To Mika, a child soldier who had closed his heart off to nearly everyone but those closest to him, the simple fact that he, in just about three fourths of a year, was able to make three friends, friends whom he very nearly considered to be on the level of Tekkadan, was rather amazing.
For the most part, his relationships with Nac and Mina remained the same, but the two had stopped pestering him and Annie ever since they came to good terms with each other, which was to say that they were less annoying and more tolerable to both of the blue eyed teenagers. His relationship with Annie, however, escalated so far that it surprised even the two of them.
Over the course of about a month ever since the duo had come to good terms with each other, Annie had started speaking more to her fellow blue eyed child, something which surprised even Mina and Nac, though it was a pleasant surprise to be sure. Though to be fair, the times where they spoke to each other could hardly be called conversations as they more or less said less than a hundred words to each other before carrying on with their days. Still, it was progress.
Annie herself also didn't go off to the fields as much as she usually did whenever Mika was around, and sometimes even (seemingly) intentionally claiming a seat beside the boy. It made Nac and Mina happy, to see that their friend was seemingly warming up to Mika, even making an active effort to be in close proximity to him, but Mina was a little more mixed on how she felt about it. Nac took notice, but he gave no comment in fear of being on the opposing side of a girl's wrath.
To distract him from those thoughts, Nac inadvertently took note of Annie seemed to had changed since that visit to Bertholdt and Reiner's house. The blonde seemed slightly more carefree and friendly. Sure, it wasn't enough for Mina, or even Ms Carolina for that matter, to notice, but it was definitely there, and Nac was perceptive enough to see it. The boy also noted how Mika tended to visit Bert and Rein on various occasions, but he didn't need to be very perceptive to notice that.
In short, something about that visit to Bertholdt and Reiner's home had changed Annie. Nac secretly wondered if Mika had anything to do with it, and that thought sounded romantic to him. Though Mina, for some reason, was a little indifferent to the idea.
A sunday, several days after the previous chapter
"What happened, exactly?"
"Well… Mina asked Ms Carolina… and you probably know what came next."
Pinching the bridge of her nose in mild frustration, Annie shook her head as Mika raised a brow. The two blue eyed trespassers had just returned from a trip through Trost, something which was becoming somewhat common for the two to do routinely. When they had returned, however they noted how Ms Carolina, who was still home as it was a Sunday, seemed rather unhappy at best and pained at worst.
Annie herself had a feeling that she knew the reason as to why, but Mika was confused. In order to confirm her suspicions and to settle Mika's curiosity, Annie asked Nac about the issue, and unsurprisingly to her, Leonhardt's hypothesis was correct.
"The Survey Corp matter?" inquired Annie, and Nac gave a slightly distressed nod in response.
"Mina asked Ms Carolina not too long after you two left home…" explained Nac, keeping his voice softer than usual to avoid being heard by Ms Carolina, who was sitting not too far away from them on the couch. Despite his attempts, Mika and Annie could tell that she was aware of their current conversation, as evident by the way she glanced at the three of them when Tias mentioned her name. "She replied the way you said she would… and Mina didn't exactly take it that well."
"Did she keep pestering Ms Carolina?" questioned Annie, her voiced mildly hushed.
"Yeah. In the end she gave up and went to our room to sulk. I tried getting her out, but it's no use," said Nac with a defeated sigh. "Think you can give me a hand with her, Ann?"
"Sure," replied Annie with a nod as Nac led her up to the second floor. Mika could hear the door open and the two enter, only for it to shut with a rather loud thud. The thud made Ms Carolina flinch a tad while Mika paid it no mind and moved over to claim a better spot on the couch, not too far from where the elder Carolina sat.
For a long while, neither Augus nor the older Carolina uttered a single word. Mikazuki himself was content with the silence and was unwilling to partake in this family drama, knowing that he was still immensely inexperienced at being in a normal household, while Ms Carolina kept contemplating things in her mind.
And finally, the silence was broken by Ms Carolina herself, who turned to fix her gaze on Mikazuki.
"Mikazuki, do you think I'm being unreasonable?" asked the woman, making Augus turn to face her, an eyebrow raised, a gesture which told Ms Carolina that he didn't get what she was asking. With a soft huff, she did as such and rephrased herself. "Do you think I'm being unreasonable for denying Mina her request to join the Trainee Corps?"
