The woman she wanted to be….
It had been two years since joining the cadets, and not a day went by when Nicolette didn't recall those words Sasha had spoken to her that night after their first day out in the field training with the omi-directional gear. Nicolette came to the realization that she wasn't sure what kind of woman she wanted to be, only what kind of solider; but even her philosophy as a solider as crumbling under the weight of change. Nicolette held strong the concept of friendships among cadets to be a terrible idea, afraid personal relationships would interfere in battle, yet the last two years she had grown so close to Connie and Sasha is was impossible for her to even dare think that anymore.
And it wasn't just friendships that had developed in those last two years, there was romance. Two separate ones, in fact. First, there was Reiner. That was genuine, that was driven by pure mutual admiration and affection. It was slow by comfortable, and undefined. They didn't cling to one another like some dramatic couple in hopeless love. In fact they rarely spent much quality time together at all; hell they barely even shared meals. But they both felt growing too close too fast would be dangerous, and preferred to keep distance when they could.
Then there was Jean. Nicolette didn't care much for him personally. She found him rude, annoying, and a bit conceited. But she enjoyed looking at him, even more so when he was naked. Nicolette refused to have sex with him, that was one personal rule that hadn't changed in the last two years; she wouldn't sleep with anyone who she didn't love, especially for her first time. But they had plenty of other fun, plenty of secret fun. Nicolette didn't want Reiner to even catch a hint of her time spent with Jean in fear it might compromise what they were trying to build. They weren't technically together anyway, so it wasn't like Reiner would have any room to honestly be upset over the matter, but she still didn't want to risk it.
In the last two years Nicolette had developed more than she had ever dreams, both on personal and physical levels. She was getting stronger then she had ever been and far more clever.
She worked her hardest to listen and study every lecture they were given, and even enlisted Armin to help her study since he was the smartest cadet she knew. Nicolette was always the first to admit that academics weren't her strong point, but with Armin's help she did better than ever on tests then she could have managed alone.
Physically she had been at such a disadvantage with her shorter height than everyone else, and had more to prove because of it. They all thought she was weak just because she was little, but that didn't mean she couldn't pack a punch. Reiner often assisted her with her physical training, helping her work out even after their daily training was done for the day. Connie also helped as well, mostly with her work in areas of agility since he was so naturally gifted with it himself.
Nicolette often to went to Jean for extra training with their 3D Maneuvering Gear; despite her already being classified as advanced with the gear, she liked to stay polished and liked the extra training to help her remain on top of her game and since Jean was such a master of the gear himself he was perfect to help her.
Nicolette was trying her best to be a well rounded solider and trained more than any other cadet to achieve that goal. She just want to be great in one area, she wanted to exceed proficiency in as many subject matters as she could. And now her chance to prove everything she had been working so hard to achieve was there; their two year fitness assessment.
Today was the pack run. In the rain. Everyone else was dreading it, but not Nicolette. The pack run was always one of her least favorite activities because honestly she was rather terrible at it, but she was eager to get it over with and score high this time. She pulled the hood of her cloak up and walked out into the rain with Sasha as they headed towards the trail. They had to walk two miles from the barracks to the training trail they used that went through the forest, with their packs on the whole walk, before the run began. All the cadets gathered at the starting point, waiting for the instructor to show up and begin the assessment.
Connie and Sasha both waited alongside Nicolette, watching in the rain for the instructor to finally show up. Whenever it was raining he made them wait on purpose, at least that was Nicolette's own opinion on the matter. "Colette," Reiner's voice called out to her as he pushed his way through all the other cadets to reach her. Once Reiner got a bit closer Connie and Sasha both stepped away a bit, knowing whenever Reiner and Nicolette spoke they preferred some degree of privacy. Reiner put his hand on Nicolette's shoulder, their most preferred form of PDA, and smiled softly at her. "I just wanted to wish you luck. I know you've been training hard for this run, and I just wanted to let you know that I'm rooting for you."
Nicolette couldn't help but blush softly, trying to act like he didn't always just make her stomach run wild with butterflies every time he said such sweet things to her. "Thank you." Was all she said to him, and that was enough for them. Reiner removed his hand from her shoulder, and nodded at her simply before slowly making his way back towards where he had left Bertolt.
"You two are so cute together." Sasha stated with a soft whisper as her and Connie both moved to stand back with Nicolette.
"At least they're not always hanging all over each other like Franz and Hannah." Connie insisted as he crossed his arms.
"Franz and Hannah? But they're not a couple." Sasha remarked.
"They say that, but you can tell they are, they just don't like being teased about it."
"They're different from us," Nicolette chimed in on the matter, "They're more infatuated with one another. What they have is simple and doesn't go far beyond the surface. Reiner and I are taking time, building this slowly so it might actually last."
"Yeah, last until graduation and until you join the Scout Regiment and get eaten." Jean butted in the conversation-Nicolette hadn't even realized he had been standing so close. "Falling in love right now is such a waste of time. You should at least wait to see if you even survive your first real expedition outside the wall."
"Is that why you haven't confronted Mikasa about the way you feel?" Nicolette accused Jean, being sure to keep her voice down because she knew how peeved he got when others overheard her accusing him of having feelings for Mikasa. "Because you want to make sure she'll survive as a Scout first?"
"And what makes you so sure she's going to be a Scout?" Jean completely avoided any attempts to deny his affections for Mikasa; he often said defending himself against it only makes him look guiltier of actually caring for her.
"Because I know for sure Eren is, and she'll do anything he does." Nicolette knew that would upset Jean, reminding him of how close Mikasa was with Eren and not him. But she didn't care if she hurt his feelings; in fact it was something she often strived for. At first she would insult him in front of others to help hide their secret, but then she later discovered there was something incredibly sexy about him when he was angry at her when they shared heir intimate moments together.
Before Jean even had a chance to counter with a clever insult, the instructor rode up. Everyone turned their attention to him as he rode past them towards the start of the trail. "Good morning," He greeted them half-heartedly. "This is your first test of your official fitness assessment." He reminded them. "We will run take the longest route, running six miles. If you stop, you fail. And for those of you with dreams of being ranked in the top ten, not one fail on any one of your tests would harm your overall scores beyond recovery and you might as well kiss your top ten dreams goodbye. Now run!"
And so began the first test of their fitness assessment. For Nicolette, this was the first real step in becoming a Scout. These tests were all about proving yourself, showing what you've learned from the last two years, and she was eager to succeed.
