The Beginning of A Circle

"See you later, Eren."

Deep sadness engulfed the heart of a young boy, remembering the emotions tied to these words and to the person saying them. He felt on the verge of a breakdown, unable to brush off the negative emotions he, what seemed like, always suppressed for the sake of others. Regret, anger, grief and... Relief?

Before he dug deeper into his own psyche and tried to find out the source of such scarce emotions, he heard a distant voice calling out to him, the same sweet toned voice that he was constantly hearing in his almost life-long dream, the same voice that made him do what he did.

But what exactly did he do?

"..en."

"..ren"

"Eren!"

The boy, Eren Yeager, had finally opened his eyes after being pulled out of his slumber. The girl in front of him, Mikasa Ackerman, was his closest friend, his family.

"Get back home now, it's gonna get dark."

Encountering her again somehow lifted his spirits and brought forth emotions he had never considered before. In his eyes, she changed drastically, he doesn't seem to remember her looking like this. As he gazed at his friend, still trying to recover from a long nap with wide eyes, Eren finally found his voice.

"Mikasa... Your hair... It's gotten longer, hasn't it?"

Mikasa was giving Eren a serious, unimpressed stare, with her usual deadpan expression. Eren was glad to see the red scarf he had given her still around her neck, which made him happier than before, where he didn't pay much attention to it.

The girl turned around and walked towards their home

"You were sleeping tight enough to spout such nonsense upon waking up?"

Eren payed no mind to such remark from her, as he picked up the gathered wood and followed along.

"Well, it's like I had a mighty long dream, you see... But I can't seem to remember what was it about."

Mikasa halted in her tracks and turned around, surprise and worry on her face.

"Eren? What's wrong, why are you crying?"

Without Eren even noticing, a strong current of tears was running down his cheeks uncontrollably, probably the result of the 'dream' he just had.

The wind picked up it's strength, almost trying to wash the tears off his face and embrace him.

The boy felt the unbearable loneliness and sadness through his whole being and yet, after talking with Mikasa in what felt like the first time in many years, all of the heavy burden weighing him down fell off his shoulders and... He felt happy.

--------------------------------

Wall Maria stood strong and tall, just like it did throughout decades. It's calming, protective presence was enough to make any human living inside have zero doubts about their ultimate protection. The belief that can cost them their lives, and little Eren seemed like the only person aware of this.

Shiganshina was brimming with life, people walking around attending their responsibilities with smiles on their faces, you'd think man-eating giants weren't wandering around just on the other side of the Wall.

Eren didn't feel much embarrassment from his earlier incident, which was unlike any other boy of his age in that situation. The only strong emotion that bugged his essence right now was curiosity; what's with him?

The walk home was mostly in silence if you didn't account for Mikasa's worried glances at her friend, until she spoke up about the topic

"Eren."

"Hm?"

"Maybe you should let your dad have a look at you?"

Eren surprised by such a suggestion indicated for Mikasa to continue and explain her sentence.

"You had tears in your eyes for no good reason."

Already managing to forget about it, Eren felt redness on his cheeks after being reminded of what happened. Still, he knew the problem wasn't really physical, he felt it.

"Aah, I told you that it was probably something about that dream, Mikasa."

Mikasa simply chose to end the conversation there, knowing full well how stubborn Eren was and there was no way for him to be convinced otherwise after deciding on something.

The boy was looking around, feeling nostalgic about his hometown, still not knowing the reason for it: he got annoyed and irritated with it all.

'What an annoying day.'

Yet, the most irritated Eren felt from the supposed 'soldiers' with roses on the backs of their uniforms. Just sitting around, drinking and neglecting their responsibilities of protecting the district. As Fate would have it, one of those protectors has approached him.

"What have you been crying about, Eren?"

Hannes, member of Garrison Regiment, was a long time friend to Yeager family, being one of the only people Eren's father, Grisha, talked to regularly. And yet, Eren often found him as the epitome of everything that was wrong with the Regiments operating inside the Walls. They were careless, relaxed, cowardly and weak. Unlike the Scouts, who were the peak of humanity's army strength and shouldered the responsibility of exploring and dealing with the most dangerous situations of all.

"Did Mikasa get mad at you for some reason?"

Eren covered his nose after Hannes got closer to him, unable to bear the smell of booze coming off him.

"Ah, Hannes you stink of alcohol."

