Chapter Two
A World Turned Upsidedown

"I'll just jump right in… You saw the Colossal Titan the day of the breach, right? What was that like, ten years old, seeing a Titan that tall looking down at you? It had to be terrifying."

"Heh, that's a simplistic way of putting it. Even after all this time, I'm not sure I could fully put into words the terror I felt. I didn't think life within the Walls could go on after that. I was so sure it was the beginning of the end it was just a matter of time. At that moment, looking upon the Colossal Titan, another year, another decade seemed impossible."

- Interview between Estia Kyei and Armin Arlert

The shadows became easier to see as they made their way in. Some were thin, others were pudgy, some were taller than the rest, and others were just barely taller than the tallest man. Their features came in varied combinations: long faces, small heads, long legs with short arms, and short legs with long arms. Some were bald, some had hair, some had beards, and others had chins as fleshy as the rest of their bodies. Not quite human, but creepily close.

It seemed as though everyone around Taryn was still in a state of shock as the Titans stumbled in through the gate. Until one, just barely able to peer over the nearest rooftop of the nearest house, took one unlucky, fear-frozen bastard into both of its hands.

When Taryn would look back on this day, she would remember this moment as though the man and the Titan shared a look between themselves first.

Except reality was a bit more brutal than that.

In reality, the Titan immediately brought the man's head into its mouth, the entire head to his lower shoulders… and effortlessly bit clean into his bust.

And then mass panic began to settle in.

People finally started to run towards the north gate.

"We have to go…" Taryn's voice sounded distant and unfamiliar to her ears. She tightened her hair ribbon, then whirled around to find Amelie, still seated on the ground in a puddle that hadn't been there before. She took Amelie by the arm and forced her back onto her feet. "We have to go!"

Taryn forced Amelie to take a few steps forward before she released her arm and broke out into a run.

Best case scenario, Benthan was still out of Shiganshina, and travel into the district was prohibited. All Taryn needed to do was get to the bakery, get Garit, and get them both to the north gate. They should be safe once they reached the Wall interior. If the massive Titan could crawl over the Wall, it would have done it already, so the North gate should be safe.

Her legs carried her as fast as she could manage. The ribbon loosened again as her ponytail trailed behind her. With each step, her bag hit her leg. These were inconveniences that were easier to ignore than to ignore the screams of terror at her back. Screams that were often cut off by a sickening squishy sound. Likewise, it was difficult for Taryn to shake off the fear that she could come across an alleyway between buildings to find a Titan charging at her.

Taryn was trying to keep a level head as she navigated through all this. Trying to keep herself under control, and not lose herself to fear so long as she wasn't in intimate danger. She could panic when she was staring death in the face. Right now she could just focus on getting out of the district.

First the bakery, then the gate. Bakery, gate, bakery, gate…

"Dad? Dad! Daddy, get up!"

The sound of a child's voice caused Taryn to slide to an abrupt halt. An older man bumped into her and took off again without breaking his stride.

A boy, about six or seven, sat on his knees beside his father. The man lay still on his side, his eyes were frozen open and glazed over. He had a gash on the side of his head that cracked his skull wide open. Blood and gore oozed out of the opening of his skull. Broken bits of bone littered around him and a rock as big as Taryn's two fists. The ridged rock bore splattered bits of blood, hair, and flesh.

Taryn felt a chill run down her spine. Hopefully, the man's death was instantaneous. But how horrible for his son to witness it…

The man's son sat on his knees beside the body, bawling and shaking his dad's shoulders and ignored by the people passing by. Even those with children. Taryn turned her head from left to right, almost willing the boy's mother to just pop into existence and take her son and spare Taryn from having to make a critical decision.

But no one stopped. And Taryn was going to need to decide. Fast. What was she going to do? If she just ignored him, the boy would surely get eaten. But Taryn could grab him and still run to the bakery. She could get Garit and then the three of them would continue to the north gate.

But what if the bakery suffered damage from the debris and it trapped Garit inside? Time was so precious right now and if Garit was stuck, then getting him out would put all of them at risk. If it was just Taryn, then maybe she was willing to risk herself to get her father out. But this boy…

Fuck, he couldn't have been older than seven…

No. Taryn couldn't gamble with the boy's life. And just leaving him was out of the question.

