Chapter Text
6th November, 13:31
The next day, Hange practically skipped to the wall at free time, satisfied with the progress they'd made with Erwin. Just before bed last night, Erwin had picked the lock of the laundry room - something Hange was initially shocked he'd learned how to do, but less so once the boy had admitted he'd watched Levi do it to get fresh clothes after an extra shower once.
The two of them had taken enough tablecloths from the laundry room to tie together as a makeshift rope for the escape. They'd had to wrap the tablecloths around their bodies and sleep in their day clothes to hide them, and so Hange was in their usual state of disarray, covered in wrinkles and so-called breakfast stains, yet Erwin looked decent enough that they almost second-guessed whether he'd changed clothes. They didn't know how he managed it.
"This was brilliant," they said once Erwin arrived at the wall, undoing the tablecloths around their waist and placing them in the hollow of the tree they'd climbed the day before.
"It will be the easiest part," Erwin passed up his own smuggled tablecloths to stash away. "Now that we've prepared a method for overcoming the wall, the next stage will be forming a tactic to get here undetected. Assuming we'll be able to deal with the trackers, the focus will be on stealth."
For such a task, one person in particular came to mind.
"To be honest, Erwin... I think it would be best if we told Levi."
"I agree," he said, to their surprise. "He's a formidable escape artist. This sort of thing is his specialty. He wouldn't panic about the situation we're in, either. And frankly, it's going to be difficult to keep avoiding him and running off as a pair if we're trying to pretend to carry on as normal."
"That's true," Hange agreed. "Plus, he'll be efficient in corralling all the younger children into getting here quickly and sneakily."
"Yes," Erwin murmured. "Though, if you're fine with it, I think it'd be better if I could discuss the situation with him first."
"Why?" Hange frowned.
"We should probably start being more careful now, particularly with the trackers. One of us can talk to him, and the other can distract Papa, or at least make sure he's not checking his locating device."
"Or we could just get it over and done with now, since we're all here."
Hange jumped out of their skin at the sound of Levi's voice, almost falling over. He was perched on a rock just a few metres to the side of them, an open book in his lap and a paperweight being spun in one of his hands. How on earth had they not noticed him so close by?
"Levi?" Erwin sounded just as caught off-guard as Hange felt.
Despite having spent ten years with one another, Levi's ability to come and go completely undetected when he wished to still got the best of them sometimes. Exactly the sort of thing that would come in handy for them now. But still, of all the conversations for him to be eavesdropping on...
"My bad. Didn't think you'd wet yourselves at the sight of me," he snarked. "Or that you'd actually have the guts to go past the fence. Finally."
"W-well-" Erwin started, but Levi kept talking.
"There's a reason for that, isn't there? Now," he pulled on Hange's ponytail and Erwin's collar with equal force, bringing them both down to eye-level, and fixed them each with a glare. "You losers have been sulking for the past two days, ever since Eren left. You said you didn't make it in time to give him his key, but then you didn't bring it back to the house with you." Hange grimaced. "Then you go and hop the fence during free time instead of playing with the other kids like you always do. Out with it. The hell is going on?"
Hange and Erwin looked each other in the eyes (both tearful from the force Levi was gripping them with - he was surprisingly strong for such a tiny boy), trying to formulate any reasonable explanation for their behaviour that wasn't the truth. It was counterproductive, given that they planned to tell him soon anyway, so it didn't take long before Erwin sighed and caved in, giving Levi the full, detailed explanation.
He listened in silence, and Hange watched uncomfortably as his hand rubbed at his mouth and his eyes occasionally widened at each horrific revelation.
"Titans... powers... sent out to get eaten?" Levi muttered eventually. "And Papa's the one setting us up for it all. That doesn't sound good for us."
"Well-observed, clean freak," Hange glowered at his downplaying of Erwin's explanation, and he glared right back at them.
"And they're doing this because one of us might have something the beasts out there can use to fight with. To give to one of their warriors."
"The- yes, that's what the warriors must be," Erwin breathed out. "Soldiers who fight with the titan powers, and retain their intellect whilst being titans, possibly."
