I got stuck writing other stories so I let myself go and drew out a story involving my favorite AOT characters lmao.
This chapter turned our pretty chill for a prologue, bulky, but chill.
Edit 24/12/23: Revised and reworked! See more in A/N at the end!
Hunting our freedom
Part of the Reconnaissance Legion, among them the veteran members, were currently aboard the whaler and cargo ship Syren from Nossax. She was turned into a makeshift cruise for the covered up Eldians she was transporting, scored by Onyankopon, paid for by the Azumabito and crewed by volunteers ordered by Jelena.
The mission for which she was commissioned incurred the legionnaires to go back to the core values of the corps, to plunge deep into unknown territory, past the safe limits of their land, observe and figure out information that would prove beneficial for the triumph of humanity within the walls. Nevertheless, the Islanders were pretty excited and nervous about this trip, for they were close and getting closer to arriving at the Marleyan port of Rodas, the biggest and most important for the nation of Marley.
But that was business for tomorrow, as it would still be another night until they sight shore and set foot on the mainland.
Meanwhile, you could see the different groups of the legionnaires hanging out and lounging across deck and in other parts of the ship.
In the master's quarters important matters were being discussed over some cups of tea. Sitting on a table were Onyankopon, commander of the Legion Hange Zoé, Captain Levi Ackerman and one Armin Arlert going through plans of dos and do-nots for when they arrived in Marley. Relegated to the 'kid's table' was Eren Jaeger, current holder of the Attack and Founding Titans, pretty much the bulk of Paradis' military might at his disposal within his flesh. His presence was required there as he was extremely relevant to the expedition and the matters discussed, but truly, he was spacing out and not listening to a word being said.
Just outside the room in hearing distance, one auburn haired boy was sitting on a chair. He was very attentively staring at the words in the pages of a book he was holding, but he wasn't reading at all.
On the prow of the ship, a pair of former 104 cadets by the names of Samuel and Daz were shooting their rifles at open sea to kill time along with their boredom. The Syren was not loaded with an arsenal to carry out any significant operation against a foreign power, but it did have a few guns and ammunition that went from alien to standard issue for the Eldians in the span of a few years. The boys decided to grab two and fire at things to make the wait at sea worthwhile.
Daz was about to shoot one more round when Samuel put a hand on his gun to signal him to lower it, a seagull was passing by. It flew around the port of the ship and posted itself on the railings in front of them. After a little staredown between the two soldiers and the bird, the latter opened its wings and took off to the skies. Daz thought it could make a nice tricked shot as the marine bird soared but decided against it and lowered his bolt-action.
Elsewhere, in the galley, Sasha Blouse was staring through the kitchen threshold at the broth being prepared much like the voracious titans had stared at her a few years back. Alas, after being told by the kitchen staff to scram for the third time she headed to a table in the mess hall.
In it were a bunch of familiar faces for her, there was Mikasa who looked really disinterested in the card game the rest were playing. Said rest included her brothers in arms and everything but blood, Jean Kirstein and Connie Springer. Both of whom were betting trinkets and money on the game with a bunch of legionnaires who were veteran enough to not be called recruits, but green enough to not be officers.
Louise, Ophelia, Wim, Thorn, Ximena, Holger, , Vincent, Leonard and Hera.
All young boys and girls who had seen action and live titans. But only half of them were members of the legion before titans were being slaughtered effectively at Shiganshina's gate. And none of them lived anything like the ones of the 104th, captain Levi and Commander Hange had gone through. All of those who had been through hell at Wall Maria years ago wished no one had to again, but some of them already knew such a thing could not be.
Naivety was definitely aboard the Syren, but it was in their best interest to throw it overboard before it was too late.
"You guys figure it's a nice place the Azumabito prepared for us?" Leonard, a noirette lean boy from North of Maria asked.
"I sure as hell hope so, I don't know which beds are shittier. The ones in Shadis camp back in the Island or the ones aboard this ship." Connie said bitterly.
"Heh, have you seen the volunteers when they drop from exhaustion? Both aboard and in the barracks there seems to be contortionist Marleyans."
