The Wolf

So I wanted to make this character a bit... different than others like her. I didn't want to make Titan Shifter #10. I wanted to make a character with a reason to exist, no matter what that reason while also making that reason stand out.
We will explore and come to understand her and why she's strange, why things work differently than they do with others like her; Titan Shifters that is.

If you're interested, I hope you read on and enjoy the story!
I respond to ALL reviews and love to hear from everyone! :)

Shiganshina was in ruins. She was there to see it, the homes and shops crushed by boulders from the shattered wall, the wild titans devouring anyone unfortunate enough to be too close to the breach. People screamed and ran, cried and pleaded for a savior. It was indiscriminate slaughter, no matter the gender or age, they met the same agonizing fate.

It was a horrible sight to witness, blood painted every surface she saw. She had even watched a large titan collapse a bridge and fall into the river below, it was enough to submerge a close smaller titan, but not enough to stop the bigger one from advancing on the people. It was scary watching the sheer determination of the titans, how they needed to reach their goal, the food running from them.

She leered over the people from the rooftops, her hands grasping the edges of the building, her breath heavy and excited. As the titans across the river caused the people to flee to her direction, she leapt into action. The force behind her jump enough to crack the sides of the building, the roof tiles shattered from the weight, and the ground beneath her shook as she landed. Turning to see the crowd beside her stop and gasp, her wide animalistic smile stunning the people. With a deep inhale, her roar bellowed out through the streets and secured the fate of the people desperate to escape. She lunged at the people in front of her with her mouth wide open, people ran in all directions, a few she hit with her body, injuring enough to distract her from the escaping crowd.

Some were unlucky and were caught in her massive jaws, when her body stopped moving, her mouth crushed anything in her teeth and she swallowed what she could. More would come, she was lucky, they were not. She needed more, it wasn't what she wanted, what she searched for. The remaining body parts and limbs falling from her teeth, she turned around and caught sight of the people she lunged into, people she landed on top of were dead, others with shattered bodies, all served her purpose. Her elongated limbs reached out for those still alive and unable to run from her. From there, she had her own private feast, other titans in the area too busy following the other people who made it away from her waiting jaws.

All anyone could hear was screaming, the groans of titans, and the collapsing buildings. It was a real mess, she had a small hand in it even though the plan that caused this was not of her doing; her part was to cause chaos.

During the attack on Shiganshina, she took her own toll on the people there, but her acts against the innocent people of Shiganshina were as grotesque as the rest of the titans. Her constant and merciless slaughtering of the people in the city was carried out mindlessly, she was wild, without sentient thought. She was just as bad as the rest of the titans.

She had seen her fair share of the military that resided within the walls, what is known as the Garrison and Survey corps. A few tested their luck with her and a few failed, they classified her as an Abnormal Titan, her actions did not line up with the average titan and as such, she was targeted differently. This was not something she understood, only something that threatened her. All she knew is what was in front of her face and that she wanted them, they spun around in front of her, appearing to glide in the air without wings. It was good for her that the Garrison had not fought a titan in a long time, many of them had never even seen a titan and those that had, only saw them wander outside the walls harmlessly. This gave her a great advantage.

Her wild movements, her speed and flexibility, made it near impossible for the inexperienced Garrison troops to narrow in on her nape. She ran through the streets alternating between her feet and four legs, the first that attacked her had been unable to hook onto her for a clear shot. A team of two soldiers had managed it later on, but had not the foresight to check the area for other titans that lurked behind buildings and one met their fate, eaten alive by a titan smaller than herself; the other escaped to fight another day. There had been other attempts, only one having any semblance of success.

As she hunted for more, smelling the air gingerly, she picked up the scent she was looking for, but did not see it coming. Like the others, it danced in the air, spinning and weaving through her hands. It was smarter than she was and she had no idea. It was a fresh recruit to the Survey corps, newly trained gave this person sharper skills than the older, less agile Garrison troops, but still lacked the experience and confidence needed to survive a large Abnormal titan. None of this made it into her head of course, she hunted, she ate, she wandered; this is all she did. This was something she wanted, she wanted to stop it from cutting her, it aggravated her.

