#clearly something went wrong

[knight-in-sour-armor]

[simplemoonk]

Guess who writes an Erwin/Reader fic? I’m dropping it in here and went to hide. 

Impact - Chapter 1 (also read on Ao3)

The velvet cushions were soft under my body as I lied down on the couch. Eyes closed and my dress hiked up to reveal a generous portion of my left leg. I could feel the guards trying their best to avoid looking at the naked flesh and failing. The room was hot and I was getting bored. Thankfully, it wasn’t long after I heard the footsteps echoing through the corridors beyond the door. The guards opened it up at the exact time he reached the threshold. 

I straightened up on the couch, flashing a mischievous smirk at him. His eyes shone the way they did when he sees me.

“My beauty,” he said as he opened both his arms upon his sides. I tried to stand up as gracefully as I could and walked over his open arms. 

“You made me wait so much,” I said, hugging him around the middle and using the tone of voice I always did when spoke to him. Girlish and sultry. He circled his right arm around my waist and used the left one to motion at his assistant. 

“I got a gift for you.” His assistant lends him an expensive-looking little box. Navy blue eyes watching my facial expressions intently as he took a step back. The box was opened to reveal a necklace with five big red rubies, and the expression on my face was genuine. Awed, baffled, and a little thrown away by how much money this man had possessed. He smiled, satisfied with whatever he saw on my face, and took the necklace to his hand. 

“You are going to escort me tonight on the warming ball. Nothing less is worthy of you.” He said as he turned me around to put the necklace on my throat. My ankle-length black dress floated around my light. Well, being the arm candy of Lord Harold V. Bolton had those sorts of advantages, I guessed. 

I turned around to look at him as he was done with the clasping of the heavy necklace, caressing one of the rubies with the tip of my finger. 

“It is so beautiful, thank you,” I said as I push a white lock of hair out of his face. He was old, yet tall and fit. He was a handsome man. 

“You are very much welcome,” he said and pecked my lips. His assistant couched a little as he was looking down, red-faced. 

“Sir, are you ready to leave?” 

“Let’s get it over with. We have still one more party the next week.” Harold secured his arm around me before pecking me on the lips one more time. 

The guards opened the giant doors as we entered the giant ballroom. It was clear that Harold didn’t avoid spending any money. The giant hall was blended with gold and cream colors, lit with hundreds of candles and torches. Alcohol was flowing like a river of water, and waiters were loaded with heavy tries filled with more food that could feed a family for a month. Especially after the fall of Wall Maria.

I smiled brightly, nails biting down my palm, and pressed my lips to Harold’s cheek as we went our separate ways. He needed to chitchat with all the important men within the hall, including the consultants of the King and military commanders, the latter of which were invited for meeting and greeting since the ball next week would pretty much be all about them. I grabbed a glass of champagne on my way, as I had to entertain the wives and partners. 

“Oh my dear,” I heard the wife of Lord Flemington, a consultant the King, coming toward me, pushing everyone that dared to get on her way with her plump body. 

“Lady Flemington!” I said cheerfully as I made a quick curtsy.   

“Ah, you look, lovely dear,” she glimpsed at my necklace quickly. Her eyes narrowed as her lips curved upwards in a cynic smirk. 

“It is your beautiful eyes that see the beauty.” 

“How are you doing my darling?” she asked with her baritone tone and continued without waiting for an answer, “Have you met my niece?” 

A young girl with caramel-colored hair took a break from glaring at my necklace and smiled beside her aunt. 

“No, I wasn’t fortunate enough,” I said and smiled at the girl. She checked me out without much effort to be subtle. A smirk, very much similar to her aunt formed on her face. 

“My name is Rose – Rose Flemington,” she said with a tone that was obviously demanding respect. 

“It was so nice to meet you, Miss Flemington,” I curtsy lightly again. 

“Likewise,” but that little smirk told me otherwise. 

“I have heard you start… staying with Lord Bolton, dear,” Mrs. Flemington asked as she started fanning herself with her infamous giant fan. 

“I’m visiting him temporarily,” 

“Are you his niece?” Rose asked, faking an interest since she knew I was not. As a response, I laughed merrily, throwing my head back. 

“I’m his friend,” the laughter was still present in my voice. She and her aunt exchanged a quick look. 

“Well, I would say a very dear friend. Is that necklace a gift from Lord Bolton?” Mrs. Flemington asked as she snapped her fan in her palm. I touched the ruby in the middle gently. 

“Ah, yes he is so very generous is not he?” 

“Yes, he is generous man,” Mrs. Flemington said and then murmured under her breath, “he used to be a dignified one as well.”

