Attack on Titan: Twin Crimson Rose chapter 7

Mountain training area near Trost, five months after the fall of Wall Maria.

"Florence, please wait up, I'm struggling here!" Quinn gasped as they trudged through the snow capped mountains. She was carrying masses of camping and survival equipment.

"Of all the people in this damned corps, I get stuck with you" Florence Bellerose simmered.

"I'm... I'm not that bad, am I?" Quinn jogged up to Florence from behind but instantly regretted the decision after she pulled her leg, the weight of the equipment was getting to her. Florence carried an equally large load but seemed unfazed.

"So far your grade rank is 67 out of 71, that means you're one of the worst, I'm in the number one spot if you need the contrast to help you understand" Florence claimed and picked up her pace in spite of Quinn.

"Yeah, but I'm..." Quinn stopped mid sentence and sighed "I know you're better than me, everyone even, but I'm trying my best".

"Then perhaps you should go back to being a little noble's girl" Florence snapped.

Quinn stopped walking "What do you mean?"

"Forget what I said, it's nothing" Florence said after realizing her mistake.

"Do you... do you know who I am?" Quinn asked, Florence stopped and turned back to face her. Before she could open her mouth to reply, a grunting noise came from the brush followed by the crashing of bushes being shaken from the freshly lain snow.

"Oh shit..." Florence whispered.

A grizzly bear appeared and reared up to get a good look at the two girls before it, it had not eaten in almost a month. Quinn grabbed her knife and held it in front of her but she was shaking so much that she dropped it.

"Useless girl!" Florence berated her and she drew her own knife but the bear roared then pounced and bit down on her arm and cracked the bone. Florence screamed in pain and Quinn dropped to her knees in terror.

"Do something you idiot!" Florence screamed and wrestled the bear, she thumped its nose with her other hand and it grunted, she only pissed it off.

Quinn held out her hand to take the knife but she froze with tears in her eyes, she had never been so scared in her life, not even when the titans had attacked her home could compare to this somehow, probably because she was with Morgan. Morgan would have killed the bear by now but she was useless.

Florence glanced up at Quinn and was ready to resort to her last plan "QUINN MASON". Quinn looked at her in shock, they really had met before.

"I'LL KEEP YOUR SECRET IF YOU KEEP MINE!" Florence screamed.

"W-what?" Quinn asked and wiped her tears away.

Florence took her free arm and bit into her hand, the world went white from the blast of light and the area around them become devoid of snow and ice as an immense wave of heat singed the ground.

Quinn stopped in her entirety, she couldn't feel anything anymore.

The Crimson Steam Titan was before her, its legless torso sat upright on the ground as opposed to levitating on steam and it held the grizzly bear in its colossal jaws, it crunched down and bisected it then guzzled the other half down as well. It turned to Quinn and its face appeared from the red steam, it looked like a horribly deformed Florence Bellerose with blood dripping from its maw.

"H-how..." Darkness took her and Quinn drifted away.

[#]

Quinn woke in the strong yet feminine arms of Florence as she trudged down the mountainside back to the barracks. She could only carry one set of camping and survival gear, they would lose points for leaving the other behind.

"F-Florence?" Quinn asked weakly.

"Yeah?" Florence looked down at her.

"W-what happened?" Quinn closed her eyes again as she was desperately tired.

"You got spooked by a wild boar and hit your head, much to my luck" Florence replied.

"Oh, um, thank you" Quinn stuttered "I had the strangest and most horrible nightmare when I was out".

"Yeah? What happened?" Florence asked.

"I don't remember it all but, no never mind, humans can't turn into titans" Quinn shook her head slightly.

"Hmm, you're right, they can't" Florence assured her "You had one hell of a trip and you're exhausted as well, I'm not surprised that its addled your brain". The lights of the barracks drew closer.

"Florence, why did you bite your hand?" Quinn asked as she looked down at her own body, Florence's right hand was around her arm and torso in a cradle like shape.

"I didn't, that was the boar, see there's a tusk mark" Florence pointed to where the bear had ripped through her coat sleeve, the wound had already healed but the bite mark was taking a bit longer.

"You got hurt trying to help me?" Quinn asked.

"Yeah, something like that".

[#]

Near Hermina district, abandoned mine.

Marcus sat back on his chair as he guarded the entrance to the mine shaft, his friend Phil was asleep on the ground next to him and a set of playing cards was strewn across the crate that they used as a table, a few bottles of beer complimented the mess.

Marcus kicked Phil to wake him up "Oi, we're supposed to be on guard duty".

"Piss off" Phil murmured and returned to sleep.

"Phil, the boss will be back with more cargo, get up" Marcus insisted and kicked him again.

Phil grunted and got up slowly "When?"

