𝐈𝐧 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡

Chapter Four

Chapter Four: Responsibility

It was her fault. It was definitely her fault. Laura was frozen as she watched Hanji and Richter treat to Rivaille. Hanji wiped the blood off his head while Richter examined the shoulder he had fallen on. Rivaille was semi-conscious and didn't move an inch unless they instructed him to. He spotted her standing at the doorway of the room, he opened his mouth as if to call out to her, but the words never came and he turned back to stare at the ground.

Laura tore her gaze away from him and walked into the hallway. She walked to the edge of the wall and began tapping her foot. She was thankful that Rivaille wasn't killed, but she was also anxious, knowing that it was probably due to her poor instructions that he'd gotten hurt. Or perhaps she had drastically overlooked something, maybe he had been right and he should have acted as the decoy.

"Heya, Laura."

She jolted from the light tap on her shoulder, she immediately spun around and gave an accusing glare. Of course Jaime paid her look no mind and returned with a grin instead.

"What are you standing around for?"

"Rivaille's hurt," she eyed the infirmary.

"Seriously?" Jaime leant forward and peeked into the room. "Ouch, looks bad. What happened?"

"A deviant," she fidgeted on the spot as she replied. "I think I made a bad call."

She was jumpy and she hasn't looked away from the ground for a while now. The last time she was like this was after the last expedition; they had lost a couple of friends then, she wasn't responsible for anything but for some reason it was still her fault. She was always desperately trying to justify reasons for the tragedies that have occurred, and when she couldn't think of any she automatically jumped to the conclusion that she was somehow responsible. That it was somehow her fault that they were killed.

"… Laura, you've never make a bad call."

"… Yeah…?" she met his eyes hesitantly. "Well, I did this time."

"… Well um, I was actually looking for you guys. Commander wants to see us all in his office."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," when she didn't reply, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Why don't I go ahead with Hanji and Richter? I'll explain things with Erwin."

"Yeah, okay," she nodded quick as he headed in. "And Jaime?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it, princess."

Laura hanged around outside as she waited for everyone else to leave, and when they walked past her Hanji gave a reassuring "he'll be fine". After they disappeared down the corridor, she tiptoed over to the doorway and peeked in. They had lied him down on a bed, and he looked asleep. She walked into the room and sat on the seat beside his bed.

The man was paler than usual and his head was bandaged up. Laura didn't want to look at his shoulder, it was jarred and his bones were probing at his skin unnaturally. Laura shuddered and leant forward onto the bed, elbows sinking into the mattress as guilt-ridden thoughts ran through her head. She hid her face in her palms in fear that tears will begin rolling, but before they could she felt the sheets under her shift.