On the next day, Akuma sat atop a roof of a random house close to the gate that led to the inner wall. It was early morning and the sun was just rising so the streets were relatively empty and the ones that could be predominantly seen were the Survey Corps.

All of them rode on horses and were leaving through the gates as the soldiers guarding the wall were there to see them off, even Hannes was awake but he kept on holding on to his forehead in pain from the searing hangover he had.

Erwin looked around then up at the roofs until he spotted Akuma, they stared at each other intensely and Erwin gave her a nod to which Akuma returned in affirmation of their understanding. Erwin lifted up his hood and passed through the gates as other soldiers passed through as well and Akuma stood up while watching the gates close.

She ran to the edge of the roof and jumped to another roof, doing the same to more houses and eventually landed on familiar territory away from the gates. She yawned as she walked along the dirt path and stretched her arms to ease the tension but stopped when she spotted it.

'That house…' Akuma thought as she stared at Mikasa's former home and got brief flashes of what happened that day.

She approached the house and peeped through the windows but the curtains were closed and blocked everything. She rolled her eyes and went to open the door but it was locked.

Keyword was, since Akuma just kicked it open anyway and it fell out of its hinges. She shrugged uncaringly and entered the abandoned house to find that all the furniture was still there but the blood and corpses were gone.

"Didn't take them long to clean it up." Akuma commented as she sniffed the air and the scent of blood still hanged over the house but it was barely there.

She walked through each room, not really knowing what she was looking for or why she was even there. Once she entered the last room, she found it to be a bed room with relatively large bed and on the center of the bed sat a neatly folded red scarf.

Akuma picked up the scarf and sniffed it, the scent was familiar to her but still different. It partly had Mikasa's scent but the most dominant one was something she could recognize but not accurately put her finger on, she had only smelt this scent once and the fact that it also had some residue of Mikasa meant that…that was when Akuma widened her eyes as she finally recognized the scent.

Akuma sighed as she folded the scarf into a small patch and put it into her pocket "I should at least give this to her, it would be something to remember her mother by at least."

~

Clark Connors was a butcher in Shiganshina and newly retired soldier. After his traumatic encounter with the Nine Tails, Clark decided that there would be no hope for humanity and chose to live a more peaceful life as he waited for his eventual death.

As a butcher he's faced many cases that could be solved easily since his training as a soldier helped him with blade work and chopping smaller meat was no problem for him. Although yesterday he had a strange case when frequent customer of his rushed to him and demanded almost all of his stock since all of his cooked meat was stolen by rebellious children.

And now Clark had woken up early in the morning to head to the farms and stock up on some meat or else his business would shut down then and there.

~

Multiple loud bangs were rocked upon a wooden door and the occupants were both surprised and confused once they heard whoever was knocking arguing outside of their home.

"Akuma you said you would knock." Armin stated.

"I did didn't I!?" Akuma exclaimed.

"That was knocking? I thought you were trying to break the door down." Armin retorted.

"Great Idea, I'll do that instead!" Akuma exclaimed and Armin screamed as he held her back.

Eren and Mikasa looked at each other and Eren grinned that his new friends came back while Mikasa was excited at the prospect of seeing Akuma again. Grisha stared at the door in interest and a beautiful woman with long black hair, tied up in a ponytail, and amber eyes moved from the sink to the door.

When the door opened the woman was surprised to see Akuma grinning dangerously with Armin on the ground and her foot on his back.

"Victory!" Akuma exclaimed as Armin groaned.

The woman blinked in surprise and gave the two a smile "H-Hello?"

"Yo! Are Eren and Mikasa here?" Akuma asked as she stepped off Armin.

"Oh you must be the friends they were talking about yesterday, Eren would not shut up about you two." The woman said with a smile "I'm Carla, Eren's mother."

"Mom!" Eren whined as he was now standing behind her with a dull look "Stop embarrassing me in front of my friends!"

Carla squealed as she pinched his cheeks "My baby boy has friends!"

"Cut it out!" Eren shouted as he tried to move away.

Mikasa walked past them and approached Akuma with a small smile.

"W-what?" Akuma asked unsure of her intentions "D-don't think I forgot about the stunt you pulled yesterd-"

Akuma was cut off by a hug from Mikasa and she was shocked once more "O-Oi!? Is this gonna be a constant thing with you!?"

"Aww Mikasa, you and your little friend look so cute together." Carla stated as Eren gave Akuma a cheeky grin.

"Little!?" Akuma exclaimed as Mikasa let go of Akuma with a blush at Carla's words.

"Morning Akuma." Grisha greeted as he approached them.

Akuma stared at the man with an unreadable expression "Yo."

"Akuma…" Carla muttered as she remembered what Grisha and Eren told her when they took in Mikasa and she gasped.

