Year 845: Trost District
8 Hours After The Fall of Wall Maria
Tonight was a particularly cold night.
The usually tame and quiet streets of the Trost District were lined by children held by their mothers, and mothers who were held by their husbands.
None of them were there by choice, of course. No one ever really knows when a disaster might strike. In fact, there was barely a soul in the Shiganshina District who could've foreseen the appearance of the Colossal Titan, yet there was not a soul who would ever forget.
People who lived in the outermost walls didn't have much to begin with, and the attack on the walls left them with nothing.
All they had left to cling to was each other.
Despite the harsh cold of the night, a man made his way through the streets of the city. He marched along seemingly with purpose, yet anyone could tell he didn't know where he was going.
The man's body ached for rest. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been this exhausted, much less this cold. And while it was true that he often didn't feel cold anymore, that didn't necessarily mean he couldn't feel cold at all.
Everything was blurry as the man stumbled around the Trost District. Perhaps if he had paid a bit more attention to the maps of the district he wouldn't have been blindly stumbling around in the dark. It seemed that pushing up his glasses didn't help to clear the blur either. They were foggy and stained with his own hot breath.
The man reached another blocked road. Another dead end.
Never before had he loathed the streets of the city to this degree. It seemed as though his feet weren't even trying to help him reach his destination.
"Excuse me, but are you lost?"
The man with glasses turned and came face to face with another man. One could only assume this newcomer to be a father as on his back was a young child. Well, perhaps not a young child per say, but the man with glasses thought the child to be around the same age as his own son. Around... nine or ten?
"I believe so. Do you happen to know where I might find the pavilion where many of the refugees are staying? I'm looking for my son."
If the child on the man's back hadn't alluded to it before, the understanding look of kindness which followed the man with glasses's question was enough to know that he was, indeed, a father.
"I can lead you there if you'd like."
"No, there's no need. I'm certain you're trying to return home as quickly as you can. Especially while carrying your daughter on your back."
"Nonsense," replied the kind man, "I'm on my way there right now. I figure having you follow wouldn't hurt."
While the man with glasses wasn't usually one to take others up on their offers so quickly, he figured that now was as good a time as any. After all, it likely wouldn't be a good idea to follow through with his plans during the middle of the day.
The man with glasses followed the kind man down the street rather impatiently. A few times he debated asking if they could walk a bit faster but he refrained from doing so.
"So... how old is your daughter?"
"My daughter? She's about nine years old. Everyone says that she looks younger, but I figure that's because she has a lot of my own features."
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.
