Chapter 3: To you in 2000 years – The Terror After the Fall
*Year 847*
*Melody POV*
"You are now officially members of the 104th Training Corps! My name is Keith Shardis and unfortunately for you, I shall be your instructor!" Our new instructor yelled, almost bursting my ear-drum. "I am not here to give you a warm welcome. All of you right now are livestock waiting to be eaten by the titans. For the next three years, I shall train you useless shits. I'll teach you how to fight titans. When you face a titan after the next three years, will you still be food? Or will you become a glorious wall to protect these walls? Or a mighty champion of mankind who will destroy all the titans? The choice lies in your hands!"
This was it, finally the time had come for us to fight. After these three years, I will no longer be weak. I will be strong. Strong enough to be in the Survey Corps. I was done with being weak, the past Hellish year was over. That year of feeling how it was like to be weak, depending on others for your life, I swore to myself never to feel it ever again. I would never have someone die in my arms again. Never.
*Year 846*
*Melody POV*
It has been two months since Armin's Grandpa died and we had decided that all of us would join the Military, we were still receiving our rations and stayed in the refugee camp, but the hunger and helplessness was becoming harder to bear, we had to do something before one of us snapped.
"Melody, we need to find a place to stay." Mikasa reminded me as we got our bread for the day, I looked over to see Armin and Eren haggard. "And quickly, I don't think we'll be able to keep going like this, the night shifts for keeping watch aren't working."
"I know Mika, we have to do something, but I don't want to burden Min with a plan." I told her, with pleading eyes.
"He's the only one who can formulate such a plan, Mel we have to." She replied, putting a hand on my shoulder and although her face was as stoic as always, I could tell from her eyes and words that she was being extremely sincere.
"Min, Eren come over, I have something to tell you." I went and lead them to a secret hide-out we had found yesterday with Mika to discuss a plan. "We can't live like this, it has been a week, but it has been horrible. We need to find a place to stay, a way of earning money and we'll need aliases for all of us just in case. Armin, I trust you with all of these decisions."
"Um… ok." He looked me in the eye, and I could already see a plan being made.
*Armin POV*
I don't know if this will work, but I have to try.
"I've looking around lately, and I've seen that there are always corpse merchants after a fight has occurred, I'm not saying that we kill people, but we can strike a deal with them. With that money, we'll easily find a place to stay." I told them although my voice was shaking as I told them, the thought of killing people made me feel extremely nauseous.
"Armin…Calm down." Mikasa whispered, taking my hand into hers. "You don't need to strain yourself in order to do this. If you think there is something wrong with it then we won't do it. If you're sure that it will be ok, then we will go ahead. Are you sure?"
"No. We shouldn't do it. I'm sure we can find an inn to work in, and that should be good enough." I replied, and I squeezed Mikasa's hand in return. "I'm sorry, I thought of the worst-case-scenario. I'll be careful next time."
"There's no need for that. Since you suggested it out of worry, that can be our Plan B. For now, we'll go with the second one." Eren told me, and I suddenly my shoulders felt lighter. These guys really make the worst times ever into something worthwhile.
"What about an alias, who knows when it could be useful?" Mel asked me, and I though for a bit before she started talking again. "It would also be quite cool, wouldn't it?" She chuckled.
"How can you think of being cool in this situation?" Eren scoffed, crouching down to pick a weed that was making its way through the cracks yet as he did, Mel kicked him inevitably making him fall over, whistling as if she never did anything.
"Right now, an alias wouldn't be the best because the government is watching all of us refugees strictly and if they find out we have an alias, then they could think that we are up to something shady." I told Mel to which she shrugged and then nodded.
"Well then, shouldn't we go get started! The quicker we start, the more money we earn!" Eren exclaimed.
"But who would hire a bunch of kids?" Mel asked, stating the obvious.
"We have to try at least if it doesn't work in the next week, we'll go for Plan B." Mika told us all, sensing our doubt. "Let's go, we'll try every inn in the town before we give up."
Every single inn refused. Every. Single. One. Except one. It was a large inn with a small bakery, and even though there were a lot of staff, the owner needed some more help running it in the day as most workers worked in the night as it got them more money. Sofia, a woman in her early twenties was the owner, and she was very sweet and told us that we could also stay in the inn as well. It felt as though we hit a jackpot – that was until night came.
Sleazy men from all ages came into the inn as soon as the clock struck ten. Sofia had sent us to bed at eight, telling us that it was not safe for us to be awake after then, yet we still stayed up. We had to know what was so dangerous, yet we instantly regretted it, as it was definitely not a pleasant sight.
*Eren POV*
There was a huge ruckus downstairs and so Mel and I had been chosen to go down and 'investigate' as Mel would put it. The smell of liquor was disgusting, and there was an alarming amount of staff as they were all tasked with making sure that the inn was always in a good condition – at least that's what we thought the staff were there for.
"Eren! Melody! What are you two doing here?" Sofia cried, instantly grabbing us and bringing us behind the counter.
