Author´s note: I am just a author in the making that got the idea story that is set before the events of the Attack on Titan events. There is going to be a lot of Oc´s in this work. (and you will understand why once the date is presented.)

I hope this won´t scare you away from reading this as I ask for you to give it a fair chance.

Oh and I don´t owe the world of "Attack on Titan" that belongs to Isayama Hajime

And I hope you will enjoy the story:)

The Caged Birds

"Dinner"

Walls.

A weak thud hit wall Maria from the outside, a small humanoid beast, three meters tall, stood with its lanky limbs and neatly cut hair next to it. It stared into the hard rock with a dumb grin and its head leaned against the grey wall as if resting. The small beast bent its body and neck back, gazed up at the cloudy but blue sky and the sun above. Steam poured out from its forehead before it stopped and exposed naked skin, bright as lemon. The beast swayed forward and headbutted the wall with a faint thump. Blood splattered across the hard surface as a grunt left its lips. Steam began to ooze out from the bloodstains and evaporated them in an instant while a continuous stream of vapor left the titan´s forehead. It glanced back up once more.

Walls as far the eye could see. Several more thuds came at the side of the headbanging titan. It turned sluggishly and saw the other titans that patted their hands over the smooth surface, five meter beast similar to it that pressed their genderless bodies against the walls, tried to push it away. To its left stood a seven meter tall beast, similar yet different as its gorilla posture with enlarged head and arms tried to jump up at it. Only to hit solid stone three meters up and slide down. Another beast, thirteen meters tall, with an enlarged belly and a goatee, tried to tackle the obstruction in its way to no use.

All failing, all continuing endlessly like fools anyway. They could feel what hid on the other side of these walls.

Humans.

Tiny things, small and fragile like autumn leaves in the wind. A lot of them gathered on the other side but the walls stood in the way between them and the titans.

How bothersome.

The Headbanging titan slammed its head in once more, as it had countless times before. It begun at dawn and now, at late afternoon, it failed to get one step closer to its goal. It tried again as the seven meter titan tried to climb the back of its thirteen meter taller brother, grasping around its shoulders and tried to jump again. Its body hit the wall like a clumsy toad and fell back down at the ground, steam pouring out from its mouth. The tackling titan didn´t see the failed attempt as it tackled the wall once more, stomping down on the head off the seven meter titan. It splattered under its foot and the tackling titan tripped forward over it. It slammed its head in the wall with a sheepish grin while the seven meter titan rose back up with a new head growing out from the thick cloud of hot steam.

How foolish.

Behind the row of titans, an observer sat hunched down and watched them with big eyes. It waited since this morning, watching the others coming back to life when the rays of the sun hit their resting bodies. Glanced up with large almond-shaped, hazel colored eyes at the mighty wall that separated their world from the humans. The severely shrunken pupils stared as the faint thuds of its smaller brethren continued foolishly.

Today, there would be no waiting until the sun vanished below the horizon. Today, it would no longer have to wonder listen to the Headbanger or the other´s failed attempts. Today, it was its turn to try. The mighty walls are frightening, immense and colossal. But today is going to be different as the spectator won´t sit aside and watch. It was time to try.

The huge legs tensed up its muscles, pressure flowed through the tendons and the large eyes gazed down at the green grass one last time. Noticed the small violet that rested under its shadow, opening and closing every day when the sun appeared and vanished. How much in common they had, a little friend that always said "hi" every morning.

A small degenerated limb under the spectators head waved at it faintly. The spectator closed its eyes hard and released all pressure in its legs, all at once only to feel the wind and the ground vanish far beneath it.

The benefit of being unique, the benefit of being a fourteen meter tall beast and the benefit of being the jumping titan.

Jumping high, higher, the thuds vanishing in an instant, a shadow leapt across the wall´s surface until the rushing speed decreased in mid-air. The large eyes opened and saw the ground and the wall far below it, coming closer by the second. The Jumper crouch its legs, aimed for the thin edge of the wall while using its shadow to aim.

Only half the shadow covered the edge, it was not enough.

The small arms under the Jumper´s head reached up while sprawling the legs. A hard thud hit the edge of the wall, cracks spread where the feet and hands hit and grabbed it. Steam poured out from the limbs while the Jumper slowly pulled itself over the edge, to safe ground. The arms ached and the large head got over, the hard rock touching its small up-chin. With both legs crouched together the Jumper rested with its hands dangling in the air, shrapnel of the wall falling out of their palms. As the steam poured out from the legs, the Jumper lifted its head.

The other side fell in its gaze.

The jumping titan stood up, getting higher and higher up with its huge disproportionate head that gritted tiny pointy teeth in a lipless scowl. A summer breeze stroke its prominent cheeks, the small snub nose let it in. A small bird landed on his bald head, a daring soul like him who wasn´t afraid to test the limits tapped its beak on his bald head. All without any response from the titan´s permanent stare.

