Birds flew lazily overhead, every wing beat no harder than they needed to avoid plummeting to the ground. There were puffy clouds and soft blue skies. It made the world seem so small. It made the walls seem so small. It made me wonder about that vile word; beyond. For the first day in my life, I questioned my existence. My worth. My life. All because the Colossal Titan came, teaching me not to fear, but to be brave.

I was on patrol that day, idly wandering from post to post as I held onto Toby's hand, the sun glowing onto his fiery hair in a halo. The bright crimson shade matched the Garrison rose sewn onto both of our chests, only making him seem all the more angelical. It suited him so well. He was made for this job. To protect the wall, to keep the peace, to lace our finger together and walk with me even when I had no destination. He was so good to me; that's why when he proposed, 'no' wasn't even an option. I took to examining his face for any signs of remorse or doubt, but when he caught me staring intently at his eyebrows, he squeezed my hand and turned to me.

"What's wrong, Zuri?" He chuckled, slowing his pace as my grip on his hand loosened. Eyes still stuck on his eyebrows, I was all too aware of them furrowing into a position that could only be fear when I didn't answer right away. He was only twenty three but I could see the worry lines he would have when he was older. "Zuri? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Chirping, I pecked a small kiss on his cheek as he let out a pleased, rumbling sort of sound. No sooner than my lips left his face, he dropped my hand and instead took to picking me up bridal style as I let out a small squeal. "Tobias!" I could feel blush blooming over the fact he was making such a public display of affection while in uniform. When we wore them, we were soldiers over lovers. "What are you doing? Somebody is going to see!"

"Nobody pays attention to the wall." He purred, burrowing his face into my neck. "If they interrupt I can just say I'm rehearsing for our honeymoon."

"T-Toby!"

"Just listen." He hushed me, starting to walk intently towards the edge of the wall so we were overlooking it. Shiganshina was a beautiful district. There were rolling emerald pastures dotted with sheep or cattle, even horses running happily in fenced areas so large that they wouldn't feel encaged. The loose, fruitful fields of corn and grain dipped and swayed in the light breeze like heavy ripples on a pond of vegetation. Even the town itself had a sort of happy buzz to it, like every person inside was being hugged by the outdoors. I loved it so much more than the inner cities. Here, things were peaceful. Toby and I had often pondered about moving just inside wall Maria, looking to start a family in one of the more rural areas. I may be nothing more than a skilled foot soldier, but Toby was a Garrison squad leader. He promised me that we could buy a house together and that he'd work hard enough so I could quit the guard and start a shop of my own creations. Sure, the thrill of skirting the walls and peeking at Titans was fantastic, but I could do so much more than be just another soldier. Creating and fixing things was my passion. If I could take off my uniform and hang it up, I would love nothing more.

"Do you see that house down there?" Toby nodded his head downwards. "The one standing a little bit outside the town but not quite alone?"

"Yeah?" I raised an eyebrow and cast my gaze back at him.

"One of the men in my squad's aunt owns it. She's planning on moving to the inner wall because she needs almost constant care, so it's for sale and…"

"Toby!" The grin on my face couldn't be restrained.

"I made an offer that she accepted. She said we can start moving in at sunset, but I just wanted to make sure that it was everything you'd ever wa-"

He didn't have the chance to finish because I grabbed both sides of his face and kissed him square on the lips. He was more than happy to reciprocate and that's how I ended up making out with my fiancé on top of what some people considered a gift from God. In my defense, it's only sacrilegious if you believe that jargon in the first place.

When we both surfaced for air, Toby laughed loudly, his eyes squinting in at the sides and his dimples showing proudly. I smiled and ran a hand down his face, tracing the curve of his cheeks with my thumb before kissing him on the nose. He leaned in towards me to start one of our favorite activities again, but his movements stopped as soon as the bells began to chime in the distance.

The Scout Regiment was back.

My squad was supposed to be on crowd control and Toby's was in charge of opening the front gate.