"I'm surprised you're taking this in so easily," Hange commented. "Doesn't it sound crazy to you?"
"Of course, and that's expected of you, four-eyes. Your theories are as good as fantasies that you've deluded yourself into believing are the truth," Levi deadpanned. "But Erwin isn't creative enough to think of a lie as horrific and nonsensical as this."
"That's just rude."
"Whatever. What's the plan, then? I suppose you aren't planning to turn tail on your own, so who are you preparing to take with you?"
"Uh, everyone?" Hange responded with confusion.
Levi scoffed and stared at them. "You're taking the mick, ri-"
"Levi, wait," Erwin interjected. The two of them made eye contact, and Levi shook his head.
"No. Don't lie to them, eyebrows. You know there's no way you're gonna escape with the entire orphanage in tow."
"What do you mean? Of course we are," Hange insisted. "We're not leaving them here!" A foreboding feeling started settling in their bones.
"Listen. If those people out there are resorting to methods like this, they're obviously power-hungry and desperate, which means there's a good chance they're at war. Erwin said that they're discussing wiping out a race of people who might be able to turn into titans like it's a perfectly normal and acceptable thing to do. Not only will this escape be difficult with getting a bunch of toddlers and babies up there," Levi threw an arm up to gesture at the wall looming over them, "but once we're on the other side of it, we're gonna be fighting for our survival every day. If you try to take them all along, they'll just die."
"Well, they'll die here too if we don't try to do something about it!" They sputtered back at him. "I can't believe this. You can't believe this. There's no way you'd be fine with just leaving them here for Papa to throw them out to their deaths. You understand, right? Eren got eaten and killed!"
Levi's eye twitched, and he tore his gaze away from them with his jaw clenched. But he didn't respond, so Hange kept talking.
"We've always been weird kids anyway, even at the orphanage. If we don't belong in the world beyond the wall, we'll just have to make somewhere that we do once we're out there, titans be damned. That's the only option. It's the only chance of all of us potentially surviving, even if the odds are slim. I want Eren to be the last one. No more," they pleaded.
"You don't understand-" he started.
"I understand perfectly. Thanks for your input. I know how much more there is to consider now. We'll start working to take future survival into account as well, rather than just the escape." On a roll, they pulled him up off the ground by his shirt collar and shook him roughly in their excitement. "So, stop complaining and giving up before we've even started, shorty, and help us instead!"
The boy struggled in their grasp with a wide-eyed stare before swinging his legs up onto their thighs and pushing them away with his feet as he pried their fingers off his collar. They both fell away from each other and toppled onto the ground.
"Maniac," he spat, dusting himself off as they both stood up. Erwin chuckled. "And what the hell are you doing, just standing there? Surely you're not going along with this."
"It's a pretty difficult scenario," the taller boy mused. "But Hange's right. Leaving anyone here is a death sentence."
"You can't save everyone," Levi said through gritted teeth.
"Perhaps not. But it's good to aim for a perfect game. Besides," Erwin grinned, "I quite like the sound of a grand escape plan."
"You what?" Levi echoed, horrified. Hange cackled. "Erwin, this isn't a game you can lose. You're gambling with lives here."
"And I'm good at gambling," he boasted lightheartedly. "Yes, there's a high chance I won't win, but the alternative is a loss in itself, and just as bad."
"You're insane."
"And we're quite good friends."
"It's almost certain everyone will die if you do it like this." Levi jabbed a finger at Hange. "Four-eyes will die. Miche will die. All those little snivelling brats who can't even walk or talk yet are gonna get killed. It's a near-certainty. Are you willing to accept that?"
"It's a grave situation," Erwin sobered up. "But that's not a scenario I'm willing to accept, no. I won't allow for something like that to happen. There's a way to do everything if you think on it long enough, and I've never failed anything I've set out to achieve. Now's the perfect time to put that skill to use. After all, we've got three top scorers here at once - a first, apparently. If anyone's going to pull off something like this, it's us. Hange and I are going to attempt this regardless of what you do, Levi, but three heads will be better than two. So, are you going to watch us near-certainly die? Or will you come with us and help everyone survive?"
