Attack on Titan belongs to Hajime Isayama, Kodansha, Wit Studio and Funimation.

A thank you from the writer to all who read, reviewed or followed this story.

—()()()()— = Scene/Perspective change, Time-skip.

Emphasis.

'Character thought.'


Chapter 3:

The Easy Days

The sun had sunken to the edge of the azure horizon, its formerly energetic light now a tired shadow of its earlier self. Dull orange bled across the land, signalling that the first and rather underwhelming day of boot camp had finally come to an end.

After going through introductory training and being made familiar with their new schedules, the cadets were called to the mess hall for the customary meal of stale bread and bland soup, after which they were expected to finish settling down into their respective sleeping spaces.

In a table at the far end of the hall, disinterested cinereal eyes mundanely surveyed their surroundings, their owner was steadily drinking the bitter murk passed on as coffee around here. Still, Adler found that he couldn't resist anything that remotely tasted like coffee. It had always been a personal weakness of his.

Word that his friends had witnessed the fall of Shiganshina had spread like a plague, and Eren was currently the center of most of the other cadet's attention.

The redhead, wanting no part of the awed and overzealous, oversized children's questions, had discretely moved to a less occupied table a comfortable distance away, he didn't miss the half-amused look Armin had sent his way as he did so.

He knew that his friends wouldn't mind. Even back before the breach, he hadn't exactly been the best with people, only caring enough to deal with them when absolutely necessary.

As much as he didn't want to admit it, another reason he'd moved tables was that the details that Eren was providing them of what had happened had inwardly been making him anxious.

To deal with his growing boredom, the redhead was now playing a little game he had made up.

Matching a face with a name had never been difficult for him, but remembering the different names and faces of the almost two hundred cadets whom Shadis had humiliated would probably be more of a challenge.

That reminded him. For some reason, Shadis had ignored him. It wasn't hard to guess that the Commandant's intention by putting up a scary front was to shake these overconfident novices into reality, and Adler had pretty early on seen a clear pattern in the people he chose to skip.

Judging by the familiar look in their eyes and their more serious dispositions, they had experienced the fall of Wall Maria in some way.

'Then why pass me?', he wondered. 'I don't even know what a normal titan looks like. Armin probably does, but he wasn't skipped.'

"You seem to be mulling over something awfully hard."

The newcomer's unfamiliar, feminine voice succeeded in attracting his attention. He expressionlessly regarded the girl now smiling at him, probably waiting for a response. She had apparently decided to be friendly and strike up a conversation.

How fortunate.

She had thick black hair neatly tied in a ponytail and large eyes with expressive gray irises. She had an innocuous air about her, and she reminded Adler of a non-oriental, non-jaded version of Mikasa.

Her name was easy for him to remember. She was the one who'd panicked in the face of Shadis' challenge and had shouted that she was worse than livestock to appease him.

"Mina from Calaneth, right?"

Her eyes widened a fraction. "You remember my name? That's pretty impressive."

The other teen glanced back at his formerly occupied table. "Anything you wanted?"

Mina seemed to be surprised by his lack of interest but quickly caught herself, apparently realizing that the boy wasn't very good with his people skills. Nonetheless, she admirably continued in the same amiable tone, "I was just wondering what your name was since the Commandant seemed to have skipped you."

"Adler."

"Oh," she smiled, exclaiming too cheerily, "nice to meet you, Adler!"

He stared at her. 'What is her deal?'

"Thanks."

Thankfully, the girl decided to stay silent this time.

Actually, the whole hall was silent.

Eren had broken into one of his speeches again. 'How typical.'

"It's not like that!" The brunette exclaimed, "Titans aren't actually that big of a deal! Once we've mastered the ODM gear, they'll be nothing to us!"

The redhead was careful to not show his annoyance.

"Well, he's confident," Mina remarked, looking just as awed by the bravado as the others.

'That's exactly the problem.'

"We finally get to train as soldiers." Eren continued with a growing sense of self-assuredness. "I'm going to join the Survey Corps and drive the Titans out of this world! I'm going to slaughter—"

"Whoa, are you crazy or something?" A taller boy with ash-brown hair had interjected. Adler recalled that it was the same guy whom Shadis had head-butted after the former had voiced his ambition to join the Military Police.

"Not that it's any of my business, but joining reconnaissance is like a death sentence." He remarked, a careless smile plastered on his face.

"I guess we'll see. Or at least, I'll see." Eren coolly retorted. "You seem content to hide in the interior."

Adler frowned imperceptibly. He didn't like the phrasing of that.

To Jean's credit, he looked completely unruffled. "I'm just being honest, kid. At least, I'm not trying to be some tough-guy-wannabe who wants to pretend he isn't as scared as the rest of us."

His chair screeched as Eren stood up. "Are you trying to start a fight?"

After a brief pause, Jean stood up to meet the challenge with the same air of arrogance. "Alright. It doesn't matter."

All eyes were trained on them as they walked to the center of the hall, each daring the other to make a move.

"Shouldn't someone stop them?" Mina asked, her nervousness tangible as she glanced from one to the other.

"They aren't children anymore," Adler said flatly. "They fight their own battles. They'll have to learn that, sooner or later."

He pretended not to notice her curious stare.

Much to Mina's relief, the bell sounded off before things could escalate.

"Hey, I apologize." Jean said to Eren, after letting out a resigned sigh, "I'm sorry for calling you names and dismissing your choice of career."

