Keith was in a good mood as he watched the 104th Training Corp fly through the trees training. The 104th had many exceptionally good cadets, he knew that it was going to be hard to choose the top ten, he wished that he could have a top fifteen, but even then, some that were worthy of the top wouldn't be able to make it.
Keith already knew that Mikasa, Reiner, Annie, and Eren were going to be in the top ten, and he was pretty sure about a few others as well but he wasn't finished sorting all of them so they could end up not making it.
His personal wish was that no one would join the Survey Corp, but he knew that Eren would, and that Mikasa was sure to follow the boy. The fact made him sad, no matter how good they were they were eventually going to make a mistake, and outside of wall Rose if you made a mistake just one mistake you were dead, and everyone inevitably makes a mistake.
He wished that Eren would change his mind and choose the Military Police or the Garrison, the Military Police would see massive improvement with Eren in them and Eren would quickly burn out any corruption. If he joined the Garrison, he would probably be put under Hannas command, Keith knew that Eren was close to Hannas the hole Jager family had been close to him when they were alive, it would be good for him to be near people he knew and trusted.
But the Survey Corp, Captain Levi was harsh and cold, Erwin was much nicer but from what he had heard time had been hard on the Commander. Perhaps Hanji and Eren would get along with their strange obsessions with the Titans.
Another reason Keith didn't want him to join, Levi, Hanji, and Erwin were the only ones left who had served in the Survey Corp before the fall of Maria, the only ones still alive at least.
Pulling himself out of his thoughts Keith went back to watching the Training Corp's performances, judging and ranking them.
Reiner was a good soldier, strong and powerful, but his larger size made him slower and an easier target. He was a team player though, and was most of the time with another person helping them. He was someone that could end up becoming a good mentor when he was older.
Bertholdt was very similar to Reiner, though he lacked bulk he made up for it in height. While he was less social than Reiner, he still was a team player.
Annie was small and nimble, a great fit for the 3DMGear, less mass made her much quicker when using the gear since she had less air blowing against her. She was also extremely good at hand to hand combat and the 3DMGear, but she wasn't a team player, and would probably break formation if one of her friends was in danger. Skilled and loyal to a fault.
Mikasa while slightly bigger than Annie was even better than Annie on the 3DMGear, in hand to hand combat even he had no idea who would win. Mikasa was near the embodiment of a perfect soldier, and in a few years would be able to rival Levi.
Eren used his anger to fuel his power, he was strong, almost as strong as Reiner. While he was far from the level of a few others he had a drive that could lead him to victory.
Armin while small and much weaker than most of the others had a mind built for strategy, while he would be far from the best soldier on the field, he could quickly become a captain or even a commander if Erwin, Pixis, or Nile stepped down.
Hari was born to be in the air, for just using the 3DMGear she threw everyone out of the water and could already challenge Levi. Keith wished he knew who took her eye so that he could kill that person himself, because he could tell and see that she struggled with many things especially accuracy, eight times out of ten she missed that mark on the Titan test dummies.
Keith continued to watch and rank the 104th as they continued their training.
/Later/
The 104th Training Corp stood facing a stage that was occupied solely by Keith. In Keith's hand was a piece of parchment with the names of the top ten graduates.
After three days of constant debating he had finally decided on who the top ten would be.
Keith looked out upon the 104th Training Corp watching them stand in their nicest Military clothes with their back's strait and head and eyes forward. He watched them for a moment longer before turning his attention back to the parchment in his hand.
He looked at the names for a moment before he started with the call.
"At number one, Mikasa Ackerman." Keith yelled out.
He watched as Mikasa walked from her spot in the crowd and up onto the stage. Keith saw the complete lack of emotion, not even a hint of a smile, she was going to be a great soldier. She walked to the far right of the stage and then faced the crowd herself. There was no applause but it was customary to stand at attention, so he would have been surprised if they applauded her.
He called out the second name. "Reiner Braun."
Reiner walked up and stood by Mikasa. He dwarfed Mikasa in size but Keith knew that if the situation ever arrived that Mikasa would be able to beat him to a bloody pulp. Reiner had an easy look in his face thought he still looked forward with as much discipline as Mikasa.
And he then called out the third. "Bertolt Hoover."
