The Forgotten Ones

Chapter 1

Mar. I watched her die. I heard her scream help. I came as fast as I could. But she was gone, the only thing left was a pool of her blood. I stand next to the titan that had ended her life. I killed it, as easily as I could step on a daffodil. I was to late though. Mar, my best friend and sister.
We never actually figured out who our parents were. So we never really knew if we were blood sisters or not. But it didn't matter, she was my other half.
I fall to my knees. My gear clanks next to me. I hear more people approaching on their own gear. I can't sit here. I can't! But my body refuses to move. And for the first time in years, I do the thing I swore to Mar I would never do if she died. I cry. Silent sobs wracked my body. I'm good at being silent. I hear someone drop in behind me. I still don't move, like I should.
"Who the hell are you?!" The voice behind my exclaims. It's a male voice. With tears streaming down my face, I turn my head to look at him. He stares at me with a look of confusion. I shake my head and rub my face. I struggle getting up.
"Hey!" He says. "I asked you a question! Who the hell do you think you are?"
I turn around to face him. Then I click my gear. I fly off into the woods. I stop in a tree and stare down at him. He clicks his gear and starts after me. Huh, that's cute. Easily I zoom off, out of sight range within seconds. He's yelling something. But I'm long gone by the time he gets even a few words out.
I stop my self on a large tree with a huge branch coming out of it. I stand there for a second. Then I lean my back against the trunk and slide down to a sitting position. I let my right leg fall down next to the tree beach and hang limb. I clutch my head and lean it against my knee of my left leg which is bent up. Then the sobbing returns. It's silent again, but now I feel real pain. Mar. Mar! My head pounds. She's dead. My mind accepts it, it's trained to do so. But physically, my body itself, doesn't want to. Mar, my grumpy, light, amazingly calm best friend.
All I do is sit there. I don't know how long it's been. I don't care. I don't have my partner to come home with. Why go back then at all? Mar would make me go back. She's stubborn like that. Or... Was stubborn like that. Another sob makes my body cringe. I don't want to be crying. I promised her that if she ever died I wouldn't get all sloppy about her. She said the same for me. I'm so sorry Mar. I'm so so sorry.

I fell asleep on the tree crying. It's dawn and I can hear Titans waver below me, thumping right past me. Thank God for really tall trees. And thank goodness for my sisters brilliant substance I keep on me. It masks my human smell, so that Titans can't smell me up here. And they're to stupid to look up my way anyways.
My head hurts and my eyes are still stinging. I'm still in the same sitting position as I was when I first sat down on the tree. Mar. My body's finally done mourning for her.
Marza Raini. She was almost the same height as me, 5 foot 7 inches. She had short hair, hazel brown, that clung to her head all the time; she was always working, beads of sweat falling down her head like rain on a window. We gave ourselves last names, we didn't have any as girls.
It went something like a movie snippet. "We should have last names," said Mar. I had smiled gleefully at the idea. "I'll pick yours if you pick mine," I had said. We were inside an abandoned building, hiding out for the night. Titans were stomping by, ignoring us. That was 6 years ago, we were only 12.
"Well let's see here. You are super brave and stuff. Your last name should be Lion. But pronounced "Lee-on," Mar said. So from that day on, my last name has and always will be Lion.
"Mar that's brilliant!" I creased my brow. What should I say? I get to choose my best friends last name. I look at the window. "What about Raini? Pronounced rain-I. I like that. Marza Raini. Like the rain you can be calm or pelt down in furry." She laughed. That was so long ago.
I glance down at the ground, it's far away. I'm high up. Really high up. If I fell, I would probably die. But even the thought doesn't faze me at all. Mar told me once that we were fearless when it came to Titans. Mar was right. Titans didn't faze me too much. To be honest, I told her I didn't know what scared me. She said, "What about losing your family? I... You're my only family so I fear losing you." She shook her head. "Promise me that if I die you won't freeze up and sob. You'll get killed yourself. K?" I nodded my head. "I promise. Now you promise me the same thing." Mar pulled me in to embrace me. "I promise."
I hear 3D Maneuver gear coming my way. 'No way.' I thought. 'There's no way.' I get up and try clicking my gear in; I had clicked my gear before I fell asleep to wrap around the tree, so I didn't fall out. It's stuck. I struggle with the left cord. The right cord is back in its gear cover. The left one won't move. It's jammed.
The sounds fill the forest. I see person silhouettes. I start to freak out mentally. 'There is no flipping way they found me. They must be looking for body's. I can't be seen.' I rip off the left cord. I have to, it's the only way. I only have a right cord. I ONLY have ONE cord. I try flying off and I could pop my hip or thigh out and be in extreme pain. I can't exactly get away if I'm writhing in pain on the ground. I think about trying to climb down the tree.
It's to late. Three people appear out of the trees. There's a girl with black slick hair. She's wearing a red scarf. The two guys follow her. A short male with narrowed eyes and a blank expression and a younger boy with an odd look to him. He looks, almost, mad.
They stop before they reach me. They have their blades drawn, aimed at me. I stare up at them hardly. It would be so easy just to cut one of their lines. But I won't do that.
"Who are you," asks the younger boy. I flip my hair out of my face and straighten up. I'm standing awkwardly against the tree.
"Why do you care? I'm not hostile and you are. So, there. Attack me without a reason, I'll fend for my life. But I have no quarrel with you." I love being dramatic, especially when I'm talking to complete strangers.
The girl with the scarf looks at the short male. "Levi." She says softly. "What-" The short guy, Levi, brings up a hand to silence her. He stares coldly at me. He's trying to figure me out. I take out my blades and ready myself. I'm not becoming a skewered kabob today.
"Don't you-" The kid gets cut off by Levi. "Erin, stop." His gaze hasn't left mine. And I haven't left his.
"Listen let's stop having a staring contest. I'm stuck ok? My gear jammed, I only have one cord that works now." They look at each other. Obviously they have no idea who I am and they are totally dumbstruck on what to do. The girl clicks her gear. She flies right to my side. I turn to look at her straight in the face. My swords are still at the ready. But all she does is look at me.
"Hi," I say. She sheathes her swords into her gear.
"Mikasa!" Erin exclaimed. He starts forward and stops with his swords an inch away from my face. I still don't attack. I'd like to see what this Mikasa does. Erin stares into my eyes looking for anything hostile. I just stare back. Levi pushes him aside and lowers Erin's blades.
"I'll ask you once. Who are you?"
"The name's Cinder Lion."
He swings his leg around and knocks the swords out of my hands and they fall to the forest floor. His kick startles me but not enough to catch me off guard. I take a blade out of the gear I wear and jab out at him. I don't need a handle stab.
It catches his arm. I yank it out and brace myself. Mikasa and Erin both attack me and pin me against the tree. Blood drips from my blade that I let drop on the branch. Levi holds his arm. The other two hold me against the log.
"Good shot," he says blankly. The last thing I see is his sword hurtling toward me. Then black.

