Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit, fan based story. Attack on Titans is owned by Hajime Isayama. I do however own Elena and Lance as well as any other OCs that may occur during this story. Thank you
Chapter 4: Year 847
Commander Shadis was imposing. Making it more frightening when his dark-circled eyes rested upon someone. He was tall, bald, and had a slightly tan complexion. I could tell that he got angry a lot from the wrinkles on his forehead. The lingering thought of 'is this man going to kill me' surfaced when he made eye contact with me during his introduction. I placed the strongest look of devotion that I could muster as he began going through everyone, weeding out the pack. Hoping this wouldn't be as bad as it looked.
"Hey Mop top," Shadis yelled. Armin quickly straightens up, placing his idle right hand over his heart before responding.
"What do they call you maggot?"
"Armin Alert, from Shiganshina sir!"
"Seriously, why would your parents curse you with such a dumb name?"
Yes, this is going to be interesting…
"It was my grandfather sir"
I couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for Armin. He sounded petrified shouting back, trying to defend himself, but everything he said was countered with rejection.
Shadis continued, going through others as he was getting closer to me. Lance stood beside me. He looked completely normal, unfazed by all. He stood there, alert, and ready for when Shadis walked towards him. But he didn't stop, he continued, walking past Lance, his eyes now invading my soul as I turned my forward gaze to his awaiting face.
"Who the hell are you?" he shouted. Mentally I cringe, afraid of him.
Placing my right hand over my heart "Elena Brewer, from Shiganshina District sir!" I replied, hoping he would move along. I knew he could probably tell by now that I am frightened, my eyes were probably given it away at this point.
"Shiganshina, eh," he paused shortly, "Well consider yourself lucky to make it this far. As far as I can see, you're a ripe tomato waiting to get ate." My eyes harden at his words as my body stiffened. Memories of my father getting snatched up flashed into my head. Me sitting there helpless as he was torn in half.
"That's more like it," he commented before shouting, looking past me to the next person. I noticed before that he skipped everyone that was from Shiganshina, including Eren, Mikasa, and Lance. So why did he stop at Armin and me? We were there too. I see Shadis walk past another girl. Her blonde hair was pulled back with her side bangs split to each side of her face. Her eyes… She looked troubled but displayed a sense of purpose. She didn't look like most of the people here, who haven't seen a Titan. Everyone else was so cheerful, easy to punish for trying to join something without having a reason. She oozed out purpose. Lance, had a purpose for joining. Eren explained his purpose on the boat about wanting to kill all titans. Mikasa the same... So why didn't I pass the test? I had a purpose. To protect Lance.
Looking back around, I now see Shadis holding a boy by his head, complaining about his hand being on the left side and not his right when suddenly, he dropped the boy. Skipping past all the people, he went directly to a girl with reddish-brown hair in a ponytail.
Was she…eating?
"Hey, you there, what do you think you're doing?" his voice coated with false gentleness. When she didn't respond, instead taking another bite of her snack Shadis yelled, "You are officially on my shit list, just who the hell are you?"
'Sasha Braus from Dauper village at your service reporting for duty sir"
"Sasha Braus huh, and what is it that you are clutching in your right hand?"
"A steamed potato. It sat there in the mess hall begging to be eaten, sir"
"The theft I understand, but here why eat it here of all places?"
"it looked quite delicious and it was getting cold, so I gave it shelter in my stomach sir"
This can't be happening. From the looks of everyone else, we were all shocked at this girl. She looked completely normal despite being caught eating during the ceremony. Is she stupid or just plain crazy?
"I can't comprehend why would you eat that potato."
"Are you asking me why people eat potatoes? I'm surprised you don't know sir," my mouth dropped slightly at her words. She is insane. "Here sir, have half," she broke her potato in two pieces, handing one section to Shadis.
"Have half. Really?" he looked puzzled as she smiled up at him kindly.
"Armin," I smiled, happy to see a familiar face. A few people were standing at a cabin, watching potato girl run for her punishment. She had been at it for some time now, breathing badly. Surprisingly, when she was told to run until the sun went down, she didn't look as upset as she did when she was told she wouldn't be given food for the next 5 days. I could already tell that she was going to be an interesting comrade. Arriving, I was greeted by Armin, his face brightens as he turns to Eren quickly.
