Fail-Safe || Attack on Titan.

prologue.

YEAR 845.

SHIGANSHINA IS HER HOME.

At least, it was.

Rubble crunched beneath her feet, incorporating itself with blood and guts as she ran as quickly as she could to the edges of the city.

There was no one to save; no one to care about.

It was just her.

Panting, eyes flitting around in shock as she kept on running. Her ears were filled with the screams of the dying; and the terrifying silence of the dead.

She avoided the Titans' sight as much as she could, trying her best to stay quiet and invisible. Thankfully, they didn't seem too interested in a small, frail girl with no meat on her bones like her.

"Help! help me, please, girl." A voice desperately cried behind her, and she wanted to turn around and help so badly, but she couldn't focus on anything besides saving her own life now.

The girl thought a bit longer and decided to stop herself, pace coming to a stop as she turned to face the man, who was crushed under a big pile of wooden structuring and debris. Her eyes were filled with terror as she noticed the old man was bleeding out rapidly, his eyes dulling over. She raised a hand, trying to manipulate the destroyed building aside. The wind followed her command; sliding under the planks and rocks to leave the man exposed.

He was a mess, really. His legs were crushed. The right arm was mangled beyond repair. She observed his reaction, but he didn't seem to take notice of the floating pile of debris above him.

The man let out a kind, gentle smile as his eyes softened, crawling out to see the sun shine on him again.

"Thank you." He whispered before closing his eyes, laying down on the open ground, heaving his last breath. She sighed softly, knowing it was hopeless if he were to rescue him anyway.

Wasting no more time, she shook disturbing thoughts away from her mind before turning on her heel and running, harder as ever now, to the evacuation boats by the docks. There was a crowd of people already gathered; faces etched in various expressions. Eyes were empty; faces were gaunt, and most of their bodies were stood stoic.

"Hey, you, how old are you?" The girl was brought out of her thoughts shortly and looked up to see a middle-aged man in a brown uniform face her. An officer. And by the looks of it, he was as distraught as most of the citizens here.

She cleared her throat. "Fifteen."

"And what's your name, miss?"

"Risa Clarice Aberdeen."

The officer gave her an almost envious look before staring off into the distance, watching humanity destroyed in front of his very eyes before coughing. "Very well then. Get on the boat."

"Okay."