WHO'S READY FOR ATTACK ON TITAN - THE FINAL SEASON?! In case you can't tell - I AM! (although sad it would be the last)...
Enjoy!
Knock, knock.
"Enter."
I creaked open the door slightly, taking in Erwin's familiar office slowly. Before Hanji shoved her way past me and barged in.
"Let's get this over and done with Erwin – we need all the time I can get to find Rina an appropriate dress."
"Excuse me?" I gave Erwin the stink eye at Hanji's comment. "A dress?"
"So not only did you not order her to attend, you left out the part where it's a formal address?" Levi criticized Erwin, crossing his arms at our boss.
"Excuse me? A formal addre- ok, enough. Commander, you have 5 seconds to begin talking." Ignoring Hanji's eager expression, I concentrated on the blond leader.
"Queen Historia is being formally introduced to the more wealthy citizens of the Walls. It is also an occasion where Historia is to see who will support the government and who will not." Erwin began.
"And pick her battles, so to speak." I finished off, nodding thoughtfully. "But why do we have to attend?"
"Of course, there should be representatives from each Service Branch, including the Scouting Legions. Myself, Levi and Eren will be attending and I extended the invitation to you, seeing your relations with the better half of the MP."
"And Hanj-"
"Hanji will be temporary Commander while I am off on business for the night."
"I see you've already taken the get-out-of-jail card." I shot a look to the scientist, who simply smiled in glee.
"It's not an order, Hazura, because I believe 3 from each Service is expected. However, an extra person couldn't hurt. Besides, I have another way to get you there." Erwin smiled at me gently. My eye twitched at the sight, knowing that he was up to no good.
"And what's the other way?" I tentatively asked.
"Due to it being such a major event with the new Queen, we need to set up a few of our soldiers on the perimeter. The MP are taking care of a majority but since the ordeal with the Interior Police, a lot of trust has been lost with that section. Inserting a few of our Survey Corps members will give added assurance to those a little skeptical of the Military Police."
"Wise move. I'm assuming if I don't attend the actual addressing that you get me to play security then?"
"If it makes you feel any better, it would be effective in making me feel more at ease, Hazura."
Levi and Hanji grew more and more unenthusiastic as our conversation continued, with Hanji losing the chance to dress me ridiculously and Levi not having me suffer through the social event with him.
"Well, if you insist, I'd be glad to help you out with the security component, Commander." I grinned. Levi sighed and looked away in defeat. Erwin smiled in agreement.
"Brilliant. You're in charge of the overall security – head over to Wall Sina after you've recovered to see where it's up to at the moment. The actual event won't be for another 2 weeks so rest up for now."
"Yes sir."
"Thank you, you're all free to go."
As we finally closed the door to Erwin's office, Hanji threw an arm around Levi's shoulders.
"So…when did this happen?" she moved her hand back and forth between the Captain and I. We glanced at each other.
"When did what happen?" I raised an eyebrow, trying to keep my cool. Hanji didn't take the bait and simply smiled back at me.
"Don't try to be coy, Hazura. It wasn't you that was out of sorts lately." Both our gazes landed squarely on Levi but for different reasons. Surely Hanji was staring at him to see if he would confess while I sent him a questionable expression. Levi had been out of sorts lately?
There was silence as he gathered his thoughts and warily spoke.
"Don't be stupid, Four-Eyes."
I sighed. Perhaps he didn't gather his thoughts quite enough.
"Says the one who was always watching the outer gates as if a certain someone would appear. Forgive me but I wasn't the one that looked stupid when you took a step back into thin air and almost landed straight on your head. If you had been paying attention to your surroundings and not at the gat-"
Levi turned and roughly shoved his hand at Hanji's face, while I stifled a laugh at the thought of Levi flailing through the air.
"Have you been missing me, Ackerman?" I teased, smirking as the Captain narrowed his eyes at me in retaliation.
"No." he lied. I chuckled and stopping walking.
"Look, Hanji's one of our closest friends and she's a keen observer. I don't think she'd believe us either way." Glancing at the scientist, she nodded in affirmation. Pausing, he finally sighed and removed his hand from Hanji's face.
"I'm fine with it. Are you?"
"Yes, it should be okay."
"So I was right?!" Hanji exclaimed, pouncing on me.
"Yes, but even if you are, we don't want to label anything yet until we're sure of this ourselves. Fair?" I turned my gaze to Levi.
He nodded. "Sounds good."
Hanji made a face. "It almost sounds like a business partnership… does your squad know?"
"No." "Yes."
At the different answers, all three of us swapped confused looks.
"Well, I am certainly not telling those brats of my personal life if I can help it." Levi argued. "But how come the Special Ops already know?"
I shrugged sheepishly. "It looks like it was a lot more obvious for everyone working around us than it was for us. The team seems to have predicted this would happen and Linda confirmed this to me shortly after our dangerous trip to Wall Sina during the war we had with the MPs."
"I'm content with that. The Special Ops know how to hold their mouths."
I snorted, thinking of the nosy Brian and loud-mouthed Soph. "Most of them, at least. Anyway, enough about us. Erwin mentioned in his letters about this social gathering but what's the main reason behind us going? I forgot to ask."
We began walking back through the corridors, heading to the Mess as the time for dinner drew closer. Hanji launched into her explanation.
"Erwin wasn't lying when it would to introduce Historia to the higher Sina citizens and to re-confirm her relationships with the heads of each military department. Not only must she gain the upper hand of the hierarchy but she needs to form friendly yet lasting bonds with them."
"I also noticed many new faces in those training forests. Erwin has been recruiting heavily?"
"They're both related to the fact that we are gearing up to finally claim back the Shiganshina dsitrict."
I paused at that comment, both hands on the Mess wooden doors and slowly glanced over my shoulder at Hanji.
"Shiganshina?"
She nodded, a firm yet confident expression on her face.
"Shiganshina."