Brian's mouth hung open in shock, and he chuckled slightly, speechless. Cat was the same way, too unbelieving to speak. The man took it as a sign to keep talking.

"Our group was drawn here for the "Titan shifting" ability. Imagine an army of controlled Titans working for America. We'd be unstoppable. Anyways, we're not sure how it works. This is the third time we've gotten people to test on. You two are officially Titan Shifters. It wasn't easy to give you that ability, so don't go wasting it on stupid stuff and don't ask what happened to the others we tested it on. It's not pretty, so you better pray you're special. What's going to happen now, is that we are going to train you to use your Titan abilities. You are to use them ONLY for Mirror's purposes. You will do what we say and when we say it."

"Or what?" Cat couldn't help but ask, she had to, there was always an 'or what' in these kinds of situation.

The man shrugged nonchalantly. "Or we kill your friends and families."

Brian stared up at the man, his face white against the moon. "Erm, are you planning on telling us your name?"

"Francis. Francis Douglas." the man said with pride.

"Oh, so you're French or something." Brian replied dully. The man looked down at him, unamused. "Be quiet and get up." He sighed, and stood, wiping the dried blood off of his nose and lip. "What is it?"

"It's late, so you two need to rest to get up early tomorrow and start your training." With that, Francis turned around and strolled into the house, leaving the "body guard" to stop them from running if they tried. Cat looked to Brian sadly and he looked back, having truly nothing else to do. The kids got up and followed Francis inside.

11 years later.

"UUUAAAAAHHH!" Cat screamed as she threw Brian over her shoulder for the second time that day. He landed on his back painfully, the air flying from his lungs. He was left to curl up and look like a fish out of water as Cat cheered jumping up and down, sweat falling from her body.

"Finally! I got you again! That's what you get!" She said, pointing to him dramatically with her bandaged hands. She had been practicing punches on a tree earlier, and Francis decided to up the challenge by removing the protective padding on the tree. She had to punch it till the bark was gone or she could see the bones of her hands. You could guess which happened. Brian slowly rose to his feet, and dusted off his hands on his shorts.

"I win that round." Cat hummed. "I didn't throw you too hard, did I?"

Her opponent shook his head, and sighed. "Nope. I'll be fine, you've done worse." He stood up, bent his knees, and raised his fists to his head, taking his posture right out of his memory, specifically remembering when Francis taught him it. The thoughts rolled by every time he did. He didn't know why, but he didn't have the time to ponder it either. "Alright, go again."

Cat nodded and ran at him, keeping low so she could dodge any punch he threw and get under his arms. The boy smiled, feeling a warm breeze dive by, shuffling the grass around them. He moved to Cat a little, but instead of throwing a punch, he swung his right leg in a semicircle around his body, aiming for his opponent's footing. Cat's eyes widened the moment she saw his foot move, he wasn't going to punch, he was going to kick or trip her. Unable to stop her already moving body, she transferred the momentum and jumped, throwing her body forward, her hands outstretched to grab his shoulders. The boy's fist's rose to his face again, and he ducked, and proceeded to roll under her, feeling the cool grass prick against his bare back. Upon successfully reaching his feet, he stood up, and faced Cat, grinning.

"Gotcha!" He yelled, and jumped at her.

Cat couldn't exactly stop herself in midair when he moved out of the way. All she could do was follow it with a dive-roll and quickly turn to face him, but by the time she did he was already jumping at her. She blindly threw her leg out with a yell of fear and surprise.

Brian's eyes widened, and winced a little as the leg smashed into his side. But, instead of falling away, he dug his feet into the ground, and grabbed her leg with his hands.

"Humph." He smirked at her, and threw her leg in the opposite direction from whence it came, causing her to lose balance. "Nice counter. You're really getting good at this."

The brunette stumbled and regained her footing. "Thanks..? I just kinda did that on a whim… I'm not good at fighting… I'm pretty cowardly…"

The teen stood up, and lowered his arms at his sides. "You're not cowardly enough to back away.." he replied. "That alone takes a lot of strength."

