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"I guess I'm early…" A yawn escaped the blonde's mouth. He was early to class and neither of his two best friends showed up which was odd in a way. Armin, letting a chuckle escape his lips, made his way to his seat. "When are they gonna be here.." He said himself, sitting down and thinking of Mikasa and Eren. Eren would just sleep through the class if he could. However, Mikasa might have been busy waking the sleepy Eren up. As many thoughts crossed Armin's mind that mostly concerned his two missing friends, one of them showed up. 'Speak of the devil…' he smiled at the female who entered the bustling class. They still had 15 minutes left before class started. This was the time when most of the students chit chat while waiting for their teacher to arrive.
"Good Morning, Mikasa." Armin wished the short haired female with a smile. The teen, who was 170 centimeters tall, turned her head a bit to bring Armin into her line of sight. Her red scarf that she always wraps around her neck was like a signature look to other people. Her expressionless face had eyes that told her emotions clearly. "Ah, Good Morning Armin." She greeted her friend back and proceeded to sitting down on the bench behind the feminine looking male. Armin watched as his female friend sat down. By then, his head faced her and his body made a 90o turn to the right.
"Where's Eren? Didn't he wake up?" Armin questioned the female who was pretty quiet. "No. He's still asleep." She responded back quietly. "Eh? I thought you would wake him up since you're so close…" Armin said. He was pretty confused as to why the female didn't wake him like usual. A bright pink blush spread across Mikasa's face when Armin uttered those words. Armin, who was still confused as ever, waited for the female to respond. "You asked this question last time.. So no, I didn't wake him up.." She said and shifted her gaze to her thumbs. She sat there with a blush on her face, twiddling her thumbs and with eyes that showed that she was indeed flustered.
"Ah.." Armin said and realized that Mikasa seemed slightly angry at Eren for the past week. 'He really shouldn't have said that the last time.. Oh well.' He thought. Mikasa lifted her head up with a jerk and faced Armin, "Since he said that, he doesn't need me to wake him up. We aren't responsible if he over sleeps," she said with a tiny pout. Armin almost chuckled at the reaction Mikasa gave to his question. Not long after, the teacher entered and literally silenced everyone in the class.
Everyone noticed him when he took his first step of the day into the class. Immediately, the class became quiet and scurried to take their seats. Armin faced forward and his body shifted back to his original position. Everyone became quiet as they sat on their seats and waited for the adult to enter the class. Of course, it was no other than Commander Keith.
He stood there with his sharp eyes, standing at the door. With a sigh, he entered the class. Instantly, all the students stood up to greet the man. "Good morning!" They said and saluted to him. "Good Morning." He said in his usual strict voice. The students soon sat down and waited for Keith to speak. The previous day, he told and advised to get a lot of sleep. 'Is there something important for today?' A thought crossed Armin's head.
"Ahem." Keith spoke up and cleared his throat. "Well, we're going to train by doing a simulation of a titan attack on the town. You will all be in teams of 3s and 4s. It will feel like an actual attack, so don't take it lightly. This simulation will end 5 hours from now and it will start an hour from now." He cleared his throat once again after finishing his brief summary of what today's training will be about. "Now, line up. We have to head out." With that, everyone started getting up and lining up, leaving the class as they exited.
"Mikasa! What about Eren?" Armin said with a soft voice just so that Commander Keith wouldn't notice him. Mikasa looked over her shoulder and at Armin. "He'll…" She said softly and looked at Armin, breaking eye contact later and looking at the door. "He'll..?" Armin questioned, waiting for Mikasa to utter the next words that he wanted to hear. "…" She remained quiet. Armin quirked an eyebrow, patting her on the shoulder a bit. "Mikasa?" Mikasa, who wasn't startled at all, nodded and exited the room with a, "He'll manage." Armin's jaw dropped at Mikasa's answer. "What do you mean 'He'll manage'?" He frantically asked, running after her.
25 minutes later
The students had all walked to the entrance of a forest near by. They were all confused by now. They were sure Commander Keith said that it was gonna be an attack on a town or did they hear wrong? Commander Keith soon smiled at Commander Erwin who was already there in the first place. The student body saluted at Erwin as a form of respect. Erwin smiled at them since he didn't want to seem rude to the hard working teens. It was a normal training. Nothing too special about it.