"Hey, Eren, were you ever introduced to Elena back in Trost?" He'd been leaning over the railing of the cabin.
"Somewhat, I knew of her back…home and seen her around Trost. You have a little brother as well?"
"Lance, and I wouldn't exactly call him little anymore," I scratched the back of my head. Lance is taller than most of the people here to be one of the youngest. Guess he takes after Father in that aspect.
"Where is he?" Eren's question was sudden, glancing around, probably wondering why he isn't here with me. Back in Trost, I didn't really conversate with Eren. Armin was the closest friend I had, besides Lance, but with his domineering conversations and displeasing responses, I tried to keep it settle.
"Uh, I think he went to the rooms until dinner. Probably tired," I didn't want people to know he isn't much of a social butterfly. They will figure out themselves or hopefully bring some life back into him. If not, maybe it could stop some people from randomly getting on his bad side if they were more cautious about his new personality. But then again, I don't want people to fear him. It was a lose-lose situation.
"Wait, so you both came from Shiganshina?" a tan boy with short brown hair stood up from leaning over the side railings asked. Now everyone here was looking in our direction.
"Yeah and Armin." Eren draped his arm over Armin's shoulder smiling.
"You saw it, you guys were there that day, the colossal one. Did you see him?" The look of amazement glistens on his face. I felt conflicted. Part of me wanted to get mad. There was nothing to be amazed at. Running for your lives as giant creatures tried to eat you. Surviving wasn't an accomplishment, it was more of a curse to even witness that event. The other side of me wanted to frown since a lot of people here have never even seen a Titan. Do they even know what they are getting into? I didn't even know how to answer his question without getting upset, so I stayed quiet, letting Eren talk.
"Yeah, yeah I did."
"Armin," I whispered, not wanting everyone else to hear me. As he turned to my direction his bright smile faded. "I'll see you guys at dinner okay? I have to go." The further I could get away from this conversation, the better. Being reminded of that event still bothered me. How others were so fascinated by something that completely destroyed and scarred others was beyond me. They just don't know.
I briskly walk down from the cabin, running into Mikasa.
"Hello, Elena."
"Oh, hi Mikasa. You doing well?"
"Yes, thanks. Have you seen Eren?"
I pointed towards the cabin, allowing her eyes to follow before excusing myself.
"And you?" she asks to my retreating figure.
"Peachy."
Dinner that night was no better. I sat at a back table with Lance while everyone else was gathered around Eren. Guess the word spread fast. Everyone was begging questions about the Colossal Titan from him.
I felt a little better knowing that some people were not entertaining the conversation as much as others, but I could tell that they were still listening and interested in what was being said. His descriptions of what happened just brought back unwanted memories.
Tuning Eren out, I went back to my meal. Trying to clear my head when I hear a chair slide across the floor. Eren was standing up to a familiar face, Jean. Both boys were staring at each other, exchanging off negative things about each's desired career paths after training when the bell rung. Signaling dinner time was over. I was glad to hear them apologize to one another. We need to at least get along with each other. As they started to walk out, I didn't notice that Lance had already gotten up, leaving me at the table by myself.
"Lance, where are you going?" I question, getting up as well, jogging slightly to catch up. I was basically finished eating already. He was at the doors before he replied.
"Away from you idiots," he then took a firm bite of his remaining bread before stepping out of the room.
"What did you just say?" It was Jean. He had just been in a confrontation with Eren, so why pick another one with someone else.
"Is it satisfying? Thinking how exciting it must have been. To witness something like that?" Lance said as he snapped his head back, eyes of bloodlust, tossing the remainder of his bread away as he confronts Jean.
"If you were there too, why not tell your side of the story then or are you so sorted on 'sending all Titans back to hell' as well?" Jean countered. "Is that all the lot of you know, there is no beating the Titans, just do your best and get into the military police, live a life of luxury." I looked to Lance. His face had such a disturbing expression. If Jean only knew that Lances train of thought was more depraved than Eren's.
