Chapter 5: Questions Unanswered
"Better catch me if you can!" The lively voice of a young man called out in a mischievous tone.
"Nelson! Get back here with my hair ties!" Liette hollered out as she began chasing a sprinting Nelson. Even though he was a young man, he couldn't help but be extremely childish at times. He was the older brother model to Liette.
"Hey you two! Don't run off too far!" A dutiful Filla warned out as she spread a cloth on the green grass, underneath a tree.
Members of the circus were enjoying their day off by going on a well-deserved picnic. Liette, Nelson, Filla, Norma, and a few others packed food, brought fishing rods and blankets.
"It's a shame Roger couldn't join us today" Norma sighed as she began to distribute the food to everyone. They were neatly wrapped in cloth and placed gentle on the picnic blanket to prevent the wind form blowing it up.
"What is he doing anyway?" Liette asked as she began nibbling on a piece of fruit. "All work and no play isn't healthy for him"
"I know" Norma replied, giving Liette a slice of bread smeared with cottage cheese, "I've tried to convince him to take some time off, but he says it's important work"
"What kind of work would that be?" Filla questions rather sarcastically.
"Maybe we shouldn't concern ourselves with that guys" Nelson butted in rather awkwardly, as if no one really expected him to say anything. Nelson was the supply sheriff, or rather, he was in charge of keeping the circus's supply of food and etc. intact. He didn't have much relation with Roger's job aside from getting money from the Ringmaster.
"What do you mean Nelson?" One of the acrobats asked.
"He means that Roger's business is his business. We shouldn't intrude, or it'll create a bad environment" Norma replied with a smile on her face, eying Nelson occasionally.
"R-right!" Nelson replied, hastily getting back to eating. He realized that saying what he said was a mistake.
Liette and Filla looked at each other, rather suspicious of what they were trying to cover up, but quickly shook it off to proceed to eating.
After a while, everyone went down to the creek to swim, fish and play. After seeing everyone off to clean up, Norma silently called Nelson to come follow her. "Nelson, can I have a word with you?"
"Uh… Sure" Nelson replied, following Norma into the thickets nearby.
Liette saw them disappear as she waded through the creek, and out of curiosity, she followed the path down the creek to spy on them.
"How long have you known about this?" Norma's voice permeated through the dense forest. Liette couldn't see them, but she could hear them over the light trickle of water from the creek. Taking careful steps, Liette stepped over the wet rocks as she tried to get a better hear.
"A couple of weeks" Nelson admitted, "I eavesdropped on you guys talking about it"
Norma sighed, "What am I going to do about you now?"
"P-Please Norma! I won't tell anyone I swear!" Nelson pleaded out of desperation. He didn't mean any controversy, he just wanted to prevent others from getting into some serious trouble with Roger.
"Don't worry, I trust you Nelson." Norma reassured, "Some other people know, but the one you absolutely cannot tell is Liette."
"Liette…." Nelson murmured, "But don't you feel any guilt? I mean, she's such a nice girl. She's like family now, and, to just do that to her…. It's so cruel, so heartless…"
Liette was quite worried when Nelson said this, "Do what…?" she wondered to herself. She was scared that something bad might happen to her.
"I know how you feel Nelson. I love Liette too, but it's the only way we can think of" The head acrobat replied sadly. "Even if it seems unethical"
"What do we do? I…. I just can't bear it. There must be another way!"
"I'll talk to Roger after he gets back" Placing a hand on Nelsons shoulder, Norma assured. "I've been thinking about it for a long time now, and I think it's time to call quits"
Nelson started to gag a bit, "Please… please talk to him. Convince him not to…" Nelsons sentence was cut off by Liette yelping as she slipped on a rock, falling into the creek.
A few days later, the massacre happened. That unfinished sentence would haunt Liette years later. A question unanswered for so long, "Not to do what?"
Campaign Squad 14: 30 miles from the Wall Maria – Squad Campsite
Liette slowly opened her eyes to the dark atmosphere of her tent. Her dim lamp was burning what little oil was left in it as she added a bit more. Opening the flap of her tent, she breathed out the cold winter air, holding her lamp up to look around the campsite.
Miserable faces looking around at the living conditions they were forced into all over the place. Refugee troops scoffed at military soldiers even though they had nothing to do with the campaign.
