847, June 15

Part 2

Just like Odilie had thought – Irvin with Eckart were nowhere in sight when she had gotten to that certain hallway. Plenty of scouts scurried past but those two were nowhere to be found. And, with a sigh, the woman realized that neither was Leo. This was starting to become a very boring day and Odie couldn't help but wish that something happened to brighten it up…

"Odie!~" The woman jumped up in a slight startle when she heard the hyper-mega-excited voice behind her. She was about to spin around to the crazy researcher but didn't have the chance as she suddenly felt a weight on her back, hands winding around her neck and chest and squeezing it with enough power to block her air intake.

Odilie nearly lost her balance with the additional mass and the force of the jump almost rammed her into the wall in front of her. Thankfully, she managed to stop that from happening by desperately throwing her hands in front to steady herself against it.

"Good morning!~" The brunette yelled obliviously and excitedly as Odie struggled to keep herself standing… and breathing…

"Air!" She cried out. Odilie would have tried to drop her off, however the thought of damaging both her neck further and the 3DMG in the process stopped her. After all, Zoe wouldn't let that happen willingly and it would most likely cause only more trouble…

"Whoopsie." The brunette chuckled, immediately getting off her. That, however, was of little help to the shorter female because the next second she was spun around and glomped, finding her nose pressed against the other female's neck.

"Hanji!" Odilie whined, trying to pry her off and struggling but to no avail. The woman was stronger than a titan in her physical strength… "It's too early for harassment!"

"It's not harassment!" Hanji moved a bit away so she could show Odie her pout. The shorter female gave her a disbelieving look.

"What do you call this then?"

"A morning greeting!" Hanji grinned. And she was back to hugging the hell out of her…

"Gah! Stop it already! And since when is harassment called 'greeting'?" There was no answer and Odilie didn't really wait for one. The brunette was already at the usual morning routine, one hand reaching for her hair. "Oh, who am I kidding?... Talking never worked with this woman…" Odilie sighed under her breath, dropping any kind of resistance, and Hanji let a chuckle escape, her hand already in the process of successfully making Odie look like she hadn't seen a hairbrush for a month…

Scouts watched the view, curiously, as they passed by. Most were already used to this because this was brunette researcher's way of greeting Odilie whenever they saw each other after a longer period of time, even if it was a couple of hours since their last meeting… However, that didn't mean it still didn't make them smile.

There were a couple of familiar chuckles and Odie looked over Hanji's shoulder. Petra and Leo stood several steps away, looking at the two. Most likely they had just gotten there because Odilie would have noticed them by now otherwise.

The woman put an even more annoyed expression on her face, rotating her pointing finger at her temple and giving a gesture at Hanji. This earned another bout of giggles from the two women, one shy, as Leonore tried to contain it, and another gentle, just like Petra herself was.

Only after a couple of minutes did the brunette feel content and released her. The first thing Odilie did was giving Hanji an extremely annoyed look which reminded of a glare more than anything and brushing her hair with her fingers. The researcher only grinned at her, as she made her way to the two blondes, Hanji trailing behind.

"Good morning, you two." Leo fell into a salute which brought an immediate smile on Odie's face. The younger girl had one of the most beautiful salutes in the Legion. Then again, it stemmed not from the posture but from the sincere feelings behind it… There weren't many people who greeted her like that…

Petra said her own greetings – simple but true – along with Zoe and the four females made their way to the duty board that was only short ways away. A small talk began among the trio, as Leo fell behind them a step. Odilie didn't even notice when they were already at their destination in just a couple of minutes.

"So what do we have today?" The four crowded around it and Hanji beamed the second her eyes found her assignment. Her hands were put together and eyes were shinier than the sun itself.

"Research! Did you know that…-" And that's where she went into telling about her latest 'adventures'. Odilie tuned out immediately. Not only had she heard the same thing yesterday she was also helping her with it until late at night. And it was universal truth that once Hanji began talking about this she couldn't shut up or be shut up…

"Cleaning duty…" Petra sighed, ignoring titan lover as well, and Odilie snickered at her and Leo's expressions. Most groups had some sort of cleaning and she knew she will have it as well. Their duties were almost always same – if cleaning then all of them had it, if free – then all of them enjoyed their days off. That was simply the way the groups had been made.

Well, there were also those rare exceptions when Odilie would be put on research along with Hanji and the madwoman would try to pry every single memory about her previous expeditions out of her head. That was followed with numerous reports, both old and new… And that was precisely what she had yesterday. Odilie didn't even doubt that this was the reason why her head refused to remember anything right now…

"I'd rather be training…" The blonde fifteen-years old mumbled under her breath and Odie patted her on the head, grinning. Hanji was still talking to thin air and earning amused looks from passersby.

