PART ONE

Chapter Two

Everyone knew that the 12th Survey Corps commander, Keith Sadies, climbed up the ranks the blindly ambitious way by publicly censuring his superiors' failures all while having no results to show for himself; but in the half-decade since, the efforts of his protégé, Erwin Smith, on behalf of the tactical genius and promising outcomes had burnished the Survey Corps name into one of respectability. Every second week of each month, for instance, Erwin held a strategic meeting with his old and most trusted comrades in his private quarters, and Hange Zoë was sure to attend.

By his preference, Erwin's bedroom was hidden away in the upper basement on the same floor where the catacombs used to be. To get there, one either had to follow the cobblestone footpath that wound along the fountain courtyard where most of the soldiers would assemble for recess or take the shortcut through the wide study hall. Hange always preferred the quicker route, since she assiduously avoided the mocking glares of the cliques who had dubbed her with the perfunctory nickname "crazy science lady."

Besides, Hange enjoyed passing through the library. The old librarian crouching over leather-bound covers would always open the books for Hange to see folktales about the Titans complete with illustrative depictions from the author's imagination, and a handful of interested souls would fawn over at the bourgeoning scientist's knowledge, what with her passionate lectures on distinguishing fact from fiction.

By the time Hange arrived at Erwin's quarters, the meeting regulars, Mike Zacharias and Nanaba, would be assembled and waiting. Here, sheltered from the harsh midsummer heat and the scrutiny of the other soldiers, these long-time friends would sprawl languorously about the room, going through the notes Erwin meticulously took when he had discussed with the commander and the other officers.

Today's meeting started off with the man's remarks on their commander's plans for the next expedition, enumerating every oversight and how it must be addressed. This is where Erwin's genius shines the most, his excellent attention to detail and high perception proves most worthwhile in developing fail-safe plans with higher chances of success and survival—characteristics unique to Erwin that made Commander Sadies believe that he was special. In the years before Erwin's place under the limelight, Sadies would be adamant that every course of action adheres to his plans regardless of the string of failures and the mounting death count of scouts. All those began to change because of one brilliant soldier.

But behind the tactical virtuosity and the highly esteemed demeanour everyone else sees, Erwin's true motivation of joining the scouts and accepting the role as the next commanding officer remains contentious. Most believed it was as simple as that he wishes for the victory of mankind over the Titans, but to those who knew the man better, they knew it was something more intrinsic, something more self-interested.

"Huh, I'd never assume Sadies to be so lenient; then again, it is Erwin we're talking about," Nanaba suddenly declared, bringing some energy in the stuffy room.

"The commander will accept what is merely necessary," Erwin remarked. He felt as if he had grown numb whenever he was the subject of discussion, even amongst his friends. He simply felt obligated to carry out this upright form as any good leader should, and because the commander kept reminding him that "the people's eyes always follow the face of the Survey Corps."

Hange put the parchment down, perhaps being the only one who read everything. "As usual, Erwin proves why he's best suited to be the next commander," she said good-naturedly.

"We've calculated those risks, but I'm quite certain our mortality rates would still reach at least thirty percent. It seems that we've never moved on from our objective of building bases outside the wall…"

"Exactly!" Hange exclaimed, suddenly animated. "Loopholes and solutions aside, shouldn't we be able to propose some other course of action? I understand that building bases are integral to the progress of the reconnaissance missions, but wouldn't we be able to learn more about Titans if we study them up close in controlled environments? We have enough data to understand how they behave outside the Walls, but other than that, we're out lost in the woods! I suggest we capture a Titan and examine them within the Walls."

For a few seconds, the room went absolutely still. One could almost hear the gears in the latter's heads as they took in their brunette comrade's proposition. This was the first time anyone has ever suggested something so grandiose, so preposterous, it was laughable. And that's what Nanaba did, even pretending to cough. Hange immediately let out a pout and shot her a dark look. No one ever witnessed a furious Hange before and Nanaba, having no desires of being the first victim, offered a small apology and bit her lip shut.

Mike folded his arms over his broad chest, his gaze unreadable, before turning to Erwin who was leaning against the windowsill where the soft rays of the afternoon sun peered through. Erwin kept his tired yet sharp blue eyes fastened on Hange, observing her reaction and keeping quiet as if he expected that she had more to say.