Cat shrugged. "Yeah. I guess. That sounded so cheezy, Brian." She was suddenly spinning around, her right foot coming up off the ground to roundhouse kick him in the cheek.

The other watched her body with a sort of intensity in his eyes. Duck. He thought to himself, and did as such, remembering that exact move being displayed to him when he was younger. "Well, we are in an anime, after all." He smiled up at her, and returned to his previous position.

Only problem is Cat was still spinning as he stood up, so he didn't have time to duck again as her foot came around again.

"!" He could only watch as her other leg flew into his face, sending him flying into the ground. "Dammit, should've seen that one coming-" He mumbled as he wiped the blood from his mouth and nose, and sat up on all fours. Cat bent down and offered him a hand, she had a truly apologetic look on her face. "Sorry…" she whispered then a voice came from the outside training areas entrance.

"That was an excellent kick, Catherine!" Francis was clapping his hands as he came over.

"It's fine…" Brian mumbled as he grabbed onto her hand, and stood up. He looked up at Francis. "Has anyone ever told you that you suck at being supportive?"

"I'm supporting Cat, aren't I? Saying she did a good job?" he asked, shrugging.

"Well, yeah, but I was the one that got my jaw knocked out." He said blankly, stretching.

"You want me to say, 'Oh, good job, Brian! You got knocked on your ass and roundhouse kicked by a girl, keep up the good work!' You want me to say that? 'Cause I can."

The teen jabbed a finger at him. "Oh, so you think getting beaten up by a girl is some sort of insult now? Do you want her foot in your mouth, instead? Because I can easily make that happen." He growled back.

Cat leaned back and looked at Brian. "And how the hell are YOU gonna put MY foot in HIS mouth? Pick me up and throw me?"

His eyes focused onto Cat. "If you're as mad at this guy for throwing us in here as I am, then I don't think you'd hesitate in doing so." He mumbled to her before storming past them both, and into the cabin.

"Brian…" Cat called after him, but he ignored her and kept going. She cast a glare to Francis who took it and shrugged like 'he's gotten worse'. The brunette walked past him and into their home after her friend.

The slender male was in his room, staring out his window, arms folded. He looked down at the expanse of forest that surrounded their home, beads of sweat dripping down his face. He glanced behind him as he heard footsteps coming closer, and he looked back to the window. His breath had begun to fog up the glass. There was a knock on the door, then the sound of it slowly opening. "Brian?" A female voice called.

He sighed. "Yeah?" He turned towards Cat, and leaned against the sill. She stepped into the room and closed the door with a small click.

"Are you okay?"

"Of course not. Francis is an asshole. Did you hear what he said to me?" His voice began to rise in anger. "Who does this guy think he is?! He's raising people to turn into fighters, and then doesn't expect them to maybe go against him every once in a while?"

Cat sighed and sat down on his bed. "He knows we hate him, he knows we want to go against him. He knew from the beginning that we would. Why else did he threaten our friends and family, Brian? So we wouldn't do anything drastic…"

"Drastic? He's basically asking us to hurt him! I haven't seen my family or friends for 11 years, Cat! And, although they still mean a lot to me, I just...I don't know if I should let go or not. I mean, will we ever see them again? Ever? None of this is right! At all!"

Cat stared at him from his bed, she sat silently for a while before quietly asking, "What would you do, then?"

By then, Brian had faced the window again. He turned back to Cat when she spoke. "What?"

"If you were going to do something...with your hate and your rage and all of this...emotion building up… what would you do with it all?"

"I would teach Francis a lesson. I would teach him, no, I would teach all of Mirror that they just can't go around treating people like animals! That's just not how this works! We have emotions, we have thoughts, feelings, pain. They can't just shove that all aside because they want to!" His hands balled into fists, his temper reaching its boiling point. The words were just spilling out of his mouth now, he had to find a way to let all of this out somehow.

