6 Prologue

(Three years ago after the fall of Wall Maria.)

Gohan combed the entirety of the forest wishing to find a sign of his friends. He would even give Vegeta a hug if he found him. He used all the senses he had to further his search. But he found no one, no Vegeta, no Mr Piccolo , no Krillin, no Yamcha, no Tien, nor even Mr Satan and his reporters.

The Demi-Sayian frowned when he took a better look at the forest where Dr Jeager had found him. This was definitely not the place where he had fought Cell. The landscapes were different from where the Cell Game had taken place. He remembered there had been plateaus where he and the Z Fighters had stood and watched his father fighting Cell and later Gohan himself fighting Cell. And he saw no plateaus or at least a hill or any high ground here.

Whatever the green sludge from Cell was, it had sent him somewhere further away from the Cell Games. He came here to find an answer, only to come up with more questions. He got back up on the horse the Garrison soldier gave him and strode off. He needed more clues. He needed to look elsewhere.

The horse was galloping across the field while Gohan was thinking hard with his brilliant mind. 'I don't recall anywhere on Earth that has man-eating Giants around. With all the media in world a populated place like this would be disclosed to the world in no time.' His chain of thought came to a pause when he saw a cottage in front of him. His horse slowed its pace as they came nearer to the house, he observed the house, he recognized the old structure of the house. The roof, the wall, the design and the cabbage garden outside shared the same style of architecture of the houses he saw in Shiganshina. 'My house was old in design, but it is not as old as these ones.' He studied the house in detail.

'The lack of media, the antique architectures, the out-dated technologies, their history. What should I conclude about this? ' Gohan then dismounted from his horse, to which he took a good look at. He was covered in all white from head to tail, reminding him of the color of clouds. "What should I call you? I never had a horse before. I did have a pet dragon though, I called him Icarus. Didn't know what happened to him. May I call you Icarus?"

The horse pinned its ears back, a sign of distaste to the name, something Gohan picked up on. "So, you don't like that name huh." Gohan scratched his head for a moment, he recalled the Flying Nimbus his father used to ride. Though the cloud was yellow instead of white, Gohan knew the name would fit the horse. "Nimbus, How about Nimbus? Will that do?" Then the horse nudged his head to Gohan in agreement. "Ha-ha-ha! You like that, don't you?" Gohan stroked the stallion's mane as Nimbus snorted. "Can you wait here for me Nimbus?"

Gohan turned to the cottage, he walked up to the wooden door and slowly pushed it open. He peered into the cottage, the interior looked rather cozy. There was a kitchen, some shelves and cupboards ,the tables and the bedrooms were positioned differently. It looked as if the people who had been living here had left in a hurry, only a few cupboards, drawers ,shelves were opened. They had probably only taken the things they needed the most with them.

Gohan looked around the cottage to see if he could find some supplies and ration up some food. He found some clothes that were too small or too big for him, he did keep the big clothes in case he needed them in the future, especially when winter comes around. Gohan then noticed a chest in the kitchen, he went over to it in hopes there was food and luckily for him there was. When he opened the chest he found some deer jerky, apples and two wheels of cheese. Gohan smiled with glee as he grabbed a nearby burlap sack and started stuffing the bag with the contents of the chest.

Once the Demi-Sayian felt satisfied with his findings he was about to leave, but he stopped when he noticed a musket rifle hanging above the fireplace Gohan studied it with curiosity, it looked exactly like the ones in his history books Gohan grabbed a nearby stool and placed it in front of the fireplace, he stood on top of the stool and got the rifle down. He never used a gun before, for someone like him there was never the need to, but it could come handy for hunting. Gohan also saw Buffalo power horn with a leather strap and some musket bullets, he took those as well.

The Demi-Sayian felt bad for ransacking the house what if the people came back. What would his mother say. My little Gohan has turned into a delinquent. The moment he thought of his mother a frown appeared on his face, he missed her, he missed everyone he just prays that their alright. Gohan left the cottage feeling gloomy.

Walking back outside to his horse. "Hey boy did you miss me?" The horse nudged Gohan in excitement. "Heh-heh you must be hungry." Gohan reached into his bag of food and grabbed an apple and held in front of his horse. The horse sniffed it for apple for a second and then took one bite and then eating the apple whole. Gohan rubbed the stallion's mane before mounting on top of it. "Now lets find somewhere to sleep."

…

(One year later)

It was the late afternoon in the fallen walls of Maria. It was the end of the month and the full moon could be seen in late afternoon…Ascending In the sky was a cloud of smoke. Small and purple in colour, the object flew up into the air with a slight arc to the left, a signal flare.

HANJI! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

"I'M SO SORRY MOBLIT!" was 'Hanji's' response to her fellow soldier as she practically snapped her neck whilst turning to look at the man in question, feeling a little bad about making her assistant panic once more, though she turned her head to keep her eyes on the path ahead of them before she could say much else, swinging her head violently to the side that she nearly slapped her assistant in the cheek with her long, dark brown hair.

