I

That day had started out as normal as any other day had, at least for Malek. He woke up, came downstairs to his mom cooking him eggs, and his grandmother yelling at him about waking up earlier. He smiled how he usually did, saying he would start waking up earlier like all three of them knew he wouldn't, and sat at the table. Nothing new, really. Even the eggs weren't unusual; they were the same eggs his mom always cooked every morning, scrambled the whatever different thing she could manage to scrape up to put in their meal for the day. Today it happened to be cheese. He loved when his mom happened to find cheese.

His mom sat the plate in front of him, smiling, and he wasted no time. He immediately started shoveling down the eggs like it was the first time he ate in years. "Boy, if you eat any faster, you're bound to shovel your eggs right in to your windpipe." Said his grandmother in a scolding tone. Malek smiled and slowed down, he knew she was just trying to protect him.

You see, Malek was a ten -year-old boy who had the honor of being the only male living in his family anymore. His grandfather, his grandmother's husband, had died peacefully of old age. His paternal grandparents had been dead before he was even born. His father, on the other hand...

"Malek, dear, are you going to visit Haruka again?" His mom's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. The woman was now seated across from him, having served his grandmother her own plate of eggs and having a plate of her own in front of her. Malek nodded happily, the very thought of Haruka.

Haruka was Malek's best friend, a girl who had never judged him or picked on him, as so many other kids around them would. She was his pillar, he told her everything. She even knew he was gay, a fact both his grandmother and his mother had no clue about at this point. He knew that they would be devastated if they found out what team he played for; especially since that meant no possibility of him having children. Also they would probably just dismiss him as curious, considering his young age. But he knew deep down all along that he had always only had crushes on boys. So he was sure of it.

"Yes! Haru's going to take me to see a pretty flower she found that she says she's never seen before today." He said happily, taking another bite of his eggs. His mother and grandmother looked to each other smiling; he knew that they were already plotting to have the two married off to each other. But it wasn't like that with him and Haruka, they were like siblings.

"I worry about that poor girl, though, with how her parents are…" His mother said absentmindedly, and Malek already knew what she was referring to. Her parents fought, a lot. And that's why him and Haruka would often go out on adventures, so she could get away from her house. He looked at the time, and smiled.

"I gotta get going now to go to Haru's house!" He said, standing up suddenly. He then bolted out of the house, his grandma yelling after him about cleaning his dish before he went. But she knew that it was pointless, he always did this. Once he had it in his mind to visit Haruka, he went straight to it without another thought.

He ran happily, smiling as he went as fast as possible. His shaggy blonde hair glistened in the sun and blew lightly in the breeze as he ran, and his dark blue eyes glinted. Haruka lived farther out than he did, his family being a little better off than hers financially. Though everyone where they lived, in Shigasana, wasn't exactly comfortable with their finances usually. He knew he was getting close when he heard the screaming, that screaming was always in the air around Haruka's house.

He slowed as he approached, and saw Haruka herself standing on the porch. She seemed to be peering in the front door, looking at something within her house. This was the first thing that was off about Malek's day that day, the fact his friend was doing such a thing. Usually the girl was inside and he had to awkwardly knock. The screaming would always stop for a brief moment while her mother answered the door, bruises and injuries covering her form. She always smiled so kindly to him. She would always ask him how we was, call Haruka down, and then they would run off to play.

He slowly got closer to the front porch, the screams now forming to be words in his head. "Drunk again…?" "Stupid bitch…" "You said you'd stop…" Haruka must have heard Malek approaching cause she whipped her head around to look at him, her icey blue eyes focusing on him. Her black hair was long, reaching to her lower back, and she was pale. She looked visibly upset.

"Hey, Haru-"

"Shh, come here Malek."

Haruka motioned him over silently, her voice not above a whisper. He only understood her cause being friends with her had taught him how to read lips, they often would whisper to avoid her father hearing them and having a reason to yell at them, and whispers were never heard easily over the raised voices that constantly emitted from her home.

Malek obeyed though, climbing up the steps as silently as possible and looking to peer through the door with her, it was easy as he was already a head taller than her, having started to hit a growth spurt already. He understood why she looked so upset now, the scene they were looking in at was horrible. Her mom sat in the corner, her hands covering her face, cowering. Her father, whose face was visibly flush, was throwing all sorts of kitchen utensils, pots, and pans at her, every time something hit her the sound made Malek's stomach jump.

