Chapter 1: Facing Reality
Eren woke up next morning as the birds started to sing while the sun was rising up to the start of a new day. Again, he didn't know where he was, having fallen to exhaustion last night was something he barely remembered, so once again, he looked around looking for clues that helped him to get to know where he actually was. The wood walls, the glassless windows and the smell of something which he would not feel enthusiastic about knowing its source, made him first think about a barn. Through the windows, he could take a glimpse of different buildings such as cafés and shops surrounding a little square fool of people who he could recognize from Shiganshina. Then he realized that this was possibly a refugees camp. He kept looking around and something caught his attention. Being fairer, someone did. A little girl with black long hair was sleeping on the ground not far away from him, having a little brown scarf around her neck. Next to her, a boy of a similar age was sighted by Eren. With blond short hair and a weakly built body was lying next to her. Eren could not believe this. "Mikasa? Armin? How?". A tear started to fall from his right eye as he felt shivers all around his little body as he started to approach them as slowly as he could so he didn't make a lot of noise, adding more time to think what he was going to do the moment they woke up.
It didn't take Mikasa more than five minutes to open her eyes and see a crying Eren looking right at her. "Eren? What's up? Are you alright?" asked Mikasa as she adjusted the scarf that had slacken during last night. Then she got up and started to walk his direction, still yawning. She suddenly stopped walking when she noticed that Eren was now hugging her with a remarkable strength, looking like they hadn't seen each other for uncountable years. Mikasa, now amazed and blushing, gave the hug back not knowing what had his friend acting like this. She was about to say something when she heard him whispering: "You don't really know how I have missed this.", hearing some sobs after this being said.
"Eren, are you alright? I don't understand what you are saying, did you have any nightmares last night?" Mikasa's worries were now increasing on Eren's strange behavior.
"No, no. I'm alright. I promise. It's just that… after loosing mom yesterday I just can't make myself clear now. I just… miss her too much, and the only thing I know right now is I don't want to lose you, nor Armin. Just that. Sorry for worrying you."
With the very little time he had to think about telling his two best friends about the long dream he had been through or not, he chose the second option, also the safer one. Knowing that, if what he saw was actually the way things will develop with time, the three of them were safe. At least for another 3 years, including the time when they trained to begin serving the Survey Corps. He would have enough time to check if his dream turns to reality and if that's the case, who to tell, when and where. Doing everything before the Colossal Titan appears again in Trost. Giving a thought to all of this made his mind change to Bertholt; Annie and Reiner came just behind him. Eren was talking to himself inside his mind now:
"If everything I saw is true, could I actually make things easier for everyone? I just don't want to see everyone's faces when they find out the true to all of the shit that is going on. Neither do I want to face that betrayal again." Feeling his heart beating faster as the last words came to his mind didn't help at all to stop worrying Mikasa, so Eren just tried to forget everything by now and just "play his role" in this cruel story. Armin didn't take much more time than Mikasa to wake up; when he did, Mikasa and Eren were already more relaxed about what happened minutes ago and the three of them started to get ready so their bitter day could start.
As Eren was, theoretically speaking, at the beginning of the story, his memory was having difficulties to remember what was supposed to happen these first days. A sense of fear, rage and pain went right through his body when he took a glimpse of someone old coming to where the three kids were standing in order to get their food portion of the day. Armin's grandfather. He could not help but feeling something like a stab in his ribs when he saw his friend talking happily to his relative, going even worse when the old man took his hat and left it on Armin's head, a gesture that made the blond boy's smile even bigger. As the day went on, Eren's fear of that dream being real kept raising in an excessive way. He remembered the jokes that he overheard from two young man who were attached to the Military Police, not confronting them as in his dream, he was just too worried about everything to do that; he remembered the fight that took place in the square, where the portions of food were being given; he remembered the annoyance of Mikasa when he was not keen on eating as he watched the situation that they all were involved in. Two days later, Eren made up his mind. The dream that he had three nights ago was nothing but the future he and his friends will have to face. This happening was, obviously, due to Armin grandfather's death, alongside other 250.000 people sent to "retake Wall Maria". Nobody could actually know what the outcome would be in a fight between hundreds of Titans and 250.000 untrained humans without weapons.
"Such a nice government we have inside the walls, maybe letting the Titans in would not be such a bad idea if we managed to get all the citizens out." Eren thought out loud when the news finally arrived to their temporal residence in the countryside. A tone of rage was easily noticed in his words by Armin and Mikasa, showing long faces and sitting next to him as they tried to make the small slices of bread going down their throats.
