©️An anime/manga by Hajime Isayama

Chapter IV: Adjustments

Eren and Ada had served as much needed support systems for Armin, especially Ada. When he was well enough to return to class, she offered—for once—for him to come over to her house at the end of the day. It came as a shock to the boy, but a very welcomed one as he asked her if he could also bring his grandfather along with him. She'd said it was perfectly fine with her, and at the end of the school day, when she parted ways with him and Eren, she made sure to inform her mother of the invitation she'd extended. Lorraine of course, having heard of what'd happened to Mr. and Mrs. Arlert, humbly agreed.

"That was very thoughtful of you, my dear." Lorraine complimented, running a hand over her daughter's hair. "This means I'll need extra help from you while I make dinner." she reminded, and Ada happily obliged.

Once dinner time had arrived, the two sat at the table with their male guests and merrily dined on the food that was made. Nowhere were mentions of the recently deceased, no expressions of condolences, just happy table talk about the events of that day and anything else that came to mind. Normally dinner at home, while enjoyable, felt incomplete now that his parents were gone. Armin loved his grandfather dearly, but he still missed them immensely. Even though spending time with his friend and her mother, having dinner at their house, would never replace it, it still filled a gap that was left behind. When the night was over, and it was time for them to go home, Armin begged Lorraine if they could come back and do it again.

The woman giggled endearingly at the young blonde, covering her open mouth with her hand. "I didn't think my cooking was that good." she joked.

"It's exquisite," Alphonse gushed, petting Armin's head. "I can see why my grandson wants to come back, you have a lovely home."

She nodded, "Thank you very much, Mr. Alert." He assured her that his first name was just fine, and she continued after acknowledging his request. "You're both welcome in our home whenever you need, just let me know in advance so I know to make enough food." Armin beamed at this and immediately looked at Ada who smiled back at him.

That had been an offer the two took her up on the following week, then the next week, and another week after that. Eventually this became a normal occurrence, and Armin was in their home almost as often as his own. Alphonse even took it upon himself to start helping Lorraine with more physically demanding tasks around her home, such as repairs. This was something Lorraine was very thankful for, as she didn't have the means of tending to these things herself. There were holes in the roof of their barn that'd long since needed to be covered, and cracked or missing floorboards inside their house.

"My grandpa is really good at building stuff!" Armin humbly bragged one day when Alphonse was replacing some of the floorboards. "He's where my dad learned it from." Alphonse paused with his arm held up, ready to hammer a nail into the floor, and turned around to look at Armin. Quite a lot of time had gone by at this point since their passing, six months to be precise. Armin hadn't spoken a single word about either of them up until now, the poor boy not being able to find it within himself to do so. So to hear him clearly, without a single waver in his voice, mention his father so brightly…it was a very welcomed change that Alphonse felt his heart swell at.

"Of course I am," Alphonse laughed, "But he was never better than this old goat, you better believe that!"

That moment was a year and a half ago and they were now in 844; the children were 9 years old and currently faced with another change in their lives.

"Armin, Ada, this is Mikasa." Eren introduced them both to a girl who hid herself behind the red scarf he'd given her, and then lightly elbowed her. "Don't be so shy, tell them hello."

Mikasa looked down to the side, not meeting either of their gazes. "Hello…" she greeted upon Eren's request, though it came out muffled.

"It's nice to meet you, Mikasa." Ada kindly stated, but the dark haired girl only nodded in acknowledgment.

"Are you going to be attending school with us?" Armin curiously asked.

Mikasa stared at Eren from her peripheral until he sighed, "Yeah, soon…she was being homeschooled by her mom before my folks took her in. My dad has to meet with our teacher to work out where she is academically, in case she's not caught up." he explained, but he was sure it was alright. If her parents were as doting as she'd described to him, then she likely was caught up on her learning for her age group.

"You can't just have me doing all the talking for you, you know that?" he scolded, and looked very unimpressed as she played with the ends of her scarf. "You gotta learn to speak for yourself!"

"…I'm sorry…" she trailed in a small voice, not being able to meet his gaze.

His annoyed demeanor relaxed a little at her apology, and he began to feel a little bad for his outburst. The girl lost both of her parents to murder and she was nearly trafficked, not to mention she had to take a life. Her entire life changed in one night and she was basically starting all over, he had to be a little more forgiving of her not taking to her new surroundings straight away. Expecting her to was just asking too much.

