Yesterday's Enemy [AoT]

NINETY-SEVEN

'What is real and what is fake are most often laid on a foundation of opinion. We build our palaces of truth with bricks of biased perception and cement it with honeyed words.

And yet... so many never dare to dream of how the world could change. Tear those palaces to the ground, and rebuild as you see fit.'

-An unseen extract written by scholar and journalist Aksel Briggs.

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NINETY-SEVEN

Wall Maria, North Region, Islet, Briggs Manor

"Um, I'm..." Levi fumbled for words.

Adette furrowed her brow, retreating further. "How did you get in here? My husband does not appreciate guests."

"I mean you no harm, ma'am," he regained his composure. "I'm, well, my name is Levi. I'm Annalise's fiancé."

"That is impossible." She turned back to the window. "Annalise died as a child. Her gravestone rests just out there." Adette nodded towards the centre of the maze.

Levi grimaced. He didn't particularly want to be the one to tell Lorelai's mother than her dead daughter was... well, not so dead.

"You're just a figment of my imagination," she whispered to herself.

Levi shifted awkwardly, what to say to that?

This woman was totally unlike Lorelai in every way. They were both blonde and slender, but while Lorelai was sharp and angular, her mother was petite and gentle. Her bright blue eyes were kind and sad, so different from the piercing Briggs gaze that showed itself in Lorelai and Aksel.

While Lorelai's body was marred with the scars expected for someone who had lived her life, Adette was untarnished, polished even, like a precious jewel or a trophy.

A trophy that had been locked away from the rest of the world, it seemed. Adette gazed out the window longingly. Levi would bet she hadn't stepped foot outside that secret door for a long while.

And yet... even as she was locked away, there was no discontentment in her eyes. Instead, an odd sort of glaze as if she were bewitched by something. Or, someone.

"Why are you here, Levi?" Adette turned her eyes back to him. "Surely a spirit like you can find no amusement bothering an old woman?"

Spirit, Levi scoffed to himself. The poor woman had gone mad up here; she thought he was a ghost.

"I'm here to see Aksel. He and I have some problems to resolve," Levi said, walking to her side. He copied her in peering out the window to the maze.

"Oh, another impossible thing. No one has problems with my husband," Adette chuckled. "He's the kindest most tolerant man in the world. All love him."

Levi glanced at her sceptically. This woman really was ill in the head. That, or the nonsense Friedrich had spouted had had some truth to it. Impossible.

"Is that so?"

"Of course."

"You know, ma'am," Levi leant on the windowsill. "Your daughter is over in that maze trying to prevent your husband from committing mass-genocide. Not exactly 'kind and tolerant' behaviour."

"I'm sure it's for the best." Adette's smile stayed.

"Mass-genocide?"

"Yes."