[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/180629/9c1285d674507757316b93e854b98f63.png[/img][/center][right][color=gray][hr][b]Shiganshina District, Wall Maria[/b]
MORNING, SPRING, YEAR 845[/color][hr][/right][indent]By the time Tanner stopped running, she was a sorry sight to see.

Warm tears streamed down her face as Tanner stared in disbelief at her family's home, now crushed beneath a chunk of the outer wall. She approached the ruins, and fell to her knees in a frantic dig in hopes that her parents were somehow alive under the rubble. Civilians continued to panic as they ran past Tanner, fearing that they might endure a painful death in a titan's jaws. None had dared to stop and knock some sense into the girl; after all, who would be so willing to risk their life to save another?

[color=#FFD967][b]"Mom... dad..."[/b][/color] Tanner croaked, her tears splattering against shards of her former home. Picking a brick out of the rubble, Tanner clutched it to her chest as she sobbed. There was never the chance to say goodbye, with everything Tanner knew and cherished gone within a blink of an eye.

[color=crimson][b]"Mother!"[/b][/color] The sound of someone screaming for their mother was heard off in the distance, loud enough to distract Tanner from her mourning. A group of burly men circled a mother and daughter like flies feasting on a dead carcass, as if they wanted something from them. One hoisted the mother's limp body over their shoulder, while the armed man lashed out against the daughter for ravaging his hand with her teeth.

Looking down at the brick she held, Tanner summoned her courage. There was still something she could do, and Tanner knew that the woman she idolized wouldn't stand idle as a kidnapping happened.

Standing back up to her feet, Tanner raced towards the thugs, brick in hand. However, she was only one person against three men likely twice her size, therefore Tanner could only save one of them. [color=#FFD967][i]I'm sorry,[/i][/color] Tanner thought, as if she was apologizing to the girl's mother. Raising the brick upwards, Tanner smashed it against the skull of the man that was holding onto Hotaru, sending him into a momentarily daze brought on by the impact.

[color=#FFD967][b]"Come on, let's go!"[/b][/color] Tanner announced, taking the girl's hand as she tried to usher Hotaru towards where the boats would be located.[/indent]