A Speech for the Fallen to the New
Note – This is my first fan fiction ever. Wow. Just wow. I've delved far enough into a fandom to actually attempt this, and that just amazes me. Anyhow, please tell me if I made any grammatical errors or spelling errors, and tell me what you think! Everything really is greatly appreciated!
"Now, after that honorable speech, does anyone else have any words to say?"
It had been a couple of months since the extinction of the titans, and a large majority of the population had died in the process. Whoever still had a beating heart and a will to survive had gathered to celebrate this grand achievement taking place on the outside of the walls at midnight, but nobody was truthfully happy in any sense.
My name is Trace Botson. I'm 5'7", 23 years old, with black hair, and a normal body. I'm just a regular person inside a regular city of people who are all regular in their own way. In the future, I will most likely go on an expedition to the outside of the walls. Lately, there have been many people who have been inspired, somehow, to be a little adventurous, so I probably will get lots of company on an expedition.
I had grown up in the slums at the age of nine because of how my parents were devoured by titans while they were on a trip around the walls. I hadn't heard about it until a couple months after their actual deaths, but I was told eventually that they had died in Shiganshina.
"Ah, yes, I do!" I said neutrally as I raised my hand. I had prepared a few words for this occasion before I came.
"Oh, thank you, young man. Please come up to the stage." The manager of the ceremony said.
"Trace… I've known you for a while, right? Well, there's something I got to tell you, son. Your parents… They…"
As I was walking, I looked back to see my friends looking down at the floor despairingly, and I heard moaning all around me. If I listened closer, I bet I would hear sobbing, too. I decided to listen in a little closer, and I did.
No, no, no… This isn't what it was supposed to be like after we the titans died… This isn't a celebration at all… This is just an event to mourn for the dead.
Looking further back into the crowd, I could see a young girl crying against her apparent dad's shirt. The dad had been sobbing slightly as well. Everything around me deafened as I heard these words:
"Oh, why'd mommy have to leave us? I want mommy back… Where's mommy?"
"S-shes... She's in a better place, honey."
The dad began to comfort her by patting her on the shoulder. I couldn't see very clearly without glasses, but I knew that there were tears streaming from both of their eyes. I walked ahead.
I nearly tripped over the stairs whilst I looked back, but I caught myself on a rail that was on the right of the staircase. Awkwardly, I began to walk up again and realized that no one noticed, nor really cared (besides the manager, who was a couple feet away).
"Are you alright?" The manager asked with a worried expression on his face.
"Yes, I'm fine." I said, walking past him and going up to the microphone where the last few members of the Survey Corps had given their speeches.
"Your parents got eaten by titans in Shiganshina. I can't really put it to you much softer than that. I'm sorry. I'm so…"
I picked my pocket to get out the notecards I had written down for my speech. I held them shakily in my hand, and looked at them for at least a minute.
"Hey, you alright?" The manager asked, snapping me out of my hypnotized stare.
"O-oh, sorry. Yeah, I'm fine." I responded.
Looking into the crowd, I anticipated nobody was looking, and I was right. Everybody either just had dead expressions on their faces, or they'd been sobbing uncontrollably. The atmosphere was solemn, and the emotions being shared throughout humanity at this very moment had been scribbled in the air with a pen seemingly made of tears and ashes.
"H-hello?" I said into the microphone, appreciating the few people who looked up at me.
"May I have your attention, please?" I said again more firmly. Once more, only a few looked up, but this time those few turned their heads away, as if to tell me to shut up and sit down. This didn't anger me, but it made me sympathize for everyone a little. At that moment, I had actually sympathized with humanity, and how it'd been holding up with the past events.
I decided to be silent for another minute and think of what to do.
Nobody's looking up… I don't want to be rude, but I just need to make a speech. I doubt anyone out there besides me would be willing to make one after this, so this should be the last speech, right? Has their attention span finally gassed out?
Feeling a rush of anxiety and nervousness, I dropped the notecards. They all scattered across the floor of the stage, and all I could do is look down at them.
I need to get a message across to these people. No, I need get a message across to humanity. Things need to change. It can't be like this forever. It's been a month, and nobody's been talking like they used to. This isn't how I want it, and I know this isn't how anyone would want it.
"I'm so sorry. I can't do anything about where you're going as of right now, so I'm afraid you'll have to find a way to live on your own. I'm sure you'll figure it out, though. You're a pretty smart kid, even if you're only nine…"
No.
No, please.
"The world sure is cruel, huh?"
I clenched my fists and looked back at the crowd, feeling determined.
"Listen up! Listen up right now!" I shouted into the microphone, gaining everyone's attention. The sobbing stopped, and I was a little happier because of that.
"Many people have lost things, people, and even places..."
I stopped to look at the daughter and her dad. They both were looking at me intently.
"Many people have died, yes… But we are the last people left to live for the sake of humanity! This atmosphere… This… air… It can't stay here for another minute. Not another god damn second. I hate this, and I know every single one of you hate it, too. This mourning has to stop! Nobody fucking wants this! The ones who died would want us to move on… No, they need us to move on from their casualties. It would be for their sakes!"
A tear fell on my cheek from my right eye. I had been improvising, and none of this was related to my notecards.
Where are all of these words coming from?
"Humanity has a destiny. We have a place to go and live out there, and we can't go out there while we're like this. We're all bringing this on our own selves, and it's trapping us. It's been trapping us inside of this fucking cage for over a century. Right now…"
"Trace… Where are you going to go? We're all worried about you. John said he would let you live in his house if you really wanted to. A lot of people have offered for you to live with them, you know."
"I don't really need them, Arnin… I know where I'm going."
"Really? Where?"
"Well… I'm planning to get to where I'm going in a few decades. I don't really know the specific location, but I want to go outside."
"Outside the walls?"
"Yeah. Once this war against the titans is over, I'm going to the outside of the walls. Until then, I'll live in the slums."
"Why, though? You're being completely irrational, Trace! You can just live with any of your friends, and you'd prefer living in the slums?"
"I can't really explain it. It just feels right… Maybe… Maybe you'll understand when all of this is over, Arnin."
"Tch. Maybe. Probably not, though."
"I think you probably will. Just give it a couple years."
"Right now, our own humanity has trapped us from freeing ourselves from these walls. Our own fears, as well, are blocking us from our wildest dreams of seeing the outside world right now! Hell, I could run off right fucking now, but I can't because I, too, have fallen victim to these things. Fear and my own humanity…"
I stepped down slightly, but I continued to talk.
"I ask of all of you to try as hard as you can to throw away your fears for the ones around you. I ask of you to part way from your humanity temporarily to free everyone from the cage that is known as these walls! I regretfully ask of you, please, to stop mourning for the dead, because we all know they would be happier if they knew for a fact that we have moved on!"
I thought for a split second about what to say next, and I knew instantly.
"Although a common phrase nowadays, I ask you to do all of this for the sake of humanity. Do all of this for your own sake, as well. Please…"
I had finished. I sighed and looked back into the crowd. Everyone no longer was crying, and everyone had worn surprised faces.
A clap was heard from somewhere in the crowd. I didn't need to look for very long because I knew it was the daughter.
The second clap came from the dad, and the third came from one of my friends. A standing ovation came very shortly afterwards, along with some cheers, whistle blows, and an entirely different atmosphere.
I saw Arnin coming up the stage, smiling, and yelling out to me in the midst of the clapping and cheering.
"I know what you mean now, Trace!"
I smiled to him. To me, it was as if he had known what I meant all along. It was also as if humanity had known now.
I can't really explain it, but it all just felt right.