Risk: Chapter Twenty-One
It was the borrowed bedroom she landed in this time. She was mildly grateful for that; she didn't feel like seeing anyone right now, didn't feel like talking to anyone. She just wanted to be alone for a little while.
She looked at herself in the thin floor mirror, sighing. She definitely appeared like she was at a funeral.
"I think she's here," she heard Hange's voice on the other side of the door.
Oh, come on, she groaned. She really wished to be left alone right now.
"Rose?" Hange didn't wait for her to allow her in, just opened the door right up and allowed themself inside. "You're here – why are you dressed like that?"
"it's not important." Yes it was, but she didn't want to talk about it right now. "What's going on? Why are you still in your pajamas?"
"Father Nick – he was murdered this morning. I have to tell the others." Hange gave her another once over, lip a little jutted out. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'll change." She didn't want to answer that question. It was a loaded one.
Once she was in a pair of dark brown overalls and a tan long sleeve shirt, Rose joined Hange – who now wore their soldier attire – and Moblit to tell Squad Levi the terrible news.
Hange placed a lot of blame on themselves, it seemed. That they should have hid him better, that they should have did his paperwork different, so on, so on. Rose could sympathize with that guilt, but she wasn't about to say aloud as to how.
Just as they were theorizing about what the Military Police could have wanted from the Father – and failed to get, since they tortured him so long that it was evident that he didn't talk – another soldier came in with a letter from Erwin, giving it to Levi.
"Everyone, get your gear. Make it look like we weren't even here."
Rose tilted her head at that. Why, all of sudden, were they leaving? She looked to Hange, who appeared just as confused as she. Levi came over to her then, handing her one of their capes.
"Put this on," he advised. "You're going to need it."
She would have asked why – but part of her just didn't… care. So she did as she was told, sliding the fabric over her head and waiting for her next orders.
Soon they were out on the fields, just within the trees and tall grass. And just as they had hid themselves there, the Military Police had started ransacking the place, tearing down doors and throwing objects around to find them.
"What…" Rose wanted to ask what was going on, but the soldier from earlier seemed to bring more questions than answers, as she said that the Military Police had come to arrest Erwin just as she'd left him, and they'd said they were placing all Scouts under arrest.
Apparently, though, Levi had a plan to lure out the enemy.
"I'm going to need some of your squad," he said to Hange.
"Right." Then they said, "Moblit is with me, the rest of you are with Levi."
And that seemed to be that.
Rose and Lily were the ones chosen to ride with the real Historia and Eren, if only because of their abilities – though the younger Scouts didn't know about that yet. Lily was also military trained, and so she offered another helping hand in protecting the two.
As they rode through the city, Rose kept her head low, trying her best to keep to herself.
"You've been quiet, Rose," Lily commented, her eyes scanning just outside of the tented carriage.
"A lot is going on, Lily," Rose reminded her. She still didn't want to talk about Bunni – she didn't even know where to begin with that conversation. On the fact she did it at all, on why – that would be a talk in and of itself, and she didn't feel like explaining any of that to anyone. Besides, it was no one's business but Bunni's, at the end of the day.
"You're right." But she didn't sound convinced by Rose's answer; in fact, she scrutinized her a little bit like how Hange did yesterday. It appeared as if she would say more to her, when suddenly Lily exclaimed, "Watch out—"
The tent was pulled from the carriage, leaving them all exposed. Lily pulled out her swords, ready to fight – but just as instantly she had fallen, fainting over the edge of the carriage and rolling onto the ground.
"Lily!" Rose called, leaning over the carriage and watching as her sister disappeared into the distance.
"Rose—" she heard Eren call her name, then the next second, "Historia!"
Rose looked over at the young girl; a dart was in her neck.
"Eren, duck—"
But it was too late, as a dart landed smack-dab in the middle of his neck as well. She bent down to catch him before he fell when a prick could be felt in her own nape. She reached up lamely to touch it – and the next thing she knew, she was falling onto the carriage floor, eyes closing forcefully, fading to black.
