Creation began on 05-07-23

Creation ended on 05-11-23

Attack on Titan

Attack on Titan: Banishment

A/N: This idea was looming over my head for some time. Suppose that Eren Yeager, in at least one lifetime where he was still a kid, did something so bad that society could no longer tolerate his presence?

Shiganshina District of Wall Maria was no different from any of the other three districts of Wall Maria, except that one of its inhabitants, a young boy by the name of Eren Yeager, had caused a ruckus so intense that it left the people troubled by its repercussions.

"…And your name, young man?" A Garrison soldier asked a young boy who had been a witness of the incident.

"Armin Arlert," he responded.

"And your connection to the culprit, Eren Yeager?"

"Eren's my friend."

"Do you swear to confirm your account of the incident that occurred three days ago in the manner of which you're being asked to confirm?"

"I swear, sir."

"Where were you three days ago in Shiganshina?"

"I was visiting Eren at his house with a book I had to show him."

"Before this, did he, as far as you can determine, have any prior contact or connection with the other person he harassed into violence?"

"No. We have never met her before. Not once. All I ever knew about her was that she was from the other side of town and that her father was a carpenter."

"Do you deny the accusation that it was Eren Yeager that incited this girl into violence?"

Armin sighs and answers, "No. It was Eren that caused her to become violent."

"What did he do to her that day?"

-x-

Kaede Sogen

Eren Yeager's father may have been a respected doctor, but Hagen Sogen was among the most respected carpenters within Shiganshina. He and his only daughter, Kaede, stood out among the people due to their gray hair. As he was requested by a neighbor to do some repairs to their home, his daughter went down the street to meet with her friends over by the town fountain.

"…Your father and you certainly have more friendliness than most of the people I have met around here, Sogen," one of Kaede's friends told the girl as they were walking down the street towards the fountain. "It's like you don't have a single ounce of anger in you to want to hurt anyone around you."

"Why would I want to hurt anyone?" Kaede questions as she holds a stuffed animal in her hands. "Nobody bothers me. I'm always friendly and respectful of others. Who'd want to do anything to upset what is already a good thing going on around the town?"

"Do you ever think about who you're going to marry when you're older?" Another girl asks Kaede as they were nearing the fountain.

"No. I just hope that the future love of my life will love me back."

Then, as they neared the fountain, they saw the boy that they heard was problematic across the town due to his behavior. But Kaede refused to let the boy hinder her today; it was a nice day and she had friends to play with. She was set to greet them by the fountain…until the boy, who was making a scene in front of another boy…stood in her way with his back facing her.

"…And they go out there and get to see more than we could ever see in these walls!" He was saying to him, unaware of her trying to walk around him, but he kept moving around to impede her. "They face the Titans and even kill them!"

"Excuse me," Kaede utters, "I would like to get by…"

"…The Survey Corps…"

"…Could you just…"

"…I'm going to join them when I become…"

"…Please, let me…"

No matter which way Kaede tried to go, and the blond-haired boy could see this, Eren Yeager wouldn't let her get by.

"Eren," the boy utters, "there's a girl trying to get by you, but you keep blocking her."

Eren turns to face Kaede…and just stands in her way.

"What do you want?" He asks her.

"I want to move out of my way, please," Kaede tells him as her two friends with her join her.

"Then make me," he responds, which makes the other children look at him like he was trying to start something.

"Excuse me?"

"Make me move out of your way. Fight me."

"Hey, you're nuts," the older of Kaede's two friends tells him. "Just move aside. People want to walk down the street."

But Eren approached Kaede…and thumped her on her right shoulder.

"Fight," he says as he thumps her shoulder again. "Fight."

"Stop," she utters, getting tense because of him being so up in her face. "Stop…and just let me pass by."

"Fight."

"Please…"

"Fight or get walked over."

"Please…"

"Fight!"

Something snapped in her head as she dropped her stuffed animal…and she shoved Eren to the ground…and started hitting him wherever she could. His face, his shoulders, his chest, with her expression being mixed between anger and frustration.

"Just let me pass!" She yells at him, seeing that his cheeks were turning red from her fists hitting him. "Just let me walk by! It's not that hard to do! What is wrong with you?!"

-x-

"…He wanted her to fight him?" Carla Yeager questions the Garrison soldier informing her and Grisha about their son's actions that caused this incident.

"From what we were able to gather, your son provoked Ms. Sogen into violence by refusing to let her get around him and see her friends who were waiting for her," the soldier reveals. "It took three of the girl's friends to pull her off the boy."

