Night of the Detachment Ceremony
Humanity's Comeback, Part 2
Two years after joining the Cadets…
"Pick up the pace! Run, you lead-footed laggards!" Shadis bellowed. He noticed Armin struggling to keep up with the rest of the cadets. "What's the matter, Arlert?! You're dragging your feet!" Shadis lead his horse back to Armin. "Too heavy for you?! Maybe you'd prefer I let you drop your gear?!"
Armin didn't reply as he continued running, panting for air.
"If this were a real mission, you'd be Titan food by now!" Shadis left him behind, moving back to the rest of the cadets.
Shadis watched as Reiner Braun fell back, taking Armin's gear. Reiner Braun… Stalwart in both mind and body, and well respected by his comrades. His attention turned to Armin. Armin Arlert… Although lacking in physical strength, his aptitude in the classroom is extraordinary.
The cadets swiftly flew through the air, slashing at Titan cutouts, knowing Shadis was grading them on their Titan fighting skills, as well as their use of their gear.
Shadis kept his eyes trained on them. Annie Leonhart. Her slice attacks are absolutely flawless, but her reclusive tendencies make her a poor fit for coordinated efforts. He turned to Bertolt. Bertolt Hoover. He possesses remarkable potential, but lacks aggressiveness.
Jean Kirstein. Top-class Omni-directional mobility. But his volatile personality tends to cause friction with others.
Shadis watched as Sasha and Connie followed Jean, beating him to the nearest Titan, Sasha cutting it before the other two could even reach it. Sasha Braus. She has unconventionally good intuition, but also demonstrated poor teamwork as a result. His eyes wondered to Connie. Connie Springer. He excels at executing quick turns, but is also a bit dim-witted.
Mikasa, Eren, and Nora flew in close proximity to each other, Nora and Mikasa cutting Titan cutouts as fast as they appeared. Shadis watched them leave Eren in the dust. Mikasa Ackerman. Completely proficient in every area. It's apt to say she's an almost unmatched, unprecedented genius. Nora Hattori. Servant by nature. Loyal to a fault. All in all, an extremely well-rounded soldier, when her temper is under control.
His eyes shifted to Eren. Eren Yeager. He has no real specialties, but he's improved his grades with his unparalleled effort. And he possesses twice the sense of purpose than anyone else.
Shadis nodded to himself. The Training Corps had many good soldiers this year. He ended their training exercise, telling them to train in hand-to-hand combat. The cadets saluted, taking off their 3D Maneuvering Gear and moving to the main part of the training ground.
Eren, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration, was waiting for Reiner, his current sparring partner, to make his move. When he did, Eren was quick to throw him onto the ground, earning a grunt from the man.
"Sorry. I'm not good at holding back," Eren said, offering his hand to Reiner.
Reiner, who towered over him, allowed Eren to pull him off the ground. "Now it's your turn to be the rogue." He held the wooden dagger out for Eren to take. When he didn't, Reiner asked, "What's the matter?"
Eren took the dagger. "I don't get this training. Why would soldiers fight other people? Only an idiot would take on a target barehanded." In his mind's eye, he saw a younger version of himself saving Mikasa and Nora. He shook off the memory.
"That's irresponsible thinking," Reiner tells him, earning Eren's attention. "We're soldiers. There are times we can't run away, no matter how bad the situation is. No matter what the enemy is, we have to be ready for it, whether it means using cannons or combat techniques. I believe that's the responsibility of a strong soldier." Reiner turned to some of the other recruits. "Anyway, look there."
Eren looked to where Reiner pointed, seeing Annie Leonhart avoiding their combat training. "Oh, that's Annie. She's slacking off without the commandant noticing again."
Reiner leaned down to him. "All right, Eren. That slouch needs a talking-to. Let's teach how a soldier's supposed to act."
Eren looked up at Reiner. "Huh?" he asked.
Reiner left him, stopping Annie in her tracks. "Not fond of the commandant's head-butts?" Reiner asked, looking down at her. "If you don't wanna end up any shorter, think back to when you first came here and start taking things seriously." Reiner smirked.
