Reunions and Departures (Rivaille x OC)

It’s been a while since I’ve last seen this place. I note, staring up at the castle, battered and worn down through time. My hands pushed against the old wooden door yet it would not budge. With a tiny bit of force, I try again but the result is the same. Last resort, I thought and brought my foot up to kick the dang thing open.

“Shi- ow!” The door opens with a loud bump and I walk inside only to find that my forceful kick had knocked this poor guy to the ground.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. Are you alright?” I ask him and he looked up with a pair of sea green eyes. Oh, and some very angry looking eyebrows.

“Who’re you?” He questions with a half angry tone.

“Misaki Wrinkler, full time cadet under Corporal Rivaille.” I tell him, proudly pointing to the Wings of Freedom embedded into my jacket. “Are you new around here?” I see him visibly relax at the mention of the Corporal’s name and he informs me that he’s Eren and currently in Rivaille’s squad due to…special circumstances.

“Do you know where the Corporal is?” He shrugs and pointed up.

“Cleaning upstairs, I think.”

“Ah, of course. Well thank you very much Eren, it was nice meeting you.” He nods and gives me a small smile. I walk near the stairs and greet my sister who was cleaning as well.

“Misaki! I haven’t seen you since forever!” She cries and pulls me in for a hug.

“I missed you too! Is the Corporal upstairs?” She giggles and shoots me a knowing look.

“Yep.” I roll my eyes as she makes kissy faces at me and I walk up the stairs.

On the way, I greet Petra and Auruo. Those two were too busy arguing about cleaning some vase to greet me back. I guess today’s national cleaning day for Rivaille’s squad.
---
I had peeked in a couple of rooms earlier but still no sign of the dark-haired soldier. Finally, I prepared to knock on what I remember to be one of the bathrooms but there was no need after all. The door opens to reveal Humanity’s Strongest, Rivaille, in his cleaning gear and all. His face wrinkles into a frown at the sight of me while the bottom half of his face was covered by a white cloth.

“Corporal!” I straighten up and salute him.

“The hell are you doing here?” he asks with disinterest.
“I came back from my training.”

“Well what are you standing around here for? Get cleaning already, down in the dungeon.” I shiver at the mention of that room and already, my heart falls. Cleaning. The task that I’ve always dreaded.

“But Corporal, I just got back…” He raises an eyebrow at me.

“And?”

“And I will…get to work right away sir!” I shout and speed walk down the stairs; afraid that he will beat me with that nasty looking mop he’s got there. He was known for using force against certain cadets. I speak from experience.

Petra, who’s finally finished with her argument, hands me a bucket of water and two white pieces of cloth along with an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry you have to start cleaning right as you get back. Promise me that we’ll catch up later tonight?” I nod with a grin. Petra was one of my best friends ever since our trainee days, even after I couldn’t complete my training and learned under Rivaille’s instruction instead. She’s my support pillar. She’s the one that I put the most trust in even more than my own sister.

I enter the dungeon and it smells horrid as always, if not even worse. I sigh and start working, silently cursing the Corporal under my breath. The bed sheets were slightly wrinkled and out of place. Someone must’ve been held in custody here not too long ago. I shiver at the thought of some nasty criminal being held here at the very spot that I was standing.

The heels of someone’s shoes echo throughout the empty chamber and in surprise, I fling my wet cloth at the intruder. Splat! The fabric slides off Rivaille’s face at a snail’s pace. I scoot closer to the corner. Right now, I was pretty much knocking on death’s door.

“H-Hello, sir.” I squeak.

“Brat. Move away from the damn corner.”

“I’m sorry! I’ll start cleaning right away!” I hop over and pluck the wet cloth off his shirt. Without even looking at where I’m wiping, I move around the room under the Corporal’s intense glare.
---
“We will be leaving for an expedition soon. Be ready.” Rivaille announces to me as I put away the cleaning equipment.
“Oh? Why?”

“I’ll explain later. Go eat.” He says and pushes me towards the dining area.

During dinner, Hanji pulls me next to her despite Petra’s protests.

“Sit here! Let me tell you about all the new discoveries that I’ve made about the titans!” Hanji spends the next two hours going into detail about the two new titans that they’ve captured as live experiments and how they’ve named them Sawney and Bean and how they were the cutest thing ever.

