I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin
A/N: I urge you to reread chapters 4 and 5 as they had been altered to form a different storyline. I'm sorry for the confusion I made but I wanted to go a different way. Also, thank you for the reviews, they really help me give the drive to keep going. Please leave one, I want to see if you guys like this~.
He had his hair slicked back as always, giving him a clean look, but he wore the clothes of a common man. There was a bit of refinery to his bolo but, from the crowd, she wouldn't have guessed him to be the criminal all merchants of the Karanese feared. It didn't matter to her, as long as he didn't look garish in the crowd, she would be content.
She walked by his side. She was around his height at the time.
Today was her day off, Gabrielle let her go as service was slow. It was always slow and the man she stood by was the only customer who frequented her work. Others come and go as more sought better resources. Their library was a small store that stood at the corner of the Karanese's merchant district but kissed the nobility by a few ways away, within it were texts that were old and needed tender care, but to those who needed them, they were precious gems of knowledge.
Rivaille had told her he had business today in the merchant district, he invited her to come along for a moment; it would be the first of many walks they would take on the same day of the week. Today, they had spent the first thirty minutes walking, idly looking at stalls and seeing what wares vendors had, she took notice that he wasn't particularly looking for anyone nor moving anywhere.
"What business do you have today, Mr. Rivaille?" She asked pleasantly, her glasses nearly slipping so suddenly. She pushed them back in place. She readjusted her straw hat so that she could see him.
"For starters, there's you," he replied smoothly,"and that's all I have for today."
She frowned. "The suave you have, it irks me."
He lifted an eyebrow, curious. "Why so?"
As they walked, she looked ahead of them and at the road. "There was a man who deceived me and spoke the same way. Charmer, really, but I'm not willing to listen to that sort of thing, not anymore."
"Should I go beat the hell out of him?" He suggested.
Hanji let out a soft chuckle. "If you can find him easily." Her gaze looked up and she distantly thought aloud. "I wonder how you can do it, hm? He's got the power and influence around here."
"If I couldn't destroy reputations, I wouldn't be where I am now." To emphasize his point, they strode by a rich man whose coin purse hung out. She watched him swipe it off the belt in a blink of an eye and they continued on, he handed the purse to her. "Look, a prize."
She took it and pocketed it. She had no respect for the prosperous men that looked above the people, it was a passion Rivaille shared with her. "Hn, a better gift than flowers."
"Only for you, Four-eyes," he told her as she opened the pouch to count the coins.
Little did they know that the rich man had taken a notice of them.
-...-
"Hanji!" Petra nearly sobbed out.
She was the first to enter the tavern and was the first to greet Hanji. They embraced one another as Rivaille entered, he left Mike to the horses and wagon.
Tobias emerged from his room at the other end of the tavern to see the guests. Supposing that they would order for drinks, he went to sit behind the parlor to make himself available for them. His white dog, having seen new people enter the bar, had suddenly gone lively with voices and stood up, tail wagging in excitement. Rivaille cringed at the messy state of the tavern so he situated himself by the two women as they stepped away from one another.
"You decided to stay here," Petra breathlessly said, relieved.
"For now, yeah," Hanji said, still groggy from having woken up so quickly.
Rivaille broke in,"As much as the reunion is good, we decided that we are going to take action from here on out, operate on our own terms."
"Sounds just about right," the brunette agreed, though she grimaced,"knowing that you're here, I believe I'm pronounced dead?"
"Erwin apparently bought it," Petra said,"and since you're technically not in the Recon Corps, you're free to do as you will but you can't show your face anytime soon, unless you want Rivaille persecuted for helping you out...actually, it wouldn't bode well for us if either of us were seen with you."
Hanji lifted an eyebrow. "How come?"
"There are search parties going on throughout the district, Four-eyes," Rivaille told her. He glanced around the tavern. "God, this place is filthy. You couldn't pick anywhere else?"
It was loud enough for Tobias to hear, the proprietor looked more downcast than he already was but he stayed in place.
Hanji slapped a hand to his shoulder. "The owner is a good man, he's just fallen on hard times is all."
Rivaille brushed her off as he went to the barkeep, causing the old redhead to slightly wince at his advancement. "We need to have privacy."
