Judgment

Hange and Levi analyzed Sannes in front of them. In a dark room, lit only by a candle, he was sitting on a chair, tied with ropes across his chest, hands, and feet. On a tray, there were ten fingernails, torn out in cold blood by Hange and Levi. Sannes's nose was also strangely crooked and was bleeding all the way to his mouth.

Hange felt a strange sensation in her throat and Levi felt a certain tingling, which he only remembered feeling when he was a teenager and a criminal on the Underground streets.

They had tried everything to make Sannes say everything he knew about the real royal family and the heirs to the throne. But Sannes remained obstinate.

"I've never seen people who took such delight in torturing..." said Sannes, at one point. "But, I confess... I've already been in your place..."

Indeed, Sannes had been the cause of much suffering for several people, claiming that everything he did, was to keep the peace within the Walls, shutting the mouths of those who knew too much.

"You two..." continued Sannes, spitting out some blood. "You... Have a... Daughter, don't you? What's she called? Lara? One of humanity's strongest soldiers, even competing with her own father, the indestructible Captain Levi?"

Levi and Hange looked at each other, their eyes slightly wide.

"Don't say another word about our daughter," threatened Levi.

"Or what?" replied Sannes, coughing. "Are you gonna cut off my balls?"

Levi's chin quivered and he took a step forward, being stopped by Hange. Sannes laughed.

"Go on... Cut off another piece of me... I deserve every pain I'm going through... But, I wonder... What's your little daughter thinking right now? It sure isn't a big moment for her, seeing her heroes do something like this. From what little I've heard of her, she seems to be a girl of pure integrity, am I right?"

"Stop it..." said Hange, clasping her hands at her sides.

"Just imagine her here, in this room right now... Do you think she would be helping you to hold the pliers, or getting in front of me to stop your actions? Could she be able to see how filthy you are?"

Hange and Levi knew very well the answers to those questions. To this day, they still wondered how a little girl, who had gone through so many horrible things in her life - even an assassination attempt, being thrown with the utmost cruelty outside the Walls, to slowly die at the hands of the Titans - managed to remain so pure and always saw the best in people.

Levi wondered why she had chosen him to be her father. There were many good-hearted soldiers in the Survey Corps. But, she had chosen him, Levi Ackerman, as her father. When he thought about it, he came to the conclusion that she had chosen him from the moment she met him, in that room at the Forest of Giant Trees camp, after having told her story. Of all people, him. Who had done nothing in his life to receive so much love from someone so small.

Hange also wondered the same thing. She asked herself why she had been chosen to be Lara's mother, and just like Levi, she came to the conclusion that she had been chosen from the moment they met. Lara had saved her life, and not only her physical one, in that Forest, while Hange sank into the quicksand. From the first night they slept in the company of each other, after Lara had a nightmare, Hange felt that the way that little girl snuggled against her chest to sleep was unlike anything she had ever felt.

"I believe that the things I did, the torturings and everything else," continued Sannes, crestfallen, "were to bring peace to the Walls. I believe the things I did were fair. But I had no idea it would hurt this much. Hurry up and torture me to death. It would be a fitting end to a damned life like mine."

Sannes looked at Levi.

"You know, Captain… I also have a daughter… She was born eight months ago and it's the reason I get out of bed every day… When I look at her, I can't believe how I could be so blessed with such an angel. The only thing I deserved in my life was pain and suffering, for all I've ever done. But no… Every day, when I wake up and go to see her in her room, I'm greeted with the most beautiful smile I've ever seen."

Hange and Levi couldn't help but think about how this situation has happened to them several times. Lara no longer used a crib like a baby, of course, but every day that Hange got out of bed and looked at her daughter sleeping in perfect peace, for a brief moment, she seemed to forget that she lived in a world filled with the terror caused by the Titans. In those moments, she felt so much intense joy in her heart, that she did not imagine that such a feeling could ever exist.

The same could be said of Levi. Despite not waking up in the same room as Lara, every day, when they met at the refectory, Lara always ran towards his arms, with a huge smile on her face and shouting "Good morning, daddy!". Levi spent the rest of the day remembering those genuine smiles.

For a brief second, Hange and Levi wondered if they were any different from the man who had thrown their precious daughter outside the Walls in the middle of the night, to be eaten alive by the Titans.

Then, Levi ran his hand over his face.

"Time for a pause."

Hange and Levi left the torture room and closed the door. They walked a little down the corridor and stopped, looking at each other.

"Levi…" she began. "What have we don–"

"It's already done," he replied. His chin trembled and he clasped his hands.

"There must be another way…" Hange's eyes were red.

Levi seemed thoughtful for a moment, then, he said:

"Come with me."

Besides Sannes, they had captured another soldier who aided in Pastor Nick's murder, named Ralph. They placed him in front of the door where Sannes was locked in, so he could hear everything.

Levi lightly pressed a knife on Ralph's back and Hange showed him a paper to be read. Under pressure, Ralph read exactly what was written on the paper, which seemed like lines from a play, where each of them three had to say their lines. Ralph didn't quite understand why they were doing this, but with a knife pressed to his back, he read it all straight.

