Shingeki no Kyojin/進撃の巨人 1. Beginning

What words could describe he felt? As Levi buried his blades into the Female Titan's eyes, he only felt the blood pulsing in his ears. He only felt anger. Rage. His mind was bombarded with the images of the bodies of the dead. Of the soldiers he didn't know. And of the soldiers he did. Eld. Gunther. Aruro. _Petra… _Levi's inconsolable grief turned into murderous rage as he continued to carve the Female Titan. The blood that spilled on him and on the grass seemed to come from him rather than her. His heart was pounding out of his chest, and he felt an inhuman scream claw at his throat as he tore the Female Titan up. Levi had not felt pain like this before. There was _nothing_ but pain. How Levi wanted to kill the Female Titan. How he wanted to carve he up into little tiny pieces and make her death fucking insufferable. But he told that friend of Eren's that they would not kill her. As Levi turned to strike again, his eyes widened at the sight of that _stupid _friend of Eren's going for the nape of the neck.

"Stop!"

_Shit… _Levi thought as the Female Titan's hand turned toward Mikasa Ackerman. She aimed to break her spine, where she would land, dead, sprawled unnaturally against a tree. Levi's breath stopped at the thought, thinking about a certain ginger-haired soldier who had met her death that way. _Shit…!_

Levi pushed the brat out of the way, seeing her stunned gaze as the Female Titan broke his spine and as he was hurled against a tree. Using the last of his strength, Levi cut the Titan's mouth with his blade. The sound of Eren's name echoed vaguely in his ears as blood seeped out of him. Every bone in his body was broken. Levi couldn't move. It physically hurt to breathe. His barely-open eyes saw the brat escape with Eren in her arms. _Good… _He still had his blades, even though they were broken. His hands wouldn't let them go even as agonizing pain ran through his limbs and as his blood dripped onto them. He was cold. Suddenly, a hand wrapped around him, squeezing. Levi fought the scream that tore at this throat as he felt his limbs getting crushed as agony seeped into him. Blood leaked on the ground. As Levi was falling into death's arms, he thought he saw a smile on the Female Titan's face.

_Fuck…you… _Levi weakly thought. Using his broken heavy arms, he pushed his broken blades into the Titan's face. A scream clogged in his throat as he felt himself high in the air. The Female Titan's mouth was open. She meant to _eat _him. _The only regret I have…_ Levi thought as his fucked-up body came closer and closer to the Titan, _was that…I wasn't…able…give you a peaceful...future. _The Titan's teeth were white and gleaming with saliva. The gums were pink and tinted with blood. _I'm sorry…Klau – _The scream that had wanted to come came. A blood-curling scream echoed across the skies as Levi felt his body snapped in half. The light finally faded from his eyes as his body was swallowed by the Female Titan.

* * *

><p>And that was how Captain Levi, Humanity's Strongest, met his end. Despite the heavy losses of the 57th expedition which included Captain Levi and his squad, the Survey Corps were not able to capture the Female Titan. A young Survey Corps member named Deiter Badge attempted to recover his comrade's body, igniting Titans to almost overrun the Survey Corps. However, the bodies of the fallen had to be abandoned in order for the Survey Corps members to survive and escape the Titans.<p>

On the morning Eren Yeager was supposed to be executed in Stohess District, the identity of the Female Titan was revealed to be Annie Leaonhart. Eren Yeager managed to defeat the fellow Titan-shifter, but she managed encase herself in an indestructible crystal. 200 civilians and military personal including the Military Police died in result of the plan crafted by Erwin Smith. Although Erwin Smith was tried, the trial was suspended from lack of good judgement. Approximately a week after the 57th expedition, Wall Rose was reportedly breached. The forces of the Survey Corps were deployed once again, despite record losses in the aftermath of the expedition.

It was revealed shortly after that the breach of Wall Rose was a ruse for a bigger plot. Reiner Brown and Bertolt Hoover, members of the 104th Trainees Squad, revealed themselves to be the Armored Titan and the Colossal Titan that destroyed Wall Maria five years ago. Their objective was clear, and they successfully kidnapped Eren Yeager. However, at that moment, the Colossal Titan also managed to damage Wall Rose, creating a hole in the Wall. Erwin Smith, commander of the Survey Corps had to make a decision. Commanded the combined efforts of the Survey Corps and the Military Police to rescue Eren Yeager and leave Wall Rose to her fate, or abandon the mission to rescue Eren Yeager and defend Wall Rose from the Titans that would surely invade the Wall. The man decided that the civilians and the military casualties would have to be necessary sacrifices for humanity, and embarked on the mission to rescue Eren Yeager.

However, Survey Corps members Jean Kirstein and Armin Arlert defied this order despite the punishment of death, and commanded the members of 105th Trainees Squad, who had to aid the Garrison from the regiment's small numbers, to defend Wall Rose. However, despite their efforts, over 80% of the 105th Trainees Squad died. The Garrison also suffered severe losses as well. 15,000 soldiers were eaten or died in the line of duty, along with Jean Kirstein. Armin Arlert was seriously wounded. 2,000 civilians were eaten. Beyond the Wall, Survey Corps member Historia Reiss was kidnapped by Ymir, who was also revealed to be a Titan-shifter, and the three rouge Titan-shifters retreated to Wall Maria. They have not been seen since that day.

Although Eren Yeager was rescued and sealed the hole in Wall Rose, his role in humanity was questioned. He was promptly arrested by the Military Police with Erwin Smith. Two months after the attack, the trial deciding both of their fates were held. Armin Arlert managed to persuade the Military Police to allow Eren Yeager live on the condition that he would train his Titan ability for the span of four years beyond the Walls. The Survey Corps and their expeditions would be suspended until he returned. Armin Arlert and Jean Kirstein received royal pardons from the King, and a statue of the fallen hero was made in Wall Rose in his honor.

However, Armin Arlert was not able to convince the Military Police to spare Erwin Smith. And so, in the year 852, the former commander was executed. The Trainees Corps was immediately revised in the aftermath of the attack on Wall Rose. All divisions of the military sustained severe losses, and a new regiment was required. The age of signing up for the military was reduced to ten; each trainees squad would disband into the divisions at age thirteen. Although there was much protest, nothing came of it. In the year 855, Eren Yeager returned with former Survey Corps members Mikasa Ackerman and Hange Zoe.

The Survey Corps, disbanded for four years, resumed, and immediately set out on the 58th expedition. Although he was a former associate of Eren Yeager and now blind, Armin Arlert was selected to become the 14th Commander of the Survey Corps. The people in Wall Rose remembered of how he had bravely defended the Wall with the fallen hero Jean Kirstein, and cheered when the decision was made. Two years passed in relative calm despite the heavy number of casualties of the Survey Corps. However, only a day after the 81st expedition in 857, Commander Armin Arlert died. Mikasa Ackerman, one the senior squad leaders, became his successor and the 15th Commander of the Survey Corps. Eren Yeager and Mikasa Ackerman were now the only surviving members of the 104th Trainees Squad.

On the morning of that spring day of 857, this story begins.


	2. Departed Souls

_Bright light seeped through his slit eyelids. He could see nothing but a searing, blinding white light. Where…was he? The boy was not aware of his body, or of who he was. Bewildered thoughts ran through his head. Suddenly, there was a slight movement where he stood, and his wide eyes continued to expand as the shadow stayed. It was a shadow, nothing more, and yet…_

_ "Mother?" The voice that had escaped from his mouth was not his own. It was raw with sadness and rasped in desperation. His hands were trembling as his small childish fingers tried to reach for the person that had been the most important person in his world. "…Mother!" At the sound of his voice, the shadow turned, and the child in him audibly gasped as he witnessed the kindness and love in her eyes, and of how her smile was the same. She's alive, the boy thought as his hands reached out for her larger, softer ones. She's really alive…! Then, he heard his name._

_ "…Father," he whispered hoarsely. A man wearing a dark green cloak bearing the Wings of Freedom had his back turned toward the boy. The man didn't make a sound. "Father…" Suddenly, unbidden tears rose in his eyes, and the boy suddenly wanted to see the face that had been denied to him for seven long hellish years, since that day. "Father, I want to see you!" The boy could barely remember their faces anymore. He could remember their voices only through the last gift they had given him. "Father!" A sob rose in his throat as he remembered the only blurry memories he had left of his mother and his father. "Please…" he pleaded. The man didn't turn towards him. "I miss you. Why…can't you come back?" The cries echoed, and the boy shuddered from the noise escaping from him. His cries muffled when he felt the sharp pain from his teeth going into his flesh. He bit harder as the pain continued to surface, and just as he was about to draw blood, the boy felt a strong hand on his own._

_ "Hey, stop that." The boy's eyes widened as his gray eyes met the man's own. Dark raven hair framed his face. He was frowning, one of the most beautiful faces that the boy remembered. "Don't become like him, hear me?" Tears clouded the boy's vision, and he was about to make a chocked reply when he was awoken._

* * *

><p>"Klaus!" Gray eyes opened to the sight of a pale blue sky. It was mostly obstructed by garbage.<p>

"What?" he whispered irritably. Without any help from the hand offered to him, the boy stood on his feet. "I hate mornings," he stated under his breath.

"I was wondering when you were waking up," his companion stated. "You seemed a bit…disturbed, so I left you alone for a while." Both of them didn't say a word at the mention of Klaus' dream. They were happening more and more often now. One time, Adrian had told hold his friend as he cried and screamed in his sleep. Klaus looked across as his companion looked up at the sky with a wistful expression on his face. Adrian Snow had been Klaus' friend on the streets since they had become orphans in 850.

Adrian's entire family had been crushed beneath the debris of the Wall that had landed on their house. The boy had been playing outside when he wasn't supposed to. It was only thanks to the brave work of the 105th Trainees Squad that he had been able to survive. Both Adrian and Klaus had lost everything they knew at the tender age of three. Although Adrian had asked how Klaus had lost his family shortly after they met, he had been silenced by the deathly glare Klaus had sent him. The single orphanage that had been reluctantly built could not house so many of the children that had been orphaned after the Titans' attack. There were not enough caregivers. Many of the children, including Klaus and Adrian, had to live on the streets to survive. _So many died, _Klaus thought as he remembered rummaging through the clothing of the dead bodies of dead children. _And we survived. _Klaus and Adrian had met one day when they were both five years old. They had fought over a piece of bread, lost it, and finished what they started afterword. They had been companions since then.

Adrian's appearance contrasted greatly with Klaus'. While Klaus had thick raven-black hair and gray eyes, Adrian's hair was soft and strawberry blond. He had dark brown eyes. Although Klaus was older than Adrian by half a year, Adrian was taller. Klaus, although tough and wiry from years on the streets, was rather short and small even for his ten years. He also had a disposition of being considered unsociable.

"You wanted to show me something?" Klaus stated in irritation as Adrian pulled his hand into the crowd, pushing and shoving people aside as they existed the alleyway. Adrian didn't' answer him, caught up in the excitement.

"I don't know why, but the Survey Corps are back from their expedition!" The boy shouted to his friend. "Maybe we'll be able to see them in person!"

"Tch." Dark memories invaded his mind at the mention of the soiled military branch. He griped the box beneath his bloated shirt. "They die like all the rest, you know." His quiet murmur did not reach the ears of his friend.

"Besides, maybe we'll get a glimpse of your hero!" Klaus looked away from his friend's bright eyes at his statement, flushing slightly.

"He's not my hero," Klaus stated evenly. "He just –"

"Saved your life from a Titan, I know," Adrian interrupted. "Commander Armin is so cool! Even though he's blind, he's still able to kill as many Titans as he can! Did you know he's the youngest person to be the commander in the Survey Corps?" Klaus was silent as Adrian continued to gush about Commander Armin Arlert. "He's _way _better than Commander Erwin, simply because –"

"If Erwin Smith wasn't dead right now, I would kill him with my bare hands."

Adrian stopped, staring deeply into his friend's deep dark expression. There were times when Klaus was completely unsociable, of when he simply refused to speak as a blank and sometimes murderous look in his eyes as he thought in his own world. When Adrian had mentioned the late commander with the Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Yeager when they had first met, he had been stunned at the amount of rage in his eyes, and of how spittle leaked from his mouth as he told Adrian fiercely that he was never to mention those names in front of him ever again.

"Hey, why do you come here every time if you hate them? We see them every time they come back."

Klaus didn't answer. Instead, his eyes looked ahead as members of the Survey Corps filtered through. Immediately, Klaus knew something was wrong. The Survey Corps members had been rejuvenated when Armin Arlert had become their commander, and when Eren Yeager was part of their expeditions. A sense of endurance surrounded them even when they came home defeated. Even when people shouted at them from the loss of life, they never looked away. Now they were looking away. Their faces were haggard and haunted. Even their wounds were bandaged in a way that suggested hurry. People were silent as the Survey Corps members continued to file in, as if the tension in the air made it physically impossible to speak. Klaus looked for the familiar face of the commander than had saved his life seven years ago. As seconds passed, the ten year old found that he couldn't find the petite man that had blond hair crowning his face. His kind blue eyes were nowhere to be seen. A gasp rose in the public as they grasped the situation. Klaus felt numb. He couldn't swallow. He could hardly breathe.

A pulse of hate ran through him as he saw the familiar face that had haunted his face for seven years. _Eren Yeager… _The man was now as tall as Erwin Smith had been. Sweat and blood coated his face and brown hair, and his green eyes darted around. Klaus tried to not feed the hate inside him, but felt it grow as the seconds passed by. _It's your fault! _His voice screamed inside him before he could stop it. A pale woman stood by him, and Klaus' anger increased tenfold. _She's always with him Always…_

"On the 81st expedition of this year…" Eren Yeager announced. His voice was strained and torn. Every word looked like it was in agony. _Good. _Klaus thought as his gray eyes pierced through the man before him. _Suffer. _"This year…Commander…" Tears escaped from his eyes, and it seemed to Klaus that everyone was holding their breath as the second-in-command continued to openly cry. He felt no such thing. _Suffer._

"Commander Armin Arlert was devoured by a Titan!"


	3. 108th Trainees Squad

**Please bear with me as the timeline is somewhat incorrect.**

* * *

><p><em>108th Trainees Squad<em>

_ The child was running. Tears streaked down his face, and his breath came in uneven gasps as he ran away. He was scared. He was so scared. The child had nowhere to hide now once Lily had been eaten. The child's swollen face leaked more tears at the thought of the young woman's smiling and gentle face. Lily… Her death, being eaten by a Titan, the blood scattered all over the ground, echoed harshly in his tender mind. Why? Why did this happen..? He thought about his mother and father, who were now gone. "Your parents died…Klaus. I'm…so sorry. I'm…so, so sorry…" Lily had been the one to tell him. _

_At first as Lily held him and cried into his shoulder, he had no idea what she meant. What did she mean gone? Then his mind had shattered when Lily had been eaten by a Titan. They had managed to evade the debris that had fallen onto the house, causing everything to collapse. "Run, Klaus, run! Don't think about me!" Her pleading echoed in his ears as the Titan was holding her body ever closer to her mouth. His three year old eyes were wide as shock went through him. "Even though I'm not your mother…please…go." Her cries steadily became more desperate as the Titan's mouth continued to widen. "Live, Klaus. Live…for your parents who were taken from these bastards!" The little boy could see tears flowing down her face as the Titan eased her into its mouth._

_ Blood. Klaus could see it everywhere. Flying into the air. Falling onto the ground. On the Titan's teeth. Splattered everywhere. When the Titan looked at him with its hideous smiling face, a cold fear seeped through the little boy, and a gargled cry escaped from him as he ran away._

_ Now Klaus knew what "gone" meant. It meant dead. Tears refused to stop as despair and grief wracked through his tiny little body as he realized that his parents, his beloved father and mother, were dead, as was his caretaker. "Mother…!" He screamed. "Father…!" Sobs tore through his swollen mouth. "Why aren't you here anymore? Please…" Klaus stopped running and trembled as tears fell onto the floor. "Come back…" A gasp escaped from him as he saw a Titan reaching for him as the child cowered in the alleyway. _

_ Whimpers and soft screams echoed where he was as the Titan continued to reach its hands towards him. Father… Klaus thought of his father, with his raven-black hair and his quiet voice. Sometimes his mother said that his father's coarse attitude disappeared whenever he was around him. Mother… He thought of how his mother's laugh made him warm inside. Of how her ginger hair looked like the sun to him. Lily… A faint memory of asking why Lily walked with a stick, and why her leg was all twisted and ugly. Klaus remembered of how Lily had laughed at his question and ruffled his hair as she crouched down to his height as she explained, smiling. "Your parents are very good to me. I'm glad I got to know you, Klaus. I love you." _

_ Another memory surfaced. Of how his father and mother hugged him before they went away, and of his father's last parting words, and of his mother's loving wave and her smile. "Father! Mother! Help me!" A scream tore his throat as the child was lifted into the air. _

_ Suddenly the Titan's mouth went slack. Its limbs started to falter, and before Klaus' small form was crushed, he felt himself taken from the Titan's hand and in the arms of someone that looked like he was flying. Klaus watched through wide eyes as the Titan fell, steam emerging from the body as it disappeared. Klaus looked at the person who was holding him in his arms. Bond hair and blue eyes with a serious expression framed his face, but his expression softened when he saw Klaus looking at him. A dark green coat with the Wings of Freedom was on his back. Like Father… Klaus thought. _

_ "Are you okay?" The question came out soft and tears leaked out of Klaus' eyes as he remembered his mother's voice. It…sounds like her. The rescuer appeared alarmed and attempted to calm Klaus down as he held him in his arms._

_ "I…couldn't save Lily." Klaus sniffed. "My mother and father are dead." His swollen gray eyes looked into his rescuer's blue. "You…remind me of her, sir."_

_ "It's okay," the man soothed. "We can't save everyone we love sometimes." Sadness marked his face for a moment, but then it disappeared as quickly as it came. He stared down gently at Klaus. "Hold on," he whispered. Suddenly Klaus' stomach lurched as he and the man flew through as the buildings passed by. Klaus looked at the man curiously, feeling once again, safe._

_ "What's your name, sir?" Klaus remembered of how his savior smiled, and of the gentleness of the smile that his mother had said only his father gave to him. _

"_My name is Armin Arlert."_

* * *

><p>"He died…saving one of his own soldiers." Eren Yeager continued as Klaus' mind returned to the present. His gray eyes followed the man's haunted green ones, slightly relishing the pain inside them. "Commander Arlert…was a hero. He died a hero."<p>

"You mean he died saving you!" Stated a person on Klaus' right. Anger flamed in his eyes. "He died saving yours ass when he shouldn't have!"

"You're no hero!" Shouted another. "You've never been a hero!"

"You left us to die five years ago, you coward!"

"If Levi-_heichō_ was still alive, this would've never happened!"

"You let him die! You failed him! You failed _all _of us."

"Some hope you gave us!"

Klaus watched as the insults grew steadily as Eren Yeager's eyes widened. Hurt and pain signified through his features, and he shakily took a step back. His breathing started getting uneven. _He didn't expect this, _Klaus noted.

"Stop." The insults ceased as Mikasa Ackerman put her arm around Eren Yeager. Klaus swallowed, trying to ease the bitterness down his throat. _I… _"Commander Arlert is dead. We can do nothing about it." There was no emotion in her eyes. Klaus had known that Commander Armin Arlert was childhood friends with both Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Yeager. Why then did only Mikasa escape the grasp of grief? There was nothing.

"Eren," her voice softened slightly, "let's go." As the defeated Survey Corps members exited the road, Klaus observed of how Mikasa Ackerman kept her arm on Eren Yeager's shoulder as the military exited out of their most recent shame. _I…_ Klaus thought as an image of Commander Armin Arlert's smiling face in his mind, and then his gruesome death, swallowed by a Titan as the teeth tore through his cooling flesh, his eyes vacant. _I…hate… _An image of his father's dead body, never to be found. _I hate…them. _

"Are you okay?" Klaus was shaken out of his thoughts at the sound of Adrian's voice. He turned towards his friend and saw that Adrian's eyes were widened from the mix of grief and concern. He too, along with most of Wall Rose, had adored and admired Commander Armin Arlert. Klaus saw his friend hesitate. "Are you sure…you want to this? Especially now."

He meant about the Survey Corps. Ever since he could remember, Klaus had wanted to join the Survey Corps like his parents. It was his way of honoring their sacrifice. "I want to," Klaus said stubbornly. "Nothing can change my mind." His gray eyes focused on his friend. "You know that." He paused. "And you?"

"I'm never leaving you behind," Adrian declared. His grieved face was replaced by one of determination. "Even if I die, I'm never leaving you behind as you fight those monsters."

Klaus nodded. Their choice was decided.

Mikasa Ackerman was made the 15th Commander the same day Klaus and Adrian were inducted into the 108th Trainees Squad a day later. Klaus ignored the anger inside him as their instructor, Keith Shadis, spoke to them. He was a tall man with sunken eyes that spoke death and despair in volumes. _He must live every day with regret that he survived when many of the 105th Trainees Squad did not, _Klaus thought.

