Chap. 1: The Storm

Will was uneasy.

The sea was calm, and to the untrained sailor, this might seem like a good thing. But Will was not untrained. In his 13 years of serves to the Ranger Courps, he'd traveled the rough seas at least 100 times. And he'd come to learn that rough seas were far better than what was to come after calm seas.

And he wasn't the only ne uneasy. Like any Skandian worth their salt, they knew this calm to be a foreboding.

Unfortunately, they couldn't do much about it.

For the last day and a half, they'd been trying to avoid a nasty looking storm off to the east, causing them to go off course of their original destination. Now, at nearly noon, they were surrounded by nothing but calm waters, with not even whisper of wind.

The men were also in a sorry state. Exhausted from all of the heat, little fresh water left, and just from having worked hard on avoiding the storm, they know had no strength to know which way to go. Going back would lead right into the storm, while going forward or to either other way could end up putting them farther out.

The captain, Zach, had decided that they should preserve whatever energy they had left, and hoped to replenish some of it even, by letting them just sit. It was undeniable now that that storm would catch them. Their only hope was that they would have enough energy to keep them alive, while also hoping that the storm might lead them inland.

"Shouldn't have tried avoiding the damn thing…"

Will looked over his shoulder to see that Captain Zach was approaching. Joining the Ranger, the captain leaned against the bulwark of the ship.

"Should have just taken it; must be a lot worse now than it had been." Zach said.

Zach was rather young for a Captain, but well respected for his fighting abilities and his sense of camaraderie. This was what got him the position of captain, even though he wasn't the best at it. Sure, he was better than most anyone that was just a simple fisherman, but he still didn't have the skill the other Skandians had.

Will frowned, trying to think of a way to cheer the man up, but doing so would make him lie, saying he'd made a right call on trying to avoid the storm. Really, even Will knew that the man should have taken it on at the beginning. He'd opted out of saying anything at the time, though, because Skandians liked to know that they knew their business- even if they didn't.

So instead, he went for encouraging.

Well, it's not the time to regret it. Do that after we get through the storm." Will said firmly, and a tad gruffly, unknowingly impersonating his old Mentor, Halt. The words sounded harsh, but to a Skandian, they were like a kindness they didn't feel they deserved.

Straightening, Zach smirked and nodded. "Right, well, better go check on your animals. Wouldn't be good for them to be loose, in the off chance that this gets a bit too rocky."

With that, he walked away, still looking slightly shaken due to what would happen, but with a bit more confidence.

Will smiled. He didn't really know all that much about the captain- or the crew for that matter. That didn't mean he hadn't made quick friends with all of them though. But really, the only ones he truly knew on the ship was his own two friends, Tug, his Ranger Horse, and Banner, his dog.

He'd gotten Banner two years ago, from one of his old friends, a giant of a man, who had taken a great liking to his dog at the time- as she did likewise to the man. Shadow was her name. The two men had made a deal that when, if, Shadow had puppies, Will could have one of them.

Banner was an all-black dog, except for a curved white strip down his right side, which happened to look a bit like banner one might hang in archways and such. So much so did it look like a banner, that Alyss had actually temporarily died the fur there to say "Welcome Back!" when Will had returned from one of his various missions.

Giving the surrounding sea on last worried look, he went to check on his two friends.

It was rather odd to be out on his own really. Sure, he'd always had solo missions, but normally, they were within Araluen. He normally had someone with him for overseas missions.

But this time, there was no one that could join him. Halt had retired, and was getting too old for some things, and really, he just didn't like sailing. Alyss was needed at the castle. Gilan had actually gotten himself into a rather rough spot, having to deal with the consequences of engaging with a woman, and so the planning for the wedding, and his rather tough fiancé- who just happened to be one of Will's old ward mates, Jessie. So he was kept from doing anything more than his main Ranger duties. Horace too was busy, as he was not training the knights of the castle.

And really? The mission wasn't something that required more than one Ranger. Just a simple job of checking on how the Skandians were handling in the treaty.

Sighing, Will opened the gate that held Tug and Banner. He smiled when he saw them though. Banner barked in greeting, and Tug gave a cheerful snort. Despite this, they too looked worried. They were probably just glad they had the comfort of their master. But even they knew that Will could only do so much.

Will smirked, trying to reassure them that it would be alright. Walking over, he made sure to tie them down properly before plopping down and leaning back against the warm barrel belly of tug, yawning as he did so. Banner crept closer and rested his head on Will's lap.

After a few last thoughts or worry, and then the reassuring knowledge that the Skandians would wake him when the storm came, he fell asleep.

Will smiled. The warmth of the sun was pleasantly burning on his face. The sound of waves rolling and crashing with each other reached his hears. He could smell the sweet salty sent of the sea, and to add to the pleasant feeling, there was a soft kiss of wind sweeping gently around him.

