"What letter is this, dear?" Bertholt's mother asked, pointing her index finger to the first letter of a label that reads 'Insulin'. She was using the medication from her job as a nurse to teach him how to read.
"It's an 'I', right?" he cheerfully answered.
"Very good! You're such a smart boy!" she proudly congratulated.
"Teehee!" he chuckled triumphantly.
"What about this one?" she asked, this time referring to the the fifth letter of a label with 'Humulin' written in it.
"Easy! It's also an 'I', right?"he responded confidently.
"No, dear." she stated sympathetically. "It's an 'L'. You see, the first letter in a medication label is always capital letter, the others are small letters. When you grow up, you'll have no trouble distinguishing them. Oh, but there is only one word with all capital letters."
"Really? What is it?" he wondered.
"LOVE!" she screamed ecstatically, before warmly tickling him.
"Haha! Stop!" he laughed uncontrollably.
"Did someone say love? 'Cause I bet you'll love the dinner I prepared for you." his father spoke happily, after appearing suddenly.
"Is it birds again?" his mother asked with a forged smile, hardly masquerading her disappointment for not having a decent meal in days.
"Yeah, but don't worry, we may be tight on cash right now, but I promise you we'll eat better soon." he assured genuinely optimistic.
"It's okay, father. What matters is that we're all fine, right?" Bertholdt said carefree.
"You said it! You should have been there, son. I shot those birds right on the wings, so I wouldn't spoil the meat. One day, I'll bring you with me on one of my hunts. You might even turn out better than me!" he spoke while ruffling his hair.
His mother refused to be delusional, unlike her husband. She thought rationally and logically, so when she found herself cornered by poverty, she only pretended to be optimistic for her son's sake.
"Hey, we'll be fine" his father comforted the obviously distressed woman. "Even if things get worse, which won't happen, we still have each other."
"Of course, things will turn out fine." she muttered unconvincingly.
Things didn't turn out fine.
"Hey, focus!" Annie snapped after being ignored.
"Oh... Sorry, I was just walking through memory lane..." he chucled nervously. "Ok, so, I see you have a perfect posture, now just aim and shoot."
Since, Bertholdt's father was absent for some mysterious reason once again. The responsibility of teaching Annie the ways of sharpshooting befell on him. She was actually learning far better than him, when he started. Since she had good hips, he advised her to adopt a sitting position while aiming, as it would be more comfortable for her.
When she pulled the trigger, she almost hit her target. To her surprise, when she did it, the riffle she was holding pushed her back to the ground. Her face looked like she had just been slapped.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I forgot to tell you about the recoil." he tried to control his laughter with all his might, but some still managed to surface.
Annie was pissed. She wanted to grab him by his puny throat and bludgeon his pathetic face with her fists, just before breaking his shins with the rifle that caused her too fall, followed by a shot in his 'baby maker' and then proceeding to laugh while he died of blood loss. However, fortunately for him, she was mature enough to let trivial things like this slide.
"Here, let me help you." he generously offered his hand to her.
"Thanks..." she muttered ashamed, after accepting his hand. "Hey, uh... I want you to know that the things I said yesterday... Maybe I came of as more aggressive than I intended, but don't get me wrong, I'm not sorry and I don't regret slapping some sense into you". She admitted.
"It's okay, I understand. You said those things to me, because you thought I would be happier if I didn't trust anyone and thought for myself. You were just trying to protect like friends do, so... thank you." he murmured with a genuine smile. It's just in his nature to see the good side of everyone.
"Wow, I can't tell if you're nice or just stupid. And who said anything about us being friends?" she scoffed. Everything he had just said was cringy for her, especially the part where he said 'friends'.
"When you said I shouldn't believe everything I'm told, I started thinking. I think you want to have friends, but you believe that that puts you in a vulnerable position..." he theorized softly.
"Urrgh! You're not just stupid, you're downright naive." she spoke with discust and resumed the technique he had just taught her. She wanted that conversation to end.
"Is it because your father disappointed you? He just puts you through all this, because he loves you, you know." he tried comfort her.
"What do you know about my father?!" her temper flared. "Fighting until I pass out from exhaustion, just so I can be send off to a hellhole and die earlier than I was supposed to, is not love. Wasting your daughter's childhood and deprive her of friends is just pure selfishness. He treats you nicely, but he's lying, just like everybody." her voice started cracking.
He delved deep in a sensitive part of her heart that was off limits for everyone, and that made her visibly furious. Bertholdt was genuinely frightened of her wrathful posture. And he should be, she was seriously considering murdering him. Or at the very least hitting him once with all her might in a sensitive part of his body.
"Hey, calmed down! I didn't mean to anger you, I was just trying to help..." he unsuccessfully tried to appease her.
Just before she could answer. He glanced to the direction from whence they came. He instinctively did that frequently, because his father taught him be extremely wary of anyone who might see them shooting. Eldians are not supposed to wield fire weapons freely, so they had to be very careful, despite practicing in a place where no one wanders. He saw two human figures.
"Quick, hide the weapons!" he whispered to her ear, before they stored them inside some bushes.
She was still trying to calm down.
As those two people approached, they started recognising them. They were Mr. And Mrs. Azelas, a married couple who happened to be their neighboors. They were quite antisocial, but they always treated everyone with kindness.
"Why hello there! What are you doing here?" Mrs. Azelas inquired with a wide grin.
"Nothing, just playing..." Annie replied in an unfriendly way.
"I see, well, we were just going for a walk before your parents arrived." Mr. Azelas continued.
"Our parents are going to your house?" Bertholdt asked.
"Didn't they tell, you? We invited them over for some tea. We thought they would bring you along." the husband stated curiously.
