It was pitch black outside and the flames on the torches were burning low by the time we were ordered to go back to our rooms. My bags were packed and everything was set for tomorrow morning, all that was left to do was wake up and go to our new home, HQ.
I laid in bed just looking up at the ceiling, wondering what the Survey Corp has in store for me, besides the obvious, fighting Titans. I looked around the room seeing the few females that stayed and wondered exactly how many of them would survive their first mission, how many would still be left after the first fight?
I shifted my eyes to look back at the ceiling. What was I thinking, if they died, they died, nothing I nor anyone else can do about it. I was hearing the other girls say their goodnights before the flames of the candles were blown out. Let the nightmares begin, I thought as I closed my eyes and let sleep and darkness over take my mind.
Dreams, nightmares, I didn't have them for the first time sense the Titans attacked years ago, it was strange, why didn't I have any nightmares? I was wracking my brain for an answer when the door to our cabin slammed open and Shadis was standing there with his usual scrawl on his face.
"Get up you lazy asses and get out here, you'll be leaving in ten minutes!", he yelled before stomping away.
I stood up and changed out of my nightclothes and into our new uniform. I put my boots on after I was done with the straps and looked around the room, making sure everything was packed away again before I left this room for good. I stepped outside and saw the other trainees running over to the cart that was going to be our ride to HQ.
"Slow down Eren, they won't leave without us", I Saw Armin trying to run and keep up with Eren and Mikasa.
I walked over to the cart that held our bags and set them to the side. I looked around and saw that almost everyone was on the cart waiting for me and two others to hurry up. I walked over to the cart and sat down with my legs hanging off the edge. If I'm going to be squished at leased my legs will be free.
"Alright is that everyone?", the driver said.
"Yeah, that's everyone", said one of the Scouts from beside us.
She was short and had ginger colored hair with soft eyes and a nice smile. She looked like a talker, I could tell already. I watched her as she climbed up onto a horse and told the driver he can go now. I didn't know I was staring for so long till she made eye contact with me and smiled.
"Hi, I'm Petra, who are you?", she asked with a sweet smile and a twinkle in her eyes.
"Janice", I said and looked away not wanting to talk to her.
"Oh, Janice, pretty name", I heard her say.
I just nodded my head as a reply and stared off into the distance.
"Don't mind her, she doesn't talk a lot, or interact a lot, in fact, she doesn't do much other then train and fight. So don't mind her, Miss Petra", I heard one of the boys say in a charming voice.
I rolled my eyes at the act he was putting for her.
"Oh, that's alright.-" I heard her say "-We could use some good fighters in the Corps. We do more then just fight and kill Titans, we will also do some undercover missions that need scouts to know hand-to-hand combat". And then I heard her horse pick up its pace and move away from my side of the cart.
Was it just me, or was she defending me against those boys? I blinked a few times pondering that thought till I was pulled out of it by those boys talking again.
"Can't she be nicer?" One of them said.
"I know, Miss Petra was just trying to have small talk", the other boy said.
I didn't pay them any mind after that, I was too busy looking at the scenery and taking in the sun and clouds. I was lost in my own mind, thinking about how different the actual Scouts were going to be compared to the training we've received. I've heard it was harder then being a trainee, but then again, I've also heard that it's about the same.
I guess it all depends on who your squad leader is and how hard they work you. Well, regardless if they work us hard or not, I'm not going to laze around and let my skills dwindle. I'm going to work just as hard, if not harder then I did in training.
By the time we got to HQ, the sun was high in the sky. I looked behind me, which was to the front of the cart that brought us here, to see Petra on her horse, ride up to someone and come to a stop in front of them, then she nodded her head and rode back to us.
"Alright guys, you can unload now and fallow me. Leave your stuff, it'll be put by your new rooms. I'll be showing you to the training grounds where we'll see which squad we'll be placing you in". She said and watched us as we all climbed out of the cart.
I scooted out of the cart and walked to the side, letting the other trainees get to where they wanted to be. Some boys made there way over to Petra, while some just walked to there friends and stood waiting. I stayed in the back of the group, walking behind everyone and being an observer was what I liked to do.
"Alright everyone, fallow me", Miss Petra said and she turned her horse around and starting walking to the side of the HQ building.
We all fallowed her around the building to the back, then we saw the training fields. It was huge, massive. There was a section for everything.
"Ok guys, you go over to those two over there, they will be the ones giving you your tests. I'll see you later", she waved and rode her horse away from us.
We looked over to the direction she pointed at and then we all walked over to the two waiting. We crossed the field and we all stood in the same spot that we gave ourselves when we fallowed Petra. The desperate boys were up front, Eren and his friends were just behind their left shoulder, a group of girls were to the right of Erens friends, and I was in the back of the group.
