(A/N: First off, sincere apologies for the delay, I've been swamped with both work and college assignments for the past two weeks {Oh, farewell dear sleep}. So the story is really going to pick up over the next couple of chapters. This is also the beginning of the Eren x Mikasa {Eremika} arc as well. Once again, reviews are deeply appreciated, thank you. Also whenever the text appears in bold, it's the commentator, just in case there's any confusion.)

8 years ago:

A carnival atmosphere had descended upon the city of Shiganshina, the city was hosting its first ever college football National Championship Game and one of the hometown universities; Maria University Tigers had advanced to the game. Their opponent would be one of the most dominant teams in college football history; The University of Marley Titans.

Eren, Armin and Mikasa were gathered around the television set, Eren was covered, from head to toe, in the colours of the Tigers, Armin lay on his stomach, his head propped up on his elbow, while Mikasa sat cross-legged with her signature red scarf removed, for once, in favour of a Tigers' one. Eren's mother Carla was finishing preparations for Dinner in the kitchen while she conversed with Armin's grandfather. Zeke and Grisha had managed to get tickets for the game.

Eren huffed as the Titans scored again, the scoreline now read 46-8 to the Titans, "Ugh, screw this", his mother's sharp ear caught him out "Eren Jaeger, we do not use that kind of language in this house!"

"But, mom look at the score!"

"Eren I know, it hurts me too, but it's still only a game, there are more important things in life."

"Right, sorry."

Armin's grandfather gave Eren a pat on the back "He's only being passionate Carla, boy's got some spirit, I betcha the scoreline will be reversed once Eren, hopefully, suits up in a few years time", he smiled at him.

Carla resumed preparing the dinner, "Hey, I know what will cheer you guys up", he opened his wallet and took out five Eldian dollars "Buy yourselves some ice-cream, but don't spoil your appetites."

"Mr Arlert, I can't accept you giving your money away like that."

"Ah, it's fine Carla, it's a beautiful day out, perfect ice-cream-eating weather, here", he handed the money to Eren.

"Thank you so much Mr. Arlert."

"Well Carla, at least he has manners."

A few minutes later, the three of them were sitting down in the park, soaking up the remainder of the mid-March sun. "Don't eat too much now, you'll never play football if you stuff your face with ice-cream."

The three recognised the source of the husky voice "Hey, officer Hannes", Eren said without looking.

"Couldn't bear to watch the rest of the game?", the police officer sighed, "I feel ya, I lost 90 dollars bettin' on the Tigers."

Armin looked up at him, "Shouldn't you have placed a different bet, the odds weren't favourable at all for the Tigers."

Hannes laughed "If only I had your analytical mind Arlert, but then there'd be no fun in betting."

"Has there been any trouble with rowdy fans?", Mikasa asked him.

"The usual, but nothing we can't handle, the next half hour will be tough once the game finishes, Titans fans have a reputation alright."

An audible cheer distracted them for a second, "Well looks like the game's over", he placed his hat on his head, "Make sure you guys get home, it could get a little hairy here in awhile."

He walked off whistling, "Good to see he wasn't drunk this time."

"Eren!", Mikasa scolded him.

"He's a cop, he shouldn't be drinking on duty."

"Eren you only saw him drunk on duty once, that doesn't mean he does it regularly, what's up with you you've been on edge since we got here."

He shrugged, "I don't know, there's something in the air that I can't describe, I've a bad feeling about today."

Armin looked around "It's gotten very quiet all of a sudden, too quiet even."

They all decided to head back.

They were only a few blocks away from their neighbourhood when they heard the screeching of tires, followed by a loud crash. Mikasa, spun her head around to see that a car had sped around a corner and driven into the front window of a nearby shop. Four drunken men stepped out "MARLEY TITANS RULE!" they shouted as they proceeded to vandalise the store. The three kids decided not to stick around to see what would happen once the inebriated hooligans finished.

Eren did his best to bottle up his anger as he watched them vandalise property in his hometown. He picked up a small rock, "Eren DON'T!" Armin rushed to stop him but it was too late, he hurled it at the men, striking one of them on the temple. "AGH", he turned towards, the kids, "You little shit, I'll rip you in two!", he charged towards them but was suddenly tackled from behind by a police officer "GET HOME!", he barked at them. Mikasa grabbed Eren's arm and dragged him away from the scene.

"Oh thank God", Carla ran towards them wrapping both Eren and Mikasa in a hug, Armin received the same from his grandfather. "Your, parents are here as well Mikasa."

"A riot has broken out in town", said Mr. Ackerman, "We were watching it on TV and were terrified that you might've gotten caught in it."

