The Boy Who Helped Destroy Humanity

The Dance Flyer

Cadet Dance this Friday night followed by the annual Cadet Fair. Bring your families. Dance starts at 6:00 and ends at 11:30. Fair starts at 6:00 on Saturday and ends at 5:00 Sunday. For the dance come in formal attire.

What? Shadis never said anything about a dance during the beginning of training.

"Oh I hope Jean asks me to the dance!"

"Please! he'd only do that if you were the last girl on earth. Face it Sasha, he will never like you."

"FUCK off Ymir! She can hope! That's all any of us can do. Maybe you should quite being an ass, and get up the courage to ask Krista to the dance."

Ymir throws a punch that I quickly dodge. I tackle her, my head in her stomach. I quickly flip over, she's still on the ground. I turn to walk away, but feel a hard smack on my head. She pulls my hair, but I grab her arm twisting it at a 45° angle, her hand still holding my hair. I pinch her hand at her pressure point. She lets go of my hair. In turn I let go of her arm. She rapidly turns around and tries to knock me in the face with her elbow. I grab her arm once again and kick the back of her knees, which causes her to fall down. "Don't you ever try that again. Do you understand?" She doesn't respond. "Do you understand?" I ask again, this time pushing my fingers right under her shoulder blades. "Y-yes.." she stutters. I let go of her arm and hold out my hand to help her up. She looks at me with curiosity. "What? You've never seen a hand held out to you before?" "No, it's not that. Why would you help me?" I look at her right in the eye, "Because I respect you and I want to leave this behind." She sits on the ground for a moment. "Alright, let's leave it behind." She grabs my hand and I help pull her off the ground. She nods and begins heading towards the flower patch near the boys cabins. Nearly everyone has dispersed, I assume to tell Shadis of the fight. The only one left is Historia. She approaches me cautiously. It's been a few years since I've last spoken to her. I wonder what has gone on in her life since that fateful night. She's a few feet away from me now. "You've learned a great deal of self control Plum. I was scared you would kill her." "Well I am a little rusty." There's a pause in the conversation. I start to walk away to the woods. I need to talk to Bertholdt. "Plum, I'm sorry abo-" I hold up my hand, "Look if you want to talk, meet me near the girls cabins after I get back." "Back from where?" "None of your business." She shrinks back. "Don't you dare follow me either." I pretend to go into the bathrooms and wait until she walks away.

Heading to the woods I was filled with excitement and worry. What does he want? What if he tricked me and I'm just going be waiting for nothing? What if he tries to kill me? Easy, I'll just kill him. What? No! That's terrible. I see movement out of the corner of my eye. It's Ymir! What is she doing? I see a small bright yellow flower bouquet in her hand. Those are Historia's favorite flowers. Ymir takes a red ribbon out of her pocket and wraps it around the flowers. She sets the flowers down and starts to pick the leaves off tree. Taking out a sewing needle and thread she quickly sews the leaves together. I look closer and realize that they're leaves from Historia's favorite tree. Ymir takes a blue pen out of her jacket and begins writing on the leaves. I know what this is about! I can't believe that Ymir is actually this thoughtful. She must really care about Historia. I crouch closer to the bush so she doesn't see me. I look at my watch. I can be a little late, don't want to seem desperate. I look back but Ymir is gone. I see movement to my right and notice that Historia is with Ymir. Ymir has her hands over Historia's eyes and is guiding her to where the leaves and flowers are. They get there and Ymir takes her hands away. Historia blushes, "Ymir! Of course I'll go with you to the dance! This is so sweet! Thank you!" She gives Ymir a hug. I take that as my cue to leave and head into the woods.

I honestly have no idea where I'm going. To be honest I thought Bertholdt would meet me outside the woods. "Psst!" Huh? "Who said that?" Bertholdt steps out of the shadows. "Hey!" Oh he looks good in the moonlight! Wait you came here to talk. "Sup?" "Follow me, I want to show you something." "Alright, lead the way lamp post." he laughs. Such a nice laugh. Be on alert though! Always on alert. "You know how there's another trail that we never go on, when we're riding our horses? I went on it a few days ago. It's a little unkept but nothing bad. And what's at the end is so cool." "Can't wait to see it. I'm always up for any adventure." "I thought you might say that." We walk for a little bit in silence. "This is where it gets a little rough, there's some slope, and loose pebbles and dirt. Take my hand." He holds his hand out. I take it. The trail isn't that bad at all, but I still hold his hand anyways because why not? He stops so I stop too. "Alright, I want you to get in front of me." still holding his hand I step in front of him. "I'm going to put my hands over your eyes alright?" I nod, and in a few seconds I see the outline of his hands coming towards my eyes. He tenderly places them there as if he's afraid of hurting me. Why is he so gentle when he's around me? He's not going to hurt me. "Step down here. Turn a little to the left. Step down, and go straight until I say stop." we continue for a little bit in this manner. He breaks the silence, "I'm going to uncover your eyes, but keep them closed." "Alright." I hear his footsteps walking down the rest of the trail. I'm so tempted to peak and see what's going on. But I sense no danger so I should be fine. A few seconds later I hear him walking back to me, "Open your eyes." he takes my hand. I open my eyes and see the most stunning sight.

