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“Wakey-wakey.” A peppy voice called out to you.

You groaned and rolled over, “You’re way too cheerful in the mornings, Hanji.”

The squad leader simply shrugged, “Either way it’s time to get up.”

Sighing, you pulled the covers off of your body and sat up, shooting her a glare.

“I brought your uniform, so get dressed. I’ll help you with the harness when you’re done.” She turned and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

You glanced over to the corner of the room where a familiar uniform was sitting folded on a chair. You pushed yourself off the bed, flinching slightly when your bare feet touched the cold floor. Stripping off the clothes you had been wearing, you quickly pulled on the uniform. Surprisingly, it fit perfectly. Either they were really good at guessing sizes or…

‘This must have been Allis’s uniform.’

The thought reminded you that you were, in fact, in a borrowed body. A borrowed life more like it. Letting out a sigh, you knocked at the door, letting Hanji know you were finished. She walked back in holding a tangled heap of leather straps.

“All right, let’s get this on.” She said, again way too cheerful for the early hour.

Despite being very complex, putting on the harness didn’t really take too long. You supposed someone like Hanji would be pretty experienced at putting it on in a hurry though, so it wasn’t too surprising. After she adjusted the last strap, she took a step back as you pulled on your boots and jacket, glancing over your figure.

“Looks good. Ready to start the day?” She asked.

“As I’ll ever be. I’m still not used to this yet, it’s so surreal.” You responded.

Hanji clapped a hand on your shoulder, “Don’t worry, we’ll make it through this.”

You gave her a small smile, her good mood rubbing off on you. Hanji turned and stepped out into the hall, you following close behind. There weren’t any soldiers roaming the halls, leaving your and Hanji’s footsteps to fill the silence. You fiddled with one of your straps nervously. You were sure to run into some people who were friends with Allis. What were you supposed to do then?

“Alright, we’re almost here.” Hanji announced.

You blinked, there were some faint voices nearby, but that didn’t really reveal anything, “Almost where?”

She turned to you, “The mess hall, it’s time for breakfast.”

You paled slightly, “A-Are you sure I can’t just eat in my room?”

She gave a small smile, “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”

With that she opened the doors in front of you, revealing the source of the growing noise. The mess hall was filled with soldiers, all busily chatting with each other. Luckily no one seemed to notice your entrance. Hanji left your side for a moment, coming back with two plates of food.

“I have to go sit with the other Squad Leaders, so go ahead and find a table to sit at.” She said, handing you a plate.

As she walked off, you felt your stomach fill with butterflies. It was like the first day of high school, when your table choice determined your future social life. Only instead of hormonal teenagers you were stuck with… hormonal teenagers. Maybe it wasn’t so different.

“Hey, (Y/n).” You jumped slightly, swiveling your head to where you heard you name being called.

Armin sat at his table waving you over, “Come sit with us.”

Letting out a small sigh of relief, you quickly stepped over to the table, seating yourself between Armin and Eren. Mikasa sat on Eren’s other side, and across from you sat Connie, Sasha, and Jean. Luckily Reiner and Bertholdt were nowhere to be seen, so that was one weight off your chest.

“So, (Y/n),” Jean started, “Are you training with us today or what?”

You shook your head, “I think I’m doing chores or something. Hanji didn’t really fill me in on the specifics.”

“You’ll probably get stuck cleaning something of Levi’s.” Sasha remarked as she dug into her food.

“…I don’t think that’ll happen.” You spoke softly.

“Why’s that?” Eren asked.

“I think I know.” Armin spoke up, turning to you, “He’s upset about Allis isn’t he?”

You nodded.

“He has no right to take it out on you.” Mikasa mumbled.

“I’m sure he just needs time to come to terms with it.” You reassured her. You would be upset too if you were in his position.

At that, your stomach let out a low rumble, reminding you why you were here in the first place. Turning back to your plate, you were surprised to find it completely empty. You looked across the table at Sasha, who seemed to be avoiding your gaze.

“…Sasha.” Slowly her eyes moved to meet yours, “Did you eat my breakfast?”

Sasha swallowed, eyes flitting between the rest of the table’s occupants, “I… uh… well you weren’t eating it and it was just sitting there and I had already finished mine so…”

You let out a small sigh, “It’s fine.”

