TEN YEARS, The Kenny Ackerman Story BOOK TWO~ FUTURES, by Melly O'Hara

ADRIFT

CHAPTER   7  ADRIFT

"The Queen has died".

Thus came the announcement we had all been summoned to hear, from the steps of the Royal Palace, given by the high ranking military official who served on Queen's Council. Now to be known as The Royal Government, as a sign that the King and his Councillors were at one with the people. That we were now a democracy; all in this nightmare together.

"A distant relative, so far down the line of Royal succession that he is now an old man; his age giving him the vast wisdom of philosophers and scholars, has been coronated and now serves as Paradise's new King; King Fritz!" continued the speaker, throwing his arms wide, as if he were embracing the audience that silently watched him.
"Order and the continuation of the Royal bloodline has been ensured. With this succession, Paradise will remain strong, safe and will rebuild! This adversity will only make us stronger!
King Fritz's first act as king is to RECLAIM the territory of Wall Maria!
Therefore it will be the task of the Survey Corp to continuously clear the area of titans, so that the surviving refugees are able to continue to work the farmland inside Wall Maria and avoid a food shortage occurring within Wall Rose!
Each night the refugees will be sheltered inside Wall Rose and each day they shall work for the betterment of Paradise; growing crops of food, inside Wall Maria, as they have always done! Each must earn his keep. Just as WE all contribute to the prosperity of Paradise; so must THEY! Adversity is NOT an excuse! It is an INCENTIVE ! And as your King, King Fritz....."

I walked away , shoving past my comrades and civilians in the courtyard- all assembled in front of the Palace for the 'Great Announcement of Hope', just not wanting to hear any more of their lies. To send those poor people back out into danger. Back to where the territory was still over run by titans? It was murder. They knew it. And we knew it too.
The Survey Corp could never defeat enough titans to make even a small portion of Wall Maria territory safe. It wasn't about producing more food. It was about reducing the amount of refugees. Of survivors . To ensure OUR comfort. And that of the wealthy citizens of Wall Rose.

But also, weren't they, in effect, sacrificing the Survey Corp? The elite squad of soldiers that specialised in fighting the titans and keeping Paradise safe. Surely the King must understand that the Survey Corp were the only hope Paradise had against the titans? That using the Survey Corp so that civilians could farm, was futile? That it would only result in their numbers being decimated? What was going on? Who was this new King?
He must be a member of the the Reiss family that even Kenny had not met.
Talk about far down the line of succession; every other Reiss had always been involved in the Royal duties or the Council in some form or other in the past. But this guy, King Fritz? Nope, not a whisper. Or was that just one thing that Kenny had never thought worth mentioning?

Kenny. Where was he? Would he come home?
It had been two days since I'd seen him. Since I lay in his arms, silently weeping for the end of the life we had known. Two days since he had loved me. Had held me. Had told me that his plans to obtain power, the power that would allow him to see with compassion and understanding; the power of the Royal Titan,  was now an all consuming goal.
My silent tears that had found their release while he held me in his arms, were, without warning or ceremony, unexpectedly interrupted by a knock on our front door. My personal assistant had been sent to summon me to work.
Apparently tragedy is only worth a half day holiday.

I had bathed and dressed in my uniform while Kenny lay in our bed, smoking a cigarette and drinking his now cold whiskey flavoured tea, now much more whiskey than tea. His eyes followed me as I readied myself, dressing, brushing my hair.
Standing in front of our varnished pine dresser, with its six drawers laid out in lines of two, and gazing into the large oval mirror that stood on it surface, my eyes met his in the reflection. The white sheets and dark green bed covers , still mussed from the two of us, lay carelessly across the lower half of his body. His broad shoulders and lean, muscular chest still glistening with the faint perspiration of our love. His face showed no expression while he watched me arrange my hair as he breathed in the cigarette smoke, then exhaled it gently in the air, occasionally running his hand along the soft stubble of his beard. His hair; jet black, long and shaggy falling in disobedient strands across his forehead.