Chapter 2
'What the fuck! That bastard Truth didn't say anything about this! He just really likes leaving important things out doesn't he?' Interestingly though, he noticed he still had all the scars he had obtained throughout all the years he had been a State Alchemist. Sighing, he put his hands into his pockets and felt something in one of them. Pulling it out, he realised it was his State Alchemist pocket watch. 'Interesting. Well that will be useful since it enhances my alchemy.'
'I need to decide what to do. Even though I know that Truth would get a good laugh at me for being so sh- short again, he must have done it for a reason.' After settling in, Ed decided to go look at his surroundings. The name Trost suddenly appeared in his mind. 'That must be where I'm at right now.'
Going outside, he sees how crowded the streets are. 'That's right. Truth said that this Wall Maria had fallen a few years ago and the refugees had to go live on the streets in Wall Rose.' Continuing along the streets he saw a mother with two young children. 'They look so hopeless…' Ed then walked up to them and gave them some money. "I know it's not much ma'am, but it should give you and your children some food at least." Said Ed. "Thank-You!" Cried the woman. "I don't care how much you gave me, it shows how much nicer you are compared to others here." "It's no problem. I wish you good luck in the future."
Ed continued to walk and he then saw some sort of sign up post. "Those who want to enter the military sign up here! Only a few more days to sign up!" The man yelled. "You must be at least 12 years of age to sign up!" Ed then froze. 'Is that why Truth made me younger? So I can enter the military? I don't want to be a dog of the military again though…' He then heard Truth's voice vaguely in his head. 'How else can you help these people?' Ed sighed. He couldn't really see another way. 'Looks like I'm signing up.'
"Hello sir. I would like to sign up please." The man looked at him and said, "Aren't you a bit young to sign up?" Ed gritted his teeth. "I'm 12 years old sir. Looks can be deceiving." 'If I was younger, I would have kicked his ass. Luckily for him, I've matured since then.' The man shrugged and then said, "Name and district?" "Edward Elric from Trost." Ed replied. The man nodded. "Well congrats. You're a trainee now. Report here in 5 days." Ed nodded and replied, "Yes sir." Ed then walked away. 'Now have a plan of sorts.'
Throughout the next couple of days, Ed conditioned his body and secretly practiced his alchemy. He had to admit that he was very happy about having alchemy again. Ed wondered how Winry and the others were taking this. 'I'll be home as soon as I can.' Ed promised.
The day finally came where he would be sent to the cadets' camp. He put on his gloves hiding his automail hand from view. 'How am I gonna explain these gloves? Maybe I'll just say someone important gave them to me.' He was placed on a wagon with some other soon-to-be trainees. Ed saw a brown haired male with the greenest eyes he had ever seen. Ed went over to him and he saw the black haired girl with steely eyes suddenly narrow her eyes at him. 'Overprotective huh?' Ed introduced himself. "Hey, I'm Edward Elric. You can call me Ed." The brown haired kid replied, "I'm Eren. This is Mikasa-" He gestured to the black haired girl. "And this is Armin-" He then gestured to the blonde haired male with blue eyes."
Ed smiled. "Nice to meet you guys. Where are you guys from?" Eren looked down. "Shiganshina." Eren said shortly. Ed recalled that being the place where the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan attacked first. "I'm sorry. That must have been a very dark time for you. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." Eren waved him off. "It's fine. We're joining the cadets so we can bring down those titans." Eren said the word with malice. "I'm gonna kill every single titan!" Eren vowed. Ed raised his eyebrows a bit. "That's quite the goal," Ed remarked. Armin then said, "Eren's very determined." Ed laughed. "I can see that. That amount of fire in your eyes..." Ed then looked to the other two. "So do you guys have any goals or are you just following Eren?" "Well, I want to go see the outside world!" Armin said cheerfully. "Have you heard of an ocean before? Apparently it's so big you can't see the other side and it's full of salt. The merchants wouldn't be able to take all the salt, it's that big!" Ed chuckled saying, "Yeah, I've heard of it. I've also heard that there can be these huge tidal waves called tsunamis. Apparently they are so big and powerful that they can destroy everything it hits." Armin's eyes went round. "Really? Wow!" Ed then asked Mikasa, "What about you? Why are you joining?" Mikasa still eyed Ed distrustfully. "I'm joining because I want to keep Eren safe. Someone has to." "I can take care of myself," Muttered Eren.