The ones from the 104th couldn't help but grimace at the newest members reference Bertholdt. The survivors that shared bunks with the warriors all those years ago spread the stories of his sleeping positions and now all across the Paradisian military, the joke was that poor sleeping positions brought in Marleyan/Mainlander pain in the morning.
"Yeah well, this damn ship is a pain anyways. My chin is full of cuts! I can't shave because the whole damn thing is moving back and forth whenever I'm in front of the mirror!" Jean said to shift the conversation to something a little bit less traumatic.
"Oh ya said it Jean, look at ya! A little more time at sea and you'll look more like a goat than a horse!" Sasha merrily jumped in with a good old roast of Jean Kirstein everyone always enjoyed. "Speaking of which, at what time will they finish that damn consommé? I've been shooed thrice already! We're almost ashore and I haven't tasted whale yet!. I am one 'it'll be ready when it's ready' from jumping overboard with a thunder spear and getting one myself."
"Amazing. I shudder to think what would happen if Sasha had a titan." Ximena, a strong-built girl from Trost said.
"I don't know, back home everyone was skeptical of seafood when the volunteers arrived. Despite people from the city having access to the most exotic food they didn't want to touch shrimp and oysters. So that makes me crave it even more, I'm with Sasha on this one." Hera, a curly brunette from Stohess, and the only member on the expedition that came from Wall Sina chimed in.
"RIGHT? When we were cadets the officers said that the fattier the meat, the better. Now imagine how good this tastes if they get oil from it on ships!"
"Sasha…that's now how that works, and cows and whales are vastly different animals." Connie reminded her, but the girl was far from wanting to hear it.
"Hey where's Ophelia?" someone asked and immediately got an answer as the brown haired girl from Karanes came back with two bottles in hand.
"I, ladies and gentlemen, was getting us a little something to make the evening at sea more interesting."
"What is this?" Leonard asked.
"This, I'm told, is rum." She grinned like a cat at him
"Booze? It certainly looks like it." Jean mentioned
"So what, we're gonna get drunk the night before we dock?" Holger, a boy from Utopia asked.
"Damn right we are, it'll make the last night in this metal tin more bearable." Wim, a boy from a village near Trost in inner Rose uncorked one of the bottles, with his brother Thorn beside him looking at it with desire.
"Alright, let's do this."
"I'm not drinking." Mikasa said. A pity, everyone thought, but they weren't really surprised.
The other legionnaires were getting their pour enveloped in an awkward silence, they weren't miserable or even in bad spirits at all. But in between the uncertainty of the expedition, the almost comical optimism shown by some higher ups like Commander Hange and Armin that even they seemed to struggle to believe in, and some others like Captains Levi and Floch who seemed to be treating this as an outright incursion in enemy territory. None of them really knew if they should do a toast, a sarcastic 'devote your hearts' , a serious one, or if they should say anything at all.
"Well it smells like soap." Hera said and broke the superficial tension of the moment and dipping into drunkenness as she took a sip and gagged.
"Girl from the interior showing her fancy pansy tastes. We of the 104 drank with whatever was available to the officers and then whatever they dignified themselves to give us." Jean interjected playfully and sipped.
"Horse piss mostly." Connie said.
"Well, nevermind that ye old timers. We of Eldia drink before and after facing shit that can kill us, so bottoms up and devote your drink people!" Ophelia bellowed and the rest followed.
""""BOTTOMS UP!""""
The Eldians were starting to get in a good mood when a crewmate interrupted their drinking.
"Yer doing it wrong, Eldians."
Immediately Leonard, Ximena and the brothers turned their heads at the seaman, they hadn't even reached port and they were already tired of the world treating them like shit because they were born on a giant-infested hellhole island. The veterans and the more level headed ones weren't thinking of beating the volunteer but they couldn't say they weren't annoyed.
"Ah, I sense my words were poorly chosen lads."
"Were they? Or are Jaeger and Forster right and you cannot help it? Marleyan." Jean inquired.
"They were, and I am not Marleyan." The slightly chubby and blonde man said "I come from the isle of Nossax, former home of the best bloody navy out there. Now, the whaler fleet, a client of Marley. Hence my conscription into their godforsaken navy. And now, my volunteering."
