Good Evening friends, EphermeralSummers here!

Sorry for the early update, but I've decided to update as I complete chapters. So, updates will be sporadic... but I hope that's okay. At max, updates will be a week apart, but hopefully they'll come sooner!

I didn't mention it before, but this is my first story, so please review with comments. All are appreciated! Thank you as usual, and please enjoy :)

So many follows and favorites too, so thank you for that too!

Chapter 1

"A Boy's Defense"

The team worked together like lightning. At the head of the brigade, Commander Shadis screamed instructions to his soldiers. The horses charged like thunder, and it wasn't long until more titans were upon them. They hadn't had a peaceful moment in hours, and he was starting to panic. Commander Shadis knew that venturing outside the wall was risky, but when he looked at the remains of his broken team, he couldn't find the value in leaving the wall anymore. The Scout Regiment was in shambles. It didn't seem to matter how hard they worked or what amazing soldiers they were anymore. The fact was always the same – the titans would always best them.

"Ahead," he heard his second-in-command, Erwin Smith, call out from behind him. "A five meter titan, standing directly in the middle of our path."

Commander Shadis looked up to see the massive creature. "Engage on my order," he commanded his soldiers. "Remember how we practiced!"

When the titan was within range, Shadis gave the order to engage. First, scouts would use their omnidirectional gear to distract the titan from the sides. Then, while the titan was distracted, the others would attack and go for the kill. The attack on the five meter started seamlessly, but the titan quickly moved into a clearing in the forest. Shadis cursed quietly under his breath, open land was the best possible counter to their omnidirectional movement gear; the titan now had the advantage.

The terrible creature violently swung its arm to the left and came into contact with a stray soldiers' gear. The soldier flung outward with the force of the violent blow and slammed into a nearby tree. A crushing sound erupted, and Shadis knew that it was unlikely the soldier had survived such a devastating attack.

"Quick!" Shadis yelled to the remaining soldiers, "Hit its weak spot!"

Suddenly, Erwin leapt from his horse and within moments he was upon the titan. He screamed something at the titan, but before the awful creature had any time to react, Erwin had sliced a deep cut directly into the nape of the being's neck. The monster crashed to the ground and rumbled the earth beneath it.

A kill, the commander thought to himself, one kill for humanity. He glanced around at his remaining comrades, and at the corpse that was now lying next to the tree. But at what cost? Before he had time to answer his own question, a shout erupted from somewhere in his ranks.

"There's someone over here!" A voice he recognized as Petra's yelled. "There's someone breathing over here!"

Shadis looked up instantly; there was no possible explanation for what Petra had just exclaimed. It was more than probable that she had just mistook one of their fallen comrades as someone else, but Shadis could only hope for something more than that. If Petra had found another human being, outside the wall, then that meant so many things that were just speculation before were now possible. It would be possible for them to leave. Everyone in the town would talk about how the Scout Regiment was useful after all. The Scout Regiment would be humanity's heroes once again, and humanity would be able to rebuild.

"Clear out," Shadis said quietly to the crowd that had gathered around Petra and the unknown subject. "Let me see what's going on."

The crowd backed away obediently, and Shadis gasped. There, neatly nestled in Petra's caring arms, was a small boy who couldn't have been more than eleven years old. He seemed perfectly unharmed, not a single hair out-of-place. Shadis looked at the boy intensely, searching for a clue that could have led to his survival outside of the walls, but there was none. The boy was impeccably average - he had a boring shade of brown hair, and his physique was typical of a boy his age. When the boy began to open his eyes, Shadis noted that his eyes were a deep brown too. There was nothing even moderately interesting about the boy, and as far as Shadis knew, mediocrity would never turn a titan off from a meal.

"What's your name, boy?" Shadis barked at the waking boy.

The boy looked up at him with curious eyes. "I don't know," the boy answered. "I'm afraid I don't know who I am or what this place is."

Petra looked at Shadis, and then back at the boy. "Sir, I don't feel a questioning is in order at the moment. We need to take him back to headquarters. He's no threat to humanity; he's just a boy." Petra held the boy a little closer to herself and looked back at Shadis again. "Please sir, we've lost enough for one day."

Shadis considered her for a moment. He had an uncanny ability to see how a person was just by meeting them, but something about the boy seemed strange. Although Shadis knew that it was unlikely such a small, ordinary boy could cause any harm, it was always best to play it safe.

"Wrap him up in one of our spare uniforms. If we bring him back, the Military Police won't like the public asking questions." Shadis sighed, "They don't need another reason to dislike us. He'll ride with you, Petra."

"Yes sir," Petra agreed, visibly relieved. Shadis knew that she only had the boy's safety in mind, but he couldn't help but feel uneasy by his decision. When everyone, including the small boy, had been packed up and ready to go, Shadis mounted his horse and moved to the front of the group.

