Year 845
Shiganshina District

Despite the famine, the farmer's market was bursting with vibrant colors and lively chatter, as stalls overflowed with a kaleidoscope of produce and various goods. The air was thick with the earthy fragrance of spices and food as the rhythmic sound of vendors calling out their specials created a symphony of community and commerce. Fishmongers boasting about how their catch was freshest. Ranchers who had led a portion of their sickly cattle into the city to show off their beautiful beasts. Farmers joyously celebrated the sizes of the meager vegetables that had been harvested that season. Locals weaved in and out of the bustling crowd, a familiar sight this late in the afternoon. It was the time of day when the stalls had started to discount their items in an attempt to reduce how much they had to carry home that night.

Life flourished, despite all humanity dealt with.

That's where Victoria Freidrich found herself, a mere 13-year-old girl, her hand clasped tightly to her little brother's as they followed their mother through the crowded market. V was small, despite her age, and her brother, Laszlo, who was just 9, already stood at her height. He liked to tease her for it but usually was silenced by a swift kick to the knee. Both children had dark, bronze hair with eyes to match. In the shade, it was easily mistaken for black, but when the sun shined, like today, the children's hair and eyes sparkled like multifaceted ambers. You could easily tell where they got their genetics from.

Their mother, Emma Freidrich, was a short, slight woman. Her two pregnancies had left her not as spry as she had been, but the woman was beautiful all the same. The same amber hair flowed down her back, though it was usually tied up in an intricate bun when she left the house. The same amber eyes were warm and friendly.

Today wasn't one of those days, however. Her mother's hair was a windblown mess, her gaze darting from one thing to the next, and Victoria couldn't understand why. Her mother always had this unnecessary need to always look her best. She even forced that belief on her children. While Victoria and Laszlo were both dressed in their nice clothes for the farmers market, Emma had merely thrown on a slip and sandals.

"Carrots! Cabbages! Fresh vegetables harvested just today!" One man tried to draw the attention of their mother, but Emma, who was usually friendly and extremely polite, hurriedly brushed past him. Something was wrong, but Victoria didn't know what. Mom was always relaxed, even when bad news came, like when grandma died. Their dad was an inconsolable mess, but mom was calm. She handled cleaning out the home, arranging the funeral, everything.

The pace at which she rushed through the market made it difficult for her children to keep up with her. Emma abruptly stopped at a fish stall, seemingly examining a trout with a stern look on her face. In that brief moment, so quick Victoria though she imagined it, she saw her Mother glance at the South gate with fear swimming in her eyes.

What was she scared of? Victoria wondered, but the thought quickly washed away as shouting echoed from across the plaza.

"Come on, move it!" A private of the Military Police yelled wearily at the group of pigs that just stared at him. The rancher stood off to the side, trying very hard not to laugh. The officer sighed deeply and started trying to move them by force. The pigs were unyielding, oinking angrily at any attempt to touch them.

Victoria giggled into her hand, "And that's what you have to look forward to when you join the Military Police, Laszlo. Pig wrangling." Her brother ripped his hand out of hers, pouting. "Or that." Victoria pointed at a group of officers sitting around a crate, playing some sort of game. "Being just plain lazy." Victoria couldn't resist anymore and started laughing.

"Stop making fun of Dad's branch. He works super hard in the center ring and you kno-"

"Then why did they send him home, huh?" Victoria interjected.

"Scouts aren't any more useful," Laszlo pouted, trying to argue with her after a moment. He crossed his arms. "What's the point of their job anyway? There's nothing outside the walls but Titans and Death."

V tapped him on the head. "Nothing? Or everything?" Her eyes beamed with ignorant pride. "When I join the Scouts, I'm gonna map and explore everything I find. Surely something exists out there." She turned and looked toward the south gate, admiring Wall Maria and the icon of her face above it, the great symbol of safety. "If there's really nothing out there, I'm going to find it for myself. Our history books have to be wrong." She frowned when she saw Laszlo watching her with a dumb look on his face. "I don't know why, ok? Mom and Dad always had answers to any questions I had, and that alone felt wrong..." she trailed off briefly.

Their mother glanced back at them, anxiety brimming in her eyes like tears.

"There has to be someone out there. If we survived for this long and managed to create the walls, surely someone else made it, too. I know it!"

"You know there isn't." her brother mumbled under his breath, but Victoria didn't hear him. She was too caught up in her own monologue.