"…No, don't worry about it." Eren dismissed, "I'm sorry, all of this is a big change for you. I should be more understanding," With the exception of Eren and Grisha from time to time, she presumably was only in the company of her parents until recently. She just wasn't used to being around other people yet, and that was okay. "But Armin and Ada are my closest friends, can you at least try for them? They're both super nice,"

Mikasa picked her head back up and eyed the two aforementioned children, who stared back at her with kind eyes and smiles. Eren—even with his faults—was the kindest, bravest, most selfless person she'd ever met. If there were any truth to the "birds of a feather" saying, then surely he'd keep the company of those who carried themselves in similar ways…right? With that thought in mind, a shy smile spread across her lips that she covered with her scarf. Any friend of his was at least worth trying for, "I think I can do that…it's nice meeting you both too." So far she'd only spoken that much around Eren, and he smiled at the clear effort.

When the day did come, Ms. Hoffman took the liberty of introducing Mikasa herself, having already learned of her situation from Grisha. "This is Mikasa Ackerman," she stated, resting her hand on the girl's shoulder. She currently stood at the front of the class with the teacher and skimmed the room with her eyes. "I know a lot of you are already use to the faces that have been here, but please try to make her feel welcome." The stares of the other students made Mikasa shrink into herself, and she quickly scurried over to Eren's desk. He got up and told her to take his seat, and she listened as he went to get himself a spare chair from outside. While he did she could hear other kids murmuring to each other, some commenting on her hair and eyes; they wondered out loud why she looked the way she did. It made her sink in her seat and hide the bottom half of her face.

During the class' break in the back property, the trio were sat in the grass with Mikasa when the 3 delinquents approached. "Hey," the tall one called, catching their attention.

Eren narrowed his eyes and immediately stood up, "You guys never know when to quit, do you?" The others stood up as well, "The hell do you want?"

"Shut up, Jaeger!" Tall Kid shouted, catching the attention of the other kids. He pointed at Mikasa, who didn't move a muscle, "I was talking to her," The students were beginning to gather, wanting to see what the commotion was.

"Well don't!" Eren fired back, "She's got nothing to say, especially not to your ugly mug."

"He said shut up!" Stupid Face exclaimed, and before Eren could retort Mikasa spoke.

"What do you want?"

The tall boy smirked, "So the mousy girl does speak," he mocked, "What's a kid like you doing here?"

"What do you mean?" she questioned, though she had a vague idea of what the answer was. She knew she stuck out as much as her mother did, and the woman had let her know as a little girl how some people would react to it. She assured her that most people would be very indifferent, but also let Mikasa know that some may have not so favorable feelings about it. This must've been what she meant. "I'm here to learn," She answered as if he could've answered the question himself (he could have).

"Mousy girl's got jokes," Fat Boy commented, but Tall Kid put up a hand.

"No, what are you doing here?" he asked again, "I mean look around, you look nothing like us."

"So what if she doesn't?!" Ada snapped, catching the boys off guard. "What's your point?"

"I'm just saying," Tall Kid scoffed with a shrug, "She clearly doesn't belong here, so I'm asking what she's here for. Get me?" He stepped closer and leaned down to be eye level with her. "I heard from my uncle that a bunch of you rats lived up in the forest a long time ago, why the change of scenery? Wanted a taste of what civilized life felt like?" The last question was the tipping point for Eren, who quickly punched the boy across the cheek and caused his head to snap to the side. The tall child's eyes blew up wide, shocked by the sudden blow, but he quickly recovered and whirled around to face him.

"You little shit!" the tall boy angrily shouted, punching Eren back and knocking him to the ground—to the shock of Mikasa. The children standing around gasped, and then began to cheer at the prospect of a brawl breaking out. Nothing this interesting had happened in years.

Mikasa's eyes widened when she saw Eren on the ground, and her eyes snapped to glare at the tall bully as hard as she could. She felt a large rage boil inside her when he turned to look at her again, "Who do you—" He was cut off by both the girl's hands tightly curling into the front of his shirt and yanking him down. Snapping her leg up, she kneed him straight in the gut and knocked all of the wind out of him. His eyes bulged from the blow and she just as quickly upper cut him in the jaw, causing him to fly back and land hard on his back. His two friends stared at him in shock, then they both tried to rush the girl, but Ada ran up and slapped the stupid faced one across the face.

"Leave her alone!" she exclaimed, and Stupid Face grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Mind your own business!" he shouted, and she shrieked as he threw her to the ground.

"Ada!" Armin gasped, and before he knew what he was doing he'd kicked the boy between the legs. Stupid Face dropped to his knees immediately then curled up into a ball in pain, and Ada took the opportunity to kick him over and get on his back. When she did, she began to yank on his hair with all her little girl might and it caused him to start shrieking instead.

