Chapter 1 - Our Duty as Warriors


"Sleep well, William… You've… Earned it…"

The wind blew gracefully against the young boy's face, his slightly curly undercut hairstyle of a light brown color shook, like grass in the wind, enjoying the view of the empty green plains before him. He wasn't really sure why he was so taken in by the view, the feeling just overwhelmed him, and now he was frozen, unable to avert his eyes. It was as if something in his mind clicked when he saw the scene before him. "Peace…" he thought to himself, it was the only word that came to mind as he viewed the vista. Still captivated by the view, the young boy didn't even notice the footsteps coming from behind him.

"...William?" a young, blonde girl called out calmly. The young boy turned his head around for a moment to confirm who had called out his name, he was quickly distracted by the scenery before him and his head turned back towards it. The young blonde girl let out a small sign as she pushed aside some hair that had blocked her vision. She walked up next to the young boy and took a look at the view for herself.

"What are you doing?" She asked, turning her head towards the young boy.

"...Just thinking." the boy replied, he seemed at peace.

The young girl hesitated for a moment before letting out another sigh.

"What are you thinking about…?" She asked, quietly.

The young boy stood there for a moment before finally taking his eyes away from the vista towards the young blonde girl. "A lot of things, I don't think I can really narrow it down…" Suddenly, his expression turned sorrowful. "I thought about… My father." he added, quietly.

"...I see." the young girl responded, turning back towards the scene before her.

"I'm still grateful for what your father did for me." the young boy added, turning back towards the scene as well.

"It was only natural that he would take you in when your father had to go away for such a long time… Your father and mine were close." the young girl responded.

The young boy's sorrowful expression changed into a small smile. "In some ways… I'm glad father went away for work… I got closer to you thanks to that."

"..." The blonde girl turned towards the boy again.

"But… No matter what I tell myself, I can't help but think about how long he's been gone." the young boy added.

As William finished his sentence, silence finally returned to the scene. The young blonde girl turned back towards the vista and the two of them stood there in silence for what felt like hours to them. It seemed as though even the girl had been captivated by the sight. The young boy calmly turned his head over to look towards the blonde girl.

"Hey… Annie?" the young boy broke the silence, getting the young blonde girl's attention.

"...Hm?" Annie mumbled, seemingly trying to break out of the vista's captivating grasp; She turned towards Williams.

"You don't usually come see me without a reason, did something happen?" William exclaimed, seemingly curious as to what Annie came here for.

"...Oh, right…" Annie let out a sigh and pushed away some hair that had blocked her vision. "There's actually is a reason I came to get you." Annie took a quick view at the scene before her once more before turning back towards William. "I suppose I was distracted for a moment." she finished.

William let out a small chuckle, almost as if he was happy that she was always true to herself; even if she could be cold at times.

"Mr. Yeager is gathering all of the warriors together, something about high command announcing a state of emergency." She paused for a moment, "For some reason, he wanted me to bring you to the meeting."

William hesitated to speak for a moment, his expression turned confused, "Bring me to the meeting…? You do remember I wasn't selected, right? ... I don't belong anywhere near you guys." he finished, his expression slowly turning sorrowful again.

Annie let out a sigh, "What kind of attitude is that? That's not like you at all, William." she spoke, much more assertive than before. "I don't care if we're "warriors" now, you're still William as far I'm concerned, you belong next to us till the day we die." she finished, adjusting her hair once again.

"...Hah… I'm Sorry, Annie. You're absolutely right." William replied, realizing what he had just said.

"If you really want to know why you're being summoned, you're just going to have to come along with me." Annie said, turning completely away from the beautiful vista; without any hesitation, she began walking away, seemingly headed towards the meeting's location. William stood there for a moment, watching Annie walk away. He took a deep breath, looking at the vista one last time. Turning around, he takes a quick jog to catch up with Annie.

"You know, if your hair's bothering you, you should really get it cut." William exclaimed as he caught up to Annie. She simply let out a scoff as William said those words. "What? I'm serious. I know you like that style but if that hair ever gets in your face when you're doing something serious you'll be in big trouble." William went on about Annie's hair length.

"It's none of your concern, William." She exclaimed after scoffing again. "I've spent my whole childhood training with this hairstyle, not once has it hindered my performance." she added, twirling her front bangs a bit. "If you're so concerned about hairstyles, maybe you should be worried about yours." she added.

"What's wrong with my hairstyle?" William asked, turning his head towards Annie as he walked.

"...It doesn't suit you." Annie answered with a serious tone.