"Hey guys, nice to meet ya, I'm Hangi! I'll be one of the people over your placements today", an excited woman with brown hair and glasses said.
"I'm Mike, also over your placement and what exercises you'll be doing", a blonde tall man said.
There were some whispers being spread around about the two people that were standing in front of us.
"Hangi? She's the Titan scientist that does experiments and weird stuff" some were saying.
"Mike? Isn't he in Commander Erwins squad?", not much was being said about him.
"All right listen up!" Mikes voice boomed, "first we'll start off with 3DMG, so everyone go gear up and come back", he pointed to a table that was to their left, our right.
We were all hooking the gear to us when I heard foot steps approaching. I didn't pay it any mind, it was probably some scout that came out to see the fresh 'meat'. I was about done hooking the last strap on when I heard the foot steps moving away from us. By the time I was done strapping in, I looked up and saw no one new standing around our area.
I was one of the first to be geared up and done, so I walked back to stand in front of the two scouts, waiting for the rest to finish so we can start. One-by-one they made their way back to where I was standing, and with every person rejoining, I would step back away from them, putting me in the back of the group again.
"First: form a single file line, Second: you will go one at a time into the forest, reach the end and come back. The person to do this the fastest, well you did it the fastest. So get in line", the blond man said.
People were walking and moving back to fit into a line, I just stepped backwards and watched everyone. When they were done then I stepped forward and was as you guessed it, last.
Eren was one of the first to go into the forest, he made it back with eight minutes and forty-two seconds. Amin and Mikasa went after each other and Armin was Nine minutes and twelve seconds, while Mikasa was seven minutes and fifty-nine seconds.
So far Mikasa did the best and some squeaky girl was dead last she had eleven minutes and thirty-three seconds. Her excuse was priceless, she said "I was so bad cause I didn't know where I was going". Hangi replied with "when you're out in Titan territory you won't know where you're going either if you get lost, but you still have to be fast to find the scouts before you get left behind and considered dead". The girl turned a bit pale, and some of the other trainees looked a little uneasy at what Hangi just said.
What she said didn't faze me at all, I knew that the risk of being left behind was possible, It's a fight or die kind of world out there after all.
"Alright, last up" Mike said.
"Of course she's last", of course people would talk about me know.
"She'll do good though",
"Yeah, she was one of the best at this",
"If she was so great, why was she not in the top ten?",
"Cause she sucks at working with others and doesn't like to be in a team",
"She's a lone wolf",
"She hates people",
"You can go now", I glanced up at Mike and nodded.
I ran up to the forest and shot the cables out into the trees. I aimed high and used my momentum to pendulum swing myself forward, using some gas to go faster. I was flying through the air and was free falling for some of it, only to shoot the wires back out and swing up again. That's what I did to reach the end. When I landed on the tree branch that held a green flag I turned around was was flying back.
I was enjoying the wind through my hair and my time alone, but I was still able to catch a figure that was standing on a tree looking down. Who it was, I have no idea, but something in me decided to go faster, to show the new recruits and whoever that was, that I deserve to be here.
I used more gas and shifted more of my weight to propel me to go faster. I was flying, no I was hauling ass. I quickly saw the clearing approaching and was about to slow down, but then I thought, no I'm going for it.
So when I shot the cables out for the last time at the tree, I used my gas to push me backwards to slow me down and I flung myself out of the trees, still using the gas to slow down my exit and landing. I landed on the balls of my feet and bent my legs till I was kneeling on the grass. I slowly stood up and started walking to the others and looked up at the group. Their faces had looks of shock, disbelief and some where in aw.
I was standing in front of Hangi and Mike, Hangi's mouth was open and she was holding the stopwatch, Mike's face didn't change much, but his eyes were huge, like they were about to fall out of his head.
"So, whats my time?", I asked her.
"Uh, oh, yeah right" she looked at the watch and her eyes got big "Seven minutes and twenty-six seconds!" she half shrieked and yelled.
I took a step back away from her.
"No one has been able to come close to his score, let alone pass it by two seconds!" She was going on about my time and some guy.
"Hmm", was all Mike gave me, "You all can take your gear off and follow me".
Next we were standing in a dirt field, I knew what was coming next, hand-to-hand sparring.
"All right, each of you pick a partner then get into a circle, there are plenty of circles so pick one, I will tell you when to start." Mike said and walked over to the side of the dirt field.
I was looking around and was seeing everyone start pairing off and walking to a circle. I decided I would go to a circle and wait for someone to come to me, no point in waiting around. I walked down about five circles and stood to the side of one that was on the outer field. I looked up and around and saw one of the boys that was hitting on Miss Petra from earlier walking up the side and stood on the other side of the circle from me.
