`I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin
A/N: I will be writing this story and "Change of Gait" at the same time
"Mr. Rivaille, this is Hanji, my assistant, she'll be helping you with your books," the old crone told him. She was sweet, a grandmotherly type, he still glared at her but then it softened when his eyes drifted to her right where a young, brunette beauty stood, trying to smile as best she could; her lips twitching, unable to hold a form.
Other than that, the young girl was dressed modestly, a different change of scenery from what he dealt with only a daily basis back in the capitol. Isidor was right in telling him to go elsewhere for business, truly the most prettiest jewels came from the Karanese. Gabrielle the bookkeeper smiled and walked away, her voice chiming out,"Dear, be sure to treat him well, he's a valued customer~!"
"Y-yes, Gabrielle!" She stammered nervously, though it was soft. She stood there stiffly, unmoving. "Uh...uh, Welcome t-to the...the..." The rest was murmured.
"...aren't you going to move?" He asked, slightly annoyed by her lack of responses. He tried to be gentle but he lacked the patience for such a thing. Her eyes grew wide, she nodded.
"W...what book do you need, Mr. Rivaille?" She said.
Rivaille sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Do you have a book on confidence?"
"I...I don't believe I do, this store mostly holds old texts."
"I suggest you get one for yourself."
She nodded once more. "I'll be...I'll be s-sure to mark that!"
Oh my god, she can't handle sarcasm.
Gabrielle's voice broke in. "Zoe, I need you at the counter for a moment."
As though relieved of an arduous labor, Hanji took the chance to leave, uttering an apology under her breath as she breezed by him like he were a swarm of wasps. He stood there, hands in his pockets, confused as hell about her behavior. As Gabrielle appeared from the corner, he opened his mouth to complain, but then the old woman smacked him over the head with a roll of newspaper.
"What the fuck- I thought I'm your valued customer!" He nearly yelled.
"I will not stand brashness towards my staff," she hissed at him, he held his hands up in defense when she threatened to hit him again. "The girl just got out of Hell and she still needs time to adjust to everything, the least you could do is be kind to her."
"Look, lady, I just want my books. I can go elsewhere," he scoffed. She hit him again. "Ugh, fuck-"
"I'm serious! Besides, I'm the only person in the Karanese that openly sells banned books," she shot at him,"you can't find these anywhere else in the world! Not even if you check the Underground Mall!" And with that, she turned away. "Zoe, come back here, I'll manage from there."
"Yes, Gabrielle." She looked ready to cry. "D-do you need something, Mr. Rivaille?"
Rivaille looked passed her shoulder to see Gabrielle glare at him. With a defeated sigh, he told her,"Yes, I need a copy of that one book about the world outside of the Walls."
"W-we don't have that in stock, but I have my own, p-personal copy. Are you s-staying long in...in the Karanese?" She made a gesture for him to follow to the back of the store. Her hands ran over the spines of the books on a top shelf as though she were asking them if they knew where her book was. This shelf was different than all the others as it was tucked away and had books that were newer than the ones in the store's other shelves.
He leaned against the banister of the stairs. "No, a year, then I leave for the capitol."
"A-are you a...noble?" She timidly asked, bending slightly for the middle shelves.
"Of the sort, yes," he replied smugly.
She reached the bottom and found that there was nothing. "Um...Mr. Rivaille, I think my copy is upstairs. W-would you like to follow?"
He raised a brow but accepted her anyway. "Yes."
They went up the stairs, going until they reached the attic. She suddenly paused at the top step. She suddenly turned around, knife at hand. His eyes widened but, out of instinct, he dispatched her quickly, forcing her to the ground with the knife pointed at her.
"What a manipulative-"
"You're Rivaille, the one merchants fear," she breathed viciously against his ear as he dipped low,"mankind's strongest rat from the filth." She built up saliva and then spat in his face. "Damn you."
He pressed the edge of her blade to the skin, firm and threatening. "You're quite the beautiful woman, you Four-Eyed shit."
"And you're not as disgusting as they say you look," she bitterly told him, glowering, she tried to kick at him but he tightened his grip, locking her arms in place.
"So what's the deal with you? Hm?"
