Chapter Nine: Evelyn Cambrige the traitor

I did not intend to stifle my tension toward something I considered drab, dark, lacking in color and emotion. The pain I felt, the bloody rage of revenge for seeing my comrades killed, made my chest tighten. I would never forgive Truth. I would never forgive Evelyn Cambrige. Her humanity had been extinguished at the same moment that my comrades had taken their last breath.

Who would have forgiven a monster like her?

As a child, I would never have believed such atrocities, nor would I have believed that such human beings existed to turn into ferocious beasts.

The human being himself, with his weapons and hatred, was enough to start wars and exterminations. We could not fight against characters we had read about in children's fantasy books.

I clutched the straps of the horse tightly between my fingers in an attempt to curb my boiling spirits that wanted nothing more than to vent their dissatisfaction. The dull blue eyes I craved like danger burned like a blazing fire. I continued to stare at my knuckles that had turned white from the pressure exerted on the strings, and I had no intention of explaining the discomfort that enveloped me at that moment.

I had promised Siena that I would not harm a hair on Evelyn Cambrige's head, but inside I felt that it was not possible to keep that promise. I longed for revenge. I would have felt better if I had felt her blood staining my skin, her condolences shouted at the top of her lungs and her eyes filled with tears. Would I really have felt better by hurting her? Could my soul and feelings conceive of this emptiness? No feeling, no connection, no emotion. I gritted my teeth so hard that I could feel them grinding against each other.

Calm down, Keyes, I kept telling myself. You'll only bring yourself more pain. You can't lose your cool right now.

"Commander Chris Mandara, to what do I owe the visit to our district?" Commander Liam Doak stopped our horses, firmly gripping his rifle with both hands and pointing it at us. The two men and I exchanged a lightning glance; Chris dismounted his horse in a rather stately manner, adjusting his cloak.

"Commander Liam Doak, I was just coming to meet you." He retorted in a tone that gave no answer. I dismounted from my horse and grabbed him by the strap, belting him with the palm of my hand.

"It's rare to see you around here, Mandara," he loaded the barrel of his rifle, "it would be better if you and your rookie team went back to where you came from," and gave us a look of provocation alternating with disgust.

"Commander Liam!" One of the Custodial Corps soldiers ran toward us panting. Droplets of sweat ran down his forehead, and his expression manifested only fear and worry. Liam looked at the soldier from the corner of his eye with distrust until the latter said, "One of the dungeons in the center of the city exploded. Some of our soldiers are in the field, but none of them know how to move. We had many casualties among both civilians and our soldiers."

Liam loaded his rifle and gritted his teeth, aiming at Chris. "Chris, damn you! I bet you are behind all this devastation." He shouted authoritatively, creating a small wrinkle in the center of his furrowed brow.

I released my grip from the horse and allowed my instincts to protect the Commander who had every need to do so. I grasped the dagger I hid in my cloak and slowly drew it from my breeches. If they had opened fire, I would not have had the problem of stabbing them with a single blow to the jugular.

"Exactly!" Chris replied, bluntly. "I am responsible for this plan and I am not going to apologize!"

Commander Liam squinted his eyes and lowered his weapon, advancing toward Chris. He grabbed him by the lapel of his cloak, bringing his furious face within inches of his own. Out of instinct I clutched the dagger tighter.

"What the fuck are you trying to do?! How could you do such a thing in my district?!" he blurted out, "So what? What are you doing?! React!" He urged violently, sending me even more into a rage.

I slowly pulled out my dagger and twirled it between my fingers, squinting my eyes into two slits.

"I did it ... to find out the Truth."

"Are you kidding?!" he took a step back and suddenly gripped the rifle again, pointing it at me, "You're just an insurgent and even if I executed you now, my superiors would have no objection."

Rivaille, during that time, remained in religious silence, looking impassively at the situation. He had dismounted from his horse and tied it to the nearest wagon. He was wearing a black coat and not the usual uniform of the Army of Reconnaissance, because he could not practice in the field. I noticed that, after the surprise attack outside the base by the Evelyn Cambrige, he was standing on one leg.

I dived, suddenly, behind Commander Liam's back and pointed the sharp blade at his throat, feeling no compassion. If he had committed a simple misstep, I would have bled him dry with a single blow.

"Don't you dare address Commander Chris Mandara like that, you damn living scum." I hissed and the long fringe covered my bloodshot eyes, darkening them. I sensed Liam trembling at my touch and his soldiers pointing three rifles at me in defense of their superior. "Tell your sycophants to lower their weapons if they don't want to have another corpse along the way." I threatened authoritatively, catching sight of Liam waving his hand in a sign to lower their rifles.

They obeyed without hesitation. "Commander Valentine will not mind seeing your head on his desk. Now, apologize to the Commander," I vehemently pushed him forward, forcing him to kneel before Chris's feet "...and don't make me repeat it." I added abruptly.

Liam raised his head in my direction, looking at me with disdain. "You must be Commander Valentine's favorite, right?" I raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out where he was going with this.

