Chapter Text
Tall gray walls were a staple of every place she'd visited. When a child is met with a proposition to travel with her father for work, its only natural for imaginations to run wild and create a world that looked different than the one they live in.
But not in this life.
In this life, there is only one way to survive, and that is living behind walls. But thankfully, the mind can only conjure up so many new concepts. So to her, every dream, every ambition, every place she'd make up in her head was hidden behind tall gray walls.
The Shiganshina District was no different.
[Name] had never been more full of energy than when her father first let her accompany him to travel for work. At seeing her excitement, he couldn't bring himself to deny the girl her every request while there. He'd figured it was his fault she had to be born into a world where their existence was threatened by the unknown. The least he could do was grant her fun wherever it could be found.
"I'm really hungry, do you have any change I could buy a snack with?" The girl tugged on her fathers arm, looking straight towards the woman selling apples in a stand nearby their own.
The man smiled down at his daughter, allowing her to dig through his pockets to grab enough money to pay for something to eat. "Stay where I can see you, remember you don't know your way around here."
She nodded absentmindedly before wandering off to go eat. The place looked just like her own home; paved streets filled with merchants, uniform clustered buildings, and the big unnatural walls that followed her everywhere. She was confident in her ability to navigate her way through without getting lost.
After buying her apple she sat on a bridge that hung over a small manmade river, her feet dangling off the sides and swinging over the water. She observed the boats floating on the river, being tied securely to their posts. She found a sense of familiarity in the river and boats here, they were the exact same as the ones she watched back home.
It seemed to be a controversial day in the city, Scouts were returning from an expedition. Many gathered around the gate entrance to count how many came back.
Her father had always told her that the S in Scouts stood for suicidal, so to not concern herself with whatever they got themselves into. So she didn't, she sat away from the action and ate.
Tearing her gaze away from the boats and straight down into the water, she noticed the surface of the water unsettled. The more she stared, the harsher it got.
Almost on queue, an intense sound cut through the air slapping her ears and drawing her eyes away from the river.
She stared in disbelief at the sight infront of her, a 60 metered monster peeking over the walls.
The walls that followed her father everywhere he traveled, the walls that haunted her dreams at night, the walls that possessed her future. Here, right infront of her eyes, were being torn apart.
Terrified and alone, she stood up as fast as her body would let her and raced towards where she thought she'd find her father. His words to her swirling around in her brain.
"Stay where I can see you, remember you don't know your way around here."
The feeling that filled her felt worse than hunger ever did, and she wished that she had never left her dads side.
She looked around frantic, trying to steer her way through a town she's never visited.
She reaches a crowd, going against the grain with as much strength she can muster, but the might of a herd will always overpower a young girl.
Getting swept into the crowd, she was forced onto an evacuation boat.
Lost in her mind, she doesn't hear the young boy speaking to her. Shocked into reality by a small hand grasping her shoulder, she blinks harshly at him.
"Sorry.." His voice shaken and sore, as if he'd been shouting for a while. "I just wanted to ask if you could make room for my friends, please?"
"Okay" She replied blankly, standing up and preparing to walk over to the exit of the boat.
The same hand now grabbed at her wrist, stopping her.
"Hey wait, I didn't ask you to leave" The small boy sighed, glancing over her shoulder to see if his friends were on board yet.
She looks at him in the face for the first time, seeing another person so clearly makes her realize that this is really happening.
The girls face gets hot and her eyes become wet and filled with tears. Streaming down her face following the same pattern, she cries.
"What's your name?" She asks the boy between sobs.
"I'm Armin, what is your name?"
"I'm [name]"
She sits on the floor hunched up, sobbing into her arms while Armin finally finds his friends.
The ground of the boat becomes unstable and they begin to leave Shiganshina.