-3 years later-
It was the final day of training and our skills were being evaluated. The day started before our usual time. The sun had not risen yet but there we were, lined up in the training yard in uniform and hating life. The entire 104th was to have its Cadets conduct, salute, and uniform inspected by the commander. He walked by, checking us off on his clipboard as he went. He walked by me and gave me a death glare out of the corner of his eye. Not only was I the only cadet not afraid to stand up to him but also my peculiar growth rate had him constantly having to order me new uniforms. When I joined the military I was 3 foot 9 and flat as a board. But now I would be completing my training at 5 foot 2. My chest had filled out quite a bit as well. I blame the speed of my growth on the fact that for the first time since I left Trost, I had a steady food source and my body could finally catch up with my age. Because of my figure –I'm assuming- most of the guys in the regiment had developed a crush on me.
When he finally finished his inspection, the commander dismissed us to the mess hall for breakfast. I looked to the sky on my way in and found that the sky was blanketed with rainclouds. I furrowed my brows in thought. 'How is that going to affect today's evaluation?' I walked inside and went up to the line. A boy named Bertholdt Fubar was on serving duty. Bert was the tallest cadet in the 104th and he was also quite possibly the shyest of us all. He had pretty black hair and gray green eyes.
"Hey Bert, what's for breakfast?" I asked.
"Oatmeal"
"Again? But we have it every day! At least tell me we have tea today."
"Yeah, we have that." He said as he plopped the thick tasteless oatmeal into a bowl and filled my cup with black tea.
"Thanks Bertie" I said as I took my tray and walked away. I sat down at my friends table, where Jean, Marco, Ymir, and Christa were sitting. Ymir was a bit of a bitch but then again so was I. she had long dark hair that she kept up in a messy ponytail and gray eyes above freckled cheeks. Christa, on the other hand was a saint, always trying to help people, just for the sake of helping them. She had long blonde hair and extraordinary blue eyes. I always suspected that the two were a couple, seeing as how protective Ymir was over Christa and how you would almost never find the two apart for long.
"I don't know how you drink that shit black, Aria. It's got to be bitter as hell." Jean snorted as I sat down next to him. I took a sip of said tea and rolled my eyes.
"I haven't had anything sweet since your mother made me those honey rolls for my 9th birthday. It's not that I wouldn't mind having it sweet but sugar is usually kept for those snobs in Sina who can afford it and they don't let us have milk for our tea anyway. I actually like black tea though, it's good to help you wake up in the morning and it's not sickeningly sweet." I replied, starting to ramble.
"OK ARIA WE GET IT! You don't have to go on one of your tea rants again. I'm sorry for yelling but if you got started on the pros of black tea, then we could be here for hours." Marco exclaimed desperately. In a desperate attempt to change the subject, Christa piped up.
"So Ymir, who do you think is gonna rank number one?" she squeaked.
"It's definitely in between Aria and Mikasa at this point. They have the most skill in combat. Aria has the advantage of being almost as smart as Armin but Mikasa could pull through on her sheer determination to beat Aria. When did this rivalry between you two start anyway?" she asked
"Well it's not really a rivalry but more of a friendly competition. You forget that she is my closest friend outside of you guys. It's probably the fact that I care about protecting Eren's bitch ass just as much as she does. She wants to prove to Eren that she can protect him better than me or something but she doesn't hate me because she knows that I'm not obsessive about him like she is and that formed the friendship." I replied thoughtfully. We finished our breakfasts quickly and when the bell rang we all ran outside to the gear shed to retrieve our 3DMG gear. We refilled our gas and blades and then strapped the heavy gear to the confining straps of the standard military uniform. We jogged over as it started to rain and we donned our cloaks and raised our deep, rain blocking hoods. We arrived at the outskirts of the forest where the first evaluation was to take place. Our commander, Keith Shadis sat in front of us, towering over us teens on his enormous brown horse.
