The city streets were a buzz of activity in the early afternoon hours. Market stall owners shouted to passing people to sell their wares as they went about their day. Standing inside one of the homes that lined the streets, a boy stacked up a pile of firewood next to a cobbled fireplace, an older woman smiling softly from her rocking chair as the boy dusted off his hands.
"Oh, thank you Mathew. You know you don't have to keep doing this?" The old woman's soft voice said as the boy shook his head and glanced back towards her. "It's no problem, Mrs. Becker. I'll see you again next week, and don't try to pay again. You've done more than enough these last few years." He said, flashing her a small smile before exiting the homestead, the voice of Mrs. Becker calling out as the door closed behind him. "Have a good day young man!"
The teen could only chuckle softly at her words, having been among the first to buy from him when he started this venture half a decade ago. Stepping out onto the street that ran the length of the settlement, Mathew picked up the bar of his hand cart and set off once more to deliver his orders. Moving through the street, it wasn't long till he stopped before his most prominent customers, which always seemed some sense of irony as an older man with greying hair stepped forth from the town's barracks.
"Morning Lieutenant Gabriel. I got your weekly order here." Mathew said as he began to offload the bundles from his cart, stacking them up against the side of the building as the older man watched, though as his eyes followed the boy's actions, the glint of metal caught his eye. Shifting over, he reached into the cart, gripping the handle as he pulled the ax free from a shoddily crafted harness.
"Heading into Shiganshina today?" He muttered, running a hand over the bladed head, and as he expected with a slight huff, the surface was rough and dulled. Mathew however, nodded as he stacked up the last of the bundles. "Yeah, almost like it's that time of the month again. Though let me guess, passage fee?"
The boy asked as he dusted his hands. Walking back to his cart, Mathew threw on the harness, tightening the straps as the garrison commander fished coins from his pouch, leaving the teen one silver short.
"This really necessary?" Mathew asked as he pocketed the currency before taking the ax back from him, reaching behind to secure the head with its protective covering. "Given your track record, it's just how it is kid." He said, looking down upon him as a slight glare was gifted in return. "You know I paid off all the debts a few months back by now." Mathew said, his tone growing sour as he muttered the words. Gabriel shrugs, looking back towards the barracks as the kid stores his cart beside the bundle piles.
"It's not my place to say when your debts are paid, yet the extra coin never seems to go amiss within their ales." The older man said, getting a soft grunt from the boy. "When are they not?" He muttered, looking towards the gate where several members of the guard regiment sat on their asses, bottles scattered around their feet as they chatted around a wooden bar table. Following his gaze, the lieutenant sighed and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Just how things are, especially around here and deeper in. Don't let them bug you too much again." Gabriel said before turning around and heading back inside, leaving Mathew to watch him go, the roses upon his patch still a dull red since the last he'd seen them. Without a word, the boy headed towards the wooden bridge over a rumbling brook below. "We'll see how drunk they are this time around."
Mathew muttered to himself as he made his way under the archway and it only took a sloppy two seconds for the bumbling blonde guard to stumble into his path. "Oi! Where you think you're going?" The slurred words smelt of whiskey as Hannes spoke, a bottle still clutched within his grasp. "Same place I've been going every month for the last two years? You'd think you'd recognize that by now." Mathew said glaring him down as he tried to walk past, only for Hannes to sidestep with a stupid grin plastered across his face.
"Aw, what's the rush? Last I checked, you haven't paid the tariff yet. I wouldn't want you breaking the rules now, would I?" He said, getting a chuckle from behind as the other guards looked up from their game of cards. "Yeah, don't want to have to write you up. Just toss the coin, and we'll let you through, no problem." One piped up, yet Mathew touched his coin pouch as he glared at them. "I already paid Gabriel the tax; ask him if you're so inclined if you can even manage that."
Mathew said, once again attempting to shift past the garrison guard, though felt a firm grip crease the cloth of his jacket. "Now listen here, even if you did already pay, won't a donation to your local guards be a little-" he went to say before a harsher feminine tone sounded off from behind Mathew. "Just leave him alone, Mr. Hannes. You do this every time." She said as Mathew looked back to see a girl with a slight Asian complexion and black hair that framed her face. Next to her was a boy with stark green eyes and more brownish hair who glared up at Hannes, both of whom Mathew knew from his trips to the edge of the woods he resided within.
