Disclaimer: I don't own Attack on Titan, Devil May Cry or any of its characters...
Year 845; Shiganshina District, Wall Maria
"See you later, Eren…"
The boy awoke with a gasp after having a vivid nightmare. Was it even considered one, though? All he saw were images of a group of titan, a bedroom, someone getting lifted by a giant hand off the ground, a decomposing body, a massive tower, and a giant monster that looked like a dog of sorts. There was more to it than that but he couldn't remember anymore. Yet the strangest things was that he heard someone's voice speak out in his head, saying "see you later" to him. The voice seemed to know who he was, but how could that be?
Eren Yeager was taking a nap under the shade of a tree in a field of flowers, deciding to rest after collecting firewood for his family. He wore a black shirt with dark brown pants and brown shoes. He had red jacket over his shirt, which was given to him as a birthday present by an anonymous benefactor three years ago. He just woke up one day and got told that he received a surprise package on the doorstep, which contained the jacket. He wore it on a regular basis from then on. He also had a red scarf wrapped around his neck.
"What was that about? What… what was that voice i heard just now?" he thought, before shaking it off his mind so he could forget it. "Nah, if I continue to think about it, people might think I'm crazy or something…"
He looked around and yawned, rubbing his eyes before grabbing the pack that contained the firewood he had collected. However, as he reached for it, his eyes slightly widened when his right arm started to emit a very small blue aura from his forearm up to his hand. Eren shook his head furiously, maybe he was just imagining things. He looked at his arm once more, and exhaled a sigh of relief to himself. Boy, he almost thought he was going crazy or something. Putting on the pack, he ventured through town to get home.
When he had reached the town plaza (the road en route to the Wall), he saw a friend of his family, a blonde man named HANNES, getting drunk with his fellow soldiers in the Garrison. Eren suddenly had the intention of stomping over to where he was and ask why wasn't he doing his job properly, but he knew better than to try talking sense to a drunk man, so he just continued on his way.
He then heard the bells from above the wall going off. He looked up with a smile, before heading to gate as Eren knew what it meant.
A few minutes later, he was struggling to get through the crowd of people just to get a view of his heroes. Since he was too small, he simply stepped on a crate and was just in time to see them arriving on their horses. He looked at them with an excited smile. They were all dressed in military outfits with their signature green cloaks wrapped around them. The symbol of the wings of freedom were proudly displayed on their backs.
"The Survey Corps! They're finally back!" Eren exclaimed with pure admiration in his voice.
Eren caught a tall blonde man's eye as they rode slowly, but when he turned his head away from the boy's eyes, that was only when Eren noticed the atmosphere around him. Turning his head, he noticed the many injuries that the Survey Corps sustained. An aura of gloom and despair befell over them. Two carriages of dead bodies covered in cloth had a chill going down everyone's spines.
An elderly lady then walked up to them and started asking about her son. One of the soldiers, the commander to be exact, handled her a wrapped bundle that startled the poor woman. She unwrapped it slowly and gasped, as it contained somebody's bloody hand. The fact that it was given to her could only mean it was her son. She dropped to her knees and began crying hysterically.
She stayed like that for a few moments before asking something that surprised the commander. "Did my son help? Even if it was something as useless as distracting them, did my son help advancing humanity's territory?!" she yelled, desperate for an answer.
"Y-Yes," he answered and the woman look up at him. Immediately, the commander looked remorseful. "I-I mean no! No, we never learn! All of this is my fault, my inexperience has led them to their deaths!" The commander fell to his knees and began to weep as well.
A few moments after, the corps carried on as the mood became even more sour.
"Tch, looks like all of the taxes we pay are going to waste in being titan food." One of the people next to Eren said to another civilian who nodded in agreement.
That one statement made Eren mad as he jumped off the crate he was standing on and punched the man right in his crotch, making him fall to his knees while squealing as if he turned back into a child. "Don't you dare say that about them! The Survey Corps is the reason why humanity will one day be able to go out of the walls again and claim back our world!" Eren yelled as he ran off before the other man could even catch him.
The boy however, didn't notice that the blonde Corps member from earlier was watching him closely the whole time.
A few turns here and there, Eren finally found himself back home. "The nerve of that guy… who does he think he is? I'd like to see him go out of the walls and fight titans himself." He kept on thinking about the man he hit earlier bitterly as he opened the door.
"I'm back," he called out to his parents.
