Risk: Chapter Eleven

The day had come.

Rose had a hard time deciding to stand with the Scouts she'd come to know the longest up front or Lily; in the end, she had chosen her sister. She really wanted to see her off – this could be the last time she would see her, and something about that filled her almost with impending dread, irrevocable sadness. It took everything in her not to start crying.

She had to stand strong; Lily could do it, her head held high, why not her?

Lily gave her one glance, still no smile, but there was something soft in her familiar blue eyes. Rose returned the look. She suddenly heard Commander Erwin give the call, the signal that it was time for the Scouts to take their leave. The horses filed out, and Rose found herself weaving through the crowd to follow them, if only to keep her eye on Lily. Lily would glance over at her sister, and something like sorrow seemed to overtake her previously soft expression. Rose stopped just before the picket line, leaning over it, bracing her hands against the fencing. She sucked in her lips to keep from crying, but once the Scouts were completely out of sight, the floodgates completely opened themselves up.

A hand pressed on her shoulder; she looked down and it was Kara, giving her a sincere smile. "You just have to have hope, dear. That's all we can do at this point."

"How long?" Rose choked out, wiping at her face, feeling rather pathetic. No one else seemed to feel as devastated as she did, and she wondered why. Wasn't it sad to watch people that you essentially cared for go toward their death like that, time in and time out? Maybe they were just used to it at this point.

Rose didn't think she could ever get used to something that made her feel so horrible.

"Could be a couple hours, could be several hours, could be over a day. Who knows? Either way, just have faith in your friends that they'll be back." Kara nudged at Rose's side, chuckling a bit. "Is it Levi that you're worried about? Because he's Humanity's Strongest, you know?"

"What?" The question took her aback a little, and she couldn't keep the heat from rising to her cheeks. "Not just him – all of them," she quickly corrected her. The tears had suddenly stopped flowing, thankfully. Such a shocking question would do that.

"Oh, I see." By the tone of Kara's voice, she didn't seem to believe her. "Let's go to the clinic and prep it. We're going to have a heavy day on our hands when they get back."

It was nearly sunset when it was announced the Scouts were returning. By the sound of the townspeople, that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Some, however, sounded relieved to have them home. Rose was one of them – but she was also anxious to find out who she would see – and not see.

She joined Kara, Samantha, and Polly in front of the infirmary, now wearing their formal garb: it was a long brown skirt, a tanned shirt, and a white apron with a white bandana on the head to keep her hair back. She'd also braided it to ensure it wouldn't get in the way. People started filing in, and as they did, bloodied and bruised to say the least, Rose scanned them for anyone familiar. No one.

She heard some distant shouting from the townspeople, asking – no demanding just what was the point, was the recon mission worth it. She felt bad for those that had to hear such words: their fallen comrades probably felt that it was worth it.

She didn't want to think too long on that, though.

By the end of the night, just a few soldiers had to stay overnight for observation due to how badly they were bleeding or due to how hard they may have hit their head – this was Rose's call; she had informed the others of concussions, which they'd never really thought about before, and how concussions can be deadly if not treated immediately.

Rose offered to stay the night with the other ladies, but it must have been evident she wished to leave – to be with her friends, as Kara was insistent on her dismissal for the day. She paid her, as per usual, and sent her off.

She practically ran to Hange's house first. Inside, it was them and Moblit, talking quietly, looking disheveled, but more importantly they were alive.

"Oh," Rose uttered, trying her best not to full-on burst into tears. To see the first familiar face amidst all the strangers she'd seen today made her feel a sense of relief, and lifted her spirits if only the tiniest bit. "Hello."

"Hello, Rose," Hange said simply, sitting at their desk, hands folded together inquisitively. "Busy day, I'm assuming."

"I could say the same for you," she retorted, her voice soft. Then she said, "I'm going to go see – "

"Lily's here. I told her this is the first place you'd visit."

Without saying another word, Rose turned on her heel to head toward her borrowed bedroom. Within, sure enough, sat Lily on the bed. Sure, she had a couple of scratches, and her uniform was a little torn up, but she was here and alive.