Eren stepped in. "Hey, why are you being so rude?" He looked to Annie's face. Man, she's mad. I thought she looked scary enough as it is, but that's nothing compared to when she's pissed.
Reiner put his hands on Eren's shoulders. "All right! Get started, Eren!" he exclaimed.
Eren, being pushed by Reiner, looked back to the tall man. "Me?!"
Annie got into her fighting stance. It was unlike any that Eren had ever seen, catching him off guard for a moment. He steeled himself. "You know the drill, right, Annie?" he questioned, charging at her, dagger in hand. "Here I come!"
When he got close enough, Annie kicked him in the shin, earning a pain-filled grunt from him as he fell to his knees. "Wh-What the…" he wondered aloud. "She kicked my leg?" He tried to stand, falling back to the ground on his butt.
Annie turned to Reiner. "Can I go now?" She sounded bored.
"No! The drill's not over until you take the dagger!" Reiner declares.
Letting out an irritated sigh, Annie turned back to Eren. He managed to stand. "Wait, Annie!" He called, holding the dagger in front of him. "You're supposed to do this a certain way!"
She didn't seem to care as she easily flipped him onto his shoulders, his legs over his head. She tossed the wooden dagger to Reiner, who caught it with ease. "There," she moved her bangs away from her eyes. "Now it's your turn to attack me."
Reiner looked from the dagger to her. "N-No… I'm not…"
Before he could finish his sentence, Eren spoke up, still in the position that Annie put him in a moment ago, a glare on his face. "Do it, Reiner. I thought you wanted to teach her about a soldier's responsibility?"
Reiner nodded. "Yeah. Sometimes a soldier can't back down. This is one of those times!"
Annie flipped him over her shoulder, causing him to land next to Eren in the same position.
Eren, who was now on his feet, turned from Reiner's bulky frame to Annie slender one, "That's an amazing technique," he commented. "Who did you learn it from?"
She moved her bangs again, not facing him. She looked to the other cadets as she answered, "My father."
"Your dad came up with that move?"
Annie faced him. "What does it matter? There's no point to any of this."
Eren, who was still on his knees, looked up to her, a slightly confused and shocked expression on his face. "You mean this training?"
Annie turned back to the other cadets. "We aren't graded on our hand-to-hand combat skills. Most people brush it off, like them," she says, nodding to Jean and one other cadet that Eren didn't know the name of. "Because only the top ten cadets are allowed to join the Military Police and serve in the interior. The only ones who take it seriously are naïve idiots like you, or just ordinary idiots."
They watched as Shadis punished Connie, who was training with Sasha.
"Crap! The commandant!" Eren exclaimed.
Annie thrusted the dagger to him, barely giving any time to block it with his fist. "For some reason, in this world, the better you are at fighting Titans the further you can get from them," she murmurs. "How do you think this farce came about?"
Eren glared at her, causing her to back off. "I don't know… That's a good question!" He grabbed her wrist attempting to take the dagger from her.
Annie quickly flipped him onto his back, straddling his torso while pointing the dagger toward his Adam's Apple. "Maybe because it's human nature?" She got off of Eren, looking down at him. "Anyway, I refuse to be stupid enough to play 'Soldier' in this inane world." She turned away, walking off.
"Looks like you're not much of a warrior at all," Reiner comments, watching her go.
Eren looked around the field, seeing Nora's petite yet muscular frame sparring with a frightened Mina Carolina. In the past two years, she gained almost as much muscle as Mikasa, though she hadn't grown taller by even a millimeter. Her bangs were long enough now that they completely covered her left eye. She slowly stopped using the navy clip he'd given her, deciding to only use for missions or other important tasks.
Eren stared at her. We were so caught up in getting stronger that neither of us realized it. It's such a clever contradiction… They're honing their Titan-killing skills just to get away from the Titans!
Nora slowly ate her soup, ignoring the conversations around her. Within the past two—almost three—years, most of the cadets knew her as 'The Beast of the 104th' due to her temper and increased strength. She smiled as she remembered Reiner's first complaint when he chose to spar with her.