"I know it sounds absurd," Hange began. "But I am serious! I've already devised a meticulous plan on how to operationalise the capture and keep the Titan within the walls safely. The latest expedition made me realize that we've sacrificed so much yet gained so little, even under Commander Sadies' instructions. Isn't this the point of being scouts? To seek out knowledge, the truth?" She turned her head to the leaning man. "Am I wrong, Erwin? Isn't this why we fight?"

"The call is for the commander to make. Not mine, Hange."

"But you could convince Sadies! He listens to you—he will believe you! You could just endorse me and he'll most likely consider—"

"There are far too many risks in a capture operation. We do not have the manpower nor do we have the facilities. I greatly doubt we would even get the support from the brass or from the citizens. By bringing a Titan within the walls, we would be placing ourselves under more ferocious circumstances than we already are in. Consider those factors, Hange. It's not improbable for the citizens to support the congress' decision of cutting down our funds for the benefit of the Military Police. If we did hide such an operation from the populace and the militia, things would only get worse. We can't afford any more troubles."

Hange's eyes faltered, defeated. She respected Erwin's impeccable perception, but she did not expect to feel so crestfallen at his honesty. His points were valid and it would just make sense for her to agree. But would that mean that she had to give up on everything she's worked so hard for?

She needed some time to think. Picking up what was left of her poise and pride, her eyes glazed across the room wearing a small but worn-out smile as she waited for Erwin to continue with the meeting.

It would be just before dinnertime for the Survey Corps, and on the nights when he couldn't dine with Mike due to some "private plans" with Nanaba, it became Erwin's habit to eat alone on the table ensconced in the far corner of the hall, the perfect blind spot for some self-isolation, the perfect place to think. But since his table was already occupied by a sullen dark-haired character who was contentedly drinking away his hot tea, Erwin made the abrupt decision to dine with some company instead.

"Black tea for dinner? It's no wonder you've got dark circles beneath your eyes," he greeted blithely as soon as he placed his tray of food down.

"Like you look any better," Levi retorted, not bothering to face his direction.

"Well-played. But honestly, compared to you, I look as if there are brighter days yet to come."

"If I divulge that I have trouble sleeping most nights, will that make you shut up?"

"No, though I wouldn't mind whether you'd tell me or not."

"How considerate. It's great you said that because I have no intentions of telling you any more shit than you already know."

Erwin let out a low chuckle, bringing a cup of his own green tea to his lips and slowly consuming in its warmth. He internally regarded the strange way Levi held his cup—his fingers tightly surrounded the rim of the cup's mouth—and wondered where he modelled such behaviour from. Subtle and irrelevant quirks like this often go unnoticed by many, but there are those who pay attention even to the tiniest of details. Like him.

Like Hange.

Hange. When she had turned to smile at them at the meeting earlier, Erwin hoped he could have left her with a positive and lighter note. He had no desires of upsetting her, but he fully meant to relay everything that was on his mind. Hange is bright, brilliant—but wild and impulsive. If he did not say what needed to be said, she might've tried to convince Commander Sadies himself to play along with her plan and she could be very convincing if need be. Truthfully, he could only hope she had sincerely understood him. The realities he had burdened her with should suffice to keep her at bay, for the meantime, at the least.

His thoughts of Hange made him think if she ever had the opportunity to speak with Levi. Given that, at the surface, these two individuals were almost polar opposites, it is unlikely that they would find enough common ground to immerse themselves into some deep-seated quid pro quo. But for the highly perceptive Erwin Smith, the most intimate relationships can form in the most unorthodox ways, because this is when differences are set aside and the connections formed are brought to the forefront. Maybe I should ask Mike to watch over these two, he considered, smirking at the idea.

"Have you made any acquaintances, so far? Soon enough, I'll be asking you about the soldiers you've chosen to comprise your squad," Erwin asked, changing the topic.

"So far, the people I've met fall on a spectrum ranging from completely helpless to batshit insane, although, there was this one outlier who's broken out the curve and has established a very unique brand of abnormal." Levi sipped on his tea.

"Are you talking about Zoë, Hange?"

He blurted her name instantly, almost perhaps instinctively. Levi eyed Erwin with suspicion, as if he had been clandestinely hiding something within those gossamer threads in his gleaming blonde head. It was too quick of an answer to give and it was either that Hange had grown grotesquely popular among the scouts or that Erwin knew her personally. "What made you think it was her?" he asked.

