•• ⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰ ••
"You would?"
"Want that with you, I mean."
•• ⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰ ••
•
[TW: Mentions and descriptions of death, blood and gore. Please be aware before reading.]
•
|Year 845|
The year of humanity's darkest day.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
EREN WOKE UP WITH a gasp, his eyes wide and unfocused as he tried to interpret his surroundings. Mikasa stood over him, worry and concern etched in her young features. Eren mumbled something incoherent and unintelligible to either of them, leaving Mikasa only more worried as to why he would act this way. Sure, he usually wore his emotions proudly - more like, stubbornly - but it was usually never one of true shock or fear as his face showed now.
"Let's head back." Mikasa told him, adjusting herself as she fully stood up on her feet. She chose to ignore the way his eyes looked as though they tried to find something, searching for an object that would not appear. Knowing Eren, he would only become defensive and shout.
"What am I doing here?" Eren asked, his voice quiet and some of his words partially slurred together as he slowly sat up.
"You're so out of it," Mikasa noted, looking back at him to scan his features. "Were you sound asleep?" She asked, trying to decipher his emotions that were usually so obvious.
"No," Eren denied as he held his right hand up to his head, trying to put his thoughts in order as a sting of pain struck him. "It just feels like I had a really long dream."
"What was it about?" He continued, more to himself than to Mikasa, struggling to grasp his train of thought. "I don't remember." He finished, defeated and worn out despite having just woken up from a nap.
"Eren, why are you crying?" Mikasa asked, now voicing her true concern as Eren cluelessly went to wipe his cheeks.
"We should head back before your mom gets worried." Mikasa reminded him, watching closely as Eren mindlessly followed her orders. It was clear to her that whatever he had dreamed about in that short time, had enough of an impact on him to leave him is such an uncharacteristically long daze.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
"Don't tell anyone I was crying." Eren whispered to Mikasa as they made their way back to the Yeager family house, carrying firewood on their backs as Eren's mother had asked.
"I won't," She replied obediently. "But, if you don't know why you're crying, maybe you should talk to your dad about it?" She suggested, eager herself to find out what had caused his grief and stop it.
"Are you kidding me?" Eren scoffed back at her. "I can't tell my dad about that!"
"What are you crying about, Eren?" A man's voice echoed through the short tunnel the two children had just entered, cutting off their path as he stepped in front of the children.
"Hannes." Eren greeted as he recognized the adult in front of him.
Hannes was a simple Garrison soldier, with short blonde hair and hazel eyes. Though he normally stood averagely tall, today, his posture was slouched as he bent down in front of Eren and Mikasa to get a better look at them. His eyes were opened lazily, pupils dilated and cheeks flushed a rose red with a strong scent that Eren couldn't ignore.
"Is Mikasa mad at you?" Hannes questioned.
"What? Why would I be crying?" Eren quickly defended himself before shrinking away from the older man and covering his nose. "And you reek of alcohol!" He shouted at his family friend, trying his best to steer away from the embarrassing fact that he had cried over something he couldn't explain.
"Nothin' wrong with that." A small group of soldiers sat at the end of the tunnel, cards in one hand and a silver flask that was being passed around in the other. They looked as lazy as ever, which had always filled Eren with disgust and disappointment.
"Wanna join us?" Hannes asked the young boy.
"Aren't you on duty today?" Eren retorted.
"Yah, we're watching the gates today," Hannes answered casually, his words loosely connecting together in his tipsy state. "We've been here all day. Started getting hungry and thirsty. But, it's not a big deal if we happen to drink something with a little alcohol in it." The soldier defended himself and his friend's drinking habits with a slight shrug of his shoulders, a notion that caused a spike in Eren's easily triggered anger.
"But, if you're drunk, how are you gonna fight?" Eren interrogated, his face scrunched in frustration.
"Huh? When would we have to fight?" Hannes asked absentmindedly.
"Do you really have to ask?" Eren's voice raised as he tightened his hold on the straps that kept the wood secured on his back. "When they break the wall and come in!" He exclaimed.
"Ouch," Hannes muttered while clutching his head. Shouting children and drinking was never a good combination, but it seemed like Eren never failed to be upset about the most minor inconveniences. Even if they usually made little to no sense, riling him up further was always a great way to get a migraine. "Don't say things like that out loud, Eren." The blonde man groaned.