He set me down and kissed the top of my head before we both jogged so we could meet the 'heroes' and, if need be, protect them from grieving families who had lost a member during one of their many failed missions.

"So sad…" an old woman next to me mused as the cloaks of green hobbled by. At first I thought she was just talking to herself, but when I glanced over at her, I found her cloudy blue eyes staring right at me. "My son James gave his life to them." She continued as she refocused on the horses and carts of men passing by. "He was such a sweet boy."

The woman moved on and disappeared into the crowd, but I couldn't stop hearing her words in my head. The way she said he was such a sweet boy- it was almost disconnected. I understood that you needed to move on after having a grieving period, but she was his mother and sounded almost apathetic. Chills ran down my spine and I was almost ready to turn and leave, but I stopped myself when I heard a cry that made my heart break.

"Braun! Braun!" A somewhat elderly woman shoved her way into the path of the foot soldiers on the other side, worry and fear plastered across her face. "Excuse me," The entire train of people stopped and her voice dropped in confidence. "I don't see my son Braun anywhere. Do you know where he is?"

She grabbed lightly onto the coat of the nearest Scout Regiment member, the dark green color tinted with bloody splotches. I scrutinized the man as he kept a straight face, his eyes glued on the woman as he ordered to soldier next to him, who had a bandaged eye, "This is Braun's mother." He looked away in shame. "Go get it."

The mother let go of him and stepped back, gasping lightly. Her mouth hung open in confusion as her eyebrows pulled up and eyes widened, realizing in that instant that 'it' was her son. Her gaze stayed glazed as the soldier retrieved a small, bloody bundle from one of the nearby carts. Then he walked over and handed it to the woman. She stared in wonder at the clump of cloth in her hands before looking back at the soldiers, speechless. When neither one of them said anything, just continued their cool deadpans, she focused back on the item in her hands as she began to unwrap it hastily. From where I was standing, I saw as the last layer of fabric fell away to reveal a bloodied and bruised hand. When the woman saw the contents, she let out a horrified gasp and covered it back up, a sob pulling slowly from her throat as the soldier she first confronted stood still as a statue in front of her.

"It's all we could retrieve." He apologized, his voice barely audible over the broken crying as the woman fell to her knees and clutched her son's amputated limb to her body, hugging it tightly. All of the nearby combatants watched solemnly as he stepped forward and bent to kneel beside the woman as she continued sobbing.

"But- my son-" she took in a deep gulp of air. "He was helpful, right?" Shocked and speechless, the man didn't have a chance to get out an answer before she asked another question, tears streaming down her face. "Even if he didn't achieve direct greatness, surely my son's death helped humanity fight back, yes?!" Raising her head suddenly, she met the man's eyes with the ferocity of a wounded beast.

Everybody was gloomily silent.

"Of course!" The man rushed to say, pausing when he realized his lie was so thin that it couldn't even trick a child. "No, on this latest scouting mission we-" His voice broke. "No- Just like all the other missions-" His face tightened as he fought with tears. "We achieved nothing at all! My incompetence has done nothing but needlessly send soldiers to their deaths! We haven't found out anything about them!"

Heavy tears fell in abundance down his face, both out of anger and sadness, as I realized with a sense of horror that he was none other than their Commander. The soldier he'd ordered to retrieve the limb put an arm on his shoulder before pulling him to his feet. The woman stood there in shock as the Scout Regiment began to move out again, the man's sobbing growing ever quieter as the party of death moved on.

I hadn't the stomach to stay and instead made a hasty escape, trying to ignore the knot in my heart. Ducking into a back road, I broke into a sprint and headed towards a maze of streets that led to the main gate. The thrum of my feet was perfectly in time with my racing heart, not slowing down until after I spotted Toby's mane of hair amongst the different Garrison members.

He had his back to me when I finally reached him, but that didn't stop me from wrapping my arms around his midsection and almost tackling him into a hug. At first he tensed up, but when I burrowed my head into his back I think he realized I wasn't trying to harm him and slowly tried to turn around.

