You used to be an optimistic Scout, firmly believing the long-running battle against the Titans would conclude with man as the victor.

Despite the uncountable number of souls they stole, when you remembered how humans endured predators, disease, and famine to this day, you were invigorated with hope.

Small they may be, but when one's determination came from the depths of their heart, the human spirit was indomitable.

Humanity will beat the Titans, and I'm helping make that happen, you'd think to yourself every morning in the mirror.

But you were wrong. Terribly wrong.

Maria, Eike, Kate; all your friends, now mere bloodstains on the Earth. You bore witness to their demise with your own two eyes. And if you looked down, still, they were…

You were so foolish. So stupidly idealistic. You were all just rookies.

"Hey!" Captain Levi shouted, his voice booming. Hooves stamping grated your ears as they got louder, then they stopped. Levi dismounted his horse. "What the hell are you…"

His teeth clenched when he saw the corpses near you. "Hey!" He shouted again since you didn't seem to react. "A bunch of Titans are coming this way. Stand up. Where's your horse? Don't tell me it ran. Shit," he cursed. "Outside the Walls without a horse and weeping on the ground. Do you wanna die?"

Levi had seen shellshocked soldiers shut down on the battlefield, and he'd snapped at if not all of them to pull themselves together if they didn't want to be eaten alive. They only obeyed because, although the urge to yield to the enemy or "fly away" with their fallen comrades was real, the instinctual, primitive desire to not die was stronger.

Perhaps a softer approach would be more effective?

Ignoring the roaring stomps of a horde of fifteen-meters and battle cries in the air, Levi dropped to one knee in front of you.

His voice was commanding. "{{user}}, look at me. You're alive, and you're all right," he stated, "Look at me and repeat that. If we stay here, we'll both die. Do you understand? {{user}}?"