A Promise (An Attack on Titan Fanfic: Erwin Smith)

Suspicions and Guesses

Following the plugging of the breach, it took another whole day for the military to sweep Trost district completely clean from the titans that had crawled inside; and, to Hanji's delight, they had even managed to capture two titans for her experiment project.

"Really?" Isanna asked with a dead voice as she regarded the brunette with crossed arms and a bored look. "You had to name it Sawney and Bean?"

"Naming one's experimental variables is a must!" Hanji defended.

"And who said so?"

"Me!"

Isanna shook her head. No wonder Hanji had wanted to name Lauren; she was probably preparing herself for the day she could name her captured titans—which had finally come true.

The two girls were at the barracks of their headquarters in the southern city of Wall Rose. It was the second day after the plugging of Trost, and the satisfaction of humanity's first triumph over the titans had seemingly dissipated into thin air because of the amount of corpses that littered all over Trost; it was the price in exchange for their victory. 

"You wanna go with me to Trost and—"

"No thank you," Isanna swiftly cut her off, knowing that Hanji was going to invite her to her titan-experimenting shenanigans, and she knew full well that once she accepted the offer, there was going to be no way out of it, "I still have to meet with mister bushy brows over something."

The way she literally spat the nickname in a disgusted tone did not go unnoticed by the brunette. "How long are you guys going to keep on giving each other the cold shoulder?" She shook her head at her friend. "It's been four years!"

Isanna averted her gaze, brows pulled together in a deep frown. "He's not the same Erwin anymore. I already accepted that."

"Still, don't you think you guys should patch it up or something at least?" Four years had already passed since Hanji last saw the two in a casual friendly conversation, and she wasn't the only one who was uncomfortable watching the cold air between them. "You guys can't keep on going like this forever."

Isanna scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "Well, I'm not going to be the one to apologize, that's for sure."

"Do you still like him?"

She glared at Hanji. What did that had anything to do with this? "Whether I like him or not doesn't mean I have to suck up to him just to gain back his favor. Regardless of his decision back then—" she paused at the memory four years ago and coiled her fist— "he was still a heartless dick. And if he keeps on holding on to his stupid pride as a Commander or whatever reason that turned him into the jerk that he is now, then I'd rather die than beg for us to go back to the way things were."

At her rant, Hanji decided to keep her mouth shut as she watched how Isanna was glaring intently at the floor, as if it had done something so abominable that offended her so much. However, despite the furious look in her eyes, Hanji could see a different kind of emotion in them: pain. Even though both her and Erwin hadn't been talking much aside through work for the past years, it was obvious that neither of them wanted this. 

Ugh. You guys should just make up and kiss each other already. Hanji internally groaned with a mute sigh. 

After bidding her farewell, Isanna stood up and was about to exited Hanji's quarters when her eyes laid its sights on a heading of bolded letters, piquing her interest as she read it. It was a wrinkled newspaper, mixed with a cluster of other reading materials. Hanji's room was as organized as her train of thoughts while immersed in titan experiments; books and files were messily strewn around the bed, floor, and basically every surface there was in the room. Isanna was a hundred percent sure Levi would have a heart attack if he'd ever step foot in Hanji's room.