Annie and Reiner, Year 847

"I never thought you were the type of girl to sneak out late at night with a boy, Annie."

"Shut up, Reiner."

Her patience was wearing thin, but it was important for the two of them to catch up. Annie had located her target, but from the looks of things, the other three hadn't yet found the Coordinate.

"Easy, I was only joking," Reiner said, a little too innocently for someone who was responsible for thousands of deaths. "What's got you so riled up?"

"I'm taking a risk just by talking to you," replied Annie. "Now, is there anything I need to know?"

It was still their first night as trainees, and the two of them had found it relatively easy to sneak out. If any of the instructors or other trainees caught them, they could have always said that they were meeting for different reasons, and let everyone think whatever nasty thoughts they wanted.

"You're starting to worry me." The tall boy shook his head disapprovingly. "Don't tell me you actually went and made friends with that boy. You remember why you're here, don't you?"

"You don't have to lecture me," she said sharply. "I know what I'm doing. And I haven't forgotten why I'm doing it."

"I'm beginning to think we should have let her take your place after all."

"Then why don't you go complain to her about it? I'll even let you in there myself."

With an angry sigh, Reiner finally got down to business.

104th Trainee Corps, Year 847

"We'll begin your training with the aptitude tests," Shadis shouted. "Those who fail at this test are not even fit to serve as bait for the Titans. They'll be sent back to the fields!"

If Nap was at all concerned about the test, he didn't show it as he was hoisted up by the two cables fastened to the belt at his waist. The balance had not come naturally to Nap, but he had worked hard and improved by leaps and bounds. It helped that he was an enthusiastic tinkerer, and his old gear had been constantly altered, over his time learning from his grandfather, based on his intuition and preferences at the time.

He had constantly been reminded how lucky he was to have a grandfather like Dot Pixis, and he had certainly been appreciative of the old man, but Nap hadn't truly realized why he was so fortunate until that moment. The other trainees were learning how to use Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear for the first time, but he already had plenty of experience.

Nap was able to easily hang in the gear as the instructors surveyed the trainees. To his right, Connie, Jean and the potato girl all looked like naturals. To his left, Eren Jaeger was not quite so lucky. The boy who had talked so boldly the previous night about slaying Titans in the Survey Corps was getting a face full of dirt and an ear full of Keith Shadis. Nap couldn't help but feel bad for the kid, but on the other hand, he was only getting what he deserved after boasting about his prowess the night before.

Elsewhere, Marco took a bad tumble on his first attempt, but learned his lesson and stayed balanced on his second try. Mina seemed to get the hang of it after a shaky start. Annie had no problem staying upright in midair, as Nap would have expected. She had been almost as proficient as him, after all.

Nap and Eren, Year 847

"Please, you have to help me! I heard you were really good," Eren Jaeger pleaded. He had dragged Nap out behind the dining hall that evening, much to Annie's secretive amusement. He still wore a bandage on his head, courtesy of his earlier failures with the aptitude test. As a contrast to last night, his table had been deserted other than him and two friends.

Nap didn't know how to help him. It had taken him a good chunk of time to master the gear, albeit at a younger age. He considered the boy in front of him for a moment before speaking. He would have to take a different approach.

"Why are you here?" The question understandably seemed to catch Eren off-guard. "Why is it that you chose to fight and slay the Titans even after seeing what they're capable of? You're not like me. You know just how terrifying they are up close."

The shorter boy's eyebrows furrowed. Nap saw an even deeper fire than when he had witnessed him confronting Jean the previous night. "I decided I had to kill them. Simple as that. I have to kill all of the Titans with my own hands." Nap tried to speak up, but Eren wasn't finished. "I know what you're going to say. Believe me, I've heard it plenty of times, but I'm not going to listen. I'm not going to give up."

Nap gave a relieved nod. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear. If that's the attitude you came in here with, there's no reason to change anything. Just make sure that you're not getting ahead of yourself." Nap turned to stare at the distant Wall Rose on the horizon. He wasn't used to being the one giving advice, but he figured he would make it up as he went along like his grandfather did. "You know your own limits better than anyone else does and if you keep insisting on breaking them down, well… You're going to find out what it truly means to be human."

Eren nodded, but he was still puzzled. "How does this relate to my aptitude test?"

Nap turned back to him and gave an awkward but reassuring look. "Your aptitude with the Maneuver Gear isn't the only thing that makes you a soldier." He put out a fist and knocked it against Eren's chest a couple of times. "This is just as important. I can say with certainty that you have the will of a soldier. My grandfather told me that if the only tool you have is a hammer, all problems begin to resemble nails. Your guts are your hammer. Make sure everything is in place, and get ready to pound some nails come tomorrow. You want this more than anyone. That alone gives you strength, Eren Jaeger."

