Sorry for the long wait, but the new chapter is finally here! Hope you all enjoy it!

Chapter 9: Just move on

"Why can't I ever go with you guys? I want to train too!" The girl protested. The boy stood outside waiting for the man.

"I told you, you can't come with us. Stop asking questions. You're lucky enough I even decided to take care of you." The man said, slowly walking out the door.

"Why not! I want to be strong too!" She pleaded.

"I said no. Now stay here until we get back, Chana." The man said, closing the door. Before the girl was enveloped in the darkness of the windowless home, her eyes met with the boy's and didn't lose contact until she could no longer see him behind the door.

"Gooood morning Levi!" A voice yelled as the door slammed open.

I gasped and opened my eyes to see Levi's face inches from mine. I froze as his eyes slowly opened. We stared at each other for a moment before we heard giggling from the end of the bed.

"Tch." Levi said as he turned to sit up on the edge of the bed. I turned my head to glance at the door to see Section Commander Hanji in the doorway, staring at us wide-eyed. I screamed and fell off the end of the bed.

"Well, I guess I'll leave you two alone then. Don't be late." She said, a grin spreading across her face. She slowly creeped back to the door.

"It's not like that. Fucking shitty glasses." Levi said, clearly annoyed by Hanji's statement.

"Suuure. You two have fun now." She said, closing the door behind her as she left the room. I sat on the ground, the most embarrassed I had ever been.

Levi walked around me and reached into one of the drawers in the dresser. I didn't move, still in shock and fear. What was she going to do? What if she told everybody? What if everybody thought…

"You should go and get ready, we need to meet up with the others soon." He said.

"Oh, um, right. Of course. I'll get going sir. I'll meet you at the rendezvous point." I said, standing up and quickly making my way to the door. As I pushed the door closed behind me, I heard Levi sigh from inside the bedroom.

"Where did you go last night Chana?" Tereza said, walking up beside me as I was reaching into my cabinet for some fresh clothes. I froze.

"Um… Well… I was… Here…" I said. I couldn't let her, of all people know I stayed the night at Levi's all night. She was the type of person to run down the halls telling everyone, and I was not going to let everyone find out in fear of what they would think and how they would treat me. I had a bad enough reputation as it was, I couldn't let them think of me as anything worse.

"But I saw you walk out last night and you didn't come back." She said. My eyes stayed fixed to a shelf in the cabinet.

"I… Came back… Didn't you see me?"

"No, and I was up for a while too. That must have been a really long walk."

"Ya, I just needed to… clear my head. Make sure I'm ready for today, you know?" I laughed.

"What about this morning? You weren't here when I woke up."

"I was up early and went for a run." I said. I reached towards the small pile of shirts directly in front of me.

"Really?" She said, "You're either really bad at talking to people or a really bad liar, Chana."

I froze again.

"What? I'm not lying."

"Yup, you really are a terrible liar. Does it have something to do with your Captain?" Tereza smirked.

"No! Of course not!" I said, closing the cabinet door, "Nothing happened Tereza, I just went for a walk last night. You always make crazy assumptions."

"If you don't want to tell me, I guess that's fine." She sighed, "I'll see you when we meet up to leave. I'm really happy we'll be together this time."

"Ya, it'll be nice." I said. We both went smiled and turned to go our separate ways.

I changed into a fresh grey shirt, one of the many I had. Most of my wardrobe consisted of plain grey long-sleeve tees and the standard uniform pants. Besides that were a few white collared shirts and a couple dark blue tee shirts. Everyone's wardrobe was pretty basic, we didn't need a large fancy collection of outfits.

By the time I had finished strapping on my ODM gear, almost everyone had left. I quickly rushed to the centre of the base to find groups of people clumped together. I eyed the crowd for Levi, hoping I wouldn't have to walk around the whole area to find him. Thankfully, I noticed Tereza's bright hair and found Levi sitting with her and Fannar. I sighed in relief and ran over. I was in no mood to spend my energy looking for them.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm so late." I apologized, sitting down at the table they were at.

"Tch. Just sit down, brat. We're going to leave any minute so be ready." Levi scoffed and looked to the side, where everyone stood.

"Alright sir!" I said.

"Why are you so rude? You should at least show some respect to your teammate, captain." Tereza said beside me. I immediately looked at her, hoping she just didn't say that.

"What?" Levi said, turning his head to look at Tereza.

"I'm just saying, you shouldn't be so mean to her. Compared to yesterday you're a lot meaner now. Lighten up."

"Since when are you in a position to tell me what to do brat?" Levi said. He was pissed, his eyes were locked on Tereza, glaring at her with rage.

"Tereza, it's alright. Just let it go. It's not even a big deal." I said, trying to prevent an argument. That was the last thing we needed, especially before we left to go fight.

"Tereza, she said it was alright. You've been at this since we got here, I don't think you need to keep going. We're all on a team now, we need to be nice to each other." Fannar said, entering the conversation.

