I am very sorry for the very late update. I was busy lately and had to make sure I study properly for my final exam as a high school student. But well, ever since the start of the new term I had been mostly sick and couldn't really follow the material -_-

Thank you very much meshi-chan, Seraphicpapilion, sukoshi yuki, koryandrs, Blackout785, felicity2hawt4u, Jackson, sereneskydragonslayer, KathyChew, AnimeLoverxxxSinceBirth, Eventide Angel, solitarycloud, Seseorang, Dinendir, Guest, LaylaTheAngel, 14 inu-kag, Guest, Ailin, Poinna, Guest, Guest, timyyyyyyy, Random Reaper, Guest, Nispedana, Brkrth99, Vivianvu1, Ayexia, Guest, and darkslayer65 for your reviews! You encourage me to continue this story! I can't believe I managed to get my long-dreamed 500 reviews!

I've almost given up on this story since I got real interested in Kagerou Project (which would be adapted into an anime this spring! Woot!) and recently, Nagi no Asukara (after the timeskip, which awakened my Tsumugu x Chisaki fangirl mode). If you haven't watched Nagi no Asukara, please give it a shot, especially you who loves serious and deep love stories!

This chapter will once again focus on Rivaille and Hanji's issues, but this will be the last chapter about it. They will come into terms with their past and move on. The next chapter will mostly contain comedy between the students of class 1-04! Yay!

Please enjoy this chapter as well.

Disclaimer: I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin!


Zoë squeezed her eyes shut, almost trembling under the foreign feeling. Hanji's fingers were surprisingly gentle as the cheerful girl carefully combed the other girl's hair before cutting the ends bit by bit while humming a happy song.

"Are you done yet?" Zoë asked without moving, afraid of getting herself hurt with those scissors around.

"In a sec, Zoë! You'll love your hair, I promise!"

"…okay."

"Right, I just need to fix your bangs and you're good… Voila! Now we really look like twins!" Hanji cheered before she handed Zoë a hand mirror.

Zoë blinked, robbed of words to say as she was once again reminded of how similar she and Hanji looked. Her extensively long brown locks were now cut in half as it barely reached her waist though it's still longer than Hanji's. Hanji had parted her bangs to mirror her own, forming a curtain style to have her eyes see clearly. It made them look almost identical.

Eyes softening, Zoë slowly smiled, "Yeah… we're really twins."

Beaming, Hanji moved to Zoë's side and examined her twin's face, "Sheesh, I can't believe Dad kept this secret from me for years. I mean, I have a twin! Sounds a bit cliché but hey, nothing's better than having a sibling!"

"Yeah," Zoë nodded in agreement.

"By the way, what do you think about your new hair? Liking it?"

"It makes me feel like a weigh has been lifted from me."

Hanji chuckled, "Your hair is heavy after all."

"But… why didn't you cut it into the same length as yours?"

"Hoho~? You like the sound of 'twins' that much, Zoë?" Hanji teased, smirking like a Cheshire cat in attempt to annoy her sister.

"W-well, I—" blood rushed to her face as Zoë turned away.

Laughing, Hanji poked her sister's cheek, "How cute~" she commented while enjoying her sister's pout. She decided to stop teasing the girl and told her the real reason, "You see, if I cut it too short you might get shocked by the sudden change so I decided to cut a bit first. Next time I promise I'll cut it short for you so don't sulk anymore, okay?" she beamed.

The younger girl played with her finger bashfully, "Well, if you say so, maybe I'll wait…"

"Good girl," Hanji grinned.


He glared.

They cowered.

One year since he started this lifestyle; for him it was a pursuit, but for people he was just a walking, mindless torture chamber. Didn't mean any harm, he might say, but they were convinced otherwise. True, he never hurt innocent people before, but who would knew when he started going out of control?

He spat.

He couldn't care less of what people thought of it.

"Isabel, Farlan."

The two leaped to his sides quietly.

"How many of them did you spot?" he asked, voice low and cold.

