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It was supposed to be a normal day.
The four children would be basking under the golden hour together by the river where their little group started budding. They would be talking about a dangerous topic, the atmosphere too ominous for them to comprehend.
Little did they know it would be the beginning of the end.
Maybe the Fates were laughing on their thrones because the Underworld would receive an influx of unjudged souls. Maybe the Furies were screeching in the air and the god of death was heartily watching humans scramble for survival when they were on the brink. All that was known, however, was that not everything was withstanding. All of the teachings that the Walls were eternal blessings from any deity were all thrown in the dirt; stomped over by hundreds of pattering feet.
The gods in the heavens were uncaring because, for the first time in a century, the mighty wall holding the soul of Maria crumbled. For the first time since humanity sought refuge inside their cage, it was let open at the expense of their lives. For the first time in the history of their kingdom, humanity suffered a much greater loss than the Scouts' expeditions combined.
It was faint but the Devil was laughing while he rolled the dice the day Shiganshina fell.
—
The very first thing Eren said when he woke up from his nap was, "Dawn."
He thought he was still in a dream. There was so much blood. Large deformed humanoids walking on grassy plains and smiling faces with crimson-stained teeth. At the end of it all was a girl, the very same one he dreamed of at the ferry going to the outskirts of Maria, calling his name in a dulcet tone laced with concern. Blood red in the dark and sunset scarlet under the sunlight. The girl's face was still blurry but her presence in his dream reminded him of the girl who showed him the tree on the hill — summer in the form of his redhead best friend.
It left Eren in confusion when brilliant teal opened to the sun's peak in the sky. Sweat dripped down his temple. His heart was terribly pounding in his chest in an erratic beat that had him breathing deeply. At first, he was disoriented in the first few moments of waking up. He scanned the area for any sign of the scarlet tresses flowing against the breeze inside his dream.
"We should head back, Eren."
The brunet shifted his gaze from the canopy of rustling leaves to a blank-faced girl he had seen every day inside his house since they took her in a year ago. His heart lurched at the red scarf around her neck. It was so vividly similar to the splattered blood he saw minutes prior. "Mikasa?" The girl was so different from the flashes his mind conjured. "Where's Dawn? She was just here."