"Welcome home," his mother greeted him back. Carla was busy preparing food for lunch while he saw Grisha drinking tea at the table while looking over his notes. His father was a well-known doctor, and he regularly made visits outside of their home to the other districts and areas within the walls to treat patients.
Eren went to the crate where they were keeping all the firewood they collected and added the bunch that he had gather today.
"Wow Eren, you gathered a lot today." His mother smiled as she set the table for all of them. "Normally you're either bored or sleepy whenever you go out to collect wood. Did something motivate you today?"
"I guess you could say that," he sighed as he sat at the table opposite to Grisha after he was done depositting the firewood. The issue with the man from earlier still lingered on his mind.
"Is something wrong, dear?" Carla asked, dividing their food between Eren's plate, Grisha's and hers. Eren shook his head and just began to eat his food, but his mind was still out of it because of what happened earlier.
"The Survey Corps returned today." he mumbled out of nowhere, which got the attention of both his parents. "Like always, it was another failed expedition. But to make it worse, no one even appreciates what the scouts do for us! That's why when I turn fifteen, I'm going to enlist in their ranks and join the Survey Corps myself." he said, becoming more and more determined with each word he said.
While Grisha only had a small look of surprise, Carla audibly showed her shock as she stood up from the table. "What?! Eren, do you know how many people die on their trips?! It's too dangerous for you!" she yelled at him. "Dear, can you talk some sense into your son?" she said, pleading with her husband.
"Eren, why do you want to join the Survey Corps?" his father asked in a calm tone.
Eren stood up as well, showing more of his determination. "Because if someone doesn't continue and finish their work, then all of their sacrifices will be in vain!" the boy answered him heatedly.
"I see." Grisha nodded before standing up and fixing his clothes. "I need to be going. I have to get some ingredients. I will be back in two to three days." he said, before grabbing his hat and heading for the door.
"Dear wait, you and Eren need to have a long talk on why he shouldn't join the scouts!" Carla said as she followed him to the door, with Eren tailing just behind her.
"Honey, there will come a time when Eren needs to make his own choices and it looks like he is already dead-set on this. Nothing we say is going to change his mind." He said, giving Carla a goodbye kiss before turning to his son one last time. "Eren, when I get back, I will show you the secret…" he pulled out a gold key hanging from his neck and showed it to Eren, with his expression suddenly turning into shock out of nowhere. The young boy didn't notice it, however, since he just kept his gaze fixed on the key. "...that I've been keeping in the basement all this time."
"R-Really?!" For the first time since the scouts arrived earlier, Eren smiled from ear-to-ear. Being a healthy normal boy, he was always curious on what his father had in their house's basement, since Carla forbid him to go there. For years, he wanted to know what was inside it, and now he had the opportunity.
"Yes, now be a good young man and listen to your mother while I'm gone." He said before leaving, while waving his arm goodbye.
His last statement left Eren scowling once again since he knew what his dad meant. Once Grisha was gone, his mother made him face her. "You heard your father, Eren. I won't let you go and sacrifice your life like that." she told him with narrowed eyes.
"I don't want to just stand around here like stupid cattle and wait to get eaten by those damn titans!" Eren yelled before running off.
"Eren!" she tried to call for him, before frowning sadly. "That boy is full of energy that it gives me headaches most of the time… reminds me of myself, actually. And where did he get that foul language? I never taught him those words… I'll make sure to lecture him properly later." she thought with a frown, before moving on to dry all their already-washed clothes at the top of their small tower.
Across town, a group of three children were ganging up on a small blonde boy as they cornered him into a wall. Said boy looked like he was about to cry at any moment, but he steeled his resolve.
"Take this, you heretic!" the leader said, punching the boy into the wall. "Why don't you fight back, huh?" he asked as his two friends beside him laughed at the boy's misery.
"Because that would only put me on the same level as you! You doing this means you know I am right and you don't want to answer!" the blonde kid shouted back at him.
The leader widened his eyes for a moment before narrowing them again and gritting his teeth. "Why you little —" he was about to pull back to punch the boy again when a voice stopped him.
"Oi." The three kids looked to their right and saw the familiar white mop of hair that belonged to one Eren Yeager. "What do you think you're doing to Armin?" he said while narrowing his eyes dangerously.
The three immediately paled. They didn't want to face a beating from the toughest kid in town. Eren had a reputation amongst the youth here, since there was no one who could beat him in a straight fight every time someone challenged him. The white-haired boy didn't want his pride damaged so he took every challenge coming to him. Eren seemingly had a high tolerance to pain and every wound he sustained healed rather quickly for some reason. Despite this however, Carla didn't like the idea that her son was growing up to be a bully. This caused Eren to avoid fighting as much as he could, promising to only resort to self-defense if the situation called for it.