"Yeah, I got stuck with you" he said and folded his arms and looked away, "I won't go easy on you, so you better bring it, got it?", he said and gave me a hardened look.
I just bobbed my head and looked away, waiting for Mike to say when to start.
"Ok, so Mike had to go somewhere, but he'll be back, so I will be judging you this time!" Hangi said and was bouncing on her feet.
"You will only be done fighting your partner if you get them pinned, they tap out, or they black out! I like that last part!" she was too excited for her own good.
"Ok so, GO!" she yelled at the top of her lungs at us.
I looked at my partner and saw him get into a fighting stance inside the circle. I slowly took a few steps into the circle and brought my hands up to my face and widened my stance.
"Any day", he said.
"So go", I said back.
His face darkened a bit before he approached me with a few quick steps, and went to round house kick my left side. I slid my left leg back and stepped back out of his reach so his leg went flying past me. I wasn't going to fight him yet, I was going to see what he can do first.
He planted his right foot on the ground and quickly spun on the ball of his foot and swung up his left heel to try and strike again. Instead of me moving back again, I decided that I would hit him once. So I ducked when his heel swung up to hit me, I threw a punch to his knee and he dropped his leg and stumbled back trying to regain his balance.I stood up straight and he ran at me.
I guess this is no more mister nice guy.
He started throwing punch after punch, trying to hit my face, my stomach, my everything. When he couldn't hit me with his fists, he used his legs. And the same thing happened, he tried his hardest to land a blow, but I was deflecting everything he dished out at me.
I wasn't number one in hand-to-hand combat for nothing. How long we fought, I'm not sure, but it felt like it was way over ten minutes. A yell was given out and we were told to stop sparing. I took a step back and was about to drop my arms when the boy came at me.
"They said to stop" I told him,
"I'm not stopping until I hit you!", He threw a punch at my face.
"If you keep fighting me, I will end this", I told him and blocked his punch.
"All you can do is block, you can't fight. How did you even get the first spot if you can't hit me?" He kicked his foot out and I blocked it.
"Last warning" I said.
"NO!" he yelled and threw a punch again.
I grabbed his hand and spun around, I kicked his leg out and pull him over my shoulder and slammed him into the ground. I kept ahold of his arm and knelt down and put him in a arm bar hold.
"Are you done now?" I said looking at him.
"Get off me!" he thrashed around.
I let go of his arm, got up and backed away. I took a few steps away from him, but not taking my eyes off of him incase he was to run at me.
"Don't run away you bitch", he got to his feet and took one step, before he faltered and stopped.
"Are you deff or just plain stupid? He yelled for you to stop but you kept going, why?", A voice said from behind me.
I didn't dare to turn around and see the person the voice belonged to, cause it sounded pissed.
"Sir, she wasn't fighting back, she was just blocking", the boy said.
"So you decided to keep fighting after we yelled for you to stop, cause you couldn't hit her. Is that right?", the voice said.
"Sir, I was just trying to get her to fight", was the boy serious?
"Well then, how about I give her an order to fight you, would that satisfy you?" The voice can't be serious, right?
"Yes sir" the boy saluted even straighter.
Come on.
"Tch, Fine. You", I looked to my left and saw Captain Levi, standing beside me with a board look, but a bit of anger in his eyes.
"Yes Sir?", I saluted him.
"Fight him, and don't take too long, I already read your file", He said and walked away.
Captain Levi has read my file? Then that means he knows that I am an excellent fighter and have never lost, yet he still wants me to beat the crap out of this guy? And he said 'don't take long'. I watched him with a look of disbelief as he stood next to Hangi.
"Well?", he said.
I looked back at the boy and he got a smirk on his face, "Ready?" he said.
"Yep", I said and waiting for him to run at me.
He ran at me and like last time, I grabbed his right fist with my left hand and pulled him to me. I punched his face with my right fist twice. He tried to pull away, but I grabbed the back of his neck and pulled his face down to come in contact with my knee, when I felt his nose crunch I push him up and spun on my feet and kicked him across the face with my heel, sending him falling on his back with a loud thud. He was knocked out.
I heard a 'Hmm' come from behind me and I turned to see Captain Levi giving me a small little smirk. Mike had rejoined us and his eyebrows were raised and Hangi was gaping like a fish. The other trainees faces looked shocked again, but most of them looked like they could feel the boys pain, some of them have, they were my sparring partners once too in training.
"I didn't say kill him" Captain Levi said.
"Sorry Sir, I tried to make it fast", I said as I saluted.
Snickers and giggles with hands held to their mouths, everyone tried not to laugh.