Her response was an indifferent shrug from Augus. In truth, Mika had no real thoughts on if they joined the 104th brigade of Trainee Corps. If they joined, he would go along with them just out of obligation. If they didn't, it just meant that they, and by a certain extent he himself, would live boring and uneventful, if a lot longer, lives. Either or was viable to him. The boy was a child soldier at heart, after all, even he did secretly yearn for a quiet life if a farmer.
"I don't think it's really unreasonable, the way you're currently feeling," replied Mika after some time. Ms Carolina, for her part, seemed surprised, apparently expecting Mika to be against her decision to deny Mina's Military Brigade request. "But I can't say I completely agree with it either."
"Could you elaborate, Mikazuki Augus?" asked Ms Carolina, an eyebrow raised as she narrowed both eyes. According to Nac, if she did that, it meant that she was in what he called 'serious mother mode', something which apparently terrified even Annie. Though if he were honest, Mika was not even amused by it, having seen much more intimidating glares in his lifetime, and because of that, he replied with an even voice.
"I know that you're worried for Mina," replied Mika, locking his gaze with Ms Carolina's. "It's in your nature, to worry about your own flesh and blood. But you need to look at the other side of this argument."
"Oh?" piped Ms Carolina, seeming a little curious as to what Augus was currently saying, prompting the boy to go on.
"This is Mina's dream. To become a soldier, a part of the Scout Regiment," explained Mika, holding an index finger up in the air. "She tells me about it every night, about how she hoped that you'll let her join when she's old enough. Annie keeps telling her to not hold onto hope, but she does anyways. I can only imagine how she feels, now that her dream was just denied."
"I… I see," muttered Ms Carolina with a nod. "I suppose… I never took that into consideration."
"I don't blame you," said Mika, still as neutral as ever. "You're just worried for her. To Mina, you sound selfish and unreasonable. But in reality, you just want her to be safe."
"I… suppose you could put it that way," muttered Ms Carolina with a nod as she smiled.
'Though if you ask me we'd die either way,' thought Mika. 'That 'Colossal Titan', as everyone calls it, proves that we're not truly safe within these walls.'
"How do you know this much, anyways?" inquired Ms Carolina, sounding curious. Mika responded with a raised eyebrow, prompting her to reiterate. "You seem to know a lot about things like this. Has Nac been trying to teach you about talking again?"
Mika shrugged at that. In truth, she was correct. Nac was doing his best to teach him more social skills. It honestly made him speak more awkwardly than it did help him be better in conversations, though even he didn't have the heart to tell that to Nac. The boy was just waaaaay too cheery and friendly, even for Mika to handle.
"I suppose I'll think about it overnight," muttered Ms Carolina thoughtfully, leaning forward and rubbing her upper arm in a tense manner. "But I'm not going to promise you that I'll let her."
"If you let her go, then we'll all go," mentioned Mika, making Ms Carolina quirk a brow, prompting the boy to reiterate. "Nac's got plans to join the Scouts. And if either of them go, Annie and I will follow."
Ms Carolina nodded at that, looking a little antsy at that. But she seemed rather curious about something, prompting her to ask a simple question. "Why do you do this, Mikazuki Augus?"
"Do what?"
"Why do you do what you do?" rephrased the woman, a small glint of suspicion in her eyes as she stared at him. "Your… commendable loyalty to Mina, Nac and Annie. Just what exactly motivates you to be as loyal to them as you are?"
"I…" muttered Mika, unsure on how he should reply. In truth, even he didn't know why. At first, he thought that it was because he felt the need to repay them for everything they did for him or just act nice(r) to keep a spot in the household, but in more recent times, the pilot has felt himself feel differently. He didn't know what it was exactly, so he had no other reply outside of. "...I don't know."
And for now, that answer seemed to satisfy Ms Carolina for now as she stopped speaking for the rest of the night. On the polar opposite of things, however, Mikazuki was kept up all night as he wondered about the proper answer as to why he was so loyal to the three others.
The next day
"Where are you headed off to anyways, Mina?"
"I… just need to clear my mind."
Seeming unsatisfied with Mina's response to him, Nac frowned and blocked Mina's path to the door. Rather shockingly, the girl shot him a glare, and even more so, Nac returned it in full. Over by the side, on the 'kitchen' table, Mika and Annie watched the two usually kind kids battle each other with their glares in amusement. Their glares were intense… at least in Mina and Nac's terms. When compared to Mika and Annie, it was nothing more than a pair of mildly annoyed looks.
"You don't have to go alone just to clear your mind, y'know?" shot Nac, jabbing a finger a little away from Mina's chest. Mina, in response, grimaced.
