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Levi finds her before she could. He’s muttering words Hange can’t hear over the panicked screams of the crowd.
“ Listen to me ,” he hisses, pulling her arm. “You have to go.”
Hange shakes her head, grips his arm tighter, and hisses back, “I’m not leaving before you.”
Levi lets out what sounds like a growl in frustration, before he turns to find Moblit, fully ignoring Hange’s protests. “Moblit, take Hange and–”
But Levi doesn’t get to finish that sentence. Hange watches as a bullet pierces through his heart and he falls right on her shoulder, dead.
Hange holds his body close to her and lets out a blood-curdling scream as the flames begin to lick her skin.
She wakes to the sound of birds singing their morning hymns. The early sunlight is gentle as it hits her face. Hange stirs slowly, in fear of disturbing the peace. She squints as she looks around her in confusion, lightly gripping the sheets in a steady attempt to ground herself.
Her glasses are where she had placed them the night before. The book that she had fallen asleep reading lies open on a page that she can’t recall. As she starts tracking the items that made her small room in the palace feel like home , Hange releases a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. She looks at her hands, observing her calloused fingertips and smooth skin. Almost in disbelief, she traces her gaze up to her arms, down to her torso and her legs hidden beneath thick blankets.
Because just a few minutes ago, Hange was pretty sure that she was dead.
Just a dream, she thinks to herself, a smile starting to form on her face. Nothing but a bad dream.
She goes about her morning routine. Glasses on. Clothes chosen and worn. Boots shined. Just like any other day.
And just like always–polite, prim, and proper–Prince Levi knocks before entering.
The wave of relief that washes over Hange is instant. Just a dream, she repeats in her head, a mantra she’s been using to calm herself. Of course, Levi is alive.
“Come in,” she says as she adjusts her waistcoat. The response is immediate. Levi opens the door the same way he’s done a million times before.
“Hey, shitty glasses,” He told her in greeting. Hange chuckled.
“Good morning, your highness,” she replied mockingly, a light tilt in her voice. “I see you woke up on the right side of the bed this morning.”
Levi rolls his eyes with practiced ease, choosing to ignore her. He moves to sit on the edge of her bed, and looks around her room, his nose wrinkling ever-so-slightly. “When are you going to let me clean this place? It’s turning into a pigsty again.”
“I don’t think his royal highness should be cleaning the room of a humble adviser,” Hange tells him, tucking her tailcoat and sitting beside him.
“ His royal highness wouldn’t need to do that if said humble adviser knew how to properly clean her room.”
“Don’t make the state of my room an excuse to avoid your royal duties,” she chides playfully, “I know that you have to get ready for tonight. It’s a particularly special one, especially since it’s your coronation,” she smirks at him then, cocking her head to the side. “In case you forgot.”
Levi glares at her and says nothing.
They sit in silence for a bit, and it is in this moment of stillness that Hange can’t help but feel a distinct sense of deja vu. Unconsciously, she started to stare, a pang of what feels like fear and paranoia starting to bloom in the recesses of her heart. Because seeing Levi alive and well, speaking to her the way he always does–
“Oi,” he says, interrupting the silence. “What’s wrong?”
Hange snaps out of it immediately, shaking her head in response. “Nothing,” she assures him, but she doesn’t believe it herself.
It was just a dream .
Levi scrunches his eyebrows the way that he does when he doesn’t believe her, but doesn’t press further. “We need to go to the council soon,” he tells her, and she braces herself because she can tell what Levi is going to say next, and everything else after that. “And prepare to defend our decision to let our people in.”
She nods her head absent-mindedly, allows him to drag her out of her sanctuary and into the room where the councilors would arrive. He sits on the biggest seat at the end of the table, lined with red cushions and painted a shiny, brilliant gold. Hange seats herself on the chair right beside him before beginning to skim the familiar paperwork. She had memorized it, reviewed it over and over again until the words practically burned themselves into her brain.
