Erann Story

Chapter 1

  One hundred years ago, humans lived in fear of the Titans. Strange giant creatures in the form of humans themselves. One by one humanity was brought even closer to the brink of extinction. They were forced to retreat into three walls. Maria, Rose, and Sina. This created peace among them, and it kept the Titans out.

  However, one fateful day the walls had been broken by an intelligent type. Everything went into chaos. A great war broke out between the two, destroying what they hoped to become peace and turning it into a never ending hell.

  For years it was like this. No one is aware of what truly happened those days. But now they all assumed that humans had won. For it was Titans that lived in fear of humans. And for a hundred years they have been imprisoned inside the very inner wall. Sina.

  Apparently Titans(who are actually now called the Kyojin race) were humans. And anyone who possessed the power was to be incased within the prison of wall Sina. Now humans have almost completely forgotten about them. For the government has truly destroyed any trace of their existence in the world to almost everyone.

  Only a small portion within wall Rose are fully aware of them. These people are of high wealth, and are known to watch the Kyojin tournament game. An ongoing event where Kyojin's fights one another to live.

  Humans who used to be seen as cattle, have now switch their roles with the Kyojin. And now they are helpless to ever fight against the growing power of the government.

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  It was dark, moist, and very hot. Eren Jaeger, known as the Rogue Titan, was inside the mouth of Annie Leonhardt, who is known as the Crystal Titan. He had battled her and lost to her fighting skills. Before he had a chance to struggle, she had dug her teeth into the Titan nape and ripped him from his place.

  It was so scary watching her as she did. His heart was pulsing, sweat was dripping, and his mind was in panic. He had shut his eyes, not knowing what else to do. Though what he couldn't understand was why in the world was he still alive while being firmly held against a pair of hard teeth by a wet and slithering tongue.

  She hadn't swallowed him.

  The cheering of the people atop the wall was muffled, and the rumble of the female's breathing was making his ears ring. He couldn't move, and he wasn't surprised. Her tongue served as a perfect meat cage. So he didn't fight, but it was getting uncomfortably hot and the air was mucky. It was a bit hard to breath.

  Perhaps it was that the pressure of her tongue was too hard. But now his body was shaking. He had a fever, this tended to happen every few transformations. Every since he became a Titan he had been weak, something he despised himself for. Especially since that made it harder to provide for both himself and his parents.

  His father would have been working in the games, but he had recently quit. For reasons he has not told Eren.

  Eren yelped as he was blinded by light, and the tongue suddenly let go, making him slide to her sharp carnivorous teeth. Her jaw was opening and soon he lost his grip and fell out with a yelp and onto the grassy ground, absolutely covered in saliva.

  Eren gasped and coughed, face recoiling in disgust as he had accidentally swallowed some of the slimy substance. He heard the echo of people making sounds of disappointment. So she wasn't going to eat him yet tore him from the nape anyway? What the fuck?!

  While recovering he didn't notice the girl approaching him. When her shadow was in sight of his right hand he finally sat on his knees to look up. The girl had blond hair, it was messy and went to her shoulders, just like her Titan. Her eyes were the same but a more intense shade of debonair blue. She wore a simple pair of white pants and a grey shirt, though no shoes were on her feet, leaving them bare.

  "What the hell was that for?" Eren rasped as he starred down at himself in disgust, making a mental note to go dump himself in a pond after leaving.

  "I didn't feel like eating you." Annie replied calmly, Eren not missing those thin and delicate pale finger brushing back her flowing hair.

  "Oh, didn't feel like it." Eren grumbled before trying to wipe off the slime.

  Offering her hand, Annie starred into his turquoise orbs, waiting for him to take it. Eren starred at it cautiously. Hesitantly while glancing between her and her hand, he took it. His hands were indeed larger and until he was standing he finally realized how much shorter she was next to him.

  "Why didn't you really eat me?" He asked after a small "thanks".

  "I had no reason to. You have no special abilities worth using. So it was unnecessary to take your life." She replies as she begins to turn, Eren pouting in offense of her words. But she was right, so he held back his comment. God knows how many times he has almost died because of his weak Titan body.

  That's when he remembered her. The way she had fought, with such grace and even when he had pulled off her limb she didn't falter. Eren had fought many before, but none were like her. Thinking back he really was intrigued by her way of fighting, and he couldn't help but ask.