It let its small arms hang aimlessly from the barrel-sized torso, they would never reach the bird nor get beyond his mouth. In his full length, the huge legs that made him unique let him see a sight no titan seen in fifty years.

The world on the other side of the wall.

The jumping titan stared, gazed over it for minutes that became an hour.

Trees, fields, giant trees, grass, yellow fields of something it didn´t knew the name on. Same things that existed on the side he came from but less of it. No titans in sight, no three, five, seven or fifteen meter kin didn´t wander the field like they do on his side. The huge eyes noticed one new thing, lines of trampled stone and dirt, wide enough for the smaller titans to walk on. What were they called? It felt as if it should know this, the same lines that nature reclaimed and covered in grass and trees on the Jumper´s side. Long gone and useless yet present here as a sign.

Roads.

The jumping titan tilted its head while blinking.

Roads. Yes. Paths. Yes. Trails. Yes. Names that once had a meaning, but what did they mean again?

The Titan´s eyes glanced up and noticed a large familiar shape in the distant horizon, on a place free of mountains.

Walls. Big, scary walls.

The titan bent its head down with the intense stare at the ground below.

Why did it come up here again? Why did the others try to get past this wall? What was it?

A sound, the whining of an animal got its attention, the jumping titan glanced up as its tiny, non-existent ears noticed the clapping of hoofs. The sound of a horse far away, running on a road away from the titan´s position, with the back turned at it. It carried a rider on its back, a passenger with a large straw hat while holding the reins. The titan gazed after it without a sound.

A rider? Who ride horses? Uses roads? Wait. The reason this side is different from the other and no titans. The reason, the reason waited on the tip of the jumping titan´s tongue yet the word escaped it.

It followed the rider with the eyes as it arrived at something it seen before, a small rectangular box of wood with moss roof. A pillar of smoke came from a hollow stone structure. Things seen before by the titan, but not in this good shape, only ruins and trampled remains of what nature reclaimed as its own. Only the walls of stone from castles long forgotten and their spires resisted the earth´s green growth.

Walls.

The jumping titan crouched down while keeping an eye on the small wooden box, the house, without drawing attention towards itself. He observed its two windows, one door, four walls and two triangular walls as roof.

Walls.

The jumping titan inhaled sharply, its eyes glanced to the sides of the building, on a larger, rectangular one, walls and doors, to the right of the building a green field surrounded by a fence, boxing nature in a square. The man down below led his horse inside and closed the gate.

Walls. Everywhere.

The jumping titan exhaled through gritted teeth. Felt the pressure build up in its legs as its body started to tremble. Down at the ground, the cabin´s door opened and a blonde girl in a cotton dress and red jacket ran out with a bright smile. The man, older and balding, raised its arms at the girl, chuckling and laughing. The blonde let a bright laughter leave her lips.

Happiness, without walls.

In the doorway, a woman in an apron appeared, long blonde hair tied up in a bun. Her voice called out to the man and the child, calling them back inside. Wanting them back inside the wooden box, inside the abominations called walls.

The jumping titan grinds its long, thin teeth.

Walls equal one thing. No matter their size, material, height and thickness, they all mean the same thing. The faint thuds behind the jumping titan reminded of why it jumped in the beginning. Walls stand in the way between it and humans. Walls hide humans. Walls are scary.

But those walls at the ground are not the same as the one he crouched over on. Those walls are weak, puny and frail like humans.

The man turned his head down to the girl, a smile in return and she runs to the barn. The man walks up to the house, giving the blonde woman a warm hug, a kiss in front of the house. They stood outside with the sun slowly moving down towards the horizon and beyond.

Time grew short, the jumping titan glanced down at the ground far below. Its leg muscles turned visible as they swell up. It glanced back at the cabin, no sign of the woman, the man waited for the girl to come back out from the barn, standing on the yard, without the walls boxing him in.

The jumping titan inhaled as it twisted on the spot, staring down at the house without the need for turning its tiny upper body around. It leaned forward, and jumped like a tree frog through the air, fast as an arrow, spinning around in mid-air.

The ground trembled, timber snapped like twigs, stone rumbled and dust whirled up when it landed on the house. Steam poured out from its legs, mixing with the dust and it turned gazed down towards the things beneath it.

Furniture, a table, beds, broken splinters of plates and a cauldron with a hot soup spilled out. The fire from the fireplace scattered and the titan turned its head up while the dust cleared.

The man, pale as an egg, trembling with a sunken gaze, stood frozen on the spot as he stared upon the titan´s face. A word moved over his lips in disbelief but it failed to leave the fleshy walls in his face as they tightened up.