“Hanji,” I yawn. “I’m sleepy, how about you tell me more tomorrow?” She pauses mid sentence and nods sadly, allowing me to go back to my quarters. I exit the room and finds Rivaille taking Eren down to the basement. Curious, I follow.

The two of them walk down to the basement and I was careful in making sure that my steps matched theirs.

“Hurry up, damn brat.” Eren walks into the dungeon and flops onto the hard mattress. Rivaille locks the cage door and stops. “I’ll be right back.” He says as he walks turns towards my general direction. I try to scramble away as fast as I could but he was faster. He grabs me by my jacket collar and drags me upstairs.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed by now, idiot.” I shrug.

“Why’s Eren in there?” His hold on my jacket tightens. Slowly, he begins to explain to me everything that’s happened after the fall of Trost including Eren’s trial and his titan shifting ability. My eyes widen. He’s only three years younger than me and he’s already able to do so much?

“Wow…I never…expected that.” I whisper.

“Now you know. Go to sleep.”

“Yessir.”
---
On the day of the expedition, everyone was frantically rushing around to get everything orderly and set. I put on my gear at a casual pace…until Corporal Rivaille burst into my room without knocking and yanks me close to him.

“Move faster, you’re gonna be late.” He scolds me as he tightens my harness at a lightning fast pace. He throws my cloak around me as well and buttons it, giving me a short stare that I would describe as ‘longing’ if the person wasn’t Rivaille that I was talking about.

My sister pats my head and pinches my cheek as I walk out my room.

“Good luck today, little sis!”

“You too.” I smile and she smiles back. It’s always a bittersweet moment, our parting before an expedition. We’ve already lost our parents to the titans; we only have each other now.

Gunther claps my back and Erd ruffles my hair just before I walk outside lugging the familiar weight of my gear around. I grin at my teammates and wish them all luck. Petra gives me a hug and Auruo starts on another one of his “motivational speeches”, biting his tongue in the process.

I smile at the support from everyone. There’s always this awkward, unspeakable atmosphere during the mornings of expeditions. We all know that this may be the last time we’ll ever see each other, so we’ll spend each living moment loving and supporting each other till our last breath. I will never stop fighting. I will fight until the day I am free from these monsters.
---
One by one, each squad begins to set off on our horses. My sister is by my side with a blank face on. During times like these, we don’t need to say anything. Each member is listening intently to the leader’s orders.

“Seven meter class spotted to the right!” Someone in my squad yells about ten minutes after we left the wall.

“Fire the flare!” I fumble around for the gun and load it with the correct color. A red stream shoots up and dissipates high up in the air, signaling a titan spotting. My sister charges toward the titan and slashes its neck with ease. She rejoins our formation afterwards and we continue on our route.

Not long after the first sighting, a louder pair of footsteps could be heard. My teammates turn around just as I did. I nearly fell off my horse at the sight before me. A titan, about fourteen meters in height, chased behind us. This one was different though. This titan was clearly female; its appearance resembled that of the Colossal Titan’s. Short blonde hair framed the titan’s face.

However, something was not right. While it was seemingly heading towards our direction, the titan’s eyes were trained on something else, something farther away. It was not paying attention to us at all.

“It’s an aberrant.” My squad leader whispers. “Flare. Get the flare!” A shot and black smoke flies upwards. From what I could tell, the Female looking Titan will pass us in about a minute, but she is definitely heading a different direction. My sister, being the hot-headed soldier that she is, directs her horse towards the titan.

“Wait! Don’t-“ It happened as quick as it began. I watch with wide eyes as my own sister was knocked off her horse with one swipe from the Female Titan into the incoming group of smaller type titans. The other team members were already going towards her direction to assist her. Alone and off to the side, I see them fall with a clean strike from the titan’s arm. My squad was gone within seconds. The Female Titan turned to look at me and I thought this was going to be my end, yet she didn’t come. She continues on her way forward.

Don’t leave me. I don’t want to be alone. Such a ridiculous statement runs through my head. How silly. Me asking a titan to keep me company? How stupid of me indeed. Before the group of titans could make their way over to me, I shoot a signal flare. Purple. An emergency.

