A short journey on earth

"You didn't argue with him?!"

Audrey's cousin, Lora, shouted in disbelief.

It was late afternoon on Friday and the thank-God-its-Friday atmosphere was at its peak, and Audrey was shopping around Shiganshina's busiest street with her cousin. Like always, they made casual conversation, jumping from topic to topic, everything was going fine until they started talking about her weekend plan.

"Well, you know," Audrey replied lightly "he is busy..."

"BUT it is your WEDDING ANNIVERSARY we're talking about!"

"Yes, I know."

The next day was supposed to be Audrey's 2nd wedding anniversary. Since David had gone to Trost and was only going to be back on Sunday, there would be no celebration tomorrow. Audrey almost failed to suppress the laugh when she saw the expression on her cousin's face, Lora was so angry as if David had committed the most sinful crime in the human history.

"But it is a trip with his business partner, he has to be there when they discuss the details and sign the contract, I couldn't just ask him to come back earlier and leave all the important things behind, could I?"

Audrey loved celebration. It didn't matter if it was a birthday party, wedding ceremony, or any other occasions; It didn't matter if it was a celebration that held for her or for others...she just loved the idea of gathering with all those she held close to her heart. But as much as she enjoyed celebrations, Audrey didn't think that missing an anniversary was such a big deal.

"But aren't your wedding anniversary important too?!"

"Well, we can have a makeup celebration."

For her, maintaining a good relationship was more important than having a celebration on time. People always say that every day is Valentine's day if you're with the right person.

"You know what? You're too soft to him." Lora rolled her eyes while crossing her hands. "Men are jerks, if you treat them too kindly, they'll not take you seriously."

Well, Audrey's mother did give her (tons of) lectures regarding husband-wife relationships before she got married, and she did agree that some men could be pretty nasty. But she sees her husband as a good man, and she did not want to be an overbearing wife that fuss over everything. Knowing that she was not going to change her mind, Lora rolled her eyes again and decided to change the topic.

"When are you moving to Trost?"

It was a question that Audrey had been getting a lot lately, though she never minded repeating the answer.

"It depends on when we get the house key."

David had left Shiganshina to Trost for a week, dealing with a business agreement and visiting their potential-new-house-to-be. If nothing went wrong, they would be getting their business contract and house contract signed, settling two matters at the same time.

"How I wish I could move into Wall Rose too." Lora signed. Instead of saying anything, Audrey replied with a smile.

She knew she was blessed, not everyone had the chance to move into the inner wall. You need to have a large amount of money and the right connections. She was well aware of how their life would change, and how it would impact their next generation. She knew that the pros of moving suppressed the cons, but still...

"I will miss Shiganshina..." A nostalgia smile climbed onto her face as her sight moved afar, watching the people walking pass the street. "I'll miss here a lot."

This was the busiest street in Shiganshina, a place she had come probably a thousand times. She knew almost everyone. The butcher, the tailor, the cook, the doctor. She had known most of them since she could remember, it made her a little sad to leave all of them behind to a place whom people she knew a little about.

"Ha! You said as if the wall is going to fall today, like you're never coming back...silly Audy."

Lora laughed and nudged Audrey lightly, calling her by her childhood name. Audrey replied with a gentle smile. Perhaps Lora was right, she shouldn't feel sad, she could always come back to visit anytime she wanted.

An idea suddenly came to her.

"How about we go to the candy shop?"

There was a candy shop near Audrey's house, the owner of the shop was a friend of their grandfather. When they were little, they would sneak into the store and ask for free candies. The old man always stuffed a dozen to them, and their mother would get mad when they got decayed tooth. That was one of their best time. Since she would be leaving soon, paying the old man a visit seemed like a great idea.

"Yup, we should."

Before any of them moved, a huge, deafening explosion cut through the air.

The earth shook violently, both women fell onto the ground as the shopping bags flew all around them. Her heart was pounding fast. What happened? Was it an explosion? An earthquake? She looked around, most people were either sitting on the ground or holding something nearest to them, they were as clueless as her.

Victoria's face suddenly appear in her mind's eye.

"Lora, I am going home..."

Her voice was slightly shaking, when Lora turned to her, she was already leaving, she didn't even bother to pick up the shopping bags. She ran between the narrow streets, passing trough shortcuts, trying to reach home as soon as possible. The buildings around her were tall, blocking her vision to see any further. She could hear people talking to one another, but she did not bother to ask. All she wanted to do was to go home.

Before she made a turn, another huge explosion hit the air. This time, the explosion was more violent, followed by many crashing sounds, Audrey fell onto the ground with her hands covering her head. Her heart was pounding fiercely, her heavy breathing was soon covered by screams and cries from every direction. She ran out to a larger street where smoke concealed most of her vision. When the sight was clear, the first thing that fell into her eyes was a gigantic rock, it was lying on a place that was supposed to be a candy shop a moment ago.

At the edge of the rock laid a bloody wrinkled hand, with an awfully familiar old watch circling its wrist. Audrey froze as her eyes glued on the hand, people were running for their life, some trampled on the bloody flesh, but none bothered.

"Titans! The titans are here! In Shiganshina!"

She snapped her sight away from the hand, unable to put together what had happened.