"And you don't have to be so sensitive, Nac!" retorted Mina, and she did something which shocked even Mika and Annie. The girl, in another out of character movement, shoved Nac out of her way and stormed out of the house. Nac didn't fall back, but he did stagger sideways, his expression reflecting his shock, while Mika had both his brows raised in mild surprise and Annie beside him had her usually stoic expression replaced with one of shock. It took a moment for the two to shake off their shock, and by then, they had stood up.
"Idiot…" muttered Nac as Annie and Mika walked up beside him to watch Mina walk away from the Carolina Residence.
"She's upset, isn't she?" muttered Annie to Nac, who sighed and nodded grimly, arms crossed and a grimace on his face. "She needs to unwind, I guess."
"It'll take some time…" agreed Nac, only to pause when he noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye. "But… Mika?"
Switching their attention from Mina to Mika when the two of them saw that he was beginning to walk out of the Carolina Residence, now wearing his usual combat boots and heading after Mina. When he heard Nac mutter his name, Augus turned to face him and gave a soft, "hm?"
"Where-" began Nac, only for Augus to cut him off.
"It's obvious," responded Mika, and he immediately continued going after Mina. Nac wanted to try and stop him as he now believed that Mina needed some alone time to unwind, but Annie stopped him with a firm hand on his shoulder which made him wince.
"Let him go, Nac," she ordered, frowning. Nac was ready to protest, but she cut him off. "Mina needs to unwind, yes, but she also needs a friend to help reinvigorate her spirits."
"But I-"
"We're her friends, yes. But Mika's not as emotional as you, and he may not look it, the boy knows how to speak about things like these better than either of us," replied Annie. "Just let this happen and don't get involved for once."
Opening his mouth, Nac seemed keen on retorting, but Annie's glare stopped him.
'That, and I'm curious as to how this will go…' added Annie mentally as Nac held his head in both hands and groaned in defeat.
Elsewhere
Mina was not known for her general whininess. Sure, she was immature from time to time, but never for her whininess… at least until now.
She felt that it was unfair… very unfair. The girl has been dreaming about this for practically all her life, and for her mother to deny it so quickly and so insistently was saddening at best, and heartbreaking at worst.
For a long, very long, part of her walk, Mina had an angered look on her face. It did subsite after some time, but her current feelings towards her mother had not changed. Even buying a small piece of bread to potentially stem her anger did not help anything, even as she tore into it rather animalistically, making a certain someone tailing her around Trost wince.
'It's all bloody unfair… why does everyone else's parents let their kids join the Scouts but mine doesn't?!' thought Mina as she shoved the rest of the bread into her mouth. While she chomped down on it with all her might, however, Mina failed to notice the boy which was several metres, most likely twenty metres behind her, tailing her. Well, the boy had been tailing her for the past hour and a half since she had left, but in her sulking, she just never noticed.
Instead, Mina kept her frustrated gaze firm as she zig zagged through Trost. Her mind was struggling to process all the mixed feelings she was currently feeling. The most noticeable feeling she had at the moment was, as one would expect, anger, with sadness and a mild drop of irritation in the mix.
Finally, Mina had stopped her trek through Trost at the ravine which separated the residential region from the industrial and field areas. The girl stood at the edge of the ravine, eventually moving to sit on it, hugging her knees as she stared out at either the water or at the other side of the ravine. And there she sat for the better part of an hour, ignorant of the pilot who was staring at her from a short distance away from her.
'She is quite the fool,' thought Mika with a huff as he stared at his friend sit at the edge of the ravine, sulking quietly to herself. Currently, Augus was standing roughly ten metres away from Carolina. The girl didn't seem to hear him, though Mika attributed that to how loud it currently was. Trost could be a very loud place in the morning, after all. Either that or she was a little too angry to hear him. Both possibilities were not entirely off the table.
While he had tailed Mina through Trost, following her through the east side and even going into the west just to keep an eye on the girl. He was mildly amused by her antics, honestly, often cracking a smile whenever she slouched over in defeat or grumbled gibberish to herself to help ease her current dilemma. It was rather cute to him for some reason. Then again, he did find Atra and, to a lesser extent, Kudelia both cute and had taken a liking to both because of that. Of course he did prefer the former over the latter…
And when she had stopped at the ravine to have a sit down, Mika promptly stopped alongside her. The boy watched as she sat there, as silent as he tended to be. Her posture showed her current sadness, and it made Mika feel rather odd. The boy was slowly accepting the fact that he was human and still had feelings, sure. But he wasn't exactly sure about the current feeling he was having towards Mina. At best, he could only confirm that he felt bad for her.
