The ground shook beneath Jack's bare feet as another titan's footstep thundered through Shiganshina District. Dust and debris rained from the ceiling of the abandoned bakery where he'd been scrounging for scraps, the same place he'd called home for the past three months since old Henrik had died. The screaming outside grew louder—not the usual merchant arguments or children playing, but something primal and desperate that made his stomach clench.
Jack pressed his face against the cracked window. What he saw made no sense.
A massive, skinless titan lumbered down the main street, its grotesque grin stretching ear to ear as it reached down and plucked up a fleeing woman like she was a doll. The sound she made—Jack had never heard anything like it. He watched, frozen, as the thing brought her to its mouth.
Don't look. Don't look. But he couldn't turn away.
The woman's scream cut off abruptly.
Jack stumbled backward, his breathing shallow. This wasn't real. It couldn't be real. Titans didn't come inside the walls. Everyone knew that. The walls were fifty meters high, impenetrable, humanity's last sanctuary, even when he heard the stone crashing down he couldn't believe his eyes.
Another tremor shook the building. Through the chaos of screams and collapsing structures, he heard something else—sobbing. Not the distant cries of fleeing civilians, but something closer. Quieter. Almost... familiar.
He crept toward the back door, every instinct screaming at him to hide, to find a cellar and wait for the Survey Corps to fix whatever had gone wrong. But that sobbing pulled at something deep in his chest. He'd heard that kind of crying before, late at night in the orphanage before Henrik had taken him in. The sound of kids who were completely, utterly lost.
Jack eased the door open and peered into the narrow alley behind the bakery. Three figures huddled against the opposite wall—kids, maybe his age or younger, covered in dust and grime. Two boys and a girl, all blonde, all staring at nothing with expressions that made Jack's throat tight.
The taller boy had his arms wrapped around the smaller one, who was shaking so violently Jack could see it from across the alley. The girl sat apart, her knees drawn up, but her face was pale as death and her hands... her hands were covered in blood.
Someone else's blood.
"Hey," Jack called softly, stepping into the alley. All three heads snapped toward him, and he saw something in their eyes that made him take a step back. Not just fear—guilt. Raw, desperate guilt that sat heavy in their faces like a physical weight.
The smaller boy let out a choked sob. "Did we have to... to... do this?"
"Bertholdt, shut up," the girl snapped, but her voice cracked on the words.
Jack looked between them, his heart aching. Probably got separated from their families by a titan, he thought. Or maybe they left someone behind who couldn't run fast enough. "Are you hurt?" He took another step closer, hands raised to show he meant no harm. "Look, whatever happened, we need to get out of here. The titans—"
"We know about the titans," the taller boy cut him off. His voice was steady, controlled, but Jack caught the tremor underneath. This kid was holding himself together by threads.
Annie's POV
We know about the titans. Annie wanted to laugh at the understatement, but she was afraid if she started, she'd never stop. Or maybe she'd start screaming instead. She could still feel the heat from the Colossal Titan's transformation, still see the shower of debris as Wall Maria crumbled like sand.
They'd done this. She'd done this.
The boy across the alley—was staring at them with concern. Actual concern, like they were victims instead of the architects of this nightmare. If he knew what they really were, he'd run screaming. Or try to kill them.
She almost wished he would try. It might be easier than this suffocating weight in her chest.
"My name's Jack," the boy was saying, crouching down to their level. "I live—lived—here. We need to move. The evacuation boats should be leaving from the south gate, but if we wait much longer..."
Bertholdt whimpered, pressing his face against Reiner's shoulder. Annie watched her teammate struggle to maintain his composure, watched him swallow down the same horror that was clawing at her throat. They were supposed to be warriors. They were supposed to be strong.
They were supposed to be monsters, not children sitting in an alley covered in the blood of innocents.
