I do not own Attack On Titan or any of the characters.

Training

Adam stood motionless as the instructor, Shadis, screamed in his face. It didn't faze him any. After all. He had been there the day Wall Maria had fallen. It was why he enlisted.

"Did you hear me!?" Shadis shouted. "Take a lap!"

Adam turned, sprinting away from the instructor, beginning to run around the training field as the others began to practice their hand-to-hand combat. Adam's eyes focused on one of the people in the distance. A blonde named Annie. She was exceptional at fighting, and she was one of the top members of the class. Adam, on the other hand, was constantly scraping the bottom of the barrel. He was always in trouble for not screaming responses for the instructor, and since his punishment was to run laps, he was always short-changed during sparring and omnigear practice. He had always been a good brawler and he seemed to have some natural skill for using the ODM, but without having enough time to practice, he couldn't compete with hardly anyone else.

He finally slowed to a stop, wiping his sweat-soaked black hair back out of his eyes, the hair falling to the right as he usually wore it, just a little messier. He walked over to where Annie was training with one of the other cadets and the cadet smirked, turning to him.

"Want a rematch?" the cadet, a boy that had beaten the hell out of Adam the last time they fought, asked, readying himself.

"No," Adam said. "I'll deal with you another time. Right now, I'm here for Annie."

The cadet snorted, shaking his head and stepping back. "All yours."

Annie readied herself and Adam did the same. However, rather than sparring, Annie began to drill him on a number of more advanced techniques, both ones that the others had learned, and a lot that they hadn't. Finally, they switched to learning to wield a pair of swords, which didn't seem overly important to fight titans, giving they didn't have swords, and weren't small enough to warrant swordplay even if they did, but still, Adam enjoyed it and it did teach them how to handle the swords they'd be using once they graduated. Adam was fairly good with swords. Since they always trained with the swords at the middle of the day, he was always able to practice that. At least, for a little while.

Adam stepped into the sparring ring with the weighted wooden swords, watching as Jean, one of the top cadets, stepped into the ring across from him. Adam sprinted forward the moment Shadis said to begin. Jean leaned out of the way of Adam's first slash and Adam spun, slashing with the other. Jean blocked it, slashing at Adam and Adam knocked it aside, slashing back the other way, Jean ducking under it. Jean swept Adam's legs out from under him and Adam did a backward somersault, regaining his feet and slashing upward, catching Jean across the chest, earning himself the only point he'd be getting. Jean pushed himself up from where he'd fallen, smirking, and charged. Adam blocked two strikes and ducked under a third, slashing only for Jean to step out of the way and slam a sword into his back. Adam crashed to the ground and slowly began to stand. As soon as he regained his feet, he spun, slashing at Jean, only for Jean to knock the sword into the air and smashing his other sword into Adam's chest. Adam crashed to the ground and groaned, pushing himself up to his knees. He looked up at Jean and Jean smirked.

"I thought you wanted to kill titans," Jean said. "How can you do that if you can't even beat me?"

"I'll...beat you...yet," Adam said, pushing himself up, raising his swords and shifting his position, turning sideways, one sword at an angle toward Jean, and the other horizontal in front of Adam.

Jean snorted, stepping forward and slashing at Adam. Adam ducked under the slash, spinning and slashing at Jean rapidly, Jean actually struggling to fend off the strikes. Finally, Adam knocked one of Jean's swords out of his hands, stepping forward and bringing both swords down in a diagonal slash at Jean's shoulder. However, Jean ducked under it, slamming his remaining sword into Adam's abdomen hard enough to lift him off the ground before dropping him.

"Good try Adam, but you're just not very good at fighting," Jean said.

Adam slowly stood as Annie walked over, helping him up before taking his swords, kicking Jean's fallen one to him. Adam moved out of the way and Annie charged, berating Jean around the ring in a painfully brutal beatdown Then, she walked over to stand beside Adam, crossing her arms and showing no emotion, as always.

"Adam, you needed a girl to save you," Shadis said. "Do you have any pride at all?"

"Yes sir," Adam said.

"Good," Shadis said. "Then you can fight Mikasa now."