After about an hour, Mina was still sitting there. By then, Mika began wondering if she was waiting for some miracle to happen, like her mother coming out of nowhere and telling her that she changed her mind to let her join the Military Brigade's Trainee Corp. It was unlikely, but the whims of a normal child like Mina were rather unpredictable.
And finally, Mika's boredom got a hold of him, so he approached Carolina and took a seat next to her.
Perking her ears up at the sound of footsteps, Mina turned at her waist to spot Mikazuki approaching her.
Raising her brows in surprise as he walked up to her, Mina watched as Mika moved over to sit beside her. He didn't greet her and just sat there for the better part of five minutes, and even then, Mina was the one who broke the silence.
"Hey," she greeted flatly, something which was very uncommon for her, though it didn't surprise Augus thanks to her current situation. He replied with a grunt, albeit a rather gentle one. "Let me guess, Nac persuaded you to come after me, hm?"
Mina's tone told Augus that she was confident about her answer. But to her shock, Mika shook his head, snorting as he answered.
"I came here on my own," replied Mika straightforwardly. "Annie supported the idea. Nac thought you needed some wind down time."
"Well maybe I do!" protested Mina, finally snapping from her current dilemma. "I probably needed an hour to unwind from all the things which my mum told me! All that false hope which I'd built up…"
As she finished her sentence, Mina sank her head down between her knees, hugging her them tighter. Mika saw that she was mad… very mad, at her mother. Mika was considering allowing her to just mope, but his recent… fondness of Carolina stopped him from doing so.
"Why do you think Ms Carolina doesn't want you to join the Military Brigade?" questioned Mika. Unlike his usual, emotionless tone, he seemed rather sympathetic, albeit very mildly, though if he was sympathetic to her or her mother was not known to Mina. The girl didn't put much into that thought, however, as she was contemplating what Augus had said.
"She… she's just paranoid!" protested Mina with a deep frown. "I'm not gonna die easily, y'know?! Besides, I'll have three years of preparation! It should be enough to prepare me for Scout service!"
As she vented out to Mika, the blue eyed boy rolled his eyes in an uncharacteristically annoyed way. Perhaps it was her current mood, or her naivety, but either way, she couldn't see that her mother's current feelings regarding Mina's intentions on joining the Military Brigade were rather justified. Though just to be at least a little polite, Mika waited for Mina to finish speaking before he replied.
"...and she's also breaking Nac and Annie's hearts too! I mean… they wanna join too!" finished Mina, dramatically lifting her arms into the air. Mika raised a brow at that, not knowing that Annie would want to join the brigade, though he had a feeling that Annie had told that to Mina just to (maybe) make her feel happy.
"Ah," mumbled Mika, before he shook his head and began to rephrase what he had said to Ms Carolina. Clearing his throat, he began to speak in a tone somewhere between sympathetic and a little annoyed. "You never thought about why she feels that way, have you?"
"Of course I've thought of why!" protested Mina, swinging her arms at Mika. Augus caught her arm by the wrist with a small amount of his strength, enough to make the girl wince before he let it go when the momentum was lost. Mina didn't react to that in any way as she went on. "She's just paranoid!"
"Or maybe she's worried," pointed out Mika.
"Too paranoid perhaps!" proclaimed Mina. "She keeps worrying for-"
"For good reasons," said Mika, cutting his friend off swiftly. "You don't know that feeling, Mina. of being worried for someone you care for a lot."
"Yeah, and how would you know that feeling…" demanded Mina, hugging her knees as she asked, and she got no answer from Augus. Though within a few seconds, she realized the stupidity and possible suicidal nature of what she had just asked and widened her eyes in realization as she turned to face Augus with an extremely apologetic expression. "Wait… nevermind."
Mika gave a slight snort at that. Mina was a rather smart girl, nowhere close to Nac's level, but by no means stupid. Even so, she could sometimes be an immense dummy, something which was just demonstrated. He had a feeling that the girl did not mean to say something as insensitive as what she just did, even if it did piss him off a tad.
"You won't forgive yourself if someone you care a lot about died," said Mika coldly. His tone made Mina shudder, an action which the boy promptly ignored. "Do you want to put your mother through all that."
"But… she doesn't… she doesn't know if I'll actually die in the Military Brigade…" muttered Mina defensively.
