Wall Maria-Year 845
A little girl wearing a pink overall gown with a red scarf wrapped securely around her neck s she packed bundles of firewood into a carriage bag on strapped behind her back. Her long raven hair swayed in the air, looking at the view from atop the hill she was on. She turned back to walk towards the tree standing tall at the top, where a certain boy was sleeping under. Just as she reached the top, she found out that he wasn't there, the only evidence being the parchment of grass that had taken the shape of a body.
The girl's silver eyes locked down at the spot, ignoring the cool breeze and howling whispers of the tree. As sigh came out from her lips. "Eren" She muttered quietly. The sounds of footsteps; or rather foot stumps; gained her attention. A massive red figure stomped through the trees, carrying what could only be described as an obscene amount of firewood in its upper arms. Its lower arms were the only things that weren't carrying anything so as to balance its footing, and it was heading towards her way. This anomaly of a creature that could even be described as a titan but on the smaller size should have made any person quake in their boots or run away, but not her. All she did was set her stoic gaze on it as it kept approaching her. "Eren. What are doing" She asked unamused.
Eren, now the identified creature, was grinning proudly as he approached Mikasa, his chest puffed out in sheer self-satisfaction. His outfit had changed along with him in this form. Unlike his usual green shirt, brown jacket and black pants, this version made Eren's cloths a stitched-together version of it—his brown jacket was now wider to accommodate his muscular frame, his black pants were now longer and reinforced, and his shirt? Well… it was now much larger to fit his extra set of arms. Overall, most of the outfit looked like it was slim fitted to fully show his muscular frame, it does kind of make his clothing look cool… And maybe a little ridiculous.
Eren grinned and smugly presented the logs as soon as he reached her. "Mikasa, Look at this! Look how much I got in just a few minutes!" He boldly proclaimed with a deep gruff voice as his lower arms folded around his upper abdomen in pride. Mikasa, however, wasn't impressed. She simply raised an eyebrow. "You're messing around with the device when your father told you not to use it recklessly." She said flatly.
Eren's grin faltered just a little and the blunt jab, but he quickly recovered. He huffed dramatically, turning away with his arms still folded. "You're no fun." Eren muttered under his breath. He dropped the enormous pile of logs with an earth shaking thud, then stood back with all four hands on his hips, beaming at his amazing accomplishment.
"Besides, why work harder when you can work smarter? Look at this! We'll have more than enough firewood for days!" Eren grinned as he rolled his upper arms like he had done a hectic amount of work, or was he flexing? Mikasa blinked at the massive stack of wood. Then she sighed, rubbing her temples.
"Your mother's going to know you didn't gather all of this normally."
Once again, Eren's smirk faltered slightly at Mikasa's remark. "...She won't if you don't tell her. Besides, that's why I borrowed one of dad's smaller wagons, she'll think we did this together." And once again, Mikasa gave him a long, deadpan look. "She's your mother, Eren. She'll know. And you never borrowed the wagon, you snuck it out without permission." For a moment, there was silence. Then, Eren frowned deeply, looking down at the pile. Until an idea popped into his mind. "Tch… maybe if I scatter them around, she won't—"
"Eren." Mikasa said with an undertone in her usually comport voice, that was a warning saying: Don't even think about it. For all his powers, he still fears the quiet wrath of Mikasa Ackerman. It was rear for Mikasa to be angry, so all the more reason to be afraid. Grumbling, Eren's hands dropped in defeat. "Fine, fine. At least I can still carry this by myself before-" the sequential sound of beeps stopped Eren in his tracks, realization dawning on both him and Mikasa. Suddenly, Eren's hulking size was engulfed in a bright red light, Mikasa shielding her face to block the excess light. When she looked back, she was met with Eren who was now reverted to his normal form. The one she prefers to be more acquainted to.
And now… he looked very small next to the ridiculous mountain of firewood he had gathered. Mikasa simply stared at it. Then, she turned back to him with a knowing expression. "And how exactly are you going to put those up in the wagon?"
