╔════════ ᗢ ════════╗
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑
𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐊𝐘
╚══════════════════╝

ALEX GREW UP in a city without sunlight, and she is brutal in all the ways she needs to be. In the Underground, she steals and she runs, sleeps in alleys and on roofs and fights when she has to.

She's nine years old when she finds work as a thief and a con, running odd jobs for a lethal man named Kenny Ackermann whose reputation is enough to keep her from asking questions. She knows he serves the crown, but that doesn't mean he loves it, and he has no qualms about employing kids to do his dirty work on the surface.

The raiding system is an elaborate series of illegal passages to the surface that Kenny uses to funnel supplies into the city below the ground. Alex will do anything to escape the stifling world of the Underground, even for hours at a time, and when the offer comes with her own set of ODM gear (no doubt stolen), she cannot refuse.

When the Garrison catches Alex on a topside raid, she expects a slap on the wrist and a deportation. She'll run home with her head down and rendezvous with the other raiders, the closest thing she's had to family since she was four years old.

But when a pair of soldiers hauls Alex off to the Commander instead, she feels herself inches away from a life in a prison cell. Until a Scout captain intercepts her sentence.

He doesn't send her home to the Underground as expected. Instead, he enlists in her the Cadets and tells her to earn her life above ground. Alex isn't sure of the reasoning behind this gray-eyed man's mercy, but he's given her a chance she's not too keen on losing. She packs her guilt about leaving the raiders into a neat little box and shoves it deep into the recesses of her mind, with the rancid alleys and rotting corpses of the undercity.

In the 104th Cadet Corps, Alex makes friends and enemies, trains to kill and tries to avoid being killed. She fits herself into the mold of a soldier and fights to prove herself to assholes like Jean Kirschtein, the ones who are convinced a criminal from below has no place in the royal government's military forces.

But the sky up here is a far cry from the rock of the cavernous Underground, and Alex has no intention of letting it out of her sight anytime soon.

◘ ◘ ◘

╔════════ ᗢ ════════╗
𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓
╚══════════════════╝

𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐈

𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 | 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐲

claustrophobic at first, struck by hunger and thirst
i stood up and looked around, there was nothing to be found

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐬 | 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐬

hubcaps, ashtrays, i was born but i wasn't raised
the big wheel, the black space, tried my best but wasn't praised

𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 | 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞

flames, they licked the walls
tenderly they turned to dust all that i adore

𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 | 𝐥𝐢𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐧𝐞 & 𝐭𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚 $𝐢𝐠𝐧

i'm not scared of the dark
i'm not runnin', runnin', runnin', no i'm not afraid of the fall

𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐠𝐨 | 𝐊𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐎

do you dare to look them right in the eyes?
oh, 'cause they will run you down, down 'til the dark

𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 | 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐬

if i told you what i was, would you turn your back on me?
and if i seemed dangerous, would you be scared?

𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 | 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐲𝐬

i'm not sure if i should show you what i've found
has it gone for good or is it coming back around?

𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 (𝐟𝐨𝐫) 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭 | 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐲

the stars are the same as ever
but i don't have the guts to keep it together

◘ ◘ ◘

Disclaimer: Attack on Titan and its characters and plotlines belong to Hajime Isayama. If they were mine, so many characters would be alive (and it would sacrifice the narrative, but I wouldn't be dead inside). Harriet and Heidi Novak (who you'll meet soon) and their respective plotlines belong to Greta and her beautiful book, Death Wish. My characters and their stories belong to me.

◘ ◘ ◘

a/n: oops. if you told me like, last month that i'd publish an anime fic i would've screeched at you and then insisted i have too many writing projects going on already (which is still true, but i'm beyond help).

this is wholeheartedly greta's fault. i don't really watch anime, but she needed to scream about this with someone, and i binged the whole thing on her crunchyroll account and ruined my own life. the brainrot hasn't been this strong in forever. it's all i've thought about for days on end. HELP

[cover by me, character art generated by ai. god i wish i could draw]