"I don't think I have much to say other than that you all have to be serious through out the training. And no slacking off." Erwin said with his usual strong voice that could land a huge impact on a person and his expression that showed his leadership qualities. "Yes Sir!" The students responded back at their commander with energy in their voices. "Now, Levi will announce your group numbers and your team members." Levu came from the shadows of Erwin and Keith which was pretty impressive in the eyes of the young trainees. It surprised and confused them; they never thought he would be leaning on a tree, not attracting much attention and just blend into the background. That, or the trainees were slacking off already. "For group one.." He started without a moment's hesitation. He took out some papers that he held which were hidden from view and continued the name listing.
During that time, Jean was preoccupied with praying and begging the gods above that he and Mikasa would be in the same team. The expressions he made were priceless, and embarrassing to the people right next to him when he didn't even want to listen to what they had to say. Marco, who was beside him, chuckled awkwardly at the gestures and expressions Jean was making. Even Sasha was watching him with an expression that spelled out, 'He's-so-dumb' Luckily for Jean, no one saw him, and his wish was about to come true.
"Marco, Annie, Bertolt and Reiner are in group 2." Marco flinched a bit when he suddenly heard his name read aloud by Levi. Annie glanced at her teammates and so did Bertolt and Reiner. Marco was rather nervous, but he knew very well that if this ever happened, he would have to fight for his life. He sighed a bit and smiled warmly. Jean stopped and lifted his head, thinking it would be better to listen now. He noticed something else though. Glancing at his friend, Marco, he saw him smiling. It was weird, definitely. Something was off about Marco. 'Did something pop up in his mind?' Jean thought while staring at him through the corner of his eyes. It felt weird. 'Idiot..! Pay attention to the name listing!' Jean cursed himself internally and looked away, trying his best to focus on the listing.
"In group 4 are Jean, Armin, Mikasa and Eren." Levi said and lifted his head up from the papers he was reading from. "….Where's Eren?" He said, scanning through the trainees. Everyone started looking around as well where as Mikasa didn't flinch and Armin was literally sweating. Jean, who was merely guessing, suddenly said, "Maybe he's still sleeping." Levi turned his head to Jean as a vein popped on his forehead. The students could see it and they felt goosebumps all over their body. "Is that so. Then, Jean, take the bucket of cold water and ice next to me and go wake him up. You have 30 minutes." He said and shot a glare at Jean. "Y-Y-YES SIR!" Jean said with jerk, running towards the bucket of water and ice and ran to the dormitory.
Meanwhile, Eren was snoring his way through the busy day. "Go get that titan!..." He sleeptalked. His bed sheets were all over the place and his legs were on the bed where as his body, head and arms were on the floor along with his cozy blanket. Jean heard his snores and immediately knew where the male was. He opened the door, entering on Eren who was still sleeping. A vein popped on Jean's forehead as he watched Eren snore. "Why do I have to wake you up…" Jean grumbled, lifting the bucket up and walking upto Eren. "Good morning, idiot." Jean said with a grunt, standing right infront of the lazy Eren with the bucket in the air. With one swift movement, the cold water with ice cubes poured out of the bucket and on Eren like a waterfall.
"OH MY GOD THE TITANS ARE ATTACKING!" Eren shouted and stood up with a jerk. Jean just stared at Eren with a sarcastic expression. "Shut up. We need to get to the training grounds before Levi kills us." Jean said and held onto his bucket while waiting for Eren. "You have 20 minutes to get ready." Eren's jaw dropped and just stared at Jean. "Why the hell did you have to do that?!" Eren shouted angrily at Jean and lunged forward at him. "Why the heck do I have to come wake YOU up?!" Jean shouted back, rolling up his sleeves. "How would I—" "SHUT UP AND MOVE TO YOUR TRAINING GROUNDS!" The person in charge of the dormitories shouted from the door before leaving with an angry voice. Definitely, he was not happy.
Eren glanced at Jean and so did Jean. "Tsk." Both Jean and Eren grumbled. Jean walked outside and closed the door behind him. "I will wait outside." He said and waited outside the door as Eren started to unbutton his shirt. "Alright!"
"What is taking them so long.." Armin said as he stood next to Mikasa. All the groups had assembled. "Hey, Armin!" Connie shouted out, waving at the blonde as he approached him. "Connie!" Armin said as Mikasa replied with a, "Hello." "Where's your two other males?" Connie asked as Armin laughed awkwardly. "They still aren't here." Mikasa said. She was pretty neutral today. What else could you expect of the cold flower? "What about your teammates, Connie?" Armin asked, trying to change the topic. "Ah! My teammates are Ymir, Sasha and Christa. They're over there." He said and pointed at the three mentioned girls who waved at back at Armin and Mikasa. Armin and Mikasa responded with a wave back.
