Chapter 1: Thorn

It was a warm spring afternoon in a small village several miles away from the nearest town, many didn't know of this towns existence because it didn't have many resources or livestock to make it worth visiting and trading merchandise and its existence faded with past generations.

'What a nice warm day Annie, perhaps you should go see if Erica would like to go into the forest with you and do whatever it is you two do there' Annie's mother suggested.

'We only read books and share what we've learned through them, it's quite interesting learning about nature and the wonders of life and how diverse it is' Annie stated.

'Well don't stay out too late, you may almost be a teenager but your still my daughter' her mother stated.

'Don't worry mom ill be back before dinner' Annie responded while grabbing her bag with some of the books shes read recently while heading out the the door and closing it behind her.

Just as Annie closed the door and was outside she heard footsteps close to her and turned to see her friend Erica with a smile on her face approaching her.

'Just the person I'm looking for' Erica said happily. 'I Was just about to head to your house and see if you wanted to walk through the forest with me'.

'Of course that's why I was on my way over here to ask you the same' Erica chuckled.

Together they walked down a path that led to the forest as each pulled out a book eager share what was printed on them.

'So let me guess Annie, you read another book about nature or something didn't you?' Erica asked as she shook her head. 'You need to give other books a chance, sure knowledge is important but not as fun as reading a book someone created sharing a world of their imagining, reading something about knowledge just doesn't seem fun and you need to get out of your comfort zone some don't you think?'.

'Maybe your right, I just wouldn't know where to start' Annie sighed.

'Don't worry Annie I think I have just the book to start you off on' while talking she reached into her bag and pulled out a small book with a green cover and handed it to Annie.

Annie reached out and took the book inspecting the cover noticing it was old and worn. 'How old is this book?' Annie asked with a curious look on her face.

'It's a family heirloom, it's been in my family for five generations, it's a story about a man who is attacked in the woods by wolves and turned into a werewolf, someone who is part man part beast. It's my favorite story I would make my parents read it to me all the time when I was a little girl. It's given from parent to child, it'll be awhile until I have children of my own, so until then i don't mind letting you read it, just take care of it and well fine, I know you will your my best friend Annie'. Erica smiled.

'You know i'd never mess up anything so precious Erica' Annie smiled back as she put the book in her bag.

'Now by adventurous, I didn't mean just in books, you need to do it in life as well so lets go' Erica said as she grabbed Annie's arm while pulling her into the forest, off the path they would normally walk.

'Be careful watch out for roots you could trip and bring me down with you!' Annie said worried.

'Stop being such a big baby, live a little Annie' Erica laughed as she dragged Annie deeper into a part of the forest neither had ever explored before.

After a few minutes of running deeper into the forest they both eventually stop to catch their breath. 'Well...that was fun...' Erica chuckled while catching her breath in between words.

Erica looked back at her friend and smiled 'that wasn't so bad was...' Erica paused, noticing a strange look on her friends face, knowing Annie wasn't paying much attention to her. Erica was also curious what had held her friends attention so her eyes turned to the direction to notice what was attracting Annie's attention.

'Wow it's so pretty' Erica said, 'Is it a flower you know about or perhaps have read about in your books?' Erica asked.

'No I've never seen it before, must be a rare type of flower, maybe even exclusive to this forest' Annie mentioned as both her and Erica approached the beautiful flower.

As the two approached this strange beautiful flower they couldn't help but notice the white petals with red around the edges, the two continued to stare at its beauty and were hypnotized.

'I wonder if anyone's ever seen this type of flower before? maybe were the first and we've just discovered a new flower!' Annie said excited.

'See what going out of your comfort zone has gotten you? you might have just discovered an exotic type of flower the rest of the world might not have seen before' Erica stated with a smug grin on her face.

'Yeah your right, do you think we should take it to show everyone in town to see if it is a rare flower?' Asked Annie.

'Of course that way they will know for sure if they have seen it before or not' said Erica.

Annie nodded and reached for the flower beneath the petals with her left had to claim her prize to show the town of their discovery 'Ouch' Hissed Annie while quickly pulling her hand back to her noticing that there was blood on her left inner thumb and inner index finger.

'Whats wrong Annie? Are you ok?' Erica asked concerned for her friend.

'Yeah I didn't notice it had thorns on the stem, damn it stings' Hissed Annie.

'We probably should go clean those wounds Annie' Erica mentioned concerned while grabbing her friends arm heading back in the direction the came from to head back to the path they just minutes ago ran from.

'Annie your sweating are you feeling well?' Erica asked growing concerned for her friend.

'No I'm feeling slightly light headed, hopefully I just need some rest' Annie responded.

Annie's attention shifted to the right as she heard a snap and quickly dismissed it. 'Probably a squirrel or a rabbit' Annie thought to herself.

There was another snap off to the left, Annie turned to see if perhaps it was another animal but saw nothing. "wolves" Annie heard, 'Did you say something Erica?' slightly worried.

'No I didn't say anything Annie, I'm too focused on getting you home and into a bed' Erica said.

Annie focused ahead, spotting a fast black figure with blood red eyes moved between tree trunks in front of them hearing a faint growl ahead of her.

'Did you see that?!' Annie said panicking. 'See what there's nothing...' Erica was cut off mid sentence by Annie pulling her arm away from her and running in the opposite direction they were heading. 'THEY ARE CHASING US WE HAVE TO RUN!'Annie screamed not paying attention to whats in front of her tripped over a root knocking her unconscious. 'Annie!' Erica yelled trying to get her best friends attention to see if she was ok while running towards her.

Erica quickly got to her friend and saw she was unconscious, quickly turning to the direction Annie said she saw something. 'That's really strange there's nothing there and I didn't see or hear anything, I'm really worried. What did this flower do to her?' Erica thought to herself.

'I've got to get her home, it'll be easier with her unconscious like this' Erica thought to herself as she picked her unconscious friend up and put her over her shoulder. Erica heard a thud and looked at her feet, noticing the green book she had just given Annie not long ago laying on the ground. 'It must have fallen out of her bag while I was putting Annie over my shoulder 'Erica whispered to herself while trying to pick up the book and not drop Annie. 'Glad I noticed it, if i didn't it would've been left here and lost' Erica thought to herself as she slid the green book back into her bag as she looked forward.

'I've got to get Annie back home to her family that's what matters most right now, saving my best friend' Erica thought to herself focusing ahead and as quickly as she can returning Annie to her home and mother.

End Of Chaper 1

Thanks for reading - Skwiz

A/N - I would like to thank anyone who read this far, sorry for any errors as always. I also am not sure about Annie's background as I'm not really far in the Attack on Titan Manga so this is just kind of a fun idea I had and have been chewing over for awhile, this chapter was going to be longer but I wanted to go ahead and get it out there and give me time to work on the rest of the story. I have already begun work on the next chapter (what was going to be more of this chapter) and have a feeling of how I want it to go and it should be more interesting than this chapter and I hope it wont take me too long to write. I really hoped you liked it and thanks for your time.

- Skwiz