Ruthless Game

by velvetxteddy

a ghost from Jean's past. He finds out that his childhood friend is the only surviver from the massacre that happened to his hometown and just like him she's not the same kid he once knew. The sorrow and thirst for revenge changed her. They walk on different paths: him fighting the enemy outside the walls and Aruora fighting the enemy inside. but will they cross paths again?

1. Chapter 1

Hi SNK fans! I hope you're all having a good time

this is a fanfic I had the idea of it for a year now and "typically"

I thought it'd be fun to share it...so here it is :)

this story is meant to be epic romance, with lots and lots of dystopia and hardships

which is the perfect mix am I right? ;)

enjoy x

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"and I never saw you coming, and I will never be the same"

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It's been a while, not quite sure how much...days, weeks, decades? all I know that I suddenly found myself living a real-life nightmare, wandering foreign lands aimlessly stripped away from everything, family, home, Identity, wealth, health?. The worst of it all I lost my desire for living. I don't have a single interest in going on further into this cruel world yet here I am, moving like a lifeless poppet. I always thought that taking your life by your own hands is an act of weakness that all weaklings are able to commit, though the irony is you need to be ten times stronger in order to go down once and for all, and in my current state I'm nothing near that. Not when I'm covered head to toe in the blood of my loved ones, my wounded face and arms, my sore knees and weak feet. Although my physical condition is pure hell it's still nothing compared to my mental dysfunction...all the pictures and scenes filling my head making me drown in sorrows. "Why?" is the one simple question popping on and on causing an endless painful series in my head. Living in our reality the one common enemy are the titans, right? never occurred to me how humankind can be its own doom. Humans killing each other so brutally and animal like. "Why?" an entire village was wiped out mercilessly. "Why?" women and men, little children and elderlies, houses and shops, livestocks and farms, all gone…burned…done for. "Why?" was I the only surviver forced to live with memories like this, pain and trauma.
My ears caught something so my feet stopped, a familiar sound I didn't hear in a long time out in the wild. the heavy clattering of the horses hoofs, I didn't even flinch when I heard the sharp neighs coming closer from the left side of the nearby woods I just noticed in front of me. It took a few moments before the horses (and for my surprise their riders) jumped out from the bushes facing me standing meters away from them in the open. everything turned blurry, all I can recall is a strong manly voice stating calmly just like he was talking about the weather or something irrelevant "a surviver!" it was right then when my sight become pitch black and I lost consciousness.

blood, screaming, fire and more blood. reliving the day of the massacre in my dreams, nightmares actually, those visions won't stop haunting me even when I'm awake, there is just no escape. I jumped off from where I was laying on, I took a look around confused about my whereabouts…a dark room looked like a storage from all the wooden boxes reaching the ceiling…it was fully occupied except for the the bed to the wall I just laying on. I turned my gaze down to my body I wasn't wearing my blood-soacked ripped cloths, it was changed to something that looked like a dress, it felt like sandpaper against my skin, uncomfortable though clean and honestly the texture of this milky colored dress was the last thing to care about in my mind. I left up my hand and touched my face removing the hair that was covering parts of my face so my fingers got tangled in my locks, I always had such a messy dark hair and the older I get the messier and darker it becomes. back in my village they used to call me "black panther".
My village!

In this exact moment I felt my already broken heart shatter into million little pieces, you think you would reach a point in life when your heart becomes so damaged that it become useless even against the hurt, but funny how the human heart never stops healing as long as it's able to pump blood through your veins…so basically my life is a never ending hell.

I recovered my confused state and looked for the door to push it running to the unknown, I just want to get the hell out of this place whatever it is, I don't belong here, I don't belong anywhere.

in the middle of my running between those dark passages I came across a large wooden door, it was half opened and my ears caught strange voices.

"do you think she will be fine, you know…mentally"

a voice said, the person sounded perfectly calm.

"it's too soon to tell, obviously she has been through a lot"

a low pitched voice answered. are they talking about me?

suddenly I felt the panic attack, am I being held a hostage?

"and we have Kirstein on the other hand, how's he?"

