Hanji's POV

He finished kissing my lips when he finally pulled away from me. A few days after we spent nights together when he told me there was a small surprise for me. Levi took me outside of the tower and surprisingly, I didn't wear any handcuffs. He let me wander outside by myself a bit. Though he did flinch whenever I went too far from him.

As I looked around at the fields once more, someone walks up to me... someone I never recognized. "You don't look familiar... who are you?" He asks as he walked close to me. "Are you one of those people from Marley?" He growled as his piercing eyes gazed into mine.

"W-What if I was?"

"Why have you sided with us?"

"To protect my people," I say, holding back the very words that would expose my love for Levi. It wasn't a lie that I wanted to protect my people. It was part of the truth. "Wouldn't you have done the same to protect the people you love?"

"I would. Which is why I have to ask... would you do anything to free the Eldian people from their prison? Have them wander the world freely as everyone else did?"

I stepped away from him, cautious of his words. These words were relating to recruitment... something that I did not want to be a part of. "What do you truly want?"

"I wanted to know if you would fight for your people."

"I would. But maybe not in the way you would think, whoever you think you are."

The man opened his mouth to speak before I heard the relaxing voice of Levi's. "Floch,  what the hell are you doing here?"

He turns to him with a neutral face, "Doing some rounds on the castle walls. Saw her unaccompanied and I was questioning her. Who is she?"

"She's none of your damn business, that's for sure." Levi grabbed me forcefully by the arm, hurting it a bit. Levi tugged at me a bit, pulling me close to his side. I wish to lean my head on his shoulder, but I can't... we're in public. "Go back to your business, Floch."

The man, Floch, glared at me a bit, smirking. "Understood Captain Levi." He walks away from sight when Levi lowered his voice to me, giving me comfort and a sense of calmness.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine... thanks..."

"What did he want from you?"

"Asking me if I would fight for my people. Of course, I said yes. But the way he was wording things... it was... as if he was recruiting me. For what, I do not know. What's up with that guy? He seems... weird and... creepy..."

Levi took that silently before nodding his head. "Understood. I'll be right back. You have a few minutes before we go back inside." He leaves me alone outside as he walked towards the direction where Floch went to.

I sit down, breathing the fresh air. I'll be honest, I love the air here. It's so fresh... unpolluted... pure. Breaking the silence, I hear some sort of gun going off. Following the echoing sounds, I saw a small shack with a trio of young kids. One of them looked similar to the child commander I saw. With him, there was someone with short black hair and someone with medium-length brown hair. They were practicing with guns, explaining the popping noise.

I walked away from that area, looking around the surroundings. Levi promises he'll take me out of the castle a bit more since I was 'behaving better,' almost as if I was some sort of dog to him. But I'm not complaining. This is better than anything else. And soon, I'll be able to go home... and this time, a spy for them.

"Hanji," I hear Levi call my name as he approaches me. "Are you okay?"

I smiled, nodding my head. "Yeah, I'm okay. Why do you ask?"

"You look off. Just tell me when you want to go back to the tower."

"Instead of returning to the tower, can I just spend the night with you? Is that okay?" I ask with my voice lowering. Even though we were outside and mere crickets and birds would drown out our voices, I still didn't want to speak of it aloud. "Please?"

Levi rolled his eyes, nodding his head. "Fine. Is there anything else?"

"Not really. Just want to stay the night with you."

"I thought you would've wanted something else." He says, grabbing my arm and tugging me back toward the castle. "Ready to head back inside?" He lowers his voice as well, "I rather spend the rest of the afternoon with you anyways."

*   *   *

I would often wake up in the middle of the night for the past few days. Every time, it's a nightmare for Levi. Sometimes I would be standing on Levi's back as he was face-down on the dirt floor, celebrating as everyone called me a hero for defeating him. It's either a variation of that nightmare or where he would be executed in front of my eyes, along with my family from Marley.

He keeps asking me what's wrong, but I dare not tell him. It's my nightmare, and I have to be the one that deals with it. I know it's nothing but my imagination. But it does eat me up from time to time. One day, I'll be free to return home and do my job as Levi's little spy. It's just worrying to know what could happen.