"You are now officially members of the 108th Trainees Squad." His sunken eyes seemed to bore into their own. A couple of the cadets shuddered. "I'm not here to give you a warm welcome. All of you are merely livestock, waiting to be eaten by Titans. There's a lot less of you than last time, but it's expected. Who would send their ten year old child to die?" For a moment, Keith Shadis' eyes met Klaus' own, and Klaus thought he saw a hint of recognition on his face before he looked away. Then his eyes turned to the others. "You're unlucky, that's true. When I graduated, I was a grown man of fifteen."

He let the sentence sink in. "These are dire times, however. Commander Arlert is dead, and a fresh unchallenged soldier in in his place! We need fresh young blood, which means you!" His voice became quiet with deep graveness "For the next three years, I'll train you useless shitty snot-nosed brats, and then, maybe you'll become protectors of these Walls!"

There were only 102 cadets in the 108th Trainees Squad. As Keith Shadis interrogated every new cadet, he observed that the instructor ignored some and tormented others. _We've seen too much to be scared by him, _Klaus thought as he observed as Keith Shadis bypassed him. _I've seen too much, and have too much hate inside me. I wonder, can he see it? The hate I have for them inside of me?_

"You!" Keith Shadis yelled. He stood in front of Adrian. "What is your name?"

"My name is Adrian Snow from Trost District!" _He looks like he's about to shit himself, _Klaus thought with a smirk as Adrian's brown eyes widened in fear. "I…came to fight the Titans to protect Klaus, my only friend, sir!" Keith Shadis took a moment to respond. He eyed Adrian hard, then looked at Klaus, who was staring at the sky with a bored expression on his face.

"What's your name?" Keith Shadis screamed. His spit slightly dribbled from his mouth. Klaus looked through the man's pain-scarred eyes through his own.

"Klaus, sir." The man in front of him frowned. Before he could ask the question Klaus knew what was coming, he said, "I have no last name."

"And why not?"

"My parents never had one," Klaus lied smoothly. In truth, Klaus had simply never heard his last name spoken. His parents had never been angry enough to call him by his full name. His mother had a last name, he knew. Of his father he wasn't sure. It had never been spoken in his presence. Keith Shadis' eyes continued to observe him for a moment. He had an unreasonable expression on his face. Then he moved on to the girl who was standing next to him.

"You! What is your dumbass name?"

"Simone Arlert, sir!"

Everyone's eyes followed to where the young cadet and Keith Shadis were standing once hearing that familiar last name. Even Klaus felt curiosity. He stared at the girl across from him. She was barely taller than him, had a petite build, and had the same blond hair her father had. The only difference was her eyes. They were an unusual color. Blue-gray eyes stared back at the man in front of her.

"Oh…I see. I had no idea Commander Arlert had children." Simone Arlert said nothing as Keith Shadis continued to talk. "In fact, I had no idea he had someone to knock up with." He paused. "Who was your mother?"

"A civilian sir," she replied quietly. "She died when I was very small."

Keith Shadis frowned. Then he promptly kicked Simone Arlert in the stomach. No one moved as the child of Commander Armin Arlert collapsed on the ground, gasping and holding her stomach as reluctant tears swam in her eyes. She started to cough violently as Keith Shadis reprehended her. "I do not care that you are his daughter, brat. I wouldn't give a damn either if you were the king's daughter. I will not treat you differently," he thundered as Simone Arlert attempted to stand. "Do you understand, you piece of livestock?"

"Yes, sir!" The reply was strong and didn't waver. Klaus watched as Simone Arlert stood, her gaze unflinching as she looked out in front of her. Her blue-gray eyes revealed nothing of what she held inside. _She has guts, _Klaus observed. He thought of the man that had saved his life. _Just like him._

* * *

><p>The night had arrived only when the cadets had finished their first day of training. Dirt and sweat stained Klaus' clothes and hair, and Adrian was complaining that he would have to take a shower from all that running they were forced to do. Keith Shadis had not been easy on them. Klaus had forgotten how many steps he had taken after the 1000th step while running. Even though living on the streets had hardened him, the ten year old boy was still exhausted. All he wanted to do now was sleep. Hopefully no dreams would disturb him tonight.<p>

"Hey, Klaus!" Klaus glared at the stooping figure that was in front of him. Albert Stone was sneering at the shorter boy for a reason Klaus couldn't discern. _Fat, insolent boy. _Albert had been one of the lucky ones who hadn't experienced the horror of losing one's parents and humanity. Wall Sina was full of riches, beauty obscuring the suffering of the other world and food and drink plentiful. _He got fatter on his own arrogance than the food he consumed with his gluttony. I hate those people._

Albert had been the one farthest behind while running. His sharp cries and gasps had irritated Klaus, who had been at the front of the line. The dark haired boy supposed that Albert was angry at him for excelling what he could not and wanted to take out on him. "You think you're so special, being able to run!" Albert snarled. "Well, I've got something to show you." Klaus ignored him until his eyes spotted something square in Albert's hand.

Inside his groping, disguising hand was a small black box.


	4. 54 Letters

_54 Letters_

"Give it back," Klaus growled. Although his face was calm, his gray eyes were blazing with anger.

"Oh, you're angry?" Albert crowned. His hands tightened around the black box. "Why does this…_thing _mean so much to you?" Klaus' breath hitched as Albert's pig-like hands continued to grope the box containing the last memory Klaus had of his parents.

"Give it back," Klaus repeated. He was dismayed to hear a hint of desperation in his voice. His fists were clenched tightly by his side. Albert sneered at the sight of Klaus' discomfort. His hands started to pick at the cover of the box, slightly revealing what was inside. That was when Klaus snapped.

"Give it back, you fucker!" The cadets around him gasped at his crude language, but Klaus paid them no mind. He was too angry to care. The boy was about to raise his hand and strike the pig that had held his parents' last words in his hands when Klaus was interrupted.

"Hey." Klaus' eyes turned toward the familiar voice. Blond hair framed the delicate face and the hard blue-gray eyes. Simone Arlert walked towards them and stood in front of Albert Stone, who was again sneering.

"If it isn't the princess." Albert gave Simone Arlert a bright, sarcastic smile, one that the girl did not return. A stab of annoyance went through Klaus when Albert continued to speak. "Just because you're the daughter of the poor fallen commander doesn't mean I can't beat you up, you know." Simone Arlert didn't speak for a moment. Her blue-gray eyes stared at Klaus for a moment before turning to Albert.

"Give that box back to him," the girl stated. Her eyes revealed nothing of what she held inside. Klaus watched the scene in heightened interest.

"Or what?" Albert opened his disgusting mouth, laughing as Simone looked at him in distaste. "What'll happen?"

"This." Simone's knee promptly kneaded Albert in the groin. A half gasped howl escaped from the prone figure on the floor. The black box landed on its side and was promptly picked up by Klaus, who was now looking at the crying Albert in disinterest. The crowd started to disperse once Albert's cries started to fade, cringing from the sight. Klaus looked at the girl standing across from him. She wasn't looking at him. Her knee was still pointed in the stance that had immobilized Albert, and seemed far away from where she was now.

"I have to thank you," Klaus stated. Simone looked at him, surprised and jolted from her mind. "For giving this back to me." For the first time since he had seen her, Simone gave him a small smile. _Her father's smile, _Klaus thought as he remembered him. She nodded to him, and then she left as well. Klaus closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. His hands tightened around the black box he held in his hand. _Their sacrifice is the reason why I'm doing this, _Klaus solemnly thought as he overturned the cover of the box and peered at its contents. _They're the reason why I want to join the Survey Corps._

Klaus and Simone later met as bunkmates. Times had changed since five years ago. Klaus had heard that there used to be gender-specific cabins and bunks, but since the occupants were ten to thirteen years old, the instructor didn't believe there would be any sexual tensions or lust during the training period. _I bet most of the ones that died in the last five years died virgins, _Klaus thought dryly. _We probably will as well. _His gray eyes stared at the girl in front of him. _So…she's Commander Arlert's daughter, is she? I never thought he would have a child so young._

"I never thought Commander Arlert would have a child so young," Klaus said slowly. He was aware of Simone's eyes following him.

"Most people say that." Simone's voice was quiet now, no longer the same girl that had kneaded the boy in the groin. Her eyes remained soft and wistful as she spoke. "My father would be twenty-six this November if he had lived." She sighed, coming deep from her chest, and Klaus recognized the sign of grief in her eyes. "I'll tell you a secret though," she stated with an amused smile. "I'm actually only nine, not the required age of ten years old."

"I see." Now as he looked at her, it made sense. Simone had been considered petite and small, but that was actually because she was a year younger than she was supposed to be. Klaus could see that Simone's eyes were not actually blue-gray as he thought before. Her eyes were light blue, almost like the color of the sky.

"My father was a good man," Simone muttered softly, "not just a soldier."

Sympathy flowed through Klaus as he saw the barely concealed pain the girl's eyes. "I know he was."

"After every expedition, my father would always, no matter how exhausted he was or the weather, would go to the families of the fallen soldiers and offer condolences." Simone whispered as if Klaus had not spoken. "I think that's why they loved him. He made it seem that he cared very deeply about them, and the soldiers that had died." Her light blue eyes looked transparent in the light. "I think that's why so many people loved him, and continue too. Not many people know about me, and…I'm glad for that. That way they wouldn't try to comfort me with useless words when I heard of his death." Thick tears streamed down her face, and her voice cracked. "I never knew my mother very well. All I know is what my father told me. He said that she was distant but kind, and very strong."

Simone sighed and wiped her tears away. "Even though every month there was an expedition, my father always made time for me. He was the one who taught me how to read, showed me about the ocean and the sand dunes, and told me stories about his former friends Eren Yeager and Mikasa Ackerman."

Klaus stiffened at the sound of their names, and forced his voice to be even. "Former?" he repeated.

"Mikasa could never forgive my father for abandoning Eren to his kidnappers," Simone intoned with an unreadable expression. "She didn't even blink when told of the number of deaths, or the fact that Jean Kirstein died defending Wall Rose. And Eren never quite forgave Mikasa for abandoning Wall Rose to save him. And he couldn't quite forgive my father too for allowing so many to die that day." Klaus's expression remained unchanged as anger festered inside of him at thought of Mikasa Ackerman's disregard to any human besides Eren Yeager. _He's the only one that matters to her._ "My father still told me of their time as children, laughing as he remembered their bond." Sadness rose in Simone's voice as she remembered her father. "He told me too that he would give up his life to save them if it meant that they would live…because of the bond they had shared long ago." Simone gritted her teeth, and angry tears started to stream down her face. "I don't know if I can ever understand that. Why he would die…for _them_."

A solemn silence descended from them. Simone was looking down in her lap, grief marring her features. Klaus' emotions were conflicting inside his mind. He thought of the man who had saved his life. _He still wanted to save them despite them throwing him away…_ Klaus made no move to comfort her. He knew that there were times when words couldn't help.

"If…I ever love someone, I don't want it to be a parasitic relationship," Simone whispered. Her eyes bored into Klaus' own. "I don't want to feel that I need to have them to live for me to survive, or to believe that person is the only one in the world that matters." Simone frowned, and Klaus felt the knot in his stomach fade from her words. "If I love someone, I want them to die knowing that I can be happy when they're gone." Simone looked up and stared at Klaus' gray eyes curiously. "What is in that black box, Klaus?"

Klaus didn't answer her. The knot suddenly appeared again, and he remained silent as Simone flushed and mumbled an apology. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Klaus opened the box that held his father's and mother's letters. They had written to him every month before every expedition since he was born. Klaus remembered of how he had run back to his house, sliding against the blood that was coated on the floor as he searched for the place where Lily had hidden their letters. Although he had only been three, he had remembered what his father had told him. _"You may not understand them now, but you will understand what they mean someday." _His hand on Klaus' head, slightly ruffling his hair, echoed in his mind. The letters were in an overturned trunk, spared from the debris and the carnage. Klaus had grabbed all of the letters his mother and his father had written to him, and had fled the only home he had known. His parents had written him 54 letters altogether, their last letter written two months after his third birthday.

Now he read his father's last letter to him again

_Klaus, March 25, 850_

_Your mother and I are going on the 57th expedition tomorrow. I don't know why fucking Erwin is doing this, but it has to be a good damn reason. A brat named Eren Yeager has joined our ranks. He's apparently special. All I see is a brat who can't adequately clean. Even you can do that much, and you just turned three. As I write this letter here, I think about you. What kind of world will you grow up in? Hopefully it'll be better than this shitty one. How I want to give up the Survey Corps and live a boring life with you and Petra. But, that would be as fucking unethical as your birth itself. We couldn't take care of you – only come for visits – because it would be too dangerous if both of us died and you would be left alone. Who the hell knows what would happen if we didn't have Lily? People depend on me, Klaus and they also believe in me. So I will defend this world from the shitty Titans and make it so that you don't have to walk the same path as me. I'll wait as long as I need to complete my dream with you and my wife._

_Your Father_

"Why…did you have to die…?" Hot tears trailed down the boy's cheeks as he hands shook. Klaus had read his father's and mother's last words to him. He remembered being pulled away from the crowd after the aftermath of the 57th expedition, not understanding why Father and Mother weren't there. _Why is Lily crying? _Klaus thought as she pulled him away. _Why is there yelling? Where's Father? _His gray eyes followed the tall blond man riding the horse. _Where's…Mother?_

"Father…Mother…"


	5. Fallen Soldiers

_Fallen Soldiers _

"He must be their son," someone whispered.

Klaus listened to the conversation. A couple of weeks had passed after he had joined the 108th Trainees Squad with Adrian. He wondered if his mother and father had felt the same ease as he had when it came to 3-D Maneuver Gear. Keith Shadis had looked at Klaus with curiosity when they boy had remained perfectly balanced while using the 3-D Maneuver Gear for the first time. Klaus had wondered then if the instructor knew the truth. It was reported that Levi-_heichō_ was the best at using 3-D Maneuver Gear before his death, only rivaled by Mikasa Ackerman, who was now the Commander of the Survey Corps. _And I'm his son. _He wondered if the other cadets realized the same.

"He must be Mikasa Ackerman's and Eren Yeager's son!" Klaus' face darkened. Across from him he saw Adrian's worried expression and Simone listening intently to the conversation.

"I mean, she wants his dick, right?" Klaus saw Adrian trying not to laugh, and Simone even cracked a smile. Klaus remained dark and stoned-face. "He looks like her too, especially when he's angry."

"But, Commander Mikasa wouldn't do that! She's refined!"

"You have a crush on her, don't you?" Silence. "They're both very quiet and mysterious. They're both excellent at 3-D Maneuver Gear, and Klaus has Eren Yeager's suicidal idea of joining the Survey Corps! I mean, he has to be their son." Klaus' throat constricted at the thought of those lies. Anger burned at the thought of Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Yeager as his parents. He physically felt sick, and his teeth ground together as the lies continued to spill through those asshole's mouths. "They look alike, too! Especially the hair and the eyes."

"I would hate to be their son, though." At the sound of those words, Klaus' interest heightened. "Commander Mikasa abandoned Wall Rose in order to save his ass. So did Commander Erwin. And where are we now? If they hadn't abandoned us, then _maybe _we wouldn't be stuck here and waiting for our deaths."

"We still would be considered children, wouldn't we?" added another. "Wall Rose wouldn't be in the situation that it is if they had defended it. Bastards," he added.

"Jean Kirstein was the real hero," sighed another. "He defended the Wall when no one would with Commander Armin. Thousands of more would have died if it hadn't been for him."

"Well, he's dead now," snapped a cadet. "So is Commander Armin. Now we have this psycho bitch who couldn't' bear to live without her precious Eren Yeager and left us for dead. Now _she's _our commander, and really, what do we have to live for? We all know that we'll end up dying, and Eren Yeager isn't helping at all. He hasn't given us hope since the 57th expedition, which ended in _failure_. There's no one out there now who can possibly save humanity."

"There was Levi-_heichō_," whispered someone. Klaus noted of how most of the cadets nodded, their eyes glazed in respect and in some, awe. "He could have defeated the Titans…but he died from the Female Titan in the 57th expedition."

"Who is still sleeping, might I add." Klaus peered closer at the cadet. He saw that the cadet that spoke so pessimistically was girl with medium height and dark brown hair. _Emil Laurence is her name, _Klaus remembered. She was sitting behind the person who had spoken about Klaus' father. "And Levi-_heichō_ is dead. He was _eaten_ by the Titan bitch." Her hazel eyes suddenly focused on Klaus. "If he hadn't died, then maybe we wouldn't be in this mess."

A bitter fire burned in her eyes, and Klaus could see fellow hate as well. "Now there's no one who had ever reach that point in strength, except for _maybe_," Emil's bitter eyes stared dully over him. "Him, over there." Roughly hundred pairs of eyes followed where she pointed. Klaus didn't meet their gaze. He stared in front of him, hearing the bitterness and the despair in their voices. _So this is what my father was talking about when he said people depended on him, _Klaus somberly thought as he remembered as his father's back as he left for the final time, the Wings of Freedom shining in the wind. His dark eyes firmly on the path before him.

His hands were entwined together, his expression not betraying of how he felt. He hated the sudden feeling of being watched. He hated the eyes on him, and was greatly relieved when the stares stopped, and the mindless conversation continued. _Is this how Father felt? _Klaus heard his name mentioned again, probably still mulling over the lie that he was Mikasa Ackerman's and Eren Yeager's son. _Being…Humanity's Strongest?_

* * *

><p>860<p>

"I am not here to persuade you to join the Survey Corps." Mikasa Ackerman's voice echoed throughout the ceremony. Three years had passed since Commander Armin had died, and when Klaus had joined the 108th Trainees Squad. The raven haired teen had been first in his class, surprising no one. People still had the infuriating idea that he was Mikasa Ackerman's and Eren Yeager's son. _Disgusting, _Klaus thought every time.

Although he was thirteen years old with his voice broken and deep, he did not gain much height. Adrian was now half a foot taller than him, and Simone was a couple of inches taller. They were beside him now, all three intent of joining the Survey Corps despite being the top ten. Simone became one of Klaus' closest companions during those three years along with Adrian. The three were now a trio, something that Simone's father had once been with his two friends, one of which was standing in front of them right now. Mikasa Ackerman's voice, collected and calm, did nothing to ease the fears that Klaus knew that the others had.

_Everyone remembers the horror of the Titans even while we were very small, _he thought as people were starting to shake around him. _They know how Titans eat humans, as do Adrian, Simone, and I. _The fire illuminated her face. "I am here to tell you that humanity will die if you do not join." She let her words sink in.

"Humanity has never been in its darkest hour before now, and we need you to offer your _heart_ to defeat the Titans." Her gray eyes were like Klaus' own, emotionless at times. Just as his father's must have been to his soldiers. But never to Klaus. "If we fight, we win. But if we don't, we die." Mikasa Ackerman paused, and Klaus felt the anger burning inside of him once again as she stared out into the distance. "Make your decision. All of those who do not wish to join the Survey Corps exit now."

Klaus stared ahead, his gaze unflinchingly forward as he heard footsteps walking away. He heard the cries and the half-hearted goodbyes as he stood there. A moment later, the ceremony was completed. Klaus' gray eyes found Adrian's brown and Simone's blue. The raven-haired teen was surprised to find Emil Laurence and her friend Anya Finch beside them. Emil found his gaze, and he nodded respectfully towards her.

"You have my respect defenders of humanity," Mikasa Ackerman stated. "Welcome, soldiers of the Survey Corps."