Fat Boy tried to scoop Mikasa up in his arms, but she ducked out of the way with ease and roundhouse kicked him in the stomach. This knocked wind out of him much like his friend, and while he was stunned she spun around and elbowed him in between his shoulder blades, knocking him to the ground as well. Tall Kid had gotten up at this point and began to charge at her, but was shoulder checked by Eren and kissed the grassy ground. The brunette got on top of him and punched the boy in the head a good two times before he was flipped over and punched back across his other cheek. Mikasa had grabbed Tall Kid and threw him off Eren, straight into Fat Boy who'd just gotten back up, when Ms. Hoffman came running outside from the commotion. She could hear the children shouting at them to fight even when she was inside.

"What in the world is going on out here?!" she exclaimed, watching Ada continue to pull a boy's hair while Mikasa and Eren fought another other two. She made quick work of separating the kids as best she could and yelled at the other children to cease their instigating. "Break it up, that's quite enough!" She held Eren by the scruff of his shirt, and kept a hand pressed to Tall Kid's chest to keep him where he was. Thankfully, the other children stopped as soon as she pulled them off one another.

"Now, I'm going to ask again and someone better answer me. What did you children think you were doing?!" the teacher demanded, Eren and Tall Boy sharing a glare.

Armin, who'd only stood and nervously watched the fight continue after kicking one of them, bit his lip as tears sprinkled at his eyes. "I…" he whimpered, catching the kids' attention as well as the teacher's. He pointed at Stupid Face and exclaimed, "I kicked him in the balls!" He began to full on cry, then ran to Ms. Hoffman and threw him arms around her midsection to cry into her waist apron. "I didn't mean to do it, I'm sorry!" he exclaimed, his shoulders quacking as he continued to sob.

The woman sighed, releasing Eren and herding the kids back inside. "Okay everyone, free period is over, back inside!" The disturbance wouldn't go unpunished, the 7 of them were informed that for a week they'd have to spend their free period inside with no talking as a result of their fight. Not only that, when the school day was over and the kids all went home, Ms. Hoffman had made quick work of informing the parents of the ones involved.

Now, Eren and Mikasa were sitting at the table while Carla tended to Eren's bruising cheeks. "I just don't understand," Grisha sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose. "It's one thing for you to do this outside, but at the schoolhouse? What were you thinking Eren?"

"I was thinking I was helping Mikasa." he answered as his mother applied a cooling ointment to his face, to reduce swelling. "They started it first,"

"Helping her? By setting a bad example?" Grisha challenged.

"Setting a—" Eren lurched forward to rest his arms on the table, startling Carla from the sudden movement. "How is this my fault? I said they started it! You don't even know what they said to her!"

"I don't care what they said, Eren." the man shook his head, "You need to learn how to control yourself, you can't go through life thinking you can just punch your way through every problem."

"Well it's worked for me so far," the boy stubbornly argued back, wincing when his mother began applying gauze to his cheeks. "I bet they won't try it again,"

"You're not listening," Grisha groaned, his son was as stubborn as a mule. "There are much better ways to solving conflicts that don't involve violence."

"Oh? Like what, talking?!" Eren snapped, "Well he did plenty of that, and it got him socked in the mouth!"

"You're not looking at the bigger picture, son!" the man argued back, "This was Mikasa's first day, and she's already gotten in trouble because you decided to start a rumble instead of walking away!" Eren glared down at the table and Carla rested a hand on his head. "You're not the only child in this house anymore, you have more than just yourself to think about! That's what you're not understanding,"

Eren gave a heavy sigh, "I was just trying to help…"

Grisha sighed as well, resting a hand to his forehead. "I understand that, Eren. I'm not faulting you for that, I'm saying you need to realize the decisions you make have an effect on others." He stood from the table and walked towards the steps. Once at the base of them he rested his hand on the wall, and turned to look at him one last time. "Starting tomorrow you're coming straight home after school, and you're picking up extra chores around the house."

"What?!" Eren gasped, quickly looking up at his father. "But Dad—"

"This discussion is over, Eren." Grisha interrupted, "Did I make myself clear?"

Seeing that there was no way of talking himself out of punishment, Eren conceded and lowered his head. "Yes, sir…" he muttered under his breath. Without another word, the doctor ascended the stairs with his wife quickly following behind him. When the kids heard a door close from upstairs, Mikasa spoke for the first time since sitting down.

"I'm sorry for getting you in trouble," she apologized, and Eren eyed her curiously.

"You didn't get me in trouble," he assured, "I'm the one who started the fight, if anything I should be apologizing to you."

Mikasa shook her head, "You wouldn't have started it if I hadn't been there in the first place."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She suddenly got quiet and fiddled with the scarf again, but after a few seconds she answered. "I don't know if I really belong here…" she confessed, "Your parents were really nice to give me a place to stay. But, other than you, I've never really talked to other kids before." Life was cruel even in smaller ways, even among children. "Maybe that was for the best."