When she awoke, she groaned with as she had a slight headache, no doubt from the medicine the dart had injected into her. She went to stand up – but she was restrained, and still felt a little loopy. Historia was up, out of restraints, however – and being embraced by some plump old man. He was apologizing to her.
Where was Eren?
She felt suddenly a sort of whisper in her head, like someone was brushing a feather against the inside of her brain. She blinked, trying to identify the feeling. Then she remembered it – when she held hands with Lily, that was what it felt like when she was inside her head.
Was Lily in her head?
As if to affirm as much, the brushing feeling increased. She winced a little, but tried to keep her composure for the most part. However, she was growing ever-so tired as well, the medicine from the dart taking hold again. The feather-light feeling intensified, but it couldn't beat the injection, unfortunately, and soon darkness took hold again.
She woke up again to a still-dark room, but she felt more alert now. She wondered if she could get Lily back somehow, if she could signal that she was awake and that Lily could now try and see what she saw, they could identify where she was together so they could find her faster.
She looked around as much as she could with her restraints; just a regular room, with one single MP guard at the door, who was barely even looking at her.
The whisper was returning.
Rose looked right up at the guard, as if to indicate the danger she was in. The feather-brushing feeling indicated it did, in fact, understand, disappearing again, then returning with a little more intensity. Rose hated that, but she tried not to think too hard on that.
"Hey, quit moving around, time traveler," demanded the guard.
Oh no. He knew what she was? This was bad.
"We'll be dealing with you later. You and that sister of yours."
The brushing on her brain seemed to go a little haywire at that, and Rose closed her eyes as she let the feeling ride. When it was over, she opened them again, and the guard was hovering right over her.
"What, you can't just travel your way out of this one? Waiting on your little friends to help you out, huh?" He grabbed hold of a fistful of her hair and pulled her up, getting her at eye level. She screeched in pain, to which that seemed to make him laugh. "Come on, show me how it works. I'd like to see how people in other times deal with titans."
"That's enough," said a voice from behind him. Another MP. "We need her alive for the ritual, remember?"
Ritual? What were they talking about?
"Besides, don't get her hopes up about her friends finding us out here. This is an abandoned church, after all; no one comes up in these hills anymore."
The feathery feeling suddenly disappeared, leaving her all alone to deal with these MPs. But they did reveal where they were, maybe that was enough?
Damn, Rose sure hoped so.
At some point, Rose had fallen asleep again, as she was woken up by a crashing noise. Then a few slicing noises could be heard, as well as some grunting and groaning. The door would open, and her beloved sister would come through, heaving heavy breaths, covered in blood – undoubtedly not her own, though.
"Rose," she breathed, bending down to cut her sister out of her ropes. "Are you alright?"
"Oh, so you're both here?" A slightly injured MP came through the door, limping but otherwise seemed fine. "Maybe we'll just get the ritual out of the way."
"Like hell," Lily said through gritted teeth, lunging toward the man. She went straight for his middle and managed to get a lucky shot. He slid off her weapon, falling backward onto the floor, now holding his stomach.
"Rose, let's go."
"Right!" Rose got to her feet, stumbling as she'd been lying there for who-knew-how-long, and followed quickly after Lily, who seemed to know the way out of the ancient church.
Just as they exited an earthquake could be heard, and it actually cracked open part of the ground. The girls reached for one other instinctively, the electric pulse racing through them quickly, before they let each other go. As they reached the edge of the cliff the church was on, they heard voices behind them.
"It's Armin – and Moblit with Hange. They're injured!"
"Don't worry about us!" Moblit shouted. "Let's get the hell out of here!"
Rose had torn part of her cloak that she'd still been wearing and pressed it against Hange's shoulder, trying to soak up the blood and also clot the wound. She continued to do this, tearing the fabric bit by bit and pressing it to the wound. Hange seemed grateful for her nursing them.