"You don't know that, Mina," replied Mika, lowering his brows at her. Mina turned to fix her rather tame (compared to his) glare on him. But within seconds, Carolina's glare softened when she noted that Mika's expression was… softer than usual. "The future isn't fixed. Tomorrow, we could still be alive, or we could drop dead. Tomorrow, the walls of Trost could still be up, or they could be breached by the Colossus Titan."
That latter option made Mina shiver, but she was still confused as to what he meant. She was about to ask, only for Augus to interrupt her.
"You could survive as a Survey Corp for decades, like that Levi person, moving up the ranks until you become a soldier on par with him," continued Mika. Upon hearing that, Mina perked up. Mika paused for a moment to let her think about that, and when he went on, the girl slouched forward. "Or you could die in your first expedition."
"That-"
"You could live to see humanity win this war," interrupted Mika, not bothering to keep up his manners as he grumbled at the slightly younger girl, brows lowered into a somewhat irritated expression. "Or, you could die from an accident in the Training Brigade."
"But-"
"None of this is confirmed," interrupted Mika again. "And that's why Ms Carolina is worried. She knows that you can potentially do great things in the future, but she doesn't want to lose you. She doesn't show it, but she loves you more than either me, Nac or Annie. You're her flesh and blood, and she doesn't want to lose someone that close to her."
"I… I never really thought about it that way…" muttered Mina, sounding sheepish as she rubbed the back of her neck. Mika simply huffed at that, finding the slight scolding he gave Mina to be rather theraputic. He did expect that response, however, as Mina wasn't as… lets say mature as Mika. She, at least from what Nac told him, had never lost anyone close to her in the past, and the odd timing of her mother's job meant that they couldn't get too close to each other. The girl wouldn't understand, not yet anyways, the pain of losing a comrade.
"Well, now you know," deadpanned Mika, having to stop himself from saying: "Of course you didn't.". And for a moment, neither spoke. Mina was obviously contemplating her overreaction to her mother's denial of her joining the Military Brigade, and Mika gave her enough space to do so as he reached into his pocket and pulled a raisin out to pop into his mouth.
"What should I do…" muttered Mina at last, looking at Augus with a rather scared gaze. He was clearly confused at what she meant as he swallowed the raisin, though Mina thankfully rephrased herself. "I… I stepped out of line with my mum… I don't know… if she…"
"Just talk to her," suggested Mika, interrupting Mina as he pulled out another raisin to pop into his mouth. The boy didn't stop to chew, simply speaking as he did. "She loves you a lot, and I have no doubt that she'll forgive you if you just say sorry."
"How… how do you know that?" asked Mina, raising an eyebrow. But it didn't seem skeptical, seeming rather… well… playful. "The future isn't fixed, y'know? We won't know if she'll be so eager to forgive me."
"That's true, but I have a feeling that the will," said Mika flatly. Mina's response was a soft chuckle as she gave him a playful punch on the shoulder as she chuckled.
"Since when did you become an optimist, Mikazuki? Nac's personality rubbing off on ya?" asked Mina sarcastically. Mika rolled his eyes in response as he shrugged. He had no proper response to that, so he stayed silent and sat there.
And there they sat, for the better part of the afternoon and into the evening. Mina eventually got sick of watching the water in the ravine flow calmly and stood to leave, with Mika following close behind.
Back at the Carolina Residence
The first thing which Mika noticed when they got back to Mina's house was the fact that Ms Carolina had apparently gotten off work early. The older lady was speaking with Nac and Annie, all three sitting on the couch when both Mika and Mina returned from their… walk.
Right when they stepped into the house, all eyes turned to regard them. Mina locked eyes with her mother, and the older Carolina seemed to expect her daughter to glare at her with angered eyes, so it was rather surprising to her when she saw that her child was looking at her with her usual expression: kind, friendly, and perhaps regretful.
"Hey… mum," greeted Mina awkwardly, and Mika gave a nod to greet the older woman. Ms Carolina responded with a nod of her own, and for a while, no one spoke. Mina and Mika stood at where they were while Ms Carolina, Annie and Nac just sat on the couch. Tias seemed somewhat tense at the current situation while Annie appeared to be more indifferent and blank looking, much like Augus.
"Mina…" muttered Ms Carolina. Her voice was soft, but in the current silence, everyone could hear her and turned to stare at her as she cleared her throat. "Could we… speak… in private?"
