sent a death glare towards Levi. "Captain, aren't you going too far," It wasn't a question.

Eren countered. "Mikasa,"

He raised a brow. "Am I?" He returned the glare. "You know very well that I am right, Ackerman," He could see that the girl was just holding herself from killing him. But like that could happen anyway. He turned his back and started to walk. "Gather all other soldiers scattered in the forest and tell them that we're calling it a day."

Levi utilized his 3D maneuver gear and rose, anchoring hooks from tree to tree. He glided along the air and the wind blew tendrils of his dark hair. His face was emotionless as he continued to search for the exit of the forest and when he finally caught sight of some light coming from the outside, he speeded up and moved faster.

Reaching the open field, he noticed that it was already near sunset. The sky was a mix of crimson, orange and pink, and the fluffy clouds above hovered gently.

He gazed around and he saw that the other veterans who acted as trainers are already gathering. Some were sitting on the lush, grassy ground, just resting from the tiring training. Others were having talks and laughs and replenishing themselves.

As he continuously scanned the area, he caught sight of Mike, Nanaba and Erwin gathered under the shade of a huge tree. Nanaba, with her short, light blonde hair framing her face, was curled up against Mike as he sat leaning his back against the trunk.

The two are really becoming quite smitten with each other and everyone had already noticed the sweetness that they usually portrayed. And it's the same case for most people in the corps. Ever since he and Hange got married, more and more couples are coming out of their shells.

The Survey Corps is slowly becoming like a den not of madmen, but of lovebirds.

Levi also saw Erwin, who rarely came out of his office to supervise the training. Like the chiselled man that he was, the Commander was standing tall and broad with a few papers in his hands. His lips were curled into a small smile as he continued to converse with Nanaba and Mike.

But what surprised Levi the most, was that from where he was standing, he could clearly see his wife strolling towards the three, tugging a tiny basket. He couldn't deny the fact that even though she was already five months pregnant, her face always seemed to glow.

She was like a flower finally coming to full bloom.

The woman wore an oversized shirt and stretchy white pants to accommodate her now growing belly. As usual, her hair was tied into a ponytail and her glasses dangled on the tip of her pointed nose.

But Hange wasn't supposed to be here. She should be at the Headquarters right now, where she could rest and Levi was sure she was safe.

His eyes widened at the thought.

Hange reached the tree where Erwin, Nanaba and Mike were resting at. She beamed when Erwin pulled her and anchored his arm around her nape. The blond man ruffled her already dishevelled hair and Hange giggled in response.

The woman tilted her head to her side and when she did, she caught sight of Levi. Their eyes connected. Her face lit up with amusement and a huge grin was plastered on her face. She reached her hand up and waved, then she mouthed something. He didn't hear what she said but Levi hesitantly raised his hand a bit in greeting.

Then he saw Mike and Nanaba trying to hold back their laugh, and Erwin was biting his lip. Somehow, they finally lost all might and laughed. Hard. The Commander maintained his decorum and just had an amused look on his face.

Levi had no idea what that was all about, his forehead crossed.

Hange untangled herself from Erwin and immediately ran to him, tugging the tiny basket in her hands. He waited. Time seemed to stop as Hange ran towards him; his heart was beating wildly in his chest. He wasn't sure how to react so he just stood there frozen on the ground.

The bespectacled woman smiled once more, flashing her pearly-white teeth against those luscious lips. She neared him.

So near.

He opened his mouth to say something, a harsh statement about her coming to the training when he strictly forbid her to. Anything. Anything that will fuel his courage.

He was prepared for what he was going to say until he realized, the direction Hange was treading seemed to stray from his position. She sped up her pace, only to glide past Levi and ignore him.

"Hello Eren!" she yelped behind his back. "I've been looking all over for you!"

What the fuck?

He was stunned and for a minute there, a disbelieving and confused expression settled on his face. He looked up and saw that Mike, Erwin and Nanaba were laughing so hard. Nanaba was clutching her stomach to ease her laughing, Erwin was biting his knuckles as he tried to control himself, but he was miserably failing.

Mike, on the other hand, stared back at Levi. The brawny man had already stopped laughing. He grinned at the short man, then he held his right hand up and gave Levi a thumbs up.