"I see, a fellow Islander. But you seemed to know the sea well." Jean mentioned, the fire in his words having died down.
"Aye, we are well acquainted with the wave and its riches. We used to rule it, in fact, all of them. And now, as an experienced man of the sea, I ask you, what the hell are you doing drinking with no song?"
"...song?" Connie started "You heard what we just said a few moments ago right? We drank whatever we could at the barracks back home, we couldn't really make any noise lest we wanted a bald bitter asshole to chew us out and make us run laps until we dropped! And then Captain Levi to beat the shit out of us when we entered the Legion."
"Well, that changes now. I will teach you one of the most beloved shanties of my homeland, it's best if sung with mates."
The man started to sing with a beautiful baritone voice, at first everyone felt rigid and confused, but listened up.
"Safe and sound at home again, let the waters roar jack.
"Safe and sound at home again, let the waters roar jack."
"LONG WE'VE TOSSED ON THE ROLLING MAIN, NOW WE'RE SAFE ASHORE JACK." The legionnaires did as instructed and downed their cups as the man sang with more passion.
"Don't forget yer old shipmates- faldee raldee raldee raldee rye-doe!"
The legionnaires wouldn't learn the whole song but Holger thought of a little alteration just as the man was continuing.
"Was there ever chummies now, such as you and I-"
"Safe and sound at home again, let the waters roar JEAN." Connie sprung up hearing this and joined him in the next line.
"Safe and sound at home again, let the waters roar JEAN."
Now the whole table was singing the chorus, even Mikasa seemed to be amused by the new song.
"""""LONG WE'VE TOSSED ON THE ROLLING MAIN, NOW WE'RE SAFE ASHORE JEAN."""""
There was a small pause filled with laughter and giggles.
"""""DON'T FORGET YER OLD SHIPMATES…. LADEE DADEE DADEE DADEE DADA."""""
The table erupted in cheers in true sailor fashion and even Leonard who minutes ago felt absolutely murderous towards the crewmate, who now they knew, was named Boris, was pouring him a cup of rum.
Sasha looked around, she was a bit tipsy but she was content. She saw her younger friends have fun and her old unconditional friends relax after so many years of toil. Now Leonard and Thorn. Two of the most hotheaded soldiers she knew that retaliated with fury against the initial hate of the volunteers had their arms on Boris' shoulders.
And there goes Ophelia and Connie to join the chain of drunken sailors.
Connie, who had lost his family and his whole town to the cruelty of the outsiders. Jean, who had lost his dream, his best friend and now only had his mother back in Trost. Mikasa, who had no family except for Eren and the Legion. And all of these young boys and girls, without a care in the world, singing to their heart's content.
Sasha couldn't help but break a smile and shed a single tear in the moment. Maybe this world wasn't so cruel and unforgiving. If they had this, the war they were most likely heading to in the near future could go fuck itself.
At some point, Samuel and Daz and a few others that Sasha's blurry vision couldn't really make up who they were joined the night. Boris kept singing majestically the songs of his youth and life at sea, and at this point most of the Eldians were just mumbling gibberish to the tune of his singing. Empty bottles of Rum, metal cups and glasses raised in the air pairing with the sound of drunken cheers.
"Bribe the day and the heavens know ("""baib eh hey an eh heathers wow""")
"We'll be kings wherever we may go (""Will be piss whateveh we may know"")
"JEAN-BOY!"Someone in the drunken choir bellowed, much to the contempt of 'Jean-boy.'
"Oi! O-only Eren and Mom can call me that!" Jean sat down after scolding and grumbling to the air. He then pondered. "Actually, na-now that I think about it, Eren hasn't called me that in a while. Where the fuck is he by the way?" He questioned before finishing what was left of his cup.
"Probably in the stern or deck." Someone from behind them said.
"Floch! yOU- You also weren't arOund! Have a drink like the rest of us man!" Jean basically roared and almost fell face first when trying to reach for his stealthy friend with his empty cup.
