I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin

He left to fetch supplies, when he came back, he found Hanji curled up on the bed, trembling violently from sobs that were loud enough to be heard. He didn't know what to do, but he approached anyway, taking to the bed and sitting down.

"Hanji..."

Rivaille picked her up, bringing her to his lap to hold her. She wrapped her arms around him and brought her face to his chest. She uncontrollably wept, just as she had done when she was thirteen and left in the room underground. It had come back to her, sending her into a world of nightmares she had tried to escape from.

She let out words, broken ones, as she cried. "I'm scared..."

Rivaille looked down at her shaking form. He had grown to care for her, unbeknownst to her, and had never confessed just as she hadn't done to him.

"I'm really scared...Mr. Rivaille, please...just kill me."

His eyes widened at her words.

He brought her up and face-to-face. Though she was teary eyed, he considered her beautiful enough. She looked at him in confusion with those hollow eyes; her glasses were on the dresser nearby.

-...-

"Hnm..."

His eyes tried to adjust to the dim light. The first sight he saw were a pair of glasses sitting on the bedside table.

A warm body was pressed against his back with arms wrapping around his torso, holding him in an embrace. He shifted around to see who was clinging to him.

He found the sight of bare flesh; the neck of a woman. Brow lifting up, his eyes drifted to a neck that had a few bruises here and there.

Don't tell me...

Finally, he saw her face. Hanji was dead asleep, her head heavily resting on the pillow as she breathed softly against him. When she felt him move, she brought him closer, her legs languidly entwining with his under the blanket. His head ached horribly, throbbing like a horse had kicked him. Groaning, he tried to move once more, but she only held to him tighter.

Wearily, he reached out to drape his hand over the curve of her waist, thumb absentmindedly tracing a scar he felt. Taking deep breaths, he tried to cope with the pain that the unwelcome hangover had decided to wrought upon him. His mind spun just a bit, forcing him to close his eyes and murmur,"I hate drinking..."

She sighed contentedly against his lips as she stumbled on to the bed, taking him down with her. Her hands poorly coordinating themselves to undo the buttons to his shirt. Her own dress had already been pulled over and off, leaving her in her undergarments though he roughly removed them to feel her heated skin.

"Good lord, I...I been..been hot since this afternoon," she slurred as he nipped at her collarbone. She seethed when his teeth suddenly bit into the skin of her throat. He felt her hands at the buttons of his slacks. With clumsy fingers, she undid everything, he slid the rest off. "At furst I didn't know what...what ta think about cutting her...her leg off. I mean, a human...humans are different, but after thinking for, I found it entertaining-"

"I thought I said for you-" He impatiently shoved two digits into her, causing her to cry out at the sudden intrusion. "-not to tell me how you felt, you sick fuck."

"Ah! I-I'll stop..."

Without asking if she was in pain, he pumped his fingers in and out of her, drawing out the distinct scent of her sex. Her hand went his wrist to pull his hand away, it was a sign to stop teasing. She blatantly told him she wanted him, or was it the alcohol talking?

He couldn't remember exactly what led to this but he obliged to take her up on the request.

Languidly, he repeatedly thrust into her. The bed creaked under their movements, the frame thudded against the wall, the room resonated with her panting and moaning. Her hands ran along his back, her whimpers encouraged him to pick up the pace as he loomed over her. With her legs locked around his waist, he found himself going deeper as she began to close around him.

She was keening, getting close to the edge-

"Ugh...my head..."

He cracked open one eye to see her.

She gave another groggy groan as she loosened one arm around him to bring a hand to her head. She had just woken up and was feeling the aftereffects of the vine. When she opened her own eyes to see him, she forced a smile out and gave a lighthearted chuckle,"Had fun?" But the smile faded and she withdrew from him altogether, turning to face away from. "Nnnngh...forget I asked..."

It was his turn to hold her. He shifted his body a bit higher up the bed, positioning his nude form against her own. The back of her head rested under his chin, he murmured in agreement,"It was fun..."

"We should do it sober next time," she managed to say.

He didn't comment.