"I really wouldn't mind right now." Armin managed to say before getting another bite from the bread he was grabbing with his right hand. Unlike Eren, these words were not full of rage, they had that recognizable bitter sound as they went out Armin's mouth. Even a couple of tears could be seen by Eren and Mikasa falling down his face, until they finally fell and reached the ground, wetting the stone floor of the square where they were given the devastating news.
"Armin…" Mikasa left out a quiet sigh after seeing how miserable his friend looked in that moment. Unfortunately, the only thing she could offer him was a shoulder to cry on, hoping that by doing so, it would take the pain away.
"Guys, I have something to tell you… I have been seriously thinking about this for a time now and I think that, despite not being the best moment to share it, I feel like I have to let it out after everything we had lived these last days." Eren saw both his friends faces rising until they met each other's eyes. Then they looked at him, waiting for whatever he was about to say. "It's not that big of a deal, just letting you know that I am planning on joining the Survey Corps. I was convinced before everything went to hell, but after all we've been through this last week, I'm now as determined as ever. I just can't sit and do nothing when other people could be intended to suffer the same fate as we did." Eren was now looking to the palm of both of his hands, like if he just wanted to make sure that he actually had the enough power to defend the people inside the walls. He also knew he had to let both of his friends know everything he did, but he had to make his moves carefully, every little detail could make the difference between a happy or a bitter end. Or even a worse one that the one he had actually seen.
"I'm going with you, Eren. Wherever you go, I'll be there to protect you." Mikasa said without hesitation, not showing surprise nor reject about what Eren had just said. Truth to be told, he was expecting that same answer; furthermore, he really didn't want them to take different paths, but he would respect their decision. Even though, he was expecting, in a selfish way, that they would come with him.
"I'll go too. Like it or not Eren, you wanting to go to the outer world is something that you learned from me. I'm just sorry to tell you that I will be the first one of us to see the ocean, you can take the desert if you want." Eren was delighted to see a shy smile coming from his friend's mouth. He didn't try to lighten the mood at all, but having done it without purpose is something that made Eren even prouder about bringing up this to the conversation.
"Thanks guys. I really appreciate this. You really don't know how much. Anyway, the training is set to start in one month and a half, so we should be getting signed up as fast as possible." Mikasa and Armin felt like nodding was all it took to do so Eren understood that they were both committed to the planning he had just came up with.
They then started to spend all the free time they could training in the surroundings of the improvised refuge shelter. In a way it could seem meaningless to do so, having muscles would not help a lot in killing Titans that would be, in the best scenario, 3 times their size. Anyway, they didn't have a lot of things to do before they were taken to the barracks and started the 3-years-long training, so they just thought that getting a bit fit wouldn't harm anyone. The days kept going on and the one that they were so eager to arrive was now around the corner. One afternoon, after having eaten their proper portion of bread, the three kids were heading outside the square they used to hang out at lunch, when they saw someone that they were glad to see that he was still alive.
"HANNES!" The three kids shouted in unison as they started to run to the wall that he was leaning on. That day, once Hannes had made sure that Eren and Mikasa were safe, he went back in order to help as many people as he could while the Titans kept coming in from the hole in the outer wall. The kids didn't come to see him again since that day, having them worried about the whereabouts of his adult friend. Eren, in spite of knowing that he would be alive, he also felt relieved to see him in flesh and bones.
"Hey kids! How are you doing? Last time I saw you was back then whe-…" Hannes stopped talking as soon as he remembered what actually had happened that day. The guilt of leaving Carla to die was something that caused a bit of trouble in his mind at sleeping time. A month later, he still had spontaneous nightmares, but he was now sleeping better. "I'm sorry. I swear I didn't forget anything. In fact, I still blame myself for not having the enough strength and courage to save your mother Eren; forgive me too, Mikasa. I know what that woman meant to you despite her not being your biological mother."
"It doesn't matter Hannes, don't feel bad. What happened can't be changed and don't feel ashamed to talk about mom, in some way, I don't want to forget that day until the day I die. Anyway, I don't get to see why you blame yourself, if you hadn't been there, probably me and Mikasa would end up meeting the same fate as mom did." Eren managed to say everything in a soft way, he really needn't to start a scene right there. Whereas, closing his fists with all the strength he could find in that bitter moment was something he could not held back.
Mikasa, Armin and Hannes wide-opened their eyes after hearing what Eren had just said. Obviously, they could still feel the rage and pain that would expect from the kid, but they were all taken by surprise how he managed to control those feelings and talk about THIS matter in such a rational and "cold" way.