Taryn launched herself forward, planted her hands under the boy's arms, then scooped him up into her arms. The boy started to scream in her ear. He pounded his fist into Taryn's back and the back of her shoulders. He tried to kick at her, being tall enough that he could easily kick her in the knees. At one point, he kicked her knee hard enough that Taryn almost toppled over. Through gritted teeth, she found it in her to continue running despite the ache in her leg.

Shiganshina was one of four districts at Wall Maria's north, south, east, and west, built just outside the Wall. Each of these districts was designed to keep the Titans contained in one area should they ever get in. As such, living in one of these districts was considered risky since it put them right there in the danger zone if a Titan got in.

This fact caused a bit of tension between Bethan and her family when she accepted Garit's proposal. At the very least, they wanted the Endes bakery to relocate to the inner Wall Maria. That never happened, and it never really turned into one of those overblown bits of family drama that caused Bethan to cut her family off. They still did business with her family's company, but they did regularly nag Bethan to relocate the bakery.

As Taryn continued running, the boy eventually stopped trying to fight against her. He wrapped his arms around her neck and his knees squeezed at her torso. It was the little tells like that that told her the boy understood the situation as well as he could at his age. Some part of him likely understood that his dad was dead by the time Taryn found him. He may have even understood that she was one of his best chances of survival.

The further she traveled up north, where businesses and homes with their own patch of land were beginning to grow scares, Taryn became vaguely aware that there were fewer and fewer people. Almost a ghost town. She could hear screams in the distance, she could even hear some silenced, cut-off before the owner of the scream could take another breath in.

Taryn grew anxious with every moving shadow that crossed her vision. A bird flying overhead, a passing cloud, the shadow of a chimney. She expected them all to be a Titan reaching for her and the boy.

It only took one, after all.

One wrong decision. One wrong move. One careless turn. It only took one poor decision from Taryn to get the boy and her killed.

"AH!" the boy screamed in Taryn's ear. His arms wrapped tighter around her neck. His knees and heels dug painfully into her sides.

Stupidly, she halted and half-turned to find a Titan behind them. It wasn't like the others Taryn had seen so far. It was about half a head taller than Garit, and Garit was amongst one of the tallest people she knew. Its legs were stocky, its torso was long, and its neck was almost non-existent. Red-brown hair flew from left to right as it ran; it kept its mouth open, arms in front of it as it ran toward Taryn and the boy.

It was almost childlike in its gestures. All it needed to do was shout "Mommy! Mommy! I got dressed all by myself!" to complete the image.

Her hand cupped the back of the boy's head. "Don't look!"

The boy's hands balled up, crumpling Taryn's jacket. She felt him bury his face in the crook of her neck.

Running once more, it took all of Taryn's willpower to keep herself from looking back at the Titan to see how much closer it was.

Shit! Had Christoph ever mentioned anything about how to kill or hinder a Titan in one of his letters? She couldn't remember for certain, for all she knew he had, but Taryn, spiteful Taryn, disregarded every tidbit his letters had to offer just because they came from Christoph.

Was it wise to alter her path in an attempt to throw off the Titan? Normally, Taryn wouldn't think twice about this strategy, but this was a unique situation. What good would it do for herself and the boy if she successfully shook off one Titan, only to run straight into the maw of another?

Eventually, Taryn noticed they were coming up to a house with a pile of logs stacked neatly against the outside of the home. Taryn may have been a baker, but she knew a thing or two about firewood and woodpiles. Namely, that all it took was one minor bump to send the whole thing toppling down.

It gave her an idea.

She would have preferred a better one.

There was no guarantee it would even work, but there wasn't much else Taryn could do. If she had something to stab with, or even throw at the Titan… She wasn't even sure if her books would do a lot of help. Not unless her aim just happened to be good enough to get the thing in the eye with one of the corners. No, for better or worse, the logs were her best bet.

Committing to the idea, Taryn readjusted her grip on the boy, freeing one hand of its burden. As they ran past the woodpile, Taryn reached out her free hand and shoved off a log from the pile.