The meeting starts once all the councilors have arrived, each with their own set of opinions about possible threats to the crown. Across from her, Commander of the Guard Erwin nods in greeting, stoic and stiff. Hange returns the gesture, grateful for his presence.
She grips the edges of her chair as she listens to the arguments, hating the way her mind could almost complete each person’s sentence before they’ve even had the chance to say it. For a moment, Hange wonders if she should play into the narrative her mind had created or go against it completely.
Because according to her dream, the palace is going to burn down tonight, and Prince Levi is going to die.
Her thoughts are interrupted by the passionate words of religious leader Nick. “Even if we have humanity’s greatest soldier as our prince,” he booms loudly, “we are not ready to let some measly commoners in. We must maintain the peace within our walls.”
Council member Adler nods his head vehemently. “This is exactly why we have to defend our palace, secure our defenses. We must not allow these–these–” he spits his next words with such hatred Hange thinks he’s going to collapse, “ peasants enter our halls.” He turns to Commander Erwin and Prince Levi, eyes blazing with fury. “Or is our military force so filled with pride that they believe the prince will be safe from harm by their mere presence?”
Hange grits her teeth, because against her better judgment, the invisible fire scorching her skin screams that Adler is, most unfortunately, correct.
“Our defenses are indeed strong,” Hange responds to Adler, calm and firm, refusing to allow some silly little dream to cloud her decision-making. “We trust the people we lead.”
Adler shakes his head, eyeing Erwin. “Are you sure about this, commander?” he sneers as Nick and another council member named Lukas nod vehemently, “You’re gambling the life of our Prince.”
Erwin stares Adler down. “Do you not trust the way I have led our soldiers through victorious battles?”
“Regardless, commander, you are putting all our lives at risk. You don’t care about the safety of your council, our ministers, all present for the prince’s corona–”
“Enough,” Levi interjects, just as Hange looks at him in expectation. “Stop talking about me as if I’m not here.” He turns to the rest of the council, directing his nonchalant gaze towards Adler. “To be crowned King is to accept the responsibility to lead. Welcoming the people is my first decree.” The expression on his face barely changes as he says, “It is what my father despised and what my mother would have wanted.”
The meeting adjourns with Councilors Markus, Freya, and Anastasia agreeing with the Prince. Nick and Adler are the last councilors to leave the room, slamming the door behind them in spite.
Erwin offers Hange a small smile. “Are you ready for tonight, adviser?”
The image of a mountain range of rubble flashes in Hange’s mind for the briefest of moments. She forces herself to return the smile Erwin had given her. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Hange furrows her eyebrows in frustration as she watches a small squirrel hurriedly climb a tree, trying to ignore the gnawing feeling in her stomach as she predicts its inevitable fall. It gets up and steadies itself before trying again, and Hange counts to three before Moblit, as if on cue, knocks on her door.
“Hange- san, ” he calls, “I have your clothes for tonight.”
She opens the door, her body moving before she realizes. Moblit smiles at her kindly. Neatly folded on Moblit’s arms were a gold-lined black waistcoat, a white linen shirt with tan pantaloons, and a neck cloth she definitely wouldn’t wear.
She thanks him profusely, tucking her arms under his and gently taking the clothes from him. She braced herself for the question she knew he was about to ask.
“Are you ready for tonight, Hange-san?”
Hange smiles with no mirth, cursing fate for mocking her.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Levi is already dressed by the time Hange gets to his room.
He is dressed in his military gala, the deep navy wool bringing out the gray of his eyes. It clung to him like a second skin, perfect and exact in its measurements. The golden braid and epaulettes traced his wide shoulders. Hange watched as he adjusted his cuffs, stiff and immaculate, each one richly embroidered in the same golden thread.
“You’re as regal as a king,” Hange declares, beaming as she pokes the area between his forehead playfully.
“That’s the plan,” he says as he takes in her own outfit. “You clean up well.”
