Okay some things to explain:
-the language and tone will shift and change depending on the character being focused on, for instance, while Mina is a child the language will be simple and odd, if I chose to focus on Ymir it would be blunt and harsh and so on (just an experiment)
-the first chapter will probably be confusing because I just dotted stuff down, it is also a very chaotic chapter.
-I'm still at school and stuff and I'm irresponsible so I have nothing planned out, updates will be infrequent.
Lastly please enjoy :)
Chapter 1: The breakdown of normality
Annie sighed, staring up at the cracked ceiling in disdain, she never did like mornings. Outside her window, the sun had barely risen and the sky was bathed a light orange. It wouldn't be long now unti- The small body curled against her stirred and Annie smiled, until that. The small blonde child looked up from the pillow she was asleep on and smiled brightly. Annie's heart fluttered, Mina was a ray of sunshine in the mornings, so happy to see her again despite seeing her the night before, all smiles and cute squeaks and yawns; Annie couldn't resist gently running her hand through her child's hair.
This had become normal since Mina was born, before that Annie had been alone for a very long time, trapped and waiting for an opportune moment. She found it when some fifty years after she'd protected herself in the crystal, they lightened security. Jaeger had stopped coming to stare at the crystal and Mikasa had been promoted to leader of her squad. She picked an unfortunate time to have escaped, Ackerman's squad returning through the gate just as she shattered her crystal.
Of course they had tried to stop her, and of course Annie was not one to be stopped, wiping out the entire squad bar Mikasa herself. She had lived in the city for a year before getting away to the furthest reach within the walls. Mina was born not long after.
"Morning, Mommy." The child greeted and Annie hugged her close, smiling at the giggles erupting from Mina's small chest.
"Good morning, baby girl." She hummed despite Mina being six already and insisting that she wasn't a baby anymore. She'd always be Annie's baby, from the time she held the little bloody bundle she delivered herself, until the little girl left her to marry some guy or girl Annie refused to like (nothing would be good enough for Mina in Annie's eyes). "Let's go get breakfast, then we'll brush our teeth. You gonna help me again this morning?" She prodded and Mina nodded affirmative, scrambling out of the bed. They made it together in silence -neither being really talkative on their own accord- and Annie lifted Mina on to her shoulders, Mina holding onto her mother's hair gently.
It was early winter, snow hadn't yet fallen but the grass of the fields outside was frosted over, looking like a white blanket, stretching as far as the eye could see. As they walked into the kitchen their breaths became little white puffs, Annie made a note to get a fire going before heading out to feed the horse. When Mina started lightly shivering, Annie grabbed the closest article of clothing to them, her old grey hoodie that sat draped over a stool next to the kitchen table. She wordlessly offered it to Mina who squeaked happily, pulling it on over her PJs. "Better?" Annie asked her and Mina nodded again with a cheerful 'yes ma'am!' That had Annie chuckling warmly.
Mornings saw the best time to do things with Mina as Annie ran their little patch herself and was often busy working outside, leaving Mina to draw or read. As for mornings? Mina helped her cook."Mommy, what are we making today?" She asked and Annie had to think, the chickens had laid a couple of eggs the day before and they still had some tomatoes and onions left over from when they collected them a couple of days prior, so omelettes sounded good, filling too.
"Omelettes, can you get the onion on that shelf over there?" She asked, taking the child over to the shelf she meant. Mina retrieved the vegetable and held it down, Annie blinded by the overlong sleeves of her hoodie, she took the onion with a grateful smile and lifted Mina off her shoulders. "Why don't you go draw a little while I cut this, you don't want to cry do you?" She teased and Mina shook her head, shuffling out of the kitchen, Annie's hoodie like a dress on her.
The first sign that something wasn't right was a knock on their door, Annie had located herself in the furthest regions of wall Maria to avoid people, all that surrounded their house was miles and miles of fields, so there was no reason for visitors. She was about to get the door herself, but what happened next was a disorienting blur, Mina answered because Annie had never thought to teach her about answering doors to strangers - there had been no need - and suddenly there was chaos as a bunch of people suddenly streamed into the kitchen. All in their white and brown uniforms, all donning the survey corp's insignia on their green cloaks.
Annie panicked, heart in her throat and ears burning, she couldn't focus on the shouts of 'put the knife down!' Or 'surrender now!' Everything had happened so fast, one second she was about to chop an onion, the next she was being threatened with swords. Her head was spinning when her daughter's scared squeak of 'mommy!' reached her and that was all she needed. Eyes narrowing she shot past the nearest guy, swinging her knife into the guy's neck and scooping Mina up into her arms in one fluid motion, ignoring the explosion of noise behind her. She had to get Mina away from these people, she had to live because Mina needed a mom, and a life past what the survey corps would give her, if they'd even let her live. She gritted her teeth at the thought of anything happening to her daughter.