Adam sighed, walking forward and stepped into the ring, taking a pair of training swords as Mikasa stepped into the other side with her own. Adam charged first, but before he even had time to finish his first slash, he was on his back with Mikasa's sword to his throat. Not that that surprised him. Mikasa was top of the class. Within seconds, Mikasa had two more points and Adam limped away from the ring.

"You're pathetic," Shadis said. "Go run laps until you figure out how to fight like a man."

Adam turned, beginning to run. As he did, the others continued to train, eventually moving on to practicing using ODM gear. Adam finally slowed to a stop beside the others, strapping his omnigear on himself and walking to the edge of the trees. They had recently begun to practice moving around in the omnigear, so the others would be moving around in the woods. He fired his ODM's cables and squeezed the propulsion triggers, shooting forward and zipping around trees and branches. After about five minutes, he found the others, an obstacle course having been set up. Just as he landed behind them, Shadis turned to him.

"Perfect timing," Shadis said. "You're up. Reach the finish line without touching any of the obstacles or the ground."

Adam sighed and nodded, moving to the starting area, taking off. He shot through the trees, careful to avoid running into any of the walls, logs, or dummy titans the obstacle course had. Finally, he landed at the finish line, sighing as he turned to Shadis, who was glaring at him, pocket watch held in front of himself.

"Lucky break," Shadis growled. "Fifteenth place."

Adam stared at him. He had never gotten above third to last. He smiled and nodded and Shadis turned, walking away. He took off with his ODM gear and the cadets all followed, Adam finding himself zipping along beside Annie after a moment. He looked over at her and she nodded to him before returning her attention to the task at hand, Adam doing the same, both zipping through the trees at a blistering pace. Finally, Shadis landed, the cadets landing around him. He turned, looking around at them.

"One of you all does not belong here," Shadis said. "He'll only get you killed, and he's a liability to all of you. However, I'm not allowed to kick him out without reason, so long as he is able to pass the tests. As such, I'll give him another test. If he cannot escape or defeat five of you of my choice, he will be dropped.

"That's not fair," Annie spoke up, everyone staring at him. "You'll choose the top five in the class, and then there will be no hope. If you want it to be fair, choose five from the middle."

"Mikasa, Jean, Bertholdt, Jack, and Max," Shadis said. "Happy?"

"I said to choose all five from the middle," Annie said.

"It's fine," Adam said. "I'll make it."

"It's Mikasa," Annie said.

"And all I have to do is escape," Adam said.

The other cadets all left into the trees and Adam turned toward the Jean and the others, Mikasa taking a step back as Jean and the two less skilled cadets all stepped forward. Jean charged first, Adam deflecting his first blow and slamming his blades into Jean's propulsion tanks. Both broke free and Adam rammed his shoulder into Jean, knocking him into the path of one of the other two. The other charged and Adam ducked under his slash slamming his sword blade into the cadet's gut. Then, he grabbed the back of his shirt and spun, hurling him into Jean, knocking both to the ground. The other weaker one charged and Adam spun around him, slamming the blade into the nape of his neck, dropping him. He turned as Bertholdt and Mikasa stepped forward, both swinging sloppily. Adam ducked under their blades, removing one of their tanks as he had with Jean's, then leapt into the air, taking off with his ODM gear. He glanced back during a flip, seeing Mikasa trying to follow with only one tank, and succeeding, so he shot back the other way, flipping past her slash and breaking her other tank free, catching her and dropping her of on a branch, then taking off again. This time, he was able to escape within a few minutes. After a few more, he landed in the training field as the rest of the cadets walked out, Shadis glaring at him.

"You went UA," Shadis said.

"No, he passed your test," Annie said.

"Good, then you can run thirty laps around the barracks with him," Shadis said.

Annie nodded and Shadis turned, beginning to run back to the barracks, the others following. Adam and Annie began to run, neither saying much for the first few laps. Adam, for the most part, was trying to figure out why Annie stuck up for him.

"You know, you wouldn't get in any trouble if you would just stop sticking up for me," Adam finally said.

"I know," Annie said. "And you wouldn't get in as much trouble if you would just give Shadis what he wants."

"It's kind of fun to see the look on his face when he tries to make me fail but I pass anyway, though," Adam said.

"Well, if you don't start toeing the line, he'll just force you to fail, and then where will you be?" Annie said.

Adam fell silent, the two continuing to run. Finally, they finished their laps, returning to the barracks for the night.

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