Keith watched as Bertolt quickly scolded his nerves look and then walk on stage to stand next to Reiner. Bertolt was taller than all the other graduates and he probably had a few more years of growing in him.
"Annie Leonhart"
Annie's face had just as much emotion as Mikasa as she walked on stage, she stood by Bertolt which made her seem even shorter than she already was.
"Eren Jeager."
Eren had a fierce determination in his eyes as he walked on stage, he stood by Annie and looked out to the rest of the crowd a frown on his face, while he wasn't as strong as the other four that were currently on stage, his determination kept him on equal ground to all of them, except Mikasa.
"Jean Kirstin."
Jean had a cocky smile on his face as he walked up on stage but the smile quickly faded after he realized that he would have to stand next to Eren for the rest of the gathering. Eren didn't look happy about it either as the both quickly broke eye contact from the crowd to glare at each other.
"Marco Bott."
A relived and surprised expression went across Marco's face after his name was called, he walked up on stage with a smile on his face and stood by Jean, he then turned his head slightly to smile at Jean who returned the smile.
"Connie Springer."
Keith watched as Connie's face morphed into a face of surprise and shock, Connie stood there for a moment before he got a hold of himself, and then speed walked to the stage. Keith was surprised by all the good grades that Connie got himself, the boy was smarter than he appeared.
"Sasha Blouse."
Sasha stood in place for a moment off in her own mind before she realized that she was called. With cheeks tented pink, Sasha got up on the stage and stood by Connie.
"And tenth, Krista Lenz."
Krista was also surprised and Keith noticed her glaring at Ymir for a moment before she went on stage.
"Now that you've completed your training you have three choices. The Garrison, which reinforces the walls, thereby protecting all of us. The Survey Corps, prepared to sacrifice their lives outside the walls by defying the Titans in their own domain. And the Military Police Brigade, which exercises control over the king's subjects and maintaining order. Only the top ten can join the Military Police, soon I'll be asking you which branch you want to be assigned to. But as of now the 104th Training Corp is officially disbanded. Dismissed!" After Keith finished his speech, he and everyone else saluted.
/Hari/
The 104th Training Corp sat in the dinning hall enjoying what would probably be the last time that they would eat here.
Hari sat next to Annie who by turn sat next to Bert. And on the other side of the table was Jean and Marco.
Hari had kept relatively silent since the graduation, she wasn't bitter about not making the top ten as she never really wanted to join the Military Police after what she had heard about them, but she knew that her friends who had made it to the top ten would join.
She was going to miss Krista, Sasha, Mikasa, Marco, even Jean. But she was sad that by the end of the week she would probably never see Annie again.
Her and Annie had built a strange sort of friendship, they never talked about trivial things like the weather or if someone liked someone else. They talked about their pasts; very filtered versions of their past, but their pasts all the same. They talked about their physical and mental scars, something Hari and Annie had a lot of, though Annie lacked any physical scars.
Annie talked about her cruel father, who did not care about Annie, only what he could make her into.
And Hari talked about never knowing her parents and living with abusive relatives, which later turned into her being betrayed by the people she had foolishly trusted.
Hari stayed lost in her mind for several minutes before she was jolted out of her head by Jean being annoying.
"We can finally escape this crappy, suffocating front-line town! A safe, comfortable life is waiting for us in the interior, right!?" Jean yelled to Marco, who Hari just realized was covered in his own drink.
"Shame on you at least I'm not-
"Oh, sorry my bad. I forgot that you were a prize pupil!" Jean growled, interrupting Marco.
"But what would you guys do? I mean getting the chance to live in the interior, it's almost unheard of, right?! Or given the choice, would you rather stay here in this 'Human Stronghold', or whatever they like to call it?!" Jean yelled out to the room, which responded with silence till one voice quietly spoke.
"If given the choice I would still go out to kill the Titans. I would rather die a thousand times over than sit in the Interior twiddling my thumbs as my friends died out there. And I would be ashamed of myself for the rest of my life knowing that if I chose differently, I could have saved people I cared about instead of leaving them to die, alone in the belly of a Titan."
Everyone turned to look at who had responded to Jean's comment which ended up having all eyes on Hari, who was glaring daggers at Jean.
