A/N: I need to update 'The Road to Home' and 'Take another Path', but this was burning me up inside all day and it needed to be let out. R&R
Disclaimer: In no way do I own Shingeki no Kyojin and make no profit from this whatsoever.
Cages
"I'll kill them all, with my own hands, and then those walls will be torn down and we'll be free. We won't live like livestock anymore. And then, maybe, I can see the boiling water and the land of ice, and I won't be imprisoned anymore!"
That was his resolution, when he saw that titan take his life into its hands and eat it, leaving him to piece together the pitiful remains and rise from the ashes, stronger than before. At least he had Armin and Mikasa, he thinks. He lets his mind wander with visions of freedom.
…
He sleeps, and then he dreams.
He dreams of a world without titans, where man has regained his place in the world, finally able to populate the land without fear.
And yet…
And yet, people still starve, while others throw their food away. Those who don't have money can't make their dreams come true, rarely escape whatever situation they'd been born in. Those who have money are bound by other limitations and by society itself, and their dreams are slowly but surely turning into empty shells devoid of feeling and passion.
And yet, people still commit atrocities, kindness is never rewarded, and the vast majority still do nothing, content to let the collective goal push them toward one direction or another, playthings on the whims of others.
And he thinks he finally understands.
Even if it is not walls, people always find ways to build cages around themselves, just so they can feel safe in an area they know well, deathly afraid of stepping foot outside for fear of being devoured.
He'll fight for his dream, fight until he can't draw breath to destroy those walls and what they represent, but he thinks he finally found one truth of life that can't be shattered.
Men can never be truly free.