"It's okay," Eren responded, although he didn't look too sincere. "I was a bit too eager to pick a fight, myself."

"Sure, let's forget about it and be friends, okay?" The taller teen held out his hand, his smile turning placating.

"Yeah," Eren slapped the other's hand in a vaguely friendly manner, before starting towards the door.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Mina remarked, sounding almost let down as she saw the brunette leave.

"I thought you didn't want to see them fight." The redhead muttered.

Familiar blue eyes made contact with his own and the redhead promptly stood up and followed Armin out the door, careful to be tact enough to verbalize a brief goodbye to the stunned Mina.

—()()()()—

Pretty soon, the two were walking in step with Eren and Mikasa outside the dining hall. The sun had departed from the sky, and only the glare of several oil lamps made visibility comfortable on the footpath.

"You could have been nicer to her, you know," Armin said, in a slightly chastising manner.

"Uh-hmm."

The blonde suppressed a sigh at his friend's disregard for tactfulness.

"It's a good thing Mikasa stopped you." Adler remarked to Eren, "That guy is almost as hotheaded as you."

"Oh yeah?" Eren responded coolly with a straight face, a hint of amusement slipping through, "Don't pretend we didn't see you with . . . Mina, was it? Pretty interesting."

He didn't take the bait.

"She was the one to make conversation."

"How bad for her."

"Yeah," he agreed.

()()()()—

He couldn't sleep, and it wasn't because of the caffeine.

The nightmares had increased to the point that they occurred every other day. Adler was just glad he didn't loudly wake up from them like he thought most people did. That would be quite an unpleasant ordeal for him, especially since he now shared a sleeping space with dozens of other people.

No, he just opened his eyes at a certain point during the night and was unable to fall back asleep, no matter how tired he may be. He briefly wondered if he was developing insomnia.

A few moments later, and he found himself steadily walking down a path outside the cabin. Sneaking out unnoticed had been child's play to him. Of course, it helped that his bed was on the outside of the bunk so he didn't have to crawl over anyone as he climbed down. This time, he did remember to wear something to protect himself from the cold.

The thick cloud cover prevented the moon and stars from doing their job and weakening the darkness, so it was a little difficult for him to see, but it wasn't unmanageable.

Now that he thought about it, he had spent many nights sleeping outside when he was little, and his father had been in a particularly bad mood.

Thinking of his father. Having read some books about short-term amnesia, Adler was aware that the more detailed memories about the breach that were missing would probably come back to him, with time.

These latest dreams, in particular, had made him remember a very crucial detail about that day.

Simply put, Eric had tried to kill him and Eren was present to see it, as was Mikasa. He wondered why his friends hadn't questioned him about that yet, though he was grateful for their tact. It wasn't exactly a subject he was willing to let them broach.

A sudden noise made him crouch down. It was faint, but he could hear footsteps on the dirt path, and he could see the faint glow of an oil lamp cut through the curtain of darkness. He had no intention of being spotted. Being seen so late out after curfew was bound to have many unwanted consequences for him, which he wasn't very keen to get to know.

Upon closely scrutinizing the figure, he easily discerned who it was. There was only one bald man as tall and menacing as the one trudging down the hill. Besides, who else wore a trenchcoat?

'What could he be doing out so late?' He wondered, completely self-aware of his hypocrisy.

The man did have heavy shadows under his eyes, so it would be no bombshell to find out that he had insomnia. But Shadis walked with a sense of purpose, which was what really intrigued Adler enough to follow him.

Stalking wasn't too difficult for him. It wasn't too different from just hiding from someone else, which he had ample experience with. He managed to tail the man without being detected to a large training field, which was dotted with large wooden tripods with steel hooks.

'Aptitude training." He surmised. Upon being prompted, Garren had briefly described it to him.

Cadets were meant to balance themselves while being strapped to the belts by their uniforms and were lifted some feet off the ground. If they failed to stay still for an undisclosed number of seconds after two days of trying, they were shipped to the fields without another word.

Adler watched with interest as the Commandant approached a station, swiftly exchanging a belt in a wooden box with one which he had been carrying in his trenchcoat.

Shadis was quick to walk away. Once his footsteps were out of earshot, and his figure was small against the horizon, Adler allowed himself to come out and prod.

'A broken clasp?' He frowned at the dented metal held in his fist. 'How do you even break that?'

Deciding he had nothing better to do but try it out himself, he used his arms to lift himself up and hold himself in place, which was decidedly more difficult than using the specially made attire, specifically designed for this purpose.

It felt refreshing to do something stupid for once.

Of course, he fell on his face, hard.

It took him a few moments to blink the stars out of his eyes. His head was probably one of his biggest weak spots, in hindsight, subjecting it to that kind of abuse was probably not smart.

'There's no way someone could stay like that for more than a few seconds.' Obviously, Shadis had something in mind by sabotaging one of his own cadets. He was a former Scout Commander, surely he was aware of the complete counter-productiveness of what he'd just done?

Adler clenched his fist around the strap, pondering about how to react. Perhaps, this was supposed to be an unmanned station? In that case, there was nothing wrong with what the instructor had done.

Another thought came to mind. What if this was a test for someone? Shadis didn't strike him as the kind of person to do that, but he had only just met the man. He really wasn't an authority to say that the Commandant didn't want to test a cadet's mettle in such a manner.

