A/N: So, A few things I should note and explain, The time frame for this set's Eren at teenager already so basically he starts of as a cadet, Mikasa is a couple of years younger and the whole siblings, but not siblings relationship doesn't exist here, This is a straight Eremika fiction, I am unsure about my side pairings or if they will exist at all, Mostly follows cannon, in terms of how it all pans out, I will likely make a few more changes, some minor some massive, although any changes I make I will do the best I can to explain them. Hope you all enjoy the first chapter though!
It was all so familiar, The weight on his hips, the breeze that ruffled his hair, the views of rolling grass hills that seemed to stretch endlessly outwards, occasionally blotted by a black spot steadily approaching the outskirts of the wall humanity called it's home, he placed a booted foot at the edge of the massive white expanse of concrete that towered above the ravenous monster's below, he stared down at the teethed smiling freaks that would like nothing more for him to drop down so they could have their first meal in who knew how long, he spat down at the monsters before turning on his heel and facing the expanse that was the Shiganshina District, brown tiled roofs lined streets of cobble stone, people bargained the meager goods they had for money, farmed the fields and moved about their daily lives as if the world outside held no allure, that none of them were interested in what lay beyond the cage they called a home.
"I'm home." He announced with a smile to the air, the breeze paid little regard to his words and ruffled his hair further as he stepped over the inner edge of the wall, he closed his eyes for a moment, releasing the latches of the gear the weighed on his hips, a weight that was so comfortable it felt to be a part of him, with a click the wired whirred through the air and dug into the concrete of the wall, halting his fall as his feet rested on the ground with a soft thud, the wires grated against the steel restraints of their boxes before the hooks slammed back into the spot with a metallic click, he replaced the two hilts that would hold blades had he been in combat and pulled his coat back into place.
"Yeager!" The sharp shout of his name drew his attention, he turned to face a familiar blonde member of the Garrison, the man already reeked of alcohol and it was barely noon, Yeager stifled the urge to pinch his nose as the man approached him "Are you trying to cause a panic, if people see you using maneuvers like that they might think something bad has happened."
"Tch, Glad to see your combat ready in case something does happen." Yeager retorted sharply
A boisterous round of laughter followed the comment, "Hear that Hannes? You better shape up! Fifty years and the wall has never been breached, you worry too much, kid."
"I'm sure you'll be worried when you're the one getting eaten." Yeager countered before walking away, only to be stopped by a hand gripping his shoulder tightly he turned and sent an icy glare into the face of the Hannes.
"Eren, This town owes your old man a lot, saving the town from the plague," Hannes began "But, what they say is true, the wall hasn't even been in danger of a breach in years, the repairs can be done without casualty, there is no need to worry people by being poised to attack at the smallest things."
"Use whatever excuse you like to justify it," Eren retorted "There is nothing to gain from doing nothing."
He shook his shoulder free and continued down the street, eventually rounded the corner and dropping out of Hannes sight 'Eren, you can't be thinking…That?'
"Look out Hannes, you made the Genius mad." The other soldiers taunted.
"Brat's are getting disrespectful these days." Hannes turned around with a smile as he rejoined his comrades.
"What's wrong with them? Our enemies spend every day scratching at the walls and they are playing around like they don't exist at all." Eren complained.
"You're still lecturing your seniors I see." The voice was familiar as Eren rounded the corner, a blonde haired and blue eyed boy smirked at him.
"Armin!" Eren exclaimed clasping his friends hand with a smile before stepping back and giving the boy a once over, he had a grown a little taller, but he was no means any bigger than short, his hair was slightly longer than it had been when he had left, it hung down a little above his shoulder's, he wore a white long sleeved shirt with a brown vest and brown pants, he looked very much like the son of the mayor he was supposed to.
"Haven't seen you in a few years, what did you do, just decide to go up a little bit?" Armin taunted at the lack of appearance change in one of his oldest friends.
"Hey, don't get mad at me because you're so short." Eren retorted with a smile as the blonde tossed a small red fruit to him, Eren spun the apple in his palm a few times, Armin fell into step beside him as the two walked the familiar street's of their childhood.
"So, How's life been while I was away? You get into many fights?" Eren asked with a childish grin.