The redhead scoffed lightly and shook a bottle in front of him. "Way ahead of ya horseface. But unlike you low class thieves, I managed to snatch myself a bottle of the good stuff. This is peppermint schnapps, Eldian. We all know the shit version of it, but only people in Mitras had ever seen this one. Not even when the old government fell did it reach wall Rose."
"Oh yeah, they gave us some schnapps before the operation to retake Maria, the officers said it steeled the soul." Connie chimed in, making Floch's face fall for a second before he started pouring it, something that didn't escape Sasha, even if she was struggling a little to focus on his face.
"Well, I wasn't planning on vomiting my dinner overboard. But like Connie said, it steels the soul and if everyone is drunk already, it will at least lessen the chances of Captain Levi beating my lights out." Floch shrugged.
"Y-you stole this from Levi?"
Floch stopped mid pour and brought a finger to his lips, with a shit eating grin reminiscent of his old days of cockiness and bravado.
Connie gaped and did strange expressions with his face, but decided to drink. "Jean over here won't feel a thing at this rate and the damage is done so yeah, fuck it. Besides, I'm not sure if Levi even drinks."
"Mikasa? Sasha?"
Both shook their heads.
"I'll go look for Eren." The Ackerman said and excused herself off the table.
"Nah, I'm sobering up already. And now that ya mentioned dinner I'm kind of hungry."
"Very well, Jean Connie." Floch signaled the two to grab their drinks and he raised his own.
"To- to us finding silver and gold!" Jean said in a speech so slurred the other ones couldn't help but chuckle.
"To us fucking up any other titan before they can send it!" Connie said, making Floch smile and nod in approval.
"I can get behind those two toasts. Alright, to Eldia boys, may what we do tomorrow be fruitful so we can secure a future for the Island."
"Wait!" Sasha interrupted excitedly.
"Ok, I don't have a drink but I really want to say-" she grabbed a cup and poured water on it "The consommé is fucking ready and I waited hours, so to whale tasting absolutely delicious!" and raised it with a dazzling smile as her thoughts took over her.
"Yeah... it won't be good Sasha, I tried it. The whale in this ship is old, they already processed what they needed… on a factory ashore." The bloodhead assured her and the girl's face fell to the bottom of the ocean.
"D-DON'T SAY THAT FLOCH!" She cried, clinging to hope, making Floch burst in a chuckle. He turned to the other two and prompted them.
"Anyways, cheers."
"Cheeers!"
"Cheers!"
Jean doesn't remember a single thing beyond that point, Connie withstood a little more as he helped the aforementioned to his bed before passing out himself.
Floch didn't pass out but his earlier comment turned out to be prophetic, for he was currently hurling his intake to the blue, holding on to the railings for dear life. To his side was Sasha… also hurling her dinner because she refused to listen to the advice of the sacrificed.
"Ah… god. Tomorrow the entire expedition will be hungover as shit." Floch said as he turned around to lean on the railing. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and looked up to the sky. "Remind me to stay away from the commander and Armin."
The forest girl was drinking water from a bucket to rehydrate after a really exceptional meal that was capable of being rejected by her stomach.
She groaned. "Captain Levi will beat someone to a pulp, probably you or Jean. Commander Hange will kill us with mom sarcasm and Armin and Mikasa will scold us all. Ugh, let's hope Eren takes one for the team again and gets pampered and chewed by those two."
"Amen, cheers to that."
"No more toasts!" Sasha cried, eliciting a dry chuckle from him.
"You don't learn, do ya?"
The boy's face fell again for a split second before regaining composure and putting on a blank face. Eyes staring at the distance, mouth very narrowly opened and his hair blowing courtesy of the sea breeze.
"I learned what I needed to learn."
Sasha looked very closely at the boy, he reminded her of a lot of beasts from her forest home. Somehow, Floch looked like a wounded fox and a rapacious hawk at the same time.
"Hey, Floch.."
"Yeah?"
"Sorry if I'm too crass, but what the hell happened to you?" She opted to speak as clearly as she could, discarding of her accent for now.