Right now, his sole goal was to exterminate them; those people who harmed Hanji until she became the way she was; that bloody organization—

Farlan did the honor of reporting their situation, "There are two behind us, one of them holding a steel pipe, length roughly 47cm. Two others five meters ahead behind the lamp post, each holding a metal bat. Above us I can see one more of those pricks and he is seemingly frightened as I inform you this—"

"—five of 'em!" Isabell cut Farlan's report halfway, summing everything up. "Think you can handle them alone, Rivaille? Perhaps you would need my help? If you let me help I'll make sure they shit their pants!" the girl looked a bit too excited for her own good. Years of living by the street had probably trained her more than necessary in this case. It was always to eat or be eaten here and she was used to it despite her young age.

"Feel free to choose your own prey," with a single command from him, the two acted almost immediately, leaping toward said position with amazing agility.

the Titans.


Chapter 18. Hanji, Zoë and Rivaille


That time, Hanji wanted more than anything to decline.

It all began with Rivaille asking Mikasa about the manuscript she supposedly had to memorize perfectly by tomorrow only to receive an incredibly irresponsible answer: she had not yet touched the papers. A handful of suggestions were come up with, however none met the requirements. Despite being a genius, there was nothing a Mikasa Ackerman could do in this situation. Even if she were to abandon sleep and devote her time to memorize the script she would only collapse under sleep-deprivation by the time of the play. In addition, she still felt a bit unwell after fainting this afternoon.

They were at the edge of cancelling the play until Irvin suddenly suggested to bringing the original player to her role, meaning Hanji had to take over her role once again.

"B-but! Why would I ask for Mikasa's help if I can play my own role?" Hanji countered.

Irvin nodded, acknowledging. "However nobody had memorized the script besides you. And judging from the dinner today I assume that your arm is currently at its best state."

Hanji jerked away, having nothing to counter that with.

Meeting the death glare from Rivaille and a somewhat pleading expression from Mikasa, Hanji knew she had no other choice than to agree. Besides, she didn't want to ruin the play her class had been putting their efforts in for the past month.

"Hhh…" she sighed, then flashed them a grin. "Okey-dokey! Bring it on!"


Someone rang the door bell and Eren quickly went to get it only to be surprised to see his foster sister standing at the doorstep.

"Mikasa…"

The raven-haired girl looked down a bit nervously. After all, they hadn't got into terms with their previous issue. In addition, she just spent a night at some guy's house. She only hoped Eren wouldn't think badly of her now.

Seeing her nervousness, Eren almost smiled. "Why just stand there? Come in," he pulled her in, much to her surprise.

"O-oh… Yeah, I'm home…" she muttered.

There were many things she wanted to say to him, but when she took a step inside the house and the smell of burnt food entered her nostrils, she had to save them for later.


Hanji swung her arm.

"Stop it, what if you break it again?" Rivaille said with his nose buried in the manuscript.

The eccentric girl chuckled, swinging her legs childishly as she sat on the desk, "I'd actually be glad, I guess…"

Rivaille put aside the manuscript only to see the brunette grinning at him. Closing his eyes, he rose from his seat and went to sit on one of the couches available in the Student Council office. "That's one cold joke."

"Aww… but it's not a joke, though!"

The president eyed her from the corner of his eyes, "I thought you agreed to play the role already?"

A bitter smile made its way to Hanji's face before she looked completely indifferent. With a yank, she untied her ponytail and let her brown hair fell at the sides of her face. "How did you expect me to play that role after everything that happened!?" she let out a rare outburst.

Rivaille remained silent and listened.

"If you want me to play that role it means you're denying her existence," she gripped the edge of the desk. "Do you want to kill her the second time!?" she screamed.

"Of course not, four-eye," he stood up from his seat and properly faced her. "Just because I've never scolded you about this before, don't think I'm okay with it. You're just trying to be her. You're her twin, but that doesn't mean you've become her just by changing your personality!"