_Father…_ Klaus thought as the night sky echoed against his eyes. _I know you would not like me to join the Survey Corps…but I did. Even though I hate them…I want to defend humanity just as you and Mother did. I'm not just your son._

_ I am…humanity's son._


	6. Reminiscence

_ Reminiscence _

_"Klaus?" Adrian knocked but heard no irritated answer telling him to go away. Adrian sighed, remembering of how his friend's face darkened from a conversation he had overheard. He had left, the aura he was emitting discouraging some from even looking at him. Adrian had been Klaus' friend since both of them were five years old, and the dark brown haired boy knew that Klaus sometimes went into a deep, dark, and angry hole that only he could get out of. Tonight was one of those nights. Adrian was quiet as he, and Simone entered the room. A lone figure was on top of the bunk bed, his head bowed and hugging his knees._

_ "Klaus? Are you alright?" Adrian had been skeptical of Simone Arlert at first. She had somehow befriended Klaus, which was impossible to do. She was also the daughter of the highest ranking member of the Survey Corps. She had never lived on the streets, and more than likely lived in Wall Sina, stuffing herself with food and greedy with jewelry and excess clothing. Adrian thought she couldn't understand his or Klaus' pain at all. When she told him of how she had been in the crowd of onlookers when Eren Yeager told them that Commander Armin, her father, was dead. She had told his scornful face that her father had lived a meager life, living in a modest cottage at the edge of the town with a small garden that her mother had tendered. Her mother had died from an incurable illness when she was just an infant, and her father had buried her in the backyard, where her grave was. Simone and her father visited her mother every day. "And now I can't even bury the man who meant everything to me," she had stated at the end. Adrian had been struck with sympathy. Now the girl was sitting beside Klaus, slightly coaxing him to explain his feelings._

_ "They…insulted him." Adrian started, stunned by how hoarse his friend's voice sounded. "They said that he was weak!" Adrian's brown eyes widened at his friend's state. He had only seen him cry after a nightmare when he was barely conscious. They had been seven years old. Anger burned through those gray eyes. "They said that Levi-_heichō _was weak enough to be eaten by that Female Titan!" A growl escaped from him, and tears continued to trail onto the bedspread. "That can't be true…because he was…Humanity's Strongest! He was so strong and yet..." Adrian didn't know what to think. _

_He had never seen Klaus react to a statement like this before. Now that the boy thought about it, Adrian wondered how he could have missed the signs. Klaus admired the fallen Humanity's Strongest more than even Commander Armin. Adrian wondered why. He too admired Levi-_heichō_, but Klaus seemed to revere him. Rumor was that the fallen captain was unsociable, rude, and short-tempered. He had even been a clean-freak. Adrian's thoughts were broken when he heard Simone's soft voice filter through the air. _

_ "They're angry because he couldn't save them." Brown and gray eyes followed her when she said that statement. A sympathetic expression was on her face as she spoke directly to Klaus. "He was the only one who could possibly have the strength to save him, but he failed them when he died on the 57th expedition. And Klaus, you're angry at him too, I can tell." Adrian's eyes widened at the statement, and moved towards her while watching Klaus closely. The boy had an unreadable expression on his face. "You're angry at him for leaving you, aren't you?" Simone whispered quietly._

_ "Why do you admire him so much anyway?" Adrian wondered out loud. Klaus briefly met his gaze before looking away. His two friends tried to make him speak again. They poked and prodded him, but Klaus had shut down. He would not speak, leaving Adrian and Simone to only wonder._

* * *

><p>It had been two years since that night, and a month since the graduation ceremony. Tonight would be their first expedition. Adrian watched absently as his two friends quietly talked to one another by the stables as he looked on. <em>So, <em>Adrian thought with a sarcastic smile, _only five in the Survey Corps. The higher ups will be very pleased. _His dark brown eyes eyed the other two members. Emil Laurence and her little friend hadn't given a reason for joining the Survey Corps. Adrian had been more than surprised.

Emil had been the most cynical about the "current situation" that anyone in the graduating class. Adrian's reason was simple. He wanted to protect his friend. Unlike Klaus, Adrian remembered his life before 850 very well. The teen remembered his mother's smile when she saw him, and his tiny hands around his father's strong shoulders as they went out daily for the market. Adrian remembered too of his older sister and brother, Sara and Adam, as they played with their little brother and held his hand as he cried when he fell. His grandfather's weathered face as he sneakily handed him a sweet, and his grandmother's soft and warm hugs.

She had been the one to hold him when he first born, three years before she died. _A butterfly, _Adrian thought wistfully as he continued to reminiscence. _That's what it was. _Three year old Adrian had seen a butterfly outside the window, and had ran outside in an attempt to catch it. The child had not heeded his mother's words when she called him to come inside, softly reprimanding him as it was against the rules to go outside without an adult. And then their worlds had come crashing down.

Adrian still remembered the large debris that had collapsed on his home, of the blood splattered among the splinters of wood and stone. He had called for them, crying later as his cries had fallen on deaf ears. Then his red-rimmed eyes spotted the butterfly, its dead body and wings broken underneath the rock that had killed it. Adrian had started to cry and wail, not understanding what was happening. The child had no idea where everyone had gone. He had cried and sobbed and rocked until he had almost fallen into exhaustion.

Then a gigantic hand appeared out of nowhere, reaching for him. Adrian remained motionless, wanting only to fall asleep. Then suddenly Adrian had been picked up, and was _flying_. The child had momentarily forgotten the horror he had experienced, and gasped in joy. The strong arms that reminded the child of his father fell away, and Adrian could only see the blond hair as the man flew away, as Adrian himself was led to safety by people with haunted eyes.

Two years later he had met Klaus, and Adrian loved him despite all of the faults he had. Unlike Simone, he didn't care about honoring the legacy of those who had fallen. He had just wanted to protect Klaus, his first friend. Who was one the few people know that cared if he lived or died.

"What'd you think of our _bun-taichō_?" Simone asked when Adrian walked over.

Adrian comically shuddered at the mention of their _bun-taichō_. The first thing Adrian noticed was her dark brown messy hair tied into a ponytail. Then he had noted her glasses, which were gleaming in the sunlight. She had promptly introduced herself as Hanji Zoe, one of the four member of the Survey Corps carrying the title _bun-taichō_. "Eren Yeager is another," she stated with unusual excitement. Adrian flinched as her voice rose another octave. "Mikasa Ackerman was a fellow _bun-taichō _but she's now the commander." Instead of learning the mechanics of the Survey Corps, Adrian and the rest of the 108th Trainees Squad graduates were forced to endure their _bun-taichō_'s eccentric obsessive talking about Titans.

Adrian had noticed on how Hanji Zoe seemed to pause when looking at Klaus. Her talking mercifully stopped a mere moment as she stared at the short teen in front of her. Then as suddenly as she stopped talking, she talked again even more excitedly, if that was possible. _Why do people keep staring at him? _Adrian thought as he stared at Klaus' annoyed expression. _First it was Keith Shadis, our instructor, then it was the senior Survey Corps members, and now this weird bitch who's apparently entrusted to our lives. _

"Weird," Adrian said with a shake of his head. He hear Klaus snort beside him.

"Weird?" Annoyance and irritation was expressed on his face. "She was fucking insane." Since joining the 108th Trainees Squad, Klaus had made a habit of using profanity language. Simone, although delicate in size, didn't seem to mind. What would she say is she knew that Adrian did? _Please, don't go on a rant with lots of curse words, _Adrian silently pleaded to Klaus. Thankfully, Klaus appeared to hear him and only glowered at the thought of that _bun-taichō_. "I swear I know Hanji Zoe from somewhere…"

"Thank God you don't," Adrian stated.

"Why do you call her Hanji Zoe?" Simone asked. "You call my Levi-_heichō_ and my father by their titles."

Klaus turned towards her, his face a mask of boredom. "Because the shitty four-eyes is not someone I respect." For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then a senior Survey Corps member called to them, telling them they were about to depart for the expedition. The three didn't say a word as the Survey Corps members stood in front of the gate that would lead them to the outside word. _It's odd, _Adrian thought as the gates began to open as Commander Mikasa began her speech about fighting to live. _Before 845, there used to only bee three expeditions a year. Now there's one every month. _He glanced at Klaus, who was staring right ahead, and Simone, who was nervously combing strands of her hair. Adrian knew that his entire family wouldn't want him to do this, especially for the sake of one single bastard boy. But he soothed himself to believe that they would be happy that he was one of the heroes that would defend humanity. _Just watch, Mama, Papa…everyone. I'll make you proud. And this time, I'm able to protect someone I care about!_

The 118th expedition had begun.


	7. Adrian

**Warning. Character death.**

* * *

><p><em>Adrian<em>

Adrian could only watch the blue sky and the clouds for a mere moment as a Titan appeared before them. It had only been a few hours since the 118th expedition had begun, and Adrian was just beginning to enjoy himself. He had never seen the outside world before, and was astonished by the grass beneath him and the blue sky with small puffed clouds above him. He saw the sun, burning bright, and felt the wind as it pulled on his hair. Adrian had let out a smile, breathing a sigh of joy as his dark brown eyes took in the sights as the Survey Corps continued on their expedition.

He had looked back, seeing Simone's fellow smile and saw that Klaus had a faint expression of wonder for brief moment before it died. Then Adrian's friend closed himself up again, his expression unreadable and his eyes seeing what only he could see. _To be honest, _Adrian thought as he focused ahead away from his morose friend, _he's been a bit different since the expedition started. He hasn't spoken once – not that that's odd – but it's different this time. At other times, he's just plain aggravated and short-tempered. _Adrian frowned, remembering that his friend's attitude started to change after meeting their crazy _bun-taichō_. _Goddam it, _Adrian thought with increasing frustration. _Why are you hard to understand sometimes, Klaus?_

His thoughts were interrupted by a shout in front of him. "A Titan! 10 meters!" Adrian's face became grim as he stared at the Titan in front of him. It was small compared to other Titans he had seen in textbooks, and had sandy-blond hair and green eyes. Its mouth was open in an insane smile. Adrian gulped, swallowing his saliva and willing his stomach to cooperate. Although Adrian and the others had trained for three years to kill Titans, he wasn't prepared. Not at all. The memory of the Titan attacking his three year old self was in his mind as the Titan came closer. At the corner of his eye, Adrian saw Simone signal with the green smoke that the Titan had been sighted. Klaus was preparing to use his 3-D Maneuver Gear. Adrian couldn't explain why he felt fear at the point of his fingers. The Titan came closer to them, its hideous teeth baring. Adrian's stomach lurched.

"Klaus!" Adrian's voice shook. "We should go and leave this for the senior members!"

"No." Adrian had never seen Klaus so calm before. His blades were held before him. His gray eyes were free of fear. "What will happen to the others if we don't kill it here?" _The others… _Adrian thought suddenly. His voice sent shudders down to Adrian's spine. Klaus jumped.

"Klaus!" Adrian's voice shook as he saw his friend bared his blades into the Titan's tendon at the ankle. Simone cut the other tendon, and Adrian's mouth gaped in half awe and fear as Klaus severed the skin of the Titan's neck. _Wow…so fast. _Adrian continued to stare at his friend's back as the Titan turned to steam. _He even twirled his blades…something that only Levi-_heichō _could do. _Adrian remembered their instructor's surprise when he saw how Klaus held his blades. The others had commented on how Levi-_heichō_ had held his blades like that; the left one held facing upwards, and the right facing downwards.

Surprisingly, Klaus was always calm whenever someone praised the fallen captain of the Survey Corps. Adrian thought about that now, remembering of how Klaus _and _Simone had taken down and killed the Titan without a hint of fear. _Unlike me, _Adrian thought. He had heard of how many people froze and even wet themselves at the first sight of a Titan. Of how some of them even ran away and were executed because of it. Of how some couldn't do anything as their comrades were eaten because they were frozen in fear. _I never thought I would be one of those people_, Adrian thought in self-loathing. _I considered myself above them all. And now I…_

"Hey, Adrian." Adrian's thoughts broke at the sound of Klaus' voice. Miraculously, no Titans were sighted so far. Adrian forced himself to look at his friend, expecting to find contempt or anger in those gray depths. Instead, Adrian was surprised to find understanding. "My mother wet herself on her first expedition, so it's good that you're the only normal one here. She was the only female member of Levi-_h_e_ichō_'s squad."

"Your mother…?" Adrian had never heard Klaus talk about his parents before. He had assumed that Klaus had very few, perhaps none at all, memories of his mother and father. The only keepsake he had of them was a small black box, and Adrian had given up trying to guess what was inside. Knowing now that Klaus' mother had been in the Survey Corps stunned Adrian, but it made sense on why Klaus valued the Survey Corps more than any other military branch. _Come to think of it, _Adrian thought as he gazed at Klaus, _he looks just like Levi-_heichō_ from that angle._

"A 15 meter ahead of us," Klaus stated. Adrian turned his dark brown eyes to the Titan, and his eyes widened as he recognized that the Titan was a Deviant. He heard Klaus curse under his breath. "Adrian, we need you this time!" With that, Klaus used the hooks from his 3-D Maneuver Gear, and aimed his sword at the Titan's ankle. The Titan's arm reached for Klaus, and Adrian's breath hitched for a moment before Klaus managed to evade the hand. Simone too started to move towards the Titan, and Adrian held his hands on top of his 3-D Maneuver Gear, prepared to strike. _I…_

Then it happened. As Simone aimed her sword at the Titan's ankle, the Titan used its foot to kick her aside. Adrian's mouth gaped open in a soundless gasp of horror as Simone collided with the ground, rolling as rocks and grass came in contact with her skin. After a couple of moments, she was still. Adrian saw Klaus abandon the Titan and rushed to Simone. Adrian jumped off his horse as he saw the Titan reaching for his friend behind him, remembering a long ago memory. His grandfather had his hands on his shoulders, asking him what he wanted to do when he grew up. Adrian was only two years old, but he knew that grown up meant people like his mama and papa. He wanted to be just like them. _"I want to protect my friends! That's all I want, Grandpa!"_

Now as Klaus raced towards an unconscious Simone, Adrian remembered the long-ago words he had said to his grandfather. He saw the Titan's arm torn off, bleeding as it landed on the ground far away. If he could have seen himself, Adrian would have seen a man with a solemn expression with determination. He was aware of the Titan reaching for him, and could see Klaus holding his sword in front of him despite having their unconscious comrade on his back. _There's only one way… _

Adrian somehow felt nothing he was aware of the Titan's teeth around his head. The Titan had tried to eat Klaus and Simone, but instead the Titan had Adrian's head against his teeth. Adrian could barely see the mouth that held him in its grasp. Somehow he could imagine Klaus' shocked face, paling and wan, shaking as his friend was not yet eaten in front of him. Maybe he was even crying.

A shock went through him as he thought of all the clues he had missed. Of Klaus being angry whenever someone criticized Levi-_heichō_, and of how he admired him more than Commander Armin. Even the way he looked and his demeanor was a sign. And then there was his mother, a member of Levi's squad. _Of all the times to figure this out, _Adrian thought wryly.

_Don't worry, _Adrian wanted to tell Klaus. _I'm fine. I don't…feel anything._ Pain started to course through him, and he felt blood weeping against his skin._ I'm actually…happy. I was…able to protect people I cared about this time. _He flashbacked to the deaths of his family. _My friend…I was able to protect him. Right, Grandpa? No…_ he thought as he felt himself being lifted into the air, and heard a hoarse shout. _I…was able to protect my friends. _Adrian felt the Titan smile against him, tearing at his face. It didn't matter anymore. The teenager thought of the memories he had made. He remembered of how he had met Klaus on that cold winter day, and of how he had laughed and smiled with both Simone and Klaus. Of how much he wished he could spend more time with them. A tear trailed down his face. _I would have protected you always, son of Humanity's Strongest. Always. I…_

_I was able to protect them…my two…friends…_

There was mind-numbing pain, and then nothing but black as the Titan snapped off his legs and swallowed him.


	8. Scream

_Scream_

_ Adrian… _Klaus blankly stared at the scene before him. Two broken bloodied legs had fallen onto the ground, the blood staining the grass. That was all that was left of his childhood friend. Numb, Klaus remembered as he saw Adrian cut off the Titan's arm as the Titan reached for him and the unconscious Simone. He was carrying her on his back, holding his sword in his hand to fight, accepting the fact that he could die.

Klaus' gray eyes had widened when he saw Adrian, his childhood friend, stand impossibly still as only his legs and torso were visible as the Titan's mouth held the brunette teen in its grasp. As the seconds passed and as Adrian's blood dripped onto the Titan's teeth, Klaus found himself unable to move. His face was white, and his eyes grew larger and larger as blood continued to flow onto the ground. _Why…can't I…do anything? Why can't I…move? Damn it…damn it! _Klaus' breathing stopped when he saw the Titan move forward. It stood, and Adrian's body inch deeper and deeper into the Titan's mouth. _Is…that me? _Klaus thought as he heard a desperate scream. _Is this…all I can really do? _

"Ah….Ah…." Klaus couldn't even speak. Adrian was falling away from him. Adrian was dying. _"We're best friends, right, Klaus? We'll always be together!" _A grimy five-year old Adrian, smiling and sharing a small piece of bread with his scowling five-year old self, flashed through Klaus' broken mind as he watched heard a sickening crack as Adrian's legs snapped and detached from his body. As Adrian was eaten before him.

_Adrian... _Two broken bloodied legs had fallen on the ground. They were twisted, and far apart. Coated with Adrian's blood. Klaus was aware of the Titan reaching for him. His sword was motionless by his side. _Adrian… _The death of the boy who had befriended another orphan flashed through his numb mind. He saw Adrian's smile. He heard his laughter. _Adrian… _Rage started to course through Klaus. The raven-haired teen looked at the Titan above him, the teeth coated with Adrian's blood shown to him. There was a sight of a humungous hand, and then everything went red.

Klaus stood on top of the Titan as it steamed. His gray eyes surveyed the bones that were now exposed, wondering where Adrian was now. It seemed the only thing left of his friend were the two legs that were on the ground. Klaus had killed the Titan in blind rage; he didn't even know what had happened until he found himself standing on top of the Titan. Klaus stared, his dark eyes distant and somber. _Father…would you have been able to save him? I wonder if you could have. _He gritted his teeth, his curled fist starting to tremble. _Mother…you would have been able to save him too. But I…_

"Klaus!" Klaus' thoughts were interrupted when he heard his name. He turned, and saw Simone walking towards him. Despite a slight limp, she seemed relatively unharmed. Her blue eyes searched for his own, and Klaus answered her question before she could ask it.

"Adrian is dead." The voice that belonged to him was dead. It was raspy and thick, not like his bored and monotone voice Simone was used to hearing. His heart was still beating. Klaus didn't understand why. Without even looking behind him, Klaus could tell that Simone was crying. He felt nothing now. The rage and horror had disappeared, leaving nothing in its wake. Klaus' gray eyes stared ahead.

Klaus killed four Titans on that expedition. He hadn't felt anything when he saw their bodies fall to the ground. He felt nothing. Simone, although her tears had stopped, remained shaken and didn't speak. Klaus could feel the hollowness in his heart as the expedition. _This is must have been of how Father felt when Mother died. Only worse. Much, much worse. _There was death plaguing the former trio wherever they went. Whatever sanity Simone had left disappeared when the expedition was called off; there were too many dead. She began to cry, thick tears masking her face. Klaus did not cry.

He continued to feel nothing as the sight of Adrian's death plagued his mind. The surviving members of the Survey Corps – which were few – stood in silence as they mourned the death of the comrades. Klaus and Simone handled the bodies of the deceased, noting of how Adrian's remains had been left behind. _"What dead is dead," _his father had told him one time. Thinking of the raven-haired soldier made Klaus lose some of his composure. _Father…_ He bit his lip as Simone stared blankly ahead of her at the red sunrise. _Father… _

"You did well on your first expedition." Klaus sharply turned to find himself facing Mikasa Ackerman. His gray eyes widened as he saw Eren Yeager behind her, holding one of the horses. The commander of the Survey Corps was calm and she spoke elegantly. Those thoughts disappeared from Klaus mind as emotions started overcoming him. "Klaus, is it?" At the sound of his name coming from her lips, Klaus' face twisted in rage. Fury overcame his thoughts, and felt his cold hand around Mikasa Ackerman's throat as they landed roughly onto the ground.

"Mikasa!" At the corner of his eye, Klaus saw Eren Yeager draw his blades, but he stopped as soon as he saw the murderous rage in Klaus' eyes. Mikasa Ackerman didn't move as Klaus' hands on her throat began to lesson. Instead, she looked into his eyes in disinterred.

"You…" Klaus whispered. His gray eyes became slits as rage continued to course through him. _"You..." _Rage almost made it impossible for him to speak. _"…precious Eren Yeager." _He thought of what had come before him. Of his father being eaten by the Female Titan. Of his mother, her spine broken, dead against a tree. Of Adrian, dying on his first expedition. "I hate you so much." The heated whisper received on reaction. Klaus didn't expect one. "I…hate you so much." _Blood against the ground, her agonized screams in his ears. _"I hate you for what you did to us." Klaus was not aware of the Survey Corps members watching them with wide eyes now. He was only aware of this _bitch _in front of him, who had the name of Mikasa Ackerman.

"You…have no idea how you made us suffer because of you."

"What do my actions have to do with the present?" Klaus' gray eyes bore deep into hers, the rage and pure hate in his eyes omnipotent. _My mother…my father… _Klaus ground his teeth, aware of how his hands were shaking and of how he wanted to strangle the woman before him.

"I fucking hate you and your precious Eren Yeager!" Klaus screamed. His eyes were wide and gleamed with the rage that had been held inside him for so long. His hands shook, and his breathing quickened at the sight of Mikasa Ackerman in front of him. Just as he dreamed about for so long.

"If you hadn't desperately wanted to punish the Female Titan, then my father would have survived!" _He was aware of Lily reading the paper to him, her face somber as Klaus listened. His smile broke out when he heard his father's name mentioned, but suddenly Lily stopped reading and started to shake and cry. "You shouldn't have died…_Heichō_…" Klaus' three year old mind couldn't understand why Lily was crying. Father would come back. He always did, along with Mother. They would come back. …Wouldn't they? _

"If you hadn't been so concerned about your precious fucking Eren, then my father wouldn't have had to die for you!" Klaus gripped Mikasa Ackerman's green cloak in his hand. "Don't you understand?" He screamed, aware of how his voice was almost at a hysterical pitch. "If you had just followed my father's orders…he would be alive today!" Klaus gasped, deeply breathing as he stopped shouting for a moment. His entire body shook. Mikasa Ackerman had an unreadable expression on her face, igniting the rage inside him. "He wouldn't have had die, you hear!"

"Why does this matter to you?" As soon as those words left her mouth, Klaus' finger tightened on her throat. Klaus vaguely heard shouts of the Survey Corps members behind him, but at the sound of Eren Yeager's words, they remained still.