But by now, almost all of the kids in the neighborhood feared him so there was no point in it, anyway.
"Oh crap, it's Eren! Run!" the leader shouted as they ran away.
"Tch, always picking on someone weaker than them. When will they learn?" Eren said in disgust as he watched them leave, before turning to the blonde kid named ARMIN ARLERT.
"Hey Armin, are you alright?" he asked, reaching out a hand for his friend to take.
"I can stand on my own," Armin muttered as he struggled to get up on his own two feet.
"Well alright," he placed his hand back in his jacket pocket before looking over to the river that was not far from where they were. "You want to head to the river and talk about what just happened?"
Armin nodded as the two friends took off.
A few minutes later, the two were sitting by the river bank while throwing rocks into the water.
"So what happened there?" Eren asked, throwing a rock that reached about halfway to the other side.
"I said that one day, humanity will need to leave the walls to explore the world and see it for ourselves, but they called me a heretic." Armin explained, matching Eren's disrance with a throw of his own.
Eren was about to throw another one when he heard what Armin said, causing him to narrow his eyes and drop the rock he was holding. "I see. Honestly, I don't know why people are so content living their entire lives within these walls, roaming around like livestock." Eren kicked the rock he just dropped and to Armin's surprise, it nearly reached the other side of the river.
"That's why I'm going to join the Survey Corps and see the world with my own eyes," he continued.
Armin looked down sadly. "Yeah… just because the walls haven't been breached in a hundred years doesn't mean it won't happen… even today." he muttered with a terrified look.
All of a sudden, they heard a huge explosion looked off into the distance towards the wall, where they saw smoke rising.
"What was that?!" Armin yelled.
"I have no idea, let's go check it out!" Eren gritted his teeth as he ran to the direction of the explosion with Armin following behind.
They arrived at the town plaza near the gates where a crowd was gathering. When they reached the crowd, they looked up along with everyone else and their eyes widened. A giant hand was gripping the top of the wall before a huge shadow fell upon them. A colossal head then revealed itself, looking down at all the people inside the walls.
"A titan?! B-But that wall is 50 meters high!" Armin yelled out in shock.
The titan then raised its leg and aimed it dead center into the gate, blasting it open with a single kick that sent a huge shockwave along with giant pieces of debris. Eren and Armin had to close their eyes to protect them from the wind, while hoping that they'd be safe from the falling debris, some of which landed close to them. After the wind died down, they opened theit eyes to see titans coming through the hole that the colossal one had created. Everyone who survived the falling pieces of debris began running away from the direction of Shiganshina's outer gate.
Eren stood frozen in his spot as he realized where a few of the titans were heading to. "My house is in that direction." he thought to himself before running off to his home.
"EREN!" Armin screamed out to his friend seeing him running towards the titans. He himself was too scared to even move. He did get his feet moving however, and ran back towards his home to get his grandfather.
Eren ran as fast as he could towards his home, fear present in his eyes. "When I go around this turn, my home will be there and it will be fine… it will be fine." he told himself but when he followed the turn to his house, his eyes widened in fear, before running even faster than before.
His house had been crushed by a large piece of debris.
Getting closer, he found his mother seemingly unconscious on the ground under the wreckage. "Mom!" he yelled, seeing her.
Carla slowly opened her eyes and looked up to see Eren trying to lift a huge support beam that had her legs underneath. "Eren! You have to run away from here!" she yelled at him.
Just then, they heard and felt giant footsteps getting louder by the second. Eren looked to the side to see a huge blonde titan coming in their direction. He widened his eyes and put in more effort to lift the beam off his mother.
"They're here, aren't they?! Eren leave me and run, my legs are stuck in all this debris and I can't move!" she shouted at him.
"Shut up! I'm going to free you and we're running away together!" he shouted back, tears forming in his eyes out of desperation.
"Why won't you ever listen to me? At least listen to me just this once!" Carla cried, tears already flowing from her eyes.
Just then, Hannes landed next to them with his ODM gear.
"Hannes, take Eren with you and run!" Carla pleaded.
"Don't worry, I'm going to take care of that titan and save you both." Hannes stated with a smile, running off into the titan's direction.
"No, don't!" Carla yelled.
