Literally not an hour ago I wrote in the Author's Note for Closed Compartments Chapter 12 that I need to stop writing new stories...here I am once again!
Chapter 1
Waking up to a crudely-put-together wooden roof of loose planks, sticks and random debris, Skye laid still a moment before dragging herself out of bed.
Getting dressed in the same monotonous routine that countless other people went through every day, she yanked aside the tied-together boards that served as a door and stepped outside of her 'home', literally just a bunch of half-rotting planks covered in whatever crap she could scavenge from the surrounding area for insulation against the cold, focused on tying her hair back with her hands as she nudged the 'door' back into place with her foot.
With a roll of her shoulders, she set off away from the alleyway she called home, sidestepping people on the street, some of whom gave her queer or disgusted looks. She was used to it though, living on the street in a literal shit-shack of garbage didn't exactly make for sanitary or clean living conditions, and her appearance reflected her situation. So, she didn't let those looks affect her as she walked through the town towards her destination in the south.
Approaching the colossal fuck-off wall, she allowed herself the same luxury as the day before, and the day before that and each day since she had first woken up, the luxury of taking a few seconds to lean back and look up at the immense structure, the only safety from the monsters outside. That same luxury which always came with the caveat of knowledge of what was going to happen in a few short years. The town, and the land behind it, was all going to be lost, and a countless number of people would die in the process.
Could she do anything about it? Sure, she could try, and considering her situation people might even be inclined to listen, to herald her as some saviour of humanity. The reason she didn't? The same reason she never went to an orphanage, never put herself into a situation that could end up pressing her into a direction she didn't want to go. The reason being a certain 'Strongest Warrior of Humanity' just so happening to be hurt and needing assistance stumbling into her when she was younger, and her parents immediately trying to help him. Or a certain 'doctor' being around when her parents were both killed during a botched robbery.
If that wasn't enough to tip her off that something fishy was going on behind the scenes when her parents had died, the 'Strongest Warrior of Humanity' was miraculously also in the area, and if it wasn't for her utter shameless diving into a literal pile of garbage, he would have found her, probably felt indebted to her family, and then would have promptly dragged her off to the survey corps to be under the close watch of the Scouts, which was basically an inescapable prison considering their gear and training, to say nothing about Levi definitely hunting her down again, probably more out of confusion than anything else, a desire to know why she had ran.
No, fate had it fucking out for her, it wanted her to be the star, which, in true Skye Belladonna Hammond fashion, meant she had to do absolutely everything in her power to avoid it! That meant sleeping in a shack of her own making, that meant buying food, clothing and everything else using the fruits of her nail-bleeding labour. That meant not relying on the kindness of even a single stranger, nor letting absolutely anybody get close.
A friend was an avenue for exposure and subsequently main-plot-based bullshit. A kindly stranger was someone who would just so happen to mention her to a guard who would mention it to another guard who would be overheard by Levi who would, in a bizarre leap of logic, realise it was her and come to find her. Was it paranoid as fuck? Obviously. Did she care? Fuck no.
This was Attack on Titan, not Barbie's Dreamtopia, and she did not fancy getting her body used as a chew toy by a fifteen-meter-tall Ken doll wannabe.
Slipping out of the gate past unvigilant and drunk guards, Skye walked out into the area that Wall Maria encompassed.
Many times she had thought about gathering up food and water and making her way towards Wall Sina, away from Shiganshina and Trost, away from the main areas of the plot, but each and every time she tried, something stopped her. Whether it was horrific weather, a patrol of Scouts or the Garrison almost catching her, or anything else, each time she tried to leave Shiganshina, something happened that prevented it from happening.
Evidently whatever was watching her wanted her there, and while it rankled her to accept it, she wasn't so stupid as to force the issue and play right into the hands of whatever fucked up puppet-master was meddling with the world. No, it was better to bide her time and wait for an opportunity that couldn't easily be manipulated. The Fall of Shiganshina and Wall Maria in turn would throw the entire Kingdom into utter chaos, giving her the perfect chance to migrate into Wall Sina and hide there somewhere. It did mean she would end up in Trost of course, since that was the closest border town and the place most refugees would end up, but she was a beggar, so she couldn't be a chooser.
Heading to the second-nearest copse of trees to avoid those who were already there, a habit that had definitely saved her from interacting with a certain 'Hunter' and 'Demon', even if they were still far from earning those monikers, Skye sized up the area. Most of the low-lying branches she had already picked off, so if she wanted to eat something actually edible, she'd need to either walk further, or climb a tree, both of which weren't appealing options. The further she walked, the more likely it was that a patrol would happen upon her and get curious and allow the plot to get involved. But if she climbed a tree and fell, that gave a big opening for the son of a doctor to come across her and get her some help from his father, who would undoubtedly recognise her and then forcibly take her in out of the 'kindness' of his heart.
Palming her chin, Skye made her decision and resolutely walked further from the gate. Getting injured was worse than having to try to lie and weasel her way out of being investigated. Being injured meant not being able to survive on her own as effectively, plus there were just so many opportunities there, she could get sick and need treatment, or some busybody could notice she was injured and drag her towards the Yeagers because of the fact he was a well-known doctor. By comparison, if a patrol came across her, she stood a decent chance of lying her way out of things.
After a few minutes, trees with lower branches began to appear, and so Skye began to pick off branches that looked sturdy and good for burning, stacking them up and winding vines she picked from the ground around them to make a large bundle of sticks. After about an hour or so, she felt satisfied with the number she had, and so she gathered up some more twine and wrapped up the branches thoroughly, checking to make sure they were all solidly together before dropping down to a knee, grabbing on end and lifting the stack, then placing her shoulder at the middle and lifting the end, hoisting it up onto her shoulder.