The word stabbed Hanji hard, and she gritted her teeth. "You don't understand anything, Rivaille…" she choked, "…you don't understand…"

Still not losing his cool, Rivaille spoke up again, "Listen, four-eye, you need to get over with—"

"I won't!" she glared at him. "I will never get over with this! You… you weren't there on her last moment, Rivaille. You will never understand what I feel..."

All of a sudden, Hanji felt like the temperature dropped in the room. She brought her hands up her arms as though hugging herself to stop the trembling. "She just stopped breathing so suddenly… just a few minutes before, I was still talking to her… we were just going to take a short nap because she was a bit tired and then we'll go to the festival to visit you…" she choked. Foreign tears wet her cheeks after years of putting up a front.

"…then I was the only one who woke up while she never will…" she murmured under her breath.

The raven-haired man let out a hiss, "Seriously, Zoë, death isn't something unnatural. People will die one day, it was decided from birth. You're over thinking—"

"She even promised to cut my hair, you know? But then I had to cut it myself, just to look like her…"

Before they could continue their argument, somebody opened the door. The ginger-haired girl practically jumped when she saw the expression on her seniors' face. It was like they just had the most depressing day of their life.

"U-umm… Kaichou, Hanji-san… what—"

"Excuse me," Hanji muttered coldly as she walked pass Petra while tying her hair back into her usual messy ponytail.

"Eh? Hanji-san?" Petra tilted her head at the brunette then turned to face the president to ask, but when she saw the man returned to his seat and buried his nose in the manuscript, she decided to say nothing.


Armin was extremely delighted that he could walk to school with his two best friends normally again. The last time they walked to school together the blond had to hold his breath under the pressure, which, he still hadn't found out the reason until now. Today, however, both Eren and Mikasa seemed a bit too friendly toward each other than normal, especially after Mikasa told him that she wasn't going to participate in the play anymore.

"Armin, why don't we have a stroll at the festival this noon? We haven't really had any fun together the first two days, right? This is the last day of the festival, after all," Eren grinned.

"Eh? I don't mind, though… I don't have club performance today. But, Eren, don't you have work at the SC?" Armin asked.

"He's permitted today," Mikasa answered shortly.

"Oh, I see. I don't see why not, then."

"It's decided, then!"

When the three of them arrived in the classroom, their friends were all gathered at the center of the room. It seemed like they were looking at something worth gawking at. The three friends decided to join in only to see a huge flower bouquet placed on the table.

"What's this?" Eren asked.

"Oh, Eren, you're here. Armin and Mikasa too," Marco greeted. "You see, this bouquet is here when we arrived this morning, and looks like it's for Mikasa."

"For Mikasa?" Eren and Armin rhymed.

"Look at this, dude!" Reiner showed a card to them. "It's got a smell of expensive perfume and the writing looks high-class if not noble!" he exaggerated.

"At last Mikasa's hooked up some rich dude," Connie snickered.

"Who's the sender?" Mikasa asked.

"We haven't actually checked it, though…" Ymir said.

The half-Asian girl snatched the card from Reiner's hand and examined it until she found something that's likely to be the name, "Mis…ter…Pé…tit…" she murmured.

"Geh! That bearded man from before?" Reiner jerked away.

"Why would he send Mikasa a bouquet?" Annie asked, slightly interested.

Mikasa put the card aside indifferently and sniffed at the flower, "Not bad." Then she told them, "Actually, that bearded man is Rivaille-kaichou's father."

Everyone was visibly shocked before Connie and Ymir became the first ones to burst out laughing.

"Hey, don't you think that name fits him perfectly?"

"No, I think that name is a curse!"

"Actually, his dad isn't that petite, the curse is only available for him! Pfft!"

"Oh my, poor guy…"

Before they could continue, somebody slammed the door open urgently. "Everybody! Any of you saw Hanji-san?" Auruo asked; Petra and Rivaille following from behind him.

Eren was the one who step in, "What happened to Hanji-san?" he asked.

Petra showed a worried face, "The performance is in an hour and she's still nowhere to be found. We're in the verge of cancelling the play at this rate."

"What? That's troubling…" Armin commented.

"Cancel the play."

