EDIT 24/08/2022: Mayor fixing on typos and grammar in general because HOLY SHIT this had even more mistakes than I remembered. Besides that, I straight up altered some segments, mostly for coherency's sake. There's probably still an error here and there, but at least now you guys should be able to look at this without thinking WTF I AM LOOKING AT!?


Catching Up with The Despairful Reality: The World Where She Woke Up.

…Well, she said accepting this as 'real' but that was too big of a stretch for what she felt at that moment. There were so many strange things that threw her for a loop.

What was up with the age regression? How did she end up here? And…where was 'here' exactly? 'That and I was still in denial about that other thing I had heard the habitants of this place talk about…'

Mukuro will be the first person to admit that she was a…practical kind of person rather than someone going around finding clues and making theories about things. This is why she had no problem admitting being aware that most of those and other questions were completely out of her reach at that moment.

They still are…and probably they will ever be.

Regardless, after getting better―no, that doesn't sound right…after regaining her composure, yeah, after regaining some level of composure, the Ultimate Soldier took as the first order of business her survival. At least that was something reachable within her capabilities.

And because otherwise, I would die, obviously.

Said survival involved two essential things: Water and food.

The water part was relatedly easy to solve as there were water fountains spread all through the city, and better yet, the water was drinkable. The moment Mukuro found one, she almost launched herself toward it, and even though she had enough self-control to not do that, she almost choked herself a few times when she desperately drank from it.

Surprisingly enough, not many people paid attention to her antic. Back then she didn't know why, and neither paid much attention to it if she was honest with herself. It wasn't until a few weeks later that she began to gain a much clearer and grim understanding as to why.

However, while such a resource was an easy task to secure, when it came to food…well, that was when things got more complex, even to this day they were. At first, she thought of going back to the shelter. The daily delivery of rations wouldn't be much and it would consist of just bread, but Mukuro didn't mind that. She had never been a picky person when it came to the type of food or the amount, as long as it was edible that was good enough for her.

Unfortunately, that idea got discarded as soon as she approached the shelter. The reason why? Once Mukuro reached it, she saw something that made her narrow her eyes.

Just outside the building, there were more of the uniformed people, though this time instead of a rose, they had a unicorn emblem on their shoulders. That in itself wasn't an actual problem for her, it was more so what they were doing specifically.

They were gathering what she more or less recognized as some of the refugees while taking them somewhere else. Where? Well, she now knows that they were relocating them outside the city to work in the fields, but back then she had no idea and she wasn't willing to risk herself in an attempt to discover it. In the end, she had to discard the shelter idea, and move toward plan b.

Buy it.

Now, although back then she was getting slightly getting ahead of herself for a multitude of reasons, like having zero knowledge of how the economic system of this place worked and even less identifying the prices of anything, she had two things that convinced her of still going with this idea: She was desperate to eat something and she had the means to go for it.

After taking care of those thugs, she also took their possessions besides that bag with the pills. Mukuro didn't feel the slightest pang of guilt at stealing from them, from that brief conversation they had, the Ultimate Soldier had enough information to understand that they were the worst kind of scum.

Regardless, said 'loot' included the knife in her current possession, a pair of silver rings, and three leather pouches. Those pouches were the most important thing for her at that moment as they contained what she now recognizes as the currency of this place.

It consisted of coins, some made of copper while others out of silver. Both of them had imprinted the face of a woman in the center of it, though it seemed that there were differences from each other. While the woman in the copper coins didn't ring any bells, the one in the silver coins did, and that was because it was the same as the emblem Mukuro could see in the gates of the wall surrounding the town she 'woke' up.

Putting together the coins of those three pouches gave Mukuro a total of sixteen silver coins and forty-seven copper ones.

Because of the materials, each one was made of; it was easy to conclude that the coins made of silver were more valuable than the ones made out of copper. Though even knowing that wasn't enough. She didn't know how much anything would cost and neither she trusted that just giving a random amount of money could work.

In the end, just like any other change in the environment of a battlefield and her years being homeless back…home, Mukuro had to adapt to it. She did so by making use of her precise sight to observe other people buy things, taking priority on those supplies that looked the less expensive.

After about half an hour of observation, besides confirming that indeed the silver coins held more value than their counterparts, she deduced that meats were by far the priciest, ranging between one and up to five silver coins, depending on the quality and type of meat. Vegetables and fruits were in the middle range of cost, going between thirty-five copper coins and one silver one.

And finally, what she had the most interest in.

The cheapest.

That title belonged to bread, something Mukuro wasn't surprised about, seeing that the food distributed back in the shelter was the same, and it was reasonable to believe that they would give sustenance with the provision they could afford the most.

In any case, the prices of bread were between five copper and twenty, something that varied depending on its quality. Some were ranging between one and two silver coins too, but she noticed that those were for the dessert kind, like donuts, buns, cinnamon rolls, and other types of bread that contained sugar.

Another thing she discovered was that the system they used in this place had an exchange rate of one silver coin equaling a hundred copper ones. She still holds the suspicion that there is another coin of higher value than the silver one, but she had never seen one that could allow her to confirm such a theory.

All in all, this type of economy was a very simple one, though she is grateful for that, as it made things easier for her.

In some corner of her mind, if Mukuro wasn't dying from hunger at that moment, she would've been giddy at being able to come to all those conclusions by herself, almost as if she was solving the pieces of a puzzle, like in those mystery novels she liked to read when she had the opportunity to in the past.

But instead of that, she decided to just focus on sustaining herself.

Buying the few pieces of bread she deemed enough for her to be satisfied enough was a relatively easy task after she did her 'investigation' of currencies and prices. The only obstacle, if she were to call it that, was the suspicious look the man in charge of selling the food gave her when he saw her alone with some money in her hands and her starving looks.

However, even if begrudgingly, he accepted the exchange. Between having to deal with some child paying with money of questionable acquisition or a brat going around trying the steal his food, the choice was obvious ten out of ten times.