With her bundle of sticks in hand, Skye made her way back to the gate, using said bundle to cleanly hide her face from the guards, and after a brief walk in town she dropped the bundle off and got paid for the materials. Taking her pay, she went and bought some coarse bread, pre-cooked and slightly old salmon, as well as some lettuce and berries, most of which wasn't exactly the most appetizing-looking. With her spoils, she ventured down to the river and tore the bread to bits, layering the different components she had bought into a few very crude sandwiches, with the berries being a decent enough side-dish.
Sat on the edge of the river and dipping her bare feet into the water while she ate, Skye pondered as to what exactly she was actually going to do about her future. It was all well and good intending to do things, but unless she wanted to live as she was for several more years, which wasn't exactly an appealing life, she would need to figure out something better to do. "Um...excuse me?" Blinking, Skye turned to look behind herself, her mind immediately cursing out every single deity she knew of in every language she knew and every curse word she knew of, which considering her background was actually quite a few.
Because, of fucking course, Armin motherfucking Arlert was stood behind her. "What is it?" She said with clear hostility. As she recalled, Armin, before he became a scout and saved Eren's ass, had basically no backbone and would be scared off by the fact she looked ready to punch him. Surprising her though, while he was obviously intimidated by her, he didn't in fact scurry off to go do something else. Maybe just the fact she was basically wearing rags held together by twine, odd threads and anything else she could scrounge up.
"I-...you-..." He started, then bowed his head down so fast Skye was surprised he didn't do a faceplant. "Iwantedtoaskyousomething!" He blurted out all at once. After a moment, Skye smirked at him, drawing one leg up and resting her arm on her knee as she twisted to the side to face him more closely. She didn't say anything, she just looked at him, watching him faintly trembling despite the fact that aside from adopting a harsh tone and a bored expression she hadn't done anything to him.
"Well, that sounds just fine and fucking dandy-" She muttered, ignoring his slight flinch at her cursing. "-but I'm not interested in making friends with a brat who is going to end up getting himself killed for being a heretic." She didn't mince words, nor did she hold back, she went straight for the proverbial nut-shot. His stunned and frankly terrified expression gave her hope that he would just run off, scared that she would reveal his secret, but...he didn't. "So, piss off or I'll tell the guards."
Even after she added that last sentence in an attempt to 'encourage' him to leave, he didn't. "Y-you don't have any proof, and a-anyway, you're scared of th-them, so you wouldn't go n-near them." Blinking in surprise at his observation, Skye tried to puzzle out a better way of scaring him off. Attacking him was completely out of the question, because Mikasa was an absolute psychopath and while Skye was confident in her ability to beat the girl down even using just one arm, she didn't know the meaning of the words 'give up' thanks to Eren's little 'fight' speech, which meant she'd have an annoying as fuck girl chasing after her constantly.
"Alright, you've got me there. What you don't have on me though is the reason why I don't approach them, so for all you know, I could do it just to get you lynched for my own sadistic amusement." Biting the tip of her tongue behind her lips, she opened her mouth to make a jab at how his grandfather or parents would feel if he ended up hanging from a rope in the town square for all to see, but closed her mouth again after a second. While she wasn't above being a bitch, she was above going for such a low blow. His parents were already dead and his grandfather was literally his only family, she wasn't going to use something like that against a...7 year old? Or was he 8? The point was, that was a stage too far, especially since in a few years he would lose his grandfather as well.
He seemed a bit frightened by the idea, but he still stood there. After a few more seconds, Skye sighed and gestured at the ground beside herself with her free hand, taking a bite of her food as she watched him hesitantly take the pro-offered seat. After that, Skye didn't say anything, and instead focused on her food, amused as he kept on trying to work himself up to ask whatever the hell he wanted to ask. Against everything she wanted to do, she found herself helplessly curious as to what exactly the blonde kid wanted to ask her. "Y-" He attempted, stopping himself with hesitation once again, drawing her to roll her eyes at his timidness. "You've...you've been outside the walls haven't you?"
Opening her mouth to make a snarky reply, the words got caught on the tip of her tongue as she looked at Armin more closely. He obviously didn't mean going north into safety, he meant going south, into titan territory. Snorting, Skye gestured at herself. "Do I look like the kinda girl who would go outside the walls? My muscles, whilst respectable I know, definitely don't lend themselves to using scout gear, and I might be unhinged, but I ain't crazy enough to think I can outrun a titan."
Watching him closely, Skye observed as he perked up just a little. "N-no, but you speak as though you know the world outside. Nobody else would t-talk about the titans as though they've actually seen them before. S-stories never really do them j-justice, but you make it sound l-like you've been out there before and seen them your-yourself." Blinking, Skye tried to figure out how the fuck he even knew that.
She chatted to a handful of people occasionally, but to both overhear what she said and manage to piece together those tiny bits of information into that kind of conclusion...no, it wasn't him, it was fate twisting threads again, making sure she had an awkward and annoying connection to yet another main character. Before this, the only connection she had with Armin was a tenuous one, because he was sort-of friends with Eren, whose father knew her. But now, he had a direct reason to want to be interested in her, and with how sharp he was, she didn't doubt that he would just so happen to find the little shit-shack she lived in to pester her about the outside world.
"Fine, you got me, I spent ten years of my life wandering around outside the walls cutting off the definitely-real genitals of every single titan that approached the walls because I thought it'd be funny." She said with complete bluntness, staring at him and practically daring him to refute her sentence. Either through his intelligence or fate deciding that it didn't want to see Armin get chucked into a river, he didn't say a word.
For all of three fucking seconds.