Risk: Chapter Fourteen

"Shot?!" Hange exclaimed, tending to the wound located on Rose's abdomen. Rose tried her best not to wince or cry out when it was touched; surely these soldiers dealt with worse, she could handle a bullet wound to the gut.

"I was just saving a friend. Wasn't even thinking about it."

"Are you crazy? You let the proper authorities handle something like that, don't play hero." Hange was scolding her like Levi was, if only sounding a little nicer about it. Finally, Hange finished with dressing the wound, stepping back to observe their work. "Alright, now time to hit Stohess."

"What's there?"

"Did you not hear? About the Female Titan?" Hange's eyes went wide, as if ready to expel the biggest secret in history.

"You mean the other titan shifter – Lily told me."

Hange's shoulders slumped a little; so they had wanted to spill the beans. "I see. Is that all she told you?"

"Just that… she's responsible for a lot of deaths." Rose moved to a sitting position, growing ever sadder as she remembered who had been lost not too long ago.

"That's right," Hange confirmed, voice solemn. "And because of this other titan shifter being a menace to humanity, we have to bring her down. At whatever cost."

"You're going to kill her." It wasn't a question.

"Like I said whatever means necessary." Then they added, "We ideally want to interrogate her, but as you said, she is responsible for the deaths of a lot of our comrades."

"I'm sorry about that, Hange," Rose said in a soft voice, looking at the ground. "I can't even imagine… losing people like that."

"But you have lost, haven't you?" At that, Rose brought her blue gaze up. "Your parents. Levi told me."

"Ah." Did Levi talk about her a lot? Not important right now. "I don't think it's the same."

"Loss is loss. It's still devastating no matter the magnitude."

Hange was right, Rose knew, but she really didn't believe that the deaths could be comparable. She didn't argue, however, but simply stood up – slowly, carefully – and followed Hange out of the bedroom she'd come to call her own.


"They've identified who it is?" Rose asked, head tilted a bit to the side in disbelief.

"Mmhmm," Hange answered simply, hands folded on their lap as they sat across from Rose in the carriage. "I'm going to drop you off at the courthouse, and then head to the meeting site." Just as Rose opened her mouth to protest, they interjected with, "You're injured. And you're also not a soldier. You're kind of a liability right now."

They had a point, Rose knew, but she wouldn't admit it out loud.

Once at the court house, the two exited the carriage, which immediately left. It was then that Rose noticed Hange was adorned in their 3DMG. Whatever was going on, they were all ready for a fight.

How terrifying.

"You're going to wait for Levi and Commander Erwin. Do not leave this spot." With that, Hange made their way into town, no doubt toward the meeting spot they were meant to be at.

How they intended to capture a titan in the middle of a busy city like this, Rose wasn't entirely sure, and couldn't calculate that in her head, but surely they had a solid plan.

Right?

Soon, Commander Erwin and Levi rolled up – followed by the commander of the MPs, Niles Doc, who seemed less than pleased to see them.

"Where is Eren?" he commanded, approaching Erwin.

Erwin didn't answer, but looked beyond him as if that was answer enough. A second carriage pulled up then, and Erwin gave a single nod.

"Eren is now in the possession of the Military Police," Niles said, keeping his chin up, as if that was enough to dominate authority over Erwin. That didn't seem to deter the Commander of the Scouting Legion, however; he hardly acknowledged the statement.

Just then, a loud, thundering noise could be heard from beyond, and smoke could be seen from behind the escort MPs that were on the roof.

"What was that?" Rose whispered, having joined Levi by his side. She wasn't asking anyone directly, however; it was more of her thinking out loud.

The roaring sound continued, and soon there seemed to be debris being strewn around from over yonder. Rose's mouth went slightly agape, and she looked to Levi, then Erwin, for answers. They appeared as calm as ever. The MPs looked like they might disembowel themselves right then and there in disbelief.

"Erwin, what is this?" commanded Niles.

"We believe that the Female Titan has infiltrated Stohess and is currently on a rampage to find Eren."

Then Niles turned to the carriage that had parked beside them earlier. "But he's right here – is she coming here?"

Suddenly, the door the carriage opened, and an MP shouted at the Scout that exited, "Who said you could get out, Jaegar?"

"This stupid wig," said the Scout. It was Jean – she recognized him as one of the trainees she'd fed while she was working with Lily. "Call me Jaegar again, see what happens." He escaped the MP's grasp and approached Commander Erwin. "Sir, what are your orders?"