"We were hungry, sorry." Melody quickly made up. "But what is with all the commotion, we couldn't sleep."
"I'm sorry, I should've told you kids before you agreed to work here. In the morning, as you've seen the inn is nice and quiet, but in the night the place practically becomes a brothel." Sofia looks down as she says this and we gasp. "I didn't want it to be like this but ever since the fall… My rule is that if the girls say no then it's no but if they don't then… Well you know the rest."
"So that's why there's a lot of staff in the night but not so much in the morning." I mused, this was messed up.
"While some girls are busy, the rest have to look after the shop and because they have to tolerate with rude customers the pay is higher. That's why I told you kids to stay in bed after eight. Please, please don't leave your room unless it's an emergency." She begged, gripping our hands, and we nodded after all it was for our benefit. "I promise, I'll try to keep you kids safe. Now go back to your rooms."
*Melody POV*
"That's sickening…" Mikasa spoke as Eren and I told her and Armin what Sofia had told us and what we had seen downstairs.
"It really is sickening." Eren spat. "But don't worry, Mikasa, Melody because Armin and I will protect you two!"
"Yeah sure, when you become this height, Shorty." I told him reaching my hand to at least a foot over my head.
"Really, Mel!" Eren sighed.
*6 months later*
*Third Person POV*
"No! You can't take them!" Sofia yelled, gripping onto the man who was trying to take advantage of her workers.
"You, Missy have no say!" He bellowed, smacking Sofia to aside into the counter, he grabbed the female worker, Lisa, who he was harassing a moment before Sofia's intervention and began leading her as well as the other employees with his friends out of the inn. "You're coming with me along with your friends, the old men in the capital will pay a lot for a woman like you!"
"LET THEM GO!" Sofia screamed, punching the man in the face, however despite her best efforts he was still much stronger than her, and was fed up with her. Reaching inside his jacket, he brought out a knife and stabbed Sofia in the gut. During all of this Eren, Armin, Melody and Mikasa had come down hearing all the shouting and were just in time to see Sofia get stabbed.
"SOFIA!" Melody cried and leaped forward, revealing her dagger from her right thigh, ready to fight the man yet in this time he stabbed Sofia again in the gut and was about to a third time before Melody sliced around the man's wrist, and then his chest. He fell back, enraged but before he could make a move, Melody had already come from behind him and sliced around the man's major arteries. Unfortunately, they failed to realise that the now dead man had brought along friends, Ugly 1, Ugly 2, Ugly 3 and Ugly 4, and that they were also armed with knives.
Ugly 1 jumped at Mikasa as she seemed to be defenceless, yet he was sadly mistaken as she landed a clean stab to his heart without much energy. Ugly 3 and 4 tried to take some of the girls and took some of them hostage in hopes that Eren would stop coming after them, however Eren was stubborn that he would protect all of them, the men were serious about their threats and so they killed multiple girls before Eren was able to stab them repeatedly to kill them.
Melody had come to Sofia's side and tried to stop the bleeding, but she had already lost too much blood, there was nothing they could do to save her and at this realisation, Melody cried out clutching onto Sofia's dying body.
"Melody please, there's nothing you can do now. Help Lisa and the other employees… Please…" Sofia whispered into Melody's ear as she cried.
"No! You need to live, you've done so much for everyone so why is it that you have to die." Melody whined. As they were sharing sentimental moments, Ugly 2 couldn't bothered to wait and so as he tried to avenge his friend he came behind Melody, Armin could see this, he was watching from a corner hidden as he though that he would just be a burden to his friends, he was frozen with fear and unable to speak. Melody would have died if not for Lisa striking Ugly 2 with a glass bottle, knocking him down, and Eren stepping in from protecting the other employees, and stabbing the man repeatedly until he was sure that he was dead.
"Melody! Pay attention to your surroundings! Aren't you the one who told me that 'if anyone is close enough to touch me, then they're close enough to kill me.' Melody!" Eren yelled at Mel, who was still gripping onto Sofia's cold body, tears streaming down her face and blood covering her hands and clothes, she looked up at Eren who was shocked at her state.
"She's gone… Eren she's gone…" She muttered, hearing this, Eren looked around him seeing only Lisa, Amy and Maya alive and standing, but still with injuries.
"The Military Police is here!" Three men yelled as they came in and their breaths were taken away as they saw the state of the inn. From their view, it looked like three women with bruises and other injuries standing with four children, all of which except a blonde boy, were covered in blood especially one girl who was crouched around the figure of a woman. Three men on the floor along with other women, had blood all over them, shattered glass accompanied them on the floor.
"What the fuck! What happened here?!" A member of the Military Police exclaimed.
"You lot!" The other man spoke, pointing at all of survivors. "Are coming with me for an interrogation. No questions, just follow!"
*Melody POV*
We were sitting down on a ledge as the interrogations were over an it was concluded that all of us would not get a punishment as it was out of self-defence. However, the fact still remained that Mikasa and I had killed a man each, and Eren had killed three men that day. Armin, albeit he killed no one, he didn't even hurt anyone, was more traumatised than all of us.