"Petra," he called toward the back.

"Yes, sir?" She answered, trotting up to him, with the boy clinging to her back.

"Stay in the middle, towards the back, of the formation. It's the safest place." Petra nodded and moved to where he had instructed. Without another word, Shadis tugged on his reins and the horses began to sprint forward in unison.

Will this help us? Shadis wondered, thinking back to the boy they found in the clearing. He had no memories, not even a name to go by. Where could he have come from? Shadis knew that he couldn't have originated from inside the walls. The walls were as much of a cage as they were protective. If someone wanted to leave, they had to become a part of the Scout Regiment, and nobody ever wanted to leave to begin with.

He had to have come from somewhere else, but does that mean that other humans are living too? Shadis had always thought about it, but mostly late at night when everyone else was fast asleep. One of the reasons he had originally joined the Regiment was because he was sick of feeling so alone. There had to have been other humans who made it, they couldn't be the only ones.

Suddenly, a scream erupted from somewhere in the formation, and Shadis looked back to see ten titans stampeding toward the group. Shadis knew right then and there, this would be the end of the Scout Regiment.

Shadis knew the citizens behind the walls would hang their heads in sorrow as their grieving families wept in the street. He also knew that during silent nights and in quiet corners the taxpayers would secretly rejoice at the cut expense. Families of current recruits would weep with joy as the safety of their sons and daughters was momentarily assured. To them, a hundred years of peace would turn into a hundred more without the Scout Regiment meddling in the outside world.

But Shadis also knew that if they died here and now, so would humanity. The Scout Regiment was humanity's wings of freedom, and if the Regiment was decimated, so was humanity's chance at survival.

"Petra!" he heard a frantic voice shout, "What are you doing?"

Shadis looked to his left to see Petra break formation and dart off to the side of the crowd. He then watched in utmost horror as all ten titans diverged from chasing the group to chasing Petra. Shadis knew that Petra had only broken formation in the hopes of saving the boy from being devoured by titans, but she had only drawn attention to herself.

"Hey, you lumbering oafs!" Another voice echoed from the crowd, as a soldier fired a flare directly at a titan. It hit the titan square in the nose, but the titan seemed completely unaffected by the flare.

"You dumb giants, chase us instead!" Another soldier shouted as he also fired a flare at a titan, but it also had no effect. The titans seemed only focused on Petra and the boy, and they were starting to run faster.

The boy on Petra's horse didn't seem as terrified as everyone else though, Shadis noticed. Instead he calmly looked left and right, and then finally he looked behind him. But when the boy looked at the titans, he didn't show the fear that Shadis was accustomed to new recruits showing. Instead, he sported a completely composed, blank expression as he removed the green hood of the Scout uniform from his head. It wasn't the fierce, composed determination of an experienced soldier, but the calm expression that often accompanied ignorance. It was possible, Shadis concluded, that the boy wasn't lying. He really knew nothing of the titans, or of humanity's near extinction. He was the first blissfully unaware human being since the titan's first appearance.

However, when the boy removed his hood, a change spread through the chasing titans. For the first time, Shadis saw an expression other than bloodlust on a titan's face, but he couldn't quite discern what the expression was. Slowly, one by one, each titan slowed its pace to a walk, and then they all turned away and began to roam as if nothing had happened. The entire Scout Regiment just watched the disappearing titans in awe, and Shadis saw the boy put his hood back on and rest his head on Petra's back.

It was a long while before anyone in the Regiment said another word. By the time someone spoke again, it was to inform the Regiment that they were within two miles of the wall and it was okay to decrease the pace down to a trot. They were in the safe zone again, and it was okay to relax for a bit.

Shadis slowed his speed just enough to fall in line with Erwin and Levi. They exchanged quick glances and it was apparent that they were all on the same page.

"He could be dangerous," Shadis warned, "He can't explain where he comes from and he can't explain what he just did."

Erwin nodded in agreement, "But he could be useful."

Shadis nodded and Levi stared straight ahead. "The Military Police won't like this," Shadis said quietly, "they'll do what they can to get rid of them."

"To hell with those lousy cowards," Levi said curtly, "they wanted progress and we've brought it to them." Shadis and Erwin continued to stare straight ahead, all three of them knew the Military Police wouldn't handle the boy lightly.

"And if they think they can handle him better, I'll personally take responsibility for the boy. I'll train him myself," Levi added, looking off towards the gate, "No more needless deaths. Something good will come of this."

"Let's make this happen, girl, we're gonna show the world that something good can work, and it can work for you, and you know that it will," Something Good Can Work, Two Door Cinema Club