Chapter Text
You walk up to the crowd surrounding the gates, your parents close behind you. You stop in front of the crowd, excited to see the soldiers return from their expedition outside the walls. You've always loved the Survey Corps, the hope of finding out more information about the outside world had always kept you going.
However, as soon as you reached the front of the crowd, you were met with the solemn faces of the soldiers. They were covered in blood and bandages, there was a deafening silence as they walked through the gathering crowd. You look in horror, feeling your parents arms grab at you, pulling you in closer as if to keep you safe.
"Moses? Moses?! Beg your pardon, where is my son? He should be with you all. Please tell me he made it!"
You turn your head to the front of the line. An older lady stopped in front of Keith Shadis, the head instructor of the Training Corps.
"I wish I had better news. Give it to her."
With that, they give her something wrapped in a white cloth, covered in blood. The lady looks in shock, unwrapping it and seeing a bloody arm. You feel your mother's hand grab your head and push it towards her stomach so you couldn't see. She breaks into tears as the soldiers turn to look away.
"I'm sorry. It's all that was left of him."
She continues to cry, the silence of the crowd intensifying her cries as everyone looks at each other in sadness. She talks again, in between sobs, "He- he did good, yes? He was brave?"
Shadis looks at her in surprise as she continues, "Tell me my son stood his ground to the bitter end. That his death meant something! Tell me his sacrifice gave us a better chance!"
Everyone was shocked, no one knowing what to say. You push your face away from your mother to look at the scene in front of you. Shadis looked at the old lady with his mouth wide open, tears starting to spill from his own eyes.
"He was brave! But- but his sacrifice meant nothing! So with all our losses, it's ever the same! The day was lost. We have nothing! Your son died because of me! I sent him to his death, I sent them all to their deaths! And there's nothing to show for it, all of it amounts to NOTHING!"
The crowd gasps in shock, the mother of the dead soldier staring at him with a horrified expression.
The soldiers continued on, their solemn faces staring at the ground as they lower their heads. The crowd watched them leave, the silence breaking to complain about what they just heard and expressing their sadness to the many lives that were lost for nothing.
You look up at your parents, their hands clutching their hearts. Your father putting an arm around your mom, then looking towards you and pulls you closer to them. You pull away softly and look around, listening to the things people would say about the soldiers. You hear many of them talking about their tax dollars going to waste.
"You little punk!" You turn your head to the man who yelled. You see a kid your age with a stick in his hand and an angry expression. It seems the kid must have hit the man with it, the man clutching his head. The kid then gets pulled away, and leaves you wondering who it was.
-
Your mom was making dinner, you helping with setting the table. Your father was reading the news paper and was talking to your mom about some political events happening that didn't make sense to you. You thought about earlier today, having seen the soldiers return with such devastating news.
"Do you think we will ever see the outside?" You ask as you sit down on the seat next to your father. He looks up from the paper and looks to your mother, who stood there stirring the pot.
"One day when it is safe. After all, I'm sure the Survey Corps will make a break through soon." Your mom responded to you, but you felt there was a sad undertone to her answer. After what was said today, how can anyone be sure that there will ever be any new information? There seems to be only death, and what if one day it's yours?
"What do you think is out there?" You ask another question, and your parents give you a small smile, then look at each other.
Your parents had always been dreamers. Since a young age, you had wondered what was on the other side of the walls. The walls were so big, you were sure there has to be something incredible beyond them. Something unimaginable, probably. Your parents had always tried to keep their answers uninteresting to keep you from trying to venture outside of them. But they were equally as curious.
"Actually, I'm going to tell you a secret but you have to promise not to tell anyone." Your dad leaned closer to you, and your eyes widened.
"Do you remember Armin Arlert? When you were younger, we would visit him and his family," you nodded.
"His grandfather would have this book that supposedly showed what lies beyond the walls. There was crazy pictures. There was water, but it was huge. It stretched for miles and it is said that it covers most of the Earth. There was also lands of ice, snowy fields of sand, and fiery water! We don't know if it is true, but can you imagine if it is?" Your father looked at you with big, bright eyes staring into yours with such amazement. Yours were just as big, your mouth gaping at what he had said.
Could it be true? You can't even imagine what that would look like, much less think of seeing it in person. You are stuck behind these ginormous walls, let alone the huge titans roaming around outside of them. Even if you were physically able to leave, you know that it is prohibited to leave the walls. Your parents tell you all the time to not speak to anyone about the outside. It is taboo, it is safe inside the walls and that's where people belong.
CRACK!
You suddenly hear a loud sound explode from outside. Similar to lightning, but shook the entire house. You feel the ground rumble then come to a complete stop. Afraid, you call out to your parents. They look at each other then grab you to run outside and see what's going on. You all run to the middle of the city, looking up towards the wall.
A massive red hand rests on the top of the wall. From it emerges a ginormous red titan with exposed muscle. Everyone looks in horror and shock. How is this possible?!
You look up at your parents, their faces mixed with the same terrified look as everyone else. There's no way that titan can get past the wall.. right?!
All of a sudden, you hear another huge explosion as the titan breaks a hole through the wall. You and your family get thrown through the air, landing harshly against the street, feeling scrapes and sharp pain through your body. You look up and see the smoke and debris falling through the air, covering the whole area and making it unable to see. Your parents grab you quickly, screaming in fear as they pull you up and tell you to follow them. Your heart is pounding in your chest and you feel your blood running cold as your family is running through the city. You feel the burning heat against your skin as you try your best to run as quickly as you can without looking at the dead citizens that scatter the streets.