"That explains how his face got bruised," Grisha says. "Did he really do this? I know he's always been getting into fights with…"

"Most wouldn't call this a fight, Dr. Yeager," the soldier replies. "Everyone that was there all say the same thing: Your son instigated this incident…and Ms. Sogen almost came close to sending him to an early grave."

Carla covered her mouth after hearing this.

"Wait a minute," Grisha says, "if the girl is the one that injured Eren, then why is he the one being treated as the culprit?"

"Because your son caused this by provoking her," the soldier explains. "He's the instigator. He wanted the girl to fight him, and he ended up getting more than he wanted from her. He's not the victim here. He's the victimizer…and he has to answer for his actions."

Carla and Grisha did not believe this.

-x-

Kaede sat on a bench in the hallway of the Garrison HQ, awaiting the news of what the adults wanted to do with her. Three days since that day…and she had been unable to sleep like she used to because of that boy. He took something from her that day…and she hasn't felt the same since, unable to do anything she loves with the same passion she had. She couldn't even sleep without a knife nearby because she was afraid of him coming to her house to try and kill her like she was told she almost killed him.

Why couldn't he just move aside? She wonders as she looks at the closed doors that held her fate. Why couldn't he just move aside and let us walk by?

Earlier, she heard a muffled yelling, but nothing afterward. While her parents assured her that she was not in any trouble, Kaede felt like she was in trouble because she messed up the boy's face. What we're they going to do to her because of her actions? What did they intend to do to her?

What if they want to lock me up or execute me? She continues to wonder. I don't to go to prison or die.

Soon enough, the doors opened…and she saw her parents and a man in Garrison uniform walking out towards her.

"It's okay, Kaede," her father tells her.

"I didn't mean to hurt that boy," she replies.

"We know," the Garrison man responds. "You're not the one at fault for what happened. Young Yeager provoked you, causing this. We feel we have enough testimony from your friends and several witnesses to make a case against the boy for inciting your violence against him. For now, go home and try to get some rest."

Kaede's parents took her home after hearing this, but the soldier sighs at how difficult it was going to be to explain to the Yeagers that their son was not the victim in this case…and would not be given any sympathy, even if his face had been brutalized by the Sogen girl.

"That boy's always getting into trouble."

"He keeps trying to get others to see things from his perspective."

"He pushed the girl too far! This is the worst he's ever done!"

"All he had to do was get out of the way! He didn't have to pick a fight with someone that didn't want to fight anyone!"

He and several other members of the Garrison had gone over the report and confirmed from the statements of the witnesses that Eren Yeager was a problem child with predictable and unpredictable tendencies that made him a danger to those around him. And from what he was able to understand, this was a young man that obsessed over joining the Survey Corps when he was old enough to enlist. Quite possibly the only one that actually wanted to without being fully aware of the risks involved in that branch of the military. This made needing to deal with him both harsh and with repercussions that wouldn't make anything else easier.

But to protect the people, an example has to be set, he thought.

-x-

"What is wrong with you?!" Eren remembers the girl yelling at him as she bashed his face around on the ground. "What is wrong with you?!"

"…Eren, this is serious," his mother tells him as the three were sitting at the table. "What possessed you to do what you did to that girl? Do you not see how bad this is?"

"They'll either want to lock you up or execute you for this," Grisha informs. "They're probably willing to let this go if you apologize for provoking her."

"Apologize?! Me?!" Eren responds angrily. "Why do I have to apologize?! She hit me!"

"You provoked her," his mother reminds him. "You wanted her to fight you."

"I wanted her to make me get out of her way!"

"You should've just moved out of the way when she asked you to."

"I'm not apologizing for what I did!"

"Eren, we can't resolve this unless you own up to your bad choice," his father tells him.

-x-

"…You don't seem convinced that this is going to get resolved, honey," Christine Sogen says to her husband that evening, noticing the knife he had on the table in front of him; it was the same knife that they found in Kaede's room several times at night. "What's on your mind?"

"I'm afraid for Kaede," Hagen reveals to his wife. "I think it was a mistake to leave Trost all those years ago."

"No, it wasn't a mistake. We should've moved to the western district or one of the western villages. It might've been a little uneasy, but there wouldn't have been…this."

"Do you remember when we first heard of the Yeagers?"

"Yeah. My first thought was how nice it would've been if our kids became friends. But after hearing about their son, that possibility burned away; the boy doesn't seem to be friendly in the slightest sense."

