The Experiment (Attack on Titan // LeviHan) (Part 1)

Tomorrow Never Came

On that horrible night in the year 845, 541 people lost their lives in the Underground City.

It was 541 too many.

Among the 541 there were 536 civilians: 214 men, 205 women, and 117 children. The oldest was a great great grandfather with a wooden leg who had accompanied a neighbor's boy to the arena on his sixth birthday because both his parents were ill. The youngest was a baby, only a few weeks old, its broken body cradled so tightly against its dead mother's chest, it was impossible to separate the two.

Even the most hardened of politicians expressed shock over the bloodbath. The King issued an official apology and had 500 kilos of meat and one thousand barrels of ale distributed down to Chika. The Church of the Walls held a series of special services to pray for the deplorable souls of the departed. Noble families spontaneously donated old clothes and out of fashion footwear. Three high ranking Military Police Commanders were dishonorably discharged and sent to live on one of the crown's many empty country seats far away from the Inner City.

It was a bit strange, Zoë mused while Zackly yelled at Erwin and Nile Dok until he was red in the face, that five days after witnessing the horrors of that night, she still felt too numb to feel anything more than a slight discomfort in the region of the heart.

536 civilians were dead - and five soldiers. Two MPs and two Hange house guards, trampled to death when thousands of people had tried to save themselves by leaving the arena at once.

And one Survey Corps member.

She had seen his body only for a few seconds before the start of the mayhem and only because she had struggled so wildly against her captors. Yet, the image was burnt into her memory with unusual clarity, rising to the front whenever she closed her eyes. His dark hair, grown a bit longer than he had used to keep it, fanned out on the swiftly reddening sand. His eyes, wide open, an expression of surprise in them. His face - pale and charringly peaceful in its serenity as horrible violence erupted all around them.

"... she confessed, Sir," Nile Dok said stiffly. "I don't think the mission was a complete fail..."

"Be silent!" Zackly exploded anew, calling Dok a series of vulgar names as he continued to vent his anger about the fiasco that would damage their reputation for months. Months! The MP was a 'bunch of prancing bullies with no sense', he raged, and the Survey Corps 'criminal harboring lunatics with a deathwish', each and every commander and squad leader deserving several severe floggings for their failure.

"Sir," Erwin said when Zackly finally ran out of words, "it is my opinion that we have to investigate the incident carefully. Clearly, we don't sufficiently understand the details about what happened yet. I even believe it could have something to do with..."

"Details!" Zackly yelled, latching onto the next opportunity for a tirade with fervor. "Who cares about details! Fact is that one of your men, a known criminal, was involved in treasonous behavior that led to an uprising! Fact is that hundreds of military officers panicked when they faced a mob of such proportions! Fact is that we have to clamp down even harder now or risk even more unrest. Pah, details!" Zackly threw his hands into the air. "I advise you to keep your head low, Commander Erwin, and stop putting your nose into political affairs or I fear you will be relieved of your command before the year is over."

"Sir - I want to state that I agree with Commander Erwin," Nile Dok interjected. "Some of my men told me they believe that the command to charge came from a dubious source. They were told that a group of terrorists was hiding in the crowd. They said that..."

"Shut your trap!" Zackly screamed. "You have powerful friends, Nile. Or you'd have been sent to a farm to harvest potatoes for the rest of your life already."