Fic Title: Until the Sun Dies
Summary: Believing her father's concerns as a black family living in the secluded mountains of Wall Maria to be simple paranoia, a young girl sets on her own to discover the world and what it truly holds. Only to find after encountering another secluded family, the Ackermans, that maybe his concerns weren't so unfounded in the terrifying yet beautiful reality they live in. Befriending their daughter, a fellow survivor in what it means to be the last of their kind, Akunna finds her path leading to the horrors of the Fall of Maria and the 103rd Cadet Corps.
Pen Name: TheQuintessentialFicWriter
Cover Art by: pngdraws on Twitter
Chapter 09
The heat was downright sinful as Akunna stood in place in her uniform, listening to mix of harsh bellows and frightened yelps.
Gods how is anyone handling this heat?
The tan fabric of the cadet jacket was a noticeable weight in contrast to Akunna's standard attire of hand-me-down clothes and the knee-high boots pinched her toes tightly. It was going to take a while to break them in, of that Akunna was sure.
"LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M TALKING, LARD FACE!"
Akunna bit her tongue to keep herself from sighing.
Even with the discomfort of the pinching boots and the sweltering heat, it was somehow still second to Commandant Richard Berggs. His graying blond hair was slicked back into a low ponytail, his eyes a sharp and cold brown. She did her best to peer at whichever poor victim he was yelling at without drawing attention to herself. An impossible task, she knew already that whatever eyes weren't drawn to the commandant would be on her. The girl Berggs had been yelling at was on the thicker side with ashy brown hair and green eyes, Akunna felt bad for her with how fearful she look. They were bunkmates, something discovered when they'd been taken to the dormitories to change into their new uniforms.
I hope she doesn't quit after this.
No. She told thought immediately after. One less person here is just one less person to fight for the best spot in graduate afterwards.
"WHAT'S YOUR NAME?!"
"Maida Langley from Karanes District, Wall Rose, sir!"
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU! SPEAK UP!"
"MAIDA LANGLEY FROM KARANES DISTRICT, WALL ROSE, SIR!" The girl yelped louder. Her right hand slammed against her chest in salute.
Berggs didn't look impressed even though she'd done as instructed. "WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU HERE?!"
"TO HELP HUMANITY, SIR!"
"THAT BASIC ANSWER AGAIN, HUH?!" Bergg looked like a disappointed father. Perhaps that was just his face in general, though, Akunna thought. The man didn't look particularly nice to begin with. "YOU MIGHT AS WELL JUST GO HOME WITH AN ANSWER LIKE THAT! ROW 3, ABOUT FACE!" The look of relief on Maida's face was brief as she made quick work turning around while Berrg moved to the fourth row of cadets; Akunna's row.
She braced herself, eye trained on Bergg's next target.
He skipped over a few cadets in the first few lines and there was no telling who would and wouldn't be skipped in this one.
Akunna hardened her expression. Whatever made him not do that I know won't apply to me. I'm too easy a target.
What would the man say to her that was going to hurt her feelings or make her feel like she should run back to the settlement with her tail in-between her legs?
"Hey, dirt face!"
"What made your skin so dark? Rolling around in the mud of the cultivated lands?!"
Akunna's brow furrowed even deeper at the imaginary insults. To think she would just have to take it head on while dozens of other people her age watched and might even agree.
You're doing this so Mikasa and Armin and Eren can have a new home, Me. She reminded herself. That would be enough to keep her going these next few years.
"I'M STEPHEN BULCREEK FROM TROST DISTRICT, WALL ROSE, SIR!" The boy beside her saluted.
Yes, she was definitely going to be next. Akunna tightened her right fist, ready to salute at a moment's notice once the man stopped in front of her. She was more than ready when their eyes met, her fingers clenched so tightly by her thumb it felt like they were burning.
Then Berggs stepped in front of the person beside her. "NAME, MAGGOT!"
Akunna blinked.
Well I'll be damned.
Dinner couldn't come fast enough.
Akunna dragged her spoon through the usual stew. It tasted even worse than the rations which was practically flavorful and awe-inspiring in comparison to the bland slop that had been served. She glanced around inconspicuously at others in the room, looking for any notable contenders. There were three boys sitting at the table with her, chatting away enthusiastically with a familiarity Akunna knew only came from having the same hometown. If Berggs had interrogated them during the hazing they called an introduction, Akunna hadn't seen them.
Maida Langley, surprisingly, was still here and not among the dozen kids that had decided to go back home. She could be someone to go against, but it's hard to tell when we haven't done anything physical. That was what would be going on tomorrow, that would help Akunna really narrow down her list.
