Work Text:
The apocalypse had started precisely one decade ago, mass bombing had destroyed the world that everyone knew, leaving behind a mere husk. Dry and sandy dirt replaced lush, green grass, oversized and decrepit sticks replaced strong, tall trees, and a pale, sickly colour replaced the once vibrant blue sky. Radiation replaced ordinary humans with giant humanoids, titans, they were called. Maneaters.
But just like every notable time in history, humans managed to survive.
The world hadn't been ruined instantaneously, so places were built as refuge for those of the human population who were lucky enough to get there in time, before the world really went to hell.
In one of these places resided a group of one-hundred and four, the most notable members were Erwin Smith, Hanji Zoe, Mike Zacharious and Levi Ackerman. They had been there the longest, they were the ones who helped the most. Hanji was in charge of farming, Mike was in charge of aid, Levi was the peacekeeper - ironically, he didn't use peaceful means to keep the peace - and Erwin had the most responsibility; rations, deciding who to prioritise when it came to aid, and receiving reports from the peacekeeper. This person is severely underweight, that person is a danger to others, this woman might be pregnant, that man has a virus.
If you broke it down, Levi was a bit more than a person who stopped people from ripping each other's throats out when rations were low, he was the right-hand man of their leader.
A lot of responsibility for four people, but they had help. Hanji had Moblit, Mike had Nanaba, Levi had a whole squad of people, and Erwin had Levi - that worked because Connie, Jean, Sasha, Eren, Armin and Mikasa all spread out and did Levi's job when he was preoccupied.
Now, ten years later, the group of roughly one-hundred were going to leave the safety of their refuge, and venture into the outside world. Not because they wanted to, but because they had to.
They all knew that the underground structure would one day fail and cease to provide sanctuary, the past year had been a display of that. Medical supplies lessened and purified water was low, the latter having a knock-on effect on farming. They should've left just before things started to run out, because at least they'd still have something left for the start of a journey.
They left when things /did/ run out.
It wasn't Erwin's plan, not at all, he intended to have the healthiest of the group leave two years before supplies ran out, that way they could turn their refuge into a headquarters of sorts, returning there from maybe a week of exploration, so the only risk to their health would be the radiation itself, not dehydration, starvation, or curable disease.
But people were loud, the first three and those who assisted them were willing to carry out Erwin's plan, but that was only ten people, leaving ninety-three unwilling to leave. When the plan had initially been put out there, there had been several more people willing to go, about a quarter of them were raring to go, others were hesitant but still willing, and they were actually going to leave the very next day.
Then, the next day came and they shrunk down to a group of twelve - including their leader - and it was left to assume that those who didn't want to go had persuaded those who did. Forcing them to go - as Levi suggested - wouldn't work, quoting Erwin: "People unwilling to go now, will only die later."
What could they do with a group of twelve? If they were huddled close together, a big enough titan could probably crush them in one step, so Erwin waited.
And waited.
And waited.
A month became half a year, half a year became a full year.
People only got more stubborn as time went by, then two years came and it was certainly a wake up call. They had no options left.
So there they were, the entire group readying themselves with weaponry - only the original twelve who were willing to go and a handful of others got ODM gear, designed to kill the beasts but in limited supply - even the stubborn ones were preparing, because what other choice did they have?
Fear still gripped the majority of them even by the time the great metal doors began opening - courtesy of the decade-old mechanism that only Hanji could figure out. "We're gonna die out there." many said, and rightfully so, there was absolutely nothing guaranteeing their survival, not when so few of them knew how to fend for themselves. Even if everyone had access to ODM gear, there wasn't nearly enough room within the bunker to teach those who didn't know how to use it.
A guaranteed death for many of them, it seemed. On the bright side, at least the lack of combat knowledge wasn't anyone's fault, people wouldn't be able to say the same when thirst and hunger took them.
There were a few that a dark and morbid death didn't seem to phase though, but maybe they were numb? The few that were quiet were probably the ones who had been through the most, either they broke down and died faster or they kept it in and fought harder, they chose the latter. Levi had been one of them, he never had a family to lose in the first place, but those he did lose felt just as valuable. Despite how goofy Connie was, he too was one of the silent ones, having lost his mother, father and both siblings before he found the bunker. Others didn't have the misfortune of witnessing, first hand, the death of their loved ones - like Hanji, whose parents had been travelling whilst the news officially broke out - but they were affected nonetheless.