"You'd make them pay?" Cat asked, her face seemed to hold an expression of indifference, like she wasn't going through the exact same crap he was and was just a bystander, watching it happen. "Bring them down? Attack them without mercy?"

"Er, no…." His voice lowered a little. "I would just find a way to show them that we hurt. It doesn't have to be through their pain, it just...It doesn't have to be this way. There are other ways that make people do what you want without actually hurting them. They have to understand that." He finished, folding his arms.

"What do you want them to do instead? Would you do this kind of thing willingly, Brian?" she asked him.

"No way. But, I know there are people out somewhere in the world that would. Which reminds me. Are we really in the world of Attack on Titan? Because I haven't seen a single Titan in 11 years."

"You want to find out?" She waved her hand and gestured to the window, aka outside.

"Yeah, I do. That would be great."

"Then go for it. Go out and find a titan without any weapons, or knowledge on how to control your own Titan." She sat back on her arms and gave him a look that said 'I'm waiting'.

The boy grunted. "So, we haven't done anything productive in this training camp, have we? Neither of us can really control our Titans, well, at least remotely well." He kept his arms folded, and looked at the wall.

"You want to try?" Cat asked. "Using your Titan I mean."

Brian's eyes lit up a little. "W-wait, do you think that if we do, we won't get...You know, yelled at?"

The brunette smiled. "It's productive training isn't it?"

The boy nodded, smiling a little himself. "Yeah, guess it is!" He pushed himself off the windowsill, and dashed out of his room, flinging the door open. Cat laughed and quickly got up to chase after him, down the hall and out the back door to the field they call a training area. "How do we start?"

"Uhm...In the show, they have to release blood. I think…" He scratched behind his head.

"Don't forget the whole, we gotta have a goal thing going on." Cat suddenly bounced with giddiness."This will be our first time seeing our Titans! I'm so excited! I wonder what we'll look like!"

Brian nodded. "Y-yeah. So, er, do we have a list of steps, or are we just gonna wing it? Because I still don't understand how we're gonna transform…"

Cat shrugged. "Wing it. What else are we gonna do?" she brought her hand up to her face and looked at it. "But...I don't think I can bite myself hard enough to bleed…"

"Uh, yeah…Maybe we hit each other?" He asked weakly.

"Can you hit a girl?" Cat asked in a playful mock tone. Brian's face darkened a little.

"I've done it before, haven't I?" He raised his fists. "And, wait, when we leave our Titan forms, we'll have our clothes, right?"

Cat nodded. "happens to eren and the others so i we should still be fully clothed. well be exhausted though…"

He nodded. "That's okay. It's…" He looked up at the sun. "It's around lunchtime, anyways. So, uh, me first?"

Cat waved for him to go ahead. "Need me to stab you?"

The boy shook his head. "No, I'm good." And with that, he bent his knees at a 145 degree angle, and sprung at Cat. He swung his fist into her face, throwing his arm at a diagonal angle. The girl bent backwards, her back arching till her hands touched the ground, she kept the flow going and swung her foot up as hard as she could, aiming for Brian's face. If she could hit him right he'd bite his tongue or break his nose. That would be a suitable enough for a Titan transformation. However, her foot only smack into his lower jaw, sending his head upwards. He lowered his skull. "Harder!" He said.

"Harder…?" Cats eyes widened. She just kicked him as hard as she could, and he wants her to hit him harder?

His eyesight began to blur a little as his body recovered from the hit. "It didn't break skin. Harder." He repeated. The girl sucked in a breath and bit her lip as she ran at him. She dug her foot hard into the ground and pivoted, doing the same round house kick she had hit him with earlier today.

"Duck." Was the initial thought that ran through Brian's head, but this time, he didn't follow through, and instead flew backwards into the dirt, the blood running from his nose and mouth again. His body shook as he rose, and smiled. "I...I think you did it…" His gut wrenched and formed a small ball as he slowly stood up, his body shaking.