"C-Captain Hanji!" exclaimed Moblit as soon as they continued on, ignoring how he nearly got slapped on the cheek by his Captain's ponytail all the while. The woman in question turned to stare at him, her expression rather calm, minus a handful of twitches, prompting the man to continue on with his horrified rambling. "W-Why did you have to do that?!"

Hanji's response was to give a sheepish smile as she turned away from Moblit to hopefully hide her embarrassment, not knowing how to answer her assistant's question. In truth, Hanji herself didn't know why she did something so idiotic either.

In an attempt to distract herself from that thought, Hanji turned her head around to see how far their pursuers were from them, only to widen her eyes behind her goggles/glasses and turn back around when she realized that they were less than forty metres away from their slowest running horses. Said pursuers were a handful of massive titans that ranged from three to fifteen metres in height.

Despite having existed for as long as mankind, not much was known of these beasts, and several of the survivors within mankind took it upon themselves to resolve this issue. Hanji Zoe of the Survey Corps was among these handful of people, and arguably she was the most successful, with her name usually being the first thing to come to mind when speaking of Titan research, not that it was much of an achievement.

Hanji's drive to learn more about the Titans was, however, rather worrying. Though she could control herself rather well, she wasn't perfect, and as such, she tended to get a little out of hand from time to time. And now was one of those times, as Hanji was more or less the woman who had begun this whole chase to begin with!

Having spotted a rather sizable pack of Titans not too long ago, Hanji thought it would be nice to have a closer look at them, and with no small amount of convincing, she got permission to lead a small portion of their team to have a 'closer look'. Of course, it didn't really end well, as Hanji was spotted almost immediately, prompting the entire team to be chased by a pack of fifteen Titans.

That horrible decision, courtesy of Hanji, resulted in three members of their team being killed, though there wasn't any time to mourn or feel bad for them as the remaining members of the team fled the immediate area, though as a result they unwittingly brought the entire pack of Titans towards their main squadron.

And all that led to the present, with Hanji opening her mouth to offer a response to Moblit, though before she could do so, a new voice could be heard.

"Don't cause a ruckus, you two," said a calm, almost emotionless voice which made both Hanji and Moblit turn to face its owner. Moblit, who was closer to the newcomer, turned and looked down a little and looked a familiar short man in the eye, and in spite of their difference in height, the mere sight of the midget was enough to make him shudder a little.

"C-Captain Levi Ackerman," greeted Moblit shakily as the team captain eyed him down… or up. Rather unfortunately, Levi Ackerman was a short man. His height would've been impressive… if he were a child. For a grown man, however, it was… almost impressive, honestly, as he stood shorter than even most teens. If it weren't for his reputation as being among the best Titan-slayers of the Survey Corps, Hanji doubted that anyone would take him seriously.

"Focus on getting away for now. Leave the bickering for if we survive this," commanded Levi after he stopped staring at Moblit and shot Hanji a cold glare. In response, Hanji simply chuckled nervously and scratched her cheek, prompting Levi to roll his eyes and divert his attention back to the front. Quickly, he got his horse to pick up the pace, and within seconds, it brought him up to the front of the group, right next to group's commander, leaving Hanji and Moblit behind.

"Erwin," greeted Levi, glancing over at his blonde superior as Erwin Smith kept his attention on the path ahead of him, though upon hearing his subordinate's voice, the commander in question turned and faced the shorter man. It wasn't really easy to make out, but Erwin could tell that Levi was not as calm as his expression would lead one to believe, as evident by the subtle twitch in his eyebrows and the somewhat more intense frown which was plastered on his face, though he didn't voice either observation out as he simply listened. "What's the plan?"

That question nearly made Erwin give a dry chuckle, one that was caused more by built up fear than any sort of humor. He didn't really want to admit it, but he had no proper plan at the moment. It wasn't exactly his fault, however, as it was rather hard to think of a plan when their lives were at stake. Still, he kept his expression neutral, even if Levi could tell that he was panicking a tad as well, and replied.

"Our best option is to either outrun them…" started Erwin, and his tone suggested that the option was pretty much crossed off the list as the Titans were closing the gap between them and his group with every passing second. "...or hope for someone to spot the flare and assist us from behind. Either that or we can stand our ground… and slowly be overwhelmed and consumed."

"I'm willing to put some hope on the second option," said Levi, and while it would have sounded sarcastic when said by someone else, it somehow seemed entirely serious when it came out of Levi's mouth. "Let's just focus on stretching out option one for now."

"Agreed," replied Erwin as they pressed on as quickly as their horses could carry them, hoping beyond hope that they would be able to get out of this situation with minimal casualties. But hope and the legs of their horses could only get them so far, and it didn't take long for the first Survey Corp to yell out in fear as he was scooped up into the air by a Titan. Whirling around but not stopping for even a second, a handful of the remaining soldiers gasped in horror as they saw one of their comrades, a man with brown hair tied into a short ponytail, got scooped up into the air by an eleven metre classed Titan.

