With only two working Jaegers left and the frequency of Kaiju attacks rising, humanity received a grim reminder. They were the prey and the Kaiju were the hunters. But when a mining team finds a tomb containing a preserved body of eons past, humanity will have to turn to their last hope-the original Jaeger 'pilot'.

NOTE: Thank you for reading this! I just want to warn you now, the majority of this chapter is a summary of the 1st season of the anime Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin (or to the 8th volume of the manga, if you prefer), so if you're familiar with it you might want to skip nearer to the end (and YES there WILL be spoilers, just warning you) but in any case, enjoy! (I DO NOT OWN ATTACK ON TITAN/SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN OR PACIFIC RIM)
(Also, link to the FULL cover art can be found on my profile page)

Year 845.
On that day, humanity received a grim reminder.
We lived in fear of Them.
After over 100 years of peace behind the safety of the Walls, the Titans had attacked.
The outermost Wall-Wall Maria-had been breeched by a 60m tall Colossal Titan, striking at Shiganshina District and allowing a horde of Titans through the breach.
"HANNES, STOP! WAIT, NO! MOTHER! STOOOOOOOP!"
Before the Armoured Titan attacked.
As Titans overcame the city, a 15m class Armoured Titan had decimated the gate that lead to inner Wall Maria, causing an onslaught of such unprecedented magnitude that humanity had to evacuate the whole Wall and retreat to the secondary Wall-Wall Rosé-losing over 20% of their population and land.
"I'll kill them all...every single fucking one! I'll exterminate them from this earth!"
Many victims of the attack enrolled for military training.
"To those in the top ten, come forward once I call your name."
"Mikasa Ackerman.
Reiner Braun.
Bertholdt Hoover.
Annie Leonhart.
Eren Jaeger.
Jean Kirstein.
Marco Bodt.
Connie Springer.
Sasha Braus,
and Christa Lenz."
Year 850.
"This time...we're stronger. Humanity's counter-attack...begins now!"
The Colossal Titan struck again, this time targeting Trost District.
But this time, they were prepared.
Or so they thought.
Although all of the civillians had been evacuated safely, many soldiers perished.
"Thomas Wagner...
Mina Carolina...
Mick Tius...
Nicolas Zeramuski...
Eren Jaeger...!
These five have carried out their duty...and sacrificed their lives for the success of humanity!"
"Mikasa...I'm so sorry...
I should be dead...
If Eren hadn't sacrificed himself to save me...
he...would still..."
"Armin. This is no time to be getting sentimental. We need to focus on the task at hand and mourn later."
The few remaining survivors managed to retreat to the Wall to safety, scarred by the still-fresh memories of their childhood friends, lovers and comrades being eaten alive all around them.
No one had anticipated that the new recruits be sent out first.
They were only fresh out of the Training Corps, a day away from choosing their military career path-for the majority it was between the Scouting Legion and the Garrison, but for the top ten...they had the opportunity to join the Military Police Brigade, serve the king and live within Wall Sina, the innermost wall and most fortified of the three.
The Garrison stayed inside the Walls to guard them and protect citizens if need be.
The Scouting Legion, also known as the Recon Corps, were the soldiers that went outside the wall into Titan-controlled lands, headed by Humanity's Strongest Soldier-Lance Corporal Levi Rivaille.
For some the choice was obvious.
Especially for one Eren Jaeger.
"I'm sick of being trapped inside these damn walls like livestock! I want to see the outside world! I'll kill every Titan on this earth!
Every
single
fucking
ONE OF THEM!"
He wasn't going to allow a missing arm and leg to stop him from achieving his goal, however inevitable his death was.
If it wasn't for Eren, humanity never would have managed a victory against the Titans. He became known as Humanity's Last Hope-because he had a unique ability.
He could transform into a Titan.
The first time, it was just lucky-he was mere minutes away from rotting in a Titan's stomach acids before he sub-consciously triggered his transformation and went on a rampage-killing every Titan in his sight and protecting his friends while they re-fuelled their 3D-Maneuver Gear and retreated, taking his unconscious body with them when they discovered what he was.
After a brief confrontation with various members of the Garrison, Eren utilised his Titan-Shifter abilities once again, carrying a huge boulder that had been dislodged from the breach across the town and plugging the hole that the Colossal Titan had created, scoring humanity's first ever recorded victory.
After this, Eren was given a court trial to determine whether he was allowed to live or not.
After all, they couldn't exactly trust a monster that could change from a human to those man-eating creatures they so feared into the Walls, could they?
The Garrison wanted to dissect him and then dispose of him as soon as possible.
The Scouting Legion wanted to use his ability to aid humanity and become a valuable weapon against the impending threat of the Titans.
Luckily for Eren, Corporal Levi himself came to his rescue (albeit giving him a few bruises and knocking out one of his teeth in the process) and won the case for the Scouting Legion, and Eren became part of the Corps under Levi's supervision. The other survivors of Trost chose their Corps-many chose the Garrison-the number equalling those who joined the Scouting Legion. But of all the trainees, even the top ten, only one joined the MPB-Annie Leonhart.