"If you didn't belong here, you wouldn't be at this table right now." Eren retorted, causing Mikasa to look up at him. "Look, those guys were jerks, but don't let stuff like that question your place here with us. Alright?" He leaned back in his chair, and lazily put his arm over the backside. "Besides, what about Ada and Armin?"

She blinked, "Ada…and Armin?"

"Yeah, do you think it would've been best you never met them?" Mikasa thought carefully about his question.

Ada jumped to her defense immediately, both by speaking up and getting involved in the brawl. Armin didn't do too much in the physical department, but he asked her if she was okay the second he was able to and told her to ignore everything that boy said. "He has the brains of a small rodent and can't even tell right from left, what he has to say about you means nothing." Those were the words she remembered him saying to her. She didn't know them well, or for very long, but the answer still came easy.

"I guess not," she answered.

"Of course not," Eren chuckled, "Besides, after the thrashing you gave those guys in front of everyone, nobody should try bothering you again." Especially not those three, "Even if they did, we'd just teach them a lesson again!"

Mikasa smiled at this and nodded, "Yeah,"

"Yeah, so no more talk about you not belonging and stuff. Got it?" Eren requested, and she swore that she would. It was a promise that she fully intended on keeping.

o O o

After a week their detention was over, and they were again able to spend their free time outside. They stood under the shady tree that held the swing Mikasa currently sat on, "I'm glad that's finally over," Eren said, lightly kicking the tree. "But I'm still punished for another week."

"Your dad must've been really upset," Ada commented.

"He was! He said I need to set a better example for Mikasa, and that violence isn't the only answer or some bullshit." he huffed and leaned against the tree trunk. "It was a total over reaction, if it were up to him I'd be on punishment for a whole month. Thankfully, my mom talked him down to just two weeks." he explained, "I bet you guys got really chewed out at home too, huh?"

Ada and Armin glanced at each other, then Ada spoke. "Um, not really…no."

Eren's mouth fell open, "Huh? You're not serious,"

"No, she's right." Armin said, then began to fiddle with his cardigan sleeve. "I told my grandpa what happened as soon as I got home, and what I did, before the teacher even got to my house." he explained, he'd let himself succumb to his sudden anger and made a choice that went against what he believed in. Even now it was something he regretted, "I was really upset, and my grandpa told me that in itself was punishment enough."

"You've gotta be kidding," the brunette gasped, then turned to the strawberry blonde. "And what about you?"

Ada placed a finger to her chin in thought. "Well, Ms. Hoffman told my mom, but after she left she sat me down and asked me what all happened." She would've been perfectly fine with Lorraine never knowing, but you couldn't have everything your way. "I told her everything from start to finish. She didn't really like the idea of me fighting, but she said she recognized my heart was in the right place." She shrugged and continued, "I never got in trouble at school before that, so as long as I promised not to get involved in fights again I was off the hook."

Eren groaned, throwing his head back. "Seriously? Punishment enough? Heart in the right place?" Why was it their caretakers were so understanding, but his father was being a hardass? "Why'd I end up with the short end of the stick? This is unfair,"

"Probably because they're good kids," Mikasa said to offer him an answer, but he didn't seem to take to it.

"Whose side are you on? I am a good kid!" Eren argued.

"Not like them," Mikasa countered, much to Armin and Ada's amusement.

"It's okay, Eren." Ada said, stepping closer to pat him on the shoulder. "I think your dad is just trying to teach a valuable lesson to you."

"Well he's got a funny way of showing it," he bitterly mumbled, crossing his arms. "Sheltering me inside and making me work all day?"

"Maybe he really wants it to stick," Armin said, "It's only for another week, it's not all bad."

"That's easy for you to say, you've probably never had to deal with it." the brunette argued, to which Armin bashfully agreed. "But enough of that, what are you guys doing later?"

Ada shrugged, "I was probably gonna go to Armin's house or something," If she didn't just go to her own house that is, she wasn't very sure. "Unless Mikasa wanted to spend some time with us."

The dark haired girl looked up at her in surprise, then at Eren, before speaking. "I'm just gonna go home with Eren," Ada fully expected an answer like that, but at least she tried.

"No way, I told you about that." the boy chided, "You're not the one who got grounded, you can still leave the house. Just because I have to stay inside doesn't mean you have to."

"But—"

"Save it," Eren cut off, "You've been holed up in the house since you started living with us, you could use the fresh air." he reasoned, "Besides, I told you they were cool. You need more friends than just me." She knew he was right, and that was why she hadn't tried to argue again.

Instead, at the end of the school day, she watched Eren leave for home while she remained back with his friends. She continued to stare at him lengthen the distance until Armin broke the silence, "Um, Mikasa?" She turned her head to face him, "Are you ready to leave?" She paused for a few seconds, then silently nodded her head. The trio walked away in the opposite direction, "I was thinking we could go to the Square," Armin suggested, "We can't buy anything, but we can still look at all the cool stuff being sold."

