crestal downfalls [ shingeki no kyojin ]

⌜ four ⌟

⌜ four ⌟

hear the empty echoes decor these walls
that of bubbly laughter against mournful loss

TW: blood, bullying

— x —

"DO YOU THINK I can become a soldier when I grow up?"

It was a good thing she and Nico were both home alone at the time, as William had to accompany Elizabeth on an errand elsewhere in Shiganshina. But if anybody had taken notice, Astera would deny ever being caught off-guard by such a seemingly impeccable question.

For the first time in her life ( she thought ), there was this pressure of having to offer the best response possible.

Because—well, simply aspiring to become a soldier already merited its own danger. How much more risk would actually training to be one pose? It wasn't that Astera wielded absolutely no faith her in her younger brother, nor did she doubt he would be able to hold his own in a fight if he finally knew how to defend himself, but fights did not equate to battles.

     It startled Astera how protective she'd become of Nico since she was first adopted into his family ( hers too now, technically ) around four years ago. Then again, you'd need to have a shell that was tougher to break than walls Maria, Rose, and Sina all put together if you wanted to escape the charm of his ebullient brown orbs.

     "A soldier.." Astera couldn't help but frown, "what on earth brought this topic up, Nico?"

     Well, she certainly wanted to sound a lot less harsh than she made herself seem.

     But the 8-year old boy merely maintained his eager gaze. "I just overheard these group of kids talking about it when I went out with father yesterday, and I thought it seemed pretty cool! I mean, you get to defend the people you love from those evil titans, right? Then you get to learn all those insane moves.." he began to gallop around, shamelessly displaying his rather terrible attempt at mimicking the movements of the Garrison soldiers they'd glimpsed at once, when said soldiers weren't just lazing around and wasting their time on alcohol. "..and it's just such a hero thing to do! Don't you wanna become a hero like them too, Big Sis?!"

     Once again, Astera was forced to ponder on what she could possibly give as an answer.

     It wasn't that she never thought about becoming a soldier. Nico and she had gone out to stare in awe at the Survey Corps men who left for their expedition a few months back, but both Elizabeth and William had forbid them from watching their return. Astera knew why, Nico didn't.