But there was something odd.

With that kiss of wind, there was a distinctly unpleasant smell. A smell he was not new to, and made his skin crawl.

Dread building in his gut, he slowly opened his eyes to what was around him.

He immeadeutly looked away, trying to hold back his bile. The ship was a wreck. The Skandians at the rows were in a terrible state of having their arms broken from the force of waves too strong for them. Some, the ones that had the end of the rows, had been impaled by them. Taking a deep breath, Will looked back, trying to find survivors. Zack was nowhere to be seen, and Will could only guess that his rope had snapped and he'd gone overboard- if the broken rope at his position was any indication.

As far as he could see, none had survived.

He heard a whine and spike of dread shot through him as he looked, finding that Banner was pinned under the broken mast.

Running over, Will tried to pull the mast up off the dog, but stopped immeadeutly after, as white hot pain blinded him, and a sharp pain ran through him starting at his right side. Looking down, he found that he had a rather large chunk of wood lodged there, though not horribly deeply. Still, it wasn't allowing for anything that required heavy lifting.

Panicked, he looked around, and saw Tug, thankfully unharmed aide from a few scrapes on his back and side.

"Tug! Help me!" he called, and was surprised to find his voice rather croaky, as if he'd not had anything to drink for a few days. But the Ranger Horse understood and came over, and placed its head on the mast and pushed. Will pushed as much as he could manage. Finally, they managed to push it enough that Will could pull Banner clear.

When Banner was clear, Tug let the mast go, and it rolled back into place.

Will looked Banner over, and what he saw was not pleasant.

It was obvious he had broken rips, at least four. Some of the bones had even come out of the skin. He had lost a lot of blood, as shown by the pool of it where he'd just been. He was too weak to even lift his head, and just barely able to move his eyes, though Will doubted he was able to see all that clearly.

It was obvious this was his faithful friends last moments.

Will's eyes began to prickle with the sting of hot tears. Tug too looked sorrowful as he sniffed at his friend.

After crying there over Banner, who had now died, Will finally got up, as it was getting dark, and he had work to do.

He didn't have time to bury them all, nor did he have the strength for it, though he wished he did. Instead, he found what he could of the whisky and spread it round as much as he could over the ship. He made a few piles for starter fires, and after that was done, set them all on fire.

He got Tug off, as they had crashed next to the shore of some beach. They waited there on the shore, watching as the boat went up in flame. It was the most proper funeral for a Skandian. He'd even made sure that all of them had their weapon in hand.

As for Banner, he'd placed the dogs body on Tug's back when they'd gotten off the ship, and buried him over in the trees at the edge of the beach.

By then, the sky had grown dark. He was just mounting Tug when he heard the sound of great thunder. So great as it that he felt it vibrating in the ground. Blinking he looked up at the sky, but it was too dark now to tell if there were anything storm worthy. Plus, there was no flashing of lightning.

"Strange….." he said, and Tug vibrated with worry. Will looked down at the horse, and patted him on the neck.

"It's okay, boy. Let's just get out of here and find some shelter." He said, and Tug snorted in agreement, and started running.

What Will didn't see was what emerged after they'd left the beach, which was the cause of the "thunder". He also didn't see it as it attacked the burning ship, scooping up the dead Skandians and eating them.

Had he seen it, he might have been more prepared for what was to come.

AN: Alrighty! So, this is my first time doing anything with Attack on Titan, and I gotta say, I'm loving this idea so far. I really don't know where exactly its going, but I do have some things in mind.

I was sorta surprised to find that there was nothing for this, which kinda makes me worry that this won't get that much attention due to no one knowing that there is a Rangers Apprentice crossover for this anime…. Hum, oh well, I like it, and I hope you guys do too.

Now, I'm going to say this now, I might not update for long periods of time. But never will I abandon a fanfics. I'd have to have died for something like that to happen. It might take me a day to update, it might take me a year. You just can't rush creativity! Plus, I'm in college, and doing this with free time that isn't being spent doing other fun free time stuff that you get to do in college. ^_^

Now, this doesn't mean I don't want to hear "PLEASE UPDATE SOOON!" because saying that stuff makes me happy that people like it and motivates me to do more. But if I have horrible grammar and spelling, sorry, but for now, that's not really my concern. I'm writing this for fun. I'll try to keep the bad spelling down to a minimum, and if it is there, then it's a typo. Grammar, that'll just have to be fixed every now and then.

I don't take on batas! No offense to you guys that offer, but I just don't do that. I'd love to be able to, but I can't. I've had too many batas in the past and they either didn't stay consistent with me so that I could have the next chapter up in time, or they would change things in the story.

So no batas. Again sorry, but it's too much of a hassle.

So anyway, R&R and tell me what you think! I'll try and have the next chap up soon, but again, no promises.

Until then, bye!