Hellllooo! This is my first chapter of my first fanfiction! ^_^ so I'm kind of nervous.. Anyways, this is an Attack On Titan fanfic featuring my OC Kaede. I know this first chapter is kinda dark but I wanted to strain the point that this is where it all began.. since after all the very first episode was a lot like this as well. So uh, I don't own Attack On Titan but I do own Kaede. (All rights reserved) But anyways, Enjoy!
My father once told me that this world was meant for something much, much larger than humanity. I had no idea how true it was until the colossal Titan attacked, leaving the smaller ones to devour our people.
I don't know where he disappeared to, my father. But I remember running. Pure chaos surrounded me, blood on the stone walk ways and houses destroyed, burning. People were screaming, just fleeing for their lives without a destination. Their eyes wide and glazed over with fear, staring up at something behind my but I didn't dare turn back.
My lungs burned and my legs were numb but I didn't stop running.. I wasn't caught, that's all that mattered.. right? A building has fallen in front of me, I barely looked up in time before falling into the pile of rubble. Wood. All of it was wood and stone, shattered glass covering over it. I felt the splinters sink into my skin when I attempted to go over it. The wood creaked and I heard the thud of large footsteps behind me. I need to get out of here.
The smoke was burning in my lungs, the house was on fire. Flames flickered upwards and left their marks on my skin causing my to flinch while I awkwardly stumbled over the remaining wood planks. They creaked and shifted under my weight, one cracking until my feet hit the stone ground yet again. This time, I couldn't resist.
But then I regretted it.
Looking up at the smiling titan above me, his eyes small and his blonde hair suspiciously trimmed just to his jawline. Tall and lanky, but terrifying. "EREN!"
A woman's voice shattered my thoughts, her tone desperate and needy. My eyes flickered down across the stone to a bleeding woman, trapped underneath the rubble. Her pale blue dress was torn up, red seeping into the color. Her messy brown hair that might have been kept in a bun once was now splayed against the ground, her pale skin glowed from the beating sunlight and she reached out for someone. "EREN!"
"Ma'am!"
My feet pressed against the hard warm ground, my knees following afterwards. She looked up at me, her features etched with fear and her mouth opened slightly in surprise. "K-Kaede?" She said my name in a whisper and one of her hands found my cheek. I didn't feel the pressure. Her eyes only grew wider, it was then that I realized I was in shock from what was happening. I couldn't feel anything. My mind wasn't processing.
I looked down at myself, and I was coated with blood that wasn't my own.
"My little Kaede.. do you know what that means?" she asked softly, holding my close to her bosom with her gaze full of love. Her dark brown eyes were what I inherited, those impossibly kind orbs. Her hair was curly, falling loose from it's bun.
The smells surrounding me were honey, damp soil, grass and a gentle breeze from the trees.
Birds chirped quietly over head, and the occasional buzz of a bee. I was fiddling with my necklace, a small little thing she gave my not too long ago. I looked up at her, with our matching eyes and a grin covered my mouth. I was happy.
"No, mum." I said lightly, but the curiosity was set in me. She chuckled lowly and kissed my forehead. "It means Maple Leaf... The maple tree is a strong and stoic tree, it will not fall from storms.. it remains silent, but it protects the creatures who live inside."
"Mum.. Can I be a maple tree?" She laughed at that. "No, my darling. Not the tree itself, but you can be strong and protect the people if you want to.. you just have to work harder.. and remember, that there is always something to fight for.. even in the darkest of times.."
I stared up at her with wide eyes. I didn't understand but there was a feeling in my gut that what she just said would change me. Gently, I rested my head against her bosom once more and partly closed my eyes. "I love you, mum."
"I love you too, Kaede.. Your father and I love you very much.. you must remember that.. no matter what happens."
"Kaede!"
My voice snapped me to reality. Instantly the smell of blood, fear, burning smoke and wood filled my nose. Screams and flames along with the loud bangs from cannons filling my ears. I looked down to her, she was staring up at me with an alarmed face. "..I need to get you out of here..!" My voice barely came over a whisper and I took her arm. "MOM!"
With a quick glance over my shoulder I see a young Eren and Mikasa running towards us. My eyes widen slightly but I turn my head back to the woman. The shadow was beginning to come closer of the Titan. This was bad. This was very bad. The wood pressed it's teeth into my hands when I pushed on it. My little body struggling with the weight. Suddenly another pair of arms were right next to mine, pressing upwards. We were both bleeding. "Mikasa! Grab mom! Kaede! Go push up from the other side!" He ordered instantly.
