Hope you're all doing well, yes life goes on and it gets in the way of the things we enjoy sometimes. So taking a break from my busy non-social and university life I came up with this little number. With the recent release of season 3 and my passion for finding any excuse not to study I dusted off my fanfiction folder on my hard drive and began typing away. Hoping to see some of my favourite Reviewers and Readers make a return as well. I'd love to hear from you all and some newbies!
Prologue: The Levi Squad
The forest was enormous, dark, and flourishing. Its canopy was marked by linden, walnut, and hickory, and abundant dancing lights bounced through their crowns for bright mushrooms to take advantage of the brittle leaves on the ground below.
Thin branches dangled from every tree, and a range of flowers, which claimed remnants of light, spruced up the otherwise homogeneous forest floor. A disharmony of animal sounds, most of which were bird songs, resonated through the air, and were accompanied by the rustling of the leaves and branches of the tree tops in the wind.
This setting was perfect for a base of operations, a place where The Survey Squad planned to take back wall Maria. There were far and few between now that the Titans roamed freely inside the outer wall, but the forest provided cover and traps were laid around the compound for a few kilometres.
A new member of The Survey Corps stood as his new squad mates eyed him with mixed looks. Myriad pairs of scrutinising eyes analysed his, "smaller-than-average" stature. As this definition suggested he was of medium build. He donned the typical Survey Corps uniform, minus the ODM gear at his hips. He had spiky blonde hair, accompanied by a pair of glasses. He did not give anyone the impression that he was a soldier.
Barracks stood firm in the background, partly blocking out the summer-sun and some of the other squad members' expressions. The wind hummed softly, blowing the cool grass beneath their boots.
"Hey don't let it go to your head, new kid." One of the senior soldiers, Oluo, glared at the nervous blonde intimidatingly. "I figure Captain Levi only picked you because of your battle experience at your service time makes you unusual. I seriously doubt that he saw any actual skill in you. Right place, right time. Don't slow us down now!" Saying that he unsettled the green soldier with his smile was an understatement.
"Don't scare the rookie, Oluo, you're such a meathead," another of the established troops, Petra, breaks in with annoyance. She held out her hand to the blonde and smiled. "You survived that awful skirmish, and that means you've got real experience. I'm sure the Captain saw that, and that's why he picked you. I'm glad to have you with us, Naruto." this made the rookie soldier crack a small smile of gratitude.
"Right! Exactly! Awesome! Your precious experience!" Hange Zoe chimed in seemingly out of nowhere with a booming voice. "Tell me everything about the Titan you saw! Oooh I wish I could've been there! Now, you! You and I can talk the night away about Titans!"
Even for a member of the Survey Corps, this bespectacled woman has a great – perhaps too great – interest in Titan research. She's a strange one in a unit full of strange ones. The blonde rookie had already lost count of how many times she had asked on the way up her from wall rose.
A pair of light footsteps alerted the group to a newcomer.
"Hange, don't waste my subordinate's time, he has valuable work to do." It's Captain Levi. "There's important tasks that you must complete." He stressed with a look of upmost seriousness.
You salute him anxiously.
"Yes, sir." He suddenly became stiff as adrenaline surged through his body.
Naruto would undergo any task, complete any mission, do anything for this man. The teen of twenty would do it all for the man he idolised, to remain in his unit, for the strongest man in the world.
"Good, I like your attitude, boy." Levi pulled out a rag from his pants pocket with a stoic look. "You will clean the barracks, top to bottom with this rag, you have till sundown. I won't let you slack off now that your part of my unit." Naruto's glasses fell off his face and his mouth became slightly ajar.
Gunther Schultz and Eld Jinn, the only remain members who had yet to speak each gave their own respective chuckles.
"Don't feel bad kid, he gets all the newbies with that one." Said Gunther placing his hands on the smaller boy's shoulders.
"Other newbies?" The word slipped out after everyone had already disbursed.