And even more so when more and more children became part of the latter group as months went by…

As soon as she acquired the bread, Mukuro sprinted towards a nearby fountain so she could wolf her food down in peace while having something to drink nearby in case of choking on it.

Nothing worth pointing out happened afterward on her fifth day after 'waking up', though with the shelter discarded, she had to resort to sleeping on the streets, something that wasn't much of an actual problem for Mukuro. She was used to these living conditions; it was even nostalgic she would dare say.

Regardless of that, with her mind finally 'To some degree' clear, and with the problem of sustain finally resolved, after five long days, Mukuro finally put herself to work into getting a better understanding of her situation.

While some things were easy to swallow, others…

…Well, let's just say that they were quite the discoveries.

During the following weeks, one of the first things the raven-haired girl found out was the name of the place she woke up. It was called 'Karanes District'. From there, thanks to a combination of eavesdropping and somewhat ironically, sermons of some priests, which she discovered belonged to the only religion of this place known as the 'Cult of the Walls', her understanding of her surroundings increased.

This nation 'whose name, no matter how much I looked for, couldn't get a clue about' was divided into three walls, each one with a name of its own: Maria, Rose, and Sina.

Each wall had four major districts attached to it. With Wall Maria, her districts were: Naraka on the north, Quinta on the west, Holst on the east, and Shiganshina on the south. Wall Rose had Utopia as the north district, Klorva as the west one, Karanes in the east, and Trost in the south. Finally, on the third and innermost wall, Sina, her districts were Orvud, Yarckel, Stohess, and Ehrmich respectively. Besides that, inside this wall was located the capital of this place, which was called Mitras.

Based on some complaints of the usual passerby, she also concluded that the deeper into the center of this Nation it also represented the status of its citizens, as those living in Sina were of a higher class in most cases, with those of Rose belonging to the middle class, where in Maria used to live people of the lower-income.

…Keyword: used to.

Before getting into details of…Wall Maria, there were other things she felt like needing to point out before getting to…that part.

After finally getting an understanding of where she was, Mukuro also began to take notice of certain inconsistencies that made her feel that there was something wrong with her traveling back in time theory.

As if that wasn't insane enough in the first place…

It began with the people of this place, or more specifically, the fact that their appearances gave her vibes that they were of European origin, and based on some names Mukuro had managed to hear, German seemed the most prominent nationality. Nothing wrong with that, what threw her for a loop, though, was that every single one of them, without exception, was speaking in Japanese.

The way they spoke was neither broken nor with an accent that proved that it was a second language for them, no, everywhere she looked, be it kids up to the elderly, everyone did so with fluency.

And if that wasn't strange enough, there was also the writing system.

One of the first ideas Mukuro came up with to get a better understanding of her situation was to read about it. Whether it was through books or newspapers, the Ultimate Soldier was sure that this method would give her more information that she desperately needed.

Fortunately, there were some bulletin boards spread throughout the town and better yet, she also confirmed the existence of a library and a public one no less. Mukuro admittedly had her doubts about her chances of finding one, considering how old everything in this land was and she didn't know whether or not literacy was a common thing here.

Although even if there was indeed one, it was a considerably small place and had an even smaller number of books available.

But she hadn't the luxury to be picky, so that in itself, while limited, was a solution enough. What nagged on her mind though, was when she attempted to pick up what to read, it wasn't that she couldn't read its contents, because she actually could…

…but she had to turn the books upside down to be capable of it.

For some reason, while everyone in this place spoke perfect Japanese, their written system of it was a gibberish and turned upside-down version of the original language.

It didn't make any sense and if it weren't because Mukuro was way too accustomed to dealing with things defying common sense, she probably would've racked her brain for hours and hours about all those factors that were beginning to turn into red flags.

So instead, she took a more optimistic perspective of being grateful for, albeit with its own complications, not needing to learn a whole new language.

Said optimism wavered when she came upon two specific books though.

One was called History of Humanity.

While the other had the title Titans: What We Know About Them.

The title in itself wasn't a problem when it came to the first book. Books giving a general detailing of important events throughout the human story were completely normal. What made her narrow her eyes about it, though, was how thin said book looked. It didn't help at all that another worrying factor was that people never talked of any country or nation, it was always humanity this, humanity that, try as she might, Mukuro never found a name to address this land.

If that wasn't a red flag, then she didn't know what could be then.

Speaking of red flags, that other book that was just as thin worked as one in its own way. All thanks to the first word of its title.

Titans.

Ever since her first day here, Mukuro couldn't count the number of times she had heard 'Titans doing this' or 'Titans doing that' and most of the time accompanied with words like 'eat' and 'devour' as if they believed in the existence of some voracious monsters' living out there.

Stubborn to believe back then that these people were just using eccentric terms to refer to a terrorist organization of sorts or maybe an enemy nation, Mukuro waved off her concerns and thought of that book about titans as propaganda at best, and a fantasy book at worst.

That was until she read the book of human history.

The contents of said book, while not much, contained details that sounded so incredibly surreal and despairful no matter which paragraph she looked at, and if it weren't because Mukuro had an entire life living as the older sister of the physical incarnation of despair, allowing her to see the worst humanity had to offer, she probably would've needed a brain reset because of how shocking was the information this book presented.

First and foremost, it began…with Titans. It talked about how close to 100 years ago some kind of giant creatures appeared out of nowhere and as soon as they did, those things hunted humanity at an astonishing speed to the point of driving humanity close to extinction. The book also mentioned that while this was happening, the surviving humans built three walls 'Not even bothering to mention how they were capable of that' to take shelter from them, and since then humans have been safe from the tyranny of these titans…

…And that was about it.

Mukuro would've taken that book as some kind of a bad joke if it weren't because when she asked the librarian in charge of that place for a book related to human history, she pointed out that the book Mukuro choose was the most up-to-date version, and to add salt to the wound in her psyche, with a pitying look and some carefully chosen words, probably because of her child appearance, she told her that the only set of events not described inside of it was about the fall of Wall Maria.

