Chapter Three

Elesian looked around the town, curious. She hadn't really been near so many people, ever. She smiled and looked at Darrin.

"Is it always like this?" she asked. Darrin looked around.

"Yeah, people tend to move a lot in the city. It must be different from living in a house surrounded by nothing but Titans," hesitated. Elesian nodded and looked around. "Elesian, how did you survive all those years out beyond the wall? He asked curiously. Elesian's smile vanished. Her life beyond the walls.

"My mother and father lived out there, but they lived underground. I don't know much about how they got there but all I know is it was safer down there. As a child I grew up without sunlight. My mother said that's why my hair is so dark and my skin so pale. One day though, the cave collapsed and sunlight streamed in, it was so new, so wonderful. It warmed my skin and made me feel happy. But then it brought nothing but disaster," she muttered. Darrin had a good guess on what happened next.

"That was the first time you saw a Titan, wasn't it?" he asked. Elesian looked away.

"Yeah. My mother and father were terrified. I was so happy when I saw the light but then it was blocked. There was a face, a huge face staring down at us. My mother grabbed my hand and ran with me just as a hand reached down. My father wasn't so lucky. The hand grabbed him and he was devoured by that face. When we were in darkness my mother knelt down and told me to stay in shadows and run. The closer together we were the more likely they'd find us. She told me to stay hidden for as long as I could," she muttered. Darrin's eyes widened. She witnessed her father being eaten in front of her? That was an awful thought.

"How old were you?" he asked. Elesian looked at him.

"I was thirteen, and it still wasn't over. After my mother told me to run the ceiling crumbled again and she was grabbed too. Another face, another frightening face ate her too. It was bloodier though, probably because I was beneath her. I felt frozen, I couldn't move. The Titan stared at me and I thought I would die. Then, it just turned and left. It didn't want me, it didn't care. I left the shadows against my mother's will and saw them. There were so many, but none cared about me. They'd walk past me just like I was a doe or a tree. I meant nothing, and I thought I was nothing. I eventually searched out for a new home and found an old farm house. I cleaned it up and built up my hunting skills. I didn't fear the Titan's, mostly because they didn't want me," she finished. Darrin looked down. How would that feel? To watch your family devouring then being left alone for years. If it was him he's want to die too, but she had the will to survive. He looked back up at her.

"I can say I'm amazed. You truly are fearless," he stated. Elesian began laughing at him, taking him by surprise.

"Fearless? What do you think I am? I have fears, just like everyone, but I just fear different things. I don't fear the Titans, that's true, but I fear the dark, fear being closed off from the world and denied the light of joy," she stated gazing up at the sky. She watched birds flutter across the open air. "I've been so enclosed, so hidden, that I fear the thought of doing it again. I want freedom, freedom from my fears and death. Don't you want freedom?" Darrin was taken aback by that. Freedom? He never felt enclosed, but perhaps he just didn't think about it much. Maybe deep inside that's why he joined the Survey Corps, a deep internal desire for freedom. He wondered how many other people had this internal desire. He looked up at Elesian smiled. She chuckled.

"Really makes you think, doesn't it?" she asked. Darrin smiled and looked back at her.

"Yeah, it really does," he stated. Just then the sky lit up. Darrin looked at the sky. There was no clouds, no storm, so what was that flash. He heard a commotion on the wall.

"What's happening?" Elesian asked. Luckily Darrin hadn't had time to remove his 3D Maneuver gear. He readied it and looked at Elesian.

"Stay here!" he told her before launching the grips up the wall. He reeled himself up and grabbed the wall, pulling himself up. He then saw something he never thought he'd see. A Titan, stripped of it's skin and towering over the wall. His eyes widened as a new fear engulfed him. He watched it destroy the wall. He looked down to see the town in panic. Titans were flocking into the damaged wall and reaking havoc. Darrin was in a state of disbelief. The wall was destroyed, how could it be destroyed?

Darrin launched the grips and swung back down to Elesian. "The wall has been destroyed over there, I have to report this to the Corps if they don't already know," he muttered. "Stay away from the gates, people will be coming in. And don't tell anyone what's happening, they will find out eventually but we need to limit the panic," he explained. Elesian looked around.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked "Why not leave me naive?" Darrin looked around.

"Because you don't know how things work, so any information I can give you will help," he replied before running off. Elesian stood there and fiddled with her hair. Was it going to be like this again? She wanted to help protect people, but how could she protect anyone if she was being confined. She bit her lip and closed her eyes. Had she really spent years watching the Survey Corps, watching them kill Titans, trying to do things just like them. She's learned from them, mimicked them, then was saved by them. She could fight but now she could only stand here and be told not to do anything. She closed her eyes. I have to do something, I have to help she thought. But then again, she knew it was harder than that. Darrin's leader said he'd do something, but when? When would she be allowed to save people? She wanted to stop hiding in a house, waiting to do something. She wanted to be free, to free other. She closed her eyes and prayed that her life could change.