"They've breached the wall!"
You hear someone scream, so you turn your head to see behind you. Titans are coming through, their massive heads hovering over the tall, broken buildings. People everywhere are screaming in agony, you see blood under the ruins.
Just as you get to an arch way, you hear your parents scream as a big shadow towers over you. You look behind you, a big 15 meter titan walking towards you. Your body is in shock, your chest tightening. You fell frozen in fear.
"Y/N, hide!" Your parents screamed at you, pulling you from your arm. You ran through the arch, then you felt yourself get pulled hard and get thrown past your parents. You land on the end of the street on your stomach near the corner of a building. The wind is knocked out of you, shots of pain fly through your arms and your legs.
You heard an explosion and see the titan swing its arm towards your parents, crashing into the arch and sent concrete flying everywhere.
You hear your parents scream, the titan grabbing them harshly by their comparatively small bodies. They are sobbing towards you, screaming your name and telling you to run. You watch, horrified and in tears as your parents are eaten.
Blood spills everywhere and the screaming coming from your parents comes to a quick eerie halt. Every other noise is drowned out, the faint screams around you making you feel numb as you stare up at the titan taking another bite of your parents and swallow.
Your parents.
Your loving, beautiful parents who have given you everything you've ever wanted.
Gone in a second.
"Run baby!" You hear a woman scream at you, and it snaps you back into reality. You ignore the sharp and burning pain of the scrapes all around your body. You push yourself off the ground and start sprinting towards the gate on Wall Maria. Going through it after a guard let you in, you run towards the boats that were about to take off.
You push your way through the crowd, getting hit and shoved on the way by the people waiting. You eventually make it to the front and a guard lets you up into the boat. Finding a small open spot, you sit down and try to make yourself as small as you could. You feel the stings of your scrapes start burning horribly. Looking down, you see blood smeared all over your legs mixed with ash and concrete from the streets. The same thing was on your arms, scrapes and blood.
You hear the boat start moving, the crowd getting more and more panicked. You hear people screaming insults at the guards who tell them they cannot get in. As the boat starts to move, you see people start jumping onto the boat, some falling into the water as they fail to catch themselves.
BOOM!
Another explosion is heard from your left. Turning to look, you see the smoke and debris fall through the air just like you saw the first time. However, this time, you see a smaller titan come through it, its skin the same red color as the first but with a more hardened exterior. You see it stand up from its previous stance as it had punched through the wall.
Everyone around you in shock, you watched as the smoke cleared and exposed the big hole in Wall Maria. The titan stood there, not making a move towards the boat.
You drop your head into your knees, the stress and grief hitting you all at once and you start sobbing uncontrollably.
It's all different now.
-
You finally get off the boat and you’re making your way towards the church inside Wall Rose. Hundreds of people around you are crying, many of them have lost people just like you.
You are unsure on what to do, you had never been alone without your parents with you. As you continue to follow the rest of the people, you spot Armin Arlert in the crowd of people walking with his grandfather. You recognize his bright blonde hair in a bowl cut, the same haircut he’s had since you two were little.
The crowd finally stops at the church, rations starting to be passed out. The rations were given to adults first, prioritizing those with family. The soldiers seemed upset or annoyed, so you were afraid to speak up for your own loaf of bread.
“Is that you, little Y/N?”
You look to your right and see Armin and his grandfather approaching you. His grandpa was the one who spoke out, as he looked at you with sad eyes. You nod your head quietly and offer him a small smile, not really in the mood to talk.
He noticed your demeanor and looks at Armin before speaking to the Garrison soldier, “Excuse me, I have 4 kids”.
After a bit of arguing, the soldier passed him 5 loaves of bread. Ignoring the angry faces given to him by the crowd, Armin’s grandpa offers you one of the loaves.
“Thank you very much, sir.” You responded weakly, your eyes starting to sting a bit with tears. He nods then looks at Armin, gesturing to you.
“Would you like to go with me to give my friends their rations?” Armin asks you with the 3 loaves of bread in his hands. You look at him and nod, then follow him as he maneuvers through the crowd.
He finally reaches his two friends who are sitting down on the steps. He greets them with a smile and lets them know that he has food for them.
“Hey guys! This is Y/N. She’s an old friend also from Shiganshina. Y/N, this is Eren and Mikasa.”
You give them a little wave and they do the same to you. Armin handed them their loaves of bread, but as he did, you heard a 'tch' come from the Garrison soldier next to you.
"What's his deal?" You see Eren look at the soldier in annoyance.
"Just ignore it, there's a shortage. Poor man is probably hungry. By the way, I'd make that last. They were dealing with famine before we got here, so it's an ugly situation." Armin gestures to all of the bread in your hands.
Nothing more gratifying to see your rations go to animals. Guess we gotta beef up the herd though. Eat up, the titans like a little meat on their bones!" You look behind you and see the same soldier laughing along with a few others. Infuriated, you roll your eyes and decide to let it go.
"Eren, wait!" You see Eren walk past you and towards the soldiers. To your surprise, you see Eren kick the man in the shin, making him angry.
You choke on your laughter, earning a glare from the other soldiers. Armin steps up and defuses the situation, but you are still left feeling angry at what they were saying.
Your parents did not deserve to die.
Those cowards didn't go through what you did.
That black haired, ugly monster did not deserve to survive and feed on more people. No, that monster should be dead. But instead, your parents are.
You were unsure on what you’re supposed to do with your parents gone, but now you know what you have to.
You’ll join the Survey Corps.