It was also just as likely that he wanted to discourage someone from pursuing something that could endanger them, though he didn't come off as the unconditionally caring type. Perhaps, a relative? Or, the child of a friend? In fact, it was far more likely than Shadis just holding some kind of petty grudge against someone.

In the case of the former scenario, sabotaging someone by breaking an infamously unbreakable part of the gear was a surefire way to ensure that that person would show their willpower, and train harder in order to compensate for their apparent lack of talent.

'Either way, there's no harm in waiting.'

If Shadis really did try to fail someone unfairly, all he had to do was suggest a change of equipment.

He would decide what to do with Shadis, later.

()()()()—

Adler managed to return to the dormitories just before the wakeup call. The sun had finally risen and permeated the night with a faint glow, allowing him to navigate back to the cabin, much quicker than it had taken him to sneak out. Nobody questioned why he was already awake a few minutes before the bell rang. The worst he got was subtle stares from some of the others when they thought he wouldn't notice.

'Am I really that off-putting?', he found himself contemplating. 'Maybe, I could be a bit more subtle.'

Pretty soon, they were ordered to return to the dining halls to have their meals. It wasn't advised to eat a meal too heavy, and nobody had to take a gander as to why.

"You know," Mina remarked uncertainly, watching with a slight grimace as Adler casually downed his third cup of coffee without having taken a single bite of food, "You'll get sick if you drink so much."

The redhead didn't deign to give her an answer. 'You aren't the one who has to deal with three hours of sleep.'

"Don't bother," Armin remarked with a slightly nostalgic smile, making her glance curiously at him. "He's always been like this." The smile shrank with the next words. "Although, this is a bit much. Even by his standards."

"Wait." Mina started, "You two know each other?"

"All four of us, actually." The blonde replied, knowing that she knew he meant Eren and Mikasa.

Before she could respond, Adler stated, "I lived in Trost after the breach, but I used to live in Shiganshina once, too."

Not long after the meals ended, they were ordered to dress into their specialized attire in the changing rooms, and then subsequently traveled to the same training field that Adler had followed Shadis into last night

"Just strap the ropes to the belts around your waist and torso," Shadis instructed them, "Then balance yourselves for a minimum of five seconds!"

The Commandant then bellowed out, his strong voice easily carrying over the ground that was large enough to accommodate all of the cadets of the 104th, "It's crucial that you can perform! Fail to keep yourself up and be shipped to the fields!"

Balancing himself on the tripods was surprisingly easy for Adler. He just had to make sure that his weight was evenly spread out, and apply an equal force to counter the one pulling him down. The redhead insisted to himself that it had nothing to do with the earlier acquaintance of his face with the ground.

Adler heard two men remark something about him as they passed by, but couldn't care less about what they could have been saying.

He was able to stay upright for seven seconds, second only to Mikasa's eight. 'At least, it's clear that I don't have the broken gear.' he mused, his eyes flitting across the field to see if anyone else was having any trouble.

The stations hadn't been assigned to their occupants until just before the exercise itself, so it had been impossible to know who would get the faulty gear beforehand.

To his confusion, everyone seemed to be doing fairly well.

The well-built blonde, Reiner, his even taller friend Bertolt and Annie Leonhart did especially well, while Sasha Braus, Jean, and Connie didn't do too badly, either. Armin initially had some difficulty balancing himself, but quickly thought of a way around it.

A sharp cry of pain abruptly drew his attention, followed by the Commandant's shout, "What's wrong, Yeager!? Straighten yourself up!"

The brunette tried again, only to harshly connect with the ground a second time.

Just when Adler was about to speak up, Shadis' golden eyes glared directly into his own.

To the man's surprise, the redhead just quietly removed himself from his station and calmly walked over to him.

"Excuse me, Commandant!" He calmly called out, successfully attracting the attention of the nearest cadets. Unfettered by the man's threatening stare, he evenly asked, "Could the equipment be faulty?"

"It's already been checked over," Shadis growled back.

"What about the belts?"

The bald man stared him down for a few ticks. When the boy didn't show any sign of being intimidated, he let out a silent sigh.

Shadis turned back to the baffled brunette who had finally managed to untangle himself from the ropes. "Yeager, exchange your belts with Klein."

Slightly surprised that Shadis already knew his name despite never asking for an introduction, Adler swiftly did as asked, unhooking his belts from their straps and handing them over to Eren, who had already removed his own.

After being properly prepped, Eren was quickly strapped back to his station and lifted off the ground. Only this time, the teen's head didn't threaten to dent itself against the hard dirt ground. Much to his own relief, and the surprise of almost everyone watching, Eren managed to stay upright for seven seconds straight.

"A broken clasp," Shadis announced, holding out the shining piece of metal so it could be seen by everyone clearly. "I didn't know this piece could be broken. Looks like I'll have to bust some skulls in the supply depots."

"So I pass?" Eren asked desperately, despite the answer being very obvious.

"You made the cut." The instructor confirmed and a relieved expression crossed the teen's face.

"Adler," Armin grabbed the redhead's shoulder to get his attention. He was looking at him curiously. "How did you know the clasp was broken? That part has a reputation of never breaking."

"Call it intuition." He replied, knowing that the blonde would see through the lie, but knowing that he wouldn't question him further.