"Of course, sir," Tobias complied. He gave a sharp whistle and the dog trotted to his side, he disappeared into his living quarters without questioning. Hanji gave a visible frown as she and Petra pulled off the chairs for them to sit on.
"Give the man a break, Rivaille," she urged, pushing up her glasses. Rivaille swept off dust from his chair before sitting down. She let out a quiet sigh,"Now, what about those search parties? Don't tell me they're meant for my body."
"You aren't the only one being persecuted for being a traitor," Petra said as she adjusted her skirt. "The Recon Corps and the Military Police are going about, looking for suspects that had managed to escape. Mike drove us through without running into them since he knew where most of their general locations were. There's no check-points set up so it was easy to get by."
Hanji's hand went to her chin, she does that whenever she was close to putting things together. "Are they being told to kill on sight?"
"No," Rivaille said, arms folding as he leaned back against the chair,"you're the only one I was ordered to kill. Petra told me that most being chased are new recruits. We even got pamphlets." Petra pulled out a piece of parchment and handed it to Hanji. "Jean Kirstein, Sasha Braus, Reiner Braun, Armin Arlert, Christa Reiss, and Mikasa Ackerman. They arrested several others too-"
"Isn't Mikasa that overprotective girl that sticks by Eren?" Hanji pointed out as she looked over the names.
"Same girl-"
The door opened with Mike entering, holding a wooden crate. He settled it on the ground at their feet and said,"Hid the wagon in the alley." He cast a smile over at Hanji. "Glad to see you decided to stay here." Then he looked around the Flora, his face fell. "Hm...not as lively as it used to be. Where's Tobias?"
"Rivaille sent him away, guess he doesn't want us drunk," Hanji tried to jokingly tell them as she kept the parchment to herself,"well, now that you're here, what're we going to do? I'm supposed to be dead..."
Petra told her as she adjusted her skirt,"On our way, we were thinking of moving you elsewhere, outside the city. I was thinking to my father but by the time we get to the gates of Wall Rose, they'd already have set up check-points, we're too far South."
"I would like to move you to the underground mall, the military still hasn't gotten a hold on it as far as I know," Rivaille suggested.
Hanji's brow furrowed. "I'm not going back there."
"So the third option we decided to have if for you stay here until the coast is clear," Mike ended,"how many rooms did you pay for?"
"Just one, one night. I thought we would be moving soon but I can pay later." She let out a long yawn. "Now that I have a better grasp on things, what are you guys going to do?"
Mike leaned against the table, hands going back to brace himself. His tongue clicked twice before he spoke,"I've been tasked with looking for everyone, Erwin gave me a team and everything. Told them I didn't sniff anyone of them yet so they let me go to find out what they all smell like. Thing is...I need to actually smell the person, not their clothes, I'm not a dog of some kind. I had them looking at the Northern parts of the city so you don't have to worry about them spreading across town here yet."
"Delay the check-points and give me time to flee to the countryside," Hanji requested. There was a map of the Karanese pinned to the wall, near the door, it wasn't noticeable until one turned around. She got up and took the tacks off, then she laid it out in the table. She took out the coin purse and gave the gold to Mike so that he could indicate where he sent out search parties. "Most likely the kids will try to take places near the headquarters. Do they have Gears?"
Petra and Rivaille stepped up so that they all huddled over the map.
"All of them were wearing Gears when they took off."
Rivaille spoke out. "I was training them this morning, I had them use Gears for it."
"What about the horses?" Hanji urged.
"Only two fled on horseback on one horse, everyone else used Gears and then stopped midway to avoid being tracked," Mike recalled,"they wouldn't have gone far, it makes sense to send people within the general direction of where they seemed to have fled. We're planning on pulling back soon and then start again tomorrow morning."
Hanji stared at the gold coins representing the various teams.
Teens being persecuted. Her execution being issued. All of them were targeted as being Titan-shifters. If they planned on seeing physical proof for themselves to see if there are humans turning into Titans, they would be running their own tests. She asked,"Do you know what they do when they arrest the kids?"
"Probably interrogation, torture even," Mike said with a grimace.