"Considering the amount of time you took to answer my question, I'd say I was right. You think Hange is a—to quote you—a unique brand of abnormal." Erwin laughed lowly, hearing himself say those words. While many did come up with certain nicknames for the Titan-mad maven, none had given it such vibrancy in the way Levi did. This was an uncommon scene for him, and Erwin felt strangely amused by this. Perhaps his preliminary hunches were right.

"I'd like to see you try and change my mind," Levi said coolly, seemingly nonchalant to Erwin's growing interest in the context.

"I don't intend to change your mind about her, Levi. Those are all up to you. But in the interest of fairness, maybe I should tell you a bit about Hange and how she ended up in the Survey Corps." Erwin set aside his tray of empty plates of cups, folding his arms over the table and leaning forward. "You see, Hange and I met as schoolmates when we were children…"

"I remember that she was only ten or eleven back then. Hange lived with her grandfather, Professor Lewis Zoë, within Wall Rose like my father and I did.

During the first day of my final year, there was an announcement that a new student from Wall Sheena had just transferred into our school. We were a small institution, so everyone was thrilled about the occasion, plus the fact that she came from the interior walls only intensified everyone's interest. But as everyone's eyes first laid on her, all they saw was a plain brunette girl with glasses wearing a cheap faded cardigan and a bland yellow blouse. It seemed as if they had expected a princess in a dress, but were met with a drab simpleton.

It only made circumstances worse for her after the children had discovered her eccentric behaviour and uncanny interests. One time, three bullies caught her talking to herself and playing with frogs at the school playground. They decided to mess around…"

c. Year 828.

It all happened so fast, the next thing Erwin remembered was looking down on the strange girl whose back had fallen on the cold damp mud. Fair skin, bespectacled brown eyes, a shock of brunette hair.

"Are you, all right?" he asked the bespectacled girl.

"I think so," she said as she grabbed her now semi-broken glasses, her vision coming back into focus. Her entire back was soaked in muddy water from being pushed into the ditch. As she got up slowly, they looked around to see three pairs of eyes leering at their direction, all red-faced, arms crossed like angry goons.

"Hey, Erwin! Are you going to help that frog-loving lunatic? She's not worth your time," one of the bullies shouted at him, and his accomplices were quick to add to that statement.

"We caught her talking to herself too."

"And ripping pages out of books!"

"But those were my grandpa's books! He said that I could rip the pages off if I wanted to," the little girl snapped. "Plus, I wasn't even bothering any of you—you were the ones who approached me and tried to take away my book!"

"I saw gross pictures of dead animals and unskinned people on that book. Their guts were out wide open! We just wanted to take a closer look and teach you little pansy a lesson," the bully seethed.

"That's enough. There's three of you and only one of her. Besides, I saw the way you shoved her into the ditch. You could have seriously harmed her. Why don't you lot go pick on someone your own size?" Erwin replied calmly, not the least intimidated by the three bigger children.

At that point, Mr. Smith arrived at the playground outside the school. The three bullies glanced at the teacher and at Erwin briefly, and then turned back to the girl he had rescued. "This isn't over, pansy nerd. Get ready for part two tomorrow—we're gonna shove those books up your skimpy ass!" They turned on their heel, and ran away as fast as they could.

Erwin looked at her said, "You okay? Your knee is bleeding."

The girl looked down and noticed the bloody scrape on her left knee. She wasn't sure what to do about it. From his peripheral, Erwin saw his father closing in on them and before he could ask for her name, she picked her muddied book off the ground and, after adjusting her glasses, flashed a wide smile. "Thanks for the rescue but I'll be fine," she said before scampering away to the direction of the school.

Edward Smith paused to watch the scruffy girl run back into the halls before walking towards his son. "I thought I'd find you here. I hope I didn't scare your friend away," he said to Erwin, whose confused gaze followed the girl until she was no longer within his line of sight. "Wasn't that the new student who transferred this semester? I remember seeing her in my history class. Hange Zoë. I think that was her name. Are you friends?"

Erwin stimulated when his father said her name. Indeed, she had transferred this semester, and she was hard to miss, with her huge round glasses and wild messy hair controlled by a measly ponytail. They weren't in the same classes, but Erwin noticed during lunch break that she would eat alone with the esteemed Professor Lewis Zoë. "No, not really. I just tried to help her after some of my classmates bullied her," he answered.

