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IT WAS CRUEL, WHAT THE EMPEROR HAD PLANNED FOR F/N AND HER FRIENDS BUT THEY WERE IN NO POSITION OR STATE TO FIGHT BACK. They were weak, weaker than they would want to admit.
The emperor had made up his mind to present the woman's execution and potential death, even in front of her father and friends. No matter how much they begged for him to spare her, he wouldn't do anything about it but ignore them.
Unlike her friends, however, F/n was calm and not as nervous as she was before. After the talk she had with Levi, she felt safer and more secure despite knowing that there would be a chance for her to die. Even if she did die, he would be there for her, with her from the beginning 'till the end.
Excluding the time she experienced alone in the tree.
Maybe it was unhealthy for her to trust him that easily but then again, she could do nothing else but that. All she could do now was to depend on him and that might feel good for a little while.
The chains rattled and the guards pushed her forward, causing her to tumble in her steps slightly. Her friends' worries grew even more as they watched the woman being brought to the platform in front of a large audience.
Though, unlike how they had expected, the citizens of the walls didn't seem to be in too uplifting of a mood as they watched the woman rope being readied by the guards.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," the former Emperor repeatedly murmured, body rocking back and forth as he squatted down on the ground, hands gripping his white hair tightly.
Hange paced back and forth in the smaller version of their prison cell, made and provided especially for them to watch their friend being killed. Some of the soldiers, namely Eren and Jean, continuously shouted curse words at the Emperor who stood smugly in the centre of the platform.
"Erwin, we have to go out there," the Section Commander stated but the man just stood there, not moving with his eyes strained on F/n.
"Erwin," Levi called, almost in a warning tone but the man did not move a muscle.
"Commander, with all due respect, we need to get out of here," Mikasa said, surprising some of her comrades, "There isn't much of a choice."
But the Commander kept quiet, never lifting his gaze off of the kneeling woman. He might appear to be cold and uninterested but he was just trying to formulate a plan to save her without needing to grab the Emperor's attention.
Eren, however, did not know this and gritted his teeth so hard he would've broken them. He lifted his hand and stared at his palm, brows furrowing in thought.
He had been in this position before, making a life-or-death decision. But after recalling the last time he did this, he raised his hand to his mouth and was about to bite it when a hand landed on his shoulder.
"Be patient, Eren," Commander Erwin said, "We will get her out."
The boy turned to him and was about to say something when he was interrupted the second time.
"My loyal people," the Emperor said, "I, Emperor of Aigragalla, pronounce this woman to be executed. She was the one who had snuck into the castle without permission and had even interacted with one of our prisoners. Shall she be a threat to humanity, her journey will end here, today at this exact moment."
The rope that wrapped around the woman's neck made her feel uncomfortable and... unsafe. She glanced through the crowd before landing her e/c eyes on the cage her friends were in.
Their mouths were moving when they caught eyes but she couldn't hear a thing despite the quiet crowd of the audience. She moved her gaze off of the frantic boy and landed it on the Captain she had grown closest to among all her friends.
Her eyes glinted purple for less than a second before a sack was thrown on her head, cutting their final eye contact. It was short but it was enough time for her to observe him.
His posture was stiff and his hands were wrapped around the metal bars as if ready to rip the cage apart and jump on the stage. His eyes held an emotion of panic and it was then that she realised that he realised that he couldn't save her.
That made her panic as well. This was it. She was going to die. Her life will end as well as her journey, just as how her uncle had put it out as. But all she could think right now was her friends and Levi Ackerman.
Had he lied about saving her, she was glad to be his friend and grow a close relationship with him.
Had he given her false hope, she was glad that he made her feel safe even if it was just for a moment.
Overall, she was grateful to have him as a friend. But her time had come to an end as the rope tightened around her neck. Never in her life did she expect to be executed by hanging and never in her life did she expect it to be this suffocating.
As her body rose, the rope tightened around her neck and she started to whimper and let out choking noises. Her vision was dark as the sack covered the light from reaching her.
Her uncle watched the scene with a satisfied grin, hands behind his back and head tilted upwards. Her friends were already in tears, even the Captain named Levi Ackerman, a man who was not known to be emotional.
But no one cared. She was their priority.
The citizens watched with either an emotionless expression or a grimace at the noises she let out. It was hard to even for them and they did not know a single thing about her besides the lies the Emperor had told them.
F/n took a sharp intake of air and her hand clenched tightly, nails digging into her skin as it drew blood. Then her eyes shot open, her body froze and her mouth was agape.
The scene caused Historia to let out a horrified scream and the citizens to lower their heads. The guards maintained their professionalism and yet some failed to control their breathing.
After waiting for exactly five seconds, the man holding the rope was ready to lower her when a light shone just in her chest, so bright they could know it without even directly looking at it, causing them all to look back at her.
Hange stopped crying and Mikasa stopped screaming. Eren paused his action in slamming against the metal bars and Levi's hand loosened its grip around the metal bar. Erwin's eyes widened and everyone's mouths fell agape.
Her body rose and the knots around her wrists and neck loosened. The sack on her head fell to the ground with a slight noise that no one bothered to even glance at. The Emperor's grin fell and anger filled his eyes.
"Guards!" he commanded and yet no one moved.
Her body was then surrounded by a bright light and everyone had to squint their eyes but none drifted them elsewhere. They were just staring at her as though she had put some sort of a curse on them for them to never stop.
The light dimmed, revealing the woman in a new and fresh piece of clothing, a red gown. Her hair was combed neatly but her body was still hovering mid-air.
And then her eyes opened and just like a flowering blooming, she revealed her true identity to the people of Aigragalla.
