[f]

"Leviiiii?" Hanji called as she burst into the room, holding several documents in her hand. She stopped when her almond eyes landed on Chi. "Chi! You're awake?!" Hanji instantly rushed over and grabbed the younger woman's face, turning it side to side to inspect it carefully. "And you look almost unharmed! Levi, why didn't you tell me she'd woken up?!"

"H—hey!" Chi grunted, trying to wrestle Hanji's hands off of her face. "S—stop it! Who're you?!"

"Who am I?" Hanji leaned in even closer to peer into Chi's daffodil irises. "You mean, you really don't remember?" It clicked in her head when her gaze wandered back to Levi's crestfallen face.

"I—I don't think I remember," Chi replied, knitting her brows together. "I mean, I don't think I've ever met you. I'm Chisaki. What's your name?"

Hanji's eyes widened when she realized the fragile state in which Chi's mind laid; it was no puzzle as to why Levi looked so horribly pained.

"I'm Hanji," she introduced, deciding to play along. "You must be hungry. The others have gotten back now, so we can eat dinner with them."

"The others?" Hanji pulled on Chi's arm and led her out of bed before whistling lowly.

"I mean, maybe you should go wash up first... and then we'll eat."

"Okay...?" Chi followed Hanji to a bathroom where she indicated there was a shower inside, along with a fresh set of clothes and shoes. Nodding, Chi slipped inside and locked the door behind her, shuffling over to the mirror, where her jaw dropped in shock. Her skin, hair and clothes alike were all completely bloodstained, leaving a filthy sensation all over her body. A shocked squeak escaped her lips and she stripped down, desperate to get rid of the feeling of blood.

When she turned the water and filled the bucket, she took a rag and she scrubbed herself down raw, washing her hair three times through with soap. Her skin turned red from the mass amount of rough scrubbing. It was only then that she felt clean enough ti step out, the water that drained from her body tinted crimson. Using a towel she found hanging from a hook, she quickly wiped down and rubbed out excess water in her hair without bothering to brush it. Hastily, she took her clothing and discarded them before grabbing a neatly folded set of clothes and slipping them on. A white button-up shirt with a defined collar, some strange-looking jacket with a symbol of white and blue wings on the back and sleeves, and a pair of white pants.

Chi considered such attire to be strange, but she shrugged as she pulled on a long pair of brown boots, the flaps reaching above her knee. Next came this set of leather straps, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't figure out how to put it on, thus leading to her stalking quietly back to her bedroom from before. Once inside, she'd intended to search for Hanji, but the older woman was not there.

"Um," she stammered as she found only Levi, "where'd Hanji go?"

He looked up, the dark bags under his eyes defined and gloomy.

"She went to get food ready for you with the other cadets," he answered. "What do you need, idio—" He caught himself and cleared his throat.

"Could you—could you help me put this on? I have no idea how." Levi's eyes slid over to the set of straps Chi held in her hand and he stood, taking them in his. Without another word, he began to strap on the leather, around her shoulders, over her chest—though he let her clip that one herself—around her back and her waist. When his arms snaked around her hips to tighten them, she felt a familiar sense of touch and stiffened, a redness rising to her cheeks. Without thought, she turned and grabbed his face, roughly pressing her lips to his. Levi froze, eyes wide, and he felt something inside of him want to kiss her too—to make her his—but he knew he couldn't. Setting his hands on Chi's shoulders, he pushed her backwards and immediately regretted the feeling of her warmth leaving his lips, but he shook his head.

"I—I'm sorry!" Chi apologized profusely, slapping both palms onto her mouth. Her mind was swarmed with confusion and embarrassment. The way her body had moved felt so reflexive. "I didn't mean to do that, I—I didn't even think, it was a reflex, I—I don't know what's wrong with me! I—"

"It's fine," Levi cut in, shaking his head. "I'm sure you can finish up strapping. I'll meet you downstairs."

And with that, he turned and left the room without bothering to shut the door behind him as he went down the hallway. Letting out a long breath, Chi struggled to finish putting on the straps, pulling the ones on her foot to tighten them and clasping the clamps around her hips. Her cheeks burned and she covered her face for a few moments, regretting what she'd done. It really was a reflex, something she'd felt compelled to do, not something she really meant.