As the horses rode on, the others talked silently amongst themselves. Rose didn't listen, though. She really didn't care about anyone's regrets or needing to be eaten or any of that. She was here, and she didn't know if she needed to be. This was the most help she'd been since she'd arrived.
That whole ritual talk still fascinated her a little bit, and she wished she could get more information on that.
As if reading her mind – and she probably was – Lily asked, "That ritual stuff, what do you think that was about?"
"Something about a sacrifice? That's what I heard before I fell into blackness again," she answered in a voice.
"Ritual? Sacrifice?" Hange interjected, looking between the twins. "What are you two talking about?"
"The MPs that were guarding Rose were talking about some sacrificial ritual involving us," Lily answered, leaning forward so Hange could hear. "And kept talking about the fact that Rose time travels. So I think a lot more than Sampson and his gang knew about Rose. And me, I guess."
"I wouldn't worry about it," Rose said flatly. "I'm not."
"You should be," Levi said, his horse having moving close so he could join the conversation. "What if it's something catastrophic?"
"It sounds like some crazy cult thing." She didn't even look at him, and she said this as if that was all she was going to say on the matter.
As they got closer to Wall Sina, they advised on what they would do with Rose. Since they would be fighting this gigantic titan, and Eren would be involved, they would need to put her further into city to ensure her safety. They would put her with some of the Garrison to ensure as much. She didn't argue, just continued to tend to Hange.
By the feel of the tension, everyone thought that was weird behavior. But Rose really couldn't bring herself to care. She just wanted to get this chapter of her life in the year C. 850 over with so she could go home.
"Is that it?" Lily said accusingly just as they entered the city. "You want to go home that bad? Is it because of this Bunni?"
At the sound of her name aloud, Rose lifted her head for the first time since she'd arrived. "What?"
"That's all you've been thinking about since you got here. Bunni, Bunni, Bunni."
"Shut up," she warned through gritted teeth, leaning back from Hange.
"Fine, but I'll ask you about it later."
Rose had no intention of answering questions about Bunni.
Once Rose was secured with the Garrison, she sat in a room by her lonesome, awaiting the crashing sounds she anticipated from such a large titan attack. But she couldn't bring herself to watch; not because titans freaked her out, like before, but like everything else the last couple of days, she couldn't bring herself to care about it.
It was a couple of hours later when the Scouts came to fetch her, the Garrison commending her on how well behaved she happened to be.
"She didn't make a peep. Didn't even panic when the titans started attacking."
Hange, Levi, Erwin, and Lily all approached her, and she looked up at them expectantly. "Is it time to go?"
"What is wrong with you?" Levi asked, eyebrows knit together. "You haven't argued with me about anything. That's not like you."
"And you haven't jibed with me once," Hange added.
"Who is Bunni?" Lily asked, sitting next to Rose, her voice soft. "Why does she make you sad?"
Rose kept looking at the ground, a knot forming in her throat as she opened her mouth to answer. "She was my best friend in the whole world, Lily. And she… died."
Silence. Hange broke it first. "I'm sorry, Rose."
"I want to say it's okay, but it's not. Because… because…" The tears came without warning then, brimming hot. "Because I'm so fucking mad at her. She killed herself, you know," she added, looking to Lily. "She just… left. Why would she do that? And I love her to death but right now I hate her. Isn't that messed up?"
Now she felt the sobs coming on, and she quickly tried to wipe at her eyes, as if that was enough to stop it. "This is so stupid. You guys see death all the time, and I see one dead friend and I'm torn to pieces. This is awful." Her sobs turned into laughter, then back into sobbing, as she flip-flopped back and forth between the two. "I hate this. I feel like I don't have a right to be sad, but I also… am so upset."
"Rose…" Lily, knowing that she shouldn't, reached around and held her sister. Their little bond formed, and they were in each other's head before long. And within seconds, Lily was crying, too, feeling what Rose was feeling.
The others didn't say anything. Just allowed the twins to cry their little hearts out.