Adler didn't have the patience to play along with Shadis' ploy. At best, it would have given Eren a day of dedicated training, if it was indeed some kind of test. Such training wasn't exactly invaluable to the brunette's success. Plus, if he did manage to keep from falling for any period of time with the broken clasp, it would just inflate his already massive ego.

Overall, it wasn't worth it. And judging by Shadis' mildly annoyed expression, the instructor wasn't too pissed off at him.

'Good.' He mused. 'At least, I don't have to worry about a salty instructor down my neck.'

()()()()—

Age 850

By the time Keith Shadis finally retired from his position as the Commander of the Scouting Legion and handed the reigns over to Erwin Smith, he had already tasted defeat an absurd amount of times. He'd seen many of his men meet their ends at the hands of the Titans. Some deaths were less noble than others, others were downright idiotic and easily avoidable.

All of them had a profound impact on the former Scouting Legion Commander. It was that level of stress that had helped him to lose his full head of hair by his mid-forties. The realization that he had been hampering humanity's progress for many years had truly been a crushing blow.

Of course, the public wasn't one to miss out on the fun. Especially since the relatively young Smith's innovations had an almost immediate impact after their introductions. Shadis was glad he had vouched for him as his successor. If anyone could revive the Survey Corps after his abysmal failures, it was Erwin.

To him, it wasn't relevant that his legacy would be defined by his spectacular failures instead of his sizable contributions to humanity's cause, because Shadis had a personal debt to pay.

Which he was currently in the process of doing so.

"Pick up the pace, you lead-footed laggards!" His booming voice easily cut through the pelting rain that hammered against the backs of the jogging teenagers. Thunder bellowed above them and the storm continued.

Armin trailed a good distance behind the main group. His body wracked with fatigue as he struggled to keep up with the others under the heavy load on his back.

"What's wrong with you, Arlert!?" The instructor shouted, suddenly looming over the blonde, astride on a stallion, "You're trailing behind! In a hurry to become Titan food?"

As soon as Shadis trotted his horse back to the front, Reiner had slowed down to match Armin's pace.

"Give it here." Without unceremoniously snatched away the other blonde's load.

"You'll get points marked off!" Armin whispered back.

"Then, do me a favor and pass! Don't make me change my mind!" Reiner shouted back, ostensibly forgoing subtlety.

Unbeknownst to both of them, Shadis had been within earshot all throughout their brief exchange but had chosen not to chastise them. To the contrary, Reiner's show of empathy, which didn't harm the object of the exercise, might actually help raise his final grade.

'Reiner Braun.' The Commandant silently began his evaluation of the top cadets. 'Possesses the strong physique of an ox. He has extreme mental fortitude, and an all round easy to trust comrade for his teammates."

"I will not be a burden!"

The barely audible shout had resonated from within Armin who, with an unexpected burst of resolve, quickly caught up to Reiner, managed to retrieve his backpack from him and actually sprinted to the front of the group.

'Armin Arlert,' Shadis considered, 'built like a daffodil, but his remarkable aptitude for the classroom is unmatched.'

Further up the trail, in time they reached a decent sized forest which looked very menacing under the miles of thunderclouds that loomed over it, although the barrage of heavy rain had finally deigned to cease. Swiftly depositing their backpacks at the checkpoint, the cadets quickly attached their ODM gears and propelled into the mass of enormous trees.

Deeper within it, lifesized dummies in the likeness of Titans were being raised. Shadis had almost had an aneurysm upon first seeing them. If those pathetic cardboard cutouts were supposed to mimic the terror of a titan, then Dot Pixis had surely gone sober. Of course, since then, Shadis had seen to it that acceptable improvements were made to make them slightly less pathetic.

Three figures sliced through the backs of the necks of their respective dummies, the cuts of their blades succinct and accurate.

'Annie Leonhart.' Shadis glanced at the petite blonde, 'Her attacks are flawless, but her reclusive habits hurt her teamwork and compromise her overall reliability.'

He made notes of the other two.

'Bertolt Hoover.' The tall teen landed on a nearby tree, 'He has great potential but lacks the required assertiveness.'

'Jean Kirstein.' Jean weaved through the trees with minimal effort, showcasing his incredible affinity for the maneuvering gear. 'Top tier ODM skills, but his volatile personality causes friction with the others.'

Shadis knew that the brunette's abilities would just be allowed to deteriorate if he allowed himself to opt for the Military Police upon graduating like he'd claimed he intended.

This system had always irked the instructor, though he knew that by limiting the number of cadets eligible for the MP to the top ten, a lot more would be forced to opt for the needier regiments. Unfortunately, this also meant that most of the top ten cadets almost always opted to work in the interior, where their skills gradually became obsolete, thus depriving Humanity of her finest soldiers.

It also made the Military Police, already the largest regiment, look obnoxiously overpowered.

Just as Jean caught sight of a target and prepared to strike, someone else sped ahead of him.

"Thanks for the help, Jean!" Connie hollered, rapidly descending upon the dummy, "I knew that following you was a good idea-"

Only to be overtaken by Sasha, who took the opportunity to finally put the dummy out of its misery.

"Hooray!" The girl bounced on her ropes.

'Sasha Braus, She has spot-on instincts, but rarely ever shares them with her teammates.' Shadis noted.

'Connie Springer.' He glanced at the indignantly ranting male, 'He excels at making quick turns, but a few sandwiches shy of a picnic.'

In another section of the woods, Shadis witnessed Mikasa deliver clean strikes to the necks of two targets in quick succession to each other, barely making any noise at all. Her thorough slashes were followed by Eren's, but his weren't quite as deep as the girl's.