"Well, if it isn't Dr. Yeager's son. You've got spirit, kid," Another Garrison soldier - or drunkard, in Eren's opinion - stepped forward. "If they do end up breaking the wall, we'll do our jobs." The brunette man added smugly.
"But, you know what?" The soldier continued, allowing Hannes to keep trying to fight his unbeatable headache. "Not once in the past hundred years have they broken the wall."
"Still! My dad said that it's times like these when we're the most in danger!" Eren fired back, unconvinced.
"Dr. Yeager said that?" Hannes noted, placing his hands on his hips. "We'll, he's right," The blonde soldier confirmed. "He saved our town from plague before, we can't thank him enough," He continued, praising his long time friend. "But, these Titans are a different story."
"I see Titans walking around all the time when I mend the walls," Hannes told the two children, looking over his soldier to the wall that could still be seen way across town. "But, speaking as a soldier, I don't think they can do anything about that fifty meter wall." The man spoke honestly. It was true, none of the Titans even came remotely close to the height of the wall, let alone strong enough to break it down.
"S-so you don't even have the will to fight them?" Eren fired at them, not caring for the reason for their cowardly acts. Cowardly in his eyes, anyways.
"No." Hannes answered truthfully, knowing full well that if Eren is already upset, no answer would truly satisfy him.
"What?!" Eren demanded, now fully shouting at the two soldiers. "Why don't you stop calling yourselves the Town Guards, and call yourselves the Wall Menders!"
"Has a nice ring to it." Hannes played along. It was futile, arguing with such a poor tempered person, let alone a child. "But, Eren, when people see soldiers fighting, they know something bad happened. Everyone's much happier when we're doing nothing and getting called useless freeloaders." He said, trying to hint at an important life lesson within these walls. Fighting will only cause humanity pain, so it's best to live within the walls where safety is guaranteed.
"Yeah, I know," Eren seethed, clenching his fists at his sides. "We might not get out, but we'll live as long as we can eat and sleep. But, we're living like livestock." Eren said, looking down as his voice trailed off with his newfound epiphany.
After a short beat of silence came roaring laughter from the final two drunken Garrisons, still sitting at the table with their gambling cards in hand.
"Man, this kid sure knows how to talk!" One called, brushing his black hair away from his face as he looked at the child from over his shoulder.
"Not like you can do anything about it, right Hannes?" The other teased, snickering behind his cards as he took a generous swig from the silver flask that was left behind.
Having had enough, Eren walked away from the soldier and restarted his journey back to his house with Mikasa following directly after. They both ignored the teasing shouts from the soldiers behind them, Eren's epiphany still at the front of his mind.
Livestock.
Cattle.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
The journey back to the Yeager house was silent after the confrontation with Hannes and the other Garrisons. Eren couldn't stop thinking about the dream he struggled to remember, and his new realization spiraled his thoughts further. Mikasa had her own realization during that conversation.
Eren was serious about joining the Survey Corps.
Eren had briefly mentioned it sometime before, but Mikasa never took him seriously. Every child their age had heard about the Survey Corps and their newest and strongest member, and everyone had a petty dream to follow in their footsteps to become something close to that soldier's level. But it was only a childish dream.
It wasn't like he was old enough to even join the cadets, so she didn't think much of it. Plus the fact that he had always dreamt of at least seeing outside the walls, but was never strong or old enough to do it on his own. She had nothing to worry about. Until now. Now, especially after she saw his true determination for it.
"Eren," Mikasa began, regaining his focus. "I don't think you should join the Survey Corps."
"What? You think they're stupid, too?" He asked her, immediately becoming defensive as she knew he would.
"I'm not saying they're stupid or anyt—" Mikasa's rebuttal was cut off by the sound of the bell tower going off, exciting Eren just by the sound.
"The Survey Corps is back!" He cheered. "The front gate is opening!" He smiled. "Let's go, Mikasa! The heroes came back!" He shouted cheerfully, dragging the girl behind him as he jogged to the main streets below.
He ran with newfound speed, letting go of Mikasa's sweater as adrenaline rushed through him.
This time, He thought, this time I'll finally see them. Faith. Today, I can finally see the heart of the Survey Corps!
It had been two years since the first appearance of the incredible force, labeled 'Faith'. It seemed as though they had been nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Word-of-mouth spoke about amazing stories of the unrivaled skill that Faith has brought to the regiment, but Eren had yet to actually spot the mysterious soldier at all. He hadn't known of the admirable soldier, who he would've seen had he listened to the bell tower that day, and every time he had gone since then had been a no-show. Even so, not viewing the soldier did little to stop his ever-growing idolization of them.
