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 to grim for such a small child. However, she was 8 now and being the kind of man that he was he wasn't going to do much to control her, as long as she kept her mouth shut that was. Farlan, a tall blond who was close to the girls father, was talking to some strangers on the couch, he was giving them money, her father never explained to her their work. Even if he had, she was still young and would be able to comprehend the things they much do to survive, he'd rather his daughter go on dreaming of sunlight and not the light leaving the eyes of others. The girls father was cleaning his blade at the kitchen table. His daughter had my face pressed up against the dark wood, her pale cheek and round grey eyes staring 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. She watched in silence as they sook Farlan's hand and left. He turned to her father and the two started to have a Conversation. 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, hate is a strong word and she hated feeling it, but it couldn't be helped. But she was comfortable here, and you learn to love what's comfortable to you she supposed. Going upstairs was impossible anyway, but what's to stop a girl from dreaming? Her midnight daydreams were cut to and 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. If you had enough, 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 the sunlight? She supposed that's why it sounded so unreal. Levi had always told her that her dreams were unrealistic and she should focus on the present, and she pretended to for his sake, but living such a boring life she couldn't help but dream. As she was fantasizing she heard Farlan continue, "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 her father. He felt her gaze and looked down.

he knew what was going on inside her tiny head and he roughly put his hand on her head, ruffling her hair rougher then he intended to. This made his daughter smile. Levi wasn't the most affectionate father, It's not that he didn't love her deeply, he would give his life for her. Levi was the stoic type, the type you'd never expect to be a father to a young girl, the type you could never imagine being intimate with another human. But when you grow up in the underground without a penny to your name or a family to call yours, suppose that's just how you turn out. Levi was strict, but never cruel, she knew he loved her more than the world. And she strived to be just like him.
He quickly removed his hand when a strange sound echoed through the house, something outside the door. Levi motioned for her to get under the table and she obeyed, her small heard pounding as he got up from the table and made eye contact with Farlan. Levi stood in the middle of the room with his blade ready as Farlan quietly grasped the door handle, yanking it open. His daughter lay on her stomach under the unsurprisingly clean table, eyes squeezed shut and hands clasped over her ears. She never thought much of having to do things like this, especially because 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, clearly offended by the comment, "I'm- im not a kid!"
Levi looked down at the girl, "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, levi's daughter just laying under the table, slowly opening her eyes and moving her hands after hearing no signs of violence. She over heard that the girl talking about being chased. There were footsteps heard and Levi quickly went to investigate. Some men wanted the girl, and Levi wasn't about to let them. One of them put a hand on Levi's shoulder and he was quick to cut remove the man's finger. The all too familiar sound of her father beating the man bloody echoed through the house. Levi didn't hide the violence from his daughter, it was never hidden from his and he saw no reason to raise her any different. Everything seemed to calm down and the child 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 he looked over to meet them. His cold gaze quickly broke and looked back down at the girls cupped hands. She took this as a sign of safety and approached them. This girl's eyes widened as she looked at the winged creature in her 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.