"Sys!" exclaimed one of the soldiers, a Junior Survey Corp, before he slowed his horse down with every intention of turning back to try and save his Senior out of instinct. Before he could get too far, however, another Senior soldier managed to hold him back and shove him back on course. "Let me go! We can't just-"

"Shut it, rookie!" proclaimed the Senior who held him back, but despite his voice sounding just as hard as iron, there were hints of regret in his tone as he pushed the junior back on track. Diverting his gaze upwards, the Junior forced himself to look his Senior in the eye as he opened his mouth to retort, only to pause when he saw that the soldier was visibly holding back tears as he did his best to block out the horrified screams of his comrade. "Sys… Luke Sys is as good as dead! We can't save him, not with the odds stacked so heavily against us…"

Despite the heavy amount of guilt he felt at leaving Luke Sysbehind for dead, the Junior soldier reluctantly agreed to those terms. Even so, he still couldn't help but give one last saddened glance behind him, one final look at Sys as a Titan grabbed off the ground and raised him up to eye level. The junior shed a few tears, but he tried to keep them to a minimum. There would be enough time to mourn for the dead after the Expedition, and to die now would make Sys' unwilling sacrifice be for nothing.

However, while the junior was busy keeping his emotions in check, Hanji felt her ears unconsciously perked up just a bit, and before long, the woman began hearing something prompting her to close her eyes and tilted her head upwards, doing her best to try and listen to it more clearly. She's been on enough expeditions outside the Walls to remember most of the common sounds, and as such, this new noise was distinct enough to catch her attention, so much so that, beside her, Moblit took notice.

"Captain...?" he muttered, turning to Hanji, who opened her eyes and looked straight back at him with a curious gaze.

"Do you… hear that?" asked Hanji, her voice hushed as her ears perked up. Moblit tried to ignore the Titans behind him which were most likely tearing Sys apart as he tried to listen in to what Hanji was talking about. And what he heard was subtle at first, but extremely noticeable after less then a second. Opening his mouth, the man was about to ask what Hanji thought it was before a loud boom could be heard behind their formation.

Turning around at their torsos, the small group of soldiers barely caught a glimpse of giant and furry land behind their formation, flattening a Titan in the process, before they were greeted by a powerful shockwave of dust and dirt which was strong enough to send both them and their horses flying into the air.

While a majority of their horses landed relatively safely, the Survey Corps landed a little more harshly, either rolling on the ground to reduce the impact, landing on their asses or just falling on their backs. A handful of them were able to land on their two feet, however, and despite none of them suffering any fatal injuries from the fall, it still shook the Survey Corps up quite a lot, leaving them disoriented. Even Levi and Erwin were ruffled up by that sudden impact. The one who seemed the least affected was Hanji, surprisingly enough, who quickly recovered from the fall with a shake of her head and turned it upwards to get a good look at what 'saved' them.

It took awhile for it to be visible thanks to the amount of dust and dirt that it had kicked up upon impact with the pack of Titans, but once it had cleared, Hanji, along with several other Survey Corps who had their eyes on the thing, widened them when they saw what it was.

It was nearly twenty-five feet, standing on top of the smushed Titan it had crashed into. While hard to make out in the darkness, Hanji could tell very clearly that it was some form of Titan, one which seemed to be leisurely stomping towards them with what seemed to a a giant, monkey-like creature with blood red eyes that glowed. Standing at 20 metres or larger, which was unheard of in Titan history. But those other features seemed almost trivial when compared to one major difference between this… thing and the Titans, and that was it's physical appearance.

For one, unlike every other Titan documented by the Military Brigade, this one appeared to be almost entirely ape-like in appearance. The mere sight of this new…beast was more than enough to make them panic. If anything, only Hanji appeared unphased by its approach, as she gave a smile so bright it could've created an entirely new star if given the chance. Hell, even Levi and Erwin were both stunned into silence upon seeing this thing, and Moblit wasn't even trying to pull Hanji away at this point.

So much so that Hanji didn't even realize that the 'Titan' had completely ignored them as it leaped straight over their heads. If anything, Hanji had only realized that it passed them when she, alongside several other Survey Corps, were hit by the aftershock created by the 'Titan's' legs when it jumped straight past their heads.

Hanji, alongside several others who were resilient enough, was able to keep herself on her feet while most of her fellow teammates were blown straight off the ground, reflexively closing her eyes as the dirt came flying towards them. Coughing a little thanks to the dust, Hanji opened her eyes and wiped some dirt off the lense of her glasses/goggles just in time to hear something slam into something fleshy.

And as soon as she cleared the dirt off her lenses, Hanji saw that the new 'Titan' had just rammed straight into the Eleven metre Titan holding onto Luke Sys with its shoulder.