The Ultimate Soldier didn't even bother to read the one containing information about these things brought out of fiction. After leaving the books where she found them, she stormed out of the building with growing frustration.

… Frustration that came from the fact everything was pointing out towards her theory of time traveling 'Again, crazy as that was…it was the most 'realistic' of my options…' beginning to show more and more holes.

The part about the extinction of humanity, she would've bought it, even if it was with the biggest grain of skepticism you could find. Her past life ended during the middle of a series of events that were leading humanity to that same path and in the time frame of a year no less. Maybe something like that happened in the past and was covered to prevent it from happening again. World wars and massive plagues that annihilated people by the millions were a thing, and it was within the realm of possibility that something much worse had occurred before.

…Yeah, even I was aware that I was scratching the bottom of the barrel with those conclusions/delusions.

But one thing was telling her that and another whole different ordeal was to describe the culprits for the near end of humanity as giant monsters brought out of fictional stories.

She ended up choosing to put that part of her search at a temporary standstill and focus instead on something else. Said something else came in form of the uniformed people, mostly because she soon discovered that instead of being officers as she initially thought, they were…soldiers.

Mukuro had a mixed bag of emotions when it came to that specific subject. On one hand, she became a soldier not only because of her desire to protect Junko, even if that was her biggest motivation, but also because she was genuinely interested in everything related to the military. As a kid, she always had thoughts of how 'cool' and 'incredible' they were.

On the other hand, the Ultimate Soldier had long since swallowed the bitter pill that her life as a soldier had been…well, terrible would be putting it kindly.

As a mercenary of Fenrir, she worked for those who paid the most. While sometimes she killed the bad guys, whether it was a dictatorship or a terrorist organization, more times than Mukuro would like to remember she was on the wrong side of history.

And when she reunited with Junko, when the raven-haired girl began to follow her every order…

…The things I did in my sister's name…

…Every single innocent blood spilled…

…Every person I did condemn…

…How many people I have tormented…

…The number of lives I ruined…

…The horrible monster I had become…

…The horrendous abomination that didn't deserve to―

"STOP!" Mukuro berated herself while furiously shaking her head in an attempt to get rid of those poisonous thoughts that weren't doing her any favors and neither did she need them in the first place.

Breathe in, breathe out…

After a few minutes of breathing exercises, beginning with shaky breaths before transitioning into more stable ones, she managed to relatively compose herself, though not without some residue of the stress that was beginning to form when her mind drifted…that way.

It was something that happens from time to time, one moment she could go on her day by day with not a problem, and before she knows it, the crimes of her…her past life come full force to torment her. Sometimes, like today, it was 'easy' for her to take back control of herself before things escalate into more grim thoughts. On the bad days…instead of forcing herself to snap out of those thoughts, she focuses her efforts on restraining herself from taking things to a point from which there won't be a point of return.

The Ultimate Soldier decided to take a slight break from the recollection of events that had led to this night. Taking comfort in the stars Mukuro couldn't help but think as a companion of sorts.

A weird way of thinking about them, she knows, but it was what it was. Every time she gazes upon the infinity they are part of, a sense of serenity washes over her entire existence as if out of nowhere she was the only person in the world and everything suddenly was fine. Mukuro didn't know when that began to be a thing for her, but she was grateful for it, she couldn't count the number of times she had needed it.

The raven-haired girl knew that tonight wasn't going to be easy, hell, this entire year and few months she had spent adapting to her new reality hadn't been easy. The number of things Mukuro had to accept as real was much more than what you should expect of a high school girl, granted, she would be far, very, very far from being the best example of a regular high school girl, but even so, her point stands.

Mukuro had to remind herself that she already moved through the worst of it. Not only that but also that she had to do this, she needs to keep doing this. The Ultimate Soldier didn't begin this recollection of events for no reason whatsoever. There was indeed a reason to do this.

A reason that no doubt will decide her future.

Despite everything, after taking a five minutes break, Mukuro decided that it was time to resume her thoughts.

Now, where was she?

Right, the soldiers part.

This place works under a three-branch military. It was an easy-to-understand system in which every single one of these regimens works under different parameters from each other, with each branch fulfilling various functions that under normal circumstances should belong to a whole area of its own, though Mukuro could admit that the way it worked, even if it wasn't complex, was effective enough…well, no, not really if how much everyone complains about them is any proof.

Regardless of that, these branches consisted of the Garrison, the Military Police Brigade…and the Survey Corps.

Each one of them possessed an emblem that works as a way to identify which division a member of the military belongs to, they wear it on both shoulders, in the left front pocket, and on their backs. The Garrison emblem consist of a pair of roses, the Military Police Brigade had a green unicorn, while the Survey Corps wears a pair of wings, one blue and a white one.

Then there were the functions each one of them performed.

The garrison, just as their name implies, where the stationary troops spread all through the districts of Wall Rose. Their main job was the defense and maintenance of the walls, and when not doing that, they shift their priorities to keeping civilian order.

Out of the three of them, the Garrison was by far the largest from what Mukuro had managed to see so far, considering that most of the soldiers she had encountered had the pair of roses in their badges. It makes sense, not only because of the tasks they are assigned, but it also becomes even more evident when you take into consideration how the other two divisions work.

Speaking of which.

Next comes the Military Police.

They work both as the main elite police force, acting as the prestigious enforces of the law within the walls while at the same time, they serve the king 'Because yes, this place works under a monarchy. I discovered that at the same time as the existence of the Military Police…' as bodyguards.

At least that was the general description on paper.

It was a hypocritical move on her part, but Mukuro couldn't feel anything but contempt toward them. She admits that she only had seen them occasionally, as most of them work on the innermost wall. Perhaps it was in there where they do their job properly; she wouldn't know considering she had not set a single foot there even once. From what the raven-haired girl has seen, though, was that they were nothing but a disgrace to the uniform.

Not even once she had found them doing anything that it wasn't drinking, gambling or either bribing or receiving bribes themselves.