Hange rolls her eyes. “I look like this every day, Levi.”
Levi hands her his azure sash, and she runs her fingers through it, smoothing out the edges. “Put this on me?” He asks.
Hange nods, taking the garment and gently putting it over Levi’s head and fixing one side on his shoulder. Carefully, she threads her hands through the garment, patting it down gently.
“Her Majesty’s going to be very proud of you,” she whispered, her mind fleeting to the kind queen consort who had bandaged her wounds when she was but a young child. “Her wish to bring the villages to the palace will finally be fulfilled.”
Levi nods almost solemnly. He kept his gaze fixed on the mirror, his eyes meeting his own. For a moment, Hange wonders if he was experiencing the same surge of memories in her mind.
The blood on Levi’s back as he is whipped by the king for what seems like the hundredth time. The very same whip grazing the skin on Hange’s arm as she stands in between them, screaming for justice.
Hange places a hand on Levi’s shoulder, meeting his gaze from the mirror with her own determined one.. “You will be nothing like your father.”
He nods once more, and Hange almost misses his sharp intake of breath. “And you’ll stay by my side?”
“Always.”
He breathes out what sounds like a sigh of relief. Hange smiles and decides to tempt fate. “Are you ready for tonight, Levi?”
Levi scoffs. “I don’t exactly have a choice, do I?”
Her throat is burning.
She’s been trying to ignore the anxiety and paranoia that’s been haunting her the entire day, but she hears her heartbeat in her ears and feels the cold sweat forming on her palms.
Nonetheless, Hange stands at attention and keeps her mouth shut.
Welcome to the palace for the first time, kingdom’s people stand in rapt silence as they watch Levi say his royal pledges. Hange steals a glance towards Erwin, who is standing right beside Levi stiffly. His guards are all over the perimeter, but Hange’s eyes dart from one place to another, almost waiting for something to happen.
He just has to be crowned, Hange thinks to herself, stopping herself from screaming “Hurry up!” as religious leader Nick takes the crown from its velvet cushion and recites the words that would solidify Levi’s reign as king and prove Hange’s dream wrong.
“Rule with justice, wisdom, and mercy, for the good of your people and your country.”
The moment the crown touched Levi’s head—almost as if on cue—a loud crash pierces through the hall, and Hange’s blood runs cold. People began to disperse, their screams echoing across the room. The clerestory window’s glass shards litter the palace floor, and in between it all was a man holding a pistol in the direction of the newly-crowned king.
Commander Erwin is fast to respond: He steps in front of Levi, takes out his revolver, and shoots the intruder, barely missing his shoulder. The man is quick to duck, mockingly shaking his head at Erwin. “I’m sorry commander,” he shouts, and Hange looks up, clenching her fists. “But this is an ambush.”
A group of masked people burst into the room the same way the first intruder came. Hange braced herself as large amounts of gasoline began to rain in the room, drenching the screaming crowd. The doors can’t be opened from the inside, Hange remembers. Erwin’s guards are trying to contain the stampede, and the soldiers assigned to the Council members have already opened the secret passageways to let them escape.
The first intruder laughs maniacally once again, “My name is Kenny the Ripper,” he says as he lights a match. Hange’s eyes widen in horror as she realizes what’s happening.
“No!” she shouts, but it’s too late.
Kenny drops the match on the gasoline-spilled floor. “This is my message to the king.” The flames burst to life, fast and untamed.
“Go, Levi!” Erwin shouts, but Levi has already ripped off his sash and grabbed the gun tucked in his boots, running after Kenny and shooting.
The townspeople are banging on the palace’s big wooden doors, begging to be let out. Hange is quicker this time, squeezing through the crowd and shouting for the guards to let the people use the secret passageways.
Swiftly, Hange pushes open a wall she’s memorized from years of playing with Levi in the castle. “Quickly!” She shouts to the crowd, “In here!”