"Don't you recognize me?" Klaus whispered in Mikasa Ackerman's ear. "I'm his son." He slightly lessoned his grip on her throat. "I'm Levi's and Petra Ral's son!" It felt so good to say those words. How many times had he wanted to say them but couldn't? How many times had his father told him to keep his identity a secret until he was grown? Mikasa Ackerman's expression was shock. Her mouth was slightly open, but Klaus started to speak again before she got the chance.

"You abandoned us too. Remember? In 850." His dark eyes surveyed hers, hoping she could see every damn emotion he had kept inside him since that day. "You thought that fucking Eren Yeager was more important than the lives of the citizens of Wall Rose. You _fucking _believed that all the innocent and defenseless people that would die that day were sacrifices for Eren Yeager's life. At the price of one boy with powers he could barely control."

The rage was still inside him, but it didn't burn inside him any longer. It was there, silent and waiting. "You left us to the Titans," Klaus said in a dangerously calm tone. "You allowed so many people to die for the sake of Eren Yeager, just as you caused my father to _sacrifice _his life for you!" Klaus closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath.

"Adrian's entire family died because of your decision. My life, and many countless others' were destroyed. We would have all died if it hadn't been for Jean Kirstein and Armin Arlert. They…were the true heroes. None of this would have happened if my father wouldn't have died. _None _of this would have. Adrian would have been still alive if it hadn't been for you!" Klaus snarled. His spit coated on Mikasa Ackerman's face. "If my parents had lived, maybe Adrian wouldn't even have been in the military. He wouldn't have had to die!" Tinted red stared to overcome Klaus' eyes as he thought of his father, his mother, Lily, and now, Adrian. "They shouldn't have died!" He screamed. "They never should have –!"

A sharp crack and intense pain was all he was aware of as Klaus' body collided onto the ground. Sharp rocks and a hard ground collided against his flesh, making it so that when his body stopped against a tree, Klaus did not move. His eyes stared dully ahead.

"Klaus!" His gray eyes vaguely followed Simone's as she desperately tried to reach him despite Eren Yeager blocking her. Sound of footsteps made his head slightly turn. Mikasa Ackerman was in front of him, looking down at him.

"Levi died because he was weak. He could have dodged that attack from the Female Titan, but he couldn't." She paused, looking at the broken teen before her. "His death has nothing to do with my actions." Her eyes remained unreadable. Klaus was so numb he couldn't feel any anger, or anything. "You blame me for his death, as many do for their loved ones. Do you know why you couldn't save Adrian Snow? You were weak, Klaus. You _are_ weak." Klaus attempted to stand, but he found he could only stare at Mikasa Ackerman as she spoke to him.

"When your parents died, you were weak then because you were too young and did not have the strength. But now?" Klaus' breathing started to become ragged as her eyes stared to bore into him, aware of her biting words. "Now you had the strength but couldn't protect him. And isn't what that what he wanted anyway? To die protecting his friends?" Klaus didn't answer. "Do blame Simone for allowing Adrian to die?"

"No," came Klaus' hoarse answer.

"Then why do you blame Eren for your mother's death and mine for your father's? For Adrian Snow's?" Klaus didn't answer. "Your father once told me, _"'Don't lose sight of your primary objective. Is it more important than the revenge you desire?'"_ If what you say is true, then I imagine Levi wanted to kill the Female Titan for killing your mother." Mikasa Ackerman let that sentence sink in as Klaus' mind withered away.

"Would you really sacrifice the fate of humanity for the sake of revenge?" Klaus could feel Mikasa Ackerman's gaze on him, her eyes glancing over his now-shaking form. "Would you really place blame on me when it is really yourself who is to blame? Levi once told Eren no one can know the outcome of their decsions until the end, and that he would have to choose a choice that he would regret the least. I only chose to attack the Female Titan and abandon the Wall because it was a choice I wouldn't regret." She eyed the boy sadly. "Your father, Levi, was a better man," she whispered as she walked away.

"Klaus?" There was no answer from the boy lying against the tree. No matter how many times Simone Arlert called for him, the raven haired boy would not speak. Klaus was not aware of her calling for him. He was not aware of the dark sky and of the stars. He wasn't even aware of himself.

His tears looked similar to silver in the moonlight.


	9. The True Heroes

_The True Heroes_

Mikasa Ackerman glanced back at the boy called Klaus. He was now on top of his horse, his dark eyes downcast. He hadn't spoken since Mikasa had the conversation with him. She inwardly thought back to what the boy had said as she led the Survey Corps back to Wall Rose. _"Your father was a better man." _Her words had shaken him. His eyes, once blazing with passion that she had seen for a brief moment before Levi had died, had become vacant with loss. The boy had lost his closest friend on their first expedition together. _He should be grateful there is another person standing by his side. _Mikasa Ackerman had seen Simone Arlert beside the boy named Klaus, and had heard her cries as well. _She knows how to stay silent, just like her father. _At the thought of her former _wise _friend, Mikasa Ackerman stared up at the sky, the clouds and the sun not meeting her sight.

_Oh, Armin…how right you were. _For a brief moment, she felt a hard hand against her throat. And a boy's grey eyes inching towards her own. _"They were the true heroes!" _Something in that boy's eyes reminded her of Eren's. The eyes were like his; the rage was there, and yet the eyes also were different. Mikasa Ackerman remembered seeing those eyes long ago when he didn't even remember. She had seen him as a very small child clutching a woman's dress as the surviving members of the Survey Corps after the 57th expedition. He had been pulled away, shock and confusion in his big gray eyes as he disappeared. Mikasa Ackerman would never forget the agonized look on the woman's face as she left the crowd. _There is a sorrow too deep for tears, _Mikasa had thought back then, as she thought now. _And there is pain that can never heal. _Klaus did not remember her, but she did. The boy's tender face and large gray eyes searching for his parents that would never come home echoed in her mind months after she, Eren, and Hange Zoe had been exiled to beyond the Wall.

She had been surprised when she found out that Levi had a son. Someone as unsociable and rude as he to have a small child almost seemed impossible. Mikasa Ackerman had seen the reports of Klaus' records during the time in the 108th Trainees Squad, and she had been stunned by the similarities between him and herself.

And consequently, Levi.

Shadis had stated that he had never seen such an adept trainee besides the late captain of the Survey Corps. _"There are many people who believe him to be your and Yeager's son," _he stated to her one time during one of their many discussions. Mikasa Ackerman had stated nothing as he continued to speak about the similarities between them. _Their eyes had the exact same expression, _Mikasa Ackerman thought as she remembered the hate and rage twisted on the boy's face. _Exactly the same. _One of the last memories Mikasa Ackerman had of the errant leader of the Survey Corps was of the expression of rage on his face as he attacked the Female Titan. She had thought that she had seen another, brief though it was, emotion in his scarred eyes. It was grief, Mikasa Ackerman realized now. _It was grief for the mother, the only female member of his squad. _Eren still blamed her for what happened. She could see his eyes now, haunting in betrayal and in rage, as he screamed at her for what had happened in the last moment with the Female Titan. She hadn't understood why tears were threatening to overflow in his eyes, or the fact that he was looking at her like he would at the Titans that he hated. _"How could you let this happen? I hate you!" _His final words to her echoed in her mind, repeating and never ceasing as the years passed by. _I did it to save you, Eren. I did it to save you. _She thought about what she had stated to Klaus, the son of the Survey Corps members that had been weak enough to die. _"He was weak."_ Memories of that day invaded her mind, making her only aware of the past and the pain.

"_What happened?" Eren's green eyes bore into hers, shocking her by the amount of agony in his gaze. _

"_We failed." Mikasa's voice was monotone, only focusing on the boy before her. Eren's eyes widened for a couple of moments, uncomprehending. His face was slack, thinking of what he must have seen. Mikasa didn't understand why he was so upset. Eren had almost died because of them, and he was mourning them as if they had mattered in this world._

"_Mikasa!" Eren's voice caused her thoughts to cease, and she took her hands in his, observing of how his voice contained hopefulness and hope. "Where's Levi_-heichō_?" His words caused her hands to collapse by her sides. Her breathing slightly hitched, and she was aware of Eren's bewildered expression. "Mikasa, where's Levi-_heichō_?" When she didn't answer, Eren's voice became sharper and his eyes glinted in anger. "Mikasa –"_

"_He's dead." Eren stared at the emotionless expression his sister had on her face. There was no emotion there. Eren felt his rage disappear. He gaped, unaware of his uneasy breathing until he felt Mikasa's hands touched his shoulders. "Don't touch me!" he snapped. His mind revolved around the memories he had created with Levi_-heichō's _squad. He thought of the man behind it all. The dark haired man with such a short stature and a violent temper with as sharp of a tongue. A man who didn't believe in unnecessary sacrifices. A man that was the strongest and the bravest of the soldiers that had lived. And a man that Eren had come to respect. "How…?" Eren hadn't realized how hoarse his voice was until he had spoken. His hands shook, and he couldn't even focus on Mikasa in front of him. "How…could he…?" A memory of Oluo pretending that he was Levi-_heichō _and of all the amazing feats he had done echoed ceaselessly in his mind. Humanity's Strongest… Eren gritted his teeth, his hands white as he clenched them. "What the hell happened Mikasa?" Mikasa wouldn't answer for a moment. Then,_

"_He was killed along with his squad." Eren's mouth opened again, but Mikasa spoke once more before he could say a word. "I was told to wait for him as he would immobilize the Female Titan. I didn't listen. I…wanted to save you, Eren." Desperation leaked from her voice, and her eyes bore into Eren's as his mind started to shatter. "I…aimed to cut the Titan Shifter out of her…but he got in my way." Eren's breath hitched, horror inflaming him as Mikasa continued to say the words he didn't want to hear. "He couldn't dodge in time when the Titan's hand collided against his spine." Eren swallowed, trying to find the agony he felt in his sister's eyes, but found nothing. There was nothing. He continued to stare with unseeing eyes, his head spinning. The sight of his comrades dead echoed within his soul. And now… _

_Levi-_heichō, _lying on the bleeding grass like Petra…his eyes as vacant as hers. How…? Why…? _

_Then it clicked. Then he became insane._

"_You fucking bitch." Eren's voice was cold in anger. Mikasa's face became stunned by his statement. "You let him die." Rage was rising. "You killed him!" He was vaguely aware of grasping her cloak in his two shaking hands. "He saved you…and he died." Mikasa's face drained of color as Eren continued to shout and scream. "I was fine where I was, Mikasa! How could you do this? How could you do this to us?" Tears flowed down his face, angry tears that made him even more enraged by the reality. Levi was dead. Levi was dead, and it was all because of his sister. "He was the only hope we had, Mikasa! And you…" he choked. "And you…threw it all away! He shouldn't have died, you hear me! If you had just listened to him, none of this would have happened! I'm not…the true hope of humanity!" he cried. "Levi-_heichō _is, god fucking damn it! You fool!" His breathing ragged and his eyes swollen with anger as he stared at the person that had destroyed the hope of humanity._

_Mikasa didn't show any change of emotion." I don't understand, Eren. I saved you." Then her eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me…you had feelings for him." _

"_Fuck off." Eren whispered. His eyes were vacant as the realized what had occurred. "Fuck off!" he screamed at her, spittle spraying her face. "I want you to go away," he hoarsely whispered to her. "Now. How could you let this happen?" he whispered. Mikasa could only watch as he slid further and further away from reality as tears continued to flow from his eyes. "I hate you," he sobbed. "I hate you so much…"_

_Eren lied still in the wagon even as insults and hateful shouts were aimed at the returning Survey Corps. He didn't shout back or become angry as he usually did. Mikasa was still beside him despite of what happened as she heard an older man call out to Commander Erwin._

"_Do you know where Levi-_heichō _is?" He was several inches shorter than Commander Erwin, and had a soft kind face. "My daughter is in his squad. I'm Petra's father, you see." She heard the man laugh, a hollow laugh that she knew well. "She told me that she was devoted to him." He laughed again, the sad foolish laughter echoing in Mikasa's ears. "Well, I guess she's too starry eyes to consider her father's feelings!" Stop laughing, Mikasa fumed as the man continued to laugh again and continued to fool himself. Just stop and see that your daughter is never coming home. …If she had protected Eren correctly, none of this would have happened. If Levi had been able to dodge, then – _

"_I still think it's too early for her to marry. She's still so young, with so much to experience!"_

_She would much more to experience if the squad was actually competent. _

_As the ignorant man continued to talk, Mikasa saw a small face in the crowd. She was that it belonged to a child. Dark locks framed his face, and big gray eyes followed the Survey Corps. Although only two or three, he seemed to be looking for something. He was wearing a small gray shirt with brown pants, and strangely barefoot. He was clutching a fistful of a dress in his plump hand, belonging to a woman with dark hair and a cane. The adult was smiling fondly at the boy. Mikasa continued to stare at the child. His dark hair and eyes reminded of her of someone. Suddenly, her focus was broken by Commander Erwin's voice. _

"_Mr. Ral, your daughter is dead. Captain Levi also met his end today." There was no pause. "If you excuse me." At those words, the man immediately stopped talking. His eyes, which had been slightly closed in kindness to the commander, became impossibly wide. His mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out. A strangled gasp came from the sidelines, and Mikasa recognized it belonging to the former Survey Corps member. Her eyes immediately flooded with tears as she stared at the dark haired girl that reminded her so much of Levi-_heichō. _She started to move quickly as fast as her only one leg would allow her, and pulled slightly at the boy. Although confusion marred his plump face, the child's dark eyes suddenly met Mikasa's, and he waved at her, smiling, before he disappeared._

That was the last time she had seen the son of Levi, and the last time she had ever properly spoken to Eren. Eren had never forgiven her for the death of Levi and of the deaths she had forsaken when she had rescued him from beyond the Wall. She had not forgiven Armin for abandoning Eren, leaving him to die and defending the Wall instead. She remembered of how weak he had been when they had saw him, still wearing the proud uniform of the Survey Corps despite of the heavy bloodstains and the rips and tears in the medical wing. Bandages covered the irreversible damage to his eyes. Mikasa felt nothing when the doctor told them that their so-called friend would never see again. There was so much destruction behind, so many dead. Including Jean. She remembered the harsh words Eren and Armin had exchanged to each other. "How could you let all those people die, Armin? They were under your command! How could you live with the fact that you were responsible for so many deaths? How could you let this many people die? Do you not care for them? You coward! Did you run away from saving Jean, too? Huh, you piece of fucking worthless shit?"

Even with the bandages and with the eyes, Armin still had the ability to see what others could not. "I saved more lives than I could than doing nothing, Eren. Their lives are more important than your own single one, I think. And," he stated as Mikasa stood in cold fury and Eren breathed heavily, "bravery is to do what is right because it is right, Eren, Mikasa." His head moved to where he could somehow feel their gazes. "Bravery is determined by one individual, not by a group of people. You…are not heroes. The people who defended the Wall are heroes…not you." He paused. "None of you are."

Eren moved toward the petite blonde, and clenched the worn uniform in his fists. "What are you trying to say, Armin?" he hissed.

"Jean was a better hero than you'll ever be. So will the people who defended these Walls." Suddenly, Eren raised his fist, his gaze nothing but anger and hurt. Then he stared at Armin with agonized pain on his face before he walked away.

"_You're right, Armin…but that doesn't mean I can forgive you."_

Armin was dead now. He had died as he had lived, protecting what he had believed to be true. Mikasa still remembered of the impossibly amount of blood coating her face as she saw Armin die…eaten, just like how it was ten years ago. Somehow her old friend must have known it was her, for he smiled and waved before his body was snapped in half, blood splattering against her face and hair, and eaten before her eyes. She heard Eren's scream, making her relive the time of hearing the scream that echoed eternally in her dreams. An agonized scream that echoed across the land, filled with grief and sorrow and agony.

Mikasa thought back to what Klaus, the child that she had seen so long ago, had told her. _"You're not true heroes! Commander Arlert and Jean Kirstein were true heroes!"_

_You are right, Klaus, _Mikasa thought as she did checked the boxes determining the status of the Survey Corps members. When there once was numbness, there was nothing now._ I…am no true hero. I never was._

Meanwhile a lost young boy mourned with his head in his hands.


	10. Decision

_Decision_

A young man sat alone upon the bed; his head between his knees and a vacant expression on his face. It had been only hours since the expedition had ended. Hours still since Adrian had died. Klaus felt the blood against his face as the Titan that ate his friend stood up and smiled. Smiling with it disgusting, _stupid_ face. Klaus had killed it. His rage had made him blackout, but he knew that he had killed that Titan from the stunned expression on Simone's face. _Simone… _Klaus sighed, his thoughts becoming more morose as he thought about his only surviving friend. They had not spoken since they had started to go back to Wall Rose, after his confrontation with Mikasa Ackerman. _"Your father was a better man." _

If it had been before, Klaus would been murderously angry for her telling him that his hate was misplaced. Now he simply thought. When had he started hating Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Yeager? Was it that moment Lily had embraced him, sobbing to his three year old self that his father and mother had died? Was it when _she _had died? Or was it in the aftermath, when Klaus was orphaned and alone, with no one to depend on but himself? Klaus didn't know. The hate that grew inside him day by day as the despair increased became something so familiar it became a part of him. It became something like his heartbeat, which stubbornly, ceaselessly, wanted to beat despite another loss that he felt deep in his heart.

Klaus heard Mikasa Ackerman's word in his head once more. "_Would you really sacrifice the fate of humanity for the sake of revenge? Would you really place blame on me when it is really yourself who is to blame? Levi once told Eren no one can know the outcome of their decsions until the end, and that he would have to choose a choice that he would regret the least. I only chose to attack the Female Titan and abandon the Wall because it was a choice I wouldn't regret." H_er eyes echoed in his mind. _"Your father was a better man."_

Had his father truly said those words to the young Eren Yeager before he died? That made Klaus think. Had his father regretted something in his past life that he had wished were different? _Did he have any regrets when he died? Did…he think of me as he died? _That was the unspoken fear Klaus had despite his admiration for his father and his mother. And for the love he had for them. _Was I a mistake that should have been shoved away? _Memories of his father's ceaseless patience and of his mother's smiles echoed in his mind. He remembered his father telling him sternly to behave as they said goodbye before an expedition, and of his surprisingly gentle hands as he ruffled his hair. Even now with ten years past his death, Klaus could feel his father's fingers in his dark hair.

His mother sang to him every time he went to sleep when they visited. Her angelic voice as she sang a song incomprehensible to his ears sounded beautiful to his tender mind. Her soft hands as she soothed away his hurts and pain when he accidently tripped, and of how she would tell him that she loved him during the times when his father was tending his garden. Klaus had only seen a glimpse of the garden once, complete with flowers lined up in a row, as his father as crouched beside them, a strange expression on his face. His mother had gently pulled him away as she saw his wide eyes looking at the window, telling him that he would only be able to see the garden when his father said it was okay. Klaus had nodded, excited to have another moment with his father.

Klaus had seen the garden with his father, his large gray eyes wide with amazement as his sight only became aware of the flowers before him. After their deaths, he had managed to plant two seeds into the garden when Lily had caught him doing it. At the time, he didn't understand what it meant to die. How many times had he watched his father put seedlings into the ground after he visited? It, to his tender mind, was something his father would have done. Lily had stared at him for a moment then, sadness across her face, as she came over to him. She had stood proud then, the sun in her eyes with tears rolling down her cheeks. It was at that moment that Klaus thought that Lily wasn't only beautiful and kind; she was strong as well. The garden, like everything else, had died that day.

Klaus had to wonder now if Mikasa Ackerman had meant for his father to die. The death of Humanity's Strongest Soldier had been reported in the newspapers across both of the Walls, and it had stated that Mikasa Ackerman had aimed to kill the Female Titan. Aiming to kill the human herself, thee Female Titan was about to crush the Survey Corps members when Klaus' father had taken the blow herself. When she had been ordered not to. When she had wanted _revenge_ for what the Female Titan did to her precious Eren Yeager. _I'm still not over it, am I? _Klaus thought as a surge of rage coursed through his thoughts. _I still think it's her fault. But… _Levi himself had stated a person couldn't sacrifice something important for one's own form of revenge. If that was true, then would the former captain of the Survey Corps be disappointed in his son? Would he hate him?

Sitting now in the darkness, Klaus realized that Eren Yeager didn't mean for his mother, his father, and the Special Operations Squad to die. They all had died protecting him…something that Klaus realized that Eren Yeager regretted with every breath he took. His father had stated no matter who you were, you wouldn't know the outcome of a situation until it was done. He had told a young Eren Yeager to make a choice that he would regret the least. _What about Mikasa Ackerman? _At the thought of her, Klaus breath hitched and although his hands were curling into fists, he tried his best to see the light of her decisions. She didn't seem to have regret for the decisions she had made in the past. To her, Eren Yeager was her world, and she would do anything to protect him. Klaus thought about what she had said. Simone had indirectly caused Adrian's death, and yet he didn't place blame on her for their friend's death.

Why was that?

…_Simone didn't mean for that to happen. "If only I had been faster," she had sobbed, not daring to look into Klaus' vacant eyes. "If only…" she had choked, her arms trembling around her abdomen, squeezing. "If only I…" There are things we cannot control in this world, especially in this one. _

So then why did he still blame Mikasa Ackerman for the deaths of those that had fallen, including the ones closet to his heart?

