AN: I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE! After a couple of months of disappearing, I am finally updating. I'm sorry but things have been very hectic lately and now I have graduated High School! I am now a college freshman! Another reason for my disappearance is probably the PS3 I finally got. Anyways, thanks to those who reviewed to the previous chapters (especially the one who gave me a lot of reviews) and I hope you enjoy this new chapter I cooked up for you guys.

CHAPTER XLIV:

EARLY SCARE FEST

"So, the plan goes like this. In the middle of the night, I either go to his room at the MP HQ here or I follow him home." Celeste explained as she sat by the bridge where her squad was.

"Then what? You're going to talk him into submission?" Mikasa asked her. Celeste snorted before answering.

"Talk? No. I'm going to scare him into submission." She answered with a mischievous look on her face. It's going to be an early Sina scare fest.

"How?" Eren, Petra and Armin asked at the same time.

"Now, that is my secret." She responded. "And now, we play the waiting game."

And wait they did. Though they weren't going to wait at the inn. Eren, Mikasa and Armin wandered around Stohess, Petra and Levi went to the market, Irvin was the only at the inn and Celeste, meanwhile, was in the fields outside Stohess, practicing her ice tactics while listening to music. When she was pretty worn out, she climbed a nearby tree and sat on a branch with her back to its trunk.

"Hey!" She heard someone call for her. She took her earphones off and looked down, seeing Richard there.

"Hi." She greeted as she jumped down.

"I got you this. Thought you might be tired or hungry." He said as he threw her an apple, which Celeste caught.

"Thanks." She said as she sat on the ground and took a bite out of her apple.

"So, you're Captain Levi's daughter, right?" He asked as he sat beside her.

"Yeah, so?" She asked him.

"Uh, it's just…you look nothing like him. You look more like your mother." He said. Celeste chuckled at that.

"Yeah, I…uh…I get that a lot." She said. After that, they just talked about their lives before their training and whatever crossed their minds. Eventually, they fell asleep by that tree.

Later that night, Levi was pacing back and forth at his and Petra's room in the inn. The entire squad was there but Celeste isn't back yet and it's almost midnight. A Scouting Legion member in Military Police territory isn't bound to end well.

"Tch. Where the hell is that brat?" He asked. Just then, Celeste burst in the room, wearing clothes from the future. Unfortunately, at that time, Eren was playing spin the bottle with Armin and Mikasa and used too much strength on the bottle, sending it flying and hitting Celeste in the face, causing the bottle to shatter.

"AH! Jesus Christ! Where the hell did that come from?!" She yelled out as she clutched her steaming and bleeding head. Petra ran to her aid as Eren kept apologizing to Levi for hitting the Captain's daughter. Ever since Celeste was found again, soldiers in the survey corps considered hurting, or even touching, the daughter of Humanity's Strongest soldier a capital offense.

"Where the hell were you?" Levi asked her angrily.

"I was out. Where do you think I was?" She answered back as she sat down.

"Where exactly did you go that it made you stay out until 11 PM?" Petra asked. That got the others curious.

"Yeah, what happened, Celeste?" Armin asked her. At the expecting looks they were giving, Celeste caved.

"Fine. I was on a date with the Hartley boy." She answered. Petra paled at that moment. She was not going to let Celeste go out with a noble from the MP. He was a noble and there could be some serious repercussions if something else other than a date happened between them. Nobles stepped over those lower than them and she didn't want Celeste to experience something like that. And Richard was from the MP. That would result in Celeste getting into fights even in the walls since she wouldn't let a single insult to the Survey Corps slide.

"Look, mom, it was a one-time thing. He gave me the puppy dog eyes after asking me out and I couldn't say no. After all, he was paying." She said with a shrug.

"We don't care. It doesn't matter. After the next morning, you're never going to see him again." Levi answered sharply. Celeste held her hands out in surrender.

"Fine by me. I'm going. Just dropped by to let you guys know." She said and she handed Petra a small walkie-talkie.

"Keep it close. In case I'm in need of assistance." She said as she walked up to the window and opened it and jumped to the building next to the inn. Then she pulled her hood up before running. She free ran around the place. If she needed it, she'd release her wings and fly to the next building. Eventually, she got to the MP Headquarters. She flew to the building in front of it and just crouched as she watched Commander Dawk get ready for bed. When he blew the candle off, Celeste flew and grabbed him while he was still near the window and proceeded to fly off to Wall Maria as fast as she could.

"Who-who are you?" Dawk asked as she held him by his shirt.