Her eyes narrowed yet he could see there was an undying hatred that had ben suppressed for too long. Lips twitched of anger, she hissed,"Nothing for you to care, I'm like any other woman, the only difference is that I escaped."
It took him a moment to think of what she said. As her sleeves began to bunch up, he took notice of dark markings that encircled both of her wrists; they were the healing scars of cuffs. It dawned on him that she had been a part of the Ring, one of his major networks. He slowly released his hold on her, kneeling back and giving her space.
Hastily, she rolled down her sleeves and held her throat, breathing deeply.
He threw the knife to the other side of the room, embedding it firmly in the wall and out of reach. He sat himself against the wall and she got to her knees.
"Not that many leave it," he said as though praising her.
She didn't even look at him. "A servant left the door opened. The bastard didn't pay much attention to security."
"How long were you in it?"
"Four...five years? I got out five months ago. Are you going to drag me back?"
He scoffed. "No, you're unfettered, there's no point in putting your back, you may have already outlived your use down there anyway. Just enjoy your life now."
Rivaille got up to his feet, he looked down at her, then headed for the stairs.
"...you're not like what the rumors say," he heard her,"nothing at all-"
"Hey, don't forget my book," he said over his shoulder, making his descent.
-...-
By nightfall, they came across a village. The Military Police were not seen, and neither were any men or women that belonged to the military. Tobias had taken the liberty to check-in at an inn where he knew the proprietor through business, leaving the rest of them to unload at the stables. Hanji kept Christa by her side, though she didn't have the need to restrain her; the girl was compliant and even offered to help Rivaille.
"I'd hate to kill you," Hanji confessed, unabashed.
Christa didn't answer her as she watched Sasha place her Gear in one of the stands. Instead, she asked,"What's this...'TITAN SERUM' you've sent Ymir and the Commander to fetch?"
"It's none of your business, all that matters is that they get them as soon as possible."
Mike spluttered on a canteen of water. This was a first, certainly indeed, it was a first. Hanji had been asked a question about one her research projects, she blatantly refused to tell Christa. He brought a fist to his chest and to cough the water out. Hanji glanced over at him, saying,"Something wrong?"
He made a gestured and mouthed,'Nah, I'm good,' as Petra rubbed his back.
"Hey, I got us free boarding and food," Tobias called from inside the inn. Sasha was the first to rush over, along with Weiss; everyone was pretty much done with the equipment and tying off the horses. Hanji had given Jean the task of carrying Rivaille while she, herself, took care of taking Mikasa; the girl had fallen asleep quite early. They journeyed to the rooms with Christa while Mike checked the surrounding place.
The inn was empty save for themselves. The barkeep was a woman who was quite plump but was a friendly face, something comforting to see nowadays. Mike rested himself by the fire, head resting against the backrest as the barmaid brought him a mug of vine.
"Thanks," he told her, smiling at her before drinking.
Petra came into his view, she pulled a chair by him.
"Had you seen the Marquis?" She asked, her own mug at hand. Food was set up on the other side of the room, from where, Armin, Eren, and Sasha were busy eating the first, decent meal since they had left headquarters. Petra even brought a plate for him. He settled the mug by the fire and took it.
"Oh, he went to a brothel," he said, taking a fork and piercing a piece meat,"better to have him there than here with us."
She gave a visible frown. "You saw him trying to touch Hanji too?"
"Yeah, I stopped him," he told her, looking a bit off to the side. "Imagine him being near Sasha or even Mikasa, you, probably. Keep your eyes on him, alright? If he starts trouble, I'm willing to dispatch him no matter what Hanji says. It'll be one less fuck up in the King's Court."
Petra nodded.
She sipped at her drink, then brought it down to the floor next to his.
"Tell me about your father, Petra," he said.
She perked up at his inquiry as he began to eat. "Oh? Um...well, he lives in the North..."
"I know that part." He chortled.
"It's a modest place within Wall Rose, just South of Historia. About a hundred acres of land, he raises horses for the military, primarily for the Recon Corps. Often times he would come by to deliver fresh stocks, usually it's after a mission. He's been planning on dropping at the Karanese after our trial mission for Eren, but I guess he has no use for it now," she sighed,"he probably might not be home by the time we get there. He'd be making the trip right now."
