Chapter three – A stranger in a Strange Land
Cynthia clung to the ships guard railing, retching for the fourth time that day. She continued to gag on the taste of bile in the back of her throat, reminding her why she hated sea travel.
Almost there.
Cynthia ran a hand through her that had unpleasantly salted by the breeze as she continued to cough. She pulled at the collar of her jacket, feeling choked. The white uniform was rough, scratching at her skin in the wind. The yellow armband that distinguished her from her counterparts was tight around her right arm. Resisting the urge to rub at the angry scars on her jawline, she was absently reminded of her trauma. A strong hand landed on her shoulder, causing her to flinch.
"Oh, sorry," Onyankopon apologised, removing the hand immediately, "I was checking if you were all right."
Her fellow volunteer gave Cynthia a worried stare. During their short time together, she could tell her had good intentions, suspecting he was just as mislead as she was. Listening to his idealized ramblings the past few days reminded her that she didn't hold the same goals as Yelena or the others.
"Uh…" Cynthia fumbled. She wasn't all right, but she didn't need them to know that. The closer they got to land, the more often she would run the plan through her head, the prospects becoming dazing. The way Yelena described it sounded promising – let the first survey crew investigate the beach and delay their return to the main ship, so it's forced to move into the bay. From there, scatter their forces and take them by surprise while under stress. The plan was simple, but simple didn't mean good. It felt flimsy at best, Yelena likely grabbing at straws to get it together. They didn't exactly have the resources to do much better.
"We also have to avoid any titan presence while onshore? Not to mention the residents," Cynthia had asked while they were squirrelled away in a vacant area of the ship, away from prying eyes. Yelena didn't seem to consider the possibility. Or she didn't care.
"There won't be any on that side of the hillside," Onyankopon said reassuringly when Yelena didn't respond.
"And if we're forced to search the other side? We won't be able to see the mainland from that side. They'll surely have us to investigate-" Cynthia started, her fears mounting.
"The titans are not the issue", Yelena spoke sharply, taking Cynthia by surprise. They were both soft speakers, but Onyankopon seemed to be the more sympathetic of the two volunteers.
"I've seen what they can do, Yelena. Have you?" Cynthia challenged, matching the tall woman's sharpness. Yelena had loomed over her, an unreadable expression on her face. Onyankopon broke the tension before things escalated.
"Are you all right?" Onyankopon asked again, bringing Cynthia back to the present.
"I found out I'm on the first survey crew," Cynthia said quietly, gut-churning, "With… him."
"Ah," Onyankopon sighed, knowing of Cynthia's situation, "I'm sorry to hear it."
"It's perfect, actually," Cynthia said quietly, making sure the passing guard wouldn't hear, "They trusted him enough to lead the crew. So when the chaos breaks out, I can single him out and…."
Cynthia fell silent. And what? A part of her was sure she wanted Gideon dead. And yet, the idea of taking his life was difficult, likely strangled by the years where she had to kill against her will.
"And? Fulfil your revenge?" Onyankopon said, sounding sceptical. Cynthia nodded. She didn't want to look weak, especially this close to things going south. Onyankopon sighed.
"I wish you luck then, Cynthia," he said. I'll need it, she thought. The afternoon had come.
"Conscripts and volunteers, move out!" Gideon commanded, indicating to the smaller boat docked to the main battleship. He had managed to avoid eye contact with Cynthia the whole trip, undoubtedly wholly aware of her intentions, until that very second. She shot him an icy stare, her rage flaring at the sight of him. His expression was fearful underneath it all – she wasn't sure if it was of her or whatever the island had in store for them.
Cynthia managed to contain her urge to vomit as they reached the beach. The cove was simple; it had the harbour and the concrete wall built into part to the rock face. Inland was mainly obscured by dark, rocky cliff tops in which they would have to scale.
"We will land on the west end of the beach, away from the wall," Gideon had instructed, "If they are expecting us, they'll be watching over that area."