"You said you'd stop drinking…" Her mom croaked out, peering through her fingers at her enraged husband. He stopped throwing things at her, looking at her for a long moment, a pot clenched in his hands. Malek felt like he was holding his breath, and he must have been, because he let it out when he saw her father put the pot down gently. He then slowly approached her mom, who was audibly hiccuping and sobbing now.

Malek was afraid that he was walking over to strike her, but he was surprised when he simply kneeled down, and started caressing her hair. the scene was very loving compared to what they had just witnessed, however Haruka's mother still seemed out of her mind crying.

"Rio, please, don't cry…" He heard Haruka's father coo, his hand traveling down to her shoulder, rubbing it. "I'm sorry, baby… let me make it up to you…. you know I love you… I promise to stop drinking… you need me, don't you…" The phrases keep pouring out of his mouth, as he slowly started touching all over her body, pulling her dress off slowly. Haruka and Malek both backed away from the door, Malek looking at Haruka with a worried expression on his face, while Haruka simply looked down, her firsts clench.

They stood there silent. Malek thought it was an eternity before Haruka finally looked up, her eyes piercing into his. Malek didn't know what to make of her expression at this point, she looked somewhere between angry and hysterical. She silently took his hand, pulling him away off the steps, leading him away from her house that was oddly silent now and out into the streets.

Malek felt awkward, he wanted to say something, anything to break this silence that was killing him. However he was afraid that if he opened his mouth to speak at this point nothing but all the wrong things would come spilling out. So he simply stayed quiet, letting her lead him to wherever they were going. He wondered if it was to the flower she had told him of last time, the one they planned to go see. But when they stopped it was in a grassy area, with some trees surrounding them. There wasn't a flower in sight, and he knew what this meant. This was where they went when she wanted to talk about something very serious.

"...why are women so weak, Malek?" They had stood there silently for some time, she had never let go of his hand the whole time. he knew she was holding on as a form of comfort at this point, so he didn't make a move to move his hand away. he just stood there silently giving her all the time she needed to think. Whens he finally did speak, her voice sounded so strained and quiet, he had to struggle to understand her.

"W-What do you mean, Haru...?" Malek said quietly back. He didn't quite understand why she said that. He never thought his mother and grandmother were weak, he actually admired them. They had been working so hard to keep the house and raise him, he never thought they were feeble or weak at all. But when Haruka turned to look at him, tears in the corners of her eyes, he knew that she had a different view.

"Why are women so weak?!" She suddenly said loudly, causing Malek to jump. Until then they both had been talking in rather quiet tones, so her volume was a sudden jump, compared to what they were speaking in. "Why does my mom have to need my scumbag of a father?" Her voice broke at the end of that sentence. she started wiping tears away from her eyes.

"When you're a woman, does that mean you'll inevitably end up relying on a man…? Even if he hurts you? Does it mean you have to be feeble and give up your dreams for a man who does nothing but beat and violate you?" She suddenly knelt down, covering her face. Malek truly didn't know what to tell he could do is kneel down beside her, rubbing her back and he felt her hiccup in to her hands.

"Will I have to give up my dream to be in the survey corps…?" He winced. He never liked that dream of hers, to be in the survey corps. He didn't like how likely it was for her to die. It had also been how his dad met his early demise, all that his mom received of him that was left was a foot. Only a foot. He didn't want to receive only a foot of Haruka.

"I don't want to Malek…" She looked at him, her eyes puffy and red. He felt his breath catch in his throat at the site of her, she was normally so reserved and stoic, trying her best to hide her worries from him. She had said it was so she wouldn't burden him, and so he wouldn't worry. "So I've been thinking…"

"Thinking of what?" Malek said quietly. He wondered what she possibly could have been thinking about, so many ludicrous things running through his head. Murder her father? Run away?

"I want to stop being a girl."

That caught Malek off guard. He looked at her surprised. How would she stop being a girl? He looked at her skeptically, and she must have noticed, because she reached down her shirt and pulled out something shiny, and he realized what it was. It was a pair of scissors. She smiled weakly, looking down at them.

"I know that I can't biologically be male," She started, looking back up at him. he looked back at her, confusion clear in his eyes. "but I can look like one... " Malek was surprised. Did this mean she was going to cut her hair…? And pretend to be a boy now?

"But what about your parents? Won't they be against this?" Malek he was asking those questions she rose the scossors to her hair, holding a section of her hair in one hand, the other shaking hand holding the scissors, open and waiting to cut her hair off. She closed her eyes and steadied herself, and finally cut it. The section slowly floated down into the grass, and Malek looked in awe at her, now missing part of her hair on the right side of her head.

