Chapter 1: The Fall of Shiganshina
"Why do you have to go now you promised me you were going to take me to the bakery today daddy?" Star asked as her was collecting the last of his things. She always knew when he was going on his expeditions he couldn't work from home, but today she was being a brat and wanted her father all to herself. "Star I promise I will take you to the bakery when I get back, you know when work calls I have to go." He looked over at his frowning daughter his heart breaking knowing he had let her down. "I'll tell you what sunshine I'll ask Mrs. Baker to take you today and tomorrow we can go as well that way you have enough pasties to last the rest of the week." Star's face brightened up upon hearing that request for more sweets. "Oh daddy you're the greatest in the world I love you so much. Oh can you bring me back a pretty flower again?" Like he once did for his late wife during her pregnancy he would bring an exotic flower from beyond the wall for his little sunshine. Like her mother she took great joy in every living creature even ones were considered dangerous. "Of course, now Star Smith promise me you will be good for Mrs. Baker and not cause any trouble because I don't want to find another babysitter. I promise we will go to the bakery and I love you kid." Erwin said holding out his pinky. Star smiled wide and locked her tiny pinky with his and nodded. Erwin kissed the top of his daughters head before he walked out the door. He made sure to get one last look at his little firecracker before heading off to work. Star waved one last time before frowning and walking up to her room, Mrs. Baker is going to be here soon and then she would get to go to the bakery and wait for her father to return. This is the life of Star Smith.
* The story is now in First Person Star's POV *
I quietly hummed to myself as Mrs. Baker pulled and twisted my long curly hair. She told daddy that if I'm going to leave the house with her he needs to learn how to take care of my hair. "This hair is horrific it so kinky and curly, your mother's hair wasn't as bad as this mop on your head." Mrs. Baker is a great woman according to her and daddy Mrs. Baker was the closest thing to a mom that my mommy had. She said that she found mommy as a baby in a basket behind boxes of grains and she took her. Daddy said she was a beautiful lady with jet black curly hair, dark skin like cocoa beans, and really short. Daddy and Mrs. Baker both say I look just like her but sometimes when I get pouty I look like daddy. "Alright cutie let's go to the bakery and get you back so I can start on lunch." She said rubbing the top of my head.. Like always she always completed my hair with a large braid going down my back. "Mrs. Baker, do you think we can go to Shiganshina so than we can see daddy off?" She shook her head as she stood up. "I was told to take you to the bakery, make sure you have lunch and dinner then put you to bed if your father isn't back in time, which I know for a fact that he isn't." I smirked a little before standing up. "Please I just want to go see him, then we can come right back home, I promise I'll be good and I'll listen to everything you say." I said giving her the best begging face I could. She frowned at me before sighing and nodding. I gave her a tight embrace before running upstairs to pack some things. If everything with the expedition went well then daddy wouldn't be back home until tomorrow and by the time we got to Shiganshina is was going to be close to sun down so we would have to stay at an Inn.
Like I said before we didn't get to Shiganshina until a few hours to sun down, I got to see daddy off but I don't think he saw me. The bakery here isn't as good as the one back home but it's still pretty good. "Alright kid it's going to be dark in about an hour time to find a decent inn around here, even though I'm sure we aren't going to. We're in Shiganshina after all one of the poorest districts." Mrs. Baker said grabbing my hand. "Oh my, what a beautiful daughter, she's so different looking." I looked over at a dark haired woman she was very pretty and I couldn't help but get lost in her large brown eyes. "Thank you but she's not mine, I'm old enough to be her grandmother believe it or not." Mrs. Baker said laughing to herself. "Thank you ma'am I think you're really beautiful too." I said giving her a large grin. She smiled at me before patting my head. "Oh you wouldn't happen to know of any good inns around here would you…" Mrs. Baker paused looking over at the younger woman. "Karla and the best one is going to be the closest one to the inner gate. It's run by a very nice family, and, it's affordable." We thanked her and made our way to the inn like always people were fascinated with me because most of them had never seen anyone like me. Just like Mrs. Karla said the inn was a nice family owned inn they had a few kids that were around my age and the beds were comfy.
The next morning I made sure I was up and ready, I didn't know when daddy was going to be back but I did know that I was going to make sure he saw me this time. "Mrs. Baker let's go to the gates I want to wait for daddy I want to make sure he sees me this time." I yelled pulling on her dress. She was always so slow with everything she did and it got annoying really quick. "Ok let me finish packing up the rest of our lunch, your father probably hasn't even started heading back here yet." She quickly packed away some sandwiches in a basket and we headed out to the front gates. The people here were just like the ones at home just not as nicely dressed, and they were way more curious. Mrs. Baker made sure that I was holding her hand everywhere we went, she said that there were some shifty people walking around and she didn't want me to get snatched up. We finally made it to the front gates and just like Mrs. Baker said we had to wait. The moment the gates started opening I ran over to the front and was quickly pushed out of the way by one of the soldiers. "Move out of the way kid!" He yelled. Mrs. Baker grabbed me and pulled me to the side as the many wounded soldiers stalked in. I yelled the moment I saw daddy come in on his horse. "Welcome back Daddy!" He looked over in my direction before locking his eyes with mine. I gave him a large smile and waved, he returned my smile with a slight nodded before continuing on. "Looks like a bad expedition. Come on let's head back to the inn and get our things packed up so we can go home." Mrs. Baker took my hand as we headed back to the inn.