Upon saying that last word, Ms Carolina turned to Nac. The boy gave a nod and stood, motioning to Annie to do the same. She complied, and as she stood, Nac turned to Mika. The blue eyed boy didn't need to be told what Tias wanted him to do, and within seconds, the three of them were headed up to the shared room on the second floor.
Nac did spare a small glance back to Mina before he walked up. For a second, they locked their gazes with each other, and Mina swore that she saw that Tias' gaze was a positive one, but he broke eye contact before she could confirm it.
Upstairs
The first thing Mika did when he walked into the shared bedroom was to plop down onto Nac's single bed. Apparently wanting to give him some space, Nac moved to sit on Mina's bed while Annie leapt up onto her bed on the top bunk, laying down on it without a second thought.
And without missing a beat, Nac asked, "Judging from how Mina turned to look at Ms Carolina, you somehow managed to change her mind?"
"Ah," confirmed Mika with a nod. Annie, from her top bunk, gave an amused snort as she positioned her hands behind her head to act as makeshift pillows.
"I'll give you props for that," she said. "It's hard to change Mina's mind when it comes to stuff like this. How'd you manage it?"
Nac's expression as he looked at him told Mika that he was also curious, but he gave a shrug. "I just told her the truth."
"That Ms Carolina is just worried for her?" inquired Nac. "She already knew about that."
"She doesn't know the entire reason as to why she's worried," rebutled Mika. "I just told her the whole reason."
"I guess you've got a point," muttered Nac with a shrug. Mika gave a small nod, and for a second the entire room went silent. Annie seemingly lost interest in the Mina's situation as soon as Mika gave Nac his first reply, simply laying down to perhaps have an early night's rest, while Nac seemed to be doing his best to try and listen in to Mina and Ms Carolina's conversation… somehow. Mika himself just sat on Nac's bed, his back against the wall, rather content with their current silence.
"You two are joining the Military Brigade with Mina, aren't you?" inquired Mika, breaking the silence as Annie and Nac stared at him. Annie stayed silent as Nac chuckled.
"Well, yeah," admitted Nac with a smile. "I mean, it's kinda obvious, right? I'm sure Mina already told you that."
"Ah," confirmed Mika.
"It's just… I guess, a matter of loyalty, or friendship in my case," explained Nac, and Annie gave a low growl which sent a small chill up Tias' spine, though he ignored it as he went on. "On my part, I am also rather interested in joining the Brigade, even if Mina didn't want to. More of a childhood dream than anything. Annie… I… erm…"
"I'm just joining to keep you two in line," finished Annie for Nac. "We can't have either of you breaking a bone or get courtmarshaled by accident."
Nac's response to that was a sheepish chuckle and a nervous cheek scratch while Mika gave an amused huff.
"What about you, anyways, Mika?" asked Nac. "We never really asked you about whether or not you intend on following us."
"I am," replied Mika almost instantly. Nac and, to a rather mild extend, Annie turned to look at Augus with a somewhat surprised look at how quickly and willingly Mika agreed to joining them in the Military Brigade. Mika noted that as he went on. "It'd be less boring."
"Oh, I see…" muttered Nac with a nod. "Well, whatever the reason, it'd be reassuring to have you by our side, at least for me."
Annie gave a grunt, seemingly agreeing with Tias, who gave a thumbs up. Mika gave an amused huff as Nac chuckled and scratched his cheek. While he scratched, however, Mika couldn't help but start to feel a little… worried for his three… acquaintances.
While it was true that the future was not fixed, Mika was still worried for their sake. Sure, they could survive, but he placed extra emphasis on could. They could still die by a handful of means, perhaps during their time as Trainees even. Mika knew that deaths in training, while rather uncommon, did happen, after all. And he knew that if they made it far enough, them joining the Survey Corps would only make things worse.
His thoughts were interrupted, however, when Mina, rather abruptly, burst into the room, with Ms Carolina following behind her, albeit rather slowly as from where Mika sat, he could see that she was still making her way up the stairs as Mina burst in.
"GUYS, WE'VE GOT THE GREENLIGHT!" she proclaimed, raising her arms into the air in excitement as Nac stood up, nearly hitting his head on the top bunk as he did.
"Greenlight for what, now?" asked Nac, moving over to Mina's side, only to have the small girl grip him by the shoulders, tightly might I add, and pull him close, close enough to see that she had literal stars in her eyes. Annie, leaning on the edge of the top bunk, watched in amusement alongside Augus as Mina began shaking Nac back and forth.