_She had chosen to go, to leave us worse than dead…she left us because she believed that abandoning us and allowing her emotions to overwhelm her, subsequently causing my father's death, would be a choice that she wouldn't regret. _

Tears splashed onto his hands, looking silver in the light shining from the moon. He trembled. _I…hate crying so much. _Klaus thought as sobs raked through his body, the liquid rolling heavily down his cheeks. _I fucking hate it. I…fucking hate this feeling that I have…since my world had died. _Ever since his parents had died, Klaus had felt a hole deep in his heart. Even with him meeting Adrian, the hole had not closed up. It started to become larger and larger as years passed. Then he had joined the Survey Corps, and his heart had started to heal. Klaus, although having hate in his heart, had found slight hope when he was with Adrian and Simone.

Then Adrian had died, leaving him with a bleeding gaping hole that may never heal.

Klaus remembered of what Emil Laurence had said to him not long after the expedition. She had followed him quietly, stopping only when Klaus had snarled at her to get out. She hadn't said anything. She didn't even react to his harsh words. Her eyes met his briefly for a moment when she told him, _"You don't think we have sad pasts? Look around you, Klaus. We lost people too, you know. And now with your friend dead, we're more alone than ever."_ An ironic smile grazed her face_. "We're going to depend on one another more than ever. We are all each other has now." _A deep frown etched on her face as she glared at the unresponsive Klaus. _"So don't you dare think about pushing us away." _The short comment she had made stayed with him even as he struggled internally inside. He had pushed them away, although unconsciously. He hadn't wanted to know them besides the ones closest to his heart…because that would be too much pain.

He wondered if his father and mother had the same fear that he had now when they fell in love. Love was not accepted in the Survey Corps, and yet his father and mother had found comfort with each other until the end. And they had him. A boy so enraged and destroyed by their deaths that hatred had almost consumed him.

_It…can't go on like this, _Klaus thought as he wiped his tears away from his face. _I…have to make a decision now. Will I continue to hate and blame Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Yeager? Or…will I forgive them for the choices that they made, and acknowledge that those choices were those that they believed would be a choice of no regrets?_

Klaus breathed deeply as he closed his eyes.

And he chose.


	11. Heart

_Heart_

Klaus thought about the decision he had just made. _Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Yeager… _he thought. Did he forgive them? Deep within his soul, he knew he did not. _But in order to make their dreams come true, I need to put aside my feelings. _He sighed, the emotions he known since he was three years old coursing through him still. Somehow, they seemed lesser. Less violent. He thought of the only friend he had for so many years of his life. _Adrian…_ He had died to protect him. The grief had dulled into a faint heartbeat now, but Klaus knew that the pain would never fade. _I wonder…how many flowers were in that garden? _The young man wondered as he thought of the garden that his father had tended. He still remembered the fragrance, of how they smelled of the outside of the Walls. _How many flowers would there be now…with me now in the Survey Corps? Would Adrian…_

Klaus' thoughts were interrupted when he heard a knock of the door.

"Come in," he muttered impatiently.

His eyes widened as he recognized the woman standing in front of him. Her hair was as wild as usual, and her glasses were slightly askew. _I'm glad she's quiet, _Klaus thought he observed her somber face, the insane smile previously on her face gone now. He said nothing as he heard her climb the ladder and heard the sheets rustle slightly as she sat down beside him.

"I heard about your friend," she stated quietly. She tried to look at him, but his eyes remained on his lap. "Losing a comrade is hard, but losing a friend is like losing another part of you." Again, she attempted to meet his eyes. Hearing her talk about his friend caused a stir in Klaus' heart. Simone had tried to talk to him about Adrian after the expedition, but he had snapped at her, telling her not to talk. It was only now that he realized that she had been crying as he slammed the door in her face. Klaus turned to her face as she talked about the young woman who was on his mind. "You still have another one, though, don't you?" Klaus glared at her, believing she was lecturing him, but found there was nothing but sympathy in her brown eyes. Suddenly she laughed "Levi would be wanting you to get off your ass, and your mother would be worried."

"My parents…what were they like?" Klaus whispered almost inaudibly.

"Your mother…was like the sun in the gloomy place that is the Survey Corps. She was surprisingly kind for someone who had seen so much death." Hanji told him. She smiled gently at him, knowing somehow of how much he wanted this. "She was the only woman in the Special Operations Squad, and had a smile that could light up the world."

"I already know this," Klaus growled. "She was my mother, for god's sake. Tell me something I don't know, shitty glasses." Klaus didn't expect the woman to howl with laughter. His widened eyes stared as she continued to laugh, the sound echoing in the room. Her entire body seemed to shook, and for a moment he didn't think she would stop laughing. _I told Adrian she was crazy. _Then suddenly the laughter ceased, and Hanji looked at him as she wiped away a tear off her cheek.

"Levi used to call me that. I think it was his term of endearment." A heavy sigh escaped from her, and it took Klaus a moment to realize that she was now shedding tears of regret. Or was it sadness? "He used to be extremely irritable around me. I wonder why?" she asked herself as Klaus internally rolled his eyes. "He was especially patient with your mother, though. They used to have conversations that were hours long, and I remembered one time when Petra came down to headquarters one morning with her hair askew and her face flushed. I had never seen her so embarrassed." Despite himself, Klaus blushed. _Why is she talking about my parents having sex? _"Your mother…let's see…she was the only one that served your father tea. She once told me that Levi once wanted to open a tea shop."

"A tea shop?" Klaus echoed incredulously. He watched as Hanji continued to laugh softly at his face. She nodded.

"He wanted to do that as soon as he found out about you," she stated. Klaus stiffened, and found himself looking at his knees again. "Your parents loved you, Klaus. More than life." Her eyes squeezed shut for a moment, masking the pain that Klaus knew was inside. "I only knew about you because Petra came to me, crying that was pregnant. She didn't think that Levi would love her if he found out she was carrying his child."

"Why did she think that?" Klaus whispered. He had only known the silent love between his parents, of the brief moments of happiness that shed his father's face as the child he had been watched them at night when he was supposed to be asleep. He had seen the gentle looks and adoration framing his mother's face as she watched his father with his tea.

"Petra had only been recently accepted into the Special Operations Squad when she became pregnant with you. She thought that she would be thrown out of the squad she had seen as a family, or worse, dishonorably discharged because of her pregnancy." Hanji smiled softly as if the memory of Klaus' mother was there. "Levi did none of that. He loved her too much to dishonor her like that." A pensive look appeared on her face. "They only met in the year 845, and yet it took them only a year to fall in love with each other. Not many people find love outside or inside the Survey Corps, so I consider your parents to be very luck people, Klaus." She paused for a moment, looking into his gray eyes. "Your mother and father might have died only minutes apart, but I believe that they never regretted their choice…or you."

Klaus swallowed. He had not doubted his parents' love for him, or the love they had for each other. A small part of him, however… "I thought that perhaps it was only a trick. An illusion," he rasped. "I thought and I _hoped_ that perhaps that my parents hadn't died. They were too good to die. When I went on the expedition…I actually looked for them. A frayed coat, perhaps, or my mother's ginger hair or my father's voice. I didn't want them to dead." A small tear flowed down his cheek. I wanted to believe they were still there. I wanted to believe that the Wall hadn't fallen, and we were still in this shitty fantasy. That way, all of this hatred inside of me would be gone. When Adrian died…" Klaus clutched his shirt, the tears soaking into the fabric. "When Adrian died…I realized that the illusion I had in my mind was what it was an illusion." He tasted tears as he spoke. They tasted so bitter. "Adrian and everyone else thought I was strong. So strong that I didn't feel anything. How wrong they are," he whispered. "I hate fucking crying all the time. It never stops. And…I'll never be the man my father was if I cry."

"Not true," stated Hanji. "Your father cried as well. Not as much as your mother, but the month after he joined I saw him cry." Klaus looked at her in shock. "It was the day after the expedition that took his friend's lives. I could see thick tears flowing from Levi's eyes as he thought no one was watching at the feet of his friend's belongings," Hanji said old grief appeared in her eyes. "The next day no one said a word about his bloodshot eyes. Crying isn't sign of weakness, Klaus. It's strength. It shows that your heart is strong." A strange look echoed on her face as she stared at him. "Do you still hate them?"

"Eren Yeager and Mikasa Ackerman?"

Klaus didn't trust himself to look at her. "I don't hate them…" he stated slowly, "but I don't like them either."

Hanji nodded. A pleased expression appeared on her face. "What about Simone? You should comfort you, as she lost a friend as well."

Before Klaus could answer, the door banged open. Two soldiers of the Survey Corps stood before the room, frantic expressions on their faces.

"Hanji-_taichō_! There's been an emergency!" Dark fear was apparent in the soldier's gaze, and sweat gathered on his brow. "Annie Leonhardt broke out of her crystal!"


	12. The Awakening

_The Awakening _

The world seemed to stop. The blood rushed through Klaus' head and his dark gray eyes widened as he saw Hanji start to shout and move her arms. He couldn't hear anything that she was saying. _"Annie Leonhardt broke out of her crystal!" __The Female Titan… _the thought echoed continuously through his mind. _The Female Titan…the one that killed Father and Mother… _He thought of his mother, her ginger hair streaked with red and her eyes closed as she was crushed by the foot of the fifteen meter Titan.

Klaus had heard that the Female Titan had crushed various members of the Survey Corps instead of eating them as normal Titans did. As the one that ate Adrian. Klaus' hands became white at the thought as his nails made a dent in his palms. _How could she have killed Father? The strongest member of the Survey Corps? _Klaus thought of the man again, his eyes somehow peaceful as he watched his wife make a cup of tea. As his son, lying comfortably in his mother's arms as he carefully told him about the world. As he said goodbye for an unknown final time with the Wings of Freedom on his back. _How…could he have died? _

"Klaus?" Klaus jolted, his thoughts violently extinguished as he felt Hanji's hand on his shoulder. "Klaus?" she stated again, more quietly when he didn't respond. Abruptly he pulled away, landing on the ground as the female member of the Survey Corps looked at him in confusion and concern.

"I'll be okay," the dark haired young man stated as he moved forward to the door with his face pointing to the ground. "Let's go."

It was now night. The stars lit their illumination against the dark sky. Klaus used to like to stare at the stars. It wasn't the beauty that drew him to them. It was their constancy and silence. Now he simply ignored them as his steps came closer and closer to the Titan-shifter that killed his parents. No one stated anything as the four Survey Corps members went down the steps to the underground place where the Female Titan was hidden. _It's been ten years, _Klaus thought as dull anger raced through his veins. _I wonder if she remembers… _Klaus' thoughts stopped when he opened the door.

Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Yeager were in the room. He couldn't see their faces as their backs were turned to him, but the two high-ranking members of the Survey Corps seemed tense. Eren Yeager's back was turned, but Klaus could see the tension in his shoulders. Mikasa Ackerman's red scarf, which was frayed along the edges, was askew, but she didn't appear to notice. Both adults had their eyes on the prisoner before them. Klaus took a deep breath. Although he had made his decision, he wasn't certain how he would act around the two that he spent his almost entire life hating their very existence. _"I don't hate them…but I don't like them either." _His voice echoed in his mind as Klaus took a step towards them. _They made a choice of no regrets…and I…have to respect that…even though I do not agree with it. _

What would his parents think of him now?

Klaus silently saluted them both with expressionless eyes when he confronted them. He could see the shock on Eren Yeager's face, his green eyes widening in disbelief as Klaus stood at them with respect. He couldn't see Mikasa Ackerman's expression, but he thought he saw a small smile across her face as they slightly parted for him to see the prisoner.

The prisoner was shorter than even Klaus. Her light blond hair framed her face, almost obscuring her light blue eyes that were cold and unknown as she stared at her enemies. Her uniform that had once fit her small form was very short on her. _It's been ten years, _Klaus thought as the Female Titan looked up at him with her pale face. He had seen pictures of the Female Titan in her human form, and not much had changed. Her face was paler and slightly thinner from the time she had been in the crystal.

"Ten years it's been, Annie." Mikasa Ackerman intoned without emotion. "Have you decided to tell us what you know?"

"Why should I tell you anything?" The voice was cool and quiet, slightly raspy from misuse, her light blue eyes staring up at Klaus again. She didn't appear to notice that the young man was simmering in anger before her. "I'm more interested in the boy standing in front of me." She didn't seem fazed by the fact that ten years had passed since she had attempted to flee the Walls. "Tell me, boy, why do you look like someone I know?" Eren Yeager flinched beside him, but Klaus didn't react for a moment.

"You killed them," he whispered almost inaudibly. Cold rage appeared across his face. "You killed them, and you _crushed_ them." Klaus' voice shook. He was aware of uneven breaths escaping from his mouth. "You killed them, you bitch!" The shout echoed along the wall, Klaus could see the other three Survey Corps members including Hanji looking at him in apprehension. But Klaus didn't move, knowing that doing that would be releasing the darkness inside him as he had done when Adrian had died. The thin hands from the Titan-shifter slightly moved as she touched her face as the chains clattered against her skin.

"I should have noticed it the moment I saw you," she mused as Klaus continued to fume in front of her. "You have the same expression of when you're angry." She paused, her expression slightly curious as she stared at Klaus. "As he did." Everyone in the room knew who she was talking about.

"I remember how his expression was when he found out that his squad was dead," the Female Titan stated as Klaus' anger increased in volume. His arms trembled by his sides, and his dark gray eyes burned in rage as the Female Titan continued to speak. "Helpless. Angry. Unable to do anything." Her eyes bored into Klaus' own, noting that rage within. "He smelled like _her_." Suddenly the Female Titan laughed, the laugh sounding as if it belonged to an innocent girl and not a monster that betrayed humanity. "I could smell him on her too when I crushed her spine," she continued in a monotone voice as Klaus' face turned white and his body continued to shake.

"Did they fuck, and tell you that the world would be safe?" she laughed. "What fools!" she yelled. "What fools they were to bring an innocent life in their world." Suddenly two hard hands held the tight clothes that she wore. Flaming dark gray eyes burned into her skin, and the face of a boy with so much rage became a memory of a similar face that she had seen.

"Shut up," Klaus whispered as a cold calm overtook him. He stared at the Female Titan with his face dark and still. "Shut _up_."

"I remember the blood on her face as the fly lied dead on the tree. So much of it…" she whispered as Klaus' fingers tightened on her shirt. "So much it, with her entire pathetic body twisted with her eyes blankly open." Klaus saw her grin at the visible agony and grief on his face as she continued to speak. "So weak…how could they have thought they had a chance against me?" she whispered. Heavy footsteps made Klaus turn to find Eren Yeager beside him as dangerous rage filled his face. "I killed him, but not like all the others. No, I didn't." She laughed at their faces, mocking them.

"I _ate _him, boy." The Female Titan slowly whispered to Klaus as his fingers tightened. "I _ate _him. How he screamed." Eren Yeager's fists turned white as a coy smile framed the Female Titan's face. "It was such a beautiful sound. I crushed his spine too, you know." Her face, smiling, edged dangerously close to Klaus own. His fingers slackened. "How your father screamed as he died as so much blood flowed from his mangled body." No… he pleaded as his eyes were blinded in pain as tears started to form. "He tasted so good. I can still taste him now…his blood and flesh on my lips." She smiled.

"Enough!" Eren Yeager bellowed, and he was about to punch the Female Titan in face when the door banged open.

Simone Arlert walked up to the Survey Corps members, the expression on her face no longer swollen from tears and her eyes no longer drowning in heartbreak. She was looking forward at the Female Titan, her expression unreadable.

"Simone?" She didn't answer Klaus as she stood slightly across from him. The expression on her face and the look in her eyes…reminded him of her father. _What's going on? _He thought. Suddenly the Female's smile faded as she looked at Simone. There was a shocked breath.

"…Armin?"

"I'm not Armin," Simone stated quietly. How was it that Klaus couldn't see her expression? He could see the Female Titan's eyes, the only human expression in her eyes cease as Simone stood in front of her. "I'm his daughter, Simone Arlert, and," there was a lengthy pause as the Female Titan stared at the young woman. "My father is dead, Annie Leonhardt. He's been dead for three years."

For a moment, the Female Titan didn't have a reaction. The Female Titan's eyes widened. Shock and something else invaded her expression and eyes, and for a moment she couldn't speak. Her light blue eyes stared into Simone Arlert's, and for once, Klaus could not see anything in his friend's eyes.

"Armin?" Despite the presence she had presented before with, her expression seemed that it belonged to a child. Her voice was small. "Armin?" A voice thick as if tears were falling from her eyes echoed eerily in the room.

"Armin…is dead?"


	13. As A Warrior

_ As A Warrior…_

"How?" Her voice choked, the opposite of the smug and sneering woman before them. Her light blue eyes conveyed the shock that trembled within her body. Klaus wondered why the Female Titan was visibly near collapse when she heard of Commander Armin Arlert's death. _They used to belong to the 104th Trainees Squad, I know that. I had heard that… _The adolescent's thoughts took a turn when he saw tears leaking onto the floor from the Titan-shifter's eyes. _Impossible…! _

A gasp almost escaped from him. His dark gray eyes narrowed at the crying form of his parents' murderer in front of him. _She was in love with him. _Klaus thought of how his own parents fell in love. His father, the captain of the Survey Corps, and his mother, chosen to be a part of his squad. His father's rare smiles and his mother's adoring gaze echoed in Klaus' mind as he watched as the Female Titan continued to shake and be stunned by knowing that the man that she loved was dead. _How could she have fallen in love with such a person? _Klaus wondered as his friend Simone stood in front of the Female Titan with an unreadable expression. _Someone as kind and brave and true as Commander Armin…would be loved by this monster._

"Why?" she gasped. Tears continued to stream down her face. Her pale face searched Simone's, who appeared to have the answers that she sought. The girl's eyes conveyed nothing but pity as she spoke.

"As I stated before, my father was killed three years ago. It was during an expedition." Blue met blue. One agonized and the other calm as the sea. "He was eaten. Eaten, Annie." Simone remained silent as the stunned face of the human murderer crumbled to tears again. They looked silver, as like the tears that Klaus and so many other as cried each other to sleep. "Now you know what it is like to lose someone precious to you." She paused, and then silently crouched down to the imprisoned woman. "Don't you want to avenge him? Make them die as the heads roll onto the ground and as blood spills onto your fingers as you scream?" Simone inched closer to her face. Klaus visibly gulped. He felt Eren Yeager beside him shudder.

_This is a side of Simone that I have never seen before. _Her face was hard and grim with seriousness, and her eyes held nothing but pity and emptiness as she continued to speak quietly to the Female Titan. _Could this be from the trauma of what she had seen? _Simone had cried after the expedition and had attempted for Klaus to comfort her. He had pushed her away. Could that have caused the anger and sorrow of Adrian's death and of many others to awaken a cold and merciless side as the Female Titan, the one responsible for the failure of the 57th expedition, stood before her? Or could this be a side that she inherited from her father, Commander Armin, which he hadn't seen?

The Female Titan's red-rimmed eyes echoed into the depths of Simone's own. "I…can't. A duty that must be fulfilled is my task…and I have lost several years since I last tried to complete it."

Now Mikasa Ackerman stood beside Simone at the sound of the Titan-shifter's words, and dark pools of fury echoed in her eyes. She demanded that the Female Titan explain what she meant.

The Female Titan chuckled. The Survey Corps members in the room stared at the Female Titan in confusion. "Who knows?" she stated quietly. The loss and agony upon hearing of Commander Armin's death had disappeared. The side of the sneering victor started to come to the surface again. "When I was given this mission, as a _warrior_," she spat the title sarcastically, "all I was told that I was to protect humanity by slaughtering the survivors of those that had survived Wall Maria." A vague expression appeared on her face. "My comrades live outside the Wall. Every one of us are Titan-shifters." She looked at the expressions ranging from stunned to grim. Klaus was holding his breath. "We are trained from an early age to defend humanity." She gave a hoarse laugh. "Whatever that means."

Eren Yeager spoke. "How does a human become a Titan-shifter?" His face was grim and didn't speak of the former rage he had for the Female Titan.

The Female Titan raised her eyebrow. "You don't remember?" The brown-haired member of the Survey Corps looked at her in confusion. "Eren, I thought you knew." Fear started to appear in the man's eyes as she continued to speak. "I guess you forgot then, didn't you? Haven't you wondered…" she whispered as Eren Yeager started to breathe abnormally, "…Why you have your father's key?" _Key? _thought Klaus as the man before him started to shake. _Why does this have to do with Eren Yeager being a Titan-shifter?_

Mikasa Ackerman put her hand on Eren Yeager's shoulders. "Enough." Her voice was cold. "Annie, you will help us purge and gain back Wall Maria." Simone visibly gasped, and Klaus looked at his superior with wide eyes. The other Survey Corps members looked shocked as well. Mikasa Ackerman looked back at her subordinates. "We have wasted enough time as it is. Fifteen years of sacrifices and death. Eren isn't enough to take back the Wall. We know that now." Her eyes followed Klaus for a moment. "Too many lives have been lost in this fight. No more," she stated gravely. "A month from now we will retake Wall Maria and kill those monsters that killed so many of us." A look passed between the Titan-shifter and Mikasa Ackerman. "You will help us do this."