Lance began to walk towards where Jean was standing staring him down like Sasha would a feast table.
"Oh, is the big baby going to come over and cry?!"
"No, you're about to cry"
Lance shows a devilish smirk, as he extends his hand towards Jean grabbing him by the head slamming it onto the porch side paneling. Knocking him onto the ground, Lance crouched down over him and starts to repeatedly strike… I couldn't believe what I was seeing, who was this violent beast standing in front of me, this monster couldn't be my brother Lance. I couldn't help but to freeze in place, I lost full awareness of my surroundings until I heard someone yelling.
"Stop this now, what's your problem!" Connie was trying to resolve the situation. Trying to ease the fuel while not getting too close to get hit as well. He touched Lance's shoulder, trying to get his attention to get up when Lance turned towards his direction. The look on his face and blood of his knuckles from the vicious assault made him look more terrifying than a titan. I thought it was over until he headbutts Connie knocking him to the ground. I couldn't let this go any further, I ran in to stop Lance before things got worse. Running behind Lance I tried wrapping my arms around him, but he reached around, grabbing my shirt flipping me forward onto the ground. I looked up watching Lance walk towards me, looking at me as though I was nothing more than a bug that needed to me smashed. I closed my eyes and yelled.
"LANCE STOP THIS NOW"
Everything was quiet. I opened my eyes and there was my brother just standing there. He didn't say a word just glared at me, and began walking down the steps and further away from the mess hall. I was petrified, how could Lance do all this, how could he attack others without showing any emotions, like striking and harming another human meant nothing. I could hear everyone whispering behind me as they all witnessed the scene between one another.
"what the hell was that"
"is that guy insane"
"we need to stay away from him"
Everyone had a look of confusion and fear on their faces, as though a titan just attacked this very camp. How could things go so badly? why did Lance snap? why was I so terrified of my own little brother? As I sat there shaking in fear trying to process everything that had happened, tears began to well up. I was on the break of being taken over by these emotions until a soft but a stern cough sounded next to me. To my right, Jean was still laying there. His face was bruised, and one of his eyes was almost swollen shut. I felt like I was responsible for this.
"Jean, are you okay?" I crawled over to his position. Looking him up and down, trying to be sure that he wasn't gravely wounded.
"Long time no see gorgeous, I'll be okay," he replied getting up. "Luckily your brother hits like a little girl."
He is trying to act tough, but I know he is in a lot of pain. I wanted to stop him, to apologize for my brother, but he just walked away.
"Hey, are you okay?"
I looked towards the direction the voice was coming from. Noticing his boarded features. He was taller than most, maybe around Lance's height or a bit shorter, his blonde hair was short, cut closer to his head, his gold eyes reminded me of someone, but I couldn't place a name to it.
"I will be okay." He started walking closer to me.
"It isn't your fault, come on let me help you up," their hand appeared in my face. I gradually took it, instantly noticing how much bigger his hand was than mine. Standing up, I quickly dusted myself off and fixed my shirt.
"Thank you," I tried to smile, anything to not look like the complete mess that I felt. Everyone now will just see Lance as a monster. "I'm sorry for what happened. "
"These things happen, it's a tough subject to bring up." He replied now with a stern look.
"Tell me about it," I look towards the direction Lance walked too. I needed to go check on him.
"By the way, my name is-"
"Elena Brewer, I caught your name during the introduction. I'm Reiner Braun." He just stared at me as I lightly shook his hand. Happy that someone at least blew over this incident.
"I better go check on my brother," I pointed with my thumb towards his previous direction. Reiner nodded, throwing out a 'good luck' before turning back to the mess hall.
I'm going to need more than luck to deal with Lance.
I feel that if I said Commander Shadis was pissed would be an understatement. When we all gathered the next morning for training, the bruises on Jean's face and Lance's knuckles instantly stood out to him. Shadis didn't have to ask what it was about, he punished them both for being reckless. For the entire day, both boys were to stand on a thin board, facing each other, while holding two buckets of water in each hand. Shadis said that by the time he was finished with them,
'YOU SHITRAGS WON'T HAVE THE STRENGTH TO SWING YOUR ARMS."
