Look At You, Strawberry Blonde || Youjo Senki

Sweet, Sorrowful Youth

Author's Note: HFWEIAHFIH I GOT INSPIRED AFTER READING A CUTE AF WLW FIC OF TANYA AND AN OC, SO I WANTED TO MAKE MY OWNN <33 Note that romance won't happen until a few chapters later, and even then it's definitely going to take a WHILE for Tanya to accept her feelings, as y'all know. Also!! I have NO IDEA how to write military strategies or anything like that, so if something sounds informal, just know I tried. (I rlly be making one fanfic after another and omfg I just have so many ideas I can't focus on one at a time.)

Warning: manipulation, abandonment, mention of depression

Disclaimer: Bruh, I don't own Youjo Senki: The Saga of Tanya the Evil, all rights go to the Carlo Zen!

Beginning...

With the Empire and the Republic interlocked in a war, the Empire's low class was swept into a deep famine under the harsh hammer of war. Families went bankrupt, and some even went as far as to give away their children to orphanages for less mouths to feed, ironically, just like the tale of Hansel and Gretel, a story most of those very same children have heard from their parents.

Magdalena Hohenheim was one of those children left to suffer the trauma of being disowned by their families. A young girl at the tender age of seven, left to live under the roof of a church like many others. The way it came to be was on a cold November night, her parents loudly arguing in the room next to hers as she shivered on her cot. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the noise when her door bursted open, revealing her two parents, looking down at her. That night was much like a blur, but what she did remember was thrashing around, kicking and screaming, begging to stay as her father wrangled her tiny body into their poorly conditioned automobile, driving her to the nearest orphanage on the outskirts of town and dumping her there.

She wailed and sobbed in front of the orphanage doors, calling out for her father to come back until she was found by a concerned sister of the church, who quickly took her inside and tried her best to calm her down. Overwhelmed by grief and exhaustion, Magdalena promptly fell unconscious, only to wake up the next morning in a room filled with many other children, all of different ages. Although she was quickly welcomed into the orphanage, a young girl like her fell into a deep depression, cursing her parents for abandoning her, and yet developing a hatred for herself, wondering if her parents didn't love her enough to keep her, would anyone ever care for her?

The seven year old felt an endless despair as she stared at her peers giggling and playing games amongst themselves. 'I don't belong here. I have- I had a family, I'm not an orphan!' she would cry angrily in her mind, a blank stare plastered on her face as she watched on, numb to her surroundings. The first two weeks, she wouldn't respond to anyone. She'd only burst into tears, sobbing and curling into herself. The sisters didn't quite know how to console a child who was- well, discarded by her own family, so they left her to her own devices, hoping that she'd calm down. She eventually did. There was a long period where she ceased to show emotion at all, actually, growing numb and uncaring of the world around her.

She cried often, late into the night, when the lights were out. Begging for salvation, and yet cursing God for leaving her to suffer. Her family was never overly religious, but she grew up with the practices of prayers and blessings before bed and supper. How cruel was it? That every night, she and her family would gather to thank the lord for his good will, for blessing them with a good home, a happy family. Gone in an instant as the war raged on, sucking the faith and joy from their home, turning her parents into selfish, gluttonous monsters that would dare abandon their own daughter.