That year, the central government decided to fall back within Wall Rose. During that period of time, the Titans consumed ten thousand people… 

That night of the fall, Y/n and his friends are seen sleeping in stoles with many of the other refugees. A shadow looms over the young boy, as another one stands beside it over Eren. 

???: Are you sure you want to do this Sara? He'll lose his mother.

Y/n's mother is seen standing beside Eren's father, Grisha Yeager.

Sara: I believe he will persevere without me… besides, I should say the same to you.

Grisha's eyes begin to water.

Grisha: They'll… have each other. The future relies on them. 

Sara: …Let's go.

Sara picks up her kid, as Grisha does the same with Eren. While the two head towards the woods, they eventually split up, as they need to have one last moment with their kids. Sara gently places him down against a tree. She pulls some things out of her coat, the armband from before, and the box from the house. She tears the armband in half leaving the logo, and puts it in his pocket. 

She places the box down beside her, and turns her attention to Y/n. She begins to shake him gently. After a little, Y/n begins to stir awake.

Y/n: Mom?

Sara: Hello my little star…

Y/n latches himself onto his mother and starts to cry into her chest

Y/n: I was so scared,I heard Mrs. Yeager died. So when we made it in, and I couldn't find-

Sara: It's okay, it's okay Y/n.

Y/n takes a moment to catch his breath as he looks around, and notices where he is.

Y/n: M-mom? Where are we?

Sara: Y/n… I'm sorry, but I won't be here any longer.

Y/n: Wha-

Y/n looks at his mother as she opens the box revealing a large syringe with strange fluid inside. 

Sara: There are things in this world. That wants everyone within these walls dead. I can't fight them all off, after all, my time is limited… but you can.  So I need you, to take this shot, and remember I always love you.

Sara grabs her son's arm and presses her syringe against his arm. 

Y/n: I don't know what you mean?!

Tears begin to stream down his face and give her son one last kiss on the forehead.

Sara: You will one day. Goodbye, my Sapphire Star.

She finally injects the syringe into his arm. 

In an instant… two lighting bolts strike the forest, one blue, and the other yellow. Two monstrous screams fill the air before dying down as fast as they came…

A figure stands over a sleeping Y/n, the man sighs seen carrying a knocked out Eren. 

???: Jeez, another kid? Grisha, Sara… what did you guys do?

Y/n suddenly jolts up from his sleep, sweat running down his forehead, and his heart beating rapidly.

Mikasa: Y/n! You're okay!!

Armin: Hey Y/n, are you okay? You look stressed…

Y/n: Wait… Where's mom? I saw here, we were… what happened?

Mikasa: We haven't seen Mrs. L/n anywhere…

Y/n: No… no I swear I saw her.

Armin: I'm sorry Y/n, but maybe it was just a dream? You were thinking about her all night. 

Y/n looks down and thinks for a moment, he tries looking for anything, any proof. He felt his arm and couldn't feel any sign of an injection… but he suddenly felt something in his pocket. He freezes as he looks up at Armin and Mikasa.

Y/n: I did see mom… look…

Y/n pulls out the blue clothes from his pockets, Armin looks at it and inspects it.

Armin: It looks ripped… but, how did you…

Y/n: I'm telling you I must've seen her, she might've given it to me!

Armin: Yeah… but where is she?

Y/n: I…. I wish I knew…

Mikasa kneels beside him and pulls Y/n into a gentle embrace.

Y/n: I'll be okay… I'll be okay… 

He looks to his right to see Eren shifting a lot in his sleep.

Y/n: I'm more worried about him…

Mikasa gets off of Y/n and crawls over to her brother. Eren suddenly wakes up and holds his head in pain.

Mikasa; Eren, are you okay? You were tossing and turning.

Eren: I feel like I saw my dad.

Mikasa and Armin look at Y/n then back at Eren.

Mikasa: That can’t be… Y/n saw his mom too…

Eren: Really? Y/n do you know where she is?