But, this time was going to be different. Or so he hoped.
"Damn," Eren whispered under his breath as he pushed his way through the back of the crowd. "I can't see anything."
Lucky enough for him, two wooden crates were piled together next to the building that the crowd stood in front of. He rushed to stand on top of them, Mikasa followed and stood on the smaller crate to his right. Eren's face held nothing but anticipation and excitement. He couldn't wait to finally see his most admired hero.
His expression of joy fizzled as soon as he saw the Squad Leader, Erwin Smith, riding with two of his squad mates but with no mysterious soldier in sight. Smith, who had grown increasingly popular from his comrades' lack of death, and known widely by the people as 'the next commander' or 'the man who brought in Faith', made eye contact with the overly excited boy before tearing his eyes away as he remembered the failed expedition his regiment had just returned from.
Almost immediately, mutters from the onlookers began as the soldiers rode on horseback and wagons which were headed towards the inner gate. Most of them, neither Eren nor Mikasa could interpret as they mumbled to themselves.
"Why are there so few of them?" One townsfolk questioned.
"A bunch of them were eaten," A man casually answered. "That's what you get for going outside the walls."
"Eh? Why go outside without Faith? Haven't they learned? She's the one that should be leading their charge." A woman spoke with a scoff, resting her hands on her hips and shaking her head.
"Maybe he knew today would be a showing of the Scouts' incompetence, and decided not to come. Smart boy." A man who stood beside the woman said as he glared at the soldiers who passed by.
Oddly enough, though Faith's gender identity was no secret though, since it was only word-of-mouth, people still debated on what the soldier identified as and gave her whatever pronouns they saw fit. This then led to a more muted debate on why Faith had to be a man because 'no soldier who's said to fight like that can be feminine'. A truly unfortunate outlook to have if they ever found out the truth.
"Moses! Moses!" An elderly woman called before Eren could put his two cents into the conversation in front of him. She stumbled onto the street, blocking the path from any incoming Scouts as she made her way towards the Commander.
"Moses," She told the leading officer. "My son, Moses, I can't find him anywhere. Where is my son?" She begged, clinging to Commander Sadies as she checked the line of soldiers once more for the person she was looking for.
"It's her," Sadies spoke to the officer beside him. "Moses' mother. Bring it here," His voice was low as he spoke, his eyes downcast as he watched the shorter woman glance at the remainder of the regiment beside her. "That was the only part we could salvage."
The woman fumbled backwards as she was handed a white wrap that held the remnants of her late son. Opening the bloodstained cloth to reveal his bruised hand and forearm, her eyes widened and her face became white as a sheet. She fell to her knees, clutching the arm in her hold and she sobbed, looking up at the Commander, eyes filled with sorrow.
"But," She cried as Sadies kneeled down in front of her. "My son, he was useful. Right?" She asked, tightening her grip on the wrapped hand. "He might not have been a hero, but, at least he died helping mankind fight back, right?" She shouted desperately, looking up at Sadies.
"Of course!" The leading officer answered back instantly. "No," He corrected himself. "During this mission, we...No, even after all of our missions, we still haven't made any progress!" He yelled at the floor, hanging his head in defeat.
"I'm a failure. I've just gotten my soldiers killed left and right! And we haven't learned anything useful about the Titans!" The Commander was now crying as well, his eyes closed as he continued to shout in despair. Eren stood shocked as he witnessed the exchange, hearing the leading officer as well as seeing the damage done to the soldiers left him speechless.
"Well, that was heavy." One man said as he crossed his arms over his chest, everyone watching as the rest of the soldiers rode off towards the inner wall to the Scouts' base.
"Seriously." His friend agreed.
"So, all we've been doing is offering ourselves to them as free lunch?" The first man continued. "What's the point of having a soldier like Faith, and not bring him on your mission? Maybe he really doesn't exist. If he did, maybe I wouldn't be so mad about wasting my tax money on this stupid—" The man let out a yelp of pain as he was hit in the head with a plank of wood, turning to face the aggressor in question.
"What was that for, kid?" The man shouted, holding a hand up to rub the spot that had been hit.
Eren stood proudly with the wooden plank in hand, reeling his arm back to swing again when a strong force pulled him backwards.