It was complete bullshit, but from the looks of things, the boy was buying into it. Eren nodded and smiled back at Nap, his eyes lighting up again. "Thanks, I know exactly what I need to do now. You've been a big help. Napoleon Pixis, right?"

"Just call me Nap," he said, scratching his jet-black hair with his left hand. Nap wasn't sure how exactly he had managed to help him, and he truly wondered if Eren was actually any better off after hearing what he had to say, but he was all out of advice for the Shinganshina boy.

The two boys said their goodbyes, and Nap turned to leave as Eren stood deep in thought. Turning the corner of the dining hall building, Nap ran headfirst into another trainee. Both of them fell to the dirt, and Nap quickly rushed to his feet, offering to help the embarrassed girl up. Immediately, he recognized her from the opening day.

Her shoulder-length hair was the same sleek black tone as his, and her gray eyes looked like endless pools that he could easily drown in if he stared too long. In addition to remembering her from the first day, Nap also recognized the dazzling beauty as one of the two trainees loyal enough to console Eren even after his brutal failure that day. Brushing himself off, he began apologizing, for lack of anything better to do.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't-"

"Save it, I'm fine." The girl cut him off effortlessly. "Where's Eren?"

"He's… Around back. Just standing there," Nap managed to get out, and without another word, the girl flew by him. Not stopping to think why, he swiftly grabbed her arm and spun her around. "You're not even going to introduce yourself? We're going to be comrades for the rest of our lives. The least you could do is tell me your name." He reached his hand out one more time. "I'm Nap Pixis."

The girl glared at him, but complied with his request. It wasn't a hostile glare, so much as it was a suspicious glare.

"Mikasa Ackerman. Is that good enough for you?" Nap nodded, pleased that he had a name to go with a face that was unlike all but one face he had seen before. With that, the incredibly conspicuous girl turned and trudged off after Eren.

He wasn't usually one to actively pursue friendships, but his gut was telling him that Mikasa Ackerman would prove to be a valuable ally. Nap had felt that something was different about her, even on the previous day, but it would undoubtedly take him a long time to figure out what it was. He shook his head and kept walking.

Nap returned to the bustling interior of the dining hall to find Mina sitting across from Annie, talking as if she made a living off of it. His old friend wore the same bored expression on her face, but he could tell that she was at least listening to and acknowledging the other girl. They both greeted him as he sat down next to Annie and began to finish his dinner, all while recounting his conversation with Eren.

"He certainly says the right things," Annie sighed after he had finished. "He has a lot of courage. I respect that. He may just be an idiot, but…"

Nap and Mina looked quizzically at her as she trailed off, and none of the three said anything for a long while after. The bell eventually sounded outside, and the recruits filed out of the dining hall and went to prepare for the next morning. This would be the last chance for recruits like Eren to pass the test. Nap didn't even want to know what the boy would do if he failed.

Nap, Annie, and Mina, Year 847

Nap's third day as a trainee had come and gone, and it had ended without much of a hassle for him. Eren had managed to barely pass his second aptitude test, as had a decent amount of the other recruits who had failed the previous day.

That night, another new face showed up at Nap and Annie's sparsely populated dinner table. The trainee meekly took a seat next to Mina before putting out a shaking hand in introduction.

"L-Langston Pyrite," the wheat-skinned boy squeaked, a genuine smile lighting up his face. On the surface, he may have looked like a young Keith Shadis, but his character and mannerisms could not have been more different from those of the instructor.

Mina, Nap, and finally a begrudging Annie tossed out greetings to the boy, whose confidence seemed to grow the longer the conversation lasted.

"Pyrite..." Nap recalled the name from earlier. "You were one of the guys who had to retake the aptitude test today, right?"

Langston nodded sullenly. "Yeah, I really didn't know what I was signing up for. I joined the military because of some stupid sense of duty that I felt to the human race, but I regretted it quickly. Growing up in Mitras, I never imagined the training would be like this."

Mina's eyebrows rose. "You're from the Inner District? And you still chose to enlist?"

"I didn't have a very popular opinion." Langston's voice grew softer as he replied. "My mother shunned the idea of her son joining the military, and it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I made up my mind to do it anyway." His head rolled back as he sighed. "She must be worried sick. I know it would take a miracle to get her to leave the Inner District, but I still wish she could see that I'm okay. Actually, thinking about her is what got me so distracted that I failed my first test. Clearing my mind was all I needed to do in order to barely pass the second one."

