"Let's go play!"

A little hand grasped mine as a small body jumped up and down, with a huge smile on their face. That smile was the only discernable feature.

"Big sister, let's go play!"

I smiled. Stood. We went outside to play.

We just wanted to play…

The last thing I heard was a scream…

The last thing I remembered was a chilling, deafening roar.

I gasped, my eyes flying open, my heart beating unmercifully from within. My hands clutched at my chest to try and quell the noise. My breaths came out ragged and something pricked at my eyes. I raised my hand to my eyes, wiped at them.

My fingers were wet. Tears? Over a dream?

"Damara, dear, are you all right?"

My eyes flitted to my door. The woman who agreed to take me in—Hannah—looked at me with concern. I sat up, nodded, and rubbed away the goose bumps that formed on my arms. Hannah approached me with a soft smile and ran a hand through my hair. "I was quite surprised that someone from the Scouts asked me if I would adopt you. You were all alone, dear, how would I live with myself if I let you wander the streets?" she murmured. I never asked, but knew it was because I was the one literally saved from a Titan. Saved from certain death—granted I was thrown.

My mind went to the boy that captain had chained in the dungeon. Eren. I wondered what was happening to him, if he was still chained like an animal in that dank dungeon. My heart shuddered and twisted. It bothered me, the idea of how he could possibly be suffering. I raised a hand and gripped the cloth over my heart. Hannah noticed and the concern returned in her eyes. "Damara? What you thinking about, dear?"

I looked at her. Then I shook my head.

The sky was extremely blue.

My hand reached for that azure color of the sky, my mind going into the childish notion that I could reach it. Sighing, I dropped my hand back to my side, tearing my gaze from the sky to the ground.

I could hear something that sounded like hooves on the cobblestone and I raised my head. There was a hooded group, on their steeds, heading for the exit of the wall. I recognized one of the figures—the captain from yesterday. Would that mean that he would be among these people too? My eyes bounced from face to face, trying to find a recognizable feature beneath the hoods. I held my breath as they passed. One beat...two beats...

That's when I saw the eyes. His eyes.

My breath escaped as he passed, but took no notice of me. Were they taking him somewhere now? I bit down on my lip, wishing I could call out to him. I want to know you...my mind whispered out to him.

I heard the whispers among the other civilians. I caught snatches of what they said-"Monster" and "Titan" dominant on their tongues. Something bubbled inside me, fierce, razor sharp. They had no right to judge him like this, no right at all. But I kept my eyes trained on him, on Eren, until the whole group left outside of that wall.

There was a new feeling clenching at my heart. Something cold. The same cold when I was in the grips of a Titan.

Fear.

They were going outside of the wall, somewhere dangerous. I could feel it.

"Damara?" Hannah gently tugged my arm. Her eyes were large and gray, full of motherly concern. "Were you worried about the boy who save you, dear?"

Worried? What did that mean? I met Hannah's eyes, sure that my own were reflecting confusion. "My dear, it means that you're concerned the boy will get hurt outside of the wall. He is part of the Survey Corp," she murmured.

That's it-maybe that's why my heart was so full of dread. I was worried about someone I barely knew. Hannah clicked her tongue and took my hand. "Come, my dear, it is time for us to do some shopping."

The walls. They have always been there, keeping us caged in like cattle.

That was what Hannah had told me.

She had explained that the Titans roaming outside were our enemies, for they devoured us. The walls kept the predators out, the prey inside.

We were the prey. The mindless cattle, safe inside the walls, we were living with some delusional semblance of freedom.

The Survey Corps-the prey with the courage to brave the territory beyond the walls. They were the ones our fate as humanity rested on. Apparently, merchants who discovered that a Titan sealed the breach in Wall Rose with a boulder were skeptical. A Titan on our side was an impossibility. But I've faced that infamous Titan while he was chained in his cell and I could feel it deep within my bones, straight to my core, that he wasn't dangerous. He wasn't a threat.

But, as Hannah reminded me, I didn't and still don't know any better. I was innocent. She was wrong. I knew enough to know what I wanted, and I didn't want a life in constant fear of Titans breaking down the walls and driving us to the edge of extinction. In fact, I was curious about the Titans. How could they be how they are? I thought of Eren. How was a human like him capable of becoming a Titan? Were there others like him? It certainly raised many questions, each seeming as unlikely as the next. Instinctively, I knew one thing.

There was something we didn't know, something crucial we missed.