Eren's face twitched. "Whatever, I can do this with or without Titanfist!" Eren said as he stormed to get the small wagon by the side of hill and begin his efforts to lift the bundles of fire wood…stack by stack. It's still bewildering to Mikasa, how Eren can act like a normal 10 year old and at the same time be a completely different person.
Year 844-A few months prior.
"Now Eren, I want you to be on your best behavior when we get to there. Do you remember what I told you about their daughter Mikasa? She's coincidentally your age." Grisha asked as he and his 9 year old son Eren made their way towards the outskirt side of Shinganshina. The winter season's freezing temperature gnawed the feet of the two individuals who were currently hiking towards the top of an isolated hill not too far away from Shinganshina inner district.
"Depends on her attitude if she could be my friend or not." Eren said crudely. "And that's why you only have one friend." True, but that's just how he is. Finally reaching the snowy top, there was a small cottage standing alone, prompting the two to stop in their tracks as they reached the front door. Grisha knocked on the front door, "Mr Ackerman, this is doctor Grisha. Sorry for the late coming, do you mind if we come in?", there was no response. An uneasy feeling was pitting itself inside Grisha's stomach but he shacked it off instead knocked on the door a second. That was when he noticed something wrong. The door was infact slightly opened the whole time, but nobody was at the door. Now the uneasiness swelled more, only for it to get worse as Grisha opened the door. "Mr Ackerman? Mrs Ackerman?" The sound of something squelching reached the quiet air, underneath the doctor's booth was blood, a pool of it amassed, and it was trailing from a body beneath him.
Dread filled Grisha as he pointed his lamp to get a better look of the body, his eyes widening in fear and instant recognition. On the cold floor lay the pale deceased body of Mrs Ackerman, her dead eyes opened from unspoken horror, her head split in half; and not far away was the slumped body of her husband on the side of the wall. Instantly Grisha checked the inside of the cottage, calling out the deceased parents' daughter in hopes of her being alive. After several minutes of yelling the girl's name and no sort of response, Grisha stopped his futile attempt. This was likely the work of armed robbers or kidnappers, his assumption on the latter as the girl is not on sight.
Eren however, wasn't filled with fear or terror, no he felt the opposite. Absolute burning rage, but his face was blank as he stared at the deceased body. He was brought out of his internal conflict as his father shacked him by his shoulders. "-ren? Eren! I want you to listen and listen to me good. Run to the foot of the mountain and don't leave there until I get back. I'll get the military police to see if they can track the culprits down. In the meantime, I want you to stay put." Eren nodded to his father, but his mind was still replaying the images of the corpses. "Whatever you do, don't use that thing no matter what. Do you hear me?" Grisha said in panic, leaving immediately to get the military police. He was worried about the casual way his son answered him without making any sort of complain or emotion, it was very troubling but he didn't have time for worrying about that. He had a crime case to report right, he just hopes he won't be too late by then.
Eren waited till his father's receding footsteps left the hill, his gaze once again back to the corpses in the house. He didn't realize that he had made crescent shaped dent marks on his palm till it drew blood as both hands were fisted. All he was seeing was red. Not only had some set of low lives killed an innocent family, but they had the galls to kidnap their daughter.
Unacceptable.
Eren's heart pounded against his ribs as he ran through the frozen forest, his breath coming out in ragged gasps. He wasn't thinking—he couldn't.
All he could see was Grisha's frantic face as he stormed out the door.
All he could remember was an innocent girl; Mikasa; being taken.
Her parents were gone.
Her parents were killed.
In other words; Stolen.
And the world had no right to take her parents from her.
Now she was going to experience the same fate if no action is taken.
His small hands clenched into fists, nails digging further into his palms as he sprinted deeper into the woods. He didn't care about the cold, the burning in his legs, or the growing ache in his lungs.
All he knew was that he had to find her.
And kill whoever took her. But how?
Then, a flickering green glow caught his eye.
The strange device that had latched onto his wrist a few days ago—was humming, pulsing with a rhythmic energy as if it could sense his emotions.
A single thought crept into Eren's mind.
What if it could help?