He raised a brow in question, so she continued "I mean, you and Jean weren't that different back in the day, in fact you also resembled the old Eren, who is completely different too! Like, I'm not stupid, I know the war on titans was horrible, there are some images I will never be able to wipe from my mind either. And the revelation of the outside world was like getting hit with a sack of rocks on the head-"
Floch smiled wryly at the potato girl's outburst. She wasn't naive per sé, but she still had room for disappointment. She still had humanity left to lose, something which Floch and Eren, like she mentioned, had almost ran out of at this point.
"Sasha. Getting little bits of a boulder thrown at my face at 80 kilometers per hour, watching my comrades get devoured, knowing the people those comrades grew up with and died trying to protect, none of that was what 'changed' me into what I am now."
It was the truth." He said coldly "They say truth shall set you free'. Well, it only showed me that I am not free, and I will not be free. What this world shows leaves us with a very narrow path we must take. We will not have that precious liberty until we see that path through, Blouse."
"Is-is this what has made you and Eren look so miserable all the time? That's it? You guys gave up on the world and chose that there's no choice at all?"
Floch's eyes widened "...well fuck, you were not supposed to deduce that." He groaned in annoyance "Yes Blouse, we have accepted that we have roles to play in the events that will unfold. And until those are covered and cleared, nothing will really be so because we're architects of our own destiny."
"First off, you're gonna have to explain to me what the hell does any of that mean. And secondly, why come at all to this trip?! What is even the point if you two aren't willing to participate in the recon and possible diplomacy." Sasha said completely exasperated, not believing that two of the once-most cocky and headstrong people she knew were now completely fatalist about it all.
"I like your brashness Sasha, so honoring it I'll be sincere. Mainly, we're studying the enemy for when we have to attack them before they can attack us."
Floch was already sober, but he didn't know why the fuck he was talking. He and Sasha were relatively good friends, but he probably would have trusted Jean as his first choice from the officers to let in on the plan he and Eren were already carving. Moreover, he would give his life for the survival of the Island with and without a thought. So it definitely wasn't hormones making him speak.
"Attack them? Are you two planning on going ahead with the rumbling plan without the war council's approval?!" She questioned with wide eyes.
Floch stopped himself there, only three people knew about the actual rumbling plan that was still susceptible to change, however unlikely that was. And he was going to keep it that way.
"No. That isn't decided, but we do not trust the military and the volunteer corps. We have reason to believe they will come again, soon, sooner than we are prepared for. So we are studying the terrain to stop the attack in its tracks." He bullshitted, sort of.
Sasha stared at him intently.
"b-
"But I'm going to need you to keep that to yourself, to your absolute self… please."
Floch returned her staring and looked at her pleadingly until 3 seconds later he remembered he had his c96 in his holster.
Of course, it would be astronomically idiotic to shoot Sasha and not take himself out with her because of the questioning that would follow, but he was surprised at himself. He had threatened a lot of people already back on the Island when crawling through the military and political ranks when he was starting his mission, yet the first thought he had with Sasha was to beg for her assistance.
There was something with her, and it wasn't his dick judging. Sasha could be trusted. Perhaps he could assess over the coming months if she could make a better militant than Jean. After all, if something happened to him, someone has to carry on the struggle and guide their people towards a tomorrow without fear.
As the two pairs of hazelnut eyes stared at each other, she sighed and relented.
"Fine, I will not tell anyone."
"I'm serious Blouse, not even Connie or Jean."
"Yeah yeah Forster, not even my parents."
His relief gave him a momentary liberating feeling, then it was back to him steeling himself for what is to come.
"Floch." she inched closer. "Do you remember? No, I know you remember it, it happened not even four years ago! But the day we saw the Ocean for the first time."
The boy thought to himself how comically short the girl's attention span was, but nodded.
"Of course, what about it?"
"What did you feel? When you dipped your toes in and the salty and humid wind hit you in the face, what did you feel?"
He leaned further in the railings, his shoulders hanging from a metal bar and looked at the dark horizon in starboard again, reliving that moment in time.
It was...overwhelming. Floch's thoughts for the duration of the expedition had been with that disfigured titan Eren had called a 'fellow patriot shipped to paradise', with the horrifying reality that the titans that had corralled him and the now dead soldiers outside Shiganshina were once people like him and his comrades, with Erwin Smith, his parents in Karanes and many things he was struggling to comprehend while holding on to sanity.