"How many mouthfuls must you have made with that insolent mouth of yours to deserve such a place, General Schwarz?" A mocking smirk, rather irritating by my standards of refinement, rippled his smudged lips.

I bent one knee and crouched over it, lowering myself to face him from above, fumbling with the dagger between my fingers in the meantime. "You slimy, conceited men..." I murmured hoarsely, wetting my lips in a slow, allusive manner. "You believe that getting to a finish line always has a dual purpose, because only you little bastards can't accomplish anything with your precious, useless and painful lives. But I want to tell you a secret..." I pushed the blade lightly against his flesh, where a drop of blood lined his neck. "I don't kiss anyone's ass to get to the top. Not even for deliverance."

"Kesey, now let me go!" Chris ordered, letting slip a small, satisfied smile. I pulled the blade away from his neck, twirling it three times between my fingers and slipped it back into my pants, walking away.

I looked at Rivaille and a mocking smile framed his lips.

"You two, or rather, you three," Liam gasped, brushing against his neck. "You will be arrested for devising this absurd plan and especially," he frowned at me, "for trying to kill a superior officer." I did not respond to his provocation, but smiled in my own defense.

"That's fine with me, though," Liam looked at Chris confusedly, "you'll be the one to take over for me. Don't let the above battle slip away, have former NCO Houston and another soldier with field experience join you..."

"...Wait!" interrupted Liam, "Are you really saying that all this will lead us to the core?!"

"Yes, I am convinced that it will be a step toward victory," he said. "Our task as an army is to protect the citizens and conduct research in the field; I will explain everything calmly, but let my two trusty soldiers be able to join the others."

Liam frowned and heaved a sigh of surrender. "Lower your rifles and put handcuffs on them." He ordered his soldiers, whose request they immediately obeyed.

"Yes, sir!"

I looked at Chris and the latter reciprocated, addressing me with a nod I had been waiting for a long time. Without making me repeat it twice, I returned to my horse and mounted the saddle.

Rivaille looked at me and in a loud voice murmured, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"I won't do anything you wouldn't do!" I retorted, inciting my horse to run.

I braked my horse near the poles so I could tie him up. I dismounted and quickly took off my cloak, along with my beige jacket, leaving the brown suspenders at my torso and, of course, the Two-Dimensional Device: this was a contraption that allowed steel ropes to attach to the hardest materials, facilitating marching and team cooperation. I checked the gas in the valves and found that it was sufficient to use it properly, preventing it from retracting in case of unnecessary movements. I ran toward the devastated houses, the rubble of which lay on the lifeless corpses of doomed fellow citizens.

At such a sight I was cold-blooded and avoided stopping to look, as it would have been useless and at the same time I could have done nothing.

My vision was clouded by the images of my comrades, and as the ropes hooked into the walls, the anger grew stronger and stronger, to the point that I dug the palms of my hands with my fingernails. I ran, I ran so hard that I ran out of breath in my lungs, with a thud I maneuvered the Device and the ropes hooked onto the roof of a house, and then resumed my run.

From a distance, I saw the giant with female features running toward the gates in an attempt to knock them down and escape. I managed to think that in addition to being a goddamn bitch, she was also a fucking coward. I leapt and landed on another rooftop, on which the recruits were watching the situation from afar. Edward was also with them.

"General!" Peter shouted as soon as he saw me pass before their eyes, but I did not brake my pace and since there was no longer any foothold to land on, I acted again using the Device. "General don't do it!"

With both blades pointing upward, I floated with the device and rotated on myself so quickly as to create a kind of air vortex, after which I lacerated the monster's right arm up to my hand and knocked it down hard. I saw the giant lose its balance and, to my right, the figure of Lana materialized and approached me. At that moment we were united by the same determination: to destroy her at all costs.

The giantess's face was scarred, as if someone had forcibly dragged her across the base. I held the sword and so did Lana: "General, are you sure?" she asked.

I did not look at her, "And you... are you sure, Lana?" The girl gasped and did not utter another breath, after which I focused on the enemy, helpless and defeated on the ground. "Now... die!"

But at one point, as I was on the verge of striking the enemy, I felt the sensation of a weight brutally bearing down on me and then inelegantly flinging me to the ground. The aching physique was deeply affected and I accidentally touched the bruise I had forgotten I possessed, gasping from the violent impact. I had been lucky not to have broken my neck. Any human, with that fall, would have died stupidly.

Once I had lifted myself up with my torso, sitting on the ground, I brought a hand to the back of my head and felt blood dripping onto my hand. I squinted my eyes and looked up, turning around agitated and enraged, "Who the fuck did this?!" I quickly realized that the fall had not been due to my lack of balance or hesitation, but rather someone had pushed me to stop me from killing our second chance to reach the World Core.

The blood would not stop soiling my hair and the back of my neck. I got up from the ground, staggering on my legs, and winced in pain when I leaned my weight on my right ankle: it had sprained.

"Your attitude is not of a high standard, General Schwarez," my eyes popped out of their sockets when I heard his voice, "...Do you think it is right to kill a possible witness to the situation we are in?"