"And the Scouts are heroes! Risking everything to go out there and hunt monsters! We wouldn't have this amazing market if they weren't doing their jobs! We wouldn't have homes, or pigs, or board games! They protect us by doing the most dangerous thing there is! Going out beyond the Wall! They protect us more than the Military Police and Garrison unit ever could!"

"Enough, you two," V's mother grabbed her hand and dragged her back to her side. "The entire military protects us. The Survey Corps, the Military Police, and the Garrison. They all have important roles to play in the defense of our city. You know it, I know it. Now stop disrespecting your father and brother."

Victoria pulled back, angry at this sudden scolding. She opened her mouth to let venom spill out when the bell towers started ringing.

"THE SCOUTS ARE BACK!" Victoria cried gleefully and took off for the gate, leaving her mother and brother behind. "They're not useless, they're heroes." She repeated breathlessly, "They're heroes, they're heroes, they'r-"

Reality slammed into her as she rounded the corner.

The Survey Corps numbers had been nearly cut in half from what they were when they departed a few days ago. Those that did remain didn't escape unharmed either. Many had bandages and splints. One was missing a leg, being hauled home on a cart while he quietly moaned to himself. One even seemed to be missing his jaw. They rode their horses into the district solemnly, heads down, refusing to make eye contact. Ones that did, did so only for a moment before looking away again.

"Sure taken a hit, haven't they?" a random man in the crowd said. "Yeah, rest of 'em got eaten. That's what happens when pride takes you outside the walls." Vitriol dripped heavily in the tone of the second man. Victoria glanced at them, their eyes were full of anger as they watched the Scouts. The man standing beside them though was odd; he wasn't watching the Survey Corps, he was watching Victoria.

He was tall, with long black hair that fell over his haggard face. His features were sharp, glowing green eyes intense as they pierced through her. His gaze sent a shiver up Victoria's spin, but her attention was drawn back to the Scouts.

"Moses! Moses!" an old woman in a mauve-colored shawl emerged from the growing crowd, her tone frantic. "I-Beg your pardon, where is my son? He should be with you all," she trailed off as a Scout with spiky brown hair approached her, the current Commander. "Please tell me he made it." She grabs onto the man's green cloak, eyes filling with tears.

Victoria knew the answer by the look in the man's hollowed eyes before he even said a word.

"I wish I had better news," he looked over at the man missing an eye beside him. "Give it to her."

The second man walked over to the nearby wagon and pulled out a log-shaped package, wrapped in a bloody rag. The old woman had started to dissociate off into the distance behind the Commander, as the package was placed in her hands. Slowly, as she looked down, her eyes begin to darken and regain focus. Her hand was shaking as it went to remove the fabric.

"Victoria!"

Her mother's voice hissed in her ear as she was suddenly yanked away from the scene, not before Victoria spotted the fingertips of a hand. "Do not run away from me like that. EVER." The anger in Emma's voice was overshadowed by fear. Her mother was terrified, and Victoria still didn't understand why. She tried to pull away, but her protests were put to rest as the old woman wailed in anguish "MOSES!" behind her.

Victoria's eyes fell to the ground, darkening as the violent reality of the life of Scout hit her. It was harsh, bloody, and deadly. A smirk faintly danced across her lips. V was glad she got to witness this as early as she did. This despair. This moment gave her plenty of time to prepare for it before she had to witness it herself.

She would be a Scout.

Silence fell over the family, Laszlo knew better than to tease V at a time like this. He just tightly gripped their mother's other hand and kept walking. It was a long trek back to their home. They were lucky and had a home on the channel leading to Trost. With Dad having to go back and forth into the inner Wall, it was very convenient. It made traversing into the city a bit of pain, though.

Emma started humming quietly, an anxious habit Victoria immediately recognized. "They'll be here soon," she muttered quietly to herself, not realizing her daughter was listening. "We have to get home. We have to get out of here." Who's coming? pondered Victoria. She didn't fully understand her mother's behavior over the last few days, but it seemed like she was packing and getting supplies.

Hence the trip to the market.

What is going on? Victoria thought to herself.

After crossing the bridge to the far east part of Shiganshina, they were only a few blocks away from home now when more shouting drew Victoria's attention away from her mother. V recognized the source immediately. It was Eren Yeager and Mikasa Ackerman, they were rescuing Armin Arlert from some bullies again. Well, 'rescuing' in the loose terms. The bully cowards ran as soon as they saw Mikasa with Eren.

