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To you, the Swallow

Chapter 1: A Bloody Sunrise

"Papa! Don't leave me!"

"You must…for the sake of this world…go…"

"No! I don't want to!"

"I am sorry…"

His back turned. Her eyes saw the sweep of his dark brown coat as her tiny hands reached for him. A strong arm held her as she struggled against the person holding her back.

"Papa, please!" She cried again. She wished that he would turn around. He needed to turn around and see her crying for him. "Papa!"

He still didn't turn.

She struggled once more as the arms holding her back suddenly picked her up and placed her on their strong shoulder. Her legs kicked his torso and her hands clawed at his back. "PAPA!"

Her eyes opened slowly. They blinked three times as her hand came up and rubbed them harshly. After the harsh rubbing she slowly pushed herself up on her bed. The scratchy blanket fell away from her chest revealing her baggy nightclothes.

What was I dreaming about? She thought to herself sleepily. Her small mouth opened as a loud yawn escaped her. Her short arms raised up to the worn down ceiling as she stretched, feeling her back crack from sleeping on the old and lumpy mattress.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and flicked her short black hair over her shoulder. Her eyes settled on the sleeping figure of her roommate as a small smile came over her young face. Her gaze moved over to the moth eaten curtains closed in front of the window as she pushed off the bed and padded over to the window. Reaching up with both hands she grasped the dark blue material and pulled them to one side. Light suddenly filled the small room and blinded her for a second before her gaze focused on the outside world.

-7 YEARS BEFORE THE FALL OF WALL MARIA-

A few seconds after the light had filled the room came a grunting noise as the figure in the other bed rolled over. "Close the damn curtains, Hope."

Hope turned her head to look over her shoulder. "You really shouldn't waste the day, Anja."

Anja's mess of curly brown hair appeared from under the blanket as she sat up to glare at the child. "You really shouldn't be so bloody mature for your age. You're ten, you should be the one sleeping in, not me."

Hope laughed and skipped over to Anja's bed cheerfully. "You promised we would go to the markets today."

"Yeah sure," Anja said, waving her hand and flopping back down onto her mattress. She pulled the covers over her head once more. "Just give me, like, ten more minutes."

Hope's brow furrowed slightly, her dark eyebrows pinching together as she sighed heavily and returned to her own bed and made it quickly. She fetched her clothes and changed into the blue dress. Holes dotted the hem, and one of the sleeves had a rip in it. Hope slipped on her shoes and headed out of the room.

S

Hope sat on the canal wall; her short legs dangling over the edge as she dropped small stones into the water and watched the ripples travel to the other side. The sun was hot on her skin but she enjoyed the warm feeling. No wind flowed around her, not much could what with the humongous walls surrounding Shiganshina district. Hope craned her head back, tilting it so that she could see the top of the wall. What she would give to see the world from atop that wall. She craved to see a sunset for the first time in her life. She wanted to see the burning hot sun touch the horizon. She wanted to wave it goodbye, to see what colour it changed the land.

Hope dropped another pebble into the canal, watching the ripples start small, and then slowly get bigger and bigger, until they hit the other side of the canal wall. Her ears pricked when she heard footsteps approaching her quickly.

"Hey!" Hope turned her head to see Anja running over to her. "There you are! Sorry it took me so long." Anja was fixing her short curly hair that was always a mess no matter how hard she tried to comb it. Anja was five years older than Hope and the two had been sharing a room at the orphanage since Hope had arrived there.

"It's ok," Hope said with a shrug as she hopped off the wall and faced her friend. "I'm used to it now."

Anja's jaw dropped as she bounded over to Hope and looped her arm around her shoulder, "Hey! That's no way to act on your birthday! It's not everyday that you turn ten!"

Hope rolled her eyes, "It's just a birthday, Anja…"

Anja placed a sloppy kiss on Hope's cheek as the younger girl pulled a face and wiped at it. "Well, today I am going to spoil you. You deserve it." Hope's façade broke as she finally grinned up at Anja as the two giggled and headed out to the markets for the day.

Compared to the rest of the districts within the walls, Shiganshina was probably the poorest. For orphans such as Anja and Hope, everyday was a struggle. They had a rickety old house that they lived in with fifteen other children and Mr Martin. He was an elderly man that took care of them. Mr Martin tried to provide for the children, but most days he could only feed them one meal a day. He relied on donations and making his famous berry jam for money. Even though Mr Martin couldn't give everything to the children he cared for, he was the nicest person you would ever meet. Most days he would pass up on dinner just so that one of the younger children could have a second helping. Men like Mr Martin were hard to come by now.