"Hey! What are you doing, Mikasa?!" Eren protested as she continued to drag him behind her, ignoring the man Eren assaulted who called out for vengeance.
"Alright! Mikasa, fine, I get it!" Eren said as he failed to squirm away from her death grip. He was suddenly released, thrown by Mikasa from where he stood as his back smacked against a stone wall, the wood he carried on his back crashing to the floor around him.
"What was that for?!" Eren asked and he sat up from landing harshly on his stomach, gesturing angrily to the scattered firewood. "Look at all the wood!"
"Eren," Mikasa began, ignoring his shouting. "Have you changed your mind about the Recon Corps?" She asked him seriously, her eyes staring holes into his head as she waited for the answer she wanted.
"Help me pick this up." Eren responded after a contemplative silence. Though his avoidance answered her question more than he ever could.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
"We're back." Eren greeted plainly as the two children entered the Yeager household.
"Welcome home." His mother greeted back fondly, looking over her shoulder as she wiped the dishes clean.
"Meet anyone new?" His father asked.
Grisha Yeager was a well known doctor within Wall Maria. Having saved the city from a dense plague years prior gained him some popularity. However, ever since the family welcomed Mikasa into their home, the doctor had never failed to ask if Eren had made any new friends that day. Of course, no one ever thought twice about it, Eren just wasn't as popular as his health care-worker father.
"No." Eren replied easily, opening the chest next to the door and emptying the firewood that he and Mikasa had collected that day, his answer receiving a hum from his father.
"Wow, Eren," Carla Yeager stepped closer to her son as he dumped the wood into the chest. "I'm surprised you gathered this much firewood today." She complimented.
"Yeah," Eren said, not meeting her eyes as he closed the chest. It was only until he felt a quick tug in his ear, did he quickly turn to face his mother. "What was that for?"
"Your ear was red. You were lying," She stated. "Mikasa helped you, didn't she?" His mother asked knowingly, chuckling when her son didn't respond.
"Help Mikasa set the table please, lunch is almost ready." Carla told Eren before going back to what she was doing before, passing by the stove to stir the stew that was one of the burners.
Mikasa was quick to help with the chore, standing behind Carla as the woman poured some stew in her bowl with a smile.
"Dad, are you heading out?" Eren asked while taking another bite of his lunch. "For work?"
"Yeah, I have to go see someone in the inner walls." Grisha replied while tucking some folders into his briefcase. "I'll be back in two or three days."
"Eren wants to join the Survey Corps." Mikasa said, staring blankly at her finished lunch in front of her. Carla and Grisha's attention was quickly grabbed as a shocked silence followed her statement.
"M-Mikasa, you traitor!" Eren cried as he slammed his plate and spoon onto the table, watching his mother stomp her way over to him with anger written all over her expression.
"Eren! What are you thinking?!" The woman scolded as she circled around the table to kneel by his side, grasping her son firmly by his soldiers. "Do you know how many people die outside those walls?!"
"I do!" Eren responded.
"You clearly don't!" His mother shot back.
"He wants to be like Faith." Mikasa answered for him, earning herself a more shocked and betrayed look from Eren.
"You want to be like Faith and go get yourself killed outside the walls?!" Carla cried out in frustration.
"Faith won't die!" Eren argued, clenching his fists as his anger peaked.
"Faith isn't real!" Carla rebutted, unwilling to back down for her son's safety.
"Stop saying that!" Eren screamed, slamming his balled fists onto the table hard enough for the dishes to rattle as his mother reeled back, appalled.
Eren glared at his mother as she went quiet, his fists shaking on the table top, panting with fury. Mikasa was bent in on herself, feeling guilty for making the people she cared about fight each other.
"Eren," Grisha interrupted. "Why do you want to go outside?" He asked, intrigued.
"I want to see and understand the world outside. I don't want to die inside these walls without knowing what's out there!" He said as he had expressed to his two closest friends for a while.
"On top of that, if no one takes on their jobs, then those who have lost their lives will die in vain! That's what Faith is doing, and I have to do it, too!" Eren exclaimed. Grisha felt a spark rush through him as Mikasa looked on with a growing fear for the future.
"I have to join, and fight beside Faith!" He finished.
"I see," Grisha said, leaning back in his chair before standing up. "My ship's here. I must get going." He said, opening the front door as he placed his hat on.
