Hello everyone! I'm sorry this chapter took me so long to write. I've been drowning in what is known as life. X3 I hope you enjoy!

Also, to my guest reviewers: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ENCOURAGING ME TO CONTINUE THIS HORRIBLE EXCUSE OF A FANFIC! XD YOU GUYS MAKE ME SO HAPPY WITH YOUR KIND WORDS! YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND! :)

"What do you mean we are the only ones without power?!" Isabel cried, not realizing how loud she was. I sighed and turned around to look at my cousin. I told her exactly what I saw outside: all the houses in the neighborhood had power except for us. She immediately took out her phone from her pocket to make sure it was still fully charged. "I hope your phone is charged, Levi."

I quickly checked my phone as well, but noticed something. We had no reception, which was strange because the cell tower was working fine outside. "Mine's alive, but we can't call anyone."

"Shit, your right." My cousin noticed too and paced back and forth. The house got darker and darker, for the sun was leaving the sky. Hanji stood up and walked towards me, shivering. It was starting to get cold in the house fast. Although I had a fireplace, I rarely ever used it and never bought more wood for it. And I couldn't buy more because I didn't have a car, thanks to the accident. "What should we do?" she asked with concern.

"There should be a bunch of candles in the garage. With the heater out, those should keep us warm." I replied and went to get my jacket hanging by the door. Isabel widened her eyes and stopped me. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To get the candles. The garage is separate from the house, but it's close by."

"No!" Isabel scolded me. "What if someone's out there? You'll get hurt."

"I'll be fine, Isabel. I won't be long. Besides, we don't know what exactly caused the outage."

"You just came out from the hospital! I'm not going to risk you getting taken or killed again! Same thing goes for your wife!"

I couldn't argue with my cousin. "Alright. You go."

"Where are the candles?" Isabel asked as she took my jacket and put it on. I told her that they were in a cardboard box next to the table where all the tools go. She fixed herself up and made sure her gun was in the pouch attached to her belt, as well as a miniature flashlight in the pouch next to it. She walked to the front door, but before she left, she turned to us. "I'm going to look for the power box to see if it was tampered with and to turn the lights back on. If it doesn't work, we'll have to deal with candles and flashlights for now. Stay together, and whatever you do, don't leave the house."

My cousin quietly left after we understood her words. I shut the door to prevent cold air from coming in. Hanji stood there and watched, unsure of what to do. "Do you think someone is messing with us again?" She asked me. I could barely see her face anymore, so I walked past her and went to a closet. "Maybe," I answered her as I took out two flashlights and switched them on. I handed one of them over to my wife and she took it. "It's likely there's someone here. Or maybe I didn't pay the electric bill," I said.

"I hope you didn't pay it." She grinned.

"Yeah, me too." I sighed again. I brought her with me to find more blankets and warm clothes to wear in the meantime. Hanji went up the stairs beside me and we went into the bedroom. I asked Hanji to point our flashlights into the closet so I can see and I used both of my hands to search for fleece blankets. Hanji cautiously looked around to make sure nobody was watching us, and I had to remind her to keep the lights still. "Isabel is taking a long time," she stated. "I hope she's okay."

"She'll be fine," I reassured her as I pulled out two fleece blankets from the closet. "She knows how to defend herself, I trust."

Hanji shrugged as I wrapped one blanket around her and took one of the flashlights back. She thanked me, but was still worried about Isabel. She cared about my cousin very much and wanted the best for her even though they just met. Hanji considered my cousin her newly found friend and was afraid of losing her. Before we left the room, I remembered to grab my pocket knife from the drawer… just in case.

Suddenly, we heard a crash. It came from the kitchen. Turning our flashlights off, I told Hanji to stay behind me and I looked over the balcony next to the stairs to see if anyone was there. "Isabel?" I called. No answer. Instead, a dark figure walked to the living room and I thought it was looking at us. It just stood there, in the darkness. It wasn't Isabel. I grabbed Hanji's arm and ran to the guest bedroom. Inside, I locked the bedroom door and we ran into the walk-in closet, shutting the door as well. Our room didn't have a walk-in closet, so I was grateful that the guest room did. We sat down together and turned our flashlights on to see our faces. "This can't be happening again!" Hanji was very scared.

I checked my phone again to see if there was any reception. Miraculously, there was one bar. "I'm going to call her," I said as I dialed my cousin's number. I waited for an answer, but it kept ringing. "Come on! Pick up!"

"Levi," Hanji pulled on my sleeve and stared at the door.

Isabel didn't answer, so I dialed the number again. "Pick up, damn it!"

"Levi!"

"What?" I replied with annoyance. My wife covered my mouth and pointed at the door. Someone was trying to get into the bedroom; I could hear the knob being turned. I hung up and remained silent. We were calm, but our hearts were racing with anxiety. Then, the sound of the door being kicked open frightened my wife and caused her to cling on to me in fear. We heard footsteps; at first, they were distant and soft. But they got louder. And closer. I searched for my pocket knife and stood up. I had enough of being afraid of defending myself. If the intruder opened the door, I was going to pounce on them. Hanji went as far back as possible, shielding her body with the fleece blanket like a scared child. I did not want to risk her getting hurt; she went through enough pain. It was my job to protect her.