Anja laid out the food before Hope. Hope grinned up at her friend. True to Anja's word, she had been spoilt today. Anja had bought her a new dress, a beautiful moss green. And now she was laying out the bread, cheese and fruit on a small blanket.

"Anja!" Hope exclaimed as she bit into the juicy apple. A few strands of ebony hair got in her way as she brushed them away. "How did you afford all of this?"

Anja sat back with a grin on her face as she cut the cheese and bread up, "It was a lovely donation."

"You stole it…" Hope said blankly.

Anja grinned over at her, "Think of it as an investment. The fruit will last us days back home, the cheese too! Mr Martin will thank us."

"Not if he finds out you stole it," Hope hissed at her. "You know he doesn't like you breaking the rules."

Anja shrugged, "My time is almost up at the orphanage anyway."

Hope paused mid bite, she lowered the apple and stared at Anja for a moment. "What do you mean?"

Anja looked away for a moment before meeting Hope's gaze, "Hope. I'm fifteen now. Mr Martin can't afford to keep looking after me forever. He's got the little ones to look after. Besides, I heard that the Training Corps are having registration soon."

"You're going to join the military?" Hope exclaimed in sadness.

Anja nodded. "There's nothing for me here, except you. Besides, I was thinking that will the little money that they pay us, I could give it back to Mr Martin. Help him out with everything."

"You can't leave me!" Hope cried out.

"I won't leave you," Anja said firmly. "I want to protect us all. From them." Anja chuckled to herself as Hope's bottom lip jutted out into a pout. "You know, I still remember the day you came to the orphanage." Hope looked away grumpily. "I was nine, and you were around four—I think. You were dripping wet because it was in the middle of a storm. Mr Martin was running around frantically trying to find you a towel to dry you off. You were muttering nonsense about how you couldn't find your father and he was gone. I remember asking you what your name was."

Hope looked back at Anja. The older girl was staring off at the sky, completely lost in the story. "You said, 'Hope Ziegler' and then you just started crying for no reason." Anja chuckled, "I had no idea what to do. You had snot coming out of your nose and drool out of your mouth. So I walked up to you and smacked you on the head and said 'toughen up titmouse'."

Hope grinned at her. "You immediately stopped crying and stared up at me. That was when I saw your eyes. They were like nothing I had ever seen before. One blue and the other hazel." Hope suddenly blinked her eyes a few times. "Even Mr Martin had never seen something like that before. And he's been around since…well…a long time. After that you immediately latched on to me and I haven't been able to get rid of you since."

"Hey!" Hope exclaimed with a smile. Anja returned it. Hope suddenly got up and shuffled around to Anja as she threw her arms around her shoulders and hugged her tightly. "I love you, Anja."

Anja discreetly wiped her tear away, "Love you too, Hope."

That night Hope was sound asleep. The curtains hadn't been pulled in front of the window so the moonlight shone through onto her face. Her black hair shined in the light. On the other side of the room, Anja stood up from her bed, fully dressed still. She snuck a glance at Hope and smiled at her peaceful face. Anja tiptoed to the door but didn't see the wayward shoe before her. She accidently kicked the shoe into the door.

Hope blinked her eyes open, wondering what had woken her up. She heard something by her door as she sat up in bed. "Anja?" Hope mumbled, rubbing her sleepy eyes. Anja turned to look over her shoulder at her. "What are you doing?" Hope yawned.

"Go back to sleep, Hope." Anja said softly. Hope's eyes focused on Anja's form. She was fully dressed, with a small bag thrown over her shoulder. Hope's eyes suddenly widened.

"You're going over the wall!" She hissed at her. Anja sighed and hung her head. "I want to come."

"Hope, we've had this discussion before," Anja told her.

"I don't care," Hope said stubbornly. "You, Klaus and Stefan always get to go over the wall. I want a chance to see the outside world too."

Anja walked over to Hope's bed and sat down on the edge. "It's too dangerous for you. You know what's out there."

"It's nighttime. Everyone knows that the Titans are dormant at night."

"You're too young," Anja argued.

Hope shook her head. "You were twelve the first time you went over. That's only two years older than me."

"I'm not risking your life like that, Hope. You are too precious to me."

