Mikasa and Eren waited in line for the rations they gave to the people. The suffering people who miraculously survived the fall of Shiganshina and Wall Maria. He and Mikasa were still 11 and couldn't join the army yet because, apparently, "the cadets were still training". Hell, what else were they supposed to do? Rot in an alley on the street? Was the military so desperate to let children die on the streets, just so they could eat a full course meal? Questions like those often plagued his mind, along with the memories of the fall. The death of his mother, the screams of peril and even when people had been desperate enough to jump into the water to swim to the wall and had drowned. He remembered it all. Those memories had kept him awake at nights.
He, Mikasa and Arming had been trying to stick together. They promised each other to live through this hell and enter the military. It was a necessity at some point. Sticking together was important.
He recently heard a bunch of people saying things about how the rations were getting smaller with every week, how the rich were starting to get even greedier than they already are.
He couldn't help but cringe at the thought. Nobles, sitting in their castles and eating fancy foods, laughing at the misfortune of those who were forced to survive on the streets. He knew wanted revenge on the titans, but he didn't want to sit and watch people suffer from the sidelines .
The titans. He began to hate the very name of those beasts.
His turn for food was up and he and Mikasa were given half a loaf of moldy bread each. He blinked at the piece of food. This wasn't the usual amount they were usualy given.
"They're dying."-said an old woman, who had been handing out bread.-" The crops from the nearest farms are dying, so we are unable to give the usual amount to people. We're forced to cut down to half of the rations because of the cold. These are tough times. That's why we can't give more than we should, if that's what you're wondering. It'll be like this for months."
They went out of the line with the bread they were given. They sat on the cold road, looking at the food they were given. It was a bit moldy and burned, but it was bread nonetheless. Eren ate his share, while Mikasa hardly even took a bite of hers. She just stared at it, Eren ate, Mikasa nudged his shoulder with the bread, earning a glance from him.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Eat mine. I'm not hungry."she said." You need to eat." Eren grunted. Mikasa had gained a habit over a period of time to give Eren her food, eating only every second or third day. It wasn't healthy.
"Mikasa, I'm fine. I don't need it."
"He's right, you know."said Armin as he walked near the duo, his own bread half eaten." They said the rations will be getting smaller. If you're not going to eat it now, save it for later. Don't waste it." He slumped down near the two. His own piece of bread was half-eaten. "With the fall of Wall Maria, a lot of resources, like grains and wood, were cut in almost half. Fall is coming, too. It'll be only a matter of time before they stop giving out food for refugees."
Eren felt his blood start to boil at the mention of Wall Maria. If it wouldn't have been for those damn titans, his mom and hundreds of others would have still been alive. That's why he had to kill them all. Every last one.
Mikasa looked at her bread half heartily, but put it in a pocket anyway.
"Do you think that we might have to rob people for food?"-asked Mikasa.
"Might as well save up for the winter. By that time, there's going to be nothing to steal from anyone."-said Eren.
"Well, atleast we're together. We survived the fall of wall Maria. If we work together, maybe we might make it."-stuttered Armin. He earned somewhat a little more hopeful looks.-" Besides, we're going to explore the outside one day, right?"
His tone was nervous, but he was trying to be hopeful.
"They said we could go and train to join the army next year. That's about half a year, maybe more. We'll survive until then. Together."
Timeskip: 2 months.
Cold. Ice. Winter. These three words were more than enough to remind people of the horror of the harsh season. In the northern districts of the walls that is. In the south, it wasn't as bad but the ever-reducing number of people each week said otherwise. In the fall of wall Maria,more than almost a fifth of humanity's population was lost. As well as the land and the crops with it.
They had found a cottage where the trio could live for the next few months until the army was able to train new recruits.
It was small, but was able to house the three of them nonetheless. But even with those odds, the poor were unable to prepare for the hunger.
A minor part of humanity had died of hunger within one month of the winter, when the rations shrunk to one third of a loaf of bread.
A scream erupted from a dark alleyway, but the people barely mind. At this point, some had turned into monsters that were no better than the titans.
"Shut up, you little midget! Just die already and-"- silence. The man who was seconds close to stabbing Eren , fell on the ground and laid there motionless. Blood began pouring out of the wound into the wet schmuck of snow and dirt. The boy dropped the bloody knife on the ground. His hand was shacking from the cold and adrenaline. Mikasa ran into the alley and looked at her brother. He was glaring atthe corpse of the man , eyes filled with rage and ice. The look reminded her of when he killed one of the men that had kidnapped her. She put a hand on his shoulder.
This isn't the first time this has happened. Far from it.
Over the past few months, the slums had turned themselves into a frozen parallel of hell. The rations were getting smaller, desperate souls were resorting to cannibalism at some point and the Garrison were barely helping. This became almost natural for them.
" Can we... really survive this ..hell without losing our sanity?"- whispered Eren. Mikasa was beginning to get worried. She could protect him from physical harm, but mental health was a different story. She could see the tears runing down his cheeks. She pulled him into a hug.
" We survived the fall, right? We'll survive this, too. "- she said, trying to calm him down.-" We'll survive. And we won't fall apart, because of this. The hunger is getting to many, but we don't have to join them . We'll join the army as humans. Not monsters. "