Chapter I

''So I said that humanity should go out into the world someday. And they hit me and called me a heretic.''

''Damn it.''

The brown-haired boy threw a rock in the river in front of them, frustrated by his friend's consequence for admitting that getting out of the walls would be interesting. This idea wasn't exactly wrong; humanity couldn't stay caged like animals forever and ever.

He looked up to the river, asking to his blonde-haired friend as he sat not far from him on the grey brick-made stairs.

''Why does everyone act like you're crazy if you want to go outside?''

He got his response from him pretty quickly.

''Because staying within the walls has brought peace for a hundred years.''

The boy looked up to his friend, curious, as he continued, his adoptive sister not bothering to look up to them as she looked toward the ground with the same frowning look as ever, sitting at the end of the small stairs. After all, she was the one who did everything to keep those mean kids away from Armin.

''They're afraid that if many of us venture out, we'll risk letting them in. So the royal government declared any interest in the outside world taboo.''

The other boy frowned, looking back toward the river.

''That's our lives we're risking, so it's our business!''

''You can't.''

The girl finally decided to end their little talk, slightly looking toward them as the boys turned their looks toward her.

''No.''


''Just because the walls haven't been breached in a hundred years doesn't mean they won't be breached today...''


Present day, Year 885, Middle Kingdom, Arc District:

I sighed. Great, Dad is talking in his sleep again.

I walked away from my father's room's door, not wanting to hear anymore of his past life; he told us everything, ranging from the death of Gran onward to the creation of the Titan Shifters Division of The Three Kingdoms.

And say I just wanted to come by and say hello to Mom and Dad.

Bah, it's alright, I can let them sleep; they aren't soldiers anymore.

I walked toward the front door of the house, stumbling upon a small mirror that was on the wall. I decided to stop and look at the reflection made on the glass, remembering the days when I was still young and, well, convinced that I was entirely human.

And I think people have the right to laugh a bit of my appearance; I'm short, undeveloped and there's that scar those assholes from back then did with a rock when I was still a small kid protecting Arthur from just admitting that he liked travelling outside the cities, even though it was dangerous.

Hope they died in a pit; those ideas from twenty years ago, get over it!

Other than that, I'm alright: blonde hair that I've tied in a low ponytail with a cute little red ribbon, green eyes, normal skin tone and a slightly muscular body...yep, I was alright, not too shabby. I was also wearing the official uniform of the Titan Shifters Division, which was a short light brown jacket with the badge of my squad on my shoulders, a light-coloured shirt, white pants and knee-high leather boots. I also had a rather heavy and not very comfortable black hooded cloak with the Titan Hope logo on the back of it. It was a pretty normal logo, it having the head of a bald Titan looking toward the right side with a grey iron shield pattern behind it, like any other Divisions had on them.

I sighed, looking at the reflection of myself in the mirror. I did not liked the idea of remembering the days of when I was young, especially since Erik died. Although, it was my friends that got it way worse than me, even though I can consider myself already depressed in some parts of the day.

However, I wasn't ENTIRELY depressed during the day. In fact, I don't know how many times I combed my hair this morning just to get it straight!

Ugh, enough of beauty lessons and past memories, I have to go join my squad.

I directed myself toward the front door, leaving my father and my mother behind in their house with a small memo on the wooden table of the kitchen that I've written on

Just a cute little memo, actually.

Hey Dad, Mom! I was just coming by and I saw that you two were asleep, so I left some bread in the storage! I love you!

Eris

Not very much else...and that was just to make them imagine that I still love them. I don't really like them, to be honest; it was their fault that I had to suffer through all those horrible experiments.

As I went outside and felt summer's sun's light reaching my face, I smiled and walked forward through town. Ah, it's so good to be outside and not fearing any Titans being close from town!

Well, as long as I'm still Human, of course, heh.

The large city of the Middle Kingdom was very much alive with kids running around playing together, merchants merchandising with curious clients, the god damn churchman still screaming that Titan Shifters are demons disguised as Humans about to eat everyone soon where no one was clearly listening to him, knowing that the Titan Shifters were the ones who actually contributed to the saving of humanity and it's expansion.

Oh, yes, did I mention that they actually did so? My father, Eren Yeager, was actually publicly known as the first Titan Shifter seen by the people from the Walls, even though he wasn't the first person to have this ability. My mother, Annie Leonhart, said to me that she had lived with that ability for a very long time, trained in that weird village she never talked about, not even once.

And all of this stuff about the ''Coordinate''...yeah, too much weird stuff for me, those are for Arthur.

Doesn't mean, though, that I'm not curious about the Titans' past. I mean...where are they even coming from? Were they always here?

