Broken Hearts, Severed Limbs (Levi x OC x Erwin)

|96| The First Step of the Plan

“What do you mean they don’t want it?!”

Nathalie couldn’t believe this. It was April now. There had been a year since the reclamation of Wall Maria. The Districts of Wall Rose and Wall Sheena were finally established with warm water and electricity. Businesses were blooming, and more trainlines were being built to connect the west side of the island with Paradis. Nathalie, Hange, Moblit, and all those other scientists from the other Regiments had worked tirelessly all day, all night, for two months. Two months.

She hadn’t been with her husband two months. She had seen her kids once, or twice. And now, another day of hard work had gone by. The vaccines were ready. They would almost cover every man, every child, every woman, even the old people within the interior and half of Wall Rose. Then they’d prepare more for Wall Rose, and then even more for Wall Maria.

Erwin had passed by to let them know that the people weren’t taking it in. Most of them had a positive response to the vaccine. Some others though, they felt like they were being stripped of their identity. Nathalie groaned. Bullshit. And here they were, in the living room of the royal palace late at night. Historia was sitting by the couch with a cup of tea in her hands. Erwin was standing by the fireplace. Hange was pacing around and Moblit was trying to make her feel better. Nathalie couldn’t blame her.

“They call themselves anti-vacciners,” Erwin explained. Black circles lingered around his eyes and Nathalie knew he had been working tirelessly all day, every day.

“Listen to me!” Hange growled as she reached her Commander and grabbed him by the white buttoned shirt, tugging him close. “We do not work our asses here twenty-four hours per day -EVERY FUCKING DAY- to save them, for them to say THEY DON’T WANT IT!”

“Hange, sweetheart, please, let go of the Commander and calm down,” Moblit tried to say only for his beloved wife to turn and shoot him a look that shook him to the core.

“I CAN’T CALM DOWN, DAMMIT!”

Moblit turned and looked at Nathalie pleadingly. Nathalie was sitting beside Historia on the couch. She sighed as she stood up and she approached Hange. She wrapped an arm around Hange’s waist, tugging her away from Erwin.

“Erwin’s working hard too, you know. Don’t take your anger out on him,” Nathalie reasoned and Hange’s shoulders relaxed but she still shook Nathalie’s arm away from around her. Hange walked away and she sighed, tucking her glasses further up the bridge of her nose.

“I know, I’m sorry,” She said.

“We should approach this matter differently,” Historia finally spoke, catching everybody’s attention. “The people need reassurance. They do not trust that this vaccine isn’t harmful,”

“With all due respect, your Majesty, we’ve run tests on at least half a million volunteers. None had unwanted side-effects. No allergies, no fever, nothing!” Hange cried out.

“Then we must let the people know. We must give them the example,” Historia stood up. “Let out the word. I want every single newspaper talking about this. In two days from now, I will be vaccinated in front of everyone. If they know that their Queen trusts this vaccine, then they’ll trust it too,” She said.

Nathalie smiled as she stared at that determined look on Historia’s face. She was right. As a Queen she had a massive influence on the people. It would work. “She’s right,” Nathalie said.

“It won’t be just you who will get vaccinated in front of the people,” Erwin said. “It will be everyone in this room. All the Commanders of all Regiments, even the Premier. I will talk to them about this myself tomorrow first thing in the morning,”