Chapter I - Into the Hands of Another

Have you ever felt relieved that finally, just finally things were changing for the better, only to have it all taken away? I for sure have.

It all started when I was twenty. I had finally gotten out of work and began driving home when all of a sudden, BOOM! Deer. Went right through my windshield and had it's antler's driven right into my throat. I died in that old dingy Honda, choking on my own blood, unable to even move as the antler had gone through my spine. I died feeling my own blood pour from the wound down my throat, I died feeling it dye my shirt red. I died worried about not getting to see the end of a shitty fan made manga I had supported for the few months!

I had been worried about goddamn ANR as I died, not my friends nor my family, just seeing the end of a damn good story.

I mean shit, AOT had been the first anime I had ever actually watched to completion (DBZ doesn't count!) I had been a fan of it since watching that damn episode staying up too late on Adult Swim, its really not my fault after all! Yams was such a good writer back then…

Yet it mattered not, I died and there was nothing I could do but let nature take it's course. I would be buried, mourned and forgotten, at least until they joined me in Heaven… or Hell… all that rule 34 would likely damn the most pious.

So I waited and waited to be welcomed by Saint Peter, or to be laughed at by Lucifer, yet it never came. For months and months I waited, until finally I felt a pull and found myself in a situation I hadn't considered.

Rebirth.

Yeah, I most certainly wasn't deserving, I was a lazy piece of shit who barely went to church and ate a little too well, surely those kids in Africa deserve it more than I did! Yet it was all the same. I was reborn as Wilhelm Regenburg, the son of two fairly moderately well off Eldian from Liberio settlement, Marie and Georg Regenburg.

Now you may perhaps ask, Eldian, Liberio? Aren't those from Attack on Titan? And you good sir would be correct. I've been reborn into this hellscape.

That's why I'm more pissed off that some random african kid didn't get reborn here! I don't want to be stuck in this hellhole! I enjoy the story, not so much being in the story! Fuck being here and fuck getting smushed by the wall titans! I'm on the wrong side of this shitstain world! I mean, better than being on Eldia were I would be devoured, but nowhere near where I want to be!

It doesn't help that my father Georg is a complete pansy. I swear all he does is suck up to the Marley. I mean, he has worked hard to provide for me and my mother, and I can't blame him seeing as from birth he has been indoctrinated to believe that we Eldians are devils… But come on! Surely such self hatred is wrong!?

He works at one of the banks, peddling small notes and files and moving things where his betters tell him to. He could do much, much more, however they don't allow a devil to do much more than menial labor. I can understand to an extent, if father well and truly wishes he could grab as much as he wants and run off, without our sashes we're not much different than the rest of the people here, indistinguishable from others.

I truly wish father would do something like that, but he's too cowardly, a bootlicker for certain. He loves the Marley too much. I learned the hard way when i was younger. I tried to make my parents proud of me, so I started showing off some of that modern day brilliance. Using math and science I wowed them thoroughly. I wanted to make them proud and proud they were.

So they threw me into the Warrior program.

The fun part about the Warrior program was that to actually be admitted you had to pass both a physical and a written test. I flunked both quite easily, though not without suspicion from the others and blatant anger from my parents. I would be damned if I would be sacrificed so that they could get out of the internment camp! After that I started dumbing my school work down, so that they wouldn't try anything like that again.

I sighed, looking up at the bright starry night. I could only to the roof of our small apartment had a escape hatch to the roof, and it was here that I could finally escape the hustle of the camp. In the end, I just wanted to be free.

I heard from my left the flapping of wings, and as I looked I saw one of the many crows I had been feeding for a while now. Tossing some of my bread towards him, he pecked at it, before grabbing it in his beak and flying away. Far, Far Away.

Just as I one day hope to do.

One Day.

"This World Is Cruel, And It's Also Very Beautiful." - Mikasa Ackerman

"How was school today sweetie?" mom asked as I came piling in the front door. Setting my book bag down, before taking a bite out of the apple I had 'acquired' on my way home. "It was fine mom, nothing I couldn't handle." I said as some of the old moldy books fell out, with a sigh I picked them up and neatly put them back into my bag.

"That's good, we're having your favorite tonight!" mom said, turning her attention back to the stove. "Ah? Duck?" I asked. Chicken is crazy expensive, so duck is the closest one can get in the end. It was a change for sure, as where I came from duck was more expensive than chicken, but why would I complain? It wasn't that bad in the end.

