I. The Maniac

So I died, shot to the neck and there was painpainpain-

And then I opened my eyes and rampaged.

Rip and bit and tore.

All that remains are carnage and bones.

When he came to, he was in a clearing covered with giant bones and skeletons. He held back a scream, because they are just that, a skeleton, no matter how large it was.

I did this.

He remembered, like some sort of hazy movie, the sequence of tearing down and biting and the bodies turning into steam.

I did this.

Not that he was horrified. He was an excellent weapon inventor. He know these scenes well enough.

I did this.

But I died?

Is this heaven? Hell? He deserved to go to hell with all the weapon and torture he invented when he was working as the government's Research and Developement Team. Even among sociopath, his pechance for creating carnage had always been unnerving to the others.

Maybe that's why someone was sent to off him.

What is odd was that his body is far smaller than he was used to. His body is supposed to be tall and lanky, not this small and thin -

It was like when he was 10 years old.

Maybe it will be one of the unexplainable things ever since he came to in this place.

Where am I?

Bones and bones and skulls and ribs - he faintly noticed that most of the limbs aren't propotional to the body it is attached to - and nothing - an empty clearing and a few trees far in the horizon -nothing.

The air is clean and fresh, clear of even the slightest speck of pollution. The world he knew isn't like this. It had been polluted for years, empty clearings used for government of tourist attractions, the occasional plane that passes throught the sky - nothing.

Not even the smell of death and decay coming from the bones surrounding him.

He walked.

.o0o.o0o.

Two days passed, and still no sign of human population. He had been foraging for berries and trapping small animals to eat.

His first interesting sight - the first one that actually showed the difference between the world he knew and this world, comes in the form of and oddly disproportionate human by the height of 3m.

Not human, his mind supplied, they severely lacked the intelligence and emotions.

The giant approached. He kept his distance. Suddenly it's speed increased and its hand shot out to him - which he quickly avoided.

Panic settled. He have no way to avoid this giant - not when the trees here are oddly high and there were no branch within his reach.

Drool was coming out of the creature, and the image of his torso seperated appeared, half in the creature's mouth, another half just… somewhere…

Now that will be quite the painfull death.

The problem is… did he want to die?

Absolutely not.

He was never athletic. He had been that geek, interested in anime and cartoons and movies anything computer, lucky enough to have a pechance of creating things of destruction and be recruited by the government.

Yes he learned self-defense, but he only knew it, not practiced enough. His stamina is quite horrible. He can't fight nor run.

Another hand shot out, he scrambled away to make distance.

I don't want to die.

He avoided another hand, but it was to hastily executed. He fell on the ground. There was pain in his hands where he was sure a branch had scratched it -

And rage

.o0o.o0o.

The next time he came to, he was looking at a tiny steaming carcass with no head.

And he was up there, so very high, the trees seemed more smaller - still larger than him though - and the sky more reachable.

And everything else was so tiny, he could step on it.

There was an odd taste of blood in his mouth - a tang of metal that's both salty and sour. His quick mind drew the conclusion that he must've eaten the other's head.

His hands are skinless and steaming. It was slick with some sort of fluid. The fluid dropped to the ground and there was a hiss as the grass and a portion of the ground disappeared -

Acid, a potent one.

His limbs and torso are covered in some sort of… bones? An oddly shaped bone.

His stomach growled. For a moment he looked unsure of what to do, of what to eat when he was as large as is.

Right, he can bite the other giants.

There was an unsettling feeling in his gut that screams and berates him to remember - that screams that this is all familiar -

He ignored it.

.o0o.o0o.

One month. He had figured most of his powers, which is the ability to control acid, and shapeshift.

Becoming a giant was now a method of quick travel for him. He'll last about half a day running from one forest into the next, killing off the other giants as he took a bite from them, before getting out from the nape of the giant's neck and finding a good branch to rest on.

It was then that he found something… off in the horizon, a sort of grey line that was not supposed to be natural in the nature.

Human population - or at least, intelligent being -

.o0o.o0o.

It was 3 days later; he reached the odd grey line, which turns out to be a giant wall almost 3 times taller than his giant form.

He shifted into a monkey giant and climbed up the wall. When the giant gripped his hand on the edge of the wall, he got out of the nape of his neck and quickly got into the top of the wall, letting the giant carcass fall off the wall.

He looked into the lands inside the wall - mostly clearing, but there are forest, and river, and town -human towns - here and there.

He missed this.

He found some sort of makeshift elevator and got himself down, played the injured, amnesiac boy near the towns to get information – at first he didn't quite get what they are speaking, but he slowly realize it's German, which he had learned.

