"Eren, you're not a pirate."
The weather was really nice today. A few birds flew over them, singing ancient songs in their language. The girl's hair was flowing so elegantly that one could think it was dancing to the song.

"But I'll be one day! I'll kill 'em Titans! Ow- Mikasa stop hitting me!" Mikasa, that girl with the elegant hair, sighed but her expression didn't change.

"I'll stop hitting you if you change your mind."

"Hell no!"

As their voices fade away, we focus on another kid at their age, sitting on the edge of the river, looking thoughtful. He had this mushroom haircut and blue eyes. Unlike the fiery boy we have just met, the one who wanted to kill Titans, this boy's eyes are less determined, they carry fear. Why, you ask. Because he thinks and when he thinks, he knows. He sees what is to come and this scares him.

"Armin, tell Mikasa that I won't get killed. Tell her how I saved you from those bandits!" Eren looked at him as he waited for his support.

"Eh- I-"

"You did what!?" All of the children turned their heads to look at the annoyed voice's owner. A middle-aged woman with chocolate brown eyes was standing there, tapping her foot.

"Eh, hi mum..." mumbled Eren as he scratched the back of his head mindlessly. Armin got up to show some respect to the older woman as Eren tried to cover the book laying on the ground.

"What the hell is that, Eren?" exclaimed Carla. Oh, Eren was so dead...

"Not anything you'd be interested in! Just stuff!" But the book was already taken away from his hands and Carla, the mother, could take a look at the title just to be shocked.

"Eren! Did you steal one of your father's books again!?" Eren looked helpless but he was still clenching his fists in a rather threatening way. Carla harsly grabbed Eren's arm as she looked at his eyes questioningly. "Do you still want to be a pirate Eren? Can't you see you're just going to be killed? Even if you don't get eaten, the King will execute you, do you hear me!?" The poor woman was trying to sound discouraging but pure fear was visible on her voice.

"I don't care! I was just telling stories to Mikasa and Armin and... and- and you are just overreacting! Even though I will still join the pirates no matter what you say, I hate it when you're acting like such a..." Eren turned his head away, looking flustered.

"Such a what, Eren?" Carla looked at her son's eyes challengingly. At that moment, Armin realised that these two people were quite similar. Even though the colours were different, their eyes had the same fiery look. They were both ready for anything to come. They were strong, unlike Armin.

The dinner wasn't so much fun as Eren was grounded and his book was also taken away. He didn't want to face Mikasa either; because she would look at him with that look which meant 'this is the right thing, Eren, we are just trying to protect you'. She always acted like she knew everything.

"Will Dr. Jager come home today, Carla?" asked Mikasa suddenly. Carla halted for a second and almost looked like she was going to tear up but she composed herself quickly.

"She isn't going to come home for a while, sweetheart. Finish your soup, we are still on rations because of the Marines' last failure."

"The idiots can't even do a thing right," mumbled Eren as he finished his soup with one last sip.

Carla closed her eyes and sighed heavily. "Eren, I don't want you to talk about these subjects, you understand me? Now, go to your room and don't go out until your punishment is over, understood?"

This woman! Eren got up and stormed away before he gave a last look at his mother. They never understood, never. They were all in a cage. The humans, all of them. But the biggest cage for Eren was his family, was this home. Yes, he loved them very much but this was the reason anyway. Because he loved them, he couldn't just run away. He couldn't hurt them, no matter what.

Eren's head had gotten cooler as he headed up for his bed under the wooden window. He would leave it open at nights before he went to bed so he could hear the voices of the people in the taverns. So he could listen the serene voices of the night bugs, could feel the soft wind on his skin, giving him goosebumps. So he could feel life. And the more he felt it, the more he wanted to protect it. Because you know-...

He always fell asleep at this part. The night was quiet but a quiet night is a very dangerous kind of night. It welcomes any one who can create a sound; that's the reason.

Eren shot his eyes open and quickly got up on his bed, panting. His heartbeat was out of control, he felt dizzy. He saw a man in his room, seeking something in the shadows. Eren panicked, he wanted to scream, what was going on!? How, how, how-... oh, he came back to his senses now... He slowly layed back again. He closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. He reached up to his pillow slowly, feeling kind of weak because he couldn't see anything. He found the knife he had hidden in case of emergencies and hell yeah this was an emergency.

However, he was caught out of guard as a pair of arms embraced him and lifted him off of the ground. He unconciously let go of the knife, losing his only weapon. Only weapon except himself, though. Eren finally shot his eyes open and started to kick and bite the intruder. The intruder cursed under his breath and Eren felt a sharp pain on his head. At first he was fine and didn't realise anything but soon, the world was nothing but a big, black hole.