Hope frowned, her dark brows knitting together. "Then what about you? You're the only family I have, what if something happens to you?"

"Nothing will happen to me," Anja told her. The older girl wrapped her arms around Hope's shoulders and pulled her to her. "I've always come back, haven't I?"

Hope forced Anja's arms away from her. "It's just not fair. You'll be gone soon so when will I ever be able to go and see what's out there?"

Anja sighed. "Hope. I'm sorry. I wish I didn't have to go—and maybe one day when you're older we can both go and see what's out there…together." Anja leant forwards and pressed a quick kiss to Hope's forehead. "Go back to sleep. I'll be back before you wake up."

Before Hope could argue anymore Anja was already across the room and out the door. Hope stared at the closed door for a few minutes, sulking. She hated how she was always left behind because she was too young. She knew that she was mature for her age, hell; she was more mature than Anja's older friends.

Stefan and Klaus were brothers. Stefan was seventeen and Klaus sixteen. Anja had met them years ago and for a long time the three of them had been making journeys over the wall. Hope had no idea how they did it. The wall was enormous, only people with the special gear or using the lifts would be able to do it.

Hope shook her head and balled her fists up tightly. She was sick of being left behind! She sprung out of bed and grabbed the first thing her hands touched. Which was a pair of short pants and a baggy white shirt. She pulled on her tattered brown shoes and didn't even bother with running a brush through her short hair as she was running out of her room and down the creaky stairs.

She didn't worry about Mr. Martin hearing her, he couldn't hear much as of late. As Hope ran down the stairs, she could hear quiet whispering from some of the children who still weren't asleep. They'd be tired in the morning when Mr Martin would wake them up. Once on the ground floor Hope went straight to the front door and opened it up quietly. She didn't want Anja to hear her and send her back to bed before she had even got a chance to go over the wall. There was barely any light for Hope to see with as she glanced up and down the road outside the orphanage. Through the darkness, Hope was able to make out Anja's form marching down the street. She was far enough away that Hope didn't have to be too quiet but she was still careful. She closed the door behind her and ran after Anja.

S

"There you are! We've been waiting here for hours!" Stefan exclaimed in a loud hiss. Anja waved to him and jogged the few steps to meet the brothers. Klaus was sitting cross-legged on the floor, back pressed up against the wall. The brothers could have passed as twins, most thought they were. Both had tousled blonde hair tied back at the nape of their necks, and they both had he same blue eyes. They way to tell them apart was that Klaus had a bit of a crooked nose from his childhood when Stefan had punched him a bit too hard.

"Sorry," Anja told them both. "Hope took forever to get to sleep. I couldn't leave with her still awake."

"Looks like that didn't work," Klaus muttered lazily, raising his hand and pointing to something over Anja's shoulder. Anja turned, a frown evident on her face. She gasped when she saw Hope approaching them.

"Hope!" Anja exclaimed in surprise. "What the hell are you doing?" She now adopted a more stern tone of voice. As Hope was within arms length Anja gripped onto her shoulders tightly. "I told you to stay in bed!"

Hope shook her head fiercely. "No. I'm coming too."

Stefan and Klaus started to laugh from behind Anja. Anja looked down at Hope with a pleading expression. "It's too dangerous for you, I already told you this."

"Just let her come, Anja!" Stefan said with a roll of his eyes. Anja rounded on the older brother.

"Just because you let your little brother come doesn't mean that I want Hope to!" Stefan shut up after that. Anja locked gazes with Hope. The little girl sighed.

"Anja…I'm not a kid anymore. I know that there's Titans, and I don't care. I want to see what's out there, I'm sick of staring at these walls everyday. It can't be that dangerous—you've come back every time, haven't you? I know I'll be safe with you."

Anja looked painfully conflicted. It didn't help that Stefan and Klaus were whispering behind her back. Hope put on her best puppy dog eyes for her. "If we're going to go, Anja. We have to go now," Klaus said to Anja.

Anja sighed in frustration and dug her fingers into Hope's shoulders painfully. "Fine. You're coming, but you listen to every word I say, got it?"

Hope grinned and nodded excitedly. "Got it!" Anja stared her down for a few more seconds before she relinquished her hold on her and faced the two brothers.

"Let's go."

The group of four moved off, Hope kept close to Anja's side. She didn't want to anger the girl more so then she already was. "So, how do you get over the wall anyway? It's so tall," Hope said, craning her neck back.

