Hate

Book Two

Volume 7

Ch. 90 Hate

Pov.

-Falco-

It's been 10 hours since we've been able to get in touch with dad

It actually isn't the first time I've been on this island

Many years ago, while dad was away training for months at a time, mom brought Colt and I here so that she'll see her family and Colt could see his mother again

After that he would only be gone for a week or two and he'd return unexpectedly

Luckily he never found out mom brought us here

Gabi and I managed to flee into a forest eight hours from Holst

"I told you, I don't want any!" She growls

"Why, because I caught it!?" I yank the turkey back "fine, then you can starve!"

"I didn't ask you to come back for me in the first place!" She growls

"If I hadn't you would've been the first they'd turn into a Titan!"

"Better than being stuck here with you!"

"Then why don't you just leave!? Go, get the fuck out of here!" I growl

"Ugh! Fine you asshole! You and your whole family can go to hell, you hear me!?"

"Just go!"

"Damn you! I hope your mother dies like the stupid devil she is!"

"WHAT?!" I growl

"You heard me, ungrateful son of a bitch!" She shouts as I storm over to her "you-"

Before she'd go on I slap her across the face

She stumbles back and holds her cheek in shock

"How dare you.. Gabi…" I grit my teeth

Her eyes tear up

"H-how dare you?!" She lounges at me

She tackles me onto the ground

I wrap my legs around her waist and I lock my arm around her head as she began punching my ribs

"Let go!! How dare you lay a finger on me, devil?!" She growls

"Mgh* watch your damn mouth, imbecile" I squeeze harder

After a couple of seconds her punches got weaker before her body slumped onto my own

"Tch" I shove her aside

I stand back up and I pat myself down before I felt something slam onto the back of my head

"You're the imbecile!" Gabi huffs

Damn this idiot

My head was spinning even so I managed to catch the stick before she'd wack me again

After grabbing a hold of her other hand before she'd slap me I yank her in and I slam my forehead onto hers

She stumbles back as I shake my head

After making sure I wouldn't fall over I lounge at her as she tried catching her balance

I wrap my arms around her waist and I throw her over my shoulder

"L-let go dammit!" She pounds her fists on my back "You and Lisa can go to hell for all I c-" I body slam her onto the ground

"Agk*" she gasps after I knock the wind out of her

I pin her wrists onto the ground

"Keep her name out of your filthy mouth, you hear me?!"

"A-agk" she gasps for air

She coughs a couple of times before finally catching her breath

"D-damn you. I-I hate you, I hate you, you devil. Why's it only have to us that's lost everything.. everyone.." she tears up "m-my family friends.. Zekes betrayed us, y-you…" her voice trembles "you betrayed me" tears dribble down to her ears "why, Falco? I.. I loved you, so why?" She asks

"I-I don't understand. Everything happened so fast and you act like none of it mattered"

"We were living like nothing more than caged animals in Marley. Forced to live the horrors of war, for what? So that we can one day 'prove' we aren't the monsters they make us out to be?"

…

She doesn't respond

…

"Zophia, Udo, Pieck, everyone. They meant the world to me just as much as they did to you. If losing them is what it takes to end this cycle of hatred… then all I can do is be certain their sacrifice isn't in vain."

…

She just glared at me

Even as stupid as she can get in a fit of rage I know she can see where I'm coming from.

This isn't about us, we want to create a better place for everyone

Even Marleyans will be treated just as fairly in this New World

Yes

The New World

That's exactly what it'll be

"What are you two doing?" We hear a woman

I look up as she crouched down in front of me

"Hmm," she tilts her head "you look familiar" she squints her eyes

Wait…

"K-Kaya?" I ask

"W-wait…" she widens her eyes "Falco?" She asks

Finally, I was out on limb but I can't believe they're really this far out

It's been so long since I've last seen her

"S-so who's this?" She asks

"Gabi.. a friend of mine" I back off her

Gabi sits up

I don't offer her a hand knowing she wouldn't take it so she stands up on her own

"Ohhh okayyy," Kaya giggles "It's so good to see you again, Falco. Though I can't believe you still remember me" she says as she began leading us to her house

"Yeah, it's been a while" I smile

She caught me up with how everyone's been doing on our way to her house

Once we finally arrived everyone had been getting ready for dinner

"Hurry, just pass me the.." grandpa Aurtur stops after seeing me at the door

"F-Falco?" he recognizes me the moment I walked inside

"Hey gramps" I smile widely

"Falco, it really is you, my boy" he drops what he was doing

"Y-yeah" I sigh as he pulls me into his arms

"It's been a while.. you guys…" I pat his back before he finally puts me down

"Why didn't your mother tell us you were coming?" He asks

"Because.. well… she was injured in Marley.. but she's recovering with the Azumabitos" I say

…

"Oh… well I'm sure she'll be just fine" gramps breaks the silence

"Yeah, c'mon you guys, dinner's ready!" Kaya shouts just loud enough for the kids in the other room to hear

They had been running an orphanage

I told them how I've saved Gabi plenty of times during battle but she didn't seem to care

She barely touched her food

After dinner, gramps let us borrow his old radio, computer, and typewriter

He let us work in the shed and with it all we managed to create a cipher machine

Gabi helped me make sure it wasn't traceable

Of course she refused to say a word but she gave me a hand at the very least

"There…" I finish with the encrypted message with clear instructions given to our allies

Since they were originally supplied by the Azumabitos only the commanders of each regiment should be able to decode the message.