Rose was trying to hide her giggle into her palm when I first noticed the air around me changed. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on their ends. I knew the feeling. I was being watched. As if to glance around the hall, I turned my head to the side but whoever was watching me was already lost within the crowd. The Flemingtons left my side as they took offense to my distraction. 

I continued to wander through the hall, making small talk with noisy noblewomen, but the feeling stayed with me throughout of all. The pickling in my neck, the goosebumps on my upper arms. I also came to realize there should be more than one person watching over me. But whenever I got close to get a glimpse of them they disappeared into the shadows lurking around the corners. I watched Harold for a while. He was chatting enthusiastically, a glass of sparkly champagne in hand and a lit cigar in mouth. He caught me staring and rose his glass toward me, the movement gathering attention from the other noblemen around him as they all saluted me with their glasses as well. I smiled and walked toward him. Pretending not to notice how almost every man around him watching me approach. Something wicked shone in Harold’s eyes. I knew he liked knowing how everyone around him knew I was his. 

“I will powder my nose; I will be back in a second,” I said to him, putting a hand on his chest.

“Don’t make me wait,” he said goodheartedly. I waved him over, making my way out of the hall. Toward the doors, my eyes met with the eyes of the Commander of Military Police, Nile Dok. After looking at my face for a second he slightly bowed his head in acknowledgment. I smiled at him brightly despite the anxiety boiling in my stomach.

Immediately after I set my foot through the threshold of the ballroom, two guards started trailing after me as they always did when I change places. Nick and Kia. 

I took a deep, calming breath to slow down my hammering heart. 

My sweaty palm hovering over the slit of my dress, brushing lightly against the dagger I kept bounded around my leg. The air was tense and thick with anticipation. We were almost halfway to my bedroom. That was when I felt them move. 

Pulling the dagger out of its place in a flash, I circled back. Ready to take any blow Nick or Kia was about to deal. But to my surprise, it never came. Without any warning, more men hurled out of the dark corners, where they should have been hiding. Two of them tackled a surprised Nick and Kia to the ground with force, making their weapons fly across the hall. I stand still in shock as the men kept struggling, yelling, and trying to fight back. 

Thanks to the torchlights attached securely on the walls, a shadow was revealed onto the ground, coming behind me. I turned around in a heartbeat, the pointy side of my dagger digging slightly on the soft skin of my attacker’s throat. His arm was restraining me to dig it any deeper. His own knife was pointed to my own, but unlike me, he avoided sticking it to my throat. A tall man with perfectly combed blond hair. I could swear I have seen him before somewhere. 

“I don’t want to hurt you,” my opponent spoke and despite his expressionless face, I could see his surprise by my sudden action in his eyes. 

“Says the man who had a knife against my throat,” I deadpanned. Immediately he lowered his weapon. 

“My apologies. It was for self-defense” he eyed the dagger still pointed at his throat. Suddenly I have remembered where I knew him. 

I heard the footsteps echoing through the hall at a fast pace. Turning around I saw the men Erwin Smith, the Commander of Survey Corps who happened to ‘save’ my life, brought with himself successfully pinned my struggling guards down. 

Three military police soldiers that were attending the ball came out running. They glanced at the scene with horrified faces but to their credits, they collected themselves up rather quickly. 

“Are you alright, miss?” Finn, a tall brunet from the MP, asked while eyeing the towering Commander behind me. 

“I – I’m,” the stutter on my part wasn’t an act. Other MPs knelt down beside the guards who at the end understood they weren’t get away with it and stopped their fighting. 

“Oi, you,” the raven-haired man tackled Nick down called out Finn. I recalled him as being labeled as humanity’s strongest soldier by the civilians. Great.

“Go and alert Burton. He needs to come here immediately.” 

Finn glimpsed at me briefly and turned to do exactly that when he saw I approved with a slow blink of my eyes. 

“Commander,” Gerald, another MP, gave a salute to Smith, “What exactly are you doing here?”

“One of my soldiers overhears the Miss’s guards have some ill intentions regarding her. It was very late notice, and unless we act quickly it might be too late.”

“With all due respect, you should let the Military Police know,” Gerald said through gritted teeth. 

“Were you not listening or are you just that dense? The man just said there was no time,” the short man with raven hair snapped. Gerald turned toward him with a hard look on his eyes, opening his big mouth. 

“I think I need to sit down.” I interrupted before he could say anything, wobbling on my feet. The commander’s warm hand grabbed me from my underarm and he guided me to a nearby ottoman. Soon after I was sat securely, new footsteps were echoing the halls once again. Harold came in a rush, face pale and hands shaking. 

