Again and again.
Between buildings lay a swing set in a patch of dirt. Four separate walls enclosed the outdoor space, leaving the alleyway between two of the buildings as the only way to enter and exit. The buildings were a variety of heights, and a half wall ran in the middle of the enclosed outdoor area.
Windows dotted the walls, though all were closed or boarded up.
The swing set looked to have once held three swings. Only two swings hung though, leaving an empty space.
Moss grew in the corners of the enclosed area and up the walls. Small patches of grass filled the areas where people didn't often walk. The bright blue sky construed the pale grey walls and dark green grass. Not a single white cloud tainted the blue sky.
It was a secret spot that the Warrior candidates had found.
A special place where they could hang out.
Zeke swung his feet back and forth on the small swing. He had long outgrown the swings but found comfort in something so simple.
"Say, Zeke?"
The War Chief turned to look at the girl who had just entered from the alleyway, "yes?"
The young girl looked at Zeke with curious eyes, swinging her arms back and forth nervously. A playful smile tugged at her lips despite the storm that had begun brewing behind her eyes.
"Are you nervous?"
"To become a Titan Shifter?"
She nodded.
"Not really. Why? Are you nervous?" asked Zeke.
The (h/c) haired girl grinned sheepishly, "of course. I hope I don't mess up!"
Zeke wondered if he had been just as innocent and naive when he was a child. He wondered if this young girl, and all the other children, understood the burden they were taking on. He wondered, pitted and envied.
It was such a shame that they had to be born into a world like this one.
"I doubt you'll do something wrong. If anything, I'd say that Reiner is likely to get something wrong." Zeke wasn't all too sure why he was suddenly comforting the young girl, but here he was, "besides, there will be much more challenging things ahead of us. No need for you to worry about something as simple as the ceremony."
Suddenly, the young girl looked at him with a sobering look, "if someone told you to die, would you?"
The question that crossed her mind was something that a child of her age shouldn't have had to think about. And Zeke, in all his wisdom is glory, had no idea how to answer this one question. What was he supposed to say?
He just stood there, waiting. Unsure of what to say.
Eventually, the young girl had grown bored and ran off to talk to someone else.
It was the first and (what he hoped to be) last time in Zeke's life that he had been rendered speechless. And by a child, no less!
But, in Zeke's defense, what could he have even said in the first place?
Again and again.
Everything begins somewhere. A catalyst that sets off a chain of events. Sometimes it's something as simple as waking up five minutes late. Sometimes it begins with something entirely out of your control.
YOU ARE READING
Allies and Enemies (AoT Reader Insert)
Romance"We were made to live." Second installment of "A Tenth Shifter; The Crystal Titan" Series.