  "A....ano....." Eren hesitated as she turned and looked at him. Feeling a bit embarrassed he continued. "Where did you learn to fight? Did you teach yourself?"

  It wouldn't surprise him if she did. If you wanted to win a fight, then you had to learn how to on your own. No teachers were available, and no one offered tips to one another, even if they were friends. It was every man for themselves.

  "My family taught me. More specifically my father. Why do you ask?"

  "Well...ano...honestly I really liked what I saw out there. Despite how much I learned from my father, you still took me down before a whole minute passed." Pausing he looked up before taking in a breath. "I just wish I could fight like you." He mumbled sadly, knowing it was stupid for him to compliment someone else's skills. Why would anyone care? Eren was starting to believe he was really a stupid wimp.

  Annie smiled. It was small, and the light glimmering off the gate to Sina was blinding him slightly from the sight, but it still surprised him.

  "If you like it so much I can teach you."

  Okay what?

  "Seriously?" Eren didn't truly believe her words.

  "That is if you give me half of your wins."

  Eren scoffs. Of course she would want something in return.

  "The winning money is too valuable. It's already hard enough as it is to keep my mother alive. I can't make a deal like that."

  "Please leave the fighting arena! Our next contestants will be entering soon!" The sound of the announcer boomed over to them, the gate shaking both of them as it opened.

  They didn't say anything till it stopped, then Annie began to walk out.

  "Then I'll give you everything you need. Just as long as you give your part."

  Eren blinked in confusion as he watched her walk away.

  "You give me half, I train you and offer all the food and supplies you need. Does that not seem reasonable to you?" Annie stopped momentarily to look over her shoulder for his reply.

  She was right, it wasn't unreasonable. But why would she offer to provide for him? Eren didn't like the idea. But thinking about it, if he ever wanted to survive in this cruel world maybe he might just have to. There is nothing stopping him from quitting after she has taught him everything. Though didn't she have a family to take care of as well?

  "I live only with my father. So there is little mouths to feed." Annie spoke as if she were reading his thoughts just by looking into his eyes.

  Eren sighed, knowing he will have to tell his parents. But it was either say no and continue blindly, or learn to fight and survive.

  "Alright, deal."

*

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  "Are you sure that was wise of you Eren?" Carla, Eren's mother had a slight look of worry as her hands were softly placed on his shoulders.

  Eren opened his mouth to speak but his father, Grisha interrupted him.

  "If she is of the Leonhardt family than I have no doubt it will be fine Carla. I know her father, he is a good man."

  Carla looked at her husband and signed with a nod. "Alright, but please be careful Eren, just in case." Carla was always so worried about allowing her only fifteen year old son fight in the tournaments. It got annoying, but Eren learned to cope with it.

  "I will mom." Eren replied making her smile.

  "Right! Now let's eat." Carla goes to sit at their rather small and plain wooden table and chairs.

  Grisha and Eren thank her for her cooking, Grisha giving his wife a loving kiss on the cheek before sitting down.

  Then they heard the sound of lightning, and the shaped tin serving as bowls and plates shook. They all looked at one another confused. Someone had just transformed outside the arena.

  Eren got up and walked over to the window to peek out. He could hear shouting, and eventually the sound of loud footfalls. Perhaps a thirteen to fifteen meter? But why would someone transform? It was illegal, and everyone knew what the punishment was.

  From the intensity of the grounds vibrations, it could be guessed that it was actually a thirteen meter. One of the larger classes. Others follow along to find out what's going on among the chaos being heard just a few blocks away. Eren kept going in a slow paced jog over, too curious to listen to his mother's calls, the woman trying to get her son back inside where it was safe. But Eren was always a rebel.

  Eren had to dodge a couple of loose roof plates that fell from the earth quaking. Whoever transformed was now running. Eren should have gone back, but the sight before him made his jaw drop. Living so close to the wall that kept them inside Sina was something Eren was definitely thankful for. As if he didn't, he wouldn't have been able to see this, only hear it in the daily news and gossip. But words weren't enough for Eren. He preferred action.

  Some classes of Titans, the most common anyway were around ten meters or higher, and they had the ability to harden their skin. It could be one place at a time, cover almost the whole body, or even have the entire flesh form through the hard substance. It was a rare trait for high classed Kyojin. Seeing this particular Titan reminded him of the very girl he would be training with.

