My newest endeavour I felt like doing after my Attack on Titan rewatch. I have not yet finished the manga so this is slightly AU since I don't know the details very well past the current anime season (reading the manga currently but only have the first three volumes at the moment). When I say AU, I mean it's the same setting as the original with a bit of a difference in what's happening, bits and pieces of original story to fit it together.
This is a fic with a prominent OC, but the plan is to make this character likeable and believable (I have succeeded in this a few times before so don't hate until you give her a chance!). Mainly Jean/OC friendship but it might develop into a romance, however, this will not be purely a smut fic so feel free to skip to those chappies later on if you wish, but you'll be missing a lot of the fun!
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Attack on Titan is not mine and the following story is purely for entertainment's sake and no money is being made off of it. Also, OC is not meant to resemble anyone in particular so if there is any crazy resemblance to someone, it's purely accidental!
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"Kirschstein!"
"Yes sir?" Jean Kirschstein pushed himself away from the stone wall he'd been leaning lazily against and slammed his closed fist against his chest in a salute as Captain Levi approached him from down the hall. Levi returned the salute and they both relaxed into a casual talking stance.
"You look like you could use some work to do," Levi stated dully, looking up at his squad mate with his usual bored expression.
"I suppose so, sir." Jean admitted, glancing back at the wooden doors that led to the room where Annie's body remained cased in her self-made crystal tomb. Guard duty was a necessity, he knew...but, damn, was it boring.
"I was supposed to attend a meeting today to hear from a committee some citizens have formed about expansion beyond the walls," Levi stated, brushing a speck of dirt from his otherwise immaculate uniform, "I really, really hate these types of meetings but there has to be at least one representative from each military branch present. How would you like to go in my place?"
"But, sir, I'm not an officer," Jean reminded him, "They wouldn't take me seriously."
"Nonsense," Levi assured him with a dismissive wave of his hand, "You're my hand-picked second in command, there will be no question about your presence. Besides, all you have to do is be there and vote on the issue. I trust you'll be smart about it."
"When is the meeting?" Jean asked.
"In ten minutes," Levi stated, unconcerned.
Jean rolled his eyes, of course...he would have to book it as fast as he could to make it to the courthouse in time.
"But...who's gonna guard?" he asked as he stepped away from the door, his muscles ready to run as soon as Levi gave him to go.
"I will," Levi replied simply, "It's preferable to attending that meeting."
"Sir." Jean acknowledge and spun on his heels, taking off down the stone corridor at top speed, his ODM gear rattling as he went. When he was outside, he took off down the street in the direction of the large, central, stone building that was this city's courthouse. "Damn it, Levi...way to give a guy a heads up before you send him off to represent you."
Taking the steps three at a time, Jean made it to the third floor in record time and skidded to a stop in front of the door to the meeting room. He took a moment to catch his breath before entering. A dozen heads turned to look at him and he felt his cheeks heat up in a nervous blush as he walked to the empty seat next to the Military Police representative and sat down without a word.
"Now that the Survey Corp has provided a representative, can we get this meeting started?" said the man next to him with a sneer, "I have a lot to do back at my post."
Right. Jean thought to himself, Like play chess, sleep or walk around with a rifle pretending to be well trained and capable? I can't believe I ever wanted to be one of those idiots.
"Our meeting today was called because several concerned citizens have formed a committee to represent themselves here and request military assistance for some sort of hair brained scheme they cooked up."
Jean glanced up at the man speaking, some sort of politician that he didn't recognize. He didn't like him already, his tone was condescending and annoyed and Jean could tell this man was not going to take anything about this meeting seriously...and, looking around the table at the bored and uncaring expressions, he got the feeling this poor committee representative was walking into a lion's den. There was no way they would even consider the request, let alone agree to take action.
"If we are all present and ready to hear the request then let the committee's representative in," the politician announced loudly. An MP standing next to the door nodded and exited the room, returning shortly with another person behind him.