The 57th Expedition outside the Walls was the new recruit's first mission. With the sudden appearance of a Female Titan that had the ability to call for other Titans and could harden and freeze her skin, making it impossible for 3DMG blades to cut through, many soldiers lost their lives, including the majority of Levi's personal squad members. Upon returning from the now-deemed failure of a mission, it was discovered that the Female Titan was, in fact, a Titan-Shifter, much like Eren.
Armin had suggested the possibility, leading for them to believe that the Armoured and Colossal Titans had humans inside them too, and had even uncovered the culprit behind the murders of Squad Levi.
None other than Annie Leonhart.
After this discovery, Eren, Armin and Mikasa were to lure Annie into an underground secret passage under the pretence that Eren was on the run and needed a hiding place from the Scouting Legion. Corporal Levi and Commander Erwin had to keep the rest of the MPB pre-occupied so that they didn't interfere with their plans, leading them to believe that Eren was being escorted to court within Stohess District, Wall Sina.
The first part of the mission had succeeded-they were mere steps away from the passage.
It was pandemonium.
Annie had eventually caught on, transforming and attempting to kill Eren and anyone in her sight.
"You fucking bitch...I'll kill you with my own hands!"
Transforming himself, Eren began his battle with Annie, chaos erupting on ground level. Many of the citizens had never even heard of a Titan before, let alone Titan-Shifters and having seen one? Absolutely none of them had. The idea baffled and terrified many that they refused to believe it. Many suffered.
Eren barged into Annie, knocking her clean off her feet before lifting her up and lobbing her over a row of buildings like a piece of scrap metal. She struggled to her feet, leaning against a building with a dome-like roof when Eren charged right through a housing complex in an attempt to grab her, but she managed to side-step out of the way before he could touch her. She took a few steps back and took her trademark fighting stance-fists clenched and positioned just above her head with one foot forward and the other slightly behind her. Eren pushed himself away from the building he had almost completely destroyed and eyed Annie warily for a moment before taking his own stance.
'Hey, Annie...I wonder...how did you feel when you killed them? Petra...Gunther...Erd...Auruo...and all those others? You may have had your reasons...'
They both leaned towards each other slightly, preparing to attack.
'But I'll never...forgive you!'
Letting out a roar, Eren lunged at her, swinging his fist to connect with her face as she raised her leg to knock him over, but he ducked at the last second and blocked the kick, and made to grab her and flip her when she grabbed his hair, taking him by surprise, tearing off his arm hurriedly and kicking him hard in the face. He was pushed into a building but still had a hold on Annie's leg-his jaw locked around her calf and bit down, deep growling emitting from deep in his throat. Annie screamed at him and began pounding on his head, his Titan skull close to caving in, but Eren was adamant-he refused to let go so easily. Blood was splattered everywhere, Eren's arm lay discarded on the roofs of the buildings behind them, steaming and rotting away. Annie hardened her whole arm and sent one final blow to Eren's face, his skull collapsing in on itself and rendering him motionless. Annie slid her foot out of his slackening jaw. Seeing her chance, she began to walk towards the Wall. Captain Hanji, Corporal Levi, Armin and Mikasa watched from a few blocks away in horror. Eren couldn't move. He could feel his anger pulsating and he grinned. He grinned as he imagined her crumpled, battered body laying in a pool of her steaming, crimson blood while his wounds began to heal themselves.
"I'll...kill you...I'll rip out your eyes...tear off your limbs...I'll kill you all...every single fucking one...I'LL DEVOUR YOU!"
Enraged and skin almost literally burning with anger and hatred, Eren dragged himself from the rubble and began to hound the Female Titan, catching her off guard and latching onto her lower half with a feral cry, the impact of his grab sending them both reeling and crashing through more buildings. Annie began screeching and struggling in Eren's lock hold, unable to do much more. Eren hooked his arms around hers, holding them in place when he reached up with a free hand and grasped Annie's face. Annie struggled and screamed louder, Eren's hold on her tightening and tightening until he managed to burst one of her eyes, partially impairing her vision. Eren let his jaw hang open and craned his neck to tear out the nape of Annie's when she jerked her head upwards, hardening her elbow and catching Eren's shoulder with it before crawling forward hurriedly, shakily standing herself up and making a mad dash for the Wall before leaping onto it, digging her hardened fingers into the brick to hold her up. Steam enveloped Eren, but he was up quickly, jumping up and clinging to Annie's leg before she could get ay higher. He sunk his teeth into her calf again before she kicked him off with her free foot and continuing her ascent.
"Oh shit! She's going to climb the Wall!"
Jean, Armin, Mikasa, Hanji and Levi had caught up to Eren and Annie again and were watching, frozen in place as she climbed higher and higher...closer and closer to escaping...
Annie could barely register what had happened. One second, she was mere metres away from reaching the top.
The next, she was falling.
She could see her fingers out of the corner of her eye making their own descent, separate from her hands. Mikasa stood on the broken bridge of her nose, bloodied blades in hand. Misty blue eyes focused on the girl.