I fire the hooks towards the tallest titan, latching myself onto its neck and reeling myself in. One slice and it was down. There’s one gone and many more to go. Alone, I took them down to the best of my ability, evading the smaller ones while killing the larger ones first.

My gas supply gave in first before the rest of my body eventually did. A falling titan took my wire down with him, effectively pulling me along. The right side of my face scraped painfully across the rough texture of the ground.

One of the titans picks me up with its large hands and I stared at its ugly, large eyes with a dull pair of my own. Is this it? My shoulders slump and I have no will to fight anymore. What’s there to fight for if there’s no one else for me out there? My shoulders slump and my captor squeezes me, hard. I struggle to breathe, my breaths coming out as wheezy gasps. I’m so tired of this. My arms, with blades still in my hands, fall to the side.
---
“Get up.” Rivaille’s dark, controlling voice said.

“I can’t anymore. I can’t do this, Rivaille!” He kicked my side as I lay uselessly on the ground, staring up at the dark sky. The water droplets hit my face.

“Get. Up.” Rivaille, in an even more demanding voice, ordered. He too was drenched by the rain.

“But Rivaille, I just-“

“Don’t tell me you can’t. You can because I say so. You can because I know so. You call yourself a soldier? I didn’t train you to become a shitty brat. I trained you to become a soldier. A warrior. You told me you were going to kill all the titans, right? To avenge your parents, right? Then get up and fight. Prove to me that you’re worth my time.” Despite my body’s protests, I stood, determined to prove this man wrong. I will show him that I will become a soldier. I will make it into the Scouting Legion. I will fight.
---
The tears that I’ve kept away for so long, threatens to spill over again. Why am I remembering this now? Rivaille’s training from Hell was a tough time, yet he encouraged me to keep going. I can’t just die like this. The Wings placed upon my back are there for a reason. I will live to see my freedom.

With my only strength left, I raise my arms and slice through the titans hand just as the corners of my vision begins to blur. I fell down just as various shouts could be heard. My vision fades to black.
---
“She’s fine. We found her just as she fell. She was still breathing.”

“Like I need you to tell me that, Shitty glasses.” Rivaille snaps and kicks the squad leader out the room, leaving him alone. Turning around to the body on the bed he sighs.

“I’ll never forgive you if you die…” He whispers to the brunette, unconscious on the bed.
---
“Misaki.” My eyes shot open. I was outside on a grassy hill and it was dark, clearly nighttime. Rivaille stood behind where I sat.

“Corporal?”

“I love you. He stated.

“Hah? Come again?” He kneeled down next to me and brought his face closer.

“I love you.” He repeated.

“Are you okay? Do you have a fever?” I moved my hand towards his forehead and he slapped it away. He leaned closer till I could feel his breath on my lips and he quickly pecked my cheek.

“Have you hit your head somewhere?” I asked in utter shock.

“No.” He pulled out a mop and a bucket from nowhere. “Now go clean the damn toilets. They’re filthy.”
---
I shot up from the bed faster than one could count to three.

“No!” I scream. Something shuffles against me and the room brightens.

“What the…hell?” I could barely make out Rivaille’s face in the poorly lit room.

“Corporal? Where are we?”

“You’re finally awake.” He whispers.

“Huh?” I slightly recall falling from the titan’s grasp and then blacking out, but everything after that was a blank slate. “Where’s everyone? Is Eren alright?” He nods, but only slightly. “My sister…she’s gone too, right?” He nods at this too.

“What about…what about Hanji?”

“She’s fine.”

“And…and Petra and the rest of the squad.” He doesn’t give me and answer to this and looks away. “Oh.” I whisper in realization. They were gone. “W-who?”

“All of them.” He replies in a strained voice.

“Ah.” I shift uncomfortably on the bed. “Corporal…Please don’t leave me too.” I beg and grab his hand. He squeezes mine in return.

“I won’t. Go to sleep, you need rest.” He told me and pecked my cheek, the same way that he did in my dream. I scoot over to make room for him on the bed.

“Sit with me, I’ve slept for too long.” He complies and I lay my head sideways on his shoulders. Gently and very un-Rivaille-like, he strokes my hair. My eyes began to droop just as he whispered the same three words that I heard in my dream.

“I love you too, Rivaille.”