"he still not over it, which is expected considering the his connection to the incident…he has a hope that there are more survivors"

"basically he's in denial"

I needn't no more confirmations, funny how fate brought me to a situation like this in such a foreign place, no it's not funny at all..it's cruel. I felt my head spinning but I ignored it taking a deep breath and walked pass that wooden door my pace increasing by second. I reached the end of the what looked like a hall, it was empty and I almost jumped from the side door when my nostrils caught the scent of the wild breeze, little did I know when my head hit what felt like a wall, the smack was so hard I fell back on the cold ground entirely. I let myself stay still letting it the shock sinks in. I heard a loud whistle and strong manly voice saying: "sleeping beauty is sleeping no more"

I saw a guy with a macular figure wearing a solider uniform, he had a short blonde hair and a faint smirk on his face, I let my guard up preparing for whatever is coming. I heard voices and movements behind him but couldn't see anything with his body blocking the door, but I could sense there are more of them. The muscular solider took a few steps toward me and kneeled down offering a helping hand with his intense gaze, he was studying me closely. I ignored his hand and managed to stand up on my own feeling unsteady for moments still not covered from the impact. Now that he's not blocking the door my eyes widen at the scene in front of me, more soldiers like I expected a few of them were near the door checking on me with their eyes wide open and the larger group were setting under a tree, and I managed to see more far away. Apparently I was captured by the Military, those bastards chilling all this time in this place playing knights in shiny armors and never occurred to them the tragedies happening out there, people are dying this instant from their own kind and those bunch of jerks laying on grass watching the stars, I felt the rage trembling inside of me now that the scene of the massacre playing in front of my eyes and I looked down at my own hands, I was covered with blood all over again, they didn't come to our aid, not even in the aftermath…if my feet didn't help me all this way to the woods they wouldn't even find about me or the situation in my village. I walked a few steps out the door watching the group under the tree standing solider by solider until my eyes met a pair of brown eyes, that instant I smelled the pine trees and the lilies back home, I saw the view the houses in the bottom of the valley glittering at night and the mountains behind, the big endless blue sky and the howling of the wolves coming together with the sound of the water creating a tremendous melody. we had everything, we had it all. Why did they took that pure bliss away from us throwing us inside of this hell against our well. Just like they were knowing I was walking toward him, him only, they moved away clearing my path. I reached him my gaze still not leaving his, taller than ever and his hair ashier than I remember…pale face and sunken cheekbones, he's not the boy I grew up with I can sense it from his aura…though my lips moved:" J…Jean-boo"

His face got paler if that was even possible, completely drained out of blood. finally he spoke when he grasped around my shoulders as if it was for support :"Aruora…can you tell me what happened to the rest of our people, my mother…are they all alright?!"

I heard my own heart pounding so strong I can feel the pulse around my ears, like it was screaming to remind me of my tragic survival, the one surviver left from an entire village. The rage and the feelings that were distracted by Jean Kirstein's appearance attacked me all at once, my mind flipped and my eyes went blank, I took a few steps back freeing myself from his grasp, I knew this boy wasn't the brightest in town though not to this awful point. I started talking killing every hope he has left, and slapping him out of his denial state :"the village is completely wiped out, the gang burned everything to the ground, not a human, animal, house, farm was left…everything is turned to ash"

He fell on the ground right on his knees and I enjoyed it, I actually was pleased seeing his suffer :"I'm the only surviver because I sneaked out at lunchtime to climb the highest tree because I do that a lot, but of course you don't remember now that you left us long ago chasing after things you didn't need"

I stood stiffly my words turning into screams :"JEAN KRISTEIN YOUR MOTHER DIED SCREAMING YOUR NAME. YOU FAILED HER. YOU FAILED YOUR OWN HOME. YOU FAILED US ALL. YOU DIDN'T COME TO OUR RESCUE. LAYING HERE PRETENDING TO FIGHT AN ENEMY YOU WILL NEVER OUTMATCH WHILE THE REAL ENEMY IS IN HERE INSIDE THESE WALLS. I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU. I WILL NEVER FORGIVE ANY OF YOU. I HOPE YOU ALL BE IN THE FRONT LINES WHEN THE TITANS COMES TO DEVOUR US ALL THEN BURN STRAIGHT IN HELL FOR ETERNITY"

the cold damp grass, Jean's faint cries and the sharp pain inside my chest…these were the last things I remember before losing my consciousness all over again, for quite a while this time.

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and that was the first chapter ladies and gentlemen :P

what I'm about to say contains heavy spoilers so if you haven't read the manga therefore, I WARNED YOU!

you'll notice that I changed one or two basic facts about the canon characters

to make it come along with the storyline perfectly, though not massive ones...Jean's

origins for instance, I made him come from the "Trost Village" and not the Distarct

though it's still inside wall rose. the village is down the valley surrounded by

mountains and that's all I need you to know for now. I don't intend to change more about the original plot

but I will see what I can come up with as far as the story goes.

and the timeline of tho story is right after the female titan arc. when they captured Annie

and up to the mission to take back wall maria (before finding out about Reiner and Brethold)

which gets me to the second fact I changed or allow me to say "delayed" for sometime (not quite sure how long)

they wouldn't find out about these two real identities just yet, I will push that back say for a couple of years maybe.

but that's it!

feel free to leave your feedback cuz I can't wait to see it, also PMs and emails are very welcome :)

I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter and looking forward to the next one.

all my love x