At Rivaille's words, they blinked.

"What? Why, kaichou?" Auruo and Petra asked in unison.

Before the man spoke again, the image of Hanji's expression when she left the room before flashed in his head. She was hurt, and the wound was too deep for it to heal on its own. Time will heal her, he once believed, however he was wrong. She never forgot about the fear and sadness she felt that day. From the way she acted these past three years, he thought she had moved on. After all, she was the one who encouraged him to move on. But before he realized it, he had left her behind, suffering alone with no one to heal her wound.

"Cancel the play at once. Place the horseback archery performance on the prime time. They deserve it more than us," he looked at the brunette who was chewing on a steamed potato.

"E-eh? My club? Th-that's—" Sasha stuttered, dropping her potato in the process.

"I am the Student Council President. I know every one of you. Sasha Brauss, you're an ace of the horseback archery club, I am proud that someone like you are here in the school."

"Wh-what? Err… it's an honor to receive your compliment!" she forcefully bowed down.

Rivaille looked at the rest of the students, "Armin Arlert from the astronomy club, Reiner Braun and Bertholdt Fubar from the basketball club, Ymir from the girl basketball club, and Jean Kirschtein, Marco Bodt, and Connie Springer from the soccer club. Every one of you worth as an individual, remember that."

They blinked quizzically before saying "Yes!" in harmony.

Rivaille gave them one last nod before he waltzed out of the room and slide the door shut before anyone could point out something was odd.


He ascended the stairs slowly. It wasn't like he was a hundred percent sure that Hanji was there, but it wouldn't hurt to try. Since they had practically looked for her everywhere and couldn't find her, he figured she might either be here or had gone home.

When he walked until there was no staircase left, he opened the locked door using the key he had in his pocket. Only the Student Council members owned it, and not just any member. The four of them were the only people to own it—him, Irvin, Mike, and Hanji.

As the door opened, the autumn wind blew inside. It felt cool and nice, maybe a bit too cold since winter was coming soon. And then there would only be three months left for them, third-years, to stay in this school. Rivaille had always had mixed feelings toward this school. He hated how the system only prioritized the students from the special class and treated students from the regular classes like garbage—though it had slightly changed from when he became the Student Council President. He still remembered how the regular students rebelled against the law all the time in the past. But within time, this school had turned to the better.

However this was also the school that changed him—the place where he met people, got over with his past, and successfully led the students to the right path. If he were to be asked whether he loved this school or not, he would say he did.

And right now he would straight things out for Hanji. He had helped plenty of students before, why couldn't he help one of his best friends?

He climbed the steel ladder attached to the wall and he finally made it to the top where a blue water tank was placed. On the first days of their first years, before she was given full authority over the science lab after school, Hanji used to spend her time here reading books. However he couldn't spot her at all, which was nothing surprising… since she usually spent her time under the water tank.

He squatted and took a peak under the water tank and he saw her alright.

"I'm surprised you still fit under here, considering how fast you grow the past years."

From inside the darkness, a voice emerged, "Leave me alone."

A rough sigh escaped his lips as he scooted closer to the water tank and leaned against it. "You're not the only one grieving over her death. In fact, you were there on her last moment. You wouldn't want to imagine how I feel when I received the phone call telling me to go home and that she was dead. She was completely fine the morning I left for school. One really can't guess when death will fetch you."

"You make it sound so simple," she snorted bitterly.

"Really, Zoë, it is not like me to persuade someone like this so listen carefully," he said in a low voice. Hanji did as he said, even though she wouldn't come out from her hideout.

"Don't call me with that name, Zoë is dead."

Rivaille groaned, "You did everything you can to find a cure for her while I went out there to beat the crap out of those people who did it to her. I think we've done enough. At least you and her got along before her death. What's most important is how you treat her while she was alive."

Hanji was silent for a while before she finally spoke, "But she was mad at me…" she hissed.

"Why would she? She always told me that you're the apple of her eye or something."