At the sounds of tumbling wood, Taryn dared to look over her shoulder. The shove had its desired effect and sent the toppling over and the logs rolling across the road, tripping up the Titan. It looked downright oblivious to the hazards at its feet. It barely seemed to care as one of the logs rolled out from under it. Nor did it care whenever it smacked face-first onto the street.

Momentarily relieved, Taryn tried to pick up her pace and put as much distance between herself and the Titan.

In the end, Taryn figured the Titan must have found something else that stole its attention by the time it got back up. No one was panicking because something was following her when Taryn finally made it to the north gate.

The crowd at the gate was in absolute chaos. Members of the Garrison Brigade, soldiers marked with the red rose emblem, meant to keep order within the Walls… were failing to keep order. They were loading civilians into the boats, but those same civilians were pushing against each other, shouting and screaming. Grown adults were acting worse than actual children.

When Taryn spotted the line for the loading dock, she pushed her way through the crowd of squabbling men and women. She weaved between adults older than herself, throwing fits and scratching at each other's faces. Women were pulling at each other's hair and screaming obscenities. Eventually, Taryn felt one kick against the back of her left knee. The one the boy happened to get a good hit on earlier, too.

Her legs bucked, but she managed to catch herself before she fell underfoot. Upon standing back up, Taryn dared to glance over her shoulder to find a frumpy woman in her early to mid-thirties screaming in the face of another similarly aged woman and pulling at her hair. At both women's heels were a couple of gaggles of children no older than ten or eleven.

Why couldn't the masses understand that they were just making things harder for themselves by arguing amongst themselves like children?

Getting back on track, she weaved her way back and forth between the crowd, keeping her eyes on the loading dock. Taryn got herself and the boy into the back of the line, feeling a little weight lifting off her shoulders. She took a moment to huff before she whispered into the boy's ear, "Stay close to me."

Taryn bent her knees, lowering the boy onto the cobblestone. Sniffling, he held onto the fabric of Taryn's skirt in his hand. She took a moment to flex her hands, then placed one firmly on the boy's shoulder.

She tried to keep calm, or at least look like she was keeping calm, now that she had nothing to do but wait in line. With nothing to keep her busy, Taryn had little choice but to hear the screams in the background. She tried to believe that Garit wasn't among them. She made herself think that Garit noticed the danger early enough and headed north.

Were the Survey Corps going to help them in the evacuations? From what Taryn understood, they gave each branch of the military the same training. So even the Garrison and the Military Police should, in theory, be able to kill a Titan. It was just that the Survey Corps had the most experience with them compared to the other two.

But Amelie was right in her earlier observations. The Survey Corps came back with about a quarter of the men they left with. And then if one takes the injured into account, well, that meant there were bound to be even fewer available soldiers at the ready.

In front of her, she could see civilians arguing with soldiers. It looked like more than a few civilians had tried to bring what belongings they could with them, only to have them discarded by the soldiers to make as much room as possible on the boat. And then the civilian would still argue. Taryn, trying to remain civil in this time of crisis, grew more and more irritated as the same scene played out with the only difference being the face of the complainer.

For fuck's sake! Didn't these idiots get that fighting like this was wasting valuable time?!

As if trying to prove a point, Taryn removed her satchel from her shoulder. She fished out her money purse and hid it in her bosom. Though it pained her to part with her books, she couldn't hide any of them in her bosom like she could her money purse. So she tossed her bag to the side and made a point of not bothering to see where it landed.

At long last, Taryn and the boy finally stepped onto the boat. Men, women, and children were seated on the deck, at least partially to prevent them from seeing the carnage happening behind them. They took their seat by the rail; now that they were sitting, the boy wrapped both arms around one of Taryn's. His grip was tight enough that it could have served as a tourniquet. But she didn't put him off. The fact was, Taryn wanted someone to hold on to too.

She scanned the deck, trying to find a familiar face on the boat with them. Amelie. Lewyn. Karl. Garit or Mr. Royce. She would have even settled for Braum. But she couldn't find a familiar enough face.

Tilting her head back, Taryn took a shaking breath in. It wasn't that long ago that this day played out like any other with her in the bakery. It was just an average day! How could it already feel like such a long time ago?

"Why don't we stick together for a while," she said just loud enough for the boy to hear. "I'm all alone, too."