It's no wonder they are the worst ill-spoken of the three branches.

Although the last regimen doesn't get that far behind, even if in her personal opinion, it was for a whole different set of reasons.

The Survey Corps.

Out of the three divisions, Mukuro could count with her fingers of a single hand how many of them she had seen in the year and three months living here, and beyond talking with important-looking people, she hadn't seen them doing much. The fact that they mainly operate in the south district of Trost seems like the most likely explanation as to why that was the case.

That doesn't mean the people residing in this district lack things to say about them, though.

Even if it was not the most hated of them, it was by far the less popular by a considerable margin. Talks about how much of a waste of taxes they are and that they should be disbanded are pretty common topics among the population.

The job of those who join the Survey Corps seem to consist in the exploration of the territory outside the walls, or as it was commonly referred to…'Titan Territory'.

From those few who do not speak pests about them, the Survey Corps was considered the offensive force of the military, as they are the only ones who venture and confront…the Titans.

Their negative reputation doesn't come from them abusing their power like the Military Police and neither they are branded as lazy drunkards like their Garrison peers. No, the Survey Corps was popularly known as…incompetent.

Observing them from a pragmatic point of view, Mukuro can see the reason why for that. The best way people will identify whether a soldier was competent or not was by their achievements or the lack of thereof, and the Survey Corps is painfully known for the latter.

It doesn't help at all that they also have gained a reputation because of their massive mortality rates, surpassing by much the other divisions together.

It was a shame, Mukuro couldn't but think that. A shame that it was always those with the best intentions who end up suffering the most, because for some reason destiny believes it was fit to always give them the path of bigger resistance, with the most…despair.

…Leaving that aside, besides everything previously talked about these military divisions, there was one last thing about them of great importance.

That was, the devices every single one of them wears on their hips.

At first, she thought that they were just some type of eccentric sheaths for those blades they carry around and connect to the handles they have with them, something for which she couldn't help but think as impractical considering how heavy and over the top they looked.

It was only a strike of luck that one night when she was looking for a spot to rest, she saw a group of them fooling around out of a tavern in a way too questionable state of drunkenness.

Mukuro considered just rolling her eyes at their deplorable form and calling it a day. Leaving them to be the sorry excuse of a soldier each of them was…until something caught her attention. One of them began to fool around with the mechanism of their equipment, she didn't know at the time what they exactly did, but she managed to see how the back of his gear released pressured gas that made him propel for a moment before stumbling on his own feet and slamming his face on the ground.

Ignoring such a pathetic display from that person and the drunken laughter of his companions, Mukuro decided then and there that she had to get more intel on that equipment.


Karanes District, Four Months After 'Waking Up'…

Several days had passed since the night Mukuro saw those soldiers…playing 'Freaking playing…' with the device each of them carried around, and she was beginning to think that reincarnating 'I will never get used to that term being true on her…or applying at all on someone in the first place…' on a child body was having consequences on her mind. At least that was the excuse she was giving to herself to have something to blame for the impulsiveness and curiosity she was feeling about this.

Leaving that aside, she made it a mission of the highest priority to look for information on that device from a more…practical perspective.

She more or less had become accustomed to this place. Living in the streets had long since become second nature for her, as it was not that different from back in her childhood days 'Her actual childhood days…'. It was harsher, that was undeniable, even less so considering that the cracks signaling a famine are beginning to show around the district if those constant increases in the prices of food are any proof.

But whatever happens, she will manage, Mukuro is confident in that.

The language…well, good for her that the people here speak Japanese. In the writing and reading department though…

She recently acquired a book…although not by legal means, unfortunately. The only people she tends to steal from are thugs like those she found on her first days here, that was her 'income' so to speak. The thing is, though, she just can't afford to use it on anything that wasn't food.

Speaking of which, the book itself wasn't anything special, its only contents consisted of a bunch of kid tales, both the drawings and the simple contents within it told that much. Not like Mukuro minded, she only acquired it to get herself accustomed to this world's writing system.

Although saying that it was a strange experience having to learn to write and read a language that you already know but whose words on its writing system have suddenly turned upside down was a big understatement.

But alas, her point of that rambling was that even with those difficulties, she was already unfazed by almost everything this place has to offer…

…Save for one thing.

Titans.

Mukuro knows that it would be easier for her psyche to just accept that giant man-eating monsters roam around the entire planet than stubbornly refuse to accept their existence when an entire nation 'And apparently, the only one in existence' claims they were real.

But she just couldn't accept it like that, she had to see them for herself…she just had to confirm by her own means if those so-called Titans are truly the creatures everyone claims to be or if it was just the delusions of people from the past mistaking it for something else.

More so when finding the answer to that mystery is the closest thing to closure that I will ever get…

From that train of thought came her desire to understand more about that gear, because if that equipment truly does what Mukuro thinks it does during that short demonstration she saw…

…Then she had an idea, a stupid and impulsive idea that will give her the answer she seeks.

But first of all, intel gathering.


Three weeks of patrolling the North-West area of the district in the middle of the night gave her some useful information regarding her objective.

First, Mukuro discovered that those people were regulars of that tavern she saw them leave the first time She also discovered that said tavern was called 'Cheers and Beers' thanks to their drunk ramblings, useless as that was for her.

Mukuro also found out that they were regulars in making fools of themselves while playing with their gear once they were done having their fun inside the building. Though she had long since already gotten used to expecting the worst of them when they wear that green unicorn on their uniform, so she didn't batter an eyed at that.

Instead, she became grateful that it worked as an example 'A poor one, but an example nonetheless' of how the gear functioned.

Mukuro was also pleased to know that her talent of Ultimate Soldier worked just as fine as she remembers, even with the physical limitations of this new body. Such was the case that she was still capable of absorbing information about military-related equipment 'Foreign as it was…' like a sponge. Thanks to that, Mukuro gained a basic, though still useful, understanding of the device making use of her talent.