The rest of us began our official training. It was better to see everyone back to normal from last night. A fresh start. Arriving at our destination it began.
"LISTEN UP! YOU SORRY ASSWIPES HAVE 3 HOURS TO REACH THE FINISHED MARK AHEAD." He turned away from us.
Everyone ran to grab their bag. I groaned at the weight, struggling a bit to lift it. What was in here? It felt like a bag full of sand. Sliding the bag on, I stood up and began to run, trying to pace myself. This was going to be a long day.
"It hurts," Mina cried out beside me. I wanted to reply, agreeing with her, but I knew that if I opened my mouth I would collapse. Everything was on fire. We have been running for a while now. I could tell by the sun. When we started, the sun hadn't even broken through the night, now it has begun to climb into the sky. It was hot. Sweat falling from my face after every foot pounded into the ground.
It hurts so bad.
Looking behind me, I was pleased to see I wasn't last. Not that it mattered, as long as we all finished before time was up, but personally, I feel pleased with myself that I wasn't the slowest. It was Armin who was struggling the most. Stammering over himself, trying not to fall and push the group back. He wasn't going to make it much longer, but he continued. I wish I could help him. I didn't want to see him fail. He wasn't the strongest, nor the fastest, but he was a kind, smart boy. The best comfort I could give was running with him. I slowed down, a small relief before I was standing next to a panting Armin.
"What are you doing?" Armin gasped out, obviously tired.
"Running."
Collapsing to the ground, I had never been so happy to finish anything in my life. Everyone was breathing heavy, some less than others, but they were special cases. Mostly, people from districts in the mountains or woods had a better advantage in these kinds of things. Like Sasha, aka Potato girl. She was constantly whispering about how she wanted lunch until Connie reminded her that she still couldn't eat yet causing her to go into a frantic outbreak.
I made the mistake of laughing, immediately going into a coughing fit due to the lack of air, causing others around me to laugh, resulting in the same fate. When we all calmed down, Commander Shadis rode out of the woods on a horse.
"Everyone feeling good?" I knew he wasn't being sincere. I feared what he was thinking, silently praying it wasn't what I thought. There was no right answer here. If someone said good, we were screwed, if someone said bad, we were still screwed. Which didn't make it any better when he made eye contact with me before I could turn my head, trotting over towards me on horseback.
"Tomato and Mop head, You two feeling good?" he repeated with a sinister look in his eyes. I could feel Armin's eyes on me as I signed mentally. Completely hating my life at this point.
"Feeling great, Sir" I yelled towards him.
"AH, SO YOU SORRY FUCKS THINK I'M GOING TOO EASY ON YOU?" He was looking directly at me. I pushed myself up off the hard ground.
"Yes, Sir!"
I hate my life….
I cannot feel my legs. I was wobbling towards the mess hall at this point. Commander Shadis insisted that we all run back due to my complaining about his teachings. With groans, we all grabbed our bags and took off again. Much, much slower than before.
"Elena, you couldn't have said anything else to make that easier. I feel like dying," Connie was perched on a rail, vomiting.
"She did the right thing, if she spoke about being tired, then it would have been worse," Bertolt answered, his short dark brown hair was coated to his forehead from sweat. It was a bit surprising on how he caught up to us so quickly considering he was in the back with Reiner. He walked next to me to pat my shoulder in a humble way. It stung, the light applied pressure shot straight to my legs.
"Ouch, no touchy right now," I mumbled out as he quickly apologized.
"Hey, how are you standing so normally. Do your legs not feel like they are about to fall off?" Connie spoke again, holding the railing as he walked to keep up with everyone.
"Oh, we ran a lot in my old town, so this is nothing." He replied, before turning away from us.
Lucky you…
Over the next few months, as the weather began to change, training continued. Running got easier as our bodies grew more accustomed to it. By now everyone was so used to each other, that we considered mostly everyone family. Sparring was a challenge. Back at Shiganshina, I would voice my opinions, but never fully participated in hand to hand combat.