I wake up to a prison cell. The walls are concrete other than the one barred wall to the hall way. My head is pounding. I look for blood or cuts, but he only had knocked me out with the handle it seemed. I'm sort of sprawled out in the corner. There's a chain wrapped around my wrists. They're handcuffed behind my back. I'm now in a pair of shorts. My right leg is gone. They took my prosthetic leg?! My leg, right below my knee, had been an afternoon snack to a titan 3 years ago. Mar and I, after I recovered, made myself a leg out of scrap metal. It took 3 weeks to make.
There are two guards stationed outside my cell. "Hey," I say rattling my chains. One of the guards looks over his shoulder. His face softens when he sees me. "What?" He stares at my stub. I pull down the shorts leg. "Where am I?" I say softly. They had to have drugged me, my words slur together. He faces back forward and grunts. "A prison. Your inside Wall Rose kid." I knew it. They took me inside the walls. Of course they did.
"Where is Levi, Erin, and Mikasa? I want to talk to them."
He looked at the other silent guard. The silent one marched off. I sit in silence.
The guard returns with the short guy called Levi. I wasn't really expecting him to come.
His arm is wrapped in a bandage. I smirk. I did that and I don't feel bad about it at all. His facial expression doesn't change one bit. His aura is cold. It almost reminds me of Mar.
"So." He sits down in a chair facing the barred wall.
"So," I respond just as coldly.
He just sits there.
"You have guts. Cinder Lion. Odd name, how come it doesn't show up in our files is a mystery to me. How you had gear and scout clothes. A few people have come in, people who know almost everyone. No one can recognize you." Oh how nice, people came in and saw me passed out on the floor. Great. Really feeling at home.
"Why is that, Cinder?"
This will be fun. "Levi my name isn't in your records cause I don't live inside of a wall like a trapped animal. I live outside, we call ourselves the Forgotten. No one knows about us. We're more skilled than anyone that has come outside your walls. You know why? Because we fight to live everyday. We don't stay in one place for long. I had gear and clothes because we often take the remains of your forgotten, fallen soldiers. We don't steal. You could say we recycle- " I'm out of breath. Slumped against the wall, I actually struggle to move my arm out from under me.
Levi doesn't seem happy. He looks fazed. He stands up and leaves. I fall to my side and close my eyes. Sleep returns.