Your Promise | Shingeki No Kyojin ;; Eren Jaeger |

Chapter Forty

Rose

Although it's difficult, I discard my thoughts and inferences of the other Rose and continue cleaning, heading into the main building. As I carry boxes and crates up and down the stairs, I spot Levi in a room, sweeping away. Breathing in, I knock on the door to catch his attention. "Uh, excuse me, captain?" I blurt out.

He looks up at me with a cold stare. "What."

"I was wondering where I will be sleeping..." Shoot, I shouldn't have asked him.

He averts his gaze back to the broom he holds. "... You'll sleep in the dungeon in the basement." He bluntly answers and then continues cleaning.

I nod. "Ah, alright, thank you," I meekly mutter and take my leave, leaving him be.

• • •

Nighttime comes and I make my way to the basement, dragging my feet down the steps in exhaustion after cleaning the entire afternoon. When I arrive at the cells, Eren occupies the one next to mine. "Oh, you're sleeping down here too?" I speak up.

"Yeah, they said that since we're Titans, they have to keep us contained in case we transform,"

"I'm... Not confirmed to be a Titan though,"

"You're not?"

I shake my head. "I haven't turned into one but I have the regeneration properties of one. I just don't understand how we could turn into such beasts..."

Eren walks up to me and holds my hands. "Well, then we just have to look for the answer together,"

Not long after, Eren leaves for a meeting with the seniors, leaving me alone in the basement. The coldness of the dungeon sends shivers down my spine and I decide to escape into the woods, not wandering far off from HQ. As I walk in between the trees, I find an open grassy area where the moonlight shines down in the center. In the moon's light, a single iris grows, just like the one that grew on the cliff after Raeger passed away. I kneel down to it, examining it for a moment. "I'm glad I got to see him one last time..."

I extend my hand out to the iris, letting my fingers grace the petals. However, as my fingers touch it, a bright light flashes before my eyes. I jump back but the brightness of day and the darkness of night flicker in my vision, like a flame refusing to be blown out. My head pounds like a drum, the ground feels like it's moving, and I fall to the floor, holding my temples to relieve the pain a little. Suddenly, everything stops, and I sit up, looking at my hand.

"Am I going crazy...?"

I come to my feet and scour the land--everything looks the same but the air feels different as if something drastic has changed. I walk in the direction that I was initially headed, feeling pulled to walk over there. As I exit the wood, Raeger stands at the foot of a cliff with his back facing me, just like when I saw him three days ago.