Obviously, there must be a reason why they are, they can't had just suddenly appeared and eaten us all to the point we had to confine ourselves in the Walls.

Well, guess what? We aren't in the Walls anymore.

Since the creation of the Titan Shifters Division along with the help of the Recon Corps, we were able to push off the Titans far enough to rebuild the destroyed walls, re-colonise Wall Maria once again after the Colossal Titan appeared (When I think about it, that guy had his head cut off when he was still Human. Oh well) along with the Armoured Titan (Who betrayed his own to be with us! Thank you, Uncle Reiner!), whom breached through it pretty easily. Then, we sent multiple soldiers outside of the walls, killed a lot of buildings made of flesh and slowly constructed cities!

And that was the creation of The Three Kingdoms, still ruled by the same king from before. The Walls became the East Kingdom while two others appeared: the West and Middle Kingdom.

And the latter is where I always lived in, in the Arc District, one of the most well-known of the Kingdom. Since I was born from two Titan Shifters, it was expected of me to also be one as well.

And here I am now, a Trainee in the Titan Shifters Division that is, ugh, well, awfully over trained by her higher ranked.

And all of those guys treat me like I always have to be better, always have to be stronger and always have to be more intelligent than anyone else. What am I supposed to be in the end, God?!

I shook my head quickly to chase all of thoughts and sighed before I heard a voice behind me, calling.

''Hey, Eris!''

I smiled and looked back, already knowing who that could be as the guy advanced toward me and smiled shyly, not accustomed to call people like that. I waved back with a welcoming smile.

''Hey, Arthur.''

Arthur, also known as the brains in law in my jargon. Son of one of the brightest tactician to ever exist in the history of mankind, Armin Arlet, he was way, and I mean way much, intelligent then me, even though I never really announced it publicly. Knows almost every battle strategies? Check. Can defend himself pretty well? Check. Is a Titan Shifter? Check.

He has short blonde hair on the back that reaches his nape, but he placed it so it could grew long upfront, reaching his chin. He has blue eyes and a pretty nasty stitch mark I've seen on his back one day, which he got from that incident that I do not wish to think about all. He was also slightly skinny and was looking frail and fragile, which wasn't really good for someone who was a Titan Shifter, even though he was indeed wearing the same clothes than me. He eventually got beaten in his first transformations pretty easily, him being able to control it properly, but he has been upgraded with the same stuff they injected into me. He is older than me from a year, about 17 years old, and he is one of my best childhood friends. Coincidentally, we were born on the same day of a different mouth, the 23rd day.

He asked.

''So, what are you doing here?''

I shrugged.

''Not much, just roaming the streets as usual.''

''I see. Where's Risa?''

''Probably cleaning the base as usual.''

He smiled.

''Well, she is...kind of always like this.''

Ah, yes, I remember that he is interested in Risa, my friend from the Soldier Division, and that it is pretty hard for him to not be shy when she is around or talking about her. Basically, it was very visible. However, I understand him and I won't go in the subject any further.

Because Risa, at all cost, must not shift into a Titan. Ever.

And thank God her power remains dormant since she was transferred into the Soldier Division; taking her out was really hard, even with the Three Dimensional Maneuver Gear. She never became a Titan after that incident and I'm thankful she didn't.

I asked back.

''How many time do we have before getting back to the base?''

Arthur looked up, nodding.

''About thirty minutes.''

''T-Thirty minutes?! But it takes about twenty-five minutes to get there by walk!''

I grabbed his wrist and started to run. I never thought I would have taken so much time with my parents during the free time we were given! Arthur gulped as he was forced to run, but followed in tow.

''I-I thought we could had taken horses!''

I replied back as we passed by the Economical District, passing by numbers of merchants and people looking at us like we were crazy or something.

''No time!''

We ran for our lives for about twenty minutes straight, already panting as we reached the outskirts of town and ran past some people from the Garrison, drinking and playing card games. I smack one of them in the head as we passed through and I shouted.

''Do your job, you lazy twats!''

The guy I hit looked to me with an angered look and spat on the ground before getting back to what he was previously doing, not listening to me as I huffed and looked back upfront, running through the fields on the dirt road with Arthur following closely, panting heavily.

''I. Can't. Run. Any. More...''

''You don't have a choice, come on!''

I stuck my tongue out comically so I can force him to get faster, which he tried to, almost to the point he was sprinting past me, but I was still faster.

After about five more minutes, we finally arrived over there, panting like hell to the point that Arthur simply fell on the ground, completely exhausted. However, I was still ready to go, even though I was still really fatigued as well.