The stampede is immediate, and Hange pushes herself out of the ruckus.
The room is beginning to smell like smoke, the fire spreading faster than expected. She steals a quick glance at Erwin, who is now fighting Kenny’s men with calculated precision. Hange takes out the pistol tucked underneath her waistcoat, her finger resting lightly over the trigger.
Moblit finds her first, shouting “Hange- san !” in that panicked tone of his. His own gun is already out, and she nods in approval, more than happy to see her precious assistant. Hange grabbed his hand and ducked behind a table, successfully shooting at a masked man who evaded Erwin’s bullet.
“Who are they?” Moblit whispers, and Hange wishes she could answer, but she’s racking her brain for what’s going to happen next, trying to identify the next thing she needs to predict.
“We have to help Erwin,” she says, remembering the number of guards faltering despite outnumbering Kenny’s squad from 10 to 1. Moblit nods hesitantly, but that’s good enough for Hange. “Let’s go!”
She runs towards the flames, swiftly dodging the rampant bullets that Kenny’s men. They were fast, almost rivaling her sudden ability to predict what would happen next.
She’s back-to-back with Moblit in a heartbeat, caught in a barrage of bullets and the familiar fear that the next shot will be her last. She has a spare box of ammo in her pockets but that’s it—after that she’ll have to resort to hand-to-hand combat.
As Hange contemplates her options, Levi finds her again. Just like in her dream. He slides beside her so smoothly she almost jokes about it, but the serious look on his face forces her to keep her mouth shut. He’s talking again, fast, holding onto her arm so tightly she wonders if it’ll break. This time, she tries to make out the words that are leaving Levi’s mouth.
“ Listen to me ,” he hisses, pulling her arm closer to him. “You have to go.”
“Not without you.” Hange shakes her head, again, because she’s not going anywhere. Not when she knows he’s going to die any moment now. She is alert at this point, fully-aware that the bullet that would pierce through Levi’s body would come from behind.
Levi grits his teeth and (at this point, Hange can confirm that he does, in fact, growl) turns to Moblit—that’s when Hange sees it—Kenny shoots his bullet from behind Levi. Instinctively, she throws herself over him and catches the bullet with her chest.
She gets to fall into Levi’s open arms as he screams her name into the fire. As the noise begins to dissipate into a faraway sound, Hange wonders if she’ll get another chance, and if she’ll be able to stomach hearing Levi suffer the way that he did again.
On day 3, Hange is definitely sure that it wasn’t a dream. When Levi enters her room and starts complaining about its state of mess, she figures out that she’s definitely stuck in some sort of time loop.
But as she watches Levi sit on her bed and enjoy the comfortable silence shared by only them, Hange decides that she is not going to let either of them die.
She tries doing things differently. Doesn’t tie her hair into its messy bun. Fights harder for the townspeople to be able to attend Levi’s ceremony because maybe she wasn’t passionate enough.
Warns Erwin to increase the guards. Tells him to secure the perimeter, speaks about possible ambush through the clerestory windows. Commander Erwin, of course, takes her seriously, and stations guards on the roof. Hange pushes Erwin to double check the big palace doors, worried about possible tampering of the very bolts that kept them safe from harm.
Still, the ceremony stays long and droning, and Hange is counting to the exact minute when Kenny is supposed to enter. Unfortunately for her, Kenny is stronger and smarter than she thought, and the bodies of the very guards Erwin sent to secure the roof are sent flying through the glass, crashing into the middle of the hall and starting the stampede immediately.
Hange barely has a moment to breathe as Levi is shot the moment Kenny drops from the ceiling.
On day 13, Hange has tried every formula she can think of. She has tried patrolling the roof herself, has tried holding the coronation in a different part of the palace with more secret passageways. She’s assigned Moblit to help in the evacuation process.
But every single time, Kenny and his squad find a way to burn the place and shoot either her or Levi. With Levi it’s bad, but hearing the animalistic scream he releases when she dies . . . it’s worse.
