Risk: Chapter Twenty-Seven

Two more weeks until the recon mission.

Rose wasn't very useful with the Scouts; they were off gathering information about Eren and his history with his father, which didn't necessarily involve her. However, she did find she could be useful at the infirmary. Since soldiers were training, they were unfortunately hurting themselves in the process, keeping the clinic busy.

She would arrive early, help Kara set up the cots, then sit back as people filed in one by one. They were never serious injuries, thankfully, as they were kind of needed in the next couple of weeks. They needed treatment, at any rate, and Rose delivered it.

She came home pretty late each night, but always before Hange. She prepared a small dinner for the two of them, leaving leftovers for the other person before heading to bed to start the day all over again, as she never got to see Hange in the morning either.

She had stayed in this timeline to ensure she spent as much time with the others as possible, and it appeared she wouldn't be able to do that. They were all too busy doing their own thing, it seemed.

Ten days before the mission, Rose was walking to the infirmary, as per usual, when she got the feeling that she was being followed. She didn't know what brought it on, but the hairs on the back of her neck were standing up, and she suddenly felt very aware of her surroundings. She quickened her pace, not too much that it was noticeable, but enough that she hoped it created a comfortable distance between herself and – whoever it happened to be.

However, whoever was following her mimicked her speed, and it caused her to panic a little. Just as she was about to reach the infirmary door, she felt someone grab hold of her arm, spinning her to face them. She opened her mouth to scream, but they used their other hand – a rather large hand – to cover it.

"Rose, I'm so sorry to do this to you."

It was Uncle Joseph's voice. And do what? Scare her?

She writhed in his grasp, but he held tightly, quickly moving his hold from her wrist to around her whole middle, pulling her into an alley beside the clinic.

"Just… Be quiet for a little bit, okay? You'll be joining your sister in a few, alright?"

Her sister? What did her sister have to do with any of this? What was he planning to do?

She tried to scream under his hand, but it was so muffled, it was useless. She continued to fight under his hold, but he was big and strong, also a futile battle.

"Here, this'll help." He removed his hand from her mouth, and she began opening it to yell for help, but it didn't last long. He returned his hand over her lips, only now he was holding some kind of cloth. A strange odor was upon it, and as she inhaled it, she found herself growing a little drowsy. Soon, she closed her eyes, growing limp, falling into a deep sleep.

Once she awoke, her blurry vision first focused on the vision of a blob that appeared to be her sister. After a few seconds of waking up, her eyes would confirm just as much. "Lily?" she breathed, voice a little hoarse. Had she been out long?

"Rose, you're okay," Lily said, leaning over her, not touching her in comfort – which was probably for the best. "Rose, can you get up?"

Slowly, Rose pushed herself into a sitting position, head now swiveling around to observe her surroundings. It appeared like they were in an abandoned church of some sort, the roof a little destroyed, the flooring cracked, the stained-glass windows broken.

"What's going on?" Rose asked, obviously confused. "Where are we?"

"Don't worry, I left clues for the others to find us," Lily whispered.

"That doesn't… find us where?" Rose asked again, then she proceeded to ask, "Didn't he knock you out?"

"I pretended to breathe in that bullshit," Lily said in a hushed tone, then looked to the front of the church where Uncle Joseph appeared to be prepping for… something. "Look, I tried to get out of here, and when I did… this electric fence thing formed. I don't get it."

"What?" Rose said, swallowing hard. "What the heck – how did he do that?"

"I don't know!"

"Oh," they heard Uncle Joseph say, gaining their attention. "You're finally awake. This is great, we can begin."

"Begin what, exactly?" Rose demanded, huddling as close to Lily as she could.

"Why, the ritual of course. We're going to bring my brother back. And in turn, I'm going to gain your abilities, Rose." He said this matter-of-factly, as if she should have known the plan all along.

Rose shook her head in disbelief. "This isn't going to work, Uncle Joseph –"

"It has to," he hissed, glaring between both girls. "Now, let's get started." He went over to the right side wall, where a large switch was built in. He pushed it down, and the electric fence that Lily was talking about formed around them – then started to grow closer, then closer still.

"Uncle Joseph, it's going to shock us!" Lily exclaimed, trying to push herself away from the fence.

"No, not at all, it's just to keep you girls close together for the ritual." He laughed then, but there was no humor behind it. "Go ahead, I know how those powers work. Hold hands, give each other a hug, something."

So that was it – he was trying to activate their abilities by force. At first, the girls resisted, trying to stay away from the electric fence that drew ever closer, but also trying to avoid touching one another. However, it was right in front of their faces before long, and they did, in fact, proceed to hold on another to keep from getting hurt.

Just as they did that, the familial warmth of going into someone else's mind rushed through Rose before she settled back into her own head, though a piece of Lily still remained in the recesses of her own brain. She squeezed Lily, as if to reassure her that everything would be alright.

