Floch found himself being scrutinized by a crowd that had just been riled up and filled with fervor and belligerence by the storytelling of Souplatina. A shaky, thin finger was forefront, pointing at his face.
"HE'S A DEVIL! AN ELDIAN!" The old man repeated himself. No doubts now, the entire audience, the cast and a few stragglers had their eyes on him.
"W-what the fuck are you saying old man?" Being put on the spot by something so unexpected, he could only play dumb, improvise on the march and hope for the best.
"Silence boy! I can tell you filthy heathens even when you hide in plain sight. You have the cold and cruel eyes of those in the Old Empire."
"How could you even know that? The Empire fell over a hundred years ago, you're at most eighty."
"Oh yes it did, but you think all of them savages left to that island to rot? Or did all of them knelt to us and accepted their place like the dogs at the internment zones nowadays? No! I spent my youth looking around to find stubborn devils. We all did, it was paramount that we snuffed out all the undercover Eldians from society if we were to put the dark days behind us."
The old man spoke with fire and Floch's fight or flight sense was starting to kick in as the audience stood in awe, witnessing a live thrilling case of unmasking a devil.
"You wanna know how I catched a bunch? You brats of today have wonders like the blood tests, but we had to eyeball it. And the one thing that usually gave your people away was the eyes, harbingers of doom and terror."
"I was born and raised Marleyan you decrepit fuck!" The scout tried to clap back and appear calm, but the other Eldians present could tell he might break.
"You tell yourself that boy, even if you were bred thinking your folks were intelligent and moral people, someone in your bloodline has to have carried the blood of the demon. Those icy irises don't just show themselves in the eye, not unless the titan lies dormant in your body."
The old man sneered a sinister smile. "But if you're so confident in your blood's innocence, I say we test it with the modern tools at our disposal."
"T-then let's test yours as well old fart. False reports of Eldian ancestry were considered to be slowing down the cleansing effort during your halcyon days weren't they? I'll demand compensation and punishment for you. For the carelessness and abuse of protocol against a fellow countryman and for tainting myself with such a disgusting implication!"
Floch composed himself as he chose his words, but failed to see the fallacy of a fanatic missing action and excitement coming. The Marleyan elder was gleaming at this point.
"That's a pretty solid defense against an accusation young man. I'd intently apologize and take back my abhorrent claim… if it wasn't so suspicious that you had an avid response at the ready. That was another effective measure y'know, the spies of Fritz would quickly dish out an eloquent denial of Eldianship by the book!"
People started to surround him and he almost instinctively clutched the hidden holster inside his coat, but waited to see if he was going to be lynched before firing. Jean at the other side of the half amphitheater did put his hand on his gun, and decided against drawing it. He gritted his teeth in frustration, his friend was on his own for now.
"Poor fellow, even if his results come back negative, there's no way someone trusts him again in this town. His life is over." Peter said, his words laced with cautious pity.
Sasha on the other hand, once again associated Floch with a cat in her mind. In the midst of the rapidly deteriorating situation, she remembered a time her father brought her along on a trip outside of Dauper village.
They had gone to Trost, the Blouses had a surplus of bear meat his family wouldn't need and wanted to sell for a little backup money. Truly, they didn't need to travel all the way themselves as merchants often would pass by their forest village, but Artur wanted to show Sasha what a big human city was like.
The brunette girl had been in a mixed state of emotions when taking in the sights and senses. She was confused and excited by all the sounds and smells the city had to display for her, the bakeries and workshops were something almost alien for her.
But the people, god knows Sasha and urban folks didn't go hand in hand.
Young Sasha had never been a very social kid. She wasn't especially hateful towards other children in the village, despite how she could sometimes appear as if she was feral, but never hateful by nature. Artur Blouse's graying hair was a testament of how brash, wild and free the girl was, and that logically led to some heads butting and fights here and there, but he never had to worry about her daughter becoming a monster in human flesh like some folktale from their village could portray.
Still, Sasha was not particularly happy about bumping into the hasty, stressed and mean people of Trost.
