Risk: Chapter Thirty-One
Evidently, during the time that she was gone – which was almost two days – the Scouts decided to reveal the entire truth about the Titans and how the 'Heart of Titan' played into it all. Thankfully for Rose, they never revealed who possessed the 'Heart of Titan', which some of the townspeople wanted an answer to, but the Scouts – namely Levi – felt it was for the best to keep that a secret.
Rose was grateful for that. As so aptly put it, "I'm so fucking tired of getting kidnapped."
She could see how Eren felt.
The Scouts and the Garrison worked together to start on the eradication of the remaining titans over the walls. The Military Police weren't as eager to offer their assistance, and maybe that was for the best; the factions didn't get along well, anyway. If they were in a situation in which they had to work together and follow each other's orders, Rose could only imagine that may erupt in a little bit of chaos.
Besides, the MPs seemed rather comfortable staying behind the walls.
Rose returned to her work at the clinic, apologizing profusely for disappearing. Kara was briefly explained about the most recent kidnapping situation, and thus Rose was given a lot of leeway and forgiveness.
"You poor thing," Kara cooed, patting the younger woman's arm. "Are you sure you want to come back to the infirmary?"
"I'm sure. I can't just sit idly by and do nothing."
She wasn't a fighter, that much was evident. But in this way she could fight in her own way. Fight off infections, fight off worsening wounds. Anything to be of assistance to the people she'd become close to, she would do it.
She didn't see a lot of Levi, unfortunately, in the days following her most recent kidnapping, which left her a little disheartened, but she knew he and Hange were busy getting things ready for the next expedition over the walls. They were planning to do so within the month, the newest soldiers already being recruited and trained in.
Rose wanted to talk about Bunni's letter, and what his thoughts on it were, if he had any at all – surely he did, right? She wanted to talk about what exactly he meant about asking if he'd died a few days ago, and what he was about to follow that up with. She was terribly curious.
Quite frankly, she just wanted to hear his voice.
That night, staring at the wall-length mirror in her room as she brushed her long hair, following the brush in her reflection down past her waist, a knock came at her door, and before she could call for the other person inside, Hange allowed themselves right on in, a smile on their face.
Though, it was hard to tell if the smile reached their eye, what with the eyepatch on it and all.
"Good evening, Rose," they said, moving to perch on the bed. "Long time, no see."
"No kidding," Rose replied, setting the brush down on the wooden dresser and joining Hange, crossing her ankles and folding her hands before her on her lap. "What's up?"
"Levi wanted me to tell you to go see him," they told her with a small giggle.
"What?" Rose's eyebrows knit together, clearly confused by the other laughing. "What's so funny?"
"Oh, nothing. But you should probably go visit him while it's still a little light out."
Rose grimaced, blue eyes narrowed as she tried to read Hange's expression, but the other was giving absolutely nothing away. With a nod, Rose grabbed a long jacket from the wardrobe closet, then, with a wave to her companion, left the house.
They eased up on the escorts now that Nathan was out of the picture, at Rose's and Lily's insistence. The others weren't too keen on the idea, but abided by their wishes, nonetheless, letting the Garrison know to only come by in the morning when Rose was ready for work and to see to it that Rose made it back home afterwards.
The trek to Levi's was a short one; upon arriving, she noticed the young Scouts were outside doing various chores, waving to her as she headed inside but not stopping their work, lest the Captain get on their tail. She didn't realize she'd been breathing so hard until she was standing before his office door, about to open it. Steadying her breath, she turned the knob, slowly opening the door and letting herself in.
He was at his desk, as to be expected, writing over some paperwork, not looking up at her at first. Did he notice her coming in? As if reading her thoughts, he said, "Sit down, Rosemary. You don't have to stand."
"Right." She did as she was bid, shuffling over to the bed and sitting upon it, hands now folded on her knees, eyes staring at them. Though she would have rather been looking at him, she just couldn't bring herself to do so; she suddenly felt too shy, for some reason. After a few moments, she asked, "You asked me to come here?"
"I did." He didn't elaborate, didn't stop scribbling.
Another several minutes. Then, "Well…?"
"Well, what?" Now he stopped what he was doing to look up at her through the fringe of his hair.
"What… did you want?" These little word games were starting to get on her nerves, and she expressed as such by crossing her arms over her chest, feeling a little defiant.
"I can't just have you here, just because?"
She blinked. "Oh." So he didn't want to talk to her? Didn't want to have some type of meaningful conversation with her about life and happiness and all that stuff that couples are supposed to talk about? He just wanted her company?
"Are you mad?" He didn't ask this as a boyfriend who cared, but quizzically. Something about that did, indeed, upset her.
"Kind of," she admitted, her face flushing, averting her gaze and dropping her arms.
"Rosemary…" he practically sighed her name, which caused her to become even warmer – despite herself. She really hated that he had such an effect on her. "What is it that you're wanting to talk about, then? It's obvious you have something in mind."
"I… did." She started messing with a strand of hair, braiding and unbraiding it once before continuing with, "Where's my letter from Bunni?"
"Ah, that." He opened a drawer on the side of his desk, then stood to move around it, handing her the piece of paper in question.
Tentatively, she took it, noticing it was nicely folded; she hadn't folded it when she came here, she remembered. "Did you read it?"
He didn't answer for a few seconds, then he admitted with a single, "Yes."