But towards the end of the ride he had been attacked by a foreign, humid, aroma that permeated the air carried by strong winds that made his hair look like flames dancing. Finally, the sight that revealed what was giving that smell and that sound of waves he wasn't familiar with was mind-blowing.
Very hesitantly he took off his riding boots and rolled up his pants to feel the water that retracted and extended itself to meet his touch.
A very cold, fresh sensation that made him jump at first contact.
His face cracked a small smile as he was slowly advancing in the water, the sensation now pleasant against his skin. Not a moment of respite lasted much for Floch ever since that fateful cavalry charge however, his brow furrowed thinking back of the comrades that enlisted in the legion late, in a rush to join the moment of retaking Maria and ridding the titans from their land. But it's hard to say if anyone was thinking about something further than the lost wall, if anyone envisioned something like this.
Marlo, Sandra and Gordon...they never even fathomed that this was out there, or that the enemy came from the sea. They never...
Floch fell to his knees and gazed at the sky that reflected the sea's color, his fists were balling with a shake to them, failing to retain any liquid on them. He never particularly cared if he was seen crying, it just didn't happen too often since Shiganshina. But now, one tear, and two and then three and so forth fell down his face.
In the midst of his despair and hollowness he was splashed by someone, he couldn't remember exactly who it was but it brought him back to the moment. Noticing he was drenched and that this cold, salty water did indeed feel nice he glanced around. Commander Hange was yapping excitedly about the creatures she put her hands on, a lot of scouts were playing around like children and from the distance in the edge of the shore,Captain Levi seemed to be in a similar state than him. When their eyes met, the screams of death and terror from Shiganshina could be heard in the silent conversation they had, but Levi saluted Floch and reassured them both, urging them to not regret what was done.
Floch saluted back and gave a silent thank you to everyone who gave their lives back in the road. Albeit unknowingly, their blood did not and would not have been shed in vain. This Floch swore to them.
"I felt… like we had possibilities. Like there was a reason why so many people from the walls died-no, they were murdered. But in turn they made it possible for us to see what we saw, so we could touch what we touched and feel what we felt. Like it was worth it."
"We were free Floch! What's the difference between that time and if we jumped overboard right now?" Sasha counter questioned.
He looked at her like she was crazy.
"Well, the water is way, way colder now, and we'd drown. Everyone is shitfaced, and the volunteers wouldn't even shout 'man in the water' for a couple of Eldian devils."
She smiled at him and stood up, making him look at her in absolute confusion. Then took two steps back.
"H-hey."
And two more.
"No."
She grabbed something Floch couldn't see from her bag on the deck floor and crossed one leg over the railing.
"Blouse, I know you like to say you're not as stupid as you look, but right now you're not helping your case, please get back here."
And the idiot leaped to the water.
"Blouse!"
The auburn boy didn't hesitate to dive to the water, immediately cursing himself and his self assigned burden to protect every Eldian life he can to his limit. But now there are two Eldian retards who will be floating face down in a couple hours, two extremely important for the war effort Eldian retards.
Still, he swam towards her, who seemed completely unfazed that in a minute's time the ship will leave them behind as she was gracefully floating, just moved by the waves.
"Blouse you IDIOT!" Floch stopped to spit the saltwater that got in his mouth. "And I'm also a fucking idiot, we're fucking dead."
"Thank you very much Floch, you proved the point I'm about to make."
"What the fuck are you even talking about?"
She showed her hand, it was the finished prototype for the gun and hook piece of the newly developed vertical maneuvering equipment.
"Yeah that's nice and all, I think the research and engineering division did a pretty good job, too. But uh, unless you got the rest beneath your cardigan and skirt we're still gonna fucking drown!"
Sasha laughed at the poor boy's increasing frustration as she connected the gun to the wire that was indeed, beneath her cardigan sleeve.
"hahahah.. ahhh Floch! You look like a wet cat struggling and meowing hahshahaha" and she burst in another fit of laughter as Floch gave her the nastiest glare she had received since she pissed off the freckled Ymir once.