"TO JOIN THE TRAINEE CORPS!" she answered, and Nac's expression visibly went from calm and friendly to enthusiastic in a heartbeat, and within a few seconds, both he and Mina were speaking gibberish, most likely thanks to their excitement. Annie stayed out of it, but Mina and Nac were too occupied with celebrating to notice. Mika, on the other hand, was watching in amusement.
While Nac and Mina literally began jumping up and down in joy, Mika noted that Ms Carolina was staring at him. Turning to return her gaze, she saw that she was motioning for him to come out to her. He complied, and when he was out, she gently shut the door to the shared bedroom. Only Annie seemed to notice him leaving, but she didn't think too much about it.
"So you decided to let them?" questioned Mika, though he knew that it was a rhetorical question. Ms Carolina seemed to note how it was a rhetorical question as well, as she gave a soft chuckle.
"Yes… it was foolish of me," confirmed the older woman as she gave a small smile. She seemed worried, but also rather confident for her children, adopted or not. "But… thanks to you, I'm more confident now that they should be able to make it."
Mika gave a small nod to acknowledge her, and she went on.
"You… you do intend to join them in the Military Brigade, don't you?" she asked, kneeling down to look Mika in the eye. Augus gave a nod, and she slouched over a tad in response. She seemed ready to argue against his choice, but instead, she nodded. "Very well then. But… please… be careful. And… keep them safe if you can."
"I will," said Mika, and his tone told the older Carolina that he meant what he said.
"Thank you, Mikazuki," thanked Ms Carolina, patting the kid's head. It gave Augus a rather warm feeling in his gut, but he ignored it as the older woman stood up. "Perhaps you should join them now."
Mika's simple response was a small nod as the woman turned to give her kids space. When she was out of sight, Mika moved to enter the shared room, where Mina and Nac were speaking about what they intended to do when/if they joined the Military Brigade. Both were sitting on the floor, while Annie was on Nac's bed, listening unintently to them.
When Mika came in, Mina and Nac gladly invited him over to speak with them. Mika listened, like Annie, unintently to them, though he couldn't help but crack a small smile on occasion whenever he saw Mina or Nac said something amusing about their possible future as soldiers. The boy also noted that Annie did the same as well.
After a rather long time listening to Mina and Nac, Mika found himself starting to feel strange. It made him quirk a brow in confusion, but at this point, he it didn't bother him. Instead, he smiled.
'Perhaps it's time to consider them more than acquaintances,' thought the boy as Nac spoke about possibly becoming a part of Team Levi and for Annie to lower his expectations by telling him it's close to impossible. 'Friends, perhaps?"
And after a quick thought, Augus gave a small smirk and nodded. It lasted for less then a second.
'Yeah… friends. I'll try to keep them safe. If the Walls ever get breached… I'll just get Barbatos into the fray.'
'One year…' thought Mikazuki as he stood under the intense heat of the sun alongside half a dozen other Trainees at the southern training grounds of Rose. Buried among countless other Trainees were Mina and Annie, but Mika couldn't make them out. The only person whom he knew was close to him at the moment was Nac, and that was because he was standing right next to him.
'Has it really been that long…?'
While it wasn't precisely an entire year, more of an eleven month ordeal, it still surprised Augus that he managed to come this far without the guidance of Orga or his fellow soldiers… and how much more independant he's become.
While the boy did still rely on Nac, Mina and (occasionally) Annie for orders, he was given a lot more opportunities to be an independent child. He did things which he wanted more often than he did things for others, and the piloy, while unused to this at first, grew accustomed to his new way of life relatively quickly.
Aside from his relationships with the three other kids improving impressively, Mika also noted how he seemed to slowly but surely forget about the Barbatos. When he had first moved in with Mina, the boy had visited the barn which housed the Gundam on several occasions, usually to think about things in a more private location or to simply stock up on rations for when he would inevitably need to get back into the Mobile Suit. He stopped right about the time when he began actively talking with the others, which seemed to happen after he and Annie were on good terms with each other. It was probably a good thing, as if he did not, the cockpit of his unit would probably be filled to the brim with stale bread within the year, and he was sure that Nac and Mina would grow curious as to where he had disappeared to if he didn't stop.
About five days ago, Ms Carolina (rather reluctantly) filed the four of them into the Trainee Corps. Mina, Nac and Annie got in with little issue, but Mika was… complicated. Apparently, entry into the Trainee Corp Brigade required identification papers, something which Mika lacked. Thankfully, making some identification papers wasn't too hard, though Mika had to stretch to think of some things he had to put on it, such as his place of birth, which was left as an unspecified part of Shiganshina. Familial bonds were simple, just Ms Carolina. The fact that he didn't have and biological parents, at least not to his knowledge, made it rather simple.
