Year 828 - Third Person POV
The leaves were motionless on the road. Motionless, that is, until the small girl running away from her bullies ran past them and sent them rustling around, finally settling back in their original positions.
The girl ducked into an alleyway to catch her breath. She was short, a little under four feet, with slightly wavy blond hair tied back into a ponytail, light blue eyes, and black glasses, and she was wearing a white blouse and a tan patterned skirt. Unfortunately, the boys followed her in. She looked up, not scared like most would be, but defiant.
"Leave me alone," she said, her voice breaking the silence between her and the three boys blocking her escape route. The burliest of the three stepped closer.
"Too late for that," He made his hand into a fist and punched. However, the girl was faster, ducking under his punch and kneeing him in the nuts. His eyes widened and he dropped to the ground. "Don't just stand around, get her!" He snarled, now thoroughly pissed. The other two stepped closer.
The girl put down her books and got into a fighting stance. "Bring it on." She said. The first of the two stepped closer, drawing back for a punch that probably could have winded even a Titan. She stood there until he threw it. Then she darted in, grabbing his wrist, and spun him around, eventually throwing him into his companion.
"Just because you're big and tough doesn't mean that you can beat up others whenever you feel like it," she said, then picked up her books and walked off.
~le time skip of this girl's awesomeness~
Later that night, the girl had gotten home and was reading one of her father's books about the world outside the walls when her mother snatched the book.
"Mooooooooooooooooooom!" She protested, but the woman held up a hand.
"You can have it back later. We need to talk," she said, sitting down at the dining table and motioning for the girl to join her. "Darryl's mother said that you'd beaten him up again."
"He would have beaten ME up if I hadn't done anything."
"I find it very hard to believe that Darryl would do that. He's from a very respectable family, and-"
"You don't believe me, do you," the girl said bitterly, looking at the floor, "maybe next time I should just let myself get beaten up. At least then you would believe me about him," she paused, "you probably wouldn't even care if I did get beaten up."
"That's not-"
"It is the truth, isn't it? You just don't care about me whatsoever," the girl snatched the book back and took off out the door.
"REYNA ARLERT! GET BACK HERE!" The woman yelled after her, opening the door. Reyna didn't turn back and kept running. The woman turned back to her husband. "Where did we go wrong?"
"I don't know... But she'll come back eventually." The man said.
~le time skip of REYNA's awesomeness~
He was wrong. Reyna didn't come back. She ran to her closest friend's house and knocked on the door. A kid a few years older than her stepped outside. He had very short blond hair and golden hazel eyes, and seemed shocked to see the girl.
"Reyna! What are you doing here?" He asked. She hugged him.
"I'm running away," she said, biting her lip, "and I wanted to say goodbye."
"At least let me give you something to take." He said, running back inside, and coming out shortly with a bag. "I heard some of the soldiers from the Garrison say that it would take at least a week to reach Trost from Shiganshina on foot. Be careful." The girl took it gingerly, gently placing her book inside it, and closed it.
"Thank you." She said. She started to walk down the road that would take her to Trost.
"Goodbye, Reyna." The boy said quietly. She turned around.
"Goodbye... Hannes." She said, waving, and then continued on her way.
~le time skip of your shock at Hannes being Reyna's friend, betcha didn't see that coming~
A week later, Reyna walked into Trost. Her supplies had run out just before she had gotten there. Fortunately, she still looked fairly nice, so nobody seemed to notice her. However, she noticed something herself. A small boy, younger than her, was being chased by some other big boys. She followed them.
The smaller boy was only four at most, with messy brown hair, and was sobbing hard, while the bigger boys were quite possibly older than Darryl and his sidekicks, and they looked like they were about to hurt him. Bad. Anger boiled up inside Reyna. She wasn't going to let them do anything to that little boy. She walked up.
"Three against one doesn't quite seem fair, does it? She said, going over to where the little boy was huddled up in a ball. "Let's even up the odds a bit." The boy in front clenched his fists.
"Stay out of this or we'll make you." The first one said. "It's none of your business."
"I believe it IS my business, actually." She said, narrowing her eyes.
"Have it your way." The kid in charge said, motioning for his sidekicks to move forward. They both lunged for her at the same time. She ducked under them, and they bonked heads, falling to the ground. They were out cold. The ringleader's eyes widened as Reyna walked forward.
"I will have it my way, thank you very much." She said, then kneed him in the nuts. The blonde walked over to the little boy. "Don't worry, you're fine now." She said. The boy raised his head, saw the boys, and scrambled to his feet.
"T-thank y-you..." He said. Reyna grabbed his hand.
"Let's get you home, okay?" She said gently. He nodded. "Which way is it?"
~le time skip of Reyna's awesomeness~
"-and so I walked him back home." Reyna said, finishing telling her story to the little boy's family. His name was Alex Akiyama.
"So you walked all the way here from Shiganshina?" The mother asked, astounded.
"Yes..." She looked down. "I don't know where I'll go from here. Maybe I'll go live in the Interior." She shrugged. The two adults exchanged glances.
"Reyna," Alex's dad said, "if you don't want to go back to Shiganshina, you could stay with us instead."
"Alex has gotten beaten up by those boys hundreds of times in the past year," his mother agreed, "and we'd be happy to have you as part of our family." Reyna looked up, astounded.
"Really?" She said, shocked.
"Really," Alex's father said, "but before you decide anything, we'd better eat before the food gets cold."
~le time skip of Alex's kawaiiness~
Year 834 - Third Person POV
Reyna was fifteen now, and her foster brother Alex was ten. Oh, she tried to forget about her real parents. But she could never completely forget the place where she had been born. Not without forgetting Hannes. But today was the day she was finally joining the Training Corps. She would miss her foster family, but the book she'd kept all those years kept calling her to do one thing.
Join the Survey Corps.
And at the end of her training, she did.