She made it outside before there was an explosion of smoke and her chest constricted in panic, because of course Eren was still alive, she was, Ymir was, and of course they brought him, Ackerman probably sent him herself. She clutched Mina to her chest and found a goal, lifting her hand to her mouth a lot like Eren did. 'Protect Mina, do anything you can to protect her, shield her.' And she bit, for the first time in almost a decade she turned into her titan. And despite the shell of her titan body around her, Mina was still clutched to her human chest, shielded behind the bone and flesh of her titan. Eren was still intimidating, especially when he roared, the sheer volume shaking the ground, but, instead of cowering, Annie countered his roar with her own, the scream sounding as desperate as her human one would've; and reminiscent of another time.
She was outmatched and she was aware of it, she hadn't fought or even trained in six years, her movements felt out of touch and awkward, if she stayed she knew she'd die, so she turned and ran, much like she had the last time she faced him. Eren chased after her in some weird sense of Déjà vu, but this time wouldn't end the same, Annie would not allow it. The running idea didn't last long, she was caught more easily than she would've liked, but she wasn't giving up that easily and she wasn't dead until they cut her from the Titan's neck.
He slammed her into the ground harshly, nearby trees toppling at the tremors, his breath was rushing past her face, his teeth bared and ready to go for her Titan's neck. Not ready to give up -she had been caught in this position many years ago- she hardened her hand and threw a punch hard enough to daze him, then she threw another and another until his bones were cracking and face was disfigured under her fist, steam blinding him. She flipped them and with the rage still rushing through her veins she went for his neck, teeth ripping into flesh until she saw his stupid brown hair and his stupid angry face; always ruining her life.
'You shouldn't have come after me, Mikasa isn't around to save you anymore' She roared angrily -like he did when the positions were reversed- and his blood clouded her mouth with an aching, final snap of her jaws. Instead of calming her like killing him probably should have, Annie felt another stab of panic, pain shooting through her arm, her neck! The Titan's neck! The realisation came too late as she was being wrenched from her huge body still clutching Mina tight to her chest desperately. She was dead, so very dead, Mina was crying into her chest when they forced her down, a heel of a boot pinning her head. They didn't even bother grabbing Mina before Annie felt the cold steel to her temple, and the last thing she could do was bury her daughter's face in her shoulder so she wouldn't have to see this.
"Mina, mommy loves y-" and then everything was black.
/
Mina was scared, her mommy was trembling against her and was holding her so tight. Mina had never seen her mommy so scared, not when bugs got into the house or when she broke her arm out in the garden last year, her mommy was never scared. But here she was in her mommy's arms while her mommy cried, she wished she could see her, but she was holding Mina too tight, she couldn't even move. "Mina, mommy loves y-" there was a sharp sound and the hold disappeared and Mina felt cold all of a sudden, like something was wrong in the pit of her tummy.
When the scary men started pulling Mina away from her mommy she didn't hold on, not like she was, her mommy wasn't holding her anymore. Something hot and sticky ran down Mina's face when she was pulled away from her mommy. When she rubbed it off it looked like blood; that was when she started crying. Her mommy's pretty blonde hair was scarlet red, and so was the frosted grass where they were laying, and so was Mina. Was she hurt? Why wasn't she moving? Mina called for her when a man hoisted her over his shoulder, the calling turning desperate when they started pulling her mom away.
"Stop mister! What's wrong with Mommy!?" She begged the man carrying her but he never budged. They put her on a horse and her mom and another still man with wrapped in a jacket on a cart and no matter how hard she fought the big men didn't let her go. "What did you do to mommy?" She begged again, eventually just breaking down and hiding her face in her hands. Was this her fault? Was her mommy hurt because she let the men in? They were bad men but Mina didn't know that, they were smiling when they asked her where her mommy was, they seemed friendly.
Mina didn't stop crying for a long time, not until they got to a place with many houses, and more people than Mina had ever seen in her life. Some people looked at her, some people looked at the cart her mom was in, some looked happy and some looked sad, some even looked angry when they saw her and Mina felt like she was going to cry again. They were riding for a very long time before they stopped at a castle, big and impressive looking, like something out of her books.
The man who carried her before carried her again into the big building and she didn't fight him this time. Eventually they stopped in a very big room with two big chairs at the end of it, on one sat a small woman with greying hair, she looked old but she had pretty blue eyes and pretty clothes, even a crown like in her story books. On the other chair sat a tall woman who looked as old as mommy, she had brown hair and yellow eyes, her skin was dark and she was very scary, even if her clothes looked normal.
Mina didn't understand what the grownups were talking about, but thought she should listen anyway because it sounded important. "We found her your majesty, in the fields of Maria, she resisted arrest and took out Jaeger, we managed to subdue and execute her while she was busy with him." What was a Jaeger? Mina was too scared to ask, and is that why they were out in a field? Her mom took them out? Why?
"What's with the kid?" A voice asked, a woman who sounded angry, Mina couldn't hold in a whimper and everyone went quiet for a second. Were they mad?
"Your majesty, we didn't know what to do with her." The man carrying her said and this time Mina held her whimper.
There was shuffling and then it sounded like someone was moving, when the next voice came it was right behind her (in front of the man.) "Put her down." It was a soft voice, and it sounded old, but the order sounded like when her mom told her to take a bath - no argument allowed. The man put her down in front of the greying lady and Mina held her hands over her mouth in fear to stop any more whimpers.