"Mikasa is also wearing one beneath her clothes, commander Hange asked us to test them in the water, I just made use of the fact that I forgot."
He still wasn't amused.
"Alright alright, hold on to me." He grabbed onto her waist and so they grabbed themselves to the port of the ship and climbed over the deck.
Floch dropped to his knees and screamed at the sheer idiocy of what just happened, the cold they were showing in their shivers and misty breaths and everything. He hated the world right now.
"I have no words for how stupid that was… but at the very least it was an unorthodox remedy for the hangover. I still feel like shit, but I'm not raw anymore." He grumbled.
"Exactly, and most importantly, I showed you something!" The hunter girl said so cheery you could barely tell she was shivering like she was about to die.
"What, a near death experience? Been there, done that. You just gave us hypothermia Blouse."
"No ya idiot, I showed ya there's more than being enslaved to your goal."
He turned to look at her. "Huh?"
"You have this super important mission to fulfill, and we all respect that. We all joined the Legion and after the hell we went through, stayed for our reasons. But that's not it, you do not have to lose yourself when bringing about your desire, you'll not only lose yourself but also your wish. And you still have hope Forster! You have this task, this burden on keeping us and the Island safe, yet you still threw all that to Shadis in a second to throw yourself overboard."
"What does that even mean? You're not making sense, Sasha." He asked from the pit of his soul, he had no doubts that Eldia comes first, but what he wouldn't give to feel alive once more as he protects the lives of his people.
"Look around you Floch! The night, the waves, the clouds. We still have that!. No matter if we have enemies, and those enemies have airships and a ton of gunships and Reiner and whatnot. We also have the beauty of the outside, the friends, the moments, Eldia. We still have Eldia."
Floch stared at Sasha Blouse like he was looking at the answer to all the questions in the universe, completely dumbfounded and astonished.
"When was the last time that you, while fulfilling your duty with our own you gazed at our mountains, our valleys and cities. When was the last time you got lost in a dodgy market and had a laugh with some guys that tried to scam you? Or that you hunted? When was the last time you enjoyed Eldia?"
"Okay, that second one was oddly specific and I don't hunt."
"Ya will shithead, I'll taek ya. I'll take Jean, and Connie. Fuck it, let's bring Eren as well! Ye will all enjoy life for at least one moment since we saw that damn beach that day."
Floch felt like crying like he did in that damn beach, but he also scoffed at it. He truly did believe he had no time for such nonsense. Every second was of the essence if hee wanted to have children that wouldn't be catching bullets and bombs or get eaten just because they were born in a rock floating on an ocean.
"Sasha, I really appreciate what you're trying, but no thanks. Hedonism will not save Eldia, picking up a lavender flower and drinking lemonade with salt and honey will not grant us a right to exist. Those are such privileges that we will have to pray we can enjoy in a few years when it's all over, and ensure that no future Eldian kid is denied again."
"Goddamnit Floch. It's not about that!"
Sasha looked at the water once more and then back to Floch's eyes.
"Do you love Eldia?" She questioned, Floch immediately straightened his posture and opened his mouth, but she covered it with her hand.
"Before the automatic 'yes', I want a real and honest answer from Floch Forster of Karanes. Do you or do you not love Eldia?"
Floch stared at her for a moment, he removed her hand from his mouth and closed his fist with both of their hands in a hold and brought it to the left side of his chest, in the traditional way of the Paradisian military but with no procedure or tradition whatsoever.
This was a real devotion of the heart.
"Eldia is the love of my life, I will give everything I have on me and more to see her free."
"Then, if that is so, I swear to you and Eldia that when the time arrives, I will fight alongside you, and Eren, and all of our friends and comrades to defend her. But in the meantime:" She frowned "You mentioned lavender flowers and a… lemonade with salt and honey? Those are your favorite flowers and some drink you like from your childhood perhaps?"
Floch nodded and gave her a small smile, and only then he remembered his ass was freezing.
"My mom and I came up with that drink, one exceptionally hot day in East Rose, Karanes was boiling and we just threw in a pitcher all of that. When we could afford spearmint leaves we added them. It's one of my most beloved memories." Floch said with a small smile and Sasha smiled back.
