Ok, this took a while ha. Excuses aside, this will be a four chapter series; I'm sure you guys can think of the titles for the next three chapters as well. I want to thank jessy0622 and Polska-1999 for being my first followers! It might not be a big deal to others, but I'm really thankful. I am also thankful for reviewers Sentinel07 and kiks493 for giving me their opinions. Anyways, enjoy the story!
Note: I do not own any characters, setting, or anything Attack on Titan; just a fan. Please support Hajime Isayama for being awesome.
Setting: During the two years of training
Chapter 1: Summer
The bolstering heat was beginning to affect the young soldiers, as the sweltering sun forced droplets of sweat to cascade down their bodies. Currently, the 104th Training Squad was doing pushups until their arms could no longer function, because of the events that transpired earlier.
Few hours earlier: Early morning.
"We didn't really get to eat much this morning, huh?" Connie said as he walked towards his comrades just outside the male barracks; face still drowsy from the early morning bell.
"Yeah, I guess food is starting to get scarce," said Marco.
"Seriously, how are we supposed to train if we don't have any energy? We already don't get enough sleep and now, no food," said an irritated Jean.
"I doubt food will get you to start training seriously, Jean," said Eren. He made his way to the group, to a not so happy Jean.
"Oh yeah, you should really like not eating much since your so ready to die." "Tch, you should be fine eating carrots, that's all the energy you need after all. And maybe some sugar cubes. " "HUH?! Enough with the horse jokes, you suicidal bastard!"
"Guys, calm down," said a very concerned Marco.
"Yeah *yawn, it's a little too early for this," said Connie.
"Are they at it again?" said Armin, who just joined the group. "Haha, It looks like we are going to get a show," said Reiner who noticed the commotion and was followed by the silent Bertholdt. "Uh you guys, if we don't hurry—."
"Shut up! I'll drop you from the wall so you can meet your beloved Titans!" said Jean. "Bring it! I'll end yo—w-whoa...Hey, Mikasa! Let me go," said a flailing Eren as he was being dragged away from the guys.
"It's time to go, we have to get in line before Shadis gets mad at us," said Mikasa.
"Mikasa's right you guys! If you don't hurry, we are going to have to do laps till the Sun falls!" Armin said as he was beginning to jog towards the same direction as Mikasa.
"Crap! He's right…let's go; stop wasting time Jean!" said Connie as he followed suit.
"Hey! Its not my fault…ah, whatever." The male trainees, and a sighing Bertholdt, proceeded to where the girls were.
"About time you guys got here, your lucky Shadis isn't here yet; what were you doing fixing each other's hair?" said Ymir.
"Heh, jokes on you I don't have any!" said Connie. "Nice comeback shorty," said Ymir who was uninterested in said "shorty."
"Enough Ymir, I think we are all just a little bit cranky for not eating that much, or sleeping enough. Speaking of food have you guys seen Sasha?" said Christa was turning her head around searching for said girl.
"No, why what happened?" said Marco.
"After breakfast she sort of disappeared," said a concerned Christa. "Ah, this is going to be good," said Reiner.
"MAGGOTS! IN LINE NOW!" The loud and prominent drill instructor, Keith Shadis, walked towards the cadets. As he moved closer towards them, the trainees soon noticed that Sasha was following behind him, shamefully.
"I want you all to thank Miss Braus here for making the rest of your time here more of a living hell than it already was; if that's even possible." Sasha faced her comrades with an apologetic grin.
"Because of her you will start doing push-ups until you can no longer feel blood flowing through them. NOW, GET DOWN AND START MAGGOTS!"
Present time.
"I can't…believe…*urgh…you stole food…again!" Said Jean.
"Were you satisfied with what we had this morning!?" Sasha said as her arms were starting to waver. Jean remained quiet, "I thought so."
The rest of the 104th training squad decided that arguing with Sasha about food was a useless effort, so they dropped it.
