Juliet Diekman is the daughter of a well-respected Marleyan scientist who works alongside the military.
In a new proposal, he is asked to go on an expedition to Paradis for research purposes before planning their big attack. He agrees, only if his b...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
—
Time stretched endlessly as Juliet sat, her impatience growing with each passing minute. The air was heavy and stagnant, the harsh light through the window not making the experience any better. Nothing but Bertholdt and Reiner's chess pieces being lowered on the board and a few whispers among the group to break the silence.
Juliet's mind wanders, mostly thinking about her dear friend and the interaction she may have with the Scouts. She wasn't necessarily worried about Annie's well-being, but the casualties that would come along with the commander's plan. Maybe I should've sneaked off and gone. The thought passed her mind a couple of times the day she was told to stay with the rest of the cadets. She settled for staying away, knowing that Annie's abilities were strong enough, even alone.
She also didn't have time to mention this to either Bertholdt or Reiner but one of them could sense something was up. Though he held a calm composure, Bertholdt noticed the way Juliet's fingers tapped against her leg.
"Y'know, my village happens to be just a little bit south of where we are now," Connie says, bored out of his mind trying to make conversation. His hand held up his face, fingers pressed harshly into his cheeks.
"Huh. Town where I'm from's pretty close by, too," Sasha replies with an equal amount of enthusiasm. She shared a similar position to his. Connie sighs.
Berthold moves his pawn further on the board, Reiner takes a minute to access his move. Juliet couldn't understand a single thing going on in the game between them, but it was the only thing even remotely entertaining. She didn't even bother trying to make something up to tell Captain Levi.
"Why can't I go see my people?" Connie speaks up again, "Maybe I'll just sneak out after dark."
"My people told me not to bother coming back home till I'm normal, so... there's that," Sasha says.
Connie sniffles out a laugh, "Hm. Well, folks where I grew up always tried to tell me I was too puny to be a soldier. No question I had the brains for it. I was top ten in my class, actually. Somebody's gonna be eatin' their words, that's a promise."
Juliet found her face resting on the surface of the wooden table, eyes closed and chin pointing down. She allowed herself this moment of respite from the chaos her mind had been through. The voices of Krista and Ymir were nearby.
Reiner speaks up, breaking his silence, "Connie, I'll help you if you really wanna go."
"Yeah?" Connie turns to him, "Why would you?"
Juliet opens her eyes and looks over at Reiner, wondering what game he's playing right now.
"Doesn't this feel a bit strange?" He asks, "We're on standby in our plain clothes. They won't let us wear our uniforms. We can't even train." He stands up heading toward the nearest window, "What's even more suspicious, our superiors are armed to the teeth. We're inside the wall, not at the front line. So who exactly are we fighting?"