"Armin, you ok?" Amy asked him, she was and has always been like an older sister us all as she was 19, she was also Sofia's little sister - five years younger than Sofia. Maya was hugging me and Mikasa whilst Eren held Lisa. Not-so-surprisingly, Eren was the least affected by this, even Mikasa was feeling even more distant and cold, and it was obvious why, because those men that we had killed were human-traffickers. The same kind of people that killed her parents. I was shaken that even with my best efforts, Sofia died in my arms. All this time, I had thought that I was strong enough to protect anyone, but this incident was a reminder that just like when the Wall fell, I was helpless, I will be helpless from those in power in this world. The only way I would be strong, would be to train.
"Melody would've died." Armin finally said. "I saw everything because I was hiding in a cabinet in the corner, and Melody would've died because I didn't say anything!"
"But I didn't." I told him bluntly. "So, forget it. Regrets only cloud your future decisions. I could've saved Sofia if I acted quickly, but I didn't. I panicked, didn't realise that I could've at least try to stitch up her wounds, but what's done is done. I can't save her with my tears."
"I'm sorry…" Armin sobbed, I came towards him and engulfed him into a hug.
"It's ok." I told him, my voice breaking. "It's ok. It's ok…"
"You guys, don't worry. We'll buy a nice house for all of us with all the money we've earned." Maya told us, trying to cheer everyone up.
"Come on, let's go." Mikasa said, and with that we all got up and walked towards where, who knows?
*Two Months Later*
*Amy POV*
We had bought a new house, got new jobs in a bakery, except the kids, and we were all fine. Lisa still had nightmares, and occasionally we would all feel lost, but we all stood through it together. It was a normal day, however Melody, Eren, Armin and Mikasa were all glum and in a sour mood. That was in the morning and so when Lisa, Maya and I returned from work, we had hoped that they were ok by now.
"Come on, it's dinner time." Maya chimed, putting all the plates on the table, there was still however a shortage of food and so it could hardly be called a dinner, but it was still a meal. We all came to the table, and dinner began unusually quietly. "Ok, it's too quiet so I might as well tell you all something, I was planning on telling you all later but… Anyways, I've got a job offer in Wall Sina and so we will be moving there."
"What! Maya that's amazing! We might finally get a full stomach since the Fall of Wall Maria!" Lisa exclaimed, and we all expected at least Eren to cheer, but none of the kids said a word.
"Today is exactly a day since the Fall of Wall Maria and Shiganshina – our home." Mikasa announced, standing up. This wasn't new news to us, we had known that Shiganshina was there home, it was one of the reasons why Sofia employed them in the inn.
"We won't be joining you in Wall Sina because we will be joining the Military." Melody told us all, putting down her cutlery and looking up at all of us.
"Why? You've seen the titans, so why would you..." I exclaimed, these kids had been through so much, and this was their chance for safety.
"You guys are going to join the Military Police then, right?" Lisa quickly added, excited at the thought of it.
"I'm joining the Survey Corps along with Mel." Eren replied bluntly, the smile from Lisa's face dropping.
"Don't forget about me, you guys – I'm joining the Survey Corps as well." Armin added shocking us, the sweet little Armin, joining the Survey Corps.
"Remember that wherever you guys go, I will. To keep you all alive." Mikasa reminded them, patting Eren on the head.
"This is absolutely ridiculous!" Maya yelled, I had to put my hand on her shoulder to remind her to keep her voice down as Lisa was easily scared. "I am not letting you four join them, it is death out there!"
"Please." Eren scoffed. "No matter what you say, nothing can change our minds."
"In nicer words…" Melody added quickly, giving a scolding look to Eren. "We will be joining the Survey Corps after our three years of training and there is no questioning it."
"Fine." I replied, smiling at them. "Just make sure that you write to us and don't die. If you can, visit us."
"It's good that you agreed now, because we're leaving in a week." Armin notified them, to which they exclaimed.
I hope that you enjoyed that Chappy, I thought that it would be good to end this chapter on a nice note. Just for your reference…
Maya Brown:
Age – 25
Eye Colour – Silver
Hair Colour – Blonde
Personality – She is very much like a mother, she is the oldest and is very protective over all those she calls her 'family'. She was Sofia's best friend before the fall of the Wall, and after. You could compare her to Carla…
Lisa Kim:
Age – 23
Eye Colour – Black
Hair Colour – Ebony
Personality – She's very childish although now, is sometimes quite reserved and is scared easily. Sometimes, she has fits when the situation gets stressful or if there is shouting and violence.
Amy Lake:
Age – 19
Eye Colour – Blue
Hair Colour – Brown
Personality – Being the youngest of the three women, she tries to be cheerful and is quite childish but when it comes to Melody, Mikasa, Armin and Eren, she is very protective as she is like a big sister. She hates the idea of violence.
Axoxo