The wide toothy smile on her face twitched, began turning into a scowl, not enough to be truly noticeable. She was enraged, wild, and tired of this flying thing whipping around her head. Her arms hindered the man, he knew he couldn't get close enough to her nape with her hands constantly reaching for him. He needed to handle the obstacle before going in otherwise he'd end up dead.

He was scared, he understood that fear. He didn't want to die, but he was distraught by all the death and suffering around him. It was too much, this was his first day out of training. He wanted to be in the Survey corps with his friends, he wanted to learn how to fight a titan outside the walls. He wanted to feel what it was like outside the walls to begin with. Tense and terrified, he made his first move.

The titan wailing and swinging at him gave him too much of an opening when it reached high for him, one hand near the ground, the other resting on a roof. She was hunched over, still trying to find him and stop him when she felt the slicing pain in her right arm. A powerful and precise stoke of twin blades successfully severed her right hand entirely. She howled, she still was unable to catch him and now she was missing a hand.

With his first attack down, he felt pride. This titan wasn't so tough, he managed to cut the hand off and he never took a hit. He could do this.

Feeling newfound bravery inside, while the titan struggled to catch him, he aimed to dive for her last hand. This hit, if successful, would allow him to cut into her nape and be done with another terror of humanity. His ego cried that he could go back to his friends claiming victory over a large Abnormal titan. He wanted to do this, for all the people that died, and to prove himself ready to be a part of the Survey corps.

The titan stopped moving, the missing hand made it difficult to run on all fours, she leaned to the side, huffing and angry. Her eyes searched hungrily for the offender, she heard so much noise, so much action, that it was nearly impossible to find the right source.

A quiet zip, snap, and there, below her lumbering body, he swung. Her upper body weight was leaning on her left hand, when he made his strike, she allowed herself to fall directly on top of the poor soldier. She heard him call, she felt two long, sharp stings inside her mouth. The blades piercing through her face, the screaming. Rocks and rubble from her fall onto the man had stuck between her teeth, it took a significant amount of force that slowly crunched the rubble before she finally heard him cry out.

And then there was silence. The damage done to her body had only barely begun to heal. She could barely move, she couldn't open her mouth, the blades having stuck in her jaws, and the lower half of the man hung from the strings he shot into her mouth in a final attempt to flee. Things became dark, her body gave out, and she fell to the ground.

What- where am I? Her body felt heavy. She groaned and struggled to move, her head throbbing in pain. Something had happened to her, something she didn't understand. Though as she began to wake up she knew nothing at all. Her mind didn't think to where she was, what had happened; instead her mind was blank. Like a lock on a door missing its key... Whatever was supposed to be in her head was gone.

Though her eyes were burning, she managed to open them and, after a few slow blinks, they began to focus. Stones began to form with tall buildings framing her vision and shattered wagons spread across the cobble. It was filthy, a thick film of dirt and ash wafted passed in dense clouds and covered the ground. It was impossible to see far enough to get a clear picture of her situation.

Her body was aching, screaming in protest as she pushed herself off the cobblestone street, but more pain hit her like a brick wall. Rolling onto her haunches groaning in pain, she looked for the source. It wasn't hard, the wound was massive and the cause still impaled into her abdomen. This object with a wire attached, something she didn't recognize. It looked like it had four hooks around it, bladed hooks that had dug into her flesh.

Her hands grabbed the object, holding her stomach as blood poured to the stones below. Her eyes were wide, fear shook her to her bones. Terrified of the thing in her body, of how much she was bleeding. I... I'm going to die?

In her panic she began to search the street, her eyes desperately trying to see someone to call out for. It looked entirely desolate, not one sound of life. Her breath quickened, heart beginning to pound. "Help! Anyone!" She cried out, gasping in pain. "Somebody, is there somebody out there? I need help, I'm bleeding, please!" Her voice echoed down the street and not a single response.

