Chapter 3

Her Lover, Forgotten

The clock ticked repeatedly, counting away the seconds.

One, two, three.

Hanji was back in her office, looking at all the disheveled papers on her desk, and the scattered books on the floor.

Was she really like this in the past?

When she'd first woken up, the first thing she saw was the ceiling. White, and blank as her memory. Of course she had retained her cognitive ability, giving her the ability to walk and eat as usual. As for the rest of her memory though, it was all gone, wiped out. The short, black-haired man who had walked into her room had told her that she was once his lover.

Lover.

The word confused her. Lover? How could she have a lover when she was making messes like this? Would any man fall for her? The questions were all scrambled in her head.

A drawer in her desk was open, revealing even more papers. A note with a simple message caught her attention, soon enough. She cautiously walked over and opened the note, trying to read it as clearly as possible. Although she was given new goggles, these ones were a bit blurry.

Four-Eyes,

You haven't taken a bath in days, and all you're doing is experimenting with your titans. It's not like I'm worried about you or anything. It's just that you're not getting any sleep these days. You always appear to work with dark circles under your eyes. Make sure to get some sleep, or I'll have to knock you out.

So this was how she was like back then. It gave her a sense of nostalgia for some reason, and it didn't shock her to know that she didn't bathe or keep clean that much. The experimenting with titans would have made sense as well. The first time she'd woken up, there were multiple scars across her body that resembled bite marks. Although the part where it said that someone would knock her out, it made her scared, yet also amused. What was this?

Then there was the nickname again. The name the man had called her back in the hospital room. It… It did sound familiar. But where had she heard it? She was probably going insane, from what she was told she was involved in a plane crash.

Yes, that was probably it.

After reading the note, she found nothing else that caught her attention. There were several cases of books surrounding her, but she decided that would be for another.

She was only inches away from the door when a flash of pain seared through her brain. Her legs gave way, and then followed her body. A memory, it seemed, played through her mind. The graphics were murky, and the sound was muffled, but nonetheless, it was a piece of her memory.

"Oi, Four-Eyes!"

"Yes, Levi?"

"I got a complaint from the Military Police saying you slammed a shovel against one of their commanding officers. Erwin's extremely pissed and sent me here to talk to you."

He stood in the doorway, his 3DMG still attached to him and wearing a loose white-collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His mouth was downturned into a scowl, but his eyes radiated with amusement.

"Did he send you here to give me a compliment, because it looks like you are."

The black-haired man turned away, though he was visibly blushing. She put away her research papers on her desk, and collapsed in a chair near him.

"The guy was just being a douche. He accused me of spending all of the Survey Corp's money for my experiments and that I was the reason we weren't getting anywhere."

"What did you say?"

"I said that he was just jealous that I didn't have to spend my days kissing up the king's touche and that his forehead was bigger than a titan's ass."

"Ha! I bet he cried like the little bitch he was."

"But seriously, his forehead was HUGE. Then he threatened to have me hanged by the king for 'treason', so I grabbed one of the new recruits' shovels and whacked him with it."

"That bastard. I'll ram my knee up his face harder than I did with that Jaeger kid."

"So protective as al-"

She could feel something warm on her lips, and it took her brain a few seconds to process that he was kissing her. Soon after their lips parted, but their foreheads had found a way to touch each other.

"I'm glad that you kicked his ass. I came here because Erwin was making such a mess in my office and throwing shit everywhere."

"You came here because you just love seeing my face."

"Like hell I did."

"Admit it, you did. And you even have that lovey-dovey look in your eyes that says 'make out with me'."

He held her jaw in place gently, smirking at her devilishly.

"I wouldn't mind if you did it with me right now."

A huff, and once again their lips met.

At the last moment of the sudden vision, she was completely in disbelief. She had kissed the same man who had told her the truth, the truth she didn't believe. A knock on her door signaled someone's presence.

"Hange, I know you're in there."

She didn't care to know who was behind the door, they most likely wouldn't believe what she was seeing anyway. Neither did she. Her hands trembled over her ears to block out any noise.

Another knock on the door. This time the voice behind it seemed worried instead of demanding.

The person behind it wasn't going to go away anytime soon, so she forced her legs to support her as she stood up to open the door. A short-, no, Levi was standing in her doorway. She had learned his name in the vision she had.

"You're my lover."

"So you finally remembered?"

"Not exactly, but if you say we were, then I'll try to find a way to figure out who I was. You're the only one who knows about me though, so I'm relying on you, now, Levi."

She didn't know but she could've sworn she'd seen a moment of hurt and pain cross his face, before he returned to his usual expression. Had she done something to cause him to feel that way?

"I'm surprised that you're willing to love me again. I thought you would've given up on me."

"I'm not going to give up on something worth trying. I don't think I was like that back then, so I won't be the same now."

Levi reached up to her head, and cradled the back of it. He stared at her, a look of shock in his silver eyes.

"You hurt me so much, Four-Eyes. Everything you say and do, it hurts me."

He let go, and walked away without so much as a single glance at her.

Okay so I'm REALLY sorry that I couldn't write this sooner. I tore a muscle in my ankle and I can't even walk right now. Please don't kill me! Anyway, please leave more reviews and likes if you can. The reviews really help me and the likes will keep motivating me to write even more.