Signs of Time: Ch. 2
It turned out that "where" happened to be their headquarters and "what" was an interrogation. But with Rose being unable to hear them, and she really not being willing to talk, it made for a rather… interesting conversation, to say the least.
The woman had introduced herself as Hange Zoe, and then she had to do the introductions for the man she'd been talking to earlier, Levi. They were thinking of ways to get their questions across when Rosemary raised her hand to "speak".
"Yes, uh…" Hange began, then scratched her head, clearly puzzled. "I still don't' know what to call you."
Rose made a pencil gesture with her hand, and it was like a lightbulb went off in Hange's head. "Of course! We could write what we need to down. I'll be right back."
That left Rosemary and Levi alone, if only for a little while. But that sort time felt like an eternity under his watchful eye. His gaze held onto her as if he was anticipating her to do something she shouldn't, as if she were some type of criminal.
Another man entered the room a short while later, a small smile on his face as he approached her. "I'm Commander Erwin Smith." He extended a hand to shake hers. Rose returned the favor, but didn't say anything back. She glanced at Levi, expecting him to say something.
He did. "She doesn't talk. She can't hear you, either."
Releasing his grip on her hand, Erwin bent down to be eye level with Rose in the chair; he was rather tall, and with her in the chair she imagined that would be quite the strain on his legs and back, but he didn't seem bothered. "Is that so?"
Hange returned then, and Rose could have released a sigh of relief, if the others weren't watching her so closely. She put a pen and pad of paper down, pointing to it. "What's your name?"
Rose looked from Hange's face to the paper, then slowly grasped the pen and began writing. Rosemary Aer. She put the pen down and looked up at Hange again.
"Rosemary. Can I call you Rose then?"
To which the young woman nodded.
"Great! So you came from the sky, huh?"
At that, Rose furrowed her brows in confusion. Is that what it looked like to them? That she fell from the sky? How bizarre.
She shook her head at her question, then picked up the pen again to write. Los Angeles, California.
Hange read her words, then pursed her lips. "I … don't know where that is. You're currently at Utgard, behind Wall Rose."
Rosemary shook her head. She had no idea what that was supposed to mean. Utgard? Wall Rose? Where was that in California? She'd never heard of those places before.
"You don't believe me?" Hange's smile got wide but it didn't quite reach her eyes.
Rose reached for the pen again and wrote quickly, I don't know where that is. I'm sorry.
"No need to apologize. I've never heard of this Los Angeles either – " She paused, looking back, clearly interrupted.
Rose looked for the source of the interruption; it was Levi. "—should ask her why she's here."
Picking up the pen again, she wrote down hastily, I don't know. I was home, now I'm here.
"At your house?" Hange asked.
Rose's face went bright red as the memories of earlier came flashing back. She shook her head, then wrote down, my friend's house.
"Okay. And then what happened?" Hange's face clearly showed intrigue, though Rose didn't find all this interesting, more disturbing than anything.
Rose refrained from biting her lip; she didn't want to appear as if she was hiding something or hesitating for any reason. So she simply wrote, I don't' know, I'm just here. That's all I know.
"So, I have to ask: you're not an angel or something, are you?"
At that, Rose couldn't help but giggle and quickly shake her head. She pointed to her ears and shook her head again, as if to say, Are angels deaf?
"Good point."
Erwin was speaking now. "I think she's as lost on what's going on as we are. And it's late. We better get some rest. We have training tomorrow, after all."
Hange said something, but her face was turned away from Rose so she couldn't make out what it was. She dared a glance at Levi, and to her chagrin he was looking right back at her. What was his problem? What did he expect her to do?
By the expression on his face, she was sure she didn't want the answer to that.
"—you room with me?" Hange was saying to her now. She turned back to Erwin, who Rose caught him saying, "—plenty of rooms for her to choose from."
Levi stood up then, and Rose found her gaze falling on him again. "As long as she keeps it clean," he muttered; she could barely make out his lips but she could tell what he said. It took all over her willpower not to pout at that.
She wasn't a child. Who was he to ask that of her anyway, as if she wouldn't do that in the first place?
She lifted a hand to her lips and then moved it away, then wrote down, That means thank you.
Hange beamed. "Oh! Does it? Well, you're welcome. Let me show you to your room."
Sleep came fitfully. Rose tossed and turned, afraid of someone coming into her room for whatever reason. None of the people she'd talked to today had given her any reason to make her believe they would do such a thing, but she was anxious nonetheless.
By the time the sun came up, she had given up on sleeping restfully, moving from under the covers and toward the door. She was still in that dress from yesterday, and she grimaced at the look of it. She could only imagine her curly hair was wild as well.
Just as she reached for the door handle, she felt it reverberate with a knock. She opened it slowly, and to her relief it was Hange.