The impact didn't just make it release Sys, however. No, the shoulder tackle had completely caved in the torso of the Eleven metre Titan, something that made Hanji, alongside several others, give out an audible gasp as they watched the Titan jump backwards. As for Sys, he was flung up rather high into the air and landed with an uncomfortable thud. The soldier was still alive, though he was definitely injured. Despite their worry for him, however, none of his allies dared to approach him thanks to how close he was to the action.

As for the new 'Titan', it paid no attention to either Sys or his comrades. Instead, it focused primarily on the other Titans that were before it, with it stepping back a little, with one of its feet inching closer to Sys than he would've liked, as it fell into an apparent offensive stance.

Not long after Sys hit the ground, he struggled to get back onto his feet. Just as he was about to do so, however, the injured soldier widened his eyes and leapt backwards just in time to avoid getting crushed by the heel of the 'Titan' that had just saved him. With his mouth agape, the soldier hobbled up to his feet and limped away from the action, and once he was far enough away, a pair of soldiers rushed over to assist him.

"You alright, Sys?" inquired one of the two as they got him back into their group. Sys wasn't exactly fine, but he'd live. Unfortunately he didn't have the strength to clarify that at the moment, so he just gave a nod. "Great, now-"

And before he could even finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a loud strike. Widening their eyes, the trio reflexively turned backs towards the pack of Titans, and their eyes only widened further when they saw the new furry monstrous thing holding a Fifteen metre Titan up to eye level.

The Fifteen metre Titan was held up in the Great ape Titan's left hand, the ape's hand wrapped around the Titan's neck rather loosely. Despite this, it wasn't able to break free from its grip despite struggling furiously, though Hanji did notice how the Titan was grabbing at the ape's furry chest more so than anywhere else as it struggled.

For a brief moment, the 'Titan' simply stared its smaller and fleshy counterpart in its hand, with the awestruck soldiers staring at it in complete awe. Not long after, however, the soldiers noticed another Titan charging at the ape. At first, they thought the ape-like titan wouldn't notice, but right at the last second, it turned its head towards the approaching Ten Metre so quickly that the soldiers thought that they were seeing things.

Before they could even blink, however, the great ape shifted its arm to the side and, with a quick swing of its muscular arm, threw the Fifteen metre towards the encroaching Ten metre, and on impact, the two Titans exploded in a messy heap of gore before flying back. Before they could even hit the ground, however, the ape turned towards an approaching Nine metre and, with a swing of its right arm, the ape bashed the Titan into the ground with one single hit.

'Such power…' was the only thing that ran through Hanji's mind as the Ape looked at its bloodied fist, it then shifted its attention to a incoming Fourteen meter, drawing back its fist it struck the incoming Fourteen metre in the jaw. On impact, the Fourteen metre's entire jaw promptly caved in on itself, and the Titan was sent flying up into the air. As it landed, the great ape Titan punched straight through the mouth of a charging Eleven metre.

Levi and Erwin were both rather puzzled by the current turn of events, though their fear of the new 'Titan' was enough to keep them at bay, and when the Great ape titan had grabbed the Eleven meter by both legs, in turn ripping the Eleven metre in half from crotch to throat, the latter noticeably winced while the former twitched a little. On the other hand, however, Hanji had no such concerns as she was the one who was closest to the newcomer, her eyes wide with wonder as she watched it wipe the floor with the remaining Titans.

Every strike from this 'Titan' was precise and each blow was delivered with so much strength that nearly nothing remained after it was struck by it. A Five metre attempted to get the jump on the Great ape, only to be snatched out of the air and pinned against the ground. It struggled a little under the Great ape's grip, only to stop when the Great ape crushed the Titan's skull with enough force to send some of the Titan's blood flying out of the wound and smearing it against its snarling face.

"Amazing…" was all Hanji could cough out as she watched with a hand over her mouth and stars in her eyes, not acknowledging how the foot of this new 'Titan' had come very close to stomping her into the ground. Hell, her smile only widened further when the 'Titan's' foot came within several inches away from where she stood, and it was safe to say that she was so engrossed in looking at the thing that she didn't acknowledge how Moblit was approaching her until a ripped off Titan arm flew past Hanji and caused him to scream out in terror. "Oh! Moblit?"

"C-Captain, we have to-" began Moblit, only to pause mid sentence when they were hit with a massive amount of dust, causing them to shift their arms briefly to shield themselves from the dust before they lowered them and saw that the 'Titan' had boulders towards a trio of Titans, swiftly reducing the three Titans into nothing more than a dark red mist, causing Hanji to squeal a little as she saw the shear strength of the Great ape.

"Isn't it amazing, Moblit?!" proclaimed Hanji, spreading her arms in front of her as she witnessed the carnage that was created by the 'Titan'. Behind her, Hanji's colleagues stared at her as though she was crazy, which probably wasn't completely baseless, but the bespectacled woman paid them no mind as she watched the 'Titan' hammer down a Five metre with its fist. "This… Titan, is the first confirmed one that attacks other Titans! One that is completely ape-like in appearance as well! This is a serious piece of information, Moblit! We need to document it!"