So here he was, now member of The Survey Corps and glorified cleaner. Serving under humanities greatest solider – a clean freak. Captain Levi certainly gave new meaning to the phrase, 'Never meet your heroes.'
….
He scrubbed every surface with the small rag that Captain Levi had given him, he wore the material over his knees and elbows white. To the teen's credit, he didn't question the order he'd been given outwardly. But there were a few profanities that almost slipped his lips. He hadn't done this much cleaning since, well ever. The barracks were a huge place, not to mention extensions added onto it over time.
Collapsing on a chair in the kitchen he let the rag drop to the floor taking in a deep breath.
"This is what you call clean?" Asked a gruff voice startling him, causing him to jump. "You're pretty jumpy soldier boy." The blonde composed himself and Petra's image came into view.
"I don't get this. What good is this cleaning business?" He picked up his rag and threw it on his lap.
"Oh, there, there munchkin, you've got a lot more to not get." She wiped the table that she leant on, examining the dust between her fingers. "I'll help you clean, your mum obviously did a lot for you." She joked tapping him on the face mockingly.
"The thought of impending death really overpowers my want to clean, so sorry." He shrugged earning a snort from the seasoned Scout.
"Oh, funny. Maybe your talent is comedy, because it sure isn't cleaning. Tell me a joke funny boy." She offered as Naruto's cheeks lit up like a Christmas tree.
"Y-You want me to what, I can't do that, I'm not-
She laughed at his expense.
"You should work on keeping your composure." She poked his forehead, making him wince. "Why did The Captain offer you a spot on this team I wonder?" She wondered aloud.
Naruto swallowed a nervous lump in his throat. Petra chuckled at her ability to rattle him. He stood and handed her another rag from his pocket. She took it in an exuberated fashion.
"Contrary to popular belief you have to remove the dust off the surface otherwise it doesn't come off munchkin." They both began cleaning the kitchen area, he had already missed dinner, so the dishes had piled up.
"Why do you call me that?" Asked the blonde earning a headshake from Petra.
"Because you're small and don't seem reliable." She stated bluntly as the blonde adopted a look of shock. "I call it like I see it, sorry." She shrugged as she began washing the dishes.
"You seem like a nice young man. Why would you want to come out here?" She turned the water on, placing her hand underneath the running tap.
"You never ask a lady her age but in this case I think I will, how old are you?" Asked the blonde not shying away from his point.
"I'm 21, why do you ask?" She questioned.
He responded quickly. "Because you don't have the right to talk down to me, you aren't my superior." He leant down and picked up a stray wrapper.
"Easy hot shot, in terms of battle experience you're a baby, so until you earn any respect, you're munchkin." Naruto scoffed at her answer.
"What's Captain Levi like?" He asked suddenly.
"That's something you'll have to make your mind up for yourself, you could be sent home for asking such stupid questions, right Captain?" Asked Petra as she stopped the water and began washing dishes.
"Whether he goes home or not that's not your decision to make." Captain Levi entered the room having listened to every word that had been spoken.
Naruto stood up fiddled and saluted him swiftly.
"Sir I-
"Stop that." He ordered sharply.
Naruto snapped to the ready and became stiff as a board. "You're patient but incredibly unextraordinary and subpar at cleaning." Observed Levi as he stuffed his hands in his pockets taking in the details of the room.
Naruto laughed nervously. "I did my best" He protested and pushed his glasses up from his nose and looked toward Captain Levi. "Do I still have to clean the house?" Asked Naruto meekly.
"You still have to clean, yes, and you are to do a satisfactory job, boy." He stressed earning a sigh from the blonde.
"What good does this do me?" Asked the glasses wearing blonde.
"Nothing, you are to just do what I tell you. The horse stables need cleaning, the beds need to be all made again, the grass needs to be cut, the food rations counted, the traps checked, and you are to get up and prepare breakfast for the unit at 0800 hours tomorrow sharp." Explained the Captain making his way out of the room.