"We don't climb over it," Klaus said, tossing a smirk over his shoulder at the youngest member of their group.

"We crawl," Stefan finished.

"Huh?" Hope said, dumbfounded.

Anja nudged her lightly with her shoulder. "You'll see."

They walked for a few minutes longer before Stefan and Klaus turned and faced a large bush that was a few feet away from the wall. Hope watched with curious eyes as the two brothers pulled the bush away, revealing a hole, big enough for one person to fit through.

"Whoa," Hope said in awe. She approached the hole and peered down into it. "This leads to the outside?" She asked the brothers.

They both nodded at her, "We tried to steal some ODM gear but they're too heavily guarded. So are the lifts." Klaus explained.

"So," Stefan spoke. "We created our own way out. It takes around half an hour to crawl through the tunnel. We had to dig pretty deep because we weren't sure how deep the wall went below the ground. It took us close to a year to dig but we did it."

"It's what we use to go in and out, and no one knows about it," Anja added in her two cents to Hope. Hope's grin was ear to ear.

"Stefan and I will go first," Klaus announced, lowering himself into the hole headfirst. Once he disappeared Stefan followed closely behind. Anja approached the hole and peered down into it. She turned to Hope.

"Still want to go through with this?" She asked her.

"I'm ready," Hope said with a determined nod.

"It's going to be dark in there," Anja informed her. "You won't be able to see anything until you reach the other side. You go first and I'll be right behind you, ok?"

"Ok," Hope agreed. Anja gave her the go ahead as hope approached the hole. She could hear Klaus and Stefan's voiced echoing back up to her. It made her feel a little bit more comfortable with going into the dark, cramped space—but not a lot.

Hope crawled into the hole on her arms and legs. She was thrown into complete darkness. It felt like her eyes were closed but they were wide open, she even blinked a few times to make sure. Thankfully her shoulders didn't touch the walls of the hole, which would have made the entire thing worse if she could. She started to move, shuffling along on her elbows and using her knees to propel herself forwards. From behind, she could hear Anja.

"You alright?" Anja asked.

"I'm—fine," Hope said with a grunt. She wasn't used to this type of movement. The other three would, seeing as they do this maybe once every couple of months.

"Just keep going, I'm right behind you. And the brothers will help you get out once you reach the end."

"Ok," Hope said again. She was starting to think that maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

Hope had no sense of time while crawling. She just kept moving ever slowly. Anja was still close behind her, asking her every now and then if she was ok. Hope knew she must be near the end as the voices of the two brothers had stopped. Knowing that, it spurred her on, she pushed her arms and legs harder, she needed to get out of the cramped space and taste freedom.

She could see the exit. It was still dark, but she could see some form of light from the moon. It made sense for them to explore when it was a full moon, it meant that at least they would have natural light to guide them and the Garrison atop the walls wouldn't spot them if they used torches.

"Here," one of the brothers said as a hand went in front of her face as she poked her head out. She didn't know which brother was helping her. She wriggled her arm up and grasped onto his hand as he hoisted her out. Now that Hope was able to see a little more, she saw it was Stefan that had helped her. Klaus was currently helping Anja out of the hole.

All of a sudden, Hope realized—she was outside of the walls. She turned and gazed up at the wall behind her. She spun back around and gazed around at the land before her. As far as she could see it was rolling plains. Trees dotted here and there, a few large boulders and bushes. Hope spread her short arms out and tilted her head back. Is this what freedom feels like? She thought to herself.

Hope took in a deep breath, filling her lungs with the fresh air. It was a whole new experience outside of the walls. She felt like she could do anything she wanted too. She wasn't trapped in a cage. She was free. And so she started running.

"Hope!" She heard Anja call out in worry as she watched the ten-year-old start to run from them.

"Let her be, she'll be fine," Stefan said to Anja quietly. Anja shot him an anxious look but let Hope be. Anja could hear Hope's joyful laughter, and she realized it had been a long time since she had heard it.

"Better yet, let's catch up!" Klaus chimed, throwing his fist into the air playfully and chasing after Hope. Stefan nudged Anja, a grin on his handsome face as he ran after his brother. Anja waited a moment, she too then grinned and hurried after her friends.

