In a strange land, walls blocked the outside world that contained terrifying titans who ate humans. Very few knew what lay outside of the walls, though some dreamed of it.
Ever since Wall Maria was breached by the Colossal and Armored Titan, fear swept the nation as many people were killed by the titans who entered. Since then, the military has tried its best to fight the titans, but recently had discovered that some humans can inherit titans.
What would it take to be free of the titans for good? What could they do?
(I apologize right now for the spelling errors in this-I will try to find all of them later lol)
The Sun was high in the sky, and the sound of horse hooves hitting the sandy ground filled the air.
It was summer, which was a wonderful time when nature came in full bloom. The trees in the forest had a certain mysterious quality to them, with the sun's rays seeped through their green leaves. The woods were filled with sounds of insects chirping in the tall grass, and birds calling to one another as the day got older.
It was also the time for new recruits in the military.
Every year many people signed up to train, but many did not last the summer. This year, it was a recording-breaking amount of new recruits, which also meant there was more competition.
The ages ranged from teenagers, to young adults. Females being 40% of the recruits this year, while 60% were men. The number of new recruits coming to 55 total.
Within the first couple days, thirteen recruits had called it quits, while the others continued through the first week of training. All day, from 5 AM to 7 at night, the recruits were on their feet. Learning throngs such as hand-to-hand combat, how to load a rifle, taking educational classes on law, and trying to be the most physically fit they could be for the job.
By the end of day, many went to bed, but some would stay up and chat for a while in their cabins, others had a late night snack, and some wrote to their families at home.
It was a crazy lifestyle, but it wouldn't last forever. After two months, they would be able to choose which branch of the military they want to serve, but only the top ten of the entire class would qualify to serve the military police.
MONDAY - DAY 9 OF MILITARY TRAINING - 8 AM
Mya had finished her early morning conditioning for the day. It had been the same for the last eight days: wake up, get dressed, run for two miles, rest, run back two miles, rest, then feed live stock.
She had always been a healthy girl. When she was little she ran everywhere. It meant she could get to where she was going a lot quicker. But over the years the thrill of running slowed down, and soon other priorities such as work at the farm and going to town to get things for her parents became her new daily life. She enjoyed it, but it was strange to look back on the past sometimes, wondering just how many days had passed since she had become a woman and no longer a girl.
But being healthy did not mean that Mya was in the best shape physically. No. She eat healthy, and she had been slim since she was born, but she definitely wasn't a full-time athlete. Which also meant she didn't have a six pack. The only pack she kept on her at all times was her belly, which always could use a snack here and there.
Mya leaned against the side of the horse dens where long green grass had managed to grow quite well, even though the rest of the area contained dry gravel. She thought about food, she always kept a snack hidden on her at all times. Just in case she suddenly felt very fatigued. She took out a metal cup that hung from her belt and went over to the well. She filled it with fresh cold water and drank it till it was barren. A military man passed, dragging a horse by his bridal. Mya backed away as the horse sneezed. The. She went back over to the side of the den and let the cool breeze blow through her long, brown hair.
Around the corner, girls chatted amount themselves as they fed the horses carrots from their hands, laughing if their hands got licked. They were usually given an unofficial break from the day to talk amongst each other while the commanders looked at the schedule for the rest of the day.
It was a beautiful day. The sky was the perfect shade of blue, and not one cloud covered it up. Every few minutes, a large breeze would blow through the pathway to the den and let out a loud "whoosh" as it blew against their clothing, cooling them off.
Mya took in the sweet air through her nose and out her mouth. She grinned to herself, happiness flowing from her cheeks to her toes.
Happiness that lasted more than a few minutes was hard to come by in training. Because as soon as you had it, it was gone.
"Did you see that girl that feel 200 feet behind us? She's been doing that ever since we started and is the slowest runner I've ever seen. She'll always start out like she can keep up, but she never does."
"Yeah, it's definitely awkward to see her all the way back there. And she's the only one too! Not even Sally fell that far behind. I don't know how she's going to last if she can't even do that correctly."
Mya listened to the two girl's voices as her eyes trailed off somewhere not on this earth. Their voices were loud, as if they wanted someone to hear them.
"I don't know if she even has made any friends yet. Oh! I think I was her partner for hand-to-hand combat! She did NOT win once. I'm surprised she's still here."