Y/n: No… it felt like a dream, but, I know for a fact I saw her. That it was real…

Mikasa: Hopefully we can see them soon, as of now, let's go. They said they’re going to distribute food...

Mikasa helps Y/n up as Armin pulls Eren up.

Armin: I'll go pick some up then!

Armin heads off as Y/n looks at his surroundings.

Mikasa: This was once a food storehouse. They’re keeping refugees who fled by ship here.

A man tries to cut in line for the food distributions. The man behind him immediately grabs his shoulder and pushes him out of the way.

Man 1: Hey, don’t cut in line!

Man 2: Shut up! I haven’t eaten anything since last night!

Mikasa: It isn’t yet certain that we’ll survive.

Armin: Guys I'm back!!

The three watch as Armin runs back to them with three loaves of bread.

Armin: Listen I got some bread! My grandpa got us some saying it was for children!

Armin hands one to Mikasa.

Mikasa: Thank you.

One to Eren, and the last one to Y/n. He frowns and looks at his blonde friend.

Y/n: Armin. What about you?

Armin: *nervously chuckles* I'll just find some more I guess.

Y/n looks at the bread before handing it back.

Y/n: You're more scrawny, you need it more than me.

Armin: You guys need it more than me, you guys look pale…

Mikasa: Y/n listen to him. You and Eren need to eat.

Y/n can't help but hold his frown and sigh.

Y/n: *sighs* Fine. We'll split it, you need to at least eat something.

Y/n then rips the bread in half and gives the other half to Armin. 

Armin: ...Thank you.

Armin smiles at Y/n, before an audible "tch" is heard. Y/n and Eren see a garrison soldier look annoyed at the children, before walking away.

Eren: What's his problem?

Armin: It can’t be helped… I don’t think there’s enough food for everyone. They say that’s all we’ll get for today. There are too many refugees and not enough food to begin with. You know the farther out you live, the less they care, right?

As Armin explains the situation, three men are seen fighting over some bread. Y/n looked over to see Eren was listening in over to a pair of garrison regiment soldiers chatting to the side.

???: Why should we hafta give our food to some lousy outsiders? If the titans got through the wall, they could've at least eaten some more people, if you ask me!-

Eren's eyes widened from what the man had just said. The boy grits his teeth and  begins to head straight towards the man.

Armin/Mikasa: Eren!

Y/n: What the…

???: -This is just gonna make the food shortage even worse.

Suddenly the man is kicked directly in his shin by Eren.

???: What the hell?! You damn kid!

The garrison soldier then punches Eren right in the face. 

Y/n: Eren!

Y/n runs over and steps in between the soldiers and Eren.

Eren: You don't know what it's like! You've never seen it! You've never seen what the titans do to people!

Y/n: What great guys you are, I'm sure you'd make good titan fodder.

???: The hell are you saying?

Y/n: You guys aren't crap, just hiding back here as your comrades were eaten huh? It's probably true, you've never even seen one…

The man grits his teeth and begins to walk towards the two.

???: Shut up!

Armin suddenly gets in between them.

Armin: I apologize! They're just hungry and irritable! That's why they so rudely lashed out at an adult... I'm very sorry! 

Mikasa goes to the two to see if they're okay. While the man noticed the large crowd building up watching this whole situation unfold before them.

???: Man... it's 'cause of us that you guys aren't starving to death, you know! Even you kids ought to be thankful to us!

Armin: Of course!

???: No, I want an apology… from you.

The man points at Y/n, the boy lowers his head and takes a deep breath.

Y/n: I'm... not apologizing, not until you nearly die by one of those monsters.

One of the guards go to punch Y/n, but his partner stops him. The man merely scuffs at the boy before leaving their post. Y/n finally breaths out, that may have been the stupidest thing he's done, however... it was justified.

Eren: Damn... I refuse to let them take care of me.

Y/n glared at the two soldiers, before helping Eren up.

The four returned to their original spots, with Y/n eating half of the bread in silence… unfortunately it doesn't last long with Eren around.

Eren: I'm going back. To Wall Maria! I'm going to destroy every last titan!

