'Mom, I'm going out!' I shouted to her, as I jumped off my front step onto the street. 'Where are you going, Violet?' My mother asked, wiping her hands on her apron.
'We promised Eren and Mikasa to help them with wood picking,' I said. '"We" meaning me, Sasha, Connie, Reiner, Armin, Annie, Marco, Jean, Ymir and Krista,' I added quickly before Mom could pop the question about who I was going with.
She smiled. 'Take care and be in town at around two o'clock. You don't want to miss Dad coming home, do you?'
'Nope. Bye Mom!' I called out to her before running off to join my friends.
...
...
We met in front of Eren and Mikasa's house, and we immediately took off. During the short walk to the woods, Eren had a fight with Jean, Armin tried to pull them apart and Sasha started ranting about food. Typical scenario with my crazy friends.
We got to buisness as soon as we arrived at the woods and managed to wrap the work up in an hour. After that, we sat in a meadow to rest. Sasha crammed a whole potato into her mouth and dumped her wood onto her lap.
'Dude, these sticks are awesome!' she cried, but with the potato in her mouth, it came out as "Phude, phese thicks are ashum!"
'Whaddya say?' Connie looked more than confused.
Sasha swallowed. 'I'm saying that we could have some sick fun with these,' she explained, pointing to the pile.
'Yeah, have fun poking someone's eye out,' Annie said sarcastically and she started playing with her bangs. Even though she was part of our gang, Annie was always the most distanced one. She was sceptical to most of our games and she had an aura of absency when she was with us. The only person she really talked to, was Armin.
Sasha stuck her tongue out at her and continued, 'C'mon, guys! We can play Soldiers, and these can be our swords!' She shouted with enthusiasm, swinging a stick at Reiner. He dodged the attack swiftly.
Most of us liked the idea of playing Soldiers, but Armin was kind of unsure.
'I don't know...' he stammered. 'For all we know, Annie could be right...'
'Oh, shut it, Armin, it's gonna be fine,' Sasha snapped inpatiently and Armin did "shut it". Sasha could be quite bossy if she wanted to.
We split into two groups for the game. Mikasa linked arms with Eren and said, 'We're together.'
I pointed my finger at them. 'Mikasa loves Eren!' I shouted. 'Eren and Mikasa sitting in a tree...' I started singing and soon enough, everone joined in. 'K-I-S-S-I-N-G!'
'Shu-Shut the hell up!' Eren shouted, his cheeks glowing red. Mikasa was blushing too, hiding her face in her scarf.
The two teams lined up. We pressed our fists to our chests and started singing the national anthem, 'cos I'm pretty sure that's what you do in the Army. But our humble chants were soon interrupted by the creak of gates being opened. Eren and I shot meaningful looks at each other.
'The Survey Corps!' we shouted in unison. We picked up our wood and sprinted down the road into town, shouting "Toodles" on our way. Eren and I hardly agrees on anything, but The Survey Corps were one thing we both admired.
We walked onto the Main Street just as The Survey Corps were riding through it on their horses. Most of them were quite happy - Auntie Hanji was even waving and blowing kisses to the crowd. Most were... Except for Dad.
'Tch. I hate people,' he mumbled, his face wearing an annoyed expression.
'Too bad. They seem to love you. By the way, Levi, I don't see your precious wife or daughter anywhere. D'you guys have a divorce?' Auntie Hanji joked. Everyone found it funny, except for Dad, once again.
'They're awesome,' Eren whispered in awe.
'The Wings Of Freedom...' Armin said in that same tone.
'The grumpy one's my dad,' I said proudly, even though they knew.
'And I'm gonna tell you, that I fancy the blonde one,' Krista said dreamily, cupping her hands under her chin. 'He has beautiful eyebrows. Such bushy ones...'
The soldiers got off their horses and met with their families. There was a lot of hugging, kissing and crying for the dead. Mostly the last one.
I leaped into my father's arms as soon as he got off his horse. He's very short, so it wasn't a problem for me.
'Welcome home, Dad,' I said, tightening my grip on his neck. He returned the hug.
'I'm home,' he said, and hearing his voice just made me realise how much I'd missed him.
'I see you got here before me, Violet.' Mom's voice sounded behind our backs. Dad put me on the ground and approached Mom slowly. They kissed and I looked away, because it is awkward to see your parents kiss in front of so many people.
'So are you coming home now?' Mom asked.
'Petra, I've yet to file the report at the HQ. You know I have to do that,' Dad said and Mom's face fell. He stroked her cheek.
'Don't worry. I won't be long. After that, it'll just be you, me, and our girl, I promise. Alright?' Dad gave Mom a peck on the cheek, patted my shoulder and mounted his horse again. He gave us a nod as he, and the rest of The Survey Corps, trotted off.
