Volume 6
Ch. 78 Underground
Pov.
-Kara-
"An old friend of Karas?" Why do you expect us to believe you?" Levi asks
"Well, to be completely honest I don't expect you to" he stands up "the point is that I have enough supplies for over thirty thousand men, and weather you want my help or not is up to you"
"Even if we accept your help there is no way you can ship all that supplies into paradise in less then a week" I say
"Ship?" He asks "No, you got it all wrong" he smiles "I already took the liberty of delivering the supplies, but of course if you don't want my help I'll just go on ahead and take it all back"
"You son of a-" Hange mutters "what?! you think we're stupid?! Who do you take us for?!" She growls
I hold my hand out keeping her from attacking the man
He snuck in here without having to take a single person out, in the middle of the day no less
We really shouldn't be taking him lightly
"Wh-what?" Hange asks
I shake my head
"Can you give us your name?" I ask
"No, I can not" he says
"How about your manpower?" I ask
"I am a lone wolf," he says
"May you at least tell us where you're from?" I ask
He smiles
"Not eldian, if that's what you're wondering"
"No, how long have you been living outside the Plain?" I ask
"Plain?" He asks
"What makes you think I come from the outside?" He asks
"Just a hunch"
"A hunch?" He smiles
"Hehe* You're good kid" he giggles "only that's not what they're called on the outside"
"What do you mean?" I ask
"Outsiders call it many things, but their simply just continents"
"Continents?" I ask
"Yes, for example if you win this war your so called 'plain' will be called the Continent of Eldia or if it becomes a great power they are titled as Empires, The Eldian Empire for example, if not it's just a plain old nameless souther continent" he explains
"Titled by who ?" I ask
"That is all I will say for now" he smiles
"Why so secretive?" I ask
"Not secretive, I don't plan on wasting my time on trying to explain things you might not understand" he says
"What?!" Hange growls
"Don't take it personally, but what lies beyond the limits of this continent is a completely different world. You'll just have to see it for yourself" he says
"Commander! Commander Hange!" Someone rushes inside
"What is it?" She asks
"Y-your not going to believe this" he huffs
"Wh-what is it?" Hange asks nervously
We all look back at the mysterious man
"Does that mean you accept my conditions?" He asks
"Falco.. he's an outsider, we don't have to if you don't want to" Hange says
"Hange, it's not a matter of pride. If he is willing to help our country at a time like this then I'm more than willing to accept his offer" I say "that's only if you promise not to ask for anything else in return, don't expect us to own you any favors" I add
"You're real smart kid," he smiles "that's completely fine by me" he offers his hand
"Alright, guess that settles it" I say as I shake his hand
"Go on," he smiles
We all follow Hange outside where they lead us to a massive storehouse just outside the gates
"Y-your highness, this wasn't here a moment ago" a soldier says as we open the doors
There were rifles of all sorts everywhere along with swords knives uniforms
It contains anything a foot soldier would need in battle
None of it made any sense
There was nothing here when we made it into Holst
And there's absolutely no way they would have brought it in and set everything up in a single night
"Tell me how great I am" we hear the man as he leans against a crate of ammunition
"B-but really, tell us how you managed to get a hold of all this" Hange says in disbelief
"Would you believe me if I said I were a God?" He asks
"hah* real funny," I chuckle
He smiles
"Look, your father was a good friend of mine, I'm doing this all for his sake" he says
"Thanks," I smile "well, we should get started immediately" I tell hange who was still trying to wrap her head around everything
"What is it, Falco?" Levi asks after seeing Hange didn't respond
"We need to cut all ties with the other districts, radio, newspaper, transportation, everything has to be shut down" I say "we can't afford to lose the element of surprise"
"Right," he agrees
"I'll forge fake reports and news articles to send to Shiganshina" Armin says
"Yeah, good idea we'll need two days at the very least to have everyone ready for the raid"
"Right, I'll get started" Armin says before dismissing himself
"Let's increase security in the city and get the word out to the people as soon as we can" I tell Levi
"Right, I'll get to it" he goes on his way
"Hange," I call out to her once more
"Y-yeah, sorry I don't know what's up with me" she apologizes
"Look, try not to over do it" I set my hands on her shoulders "go take a nap and a nice bath if you have too," I pull her in and I set my forehead onto hers
"Th-thanks, that might just be it" she smiles
She's commander having so many troops under her command is exhausting especially if half of them decided to stab her in the back
"I'll fill you in on our plan of attack after you're done" I pull her back
"Right, I'll try to be back as soon as possible" she backs up to the door
…
"What?" I ask after seeing the little smile on her face
"Nothing, you just… remind me of someone"
"Oh.. heh, I hope that's a good thing" I smile
"Sure is," she takes one last good look at me before she finally goes
I head over to the cells where Colt was being held
He was sitting on the ground
His plate of food was basically untouched
"Colt.." I call out
"Falco…" he says
"Are you ready to join us?" I ask
"Sh-shut up," he sighs
"This isn't like you Colt.. you have to pull yourself together"
"I know…. But I'm so tired of his shit," he growls
"She had to put up with the same shit every single day," he sniffs "I was never strong enough to protect her.. and I'm still not.. a-and now that's cost me Pieck"
"Don't go and start blaming yourself," I crouch down, "this was all on him, so don't be saying that, okay?"