Jack's POV
These kids were tearing themselves apart over something. Jack recognized that look—he'd worn it himself when Henrik died, convinced that if he'd just been smarter, faster, better, maybe he could have saved the old man. These three had that same weight pressing down on them, the kind that came from thinking you'd failed someone who mattered.
"Come on," he said, standing and extending his hand to the girl. She stared at it like it might bite her. "I know a route to the boats. Less crowded, fewer..." He swallowed hard, thinking of the woman and the titan's grin. "Fewer chances of running into trouble."
The taller boy—Reiner, the girl had called him—slowly got to his feet, pulling the smaller one with him. "Why are you helping us?"
Jack shrugged, the gesture more confident than he felt. "Because you're kids and you're scared and this whole place is going to hell."
"You don't look older than us kids" the girl retorted, but the honesty seemed to crack something in the girl's composure. She took his offered hand, her fingers ice-cold despite the warm day, and let him pull her up.
"Annie," she said quietly.
"Reiner." The taller boy's grip was firm when they shook hands, but Jack felt the tremor in his fingers.
"Bertholdt," the smallest one whispered, barely audible over the distant screams.
Jack nodded. "Okay. Annie, Reiner, Bertholdt. I'm Jack, and we need to get out of here." He turned toward the mouth of the alley, then paused. "Just... stay close, okay? And whatever happened back there—whoever you think you let down—you can't help them by dying here too."
Behind him, he heard Annie's sharp intake of breath, like his words had hit something tender. But when he glanced back, her face was carefully blank again.
Must have lost someone close, he thought as he led them into the nightmare that Shiganshina had become. Poor kids probably think it's all their fault.
He had no idea how right he was.
The streets of Shiganshina had become a maze of rubble and terror. Jack led his three new companions through narrow side paths he'd memorized during months of scavenging, but even these familiar routes felt foreign now. Overturned carts blocked intersections, abandoned belongings scattered like breadcrumbs marking where families had fled in panic.
"This way," Jack whispered, pressing himself against a stone wall as another distant roar echoed through the district. The sound made Bertholdt flinch so violently he nearly tripped over his own feet.
Reiner caught his friend's arm, steadying him. "Easy," he murmured, but Jack caught the way his knuckles were white where he gripped Bertholdt's sleeve. Whatever had happened to these kids, the big one was trying to hold everyone together through sheer willpower.
They crept past a collapsed house where Jack could hear someone crying underneath the debris. He started toward the sound, but Annie grabbed his wrist.
"Don't." Her voice was flat, emotionless. "We can't help them."
Jack stared at her. She couldn't be more than eleven or twelve, but she spoke like someone much older. Much more tired. "We can't just leave them—"
"Yes, we can." Annie's blue eyes were ice-cold. "Because if we try to dig them out and a titan comes, we all die. And then we've helped no one."
The logic was brutal, but it was logic. Jack had learned similar lessons on the streets—sometimes you had to choose between helping others and surviving yourself. But hearing it from a kid who should have been worrying about lessons and games instead of life and death made his stomach turn.
Behind them, Bertholdt made a strangled sound. When Jack looked back, the boy was staring at the collapsed house with tears streaming down his face.
"I'm sorry," Bertholdt whispered to the rubble. "I'm so sorry."
Annie's POV
Stop it, Annie wanted to scream at Bertholdt. Stop apologizing. It doesn't help anyone and it makes us look suspicious.
But she couldn't blame him. Every collapsed building, every scream, every drop of blood they passed was their fault. She'd kicked in that gate. Bertholdt had transformed and broken the wall. Reiner had charged through and let the titans in. They'd done this.
And this boy—this Jack—kept looking at them with sympathy, like they were victims. Like they deserved comfort instead of execution.
She watched him guide them around another obstacle, his movements careful and practiced. He knew these streets, knew how to survive in them. For a moment, she let herself imagine what it would be like to actually be what he thought they were—just scared kids who'd lost their families, instead of enemy soldiers who'd destroyed a city.