She wakes with no pain in her body and a deep anger burning deep in her bones, cursed with a knowledge she is forced to carry. This time, however, she changes her strategy.
Levi doesn’t even have the time to knock as Hange opens her door to let him in. He looks at her, a bit stunned and confused, but doesn’t say a word when he enters and sits on her bed.
Hange crosses her hands over her chest. “I don’t think you need a coronation,” she told him bluntly, nodding her head. “It’s a waste of time and resources.”
He scrunches his eyebrows at her. “We’ve already sent out invitations and prepared the banquet.”
“Yes, but the councilors aren’t going to agree with it anyway,” Hange reasons, trying to justify how irrational she sounded right now. “We still have time to cancel everything and just do a private coronation, here. Just you, me, Erwin, the council, the ministers. We don’t have to celebrate everything.”
“In case it slipped your mind,” Levi says slowly, trying to process her words, “I am a prince about to be crowned king. And lawfully, that calls for a coronation.”
Hange’s eye twitched in annoyance. “I know, but don’t you think it’s too dangerous? Your life could be in danger, you could be assassinated! We never know.” She’s waving her hands around frantically because she can’t take much more of seeing Levi die in front of her.
A flash of anger passes Levi’s face. “You’re starting to sound like them,” he snaps, his tone in disbelief. “This isn’t like you, Hange. You were the one that suggested a public coronation. You were the one who–”
He stops then, his eyes narrowing. “You were the one who wanted to honor my mother in this way.”
Hange stills in her tracks, guilt blooming in her heart. “I know, Levi,” she starts, but after thirteen days she’s starting to fear that she’ll lose count of the days and will be forced to live in a cruel world where Levi is shot dead in front of her every single time. “I really understand, but–”
Levi doesn’t even let her finish. His gaze is cold as he glares at her. “Fine,” he tells her, and storms away.
She feels guilt and relief at the same time.
The councilors are happy, of course, and they have their coronation that very night quickly. Hange breathes a satisfied sigh as no windows are broken, no hall set ablaze, no townspeople put in danger, and most importantly–no dead Levi in her arms as she burns.
When Hange goes to his room to bid him goodnight and apologize, the brass of his knob burns her palms instantly. Her heart drops to her stomach as she kicks the door open. The entire room is on fire. On his bed, Levi is shot dead.
Hange drops to her knees and screams until the flames fade to black.
On day 26, Hange decides to tell Levi once and for all.
“Look,” she starts the moment he enters her room. “You are going to die.”
Levi raises an eyebrow at her. “Excuse me?”
“You have to believe me,” she all but begs, taking his hand in between two of her own. “Please, just don’t get crowned king today. Maybe we can move it some other day.”
“Hange, you know what you’re asking is impossible,” Levi says, shaking his head. “We can’t just move the coronation.”
She ignores him and pleads with the council instead. They refuse–the land has been kingless for so long and the people needed the strong prince to look up to. Hange begs Erwin to reconsider, but he can only shake his head and apologize to her under his breath.
On day 30, Hange feels like giving up.
When Levi enters her room that day, she is still in bed.
“Hey, shitty glasses,” he calls to her, gently prodding at her form. “We have a council meeting.”
Hange refuses to stir, wondering if her defiance will yield better results compared to her compliance. The only thing Levi does is run his fingers through her hair gently, patiently expecting a response. His fingers feel comforting after her long days of suffering, and Hange finds herself leaning into his touch, a light sigh of satisfaction escaping her lips.
She opens her eyes then, and forces herself to face him.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, but she shakes her head in response. Carefully, he moves closer towards her, and suddenly she’s hyper aware of the warmth emanating from his body, reminding her that he is very much alive.
“Levi, do you know that I love you?”
The effects of shock and fear are gone at this point, because Hange knows that tomorrow, Levi is going to forget this ever happened, and she will carry the knowledge that he rejected her for the rest of her looping life.
