Seto began to ready his tanks at both his sides, filling them up with gas. While he often stayed in his weapon form, being the secondary weapon to his partner and childhood friend, Lyra, if anything happened suddenly and unexpectedly, he'd have to be ready to jump back into a regular physical state and get on the move to keep him and his partner from dying. Yeah, that was a thought he wasn't fond of.
There was a thundering noise outside and the barracks shifted a bit, subtle pieces of rock and dust leaking in from the ceiling on top of them. Various of the younger soldiers around his age began to cry and shake and yell, 'Of course they're afraid...' Seto thought while taking one of the large tanks of gas and attempting to attach it to his own with difficulty, 'We were all once like that too.' He paused in his struggling, then looked up and stared at two different types of people; the ones who showed fear, and others who's faces were stone cold, 'But the rest of us already shed enough tears and yelled enough from the top of our lungs when we saw those monsters the first time too. He went back to hooking up the tanks.
Just then, a flashback hit him in the head.
~~~
'Go and get me food.' He remembered a woman saying to him. Who was the woman, he couldn't remember, or perhaps, he chose not to remember. She grabbed tighter at little Seto's collar of his ragged and dusty clothes, 'Get me food. Now.'
'M-Mom...' Seto gulped as she reached for his neck. Right... yes, that's right. That was his mother. His first, actually, and cruelly insane mother, 'We're poor... we... we can't afford food...' He said timidly and the hand got a tight grip around his neck now, and he began to choke.
'Does it look like I fucking care? You brat! Go and get me my food, damn it!' His mother yelled. People passed by the torn family on the streets, but said nothing. They were just rats looking for leftovers dropped for them on the ground. Even the child, Seto, mattered not to the men and women and children who glanced at them with selfish eyes. His mother let go of his neck, shoving him backwards and sitting up from the sheets of cloth that was supposed to be a bed, 'You're useless.' She muttered and began to get up.
'M-Mom don't!' Seto approached his mom, despite being choked. Was it out of love? No. It was out of fear of the woman, 'You're going to hurt yourself, let me go and get it then-' Seto stood to steal something- anything that was edible for his sick and dying mother. He knew she was dying, yet the fear of that abuse he experienced from her lingered over him to do whatever she asked, even on her deathbed.
Once more, his mother grabbed him, this time by the hair, and pulled his ear close to her mouth as she whispered in his ear, 'I hope they kill you.'
~~~
There was a snap back to reality and Seto gasped for air as he had a hard time breathing for the moment the flashback played in his mind. He put his hand gently and stroked his neck gently, remembering that pain, "Titans are probably better than that..." He muttered agitatedly and finally began to take the gas into his 3D Maneuver Gear. He told himself that Titans were better than his mother, but what he was really focused on was worrying that- what if that happened during battle? What if, for some reason, he was using his gear with Lyra in her weapon form, and he'd experience a flashback. The both of them would be eaten and killed without doubt.
He sighed, trying to forget about this thought and looked around the barracks filled with other soldiers getting ready to face the war head on, and searched for one familiar face; his partner, "Lyra!" He called, seeing how he couldn't move. The battle would start soon, and he wanted to be ready early.