"Lily," Rose breathed, approaching her. Lily stood up suddenly and crossed the room to meet her sister. They stopped just before one another, the need to hug – to touch, to ensure the other was real – so intense, but unfortunately not a luxury they were allowed. "I'm so happy to see you. Despite everything, I know –"

"I know what you mean," Lily said, sniffling. Still no smile. Her face appeared more forlorn than ever.

"I have to go see Petra and –" At the sound of her name, Lily seemed to have full-on frowned. Rose furrowed her brow. "What?"

"Rose…" Lily sat on the bed again, inviting Rose to do the same. She almost reached for her hand, as if trying to comfort her of something, but stopped herself. "Rose, Squad Levi… took a hit."

The words didn't register at first, but when they did, she sucked in a breath and shook her head. "Who… who?"

"Petra, Eld, Oluo, and Gunter," Lily answered, slowly saying each name carefully. "Rose, I'm sorry."

Rose was still shaking her head, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. And quite frankly, she couldn't. Weren't they some of the strongest soldiers in the Scouting Legion? What happened to them? She wanted to ask, but would Lily know?

As if reading her mind, like she always seemed to, Lily said, "I don't know what happened. Though we did discover there is another titan shifter like Eren, and that she had something to do with it."

Rose's head began to reel; another titan shifter? And this one was against the humans? That sounded atrocious. "Do they know – "

"No, I don't think so. That's why… they called this mission a failure."

Rose's shoulders slumped. "I… I have to see Eren… and Levi. I have to make sure they're okay."

"I have to get back to my quarters. I know I've probably overstayed my absence," Lily said, getting to her feet and dusting herself off. "Look, come find me later. I want us to see my mom together. Our mom."

Our mom. Rose liked the sound of that, the only positive thing to come of this conversation. "I'd like that."


"Why didn't you come to the infirmary?"

Rose was scolding Levi for not getting his injury taken care of. Apparently, he'd completely broken his ankle, and didn't intend on getting it looked at.

"It's fine," he insisted, not looking at her at all, just continuing to drink his tea and keep his icy eyes on the table, looking more solemn than annoyed at her insistence. "There were more injured people than me that needed to be treated, anyway."

"That's not the point…" She turned away from and went to her new knapsack. She'd been taking supplies with her for Eren's sake, when Levi happened to punish him. It seemed like now it would come in handy. She approached him, and he turned away from her immediately. "Please? It's just me."

There must have been something in her plea, as he reluctantly, after a few moments, allowed her to look at his broken ankle. She bent down to assess the injury; it was severely bruised, but it didn't appear like it needed to be reset, so that was good. Just needed to be stabilized. She took a wooden splint against it, then started wrapping first the foot, then the leg.

"I'm sorry…" she said softly, not daring to look up at him as she worked or said those words.

"About what? You didn't do anything wrong." He was staring at her, she could feel it, but she didn't want meet his gaze whatsoever.

"About…" She paused to dare meet his eyes, sighing softly. "About the others."

"Ah." His icy gaze softened at the mention of his squad. "Thank you."

Nodding, she continued with her work without another word. When she finished, she leaned back, stating, "Keep that on for a few days so that your leg doesn't, you know, break all over again."

"Got it, doc." He sipped the last of his tea, then set his cup down and stood up, walking as normally as possible to the stairs. "It's late. Why don't you stay the night tonight."

"I—" Rose flushed at the offer, but then remembered the last time she'd stayed over. All they did was talk until she fell asleep; he didn't sleep the whole night, apparently. "Sure."

Following him, she instantly crawled under the blankets, and he took his place at his desk, not even giving her a second glance.

Without saying even so much as a goodnight, Rose found herself immediately falling asleep. Only to be awoken by a familiar, stark white pull.

She jolted upright, searching for it. It was against Levi's closet – or where it was supposed to be. Levi had stood up at this point, going toward it as if to observe it.

"Levi, don't –"

Too late.

He'd been absorbed by the white light.

Rushing out of bed, Rose jumped right after him, hoping and praying that they would end up in the same place.