They rode in silence until Armin broke it. "You haven't told us why you're joining, Ed." Armin said. "Well," Ed said. "I just want to be useful to humanity. Whether in the Military Police, Garrison, or Survey Corps." Eren wrinkled his nose. "Those military police are nothing but lazy cowards." "You can't really blame someone who values their life. Sure it's cowardly, but not everyone is like you Eren." Ed pointed out. "Are you kidding me? The Military Police don't do jackshit!" 'This one is very headstrong.' Ed mused. "You're a good person Eren. I can see that. But you lead with your heart too much. I can also see that you're doing this for revenge. I've seen that look before." Ed thought of Colonel Mustang's face when he discovered that the homunculus Envy was Hughes' murderer. Then he thought of himself when Al sacrificed himself to bring his arm back. Before Eren could reply, Armin interjected. "He's right Eren. You can't just go headfirst into everything. You need to think before you act." "Well sometimes you can't think," Eren retorted. "Sometimes Eren. Not all the time. If you go headfirst into everything, people are gonna get hurt, or even killed," Ed pointed out. That shut Eren up.
They continued talking, talking about their families and interests. Eren opened up about his mother and Ed immediately felt sympathy, knowing what it was like to lose a mother. He felt even more for Mikasa since she lost two mothers. Armin also lost his parents and his grandfather. Ed told them about his parents, including his father leaving at a young age, and his mother dying of an illness. Nothing much more than that though. They continued talking and then Mikasa asked Ed, "Why do you wear those gloves? Seems a bit odd to be wearing." Ed then said, "Oh, uh someone important to me gave them to me. They are very important to me," Ed said, sweating slightly. The trio took the sweating as embarrassment and Ed noticed Mikasa toying with her red scarf. "Did someone important give you that scarf Mikasa?" Ed asked. Mikasa nodded saying, "Yeah. Eren gave it to me when I lost my parents." Mikasa looked down. "That's sweet," Ed said, smiling.
Soon we arrived at the camp, wearing our new uniforms with the cadet insignia on our jackets. We were then placed in rows, awaiting for our instructor. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a couple of people with green cloaks with the Wings of Freedom on them. 'Why would there be scouts here? Maybe they are just observing or simply visiting the instructor. From what I remember, Keith Sadies was the former Survey Corps commander.' Speaking of him, the man himself arrives, in all of his menacing glory.
"You are now in the 104th Cadet Boot Camp! I'm your instructor, Keith Sadies!" 'Damn some of these people look like they pissed themselves.' "I have no intention of welcoming you in a warm manner. From what I can see, you all are nothing but titan fodder! Livestock! No, less than livestock!" He then began walking down the first row of cadets. His first victim, was unfortunately Armin.
"What do they call you maggot?" Demanded the instructor. "Armin Arlet from Shiganshina, sir!" Armin said, saluting. "Why would your parents give you such a bad name?" "I-It was my grandfather, sir!" Armin replied. "Cadet Arlet! Why is there a runt like you here?" "I am here to help humanity overcome the titans!" 'Huh he didn't say about seeing the outside world. Guess Armin wasn't brave enough to do that. Although, he's pretty smart. Probably isn't the best to say that.' "Good to hear!" Sadies shouted, "You're gonna be a great snack for them!" He suddenly placed his hand on Armin's head, turning him around. "Row three, about face, runt!" He then went to find his next victim.
'He's picking those who are lacking courage, or those looking cocky. He's pretty good at reading faces.' "What do you call yourself!" Keith shouted at a blonde haired male. "Thomas Wagner! I'm from Trost District sir!" "I can't hear you! Speak up!" Keith bellowed, spitting. "I said I'm-" "No one cares! Next!"
Ed took the time analyzing the scouts. There was a tall blonde man with bushy eyebrows, a rather short (at least I'm not the only one with height problems) black haired man with a rather expressionless face, a woman with brown hair in a ponytail and glasses practically radiating with excitement, and another blonde haired male with some facial hair. Ed could tell that they were all dangerous and skilled soldiers. Especially the short one. He was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard a crunch. Looking towards the sound, he saw a girl eating a potato. Ed didn't know whether she was stupid or brave. Maybe both.
It was deathly quiet. Keith approached the girl, looking murderous. "Oi you there! What the hell are you doing!" The girl appeared not to notice and took another bite. Glancing at the scouts, he could see them (minus the black haired one) with mixed expressions of shock and amusement. "You are officially on my shitlist! Who the hell are you!?" Keith practically roared. 'Damn, that man has got some serious vocal range.' The girl finally noticed, with a wide expression on her face. She then saluted. "Sasha Braus, from Dauper Village, Sir! Reporting for duty!" She replied, saluting with the potato. That was almost enough to make Ed snort. "Sasha Braus huh?" A tumbleweed was heard in the background. "What's that in your right hand?" Keith demanded. "A steamed potato, sir! It sat in the mess hall begging to be eaten!" "I understand the theft, but why eat it here?" Keith asked. "It looked quite delicious, sir," Sasha replied, looking nervous. "It was getting cold so I decided to eat it now, sir!" Sasha then added.
