LIfe's Too Short

Chapter 7

Petra was walking through her hometown in northern Wall Maria, close to the border of Trost, a loaf of bread tucked under her arm.

She was making her way home when suddenly she heard voices crowding around the main street.

Walking over curiously, she heard the sounds of muttering voices and stamping hooves of horses.

The Survey Corps, she thought.

Men and women wrapped in stained bandages walked through the main street sullenly, radiating a rather depressing vibe.

The same foul-mouthed comments trickle out from the crowd as the group walks away slowly.

Petra blinked as Commander Erwin passed by silently, walking forward with the rein of his horse in hand. Behind him, atop his horse, was the Lance Corporal Levi staring ahead with an intimidating glare.

The moment he made eye contact with her, she knew she remembered those deep gray eyes from somewhere. Somewhere buried in her memory she knew she had seen them before. Even if it was for a mere half-second, some strange feeling flooded into her. It fell in between relieved and scared, which seems odd, but it was like the feeling you get when you realize you've done something wrong.

She was stuck in her train of thought until the crowd began to disperse out, snapping herself out of it and walking toward her home with that strange feeling stuck in her.

And that feeling would never go away until she found out the truth.

It was a warm, sunny day when Petra had met Sara. They became best friends when they were in the training squad, and hung out after training was over. Petra had been about eighteen at the time, Sarah about two years younger. Although Petra had been placed sixth in the new recruits, she joined the Survey Corps just as she had always intended.

"Papa," Petra said.

"Yes?" he replied.

"I... I want to join the Survey Corps," her voice was firm.

He looked surprised at this. "Why's that?"

His daughter looked down. "I want to make a difference for humanity."

Petra's father pondered over this for a while. "Petra," he looked her in the eyes. "Whatever you want do in life, I will support you."

She smiled in return, embracing him happily.

Two months later she left to join the military, and quickly made an impression on her fellow peers. Sara looked up to her like a big sister and best friend with her wide dark eyes.

They had been on stall cleaning duty when they were told by another member of the Survey Corps that they were getting ready to go on an expedition in a few weeks.

Sara was replacing the old hay in the stables when she brushed back her straw-colored hair and asked, "Petra? Are you... scared? Of the expedition, I mean?"

Petra looked up from where she was cleaning.

"Of course," she replied kindly.

"It's natural to be scared. But this is what I've been waiting for my whole life," her eyes drifted up to the sun. "The day when I'll leave the walls."

Sara looked up at the sun too.

"Yeah," she agreed.

Petra's arm raised into the sky as she fired a black smoke round.

Sara looked back at the large aberrant chasing them in disbelief.

The two were placed at the back of the relay row. The two were so unlucky as to have to be chased by an aberrant on their first mission.