Hange covered their mouth to hide their smile as Levi sighed and turned away, defeated. He was completely cornered. It wasn't in his nature to let others put themselves in danger without trying to help them first. That considered, they didn't know why he'd bothered providing a serious argument for leaving anyone behind.
"You know me too well."
Hange whooped and ran a celebratory lap around the two boys.
Walking up to the wall, they took a brief moment to digest all of the information they'd received from the conversation. They hadn't read many books on war - there wasn't much in the library that covered those topics, to be honest - which wasn't all that surprising anymore, now that they knew the contents were more filtered down than they assumed children's reading material usually would be.
Truthfully, the points Levi made were scary because they were rooted in reality. The challenge that sat ahead of them was incredibly difficult, and the possibility that the lives of the youngest children would be put at risk by bringing them along was terrifying.
But of course, their lives were the precise reason they had to escape in the first place. In the orphanage, death was inevitable. They had seen that firsthand. And if Hange were in Eren's position (and they desperately wished they were, that Eren would be alive and well in their place, that nothing horrible had ever happened to him), they would want nothing more than the very opposite of their fate to happen to the rest of their siblings. And, really thinking about it, they couldn't come up with a length they wouldn't go to to ensure this escape succeeded with full marks and flying colours, given how significant it was.
The sound of the bell ringing in the distance jogged all three children out of their separate trains of thought.
Levi frowned and checked his pocket watch. "There's still an hour of free time."
"I can't believe we have to run all the way back again," Hange huffed, and was the first to take off. They made eye-contact with Levi as they passed him; a direct challenge to race them back.
To their dismay, he beat them easily, knowing the fastest routes through the forest better than anyone. They were prepared to sulk about it for the foreseeable future, but forgot all about it once everyone was guided into the dining hall.
Waiting for them was a very large blonde man with an infant bundled up in his arms. Once Papa led them all inside, he strode up to the stranger and took the child from him before addressing the room.
"This is Louise," Papa introduced the little one he was holding. "And this young man here is Brother Reiner. He's going to be helping me watch over you for a little while."
"Nice to meet you all," the other man smiled amicably.
In all their years living at the orphanage, Hange couldn't recall ever seeing any adult other than Papa, excluding the glimpses of those in uniforms at the gate the other day. Brother Reiner, who had a square face and was much broader in comparison to Papa, didn't have a voice they recognised from that time, but wore the same light, carefree mask as the man in the room that they were familiar with.
No discussion was needed to understand his purpose. Papa needed help figuring out who knew the truth, and another pair of eyes from someone they didn't know well enough to predict the habits of was the perfect spy. Brother Reiner would be spending day in, day out trying to catch them out, goading them into admitting that they knew the truth.
Hange clenched their jaw with resolve. No matter. They weren't going to give him a thing.
They loitered outside of Levi and Erwin's dormitory, both boys beside them, and watched Brother Reiner get settled in.
"What a pain," Levi muttered with disdain. "He's in the centre of the three children's rooms. That stops anyone from going anywhere at night without being noticed."
Hange forced a smile as Papa glanced back at the three of them, pulling Brother Reiner's room's door closed.
Now that the men were out of eyesight, Erwin suggested that they go and study in the library. It was something that they rarely did anymore, given that they all had perfect scores. But all the other children who had to study would either be in the dining hall or the library's designated study tables, and so, with Papa likely giving Brother a tour around the house soon, a far corner of the library seemed like the perfect place to talk things over alone.
"I didn't think he'd bring someone in from the outside," Erwin scowled. "I was preoccupied with the trackers. We don't usually get another sibling so quickly either."
"A new child will have the scar though, right?" Hange perked up. "From the trackers. We could chec-"
"It could be a trap," Levi raised a hand to cut them off. "Yeah, we should take advantage of the new kid, but not too quickly. Papa's probably feeling pressured if he's doing all of this, so we shouldn't panic and make any rash movements like checking for the trackers as soon as we can. He's the one that's given us an easy opportunity like that."