"That sounds like a good idea," Ada replied, "But, I think we should ask Mikasa what she wants to do." They were doing this more for her, after all. Both turned to said girl, who walked between them, to await a response.

"Um…I don't really know anything about this place," she confessed, "It's like Eren said, I've spent all my time inside since I got here."

Ada nodded, "Well, what about when you lived in the woodlands? How did you spend your time there?"

Mikasa didn't answer straight away, considering her answer. "…I'd spend a lot of it making crafts with my mom."

"Oh? My grandpa likes to do that too," Armin chimed, "What kind did you make?"

"We'd crochet stuff, and we'd do embroidery too." she replied, "She'd also take me out to a safe part of the forest to make flower crowns."

"Maybe we could do that," Ada suggested, specifically the part about flower crowns. They hadn't the materials necessary for the other crafts. "There's a big field of wild flowers on the outskirts of town."

"I know the one you're talking about," Armin said before breaking out into a run. "If we're fast, we'll make it there quick!"

"Armin!" Ada yelled after him, "At least give us a heads up first!" She turned to Mikasa and asked her to follow, then they both took off down the street much like the blonde boy.

"That's something Eren would do," the dark haired girl couldn't help but comment.

Ada snorted, the comparison a true but amusing one. "Yeah, maybe he's rubbed off on him a little."

The trio of kids ran through Shiganshina, with breaks in between, for almost 30 minutes. The buildings and houses slowly began to thin out until there was nothing left to see but open land and nature. The flower field Ada mentioned could seen in the distance and it didn't take much longer for them to reach it, when they did the flowers were so tall they tickled at their thighs. Before long they were all stood among the meadow following Mikasa's lead as she demonstrated how to properly weave a headband of flowers.

"It's really important to use flowers that have long stems, so you can weave them like a braid." she said as she held the flowers up where they could see, certainly they wouldn't have to worry about that out here. They tried their best to copy what she did, but it was clear she was much more accustomed to this than they were. "Me and my mom used to use a bunch of different ones, she liked things with a lot of color." Mikasa commented, beginning to wistfully think about the woman.

Her change in demeanor was small, but it was still picked on by the other two children. "How come you had to leave?" Armin questioned, she seemed like she really missed her family.

"I think that's too personal, Armin." Ada lightly scolded, but Mikasa shook her head.

"It's okay," she assured, "Really bad men attacked my house, and now my parents are gone. Eren and his dad saved me."

"I'm really sorry to hear that, that must've been really scary." Armin stated, pausing in his weaving. "I lost both my parents a couple of years ago too, so I get how hard it must feel."

Ada obviously knew that what she said wasn't the full truth, but also knew she'd express it to them whenever she trusted them enough with the information. Now wasn't that time, "…I'm sorry to hear that," Mikasa expressed, "You seem so happy, I never would've thought."

"Yeah? I guess I just found stuff to be happy about again after it happened," Armin offhandedly replied, continuing to add flowers to his crown.

"How?" Mikasa asked, "If you don't mind me asking."

The blond hummed, "Well…I found it through my friends, and my dreams."

"Dreams?"

"Yeah!" he exclaimed, beaming. "My dream of one day seeing the outside! It was something I shared with my parents, but…" he trailed, then shook his head. "But, now I share it with Ada and Eren. One day we'll see the ocean together, and my parents' dream will be fulfilled through us."

Mikasa eyes widened a little, in childlike wonder. "The ocean?" He was saying things she'd never even heard before.

"Yeah, it's a really large body of water full of salt." he briefly explained, "We're all gonna see it one day, and you can see it too—with us." He bashfully chuckled after this, then shyly followed it up with an afterthought. "Only if you want to, of course."

"…Yeah, I think I would like that." She'd seen how cruel the world truly was that day at her home, and she was sure Armin had made the same realization once his own parents were gone. This dream sounded as if it gave him new purpose, much like Eren had given her. She reached a hand up to gently run against her red scarf, and a small smile grew at her lips. "To share that with you all, I'd like that."

"For now, I'll just share this with you." Ada said, walking up to Mikasa and sitting the crown she made on her head. It wasn't the best made, this was only her first time partaking in the craft after all. The dark haired girl still found it pretty despite that.

"Thank you," Mikasa said as Armin placed his on Ada's head, which left the darker haired girl to give hers to Armin. It wasn't obvious, but she was saying thank you for much more than just the crown on her head. She appreciated them willingly spending this time with her, despite how hesitant she'd been earlier. The brief mention of Armin's parents, and Ada's suggestion of finding something Mikasa found joy in felt therapeutic; like she wasn't as alone as she thought. "I really see why Eren likes you guys."