Annoyance and grunts were to be seen everywhere, for the district's soul was that of hard work with little in return. It could be said to be wealthier than a good portion of the human territory, but the standard for prosperity in the two outer walls wasn't very high to begin with.
Nevertheless, in the mind of such a wild girl it was still an adventure to tun and jump all over the place.
Artur meanwhile, was busy finding a buyer for the meat in the market. He urged Sasha to stand close by before running off again, he wanted her to see all of this, including the trade and barter, in the hopes of one day incorporating her to some semblance of human society.
"Get close folks! You can ask! No attachments! Just fine products." A buff bearded man yelled to the general passerby as his routine call for profits.
"Howdy there, do ya happen to buy wild game?" Artur asked to the merchant delight of the man, who bellowed:
"But of course I do friend! Show me what you got and I'll offer a great price for great meat!"
To a young Sasha who had been raised on the stuff it was unfathomable to be amazed by these hunts and to limit yourself to fattened hogs and fish, so she wasn't expecting the salesman and other butchers nearby to be so amazed by the edible remains of a bear.
"My friend, I have seen bear meat before, but this... this is something else."
"Titan flesh! The flesh you carry has to be that of a titan!"
"Look at this massive thing, the size and scent of it!"
She quickly lost interest in the townsfolk's ignorance and awe, and again she opted to wander about.
As she scouted for something fun to do, she caught a fluffy tail slightly moving into an alley near her. With hunter eyes locked in on the animal she started her prowl, heading to the alley.
When she got there the little beast noticed her, it was a red ginger tabby. It had an annoyed expression in its eyes, by the looks of its rowdy, somewhat-long fur, it was a stray.
It didn't look famished though, it must have learned where and when to feed around these streets. It probably even had a few people that fed it on a regular basis, but it still opted to be a vagabond around the world.
Sasha smiled, her semi-savage brain deduced all of that just by taking a quick look at the furball, but she grinned because she related to it. They were confined and comfortable in their own spaces, but they chose what to make of it. It was their freedom.
She tried to crouch and approach the cat, hoping not to startle it. From the times her father had taught her to be gentle to deer they weren't planning to hunt, she knew as much as to try to get close to an animal with soft steps.
Of course, the cat did notice her and considered allowing itself to be pet by the curious girl, but deduced that there was not much to gain in wasting the purr energy, so it turned its heel around and got away.
Sasha's hunter brain however, activated in full and started the pursuit.
The cat registered that it was being chased, but decided no danger followed so it just moved around, jumping over crates and turning around corners.
Sasha tailed it, having a blast at recreating her forest hunts here in this packed city, and kept at it until they ended up in front of a dead-end wall.
At the sight of the wall, the cat sat on its hind legs and continued to move his tail around, showing his calmness at the situation and his trust in Sasha not to harm him. Perhaps to make it clear, it raised his left paw and licked away in a cleaning motion.
Sasha kneeled and got close, the tabby didn't bother running away this time, welcoming the curiousity. She initially placed her index finger centimeters from the feline's head. If the cat could raise a brow it would, the wild girl being all timid now intrigued the animal, the twitching of its tail's end reflected it.
As the distance was now non-existent, the eyes of the miniature beast mesmerized the hunter child. The cat was admittedly very cute, but its eyes were like those of a dragon. Literally, yellow orbs with black pupils that in the dark expanded and in the light looked more like that of a snake.
Growing confident she went in for a stroke of the head. To her wonder, the cat welcomed it and even leaned into her hand once it was sure he enjoyed it.
Purrs.
Sasha couldn't conceal the huge smile that overcame her face when she became aware of the little vibratory noise emanating out of the cat, so she indulged in scratching the animal's chin, head and lower back.
But as soon as that incredible moment started, it vanished. The little beast suddenly retracted itself from her affectionate grasp and stood itself in a defensive position. Its tail now limp and rigid beside its body.
Sasha's confused expression turned into alert as she too, sensed the presence of a third party now in their little alley.
A scary looking middle-aged man stood behind the girl, he was smirking and had a nasty look in his eyes. In his right hand a hammer was held.
