The early days, as you liked to call them, were spent in the purest definition of ignorant bliss. You had momentarily mourned for the life you had lost, the family and friends you had left behind - but ultimately your ties to the old world were few, your aspirations and curiosity filling in the holes of relationships you had failed and neglected to make. You were a quiet child, a polar opposite of your past, younger self, but you were loved by your parents and you gave them as much as your old heart could.

In your old life, you were raised as an only child - forced to grow up faster and become more independent than most. But here, your responsibilities were few - your innate curiosity flourishing and supported by your family. You had a period of taciturn tantrums - when you had initially realized that this new world lacked the old world's modern conveniences. But you grew to acclimate to the archaic movements of the new world. You churned butter, pouted but grew to appreciate the idea of clothing lines - and then -

Then your younger sister was made.

Born in your mother's womb, and you found a new part of your heart in this world. Jaded by your old life's grievances, you had found yourself capable of growing a few more heartstrings to take care of what would be yours - your sister.

Hesitantly, as you allowed her to trap your finger into her pudgy hands, you wondered if she was also like you - if this family was a whole agglomeration of broken things put together to be new once more - but a few misplaced words of English and references here and there easily buried that idea. But she was here, and you realized, watching her grow rounder and rounder, you would be able to love again.

You cherished the simplicity of your new life. The lack of television and social media - fresh air, and happy smiles - you embraced the serenity of it. Of course, it did not pass your attention that your family occasionally had to be frugal - eat more of your mother's homegrown vegetables versus meat; help your father trap some venison versus go to the store for food - but your parents never let you or your sister grow hungry - your stomachs always full before bed.

This world was perfect.

Too good to be true.

And it was.

You had thought your heart impervious to pain, but when your dad finally took you to the downtown of this world - your heart broke anew.

Startled by the loss of your hand in his, he pushed through the crowded streets to find you - brought to your knees, silent tears running down your eyes.

He had cupped your face then, voice brokenly asking what was wrong. You had always been a quiet child, obedient, curious - he had thanked the heavens for bringing such a docile daughter to him, but now, faced with your breakdown, he was unprepared and did not know how to console you.

And you felt bad for him, your new father - you were seeing his growing anxiousness, but you couldn't force yourself to move, to shove the gasps away and stifle the tears.

The dread was too insurmountable.

Yes, you felt bad for him.

And you felt bad for yourself.

And your sister.

And your mother.

And the bystanders that hesitated to approach you two.

But it was inevitable.

Your new End would be inevitable.

Because walls were meant to be broken, and standing over you was just another 50 meter one waiting to be torn apart…

You finally knew what world you had been reincarnated to. What had been a passing joke of being transported into a fictional world back in your old life, was now a cruel irony you were living in.

How unlucky were you.

By the time your father had managed to move you to the side of the road, your tears had stopped. Your heart was still in pieces, but you had managed or were managing to finally overcome the shock. Slowly, you pushed your face out of your father's embrace and quietly apologized.

"What happened?" he asked quietly.

You would never be able to tell him the truth, and you doubted the remnants of your heart would be able to deliver it to him too anyway.

In the end, you blamed it on your stomach.

He didn't believe you, and you didn't expect him to, But he was your father, and sometimes, he chose to take the easier road rather than the hard one. So he took your lie, asked if you wanted to return home (which you did, all you ever wanted now was to be with your family, your little sister - and cherish the little time - no - stop ) you shook your head. You could still go the extra miles.

That mindset would end you sooner than a - a titan, but you just had to give yourself time to accept the inevit - truth. You recalled the face of your little sister, cheeks full and rosy - of your mother, soft and kind; your father, false hardiness and all hugs; neighbors, too charitable - you - they would die.

Some.

Some, you began to correct.

But not all.

Not your younger sister at least.

Not by a titan, at least.

When you returned home that night, you ignored the furtive glances thrown at you and favored your time with your sister. Your end in the Old World was…uneventful, but expected; a stark mark against your ambitious goals. Could you swallow another untimely death?

Perhaps, the answer this time would be no.

And perhaps, one day - the bright skies and smiles of your world would not have to be contained within cursed walls. Walls that hissed an inevitable promise, a timely end - a carnivorous cave of human-shaped teeth and -

You blinked, trading your nightmares for a farce and ruffled your sister's hair. Your heart clenched. Not her. Never her. You would make sure that she would never meet that kind of end.

Mercy was a killer - a role you had no qualms claiming if the time for it ever came.

But when the walls fell down, because that was what they were built to do - you feared that the time had come too early. You were not prepared for this part in the play yet. You hunched over your sister's form, willing her body to stop shuddering, her sobs to meld into the silence.

Or the wish for one.

