This is a fic about an OC, Akiko, a new girl and a favorite of mine. The time is when Eren is in his second year of training, about six months before they meet him. He won't be in it for a while. My first SNK fic, so forgive me if it's not too good. Enjoy, and please review.

Levi POV

"Get... off of me." She ground out, her voice shaking. Blood dripped from her nose and forehead, and I wanted to laugh.

"No." Raising my leg high and swinging it down onto her pretty face, I smiled slightly as she stuttered angrily and tried to push against the cuffs. She was surrounded in a pool of her own blood. Understandable.

"You bastard!" Her voice rang through the empty hall. I sighed. I gave her a clean uppercut, knocking out one of her teeth, and then a bruise that would probably give her a black eye for a month. She used to be so pretty, too.

She had long hair twisted into a bun with two tendrils of waist-length hair falling down. I had admired her, slightly, for being so good with a sword yet so pretty. I'm pretty sure her nickname was The Shadow in her small village. She'd had it because she moved silently.

But, the one thing I liked about her was her eyes. They were something else. Bright, sky-blue fading to black on the rims and fading to white on the inside. She was very, very pretty- and she was a complete and utter bitch to everyone who went near her.

Of course, it was simply because of Gavaldon. Well, I understood. She blamed us for the fall of Wall Maria. She blamed us for everything, and she had a warped point.

Gavaldon was a group of people who thoroughly believed in- well, foresaw- the attack of the titans. They petitioned to fight and to train all the young children. But this didn't go down with people. They were lazy. They said, "why fix it, if it's not broken?", and they went on saying that.

So Gavaldon did things their own way. They used incredible techniques and superb sword skills to kill a titan even without gas or steam power. When the wall came down, Gavaldon were told to fight to save people- and if Gavaldon had said yes, there was that much more chance of us surviving. But they didn't.

Gavaldon became outcast. They refused to fight and are now hiding or dead, and the few that were taken hostage (We refused to allow them to not fight, so we attempted to take them hostage) were put into the dungeon and locked away. Eventually, there were fourteen people who were left. They wouldn't talk. They wouldn't fight.

We had decided on more of a physical threat. No more pleading or anger or tears or threats. I asked to be put in charge of their punishment, and I was given the role. The first person to be put under this was Akiko Kuranaya, a sweet-faced girl who I had been beating for the past half an hour. She didn't even scream, just told me to stop. Well, it could wait.

"You know what?" I ground out, grabbing her throat. "Your body is pretty clean and I think there's a lot I could do to it. It's ten AM; I have fourteen hours before I need to be in bed. Do you think you can take that? It's only been half an hour and you're not crying in pain yet. That kind of pisses me off."

"Screw you." Her hair covered her face limply, but there was blood slowly dripping from her nose. "My father told me not to help you. He gave no reason why, but said I couldn't trust anything you say. So I won't."

Angrily, I crushed my foot into her chest. "Well, guess what? I have two weeks on holiday, in this dungeon that's safe from Titans. We've got enough food here to last that long! I have everything I need to keep me entertained."

"I'm not scared."

"You might not be, because you're an idiot. But what about that little girl in the other room?" Her head snapped up (Well, as much as it could with me pushing my foot into her neck) and I smirked. A complete bluff. We only had her and thirteen young males. Her eyes went wide and she screamed loudly. "SUZA! SUZA! SUZA!"

"W-What?"

I jerked back, and she fell silent after letting out a broken sob.

"S-Suza?" She said, suddenly sounding young. My brow furrowed slightly, and I released the tension on her throat.

"Yeah, Suza? She keeps crying about some stuffed toy she lost. She has the cutest voice." Again, I was bluffing, but I was pretty sure it would work. May as well take the risk. It sounded believable.

"Sally..." Her voice was raw. "Hey, Levi?"

"Yes?" I wondered what she was asking, and then decided I didn't care.

