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【𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄】
*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*
THE FOLLOWING EVENING, Himari found herself standing hidden in the shadows of the Trost HQ building. The area was lit with a series of braziers and flaming torches that bathed the courtyard in what should have been a warm, orange glow, but felt eerie and foreboding to Himari instead.
Perhaps it was because she knew what was coming. She knew of the severity of the situation that the Survey Corps were about to get themselves into and the potential backlash that Paradis Island could face as a result. She knew of the lives that were going to be lost by the end of the week and the sheer amount of blood they were about to spill by the gallons.
The graduation for the 109th that year had been short and uneventful. The top ten students were named and Himari was not surprised when Louise, Surma, Uwe and Elsa had made the Top Ten.
She, however, was not surprised. Other than the fact that she had quite literally been the one to place them in the top ten, they showed a kind of resolve that the other cadets didn't quite have. They were passionate about dedicating their lives to the military and wanting to be amongst the best of the best. They worked hard, trained harder and had turned themselves into competent young soldiers that she knew they could be proud of.
It, however, had come as a surprise to both Himari and the graduating cadets of the 109th when Hange Zoe, Commander of the Survey Corps, had taken to the stage. Their words were meagre to begin with - empty congratulations for surviving the training that they had been put through and making it as far as they did.
But their tone changed quick and fast and so did the air that swallowed the courtyard. An apprehensive heaviness weighed down on the shoulders of everyone standing before them as Hange began to unveil just how close they were to the start of a war. Many of the cadets Himari had become familiar with, became uncomfortable. She saw worried exchanges being glanced and the nervous shuffling of feet. Himari didn't blame them.
Hange was blatant and open about how desperate the Survey Corps were for warm bodies. They did not sugarcoat just how outnumbered they were in terms of Marleyan soldiers and that their weaponry would be more advanced and more dangerous than anything they had experienced during their time in the Training Corps. They did not bother trying to lie about how dangerous this mission would be and just how dire the situation was.
They spoke about dedicating their hearts to Paradis. About how they would be doing their duties as soldiers if they agreed to follow Hange into the thick of battle and how they would be honouring humanity on their island - doing their part.
It was all just a bunch of bullshit and Himari knew it. She knew that Hange knew it, that Levi knew it, that Jean and Mikasa and Armin and Sasha and Connie knew it, too. There was nothing righteous about murdering innocent civilians. There was nothing honourable about the massacre they were about to deliver unto Marley. They were just mere words, filthy, black lies used to tempt children who truly didn't know what they were getting themselves into.