"Come on Mikasa, it's just a little banter, right kid?" He said, jokingly patting Mathew's shoulder before letting go, the walking tavern flashing him a toothy grin as the boy shook his head. "Whatever you say, but if you'll excuse me, I have things to attend to." Shooting one last glare towards the blonde man as he spoke, Mathew walked on into the Shiganshina district, followed soon after by the others, the teen realizing the bundles of sticks that had strapped on their carriers across their backs. "Sooooo, forgot to do one thing today before I left." He said, giving Mikasa a slightly nervous chuckle as she looked upon him with her emotionless stare, one that was far different from that of her friends as he looked back at the guards. The boy biting back more than a handful of comments upon their behavior, many of which Mathew had heard enough of over the last year when their paths crossed.
"Hope it didn't take too long for you both. I mean, Eren doesn't look as tired as usual." The teenager said as he grabbed the boy's attention, the bitterness in his voice smoothing out. "Yeah well, I've been getting stronger, not so tiring anymore." He said with confidence that grew, which were dashed aside however as Mikasa spoke flatly. "You took a nap under a tree. There's no reason to lie Eren." She muttered, glancing back at him as his cheeks burst into a hot pink flush. "Hey! I still got most of them! That counts for something!" He cried, though simply got a chuckle from Mathew as he patted his shoulder.
"Sure you did kid, and thanks for the assist back there. I however, need to get this old girl sharpened and you should head home." Mathew said, slightly adjusting a strap upon his harness. Giving the two a fingered salute as they assented the hilled portion of the district, Mathew, in contrast made his way under the shadow of the housing. Receiving small waves from the two kids before they fell out of sight, the teen continued along his path, walking the well-treaded route through the countless side streets that spread like a spider web from the gates. It was upon the distant clangs of metal against metal that he turned down another the last road and to the front of a blacksmith shop.
"You're later than usual, guards again?" The gruff voice of the shop's owner said, standing in front of a blazing forge, putting the last finishing touches upon a farmer's scythe's blade, quenching the metal in a steamy sizzle. "Well, they were even more piss drunk than normal, but I'm not that predictable am I?" Mathew asked, walking up as he un-buttoned the straps keeping the ax strung to his back. Setting down his tools, the burly blacksmith wiped the sweat from his brow. "Well, once a month, about mid-day after your delivery, give or take an hour on travel, then add however long those pigs haggle you for tariffs or 'donations.' I'd say more a creature of habit." He said, taking the ax from the teen as he moved over to the corner to a sharpening station, his gloved hands running along the head just as the lieutenant had done. "Run her ragged this month. You least make good coin for the wood?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder as Mathew pulled several silver coins from his pouch. "If you're worried about payment, plenty, as for my well-being, you know provisions are getting worse. Lord have mercy on the prices these days." Mathew said, setting the currency down on one of the workbenches as the blacksmith began getting to work, sending sparks.
"You got that right. I might be buying from you if the markets keep hacking up fuel prices. That and..." The blacksmith said before the clatter of carts and horse hooves sounded from down the street. Taking the tool off the grinder, he and Mathew shifted to the edge of the shop, watching as the remnants of the scout's returned from their mission. With a remorseful gaze, the young teen watched as the bloodied and beaten men and women made their way down the street, carts with bodies that smelt of decay and iron wafted over them all. Bandages stained red and brown covered their exposed skin.
"Crazy bastards, when are they going to learn? Waste of life going out there, and for what, kill a few of 'em?" He muttered, watching them instead with a solid glare, a growl slowly bubbling from his throat as he turned back, leaving the teen to watch them shamble by. "One day, maybe it won't be for nothing." He muttered as the last passed by, taking a moment to let his gaze linger before returning to the blacksmith as he finished sharpening the ax.
"There you go, this should keep you good till you come around next month. See you around, kid." He said, taking off his gloves as Mathew fastened the ax back into its covering and the harness. "Yeah, see you around," Mathew said before he left the shop, feeling the cool air brush against his face, still lingering with the scent of death. He moved through the sunny streets, counted through his profits before a commotion drew Mathew's attention from the street one house over.
