"For this last one tonight, we want to give it to our inspiration, our guides, Five Finger Death Punch, and to celebrate the release of their new album this year! But most of all," Ymir Moller spoke loud and proudly into the microphone, thousands of people screaming in excitement and disappointment that their show with Sword Carnival was nearing its end. "To you, the people who put us where we are now. Let's give it the fuck up for the audience everybody!"

The crowd exploded and Ymir backed up on the stage, taking her microphone with her as her bandmates on guitar and bass behind her, Reiner Braun and Eren Yaeger respectively, drummed up a storm of strumming. Their drummer, Annie Leonhardt, entered the thrum not long after, striking with her sticks and setting the song to a fast paced, battle-like theme.

In the sheer moments she had left before the vocals began, her co-vocalist in Sword Carnival, Armin Arlert, sprinted to the stage and caught the long device right in his left hand and drew it close to his hand.

For one, infinitesimal moment, all was silent. The instruments stopped, the cheering stopped. The only sound in the world could've been Ymir's heart pounding in her chest. She craved moments like these. Such focal points of musical tension drove her crazy, though to most people, she'd never admit it.

Then Armin opened his mouth, and utter divinity flowed out, accompanied by shredding guitars and pounding drums. It was here that the crowd lost it.

"Tossed into my mind

Stirring the calm

You splash me

With beauty

Then you pull me down

Cause YOU came from outta nowhere!

My glance turns to a staaaaaarrrreeee!"

An instrumental bout ensued, during which Ymir replaced Armin at the microphone. Fans often couldn't choose who they liked more out of the two. With Armin's melodic, beautiful voice, and Ymir's gravelly, powerful one, it wasn't hard to see why. Not to mention the both of them had killer metal screams.

"Obsession rules me

I'm yours from the start

I know that

You see me

I'm yours from the start

Cause YOU came from outta nowhere!

My glance turns to a staaaaaarrrreeee!

One minute here

And one minute there

Don't know if I'll laugh or cry!"

Armin joined in, his face close to hers and their voices melding together.

"One minute here

And one minute there

And then you wave good bye. . ."

Both of them readied their screams for a booming, growl of a. . .

"GOODBYE!"

A fierce headbanging session commenced thereafter, Ymir and Armin both unable to contain the urge to express their love of the music their friends put on. The other joined them in their revelry. Their voices and instruments flowed as the never had in the California night air, and before any of Sword Carnival or the crowd knew it, the song was over.

"You joined the Carnival, California, what more could we ask for? Take care and keep it SHREDDED!" Armin said into the microphone, which elicted an ear-shattering roar from the crowd as the band packed up.

"Dude," Annie said to Armin as they exited the stage. "We definitely need to find something harder. My hands are still itching to bleed when we play."

"That's what you say every time, you fuckin' masochist." Reiner replied teasingly as he punched Annie in the arm.

Eren rolled his eyes. "Totally what she meant, Reiner. And what's with the blush? Am I that hot?" He responded in exasperation.

"Smokin', bitch," The taller blonde boy shot back with a smirk on his face. "Nah. . . I may have. . .ahem, drunk a little, in between Poltava and Mann Gegen Mann. That same hand pattern for, like, three minutes? Kinda fucked up for your hands. Not sure what the hell Annie's complaining about."

"Maybe if we didn't let a certain blonde gorilla choose half our covers..."

Ymir turned her head to them, slightly annoyed. The evening had gone alright, the show had been fantastic. She swore that sometimes she'd feel like a mother trying to corral Reiner and Annie. Whether there was a secret past there or some serious sexual tension between them, it didn't really lessen her load.

All the same she was glad to have met them, along with Armin and Eren. They were her family when at times no one else would be. Her beginnings would have become her life were it not for them.

It was Ymir's freshman year of High School. She'd just been dumped by a boyfriend of hers that'd surpassed all others. They'd been together for years, knew each other inside and out. Then one day he just. . . stopped talking to her. The only evidence that he'd still existed she had was when she saw him walking the halls. Initially, she'd thought that he was just angry with her about something. Had she forgotten an occasion? To meet him somewhere? She'd tried to talk with him but he ignored her every word. In short, she'd be devastated.

No school. No life. No nothing.

Then, as if by miracle, she became friends with Mikasa Ackerman in a few of her classes. The girl was kind, listened to Ymir complain about her loss for hours, and was oh, so beautiful. It wasn't long before they were meeting outside of school, walking together, going to movies, and were nigh-inseparable. Mikasa, who had far outmatched every student in every P.E. class she'd every taken, ever, had even gone to her previous partner's house, and T.P.'ed it. It might have sounded generic, but when his mother returned from work, the house was literally covered in toilet paper. Every outside surface.

Exactly seven and a half months after meeting Mikasa, Ymir professed her undying love to the girl.

And it had worked.

For a little while.

Ymir had foolishly decided to tell her parents about her now clear bisexuality not long after she officially entered a relationship with Mikasa. She'd thought it would be best to get it out of the way sooner rather than later. Surprises always seemed to mess things up.

Long story short, her father had beaten her, deleted Mikasa's number out of every phone in the house, smashed her cell, and thrown her out on the porch. He'd forgiven her rather quickly, only after about four hours out on her dark porch. Her wounds had been tended. The only condition?

That Mikasa be cut out of her life, for good.

Just like Ymir had been before the two had met.

But, with all means of communication between them smashed, it wasn't much of a decision.

