Yor Forger hummed to herself as she did the dishes. Over the past three years she had improved her cooking. Anya hadn't thrown up at all, and Loid had even complimented her on the eggs. Of course, she still had a lot of work to do… but she had come so far for her family, it would be a shame to give up now.
Anya, being almost ten, was hard at work on her schoolwork. Loid had high hopes for her future, and she was determined to do whatever she could to help their daughter succeed.
His daughter. She reminded herself sharply. She would never replace Anya's real mother, never. Despite what Anya would tell her in private, that she loved her very much, Yor felt it would be disrespectful to the woman she never met to consider the child her own.
However, she and Loid had been married so long… the possibility of having real children was starting to become very real. In fact, she was bursting with excitement to tell Loid that she was…
No… she had to push that from her mind. It wouldn't do to break the news before the mood was set. She was terrible at keeping secrets in general, although she had managed to keep the one secret that truly mattered. She was concerned that Loid would see it in her face that very soon, he would have a second child.
(Oh no, now I can't stop smiling!)
Yor tried to push the thought from her mind as she concentrated on her task. Anya was coming home late, and she was determined that Loid be given the news first, when they were alone.
"Welcome home!" She said brightly, as Loid stepped into the apartment. She did not look up at him as she finished cleaning up, eager to have the chores done before meeting with him, but when she did she was taken aback by his stony expression. She had never seen him looking so grim.
"Loid?" She asked, a little apprehensively. "What's wrong?"
"We need to talk." He said, his voice short. Her heart fell. She wondered what she had done wrong, or maybe something terrible had happened. She nodded, and they sat on the chairs facing each other.
"Is something wrong?" She asked, her voice timid. His expression was unreadable. She realized with a start that he had not removed his hat or gloves. He looked just as ready to go back to work as when he had arrived.
"Our blood test results came back." He said. "The ones required by the government."
"Oh yes." Yor said vaguely, not comprehending the situation. "Um, what were those for, again?"
"They are a new method to determine one's ancestry." Loid said. His voice was icy cold. "Specifically, Eldian ancestry."
Yor's heart skipped a beat.
"O-oh." She said.
"Anya and myself tested negative." Loid said. "You, however… tested to be an Eldian."
Yor flinched. She averted her eyes from him and stared at the floor.
"There must be some mistake." She said quickly. "My family is from-"
"The only nation to have considered itself an ally of Eldia at the height of its reign of terror." Loid said. His voice was boiling with rage. "You're one of them."
"No, I'm not!" Yor said, shocked. "I would never-"
"Don't lie to me."
Yor flinched. He had neve taken that kind of tone with her before.
"Your family has been lying about their ancestry for generations." Loid said, his voice cold. "So you could live among decent people."
"No, Loid, I swear-"
"You thought that by marrying me, you could stay out of the internment-"
"Loid, please!"
"I have already informed the government." Loid said, his voice heavy. "Our marriage will be annulled. I will never speak to you again."
There was a deep silence between them. Yor stared at the table, unable to meet his eye. Unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Hadn't… she been a good, dutiful wife?
Hadn't he cared about her at all?
Hadn't he… loved her?
She raised her head and smiled.
"I'm pregnant."
Without even a second thought, Twilight raised his gun and fired. Yor Forger's head blew open, spraying blood and brains all over their furniture. Her body collapsed in a heap on the coffee table, the very one that that they shared laughs and drinks with countless guests.
Twilight stared down at her body with a cold expression. It had taken a good three years, but the identity he had built over these past three years with this woman was now dead. Loid Forger had died with his Eldian wife.
There was now only one loose end to deal with before he disappeared once again into the shadows to deal with his country.
He turned to the door to see a wide eyed Anya Forger staring at him from the doorway to the apartment.
"Anya." He said stiffly. He was very well aware that the body of Yor was clearly visible from where she was standing. She didn't move as he walked over to her, and knelt over. He gently wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
"It's okay." He told her. "I had to do it. She was an Eldian."
"Oh." Anya said. Her voice was faint.
"You do know what an Eldian is, don't you?"
"I do." Anya said, her voice heavily. "They… tell us how terrible they are at school all the time."
Loid pulled away from her. He was smiling a little. "That's good. So you know why I had to do it. Don't you?"
"Yes." Anya said. "You did the right thing, Papa. You don't need to worry." She ran her hand over his coat.
He felt himself relax. A part of him had worried that Anya would be too young to appreciate the gravity of the situation. He had not wanted her to see the woman that had looked after her these past three years dead and bleeding on the floor. But it seemed she was more mature than he could have possibly have hoped.