"Yea. Would do some good for you." Leo gave her best friend a look and Odie laughed. It was always fun to tease the younger girl, especially since it was so hard to predict her reactions, having in mind how shy and composed she usually was. Still, even if she said it jokingly, Odilie really thought that Leonore needed a lot of training to get through the expeditions without needing someone to save her… She had lost count of how many times she had already done that…

"Ah." Petra's voice made her snap out of it and look at the woman on her other side.

"What is it?" Odie asked and followed her other best friend's hand as she pointed at the board. Odilie's eye twitched the second she saw it. Her left hand rose to her temple and began rubbing it. She could already feel a headache setting in…

Near the 4th group, which was hers and said 'laundry', there was another piece of paper pinned. It said 'Odilie Artz: meeting at 9'.

"That… man… He just…" She sighed, shaking her head. Then, she proceeded to rip it off and crumple it, violently with both hands.

"… You're not going?... Again?..." Petra's disbelieving voice reached her and the other woman shrugged. Instead of responding, she made her way to the nearest window and opened it, all the other females (Hanji included as she had woken up when Odilie moved) following her, curiously. Their eyes widened at her next action as the paper flew out the window.

Odie spun to them, hands on hips, a huge grin on her face.

"Here's your answer, Petra. And I hope Irvin finds th-" Suddenly Petra launched herself at her, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her down.

"Duck!" Odilie blinked in shock as Leo also fell on her knees, only Zoe was still standing. "Hanji!" Petra cried and the brunette blinked at the other females at her feet.

"Huh? Petra? What-" Odie began but the titan lover cut her off as she rushed to the window, making the trio scurry away from there at once, Petra dragging her by her hand. Then, Hanji waved, grinning like the madwoman that she was.

"Good morning, Levi!"

"Levi?" Odilie mouthed to Petra with a raised eyebrow and the blonde cried out in a whisper.

"You don't know who he is?! The Corporal! You hit him with it!" At this, Odilie's only thought was…

'Fuck.'

/*==*\

Although Corporal's face was as stoic and cold as ever, the entire yard which had witnessed the paper hit him square in the right side of his face didn't miss the shadow that appeared over his eyes. A couple of scouts backed away, slowly, as if trying not to attract their Corporal's attention in case he thought that they had thrown it. Though, they needn't worry about it because his eyes were firmly fixed at the crumbled paper that lay near his feet and he was well aware of where it had come from.

Slowly, Levi raised his gaze to the window where he heard someone yell "Duck!". It sounded suspiciously like Petra's voice, however he doubted it was her who had done this. The panic in her voice told him as much.

In the window, he saw Hanji looking dumbfounded to someone on the floor, who was hiding obviously. When her gaze rose and met his, she grinned, rushed to the windowsill and waved at him.

"Good morning, Corporal!" Clearly she wasn't the one who had chucked the paper too. Although she was crazy, she wasn't that cracked.

With a steadily rising annoyance but an absolutely emotionless face, he watched how the brunette suddenly turned elsewhere in surprise. By now, most people had left the yard in a hurry.

"Eh? Guys! Where are you going? Wait for me!" In the silence he could hear how three pairs of footsteps rushed away as fast as they could. Hanji was about to follow but stopped, turned to him and yelled again. "Have a nice day, Corporal!" With that, she dashed off after someone.

Levi's eye twitched. Someone had the guts. And he wasn't talking about Hanji Zoe.

He positioned his gaze back to the paper at his feet and picked it up. After unfurling it, Levi knew immediately who had done this. The shadow over his eyes became seemingly darker, his pupils contracted even more. Then, his hand clenched the paper, crushing it in his grip.

'Artz.'

/*==*\

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General notes/rants: Long story short: I'm stressed and probably will be for quite a while (oh, RL, give me a break T_T); this was written a week ago and I haven't got anything past this chapter but didn't want to make huge delays between updates; I have no idea when the next chapter comes out. Still, this will be updated as soon as my stress levels are down. Hope you're looking forward to it!

Summary: Yep. It has changed. Again XD Though, I'm already fine with it so no more changes are planned…

SnK facts/errors/grammar mistakes: Found any? Don't hesitate to let me know! Any mistake I correct early on will help me to write later!

Disclaimer: Characters which you do not recognize belong to me. Everything else belongs to their rightful owners.

Thank you for reading, enjoying, favoring, following and/or reviewing!