"Zuri?" I should hear the shock in his voice but just focused on nuzzling against him instead. He made me unclamp my arms around him just enough so that he could turn around and look at my face. When we finally could see each other, his eyebrows knit together in concern again and his green eyes flashed dangerously. "Why are you crying? Who did this to you?"

"Crying-?" Lo and behold, when I reached a hand up to my face, it came back wet and warm from tears I didn't know were there. Then I just smiled and tried to rub them away. "I'm just happy you're alright, that's all. Seeing so many people hurt just makes me realize how lucky we are. I love you, Toby, and I'm just really happy that you're alright."

My explanation seemed to placate him a little, but his eyebrows wouldn't unfurl. "I love you too." He assured me, grabbing my hand and nodding at a senior member of his squad. "Tell you what, why don't I get off early tonight? To celebrate the new house." He brushed away a stray tear of mine and gave me a smile worth more than gold.

Nodding vigorously, I squeezed his hand as he kissed my forehead.

"Alright." I conceded, watching happily as his brows loosened and he seemed satisfied. "But only if you promise to come home safe."

That earned a laugh from him as he let my hand go and nudged me away. "I'll be fine, Zuri, and I'll come get you when I'm off. Now go back to protecting the Scout Regiment." He scoffed lightly. "They need all the help they can get."

It was easy to catch back up to the Survey Corps. They were still solemnly walking through the streets as the sun began to show signs of setting, unhappy onlookers muttering unclaimed 'I told you so's under their breath. I was silently slipping behind the crowds to follow them when I saw a kid pull his arm back and lob something at the returning squads. One of the soldiers let out a bark of pain and turned to glare towards the general vicinity. A rock. The kid had thrown a rock. He was getting ready to throw another when I grabbed his wrist and held it back.

"What do you think you're doing?" I snarled, annoyed that somebody would result to petty violence when angry. Where was Toby? He'd promised to get off early. He promised he'd come get me.

"Those fuckers got my brother killed," the kid roared, thrashing about and trying to free his arm. He had so much rage for such a little kid. "To Hell with all of them!" I opened my mouth to tell him to calm down, but just as I began to roll my eyes at him, he did something I never expected. Wrapping his leg around the back of mine, he kicked at the back of my knee so that it gave out under me and I went tumbling to the ground. His plan would've worked perfectly if I hadn't kept my death grip on his wrist, causing him to come down with me. At the last moment, I let go of him to brace myself from the fall, and he took his chance. Just as soon as he hit the ground, he bounced back to his feet and darted towards the road.

"Hey! Kid!" I got up and scrambled after just in time to see him run in front of one of the Recon Corps' horses, causing it to rear up and almost dump the rider off. Lunging forward to grab him by the collar and pull him back, I got there just in time to stop him from being pounded beneath the horse's hooves. "Idiot." I scolded him, keeping my grip strong in case he got any wild ideas.

I turned to the rider to apologize, but words seemed to fail me.

He was a rather good looking man, maybe a few years my elder. In the moment, his sad look was shattered into one of curiosity and possibly amusement. It made him look- dare I say it- handsome. His blonde cap of hair was bright and sunny, his eyes a crystal kind of blue that might remind one of icy cold winter nights. His face was roughened and dirty and his cape filled with a dark splatter of blood, making all the contrasts of him seem more defined. His jawline was strong and he had bold eyebrows that sat low in his forehead, that is, until they tweaked up at the ridiculous actions in front of him.

"Sorry." I offered, bowing my head slightly as I pulled the kid off to the side.

"It's fine." He breathed, almost chuckling as he calmed down his horse.

Yanking on the child, I pulled him away from the crowd of onlookers and further into a back street. He was squirming like a worm, letting me know just how he felt about me. And I have to admit, 'thrice damned hag' was actually a pretty good insult for somebody who I'd at first thought had about the IQ of a bread slice. It wasn't until I threw him to the ground that he finally shut up, only to glare at me maliciously.

