"Rise, Starchild" - An Attack on Titan X Male Reader Fan Fiction

The Day the World Changed

July 23rd, 845

Home of the Bismarcks, Ehrmich District, Wall Sina, Paradis

(Y/N) POV

My father stood across from me, in his signature form. He was holding a wooden sword. He was looking at me with an extremely serious look. We had begun training me in sword skills since my birthday this year. I told my dad that I wanted to be strong like him and since then, we have been training. Still, he beat me every time with only one arm. And while I was embarrassed, I wasn't going to back down as I charged my father once again.

I swung my sword diagonally upwards to the right, which he blocked with ease. Spinning around, he let me run right past him, nearly falling as I tried to turn towards him quickly. I stood there looking at his stance. 

Even with one arm behind his back, he was fast and powerful with the wooden sword. But I had a plan. I slowly inched towards my father, causing him to lift an eyebrow in interest as to what I was planning. I then sprung into action when I was three feet away. He swung his blade straight down to block the blade, but I had planned for that, letting go of my sword, I allowed the wooden sword to spin around the block, grabbed it again, and swung at his leg. And I did it...

I made contact...

I smiled victoriously before I was suddenly struck in the back with my father's blade, knocking me to the ground. "Ow..." I groaned out. My father chuckled a bit before picking me up and placing me on my feet. "You finally landed a hit on your old man. Good job!" He hugged me as he said this.

He let go and looked at me, "How about we get cleaned up before dinner? I don't think your mother would be too happy seeing you covered in dirt." He chuckled as I looked down seeing that I had dirt all over my clothes. I laughed as well. 

We went back into our home and saw mother standing in the front room looking at us. We both could see her anger radiating off of her. My dad was the first one to say something "Heyyyyyy dear. How's it going?" His confident aura during our fight disappeared completely at the sight of an angry Sophie. "Oh, you know, just working on dinner before the painter gets here." Both our faces dropped. "Oh," Mom got even more angry.

"You know, the one that we hired for the family portrait? The one that (Y/N) was supposed to be wearing that outfit that is not mysteriously covered in dirt?" I felt my father put a hand on my shoulder, he whispered to me "(Y/N)... I will distract her. You run upstairs and get changed as fast as possible." I nodded "Thank you for your sacrifice, Dad." I then ran as fast as I could, jumping up the stairs multiple at a time. I could hear yelling as I ran to my room and closed the door.

I looked around my room, it was a good-sized room. Able to fit a large bed and bookshelf that was filled with multiple fantasy books. Looking around I opened the closet to see if I had another clean white shirt and black pants to wear for the painting. Luckily there were a few pairs of each left. I quickly changed into clean clothes and opened my door to head back downstairs but I noticed the yelling had stopped entirely.

I slowly walked down the hallway and onto the stairs when I heard very quiet talking. I couldn't hear what they were talking about but I heard three unfamiliar voices speaking to my parents. As I got to the stairs, I saw the three men were in military uniforms. They had the Green Unicorn badge on their coats. The Military Police...

"Sir, We are just notifying everyone with the information we have. There hasn't been anything confirmed as of yet but we still need to tell the people." They all then noticed me standing at the bottom of the stairs. My mother was tearing up but managed to hold herself together and grab me into a hug. "Come on dear, help me with dinner while your father talks to the kind soldiers."

I looked at the faces of the soldiers, and I saw one thing. 

Fear.

Something terrible had happened. And they were hiding it from me.

"Mom... what's going on?" She looked at me with fear on her face. "It's nothing de-" I interjected. "It's not nothing if you're crying. You don't cry for just anything." She sighed, kneeling to my height. "(Y/N)... my child... something very bad happened. We don't know how, but it did. Wait for your father to get some answers before we know anything more okay?" She held me close, and a quiet I love you escaped her lips while trying to hold in her tears. We hugged for a short while before I heard the door close and footsteps approaching. My father began to hold me and my mother, his fear was barely evident but I could see it there. We held the hug for a while longer before my father finally spoke up.

"Well... the Titans... they broke through Wall Maria." My mother broke down completely, something I had never seen before. I could feel myself freeze in fear.

I had only heard stories about the Titans from my father, who had a brother in the scout regiment. Had is the keyword there. They were monsters that fed on humans. They were the reason we had to hide behind these walls. They were the reason that Humanity was brought to near extinction. And now they were here to finish the job.

The coming days were very rough. With the massive amount of refugees fleeing from Wall Maria into Wall Rose. The already struggling food supplies began to dwindle further at an alarming rate. Even in the interior of Wall Sina, it could be felt that we had lost over a quarter of human territory. All in one day.

The following months were worse...

June 4th, 846

Southern Wall Rose, Paradis

With the refugees being sent to the farms. Anyone of working age was forced to work. I began a job at the nearby lumber mill. Which wasn't the worst thing in the world. Out of options of either the mines or the fields, this was nice. 

I was working with another boy around my age, we had just chopped down another tree and were putting it into the cart. I looked over at my coworker, Viktor. A larger guy, buff with almost a shaved head. He was a nice guy, almost always oozing with charisma. He could talk to anyone all the time and never be tired. It made it nice to be able to talk to someone.

"Hey, Viktor?" He looked at me. "What do you think about the military?" I looked over at him, he thought for a moment before responding. "Depends on which branch. The Scouts are manics who die for glory when there's none to be had. The Garrison are a bunch of lazy drunks who got us into this disaster. And the Military Police, god don't get me started on those corrupt bastards." I looked back at the setting sun. He made some good points, but that wasn't stopping the calling I felt in my heart. It felt like some outside force wanted me to join. It was strange, to say the least.

"Don't tell me you're thinkin' 'bout joining? Are you?" He looked at me with a bit of worry in his eyes. "I have," I responded not looking away from the setting sun. "Why? The government just sent 250,000 people to their deaths for a reclamation mission. Which if I have to remind you, didn't work. And now you suddenly want to join them?" He looked at me confused.

"It's hard to explain... I have this feeling deep inside me, almost like" "A calling" he cut me off. I looked over to him. "Yeah, how did you know?" He sighed before sitting down. "Because I've had the same feeling for other things in life. It's not something you can just escape either. A calling is a dangerous thing, my friend. It feels right to the soul but that doesn't mean the body can handle it." He then gets up and walks over to me, putting a hand on my shoulder "Just listen to me when I say this. If you do this. Can you handle the stress of losing someone? Or everyone?"

That made me look down at the ground in thought, I hadn't considered that part. I knew people died in the military, I just didn't think about what if someone I was close with died. How would I handle that? The more I thought the greater the feeling became. Suddenly I heard a voice.

"Rise, Starchild."

I looked around. "What was that?" I looked at Viktor, who looked at me confused "What are you talking about?" I shook my head, "Never mind, I made up my mind though. I am going to join the military when I am old enough." Viktor nodded his head and got into the cart grabbing the reins of the horses. "Well alright then, I wish you luck with that." 

I sat next to him and we rode off. A newfound resolve within myself.

I will be joining the Cadets next year.

I will protect humanity.