The fantasy lasted exactly three seconds before reality crashed back. She was a warrior of Marley. She had a mission. These people—including Jack—were the enemy, descendants of devils who'd once threatened the world with the power of titans.
So why did watching him help them navigate around the city make her chest tight?
Jack's POV
They'd been walking for twenty minutes when Jack noticed Annie favoring her left leg. She wasn't limping exactly, but she was putting more weight on her right foot, and there was tension around her eyes that spoke of pain being carefully managed.
"You hurt?" he asked quietly as they paused at a corner to check for titans.
"I'm fine."
"That's not what I asked." Jack had learned to read injury during his time on the streets. People said they were fine right up until they collapsed. "What happened to your leg?"
Annie's jaw tightened. "Debris fell on it when the wall..." She stopped, swallowed hard. "When everything started."
When the wall broke, Jack filled in mentally. He'd noticed all three of them seemed to have trouble saying it directly, like the words physically hurt. Trauma did that sometimes—made certain phrases impossible to speak.
"Can you keep walking?"
"Do I have a choice?"
The bitter resignation in her voice made Jack want to do something—put a hand on her shoulder, tell her it would be okay, something. But Annie didn't seem like the type who'd welcome comfort from a stranger. Instead, he adjusted their route to avoid the steeper streets, leading them through flatter terrain even though it added distance.
She noticed. He could tell by the way her posture relaxed slightly, the way some of the rigid control in her face softened for just a moment.
They were passing the old market square when the sound of heavy footsteps made them all freeze. Not human footsteps—something much larger, much heavier. The rhythmic thud-thud-thud of a titan on the move.
Jack pressed himself against the nearest building, motioning for the others to do the same. Through a gap between two merchant stalls, he could see it—a twelve-meter class with stringy hair and a slack-jawed expression that might have been comical if not for the gore coating its teeth.
It was moving away from them, but slowly, like it was searching for something.
Or someone.
Jack held his breath, counting heartbeats. Beside him, he could feel the others' terror like a physical presence. Bertholdt was shaking again, silent tears tracking through the dust on his cheeks. Reiner had gone completely still, like he thought movement might summon the monster's attention. And Annie...
Annie was staring at the titan with an expression Jack couldn't read. Not fear exactly, though there was some of that. Something more complicated. More personal.
Recognition?
The thought was absurd. These were just kids, refugees like everyone else. But something about the way Annie watched the creature made Jack's skin crawl with unease he couldn't name.
The titan moved on, disappearing around a corner with one final earth-shaking footstep. Jack counted to thirty before daring to speak.
"Coast is clear," he whispered. "We're almost to the south gate. Ten more minutes and we'll be at the boats."
Reiner nodded, pulling Bertholdt to his feet. "Thank you," he said, and there was something raw in his voice. "For helping us. For... for getting us this far."
Jack shrugged, uncomfortable with gratitude. "We're not safe yet."
"Still." Reiner's blue eyes were intense, older than they should have been. "You didn't have to help. Most people would have just looked out for themselves."
Most people didn't grow up alone, Jack thought. Most people don't know what it's like to have no one.
But he didn't say that. Instead, he started walking again, leading them toward the evacuation point and whatever came next.
Behind him, he heard Annie whisper something in a language he didn't recognize. It sounded like a prayer.
Or maybe an apology.
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AN: 👀 so... redid it since I thought doing this would have better impact, please let me know if something is not canon accurate, sometimes I add sentences when editing and forget to check so pls let me know if I need to change it.
I appreciate all tips and tricks just please explain it properly, also just wanted to say sub to my patreon for the full story!
Jokes... I don't have one x'd... writing these ffs for myself, hope you like them, it makes me feel warm reading the comments, but oh if you wanna donate me money to show appreciation I won't decline... hehehehehe... jokes aside if its okay to fill images in places where characters show so people can get a visual idea that'd be awesome honestly.