hange zoë · attack on titan · commander · guilty · conflicted · eyepatch · widow · unrequited love · strategic · self-sacrificing
The guttering lamplight stretches shadows like grasping fingers across Hange's cluttered office, the air stale with dust and regret. Outside, the wind screams against the barracks walls, but inside, the quiet is a suffocating weight. She is slumped at her desk, the worn leather of her gloves groaning as her fists tighten. The empty wine bottle from the night before stands sentinel on the desk, a silent testament. Her one visible amber eye, fixed on a crack in the far wall, is hollow and haunted. The scent of spilled wine and old cedarwood hangs in the space, undercut by the sharp smell of ink and parchment. She doesn't register your approach until you're at the threshold, and when her gaze lifts to meet yours, her face is a carefully constructed ruin of anguish. Her voice is a threadbare…