"Wait, dear!" Carla called as she rushed to the door after her husband. "Help me convince Eren!" She pleaded as Grisha turned to face her.
"Carla, nothing can suppress a human's curiosity." He said to his wife. "Eren," He turned to his son, who quickly stood up from the kitchen table. "After I've returned, I'll show you the basement that I've been keeping you away from." Grisha said, flashing a golden key that hung like a necklace.
Eren beamed happily, a new wave of excitement coursing through him. The basement is something his father held close to him, something Eren had never seen no matter how many times he tried to sneak in or ask about it. This was something he truly couldn't wait to see.
"For real?" Eren asked, watching as his father tucked the necklace back into his shirt before exiting the home. Eren chased after the man, sending him a big wave as he watched him walk down the street. "Have a safe trip!" He called, receiving a wave from his father.
"I won't allow it," Carla hastily denied, capturing the two children's attention. "You won't be joining something stupid like the Survey Corps, no matter how much you want to be like Faith or fight alongside them, you won't." Carla said.
"Stupid?!" Eren shouted. "People who are content with living like livestock are more stupid!" He fired back, running off in the opposite direction of his house, ignoring his mother's calls for him to return.
How dare she say that? Eren thought as he sprinted his way out of his neighborhood, not hearing the second pair of footsteps following after him. They have it all wrong! I do want to be Faith, I want to be the skilled soldier who fights right next to them! Being a soldier isn't stupid! It's not! She doesn't know anything!
"Enough with your crappy arguments!" Eren heard someone shout as he rounded one the street corners, seeing his friend getting cornered by three bullies. Three bullies he'd already been familiar with.
"Stop!" He bellowed as he picked up his speed, getting ready to fight them as he had once before.
The three teenagers dropped Armin, letting him slide against the wall of a building as they raised their fists in the air. Their cocky expressions dropped in seconds, though, switching to a wide-eyed and frightened look as they turned and sprinted down the street, yelling something Eren couldn't hear as he reveled in his victory.
"Hey! They ran after seeing me!" Eren cheered, catching his breath after running for a while.
"No," his blonde friend corrected. "They ran away after seeing Mikasa-ow!" He crouched down, holding his side.
"You okay, Armin?" Eren asked, holding out his hand to his friend.
"I can stand up by myself." Armin said, disregarding Eren's outreached hand.
"Oh, sorry." Eren apologized as he stood up, letting Armin do so on his own terms.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
"So, after telling them that mankind needs to go out eventually, they beat me and called me a heretic." Armin explained.
The three friends were sitting by the river that flowed through the middle of Shiganshina. Mikasa sat with her knees to her chest on the bottom steps that led into the water, Armin sat on the tops of the stairs, and Eren sat on the supporting wall next to the stairs, throwing any pebbles or rocks he coulda find into the stream.
"Dammit," He said, chucking another rock into the water. "We just want to go outside. Why does everyone hate us?" He asked angrily.
"Well, it's been peaceful living inside these walls for the past one hundred years." Armin noted. "Titans might be let inside when people leave the walls, so the King's government banned people from showing interest to the outside world."
"We're risking our own lives. No one has the right to stop us." Eren argued.
"You can't do that," Mikasa intervened. "You can't."
"I almost forgot, Mikasa! How dare you tell my parents!" Eren called out.
"I don't remember agreeing to help you." Mikasa replied, irritating Eren further.
"Uh, how did they take it?" Armin asked, immediately knowing what the discussion was about.
"Well, they weren't very happy about it." Eren said.
"I figured," Armin sighed. "People are crazy for believing these walls will protect us forever," He said, continuing with the topic the trio always seemed to find a way to talk about. "Even though the walls have been intact for one hundred years, there's nothing that can guarantee they won't be broken down today." He added, curling his knees to his chest.
Just as Eren was about to agree a deafening boom sounded through the city, shaking the ground so violently that the three children were sent tumbling from where they sat.
"Wh-what was that?" Armin asked.
"Was it an explosion?" Eren guessed, the trio turning to face the direction of where the sound came from.
"Over there! I think something fell!" One man shouted to his neighbors, the group of them jogging to get a better view. Armin quickly followed, equally as curious to find the culprit for such a blast.
"Hey! Armin!" Eren called, sprinting after his friend as Mikasa followed.
They didn't have to run very far since Armin was frozen in place, similarly to the rest of the townspeople who stood in a crowd in front of him. All of them were stunned in silence as they stared up towards the outer wall.
