Chapter 1

Attack On Titan AU

by Jimmy Whispers

"Cadet Griffin!"

Awoken, Clarke straightened her back as a feeling of excitement rooted itself in the pit of her stomach and alerted her senses. She brought her feet together with dignity and brought her right fist to her heart, the other to the small of her back, elbows bent in defiance. She fixed her eyes with intensity and poured that gaze of attention respectfully in front of her.

Commander Miller towered over her.

"Are you ready to lay your life down in the line of duty?"

"Yes, Sir!"

"Are you ready to fight for humanity until you cease to exist?"

"Yes, Sir!"

He paused. His voice became shallow but still audible to everyone.

"And should you be the last one standing, will you abandon your duty?"

Clarke swallowed hard and felt the eyes of everyone, whether they were pointed at her or purposefully turned away. Didn't they have other things to worry about? While in the moment, she couldn't give an ounce of worry as to what the rest of the cadets thought, the shadow that her commander casted was beginning to overwhelm. Every bone in her body wanted to take the risk of looking him in the eye for just an instant. Maybe she could read his expression. But she blinked heavily and swallowed again, reasoning with herself that it could only reflect disappointment. And she didn't need that. Especially when she was sure that her apathetic attitude toward the other cadets in her regiment would dissipate before too long.

"Yes, Sir!"

She stepped into the brisk night air, letting the clear sky have her attention for a moment. Tonight marked the last night of five years. Five years of back breaking, painstaking labor. Five years of emotional trauma and five years of doubtful heartache. But that was over and her back felt light and her heart had wings and the invisible hand that was constantly strangling her emotions had let loose. She had graduated with the 104th regiment of the cadet corps and now she felt free.

She thought of her father and couldn't help but imagine how proud he would be if he were to see her standing where she once stood. Naturally, this made her think of her mother. If she were there to see where Clarke stood, she wouldn't recognize her. Clarke felt like stone. Clarke felt in control.

As she walked down the stairs of the cadet hall inside the wall Rose, she heard the familiar clomping footsteps of a friend and smiled even before he called out to her.

"Hey, Clarke!"

She turned to him. His long hair was bouncing around his face. Finn Collins bounded toward her like a puppy dog. Clarke smiled wider because she knew he would have to part with that mop again. It was just short enough to get away with, but the longer it grew the closer it was to inevitably being chopped. He refused to wear it up and long hair and 3D maneuvering gear did not equate to anything pretty. Another reason her mother wouldn't recognize her. Her once long, blonde hair was now always kept at shoulder length, seemingly interrupting what would be perfect waves. And just like Finn, she refused to tie it.

"Where ya goin'?" he asked knitting his eyebrows together and shrugging his shoulders.

"Probably back to the barracks." she answered as she continued to make her way down the stairs, avoiding his gaze.

"To do what?" his face was still stern and her reply was to match.

"Probably to go to bed, Finn."

His face softened and he looked at her until he had to look at the toes of his boots.

"Hey, look. I know what this is about. But who cares, Clarke. People trust you." His reply was far from convincing.

"Yeah, well. They have every right not to." She followed his lead and hung her head as well, watching Finn kick a rock. They both followed it without blinking as it tumbled down the rest of the stone steps and collided with the ground until it rolled out of sight.

"Someone could fall," he said. They met each other's eyes and laughed at the image of some unsuspecting dunce tumbling down those unforgiving stairs the same way the rock just did.

Finn's smile glowed. It always made Clarke feel better. Probably because it always made Clarke feel something. From the beginning of their lives as trainees, Finn Collins had brought to her comfort. Comfort in the form of that ridiculous smirk and warm eyes, in the form of fun where there was none and even in a tight hug. She felt her cheeks turn red and she turned away from him for a while, even though she knew that the glare of the dim lanterns combined with the darkness they failed to ward off would mask any color she wished to conceal.

She didn't let this bother her. As those five years progressed, she had come to accept the fact that she was in love with him, but could never have him. Everyone knows going into the military that relationships were a bad idea. The less you get attached to, the less you lose.

He pushed his hair out of his eyes and continued to grin at her.

"So you'll come to the tavern with me tonight? Cadets drink free."

She looked at him with pain in her eyes.

"Come on, Clarke."

He sped down a few steps to be in front of her. He turned. Then stopped.

"Please?"

Clarke closed her eyes and sighed heavily.

"Alright."

The tavern was bright and full of soldiers. Some of them she knew and others must have been those of the Garrison Regiment. Older than her and to her surprise, they seemed much more weathered and weary when placed next to the newly graduated of her class. It was loud and as eyes turned to her and Finn, but mostly her, she started to feel uneasy.

