Two days later, in the morning, Levi arrived at the place where Hange was doing experiments with the Titans they have captured, which she eventually ended up naming them as Sawney and Bean.
He arrived just in time to see Hange nearly be devoured by Bean, and if it weren't for Moblit's quick reflexes, Levi might soon start to study how to be a single father.
Lara, who was following all the experiments with Hange, was at this moment almost pulling out her hair, while giving desperate little hops.
"AHHHH, MOM! I've already told you to be careful! Moblit, hold her back!!!"
When he finally managed to control his heartbeat because of the fright, Levi whistled at Lara, calling her. Seeing him, she walked wearily towards her father.
"Hi, daddy..." she said, her shoulders and head slumped. "I don't know what to do with her anymore... If it wasn't for my Granny, if we count since yesterday, I would have been motherless for about seven times."
Here, the said "Granny", in this case, was Moblit.
It was a nickname that Lara accidentally gave him, after one night, while having tea with Levi in the kitchen. She was commenting about how Moblit seemed like Hange's mother, for he always got her out of trouble with the Titans. After Levi had practically spit out his tea and laughed for at least three minutes straight, he and Lara agreed that they only should say this nickname between the two of them.
Levi just watched, frightened, Hange's euphoria for almost being devoured. Instead of being scared, Hange was even more excited, impressed by how quickly the creature bit. After making sure she was okay, Levi said:
"We're heading to the former HQ of the Survey Corps and I wanted to know if you wanna come with us."
"Hmmm," Lara held her chin, thoughtful. "Who will be there?"
"Me, Eren, Gunther, Oluo, Petra, and Eld."
Lara looked back, spotting her mother happily talking with Moblit.
"Dunno... It's so fun in here, despite mom's craziness... I'm enjoying studying the Titans with her."
"You sure? The HQ is a huge abandoned and isolated castle in the middle of the woods..."
"A castle?! I've never seen one from up close!"
"Yeah," Levi raised his eyebrows. "It has many towers and secret passages just waiting to be explored, just sayin'..."
"Are you trying to tempt me, dad?"
"Not at all, you're being invited willy-nilly."
"Ah!" snorted Lara. "Alright, I'll go with you! But only if you let me explore the towers..."
"Deal. But before anything else, we'll need to clean up the castle as soon as we get there."
"How come?"
"Brooms, mops, buckets, this stuff. Never heard of?"
"So you're not inviting me 'cause you want my company, dad! You're inviting me because you wanna another pair of arms to help you clean that huge castle! If so, I won't go," Lara turned away, waving her hands.
"Wait!" Levi grabbed her by her jacket, making Lara turn back to him with a face. "Please, come with me. I really want your company... And I also need lots of help to clean up that place. I know how lazy you are for cleaning, God in heaven, you're just like your mother, but like it or not, you clean very well. It's already decided, you're coming!"
Astonished, before she could reply anything, Lara realized Hange pop up next to her.
"What's going on here, huh?" asked Hange, hands on hips. "Levi, aren't you supposed to be leaving to the former HQ of the Survey Corps?"
"You're right, Hange," he replied. "I'm leaving at this exact moment, but I came here to ask Lara to come with us, and I'm happy to say that she accepted my invitation promptly."
"He's lying, mommy. He just wants me to go to help clean up the castle."
"How come?" asked Hange.
Levi spread his arms, rolling his eyes.
"In what world do you both live in that you don't understand the meaning of the sentence 'clean up the castle'?"
"Gee, Levi!" replied Hange, indignantly. "You already did it yesterday!"
"I cleaned up my bedroom, Hange! Not the castle!"
"But, now I wonder," said Lara, "why does the Survey Corps have an HQ in the middle of the woods? Isn't it useless for us? Far away from the Walls and everything else? If something happens, we're the last to know."
"That's why the word 'abandoned' comes before the word 'castle', Lara," answered Levi. "The place is so useless that no one goes there. But now, we'll use it as a hideout for Eren."
"Really?!" exclaimed Hange. "When were you planning on telling me this? I wanna make some experiments on Eren, too!"
She poked Lara a couple of times.
"Baby! Go with your father and try to find something out about Eren for us, while I stay here with Sawney and Bean. I'll go there at night to talk a bit with him!"
"Go easy on the boy with your crazy ideas, Hange," said Levi. "He needs a lot of energy to help us clean up all that place."
"Don't worry. I'll talk to him for five minutes only."
"Let's see if that's true," replied Levi, rolling his eyes. "Lara, come, we're leaving right away."
"Haven't you two noticed that, until now, I couldn't say a word about if I wanted to go or not?" said Lara, crossing her arms and looking at her parents. "That's abuse of authority and I'll report it to Erwin," she gave them a mischievous smile.
"'I'll report it to Erwin!'" Levi mocked Lara, grumpy. "Erwin this, Erwin that! Speaking of him, I've heard you've been doing delivery service for him, in exchange for chocolates, is that true?"
Lara and Hange looked at each other, mouths agape.
"How did you find out?" asked Hange.
"A carrier pigeon told me," Levi then turned to Lara. "In my opinion, you're charging Erwin a very low-interest rate. It should be one and a half chocolate candy per day of late payment."
"I'll have to agree with Levi," said Hange, crossing her arms. "Despite the fact that you should also charge him additional rates on Sundays."
"Do you guys really think so?" asked Lara. "Actually, I was thinking about having a sale, because my chocolate storage is already running out."
Before Hange and Levi could reply with a resounding "No!", Petra appeared from behind them, shyly.
"Excuse me, Captain and Squad Leader. Hi, Lara!" she waved kindly, "The thing is... We really need to go now."
"Well..." Lara shrugged, "I think I don't have a choice, after all... Let's go clean up that castle, daddy."