Chapter 7: Change

Later that evening, Atem was sitting by himself as usual as he ate his dinner. The eating hall was packed as always, with all the cadets idly chatting to each other, and Atem tried not to think about what it would be like for his table to be filled with friends, laughing and joking about. He remembered his first night here, when Mana had asked him where he was from. Perhaps if he hadn't been such an ass, they could have been friends. Still, she was very close to that Mahaad guy, and the name ignited an anger inside Atem still, from their encounter that night. He and Mahaad still shared glares whenever they passed each other, although it wasn't that often.

Despite the light hearted chatter going on as friends shared stories and laughter, Atem could only think that this sort of environment was only temporary relief from what was really going on, a distraction even. While they were sitting here enjoying each other's company, there were probably soldiers from the survey corps returning home carrying the dead bodies of their comrades. It was a never ending war between humans and titans, and Atem had to remind himself not to get too attached to this sheltered environment, away from all the real bloodshed, for they would be among the midst of it in a couple of years. Here, if you missed a titan in training, you would just have to keep going and try better next time. Out in the real world though, if you missed, it could be fatal.

Atem was interrupted from his thoughts when the door to the eating hall opened, revealing a tall and well built man as he strutted in, catching everyone's attention with a sharp whistle. Atem knew him as one of the squad leaders, though he didn't know the man's name. All of the cadets immediately silenced as they sat and waited for whatever the guy had to say. He stepped forwards with his hands clasped behind his back, regarding the group of teenagers with a hard stare, as did all the commanding officers.

"All occupants of dorm 2, stand!" He demanded in a rough, booming voice. The next few seconds was filled with the sound of chairs scraping across the hard wood floors as various cadets stood up, including Atem and his whole squad. "After close inspection of your dormitory, your various complaints about the condition of the building have been noted, and starting tomorrow it will be under maintenance. This means that you all are to be assigned to new quarters so we can commence the work. Once you are finished here you are to vacate your dorms and move over to the new ones assigned to you, which have been posted up on your doors. That is all." With one last nod, the man turned and swiftly left the eating hall, the door swinging shut behind him.

Atem let out a sigh as he sat back down at his table. It was definitely good that they were finally repairing those poorly built dorms, but he wasn't so keen on moving over to a new one, wherever it ended up being. He just hoped that it was worth having a decent living space, and prayed that he wouldn't be stuck with Allister and Valon again. As Atem sat and finished up his meal in silence, he didn't catch the set of blue eyes turning in his direction, as ideas ticked over in Yusei's mind. After a swift shake of the head, the taller male stood, dismissing his thoughts, and headed off to move dorms.

The training camp they were situated in consisted of eight large dormitories, each with six rooms that could hold six people each, as the one Atem had stayed in. On top of that, there were then another 5 smaller dorms consisting of 3 rooms, each holding four people. Atem was hastily shoving his small amount of belongings into his tattered old suitcase when he overheard his room mates talking about the new assigned dorms. It seemed that the arrangement was going to be slightly different.

"They're splitting us into our separate squads?" one of the guys asked, staring at the list on the door. Atem let out a breath of relief, that meant no Allister or Valon.

Atem knew that both squads C & D occupied this dorm, but the placement of each person had been quite random. In fact, Atem was the only person in his current room from squad C, while the rest of his squad were scattered through the other rooms. He had the suspicion that initially they had been sorted between rooms in alphabetical order, considering all the cadets in his room had names between R and T. From what he was hearing from the cadets outside however, that was about to change. After grabbing the tattered doll from under the bed, he zipped up his suitcase and carried it outside, taking a peek at the list on the door to find out where he was moving to.

He finally spotted his name, "Dorm 9, room B..." he murmured as he read the words. With a sigh and a shrug of the shoulders, he headed down the stairs from the dingy old dorm and set off to one of the smaller buildings further up the stone path. He knew that dorms 1-8 were the larger buildings, each being able to hold about 36 cadets each. The dorms that the occupants of building 2 were moving to however were much smaller, only holding about 12 people each, almost enough for a whole squad. Atem finally reached dorm 9 and pulled his suitcase up the small set of steps, instantly spotting room B just to his right. He made his way over the door, wondering who he would be stuck with this time. There weren't many people to choose from, since it would be members of his squad. He hadn't bothered looking at the other names on the list, so even with the choice of seventeen possible people, he wasn't prepared for who he would be rooming with.

He walked inside and stood between the two sets of bunk beds, and though there were belongings occupying both beds on one side of the small room, there appeared to be nobody there. He turned and dumped his suitcase on top of the bed to his left that was still free, when someone spoke up from above him.

"Howdy, room mate," The familiar voice asserted from the bunk above his own.

His eyes grew wide, "You've got to be kidding me..." He instantly looked up to the other man leaning over the side of the top bunk, grinning from ear to ear.

"Looks like you're stuck with me," Yusei declared with a grin, a devious spark in his eyes.

Atem dropped his raised eyebrows as his expression turned to one of defeat. He pushed his suitcase off of the bed and fell back onto it with a sigh. "Well, shoot me now."