Contrary to what she believed, Levi shrugs offhandedly in response, as if he’s known all this time. “Never questioned it,” he tells her honestly. Hange immediately knows that he misunderstood what she meant.
She then goes about the rest of the day, bracing herself for his fall.
On day 41, Hange decides to try again. This time, she forces herself to wake up earlier than usual, and spends the entirety of her morning recalling events. Hange studies like crazy, memorizing notes she won’t see the next day.
Kenny always drops from clerestory windows, bringing in a team that pours in barrels of gasoline. There are ten people handling about three barrels each, five people with double pistols, five people with revolvers. An elite squad of about twenty people, all working to ambush the coronation night.
They sabotage the castle doors during the coronation. Hange is sure of it because the doors work perfectly during the start of the ceremony but malfunction in the end.
If they position soldiers on the roof, they will lose no matter the number, and Levi is shot dead the moment Kenny crashes in from the window. If Erwin sets up guards outside the perimeter, they are locked out and unable to assist in evacuation efforts.
This time, she doesn’t even dare try to stop Kuchel’s last wish. Levi will be crowned in front of the public.
She tells Erwin to station guards near the clerestory windows from the inside. She personally checks the palace door locks and studies its hinges. She stations most of the guards inside of the hall, making sure that the best soldiers are positioned near Levi.
That night, during the coronation, Hange shoots two people assigned to sabotage the palace doors and opens them the moment she hears Kenny drop from the ceiling. She trusts Moblit and the guards assigned for evacuation. She puts her faith in the guards in the ceiling to stop the gasoline from raining on the hall.
Finally, there is no fire. Erwin and Levi are able to decimate seventeen of Kenny’s squad, somehow able to predict their next moves based on Hange’s analysis.
And then Kenny tells Levi that he’s Kuchel’s brother. The prince’s grip on the intruder loosens ever-so-slightly.
This was not in the plan. Hange screams “don’t listen to him!” because she doesn’t believe it, but she can see the understanding beginning to form in Levi’s eyes. He shifts from confusion to anger, but before he can retaliate, Kenny points his gun towards Hange and shoots her straight on the chest.
Hange curses her luck, thinks I’m close, and then she dies.
On day 42, still reeling from the revelation that Levi’s own uncle is trying to assassinate him, Hange devises her best plan to date. Because Levi still has to find out the ugly truth in this loop, and Hange has to make sure the both of them survive.
When Levi enters her room that day, Hange is still hunched over papers of rewritten notes. He enters right after knocking, since Hange gave no response, his usual greeting dripping from the edge of his tongue.
“Oi, shitty glasses ,” he says, sitting on the edge of her bed. “What in the world are you doing?”
Hange raises her head then, finally noting his presence. “Oh, Levi!” she greets cheerfully. “Good morning. I’m just finalizing some stuff for our meeting later.”
“You’ve said your arguments over and over again for the past few weeks leading up to today,” Levi says pointedly, “What else is there to say?”
Hange shrugs. “You can never be too sure,” she tells him, “You never know what’s going to happen.”
Levi rolls his eyes. “Whatever you say.”
Hange once again finds the silence hovering over both of them. The last time this happened, she had told Levi she loved him, and he had misunderstood her. For a moment, she considered doing it again, but for the first time in all the loops, Levi goes off-script.
“Do you remember when you stood in between me and my father?”
Hange halts. Her arm feels the hit of an invisible whip, the white pain searing into her skin. Slowly, she replies, “Yes, I do.”
“Why did you do that?” he asks.
“Because you were my friend,” Hange responds automatically, “and you still are.” Hange pauses before continuing, testing her words, “a very good friend. You matter so much to me.”
Levi nods in what seems like understanding. His steel grey eyes meet hers, and a breath catches in her throat. “We’ve been through a lot.”
She shifts closer to him. “We have.” When he remains silent, Hange finalizes her decision to try again, smiling softly. “I really do love you, Levi.”