Eren watched the scenes unfold on the television, cars were set ablaze in the city centre, storefronts smashed, cop cars overturned, and the police decked out in riot gear, it was like a warzone. "Those animals", growled Mrs. Ackerman as she hugged Mikasa tightly, "All this over a football game, I'd hate to see what they would have done if they had lost."

Carla was biting her nails on one hand and the landline clutched in the other, she still hadn't heard from Grisha or Zeke. There was a palpable sense of fear, tension and worry as Carla's eyes remained fixed on the chaotic scenes on the evening news. The phone finally rang and the whole room went silent. She nervously picked up the phone, "Grisha?, she breathed a sigh of relief and tears began to roll down her cheeks, "Are you and Zeke okay?".

"We're fine Carla, we left early, Zeke and I are at the hospital, none of us are hurt, but they may need me tonight, I'll send Zeke home once it dies down, DO NOT LEAVE the house unless it's an emergency."

"We won't Grisha, I love you", Carla was close to sobbing.

"Stay safe, I love you too, all of you", he hung up.

A few hours later Zeke came in the door, escorted by a police officer, "What happened?", she asked looking at the police officer.

"Don't worry Mrs. Jaeger, he's not in trouble, we had to make sure he got home safely."

Zeke walked up to Carla and gave her a hug, he walked up to Eren next, "Hey buddy, did you keep mom safe?" Eren only nodded in response. The scenes on the news had not improved the death tally now stood at 28 with some 200 people critically injured. Armin could see the anger burning in his best friend's eyes, it was far more intense than what it was whenever he came to Armin's rescue from the bullies, this was a look of pure hatred.

Grisha staggered in through the door at 5.30 a.m the next day and practically fell into the arms of his wife, who had stayed awake all night for him on the couch. "That was the worst night of my life", he removed his glasses, rubbing his eyes and cleaned his specs with his pocket handkerchief, "Hannes is in very bad shape too, he took a cinder block to the head during the riot."

Eren, who hadn't gotten any sleep, eavesdropped on the conversation downstairs, he felt guilty for chastising the man who was now in hospital. He went back to his room, finding both Armin and Mikasa awake. "What's wrong", she asked him.

"Officer Hannes got hurt, he's in the hospital now."

"Did you hear how serious it was?", Armin asked him eyes wide.

"I don't know", he swallowed down his anger as best he could but it was no use, "I'm going to make them pay."

Present day:

Eren sat with Armin in the locker room of the Scouts' stadium, he had been waiting for this day for more than eight years and now that it was here, he didn't exactly know how to feel. "Hey, you okay?", he looked up to see Reiner opposite him.

"I don't know, all I want is for this game to start."

"Well, kick-off is still thirty minutes away, plenty of time to gather your nerves."

"What's up Jaeger, you've been far more intense than usual this week?", Jean asked him.

"Nothing", he huffed, Jean grabbed him "No, tell me what's up."

"Leave me alone horsey."

"Oh so that's how it's gonna be, huh, what's the matter, not getting laid?", Eren punched him. The two of them wrestled each other to the ground, before Reiner and Thomas pulled them off of each other.

Levi rushed in just as they were about to resume their scuffle got out of hand,effortlessly holding both of them apart, "Could you two brats keep your hands to yourselves, I wouldn't condone this sort of behaviour from my two year old daughter let alone two college football players." The both of them calmed down and retook their seats.

Armin took in a deep breath "Eren", the brunet turned to him "You need to focus on the game itself and not the opponent, getting emotional won't help."

"Armin, you remember what they did to our hometown, how they hurt Mr. Hannes and smashed up your grandpa's store."

"I do, but focusing on it serves no purpose, it's just another game."

"He's right", said Marco who sat down next to him "Our objective is to make it to 3-0, that's all that matters."

"Eren", Armin's voice was barely above a whisper, "Promise me you will keep a level head today, please?"

Eren inhaled deeply, "I'll try but I can't promise anything Armin."

The Scouts had lost the toss and would receive the kick-off in the first half, Eren and Connie were both back towards their own end-zone waiting for the ball. It was kicked towards Connie's side, and Eren got ready to provide support blocking. Connie was ducking and weaving, his criminally underrated shiftiness with the ball in hand were truly coming to the fore and he had a chance to make something out of this, but the running lanes were closing fast.

It was at this point that Eren chose his moment to make his block , he made sure that the defender was faced towards him to avoid being penalised. As the Titans player zoned in on Connie, Eren, with all of his muscular frame, flew into him shoulder first, sending his opposite number clattering to the turf. Connie suddenly realized he had acres of space and with one juke he beat the final defender and sprinted the remaining forty odd yards to the end zone. The Scouts could not have asked for a better start.