Cynthia was painfully aware of the coves infamy. It was the death place of many rebellious Eldians, and could very well be her final resting place too if she wasn't careful. She wasn't entirely at peace with the idea. Not until Gideon was dead, at least.
They reached the beach, and Cynthia took her first steps on land in two days, relieved to feel the solid ground. She and twenty others spread out across the beach silently. She kept tabs on Gideon, who appeared to be doing the same as he made an effort to stay out of her line of sight behind the other soldiers.
As instructed, the crew reached the cliffy rocks and started to scale them to view the other side. Cynthia adjusted the semi-automatic rifle's weight on her back, holding the weapons strap closely. While carefully traversing the sharp weather-beaten rock pools and crevasses up the hillside, she had to admit; she was somewhat curious about what they would find. She had seen little outside of Marley that was not land scarred by war.
Reaching the top, she was surprised to be met with sweeping meadows and dunes. Small congregations of conifer trees were in the distance, teasing thick forests to the west. She had never seen so much open field before, the grassland moving with the wind. Its vast beauty sparked a yearning in her, one that wanted to run barefoot through the grass. A signalling whistle to her left brought her back to reality. She looked over to see her comrades heading to the most left side of the cove, signalling to raise arms.
"Shit", Cynthia muttered to herself, slipping back down to the beach and readying her weapon. She watched Gideon reach the fire line forming at the top of the cliff. Getting closer, she could see a slight glow of firelight against the dusk sky. People? If they're out this far, maybe Yelena was right about titans not being a threat, Cynthia thought. She climbed to an unoccupied spot in the line-up and looked below. Stretched out over the field was an encampment teeming with people- the so-called island devils. There were fifteen large tents, supply carts, vegetable patches and even a makeshift well. The camp appeared to be military orientated, but the roots for a future settlement were present.
A soldier down the line from Cynthia reached the top of the embankment, only to slip forward on the wet rocks. Her heart stopped as she watched the man fall down the hill towards the campsite. The world seemed to shrink when what felt like a hundred pairs of eyes shoot to the hillside, then to the soldier and then the line-up. She could see Gideon fill with dread.
"Orders Sir?!" one barked at Gideon as the people below scattered like ants and gathered weapons of their own. Cynthia impulsively aimed her gun down, eyes darting between potential targets, fear her only motivation. She was an intruder here as well as within her ranks. She had to be careful.
"Ready yourselves for incoming fire!" Gideon shouted, but his voice lacked muster. He was already instinctively backing down the embankment behind his men. Always the coward. The command fell on deaf, afraid ears. Shots fired through the air from Cynthia's side, purely reactionary to the sight of the Eldians with their firearms. Before she knew it, the worst-case scenario occurred.
A split-second flash of lightning cut through the air, but instead of striking from above, it came from the ground below, the impact hitting them hard. Confusion and panic quickly disrupted the Marleyan's formation as Cynthia and the other soldiers were thrown back into the cove. She yelled out as the rough surface scratched her through her uniform. She hit the rocky sand of the beach, blinded by the dazzling yellow electricity in the air. As quickly as it came, it disappeared, the cover of dusk returning. Before she knew it, the ground was vibrating with the impact of bullets from above, the Eldians gaining their wits. Cynthia instinctively pushed her back flush to the cove wall, finding cover from the assault above, holding her rifle close. Some of the soldiers on the beach started to shoot back, but terror soon befell their expressions. They froze at the sight above them, some even screaming.
"DEVIL!"
The ground shook even more now, and Cynthia watched as the others scattered and ran for the boat. A massive leg stood over the cove's ridge, landing right in front of her. Cynthia's heart beat hard, her breathing harsh as she watched the titan – the attack titan – step over the cove she hid underneath, heading towards the fleeing men. He was slow and deliberate in his strides – he was in no hurry. Her comrade's screams filled the air as he looked to squash them beneath his feet. Some surrendered, throwing their weapons to the ground and cowering.