"What happened?" Eren asked as he finally caught up. "What are you looking at?" He turned to follow Armin's line of vision and let out a choked gasp at the sight.
Clutching the outer wall was a scarlet red hand, easily the size of a house, crushing Shiganshina's wall in its grasp. A huge head lifted into the people's view, able to see over the massive wall with no issue as it peered down at the terrified people below.
"Y-you're kidding...That wall is fifty meters high." Armin stuttered in horror.
"It's them," Eren said with wide eyes. "The Titans."
The people of Shiganshina could only wait with baited breath as the ginormous Titan kicked the entrance gate into the city. Debris from the blast, as well as other demolished buildings, rained down on the citizens of Wall Maria, who stood defenseless against such a force.
"H-he made a whole in the wall." Armin mumbled, staring at the massive being as it disappeared before his eyes.
"The Titans are inside!" A man cried out as every citizen began to scramble around looking for empty places to run and hide.
"Eren!" Armin called to him. Finally snapped out of his daze, Eren dragged his feet forward, moving against the crowd as he walked sluggishly.
"My house is over there," Eren whispered. "My mom is—" Any words he held died in his throat as Mikasa ran after him, both of them not acknowledging Armin as he called for them to stay back.
Eren sprinted as fast as he could around the streets he knew like the back of his hand. People bumped into him left and right, tripping over themselves to get away from danger, not worrying about the fact that he was just a child. Eren didn't care, he ran with all of the speed he had left, seeing crushed, mutilated bodies scattered around the streets as people trampled on the broken corpses.
Our house is definitely safe, Eren thought. Once I make the turn here, our house will be there, like always!
"Mom!" He yelled, pushing himself to run even faster up the wobbly steps to his house. It was crushed under a huge boulder, wood and debris everywhere they looked.
"Mom!" He yelled again, seeing his mother trapped under the wood foundation of the house. "Mikasa, grab that side! We have to move this pillar!" Eren ordered which the girl followed without question.
"Eren!" Carla opposed, but her claim fell on deaf ears as the two children tried to lift the wooden log that she was stuck under.
They all gasped as they heard the deep rumbling sounds of the Titans footsteps, Eren and Mikasa spotting two towering figures just a few blocks over.
"Hurry, Mikasa!" Eren shouted as he strained to pull against the pillar.
"I know!" The small child answered, trying her best to fix her grip of the wood so she could pull it up.
"Eren," His mother started. "Take Mikasa and run! Go!"
"I want to run!" Eren cried. "So, hurry up and get out!" He shouted, feeling his fingers cramp up from the strain of trying to lift so much weight.
"My legs have been crushed by the debris. I can't run even if I get out," Carla said with unblinking eyes, staring straight ahead of her as she tried to convince the children to escape to safety. "Do you understand?"
"I'll carry you and run!" Eren denied as he pulled the wood upwards with all his might.
"Why can't you just listen to your mother for once?!" Carla wailed, tears forming in her eyes as she glared up at her son in a desperate plea. "Please, just listen to me! Just one last time!"
"Mikasa!" She cried, trying to get either child to work with her for their own safety, but the young girl just put her head down and continued to pull.
They heard the rumbling of footsteps again, this time closer. A female Titan over twelve meters tall with a smile so wide it made goosebumps raise on Eren's skin. The sight of the beast only made Eren work harder in trying to dig his mom out from the rubble.
"Hannes!" Carla exclaimed. "Take the kids and run!"
"Don't take me lightly, Carla." The blonde man smirked. "I'll kill the Titan and save all three of you!" He said, sprinting off in the direction of the enemy.
"No! Wait! You can't fight it!" Carla shouted.
With him distracting the Titan, Eren and Mikasa worked faster in trying to pull the fallen pieces of the house away. They planted their feet firmly on the ground, sweaty palms splintering from the broken plank of wood as they pulled with no result. Suddenly, Eren was pulled away from the wood, flung over Hannes' shoulder as Mikasa was tucked under the man's arm.
"Hannes! What the hell are you doing?!" Eren cried, kicking his legs back and forth in a futile attempt to free himself of the man's hold.
"Mom is still trapped in there!" He shrieked, reaching out to his house as they ran further and further away from it.
"Eren! Mikasa!" Carla shouted at them. "Live on!"