"That so? You're the one who helped me decide to cut it like this..." William sighed, turning his head forward. "...Has everything been going alright since you were selected?" William asked, grasping for something to talk about with the not so talkative Annie.

"It's been fine." She answered quickly, skipping straight to the point. "What about you? I haven't seen you much since selection day." Annie exclaimed, still not turning to face towards William.

"Not great, it's boring really. I know our training camp was tough but, it was essentially my purpose in life." he paused for a moment, "I guess Reiner really was better than me in the end…" William let out a sigh as he finished that sentence; he could see Annie slightly glancing over at him curiously. "Hey, I'm not jealous or anything like that, I'm just… Disappointed... I spent basically my whole life training to become a warrior for dad." William added, clenching his fist tightly. "I just… Really wanted to be part of the warriors, I wanted to make my father proud." he finished.

"Stop that." Annie blurted out as William finished his sentence. "Just because you weren't selected, it doesn't mean your life is over. I never forgot that night, William. The night you told me how you really feel about all of this." She added, keeping an assertive tone throughout the whole sentence. "Why waste your time sitting around, plugging your feelings in and doing nothing?" she finally finished.

William was caught a bit off-guard, but he knew that what Annie was saying was the truth. "...It's not as easy as that anymore." he finally spoke, speaking in a sorrowful tone. "Back then, I had you and Reiner behind me." he added, a pinch of regret laying there in his words.

"I've never once lied to myself. I always do what I believe is my decision. I don't care if it's selfish or cold, rude or disrespectful… What matters in the end is that you're you, right? Then you can truly say you're living for yourself." She exclaimed, never turning her eyes away from the route in front of her. William couldn't help but turn his eyes towards her as she spoke.

"Right…" William looked down for a moment and clenched his fist tightly, "But I really do want to be a warrior… I wanted to take on the armies who would dare oppose our nation." he exclaimed further.

"Support the nation that sees us as the devils? I see." Annie retorqued before William could even continue.

"Annie, that's-" William was cut off before he could finish.

"We're here." Annie pointed forward, a rather fancy looking mansion built mostly from wood stood not too far ahead of them.

"..." William remained quiet as he looked at the distant building.

"Time to find out what this is all about." Annie exclaimed as she continued to walk towards the mansion. Bringing his head out of the clouds, William shook his head and followed quickly behind Annie towards the building.

Annie pushed the door open, "It's me." she exclaimed, walking in and signalling William to follow her. William, almost reluctantly, followed Annie into the building. As William entered the building he was in a large, lounge like room that looked rather polished and clean. A table located in the center of the room sat a group of individuals.

On the left side of the table sat Reiner Braun; a young, blond haired boy with hazel eyes. He sat in his seat with more confidence than most of the people sitting at the table. William and Reiner were very close competing rivals in the warrior selection program and as such they essentially grew up together. Although their rivalry was filled with conflict, Reiner and William seem to have a large amount of respect for each other.

Right next to Reiner sat the young Bertolt Hoover; a slightly taller and slender black haired boy. Although not to the same extent, William and Bertolt gained a certain respect over each other during the warrior selection program. However, both Bertolt and William would often argue about the well being of Annie and many other things concerning her. Although this visibly frustrated Annie, the two continued until the end of the selection program.

Across from them sat Marcel Galliard; a shorter, black haired young boy who also took place in the warrior selection program. Unlike both Reiner and Bertolt, William had far less of a connection with Marcel. During the selection program, Marcel often hung around his brother and didn't often work with William. However, when they did work together, they seemed to cooperate well.

Beside Marcel sat Pieck; one of the older selected warriors, Pieck had black hair tied up into a ponytail. Like Marcel, Pieck had very few interactions with William. However, when they did speak, Pieck often treated William with sympathy and respect for his situation concerning his father; as such, William has a mutual respect for Pieck.

Finally, sitting at the end of the table, supervising all of the selected warriors sat Zeke Yeager; another one of the older of the selected warriors, he stood taller than the other and had pale blonde hair. During the selection program, Zeke often pulled William over to talk to him about his father's work and many other things in secrecy. They formed what William would describe as an unbreakable trust for one another.

The five of them turned their heads to look at William in silence, it didn't take long for Zeke to break the silence. "Glad you could make it, William." he exclaimed, opening his hand towards one of the empty seats at the table. "Why don't you two take a seat?" he added, giving William a slight smile. William nodded and quickly took the seat closest to Zeke. Annie followed behind him and sat next to William.