Wall Maria, Titans, Scouting Legion, Garrison, King -

God, he let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, no wonder it sounded familiar.

Shingeki no Kyoujin -

He loves carnage. Blood and screams and anything gore. He relishes in it. Invented weaponry because of it. Addicted to 18+ thriller and horror movies because of it.

Nononononononono -

Doesn't mean he loves getting stuck in it. Maybe the causing other people pain, the death and the blood, he'll relish in it, but not when he is one of the people on the game. One of the victims.

Nononononononononononono-

.o0o.o0o.

Year 834, 11 years before the Fall of Wall Maria, and he didn't quite know what to do and where to go.

11 years is a long time.

Right now, he looks like his 10-years-old self. But he can force himself as 13 years old with how tall he was.

The enlisting age of Military is 15 years old, and on times of crisis, it'll be bumped down to 12 years old.

He has 2 more years before that and he still don't know if he wants to go to the military or not. If he did, it won't be the Garrisons or the Military Police. It'll be the Scouting Legion, because that's where all the carnage is. He can't stand the monotony that will be the life of Garrisons, nor will he stand the handling of rich snobs up in the Military Police.

No, he take that back. He's sure he'll get into the Scouting Legion. He is a Titan Shifter, one with special abilities. His regeneration is top notch. His survival will be the highest among the members.

Why did he worry about the world in the first place? One way or another, things will happen, and humanity will win. Just the matter of if he will survive or not.

His chances for survival, by being a Titan Shifter, already shot up to more than 50%. That, he can gamble with.

He'll need to get his ID paperwork done, if he ever want to step up the military. He'll get into an orphanage, pretend amnesiac, hang around for a few months or so before stealing the papers and disappearing.

He needs to collect money too, if he want to invent. Preferably underworld money, in large amount. He probably can't get much money by working for clean money. And also a secret base of sort, if invention of technologies are truly banned.

So much to do, so much to do.

But 2 years…

That's more than enough time.

.o0o.o0o.

His name now is Theodore Lindsay. It was a random name that he picked. Equally as geeky as his previous name, but it was a start. A new beginning.

Everything in his plan went smoothly enough, except for the fact that he had no guts to enter the Underground City. Not when he is so small and so very defenceless.

He got his ID paperwork, opened a small street stall in the Karanese district where he offered to fix watches and weaponry. When a Garrison came and asked him to reff up his 3DMG gear, he took the chance to study the way it works.

Simple enough, but surprising that humanity came up with this technology in the span of 100 years after the Walls are built and everything from Before are sealed.

It must've come from one of the hidden technology that are sealed. Something to ease the people and give them false hope that one day the Titans will be annihilated.

2 years passed, he hesitated to enroll because this is facing giant man eating monsters -

When the next year comes around, he straightened his back and strutted to the military enrollment.

.o0o.o0o.

Military is unpleasant.

His stamina is mediocre, his skills are only above average. Most of the horse despises 's only the theoretical part that he truly excels.

The trainer, Kevin Sukhanov, is a slave driver when it comes to physical drills.

The only other thing he excels truly is the self defence, if only because he knew moves other trainee doesn't.

That, and apparently he is extremely brutal in executing them all. And he kept on getting back up even after the most painful of the hits. Thanks to his Titan counterpart.

He is careful with any wounds and bruise.

3DMG theory is something he excel, but the practice? Not so much. He never had the best instinct when it comes to balance. Instructor Sukhanov had tutted in disappointment. 3DMG had the highest percentage in the score, also the most important thing when it comes to face the Titans.

The only thing that held him back is only that goddamn 3DMG practical!

That, and horse handling.

"Cadet Lindsay, if you are that frustrated by the practical, you should modify your gear, you're quite good at it."

He had been punching and kicking an innocent tree just because he can and he is so damn frustrated. It pays to have extreme regenerative abilities.

He quickly turned around, face the source and saluted, right hand over the heart, because the only one who mentions ranks are the trainers. "Sir Sukhanov!"

"At ease." Sukhanov broke into an easy grin. "I didn't know what the poor tree did to you, but thank you for not using the training dummy."

"Yes, sir."

"I know you are frustrated over 3DMG practical. You are excellent in all the other fields. Except horse handling and Self-Defence where apparently your techniques are just horrible and painful to watch. Modify the gear to suit your needs. It should be easy for someone like."

"Thank you for the advice, sir."

He took it.

.o0o.o0o.

Theo can't say he is particularly close to anyone, but he is on friendly terms with most of them, unless it's the self-defense class and everyone started to gang up on him due to his brutality.