“Here.” Eren handed you the roll off of his plate, “I’m full anyways.”

You gave him a small smile before biting into the pastry, savoring the warmth. Yesterday’s meals had been cold, but you were so hungry you didn’t care. Still, nothing beat having freshly baked bread. It was certainly better than the food you normally ate at home. Frozen meals weren’t exactly gourmet.

“I’ll make it up to you later,” Sasha quickly added, looking slightly guilty, “You can have some of my food at lunch.”

“That’d be a first.” Connie mumbled into his drink.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sasha asked, mock horror on her face.

Connie set his drink down before turning to face her, “You actually giving away food is against nature or something. I’ve only ever seen you offer us food once.”

“And later that day the wall was breached.” Jean added with a grin, earning a few laughs from the table.

You felt yourself smiling as well, enjoying the mood of the old friends. Sasha grew more and more distraught as her friends began ganging up on her, all adding little stories about the glutton.

“There was that one time that Krista snuck you some food during training,” Mikasa recounted, “I thought you took her arm off when you lunged for that bread.”

“Do you remember when you offered some of your potato to Shadis?” Jean snickered, “I thought he was ready to explode.”

“I was just being nice!” Sasha defended, dropping her head to the table, “I can’t believe all of you.”

“I see you’re getting along fine.” You felt Hanji rest her arm on your head.

You craned your neck to look at the Squad Leader along with the rest of the table. She smiled at the cadets.

“I hope you don’t mind if I steal (Y/n). I have some work for her.” She said with a smile.

“N-Not at all.” Armin stammered after a moment.

“Great!” Hanji exclaimed, grabbing your wrist and half-dragging you away from the table.

“W-Wait!” You protested, “I have to grab my plate.”

“Don’t worry, someone else will get it for you.” She reassured.

You waved a final goodbye to your table-mates before Hanji pulled you out into the hall, still firmly grabbing your wrist. You stumbled after her in silence for a few minutes. At one point you tried to memorize the turns that she took seemingly at random, but gave up around turn twenty. Jeez this castle was big.

“Where exactly are we going?” You asked, breaking the silence.

“Today you’ll be helping me to clean my office.” Hanji clarified, “I haven’t really had any time to do it myself lately, and Erwin said it was beginning to become a health hazard.”

She paused in front of a door, releasing your wrist, “Here we are! Be careful on your way in.”

“I’m sure it’s not that ba-” You froze as the door creaked open.

Good god, was there even a floor in this room? Books and papers covered nearly every square inch of the office, small piles rising occasionally. Bookshelves lined the sides of the room, their contents half-hazardly placed. Old plates filled with questionable food sat on the cluttered desk in stacks. You stood there with your mouth gaping as Hanji maneuvered over the papers to her chair on the other side of the room.

“You can start by putting the books back on the shelves. I’ll organize this section.” She said, gesturing to her desk.

“Right.” You said meekly, still in a daze.

This would take hours to do, if not days. You slowly stepped over the hazardous floor, nearly tripping several times. No wonder Erwin had declared it a hazard. Eventually you reached one of the bookshelves. Clearing a small spot for you to stand on, you got to work. Deciding to start with the books already on the shelves, you scanned over the spines as you reset them vertically. Some had normal titles, like Tactics of the Titan War, while some seemed to be hastily made journals with only names written on the spine. You froze as you recognized one in particular.

“Sonny and Bean.” You read quietly to yourself.

You glanced over to the desk where Hanji was working. Her head was ducked down, and she seemed to be concentrating. Maybe she wouldn’t notice. Looking back down at the journal, you flipped it open to a random page.

Today we completed our experiment of human/titan communication. Unfortunately, all attempts were futile on both Titans. I have not lost hope however! I plan on bringing our newest titan-shifter, Eren Jaeger, with me eventually. Perhaps he will be able to make contact with them.

You continued flipping through the pages, stopping at the last entry. The handwriting was barely legible, and there appeared to be water stains in small splotches on the page.

I can barely stomach to write this. At some point in the night, someone snuck into the testing area and slaughtered Sonny and Bean. We have yet to find the culprit.

“Curious aren’t we?” Hanji said from right behind you.

