Rose Squadron: the Inkari Gambit

Bonds

Reiner woke up shrieking in horror, unable to make himself forget the image of Annie collapsed on the ground, writhing, screaming and sobbing in what had to be a moment of torture. It took a long, painful minute before he was able to calm himself down enough to hastily get dressed, his mind set on bolting to Annie's home to see whether or not his dream was a vision.

"What the hell was that?!" he thought, still in a panic as he adorned himself with his full Imperial attire. "Was that really a dream, or some sort of freak psychic warning?"

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden pounding at his door, making Reiner jump in fright. When he heard the equally terrified voice on the other side, he managed to slightly relax.

"Reiner, please, open up!" he heard his best friend Bertholdt shout. "It's about Annie!"

"Wait...him, too?!"

He ran to the door and yanked it open, to see Bert covered in sweat and panting from the exertion of bolting to Reiner's quarters, his gray Imperial uniform clinging to his body. The tall, dark-haired young man was likewise out of his mind with anxiety as he seized Reiner's massive shoulders and held them in a vice-like grip.

"I-I had an awful nightmare about Annie sobbing and screaming in agony! I ran as fast as I could to her apartment, but...she's not there, Reiner! Her neighbors don't know where she could be, either!"

"Shit!" Reiner snarled. "Bert, you and I had the same nightmare! This is feeling more and more like some sort of bizarre supernatural warning. And if she's not here on Inkari...then we need to go to Chief Uttaka and see if he knows where she went! Let's go!"

Bert nodded desperately, and the instant Reiner slammed his door behind them, the two of them sprinted madly for the Security Tower, drawing multiple confused looks from the civilians passing them by. The security drones dotting the streets focused on the two officers warily, but Reiner and Bert wasted no time worrying about what the droids were capturing. After several minutes of rushing towards the Tower, it finally loomed into view, and the two guardsmen stationed outside the door froze up in alarm at the sight of the two young men barreling towards them.

"Officers Braun and Hoover, are you ok?!" one of them started to ask, before Bert cut him off with a wail.

"Please, let us in! We need to speak to the Chief at once!"

"O-ok," the two guards mumbled, and a moment later, Reiner and Bert were finally able to dash into the main room of the Security Tower, only to gawk at the sight before them.

All of the Security Aides were anxiously huddled around the Chief and and Pieck, collapsed on the floor, clutching their heads, their bodies wracked with painful sobbing. The two boys cautiously walked up to the crowd, drawing the attention of several Aides.

"Sirs, this isn't a good time!" one of the female Aides snapped at them. "Our Chief and his Assistant are in a very poor state of mental and emotional health!"

"W-what happened to them?" Reiner asked, and the woman shuddered violently.

"A nightmare! They keep muttering the name 'Annie' over and over again-"

"Annie!" the two officers shouted in unison, provoking many aggravated looks from the other Aides. "Annie's in trouble!"

"Reiner, Bertholdt, t-thank goodness you're here!" Uttaka mumbled wearily, slowly rising from the floor, helping Pieck to her feet. "Pieck and I both had a disturbingly vivid dream of Officer Leonhardt shrieking and sobbing in agony, and..."

To the officers' horror, Uttaka suddenly screamed to everybody gathered, "It's my fault! I authorized her to leave Inkari for her personal mission, and now, she's somewhere far away, potentially dead now!"