For RHWeek 2021:
Dream, Orphans, ‘I could always use some tea.’
💛👑☕️💫
In the dark kitchen of the Survey Corps HQ, Levi sat in silence as he prepared a cup of tea for himself to calm his nerves.
"Each decision you make holds meaning only by affecting your next decision." Those words Erwin spoke to him echoed in his mind. They didn't even have time to collect their bodies or what was left of them. Farlan was his long time companion in the somber, shit infested Underground City, but Isabel... she was different.
Poor girl was so sickly when they took her off the streets. She was a damn wild child, but she was just starting to grow into a wonderful young woman. If they had not been captured that day, Levi would have probably started to speak to her about keeping away from men who would offer her money for dirty deeds. No. He didn't need the girl who called him her "big brother" to do what his mom did. Or she would just end up a gray bag of bones in a bed with some little starving bastard kid of her own. No, he was going to protect her from this dark date of many of the poorer girls on the street.
Did that make Isabel... his sister? He sighed and settled in a chair. His only family left was gone. Farlan's parents had been murdered in a contraband exchange gone wrong, and Isabel's parents had died of the same disease she had. They were all orphan kids who just did what they needed to survive. They couldn't rely on anyone outside of their little pack to hand them anything. If only he had remembered that earlier that day....
He swallowed his tea hard. His whole body hurt. Would he ever have a family again? Tch, if he dreamed hard. It's not like he could ever return to the Underground City and see another poor sickly brat on the streets and take it in. He'd probably just fuck it all up again. Maybe one day, if the government in Sina could get off its ass, they wouldn't have to live like animals.
...
Somewhere, safely within Wall Sina on a large stretch of farmland with a large house, nine year old Historia made her way into her bedroom after a long day outside in the sun. She knew her expected routine by heart.
Wash yourself. Sit nicely at your place at the table away from your grandparents. Don't talk at the table. Go to your room. Be up by seven in the morning to do your chores again.
She had lost track of how long ago it was that her mother had left her, but it still hurt her. Not that her mother liked to talk to her either, but the whole place seemed emptier without her. Maybe one day she'd come back if she'd just be a good girl. But now, she felt like the girl in her book, Krista, who was lost in the dark woods without her mother or father. She was all alone, an orphan girl.
Historia put on her white nightgown and turned to light a lantern on her bedtable. To her surprise, there was something else there. It was a tea cup with steam floating out of it. Confused, Historia looked around for a note or some kind of explanation. Her grandparents didn't ever let her drink tea. It was considered a drink for adults.
Could it have been one of the servants? They never spoke to her either, and they would only listen to the orders of her grandparents. Historia paused. Should she... drink it? There was nobody watching her. And whoever brought her the tea would probably return to take it away again. Cautiously, she drank it. It had a flavor of sweet honey in it. It helped her feel a little better too, and it also made her quickly fall asleep and dream about Krista in the forest.
...
In Reiss Chapel, Frieda kneeled and prayed. Who was this boy with green eyes peering into her mind? He had made her speak to the kitchen help after her last visit with Historia. Tea. It had to be tea with honey. The kitchen help was baffled by this strange request, let alone the fact that it had to be delivered in secret at night.
An image of a sullen man with dark hair flashed into her mind. Somewhere, he was drinking tea for himself.
"Do it," the boy with green eyes ordered. "If you want her to not be like you, you have to let her have this. She has to meet this man, or history will only repeat itself. This nightmare will end for us all."
So much rushed into her mind. Tea. Why did it have to be tea? And then, she saw the farmland. Except instead of servants, there were children running everywhere. They looked ragged and dirty as if they arrived from the Underground City. Then, there was a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes chasing two boys. Was that... Historia? And was that the sullen man walking up to the farm with some more orphan children in tow?
Then, the memories stopped. How could this be? Didn't these children deserve to be off badly? They were sinners who deserved the highest penalty, not a life of comfort before they fleeted out of existence. But she had no control over these memories and what she saw. What was coming in the future would be far, far worse.
