A/N: Back again with a second chapter of this fanfiction for all you lifeless people who would rather read romance than actively participate in it... Haha who am I kidding, I'm the one writing this which is way worse.

I've decided that I will just release these chapters as I make them, which is probably once per week but don't expect a proper schedule from me as I am WAY too much of a wreck to properly plan things.

Without further ado (adieu? ¯\_()_/¯ ) let's begin chapter two!


Eren awoke abruptly to the loud noise of Shadis's fist rapping against the wooden door.

"Wake up, maggots!" he shouted.

As Eren stirred, he began to remember the events of the previous night and quickly turned his head to look at Mikasa, only to see she was no longer there.

She must have gone back earlier, thought Eren as he lifted his feet over the bed and onto the wooden floor to stand up.

Their instructor's heavy footsteps began again and faded away as he left to wake the next room of cadets, and Connie groaned loudly from his corner of the room.

Eren got up and began to change, and as he did so, he remembered being told today they would be doing rock-climbing to practice for when they started using 3DMG properly.

As Eren pulled on his cadet corps jacket, he noticed Connie was still in his bed, groaning something about the sun.

"Oi, wake up," Eren said to him.

"Ugh… My head," he replied groggily, sitting up. "What... happened...? Can't remember…"

"What? Just hurry up and get ready to go out. I don't want the instructor on my back."

"Ugh… oh, that's right... climbing today," Connie slurred, holding his head with one hand, the other propping himself up.

"What happened to you anyways? Are you sick?" Eren queried.

"Uhh." Connie paused, rubbing his forehead with his thumb and forefinger. "Sasha found liquor in the food storage."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Eren protested, knowing he shouldn't be surprised. "Both of you are going to fail today."

"I need water." Connie ignored Eren as he put his boots on.

"Where's Franz?"

Connie made an "I don't know" sort of grunt, and Eren walked out of their room, deciding that Connie's problems were his own doing.


Mikasa sat across from Armin, eating the same cold slop that they were served every day for breakfast.

"So what team were you put into for today's training?" Armin asked, trying to stir a conversation.

"Team Six," Mikasa replied simply.

"I was put into Team Four," Armin mused, more to himself than Mikasa now. "I don't really see how rock climbing will help to get us used to maneuver training though. Wouldn't it be better to learn with higher-tensile rope like the maneuver gear uses? Or maybe to just have us do the climbing with the gear already attached to the top, then to-"

"Hey, Armin, stop the rambling," Eren's voice cut in. Armin looked up to see his best friend looking at him with passive irritation as he set down his bowl and sat down next to Mikasa. "Nobody understands."

Armin gave a light chuckle at Eren's confused look. "Sorry."

"Eren," Mikasa spoke up. "What team are you in today?"

"Uh, Six, I think."

"Then you two are in the same team," noted Armin.

"Huh? Oh, okay then," said Eren, returning to his meal. Both Mikasa and Armin had almost finished eating, so Armin told the others he was going to leave to find other members of his team, leaving the other two alone at the table.

"I'm sorry about last night," Mikasa said quickly, the words spilling out almost the second Armin was out of earshot, her face slightly flushed. "I couldn't sleep and-"

"Stop apologising," Eren cut her off. "It's… all right." He paused, looking down at his 'meal'.

"E-"

"It's always been like this, yeah?" he cut her off again, "You don't have to feel bad… if I'm being honest, I can't really sleep either on those nights."

That surprised her. Eren wasn't really one to have those kind of thoughts, and if he did he didn't share them. Mikasa gave an inward smile, It really is the same old Eren from back in those days. She thought.

Once she finished eating, she decided to stay and wait for Eren. Sitting in silence, it didn't ever seem awkward for Mikasa though, as it was nice for her to simply sit there with him.

Soon, Eren finished eating, and they left to find the other members of their team.


"Ready, Cadets!" Shadis's voice boomed down to the cadets readying their harnesses below. It wasn't so much of a question than it was a command, his voice echoing throughout the training grounds (and the cadets' ears).

"Yes, sir!" they all shouted in response.

The activity was simple: the group of four had each connected their harnesses to a different part of the rope, which ran along the face of the small cliff. They were all to climb up the single rope at the top as a group, one following after another.

"So who wants to go up first?" asked Reiner.

Neither Mikasa nor Marco responded, so Eren did.

"I'll go up front," he said, taking a step towards the sheer face of the rock, Mikasa following close after him.

Team Six had been unlucky enough to have Shadis as their personal instructor in this task, while the other groups had finally gotten a break from him.

As Eren slowly started up the rock face, Mikasa attached her harness to some of the rope a bit further down and started climbing after him, followed by Reiner and Marco, respectively.