Reiner was lying sprawled on his back, glaring at her with his golden eyes. "Where the hell did that come from? You fight like a wild animal—a beast!"
Everyone who heard the complaint turned to see who it was that he was talking about. She remembered hearing whispers and many hushed voices talking about her, and about how she threw Reiner, a man who was a full thirty one centimeters[1] taller than her, onto the ground, managing to take the dagger from him and press it against his throat.
Nora smiled, unable to stop herself, at the memory. It quickly faded as she recalled other events throughout the year. After the first month or so of training, and the recruits finding out about her 'servant-like' attitude, they dumped chores on her. Nora never complained, doing them to tire herself out. Even with all the extra work she did, her sleeping habits remained as bad as ever.
She still didn't get more than about three to four hours of sleep. When Mikasa and Eren noticed, they started staying closer to her, guarding her and keeping the others away. When they couldn't for whatever reason, Armin stood in, speaking up and telling to do their own chores a lot more peacefully than Eren or Mikasa did.
Nora glanced around, seeing Jean bragging about his 'top-class' usage of their gear to one of the other cadets. She rolled her eyes. Jean Kirstein was at the top of her list when it came to arrogance. He thought himself strong, even though he wasn't. Although, she had to admit that one day he would make a fine leader… if he lived long enough for something like that to happen.
She turned her attention to Eren, who was glaring at Jean, just as he usually did.
"It's comfy in the interior?" asked Eren, interrupting what Marco and Jean were talking about. "Until five years ago, this used to be the interior too."
Jean turned toward him. "What's your point, Eren?"
Eren set down his mug. "Jean. You don't need to go to the interior. I'd say your head is nice and spacious enough as it is."
Chuckles erupted from a few cadets as the room quieted. Nora put down her spoon, rubbing at her eyes, breathing deeply. Please, Eren, don't start something you can't finish.
"You little…" Jean glared at Eren.
Eren glanced to Nora before returning to glare at Jean. "Honing your Titan-killing skills to get away from the Titans… Doesn't that seem like a weird system to you?"
"You only say that now?" Jean questioned. "I want that stupid system to stay in place, for my sake."
Eren let out a sound of anger and irritation before jumping to his feet. Nora stood as well, feeling the need to silently break up the fighting should any occur.
"You piece of scum!" Eren bellowed.
Jean stood. "Shut up! This is the real world!"
They approached each other as Armin called out, "Eren! Quit it!"
Nora looked up at them, placing hands on their shoulders, silently pleading them to stop.
Mikasa stood, helping her. "Stop that," she says as Eren grabbed Jean's shirt. She removed his hand, placing it in Nora's, watching as his face gained a red tint.
Jean grabbed Eren's shirt collar. "Screw you!"
Eren pulled Nora behind him, keeping her away from Jean. "Huh?! Let go! You're gonna rip it and hurt her!"
"I don't give a damn about your clothes! I'm jealous!"
"Huh?! What are you talking about?!"
Eren suddenly froze, realizing every eye in the room was on them. Nora took the chance to strike at Jean, punching him in the gut. Eren unfroze, using a move Nora saw use Annie on him earlier. Jean was on his back holding his stomach.
He sat back up, looking up at them. "What the hell was that?!"
Eren's eyebrows furrowed. "A combat technique I learned the hard way while you were screwing around. A carefree, capricious life is your idea of the real world? And you honestly call yourself a soldier?!"
The door squeaked open, revealing half of Shadis' face. "I heard a loud sound just now… Would anyone care to explain?"
Jean, Eren, and Nora sat down as Mikasa raised her hand. "It was Sasha. She passed gas."
Reiner and a few others chortled.
"You again? Learn some decency, will you?!" Shadis left the recruits alone.
Sasha pestered Mikasa about using her as an excuse before Mikasa shoved bread into the brunette's mouth.
Before Nora really even knew what was happening, two months passed on. It was time for graduation. Time to see who the top ten cadets in the 104th were. Time to join the Survey Corps.
"Give your hearts!" Shadis yelled at their graduation ceremony.
"Yes, sir!" Everyone saluted.
