The forest around him seemed to stand still as he examined the area around him. All was quite except for an ere ringing in his ear as the silence seemed to smoother him. Suddenly, a twig snapped, catching his attention and pulling the string notch farther back against the bow string. In his sight was a deer, who stared innocently at him. With a slow and hushed breath, he released the arrow, sending it flying quickly at the deer, hitting it in its side. Running off, the man slowly rose and found a trail of blood from the deer. He followed it until he reached a field of tall grass. With his arrow resting against the string, he walked slowly into the grass and finally spotting the corpse of the dead deer. Cracking a small smile, he removed the arrow and left the deer for food to the other animals. After a few minutes, he had walked into a small cabin. Opening the door, an elderly couple greeted him with weak, yet happy smiles.

"How was it, dear?" The old woman asked as the man took a few arrows from a small barrel and sat a few coins down in front of them. "Like any other day; another peaceful hunting session." The old couple laughed as they waved him off. Walking back towards the city, he felt today was strange. Ever since he woke up that day, something was bound to happen, and he was sure it wasn't anything good. 'It is amazing,' he thought to himself, 'it seems like only yesterday this place was crawling with Titans.'

He, Bauman Raionhato, grew up an orphan with no parents or guardians, teaching himself how to read and write, how to be himself, and above all: how to love. Back when he was younger, Bauman liked this girl named Mikasa, who he never grew strong enough to speak to. He would watch from the shadows, blushing every time. But it had been a few years since he had seen her, and it had been only days since the wall had been sealed with a boulder. The thought of a human controlling a Titan seemed to race through his head as he would walk home every day, but never understood how. But he knew one thing; he wanted to be a soldier. Even though he made their weapons and some of their gear being a blacksmith, he could never work up the courage to ask if he could become one. Sometimes he'd watch as soldiers walked by, admiring their dedication to humanity's fate, though he knew some only joined for show. He couldn't help, though, knowing bowmen like him were not needed as a soldier. Bows and arrows were sad to be useless in defeating a Titan, though Bauman knew exactly how to defeat a Titan with his bow.

He was only a short walk from his house when the sky was filled with a yellowish lightning strike. People screamed in terror as Bauman caught sight of a huge head peering over the wall and into the city. "No," he muttered to himself, "not again!" He began sprinting until he reached his house. Entering, he threw a chest open and took out a stack of arrows with black tips and placed them in his quiver. Running out to see the Titan, a loud crashing noise came from the wall as it smashed yet another hole into the wall. Bauman gritted his teeth as he began to run, bow in hand away from the Titan. Shortly after, Titans began pouring in, looking for the excitement to kill. Bauman watched as soldiers flew over the crowd as they sped off to hold off the Titans. He stopped for a moment to think. 'If I can help them hold off the Titans, then maybe they will see I could be a soldier, let alone bows are still effective!' Nodding his head, he ran threw the crowd towards the chaos. After a minute of running, the cries and screams of the people trying to escape grew silent as the light thumping noise from off in the distance slowly grew louder. Climbing to a rooftop of a home, he looked over the city that he could see and spotted roughly an 8 meter class only a few rooftops away from him. He leaped to the next roof, landing softly and charging towards the next jump. He continued to parkour from rooftop to rooftop until he was a few away from the Titan. It hadn't took notice of him yet, surprisingly. Moving slowly and quietly, Bauman approached the Titan, who had its back turned towards him, searching for humans through the windows.

Finally, Bauman had finally gotten close enough for a 100% chance to hit the Titan; only a few meters away. Drawing a black-tipped arrow from his quiver, he stroked the point quickly upon the roof, causing a flame to ignite on the tip of the arrow, but a loud scraping noise to echo through the air. The Titan turned, it's huge eyes staring down at him. He drew the arrow back, and held it, taking aim at the eye of the Titan. Before it's hand became level with the roof, Bauman released the arrow, sending the flaming projectile flying into the Titan's eye, causing blood to burst from the impact point and steam to rise from the wound. The Titan grabbed at it's eye, giving Bauman a moment to realize he wasn't able to truly beat a Titan like this. As the Titan cried loudly into the air, Bauman watched as the thought crossed his mind; 'What was I thinking, taking on a Titan like this? Am I mad?'

After a moment, Bauman snapped to his senses and leaped to the side, dodging the Titan's fist crashing down on the roof, sending debris flying. Getting to his feet, Bauman began running towards where the crowd was. After leaping back over the rooftops, he looked back to see the Titan, with one eye closed and bloody tears flying from it, running after him. Fear filled his heart as he began to run even faster. Suddenly, he tripped, scraping his knee and giving the Titan plenty of time to catch up. As he watched the Titan approach, he sighed as blood trickled from his knee into his hand. 'Who am I kidding?' he thought to himself, 'I have nothing left; no job, no family, what is there to live for?' After a moment, he grasped the bow and stood slowly. 'No, I do have one thing.' He pulled another black-tipped arrow out, lighting it on fire, and pulling it back, aiming at the Titan's other eye. "I have Mikasa to look for." he mumbled to himself. Releasing the arrow, it seemed to fly in slow motion as it sped from the bow towards the Titan. But suddenly, the Titan slowly tripped over itself, as if it was careless as to how it ran. Titan blood flew from it's neck as it hit the ground hard. A look of surprise and shock filled his gaze as a figure landed in front of him. He could make out feminine features as she slowly rose, her grey eyes met his. A surprised look filled her gaze.

"Bauman?"

"Mikasa?"