It was a normal enough day for the street rats of Shiganshina. Brooke and I were standing by the gates to see the Recon corps return from their expedition. But only because with such a crowd comes the perfect opportunity to pickpocket. There was some commotion going on involving an old woman and the severed arm of her now deceased son. My older companion was very interested in this development but I had my eyes on something else entirely. The raven haired man on the black horse had my full attention. He had a jet black undercut and dull gray-blue eyes that seemed to say 'I have known unimaginable pain but you won't get a word from me about it'. His rock hard expression was one of complete and utter disgust for the hateful citizens who were whispering hateful things about the Recon Corps. His emerald green cloak that displayed the wings of freedom was now a dingy brown from stains of dirt and blood that was obviously not his own. He seemed to be very uncomfortable because of his current state of filth. I looked closer and found that he was actually quite short. He intrigued me to the point of curiosity and I poked Brooke on the shoulder to get her attention.
"Hey Brooke, Who is that?" I pointed to the object of my curiosity.
"That my dear Aria is Lance Corporal Levi Ackerman. He's the Squad Leader for the Special Operations Squad." She replied "why? Ya got the hot's for him or something? He sure is dreamy!" she asked. I felt a blush creep onto my cheeks.
"NO, of course not. It's just that he intrigues me is all. You know how rare it is for me to be intrigued by something that's not food or money. I was just curious." I quickly answered.
"Okay then. No need to get defensive or anything. But if you want to find out more, I heard that before they go, the special ops squad is gonna stop off at Marnie's Tavern for dinner. We can go spy if you want to." Brooke offered.
"That sounds like a great idea. I got the wallet of a big fat man today too so we can have dinner as well." I said. We began to follow the procession until the Special Ops Squad broke off at the tavern and we followed them in as inconspicuously as possible. We sat down at the booth behind them-still trying to not be suspicious- and picked up our menus all while watching them out of the corners of our eyes. That's when we heard the words:
"Oi Mike, are they those same pickpocket brats that have been following us for the past 15 minutes?"
*sniff sniff*
"Yeah, it's them alright. They smell like dirt and tattoos." 'Crap, crap, crap, crap! How can he even smell our tattoos! '. The next thing we know we are being yanked by our ears to their table by the Lance Corporal himself. We were sat down and sandwiched in between the one named Mike who had dirty blond hair and a brown goatee, and a smaller girl with shoulder length ginger hair and amber eyes. Levi sat down across from me and looked straight into my eyes. I scoffed and stuck my nose up but only to hide my blush. Brooke just burst out laughing.
"You two are very talented little thieves but your tailing is complete shit. May I ask your names?" Levi enquired.
"I'm Brooke Reynolds. I'm 15. I am going to accept that comment about our tailing skills by the way. You are absolutely right."
"I'm Aria. I'm 10 years old. I can't remember my last name. And just to clarify, we were only following you because we were coming to get dinner any way and we wanted something to do."
"HAH! I knew it. You do have a crush on the corporal. I had my suspicions when you went along with this stupid plan but you were lying just now. You would only lie if you had something to hide and a crush is weakness which is something you would hide!" Brooke practically shouted. I tried to sink under the table and hide but the ginger held tight to my shoulders. It was silent for like 5 seconds and then Levi spoke up.
"May I see your tattoo Aria?" he deadpanned
"Sure, I guess." I began to pull down the collar of my grungy old tank top that Jean's mom had bought for me. I pulled it down just enough so that he could see my collarbone. The tat was in the center and was the words 'she's a rebel' in black cursive. He nodded and I let go of my tank.
"Your last name is Rebelle now. It suits you and I like it." We all got into a deep conversation after that and stayed at the tavern for 2 hours, until we heard the screams coming from outside. We left the tavern and rushed outside to see an ugly titan head with no skin or hair peering over the wall. We all just stared in shock. Then there was an explosion and a huge gust of wind that would have sent me flying if Mike wasn't right behind me. Boulders were sent into the air like leaves in the wind. They were the dead giveaway that this enormous titan had kicked in the gate. The stench of titan steam filled the air and we saw the titans begin to file through the gaping hole that the 60 meter titan left in its wake. Levi began to react. He shoved us into the ginger whom we now recognize to be Petra Ral.
"Get them to the escape boats now! We have to deal with these ugly things now." Petra grabbed my arm and began running with Brooke close behind. But Brooke wasn't fast enough. I heard a scream and turn my head around to see Brooke being picked up by a 10 meter titan.
"Brooke!" I shouted. Petra looked back and her eyes widened. She grabbed me by my waist as I had started running back towards the ugly titan. We were fairly close when the titan chomped down on Brooke's abdomen and we both got splattered with her blood. I felt something snap within me then. I began to scream at the titan, yelling profanities that I care not to mention. Petra threw me over her shoulder and started running again. She ran straight through the gate and onto the boat. I screamed and pounded my fists on her back the whole way. She set me down on the floor to the boat and sat down next to me. I couldn't cry. I wouldn't. Not in front of anyone else. So I just fell asleep, to the sound of Petra's breathing and some brat declaring he would kill all the titans with a psychotic sound to his voice.