"Yes dear, your father should be getting home from work soon, so go and clean up the table for me, okay?" she asked as I nodded, before taking off and starting to prepare the table. It was almost routine when dad got paid, we would treat ourselves to some good food before going back to saving more money by eating bread and the like. It saved just enough money for a rainy day or an unexpected medical bill, so who was I to judge? We survived in the end.

*Knock Knock*

"Oh, honey can you watch the stove while I get that? It's probably old Nan here to complain about her marigolds…" mom said as I nodded, before turning and paying attention to the stove iron while she went to the door.

The sounds of the duck sizzling on the stove and the smell of the other vegetables mom cooked on the iron alongside the breasts. The aroma almost making me grab one off the iron and eat it myself.

"Wha- get off of me! HELP!" I heard from the front door, two men had started to enter the house, and I froze. It was in an instant that I snapped out of it, grabbing one of the knives off the counter.

"Get off my mom you son of a bitch!" I shouted, driving the knife into the side of one of the men, who stepped back, bringing a hand to the white uniform quickly staining red with blood. The man let my mother go, and fell back, as the other looked on in anger.

'Wait… uniform…?'

I thought for a moment, before realization dawned on me. These men weren't just any men, they were soldiers of the Marley!

"You fucking bastard!" the other said, reeling his arm back. The punch knocked me off balance, enough to have me fall back, busting my head against the hardwood table we used as a kitchen table. I saw for a moment as more soldiers burrowed in, grabbing mom and dragging her as she screamed, screamed trying to claw for me, as the soldier from before etched closer to me.

"Think to attack us, devil?!" he said, before the punches came quickly. One. I felt my lip split. Two. I felt my eye burst as I screamed. Three. I felt blood ooze from my temple Four. I knew no more.

"There is no such thing as truth in this world. That is our reality. Anyone can become a god or a devil. All it takes is for someone to claim it for it to be true." - Eren Kruger

I awoke in a dark and damp place. The only light coming from a small window high up that even an adult couldn't reach. The room we were in swayed calmly, as if out at sea.

My left eye was swollen shut, yet through my right I could see easily my mother, who held my head in her lap, she played with my hair calmly, though it was obvious she was in pain. Her face, once perfect was sliced open, with not but medical tape holding her cheek together. Dried blood caked her face, with dried tear marks the only thing showing her true skin.

"M-mom?" I asked, as she smiled as best she could "Yes, sweetie?" she asked, her voice quivering. "Are you okay?" I asked her, as she straightened up. "Yes, you were quite brave sweetie, defending your mother." she said, as I teared up, fear evident in my heart.

From my left I hear a raspy breath as I looked to see my father. His once rosy complexion was now dotted black and purples, his nose was bent out of shape and one of his ears had been cut off with gauze barely concealing the scabbed flesh.

He looked horrible.

"W-What happened?" I asked, as he took note of me.

"I… one of my coworkers was stealing money from the bank. I tried to expose it but…" he lead on, as he began hacking and coughing.

"It'll be okay sweetie, it'll all be okay." I heard my mother say, as I sobbed a little as she held me close.

Then I heard it.

The sound of a metal door opening. I turned and looked out at the soldiers peering inside, rifles in hand. "Come with us." They commanded, and for a moment I thought that my parents would fight.

But they got up and moved forward, my mother dragging me along, right in front of her. I walked carefully as we disembarked, my eye sight not quite all that well with one eye sealed shut and the other still partially covered in blood. However as we neared that great big wall I took note of what was happening.

We were being lead to the slaughter, and my parents knew. They knew we were going to see a fate much worse than death!

I squirmed, I tried to run, to get away, but all I got was being dragged up the soldiers, and forced to kneel.

"Sweetie, we'll find you, I promise you, we will find you!" mother said, as she and dad were thrown over. Quickly they changed, an 11 and 14 meter titan respectfully, they screamed, looking up at us, and stared at me directly.

"Huh… seems almost as if they want you… I wonder if they'll get you before you transform…?" one of them asked, as I stared down at my parents in terror. I could feel the needle enter my spine, it hurt so very bad, and for a moment I awaited the feeling of the hot liquid entering my spinal cord, until I noticed I hadn't been tossed.

"Then just don't waste good fluid on the brat! here!" I felt a boot hit my back as I began a tumble. "Let's play a game!" I heard as I hit the sand bar at the bottom of the hill. Rolling down until I was face to face with my parents, my moms eerie smile and my dads sad eyes greeted me at the bottom.