The words caught the brunette off guard and she had to swallow the strange lump forming in her throat. "I told her I couldn't care less even if humanity goes extinct. That time, Death was still something intriguing for me. I wasn't thinking. I didn't think that somebody's death will cause so much pain and sadness toward people left behind…" she choked.

"Well, she got mad at me about that too. You know when I was still a delinquent, I used to beat people until they're half-dead, and some of them even committed suicide under the fear. I told her I don't care, because I did it for her. You know what she said to me?" he turned to see that Hanji had slowly emerged from under the water tank.

"What did she say?" she asked, popping her head from under the tank.

""You didn't do it for me, it was all for your own satisfaction." It was harsh, and I got into an argument with her, but now I think that she was right," his lips formed a thin smile.

.

.

"You always get home when it's dark. Why won't you return right after school? I'm lonely here!"

.

.

"…all she ever wanted was to spend time with us as much as she could. She knew death was approaching and tried to live her life to the fullest."

The brunette let out a weary sigh and leaned against the water tank beside Rivaille and looked skyward. "I guess you're right" and she let out a sigh again "aah, I'm kinda relieved now. I should've done this ages ago," she chuckled and stretched.

"Damn right," Rivaille punched her shoulder lightly.

"Sorry," she chuckled again. She looked at the sky again before she grinned, "Hey, let's give a grave visit tomorrow."

Nodding, Rivaille said,

"Alright."


Eren pound his back and groaned. "Ugh… I'm so tired. At last, break time."

Beside him Armin smiled at his brunette friend, "Isn't it great? At last the three of us can spend time together. It's been a while, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Eren grinned.

As they walked down the crowded corridor, Mikasa accidentally took a glance from the window and saw a something that looked like portable shrines being carried by students. "Hey, are they doing a shrine parade?" Mikasa asked as she pointed outside the window.

Her two friends immediately turned their attention outside.

"A shrine parade?" Eren tilted his head.

"Yeah," Mikasa nodded.

"You probably don't know, Eren, but it's something resembling a parade where around six men carry a portable shrine on their shoulder in order to praise the gods, or so I read. The Asian used to conduct it a lot in the past. But in a school festival like this, it's just meant to increase the festive atmosphere. Right, Mikasa?" Armin explained and the raven-haired girl nodded; her gaze still on the ongoing parade.

Sensing that Mikasa was drawn into the parade, Eren quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her with him, a surprised Armin following from behind.

"Eren?"

"Let's go have a closer look. It's hard to look from here, right?" he grinned.

Mikasa's cheeks slightly reddened before she nodded.

When they finally arrived at the school ground, Mikasa was visibly enchanted by the parade, it was merry and beautiful. Armin arrived a bit later than them, saying that they were mean for leaving him behind while panting.

The portable shrines went in circle, as though forming a certain symbol with Eren couldn't really understand, but he could tell that Mikasa knew, judging from her expression. After they looked at it for a while, Armin offered to buy some drink for them and they accepted.

Mikasa subconsciously walked around to observe the portable shrines one by one, as though trying to recall something by seeing it. Eren only looked at her from afar, letting her do what she wanted. The half-Asian girl was about to recall something before the crowd cried in horror and started scattering everywhere away from a certain shrine. When she faced the direction, her eyes widened when she saw a shrine near Eren was about to fall and crush him alive.

Her jaw tensed and her vision became blurry.

TO BE CONTINUED


Oh no! What will happen to Eren? D: Everything will be revealed in the next chapter ;)

I hope not many of you decided to give up on this story because of how long I take to update. I won't make excuses, it's true that I didn't update because I was being too lazy. It happens to me a lot and I'm really afraid that I might abandon this story like I did to several of mine already. However this story is clearly my favorite and I already had a plan on how it will end so I want it to end properly :)

This chapter is full of references from other animes! Please point out what scene you can find and name the anime it's from! XD I doubt many people will get the reference, though, but I just wanna know if you guys also watch these animes I watch! Hehehe

And those who can at least point out one scene will be receiving a special privilege of a sneak peak for the next chapter!

See you next time~