"Only a handful of children are gonna be able to get that close to Louise without Papa watching them anyway," Hange reminded him. "So if he's planned for us to do that, surely he has an idea of who the children who left Eren's key at the gate are."
"It's natural for him to suspect the eldest anyway. It's not like the four-year-olds can run as fast as you guys, and how many of our siblings do you think would be able to smile like usual if they saw one of us getting eaten?"
Hange grimaced. Levi said it so candidly. It was easier for him, they reminded themself. He hadn't seen it like they had.
"Papa read through me yesterday too," Erwin frowned. "Must have caught me thinking too hard this morning and confronted me last night."
Hange looked away with downcast eyes. If Erwin's behaviour had been suspicious to Papa, theirs would have certainly alerted him. The thought that they might have revealed themself so soon was not a comforting one.
"You two are damn stupid," Levi muttered. "Leaving that key and waiting until Papa found it before running off. You could have been caught and killed so easily."
"It's not like we knew what was going on," Erwin argued with furrowed eyebrows. "What's done is done. We could have been caught, but it wouldn't be ideal for Papa if he found us, either. Hange and I just turned eleven."
"And?"
"And they won't send us out until we're twelve."
"Why twelve?"
"I've been looking at the order our siblings were adopted in. From the age of five, we're sent off based on whoever gets the lowest average score on the tests." He whipped out a small notebook and flipped to a table on one of the pages. "Eren's was the lowest most recently. Before him, Tomas, then Nac, then Mylius, and then Keith was sent out a week after his twelfth birthday."
"But why?" Levi asked again. "Always twelve. Not thirteen, not eleven, but twelve specifically."
"That's a good point," Hange frowned. They didn't really know. "Twelve is when puberty is expected to kick in, roughly, so for whatever reason they might want us before that happens."
"Or they just want the brats to start being physically capable enough to fight but not smart enough to question any instructions they're being told to obey."
"Do you really think children would be swayed to fight in a war so easily, even if they wer-"
"Levi," Erwin broke his silence. "If the children with the titan powers are being eaten, they aren't the ones trained up to be warrior titans."
"Aren't they?" The elder boy challenged him. "From what you overheard, that's still a possibility. Otherwise there'd be no reason so wait until a certain age to take the power away from them and give it to someone else. Why don't they just feed us all at once if that's not important?"
Hange cringed hearing the familiar words of one of the men at the gate.
"Perhaps there's multiple powers and they don't want the same person to get them," Erwin countered. "Due to incompatibility, or whatever reason it may be."
Levi sighed. "It's still easier to manipulate children into fighting by brainwashing them when they're young. Imagine they take you to the gate and they tell you that you can live if you agree to fight with them, regardless of if you have a power or not. Maybe they'll give one to you if they're loyal enough."
"That's insane!" Hange seethed. "None of us would ever agree to that."
"And it's not what's happening," Erwin added, flipping to where his transcript was loosely tucked into the notebook. "Here. They're using adults as the vessels."
"Vessels. Not necessarily the ones fighting." Levi grabbed the transcript and began reading over it for himself.
"You're being stubborn. If someone is willing to agree to eat someone to potentially get a power, there's no reason they wouldn't be willing to fight with it too. Especially since the alternative would be someone else eating that person."
"Have you even read this yourselves?" Levi sneered at them and jabbed a finger at the bottom of the transcript. "Possesses the memories of an individual with a titan power. Memories, not memory. If someone with a titan power holds a notable set of memories, surely it suggests they have the memories of someone other than themselves. As in, they inherit them from the last person to have that power."
Hange and Erwin both stared at the offending words in shock. Somehow, neither had nitpicked the wording of that particular line before.
"What probably happens," Levi continued, less passionately, "is that they send these titans out to fight for them, and though they're loads more powerful than any other weapon, they're still mortal. And if they die, no one can inherit that power the usual way, and... a newborn ends up getting it."
