So there I stood, standing in front of a 15 meter class. I was better than this, it wasn't like me to lose. The warm air that came from this Titan's skin was enough to remind me that there were only fleeting moments in one's life, just like summer. Guess I should start there, huh?
It was a warm, August morning, a few years after our town had gotten word of wall Maria, the Wallists were still going crazy, saying it was our human sin that fed a Titan enough power to break a wall. I was half tempted to believe them, any faith would've helped me at that point. My brother joined the Survey Corps about a month ago, we were already burying his body. It was blessed, cremated, like any in-wall burial. I was having trouble with it, his death. But it wasn't my first. My dad was in the Survey Corps, he died so long ago, I started to thumb a pendant he gave me before he left on his last survey. "I miss you dad," I whispered, staring at the flame that engulfed my brother. "And you too, big bro…" We were the best of pals, me and my brother, before Maria fell. But after that, well… he was distant. He took meals in his room, barely said a word to me, except… well we'll get to that later. I was staring at the pyre, and I thought to myself, "Is this really for the betterment of humanity? If so many lives have been lost, depressing and de-moralizing the people, just to kill a few Titans?" I paused, looking at the bodies burning before me, "No," I thought to myself, "There has to be more to it than that…" Fast forward a few years, I'm leaving home, my mother is sobbing, and she knows what I'm doing. I promise her she can beat me and say "I told you so" after I'm burning. She chuckled, I always hated those words, "I told you so." She knew I'd do anything to prevent them from being said. She had hope. Less then what I had, to be honest. On the ride to the training camp, I thumbed a necklace my dad gave me, I always seemed better at whatever I did when I wore it. I took the pendant off once before a stick fight, I was creamed. When I put it back on, I felt a wave of energy wash over me. On round two I destroyed my opponent. I felt as though I wouldn't die, or worse, lose someone I love during the surveys. When I got to the camp, a person caught my eye, there was a blonde teen, couldn't be more than sixteen, and then again, so was I. I approached her, "H-hello." I said, she didn't return the greeting. There was a look of stress in her eye, like she was about to cry. She was obviously shy. "Um… you don't talk much do you?" I asked. "Well, I tend to only talk to people I trust…" she replied, there was a crack in her voice, and even a sense of falsification, like she was reading off a prompter. "Kevin Eberstark, I'm here because my brother died, and I'd like to know why." I said, I knew the only way I could get to know more about this person is if I spilt my guts first. "Probably a Titan was hungry." She said. I chuckled, as much as it hurt me inside, "Well, not exactly why in that way, what for, what did he do this for, and did he help?" I said, there was a distinct passion in my voice, as if I was shouting. "He gave his life for this, didn't he?" she said, I will say, she caught me a bit off guard. "Take solace in the fact he would die for what you're doing." I did, that gave me courage to get through the grueling torture of training, "He would die for what you're doing." It reverberated in my head. When my 3DMG was cut during training, those words gave me the strength to swing my hips and send another wire flying. I clung to those words like a stuffed animal. The girl's name was Jamie, we became the best of friends in those years. Giving each other tips probably is why we were top of the top. 1. JAMIE ASTOR
2. KEVIN EBERSTARK
We had a choice, Military Police, Garrison, or Survey Corps. I had to join the SC, for my brother's sake, Jamie followed suit. I didn't really pay much attention to Jamie's face until she wore that dark green cloak. Her face was pale and freckled, her lips red as cherries, her eyes blue. She was beauty. There was no other way to describe her. If I had to do it in three words: Graceful, powerful, and beautiful. Then it shattered, her beauty, everything once we heard the message. Trost was infiltrated by the Titans, It was a small horse ride from where we were, with an unspoken message, me and Jamie took our horses there full speed.
END OF CHAPTER ONE.