Year 850

When Lara's twelfth birthday finally arrived, Hange thought it was better to order two cakes: one with the shape of the Wings of Freedom symbol, to be eaten by the Survey Corps soldiers after they sang "Happy Birthday" at the refectory, and the other with the shape of Keith Shadis face, to be eaten only by Hange, Levi, and Lara in their bedroom.

Hange arrived in her bedroom holding the disgusting little cake with the face of the said person in her hands, catching in act Lara and Levi playing fight on the bed.

"It looks like that girl Mikasa's fighting techniques are indeed really good," said Hange, as she placed the cake at the center of the writing desk, with a grimace. "I've already told you two to stop with this kinda play. It always ends up with one of you crying, and I'm not even talking about Lara!"

Lara was performing a sleeping hold on Levi's neck, while locking him with her tiny little legs. Levi was very red and looked exhausted.

"Alrighty, mommy," replied the girl, letting Levi go, who looked at Hange gratefully while panting.

"Yeah…" Hange placed her hands on her hips, "Seems like there's someone else here besides Lara that's getting old…"

Levi glared at her, while Lara fanned him with a pillow.

"There you go, baby," Hange let out a huff of air, looking tired, "here's your cake with… Shadis' face on it," she rubbed her forehead, looking at the floor, while mumbling, "God, what did I do to deserve this…?"

Lara took a peek at the cake and recognized that the baker had talent. It was identical to the original.

"Daddy! Come and do the honors! Mom, give dad the knife to slice Shadis' face."

Suddenly, Levi looked to be in a very good mood now and jumped out of bed, reaching his hand for Hange, asking for the knife.

Levi twirled the pointed object in his hand, ready to shove it right into Shadis' sunken eyes.

"Wait!" exclaimed Hange, "Aren't we gonna sing 'Happy Birthday'"?

"We already did it at the refectory," replied Levi, impassive, "Now, lemme finish him…"

"Are you jealous of him by any chance, dad?" Lara gave him a big smile.

Levi playfully winked at her, and with more violence than he should, he sliced the entire cake into uneven, grotesque pieces. Lara applauded her father's doing, while Hange blushed and fanned herself with her hand, because she was feeling a bit hot. Lara and Levi ate the cake with delight, but Hange couldn't even taste it.

Although Lara turned twelve years old, she was still quite small, but at least she had a healthy child's body, for Hange and Levi were very strict with her nourishment. The last scratch on the bedroom doorjamb marked Lara as being 1.32m tall. It was lower than the ideal, but on the other hand, Lara was a child who rarely got sick, which was already a great relief to her parents.

During the next few months, all the Survey Corps soldiers had to intensify their training, because soon, they would be going on a mission to try to retake Shiganshina once and for all. The population raised costs to contribute with the expedition, because this time, they pinned all their hopes on the Survey Corps.

Hange was no longer so afraid of seeing Lara going on a mission, because compared to the girl's lack of height, her dedication in training was tremendous. Erwin himself said that Lara was his pride, and that if he ever gets married, he would want a daughter just like her. Levi surely didn't like these commentaries, who prohibited her to visit the Commander to play chess for a week at least, such was his jealousy for his daughter.

"I'm afraid she'll leave me for Erwin," whimpered Levi at one occasion to Hange, who rolled her eyes, "it's already her third father option! As if Shadis weren't enough, now I have to compete with Erwin!"

"Levi," replied Hange, "it's the mother who chooses the father… And I've already chosen you a long time ago."

Hange suddenly covered her mouth, turning very red, and ran away, with the excuse she'd heard Lara calling. Levi just watched her leave, with a little smile on his lips.

The day of the expedition finally arrived. The group of elite soldiers chosen to retake Shiganshina headed to Trost District early in the morning. As the military procession passed through the population, instead of being booed, as on many other occasions, this time, people shouted encouraging phrases. The soldiers were organized in pairs. Hange and Levi rode their horses ahead of Lara, who was behind with Mike.