The intense pushups were followed, by pull-ups, crunches, running laps and other intense exercises that left the squad praying for their God. It was a day that no one wanted to live through again.
"That's enough!" yelled Shadis as he listened to the collective sounds of sighing and moaning from the cadets. "Now then go back to your barracks and get something to eat before I decide you should run all night."
As the boys made their way back to the barracks, Mikasa gently tapped Eren on his shoulder. "Don't forget to drink some water, and put some ice on your arms and legs."
"Mikasa," a sighing Eren said, "I'm really too tired to start this…so, fine I will."
Mikasa was a little surprised to hear that from Eren, "Good, I'll see you at the dining hall and I'll save some food for you."
"Yeah ok…just…ow…go back to the girls barracks before Shadis makes us do more things," said Eren as he was slowly walking back to the boy's barracks with Armin in tow. Mikasa jogged back to her barracks and noticed some of the girls smirking as she walked back into the wooden house.
"Must be nice check on your boyfriend every now and then, did you give him a goodbye kiss on the way out?" said Ymir. A blushing Mikasa was forced to stop changing out of her uniform to confront the smirking girl. "He is my family, that's all."
"Still though, you do seem to care about him a lot don't you," said Christa as she was already in her normal clothes. Mikasa who still had her red face responded, "He is family, of course I care for him." "Whatever, let's get some food before potato girl eats everything; there is hardly any food as it is," Ymir said making her way towards the dining hall.
As the girls were starting to file out, Mikasa finished buttoning her shirt up; but her mind was starting to wander off as the notion of 'boyfriend' was starting to mess with her head. Every since the start of training, being around other girls has introduced Mikasa to seeing how others of her gender act. Especially, noticing the constant lovey-dovey exchange between Hannah and Franz. Admittedly, she wondered what it would be like for her and Eren to have that kind of relationship. Before going any further, she quickly shook her head, and proceeded towards the dining hall.
Even at night, the heat that occurred throughout the day was still prevalent in the air of the training camp. So, a building full of young teenagers, soon to be soldiers, was pretty unbearable; the food was not helping either.
"I swear, I don't think I can make it guys; there is hardly any food and on top of which the heat just doesn't go away," said a mumbling Connie.
"It won't last long though, I'm pretty sure their saving food for the winter when there is hardly any crop. Then we can eat; then again we'll probably be freezing ourselves and I suppose the food will probably not last long…" Armin said as his thoughts as his thoughts were starting to drift. The others weren't really too fond about his remark.
The dining hill was silent; there was such a low morale amongst the trainees that you can see the life being sucked out of each of them.
Meanwhile, Mikasa, siting across from Armin, was waiting with two trays of food for a certain temper headed boy. She almost finished her tray and decided to ask, "Hey, Armin where is Eren?"
Armin snapped out of his thoughts and turned towards the black haired girl, "I'm not sure, he said he was going to go to the bathroom…but now that you mention it, it has been a while." No longer deciding to wait, Mikasa went to look for him. But as soon as she stood up, she heard the doors creak open; there she would see something unexpected.
"Thanks again, Annie…I feel a lot better," Eren said as he made his way to Armin and Mikasa. He waved goodbye towards Annie, who simply nodded her head as she started to find her own seat.
"Eren, what took so long?" Armin said as he was done eating his meal. "Sorry, I bumped into Annie and she sort of helped me feel less sore."
"Less…sore?" said Mikasa, who continued to question, "How did she do that, Eren?" Mikasa could not understand why that girl, the one who kept pushing him down during combat practice, would even bother to help him. Mikasa was starting to over think to the point where she didn't even let Eren finish his sentence.
"Well, she gave me some tips and she—."
"You don't need to listen to her, the ice should be enough; and if it isn't, tell me and I can help you stretch your muscles…" The raven-haired girl stopped there as a small tint of red showed up on her cheeks.
"Hey, don't start this now," the boy said as he completely overlooked what she just said. "Just let me eat, your finished aren't you; you don't have to wait for me." Eren began munching the meal, if you can call it a meal.