"Thank you Eren. I appreciate your words. I really do." Hannes felt like a heavy weight had lifted from his shoulders. Maybe after this little talk, he could rest better at nights. "May I ask if you are here by yourself or are there any adults taking care of you? I mean, the chore to keep you from fighting in the neighborhood is usually my job, but I have been quite busy." Hannes tried to lighten the mood a little bit with a soft joke and he was hoping that he didn't get the opposite effect. His worries dissipated when he sighted thin smiles coming from the three kids that he had known almost since they were born. Sadly, these lasted no longer than a few seconds, realizing that they had to answer the question they were asked.
"We are here by ourselves." Eren started saying. "I think that my father had possibly died too. We have been here for more than a month now, if he was still alive, he would have come here a long time ago. In the beginning Armin's grandfather was here to check on us, but you know what happened not so long after the wall was broken. You know, the plan to make villagers retrieve the now Titans territory inside the wall Maria. We have been here alone since then. Anyways we will be going away sooner than later."
Not wanting to bring up cold memories, Hannes just led the conversation to the final part of Eren's statement. "Why, if I may ask? And where?".
"We have signed up to the Training Corps, in order to join the Survey Corps. We will be leaving this Friday morning." It was Armin now who was talking. He might had thought that taking part in the conversation would make him forget the first topics that came out. Mikasa was as quiet as always, keeping track of the conversation while she was leaning in Eren's back, had turned to this position when Eren started talking about her mother. She wished that that little and fool act would hep him to ease his mind.
"I see. So, we would be meeting more than I thought we would. That's great, but remember kids. Don't get killed. If running away when things get dangerous makes you a coward, be an alive coward before being brave and dead. Anyway, I have to get going, working for the Garrison is tougher than it seems. See you around kids!" The old man waved the kids goodbye as he started to ride his horse going to wherever he would have been assigned for his next job.
The kids stayed there, waving Hannes back until he was so far away that they couldn't tell the difference between him or the comrades that went alongside him. Knowing that there were only two days left until the training began, they kept their path to a near small hill to keep up exercising for the rest of the evening, taking deserved times to rest and take some water from the fountain in the square.
The day they had been waiting for finally arrived. A small carriage tied to two horses and driven by a young man that was wearing a jacket similar to Hannes's arrived in the place. The Garrison uniform. The man entered the little enclosure asking about the 3 kids. Maybe no longer kids. Let's give them the benefit of doubt and already include them in the teenage gap. After all, despite only being 12/13 years old, they have gone through some events that had they childhood shortened. They were no longer kids. They were now future soldiers that were about to spend the next three years learning about how to kill Titans and save humanity from them.
So there goes the first chapter. I write down here somethings I want to say before I move on in the story. I'm quitting. Nah, just kidding. Now, seriously, I have uploaded these first two chapters in less than 12h, but obviously don't expect such rhythm all along the fanfic. This one is also shorter than I said before that I wanted the chapters to be long. I'll even try to make them longer but entertained to read as well. Let's see if I can keep my word. Next point, I may even last a bit more uploading the next few chapters than I'd usually do it in the future. This is because I have to think yet where I want this to lead. I've read many AoT fanfics and I do wanna do something original. Maybe you imagined that pairing Eren and Annie would obligate me to make Annie betray Marley (as I read in other fanfics) but I'm thinking in some other ways to do it, you will have to wait to see my final decision. More things, I want to do really well here because, despite this is my first story, I need this story to "reach" me in some way. As I said before, AoT for me means a world, and I want this story to represent that. And I'm sure that if I achieve this, you will also enjoy this much more. Saying this, I write things that actually have some meaning in the story, for example, I've written this chapter trying to leave clear that Eren has matured due to his "dream", but leaving also clear that Armin and Mikasa obviously didn't (using mainly the dialogues for this), and adding Hannes was the way to do it "better". Remarking that I'll try hard to make everything having its meaning is actually quite important to me, as I feel that the anime does the same. Everything in that fucking show is made for a reason, and I want this to have the same "style". I had also thought in "using" music, but I just can't see Eren slaughtering Titans and "Only One" by Slipknot playing in the background, so I have almost rejected this idea. After this long text (that I don't think many people will actually read), I just remember you to be full critic with my job here, I won't take any comments in the bad way, in fact, I will pay more attention to the bad ones, as long as they are constructive obviously. I won't feel bad for someone saying my fanfic is horrible because I killed x character. Whatever. I believe I've made myself clear. I will try not to write my thoughts like this in every chapter, and if I decide to, I'll summary a lot. With this I say, enjoy the show, comment your ideas and the most important thing. SHINZO WO SASAGEYO!