"We see why he likes you too, Mikasa." Ada's comment made her cheeks turn a soft pink, and the strawberry blonde continued. "Do you want to go to the Square now? We can show off the crowns we made!"

She eyed the two kids, and for the first since coming here a soft giggle left her lips. The innocence of it all, it was a small light in their bleak reality. Mikasa nodded her head, "I'd like that too,"

Ada was sat at her desk reading through the journal she'd written years ago, it was officially 845 and the turn of the new year brought the responsibility of anxiously studying its contents as much as she could. She'd done so, consistently, for months now.

'It's a good thing I wrote this,' she thought to herself. 'I didn't remember a lot of these smaller details.' Memory decay. The major plot points of the series she obviously had still remembered on her own, like the shifters, Marco's death, etc—it came easy to her mind. But smaller things like Captain Woermann or Eren's military trial completely slipped her mind, astonishingly. It was so fresh in her head back when she was much younger, but she had foreseen her memories waning far before it began. It was the catalyst for her writing it all down in the first place, and it was a good thing she'd thought to do so.

While 10 years wasn't a long life, in the grand scheme of things, it was still a long time. Clearly all the time spent in this new body, in this new environment, had slowly overridden the memories of her old life. Not to the point she didn't remember anything at all, but enough to where pieces of it were straight up missing or just hazy—her memories of the series being no exception.

"But I'm older now," she sighed to herself, closing the journal after reading the last of it for the nth time and returning it to its drawer. The details would remain in her mind much fresher now than they ever would have before, she'd never have to worry about that again. That was the best takeaway from the whole thing.

She opened the door to her room after getting up and closed it behind her. Walking down the stairs she saw her mother getting her wicker baskets out of one of the cabinets, and she held some handheld gardening tools under her arm. The veggies she'd spent months growing were finally ready to be harvested.

She turned around when she heard Ada descending the stairs and smiled. "Good morning, darling." she greeted, "Do you want to help me outside?"

Today was her only day off from school, and she actually already had a prior engagement. "I was gonna spend some time with the others today, if that's alright."

Lorraine smiled at the sound of that, "That sounds lovely, will Armin and Alphonse be joining us for dinner later?" It'd been a few weeks since the last time.

"I'll make sure to ask," Ada smiled, then turned towards the entrance. "See you later, Mom!"

"O-Oh, make sure you milk Gertrude when you get back!" she reminded, watching her daughter open the door. "And don't forget to collect the new—" The door closed before she could finish, and she sighed. "Eggs…" she chuckled, that girl. She knew how self sufficient her child was, and for that she wasn't even upset. It was the same song and dance as of late, but she was a little happy she wasn't just cooped up in the house all the time.

It didn't take Ada long to find Armin leaned against a cobblestone wall. It lined either side of some stone stairs that served as the entryway to the spacious housing area she lived in, one he was all too familiar with. "I hope I didn't leave you waiting long,"

Armin shook his head, quickly standing up straight. "You didn't!"

"Where are Eren and Mikasa?" she curiously asked after they began to walk.

"Probably doing what they always do, to be honest." Armin answered, "You know this is the day they collect firewood for their mom."

Yes, she was very familiar with that. It served to make anxiety swell in her stomach every time she heard it, and now was no exception. Collecting sticks and watching the Scouts return from their expedition were the two key things that she remembered preceded the Colossal making its appearance. Of course both those things had happened on another day once before this year without the attack of Shiganshina occurring, so now the impending doom constantly kept her on edge. The fake-out from before made her feel as though she wouldn't see it coming.

"Ada?" Armin called, she had stopped walking and was now just staring at the ground. The sound of Armin's voice, however, shook her from her thoughts and she lifted her gaze to him. She'd been acting spacey like that for months now, he noticed. It was beginning to worry him a little. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, of course." She nodded her head,

"Are you sure?" He wouldn't want her to bottle anything up, he felt like they were closer than that. "If something's bothering you, you know you can tell me…right?"

Yes, but not this. "I know," She smiled, "I was just daydreaming, that's all." She began to walk again and he quickly fell in step with her.

"Well, you've been daydreaming a lot lately." Armin laughed, "About what?"

"Just the outside," Ada answered without missing a beat. "The ocean and stuff, you know?"

The blond nodded, "Yeah, that makes sense." He's found himself doing the same, when he lets his own mind wander, after all. They heard a loud bell toll, which signaled the return of the Scouts from their latest expedition; she really hated the sound of that bell lately.