The most important piece of the device consisted of a turbine belonging in its lower back that releases the gas, which also worked as housing of what appeared to be steel wires, besides all of that, there was also a compartment that allowed to fire the stored wires. The turbine part was in the very center of the device while on its sides was a pair of shafts that were in charge of storing the wires, meanwhile, the respective compartments peeked out of said shafts.

On each thigh, there was both a sheath and a gas cylinder. The gas cylinder was connected to the turbine, and it didn't took much for Mukuro to understand that was where the gas required for the device to work was stored. Meanwhile, the sheath functioned to store up to four blades on each of them. Why so many blades? Mukuro didn't know. She could only theorize that whatever it is they do with them breaks them regularly, otherwise, it doesn't make sense to carry so many of them.

Then there were the handles connected to the compartments that fired the wires. They didn't only work as the hilt for the detachable swords stored on the sheaths, but also as the controllers for the grapple hooks attached to the wires. From what the raven-haired girl could gather, the handles consisted of two triggers with a lever for each handle. Their functions were to fire the hooks, release pressured gas and retrieve the aforementioned grapples.

Unfortunately, while she could observe that the handles permitted the retrieval of the wires, she couldn't manage to see which trigger released the gas and which one fired the cables.

I will have to take a direct approach to that.

Although on the bright side, from everything she gathered, even if they never got to the point of using it that way, the Ultimate Soldier was gaining more and more confidence in her theory about what was the purpose of that equipment.

And for that very reason, Mukuro knew she had to get her hands on one of them.

Stupid and impulsive, wasn't it?


During the following days of stalking her target, Mukuro noted another detail about the device.

The harnesses.

The raven-haired girl focused so much on the equipment itself that it went past her why those soldiers wear a full-body belt, and it hit her until now that it was necessary to keep those different parts of the device attached, which meant that the equipment was a personalized one depending on the size and weight of the person.

Which meant that she just couldn't steal any of them, it had to be one that could fit her.

While it was true that she does still look considerably younger than how she used to, this past month she had made some progress in reaching 'And maybe eventually surpassing if what I have seen is any indication…' her past height. She estimates that she was already about 5'4'' and doesn't doubt that she will continue to grow even with her harsh living conditions.

Speaking of them.

It was not surprising that because of her lifestyle, she was as thin as ever. Unfortunately, one thing was securing the means to survive and a whole different ordeal was to thrive in commodity, something she accepted to live without way long before her awakening in this place.

The point of those two factors was that out of those 'soldiers', only one of them fitted her criteria…kind of. Even when he appeared to be in his early 40s, he was taller by only an inch and it certainly had more meat on him than her, not by much, but it was enough to be noticeable.

There was no doubt in her mind that his equipment will fit her loose…but she will have to make do with it. The possibility of finding a better candidate is low enough to not like her chances of looking somewhere else.

That and the preparations she had made were already done.

Mukuro confirmed quite a while ago that the people in charge of patrolling this area are those same alcoholics, and that, plus being in the middle of the night increased by a lot her chances of getting away with it. She also noticed that after between thirty minutes and an hour of fooling around, each of them always goes for different ways, isolating his objective without raising suspicion.

Mukuro could admit that she was not used to being this…sneaky, always being more of a direct frontliner in her missions, but thankfully this time the difficulty of the task isn't high, even less so because her obstacle is just a bunch of low-grade soldiers who without a doubt won't be in their most sharp state of mind, so she can afford to go with this path.

That and making herself a known enemy of the military, even for people like this one, would be…problematic.

In any case, Mukuro had to put her musings on hold when she saw how the same group of soldiers she had kept tabs on were done with their foolery. This time they opted to not do any 'practice' with their equipment, instead, they just choose to drink outside the establishment they usually frequent.

"Oi! Oi! Tomorrow it's on you Elias!" A raspy male voice exclaimed between laughs.

Another guy with a slightly high-pitched voice, Elias, if him being annoyed at that comment was any proof, scoffed at that "Piss off, I ain't giving you shit, I barely had enough booze for me!"

"Eh? That's probably good, maybe too much alcohol is what's makin' ya such a dwarf, don't cha think?" A third voice added.

"Yeah! I mean, look at ya! Any less light here and I it will be hard to not confuse ya with a brat!"

While his two companions laughed loudly at that, the shortest of them snapped at them "Again with that shit!? The fuck do you guys know!? You can bet your ass that some women out there will eventually find the charm in guys like me!"

"Pfft! You can't say that you didn't enough booze if you are going around throwing around delusions like that man! Hahahahaha!"

"Heh, I bet he's just saying that because of that 'rising star' back with those suicidal lunatics of the survey corps everyone's talking about"

The man with the raspy voice spatted at that "Bah! I bet that midget is just getting lucky, I guarantee ya that he's Titan food by the next expedition those weirdos do and all those talks will die with him!"

The man called Elias tsked at that "Tch, whatever. I will just go home; the head is fucking killing me, ugh…"

Still hidden in a corner, Mukuro saw how the trio threw some more banters at each other for a few moments before finally departing.

When she was sure those two she had no interest in would not turn back on his companion, Mukuro began her chase.

It was a few minutes of following him, clumsily walking through the streets no doubt because of the intoxication still strong in his body. Tempting as it was, Mukuro couldn't just knock him out at the first chance she gets, she had to wait for the most appropriate moment.

Finally, said moment came in his last turn towards his left where he got himself into a narrow street with very few torches around, making for a very poor illumination of the area. Not only that but after looking ahead and behind her, she confirmed that no one besides her and that soldier was in the vicinity.

This was her chance.

Dashing towards her objective with the speed of a bullet, Mukuro jumped when she was just a few inches behind him to gain enough altitude and strike him on the back of his neck.

"GAH!" Was the only thing the uniformed man said before falling to the ground with a complete lack of consciousness.

Not wasting any time, Mukuro quickly began to drag him towards a nearby alley to remove the chance of a witness. Once she moved him deep enough…she left the alley.

She wants to acquire his equipment, true, but there's no way Mukuro is going to risk someone spotting her carrying around something like that. Because of that, she also got that covered.