"These refugees… are their lives even worth sacrificing to alleviate a food shortage? Why couldn't they just transfer them to different districts?" These questions spurred in Liette's head as she wandered throughout the camp, searching for a suitable place to sit.
It's been around four months since the campaign to retake the Wall Maria began. Despite her efforts, out of her two thousand troops, about one fourth of them had already perished. Even though many of her fellow squad leaders applauded her for her high survival rate, Liette herself couldn't help but feel guilty and undeserving of the praise.
There was a certain tent that was still completely lit, and Liette took a peek inside to see what her Vice-Commander was up to at this hour of night. "Zack?" She asked as she entered to see a scrawny young man, a few years older than herself. His nose was in a book as he sat at his desk, silently muttering words to himself as he immersed himself in the world of knowledge.
Looking up after a few moments of delay, he shifted his head towards the entrance to his tent, "Oh, Liette. Did you need something?" He asked while pushing his wooden framed square glasses up his nose. His slim face and unkempt black hair indicated that he often was working, and didn't relax very much. His constant grin showed that he was usually in a good mood, or was enthusiastic throughout the day.
"Nothing, I just couldn't sleep. So I was wondering what you've been up to" Liette said, examining the strange things that he collected during the campaign at current. Plants, leaves, rocks, bones, all these strange objects that Liette had no intention of ever having in possession. "Is science really that interesting to you? I find it quite boring if you ask me"
Zackley Kelsin laughed soundly as he closed his book, "Some people are attracted to it, and some people aren't. It really depends on the person" Shelving it with the rest of his collection of books, he began to ask, "Commander, do you know why we sometimes have night scouting parties?"
Liette shook her head as she crossed her arms, "I have no clue, why?"
"Because titans are inactive during the night" Zack replied, fixing his glasses again, "Or rather, when they are absent of sunlight"
This trivial bit of information quite shocked Liette, "Really…?"
"Science can bring a many bit of assets to humankind" Zack began to say as he took another book out, "That was just one of the many things I observed during this campaign"
"I wonder if you're this enthusiastic when it comes to fighting" Liette joked
Zack chuckled as he took his journal out, "Science is nothing without application, especially fighting."
ooo
It seemed that Zack was quite busy with his research, so Liette decided to leave him be for the time being. Even though he looked like a scrawny bookworm, he was very handy when it comes to titan combat.
"All that science didn't go to a waste"
The world of science often bored Liette, maybe because she couldn't see the application to all the theory behind it. But she couldn't help but become interested when something applicable made itself clear. The wind blew, and with it, a cold wave crept up throughout Liette's body as she shivered. Sighing as she began walking towards the campfire, she sat down next to an elderly man whom she always referred to as "Gramps"
"Can't sleep youngin'?" The old man asked as he warmed his hands against the bonfire as he recognized Liette. They often sit down together to enjoy a cigarette after they set up camp.
Liette shook her head as she took out a cigarette from her case, "Once I wake up, it's hard to go back to sleep"
The old man simply chuckled as he too took out a smoke. "It's nice to enjoy a smoke, especially when it might be your last one"
"Oi, what are you saying?" Liette asked, rather unamused if it was a joke. She was rather concerned.
"I'm just saying. This old man doesn't have long in this world anymore, especially like this. All those young ones, their entire lives ahead of them, gone." Holding his hands out, he spread them apart to imitate an explosion, "Poof! Just like that. And me? My times just about up. I wouldn't be surprised if I get eaten by tomorrow evening"
Liette opened an eye and looked at the geezer. "That's not going to happen"
"What cha' mean by that youngin'?"
"I'm not letting any of you get eaten" She replied. The tone of her voice showed that she was serious amidst the crackling of fire and the sound of crickets chirping. "Even if you die, I want to at least, make it have some dignity"
"Dignity eh…?" The old man simply chuckled as he continued to smoke, "That's funny, my wife used to say something like that. You remind me of her you know. Always strong, determined to get her way, even from beyond the grave."
Liette didn't really say anything except a simple, "Huh…" She simply sat there, smoking in silence with the old man. So far, the campaign was a failure, and many, no, everyone believed that it would continue to drag on like this. Almost half of the entire army, two hundred fifty thousand troops, nearly half of that had already perished within these four months.
The sad part of that was that a significant portion of casualties were self-inflicted suicides. People just lost hope and killed themselves. It was the only feasible way out. It made Liette's heart sad, human life simply thrown away like that. She herself never considered suicide as an option; or rather she was just too cowardly to do it herself.