"Reach into my shirt, please. There's a small toy nestled in my chest and it's her little Sally teddy. I think it would help her a lot. Please? I'll exchange that for information." She had completely changed her demeanor, became pleading and I suddenly felt a small burst of guilt.

"Okay." Unbuttoning her shirt two buttons, I noticed that even if she had lost some blood, she still managed to let some flood to her cheeks. Blushing? How pathetic.

Reaching into her shirt, I tried to reach a tiny bear that wasn't nestled in her chest! It was tied into her damned brasier, and I knew she was forced to let me do this. I continued to work the buttons on her shirt free, and she spoke quietly.

"You've gone red, by the way." I gave her a dry look- pretty much the only look I ever gave anyone- and continued to work the buttons free. Wow, that teddy was tiny...

"Don't think you'll get out of here by flirting with the guard, moron."

"W-what?" She muttered. "I wasn't, you fool."

Sarcastically, I said "Yeah, right." And continued to unbutton her. By now, her shirt was pretty much undone and her teddy was nestled inbetween her breasts. Plucking it out, I noticed that she had four marks on her chest. Four round marks, one at her shoulder, one at her breast, one at her stomach and one at her waist. They looked like teeth marks.

Poking her second scar, I gazed at it. "That's some battle scar." She nodded.

"Annie. She's my little sister, and she was about to be eaten by a Titan. I was stupid and leaped into the Titan's mouth, shoved her out and then got crushed."

"All due respect, why aren't you dead?"

"I thought quickly. I jammed my sword into the roof of its mouth, slid into the throat, then cut my way out of the throat. I came out of the neck of the Titan, but I never knew what happened to Annie."

"That is a good reflex." I pocketed the small bear, and sat back- then realized her shirt was still open. Not that it really mattered, but when the next Guard came to watch over her he would see. For some reason, I didn't want that to happen- it was probably the scars or something.

"Thanks. Hey, Levi?" I had started to button up her shirt again, and she blushed harder.

"Yes?"

"What's going to happen to me?" She sounded like a small, terrified child and I found myself looking up to stare at her pretty eyes. She looked so innocent and so kind, yet I had a sour face that never stopped glaring. I was sort of envious.

"It depends. If you resist, in the end it'll be execution. If you submit, it'll be a rank in the Scouts, with your skills."

"Ah. Well, I won't become part of your group."

I lifted myself up, staring at her. "Why?"

"I don't know. Gavaldon said I could not."

"But that's illogical and completely pathetic."

"Yeah. Just carry on beating me now." I did as the lady asked, scowling. I hated martyrs. For the rest of the day, I moved from her face to her chest. From her chest to her legs. Eventually, her entire body was purple. I sighed. No better lesson than pain, yes, but she barely even grunted when I hit her. She didn't squeak or cry.

When I hit the boys, they cried and begged for mercy. Actually, little did she know that she had the best position- as the leader, she was worth something. The boys were going to be killed if they didn't confess by the end of the week- two days.

"Shit." I heard one of the guards' mutter, when they came to inspect. "He's giving her hell, right?" What I couldn't wait for was for her to break. And yes, I wasn't a teacher who skipped over something if you didn't learn it. I was considerate. I'd teach her again and again and again.

"Now." I said, for the sixth time that day, on the sixth hour. "Ready to confess?" She couldn't even shake her head due to the pain, but her eyes shook left to right. I sighed.

"Thanks to the pain you've received, you're pretty much out of it. I'll be back tomorrow, anyway." I undid her shackles, and a guard gasped. She fell to the floor, asleep.

"Sir, I cannot allow you to leave her shackles undone!" I gestured to the girl, who was lying in a pool of blood, black and blue, quietly groaning.

"Think she's going anywhere?" He conceded, and I walked out of the room, quickly. I wanted to sleep. Six hours of beating her up really tired me out, and I would catch an early night to be fresh for punishment tomorrow. Heck, I might bandage her up so that it's worse. But opening old scars would be painful too.