'Mikasa Ackerman.' It wasn't difficult to evaluate this one, 'Highly proficient in every area. It's apt to say that she's an unprecedented genius.'

'Eren Yeager.' The instructor noted with a swell of respect, 'Boasts no specific specialty but continues to improve with unparalleled effort. His terrifying resolve completely dwarfs everyone else's.'

A glimpse of red hair against the gray sky made him gaze to his right, where two more dummies were being raised. Showcasing incredible speed and control, Adler cleanly cut through the nape of one target, using his momentum from the strike to swiftly slice the other.

Keith's eyes narrowed at the boy. 'Adler Klein. The strangest of the bunch.' He silently watched as the redhead quickly shot towards another part of the forest. 'Physically speaking, he's deceptively strong. He's exceptional at improvising with the maneuvering gear, conserving gas and blades, and is a good strategist. He also has a talent for hand to hand combat, but he also seems to be lacking in all other categories.'

The teen lacked almost all necessary leadership qualities. He was highly unsociable, almost cynically so. He seemed to be devoid of all charisma and was, at times, unreasonably reckless. He also had an almost crippling fear of large bodies of water of all things and was thus unable to ever learn how to swim.

'And yet,' Shadis frowned, 'he seems to carry a quiet air of dense self-assuredness about him. He seems content with being totally self-reliant. He doesn't seem to see the necessity of asking for help during team missions. It's high time I knock him off of his high horse.'

—()()()()—

Despite his still existing rivalry with Eren, the animosity between the two hadn't prevented Jean from getting along surprisingly well with Adler, as he also did with Armin.

The redhead seemed to be the exact opposite of his obnoxiously impulsive friend. Where one was quick to react with anger to any kind of provocation, nothing seemed to faze the other. Where one was quick to voice his goal to 'eradicate all titans' every chance he got, Adler had yet to even state his own ambition. One claimed that Jean's face looked like a horse's, while the other had never insulted him so personally. Unlike someone, Adler was at least tolerable.

All things considered, Jean only had one complaint about the redhead. The idiot didn't know how to hold back during spars.

Or he didn't care enough.

Probably both.

The thought flitted through his mind in a millisecond, before he was effortlessly stopped in his tracks, lifted off the ground and his skull harshly slammed against the dirt.

"Damn it!" The brunette cursed, rubbing the back of his head. He was damn past caring that his wooden knife was now in the hand of his opponent.

"Sorry." Despite his chagrin, he took the offered hand.

"We don't even have to take this kind of training seriously!" The brunette blinked blearily. "Are you trying to give me a concussion?"

The other teen shrugged. "It's not my fault you've been slacking off so much."

'You know what?' Jean took back everything nice he had ever thought about the redhead.

"It's not my fault you're such a freak of nature." He muttered, parodying the other's voice.

Adler sighed, smart-aleckly, "What can you do? Life's unfair."

Just when Jean considered going for a cheap shot, the instructor's penetrating voice boomed across the field to them.

"Klein! Leonhart! Get over here!"

Without so much as a glance to the startled brunette, Adler began walking towards Shadis. To his right, he noticed Annie doing the same, and leaving behind an upside down Reiner and a dumbfounded Eren in her wake.

The redhead put his guard up, as he always did when around her. Anyone who could match Mikasa Ackerman in hand to hand combat was enough to make him anxious.

Most of the other cadets had paused in their 'training' and were now watching them. Surprisingly, Shadis didn't shout at them to return to work.

'Public humiliation?' Adler mused. He supposed he had been getting on Shadis' nerves lately with all his sass.

Once they were within a few yards of the Commandant, they stopped and stiffly saluted.

Shadis regarded them both expressionlessly, with his hands formally clasped behind his back. "The two of you are at the top of the class in regards to this type of training." He remarked, "Now, you two will face off against each other to make my decision about choosing the best, easier."

The two of them nodded, subsequently creating the necessary distance between them. The cadets around them were now completely silent as the tension in the air became palpable.

"I'll be the rogue," Adler announced to the girl, seeing that he still had Jean's wooden blade in his grasp.

"Fine," Annie responded nonchalantly, raising up her fists and placing her right foot back in a familiar stance. "Do what you want."

"She's going to destroy him!" He heard someone exclaim, to his marginal annoyance. He really couldn't blame them. After seeing the wrath of the Eren mob the first few days, he had made it a point not to stand out too much on the field, only performing wholeheartedly when he knew that it wouldn't be noticed by his more obscure peers.

'So much for that.' He sighed.

Without warning, the teen charged at the blonde girl with his mock weapon aimed at her abdomen. He noticed her right leg tense almost too late, and barely managed to move out of the trajectory of Annie's kick, but she wasn't willing to give him any breathing room.

She closed in on him and aimed several, incredibly strong kidney shots, though he managed to deflect all of them, he could barely still keep the weapon in his grip while doing so.

Seeing an opening, Adler went on the offensive, feinting a kick to her right shoulder, and aiming an elbow at her head when she dodged to the left. Unfortunately, Annie didn't fall for the trick.

'Damn it.' he cursed as she continued to easily dodge his own rapid punches and a subsequent roundhouse kick, ducking underneath it to deliver a palm strike to his chest, knocking him out of breath. By this point, the mock weapon in his hand was really just a liability.