It was empty, her calls useless. There wasn't a single person anywhere close enough to help her.

She was alone.

Her throat tightened, her chest convulsed. With a sneer she bent over and coughed, vomiting blood. She continued to cough violently, more blood dripping heavily from her mouth.

A sob escaped her, tears burned her eyes and left clear streaks through the dirt and blood on her face. It was hard to breathe and with her throat tightening as she cried only made it harder. She looked back down to the thing in her stomach hesitantly, the image burned into her brain. It was gruesome and to know that the shredded flesh, pool of blood, and impalement was all her... if she managed to survive, it would haunt her for the rest of her life.

She sat there, bleeding and in shock. Completely frozen and slowly becoming resigned to her death. She was in agony, she felt hopeless. She awoke only to die shortly after.

Her eyes rolled back behind her eyelids. she looked dead, her body limp as she rested there waiting for the end to come.

...

. . . But it never came. Rather she began to feel a heat building up in her chest spreading outwards all throughout her body. The heat climbed, burning her up but not causing any pain. In fact, some of her pain began to fade away.

Confused, her eyes reluctantly turned back down. Her face was quickly hit with soft steam rising from her own body, the blood covering her began to burn away into steam as well. Slowly but surely, she was cleaned of blood stains and her wound healed around the object in her stomach. She knew instantly what she needed to do to get out of here. This metal foreign object needed to be removed and she was the only one around to do it.

Her determination grew and while she suffered, fought against her seemingly hopeless situation, the wounds healing so quickly gave her the kick she needed. There was a mix of panic, fear, and pain that drove her to remove this object. Her hands gripped the metal hooks, the sharp edges dug into the palms of her hands. Gritting her teeth, she pulled it out inch by inch. She tried not to scream when she removed it, but she gave up trying.

With a cry the object came free and she threw it to the ground. The metal clanged as it hit the stone signaling her freedom from that pain. She doubled over, the pain was instantly beginning to subside. Steam kept rising from her, the heat bathing her until finally, it stopped, and she no longer felt the wounds.

Taking careful breaths, she sat up in relief. She felt like she had just cheated death somehow... it was ridiculous to believe she could just heal from a fatal injury. Yet there she was, completely fine.

Putting her feet on the ground she rose and, still stunned. She even felt strong, unfazed entirely about her prior ordeal. It was as if it never happened.

She wasn't sure what to do next, no idea what path she should take to move forward... Other than actually moving forward. Putting one foot in front of the other she made her way into the streets she did not recognize, more clouds of dirt rolling over the rooftops and into the alleyways.

It didn't take long before she found evidence of what had happened to this town. As she turned down another street she discovered bodies, limbs, resting on the cobbles carelessly. They were not collected bodies ready to be taken to a funeral, they were bloody bodies missing arms, legs, heads, half their bodies. They had been torn apart like paper, cracked and bitten apart.

Pausing to observe the aftermath ahead of her, she began to realize what had happened.

For whatever reason she recalled images of half eaten people. But she was not just watching it happen in front of her, she was seeing through her own eyes. Massive hands raised towards some poor soul on the street below her, the hands stealing them away. They screamed, pleaded for their lives as she raised them to her mouth.

With a sickening crack the body was snapped in her jaws and swallowed. Whatever was left was dropped and she continued on the rampage.

She remembered what she had done... She remembered Shiganshina. The death toll was enough to make her sick; it was done by a raging beast, not a living person. She looked back on those nightmarish memories, able to apply her own conscience to her actions. In truth her titan was wild and acted without reason, it just so happened to save her. It cost so many lives that she did her best not to think about it. Their lives were not worth her own, considering how many people she ate.

This realization took her breath away and she fell to her knees, eyes staring at the bodies, face pale. "I... I didn't mean to. I didn't want to..."

She held her knees to her chest, still staring as tears poured from her eyes. Her hands dug into her hair, holding her head. She sobbed openly, her cries echoing down the streets as the guilt gripped her heart.

"I'm sorry..."