Risk: Chapter Five

Once again, Rosemary was put into Petra's clothes. This time a pink button down and a white overall dress. It was a rather cute combination, Rose had to admit. Petra truly had style. Too bad she couldn't exemplify that while in the Scouts. She imagined the skirts would get tangled up in the 3DMG.

Actually, she didn't want to imagine that. Because the afterthought was worse, and it made Rose sick.

Rose was instructed to stay in the back in case her portal opened up; no need for theatrics during a very important trial like this one. She understood, but she also wanted to see and hear what was going on. She could, to some degree, but she mostly wanted to see the boy – Eren Jaegar was his name. She wanted to see how threatening he had to be to be so chained up like he was.

From the back, he looked like a normal teenage boy. Her brows furrowed together in frustration. All those chains and hardware seemed so excessive. But with his abilities, maybe she could see why they were so cautious?

She could see both sides, but at the end of the day, he truly was just a boy.

Commander Zachary, who led all factions of the military, was to be the judge today. Hange explained a little bit about him and how strict he was as a military commander. Just the sheer look of him revealed as much, Rose could see that from where she stood in the back. He first heard from the Military Police – whom, as she understood, the Scouting Legion weren't big fans of, and the feelings appeared mutual. They gave a case as to why it was imperative to execute Eren.

Erwin gave a short – extremely brief, actually – case as to why he should be handed over to the Scouts. So much so, it seemed to surprise Zachary – as it did Rose. She expected more from the commander, but he must have felt that less is more.

It was then that arguments started. Rose could hardly hear them from where she stood, but it started to intensify – and then Eren seemed to break them up. He had pulled at his chains so hard he'd somehow created steam – like how a titan did when they started to disintegrate.

Fascinating, Rose thought. She'd been hanging around Hange too much.

He was pleading a case for himself, but the MPs weren't hearing it. They were already pointing a gun at him –

Why was Levi jumping over the gallery? Why was he approaching Eren? Why was he raising his leg –

He kicked him.

Over and over and over again.

Eren didn't fight back, but took every blow. Everyone watched in shock, including Rose, as Levi continued to pummel Eren to dust. Finally, he seemed to have made his point, as he ceased his beating and faced Zachary. He was saying something – something about being able to kill him if necessary. About being able to control him.

And that seemed to solidify it.

"You were too hard on him."

Rose was wiping at Eren's face now, though somehow most of his wounds had somehow healed, he just had residual blood from when his cuts had been opened.

"I did what I had to do." Levi didn't even look at her, just sat quietly next to Eren. Then asked, "Are you mad?" He didn't ask this as if he was concerned, just as if he was curious.

"No, I know you did what you needed to do."

Hange had come to join them, as well as Erwin. Rose decided to move out of the way, knowing that Hange would want to observe Eren closely – as much as Rose hated that. Hadn't he been through enough?

"Oh?" Hange uttered, Eren's mouth open. Everyone turned to face them, Rose now curious despite herself. "The tooth. It grew back."

"Wasn't today exciting?" Hange seemed to be riding some type of high.

"I guess. But don't you think… I mean… hurting Eren?" Rose still wasn't sure about that.

"It got us the outcome we wanted, didn't it? Besides, that's not as hard as Levi could give a beating." Hange had a secret smile on their face as they faced Rose. "You see, I was there when Erwin 'recruited' Levi." They did, in fact, put the word "recruited" in air quotes. "Levi is from the underground city, and was rumored to be a kind of thug."

"Him? That neat-freak?" Rose would have laughed – if any of what Hange said was actually funny.

"Yes!" Hange exclaimed, sitting on the bed beside her now. "He stole from the rich and gave to the poor."

"Like Robin Hood?"

"Who?"

Rose shook her head. "Never mind. It doesn't matter. Something from my time." Then she asked, "So why did he become a Scout?"

"Because he was forced, but also because he was told that if he killed Erwin he could get a rich life above ground."

"Oh—what?" Rose could hardly believe what she was hearing. This didn't seem like what she saw at all; Erwin and Levi seemed thick as thieves – well, as much as Levi seemed to allow anyone to be in his life.

"Yep, but the planned failed. And long story short, he ended up just… following after Erwin."

"Wow." That put Levi in a new light. That people could change – well, a little. He did beat a child today. "Thanks for… telling me that."

"Of course. Now let's get to bed, it's move in day for Squad Levi, and I offered to help!"

Rose grimaced. "Is it because of Eren?"

Instead of answering, Hange stood up and, waving to the younger woman, said a simple, "Good night!"

Rose had offered to cook for the Squad and Hange while they were there, so Hange sent her to get some supplies early in the morning. She did bring her purse, and she showed Hange that she had money, but they said that her currency wouldn't work in their time. Very unfortunate, but oh well. She tried.

After getting some ingredients for a stew she knew, she carried the ingredients to some staples Hange had led them to.

"I … don't know how to ride a horse."

"I do!" Hange hopped onto a large brown mare, then reached down for Rose. "Come on, time is a-tickin'."

First, Rose handed over the groceries before she placed her hand in Hange's hauling herself up behind them and holding onto their waist.

"Hold on tight!"