"Why?" Keith asked, now confusion mixed in with the anger on his face. "I don't understand. Why would you eat the potato?" Sasha also then looked confused. "Are you asking me why people eat potatoes, sir? I'm surprised you don't know." All the cadets were looking at her with fear and shock. Meanwhile Ed was trying to not die from compressing his laughter. Thinking it couldn't get better, Sasha offered him "half" the potato. Then she was forced to run laps for the rest of the day, with no dinner. Keith continued on, then he finally reached Ed.
"Who the hell are you maggot?" Ed saluted saying, "Edward Elric from Trost District, sir!" Ed saw something like approval in Keith's eyes for a split second. "Why is a shortie like you here?!" 'Control your anger' Ed thought fiercely. "I am here to contribute where I would best be, whether it be in the Military Police, Garrison, or Survey Corps, sir!" Keith definitely looked impressed. "Well let's see if you can survive training first, cadet!" He said, walking away. Ed let out a tiny breath he didn't know he was holding.
After finishing going through the cadets, they were given some free time. Except Sasha of course. Some of the people went over to watch her. Ed followed them. "Wow, she's still going. I thought Sadies was gonna kill potato girl." A bald kid named Connie Springer remarked. "It's funny," Eren remarked, "Being told to run till the sun sets didn't faze her as much as no meal privileges for five days did." "She said she's from Dauper right?" Connie said idly. "If I remember, that's a small hunting village in the mountains, right?" Ed then noticed the wagon leaving the camp. "Looks like we got some dropouts already." Ed said. Armin looked surprised. "But… It's only the first day." Armin exclaimed. "Well that's just how it is. You can't handle the pressure, you leave." Eren sighed. Ed nodded. "That's basically it." "I can't believe people would rather pull plants than fight though," Eren said. Ed frowned at him and said, "That's pretty arrogant of you to say Eren. At least they are doing something. Not everyone is like you Eren," Ed reminded Eren. "Yeah yeah, but still… we haven't even done any training and they still dropped out." Ed then decided to start running laps with Sasha. 'I haven't had a chance to do my daily run yet so might as well do it now.' Connie then looked at Eren. "Sadies passed you right? What district did you come from?" Eren gestured to Armin. "Shiganshina. The same as this guy." Connie's eyes went wide. "Wow! So you saw the Colossal?!" Marco looked shocked at him as well.
"Uh- yeah. Yeah I saw it." Eren said uncomfortably. They went in the mess hall and Connie continued asking Eren about the Colossal, eventually getting a crowd. "Did you really see the Colossal?" "How big was it?" "I heard that it could step over the wall!" "That's the rumor in my village as well!" Eren raised his hands saying, "He's about 60 meters tall. He's not big enough to step over the wall. I think he's too big in the first place." "What did it look like?" A girl named Mina asked Eren. "Well it had a mouth like a corpse. And it didn't have any skin. Just muscles." Gasps were heard all around him. Meanwhile, as Ed was almost on his 100th lap, he decided to get to know potato girl better.
"So you said you came from Dauper, right?" Ed asked, slowing down his pace so he could talk to the girl. "Y-yeah. It's a h-hunter village in the mountains," Sasha said, breathing heavily. "So you're a hunter then?" Sasha nodded. "Me and my dad would always hunt together." Sasha then looked sad. "I was such an idiot. When the refugees came to Wall Rose, I was mad at them for taking food. I was so inconsiderate and my dad called me out on that. So I left and joined the cadets." Ed looked at her and said, "It's not too late to apologize." "Yeah, but I'm scared that he hates me," Sasha sighed. "He's your dad. And he cares about you. Maybe you should write a letter to him," Ed suggested. Sasha nodded. "Thanks, Edward." Ed smiled and said, "Just Ed will do." Ed then ran ahead and continued his running.
Sadies POV:
"That golden haired kid seems interesting doesn't he?" Sadies remarked. They were looking at the kid in the distance, running laps with the food girl. Erwin nodded. "Not everyone decides to run on their own time. Usually you have to force them." Hange looked at Sadies and asked, "Why did you call on him? He didn't seem very scared or overconfident." Sadies looked at the kid again. "I picked him because I saw something in his eyes." "What did you see?" Mike asked. "I saw wisdom and experience in them. Along with determination. I got a good feeling about this cadet." Sadies replied. Levi raised his eyebrows. "Guess we'll have to see." "Wonder why he wears those gloves?" Said Mike. "He mentioned to someone about someone important to him giving them to him," Sadies replied. "Same as that Mikasa girl with the red scarf. Neither will get in the way of training so I don't see why they can't keep them." It was quiet for a moment before Shadis said, "There's a lot of cadets with potential in this batch. I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do." "We would like to as well. The next expedition isn't for a while yet," Erwin replied. "Be my guest," said Shadis.