A few seconds later, Hannes' smile dropped as he stood frozen against the approaching titan. He began to feel the same thing as everybody else upon seeing the titan up close. Fear. He quickly turned around and ran back towards Eren and Carla, grabbing the boy and holsting him up on his shoulder. He looked at Carla for a moment, only for her to give him a nod and that was all he needed.
"Come on, Eren! We must leave!" he said, running for his life.
"I'm not leaving my mom! I WILL SAVE HER!" Eren delivered an elbow to the back of Hannes' head, causing the older man to drop him as he ran back to his mother.
Seeing her son come back for her had Carla sobbing uncontrollably. The blonde titan was about to reach them. "Eren… just… please… go…" she didn't have energy left to scream, losing all hope for her son just as the young boy tried to lift the beam once again.
"I can't give up now! Come on! I WILL NOT give up! I'M NOT GONNA LET MY MOM DIE HERE!" Eren shouted in his mind, just as his whole body began to glow blue and let out a corresponding aura. However, his arm was the only part of him that strangely glowed brighter. This caught the attention of both Carla who looked up from her sobbing and Hannes, who turned around to look at the mother and her son.
"I… need power… power… give me MORE POWER!" Eren shouted in a tone far different from his own voice as he sounded more like a monster, causing both Hannes and Carla to be slightly terrified of him. The boy's eyes had turned red as time seemed to slow down.
It was only at that moment that he noticed the blue glow his arm was giving off. Everything seemed to stop for a moment, before a brilliant flash of light came from his arm blinding the titan, Hannes, Carla, and even Eren himself.
When they all regained their sight, the three remained there in awe. Eren's arm while still human-shaped, it looked more demonic and reptilian; composed of reddish armor-like plates all over that contained his skin underneath, which now glowed blue. The light surrounding the rest of his body died down, and his eyes returned to their normal color.
"What the hell?" Hannes voiced out his confusion, temporarily forgetting about the titan nearing them. Carla remained quiet but looked shocked at what just happened.
Eren was still dumbstruck at what his arm just turned into until the titan's footsteps snapped him out of his trance. The titan was about to reach out for him and his mother. "SHIT!" he yelled out, trying one last time to get his mother out of there by lifting the giamt beam off her. Much to his and Carla's shock, he easily took it off her and he even unknowingly sent it flying towards the titan's face, stunning it momentarily.
"What the…" Carla looked up at her son's arm, and even Eren himself could only look at it in shock. That was when the white-haired boy realized this opportunity as he turned around to face Hannes.
"Hannes-san! Help me carry mom!" he yelled out desperately, causing the blonde man to snap out of it as he ran towards Carla. He would push aside his confusion for now in favor of escaping.
While Eren struggled to lift his mother off the ground, Hannes pushed him off and carried Carla on his back. "I got this Eren, go on and run!" he told the boy, who looked relieved that he saved his mom from being titan food.
"Thank you…" Carla breathed out from behind Hannes, while keeping her eyes fixed on Eren's strange arm. That was until the footsteps grew louder again from behind them. Turning around, the titan was about to reach out for them again, with both Hannes and Carla fearing for their lives.
But Eren kept a furious look, with tears brimming out of his eyes. He wasn't about to let a titan take his mok away now that he saved her. "GO TO HELL, YOU TITAN!" he screamed out, slapping the massive hand away with his right arm. What shocked the three again was that Eren did just that; a massive spectral projection of his demonic arm slapped the giant hand away strong enough that the titan nearly fell off it feet as it staggered back.
While Eren stood there in complete awe at what he just did, he felt someone shaking him off his trance. Looking to his side, Hannes had a mixture of shock and confusion on his face.
"Look kid, I got a lot of questions running through my mind right now about that new arm of yours, but those will be meaningless if you keep on standing here like a madman! We need to move, your mother's safe here!" he looked behind him, where Carla had passed out on his back.
Eren got the message quickly and ran alongside Hannes to the river, where the ships were evacuating civilians towards Trost.
By the time Eren and Sannes got to the river, lots of Shiganshina residents were pleading for the ship operators to be included in the ride, but got told to wait for the next one to arrive since they were already full of passengers. However, even the next ship wouldn't be enough to hold all of the remaining people there. This caused in some of the civilians jumping on and clinging to the edge for their dear lives, desperate to avoid the titans.
Hannes shook his head that he had to wait for the next one before he can get Eren and Carla onboard, so he turned his attention to the young boy for a while. Like he said earlier, he had many questions in his mind, as he noticed Eren simply observing his newly transformed arm.