"It looks like they're evenly matched," Eren muttered, his turquoise eyes wide with amazement as the intensity of the battle began to form a small dust cloud around the pair.

Next, to him, Reiner held a much more calculating demeanor.

"Really?" Connie asked, barely concealing his own awed excitement, "I could have sworn that Annie was winning."

'She is.' Armin realized, closely watching the two trade blows. While neither had yet dealt a major blow, Annie's much smaller size meant that most of the other's tricks wouldn't work against her. It was Adler who was being pressured, not Annie. Despite the redhead's speed, he couldn't go on the offensive without leaving himself wide open for her attacks.

Annie deflected yet another punch, paying him back with a powerful kick to his head. Although he'd managed to block it with a raised elbow, the force was strong enough to send his weapon flying far out of his reach.

Annie was quick to take advantage of his momentary surprise, swiftly closing in on him and ramming his right leg with a blindingly fast kick, hard enough that a sickening crunch resounded across the already unnaturally silent field.

Eren winced as Adler audibly grunted and fell to one knee, clutching his right appendage in pain. The brunette unconsciously rubbed his own still sore leg, and from the sound of it, Annie hadn't been holding back as much this time.

To their surprise, Annie didn't immediately try to retrieve the knife to secure her victory.

"What is she doing?" Mina exclaimed, watching as the short blonde gracefully raised her leg straight above her crouching opponent's neck.

"Is she going for an axe kick?" Connie cried out, "Is she insane!?"

"Is she really going to risk breaking his neck?" Jean asked, with poorly concealed nervousness.

"I don't get it, " Eren uttered, getting more heated with every word, "All she has to do is grab the weapon, and she wins! Why the hell is she still on the attack?"

"She has to turn her back to him, Eren. The weapon is a good number of feet away, and there's a good chance he could recover in that time." Armin quietly responded, "She's decided not to take the risk. She's probably going to knock him unconscious."

Annie powerfully brought down her leg to her target, only for it to connect with nothing.

Much to their shock, Adler had managed to move out of the way just quickly enough to avoid the blow, he abruptly grabbed the startled girl's leg and roughly tossed her to the ground several feet away from him, gritting his teeth as he rigidly righted himself back up.

But Annie was quick to return to her own feet, quicker than Adler could have hoped to retrieve his 'weapon' in his current state.

Annie glared defiantly at her opponent, the right side of her face now bore the noticeable beginnings of a bruise from where her face had collided with the ground.

Eren swallowed. 'She looks pissed.'

Adler, for his part, appeared to be completely calm, despite being much more roughed up than the girl. But his eyes now held a strange glint about them, which hadn't been there before.

"Alright, that's enough!" Shadis announced, so abruptly that it made almost every spectator jump.

"Both of you have shown your prowess." The man went on with a slight scoff. "More importantly, both of you were taken down. So, I'll count this one as a tie. I'll have to evaluate you based on other factors."

He finally faced the still starstruck cadets around them. "Well, this isn't a betting ring! Get back to work!"

—()()()()—

Adler watched the girl across from him with a lingering feeling of unease. Unlike him, Annie was content to show everyone just how ruffled she really was. If looks could kill, he'd be pretty dead.

From the baleful expression on her face that sent chills down his spine, he almost thought she was going to attack again.

But the blonde predictably schooled her features back into a nonchalant mask, and began to sedately walk away. "So be it. It doesn't count for the final grades, anyway."

The boy breathed out, a light breeze grazing his face revealed that he'd been sweating.

A hand suddenly on his shoulder almost made him jump.

"That was pretty badass, man!" Connie obliviously beamed at him, "You just went toe to toe with Annie, of all people!"

"Thanks." He blankly responded.

"Does your leg still hurt?" Mina suddenly asked, looking concerned. He realized that her, Armin and Eren had also walked over to him, and others were also coming over.

"It's fine." He dismissed with blasé, steadily beginning to walk away. "It'll bruise, but that's the extent of it."

Eren oddly scrutinized him. "Hey, where are you going?"

"I'll see you later."

"What's his deal?" Connie muttered, watching his classmate walk away.

"Well, he's pretty prideful." Mina offered, though she appeared just as taken aback as him. "He's probably just mad that he couldn't win, for once."

Armin exchanged a significant look with Eren. They both knew that it was more than just pettiness.

The last time they'd seen him that fazed, the Titans had invaded Shiganshina.

On the other side of the training grounds, once he was sure that he was out of sight, Adler sank back against a wall, suddenly aware of the burning sensation in his right leg.

But the pain in his leg or the sting of his bruises was the least on his mind.

"Get a hold of yourself." He muttered to himself, trying to get his breathing back under control. His heartbeat would likely take longer to calm down.

'That look.' He narrowed his eyes. The look in Annie's eyes had been too reminiscent to him for comfort. So full of anger and contempt, all channelled towards him.

It was like a gentler version of his father's hooded, metallic eyes whenever Eric had looked at him.

With a sigh, the redhead straightened himself up. 'Time to get back before someone gets too curious.'

—()()()()—

Pretty soon, everyone had changed into their civilian garments and were gathered in the dining hall for meal time. The scene was one that had become familiar to all of them in the three years they'd spent together. Some were seen quietly talking with friends, having already finished their meals. Others were silently listening, adding a remark or two whenever appropriate. Usually, Adler would be of the latter variety. This day, however, he was neither.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Mina asked him again, a small frown forming on her face. "You're even quieter than usual, today."