The world seemed too slow for Cynthia. Through her fear, she kept her goal in mind, struggling to keep it down as she scanned the beach in the weakening light. That's when she spotted Gideon, running adjacent the coastline, away from the gunfire and the titan. Cynthia took several quick breaths, steeling herself, an almost serene sense of purpose overcoming her. When the shooting started to die down, she launched herself from the wall, sprinting after him as quickly as possible. She felt gunfire barrel towards her, and just like she had on the front lines, she tuned it out. It was a familiar feeling, the fear of impending death pushing her forward.
"Get her!" she heard someone shout above her. Cynthia managed to weave, narrowly avoiding impacts, her eyes locked on the Gideon ahead of her. Realising she still wasn't fast enough to catch up she ditched the rifle, the weapon thudding down into the sand. Her lungs started to hurt, but she could see herself getting within arm's reach. Another bullet whizzed past, this time hitting Gideon in the right arm. He howled in pain, clutching the wound but still running. It slowed him down enough she was just behind him, almost in her grasp, almost hers. She felt like a predator closing in on a kill.
Cynthia felt an aggressive sting, realising a bullet grazed her thigh. She yelped, but nothing was going to stop her now as she continued to hobble forward. Gideon was finally slow enough. She launched herself in a last-ditch effort to get to him before a bullet took her chance away. They crashed to the ground, Gideon wailing when he fell face-first into the sand. He had enough strength to throw Cynthia off, trying to scramble to his feet. Cynthia grabbed at his ankles, causing him to trip. The gunfire stopped.
"Come…. Here… Bastard!" Cynthia screamed, crawling over him, pinning him to the ground. She threw a desperate fist into his face, breaking his nose immediately, causing him to swear loudly. He put his arms up to defend himself from her attacks.
"Please, stop!" he pleaded. Cynthia was almost disappointed he had no resolve to fight back. The rage she felt was not something she often experienced. Not since the expedition that ended her military career.
"What? Given up already?" she jeered, ignoring all her pain as well as his. She continued to hit until his guard broke and kept punching. Usually, she would try to squeeze the life out of her opponent as quickly as possible, but she wanted this to hurt. She wanted Gideon to hurt more than he hurt her. It's what he deserved, she thought.
Gideon grasped at his surroundings, and before Cynthia could react, he bashed the butt of his rifle into her head. She instinctively let go of him and stood up, her ears ringing. She went to kick him in the side, but he had the weapon pointed at her before she could. She gave him a heated stare, close to ignoring the threat. His face was drenched in his own blood, the red film making him all the more miserable to look at. She couldn't stand it.
"Do it. DO IT" Cynthia taunted him. She could see in his face that he wanted to. He went to pull the trigger, but shouts interrupted them.
"Stop!" someone said, her figure appearing in the corner of Cynthia's vision. A teenage girl, no more than seventeen, aimed her gun at Gideon. Her green hood obscured her face, but at a glance, she looked Hizuru.
"Put your weapon down" she commanded coolly.
Gideon seemed thankful for the excuse to concede, throwing his rifle to the ground beside himself.
"What the hell is this?" a male voice said. Cynthia could feel a gun trained at her back, freezing her to the spot.
"Don't shoot", another man commanded. Cynthia turned and watched through adrenaline blurred vision as three others approached her, their faces obscured by their uniforms. The shortest pointed to her armband.
"She's Eldian", he said flatly.
"Bullshit," the other said. The first girl shot him a look of annoyance. At a closer look, Cynthia could see short dark hair framing her face.
"But it's like Eren said-" the third figure started but was cut off.
"And what if Eren is wrong, Connie? She's wearing their uniform," the tallest said, keeping his rifle pointed at Cynthia.
"Huh? Why the sudden distrust?" Connie interjected. The middle man held up a hand, stepping forward.
"Stop bickering. Jean, lower your weapon," he commanded. Jean gritted his teeth, begrudgingly obeying. With no weapon pointed at her, Cynthia retook her chance. She didn't care for what was happening around her, so she leaped forward and threw a kick at full force into Gideon's side. He curled in response, a pitiful wail escaping him.
