I'm actually writing this with a friend, so enjoy it as much as you can! Thank you for giving it a chance! I assure you that you won't regret it! :D
(CHAPTER START!)
Prologue
"Rachel-nee! Where are we going?!" Asked the younger girl in the midst of all the panic.
"Hold on, Allen! We're almost there!" Replied the older one, keeping her firm grip around Allen's smaller hands secured and tight. "No matter what, don't let go of my hand!"
Rachel fought back the tears that threatened to escape from her eyes, blinking them hastily while looking ahead. Allen was openly sobbing, fearfully eyeing the exploding rubbles where Titans bashed the buildings of different homes.
The deafening screams of panicking people, the echoes of their pleas for help before being devoured would forever be printed into their memory.
Indescribable terror rushed through their veins. The pounding hearts inside their chests reverberated even in their ears. The rush of adrenalin in their blood was the only thing fueling their very beings for survival.
The matter of survival. How foreign it felt.
The ground shook at the gigantic footsteps that gradually came their way. Rachel froze at the feeling, every hair in her body standing. Fear racked her straight to the bones and the trembling in her knees worsened that she almost fell over.
Still, she tightened her grip around Allen's, determined to keep the both of them safe.
"N-nee-san." Allen gulped, eyeing the Titan who had droopy eyes, excessively large nose and disgusting pouting lips. It was a twelve-meter class with a fat belly.
It eyed them with a predatory glint.
Rachel wasted no time and took off running as it started to reach out to the both of them. Unfortunately, Allen stumbled and twisted her ankle. The once beautiful Sunday Dress she wore was now covered in grime and she fell on her knees, panting with tears running freely down her eyes.
Rachel hated the false sense of security the walls offered.
"Allen!"
"N-nee-san . . ." She sobbed. "I-I don't think I can . . . continue."
"Are you shitting me?" She growled, tugging on her hand. "Stand up!"
"B-but . . . my feet." Allen replied.
Clenching her teeth together, Rachel lifted Allen off of her feet and hauled her behind her back. "Hold on tight and don't let go, you hear me? We're going to get out of here together."
With that, she ran with all she could, the Titan still on their tail.
Everything was in total chaos. People were getting eaten here and there. Splatters of blood decorated the walls and corpses of half-eaten people were scattered everywhere.
"G-get out of my way!" A man screamed, pushing his way past the two girls to run for his life.
Rachel lost her footing and stumbled. She and Allen fell on the rough pavement with a small thump. Hitting her knees, the girl grimaced as her skin broke and blood appeared.
Still, there was no time to lay still. Titans were everywhere and they could be the next victim.
"Allen!" She exclaimed, looking hastily around to where the other girl landed.
That titan was still hot on their tale.
"I-I'm alright, nee-san." Allen weakly replied, her eyes ridden with fear. "Y-you should go."
"The hell are you talking about?" She said. "I'm not leaving without you!"
"B-but," She sniffled.
"No buts! Come on!" She grabbed Allen and prepared to pull her over when a voice so ever familiar called out to them.
"Rachel! Allen!"
Rachel looked up, relief washing over her. Allen, as well, perked up at the sound of her uncle.
"Dad!"
"Get away from them!" He yelled to the Titan while charging, a machete in hand. "Run, Chel!" He exclaimed, running past them. "Get them out of here, Brenna!" He told his wife.
Rachel's mother suddenly appeared and nudged both girls to their feet. When Allen couldn't stand, she gathered the girl into her arms. The girl had a small frame for someone her age, so Brenna had no difficulty carrying her at all.
Her father swung his weapon at the Titan after Rachel and Allen, cutting of its fingers in which steam evaporated. It looked down on him with its droppy eyes.
"But . . . dad!" She exclaimed.
"I'll catch up with you!" He then turned to them, tears brimming. "I promise."
He was lying. That look in his eyes said it all.
"Dad!"
"That's not a request, Rachel! Go! Now!"
"Come on, sweetheart." Brenna tried to make her voice sound as calm as possible, but the fear in it seeped through despite her effort. She began to drag an unwilling Rachel away.
"No! Dad!"
"Rachel!" Her mother snapped, tears in her eyes. "Let's go." She said firmly.
"B-but . . ."
"No buts. Don't make this any harder now." Pain laced her voice.
"I-I . . ."