A few blocks back from where she left the man, Mukuro put a box big enough to carry all of the pieces that made up the device in another alleyway. Some people would probably raise an eyebrow at her carrying a box this big, but there's a world of difference between that and walking around with military equipment in her hands, so this will have to do.

Once she found herself in the alley and spotted the box she left in a corner, Mukuro rushed to pick it up and went back to the unconscious person to remove his belongings while storing them in the box. All the while with not a single soul to tell about it.

A flawlessly completed mission.


Karanes District, South-West Area, Five Months and a Half After 'Waking Up'…

Before rushing into doing anything else with the gear she acquired, Mukuro prioritized looking for a location in which she could make use of it with no one to disturb her.

It took some time but she finally found the ideal place for it. It was around the slums portion of the town bordering the wall, which worked even better for her. Because this location was deep in the most dangerous region of the district, neither the Garrison nor the Military Police frequented this area, if at all. That meant this was an unpatrolled area not, both on the ground…and on the walls.

If she was going with this, it had to be here.

With all the preparations done, and waiting until the night. Mukuro brought the components of the gear out of the box to equip them herself.

The harness part was slightly more challenging than what Mukuro would've liked to admit. She is sure that the connection of the belts around the body and the entire equipment, in general, is taught in whichever equal of a training institution they have here, but taking into consideration the situation Mukuro finds herself in, that was not an option.

Instead, she embraced the challenge of it.

The raven-haired girl used a mental image of the soldier from whom she stole the gear as a reference to slowly but surely begin to put everything in place. Moving from the chest area to the hips, then to the thighs, making every belt fall into a place she found appropriate, until getting into the lower leg area and finally doing the final adjustments on her feet.

When she was finally done with it, her lips formed into a thin line when just as she expected, it wasn't a perfect match. Mukuro could feel some areas of the harness being slightly loose, it was almost unnoticeable, but the difference was there.

She will have to be extra careful then.

While the next pieces weren't 'easy' per se, it was a lot less of a problem than the harnesses. She started with the sheath and gas cylinders combo equipping it on the thighs just as she remembered seeing, then with the mechanism in charge of releasing the gas, connecting it both in the waist belt and with the tanks. Finally, she brought out the handlers and attached them to the mechanism.

The moment Mukuro was finished putting everything into place, the first thing she noticed was how…light the gear felt on her. With how big it looked and considering that it was made of metal, the raven-haired girl expected to feel the weight of all of that. She didn't know metal could be so light…

Knowing that she won't get the answer to that anytime soon, if ever, and also because of how irrelevant for her objective that was. Mukuro decided to leave that aside and finally get into the practical part.

First and foremost, she had to test the triggers, as they currently were the biggest interrogative of this device.

Steeling herself in case it would propel her, Mukuro pressed the top triggers of each handle facing in the direction of the wall…

…And that fired the hooks with such speed that they perforated the Wall enough to attach themselves to it.

Huh, at least now I know that and also have a very solid idea of what the lower trigger will do.

She decided to move on to the next step.

Mukuro headed onto an alley in the proximity that was just spacious enough for what she planned to do. When she finally was in a proper location, she adjusted herself and began to take a few steps back while locking her gaze on her objective.

The roof that was a few meters in front of her.

Mukuro has watched those soldiers enough to form an idea of what will happen next. She has never seen them do that, even so, she's confident that it truly does what she thinks it does, and she will prove it.

After being satisfied with the distance Mukuro took between herself and the roof, she once again steeled her nerves, taking a breath in and a breath out.

She will not gain anything by procrastinating this.

As soon as she told herself that, Mukuro began to run while firing the hooks into her target.

Then she jumped.

And then she pressed the lower trigger.

! ! !

Her heartbeat accelerated as the adrenaline began to run through her body after she jumped…and didn't landed on the ground. Far from it, she was elevating herself more and more at a tremendous speed.

Though before she could keep marveling at this, her instincts kicked in and she adjusted herself so that instead of slamming into the wall of the building, she flew past it, past the roof and now she was a few meters above it.

Mukuro proceeded to reel the cables back into the compartment and repositioned herself while using a bit of gas to reduce the speed at which she was falling until she finally landed without a problem at the top of the roof.

…She had done it.

…Which means she was right.

Some corner of her mind had doubts about it, thinking that this gear was only designed to boost the speed of its users, just like those fools were using it for. But no, her efforts have not been in vain.

It's kind of weird how a place so far behind in technology had managed to build something as complex as this, but here it is. A device that allows individual flight…well, it's more among the lines of allowing three-dimensional movement, but that doesn't lower how impressive it is.

Even more so because this is just what she needed.

Mukuro put her gaze in the direction of the Wall…of the fifty meters Wall, then up in the sky where the moon was in its full splendor, greeting her with not a single cloud to block it from anyone else who desired to admire it too.

She wasn't doing this on any random night. She knows that once she's up there, Mukuro will need the natural illumination a full moon offers to get a clear sight and confirm by herself what had been nagging her mind for the past months,

From everything she had been hearing, beyond these walls there was no active civilization, just ruins of what once used to be human territory. All of it now controlled by a monstrous race that dedicates to nothing else other than eating humans known as Titans.

Tonight, she will get up there, see the truth by herself…

…And she was finally going to put an end to this dilemma.

Carefully jumping down the building, Mukuro walked out of the alley in search of a space that she could use to gain momentum no different than the one she used for her previous test with the equipment.

Speaking of said equipment, the raven-haired girl learned a few things about it when she was propelling through the air. Her natural talent made it seem as easy to use, but by all means, the usage of this gear is far from simple. Both a focused mind and a considerable amount of strength, especially in the hip area, are essential for the proper use of it.

Knowing what triggers are required to use, when to press them, for how long, in which direction you point the anchor, and how to balance your body, among others. You have to be capable of doing all of that in the span of a second, if Mukuro hadn't been capable of that or worse, panicked in the middle of the process, she would've without a doubt lost her balance and either slammed herself into a wall or broke a bone or two during her flight once she landed the wrong way.