"Heh, where's the sacrilege now, huh?" The voice of a young boy called, followed by the faint noise of chuckling from more than likely their buddies as the voices grew nearly inaudible from where he stood. "Oh, I really should just mind my own business...buuuuut, guilty conscience ain't another thing to add if something bad happens," Mathew said, ensuring the coin pouch and harness were firmly tied against his frame; he ran towards the nearest house. With the alley blocked off by a border wall running straight to underneath the roofing, the teen jumped up against the outer wall of one house.
As if gifted with the skills of an Olympic athlete, he ran against it, gaining a few inches of height with each step before bounding to the opposite wall. Planting his feet with a pivot, Mathew launched himself up, his fingers gripping onto the gutter, the metal groaning under the weight of the teenager as he hauled himself up, cleanly rolling into a kneeling position with a sigh of relief before making his way to the other street. "God bless your training Reaper." Muttering under his breath as the voices from before grew louder once he stood upon the edge, perching himself like a bird atop the sloping roof as the bully gripping the shirt of a blonde boy cocked his fist back.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. It wouldn't be pretty," Mathew called out, getting the bullies and the blonde's attention. "And who the hell are you? His bodyguard?" The bully snarked, lowering his fist just a bit as Mathew shrugged and reached behind him. "Nah, just someone looking out for the little guy, though if you think you can take me three-on-one, I'd advise against it." Smirking, the boy slowly shifted down the side of the roof, feeling the tiles clink under his boots as the bully scoffed and shoved the blonde back against the wall again.
"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it!" He barked before releasing his grip on his target once Mathew grinned and revealed the ax within his grasp, the head gleaming in the late afternoon sun. "I'll have to use this beauty. I just got her sharpened too, but really, you're probably thinking, 'he won't use it.' To which I say," Mathew said before jumping down, using the corner of another house to slow his fall before landing right before the trio. "You want to find out?"
Staggering back with widened eyes, the bullies all looked among each other before running off with their tails between their legs. Just in time for a familiar face to come rounding the corner as a single man stampede, "Yeah, you better run! You're lucky I didn't get to you first!" Eren yelled, sliding to a stop just beside Mathew, Mikasa following not a second later. However, the older boy watched them scamper out of sight while shouldering the ax.
"And as per usual, all bark and no bite." He said before looking down as the blonde boy grunts, holding his side as Eren moved to help him up. "Armin, you okay?" He asked before pulling his hand back as Armin forced himself to his feet. "I'm okay, thank you...and, thank you...um," the blonde stumbling over his words as Mathew simply nodded and put his ax back into the harness cover. "Mathew, it's not a problem Armin, though; why were those guys after you?"
The older teen asked, glancing over at the two others as they all walked down the street, finding a calm place by a waterway to settle down as Armin spoke. "Well, they just heard me rambling about our future beyond the walls. I'm not sure they understood half of it, but still." He said, looking down into the water while Eren picked up a rock and chucked it as far as he could across the channel with a grunt.
"Idiots, why does it have to be this way? Why can't they just let us dream?" He grumbled, hiking up one of his knees against his chest as Armin shook his head. "The walls are a powerful ideal. They have protected us for a hundred years because of them. No one wants to tempt fate. I disagree with that sentiment, but I can see where they're coming from." He said, looking over at him as Mathew coughed, garnering attention. "Fear keeps people complacent cause the walls keep out what they fear. Life here isn't perfect, far from it, but many are set to live this life since it's stable. Though I know deep down...they know it won't hold forever. One day, we'll run out of farmland to grow and feed our livestock, run out of metal to forge our weapons, the walls will crumble...and we'll have to fight them, tooth and nail. The walls can't stand against them, one day, our reality, will shatter."
He said, gazing up upon the wall, massive and looming, the reminder of the false security. As he did, the wind stopped blowing, the air growing still, clouds shifting into an almost circular pattern above the main gate to the outside world. Before a flash of light burst forth from the sky, and shook humanities world, forever.