Chapter 1 - Run Tiny Human, Run

There are two kinds of people living inside the wall, those who yearn for certainty and those who yearn for freedom. We are quite an oddball among the majority of people who seek certainty.

Some say we have gone mad for trying to explore the land beyond the safe embrace of the great wall, some say we are foolish for trying to find a sign of human life in the inhabitable land of titan, and many other hurtful discouraging words that make me question myself as to why I joined the survey corps in the first place.

But it all changed when I found a man who claimed to be from beyond the wall on my routine patrol. The man, Grisha Yeager, convinced me to stay silent about his circumstances to my superior and I reluctantly agreed. I help him acclimated to the life inside the wall and as repayment, he taught me a lot of what lies outside — beyond the boundary, we called home.

To this day, I have yet managed to prove if he lied or not to me. One thing for sure, the prospect of it being real makes me giddy to explore the unknown with my brother-sister in the survey corps.

-Aspiring young heroes of humanity, Keith Shadis.

-Year 835

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Year 845, Titan infested Forest

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Slinging from one tree to the other with their ODM gear, short for Omni-Directional Mobility gear, the survey corps soldiers tried to flanking the 15-meter class titan from all sides.

One soldier managed to get a good angle on the titan nape and went for the kill. But he failed to realize there's a giant hand swatting him like a fly in mid-flight. He dies without even knowing how. Things when downhill from thereon.

A pair of 4-meter class titans laying low, hanging on the giant tree. Catching the unaware soldier by surprise, the unlucky one gets eaten by the titan and some manage to survive the ambush.

The survey corps priorities now laid on the two abnormal titans, switching their main target from the 15-meter class to the pair of 4 m class titan.

It's a tough fight but they'll manage to neutralize them at a great cost. One by one the once-great company reduced to a quarter of its original size. It's a blood bath.

"Regroup and fall back!!" Ordered Shadis with a hint of despair in his voice.

The remaining soldier rushing back to their steed while carrying the still living injured comrades.

They tried to get out of the battlefield. However, the reality never was a good mistress. Their fight was loud enough to draw another 15-meter class titan's attention. Now the titan is hot on their trail, all hope seems lost until...

"Run. Tiny. Human. Let. Me. Deal. This."

A wild abnormal appears yet again.

===

I followed them from a distance as discrete as a titan could.

To help, or not to help, that is the question.

It's hard to decide. Whelp, I'm now a titan. Humans perceived titan as a threat so it's a big no-no to help them. But…

I squint my eyes to get a clearer view of the retreating soldier.

O MY GOD. Is that Erwin Smith?

I rub my eyes in disbelief. I looked at it again.

It is!!! It's The Erwin Smith!!! I repeat it's the Erwin Smith!!! The most badass commander in the history of the survey corps.

I've decided, so be it. I'll help them, consequences be damned!! I'm not letting you; giant creep eat my favorite character like it's nothing.

I run as fast as I could and with all the momentum I got, I punch the titan's face. It flew, airborne for a few seconds before crashing hard into a tree. I channel my inner Chris Hemsworth and shouted, "Run. Tiny. Human. Let. Me. Deal. This."

Damn, talking as a titan so freaking hard! Better deal with this creep first before continuing that line of thought.

This will be my first encounter with the survey corps and surely, it will not be my last either.

===

While our carefree titan fighting his brethren.

Everyone from the survey corps was shocked. Disbelief like, "My eyes and ears aren't playing tricks on me, right?", "Unbelievable", "Am I high?", "This must be a dream!", "Titan fighting another titan?", "It freaking talk?", "End of the world is near!!!" Could be heard from every soldier. Shadis and Erwin are not excluded from this.

Awoken from his mumbling, Shadis ordered with a harsh tone, "Silent!! Let's take this chance to retreat, make haste soldier!!"

Shadow cast over Erwin's face. He muttered something incorrigible — something about hope, humanity, and the secret of the titan.

"Commander Shadis, what if we stay and possibly established contact with the intelligent abnormal titan? I believe it would benefit us in the long run," asked Erwin hopefully.

"Can't do soldier, it's too risky," rejected Shadis, "We have lost at least three-fourth of our original number, I will not send my soldier on a meaningless death."

"But, sir…"

"Shut your crap Erwin, I'm your commander and you follow my word to the T, If I tell you to stay then you'll stay, If I tell you to die then you'll die, understand?"

"Yes… Sir…"

Shadis sigh seeing the downtrodden genius. As much as he wants to humor the genius request, he must set his priorities straight. His soldier life is more important to him than anything, he already lost much within their first encounter with a titan. He shivers at the possibility of having to tell the young fallen soldier parents that their child died as a hero… not.

Thus, the already broken man became further broken as they nearing the satellite base not far from the outer wall of the Shingansina district.

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After arriving at their base, soldiers hand-in-hand helping each other do first aid. Some manage to survive the journey while some succumbed to their injury. Many lives were lost in this expedition.

"Every surviving team leader!! I want you to do a status check on our remaining forces, I want your status report to be the first thing I see in my desk in the morning, 7 sharps," commanded the tired Shadis.

Looking at the rest of his subordinates, "rest soldier, we all deserve it, you all dismissed."

"YES SIR!!!"

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