"Annie...
Fall."
And she plummeted to the ground, images of her father flashing in her mind.
The moment she touched the ground, Eren was already ontop of her and had lopped her head off. Annie's vision began to blur.
"Holy crap...he's going to eat the girl too!"
"Eren! Don't!"
"Eren!"
"EREN!"
Steam enveloped the two Titan-Shifters. Eren tore out Annie's nape and was now staring into the girl's actual face.
He was paralyzed.
It was really...her...all along...
There was a bright flash of white-blue light that spread out in waves all around the two that blinded everyone in the vicinity. Hanji covered her eyes and had to squint to make out what was going on. Her mouth fell open.
"She...she's fusing with him! We need to get him out of there NOW!" she bellowed, signalling for everyone to follow her. She hopped off the rooftop and shot the hooks from her 3DMG into Eren's shoulders, which proved rather difficult as he was thrashing about wildly. They could all hear him screaming, but this time, it wasn't the roar of a Titan...
It was a human cry of pain and anguish.
"EREN! WE'LL GET YOU OUT OF THERE, HANG ON!"
Eren carried on screaming-his mind was reeling, trying to comprehend everything he was feeling.
'It hurts...it burns...it's cold...someone...somebody...please...!'
People zipped all around him, and after a few seconds he could feel them all landing near the nape of his neck, where he really was. Someone was clinging to his hair with a cord from their 3DMG embedded in his forehead...oh wait, there were two people there.
"Eren! Calm down! Everything's gonna be okay, just hang tight!"
'Armin...Mikasa...'
"Shit! It's already gotten this far?!"
"We have to get him out! Hurry, hurry damn it!"
Eren felt another pair of feet land on him. He could barely feel anything other than pain and like he was burning and freezing at the same time.
"Tch, gone for one second..."
"Levi!"
"Eren, don't die so easily on us, idiot..."
He couldn't make anything out anymore. The light from whatever Annie was doing to him suddenly flared, sending out one last wave, and then...nothing.
Year 850.
The aftermath of Eren's fight against the Female Titan was catastrophic. Buildings had been decimated and many innocent people had been killed. Almost a day after the fight, a large structure made of an ice-like substance was discovered near the wall that was impossible to even chip with any blade and impossible to lift without the help of a certain Titan-Shifter.
However, he was nowhere to be found.
Neither were the members of Eren's squad that had been present on the day. Not even Captain Hanji or Corporal Levi could be found.
They were all declared dead after a month of searching, which greatly impacted humanity as a whole.
They had lost their Greatest Soldier and their Last Hope. Many people who had lost the will to live sat and waited for the Colossal Titan to attack again and kill them all.
But it never came.
A miracle happened.
Year 860.
10 years after the mysterious disappearances of Corporal Levi, Captain Hanji and their squad, Commander Erwin Smith had been dismissed from the his position 8 years prior after losing an arm in combat outside the Walls, having decided to become a novelist, recording the great feats of the Scouting Legion in the hopes that they would never have been forgotten, that they didn't die in vain. There had been no other Titan breaches. But one day, something strange happened.
All the Titans inside Wall Maria began to congregate at the breach made by the Colossal Titan 15 years before while all the Titans that were visible outside the Wall began walking away from the Walls.
When they managed to squeeze through the hole, the Titans inside Wall Maria simply walked out too.
Hope and anticipation striking their hearts, the new Scouting Legion sent a small team out to follow the Titans.
They returned a week later, looking dishevelled but with huge grins on their faces.
"The Titans...they all drowned in this huge salty lake! Every single one of them!"
Humanity waited for a month before making a move, the Scouting Legion setting up an outpost beside the 'huge salty lake', which they later discovered was called the 'ocean' or the 'sea'.
They waited a month, and nothing happened. Humanity re-inhabited Wall Maria.
Year 865.
The Recon Corps/Scouting Legion began setting up more and more outposts outside the Walls before confirming humanity's highest hopes.
The Titans were all gone.
Humanity rejoiced, many leaving the Walls and beginning to create small settlements and towns outside the Walls, however many still remained inside the Walls, mostly those of the 'Wall Cult' that worshipped the Walls, and those who just couldn't bare to move because of attachments to their homeplaces and so on.
As the Scouting Legion was now obsolete, the members had either joined the Military Police Brigade or the Garrison Regiment, or just retired.
The ice-like structure remained by Wall Sina untouched.
Year 880.
The Walls crumble, burying all traces of the magnificent yet simple towns that once lay there. Humanity's resources and technology had improved greatly.
Stories about the Titans and the heroes that served and saved humanity were passed down throughout the years, however over time, the memories and stories faded away into nothing but old fairy tales to scare children into submission.
Humanity lived on, inhabiting and conquering more of their Earth and countries were established, eventually humans began starting war against other humans over land and treatment again and the world began to develop like how we know it did today.
Exactly 1133 years later, Year 2013.
Humanity recieved a grim reminder.