Lara was feeling very anxious, because she hadn't been on a mission in a long time, but it was a good and exciting kind of anxiety. As she rode her horse through the streets, she noticed that some people were still looking at her with a sort of astonishment, for being someone so young in the Survey Corps. Then, she heard someone call her name. She looked to the side and recognized three of the friends she had made in Winter Training: Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. They waved at her excitedly.

"Hey, guys!" Lara waved back, happily, "Mom, look over there, it's Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. The ones that I've told you about!"

Hange and Levi looked to where their daughter had pointed at, and a man who was in front of Eren exclaimed:

"Look! It's Captain Levi! They say he's as mighty as an entire brigade!"

Since Levi hated being the center of attention, he just pretended they weren't talking about him and remained with a boring expression. Hange winked at Lara, who laughed.

"Can't they just shut up?" muttered Levi to no one in particular, clicking his tongue. Only Hange heard him.

"I bet they wouldn't like you that much if they knew you're a clean freak," she joked and Levi mildly chuckled.

As the gates opened, Hange began to show an extremely excited behavior. The night before, it was Lara who had to put her to sleep, because the woman just couldn't sit still in her bedroom, pacing around while she thought about tactics to capture some Titans.

"Mommy, if you don't sleep RIGHT NOW, you won't be able to wake up tomorrow to get those Titans! I'm gonna catch them all by myself!"

"Absolutely not!" Hange ran to bed.

Although Hange was still a little afraid of seeing her daughter leave the Walls to face death, Levi assured her that he had done a special training just for Lara, which she successfully completed. Hange saw her daughter's excellent performance with her own eyes and, to her relief, she felt free to get back on devoting all her thoughts and concerns on capturing and studying Titans.

"The Titans await us outside!" she exclaimed, her hands together, as if she was saying a prayer, "I wonder what kind we'll see this time! I hope we find some abnormals!" Hange swung her legs in excitement.

"I can see an abnormal already," said Levi, bringing his horse closer to Hange's.

"Really?! Where?!" she looked around, desperately.

Levi leaned from his saddle and came closer to Hange's face, holding her hair from behind.

"Right here."

Lara watched her parents with a smile on her face and got happy when she noticed that Levi kept looking at Hange's lips, who was giving him a silly smile. Upon witnessing this scene, Mike caught Lara's attention and raised his eyebrows a few times, with a cheeky smile. Lara laughed and confirmed Mike's suspicions, giving him a thumbs up. He responded to the gesture, chuckling.

"Let's go!" exclaimed Commander Erwin.

And they headed to Shiganshina.

♦♦♦

The situation was pretty ugly in Shiganshina. Many soldiers had already been devoured by the Titans, apart from those who died on the way. To Hange and Levi's pride, they witnessed Lara masterfully kill three Titans. She had improved a lot since the last mission. Her movements were quick and confident, therefore becoming day after day, humanity's strongest soldier, or at least, one of the competitors for the title.

At one point during the day, Lara almost felt her lunch come back from her stomach when her mother played the smarty-pants at a Titan, saying stuff like she wouldn't hurt it and whatsoever, making her be nearly crushed by the creature's hand. Quickly, Hange dodged and killed the Titan in one cut.

"Mom!" yelled Lara, annoyed, while Hange landed next to her daughter, with Titan blood evaporating from her cloak. "I don't wanna be an orphan again! Please, be careful!"

Erwin approached them two, looking concerned.

"Where's Levi?"

"He went over there," Lara pointed to the left, "why?"

"We need to immediately go back to Trost!" he answered, worried, "A swarm of Titans has begun moving northward, toward the District. Something happened! I believe the Wall's been destroyed!"

Hange and Lara felt a shiver down their spines and looked at each other.

Without the Survey Corps soldiers, Trost's chances were less than minimal. Lara feared a lot for her friends.