The boy looked up at Taryn, his face pinched together in an attempt to keep his tears under control. His black hair looked feathery in the way children's hair tended to look, with natural curls at the tips. His pale blue eyes looked intense when paired with the inky black color of his hair.

"My name's Taryn."

"...Jakob…"

At long last, Taryn could feel the low moan of the boat as it slowly took off. She could hear Garrison soldiers shout about needing to close the gate despite the hordes of people who hadn't boarded a boat yet. Now that she was safe, Taryn's stomach abruptly lurched. What was that hill she was on moments ago? About not feeling guilty that people were going to die because they didn't have their priorities straight? Did she naively think that everyone who wasn't already eaten would be able to get out safely?

"Jakob, was your mom out of the district today?" she asked him. Wordlessly, Jakob nodded, his hair flouncing with each bob. "Was she supposed to be back by now?"

"Dunno." His voice was a quiet mumble.

So, for all either of them knew, both of their mothers could have been back in the district when the south gate was kicked in. Shit…

The pair sat huddled together, shoulder to shoulder. Taryn could feel the pressure of tears build behind her eyes. She did everything she could to keep them from making their way out, it may not have mattered if she did or not. The surrounding people were openly sobbing and sniffling. But Jakob was looking at Taryn right now. And Taryn remembered being young once in a time of crisis. She knew that if the adults were afraid, that's when you knew things were really, really bad.

She tried to distract herself with the story she loved the most; White Rose of Bloodied Thorns. Ironic, since Taryn left home in the first place because she wasn't in the mood for it. Then again, the world was as it should have been when she left home. White Rose of Bloodied Thorns was a comfort when she needed it. She knew the story well. She could, at the very least, recite a detailed summary from memory. Hell, she probably had full paragraphs memorized.

'The story starts in Lacliusia with the Durchdenwald family. The patriarch, Ansel, was the proud father of five children, two sons, and three daughters. Eydis, the eldest, Haukr, the first son, Katla, the middle daughter, Gestur, the youngest son, and Fridr, the youngest.

'Ansel was a wealthy merchant in Lacliusia. But the company building and all his merchandise were lost in a fire brought upon by a particularly dry summer. Between the money owed to his associates and the pensions owed to his employees, the Durchdenwalds were forced to sell their comfy manor home, and their valuables, and start a new life in the country. Specifically Boscana, a border town by the Veil…'

A high-pitched, whining shriek of splintering metal interrupted Taryn's recollection. Even louder shrieks and sobs drowned the metallic sounds out and yelling from both inside and outside the boat. Out of the corner of her eyes, Taryn could see people rising to their feet, peering over the edge to see what the commotion was about.

She muttered an instruction to Jakob to stay down, and she stood up. She needed to lean over so much just to see what was going on that she could have fallen off the boat.

Her hand slapped over her mouth when she saw it.

A Titan had just broken through the gate. Its skin looked so firm and rough like it acted like some sort of plating. Taryn almost mistook it for bone. There were bits of skin and muscle tissue peeking through its hardened plates. By the time Taryn got up to look, the Titan was in the middle of skidding to a stop, meters away from the jagged hole in the gate.

Taryn's stomach felt empty and… wrong. Like she'd gone a day only eating small samples, not a proper meal.

She was going to be sick.

No… No, she was not just going to be sick. She was going to die of fright right there.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

They were supposed to be relocated to the other side of the gate. Then the gate was supposed to be closed until further notice.

There wasn't supposed to be a Titan that could smash through metal, much less two!

But it's what happened. And they weren't prepared for it.

They weren't prepared for the Titans to get into the interior of Wall Maria.

They could very well be staring at the harbinger of the extinction of the human race.

Konrad walked into his dorm with his towel over his shoulders and his shirt loose. They arrived back to the brackets with time before the dinner bell. Perfect time for a wash. Wash away the sweat and grime, the blood clinging to his skin, the stench of failure. There was nothing better than letting it all simply wash off.

He left the showers with his mood ever-so-slightly improved.

He shared his dorm with Christoph, Clove, and… no one else. again. They were down a roommate since their last expedition. Christoph laid on his side on the bunk below Konrads. He wasn't sleeping, just enjoying the quiet before his dormmates had the chance to disturb his reverie. "Shower's open," said Konrad. He pulled himself onto the upper bunk. "Or at least it was when I left."

