Okay, so to quickly explain things:
* This story is centered around the main characters of Attack On Titan, who I've used to re-write The Legend Of Korra.
* You don't need to have watched The Legend Of Korra to read this story. Having watched The Last Airbender would help you understand the world better, but it's not essential as I'll try to explain things along the way.
* I've tried to mesh the characters into this very different world as best as I can. It takes place 60 years after the events of The Last Airbender.
* I'll explain further once you reach the end of this introductory chapter. Enjoy.
- Present day: A false reality -
Stood in front of him was a woman about twice his age, with silky jet black hair crashing over her shoulders. She signaled him to etch forward toward her, with a curling gesture of her index finger. "Come closer." Her voice was an invitation with the intention of something a teenage boy could only dream of. He happily obliged, brimmed with excitement and anticipation of the big moment soon to come. She threw her arms around his neck and tilted her head as she leaned in for a kiss. He mirrored her motions, and then- "JEAN WAKE UP!"
- Present day: Reality -
The sleeping teen was mercilessly thrown back into the real world with relentless punts to his face with something that felt...furry? "Uh- ow- AH, what the fuck?!" He opened his eyes to the sight of a familiar freckled boy, standing bedside to him, straddling a stuffed giraffe no larger than the size of a small pony. "Marco? The fuck are you doing?!" Marco paused momentarily to allow Jean to return to his senses. And then he continued to repeatedly push down on the giraffe's head to whack Jean's face some more. "Argh for fuck's sake man, stop!"
Marco halted his onslaught. "Come on man, we're gonna be late! We shoulda left 5 minutes ago. I can't believe you're still not even up yet! If we leave within the next-" He took a quick glance at his watch, "7 and a half minutes, we can still make it to the train! Come on!"
Jean sat upright, still in a bit of a daze. He turned to his right and squinted his eyes as Marco wound up the blinds, allowing the outside sunlight to flood through. His friend almost resembled a shadow amongst the light from this angle. And then he finally came to. Shit. He turned to look at his alarm clock...Seven thirty-six?! With sudden realization, Jean sprung up from the bed and rushed into the bathroom. He was urgent in his movements, but he still speed-walked with a slight bend in his hips, in an attempt to hide the evidence of his dream from Marco.
Wetten toothbrush. Apply toothpaste. Wetten toothpaste. Brush. Brush. Brush again. Water in. Gargle. Spit. Wash face. Okay, hair, ruffle, ruffle, good enough. Okay done.
Right before Jean barged back out through the bathroom door, he formed a quick smirk at his own reflection. Lookin' good, good-lookin'.
Shit shit shit. He yanked open his cupboard door. Thankfully his mother had already laid out today's clothing. A pair of black pants and a dark blue shirt with grey polka dots. Not too smart, not too casual. Nice and simple.
The hardwood floor of the living room vibrated as Jean raced down the stairs with Marco following suit. As the two boys entered the kitchen, they met a woman still on the right side of forty. She was wearing an apron that had been stained by what looked like splattered oil and spices. "Ah, Jean-Boy! Good, you're up now. Just in time - I made you your favorite. Omelets!"
Jean's fists tightened "Damn it Mom don't call me that!"
Marco gently grabbed Jean's shoulder from behind and spoke with a sterner voice than usual. One that cried of disapproval. "Jean." He looked back at Marco to meet a look. That look.
Jean let out a sigh as he reconsidered his words. "Thank you though." Ms. Kirstein smiled at the response.
"Now eat up. Both of you. You've got a big day ahead of you."
The two sat promptly. As they scarfed down the oh-so-delicious-eggs, Jean made sure he didn't let the divine taste distract him from the severity of the situation. "How much time left?"
"Fifty-three seconds."
"Alright." The pair dropped their knives and forks in unison and stood up. Jean took the lead and ran first into the front room, reaching for his shoes from the shoe stand. Marco followed and slipped on his pair of footwear as well.
Just before the brunet could press down on the door handle though, her voice called out to him "Jean! Wait!" The nurturing woman that is his mother hurried towards them with a bag of rose-red apples. "Aren't you going to say goodbye to your mother?"
"Mom there's no time we gotta go."
To Jean it seemed as if his sense of urgency fell upon deaf ears - she simply smiled in response and continued to approach him. "Oh, Jean. You're always in such a hurry." The woman turned to his friend. "Here Marco, take these." She handed him the bag of fruit.
"Thank you, Ms. Kirstein. You always feed us so well. I think I've gained weight in the past month because of you." Marco let out a short laugh as he stuffed the bag into his backpack.
"It's no problem, Marco. You have been like a second son to me." She returned her gaze to Jean and proceeded to wrap her arms around his torso. She leaned her head into his chest and squinted her eyes shut as she embraced her son, not knowing when she would get the next opportunity to do so. "Oh, my little boy is leaving me! I'm going to miss you Jean. I love you so much."