Around you two, screams and unearthly footsteps quaked the earth. Having seen a colossal titan bear down on your false sanctuary, your first instinct was to whisk yourselves to the gates. But the carnage of both titans and human fear deterred you from pursuing the path of many and instead, had you steer yourself and your sister towards the outskirts of your village. You didn't dare go too near the outskirts, where the house roofs ran thin and close to the floor, but towards the last ring of tall buildings. Fortunately, your journey had escaped the notice of titans - the monstrosities were more focused on the hoards of villagers streaming towards the gate - and you only bypassed the huddled masses of the elderly and incapacitated.

Your sister continued to hiccup under your protective embrace and you quietly willed her to become more quiet. So far, no titans had strayed from the center of the village, but the rumblings of their footsteps were gradually becoming closer; your heart rate climbed higher.

You threw a quick cautionary look around the building you had sequestered yourselves in, finding no sign of its previous inhabitants or other stowaways.

You had chosen the first floor, fearing that the height and windows would taunt a passing eye towards your position, and had upturned some furniture over to hide yourselves behind. The house, while two levels tall, was mostly barren. But there was a kitchen in the corner and perhaps -

"N-no please," your sister whimpered. You gently pried her hands off of your sleeve and squeezed them. You had to.

Quietly, you stood up and with one look at the only window on the level, darted towards the kitchen. Carefully but quickly you assessed all the drawers' contents. You pocketed a few kitchen knives and found a sack of potatoes stowed under the sink. There wasn't a water canister for you to store water in, and the load of starch was going to be too heavy to carry through a titan-infested wasteland - so with a perishing sigh, you unloaded half of its contents into the sink and filled two glasses with water.

"Drink," you told your sister, pushing the glass into her hands. You didn't know when the next source of fresh water would be available - if ever, it would be available again; bloated bodies rank with decay would soon find graves in the running rivers. Your sister knew better than to argue with you and obediently drunk all its contents in. You did the same with yours just as fresh new waves of screams spike the air. Your sister almost joins the chorus of acrimony, but you had shoved your hand against her mouth. The titans were finally starting to explore.

"We need to go past Wall Maria," you whispered as she shook her head. You shook her by her shoulders. "We stay and we die, May," you hissed, and then gestured at yourself. "I'm scared -" your eyes hadn't relaxed since the invasion - wide and taut and too responsive to every shadow that passed your vision. "The titans will eventually find us here so we have to move."

"But where?" she countered.

You don't know where. You don't know if a clear path was out there for you two to take, but the longer you remained - the less people there would be left to distract the titans from finding you two. You winced at that line of thought but your priority was your younger sibling. No one else.

"A house with a cellar," you finally concluded as the earth quaked once more. You two could hide out in a cellar for a bit but the problem lay in supplies and other people. You had seen the lengths of the hungry in your younger years, the crimes that they would commit and - the knob of your temporary hideout wriggled - followed by pounding fists.

"Please!"

You had barricaded the door with a chair and desk - having no key to properly lock it.. You stared at the door, attentive to the continued cries of the outsider, your sister, and the rumbling steps of an approaching titan.

"Please!"

"Cover your ears and close your eyes." You ordered your sister.

She looked about ready to protest but did so.

You bent down and shouldered the sack of potatoes on one shoulder. With one hand, you grabbed your sister's and got her to stand up while you used the other to loosely hold onto a knife. You didn't know what a knife would do to titans, doubted it could do anything to them, and sought out for another exit.

There wasn't any, but the screams and footsteps were growing louder. Unable to ignore them any longer, you guided yourselves back towards the living room and up the stairs. This was unideal, if there were windows there - or if titans were curious in general, all they had to do was smash the walls open and reach inside.

Just as they were doing to the outsiders down below. The steps quaked, threatening to give to the breach in structure as said titan brushed against the lower level to reach its victim, but you held firm and guided yourselves into one of the bedrooms. There was a window there, but it faced the other side. Quickly, you guided your sister to curl against the corner of the room and closed the curtains as you contemplated on your next steps. Or tried to. In the Old World, you had been an angry person. So jaded and hurt by the world around you, you focused on yourself and struggled to quell the rage inside of you. Motivated by the constant anger, you had never been directionless. You had always been brimming with plans and goals. But here? You had a lapse of healing, of peace - a chance to experience simple living - until the walls had fallen and the gates closed on you two.

You didn't know what hurt most at this point - the reality of it all, or the seeping white rage that was returning to your body. It had taken you hours to reach your destination - hours of continuous fear and apprehension at every movement and rumble of the earth. You had even attracted hopeful survivors to follow your path. Some had made it, others had become fodder. However, all your efforts had been for naught. The rest of the world had turned its back on you all.

Left you to be eaten.

You truly didn't know what hurt the most.

Being left behind.

Or Being born to realize you would just die again.

Humanity closing its doors on you and sentencing you to a preventable death was doubtlessly the last straw though.

Your eyes burned red, angry tears swelling up to the surface to block the monstrosity of humankind abandoning its own.

At least your parents had made it in, you thought. They had gone towards the inner wall for some business. You hoped they didn't try to save you two.

