A/N:
Disclaimer - I do not own Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin or the characters related with the anime or the manga. Everything except for my OC rightfully belongs to the manga artist, Hajime Isayama.
Streams of sunlight burst through the dim clouds. Many of the villagers released their relief of the light that was given from above. Everyone was happy of the good weather of whatever God they prayed for, had given them.
Well, mostly everyone.
A small, fragile boy as well as a sorrow-looking girl was huddled in a dirty alleyway. The boy's head dipped in-between his knobby, scraped-up knees and the girl's arms were wrapped around the small male. Both of their jet-black hairs were greasy and knotted as well as tangled. The short white dress that the girls had on had become a gray tinged color and the boy's clothes were tattered and torn.
Sako. Riza. Sako and Riza Mitaki.
Why, a girl the age of twelve and a boy the age of eight, taking shelter in a rat-infested alleyway? Did they not have a family?
They did not have a home. Not anymore, at the least.
Overall, both children looked like they hadn't gained hospitality for days.
And the truth was, they didn't have any care from anyone. No baths, no food, no care.
They were homeless. Orphans.
No one would accept them.
Four Days Ago...
"Papa! Mama! Look what I can do!" The small, dark-haired girl cried out with happiness. Riza ran around with her cat, Pippi, propped on the top of her head.
"I can balance Pippi-chan on my head!" She laughed, only receiving a long sigh from her mother and a chuckle from her father.
"Pippi is ruining the pins that are in your hair, Riza." Her mother scolded," Take her off of your head, Riza. She is going to mess up your hair."
"Let her be, Mirda. She has to take a bath later, anyways." Riza's father smiled as he watched his daughter skip around with her cat.
"You are always spoiling her, Kenji." Her mother scowls, continuing to place the mums on the soiled plantings near the windowsill before wiping the sweat from her brow,"I will blame you when she becomes much more arrogant when she is older."
"Riza-neechan! I want Pippi-chan on my head! Please?" Riza's younger sibling, Sako pleaded as he followed his older sister.
"No, Sako. You're too young. Your head is too small to hold Pippi-chan."
"But I'm eight now!"
Both brother and sister squabbled, a scuffle soon forming between the two and their mother had to separate them both.
"You two will be the death of me one day, my goodness!" She scolded once more," You both need to learn how to care and love each other."
"Love? Yuck! I don't want to love Riza-neechan!" Sako crossed his arms across his chest and stuck his tongue out in disapprovement.
"And I don't want to love Sako-baka!" Riza insisted, "Mama, love is only for parents and girlfriends and boyfriends! Not brothers and sisters! They don't need to love each other!"
Riza's father stood up to adjust the straw hat on his head and wiped the sweat that clung to his forehead with a handkerchief, "That's when you're wrong, Riza. Brothers and sisters need love. Especially, when there is only the two of you. You depend on each other in the future when both your mother and I are not here to support you."
Both siblings had not truly understood what their parents were talking about, only to bob their heads to get the lecture over with.
"Mama, what are over those walls that are over there?" Sako pointed to the outside of the outer wall, Wall Maria. His cerulean eyes gazed up at his mother with curiosity. He had always seen men on horses, with green capes draped over them and an odd symbol on the back of it, ride out of the wall.
"Outside that wall... There are scary creatures." His mother explained, patient. Her own blue-shaded eyes took a glimpse at the wall and its mass before returning to her garden work,"Those men who are brave enough to face the creatures have sacrificed a lot to keep us safe."
"But no creatures are going to approach here. I'm here and I'm strong enough to scare them off!" Sako's father puffed out his chest and tried to look tough.
Sako giggled and Riza laughed, pointing at her father, "Papa, you're funny!"
"But it's true!"
"Kenji, there's no time for making jokes. It looks like it's about to rain, and we need to finish planting these mums."
Both the parents continued their work and both Riza and Sako played with Pippi-chan. The sky darkened slightly and ominously as soon as thunder roared out.
"It's odd that thunder can be so loud when there is no single drop of rain from the sky." Kenji says, glancing up at the wall, in particular, and his eyes froze. "Mirda."
She glances up, huffing in agitation, "What is it Kenji? Don't distract me when I'm-" She freezes as soon she caught sight of the horror that revealed in front of her eyes.
A titan. A titan taller than Wall Maria.
How was that possible?
Sako was in mid-laugh as Pippi clawed Riza's hair, and he glances up as well, whilst his eyes widened at the sight of the horrendous creature,"Riza-neechan... Look..." His finger points at the beast and his sister gazes up, fright disclosing her own will to move.
All the villagers gazed up in complete shock, frozen in their place as they could only stare at the beast that gazed down at them.
The titan pulled back his leg and gave a devastating kick, boulders and huge chunks of the wall flying in every direction once Wall Maria had been opened by the destruction.
Riza grabbed Sako and covered her brother from the debris that soared over them and crushing their home.
Their house was perished by the incoming debris and boulders that crushed the homes that were near the wall.