Zeke placed his elbows onto the table and used the top of his hands to support his head as he leaned in, "I'm sure all of you are curious about why William is attending this meeting." Zeke glanced around at everyone's eyes, all of them fixated on William. William simply kept his eyes on Zeek, he was also extremely curious. "As all of you know, there are a total of nine titan powers that currently exist in the world: The founding titan, the attack titan, the war hammer titan, the colossal titan, the female titan, the beast titan, the armored titan, the jaw titan and the cart titan."

Everyone in the room gave slight nods of acknowledgment, everything Zeke had said was something they had known for years. Zeke paused for a moment, closing his eyes. Suddenly, he rose up from his seat and placed his hands on the table, "Well, today, that fact is about to change." Zeke added, everyone in the room gave him confused expressions. "According to the higher ups, a breakthrough has been made. They've found a way to successfully create a titan through science.

William almost immediately rose from his seat, "Is that true?! Then surely my father was involved!" he shouted out, everyone looked towards him in a bit of shock from his sudden outburst. William looked around the table for a moment and regained his composure. "Apologies, Sir, it's just… I haven't seen my father for a long time." William added.

"...I understand, William." Zeke exclaimed, relaxing his stance to express his understanding. "However, I don't know the major details of the project. This was strictly kept away from me." William sat back down, disappointed; Annie shot him a look as he did so. "But, I think you'll have all the time in the world to learn about if he was involved." Zeke suddenly added, William quickly looked up towards Zeke, "After all, you're the one who's going to be yielding this titan created by science." Zeke finished.

"...Me?" William asked, conflicted about what he had just heard.

"Hold on a second, Zeke! What about my brother? Wasn't he-" Marcel tried to question Zeke but he was cut off almost instantly.

"They said it had to be William, no exceptions." Zeke interrupted

"...I-I see…" Marcel finished, calming his stance.

"Now then, I should probably also tell you something, William." Zeke exclaimed, turning towards William as he did so. "The truth is, there's actually a high chance that you won't survive the process. The higher ups are putting their confidence in your willpower but the truth is; the possibility is there," Zeke added. William eyes slowly opened wide in shock of said fact. "But… If and only if you survive… You'll be made an official part of the warriors and you'll join us in our most recent assignment." Zeke finished.

"Our most recent assignment? Sir, is there something we don't know?" Reiner eagerly asked. Although still in shock, William slowly turned his head towards Reiner.

"That's why I've gathered you all here today. It's time for me to explain our most recent assignment. William, you're free to stay here and listen before you make your final decision going through with all of this." Zeke explained, placing a few papers in front of him on the table; William simply nodded his head, still extremely conflicted on what to do.

"Around 13 years ago, I sold out my father to the marleyan forces. My father, a member of the eldian resistance, tried his best to brainwash me with their eldian ideals." Zeke paused for a moment and sat in silence, looking down at the papers, before finally continuing again. "The price for his insolence was a sentence to paradise island; he should have been turned into a titan and that would have been the end of it." Zeke paused once again.

"However… After Grisha was sent away, we also learned that one of our valuable titan abilities had been stolen." As Zeke spoke these words, the groups eyes lit up in shock. "To be specific, the attack titan was the titan that was stolen. A traitor to marley, the true leader of the eldian resistance: Eren Krueger, stole it and took it with him to paradise island. He has yet to return and the higher ups are sick of waiting." Zeke paused again, allowing everyone to regain their posture.

"There is another objective as well." Zeke broke the eerie silence and began to speak again. "Marley have not been in possession of the founding titan and it's abilities for as long as we can read in the history books. During our visit to paradise island, not only must we retrieve the attack titan, but also the founding titan and its coordinate ability." Zeke turned his face upwards from the pages on the table and towards us.

"That is the nature of this mission. We will directly attack the eldians and retrieve what belongs to Marley." Zeke concluded his briefing as they re-entered the eerie silence; Most of the warriors in room not even able to look at one another. Zeke slowly turned his head towards William before speaking again. "Well, William? When we in the selection program you seemed eager to want to work for Marley. Here's your chance to shine. Will you do it?" Zeke asked him with utmost seriousness.

William suddenly felt the eyes of everyone in the room lock onto him, truly the spotlight was lit over his seat. William pondered deeply over what there was to gain and what there was to lose. It was his father's work, and yet, if it were to fail he would never see his father again. He would never get a chance to live… "Live…? Have I really been living up to this day? What's my purpose in life? Why do I wake up every morning?" William pondered in thought. "Purpose... Father… I'll make you proud."