"Really? That's so stupid! What is she thinking? That's she's magically going to get better? They are going to have to start weeding out people that aren't trying hard enough. Either that or we should say something. It's just too hard to watch."
"Yeah. This is why we're friends"
They laughed together.
Mya looked down at the ground, frozen. There was always one girl that fell behind during the morning run. That girl had also never done hand-to-hand combat before training. They could only be talking about...
"..me" Mya thought.
"Don't cry" she told herself, "you can't let them know you heard them. Don't. Cry."
Mya's nose leaked out the tears that were meant to have drained from her eyes. She walked off away from the den down the dirty path towards the main fort. Luckily no one was around to see her eyes swelling up.
Mya didn't know where she was going. Her brain stopped processing information as she focused on hiding her tears eyes.
From the left on a grassy field she saw a horse by itself. She stopped to start at it. It looked up at her for a moment and then continued eating the grass. She didn't know why this horse was here with nobody watching it, but it seemed pretty tame, so she wandered closer. As she got only a few feet away, the horse looked up at her again. She froze, darting her eyes away in hopes to not spook it. It seemed a little wary of having company, but didn't wander away. Mya got excited. It was nice to just see a horse from up close. Then she remembered something.
Slowly she put her hand in her secret pocket in her belt and brought out a small carrot. She had been saving it for later, but she always wanted to make friends with animals. Especially ones that had a mysterious quality to them.
She held the carrot in front of her face. The horse perked up, staring at it. Perhaps it didn't get many carrots as the others. She slowly extended her arm forward and held it in the palm of her hand.
The horse trotted forward and ate it instantly. It suddenly became very friendly and started sniffing Mya for more treats. Mya laughed out loud as the horse circled her.
"No, sorry. That was it, I swear. I wish I had more."
The horse grazed past her hand, and she felt it's unusually soft main. It walked up to her and she put her hand on its forehead.
"Wow, I've never encountered a horse this friendly. Not even the ones at home are this nice to me," Mya thought to herself.
It was like something she had read out of a book where the girl was somehow able to get close to the animal and suddenly became friends with it.
Mya looked around and didn't see anyone. She probably had to leave now. She pet his mane one more time before walking away. The horse shoved his head into her back, smelling for treats.
Mya laughed again.
"I still don't have any! I'll try to bring some later! Bye!"
She waved at the horse and quickly sped-walked to the main fort where the next activity would be announced.
The next activity was scheduled to be hand-to-hand combat, but had been changed to archery. Something they hadn't covered yet at all in training.
Everyone was divided into small groups and were given bows to choose from from a pile. By the time Mya had made it to the table, only three were left. She grabbed one hurried back to join the rest.
A commander stood several feet away next to four targets. He stood with his arms behind his back and legs spread out as he waited for the rest of the recruits to join.
"Now that you are all here, I want you to listen up. This is standard archery practice. If you have never held a bow in your life, don't try to be a show-off and try it. Come see me and I will give a demonstration. We don't need someone with an arrow in their head. I know some of you have hunted with bows to sell in the markets in town. So now would be a great time to show us your skills. Now. Form four lines and wait until each person is finished shooting before you collect your arrows. Begin."
Several people hesitantly moved up to form four lines with their bows. The hunters in the group seemed to be first in line and shot magnificently. Everyone waited until the last person shot to collect their arrows. The lines seemed to move slowly, but it gave time for Mya to figure out her bow. It was very long, unlike any bow she'd seen before. With it came a case of vet long arrows. Mya had used a bow a few times, but nothing close to this size.
Soon it was her turn. Time to mess up again.
Mya set the bag of arrows in front of her against the normal bucket of arrows. She loaded her bow with an arrow and pointed it down before slowly raising it and pulling back the string. It was very tight and hurt her three fingers. Finally she let go.
Instead of flying forward, the arrow somehow fell off of the bow string and down on the ground. The string made a loud noise. Everyone turned.
Mya looked down and quickly picked up the arrow.
"Whoops. Don't know how that happened-"
She pretended to laugh it off but felt very embarrassed. Then her face changed and now looked very serious.
I can't believe I missed that. I'm not that inexperienced.
She quickly reloaded the arrow and pulled back.
It hit the target but was several inches under the center.
Mya frowned and reloaded. She adjusted her feet a little and lined up with the target. She loaded her arrow and shot. Now it was several inches too high. She reloaded again and fired. It hit the very center. YES! A small smirk appeared on her face and she fired her last arrow. Center again.