"So, you would rather die, in a Titans belly than have someone that you only knew for a few years die in one?" Jean said glaring at Hari.
"if history repeats itself than it won't just be the Survey Corp and the odd Garrison soldier that is sitting in the belly of a Titan." Was Hari's cold reply.
Everyone knew that Hari was referring to five years ago when Maria fell, and they also knew that she was there when it happened.
"If Rose fell then there wouldn't be any point in living anywhere. But the Garrison has built up the walls to an extent that the Armored Titan wouldn't be able to break through, and the Colossal won't be able to get into Maria since it can't fit through the hole it has made. So, we are safe." Jean said ending the conversation, unaware of the dark thoughts going through Hari's mind.
But the Colossal can get though, it is like me, so it could appear right in front of the gate at any time so why hasn't it? If its goal is to kill off humanity why hasn't it done it yet… Unless it is after something.
Hari continued to dwell on her thoughts till she heard Eren get up.
"Hay." Eren called to Jean who had gone back to drinking.
Oh boy this is going to be good. Hari thought.
"You said the Interior is comfortable? Until five years ago, this town was part of the Interior, too. Jean, you don't have to go to the Interior. I mean, isn't the interior of your brain soft enough for you?" Eren said to Jean.
Hari snorted, and looked over at Eren, noticing behind him was Reiner, apologizing to Armin who was covered in drink. The rest of the room was sniggering as well trying not to laugh at Eren's insult.
Mikasa seemed to try and stop Eren from getting up to confront Jean but he ignored her and got up anyway.
"Are you trying to say, that I'm an idiot, Eren?" Jean said looking down with his chair facing Eren. Jean stayed like that for several seconds till his eyes shot up to glare at Eren.
"Well, I'm not I'm looking at reality. More than anyone. Four years ago, twenty percent of the human population was sent out to recover territory stolen by the Titans. An all-out attack was launched. And most of then walked strait to their doom, eaten by the Titans. How many more people need to die to retake our land?" Jean stopped gathering his thoughts before continuing.
"For every one of then that we kill, an average of thirty humans die. However, the number of Titans is a lot more than a 1/30 scale. I think it's clear. Humanity, doesn't stand a chance against the Titans." Jean finished sighing.
No one was in the mood for the graduation party anymore, not even Connie and Sasha; who were both looking in to their drinks seemingly without an appetite.
"Look, it's like a funeral in here, thanks to you." Jean said looking at the room who hardly reacted to Jean further commenting.
"So, what?" Eren said with his arms crossed.
Hari thought that, what Eren said was rude, it was a party, and even if she fought with Jean too, at least she managed to not make the hole party depressed after words.
"Weren't you listening?!" Jean yelled at Eren.
"So, what you're saying is, 'I don't think we can win, so I'm giving up.' Tell me what's so good about giving up? Is it better to escape reality, to the point where you're throwing away your hope?" Eren looked at the Jean and then the rest of the room with a pointed look, and then continued.
"In the first place. It's a given that we'd lose to the Titans fighting head on. One of the causes of the defeat four years ago was our lack of understanding of the Titans. We lost then, but the information we gained will lead us to hope for the future."
"And yet you're going to give up on developing strategies to fight them? Do you want to be Titan food that badly? Give me a break!" Eren sighed rolling his eyes at Jean.
Hari was impressed, Eren may have only been if fifth but his ability to inspire people was far above anyone Hari had ever seen. He was better than Dumbledore or Voldemort, when it came to rallying people to him.
"I- I had a dream." Eren said no longer talking to Jean but the room in general.
"It's to exterminate the Titans and leave this cramped walled up world. My dream is to explore, the outside world." Eren said with hope in his voice.
Hari was surprised, from what she understood the outside world was a taboo topic. And from everyone's reactions to Eren's confession it is.
"Ha! What the hell are you talking about?! You must be the one with the soft noggin!" Jean laughed at Eren.
"What!" Eren growled at Jean.
"Look at them! Not a single person here agrees with you!" Jean said gesturing to the room.
Eren looked around the room and saw that no one was getting up to join him.
"Okay your right. I got it." Eren quickly said clenching his fists, and then Eren pulled of his signature move, headbutting; slamming his head to Jean he growled at him.
"So, shove off to the interior. Having a defeatist like you here on the front line is bad for morale!"