“Connor!” he uttered my name urgently. Sitting beside me, and hugging me tightly to his side. I saw Nile came in a rush as well. He checked me out quickly, and when he made sure that I was okay, turned toward Commander Smith. 

“Just what the hell happened here?”

I listened as Erwin Smith repeated how the events unfold. How he heard about the assassination but couldn’t afford to lose any time to alert the others around. How he took his most trusted two soldiers, Mike and Levi he said, with him to investigate. Harold was drawing soothing circles around my back as Nile and other MPs listened. My attackers had already led away in handcuffs, bruised faces, and even more bruised egos. The mansion was searched but to no avail. One of the guards, who was on watch at the back door reported a black carriage waited but the moment Nick and Kai were boarded to an official MP carriage, it took off. There were no other clues. 

Nile took a few steps closer to the ottoman Harold and I were sitting. 

“Lord Burton, please allow me to leave two of my most trusted soldiers here for extra protection of the Miss. At least until we figured out who is behind this attempt.” 

“The soldiers who were too late, Commander?” Harold asked through gritted teeth. His hand stopping their motions on my back. Nile shot a side-eye look at Finn and Gerald, his unpleasantness with the situation was clear. 

“I would feel safer Harold,” I said as I clasped his hand within mine. He turned to me. 

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I will assign my best guards to you,” 

“But – what about you?” 

“Don’t worry about me,” he said smiling and pressing his lips to the side of my head. 

“My lord, the whole house searched. It is safe.” Another guard walked toward us to inform us. 

“Thank you,” he said before helping me up. We bid our goodnights and thank yous to the soldiers present. As I passed by I looked straight in the eye of Erwin Smith, and even though it was very brief I saw how taken aback he was by the venom of my expression.  

********************************************

A week passed by since the ‘incident’. A week that I couldn’t sleep well at night of how tense and stressed I had been during the day. A week everyone around me had blamed it on the incident how pale I looked and how little I ate. A week of tiptoeing around, listening to footsteps as I searching places that I wasn’t supposed to. A week of a total pain  my ass. 

My torture was continuing as I was walking around in the Military Fund Raiser Ball Harold was throwing. Many familiar faces were in the crowd. Some, the ones that were the most important ones, especially for the night, nodding at me subtly whenever I caught their eyes. I tried to take comfort from that. 

Everything is okay.

I kept saying that in my head, over and over. Harold was chatting with Premier Dhalis Zachary. Nile was circling the ballroom. He caught my eye for a second and tried to smile, though I could say he was just as nervous as I was. It was more crowded than the last week since Harold had maximized the security. Lady Flemington was waving me over to go near her as I saw a group of military police entered the ballroom. My breathing got heavier as they marched toward Harold Burton. Everyone’s eyes were following their every move. Premier took a few steps back. 

The soldier, Gerald, stood right in front of Harold.

“Lord Burton, you are under arrest for malversation, prostitution, and withholding civilians without their permission…” Gerald was reading Burton’s rights as something caught my eye among the crowd. Perfectly combed blond hair. Baby blue eyes that I could saw the remarkableness of them regardless of the distance between us. He was wearing a suit that was similar to the one he had worn last week. I didn’t take my eyes off of his as Burton was led away and all the remaining uniformed MPs turned toward me. I could feel everyone in the ballroom now was staring at me, shocked by the unraveling events, and continued to gawk, as they kept unraveling. Lady Flemington had a hand on her chest and a smile that she tried to contain as she deemed I must be in trouble as well. From the periphery of my eye, I saw Finn came to stand close to me. A green cloak folded neatly on his hands. 

I watched as the Commander of the Survey Corps knitted his eyebrows together. I assumed he had been known about the assassination from the beginning, probably days before the ball. He was trying to make a good impression on the Corps so that Harold would donate more than he was planning initially tonight. To the legion that harbored the soldiers who had saved his precious sweetheart. And even if I was wrong that that wouldn’t be the case, and all Erwin Smith had been trying to do was to protect me, it still didn’t make up for all the troubles he caused me last week. It was very petty but I couldn’t help the smug smirk forming on my face. I took great pleasure from his baffled expression. 

I turned toward Finn and looked him down. 

“The whole mansion was searched, captain. All belongings of Lord Burton were seized for further investigation.” 

“Thanks, Finn,” I said and took the cloak out of his hand. As I tossed the green cloak that was embroidered with the unicorn representing the military police, the uniformed MPs saluted me in perfect harmony. Eyes shone with pride. 

I gave out a long breath as the tension finally left my body.      

[a-sweet-sour-dip-lemon]

I'm suppose to be a full functioning adult?

IN THIS ECONOMY?

[knight-in-sour-armor]

[vaydragonage]

i dont like varric that much please send me back to the factory for repair