Mr. Smith never expected his son as one who would step up and defend a schoolmate, but he knew Erwin was a brave boy. "I see. I hope she'll feel better soon. She is quite a vivid and inquisitive child." When he decided that he had digressed long enough, Mr. Smith finally disclosed what he'd been meaning to tell his son. "Well, I came to tell you that I had more work to do in the faculty office. You can wait for me in the homeroom. Don't worry, I won't take too long."

"It's no problem," Erwin replied, and they headed back to the school together.

As they arrived in front of the faculty office, Erwin felt his father's warm hand pat his cheek, and watched as he entered the room that smelled of old papers and coffee. After his father closed the door, he turned around and faced towards the well-known halls that would lead to his homeroom. There, he'd read another interesting book or maybe if he's lucky, his good friend Nile Dok would still be around.

However, as he started closing in the distance between himself and the classroom where he was to sit and wait patiently, he heard soft sobs coming from inside. When he couldn't hear anything or anyone else, just the sound of muffled cries with short intervals of sniffing and hiccupping, he supposed that the person was alone. Erwin wasn't sure if he should head in, but when he noticed that the door was slightly ajar, he peered inside and immediately found the dishevelled brunette hair of the girl he had helped earlier. Her back, rising and falling spasmodically at her hardened breathing, was slouched over her folded arms on the desk, and her glasses were set aside on the table to her left.

Erwin softly knocked on the door before entering the classroom. Hange raised her head and looked at him, clearly embarrassed that he had witnessed the scene. How long had he been standing there? Blurry vision exacerbated with warm tears, she could barely make out his person as he crossed the room.

"You okay? Those bullies aren't worth your time. Don't give them any attention," Erwin said, taking the seat next to her.

Hange wiped the tears from her cheeks with the damp sleeve of her cardigan. The tears had speckled all over her pink-tinted face and she could taste the slight saltiness of it. She took her glasses and placed those over the bridge of her nose, pursing her lips. "I'm okay. Thank you," she said hoarsely and smiled at Erwin. "I'm sorry if I didn't get to properly say it back there. I didn't even ask for your name."

"Erwin Smith."

"Smith? You must be Mr. Edward's son! He's my history teacher," Hange grinned. "My name's—"

"Hange Zoë," Erwin uttered before she could say so herself. He flashed her a small smile. "Everyone's been talking about you: the new student from Wall Sheena. My father told me that you transferred this semester and that you're Professor Zoë's granddaughter. You were right pointing out that I'm Mr. Smith's son. Your grandfather taught my father when they were younger. He was the one who inspired my father to become a teacher too."

"Oh, wow. I never thought I'd meet the son of Grandpa's mentee." She held out a small hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Erwin Smith!"

Erwin smiled. "Likewise, Hange Zoë."

Hange beamed.

"Would it be okay if you told me what you're doing here? Did you just need to vent out?" Erwin asked.

"I came here because I wanted to be alone, but not because I needed to cry. Actually, I didn't cry because of the bullies, I cried because… because of this…" Hange turned to her other side and Erwin leaned over to see what she was doing. Afterwards, she carried a small figure covered in a pink handkerchief over to the desk where Erwin was seated, and slowly pulled off the covers.

Without a second's delay, Erwin bit the insides of his cheeks as he stared at the dissected bullfrog that laid on his desk with its belly faced up, its sodden organs popping out like cupcakes in an oven as it oozed with fresh blood. His morning had started like any other day, but since meeting Hange Zoë, things escalated so suddenly that it made him wonder to himself if he should've just waited for his father somewhere else. But he's here now, and who knows? Maybe this strange girl wouldn't be so bad, after all.

"This is Albert. I… I was supposed to only pin and cut at specific points to observe his physiological reactions, but I… I got carried away…" Hange stifled herself from crying again. "I didn't mean to kill Albert! I just… we both understood that we had to do this for science."

Erwin stood from his seat—anything to get away from the unsightly de-bowelled creature—and gently patted Hange on the shoulder. "If you believed so, then his sacrifice was necessary." He looked at her, as if assessing if she were better, and when he decided that she visibly was, he continued. "How did you learn how to dissect a frog?"

"Grandpa taught me, of course!" Hange grinned suddenly. "And it's not just frogs. In his clinic, he'd teach me how to properly dissect insects, crows, and rats. And it was always my job to help him tidy up and preserve the parts in a jar of formaldehyde."

"Formaldehyde?"