Liette considered human life extremely precious, because of the cycles of despair that ensue her life, she taught herself to value the people in her life with extra care. Any person she has ever met, she remembers, no matter how insignificant the meeting was, all of it felt special to her.
Amidst her silent complexion, the old man stood up and said, "I think I'll be heading back to my tent now. You should get back to sleep too youngin'. If you don't you might lose focus in battle, and no one likes it when the leader gets taken out."
"I appreciate the concern gramps" Liette waved away as he left. Glaring into the fire, she wondered about what Gramps said about his wife, and then looked at her own life. There were no plans of the future Liette had in mind, no plans of settling down, no plans of starting a family, no thoughts of old age, none of that. She just never really considered that because as a Scouting Legion member, she didn't expect to live very long. There had been close calls, but here she is now, still alive and well. Still ready to fight.
Sighing while at the same time blowing out the smoke fumes, Liette said aloud to herself, "Will I grow to be old?"
ooo
The next few days were ensued by constant attacks on the titans followed by counter attacks. Since most troops weren't taught any standard Scouting Legion titan combat techniques, or in possession of a 3DMG, casualty rates went through the roof during and after the battles.
Liette desperately tried her best to rescue, protect, and risk her life to protect her troops. The least she could do was keep them from being eaten, which often times forced her to perform euthanasia at request of the person. It was heart wrenching, it was mind numbing, it was pain, absolute true pain.
"All these lives…." Liette murmured as she propelled herself through the trees of the forest with her iron wire latching onto bark. She was searching for remaining parties to tell them to retreat, but little did she know that nearly all of them were wiped out. The campaign was called off and all forces (If any left) were asked to retreat back to the Wall Maria. "We made no progress…Thirty three miles, only halfway to the wall. At what costs? "
"Ahhh….Ahhhhh!" Multiple voices screamed coming from the north east.
Instantly turning to assist the lingering party, Liette pulsed forward sharply releasing gas from her canisters to propel her forward at painfully fast speeds. "I'm coming!" she yelled out as loud as she could, seeing the outline of multiple titans in the fog.
She was still about 20 meters away. In disgusted horror, she watched the members of the party be eaten alive as she dove, faster and faster, to rescue what was left of them.
Closer and closer Liette got to the titans, shifting her blades up over her right shoulder, she dove down from the tree branches towards the nearest titan, whom was gnawing on the corpse of an unfortunate soldier.
"If I can't save them…." Liette slashed with fury into the nape of the neck of the titan, causing an instant death to it. Setting her sights on the other titans, virtually ignoring everyone else unless they were in danger, she swiftly flew through the trees, cutting them down one by one, "Then at least, I help them die as people"
She had killed about 2 more titans before looking over at the group of individuals she was supposed to save. There were about five of them left, one which was currently in the grasp of a titan.
Jumping from the branch she was perched on, Liette aimed her waist towards the neck of the titan. Promptly firing her iron wire and pulling herself towards it, blades armed and ready. Her teeth were clenched with anxiety, fearful that she might not make it in time. Throughout this moment of nervousness, she caught sight of a titan hand out of the corner of her eye. By the time she could react, she couldn't completely dodge it, and as a result, the massive fingers clipped her. This caused her to lose her balance and she spun. Spinning would run the risk of tangling the iron wire, and thus, Liette was forced to retract it quickly before firing again.
Unfortunately, she was too low to the ground to rebound in the air, and was sent sliding through the muddy dirt and rough tree roots. Her head suffered minor trauma, but enough to daze her for a few seconds.
By the time Liette came back to her sense, the ghastly hand of a titan was reaching down towards her, ready to grab her. Her eyes widened as she realized what would happen next. "Is this the end…?" she asked herself as she raised her blade, to cut through the hand. In most cases, this course of action would be pointless since the 7 meter class titans usually regenerate lost parts within seconds.
"No! I must fight on!"
Like that, she felt someone push her to the side as she fell. "What…?!" This unexpected event surprised Liette as she looked at the figure of an old man, struggling in the grasp of the titan.
"Gramps!" Liette cried out.
The old man simply smiled as he looked towards Liette, "I told you this old man's time was up" he managed to say before the titan instantly tightened its grip, crushing him.
