Hiiiii
So the hols are over for me, so this will be the last chapter I upload before we go back to Thursday updates.
:)
You know what I really love about writing? Making the reader EMOTIONAL. If anything in this fic makes you emotional, tell me! Comment your thoughts
Thanks guys
LEVI
I froze in the hallway. A pair of scouts were carrying boxes from Novalie's room. Oh no, they're getting rid of it all. Erwin stood watching, his arms folded. I walked up beside him in a daze of disbelief, despite this being protocol and quite a normal sight. He looked down at me.
'How are you faring Levi?'
I stared at him icily, I was well aware that I didn't need to say a word to answer him. The bags under my eyes were deeper than ever and I looked weary and rugged … And dejected. Erwin frowned deeply.
'All she put in her will was, "dispose of all my belongings in the event of my death",' he sighed. 'She never mentioned any family she wanted it to go to.'
'She has none,' I said in an empty voice.
'None at all?'
'No.'
'She was a brilliant soldier, and a rather strange woman too. She just carried on no matter what she was put through, to an extreme, I'd say, and I never failed to notice what she did for you, Levi. I daresay she was a trusty companion and I shall miss having her in my ranks.'
'Mm,' I mumbled, not wanting to hear what he had to say. I witnessed her uniform being carted out, along with her books and various other items.
I traipsed into her room. It looked so empty now… A hollow shell for someone else to move into. None of her books were piled upon her desk and her wardrobe was open and empty. The bedsheets had been stripped, the medicine cabinet was void of anything, and as I opened the draws of her desk, I found an envelope, sealed with the Wings of Freedom. I unfolded it and scanned across the page, recognising the writing as my own. It was the letter I'd sent to invite her to join our branch - she had kept it. I was looking for one more person to join Special Operations at that time, and wondered if there was anyone from the Eastern branch that I could employ. Upon sending them a letter, they replied, telling me they had recently had to discharge a scout due to "extreme emotional instability", but she was the best they had ever had. When I asked them her name, they said that they never had it on paper officially, but everyone called her Kamoku. I was intrigued by this woman, and inquired with the mental rehabilitation unit she was in. They said her name was Kamoku Kansten, and she had been diagnosed with a condition that had last been seen in a patient forty years prior. They did not have a name for it, but they described her as having "a lack of any emotional expression or activity within the brain. She remains intelligent and sound of mind elsewhere, but does not respond emotionally to any stimuli given, not even those with a triggering nature to her". I knew then that she could do the job, a brilliant soldier, and hardy to tragedy. I remember standing upon the hill at the gate and meeting her for the first time. I was surprised at her lack of height, her scar, her analytic gaze, and the little wooden spoon that was hanging from her harness. Apart from jumping out of her skin all the time, she lived up to her expectation of being emotionless, but one thing shocked me. She wasn't the mindless zombie the hospital had portrayed her as, she was empathetic, human-like, and above all, thoughtful and perceptive, accepting everyone for who they were. Including me. I've seen people judge me – they see me as grumpy, scary, unapproachable, callous, you name it, all based on the expression on my face. She saw that face, and pushed it away in her mind, dismissing it and looking deeper. She understands how I work, probably because our lives and minds are… were… freakishly similar.
I felt a tap on my shoulder, and one of the scouts that were clearing the room tentatively told me they were locking it up. Trying not to look at my surroundings, I marched out, clenching my fists as I left to stop myself from cracking.
NOVALIE
I sat at the desk in my room, running my hand along the engravings on the wooden teaspoon I was holding. It was small and made of oak, with leaves carved into it all the way up. Once upon a time, seven-year-old me only ate with this spoon. It was the one thing I had from my adopted parents' house. Their names were Joanne and Gideon, and I loved them, but never told them. I hope they knew…
Suddenly, the door burst open and my brother came swanning in.
'Hello dearie! Time to go over the grand plans of our first massacre together!'
MASSACRE? He said it was a raid, as in, stealing things. Not a MASSACRE! Oh shit, OK, act calm, don't freak.
Fear welled up inside me, dread drowning every other rational thought in my head. OK, think, what could you say to earn you some brownie points here?
'Massacre huh? That sounds more like it,' I nodded in "approval", screaming silently.
He raised his eyebrows at me. 'Gosh, you aren't just a blank face, you really are cold-hearted!' Oh, please go ahead and believe that.
I shrugged. 'I never felt any love for them. It was merely an institution I belonged to.'
'What happened to "I'm not betraying them"?'