"For me, it's the Island's cuisine, it's hunting, horseback riding with Kaya and my siblings, my family, my idiot friends, yes, even facking potatoes as everyone has famed me! To me, that's freedom, and that's Eldia. I love them and god help Reiner and Annie or Eren's brother or any other asshole that tries to destroy them."
"Yeah!" This wasn't one of Commander Erwin's speeches, but he sure as hell got exhilarated.
"But, Floch. You have to accept something."
Floch stopped his cheer and looked at her in confusion.
"The marleyans, the rest of the world also have stuff like that. Are you and Eren ready to become the monsters Reiner and his lot became? Are you ready to actually stain ya'rself?"
"Sasha… I'm sorry to disappoint you, really, two hours ago I wouldn't have given a shit. But now I have to apologize, I'm afraid Eldia needs devils. We need someone to draw blood no matter what the cost may be... and if no one raises their hand I will." He said with an air of finality.
Sasha grabbed his hand with both of hers.
"Floch please, just don't disembark tomorrow completely at peace with your war. If it becomes Eldia's war I will be there, but if we have one shot at being able to hunt and drink lemonade without more war please put your faith in it. I can promise you it will be worth it like that beach."
"Sasha. That I cannot do. A third of all the people on the Island got killed! And then half of Trost, then Connie's village, then the legion got decimated! twice! The weight of those lives, we have to carry, those sins cannot go unpunished."
"Floch, give it one chance, tomorrow." She pleaded
"Sasha, you haven't even met these people! You don't really know what they are capable of doing to us." He snapped in annoyance, to which she hissed back.
"Neither do you! You don't know what they're capable of, not all of them sent the warriors or the titans. They could have cool stuff and delicious food, and more beautiful flowers and sweeter lemonade!"
He was about to scoff again, but her eyes were so assertive he actually took a step back.
"Holy shit, okay." He said, albeit apathetically which of course did not go unnoticed by the hunter girl.
"Ya don't believe me do ya?" She narrowed her eyes at him and he shamelessly shrugged.
"No, I do not, no."
"Well let's bet Forster. If the mainlanders surprise you for the better you buy me a banquet of food I haven't tried yet.
And if they turn out to be all like the volunteers were initially, which by the way some of them like Niccolo and Onyankopon changed their minds, I will buy you… a barrel of lemonade?" She lost her momentum at the ridiculousness of the prospect, but who knows, maybe lemonade barrels exist in Marley.
Floch chuckled for the hundredth time that evening. "Coffee."
Sasha was left confused "ko..ffee?"
"It's a mainlander drink, I first knew of it during the operation to retake Maria. We can't grow the beans it's made of and the Azumabito ships never bring large quantities in their supplies so I haven't tasted it. But I was once standing guard in the galley of one unloading ship and got to smell it, oh gods the smell. It was heaven in the brewing."
"Deal."
They shook hands and smiled at each other for the last time that night before they actually succumb to Hypothermia.
They were now approaching the port of Rodas. And to think Floch started the night drinking to soothe his mind about the coming war.
Guess we'll have to see Blouse.
Yeah, I'm I kind of pulled this out of my ass, but I like it. My two favorite characters are Sasha and Floch and I got inspired by Seeking the Devil from uberkreisler to give Floch justice, keeping his ideals and his goal but giving him less shit than he deserved.
Other characters that might receive a littile bit more attention than getting completely sidelined are Jean, Eren and Levi.
And yes, there are a fuckton of references to Master and Commander because it's peak fiction, peak cinema, peak. Go watch it.
24/12/23: I made a lot of corrections and added volume to some of the scenes that could be improved, overall the story stays the same. But I gave more depth to Floch's beach flashback and set things up for some Levi protagonism for the next update.
The songs the scouts were singing with the Sailor are 'Don't forget tour old shipmates' and 'Santiano'.
P.S: I didn't specify why 'Legion' and not Survey corps or scouts. In the Mexican dub it was always the Legion and honestly, legion sounds way cooler than scouts.
