That Day

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The shock and fear that permeated the air could almost be tasted by Shinganshina's inhabitants. Eren's horrified gaze never broke contact with the colossally sized titan. Not when streams of blue harmlessly peppered its face and not when others snapped out of it and began to flee. Only when the giant's foot created a hole through the wall's gate did he look away to shield himself from debris. When he looked up, his attention was now on the gaping hole in the wall, his and everyone else's world shattered like the gate that once protected them.

"I-it... made a hole in the wall?!" Armin stammered. People began to scatter and trample one another to escape, and it wasn't difficult to see why; the titans, the unnatural apex predators of humanity that had been held at bay by the walls for nearly a century, were gathering just outside the opening. Eren and his friends ran as well, with Armin shouting, "Both of you, run! We have to get out of here before the titans get in!" But Eren ran in the opposite direction, his friend calling after him.

"Those pieces of the wall fell near the houses!" he replied without slowing or looking back. "MOM'S at home!!" Within seconds, Mikasa appeared at his side as the two raced to locate his mother. There's no way my house was hit! he began to reason with himself as they sprinted past a woman and her child kneeling next to what was left of a man crushed by debris as a clone desperately urged them to run. I'm sure she's already escaped... he shut his eyes to ignore the scene. When I round that corner... my house will be there... just like always!

"DAMMIT!!!" the boy screamed before rounding the corner. The home he had left just that morning lay caved in, partially crushed by a large chunk of the wall. "MOM!!!" he huffed and skidded to a halt in front of the ruined building. "Mom?" he began lifting up a board. Underneath, his mother lay barely conscious, but alive.

"Eren, is that you?" she asked weakly.

"Mikasa! Hold that!" he ordered as she grabbed hold of the rafter trapping his mom. "We're gonna move this pillar! Let's go! One, two, three!" The two children struggled to even make the structural beam move when they heard a blood-curdling scream followed by deep thumps. They didn't need to see past the surroundings to know the cause. The titans had finally entered and begun their feast. "Mikasa! HURRY!!!"

"I know!" she grunted.

"Hurry up!" Still unable to move it but similarly unwilling to leave her, the children continued to pry.

"T-the titans... got inside didn't they?" his mother asked. "EREN!!! TAKE MIKASA AND GET OUT OF HERE!!!"

Eren's eyes went wide when he saw her panic. "I'd love to! So let's hurry up and get you out!" he continued to heave despite the lack of any progress. "Come on! Let's get out of here together!"

"My legs got crushed by the rubble," she said in a desperate effort to get him to take Mikasa and run. "Even if you get me out, I can't run... you understand, don't you?"

"I'LL CARRY YOU!!!" he cried defiantly.

"WHY DON'T YOU EVER LISTEN TO ME?!?!" she shouted at him with tears streaming down her face. "AT LEAST OBEY ME THIS LAST TIME!!!" When Eren still refused to obey, she attempted to get Mikasa to listen.

"Still arguing with your mom, Eren?" a clone's voice asked. He looked over his shoulder and saw Chess and Goll darting over to them. Eren started to speak when a much louder WHUMP resonated around them. Mere yards away stood a roughly 15-meter titan with blonde hair and a sinister toothy grin. Once again, he stood paralyzed. "Hey, hey!" Goll nudged his back. "C'mon. No time to freeze up." Goll and his brother went to either side of the pillar with their backs to it and started to lift.

"ALL OF YOU, GET AWAY FROM HERE!!!" his mother pleaded.

"Hurry up kids," Chess grunted as the pillar finally began to move and the children went to free Carla.

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