So again, Ymir had been crushed, crushed enough to not care about leaving her house at 12;00 AM with nothing but a Judas Priest sweatshirt, some pants, a half eaten Oreo box, and her watch. All she heard whenever it dinged was time to go farther.

Eventually she was taken in, apparently after passing out on the front lawn of Ms. Carla Yaeger, Eren's mother, around 80 miles from where she lived. She'd asked for two things, a permanent bed and food. Nothing more.

Ymir ended up finding out that there wasn't any such thing as "nothing more" in Carla Yaeger's world.

The woman had her enrolled in Eren's school, met his friends, meet their parents, and generally got her accustomed to what would become a new chapter in her life. When Ymir had revealed her less than stellar history, and when Carla knew her inside and out, the woman had taken it all with a smile on her face. When Ymir's father had tracked her down in her sanctuary, Carla had fought tooth and nail for Ymir in the legal battle that followed. Eventually, Carla had won.

Ymir was hers now, part of the Yaeger household. Her father went home, and she hadn't seen him since. Good fucking riddance, as far as she was concerned.

Seeing him, though, after several months away from him, brought back some less than pleasant memories. Ymir had fallen into a bit of a depression, and beyond schoolwork, Eren, and Eren's posse, she didn't do much. Until, of course, Eren had played a few songs from Five Finger Death Punch's American Capitalist.

It had brought her up and put some fight back in her. Every time a song of theirs came on, a little bit of her sorrow turned to white hot anger. It propelled her forward and made her strive to be better. Eren had other bands that him and his friends showed equal interest in, like Rammstein, Sabaton, Three Days Grace, Seether, Godsmack, or Alestorm. But none had changed her quite like American Capitalist had.

It was here, in her mind, that Sword Carnival had been born.

Ymir began to show a greater interest in metal. Most iTunes purchases she made were for metal songs. She also began to investigate the list of bands that Eren had given her. German, Swedish, Scottish, and more. It'd seemed to her like metal was better performed abroad. She said to Eren, one late night, long after Carla had retired to bed, that they should start a band. Eren had probably been half asleep.

Regardless, he made a list of names, songs, and members the following day. After mentioning it to his friends, the five of them had gathered together in the library after school (Under pretense of detention) to discuss plans.

Soon, Sword Carnival was decided. The band would be covers of famous metal songs only, and the group's full energy would be fixated on that. A talent show was scheduled three weeks after the birth of Sword Carnival. For three weeks they busted their asses, and it paid off. Big Time.

They'd performed Back For More, A Death Punch song, and blew the judges out of the water. An easy first place. They been contacted by someone in high places who'd seen the performance, offered a deal that would work around their schedules, and from there, Sword Carnival began to take the nation and the world by force.

Her father had had the nerve to, after her and her band's success was noticeable, E-mail and call her for money to get out of a bad bet. She didn't send him a fucking penny.

The door to their trailer opened wide as Annie gripped the wood tight, letting each member inside, closing the door, and switching on one of their albums on a low volume.

"We sure kicked ass, didn't we?" Eren wondered aloud, tipping his head back on their less-than-luxurious couch.

"That we did," Armin replied, smiling. "Y'know, Ymir, we seem to do that a lot, don't we?"

"Yeah," she said gruffly.

"Welp," Reiner said, hiccuping. "G'night."

The others nodded in succession and slowly the music drowned down and the lights turned off with a flick of Annie's finger.

"You coming, Ymir?" Annie asked.

"Nah, not yet. I need some air. Fuckin' stuffy in here."

The door opened and closed with a loud clap and then Ymir was outside. The air was crisp, cool, wet. She could look up and see hundreds of stars. They were out in force tonight. They probably would've lit the ground had the moon not been there to accompany them.

One long breath. It stung, only a little, but it was a good sting. Meant that her vocal cords had been used just right that night.

The door clapped just a little and she turned around suddenly. It brushed against the frame ever so slightly and then ceased movement altogether. It was eerie for just a moment, until Ymir realized that it was probably just Annie or Eren coming to check on her.

In any event, she was ready.

She walked back into the trailer, closing the door much more delicately this time so she didn't wake her friends. Ymir grabbed a blanket and pillow and then curled up somewhere unoccupied on the floor.

She was out almost immediately.

Ymir awoke to burning air and blazing morning sunlight. Her eyes stung, and she raised a forearm to block the rays from her face. She wasn't in the trailer that was for sure.

Did someone just drag the fucking carpet outside? With her on it?

There were blaring lights, too, and sirens. Yellow tape that read CAUTION! DO NOT CROSS covered the back end of the trailer, and the band members were nowhere to be found. but whatever was happening on the other side of the tape was very loud. Many voices sounded from the spot, a few belonging to her friends.

Her legs found sudden strength and she tossed the blanket off of her to run over to the sound of their voices. She found a few officers of the police questioning Armin and Eren. One of the men, a short, stubby man with an undercut poking from beneath his hat, looked as though he hadn't had any energy intake in days.

Armin and Eren looked absolutely wilted, however. Their faces drooped and their cheeks were shiny, obviously from tears. When they saw her, a desperate look entered their eyes, and Ymir knew then that something was very wrong.

"I'm Officer Levi Ackerman. Are you Ymir Moller, Ma'am?" The short officer asked.

"I am," she replied calmly. "What the hell's going on, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Did you have any relations with or know anyone named Annie Leonhardt?"

Ymir nodded.

"Annie Leonhardt was found dead in that trailer over there, at around 6:00 this morning, ma'am."