Mikasa knew that though she could climb faster than Eren, it wouldn't matter if she were in front as they were all attached to the same rope. This was a team activity, so it wasn't as though getting to the top herself would help their grade.

Once they had all made it about halfway, Eren saw Shadis stop looking down on them from above and start to move back.

"What's he doing?" Eren asked nobody in particular as their instructor bent down near where the rope was attached up the top.

Eren stopped climbing for a second, catching Mikasa's attention.

"What's wrong, E-" Mikasa was cut off by the support from the rope suddenly going slack, and she immediately gripped onto the rocky surface. Looking up, she saw Eren doing the same, and looking down, she noticed that Reiner had managed to stay on the wall of the cliff. However, Marco had fallen, and Reiner was directly attached to him.

Marco's weight and velocity turned out to be too much for Reiner, as the rope yanked him off of the rocky face, and he, too, began to fall with the screaming Marco.

Mikasa prepared herself to support the weight of the two, but knew she wouldn't be able. It was strange. She worried more about whether she'd drag down Eren next than she did about actually being pulled down the short cliff. As she felt the weight of the rope tugging at her, her hands losing their grip, she thought about the likelihood of Eren's survival. Sure, it was a short drop, and they could probably come out with at most a few broken bones between the four of them, but Eren was up highest, and if someone were to land wrong— on their head, perhaps?— then it could mean death.

Mikasa looked up to Eren again and immediately noticed what had happened.

Eren had removed his own harness and had attached it to a leafless bit of shrubbery jutting horizontally out of the side of the cliff face. Eren, latching onto some rock next to it, looked down at Mikasa with a face that told of his doubt in his on-the-spot idea.

With a sound that resembled the crack of a whip, the rope snapped taut, and Mikasa abruptly came to a stop.

Eren looked down, relief flooding his face at that his idea had worked. He had been so worried for Mikasa's safety, which was unlike him because he knew she could take care of herself.

Just the thought of her being hurt is scary enough, he realised.

Suddenly, a surge of anger came over him and he turned sharply to look back up at Shadis, who caused the whole thing and had simply stood at the top, passively watching it play out.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" he shouted up at the top of his lungs.

"Congratulations, Jaeger," Shadis dryly replied. "An unlikely top mark for you."

"WHAT!? ARE YOU INSANE!?"

"You better not be talking to me when you say that, Jaeger! !"

Mikasa watched the whole thing unfold from below, where she grabbed onto the rocks to stablize herself once again.

She was glad that Eren was safe and that he had just saved her.

"Mikasa, are you alright?" Eren asked gently as he looked back down, still obviously angry.

"Y-yeah… thank you, Eren."

She was happy that he would still save her, that he cared for her at least enough to have that worried look on his face when he asked if she was all right.

They all climbed the rest of the way down slowly, Marco's teeth chattering all the way down. Once they had all made it to the bottom, their instructor was already there waiting for them.

He was writing something down on a notepad, and when Reiner asked what the hell that was all about, he merely grunted and told the group they're dismissed for the rest of the day.

Damn devils. I hope they don't end up killing Bertolt or Annie. These people are dangerous just to be around, Reiner thought to himself.

I can't wait to just get back to my hometown.


A/N: To be continued next chapter!

For those who guessed this, yes, this was based off the mid-episode cards that act as a little break. (Intermissions I think they call them ) This one was called '3D Maneuver Gear Training (3)' and I can't remember what episode it's from.

A huge thanks to LunaBloom for beta-ing this chapter, and for leaving a super helpful review and opportunity last chapter. I never realised before how many mistakes I make!

Next chapter will be in a week or so (probably) so don't forget to follow, favorite and review the story so you get a notification when the next chapter is available!

I don't have anything else to say so here is a bad SNK joke:

How to pronounce Jean's name:

Half of the fandom: Gene!

Other half: John!

The show: JAH!


Editor's Note i. because i just like to number my notes. i probably won't have a note every chapter. anyway, as you've read, hi! i'm LunaBloom, the beta reader! i use excessive capitals, parentheses, and exclamation points! and also i talk way too much in my notes! anyway, (because i say anyway a lot) i just wanted to thank justaburrito for agreeing to take me on as a beta reader; it's been a while since i've had a beta job, and it's such a breath of fresh air to be working with someone so willing to take advice and give credit.

burrito (i'm just gonna call them that idk if that's okay or not) said i could self-advertize, so if you're looking for a beta, just pm me or smth. i can't guarantee that i'll say yes (i'm a little busy w/real life, and i'm preeeetty sure i held up the publication of this chapter by a few days— sorry about that), but hey! never hurts to try! anyway, thanks for reading!