"On the positive side, Kaede hasn't been blamed for anything she might've done…but she's not the same as she was that day before the incident. She's afraid to sleep at night because of the boy, and as much as I feel he should pay for his actions, I don't want Eren Yeager getting off easily because of his age or who his father is, neither of which should excuse his behavior."

"I want the boy to answer for his ill behavior, as well. I just don't want him to face the death sentence for what he did."

"Death sentence? No, I don't want him executed. I just want him to never do what he did to anyone else again. If it means locking him up for a few years or sending him away, that's something I can live with happening."

"Personally, I'm all for just sending him away where he can't hurt anyone."

-x-

The next day in Shiganshina, five Garrison soldiers stopped by the Yeager house and informed the parents of what their son's fate was to be. Because of the circumstances surrounding the incident and Eren being the direct cause of the violent reaction from Kaede, the boy only had two choices: Imprisonment…or banishment. Regardless of which choice was made, Eren Yeager could no longer stay in Shiganshina because of the issue he caused.

"Isn't this a bit…extreme?" Grisha asks the soldiers.

"We have to consider the safety of the people, Dr. Yeager," one of them explains. "With imprisonment, he'd be locked away for no less than fifteen years. With banishment, he would be forbidden to return from beyond the Walls."

"You mean, send him out there where the Titans are?" Carla asks them. "That's harsh on its own. Locking him up seems like the lesser of two fates."

"Because at least he will live," the man in charge of the Garrison states.

"I will not be locked away because that girl was afraid to stand up for herself!" They heard Eren yell at them. "I'd rather go beyond the Walls than be locked up in a cage!"

-x-

Kaede stepped outside of her home and inhaled a new breath as she looked around her surroundings. Today was a day that she was trying to move past what had happened to her. If she was ever going to recover, she had to take it one day at a time. One day at a time. Excluding the day she went to the Garrison HQ where her parents testified on her behalf, she rarely left the house for more than a few seconds.

Sighing, she takes a step forward…followed by another step…and then another. She looks back at her house and notices that she's a considerable distance from it; she couldn't have been no more than twenty feet away. That was the farthest she had strayed from it. It put a small smile on her face.

"Kaede?" She heard her name being uttered and looked in front of her, seeing one of her friends. "How are you doing today?"

"I… I'm just… Trying to pick up the pieces," she told her.

Her friend looked at her house and then back at her.

"If I'm being honest here, Kaede," she tells the gray-haired girl, "I like you more when you smile. What happened that day…it just turned your smile upside-down."

"Yeah. I like me better when I smile, too. I'm trying to smile like before, but…I keep thinking about what happened that day. It was the first time I ever hurt someone that made me angry…and it scares me because of how it could've ended."

"Why?"

"Because I could've put that boy into the ground. I wouldn't have been able to go back to being me…and I'd rather be me than some kid that picks fights with others."

"We'd rather you be you than like anyone else, Kaede."

Kaede looks down at her hands.

"I…I barely remember how to shake hands or hug someone," she admits. "I hated having to hit someone in their face."

The other girl, probably two years older than Kaede, a little on the large side, but with a caring heart like her own, lifted up Kaede's hands and held them in her own.

"Happy thoughts make happy hands," she told her. "Angry thoughts make angry hands. What make your hands happy?"

Kaede then turned her right hand over and closed it over her friend's right hand, shaking it.

"Greeting people," she tells her. "Saying nice things to people. Making new friends."

"We're all waiting for you at the fountain again."

Kaede followed her, unaware of what had been decided and was going to transpire.

-x-

As the Shiganshina gate opened, people gathered to see the small spectacle taking place. The sight of Eren Yeager standing in front of the gate as it opened was viewed as both horrifying and with some sort of ease, even as Carla shed her tears. Because their son had refused to accept being locked up for his actions against the Sogen girl, Grisha and his wife had to accept that he would be banished from within the Walls; for some, this fate was many times worse than incarceration because of the Titans that were outside in the unknown.

"What's going on?" A little girl's voice asks as she comes over to see the spectacle.

"A banishing," a man says to the girl.

"Oh."

It was Kaede, who didn't expect that the boy would be forced to leave the town. As the gate opened, she watched as Eren Yeager walked away. This made the girl worry that he was walking towards his doom; maybe if he had apologized to her or even accepted whatever lesser punishment the adults had offered, this wouldn't be happening. There wasn't even a sign of any of the adults present trying to stop him from going pass the inner structure of the gate. It was…almost like a nightmare.

"I didn't think you'd be here," she heard the voice belonging to the blond-haired boy. "How are you today?"

"Coping," Kaede tells him. "Why is he being banished?"