Victoria grabbed her mom's hand, "Wait, we need to help them." Her mom kept pulling.

"No, we don't," she replied. "I'll send the next officer we see to make sure they are okay, ok?" she continued when she saw the anger growing in Victoria's eyes. Emma was so tired of her daughter being mad at her. She just wanted her children to be safe.

"No! They're my friends!" Victoria protested again, trying to free herself from her mother's surprisingly iron grip. "What is wrong with you, mom? You're acting like a coward!"

"Victoria!" Her mother's voice cut through her like a knife. The ice in her tone was so cold that Victoria didn't recognize her mother for a moment. Confused by this reaction, she begrudgingly relented, allowing her mother to continue the trip home. "Why was I cursed with such a devil-ish daughter." Victoria heard her mother murmur under her breath as they went.

About a block away, the family encountered Unit Captain Hannes and his group of soldiers. The flushed, blond man smiled at Emma, eyes twinkling. The way men's eyes do when they see something they want. He snapped back to attention when he noticed Emma's demeanor, though, then nodded in understanding when he learned of Eren and Mikasa. Hannes placed a hand on her shoulder, glancing at Emma's own kids before taking off down the street at a somewhat leisurely pace.

Victoria and Laszlo watched the officer walk away. They've both been silent up to this point.

"Are they even your friends, V?" her brother suddenly asked under his breath, his tone harsh. "I never see you hanging out together. Like ever." The mocking was faint, but it was there.

Victoria's reaction surprised everyone, including herself. Her hand flew out and met the target of her brother's cheek before she realized she was even moving. Laszlo stared at her, slack-jawed and misty-eyed, his cheek welling up with color.

V stood frozen for a moment, staring at him, before spinning on her heel and racing off back into town. She could hear her mother calling after her as her brother started to cry. She ran past Officer Hannes, who shouted her name after her but didn't seem to make any effort to follow.

Victoria continued to run, with no direction. She should have run to Eren and Mikasa, but she didn't. V just kept running aimlessly. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she darted through people going about their lives. No, she didn't really have any friends. She had only spoken to Eren once, and it was in school. But she saw in him the same passion she had for learning about the outside world.

"Some day, Armin and I are going to see the sea." He had said, his large green eyes shining with hopeful enthusiasm.

The sea.

She finally came to a stop, slumping into a pile of snot and tears in a shaded alley. Alone, except for a stray cat who promptly fell back asleep on a pile of trash.

"I just want to see the world," she quietly wept, tucking her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around herself.

After a while, she wasn't sure how much time had past, she wobbly got to her feet. With a quiet sniffle, she wiped her nose on her sleeve. I shouldn't have run off like that, she thought to herself, Mom is probably having a heart attack right now. Victoria sighed and began to resign herself to walking back home.

What happened next, happened very quickly.

She saw the explosion of light first. Right outside Wall Maria, by the south gate. Extremely bright and golden in hue, it almost looked like a massive lightning strike. Smoke and dust shot upward as a shockwave of air and sound pushed her back a step.

Then silence. Everyone around her, everyone in Shiganshina, stared at the rising column of steam beyond the Wall. Waiting.

And then a hand. A massive, fleshless hand whose joints and tendons were stark white against the bloody red of its exposed muscles. It reached over the Wall and grabbed the top of it, curled fingers casting shadows below and crushing the cannons, and people, that stood up there. Victoria could hear the stone cracking from where she stood.

Then, another hand.

And then a head.

It was a Titan. The thing was enormous, standing several meters taller than the Wall itself. White tendons stretched over its massive face and too many teeth. For a moment, it just stood there, steam rising off its hairless, skinless head.

Had it caused the explosion? Victoria gazed up at the monstrosity in petrified awe, as the Titan looked at the ground below. Is it...waiting...?

How wrong she was, as another blast rocked the city; this time, however, it was from the gate itself. A massive foot burst through the Wall with little effort, metal and stone tearing like paper. Debris and rubble flew through the air as another shock wave nearly knocked Victoria to the ground. The iconic image of Maria crumbled from the vibration, falling on any possible survivors below.

"Look out!" A man suddenly came out of nowhere and shoved her hard. As Victoria was thrown back against a wall, the breath was knocked out of her. She looked up just in time to see this savior of hers get turned into a bloody smear on the cobblestone as a broken bell tower crashed down on top of him, right where she had just been standing.

As she opened her mouth to scream in terror, searing white hot pain exploded on her forehead.

And everything went black.