The People You Meet in the Afterlife

Sunny

All the color drained from Mina's face.

"She's so young..." she whispered. Mina looked to the crowed that had been watching the horrid scene below.

"Did any of you see what happened?" She asked, scared of the answer.

"Her father...her father...he..." Thomas couldn't finish.

"That Zeke b*stard turned an entire village into Titans." Eld said bitterly. "She blacked out trying to hold her breath. She was a sitting duck."

"At least she was unconscious" Marco said. "Come on let's get her over to Oluo's."

***********************************************
Petra came down the front steps of the home she shared with Oluo.

"I know you guys have a vacancy at the moment" Marco said trying to ease the tension.

Petra's face fell. As much as she loved taking care of the young child, she also hated the circumstances.

"Who is she?"

"If I remember Connie telling me correctly, her name is Sunny."

"Connie...Springer? The idiot who joined the corps with Eren?" Oluo asked as he joined Petra.

"Yeah...you know him?"

"Briefly..." Petra said as she took the sleeping child from Marco. She looked down at the young girl, dirty from her trek in the woods. "I'm guessing this is his sister."

Marco nodded solemnly.

"Well come on in, both of you, I'll go ahead a get a bath started for her. Oluo can put a kettle on."

Mina and Marco followed the pair into the house.

***********************************************
Petra and Mina were busy giving a sleepy Sunny a bath. Gently scrubbing off the dirt and grime.

She would occasionally asked where her mother was or where Martin was.

"My big brother went away..." she mumbled. "To make the monsters go away..."

Oluo and Marco sat at the kitchen table.

"Surprised you guys didn't hear the commotion of a whole village arriving."

Oluo let out a defeated sigh. "We did, but sometimes...you just can't. I'm always scared that it's going to be my family next..."

Marco looked down at cup.

"I know that makes me a coward."

Marco looked up, his face hard. "How does that make you a coward? You died defending the only hope for humanity. You went down fighting. I can understand why you try to drown it out. I try to some days, but I just...I promised to keep an eye on someone."

"That Jean guy, looks a bit like a horse?"

Marco couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah that's the one. He joined the scouts because of me...I know I can't interfere but I feel like I can protect him if I'm watching..."

"I can't blame you, if Petra were still alive I would feel the same."

The two let the silence settle over them sipping their tea.

"Well she's clean and asleep" Petra said coming into the kitchen. "But it looks like Mina is stuck on bedside duty tonight. The poor girl would let go of her hand."

"Should I make enough dinner for her?"

Petra shook her head. "She's going to be out for a while."

Oluo poured her a cup of tea as she sat down.

"She kept mumbling about giant monsters...someone named Martin..." she turned to Marco. "What happened to her?"

"You know those people here...the ones from...what was it...Maryland, Ma-"

"Marley" Oluo said.

"That's it...well Mr. Ksaver's successor, decided to use innocent civilians on Paradis as test subjects."

The color started draining from Petra's face. "What was he testing?"

"He found a way to turn his spinal fluid into a mist. Like an airborne disease, he turned an entire village into titans. Well most of them..."

"So that means..."

"The worst part is the really young kids, the most was too high up, or some held their breath. That's what she did" Marco said nodded his head towards the bedroom where Sunny slept. "Her father got her"

It took a few seconds for Oluo and Petra to realize what Marco meant by "her father got her".

Oluo looked pale. Petra was on the verge of tears.

"I...I why would they do something like that. They've done nothing wrong." Petra whispered into her tea cup.

"Petra, you've seen how they treat Eldians over there, and those are the ones working for Marley. They see anyone on the island as subhuman. No one is losing sleep over wiping out an entire village over there." Oluo said. He reach over taking Petra's hand. "You saw how Annie was, and she was still a teenager."

Marco grimaced, remembering how Annie tearfully removed his ODM gear on Reiner's orders. He had felt some empathy for her but after seeing how she toyed with the scouts, and then hid herself away, that empathy had chipped away.

"Do you think her family will show up soon?" Petra asked.

Marco shrugged. "Depends how long it takes for the military to learn of the Titan outbreak inside Wall Rose. Like I said most of the villagers are titans. What we are getting now are the small kids."

"Well, we will look after her until her family comes, she can stay as long as she likes" Oluo said.

"That's why I brought her here, you two seem to be the best at handling the kids."

Oluo and Petra were talking about dinner for the evening and what to tell Sunny when she awoke.

As they talked Marco let his mind wander, thinking about Connie who was blissfully unaware that everything he held dear to him was gone.

**************************************************
Tom sat at one of two taverns in town. This one was more friendly to those from Marley.

He stared at his drink, flooded with mixed emotions. He had been happy to see his theory was correct, but was wondering why Zeke had targeted a civilian village.

He shook the thought from his head. Despite the time living, well sort of, among those from the island he still carried a lot prejudice against the people of Paradis.

"Tom!!!"

He turned to on his bar stool, to see Marcel Galliard. He was fuming. A little older than he had been when he first arrived, he stormed towards Tom.

"You son of a b*tch! You had your hand in this didn't you?!?"

Before Tom could react or speak, he felt Marcel's fist collide with his cheek.