"That's not scientific," Erwin said.
"It doesn't matter. How can they know that one of the brats here has a power if that's not what happens? Obviously it's a lottery. And this orphanage has been open far longer than any of us have been here. It's a cycle."
"You're saying this power is... by some means, transferred to the body of a newborn - presumably when the pers-" Erwin began.
"Around ten or eleven," Hange interrupted, "children start losing the vividness of their childhood memories, and they become more fragmented, just like an adult's. If - I don't know how much you two know about the biology of the brain, but-"
"What do you think, science freak?" Levi muttered. Hange clamped their hand over his mouth, and removed it just as quickly when he bit them in response.
"Keep your mouth shut, then! In the brain there's these things called neurons that basically send signals between each part of the body so it all functions the way... well, the way that it does. If you want to do something, the neurons will send that thought to the parts that carry out that action. The bit of the brain that deals with long-term memory - if there's an excessive amount of neuron activity even after a child is meant to lose the details of their early memories, it would show... wow." They took a deep breath. "The idea you're presenting, Levi, is that someone could be born already having the memories of the person who wielded the power before them."
"Something like that."
"And additionally, the brain is almost fully developed by the age of twelve. So, any individual differences in childhood where one might be particularly good at motor skills or something and that part of the brain is significantly more developed, it would even out to an unnoticeable point by twelve. They can't focus on the children's brains too young because the memory might naturally be a bit better and they'd misjudge, or the kids might confuse their dreams and nightmares with reality. But by twelve, if there's still a notable difference, there's a good chance that's why. That's why they wait."
"The... the theory here is that when someone with a titan power is killed, it's passed onto a newborn," Erwin said slowly, struggling to process their rambling. "And that memories are transferred too. Is that the case when the vessels consume a power too?"
"Supposedly. We're working with things we don't have the knowledge to break down perfectly," Hange responded. "But if an active being is consuming the entirety of that person's DNA, maybe... maybe it fuses through a chemical reaction and compounds the memory parts of the brain. It's difficult to imagine, but if that was somehow the case, then I guess it's a possibility that they would inherit memories like that."
"It doesn't explain the newborn thing."
"It doesn't," they shrugged. "But that's the best I've got."
"It doesn't matter anyway," Levi told them. "The exact science of it all isn't relevant if all we're trying to do is get out of here."
"Understanding is the key to overcoming," Hange argued. "Perhaps this information will be really relevant, and we just don't realise it yet!"
"I still think the conclusion that the eventual inheritors of the powers are children is far-fetched," Erwin said. "I don't understand why that was your first thought. But if that was the case, and they had their reasons for it, perhaps physical and mental development comes into play, as both you and Hange said. And if multiple powers could cause conflict within an individual, maybe two fully-formed yet mismatched memories could too, as well as teenage personality development."
"You're overcomplicating it," Levi huffed.
"Brain development and seeing if someone has an abnormal memory is probably the most significant reason," Hange ignored him. "But I agree that there would be multiple factors for choosing twelve as the prime age of inheritance. And now that I think about it, if someone already harbours the memories of an adult, it might be that their brain doesn't go through the whole childhood fragmenting phase at all."
Erwin sighed. "None of this makes sense with what we know within the laws of science and physics."
"Obviously," Levi replied. "People find new laws of science and physics all the time. And I don't know if you noticed, eyebrows, considering how often your head is in the clouds, but the books in the library are all old as curdled milk. The most recent nonfiction text was published thirty years ago now."
"Thirty?" Hange exclaimed.
"So any of Hange's insane theories might have already been proven correct, and we wouldn't even know. We're living like cavemen, with no idea what's going on outside the walls, nor how far science and technology have advanced."
"That's going to disadvantage us when it comes to the trackers," they mumbled. Very reluctantly, they decided to leave the mystery of how a child at the orphanage could inherit a titan power and memories unresolved for the moment. "Okay. We've thought about this all we can right now. We need to focus on getting out, even if we don't know what's going on outside."