Cat took a few steps back to watch. "How you feeling?"

"Awful…" He mumbled, before falling to his knees. A hot wind began to encircle the boy, as muscle, skin, and bone began to morph and form around him. Cat's mouth fell open as she watched him grow in size and cover up the sun, she just stared up at him from a tiny place on the ground. She was so small now compared to him. "Oh, wow…"

The Titan was around 15 meters in height, and had skin-covered bone covering it's chest, stomach, and kneecaps. He had two more masses of bone that hung down at his cheeks like the protective pieces on a Spartan helmet, and his hair had grown to be more straight. He had spiked layers of what seemed to be hardened bone or some other material of equal strength that started at his shoulders, and ended at the middle of his back. His hands were covered in that material as well, and everything from his shoulders to his wrists was just exposed muscle. He looked up, and roared at the sky. A few birds flew away, cawing back and forth.

Cat jumped up and down with excitement and glee. "Yeah! Brian you did i,t you're a Titan! You're a freaking Titan this is amazing! Hey can you understand me!?" She had to shout to make sure he could hear her from so far up.

The Titan knelt down so that he could hear her better, and nodded, confirming that he could understand her. He smiled a little. Er, he tried to. It was kind of hard, being as he had a bigger head. The smaller girl started having a fit of giggles over his attempt to smile, his face had contorted to something that was half-smile, half-scowl and it had been funny. "What now?" He shrugged, and looked up as shouting was heard from the cabin. Cat looked over to see Francis running at them with a few of his bodyguard friends.

Cat rolled her eyes. "Here we go…" Brian grunted, and stood to his full height, towering over the house, and just about everything for a ten-mile radius. He stared down at Francis and the others, resisting the urge to kick him through the house. Or squash him. Whichever one created the most pleasure in this case.

"You're a Titan!" francis shouted up at him with glee. "You managed to become a Titan! Congratulations Brian!" Brian couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

The frenchman turned his head towards Cat. "Have you tried yet?" he was so excited it was creepy. The girl leaned away from him.

"Not...yet...we were gonna do it one at a time…"

The Titan growled viciously at Francis, and took a step in his direction. Although he wanted to, he couldn't talk. It seemed as though he wasn't able to in this state.

Francis held up his hands to the Titan. "Calm down Brian. I was only asking." he looked back to Cat. "Well, now that Brian can do it, you should too. You need to start getting control of your Titan after all."

The girl's frown deepened. "I told you...We're doing it one at a time...We know how turning into a Titan exhausts the body, so I won't do anything until Brian is done and I know he's okay."

How do I...Get out? Brian thought to himself. His human body was surrounded by the warm, pulsing flesh of his Titan's shell. It felt like being in a bed, to say the least. His Titan looked around, examining the horizon from his height. They truly were surrounded by forest, there was nothing around them for miles. So where were the Titans?

"Need us to cut you out?" Francis yelled up to him. The two men behind him both had 3DMG and were ready to do so.

Brian nodded, and knelt down. Francis was trying not to be an ass to him for once. Was he proud of him or something? No, this was Francis. He wouldn't be proud of him if he won a Nobel Prize. Although he practically raised him for 11 miserable yet educational years of his life, but hey, whatever. The man waved a hand and his henchmen shot wires up and they lodged into the back of Brian's neck, they sped up and landed on his shoulders. With great care, they slowly slid their swords into the nap of his neck and began cutting a square out, where Brian would be. The boy slid out of the back of the Titan, and proceeded to fall out of it. However, the dull spikes on the back of the Titan's neck acted as a net, as the boy fell in. "OUCH!" He shouted, and climbed to his Titan's shoulders. "Okay, um, how am I getting down?" He looked at the ground precariously. One of the bodyguards held a hand out, so he could drop him off down below. The teen hesitantly looked up at the bodyguard's face before grabbing his hand.