Being both strong and flexible is necessary to change the direction of her movements in the middle of a flight. It is true that just a moment ago, she only adjusted herself to gain altitude and later readjusted her footing, but she doesn't doubt that there's much more to this device than what she has seen so far, and that's where true mastery of the gear will matter the most.

Either way, after walking for a few minutes she finally found a proper spot. Looking up and down at it with an appreciating gaze, she couldn't see anything but concrete.

It's just like before, but just on a bigger scale.

After psyching herself up to clear her mind of any spec of doubt she could have. Mukuro took another breath in, and another breath out.

Following that, she distanced herself from the wall, and once she was satisfied enough with the space at her disposal…

…She dashed forward.

Fired the pair of wires on the wall, higher than what she did for the roofs.

Just like she previously did, Mukuro jumped and then released the gas, immediately adjusting herself to advance vertically instead of horizontally, embracing the speed at which she was propelling herself.

Once she gained enough altitude and the cables were about to reach their limit, Mukuro released and reeled back the hooks from the wall while allowing the momentum to do the job of launching her higher and higher and higher and higher and higher…

…And when she elevated past the Wall, Mukuro readjusted herself and launched the hooks atop of it, then proceeded to release gas to move in that same spot.

There was a thud sound when she finally landed on her knees and as soon as that occurred, her instincts kicked off, making her relax soon after, with Mukuro looking almost oblivious to the fact that she had just flown more than fifty meters in a matter of seconds…and she was completely fine after achieving such a feat on a first try.

Although good as that was, she didn't allow this moment to last for long. Mukuro came here for a reason and only that reason.

Looking to her right, the raven-haired girl can see a few kilometers away the orangish bright dot belonging to a torch of someone guarding that section of the wall. Her left is a similar case, while in front of her…

…What she sees…

…The only word she has for it is…

…Beautiful.

The grass, the hills, and even that giant forest she sees in the distance, all of it.

The landscape that sprawls before her was in its purest state, with not a single spot showing signs of artificial disturbance. It was a combination of dark blue and green that mixed until the darkness becomes powerful enough to consume the rest of it. She ended up taking a few steps forward, careful of avoiding the border and a stupid death, to get a slightly better view of the scenery.

Mukuro couldn't help but think of how much she had been missing if it was after almost half a year until she finally gets to see this. She almost feels giddy at the possibility of camping on this exterior, there instead of the dirty and stinky buildings she uses as shelter from time to time.

In such a state of daze, the Ultimate Soldier couldn't help but wonder what was stopping her and other people to go out there and enjoy such a gorgeous―

SLAM!

Her internal musings got interrupted by the sound of something big crashing with the Wall, the minuscule vibration she felt even with her current altitude being proof of that.

Mukuro quickly transitioned to her soldier state of mind and brought herself out of any stupor she could still have while remembering why did she was here, now more than ever thanks to that sound she just heard.

Taking one last step ahead to get sight of what's down there, which thanks to the light the moon provides, allowed her to see with clarity what she needs to look for…

…And…and what she saw…

Mukuro didn't let out a scream or cried out in horror.

She didn't took a step back in fearful retreat.

Neither did she flinch at was she was seeing.

But it did make her feel the earliest signs of goosebumps ran through her entire being.

Because the responsible for that sound…was a hand. The most prominent thing about said hand was…how enormous it was. There's zero doubt on her mind that it was big enough to cover her entirely with room to spare.

Mukuro's gaze flickered from the hand…to the creature that owns said hand.

Oh, it resembled a human, of thirteen meters, but a human nonetheless, the raven-haired girl doesn't question that, but all the while, she refused to believe that was a human being, if anything, it was nothing but a cruel travesty of what a human was.

The general structure was there. It had eyes, a nose, a mouth, ears, hair, and limbs. Weirdly enough, even though it's naked, it doesn't appear to possess genitals. A silver lining, because that would only make it more of a disturbing sight than what it already is.

But as 'human' as all that was, when you look at how everything is shaped, you understand then and there its alien nature. The head looked way bigger than it should be, its eyes were unnaturally large and unfocused as if its mind was somewhere else far away. While it was true that its hands and arms were considerably big, it was only when in comparison with herself, on that thing, they looked disproportionate, too small for that big torso and belly it carries around, and the same goes for the legs, they were too short and thin that it makes her wonder how does that thing doesn't get tired of standing on them.

Then there was its mouth.

Instead of being too small, it was the absolute opposite. It was abnormally big that it almost reached the entire circumference of its head, and on the mouth, an unfaltering grin was plastered, trying and failing to hide its sadistic nature.

And by some random whim of destiny, without knowing the reason why. That thing turned its head upwards and caught sight of her.

The Ultimate Soldier watched with morbid fascination how under the beautiful glow of the moon, the eyes of this thing sparked to life and a full gleam covered them as they caught sight of new prey, with the primal hunger resurfacing as its mouth opened wide while raising its hands in a desperate attempt to catch her, almost as if thinking she's already on the insides of its maw.

A despairfully mockery of humanity only someone like her sister could think of.

Though impactful as seeing this was, what mattered the most from this encounter was…

…That it was real.

Those monsters everyone talks about and fears. Responsible for the almost extinction of humanity, and what she thought of as the delusions from outdated people…they are real and there's nothing she can do to deny their existence anymore, not when one of them is down there attempting and failing to eat her.

…She finally did it, didn't she?

She finally caught up with the despairful reality.


Present…

…Mukuro ended up gaining more understanding of the situation she was in than what she bargained for…

That night she accepted that Titans were real, and with it, a whole can of worms opened up.

First of all, that crazy theory about time traveling was discarded…and instead, the even more demented truth turned out to be that she woke in a different world or an alternate reality altogether, either of them just as possible, and both tell her an undeniable truth.

Mukuro was no longer home, she can confirm that in every sense of the word now. Her classmates didn't exist in this reality and they never will.

