The bright sunlight shone through the windows, directly into my face. The warmth of the sun felt nice as I slowly opened my eyes. Levi's room; it was literally spotless, always smelled nice, and made me feel so at home. I smiled, sitting up slowly looking around, Levi nowhere to be found. I slipped out of bed, putting my uniform on and slipping my hair into a semi high pony tail. Today was the day of the ball, and I was on my own for the entire length of it. Nerves twisted in my stomach at the thought. Slowly, I made my way out of Levi's room and down the empty hallway to the stairs. The smell of food made my stomach growl. When did I eat last? I made my way into the mess hall where everyone was gathered eating Hange's famous veggie soup.

"Ahna I saved you a bowl before all the guys finished it off!" Hange exclaimed sliding the bowl next to hers right to me. I smiled plopping down across from her, smelling the delicious spices from inside the bowl.

"I could eat this every day for the rest of my life." Hange giggled as I took a bite.

"You look much better today than you have the past few weeks. How are you feeling?" Her higher than normal tone made me immediately suspicious. I looked up at her, my head cocked to the side. Hange and Erwin were the only ones who ever knew about me and Levi, at least until I told Damien.

"I feel fine. All that running last night made me pass out pretty early. I actually got a decent night's sleep for once." She nodded smirking as if she knew about last night.

"Well I'm glad that sleep and my soup make you feel better." Her emphasis on the word sleep made my eyes roll.

"Yes sleep, Hange. Get your mind on track; we both know that won't be happening ever again." She giggled lightly.

"I think you're full of it, but what do I know, I'm only your best friend and I know you better than everyone." I glared at her.

"What gives you the impression that it will?" A mischievous smile played across her lips as her voice lowered for only me to hear.

"You're not the only friend of Erwin and Levi's don't forget that." It was true; we all were a close knit group. We always told each other everything. Well other than Levi, he usually wasn't one to talk about his feelings unless it was something that needed to be said, which wasn't often at all. It still surprised me that he opened up last night like he did. Maybe he changed? That was a pretty farfetched thought. I shook my head at her, continuing to finish my soup. "What are you going to wear to the ball? I think it would be hilarious if we dressed up like titans!" She was ridiculous.

"Hange…if someone didn't kill us on sight, don't you think that we would look retarded showing up to a semi formal ball looking like practically naked titans?" She looked down at her bowl thinking for a moment.

"I suppose you're right, but it would be a lot of fun to try though." I shook my head, laughing lightly. "So what are you going to wear?"

"I'm not sure. I'm thinking maybe just my uniform. There's really no point in getting overly dressy."

"Don't you dare dress in your uniform. Come with me, I have something I think would look amazing on you." I groaned grumpily. "Don't argue with me." I couldn't argue with her. She knew I hated playing this dress up game.

"It better not be a dress." She giggled dragging me out of the mess hall and to her room.

"It is a dress, but one I think you might actually like." I glared at her as she pulled me inside and closed the door quickly. She dug through her wardrobe, throwing things messily on the floor everywhere. If Levi saw this, he'd kill her on the spot. "Aha! There it is." She pulled out a large black piece of fabric and laid it on the bed. It was gorgeous. It had a strapless corset top and flowed out in a lacy and frilly skirt that reached the floor. It was too over the top in my opinion.

"I don't know Hange, I'll feel so over dressed." She scoffed and crossed her arms.

"How about this, if you wear a dress, I will too." I thought for a moment and sighed loudly.

"Fine, but if we're over dressed, I'm leaving immediately." We giggled as I tried it on while she dug through more clothes to find one for herself.

"Wow Ahna…I bet Levi would propose if he saw you in this." She whistled looking me up and down.

"And I would stab him if he even thought about it. He's not going to be there anyways." She cocked her head to the side curiously. "I don't know why, he just said he wouldn't be there."

"Hm…that's odd, normally all the captains would have to show up. Who knows maybe he has to go buy your ring first." She joked, getting a death glare from me.

"We're not together Hange and we more than likely won't be getting back together. There's still a lot of issues we have to work past before we even consider it."

"Oh come on Ahna, I've seen the way both of you look at each other when the other doesn't notice. He's still all eyes for you. You'd be stupid not to think he wouldn't want you back." I sighed shaking my head. "Ahna think about it, in four weeks, you've barely talked to each other and suddenly last night you talked like normal people for once."

"How do you know we talked?"

"You two were the only ones left in the mess hall when everyone left, it doesn't take a genius to know something was going to be said." I pouted and glared at her.

"Stop hanging around Erwin." She laughed and shook her head.

"Seriously, you should really consider it. I think you've pushed off the wait long enough. 6 years of no talking, to seeing each other, no nothing, and you come back and you both act like you don't want to be around each other but we know you guys do. Hell I'm surprised you didn't burst through his room and take him after being accepted back." I rolled my eyes and laughed.

"Is that how you see me? Someone who bursts through rooms and has their way with their ex lover? Jeez, I need to work on my image." She giggled sitting on her bed, looking up at me.

"Look all I'm saying is, you both would feel better if you relieved a little tension. Hell he might even be nicer from it."

"No, Hange. It's bad enough I spent the night in his room last night, I'm not going to have sex with him." Her eyes widened in surprise. Oops I shouldn't have said that.