Hope had never felt true freedom before in her short life. It was glorious. The long grass tickled her shins as she ran over the plains. The balmy wind caressed her olive skin and danced with her ebony locks. She could hear footsteps behind her; she tossed a look over her shoulder and saw the brothers and Anja joining her in her run. It was exhilarating, and so peaceful. There were no noises around them, only the chirping of crickets and the sound of their laughter.

When Hope's legs began to tire she slowed to a stop, and waited for the others to catch up with her. It wasn't long before the three were hunched over on their knees and taking deep breaths. Hope gazed around at the landscape before her, staring at it in wonder. Something caught her eye over to the left. Over in the distance stood a tree on a small inclining hill. The tree was nothing special, just normal size with no irregular markings. But for some reason, Hope found herself drawn to the tree. It was like she had seen it before. She had a weird sense of familiarity with that specific hill and that specific tree.

"Hope?" Anja called her name. "You alright?"

Hope approached the hill. "I feel like I've seen that tree before."

Stefan scoffed from behind her. "It's a tree. There are hundreds of them inside the walls."

"No, it's not that," Hope shook her head at him. She looked from the hill to the area around it. She honestly couldn't figure out why it looked so familiar. This was the first time she had ever been outside the walls. Hope chuckled. She must sound ridiculous. "Sorry, lets just keep going," she told the others as she turned back around to face them. Both Stefan and Klaus gave her a look that said 'she's batshit crazy' and wondered off towards the river that flowed towards Wall Maria. Anja stayed for a second longer, her brown eyes studying Hope for a moment before she followed after the brothers. Hope stepped away from the tree and towards her friends, but stopped and glanced over her shoulder one last time. The image of that tree on the hill burned into her memory as she jogged over to Anja and the others.

S

The group spent hours playing in the river and messing around, having fun and not having to worry about anything. Though they started to grow tired. Hope and Anja lay down together on the grass. They were both soaked head to toe from being in the river. Thankfully it wasn't a cold night so the water was bearable.

"Thanks for letting me come, Anja," Hope muttered sleepily. Anja rolled over onto her side and faced Hope.

"I'm glad we got to do this—before I leave."

"You'll still come visit me, right? And when I'm old enough I'll join the survey corps too."

"Of course, then we'll be able to come out here all the time. We'll be together forever."

Hope grinned, she reached out for Anja's hand as she clung onto it tightly for a few minutes. Gradually, Hope's eyes began to shut. Anja whispered to her that she'll wake her up before they headed back to the wall. Anja looked over her shoulder at the brothers. Stefan and Klaus were sitting down, back-to-back and chatting quietly. Anja smiled and rolled back over. Shutting her eyes for a few minutes wouldn't hurt, would it?

"Hope! Wake up now!"

Hope was instantly startled awake from her deep slumber. Her eyes snapped open, bright light blinding her for a second. She sat up, her mind trying to process what was going on. Anja was pulling on her arm, trying to get her to stand. While the older girl was going that she was also yelling over her shoulder at two others. Hope was dazed, what was going on? Why was Anja screaming so much? Her gaze finally focused on two boys she recognized. Stefan and Klaus. They were looking around nervously. It all suddenly clicked into perspective again.

They were outside the walls…and it was daytime. Hope allowed herself to be pulled up into a standing position. She looked over at Anja who was completely livid at the two boys.

"Why did you two think it was ok to fall asleep too?"

"We're sorry!" Klaus screeched back.

"Just run!" Anja bellowed. She grabbed onto Hope's hand and started to drag the girl along behind her. Hope looked behind her, she could see the sun rising over the horizon. Fear slowly started to creep into her body. The Titans would be waking up. They were sitting ducks.

As if fate wanted to shit on them, Hope heard rustling and rumbling coming from her right. She swiveled her head around to the other side, and gasped when she saw a Titan emerging from the ground. Hope was stunned; she had previously thought that the Titan had been a boulder the first time they had passed by. It had actually been one of them, dormant from the lack of sunlight. She saw other boulders around the area, all of them began to move and shake.

"Anja!" Hope cried out. The tone of her voice had Anja looking over her shoulder in a panic. Stefan and Klaus did the same. The two brothers froze up, halting in their tracks and staring up at the enclosing Titans, petrified. Anja let out a battle cry and sprinted faster, dragging Hope along with her. Hope pumped her legs as fast as she could, trying to keep up with Anja. They passed the brothers; both were still frozen to the ground. Anja didn't try and get them to carry on, she was only focused on Hope and getting her out of there.