The moment the door swung open, I tackled the intruder to the ground. I tried to stab him with the small knife, but he smacked it from my hands and pushed me aside. He then came over and held me down to assault me with his fists. I did everything I could to fight back, but I was simply too weak and too much in pain to do so. Just then, I saw another figure wrap a wire around the man's neck. Pulling back, the man grabbed the wire and tried to breathe while being dragged across the room. I wearily sat up and searched for the flashlight. When I turned it on, the light revealed Hanji, strangling the intruder with the wire. She used every bit of strength she had in her body and pulled as hard as she could while the man gasped for air. He threw his head back and hit Hanji's face, making her let go of the wire and fall to the floor. However, she scrambled to her feet again and tackled the man before he could catch her. The man was trying to grab her, and she had trouble holding him still, so she felt along the floor and found the pocket knife he smacked out of my hands.

Then, with a loud grunt, Hanji threw her arm down and stuck the pocket knife into the man's chest. She pulled it out and stabbed him again, and again. She didn't stop until he was dead. Realizing that the man was nothing but a corpse, Hanji stopped and tried to catch her breath after throwing the knife aside. There was some blood on her hands and her shirt, but she didn't seem to care.

"You… you killed him." I stared at the body with disbelief. I never imagined someone like Hanji to do such a thing.

Hanji nodded and stood to her feet. "I wanted to save you."

I shook my head and didn't understand. "Why?"

My wife went over to me and held out her hand for me to take. "You did the same for me." She smiled at me and helped me stand up. I was ashamed for being too weak… but I was also grateful that Hanji took it upon herself to defend me. I guess family is a two-way street after all.

Then it hit me. "Isabel!" I ran out of the room and rushed down the stairs. My wife rushed after me, telling me to wait for her. I went straight for the front door and swung it open. A breeze of cold air chilled our bodies. Little snowflakes fell from the sky as we headed for the garage. It had gotten a bit hazy and we couldn't see down the road very well. The door to the garage was already open, and when we went inside, we saw my cousin laying on the floor with the gun in her hands. "Isabel!" I yelled and went over to check on her. She was alive, but unconscious. She bled from her head, meaning that the man knocked her out before she could stop him. "She's just unconscious," I felt relieved.

"What do we do now?" Hanji asked.

"I'm calling Eren," I replied and searched for Isabel's phone. I took it out from the jacket pocket and looked in her contacts. Hanji decided to go to the power box and switch the electricity back on. When she flipped all the switches, she peeked out from the garage and saw that the house lit up from the inside. The intruder must have broken into the garage and tried to scare us by shutting the power off. After hanging up, I picked my cousin up and carried her to the house, my wife following behind me.

"That didn't take very long," said Eren, the moment he arrived at our house along with a few of his companion who guarded the door. After listening to him tell us how terrible we looked, I told him everything that happened and showed my cousin lying on the couch, still unconscious. "I leave you guys alone for a few hours and this happens. How unfortunate." The young man shook his head.

"She tried to protect us," Hanji cried. "She tried."

"I believe you." Eren took her shoulders and took a good look at her. He noticed the blood on her shirt. "I almost don't want to ask."

My wife looked down. She turned around and went up the stairs, and Eren hesitantly followed her. We went into the guest room, and when Hanji turned on the light, she gestured toward the dead body on the carpeted floor. Eren blinked, surprised that it was even there. "Well shit, Hanji. Looks like you finally came out of your shell."

"That's what I said," I scoffed.

My wife pouted and folded her arms. "A 'thank you' would be nice."

Eren shook his head and knelt to the dead man to take a good look at his face. Eren thought he looked familiar, but wasn't sure if it was his mind playing a trick on him. "How strange," he said. "It's as if I've met him before…"

We heard someone running up the stairs. When the door was pushed open, Hanji and I turned around defensively, while Eren stood up in a heartbeat and realized who was there. "Isabel? You're up so soon?"

She was still bleeding from her head, but it wasn't a serious injury. She was taking deep breathes to ignore the pain. "Wait! Guys! That man…"

Eren was confused. "Are you alright? What about him?"

"That man… used to be one of us! I know because… he was giving information to the government about us in secret!"

Then, it hit Eren harder than a truck. He must have remembered everything. "But… that was so long ago!"

"What does that have to do with us?" I asked, and the young man urged us to leave the room. "If he was spying on us this entire time," Eren began, "That means he found out about you and whatever the government wants from you both. And that man your wife killed could have been their only informant. We need to leave."

Before I could say anything else, Eren ordered his two other companions to bring Hanji and I to their truck outside while he dealt with my cousin and the dead body. More snow was falling, yet we couldn't get our winter jackets in time to keep us warm. During the drive to who-knows-where, Hanji realized how much danger we were in and yearned to live a normal life again. Everything was happening so fast. I understood what Eren said, but that man wasn't trying to get info out of us… he was going to kill us. Nothing made sense.

The only decent part about the entire occurrence was the fact that I might see my mother again. But I didn't cross my fingers. Who knows? She might be one of them.