Rivaille went to lean against the table, his hand went out for a gesture. "Had you ever heard of witch hunters? Legends speak of people being persecuted for being witches, so when they catch one they try to prove it. Burning, drowning, hanging, quartering, they're only proved innocent when dead. My guess is that they're going to try and kill off these people to prove if they are Titans. It's too late for those already in jail."
"Then save the ones that are out right now!" Urged Hanji, she looked up at Mike with the realization of their deaths. "They can only survive 'interrogation' if they have the power to regenerate their wounds like Eren, all of them, I doubt they could do it! Bring them here and we can find a way to ship them elsewhere!"
"And risk getting you caught?" Mike spluttered. "Risk me getting caught? I'm in charge of the operation!"
Petra, for the first time in a while, spoke,"I wasn't assigned to any of this so...I can sneak myself around and get the kids, Mike can seek them out and before he sends troops in, I can fetch them out to bring them here. We can figure something out along the way."
"You do realize the fact that you can be branded traitor for this," Rivaille said, it sounded like he was scolding her but he added a praise,"but that makes you the better person."
She looked stunned at his compliment, not saying anything else. Hanji still held that gaze to Mike, he, in turn softened his eyes before closing them with a sigh,"Alright, I'll work something out. Considering Rivaille had just finished killing Hanji, it'd be a while before he would be let out into the search."
"Actually, Erwin gave me a warning of sorts, he told me to watch my back. I wouldn't be surprised if he decides to have someone try to lop off my head too. Now I'm starting to be the one who getting paranoid," he said bitterly,"I'll stay here at the Tavern with Hanji, make sure nothing happens."
The brunette gave a relieving smile and patted him on the shoulder, she smiled while saying,"It'll be like the old days." But it faded as Mike cleared his throat. "Hm?"
"Nothing," he said. He turned and headed for the door. "I'll be leaving now, I'll unhitch one horse and leave it here for both of you to use. Petra?"
She walked over to catch up but before they could leave, Rivaille called them out,"Wait. Petra, come here." She gave him a confused look but she turned and approached, Mike did as well. They stopped in front of the crate as the Corporal brought a foot to the lid; with a firm shove, he forced the lid to slide off to reveal packing straw. Within the muddle came silver gleams that glinted under the candlelight of the tavern.
He squatted down and pulled one of silver pieces out. It was a flintlock pistol with six chambers, one of those rotational guns that were illegal. As though it were a casual item, he held it by the neck and offered it to her, much to her surprise. Hesitantly, she took it, and then he gave her a leather holster for the waist, along with a small package of bullets and a pouch of gunpowder.
To the both of them, the presence of illegal weapons confirmed that he was truly someone else entirely before the Recon Corps. Only Hanji was the one unaffected by the sight.
"Take this, just in case. Without your Gear, you'll be thought of as a common person rather than a soldier. I'm giving you orders to fire when needed, is that clear?" He said, still glaring. Hanji, curious of such weapons, bent down next to him to reach in but he swattered her hand away. "No, not you. Mike, teach her how to load the damn thing."
He handed Mike his own gun. The tall man held it, twirled it between his fingers, and then stowed it away in the new holster. "I will."
"Good." He got up after closing the lid, she gathered Mike's coins and coin purse to tie off at her belt. "Hanji, you're carrying this to your room. You two, promise me that you won't get caught."
"Yes, sir."
They gave their last goodbyes and the two left, leaving Hanji to carry the crate with Rivaille walking behind her. As she ascended the stairs, she said,"I thought I wouldn't have to go into hiding anymore, I hate waiting."
"I told you your stupid hobby would land you into shit," Rivaille scoffed when they went into her room. She settled the crate in the corner, hiding it from view by place it behind the wardrobe. The candles were dying so Rivaille took the liberty of lighting whatever was left. When adequate light was given to them, Rivaille began to take his leave.
"What are you doing?" She asked, lifting a brow. "Aren't you tired?"
"I'm going to clean this place. If I'm taking up residence, I can't tolerate such filth below us."
He didn't offer to stay back and chat, he wasn't the kind to do that, not anymore. She shook her head while giving a short laugh under her breath.