Titan's Wrath

Chapter 1

 
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Krista Lenz sat in the school lobby with her friends. Armin, Mikasa, Annie, Mina, and a few others. They lived in harmony in the life of being Sophomores. It wasn't perfect, but they enjoyed it. They often met in the lobby before class started, during lunch, and after class. They would usually talk and play cards.
     Right now it was a Friday morning, and she was slightly grumpy. Her parents were fighting again and she wasn't getting very much sleep because of it. They were on the brink of divorce, and she didn't want that, what kid did? It was terrible, her dad was abusive to her and her mother, and her mother was a drunk. So either way she was in bad shape. If they fought over custody,  She didn't report them to the police, or speak with the councilors because whe wanted to stay with her friends. Rather than be taken into custody by the DHS.
      She did have a few other friends. Reiner and Bertolt to be excact, but they had went a different route during their Freshman year. They had gotten into drinking, smoking, and a few other terrible things. And they often harrassed their group. The two would tempt them, argue with them that it was okay. None of them fell for it, they held their ground against them.
      It was an average Friday, she would hang out with her friends after school, and even stay the night with Mina, or Mikasa. That was the usual weekend for her, they all knew about her home problems, and her parents didn't care where she was. The group would go to the bowling ally or to the pool house, and sometimes to a movie.
      But then a boy she had never seen walked through the lobby doors. He was average height, and lean. His head was dark, and his eyes were green. And he was muscled. He wore a tattered shirt with burn marks in it, and pants that weren't in any better condition. He wore round toed workboots with paint and oil covering them. He even had a slight beard.
     But he walked through the doors, looking around when he stepped in, his backpack slung over one shoulder. His face was stoic, there were no evidence that he had ever smiled, no creases in his face, no indentions or dimples near his cheek.
     She stared at him but he must not have noticed as he walked down the steps of the stairs that went to the lobby. When he reached the bottom he looked around again, the same stoic look on his face. He was either really mad, sad, or that was just his face. She didn't know.
     "You can sit with us," she called out, not thinking. Everyone in the group looked at her strangely. She ignored them
     He walked over to them, dropping his bag carelessly to the ground and pulling up a chair. They all looked at him, he looked back. His face was the same, his look never changed as he stared everyone down until they looked away.
     "Thanks," his happy voice contradicted his hateful face. His face was suddenly normal looming, he looked happy.
     "No problem," she replied.
     "So what's your name?" He asked her.
     "Krista Lenz, yours?" She answered and asked.
     "Eren Jaeger," he replied.
     "So what brings you to Trost Eren?" Jean asked.
     "Well my mom died a few weeks ago, so my dad signed a few papers that said I could sustain myself and kicked me out of the house," he replied. "He said he didn't want me there anymore,"
     "I'm sorry," everyone there said in unison.
     "It's fine," he dismissed it.
     "What 'bout y'all?" He asked them.
     "We've lived here our whole lives," Marco told him.
     "Interesting," Eren rubbed his chin.
     They sat there silently, the occasional scoot of the legs of the chairs as they moved against the tile below them. It was very awkward for everyone there. Eventually though, Sasha spoke up and broke the silence that held them.
     "How old are you?" She asked him, her chin in her hand.
     "Sixteen," he replied proudly, pulling his wallet out, tossing her his license. The money inside didn't go unnoticed to Krista. He had a lot of it, that was for sure.
     "Where do you work?" Krista asked him as Sasha examined his license.
      "I'm working for a welder downtown, it's good pay," he informed her. "But a lot of it goes to insurance and utilities as well as rent,"
     "Oh," she replied awkwardly.
     The rest of the day went by normally, they sat together at lunch, Eren joined them, they even asked him  to ha g out with them after to school, in which he declined since he had to go to work. So the group went to the pool house. The only thing they couldn't do there was sit at the bar.
     Krista was okay at pool. She wasn't amazing. But her technique and position was great. Her small hands made it easier for her to avoid hitting a billiards ball with said hand. But the best person in their entire group was Jean, he was amazing. He could hit at any angle, get a combo in the most obscure positions. It was quite unreal.
     They stayed there later than usual, when Krista looked at her watch, she saw that it was past midnight. She wasn't tired, just surprised. Time flies when you're having fun. Jean was currently in a match with Marco, who wasn't far behind Jean in skill. The game was close, Jean had a solid left, plus the eight ball, while Marco had two stripes left.
     Suddenly, the boy from earlier showed up, standing there spectating the game. He eyed the table, feeling the felt between their turns. He put a few quarters in the lip of the bank. Jean looked at him strangely as Marco shot in one of his stripes, the cue ball followed it.
     "I scratched," Marco complained.
     "I play winner," Eren announced, a confident look on his face.
     Soon Jean won against Marco, and Eren racked the billiard balls. Jean went to shoot the cue ball, and made a very powerful shot. But the rack barely broke, he looked shocked, and started furiously rubbing chalk on the tip of his cue. He heard Eren laughing loudly in the background.
     "Ever heard of a 'shitty rack'?" He asked. "It's when you only put pressure on the corners," he explained between laughs.