The man held Brian to his chest then jumped down, he traveled down the Titans body so as not to directly slam into the ground and break something. Once landed he let the boy go. Cat hurried over to him.

"You okay now?'

Brian nodded as a few drops of sweat fell from his chin. "Y-yeah." He looked over to Francis. "There's no Titans here. At all. What the hell is going on?"

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Of course there isn't. We're inside the walls. Didn't I tell you that already…?" he looked apologetic.

"What!? Really?!" He didn't know whether to be mad at Francis, or happy that he was already where he wanted to be, or mad at himself for not figuring it out already. "Then shouldn't we be joining the military by now?!"

"Not yet. In a few weeks they will be doing their recruitment for the 114th. i want to make sure you are both absolutely ready for it. Now, Cat…" He cast his gaze to her expectantly, she swallowed looking nervous. Brian smiled for what he thought was the first time at Francis, and then looked to Cat.

"Yeah, you're up."

The girl groaned. "That means I need to get kicked in the face…" her shoulders slumped and then she stood in front of her friend. "Let's get it over with…"

"Hey, Francis, if you still want me to prove my worth to you, then I guess now's my chance, so pay attention to me, for once.…Sorry about this, Cat." He mumbled, before rushing forward, and jumping, bringing his right leg down diagonally, striking Cat across the face. He landed in the grass, which felt cool in between his toes, and he looked up at her.

Cat was hunched over and holding her cheek, she had a growing welt but not skin was broken. "that huuurrrrttt…." she whined, her mouth now swollen, her words sounded slurred.

"Better idea." He curled his into fists, and executed a punch across Cat's nose. "That should do the trick." Brian's dark eyes flashed with determination.

Cats face went flying when his fist made contact, there was an audible SNAP and almost instantaneously, unlike Brian's experience, steam flew from Cat's body and the sound the muscle growing and bones forming quickly followed. When the steam cleared, a 13 meter Female titan was crouching on the ground holding her nose and looking in pain.

Brian's eyes widened as he backed up to the other men. "Wow...Cat, you look amazing!" he shouted, then looked up and down her body, taking note in the air sacs that accompanied her pale skin.

Cat moved her hands away from her face when she realized the pain had stopped. She looked at her hands then her arms, then her whole body, standing up straight. Like most Titans, she was covered in head to toe in skin. Except for a (not so) few exceptions where muscle did show, mainly in four strips running vertically down her throat, five circular cutouts along her collarbone and in four separate areas in the corners of her stomach, two below her ribs and two above her hips. More muscle was exposed on her upper arms and thighs, and more cuts were on her wrists and ankles, like a decoration of sorts.

She blinked and looked down at Brian then smiled, she actually could. That's not the only thing she could do. "You're all so small."

"HOLY SHIT YOU CAN TALK-" The teenager exclaimed, jumping up and down. "Do you know what all of those holes in your skin are for?"

Cat touched the spots on her throat and chest where the muscle was exposed. "I don't… maybe they don't do anything at all?"

Brian shrugged. "I dunno. We'll find out later, I guess. Do you know how to get out?"

Cat looked like she was concentrating. "I can move my arm a little inside…it's so weird, talking like this. I feel so..loud…"

"It's probably because of your height." Brian finished. "I can't wait to use these forms in battle! It's gonna be so fun!"

"If you say so. You were bigger than me." She pouted then knelt down. "How do I get out?"

The other boy pointed to the men with the 3DMG, and then looked up at Francis. He was unusually quiet. Not being one to start a conversation with him, he looked back to Cat. "The guys with the Maneuver Gear will get you out." He confirmed. The Titan nodded as the two men approached and climbed up to the back of Cat's neck. She held still as they started to cut her out, she suddenly jerked though when she felt her arm get sliced.

"OW!" She gasped in pain and suddenly her throat expanded like some kind of frog. Brian's eyes widened. "Be careful up there!" He yelled to them. He opened his mouth to say something else, but he stopped, and looked at Cat's throat. "...Cat, do you know what you just did?"

