Titans Rule, a Levi Ackerman x Fem OC story.

(21) A place to belong.

~Amelia~

When Levi didn't turn up for dinner, I knew that I had to put off my plan until the next day. He could try to avoid me all he wanted, but it was his job to stay at my side, so he'd have to face me eventually.

With my evening suddenly freed up, I decided to visit Hange. I hadn't been able to see Furlan the whole time they had been gone since they were the ones in charge of him. So, instead of scouring the Scouts trying to find the man who was avoiding me, I went to find Hange.

At dinner, I'd found Moblit, Hange's right-hand man, and asked him where they'd be. He told me they'd been hauled up in the lab conducting experiments all day. He said that with their absence at dinner, I was guaranteed to find them there. In fact, he gave me some food to go and give to them. When Hange was focused on something, it became their whole world, which meant ignoring normal bodily functions.

Arriving at the door to Hange's lab, I knocked loudly on the door so that they'd hear me and waited. "Come in," they shouted.

When I opened the door, I was taken aback by the chaotic nature of the room. Papers and books were strewn everywhere, a ripe smell of chemicals was in the air, and Hange was fluttering around their chemistry set-up like a moth to light.

"Moblit, just put my food down there, thanks. I'll eat it in a minute. I have one more thing I must test first." Hange hadn't turned around to see that it was, in fact, me and not Moblit bringing them food. Moblit was in his room, having a well-deserved rest from them.

I placed the food down on the only bit of empty space I could find, the fork falling to the ground with a loud clanging noise as I did. Damn my clumsiness. However, this sudden noise got Hange's attention, who gave me a muddled look as they realised I wasn't the person they expected to see.

"Hi, Hange," I greeted them nervously, afraid they might get angry at me because of the disturbance.

"Hello, Amelia. I wasn't expecting a visit from you today. Shouldn't you be with Levi? You're usually joined together at the hip," they announced, returning to what they were doing.

"Well, it is his job to do that. But, no, he isn't here with me. He's avoiding me over a little misunderstanding we're having," I started to rant to them, taking a nearby stool and sitting down with a sigh.

Hange nodded their head disapprovingly. "I did notice some tension between you and Levi earlier. Levi is one who avoids things and isolates himself when he gets upset. He'll come around in a few days. He always does when we argue. It's probably best to just leave him alone for now."

"I see," I replied with a heavy sigh. With Levi's background, I can't say that I'm surprised that he deals with things alone. "Anyway, I didn't just come here to chat. I wanted to ask you about my Titan."

That stopped Hange in their tracks. "I can take you to visit them if you like. I have some samples that I'd like to collect from them. Could you ask permission for me?" they asked excitedly, collecting their things into a leather satchel to bring with them.

"That's great! I'm sure that he wouldn't mind cooperating with you." I got up from my seat, a sudden burst of energy taking over my body. It'd been so long since I'd been able to see Furlan. I was nervous to see him again. I hoped he hadn't been too lonely in the new place he'd been moved to.

With a satchel brimming with various scientific equipment, Hange was ready to depart. "Before we can proceed, we need to go get some horses. It's a bit of a trek from here."

--------------

Hange hadn't been lying when they said where Furlan was staying was far away. We'd been riding for a while now. My thighs were sore and aching as I was not used to riding horses at all. I'd braved getting on my own horse, too embarrassed to say anything to Hange about my fear of them. As a result, I've been on edge the whole time. The horse had probably sensed my anxiety and wasn't behaving in the slightest. We had to stop a few times along the way to get it back in check.