  This one seemed to be one of those types who could almost keep their entire form hard. The Kyojin form had short brunette hair, messy all over the place, and was skinless, another rare trait of a Titan. Instead of a body formed like the usual Kyojin human form, his arms were longer, thinner. His body was bulkier and legs almost matched the length of the arms.

  Eren's eyes widened. Not only was this Kyojin breaking the rule of transformation allowance, but they were using their Titan armor to pierce the iron wall, shriveling up the material. It wasn't just that though, for Eren Jaeger recognized this Titan.

  "Marcel?! What the hell?!"

  Marcel Jaeger, Eren's cousin from his Unlce Zeke Jaeger and his deceased wife. Marcel and Eren didn't know each other well, as ever since they got older the only thing to logically think about was how to survive the games. It was nothing at the moment, for at least right now he was dealing with beginners, but every time you win, the fight got harder. So the only years he got to spend with his cousin was when he was just a babe through his childhood years.

  Marcel had expressed his distaste for the walls, and Eren never blamed him. Eren was sure he was not the only one who saw the obvious that they were birds in a cage, all meant to chirp, sing, and entertain the people outside. But Eren never thought that Marcel would ever act upon his hate for them.

  This was very bad.

  "This is your last warning! Let go of the wall and calmly retreat from your Titan or we will be forced to take you down!"

  Eren's blood turned cold. Marcel was just a young boy, a confused one at that. Like his mother of what Eren had been told about by his uncle, he was very set on his own opinions and dreams. And that could be a bad, and a good thing.

  But it made it worse when he ignored the calls of the soldiers flying around in their maneuvering gear. Eren finally called out to his family member when he saw one of the Military soldiers bring out a familiar looking contraption.

  "Marcel! Get down from there!" Whether he was heard or not Eren didn't know, but he kept on trying to reason with him, though it was hard with all the people around him chatting rather loudly around him.

  It was too late, the contraption in the woman's arm was fired and the armor surrounding Marcel's neck and head completely shattered, like glass it fell in sharp specs, and a shock wave made everyone stumble.

  Another shot. Half of the Titans face was blown off. Eren watched in dread as they prepared another fire. It only took a mere second to prepare the strange gun made to pierce the iron of any Titan. The power blast and amazing amount of heat triggered upon contact was enough to break large sections of armor.

  The Titan didn't fall, and Marcel was still alive, for the nape was unharmed. Though he didn't continue to climb. When a third was shot, Marcel let go of the wall and landed on the floor, his large hands raising in defeat. Marcel could be rash in his decisions, but he was smart enough to know when to give up.

  Thank God they stopped trying to blast him into ashes, but now a large, gaping hole was steaming on the walls side. It apparently broke completely into it, for the sun was glaring down at them from the other side.

  "Leave your Titan! Now! Next shot will be your nape! Do not test our patience with you!" The male talking was clearly pissed.

  Eren ran forward after he saw the familiar burst of steam and Marcel came tumbling out and onto the ground with a thud, panting heavily. Before Eren could reach his dear friend a hand blocked him.

  "Stay back Kyojin!" An officer glared, Eren returning the glare but not fighting.

  Marcel was about to get up, but was sent to the ground when an unseen boot went straight to his face.

  "Oi!" The officer had to keep Eren from charging forward, the boy despising seeing another kick sent to his cousin, this time in the back, then on the leg. By the deep cry Marcel let out, he had definitely just broken a bone.

  After the small struggle, and the boy helpless from post fatigue after transforming, he was dragged by his hair to a man.

  "Marcel Jaeger! My name is Kenny Ackerman. Captain, Kenny Ackerman. You have illegally disobeyed in ways that are not forgivable to government law."

  Eren could share the cold shiver of fear with his friend. Marcel didn't show any of it, but instead smirked in plain amusement to his failure.

  "However I'm in a rather forgiving mood today thanks to a very good wife. So I'll let you go with a warning just this once."

  The man named Kenny took his turn to kick the boy, as his head was in perfect position for such an action. Kenny leaned down at the boy who gasped for breath after yet receiving one more kick to the gut, taking all the air out of him.

  "I'll let you know-" Kenny began, his hand gripping Marcel's chin, forcing the boy to face him despite the pain he was feeling in his ribs. "That if your ever do this again, the Military won't hesitate to kill you, or your family. Is that understood Kyojin?"

