"Who are you?" |Reader Insert| |Attack on Titan| |Book 1|

Improvised

It was later at night, the wee hours of the morning. Jean and Moblit were at the front of the group riding horses with torches in their hands. Connie and Sasha were riding in the back with extra horses. Armin was steering the cart. Mikasa, Hanji, Levi, and you were sitting inside it.

"Hanji," Mikasa said from next to you. "You might know where they are?" She questioned.

"Yeah, I'll explain," Hanji began, "Erwin gave me this Scout investigation report regarding Lord Reiss' land. Most of it has to do with an incident five years ago that shook up the Reiss family."

"Five years ago?" Armin repeated.

"Right. On the day Wall Maria was breached. I'll summarize the important bits from the beginning. As the lord of his territory, popular opinion of Rod Reiss wasn't all that bad. He had five children, and his eldest daughter Frieda was a down-to-earth girl that even peasants adored. But that night, five years ago, disaster struck. With the world having plunged into pure chaos, some bandits raised and set fire to the only chapel around.

"Unfortunately, that night, the entire Reiss family was there praying together. And so, the whole family, save for the head of the house, Rod Reiss... was massacred that night by the bandits. To top it off, this incident occurred just a few days before Historia's mother was killed by the Interior Police.

"In other words, immediately after losing his family, Rod Reiss sought out Historia. There must be a reason he and his lackeys are after Historia."

"The same bloodline? Is there some secret to their blood?" Levi questioned from across from you.

"I don't know for sure yet. But what really makes me curious is that parts of the chapel are completely wrecked. The chapel itself is stone. It would take a ton of time and effort to destroy it. Bandits would take what they can and make a quick escape. Plus, the only one who saw those bandits was Rod Reiss himself. Soon after, he used his own fortune to rebuild the chapel. But why?" Hanji's explanation was long as hell, but it made sense.

"What do you think?" You spoke up, "There are two possibilities. One: He rebuilt the chapel to commemorate his family. Two: He rebuilt it to cover something up."

"Cover something like what?" Hanji asked.

"The real reason as to why the chapel was destroyed, maybe," you replied calmly.

"Real reason?" She repeated.

"Stone cannot burn. Not to the point where it's nothing but ashes, that is. Even if there was a fire, there had to be some other factor to cause the damage it did," you explained further. Your eyes then closed. "I've stolen things from a lot of people. Setting the place on fire wasn't one of my plans by means of escaping. It's easier to do away with any witnesses by hand. Leave the building. Amateur bandits wouldn't do something so risky. Not to mention, if Rod Reiss saw them, why didn't he report them to the Military Police? 

"If you think about it, it's actually stranger that there were no signs of titans. Even if I'm jumping to conclusions, something this suspicious deserves us checking it out." You let out a quiet sigh and opened your eyes.

"Captain, Section Commander!" You heard Moblit call.

"What is it?" Hanji asked to the front.

"There's someone there," Jean replied. You leaned forward and indeed there was, someone standing in the middle of the path.

"Don't slow down," you ordered.

"But we're going to hit them!" Jean called back.

"You won't. Trust me," you said, sitting forward in the seat. The light from the torches only illuminated to a certain radius, but you saw their silhouette. A shot in the dark, figuratively and literally, an arrow went flying towards the group. You stood up and protected Mikasa from the metal, deflecting it with your sword. This time it felt heavier. Solid. As if it was reinforced.

'Stupid child!' You thought. She ran towards the cart double the speed it was going. She was in front of you not even ten seconds later. The bow struck against your sword.

"What the hell?!" Hanji exclaimed. Levi had stood up, ready to defend you at any second. From the torch light behind you, you saw the shine of a blade outlining the edge of the bow. She swung the bow under your sword and aimed it at you. Your eyes widened. The serrated blade slashed open your throat, right above your thyroid. The warm blood travelled down your skin and and some splattered on the floor of the cart. You choked over your own breath from the suddenness. You flipped out of the wagon and tumbled across the ground like a leaf. You slid to your knees and held your hand up to your neck, the skin steaming and suturing itself. She jumped out of the cart and calmly walked to you, flicking the blood off of her bow. You raised your head to look at her, your eyes dangerously narrowed. You couldn't talk, not yet. The cart was slowly getting out of sight. The last thing you saw clearly was Levi's concerned face leaning over the back.

"You've gotten rusty, dear Y/n," she said, spinning the bow from hand to hand. She stopped in front of you and crouched down. "Do you remember me? In the ring?" She turned around and pulled her shirt up, revealing a long, ragged scar from her hip to her shoulder.

"You gave me this wound. You almost killed me."
You released your throat from your light grasp and straightened your back up.

"I remember, unfortunately," you replied, "You were the last one standing next to that one boy. I defeated you. Can't believe you're standing in front of me once again." She pulled down her shirt and stood up, turning her upper body to look down at you.

"Yes, I can't believe it, either." She sighed. "But I'd do anything to redeem myself from that humiliation."

"Humiliation? Redemption?" You let a smirk cross your lips as you slowly stood up to your full height. "I see, so that's how it is." Your eyes closed.

"Then I guess I have no choice but to..." they reopened not a second later. "... put you back in your place." The red ring.

Ja ne!

{Ruby Red}