"But sir, I haven't even eaten yet. Can I have a break before I start?" He asked but the door slammed before he got his answer.
A few moments past and a groan escaped his lips.
"He is not the great hero I thought he'd be, he's just a strange man with idiosyncrasies that border on OCD." He sighed throwing the rag an unimpressive couple of feet away.
"If you want my advice, take a horse out now before the sun goes down completely or you'll be checking traps and alarms in the dark." Naruto scoffed and kicked his rag, it didn't move he flushed with embarrassment.
….
Stables
Still in a huff, Naruto marched out of the house, storming off to the stables. He fastened his ODM gear to his waist quickly whilst walking. Kicking the door to the stables open, he raised an eyebrow at the absence of any horse in the 'horse stables.' They were organised however, 4 enclosures each side with hay and an open barrel of water in each pen.
He stared at all the empty pens with a vague expression. A loud neigh broke him out of his trance as he followed the sound to the end of stable. A particularly large horse, a black stallion eyed Naruto, in all honesty he was a little intimidated.
"Wow, you're big, how'd I miss you." He joked earning a nostril blow from large horse, it blew his long hair back slightly. "You want to be friends?" he asked the animal holding out his arm.
"He'll bite your arm off if you don't show him the proper respect, kid." He pulled his hand away and turned to the entrance of the barn.
"Oh, you're Gunther." Naruto blinked as the soldier walked toward him with a neutral expression. "What are you doing?" He asked.
"This horse is a pedigree, he's only young and brash, not unlike yourself." He explained as he grabbed Naruto's hand roughly and held it out toward the horse.
"HEY YOU JUST SAID HE'D EAT MY HAND!" The horse eyed him curiously leant into his hand. "What the hell is your problem!?" Shouted the blonde making the older soldier laugh.
"I'm just messing with you kiddo. This one is as docile as a butterfly." He patted Naruto roughly on the shoulder causing him to wince. "Petra told me you'd be here, so I came to give you some advice." Naruto huffed at the insinuation.
"If any of you, any of you have something of substance to say today. I would love to hear it." Gunther laughed at the young boy hitting him just as hard in the same spot.
"You know how to use this thing right?" He asked kicking his ODM gear earning a growl of disapproval.
"Yeah." He responded.
"Good." He finished by tapping him on the shoulder roughly again.
"Good? That's all you got, good?" The question was answered by a headshake.
"No, this one likes a good stroll, but if you kip him to hard on the sides he'll disobey you." He explained as he leant over the gate and stroked the horse's nose. "Just be nice and he'll be nice too."
….
The Forest
"Clean the house, go home, blah, blah, blah, meat head, bullshit, clean-freak, I miss normal people!" Naruto babbled to himself as he rode the black horse through the woods.
The sun was beginning to set, slowly the light began disappearing.
"You're the only good thing to come out of this shitty first day." Naruto tapped his new friend on the side of the neck. "I wish I never killed those stupid things, now I'm stuck out here, crazy and talking to a horse." He dismounted the four-legged creature and examined a wire attached to large bell.
Continuing on, he repeated this action several times by this time the sun had officially set and Naruto came out into the open outside the forest. The grassy plain ahead of him stretching as far as the eye could see. The moon ahead in the distance, light from the moon beams illuminated the field. The absence of clouds made it easier to see.
Naruto paused for a moment to take in the view, they had truly lost something beautiful, and it was worth fighting for.
Loud thumping noises, like small aftershocks startled the horse and broke him out of his stupor. They were coming from behind, turning his horse toward the source his eyes widened as a small 10 meter Titan rushed out of the woods with its arm drawn in an attempt to grab him. Quickly turning the horse away to the right, the Titan narrowly missed the horse's legs, falling to the ground at a loss of balance.
"Somehow this does not surprise me!" shouted Naruto as he kicked at the horse's sides swiftly, being careful to be to excessive. This caused him to break into a strong stride as the Titan gave chase.
