(The characters and content of Shingeki no kyojin do not belong to me!)

Author's Note: Hello! This is the very first fanfic I've ever written, so bare with me ^_^ I have recently become obsessed with AoT (and a particular captain) and then I started thinking of this story, and then I started writing it. I've actually only written 2 chapters in advance, as I'm not entirely sure yet where I want to go with it, and I also wanted to gauge peoples interest in it before I spend hours writing it. For that reason the title is as of yet undecided, I also don't know how often I will be able to publish chapters (or if I will ever finish it...) since I have SO MUCH work at uni to do.

Please leave comments if you have anything nice or constructive to say (though I'm doing this for fun, not for practice). Also I cautiously rated this M because of bad language (oh Levi) and potential future violence (because you know, titans) but I don't know if that rating is too high?

I also want to say that I've looked up a map of the 3 walls and tried locating where everything was, but didn't do too well, so just go with it if a place isn't where it should be.

And as usual, (f/n)=first name, (l/n)=last name and so on (though I haven't used them in this chapter) Thanks!


"Stupid circulation" You rubbed your hands together in a vain attempt to warm them. You'd always had poor circulation, meaning that come winter your extremities always suffered, gloves or no gloves. Ironically you actually loved the snow. It always made everything look so pristine.

Tonight was a particularly cold night. Snow was falling around you, adding the already thick layer of snow that coated everything around you. Most of the population had already retreated indoors to the warmth of their fireplaces. You were slightly envious.

On top of being cold you were exhausted. It had been a long day, no, it had been a long week. You were an engineer, currently working close with the military to improve their defences. As such you lived just behind Wall Rose, right on the other side of the city of Trost, where you were within walking distance of the garrison and the outer wall defences. Ever since the fall of Wall Maria 5 years ago your job had become one of utmost importance, and as a result your workload had more than doubled in size.

You walked along as quickly as your tired legs could go. As you turned the corner onto an empty street you heard the crunching of snow to your left, but in your weariness brushed it off. The next thing you knew two strong arms had wrapped themselves around you, one around your waist and the other over your mouth, and dragged you into a dark alley.

"Hello pretty." The slimey voice of a man whispered into your ear while the smell of his breath, tobacco and alcohol, filled your nostrils, making you squirm in fear and disgust. The chuckles of another voice came from just a few feet away. You were pinned up against a wall. From the few rays of light from the street lamps that had managed to make it into the alley you could see the outline of two men, both clearly stronger than you were. Nonetheless you made every effort to struggle as much as you could.

"Oh a feisty one. How fun." The second man took a few steps closer. "So what should we do firs-" He suddenly grunted and fell to the floor, leaving both you and your captor momentarily confused until you saw the figure of a third man turn to face you both. You realised that he must have punched the now fallen man. Your captor let you go, turning to face the stranger, fists up.

"Who the hell are you?!" he shouted, but the mystery man stayed silent. Then, in a flash, he reached out and knocked the man to the floor.

"Fucking disgusting." The mystery man appeared to be wiping his hands with a handkerchief.

It was at that moment, when you realised that you were now safe, that you remembered to breathe and took in a deep breath relief. You took a step towards the mystery man so that you could thank him, but the mixture of cold, exhaustion and shock caused your leg to give way under you. With no energy to put out your arms you waited for the impact of the hard ground, but it never came. The mystery man had caught you and you now lay in his arms. Embarrassed you made a poor attempt to get up, but the mystery man just held you tighter instead. "Don't move you idiot. You clearly can't walk by yourself." He helped you to your feet then let go. As you felt yourself fall forward again he turned around, knelt down, and caught you on his back. Your eyes widened in shock. This complete stranger is giving me a piggy back?! You felt like an idiot being left almost incapacitated by the night's events. You should just get off of his back now, thank him and leave.

"Thanks but I can walk-" Once again you attempted to get off to walk on your own, but he just tightened his grip around your thighs instead.

"Stop moving you brat and tell me where you live." You obeyed and stopped moving.

"Um, turn left here, left again at the bottom of the street, then first right. Fourth house on left." The words barely left your lips as a whisper, but in the stillness of the night it was loud enough. And with that the pair of you set off back into the illuminated streets.

When you had reached your front door the man gently set you down. It was only now, under the light of the street lamps, that you saw the symbol he wore on his cloak.

The wings of freedom.

Then he turned to face you. His hair was raven black, although you couldn't tell if that was just an illusion of the night. His grey eyes looked at you with a stoic expression.

"I assume you'll be alright from here. I'm going to go back and take care of those bastards." And his voice. It was deep, and while giving away no hints to his feelings it still managed to fill you with calm. You nodded.

"Thank you." You said. He made to turn away. "Wait!" He stopped and looked back at you questioningly. "What's your name? I'd feel like a fool to not even know the name of the person who saved me from those awful men." He looked at you for a moment, still with no expression gracing his face. Then as he turned to walk away again he spoke.

"Levi Ackerman."