Nodding, she placed the letter on her lap, smoothing it gently like it was made of the finest lace, before asking, "And?"
"And?" He finally sat beside her, heaving a heavy breath. "I think that you're still in mourning, and that your friend loved you very much." He then added, "I'm sorry about Bunni. I never told you that."
She looked up to meet his gaze, a hint of a smile across her lips. "It's okay." Then she added, "I have another question."
His eyes narrowed suspiciously, noticing her change in tone. "Okay…"
"What did you mean by… by asking if you'd died? What were you about to say?"
"Rosemary…" he said her name like a warning this time, but it still made her heart leap. "Why are you asking something so stupid?"
"It's not stupid," she countered, glaring at him a bit. "I just think it was a weird thing to say after opening your eyes and the first thing you see is me. What about me made you think you were dead?"
Levi assessed her face, as if trying to read something only he could see. "You really don't know. You idiot woman." He shook his head. "Don't worry about it."
She nearly gaped at his answer. "That's not fair –"
"Yeah, life's not fair. Now go to bed."
She wanted to stay up all night out of spite, but upon him saying that, she couldn't help but admit to herself that she was, in fact, feeling quite tired.
"Can I… stay the night?"
"What do you think?"
She would take that as a yes.
As the days progressed into a week, then into two weeks, then into the next week still, it became evident to Rose how much she liked Levi. She even found herself imagining that he liked her back. But then he would pull stunts like he did the other day and her delusions would immediately dissolve.
The young, new journalist had asked her out right in front of him, and Levi outright shot it down for Rose.
"I don't think that's going to happen," he'd said to the young man. "She's already spoken for."
"Oh! Rose, I had no idea that you and the Captain –"
"We're not," they said at the same time, looking at each other then. Rose felt her face turn bright red with embarrassment, wondering if she'd been too quick to answer – even though Levi had said the exact same thing.
Something behind Levi's eyes had a twinge of – something. Like a small sparkle that she couldn't put a finger on. But it faded before she could identify it.
Before they all knew it, though, their next expedition over the walls had come. Rose watched them off from afar, as she normally did, though she felt that if they could handle the terrible titan attacks they had before – they could handle just about anything.
She knew she couldn't be too confident, that not everything was certain, but she truly believed in their abilities and their capability to come back home.
It was nearly sunset when the Scouts returned, and the staff at the infirmary readied themselves for the small – or possibly large – throng of patients they were going to have that night. Kara always hoped she had enough beds for the amount of injured they were expected to have, and so far so good, but still.
People filed in one by one – and Rose's alarm bells went off as one of the carriages drew near, drawn by Levi and Eren. She knew exactly who was in the back before she saw her, and she left the doorway of the infirmary to rush to her.
"How did this happen?"
"I titan grabbed her and started squeezing her," Eren explained, looking guilty. "I managed to kill it before it could eat her, but… she can barely move."
"Lily…" Rose wanted to hold her hand, to comfort her sister somehow – but with all these people around, and them not knowing who the 'Heart of Titan' belonged to, it was rather dangerous to do so.
Once they were all inside, Lily on a cot, Rose hurriedly unbuttoned Lily's shirt and pulled it off, revealing her severely bruised stomach, nearly appearing black in color. "Oh, no…"
"What's wrong?" Hange asked, having come in just a few seconds later with another injured soldier.
"She's… she's bleeding internally." She looked back at them, eyes wide, trying her best to keep the tears threatening to leave her eyes at bay. "She's not going to make it."
"Rose…"
Rose turned back to face Lily, her breathing a little jagged. "Yes?"
"You have a… plan. You… always do."
Rose rubbed her temples, actively thinking as hard as she could about what to do. Then it occurred to her – Lily would undoubtedly die here, but there was a way to save her if Rose was able to take her to her home timeline.
"Atta girl," Lily croaked.
"What, what is it?" Levi demanded.
"A crazy idea. But… but it's going to get us in a lot of trouble." Rose didn't look at them, just reached for her sister and gently began pulling Lily to her.
Lily weakly wrapped her arms around Rose's waist, Rose with her own around Lily's back, and the bond formed – warm, familial, their minds meshing together before they settled into their own, lingering into one another's like they always did.
"This is a bad idea," someone – was it Jean? – said in the background, but Rose couldn't bring herself to pay attention to them right now.
Just as suddenly as they embraced, a portal appeared, and the gravity of it pulled them toward it. On the other side was the picture of the graveyard Rose was in right before she'd come here, still nighttime.
"Help me!" she demanded to anyone behind her, and she moved so she could put Lily's arm around her shoulder. Someone else – she didn't even look to see who – got Lily's other side and together they walked to the portal. "Stay here," she demanded of the other person, grabbing hold of Lily's shoulders and pulling herself backwards into the portal, keeping hold of Lily as tightly as possible as they traveled.
They landed instantly on the grass, and as she looked up at the vision of the clinic beyond her, she could see a commotion of people trying to see just where she'd gone, trying to ask questions, demand answers.
Please close, please close. It did so, slowly, but finally it vanished.
"Okay, Lily, let's go." She pulled them both up to their feet, and together they trekked to her car – which seemed like miles away, but was just a few feet from Bunni's grave.
"Where are we going?"
"It's kind of like an infirmary, only a lot bigger," Rose answered only once they'd reached the car, placing Lily in the backseat so she could lay down. "It's called a hospital."
