Juniper Orima is an orphan from wall Maria. She wants to find herself she does this by joining the cadets. She doesn't realise the journey a head of her.
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It was quiet in wall rose that evening. The only thing which could be heard was the echoing sound of grasshoppers in the long deep grass near-bye. Wall rose had become an extremely busy place since last year. Since wall Maria had fallen. Everyone's life had changed for the worst.
The refugees were all kept in huts to live until they decided what to do with their lives. One of those Refugees being 12 year old Juniper. In a small hut in particular a red haired girl tossed and turned under her thin white blanket. With many terrified expressions on her face. "No!" She gasps as she quickly turns to her side rolling on the hay beneath her. She stays there for a few moments before violently kicking her leg. "No no!" She hysterically cries out. As a trickle of sweat pours down her pale forehead. Her breathing becomes thick and louder. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"
She suddenly dives up from her bed with a huge gasp of air. Her blue orbs flicker open with such fear in them. Loud pants escapes her as she feels tears forming in her eyes and her throat beginning to tightly close up. As her red hair falls over her thin shoulders. "Juniper! Juniper! Are you alright?" A soft voice calls out to her in the distance instantly bringing the young red head relief. Juniper's blue eyes soften in the darkness as Bertolt enters her hut with one single candle.
"I'm sorry Bert did I wake you?" Juniper innocently and quietly asks. "Don't worry about me. Were you having nightmares again?" He asks gently placing himself down on the hay beside the girl. The flashbacks reach Juniper once more as she stares at the straw laying by her feet. Some small black ants scurry by the concrete floor. "They never seem to leave me" she honestly answers. As the cold air begins to touch her delicate skin.
Bertolt softly places his hand on her shoulder as he notices a tear forming in Juniper's eye. "Yeah me too but we can't beat ourselves up about what we did to the walls it's our duty as warriors of Marley. We'll recover" he answers through the drastic silence. "How? When? When will this nightmare end?" Juniper asks. "It will always feel like that but it will fade through time and you'll begin to cope. So will I but we can't drown ourselves in guilt." Bertolt says Juniper nods in agreement as flashbacks begin to over come her once again causing her body to shake in fear. For that split second she sees the Titans devour every terrified person in its path as kids scream and cry in horror while she tends to Ani's exhausted body while Reiner helps Bertolt. The screams of the eldians she has helped to kill would haunt her for the rest of her existence.
The flash back strikes Juniper's heart with dread. Her blue orbs snap open. "No!" She cries as she suddenly curls into a ball slamming her hands against her ears as she tightly closes her eyes. "Shhh shhhh it's okay Juniper It's okay. I'm here" Bert softly reassures her wrapping his arms around the petite girl. He was stronger than her and less regretful about what they had done "I'm damaged aren't I?" She whispers with her eyes still closed. "That's not the word I would use. You're just in shock but as a warrior it is your duty to stay strong. You should sleep before Reiner hears you cry" Juniper closes her eyes as tears form once more. Bertolt hands suddenly drop on her shoulders forcing her to look at him. "Listen to me. None of it defines you. You are not a murderer. Do you hear me? Your not! We are not killers! I'm not we did what we had to do!" Bertolt says as if he's trying to convince himself that.
She doesn't speak but keeps her beautiful eyes fixated on Bertolt. "So tomorrow for the sake of our families back home. We will leave this place. This trauma and we will become cadets. Soldiers , we will retake the coordinate and finally get out of here and go home." A determined smile grows on Juniper's face. "We will" she bravely answers. Part of her wanted to go home so badly and have a fresh start while another part fears what will come of her. Fears that her life may be over now.
"Can you try to gain a little sleep for tomorrow Juniper or at least try?" Bertolt asks placing his shake. hand on the girls shoulder . Juniper nods "Yes. I'll try" she answers "Good now get to sleep we have a big day tomorrow. The beginning of our lifes a chance at a fresh start to go home" he says as Juniper slips back under the bed sheets resting her head against her pillow as her body crunches into the warm yet itchy hay beneath her.
Juniper closes her eyes trying to picture something nice to take her worries away. She pictures of Marcel's sweet smile. She imagines what it could possibly look like if he too had made it in the walls and was with them right now. He'd been the one reassuring her as he Normally did. Bertolt quietly slips out. "Bert." Bertolt looks over her shoulder at Juniper who now lays face up her blue orbs fixated on the ceiling. "I just want to say thank you. I wouldn't have survived if you hadn't done all you did for me" Bertolt simply nods in appreciation before quietly leaving. He places the candle by Juniper so she can sleep in the dark and it can prevent her nightmares. "I'm going to be a soldier mother I wish you were here to see" she quietly whispers to her mother back home at Marley as the world around her begins to become black.
With that Juniper falls back into a now peaceful sleep becoming silent along with the world around her. She had suffered a lot and was preparing to drag herself through more for a chance to go home.
Nearby in the distance in another hut a boy stares up at the moon. He rests in the hay with determination and a glint in his green eyes. His two friends sleep beside him. "Soon i'll be a scout. My future starts tomorrow. Soon I'll be able to kill them all. Every last one." The boy says with determination as those teals eyes fixate on the moon before he too calmly begins to drift of.
