"Watch where you're going, Titan freak" he growled as Hanji flew by on her three-dimensional maneuver gear. "Sorry, shorty didn't see you there" a huge grin grew on her features as both of them zipped through the trees. Levi only replied with his usual "tch." She darted passed the short, angry man another time, this time her attention had been focused on something else. Levi raised a brow as he attempted to figure out what she was searching for. "Oi shitty-glasses, pay attention or you'll crash into a tree again."
Her serious expression quickly changed back to a grin as she looked back at Levi, "you hear it too right?" "Hear what?" "The heavy footsteps and rumbling coming from the trees." At that moment Levi knew what she meant but refrained from saying anything in hopes that she wouldn't find it. Hanji suddenly changed direction and headed into the large trees that dominated the forest, "Be right back Levi."
Out of instinct Levi immediately followed her fading voice "the fuck are you doing? Leave the titan alone!" It wasn't that Hanji was ignoring Levi, she was just too focused on finding the titan she could hear in the distance that she didn't pay attention to his voice. Her deep hazel eyes scanned the ground, trees, and terrain with great determination. She was hoping that it would be abnormal or at least small enough to capture for further research. Suddenly, a glimmer of hope sparked inside of her.
"Footprints" she whispered to herself, "Hey Levi, I found some footprints! It must be close!" Levi was too far away to hear all of her words; she hadn't been paying attention to how much gas she was using, she was going way too fast for Levi to catch up and at this rate, she would run out of it. "Hanji, wait there! You're going too far and I can't even hear, you, you idiot!"
He saw Hanji's figure soon disappear into the distance "Tch. She's gonna get herself killed if I don't get there in time." Hanji kept close to the ground so she could see where the footprints were heading, the subtle rumble of titan footsteps had long gone and she kept her senses alerted. It wasn't long before she came to the end of the trail, however, there was no titan on the other side. "Huh?" She landed on a low branch coming off one of the trees, keeping herself perched by holding onto the trunk "that's strange."
She stood pondering for a few minutes, this gave Levi a chance to finally catch up. He landed on a tree branch a few meters away. Hanji began to wave and smile again once she saw the small man from the corner of her eye "Oh hey Lev-" "what the hell are you doing? You've been told so many times to stay in a group and not go running off after titans!" Though Levi was shouting angrily he was relieved to see that she was intact.
She huffed and crossed her arms like a sulking child, "whatever... It's probably gone anyway." There was a short silence between the two of them as Levi calmed himself and Hanji returned to her usual bubbly self. Levi sighed deeply, "If you can't find it we should go back." "Yeah, you're right... But I'm sure it would be here." Hanji readied her movement gear and aimed to the nearest tree.
Levi was ready to lead the way when something moving caught his attention at the corner of his eye, he spent only a fraction of a second watching it before he knew exactly what it was. "Hanji! Move!" She turned her head towards what Levi was warning her about. And everything seemed to play in slow motion.
Levi reached out his arm in an attempt to grab hold of her before it was too late. However, everything went silent and the only thing Hanji could hear was her own heartbeat as she saw what was before her. Her hazel eyes widened and lips parted as she saw the gaping jaws of an abnormal titan launched towards her only meters away. She could not move. Her body was stiff, frozen and paralyzed as she watched the creature fly towards her with incredible speed.
Levi could see the titan closing in on her, 'she's gonna be fine... I'm to grab her arm and pull her back before it reaches her' he told himself. Suddenly, Levi came back to reality as everything was now playing as normal again. The deafening sound of clamping titan jaws rang through the area as Hanji was engulfed by the creature. Red liquid now replaced the space that Hanji had been standing, leaving Levi on the tree by himself. A lump of air caught at the back of his throat as his eyes widened with shock and dread.