The titan felt something soft pressing up under one of its feet. It glanced down to the left and spotted a blood-stained arm pointing out beneath its large steaming foot. The sound of flesh and blood beneath the foot sizzled like bacon in a frying pan. A smell of frying meat reached the titan´s nostrils. Saliva dripped from its mouth and between its teeth. It glanced back up at the man who turned around as he ran towards the barn. The girl stood in the doorway, with an eight year old boy at her side. They both stared in horror at the titan before the boy walked towards the house with wide-eyes.

"Run!" The man screamed.

The titan gritted its teeth as it spun around on the spot with one foot and the other leg stretched out in the air. It demolished the barn with a low reverse roundhouse kick, breaking the walls like paper. The girl threw herself at the ground, over the boy as the massive leg flew over their heads. Support beams, hay and farm tools flew through the air in the thunderous sound that followed the titan´s kick. The man got struck by the steaming leg, his ribs, spine and bones cracked apart like an eggshell. He flew through the air until his short journey ended in a tree, bending his body around its trunk before it snapped in half.

The titan put down its leg with a heavy thud into the ground. A high-pitched scream ruptured the air.

"PAPA!" The girl cried.

The titan turned around, stared down at the two shivering children. The girl spoke to the boy as the titan gazed down at them. The boy protested but got a slap in the back of the head. The girl pointed at something behind the titan. The boy shook with the head while the girl pointed.

"GO!" She shouted and ran towards the house ruin. She turned her head to the titan, waving her hands and shouted. "OVER HERE! COME HERE!"

The titan stared after her before it lumbered around and took a small step towards her. The boy ran in the opposite direction. The girl ran as fast her thin legs could, the titan didn´t pursue her, instead it stood up while turning its body to follow her path. When she got six meters from it, the titan side-stepped, stomped down with one foot in front of her and the girl tripped backwards. The Titan balanced on one leg as it changed position and crouched down with its head over the crawling girl.

The girl glanced up at the titan with horrified eyes. Trembling, like an autumn leaf and tears pouring down her cheeks. The titan stared down at her with saliva dripping down from its lipless jaws. It leaned forward, closer and closer towards the girl. She shook with her head, started to crawl back when the titan´s degenerated arms reached out after her. The sound of panicked horses came from the far left. The titan´s hands grabbed around the girl´s tiny arms and lifted her body up in a firm grip. She kicked with her legs in the air, struggled as the titan brought her closer.

A screech left the titan´s mouth as it forcefully opened its mouth. Hot humid air poured out as thick strings of saliva dangled between the two rows of pale yellow teeth. Tears poured down over the girls cheeks as she tried to move away, powerlessly as the titan continuously stared down at her.

"NO! Amalie!" The boy shouted, sitting on a horse at the exit to the small farm. The girl, crying rivers, turned her head around to meet his eyes.

"RUN!" She cried and a hot exhale from the titan hit her in the back of the head. "JAKOB!"

The boy stood on the path, hesitating with tears pouring down his face. The titan moved the girl´s head inside its mouth, stopped and with a screeching noise, closed its teeth slowly. The girl muffled screams grew louder as the titan pressed its jaws around her neck. The titan stopped and its intense stare moved up to the boy. In the fading sunlight, he cried out as he made a decision.

"NO! AMELIE! DON`T! LET HER GO!" He turned the horse towards the titan while rode straight for it.

A tear rolled in the corner of the titan´s eye. It continued to stare at him as it opened its mouth as far as it could. The girl sobbed heavily as she whimpered.

"Help me mama…papa…"

The tears rolling over the titan´s cheeks grew in numbers and the boy shouted as he rode towards it.

"AMELIEEEEEEEEEE!"

The titan bit its jaws together and through the girl´s neck with the sound of a mousetrap. Bloody saliva splattered through the air and mixed with the tears over the titan´s face.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" The boy screamed with shrunken eyes as he lost balance and fell off the horse. He stared down towards the bloodied ground, stained by his sister´s blood.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The young man screamed as he fell and hit the floor face first, cutting the scream short. A pained moan left his lips as he opened his drowsy eyes.

A wooden floor, his body entangled in a blanket and sunlight shining in from the window. He glanced out and mumbled.

"Not again…"

The pain in his forehead distracted him as he moved away from the blinding light and sat up.

A pair of running footsteps headed towards a door in the other end of the room. It opened and a young slender woman in her mid-teens with her grown hair tucked in a braid appeared in the doorway. She remained out of sight

"Jakob? Are you okay?" She asked and the young man, who was in his late teens, rubbed his blonde hair while leaned up against the bed.

"Yes. I just fell out of bed…" He said and put a hand over his eyes.

"Another nightmare again?" She asked and Jakob let out a heavy sigh. "The same one?"

"I don´t want to talk about it, Romy…" Jakob said while wiping the sweat from his forehead. Romy glanced back at him with her green eyes and let out a sigh.