He stopped, panting heavily, and raised his trembling wrist. His fingers hovered over the dial as he flipped through the alien silhouettes, their strange, distorted figures glowing in the darkness. Then, one of them stood out.
Perfect for the job.
Eren's other hand slammed the dial down.
A green explosion of light engulfed the snowy landscape, and the boy's small body began to twist, stretch, and warp into something inhuman.
His bones snapped and reshaped, muscle tearing and reforming at unnatural angles. His fingers curled inward, morphing into razor-sharp claws, his feet stretching into powerful, bestial paws. Thick orange fur erupted from his skin, covering his body like armor, as his face elongated into a monstrous, fanged snout. The world shifted.
This creature was shaped like a dog.
It had no eyes.
It definitely doesn't look like it has the voice to speak.
But it could smell.
His eyes were gone. Yet, he could see everything.
A million scents flooded his mind, layering on top of each other—trees, frozen blood, the stale breath of something unwashed, the metallic tang of knives.
And beneath it all…
A young girl's scent.
She was close.
And she was afraid.
He could also pick up three foreign scents around the girl's location, and one had the metallic smell of blood on them. No doubt about it, those are the perpetuators, the evils disguised as humans.
A low, guttural snarl rumbled from Eren's throat.
Then, he ran.
______
"It's cold."
Unmoving grey eyes set straight at the locked door. Her small frail hands and feet tied beneath her back as she lay on the cold unforgiving floor. She doesn't know how it has gotten to this; all she could remember was her mother telling her to run before she too met the same fate as her dad. The kidnappers had dealt a fatal blow to her mother's head with an axe, blood flared everywhere as her mother slumped to the ground unmoving. She had tried fighting them off with a scissors, but in the end it all proved useless as the was put down just as easily. All she could do was tremble in fear as the kidnappers came to her and knocker her out. Small bloody bruise had formed on her cheek, but she didn't care.
Her parents were gone, and now she was next.
The cabin smelled of rotting wood against the pristine white snow. The kidnappers had made themselves comfortable, two siting down while the other went to the back to get something to drink. She could hear what they were saying, but she had long since resigned to her fate.
"Stupid brat's more trouble than she's worth," one of the men scoffed. "Rich bastards will pay, though." A displeased grunt followed, clearly not happy. "Idiot, the mother would have fetch us more money but you just had to kill her out of panic. You better hope this hideout can hide our cover before the damn MPs do.
"Garold, you worry like a growing infant. It's not like anybody is out there hunting us down. Besides the girl must also have the rare blood too. She'll fetch better money than her dead parent ever will." A small tear slipped down Mikasa's cheek even if her face looked blank. So she was going to be sold. Guess this is the end of the road for her.
A sickening laugh followed. "The kid's pretty, ain't she? Maybe we should teach her some obedience first. break her in before—"
Suddenly, the door burst open.
The first man closer to the door; Garold; barely had time to register the shape lunging at him before claws ripped across his throat. He gurgled, falling back, hands clutching at his torn-open neck as blood sprayed the walls.
The other scrambled, eyes wide. "WHAT THE FU—"
A deep, guttural growl filled the room. The other kidnapper turned and scrabbled to his feet, and got a full view at what he was looking at. Standing in the doorway was not a human.
It was a monster.
A towering beast of muscle and fur, standing on all fours, its head low to the ground. It had no eyes, but its face was twisted into something far worse—rows of jagged, gleaming fangs, glistening with the blood of his fallen comrade.
It exhaled sharply, steam rising from its mouth.
The man stumbled back, his entire body trembling. "Wh-what the hell—?!" The beast didn't give him the pleasure to complete his sentence, as it moved, locking on him for its new target. He tried reaching for the gun sitting against the table near him, but he was too slow.