I reached my temporary cabin, threw the door open and lay down on my bed. Stretching out my aching muscles, I stripped off my clothes and threw them on the floor. I drifted off to sleep in seconds, and had the first dream in years.

That was so long ago.

On the way back from a Scout hunt, I went past a patch of blood lilies. I couldn't stop myself, so I picked a few. When I came back, I was walking home when I accidentally took the wrong turn and faced a small door. Opening it cautiously, I found a huge meadow with two small things sticking up.

There was a small girl standing in the meadow, looking at the flowers. She had picked daisies and dandelions but had no others. Was she making a flower crown?

The other was the small apple tree sapling next to her.

I had walked over, just to take a look, and seen the little girl's face intent with concentration. She was making a flower crown. I bent down, my emotionless face staring at the beautiful flowers. I was not an attractive man at the time, being thin, emotionally dead and with grey-white skin that highlighted my stark black hair even more.

But when she looked at me, she smiled. "Wow, pretty!" She said, tying the last daisy on the crown. "Here, have this!" She reached up (Just barely, she was a tiny thing for her age) and planted it on my head. I looked at it, sighed, and allowed a small turning up at the corners of my mouth.

Whisking out the red lily, I held it to her nose. "I'll trade with you." I said quietly. She nodded happily, and I collapsed onto the grass, sighing. Three men had died on that trip. But here it was sweet and peaceful. It smelt of flowers. I gazed at the sky, and then at the girl. Her hair was pale pink, but that was probably the light or something. Her eyes were deep, pretty blue, like the sky. Her hair was long and sticking out in all places. She wore a little brown dress, but not an expensive-looking one. It looked threadbare.

"Hey, mister?" Her voice was pretty, with a musical lilt to it. She probably comes from a family of people from what used to be a country.

"Yeah?"

"Can I bury you in flowers?" Wow. I couldn't decide if that was cute or morbid, but I decided I didn't care.

"Sure, why not?" She smiled, and I dozed off in the sun eventually, unaware of her poking around my body, tying flowers into my shoelaces, weaving them into buttons... When I woke up, I looked like a flower girl.

"Shit!" I cursed. She looked at me innocently. When I tried to pull them off, they stuck tight and wouldn't get off my buttons or laces.

"Do you want me to take them off, mister? You do look really beautiful, though!"

"Ah! Yes, please." I watched her fast fingers work, marveling at how she undid them with a slip of a cord.

"Just use your fingernails and pull, mister." Now I watched her, and I realized she did this every day. The red lily lay in a patch of daisies, like blood on white silk, and I picked it up.

"Hey, come here." She came towards me, and I slid the lily into her plait at the back of her otherwise loose hair. It looked beautiful. On a second thought, I decided to do something stupid. I took off the necklace that was around my neck and put it onto her neck. "Sell it." It just gave me bad memories, after all.

My necklace was a little wing charm on a silver chain. Nothing much, but… it looked valuable.

"Now, mister, I'll put flowers in my hair every day!" She grinned. I nodded. Still pale and emotionless. Damn.

"I have to go." I said, patting her head. "Bye." She smiled, again.

"Are you coming back?"

I shrugged. "Maybe." She grinned.

"Well, don't worry! I made you a good luck flower charm so that you'll be safe." My eyes crinkled slightly, and she tucked it into my pocket. "Levi?" She asked, quietly.

"Yes?"

"See, when I come here I'm always really lonely. No-one ever comes to say hello, and they walk past me like they hate me. Levi... I want you to know..." I thought she was crying, but then I realized she was laughing. "I really want you to come back to my flower garden!"

I smiled- and then my body moved on its own. My hand was raised and I slapped her across the face, hard. Her face lengthened and aged, and her soft brown hair was twisted into a plait across the back. Her eyes were filled with hatred, and suddenly I recognized her. Akiko Kuranaya.