There was a pause.

"Fine." An unreadable expression echoed across her face. "But only because _she_ is the only thing left of him." Her chained hands pointed towards Simone. "As a warrior…I will protect her." Suddenly she smiled, shocking Klaus and the others. "You remind me of him, you know," she stated toward a shocked Simone. Her blue eyes widened. "Your seriousness, your determination. Your courage." Shock turned into grief as the Female Titan said this. "Armin would be proud of you."

Silently, Mikasa Ackerman and the Female Titan shook hands. Then she turned away, with Klaus and Simone following behind her. The other Survey Corps members stayed where they were as the Female Titan's shape became farther and farther away. _Probably there to stand guard, _Klaus thought as he glanced back one last time at Eren Yeager and Hanji. The door closed. The commander of the Survey Corps and her subordinates were silent as they climbed the stairs to the aboveground. The echoes of footsteps replaced the silent whispers that had befallen before in the past when the Female Titan was first taken into captivity. When they reached the stairway, Mikasa Ackerman paused for a moment.

"Even though I never forgave your father for what he did, I still respect him." Even though the woman was not turned towards them, Klaus could still imagine her expression. Somewhat emotionless, but her voice as cool as his father's with hidden sympathy. "Even now as he lies dead, following the fate of his soldiers, I respect him…because he was a better human than I." There was a lengthy pause. "Klaus." Her voice conveyed a hint of respect instead of the scorn previously. "You have changed. I see it in your eyes." Klaus didn't know what to say but nodded. Then the door was opened, and Mikasa Ackerman exited the door with the two teenagers by themselves.

Both of them were on the top bunk as they had done three years ago. So much had changed. Adrian Snow, their fellow friend, was dead. Klaus' perception of Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Yeager had developed from hate to forgiveness. The Female Titan, after a decade of slumber, had awoken. And now…a month from now the Survey Corps complete with the aid of two Titan-shifters would attempt to take back Wall Maria.

"What made you change, Klaus?" Simone asked. Her voice was quiet again, but still held the seriousness of before. Klaus knew what she was talking about.

"I…" He found it hard to speak. His tongue felt thick against his mouth, and his throat constricted at the thought of his oldest friend. "When I was here last, I thought about things. Many things," his voice grew hoarse and nearly inaudible. "I thought about what Mikasa Ackerman had told me." Simone's blue eyes echoed into his dark gray. "You know I hated them. You know I hated them with every breath I took…because they took something precious to me. But I realized that what my father had said was true." Klaus' voice became thick. "That no one knows the outcome until it has happened. No one knows what will be the end result until the end. And…I thought about the choices that Mikasa Ackerman had made….choices that she thought were choices of no regrets. Although I do not believe that she made the right choices….I have to forgive _both_ of them for what they did."

"Why?" Simone asked carefully. "Why forgive them?"

"Because I see them in me." The truth came out of his lips. Klaus' breath started to ease. "I remembered the moment of Adrian's death, and guilt and sorrow still runs through my veins. I chose to save you instead of defending both of you," Klaus stated dully as the memories of the expedition ran through his mind. "And…Adrian died because of it." He sighed and closed his eyes. "If Adrian hadn't died that day, I would have sacrificed the well-being of my comrades, including you, for the sake of my revenge. I didn't." A small smile graced Klaus' face. "Adrian was the catalyst for my change. _He _was my change, Simone. And…I have to thank him for that." Klaus smiled fully at the thought of Adrian Snow, the boy who had died fulfilling his only wish. _Thank you, Adrian, my friend._

"Simone, I want to let you know that I –" Klaus turned toward Simone, but his voice did find him as he saw her sleeping beside him. She must have fallen asleep when he had been speaking. _Adrian did say that when I speak sometimes, I lose myself in my surroundings, _Klaus thought with a faint blush. Her soft blond hair that she inherited from her father lied against her forehead comfortably.

Her expression was now peaceful, absent of the hard and serious face that Klaus had seen during the time with the Female Titan. _She looks strangely beautiful, _Klaus thought as he continued to watch her in her sleep as even and calm breaths eased from her. Immediately, he shook his head. _What am I thinking? _He still looked at her though. Her face was towards him, the blue eyes that Klaus had come to know so well and _not_ know were closed. Seeing her like this reminded him of Adrian, and of how in the coldest of winter's nights, they would hold each other in sleep to keep each other warm. Adrian's death, of him sacrificing himself for his friends, echoed in Klaus' mind. As he lied down beside the young woman beside him, he made a promise to himself. _I won't allow you to die, Simone. I won't allow your memory to only be a memory of blood and death. I will protect you as long as breath remains in my body. _

Together both of them were prepared to face the end of the world as in their sleep they held each other in their arms.


	14. The Only Hope They Have

_The Only Hope They Have_

Klaus was only able to see the figures in front of him. Commander Mikasa Ackerman was in the front, her dark hair waving in the wind as she relentlessly rode forward. Beside her was Eren Yeager, his green eyes dark with determination as the sights of beyond the Wall reached him. Klaus, although young and had only recently forgiven him, wondered what the man was thinking. Two other senior Survey Corps members were behind them. Klaus had heard their names were Deiter Badge and Edmund Crass, reportedly one of the few survivors of the past ten years since the 57th expedition. _My father only survived five years after the fall of Wall Maria, _Klaus thought as he continued observe the two light brown haired man before him.

_Surviving for ten years is more than enough to gain my respect…if you didn't have a part in my parents' deaths, of course. _Klaus' attention diverted from the senior Survey Corps members in front of him and on the person in between the four most lethal members of the Survey Corps. She was to be protected above all else, above even Eren Yeager.

Although no one truly trusted her, she was the only chance the Survey Corps had against retaking the Wall. _Annie Leonhardt… _Klaus thought as a surge of anger ran through his veins. The Titan-shifter, who had woken from her ten years slumber, and awoken and was immediately released from her captivity. He remembered her words still. "_Did they fuck, and tell you that the world would be safe?" _She had mocked him of his father's death. _"I _ate_ him, boy. I _ate_ him. How he screamed. It was such a beautiful sound. I crushed his spine too, you know." _Her words still caused rage to flow through his heart. _"How your father screamed as he died as so much blood flowed from his mangled body. He tasted so good. I can still taste him now…his blood and flesh on my lips."_ The Titan-shifter, the Female Titan, was the only hope they had left at taking the Wall. When Commandeer Mikasa Ackerman had revealed this information to the rest of the Survey Corps, many had called for the Female Titan's head. Their enraged voices echoed in Klaus' own as his own heart had started to beat furiously, thinking of the same lines as them. However, a plan had already been implemented. Annie Leonhardt would be the tool they needed to win back the Wall.

"_If we do not fight, we cannot live. That is what we are going to do." _Klaus thought of what else Mikasa Ackerman had stated to them. No longer would they hide and shiver in fear from the Titans; they would attack them head-on and take as many as they could as Survey Corps member Eren Yeager and the Female Titan would also kill Titans. _"Your memory will be forever, comrades." _Commander Mikasa Ackerman had stated as a solemnity overcame the audience. Klaus saw her briefly glance at him. _"You will be remembered as the heroes of humanity." _

Klaus thought of the Female Titan as she rode with them, her pale blond hair against her face. _She simply agreed to protect Simone, the daughter of the former Commander Armin Arlert…the man she loved. _Klaus couldn't understand of how such a monster could know such a thing as love. But her pain had been real. The Titan-shifter had killed his parents and killed so many others had cried. That was something Klaus couldn't overlook. The young man thought about Simone, wondering of how she knew the details of the Female Titan's relationship with her father. _Why did he out of all people tell her those stories about that enemy? Why…would he even think about her?_

Simone was now in the rear of the Survey Corps, serving as support as their comrades continued to die around them. It only been three days since the expedition had begun, but the causalities were high, and they had to abandon the wounded this time. No one could be spared. Klaus had wanted to join the rear to prevent even more people from dying by the second day of bloodshed, but all of the four most senior members of the Survey Corps members refused. _"You have a lethal blade, Klaus. A blade I had only seen expect for your father." _The commander briefly paused, noting of how Klaus' disposition changed at the mere mention of the former captain of the Survey Corps. _"If we lose you, we would lose one of our best soldiers. We cannot have that."_ Her expressionless turned to Klaus, who stood still with cool understanding emerging through his mind as she said this._ "And…your father and mother would not allow it to lose their only son." _Klaus thought about Commander Mikasa Ackerman. They were more layers to her than he thought would ever be possible. Hatred and bitterness had driven him to kill her, and now as forgiveness and respect replaced them, Klaus started to see glimpse of a side that he never would have known. She appeared to be a layer of many pieces, as his own father had been.

"Titan!" Klaus' thoughts ceased as the shout echoed into the air. For the past hour, Titans had not been sighted. Now, however, a Titan of a fifteen meter class was running towards them, its hideous teeth and smile bright in the sunset. Klaus bared his swords, prepared to fight if needed. He watched as Eren Yeager jumped from his horse and bit into his hand, a ray of light almost blinding him as the towering from of a green eyed Titan appeared. Until this expedition, Klaus had not seen Eren Yeager's transformation before. He had watched with wide eyes as a fifteen meter class Titan with shagged dark brown hair charged at the Titans before him, killing all three in one single blow that decapitated them.

Klaus noted of how Eren Yeager wouldn't transform unless the Female Titan and the five of them were threatened. _Why doesn't he stay in that form? _Klaus wondered as he continued to watch the squad leader's back. _So many people have died because the Titans came from unusual directions, where aren't are. _If this had been before Adrian's death, Klaus would have though Eren Yeager to be a coward and fury would overcome him. Now he simply wondered if there was a hidden reason why he did what he did.

A roar caused the group to slightly turn as another two Titans appeared from both sides, one from the forest and the other from the plains as they targeted the rear. Klaus clutched the rein on his horse tightly, remembering the commander's words even as he heard the screams of the dying and the sickening sound of falling body parts. _"We must not intervene in a fight when a Titan targets our comrades. Our goal is to reach Wall Maria and overtake it, not save lives that couldn't be saved." _Her eyes were cold, and her voice void of any emotion. _"Sacrifices for humanity have to be made." _

Klaus' grip on his blades almost broke them when he heard a scream. His dark gray eyes followed the dead body of a Titan, its neck severed as blood flowed and the steam clouding the other Titan, who held a human in its grasp. Even from far away, Klaus recognized the fury on her face, her eyes almost blazing with insanity as she tried to break free from the Titan's grip as it started to squeeze her. Bloodied bodies of their comrades lied in the grass, the blood soaking the ground.

"Simone!" Klaus yelled. Desperation suddenly overwhelmed him as his only focus remained on Simone's vulnerability as the Titan continued to smile, as if mocking her. Klaus' face drained white as he realized that no matter how fast he was, he would never reach her in time. _No… _Adrian's blood as it spilled onto the ground with his legs falling onto him resurfaced into his mind. _Not again… _As the 3-D Gear embedded itself into the Titan's flesh and as Simone's steadily discomposure reached him, Klaus aimed as fast as he could towards the Titan's neck…

The arm grasping Simone severed from the Titan as it suddenly collided to the ground, a mask of confusion on its face. _What…? _Klaus thought numbly as saw Simone stood shakily as she took apart the Titan's fingers with her sword. Droplets of blood coated her face, and her wide eyes didn't even look at Klaus as she stared at what was in front of her. The Female Titan had swiftly transformed and reverted back into her human state as steam still emerged from her body. She didn't look back at them, the Wings of Freedom she now wore ironically bore across her back.

"Thank you," Simone suddenly said. She had not yet wiped off the blood off her face, and her hair was slightly askew with her eyes wide still as she stared at the Titan-shifter that had saved her.

For a brief moment, the Female Titan with the human name of Annie Leonhardt looked back, a brief and curious emotion appearing in her eyes before vanishing, her eyes once again shielded in detachment as she walked towards her guard.


	15. Interlude

_Interlude _

A man stood against the window as he looked at the sun shining in his eyes. The small dark room was made out of stone, parts of it crumbling and only one window to see the outside world. Since he and his comrade Berthold had been discovered, they had moved their home to the fallen Wall Maria. It was a risky move, but one he was willing to make. Reiner's almost nonexistent hair was dark blond, and his small eyes narrowed even though no apparent enemy was in sight. He knew though.

Only those advanced enough in their Titan-shifting could tell when one of their kind had transformed. Reiner was one of those. Since the physical age of four, he had been trained as a warrior. He, like most of their allies, had no memory of how they became Titan-shifters or of how they had found their home. Reiner simply remembered waking up in grass, the feeling soft against his skin. A man that he came to know as his father had found him, and had carried him all the way to what came to be known as their home. The child he had been hadn't even known his own name.

Now as he stared into the sun's bright rays, he thought about what he had felt when he had felt her transform. _Annie… _Their former ally had been captured by the Survey Corps ten years prior, and their bond that they once had disappeared once they had run beyond the Wall. Many thought that she had perhaps died in captivity, and Reiner remembered holding Berthold by the neck, telling him through his gritted teeth to _move on. _At first when Reiner had felt Annie transform, he had thought perhaps that she had managed to escape from the Survey Corps and perhaps even killed the troublesome Eren Yeager. But the thought was short-lived, as Reiner had felt his enemy transform as well in such a short distance away.

_They teamed up, didn't they?_ Reiner clenched his fists in anger. _Did you forget, Annie? Our mission? We were supposed to _save _humanity, not destroy it!_ His anger calmed as Reiner thought about the possibility as the Survey Corps becoming involved as well. _It'll be a bloodbath, _Reiner thought grudgingly. Suddenly the door to his room creaked open, and he turned to an older Berthold standing before him with a stricken expression on his face.

"They're here," he simply stated. Reiner nodded. _I wonder how Historia will feel about this, seeing her former comrades again. _He thought of the familiar petite blond woman, now even more beautiful and enchanting as ever. At one time he had wanted her, but now he had more important things. _And how will I feel about seeing them again? _Reiner put that thought aside as he started to walk outside the door. _You better be stronger this time, Eren Yeager…because this time we will crush you._


	16. Out Of The Past

_Out Of The Past _

They arrived at the gates of Wall Maria a week later. The members of the Survey Corps were stagnant and limping as they were a few meters from the Wall that symbolized the freedom that they sought. The surviving members of the Survey Corps were wounded. Many had gashes across their faces and bruises against their legs and arms. Others had bandages across their forehead, dried blood against the white tape, their faces pale and tired. They were the lucky ones. _We're survivors, _Klaus thought as he looked back at the many faces that stared at the Wall. _We would have to be if we survived. _His hand briefly brushed against his side, and the dark haired young man hissed in pain. He hadn't been spared either. Upon a league from Wall Maria, two Titans had appeared from the east. Klaus had been given permission towards the end of the journey to kill the Titans as many of the Survey Corps members had died or were too exhausted to fight at that specific time, and were wounded. He had been stupid and careless as he tried to kill both of them all at once.

After killing one, his blades had been about to embed itself into flesh again when he felt a hand grab his leg and lifted him into the air. He had almost gotten himself killed, and it was Simone who had to save him. Klaus could actually felt the sound of her blade as she cut the tendon from the body of the Titan, and even now as she stood beside him bearing her own wounds, he could see the splatter of the Titan blood as he fell onto the ground. Klaus had managed to fall onto his side and onto his back or head. He had multiple Survey Corps members fall as blood and pieces of brain and skull leak out onto the ground, and the dead eyes of the woman or man as the dark red leaked from their backs. The falls had caused a deep gash on Klaus' side and three or four broken ribs.

He remembered of how Simone had offered to quickly bandage him as they had done to the other members of the Survey Corps at the sight of his blood leaking out his side, but he had refused. _"We're almost there," _he had stated calmly despite the agony rushing through him as he breathed. _"Don't waste you damn time on some dumbass like me." _He had also refused help as the young man climbed back onto his saddle, almost swaying at the pure intense pain that surged through his entire body. Simone had seen his struggle as color drained from his face, and now would not leave his side even when it meant being across from the Female Titan.

Unlike Klaus and many others, the Female Titan was uninjured. She had been successfully protected the entire time since the Survey Corps had left Wall Rose. Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Yeager were also uninjured, but their expressions were grim as they stared at the Wall before their eyes. Klaus wondered what they were thinking. He of all others knew of their history. With former Commander Armin Arlert, both of the senior members of the military had fled Wall Maria when it was invaded by Titans ten years ago. Their entire home, Shingashina District, was destroyed and most of its citizens eaten. _And…Eren Yeager's mother was devoured by a Titan before his very eyes. _

Klaus' dark gray eyes followed the back of brown-haired man that bore the Wings of Freedom. _Do you hate them even now as much as I hated you, Eren Yeager? _His question remained unanswered as Klaus saw Mikasa Ackerman raised her hand to go forward. Slowly, the Survey Corps members rode on their horses into the fallen Wall. Klaus had been surprised of how similar the architecture was compared to the buildings of the outer Wall. The buildings were cracked and many of them leaned on their side, the windows broken and the bricks sliding off the roofs. The cobbled streets were stained with blood, old blood but still against the street where people died. Klaus could see boulders thrown by the Colossal Titan were still buried into the fallen houses, the wood and glass splintered and broken. Klaus could see most of the older members of the Survey Corps staring somberly at the sight of the former district. Klaus could vaguely understand what they were feeling, as he had seen with his very eyes the destruction of his own district of Wall Rose. The blood. The screams. Lily shouting at him to leave, _pleading _the three year old boy he had been to run as her blood had rained on his tender face. The feeling of a Titan's hand around his body, tears streaking down his face as he tried to scream. Commander Armin, the young man that had saved his life from certain death, his kind blue eyes boring into his own.

Despite the memories of that day, however, Klaus recognized the sharp difference that the older members and his own experience. Again, his focus turned onto Eren Yeager and Mikasa Ackerman. He couldn't see their faces, and Klaus wondered what it must be like for them to be here again. _This is where everything began, _the young man thought as he briefly stared at the sky. _Everything. _For a brief moment, Klaus simply looked ahead as the Survey Corps went deeper into the former district. Then he started noticing signs. There was no dust or grime in the places where they walked, despite the fifteen year vacancy. There were scents that should not have existed in such a place as this, and smears of blood, fresh and dark, were against the walls. _Shit! _Klaus thought as his dark gray eyes widened. _There are people here! _The others thought of similar lines, and Mikasa Ackerman called them to bear their weapons as she ran forward with his blades across her chest. Blade met blade as a figure suddenly appeared from the shadows. A tall and bulky man with chopped light blond hair strained his blade against Commander Mikasa Ackerman's.

"It is good to see you again, Mikasa." Klaus' eyes narrowed, inwardly shocked at the man's familiarity with the senior Survey Corps member as their weapons clashed against each other. The man was wearing a tan shirt, worn and thin against his skin, and his small eyes stared at the woman before him. "You're still alive," he stated as if in an afterthought.

"Reiner," Commander Mikasa Ackerman hissed. The fury and barely concealed disgust echoed across Eren Yeager's face as well. His hands were white and his lips drew into a snarl. Klaus stiffened at the mention of Reiner's name. _Reiner Braun, the Armored Titan, the Titan-shifter that kidnapped Eren Yeager ten years ago? _Across from him, the Female Titan did not change her emotionless expression at the sight of her former comrade. _ Then…that must mean… _Before anyone could move, the Survey Corps were surrounded. Klaus could see the men and women were not holding any defensive weapon in their hands. _They don't have to, _Klaus thought grimly. _They're Titan-shifters. _He could see most of them were young, around Reiner's age with hardened eyes and a grim stare. Others were younger and his age, having the same eyes that Reiner and their comrades had. _They would be willing to kill us any moment, and they wouldn't even blink._

"You bastard!" Eren Yeager shouted. Rage echoed across his face. "You _had _to screw this up, didn't you?" He was breathing hard. "You had to fuck up our plans to take back Wall Maria!" Then suddenly he smirked maliciously. "I thought all of you bastards were dead. Dead with your insides eaten by your so-called _comrades _as it should have been. It should have happened that day."

The Armored Titan stared at Eren Yeager with fire in his eyes. "No, Eren. This time, it will be _your _insides on the Wall as you are defeated." Dark pools of blue met furious emerald. "I know that you want to transform now, but you cannot. I knew you for three years, after all." There was a heavy pause. "You would simply cause the surviving members of your squad to die if you attack me here with my comrades here standing beside me, and…you do not like causing deaths, do you?" He smirked at the shocked and then murderous expression Eren Yeager had.

"_You bastard…" _

"I will need to talk to my former comrade, Eren." The Armored Titan's gaze rested on the Female Titan's, and they did not look away. "I will judge her worth, to see if she is worthy to partake in the last slaughter of humanity." Klaus' grip on his swords tightened at the sight of the Titan-shifter speaking so calmly about the deaths of the humans. He could feel Simone stiffen beside him. "After your deaths, of course." For a brief moment, his eyes averted to Mikasa Ackerman, who was still bearing her sword. "Lower your sword. All of you." His eyes observed the Survey Corps with grim eyes. "Otherwise, everyone will die again. And _this _time, we will not make any mistakes. There will be no heroes for humanity, will there?"

