Hi! This is my first fanfiction, so the writing may be a bit wonky – feedback would be much appreciated! I have began writing this story after having caught up to the anime and manga last month, and thus the story will eventually contain spoilers for Season 4 and beyond of Attack on Titan. Due to the nature of the source material, I will be preemptively rating this anime as "M".
SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN – TWO ROSES
1 – "Collateral Damage"
845, Utopia District
"So that is why, my dear friends, the holy fortress and its guardians Sina, Rose and Maria will continue to protect humanity in its hour of need. With the shelter granted to us by the holy walls and overseen by our noble King, the threat from the devourers from the lands of repentance will be kept in check, and we will keep thriving. As the scripture says, in Verse 24 of the book of Wasralio, [...]"
Minister Cristoph Salz continued on with his passionate preaching in the hall of worship of the district of Utopia, yet among the devoutly entranced and casual listeners, some were extremely restless and simply bored out of their minds.
Paul Bergmann was looking around the stained-glass of the chapel, and its motives of the protector mothers of the city, Sina, Rose and Maria. After examining the details for the twelfth time today and listening to the priest's predict, which he heard at least for the third time in the month, he was bored out of his mind.
"Mom, mom.", he said, while behaving like a restless child and being met with a glare, "May I go play with Willy?".
"Absolutely not. You have already missed Wednesday's mass, you will not skip this one too. God is watching us and has given us his protection. It's not for you to squander it by acting like a heretic.", said Nina Bergmann, with a hushed and stern tone, while some people around were starting to look on the scene instead of at Mr. Salz.
"But Moooooooommmm..." Little Paul whined in a not so quiet tone, which caused more of the onlookers to look disapprovingly at the Bergmanns, as a look of distress grew on Nina's face.
"Fine. You are not getting away with this easily next time." Paul's face turned into a slow grin and Nina sighed inwardly.
"Thanks mom, you're the best." Yet at the mention of these words, a smile appeared on the older woman's face.
It was a sunny day in the northern district of Utopia, as Paul ran out of the chapel. Food stalls were full of customers and smelling of delicious aromas, shoppers were plentiful and so was the presence of petty criminals and Garrison-men, who lived in an uneasy peace with each other. Willy Garmand was sitting on a bench, humming a cheerful song and eating a pastry.
"Aw man, you've got one of those? I ran out of my pocket money." Paul said while approaching his friend, who at first looked startled, but then smiled at him.
"You've gotta stop scaring me Paul! So, you convinced your mom to let you skip church again?" Paul's black haired friend asked him.
"Yeah, my mom can be mean when it comes to this, but in the end she loves me too much." Paul giggled and put an arm over his friend's shoulder. "So, what should we do?", he added.
"Hmm… Is the food stand still open?"
"I am not buying you snacks again."
"Aww, it was worth a try. Say, isn't there supposed to be a free play down at Annabel Park today?" Bergmann said to his friend, who nodded. Thus, they got up and started heading towards the park. Suddenly, bells rang all over the city of Utopia and all activity halted still, with hundreds of people confusedly trying to determine the reason why all the church towers of the city suddenly rang at the same time, without any intention to stop. Then, once the flow of panicked Garnison-men started cutting through the crowds, the crowds started panicking themselves, with people rushing back to their homes and some towards the gates of the city, with the intention to make their escape toward Wall Sina, fearing the worst had happened.
Paul and Willy went to the side and stared scaredly at the chaos, and Paul eventually grabbed the jacket of one of the Garrison-men heading to the gates of the city, and by doing so, the much larger adult fell to the ground through the sheer momentum, taking the child down with him.
"What the?" Said the solider immediately after the fall, and then looked to his left and saw a child on the ground. "Dear heavens, what the fuck is wrong with you? You're lucky I have better things to do than whoop the ass of some kids."
"Wait, Mister. My friend only wanted to know what is going on." Said Willy with a reddened face, with tears beginning to stream down the cheeks due to the stress of the situation.
"Titans. That's what's happening. They broke down the damn walls down south, and now we have to handle all the people fleeing Wall Maria. We don't even know how long we will last. It's a damn nightmare" The solider grew wearier and more anxious with each word, until almost breaking down from terror. "JUST GO AWAY, LET ME HANDLE WHAT COMES NEXT AND PRAY THAT YOU WILL SURVIVE UNTIL TOMORROW"
Then, all three started running their separate ways, and Paul reached his house. Running inside, he saw nobody inside, and despite crying out for his mother, nobody was there. Hiding under the table, crying and waiting for the ringing of the alarm bells to stop, he thought of the sermon of Minister Salz and how the walls were supposed to keep the walled city safe forever. But what happened? Did God forsake the Kingdom or was this punishment for the sins of humanity?
The hours passed, and finally, the infernal sound of the bells had ceased, and he had peeked from the window, to see a strong, warm sunshine and the masses of traumatized people from Wall Maria filling the streets of the city. Nina still hadn't returned, despite darkness having taken hold of the sky, with bright shines from the Stars of the North, and the crowds of people gradually dispersing to temporary shelters and the rural areas between Wall Rose and Sina. Eventually, Mr. Bauer from next door came to check on Paul, and shared with him a simple meal, yet the old man hadn't heard any news from or about his mother.
The next morning, Paul awoke with the sound of the stairs creaking, and the door opening. While in bed, looking at the door frame revealing the shadow of his mother, he thought to himself "Everything is going to be alright"...until he saw Nina's deadened, hazelnut colored eyes, and unusually pale skin.
