WALL [LEVIxOC FANFICTION]

Florence van Brücke left her home when she was twelve years old. It was a hot, late summer evening. The sun was setting over the endless meadows of the countryside inside Wall Rose. It was another normal day, the cicadas sung their song along with the birds and the sheep sleepily ate the grass.

            Florence was standing outside the door of her small, country house. Her long, curly red hair fitted with the atmosphere around her. There was a slight wind, making her hair fall all over her round face and almond eyes. On her face were visible quite a lot of freckles. That day, that special day, she was wearing her most beautiful dress, a purple one. Her grandmother had made it for her when Florence was just a baby, so that she could wear it when she grew up. But right now, her grandmother was long gone and Florence wasn’t a baby anymore.

            Across her stood her mother, holding her brother who was just five months old. Her mother was smiling but tears were running down her red cheeks. She reached to stroke her daughter’s hair while she talked.

“I wish you luck, my little fox…” she whispered. She liked calling Florence a fox, mainly because Florence looked like one.

Florence forced a smile and touched the ribbon she had always around her neck. It used to be her older brother’s, who had died five years ago when Wall Maria was breached. He was a member of the Stationary Guard, the military division that guarded the three large walls, Maria, Rose and Sina.

“I promise you, ma… I will come back alive” Florence reassured her mother. Her grandfather appeared at the door. He was old yet his eyes had a spark only a young man could have. He hugged Florence tightly and kissed the top of her head.

“Be sure to show them titans what it means to be a van Brücke!” her grandfather shouted happily while tapping Florence’s shoulder. Florence giggled a bit.

After she hugged her mother and planted a soft kiss on her brother’s forehead, Florence walked down the dirt trail leading to the main road of Durenbach, a small hunters’ village of Wall Rose. Florence was an excellent hunter and rider as well. She was used to this kind of lifestyle since she was born. The girl knew the village by heart and that day she knew exactly where she was heading.

Outside the café of the village, was an old carriage with a decrepit horse. Florence approached the driver and told him where she was going. The driver was a family friend, though Florence couldn’t recall his name. The driver smiled sadly at her as he helped her get up on the carriage. The man simply touched the bony back of the horse with his whip and the horse started trotting immediately.

“Are there many kids from Durenbach who have recruited?” Florence asked shyly when they had left the village behind.

“Hm, I don’t think so. As far as I know, the Niermann children went to work on the factories, and the Reichardt son went to Trost to work with a butcher. So, you’re the only one. Make us proud, kid” the driver said.

“The only one…” Florence repeated. The girl gasped suddenly once she saw the colossal, 50-meter tall walls of Wall Rose. She had never seen it that close ever before. They stood proudly, casting a giant shadow over the countryside. Florence was left in awe, she couldn’t stop looking at the walls that separated herself from the world of the Titans, a world which was much larger than the world she had known all her life. A world with many mysteries waiting to be solved. A world which the girl secretly wished to see one day with her own eyes. The moment she found out the death of her brother, she secretly swore to herself that she would live to see a free world.

Before long they had reached their destination. The military camp where she would spend the next three years of her life stood before her. Without second thought, Florence gave the driver a tip and waved goodbye at him. Deep inside her she knew that she wasn’t saying goodbye only at the man, but at life as she knew it as well.