"No!" With a heart full of rage, Liette jumped upward and swung with her 3DMG, "No… you aren't going to die here!" She sliced into the thick hot flesh of the titan. Feeling its limp body crash into the ground, the old man rolled out of its lifeless palm, slowly losing his life at the same time.
There was blood coursing out from his mouth as he felt his lungs collapsing. Most of his organs were crushed, and his ribs were dislocated, cutting into the lungs. He was drowning in his own blood with every breath he took.
"Gramps…..gramps!" Liette cried out, racing over him, trying, somehow, to keep him alive. "You're going to be alright! You will…." Her voice shrilled at the end as she realized, yet again, that someone wasn't going to make it.
The old man simply smiled as he coughed out blood with his dying breath, "It's too late for me youngin'… before I go… I have a favor to ask…" His trembling hands shakily took out a gold plated pocket watch, "This was my sons. Please….. Give it… to my grandson. His name…is Armin…. Please….."
Tears began streaming down Liette's eyes as she took the watch into her hands. "I will…"
"Ah you're such a nice young girl Liette…. Doing… this favor… for a useless old… man like me…" His voice slowly and slowly became quiet, "Please…. Live….. on….. be happy.."
Silence.
His cold body fell still as Liette stood up, closing his empty eyes. "In dignity of death, do they find solace".
"Grandpa…." Her mind was at unease, but only until she heard the scream of another person did she refocus. She had other people to save still.
Screaming at the top of her lungs, she ran full speed at the titans that were still around. Jumping while releasing her iron wire, she sped through towards the titan.
It took notice, and with a huge grin on its face, it swung its back hand at Liette.
She was going too fast to swerve out of the way without hitting it, and too fast to elevate or lower her height. With no other options at correcting her mistake, Liette held her two blades out in front of her. Cutting deep into the back hand of the titan, she felt herself being reeled to the side by the torque caused by the swinging movement.
Quickly releasing her blades, Liette was still moving at the force the hand was. Bracing herself, she hit a tree back first. The pain radiated everywhere, causing her to tear up at how painful it was, but she endured.
Right after her motion stopped, she fired her iron wire again. This time, she cleverly fired her grappling hooks at the eyes of the titan, opening then once they had dug snugly inside. It was blinded, which gave Liette the perfect opportunity to cut it down. Reaching down into her sheath, she took out only one blade. With the other handle, she retracted the iron wire, and jumping on the head, she stepped downward off slicing the neck.
With the body of the titan hitting the ground in a loud thud, Liette landed foot. During her preoccupied fighting, it began to rain, pouring actually. Jumping down, she looked up at the group of remaining survivors. There were two of them, one boy, one girl, both were Stationary Guards.
Staring at them with bleak silence, she said, "Do you still have gas left?" Her face was quite emotionless, and her voice was heavy.
Both nodded, managing to swallow their fears and answer the question.
"Run, run to the rendezvous point as fast as you can. This campaign is over…" Liette hastened as she took another blade out. "The path is clear back there, you should be fine"
"Bu-but…" The girl asked, unsure of whether it was right or not to leave the silver haired girl.
"GO!" Liette yelled out in so much anger and frustration, that the two soldiers quivered with fear as they heeded her request.
Turning around before looking back, both of them jumped off, leaving Liette by herself.
"Does humanity even stand a chance…? Two hundred fifty thousand people, almost all dead…. And for what? Nearly nothing…."
A step in the mud, Liette ran through the rain drenched soil and uneven twist of roots and bark, through the forest to somehow vent her anger and hatred.
"No…. even in the darkest despair…. There's still hope!"
Running toward a wandering titan, the Silver Haired Striker jumped upward, raising her blades, gripping them in intense frustration.
"Even if…. You are not the one to save mankind…. know….just know…. That there's someone destined to…."
Within her mind, only Rivaille fit the description that she was thinking about at that moment. He was the best of the best, the strongest humanity had to offer. His leadership, his enigmatic character, his combat prowess, everything he possessed was the best.
Continuing to run through the forest in search of titans, she stopped for a moment to catch her breath.
"Even if I were to die here and now, you must lead mankind on to victory against these monsters. You must lead them Rivaille…. Because I….I am no leader… Am I?"
ooo
"Where…. Where is everyone…?" The baffled voice of the Vice-Commander Zackley Kelsin asked a few of the other remaining squad leaders at the tiny crowd that had managed to gather at the rendezvous point. There were only about, maybe 100 people that gathered.
