In My Other Life

Chapter 1 Welcome To Junior High

"Wait, what're you doing?" A black haired girl asked worriedly as she gave me a suspicious look.

"I need you to promise me... promise me you'll get our home back. That you won't stop fighting til all of Wall Maria is ours once more." I requested softly, looking away from the girl and tightening my grip on the hilts of my blades as I spoke.

"What do you —" the girl began, only for me to cut her off.

"Just promise me!" I demanded, looking her in the eyes sharply and causing her eyes to widen a bit in shock. She lowered her gaze and frowned, hesitating for a long moment before whispering the words that I really needed to hear.

"... I promise."

"Thank you..." With that, I ran forward, jumping off of the moving wagon and shooting my wires into the air, flying past two more of my friends in the process of entering the fray. The last thing I could hear was a horrified scream of my name...

***

I gasped loudly as my eyes flew open wide, taking in the sight of a white ceiling. I was in my room. I was safe. Sighing in relief, I wiped the sweat on my forehead away and sat up, noticing my dog — a samoyed — staring at me as he sat beside my bed. I smiled softly at him and scratched his neck, making the name tag on his green collar jingle.

"Hey, Scout. I just had a really long dream. I wonder what it was about... maybe I'll remember later." I said casually as I stretched my arms above my head and tossed my legs over the side of my bed. Scout barked in response before walking over to stand by the black uniform hanging on my closet door and barking again. "Oh yeah, today's my first day of junior high."

Getting up from my bed, I got a white button-down shirt from my closet and slipped it on before putting on my favorite red hoodie, followed by my black uniform jacket and dress pants and finally my white and blue sneakers. I looked myself over in the mirror after fixing the mess that had become of my black hair and, once I was satisfied with my look, I turned to Scout for approval, earning a short tail wag in response.

Grabbing my bag and slinging it over my shoulder, I made my way downstairs, finding Dad at the table sipping his coffee and Mom in the kitchen making breakfast. "I'm heading out!" I called, earning a small smile and a nod from Dad and encouraging words from Mom in response. "Take care of Mom, alright, Scout? Oh, and make sure Dad doesn't forget his lunch again." Scour barked once more to acknowledge my request and sat by the door as I closed it behind me.

Everyone knows dogs are smart, but I'm convinced Scout's a genius. He's woken me up for school when he knew I was going to oversleep, he's reminded Mom and Dad of important appointments and due dates by barking at the calendar on the fridge and he even walked all the way to Dad's job once to bring him his lunch when he forgot it. I'm not sure how my family would get by without him around.

I refocused my attention on where I was going as I made my way down the street towards the school I'd be attending, which was a good ten minute walk away, but that didn't bother me. It was always peacefully quiet in my neighborhood anyway, so the walk was a good time to just think about life, at least that's what I used it for.

I didn't have much time to do that today though. Just as my mind began to wander, I heard the sound of quick footsteps behind me, and before I could turn around, I was knocked to the ground. I groaned in pain as I held my forehead in my hands, which had hit the concrete rather hard. I was surprised I hadn't gotten a concussion from that.

"Eren, slow down! You have to watch where you're going!" A somewhat familiar girl voice called as the owner of said voice stopped beside me and sighed in defeat. "Sorry about that, he wasn't paying attention. Are you alright?" The girl asked as she extended her hand to help me up.