Armin gave him a sidelong glance "A few, Your girlfriend was always around to save me though." He fired back.
Eren staggered and straightened slightly, a small amount of red dusting his cheeks "Don't screw around." He got out stiffly.
"Hah, I knew you would be too chicken to tell her how you feel before you left!" Armin exclaimed, a small object hit him in the forehead and he cut off, rubbing the mark where the apple had struck him "Alright, alright."
"It's not like I didn't want to, it just didn't seem right." Eren responded looking at the ground.
"You sure you aren't just scared she'll say no?" Armin countered 'She never would, but it's fun to tease him' Armin followed in his head.
"Please, No one can resist the look of a man in uniform," Eren chuckled out, tugging his cadet coat around his shoulders before sighing "Who knows?"
Armin tossed the small red fruit into the air and caught it, appearing to be in thought "Well, What branch are you going into? With hw you roasted them, I doubt it's a garrison, so Military Police? or Recon corps?"
Eren smirked "You know me." Was all he said and Armin nodded in understanding.
"Just so you know, Mikasa will follow after you no matter which you join, you know that right?" Armin stared at the face of his childhood friend intently. Eren didn't seem surprised by the information.
"Yeah, I know," Eren look at the sky and frowned, the sight was just a V-line of ducks, but what was odd is they were flying north, 'There's no reason they would fly north this season,' he turned to look at the wall, he couldn't shake a encroaching uneasiness his gut "Armin, Something isn't right."
Armin had been studying his friend the entire time, he followed his gaze to the set of birds then to the wall, he also found it odd the birds were flying as if they were migrating this early in the season, but it didn't seem like something that would Eren would become uneasy for, his eyes flickered over the form of his friend, the rigidness in his shoulders, the stance and the way his hands hovered a small distance from his gear 'He isn't just uneasy, he's behaving like he's about to go into combat.'
Eren's eyes travelled over the top of the wall, he could see a small swirling patch of black cloud, he frowned at the small mass that hovered in an otherwise completely clear sky, he watched a small flashed of gold light arced around it before firing down, the resulting thunderous crash and spark of light caused him to cove his eyes with his arm, when he could finally see again, all he could make out was the meaty flesh of a massive expanse peering over the top of the wall, Eren stared at the massive creature that towered the wall.
"Armin, Get your dad, Mikasa, My mother and anyone else you can behind the inner gates." Eren ordered sharply, shocking his friend out of his shocked state of panic.
Armin's eyes darted in between the massive monster and his friend a few times before his nodded and he ran off, Eren released the handles of his gear and slammed them into the latches of his blades, he fired the wires into the guttering of the roof nearest him and flipped into a landing, walking over the other side of the roof and staring down at the centre courtyard, he and Armin must have wandered to this spot when they were talking, everyone was staring at the monster that stood over the wall in complete disbelief, unable to do anything but stare
"What are you all doing! Start moving towards the Inner gate!" Eren shouted, loud enough that the resulting Echo shook a few people from their daze, they began shouting warnings as well, eventually the town had begun it's rather panicked movement further away from the outside wall, Eren turned to the thing that peered over the wall, he could only make out the head, so when the gate suddenly exploded he was in as much surprise as the rest of the city, stone and concrete flew into the air as the impact took sections of wall with the gate, Eren regained his footing quickly as he fired his wire into the sky, latching on the a section of the wall just before it began its descent, he heard the gas in his gear expel outwards propelling him forward, the wiring released and snapped back into his gear, he turned his body and fired them again, connecting to a clock tower that seemed out of the way of the falling debris, he locked against it as the building he was standing on moments before was crushed, he let out a sigh of relief as he turned back towards the gate.
"THE TITAN'S ARE INSIDE!" The panicked scream was easily heard in between the sound of people and buildings crumbling.
'Why now? The Recon Corps, it out of the city and aren't due back until tomorrow to enlist the new cadets, this is all too convenient.' Eren thought quickly as he repositioned a little more forward, he stared over the buildings at the first few of the 15m class titans as they straighten after getting through the wall.
"Yeager! Get yourself to the inner-gate!" He recognized that voice, he looked down at the blonde haired Garrison member currently ordering him around.