Then Eren noticed three other members of Garrison, all sitting there drinking until they're piss drunk, which greatly agitated the boy. But already emotionally drained, he decided against criticizing them like he regularly does. So he just sighs and walks away.

*Sigh* "Let's go, Mikasa. I'm not in the mood today."

This greatly surprises the girl, as Eren rarely ever wanted to not speak out everything what was on his mind, which increased her worry.

As they were walking away, Mikasa with a heavy expressions addressed Eren again. Greatly unusual for her calm and silent personality, but she had to talk to Eren, she was too worried for him.

"Eren. Forget about Survey Corps... please."

Eren surprised by sudden topic didn't answer her right away, still contemplating what to say. He knew that him joining Scouts was inevitable, this feeling grew stronger after that 'dream', but he also understood the great pain this decision would cost his loved ones, including Mikasa. But he just couldn't sit idly, he wanted to fight for humanity's sake, to protect his family. This was the only path for him to choose.

"Mikasa, I..."

Before he even began saying anything, a loud bell was heard throughout the whole district. Many excited faces were seen, expecting to meet the victorious Scouts back home.

The kids weren't an exception. Eren grabbed Mikasa's hand and dragged her along with him to see the returning Legion. But what awaited him was horrifyingly different from what he expected, or what he wanted to see.

Out of more than hundred soldiers going out for the mission, only a few returned, and even then the returnees already looked as good as dead. Most of them were battered, cut and bruised up, some missing their eyes, mouths, hands. Just a vile sight of remaining 'heroes' who looked defeated both mentally and physically. Loud sound of cheers stopped, eerie silence and empathy stood in its place.

The feeling of defeat was truly felt when an elderly woman fell down to her knees in front of a Commander, begging to see her son... despite already knowing how he ended up.

Instead of definitive answer, all she got was the hand wrapped in the cape of Survey Corps - devastating sight.

Unable to tolerate this sight any further Eren stormed away with his head low, almost trying to silence the complaints from others about the incompetence of the Scouts. Eren ran to the river, trying to shake off the ominous feeling he was experiencing, sensing constant danger from everywhere he looked.

'Whats wrong with me?!'

Of course Mikasa followed him, her worry growing by every second, making it hard for her to keep the aloof expression on for much longer.

On their way to the river they saw yet another episode of Armin being bullied by others. Mikasa and Eren approached the fight and were about to intervene, before they scurried away after seeing Mikasa. Testament to her abilities if anything.

Turns out Armin got himself into trouble after saying the humanity needs to wander out of here to progress.

"Man, why are you telling such dorks things they won't even understand, Armin?"

Armin dove deeper into his arms, as he almost whispered the answer out.

"... It's tiring always being picked on for this, I hope to find people who understand us."

After such heartbreaking response, Eren couldn't help but be silent for a moment. He couldn't say he didn't understand Armin, after all it was always only the two of them who shined with such idealistic desires while Mikasa was simply with them to take care of Eren, not expressing her opinion beyond "I will follow wherever you go."

Armin, breaking the heavy silence for all the misunderstood, remembered that he had to go home early today per his grandfather's request, leaving Mikasa and Eren alone at the river.

Mikasa sat closer to Eren. Soft, caring expression plastered on her face, almost placing her head on his shoulder. She wanted to talk to him about his dream in Survey Corps, she couldn't bear a thought of him being hurt, let alone dying. Mikasa was about to speak up, show her sincerity in the following words, but before she uttered a single word Eren stood up, crouched in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

Such sudden and unusual for him actions have startled Mikasa quite a bit. Her cheeks and ears were becoming almost full, deep red color, especially after Eren directed his emerald green eyes at the eyes of her own. His expression full of determination.

"Mikasa. I promise you I'll protect you and Armin, alright? I don't plan on dying before I ensure both of you live long fulfilling lives. Free of these Walls and free of these Titans. I promise you."

Unable to say anything, with her heart beating uncontrollably quick, she simply nodded her head causing Eren to reassuringly smile at her, almost sending her head to the moon from this interaction.

"Alright, let's go home now, it's gotten pretty late."

Before Eren picked up the firewood, a huge earthquake was felt, sweeping both him and Mikasa off their feet. The terrifying feeling that Eren couldn't shake off since waking up grew much, much more intense.

The panic engulfed them as they saw it...