He apologized numerous of times every time that brutal streak came out and broke a bone or two. They are all forgiving like that.

A small part of him is actually satisfied at the sound of bone cracking.

"Say, Theo! Where do you want to go after all this?" a brunette - Kreg - asked. He had been quietly eating his own dinner when Kreg and his gang sat on his table.

"Military Police?" Kreg's friend - Alvi something - asked. "Kreg and I kept on kicking your ass during self defence, but you are probably top ten."

"Who knows?" he smiled uncomfortably. He always avoided mentioning that he wants to join the Scouting Legion.

"Come on! Don't play coy!" Alvi - something said, "It's the Military Police right?"

"It's the Scouting Legion, actually." he said hesitantly. The table hushed.

"Why?"

"I just want to?"

"That's not a reason, Theo."

"You want me to spout some Scouting Legion bullshit propaganda, or you want me to go into a passionate speech of Freedom and that mysterious world out there or I'll destroy the Titans!"

Kreg choked on his porridge. Theo scoffed.

See? This is why he didn't mention Scouting Legion.

.o0o.o0o.

5 years later, he graduated in the 4th place. Kreg being first, a girl - quite the brutal one that aimed nutshots and equally scary on the 3DMG - being second, and Alvin as the third.

Year 843, two years before the Fall.

.o0o.o0o.

Keith Shadis. Current Commander of Survey Corps and future Training Instructor.

Erwin Smith. Current Captain. 4 years senior. And future Commander.

He had of course, caught sight of them in the one month of the Scouting Legion initiation. They carried that air of leadership that he is jealous of.

One month, and today is his 1st expedition.

He sat on the horse, as it paddled to the gate.

"60 more seconds before the gate opens!"

The countdown started. It was a countdown to decrease the amount of time needed to get out of the gate. To decrease the amount of time the gate needed to be openned.

5 - 4 - 3 -

2

1

Theo kicked off his horse, it began galloping. He remembered Erwin's genius strategy by using distance to cut down life lost, but it seems that this strategy is not yet in use.

His current position is in the 3rd utmost left wing, the formation is clustered, with the commander in the center.

He can see the seniors fighting against Titans, some failing, some succeeding. When the Titans destroyed the first in line, the second in line charged. Theo decided to join in the fray.

He sent his hook to the 5m Titan and flew close, quickly circling the head and cut the nape and jumping to the taller Titan - an 8m class - and did the same. He kept his hook on the neck to prevent himself from falling off the Titan as the body drop.

He could feel his knees getting the impact. There was a slight hiss as he adjusted his legs before he actually stood up. The 2nd in line - panting heavily after defeating a 8m class Titan - thanked him and returned to position.

He did this. He can do this.

They returned within the walls with whatever mission completed, and their numbers reduced by 20%.

.o0o.o0o.

His 3DMG had always been more maneuverable. It was easy to turn around, keeps the balance better and saves more gas, thanks to his modifications. The speed remains the same though. He is not ready to increase the speed just yet.

Six months rolled on, he started to settle into the 3DMG and his specialty started to show up, which is predicting the momentum the hook will give if he shoot it this way or that. He made the wire on his hook unexplainably long just for that.

He offed the Titan, sent the hook into another Titan's shoulder, using the falling momentum and the hook pulling him to go to the Titan's shoulder and cut.

Repeat.

There are other soldiers, more veteran who lacked the guts and hesitated to do what he does. It irked him so much. He scoffed at them as he swung around from one Titan to the next. Not even minding these newbies - because the word veteran doesn't fit them - thanking him as he flew past.

If they got the time to be thanking him, they should be soaring in the 3DMG and go against the Titans or run for their lives - better yet, die getting crushed by the Titans. He'd like to see that, with popcorn in hand and a safe faraway location.

Consider it a movie, a very realistic gore movie.

Well, another possibility is that they are as gutsy as he is, but he only looked gutsier because to him, 15m fall is only an ankle spraining fall, not a bone breaking, harbinger of death.

Eh, might be, doesn't mean he is no longer pissed at them.

When the last of the Titans is about to fall, he shot his hook and jump to the ground, letting his hook slow down his descent.

He heard a slight sickening crack and pain blooms in his ankle. He spent a moment crouched on the ground, twisting his ankle here and there before daring to stand up.

"Impressive maneuvering skills there, Cadet."

Theo flinched in shock, wincing even more when he placed more weight than he intended on his injured ankle. He turned around and saluted. Because only higher ranks call by titles.

He is faced with Erwin, who is sitting on his horse.

Surprising, considering Captains are usually in the center. They don't go out to the edge of the formation.