"Yes. It's a colourless liquid like water or alcohol, but has an incredibly stronger smell. Pyoo!" Hange made a comically disgusted face, pinching her nose and sticking out her tongue. "Still, it's not so bad when you get used to it. I feel like it's more important that you get to learn something more, right?"

Erwin chuckled. "You're unusually happy and talkative for someone who's just been pushed down a ditch," he remarked.

Hange returned the covers over Albert before placing him back inside her basket. She was hoping to show him to her grandpa before they bury him in their backyard along with Stimpy the grasshopper, Felicia the cat, and all their other departed animal friends.

"I don't really care about those bullies. But Grandpa did also tell me once I was so strangely gleeful and wild like my mom when she was my age. Maybe, I got my energy from her. As if I'd ever really know."

"Where is she now?"

"She's back in Wall Sheena with my dad. They're very busy, so they asked Grandpa to take care of me instead. I guess they just don't have the time for me."

Erwin looked at her, sympathetic. "You don't miss them?"

"I did… at first. But I never really got to see them even when I was in Wall Sheena, so it really didn't make a difference that when I moved. I've lived in Wall Rose for over two years now, actually. It was only last month that Grandpa had decided to send me to a real school. Back in Wall Sheena, I had a lot of private tutors and all they did was blab about the divine grace of the three walls. It was the same thing again and again until Grandpa decided to take over my studies when I turned seven. He'd teach me exciting things every day: animals, plants, and… about the world that existed beyond these walls and what could possibly be the true nature of the Titans," Hange voice dropped at the last part, cognizant that she was speaking of something strictly taboo. As she presumed, Erwin stimulated and was about to probe when a soft rasping at the door startled them.

"Erwin, I'm finished. Time to head home," came Mr. Smith's kindly voice as he turned the knob and stepped inside the room. His glance immediately caught Hange's surprised stare, and he gave her an easy smile. "Oh, hello, Hange. I didn't expect to see you here. I'm sorry if you were talking to Erwin, but we have to head home now, you see."

"It's no problem at all, Mr. Smith! I'm glad I got to meet Erwin. He's got real character." Hange stood from her seat, picked up her bag and basket, and turned to the blonde boy while giving him the largest grin her facial muscles could muster. She watched his confused expression in amusement for a while before looking back at Mr. Smith. "I'll head over to Grandpa's laboratory and wait for him there. Take care on the way home, Mr. Smith."

She passed her history teacher and was about to reach for the door when she paused abruptly, then looking over her shoulder, waved at the puzzled blonde boy behind her. "See you around, Erwin!"

"After that day, I seldom saw Hange around the school campus—and those rare moments would mostly comprise of quiet smiles and glances. We didn't get to talk a lot, but I was content enough to see that she was doing just fine. The next time I saw her again was on the training field. She had chosen to become a soldier after her grandfather's death."

c. Year 831.

Perhaps out of nostalgia, Erwin liked to spend his recess at the old training grounds where the new recruits would assemble on their first day, surveilling as the commandant stroke bloody terror into their minds. It was his third year, one final year to graduation, and it won't take long before he had to decide what regiment to serve under. Ever since, Erwin knew he would join the Survey Corps. As a child, he had watched them parade the streets on their horses before venturing outside the walls shouting that all they did was for the glory and victory of humankind.

Erwin clamped his eyes shut. Days before his death, his father had revealed about the buried truth that other societies existed and thrived past the Walls, past their land. Yet by his own folly—a child's mere innocence of telling his friends what he knew—his father was permanently silenced by the Military Police. It was obvious to him now that in order to prove his father's truth and propagate the internal government's lies, he must become a Scout.

Just then, his silent pondering was broken by the shouts of Commandant Vers as he interrogated a cadet.

"YOU THERE. Yeah, the one with the glasses! Straighten up that posture before I personally tie you to a long fat stick!" He loomed over her, all two hundred centimetres of him. "What is your name, cadet?"

"Hange Zoë from eastern Wall Rose, Sir!"

Erwin craned his neck toward the centre of the field. He almost didn't recognize the girl who introduced herself. In place of the sunny rube in a cheap cardigan three years ago was an astute youth in a cadet uniform with a fierce gaze, her wild hair fastened into a high ponytail that made her look closer to a mad scientist than a soldier.