It grew quiet for a while.

An uninvited knock came from the door after an hour.

"What?" They both grumbled.

"There's medicine on the floor here," came Tobias's voice,"I've already served breakfast downstairs."

-...-

Glass clinked to one another as they ate.

Mike easily downed the odious, home-made remedy Tobias claimed to have made. Petra, being the smallest, had vanished to the restroom to vomit, thus leaving Mike alone to be discovered by the younger Scouts when they had gotten downstairs.

It was an awkward meeting to find him laying across the table with a blanket covering half his body while his arm cradled an empty vine bottle. But upon explaining his being, along with Ymir and Bertolt confirming him to be a friend rather than foe, they accepted him as Tobias prepared their meals. Somewhere along the way, he carefully sniffed each person, thus, officially creeping people out.

Just in the middle of it, during their feast, Rivaille and Hanji emerged from the stairs with the woman holding the small bottle containing the last of the concoction. Mike's eyes followed Rivaille, he gave a near frown but drowned it away by a mug of water.

To address them, Ymir loudly said,"Too bad the walls are thin, I heard so much that I couldn't sleep last night."

"Storms don't call out names," Reiner added.

The two broke into laughter as Christa chided them,"You guys!"

"What?" Ymir smirked. "They were pretty loud, though not as loud as you-"

"Seriously!? Really!?"

Rivaille took his seat at the head of the table. Sasha placed a plate in front of him, along with some utensils. He offered no comment but glared, prompting them all to cease their snide remarks.

Hanji sat at the bar as all the seats were occupied. The medicine had taken affect on her, the strident noise from the chatter had become bearable, as did the sunlight that came after the stormy night.

"What was in the concoction you gave us?" Hanji inquired.

"Just some flowers," Tobias meekly told her as he set out the drinks onto a tray. He made a whistle and Sasha immediately came to him with Weiss bounding by her feet. The brunette took the tray and began to serve everyone. "It's a family secret."

She had noticed his sudden change in posture, his movements were bit more animated, and a new tone came to his voice. She leaned against the counter and gave him a half-smile while she bluntly stated,"That girl is only sixteen," when she noticed his eyes were following her.

"She looks like Maike," he, for the first time, cheerily said, his hands busily wiping down the counter. Rivaille had certainly did a phenomenal job in cleaning the tavern, the growing habit of wiping down the counter was an insurance that Tobias would try to keep the place clean. Every so often, as he ran the rag across the surface, she could see the horrid stitches going up to his forearm.

Getting too close, she grabbed it and forced the sleeve down. "What happened here?"

The gnarled markings of what appeared to be a knife that had down down his skin gleamed. He tried to pull away but she held him in place, not releasing him until he said something. Sighing, he grudgingly told her,"During the break-in, one of the assailants had a knife. Cleanly tore through me. I had to stitch myself up, it was no problem considering I panicked more for my daughter than for myself."

She relinquished her grip. After rolling down his sleeve, he leaned against the counter, arms propping himself as she drifted into another topic,"Are you still going to charge us?"

Tobias shamefully lowered his head a bit so that his hair covered his sight of her. "I won't...I apologize for that, Zoe. It's just...I am a business man, I was a husband and father but I lost those parts, just having customers not paying and expecting hospitality after what I lost..." He tried to find the right words. "...I feel entitled to something." He looked up and his eyes were drawn to Sasha as she approached with the empty tray. "But I'm at fault here for losing my temper back there."

Sasha placed the tray on the counter, then scratched her nose while asking,"Hey, Tobias, when's the rest going to be ready? Armin's upstairs, he doesn't want to come down yet."

"It's ready, I'm still boiling more things though," he replied, she left it at that and went off. When Tobias turned his head to look at Hanji, she saw the girl stealthily sneak through the kitchen door.

"And your change of heart comes from the girl?" Hanji said, trying to not crack a smile.

"Legally, she's family. In a way, I've been detrimental to some. One; to you since I lost you as a boy. Two; to Sasha and her village as I had unknowingly taken Edith in. I plan to donate goods and supplies to Dauper Village once you guys leave, an apology on good faith for what I've-"

A startling crash and a loud bang came from the kitchen, causing everyone to pause and look towards the door.