You let out a yelp, fumbling the journal and dropping it to the floor. Mortified at being caught, you looked back at Hanji, who stooped over and gently picked up the journal. She looked down at it for a few moments, thumbs gliding over the cover, before looking back up at you. Her eyes lacked their usual mirth, instead filled with quiet grief.

“I’m sorry.” You mumbled guiltily, casting your eyes to the floor. You felt like you had read something far more personal than a scientific journal.

“Don’t be.” She said, causing you to raise your gaze to meet hers, “You must have recognized the names, am I right?”

You nodded, “From the… story…”

“Well it’s not really confidential if you already know about it then.” She said, some of her joking demeanor returning.

“I guess not.” You said, forcing a small smile.

“(Y/n).” Hanji said suddenly, serious once more, “You can’t tell anyone what you know about this world. There are some who would gladly end your life if it meant keeping their secrets hidden.”

Your thoughts flashed to two in particular. If Bertholdt and Reiner found out that you knew their secret…

“It seems you know of someone like that.” Hanji said.

“I guess so.” You replied quietly.

“I won’t ask who, but know that both keeping and telling secrets has a price.” She warned.

‘She’s right. I know what will happen if I don’t reveal it, but what would happen if I did? How many people would die? Or would anyone die at all? Would I be sparing lives, or condemning them?’

You could almost feel the weight of the knowledge on your chest. You could end lives with a simple string of words, and here they weren’t just characters on a page. They were real, breathing people. And you were just as vulnerable as them. You had no military training. If someone here wanted to kill you, they wouldn’t have any trouble doing so. All they would have to do would be to draw their swords…

You stiffened as Hanji wiped your tears away with her sleeve. You touched your cheeks in shock, you hadn’t even realized you had been crying. She reached forward and embraced you in a tight hug.

“I know you’re going through a lot right now.” She said after a moment, “Just know that you always have people on your side.”

You were silent for a moment, “…Thank-you, Hanji.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Afterwards the two of you had gotten back to cleaning up her office. Somehow, you managed to fill up one of the bookshelves completely, clearing off a quarter of the floor in the process. At least now you could leave without tripping.

Hanji stood from her desk, the pile of plates in her arms, “I’m going to return these to the mess hall. I’ll be right back.”

You nodded as she stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Glancing back at the shelf in front of you, you scanned over your work, pausing when you reached the top. One of the books was hanging halfway off of the wood, threatening to fall.

“How the heck did I miss that?” You asked yourself.

You weren’t exactly the tallest person, so you had to strain to reach the book, standing on your toes. Just as your fingertips ghosted over the spine however, you heard the door slam open. Out of instinct you grabbed the shelf to balance yourself. Big mistake.

The shelf wobbled exactly once before it began to fall. You hit the ground with a thud, an avalanche of books cascading around you. The wooden frame fell next, knocking the wind out of you. You let out a groan, temporarily dazed.

“I swear to god, Hanji.” A voice droned. It sounded so familiar, but the books were muffling their voice.

You blinked as some of the books near your face were removed, revealing the face of your savior. Levi stared down at you, holding a halfway removed journal in his hand.

“You’re not Hanji.” He stated.

“No duh.” You retorted.

He moved to put the book back on your face.

“W-Wait!” You exclaimed, “Don’t leave me under this!”

“Why not?”

You thought for a moment, “Because then I can’t clean?”

Levi paused for a moment before placing the book on your face. You heard a few footsteps. Great, he was going to abandon you. You tried to squirm your way out, but found that the shelf had you pinned to the floor.

“Hold still.” Levi commanded.

You blinked. He hadn’t left yet? You heard him grunt, and suddenly the weight on your chest disappeared. You sat up quickly, the books sliding off of you. Levi stood over you, hands on both sides of the shelf.

“Don’t just sit there, move.” He barked. You quickly complied.

Once you stepped out of the way he pushed the shelf farther forward, stepping over the books until the shelf was upright once more. It was actually quite impressive. Despite only being an inch or two taller than you, he was clearly stronger. Levi brushed off his hands before turning to you.

“Be more careful.” He warned. His voice sounded almost… caring. Definitely not like your initial meeting.

He opened his mouth as if to say something else, but quickly snapped it shut and strode past you, bumping into Hanji as she reentered the room. She glanced between you and Levi’s retreating figure.

“Did I miss something?”