He scowled. He mimicked Mike's gesture but instead of a thumbs up, he raised his middle finger. 'Fuck. Off.' He mouthed. Mike bit his lip and laughed once more.

Levi looked over his shoulder and saw that indeed, Eren, Mikasa and Armin Arlert were walking a few steps behind him.

The brown-haired boy had a confused look on his face as Hange continued to fuss around him. "Ms. Hange…. It's a surprise to see you here," he said.

"Well…." Hange skirted closer. She shoved the tiny basket into Eren's hands. "I just thought maybe you guys are hungry after an afternoon of training so I asked the cooks in the Headquarters to prepare some sandwiches for you soldiers."

"Really?" he beamed. Eren opened the lid of the basket and the aroma of fresh-baked bread and meat spread reached his nostrils. "Thank you very much, Ms. Hange!"

"No problem," she uttered. "I miss the training grounds, anyway. I've been stuck in the Headquarters for so long, so I'm really bored. It's nice to have some excuse to go out."

Connie, Jean, Reiner, Bertolt, and Sasha seemed to have smelled the bread and they had started to gather. Sasha's mouth watered. "You have something in that basket, Eren. I know it. Give us the goods," her tone was menacing.

Eren knelt on the ground and once again flipped the lid of the basket. He handed each soldier a piece of bread, which they delightfully accepted and munched on. The group ate with noise.

After he finished his bread, Armin suddenly stepped forward and approached Hange. "Ms. Hange, you're looking so good right now." He smiled, showing his innocent and cute face. "If you don't mind me asking, how far along are you?"

Hange returned the smile. "Thank you, Armin. I'm on my fifth month right now."

Armin did a mental calculation, dating when Levi and Hange's wedding took place. His eyes widened at the thought, and Hange just grinned. Maybe he had figured out that she was already pregnant before they got married. Armin is a smart boy but Hange was sure that the knowledge he just discovered will be kept under wraps.

Sasha looked up, bread crumbs all over her face. "Isn't that the period where you have so much cravings, like, there are a lot of food you want to eat?" she asked.

Connie sighed in annoyance then patted the girl's head. "Whenever the talk is about food, you always seem to be hyperactive, Sasha."

Hange turned to the two. "To tell you honestly, I'm past all the food cravings. But right now, I'm craving for…." She thought of Levi, cringing. "Something more." The woman grinned mischievously. "Once I give birth though, I can already go back to work and we'll start the experiments again. Right, Eren?"

Eren gulped and stiffened. "Y-yes." His voice seemed alarmed at the thought that he'd had to undergo Hange's weird experiments again.

"I have some new theories that I'd like to work on. So Eren, you have to be prepared."

The boy nodded. Once they were all done, they rose up to head off. The other soldiers are now preparing to leave.

Hange dragged herself to one of the supply carts where she'll be riding, her back starting to hurt. In an attempt to ease the pain, she stretched and rubbed it. She reached the cart. But to her surprise, Levi was waiting for her, his face displayed the usual scowl and he had his arms crossed before his broad chest.

"And what in God's name are you doing here?" he asked, his cold tone piercing her. His eyes were full of rage, but they displayed more that she found hard to decipher.

"Just visited you guys. I also wanted some fresh air." she replied. She got on the back of the cart and sat; but she could feel Levi's eyes following her movements.

He gritted his teeth. "Tch. You should have known better." The man turned his back and left, leaving Hange wondering just what the hell the man was up to.

Levi was pissed. And he had no idea why.

But everytime he thinks about what had happened in the training grounds earlier, fire suddenly ignites his chest.

He had initially thought Hange was there to see him but when she glided past him and went straight towards Eren, a shot of pain kicked inside him.

He wasn't jealous. Damn, he wasn't.

And why the hell would he be? He didn't love her.

Or so he thought.

As he silently walked along the dark hallways of the headquarters, he tried to keep his foolish thoughts at bay but found his efforts futile. The woman was certainly driving him up the wall and he couldn't do anything about it.

He had been hearing news about how Hange fussed all around Eren these days. He didn't care at all, but after what he had witnessed earlier, his motors heightened up and rage filled his body.

Levi reached their room. He opened the door expecting Hange laying down on the bed as usual but she was nowhere to be found. He took off his Survey Corps jacket, neatly folded it, and placed it on the table.