"Mom, are you alright? I have been worried about you. Mr. Bauer too." Paul was suddenly very worried, as his mother's expression darkened at the mention of their elderly neighbor.
"Don't worry son, that's the last time we will have anything to do with the heretics here. We are moving back to Grandpa's house in Trost, and we shall live as pious citizens, so that this may never happen again." Said Nina with a now calmer expression on her face. "Do not worry about your so-called friends, as they have led you astray. Do you think this would have happened if you hadn't been such a bad child, hadn't ignored the words of wisdom of Holy Father Nick? Besides, you will find new ones, better ones."
Paul was worried. Even to his young mind, the words of mother seemed to be complete nonsense, but he was glad to have her back. And the newfound challenges of life, brought upon by the sudden return of the Titans? They will all be resolved, one day at a time.
846, Trost District
Paul was sitting at his desk, waiting for the teacher to arrive for the last class of the day. He was mindlessly drawing something in a blank page of his notebook, while people around him were talking amongst themselves, joking around. Those who didn't do it before class, were trying to copy the homework from more diligent classmates. They seemed like decent people, Paul had always thought, yet he knew that any attempt at getting closer to any of them would rightfully earn the disapproval and punishment of his mother. They were most likely all heretics and blasphemers against the faith in the church of the walls anyway, as his mother had always reminded him.
She had promised that their new life in Trost would be even better than the life they had up in the northern Utopia district. When Nina learned that Grandpa had died two months earlier, and thus their new house and Paul's new school was in a former industrial sector, with most of their new neighbors being refugees from Wall Maria, her attitude changed dramatically. Gone was the family fun, gone was the time spent attending various entertainment events and gone were the friendships she had always allowed and encouraged. Gone was even the alone time Paul had been granted to gain some self-reliance. All that was replaced by prayer, contemplation and control. Never again would my child be allowed to fall into Sin, which undoubtedly contributed to the fall of one of the three guardian mothers, thought Nina.
One of his classmates, an infidel named Louise Langnar then approached him and greeted him, which caused Paul to meekly look up to see the girl talking to him, with wary eyes.
"Hi Paul. What are you drawing?" Louise asked innocently, and then looked at the page, instantly recognizing the symbols, but not commenting on what she saw due to the northern boy's strange attitude on the topic.
"It's…" the Bergmann boy knew there was little chance that any of the classmates did not know what Paul drew, so he continued reluctantly "the crests of the Survey Corps, Stationary Corps and the Military Police... Please do not tell my mother about this."
"Don't worry, I would never do such a thing since you said not to. She wouldn't want to speak to me anyway." Louise giggled, while Paul glared at her.
"So, why are you drawing military symbols anyway? You always reacted negatively when the teacher told us of the expeditions outside the walls, and I can't imagine you sympathizing with those incompetents from the Stationary Guard. Do you want to join the Military Police?" Louise asked with genuine curiosity.
"I… no, I don't want to do that. I actually thought of joining the Garrison." which did pique her interest indeed, especially since the reclusive child was actually talking to her instead of self-isolating as usual "but I shouldn't be talking about this."
"You know, my older sister actually is training to become a member of the Survey Corps. She's going to be fighting to get rid of the titans that have plagued our land for a hundred years, for us to finally return home. She joined just a couple of days after... you-know-what happened." the girl said to him.
"Mom says that you are devils and that you lost the wall because of your sinful ways. The Titans are your punishment, and unless you start listening to Minister Nick, nothing will ever change."
"Come on, Paul. Even if it was true, was everyone on our side of the wall evil?"
"Well, I guess not, but..."
"Did you know that my father used to be a priest in the church of our town, Hogano? He did no sins, yet that day was the last time we saw him." Louise's voice turned quieter and a sadness was heard in her voice, leaving Paul speechless.
"I, uh… no, I didn't know that. I am sorry."
"Don't worry, it has been a while already. You may not like me, but I think you're a good person after all. So, what do you say, wanna be friends?" Louise reached her hand to Paul, who looked a bit unsure, but the attitude of the person his mother would describe as "one of the sinners" reminded him so much of his old friends from Utopia, that he couldn't help but smile.
"A smile? That's good enough for me" as Louise replied with the same expression of the Bergmann boy.
Friends, Paul thought, mom is going to be mad if she finds out. Meanwhile, the janitor had come into the classroom to announce that classes were cancelled for the day. The teacher has been called to a special assembly in the city center, along with every single other child of Maria adult not on military duty or long-time resident of one of the Rose or Sina districts. The next week, 250,000 people from the refugee sectors were given basic weaponry and sent to battle without any hope of winning.
Nina Bergmann was ecstatic at the news, and surprisingly pleased that the once lively neighborhood had fallen almost completely silent even during daytime, except for the sounds of orphaned children wandering around. But something was bothering her son. He had thought of Louise's words, and if all the people around the neighborhood, the teachers of the school, the friendly farmers at the market or even the homeless person on the corner next to the school holding a sign, warning of doomsday, truly deserved dying because of their sins? It didn't help things that even the first friend he made since moving to Trost, has stopped talking to him, after her mother died in the attack, and she became an orphan, while the church was praising the decisiveness of the Government and talking about the failure, as regrettable, but destined to happen.
It was at this moment, that Paul Bergmann decided to join the Cadets after graduating and aim for the Stationary Squad. For if the Guardian Mothers are not as infallible as the church said, and the sins of the Children of Maria weren't so universal as Nina claimed, he would at least try and give the Children of Rose a fighting chance.