I did as I was told, the splinters were worse on this side and it was an odder angle, I pulled upwards on the wood, barely getting a budge but I strained my body trying. I couldn't let her die. I couldn't let her die like my own mother died.. my father..
My head tilted backwards and I let out a cry. My arms felt like they were going to be pulled off. The wood was moving.
"No Eren! You need to leave! Run! Leave me!"
"I'm never leaving you Mom!"
The sky was lit on fire when the colossal titan first attacked, the canons firing wildly and the explosions came in loud bangs. My mother took my hand, jerking me harshly and we ran out of the house, but we didn't get far. Already, shorter titans stalked the city, devouring the people like a feast. We were nothing but cattle.
Fear filled my gut and she was crying out for her husband. For my father. Suddenly a shadow loomed over us, and I looked up only to my horror there being a titan. He stared down at us, no emotion in those eyes, only a burning hunger. My mother screamed loudly, I looked up just in time to see her shove me roughly into the cellar, my back landed with a hard slam and my head bounced off of the floor. Disoriented, my arms dragged me to the darkest corner and I brought my legs to my chest. I was afraid. Terrified.
Tears fell from my cheeks but I didn't dare make a sound. My dark brown eyes could only stare at the cellar's entrance. Where is.. Mum?
I didn't know what happened. One minute I was in the cellar the next moment I was holding onto my mothers body. Her blood gushed out and I held her close. She wasn't dead. But I didn't dare look at her lower body. Bit in two.
Her blood soaked my skin and my clothes. Her eyes glazed over as she finally died. I was screaming for her to wake up but I didn't even recognize my own voice. Shock was pulsing through my veins. There was another scream to my right. Another titan.
Silence fell over me, cupping her hair in my hand, I laid her down gently. Her features were etched in pain, but the muscles were relaxing. She looked peaceful. Surrounded by her own blood. It was then I ran from her, from my dead mother and from the titan. In shock, drenched.
The next few moments were blurry to me. Titan.. Blonde man.. Eren.. All I remember is having my hand held in an iron grip from the tall blonde man as he ran. Mikasa under one arm, struggling her heart out and Eren screaming over his shoulder. Tears fell from both of their eyes and I looked back. Erens mother...
Tears welled in my own eyes but I didn't feel it. The others were thrashing as though this man planned to put them in a wood chipper. Yet I was quiet and numb. Never would I recover from this. That spark of childish innocence that used to be in my eye... faded. It was dead. Twice I had to witness a death. They only had to once.
We got on the last boat headed for the inner rings of our so called city. I stayed with them. They looked shocked and numb, Eren was trying so hard to be strong. Armin somehow got with us, I wasn't paying any attention. He seemed to be panicking over my state. I haven't bothered washing the blood from my body.
They all stayed with me at my Uncle's home. He was an engineer. One of the more respected ones. They had a doctor take a look at all of us, sure enough, I was in shock. But they had to do something horrible to me after that. There was a gash on my arm, already infected. Deep enough all the way to my bone.
When I woke up, my right arm was gone. Wrapped up, and held close to my body. I didn't react. How could I? This only added to the shock. The other children were next to me, their eyes wide and scared. I understood. Yet I shot them a smile anyways and laid my head back down on the pillows.
"..Eren." I whispered, turning to look at him. His body stiffened. Large grey eyes watching me intensely. Mikasa took my left hand in her own, her lips pressing in a thin line. "..I will join you. In the scout regiment." His eyes widened. "K-Kaede..." He breathed.
"You can't.. you're arm is.." "I know, Eren." I pulled myself up slightly, a sitting position. My light brown skin was illuminated by the gold rays of the sun through the blinds of the window. Yet my eyes remained locked with his. "They're making me a new arm.. I need to go with you.. For what they did... Did to you, what they did to me.."
He stared for a long while, Mikasa's grip increased. I must have looked... washed up, to say the least. Long brown hair tangled and messy. They washed the blood from my body but that didn't leave the hollow look in my eyes. I looked numb, tired. With no arm. Wrapped in bandages.
Either way, he slowly smiled. "..I knew you could do it. Kaede.." I mirrored his mouth, and for the first time, the icy numbness faded slightly from my soul. A fire replaced it.
This is what I was meant to do.
Kill all the damn titans of this world, for killing so many humans.
And if I went down, I'd take every last damn one of them with me straight to hell.
I swear it.