Her voice… It was the same. Because the girl I just beat up as punishment was Flower Girl. And something I'd never thought would happen to me had happened. I had found someone to love. And she thought I was beautiful. She'd made me have a dream for the first time in so long. I'd never stop owing her-

"Wha-?!" I groaned, jetting up and hitting my head on the bedpost. Ow, ow… What was that? Clearly I had a delusional dream. Like Flower Girl was Kuranaya. For one, Flower Girl couldn't be Kuranaya. I mean, Flower Girl was innocent and sweet. Kuranaya was a stone-cold killing machine. I mean, I would find Flower Girl eventually. I knew I would. I just had to.

The one person who ever told me I was beautiful. I mean… Not like that. I just wanted her to be alive. She… If Flower Girl wasn't alive, then I knew that it would hurt. A lot. I would get the pains I got when my mother died. Stabbing pains that never ease up, never go away.

But until I had solid proof she was dead, I refused to believe it. And if I found her… I would show her the Flower Charm that has been in a tiny bag, tucked in my pocket. It's been there for twelve years.

What? I came to my senses, sighing. I had to get back in order! How long had I been asleep? I looked outside, and it was dark with the hint of light that made me think of four or five in the morning. If I dressed quickly, I could get some food for her. Maybe she would be softer then.

Her 'brothers' were all refusing food. One was close to death. We had considered force feeding him, but what was the point? However, she was a girl. We hoped that as she was a girl, we could use some way to give her extra 'incentive' to join the scouts.

Well, I had nothing.

They were trying to use the fact she was female as a bargaining chip. Yes, one person from Gavaldon was worth ten good soldiers in themselves, and if someone from Gavaldon was taught how to master using gas as a way to propel themselves, they would be worth twenty. She was valuable, and I didn't know why she would become our asset. I mean, she clearly didn't think pain was a good enough teacher.

Sighing, I swung myself up and started to get dressed. For today, I opted in for shoes, unlike yesterday. Also, I wore armored gloves with small ridges on them. She would scream today, for sure. Sliding on trousers and slipping on the rest of my clothes, I tucked a knife into the back of my pocket, and walked out of the door. I was emotionless as always, and my thoughts were of Flower girl. I knew I would find her. I had to.

Pushing onwards, I went through countless corridors and foolish halls until I found the steps going down. The dungeon. There were some voices, and I heard a loud yell. There was the cutting shing of a blade being drawn and a female voice was shouting.

We didn't have any females on watch. That meant... the only female there, could be... Sprinting down the steps, I found Kuranaya glaring in a clear challenge. Two guards were blocking the door, and she had her hands up in defense.

"Captain!" The man saluted. "She broke free, sir!"

"How?"

"I..." He looked slightly red. "She broke her handcuffs, sir!"

"She broke through?" I sighed. There was clearly more to it, and something he wouldn't tell me. She'd probably seduced him. So clichéd, it hurt.

"Well then, what are you waiting for?" I pointed to her, and she glared. She still looked injured, but barely winced. She must have been in pain.

"Sir?"

"Go capture her. You're a guard! You should defeat her with no trouble." He nodded, raised his fists and ran towards her, swinging a fist at her face. She had the time to let out a small chuckle and duck. She then, whilst crouched down, flipped over and hit the man's arm. He let out a grunt, and she cartwheeled up and smashed her elbow into his face.

She wasn't trying to kill. Turning to me, and the other guard, she said "Please, move out of my way." He flinched back, and she took the opportunity to slap him out of her way. He fell to the floor, got up after a few seconds and she started to run- but then careened into me, her hair in her face.

"Aaargh." She said quietly, her face in my cloak. Looking at her dispassionately, I noted how her cheeks were suddenly red. Sighing, I pushed her away from me and punched her square in the face. She fell back, and blood streamed from her nose. She went pale, and skidded back.