It was a woman, a young one, probably about Jean's age and she followed the soldier with her head held high, her walk was confident and almost worthy of being labeled a "strut". She tossed her long brown hair back from her face and came to a stop in the center of the room, facing the group of people gathered to hear her speak, her eyes were bright and excited and a light blue color. Jean thought she was rather plain looking, nothing to write home about as she stood there in her brown and tan dress, but her confident demeanor and the excited gleam in her eyes made him sit up straighter in his seat, she had his full attention.
"Good afternoon," the girl began, her voice was strong but Jean noticed a nervous waver in her tone, "My name is Sigrid Wolff. I am here to represent a group of people from the farming community and the field workers."
The field workers? Jean furrowed his brow in confusion. Why would field workers be requesting military assistance?
"I was chosen to present to you an idea that those of us who work the land and provide the citizens and soldiers alike with the food that sustains their lives have come up with. As you all know well, another famine is on the horizon with the loss of the large amount of land within Wall Maria...a large amount of fields, farms, hunting villages and orchards were lost and, with the recent peace, the population has grown in the last year by a large number. The amount of land we possess within the current walls as they stand will not be enough to sustain the population long term."
Oh...shit...she's completely right. Jean felt his stomach tighten, remembering the hunger pains he'd suffered through during the last famine when Wall Maria fell and the refugees had flooded into Wall Rose, many had come to his town, Trost, and food was so scarce that he'd given up his fair share for the sake of his mother to eat well. He never wanted to feel that way ever again, but this girl was right...they had lost so much land and so many resources that it was a very high possibility. He leaned forward slightly, focused completely on the girl's words.
"We believe wall construction needs to take place again, in small increments, to take back the land bit by bit from the wandering Titans behind Wall Maria...and beyond. If we can reclaim the land, the threat of famine will be lessened if not completely erased."
"How do you propose we reclaim the land?" Jean found himself speaking out loud, even though his mind was screaming at him to not be the one to get involved, "Do you know how many of my comrades I've seen die right in front of me on our missions to try and accomplish that?"
The girl looked somewhat surprised by his outburst and she blinked quickly as she stared at him, but then she shook her head as if to clear it and she gave him a look of sad sympathy.
"I am very sorry you've had to go through what you have," she said, and Jean could hear the sincerity in her voice, like she knew exactly how he felt, "I have nothing but the utmost respect for our military, the Scouts in particular, but, if you'll pardon my bluntness, you've been doing it wrong."
Jean sat back up in surprise, his eyes widened and he felt that familiar feeling of rage building up inside. This woman was bold and outspoken...and she was pissing him off. How dare she assume to know better than the brightest minds in the military?
"Please don't take this the wrong way," Sigrid quickly stated, holding up her hands in a gesture of peace, "Allow me to explain the plan and you will see my point."
She pulled a roll of paper from the bag she carried and she approached the group, unrolling it to reveal a map. She knelt on the floor in front of them and ran her finger around the area that was once inside Wall Maria, she looked up and met Jean's eyes seriously.
"The problem you face when the military plans is that they are focused on the goal of taking all the land back at once," she explained, "Our goals are different. Now, what I am suggesting is costly and will take some time to achieve, but it is logical. We must consider the value of the land and decided that taking it back is of utmost importance."
Jean listened closely, leaning over to look down at her map. He glanced around and noticed with annoyance that not a single other person in the room seemed at all interested, some even looked like they were asleep. What she was saying was important...but they didn't care.
"Go on," he encouraged her, letting her know that at least he was going to listen. She smiled and pulled out a pencil, marking a section of the lost land in a small square.
"What we have to do is expand a little at a time," she stated confidently, "Building new walls as we go. We clear a section of the land from Titans, mark the new foundations of the walls, then we build the wall around that land...effectively reclaiming that section. Then, we move out again, marking and building, then we knock down the middle wall, thereby connecting the new section to the first section."
She drew two perfect squares next to eachother and then erased the line between them, making it a long rectangle.
"So...we would build square sections next to each other little by little, clearing the Titans as we go," she reiterated, "Eventually we will reach the original Wall Maria...then we can knock down all the walls between the two borders and be connected to Maria again."