"C-Captain!" continued Moblit, doing his best to cut his superior off and ignore the 'Titan' in the background as it ripped the arm off a Fifteen metre and began smacking it with the severed limb, in turn causing it to drop onto its back, before it brought its foot down onto its head, inadvertently killing it as the soldiers winced just a little. "We have to retreat, now!"

"And miss the chance to document more about this previously unseen Titan?!" challenged Hanji as she turned her back towards the 'Titan' in question and held Moblit by the shoulders. While she shook the young man in an effort to get her point across to him, she failed to notice the Thirteen metre Titan that lunged at her. Moblit let out a scream as soon as he saw it.

And suddenly, its lunge was interrupted when the Great ape clamped it's jaws around the Thirteen metre and chomped the Titan's head off it and inadvertently saving the two soldiers in the process. Hanji was blissfully oblivious to the entire ordeal, however, as she continued babbling at Moblit, who was still recovering from the shock as he struggled to keep himself together.

"WE CAN'T MISS THIS CHANCE TO DOCUMENT A NEW SUBSPECIES OF TITAN, MOBLIT! WE CA-"

A sharp smack on the head was enough to snap her out of it, and Hanji rubbed her sore head as she inadvertently releasing Moblit's shoulders before she turned towards her aggressor, with said aggressor being unsurprisingly Levi, who was wiping the back of his hand with his ascot as he glared at her and spoke.

"Hanji, shut up, we're leaving," commanded Levi, short and simple with his tone sharp and his gaze much sharper. Hanji was reluctant to agree, but in the end, she gave a sigh, knowing that if she didn't comply, she'd be knocked out cold by the shorter man and dragged all the way back to the walls. And when she woke up, she'd start to question if she had imagined the entire 'Titan' thing out of stress! And she couldn't have that!

"Fine," whined Hanji in defeat as she ran off to mount her horse, with Moblit having to ride alongside her thanks to the fact that his stallion suffered quite a hard landing. Still, she did spare the 'Great ape one final glance before they departed, and she was able to see the 'Titan' deliver one final blow to the last of the Fifteen Titans while. The Great ape lifted it's head up to the sky a let out a mighty roar that caused all soldiers, even Levi to cover their ears in pain.

As the Great ape finished it's bellowing, Hanji, alongside several others who kept their gaze on the 'Titan' as they retreated felt a shiver go up their spines when it turned its head to stare back at them. Its bright red eyes were cold enough to make even Levi wince, though before long, they found themselves tearing their gazes off the 'Titan' as they refocused on retreating back to Wall Rose.

…

(Two days later after the expedition of)

Hanji Zoe's room was, in short, a mess. More often than not, her room would be chock full of stacks upon stacks of paper that littered the place's floor in a very, very untidy manner. Hanji would usually try her utmost best to keep it as neat as possible, though to little effect as it ended up turning back into what one would consider to be a paper wasteland within an hour or two.

As for furniture, her room had a bed which was pretty much always unmade, with her pillow always on the floor every time Hanji woke up from her sleep and her blanket would always be in tangles, more often than not with Hanji herself being entangled within it. Of course, this was whenever she slept on her bed as she had a penchant for sleeping by her desk. And there was a very obvious hole in her pillow which was hastily stitched back together.

Hanji also had, as stated above, a desk which was right next to her bed. And, as expected, her desk was as messy as the rest of her room, perhaps even more so ! It was, and this is someone being generous, at least a little more tidy than their floor, though that was only because Hanji had tried to keep the almost uncountable pieces of paper on the thing neat, often to little success, but it was a good effort nonetheless.

There were at least three corkboards which hung on the walls of her room. Keith had given them to Hanji at Levi's request to try and lessen the mess in the woman's room. It didn't exactly work as, within the week, the corkboards were completely filled to the brim with theories and other stuff Hanji felt like sticking onto it. And it didn't take much more than two days for the room to be messed up by paper, again. The same happened even after she was given the other two corkboards. After she had used up all the space on the third, Keith and Levi gave up on trying to help her keep her room clean and just made sure to stay well away from it to avoid catching whatever potentially dangerous diseases which were likely floating around in there. The same applied to everyone who wished to stay healthy.

Hanji also had a decently sized closet at the corner of her room, though half of the closet held papers while the other half held her Survey Corp uniforms and other outfits she kept for casual use.

Many plans had been made to clean the room by Levi, but he had neither the time, the inclination nor even the courage to step into the room to do so.

Most of the time, when Hanji returned from an expedition, and after the (usually) two hour debrief, she would immediately drop down on her bed to rest and to begin her mental planning for their next trip out into the outside world, trying to figure out ways to lessen the casualties and perhaps tweak their formation for a better and safer expedition, with a few minutes of sulking between the two. It was routine for her to stay inside for many, many hours, sometimes missing her lunch/dinner breaks intentionally just to get a few more hours of planning/rest/sulking in.