Carla got on her knees and gave Akuma a big hug to which Akuma tried to get out of "OI! Not you too! What's wrong with you humans!?"

"Thank you!" Carla exclaimed as she cried.

"Huh?" Akuma asked in confusion.

Carla looked at her with a teary smile "I lost my best friend that day but I'm glad that her daughter still has a chance at life and that's all because of you, so thank you Akuma!"

Akuma felt someone hug her right arm and saw that it was Mikasa holding onto her tightly while Eren smiled at her with a nod and Armin looked confused.

After that emotional fiasco, the kids walked along the streets of Shiganshina as they followed Akuma's lead.

"S-so what was that about?" Armin asked.

Akuma didn't respond and Mikasa just walked closer to Akuma and Eren looked at him "I'll tell you later."

"O-okay…" Armin said.

"So where are we going?" Eren asked.

Akuma smirked as she pointed at the handprint on the wall "Up there."

"Huh!?" Eren and Armin exclaimed as Mikasa widened her eyes.

"Why are we going to the wall!? We can't do that!" Armin exclaimed.

Akuma scoffed "There's nobody in this world that can tell me what I can or can't do…not anymore."

"But why?" Mikasa asked.

Akuma grinned "I wanna see the outside of course! Get a view of what we're missing out on. C'mon, you can't honestly tell me that you haven't wanted to see it too."

The group remained quiet as Eren nodded confidently with a smirk of his own.

"Let's do it!" Eren stated.

"Eren…" Armin muttered.

Akuma smirked "Nice! Let's go."

"But what if we get caught?" Armin asked nervously.

"We ain't gonna get caught, and if we do then I'll just take care of them." Akuma replied as she continued walking and they followed.

"B-but what if we do?" Armin said as he stopped and looked to the ground.

"Armin." Akuma said as Armin felt a hand on top of his head and looked up at Akuma who was smiling at him "Trust me."

Armin stared at her and found himself nodding as Akuma smirked and ran ahead with them following soon after.

~

Clark wiped the sweat from his forehead at the hot sun as he navigated his carriage filled with meat through the now populated and bustling streets. He sighed in annoyance at the fact that his horse could barely take two steps with the amount of people in the way. He sat back in his seat and looked around, spotting a strange sight in the process.

He widened his eyes when he spotted four kids running up the wooden elevation platform that led to the top of the wall. Without even thinking, Clark jumped out of his seat and ran through the streets until he reached the wall and groaned when he saw all the guards passed out with bottles of alcohol around them.

~

With the final step, Akuma jumped onto the wall and sighed happily at the fresh air. Eren, Mikasa and Armin gasped and widened their eyes as they joined Akuma and looked out at the view. Large amassing grasslands with forests in various parts of the area, it was beautiful to say the least but what ruined it was the three titans that just walked around the wall.

"This is amazing." Eren stated as Mikasa and Armin nodded.

"Told you it would be." Akuma said.

"Wow…this is the first time I've ever seen the outside." Armin said in awe.

"Hey! You kids!" They heard Clark shout and turned to see him reach the top and join them.

"What are you doing here!? This isn't a place for kids!" Clark asked in worry.

Akuma widened her eyes as she recognized his face and flashed back to the first time she was at the wall 'You…'

"Oh no!" Armin exclaimed in fear.

"Why not!? We have a right to see what these cages are holding us back from." Eren shouted as he stomped his foot on the wall.

"What if you fall? Soldiers are hard at work to protect you from the titans and you kids are here interrupting everything." Clark stated.

"Protecting the alcohol that is." Akuma said with an eye roll.

"And how would you know!?" Eren exclaimed as he glared at Clark "You're not a soldier! So you're not supposed to be here too!"

Clark reeled back as he clenched his fists with shadowed eyes "I…I…"

"You what?" Armin asked.

"You used to be a soldier." Akuma stated with a smirk and folded arms.

"Yes…I used to be a soldier." Clark said as he sighed and walked past them, sitting on the edge of the wall.

"A soldier?" Eren asked.

"Part of the Garrison to be more exact, my job was to guard the wall and make sure the equipment like the cannons were in order." Clark explained as he had a reminiscent smile "But that's all in the past now."

"What happened?" Armin asked.

Clark sighed "I quit."

"You quit? You pledged your heart to protect humanity but you decided to quit instead!?" Eren exclaimed angrily.

"You would quit too!" Clark shouted as he looked at Eren tearfully "You would quit too…"

"Why did you quit sir?" Mikasa asked.

"After what I saw, I realized and truly believed that we are the prey and they are the hunters." Clark stated which surprised the kids except Akuma "If you didn't see it then I'm glad you were spared from such horrors but if you did…then you would understand that there was no point in fighting back."

"What do you mean-" Armin was about to ask but Eren cut him off.