"IF you survive long enough devil brat we might just toss you a rope to hang yourself with!" one of the soldiers at the top jeered as I turned my attention back onto my parents. I saw as they tried to fight it, that hunger. I was a sitting duck before them. They clawed at their faces, their eyes, but I knew I couldn't wait to die.

I ran.

I ran and I ran, not looking back once.

I ran and ran until I couldn't hold myself upright, falling down to the ground, collapsing in pain and anguish, the last thing I felt, was so very hot.

Back upon the wall

*Kra-Krack!*

The soldiers laughed. It was interesting how the boy managed to actually survive long enough for the modicum of spinal fluid to actually take its course through the devils system. It had actually been a game of theirs the last few times they had come here.

They would toss all but one over, while giving the last the tiniest amount of spinal fluid. That way they could still transform at a delayed rate.

The last few times they were devoured rather quickly, however this time the devils had managed to hold themselves back for a few minutes, long enough for the fluid to take its course.

Oh well, surely nothing bad could come of this?

"If There Are Humans Who Can Bring About Change, They're Those Who Are Capable Of Abandoning Everything. People Who, When Required To Surpass Even Monsters, Are Capable Of Tossing Aside Their Very Humanity." -Armin Arlert

Grisha had been riding hard back to Shiganshina as soon as he heard the horrid news. Wall Maria had fallen, the great dangers beyond the walls marching forward, their march beginning where his family, the future of mankind lay.

Eren was the key, of that he was certain. The dreams, or rather memories he had been gifted, by whom, he could only assume was Eren, guiding him to that cavern, and what he could only assume was a more mature Eren guiding him to deal the killing blow to those Tyrants, children though they were. He tried, begged Eren to at least give him a vision of what the world after would look like, to see that his feats were not without good cause, yet he got nothing. Not a smidge of what lay of his wife, what lay of Mikasa, that poor girl. What lay of Hannes, his drinking buddy, or even his greatest friend Keith Shadis.

It was foolish to worry over such things, his time to pass both Attack and Founding titan coming soon, his body much weaker than before.

His horse was tiring he knew, but he cared not care as he raced back towards shiganshina. Apart of him was begging him to turn back, the analytical side telling him that surely Carla got the kids onto one of the many steam boats and back towards Trost district behind Wall Rose. However when get got there he couldn't find them. Which left one thing.

The Cellar.

He left key with Eren, and when he bought that house he had enough food placed there incase such an occurrence happened. Surely they took shelter there, surely!?

Slowly he came out of the clearing, coming to a stop as he neared the gates of Shiganshina. The gate had been sheered off, as typical of the Armored Titan. The rumor seemed true, whoever held the Armored titan did blast a hole through the gate.

Grisha sighed as he took the reigns and began to lead his horse onward.

From the looks of it, most of the titans had cleared the place. Blood and guts and titan bile littered the streets, and yet he hadn't seen a single titan. It would make sense, he had seen the herds clearing out the towns, hordes of them far to the north were he had come. But surely not all had already entered the walls of Maria?! It was too quick, too… clean. It was then that he thought to his son Ezekiel. Perhaps his blood? Perhaps… he had completed the program?

The timing would fit after all, and he had theories as to the Royal Bloods power without holding a titan, but this… it was truly unimaginable.

Finally he reached the house, and found it ruined.

It was crushed by a bolder, one of the parts of the wall that had been kicked in had surely ruined any chances of his families survival. But yet he looked, he kicked in the door to the cellar, searching hard for any signs of life.

But he found none. Nothing to show that his wife, nor his children were alive.

So he began wandering Shiganshina, content to search for the futile effort, until something caught his eye, the shoes…

He dismounted his horse for a moment, approaching the pile of bile, looking at the shoe in it. It was small and dainty, the only thing special about it was the small gem on the heel. A Peridot. Carla's favorite.

So he dug. And dug. And dug some more until finally he let out a panicked wail.

Covered in saliva and already rotting and decaying, his wives corpse stared at him, unblinkingly. He stared at her, sobbing. He didn't move when his horse ran, nor when the thuds of gigantic feet stomped closer. However as he was picked up he removed his stare for a moment, a moment to see the blue eyes of a titan stare at him.

"I… I don't care anymore… I've failed you Kruger! I'VE FAILED YOU!" Grisha screamed, bringing his hands to his head in anguish. The titan, unbothered by this, merely brought Grisha to it's mouth, preparing to bite down as Grisha looked back to his wife. "I'm so sorry Carla." he said, before a flurry of blood spewed forth.