Fighting was definitely not my strong point. Mina Carolina had become a good friend of mine. She's a cheerful girl and always provided a little comfort for me when Lance was in one of his moods and wanted to be alone. I began to spend less and less time with Lance as more time went on. I would enjoy the lax conversations of my peers rather than be hurt by Lance's tough judgments. During our first sparring training, she was my opponent.
"Come on Elena, show me what you got," Mina spoke, stepping into her fighting stance. I copied Mina, not exactly sure how to perceive all this. I felt out of place.
"Ready?" She asked, smiling towards me. I nodded, mentally preparing myself for this. Mina took a step forward, instantly causing me to take a step back. She stepped faster, gaining quicker land towards me. My eyes widen as I panicked, tripping over my footing, twisting while grabbing out towards anything to stop myself, in this case being Mina, causing us both to fall.
We both hit the ground with a small thud. I pushed back up into a sitting position and looked towards Mina.
"So…does that mean I won?" I wondered. Technically, I did pin her… kind of. She looked at me, before breaking out into a laugh, pulling herself up before we tried again.
Over time, I gradually improved. If correctly positioning myself was improving. The months continued, I could feel myself getting stronger, just couldn't harness that strength to bring it forward. I watched others, Mikasa was amazing. Clearly, she is a force to be reckoned with. Her moves are so smooth and clean. Annie was the same, she was quick, her fight style was different than others, but it was interesting to watch. Lance was different. He fought somewhat like the others, just more forceful and aggressive. Mikasa could take him down herself, but besides her, it was a tough one, considering she was the only one besides Reiner and Eren who wanted to fight him. Lance was rough. I tried to spar with him once, only to be slammed quicker than I could follow his movements. I won't try that again. Maybe when I better myself.
"Not really a fighter?" We were all in the mess hall for dinner. Today I sat with Armin, Marco, Mina, and Annie. Well, Annie was at the end of the table, but she was still at the same table with Mina in front of her. Winter was getting closer, not that it meant anything other than the first year was coming closer to an end. Time seemed to fly fast. I could clearly remember my first day here, being frightened of what was to come, it has been hard, but well worth it.
"It seems that way, doesn't it? Guess I never really had to fight, so I don't really know what to do." I pushed a strand of hair behind my ear as I grabbed my spoon.
"All you need is some practice," Marco commented.
"Maybe Lance can help you. He is really good." Armin added.
"Yeah, he is vicious but damn good at fighting. Where did he learn it all?"
It would be nice to have Lance help me, but he would find it more of a burden than something useful.
"Honestly, I don't know," my voice lingering as I tried to understand this new Lance.
"He wasn't like that at Shiganshina or Trost. He still kept to himself, but wasn't as strong, maybe I misjudged his strength." Armin mumbled, rubbing his chin.
"Yeah, he's changed so much. After Shiganshina …. Lance wasn't the sweet boy who would run to the fields to pick flowers. He wasn't the little caring boy who sat in the back and listened silently. He stopped laughing and smiling." My voice trailed off, not really wanting to admit it, but it was obvious to those who knew him beforehand.
"Why are you here?" A new voice joined the conversation. I turn to find Annie looking directly at me. Her gaze was stunning. I really admire that about her.
"Honestly," I paused, "I am actually here for Lance."
"Then you are wasting your time. He doesn't need you," Annie went back to sipping her drink, silently excusing herself from the conversation.
"Don't say that Annie," it was Mina, but I wasn't paying attention.
He doesn't need you.
Her words hit me like a pile of bricks. Lance doesn't need me anymore. When we joined I expected to be able to help Lance through training and together we could graduate. But from the looks of it, all I am doing is holding him back. He is much better than me at a lot of the training courses we go through. He is much faster than me at running, his fighting skills trump over my non-existing ones. If we do both graduate, there is no way I would be able to keep up with him out there. Lance was definitely graduating, probably in the top 10 if his personality doesn't exempt him. It already does with everyone else.
Excusing myself from the table, I picked up my dishes, walking towards the door.
Thank you, Annie