Lara (Long-Fic Levihan | Armin Arlert X OC)

Chapter 2 - A Child?!

It had been about ten minutes since Hange had left the camp.

The sounds of nocturnal animals were already beginning to fill the forest.

"Perfect," Hange said to herself, with a mischievous smile. "Soon, it'll get dark and the Titans will start to get slower. Capturing one will be a piece of cake."

Hange was making as little noise as possible. She walked a few more meters and heard the sound of a branch breaking.

Cautiously, she walked towards the sound.

"It must be just a deer," she thought.

Then, Hange felt something strange under her feet and saw that it was mud. Disgusted, she stepped back. As she took a distance, Hange noticed something.

There was a Titan footprint there. And it was fresh.

By the size of it, the Titan should have about seven meters.

Hange looked around silently. Through the huge trees, she saw some stars appearing in the sky.

"Psst!"

Abruptly, Hange turned around. Did someone call her, saying "psst!"? Or was she just hearing forest noises?

She narrowed her eyes, trying to see through the trees, but it was already starting to get a little dark.

Then, she saw a certain glow, coming from a few meters ahead of her.

Hange froze. There was someone there, by the glow.

"Behind... You..." Hange heard the person say.

She shook her head as if to say she didn't understand and started walking towards the voice.

"Behind you!" the voice exclaimed, on alert.

In a flash, Hange looked back and saw a Titan's hand almost grabbing her, and gave a very loud scream, which startled some birds.

Hange rolled sideways, falling into the mud. Right after, she heard the cry of the person who tried to alert her.

The scream was high-pitched and gave away what kind of person gave it.

"A child?!" exclaimed Hange, her eyes wide open.

Standing up from the mud, Hange started to walk backward, to get some distance and a better view of the situation.

She wasn't believing what her eyes were seeing.

There was a child in front of her, a girl, running like a mouse between the legs of the Titan (who actually had the seven meters that Hange suspected).

She heard her heart pounding in her ears. So many questions came to her mind, but the most important one was:

"What on earth is a kid doing here?!"

That region was not even inhabited anymore, especially after the attack of the Colossal Titan. It was completely impossible to have a human presence there, at least for the past two years, other than the Survey Corps soldiers.

Hange watched the child's quick movements with great astonishment (and, with some trouble to admit it), a certain admiration. The girl's hair color was the same as hers.

Without the use of any device - such as the ODM gear that the Survey Corps used - the girl dodged the Titan, even with some easiness.

Hange noticed that the child was circling between the Titan's legs, tiring it quickly, because it had to avoid the giant trees. Her light and thin legs made her movements very fast compared to the Titan's.