Fight or Die Fighting (Shingeki no Kyojin)

Chapter 1

"Jade! Hurry up, I think I hear one!"

   I sighed, trying my hardest to pick the apples and put them in the basket. "I'm trying, Row. Just yell a little louder so it can hear exactly where we are."

   She growled a little at my sarcasm, but didn't say anymore. As the trembling got nearer, my fingers shook more, though it wasn't because of how the earth rocked underneath me, and I cursed.

   I hurriedly grabbed the basket full of apples and called out to my sister. "Rowan! Get ready to catch 'em!"

   She moved into view, being sure to stand where the basket would reach her without hitting any branches on the way down. I positioned the basket above her and dropped it. She caught it easily, one or two apples bouncing to the ground.

   I jumped, swinging on a branch on the way down to slow the landing. Row was trying to grab the fallen apples and I sighed, grabbing her hand and tugging. "Don't worry about it Row, let's just get going."

   She stayed quiet and let me lead us back to the house. She was different from me, Rowan. Dad always said she was a spitting image of mom, with her pretty blond hair and flawless pale skin. I was a total opposite. With dad's dark hair and his tanner skin. But that's not necessarily the type of different I was talking about.

   Despite the fact that we were obviously getting chased through the woods by a Titan, she seemed calm as ever. While I was sweating profusely, attempting to not give in to the temptation to react like a frightened little bunny, not bothered at all by the fact that I was supposed to be the older one.

   We reached the house in no time, and I fumbled with the key strapped to the leather cord around my neck. "Hurry it up, Jade! It's coming!"

   I managed to shove the key into the lock and twist it, flinging the door open and shoving my sister inside. The trembling of the earth had reached it's peak, and I chanced a glance behind me.

   It was huge, ugly, and was smiling straight at me, it's eyes boring into me with an insane look of emptiness. I squeaked, and ran down the stairs, making sure to lock the door behind me.

   "It's coming closer Row! Wake Dad and tell him we've got to go to the heart!"

   "Got it!" She shouted back, dashing into a room off to our right.

   I whirled around the room, grabbing food and other belongings and shoving them into the basket of apples. My dad and sister came back out of his room moments later, my father sending me a slightly disapproving look that was less intimidating then usual, as he was slung across Rowan's shoulder. His health had declined as of late, so he needed help getting around.

   "I thought I told you to stay in the house, Jade." He said tiredly, the lines around his mouth showing up more prominently as he scowled at me. Dad was a handsome guy, even in the state he was in. His red eyes still expressing such determination to fight or die trying.

   I sighed, grabbing a few candles and a box of matches. "I know, but I wasn't going to settle for that hard-as-shit bread Row cooked yesterday. So I went out to the apple tree to grab a few apples and boom. We're getting chased by a Titan."

   "Hey-!" Rowan cried, only to be cut off as the ground that now surrounded us shook violently.

   I cursed loudly. "The bastard's trying to get in..."

   We scrambled down another set of stairs, deeper towards the heart of the house. Our house was built specially for an attack by the Titans. It was basically a basement with four separate chambers, each going deeper and deeper into the earth.

   There was a crash behind us, most likely our door getting punched in, but we kept going deeper. There was no way a Titan could fit through the door anyways.

   We stopped in the last chamber of the house, the walls and floor shaking around us violently. Debris was beginning to crumble from the ceiling and I looked to my father worriedly as Rowan set him up against the wall.

   "It'll hold, right?" I asked, my voice laced with panic.

   My father looked at me sternly, his red orbs meeting my green. "No, It's not going to hold. But you need to be strong, Jade. For your sister."

   I shook my head, slowly falling to my knees with my head in my hands. I didn't want to die. I didn't want my father, or my sister to die.

   All for some apples.

   "Jade. That rug against the wall, move it away. There's a tunnel there that you two can escape through."

   I looked up quickly. "And what about you?"

   He grinned, slowly standing. My sister and I moved to help him, but he brushed us off. Slowly, he shuffled towards a large set of drawers pushed up against the wall, opening it slowly and bringing out two blades.

   He turned and handed one to us. "That tunnel will lead you to Shinganshina, a city on wall Maria. You are to find the first soldier you see, show them this sword, and demand to see General Pixis. Tell them the 10th Corporal of the Surveying Legion sent you."

   I shook my head, clutching the slightly dull sword in my hands. "No! You're... You're coming with us!"

   He smiled again, grabbing both mine and Rowan's hands. "You girls both know I'm sick. Whether I leave here now with you, or stay and fight that Titan, I am going to die."

   His grin brightened, and I wondered how he could smile when this would probably be the last time we saw him. "I don't know about you guys, but I'd much rather die fighting then in an infirmary bed."

   With that he placed one last kiss on both of our foreheads, stood, and readied his sword. "Go! Rowan, look after your sister! Make sure the both of you make it out of here alive!"

   Rowan nodded, both sadness and determination shining in her red eyes, identical to my father's. My father sent us one last smile, before running, surprisingly lithe, up the stairs to his death.

   Rowan saluted him, in the way Father told us soldiers did inside the walls, then grabbed my hand, flung the rug aside and pulled me into the tunnel after her.

   I didn't resist, knowing if I stayed that I would die, and then my father's sacrifice would be in vain. The last thing I saw of my home, before it caved in on itself, was that damned basket of apples.

/~/~/~/~/

  

A/N: Woah, woah, woah. Okay, that was a lot shorter then I expected. Oh, well. Chapter two will be out soon ^_~ Thanks for reading guys!.