Jean sighed. Since he entered his teenage years, he found his mother's intense babying to be quite smothering, and very embarrassing should she ever do it in front of anyone else. So much so that it became commonplace for him to react rather bluntly and rudely to her behavior. Marco had scolded him for this many times in fact. But of course, deep down he returned the affection. "I love you too Mom. Ugh, there's no need to get emotional - I'll call you."
"You promise?" She looked up at him, tears beginning to build up in her eyes.
"Yes. I promise. Now really Mom, we have to go."
"Okay." Jean felt her loosen her grip and separate from him. She turned to Marco one last time, "Look after my son for me, you hear? Keep him out of trouble."
"Always. We have each other's backs." Marco fist-bumped Jean's shoulder as the latter finally pressed down on the door handle and pulled back.
"Bye Ms. Kirstein."
"Bye Mom." The two spoke in unison before they bolted down the pavement.
"Make lots of friends! Good luck!" She called out to them.
- Five minutes later -
The two boys were panting now. They were in good shape, but sprinting through a residential area whilst simultaneously avoiding any other pedestrians and being run over, for five minutes straight, was enough to leave any athlete a bit winded. But it was all worth it once the sign 'TROST TRAIN STATION' began to creep up in sight.
"Two minutes forty seconds Jean!" They upped their pace in desperation.
To Jean's utter despair, a cabbage merchant rolled out his cart full of green spheres in front of their path up ahead. You've gotta be kidding me. To the left of the cart stood a lamp-post. Once within range, he sprang off his right foot, landing on the post with his left, and then transferred the force through his left leg and into the structure, propelling him over the cart in a mid-air forward roll maneuver. Conversely, to his right, Marco had raised both of his fists towards the sky, causing a portion of the ground in front of him to rise in a miniature staircase formation. Using these stairs allowed him to leap over the cart as well. The pair landed in unison, with the brunet rolling once more on the ground to relieve his knees of some of the momentum.
However, Marco's earth-bending had caused a minor tremor in the ground beneath the cart, causing it to topple over and spill its leafy contents into the pavement. The merchant watched in horror. "MY CABBAGES!"
"Wow, check you out with the sweet moves!" Marco yelled through his elevated breathing.
"Still doesn't beat moving the freakin' ground!" Jean replied.
They had made it past the entrance now. The hollow structure of the building echoes the surrounding noises. All the people walking and talking, all the trains stopping and starting in the distance, the announcements on the intercom, everything collectively turned into a roar to Jean and Marco's ears as they panicked. The two skidded to a halt once they had reached the barriers of the station. They approached the ticket collector in the stand, with Marco reaching into his back pocket, pulling out and presenting two rectangular sheets of paper. His panting interrupted him as he spoke. "Two...tickets...to Republic...City, please."
The ticket collector scanned the pair of tickets and nodded before stamping them both. "Platform 3." And with that, a buzzer went off indicating they would be allowed through.
"Thanks!" The duo said as they barged past the revolving access barrier.
"Which way Jean?!"
Jean scanned the signs above them frantically as they sprinted through the passageways. Come on come ooooon. Platform 3 platform 3 platfo- there!
"This way!" And then they turned left into a downward staircase leading to a pair of parallel platforms. Jean straddled the banisters running down the middle of the staircase to slide down them. Marco extended his arms and fingers forward in a quick triple succession, causing the stairs to flatten into one smooth slanted structure. Both slid down to the bottom and continued their rush, with Jean holding his groin area with one hand, in an attempt to soothe it.
There it is! FUCK! The doors are closing! "Marco do something!"
In a moment of desperation, Marco extended his fists towards the train doors. Two chunks of rock from the ground flew into the edge of each door. Marco gritted his teeth as he resisted the doors from coming any closer to each other.
Finally, their charge came to a stop when they dashed passed the doors, both tumbling onto the train floor as they did so, with Jean falling flat on his face. "Oof."
They heaved in their moment of relief. "We...made it…" Marco laughed while Jean picked himself up off the floor.
"No more last minute stuff for at least a month." The brunet offered a hand of support to Marco.
"Last minute? More like last second." A third voice interjected. Jean and Marco turned toward the voice, only to see countless columns and rows of seats, many of which were occupied by passengers...most of whom were staring at the two. It had only occurred to Jean that diving into the train like that probably would have made a scene, and attracted a lot of attention as a result. Whatever. Screw what everyone else thinks. I'm just glad we didn't miss it. White Lotus Cadets Academy here we come. They were unsure of which passenger the voice came from, but that was quickly resolved when it spoke out again. "You guys really like to keep things tight, don't you?" A bald head emerged from two rows down. It didn't reach very high though. Dude's no taller than Mom. "Over here man, take a seat. You guys look like you could use a rest." He did have a point, Jean thought - the two of them were all sweaty now.