The ground beneath the Titan's feet was buckling under the strength of its steps. This was odd, they were always eager to eat humans, but he never seen one so determined and rampant before. Before it could grab him, he darted left sharply into the forest. The Titan gave chase slamming its fist into a tree and sending it skyward.
His eyes darted to the right corner and he ducked left before another, slightly larger Titan attempted to snap at him with its teeth.
Naruto's heart rate increased, his teeth clenched, and adrenaline pumped through his body as he breath a heavy sigh. He attempted to calm himself, he needed to fight now. But he couldn't lead them back to the base. But he couldn't fight them in close courters, nor could he fight back without the forest or his horse.
Grabbing his left blade he swung it in a swift motion upward. A wire suddenly sprung from the ground clipping both of his pursuers' legs. Two logs simultaneously swung from either side crushing the smaller Titan's head and nape but the larger one managed to move, it only took half its head off and it had already begun to regenerate with steam.
'It's smart, it's not very big but it's intelligent. Abnormal maybe?' He thought to himself as he continued to stride forward underneath him his horse neighed loudly.
The Titan began pursing him again as its face began to return to normality. Kicking to horse again causing it to reach even higher speeds gave him another few meters to play with. Activating his ODM gear the metal wire sprung to life from his waist and gas from his canisters ignited as he descended above the tree line.
The abnormal continued its chase of the black horse but came to a halt when it realised that the human was absent. With one swift cut Naruto mutilated the knee caps of the Titan. It wailed in pain as he glided across the trees. In desperation the Titan grabbed a tree and hurled it at the blonde. Thinking quickly Naruto stopped mid-flight, expelling gas from his canisters. The tree sailed past him but the Titan appeared jumped to his feet and charged.
'How could it have recovered so quickly. I crippled it!' His mind raced as he gripped his swords tighter.
A cable shot to the ground as he darted downward. Then another upward as he circled the beast. He jumped back into the tree line as the Titan frantically searched for him.
'I need to kill it and head back. They might be under attack, I set all the traps, I circled the forest. It couldn't have gotten through!' He thought to himself as he narrowed his eyes.
The Titan roared in frustration as Naruto's horse came into view, slightly confused at the happenings of the situation. The Titan immediately raced for it in a bit to either eat it or take out its frustration. In a split-second Naruto had attached his cable to the back of its neck and before the second was up. His blade had sliced its way through the Titan's nape, killing it instantly. The creature fell before the horse, who looked visibly spooked. Jumping over its corpse he grabbed the horse's reigns and stroked its nose.
'I need to go back!' He thought frantically jumping back onto his horse.
….
"Great tea Captain." Every member of the Levi squad and Hange sat around the main dining table.
The mood was jubilant, smiles and jokes were exchanged among the team members at each other's expense. Without warning the window smashed and Naruto appeared blades drawn atop to the table.
"Oh so you're alive, you owe a drink Oluo." Teased Gunther as Naruto's expression went from serious to shocked, then to outraged.
"You!" he pointed his blade to Levi who sat at the end of the table.
Levi calmly sipped his tea with little intention of reacting.
"I see you killed them then." He commented neutrally.
"I was suspicious, but those two boneheaded ball bags just confirmed it. Come to think of it, my smell on that rag, you must have captured the Titans beforehand and let them smell it, my ODM gear that just happened to be restocked with clean gear, the one strong and fast horse in the stables narrowing my choices down, a normal horse would have been caught, the Titan's surprising me in an area that I scouted top to bottom and not to mention, you're a sadist." He shook his blade for good measure.
"I underestimated you. Your powers of perception are a lot keener than I thought. I didn't think you'd catch on and you'd either be eaten or you'd come running back for help. But you did neither." He took another sip of his tea.
"See, I never doubted him!" Petra exclaimed as Naruto lowered his blades turning toward her.
"If you were going to send me to my death then why bother cleaning?" asked Naruto earning a giggle from Petra.
"That's an easy one." Said Hange.
"He's a clean-freak, you said it yourself." Finished Petra taking a drink.