"Good morning," she said with a smile, one that actually reached her eyes this time. "I came with gifts."
Rose tilted her head to the side, then moved out of the way to allow Hange within the room. Once Hange was inside, she shut the door behind her and turned to face her.
"These should fit you; I got them from Petra. You'll meet her soon."
Petra? There were more people here? That made Rose unbelievably nervous. More people talking around her, more people to ask her questions.
"I'll let you get dressed. Everyone is already downstairs getting breakfast ready." With that, Hange left, the clothes placed neatly on a chair that was in the corner of the room.
It was a plain white tunic and a pair of khaki pants. Nothing special. Not her style whatsoever, but she had quickly realized when she had crash landed here that long and loose clothes were the style here.
She found a small mirror on a table beside the bed, and did her best to smooth her hair down. Once she was satisfied with how it looked, she made her way down the castle – as this place did appear like a castle on the inside – stairs and to the kitchen.
Everyone was talking at once, she could tell, but had stopped as soon as she entered the room. A woman with short, orange hair and bright eyes approached her first. "I'm Petra. Can you… understand?"
Rose nodded, pointing to her own lips.
"Okay! Let me introduce you to everyone else."
Gunther, Eld, Oluo – and then a young boy named Eren. What was a child doing among all these adults? Rosemary was curious, and she wanted to ask if he was maybe one of theirs – like a cousin or something as he appeared much too old to be their actual child – but she didn't want to appear rude.
"You'll be staying here – " Levi began; Rose only knew that he was speaking as he had stood from his seat and everyone had faced him suddenly. He lifted his gaze to look at Hange, and then a flash of anger seemed to cross his face. "It's too dangerous."
Now Rose looked at Hange. "She'll be fine. She'll be with you all. And with me, when I get there."
Levi was speaking now, and Rose barely caught then end when he'd said through gritted teeth, "—a babysitter."
Quickly, Rose turned her eyes to Hange, who retorted with, "I'm sure she can handle her own. It's just until I get there. Besides, with you all there, what could go wrong?"
They were in a field, and Eren, the young boy, had been dropped off into a large, deep well.
What were they doing to this boy? No one was explaining anything to her, which agitated her a little bit. Just because she was new here, and just because she was hard-of-hearing, didn't mean she had to be kept in the literal dark about goings-on.
Hange yelled down at Eren, as if instructing him, Rose could tell. The others were on stand-by; they had weapons drawn, as if they expected Eren to go on a rampage.
Would he? Was that the secret they were keeping from Rose?
But after what seemed like hours, nothing occurred. Hange appeared rather disappointed; Levi looked relieved. So did the others. Hange left a little while later to make a report, leaving everyone else alone to enjoy some tea and rest. All Rose had been doing this whole time was rest; rest and ponder.
What did they expect Eren to do? How could she ask them? She had no paper or pen to communicate, and sign language was clearly out of the question.
Just as she felt dejected by her confusion, a large explosion sent her reeling back from the picnic table they'd been sitting at. She rolled onto the ground, closing her eyes from the debris. A short moment later, she felt a hand pull her up and away from the source of the blast; glancing back, it was Levi, and he was yelling something. "—up! Hurry up!"
He practically carried her away from the explosion site, and when the smoke cleared, it was Eren atop a large arm. Rosemary's eyes widened; she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Was this the source of everyone's anticipation all day?
The four soldiers had drawn their weapons, their faces fierce, as they stared Eren down. Levi set Rose down and moved to put himself between Eren and the others, his hand raised, as if to say, it's okay. Eren moved to pull his arm free of the larger arm he was captured in when Hange came running from the sidelines, putting her hands on it before quickly pulling away.
"Dammit, that's hot!" she saw Hange say.
Rose stumbled to her feet, and just as she was about to regain her balance, tripped up and fell backwards.
Right into a portal.
The familiar white light that had consumed her before swallowed her whole and then closed around her, and just like before she fell for awhile before landing –
In her bedroom.
She groaned, rubbing her chin as it had taken quite the hit upon the landing. She felt footsteps coming toward her room, and her door opened, her mother entering then.
She signed, "That must have been quite the night. Are you okay?"
Rose nodded, slowly getting to her feet.
"What's with the clothes?" her mom asked, pointing to her strange outfit.
Rose quickly came up with a lie. "I spilled some wine on my dress. Sam is cleaning it up, so he let me borrow some of his stuff."
"That was nice of him." Her mom reached for the door handle, then quickly added, "He's such a nice boy."
Rose nodded in agreement, lips in a tight smile, not even wanting to recount the events that had occurred last night.
So much had happened within the last day, she could hardly see or think straight. But she knew one thing: she didn't want to be here.
Rose wanted to be there. So she had to get back there somehow.