Everyone's screams could be heard. Cries. Shouts. Hollers.
Death was knocking at everyone's door.
Riza's arm twitched as her eyes slowly fluttered open. The black spots in her vision adjusted. Chaos continued. There were so many debris as well as corpses scattered around her.
She was still alive.
How was it possible, that a girl like her was still living, and men stronger than her, passed away?
She struggled to sit up. Cuts and bruises evaded her legs and arms. She coughed a the dust that settled from the perished buildings.
She glanced around. Many of the men, women, and children were evacuating towards Wall Rose to retreat. To get away from the Titans that were coming through the hole in Wall Maria.
Riza pushed herself up so she could stand. She had to go to the inner walls with her family-
The girl froze.
Family. Mama. Papa. Sako.
She glanced at the corpses that littered the ground, her frantic, cerulean eyes looking out for the faces of her family members.
"Mama! Papa!" She cried out, digging through the rubble of wooden planks and boulders,"Sako!"
"...R-Riza...Riza-nee..."
Riza turns towards the audible sound and quickly takes notice of her younger brother sprawled on the ground.
He looked like he had a sprained ankle, but nothing to strenuous.
"Sako!" Riza kneels to help her sibling sit up. She frowns and turns her back to him,"Sako, get on my back. You can't walk with your ankle like that..."
"But, Riza-nee...you'll get tired-"
"I'm not tired! Just do it, stupid!"
Not arguing any further, the eight-year-old boy climbed onto his sister's back and wrapping his arms tightly around Riza's neck.
"Sako, have you seen Mama and Papa?" The girl grunts, wobbling slightly at her sibling's weight and so stabilizing as she begins to hurry towards Wall Rose.
"N-No... When the big scary monster kicked the wall... I saw black." Sako informed, shaking his head, the tousle of his black hair tickled the nape of hers'.
Riza frowned as she bit her lower lip.
Maybe her mother and father were already at Wall Rose. Maybe they were waiting for both her and Sako.
Her determination grew as she jogged in the straight direction. She would meet them! She would meet them at Wall-
Riza comes to halt as a titan emerged in front of her. Her blue eyes stares at the hideous creature in horror. Her legs stay planted on the ground.
"R-Riza-nee... W-We have to run..." Sako tugs on his sister's clothing,"R-Riza-nee...go..."
The titan towered over the two children. A smile cowered over it's ugly features as it slowly makes it's way towards the two siblings.
"Riza-nee! Snap out of it!"
Sako shook his sister violently as tears edged over his eyes. "Riza!"
The titan charges, but it runs past the siblings, in their surprised state.
Why...?
Riza whirls around, her eyes widening as soon as she catches sight-
Her parents. Mama. Papa.
Both adults were making a huge distraction for the titan to move in their direction.
Covered with smudges of dirt as well as their clothes torn-up and minor injuries plastered on them, both Riza and Sako's parents looked perfectly fine.
That is... They were in deep trouble.
"Mama! Papa!" Riza screamed out. Her throat was scratched as soon as she emitted her cry.
"Riza! Take you and Sako out of here! Don't look back!" Her father called out, his eyes brimming with tears.
"No! You're going to-"
"Listen to your father! Riza! Listen to me for once! Take your brother and run!" Her mother's voice was shrill, panicked. It broke her heart to see her daughter's face tear up with fear and grief.
Riza gritted her teeth, and turned back. Her legs pumped faster as she ran from her parents. Sako held tightly on to his sister as he sobbed quietly for his mother and father. "Mama...papa..."
Her mother collapsed on her knees as she sobbed, and her father kisses her on the lips,"...Mirda, we will... See each other on the other side..." He places a hand on her cheek, brushing the strands of dark hair from her face before the two were picked up by the titan.
They held onto each other, knowing that their deaths were at least not in vain. Their children were going to survive, and help each other.
'...Riza, you're strong... Strong to be able to take care of Sako. Just live... Live on...!' Her mother cupped her mouth with her hand to keep from sobbing out.
They all will eventually meet together once again.
The titan squeezed the adults in it's deformed hands before opening it's mouth and clamping down on it's meal. The crunching sound of grind bones as well as human flesh had echoed through the area. Blood dribbled down the creature's mouth.
Sako squeezed his eyes shut as he lets his body press against his sister's comforting back. He wracked with sobs, crying for the life of his parents. The parents he loved so much...
Crimson blood had fell from the sky, landing on the two siblings that ran to their safety.
Riza's face had changed from the sunny, little girl's expression into a grim, dead-look of a matured child. She was no longer an innocent little girl.
Tears ran solemnly down her dirt-crusted face, adrenaline pumped through her system as she was pushing her limits to protect her brother.
The only one she had left.
The only one she truly loved and cared for.
'Mama... Papa... We will see each again, someday...'
A/N:
Hopefully, I can keep up with my writing, haha... ^^"
I want to show my readers that I am into the multifandom of anime, and I hope that I am able to write more fics for you guys! R&R! Thank you for your committment to my stories!