Armin: Eren... you're not being serious, are you?

Eren: I am serious! I'm not like those guys who do nothing but act tough inside the walls! 

Eren looked down at his bread and frowns.

Eren: I don't need this crap! 

He throws it at Armin who catches it, while stumbling a bit.

Armin: Eren! You'll starve to death!

Eren: Doesn't it bother you at all?! It's because we take everyone's charity that we can't beat the titans!

Armin: It's impossible! There is no beating them! All we can do is live inside the walls! If we try anything, we'll die! Just like my mom and dad!

Eren: So you're just gonna grovel to them then?! That's not shameful to you?!

Armin: There's... there's nothing we can do for now!

Eren: That's just an excuse! If you wanna live like livestock forever, go ahead! You wimp!

Suddenly Eren is punched in the face and is knocked down by Y/n. 

Armin: Y/n...

Y/n: Eren. If Armin is a wimp, then so are we. Whether it was running from titans or fleeing the town. We can't do anything on our own. We're too young and weak. No matter what you believe, if titans were to come back right now, you would just freeze and die. You want to fight? Get stronger, better, and have patience. I already said I'd help you back there… so just eat your dang food. Mikasa, feed him.

Mikasa nods as she walks past Armin and grabs the bread from his hands and pushes the bread into Eren's mouth, force feeding him.

Armin: Mikasa!

Y/n: He needs to eat, and we all know he's too stubborn to do anything right now. We can't let any of us starve to death, so no food should be wasted. 

As Mikasa feeds Eren, he begins to tear up and cry, realizing the hopelessness of the situation.

----

Several days later, the throngs of refugees were tasked with cultivating the wastelands to secure food. However, a food shortage was unavoidable. So, in the following year of 846, the central government sent a multitude of refugees on a mission in the name of retaking Wall Maria. 

Of the 250,000 sent... nearly 20% of the population, not even 200 survived. Although it isn't much, their sacrifices did improve the food shortage for the rest of the population. 

----

Armin is seen holding his grandfather's hat as he begins to cry on it. His grandfather... was unfortunately one of the many refugees sent to take back Wall Maria, who didn't make it back. Y/n and Eren stood side by side with Armin, as he sat against the stone bricked wall behind him.

Eren: ... It's the titans fault, if we could just subdue them, our place in the world could be ours. 

Eren sits down next to Armin.

Eren: Armin. I am going to apply for the cadets next year. I'm going to gain the strength to fight the titans.

Y/n: And I'll be joining behind him too. So don't worry about his safety.

Armin: Me too....

Y/n: Huh?

Armin: Me too!

Y/n: Wait what-

Mikasa: I will too.

Y/n and Eren looked shocked at their two friends. 

Y/n: You guys don't need to! You guys need to stay alive! Staying alive is crucial! 

Eren: Seriously! It's bad enough I roped Y/n into this!

Mikasa: Yes. That's why I'm doing it. So he won't die, even a body guard needs protection. 

Armin: The more the merrier…

Y/n looks down, before standing up, and looking amongst his friends.

Y/n: Alright. The four of us then. We'll all protect each other, no matter what.

----

One year later.

???: The 104th Cadet Corps Class entrance ceremony will begin now!

In a training camp, multiple cadets are seen lined up as the commandant walks up to them

Keith: You have the misfortune of having me Keith Sadies, as your commandant! I will not welcome you warmly! In your current state, you'd be nothing but food for the titans! You're mere livestock! You're less than livestock! Over the next three years, we're going to train you worthless nothings and teach you how to fight titans! Three years from now, when you come face-to-face with the titans, will you still be fodder for them?! Will you serve as an honorable barrier that protects the king?! Or will you be a glorious soldier for humanity that drives the titans out! It's up for you to decide!

Y/n is seen in the line up, as he was now taller, and had longer hair. While still in his uniform, he wore a black shirt, and had a familiar cloth hidden in his pocket. 

Y/n: Eren…Armin…Mikasa, I will always protect you…