"You have three options after you graduate from the Cadets today! The Garrison Regiment, which reinforces the walls and protects each city! The Scout Regiment, which risks life and limb to venture into Titan territory outside the walls! And the Military Police Regiment, which serves under the king by policing the people and preserving order! Of course, the only ones allowed to join the Military Police are the top ten who were previously named!"
1. Mikasa Ackerman
2. Nora Hattori
3. Reiner Braun
4. Bertolt Hoover
5. Annie Leonhart
6. Eren Yeager
7. Jean Kirstein
8. Marco Bott
9. Connie Springer
10. Sasha Braus
Nora watched as her soldiers celebrated the fact that they made it through training. Smiles filled the room as she stood off the side, away from everyone. The mess they were making bugged her. Her inner maid was telling her to clean the tables and serve the cadets.
A warm hand landed on her shoulder, making her flinch slightly. It was Eren. He was with Armin and Mikasa. Thomas Wagner and Samuel Linke-Jackson stepped toward them.
"Are you two seriously not gonna join the Military Police Regiment?" He asked.
"Even after both of you got into the top ten and all?" Samuel added.
Eren put a hand on her waist, earning a blush from Nora. "Our minds were set from the very start. We didn't train all this time to live in the interior. We did it to fight Titans."
Thomas stared at them with wide light brown eyes. "We can't beat them!" He shouted.
The room went silent as every head in the room turned to them, wondering what was going on.
Thomas looked to the different people before casting his gaze to the floor. "You know how many tens of thousands of people have been eaten so far… The answer was clear when we lost twenty percent of our population. Humanity can't beat the Titans."
Nora looked to Eren, wondering how he would respond. After a moment, his arm tightened around her waist, pulling her slightly closer. "So? You're gonna give up because you think we can't win?!"
"Well…" Thomas started.
Eren continued. "Yes, humanity has lost so far. That's because we were clueless about the Titans! Material warfare is useless against them. We lost, but the information we gained in battle will lead to further hope! Are we just going to throw away all the advances in fighting techniques that cost us tens of thousands of lives so we can be Titan fodder?! The hell with that!" he clenched his other hand into a fist. "I'm going to drive out every last Titan and leave these cramped walls! That's my dream! Humanity hasn't truly been defeated yet!" His eyes welling up with tears, he left the room, bringing Nora with him.
"Wait, Eren!" Armin called as he and Mikasa joined them.
Nora wiped Eren's tears away with her small hand, earning a sad smile from him. "You don't need to do that, y'know."
She nodded, a small smile on her face. Mikasa and Armin caught up with them.
"Eren," Armin says, "That stuff about your dream just now... "
They sat down on a set of stairs. "Yeah," Eren looked down to Armin, who sat a few steps below him, "I borrowed those ideas of yours about going outside instead of staying inside."
Armin looked toward the darkness in front of them. "I'm going to join the Scout Regiment!" He exclaims, earning a surprised gasp from Eren.
"Are you serious, Armin?! You were the top in classroom studies! You should put that to use!" Eren says.
"I won't be a burden. Even if it costs me my life," Armin replies.
Mikasa spoke up. "I'll join the Scouts too."
Eren and Nora turned to her. "Hey! You graduated at the top of the class! You should join the Military Police!"
Mikasa looked to Nora. "If you two join the Military Police, then I will too. If you two join the Garrison Regiment, then I will too. Because you'll both die an early death unless I'm around."
Nora met her gaze, knowing full well that what she said was probably true. Ever since the human traffickers who wanted to re-sell her and sell Mikasa had bought her, she'd been dependent on someone to save her. Eren saved them both that night. Mikasa saved her from the mental torture of all of her different masters' voices as they all screamed and yelled at her. Armin helped her get out of her 'servant-like' attitude.
I'm too dependent on people. Someone always has to come save me… Why? Why am I still like this, even after six years? I should be able to take care of myself, dammit!
"I don't want to lose any more of my family," Mikasa adds, bringing Nora out of her thoughts.
Nora felt Eren gasp at Mikasa's revelation. She turned her gaze to the dark night sky, listening to the sconce on the wall about a meter from them as the fire on it crackled softly.