She had broken her cuffs, actually. She'd eased the chains, not the links. They were still around her hands. That must hurt... ha. Growling, she ran to me, and aimed a high kick at my waist whilst ducking down underneath my arm. She planned to slam me into the wall whilst ducking under my arm. No.

Intercepting her leg by grabbing her thigh and slamming it into the other wall, I grabbed her neck easily and pushed her into the wall. She looked pissed off, and tried to struggle. I merely tightened my fingers, and she snarled like an animal.

"Oh, shut up." She smiled, and whistled a four tone alarm. I realized what I had done. Shit! Whirling around, I met a luminous green-haired man with a knife in his hand. He slammed the hilt into my temple, and I felt slightly ill. Damn, that pissed me off. I fought him angrily.

Shoving my left index finger into his eye, he screamed and I grimaced. Pushing my finger further, I turned him against the wall and knocked him unconscious. He was easy to beat. Guess they were all like that, so she was a leader.

She was on the stairs, about to leave, but I snagged her ankle and she tripped. Cursing, she kicked free and sprinted up the stairs to meet... Oh god... Hanji.

Hanji had an odd expression on her face as she looked at how Akiko's body was black and blue, and how she had a nosebleed, and how she was panting and looked out of breath- and smiled.

"Jeez, he really put you through the ringer, huh?" I wanted to slap her. Hanji put her arm around Akiko and smiled. "Don't worry about it. When you're a scout it'll all be okay." Akiko gave her a look and Hanji didn't even waver.

"So, what do you want for dinner? We have one choice." Hanji grinned.

"Well, I'll have that, then." She smiled innocently. Hanji reassured her and Akiko smiled again. Odd, I didn't think she could smile. Was she bipolar? Or she just didn't like me. That was probably true, actually. But seriously? Hanji, what the hell?

Akiko POV

I gazed around me. Somehow, Hanji had reassured everyone it was okay for me to eat with the scouts. Odd. I looked around at the room. We were in some sort of castle. They were really nice... Well, it was just easier for me to take advantage of them.

"So, Akiko, tell me about your training." Hanji said, smiling again. "What does Gavaldon do that makes them that much more elite?"

I put down my fork, looking at it. I could stab her in the eye with it, now, and kill her. But she wasn't looking at me like she expected me to do that. She was... smiling. Smiling wasn't really done in Gavaldon. Oh, well.

"Um, we harmonize our most human instincts to work in sync with each other." I stopped there, and she smiled encouragingly. "For example, the elite of Gavaldon- I was one- would colour their hair and wear clothes of that same colour. I was blue. We were known as those colours."

"Oh?" She said, amazed. "So how does that help?"

"We don't identify people as people, and we don't waste time checking who's who. We train ourselves to recognize that colour, and we merely have to glance at them. We don't have to check who they are. Also..." I suddenly felt a flush of shame. "It helps us to distinguish between Gavaldon and normal people, so we know who to save."

Everyone at the table suddenly clenched their fists, except Hanji. They all looked extremely angry, and I felt very ashamed. "B-But, we do help civilians. See, uh, well..." I scratched my head suddenly, and I felt hurt that these people suddenly hated me. I mean, I know they had reason to, but still... "We save all those who we can." I said lamely.

Captain Levi scowled. "So, if you saw a comrade of yours being eaten by a titan, what would you do?"

I looked slightly distastefully at the meat on my plate, forcing it down. The strong smell assuaged my nostrils, and I grimaced. "I would push them in." Levi raised an eyebrow. "I... I cut my bonds with Gavaldon due to the reason you said. They won't save the innocent, like a child."

They looked at me unbelievingly. Scowling, I stood up. They all half stood, staring at me warily. Only Hanji stayed sitting, smiling. I slowly walked to the side of the table so that they could all see. Levi didn't look, having seen it before, but they all looked curiously as I lifted my shirt up.