"Today will be your final evaluation to determine which of you maggots are worthy enough to join the military police. The first test will be your physical evaluation. This test will take up half of the day as it is based on your personal speed and skill with the three-dimensional maneuver gear. At noon you will go mess for lunch and then you will take a written exam in the classroom. Afterwards you will continue your normal schedule and complete todays hand to hand training as usual. The first test will be a jog with the weighted packs to the training grounds where you will do our practiced training exercise with the dummies and then grab your pack and run back. I will accompany you on my horse to evaluate your skills." He announced as we placed the metal weights in the packs. We placed the packs on our backs and began to jog towards the training dummies. The mud splashed under our boots as we ran, caking our boots. I bypassed Jean and gave him a devilish smirk as I ran by, seeing his glare. I eventually caught up with Mikasa. The girl had short black hair and gray eyes. She always wore a red scarf around her neck that she had told me was given to her by the boy that was running up close behind us. Eren Jaeger was a nice boy but a little shit. The brat had the same goal as me though, to kill all the titans in order to avenge his late mother. He had some Psychotic tendencies though and the faces this kid could make were enough to make a baby cry. He had ruffled short dark brown hair, and teal eyes that could startle anybody who looked at them for the first time. Mikasa was obsessed with him. As we reached the training ground, I noticed commander Shadis, writing things down furiously on his clipboard as if he were giving us a character analysis. I know just what he would say about me. 'Cadet Aria Rebelle: a girl who's attitude can only be matched by her inability to show weakness. She is able to read people like an open book and has- unfortunately- used her skills for matchmaking. I suspect she may or may not be trying to set the nurse and me up. I cannot deny her skills though. She wields the 3DMG like it was an extension of her body. Her intelligence is only second to that of Cadet Armin Arlert.' I looked at him and giggled as I imagined this. The rain stopped and we removed our cloaks along with our packs and Commander Keith gave us the OK to begin and the thumbs up was all I needed to launch myself into the air. I instantly felt the rush of flight and felt as free as a bird. Then it was a battle for who could get the cut first. I hooked my gear into the rubber nape of the closest titan dummy and began to spin in mid-air as I sliced the nape clean off. I was told that the only other person who had perfected that particular move was the Lance Corporal Levi Ackerman, the very man who gave me my last name. Nobody else was able to get the momentum in order to make a clean cut without breaking their wrists on impact. But being this short and strong at the same time makes it child's play for me. Mikasa kept trying to one-up me as the exercise went on and she almost did a lot of times. When we both hit the ground though, we were laughing out loud at the fun that came from our little friendly competition. We quickly grabbed our packs and hit the ground running back to the edge of the forest with everyone else eating our dust. Even Eren. When we reached our destination we skidded to a halt.
"WHOOO HOOO! I beat Mikasa by 10 seconds! That's a new record!" I shouted triumphantly.
"I could still kick your ass y'know. Don't get to cocky"
"Bitch please; I'd like to see you try."
"Then I'll see you at hand-to-hand training?"
"You're on!"
It was at this moment that everyone decided to catch up with us and I was still high on adrenaline.
"How *pant* are *pant* you *pant* not out of breath*pant*?" a very sweaty Connie inquired.
"It's called stamina corncob. How are you out of breath?" I replied while checking my nails.
"It's called being a normal human being." He said
"Ahh man up Connie, You're just mad that number one is gonna be a girl. And a tiny girl at that," Reiner said, placing an arm around my shoulders. Reiner was a very, very big guy. I'm not exaggerating here folks. He had a blond buzz cut and brown eyes and was always found with Berthold. I may have to set those two up so that Reiner will stop flirting with me.
"And what exactly is that supposed to mean Meatloaf? Do I have to remind you of what happened the last time you called me tiny?" I said, obviously irritated by his careless comment.
*flashback*
We were doing hand to hand training and I was paired with Meatloaf. It was the first time I had been paired with him. I wonder what he will do. He smirked at me, first mistake.
"I don't give a damn about your rep. I think everyone just goes easy on you because you're so tiny. Your just like Christa!" second and third mistakes. Calling me tiny and insulting my friend. I heard a growl from Ymir directed at Reiner as I got into stance.
"What did you just say to me, meatloaf?" I asked, my voice dripping with venom. He faltered and I took that moment to strike. I brought my leg up and kneed him where the sun don't shine and he doubled over in pain. That was his fourth mistake as now my fists could actually reach his face. I reared back and socked him in the eye. He was unconscious for an hour and had a black eye for the next week.
Reiner shuddered at the memory.
"If you don't want a repeat performance then you better take your arm off of me." I threatened. He removed his arm and waved his arms in defense.
"YOU MAGGOTS BETTER HEAD TO MESS IF YOU DON'T WANT COLD POTATOES!" Shadis yelled. We all suddenly doubled over coughing in the cloud of dust that Sasha Braus left in her wake.
-Time skip brought to you by Sasha's potato army-
After lunch we headed into the classroom for our written test. It wasn't too hard for me anyway. Eren on the other hand, was struggling. He couldn't read when we entered the Corps and was still having trouble now. I saw Mikasa showing him answers but kept my mouth shut. She wasn't that book smart either so there was no other competition. It was just me and Armin fighting for top of the class. We would know when the test scores were posted at dinner. When we finished, the bell rang and we all went out to the training field for hand-to-hand. I looked for Mikasa but she told me that she was going to fight Berthold first to warm up and suggested that I do the same because we both knew it was gonna be a long fight. So I looked around and the only person not paired up was Annie Leonhardt. I chased after her and tapped her shoulder over and over again yelling "FIGHT ME ANNIE!" she was a blonde girl with ice cold blue eyes that were as unfeeling as a titan's (insert surprised chipmunk meme here). She eventually got annoyed and turned around to face me.
"Whatever, as long as you'll stop bothering me." She said with that same bored look she always wore. But then Reiner came over and tapped her shoulder.
"You two better not be slacking off again. You don't want the commander to catch you." He said amused. Annie and I shared glances and I could see she was just as scary looking as I was when she was truly pissed. Needless to say, both Eren and Reiner ended up on their backs, groaning in pain.
"That was a fun little warm up. Thanks Annie, I'm off to fight Mikasa now!" I said and ran off to find her before the boys pissed her off anymore.
When I found Mikasa, a crowd quickly formed around us. Even Shadis was excited to see what happened. Connie began to commentate like an announcer.