"The Nine-Tailed-Titan." Eren stated.

Clark widened his eyes in surprise "Y-you saw it?"

Eren nodded "Yeah, I'll never forget it. I always thought it was a dream but so many people say they saw it which proves that it was real."

"That bad?" Akuma asked.

"Worse." Eren answered "I really thought everyone was going to die that day, but it just disappeared as fast as it appeared without a single trace which gives me hope that maybe it will never come back. But to be honest, I'm just scared…I'm scared that it will come back and finish us, making humankind extinct, that is if the titans don't get to us first."

"Exactly. There's no point to it, being a soldier just so we can wait around for monsters like the Nine Tails to show up and decimate us is just plain-" Clark was cut off when Akuma laughed.

"What kind of coward are you!?" Akuma shouted.

"What?" Clark asked as everyone looked at her.

"I asked what kind of coward you were! So you saw a monster that presented unbeatable odds and your best option is to run away!? Pathetic! I don't care what you think or who you are because nothing will stop me from doing what I want and what I want is to become a soldier and slaughter every single one of them!" Akuma shouted with a fire in her eyes.

Clark stared at her in shock as Eren started to grin in admiration with a newfound fire of his own, Armin was shocked and looked nervous while Mikasa smiled and nodded to Akuma's words as her own promise to follow her to world's end.

"H-hey! There's another person up here!" Armin shouted as he pointed at the handprint on the wall which was a farther away from them and there was indeed a person standing on the handprint.

"Who is that?" Clark asked in confusion.

"Only one way to find out." Eren stated as she ran to the person with Armin and Clark following.

Mikasa was about to go but stopped when she noticed Akuma still staring out at the grassland with a content smile.

"Mikasa…" Akuma stated which sent shivers up Mikasa's spine "How have you been? After the first time we met…"

Mikasa immediately knew what Akuma was talking about and looked down in sadness at the memory "I-I've been good…better."

Akuma nodded as she took out the scarf from her pocket and held it in front of Mikasa who widened her eyes "I found this at your old house, thought you might want it."

Mikasa gently took the scarf as she began tearing up "T-This was my mother's scarf."

Akuma stared at her crying face and grabbed the scarf which surprised Mikasa and what surprised her even more was when Akuma wrapped the scarf around her neck and pulled her close as they were now chest to chest and their faces were closer than ever.

"Stop all the damn crying Mikasa!" Akuma shouted as he looked her in the eye "You lost people who were important to you and I know it hurts but crying won't bring them back! It may feel like you have no one right now but you have me and I'm not going anywhere, understand!?"

Mikasa cried even harder as she put her head on Akuma's chest, Akuma gently held her face and wiped away the tears in the process. She wrapped the scarf around Mikasa's neck with a smile "This scarf will be a memento of those you've lost and those you've gained."

Mikasa nodded as Akuma stepped back "C'mon, those idiots are still waiting for us."

Akuma ran towards the men on the handprint with Mikasa following her. Once they reached the group, Akuma was surprised to see the person they saw was in fact Silus with a bottle of wine in hand.

'Him as well…' Akuma thought as she pointed at Silus "Who's this guy?"

Silus chuckled though the chuckle had no energy to it and the man looked visibly depressed "The name is Silus little lady."

"Hmph!" Akuma hummed with folded arms.

"Mr. Silus was also a soldier but he quit for the same reasons Mr. Clark had." Armin explained.

"Don't blame him." Clark said as he stared out to the grasslands.

"Then what are you doing here?" Akuma asked.

"I pulled some strings from old friends and came to see if I could find my nerves from back then." Silus said as he sighed and gulped down more wine.

"You gave up too?" Eren asked.

"I wouldn't call it giving up," Silus articulated "More, tactical retreat. Indefinitely."

"Uh…" Akuma said as she sweat dropped.

"He gave up." Mikasa said.

"W-well what do you know!? You weren't face to face with that thing so don't tell me about giving up!" Silus shouted.

Akuma scoffed as everyone looked at her smirking face "I'm not gonna say the same speech I gave your coward of a friend but I will tell you this, I will tell you all this! They are the prey and I am the hunter, remember that!"

And with that statement, Akuma made a vow to hunt the titans and the humans. Not for humanity but for her own personal gain and for her own enjoyment, humanity be damned.

~

2 YEARS LATER

Everyone in Shiganshina stared at the wall in shock and fear at the event happening once more. It wasn't an attack as devastating as the Nine-Tailed-Titan but still horrible in every possible way. They never expected this would happen but here it was and it was all real. Akuma, Eren, Mikasa and Armin were in a crowd as they got a full view of a titan looking over the wall with one hand on top of it. While everyone was staring at it in fear, Akuma may have been the only one who was staring at the titan with an animalistic smirk as her prey had unknowingly come to her.