"Any time now, we've got four more slaves comin' today, I think" Marcus said "That's good profit".

Phil chucked the empty beer bottles into the bushes around him, the mine shaft housed the base of operations for the slavers and it resided in a dark forest near Hermina district, south of Stohess.

"Look, here he comes now" Marcus said and stood up "I don't see no wagon though". A horse galloped towards them at breakneck speed.

"Looks like the boss screwed up then" Phil said and scratched his chin, a crossbow bolt impaled his head to the wooden support of the mine shaft.

"Phil, what the..." Marcus began but he was cut silent by a bolt to the throat.

The horse slowed to a trot and its rider dismounted with a clunk "Scumbags" Morgan spat and restrung his crossbow then placed it on his back, he had added the new weapon to his gear within the past three months. Morgan tied Bellerophon up to a tree.

"I've raided three of your godamned bases and killed your ringleader and they know jack all" Morgan cursed and lit the lantern that was also on the men's table. He drew his hammer but didn't fasten a blasting cap to it, mainly because it wasn't necessary since his enemies were only humans here and partially because he didn't want to cause a cave-in. "Well it's my birthday today, so it can't be that bad".

Morgan had turned 18 years old today. He turned to the man that was stuck to the support post via a bolt, the eyes twitched slightly as it had impaled him through his brain. Morgan felt terrible for killing another human even if they were villains, after all being killed by another human was unthinkable within the walls, since it was only the titans who killed humans.

"Wish me luck, Bellerophon, this is their last base so she must be here" Morgan said to his horse but knew that within three months Quinn could have been sold off as a slave. He advanced into the gloomy mineshaft. It was cramped, up until five minutes in then the tunnel opened up into a large cavern which housed equipment, crates, stolen 3DMG's and many other goods.

A group of men sat around a table drinking beer and Morgan shot the first one with his crossbow then slung it over his back. He lobbed the lantern at another man before they could react and unfortunately for him, he had been drinking brandy, his glass smashed over him and he went up in flames as the alcohol ignited.

The slavers panicked and scrambled up from their chairs, one drew a flintlock pistol and fired at Morgan but the musket bounced off his armor and only left a dent. Morgan then caved the man's skull in with his hammer. Another man ran at him with a sword which belonged to a 3DMG, he struck Morgan on the shoulder and the blade snapped in half since it was designed to slay titans and not men in armor.

"You guys are always so dull, I don't have armor at the thighs or the middle of my arms yet you always go for the body or the head" Morgan tutted and shook his head then smashed the man in the ribs, of which many snapped and he fell against the table. The man who was on fire finally stopped screaming and died.

"Please stop, have mercy!" The last man crawled back against the cavern wall, he was not very original with his choice of words.

"Well naturally, I need someone to talk to" Morgan said then sat down cross-legged in front of the terrified slaver and raised his visor "Have you seen this girl? She was taken as a slave three months ago" Morgan held a detailed drawing of Quinn Mason to him, the one used on the 'missing' posters.

"N-no I have not" The man stuttered and backed away further.

Morgan grabbed him by the throat and held the top spike of his hammer very close to the man's eye.

"No, please I haven't... she doesn't... I haven't seen her, there's no girl like that here!" The man said in terror.

"Have you ever sold a girl like her then?" Morgan said and let go of the man and lowered his hammer.

"Maybe, possibly" the man said and tried to think "They all look the same to me".

"Are there any here right now?"

"N-no, we were going to get a delivery but it never came, we don't keep them here long" The man explained.

"That's because I freed them about two hours ago and killed your boss" Morgan said and stood up.

"Y-you're not going to kill me?" The man said and let out an anxious breath.

"Not directly" Morgan said and picked a logbook up off the ground which had been dropped when Morgan attacked. He left the cavern behind and returned to the entrance of the mine shaft, he had taken another lantern to find his way back.

"I give him a few days" Morgan said as he placed a blasting cap on the wooden frame of the mine and secured it with string. He walked back out on to the path then loaded another crossbow bolt and aimed. He released the bolt with a 'thunk' sound and it struck the detonator of the explosive, the entrance caved in with a blast and the rubble blocked the way out completely.

Morgan untied Bellerophon and remounted then galloped away into the distance.

[#]

Survey Corps HQ.

"He's back" Levi informed Hange Zoe before walking off with a broody look on his face. Hange looked up from her book and left the officer's lounge.

Morgan trudged up to the gates of the castle and opened them then proceeded through to his room, he didn't speak nor look at anyone despite being absent for longer than he had intended. He took his helmet off then threw it against a wall then collapsed onto his bed.

"I'm sorry, Morgan" Hange said from the open door that he had neglected to shut.

"Don't be, I failed" Morgan mumbled into his pillow.