  Eren hated how much the Military spoke the word "Kyojin" with such distaste as if they were vermin.

  "Answer me you piece of shit." Kenny growled, fingers squeezing hard into the boys skin.

  Marcel grunted, not looking into the man's eyes before muttering a quiet reply to his request and even a bitter promise that it wouldn't happen again.

  Kenny thrust his arm forward, fingers releasing him and the force making Marcel fall back to the ground. Just as fast as they had come, they left without a trace. Gas and steam covered any vision on the ground, and the sound of wires and gears flying became distant.

  That's when Eren ran to help Marcel up who was coughing up blood, his body already beginning to heal thankfully.

  "What the hell was that Marcel?! Why the fuck would you do something like that?" Eren quietly accused his friend, more just relieved than angry.

  "Whatever Jaeger bomb just get me home." Marcel grumbled softly as he allowed Eren to put his left arm over his shoulder, and Eren's own arm went to his waist to keep him balanced.

  "Does Zeke know about this?" Eren asked, and by the way Marcel avoided any eye contact gave him his answer.

  "You have no idea what shit will be waiting for you when I get you home."

  "You gotta admit though that you were impressed."

  "What?"

  Marcel looked at him and smirked, repeating himself. "That was impressive wasn't it? I mean I got pretty far."

  Eren paused for a second before shaking his head with a chuckle.

  "I'll admit that was pretty brave of you. But you are still an idiot. And all you did was climb a wall."

  Despite the whole situation they were both laughing. Tho Marcel stopped soon as apparently during his beating a rib broke, and that was going to take a little bit to regenerate. So he put off his amused and relieved laughs aside for later.

  While walking Eren spotted that a blonde who was watching from one of the crowds. She was looking right at him, and Eren felt slightly intimidated by her cold and contemplative gaze. Annie Leonhardt.

  "Who's that?" Marcel rasped.

  "What?"

  "The blonde girl, I saw you two looking at each other." Marcel paused for a small gulp. "Do you know each other?"

  "We fought in today's game." Eren replied.

  "Oh, I see. For a moment from how intensely she looked at you I thought she was your girlfriend or something."

  Eren scoffed with a smile. "Come on Marcel, me? A girlfriend?"

*

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  "Thank you Eren, for bringing him back." Zeke spoke to the boy with gratitude, Marcel laying down on one of the long couches inside. The boy was still recovering from the beating, steam emitting from his wounds inside and out.

  "Sure thing. You won't be too hard on him will you?" Eren looked up from the hug Zeke initiated to see his kind smile.

  "How can I? He never listens anyways."

  Eren laughed, usually parents didn't care if their child listened or not, they would make sure they seared every word into their heads. But Eren's uncle and father were both very calm and composed in many situations, though that does not mean that they are the least bit less intimidating when they needed to be firm.

  "He's almost worst than you." Zeke smirked at Eren's pout.

  "Hey I've been doing better." Eren crossed his arms.

  "Well goodnight Eren. Tell your parents I said hello." Zeke smiled as he closed the door after Eren answered his farewell, Eren also promising to come over the next day to check on them.

  About to head in the direction of his house, just turning a corner he came face to face with Annie once again. He had to blink for a second to recognize her, he had been in a small train of thought. She sort of startled him.

  "Oh it's um you." Eren first spoke while scratching the back of his head.

  "Three days."

  Eren paused, mouth formed in a small "O".

  "What?"

  "Come to my house in three days. That's when I will teach you." Annie replied, her features very stoic.

  "Okay, um how do I get there?"

  Annie turned around and used her finger to point down the street.

  "Just down this road, take a right and keep going till you spot a dirt road leading away from town. Me and my father live in a small castle away from people." Annie instructed, Eren mentally noting that he would have to start heading over from his Uncle's house till he got more accurate directions. Perhaps he would ask his father.

  "Alright. Any specific time?" Eren asked as she began to disappear as soon as she appeared.

  "5:00 AM sharp. Do NOT be late."

  Eren gaped, "5:00 AM?!" He exclaimed despite that she was already gone. "Why so fucking early?" Eren could already feel the dread of dragging himself out of his sheets at such an early time. His usual wake up time was 8:30 am, and he went to sleep at 11:00 pm. There were times he was naughty and stayed up late to the point he ended up sleeping in till the afternoon.

  "Don't be late." Her words repeated in his head. Nope. Gonna be late.