Memories ~ Attack on Titan

Chapter one

She remembered it all so clearly.
The sights, the smells, the voices.
She sat at the grave that she often visited.
How could things be so different?
If only I had told them.
I love you.

A young girl was sitting at the table with her Father on a particular grim night. He didn't like his daughter being out and about when company was present, his work was too merciless for such a small child. However, she was 8 now and being the man that he was he wasn't going to bend her to his will, as long as she kept quiet and stayed out of the way. Farlan, a tall blond who was close to the girl and her father, sat talking to some strangers on the couch, he was giving them money. She never knew what her father did, even if he had known she was still young and would be able to comprehend the things they much do to survive. He would rather his daughter go on dreaming of sunlight and not dwell on such grim subjects. The girls father was cleaning his blade at the kitchen table. His daughter had her pale face pressed up against the dark wood of the table as her round, grey eyes stared at nothing in particular. Her straight black hair falling in streaks down face and back, she zoned out watching her father work, daydreaming like she always did. A sudden squeaking of springs as then men stood from the couch drew her attention. She watched in silence as they sook Farlan's hand and left. He turned to her father and the two started conversing. She didn't pay attention to the exchange of words, she didn't really care. Besides, she was too busy fantasizing about the upstairs. How she hated being in the underground. But she was comfortable here, and you learn to love what's comfortable, in a way. Going upstairs was impossible anyway, but what's to stop a girl from dreaming? Her midnight daydreams were cut to an end when she overheard a few words of the men's conversation. Farlan's masculine yet comforting voice filled her ears, "Levi. Do you think we finally have enough?" He was talking to her father about the upstairs. It was possible to pay your way up, or so they say. The way she had heard it described, the upstairs was other worldly, how does one even describe such things like sunlight? Levi had always told her that her dreams were unrealistic and she should focus on the present, and she pretended to for the sake of her father and his sanity, but living such a boring life she couldn't help but dream. As she was fantasizing Farlan continued, "so how much more until were able to live up there." Levi didn't answer but the girl, not moving from her previous position, looked up at him. He felt her gaze and looked down at his beloved daughter with eyes full of melancholy.

he knew what was going on inside her tiny head and he roughly put his hand on her head, ruffling her hair. This made her smile and warmed her insides. Levi wasn't the most affectionate father, but he loved her more than anything, he would kill for her, burn buildings to the ground to keep her safe, he would give his life for her if it ever came to it.
Levi was the stoic type, the type you'd never expect to be the father of a girl like Rin. The type you could never imagine being intimate with anyone. But when you grow up in the underground without a penny to your name or a family, I suppose that's just how life makes you. Levi was strict, but almost cruel sometimes. she knew he loved her and her she strived to be just like him.
He quickly retracted his hand and put his hand on his him where his knife rested. A strange sound echoed through the house, something outside the door. Rin's blood ran cold. Levi motioned for her to get under the table and she obeyed, her small head pounding as he got up from the table and made eye contact with Farlan. Rin put her small hands over her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut. This wasn't the first time we've had an intruder, and this wasn't the first time she had seen her father kill a man. She just hoped he would keep it outside and she wouldn't have to hear the brutal sounds of flesh being stabbed and sliced.
Levi stood in the middle of the room with his blade ready as Farlan quietly grasped the door handle, yanking it open. Rin lay on her stomach under the unsurprisingly clean table, eyes squeezed shut and hands clasped over her ears. She never hesitated to listen to her father when he demanded things like this, it helped that she never had to worry about getting nasty too, the floor was always so tidy, Levi had a thing against dirt which she always thought was ironic since they lived underground.
When the door was pulled open, a girl came tumbling into the house, she rolled and hit the floor with a thud and a small Yelp.
Farlan approached her, cautiously yet confidently, "what? It's just a kid?"
The girl instantly jumped to her feet and yelled, "I'm- im not a kid!"
Levi looked down at the girl, clearly unamused, "is that so? Then I won't feel any guilt for kicking you out."
There was back and forth between the three for a moment. Rin just laying under the table waiting, but to her surprise the sounds of violence never came. slowly opening her eyes and begun to listen. She over heard that the girl talking about being chased. There were more footsteps outside and Levi quickly went to investigate. Some men wanted the girl, and Levi wasn't about to let them have her.
One of them put a hand on Levi's shoulder and he was quick to remove the man's finger. The all too familiar sound of her father beating the man bloody and to death echoed through the house. Levi never hide the violence from his daughter, it was never hidden from his when he was her age, and he wanted her to be strong. It's a dangerous world down here especially for a woman. Levi knew that all too well.
Everything seemed to calm down. The raised voices turned into mere conversations. Rin's decided to take a peek from her hiding spot and see if she could catch the end of the action. She crawled out from under the table making sure to stay low to the ground, to her surprise she saw Levi, Farlan and the girl. The girl was holding something, and it was making a strange noise. I suppose Levi felt her eyes because his darted over to meet hers. His cold gaze quickly broke and looked back down at the girls cupped hands, "come on out Rin, we're safe." Rin cautiously pulled herself to her feet and approached the trio. Rin's eyes widened as she looked at the winged creature in the girls hands. Levi took a heavy breath, "it's a bird, Rin, a creature from the upstairs."
The upstairs.
What an incredible place, to make a creature such as that.