Chapter 1: A Lost Child
"Mother?" said a seven-year-old Dave as he approached the bodies of his parents on the floor.
"Father?" He failed to notice that someone else was in the kitchen with a gun pointed at him.
"You shouldn't have been born."
Dave didn't hear the person speak as he tried to shake his parents awake. His young mind couldn't comprehend that his parents were no longer alive. Suddenly, everything went black. He didn't even hear the shot.
Three years later:
Dave was leisurely strolling through the Shiganshina market while eating an apple that…well, let's just say he 'borrowed' it forever.
Was it wrong for him to steal? He had no parents and lived in an abandoned house far from the town. He had had to fend for himself since he was seven years old.
Dave was a ten-year-old boy with short brown hair with a hint of reddish, a complexion that was a bit dark but not too dark, and very light blue eyes.
He was dressed in a white T-shirt and dark pants. He had a pendant of an animal tusk with his name on it around his neck.
Three years ago his life changed completely, or so he thought. He was shot in the head, but the bullet missed his skull and did not result in his death.
However, it did leave him with amnesia and a very noticeable scar on the side left of his head. His earliest memory of himself was waking up with a bleeding head, next to two dead bodies. Afraid, he ran away until he reached a town in the south, Shiganshina District.
Over the years, he had recovered some of his memories, including those of his parents and his name, Dave Hawk.
The Hawks were a clan that existed even before the Titans' arrival. They were merciless killers who would kill anyone who paid them. What made them so fearsome was because of their strength, skill and speed. They were virtually unstoppable once they set out to kill someone.
Members of the Hawk clan were easily identified by their birthmark, a scarlet pair of wings on their left forearm. Dave, on the other hand, lacked that mark since he was a 'tainted.'
The 'tainted' was the offspring of a member of the Hawk clan and regular people. Dave's abilities, while good, were far below those that had the marks. However, it had been several centuries since the Hawk clan was exterminated and today, only a few remained.
Dave took one last bite of his apple and then tossed it away. His life in Shiganshina was very calm, bullies didn't dare to mess with him, adults ignored him, and other children were afraid to hang out with him. Well, not all.
As he continued walking through the market, his gaze fell on a very familiar person with black hair. Mikasa.
With his eyes, he looked for Armin and Eren but he couldn't see them, which confused him. Those three were usually stuck together like glue. They hardly ever separated from one another.
To some extent, he was their friend too. And that's because only they dared to approach him. When he first met them, he deliberately avoided becoming close to them but one thing led to another and they ended up being friends.
Dave approached Mikasa while she was shopping for some kind of vegetable. Mikasa looked at him in acknowledgment before paying for the vegetables she had picked out.
"Have you seen Eren?" she asked as she placed the vegetables in the basket she was carrying.
"No," Dave answered, shaking his head.
Mikasa sighed. "If you see him, tell him that his mother wants him to get some more firewood.
Dave nodded and stayed in case she needed anything else.
"Guys!" They heard Armin's voice and looked around to see a small, blond boy running toward them.
"Armin?" Dave said as the blond stopped in front of them to catch his breath. "What's wrong?"
"Eren-" Before Armin could finish, Mikasa went into 'protect Eren' mode and cut him off.
"What happened to Eren?" she asked in a serious tone, moving closer to Armin.
Armin, terrified by Mikasa's menacing stare, hurriedly explained, "Some people have stolen my food, and Eren has gone to chase them."
"Is it those guys again?" Mikasa asked and Armin nodded.
She didn't need any more information. She handed the basket to Armin and started running. She knew where Eren was.
Mikasa ran as fast as she could, with Dave following her and Armin behind them still with the basket.
"Wait for me!" yelled the blonde as he tried to keep up with them.
They soon noticed a small group in front of them, where a few children were fighting. There were four of them, two of them were holding Eren down while the third pounded on him. Dave, Mikasa, Armin bypassed several onlookers and charged at the kids that were bullying Eren.
Mikasa was the first to arrive. With a single kick, she sent the boy who was punching Eren flying. Upon seeing Mikasa, the other two dropped Eren out of panic.
Dave took advantage of this and punched one of them in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. The other attempted to tackle him, but Dave easily avoided him, causing the boy to crash onto a wall.
The boy that he had punched earlier, rose to his feet and swung his fist at him. Dave ducked under it and quickly grabbed his wrist. He stepped closer and swept him off his feet, pinning him to the ground.
When he looked to the side, he saw Mikasa had already finished with hers.
"Calm down, Eren!" Armin yelled as he tried to restrain angry Eren.
"No way!" Eren broke free of Armin and charged at the only remaining boy. The two were in a struggle until the military police came to stop the fight.
"Run!"
Dave and Mikasa freed the bullies and prepared to flee. However, Eren didn't think so and tried to follow them but was stopped by Dave and Armin.
"Eren, the police are here!" Armin tried to calm his friend down but to no avail.
"Eren, we have to go," Mikasa urged.
"You guys go first. I'll catch those guys!" said Eren angrily while trying to free himself.
"There's no time, Eren!" Dave applied more force and pushed Eren to move just as the police approached them.
While the police saw them trying to run away, they started to give chase. However, they soon lost sight of them as the four blended into the crowd.
As they made their way through the crowd, Armin got separated from his friends and found himself alone. He moved carefully through the crowd, looking back regularly to see if the police were following him.
He tried to find his friends but it was impossible, there were too many people. He looked back and saw the police approaching. They hadn't seen him yet but it wouldn't be long.
Suddenly he felt someone grab his shirt and began pulling him through the crowd. He wanted to break free, but then he heard Dave's voice, saying, "Relax, it's me."
Armin calmed down and let Dave lead him away.
A few minutes later they entered an alleyway, where Eren and Mikasa were already there. The four of them started walking until they reached another street. They looked around to make sure there were no police before sighing in relief.
At least this time it hadn't ended badly.
XXX
"There was no need for you to interfere," Eren said for the umpteenth time after they had escaped from the police almost an hour ago.
He'd been saying that he didn't need Mikasa and Dave in the fights and that he could handle it on his own.
Everyone knew that this was a lie but Eren insisted on saying otherwise.
Dave didn't bother to expose it. Eren was a stubborn guy and he didn't want to argue with him all day.
Mikasa, on the other hand, didn't hold back her tongue. "Eren! Do you have any idea how bad it would be if the police caught us?"
"Don't treat me like a little child. You are n-"
"I have it!" Armin cut Eren off as he ran over with a book in his hand. Because it was still quite early, neither of them wanted to go home yet. So Armin suggested that they should hang out together to read an interesting book about the outside world that he had recently found.
Armin put the book on the ground and opened it to a random page, which talked about rivers of fire coming out of a mountain with a hole at the top.
Mikasa had to admit that she found it curious but didn't think much of it. Dave never revealed his opinions, but his friends could tell he enjoyed the book despite his silence.
The two that were most excited were Armin and Eren. They were both curious about what lay beyond the wall. They dreamed of being able to explore it one day.
Someday.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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