Jean and Marco took a quick glance at each other before walking over to the stranger. The train began to move which almost threw Marco off balance, but bumping into Jean prevented him from falling any further. The unknown boy was sat on a seat facing backward, with a table between itself and the front facing seats opposite. On the opposite seat was a girl biting large chunks out of a potato cupped in the palm of her hand. She looked up at Jean with a smile distorted by her puffed cheeks. "Sch-hi-" The words were muffled by her chewing, but after a gulp, she managed to vocalize the message, "Hi there. I'm Sasha." She scooted over, tapping her previous location on the cushion to signal Jean to sit there next to her. Jean obliged, and the bald-headed teen opposite did the same for Marco.
"My name's Jean. This is Marco. Thanks for inviting us over, it's nice to meet you two."
The girl grinned at Jean again, before returning focus to the spud in her hand. Jean turned his focus back on the person who had beckoned him there in the first place. "Connie Springer." He fist-bumped Marco then offered his hand out to Jean. The two shook. "Where are you guys headed?"
"Republic City."
"Yeah, we're gonna enroll at the White Lotus Cadets Academy," Marco spoke with much excitement in his voice. "and you guys?"
Sasha gulped once more. "Same! We're headed there to join the Academy too. Small world." With a now empty hand, she wiped the bits from her face. "So uh, what are you guys planning on graduating into? The Survey Corps? The Sentries? Or a university?"
Further explanation (for those who know about Avatar):
* Avatar Aang didn't die at the age of 66 - he's still alive. Therefore Korra and many of the LOK characters won't be used (for now).
* The lore that was introduced in The Legend Of Korra will not be used in this story. And by "lore", I mean the whole "Raava and Vatu" concept behind the Avatar's origin. It caused too many plot-holes for my liking (there are so many that I won't talk about here, but if you're curious about them then either message me or look it up). Plus the Raava-Vatu thing just squeams 'Jesus vs Satan' to me, which is an Abrahamic-religious concept, instead of the Buddhist/Hindu concepts used in The Last Airbender.
* The original origin for the Avatar, initially intended by the produces of The Last Airbender, was that the Avatar is actually the human incarnation of the Earth spirit. They disregarded this idea when they began writing Legend Of Korra though. Anyway, that's the origin I'm going with for this story.
* I have an idea which I believe tells a better story behind the creation of the first Avatar, and fits into the original origin and lore.
* Personally I find the Avatar's origin more fascinating if it's left untouched and therefore mysterious, but since LOK explored it, I almost feel obligated to offer up my own take on it later down the line in this story.
* Titans have appeared out of nowhere, and no one knows why...for now.
Further explanation (for those who don't know about Avatar):
I understand that many of you may not have even watched Avatar, so for you guys, I'll be sure to place notes to the reader here and there, to explain certain things that you would probably be unfamiliar with. I've tried my best to incorporate elements of the AOT world into the Avatar world. For example, Titans do exist, and so does the Survey Corps, but for entirely different reasons as to why they exist in AOT (no You-Know-Who Fritz, no you-know-what fluid, etc). For those of you who don't know, in the world of Avatar, there are 5 different types of humans who can manipulate (or "bend") one element - fire-benders, water-benders, earth-benders, air-benders and non-benders (who can't bend any element). The Avatar is a special human who is in a permanent cycle of reincarnation, can bend all four elements, and has the role of keeping mankind at peace.
There are two series, The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. The former following Avatar Aang (the previous Avatar), and the latter following Avatar Korra (the new Avatar, as the previous one died at an early 66 years old).
The world is divided into four main categorical locations (nations) - the Earth Kingdom (largest continent), the Northern and Southern Water Tribes (north and south poles), the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads (mountain tops). Although Avatar Aang formed a sovereign state called the United Republic of Nations in the Western Coast of the Earth Kingdom, which serves a society where benders and non-benders from all four nations could live together in peace. This state has a capital in its northeast, called Republic City. A large modern metropolis.
This story takes place at the same time The Legend Of Korra begins but is a completely alternate scenario. To me, LOK wasn't all that great. So here's my own rewrite of the story using characters from AOT. Not that my version will be any better, but it'll be fun to try haha. I'll be focusing mainly on Jean, but Armin will become another focus later down the line. Many of the characters from LOK (including Korra) don't even exist here, as Avatar Aang is still alive - he never died prematurely. In regards to technology, this story takes place during an industrial revolution phase.
A recurring premise in this story is that Jean constantly struggles with keeping up with the rest of the main characters (Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Annie etc) because they are all benders while he's a non-bender. He often thinks of himself as unworthy to serve alongside these people, but Marco encourages him to have confidence in his own abilities. Either way, Jean will have to overcome his insecurities once he has to play his role in defeating humanity's greatest threat.
Disclaimer:
All characters were created by, and belong to, either the authors of Avatar The Last Airbender, The Legend Of Korra, or Attack On Titan.