There was someone else beside her, a lanky and tall brunet that Akunna knew was named Ulrich.
"Hey there." Akunna jolted lightly with a start and looked over her shoulder. "Oh. You. The redhead from before."
"It's Chadwick." He reminded her with a slightly disappointed look. "Well, we did just meet today so I guess I'd forget some random guy's name too." Try saying that when you don't look like a kicked puppy. Akunna said to herself as the guy, Chadwick, welcomed himself to a seat beside her. "Still it's nice there's room next to someone I saw today. The commandant didn't even yell at you today, lucky. Pretty sure he yelled at just about anyone who came from Trost."
"... yeah." Akunna looked back at her bowl, forcing herself to take another bland bite, thinking he was done.
"To think that there were people who still went home to the fields though. If it's bad enough to them now though, I don't think they would've done well with anything else coming up. My old man said it would only get harder from here so not to come home crying on the first day." Chadwick finally paused in his talking to take a bite from his food and he made a face. "Yep, that's terrible." That Akunna could agree on. "My mom is definitely a better cook than this. What about your's? I didn't see your parents before at the-"
"Look, I'm not really here to be all..." Akunna struggled for the right words, surprisingly off-put by the innocence and awe. Was this guy genuinely trying to get to know her? Or was she just some interesting freak show that he could write home to his parents about? "Buddy-buddy with other people."
Chadwick's smile faltered slightly with a confused look, "but we're gonna be training together for three years. Shouldn't we try to get along?"
"Don't you already have friends from Trost you can sit with?" Akunna nodded to an entire table of them across the room. Chadwick might have had to force his way in, but there was still some room left for one person. She didn't like the feeling of the others at the table looking at her like she was time bomb of anger about to go off.
A wave of realization passed over Chadwick's face, "oh you're thinking about your friends back home that didn't enlist." He said matter-of-factly. "Don't worry, I'm not trying to replace them. Just think of me as another separate from them friend." Akunna gave him a weird look. Where the hell did he got all that from what I just said? Chadwick gestured at the other three boys at the table, a blond and two brunets. "We all don't really know each other at that well and I really don't think getting shrieked at by the commandant is much of an ice breaker, so I'll start first." He cleared his throat, laying a hand on his chest in act of mock smuggery. "Chadwick Hogarde, 12 years old from Trost. Next."
There was a pause as Chadwick looked at them all expectantly.
One of the brunets suddenly perked up with a grin, probably in an attempt from letting Chadwick make a complete embarrassment out of himself waiting for someone else to speak. "I'm Ivan Glasse from Alfhard Village with these two. I'm plannin' on going to the Scouting Legion after this with these two too. Of course, I'll be the one who's gonna kill the most Titans out of the three of us so they might as well run back ho- hey!"
"Dieter." The blond who had shoved him said with an annoyed smile. "Dieter Garverg and I'm gonna get the most kills when we're Scouts. Ivan just talks a big game like he did when he said he would tell this girl named Susie that he liked her before we left and he totally chickened out-"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Ivan's face was redder than red as he gave Dieter a furious gaze. "I didn't chicken out, I just decided to wait til I came back home as a man!"
"I thought you were already a man, wimp."
"I'm not a wimp!"
"So I'm Jurgen Hawksmire." The second brunet declared as if his childhood friends weren't busy arguing. His hair was much darker than Ivan's, more akin to Eren's hair color, and his eyes were a friendly brown to match. Akunna couldn't hold back a snort at how nonchalant he was about the entire thing. It reminded her of Mikasa deadpanning some sort of remark to Armin while Eren and Akunna went head-to-head in some stupid and unnecessary argument. "Can't really say I'll out do these two morons in Titan kills but I'll definitely live the longest since I'll be able to keep quiet."
"Oh shove off." Ivan crossed his arms sourly.
Chadwick chuckled, "sounds like you guys are gonna be fun in the boy's dorms." Four sets of eyes looked at Akunna. "And you?"
Akunna relented with a sigh, "Akunna Okoro from Shinganshina, 12 years old." I'm the last of my kind in the entire world? I used to hunt in the mountains when I was 10 but since I live in a major district, I gave that up? It wasn't nearly this hard when she met Armin for the first time for her to come up with any interesting facts about herself. "I can't really think of any... thing- what?"
"You're from that place?" Dieter breathed, eyes wide opened in awe.
Chadwick looked less surprised than the rest, "oh yeah, you said that before when they were checking for your name on the enrollment list."
"So you've seen the Colossal Titan?" Ivan leaned forward. "What was it like?"
