Chapter One: The strong willed

((I do not own attack on titan or any of its characters, only my OCs))

Force them to abandon who they are, then raise them from nothing as pure soldiers.

An instructor, walking along the rows of fresh recruits, stopped in front of a girl. All morning, he had been interrogating the teenagers, asking questions, insulting, humiliating, trying to break them, and make them raw material for building the best soldiers humanity can supply. But, with the amount of empty spots along the ranks, and the previously mentioned girl who just ran off crying, it was obvious that many were not fit for this life. When the he had finished the initiation, only half of the group of teens had remained, the rest having disappeared throughout the instructor's belittlement. Most were cowering, but they all held an unyielding salute. The only two among those who weren't shaking with unease were two girls. One was shorter than the other, with brown hair pulled into a neat bun. She had a fair complexion, and a passive expression, but her wide hazel eyes looked forward with anticipation. The other girl, a few places down, had darker skin and her long brown hair down. Taller than the first girl and the other recruits, her rigid stance made her seem intimidating, much unlike the first girls calmer stance. Dark brown eyes gazed forward with determination, and the instructors hadn't failed to notice the two girls stronger stances compared to the unsteady ones around them. Dismissing all of the recruits to their bunks for the evening, one instructor asked the two to stay behind. Grinning a wicked smile, he asked them their names. "Marissa Pendill, Sir." The shorter one stated. "Maria Isai, Sir." The second girl replied. "Well, Ms. Isai and Pendill, you both look like you've had an awfully long day," the instructor mocked, "how about you end it with a nice relaxing 30 laps around the camp?" he sneered. Expecting something: shock, distress, protest, any of the things he usually received when trying to break wills, he was only met by two blank stares. They simultaneously said "Yes, Sir" saluted, and began their run. The instructors were a bit surprised at the lack of resistance towards the punishment that was wrongly given to them. Even more surprised when later in the evening, the two girls appeared again in front of the instructors to let them know they had finished their laps. But the instructor that had assigned them the punishment wasn't about to let them off yet. He then assigned them to clean all of the lavatories and washrooms. If this instructor hated anything, he hated strong wills. And he intended to break them. Once again failing to protest, the two girls saluted and went to their next assignment. "You shouldn't be so harsh on them, they are just kids" one instructor said to the man who was now fuming over the two girls' passiveness.

Meanwhile, in a bathroom, a girl with her hair in a bun struck up a conversation. "You know, when I joined the military I didn't know I was signing up to be a maid" she said, smiling. "This is bullshit" the taller girl growled, "They're giving us punishments just because we weren't shaking in our boots like the others. If anything they should be the ones working, if you can't handle one man yelling at you, how on earth are you going to handle a titan?" The shorter girl winced at the taller girl's words that came out like venom. Trying to lighten the mood, she outstretched a hand and said, "I'm Marissa, by the way." The taller girl looked at her hand and, with caution, took it saying, "Maria." Marissa smiled at her, and the two went back to their duties, unaware of the significance of the friendship they just made and what lied ahead of them.

Thanks for reading! This is chapter one of many, and I will update soon!