"What?! I'm the best fighter you have in the city!" Eren shouted down in protest, it may have sounded cocky, but his training scores were only rivaled by one other person and that Recon corps member was very well known.
"You haven't graduated yet, boy!" Hannes shouted at him "You will obey any order given by a superior officer! Get your Family and get out of the city!"
Eren gritted his teeth, he wanted to argue, to convince Hannes to let him fight, but as the man had stated he didn't have that luxury. He nodded and jumped off the building the whirring of wire and the sound of Eren being propelled away followed as he made his way towards his home.
Eren frowned as he moved through the streets, a lot of the rubble from the wall had struck the residential district, a new sense of worry set into his stomach as he continued through the streets, he told Armin to go to his dad first cause it guaranteed his safety, there is no way they would let the small blonde go to his family after he found his own, he rounded the corner and slid to a stop as he stared at what was left of his home, his mouth opened and closed uselessly, refusing to make the sound of any words that came to mind, a small shifted caught his eyes and he darted forward, his mother top half was visible from under the rubble her legs were completely buried under the rest of the house.
"Mother!" Eren finally managed to shout, she look up at him and a relieved smile enveloped her face.
"Eren, Your okay," She responded as the boy ran over to her, he stared at him as he gripped the board that would have held the roof up at one point and strained against it until his fingers bled, he lowered his body and rammed into the rubble with his shoulders "Eren, Listen to me, even if you get me out my legs are crushed, I can't move at all," The boy paused and stared down at her, tears already brimming in his eyes, she tilted her head toward a pile of random bricks, Eren followed the gaze and saw what she was telling him, the pale hand of someone he most definitely knew protruded from the rubble "She will be better off than me. Please."
Eren's head darted between the two rapidly, his Mother was asking him to abandon her, save someone else and escape, Eren straightened and nodded, tears flowed freely from his eyes as he dug at the rubble, finally revealing the black haired girl his family had taken in years ago, the red scarf he had given her still wrapped tightly around her neck, the girl was unconscious but didn't seem to be majorly hurt at least from an outside glance, he stared at his mother as he shifted Mikasa onto his back.
"Oh, I had forgotten," She suddenly breathed out "Congratulations on Graduating, my little boy, now go on."
The conflict was apparent on Eren's face, he didn't want to just run away, that much was obvious and he certainly didn't want to just leave his mother there.
"Eren, you've never listened to me before, so just please…Abide my last request?" His mother breathed out loud enough for him to hear.
He gritted his teeth and put on foot behind him, the girl on his back stirred and he finally turned around he focused entirely on putting one foot in front of the other, afraid if he thought about anything else he would turn around, the ground shook and he picked up his pace, he didn't need to turn around to know what was going to happen and against every single ounce of judgment he had, he stopped and turned his head back.
The titan must have been around 15m tall, it was muscular and had black hair that hung loosely around its head, the wide smile on its face cause bile to raise in the back of his throat the monster pulled his mother from the rubble of their home, she beat at its hand uselessly, Eren's feet continued involuntarily at this point, he watched the smiling titan move its other hand over his mother and twist violently, no matter how much he wanted to he couldn't take his eyes off the scene, the titan lifted the lifeless form of his mother to its mother and bit down, Eren tore his head forward almost forcefully, moving as fast as he could without jostling the girl on his back too much, he hoped she wasn't hurt too much as he moved towards the inner gate of Shiganshina district.
Armin sat on one of the many boats that was to be leaving Wall Maria, the second he had found his family they were herded onto this boat by soldiers, he stared at the rising smoke pillars that were the only thing visible from this side of th wall.
"Eren, I'm sorry." He whispered to himself as he pulled his knee's up to his chest and placed his forehead against his arms.
"Armin!" The blonde's head shot up as the black haired boy ran up to him and leaned down "Help me here would you."