"Fine… Dinner is ready when you feel for it." She stated. Jakob scowled and glanced back at her.

"Dinner?" He asked while getting back up on his feet. "Already?"

"It´s noon, Jakob." Romy explained. Jakob´s eyes opened wide as he hurried up on his feet and searched the drawers.

"And you didn´t wake me?! What time is it?! Did I miss them?! Where are my boots?!" He babbled while throwing his night-shirt off and pulled on a white cotton shirt that hanged on the back of a chair. When he got a pair of brown pants on, Romy walked in and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down…" She said and Jakob glanced over the shoulder at her.

"How can you say that!? If I miss the Survey corps heading outside the wall even once, then we won´t have food on the table for weeks. You know that!"

"I do, and I also know that when you return back home, you always head to bed and sleep for days only to wake up, screaming and sweating bullets. I didn´t wake you up because you would get enough sleep." Romy explained and Jakob shrugged her hand away.

"If I missed them then…" Jakob started but Romy interrupted him.

"You didn´t miss them." She said. "They won´t ride out until tomorrow."

Jakob stopped in his tracks and sat down on his chair, rubbing his temples while sighing heavily.

"Thank God…" He mumbled and glanced up to her. "Are you sure?"

"I asked Carl yesterday. Yes, I am sure." Romy replied and threw him one of his boots that rested against the wall. "But you realize that you can´t keep doing this… you are going to kill yourself through stress…"

"And what would you have me do?" Jakob replied with a stare. "The survey corps are a goldmine and I am the only one that sees it…"

"You mean, you are the only one that´s crazy enough to follow them outside?"

"Nobody else is going to do it! And the payment is good…"

"You mean that nobody else wants to do it…" Romy corrected as she rested with her back against the door with arms crossed. "…And you have still not told me what you are doing while you are gone."

"I am working." Jakob replied. "Earning money for food on the table."

"You are risking your life and get nightmares for it." Romy replied. "If only you let me come along then you wouldn´t have to be in danger all the time…"

"No…" Jakob replied with a firm gaze. "…I don´t want your life on my consciousness if the titan´s spot us…"

"There is a solution to that…" Romy replied and Jakob gave her a cold stare.

"Don´t even think about it." He warned. "The answer is no. I am heading out alone tomorrow to pay for food on the table."

"But…"

"A no is a no." Jakob leaned back and Romy pouted with her lips. "And don´t look at me like that."

"You are not my father." Romy stated and Jakob nodded.

"True. I am not, but I am the only one that works in this family."

"I heard the army´s wage is really good…" Romy started and Jakob interrupted.

"It´s not worth it. Just try to find a safer job elsewhere."

"And the survey corps has…"

"No." Jakob reprimanded and let out a pained hiss. "Could we please not discuss this? My head still hurts…"

Romy let out a heavy sigh and headed back to the door.

"Fine! Here I been up all morning and even made dinner for both of us, but if you are acting that way then I won´t do it again!" Romy threatened.

"I just need to clear my head…" Jakob stated. "And once that´s done, we can talk this through one more time, outside."

Romy nodded with her head while narrowing her eyes at him.

"Don´t take too long or I will eat all of it myself." She stated and closed the door behind her.

"What is for dinner?" Jakob asked while noticing the smell coming from the kitchen.

"Egg and bacon." Romy said with a smile. A pained moan left Jakob´s mouth as he fought back the impulse to gag with the dream in fresh memory.

Jakob let out a heavy sigh as he rose up and stared out over the Alfheim district. The church bells clanged twelve times while people moved around down the street. The walls of Maria surrounded it on all edges and a large emblem of a peasant girl in profile hanged over the exit to the world outside.

Jakob´s right hand trembled faintly as he gritted teeth and grabbed around the wrist.

"It´s still out there…"

He let his gaze wander up to the edges of the massive wall and froze on the spot with eyes wide-open.

It stood there, hunched over on the top of the wall, staring down at him with blood in its face and something small and tiny dangling from its mouth. Jakob´s breath turned heavy as crimson red liquid dripped down from the small stiff fingers.

Jakob´s knees gave in and he collapsed in front of the window, tears building up as he forgot to breathe and closed his eyes hard. He shivered while the image of the titan stayed in his memory.

"Stop… I am still dreaming… Wake up..." Jakob begged inside and opened his eyes.

No trace of the titan on the wall, gone as if made of thin air and no screams rung through the district.

Jakob kneeled in front of the window, closed his eyes and moved up his trembling right hand to his head. Tears rolled down his eyes as he kept them closed.

"Damn it…" He whispered, fighting back tears as he lowered his arm. "…Amelie…"

Cringing over the knowledge of tomorrow, Jakob crouched down at the floor and collected his composure.

He still had a job to do tomorrow.

Author´s note: Please review and provide feedback, it would be really appreciated and fuel for me to write the next chapter.

:)