"So you did" We all watched as he walked away.
"That was awesome!" Hangi was jumping up and down.
"Someone take him to the infirmary, go through that door and take a left, all the way down the hall to the right", Mike said, and two trainees from the group stepped out, his friends.
"We've seen what we needed to see, I'll show you where dinner will be held and to your rooms. You'll find out what squad you'll be on tonight or tomorrow". We all followed Hangi inside the building as she led us to where dinner will be held, the cafeteria. Next was our rooms. She led us back out the cafeteria door and to the right, down the hall and up the fight of stairs on the left.
"You may pick which room you want and if you want roommates, it's up to you. Your bags are over there-" she pointed to a room on the left, "-Have fun", and she walked away.
For once I was first, so I went into the room to grab my bag and walked down the hall to the last room on the left. I opened the door and saw that it had a bed on the right wall with a nightstand, a dresser on the left wall with a mirror and a closet to the left of the dresser. I walked in and kicked the door shut with my foot, walked over to sit on the bed and drop my bag my feet.
I ran my hand over the blanket and pillow to see if there was any dust on them, making sure I wouldn't be breathing in dust and sneezing my butt off. I held my hand to my face and saw it was clean, good. I stood and picked my bag up to set it on the bed and started unpacking.
I put my nightclothes and regular clothes away first in the dresser, then I hung my two extra uniforms up in the closet. I looked at the wings of freedom as I held the tan jacket in my hands, "I have finally made it", I said, just admiring the object in my hands. Years of hard work has finally paid off.
I was now an official member of the Survey Corps. I let go of the fabric and hung it up and shut the closet door. I walked over to my empty bag and put it under my bed. I glanced around the room and walked over to my window and peered out. I could see the trees and a bit of the training grounds, a nice view in my books, better then looking at the road that brought us here.
I decided to head to the cafeteria, food sounded good and walking around the new place and learning its floor plan was something I needed to familiarize myself with.
The second floor I learned were all rooms. The first floor held the cafeteria, infirmary, showers and a door leading to the basement and Hangi's lab. The third floor held the squad leaders, Captains, and Commander Erwins offices and private rooms.
Outside the building you had the road that led you to the Headquarters, to the left was a clearing with trees off in the distance, the backyard was the training grounds and to the right of the training grounds were the stables, the right side of HQ had a small garden by the buildings wall and a side door the brought you beside the staircase that led to the second floor.
I walked through the side door and walked down the hall till I came to a door on the left that opened to reveal the cafeteria. The place was busy, I looked around and saw faces I knew, but there were way more faces I don't know. I walked down the center and got in line to get dinner.
I got to the window and the man handed me a plate with a potato, piece of bread and soup in a bowl. I looked at it and walked away to find a quiet place to sit and eat. I walked to the back of the room and saw a table that no one was sitting at. I sat down my tray of food and then sat with my back to the wall, so I could look out and see everyone.
I picked up my bread and dipped it into the soup and ate it, not bad, not bad at all. I tried the potato next, it was good, you can't really mess up a potato.
I was eating and looking around and watching people. I saw some goofing off and laughing, I saw a girl keep looking at a Scout then giggling and look away, I saw Petra sit down at a table with a group of guys, when one of the guys slid over so she could sit, I saw that the guy was hiding someone, Captain Levi.
He was sitting there with a board look on his face and reading something with a cup in his hand. Why was he holding it by the rim? I thought and dipped the bread in to the soup again. I took a bite and went back looking around and was met with the steel grey eyes of the captain boring into my own.
I blinked and swallowed my food and then looked down to dip my bread again. When I looked back up he was still looking at me. I raised an eyebrow at him, wandering why he was staring for so long, then I tilted my head to the side.
Hoping he would get the hint to look away or nod or I don't know something that wasn't staring at me and making it awkward. All I saw was his eyebrows grow closer together, and his lips had a shadow of a frown on them.
What did that mean? I looked away from him and around the room. After finding nothing else to look at or watch, I looked back over to where the Captain was sitting and I saw him talking to someone at his table.
I looked down and finished my potato. I cleaned up any crumbs I had dropped and stood, gathered my tray and cup and walk over to a window where you drop off you dishes. I past them to a women who took them from me.
"Thank you", I told her.
"You're welcome sweetie", she said with a smile.
I turned around and started walking down the center lane to the door, when I glanced to the left and saw Captain Levi look up at me and then back to the guy sitting to his left. As I past I couldn't help but over hear them talking.
"Seen any good?", The guy asked.
"Tch. Their just brats", Captain Levi replied.
I past by their table and out the cafeteria door. I walked to my room to grab clothes, deciding that a nice shower would be great, and then hopefully some nightmare free sleep after the shower.