"Which means your stall is likely taken by now. I'll shower tomorrow. Or whenever."

"If you say so…"

With the towel enveloping his head, Konrad gave it one more tousle before he allowed himself to lay down. Things were the same as it was after every expedition; casual conversation as though they hadn't looked certain death in the eye just that morning. As if there wasn't anyone missing. As if they didn't have to think about the coming funeral service.

It was something Konrad wished he hadn't grown accustomed to. But after then years in the Survey Corps, it was inevitable. It was worse when he first joined. Fifteen years old with a sense of confidence that was ultimately unearned, even if he was in his Training Corps' Top Ten. But they were different. They would go all the way and end up running the Survey Corps one day.

Why wouldn't they?

They were them.

Funny how reality was the only thing uglier than a Titan.

Konrad had never gone on an expedition where there wasn't some injury or casualty, but today took the cake. Hell, they may have all died out there today if Commander Keith hadn't stepped aside to let Captain Erwin initiate one of his plans. It was likely a factor in the Commander's decision to resign and pass the position onto Erwin. Which was virtually unheard of in the modern Survey Corps.

The dorm was silent with just the two of them. Clove was out doing their own thing, not that they were a chatterbox. But the silence was appreciated. It was appreciated so much, Konrad was oblivious to the commotion going on outside the dorm. So, he was taken off guard when the door slammed open. At the door was a young woman, her wine-red hair hastily pulled back. Her face was as pale as snow and she looked ready to vomit.

"Beatrys?" Christoph asked, sitting up.

The woman's frantic eyes met with Christoph's. "You're from Shiganshina, too, right?"

Slowly, Christoph sat on the edge of his bunk. "Yeah…?"

"We need to go! They're saying the Titans got into Shiganshina. Everyone able to fight is to get their gear on and get ready to go!"

By now, Christoph had risen to his feet; Konrad's gaze traveled from Beatrys to Christoph and back. The cold dread that came over Konrad was not unfamiliar to him, a sensation that often came when Konrad was sure he was about to meet his end.

Levi's pen strokes were meticulous, slow, and careful. Legibility was always a concern that nagged at the back of his head, especially when compared to damn near everyone else in the Corps. Holding something as thin as a pen caused easy hand cramps, which made doing his reports harder than they needed to. Plus, going slow meant less of a chance of spilling ink everywhere.

The number of times Levi worked meticulously to get ink stains out of Hange's launder was greater than zero. And it was at the point where Levi was ready to make them wear a frock from then on. Ink stains were frustrating enough to get off of regular clothing, but fucking impossible to get out of their white shirts.

Alcohol, he found, helped. But it wasn't easy to come by, pure alcohol remained reserved for the Medic Ward. Otherwise, he'd have to pay for it out of pocket.

With a thought crossing his mind, Levi put his pen back in the inkwell. He turned his hand palm up, inspecting his thumb, forefinger, and middle finger to find smears and streaks of black ink.

Tch…

Using alcohol would probably clean it off his skin, too. It worked like a charm whenever his hands were stained from discarded, rotten food back in the Underground.

"Ack! I can taste it from the smell, big bro!"

"Then shut up, sit still, and it'll be over faster."

"Why do you want to do this? It'll take care of itself. And no one'll see it."

"Why do you put on clothes every day?"

"That's different… Ain't it?"

"No."

Ready for a distraction, Levi plucked his pen out of the inkwell when the door to his room was abruptly thrown open. A middle-aged woman stood in the doorway. Or maybe she was a little younger than middle-aged, it was difficult to tell with the more senior corpsmen. And Captain Bertine was amongst the most senior members. Her aged black hair was done up at the base of her neck. Normally, she looked perpetually unimpressed with the world around her, but right now, there was a frantic look in her eye and an unusual lift to her brow.

"Get your gear back on," ordered Bertine. "We're heading out immediately"

Levi half-turned in his chair, staring at Bertine. "We just got back and half of us who made it back are recuperating."

"It'll be explained on the way." Bertine stepped away from the doorframe. "Just get off your ass and get your gear on. We have to go."

Tch…

As Levi scooted his chair back, he could hear Bertine throw open the next door over and give his neighbor a similar explanation. His gear was nestled in its case by the door. Polished and put away, only in need of a refill of fuel and fresh blades. And ready should an emergency ever arise.

