Hange Zoe Short Story Collection

Yellow (Part 4)

"Your skin...oh yeah, your skin and bones...turn into something beautiful..."

A few days later, when the events from the collapse of the wall had died down due to Eren being able to move the boulder using his titan form, (Y/N) found herself lying in bed and staring at the ceiling. Luckily, the wall collapse hadn't been as bad this time...it had been wrapped up before even more lives could have been lost. Now, all that the survey corps had to do was clean up the area and kill off all the titans that had gotten through the hole. Most of the scouts found themselves busy with Trost's reconquest, but (Y/N) found herself holed up in her room again.

The guilt of not been good enough consumed her. What if Hange hadn't come on time? What if the girl had died because of the titan? The two boys she had been ushering to safety would have lived with the trauma of losing their oldest sister for the rest of their lives. They would have hated (Y/N). She closed her eyes, but even with them clamped close, all she could hear was the terrified screams.

She should have moved. She should have killed that titan while leading the kids to safety. She was perfectly capable of doing that. (Y/N) rubbed her eyes furiously. She had joined the survey corps to help people, to make sure that her story wouldn't repeat itself...but it almost had. If it hadn't been for Hange, it would have repeated right in front of her eyes.

Her stupid fear of titans, her stupid petrification, almost cost a young girl's life. A light rap to her door made her sit up, eyeing the door warily. "Yes?"

A cadet she wasn't familiar with entered the room, staring at her stoically. "Section Commander Hange is requesting your presence in their lab, stat."

(Y/N) nodded and hopped off her bed, straightening her uniform. She had been lying in bed for an hour, being tortured at the hands of her memory. It was ironic how the harshest insults she faced came from her own brain. She trudged down the hallway, her shoulders drooping slightly. How was she going to face Hange? She was as good as a deserter.

"(Y/N)!" Hange had been waiting near the door and ushered her in quickly the second they had seen her.

"Section Commander," (Y/N) nodded her greeting, keeping her eyes trained on the floor.

"I need your help on one of my biggest experiments yet," Hange gushed, their eyes glittering with excitement. "During the reconquest of Trost, we have been able to capture two titans for experimentations! I named them Sawney and Bean! I want you to come meet them...after all, we're both going to be spending a lot of time studying them!"

(Y/N) stiffened, her breath catching in her throat. Hange wanted her to experiment on the titans? But she was terrified of them, she would quiver seeing them from a distance, how was she going to study them up close? Hange looked at her expectantly, waiting for her reaction.

"Is...Do I...Okay, Section Commander," (Y/N) choked out, her normal demeanor wavering. She had intended on protesting,

"I knew it," Hange mumbled as they peered at (Y/N)'s face. "You're afraid of titans, aren't you?"

"Huh?" (Y/N) asked, growing panicked.

"The second I mentioned studying titans, you grew sweaty, your eyes widened, you looked like you've seen a ghost...and a few days ago, you were literally frozen when you had encountered that titan, right? That led me to conclude that you have quite a big fear of titans," Hange hummed, walking over to grab one of their notebooks.

(Y/N) stared at them, wondering how they could just say all of that so casually. Hange was currently jotting something in the notebook. She didn't know what to say, she didn't know what to do...what was she supposed to respond in a situation like that?