"I'm just defending my friend. She doesn't deserve to be treated like that." She pouted, looking away.

"You've known her for a few months, you don't even know who she is." Levi said, also looking away from us.

"You don't either Levi, you didn't even bother to talk to me for eighteen years. Just drop the subject and start acting like a team. " I said, starting to become fed up with the bickering. We all remained silent, listening to the muffled conversations of the other teams. The sudden sound of hands slamming against our table made me jump.

"Well, what were you two up to last night?" Section Commander Hanji stood at the end of the table.

"Fuck off shitty glasses."

"What do you mean last night?" Tereza asked, perking up from her angry mood.

"Nothing happened! I have no clue what she's talking about!"

"Well, my little new recruit, let me tell you what I saw." Hanji smiled, "This morning, I went to go wake Levi up like I have been for the past few weeks. He was usually awake already, so my wake up calls were useless. But, this morning when I burst into his room, I saw the two of them sleeping together."

Hanji pointed at Levi and me with both hands and smiled. I turned away as I started to feel my humiliation surface on my face.

"Really?" Tereza yelled, "They were both in the same bed?!"

"Yup, and they were really close too. Only about three inches apart I'd say."

"I knew you were lying Chana!" Tereza said excitedly as she jumped and hugged me, "You have to stop keeping things from me! You don't have to be embarrassed! I'll support you no matter what you decide to do!"

I glanced over at Levi sitting across from me. His head was turned away, I could barely see the corner of his eye. But, I noticed a small change in the colour of his face from the small part I could see. The more I looked, the more I was convinced he was blushing, even in the slightest bit.

"So, are you two together now?" Hanji asked, smirking again.

"No… That's not it at all. Of course we aren't." I managed to say.

"Really? Well than why was she in your room Levi?"

"It's not my place to tell you. If she wants to tell you, she can do it when she's ready to." Levi said, not moving his head an inch to look at anyone. I looked down and hugged my knees close to me.

"Is it something serious?" Tereza asked, releasing her grip on my shoulders slightly. I took a deep breath. I knew this would be the best time to tell them, so I could get in off my mind during the expedition. I would probably feel a lot better after saying it out loud…

"Well… Today is… The anniversary of the day my parents died…" I said, "When I was a kid, I lived in the underground district… And… When I was eight… My dad… He thought him and some other people could take one of the stairwells to the surface from the fucking merchants and let people go up for free. But they murdered him… Then those same people kidnapped my mother and I and killed her… Right in front of me… Levi saved me before I was killed… and then... I… we…" I hugged my legs tighter, forcing myself not to break down.

"That's enough." Levi said, standing up from the bench he sat on.

"But…" I said, wondering why he cut me off. I was prepared to tell them everything, I didn't want to keep it all in anymore. I was prepared to let everyone know what happened so I could stop worrying about it by myself all the time.

"Basically, she was bawling alone in the middle of the base last night and I let her stay with me for the night because I was the only one who knew why. She would have caused a scene if she went back to the barracks. It's no big deal. Nothing else happened."

Silence engulfed our table. Nobody moved. I could feel the tension that hung in the air. I wanted to take it back, I wished I hadn't said anything. I had no idea what they were thinking, what they were planning on doing next. I wanted to disappear, I held my legs closer and tried to remain as small as I could.

"I'm sorry Chana. I've been a bit too pushy lately. I understand why you didn't tell me before… I'm sorry for making you." Tereza said softly as she let go of me.

"I can't even imagine what that was like… I'm really sorry Chana…" Fannar said, his tone clouded with awkwardness.

I felt a tear well up in my left eye and fall down onto my knees. I wasn't sad so much as relieved, I should have told someone about it sooner. I was so scared of what people would think, I kept it bottled up inside. Now that I could finally confide in my new friends, it made me feel calmer and more relaxed, like I could count on them to be there.

I felt hands on mine as they were slid off my knees. I looked up to see Hanji crouched in front of me, holding my hands in hers. She smiled.

"I know losing someone can be hard. But, we need to get over these things or they'll hold us back. You don't want to be thinking of something that happened so many years ago when you need to be thinking about the present." Hanji said, "You need to leave the pain behind, you can't change the past no matter how hard you try. Move on, Chana. There's nothing you can do other than that. Now, why don't we be friends?"

"I…" I said. Tears suddenly piled up in my eyes and fell down my face. Hanji's smile disappeared and was replaced with a surprised expression.

"You're right, Section Commander, Thank you." I said as a tear fell from my face.

She stood up and sat beside me. I turned so that my feet were no longer on the bench, planning on standing up. But, Hanji wrapped her arms around me and made me stay seated. I immediately starting bawling again and leaned my forehead against her shoulder.

"Everything's going to be alright, Chana." I heard her say over my sobs.

"Today, we make our way to Trost district! This afternoon we will embark on the 32nd recon mission! All soldiers move out!" Commander Shadis yelled over the crowd. It was time to leave the safety of the base, and venture out to places I had never been to before.