Eren dropped his gaze and nodded. "Yeah… you're right."
Armin had already guessed the outcome. No parent could easily accept their child choosing a path that led straight toward death.
I stretched lazily and pulled my legs out of the river, letting the cool breeze dry the droplets clinging to my skin.
"No matter what… I always thought it was strange that people believe the walls will be safe forever. Sure, they stood for a hundred years without a scratch, but that doesn't guarantee that today they won't…" Armin said quietly.
I slipped on my worn cloth shoes and rose to my feet.
"Doesn't guarantee they won't be destroyed today."
His words lingered in my mind. They made too much sense.
A century of peace… meaningless if everything changed in a single moment.
"BOOM!!!"
The world shook.
A thunderous shockwave rippled through the ground. It felt as if something massive had slammed down onto the earth. The tremor knocked us all off balance. I slipped, crashing onto the stone steps, heart pounding.
"What… was that?" Eren stumbled to his feet, dusting off his clothes. "Did something explode?!"
"Something fell from the sky…" The voices of nearby adults drifted to us as they rushed toward the left side of the district, curiosity giving way to fear.
My chest tightened.
An explosion… strong enough to shake the entire district…
Something was wrong.
Armin ran first. Eren chased after him.
"Sandra…" Mikasa's voice trembled slightly. A rarity.
"Come on." I grabbed her hand, and together we sprinted after the boys.
Following the stream of panicked citizens, we wove through an alley and burst out into open view—
Armin stood frozen. So did everyone else.
"What is it, Armin? What do you see?" Eren asked, bewildered, turning toward the scene.
And then I saw it.
In the silence that followed the tremor…
The century-long peace shattered before our eyes.
A massive, blood-red, muscular hand clamped onto the top of Wall Maria.
A wall fifty meters tall.
A wall no Titan should ever be able to reach.
But that hand…
That hand dwarfed everything.
"What… how… the wall is fifty meters high…" Someone whispered the words we were all thinking.
Then, over the wall, its head rose.
Steam billowed from its body.
A monstrous face—skinless, grotesque, unforgettable—peered down at humanity with hollow indifference.
"BOOM!!"
Another blast. The Titan drew its leg back and kicked the gate.
The shockwave tore through Shiganshina.
Stone exploded.
Roofs shattered.
Entire houses collapsed in an instant.
The gate of Wall Maria had been annihilated.
A gaping hole opened in the barrier that had once protected us…
And through it, like a flood of nightmares, came the Titans.
Hungry, grinning, mindless giants.
People screamed.
Smoke and dust swirled in the chaos.
I shielded my eyes, squinting through the haze.
"The wall… there's a hole in the wall…"
Through the dust, I saw them.
Dozens… no, hundreds… of Titans pouring into the district.
"Run!!!"
"They're inside the city!"
"They're going to kill us all!!!"
Panic engulfed the streets. People scattered in every direction, desperate to escape into the inner gate, toward Wall Rose.
I stared, frozen. My mind blank.
The sound of screams echoed all around me, yet I couldn't move.
"We should run too…" Armin's voice shook violently. He could barely stay on his feet.
"My house… my mom… she's there…"
Eren's words were hollow, almost dreamlike.
His eyes were locked toward the destroyed section of the district.
Our homes were there.
His mother was there.
Eren bolted.
Mikasa snapped out of her shock and chased after him.
But I… I was still rooted in place.
This wasn't supposed to happen yet.
I knew this day would come… but not like this.
"Sandra…! Mikasa…!" Armin's voice cracked as he watched us run off. "The city… the Titans are going to take everything…"
I turned my gaze toward the smoke rising above the rooftops.
My home.
The person who gave me warmth.
The one who told me I could call her "mother."
Her voice echoed in my mind.
"Sandra… if you ever want to call me Mom… you can."
"Mrs. Yeager…!"
Something snapped inside me.
Fear vanished.
I ran.
"Ha… ha…"
My lungs burned.
But I ran faster than I ever had in my life.
Just one thought consumed me.
Please be safe… please be safe…
I heard Eren's voice from ahead.
"Hurry! Mikasa!"
Then—
The unmistakable thud of a Titan's footsteps. Each one shaking the earth.
I rounded the corner and—
My heart dropped.
Our home was crushed.
The roof collapsed inward.
Splintered beams and stones buried the remains of our warm little house.
Eren and Mikasa were trying desperately to lift the wooden beam pinning Carla down.
"Mrs. Yeager!!" I cried, dropping to my knees beside them.
Carla looked up at me, her face pale, pinned and unable to move.
"Sandra! Quick… take Eren and Mikasa and run!" she said, her voice trembling yet determined.
"No…!" I grabbed the beam, blood pounding in my ears as I pushed with everything I had.
The Titans were coming.
The ground trembled again.
Time was almost up.
But I refused to leave her.
Not her.
Not the woman who gave me a home.
I clenched my teeth.
"I'm not leaving you…! I won't…!"
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