"Anya." He said gently. "We need to leave this place. I've arranged a new home for you, a new mother and father who will love you very much. But we have to leave now. We can't allow it to be known that you were raised by an Eldian woman, it would ruin your future."
"You did the right thing, papa." Anya said again. "You were only following orders, is that right?"
Twilight paused. The gears in his head were turning.
"Anya." He said slowly. "What do you mean…"
She raised the gun she had taken from him and fired. The bullet penetrated his head and killed him instantly. He collapsed at her feet.
Anya stared down at his body, a cold expression on his face.
"I hoped." She said. "That you would change for the woman you loved. But serving the State is more important to you… isn't it?"
She quickly paid her respects to her Mother, and then got into her Father's things. Despite her age and lack of formal training, she had observed her parents in action enough to have a general idea of the use of all of these tools. She took what she could carry and then departed.
She hadn't lived on the streets since she was a little girl, but she remembered perfectly well how to survive.
...
The Handler frowned. Her large brimmed hat was pulled deep over her face. The situation had her more concerned than she dared to admit.
"Agent Twilight has been killed." She said. "But by whom? And why?"
"He had just submitted a report to us that he had discovered his wife was secretly an Eldian." Agent Nightfall sniffed. She had been crying ever since she had heard the news, as she had immediately made plans to marry Twilight in Yor's place. "He was planning on turning her in to the Ostanian authorities, but…"
"There was a struggle." The Handler surmised. "And they killed each other."
"An ordinary office clerk, killing Twilight? Doubtful."
"Has there been a proper investigation?"
"Yes. However the Ostanians have realized that Loid Forger was not a real person, and are investigating his presence in Ostania. They are more concerned about him than they are the Eldian."
The Handler huffed.
"Idiots." She sniffed. "A single spy from our country is nowhere near as big as a threat as an Eldian. Even if that spy was Twilight."
A morose silence fell across the table. There was no doubt among them, now. Twilight, their best agent, was gone. And there was no explanation for his death. And in all likelihood, there never would be.
"Could it have been the Eldians?" Nightfall asked, a little bit timidly. "If one of them was living among decent people, then there could be more."
"There's no evidence of that." The Handler said, sharply. "I should hope not. If the Eldian Empire re-establishes itself…. We all suffer."
…
The plane was a top of the line Marleyan design. It was fast, sleek, and fuel efficient. It was designed to be the next major step forward in aviation technology.
And it was currently in the middle of liftoff.
"Stop, stop I say!" The Marleyan officer roared, as the plane ripped past him down the runway.
The plane lifted off, and then took flight.
"I want you to head North East." Anya chirped, as she pressed the gun into the pilot's head even further. In her other hand was a grenade, that she would trigger if she was attacked. The pilot flinched.
"Shoot me and we both die."
"You wouldn't kill an innocent little girl, would you?" Anya asked, as the plane whirled in the direction she had specified.
"Innocent girls don't hijack airplanes."
"Well, you're the one flying it."
The pilot, in one smooth motion, lunged for her trying to rip the weapons from her grip. In one fluid motion Anya shot him, killing him instantly, and wedged herself into the driver's position.
'Well, you were the one who took off, at any rate." She said, amused, as she played with the controls. She had been able to read enough of the man's mind to get an idea of how she was to get to her destination.
The Island of Paradis.
She gripped the levers in her hand as she thought about the land where the Eldians lay trapped behind the walls. Due to her abilities to read minds, she was well aware that the government and military of the Kingdom of Marley were far more tyrannical and vicious than the Eldians ever were… although they would never admit it. Eldian sympathetizers were everywhere, but refused to speak up out of fear of being oppressed by their government. The rest were merely brainwashed by generations of propaganda and had no idea that Eldian oppression was nothing more than a myth, and that the Eldian people weren't monsters at all.
Her own father, sadly, had been a victim of this propaganda. He believed wholeheartedly that Eldians had been behind all of the world's problems, and although Anya had overlooked it for the longest time, in the end it had led to the death of her Mother. The King of Marley was in the process of making moves to claim the Founding Titan for themselves, in order to further oppress the countries under its control.
She had no idea what life was like on Paradis, behind the walls, but she was determined to protect them from her own people. By any means necessary.
Her mission objectives were as follows:
Inform the Eldian People of the threat that besieged them
Persuade them to make peace with the outside world
Convince the world that they were not monsters
If the Eldian people were not oppressed, her mother would still be alive. Although she was not Eldian herself, she felt a strong obligation to put an end to this senseless conflict and unite the world in a new era of peace.