The base was a rather small building outside of the city, but not very far from it, at the start of the forest. It was constructed around the trees so we could defend ourselves from Titans with the 3DMG with ease and less danger. It had gates and forts covering its surroundings, us having stopped right in front of the closed doors.

And right at the side of it was standing...ugh, Gale Swamp, our Captain.

And exactly the one I perfectly hate. He was just standing there, upright, looking at us with his always wide opened his eyes and already prepared to shout on us to get up and enter, but calmed himself down with a deep breath and the gates opened, him still looking at us before he let out his awfully loud voice.

''TRAINEES YEAGER AND ARLET, YOU ARE RIGHT ON TIME! TEN MINUTES BEFORE WE START THE EXPEDITION!''

God I hate him, him and his bald hair, large black beard and his eternal military stance. I sighed and responded with a polite voice as I got Arthur back up, him having fainted from all the running. He was lucky to have me with him or else Swamp would had punished him for being alone and exhausted in a forest with so many openings, a Titan could simply come out of nowhere, grab him and throw him away pretty easily.

''Yes, sir!''

I carried Arthur with me by putting his arm over my shoulders, passing the gates as I looked up to the building in front of me. It was a large one, about the size of a manor that had an entire training courtyard behind it for the troops of the Titan Shifters and the Soldier Division, the first being enough low on personnel to keep all of the troops at bay. This wasn't the exact main base for everyone, but it had the looks of it with its four meters tallness and its small castle look of it. I got in the building by the main doors and I arrived in the Main Hall, which was basically a lobby where many soldiers from both divisions pass through. It was a large hall with some furniture and weird paintings along with some medals and stuff.

Well, right now, it was empty.

Arthur woke back up at that moment, already asking.

''How much time was I down?''

I smirked.

''About a minute. Glad to see you didn't pass your record of thirty minutes.''

''Yeah, yeah.''

He got away from my grip and shook his head quickly, pouting.

''Stop running so fast...!''

''You should had told me about the free time remaining earlier! We wouldn't have run if you did!''

''Bah, whatever, at least we're here now. Let's go find Risa so we can bring her to the Expedition.''

''Right.''

Right when I said that and I was about to separate to go find Risa, the sudden appearance of a maid appeared right in front of us as she went downstairs and started cleaning as she huffed, already starting to clean a table with a broomstick. She was a girl with long night black low ponytails that almost reaches her waist, tied with pink ribbons, hazel eyes and a pretty well-developed, athletic and slim body from all the training she did in the past, combat being pretty much natural for her ever since then.

Yeah, yeah, I do lots of descriptions of the people around me and my surroundings, don't start complaining.

''Why is it so dusty here? Ugh, I swear they are doing this on purpose! I'm going to send a report to the King; he'll surely act for such a blasphemy!''

She then started to hum while she was doing her work, making us both sigh while I replied.

''Still as clean as ever, huh?''

Risa smirked and suddenly pointed her broomstick toward me while she talked.

''Of course I am, Eri! Being clean and proper is the best thing in the world!''

I looked up to her and almost had the urge to facepalm before I turned my head toward Arthur who seemed frozen, not able to speak. I smiled and looked back toward the maid.

''Yeah, yeah, yeah, anyway, let's go. You know Swamp will ditch us in if you're still cleaning.''

Risa laughed and continued to clean as she chirped.

''I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm done anyway!''

She walked away from us, then, about a minute later, she came back with her Soldier Division uniform, which looked like ours, but without the cloak and with the Phoenix logo on the back of her jacket, represented by a large orange-red bird that looked like it was burning, looking up front with its wings deployed toward the top right and left of the logo, almost taking all of the shield pattern behind it.

I nodded and then turned heels, hoping that they were following me in tow.

''Come on, let's.''

Like I just hoped, they followed me behind and out of the building, toward the courtyard. When we arrived, there were about a hundred of people waiting for us, Swamp being in front of all of these, putting his hands behind his back as he looked at us calmly, talking calmly while nodding.

''Alright, alright, that's good, the three are here, that's good.''

He coughed as we took position in front of everyone at the three empty spaces that was preserved for us before he talked loudly so everyone could hear him.

''TRAINEES OF THE TITAN SHIFTERS' DVISION AND THE MEN OF THE SOLDIER DIVISION, HERE WE ARE, TODAY, TO CELEBRATE OUR UPCOMING 100TH EXPEDITION! YOU WERE ALL CHOSEN TO TAKE PART OF IT AS WE WILL FINALLY START TO CONSTRUCT ANOTHER CITY SOUTH OF OUR ACTUAL POSITION! WE WILL ELIMINATE THE TITANS THAT ARE STILL ROAMING OVER THERE! WE WILL PURGE THE TITANS UNTIL THEY. ARE. NO. MORE!''