"Tell me, Hange Zoë, besides the shitfuckery that is your vision, do you have any other ailments in your body that I should be made aware of, hmm? Like your legs?" Vers spat demoralizingly, eyeing Hange from head to toe.

"My legs are in perfect condition, Sir! If you wanted to know why my stance isn't so straight, you should've asked about my spine instead, Sir!" Hange exclaimed facilely and gave him an honest grin, incognizant of the fact that she had just carelessly insulted the commandant.

Commandant Vers exhaled heavily through his nostrils. Everyone's eyes were suddenly on them. "Well, Hange Zoë, thank you for sharing that trivial little fact, since your—"

"You're welcome, Sir!"

Vers bit the inside of his lower lip and resumed. "Right… Since your legs are—as you've mentioned—in perfect condition, let's see them run fifty 'round this field. NOW HUP TO IT!"

...

Erwin had already picked up his lunch by the time Hange arrived. "Sorry I'm late," Hange said. She was sweating fervently and had threads of hair sticking on her cheeks. "I can't believe you saw the commandant penalise me on my first day."

Erwin looked up from his plate of salted bread and vegetable soup, and folded his arms over the table. "I was impressed, actually. No one ever had the guts to correct Commandant Vers the way you did." Hange chuckled softly and chugged down her water, paying no attention to how the cold streams spilt past the corner of her lips and down to her jaw. He didn't seem to mind how un-lady-like she appeared before him, and merely continued. "I thought you would have returned to Wall Sheena and live with your parents there. Seeing you here caught me off-guard."

Hange placed her cup down and grimaced. "Grandpa died about two months ago. Mom wrote often, asking me to come home. Then one day, her letters stopped coming. Seemed that dad convinced her otherwise. Regardless of what they want, I'm not going back to the interior walls."

A pregnant silence fell between them for a brief moment. As Erwin took in the sudden news of the good doctor's death, his mind was brought back to his own father whom he speculated had perished in the hands of the Military Police. He wanted to ask if she knew how he died but pushed the thought to the back of his mind after he caught her gaze. Alongside the recent punishment she had just endured, he realized that Hange coped but didn't conceal the pain well enough. The cheerful, beaming child he had rescued three years ago seemed to have vanished.

"I'm sorry to hear all that. Professor Lewis was a fine man," Erwin muttered, breaking the silence. "Is that why you joined the military?"

"Maybe," Hange answered simply. "I'm not so sure myself. It's probably because I've got nowhere else to go."

"You know, in order to survive your training here, your mindset should be resolute and your goals must be clear upfront. You won't last a day should you allow your uncertainty to paint you each day," he advised.

"I think I already know what I was getting into when I enlisted. You spoke of mindset and goals. My mindset is fixated on the present and my goal is to survive until graduation. From then on, I'll decide where I should go next. But for now, this is how I'll get by."

"Doesn't the death of your grandfather bother you at all?"

"Of course, it does. Every day. I think about him, every single fucking day," Hange said matter-of-factly. "Thinking about him and what could've happened to him is what motivates me to get out of bed at four in the morning, do the drills, and look at Commandant Vers with a face that says I'm here to stay."

So she doesn't know how he died, Erwin concluded. "Drive and spirit are essential, just don't lose your head in the game. Don't lose sight of your goals. Anything could happen, as you already know." He gave her a brief comforting smile before transforming back into his serious countenance. "Did you ever assume the Military Police had anything to do about your grandfather's passing? And about your father, doesn't he want you to come home?"

At this, Hange turned away from him and played with a particularly taciturn tangle in her hair. "I'll be honest with you, Erwin. I hate the MP. I hate them so much that I used to throw mud at those arrogant useless bastards' faces when I was a kid, until my governess would find me and scold me for ruining my expensive dress—oh, the Walls forbid I ever smear soil on my laces!" She noticed that Erwin was only slightly amused with her joke, and sheepishly resumed. "But in spite of my mutiny, the MP still respected Grandpa and always treated him well. I'd like to say they did it—the MPs killed him—but that would only be my bias talking. I don't have anything on my arsenal against them, and at the present, it's safer to say that they didn't do it."

Hange shot Erwin an impassioned glance. "Still, as I'm not entirely sure, I won't disregard the prospect of it albeit the low probability. Oh, and about my father: let's just say that he and mother had their disputes that, eventually, lead to my disownment."