"In this corner, she's tall, she's fast, she's obsessed with Eren, and it's Mikasa Ackermann! And in the other corner is her challenger, she's clever as a fox, she loves black tea, she's really tin- uh I mean fun sized. It's our resident matchmaker, Aria Rebelle!" he said.
"Nice save Connie." Armin said sarcastically. We rolled our eyes and got into stance. I got onto my tiptoes while she stayed on the ground.
"What are you doing?" she looked at me quizzically. I ignored the question as I was already in combat mode. I threw a punch which she just barely blocked and she did the same with me. It went on like this for about 5 minutes. Punches getting blocked. I could tell she was begging to get tired as her punches weren't nearly as hard as when we started. I was getting bored so instead of blocking the next punch, I dropped down to dodge it and brought my leg around and kicked her legs out from under her. She hit the ground with an "oof" sound and I got on her back immediately, not letting her recover. I put my arms around her neck and got her in a headlock. She tapped the ground in defeat when she found she didn't have the energy to pull free. I let go and stood up, pulling her up with me. I brushed the dust off my pants and wiped the sweat from my brow. The bell rang for dinner and everyone congratulated me on my way down the hill towards the mess. Even Mikasa said that she was proud of me for beating her without using dirty street fighting moves.
When I sat down with my tray at my table I saw that Jean and Eren were at it again. Eren had made some snarky comment about catching him and Marco "canoodling" behind the gear shed this morning. Marco spit out his water and started coughing when this comment was made so I went and patted his back as Jean and Eren stood up.
"WE WERE NOT CANOODLING! WE WERE JUST TALKING!" Jean yelled defensively.
"YEAH AND SUCKING FACE!" Eren replied. Marco's face went red with blush at that comment.
"SHUT UP EREN! YOU'RE MAKING MARCO UNCOMFORATABLE!" Jean yelled, now concerned with Marco's flustered state.
"MAKE ME!"
"I WILL!" Jean walked up to Eren and Held tight to the collar of his shirt.
"YOURE GONNA RIP MY SHIRT!"
"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOUR SHIRT. YOURE PISSING ME OFF" then everything seemed to go in slow motion as Eren perfectly executed the move that Annie had used to take him down during training. The wooden floor creaked upon impact. Then the screen door to the mess hall burst open to reveal a very pissed off looking Commander Shadis.
"What was that noise I just heard?" he asked. Eren and Jean went back to their seats in shame and Mikasa spoke up.
"It was Sasha sir. She passed gas." She deadpanned. Said Brunette's jaw dropped to the floor as I placed my hand over my mouth in a feeble attempt to stifle my laughter.
"Jesus Braus, why am I not surprised in the slightest. You need to see a doctor." He said with his face scrunched up in disgust. He closed the door and walked off.
"Holy Sheeeiiiiit!" Connie Yelled. (I regret nothing)
-time skip brought to you by the holy Sheeeiiiiiiiit. May he be forever worshipped by baldheaded corncobs everywhere-
"You have graduated from the Training Corps and soon you will get to choose which regiment you will join! Will you choose the Garrison; where you maintain and defend the walls that protect us, The Scouting Legion; where you go outside the walls and gather information about the titans, or the Military police; where you police the people and enforce the laws in service of the king. This course however, is only available to the top 10. Number one is Aria Rebelle. Number two is Mikasa Ackermann. Number 3 is Reiner Braun. Number 4 is Berthold Fubar. Number 5 is Annie Leonhardt. Number 6 is Eren Jaeger. Number 7 is Jean Kirstein. Number 8 is Marco Bodt. Number 9 is Connie Springer. Number 10 is Sasha Braus."
-Time skip brought to you by me being lazy-
"Hey guys! Look what I got from the commander's storehouse!" Sasha said as she pulled a whole ham out of her jacket. We were up on top of wall Rose outside of Trost, maintaining the cannons.
"What the actual fuck is wrong with you Sasha?" I said
"Yeah, you and I both know that meat is a rarity." Connie said
"Well we just have to work hard to take back wall Maria so that we can have more land for livestock." She said. For once, Sasha was being Smart. Everyone chimed in saying that they would like some of it as she hid the ham in a wooden box that was meant for ammunition. Everyone went back to work so as not to look suspicious and as I was looking out at the former lands of wall Maria, there was a flash of green light and a burst of steam. When the steam cleared I was looking straight into the beady eyes of the 60 meter titan that kicked in the gates of Shiganshina. The colossal titan had returned.
Praise the lord it's finished. I'm telling you this chapter was a pain. I was crazy to think that I was gonna get the fall of Trost in there. And it had so much dialogue! I'm sorry if the chapter is crazy. This was mainly fueled by MCR and pizza bagels. I am sorry about that it's late. I hate school. Can we have Levi do the disclaimer?
Levi: why?
Aria: Please? For Me? I will clean your office!
Levi: only if you wear the maid outfit I got for you.
Aria: Fine. *grumbles incoherently*
Levi: Ahem…. Duck does not own Snk or any of its characters. Jean owns Marco, Hanji owns Sawney and Bean, Levi owns Aria…. The fuck am I reading? You better run Duck.
