Hello there! It is I, your local AOT brainrot enthusiast here to share an ounce of creativity/mind mush(?) that had arisen from my frontal lobe! :D
So this is an AU where Hannes never rescued EMA from Shinganshina when it fell. Carla still got monched and all, but he just got there too late and assumed they were all dead. So our trip ends up abandoned together in the rubble. Somewhere along the line, Eren’s Titan powers show up (how Grisha factors in is your choice) and the three collectively decide it would be safer to figure everything out by themselves outside the walls than go back in and risk Eren being executed on account of the whole Titan thing.
So like a year (or several, timeline’s up to you) passes and they’re honestly just chilling. Eren’s got his thing under control and they’re able to fend off the Titans when they need to. uNTIL the Survey corps makes an expedition through the area and one of the vets (your choice) sees Eren pop out of a Titan’s nape👀. Where it goes from there is up to you! Sorry for the long ask! Don’t feel pressured at all to write it if you don’t want to! Have a lovely day!✨
I mostly do self - insert fics, so I did add that to this request, but I hope you like this!
Somehow, miraculously, or horribly, the four of you were alive.
In the wreckage of what had been Eren's house, the four of you huddled like scared kittens from the monstrous giants that towered over you. And all of you knew it was only a matter of time before you met the same fate Eren's mother had just moments before, her blood still agonizingly fresh on the stones just in front of you. On your left, Eren stood motionless, eyes wide and chest heaving, Mikasa at his side with an expression of horror on her face. On your other side, Armin's hand was clammy in yours, and you were vaguely aware of the slight tremble that ran through your body.
You were four children among the titans.
Finally, you opened your mouth to speak, pointing at a house not too far away that hadn't been crushed in the panic.
"We're sitting ducks if we stay here. We can hide in there until we have a plan, but if we want to live, we need to go now."
Poking his head out from the tangle of wood, Armin signaled when it was safe to run, the four of you scrambling to safety and locking the door behind you. Mikasa hurried to close the curtains, leaving you all in darkness until you lit a candle; it felt slightly hopeful despite everything.
"Ok," you said quietly, your face gaunt and beaded with sweat from the stress of it all. "We need to get out of Shiganshina. There's no way we're going to be able to survive the next week in here. Eventually, we'll need food, supplies, and we have no way to get it."
Armin jumped in, his sharp mind kicking in right where you needed it.
"Strange as it sounds, we'll have a better chance of making it outside than in the walls-"
"Armin what the hell!? Are you insane?!" This was Mikasa, her usually calm and level voice rising in fear. "How're we supposed to live out there? Not a single human has done it for 100 years!"
"Think about it," Armin persisted, "The walls get concentrically smaller the closer you get to the interior of wall Sina. Even without exact numbers, we know that the population living inside wall Maria is huge, even with all the casualties. They won't have enough space to feed them all, and from there, people will start dying again."
"He's right." This was Eren, voice cutting through the dim light. He looked up, eyes hard and full of anger. "If we want to stay alive, fiist we need to get as far from this hell hole as we can. Find a place to hide. One day, we'll be back. But until then, we need to learn how to live on our own."
It had been six years since then. You'd found your way to a small, protected valley, shrouded in trees, and figured out ways to dig tunnels into the hillside. You fashioned a life for yourselves there, in the wild, making crude weapons from whatever was around, hunting for food, and always, always, watching for your enemies. Using ODM gear you'd stolen from corpses around Shiganshina, you carefully rationed your gas over the years to help you get by.
It was earlier that you discovered Eren's ability, a shocking realization that had bred fear, then uncertainty, then a careful relief. Eren's shifting meant he could help protect you all, and over time, he'd finessed it until you could all sleep at night knowing you were as safe as you could be as for from humanity's refuge as you were.
Eren's ability also made another choice for you: none of you had any plans of returning to the interior anytime soon. It was obvious to all of you that bringing Eren into the walls with his secret exposed was asking for you to be accused, tried, and most likely executed for crimes against humanity. You'd reached a tumultuous point where humanity was just as much your enemy as the titans that would've eaten you without a second thought given the chance.
And just after you turned sixteen, your own metaphorical walls came crashing down around you.
It began with a normal expedition for the survey corps. They were only to head outside the wall and make their way as quickly as possible to a nearby stronghold where they'd plan their outings carefully until they returned to the interior. But as anyone who made it anywhere in your world knew, plans hardly went as they were meant to, and a group of abnormals had changed their course until they were headed right towards you. Even before you could see them, you could hear the pounding of a thousand horse hooves on the ground, the birds twittering nervously as they got closer.
Eren, his titan form towering over you, and a dead titan at his feet, felt his ears perk up at the unfamiliar noise, alien to him after so long. Soon after, Mikasa swung down from the trees, feet hitting the ground as she looked towards all of you with fear in her eyes.
"They're coming," she said, words rushed as they spilled from her mouth. "We need to get him out of there, now."
But by the time she'd told you, it was too late. the green of the scouts was tearing through the woodland, dappled shadow and sunlight crossing over their faces.
"There's no time," you yelled over the din, "we need to get inside. Eren can handle himself."
"We can't leave him," she argued, ducking into some stray bushes. Soon after, you and Armin joined her, anxious as the soldiers caught sight of him.
"Titan Approaching," you heard one yell, a few others raising their swords and fly from the backs of their horses to respond to the perceived threat.
"NO," you screamed, Mikasa's voice ringing out alongside your own. But it was too late.
In an effort to defend himself, you saw Eren emerge from the nape of his titan, steam radiating from his skin as he looked around wild-eyed.
"Erwin," you heard someone call from above you. A short, dark haired man with tired looking eyes stared down at the four of you, clothes clean but worn, lean but the marks of exhaustion on your faces. "It seems we have an..issue of sorts. I'd get Hange in here if I were you."
One thing was for sure: the four of you were in deep shit.