"Springer fields the kick at the two, and he's got pace and he finds a hole, and he's off, Galliard of the Titans is zoning in but he's taken out AND SPRINGER'S AWAY! He has one man to beat, jukes him, CONNIE SPRINGER IS OFF TO THE RACES! A ninety-eight yard return for a touchdown."

Guren no Yumiya, coupled with celebratory fireworks rang out through the stadium. Connie was welcomed with a congratulatory pat from Mike on the back as he made his way over to the sideline. "Kudos on the block Eren, you cleaned him right out of it."

Eren gave a mock dismissive wave, "I didn't have to do too much, you would've done the same."

The Titans had made a decent return on the kick-off and were now on their own 37 yard line. Schneider, the quarterback, was lined up directly under centre.

Reiner was ready to pounce, his eyes burning with intensity, he clearly had a bone to pick with the university of his hometown. The ball was snapped and once again, the towering blond made short work of his blocker, he was closing in on Schneider when, the shorter man ducked under him sending Reiner face first into the dirt.

Schneider found room to step up in the pocket and heaved the ball down the near sideline. Jean had his target covered up and reacted to his man turning his head to look for the ball. Jean did the same and jumped. The ball flew over his head and into the open arms of the Titans receiver who raced to the end-zone giving Jean a taunting wave on his way. Jean looked up from his position on the ground and pounded the field in frustration.

Shadis chewed him out of it on the sideline, "THE HELL WAS THAT KIRSCHTEIN, YOU NEVER JUMP UNLESS YOU SEE THE GODDAMN BALL!"

Jean slumped onto the bench, his head in his hands, "You fucking idiot."

Reiner sat next to him "Don't beat yourself up over it, I had the QB nailed, and I let him escape, plus the receiver tricked you by turning his head early."

"I should've recognized that, it was all over the game tape, I was too focused on making a pick, Shadis was right to bite my head off."

It was now the offense's time to suit up, Gunter called a huddle, they were going with their standard opening drive; run on first down, pass on second. Eren lined up beside Gunter in the shotgun, they were going to run a read option. Gunter recognized that the Titans defense were looking to blitz, "Safety", he said to Eren, the signal that he would hand the ball off to him. The ball was snapped and Gunter quickly handed the ball to Eren who darted through the initial gap for a six yard gain. "That's it Eren", Reiner shouted from the sideline applauding in approval.

The next play would be a passing play, based on the situation it would either be a bubble screen to Eren, or Oluo and Eld running slants with Bertholdt running a curl route. Gunter decided to capitalise on the aggressiveness of the Titans' pass rush. "Red thirty, red thirty, set 2, HIKE!" Gunter dropped back in the pocket after the ball was snapped as the offense ran the bubble screen.

Just as he was about to throw, Gunter felt his left leg collapse beneath him as a Titans player tackled his legs from behind. His boot became stuck in the turf while his leg was forced down by all 260 pounds of the Titans' pass-rusher, he then heard a sickening snap and he howled in pain. The referees quickly blew the play dead and signaled for medical assistance. Petra, the team physio, and Hanji,the team doctor rushed on. Gunter was writhing in agony.

Petra fought the urge to vomit, Gunter's lower leg was twisted in a horrible position, definitely broken. His season was finished. Some of his teammates came over, clearly concerned for the health of their quarterback and friend. "Get back, ALL OF YOU!", screamed Dr. Zoe, the urgency clearly heard in her voice. Several other medical personnel had arrived with a stretcher, the stadium was eerily silent as Gunter was carted off the field with a towel draped over his head to hide his tears of pain.

It looked like Marco, would suit up as starter for the team, far sooner than he had expected. There was a negative atmosphere in the stadium now that one of their star players had gone down with a serious injury. He was known for lifting people's spirits with his outgoing personality, but it was asking too much of him to rally his teammates, he knew that especially. They were now at third down and nine yards to go.

He called the play in the huddle "Dodger 2-6 Blue", a passing play that would employ two tight-ends running comeback routes on the inside, with two receivers running curl routes on the outside. Marco went with a quick snap, while Eren stayed behind as an extra pass blocker. Marco fired a bullet towards Thomas, who had beaten his man, but somehow he couldn't secure the ball and he tipped it up right into the defender's hands. Bertholdt brought the defender down before he could make a decent return while Marco flung his straps from his helmet in frustration as he trudged over to the sideline.

It didn't get any better for the Scouts after that, the Titans easily marched down to the end-zone, quickly taking the lead at 14 points to 7. The dominant pass-rush of the past two weeks was non-existent, summed up by Reiner being pancaked twice during the drive.