"You cornered the little shit! Great job sweetheart, a shame it didn't walk into one of my traps though."
"Oi, leave the cat alone mister!"
"Hm? This oversized rodent has killed two songbirds of mine kid, been trying to catch it since. why on earth would I let it go now that I can kill it?"
Sasha then remembered something her father said to her, that hunters are the people that love and understand animals the most. So hearing this brute blame a cat for its necessity to survive enraged her.
"The cat ain't done anything bad! It kills for livin'! That's how things work y'know?'
The man said nothing more but held eye contact with Sasha as he pinned the cat to the ground and caved the hammer into the animal's skull twice. Once to make it stop struggling, twice to finish it off.
The cat's final cry chilled Sasha's bones worse than the upcoming winter they were preparing for ever would. She wanted to cry, she wanted to charge the man, she wanted to run away. The man however, uttered some words that would come to weigh massively down the line in Sasha's understanding of this world.
"The cat did not kill my birds for nourishment girl, I wouldn't have known it was him otherwise. The cat killed them for the sake of killing, he is a pest to me, so I avenged my birds and guaranteed no other will be killed for fun in the future. Not by this one at least.
That's how things work y'know?"
The buff, sinister face of the man when he said that turns blurry in Sasha's memories, but she can remember quite vividly the limp body of the cat, still in the man's grasp.
"LET GO OF ME!"
The angry and desperate screams of her comrade brought her back to the present. When she looked up a handful of men were dragging Floch towards one of the strange machines they had seen earlier, a car. After he was shut in the back of it, a uniformed man hopped on and drove off.
Her heart was drumming, she did not care about any excuse to make for their tourist guide about her taking off, she would let Jean and Connie think of something for her. A comrade was about to die, for something so trivial and hurtful as an old man's prejudice at that. For all the importance of subtlety and prioritizing one's own safety during expeditions, the walls know Sasha isn't one to leave her friends out to fall.
Of course, she had to take into account her surroundings before racing to catch up with the cart they put him on. This wasn't like the time they chased the carriage in the interior when trying to retrieve Eren and Historia.
Back then, despite the former government's directive to kill the Reconnaissance legion for all the trouble it brought them, they weren't hiding from the people. The emblem of the wings of freedom always brought in mixed reactions from the common folk, some thought it was a bad investment of money and blood, some hailed them heroes but the Legion would always transmit one kind of admiration and curiosity or the other. People couldn't help it, they saw in them the band of suicidal madmen who dared to wander outside the walls despite the guaranteed threat of being devoured.
Now? The look in the eyes of Floch, a guy who had a grumpy look 50% of the time cost him an arrest. If she let out ANY indication at all that she was an Eldian who ventured outside of the walls and across the sea… she could not imagine the gruesome death that could await.
Needless to say, the use of ODM-gear was off the table. She had to run like hell after that police car and think of something to say or do when she gets there, fast.
Floch was perplexed, and had no idea how to react to his predicament.
Throughout the day he had observed and chatted his way around Rodas in its festive and belligerent state. He had to smile and raise glasses to his people's defeat and enslavement here and there. He had to hear a thousand curses to his ancestors and the holed up-island he called home.
With all those talks overheard about Eldians and the war effort he was informed of what happened to Eldians in Marleyan domain who stepped out of line. Forced labor or mandatory drafts into the Eldian brigade in the army were common punishment for misdemeanor and offenses.
But an Eldian blending in with others inconspicuously? That was another league entirely. And the penance for it was revealing the ymirish demons' true form, in Paradis Island.
It was funny, Floch thought. After so much shit he had gone through to rid the Titans' oppression from human territory inside and outside of the walls, he was going to get turned into a titan.
Now it was infuriating and sickening to think of every person from the walls that got devoured in the last few years, how he rose to the call of duty and propaganda when they started winning. His younger, greenhorn self had thought he should do something to improve their caged society somehow, he was a foot soldier of humanity, jumping aboard the train when they started winning.
