See Me Now

II. Fear

Hange knocked on the door for the third time. "(F/N)!" Still no answer. "Alright, (F/N), we're coming in."

Hange finally opened the door. The girl was nowhere to be found.

"It can't be! I saw her go here." Nifa said.

The rain was pouring down even harder. Another streak of lightning flashed across the dark sky, followed by thunder.

All of a sudden, the two women heard whining coming from somewhere in the room. They both looked at each other. The next thunderclap made whoever it was who whined shriek but, not too loudly, for it seems that she was suppressing it. The next streak of lightning provided a bit of light in the dark room for a split second, and it was enough for Hange to locate the girl. She turned left and noticed that the closet door was ajar. She walked slowly to it and carefully opened it wider.

Nifa gasped, covering her mouth; inside the closet they found (F/N), curled up in a tiny ball. Her eyes were tightly shut and her hands were covering both her ears. Hange knelt down.

"(F/N)?" she said, and gasped, horrified at what she saw. A very ugly bruise had already formed on the left side of her face, and her left eye and cheek were swollen. What's more, Hange saw that blood was coming out from her nose. She turned to Nifa. "Go get the medicinal kit. Quickly."

"Yes, Squad Leader." Nifa obeyed.

Hange looked back at (F/N) and saw that she was still crying. The poor girl was so afraid and traumatized after what happened.

"(F/N), I'm here,..."

She placed a hand on the poor girl's shoulder and winced; for the first time ever, she noticed that (F/N) was too skinny.

(F/N) went on sobbing, sending tremors all over her small frame. "H-h-ange, I-i-i'm s-s-so s-s-s-or-r-ry-y,..."

Hange pulled the girl into a gentle hug. "Shh,... I should be the one who must say that. I didn't know that dress belonged to Petra,..."

The girl cried even harder. Hange desperately rubbed (F/N)'s back to ease the pain even for just a little bit. "I-i-i'm s-s-so-o-r-r-y,..."

"It's not your fault, (F/N)."

Hange couldn't do anything. She heard stories of Levi being so attached to Petra, his subordinate. He would ask her a lot of times to assist him with paper works, and he would sometimes invite her to come with him and Erwin to the Capital as his personal secretary. He would sometimes order her away from the Titans whenever they're on an expedition. From her quiet observation, Hange confirmed it safe to say that Levi has feelings for Petra Ral.

She just didn't expect it to be this strong.

Strong enough to inflict physical harm on someone who is considerably weaker than him.

Weaker than any other soldier in the Legion.

And someone who he accused of violating Petra's things,...

Another streak of lightning and thunder sent the girl cowering in fear. Hange couldn't do anything but hug the girl even tighter.

She really is this thin!

"I'm here, (F/N). There's nothing to be afraid of."

"H-help m-m-e, please!" the girl stuttered. "They're,... c-c-oming!"

"What?" Hange was very confused at what she just heard.

The girl finally looked up at her.

"They are coming to hurt me!" she sobbed. "Please, don't tell them I'm here. Please!"

"No one's coming to hurt you." Hange carefully wiped (F/N)'s tears away. "I won't let them hurt you."

Who are they? What is she talking about?

"Squad Leader!" Nifa finally arrived with the medicinal kit. She knelt down and gave the box to Hange.

"You'll be fine now, (F/N), don't worry. He, they, will not come after you,..." Hange said while opening the box.

She was about to clean the blood on (F/N)'s face when the girl carefully removed the dress, leaving only her undergarments.

"(F/N), you don't have to - "

"I'll have to mend this." uttered (F/N). "Or else, Petra'll get mad at me again,..."

Hange and Nifa looked at each other once again in confusion. Hange immediately felt that something was odd about the way (F/N) mentioned Petra. She shrugged it off as she started to clean the girl's wounds.

Why did Levi have to hurt this poor, defenseless girl?