Just as she'd done that, a loud thundering noise could be heard above them. They looked up, and a portal of sorts opened up, revealing some type of world that Rose had never seen before.

"What is that?"

"That's going to take me to your world, dear Rose. But first, it's going to bring my brother back – by taking one of you."

Rose remembered what their mother had said: that the eldest twin would have the be the sacrificial lamb.

"This is crazy!" she yelled over the thundering.

"It might be crazy, but it's an insane plan that has to work!"

Rose was about to say more, but something deep inside her was beginning to fade.

"Rose?" Lily said, shaking her sister a bit. "Rose, hey, what's wrong?"

"It's working!" Uncle Joseph exclaimed happily, lifting his hands up to the sky as if thanking some God he probably didn't even believe in.

"Rose!"

But Rose could barely hear Lily now. There was something pulling her down, down, down, like she was in a lake full of grasping hands, trying to pull her deeper into the water.

"Hey, come on, wake up!"

Now the darkness was turning into a white light. Not the one she was familiar with, but something warm, inviting. She was in a room of white, and as she looked down at herself, she realized she was just wearing a white dress, no shoes, no socks, nothing else at all.

"I can't hear her anymore! I can't feel her!"

Why could she still hear Lily's voice, if Lily couldn't hear her? But she couldn't focus on that right now, not when that warm, fuzzy feeling was progressively getting better the more she walked forward.

She kept walking for some time, and as she walked, bits of her memories passed: her time with Levi, dancing with Jake, quality time with Petra and Lily, taking driver's education with Bunni – and almost crashing the test car – her uncle inviting her into his home after her parents died and cooking them their first meal of eggs and toast, the boat ride before the accident and how much fun she had that day –

So many fun memories… And yet they didn't make her feel as warm as this… this room did. No, that wasn't true.

She had avoided going home because she wanted to create new, wonderful memories with these lovely people she'd come to love.

She had to turn around.

But upon doing so, Rose found there was a strong force keeping her back, like gravity was pulling her in the opposite direction. However, she pushed on through, each step growing easier the more she powered on. Finally, she wasn't just walking but running back toward – wherever.

"Wait, I hear her."

That was Lily's voice.

"I – I can't touch her anymore. She's alive! Oh my God, she's alive!"

What did that mean? Wasn't she alive this whole time? She couldn't think about that too long, she had to focus on running back to her friends, to her sister. Just as she felt completely lost in this open room, a wavering door hovered before her. She breathed once, heavily, then finally opened it.

The light disappeared, replaced by the vision of the church she was previously in. She inhaled quickly, eyes wide as she tried to assess just where she was – and what was happening.

Her uncle was trying to kill her. That much she remembered. She turned to look at her sister – now surrounded by the young Scouts, Hange, and Levi. Sasha, Connie and Lily were all openly sobbing. "Why… are you crying?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"Are you dumb?" Lily retorted through a sob. "You died."

"I… did?" She glanced over to the front of the church; empty. "Where is he?"

"Wait, you don't remember?" Jean asked, truly sounding shocked.

Rose shook her head, turning to face them again. "Remember what?" She tried to sit up, but she felt so heavy and weak all at the same time, she collapsed onto the ground all over again.

"I got you," Levi said, moving to pick her up. "Let's get her to Hange's; we'll fill her in there."


Evidently, while she was dead, Uncle Joseph almost got his wish and traveled to a different time period. However, it seemed that the portal he created was a little merciless, as it took his whole life force, and proceeded to put it right back into Rose, instead of using Rose's life to bring Joseph's brother – their father – back from the dead.

Rose wasn't joking when she said she wasn't on Father Time's shit-list.

"That sounds… unreal." Rose was holding a cup of tea, no intention of drinking it, but for the warmth the cup brought her hands. After being in that cold church – and on the brink of death – anything to bring her warmth was welcoming.

"Exactly why we brought you here and not the infirmary," Levi said, sitting on the edge of the bed she was resting in.

She looked at him then, and noticed that he was staring at her – hard. Like he was trying to read something about her that he couldn't quite see. "What is it?"

"I try to live my life without regrets," he began, his voice low, taking the cup from her hands and placing it on the bedside table, replacing the cup with his own hand. "But when you died, I realized I had one."

"Oh?" She tilted her head, truly curious. "And what is that?"

He didn't say anything, just stared at her, as if he wished to say more – but then there was a knock at the door. Levi suddenly creating space between them, he invited whoever to come inside.

It was Lily and Hange, bearing pretty pink flowers.

"You didn't have to do that," Rose said, still accepting them. "They're beautiful, thank you."

"Pink is your favorite color, isn't it?" Lily asked, as if she truly had to. She practically lived in her head, after all. "When you get better, I'll show you where a field of them grow before we head for Wall Maria."

Despite bringing up the topic she was starting to hate the most – as it meant possibly losing a lot of her friends – Rose still smiled sincerely at her sister. "I'd like that."