Risk: Chapter Sixteen
Rose landed on a bed; at first she thought it was Hange's, the one she was borrowing from them, and for that she was grateful. However, when she looked up from the pillow, she noticed Levi full-on staring at her.
"Oh." She slowly slid out of bed, using Jake's jacket to cover herself up – at least at the top. She knew she looked rather scandalous, and he probably had something to say about it.
"Huh."
That was it? No snide comments about how she should be wearing more clothing?
"I would ask if I woke you up, but…"
He was behind his desk, a pen in hand, clearly doing a pile of paperwork. Being a Captain sounded like a headache.
"You did interrupt me," he said after a moment. "Is that your jacket?"
She felt her face flush. "No… It's my friend, Jake's." She pulled it tighter around her, as if it could somehow hide her from his sudden scrutiny.
"Right. Friend." He didn't believe her.
"Yes, friend," she emphasized. Then she sat on the bed again. "Anyway, how is Commander Erwin?"
"As good as to be expected. His trial begins tomorrow. Are you going to be there?"
"I want to be," she answered softly, staring at the floor. "But I don't want to be in the way, either."
"I don't think that would be the case," Levi said, folding his hands and placing his chin upon them. "Is there something else that you're wanting or needing to do, instead?"
"Not at all. This is more important."
"Agreed." Then he added, "Just don't wear that."
Oh, there it was.
It felt wrong to be wearing any of Petra's clothes now that she was gone. However, Rose didn't have much of a choice; Hange's clothes were too big for her, and anyone else was either too big or too small.
The only other person she could ask was her sister, but she didn't want to take anything away from her or Clementine.
Pulling on a long black skirt, long sleeved burgundy top, and long socks with her loafers that she'd left here, she exited the room she borrowed from Hange to join them in the living room.
"Oh, not going to wear that pretty dress from earlier?" Hange commented with a small sneer.
"Hange…" Now was not the time to be making jokes.
"I'm sorry. It was beautiful, though, right, Levi?" Hange faced her fellow comrade, who had averted his gaze as if not wanting to be part of this conversation.
Good call.
They headed to the courthouse together in a carriage, staying solemn and quiet. Rose was lost in thought, mostly thinking out of fear for Erwin. What would be his fate today? What evidence did the Military Police compile against him?
"Try not to look like that in the room," Levi said, pulling Rose out of her reverie.
"Sorry," she said simply, then looked out the window of the carriage, mostly as a distraction.
Soon, they had arrived, but as they approached the building, two MPs stopped them. "Commanding Officers only," one of them said, gesturing with their rifle to Hange.
Rose looked between Levi and Hange, who were staring at one another as if trying to figure out what to do. Then Levi simply nodded, stepping back. "Rosemary, let's go."
"Huh—" But he was pulling on her arm, heading in another direction. "Where are we going?"
"If we can't watch the trial, I can at least do my civil duties and watch over Annie Leonhardt for a little bit."
Something about that terrified her, but she didn't say anything, just allowed him to lead her to another building, then down the stairs, until they reached the basement, and Annie's crystalized body finally revealed itself before her.
Rose had to admit: it was beautiful. And if it didn't hold so many secrets, it would be a lot more appealing. However, with all the answers Annie held, she couldn't help but find it mildly menacing.
There were a couple of Garrison soldiers positioned on either side of her, but Levi dismissed them upon his arrival. They seemed hesitant at first, but under his gaze they seemed to understand his authority and did as they were told.
Releasing his hold on her, he approached the crystal, arms crossed, assessing it as if for the first time.
"What was with the get-up last night?"
"Huh?" That was a rather big change in conversation. So much for civic duty. "Uh… I was at a dance."
"Huh." He didn't say anything for awhile, the asked, "Is that where you met Jake?"
She felt the color rise to her cheeks – out of frustration, slight anger, or embarrassment, she wasn't sure. "No. I actually met him a few weeks ago. After I returned home, the school gave me a… Queen for the… semester? party."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. And he was the only one that treated me… normal. Even Bunni was acting like a weirdo." She still wanted to talk to her friend about that, but it had been so long since that day she thought her friend would just brush it aside. Besides, Rose had already chalked it up to the fact that Bunni liked attention, and was just fueling Rose's fire to get it. "It was just nice to not be treated like royalty for something I feel like… everyone should do?"
"You think everyone should get shot in the stomach?" At that, he turned to glare at her.
"No, I think people should learn to know when to… I don't know, save others. I was just thinking about saving Bunni. According to everyone on campus, I saved the whole stupid school."
"You did, Rosemary." He dropped his arms and took one step toward her. "Do you understand what he intended to do?"
"I just saw he had a gun to Bunni's head. So I guess… shoot Bunni?" That seemed like the most logical answer.
"Bunni said he intended to shoot up the entire school after killing her. He was going to take his revenge out on everyone. You stopped him from doing that."
She had? She hadn't realized he was going to do all that – just that he was going to hurt her friend, that much she could confirm in the few seconds she could assess the situation. "Oh… I didn't realize…"
"No, you didn't. That he had enough bullets to shoot up an entire school full of people. And could have unloaded them into you. That's why you don't play hero." He wasn't scolding her, though, not this time. His voice was soft. "But I have to give you this: you're braver than I thought."
"I—" She didn't know what to say to that. That seemed like the highest compliment coming from someone like Levi. She wished her heart would stop beating so hard; surely he could hear it. "Thanks."
"Don't thank me. Just don't do that again." Another step forward.
It was like he was trying to close the distance between them, but doing it slowly, cautiously, so as to not scare her. But Rose wasn't afraid – quite the opposite, she felt a bit of adrenaline running through her, as if anticipating something big to happen.
She didn't know if it was the dim room, if it was the impending doom that loomed in this timeline, if it was something else entirely, but she found herself moving forward to meet him. "I won't," she promised. "I promise, I won't do anything stupid like that again. That hurt like hell, anyway."
"Yeah, no shit."
There was something in the air – electricity, wiry and hot – that made it almost hard to breathe. However, Rose managed to keep her breath steady; Levi always kept his composure, for which Rose was always jealous. Their eyes locked, and Rose couldn't bring herself to look away – she didn't want to. Just as felt herself reach out to touch him –
"Captain!"
Rose moved away from him, allowing the solider that entered access to see him.
"What is it?" he commanded, sounding a tiny bit annoyed. She felt annoyed too, but she didn't want to show it.
"Titans – they've breached Wall Rose."
The two of them looked at one another, then Levi rushed out of the basement, Rose following right after him.
Titans? Through Wall Rose? How?