The paper faked a conversation where Ralph said he had already told Hange and Levi everything he knew, because he just couldn't stand listening to Sannes talk about peace and the king anymore, and he was asking them to kill him at once. From inside the torture room, Sannes listened to everything, perplexed by his colleague's "betrayal". Little did he know it was all a Hange and Levi's game.

When they got back to the torture room, Sannes finally told Levi and Hange everything. Their plan had worked.

Hange took Sannes to the same cell as Ralph. When the two colleagues saw each other, they started to slap one another, for Sannes was completely outraged that Ralph had "told" them everything and betrayed him.

Then, while Sannes strangled Ralph, Hange explained to them that it was all a plan, that she had asked Ralph to read a fake text, to make Sannes tell everything and think that his colleague had betrayed him. The two men were perplexed. Hange turned away to leave the dungeons.

"You monsters!" exclaimed Ralph.

Hange stopped and looked at him.

"Maybe we really are…"

♦♦♦

"So..." said Armin, baffled. "Historia is really the one who should be our legitimate queen?!"

"Yes..." answered Hange. "Sannes told us everything. Now, what we need to do is to find her real father, named Rod Reiss. Historia and Eren are with him at this moment."

"You're dismissed," said Levi. "You can all go to bed."

Lara was listening to everything from a chair she was sitting on, still staring at a fixed point, wide-eyed. Her entire body tingled and she couldn't feel her fingertips anymore.

All her friends left the room, leaving only Hange, Levi, and… Lara.

Slowly, she got up from the chair. Levi and Hange stared at her. They both felt nauseous and their hearts were beating very fast.

Lara walked past them, without looking. Then, Levi grabbed her wrist.

"Baby…"

"Don't!" exclaimed Lara, louder than she wanted. She got rid of Levi's hand and stared at them, her eyes still widened and her mouth slightly opened. "Please… Don't… Not now…"

She felt her hands shaking and it felt like she was in a dream. Her vision was blurry and her mouth was dry.

"Lara, my sweetie…" said Hange, stepping forward, while squeezing her hands. "We can–"

"I tried, Hange!" exclaimed Lara. Hange was so startled at this, that she stepped back.

It was the first time that Lara called Hange by her first name, after she called her "mommy" in the bathtub, a long time ago. Even Levi widened his eyes.

"I tried..." Lara's voice was almost a whisper. "I swear I tried... I did what I always do... I put myself in your places... But... I just couldn't... I'm sorry... I... I can't... I can't be like this..."

Hange felt a big emptiness in her chest and her hands started to tingle. Levi felt a bad taste in his mouth, which was also dry.

"Those men..." said Lara, slowly pointing to the dungeon door. "They do deserve... To pay for that they've done... But, I wonder... Why should they pay through your hands? There are many others who can do this... But not you two... Not you..."

"Lara…" began Hange, with a choked voice. "Please…"

"You're always telling me that we're soldiers of humanity," she cut it short, her eyes still in perplexity. "That we fight to save it... But today... You proved to be the least human of all... You... Equaled yourselves to them..." Lara once more pointed to the dungeon door.

"Baby…" called Levi.

"I'm not your baby," replied Lara, as if she was spitting the words. "Not today…"

Hange covered her mouth and this time, tears actually came out of her eyes. For a moment, Levi was breathless. They both felt in their hearts something very similar to when they were in that clearing long ago, with Lara lying in their arms, where they thought they had lost her forever. Their hearts seemed to be weighing over a thousand tons.

"Today, I'm not the daughter of either of you..." continued Lara, with a finger raised, speaking slowly. "Because... Children... Are the reflection of their parents... And I never, ever in my life, want to reflect what you two showed to me today..."

Levi lowered his head and closed his eyes, clasping his hands at his sides.

"If I were your daughter today, I would reflect you," she continued, looking deeply into the eyes of Hange and Levi. "Do you know what would happen? Sannes' wife would find out what you had done to him and would probably hire someone to torture you two... Then, seeing that you were tortured, I would go after this person myself and I would torture them... And the cycle would continue, until there's no one left to kill..."

Without meaning to, Levi and Hange shook their heads in denial.

"Please..." continued Lara. "Please... Close your eyes now and imagine… Me… Torturing a person… Pulling out their nails, their teeth… Breaking their nose… Kicking their stomach… Please tell me… Can you picture me doing this?"

Hange and Levi didn't want to, but they ended up imagining it. Just the slightest thought of it for only a second, already made them feel their hearts tighten in great affliction.

"I don't know if I'm just stunned..." said Lara, looking at her feet. "But, I could have sworn I heard a tone of delight in your voices, as you were doing... That... Down there."

Then, suddenly, she lifted her head and looked deeply at Hange and Levi, with an expression of extreme agony.

"Do you know in what I delight?!" she exclaimed, clenching her fists. "I delight in showing mercy! Because mercy triumphs over judgment!"

Levi and Hange stared at her, eyes wide and mouths open. They felt the tips of their fingers tingle and it felt like there was nothing under their feet.

"I really thought I knew you... Honestly..." said Lara, looking very tired. "But, I think I was wrong."

Then, she turned and opened the door. Before closing it, she looked again at Hange and Levi and said:

"I've never felt so much displeasure for being your daughter."

And she left, closing the door behind her.