That brought him nothing but misery. As the cloth unfurled from his eyes and the horrors of this world made themselves known to him he had come to accept that there was no room for cowardice or tepidity he came to terms with the inescapability of the things he would have to stomach through. A path that would sometimes make him wish a boulder had blown his face off that day.
Nonetheless, he ducked that day, he consciously charged ahead but preserved his life instead of accepting his demise head on. As such, on he treaded. Humanity required its worst to give it their best for a future in which they weren't mere prey awaiting to die of old age before the titans or anyone else gobbled them up.
But now? He'd get his blood tested, the results would say he's as Eldian as Rose, Maria and Sina and he'd get turned into a mindless giant, tasked with eating his fellow Eldians.
Wait, no. They're not sending me to Paradis. He realized, ending abruptly the thoughts of cruel irony that pained him about the prospect.
As word went around town among the veterans congregating the streets, Eldian prisoners don't get sent to their paradise these days, ever since the failure of the operation to take the founding titan by the warrior unit and the 'mysterious' disappearance of the naval task forces to the island, Marley saves their curious and rebellious Eldians to use elsewhere. Namely the Middle East or wherever the Marleyan war machine needs pure titans to throw at enemy militaries and civilians.
Fucking hooray. He thought. Not having the threat of him being powerless to stop as he feasted on people from his Island home soothed him, just a little if anything. But still, the idea of him being turned into a 5-meter and dropped from the sky into some shithole village or fort wasn't fun.
What to do anyways? He was in custody, he was fucked. He knew for a fact that there were some scouts in the area when he was taken, they surely witnessed what happened.
But the rules were clear, if you slip up and get yourself caught you're on your own. There was not going to be any rescue party to bail him out of the cell he's currently being dragged to in this lonely commissary.
So help wasn't coming and charismatic man of words he may be, can't talk himself out of a positive blood test result. But what he could do was bullshit his cover in the interrogation that would follow. They could absolutely not find out there were more spies of Paradis roaming the city.
He'd be a curious Eldian fed up with the internment zone and he'd make the consul of Marley believe that right hand to god and Helos if need be.
His first impressions of the commissary was that it was severely undermanned, likely a result of the festivities and their need to elevate patrols.
There were two cells with a few bums locked in and one officer sitting in a desk with the Marleyan banner of the seashell behind him. He looked utterly annoyed as the policeman who drove and dragged Floch here briefed him on the redhead he had just brought.
Floch couldn't hear what they said to each other but he catched the moment one told the other they were dealing with an alleged Eldian, if the raised eyebrow and the instant revival of his features were anything to judge.
After the explanation, the cop that brought Floch in left the station to continue his shift keeping an eye on the festivities. And as soon as he was alone, the guard approached his cell, giving Floch no preparation for gametime.
"So, you're a devil." The guard inquired after a sizing him up with his gaze.
"Evil is in the eye of the beholder, a lot of people wouldn't say I'm one."
"What about you bud, if you take a look at yourself in the mirror you'd say you're evil?"
Tell your doctor everything, tell the military police nothing, and tell for everything that is dear to you, don't tell the Marleyan police 'Yes, I'm a bit evil at heart but don't let it worry you and assume I don't appreciate laws.'
"Hm, so you're not an Eldian that forgot his armband and travel pass?"
"I am not."
"Whaddya think about the Rodas internment zone?" The cop switched up the avenue of interrogation.
"Can't say much, I've never been. But given they have that factory that makes bricks out of manure, it smells like shit even when you're just near the border districts, not even near the walls." Floch was keeping it ambiguous for now, as he tested the water before building his story.
"Are you an Eldian who took off his armband?"
…perhaps not. With the sudden and direct question he had to decide quickly which will it be. Tourist from Nossax, curious Eldian or a Marleyan offended by the accusation.
"..."
He thought of Historia and Eren. A few moments ago he was convinced he would have to trust them to finish the job by themselves and he had hoped Samuel or Leonard could assume temporary leadership of their faction in his absence while they figured out the path ahead.
But if he managed to talk his way out of having the blood test done at all, he may cheat death once more. One more time to keep fighting and keep treading on this bloody and exhausting path.