Erwin's thick eyebrows narrowed tightly. "You don't mean—"

"Yes. I was actually adopted by my grandfather five years ago." Hange raised her head suddenly and, in Erwin's surprise, smiled through glistening eyes. "But I was glad. Not only did I get to escape the soul-sucking suffocating life that my hedonistic parents were trapping me in, I got to live with my grandfather who took me out in his scientific adventures. He also brought me to school, asked me about what I wanted for lunch, what I wanted to wear… He never once treated me like some porcelain doll without a mind of her own."

She rubbed the corner of her eye, feeling a tear latch on her eyelash. "Ever since he died, I can't help but think about Grandpa's fascination with the outside world and the Titans. He knew something we didn't. But he's gone now and there's no finding it out."

"No one is ever really lost to us, Hange. You're here now, keeping your grandfather's memory alive. You implied that you were unsure of your future since his death, but I don't believe that. Out there past those open fields lies the world where your grandfather knew he would find his answers. His dream will live on through you," Erwin reassured her. He raised his hand and held out his palm towards her. "Carry on his dream, Hange. Join the Survey Corps and see the world."

Hange smiled weakly as she took Erwin's hand, silently noting how warm it felt and blushing lightly. "On the evening you helped me after school, Grandpa told me that it was all right for me to cry now, but when I get older, he said that I shouldn't cry anymore. Big girls don't cry…"

Hange placed her glasses on the table, hoping the air would dry her tears.

Erwin glanced to his left. The last diner began to fix after himself, gathering the plates to put on his tray and wiping the table afterwards.

He didn't expect to reveal so much about his past with Hange, but Levi's soliciting silence was encouraging enough to denote that he was listening intently. He had not once raised a question or interrupted him, something he often did when they talked, thus—regardless of whether it was his natural reticence or his profound interest in his story—Erwin resumed his narrative. "The society's pages publicized that the death of Dr. Lewis Zoë was instigated by natural causes—specifically, old age. I found this hard to believe since the man, despite his seniority, was impressively healthy and driven. Hange adopted his curiosity and perseverance. But I digress—I believe he was murdered for his knowledge of the truth that has long been kept from us. Hange may think otherwise, but I stand by what my thoughts. He was killed by the Military Police, just like my father." The latter phrase was much harder for Erwin to say out loud.

Levi glimpsed at his cup, watching his reflection ripple faintly on the black liquid. There were so many questions left unanswered, but at the top of his mind, he wanted to know more about Hange's relationship with her parents.

His imagination drifted to her childhood within Wall Sheena, a palatial life aroused by wealth and status. A life coveted so desperately by many a man and woman, yet none more so than those who resided in the Underground. As someone who had lived in the Underground, it was only normal that he had once dreamt of settling within Wall Sheena, but Hange's story only befuddled him. Was it her parents? Or the Military Police? Had they been so heinous, so vile, that she was determined to choose the precarious life in the Survey Corps over the comfort and security of living within the interior walls?

He remembered his mother, Kuschel. No matter how wretched people were to them nor how miserably they suffered in the Underground, she showed him nothing but love and compassion.

He finished the remains of his tea, trying to make something of the black sediments that nestled on the bottom of the cup. Beyond their personalities that clashed like the sun and the moon, Levi realized how his past life was a stark contrast to Hange's.

But they had one thing in common: they wanted to escape.

"Before we call it night, Erwin, I'd just like to ask you something. If Hange never left Wall Sheena, if she had lived with her parents, would she still be the same person everyone sees her now?"

Erwin was tidying the utensils when Levi asked the abrupt question. He stared at the dull metal spoon, giving it some thought. This was a question that he's never encountered before, not even from Nanaba or from Mike. Privately, he was astonished by how the normally aloof and uncaring Levi would ask a question relative to someone else's personal life, especially in a way that indicated a genuine and earnest interest. Perhaps his story may have somewhat altered the way he saw her. "You've noticed the way people looked at Hange, haven't you? Of course, you could allow their testimonies to convince you who she is or you could make another description of who she is to you. One would only learn to see if they cared enough to open their eyes, Levi."

With one last smirk, Erwin left the table and approached the soldiers in charge of washing the dishes, leaving his companion with the immense sense of confusion he had expected. Levi sneered as Erwin left the room. "You didn't answer my question, bastard."

But he was right. Hange Zoë was another enigma, one he was unknowingly determined to figure out, and it was clear enough that the way to have his questions answered was to see her through his own eyes.

...