Chapter 38 - Growing Up

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Much to Hange and Levi's unhappiness, a short time later, Lara turned thirteen.

I say unhappiness, because now, she was already starting to lose some of her childish looks and was starting to have the body of a young teenager. But, there were still moments when she looked like the little girl they found in the Forest of Giant Trees.

As some things never change, Hange still snuggled Lara on her chest when she was sad, and Levi still played fighting with her whenever he got the chance (although his foot still hurt a lot, and consequently, his left leg, as well).

Lara said that even if she was growing up, she wouldn't want things to change, after all, every parent in the world will always see their children as if they were still babies. And this was no different with Hange and Levi, even though they hadn't known her younger than ten years old. But in their minds, she would always be their little girl.

As a birthday present, after talking for a couple of hours about it, Hange and Levi decided it was time for Lara to take on new responsibilities. Then, with Erwin's permission, they promoted her to Leader of a new Squad that Levi was organizing.

Levi formed a Squad with Lara's friends: Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Sasha, Connie, Jean, and Historia. Lara would be responsible for leading them in the missions and tasks that the Captain ordered.

Lara felt very honored, and when she, Hange, and Levi were at Erwin's office to her finally be officially promoted, she had to hold back a lot not to cry in emotion. When she looked out of the corner of her eyes, she saw that Hange was crying without any shame and that Levi's eyes were red, but he didn't allow himself to shed a single tear. Lara chuckled inwardly at how her father still had some difficulty showing emotions in public.

However, on that same night, when Lara was coming back from the bathroom, she heard Hange and Levi whimpering about how she was growing up way too fast, and how they wished they had known and adopted her a lot earlier, so they could have enjoyed more of her childhood.

"Just imagine her with about five years old, what a cutie!" said Hange, her head resting on Levi's chest and some tears in her eyes.

"I'd never let that nonsense Erwin accept her in the Survey Corps, if I had been her father since she was little," he replied, hugging Hange and patting her to comfort her. "In fact, I don't think I would ever allow Lara to join the Army at all."

"But then, what would she do?" asked Hange, lifting her head to look at Levi.

"Hmm..." he replied, thoughtful. "We could have opened a tea shop and Lara would be responsible for it."

"I bet that when you retire, it will be the first thing you're gonna do," Hange smiled at Levi.

He looked down, deep into Hange's eyes, and gave her a little smile.

"Would you also help me with the shop?"

"Absolutely..."

Levi then held Hange's face and pulled her towards him, giving her a long, soft peck on her lips. Outside, Lara was smiling. But, as she needed to get back to her bedroom, she cleared her throat loudly in the corridor and walked in, finding Hange and Levi sitting next to each other on Lara's bed, really, really blushed!

Eventually, they ended up discovering that a conspiracy was going on within the Walls, where the Royal Family, the Armed Forces, the Church of the Walls, and the nobles were hiding some secrets about the Titans and everything else that involved them

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Eventually, they ended up discovering that a conspiracy was going on within the Walls, where the Royal Family, the Armed Forces, the Church of the Walls, and the nobles were hiding some secrets about the Titans and everything else that involved them.

Hange and Lara continued their dense research on Eren's Titan. However, it all was getting so exhausting for the boy, that his Titan began to go through a lot of problems in the transformation, coming to a point when almost no skin formed around the bones, and Eren began to merge a lot with his Titan. At one point, Hange tried to pull him out from the nape of his Titan, and half of Eren's face was stuck, showing only part of his skull.

"Lara! Moblit!" exclaimed Hange, euphoric. "Hurry up! Make a sketch of his face now!"

"Mommy! Have you gone mad?! Look at him, we need to take him out of there immediately, he can't handle it anymore!"

"Squad Leader Hange!" yelled Moblit, desperate. "Have you lost your sense of human compassion?!"

The new Squad was hidden in a cabin, led by Lara, who was responsible for organizing them in a way that everything worked perfectly, including the house cleaning, as she knew her father would be extremely strict on this matter.

One day, when they were cleaning the cabin, Lara and Historia were washing the dishes while chatting. At one point, Historia stopped talking and stared at her friend next to her.

"What's up?" asked Lara, confused.

"Nothing..." Historia blinked several times and then chuckled. "It's just that... Not long ago, I had to look down to talk to you, but now, your eyes are on the same level as mine."

Instinctively, Lara started to look at her own body and height, and giggled.

"Oh, wow! How did I get up here?!"

"Oh, wow! How did I get up here?!"

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