The moment the sword clattered to the ground was the moment when the Titan-shifters rounded up the Survey Corps. No one struggled as each of the survivors were led to a broken house, the threat of death still in their minds. Klaus wouldn't allow the Titan-shifters to touch him, relentlessly glaring at them as Simone was being led behind him. They were led to a door, which opened to a very small room without a window. As the door opened to their _prison, _the Titan-shifter pushed Klaus and Simone into the room before slamming the door. His back collided against the wall, agony burning through him as the throb of his broken ribs screamed and as his wound started to reopen. Klaus thought he heard Simone's voice as she called his name, but he only became aware of blackness moments subsequently later as he blacked out.


	17. Protecting Humanity

_Protecting Humanity _

"Hey boy, are you awake yet?"

Klaus blearily opened his eyes. He found himself staring at the ceiling, the brown walls darker than they had been previously. He could see nothing else, and when the young man attempted to sit up, he found a hand on his shoulder.

"You're awake at last." Relief immediately coated a voice that was slightly rugged and tired. Klaus' dark gray eyes bored into Simone's tired blue ones, following the dark circles under her eyes. Klaus suddenly became aware of how his head was not against the hard floor, but something warm and familiar. _The Survey Corps' cloak, _Klaus immediately thought as he observed further that Simone's back was suddenly bare except for the uniform that she had. As Klaus sat up from the make-shift bed, he was aware of the Female Titan staring at him.

"I thought you would never awake," the Female Titan uttered under her breath. Her face was not towards him, but he could hear the smirk in her tone. "You were unconscious for hours." Klaus opened his mouth for an open retort, but suddenly the Female Titan turned towards them. His eyes widened, and Simone gulped.

_They tortured her, _he thought with disgust. The stump of where a hand had been was healing from the steam, but Klaus could see the Female Titan grit her teeth in pain. Numerous cuts and bruises covered her entire body, and the flesh around the eye socket was so swollen it looked like dead tissue with smeared blood. The Female Titan noticed their staring and scoffed.

"Did you think they would treat me with kindness?" she asked with dripping sarcasm. "They do not treat traitors well."

"You were their former comrade," Simone stated as her lips became a thin line, "and you were captured. You didn't actually betray them."

The Female Titan gave them a tight smile. "It doesn't matter if we were captured or if we defected. We are given explicit orders to either flee, or if not that, die. And you, boy?" The Female Titan stared at Klaus, her bloodied face burning into his mind. "I actually see concern on your face."

"I wouldn't torture a former comrade, no matter how angry I became." Klaus stated gravely at the Titan-shifter. For a moment she appeared surprised. Then, she laughed.

"You are a different man than your father, boy." Her blond hair slightly pressed against her forehead as she put her hand to her forehead with a smirk. "He would have tortured me, just like my so-called _comrades_."

Klaus bristled at the mention of his father. His eyes narrowed. "I am a different person from my father. In several ways," he stated more softly, "I am more like my mother." Klaus could not look at the Female Titan in the eye at the mention of his parents. The rage he had possessed as she mockingly told him about their deaths burned within him still, and he was certain he would not like what he would find if he dared to look at her.

"Hello?" Klaus cursed under his breath at the sound of the voice. The weapons had been taken from them, and now they had no way of defending themselves. Although the speaker sounded as if it belonged to a child, Klaus knew that the child could attack them at any given point. _Especially given in the shitty situation we're fucking in, _he glowered. "Hello?"

"You can come inside," Simone stated with relative caution. The door opened with a creak, and a pair of large pair of brown eyes stared at the room for a moment before hiding. The scent of bread and soup faintly wafted into the air, and a small child carried a tray as she walked into the room.

"Hello," the child stated cheerfully as she set down the tray before the two members of the Survey Corps and the Female Titan. The child's smile faltered at the silence, and she appeared more subdued as she moved the wooden forks and spoons to the dishes. "Thank you," she stated quietly. The dress that she wore faintly rose as she began to walk quickly away.

"Wait." The child turned, her eyes widened in fear as she stared at Klaus' glowering expression. "Are you a Titan-shifter?"

Immediately the child brightened. "Yep!" She did not appear to be concerned with Klaus' glare aimed at her or the shock on Simone's face when she spoke. "I just started training!"

"Training?" Simone's present shock faded at the words. A pensive look appeared on her face. "What do mean by training?"

The child looked at her in confusion. Klaus observed now that child was wearing a small light blue dress to her knees. Her hair was dark brown, similar to her eyes, and her hands were small and…covered in scars?

"They begin their training as soon as they can, where they learn the art of combat use the Titan's body to their advantage." Klaus and Simone looked sharply at the Female Titan, who was the one that spoke. Her voice was toneless and her stare far away as the child smiled.

Before the small Titan-shifter could speak, however, Klaus spoke.

"What do you mean, as soon as they can?" The Female Titan stared at him in relative contempt.

"You know nothing, boy." A sharp laugh barked from her. "None of you do." For a brief moment, dull anger appeared in her eyes. "Did you really think that Titans suddenly appeared out of nowhere? That they suddenly came and attacked the innocent and just humanity?" The scorn in her voice increased as she spoke, almost spitting out the words. Instead of asking a question that would only give them a glare and a dark look, Klaus and Simone waited for the older Titan-shifter to speak.

"Titans were originally humans." At their stunned expressions, the Female Titan gave them a rare pensive look. "Have you noticed that when you kill a Titan, the death blow is where the nape of the neck is? Humans used to be killed that way too." For a moment, she was silent. "I know you don't believe me, like the stupid fools you are, but Titans were created in a scientific experiment gone wrong." A sneer appeared on her face. "Humans wanted to live forever. They thought by using dead bodies, it would revive the dead and make it so the dead could never be dead again. Instead, they got Titans."

"How do we know that you're not lying to us?"

The Female Titan turned, the expression on her face enraged. "Why the hell would I lie about something as pathetic and _evil _as this?" she hissed. Her face darkened, and Klaus felt slight sweat gathering along his neck as she stared deeply into his eyes. "Do you think Titans _want _to eat people?" Her expression calmed into one of sorrow. "Do you think Titan-shifters especially _want _to eat humans because they hate humanity?"

"No." Simone stated, her voice barely audible and hoarse.

"No," the Female Titan repeated back. Klaus observed of how her blond hair slightly stuck against her forehead as beads of perspiration dripped from her forehead. "Titans only eat people to fulfill their only desire: to become human again. All Titans used to be human. Once eaten, they either died or lived anew as a _monster_ or a bringer of death." Her blue eyes stared at the paling expression of Klaus' face. "It is all true, boy. All the Titans that your foolish father and stupid mother, and everyone killed, used to human."

Klaus couldn't speak. His mind refused all thoughts. His heartbeat echoed in his mind, and he physically felt himself becoming sick at the words echoed in his mind. _I've been killing humans all this time. And Father…and Mother…could have become Titans too. Adrian… _His fists clenched.

"Why…do some people become Titans and others don't?"

"Who knows?" The Female Titan whispered mostly to herself. Her eyes briefly caught Klaus' horrified expression and Simone's subdued one. "It happens upon chance. Like it did with me." She nodded in the direction of the child. "Like it did with her."

"How do you know that you are a Titan? Captain Eren didn't know he was one until he was almost eaten by a Titan." Simone was looking at the Female Titan with wide eyes and a breathless voice. She glanced at the child, who was looking at scene as if she knew what they were speaking about.

"I don't want to talk about that idiot Yeager," the Female Titan muttered irritably. "A Titan-shifter is born after he or she eats another of their kind. After that…we retain the ability to become a Titan."

_So…Eren Yeager became a Titan because he ate a Titan-shifter, _Klaus thought. _He has amnesia about what had happened, though. He doesn't know anything. _

"Why do you fight us?" The Female Titan looked at him, his angry eyes searching hers. "Why do you continue to break humanity instead of helping us?"

"We are the ones protecting humanity, boy."

"What a load of bullshit," Klaus hissed. He was aware of his nails digging wounds into his palms. "You're not helping humanity, you're enslaving it!"

"Enslaving it?" The word appeared to amuse the Female Titan and it caused Klaus to become angrier. "Perhaps. This warrior business is not helping humanity, either. If there…_was_ such a thing in the first place." For a moment, solemnness overcame her, and Klaus continued to observe as the Female Titan finally sighed and spoke again. "We are taught from the moment we are found by other Titan-shifters that we are the protectors of humanity. It is because of our strength and protection that humanity does not advance."

"What do you protect humanity from?" Klaus heard Simone ask.

The Female Titan glanced at the female Survey Corps member. "From itself." She stood, the stump from the vacant hand still steaming. Her eyes glanced at the unseen sky. "Humans have always craved violence. Always have loved the tears and the blood that comes with conflict. It feels good, especially under a banner of so-called _freedom _and _justice_." _Erwin Smith, _Klaus thought of as the Titan-shifter continued to speak. He thought about the man that sacrificed so much for the _"good" _for humanity. Although his father and mother had treated that one man with so much respect, Klaus did not. He couldn't…for the simple reason that the man appeared to relish in the blood spilled by so many of his people. He thought they were happy to die for his sake. _Unlike my father and Commander Armin…who were aware of every sacrifice they made. _"We protect humanity from itself, for the peace will be destroyed if the humans are ever free again."

"Peace?" Klaus dangerously whispered. The word hissed from his mouth, and the young man's face darkened. "How is this peace? You killed my mother, _crushed _her spine, slaughtered her comrades, and _ate _my father!" He stood, facing her emotionless eyes as he started to yell. "How is this peace? Living in fear, and an inch away from death? Your former comrades caused this same Wall we are in to collapse, and many lost their lives that day!" He inched closer to her. "And Wall Rose…it was almost destroyed. I lost my entire _life _because of you Titan-shifters, and you are saying that you are doing this for _peace_?"

"Stop it!" The yelling ceased as Klaus' dark gray eyes widened at the sight of the small Titan-shifter crying before him. "Please…" she whimpered. "Please…stop." Her voice trembled as she sobbed. "I don't…like fighting, but we have to!" Her eyes were drowning in sadness. "We don't have a choice! When we wake up, we have no memory of who we are, and sometimes we don't remember _anything_! All we do is train and fight to protect, and we often are told that we're warriors." Hot and thick tears trailed down her face. "…Because otherwise the world will become like _that_!"

"Since all of us were found, we don't have a childhood. We…don't have a life, really." The Female Titan whispered as the child continued to cry. "We are given a name, and the Titan-shifter that trains us becomes our parent. Then…in accordance to make certain we are worthy of being a warrior…we _eat _our caretaker and take their power." Klaus was stunned to find tears rolling down the Female Titan's cheeks. She didn't seem to notice them. "The first Titan-shifter remembered the history of humans before the Walls, and she passed down the history and her creed...all for the sake of being a warrior and protecting humanity."

"What was it that the child talked about?" Klaus rasped. Beside him, Simone was listening as her lips trembled.

"Something terrible," was the only reply.

"What is your name?" Klaus sharply looked up and found Simone staring at the child, who was drying her tears. Hearing a question, she brightened.

"My name is Lily, miss!" A smile appeared on her face. A true, genuine smile. _As if asking a person's name was the best thing in the world… _Klaus thought morosely. "There's not very many children here," she stated softly. "And then there's Miss Historia…but…" _Historia? _Klaus thought as he narrowed his eyes at the sound of the name. _Historia Reiss, member of the 104th trainees' squad, who was kidnaped by Ymir when Eren Yeager was taken by the Armored Titan and the Colossal Titan? _Then Lily immediately looked into Klaus' eyes, and he was stunned by the amount of hope and happiness she had in her gaze. "I'm so happy to meet you…um…"

"My name is Simone, and his name is Klaus," the younger blond replied. The child gasped and nodded eagerly.

"Mr. Klaus and Ms. Simone!" Klaus winced at the high octave that the young girl stated her words. "I know that I'm not supposed to, but I'm happy that got to meet you!" Suddenly the child picked up the tray and smiled again as she said, "I'm glad we're friends!" The door closed.

There was silence.

"Do you truly think all Titans are evil now?" The Female Titan stated to the two Survey Corps members, who were now looking down at the meal that Lily had given them. The bread was cold and more than likely hard, and the soup's clearness reminded them of a stream they had once passed on their expedition to Wall Maria. "Eren Yeager would say yes, all Titans are evil, but he has not heard what you have heard, and has not seen Lily, the innocent and naïve reflection that all of us Titan-shifters had when we were found." She paused. "I ask you this."

"No." Klaus stared at the Titan-shifter, his expression hard and unrelenting. "Titans are not evil. However, I still believe that the world should not have them here. They need to cease to exist. I…will not have mercy upon any of those that could take anything from me." He took a deep breath. "That is the truth."

"Good then." The Female Titan stared at him in more interest than she had before. "As I was being reunited with my comrades, I had a talk with your superiors." The two young adults' expressions sharpened at the mention of the most senior members of the Survey Corps. "They agree with my plan. I…will be executed tomorrow, for the punishment of my crimes. As Reiner, the Armored Titan, begins to decapitate me, your commander will kill him. Then he will kill as many Titans as he can…including little Lily." Klaus met her eyes. She seemed to be watching their expressions. Simone too did manage to keep her gaze, and remained calm.

"That's a shitty plan," Klaus immediately retorted.

He thought he saw a smirk on the Female Titan's face as Simone observed the situation quietly.

"It is the only plan we have, boy. So it would be good if you –" Her voice died in her throat. Her blue eyes widened almost impossibly wide, and her hand immediately clutched her head, her expression marred in pain.

"What's wrong?" Simone whispered, approaching the Female Titan. She stood and then crouched down to the Titan-shifter's shaking form, her blue eyes clouded with alarm.

"Those fools," the Female Titan whispered as she clutched her head. "They hit my head too hard. And now –"

She stared at Simone. Her face became pale, and her mouth moved, but nothing came out. For a moment, it reminded Klaus of the moment when Simone had told her that Commander Armin was dead.

"Daughter?"


	18. Simone's Secret

_Simone's Secret_

"W-what?" Simone was staring at the Female Titan with impossibly wide eyes from the sharp gasp that the Titan-shifter had whispered. Klaus as well stared at the Female Titan sitting before them, a lost look in his gaze. Had he heard correct? _"Daughter?" _His mind appeared unfocused, and he was only aware of staring at the two women before him thinking, _What the fuck is going on?_

It was then that the Female Titan spoke again. "I…remember now." Her tongue slightly moved over her lips hesitantly, almost as if she was afraid to take a breath. "The pain. Seeing your little face before you were taken away." Simone flinched, her lips visibly trembling at the ghost of a smile that appeared on the Female Titan's mouth and as a pale hand reached toward her. "Daughter…"

"Don't touch me!" Simone's voice caught in her throat as a panicked expression came onto her voice. She was holding her now shaking hand, her eyes wide and uneven breaths escaping from her as the Female Titan continued to look at her with an unknown expression on her face. "Y-you're lying!" Immediately after stating those words, Simone's voice became shrill. "You're _lying_!" _I have never seen such intense emotion on her face, _Klaus thought as he vaguely watched the scene before him. _In the three years that I have known her, I have yet to see such…intenseness of her emotions. I've seen her as cold as she was when we first met, kicking the shitty bastard Albert in the balls, and as calm as the blue-sea in her eyes as she studied and read and thought, and as fierce as she fought in battle training. As warm as the sun... I have never seen her like this, _Klaus thought as he watched Simone's face becoming paler by the moment. "My father would never…!" She couldn't even finish her sentence. "My mother died when I was an infant!" she yelled. The Female Titan remained impassive, as if still in her own thoughts. Her blue eyes remained distant as Simone stood in front of her, her eyes now flaming in rage as she glared at the perceived deceiver. "How dare you speak of such accusations!"

Now the Female Titan looked up. The expression was not one of contempt, of sadness, or of mockery, but of understanding. Klaus could only observe as the Titan-shifter spoke carefully to young panting young woman who was before her. "I know you do not want to believe me." Her voice was subdued. Her eyes lowered. "Your father was Armin Arlert, the 14th commander of the Survey Corps, wasn't he?" Both Klaus and Simone were stunned to find a fond smile on the Titan-shifter face as she had apparent memories of the late respected commander. "I remember his courage and intelligence in the Survey Corps and in life." She stared at Simone. "You have inherited both, I see. Trapping me in defending the Survey Corps for the love I have for your father and defending that ignorant boy over there. But," she sighed, "I speak the truth." Her blue eyes glinted. "I am your mother, Simone."

The blond young woman flinched at the sound of her name coming from those lips. "You're not speaking the truth!" The Survey Corps member shouted as her fists shook. "My _real _mother died of an illness before I could develop any memory of her! My father and I visited her grave every morning!" Tears rolled down her cheeks as her eyes darkened at the mention of her father. "I still did…even after he died."

"I hate to disappoint you, but your so-called real mother was a fake. She didn't exist." The Female Titan's blue eyes fixated on Simone's. "Have you ever noticed how, perhaps, your father never told you stories about her?"

Klaus could see Simone swallowing hard, and for a moment he wished he could take her hand in his. "You're wrong! My father…he told me of how my mother was a strong woman, of how her smile was rare but beautiful, and her fighting was skilled!" For a brief moment, Simone closed her eyes and gathered her breath before she spoke again. "It was she that taught him the skills that he taught me!"

"Foolish child." Now the Female Titan smiled, looking at Simone as if she was a child, and not one that had known hardship and death. "Did you think that the person he talked about was me?" Suddenly she stood, and her face was dangerously towards Simone's. "Look into my eyes. Remember what I just told you about my former community and the Titans. Do my words seem to be the words of a lair to you? And…look closely for anything else."

As Simone's eyes bored into the Female Titan's own, a shook rippled through Klaus as he realized how similar they looked. _I look very much like my father, _Klaus thought as he thought about his own dark raven hair and his dark gray eyes. _And Simone… _Their height was almost the same. Klaus remembered a distant memory of Adrian teasing the blond about being shorter than even Klaus, and the glare aimed at him that shut him up. Klaus had glowered at his best friend's comment. _Finally someone is shorter than me in this shit-filled life, _he had thought as he watched Simone walk away as Adrian walked warily behind. Their structural features on their faces were similar, although as a younger girl, Simone had looked very much like her father, with her softness of her face. The shade of her hair was darker, identical to her father's, but what caught Klaus' attention was her eyes. Light blue, like the sky or the sea that Simone talked about with the same fondness as she did about her father. Her eyes had been the first thing that Klaus had noticed about the nine year old girl, and that was what had captivated him.

"My father would never…" Simone's voice faltered as she noted of the exact same eyes that stared back at her. There was a slight desperation in her voice now as she spoke. "My father would _never_…"

"What proof do you have that you are Simone's mother besides similarities in your appearance?" Klaus asked. He was aware of the Female Titan's stare. "Commander Armin would never sleep with such a monster, and even if he could, you were still in that goddamn shitty cocoon that you made."

A smirk now appeared on her face. "For some reason, Armin's touch had an effect on the stability of my goddamn shitty cocoon, as you say. I didn't see him as my enemy," she stated with a calm voice as a fondness echoed within in. "No one else was able to penetrate the source…except him."

"How?" Klaus whispered as Simone stood still beside him. He couldn't see her face. "How…did this happen?" _If it did, which I fucking doubt. _Klaus thought furiously as he stared into the Female Titan's eyes. _There is no possible reason why Commander Armin would betray humanity…not with his dedication and his heart. _Klaus' fists clenched, and his face started to morph in rage. _I admired him almost as much as Father, and there is no way that…_

"Think about the day that changed your lives forever," the Female Titan stated dryly as she stared at the glowering young man and the trembling young woman. "Think about the day I destroyed your life, you useless boy."

It felt as if cold water had been poured over his head as the answer came into his mind. "The day Wall Rose almost fell," he gasped. His dark gray eyes haunted from the memories. The Female Titan was silent as a vague look of sadness came into her eyes.

"He came to me," she whispered. Klaus thought that the Female Titan had cried her tears away, but he was wrong. Tears trailed down her cheeks, thick and falling onto the floor. "Wounded and blind, lost at the brokenness of the world. He had been abandoned by his _friends,_" here she gave a bark of ironic laughter, "and lost the only person that been the closest thing to a connection that he had." Was that bitterness in her voice? "Jean Kirstein…how I had heard that name many times."