I opened my mouth to tell him how grateful he should be, but Mother Nature cut me off and started to shake the very ground beneath our feet. Violently. There was such an explosion that one would think a large building had just collapsed. It quaked with such a ferocity that I had trouble maintaining my balance. And just as soon as it started, it stopped.

"What is that?!" a woman screeched, followed by the sound of hooves on the ground. The Survey Corps were running away. There were rumbles of uncertainty as I looked at the kid and quickly prioritized.

"Go find somewhere safe." I ordered him, turning and sprinting as fast as possible towards to source of the sound. The streets were lined with people, unsure of what happened, and it wasn't until I thought to climb on top of somebody's house to get a view did I finally realize what was wrong.

There was a column of smoke behind the wall.

And emerging from it, a Titan.

Its head rose above the wall like a satanic game of peek-a-boo, steam pouring out of gaps in its exposed flesh. The hand it was using to cling to the wall was gripped so tight that rubble was falling and risking damage to the homes and citizens below. I soon learned that small rubble would be the least of our problems.

The Titan's movements were slow, given the size of it, but it seemed to dip forward, pause for a moment, then backwards. I didn't realize what particularly it was doing until the bottom of the wall exploded, boulders and people flying out into the air. The gust of wind that followed was spontaneous and strong, dust covering my view of all the new problems. But the dirt that flew up couldn't prevent me from seeing innocent people crushed by falling pounds of rock and cement, blood spattering into the air like the whiplash of a raindrop.

Dark plumes of smoke belched into the air, sparks signaling soon-to-be fires as the sediments floating around settled down to reveal something all the more horrifying. A hole, streaming sunset into the gap in our protection. Then, just as fast as it'd appeared, the oversized Titan ducked behind the wall, and was gone.

As terrible as a hole in the wall was, it was even fouler to see the light covered as normal Titans streamed into the city with their immoral expressions and lifeless eyes. The pounding of their feet was covered by the screams of the terrified as people realized our worst fear had come true; the Titans were inside.

Society was scattering from the outside like ducks from the gun's report. Only, birds could fly away. These people were defenseless. But, they had the Garrison. They had me. They had Toby. We had taken an oath to swear our lives to the protection of others and I intended to fully continue through with that promise.

Once I got hooked into my 3D Maneuvering Gear, I fluttered across the city. There were Titans everywhere. I ducked down as fast as I could to get there in time. To save somebody. Everybody. But practice and training and an odd glance does not prepare you for the genderless, gruesome beauty of a living Titan. Every one of them, every single one, was different.

The first I saw was terrifying. It had short, tawny hair that flared out everywhere and thin, high eyebrows that always made him seem surprised. His eyes were sunny yellow, his nose button-like, and his jawbones sharp and defined. They led directly towards the gaping Hell hole that one might call a mouth, but in this case, that doesn't cover it all. 'Mouth' doesn't explain the crackling dry flakes that crusted around its mouth or the gooey slime that dangled from gum to gum. It doesn't put into words the horror that teeth the size and shape of daggers can pierce into your heart. It does not explain the bloody red shade of soft flesh or the lilting grin that forms on the lips of a monster as it sucks down a body like the most delectable of noodles. That is not a mouth. That is a recognizable void of which there is no return.

That is the horror that I was forced to see. There were dozens of the inhuman beasts strolling in the wall, snatching up people that I couldn't save in time and turning them into raw delicacies. I let my adrenaline take over and cut through the nape of the neck of so many Titans that they all turned to a hot, stinky blur. There was a flicker of a moment where I enjoyed the thrill off it all, but as a 15 meter tumbled to the ground, I heard the scream of a voice that I had not even thought to fear.

Toby.

Whipping around, I shot off in the direction of the cry as a sinking and dark feeling began to settle in my heart. I saw my fiancé, the man I was engaged to marry, held in the meaty fingers of a Titan.

"Tobias!" I screamed, tears welling in my eyes as he was raised above the maw of the unholy, hellish beast. And I swear on my life that I saw a glimmer of hope in his eyes before he was dropping into its jaws, and the fiery red haired firecracker I'd come to love, was gone.