"Let's go. And don't ever look back. No matter what you hear, alright?"
They then started running away. Rachel closed her eyes as tears trickled down her cheeks, her grip around her mother's warm hand tightening.
It hurt to leave someone you love behind. How the pain ate away at her heart.
Allen sobbed, her arms wrapped firmly around her aunt's neck. "Auntie? Where are mama and papa?"
"T-they're . . ." She hesitantly answered. "Somewhere safe now."
"Really?" She asked. "I'm glad. Can I see them again?"
"Not anytime soon, dear. Not anytime soon."
Brenna was about make a turn to an alleyway which Rachel assumed as a shortcut, but when she saw a Titan feeding on a trapped man by the wall, she hastily went against that decision and ran straight ahead instead.
"Ahhhhh!" A woman's shrilly scream rang. "No!"
There was a chorus of thuds that once again shook the Earth. An aberrant came crashing through the wall by their right, rubbles exploding upon impact. Brenna instinctively shielded the children with her body and Allen screamed at the suddenness. The girl covered her ears while a large piece of wood came flying towards Brenna, embedding itself into her flesh.
Blood spurted through her mouth and trickled down her chin before she staggered and eventually fell on her knees.
Rachel's eyes widened as she watched her mother fall, and Allen herself could not hold back the sobs that racked through her throat even worse than before.
"Go now, Rachel. Take Allen with you to a safe place. Promise me you'll survive, alright?" She said, gripping her daughter's hand firmly.
Rachel froze at the feeling of the warmth speedily leaving her mother's hands. "Mom!"
She gave Allen to Rachel, urging the two of them to start running while the aberrant came crawling through the wall it broke through.
"Go now, Rachel!" Her mother commanded.
Reluctantly, Rachel hauled Allen into her back and stumbled away. She threw a look over her shoulder to see her own mother confronting the titan and using herself as a distraction for them to get away.
Rachel gritted her teeth, letting herself shed a few tears at the willingness of her mother to sacrifice herself.
'I'll survive, mom. I promise. Me and Allen.'
"Auntie . . ." Allen cried.
Once a bit far away from the scene, another titan set its eyes on the two girls and slowly reached for its prey. Allen made a panicked scream as Rachel hurriedly made a sharp turn to an alleyway that was tight enough not the let the titan in.
Although it offered temporary sanctuary, the two of them were horrified when they came to a dead end.
"R-Rachel," Allen whimpered. "The titan." She said.
Rachel looked and saw the fact that the titan was trying its hardest to reach for them, its large, ugly hands wiggling through the narrow space they were currently taking refuge in.
"What are we going to do now?" Allen asked her.
"Don't worry. I'll do something." She said, feeling disbelief at the words that escaped her mouth. "I won't let mom and dad's sacrifice to be useless."
She could feel herself sweating heavily from all the running she had done. The wetness caused her glossy black hair to be matted against the sides of her face. Her eyes reflected the desperation for survival and the trauma of just having lost her parents.
She set her cousin against the wall.
Allen's eyes reflected the same colors as hers, now full of panic and fear of what was going to happen next. Her ankle, as well, had swollen over the past few minutes, no doubt causing the girl pain. It was an ugly color of black and blue.
"Is your ankle okay?"
"It stings when I move it . . ." She said, hissing at the slightest attempt of movement.
Rachel ripped off the bottom of her shirt, causing a bit of her skin to show. She wrapped the cloth around Allen's ankle as a substitute for bandages and hoped it did a bit of help.
"I don't know if that did any good but that's the best I can do for now."
"Thank you very much, nee-san." She sniffled. "I'll try not to cry anymore. I'll be strong, I promise."
"Don't worry. You're already very strong as you are."
She looked around the alley. Running away was no longer an option at this point unless she could do something.
When a rat gets cornered it will bare its teeth.
A sharp glint caught her eye. She caught sight of a pipe attached against the wall.
When a deer in a wild gets driven into a wall, it'll attack with all its might.
With all the strength she could muster, she took the pipe and broke it off with a sharp clang. She caught Allen eyeing her inquiringly before she caught on with her plans.
"You're planning on attacking it, Rachel-nee?" She asked in horror.
"We have no choice. It's this or we both die."
"But you can't!" She yelled. "I don't want you to end up like auntie and uncle!"
She helped Allen to her feet. "Can you try going from here and get some help while I distract it?" She asked.
