Yesterday's Enemy [AoT]

THREE

'The Order of the Walls continues to praise Havas like God's children, and I now suspect that the secret of our neighbour lies in them. However, their lips are sealed tighter than Havas' gates.'

-An extract from a newspaper column written by scholar and journalist Aksel Briggs

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THREE

Wall Maria, North Region, Islet, Islet Military Hospital

Lorelai burst into the waiting room, flinging the doors aside and grabbing the attention of every soldier, patient, and doctor. She'd long discarded civility; all she wanted now was retribution.

"Dr Bervik?" questioned Erwin, standing up from where he was sat.

Lorelai decided that if she were to trust any of them. It would be him. She needed allies. "Commander, there has been an attempt on Havasian life. Poison, in the IV drips."

She kept her eyes locked on Captain Levi, who stood in the corner, seeming neither guilty nor afraid.

Tension rose in the crowd; this was a dramatic turn of events, perceived differently to all who bore witness. Truthfully, most didn't know whether to believe her or not.

"Tsk, why should we believe anything this witch says? Serves them right, if you ask me," Jürgen scoffed under his breath.

Lorelai heard him, and she could no longer keep a grip on her composure.

Adrenaline took over. In seconds, she had crossed the room and was ramming the grip of her pistol into Jürgen's throat and pushing him against the wall. Jürgen spluttered and tried to fight the gun away, but her stance made it impossible.

"Gghh-men!" he choked. "Fire! Shoot her! Kill the witch!"

Jürgen's men hastily picked up their weapons and glanced at each other nervously. Were they really about to have a shootout in the middle of a hospital?

Erwin intercepted and ordered them to halt. This wasn't good. He had understood that any agreement between the soldiers and the Havasians was tentative at best, but this? This was savagery. All their hatred for each other had reached boiling point.

Jürgen began to reach for his gun. Dear God, they were going to kill each other.

Levi tried to intercept; he strode towards Lorelai and tried to pull her from Jürgen and the gun from her hands.

"Calm down," he ordered coldly. "This has to be handled discreetly."

"'Discreetly?'" she seethed, venom searing through her voice. "This is the attempted murder of hundreds!"

Something lit up in Lorelai's eyes, and her fury seemed to change target. Instead, the next moment, she was ramming the gun into Levi's throat and shoving him against the wall. Such a far cry from her quiet composure in the carriage.

"You. It was you, wasn't it? Do you think you're clever? Watching us fight for our lives and then tricking us into false safety? You make me sick, cruel, murderous snake," she spat, so much rage and so much pain practically oozing out of her voice.

Levi, of course, was innocent, but the accusation, the rage, it made him feel guilty. It made him feel dirty and wrong. It made him feel like exactly what she described.

And for just a moment of hesitation, Levi was at her mercy.

In a burst of strength, he was able to fight the gun away from his throat. It surprised Lorelai, but only for a moment. In insane reaction time, Lorelai had flipped the weapon back into her hands and stepped back, pointing it at his head.