For the One I Love || Hanji x Female Reader

Chapter Nineteen: Lost

[Author's Note]

To celebrate the new year, here's another chapter for my dear readers! Thank you for the constant love and support and I truly wish you guys all the best in the incoming year, 2021 <3 As always, stay safe and warm! Also, I understand that these are trying times, so if ever you need someone to talk to, my inbox is always open <3

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Half an hour has passed after they had arrived at the town center of Dauper, and yet [Y/N] was not in sight. Levi had managed to rescue a young girl, not more than the age of twelve by the looks of it, whom he saw immediately upon their arrival. The young girl had tried to hide inside a house, and it took Levi quite some time to convince the child to come along with him.

"Cadet, where's [Y/N]?" Levi asked Armin, Mikasa, and Eren, who had just arrived from their own rounds.

The three cadets glanced worriedly at each other before Armin answered, "[Y/N] went to follow you a while ago after you left, Captain Levi. We...thought that she'd be with you."

The young girl, who was situated in front of Levi atop the horse, excitedly jumped down and tried to run to one of the houses, before being caught by Sasha. She stared up at the brown-haired cadet, before smiling widely as Sasha began to play with her.

"I rode off as soon as I saw the brat hiding in one of the houses. It would be a pain to lose sight of her so I immediately followed her," Captain Levi explained as he glanced at the child in Sasha's arms, before facing the trio once more, "You haven't seen her since then?"

"We're afraid not, Captain."

_

How is it that even though I have been trying to look for Captain Levi for quite some time now, I could not find him at all? I tried to attribute it to his height to make light of the situation, but internally, I was truly panicking. The sky was beginning to transition from a clear blue to light orange, and I'm pretty sure it's been more than an hour since the group was supposed to meet up.

On top of that, I was starting to get hungry, and all I had were two pieces of bread and a satchel of water that I wanted to save for later, in case things don't work out in my favor.

I rounded another corner of a deserted street, and it was then that my functions stopped altogether - there was a five-meter class titan just up ahead, with its back to me. I could feel the panic rising within my system, and I briefly weighed my options - to alert the others (if they were still here) by using the signal flare but risk alerting the titan as well, or to go back the way I came from and try to escape.

'But if I use the signal flare, it might also alert the others as to where I am,' I thought to myself, thinking of the possible pros and cons of each option.

Checking my supplies briefly, I noted that I only had a round of green signal flare, a red one, and a black one. I had to use them wisely, otherwise, I'm sure I'd get yelled at by Captain Levi for wasting supplies, who, ironically, was the reason I was in this predicament in the first place.

"No use placing the blame at anyone now, at this point I could only blame my poor sense of direction," I muttered softly as I prepared to use the red signal flare to alert the others of the titan. Hopefully, they'd figure out that I was still here as well.

I lifted my arm where I held the flare gun and used my left hand to cover my ear as I fired the red signal flare, and got immediate results - the titan quickly turned to face me, and I felt my knees weaken as I realized that I misjudged the situation.

It was an aberrant titan, and it began to run in my direction, with its short arms flailing on its side uselessly - or maybe the titan used it for balance; at this point, I only cared about surviving the day.