Today, however, she did neither of the three. Instead, right after she entered her room after the debriefing, she immediately slammed the door behind her, sending a few pieces of paper flying up into the air ever so slightly as she marched over to her desk. As soon as she was in front of it, she pushed the stacks of paper which were piled on top of it straight off without a second thought, creating a loud boom when they hit the floor, and the resulting shockwave sending those which were already on the floor flying, but Hanji ignored that as she fumbled for a blank piece of paper.

The thump which the impact created made several Corps stare at her closed door, wondering if she had broken something again, but they quickly retreated back into their respective dorms when they heard another boom and Hanji cursing with her usual slang, a slang she used when she was in a good mood, suggesting to some that she was, for perhaps the first time in a long time, not depressed, an admittedly pleasant surprise to most who knew her well. The only soldier who stayed outside her dorm was Moblit, who was, as usual, worried that Hanji had finally given into the stress and snapped.

Back with Hanji, it took her a few moments to find a handful of semi-blank pieces of paper that weren't completely scribbled over with chicken scratch which spoke of her theories regarding the Titans. Without much hesitation, Hanji slapped the semi-blank pieces of paper onto her desk, causing a loud thud to be emitted as several hundred particles of dust were ejected up into the air. After a quick sneeze, Hanji dug the best pencil she had out of her drawer, and after taking in a deep breath, she began drawing/sketching something on her first piece of paper.

It was an image of that 'Titan' which her group had discovered a ago. Sure, it was crudely drawn and extremely misshapen, with non-existent proportions and strange details which she had added to areas which were not visible to them in the night sky, but it did somewhat resemble the real thing (for the most part). As soon as the doodle was complete, Hanji wasted no time in writing down her theories regarding the 'Titan' on the second piece of paper.

Her first theory was also her most pressing concern, how was that Titan intelligent use boulders as weapons. Abnormals were a special case, but she hasn't seen any Titan, Abnormal or not, use anything in its surroundings as a weapon before. Even the history books which were presumably accurate had never spoke of such an occurrence in the past.

Other theories she wished to look deeper into in the future included the height of the 'Titan'. Even if it was dark, Hanji, alongside most of her comrades, could quite easily tell that the 'Titan' towered over even the Fifteen metre class Titans. Hanji tallied it at about Nineteen metres, a detail she wrote down on the bottom corner of the paper. The ape-like appearance was also a matter she wished to look into, as was the fact that this 'Titan' was capable of at least some level of intelligent thought, as evident by how it fought the natural flesh-and-blood Titans during the expedition.

As the theories sprung up, Hanji found herself completely engrossed in writing. With every piece of paper she had filled, another would take its place, and within an hour, her entire desk was littered with several hundred slips of paper that were filled with theories regarding this 'Titan'. Her theories ranged from it being an intelligent subspecies of Titan that evolved far enough to consider humans to not be a threat, to the thing being a monstrosity that fell from the stars, among other things, with Hanji discarding the latter theory because she thought it was nonsense.

Hanji didn't have any concrete answers to any of her theories, but she didn't mind. After all, the next expedition would take place in a few months, and they would have a chance to encounter this 'Titan' once more, which could potentially lead to more theories. For now, she simply wrote down all her theories without a care in the world.

And it took the sound of her doorknob being turned to snap her out of it. Blinking at that sound, Hanji jolted upright and ripped her gaze away from her latest theory that was halfway written and turned to face the door to her room, only to blink once more when she saw Levi standing there, looking unamused and perhaps a little disgusted as he eyed her.

"Levi!" greeted Hanji with her usual cheeriness, ignoring her comrade's expression as she gave a wave, prompting the short man in question to prop an eyebrow up. He quickly lowered it and shook his head before he took a reluctant step into her room, grimacing at how… unsanitary it felt.

"Good to see you doing something productive after an expedition for once," said Levi in a neutral tone, crossing his arms as he stopped behind Hanji's chair. Peeking over her shoulder, Ackerman raised his brows when he saw the… unprofessional looking sketch of that 'Titan' they encountered during their expedition. He snorted at it's appearance he up looked before shaking his head. "Forget I said anything."

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say, shorty," grumbled Hanji, her face red with insult as she waved Levi off. The man in question grimaced at being called short, something his insulter took no notice of as she went back to writing her theory. Ackerman himself felt ready to thump Zoe over the head, though before he could do so, Hanji continued speaking, not looking away from her paper as she did. "So, why are you here? You usually wouldn't even step in here unless you were forced into doing so."

"It's simple," replied Levi, grimacing as he lowered his arm. "I was ordered to do so."

"Oh? From who?"

"Keith. Now stop your blabbering and come on."

"Alright…"

"You're not gonna tell me why, aren't you?"

"No, but I'm sure you know why he wants to meet you, anyways."

"Guess so… anyways! We're wasting time! Let's move!"

With that last bit of friendly banter said, and after Levi rolled his eyes and gave a soft, annoyed sigh, Hanji shot up from her desk, causing various slips of paper around her to eject up into the air, before she allowed the shorter man to lead her to Keith's office.