"Grisha, just what the hell is this son of yours? Is he even human?" he thought, before noticing more people about to join the already massive crowd. "Crap, this'll be a bigger problem!" He quickly reached inside his pocket and pulled out a white towel, throwing it towards Eren's open hand.
Eren caught it before looking up at Hannes. "What's this for?" he asked.
"You need to cover your arm, Eren." he told the boy in a serious tone. "We'll talk about that arm later but right now, other people can't know. That would cause another problem and they might think you're one of the titans or something. We don't need that issue happening right now. You need to hide it from plain sight. Stare at it later!"
The boy got his message and quickly wrapped his right arm with the cloth just in time before more civilians joined them in waiting for the next ship, as titans continued to lay waste on Shiganshina. An abnormal one with armor plating all over its body then entered the district through the hole that the colossal one made, running towards the inner gate.
It took a few more minutes, but the moment the next ship arrived, Hannes quickly talked with the ship operators to let Eren and Carla onboard and they did. He then let Carla rest her legs on a chair leaning against the control room of the ship, before bidding farewell to Eren as he flew away on his ODM gear to help with the evacuation. Eren left his mother for a moment to look for a certain someone, and he was relieved to see Armin standing near the edge of the ship, looking at Shiganshina one more time as they began to depart.
"Armin!" he called out, and the blonde boy looked happy to see his friend.
"Eren, did Hannes-san get to you in time?" he asked the white-haired boy, who looked confused for a few moments before smiling himself.
"You sent him to fetch us, didn't you?" he said with a thankful smile.
Armin smiled embarrassingly. "Y-Yeah… I saw him running towards the titans after I left my house with my grandfather… I told him to get you since you went back to your home and that place was close to the hole in the gate."
Eren couldn't help but hug his friend after that. Armin looked surprise but hugged him back before Eren pulled away. "Thank you, Armin. I don't know what could've happened if Hannes-san didn't show up." he said with a smile. Armin nodded with a smile as well, before the sound of someone coughing got their attention.
*cough*
*cough*
She was sitting directly at the front deck, hugging her knees together as her eyes looked like she had gone from crying so many times. She was wearing a simple pink dress and had long black hair. Her eyes looked devoid of any emotion before she noticed two pairs of feet standing in front of her.
"Hey." The one with white hair said while frowning. There was also a blonde boy standing beside him, looking greatly concerned for her. "Are you okay?"
Out of instinct, the girl nodded her head without lifting herself up from her knees.
He sighed. "No, you're not." He offered his hand to her. "Can you stand?"
The girl looked to the side and whimpered sadly, deciding to just follow what he said since she had nothing left to live for. Her parents were gone, eaten by titans after the wall got breached. However, she had struggles in getting up that the blonde boy supported her in standing on her two feet.
Eren noticed her shivering as the girl instinctively wrapped her arms around herself and looked down at his red scarf. "You're feeling cold, aren't you?"
She just looked to the side, not wanting to answer that, until she felt a warm fabric wrapping around her neck and face in a messy way, causing a small blush to erupt on her face afterwards as she stared at the boy before her.
"Uhm, Eren, that's not how you wrap a scarf around someone…" the blonde said, and the boy whom she now knew as Eren, looked at him in confusion.
"It's not?" Eren asked in confusion and Armin sighed.
As the ship finally left Shiganshina district, the abnormal titan with armor was unstoppable in its charge through the whole area, before bursting through the inner gate and creating another breach in Wall Maria. Today would be forever remembered as humanity's darkest hour, for the titans have finally reached their doorstep. The gigantic titan that caused the gaping hole in the gate would be known as the COLOSSAL TITAN, while the abnormal titan that burst through the inner gate would come to be known as the ARMORED TITAN.
Yet unknown to everyone else, the child known as Eren Yeager had taken his first step in changing the world.
WOW! What a chapter to start things off! If you notice, I did things differently compared to canon. Mikasa isn't living with Eren but I'm sure you can guess who the identity of the young girl whose neck Eren wrapped his scarf around :)
I did that for a reason, okay? You'll know why soon. Second, yes, I saved Carla. Got a problem with it? I thought it would be nice for Eren to still have his family to make him less of an angry boi when he starts military training LMAO. Remember, Nero from DMC is not angry all the time like Eren from canon is. Since Eren is Nero here, I hope you get the picture.
Next chapter, revelations unfold. The mystery regarding Eren's new arm is uncovered and a certain somebody is due to make his 'return'. See ya'll in the next chapter!
Goodbye… and good night! BANG! *too sweet gesture*
-Lance