Her finger traced her lip, where she'd felt it collide; electricity shot up and down her spine. It was unthinkable that she'd do something like that to someone who was supposedly her friend, but it felt so... normal. It wasn't normal for you to kiss your friends, was it?

"There's something he's not telling me," she murmured to herself before exiting the room and heading downstairs. She wandered for awhile, following the warm scent of cooked food, though many times she would get lost in the various hallways. At one point she was positive it was coming from a set of double doors, but behind them steps that led down to an even darker level trailed lower, throwing shivers up her spine. Sighing, she finally encountered a large room with a rectangular table, where several teenagers were seated around it, and Levi at the very end.

"Chi!" a brunette boy cried, a smile crossing his face, his emerald eyes lighting up happily. She was shocked to find that a complete stranger had recognized her. "There you are!"

"I'm so glad to see you're up and well," a frail, blonde-haired boy said with a smile. "Everyone's been worried sick about you since that encounter with those titans. Wait—your leg, it's—?"

"My leg?" Chi glanced down at her legs, turning them and flexing them. "Um... they're okay, I guess. Uh... do I know you guys?"

Looks of confusion and shock crossed the faces of every person as all of their eyes averted to her perplexed face before zipping over to Hanji, who'd burst into the room with a large platter of steamed potatoes.

"Ah, it looks like everyone's met up again with Chi, here!" she chirped, setting down the platter in the middle of the table. "It seems she's got a case of amnesia, but I'm sure that in time, everything will come back to her."

"Amnesia?!" the green-eyed boy from before shouted, abruptly standing from his chair, which screeched backwards with a deafening shriek. He stomped over to Chi, who still stood in the doorway, and grabbed her wrists, holding them in between each other. "Chi! Don't you remember me? Eren! It's Eren!"

"I—I'm sorry, I—I—" Chi sputtered, fear evident in her eyes as she tried to break from his hold. "Y—you're hurting me—"

"Don't touch her," Levi's sudden voice growled, suddenly appearing beside the two. He placed himself in between them and stood his ground. Though he was rather short, the venom in his voice made up for his intimidating demeanor. The anger he practically radiated sent shivers down Chi's spine; she slipped away and hid behind Hanji, peering over the older woman's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Chi squeaked, "I really can't remember who you are."

"Yeah!" Hanji chuckled, patting Chi's head. "Please excuse us, I just thought it'd be good for her to get something in her stomach. It's been quite a while since she's eaten, so I'm surprised she's up and around like usual."

"It's true," said a bald-headed boy with a small shake of his head as he stared curiously at Chi. "She looks a lot skinnier than the last time I saw her..."

"Here!" a brunette pony-tailed girl chirped, holding out a potato. "I'm Sasha, and it feels funny for me to be reintroducing myself, but have a potato!" Chi timidly peeked around Hanji's arm, contemplating her options, then slowly came forward, shyly taking the potato in her hand. Sasha beamed kindly. "They're delicious!" And to prove that, she took a large bite out of the steaming potato in her hand, sighing in pleasure as the soft texture reached her tongue.

Deciding to follow through, Chi did exactly as Sasha did, taking a small bite out of the piece in her hand, her eyes lighting up in delight as a large grin grew on her lips. "Wow!" she cooed, her nose and cheeks a rose red. "It really is good!"

Levi, who had long returned to the table and been chewing on a potato himself, choked, pounding his chest with a fist.

"Sh—she's so cute...?!" he coughed, unable to tear his eyes away from Chi. She hadn't caught his remark and continued to snack happily on the potato in her hands as Sasha chatted away with her. Mikasa stared at Chi unconsciously, her face clearly unreadable, while next to her, Eren was still in shock, his fists clenched tightly on the tabletop. It was obvious he felt as if he'd lost someone—like someone from his memories had died, with his emerald eyes stuck on his empty plate.

Chi swiftly finished off her potato and laughed when she realized many remnants of the delicious meal was left on her fingers; Sasha laughed along as she pointed to more of the potato hiding on the corner of her lips. Flicking out her tongue, Chi licked off the potato from her lips and proceeded to lick the rest off of her fingers, but she stopped when she felt something cold touch her lips.

"Huh?" she murmured as Sasha handed over a paper napkin to wipe her hands on. As she did, she spotted something metal around her left ring finger; a ring, a golden band, with a heart-shaped diamond set into the center. Something snapped in her head, and a single memory flashed into her head: the fall of Shiganshina, and the deaths of her friends.