Mina put a friendly, comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure she knows that you're just following the path that you've chosen." Nap couldn't look away from her eyes as she spoke. He had only known her for a few days, and he was already captivated. "I sometimes worry about my family back in Karanes, but I know they're supporting me. I want to do my best for them."

Langston's face reddened as he turned his attention to the table in front of him. Annie broke the silence after a few seconds, barely lifting her blank face.

"Just make sure you're ready," her voice came softly. "The Titans aren't going to care about your sad story. All they're going to be interested in is how good you taste when you're going down their throats. You can have all the motivation in the world and it won't matter if you're not properly prepared to face them, both mentally and physically."

Nap nodded solemnly. "That's why we're here, isn't it?"

Nap, Year 849

He could see it through the thick branches of the forest. The Dummy Titan was a few meters away, slightly to his right. To his left, he could make out Jean's obnoxious voice echoing through the dense woods, and he knew that Connie would not be far behind. Now was the time to act.

Nap burst into the clearing, letting his momentum carry him toward the thin wooden structure that wouldn't have fooled a blind man into thinking that it was a real Titan. The strip on the back of its neck, the weak spot of the Titans and the only area in which a killing blow could be dealt, was marked as a target in this practice, but on an actual Titan it would have been indistinguishable from the rest of the body. Nap struck at the spot with his twin blades, a split second before Jean materialized through the trees. Nap's shot was as deep as could be, slicing cleanly through the nape of the dummy's neck. He heard Jean utter a curse from behind him as he made a much smaller dent in the dummy's neck than Nap had.

Through his first two years as a trainee, Nap had been nearly flawless. The training he had gone through with Dot Pixis had put him in the perfect position to succeed. But not even flawlessness and perfection were enough to beat Mikasa Ackerman.

This training lasted for a good portion of the day. As the rookies returned to the training grounds in the deep orange light of the setting sun, Nap caught a glimpse of Annie being spoken to by a pair of unreasonably tall boys, both of whom he recognized but neither of whom he had spoken to very much over the past two years. Curious, considering that Annie had exchanged few lines of dialogue with anyone other than him, Langston, or Mina since their enlistment, Nap broke from the main group of trainees to wander off in their direction.

"…Remember why you're here, Annie," said Reiner Braun. His comrade, the dark-haired beanpole Bertolt Hoover, noticed Nap approaching and made an effort to calm the other boy. They both stood in silence as Napoleon Pixis moved toward them. Reiner then put on a brotherly smile and put up a hand in greeting.

"You should come around more often, Nap." It was only at this that Annie finally turned around and met the gaze of her old friend. "Annie just finished telling us about your history."

Nap slapped the outstretched hand of Reiner, and did the same to Bertolt.

"Nap, when you introduced yourself, you told Shadis that you were from the Inner District, right?" Reiner seemed to forget about whatever he had been saying to Annie.

"That's right," Nap returned, surprised he remembered after so long. Reiner and Bertolt stood analyzing him for a few moments before the taller boy stepped forward.

"Annie told us that the two of you met in a refugee camp. If you were born in Mitras, why were you among the people fleeing Wall Maria?"

Nap brushed his hair back with his left hand. It normally wasn't much of a burden during training, but on his off-time it would occasionally cling to his forehead in irritating fashion. "I left the Inner District two years ago, under some circumstances that I'd rather not talk about." The two boys looked startled, but continued to eagerly listen. Annie, of course, already knew all about his past, and kept her usual uninterested look.

"Let's just say I didn't really have a home there any more. My grandfather, Dot Pixis, had been required to move his station back to Wall Rose after the Titans broke through in Shinganshina, so he sent a few of his men to retrieve me and bring me to him. Long story short, I ditched them for a few hours, and that's when I met Annie. We've been companions ever since."

That was the least-detailed account of the event that Nap could have possibly given.

Nap briefly thought back to his time living with his grandfather. How the old man had often taken the boy to the top of Wall Rose and sipped from his flask as they gazed together at the outside world and the Titans beneath them. He remembered the comforting words that Dot Pixis had given him after he threw up over the side of the wall. Those words stuck with him even today.

"They're not frightened of you. So why in the world should you be frightened of them?"

Reiner interrupted Nap's thoughts with a pat on the shoulder. "I guess you're not like some of these other trainees after all. The ones that are only here to save face. No, you know exactly why you're here. I'm glad I've finally gotten to know you better, Nap Pixis."