"She looks just like her.." The scary woman said, and Mina could see she was staring at her, yellow eyes wide, still sitting in her big chair.
"Is she hurt?" The lady asked and the men shook their heads with a 'no ma'am' "so the blood is Annie's?" She asked, and her voice got really scary. "What were you thinking!?" She then snapped and Mina covered her eyes in fear. "You executed a child's mother in front of her!? Are you heartless?" She sounded so mad and Mina was too scared, she sat and hid her face in her knees.
"Historia, please, your heart." The scary woman spoke softly this time, sounding closer. "And you're scaring the kid." She added and there was another silence. There was a little bit of rustling but Mina didn't dare look until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up into the face of the old lady, on her haunches in front of Mina, the scary lady standing beside her, looking down at them.
"Hey, what's your name? How old are you?" She asked and Mina felt like she needed to be brave to talk to the woman, after all she was being nice right? But the men were also nice..
'Hey there sweety, Where's your mama?' They asked, smiling, ruffling her hair.
Mina blinked and took her hands away from her mouth nervously. "M-mina, I'm six and a half." She told them, watching a glazed look cross both of their features. Was her name bad?
"That's a pretty name, Mina. I'm so sorry that today was so scary for you, my name is Historia, do you know who I am?" She asked and Mina was scared, she didn't know, would that make her mad? Still her mommy told her to be honest so she shook her head no.
"Your majesty, she could be a titan. We have to execute her, just in case." As soon as the man behind her said this the little old lady stood back up with an angry look.
"She's a child! A war criminal is one thing, but we will not kill her child just for being born!" She hissed and Mina's eyes widened at the word. Killed? That was when things were made dead. She remembered back to her mommy lying on the ground full of blood, white frost stained red, and covered her face a sudden cry coming from her, her mommy was dead, they made her mommy dead. That's why she let go and let the man take her. She was suddenly hoisted into the air and pressed against someone but she didn't look, only cried against the hard chest, her mommy was gone forever.
"Ymir, please take her away." The lady said but the person holding her was already moving out of the room.
The scary lady wasn't so scary it seemed, she hugged Mina and tried to get her to stop crying, it took a long time, hours even, but she didn't get mad, only let Mina cling to her. The lady named Historia appeared when Mina was nearly asleep, having cried to exhaustion, and by now the sun was beginning to set outside.
"She's cried herself hoarse, what do you want us to do?" Ymir asked her and Historia sighed, it was a long tired sound that her mommy made sometimes, but Mina couldn't see because her eyes were closed.
"I managed to compromise with them. I told them that she could be a useful asset to learn more about titans, after all we don't know how children work when it comes to them unless you can enlighten me." She looked at Ymir who shrugged although she also looked down at the kid in her lap.
"She's a wildcard if Annie had her with a human, if she had her with another titan shifter then I could tell you all you need to know, but halfies are normally destroyed at birth, she could be anything.." A few moments of silence.
"We can't keep her. There would be riots, uprisings, the public already doesn't like that I have you with me, and I'm too old to be negotiating out of public revolts." There was another short silence where Mina couldn't hear anything. "You were about to suggest it, I'm sorry, Ymir." There was another sigh.
"I wasn't about to suggest anything, she just.. She looks like Annie."
"She does. Look, the best thing I can do for her is assign the Hanji's daughter to her, she's ethical, and she'd treat the child right." She was shifted a bit and then the warm lap she was lying on was gone - Ymir had gotten up.
"It just feels wrong, she's a little kid, Annie obviously just wanted to live in peace, was it really necessary to go after her like we did?" This time the sigh was a little shorter, and higher, was Historia mad?
"Ymir, she wiped out Mikasa's entire team, you know she would have gone after her herself if she hadn't gotten ill like that. Eren gave us no choice, we couldn't have an angry titan rampaging around on his own accord. If I knew she had a child.. I think I might've been more adamant in leaving Annie alone. No child deserves to be raised without parents." Ymir grumbled, a low noise, but sounded as if she accepted Historia's words.
"Okay. Okay, when is she going?"
"Tomorrow morning."
She was lifted once more and cradled gently, and Mina opened her eyes slightly to see Ymir carrying her. Neither said anything, Mina simply staring, until they got into another room, this one dimly lit and warm. She was gently laid on a bed and the tall woman worked on tucking her in with a small crease between her brows. Before she finished however, she suddenly stopped and went into another alcove of the room, returning with a cloth and bowl of water. She cleaned the blood from Mina's face and hushed her gently when she began to cry again.
"Give me your hoodie, I'll get someone to wash it for you." She ordered and Mina listened, handing the bloodied hoodie over.
After Ymir had tucked her in, -too tightly- Mina stopped her with a small whine of 'miss?'. The tall woman stopped and looked back with that small crease still there. "You'd make a good mommy."
Ymir said nothing in response, lips twitching up slightly in a sad smile, but the crease was gone when she turned to leave. In the morning Mina found the hoodie at the end of the bed, clean and unbloodied, she put it on but noticed that it no longer smelled like her mommy. She cried until the guards came up to take her away.