Before they left, however, Levi took a peek at the newest 'theory' that Hanji had written down. It wasn't exactly a theory, more of a name for that 'Titan'. Ackerman read it and gave a snort, not minding how simple the name Great Ape Titan sounded, before he turned on his heel to head off.

…

(A couple of minutes later, in the Survey Corp Commander office)

The distant voice of Hanji Zoe was the first indication to both Erwin and Keith that Levi had successfully gotten the bespectacled woman to follow him, though it wasn't much of a surprise to either, as Hanji was known to have enough respect for Levi to listen to him with little to no question.

"They're here," said Erwin, stating the obvious as Keith simply nodded grouchily, prompting the blonde man to internally sigh as he positioned his hands behind his back.

This was pretty much a normal thing for Keith after every expedition. Every time after they returned from a mission to the outside, and after every debrief session, Keith would always retreat back to the Survey Corp office to plan for the next expedition and to drown in an ocean of his own guilt for letting so many who were under his command die such gruesome deaths. This cycle would only get worse and worse after every expedition, his regret piling up endlessly, causing him an endless amount of stress which threatened to make him lose his hair.

Though, of course, not everything was completely horrible and depressing. Every time the commander would isolate himself for planning, almost none of the soldiers under him would dare to approach him in fear for reprimandation. No soldier, that is, except for Erwin Smith, the man whom both the other Survey Corps and even Keith himself considered to be the Section Commander's right hand man. The blonde man would usually accompany Keith in his planning/sulking, often times than not giving moral support and as much input as he could on his strategies. If Keith were honest, Erwin was probably the only thing which kept him between sanity and a full mental breakdown.

On this specific day, however, Erwin noted that Keith seemed to be slightly less tense when compared to other times. He didn't scribble as much on the paper which was on his desk, a piece of paper which was meant for planning the formations, and he seemed to be deep in thought, more so than usual. The blonde man had an idea of what was in Keith's mind, but he wasn't necessarily sure about that thought until he asked about it.

"Commander Keith," began Erwin, glancing at said man as he turned to face him.

"Please, Erwin," said Keith with a courteous smile. "No need to use that title when we are speaking in private confidence." Erwin responded to that with a nod before Keith continued. "Now, what were you about to say?"

"Well," said Erwin scratching his chin sheepishly as he continued, remembering how he had told his commander about that 'Titan' not too long ago. "It's a trivial question, but are you thinking about it?"

Erwin calling the unidentified 'Titan' itwas a little unnecessary as no one else was here to overhear them. Still, with Erwin being as cautious as he was, he decided to do so just in case. And, as he expected, Keith knew what he was talking about.

"You're talking about that 'Titan' which you and your team encountered, yes?" asked Keith with a brow raised. Erwin gave a nod, and Keith gave what could generously be considered a chuckle. "Perhaps. What gave you that idea?"

"Well, you seem to be thinking more than usual," said Erwin, scratching his chin. "You usually write and think at the same time. That, and you got Levi to go summon Hanji, who, from what I hear, is currently theorising on the unidentified Titan."

When he finished, Keith gave a soft chuckle. This was why he, more often than not, considered Erwin to be his successor as Survey Corp commander if he stepped down or fell in combat. The blonde could tell that something was on his mind just from noticing such minute details which others would have missed. Such a skill was rare among soldiers, even if there were a couple of minor exceptions.

"Perhaps we should discuss this once our friends come in," suggested Keith, an option which Erwin halfheartedly agreed with. And, within a few minutes… or seconds, someone knocked on the door to Keith's office, sounding a little loud, signifying to Erwin that Levi was the one who knocked. And, after Keith allowed them to enter, the door swung open, revealing Hanji and Levi exchanging friendly banter between each other.

"I'm calling it now, they want to talk about it," said Hanji as they walked in, making Levi roll his eyes. Currently, Hanji seemed to be her usual self. Not her usual self after an expedition, but her actual self. Cheary, enthusiastic, and with a wide smile on her face as she came in, something which made Erwin unintentionally smile. As for Levi, he looked as he always did.

"Yeah, whatever," was Levi's reply as they stood up straight at attention when they were right in front of Keith's table, with Hanji standing straighter more so than Levi, though she was visibly rolling on the balls of her feet as she stood. "Commander, as you can see, I… retrieved Hanji."

"I can tell," said Keith, an attempt at humor which didn't necessarily work as everyone in the room stayed dead quiet for some time. After a while, Keith awkwardly cleared his throat and continued. "Now… I'm sure why I called Levi to summon specifically you, Hanji…"

"Weeeeeeeell… I kinda have an idea why," said Hanji with a thoughtful smirk as she tapped her chin rather playfully. "Kinda obvious. It's about the Great Ape Titan, eh?"

