Light in the Dark: Bertholdt x Reader {AOT}

The Invasion

Hello to returning and new readers! I have moved to this website for all of my future fanfiction until further notice. This is the platform I have always read my favorite fanfictions on and I'd figured I'd give it a shot here with my content since there seems to be a higher traffic here anyways. This chapter doesn't include smut. The first few will not include any, possibly kissing but that's it. Warnings will be given prior to said chapters. I do work fulltime so chapters might be delayed while I'm writing this fanfiction, as well as those that I write in the future! I hope you enjoy! Bertholdt and Reiner are my two favorite characters in Attack on Titan, followed by Erwin and Levi!

For anyone who has not read a Reader x Fanfiction before, the character for the reader will commonly be addressed at Y/N (Your Name). Last Name is L/N, first name is F/N, Hair Colour is H/C, and so on.  Wanted to clear up the confusion for those that get lost and confused by these phrases or sayings. 

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You were held in the southeast region of Wall Maria. You were a prisoner. Your parents had been murdered when you were a child right in front of you, and you had been beaten and kidnapped. You were a descendant of the Ackermann clan, although you did not know of it at the time what that meant or entailed. All you knew is you were a target for thieves. It had been 5 years since you had been taken, and you were now 12 years old. You were sold off to someone in the area you now resided. It was a quiet area, and you were never permitted to leave the house. Two males kept you fed and clean, but they had been discussing what to do with you when you grew older. The men were both in their 30s, or that is what you had gathered from their appearance. They would beat you if you didn't listen to what they asked, and if you tried to escape.. Well, you never did because of self preservation. You wanted this nightmare to end, but you didn't want to die. You wanted to be free. You missed your parents. You hated this. Until that day, when you finally could escape.

{Timeskip to the day the Colossal Titan broke the wall}

It had been a relatively quiet day. Both of the men were out of the house, unknown to you where they were. They never told you where they went, they just ordered you to stay where you were and keep quiet. They always locked the house before they left, keeping an extra lock on the top of the door where you couldn't reach in case you got any funny ideas. You never dreamed of trying to escape, not wanting to incite their wrath. You had been beaten enough to learn not to go against them, as you were only a child against two stronger, much larger adults. 

It was still daylight as one of them arrived home. You didn't know what time it was, but only knew it was still daytime because of the light that shined through the small window in the home. You would often stare out of it, looking at the small part of the outside world that you would see. You saw mountains outside, and part of Wall Maria. You kept quiet as he entered, although he didn't speak to you. He looked over at you as you looked out the window, almost daring you to try and escape so he'd have something to do. But you didn't dare. 

All of a sudden a boom could be heard by both of you. It echoed throughout the house as you heard the sound of crashing outside. The man quickly came over to you, grabbing you by your collar. You struggled for a minute at the sudden roughness being felt around your neck. He glared at you, throwing you onto the ground hard. 

"Brat, you will follow me! We need to get out of here. Titans are coming this way and I'll be damned if I lose you in this madness. We paid too much for you to become titan food!" He scoffed at you as he grabbed your arm, heading for the door to the front of the house when his partner opened the door before he could even grab the handle. The second man stared at the first with a panicked expression. "They are almost here! If we can get out of here quick enough we can escape with our lives!" They both started out the door after grabbing two bags from the counter. They contained food, plenty of money, and other provisions. 

"Now listen brat, if you don't want to die then you'll stick to us, got it!? These titans will gobble you up at the first site of you! We wouldn't want you to be titan food when you're so important to us." The two man practically dragged you through the town towards where the harbor was. This was where everyone was sent or running towards to escape the incoming titans. You ran with them without question, although you had a hard time keeping pace as you were a mere child. 

Suddenly a titan jumped from the side as you were making your way down the road with the two, grabbing one of the men and eating them instantly. The other man screamed in terror, immediately letting go of you, cowering and running further ahead. You just stared as you watched the titan eat the first, and the same titan quickly grabbed for the second man, crushing him before eating him. You stared at the titan in shock, completely immobilized by fear. 

The titan started to approach you, but you just stood there. It looked at you for a few moments, as if figuring out whether it should eat you or not. It decided against it after eating the two men and walked off towards the harbour. You fell to your knees, confused as to how you were still alive. You felt someone scoop you up, taking off towards the habour once against with you in their arms. It was a Garrison Regiment soldier. You didn't ask his name as he ran towards the harbour with you. He was on the taller side, although not as tall as the men that had kidnapped you, probably around 5'9". He had brown hair and silver eyes, and he seemed to be in his 30s. 

You suddenly felt sleepy and you passed out sometime on the way there. When you had awoken, you were in a refugee building. You sat up, looking around at all the other people present. You didn't see any sign of the soldier that had carried you. Your stomach started growling as you hadn't eaten anything prior to the attack. You noticed a bag sitting beside you, and you soon realized it was one of the ones that the men had when they left the house. One of them most have dropped it and the soldier must have grabbed it with you. You didn't remember this, but deduced that as the likely scenario. 

You took a piece of bread out of the bag quietly and bit into it, quickly consuming it in a few bites. You sighed. 'Man... I didn't realize how good food tasted until now.' The men never overfed you, just scraps and enough to keep you alive. You began to look around, noticing a few groups of kids gathered together. You noticed a blonde kid, a brunette boy, and a black haired girl sitting together in one area. They seemed to be discussing something before they got up towards the entrance to where you were being kept. In the other direction, you noticed a slightly older group of kids, probably closer to your age. There was a blonde girl who was smaller than the two boys she was huddled up with, one blonde more built than the other two, and the other taller than the other two with black, short hair. The taller one seemed to notice you glance over at them, looking back at you with curious eyes. You were startled by this and looked away, getting up, heading towards the door. Little did you know, the boy continued to watch as you left the room, gathering the attention of the other two that were with him. The blonde poked fun at him for staring at you, while the blonde simply teased, asking if that was his new girlfriend. This made his face turn red. He looked back over at the door once they started to laugh, noticing you were gone, he sighed, turning back to the conversation they were originally having. 

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I will be uploading the next chapter tonight with this one. It feels nice writing this. Having control to write whatever I want again! ^^ I hope you enjoy this fanfiction!