"Of course, that's just what I'm going to do, but you want to go outside the walls, right? Go on ahead! The Titans you must love so much are waiting for you!" Jean growled back.
Both Eren and Jean suddenly pulled back from each other and glared at each other.
"Pain." Eren said, and Jean chuckled. Hari thought that they were going to go back to their drinks. But she quickly realized that they weren't, when they both slammed their fists into each other's faces.
They continued to fight for several minutes with people constantly trying to get them to stop with every attempt failing. Till Mikasa picked up Eren and Bert Held back Jean.
Jean and Eren both tried to struggle out of their captors grasps as they yelled profanity at each other. It only ended when Mikasa carried Eren out of the room with Armin tailing Mikasa.
Bert talked to Jean for a bit calming him down as the rest of the 104th went back to their drinks.
"You guys should have let them continue." Hari said getting Marco, Annie, and Bert to look at her.
"Why?" Marco asked looking at Hari like she lost her mind.
"They are going to miss each other and that was how they were going to say goodbye." Hari said a smile cracking on her face.
"Besides they also needed to relieve all that sexual tension."
Reiner choked on his drink again.
/Later/
Hari stood on the wall surrounding Trost District cleaning the cannons with the rest of the 104th she was cleaning a cannon with Annie and Bert.
Most of the other groups that were cleaning cannons were talking about nonsense while cleaning, but since Hari, Bert, and Annie were all quiet they stayed in silence. Mostly just listening to the other conversations.
Hari noticed that Bert seemed uncomfortable but she ignored it, but she kept an eye on him to make sure that he was okay. They continued for a moment till Bert said that he was going to go take a leak.
Both her and Annie excused him to do so, and then picked back up on their work.
They worked for about thirty more seconds till the ground shook nocking Hari down from the force. Looking up Hari stared in horror as she stared into the face of the Colossal Titan.
The Titan took a massive breath of air and then blew the air at them blowing them off the wall. Quickly getting hold of her 3DMGear Hari hooked herself onto the wall. She almost detached as she saw Samuel's unconscious body fall, but Sasha caught him, by using the 3DMGear's hook to spear through his foot.
Hari almost detached again as the wall shook from the Colossal Titan breaking the wall open. She stared in horror as the pieces of wall crashed back into the earth.
"He's going to finish what he started." Hari mumbled to herself as she saw the first Titan walk through the wall.
"Now's our chance! Go for the Colossal!" Eren yelled as he used his 3DMGear to climb the wall.
Hari quickly followed him shooting up the wall. Eren got to the top first and started running up the Titans right arm.
It raised its left arm to try and hit Eren but Hari shot her hook into its left arm and landed on it.
"Get me, you bloody basterd." Hari yelled at it. But it ignored her seemingly more interested in swatting off Eren.
Quickly thinking Hari shouted something she knew she would regret later.
"I know what you are! Come and get me, Shifter."
The speed in which the Colossal turned its head to look at her was extraordinary, and the speed at which it started to try and kill her was even faster. It brought up its right arm and swung it like someone would try to do if they were swatting a fly.
Quickly dodging its hand Hari jumped to the back on its left hand.
I just need to keep it distracted long enough for Eren to kill it. Hari thought as she dodged his hand again.
She watched in surprise as its hole back erupted in steam. Did Eren do it? Hari thought. And then the hand she was standing on turned to steam. it surprised her so much that she almost hit the ground before activating the 3DMGear to catch herself.
She quickly pulled herself to the top of the wall only just noticing that it had destroyed the cannons that they were working on, minutes ago.
She ran over to Eren who was helping some of the 104th get up. Right after they pulled up Connie a man from the Garrison got on top of the wall.
They quickly saluted him.
"The strategy for dealing with a Colossal Titan appearance is already in motion! Report to your posts on the double! And if any of you made contact with it, make a report to HQ!" The Garrison soldier said followed by us once again saluting him and then running to the edge of the wall.
Hari was about to jump off the wall till she heard the Garrison soldier tell Eren to wait, turning around to see what was up Hari saw the Garrison soldier put a hand on Eren's shoulder and telling him to be safe.
Then Eren started running to the Wall and jumped off it flying through the city as fast as possible with Hari, Connie, and the others following him.