A/N: This chapter is dedicated to a dear friend of mine who had a really rough day. I hope she enjoys it. :) Well, this chapter is pretty basic. As for what's happening at the end, it's based on a little theory I've seen floating around on the internets~ You'll have to wait and see all about it! Please, read, review, and enjoy! If there's any (logical) ideas you have, drop them in a review or something and I'll see if maybe they can be tossed in somewhere.

All of the rookies stood at salute. They had been quiet all morning, most likely from fatigue. They would have to get used to that for the next month. Petra was walking through their formation, her hands clasped behind her back under her cloak to protect her from the crisp morning air. Her golden eyes were scrutinizing each and every one of them, some part of her hoping at least one of them was doing something horribly wrong. No one was.

As she passed by Sasha, her hand slid out from under her cloak and lightly brushed against the taller girls before she continued walking. Sasha couldn't believe it. That was bread Petra had just slipped into her hand. More food. As the woman walked past her, "coincidentally" blocking the brunette from Levi's view, Sasha stuffed the bread into her mouth.

Petra stood facing the entire group. "Today we'll be sparring. This serves two purposes: First, it shows us how good you already are. Second, when we do this later it will show us your ability to improve." She smiled kindly at the group as they tensed at the mention of sparring. "I'll be assigning your sparring partners. Eren, you're with Reiner. Armin, Jean. Sasha's with Connie." She continued listing them off one by one until Mikasa was the only one left. "Mikasa, you're with Levi. Let's go."

At her command, the partners spread out. The blonde gave one member of each group a knife, then stepped back to watch.

Eren and Reiner weren't much of a match at all. The blonde was much larger and stronger, and probably more concentrated than his brunette counterpart. Eren barely had a chance to defend himself before Reiner had knocked him over, pinned him, and grabbed the knife. "There's a lot of work to be done there," Petra mumbled. Eren may have been a strong chance at survival for humanity, and she may have had a lot of faith in him, but he still had a lot of growing to do.

Armin was doing surprisingly well against Jean. She had chosen that match on purpose. She knew the two worked well together, so seeing how they fought against each other would be interesting. The blonde was good at analyzing situations and guessing his opponent's moves before they had executed them. This made him good at defense. His small size rendered him fairly agile against a taller adversary, as well. He was playing defense, guarding the knife very carefully. There wasn't much Jean could do. It was a complete standoff. She would just let that keep going until one of them slipped up or tired out.

Her golden eyes shifted to Levi and Mikasa. She had given Levi the knife to give Mikasa the chance to attack. They were both on the defensive, sizing each other up and trying to figure out how to gain the upper hand, it seemed. Then Mikasa made the first move. She lunged for him. He quickly moved to the side, but she had already thought of that. Her arm flew out beside her and managed to catch his wrist. She used his momentum to spin herself around.

The battle picked up from there. Their movements were too quick and graceful for any of the onlookers to successfully see, both of them dodging and attack their opponent. Only one of them had to slip up, and it would be all over. Everyone was watching now, in awe of the skill the two possessed.

Mikasa's foot made contact with Levi's jaw. No one knew how it happened, but it sent him back a step. It was just the gap she needed. She ran at him, her gaze focused on the knife. She hadn't noticed that his feet shifted, planting firmly in the ground. When she reached him, he quickly sidestepped and kicked out her knees. She fell to the ground with a grunt and he quickly pinned her, the knife firmly in his hand still. "You're dead." He stood up and wiped a trail of blood from his chin.

That was too close to comfort, he thought. I need to be careful around her. Petra watched the way they interacted carefully. There was no conversation, no politeness. He was actually careful of what he said around her. It was odd. She knew Mikasa was strong- she had just seen her almost successfully take out the Captain- but still. Something was wrong. Mikasa was mad at him for beating up Eren, but why did he care?

She shook those thoughts from her mind as she watched him head into the castle. Turning back to the recruits, some of which were bruised up now, she smiled. "Turn in the knives to Erd." She looked at all of the rookies. They were such a diverse group… That's why they make a good team. "You can take a break!"

As she turned to join Gunter at the table, a voice behind her spoke up. "Ma'am?" Petra turned back around. Christa was walking briskly over to her.

Petra smiled a little. "Please, call me Petra. What do you need?" She had never actually spoken to Christa, but she knew everyone liked her. She seemed like a sweet girl.

"I was just wondering… What's it like being the only girl on the Squad? Is it weird at all?" Surprisngly, she had never been asked that question before.

She had to think about it. "It's not weird. It's actually nice," she began with a light smile. "My skills were recognized, and that's an extreme honor to me."

Christa smiled. "You're great at what you do," she said before quickly saluting and walking off to Ymir's side.

Well, Petra thought with a grin. I may no longer be the shortest person in the Survey Corps, but I'm also no longer the sweetest. These kids were all so nice. It's a shame so many of them had such a rough life. Her heart broke for each of them.

Dinner that night was strange. The recruits kept their conversation quiet. Squad Levi was its normal self, with its odd mix of laughter and serious conversation. Levi was quiet. He didn't even seem like he was listening. He usually contributed at least slightly to the conversation.

He seemed distracted. Every now and then his gaze would flick to Mikasa, who was glaring steadily at him as she ate and talked to Eren, then away again in an instant. Petra frowned a little. He was thinking of something, something that was bothering him.

She didn't follow him when he excused himself from the table and went to his room early. She would find out what was wrong eventually, but not yet.

"You're doing well, Petra." Auluo raised his glass with a wide, obnoxious smile at her. "To Petra, for being a cold-hearted trainer!" She gave him a swift kick under the table, but she couldn't hide her small smile as the group chimed in with a loud "To Petra!"

Maybe she was doing her job right.