The Silver Dragon | Attack on Titan

03 | Family.

Important note: there are some tweaks to ages in this AOT AU. The 104th cadets are all aged up, being 21 during the following events.

The time scale is still identical- the wall fell 5 years ago, just that they were all just a bit older when that happened. They graduated when they were 21. There is no specific reason for this, I just preferred them to be older.

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Three weeks ago:

       Shatter.

       Shards of porcelain flew over the wooden floor, quickly finding themselves trodden on via a furious stampede of feet. Isari slammed her way into the kitchen and wrenched her arm from a young man's weak grasp.

       "You're suicidal." Her voice came out laced with rage.

       "What?! No I'm not!" A far less certain response, a tremor in their voice as they argued.

       "Oh, may the gods save me..." She breathed, "really? You're supposed to be the genius, right now I'm thinking you're a fucking idiot."

       "Isari, please!" They begged, "If I join the scouts, I can help progress mankind's knowledge- besides..." The young man trailed off, "Eren and Mikasa, they need me."

       "And I don't?" She cried, "Armin, you're a real asshole, you know that?!"

       The young blond froze, eyes widened to saucers. He reached out for her again, fingers shaking as they almost grazed her sleeve, before she smacked the hand away. Armin could not find the words- he pondered for a moment- but nothing he could say would stop the pain in her tired gaze. For a moment they stood silently, hearts racing so hard it felt like any moment they could burst free from their chests.

       "You don't mean that, right?" He murmured, heaving air into his lungs at a desperate attempt to stop inevitable tears. Soon they began sliding down his cheeks; he did not wipe them away.

       "I do." She snapped. Isari closed her eyes briefly and took a deep, deep breath. Soon the anger that burned inside subsided, and the woman looked up at him with what could only be true disappointment. "Seriously, Armin. You won't survive out there for a day. It would be a different story if you'd made the top ten."

       "No, it wouldn't." He said miserably, "we'd still be having the same argument."

       "Maybe. Maybe not. I'd be worrying far less if that had been the case." Isari muttered.

       "I'm not doing this to hurt you," Armin insisted desperately, "you know I'd never do that to you!"

       "I know that." She bent down, starting to pile up stray flowers on the table from the vase that had just broken. The woman pre-occupied herself with clearing the mess as she continued. "I just always thought, once your training was over, we would go and see the world. Like I promised when you were younger."

       "We can still do that!" The blond insisted, attempting to help her by picking up a few shards. "Joining the scouts is not the end of my life."

       "Riddle me this." She growled, "Why do you think they churn out so many new soldiers so quickly, why none of the scouts look like they're older than forty?"

       Armin swallowed, keeping his lips firmly shut. He did, however, lock gazes with the woman who was clenching the stem of a rose like a vice. She tore off a petal, it fluttered to the ground and sat on a puddle of spilt water. "A life, wasted." More petals delicately descended; Armin watched each one join the pile.