Garrison Girl

by Rachel Aaron

  Rosalie dropped her eyes. “Thank you, sir,” she whispered, her voice thick.

  “You’re most welcome,” Dot Pixis said, turning to his aide, who’d just come running down the wall.

  “Sir,” the adjutant said, barely stopping to salute before she blurted out her message. “We have the Yeager plan ready for your review.”

  “Excellent,” the commander replied, pulling out his flask again. “I’ll be right down. You’re dismissed, Woermann.”

  The captain gaped for another good ten seconds before turning on his heel and stomping down the wall, his soldiers trailing behind him like frightened mice.

  “Get Sergeant Cunningham to the infirmary and patch him up,” Pixis ordered. As the soldiers ran to fetch the medical squad, he turned back to Lord Dumarque. “Charles, please escort your daughter to the infirmary as well. When they’re both well and rested, the Survey Corps will deal with them.”

  Lord Dumarque nodded sharply, keeping his hand firmly on Rosalie’s arm as the medical team arrived.

  Jax went down the moment the medics touched him. Rosalie held his hand until they laid him on the stretcher, and then the medics carted him off, leaving her alone with her father.

  “Father,” she said, clutching her hands together. “I—”

  Lord Dumarque grabbed her by the shoulders. Rosalie thought he was going to shake her, but instead he wrapped his arms around her, pulling his daughter into the biggest hug she could ever remember receiving from him.

  “I’m so happy you’re alive,” he whispered into her hair. “When I heard about Trost, I was sure you were dead. Even learning you’d been charged with treason was a relief because it meant you were alive. But then Pixis pulled that gun and I…” He hugged her tighter. “I’m so glad you’re alive, Rosalie.”

  Rosalie squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m happy I’m alive, too,” she said in a small voice. “So many died today and I…” Her voice faded as she hugged him back tighter than she’d known she could.

  “It’s all right,” he said. “You made it. The titans came, but you survived.” His voice warmed. “You took command, as a Dumarque should. They can call it treason all they want, but you honored the family when you rebuked that idiot Woermann and held the line. I hate that you had to do it, I hate that you were there at all, but I’m proud of you, Rosalie.” His voice cracked. “I’m so proud.”

  Rosalie took a deep breath. This wasn’t the first time he’d told her he was proud, but he’d never sounded so sincere. “Does this mean you’ll support me in the Survey Corps?”

  Lord Dumarque stepped back as though stung. “Absolutely not.”

  “But you just said—”

  “Did you not hear the High Commander?” he snapped. “Erwin’s crusade is a death sentence! Just because I’m proud of what you did at the breach doesn’t mean I want you to do it again! What kind of father lets his daughter walk into titans?”

  “One who trusts her to beat them,” Rosalie said fiercely. “The war isn’t lost, Father. We can fight back, just as we did today. We can win.”

  “Nothing in Trost was won today,” Lord Dumarque said. “I don’t know what insanity Pixis is planning, but—”

  “At least he’s trying!” Rosalie cried. “If we don’t do that, then we’ve already lost!”

  “You’re the one I don’t want to lose,” her father said, his voice thick with hurt and anger. “Let someone else try. You belong at home!”

  “No, I don’t,” Rosalie replied. “I’m a Dumarque. A solider, just like you. I know you need me to get married for the money, but—”

  “Forget the money!” he cried, clutching her shoulders. “You’re my child! I love you and I don’t want you to die. Why is this so hard for you to understand?”

  “I do understand,” she whispered, reaching up to touch his face. “I love you too, but I have to do this. If you’re truly proud of me, you’ll understand.”

  Lord Dumarque clutched her hand to his cheek. “I won’t stop trying to bring you home,” he said angrily. “I’ll ride with the Survey Corps all the way to Maria myself if I must, but I’ll find some way to bring you back.”

  “I know you’ll try,” Rosalie said, patting her father’s hand.

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  “I knew you’d be here.”

  Rosalie looked over her shoulder with a smile. She was sitting on top of the gate. Their gate, at the southern tip of Trost. High above, wispy clouds were dispersing to reveal a brilliant blue sky, bathing the repaired cannons and rails in sunlight as Jax hobbled toward her, as dexterous on his crutches as he was with his maneuvering gear.

  “And I’m surprised you weren’t up here already,” Rosalie said with a grin as he lowered himself beside her, settling into their old spot.

  “I’m a bit slow on account of this.” He patted his bandaged leg. “But the doctor says I’ll be up again in no time. In the meanwhile, you’ll just have to put up with me lagging.”

  “After how you were when we first met, I can put up with anything,” Rosalie said, leaning in to brush a kiss against his lips.

  She’d meant it to be brief, but Jax caught her head with his hand, holding her gently as he deepened the kiss until she was breathless.

  “So,” she said shakily when he finally released her, “only an hour before we ship out to Survey Corps headquarters. Last chance to enjoy the view.”

  “Can’t say I’ve ever enjoyed it,” Jax said, looking down at the abandoned fields dotted with spring wildflowers. “But I have to admit, it feels different now. When I looked out there before, all I could think about was what the titans had taken from me. My family, my sister, my home, it was all just…pain, you know?” He rubbed his chest. “I don’t think that’ll ever go away completely. But when I look out there now, there’s more to it. I feel like I can see beyond what happened. Beyond the titans.” His cheeks colored. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “It makes perfect sense,” Rosalie said, swinging her legs over the edge of the wall. “The whole reason I wanted to come here was because, when I looked off my roof, this was what I saw.” She rapped her knuckles on the stone. “I thought Wall Rose was the end of the world, but I know now that’s wrong. It’s the beginning.”

  She looked down at the fields splashed with new green. No titans were visible today. Just flocks of geese arrowing across the last delicate clouds, flying in for summer.

  “We’re going to make the world bigger,” she promised. “We’re going to push back so hard, the titans will be the ones who run. When that happens, this wall will be nothing but a line between one part of our world and the next.”

  “There will always be walls,” Jax said.

  “Will there?” Rosalie turned to him. “When I was little, my grandmother used to tell me stories about a time when there were no walls. Just a big open world where people could come and go wherever they pleased. I always thought it was a fairy tale, but if we beat the titans, why couldn’t it be possible?”

  “You’re asking the wrong guy,” Jax said uncomfortably. “I’m still coming to grips with the idea of willingly going beyond this wall. But if you believe it, I’ll believe it.”

  “Okay then,” she said, putting out her hand. “You and me, we’ll do it.”

  “Do what?”

  “Fight for the end,” she said proudly. “The end of the end of the world.”

  Jax looked confused for a moment, and then a smile spread over his face as he grabbed her palm in his. “To the end of the end of the world,” he promised, squeezing her hand. “Or die trying.”

  Rosalie nodded and turned back to the horizon, resting her head on his shoulder as they stared together at the world that
would someday be theirs once again.

  RACHEL AARON is the author of fourteen fantasy and science-fiction novels, including The Legend of Eli Monpress, Nice Dragons Finish Last and the rest of the Heartstrikers series, and the Paradox trilogy (Fortune’s Pawn, Honor’s Knight, and Heaven’s Queen).

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