""They're dead…" One officer said in a depressing tone, as if he couldn't believe that carnage that had just revealed itself.
"Th-the flare…. The rain, it-it wasn't bright enough for everyone to see." Another one said, his voice cracking, "That was our last one. Th-the other supply caravans.. .they're….. They're all dead!"
Zack looked at the dead and worn out faces of his colleagues as rain continued to pour down, "You mean…. Out of an army of two hundred fifty thousand… this is what remains…?" Looking behind him at the meager crowd of already lifeless people, witness to the horrors that had ensued, Zack dropped to his knees. "No amount of knowledge… can ever make up for this"
There was so much depression that Zack was on the verge of crying.
"It can't be helped" Someone said as a hand was placed on his shoulder. "Let's move inside, we need to discuss our plans of retreat."
The Command Tent was even more empty than usual. In total, there were about thirty five squad leaders. At the present, there were only seven. Zack scanned desperately throughout the camp, but no silver hair. "Liette…. Is she dead…?"
This worried him. Liette's prowess was comparable to Rivaille himself, but she always denoted herself by saying that she was nowhere close to Rivaille. The physical signs are close, but was it more psychological?
He nervously chewed on his nails at the thought that Liette could be dead, but he tried ignoring it as he sat down at the table with the rest of the surviving officers.
"What the hell do we do now?" One of them asked, "Is this everyone? Are these the only people left?"
"I'm afraid that's it. I've done a head count, a little more than a hundred."
There was an eerie silence among the group, unsure of what to say next. There really wasn't anything to say. There was no point in fighting anymore, as the odds of survival were nonexistent.
"We have no choice but to retreat."
"Retreat!? Are you mad? If we retreat now, we'll be branded as traitors!"
"I'd rather be a traitor than titan food!"
"Don't you see? These survivors are the prime of the pack. They're the strongest among the weak." One of them tried to explain, "If we send them out there, then maybe we can get our asses out of here!"
Just as he was talking, there was a loud thud at the front of the tent followed by a woosh of the front flap opening. There were heavy footsteps, followed by heavier breathing. It was a slumping figure of a woman, blood running down her face, scratches and bruises all over the place. She was holding her right elbow as she limped into the tent, a shadow cast upon her eyes. Everyone recognized her silver hair.
"L-Liette!" Zack cried out in a whisper, almost overjoyed to see her still alive.
"Liette! Good to see you still alive" The officer who was just talking before she barged in began to say, "What do you think about sending the rest of those refugees out there so we can escape?" He asked, taking a cigar out.
Her mouth was clenched, silent, as she walked slowly next to him. He could do nothing but stare for an answer. With a fell sweep, she punched the man as hard as she could in the face. He was sent flying to the ground.
"Hey! What the hell was that for?!" He angrily asked as Liette picked up the cigar from the ground.
Still saying silent as she lit the cigar, Liette smoked it before clenching her mouth yet again. Growling loudly as she yelled out in frustration, she threw the cigar to the ground in a fitful of rage.
"Are you insane?" She asked him, "Two hundred, fifty fucking thousand people….all of them…. Dead…."
"But we still have a few survivors!" He responded.
"Those people are already dead inside! If you've seen the horrors out there, you should be dead inside too.." Liette snarled back in rage, such rage that some of the other officers flinched. "Most of them are still alive because of pure luck…"
Turning around, unable to look at the disgusting side of humanity, she began to walk out the tent.
"W-wait! What do we do then?"
"Call a full retreat. I don't care if we all become traitors, they can't kill a man who's already dead inside"
ooo
As they were packing the campsites and preparing to hastily retreat back to the Wall Rose, Zack searched around for Liette. He found her on the outskirts of the camp, smoking there by herself, her wounds still hurting.
"Liette…"
"You were right Zackley, the titan's do become more inactive without sunlight"
Zack was quite surprised by those words, until he realized what Liette was implying, "Oi…. Just how many…. Did you kill…?"
"I don't know…." Liette said, puckering her lips and blowing out smoke, "I wasn't keeping track. There were just too many unanswered questions on my mind."
A/N : Another chapter for you guys. Ahem, this was quite difficult with really no base setting for the campaign to take back the Wall Maria, so I kind of had to go off scratch and my own imagination. Otherwise, there's not too much to say about this chapter.
So, stay tuned for another chapter and don't forget to leave a review.
