Memories ~ Attack on Titan

Chapter two

The day big day had arrived. The day of her family's expedition. Rin's mind fluttered in and out of sleep to the sound of Isabel getting ready. Rin groaned, pulling the blankets around her body and turning to face the wall. Rin's mind shifted between conscious and unconscious, But the side of her that was just to exhausted took over and she was unable to force herself to sit up and face Isabel. Isabel laughed with that general and warm voice that Rin had grown accustomed to. Isabel approached her, sitting on the bed next to her and gently pushing aside the hair that fell across the child's face. She then planted a small kiss on top of the girls head and whispered to her in a sweet hush,"Don't worry, I'll make sure Bro doesn't go too crazy out there." She said with a small giggle. Rin twitched her nose in response, she heard her but her brain wasn't comprehending her words. Isabel left, walking out the door to meet the others.

The sun was shining cheekily in the sky now, shining directly through the thin curtains and onto Rin's bed. She felt the light warming her face. Out of instinct she opened her eyes, only to quickly shut them again and aggressively rub them. Rin after several moments she forced herself into a sitting position. The only thing on her mind at the moment was how much her back ached. She stretched her arms over her head as high as she could, finally getting a nice pop from her back. Satisfied, she stared straight ahead looking for any kind of thoughts to help bring her brain to life. After what felt like an eternity she huffed and placed her pale feet onto the white tile below her. She stood up, stretching her arms once more. After much thought Rin decided to go look for Hange, she walked out the door and began walking down the stone path, her feet quietly slapping against the cold stone. She forgot her shoes again, of course. About half way down the path Rin realized, Hange wasn't here, they went on the expedition. The expedition. It was strange, she hadn't remembered given much thought to it. But now that she was awake and alone she could key her brain dwell on it a bit. She never worried for her father, besides titans aren't that bad, they're just big things they run around, sure they try to eat you and whatever but it's not like they're hard to kill. Rin sighed, all this thinking so early was making her hungry. She decided that she should go eat breakfast, even if she would be eating alone today. She usually ate with Hange and Moblit and sometimes Levi would join them for a minute. But with most of the scouts gone, the base felt like a ghost town.
Rin had never seen this place so empty, and it made her a little uneasy. Not that she thought she was in any danger or anything, just the isolation was enough to give her goosebumps. She started to run down the path heading towards the dinner hall. She ran until she reached the double doors, She pressed her face against the small window, even the dinner hall was a ghost town. She pushed the doors open and tiptoed inside, it was so quiet that even her footsteps echoed. There were a couple bowls of soup on the table all the way on the left side of the room. Rin picked up one of the soup bowls and sat down her normal table, only her normal company wasn't present. She took a bite of the soup, cold.
Rin scrunched up her nose in disgust, it tasted terribly, like cold chalky potatos and gravy.

The sun was setting and still none of the scouts had returned. Rin was sitting on the stone path in front of the head quarters. She was drawing on the stone with some chalk. She was never particularly close to Erwin, until the day he gifted her the chalk. Erwin gifted her this box of chalk. He even let her draw on the chalk board in his office while he was having meetings or doing paper work, in Erwin's words, it would do good for her to listen in on adult conversation, it would sharpen her mind. Rin begun to adore Erwin the more time she spent around him, he was soft and kind for a man of his size. Sometimes he'd ask what she thought in terms of battle plans or new training techniques, even tho she probably wasn't helpful, he still loved hearing her ideas and seeing her thoughts develop from those of a child to something more complex. she drew this portrait of Erwins horse on his chalk board one day during a meeting. A few days later Erwin gifted her a small box of chalk, "this is for you, Rin. You can draw on stone with this was well as chalk boards. go give it a try." The commander said giving the girl a small smile and pat on the head. Rin was overjoyed and immediately ran outside to test out her new present. She smiled at the thoughts of Erwin, he one of her biggest inspirations.
Suddenly Rin heard the sound of horses in the distance. She bolted up off of the ground and rushed towards the small crowd of scouts in the distance. She felt her heart speed up as she got closer and noticed that this was hardly the number of people who were in the regiment. Then her skin begun to crawl as also looked at how beat up and bloody they all were. She began to panic and look around for her family, reality sat in as she realized she didn't see Isabel or Farlan, or her father anywhere.
She looked around the group frantically and caught sight of commander Erwin. She ran up to him, basically crashing into him. Erwin looked down at the girl, when she looked to meet his eyes they were filled with dread and loss.
Erwin put his hand on Rin's head and then knelt down in front of her. "I'm sorry, Rin." That simple phrase was all it took for her to understand. Her world felt like it has crumbled from underneath her. Her skin covered with a layer of goose bumps as her mind went hazy. She felt like she could lose consciousness at any moment, like this was some nightmare that she couldn't wake up from. A tear rolled down her cheek, and then another and then another. She didn't know what to do, she had never cried like this before. Her slow cries turned into sobs, sobs so hard that her eyes burned and her head felt as though she was pounding it against the bricks. She cried to hard that he felt dizzy, faint almost. With no thoughts in her head she leaned on the commander, hugging him as tightly as she could as she sobbed. Erwin didn't say a word, he didn't touch her, he just stayed there in silence letting her cry. Then the commander pulled away from the girl and put a hand on her cheek, he was about to say something, some kinds of words of confidence that he knew wouldn't make her feel better, but when he touched the girls face he was suddenly frozen, his eyes widened and all the sudden his vision was clouded. He looked around and Rin was nowhere to be seen. He walked forward into the clouds, trying to push them away with his hands. In the distance he heard laughing, Rin's laughing. Far off he could see the burry image but the more he focused the more he could make it out, Erwin realized it was Isabel, Farlan, Levi and Rin, back in the under ground. Just as fast as he saw it, he was standing back in the grass with crying Rin. Erwin's eyes were wide as he looked down at the girl in disbelief.
What had just happened to him.
Suddenly another set of foot steps approached the two and Rin was pulled up off the ground and away from the commander by a strong set of hands under her arms. Erwin's mind was brought back to the reality of his situation, the reality of his bloody comrades surrounding him and Levi scooping Rin off of the ground. She was held above the ground and looking into the eyes of her father. With a shaking voice Rin started, "where is-" she was cut off by Levi, "They're gone" he said in a cold, emotionless voice. Rin began to cry again as she pulled her self closer to her father, her arms around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist. Levi hugged his daughter in silence and walked her back towards head quarters. Erwin just stood there for a moment, before making his way back as well.