"You were saying?" Hanji chuckled.

"Ah, nothing, just consider it a change of heart," he warmly told her.

"Hm'k...what about ratting us out? Was that a flare of emotion as well?"

"Yeah, that too...my greatest apologies for that, but the walls are thin and you can hear conversations...and other things," he pointed out with a wink, she scowled at him. He straightened himself and flung the rag over his shoulder. "I wonder what she did this time...Maike used to do the same thing," he mused as he disappeared into the kitchen, chortling heartily,"This is why women aren't allowed in the kitchen."

Hanji got down from her stool. The headache had ebbed away, she decided it was time to eat for herself. Petra emerged from the restroom, her face a tad bit green. Still holding the strange concoction, Hanji handed it to her.

"It'll cure your hangover," she said, Petra gave a nod and drank the last of it,"you alright?"

"Just dizzy," Petra muttered, taking a seat at an empty table. Sasha emerged from the kitchen with a tray of food. Just as she was heading up the stairs, Rivaille called to her; she approached, listened, nodded, and went to the stairs again, disappearing from sight. In turn, Hanji set off to get them their own meals.

The morning conversation drifted about, though it was broken into pairs. Bertolt and Reiner were, once again, as Rivaille took notice, speaking in low tones, just like yesterday. He kept his eyes trained on them, even as they seemed to reach some form of disagreement.

"Is there something wrong?" Rivaille said to them, they grew quiet as they looked at him. They gave each other uneasy stares, though Bertolt gave a curt nod.

Bertolt cleared his throat, their attention was drawn to the. At this, the blond man began,"Bertolt and I...we decided that we will be going to our home village. It's in Titan territory, but we wish to return there."

"For whatever reason is there behind your madness?" Ymir questioned as she lowered her mug. "These people risked their hides to get you, it's enough as it is, you can doubt that they'll be helping you get there."

"Then we die trying," Reiner simply told her as though it were the easiest thing in the world. "Each of us concluded we'd be going our separate ways from here on out, starting from this morning."

Hanji perked up at this, remembering Mike's words. "You guys can't go now, even if you tried."

"The Walls are heavily guarded by snipers from the Garrison, so forget about trying to use a Gear," Mike began,"and your faces are probably on every Wanted poster by now, citizens ought to be wary. Especially after you two-" He indicated to Ymir and Bertolt. "-escaped from prison, it caused quite the alarm."

"We thought of leaving with you guys if you're planning on going," Bertolt said.

"The more hands we have, the better, we plan on going in three days time," Rivaille announced,"and we plan on taking Mikasa with us, she still needs the medical attention that Hanji is providing for her."

Reiner inputted,"Then we split off from there." He had a mug of coffee at hand, he drank it slowly. "What happens after is our own-" He accentuated it towards Ymir. "-problem."

She gave an obnoxious "tch" and sipped her own coffee once more. Christa offered her own voice,"We can flee with you, Corporal-"

"We will go with the Corporal, but we will leave for Christa's safety when needed. I will admit that I'm not familiar with this area, only knowing as far as training and the Recon Corps has taken me," Ymir admitted, head lowering a bit.

"Armin would most likely stay with Mikasa," Reiner added, speaking for the two upstairs.

"Sasha said she's planning to return to Dauper Village," Christa spoke, going uninterrupted by Ymir.

Mike's mug thudded on the table, it brought them to an abrupt halt. He gave a few coughs so that their eyes shifted to him. With a heavy voice, he told them."It's good to have plans of where you wish to go, but for now, you have to get out of here first. Clear the table, Hanji, get the map, it's still on the floor..."

As they had finished their meals, they complied and cleaned up after themselves, clearing the table free of plates and bringing them to the kitchen; they returned a few minutes to surround Mike as he sat, Hanji had brought the map and laid it out for them. Mike pointed at the Inner Gate of Wall Rose, then ran his finger down the main road.

