AN: Hi every- (ducks as a chair flies overhead) WHAT THE HECK?!
Random reader: Where've you been?! I thought you said another chapter to Spark of Fire would be up by New Years?! You're a month behind chick!
A: Well SO-RRY! I HAVE been working on it, but for some reason it's extremely hard to write the current chapter that I'm working on. I'd say I'm about five minutes until the end of the episode, that's how much more I have! And I have good reason for the delay as well! Just a couple weeks ago was semester exams. SENIOR semester exams. So to put it simply, mostly because I'm a bit paranoid when it comes to keeping grades up, I spent most of winter break studying for them, so I haven't had a lot of time for writing! Happy now?!
(Takes some deep breaths) Anyway, that's my little rant there. Seriously though, exams were just biting at my heals this year so I do deeply apologize for the large delay in Spark of Fire. I will try to have the chapter done and up by the end of next week at the latest. Plus, the chapter after the next is one of my favorite episodes and I'm really looking forward to writing it, so I'm trying to use that as my drive to finish the current one. If you all will just be a bit more patient in that, I will do my best to update more often.
So this is another little idea I thought of. I've also been trying to expand a bit of my anime world (mostly to try and find inspiration for story scenes) and I recently have been watching Akame ga Kill, and started Attack on Titan just last week. The result of watching both shows in such close proximity resulted in this! Let me know what you think because I do plan to continue this one! Keep your eyes open for it!
This story takes place a little after the end of the Attack on Titan anime (about a year later), and a little bit before the Akame ga Kill anime starts.
So, to satisfy your hunger for updates, I'll give you this small thing to chew on as you wait. Hope you enjoy!
Prologue
Their hooves pounded the ground, desperate to escape the threat of what was behind them. Four horses galloped through the Forest of Giant Trees. There were still several miles from HQ, and their enemy was gaining fast.
"Captain Levi!" a boy with blonde hair shouted to their leading rider in a panic, "What do we do?!"
The leading rider gave a very forced sigh, "We'll try and outrun them. If we keep this pace up we should make it back to base in time. Do not try to fight them; we can't afford any one of us getting hurt!" He gave the order in a monotonous and stern voice. His subordinates knew what that meant well enough, and that wasn't to question his orders.
The rider on the blonde's left, a dark-haired, green-eyed young man his same age chanced a look back, but nearly lost the balance of his horse at the unexpected action.
"Eren!" the final member of the group, a dark haired girl, snapped, "Don't look back!"
The boy, Eren, nodded his head before facing forward again. All four of the members were part of the Survey Corps that were tasked with taking back land from monsters that had been hunting them for over a century: the Titans. They looked like overgrown copies of their human counterparts, but unlike their younger copies, the Titans had a great taste for the blood of humankind, driving them to extinction nearly overnight. Mankind was forced to retreat behind high walls for about a century of uneasy peace.
But about six years ago, two of the Titans, known as the Colossal and Armored, broke through Wall Maria as if mass destruction was child's play. Mankind was forced to withdraw behind Wall Rose as twenty percent of them were wiped out.
Then, another five years later, the Colossal appeared again, and broke through Wall Rose, forcing mankind to withdraw again, behind Wall Sina.
However, thanks to an unexpected turn of events, Eren Jaeger, a young cadet in training discovered he had the strange power to transform into a titan, and he used this power to beat the titans back and reclaim Wall Rose again.
It had been a year since that event, and since then Eren and his two childhood friends, Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert had since joined the Survey Corps to win back land taken by the titans so that humanity could live in peace again.
After witnessing their superior skills and combat skills in action and in training, the three were then later integrated into a brand new squad alongside several of their other graduates under direct command of Levi Ackerman.
Currently, Levi had taken Armin, Mikasa, and Eren on a mission to survey the surrounding forest once again, and believing that it would be routine, they decided not to bring backup with them.
However, they had greatly underestimated their situation as two four meter and a seven meter titan were barrelling towards them. Their eyes glistened with hunger and glee, their faces far too happy for the savages they were.
The trees that towered over them were large and broad, perfect for their 3D Maneuver Gear. As they continued to ride, Eren wondered just how easily it could be for the the four of them to take down these titans here and now, they weren't Abnormal, just plain stupid. However, looks were deceiving. Even if they were stupid, it wasn't like they didn't stand a chance against him or Armin, Levi and/or Mikasa no, but if they attacked at once, then maybe. The young titan-shifter felt sweat beading into his palms causing his hands to slip across the leather harness as his heart beat loudly in his ears as he heard the footsteps get closer.
Then suddenly, they stopped.
"Mikasa? Armin?" Eren asked after about thirty seconds of silence, other than the clopping of their own horses.
"I don't hear them anymore either!" Armin replied. Mikasa nodded.
"All of you stop!" Levi ordered as he pulled the reigns before ejecting himself. Obeying his orders, the three of them slowed their horses and got off as well.
"Captain look!" Armin said pointing in the direction that the titans had been coming from. Or used to be coming from.
The titans were still in close distance from the four of them but the way they were actually was very abnormal for even titan behavior. The three of them were still standing but they looked confused as if there was something in the area other than tasty humans that could grab their attention. They would occasionally glance in their direction, causing them to tense and ready to spring into action if they charged again. Finally, being the strangest behavior, the three titans turned and bolted in the other direction, leaving Eren, Levi, Armin, and Mikasa alone in the forest.
For a whole minute no one in the group said a word, only listening to the loud, eerie silence that now surrounded the forest. Even Levi seemed to be in shock, though the emotion wasn't visible on his stoic face. Levi narrowed his eyes at this new development. Why would these titans suddenly grow a brain and run away from them? Had they been intelligent the entire time?
"They ran," Mikasa said, finally breaking the silence, "away from us… Why?"
"What can you make of it Captain Levi?" Armin asked.
Levi said nothing for a moment before frowning deeply as a small theory formed in his head. "I don't think they were running from us. They were running from something else."
"Okay." Eren said, "But what would scare away a titan?"
The split second the words left his mouth, Eren got his answer. In the blink of an eye, at the bottom of their feet, the ground suddenly glowed a bright violet circle appeared right under their feet. At the center, closest to where Armin was standing, was another circle with white and black sides and two circles of the opposite color in their drops, and it was slowly rotating. That wasn't the terrifying part however. What was terrifying was that the circle seemed to be consuming them! As it moved farther up their bodies and away from the ground, their feet were replaced with nothingness.
Though Levi was the only one to not shout in terror, the confusion and fright was completely visible on his face. Not knowing what it was that was happening, he said the first thing he could think of.
"Brace yourselves!" he managed to shout out, just as the violet circle overtook them, and they vanished in a wink of light.
P.S. For those of you who are huge Attack on Titan fans (Don't deny it! I know how many of you there are! ;P), I will remind you that I started watching this just last week, so I'm only on episode 9 or 10 right now. If any of the characters seem a bit OOC right now, just let me know. I will try to write them better as I continue the show. Thanks!