I thought on my feet. Me saying that was a setback from the start. 'I wasn't betraying them because they fed me well. But my life was the price of it, and I never respected that aspect.' I hope to god I'm a good liar, because that's what I'll be doing for the foreseeable future.
He grinned and pulled out a large piece of paper, flattening it out on the desk. On it was an aerial outline of the castle grounds, and it had scribblings all over it.
'OK,' he said. 'So, there are 162 of us in total. That's not including you and I. Now, that lot will all scale the wall around the back of the castle using several ladders. Ten of them will stay behind at the wall, and the 152 that are left will proceed to enter the castle through the back door, which Jonathon will make sure is open to us. They will be armed with muskets. You won't be though, that's not important for your part.'
I breathed a sigh of relief under my breath.
'Now, we aren't aiming to take hostages, so it will be kill on sight. Upon entering, teams of 38 will be sent to each of the five floors, shooting anyone that appears. That leaves two people, who will guard the storage room in case anyone tries to get any weapons. That is wave one, and will last three minutes. You will stand on top of the castle wall and time it, sounding a sonic flare at the end of it. Now, wave two. I have calculated that after three minutes a large rush of scouts will begin to flood the storage room – more than our two guards can handle. So, at that point, 8 soldiers from each floor will rush down to stop the influx of scouts from getting into the storage area. It is CRUCIAL that they don't get weapons. That is wave two, which will last five minutes. Now, the third and final wave. In wave three, ten of each from the remaining soldiers in the castle will rush down to the courtyard and wreak havoc there. That also lasts five minutes, and after that five minutes is up, sound the flare, and five of those that waited by the wall will run around to the gate, open it, and help get them out. Well, half of them. The other half will run to the back gate and the five still there will help them all over.' He sat back, proud of himself. 'Everyone knows what they are doing and where they are going, and all you have to do is sound the flares. I will be down the hill, waiting for them to return and clocking the losses we have suffered. I don't doubt there will be some.'
I nodded slowly. There was no escaping, the plan was lethal, and genius. Images of Grace being shot and Levi being gunned down entered my head, and I tried with all my might not to grimace. This was terrifying. I knew it was going to happen, and yet, I could do nothing about it. I couldn't just kill Elias, he was extremely suspicious of me and didn't let me near anything I could harm him with. I had to get that letter to Erwin, quickly.
'These plans… They are brilliant, utterly genius. How many do you think we will kill?' I asked, trying to sound interested.
'Ooh, I daresay we might kill half of them! That would be the dream. Now, I am entrusting you, sister, with the most important part. If you fail us, then all of this, what we have been training for all this time, will go to waste, and you will suffer SEVERE consequences. If you do not sound the flares, there will be ten gunmen below you that will gladly take you out. Got that?'
I nodded. 'I won't let you down.' Manipulative bastard, he doesn't love me like he's always claiming. If I'm not willing to play his little game then he'll just dispose of me. Well Elias, I would gladly do the same to you, so at least our feelings for each other are mutual.
'Good. We meet tonight at the Fort, however you needn't come since it's all just a pep talk. You will stay here, in your room. In fact, I'd better get going. Goodnight Novalie.'
'Night.'
He locked the door behind him.
Shit. This is crazy.
I sat there in shock, then heard a click and Elias popped his head around the door again.
'Oh, and we've moved the date to tomorrow.' He winked at me and locked me in once more.
SHIT.
As soon as his footsteps receded, I unfolded the letter hurriedly and scribbled out the date, replacing it with tomorrow's. I bet he did this on purpose, to throw me in case I tried anything. I opened the window. There was no way I was able to get down there. But… Tonight would be my only hope. It would be the last time I could post something before it was collected early in the morning. I judged the steepness of the roof - it was VERY steep, slanting away from me sharply and ending in a sheer drop that would surely break bones. I straddled the windowsill and gingerly put my foot on the tiles. Then, hanging onto the top of the window, which had slid upwards to open, I swung my other leg over, sliding as soon as I put weight on them. I gasped, losing my footing, and hanging by my arms, which gripped the bottom of the window desperately. The only problem was, since the window slid up, it also slid down, and it came crashing down on my hands from my body weight. I grimaced and gritted my teeth as it slammed my fingers between the frame and the window ledge.
Now I was hanging off a roof with my hands trapped and being crushed by my bodyweight. Great job Novalie.
I could feel my fingers slipping. I scrambled upwards with my feet, trying to find my footing. It was hella slippery, but I managed to hold on thanks to the Survey Corps wonderful non-slip boots. Shunting myself up, I perched on the edge of the sill, lifting the window up to free my hands. Then I climbed back inside, defeated.
There really was no way out.