"I object-" Annie was cut off almost instantly.

"I accept." William was the interrupter.

The room entered silence once again. "Where do I begin, Sir?" William asked, turning to Zeke. A single drop of sweat, slid down Annie's cheek.

"Luckily for you, right now." a man with blonde and straight hair spoke as he entered the room from the hallway with two guards next to him. Everyone at the table turned towards them. "Thank you, Zeke. Everyone is dismissed besides William." the blonde man exclaimed. Zeke simply nodded and signaled everyone to follow him out. Annie gave one last look towards William before the group left the building.

The room was filled with silence as the blonde man eyed William for a few moments, William sat in his seat and waited patiently for him to speak. "You do realize what you're doing, right?" the blonde man finally spoke, taking a few steps toward William, "You realize that you could be sentencing yourself to death?" the man added, stopping several feet away from William.

"I understand, sir. I'll do what I must for Marley." William exclaimed, doing his best to hide the obvious fear that leaked from his body in the form of sweat.

The blonde man chuckled, "No need to be all courageous in front of me. If I were in your position I would be beyond scared as well." he paused for a moment before continuing. "But, if you truly feel as though you're okay with this, let's begin." the man signalled William to stand up and follow him. "The chamber in which we'll be working on you is in the basement floor of this secluded mansion." he added as he did so.

William quickly followed behind the man, "Is there any reason in particular we're in such a secluded building, sir?" William asked.

"Knowing that there is a good possibility that things may go wrong, keeping these kind of things away from the public benefits us all." the blonde man responded rather quickly. "We're calling it "Operation Scarlet," you're father decided that one." the blonde man added, showing a small smile.

William simply nodded and continued to follow the man. He led him down the stairs into the cold basement of the building; it felt damp and the air weighed down on him. To William, it felt more like a prison than any type of experiment room. Regardless, William followed blindly at the chance to be the product of his father's work. Though, one thing was on William's mind:

"Where… Is my father?" William suddenly asked aloud.

For a few moments, the blonde man did not respond.

"He's away, working with one of our partners in another part of the world." he finally responded.

"Has his research truly brought him that far?" William was both happy and disappointed with this response, however, he decided not to show the latter emotion to the blonde man.

The blonde man chuckled once again. "Yes, your father is one of the most intelligent individuals I've ever met. It was inevitable that he would be requested outside of Marley."

William simply smiled a bittersweet smile, he was happy that his father was doing so well in his research, but he was also disappointed that he may not see him for quite some time.

"Here we are." The blonde man spoke again, pointing towards a door on the right. William nodded and entered the room; the blonde man and the guards entered behind them. The room somehow felt even damper than the hallway William had been in a moment before, he felt a chill run up his spine as he examined the room; sitting at the middle of the room was a rather large chair made out of metal with two set of arm restraints located on the arm rests.

"Last chance, William." the blonde man spoke as he opened up the cupboards and prepared himself, "Once we begin, there's no turning back." William stood there for a moment in silence, thoughts flooded his mind like a tsunami. He questioned what he was about to do, was it worth it? What did he gain out of it?

"..." William continued to stand in silence.

"William? Your decision?" the blonde man asked.

"I'll… I'll do it…" William exclaimed, shaking and sweating as he did so.

"Your courage is incredible, your father would be proud." the man responded, signalling to take a seat in the chair.

William nodded and walked over to the large metal chair and took a seat, laying his arms on the arm rests. "I'll have to ask you to take off your shirt as well, part of the experimentation." the blonde man spoke, putting on some gloves. William nodded again, taking off his shirt and handing it to one of the guards; as he laid back in the metal chair he suddenly got the chills as the cold metal touched his bare back. The two guards walked over and tightened both the right and left restraints respectfully; William attempted to move his arms gently to no avail, he was truly and surely restrained.

The blonde man pulled out an empty syringe, dipped it in a red scarlet like liquid William had never seen before and filled the syringe with it; he walked over to William, "Are you ready?" he asked. William's heart pounded at a million miles per second, thousands of thoughts rushing through his mind. Eventually, he was able to calm himself and nodded.

"You know why you're doing this, you NEED to do this… Not just for him… But for her and for all of Marley."

After all…

"That is our duty... as warriors."

With this thought, William had fully accepted whatever fate would be determined in the next few moments... and the needle was injected.


Hey everyone! Apologies for the super long wait for this chapter. I should hopefully be able to be more consistent in terms of uploading. For now, let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!