He’s still looking at her, his gaze unreadable. He’s studying her face, trying to detect any dash of mirth, any sign that she was lying to him. When he finds none, he returns her smile with one of his own, a small curve tugging at the edges of his lips.
“How long?” he asks.
“Since forever, maybe,” she laughs sheepishly. “I don’t remember a time when I didn’t.”
Levi puts a hand over her own, raising his other to cup her cheek. “Me too,” he whispers in a voice barely above a whisper, and gives Hange the most gentle kiss.
Hange presses her lips against his, trying to memorize the way his bottom lip prodded hers, how his hand laced through her finger tips–out of fear that this is the only loop where Levi loves her.
When they separate, she puts her hand over his chest, feeling his racing heartbeat. “Stay alive, Levi,” she tells him, almost begging, “Stay alive for me.”
He nudges her forehead with his, gripping her hand on his heart like a lifeline. “I will, Hange. I promise.”
The rest of the day proceeds as usual. Hange’s heart keeps pounding, but she’s not quite sure if it’s because Levi loves her or because she fears that Levi is going to die. It could be both, but Hange pulls herself together and gets through the council meeting she’s attended every day for the past 42 days, guides Erwin’s game plan, takes her clothes from Moblit, and visits Levi again before his coronation.
She adjusts his sash for him like always, and he steals a kiss from her, featherlight and sweet.
“Her Majesty’s going to be very proud of you,” she repeats, because in every loop, Levi deserves to hear it. “Her wish to bring the villages to the palace will finally be fulfilled.”
Levi nods solemnly, but this time, his gaze is on her. Hange places a hand on Levi’s shoulder like always, meeting his gaze with a determined expression and the love she no longer had to hide. “You will be nothing like your father.”
He nods once more, and Hange knows what he’ll say next. “And you’ll stay by my side?”
Hange smiles, because she knows her answer will never change. “Always.”
The coronation proceeds smoothly. This time, Hange kills the two palace door saboteurs thirty seconds too early, and almost opens the palace doors before Kenny could even enter the room. She curses slightly at the idea of a possible misstep, but everything returns back to its original script when Moblit takes charge of the evacuation process.
Erwin and Levi are formidable in combat, and this time, they take out eighteen of Kenny’s squad, barely breaking a sweat. Hange watched as Kenny’s eyes darted from Erwin and Levi to her at the corner, and she raises her pistol–just in case.
Levi grips Kenny’s collar and raises him high in the air, and as Hange predicted, Kenny tells Levi that Kuchel is his sister.
Before Levi’s grip on Kenny’s collar could even loosen, Erwin shoots the intruder’s hand, and as he yowled in pain, Hange shot his leg. To be sure, she also shot his shoulder, making sure to aim away from the chest.
Levi throws his uncle to the ground, confusion and bewilderment on his face. Erwin and his guards are quick to act, immediately taking out handcuffs and seizing Kenny and the last two members of his squad.
Hange falls on her knees.
Everything is almost a blur. Erwin and his men push Kenny and his squad to the dungeons. Moblit returns with a report that all villagers are safe, even though some had minimal injuries from the shards of glass that had fallen when the windows were broken. Levi sits down next to her the whole time, holding her hand and running circles across the back of her palm.
“Hange,” she hears Levi call, but it sounds so far away. Slowly, Hange blinks, trying to ground herself to her surroundings. “Hange,” Levi repeats.
When Hange wakes up the next morning, she decides to not move a muscle.
Curled up next to her is Levi, his hair hanging over his eyes and his face set in the most peaceful of expressions.
She stares at him for what seems like forever, memorizing the sereneness of his face as she listened to the soft hymns of the birds from the sky.
“Levi,” she whispers, dropping her head on his shoulder. Tears started to form in her eyes, and she sobs, finally allowing herself to cry. “It’s over. You’re alive.”