"Wait can we get daddy a pie, he didn't look so good so I know when he comes home and there's a nice apple pie waiting for him he'll be happy again." She smiled at me and nodded. "You're such a sweet child just like your mother was." "Mrs. Baker, can you tell me about my mommy." I looked up at the older woman as she ordered two apple pies. "Why I've told you everything about her already Star, what more do you want to hear?" She asked studying me. I shrugged as she handed me one of the pies. "Well, I'll start from the beginning then. I found your mother crying behind a crate of weapons that were heading to the Capital, and I adopted her. She was a lovely child and you're like her in many way. One of them is she thought of everyone before herself. If she only had a loaf of bread to last the week she would give it away to someone just so they could survive. She was a wonderful person absolutely wonderful and beautiful. Sonny had a beauty like no one else literally I've never seen anyone like the two of you before. You're not as dark as your mother because of your father but, you still have many looks of your mother." She explained. I loved when she spoke about my mommy, it made me feel like she was still here. "Oh and her voice, she had to most musical voice ever. You couldn't stay angry at her oh and when she would sing the heavens would sing with her." My mommy sounded like an awesome person I wish I could remember her but all I can remember is her singing to me when I would get hurt. "I remember when she told me that she was going to join the military. I was angry, the first thing I thought was, "I'm going to lose my baby to the titans outside of the walls, then she meets your father and I knew everything wa…" Mrs. Baker grabbed me as the ground shook and the sky flash yellow. "What was that?" I yelled. People were running towards the gates but Ms. Baker just held me. She gripped me tighter; she was staring at something on the top of the wall. I looked up and like her I froze. I large hand was gripping the top of the wall. Daddy told me that the Wall Maria was 50 meters tall why was there a hand on the top. A second later a large head looked over the top of the wall that was supposed to be 50 meters tall. I was so scared I didn't realize I was shaking until Mrs. Baker picked me up and started running. There was a loud rumble and a bunch of scream in the distance, why was this happening? Why did the giant titan pick today to look over the wall and scare every… My eyes caught a few other titans stalking in the city and I couldn't help but start crying. The titans are going to eat everyone and daddy's not even going to know that I'm gone.
Mrs. Baker put me down quickly making sure not to let go of my hand before pulling me to Wall Maria. "Star, keep up and stop crying everything is going to be alright, you're going to be alright. I'm getting you out of this city no matter what." She yelled pulling me harder. I could feel the heavy footsteps of the titans getting louder, the titans are getting closer and I don't know what to do. I noticed Mrs. Baker slowing down and the titan behind us getting closer, it was picking people up on its way towards us. "Star, go ahead and promise me you won't stop until you make it to the other side of the wall." What was this lady saying I'm not leaving her behind, daddy would get angry if I came back alone. "Come on we can make it you just have to run a little faster Mrs. Baker, I don't want to leave you and it's getting closer please." I yelled trying to pull her. She gave me a little smile before letting go of my hand and stopping. I stopped and watched her as she started running toward the giant being. She was waving and screaming at the titan and it quickly looked over at her and followed her down into an alleyway. "Star, what are you doing here?" I looked behind me to see a man in a Garrison uniform, I didn't know him but he obviously knew who I was. "I have to get you out of here, I need to get you to your father now." He said tossing me over his shoulder. I looked back at the titan and I could see Mrs. Baker moving around in its hand. I quickly looked down and closed my eyes before I saw something that would haunt me for the rest of my life. I could hear the screams of the people get further away and I knew I was at a safe distance. I looked up slowly and I could see me passing under Wall Maria, there were a bunch of other Garrison soldiers running around scream and trying to figure out what to do. "Alright kid, I want you to get in this carriage and this good man is going to make sure you get to Wall Sina in one piece." He put me in the back of a carriage and we took off. Why is this happening? What did we humans do to deserve this? I turned around to see a woman and two kids around my age cowering at the front of the carriage. The woman opened her arms to me and I crawled over to her and lay my head on her and she kissed the top of my head. "Everything is going to be alright sweetie." She said softly. That day changed my whole life. I realized that I didn't want to spend the rest of my life hiding in fear of the titans, no I wanted to do everything I can to learn about them and destroy them.