Risk: Chapter Thirty-Seven
Rose leaned against the brick wall of the dungeon, staring into Jake's cell, hands at either side of her, fidgeting with her skirt. She didn't know if she was doing the right thing – part of her felt guilty as she kind of snuck out to be here – but she needed more answers.
"You don't have an entourage today," Jake commented.
"I left them at home." She held no humor in her voice, unlike him. She was all business.
"What brings you to my neck of the woods?"
"I just have some more questions. Like you said yesterday that you could… sense that I could travel through time. But I can't with you. How come?"
"Yes you can," he quipped back, lifting his chin matter-of-factly. "You just don't notice."
Her brows knit together, expression confused. "What – no I can't. To me, you just feel… normal. I don't sense anything from you."
"Think about it, Rose. When we first started talking, did you not feel anything at all? Nothing drawing you to me? Like there was some type of kinship?"
Admittedly, when they first started talking, she was under the impression that those feelings were under the guise of falling in love with him. However, as her heart became completely spoken for by someone else, she realized that couldn't have been it.
Love to her felt like breathing – something she did without thinking, but something that she found essential to her being. But also… Falling in love was also like a tornado: hot and cold air mixing together to create tumultuous winds.
She didn't have any of those feelings toward Jake, but when she was around him, now that she thought about it, there was almost like this… humming. Like the wings of a hummingbird, reverberating in the back of her head, fast and steady. And one would believe such a thing would be annoying, but it was actually almost… relaxing, which was probably why it was so easy to be around him.
"Ah, now you get it," he said, interrupting her train of thought, probably noticing her face change as she did, in fact, realize, what he meant. "When you get around others that do what we do, you'll feel it as well."
"I think I have. I felt that way with Lily when I first met her…" Her voice trailed off as she thought back to her initial meeting with Lily, and that familiar almost tenderness she felt toward her. She couldn't remember if the humming ever occurred while they were around each other – she would have to test that later.
"Hey, I think that's enough for now," said a guard, motioning for Rose to head toward the exit.
Feeling immediately dejected, Rose turned on her heel to head that way. As she walked away from Jake, she heard a small commotion going on behind her, some of the guards yelling into Jake's cell. She twisted around to face that direction, panic-stricken. What was all the fuss?
A familiar bright light appeared just behind her peripheral vision, and she turned to face it; it was in the shape of a man at first, then solidified into no one other than Jake.
"Get back in your cell!" one of the guards demanded. "Or we'll shoot!"
"With a civilian here?" Jake retorted, grabbing for Rose's wrist. "Are you afraid right now?"
Rose's heart had, in fact, calmed down, and as she looked up at his brown eyes, she could sense no danger behind them. "No," she answered honestly.
"Good. Let's go."
And in a literal flash, they were gone.
They landed atop of Wall Sina, and Rose turned to face the town before them; she could see the courthouse and the castle from here.
"What are we doing here?" she asked, confused all over again.
"Talking. You looked like you weren't done with our conversation." He sat down at the edge of the wall, feet dangling, elbows on his knees.
"Jake!" Rose exclaimed, going over to join him. "You're already considered a criminal. You want to add fleeing fugitive on top of that?"
"That's what you wanted to ask me?" he said with a chuckle. "That's rather disappointing."
"No…" She folded her hands together, her thumbs fiddling with one another as she continued with her questioning. "What did you mean by 'Marley'? There's no place like that on the maps here."
"It's a land that's actually across the ocean," Jake answered, and at Rose's astonished expression, he added, "But you can't tell them that. You have to let them discover that all on their own."
"What – why not?"
"Because, it's the way." He shrugged. "How much about our time period have you told them?"
"Not… a lot, if I'm honest," she admitted, still staring at her fiddling fingers. "I'm afraid to."
"Rightfully so. There's just some things that they need to find out on their own. So let them discover all that stuff on their own time, literally."
Then she asked, "Have you ever used your abilities to fight others? Like – titans?"
"Ready to lay your life on the line like a true soldier, I see."
"I just… am wondering, is all."
"Yes. Actually, I was thinking about something: what if we combined our abilities?"
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "What do you mean?"
"If you do what I just did – while I'm in titan form – and we fight alongside each other. We could eradicate the titans beyond these walls in no time flat."
"That sounds enthusiastic," she said flatly. "I can't fight."
"You don't have to. You just have to… make me fly, basically."
"I'll… think about it."
They were quiet for some time, and down below they could hear some of the soldiers running around like chickens with their heads cut off, obviously frantic at their escaped titan shifter.
"You better get back down there."