It took about three days for them to get a response from the Military Brigade regarding their admission into the Trainee Brigade. Surprisingly, at least to Mika, they were accepted with little hassle. The boy expected this to take a lot longer, but he never mentioned that as he did not wish to dampen Nac or Mina's spirits.
During those three days, Nac and Mina, being the two most knowledgeable of the four regarding the Military Brigades, told the blue eyed kids what to expect. According to them, they would be shipped into the southernmost region of Rose as they hailed from the southern district. There, they would be separated by gender and placed into two different barracks. They had at least one day to grow accustomed to their new living arrangements, and on the second day, their drill sergeant would be there to 'welcome' them, as Nac had put it.
Just one day after they got their greenlight for the Trainee Brigade, a representative from the Garrisons had arrived to pick them up. Unsurprisingly, all four of them had their stuff packed into bags. While Mina and Nac had some rather sizable bags, Mika and Annie had smaller ones which had their bare essentials.
The Garrison soldier had led them onto a boat which had its course set for Wall Rose, a boat which was packed with at least fifty other people whom were around their age or older. Nac had handily explained/pointed out the obvious that this boat would be taking them to the Southern Training Grounds of Rose. Before they left, Ms Carolina had asked them to write home every so often. Mina and Nac promised to do so, though Annie and Mika made none, even if the former did say that she would try.
On the boat, the four of them had met up with Reiner and Bertholdt. The two, or at least the big blonde of the duo, were ecstatic to see their pals on the same boat as them as, in Reiner's own words, "I wouldn't want to get bored to death on here!". Mina and Nac replied to him with equal enthusiasm, though Annie and Mika chose to keep their distance and stare out of the boat, hoping to enjoy the somewhat calm ride. They did, for the most part, as the boat ride was pleasantly quaint, aside from the occasional loud sound which came up during certain intervals.
When they arrived, all fifty or so of the soldiers were, as Nac had said, divided into two groups by gender. Mina said her farewells to Nac and Mika while Annie just stared. When they were all divided, two Garrison representatives led each group to separate barracks which, according to Nac, was located in the very close to a massive field which Nac told Mika would be where they would train.
The barracks, both of them, were easily large enough to fit at least an entire army, with half a dozen double deckered beds which looked much sturdier than the ones in the Carolina Residence. Each bed, both the upper and lower bunks, were large enough to fit two full sized adults. Mika and Nac shared a single bed. Reiner and Bertholdt claimed the top bunk of the bed Mika and Nac were on, and somehow, Mika and Bertholdt slept through Reiner's loud snoring. Nac, on the other hand, was not as lucky, or at least that was what those eye bags he had the next day told Mika.
Speaking of the next day, all the Trainees were woken up by the sound of the door slamming open. Well, almost everyone. Mika, Bertholdt and a handful of other lads required some extra persuasion to get them up. Once all of them were out of bed, the Trainees were issued new sets of clothing, the standard issue Trainee Corp uniform. They looked just like the Survey Corp and Garrison uniforms, except with a different symbol on the back. Instead of a flower (Garrison) or the 'Wings of Freedom' (Survey Corps), the symbol of the Trainees was that of twin blades crossing over each other. It was a simple design which Mika didn't mind, though Nac had geeked out at least a little bit when he had worn the outfit.
Every last one of the would-be-Trainees were instructed to get dressed and head to the massive trainingfield which was, thankfully, rather close to the barracks. They had to do all this within the hour.
True to what they were told to do, the soldiers, or at least a majority of them, were able to show up at the training grounds within the hour. Nac had insisted that they show up early to show that they were not tardy and were worth keeping around, and to that end, he had quite literally dragged a half awake Mika with him. The two met a dozen or so unfamiliar faces while they were making their way towards the field, both boys and girls, though none of them were either Mina or Annie.
And that had led the two/four of them to the present time, with Mikazuki still half awake, probably about to fall asleep standing, while their official instructor got ready to address them all.
Yes, I edited this. Just felt like doing so. The latter half of this chapter is an excerpt from C10 which felt out of place, so I shoved it in here for readability sake.
Alright, now I'm sure you know what the next chapter will be. I'll just get to work on it, so I'll see you… whenever I see you guys again.
I would reply to reviews, but there is nothing to reply to. I'm a dead profile now apparently.