"Find a cadet with gear," said Erwin.

"Yes sir." And soon, Jean was gone, disappearing toward the smoke that was building up just behind them.

"Wait, what's going on?" Niles asked, voice panicked but laced with that commanding demeanor. Just as he was about to say more, another cadet approached Erwin with 3DMG, and Erwin began putting it on. That seemed to set Doc off, and he pointed a rifle at Erwin. "Take that gear off or I'm going to shoot you where you stand."

"You'd be making the biggest mistake of your miserable life," Levi warned him. "Just look around you."

Rose tried to keep calm as the thundering noises about them grew louder and closer. Was that the sound of the Female Titan? Was Eren also with her? She wished that she knew, that she was on a roof just so she could see for herself. She hated being in the dark, and could understand Commander Doc's panic – but pointing a gun at Erwin? That seemed a bit extreme.

Erwin was warning him that he would have to take hold of the command, and how to go about that.

"Shut up, just shut the hell up," Niles said, lowering his gun. "Lower your weapons. And arrest this man."

They were talking about Erwin. But why arrest him, if they didn't want to take control of the situation like he had? That didn't make sense.

"Levi, you and Rose stay here. Death wouldn't become you both."

"No, I guess it wouldn't," Levi retorted, heading toward the sound of the thundering.

Rose followed after him, but he stopped when he noticed her doing so. "You should stay behind."

"So should you," she returned with a leer look, eyes narrowed and arms crossed. "But here we are."

"You're injured – and you don't know any combat. You're a –"

"If you call me a liability, I'll scream." Being called such twice in one day seemed excessive.

"Anyway, I'll take you somewhere safe if you're insistent on staying close, then." He motioned with a single hand for her to follow him toward a small armory, where he started to gear up.

"I thought the Commander told you to stay put. Death not becoming you and all that."

"I don't like being on the sidelines." He took her by the wrist back outside once he was finished and picked her up without saying a word, cradling her close so as to not drop her. "Hold on, and don't be an idiot and let go."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, doing as she was told, and soon they were in the air. After a few moments, they landed on a tall building close to the wall – and from here Rose could see two titans fighting.

Rose recognized the Female Titan instantly – who could miss her? But the other one… that had to be Eren.

Levi gently set Rose down, and she released her hold on him, stepping away as if she needed to create distance between them.

"Stay here," he demanded. "I'll be right back for you, do you understand?"

"Got it," she said with a nod. She watched him fly away, then her eyes instantly peered to the two fighting titans.

No, wait. The Female Titan was trying to escape – she was climbing the wall! Someone had to stop her, right? Eren did, but was thwarted by a kick to the face. Then one of the Scouts – she couldn't tell who from here – managed to slice through her fingers, causing her to fall backwards. Then Eren tackled her – and looked like he might eat her. Rose covered her mouth, as if trying to stifle a scream, watching the events unfold before her. Just as he was about to, a bright light like what she was familiar with, the portal light, flashed before him – and started fusing the two titans together. Then someone – she could tell who this was, it was Levi – managed to hit the nape of Eren's titan, probably to help him escape.

It was over. It had to be.


Levi was true to his word; he came back for her.

Rose observed the decaying titan bodies from a distance; titans, rightfully, still freaked her out and she didn't like the idea of being near them, dead, rotting, whatever phase they happened to be in, it didn't matter. She just didn't like them.

She liked Eren. The titan thing, she still needed to get used to.

Annie Leonhardt, of the 104th cadets, and now the Military Police, lay in a crystalized prison of her own making just beyond the wall. How she was able to do it, no one knew. And how long she planned to be in this hardened state, that, too, was unknown.

Jean had been hitting the crystal when Levi forced him to stop. "It's over," he had said. Something about that statement made it sound so final.

"What happens to her now?" Rose asked, looking between Hange and Levi.

"She goes underground." Hange answered, then commanding for some of the Scouts to get them harnesses so they could do just that.

"And the Scout Regiment?" Rose dared to ask.

"Clear… for now." Levi said this as if they had done so by the skin of their teeth. And maybe they had.

But Erwin, he was still arrested. What would become of him? And Eren?

So many questions started to sprout in Rose's head – and she began to realize that Annie held the answers to quite a few of them. Now that she was encased in this crystal, there was nothing they could do but wait and hope that maybe sooner – rather than much later – she would emerge and provide the answers everyone was seeking.

As an enemy of humanity, wouldn't she know about others? Like the Colossal Titan?

Maybe not. But it was fleeting to hope, at least.