I raised it to the bra line, and then left it there. Turning so that they could see, I showed them the two crescent marks on my hip and stomach. "I got this when I was inbetween the jaws of a titan. I was screaming for help, and he was chewing on my stomach. I shouted for my comrade- she was barely two meters away- and she ran for her life. Ironic, considering I was the one about to die."

"Whoa!" Hanji said, grinning. "So how did you survive?"

"I already told Levi, but I stopped trying to get out, used all my remaining strength and slid into its throat. Then on the way down I cut myself out of its neck. It wasn't fun, and I decided to cut my ties."

"So, uh..." Hanji said, quietly. "What's up with the thirteen guys?" I gazed at her. Thirteen guys?

"What are you talking about?"

"The thirteen guys we found with you." I realized she was talking about the men that were sent to kill me.

"Oh. Right. They were sent to kill me so that I wouldn't help you guys." Hanji looked amazed. I really liked her, she was cute and smart and sort of funny. Sitting down again, I ate quickly.

"But we found you guys running together. It took all of the scouts to capture you guys."

"It did?" I only remembered running across a roof, about to leap to another house. Something green whirled into my vision and I blacked out.

"Yeah! Maybe your boys were harder to knock out than you. I mean, we thought you were their leader."

"No. I don't want any part of Gavaldon. They let innocents die out of spite, and I can't have that. I mean, if you acted the same, then we would be dead. So I'll help you." I still wanted to slap Levi, though. He was an asshole. I was only helping them because I liked Hanji, though.

"No way!" She smiled. "So can I perform tests on you? To test your physical endurance and agility?" I took one of her hands.

"Yes. I love tests." She looked happy, and the scouts returned to their meal. I noticed Levi looking at me, and I stared back. I wanted to do something childish like draw a finger across my throat and point to him, or to signal 'I'm watching you' but I restrained it.

Stabbing a potato, I thought of how this situation had changed. "I... Um, Captain?" I supposed I had to say this. It wasn't like I had a freaking choice. My plate was empty now. I slipped my fork into my sleeve. Pushing out my chair, I walked to him at the head of the table. Bowing to him, I raised my head.

"Am I a scout now?" He observed me emotionlessly.

"I guess so. As long as you don't try to kill me for beating you." I remembered my piercing headache, and my brow twitched slightly.

"Hm. It's an idea, sir, but I don't think it would be very profitable. Well, actually sir, I have a better idea." Taking out my fork, I stabbed a potato on his plate. "That will be all, sir." I walked away, biting into the potato. He was pissing me off.

"Enjoy it." He said, dryly. Again. Holy shit! I fucking hated this guy! He could at least be pissed off!

"I will." Finishing off the potato, I started to think of the many ways to fucking kill this man. Turning to Hanji, I picked up my empty plate.

"So, should I do the dishes? As payment for beating up some people." She contemplated this.

"Well, Levi normally does it, but I guess you could do it for today." I nodded, going to the adjoining kitchen to start the hot water. Levi looked slightly put out.

I sighed at how normal this felt. Like being in the kitchen with Annie, cooking and washing and drying. Wow, it had been years since we had done that. Starting the hot water, I allowed the water to run over my hands. It felt hot, and I lost focus.

"Here are the rest of the dishes." Levi said, bringing in a stack of plates. He stared. "That's way too much water- oh, look, it's dripping." Water began to pool at my feet. I didn't even notice. I was staring out of the window over the sink. It looked beautiful.

Trees and the sky and just general prettiness… Leaning over, I pushed myself above the sink to look out. The sky. I hadn't seen it in a while. "Kuranaya." Levi said, sounding bored. Sighing, I pulled myself down to meet Levi's face barely five inches from mine. He looked uninterested.

"When you're finished spacing out, here are the dishes. And don't get used to this, I usually do it." With that, he left- only to turn around. I had started laughing.

"Don't get used to this?" I spluttered. "You like doing the dishes?" He nodded, and looked confused.