"In three days, at 1600, the Marquis will be leaving to return to the Hermiha District. Only then will the Gate open for him to pass through. We're going to take that chance and leave with him. Elsewhere, Eren will hopefully create a distraction to draw away attention from us," Mike relayed to them.

"Yeah, but we have Annie underneath us, she's a Titan-shifter too," Ymir told them, pointing at the ground,"you could use her instead of having Eren risk his hide for us."

Rivaille gave a small nod, taking into consideration of being told Ymir's idea for the second time. "She's from the MP, it'll cause a riot, something that will steer the attention from us. The issue is, we hadn't learned the location of Eren, he's out of the question of retrieval..." They gave a downcast look for a moment, though Ymir seemed uninterested overall. "...regardless, we will be leaving. I want each of us to split into three groups..."

-...-

Sasha settled the tray on the desk behind Armin.

Weiss gave a yawn and curled up in one of the blankets settled onto the ground.

The blond teenager sat by Mikasa, unmoving from his spot. He had been like this since yesterday afternoon, his body stiff as a sentry. Sasha, with her own grief to bear, tried to push it aside as she told him,"I brought you food..."

"Thanks," he replied. She pulled a chair from the desk and used it to sit by him. Her arm draped over his shoulder to give him reassurance. "...Eren's not here, Mikasa's injured...I'm just, I don't know what to do. It's enough to worry for one, it's another to be scared for the other."

Sasha's brow furrowed as her mind traced back to Connie. She tried to shake the thought away, telling him,"I'm sure Corporal will get him back for you."

"He can't, there's a reason why he's hiding here and not at the base. Don't you know? Hanji is supposed to be dead, Rivaille is here, she's alive; he could be accounted for treason because he let her live," he lamely said. She looked down at his lap to see that he was fondling with Mikasa's red scarf. "It's impossible to get to headquarters, especially now that they have reinforcements here. Most likely, they'll be occupying our headquarters."

He held to Mikasa's hand.

"She was too stubborn, she panicked and tried to leave yesterday morning. I...I had to to subdue her, I can't live with the fact that I did this," Armin struggled to get out, he was choking on his own words, Sasha brought him close, pulling him into an embrace,"I could have killed her..." He began to sob openly, his tears cascading upon his boyish cheeks. "Sasha..."

She tried to quiet him as Weiss suddenly got up to lay his head against Armin's lap, softly whining.

A disgruntled groan came from the bed's occupant, bringing Armin to silence. The three of them looked over as a pained voice spoke out,"...Eren..."

-...-

"I'll provide cover," Tobias broke in when he emerged from his holding in the kitchen, much to everyone's surprise. "I have to send provisions to Dauper Village...under these circumstances, now is the only time I can do it. Fill the wagon with supplies, hide the injured among the crates, you can all slip by. Besides, the Marquis of Hermiha is said to have an interest in wine, I could provide that as well."

Mike gave a relieved sigh. "That helps us greatly. And since you're just a citizen, it should be easy for us to sneak Ackerman out."

He gave the man a hand to shake in agreement.

With their roles given and then reassigned, each person headed for the storage rooms and kitchen under Tobias's direction to fetch supplies. Only when Reiner and Bertolt reached the cellar door did Hanji nearly shout her warning,"No, wait! That's where I hold Annie!" Reiner's hand paused at the door, still holding knob as she rushed behind to bar to meet them. "You guys can stand a couple limbs missing right?"

Reiner was about to offer an answer but then Sasha popped down from the stairs, saying breathlessly,"Hanji! Mikasa's come to!"

She didn't even give a moment for Reiner to speak as she rushed away, following Sasha up the stairs.

Bertolt shared at glance with Reiner, then nodded for him to open the door to the cellar. As they disappeared into the dimness of the stairwell, Ymir emerged from the kitchen, carrying a crate of bottles; she had taken notice of them and decided to settle the crate on the counter. Looking around to find the tavern empty, save for Petra who was still sitting by, nursing her hangover as she had taken the medicine last, Ymir decided to enter the cellar as well.