"Shut up. We got business to discuss, Dawk." Celeste told him.

"Wha-what do you want?" He asked her.

"Good question. I'll get to the point then, no beating around the bush. I want you to call those MP dicks off and tell them to stop attacking Richard Hartley." She said through gritted teeth, trying to sound as scary as possible.

"They-they'll never listen to me." Dawk said.

"Yeah, right. You're their Commander. Do something about it. Next time I hear that the Hartley boy is still being bullied, I'll take you out here in the middle of the day and leave in Titan territory to became Titan food. Do you want that? If so, I'll give you a chance to say good bye to that pretty little wife and kids of yours, if you have the latter. Now, are you going to do something about it or not?" She asked him. When he didn't respond, Celeste freed her right hand from his shirt, effectively making him dangle.

"Alright! I'll do it! Just get me out of here!" He said in a panic.

"Excellent. Also, you tell anyone about this or go after the Survey Corps for this, I will beat you to an inch of your life, break one of your legs and leave you here in Wall Maria and trust me I am not afraid of doing that in broad daylight. Got that?" She threatened him. Dawk nodded in response to which Celeste smiled widely at.

"Good boy." Celeste said as she gently slapped him in the face twice. After that, she flew back to the MP Headquarters and deposited Dawk to his room.

"Remember what I said and you'll live. You have my word on that." Celeste warned him before leaving. She flew to the Hartley's manor. Once she saw Richard's room and when she was about to knock but she decided against it.

'What am I doing? Here I am hovering outside the room of a boy I barely know despite my parents' warning of staying away from him. Ah, screw them, it's best he know from me.' She thought before knocking. Richard woke up and upon seeing her, he walked up to the window and opened it.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" He asked her with a small smile.

"You're safe now. I took care of it." She told him with a smile.

"Thank you. I know you don't particularly like people from the MP but thanks for doing this for me." He said.

"Technically, it's not for you, I'm under-"

Before Celeste could finish that sentence, Richard grabbed her face and kissed her. It didn't take long for Celeste to give in by closing her eyes and responding to his kisses. 30 seconds later though, she snapped out of it and separated from him. It wasn't because she didn't like Richard or because he's from the MP, he seemed like an okay guy to her for someone from the MP but because she will never see him again after this. And she's very determined to keep whatever happened today a one-time thing.

"I should go. Good bye." She said. Before he could say anything else (God forbid he was about to ask her to stay because that's what it looked like he was going to ask), she hightailed out of there. Eventually, she stood on the roof of the building in front of her parents' window. It was still open so Celeste decided to jump for it but she was still in a daze so she fell to the ground face first when squirming inside. That, unfortunately, woke her father up.

"Oi, brat, you could've just opened the window all the way instead of using your thin body to squirm in." He said coldly as he stood up. Celeste glared up at him from where she was lying.

"You know, normal dads would just help their daughters up while asking how they were, you jackass." She answered with equal coldness before standing up.

"How did it go?" Levi asked as he closed the window.

"Went just fine." She answered before leaving the room and entered the room she shared with Mikasa. Well, supposed to share with Mikasa. But alas, she saw that Eren moved her bed beside Mikasa's and was now sleeping in it.

"You gotta be kidding me." Celeste muttered. She left and entered Eren and Armin's room. Armin woke up when the door slammed shut.

"Wha-Celeste, what are you doing here?" Armin asked her as he rubbed the sleep off his eyes.

"The Jaeger brat decided to sleep on my bed so I'm invading his. Good night." Celeste said as she crashed on the bed after taking her shoes off.

"How did the mission go?" Armin asked her.

"Went just fine. It was fine. Everything's fine. He conceded." Celeste said as she closed her eyes.

"Did something else happen?" Armin asked.

"None of your goddamn business, Armin!" She snapped at him all of a sudden. Okay, she had no idea where that came from.

"Alright, I'm sorry." He said.

"It's fine. I should be sorry. Just go to sleep." She told him. Armin didn't say anything else after that and neither did Celeste. That night though, while Celeste was asleep, she dreamed of something other than the occasional nightmares, she dreamt of a boy with red hair, green eyes and a jovial, youthful face. She dreamt of his gentleness. She dreamt of a possible happy future with this boy without the Titans, without the war and without any problems at all.

AN: And that is Chapter XLIV. After this the finale arc starts and I'm on debate on whether or not I will still post the alternate endings. Thanks to those who will review and follow. I appreciate it very much. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!