"Really?" The other teen asked rhetorically, sipping his coffee, "Well, you're awfully loud today. But I guess that's no anomaly." His tone had no real bite to it.

"Good." She sighed dramatically. "I thought Annie's hit had impaired your ability to speak, or something."

Adler just raised his brow. "Speech is controlled by the brain."

"She hit my leg." He deadpanned. "My brain isn't in my leg, Mina."

"You should really be paying more attention to biology in class." He added, heedless of her flustered expression.

Armin chuckled as he watched them continue their antics, Mina attempting to verbally outwit Adler, and always tasting defeat for all her trouble.

Not long after he'd seen them talking on the first day of training, Mina had started to join their table during mealtimes. It'd been a little impromptu, but he, Eren and Mikasa hadn't really minded her company and soon, she became a friend to all of them. Like Reiner, Marco, Connie, Sasha, and Krista, she was a touch closer to them than the others.

Although, she seemed to be particularly interested in Adler. The blonde would often see her within a certain distance of the socially inept redhead. When he'd mentioned it to Adler, the other boy had just dismissed it as a mere triviality.

He hadn't mentioned it to him again.

Armin frowned slightly as he subtly scrutinized his once, long-lost friend.

When they had first reunited, and a few weeks into their training, Adler had seemed like the exact same person they had known growing up in Shiganshina. He was quiet by nature, cordial with strangers and mildly sarcastic with his friends.

Eren and Armin treated him the same way as they always had, but then, the blonde had the formerly nonexistent barrier that had now been erected between them.

Adler had always hid his darkest demons away from them, but now, he had become a master of the art. The exact opposite of Eren and Armin, who both wore their hearts on their sleeves. Even the infamously nonchalant Mikasa had become easier to read than the redhead, at times.

There was the fact that none of the boys had ever seen Adler shirtless, which was a tad odd, considering that they had practically lived together for three years. At times, Armin saw Adler go out of his way to ensure that it stayed that way. It was almost as if the redhead bore something he didn't want them to see.

Then, there was the observation that thin, barely noticeable dark rings were forming underneath his eyes and that he was always the first one to wake in the mornings. His caffeine addiction also seemed to be growing.

It had taken a while, but he'd finally gotten Eren to tell him the exact events of the day Adler had 'died', the ones that Armin hadn't been there to witness.

It all made sense now, and oh how Armin wished it hadn't.

"Armin?" He belatedly realized that concerned gray irises were trained on him. "You okay? You spaced out there, a bit."

The blonde forced a smile. "I'm fine."

The redhead didn't look very convinced, but before he could voice his suspicions, he was drawn back into the verbal jest with Mina.

Armin had seen how unusually restricted Adler's movements had been while fighting Annie, and the way he'd acted afterwards had been less than reassuring. But, his friend had stopped acting strangely since then, so perhaps there wasn't anything to worry about, after all.

—()()()()—

In a number of short weeks graduation day had finally arrived, and with it came time for the 104th Cadet Training Corps to officially disband.

Two hundred and eighteen cadets succeeded in graduating, some with high honours. All of the graduates from the Southern Division had assembled into the lot by the main building. From a slightly raised platform, Shadis ominously stared down at them, flanked by representatives from each regiment.

"Do you have heart!?" Their former instructor demanded, his golden irises glaring at them through the mild moonlight.

"Sir!"

"As of this moment, you have three options open to you." Keith stated, "Choose wisely."

"The Garrison regiment, whose sworn duty is to reinforce the walls. The Scout regiment, who venture out to retrieve our stolen land from the Titan menace. And lastly, the Military Police, who maintain law and order under direct orders from His Majesty, the King!"

They listened to his words, intently. They had worked hard for this, and the feeling of triumph was palpable in the air.

"Those eligible for the MP have already been named." He revealed. "The rest of you, take a good look!'

The top ten stood at the front in the order of their rankings, their figures were illuminated by the blazing torches.

Mikasa Ackerman, Adler Klein, Reiner Braun, Bertolt Hoover, Annie Leonhart, Eren Yeager, Jean Kirstein, Marco Bodt, Sasha Braus and Connie Springer.

"They are the best in your class!"

—()()()()—

A celebratory feast was soon held in honour of the graduating cadets. It was a surprisingly extravagant affair, with meat and milk actually being served. But Adler found that he couldn't stand to attend it any longer than necessary, so he'd left when he felt he'd stayed appropriately long enough.

He had always hated crowds.

But, the main reason was that the older graduates were allowed to consume booze, and while he would usually be able to deal with the smell of alcohol, he already had too much on his mind to get nostalgic.

For starters, which regiment was he going to join?

It was quite obvious that Eren was going to join the Scouts, the brunette had done his very best to make that clear. Adler was still bothered by his friend's utter arrogance about the Titans. The Titans weren't a recent threat, they had been present for more than a century. More importantly, they'd defeated mankind in a fraction of that time.

Did Eren really think he could beat them? The idea was just ludicrous. He could hardly do much as a mere soldier. No, Eren would need many years to become Commander, assuming he survived that long. By that time, it would be too late.

A part of him contemplated talking Eren out of it, but he quickly dismissed the notion. All it would achieve would be a punch to the face, and possibly something worse.

It was a certainty that Eren would join the Scouts, and he knew that Mikasa would follow him. There was little chance of Armin not doing the same.