She already accepted that she will never see them again since quite a long ago, but in a certain way, it was…reassuring knowing that any chance of actually happening had been buried, considering the way too paranormal circumstances in which she found herself here in the first place. Mukuro didn't know how she would keep up with her day by day if any residue of doubt, of false hope, still lingered in her mind.

The Ultimate Soldier is also sure that Yamada had a term for her situation. Piskai, Bintekai, Istebai…it was something among those lines she is sure of it, but with all those different terms he spelled every day it was hard to keep up with all of them.

Putting aside that, though.

This also brings back the topic of Wall Maria.

And it was that, besides the regular Titan plaguing the world, there also emerged out of nowhere a colossal one, reaching more than fifty meters, and an armored one whose skin doesn't get even a scratch at cannon fire. Both of them were just as capable of breaking the Walls that prevent humanity from its total annihilation, which mind you, they already did with one of them, robbing humanity of one-third of its total territory.

All of that happened on the same day she woke up in this world.

…Sigh.

One would have to wonder why they hadn't just gotten done with it and taken care of the other two Walls already. Maybe they find pleasure in the slow but constant suffering their actions caused. Or perhaps because just their existence alone is a reminder that everything could go to hell in the snap of a finger and they thrive in that fear? Who knows, but this would not be the first time she had met someone with that kind of mentality if any of those options were the case.

…That about covers her recollection of events.

Carrying around that device she used to get atop the wall would bring more problems than what it was worth, especially because it ran out of gas long ago, so she just threw it in the canal located in the east area of the district.

Besides that, she just went on with her life surviving month by month without a path in mind. Even as time passed and the living conditions got harsher, Mukuro prevailed, and that was enough for her, that was all she needed to keep the memories of her classmates with her.

…Or at least that was the case until three months ago.

On the anniversary of her new life, something happened that brought her to this moment, an event that made her feel necessary to reflect on everything she had lived in this world up until now.

One exact year after the Fall of Wall Maria, when the civilian disorder reached its peak because of the famine affecting the population within the walls, it was decided to call for a mission to reclaim back Wall Maria.

For such a mission, the government spent the following month and a half drafting most of the refugees coming from said lands. During such a period, Mukuro saw how hundreds and hundreds of adults were drawn out of the streets and their shelters towards Trost District, where the operation was going to take place. One thing these people had in common besides being refugees, was that every single one of them left with an expression full of…despair.

Not long after they were done with the recruitment part, the government gave the green light to begin what was the biggest operation this humanity had seen in one hundred years.

Someone would ask…

…If that had already happened some time ago, what makes this specific day so important?

Well, the importance of this day comes from the fact that…just this morning the results of the operation to retake Wall Maria were made public.

Out of 250,000 human lives sent to Titan territory…only 100 of them came back alive, with nothing to show for it.

In the span of half a month, a fifth of the entire human population died eaten alive, just like that. An incident worthy of the darkest days during The Tragedy she thought long since she left behind.

Even when neither of them was correlated, with such a level of despair, Mukuro couldn't avoid feeling the looming shadow of Junko coming back to haunt her, almost whispering into her ears that no matter where she ran, despair always followed.

It was a wake-up call for Mukuro.

She felt like she needed to recall her past…to think about her future.

What were her plans for it?

She thought of the possibility of keeping her homeless lifestyle, she also thought of maybe finding work in the factories or even something like the farms 'This world doesn't have a problem with child labor, so it should be fine…'

But regardless of how much she thought of the possibilities available to her, Mukuro's mind always drifted towards the Titans.

Of those creatures.

Of the threat they represent.

Of the source of despair, they have made of themselves.

Then she thought of her talent, the thing Mukuro does better than anyone else. When she began to think of that, she pondered about the future that awaited her if she joined the Military Police or the Garrison. After what she went through in her past life and as time went on in her current one, she developed mixed feelings about the possibility of joining the life of a soldier once again.

From what she has seen so far, it was obvious that if she were to join either of them it wouldn't be like her past self, she won't have to commit the same atrocities she once did…but the fact that she would have to confront other human beings was nagging her. Sure, she was fine with knocking out thugs and irresponsible soldiers from time to time, but what if one day she had to resort to more drastic measures? Would that eventually turn her back into the mass murderer she once was? Mukuro didn't know the answer and neither wanted to.

The image of a pair of wings, a blue and a white one, came to her mind…

…She doesn't owe anything to the people of this world. No one here had ever given her a hand, and everything she had done here so far to survive had been by her merit. Mukuro was serious about only living and keeping the memories of those she lost the right to call friends being all she needed…

…Even so…

…When she thinks of her classmates…

…She couldn't help asking herself if they would be fine with that.

After everything she had done, she obtained a second chance in her life, even more than that, there was the entirety of this humanity desperately needing someone like her…and all she was doing about that was to think of herself as if she had already absolved of her sins, acting as if what was happening around her is not her problem.

Would they think that was the right thing to do…?

…Maybe she doesn't owe anything to these people…

…But she sure as hell owns an entire life of redemption for those she left behind.

Maybe they won't be here to watch her and much less accept her attempt at an apology, but that was fine. She wasn't doing this out of self-satisfaction, she was doing it because this was the very least she could do.

It seems all of that reflection she did its work, huh?

Now that that is done…

…The next order of business should be to find where one does enlist in this place.


A/N: Aaaand onto meeting the rest of the cast she goes!

I feel like three chapters / about 20k+ words of summary about Mukuro adapting to this new world is good enough to move into the recruit arc.

By no means that is the same as saying that suddenly everything is sunshine and rainbows for her, not only because she still does have things that need to be polished in the adapting area, but also because she's far, quite far from feeling…or being fine.

And that's something Mukuro will have to solve as the story goes on, with the despair and death that goes included in the package. Merciful and understanding are not words you would use to describe the world of AoT after all.

In any case, tell me what do you guys think because as always, any review or constructive feedback is greatly appreciated, see ya!