Mom looked sad for a moment, but she put on a brave smile.
'Well, can't blame him. I used to be in that branch too, it's part of the job.'
She sighed, then walked off in the direction of our house.
I bit my lip as I watched The Survey Corps ride away. I always boasted about Dad being in The Survey Corps, but the truth was, I'd much rather for him to have a normal job. He was rarely ever home, and when he was, he would sit in his office all day, working. That didn't leave much time to spend with Mom and me.
The Gang and I flopped under a bakery. I poked a spider with the end of a stick, Sasha and Reiner stick-dueled and Marco played hopscotch with Ymir and Krista. The rest were just talking. Hanging out. Like we always did.
Then the ground shook.
We looked up and saw a huge, skinned head of something that vaguely resembled a human, looking over Wall Maria. I'd never seen anything like it before, but I knew what it was, right from the first gaze.
Titans.
The next thing I knew, was a huge part of Wall Maria crumbling to the ground, revealing a herd of titans lurking behind it. One of them picked up a man and in the next moment, he was gone in the mouth of the beast.
That was when the commotion started. People started running for their lives, as the air was filled with cries for help. And us? Krista started crying hysterically, squatting down and covering her ears with her hands. Yumir was desperately trying to comfort her, but tears were streaming doen her cheeks as well. Me, I didn't dare move. It was like fear had paralyzed my legs, froze my mind.
Do something, I thought. You're going to die just standing here like that.
So I ran. I ran back home, like it was going to change anything.
'Mom!' I called as soon as I stepped into my house. She was in her bedroom, dressed in her Survey Corps attire. She was adjusting her 3D Maneuver Gear at her waist, when she spotted me in her closet mirror.
'Violet!' she cried, like she was surprised to see me.
'Where're you going, Mom?' I asked, my throat dry and rough, like sandpaper.
'To fight.'
'No!'
'Violet, I have to. I'm still a soldier, it's my duty to protect people.'
'I don't want you to go...' I mumbled under my breath, so Mom couldn't hear me. She took my hand.
'It's going to be alright,' she said, looking into my eyes.
That's what I desperately wanted to believe.
People in the streets were in total panic. Everyone was running amock, just to get away from the titans. I looked for remedy in Mom. Her face was composed and serious.
'Stay hidden and don't get killed,' she instructed before flying off on her 3D Maneuver Gear.
Staying alive was hard. I didn't have the slightest idea about where I could hide. Finally, I ran into an alley and hid behind an empty barrel. I didn't stay there long, though, since I got discovered. A huge, ugly titan with a disgusting, twisted smile stuck to his face stared at me with a hungry look in his eyes.
That's it, I thought, as the creature's hand reached out for me. I'm dead. Damn, damn, damn...
'Damn it all!' I shouted at the top of my lungs, through tears of fear. Suddenly, a flash of silver zoomed behind the titan, slashing his neck. But for sone reason, the titan didn't perish.
'Crap, I didn't cut deep enough,' Mom said, resting on a roof. The titan that'd just tried to kill me lost interest in me now. He turned to face Mom. She wanted to fly away, but her 3D Maneuver Gear didn't budge.
'It's jammed!' she shouted, pulling and kicking it, trying to get it to move. No such luck. 'Shit,' she cursed under her breath.
Then, her 3D Maneuver Gear suddenly clicked and sent Mom flying through the air, but with no control of her moves. She managed to slash the titan's neck. As the titan was falling, his arm stuck out at an odd angle, knocking Mom off the roof she was standing on. She plummeted to the ground.
I walked around the titan's corpse and approached Mom. I froze as soon as she came into my sight.
She was lying on her stomach, facing a wall. Her head was bent the whole way back, touching her back. There were smears of blood running down her cheek from her nose.
Her neck was broken. She was dead.
Tears spilled out of my eyes, as a million questions ran through my mind.
What now? What do I do? And... How will Dad react?
At that moment, I wouldn't've cared if the world ended. I just wanted to stay right there, standing before my mother's corpse, as if trying to burn my fault into my eyes.
Mom was dead. Dead because of me.
'Damn, another one?' A man's voice sounded behind my back. He picked me up and carried me over to the ship raking people to Wall Rose. He had two other kids with him, in whom I'd recognised Eren and Mikasa. But I was too shocked to say anything to them. I just kept watching, as Wall Maria was being torn apart. The streets I played ob with my friends, the house I called home for every single day of my life... All that being destroyed by titans.
Disclaimer: I own only my OC and the plot. The universe and characters belong to Hajime Isayama.