"Great Ape Titan?" said Erwin, an eyebrow raised as Levi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"It's the codename Hanji gave the 'Rogue' Titan we encountered while outside," translated Levi. Erwin and Keith turned to Hanji, who nodded in confirmation, looking a little cocky as she did. Though that look was wiped off her face when Levi punched her shoulder. "Turns out she was theorising about it for the past hour or so. Shook the building at least ten times when she did."

Keith simply nodded when Levi said that as though he expected nothing less than Hanji theorising on the 'Great Ape Titan' and shaking the Survey Corp HQ in Rose ten times right after she was debriefed. "Well, what a pleasant surprise…" said Keith with a small smile as he cupped his hands together.

"Really?" asked Hanji, tilting her head as she completely forgot about why she thought she was called in. "How so?"

"Well…" said Keith. "It's regarding the Great Ape Titan. I wanted to know what you thought of it."

"Oh… OH!" proclaimed Hanji as her memory caught up with her as she turned to Levi. "Called it!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever," grumbled Levi, crossing his arms as Hanji smiled victoriously and gave a fistbump. Erwin simply shook his head in mock disappointment as he watched, clearly amused as, despite being used to seeing those two Senior Survey Corps bicker every single day, it was always entertaining to watch them go at it.

"Anyways, what do you wanna know, Keith?" asked Hanji after she finished smiling. She approached his table and slammed her palm down onto its top, smirking proudly. "I've got tons of theories and a lot of time, you know?"

"...everything you've theorised on this Great Ape Titan, Hanji," replied Keith after some thought, making Erwin and Levi step back in shock. It was mainly because if anyone were to ask about everything Hanji had theorised on, they would be sitting there for at least three hours, and at worse, eight or even twelve. And, somehow, Hanji could speak without breathing (not noticeably anyways) or drinking water. It honestly made most think she was not human. Even Moblit, the soldier who worked with her for several years, couldn't keep himself attentive for the entire duration of her theories.

Hanji, on the other hand, was elated to hear that. So much so that she ended up she giggling like a maniac, making Levi instinctively take a step or two away from her. He was just about to make his escape from the room, though he was stopped when he saw Erwin shake his head at him, his expression telling him that "if we have to sit through all this, then you're gonna sit through it with us.". Knowing that he couldn't escape now, Levi reluctantly remained in the room.

"Gladly!" proclaimed Hanji with a smirk, before she rubbed her hands together like some sort of psychopath, prompting Levi to widen the gap between him and the bespectacled woman even more. And, for the next five hours or so, Zoe listed out practically everything she had theorised on the Great Ape Titan so far.

During this time, Levi found himself falling asleep while standing up with his eyes opened somehow, clearly not interested a single word Hanji was saying. Erwin and Keith, on the other hand, stayed attentive through the entire explanation, with Keith listening more attentively than Erwin, who eventually got confused and lost track, though he got the basics of what Hanji had theorised on this Great Ape Titan into his head at least.

Once Hanji finished exactly at the five hour mark, and after she woke Levi up for the third time, Keith narrowed his eyes as he cupped his hands together and rested his chin on them, thoughtful. He stayed that way for some time, making Levi get a bad feeling at the silence.

"Commander," said Levi, voice sounding rather hoarse as he had not drank anything for the last few hours, prompting him to clear his throat rather intensely before continuing, and when he spoke up once more, the three others in the room had turned to face him. "Please. Don't tell me you're thinking what I think you're thinking."

Despite him not specifying what he was referring to, Keith knew exactly what he meant, prompting the Survey Corp Commander to let out a soft, almost inaudible chuckle.

"Levi," said Keith, sounding calmer than Levi had expected, making the short man flinch slightly. "I know your concerns… but, while I hate to admit such a thing, we are losing this war against the Titans, especially after the fall of Wall Maria half of humanity was wiped out on that tragic day. And currently, any risk for a possible tactical advantage we can take to tip the balance in our favor is one which I am willing to take."

"Hold up now," said Hanji, making everyone turn to see her with wide eyes and practically dancing, bouncing from leg to leg as she contained what Erwin assumed to be anticipation at what she thought Keith would say, though just barely. "Are you suggesting-"

"Yes…" admitted Keith with a resigned nod. "I'm thinking of possibly… capturing this Titan…"

Noting the odd way Keith had worded his words, Erwin quickly figured out what he meant. This…Great Ape Titan, according to Hanji, was potentially capable of some form of intelligent thought, meaning that it could perhaps behave like a human, and like a human, it could perhaps be goaded to join their side. It was a thought which made the blonde wonder if either he or Keith, or both of them for that matter, had lost their minds.

However, Levi, on the other hand, was already thinking that they were out of their minds. Perhaps Keith was too eager to get an upper hand against the Titans to think of any more logical problems that would arise. The largest problem was the fact that there was an extremely, extremely low chance of them even encountering the Great Ape Titan on their next expedition, or perhaps even the one after, and so on. That wasn't even including the thought of how they'd capture it, considering how they have never captured even a regular Titan in the past.