Ugh, just shut it already, please. Even if we eliminate every single Titan on the face of this land, they'll eventually come back, I'm sure of it. Also, why should we eliminate them all? Why not just continue to capture some so we can study them?

This guy is an idiot.

He continued nonetheless, him not being able to read my mind, fortunately.

''YOU WILL BE ALL ASSIGNED TO TEAMS OF THREE SO YOU CAN BE ALL SEPARATED AROUND THE TERRITORY!''

Wait, what? Teams of three?

''THE TEAMS WILL ALL BE MADE WITH TWO TITAN SHIFTERS AND ONE SOLDIER! COMPLAINS AND DISLIKING FROM ONE ANOTHER WILL BE SEVERELY PUNISHED!''

Yeah, sure, like anyone would actually complain to such a blasted guy you are.

''UNDERSTOOD?!''

We all said at the same time, agreeing.

''Yes, sir!''

''PERFECT! NOW, FOR THE TEAAAAMS!''

Another high-ranked came by the guy's side, whispering him something that I probably guessed as a question, asking him to tone down his voice since Titans could be attracted to his voice. However, like I guessed the shithead was about to say, he shouted at the soldier.

''ARE YOU TELLING ME, CAPTAIN SWAMPS, TO TURN MY VOICE DOWN?! WELL SCREW YOU, I WON'T! GET BACK WITH THE OTHERS, STARS!''

The man grinned in displeasure and walked away, angry. Well, here goes another person who will put Swamps in their blacklists, perfect. Swamps looked back to us and called.

''PREPARE YOUR EQUIPMENT AND JOIN US IN FRONT OF THE BASE AS SOON AS YOU CAN!''

Five minutes later...:

Just after the madman finished his speech, we directed ourselves toward the front of the base and stood with our 3DMG, waiting for Swamps to come so he could lead us as we were all on horses, preparing to go as the sky seemed to darken because of the upcoming rain.

Both Arthur and Risa were behind me, silent as we waited for the guy to come, having been assigned to stay together and form the team called ''ERA''. Since we were the best of all of the people around here, I do not think we'll go down easily. Risa sighed and whispered.

''Eri...I'm...I'm sorry for what happened back then, I...''

I looked toward her and sighed as well, whispering back.

''Look, we've already talked about this and I already said that it wasn't your fault.''

''B-But all those people...''

Arthur seemed uncertain, not talking as he still waited silently for Swamp. I suppose I can finally explain what actually happened with Risa. A year ago, when it was revealed that she was a Titan Shifter, we tried to test her out in the fields after the experiments. However, it went incredibly wrong and she went on a rampage, completely destroying a close agricultural town and killing all of the townsfolk in it, including my younger brother, Erik and also injuring Arthur. We stopped her right when she was about to reach the Middle Kingdom by simply running toward it. About an hour later, she woke up, having no memories of what just happened. We told her the truth and she broke, having started to cry and shout that she never wanted to become a Titan once again.

Ever since then, she never transformed, not even once.

Even though I lost my younger brother and that, even today, it is very hard for me to get over it, Arthur was the one who felt the most depressed. Having been asked to protect Erik and the townsfolk of village, he was severely beaten by Risa even if he was in his Titan form and completely failed, taking all of the blame on himself. He still says he had gotten over it, but I can still see it's the contrary.

That's why he isn't asking her on a date easily; it is because he is slightly afraid of her. It is because he is scared that, if she gets hurt, she'll transform and kill anything on sight, he included.

I patted Risa's shoulder as I made myself stable on the saddle of my horse.

''Get over it, Risa. It wasn't your fault.''

She sighed and nodded, suddenly taking an aggressive look as she huffed.

''Is that guy coming already?! I won't wait here all day long!''

Swamp arrived right then, getting in front of everyone as he shouted.

''LET'S GO!'

He rushed toward the south, out of the forest, as we followed him behind, the sounds of hooves stepping on the dirt being heard all over the land around us as we exited the dirt road and got on the field's grass, our legion being seen from miles away as a big black spot ruining the beautiful landscape of the land.

And say that this land was once full of Titans only waiting to eat you off. Ironic, isn't it?

Our horses ran through the fields while Swamp shouted.

''HERE WE GOOOO!''

I hate that guy.

Meanwhile...:

A man watched everything happened up from a tree not far from the military base, yawning as he was wearing a dark green coat in tatters while putting his hood.

''Easy...''

He left the area, unnoticed.