Allen's eyes glinted. This was her chance to help.
"I . . ." Allen leaned against the wall to support her twisted ankle and inability to support her whole weight. "I'll do my best! I promise!"
"Use this." She broke off another piece of the pipe which had a curved path. It was long enough for her to use as a substitute of a cane.
Allen leaned on it. "I promise I'll come back!"
"Just shut up and go." She told her. "And make sure you don't get eaten."
"I-I will!"
"In a count of three!" She said. "One . . . three!"
"Where's the two!?" Allen asked, panicked. She reluctantly started walking off as Rachel charged at the titan head on.
"Eaten by a titan!" She screamed.
She would've laughed if the situation wasn't dire. Still, despite the fear that racked her being, she ran forward head on with Allen right on her heels. Although the girl couldn't go that fast, she did the best she could despite the dull pain she felt.
Rachel stopped just before the reaching hands and plunged the pipe into the thumb. She then jumped on the injured limb, pulling out her makeshift weapon with a burst of steam.
Using the hand as a bridge, she ran forward and plunged the pipe into the eye of the titan next. The horrid creature stumbled back mutely, opening the alleyway it once blocked.
"Now, Allen!"
Allen started to make her escape, the pipe making sharp noises against the pavement. The titan saw her and attempted to grab the girl, but Rachel saw its attempt and stopped it before it could.
"No, you don't! You monster!" She yelled, piercing its other eye as well.
'Their weakness is in the nape of their necks.'
She didn't know how to exactly kill a titan, but to hell with it! She yanked on a strand of the hair of the titan she attacked and swung herself towards its back. She stood on its shoulder as it took the time to recover and started to strike its nape with all she could, continuously plunging the pipe into its unnervingly soft flesh.
The heat of the steam washed about her and warm blood sprayed on her face. She must've looked mad from the expression she had on and her current appearance, but she cared nothing about that.
All she wanted was to survive. For Allen to survive.
She didn't know how long she was doing that. The feeling of adrenalin fueled her seemingly endless assault on the nape of the titan and before she knew it, she already managed to create a big hole on its weak point. After a while, it stopped regenerating.
She must've killed it.
With only a pipe.
It was hard, considering that the titan had fast regenerating abilities—but she dug like she was frantically shoveling plain soil for her life and not flesh that felt disturbingly vulnerable. Blood had spurted and sprayed on her clothes and her face.
Hell. It was crazy but it worked.
The titan fell and dropped dead on the floor. The steam rose from its corpse and the weariness suddenly took toll in her young body. Rachel stumbled off of the carcass and saw Allen standing before her, looking awed by the scene she just witnessed.
There was a lady behind her, dressed in what seemed to be the uniform of a soldier. She had blue eyes like the color of the skies, and hair the color of the sun. She wore a look of amazement with a mixture of disbelief.
How long was she doing that? She glanced briefly at the dead titan and moved wearily towards her cousin.
No matter how long, it gave Allen the chance to ask for help. That was enough.
"Your friend here said you needed help." She said. "But did you need it, really?" She asked.
Panting, she looked up. "I still do."
She blinked. "You aren't supposed to kill a titan with just a pipe, you know. We have the right tools for that." She said.
"Are you here to help us out or not, lady?"
"Yeah, maybe." She scratched her head. "Haha. Just kidding. Come on, you kiddos!" The strange lady said before grabbing the two around the waist and tucking the both of them over her shoulder.
She jumped off with her 3DMG, the grappling hooks shooting off. The sharp hissing rang faintly in the ears of the two and not long after, they were flying.
"Say, are you two interested in joining the military?"
"Huh?"
"I'm interested in taking the two of you in." She grinned. "Unless you have your parents worrying for you, or are you alone?"
"I think they died." Rachel answered while Allen simply hung her head.
"Oh, well . . ." She sighed, shooting off yet another hook and maintaining a good pace. "The military is a place for kids like you! How about the Special Operations Regiment? How about it, huh?" She urged on.
"Shut up." Rachel muttered tiredly. "There's no such thing as a Special Operations Regiment. There's only the Military Police, Garrison, and the Scouting Legion. If I have to choose, I'll go with the Military Police." She muttered.
"That's what you think." She laughed.
"You're not exactly the image of a savior, are you?"
"Well, you'll be relying on me now."