And that's when he heard water splashing inside the bathroom. The door was half-opened and there was light coming from the inside. For a while, he only heard the sound of water pouring from the faucet. But minutes passed and he heard his wife singing.

'Is love so fragile? And the heart so hollow? Shattered with words… Impossible to follow.'

Levi raised a brow, amused at Hange's singing voice. He'd never heard her sing before and he was completely amazed to discover that the woman whom he deemed so noisy all the time, hides the ability to sing so beautifully.

He continued to listen and he couldn't help but marvel his wife's unknown talent, which was really not bad at all. Levi slipped off his button up shirt before laying down their bed, placing his arms under his head for support.

'You're saying I'm fragile, I try not to be. I search only for something I can see… And I have my own life, I am stronger than you know. But I carry this feeling, when you walked me into my house, you won't be walking out the door…'

The singing stopped. He heard shifting from the bathroom and Hange opened the door. She gasped when he saw Levi laying on their bed with his eyes closed. "Levi… How long have you been here?"

"Long enough to hear you screeching like a cat," he muttered as he cracked his eyes open. He fixed her on his gaze. Hange's dry hair was still tied into a ponytail so he figured she just took a half bath. The woman was wearing a white oversized shirt and, but her lower half was bare. Levi trailed his eyes down her long, smooth legs.

"Thanks a lot, Shorty." Hange snarled. "At least Eren thinks I have a good singing voice." She laid beside him and took up her side of the bed, facing her husband.

There it goes again, the little pinch in his heart which he desperately tried to shrug off. "You sang for that idiot?"

She smiled. "The other day, yeah. I was having a nice afternoon talk with Eren, Mikasa and Armin. I mentioned that back in our village, the old people will ask me to sing because they said it soothed them." There was a hint of pride in her voice.

Levi's eyes softened. "I didn't know that."

She let out a chuckle. "As if you were so eager to know,"

He gritted his teeth. He couldn't take it anymore. "Hange, I think you should refrain from hanging out with Eren,"

Her eyes widened. "Why?"

"I just think it's dangerous. What if he suddenly turns into a Titan and hurt you? Remember that thing with the teaspoon?"

Hange laughed. "Honestly, Levi, you're being so overprotective already." She sat up and looked him in the eye, her hazel irises searching for his soul. "I hang out with Eren a lot because… I miss working, Levi. I miss doing experiments. And I also thought that observing Eren when he's in his human form will help me deduce a theory about how and why he became a Titan-shifter in the first place,"

He snorted. The fire that had been burning in his chest died down a little. "That's creepy, fiddling around someone without his conscience."

"For the sake of science," she grumbled under her breath. "And for humanity. I want to know for sure if Eren is the key that we have been searching for, Levi."

He chose not to respond, remembering how Eren had been in the training.

Hange hummed. "Maybe you're just jealous,"

Levi groaned. "Eat shit, Four Eyes. I am not." He dropped his gaze from her eyes tilted his head to his side. "Why the hell would I be?"

Hange had a mischievous smile on her face as she hesitantly laid her head gently on his naked chest. "I couldn't believe my dear husband is jealous of a teenage boy," she teased.

"I am not jealous." He pressed on his words.

"Hmm. Yeah, you're not jealous." Her fingers slowly trailed light circles on his washboard abs. "You're being territorial,"

His brows furrowed. "What?"

"You're being territorial," she repeated. "Jealous is when you want something that's not yours. Territorial is protecting what's already yours."

Levi's eyes widened, letting her words sink into his mind.

Territorial is protecting what's already yours.

"I'm just kidding, Levi. You know that we have nothing-"

Levi cut her off by tilting her chin and looking deep in to her eyes. "Woman, you need to shut up," he muttered before gently pressing his lips against hers.

A/N: Why do I feel like this was a shitty chapter? Haha. But thanks for reading! I pinched in a scene where Hange was singing because I was really amazed at Romi Park. And also, the song was entitled Leather and Lace by Stevie Nicks. I really loved that song and I thought it will suit Hange/Romi's voice well if she ever sang it.

Please feel free to give me a review! If you have other questions, please send me a message in my account, or you can also tweet me in Twitter. Username: colonelmags