I sat outside of Hannah's home, right outside of her door, as she made dinner, staring up at the sky. It was such a dark blue that it gradually faded into black with the stars twinkling down at me. My mind flashed to my very first encounter with Eren-that encounter with him as a Titan. I sighed as the strange desire to know him rose in me again. There was something more than that—it wasn't just the human side I wanted to know. I wanted to know about his Titan side too.

I stood up and went inside the house. All this thinking was making my head hurt.

It mirrored me, this Titan in front of my eyes. Its hair was long, dark, and lank, strands hanging limply in front of its face. Its eyes weren't wide; they were a piercing violet, intent on me.

I raised a hand; so did the Titan.

I gasped, dropping my hand and surprise etched on the Titan's face. That was the expression on my own face.

I didn't understand. I didn't understand any of this.

Why was this Titan mimicking me?

"Wake up, dear."

My eyes flickered opened and Hannah smiled softly. "Looks like you were having quite a dream, my dear," she whispered. "Do you think you can tell me?"

I shook my head. It was a new day now. I didn't want to think about nightmares. I sat up and Hannah stood to retrieve the hairbrush from my bedside table and began to run it through my hair gently. I looked at my dark strands, the same color as the Titan in my nightmare...

Stop it. There was no correlation between that Titan and myself. Absolutely none.

"Han...nah?" I whispered, her name leaving my lips slowly.

Hannah's eyes were alight. "Yes, Damara?"

"T-The Surv-Survey C-Corps...back?" That headache assaulted me again. My head hurts so much…

"The Survey Corps? No, not yet, dear." Hannah shook her head. "They're on an expedition. It may take some time for them to return."

Time. But what if...

Hannah and I jolted, hearing a clamoring outside. I pushed myself off of the bed, much to Hannah's surprise, and I rushed to the door, unlatching it and heading outside. There was a crowd clamoring, their voices excited, happy. "The heroes have returned!" they roared.

Heroes. I pushed my way to the front of the crowd, a desperation welling inside of me. As soon as I reached the front of the crowd, my eyes widened.

There were less people than when they had left, far less. My heart was pounding loudly, the worry inside of me bursting to the fever pitch. I could see the expressions on their faces, my eyes bouncing from one to the other.

This wasn't a victory.

This was loss. A horrific, bloody, agonizing loss.

In spite of that, my eyes were searching for one person. And I didn't see him. Did he...? Was he...?

My eyes flicked to the wagon being pulled by horses. Movement was inside it. But the cause of the movement didn't reveal themselves. But the shifting from worry to relief told me all I needed-it was him. Eren.

I wanted to call out to him, but this was the time for him and the rest of the soldiers to mourn. As much as I wanted to see him, to talk to him, this moment, this loss-it was not my place.

I moved into the crowd, keeping the group in sight, as I followed silently. The pounding of my heart was louder, ringing in my ears, rising to my throat. In spite of keeping my distance, I had to see him. I had to reach him. That was what mattered. That was the only thing that mattered.

But I was only a civilian. Would I have to join the Survey Corps to get closer?

It was something I felt would be right, the only footing we'd have as equals. And maybe, if not to see him, then I would join to find out why my memories were hazy.

A dull buzz of chatter reached my ears as I saw an old man go to the captain and talk with a nervous, amicable expression on his face. The expression on the captain's face spoke in volumes to me, in spite of his unapproachable aura-there was pain, which meant that the man speaking to him was close to one of the Corps' casualty. Possibly family.

I felt a hand curl around mine and my eyes flew to my caretaker. Hannah met my gaze with a solemn one of her own. "It isn't the first time they've had casualties out there, Damara. They're out there, fighting the Titans, to ensure our survival," she murmured. "The ones brave enough to enlist know the risks."

I squeezed Hannah's hand, feeling tears prick at my eyes. Why would they put themselves through this? For humanity? While the rest of us hide behind these walls as though our lives depended on it? None of this made any sense.

I swallowed the tightness that clenched at my throat, a decision reached deep inside my consciousness. I don't understand why I couldn't remember anything. I don't understand why I had awakened without remembering basic speech. But I wasn't going to hide behind silence, not when I had questions that needed answers. "Speak," I whispered, loud enough for Hannah to hear me as the squad went out of sight.

"What?" she whispered back, her eyes widening slightly.

My gaze hardened with determination. She was the only one I could rely on now. I placed my free hand against my chest. "Speak," I repeated.

Comprehension dawned in Hannah's expression. "All right," she said.

Sorry if this seemed a little rushed. My little brain bunny is running on carrots.