(You hoped they tried to. )

Your sister's soft cries brought your tears to a halt and you squeezed her tiny hand in yours once more. (You reminded yourself you were only on the cusp of fifteen here - but even with an older mind, your soft hands betrayed your desolate, suffocating despair).

You choked down your designated fate and ushered yourselves into an adjacent building; the few that had made it this far with you two disbanding from the group by choosing to stay in front of the gate or running to some place else. All you knew was that you two couldn't stay in the vicinity, titans would soon amass around the gate, but you also couldn't muster the strength yet to push through.

Survive.

You wanted to laugh.

In your old life, survival meant pushing the limits of what you could do. Somehow, that meaning was transcending in far too literal and sentencing terms here.

"We have to hide." You didn't know where though, but it had to be far and close enough to the walls should they ever deign to open them again.

"Sis…"At this point, your trembling hands were masking the titans' quaking footsteps and you couldn't continue acting like that. You had your sister to protect.

You tightened your grasp on her hand once more and edged towards the closet window. You glanced both ways, noting the way the earth trembled around you and how the shadows thwarted all possible avenues.

And then -

- there.

You quickly pushed open the door and tugged yourselves to the building across from you two. Again, you ushered her to close her eyes as the limbs and heads of dead villagers decorated the streets. Thankfully, most doors were left unlocked during the exodus and you continued this game of hide-n-seek until you found a patch of somewhat wooded farmland. Rather than the main house, you stowed yourselves in the barn where the doors threatened to swing open and close.

Good.

Dropping your sister into the corner of the barn, you gathered stacks of hay into a makeshift a Titan was curious enough and looked in, it would see nothing but an empty barn and perhaps, its animals. Other than their scent masking yours, you hoped that there would be animals because you wouldn't be able to live on potatoes for too long.

You didn't know how long you two lived in fear for.

It was long enough for the constant thunderous pounding of earth to become a trigger to cower among the hale.

Long enough for you to become accustomed to the dull ache in your stomach, the melody of your sister's poorly concealed sobs becomes a bedtime lullaby.

Although, fear of titans is one thing. Fear of humanity?

You are always suspicious of humanity, being previously born from a world wrecked by selfish motives and the demand for more. But when survivors began to trickle towards your poor homestead, your skin prickled more than you were comfortable to let on.

Initially, they came with hollowed cheeks and promises to only stay for the night, maybe a scrap of food and a sip of water too. Unable to turn them away like the government did to you all, you gave into their pleas. But then they returned, or some asked for more - and the fights.

You would never forget your first. The way they held your sister in their starved arms, threatening a violence you refused to resort to. Until they had touched her. No one was ever allowed to touch her.

Your movements then had been feral, driven by fear and rage and once the blood and paling face of your sister registered in you - it was too late. The offender laid slain on the floor. You couldn't approach your sister then, a huddled mass of shock in the corner of the farm. You had become someone else to her. A stranger.

You dragged the body towards the outskirts of your home base to deter curious titans.

It had taken your sister two weeks to approach you again.

And it had taken the government a year to cull their population once more.

The first wave of conscripts that reached your barn were the walking dead. They glanced at your bearings and moved on to march towards their lofty graves. Again, some dallied - but not for too long. You didn't want to repeat old memories and made sure to flash the knives strapped to your body.

But he was different.

Sure, there had been older ones - sicker ones, that passed by. But he was different.

All smiles and a warm hug.

You both pretended to ignore your sister's tears staining his cotton shirt the first night.

He referred to himself as Grandpa Arlet, much to your chagrin and your sister's rare giggle. He was kind. So painfully kind. He brandished the poor excuse of a weapon the government had provided him during the first night before jokingly casting it aside to the floor. A shovel for his grave. That was what they had given him.

When your sister took to bed first, you finally faced him - questions many, but answers all the same. He was the first friendly face you had seen, untouched by the death that was stifling the air around them.

"There are no titans by the gate, the Garrison had at least done that much to buy us a few days of life," he instantly relayed, and you knew then, that this was your chance to return. (Return to what, though? More monsters in human skin?)

"I can lead you. Help you two get there," he continued. "You two could hide out until they return again -" the unspoken if hung silently in the air. You didn't have to look back at your sister to know your answer.

And so, a few more nights of false tranquility were spent in the barn with your new friend before you three made the trek back towards humanity.

You should have known that it would have been too good to be true. What little of the memory you carried regarding this world, you knew that Grandpa Arlet was not one of the survivors of this culling. And as the titan raised his smiling face towards its mouth, you should have known to run faster - to carry your sister and survive another day again. But it happened so fast and those titans - smaller than the one that had killed your new friend - were faster. It had trailed the larger monster and ran straight through you two to grab your sister and fling her towards the nearest wall. She didn't even scream. Never had the time to.

Another small titan jumped and had eaten her.