Eren was now seething in anger, he had waited so long to get at the Titans and now here they were again, dominating proceedings as they stuffed the home team, with their drunken, obnoxious fans, cheering as if the match was already over.

The Scouts had the ball again, despite being behind they would run the ball again on first down. Marco handed him the ball and he went on another determined run, but he then felt pressure against his arm which carried the football. A defender had gotten his arm inside and with a strong thrust, he ripped the ball loose from his possession. The player, who Eren had cleaned out with his block on the earlier kick-off return, scooped up the ball and scampered all the way to the end-zone, the scoreline suddenly read 20 - 7 to the Titans. What went wrong?

There were a few scattered boos from the home crowd as the teams headed for the locker rooms at half-time. Jean had his head bowed, he didn't blame them, their team was down 24 points to 7 against the defending National Champions.

Shadis knew that screaming wasn't going to help their cause, so he gave his instructions to the defense in a more reserved tone than usual. They were essentially going to scrap the game-plan they had adopted the past few weeks and dig deeper into the playbook instead.

Levi, rather unsurprisingly, was also pitching new tactics in a reserved tone. "Anyone wanna pitch in", he turned to his left "Jaeger, how about you?" He had his head in his hands, he felt completely responsible for the fumble recovery, he had gotten so wrapped up in his emotions he had forgotten one of the most basic principles of running with the football; ball security.

Marco raised his hand to which Levi nodded, "Coach, it goes without saying that we can't get back into this game by running the football, the Titans know this just as much as we do."

"Fair point."

"So, what if we exploited that?"

"What do you mean freckles?"

"I say, use more draw plays, stop running it up the middle, and call more plays from the shotgun, it will give our linemen some reprieve."

Levi pinched the bridge of his nose, "You make a valid point, but our linemen need to step up to make that work", he turned to Mac Griffin, the team's centre "Can you get your collective shit together?"

"We'll certainly try coa-", Levi grabbed him by the collar of his jersey, "Spare me the bullcrap about effort, will you do it?", his face retained its stoic expression.

"Yes sir."

15 Minutes Later:

The Scouts lined up for the kick-off of the second half, it was a decent boot from Marlowe, but the Titans still opted to return it. The returner found some wiggle room, ducking and weaving through the Scouts' coverage. Connie flew at his knees but timed his move poorly and the returner juked his way around him, he now had a clean getaway with only Marlowe to beat. A brave effort from the punter in bringing down the returner spared Connie's blushes.

Reiner and the Scouts defense marched onto the field with the ball placed at their own 34 yard line. They would need a big play on this drive because the Titans were well within field goal range. Neal Shorne called them into a huddle, "Right, we've gotta snap outta this, we're making too many basic mistakes, that's why we're this far behind, one big play and the crowd will get behind us. Remember where we are boys, this is our house", he placed a closed fist in the middle of the huddle, "Right 'D' on three, one, two, three…"

"D!" they collectively shouted,

Reiner was pissed off. No he was hellbent on getting back on the blocker who pancaked him. He snarled like a wolf that had cornered its prey as he eyed up his target; number 76, who simply stared back at him with a thousand yard stare. His eyes remained fixed on the Schneider "You're going down you fucking beanpole", he growled under his breath.

As soon as the ball was snapped he lowered his body position as he swerved around number 76, smacking his arm away. He once again had a clear shot at Schneider, but he had learned his lesson from last time. He watched the quarterback shimmy to his right to avoid Reiner, looking for space to get around him. In doing so he had allowed Millius time to get off of his blocker, the nickel corner was barrelling down on him now too. Both defenders chased Schneider down making sure to drag him back a few extra yards before dragging him down for an 11 yard loss on the play.

Reiner had his arms out while wiggling his hips in celebratory dance, while Millius waved his arms up, signalling the crowd to get lowder, to which they responded. Both of them high-fived each other as they rejoined the defensive huddle. "That's what I'm talking about boys, we've gotta keep momentum away from them as best we can", the positivity in the defensive captain's voice was more than a little infectious, they knew what they had to do next; get the Titans offense off the field as quickly as possible.

The Titans offense floundered during the remainder of the drive, Neal stuffed their running back for no gain on the next play, while a deep pass near the sideline fell short and was nearly picked off. That being said the field position still benefitted the Titans since they could pin the Scouts deep into their own territory with a shortened field to punt.

The Titans punter delivered a high ball with plenty of hang time, there was no way Connie would be able to field it without being clobbered. Waving for the fair catch, the ball fell behind him, bounced once and rolled slowly before finally stopping at the Scouts own 2 yard line. Connie stood, dumbfounded and wondered what they had done to have the universe go against them like this.