And Rose did just that, just as they were prancing off, for if she didn't, she would have been bucked off the back. After about twenty or so minutes, they made it to what looked like a fortress.

"Are they… here?" Rose asked as she dismounted.

"Nope. And neither am I." Hange handed back the bags of groceries and turned their horse around. "Tell Levi I'll be back around sunset to pick you up."

"Wait, what?" But Hange was already galloping away, laughing maniacally as they did so.

With a sigh, Rose found a bench and sat down, legs splayed out. Today she wore brown pants, short brown boots, and a tan shirt. This timeline truly didn't believe in too many colors, she noticed, but she didn't necessarily mind. As long as they looked mildly flattering, that was all that mattered to her. Her own wardrobe she'd grown to cater to a style of poor chic, and she'd worked pretty damn hard on it, too.

Just as she'd gone lost in thought, she heard horses pulling up. She glanced up and saw the unsatisfied expression of Lance Corporal Levi facing her.

"Where's Hange?"

"They said they'd be back at sunset."

"And what are you doing here?" As he got off his horse did he ask this, almost accusingly.

"I'm… cooking for you."

"Alright! I'm starved!" Eld exclaimed, approaching her with a smile, his short ponytail swishing in the wind as if he, himself, was a horse.

"Well, unlucky for you, none of those dishes are clean. Looks like you're in kitchen duty."

Oh. So that was it.

Hange, you are so dead.

Three times. Levi made her rewash the dishes three times. After the third time, she was ready to wring his neck with the dish rag. However, Rose kept her cool and did as she was told. This wasn't her timeline, she had to adhere to how they did things here. After the dishes did she start on the rest of the kitchen, and this time, she put all of her elbow strength into it. She didn't want to repeat anything.

"How are you doing?"

"Uh…" She stood up from under the table she'd been cleaning, and he inspected the area carefully, putting a finger underneath and observing it.

"Not bad." Then he faced her and asked, "When are you cooking?"

"Er… I guess now?" She could use a break from all this militant cleaning. She put the dirty rag in her pocket, to which she felt it instantly swiped from her person.

"Don't do that. It's dirty." But he didn't have a lace of acid or malice in his voice. It was odd.

It took Rose aback, and for a second she froze, then she shook herself of it, nodding at his statement. "You're right. Thanks." She went to the sink to wash her hands, then the vegetables she'd bought earlier that day. "You can… help if you want."

"I should check on Eren," he said, his voice still the same as before. She couldn't pinpoint what it was sounding like. It wasn't soft, but it wasn't harsh either. Somewhere in the middle.

"Alright. Dinner will be ready soon."

She got right to work as soon as he left the room, as if with him gone she could focus. Cutting, peeling, boiling. The room filled with a wonderfully savory aroma, and for a moment Rose thought about eating this whole pot of stew herself. However, as people filed in, she refrained from doing such a thing.

"It's ready," she said, stepping away so the others could eat first. She would eat whatever was left – if there was anything at all. She had saved a couple of boiled potatoes on the side just in case, so no harm, no foul.

"Smells great," Gunter complimented, grabbing a bowl and reaching for the ladle.

Petra stood last in line behind the men, all four of them having quite the banter of the large pot, as if they would run out of food if they looked away from it. Levi was standing off to the side, leaning against a wall, arms crossed over his chest.

"Where's Eren?"

"In his room." He didn't seem to want to elaborate on that.

"I can take him his food," Rose offered.

Levi looked at her – not angrily, not annoyingly, but something was off in his eyes. "We both will," he finally said. "Eat yours first, then we'll go down."

Down?

Levi didn't eat at all, only drank a cup of tea – which he did strangely, by the way. With his hand over the cup instead of on the side, Rose had observed over dinner, but she didn't dare say anything about it. After all the dishes had been washed – to Levi's liking, of course – did Rose fill a bowl of stew and follow Levi to Eren's room.

"Hold on." They had stopped before a basement door, Rose had noticed, to which Levi unlocked and went forward first. "Come on. Be careful."

Just within the dimly lit basement was a chained up Eren, looking like he was about to fall asleep. Rose almost dropped the bowl at the sight of him. "What the hell?" she exclaimed, facing angrily to the short man.

"This is necessary and also part of his… sentence." Levi bent down to unlock his chains and release him of them. "Hey Eren, we have dinner for you."

Rose approached the boy and kneeled before him, placing the bowl in front of him, but not moving. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he told her, trying to sound convincing. "I'm fine. I'm not hurt, Miss Aer."

"You can call me Rose, Eren."

"Rose," he repeated with a tired smile. Then he reached for the bowl and started gulping down stew.

"Come on, I'll come back for him later." Levi tugged on her shirt sleeve to get her to stand up, and even though she didn't want to, she hesitantly did so, walking away from the boy as he feverishly ate his dinner.

"That's so… cruel."

"He's a titan shifter, Rosemary," Levi reminded her as he led the way back upstairs.

"Levi!" They both the heard the familiar call of Hange from just beyond the stairwell's threshold.

"I'm never going to bed," Levi grunted.

"You don't sleep," Rose commented, the corner of her lip turning up flippantly.

He glanced back at her with a grimace. "Touche."