Hange's Past

Hange Zoe was sitting down in her room/office, sighing over the letter that she held in her hand, running her thumb through the paper of the letter that had been in her possession unopened for the past 15 years. While looking over the letter, Hange put a stressed hand over her face, briefly jumping when she felt fabric over where her left eye was, but then she sighed as she remembered that Hange had gotten her eye damaged during their mission in Shiganshina. Hange turned her attention back to the letter in her hands, wondering whether or not to open it. While she was stuck in her thoughts, Hange nearly jumped out of her chair as she heard the door to her room/office open.

"There you are, Hange. We haven't seen you all day," the voice said. It was her colleague and friend, Levi Ackerman. Hange sighed as she calmed herself down before sitting back on her chair, not loosening her grip on the letter.

"Thanks for knocking, Levi. And yeah, I've been here all day, just…thinking," Hange responded. Levi looked at her hands, noticing the letter that Hange was holding onto and occasionally stroking with her thumb.

"What're you doing with that letter?"

"Wondering whether or not I should open it."

"Why? It's a letter. Aren't you supposed to open them once you get them?" Levi asked. Hange chuckled under her breath, which was the first time she had laughed in what felt like a long time. Hange then took a deep breath, focusing on the letter in her hand before turning to face Levi.

"This letter was given to me by my Dad before he died. He told me that I should only open it 'when the time was right'. And I'm…just wondering if the time was right now," Hange explained, her good eye getting teary at the mention of her dead father. Levi looked surprised, as up until now, he had never heard Hange mention her father, let alone the fact that he had died. Whenever Levi or anyone else had tried to bring up the subject of Hange's family in the past, Hange would always change the subject immediately, not giving them any hints as to what her past or her family were like.

"Hange…what was your Dad like?" Levi asked. Hange turned to face him, completely surprised that Levi was interested in her plight, especially after going through the loss of one of the most important people in his life, Erwin Smith. Hange did give Levi a smile before putting the letter down and looking up, reminiscing of her childhood, specifically memories of her father. Hange seeing her father's bushy beard, wide smile, and portly figure made her smile as she remembered all the good times she had with her father.

"He was…really great. My Dad was known around Wall Rose as someone who could fix anything. When I turned five, he started taking me on jobs so that he could teach me how to build things, fix things, and just show me stuff I had never seen before. My Dad was always someone who wanted to know the answer to any question he had, and wouldn't stop until he got answers," Hange explained, her smile growing as she remembered going on jobs with her father, where their walks to the jobs consisted of nothing but them talking about their day and laughing at her Dad's jokes.

"My Mom was more of a homebody and was the one who was taking care of the house while Dad and I were gone. And…everything was really good. The Titans hadn't come back yet, so me and my parents were just living in peace in Wall Rose. Until…my Dad got a job to help fix the outer part of the walls," Hange explained. Levi's eyes grew when he heard that, as he had never heard of random civilians being given the chance to leave the wall, even if it was to fix the walls.

"This was the first time since before I turned 5 that I didn't go on a job with my Dad. When he came back, my Dad had told both me and my mother that he had ventured to the outside, saw the ocean, and was curious as to what was on the other side of it. I'll never forget the look on my Mom's face when he said that; she looked like she had seen death in the face and told my Dad to just forget about it. And, like I said before, my Dad didn't take the advice," Hange explained, taking a deep breath as she felt her voice beginning to break as she came closer to the day she had tried to bury within the recesses of her mind.

"So…why was your Mom so scared?" Levi asked. He knew the answer, but Levi wanted to know why Hange and her family would be so scared of something like that.

"I didn't know at first. My Dad and Mom went on with their lives like normal, though my Dad would start spending more time alone in his office. Then one day, when I was 15, my Dad called me into his office. I had never been into my Dad's office, so I was kind of excited until I saw the look on his face. I had never seen my father look so scared, but before I could really think about it, he gave me this letter. When I tried to ask him about it, he wouldn't tell me and just said to open it when the time was right," Hange continued explaining as tears started to pool in Hange's good eye, which Hange responded to by taking off her glasses and wiped her eye.

"And it was only a week later that a couple of Military Police officers came by our house, and told us both that my Dad died. I honestly didn't believe it at first, especially since they wouldn't let us see the body until the funeral, and at the funeral was when my Dad's death finally set in. After that…my Mom was never really the same, and just became…so distant. I always heard her cry at night, always calling out to my Dad until she would fall to sleep. And one month later…I found her hanging from the ceiling of her bedroom when I came home from shopping," Hange explained, as the memory of seeing her mother hanging from the ceiling from a rope around her neck as her skin was turning both pale and blue. Before Levi could say anything, Hange continued, seemingly knowing that she had not answered the question he had originally asked.

"Soon after that, while I was at my parent's graves, Erwin came up to me. Erwin and I got to talking while we were there, and he finally told me why my Dad was so scared; the Military Police killed my Dad for what he knew about the possibilities outside of Paradis. Which I…I didn't understand at all. And I still don't! Like, my Dad only ever saw the ocean at the edge of the island and didn't even know what was on the other side! Yeah, my Dad was trying to find out what was going on over there, but he wasn't hurting anyone, and if he did find out something, it wasn't going to hurt anyone! My Dad would never hurt anyone!" Hange started yelling, punching the top of her desk while tears started freely falling from her good eye. All the painful memories flooding back into Hange's mind were finally too much for her to take, and Hange began completely wailing, covering her head with her arms.