Titans?

Inside the wall?

Victoria. She had to get her Victoria.

Audrey ran against the flow, bumping into almost everyone running from the opposite direction. She sneaked into the shortcuts once again, cursing silently for not being able to run any faster. The road from the candy shop to her house never once felt so long and endless.

Just one more turn and her house would be in sight. Just once more turn, she would be able to get her baby. Just one more turn...

And there she was, at the edge of the street, where her house located at the other end, seeing a four stories titan with its hand inside her bedroom. Her heart fell to the bottom of her knees, before her brain reacted, her feet started to run.

The titan was retrieving its hand...

She ran.

The titan took out something pink...

Victoria wore pink today.

She ran.

The titan opened its mouth...

She ran.

And the next thing she saw, was blood.

Blood that maintained the life of a living being, that was not supposed to be exposed outwardly, like rose petals, flying freely in the air.

At the moment, the whole world stopped. The screaming and shouting suddenly seemed far away. She sat on the ground, looking at the giant with a pair of soulless eyes. The panic in her chest faded.

It must be a dream, she thought. Back then, Her grandmother would tell her stories about how titans climbed into the wall and caught children who didn't go to bed on time, after hearing those stories she would dream of being chased by giants. It must be one of those dreams. When she woke up, everything would go back to normal. She might be waking up in any minute, when her little princess decided that it was time for an early breakfast, and she would cry her lungs out to wake her mummy. After that, she could pay the old man at the candy shop a visit, perhaps he would give her some free candies, just like the old days...

Just like the old days.

A loud footstep landed in front of her, trembling the ground. She lifted her head and met the large browned eyes up there. She could not pinpoint exactly was kind of facial expression the giant was showing, it was like a sad smile but not quite a smile. She could feel the high temperature of the huge being standing in front of her, even though she had not touched it. It was hot, it almost scalded her, she could feel the pain.

Pain, she could feel the pain...

It was not a dream.

All of a sudden, the numbness that separated her from the reality vanished, it was replaced by an overwhelming fear. She knew she should run, but her feet did not seem to be in the mood of cooperating. She was shaking, her feet felt like jelly.

This would be the end, she thought.

One second she was sitting on the floor, the next thing she knew, she was flying in the air. The scenery in front of her was blurry, all she could feel was the fierce wind and the hand wrapping her waist. When everything stopped, she found herself sitting on top of the roof. She turned to her left and found the titan standing in front of her moments ago were now lying on the ground, hot air bursting out from its body.

She was...alive?

"Are you hurt?"

When she looked up to her other side, a pair of wings came into sight. It was the wings of freedom, it was the Recon Corp. The person who saved her was a woman, there was another man standing on top of the opposite building, he must be the one who killed the titan. She recognized none of them. Breathing heavily, she shook her head.

"Good." She heard the woman said.

She was alive. She had been an inch away from death, but she was alive. She lived...

But her daughter did not.

Her heart felt as if it was being stabbed by something, the pain was incomparable. She once thought that giving birth was the most painful thing on earth, but she was wrong. Dead wrong.

It didn't feel real to her, everything happened too fast, it was more like another dream. How could her daughter die like that? There were still a lot of things that she wanted to show her, to do with her. She wanted to bring her to the river her parent brought her when she was young, she wanted to teach her to speak and write, she wanted to walk on the street with her in those mother-daughter dresses.

And she was gone.

Forever gone.

"...hey! Did you hear me?!"

Audrey looked backed to the woman who had saved her, she must have lost in her thoughts while she was speaking.

"Can you ride a horse?"

Audrey nodded, staring at the evaporating titan on the ground with empty eyes.

"There are horses in the stable, ride to the inner gate...we'd checked, there should be no titans on the way."

If she was able to reach the inner gate of Shiganshina, she would catch up the ship heading to Trost. The woman brought her down onto the ground, she pulled Audrey back when she saw her walking to the titan.

"Mam, stop! It is too hot for human to get near it."

Audrey wasn't paying attention to her, she wanted to get back her girl, even if it was a corpse. The woman pulled Audrey back to face her, and the next thing Audrey knew was a hot, stinging sensation on her face. She fell on the ground, eyes widen as she looked up to the woman. She had slapped her. Audrey could not see her face as the sun backlit her, but she could feel her fury.

"What had gone had already gone. Now stand up! Ride the horse! Go and gather with those who are still alive!"

Those who are still alive, she mused...The faces of many people suddenly came to the surface of her mind. Her parents, her relatives, her friends...

And her husband.

No, she couldn't let anything happened to herself, she didn't want anyone to grief over her death, not now, not on top of the death of Victoria. And she was her parents only child, who would take care of them if she was gone?

She had to leave, and live.

Seeing the changes in her eyes, the soldier pulled her up and walked her to the stable. She made sure Audrey got onto the horse before leaving with the other man.

And that was the last time Audrey saw them.

Paying the evaporating titan a last glance, she turned and leaved.

A/N: Hello guys, I am back! A special thanks for those who had reviewed! I know the first three chapters were a little confusing, I believed that this chapter answered some of the questions? This was a Levi-less chapter but I hoped you guys enjoyed.

Till next time, see yeah!