"Do you have a mother?"
"Yeah, she stays on our land with my younger brother, tends to the horses and all. He's planning on going into the military in two years, he says he wants to be like me." She smiled at this. Mike took a moment to watch her carefully, he enjoyed her happiness, it was almost infectious. "What about you?"
He perked up. "Me?" She nodded. "I'm from Darmstadt."
"Like the perfume?"
Darmstadt was a popular brand in the Inner Districts, very few women beyond Wall Sina can afford such a thing.
"Uh-huh. It's...um, it's actually a flower village just a few kilometers out of the Stohess." He looked slightly embarrassed, she tried not to laugh so that he could be confident to speak. "My family runs the business."
"Then what's a flower boy doing in the military?" She was really trying her hardest not to laugh. "Your nose could pick up on things, you'd do well there."
He shook his head. "My father decided it'd be better to put my nose to good use for the military, so he shipped me off. He's an enthusiast of the sorts. I'm not complaining about it though, the business is doing well with the Inner District so I'm not of use there. I used to go to parties though, in the Inner District, with my father."
"You met nobles?" Her eyes lit up.
"Loads," he said, though his tone didn't boast much. "I've met all the Marquis fifteen years ago, but I never met Isidor until now. In fact, I didn't even know the Marquis of Hermiha had a fourth son. Makes you wonder where the bastard came from..."
-...-
Rivaille was settled into one bed.
Parallel to him was Mikasa.
They had been properly tucked in and now slept soundly.
"I saw what happened to him," Jean began, speaking of Rivaille,"you shouldn't hold a conviction towards Erwin-"
"Rivaille tasked you to tell Erwin not to let Eren transform," she pointed out bitterly as Christa fluffed the below behind Mikasa, making she was as comfortable as possible. She jumped when he heard Jean suddenly snap.
"If you're going to be a bitch and tell us every flaw we have so that you can blame us for what happened to the Corporal, we may as well just leave you to yourself. Honestly, everyone else is trusting you with their lives and you're just out there waving a gun with some superstitious belief that it'll give him back his arm!" She whirled around from her chair and got up to face him. "Can you just get your shit together and think of a right course for action!? For God's sake, you had everyone point their firearms at Christa! Of all people! What the fuck did she do wrong!? Oh, and that thing about Erwin shooting a hook into Rivaille, we weren't fucking planning on him to appear out of nowhere to get Eren out!
"I'm not riding my ass to the Hermiha while listening to you bitch and moan about what's happening! We're on the run from the military, the last thing anyone needs is for you to start killing us off. I always thought you're a bit fucked in the head, now you're just paranoid and fucked in the head!"
She lifted her hand up, her fist clenched and ready at his insult, but then Christa reached out to her, grasping her wrist and arm. Disregarding her, Hanji wrenched her arm away, yelling at her,"Don't get involved!"
Christa cried out,"He's right, Hanji, please, you need to just calm down!"
I'm doing it again.
"No, let her hit me, the bitch needs to let it out sooner or later," Jean reasoned.
His words of her brought out that flare of impulsive rage she had felt towards Erwin just yesterday. It was true, she understood she could no longer hold herself together, but how can she? It was one problem right after the other. First, Erwin ordering a death sentence. Second, running from the military. Third, finding Rivaille missing a limb. Fourth, the Marquis.
She pushed away thoughts of the last one, it was something she had to hide away for the moment.
The next thing she knew, she lunged at Jean, her fist going into his face, hitting him. Her weight thrown him off his feet, forcing him to the floor, left of Rivaille's bed. Hanji took the chance to straddle him, smacking him in the face, one fist right after the other. A few well placed blows went on, he didn't even fight back.
It's true, I need to let it out.
"YOU'RE. ALIVE. BECAUSE. OF. ME." She shouted with every hit, though tears began to stream down; his words had gotten to her. When she had reached the last word, something took a hold of her left arm. She expected it to be Christa, but she was too far away. Her eyes followed the hand to see Rivaille's good arm outstretched, keeping her firmly in place.
She ceased her movements to hear him rasp,"You're...too fucking loud."