"Hange…" Levi mumbled, not really knowing how to react initially to what he was seeing. For as long as Levi had known Hange, he had never seen her cry her eyes out, or cry in general. Usually, Hange was the one who was trying to make everyone feel better after a bad mission or a stressful day of training. Levi was still in a state of shock as he walked over to Hange, grabbed a chair, put it next to a still bawling Hange, and put an arm around her back. Hange, while continuing to cry, lifted her head up slightly and look on in surprise as Levi was hugging her in an attempt to comfort her.

"Thanks… Levi," Hange mumbled out while she tried to wipe her eyes and stop crying. Levi nodded and continued rubbing her back while looking down at the letter Hange continued to hold.

"Hange, I think you should open the letter," Levi said. Hange looked up at him in surprise, before returning her eye to the letter. "I think it'll help you find a little closure, and find out what your father had been doing this whole time. And maybe it can be something you can keep as a memento to remind you of him." Hange continued looking at the letter, rubbing it with her thumb before nodding.

"You're right. I think this might be the right moment my Dad talked about, especially since there haven't been any signs of Titans since Reiner and those other two left," Hange muttered before pulling out a pocketknife. As murderous thoughts returned to Levi's head after being reminded of the Beast Titan, Hange cut the top of the letter open, pulling several pieces of paper out of the envelope. There were six pieces of paper, with five of them talking about what her father had found at the ocean. The last paper was a letter from her father, and when Hange saw this, she immediately put the other papers down and read the letter.

"Dear Hange, by the time you read this, I have been killed by the Military Police due to what I have found by the ocean. They've become suspicious of my visits to the ocean and nearby forests, and I'm sorry for not telling you or your mother anything, but I was afraid that telling you would have put you and your mother in danger. Anyway, in this letter are detailed maps and lists as to what I have found near the ocean and forest. After all that I've found, I think there may be some life outside of Paradis. I cannot be too sure about the details, but some of what I found cannot be explained any other way," Hange read as her eyes grew wider and wider as she continued reading. Reiner had talked about being from another country, which confused her as she did not know of any other countries. Hange realized that her father had evidence that could have led them to Marley and the real location that sent the Titans to their home. At this point, Levi had taken a break from his murderous thoughts and read along with Hange as she continued reading the letter.

"I'm giving all of my major discoveries to you Hange. I know that you will know what to do with all of this when the time comes. All the work we've done together over the years gives me nothing but confidence that you'll know what to do with my discoveries. Hopefully, you'll be able to inform the people of Paradis Island that we are not alone in this world and that there are many places that we can go, learn from, and discover," Hange continued reading, her hand covering her mouth in shock as she tried to comprehend what she was reading. Levi was shocked too, still unable to fathom how some random person in Paradis was able to discover something that they had spent so much

"If by some miracle I survive long enough, I cannot wait to see how you use my research. I love you Hange and believe in you, Dad," Hange finished reading. For what felt like the hundredth time tonight, Hange began crying again, with Levi patting Hange's back, rubbing up and down her back to calm her down.

"Easy there, Hange, you don't want to flood your room, right?" Levi joked in his usual monotone style. Hange couldn't help but chuckle at the joke before getting up from her chair and looking on at the maps and lists that her father had made. One of the papers had a list of the chemicals that he had found within the sand surrounding the beach, where many of the chemicals that he found were consistent with stuff that was found on a boat, such as various metals. This was undeniable proof that there were people outside of Paradis Island, as her father had shown that none of the metals he found in the sand matched any of the metals used on Paradis Island.

"My Dad knew that there were people outside of this island," Hange whispered in shock, before giving Levi the paper she was reading. Hange continued digging through the papers while Levi's eyes widened at what he was seeing while Hange nearly gasped in shock at the map that she was seeing. Hange's father had written down that there were footprints from the ocean to the forest, indicating that people were coming from what Hange assumed were boats and briefly coming onto the island, possibly to indicate that this area was free of people before doing whatever they were doing.

"Levi, this changes everything! We HAVE to go to the ocean!" Hange exclaimed.

"You're in luck then. Armin wants to take everyone to the ocean, kind of as a celebration of him surviving and all that," Levi explained. Hange jumped off of her chair, grabbed her father's papers, and immediately began rushing out of the room, mumbling about how she was going to find everything her Dad talked about. Levi shook her head at Hange's quick change in attitude, but couldn't help but smile as Hange seemed to be genuinely happy for the first time in what felt like years. Levi wasn't originally planning on coming, as he wanted to get more training under his belt, but he wanted to see how Hange would do finding what her Dad did, and decided to go with her.

While following Hange out of her room, Levi realized that there was still so much that he didn't know; why did Hange decide to join the Scouts after what she discovered about what the Military Police did to her family? What made Hange so inspired to learn more about Titans, as he felt there had to be more to it than the curiosity she clearly got from her Dad? There were plenty of things he wanted to know about Hange, but Levi looked over at Hange smiling for the first time since their mission and decided to keep the questions to himself for a while until he and Hange found what they were looking for at the sea.