It took Armin a few moments to realize the bundle on his friends back was Mikasa, he got to his feet and helped her down laying her down carefully, Eren removed his coat and folded it into a makeshift pillow that he placed under the back of her head. Armin looked at his friend for a moment, his eyes were red a puffy, his head swiveled around when Eren's mother was nowhere to be found he could guess the reason. Eren jumped to the edge of the ship and looked over the crowd, he watched as the remaining people poured through the open gate and heard the grating of stone as it began closing, the soldiers he had seen at the cannons on the other side were the last ones through, the boat groaned as it began moving, Eren frowned and looked around himself, there was still room for a far few more people, his eyes shifted back to the gate as the ground shook and the wall groaned, with a shower of stone a figure charged through the centre of the wall, the massive expanse of what looked like bone froze after sliding to a stop, the things eyes glowed gold and it had short white hair on it's head.
Walking around the railing of the ship Eren stopped at the closest point to the wall and stared at the mass of bone that had crushed the wall "Hey! You hulking piece of shit! Bring as many titan's in as you want I'LL KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM ON MY WAY TOO YOU!" Eren roared back at the armored titan, the monster paid no attention to him, Eren held the glare on its body until he could no longer see it and he dropped back down onto the deck of the ship.
"Armin, how is she?" Eren asked as he sat down.
"You're the doctor's son," Armin countered "As far as I can tell she has a broken arm, but other than that she seems okay."
Eren nodded "I'll go get bandages for a sling, wait here."
Armin nodded and stared at the unconscious face of his friend sadly "Armin, This wasn't your fault…Don't even think about blaming yourself for a second." Eren finished as he made his way through the crowd atop the ship.
Mikasa's eyes opened and she was stopped by a gentle hand on her shoulder stopped her before she could sit up, "Easy, you've been out of it a few days." She recognized the voice even if the face wasn't in view from her angle, he hand mover around his back and helped her into a sitting position, she stared at the eyes of the black haired boy she had not seen in almost two years, she looked down at her left arm in a sling and the scattered memories of what was going to be known as the Fall of Shiganshina.
"Here, you need to eat something," Eren handed her a roll of bread "I know it's not much but they have to ration the food now, there just isn't enough anymore."
"What about you?" Mikasa croaked out, not realizing just how dry her throat was, he put a flask of water to her mouth and tilted she drank almost greedily and chuckled "I see you still bite off more than you can chew."
She glared at him out of the corner of her eyes as he lowered the flask "So, what about your rations?"
"I'm fine." Eren replied with a smile, Mikasa knew Eren better than he thought she did, she could make out the slight hollowness of his cheeks and the exhausted look in his eye, he was likely sharing what meager amount of food he got with other people, she doubted he would even eat any of it at all if he didn't need too.
She broke the roll in half by placing one half in her mouth and tearing with her uninjured hand, holding out the half that wasn't dangling from her mouth to him, he took it after a moment "I said I'm fine."
"Eren, you need to eat too." Mikasa silenced the argument with an icy glare.
He nibbled at his half of the bread before digging into it a little more fervently. Mikasa smirked around her mouthful "That's fine is it? How many days sense you last ate even that much of your rations?"
"Three," Eren admitted sourly "I have been giving most of mine to the younger ones."
"Jeez, once the point of making it out to starve yourself," Mikasa attempted at a taunt, the mirth in it all but died before she got halfway through the sentence "Carla's-"
"Gone." Eren confirmed staring at the palms of his hands, Mikasa could make scar tissue out from where she was, she vaguely remembered him pulling her from the rubble, everything after that was only spots of her in consciousness "I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for? There was nothing you could do, it happened as it happened all I can do is accept it." Eren didn't lift his head while he spoke, she more or less knew he was crying and trying to hide it, his shoulders shook slightly and his fists were clenched, it was a habit he had when he cried.
"Mikasa?" Eren asked
"Yes, Eren?" Mikasa responded
"Can you, just not move for a minute?" He asked
"Sure." She replied.
Eren leaned forward and placed his head onto of her right thigh, looking away from her and at the wall, she felt the tears hit the thing blanket that covered her legs, she lifted her uninjured arm and began stroking his hair comfortingly, Eren wasn't sure how long he had just laid there like that, But Mikasa hadn't moved or complained once, she just stroked the back of his head for as long as he needed, he could only smile despite the situation.
A/N: Sooooo? What do you think? A little Eremika cuteness, the fall and the beginning of my little slice of SNK, Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you in the next one!