Teeth sank into his leg. The man screamed in pain, falling to the ground as the creature dragged him back, twisting violently. A sickening crack echoed as his knee snapped the wrong way. The last kidnapper; most likely the leader; came out from the back of the cabin hearing the ruckus. "Oi Garold, Claven what's with the fucking nois-!" The words died in his mouth as he saw the what exactly was going on. There, on the floor, was the deceased body of Garold his mouth and eyes opened wide in horror as excessive blood flowed from his cut opened throat. Next was Claven; who had his left leg twisted to an unrecognizable pose; then there was the anomaly: It looked like a big dog, but it had no eyes, and looked like the devil's reincarnate. Jagged canines protruding from its black lips, claws too sharp for a regular dog and unequal shape for the front and hind legs. It might not have a face, but the boss certainly knows this thing has its 'eyes' on him.
Claven had his hand outstretched to him. "B-boss. H-help me" That was all he could say before this beast-no; this demon caved in his already mangled leg further under its mighty paws then ripped it off. A shrill cry escaped Claven before he slumped to the ground. Satisfied it strode its way to him, like he wasn't a threat, like a seasoned predator stalking its prey.
Out of instinct, the boss grabbed his knife, his rugged face pale. "STA-STAY BACK!" He trembled out. Hoping it would scare the demon. The beast growled. But this time… it sounded like a laugh. A distorted, deep laugh as it if it was making fun of the man's feeble attempt of intimidating it. It even has its thickened black lips curled upwards, like a sickening smile.
Then, it pounced. Teeth tore through flesh and bone. Screams turned into gurgles. Blood stained the wooden floor. The leader twitched beneath him, body jerking in a violent spasm before going still.
But the beast didn't stop.
It kept tearing.
It kept ripping.
It kept killing.
Because it wasn't satisfied.
Because they deserved it.
Because it felt good.
Mikasa had been silent the entire time, frozen in the corner. She had watched everything—the blood, the bodies, the horror. And now…That thing was turning toward her. She barely registered what she was seeing. A hulking beast, its mouth lined with rows of jagged fangs. Its powerful limbs were still stained with blood, steam curling from its mouth in the cold air.
Mikasa's breath hitched as the monster stepped forward. She flinched violently, pressing herself harder against the floor despite the biting cold. But instead of lunging— It hesitated.
Then, slowly… it crouched. The beast sniffed the air, its head lowering toward her. Mikasa's breathing was ragged, chest rising and falling unevenly as the creature reached for her. Its claws came close, making her recoil as a sharp, broken gasp left her lips. The beast froze.
Mikasa's heart was hammering so hard she thought it would burst. Every muscle in her body screamed at her to run, to fight, to get away. Then a strange beeping noise filled the air until a flash of red illuminated the room partially. Kneeling in front of her, was not a beast…
…It was a boy.
A boy about her age, panting heavily, his face was blank. And his hands were covered in blood.His eyes looked at her, and for the first time. He spoke "…I'm not going to hurt you," he whispered, his voice hoarse.
Mikasa didn't move. Eren's gaze dropped to her bound arms. "…Let me help." He reached forward again, much more carefully this time. But Mikasa flinched again. Eren's hands froze mid-air. His heart clenchedher reaction. She was scared of him.
Of what he was, of what she had seen him do. A lump formed in his throat. "I didn't mean to—" His voice caught. His hands shook. "I just—never mind." He swallowed hard as she sighed, off course she would be scared of him. Gently; so, so gently; he reached for the ropes binding her arms and this time, she didn't pull away.
"You must be Mikasa. I'm Eren Yeager, son of Grisha Yeager. You probably know my dad since he visits you a lot." Eren had purposely omitted the word family, knowing it could rupture her current condition further. With a few quick tugs, the bindings loosened, falling limply to the floor. Mikasa rubbed her sore wrists, eyes still locked on him. Mikasa stared in shock. Her mind couldn't comprehend it. How could this monster be a child?
Eren avoided her gaze. His hands, still stained red, trembled slightly from adrenaline. He shook his head, those animals deserved everything that was coming for them.