The other man simply chuckled, as he jumped down from the bed, "Aw, come on, it can't be that bad," he said. "This will make your training easier."

Atem had his eyes closed as he lay on his back, moving his arms up behind his head. "Just because I asked for your help, doesn't mean I want to room with you. Like I said, I don't like you, I simply tolerate you."

Although Yusei wanted to chuckle at that sentence, he dropped the joking tone from his voice. "Well, at least you aren't stuck with Allister and Valon anymore, that's got to be worth something."

There was a silence that swept through the room as Atem lay there, having noticed the more serious tone to Yusei's voice. After a moment or two, he opened his eyes, noticing the other teen was still standing beside the bed, watching him carefully. Atem turned his gaze to the side, "Yeah," he murmured. "It is."

They were then alerted to the return of their other two room mates, as Jack and Crow appeared at the door, their footsteps thumping on the wooden floor. The shorter of the two was the first to walk in, as Atem sat up on the bed, and his movement caught Crow's attention.

He stopped in his tracks and moved his arms up into the air in a grand gesture. "Wait, you're our new room mate?!" he exclaimed, not sounding as if he liked the idea at all. Behind him, Jack had scrunched up his nose. This usually would have offended any normal person, but Atem hadn't expected anything else. Before he had a chance to speak however, Yusei had jumped in.

"Lay off guys," the teen reasoned, "He asked for my help."

That's when Atem jumped in, "Only because I was threatened to get kicked out." Just to make sure everyone knew they weren't friends, of course. He just needed someone to push him through the hard parts and he'll be on his way, simple as that. Yusei couldn't help but think of how Atem had looked only a few hours ago, kneeling in the mud looking completely defeated. How he had dropped his walls and finally asked for help. Atem had seemed so vulnerable that he had almost looked like a completely different person to the one who was sitting only a meter away now. Yusei wondered if he was going to try and keep this up as he did before. At least now there were moments every now and again when Yusei could see through the cracks in the wall, it was just a matter of time.

"Yes, because otherwise he'd be kicked out," Yusei clarified quickly. "But the thing is-"

Atem was suddenly interrupting him with a wave of his hand. "It's okay Yusei, I'm not favored by anyone here, I get it." He then turned to Jack and Crow, who looked back at him with narrowed eyes. "Look, I'll try not to be such an ass. I don't want to be hated any more than I already am." Without another word, he stood and walked past the two, disappearing out the door with a muttered, "Excuse me."

The moment Atem was out of ear shot, Crow and Jack had turned their questioning-yet still accusing-gaze to Yusei. The cadet raised his eyebrows, "Oh come on, guys," he all but whined, dropping his arms to his side. "You can't say you haven't noticed."

Now it was Crow's turn to raise his eyebrows, "Noticed what?"

Yusei threw his hands in the air dramatically, more for Jack's benefit, "He's different! All of the hostility, the glares, the retorts, that's not him, that's not Atem. And the longer we've been here, the more that's become evident." Yusei then pointed out the door in the direction said man had gone, "That is not the soldier that wants to graduate, and he knows that. You can't say that you haven't noticed him change-ever so slightly-in the time that we've been here. I know it's not just me."

Crow's eyes wandered to the floor as a thought struck him. He recalled part of their conversation from the previous night, after Yusei had tried to offer Atem a seat at their table.

"You can't tell me you're still trying to pursue this guy, Yusei," Jack huffed, stuffing more bread into his mouth. "He's not going to change, he's gonna get kicked out no matter what."

Crow then sniggered from beside the blond, "Take it from someone who has just as much pride." An elbow to the teen's side silenced him for a moment, as he groaned in complaint. Crow then joined in on the debate, "Seriously though Yusei, you're fighting a losing battle. He's not going to give in just because you're trying to be a friend. He doesn't want friends, he just wants to sit all high and mighty at his table over there and smirk like the sun shines out of his ass. In fact, I'm sure he's doing it now."

Yusei glanced behind Crow for a moment, before replying, "Are you sure about that?"

With a confused scrunch of the nose, Crow turned around to examine the table at the end of the room. The figure sitting there had his shoulders slumped, and was staring blankly down at his food, which remained untouched.

Crow sighed and sat down on his bed, across from Atem's. "He has been acting different lately," he admitted.

Jack also looked deep in thought, as Yusei spoke once more. "Think about it, he asked for my help. You saw him this afternoon, kneeling in the mud, he has nothing left to lose. He has these moments where you see he isn't just an asshole."

Jack leaned against the doorframe, his eyes cast to the floor. "But he tries to make sure nobody see's that..." The taller cadet did indeed know what Yusei was talking about, and it didn't need to be said as Yusei caught his friend's gaze. You know what I mean, it said, you've done it before.

Jack finally let out a sigh, "Alright, Yusei. He said he's gonna try not to be an ass, so I'll take your word for it." A nod of appreciation came from the dark haired teen, before he turned his gaze to Crow.

The red head almost suppressed his eye roll, but replied, "Whatever, I'm not stealing any more bread for him though."

Yusei let a small smile creep onto his face, "I didn't need you to."