Akunna held back a wince at the bright-eyed faces of those who hadn't seen even one Titan in their lives before. Her stomach churned nauseously as images of red fingers and crushed bodies filled her mind. How could anyone want to go out there and fight those things face to face? Was it fear in her stomach or disgust? Maybe it was both. "I really don't wanna talk about it." She replied curtly. "Akunna Okoro, I like hunting. Not that I've done that a lot this past year."
"Yeah..." Jurgen looked uncertain but she was appreciative he went along with the subject change. "The food shortage is really hitting all of us. I'm guessing you worked the cultivated lands before coming here?"
Akunna nodded, "yeah but I was looking for work before I enlisted, had a rough time with it though. Military was the last thing I was expecting to join." But that recruiter woke me up to some hard facts. "Now that I'm here though, I'm shooting for number one." Just watch me from wherever you are, Gramps, I'm not letting you down. "But don't worry, there's like 9 other slots for you guys to fight over." She smirked.
The tension from before faded away at that. "As if, I'm shooting for number 1!" Ivan scoffed with a competitive look in his eye. "The Scouts rarely ever get the top 10 trainees so it's no wonder they always get their asses kicked on expeditions. When I'm out there, that's gonna change."
"When we're out there." Dieter rolled his eyes and Jurgen's face was equally as unamused. "Save some Titans for the rest of us, Ivan."
"God you remind me of Eren." Akunna snorted to herself. She lowered her voice, trying her best to imitate him. "I'm going to kill every last Titan, but not before I teach them how to speak so they can beg for mercy while I kill them slowly and painfully!" She bellowed dramatically. Chadwick held his hand over his mouth to keep himself from spitting out the soup he had just taken a sip out of. "No seriously!" Her voice went back to normal with a grin. "Eren is one crazy kid! I swear, once he punched me in the face while we were sleeping in the same bed because he was punching Titans in them." I sleep with the guy once to help him get over a nightmare... and he punches me. Thanks, Eren. Really appreciate that. "I still haven't paid him back for that, it's been months. I'm smacking him the next time I see him."
Dieter's expression was evil incarnate, "Eren, you say." The way he said it made Akunna uncomfortable, scrunching her nose at what he was probably going to imply but she prayed he wouldn't as she awkwardly brought her cup to her lips. "That your guy?"
And there it was. Akunna tore her lips away from her mug to wretch, though thankfully nothing came out. "Ew!" She screeched like she had seen a cockroach, not even caring if everyone in the entire room was looking her way. "Oh Oshun I just imagined us kissing, ew! I can't- that is literally the worst thing I could've seen in my entire life. One of them, at least."
"Then the other guy who saw you off?"
Akunna could have punched Chadwick into the sun. "Armin is literally my little brother! Why you assumin' I'm dating any of them!? First Mikasa, now them?" Akunna sat back down, ten times more exhausted than she was beforehand. "Eren might as well be my brother too, he's gross and he smells. And Mikasa, well, we've been friends since forever. It would be weird trying to see her like that. Geez, you don't see me asking if you're dating that Sawyer girl just because you blinked at her once!"
"Not in any lifetime!" The brunette, Sawyer, called from across the room without even looking back at them.
"... Well I definitely hope you don't now because that would be embarrassing." Shot down without even a second thought. Harsh.
Chadwick rubbed the back of his neck with a grossed out look of his own, "considering she's my cousin, I don't."
Though Ivan's held his hands up defensively, his smirk was still very much present. "All right, all right. I get it, quit harping on like a banshee before the commandant comes in and starts shrieking next."
"Can it." Her and Eren. Her and Armin. Utterly disgusting combinations. "That's it, my appetite is ruined. One of you guys can eat it." Akunna stood up, she'd eat when she wasn't dying on the inside.
"But the training actually starts tomorrow, you should be at full strength." Chadwick gave her tray a worried look.
"There's breakfast in the morning, I can eat then." Akunna shrugged. "Trust me, I'm alright with half a meal." She pointed at Chadwick with a clear look of her own. "You tricked me into a conversation this time but tomorrow we're rivals from here on out." With that, she threw her legs over the log bench and headed for the door. "But I guess rivals that talk it up here and there isn't all that bad, so do whatever you want. Just leave Eren and Armin out of it." Who was she kidding, playing the stoic bad girl wasn't her thing, even if having friends here wasn't going to help her with getting into the top 10.
The night air was cool in contrast to the heat of that morning, the evening breeze lukewarm at best.
Akunna released a breath, feeling a lot more comfortable.