A huge hand easily swept the fallen pieces of house away, reaching down and grabbing Carla with no problems. Eren, now sitting on Hannes' shoulder, had tears spilling from his eyes as he watched his mother get lifted into the air.
"No—Stop!" He screamed, seeing his mother try to punch and kick her way out of the Titan's hold.
It was no use.
The smiling Titan used her other hand to pull Carla apart like an accordion, breaking her back from the extended stretch as she slouched over the thumb of the monster. The Titan simply placed the woman in her mouth and split her body in half with one fierce bite.
Eren let out a strangled cry, feeling the warm and ferocious clawing of bile rising in his throat as his mother was finished off in two bites. He didn't fight Hannes' grip any longer, slumping into his hold as the man continued to run the three of them towards the river.
Eren stared blankly forward, returning to his senses as he felt the bumps of Hannes running them to the inner gate. In a fit of anger, Eren turned his body and began slamming his elbow into the back of the Garrison soldier's head repeatedly until he was thrown onto the ground.
"Eren!" Mikasa exclaimed, squirming her way out of Hannes' grasp and running to the boy to help him.
"We almost had her out! Why did you interfere!" Eren screamed at the older man, running with his right fist ready to swing, only to be caught mid-strike by Hannes.
"The reason you couldn't save your mother was because you lacked the strength," Hannes told him, hanging his head. "The reason I couldn't kill that Titan, was because I lacked the courage!" He cried as Eren halted his next punch. He didn't fight the man as he grabbed a hold of his and Mikasa's hands so they could continue walking to the boats that took the newly established refugees to Wall Rose.
"I'm sorry." Hannes whispered.
The desperate shouts of citizens became mere background noise as tears stopped falling from Eren's eyes. His face was stuck in a tense look of horror, mindlessly following any direction Hannes pushed him in until he sat down on the second to last ship filled to the brim with evacuees.
"This can't be happening."
"Oh God, please." The people of Wall Maria begged and pleaded in hushed whispers that only Mikasa was aware enough to hear.
Hushed pleas turned into shouts of despair as the bridge that brought on passengers finally lifted. Parents alike began to beg to at least put their young children on board before the boat got a chance to take off, only to be denied by the Garrison officers.
In a last ditch attempt at riding to safety, dozens of citizens took an unlucky leap from the docking platform to the boat, trying and failing to secure their safe travel to Wall Rose.
Another piercing boom echoed, capturing Eren's attention as familiar screeches of terror began to rise in volume once more. Looking up, he saw a Titan that was unlike any other, similar to the way the first gigantic Titan was different, bursting through Shiganshina's wall. It had, what looked to be, planks of wood or stone covering almost every inch of its body, causing its steps to be much louder than the other Titans. It had blonde hair and glowing yellow eyes, coming to a sliding stop before opening its mouth and breathing a stream of fire.
I can never go back home, Eren thought, watching as a horde of Titans marched in through the destroyed second gate. Why? Why did I have to argue over something so stupid? Now mom's dead! She'll never come back! His intrusive thoughts continued to ring through his mind, fresh tears sliding down his cheeks as regret seeped into his pores. Why?
"You lacked the strength." Hannes' truthful words were reborn in his mind as his regret seemed to pour in from all sides, suffocating his thoughts. Because I...Humans are too weak. He answered his own question within his mind. Can the weak do nothing but cry?
"Those Titans," Eren began, standing up to walk to the edge of the boat as pure rage overwhelmed his sadness. He brushed aside both Mikasa and Armin, who he had just taken notice of, questions of concern, literally pushing Armin aside as he made it to the boat's edge. "I'm going to kill them all." He claimed. "Every single one. I'll rid the world of every last Titan."
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
•• ⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰ ••
"Eren! Eren!"
"Stop it! Dad, stop! What are you trying to do?!"
"Just stick out your arm—"
"No! You've lost your mind since mom died! Let me go!"
"It's all for your sake!"
"What are you saying?!"
"Don't forget about the key! It's the way to the truth!"
"One day, you'll understand!"
•• ⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰ ••
Eren woke up panting, his eyes blinking to focus on the unfamiliar area around him.
"Eren. It's okay, you were just dreaming." Mikasa tried to comfort the boy, sitting on her knees next to him.
"I think I was with dad." Eren whispered, rubbing the side of his head.
"It was a dream," Mikasa corrected him. Eren chose to believe her, but he couldn't help the strong feeling of doubt when he saw his father's necklace that hung around his neck. The necklace that had the key to the Yeager house's basement which he was promised to see once his father had returned, before disaster struck. "Come on, they're handing out food rations."