"Houston..." I growled. "What the fuck are you doing here?!"

Houston gave me a cheeky smile. "For the same reason you did - - in fact, no..." he corrected himself sarcastically, "since you were about to kill our witness!"

The sharp look he gave me made my blood chill. I recognized those eyes; it was the look he reserved for those who dared to challenge him or meddle in situations that did not matter to him. Although his demeanor was calm and quiet, the dialectic as simple as a true non-commissioned officer issuing orders, I understood from his gaze that calm was the virtue of the strong, and Houston represented the perfect example of this saying: the calm before the storm.

"Shit, you're no longer part of the team. Don't you dare stop me!" I shouted.

He tilted his head to the side and scrutinized me for a long time. "You no longer have a team, Kesey," he replied, shoving reality in my face. "You no longer have anyone to trust with your work... Much less your trust!"

"Shut up..." I whispered.

"...Alois is dead," he continued, ignoring my plea.

"Houston!" I grunted.

"...Alexandra is dead," he took a step forward. I clenched my fists. "Isak is dead..."

"Houston! Stop!" I shouted, transfixed and red in the face. I felt vomit rise in my throat.

Houston decreased his pace and stopped in front of me, keeping some distance from our bodies.

"Edward hates you..." was the straw that broke the camel's back.

In a fury, I threw myself at him, landing a sharp punch to his jaw. The boy retreated a step, keeping his face turned away and the eyes of someone expecting such a reaction planted on the ground. My chest rose and fell from the effort, which was not physical, but rather mental.

"...Do you feel better?" he asked, resting his eyes in mine. I barred my pupils and screamed into his face, gritting my teeth. He suffered, handing me his silence. "Kesey..." my hand lifted and I hit him on the cheek.

Once again, Houston did nothing.

"Do you have any idea-" I murmured, I pulled up my nose. "Do you have any idea how I feel?!" I touched my chest. "I wake up every day thinking: "Shit, I didn't even die today." I dried my tears. "I hate to be so... so weak."

"Human relationships have one thing in common with battles: if you let your weaknesses show, you are doomed," he quoted. "You've already shown too much weakness, even to yours truly, don't you think it's better to stand up again, Kesey?" I looked at him. He shrugged his shoulders. "...This is not the behavior of a general, yours. Or at least, of the general I know."

"Houston..." I began. "Why?"

He looked at me confused. "What do you mean?"

"Why did you leave me?"

He looked at me without blinking. His lips opened, as if he wanted to cheer me up by giving me an answer, but that did not happen. He closed them and clamped them over each other, averting his gaze.

At one point we heard screams coming from an area a little farther away from where we were. Suddenly, he brought his gaze to mine, and I reciprocated the concern swirling in my soul: we began to run without delay toward the center of the base.

Edmund's colossus was straddling Evelyn's now severely injured colossus. The latter was trying to pull the host out of the giant monster's body. "Edmund!" I felt Peter and his disquiet reverberate through the air, and I realized that Edmund's intent was to devour Evelyn's human body rather than enforce Chris's plan.

"Damn it! And I was afraid you were going to kill her," Houston cursed. "I should have thrown him in the air, too!"

"I must intervene," I said, readying the device's gas valves.

Houston abruptly turned to me, grabbing me by the shoulders. "This is bullshit! You're going to get yourself killed."

"Maybe that's what I want," I asserted seriously, pushing his hands away from me. "Let me decide for myself. I'm tired of standing by your recommendations."

"Mine are not recommendations, but warnings," he blurted, pointing with his finger at Edmund's colossus, "That colossus will not recognize you if you enter its battlefield. It will maul you together with the giantess!"

The roar of Edmund's behemoth made my blood run cold. Houston blinked. "Kesey...," he called back in a warning tone. I operated the gas valves and released the steel chains on the roof of a house. "Kesey!" shouted the former NCO, as I floated through the sky.

I landed feet-first on the asphalt, facing the fight and the two behemoths. I unhooked the harness of the device and left everything on the ground, as the remaining gas was exhausted, and began to run toward the two majestic figures, to prevent a massacre from taking place. With each step, with each breath, I felt my head getting heavier and my strength failing me.

From above my head I sensed a whirlwind of wind, so I looked up and saw Rivaille in his outfit heading with the device attached toward the two monsters.

Rivaille landed on Edmund's colossus, cut the collar and slid the boy's human body from there with some ease. The behemoth stopped hitting Evelyn's injured one, and the captain carried Edmund on his shoulders like a sack of potatoes, then dismounted from the giant and landed with his feet on the ground. Edmund seemed unconscious, but had no injuries. In Rivaille's presence we all breathed a sigh of relief and the Division I team surrounded Edmund and the Captain.

I had slackened my run and stopped a few meters from them.

Once again, I had done nothing.

I slowly blinked my eyelids, which immediately became heavy. The muscles of my body relaxed completely. "It's over," I whispered to myself. "The capture of Evelyn Cambrige has been completed," and before my eyes finally closed, I heard my name being shouted loudly and let myself fall to the ground.

Fainted.