"His act against you was the last straw. Eren was given the choice of prison or banishment. He chose banishment."

Kaede looks on as Eren had crossed the border as now outside Shiganshina. She didn't expect him to choose this fate, even if it was what he thought he wanted. Once the gate closed, he wouldn't be permitted to return; even if, by some miracle, the greatest of miracles, even, that he had managed to evade the Titans…he would be dead to everyone within the town. The gate began to close as Eren turned to look back. Then, for just a moment, his eyes met Kaede's, a silence between them that blocked out the rest of the world.

As angry as he was with her, and he was angry with her, blaming her for this, Eren couldn't lay a finger on Kaede Sogen without paying a higher price than the one he had already paid for provoking her. All he wanted from her was for her to fight back, and he ends up getting beaten and his face bruised up. And not a single person in this town stood up for him when he was apprehended for inciting her anger. In the end, he brought this outcome upon himself.

"Just let me walk by! What is wrong with you?!" Her words repeated in his mind.

"Fight!" Kaede recalls his words that provoked her, and she sighs and looks away from him.

The gate started to close up.

Now, you have to fight every single day just to stay alive, Kaede thought as Eren walked further away from the enclosed town. This is a despair reserved for those who commit acts of unnecessary violence towards others. You brought this outcome upon yourself, Eren Yeager, and now you must answer for it.

When the gate finally closed and obscured any further viewing of the boy, Kaede knew, then and there, that his fate had been sealed. How long he could survive out there was up to him now. As much as she pitied the Yeager boy, she knew that it was his own fault. She watched as the people that had gathered turned away and returned to their usual habits; there was nothing left to see and nothing left to worry about.

"Miss Sogen," she hears a lady's voice and turns to see that it was Eren's mother.

"Missus Yeager?" She questions. "I…I didn't expect that to happen. I thought he was going to get community service or something."

"It was either this or incarceration," Carla informs her. "I am sorry for what he did to you."

"Me, too."

"Tell me…what do you think his chances are out there?"

Kaede looked at the closed gate and sighs.

"A boy with a bad attitude and a tendency to pick fights with other people over beliefs…in a place where Titans dwell… I wouldn't try to guess on how long he can avoid danger before it corners him."

"I should've had him locked away, even if it was against his will. At least he'd be alive."

"Why was… Why does he want others to fight so much when there's no reason to?"

"That has always been how he is. Ever since he could walk and talk, he wanted to venture out beyond the Walls and join the Survey Corps. But he was convinced that someday, people would have to fight if Titans ever got inside the Walls or we had to venture out into new terrain and fight whatever was there."

"But that's crazy. Even if people had to leave the Walls some day, it doesn't excuse him from trying to get other people to fight if they don't want to. You can't…make people do what you want them to just because you feel you can. Everyone has the right to refuse you, to tell you they want nothing to do with whatever it is you're trying to do. Even if it's to fight, he made the wrong choice and now he's answering for it. I'm sorry that he was banished, Mrs. Yeager, but that was his choice over being incarcerated."

As much as Carla wanted to be angry with this girl for being part of the reason her son was banished from Shiganshina, she couldn't blame her for defending herself against Eren. The girl was the victim, and she was trying to recover from the horrid experience…and now everyone was just trying to recover from the experience that was her son's misbehavior.

"I do hope that you get over what happened," she tells Kaede.

"Likewise," Kaede responds and then walks away.

Taking another look at the closed gate, the girl sighs at what fate awaits Eren Yeager. How he survives was up to him, even if it means giving up his hands, his legs, his teeth. All she could do was hope that he'd see another day. That was all she could do right now, hope that he would see another day.

The Walls were their protection against the Titans they never saw. Although made of dense stone and reaching fifty meters in height, she knew they wouldn't last forever, but they would last for as long as they could. She hoped that she would live long enough to see a day where they would still be standing, and then a day where, even if it was safe to venture beyond Wall Maria, she wouldn't stray too far from her home. Maybe in a few years…or a few decades from now, but just not now. This was her life, and she just wanted to live it the way she always has.

Walking away, she looks up at the sky with a smile.

Exploring the farthest reaches of possibilities

A/N: It was mentioned in Different Mistakes to become Heroes, so I had to get around to it. Now that I've written it, it's just another possibility, short and simple. How it can transpire to those that choose to think on it is up to each of you, however you wish to interpret it. Eren was simply banished because he crossed a line with someone that just wanted to get by, and that's on him. Whether he lives or not outside of the Walls is up to you. I'm not going to be the one to decide, since it's no longer up to me.