"But we do need to know how terrible it will be out there," Levi stressed. "It's a matter of survival."
"Then let's assume the worst and that everyone outside wants us dead and eaten by titans," they threw their arms up in frustration. "We don't have time for this."
"One moment," Erwin spoke up, and Hange nearly screamed. "Just so we're all on the same page. There's only a few dozen of us at the orphanage, and if this has been going on for more than thirty years, surely there can't be that many adults left to be testers. If we were the only orphanage." Hange nodded in agreement as he paused momentarily to glance over the transcript. "Which we probably aren't. There might be several elsewhere."
"And?" Levi mumbled.
"There are people giving birth to us all, somewhere."
For the first time since this all started, Hange was struck by idea that, while they sometimes wondered if their parents had died, the real reason behind their orphaning might in fact be much more sinister.
"They can't be killing off all the children if they need more to be born," Erwin continued. "If it is a cycle, like you said. Yet it seems counterproductive to try and cull the population, especially if they're trying to get rid of everyone at the end," he frowned at the written conversation, "if they also want to use our potential abilities as a weapon." He sighed. "Never mind. I don't know. I don't know much about humans killing others."
It was why seeing Eren getting eaten had been so horrific, Hange thought. They knew of death, that humans could die from illness or if they got too hurt, as the books said. They also knew animals could eat other animals, as part of the natural food chain, for survival purposes. But they'd never ever heard of humans getting eaten, nor eating each other. It was a cruelty they'd never been exposed to before.
"Awful things happen outside, but Papa doesn't want us to know that," Levi said. "None of the books go into such dark subjects, and the nonfiction books we can access here are just enough to encourage the curiosity needed for our brains to develop the way they want them to. We're unprepared for the enemy we face, and need to consider all worst-case scenarios and obstacles in our way if we're gonna succeed in our escape."
"It's good that you've come on board with this so quickly," Erwin noted, and Levi narrowed his eyes at him.
"Obviously. We're on short time. Children get sent eve-" he cut himself off abruptly, deflating a little and lowering his voice. "We need to think about these things and our life as we knew it compared to the truth we know now. It will give us information. I tell you all the time, if you wanna outlast your opponent, you need to use everything you've got in every way you can. That's the only way you're gonna survive and win."
Perhaps for the first time ever, Hange truly appreciated Levi's weird outlook on life and self-improvement. Many of the things he'd said had grated on them over the years, but now they were truly applicable to the situation they found themself in.
Briefly, they wondered what other parts of their life they could adapt into something benefiting their escape, but were sidetracked by Erwin's next question.
"You know you're next, don't you?" Their eyes nearly popped out of their skull hearing that.
"Of course," he replied without missing a beat. "So I'll be using everything at my disposal. Papa's doing the same. Bringing in people from outside..." he tutted. "Surely that disrupts the routine for the other children. Makes them wonder why things need to be so different all of a sudden. What a gamble, for such a stupid reason as watching us without needing to do it directly himself."
"Indeed. Our escape will need to be foolproof," Erwin nodded resolutely.
Hange didn't really know what to say. How could they help?
"What's the most important thing for us to focus on to escape right now?" They asked.
"The trackers. I doubt we'll be able to properly escape without them, so they need to be dealt with. But we don't know where on our bodies they are, nor how to break them."
"Alright. I'll look through the books, see if I can find anything that would resemble a device like that, and reverse-engineer it," they decided. "And I'm on baby bedtime duty tonight with Moblit, so I can look for the tracker then."
Those were two things they knew they could deal with. They knew the most about machines, and Papa was very particular about the children who could be on duty to put the eight - or nine, now that Louise had arrived - infants to bed. Erwin hadn't ever been put on that duty, and Hange hadn't seen Levi do it for a couple of years now. Moblit and Hange seemed to be the most frequent caretakers recently. They didn't know why, especially given Hange hadn't been that great with gently handling the youngest kids in the past, but now wasn't the time to question it. Not with all of the other issues at hand.