"Oi!" Connie yelled as both he and Jean moved to intervene, waiting on instructions from their leader. He was silent, seemingly impartial to Cynthia's violence. She kicked Gideon again, but her energy was waning. She realised he was utterly defenceless, not even trying to run. It made her angry.
Fight back!
"Please… I have children, Cynthia…" he choked out, blood spitting from his mouth. A part of her felt a twang of regret, just for a moment. She kneeled next to him, grabbing him by the collar, searching his expression for any kind of remorse. She needed to hear it. She needed to know he did it.
"Jennifer had a kid too. Did you think about that before you killed her? Huh?" Cynthia seethed. Gideon started to cry, weakly placing his hands on her shoulders. A desperate, pleading touch.
"I didn't mean for it to go this way!" he exclaimed, his distress paramount. Cynthia shook him hard.
"What is that supposed to mean? You burnt down my home. You burnt us down! Then I had to sell my soul to them, again, just to look you in the eye. You killed us both, do you get that? I'm already dead because of you!" Cynthia screamed empting out the pain she had been holding onto for months. She could see Gideon felt it too.
"It wasn't me!" Gideon said, shaking his head. Cynthia could feel herself clam up, murderous rage wearing off.
"Like shit, it wasn't you", Cynthia spat.
"I put in a false anonymous tip and they sent a crew to investigate. They got rowdy, knocked a lantern. The guard did it! I was trying to get the place shut down, that's all. I didn't think they would burn it down. I didn't want Jennifer to die!" Gideon explained desperately. Cynthia shook her head. Why would they do that? It couldn't have been that careless.
"LIAR! My mother's death was not a careless mistake!" she yelled, hot tears in the corners of her eyes. Gideon cowered, expecting another blow from Cynthia's fists, but it never came. She was too busy trying to ground herself, her mind and body feeling to separate. It was all too unreal. She let him go, sitting back into the sand. Now, even killing Gideon felt pointless. It would solve nothing if the actual killers were back in Marley. She came all this way for nothing.
"Fuck!" Cynthia struggled to breath out, head in her hands. Why couldn't it have been you?
The ground moved underneath her as giant footsteps approached. She peeked upwards, watching the massive beast walk towards them. The titan's eyes were a blaze of green, long brown hair failing to hide his horrendous features. The group surrounding her were unbothered by his presence, their stares directed at her instead. In Marley, to be so close to one of the nine would have been considered a privilege among her people, let alone seeing them use their power.
"Is it true?" the leader suddenly asked as the titan came to a stop next to them, "Are you Eldian?"
Cynthia wasn't sure how to respond, the question pulling her into the present.
"I'm a child of Yimr if that's what you're asking", Cynthia affirmed quietly. Such an affirmation in Marley was heresy, and yet here, she could say it freely.
"But you come from Marley?" the man asked, all thought hidden behind a flat expression. Cynthia nodded.
Above them, the controller of the Attack titan pulled himself from his fleshy confines, strings of muscles and tendons still attached to his human body as steam hissed into the air. He was young as well, a brunette teenager with tired green eyes. He looked directly at Cynthia, his expression soulful.
"She's telling the truth, Captain," he said. The captain, a lithe man with raven hair, nodded his acknowledgement. His steel eyes bored into her, clearly distrusting despite his colleague's words.
"Are you loyal to Marley?" he asked, arms crossed.
"No", Cynthia replied, fast as a whip. It felt good to say, strangely. The captain looked over at the titan boy, looking for confirmation. He nodded.
"She's a patriot," the young man said. A patriot? Cynthia wasn't so sure but didn't protest. The other teenagers looked as confused as she felt.
"Welcome to Paradis, patriot. We have some questions," the captain said dryly.
"Who's we?"