He chose accordingly.
"Not that I'm aware of. Apparently I have the eyes of the titan, at least that's what an old drunkard said and got me here."
The guard nodded "Where did you come from?"
The memory of commander Hange and some volunteers briefly mapping out the coastal city gave him a couple of neighborhoods to think of, having already used the crucial fact of the literally shitty industrial activity in the Rodas interment zone.
"I grew up in Albia, been looking to move out on my own. Not to the interment zone though. I like my shoes not smelling like shit."
"I see."
After a few seconds his captor spoke again.
"Why did a senior citizen accuse you of such a thing?"
"Hell if I know, we were watching a play about victory and he started yelling inarticulately towards the end, then he took one look at me and here I am."
The guard sighed "Believe it or not, this is not the first time something like this happens. Old geezers sometimes freak out and point fingers, it's a headache sorting it all out when it turns out they're not Eldian."
"Well I can see that, this was certainly not what I had in mind when we decided to go out tonight." Floch added tidbits of secondary information in every sentence he spoke for his alibi to gain footing.
The guard retreated to his desk and grabbed a cork notebook, and came back to look at Floch.
"Listen, we're not gonna pull out the blood test. It's the graveyard shift during the festivities and I really don't want to do the paperwork. Give me a name and some compensation and you're good to go."
Floch's expression was that of a poker face, he had lost count of all the MPs he had bribed before on the Island when doing shady shit around Mitras for the cause. While it certainly benefitted him that he wasn't hung back then and he's not going to be titanized now, blatant corruption is always annoying to him.
"Sure, the name's Sergius Durand." He stated while handing over most of the money he was carrying on him.
"Ser-gius…Du-rand. Alright, that's good." He scribbled. "Ooh just one more thing before letting you go, I do need someone to vouch for you."
The guard lowered the notepad in his right hand and put away a pen in his breast pocket, pulling out a key to his cell Floch assumed. Though for some reason, the seashell pin in the navy blue uniform of the man was suddenly very eye-catching.
"What?"
"I just need someone to y'know, legitimize that you're not making all of this up."
Floch reached for his coat pocket to pull out more money when he realized two things. The mob who had restrained him and put him in that police car didn't bother to check him thoroughly and his holster with a reliable c96 pistol in it was still there. The other thing was that the guard was serious about someone signing his innocence and not a subtle way to get more money.
As the seconds slowly passed and the guard stood there, staring at Floch with an impatient gaze and they waited for a Marleyan acquaintance that wouldn't arrive, time slowed down. The guard sighed, putting back the key in his clothed compartment, resigned for the paperwork to come for an investigation and blood test.
As the pen was being lowered to meet paper, the safety in Floch's gun was taken off. He held the grip of the broomhandle while his eyes darted everywhere. If the guard didn't have his face in the paper sheet, he wouldn't have allowed a very nervous eldian suspect with his right hand in his left hip inside a coat.
Damn it.
He was supposed to investigate the city's naval base, find out what he could about the Titan biology and research society, the name Tybur and the current war against the Middle Eastern alliance. Instead he was frantically gazing around this dusty brick police station to look for the best way to bolt off after he kills this man.
Just another body, the body of an enemy. Floch was steeling his resolve as he started to pull out the pistol-
pant pant "Excuse me! Is..Is my boyfriend here?!"
""Boyfriend?"" The two men said in unison after one exhausted and sweaty Sasha Blouse barged in.
"R-Romina! Dear!" Floch quickly recomposed himself and fabricated a name for her to use and not have to guess each other's fake name, she nodded in understanding.
"Do me a solid and sign my statement so we can leave?" He continued and flashed her a charming smile to keep up the act.
"SUre thing…love." Whether it was the frenzied thoughts going through her mind to make sure not to call Floch by his name or if it were his dashing looks, Sasha got flustered and hurriedly went to sign the thing.
Fortunately, Armin and Commander Hange had once told her signatures were going to be increasingly important as they rose the ranks of the Legion. Since Sasha didn't care much for an iconic or elegant one, they taught her how to make a simple one on the fly, so it was no trouble to come up with a semi-decent doodle now.