_"Annie!" …Armin? The Titan-shifter thought she heard of the voice that had haunted her dreams. "Annie!" His voice sounded…wrong. Desperate. Pleading. Broken. There was a catch to his voice that Annie had not heard before, and she could almost physically feel his pain as she felt his form above her sleeping. "Please, wake up…Annie!" A choked sob escaped from his lips. "Please…I need someone! Anyone!" Annie could almost imagine his face, pale and shaken with red-rimmed eyes with tears rolling down his face. His blue eyes dark in sorrow and grief. How she had wanted many times to kiss his tears away. "I don't care…anymore…everyone….is dead. They…abandoned me, Annie. My friends!" A scream came from him, a scream that Annie knew well. She had done the same when she had eaten her "father." Sobs and crying were heard. "They…say I'm a monster. Can you imagine, Annie? Me…a monster?" A torn laugh escaped from him. "But…I am worthy of such. I…let Jean die. Jean…who was with me…every step…and who saved me. Why…?" he whimpered. "Why…did he die? Why did he leave me alone? I…begged him not to go, but he was torn in half…with so much blood, and so much _everything _that came out of him as he was…taken by the hand and eaten in front of me…he told me to run…to keep on fighting…and I did. I…Annie…" his voice was almost inaudible now as emotion started to wither away. "I…let everyone die…and Jean…" He touched her at the location of her heart, and suddenly the barrier gave away. Annie could only stare at Armin's face. Blood of where his sightless eyes had once seen were dripping tears of blood. A bandage covered them. His face was wan, and his hand, once free of blood was now smeared with it. _

_ "Annie…" he whispered._

_ "Armin…" she gasped. She had no time to reply as he suddenly lowered his mouth onto hers. She could taste despair, grief, and _pain_ as his mouth started to move against hers. Soon nothing was aware to them as a feeling more than emptiness and despair enveloped them._

"Your father was wounded in the battle," the Female Titan stated with grief so deep it shock Klaus that she could feel such a thing. "He was blind. The friends that had been with him since childhood had abandoned him, calling him a monster and a traitor. The only person that he had started to trust more than his own life and was starting to understand him, died in front of his very own eyes before losing his sight. So much death that he saw…and so much loss and disappointment in himself, that he found comfort in me."

"You took advantage of him," Simone rasped. Her voice shook, and Klaus could hear the growing desperation. The Female Titan looked at her with pity.

"No." Her voice was short. "We took advantage of each other."

For a moment, there was only silence. Simone was deeply breathing. Klaus could hear her shaken breaths coming from her, and her wan face echoed in her mind. Tears were starting to appear in her eyes.

"I became pregnant that day, and Armin took care of me during the long ninth months. He would always say that it was his responsibility, and that he was sorry what he had done to me. I didn't care," the Female Titan breathed. Her blond hair slightly framed her face she combed it. "I was just happy that at least he was by my side. It didn't matter that I was to be guarded with extreme caution even as I carried a human child inside me," she whispered. "I just…wanted him by my side. When you were born," the Female Titan stated to Simone, "I remember looking at your small face, sleeping in Armin's arms even minutes old. With only a tuft of blond hair, and my eyes. Armin…after you were born…wrapped you up in a blanket and held you to him." She closed her eyes and sighed. "He told me that he would take care of you, and would make certain that you would never know about me."

"He took your memory away?" Klaus asked incredulously. His mind almost refused to imagine the kind and gentle commander to do such a thing…almost. He thought of his own father, appearing cold and unapproachable to the Survey Corps, and of how the man would take his tiny hand in his and ruffle his hair. Take him to see the flowers in the garden. And would allow him, sometimes, to climb in his lap and sleep. _A cold person can be kind…and a merciful person can be ruthless… _Klaus thought again about Eren Yeager and Mikasa Ackerman, and of their actions had changed his future. And of how he hated them.

"He did." The Female Titan's face appeared impassive. "It wasn't just for me, however. Although Armin knew that I loved him during our time together, he continued to see me as the enemy that I had made myself to be." She looked at Simone, pale and shaking as tears rolled down her cheeks. "He didn't want to hurt you, Simone. He didn't want you to know the truth of your birth, and who your true mother was."

"How do you know?" Simone whispered. Her voice was almost inaudible and thick from the tears that she had shed. Her face was red, and tears continued to trail down her face. "How do you know?" she suddenly screamed, her voice shrill. "How do you know…that he…that my father…" A choked sob escaped from her throat as Simone collapsed onto the floor and sobbed moans of despair.

"I know he did," the Female Titan whispered to her daughter. "He loved you more than I could. I could see that even from the brief time when you were in his arms. He loved you…as a mother would love a daughter, as a grandfather would love his grandchild, and as a mother would love her daughter. Armin was capable of such love. That was why I pity his friends that abandoned him, and why I _know _he loved you more than life." For a brief moment, an emotion similar to regret struck the Female Titan's face as she stared at the blond prone figure with tears in her eyes. "He loved you, protected you, and cared for you. I suspect…he even advanced your age with a modified Titan experiment that crazy woman was trying to make me take…just so that you would be more prepared for his death."

"Stop!" Simone screamed. "Stop it!" She covered her ears desperately, making Klaus see her swollen eyes and despairing face. _"Stop!" _At her strangled cry, Klaus' resistance crumbled, and he held her up with his arms, her face immediately burying in his chest. The expression of his face caused the Female Titan to nod, taking herself away from where the broken daughter of Armin Arlert cried.

"Why, Klaus?" was her only whisper. She didn't look at him. "Why…did my father do this?" A fresh stream of tears trailed down her face. "I…"

"My father made his own mistakes too," Klaus told her as he remembered the brief conversation he had with Hanji-_san _shortly after first meeting the Female Titan. He had demanded, and later shamefully cried in front of her, asking of the reason why he had been born, the harsh words of the Titan-shifter poisoning his mind. "He made a decision that cost the life of the only friends he had, and he regretted that choice since that day. My father…after that, closed his heart off, and never let anyone inside until he met my mother. And," he stated with a heavy sigh, "I asked her why the reason why I was here as well. Many soldiers in the Survey Corps do not have children of their own, especially with other soldiers." At these words, Simone looked at him, observing his solemn expression through her swollen eyes. "My parents must have known this, and yet I remember their smiles and kind words, I can recall nothing but the love they had for me. Hanji-_san _told me that they wanted me, no matter what had happened, because the small moments of happiness were more than anything that would ever have." Klaus glanced down at Simone's tear-stained cheeks. "I remember the stories you told me about your father. I remember the love and adoration you had for him, and the longing that matched my eyes when I talked about Father and Mother. I may not like her," Klaus whispered, "but I think she was right when she talked about your father."

Simone closed her eyes and swallowed. Her breathing had calmed, but there was still uncertainty in her eyes when she said, "My father betrayed humanity, Klaus."

"As did my father," Klaus stated, more softly now as tears continued to appear in the blond's eyes. "He…was about to kill Commander Erwin Smith for forcing him to join the Survey Corps, which would have resulted in chaos if my father had been able to abandon the humanity in his heart. I…still love my father and respect him despite of his actions in the past, and I think in your heart you still love _your_ father as well." Simone could not look at him for a moment. Then, she turned her eyes towards him.

"I…know that my father made a mistake…but you told me one night that people make a choice that they will not know what is wrong or right until the result. Now I'm thinking that perhaps my father…made a decision of no regrets, not based on his actions of that day, but because of _me_." She bit her lip as she trembled. "He loved me. He loved me even though I was a result of a mistake out of grief and despair, and I…realize now as you say this, that I love him still." The blond lied her head on Klaus' shoulder. "The Female Titan…was my mother, but I feel no connection to her. There is only the bond between my father and I." Her face crumpled, and a few tears leaked from her eyes.

"Klaus?" she whispered after a couple of moments.

"What?" he asked somewhat irritably.

"Could I…tell you about my father? I…want to talk about the man who meant so much to me," Simone stated in an exhausted whisper. As Klaus listened to Simone's voice as she talked about her earliest memories, Klaus was reminded for a moment of his parents, of how their hushed voices would always be the lullaby. When he could not sleep during the days on the streets with Adrian, Klaus would often remind himself of their voices. It was now, that he realized as his Simone's fading voice echoed, that there was another voice that calmed him enough to fall asleep to. Before he was finally able to fall asleep with Simone by his side, Klaus thought he saw a smile on her face.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Mikasa." The woman looked over to her shoulder, to where Eren's wounds were still healing. The beating he had taken for her sake had been nothing like what Levi had given him all those years ago. Now as Mikasa stared into Eren's empty eye socket, she thought of what they had planned. "Do you think we can still trust, Annie? Even after what she did?"<p>

"We have no choice," Mikasa stated to the brown-haired man as his wounds steamed. "Either it works, or it doesn't." At the sight of Eren wincing slightly, Mikasa put her hand on his shoulder. Their height differences, even at this angle, were more pronounced than ten years ago when it had all began. "Are you okay?" Eren's green eyes slightly misted, and he didn't answer the dark-haired woman. "Eren?

"I'm okay, Mikasa," Eren stated somewhat irritably. He raised his nonexistent hand and shook his head. "I'm just…thinking." The man closed his eyes for a moment. "Do you have any regrets?" he sighed. Mikasa could see of how Eren was struggling to hold his emotions. He always had, even being at the age he was. "I do. I have a lot of them." He took a deep breath, and he swallowed, the pain of fifteen years bottled inside resurfacing. "I…could have done something more, Mikasa." His voice was tight with guilt.

"There is nothing you can do now," the Asian woman stated to her foster brother. "You have to move on, Eren. Like Historia." Her voice slightly lowered at the mention of the grown woman. Historia Reiss, as she had revealed herself to be before being kidnapped, had lived in the forgotten community of Titan-shifters for ten years. She had barely gained any height, and her clothes were worn and her face tired, but the blond woman now appeared happy. Happier than she had been during the three years that Mikasa had seen her. _Freedom, _her entire being seemed to say. How could such a human be free in such a place like this? Mikasa had thought. The woman had left after Eren had furiously stated that he would kill all the Titan-shifters and her included as she talked about the Armored Titan and the Colossal Titan as if they were family. Historia had almost balked at Eren's murderous statements, before sending him a murderous glare of her own. _"You know nothing, Eren. Absolutely _nothing._" _Neither Eren nor Mikasa had seen her since.

"I…regret many things, but living a lie with evil monsters isn't one of them," snarled Eren hotly. Then his expression became sorrowful. "I regret not making up with Armin." Pain filled his eyes. "He saved me, at the cost of his life. And…I can never say the words I desperately wanted to say to him."

"We will meet him again in due time," Mikasa stated at the thought of the weak boy that had become the Commander of the Survey Corps. Just as she had done. She too, although it was only after his death that she realized it, that she had regrets as well. _I was angry at him for abandoning Eren…and I didn't stop and think of the lives that he had saved for defying that order. I thought he didn't care about Eren and all, thinking he was disposable…and yet, why did he save his former friend, when we ignored his existence and friendship originating from childhood? _Mikasa allowed herself a small smile at the thought. _Armin, you truly were a strong man. Stronger than we could ever be. _

"I do, Eren. I have regrets like any other human, but I am happy I was able to spend my life with you." Mikasa turned towards the window, and could see the stars from where they were.

"I as well," Eren whispered as the night was born.

Tomorrow would be a long day.

* * *

><p>There is a major bloodbath ahead, and the last chapter before the epilogue.<p> 


	19. Victory of the Fallen

_Victory of the Fallen_

"We are here today because there is a traitor among us." The Armored Titan stood in the center of the former district, glancing sharply at the faces staring at the bound prisoner. Klaus was aware of the impassive face of the Female Titan. Her light blue eyes were empty, staring at the ground beneath her feet. Since the truth about the circumstances of Simone's birth had been spoken, the young woman and the Titan-shifter had not glanced at each other even once. _"There is nothing but the bond between my father and I." _Simone's heartfelt words echoed in Klaus' mind as his dark gray eyes followed her face. The paleness that he had seen was only a memory, but her hands were gripped tightly against her sides, and she had not spoken since she and the surviving Survey Corps members had been ushered into the center of the former district.

_This plan is shitty, _Klaus thought as he shortly glanced at Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Yeager, who were beside each other several leagues away. _But it the _only _one we have. _The teen thought back to the blond Survey Corps member, who had wept and despaired about the secrets of her birth. Klaus himself had been beyond stunned when he had heard from the Female Titan's lips that the future commander, who had saved his life, had slept with the Titan-shifter in a moment of despair and grief, resulting in Simone's subsequent conception. At her birth, Commander Armin Arlert had erased the Female Titan's memory of the events, and raised the female child as his own without any knowledge of her heritage. The young woman that had once admired and adored her father had feelings of betrayal and despair. It was not until Klaus had told her about his own father's mistakes, and her head against his shoulder as he whispered to her, that Simone had sobbed and accepted the truth.

_"I still love him no matter what he did," _she had whispered to the young man as loving stories about her father came from her. _"I…remember one time when one night, we didn't speak but only looked at the stars. It felt so beautiful at that moment, and I was so _happy _to be alive that day, to be with my father and to hear his breathless laughter." _Silver tears had leaked from her eyes, but Klaus noted of how peaceful her eyes looked. _"That memory is precious to me, Klaus, as are _all _the memories of my father. …I do not need Annie Leonhardt." _

_ She is still disturbed, however. _Klaus broke his gaze from her and stared at the Female Titan. His thoughts were shortly disrupted, however, when he heard the Armored Titan speak again.

"Annie Leonhardt betrayed us!" At his shout, the Titan-shifters began to cheer and shout with him. "She had forgotten the code that bounded us to this world!" His small eyes glinted. "And punishment must be implemented!" A large sword from the hand of the Colossal Titan was handed over to him, causing another cheer to erupt. As the chaos reigned around them, Klaus' gaze wandered to Mikasa Ackerman. She had not yet moved. He could see the Armored Titan's breath linger on his former comrades. "Any last words?" The bound Titan-shifter didn't speak, and for a mere moment, Klaus thought her gaze lingered on him and consequently, Simone. Her light blue eyes held nothing.

"Good ahead." Her voice was calm and somewhat mocking. "Make it quick."

The sword was raised, but it never gleamed with red blood. As fast as light, Mikasa Ackerman crouched and was about to slice the nape of the Armored Titan when there was a sound of crunching bone.

The shocked face burned into Klaus' mind as he witnessed the Armored Titan's sneer as he turned toward the dark-haired woman, the blade through his right hand as the wound bleed, the red falling onto the ground.

"Do you truly think I'm that stupid, Mikasa?" _He blocked the sword with his whole hand, _Klaus thought an unease of forbidden rose through him as the Armored Titan continued to sneer. "I knew you for three years, and I know when you're planning something, especially when it involves _humanity_." There was no time to react. The Armored Titan suddenly slipped a knife from his sleeve, the knife burying itself into the Commander's chest. Immediately, a dark red stain circled around the wound, and Klaus' mouth widened at the sight of the stunned look on Mikasa Ackerman's face. Suddenly, the blade that had torn through the Armored Titan's hand lifted through the air as it collided against the flesh.

The blood splattered against the Female Titan's face as the decapitated body fell against the ground. Simone's mouth gaped and Klaus could only stare as the head of Mikasa Ackerman landed at their feet. The stunned expression was still across her face. There was a scream. Eren Yeager was screaming, the hoarse and desperate cries reaching across from them as the Armored Titan shouted for all of them to transform. Klaus, with his eyes blank at the scene that he had witnessed, backed away at the sight of the hundreds of the Titan-shifters that suddenly surrounded them. He could see Eren Yeager in the distance, the steam coming from his transformation making it hard to see as Klaus heard the roar from the Armored Titan.

_He means to kill us. Eat us. _Klaus instinctively clasped Simone's hand in his, noting of how her pale face was grim as they jumped to avoided the Titan's hands. _I know this such a fucking bad situation, but…she does not look more like her father than she does now._ Several surviving members of the Survey Corps were desperately attempting to get out of the Titan's view. Strangled roars and shouts of pain immediately caused Klaus to look behind him, seeing the Armored Titan against Eren Yeager as they fought. Suddenly, there was a huge collision as one Titan-shifter fought against another, small and guarding…a human in her hands? The long blond hair from the human waved in the wind as the Titan-shifter held her in the giant hands, the human shouting a name. _Ymir…? _Klaus thought vaguely as his sight suddenly directed to a Titan-shifter, small and trembling with dark brown hair and brown eyes. _Lily…! _Although he had only met the child once, her innocence and brightness had echoed within his dreams as he heard the Female Titan's words. "Simone!" Klaus turned toward the young woman. "We need to –"

Suddenly there was a scream. A scream so hideous and violent that Klaus and Simone had to individually cover their ears. The scream, as they looked with squinted eyes, came from Eren Yeager. The Titan-shifters heard the scream as well, halting their hunt for the humans. The scream died. The green eyes of the Titan form of Eren Yeager shifted to the young humans with dark gray eyes and light blue. _Something is wrong, _Klaus thought. A choked gasps from his lips erupted as his eyes saw the Titan-shifters collide against each other and started to ravage each other, blood pouring from the wounds. The wounds couldn't heal fast enough as the Titan-shifters continued to eat the flesh. Klaus' mind refused to work as he continued to numbly see the bloodbath in front of him. There was a sudden scream from the Survey Corps members as they realized what was happening.

_"Lily!" _The human in the Titan-shifter's hand screamed as the stunned young man and woman stared blankly at the child they had known for a brief moment have the slime-like substance dragged into another's hand before she was swallowed. The eyes of the human howling screamed in agony, and before she could speak, a large hand ripped at the nape of the small Titan and the human form, long and with a shocked face, burned into their minds as both the screaming human and her former protector were swallowed.

Klaus and Simone started to run, confusion and exhaustion burning. They stopped, almost collapsing as they could see the Female Titan in her human form being picked up by another Titan. Simone started to scream. The Female Titan didn't say a word, only saluting the crying young woman before she was swallowed. They witnessed Eren Yeager being eaten before their eyes, his eyes closed and apparently at peace as he was eaten.

When it was all over, there was no sound. The surviving members of the Survey Corps stood, walking unsteadily as their faces paled and as their eyes were windows of emptiness. Blood and steaming bones lied where once the Titan-shifters had stood, the sight hazing against their broken figures.

Humanity had won.


	20. Epilogue

_Epilogue_

Klaus was standing at the edge of the sea, feeling the salt against his eyelashes and the scent going through his mouth. His dark gray eyes, older than the eyes that had seen nothing but hate, were calm as he stared at the dark blue waves of the sea. His wife loved the sea as her father did. The man stared at the sight of the flowers beside the cottage. In memory of his parents and for those that had fallen, Klaus had planted flowers for every person that had sacrificed their lives to regain the freedom that they now had. The small flowers were again starting to grow, and Klaus moved from the edge and toward the flowers, touching them briefly before staring at the sky.

After the aftermath of the expedition, the Survey Corps had been hailed as heroes. That did nothing to heal their wounds, physical and emotional as celebrations echoed throughout the streets as the freedom humanity had regained remained a reality. No one seemed to notice of how the Survey Corps had remained silent and subdued during the days after the Titans had been defeated. They alone knew the truth, and they did not speak of it. Shortly after the aftermath, Klaus had found the key that Eren Yeager had once spoke of. The key to his father's basement. It was there that they found the truth.

And it was truly terrible.

The bond that Klaus and Simone had strengthened throughout the horror they had witnessed and the truths they couldn't speak. As the Walls were torn down and as the humans lived in a carefree world, Klaus and Simone could not forget the past, nor what they had seen. They had said goodbye to the few friends they had made, including Hanji-_san_. They had left the life that they had thought they had lived, and traveled as their superiors dreamed, thinking of their heavy hearts. Eventually the two found peace beside the sea, and built a small cottage where they lived. Shortly after, they were married.

Klaus loved his wife as much as he suspected his own father loved his mother. Simone was the light to his darkness and calmed him when nothing else would. As they aged, Klaus noted of how he did not need to read his parents' letters to him as he had done when he was a child, as Simone filled the void in his heart from the deaths that haunted them both. The letters were there, as were the beloved memories of his parents. But he did not need them as much as he did. As he stared at flowers' growing in the fields beside him, Klaus heard faint footsteps.

"I thought you would be here," he stated with a smile. His dark gray eyes were gentle as the blond woman stepped toward him. Her feet were bare.

Simone softly smiled back, her hand resting lightly across her stomach.

"I thought you would be here too," she said as she stood beside him. Her light blue eyes observed her husband's pensive face. "Did we do the right thing, Klaus?" she whispered suddenly. Her hair lifted into the wind. "By telling a lie?"

"If we told them the truth about what we saw, then there might be another asshole that decides to build another Wall to create peace," Klaus said as he looked into his wife's burning orbs. "Then where would be? It was better that we told them the lie, Simone, thinking that they were the victims of the Titans, and not the origins of the horror that they experienced." For a moment, uncertainty echoed in Simone's eyes before she nodded. "Perhaps that will stall the inevitable wars longer." For a brief moment, a soft smile played across his lips as his calloused hands caressed Simone's enlarged stomach. "A place where our child can breathlessly laugh and smile...at the least for this moment."

"How about Levi for a boy?" Simone laughed as Klaus stared at her in stunned silence. She did not miss the tears that started to stream from his eyes at the name of his father. "Or Armin or Adrian?" she whispered as she softly took her husband's hand in his. Klaus' father and mother, although dead now for twenty years, still haunted him as her father's death did. As did her mother's too, surprisingly. It took Simone many years to feel at peace when she remembered the blank look of Annie Leonhardt as she made her last farewell to her. The only expression close enough to love to the only daughter she had. The love they had Simone and Klaus for each other filled the hole as much as they could. She tenderly wiped away his tears as he whispered his approval. They shared a sweet kiss, belonging only to that moment in time.

The peace that millions had sacrificed to achieve would only be brief, but the moments of the lives of happiness would be enough for many, including Klaus and Simone Arlert.


End file.

Shingeki no Kyojin/進撃の巨人, Adventure, Tragedy