There was fire; the world was burning. It was a world she'd come to know, a world she'd lived in for five years now, a world she'd almost come to care for. She was surrounded by people who called her a comrade, who fought side-by-side with her; who had shared meals and training and living space with her for years now, but had never seen her for what she truly was, and who would never call her a comrade if they could see it.
I am a monster. I am unforgivable. If you could see it, would you still call me your friend?
No, they wouldn't…they never would. That truth had hurt, at first. But she quickly grew used to it.
Make your pain into your shield…then nobody can use it against you.
The world was burning, but when her vision cleared, there was no fire…the smoke was, in fact, steam; fallen titan bodies littering the Trost district, dissolving into air.
If I die, will I turn to smoke so easily? Or will there be pain first…will I feel it, when I die?
The act had been difficult, at first. But it now came so naturally. The title of "Cadet" slid on as easily as a glove, the motions of acting her part as fluid and effortless as the ease with which she held a spoon. It was becoming too easy. If she wasn't careful, she could almost forget.
But there is no forgetting. You wouldn't forget either, my comrades, if you had seen what I really am…would you?
The world was on fire again. Inside of her this time.