"Let's get out of here before-" Just as Eren was about to complete his statement he saw Mikasa pointing at something behind him; the sound of clicking metal pierced the air. Eren turned just in time to duck both him and Mikasa down as a bang rung out with a bullet flying through the air, barely grazing Eren's head. Picking himself and Mikasa back up he got to see who was responsible for the shot. Claven, one of the kidnappers, by some miracle was still alive. His face contorted to pure hatred and anger as he grinds his teeth, and a smoking gun held tightly in hand. He has managed to drag himself into a half standing position, using a chair as assistance. "You. I'm going to fucking kill you!!!"
Wasting no time to understand their situation, Eren grabbed hold of Mikasa's hand and headed for the nearest door. "Run!" Claven however isn't going to give them that chance as he shot a well precise aim at Eren's leg, resulting in the boy falling and letting Mikasa go. Eren hadn't realized that he had been shot, as he attempted getting back up until he felt a jarring numb pain around his ankle. His eyes widening at what this implies for him, his predicament only worsening as he hears dragged out footsteps and scraping heading his way. "I'm going to end your worthless life!" That was all Claven said as he pulled the trigger, but nothing came out. Ammo ran out most likely. This made the kidnapper click his tongue in frustration and discard the gun, instead walking closer to Eren's position. Eren's gaze settled on Mikasa who was currently wobbling back on her feet. "Mikasa! Get out of-"
Claven picked up the downed Eren by the neck, raised him up in the air and slammed him to the wall, then began choking him. He didn't bloody care if he was missing a leg, he didn't fucking care if he was losing excess blood. All he cares about is killing this brat in his grasp. "You…You are that demon, aren't you?!!" Claven roared in fury, adding immense pressure on the boy's neck. Eren was lacking oxygen, and fast. The corners of his eyes brimming red as he tried to pry the full grown man hands off his neck, but to no avail. That was when he saw something that caught the peripheral of his vision; a discarded knife. And there was only one person who was the closest to the object.
Mikasa was shaking where she stood, her thoughts spiraling at a dizzy rate at what had occurred today. She just lost her parents, got abducted, watched as a beast came in and killed two of the kidnappers in cold blood, only for the beast to be someone of her age, and now…her rescuer is about to be killed right in front of her. This-this was just too much for her to take. "T-Take it!" Eren's constricted voice tore through Mikasa's mind. "The knife! Take it!" Mikasa spun her head and saw what he was referring to; there a few feet away from her; was a discarded knife beside the lump of flesh that was once the boss. Not knowing what to exactly do, Mikasa just picked up the knife, her hands shaky as she held unto the knife weakly.
"What are you waiting for? Kill him!" Eren cried out as his esophagus was squeezed tighter; drool escaping his lips from the lack of air he badly needed. Mikasa's eyes widened in terror. Kill him? "I-I don't know how!" She screamed her grip on the knife weakening by the second. "You have to fight! Fight for your rights Mikasa! You won't kill him but think about what these people had done to you! Don't let this opportunity go to waste! Only those who fight in this cruel world get to survive, SO FIGHT!!!
Those words had triggered something in Mikasa, and in that moment, she just knew what to do. With new found resolve she gripped unto the knife's handle so had it had nearly broken in two, her feet dug into the wooden floorboard and cracked it as well. And then she ran at full speed towards Claven with the knife drawn back, the man barely having time to turn his neck back before Mikasa had impaled him from the back straight into his heart, Claven died instantly.
Present day
It still scared Mikasa how Eren coldly took out his actions that day, but she was glad he did so. He had done it to save her. Her hands instinctively held unto the scarf around her neck, reminiscing how Eren had gently wrapped it around her. It was sort of a bittersweet day for her, although she had lost her family, she had found a new one as Eren's dad said she could be living with them. Now it's been over a year and things have been going about peacefully.
"Hah! Told you I can do this ALL on My own!" Eren punctuated as he stood proudly beside the outrageous heap that was loaded on the small wagon. Mikasa just watched him with a blank stare, a small well hidden amusement etched on her face. "So. How exactly are you going to explain this to your mother?"
"Oh, that's simple. I-….I…." Eren proudly raised his finger to give his point, only for him to pause in his thoughts. "You have no excuse to come up with don't you?" Mikasa casually told Eren.
And for once in his life, he had nothing to say.