Different Sides of the Sea - Levi Ackerman x Reader

chapter 1

"That was a nice shot, little one. Next time, aim it a little higher. You want a nice, clean shot to the head." I helped the young warrior in training adjust his gun to a better position.

He was getting the hang of it, but he needed to be more precise with his shots. The testing dummy was only an unmoving object and it's nothing like the real thing. Training for war, means that you are ready to face death at any given time on the battlefield. Every shot that leaves the gun, has to be almost perfect or else you just waste a good bullet.

"Like this?" He says, pointing the rifle right towards the training dummies head. He fires a shot straight through the jaw, nearly missing the front of the neck.

"Very good! Soon enough, you'll be a better shooter than I am." I gave him a sweet smile.

These poor children have no idea what they're really up against. They've trained their whole lives to become soldiers for a country that doesn't care about whether or not they live to see another day.

These Eldian children on Marley devote their lives for a country that wouldn't think twice before placing a bullet right between their eyes.

Today, I am helping the warriors train because one day the shifters on Marley will need to pass down the power of the titans. Another young life, stolen. Years cut off of their lives to become a government pawn. In the cold, heartless eyes of Marley, it was never too early to start training the Eldian children.

At the age of 14, I was a warrior candidate, up against Reiner Braun, Bertholdt Hoover, Pieck Finger, Annie Leonhart, Zeke Yeager, Marcel Galliard, and Porco Galliard.

There were eight of us, but only six would be able to get a titan. We had 13 years with the power of the titans. 13 years to prove to our families that this sacrifice was going to be worth it.

We all trained hard everyday because we wanted to become honorary Marleyans so that our families could live better lives in the internment zone. It gave us hope that we would soon live better lives.

Training to be a warrior was difficult. The boys would often get into fights with each other over who deserved the power of the titans more. I remember one day, Reiner was filled with confidence that he would receive a titan and the honorary Marleyan title.

"Did you guys know? They say they'll be attacking paradis in just a few more years. The time has come for us to inherit the titans." Zeke was the oldest. He was always very nice to us despite the age difference.

He continued, "The war with the South will be won soon. The time for us to become warriors is approaching. So I've heard they'll be reorganizing the warrior unit as a part of the army's new structure."

Reiner's face lit up with hopefulness. "I did it...! Now... I can become.. a Marleyan."

Everyone gave their attention to Reiner's words. Only one of the boys decided to speak up.

Porco. "Huh? You didn't do anything." He was starting to raise his voice more.

"You're obviously the weakest in the group. If two people are getting left behind, one of them is going to be you. What are you good at?"

The girls didn't like it when the boys would bicker. We all knew what we were here for. This was a sentence to death, but it was for a good cause. Or so we believed. Pieck was always in a world of her own. Annie didn't pay much attention to anything. She would distract herself with the little things.

I was always looking up at the sky, daydreaming about what the other side of the world was like.

We knew that on Paradis there was an island full of devils. People who disgraced the Eldian name and because of them, we were stuck cleaning up their mess.