But then, Erwin is different than all the other captains.

"Thank you, sir."

"Your name." he demanded.

"Theodore Lindsay, sir."

The captain appraised him for a moment.

"Keep up the work."

With that, Erwin left.

.o0o.o0o.

Ever since the expedition where Captain Erwin noticed him, he was placed right under him, alongside a few other Cadets.

One of which, is a tall sniffing man by the name Mike Zacharius, who is the second in command in Erwin's squad. He had taken a few moments to take in his scent before scowling.

"I don't approve, Erwin." He said, "Too much blood. Too brutal."

It was interesting how Mike had deduced all that in their first meeting with only his scent.

"You have nothing to say about that, Theodore?" Erwin asked.

"No," he said, "Not when I'm quite infamous among the 91st squad for being a bone breaker and a heart breaker."

Erwin scoffed. "Cheeky, Cadet. I assure you that there is no heart for you to break in my squad, and that most of us are physically stronger than we look. Mike, spar with him. We'll see about recruiting him. Begin when the both of you are ready."

Both of them went into position. Theodore with the standard academy basics, Mike with the form he is the most comfortable with.

In, out, in, out –

ATTACK

He lunged forward for a punch, which was parried and returned with a punch. It sent Theo back, holding his stomach.

God, that was awfully painful.

"This," Mike said, "is the best in 91st batch?"

Oh, now I'm pissed.

He ran forward and aimed a kick at Mike's crotch, which was expertly blocked, followed by a punch to the face which sent Mike skidding to the side. He proceeded to grab his jacket and pulled Mike back into position followed by a sucker punch to the cheek.

"I tell you," Theo said, "brutal, not the best."

There're at least 7 people better than me when it comes to close combat, and practically a quarter of the class can handle the 3DMG better than he did.

Mike swung at him, which he clumsily avoided, followed by another punch to the gut which sent him wheezing for breath. He could feel a smug smile on Mike's face.

He really hates to be on the losing side.

He did lose, after the 7th punch to the gut.

"To tell the truth," Erwin said, "I don't like my assessment."

"Everyone doesn't like seeing me spar," Theo wheezed out. "Too brutal for someone weak, they said."

"I have to agree." Erwin said, "You love power and milked it for what it's worth. You gloat your victories up above."

"Gloating is a bit extreme for me," Theodore pretended to wheeze out. By now, his stomach is no longer painful, but he needed to keep up the pretense. "It's a fact that I'm the better one."

Erwin quirked his brow, as if he is proving a point. "Tell me, why Scouting Legion."

"Freedom, what else?" He replied, and Theo cursed when he realized he replied it a bit too quickly.

"I can't see someone like you wanting freedom." Erwin shot back.

"I want to eradicate the Titans," Theo said after a moment, voice dipping to show how serious he is, while in actual, he doesn't even care. "Totally eradicate them. It's a silly dream-"

"Not even close to the truth," Erwin cut in. "You just want to destroy things – never mind if it's Titans or humans. Scouting Legion is your best bet."

He's sharp. Or maybe he is that bad when it comes to hiding intentions.

No wait, this is the future commander he is talking to.

A laugh escaped his lips. Not far from him, Mike is scowling in disgust and Erwin is patiently waiting.

"You are sharp, Captain." He said, "Too damn sharp. You could've let my motives hidden and treat me like other soldiers, but you just had to pick me – a carnage loving fool. Well, if you are willing to accept me as is, who am I to say no?"

Erwin scowled. "I do not approve of that mindset. But as long as you are willing to limit the damage to when you are fighting the Titans, I'll let you in."

"Deal, Captain."

.o0o.o0o.

At first, Erwin didn't even know of Theodore Lindsay. Erwin knew him as one of those Top Ten in the batch who have goals in the Scouting Legion. He is just one in a thousand.

But the first time Erwin saw him – actually saw him – as he fight against the Titans, he discovered things – unique things.

It was just the way he fights – the way he throw his body to the Titans without a care and the way he seem to cut in the bloodiest way possible, followed by the way he let his body free fall from the height of 14 meters with nothing but the grappler to slow the fall.

It's the little things which spoke a thousand words.

The way he aimed for Mike's vitals despite being comrades, the way a small smile broke into his lips when he made Mike winded enough with dirty and cheap tricks, the way his eyes shone with hatred when he lost his advantage -

All these characteristics remind him of those who had stayed too long in the Military Police. Those who had let power and superiority into their head.

It's unnerving, how someone as young as him is quite… twisted.

He took him in – chained him down.

.o0o.o0o.

A/N : Tell me if I miss anything