So, that left him.

Unlike the others, Adler hadn't joined the military with a clear goal in mind. He had just done it because he couldn't think of anything else to do. He was indifferent to joining any of the regiments, although the idea of fighting carnivorous, naked giants wasn't very amusing to him.

Rapid footsteps broke his chain of thought, making him glance behind him. He subsequently met slightly bloodshot teal eyes.

"Adler?" Eren said in surprise.

"Did something happen?" He asked, almost immediately noticing his friend's distressed ire.

"Not really." The brunette shrugged, taking a seat beside him on the stone steps that lead into the dining hall.

A few ticks passed, and more footsteps were heard as Armin and Mikasa came into view.

Instead of saying anything, they simply sat down on the steps with them.

"That was quite a speech you gave, Eren." Armin finally remarked.

The brunette smiled sheepishly back at him. "Most of it was yours. The stuff you used to say, back in the day."

Armin looked startled for a moment. The blonde held a contemplative look, before suddenly exclaiming, "Well, I'm joining the Scouts, too!"

"Armin are you kidding me?" Eren cried out, completely taken by surprise. "Your life is with books!"

The blonde didn't meet his eyes, instead saying, "I'm tired of letting people fight for me."

That left no room for argument, and Eren graciously accepted his defeat.

Mikasa was the next to speak. "Looks like it's the Scouts for me, too."

"Mikasa!" The brunette helplessly exclaimed. "You're first place! You'd just be wasting your chance!"

"Understand this." She looked squarely into his eyes, "Where you go, I go. I made a promise to your mom. I'm not letting you die. I've got your back, whether you like it or not."

Eren fell silent with a huff, knowing that he'd already lost the argument.

They stayed quiet for several moments, watching the almost ethereal night sky sparkle above them. Unlike usual, there wasn't a single cloudy wisp in sight, and all of the stars were visible in their full splendour.

Adler couldn't help but contemplate that the possibility of not belonging in their company. All of them had unflinchingly proclaimed their desire to stay together and join the Survey Corps, all except him. He tried to say it, but his mouth dried up at the mere thought, and he swallowed thickly.

Was he actually afraid of the Titans? 'No.', he shook his head. He wasn't afraid of the Titans, he couldn't be. He had experienced hundreds of dreams since the breach that kept him wakeful, and none of them had been about a titan.

Then, what could it be that was stopping him?

The sudden flash of something made his head spin, it had been so blindingly quick, he tried to discern what it was through an abrupt migraine that had blossomed along with it.

Clearing his head, he struggled to differentiate the images from each other.

'A sharp object, . . . two voices arguing. .'

"Adler, are you feeling okay?"

He suddenly realized that Mikasa was staring at him. Actually, they all were. "You seem distracted." She said, slowly.

"Oh?" He blinked, silently coughing. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Look." Eren started after a small silence, "If you're hiding something from us, then it's time you open up."

'What's there to hide?', he sarcastically mused. 'You already know everything.'

"I told you," he reasserted, unfazed by their deeply dissecting glares, "it's nothing."

A few seconds was all it took for them to realize how futile it was to try to get anything out of him, proving that they knew him well enough.

Exchanging a silent glance with Armin, Eren sighed and sank back in defeat.

They watched silently as a shooting star streaked across the starry night sky, but it failed to have the desired effect on them because of the tense atmosphere that, so suddenly, began to suffocate them.

—()()()()—

The redhead placidly filled his ODM gas canister. Sounds of metal clinking and steam releasing permeated the supply room around him, as some of the other graduates were being put to work.

Some of them had been charged with assembling their gears, some did maintenance while others were simply put on cleaning duty. The redhead was of the first bunch, after which, he was expected to help the others on the surface with cannon duty.

Apparently, he had a week left to decide which military regiment he was going to join. That would probably be enough time for most people, but Adler really wasn't sure about himself.

He tightened a hinge on his gear, securely fastening the canister to it.

His eyes glinted upon noticing something.

A piece of parchment, neatly folded in a square smaller than his finger nail, wedged between the juncture of the triggering mechanism in such a way that only the most thorough would have noticed it.

Adler adroitly removed the folded note, unconcerned with doing so discretely. He was the only one occupying that table, after all.

Outwardly dull, cinareal eyes fluidly skimmed through the contents.

He had only needed a glance of the slanting handwriting to realize who it was from.

'

"You sure have grown in the three years since I pulled you out of that little river in Krolva. Although, I say that solely regarding your appearance. Specifically, your height. You're almost as tall as me now. Good job."

Adler's mouth twitched. The sarcasm was strong with this one.

"In all seriousness, be proud of graduating. Even if you were only second best. Trust me, I have felt enough shame on your behalf."

The redhead deadpanned. 'Get to the point.'

"I would have met you in person on your big day. I just didn't have the chance, so I sent this letter in compensation. For now, I have some business in Mitras.

I'll hopefully see you soon.

-G.D"

Having read it, the teen pocketed the refolded note with little ceremony and returned to inspecting his equipment.

'Of course, he would risk gear malfunction for some dramatics.'

Ignoring the twinge of what was definitely not disappointment, Adler briefly wondered what business Garren could possibly have in the Interior. The man was a former Scout, surely there could not be many reasons.

A sudden, distinctly bad feeling shattered that line of thoughts, and a tensed redhead immediately stood up.

Then, the ground would lurch.


Please review.