Levi was quick to get his gear ready. When he stepped outside his room, he felt a subtle change in the atmosphere. Dread was not an uncommon cloud in the brackets before and after an expedition. But this… this was different. This was a different kind of fear and desperation. This was a fear come to life.

Heading to the supply shed to fill up, men and women were rushing. Rushing to get their gear on. Or rushing to get their horse ready. Some people had tears in their eyes as they got ready. Others whispered amongst themselves.

"It'd have to be like sixty meters, though!"

"Kicked it down? Like a kid kicking a rock?"

At the storage shed, Levi spotted a group of the younger cadets on either side of the door, unsubtly poking their heads inside. "Oi," Levi exhaled, getting the brat's attention. "Aren't we supposed to be in a rush?"

"We-We-Well…"

"We have family out there!" a male voice shouted from the inside. "You can't expect us to just sit by!"

Erwin's voice followed suit. Calm, firm but not harsh. "I know what I'm asking isn't easy for any of you. But I will not budge on this."

"Commander, please!" a girl pleaded.

"We're already hurting for numbers," a second man argued. "You can't afford to bench us!"

"We can't afford any liabilities, either," Erwin pointed out. "Especially in a situation like this. When things settle down, you can search for your families. But right now, each of you are only proving that you're going to prioritize only a few people over the entirety of Shiganshina. You can help by staying behind."

Before Levi could take a step forward, one of the men inside let out a deranged, strangled cry. A thud followed suit, strong enough that the vibrations sent the birds roosting on the roof flying. "Damn you to hell, Smith!"

A tall, broad officer was the first to emerge from the storage shed. He nursed a bruised and bleeding hand close to his chest as he stormed out. Trailing behind him was another man and a girl. The girl had started sobbing, needing the second man to lead her through the brackets.

The group of younger cadets scattered before the three senior officers walked out. Inside was a small gaggle at the fuel tanks and blade crates. One was rummaging throught the drawers of spare parts.

Erwin had finished giving his person one last look over by the time Levi approached him. "Oi!" Levi stood with his arms crossed over his chest. "Someone mind telling me what the hell's going on? It's barely been an hour since we got back. Now we're expected to go back out again?"

"A messenger stopped by a little bit ago," Erwin explained simply. He took a moment to scrutinize Levi. "You need blades. We can't waste too much time. The message said a Titan was spotted outside of Shiganshina. Roughly ten or so meters taller than the Wall."

Levi blinked. "The hell are you saying?" His voice sounded hollow, almost angry.

"To sum up," continued Erwin, "Wall Maria has been breached. Titans are flooding into the Shiganshina District."

"If that's supposed to be a joke, your sense of humor's as shitty as Hange's."

"If only it were a bad joke. A Titan kicked the gate open in the Shiganshina District. We're to head out and keep civilians safe during the evacuation."

'Kicked the gate open.' As though the structure made of stone and metal were equivalent to kids kicking a rock around as a game. Though, if Levi were to be fair, Titans did tend to bowl through what few structures did exist outside the Wall with the same grace and elegance as young children.

And now those ugly bastards were trudging through an outer district full of civilians. Those people would be like a roast pig at some rich prick's social gathering. Devoured as though the meal would never end, without a second thought about the destruction in their wake.

All he could do was meet Erwin's gaze, trying to discern the truth from the lie. Almost daring the Commander to admit this was just some sick ruse. But Levi had never known Erwin to keep a joke going even when the moment passed, Levi was just trying to avoid acknowledging this change in reality.

"Shit."

Before Levi could make his way for his gear, someone called for the commander. Soldiers both entering and exiting the shed parted, allowing Hange to enter. "We need to pick up the pace!" Hange said breathlessly. "Another messenger just came! The Titans broke into Wall Maria's interior!"

Authors Note: So, to briefly go into Taryn's name…

I got 'Taryn' from the twin sister of Jude Duarte from Holly Black's Folk of the Air trilogy. Not out of any particular fondness for that Taryn. I just really liked the name and it fit my Taryn. 'Ende' comes from Michael Ende. A late German author, probably best known for The Never-Ending Story.