COMRADES • Eren Jaeger

CHAPTER 19: Skilled Fighters

The idea that Zeke and Pieck were both going to be gone in a few years didn't excite you.

You frowned as you turned away from Zeke to gaze at the numerous books laid out on the desk. "I still don't understand why Marley wants to take such good care of me when I'm an Eldian. We're all lumped here in this internment zone because they see us as warfare weapons. Isn't that right?"

"Y/N..."

"They're keeping us Eldians caged in like we're wild animals, which isn't even the case. It's not our fault we were born. They don't have the right to treat us like that at all—"

"Keep your voice down," said Zeke calmly. "Not in this room."

You let your hair fall to your face so that it covered your stony expression from his eyes. "Sorry."

The air had turned awkward. You quietly arranged your desk, pretending like his words didn't bother you. You had painfully found out early on that no matter how kind the members of the Warrior Unit were to you, or how useful you were going to be, it was never going to end the prejudice Marley carried for the Eldians. The red armband you wore on your left forearm made little difference to the hate they carried for Subjects of Ymir.

The first negative encounter you had with Marley had happened a few weeks ago, when you went with Zeke to buy more of the sweet doughnuts you had tasted when you first arrived in Liberio.

A FEW WEEKS AGO

"Good, the gates are open at this hour," Zeke noticed as the two of you walked towards the entrance to Liberio. "The doughnuts I bought you can only be found in a bakery outside the internment zone. The Eldians with permits to go outside here like to buy from this popular store."

Both of you were wearing the same clothes you had worn when you arrived to Liberio a few weeks ago, only you had changed your upper clothes so that you were wearing a short-sleeved collared shirt and a dark trench coat that was a hand-me-down from Zeke's grandmother. Time flew in Liberio, and your birthday was in a few weeks. If only you knew how lucky you were to be reaching your next birthday.

"If it's so popular among the Eldians, shouldn't the store owner just sell them inside Liberio?" you asked, looking up at Zeke as you neared the gates. "It would be better for business, don't you think? Then everyone can be happy."

"Well, there are two reasons as to why that can't happen."

"Oh? What are they?"

"The Eldians are poor and nobody wants to open shop in the home of devil's blood. The people of Marley don't think we deserve to enjoy sweets on a daily basis, you see."

"But—But that's a ridiculous reason!" you argued, putting your cold hands inside the pockets of your coat. The temperature of the air seemed to have dropped by a few degrees. "It's just food, why should they deprive the others of that?"

Zeke clicked his tongue. "Well, that's the atonement we have to pay for the sins of our Eldian Empire ancestors. We took away their lives, so they take away our little joys in life as punishment. This is what life is like for regular Eldians."

"But that's—" you began again, before Zeke suddenly held up a hand to stop you. The pair of you had arrived to the open gates of Liberio where a long line of Eldians with white armbands were waiting for their turn at the security checkpoint. You understood why—it was not encouraged to question Marley in front of the Public Security Authorities.

You wanted to hide behind Zeke while you passed by the guards, but before you could side-step behind him, he stopped you and had you stand right by his side so that your red armband could be clearly seen.