Most if not all of which are loyal to the throne

"All we have to do now is find us a radio tower and send the message to every computer in the nation" I say

"What are you planning ?" Gabi finally asks

I give her a little smirk

"C'mon we have to get to Shiganshina"

"Leaving already?" We hear at the door

It was Kaya

Gabi glares at her as she set down the bucket of water

"You don't like me do you?" Kaya says

Gabi turns away

"Well, she's like every other Marleyan you've probably met" I sigh

"Hmm" Kaya smiles "you think we're all devils?" She asks Gabi

Gabi doesn't respond

Kaya and I exchange looks

"Come, I'd like to show you something before you leave"

I look at Gabi

"Okay" I respond

I grab Gabis wrist and I make sure she follows closely

We follow Kaya to an abandoned village where she lead us into a house

"I used to live in this village" Kaya says

"About eighteen years ago a single Titan wandered off way out here" she says "everyone managed to get away, that was except for my mother who couldn't walk on her own"

"I didn't know what to do. I couldn't leave my mother behind, but even so… All I could do was sit there, and listen to my mother being eaten alive."

"I couldn't cry, I couldn't scream, I was… I was petrified"

She turns to look at Gabi who looked like she was empathizing, even if she won't admit it herself "tell me, what did my mother do to deserve such a horrible death? What did she do to make you hate us so much?"

"What? Y-you wanna know what?"

We look at eachother but she doesn't say another word

She couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Absolutely nothing, we've lived inside these walls thinking we were the last humans on earth. What fault could we possibly have?" Kaya asks

Gabi keeps silent

She's been blinded by all her rage up until now

…

"We should get going" I break the silence

"R-right" Kaya sighs "I'm going to miss you" she smiles "Gabi.." she nods

Gabi just walks out

I sigh

"Tell gramps I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye, we're in a hurry" we hug each other tightly before she backs off

"Sure thing, b-but can I ask you something?" She asks

"What is it?"

"About Sasha… was it.. Kara?" She asks

…

"Y-yeah" I sigh

She doesn't respond

How could she

Mom..

Her own husband beat her half to death

No matter what he might say

Or what he does to prove it, he doesn't have an ounce of remorse

That's just the kind of man he is

We give each other one last goodbye before Gabi and I finally head off

We 'borrowed' a pair of horses from a neighbor and quickly headed towards Shiganshina

We traveled throughout the entire night, hoping we'd get there by morning but it was no use

We stopped a couple miles from the gates letting our horses rest when we suddenly heard a wagon passing by

Gabi and I look at eachother, both wondering who it could be so early in the morning

We sneak over to the road, I peak over the edge as they slowly came to a halt

They stopped at the small pond we were at earlier to let their horses drink water

They were MPs

But their badges were crossed out as a sign that they're oppose to the government

That would make them enemies

I look at Gabi

She nods back and carefully began tailing the guy that headed deeper into the forest

I sneak up behind the guy that was drinking water before I slam a rock onto the back of his head, cracking his skull open

After I took his rifle Gabi came back with the weapon she took from the other guy

"C-careful they're going to hear us" we hear a woman from inside the carriage

"S-sorry I-I'm almost done" a male says

We walk over to the entrance of the wagon

I look at Gabi

We were both thinking the same thing

"Oh God, I-I told you we should've waited" the woman says as we get ready to pull the cloth open

I nod at Gabi and she pulls the covered open exposing the two

"Hands" I train my weapon at the guys head

"Ahhhh?!?!" The girl quickly hides her naked self behind him

"W-wait d-don't shoot!" He raises his hands

"Hands!" I growl again before the girl raises her hands

"Get out" I say

"C-can we put some clothes on first?" She asks

"No, get out" I repeat

"It'll be okay" the guy whispers

He slowly walked out and she followed

We get them on their knees and Gabi keeps an eye on them as I checked what they had inside

I pat their clothes down and after making sure there weren't any weapons in them I toss them out

There was a large rectangle box

It looked like a coffin almost, but it felt like solid rock

I pull the sheet it had over it and I toss it outside so it wouldn't get in the way

What the hell?

It was a blonde woman

She was frozen inside what looked like the hardening from dads Titan

Wait..

Is this…

"What is it, Falco?" Gabi asks

"It's… Annie"

-to be continued