Everything is so beautiful and delicate looking. I see moon flowers that are beginning to bloom. Vines are wrapped around trees and ivy is crawling up stone. A small waterfall is pouring crystal clear water down to the ground. As I look closer I see that it is hiding a small cave. Willow trees are all around, their leaves swaying in the gentle breeze. Tall maple trees filter the moonlight into a calming blue hue that catches nature in its true beauty. There's stepping stones, smooth from the constant running of the river. Cherry blossom petals fall and tickle my nose and I can't help but let out a small laugh. I look around some more as I carefully make my way deeper into the hidden place. Ginkgo trees rest on top of the stone wall that the water falls from. I see fireflies lighting what looks like a path. Bertholdt makes his way in front of me, "What do you think?" What do I think? "This is the most beautiful place. I don't think I've ever seen any thing like this. So beautiful. So calming." He smiles, "Follow me, there's another thing I want to show you." We make our way to the stone where the Ginkgos are. "Do your want to go first?" he asks. "Why not?" so he moves. There's nothing to step on, no rope, nothing. Use your instincts. I put my hands along the stone and look for where the stone might be warm or if there's any part that might be able to be pushed in or pulled out. My hands continue to make my way until my left hand gets stuck. I look at it and the wall begins to glow. In panic I look to Bertholdt. "It's alright. Just be calm." he says. I hear the grinding of stone. Stone stairs form beside Bertholdt. I can move my hand now, so I begin to make my way to the stairs. "Cool isn't it?" "Well, yeah but, what's going on?" He keeps walking a small smile on his face. Oh Lord, please don't let him be a murderer. I don't want to have to kill him.

We walk under the Ginkgos for a few seconds. and I see a makeshift table. We sit down and Bertholdt reaches under the table. He pulls out a bracelet made of moon flowers and cherry blossoms. "Plum? Can I put this bracelet on your wrist?" What? "Yes, please." He puts the bracelet on me and, "Plum? I've been wondering if you would go to the dance with me."

WHAT?

"Yes. I would love to go to the dance with you."
We continue to talk for a while. When we met in the woods it was 7 pm. Now as we head toward our cabins it is 11 pm. We talked about our dreams, what we like, why we like the things we like, but we didn't really talk about our past. That's definitely a good thing. I can't have anyone finding out about my past.

The boys cabins are closer to the woods. Bertholdt offered to walk me to the girls cabins. I declined. I had too many things to think about. It was quite peaceful, the walk back. I hear whimpering coming from near the cafeteria. I wonder who it is. As I open the door I see Sasha crying. How long has she been here? "Sasha? What's going on? Did someone hurt you?" She lifts her head startled, "Ymir... She said I was ugly... I'm never going to have a guy like me..." Oh no I'm not good with these types of situations. Usually coming off as insensitive, people have never come to me with these types of problems. I pat her back because I don't know what else to really do. "There, there, small one. Just um, let it out." and she continues crying. "Sasha, Ymir never said you were ugly. She just said Jean wasn't interested in you. He's kind of rude anyway, why would you want to be around someone like him? You're not ugly. You're beautiful. Besides, I know a guy who really likes you. I bet he's going to ask you to the dance." She turns to me and sniffs, "Like who?" "Connie." She smiles, "Well why hasn't be asked me yet?" "Well it's because he wants to be original, he's seeing all these guys asking these girls to the dance in some cool ways and some, um, not so cool ways. But he's making sure that whatever he does no one else does either." She laughs and starts to get up. Wrapping he arms around me and giving me a hug she says, "Thank you so much Plum." I pat her arms. "You're welcome, I guess." She walks out the door, and I'm left alone in the cafeteria.

I don't have any formal wear.