Hope took a risk and looked over her shoulder, she gasped when she saw Stefan and Klaus trying to outrun the Titans. But it was no use; they were too fast and too large. A large, bald Titan scooped up Stefan first. Klaus screamed for his brother. Stefan was sobbing and struggling against the large Titan's hand. While Klaus was watching his brother he failed to see the other Titan coming up behind him.

Stefan's screams stopped as the Titan bit him in half, his lower body falling to the ground just as Klaus tried to dodge the Titan nearest to him. He fell to the ground and tried crawling away but the Titan gripped one of his legs and hoisted him up into the air. Hope turned away; she didn't want to see it anymore. She could hear Klaus' cries of terror get cut off. The sound of flesh being ripped apart reached her ears.

"Anja!" Hope sobbed tearfully. "What are we going to do?"

"Just keep running, Hope!" Anja yelled at her. Hope steeled herself as best as she could, focusing her attention on putting on foot in front of the other. She could feel herself tiring, even Anja's pants were becoming more ragged and heavy. They'd never outrun the Titans; they still had a few more miles before they would make it back to the tunnel.

Anja looked over her shoulder. Hope saw her eyes widen. That wasn't good. Hope copied her, sure enough the two Titans were chasing after them. Hope met Anja's gaze. Anja's brows were furrowed as she suddenly softened her expression and gave her a smile.

"I'm sorry, Hope." Hope frowned, wondering what Anja was up to. All of a sudden Anja skidded to a stop but thrust Hope forwards. "Keep running! I'll distract them!"

"Anja!" Hope screamed in protest.

"Go!" Anja ordered. Her face set in determination. "Run to the Maria gate! The Garrison will see them coming if they follow you after me. You need to live, Hope!"

Hope shook her head, tears running down her cheeks. "Anja!"

"Go! Now! Or do you want to die too?"

Hope looked from Anja to the Titans, they were closing in quickly. She looked back to Anja, who gave her a silent nod. "I always thought of you as my little sister, never forget that."

Hope didn't even get a chance to reply as Anja was running off, changing direction and running away to the left of Hope and further away from wall Maria. Anja started screaming at the Titans, drawing their attention away from Hope.

Hope stood there in shock, watching the girl who had been by her side for years sacrifice her life for her. In a second Hope committed Anja's face to memory. Her curly brown hair, her fierce brown eyes, her lanky body, malnourished from living in poverty all her life. And here she was, risking her life.

Hope kicked herself into gear, Anja was sacrificing her life for her, and she wasn't going to waste it. Hope spun on her heel and began to sprint as fast as she could. Her vision became blurry with tears that she couldn't acknowledge yet. She could still hear Anja's jesting insults, but they were fading the further she ran. Her goal was the gate. She could see it now; it was barely over a mile away from her. She tried to spot anyone atop the wall that could see her and could help. She could try and call for help, but she didn't want any Titans to hear her, and they wouldn't be able to hear her from up there anyway.

Hope dared to glance over her shoulder. She feared what she would see. Her fears were reality when she saw Anja being cornered by the two Titans. Anja was able to doge one of the hand grabs from the Titan. She ran underneath the bald Titan, trying to confuse the giant. The other one bumped into the bald Titan, trying to get at Anja. Hope wanted to look away, but she couldn't. She needed to run away, but she didn't want to. If Anja died, what was there for her? Anja had made her poor life bearable.

Hope wanted to run back to her, but her body wouldn't let her. Her limbs trembled in fear and anxiety. The bald Titan finally managed to grab Anja. Hope gasped, lunging forwards. Even from this distance Hope could see Anja struggling against its grip. Hope saw Anja look over in her direction. Hope's head began to shake back and forth furiously. She watched as the Titan raised Anja up high into the air, its jaws opening wide. The Titan dropped Anja into its open mouth.

"ANJA!"

Her scream was droned out by the sound of galloping horses. Hope spun around, surprise on her face as she watched five horses pass her by. They went so quickly that Hope didn't get a chance to focus on the riders. She was surprised that she hadn't been knocked over by the force of the wind that had accompanied them. She could see further back that there were more riders. These were the first contact group. She turned back, seeing the emblem on the back of their moss green cloaks.

The Survey Corps.

The group charged for the two Titans, Hope could see that the one leading reached the bald Titan first. It was a man by his physique and hair cut. He stood up on his horse and shot his ODM gear into the neck of the Titan. He soared up and over the Titan, flipping over in the air and hurtling down towards the Titan at break neck speed. He cut into the flesh at the nape of the Titans neck as the Titan fell to the ground.