"YOU WHAT?! AND YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING? Why did you sleep in there then? Did he force you? Did you like it?" I placed my hand over my face and sighed. Oh Hange…

"No we didn't do anything. It was just a stressful night, and when we talked in the mess hall, it was just emotional and I asked him if I could sleep in there just for last night. It's not going to happen again, we already discussed this."

"Yes, yes it will happen again. You both love and miss each other; you both just suck royally at expressing your true feelings." I shook my head and sighed.

"Can we please just get ready for the ball, I really don't want to deal with your, nor Erwin's, cupid antics. You both get these notions in your heads and try to run full force to an imaginary finish line."

"Okay okay let's go to the ball and have a good night. I'll even buy you a drink." I smiled and thanked her. At least I get to drink and relax tonight.

It took Hange 3 hours to do my make-up and hair for the ball and another 2 for herself. I felt overdressed and a little ridiculous but oh well, the alcohol will make up for that immensely. We rode in silence in our carriage on the way to the ball, my nerves making me almost nauseous. We finally arrived, both of us stepping out of our carriages. Somehow I managed to be lady-like where Hange, on the other hand, nearly fell on her face the moment she stepped out. I loved her. She always made me laugh. There were herds of soldiers everywhere, all dressed as nice as we were, thankfully. Some in big groups, others looking as if they were waiting on more people.

"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes." I turned and smiled at Erwin who greeted me properly, kissing my hand and bowing. My black dress fit me nearly perfectly, the corset squeezing my boobs tightly. I felt exposed on the chest area, but the black shawl Hange let me use, let me cover myself better. My hair was pinned almost everywhere and Hange managed to keep half my hair out of my face, with the other half draped over my shoulders. The smoky eye shadow and slight blush made my skin and my eyes pop. I could never do something like this every day to myself.

"You look really good too Erwin." I curtsied eyeing him up and down. He wore a very nice black suit and his hair was nice and combed.

"C'mon lets go inside I want to buy you a drink!" Hange grabbed my hand and dragged me inside, Erwin following and laughing. I didn't realize how good we all looked until the moment we all walked through the doors. So many people stared at us, some complimenting as we walked by. What a strange feeling to be looked at like that.

"So apparently," Erwin started as he finally approached us at the bar area, "the Survey Corps has the 'best looking' girls around. Maybe if you ladies start fighting in dresses we'll get more recruits." His playful tone made me laugh loudly.

"Please, if we all wore dresses, no male would be able to do their jobs right. More of you would get eaten." Hange and I laughed as we sipped our whiskeys.

"That's probably true. Dresses here forth will be banned." We all chuckled again. My eyes glanced around the room as Hange and Erwin began talking about titans and possible future expeditions. My nerves were mostly at peace being with Erwin and Hange, but I still felt like something bad would happen. My eyes caught Damien's glare from across the room. Oh no…I quickly looked away. His eyes were locked on me, and his face wore a very angered expression. Please don't come over here, I thought to myself. I hadn't realized that Hange and Erwin had left and I was now sitting alone hastily drinking my second glass of whiskey.

"How is the Survey Corps treating you?" Damien's voice appeared next to me. I gulped the last of my second glass, signaling for another.

"Just fine," I stated, not glancing over at him.

"How about Levi, is that working out for you?" He was mocking me. My cheeks flushed a little as now I was getting a bit angry.

"I'm not with Levi, but that's really none of your concern is it?" He chuckled, sipping his beer.

"Well that's true, but you did make it my business when you left me for him." I rolled my eyes.

"I didn't leave you for Levi, I left you because I still had residual feelings for him. You pushed me back to the Survey Corps because you couldn't handle the fact that I once cared for someone else and it was painful to get over." Damien stayed silent, though his stare was more than apparent.

"Look," his voice was no longer sarcastic, "I'm sorry. I miss you a lot, honestly. Things are much different without you."

"That's a surprise, 'cause we all know things would always be the same after a break up." My voice was cold and sarcastic. Damien's expression became pained.

"I'm serious Ahna, I said a lot of things that I regret. I feel stupid for sending you back into all that mess…and honestly, I'm really happy you and him aren't together. I know things with us aren't the same, but what if we could go back, and redo this entire mess." My heart practically stopped.

"You want to go back to me and you? Why?" I glared at him now, pissed off that he'd even mention something like that.

"You know why. I miss you Ahna…I still want to be with you." I shook my head and laughed.

"It's a little too late for that isn't it? 4 weeks I've been gone, and now that you see me you miss me?"

"It's better than 6 years isn't it?" I frowned, staring at my half drank 3rd glass of whiskey. He got me there. "Please Ahna," He reached his hand out, placing it on mine, "Let's try to start over. It's not like you have anything left to lose, Levi's not even here." I snapped my hand back from underneath his.

"Really? You expect me to run back with open arms after what you said? We're over. Or what was it you had said? We're done here." I stood up, gulped the rest of my glass, and turned to walk away. Damien grasped my arm and pulled me towards him.

"Stop Ahna, don't do this." He pleaded. The pained expression on his face tore at my heart strings. "Please…" I could feel the tears bubbling up.

"Damien stop, seriously…" I begged, breathing deeply so I wouldn't cry.

"Ahna, you're my everything, I want to be with you…I'm sorry." What was I going to do?