"Why wouldn't I?"

Sighing, I threw the sponge at him. "If you like them so much, you wash and I dry." He nodded. We worked in silence for the next twenty minutes, completely synchronized. Occasionally we bumped elbows or something, and I flushed. He acted as if he didn't even notice.

"Hey, Kuranaya." He said, staring at the plate he was on.

"Yes, Levi?"

"What did you leave behind?"

"Um… Well, Suza."

"What was she?"

"Suza?" I smiled slightly. "She was my little sister. We were both orphaned at a young age, and Gavaldon took us in. She was missing an ankle, so he refused to train her or feed her."

"He?"

"Gavaldon is a group, yes. It's named after the leader."

"Oh." He looked thoughtful.

"Anyway, I had to go to school and carry her there, and until I was old enough- fourteen- to steal knives from their private supply and craft some makeshift crutches for her, I carried her everywhere."

"Whoa. Is that why you are so strong?"

"Mhm. The reason I haven't built up muscle is because I shared half- sometimes more than half- of my food with her, and stayed scarily skinny. It was only when fainting from exhaustion became a regular thing I started to hunt and steal."

"So you wouldn't tell us anything because you were… scared?"

"Sort of. Gavaldon made me a deal. He said he would feed me and my sister, if I would train. I said yes. Suza is very important to me."

"So why are you going to join us?"

"I realized how ruthless he was, killing innocents and children. Suza knew it too, and she forced me into quitting. She eventually became depressed, and threw herself into the jaws of a Titan so I wouldn't be… be dragged down anymore." Levi stared at me, and the knife that I was drying started to shake.

"I… I was so sure she would die. And then I dragged her out and leaped in myself. I don't remember the last thing she said to me, but I was glad to know you have her here." I was lying to myself. I knew she wasn't here. Levi had lied to me, and I didn't mind. That teddy was a worthless thing from a store that I thought was cute, and Suza hated teddies or cute things- and she never cried.

Something like guilt crossed Levi's face. I smiled at him. "I'm sorry to have lied to you." He said quietly. "We don't have your sister."

"I knew that from the beginning." I grinned. "Don't worry." He stared at me, and I smiled. "Now, I have to go. Can you continue for me?" He nodded. "Thanks."

Leaving the room, I walked back into the dungeon across the dining room and through the hall. Descending down the steps, I noticed how the guards smiled at me. "Hey, Kuranaya. Back in for the night?" I smiled.

"Yeah. I don't need the handcuffs, though. But if you would lock the door, it'd be appreciated." They locked me in, and I talked to them for a while before drifting off to sleep.

"You'll come back, right?" He nodded, and as he walked away, I said goodbye in my head. He never came back. I couldn't remember his name, or his face, only that he was beautiful and kind. I sat in the meadow, alone, and as I got older, so did the tree.

In winter, I sit waiting. It was frozen and cold, and I breathed on my hands. I sat below the small oak sapling. Smiling, I rubbed my hands on him to keep him warm. "He'll come back soon." I reassured him. I decided to name the tree Captain.

In spring, I sit waiting. It's sweet and chilly, and I can smell life in the air. Captain has green buds now. I stared at the flowers, making a crown in the cold. I sometimes take a book. I read about history. My hair has grown to my waist, and I will have to cut it soon. I celebrated my birthday with a mince pie a friend gave me.

In summer, I sit waiting. It's hot, and I have a wide-brimmed hat. Captain has little green leaves now, and he was slightly taller than me. I remember how mother got sick. She isn't going to get better, and my father is very sad. He says if she dies, so will he. I read some more about the history of the Titans.

In autumn, I sit waiting. Everything's dying... Suza, just little, lost her ankle. She's not well, and she sits with me now, only three. I'm a big, big eleven year old, and she's scared. Captain's leaves turn Orange and fall on our heads. We make funny faces with them.