The other Titan was killed by two of the other corps members. Both fell to the ground as the corps returned to their horses and galloped back over towards Hope.

Hope had been staring, frozen to the ground. Was it over? Was she safe? The Titans were dead, and she was…alive? Her legs suddenly became weak as they buckled and Hope fell to the ground. Her hands kept her up as she tilted her head up to watch as the squad approached her on their horses. The leader got off his horse, Hope recognized him as the one that had taken down the Titan all on his own. He looked barely older than Anja, maybe a few years older, with short black hair in an undercut, cold, slate grey eyes. He had an expressionless face, even after witnessing a girl being eaten and killing a Titan.

"Captain Levi, she's just a kid," one of the squad members said in shock. Hope's mismatched blue and hazel eyes moved from the squad member that had spoken to the man named Levi.

Levi, huh? I'll never forget him…Hope thought to herself as all the energy left her body and she collapsed to the ground.

Three years. One thousand and ninety five days to be exact. Today was the day I joined the training corps. I was going to be a Scout one day. I was no longer that ten-year-old girl who followed after a group of older children. I was my own person now. I was thirteen, old enough to join the training corps. It had been three years to this day when I had lost Anja and the others. Three years since I had forced Anja to take me with her. Every time I thought about that day, I always felt the guilt gnawing at me. I had tried for so long to ignore it, to push on. I've always felt like the only way I'll be able to make it up to her is to kill every Titan. Maybe then…maybe then she'll forgive me.

I brushed down the skirt that I had been able to buy yesterday. It was a crème skirt, simple and what nearly all girls wore around here. I was wearing one of Anja's old blouses. It was a pale blue. It was still a little too big for my small frame but I didn't have anything else to wear. I had opted to keep most of her stuff after the incident; I hadn't the heart to chuck anything out. I still slept in the same room that Anja and I shared, instead now one of the younger girls had been sharing with me for the past two years. For that first year without Anja I had refused to let Mr. Martin let anyone else share my room. It had been Anja's and mine since I had arrived at his orphanage. And today was finally the day that I was leaving it all behind.

I pulled my long black hair into a ponytail, letting my front bangs cover my forehead. I picked up the small bag that I was taking with me; it was filled of a few more change of clothes and some of Anja's trinkets. I wanted to carry them with me at all times. She was the reason why I was doing this. I walked to the door. Before I opened the chipped and rotten door I turned back and gazed around the room one more time. Would this be the last time I would see it? I thought back on all the good memories I'd had in here. Anja and I staying up late, talking and laughing. Even though we didn't have the best upbringing, we were both alone in the world—we were alone together. The memories I had with Anja were the fondest ones I would ever have. She was my family, she would always be my family…and I was going to make her proud of me.

I said my goodbyes to Mr. Martin and the other children in the house. Mr. Martin was sad to see me go, he had taken care of me since I was four years old and was found abandoned on his doorstep. I can still remember how it had felt telling him about Anja's death. He had been devastated. Everyone had been. Even though, as I had gotten older and his attention had shifted away from me and to more of the younger ones, he still thought of each of us as his children. He gave me a tight hug, and pressed a kiss to my temple.

"Be safe, Hope," he told me. I nodded to him. I waved goodbye to the children as I stepped out of the place I had called home for nine years and started my new journey…

A/N

Hiii! So really I'm just testing the waters with this story. I've been a massive fan of SNK for years and have patiently been waiting to write my own story about it. So a disclaimer would be that because the Manga hasn't finished yet I have taken it upon myself to map out my own plot and ending of this story. Obviously it will be AU after a certain point when my story diverges from Canon stuff, but that won't be for a while. And honestly, I'd laugh so hard if my ending was anywhere near what Isayama had in store for us. I've tried to keep it-hopefully- as authentic as I can.

Another note, this is a Levi/oc and a slowburn. Don't expect them to meet and immediately get it on, as much as i love my smutty goodness, it annoys me at how fast characters get together-especially with someone with a personality like Levi's. I have tried my hardest to plan my character so that she won't be a Mary Sue, but she does have a big role in the story that I completely made up. My story, my rules, don't like it-byeee. I'm excited for this new chapter in my FF life and hope you guys like what you see. Definitely more to come soon!