And so, after dinner, Hange went straight to the babies' room with Moblit to change the children and put them to sleep. They each took care of four infants each, leaving the newest addition to their family, Louise, last.
"I'll take care of Louise," Hange offered.
"Alright," Moblit responded softly.
He didn't move to leave, hovering a little, but Hange ignored him and slowly undressed Louise, patting her down and checking for any sign that something might have been inserted into her skin. She fussed a little, clearly unused to someone she didn't recognise handling her.
"Hange?"
They held in a sigh and changed her into her nightclothes. Any longer would look more suspicious to Moblit. They tried to think about it from Papa's view. Where would a mark be where no one would notice? Not just to the person's own body, but on anyone else's during shared baths or when changing?
"Hange, I want to ask you something, if that's alright."
It could be bad if titans ate tracking devices, might mess with their organs. Perhaps it was somewhere that could be cut out - or off - easily? Eren looked fairly intact to them, they thought, as they lightly combed through Louise's hair with their fingers.
"The other nigh-"
Moblit was cut off by Hange's gasp as they folded the shell of Louise's ear backwards. There, on the back of the baby's ear, was a red bump.
"What's that?" Moblit asked, peering over their shoulder. "A bite? We should get Papa. It could be an aller-"
"Papa said this was where the needle was injected for our vaccines. The ones we have when we're really little. Mikasa, Armin and everyone else had them too." They remembered asking Papa about it when they had taken care of the babies for the first time, seeing it when Mikasa had been rubbing at her ear in distress.
"Do we have one as well?"
Hange folded back Moblit's ear to see, and found nothing resembling the mark found on Louise. "Guess not."
"Huh. I guess they fade over time, since I'm ten and you're eleven. They were probably gone before we were old enough to notice them."
Hange tweaked Louise's ear one more time and felt something prominent beneath it - too hard to be cartilage at her early age. It was, without a shred of doubt, where the tracker was located. They felt a surge of triumph embrace their body. Finally, something had gone right, and without much difficulty this time.
"That's way smaller than I imagined," they murmured.
"What is?"
"The, uh, the bug bite. The mark from the vaccine, I mean," they sputtered awkwardly. They didn't want to reveal anything to the younger boy.
Though... shouldn't they? If they were going to escape with everyone, surely the other children needed a reason to leave in the first place, even if it wasn't as detailed as the full truth.
Moblit was one of the eldest children too, and though he was probably too timid and sensitive to be able to handle exactly what had happened, he'd understand the gravity of the situation when it came to making sure everyone got out successfully and safely. The younger ones liked him and took him seriously, and that kind of order would be needed for this plan to work, so having Moblit on their side would certainly beneficial.
Though Hange didn't know the exact plan themself yet, leaving that to Erwin to mastermind. In any case, they should probably consult with him and Levi before telling anyone else, they supposed.
It took Hange a long while to get to sleep that night. So much new information had been given to them in the span of a single day, and they really hadn't been able to digest it all in the moment. While what they really wanted to do was figure out the science behind the titans, it was as much of a dead end as it had been earlier, and they ended up doing a mental walkthrough of the library, knowing the vague locations of the book genres they'd want to start researching from if they wanted to get a head start on the potential technology the tracker was constructed of.
Even though the three of them had discussed that the library was unlikely to be all that useful in providing modern information, they still believed it was an important place to start. Even if their research was outdated, once they got their hands on the tracker, understanding how to reverse-engineer its technology would theoretically be as simple as filling in the gap between their knowledge and the device they'd have in front of them.
In some ways, this entire escape was constructed that way. The way they'd understood the world in the orphanage was vastly different from the reality they'd been exposed to at the gate, and whilst they didn't have all that information on what was going on outside, they had enough to understand that they didn't understand, and thus could be doubly careful in preparing for the unknown, no matter how unlikely it seemed.
The escape was a bridge between the orphanage and the outside, and, working both forwards from their old knowledge and backwards from their new knowledge, they'd soon enough be able to fill in the gaps completely. With that, a fully-fledged plan would be formed, and as long as they stuck to it, there'd be little room for failure.