This time it was Nap you held out a hand and Reiner who gave it a smack. "You too, Reiner Braun. Bertolt Hoover."

Unnoticed by the boys, Annie Leonhardt seemed to grow more annoyed as the conversation went on.

Nap, Year 850

Even after three years, Nap still had not dropped his cheek-chewing habit. Even as he stood at the end of the first row of trainees, his eyes did not show a single emotion. And even though he was about to begin the next phase of his life, he was not afraid.

Nap glanced down at the bold red shirt that he wore under his trainee jacket. His graduation night had finally arrived, and after a few more words from Keith Shadis and the other instructors, he would not see many of his comrades ever again.

Standing among the top ten of his class, Nap couldn't help but feel at least a small sense of accomplishment. He knew his journey was far from over, but he had made it through the current step and become stronger because of it. It had been a hard-fought battle until the end, but he had surpassed Mikasa and become the top-ranked graduate in their class, though Shadis had admitted to the two of them that they were almost completely even. The girl who stood next to Nap was still as much of a mystery as ever. Her devotion to Eren was obvious, and it reminded Nap of his own loyalty to Annie, but it was hard to tell just who Mikasa Ackerman really was.

He turned to stare at Annie, standing just on the other side of Mikasa. She had ended up third in their class, and he hadn't expected anything less. Nap's best friend of five years looked absolutely diminutive standing next to Reiner and Bertolt, who had finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Nap had never gotten to know them very well, but that didn't matter to him. He would fight just as hard for them as he would for anyone, even Annie.

Past the two towering boys was Jean, who wasn't exactly the most well-liked of the trainees. Nap had only had a few legitimate conversations with the Military Police-bound boy, but he had always seen a good deal of potential in the Trost native. Jean had become nearly as proficient with his Maneuver Gear as Nap and Annie, and he and his best friend Marco, who had placed seventh in their class, were more than prepared for life in the interior.

Nap shifted his attention past Jean and Marco, focusing now on the eighth-ranked graduate of their talent-rich class. Out of all of the trainees, Langston Pyrite had probably grown the most during their three years, both physically and mentally. At the start of their training, he had been shorter than Armin, but now he was taller than Jean. Langston had matured as a soldier and as a human being, and Nap knew he was ready to take on the world.

Rounding out the top ten were Connie and Sasha, neither of whom Nap had bothered to get to know well at all. He didn't see much of a point, anyway. They just weren't his type of people. But that didn't mean he wouldn't fight for them just like he fought for everyone else.

Even outside of the top graduates, there was a high level of talent among the members of the 104th Trainee Corps. Thomas, Ymir, Victor, Hilde, and Christa, to name a few, would have all been worthy of spots in the top ten in most other years, as Shadis had told Nap and Mikasa a few days earlier. Their class simply had an unprecedented amount of talented trainees.

One of the trainees who had failed to make the top ten was Eren Jaeger, but he didn't seem at all phased. Nap had known from the start that the boy from Shinganshina had no desire to join the Military Police. The determination that emanated from Eren had rubbed off on every one of his comrades, and he had even convinced some to join the Survey Corps along with him.

Standing between the fiery-eyed Eren and the incredibly short Victor was Armin, the boy who had been Eren's best friend since childhood. Nap had barely spoken to the timid boy during the first year, but the two of them had gotten to know each other fairly well when they were assigned to spend a week together in the woods. The golden-eyed boy admired Armin's intellectual prowess, and in a way he reminded Nap a good deal of Annie.

The biggest wildcard of them all was one of the trainees who had been passed over by Shadis on their first day. From the looks of her, Miranda Sieyes didn't seem like someone who had been through hell. She was constantly smiling contentedly and loafing around, and she didn't seem to care at all about her grades. Nap didn't know her all that well, but she seemed to have still become fairly proficient. Jean had dubbed her the "Invisible Soldier" because of her tendency to disappear at times during training, only to come back at the end just to say she participated.

Nap's heartbeat hastened as he looked over his left shoulder at Mina, positioned between the towheaded Thomas and the absent-minded Miranda. He knew how childish his feelings for her may have seemed, but he couldn't help himself. Every day that he spent with her was more enjoyable than the last and though he hadn't confessed his feelings to her, or anyone else but Annie, they had been surprisingly difficult for him to hide.

His tongue explored the inside of his cheek as the rest of Nap's body remained perfectly still. It wouldn't be long now. He still had no idea if he was ready, but he knew that regardless of how he felt, he would do it, because he had no other option. He would be a savior.