She opened her mouth to reply when a high pitched "NO" came from her throat. It was like nails on a chalk board, even if it was brief. Her throat shrunk slightly.

"Ah, Christ, Cat!" He covered his ears with his hands, and gritted his teeth. "That hurts!"

Cat sat up, her hands flew to her mouth and she promptly knocked over one of the men on her back. She didn't dare saying even though she wanted to apologize. Brian facepalmed, confused as to what was going on exactly.

"Are any of you okay?" He shouted to the Titan/bodyguards. Cat remained silent as she looked over her shoulder. The fallen man was climbing his way back.

"We're okay!" He shouted. He sounded louder than normal.

"Alright!" Brian shouted back, and he looked to Francis again. He wasn't necessarily worried about him, just confused as to why he wasn't speaking. He shoved his guardian's shoulder lightly. "...Hello?"

Francis shook his head. "What? Oh." he grinned again and clapped Brian on the shoulder. "Great job today you two! Congratulations!"

"Er...Are you okay?" Brian asked, ignoring the complement. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he studied the frenchman's face. "You've been staring at the same spot in the sky for like, the last 3 minutes."

"I've just been thinking is all. Nothing to worry about. You guys deserve a reward."

Brian blinked in shock. There really was something wrong with this man. "A r-reward? Er, what did you have in mind?"

"What do you two want?" he asked. He looked up to Cat, who was getting pulled out of her Titan's back.

"Um...I, well, uh…." He stared at the ground, not expecting any of this to happen. The first thing he thought was 'I want to get out of here. That's what I've wanted for as long as I can remember.' But, now, he wasn't exactly sure. If you can swim through the Pacific ocean of asshole that made up 70% of Francis's being, then you'll find that he was, at times, tolerable.

"I want…Hmm…" He looked up at Francis again. "When are we leaving? A few days?"

"To the Recruits?" he asked putting his hands behind his back.

"Yessir." The boy nodded.

"We have about two weeks." The man said nodding his head. "Why?"

"I was just curious." The teenager replied. He looked up as Cat landed safely on the ground, along with the two bodyguards that followed.

"Hey, what do you want for your reward?" Brian asked her as she landed, arms folded.

She came over, looking tired. "We get a reward? Huh, that's new." she stretched and yawned, her back cracking several times.

Her comrade smirked. "Yeah, I know right? Francis must be drunk or something…" He glanced to him jokingly. "So, what do you want to do?" He looked back to Cat.

"Go into town!" Cat said, bouncing up and down now. "We've never been for the whole time! If we're really in the walls I want to see the city!" A smile dawned on the other teen's face, and he looked up at their mentor. "Can we? Please?!"

Francis tilted his head in thought, "Sure, why not. I'll even let you go by yourselves. No babysitter."

Cat grabbed Brian's arm in excitement and shook his sleeve violently. "Did you hear that!?"

Brian grinning, and grabbed her arm with his other arm. "Yes! This is amazing! Thank you, Francis!" He grinned up at him, excitement filling his body. "When do we get to go?"

"When do you want to?" Francis asked smiling at them. Brian looked at Cat.

"I kind of want to go as soon as possible…" He thought out loud, "And everyone will be in bed by the time we get there...So...Tomorrow morning?"

Francis nodded. "Wake up early if you want. A car will be waiting out front for you in the morning." he then turned around and walked back to the house.

Cat was bouncing off the walls excitedly. "This is great! We get to go into the city!"

"And cars!? I can't remember the last time I was actually in one of those-!" Brian was grinning from ear to ear.

"This is great!" The female tackle-hugged Brian, then ran inside, giddy to the core.

"H-Hey, wait up!" Brian pulled himself off the ground, and ran inside after her, shutting the door behind him. Night had begun to fall, and the stars were beginning to show as the sky had begun its daily transformation into darkness.