Once they were in town, their surroundings got noisier and the streets were packed with people. Mostly because the followers of the Wall Religion were walking the streets and heckling passersby. "Listen, these walls were constructed with God's wisdom!" One exclaimed, waving a Bible from the stack he had in a crate beside him. A tiny crowd of people had formed to listen to him preach, but the two kids kept walking. "They were given to us by God himself! None may defile them!"

He spotted Ada and Armin walking past and quickly tried to gain their attention. "You two! Little boy, little girl!" he exclaimed while removing another Bible from his crate. He quickly weaved through the people in front of him and jogged to catch them. He quickly got in front of them to stop the duo in their tracks and held out the books. "Please, take these!" The young were their future, it would do their society a great service to show them the way of the Devine Walls.

The two looked down at the books being held out to them, looked at each other, then back up to the man. "Um, thank you?" Armin said, hesitating accepting the token.

Ada, however, was a little more combative. "That's okay, I don't need it."

"Do you already possess our book of higher power?" Was she already a believer?

"Um, no," She awkwardly shifted and crossed her arms. "I probably should've said I don't want it instead, I don't really think that wall stuff is real."

The man lurched back in horror, as if he'd just been burned. "Dear child, surely you jest!" He shook his head, "No, no, but why jest about such a thing? The spiritual gateway to our holy refuge?" His eyes widened when a thought crossed his mind, and he got uncomfortably close to her face. She tensed up when he grabbed a tight hold of her shoulders and began to shake her. "Has someone made you doubt God's power to protect you? What heathen has poisoned your mind?!" He shouted, then clasped a hand on top of her head and raised his other to the sky.

A crowd was beginning to form at the spectacle the man was making, and he threw his head back as he began to shout to the air. "Oh heavenly father, use me as your beacon to cleanse this child of sin! Rid her of her horrid wrongdoings, so she may be welcomed into your holy embrace!"

"Get off me!" Ada yelled, shoving at the man's arm. But he only grabbed at one of hers to continue his zealot ramblings, before Armin got between them and gently pushed her back.

"Wait, she can read off my book!" he exclaimed with back turned to the man, but he craned his neck to look at him. "Her soul doesn't have to be damned, she'll see the light if I help her!" he reasoned, appealing the the man's strong religious values. "That's what you want, right?"

"Yes, that's what she needs!" The man nodded, then dropped to his knees and bowed his head in prayer. "To be so young and so off the trodden path, this is not what our God of protection envisioned for his children!"

"Then it'll be okay, we'll learn together." Armin said fully turning around and putting up a hand. "It's fine, just…try to relax a little." The man profusely thanked him for being so willing to follow the word of God, and for spreading his message to his fellow young people. Armin told him it was no problem and the two quickly moved through the crowd and ran down the street.

Around 30 minutes later they were in a wide alley underneath an archway, staring down at the book they were given. "The Church of the Walls sure is getting wild," Armin commented, "They must be desperate for followers," Were they an actual Church, or a cult at this point? "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ada assured, if anything she'd just been a bit spooked. "I guess I should've just left it at not wanting the Bible."

"No, that makes it sound like you did something wrong." Armin shook his head, "That didn't give him a reason to have a meltdown like that." Well, from the zealot's perspective it probably did, but still.

"I appreciate that, but still, you can't predict other people." she said, and it was certainly the truth. "I should still pick my words better next time."

"If you say so," He wouldn't argue with her, if she insisted. He looked up at the sky at the sun, it had been a while since they heard that bell. The Scouts had returned at around 5pm, it was now a quarter to 6. "Eren and Mikasa had to have finished with the firewood already, should we go to their house and see if they're there?"

"Guys!" They heard the voice of Eren exclaim as he jogged down the path towards them, Mikasa in tow. Speak of the devil.

"Eren!" Armin exclaimed, "I thought you guys would've been at home, what are you doing out here?"

Eren slowed to a walk when he was close enough and shrugged his shoulders. "I got into a small spat with my mom," He shoved his hands in his pockets and glared at Mikasa. "No thanks to Mikasa's big mouth!"

"What happened?" Ada asked.

"I told his parents about him wanting to join the Scouts."

Armin gaped and looked at Eren, "It sounds like they didn't take it well then…"

"They didn't, but they just don't get it!" Eren exclaimed, "They might be fine packed in here like farm animals but I'm not! I don't even know why she said anything."

"Because it's dangerous," she argued, "You could die."

"People die everyday, you're gonna need something better than that to change my mind." He said it so matter of factly, all she could do was shoot him a look. "What's that you're holding, Armin?" Eren asked, pointing at the book he was holding.

"It's a crazy story," he sighed, "But we should go find somewhere to relax first, it sounds like we all probably need it."

"It can be our usual place," Ada suggested, and everyone agreed before setting off to a spot that was all too familiar.

o O o

It was the spot near the square, on the stone stairs where they originally made their promise to see the ocean. Mikasa and Armin sat on the actual steps while Ada and Eren sat on the foundation that lined them.