"OI! Levi!" someone called from further down the beach. A bespectacled woman ran towards them, unkempt brown hair flying chaotically in the breeze. She looked like she had only quickly thrown on her uniform and ran outside barefooted. An eyepatch covered her left eye, and her expression was frantic, a gun clutched in her hands. Sand kicked up into the air as she dramatically stomped up to the group.
"Hange," the captain replied, "It's your lucky day."
"Is everyone alright?" Hange asked, breathing hard as she approached, "You ran… so fast."
"Everyone's fine. Except for that sack of shit," Levi said, referring to Gideon, who now appeared unconscious. Hange's eye fell on Cynthia, still kneeling in the sand, drained and bewildered. Excitement crossed her face, and all concerns erased, she threw her weapon into Jean's arms, who caught it ungracefully.
"An Eldian from Marley! Perfect. A conscript, I presume? I have so many questions," the taller woman exclaimed, reaching a friendly hand out to Cynthia. She stared at it, confused. The situation was evolving all too quickly for her to comprehend.
"I… I don't understand," Cynthia said but took Hange's hand regardless. It was clammy with sweat, but she pulled her to her feet with ease. The woman gripped her by the shoulders, almost shaking her, radiating.
"What's Marley like?! Is it true we're segregated from the Marleyans? What are your towns like? I heard you have these things called lightbulbs that can light a room without a flame! Is it true-"
"Hange," Levi warned his ally, ending her barrage of questions early.
"Right, you're right," Hange sighed, adjusting her glasses, "Something more relevant - Are there more you? You came here on a battleship, right? Are there others?"
Cynthia was quiet for a moment, trying to catch up with her surroundings. A part of her instinctively didn't want to give up information, years of Marley brainwashing stumping her. She fought against it, thinking how it might help Yelena. This is what they came for, Cynthia thought, commune with the Devils of Paradis.
"I – uh. Yes. The main fleet is still on the water, outside the bay. Two more survey crews are on it, the same size as this one…," Cynthia explained, looking over Hange's shoulder at the carnage on the sand dunes. "Not that you had much trouble with us."
"How do we draw them in?" Hange asked, back to a more serious demeanour. Cynthia shook her head.
"You won't have to. When they don't hear from this crew, they will likely move closer to the cove for a visual. The others will come eventually," Cynthia explained emphatically, hoping her answer was satisfactory.
"Oh, I like you," Hange mused, playfully tapping a finger to Cynthia's temple, "You know how they think! Eren? Shall we do what we discussed?"
Hange turned to the boy in the titan above them, an unspoken conversation occurring between them. Eren nodded, retreating back into the titan's body. Cynthia's eyes went wide. She had never seen that before.
"It's amazing, isn't it?" Hange said with a fat grin on her face. It's terrifying, Cynthia thought. Out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn she saw Levi roll his eyes.
"We should get back to camp. Bring that one to put with the others," Levi said, shooting Gideon an unamused look. Hange nodded in agreement.
"We'll round up the survivors, but we won't be able to hold them here for long. Send word to HQ that they are about to have an influx of inmates." Hange commanded.
Cynthia watched as Jean and Connie acknowledged the orders, grabbing Gideon's limp body and dragging him back towards the campsite. Cynthia was overly aware of Hange's hands still sitting on her shoulders.
"Does this mean I'm a prisoner as well?" Cynthia asked. Hange squeezed her shoulders, strangely friendly.
"Huh? You haven't given us reason to imprison you." Hange said.
"I'm a Marley soldier too..?"
"You just beat the shit out of one! And gave away their tactics under minimal pressure. You've been very accommodating in the short time you've been here," Hange lamented, throwing their hands in the air. Cynthia stared at her, amazed she was so quick to trust a stranger from Marley. Captian Levi was watching their interaction closely, having a much more natural reaction to her presence.
"I still don't get this," Cynthia muttered, rubbing the side of her head.
"What is your name?" Hange asked.
"Cynthia. Tempest."
"Cynthia, you are the first –non- titanized Eldian to visit our lovely island," Hange proclaimed, gesturing to thin air, "Please feel welcome."