"Yes, well we have things to do so..." Annie was hoping they would leave already.
"What kind of things?" the wife asked in a sweet tone.
"We were about to plant a tree in this meadow called 'none of your business' until you showed up." she scoffed impatiently.
Why is she being so mean?
"Alright, alright, there's no need to get angry. We were just leaving." Mr. Azelas held his hands up in surrender in hopes of trying to calm down Annie.
"Well, goodbye then." the couple excused themselves in choir and walked away smiling.
After those two reached a distance where they weren't able to listen to the children, Bertholdt asked:
"Why were you so hostile?!"
"Something is not right. Those two never approached anyone before. My father would never, under no circumstance, visit someone's house, much less without me and you said your parents are always busy, right? And yet, they're all skipping their duties. Something's fishy, I know it." she spoke puzzled.
"Yeah, now that you mention it, that is pretty weird..." he agreed confused.
"Did you noticed her bruises?" she questioned, trying to link this piece of evidence to the adults' strange behaviour.
"No... I didn't see anything out of the ordinary..." he confessed.
"Let's follow them." she announced before starting to walk in their direction, disregarding his choice.
"Wait, won't we get in trouble?" he muttered scared.
"Come." that was more an order than an invitation.
"The tea is lovely!" Mrs. Hoover stated after taking a sip of Mrs. Azelas's tea.
"Why thank you! But do leave some for me, I barely drank any." she spoke jokingly.
All of the Azelas couple's expected guests were present in their house: Mr. Hoover, Mrs. Hoover and Mr. Leonhart. Their house was extremely large and detailed by Eldian standards. Everything was quite fancy. From the outside the house looked lavish. It was built with spruce wood and had blue stone decorations. It was equipped with a large kitchen, where a gramophone catches the attention, apparently, they listened to music while cooking.
"Tell me Mrs. Hoover, will you give malaria vaccines to the people" inquired Mr. Azelas.
"Yes, we don't want a plague running loose now, don't we?" she answered jokingly.
"Well, let me tell you it was very kind of you to vaccinate us against tetanus." Mrs. Azelas continued the conversation.
"Don't mention it, I was just doing my job." she dismissed smugly.
"Speaking of which, don't you despise the Marleyan healthcare propaganda? I mean 'We must prevent those dirty Eldians from catching diseases, or else the good people will suffer'. How dare they!" Mr. Azelas scoffed hatefully.
Everyone gasped.
"You shouldn't say those sorts of things, it's dangerous" Mr. Hoover warned.
"Oh c'mon, we're neighboors, we can trust each other. Let's be honest, we all agree Marleyans are awful!" Mrs. Azelas continued.
"No, we don't." Mr. Leonhart snapped. "Let's change the subject, how do you make your tea so delicious?"
"Oh that?!" Mrs. Azelas appreciated the compliment. "I use some rare leaves in one of those trees near the meadow. The problem is that they're quite tall, so I end up falling frequently." she chuckled embarrassed.
"Is that why you have so many bruises in your arms?" Mr. Leonhart asked. He knew more about bruises than anyone in that kitchen.
"Er... yes." she meekly responded.
He wasn't entirely convinced.
"Speaking of the meadow, we were going for a walk there and saw your kids. They said they were playing. Why didn't you brought them, we made a cake thinking about them?" Mr. Azelas added.
"We wanted to, but they refused. I think they just wanted some time alone, if you catch my drift." Mr. Hoover teased.
"Oh my! I guess, you're never too young for love, right dear?" Mr. Azelas poked his elbow on his wife and they both laughed until they noticed their guests were unamused.
"So, have you been preparing your kids for the Marleyan government program?" Mrs. Azelas atempted to break the ice.
"We thought about it, but ultimately decided against it. Our son wouldn't stand a chance, it's too much of a risky gamble considering he's a source of income, due to his labour in the farms. Poor thing, but it's the only way to put food on the table." Mrs. Hoover replied melancholic.
"That option is still open for my daughter, but I don't think there'll be any need for that." Mr. Leonhart replied emotionlessly.
"Is that so? We asked, because one day, when I was cleaning the windows, I noticed you were teaching your daughter some sort of martial art." Mrs. Azelas confessed.
"I was just teaching her how to defend herself, you never know when some random stalker starts observing your every move." he spoke coldly and his eyes became slits.
"R-Right..." Mr. Azelas meekly muttered, looking down.
The atmosphere grew tense. So Mrs. Azelas brang more food, to relieve the tension. Everyone almost fought for the tea, so she brought an extra large dose of it, hoping she would take a sip this time. She also brought fried chicken, that the men devoured; carrot soup, mostly consumed by the women and for the dessert; a simple chocolate cake, adored by the Hoovers, caramel pudding, which revealed to only attract the attention of Mr. Leonhart; and a classic apple pie, that was only eaten by Mr. Azelas, the latter's wife didn't have dessert, fearing the potential calories she would consume.
The next hours were dominated by small talk. Until Bertholdt's mother noticed something strange.
"Mr. Azelas, you look very pale, is something wrong?" the expert nurse questioned worried.
"I-I can't..." was all he said before he fell face first.
Naturally, his wife screamed horrified. Panic installed, but the nurse kept her cool and touched his wrist, searching for pulse.
"H-His dead" she whispered.
Author's notes:
You're probably thinking right now: "What the hell! I was not expecting a murder mystery in here". I know, I know, as of right now it kinda seems like it won't fit the story much, but you'll see that what is about to happen, will strongly shape a certain character's actions. So any ideas who killed the guy and why?
BTW are you hungry for some Reiner? I sure am, don't worry he'll show up later on in the story.