The squares she drew spread out from Wall Rose across to Wall Maria and then she erased all the lines inside, making one giant rectangle that stretched between the two walls on the map. It was brilliant...of course...how had they not thought of this before?
"You're...you're right," Jean said, feeling humbled by the fact that a bunch of field workers had thought of such a strategy when the brilliant minds of people like Armin and Commander Erwin had only been focused on the big picture, claiming back the entire area inside the Wall. "This is...a brilliant idea."
"You really think so?" Sigrid looked surprised at his statement, "I...I mean, do you believe it's good enough to take to the higher ups?"
Jean then realized he was digging himself into a hole...
"I mean," Sigrid continued, seeing the look Jean's face had taken on, "We desperately want to provide the people with food, that is our job, our duty...we can't do that without land to farm. There just isn't enough in the remaining area to support the population. You see this fact, right?"
"Yeah, I do," Jean admitted with a sigh, "But good luck getting the rest of these people to agree."
"I only need one person," Sigrid insisted quietly, "It only takes one rock to start a landslide. Sir..."
"Jean, not sir, I'm not an officer," he corrected her quickly, "Actually...I only came to this meeting because my Captain didn't want to. I'm not anyone who can change the way things are."
"I don't believe that," Sigrid replied, "You seem like someone who is willing to stand out. Someone who isn't willing to take things lying down."
Jean cocked his head slightly and Sigrid held the map up for him to examine again.
"Think about it," she encouraged him, "I've said my piece...now the vote will decide the fate of my proposal."
She stood quickly and backed up to her original spot in the room's center.
"Thank you all for taking the time out of your busy schedules to hear my proposal," she announced loudly, jolting a few snoozing jury members awake, "I know that the wise among you will see the logic of this plan and I hope you will grant our request for this plan to commence to the next step in becoming reality."
She gave Jean a meaningful glance and nodded slightly before she marched out of the room the same way she'd entered, head high, back straight, her stride confident and unwavering. Jean watched her go and then he sighed, his eyes dropping to his boots that were firmly planted on the wooden floor by the legs of his chair, he leaned forward and ran his hand through his hair, his thoughts going wild.
"For the sake of this being official, we have to hold a vote," the politician announced, "Yay or nay to the super expensive, time consuming, resource demanding proposition of the lowly field workers?"
A resounding "nay" rang out loudly from all the voters...all but one.
"Yay."
Every head turned to look at the ashen haired young man who had spoken. He was blushing brightly now under their angry scrutiny, but he squared his shoulders and forced himself to appear confident.
"What did you say, boy?" a large man who appeared to be some sort of merchant growled, leaning forward threateningly, Jean only glared directly back. "You do realize that a unanimous vote is required to dismiss a proposal? You are not going to be the only one screwing up this vote."
"Yes, I am," Jean replied simply, "She's right. And it's really pathetic that you all can't see that."
"Leave it to the Scouts to agree with such a stupid plan," the MP representative muttered, making Jean clench his fist to avoid punching his dumb face.
"My vote counts as a vote from Captain Levi Ackerman since I am here as his representative," Jean stated, hoping this didn't come back to bite him in the ass...Levi might just kick him out of his squad for this..."And Levi speaks for the Scouts themselves. If the rest of you want to vote no, it doesn't matter, this proposal will be given over to Commander Erwin Smith to consider if our regiment is the only one to consider its value."
"Then let them have it," the Garrison Regiment representative said calmly, "I have things I need to accomplish today and I have no time to sit here and argue about this. Let the Scouts have it, my regiment's job is to defend the Wall, no matter where that wall might stand and no matter if it added to or reduced."
The soldier stood and walked out, successfully terminating the assembly. Muttering, the individual members began to leave while Jean remained seated wondering what the hell he had just done.
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Here's the start! Silly Jean, jumping into a big deal without thinking it through...
Well, let me know what you think. How do you like Sigrid? What do you think of the plan? Would you have voted for it? Should this become a romance fic someday or remain a friendship? I love to hear from you all :)
Reviews rock my face off!