"What have you learned?" Asked Levi sharply.
"I learnt that you don't have any confidence in my skills, so you sent those monsters after me." He sheathed his blades with a scoff.
"The lesson is that what's done is done out here." He crossed his legs. He grabbed Jinn's cup and threw it against the opposite wall.
"Hey!" he protested earning a laugh from his squad mates.
"Much like your decision to take me up on my offer, you chose to come out here and learn. Much like that cup I threw against the wall, I can't pour the tea back into it. And much like those Titans that went after you, we couldn't take back our choice once we released them." He sipped his tea again. "I knew you were good enough to join my squad. That much I had no doubt in." Naruto found himself welling with a small amount of pride as he pushed his glasses up.
"They were so young Levi, how could you." She cried tears of remembrance at the reminder of her 'friends' that Levi had used.
"This doesn't mean we're going easy on you!" Warned Oluo.
"Take his word for it kiddo." Joked Gunther.
"I've got time to turn a stupid kid like you who was the only one who joined The Survey Corps in his class into a soldier worthy of the insignia on your back. Don't disappoint me, boy."
There it was. A member of the Levi squad. He had often wondered if he made the correct choice in joining The Survey Corps but now, much like that tea cup, he's choice can't be undone.
….
Three Years Later
Trost district, 50 meters above the ground. Wall Rose stood proud and encapsulated the precious human race that had retreated behind its security. This is the southernmost point of Wall Rose, directly above gate below. The top of the wall is about ten meters wide. This was the end of humanity's territory, the line in the sand so to speak. Beyond here, was the land of no return, much people believed as much.
Three cadets of the 104th division had been assigned to a watch patrol. Sasha, Connie and Eren all lumbered atop the wall in a less-than-interested fashion.
"I wanna join the Survey Corps," Connie blurted out. "At least then I wouldn't be with Jean, asshole." He trailed off with a couple more profanities.
Connie was small compared to the rest of the cadets in his division. He had a small build and a buzz cut. He sported the stereotypical cadet uniform, his ODM gear fastened to his waist, newly polished and never used.
"Yeah right," Sasha chimed in. "You're only saying that because of Eren." She mocked earning an embarrassed cough from the cadet.
Sasha was dressed similarly to Connie but she wore a satchel around her shoulder.
"Not true!" he protested vehemently.
"Say, everyone…." Sasha says. "I borrowed a little meat from the senior officers' private stock. Let's all share it together." She pulled a hunk of ham out of her pack. Her offer is met with astonished looks.
Since humanity's territory dwindled considerable 5 years ago, meat was a precious.
"That's stupid, even for you." Eren joked earning a tongue poke from his female comrade.
Similarly, Eren sported the same uniform, his hands fastened around his blades. His anxious nature on full display, ready to fight any Titan that would dare show itself.
"Relax, it's fine. Once we take wall Maria we'll have all the room we could ever need to raise cows and sheep to…."
"Oh I get it! A little pre-celebration before we retake the wall." Connie exclaimed.
"Then I'll have some!"
"Hey, save some for me to."
The trio enjoyed their small snack. The thought of retaking wall Maria seemed like an impossible task but with these people, side-by-side, maybe it wasn't such a dream after all.
From the heights of Wall Rose, the world beyond showed itself. Near the wall, an abandoned city stood in ruin, not a single soul lived on the outside of this wall. Some buildings still stood, Titans attack humans not buildings. In the far distance, a mountain range met the horizon. Wall Maria was out there, but in the grand scope of things it seemed small compared to the amount of territory that the human race had lost.
Below on the opposite side, people could be seen living their normal lives. Just a peaceful sky, just a sky and cool breeze.
Then, suddenly…..
A giant face appeared with no warning, it's a head taller that the 50-meter wall – The Colossus Titan.
The war had just begun, and humanity was already losing.
….
Chapter End
There it is! Hope you enjoyed it, leave a review and let me know what you'd think and get on the hype train for season 3!