The three kept talking as Connie asked once again, "They're taking a really long time.." Sure enough, the two showed up, running towards the training grounds while violently shouted and arguing with each other. "Speak of the devils.." Connie said with a sweat drop. Armin face palmed mentally and Mikasa looked somewhat pleased since a pink tint of color ran across her face. "Eren! Jean! Hurry up you idiots!" Levi shouted at the two which broke their argument which was in full heat. Scared for their lives, the two ran towards their group at full speed. "YES SIIIIRRR!" They shouted as they ran, stopping next to Armin, panting and gasping for air.
"Eren," Mikasa spoke up. Eren wiped the sweat off his face and glanced at her, "What?" He asked. A small tint of red spread across her face as she said with a slightly timid voice, "I'm sorry." Eren blinked. Again and again. He did so several times before laughing. "It's fine." He said after he stopped, walking over to his equipment and wearing what he had to. Armin watched the scene as Jean kept glancing over his shoulder at Marco, who was smiling at his group. 'That idiot…' He thought and looked away. Armin smiled and patted Jean on the back. "It's time to start." He said. Jen smiled back and fist pumped the air. "Yeah! Let's go!" He said with excitement and wore his equipment.
The training soon started and was in full swing. Levi was on one of the tree branches, watching the groups go into action. 'They seem to be using way too much energy..' He thought as his skilled eyes scanned each passing trainee's actions. "Aren't they energetic!" A voice that was slightly lower than an average girl, but still woman like, neared Levi. Swinging from one branch to another, the brown haired woman landed on the branch that Levi stood on. "Hanji?" Levi questioned, turning his head to his right to face the tall woman. Hanji stood there, watching the trainees. "This brings back so many memories..~" She said with a smile. "Don't you think so?" She said and glanced at Levi. The short male glanced back and watched the trainees as well. A small smile lined his lips, "Yeah," in the energy filled shouts of the trainees and the chit chat between commanders, Levi could feel silence and peace next to Hanji. Maybe that irritated him. Or maybe he liked her presence.
"It's going to quite a ride, huh." Hanji commented on a subject that Levi didn't quite grasp at first. "What is?" Levi questioned. Hanji gave a chuckle. "Our life." She replied to which Levi didn't comment as much. "You better hold onto those ropes." He said, "It would be bad if you fall." Hanji smiled at Levi who was facing her. The two faced the scene infront of them after that sentence. "I will. But those ropes are fragile, like threads." She said and sat down on the branch. It was quite surprised how the branch didn't break. But ofcourse, the branch was huge.
"Just like strings." Levi commented. The shouts of the trainees were filling the air as time ticked by. Emotions were brightly shown in the training; happiness, sadness, anger and many more. It wasn't the same for everyone; each had their own sets of emotions. Erwin looked up, seeing that Levi and Hanji were up on the branch above him as he and Keith kept talking. "Yeah.. because they are connected to life." Hanji said. Levi glanced at her as the both parted their lips, telling the exact same thing at the same time, "They are Strings of Life." Astonished, Hanji looked at Levi and started to smile like an idiot. Levi, who was confused, replied back with a, "You four-eyed idiot." With that, he swung to another branch. "Hey! Don't leave me behind!" Hanji shouted at Levi and swung after him. "I'll leave you behind if you can't keep up!" Levi shouted back. Erwin and Keith, who watched the whole thing, sighed heavily. "They're at it again.." Keith said with a chuckle. "That's how they are." Erwin replied.
"I feel so old with the experiences we've been through." Keith said, leaning on the tree behind him. Erwin glanced at him and smiled, watching the trainees doing their best. "This is just the beginning." He said and laughed a bit. "You got that right." Keith replied. The both started to laugh as the day went on. Laughter, Chasing, Happiness, Failure, Sadness, Cries and Smiles were all mixed together. It was a rollercoaster for these guys and it wasn't going to stop so soon. The day would end, but not their experiences. Their feelings, their life, it was going to go on. They have to hang on though. Life is a rollercoaster and their only way of staying with the rollercoaster is with the strings that are attached to the roller coaster. It will be sad and happy at the same time. But it will be unforgettable. They have so much left. Each string tells a different story as it grows longer. The strings of life is something they will hold on to, till the very end…
Whew! That took like, 3 hours? Well, next update will be published 12/09/2014. Thanks for reading and be sure to leave a review and follow~