In winter, I stand waiting. Gavaldon teaches me how to fight, and I get older. And thinner, and taller. Captain grows too, bigger than me. Over the next three years, he gets tall. Suza grows too, and climbs him the second she can. At one point, a branch breaks off. He is still small, after all. I slap her across the face in anger, and she starts to cry. Crying too, I ask her to forgive me, and she does.

In spring, I stand ready. The other kids tried to take the meadow away. We went to visit Captain, one day, to find them pulling and pushing at Captain. He's close to breaking point, and Suza starts to cry. I start shouting at them, and Captain looks hurt. His leaves have been pulled off. Screaming in anger, I hit them and I keep hitting them. Eventually, they run away after I draw a knife. One I stole.

In summer, I stand ready to fight. I start to draw patterns on Suza's crutches. Captain is big now, and I know he is scared of what is going to come. The Titans. Luckily, I'm going to protect him. Because one day, the man I named him after will come back, and I'll need to introduce them.

In autumn, I fight. It's been twelve years. I'm twenty. Suza is fifteen. She's beautiful, with short hair and bright eyes. The Titans have attacked. They broke the walls. I kill so many, with Suza on my back. I think quickly. I steal the equipment that makes you go fast, that the captain wore, from a dead soldier. There's not much gas left, but I don't use it much. Suza's on my back and she screams a lot, but I kill twenty or so and careen into an unremarkable house. Desperately, I search for a basement. I find it, and I throw Suza in there. She cries out, and I tell her to stay there. She does.

In winter, again, I fight. It's been one year. I taught Suza to fight, stole equipment from dead soldiers, stole gas, learned to fight like a soldier, joined up with Gavaldon and dyed my hair blue. I'm known as Flashing Death because a Titan sees a flash of blue and then dies. Not very witty.

In spring, I see them abandon a child who's about to be eaten. Gavaldon says she's not part of us, so they leave her. I scream as she is pulled apart and eaten. Screaming, I kill the Titan and that night, I craft Suza something I had been working on. A wooden foot. It's hard, but I manage it. Stealing as many supplies as possible, I run to my old hideout. A basement I dug painstakingly beneath Captain. He's huge now, and completely hides us.

It hollows out his trunk, goes deep into the ground, left, then deeper, and then across to the end of the meadow and down. It's a huge room. It took me three years to dig it, and then hide it from everyone except us. It could hold maybe fifty people, but I used that space to stock up on supplies over the years. Water from the river next to the meadow has been cleverly made to trickle on a small, curved shelf which we can scoop from and then go back into itself. Difficult, but possible.

Suza lives here now. We sleep on stolen blankets. We have a difficult life, but a possible one. I mean, we live in Wall Rose, so it wasn't too dangerous for us, but we live in an area infested with Titans, and we can never lead them back to us. When a Titan crosses the meadow, we shudder in fear.

I run from the assassins, screaming. I was just out looking for supplies. There is a whirl of green, and I mutter 'Goodbye, Suza' before blacking out. I wake up staring at a beautiful man. Levi. He's incredible, and a complete role model. I want to be like him-

"Gah!" I wake up, shocked. What the hell? A flashback dream? How pathetic. Jumping up, I ask the man to release me and I go for a walk. I'm still in the clothes I wore yesterday, but whatever. Pushing my muscles, I run around the castle. It's pretty.

I bump into Hanji, who is also out on a morning run. "Hey, Akiko!" She smiles. "Are you still wearing those clothes? Don't worry; I'll give you a uniform." Nodding, I continue on my way. "Akiko!" She shouts. "Breakfast will be soon! Are you a good cook?" I consider that.

"I think so!" She gives me a thumbs up, and I grin. Running on, I think of how happy I am- excluding that one fear.

Where is Suza?

Okay! So that was the first chapter of Breaking the Broken. I don't really know why I called it that. Now, I hope you like it. Review, and if you have any questions PM me.