     So the game began, in which Eren sent Jean home crushed and defeated. He walked out of the pool house with Marco, the two staying the night at his house. The rest stayed there, Armin and Eren made small talk, Mikasa looking at her scarf, then Eren.
      Krista was talking with Mina, and Annie had decided to show up. Fashionably late, of course, walking in a few minutes after Jean had left. So they all played friendly games of pool and talked. Mikasa suddenly walked over to them with a strange look on her face.
     "I know Eren," she told them.
     "We all do now," Krista replied slightly weirded out by Mikasa's statement.
     "No, I mean he saved my life when we were kids," she explained. "I remember him, he looks excactly like him,"
     "Mikasa, you've told us that story," Mina spoke. "And the chances of it being him are small," She broke the news.
     "But it has to be him," Mikasa choked out.
     "We'll find out," Mina comforted. "But let's enjoy tonight," Mina patted her on the shoulder and walked toward Annie and asked for the next game.
     "We will," Krista comforted as well.
     The group was there until eventually, Eren, Mikasa, and Krista, were the only three left. Eren played a few games with the two, until eventually he got tired and offered a ride to the two.
     "Alright, I'm getting tired, anyone want a ride?" Eren asked, spinning his keys on his index finger.
     "Sure," Krista and Mikasa took up the offer.
     They walked out of the pool house, a security light being the only reason they could see. They walked over to Eren's old beat up truck. It had most certainly seen better days. They realized it was a single cab. Krista got in the middle while Mikasa was on the far side. Eren obviously on the driver's side.
     The cute blonde certainly liked the close proximity to him. She slightly nudged herself closer until their shoulders were touching. She blushed. This was a position she could get used to. Right next to a muscled up cutey.
      Eren started it up.
     "You know standard?" Mikasa asked, impressed.
     "Since I was seven," he replied, whistling afterwards as he shifted into first and they took off through the almost empty parking lot.
     "Nice, I don't know it," Krista joined in.
     "Well I could teach you sometime," he replied. They were riding down main street. "It ain't that hard,"
     "Where do y'all live?" He asked.
     Mikasa gave him the directions, and he decided to go ahead and take Mikasa home first. He dropped her off, and she ran to the, very, nice house. It was three stories with a balcony. Krista reluctantly scooted to the passenger side.
     "Where do you live?" He asked.
     "I don't really wanna go home," she replied.
     "Where do you want me to take you?"
     "I don't know," she whispered, her voice full of hurt. She hugged herself.
     "I could take you to Armin's place if you tell me where he lives,"
     "Could I stay with you?" She asked suddenly.
     "You don't wanna stay at my place," he paled visibly, his face as cold as stone.
     "Please," she pleaded. She didn't even know him. But his place was better than hers.
     "Fine," he caved quickly.
     They made their way to his house, twisting through streets. It was like they were making a pretzel as they drove through alleys and roads. It was taking a while. She was starting to wonder if he was just driving around to buy himself some time, but then he told her.
     "We're here," he announced, getting out of his truck and slamming the door behind him.
     "This is it?" She asked, bewildered.
     It wasn't even a house. It was a large storage shed. She had heard of people living in them but never knew that they actually did it. It was painted red and white. The building was at least 12 feet tall, and a few dozen feet around. It was a decent sized shed. The crazy part was that he was in a neighborhood.
     He walked up to the door and unlocked it, walking in and holding the door open for her. She walked in, seeing that it was divided into seperate rooms by plywood and curtains. It was quite cute.
     "You can take a shower if you want," he told her drowsily. "You can wear some of my clothes afterwards," he rubbed his face.
     "Thanks," she thanked him.
     "Well take one, and I'll take one after," he layed down in the couch, turning on the TV. There was a VCR sitting on top of the TV. He picked up another remote and flicked the channels and turned on the VCR. Star Wars came up.
     She took a quick shower and let him take one, she wore one of shirts and a pair of his boxers. They sat on the couch together. She curled up on it, watching blaster fire go across the screen. She looked at Eren. He was wearing clothes similar to hers, except they looked normal on him. His shirt was too tall for her, and almost went to her knees. The boxers were like regular shorts to her.
     "So why didn't you wanna go to your house?" He asked her suddenly. Their attention was no longer on Luke Skywalker.
     "Because," she chewed on her bottom lip." My parents are drunks," she blurted out. Covering up her mouth afterward.
     "Oh," he replied. "I understand that,"
     Their attention was back on the screen. She started tearing up. Why were her parents like that? All they did was drink and call eachother names then call her names. It really hurt. Eren must have noticed that she was starting to get sad, because she felt a comforting arm roll over her shoulders.
     She dove into him, sobbing her eyes out. He held her close, and she curled up in his lap,  soaking his shirt in tears. He pulled her closer.
     "Shhhh, you'll get through this, I'll help you through it," he whispered to her.
     "R-really?" She choked out, a smile crossing her tear streaked face.
     "Yeah," he stroked her blonde hair.
     She snuggle into him, occasionally sniffling. He pulled her close, layed down, and covered the two with a blanket that had been draped over the back of the couch. She fell asleep in the comforting arms of the boy she had only known for sixteen hours.