Title: Umkommen Lied
Rating: T
Written by: Tempest
Summary: It had been an innocent enough plan back then; leave the walls to explore and return unscathed. And Len, Miku, and Gumi would do anything Rin told them, even if it meant waging blind wars with the titans.
Rain was hammering down on the rooftop when Rin awoke. The house was drab, unlit by the glow of the candle that must have gone out while she was sleeping, but by the glow of the waning moon, she could see the bold outline of the wall in the night, shadowed by buildings and framed in droplets of water.
She couldn't remember where she was at first; everything seemed foreign in her dream-like haze. Then, she saw the rise and fall of her brother's chest in the bed on the other side of the room, and she heard Miku's gentle breathing from next to her, and she recognized the bedroom she was in as her own.
The first rays of sun had yet to appear—not that they'd be visible behind the thick wisps of stormclouds—but Rin guessed that the sky was secretly fading from ebony to navy and shedding its starry coat.
Shrugging it off, she sat up, careful not to disrupt the cyan-pigtailed girl next to her, and wriggled free from under the light vannila blanket. Her head and stomache ached in protest at the prospect of being awake this early, and she had to lean against the wall as a wave of dizziness washed over her, leaving adrenalin in its foaming whitecaps.
"Rin?" Len's sleepy voice called out suddenly, and Rin froze.
"Aye~," she answered quietly, so as not to wake Miku.
"You're up early."
Rin shrugged in the darkness and slid her sore feet into her fluffy usagi slippers. The frilly, white hem of her cream nightgown danced dramatically in the summer breeze that drafted through the jarred window, and she reached down to smooth it against her pale calves.
"I had a weird dream," she told her brother quietly, taking the two steps she needed to reach his bedside. He was sitting up, wiggling the numbess from his toes and combing the knots from his blonde hair with his fingers.
"Was it that nightmare again?" he yawned.
Rin stuck her tongue out childishly and planted her hands on her hips.
"I said weird, not bad," she retaliated, but her trembling voice wasn't convincing.
"Hm," Len hummed laconically, making to change the subject; "It's raining. That's bad luck, isn't it?"
"You know I don't believe in that sort of thing," Rin retorted with a dismissive hand gesture.
In the bed behind her, Miku stirred suddenly and rolled over, covering her head with a pillow and groaning.
"Rin?" she murmured, "Len? You're awake?"
"Yeah, yeah, we're up," Rin called back, standing on her toes to look out the window one last time before stretching and taking a step towards the doorway.
"Where are you going?" Miku asked, standing up and tugging on her translucent nightshirt.
"I'm just going out to play," the blonde girl answered over her shoulder before turning and skipping down the hall to find her clean clothes. Her lighthearted giggles echoed off the walls, then faded eerily behind her. Len and Miku exchanged glances, then followed her quietly.
The three children had been racing each other down the street when a scream of agony split the air.
"Gumi!" Rin gasped, taking off in the direction of the sound, followed by Len and Miku. She skidded to a halt in front of an alleyway, her old white sneakers leaving skid marks in the dirt.
A green-haired girl crouched at the end of the alley, doubled-over in pain, while two older boys took turns kicking her hard in the side. Her nose was bloody, and her cheeks were flushed with tears.
"Hey!" Miku shouted at them, rolling up her black and teal sleeves. Rin and Len flanked her on either side, glowering.
"Shit..." one of the boys hissed. He turned and kicked the girl once more, then fled with his companion.
The girl looked up through teary eyes at Miku and the twins. Rin hurried to her side and offered her a hand.
"Are you okay, Gumi? Do you need help?" she asked.
Gumi gasped, then shook her head and pushed Rin's hand away.
"I can stand on my own," she whispered, staggering to her feet. Her knees shook, and she had to hold the wall behind her to keep upright, but she managed it on her own anyway.
"What happened, anyway?" Len questioned, coming to stand by his twin, "Why were those guys ganging up on you?"
"I told them..." the frail girl faltered, "I told them that one day, humanity will be forced to leave the walls..."
"That's why they hurt you?" Miku demanded with her hands on her hips.
Gumi's eyes widened, and she nodded emphatically.
"They called me a heretic," she murmured. Her knees buckled, and she slid to the ground with her knees pulled up to her chest.
"Dammit," Rin cursed, bending down to help Gumi up. The girl accepted her help this time, clinging to her sleeves and whimpering as the blonde produced a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the blood from her nose.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Len fretted.
"I-I'm fine..." Gumi managed. She pulled the pink goggles from her eyes up to her forehead, smoothed out the wrinkles in her bloodstained orange dress, then looked up at her friends with a nod.
"So...what are our plans for today?" she asked softly.
"Oh!" Rin gasped, like she had suddenly remembered something. She leaned in excitedly, so that her and Gumi's noses almost touched, and whispered, "We're going outside the wall."
"Outside!?" Gumi squeaked, and Rin had to shush her.
"Yeah!" she answered with a grin, "Outside! We'll be okay as long as we stay near the wall. Besides, you have Len, Miku and I to protect you if the titans come after us! And weren't you the one who said humanity will have to go outside one day?"
Gumi blinked, then answered slowly, "Yes, one day...but we aren't prepared to leave today. It's dangerous."
"Gumi," Rin sounded annoyed, "we can't keep living like cattle. Staying inside out of fear and never knowing what the outside world is like...it's cowardly! Is that what you are, Gumi? Is that what humanity is; a bunch of cowards!?"
Gumi shook her head.
"I'll go with you," she said slowly, "but I think you're all crazy."
"Um," Len interrupted, "I forgot something back at our house. Wait for me by the gate!"
"Fine, but hurry!" Rin shouted as he turned and ran off in the direction they had come from.
Gumi sighed and reached for Miku and Rin's hands.
"Alright, then," she rasped, "let's go wait for—"
There was a sudden grumbling, like thunder, and the ground shook fiercely. Rin was thrown against a wall, and Gumi landed on top of her. Miku's fingers were wrenched from Gumi's, and she hit the ground a few feet away with a scream. Smoke from fallen debris filled the air, and bricks from the wall toppled over the group. One hit Rin on the head, and she blacked out for a moment. When she came to, the ground had stopped shaking, and the alley had fully collapsed. Miku and Gumi were leaning over her with identical expressions of worry.
Rin was suddenly aware of an ominous shadow being cast over her. When she turned around to see what it was, her scream caught in her throat.
Wall Maria loomed over the city, smoke rising from the other side. Something large and red sat atop the wall, and when Rin squinted, she realized it was a hand, skinless and bulging with muscles. Slowly, something else rose to join the hand; a face.
"T..t...titan!" Gumi screeched.
"It's...it's huge..." Rin choked.
The whole city seemed to go silent at once. The titan drew back his teeth in a leer. Then, he lifted his foot, and all hell broke loose.