"I-I know but,"
"But I need you right now, Colt" I cut him off "we need you, your mother… needs you" I say
I was hoping he'd be able to join Levi and his squad to retrieve Historia but…
He doesn't answer
"There's so much going on right now, Colt. The least we can do is hope the Azumabitos will do everything they can to save them, and focus everything we have here"
…
"You're strong, kid" he sighs "if you let me out know, I'll only kill him.."
"Colt…"
I can't blame him
I know I would've been just as angry had he done that to Gabi
"Fine, I'll be back to fill you in" I stand up
"R-right"
I leave him to be as I join Levi to make sure everything was going good
After the day finally ended I started looking over the maps of Shiganshina
One thing I noticed was how consecutive the underground sewage system was
It was more of a passage way than an actual sewage system
There wasn't a single dead end, not even when leaving the city the whole thing was one massive labyrinth
There was a sudden knock at the door before someone comes inside
"Where's Hange?" Levi asks
"I made her take a break, she should be good to go for tomorrow"
"Right, so what are you thinking?" He asks
"First I want your squad to retrieve Historia, me and Hange will make sure to it that Kara is brought back alive"
"Okay, but what'll be your plan of attack?" He asks
"Well.." I think "for starters 68% of the population here in Holst consists of just over 9500, that means we might have just as many people willing to fight"
"But those who can?" Levi asks
"We're safe to assume just over half of that number are men, let's say 5000, assuming another thousand might be elderly that leaves us with 4000 men"
"That leaves us with only four thousand foot soldiers" Levi sighs
"Yeah.." that isn't enough "I'm sure Shiganshina can easily muster over seven thousand soldiers excluding the thousands of military police that have sided with them
"Our easiest bet will be going in undetected, but then it'll be impossible to do the same when saving Kara"
"That's fine, we'll save him through the chaos" he says
"Yeah, we can only take him back if we manage to completely over run Shiganshina"
"They're keeping him outside, but we'll have to act fast before they take him somewhere more secure" we hear in the back of the room
"You know, it'd be nice if you'd let us know when you're listening in on us" I say
"My apologies" the man smiles "anyways, I'm sure I'll manage to get to him before they have time to react to all the madness" he says
"Just because we decided to take your supplies doesn't mean we'll entrust you with Kara's life" Levi says
"You do have a point there," he sets a finger on his chin
"Anyways, first we have to figure out how to get inside and I was thinking we could use these passages" I point at the map that showed the sewage system
"The sewers?" Levi asks
"I don't know man, that's kinda gross" the man says in disgust
"What makes you think that's a good idea?" Levi asks
"Well, they're built as if people pass through them all the time" I say
"It's a labyrinth you'll get lost easily" Levi says
"The people of the underground won't" I add
There's an underground city in all the major cities of paradise
"Underground?" Levi asks
"Yeah" I say
"Well…I guess you're right" he says
"That's if they're willing to help" the man says
"Yeah…" Levi looks at me
"Don't you have an uncle down there?" I ask
"Y-yeah… yeah I do, actually he runs the underground"
"Really? That's perfect, I'd like to speak to him as soon as possible" I say
"Sure… I'll make sure to it that you do first thing tomorrow"
"Good," I smile
"Now, we should all get some rest now," the man yawns "and continue this tomorrow"
"Yeah," Levi sighs, "sure thing, you mind telling us your name before we let you sleep under our roof?" Levi asks
"You know what, I'll think about it hehe*" he giggles
"Right, well I'll be going now" Levi waves before heading out
I didn't even get to say goodnight to the my fathers 'old pal' he disappeared as if it were nothing
I lay myself in bed and not long after, I fell asleep
…
~
Falcos dream
pt. 1
"No, p-please my lord, leave mama alone!" I hear a small child
I walk down the hallway and into the room where I heard the child
"You defied me!" He grabs the woman's throat
"No, no, no, stop it, stop it you're hurting her!" The child who seemed to be about the age of 7, or 10 on the Eldian calendar, cries as the woman's eyes roll back
"You harlot, I am your King and for that you will burn in hell you stupid wench!"
The woman extends her arm out to the child
She was holding a hair pin in her hand
"Y-Ymir… f-find p-papa" she croaks with her final breath
…
-to be continued-