Rather than leaving, Mikasa sat silently as she moved her eyes towards Annie, wondering what the blonde pinned up hair girl could be thinking about. Mikasa knew that she needed to do something to make Eren rely on her more.
Of course, to prevent Annie from doing anything to Eren she thought to herself.
Suddenly, the sound of bells rang throughout the training camp signaling to the cadets that it was curfew time. It shook Mikasa out her thoughts and she noticed that Eren had some food at the corner of his mouth. So, she grabbed a napkin and cleaned some food off of his mouth.
A befuddled Eren dropped his spoon,"M-Mikasa what—."
"Hey! Eren you lucky bastard, your not better than me dang it!" Jean said as he noticed the recent exchange between the two teenagers.
"How many times do I have to tell you, don't touch me horse-face!" Eren, who once again immediately forgot about Mikasa's actions, was now focused on the human who had the facial features of a four-legged mammal shaped creature.
As Mikasa was preparing to stop the fight, the blonde haired girl that was in her thoughts halted her.
"You know you won't be able to baby him forever, one of these days you have to let him go," Annie said as she exited the dining hall. Mikasa wanted to say something but her mind was processing what she just said. She was right and it scared her.
Meanwhile…
"Shadis, the morale of the trainees is really low; at this rate, most will decide to drop out," said one the instructors. "Then those will be the ones who have given up their lives to extinction," said Shadis as he continued to read some papers on his desk.
"Yes, but if we gave them a reason to fight…they might be more assertive to become stronger soldiers. Wouldn't you agree?"
"A morale booster is what you are proposing right?" The now attentive Shadis placed his papers down, as the instructor nodded his head.
"Hmmm…" the dark eyed drill instructor pondered as he stood from his chair and looked at his window.
"Yes, a reason to fight for…indeed."
The next day
"Hey, this lake we are going to is the same one you showed us that night right, Reiner, Bertholdt?" said Armin, as an eager bunch of trainees were ready escape the summer heat.
"Yeah, it's the only one closest to the training grounds," Reiner said.
"Well I can't wait…this is going to be awesome!" a jumping Connie said.
"Yeah I've never been to a lake before," said Jean. "That's odd Jean, I thought a wild horse would like to graze near a body of water, heh," Eren said getting praise from Connie in the process while Reiner laughed to the point where he was having trouble breathing, even making Bertholdt chuckle. "THAT'S IT! I'm going to drown you, but not before I knock you senseless!"
"Will you guys shut up! Don't ruin this day with your same old antics," said a very determined Ymir.
"Ymir is right, just for one day can you guys just enjoy this opportunity? Who knows if we are ever going to do this again," said Christa, as the boys began to be enamored by the petit girl's remark. "Tch, fine" both Jean and Eren said.
"Hey guys, we're here!" said Armin as he was standing up from the carriage. The others followed suit and everyone gasped at the sight. The blue water shined as the small waves flowed along the shore, back and forth. The clouds floating atop the lake and along the small valley, was a forest of luscious green. Though it was still hot, the view was enough to keep it off the mind of the trainees.
"ALRIGHT MAGGOTS! It has come to my attention that a morale booster is needed. So for today, and ONLY for today of your time here, you will…enjoy yourselves. BUT remember, use this opportunity to learn from your comrades and, more importantly, provide you a reason why you are fighting the Titans. Now, get the hell out of my sight!" Shadis said as went back to the carriage and headed back to the training grounds.
"All right!" Connie said as he immediately jumped in the freshness of the lake.
"YAHOO!" Sasha yelled as she followed. "Hey Sasha, Connie! You guys just jumped in with all your clothes on," Christa said. "Who cares! This is nice…haaaaa" the girl said as she let the coolness consume her.
"Come on, let's go before we have to go back" Ymir said as she stripped to a sleeveless midriff and small shorts. As the other girls did the same, the boys began to stop what they were doing and noticed the spectacle before their eyes. "This just got a lot more better," Reiner said as he began to take off his shirt. "Definitely," said Jean who was having trouble taking off his socks.