In the courtyard where Wall Maria's refugees were held, everyone fought their hardest to get their hands on any goods they could. Good, water, clothing, all first come first serve with no fair way to properly distribute all of them.
The Central Government decreased all mankind to retreat behind Wall Rose. Almost ten thousand lives were counted to be lost that fateful day. Even with so many dead, the sheer number of people left to fend for themselves within Wall Rose was so great that a food shortage occurred not even a week after the people were let inside. Not to mention, Wall Rose was already dealing with famine before any newcomers arrived.
"Eren! Mikasa!" Armin called as he ran to his two best friends. "Grandpa scrounged a little extra by telling the soldiers he has kids," The blonde boy told them while handing each of them one small loaf of stale bread. "That's a whole day's ration."
"I'll go back to Wall Maria. I'll kill all those Titans." Eren promised as the trio sat by themselves under a roof of shade.
"Eren, you're not serious, are you?" Armin questioned.
"I am! I'm not like those stuck up soldiers!" Eren's voice rose as he took his ration of bread and threw it at Armin. "I don't want it!"
"Eren! You're going to starve!" Armin said worriedly.
"Aren't you angry?" Eren shouted. "You can't beat those Titans by accepting food through charity!"
"That's impossible!" Armin shot back. "We have no other choice but to live within these walls. If you're unreasonable, you'll die! Just like my mother and father!"
"So you're just going to bow your head at those bastards?! Aren't you embarrassed?!" Eren fired at his friend.
"I have no choice!" Armin exclaimed.
"People are just saying that! Why don't you continue living like cattle, you coward!" Eren argued, only to be punched to the ground by Mikasa, who'd had enough of their fighting.
"If Armin is a coward, you and I are also cowards," She began. "We depended on other people to flee from the Titans. The food we have today is because of charity," She continued as Eren shakily sat himself up. "There's no way that cowards like us could kill a single Titan. Just like what your mother said, surviving is the most important thing. The job of winning back the wall belongs to Faith and the other soldiers. We could never do something like that," She grabbed Eren's piece of bread from Armin before forcefully shoving it into Eren's stubborn mouth. "Eat it. You have to survive. I'm not going to let you starve." She demanded as Eren cried while chewing on his food.
Maybe, if I was strong like you, my mother would've gotten out.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
Days later, many refugees were put out to plough the fields. Though, even with the extra hands, the foot shortage did not resolve. As a result, a year later, locals and refugees who were of age were drafted to serve in the military, and were tasked with reclaiming Wall Maria. Among these thousands of people, one of them was Armin's grandfather. Similarly to the other two hundred and forty thousand others, his grandfather did not return. The only advantage to those lives lost, was that the food shortage that had plagued the area had finally lifted.
Armin held tightly onto his grandfather's hat, sobbing quietly to himself while Eren and Mikasa stood in front of him and to his right.
"It's all because of the Titans," Eren stated as he watched his friend cry. "If we could kill them all, we would be able to go home." He said while slouching against the wall next to Armin.
"Armin, next year I'm going to sign up for Cadets Training," Eren told the two of them. Armin held a face of surprise while Mikasa hung her head sadly. "I want to get strong and fight those Titans. I can't let Faith be the only soldier to kill so many of those filthy beasts. I'll be strong like them. No, even stronger so we can fight together." Eren's determination couldn't be swayed as he glared at the ground in front of him.
"Me, too," Armin agreed, causing Eren to open his mouth to rebuttal. "Me, too!" He said, shutting down Eren's chances of fighting him.
"I'll go, too." Mikasa said to them.
"Mikasa, you don't have to go," Eren defended, but she simply shook her head. "You've said that the most important thing was to survive."
"Yes. I'll join so that you don't die." She responded seriously. Eren knew that he couldn't change her mind from following them, so he nodded as he stood up.
"All right. All three of us, together, then."
━━━━━━━━━━━━
Next Up: Chapter Six - Cadet Corps
•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•
Note: We have finally arrived at the main story line! I really hope you've enjoyed it so far, and I hope that the way I've added Kira/Faith into the plot isn't too confusing or out of reach.
Keep in mind that these upcoming chapters might not have a whole lot of Kira, but she'll be back! We just need to establish the other character's roles that we already know and love! See ya!