Just three more years of this before she could finally go to the interior. She kicked her shoes off in a heap in front of her bed before climbing onto it, practically singing into the mattress. It wasn't soft by any means but it was a lot better than sleeping in the bed. I came here to do something for the three of them and here I am getting better stuff than them. She pressed her head into her pillow. What were the three of them doing now? Likely sleeping without dinner, only running on the breakfast and lunch rations to keep them going for the evening.
Did they get any work done today? Akunna wasn't too sure if they had with how the early morning had been to them. Armin had barely held back from crying and Mikasa had been distraught since they woke up. Eren didn't cry. She didn't see his face after he turned around, but Eren wasn't that emotional. Eren kept the three of them together today, I just know it. Right now he's probably going on about killing Titans and reminding Armin about the outside world. He told Mikasa she has my scarf to keep her company. That's it's just three years.
What would happen when he tried enlisting then in the upcoming year? Akunna knew she had told him that she'd drag him out even if he did enlist, but there was a small part of her that hoped he wouldn't in the first place. At the very least for Mikasa and Armin so they wouldn't have to say goodbye to one more person.
Okay, me, this is not helping you sleep. Just think about something else! Akunna turned her pillow to the cool side, hoping that would calm her thoughts. Think about how things will be in the interior. She could almost see it, herself wearing the signature green horse laden jacket those in the Military Police Brigade donned. We'll have our own apartment and... she hummed quietly.
Armin could probably find work at a local library. Maybe even a teacher's assistant in order to become one himself. Eren... I'm not too sure what he could do. The guy talks about the Scouts so much it's hard trying to imagine him doing anything else. But Mikasa... too easy. It was all to clear what the best job for Mikasa would be in any district. Seamstress.
'Welcome home.' Mikasa would say everyday, somehow always home before everyone thanks to a nice seamstress job making fancy dresses for the nobility that Akunna was told resided in the third Wall typically. 'Look, I put the embroidery Mom taught me on it, this customer wanted something that would make her look like she was floating in a field of flowers.' Then she would lift the pretty fabric, showing off the red and white daisies bordering very tips of the dress. Then Akunna would relax and watch her work the rest of the day before one of them would have to start cooking. Or maybe we'll both cook at the same time, Armin and Eren for damn sure can't cook at all. Akunna snorted.
It wouldn't be perfect, but it would be theirs. That's all she could ask for.
Author's Note
Tis Saturday so it is time for the second update of the week! BUUUT starting the 8th of February, my classes for the semester start and it's a full course load so my update schedule may change to compensate for it. Likely it will be down to once-a-week-only updates and depending on the work I have to do, it may be biweekly updates. Starting next week since I'll be focusing on getting school supplies and study prep, I will only be updating once next week and once the classes start that'll really dictate how I'll do my schedule will go while the semester is active.
ANYWAAAAAYS Last time we left off, Akunna was saying goodbye to the trio and heading to the training facility. Now she's here and she's on her own. I wanted to give her that time to develop outside the context of her childhood pals even if her goals include their safety. Dieter, Jurgen, and Ivan are from the Female Titan arc the first two being the guys who went back to get a childhood friend's corpse which led to having to dump Petra's (along with a few other Scouts) bodies out of a cart, Ivan being that friend. They're Akunna's fellow trainees. (Did anyone recognize that quote Akunna said to them during meal time when she was imitating Eren btw? lol)
UtSD OG Draft Fun fact: When I first made the og draft of UtSD where Akunna joins the 104th, I actually planned on there being a romance between Connie and Akunna. I know that sounds so random but some of y'all be sleepin' on Connie, I swear. There is gonna be romance in Aku's future though, just no longer with Connie. In another life, mayhaps, Connie.
Song(s) I Bopped To For the Chapter: I'll Make a Man Out of You (Mulan soundtrack)
Responses
Guest: And now it's Saturday so second update time!
Titanlovrr: *me into hidden mic* this reviewer knows too much, snuff them out. Let's just say you are very VEEEERY warm to a lot of your predictions jnfdkfnds but rather than think my story is too obvious, I'll take it as that Akunna is such a solid character so far that it is easy to make theories and predict her moves for the future! As for Chadwick... he definitely has an eye out for her. I didn't even think about Erwin but now that you have mentioned him I can definitely see his intrigue in a human so obviously different from others that he wants to ask questions, so I just may have to do some edits to the outline to include it!
skyellebaby: X'D Chadwick just wants to be noticed by senpai. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin will be back eventually for a reunion- even if Akunna isn't gonna be happy about the reunion lol. Still, she is definitely gonna make herself some buddies.
Sol: T^T thank you for such a heartfelt compliment, it really made me smile. I hope you and your loved ones are staying safe as well! I wonder if Akunna's beginning in military life lived up to your expectations!