"It's here! The main unit of the Scout Regiment!" a citizen shouted in joy.
"Commander Erwin! Give those Titans a real thrashing!" called someone else.
"Look! It's Captain Levi! And Captain Seraphine!"
"They say he's as mighty as an entire brigade! And, she's humanity's fastest soldier!"
"This is nothing like five years ago! People actually feel hopeful about the Scout members!" Eren happily exclaims.
Hannah Diamant, one of their fellow recruits, joined in. "Yeah, everyone's cheered up since then. Nothing's happened in five years."
Franz Kefka, who Nora swore was Hannah's boyfriend as well as a fellow cadet, added, "They've upgraded the mounted cannons too. I doubt the Colossal Titan will show up anymore."
"Yeah!" Hannah agreed.
Nora looked back to Eren, who looked a bit disturbed and angry by their optimism. "That's a load of crap, you idiotic couple!" he uttered.
Hannah looked away from him, waving her hand. "Wh-What? Us, a married couple?"
Franz, who had a very flushed face, put a hand in front of his mouth, "You're getting ahead of yourself, Eren!"
Nora calmed Eren down just in time to pick up on a familiar voice. Hannes. She turned to him, a smile adorning her face.
"Mr. Hannes!" Eren says.
Hannes stepped toward them, followed by another member of the Garrison. Unlike last time they'd seen him, he wasn't drunk off his ass. "Heard you graduated yesterday. Man, you brats have really matured."
Eren smiled. "You too, Mr. Hannes! You used to be a drunk, but now you're chief of the Corps of Engineers."
Hannes poked Eren's forehead, right between his eyes. "Oh, you!" His smile disappeared a sorrowful expression taking its place. "I'm sorry I couldn't save your mom."
Eren sobered. "It wasn't your fault." He says, earning a small gasp from Hannes. "We're not ignorant anymore. We won't let another tragedy like that happen. We will defeat the Titans!" Eren ran away, leaving them behind.
Nora followed him like a puppy, just as she usually did. Nora and Eren had wall duty, while Mikasa and Armin were to watch over the citizens of Trost.
Nora looked to Connie, a shocked expression on her face.
"Huh?!" Eren questioned, vocalizing both of their thoughts. "You're joining the Scouts?! Connie, you were so set on the Military Police!"
Connie, who was adjusting a cannon, swiftly replied, "Yeah, I was! But…"
Mina stepped in. "Sounds like your speech yesterday won him over!" She smiled as Connie yelled at her, telling her to mind her own business.
"Don't be so embarrassed," a new voice called. Thomas. "You're not the only one," he said as he walked to them.
"Thomas… You don't mean?" Eren was dumbfounded.
Sasha walked over to them, a sheepish blush on her cheeks and a smile on her face. "Umm, everyone? I brought some meat from the officers' storehouse!"
Gasps erupted from the soldiers as Nora tried her best to get back to work. How did I manage to get so distracted? We should be working on the cannons and making sure that they work properly!
"Sasha!" Eren exclaimed. "Do you want to end up in solitary confinement?!"
"You really are crazy!" Samuel declares in astonishment.
"So much it's scary…" Connie adds.
Sasha was drooling now. "We can all share it later… All sliced up, and between some bread…" she laughed manically.
Nora heard several people tell Sasha to put the meat back, before hearing them change their minds, saying they'd take Sasha up on the offer. They soon got back to work, working quickly to get to the meat and lunchtime faster.
Eren moved to help Nora with a cannon as a sudden piercingly loud explosive sound invaded their eardrums. Eren quickly grabbed her, pulling Nora off the wall as steam forced him away. She activated her gear, shooting the hooks into the wall, her feet helping her stop.
She glared at the steam before shooting off, getting higher on the wall. Eren followed her, shouting, "The target is dead ahead! The target is the Colossal Titan, dead ahead! This is our chance! Don't let it get away!"
He changed directions, going the opposite way of Nora. She heard him land on the wall, saying, "Hey there… It's been five years since we met…"
[1] Thirty one (31) centimeters is equivalent to a little more than twelve (12) inches—a foot, basically.