They walked over to a far corner. There, were sitting people that Clarke was proud to consider her friends. The sight set her more at ease and she felt some of the tension from moments before melt with an exhale.

She heard Harper laugh as Jasper tried to stick a blade of dry grass in Monty's ear. Fox was sitting, disengaged next to Harper looking pale and nauseous. Clarke looked at the pile of wooden pint mugs in front of her and snorted a little. She probably drank too much, too fast again. Finn pulled up a chair next to her and greeted her, soft and very concerned.

Clarke, however, made her way to the other end of the table, where Monroe seemed to be fully engaged in telling Wells about something that she obviously had too much enthusiasm for.

As Clarke approached, the less enthusiastic Wells pulled away from Monroe's voice which was quickening and becoming more desperate to press her point.

"Hey, Clarke. Where've you been." He didn't even try to hide the concern on his face. Out of everyone of the Cadet Corps. 104, Clarke and Wells had known each other the longest. They came here together. Both of them had lost their fathers to this war, to the Titans. And though they had begun to grow apart, it still didn't deter the protection that Wells felt was necessary to provide her.

She understood that sense of duty in him, but she also didn't feel like bringing up the past again so she smiled at him and simply replied, "I'm fine, Wells."

He hesitated, pouring scepticism from his eyes to hers. But before he had the chance to reply, Monroe had nudged his arm with her elbow and said, "Anyway, what I mean is…"

Clarke's mind trailed away from the conversation and her eyes began to wander around the room. She focused for awhile at some older cadets, sitting at the bar. There was a girl with darker skin and a stern solid look to her. She had deep set, striking eyes that were looking into her mug and her features glowed and held firm as every once in awhile, her lips would move for a short time.

Clarke felt a tummy turn and inwardly scowled at herself. She hated when that happened. She leaned in toward the table to see who it was she was talking too, but the girl set her mug down and turned her head. All Clarke could see was her thick, silky, brown ponytail, draped halfway over her left shoulder.

Everyone at Clarke's table had seemed to take in interest.

"Who are you looking at?" Jasper asked with a toothy grin.

Monty shot a stone face at her, but moved his eyebrows up and down rapidly.

"Enough cheese, guys, I was just…"

But before Clarke could finish an explanation, she hadn't prepared, there was a crashing of chairs and a dull repetitive thudding.

Her eyes tried to find the source as she heard it.

thud. thud. thud. thud.

Before she could find it, she was distracted by the quick movements of the girl she had been gawking at and the soldier standing next to her. Finally she saw him and she would have payed more attention to his appearance. He was significantly taller than the girl and had broad shoulders on top of a long torso, but they were both quick to the scene.

There was a scuffle, but no one was surprised to see that both of them had pulled up John Murphy, who had been hitting another soldier in the face.

The room was still and noisy with murmurs, but the tall soldier's voice silenced everyone. Even as he was looking at his shoes, the heavy curls on his head seemed to defy gravity.

"So what's this about?" he thundered.

The soldier that had taken Murphy's beating was significantly smaller than him and Clarke felt her nose twitch in disgust. The little guy sniffed and caught the blood that was pouring out of his nose and into his hand.

"I made a joke. I made a joke at how Murphy here wanted to join the Military Police and live in an ivory tower and eat cheese all day. It was a joke."

Both soldiers showed no expression, but exchanged glances. They let Murphy go.

"Yeah, well you know what I think is a joke?" Murphy's voice made Clarke's blood curdle.

"How you wanna join the damn scout regiment. The Survey whole damn thing is a joke. They do nothing for humanity. Have fun committing suicide and pardon me for valuing my life!" He turned to leave, but the tall, dark soldier stood in his way. Murphy glared at him. There was a long heavy silence, but neither of them tore their glance.

"What do you think of his joke, Lexa?"

What was going on? Tension built in the air and everyone felt it as the girl stepped forward and gracefully plowed her fist into Murphy's gut.

Murphy toppled over and instantly a crowd of people gathered erupting in applause as this Lexa girl continued to kick the crap out of him.

Clarke stood and rushed over. This wasn't fair at all. And with her newfound confidence, she wished with all her might that she could get through to stop it. But pushing away the swarmed, riled cadets was impossible at this point.

She met the tall soldiers eyes. Cold but nowhere near distant as he watched his comrade find spot after spot on Murphy's body to connect the sharp toe of her boots to.

"Stop it!" Clark howled over the hoot and holler. "This isn't right!"

He looked at her for a long time. Up and down. It was obvious that he was taken by her appearance and this infuriated Clarke.

He smirked and scoffed and motioned to the people around him.

"It's what the people want, Princess."