"Those crazy ass worshippers," Eren said, throwing a rock out into the large lake fishermen were currently stationed in looking for a good haul. "They're even more brainwashed than everyone else, always preaching about our place being inside and shit."

"Well, I don't really blame them I guess." Armin said, his knees tucked into his chest. "Our civilization has lived inside these walls, in peace, for a hundred years now. People feel safe and don't want anything to change, especially if venturing out runs the risk of an invasion."

"Being complacent is the mark of a fool," Eren scoffed, "Danger is looming out there every day. If the Titans find a way over the wall—or worse—the wall is knocked down, then what?" Eren proposed, "We wouldn't be anymore safe in here than we would be outside."

"Yeah, but what's the likelihood of that?" Armin asked, "One hundred years of peace being broken sounds unlikely…but I suppose it's not out of the realm of possibility either…"

Ada sighed without meaning to, and it caught everyone's attention. Taken aback, and thinking quickly, she added to the conversation. "I've actually been thinking about that a lot lately…"

"So there was something wrong." Armin said.

"Yeah, I'm sorry." she said apologetically, "I didn't wanna burden you, but that was silly. Eren's right though, one hundred years doesn't mean much if they still aren't gone."

"And that's why I want to join the Scouts!" Eren added, "If we get rid of them all, everyone's fear will be a thing of the past. Then, we can go out wherever we want, everybody can."

"You can't do it by yourself." Mikasa said.

"Watch me!" Eren retorted, "Everyone acts like you're crazy if you want to go outside anyway, so I'll give them crazy. By myself if I had to."

"You wouldn't actually be by yourself," Ada stated, "I'm sure there are others in the Scouts who feel similar to you." Maybe not to as intense a degree, but…

"You shouldn't encourage him, he's just gonna think he's right." Mikasa said, twirling one of the laces on her boot.

Eren glared down at her again and clenched a fist, "Yeah, well, I am right!" He was very combative, "And you need to step off it! We're gonna see the outside no matter what it takes. The government should never be allowed to have a say in what we want, or tell us what's best for us."

"Don't they do it for our safety?" she challenged.

"They do it because they want us to be kept in line." the brunette corrected, "That's why they made even talking about it taboo and threaten you with jail time and fines. They want everybody to keep being ignorant so nobody gets the idea to push the envelope. Well that ain't me," He glared out at the water, the setting sun was reflecting an orange hue. "It's the people's lives, it's our business if we wanna go beyond the walls." It was their risk to take.

"Well you can't do anything about them, no matter how much you want to." Mikasa said, in her usual monotone.

"That's true," Ada agreed, "Unless something with the government changes, going beyond the walls will always be hard to achieve." Clearly Eren knew that, it was what gave him the drive to become a soldier.

"I wonder, does the government think just staying within the walls will keep us safe forever?" Armin asked curiously, "I mean, it has this long, but still." Now that the idea was in his head, it seemed a little too good to be true—far fetched even. "Now that I really think about it, just because we've been safe all this time doesn't mean it could never happen." Armin squeezed at his pant legs as he stared at the steps below him. "Doesn't mean it couldn't happen today…"

Ada began to tremble as her nerves got bad, her heartbeat quickened, and she felt a cold sweat rush her body. This conversation, and the continued emphasis on safety and peace not being absolute, was beginning to freak her out. Especially since she already knew the truth of the matter, "Maybe we should stop talking about this."

"Yeah, Armin, better stop before she has nightmares later." Eren joked at her expense, seeing how pale and scared she looked. "I knew you were—" He was cut off by a sudden, large strike of lighting. It was so powerful it seemed to shake the ground at its core and threw them off the stairs, many of the adults near were knocked to the ground; the water of the lake swished so strongly the fishermen were lucky their boats didn't turn over.

"What was that?!" Eren asked after getting up.

"That sounded like an explosion," Armin commented, rubbing the back of his head.

"Look, this way!" They heard an adult exclaim to another. "I think something fell from the sky!" People began to gather out near the street, closer to where the ruckus occurred, and the kids were no exception. Everyone stood with bated breath as smoke emitted from the other side of Wall Maria.

"What is that? Smoke?" Eren gasped, "Did a fire start?" His question was quickly answered when he saw a skinless hand reach up and grip the wall.

Ada put her hands over her mouth, and couldn't stop trembling as the head of the Colossal Titan peaked itself over the top. This was it, the day of tragedy was finally here.

The fall of Shiganshina.

Author's Note: Whew! Alright, that's it for the prequel section, now we'll be getting into canon territory. I'm sure that's what you were ready for anyway, right? Thank you for reading this far, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

TBC