As everyone was heading towards the water, Eren, who had nothing but his shorts on, noticed that Mikasa wasn't planning on going in the lake.
"Hey Eren, hurry up and get in the lake…I think Sasha is trying to drink the entire lake," said Armin. "Come on Sasha, that's disgusting!" yelled a trainee.
"I'll be there in a second Armin!" Eren motioned toward the oriental girl, "Hey, don't tell me you're just going to stand here and watch everyone."
In honesty, Mikasa was only looking at the others because she was too embarrassed to look at Eren and his toned body. The time spent in the trainee squad, especially the intense workout on that day really did its job. His muscles were becoming more noticeable as droplets of sweat began to roll down his body.
"I'm fine like this…you should go," said Mikasa.
"Mikasa, we are never going to get a chance like this again. Or perhaps you are too embarrassed," said the smirking boy.
Determined not to let that be the reason, Mikasa began taking her shirt off; and is seen wearing a training bra. But the real sight is towards her stomach; which, although they were not as protruding as most claim to be, were very slim and toned.
"Damn." That was the word most of the boys who noticed from the lake said. One of which was Jean, who was beginning to drool.
Eren, oblivious as usual, headed towards the lake, "Let's go then Mikasa! Armin is waiting for us!"
A small smile was formed from Mikasa's face as she followed Eren.
As the trainees enjoyed themselves, Mikasa was starting to see Eren smiling more since his mother's death. She didn't question it; she did not want to ruin this moment. After a splash to the face, Mikasa soon lost track of where Eren was. However, thanks to her cat-like awareness, it wasn't long, as she found him under the water trying to hide. Mikasa held her breath and let the cool water envelope her. Under the water, there he was, in all his majesty; where the light was refracting through the water just right so his entire body was glowing. Only to her, this is what it looked like; to anybody else it would not have been anything special. How she longed to grasp that body of his even for just a moment. To feel every inch of his skin and to leave marks so that no girl would be foolish enough to confront the boy. To taste those lips that, even though they were wet, would still be as sweet and tender as she imagined it would be. Normally, she would discard these thoughts, but for now she didn't care.
As she continued to stare at the boy she admired, the flow of the water was starting to push her slowly towards him.
To Eren, he waited for Mikasa to do something; but she just stared at him as the water was pushing him as well. Staring at the girl in front of his eyes, a sudden feeling creped on his chest. Her short black hair was floating around, giving a full view of her entire face. The light displayed her white skin; no scars, nothing that could ruin what she had.
Whether it was Mother Nature at work or just destiny, the two teenagers were close, so close, their eyes grew wider as every inch of space between them was being taken away. Close enough, for one life changing act.
That moment, however, would have to wait as the sudden rush of water forced both teenagers to gasp for air. The stricken soldiers coughed the water out of their lungs as they noticed the voices of the comedic duo.
"Ha! I knew that wasn't going to work Sasha," said Connie as he was wiping his face. "If everyone else joined in, then I'm sure we can get a big enough wave going," said a very optimistic Sasha.
"It wasn't going to work anyway guys…Oh Eren, Mikasa, there you guys are," said Armin who walked towards the pair.
Eren who was still coughing replied, "Yeah…Mikasa, are you all right?" Just then Eren noticed that the girl was no longer around, leaving the boy puzzled.
Meanwhile, Mikasa found a nice tree to hide behind as she collected herself from the others. Water dripped down her pale skin body, but the coolness of it could not stop the rising heat surfacing on her face. An intense blush arose from her cheeks as her head was trying ever so vigorously to piece the events that happened. And her heart was making it even more difficult.
Hope you liked it; please leave a review if I messed up somewhere, if there is something you would rather see, or if you just liked it (constructive criticism appreciated!). I will work on the others as soon as I can; work, school, you know how it is. See ya later!