The broken gear

Mistreatment

"Do you know about how countries tend to show hatred to those who are invaded?" she asked.

"Yes, did the same happen to you?" Thomas responded with a glint of sorrow in his eye.

She froze, staring at the ground before going to a small wooden stand with a small white and blue ceramic vase with a dozen or so daisies. She gently touched one. She seemed to be slowly picking it up before flashing her eye red and withering the flower as she closed her fist.

Thomas' fear grew. So did Nelle's who was at the end of the hallway, barely making out their words. She wasn't sure on whether to attack or not.

The visitor pulled a yellow clasp envelope from what looked like a hidden pocket in her dress. She knew Thomas wasn't as big of a threat as she originally thought. She opened it and looked through it with hatred and some barely noticeable sorrow. She found a piece of paper that she thought would be better than the others to show him. She walked to Thomas hastily and gave the sheet of paper to him.

He was horrified.

He saw a line of people with a firing squad behind them. He could faintly see the Austro-Hungarian and Hungarian flags in the upper arms of the firing squad's uniforms. He couldn't believe this. he then realized his parents were talking to nobles of the empire as well. Were they also in on the executions? That couldn't be it as their daughter was showing him information that would be kept secret. Maybe it was a test. A test on whether or not he would be loyal to both his and her home countries. He wasn't sure what to say.

Thomas, not wanting to cause drama between the two nations, proceeded to say, "I, um, I support that?" his words gradually getting quieter as he spoke.

She, blinded by rage, couldn't tell that Thomas was lying. She dropped the envelope in shock revealing other images, some more brutal than the one he was shown. Thomas could barely make them out before he focused back on her. She slowly moved towards him step by step.

"What did you say?" she said with a shocked yet emotionless expression. Thomas could see that even though she showed no emotion, her eyes were filled with hatred and bloodlust.

With each step Thomas got more and more scared. He slowly reached for his sword.

It wasn't there.