Hey guys! Maybe last chapter didn't get a lot of reviews, but I'm gonna continue anyway! You reviewers are what keep stories going, anyway. Anyway, on with the story!

CHAPTER 2

ARRIVAL

Aileen slowly got up. Birds chirped all around her; the scent of flowers in the air. As she took note of her surroundings, she realized she was surrounded by…flowers?

For whatever reason, she was in the middle of a flower clearing. The fresh smell, coupled with the happy birds and bright sunshine almost made her think she was in paradise. However, a thousand questions raced through her mind.

How did she get here? Was this heaven? Was she dead? Or was she alive? Was she still outside Wall Rose? Were there Titans around?

As she got to her feet, she noticed, for the first time, the strange tattoo on the back of her hand. It was a stylized Oriental dragon, swirling toward the centre, and in the centre was what appeared to be a love-shaped heart, the dragon's jaws closing around it.

Aileen positively did not remember having such a tattoo, nor did she remember the scrunched-up paper that fell out of her jacket. Although she did not want to see its contents, Aileen unwrapped it.

Follow the signs. It will help you live.

Puzzled by whoever gave her that tattoo and put the paper into her jacket, Aileen looked at her surroundings a little closer. It was then that she noticed the roughly-carved arrow on one of the trees. Although it was true that she did not trust this stranger, whoever he was, there was no other indication of where she was in the clearing.

"Better than nothing, I guess," Aileen said to herself.

The sign pointed her deeper into the forest, where she saw other vague arrows pointing into the brush. After going the directed of the second arrow, she paused.

There was a slight, but definite vibration coming from the ground. Although she was not very experienced, any Survey Corps member who survived their first expedition knew what it was.

She dived into the bushes and stayed low as the Titan came into view. It did not seem very interested in the forest, so it gazed around for a few moments before turning and heading the other way.

The Titan's appearance seemed to confirm that she was still somewhere in Wall Maria( she did not want to believe she was outside the Walls themselves), so at least that made her prepare to start running should she encounter anymore Titans.

One arrow led to another, but Aileen continued to follow them, despite the fact that they seemed to be endless. There were no other leads for her to follow, and to stray off-track could potentially mean her death, judging by the Titans around. Several times she felt the rumbling of a nearby Titan, but she got low and didn't see them before they went away.

Of course, one's spirit can only last so long after multiple possible near-deaths with Titans, and by the fifth time she crouched low in the bushes after feeling the earth vibrate, she was sweating and breathing profusely, wondering when her luck would run out for the second time. Judging by the sun's position, she had been following the signs for near an hour. Her trainer had said before that she had the best score in unaided navigation. She smiled at the memory of her trainer complimenting her for it, noting the irony of the fact that she was navigating via carved arrows now.

Aileen had been following the fifth arrow for some time when she came across a strange house. Smoke was coming out the chimney. Could that mean there was someone living there? But how could there still be people in Wall Maria?

"H-Hello? Is anyone here?..." Aileen said as she slowly opened the door.

The house was completely empty, its contents stripped of supplies. For some reason, the fire was still going. The smoke belching out the chimney outside almost seemed to act like a beacon of some sort. There was nothing left in the house, except for the painted arrow that pointed downwards a trapdoor.

"I don't like this…" Aileen thought as she descended into the basement.

Or, at least, what looked like the basement. All it contained were a few crates and a long, black tunnel.

Another arrow was painted on it, this time accompanied by the words 'PARADISE'.

By this time, Aileen was getting very suspicious. Was all this direction-pointing really proof that there were still humans in Wall Maria? Was it all a product of her imagination, designed to help her cope with the idea of slow death in the belly of a Titan?

She decided that the answer lay in the tunnel ahead. She took a short break, resting on one of the boxes, and moved on.

And on.

And on.

The tunnel seemed to be endless. It felt like it was stretching from the countryside to the city, almost long enough to be ridden through with a horse for quite some time.

At long last, she came across a ladder. What caught her attention first, however, was the skeleton sitting at the bottom of it. Its right wrist was tightly bound in a chain leading to the ladder, and it appeared to have starved to death, judging by the lack of external damage upon the skeleton.

On the wall behind it were the words 'UNFAITHFUL'.

"God…," Aileen said as she put her hand to her mouth. Even after all this time, humanity's greatest enemy was still the fact that they were unwilling to work together to overcome the Titans and preferred killing each other instead. The thought revolted her.

And besides, she was never one to like her fellow humans dying, even if they deserved it.

"I hope you didn't suffer long," Aileen said sadly to the remains before she ascended the ladder. It didn't take long, and opened another trapdoor, finding herself in yet another building, although this one was on the ground level.

Light poured in through the stained window glass, revealing the messy condition of the house that seemed to have been abandoned in a hurry.

"What…," Aileen said as she opened the front door, disbelief in her eyes.

Before her was a place she knew. She used to come here, when her family visited her cousins. It was on this very place she met her best friends, Eris and Aresh. The same friends she left to die.

Before her was the main market street of Shiganshina.

The Shiganshina Ruins.

Well, that wraps it up for now, people! I hope more reviews, negative or positive, come in, because reviews are what keep this story running! It's fuel! To the engine that is me! Chapter 3 will be uploaded soon! Until then, enjoy!