"Alright, I will take…Sergius from you and we will take our leave."
"Please wait a second Miss." The guard responded "Is there any reason that can make you believe your partner may have Eldian Ancestry?"
Sasha's eyes widened, the meaning would be up to interpretation. "Sergius here isn't of the devil, what are you on about?"
"Are you certain Miss? I know a fair Marleyan girl such as yourself would know if she was being tainted. But are you absolutely sure that the claims are unfounded? Please note that there's also precedents of them devils blending in quite well and bringing problems to innocent women of pure blood."
Bastard, minutes ago you were saying claims were bullshit by geezers more often than no. The redhead thought to himself, gritting his teeth.
Sasha took a good look at Floch before answering.
"Sergius is no devil. Sure, he may be sometimes a rude and uncouth as all hell! But knowing what we've been through, I trust him to watch my back and protect me mister."
"...Alright, you two be safe out there." The guard relented at last and let them go, without returning Floch's initial bribe money, of course.
When they exited the commissary station they walked in silence for a bit, Sasha tied her hands behind her and Floch stuffed his in the coat's pockets. He felt the weight of his gun pressed against his hip, he was getting carried by thoughts of many kinds until the brown ponytail swinging from side to side made him aware of the distance between them.
"Hey, thanks for saving my ass back there, I really didn't expect anyone to come. I was ready to start shooting."
"Ah it's nothin', I just… remembered something and had to run get ya." Sasha reverted back to her preferred accent.
Floch raised his eyebrow and looked at her. "Something?"
Sasha looked at an alley and could have sworn she saw a fluffy red tail.
"I suppose It's something I'll never forget, but all we can do is keep walkin' right? So old news, don't worry about it." She grinned at him, and now it was the redhead's turn to get flustered.
"I see."
"Besides, it's not like we could have just left you get killed ya'know, who knows what sort of show ya would have made while trying to go down in a last stand, thus makin' them all aware of us in their city!."
Floch chuckled "Is that what you think of me? I'm not Jaeger you know, even if we agree on some things.
"Well ya can't blame me, yer second in the list of suicidal hotheads. Now he's just as broody as ya and both of ya love to make some drama with words, I think I could have expected somethin' to go south."
He scoffed but couldn't deny it.
They continued to wander about the streets of Rodas while the sound of celebration and clamor died down with each step.
Far in the distance, a mixtures of blues, yellows, and reds adorned the night sky with fireballs of a palette ranging in those colors going off, making the cheers erupt for the umteenth time tonight. They both stopped to gaze at the fireworks, both enthralled by the spectale but not for the same reasons.
Sasha's eyes were glowing with the reflection of the pyrotechnical beauty, Floch heard nothing more than chants and cries against them, their past and their completely detached existence. Cries that would have led him to the noose if not for the simple minded girl beside him.
"Say, it seems like you're losing this bet so far. Wanna go grab a coffee?"
Sasha didn't like one bit that she thought he was right, all day long they had encountered horrible people and she even almost lost a Floch to pay up to. But this was not over, and more importantly, she now knew what his fantasized coffee was all about.
"Oh I tried your precious coffee Forster. If you try a sip of it an' tell me ya like it I'll start believing everyone when they say you're a devil, that stuff is hellish!"
"No way! You've tried it? How is it? Is the taste as good as it smells?"
Sasha broke in laughter seeing Floch get all excited about his yearned drink, she was about to budge and endure that bitter tar again with was until they met the face of one Captain Levi Ackerman, a pissed Captain Levi Ackerman.
"Where the fuck have you two brats been, do you not realize three hours have passed and neither of you are with your assigned groups?"
Tch follow me and make a 5 step separation between each of us, the others are worried sick."
Uneventful but not filler if I may say so.
Next up, Levi will make a significant appearance and move forward with the plot.
Feel free to read my other copium fic, 'Forward'. It features Eren when not completely fucking assassinated, it will be polished and continued as well as this one. If something brought me the lack of AOE is that it triggered my writing again.