"I should, shouldn't I?" But instead of moving to stand up, he asked instead, "No other questions? Not even about my sudden confession?"
Her cheeks warmed as she remembered it. His 'I love you'. She didn't speak to anyone about it yesterday; she didn't want to. To her, it didn't really matter. She loved Levi, with every fiber of her being.
But she was curious: "Did you know he was there?"
"Yes," he laughed. "I'm not going to lie, I wanted to make him a little jealous. But I did mean it," he added solemnly, reaching to take one of her sweaty hands. "I do love you. And even though you're spoken for, I still plan to protect you – and your sister – no matter what."
She gazed at him then, watchful of his expression to indicate that he was joking – he wasn't. Not this time. Of all the times to be serious…
"I appreciate that, Jake." She slowly pulled her hand from his and got to her feet. "Can we go now?"
"I don't know, can we?"
"Jake—"
"You are capable of doing the same exact thing I am, Rose," he reminded her. "So do it. Just envision the part of the town you want to be at and then you can take us there."
She had been practicing – but was it enough? She supposed she would find out.
Jake moved in close to her – dangerously close – and she held out her hand to summon a portal, this time, however, not imagining her own timeline, but staying in this one. She imagined being just outside the courthouse – and just like that, it appeared.
"What's that?" someone yelled.
"Is that – a window or something?" someone else asked, sounding like they were panicking.
"Ladies first," Jake encouraged her, and she stepped forward. It was like crossing the threshold of a doorway, only it went from cold to hot in seconds.
As soon as both of them were through the other side, guards rushed toward them, weapons at the ready. "Don't move!" one of them ordered.
"It's all me, sir, let her go," Jake called, having raised his hands in surrender. Rose mimicked him, mostly knowing how some of these MPs could be impulsive at the drop of a hat.
"Rosemary –" Levi weaved through the throng, Hange at his side, and his eyes cast between her and Jake, as if trying to figure out why they were together at all.
Good question to ask.
"Captain Levi," a guard greeted him, lowering his weapon. "Stand down!"
Hesitantly, they did as he said.
"Rosemary, get away from him," Levi ordered, taking a step toward them.
Rose glanced back at Jake, who simply said reassuringly, "I'll be fine. Go to your man." With that, she ran the short distance from Jake to Levi, stopping just before him. She could tell he was beyond angry, and she would get quite the earful when she got home, but taking their prisoner back down to his rightful cell seemed more important right now.
"Get the boy," ordered the head guard, and others swarmed to apprehend Jake. Rose just watched, thinking on what he said today.
One thing sticking out: she could help them fight?
"Do you want an escort again?" Levi was saying, his arms crossed as he looked down at her.
They were in the privacy of his office, but she knew the others were at the door, listening in. She didn't blame them; he never acted hard toward her, so such a rarity was probably something that piqued their interest, to say the least.
"No, I don't," she answered, shaking her head slowly.
"Then why go around getting yourself into stupid shit like that?"
"It's not like –" she began, then stopped herself. She knew what happened today was dangerous; Jake could have gone full-titan and terrorized the people within the walls, if he wanted to. Sure, he could have been stopped like he had been before, but at the cost of who? "I'm sorry."
"That's all you have to say for yourself? For running off with a criminal?"
"I didn't 'run off' with him. He, I don't know, phased us to another part of the city and we just talked for awhile."
"Is that supposed to be better?"
Rose really underestimated how angry Levi was. Was he upset with her, with Jake, with her being with Jake? All of the above? Something else entirely?
"Well?"
"It's not," she finally answered, not even sure if it was the right thing to say. She didn't really want to say the correct thing, necessarily, but she did want to stop this little argument they were having.
He ran a hand through his hair and, without saying another word to her, turned toward the door and left – yelling at the others on the other side to go to their room.
It was only when he was gone did she feel it was alright to allow the tears threatening behind her eyes to flow; she really hated how much she found herself crying. She felt like a little crybaby, but she couldn't help it this time. She knew she would feel guilty for disappearing on him – but didn't expect to feel this terrible about it.
Levi didn't return for several hours, and during that time Rose had restlessly fallen asleep. Just as she entered true, dreamless sleep, the door opened to Levi's office, and it proceeded to close quietly. She kept her back to it, her eyes closed, trying to pretend to be asleep so Levi wouldn't talk to her again – she couldn't take being scolded again.
She heard the floor scuff as he sat in his chair, but she didn't hear him pull out his pocket knife or the familiar sound of metal against wood. She wanted to know just what he was doing, but it was probably for the best they ceased any conversations for the remainder of the night.
So, though it was rather difficult, she managed to actually, truly, drift off again.