Hange came in and closed the door than crossed the room to sit on the side of the bed. She placed her hand on his cold steel shoulder.

"She'd be glad that you tried your best, it's not everyday one man takes on a whole slaver organization and beats them" Hange said.

"And now that I've beaten them, there's nowhere else that Quinn could be, at least where I can reach her, look at page seven of their logbook" Morgan mumbled and took an old leather bound book from his belt pouch, his armor clunked as he did so "She could be anywhere, no trace left, not even their boss knew".

"Female, seventeen, long brown hair and brown eyes, average build, sold for 20 gold 2 silvers" Hange read from the logbook and fell silent "I'm sorry".

Hange got up from the bed and went to the door "If you need me, I'll be in my office".

[#]

Later that day, Morgan sat at a table in the officer's lounge and drank rum from his hipflask, he had taken his armor off a while ago.

"I'm joining you, so I won't ask if you mind".

Morgan looked up to see Captain Levi take a seat across the table from him, Levi reached over and took the hipflask then filled a glass with the spirit, which was a true luxury within the walls especially considering the recent fall of Wall Maria.

"So you know what I'm thinking then?" Morgan asked and sipped his rum.

"More than you could ever hope to know yourself" Levi replied and did the same.

Morgan thought for a moment "So it's happened to you before, hasn't it?"

"Something like that, everyone here has lost people they care about but never in the way you lost her" Levi said, he was strangely comforting which was totally bizarre "Being sold as a slave is perhaps worse than death, especially when you lose your dignity along with it".

Morgan winced at the thought of what might happen to Quinn "So Hange told you?" He asked then took another swig of rum.

"Hange tells me everything" Levi replied and swirled his drink around in the glass "I've never been a drinker, this is oddly enjoyable, what about you?"

Morgan lit a tobacco pipe then opened the window beside him "On occasion" He replied, this was the first time Morgan had ever smoked, now that he was 18 it was more accessible.

Levi observed him while taking another sip "Got one for me?"

Morgan rummaged around in his pocket then took out a packet of cigarettes and matches then slid them across to Levi "I bought a few different kinds of things to smoke".

Levi lit a cigarette and inhaled "I'm going to have to clean myself thoroughly after this".

"I know, smoking's terrible isn't it?" Morgan chuckled but took another puff regardless, he had earned it and he suspected that Levi had too although he didn't know why, all he knew was that Levi had been in the Survey Corps for over a year now and something had happened to him.

"Just don't tell Erwin" Levi said.

"Tell me what?" Erwin walked in on them and looked around at what they were doing, very few people were on one to one grounds with Levi and Morgan was not one of them. Levi put his feet up on the table and leaned back.

"Well then, I suppose if everyone's doing it..." Erwin said and took out a box of cigars from a cabinet. Both Morgan and Levi gave him the strangest of looks, Levi less so.

Erwin sat down and lit his cigar, he was the Commander so could afford the best.

"I did not see that coming" Morgan exclaimed then poured Erwin a glass of rum.

"Well, I heard about what happened" Erwin said "We're humans after all, we can take a break from being soldiers for a day" It was getting dark outside and the cool evening breeze carried the smoke away.

"I'd drink to that, if I had any left" Levi said and gestured to the hipflask, Morgan got the hint and poured out some more.

Erwin took a pack of playing cards from his pocket just as Hange walked in with Captain Wilhelm Adler and Mike Zacharius "I thought I smelt smoke..." Mike said.

"What the hell?!" Hange exclaimed at the most bizarre situation before her, Wilhelm smirked.

"Take a seat, we were just about to deal" Erwin said and gestured to the forth, fifth and sixth chair around the circular table. Hange took a moment then turned and closed the door, she walked up and sat down with the other officers. Morgan offered her a glass.

"No thanks, I don't drink" Hange said and looked at the box of cigarettes, Levi was on his second. He did not look it, but he was enjoying himself and Hange knew it. Wilhelm pulled up a chair and sat down then Mike did the same "May I?"

"Sure" Morgan said and pushed the box of cigarettes towards him.

"Alright, who's dealing?" Erwin asked and cut the cards.

[#]

"You said you didn't drink" Morgan said as he and Levi carried Hange back to her room, It was past midnight. Morgan and Levi both had the greatest alcohol tolerance so were tasked with handling Hange. They let Hange down and she stumbled against the door then turned to Morgan. Levi had unsurprisingly won the game of cards.

"Just be careful alright, we don't want..." Morgan was stopped midsentence as Hange kissed him smack on the lips, Levi looked then rolled his eyes.

Morgan went bright red and pushed her away "Ok, good night" He said and shunted Hange into her room.

"Wait I..." Hange began but Levi slammed the door on her.

"Well that was a surprise" Levi said and walked off down the corridor, Morgan regained his composure and followed after him.