"I'm going to run away, I can't stay there anymore…" She murmured. He watched as section after section came off of her hair, until finally she had cut it all. Her hair now barely reached the top of her ears, a messy mop of black hair atop her head now, cut uneven everywhere. "Could you…?" She held out the scissors to him and he knew what she wanted, she wanted him to cut it a bit more clean than she had been able to on her own. He had to admit as he was cutting the random long strands and evening up her hair that without it, she really did look like a boy now. He knew it was probably only because at this point, they hadn't gone through puberty.

"A-Are you sure, Haru?" Malek said as he finally finished her hair. She turned to look at him, nodding.

"Yes, I am. I don't want to have to give up my dreams or be weak, Malek." She said, reaching down into the grass and picking up some of her hair between her fingers. It shined in the light, as her hair atop her head did. "Being male will open up a lot of opportunities I otherwise wouldn't have as a girl…" She looked at him, and he could tell by the look on her face she was serious about this. And who was he to stop her?

"I'll refer to you as a boy from now on." Malek said, smiling to her. He was relieved that she smiled back, this smile not looking strained or forced like her previous ones. "So does this mean you're changing your name and stuff too?" Malek asked. Haruka was currently digging up some of the ground, burying the long strands of hair from her haircut and covering it back up. It would weird him out, he admitted, if he randomly found hair in the grass.

"Well," Haruka started, standing up. She dusted her hands off on her shirt, looking over at Malek. She looked like a very frail boy now, her features looking boyish now with her new hair cut. "Haruka is a unisex name, so I don't have to." Malek sighed in relief, he knew it would be a pain to try to remember to call her something else. Remembering to call her a boy and use male pronouns for her was going to be enough of a struggle.

"So what should we do n-" That's when they most abnormal thing that would occur on that day happened to Malek. All of a sudden there was a loud crash, making both Malek and Haruka jump. Their heads both turned to look in the direction the sound came from, and judging from the gasp that he heard from his side, he knew Haruka was seeing what he was also seeing.

There, at the wall that surrounded their town and all of humanity, there was what looked to be a lightning strike, with smoke starting to rise after. He knew for some reason in the back of his head that wasn't a good thing. "Haruka…" He didn't really know what to say. But before he could think more, she had already taken off toward the wall, toward where both of their homes were.

"Haruka!" Malek yelled, taking off after her. She was small and nimble, so she was easily outrunning him right now, never looking back. "Haruka it might be dangerous, what are you doing!" Malek yelled after her, but she didn't stop, nor look back. Not until they both saw the most horrific thing in their life.

Haruka stopped dead in her tracks, looking up at the wall. Malek had been too busy trying to catch up to her, so when he finally did he was huffing and puffing and trying to catch his breath. When he finally looked up, that's when he realized why she had stopped running.

Standing there, peering over the wall, was a monster. It looked like a human face, with eyes looking down on to Shigasana, but it's face was missing skin, seeming to be mostly muscle. The sight made his stomach drop, because he knew what that thing was. It was something he had hoped he would never have to see.

"T-Titan…" He choked out, and almost as if on cue they heard scream and a loud crash. Haruka wasted no time, sprinting forward on to the main street, where they could see the full wall. And what they saw made Malek feel as if his whole world was ending at that moment.

The giant titan had disappeared, but that did nothing to appease him, because there at the base of the wall was a giant hole, and walking in were many other titans. He wanted to run back and flee away from the titans, but for some reason Haruka took off towards them, going even faster than she was originally.

"Haruka!" Malek screamed, watching her form get farther away slowly. He wanted to do anything but follow her towards those monsters, but he didn't want to lose her either. So he took off after her, feeling like his heart was about to jump out of his throat and run the other way.

Why was this happening to him?

Hlo, Syo here.

I don't expect you to like this story, or read it to be honest. It's a fun project I'm typing at work in my free time for mine and my good friend's enjoyment, and to just be creative. I will not pretend to be an expert on Shingeki no Kyojin, nor will I act as if I'm perfect at writing.

Again, this is simply for fun. If you end up enjoying reading this story, that's good. If you want to critique it, that's awesome too. But I in no way expect anyone to like it.

P.S.- I do not own SnK

P.S.S. There will be no more of these throughout my updates of this, this was just a way for me to talk briefly with anyone else who may come across my fanfic. I am well aware is a public domain, so I wanted to just give some explaination behind this story. Also, I am horrible at consistently updating, so do not expect quick and timely updates. Just a forewarning.