She looked over to her right at the other archers. They had all finished and all got arrows in the very center. Mya frowned in disbelief. They all collected their arrows.
The rest of the day went by a little faster, and soon the sun had set and their stomachs were full with bread and soup from supper.
Mya sat outside on the railing of her cabin as her roommates were asleep. They all liked to sleep early so they could be fully awake for tomorrow. Mya always was a night owl. She tried to go to bed early several times since training, but her thoughts always kept her awake.
She looked out at the stars and listened to the trees sway in the night breeze. She looked at the other cabins on the other side of the dirt road. They each had a single lantern next to the front door that flicked on and off through the night.
As Mya started out into the darkness, she heard the soft clatter of horse hooves coming from behind the other side of their cabin. She stood still in the darkness as the sound got closer. Soon she made out a person carrying a lantern with a horse walking with him. They wore a cape over their shirt, but the rest was too hard to make out.
Who would be walking their horse to the stables this late at night she wondered.
As they passed the cabin, the horse suddenly halted. The person holding its bridal stopped a second later. The horse turned its head behind and sniffed the air and then snorted loudly. The person put their hand on its forehead and pulled his head down gently, petting it. The horse snorted again as the person tugged on the bridal and lead it further down the road. They slowly disappeared into the night.
Mya thought of the horse from earlier.
"I better find a carrot for tomorrow. Just in case."
TUESDAY - DAY 10 OF MILITARY TRAINING - 5:30 AM
It was once again time for the daily run. Or daily hell as Mya found herself putting it. She had eaten a good breakfast and drank plenty of water. She stretched and sleep pretty well last night.
Everyone ran in groups of ten. This made it easier to keep track of trainees.
A commander lead each group on horseback. Yelling "encouraging" material every now and then.
Today the commander of the group was a man with gray hair and a weird face. It looked like he was smelling something fowl in the air.
"We will go 1.5 miles to the barn. Then we will take a fifteen minute break and head back to camp. On my signal. Go when ready".
Mya started a very slow run this time. Perhaps she has been trying too hard to keep up with everyone in the front, when she should be be keeping a steady pace. She jogged and looked at the people pass her by. One by one they ran ahead and she was alone once again.
Mya was ready to accept that she was going to be by herself again when she heard someone yell something behind her.
"Commander June! Waaaaiiittt!!!"
Mya turned her head back as she jogged looking for the person. Soon she saw a woman appear wearing white pants, a mustard coat, and glasses, with her hair pulled up into a ponytail.
The lady huffed and puffed trying to catch up with them. The commander didn't seem to get hear her even though she wasn't that far behind.
Soon enough the lady had caught up to her. As she sprinted, she looked over at Mya as she got next to her.
"Great job! Keeping your pace nice and steady I see. You don't need to be the fastest to do well, but you do need to outrun whoever is chasing you!"
She laughed a weird laugh and sprinted harder til she was up to the Commander.
"C-COMMANDER (gasp) JUNE (gasp) could you PLEASE (gasp) pull over??!!"
The commander finally turned around and say the woman. He told the group to halt.
"What is it?"
The lady gasped loudly and held up a finger. The trainees looked around confused. Mya decided Now was her chance to catch up and ran up to where everyone was gathered. The lady spoke just as she caught up.
"Captain Pixis (gasp) needs you right away. He requested you once you left your house this morning. So he sent me (gasp) to come and find you"
The lady seemed to finally catch her breath.
Commander June looked at her.
"Alright. I'll head back. But shod going to look after these people?"
"I am!"
"YOU are?"
"Yes. It's just for today. I already read your schedule so I should be just fine."
The commander scoffed.
Nobody said anything.
"Fine" said the commander. "Hopefully it won't take too long". He turned his horse around and rode it back the way they came. Leaving a small cloud of smoke.
"Toodles!" yelled the woman, waving her hand in the air.
"Oh-kay. Let's get back to business. I took a good look at the Commanders schedule for you and thought it looked: complicated. SO, I'm going to change it up a little bit. Today I'm going to teach you some things that will come in handy when you're out in the real world. Also, my name is Hange. If you have any questions, let me know. Man. You guys look exhausted. Let's get a drink at the well, shall we?"
They headed over to the well and instantly Hange became everyone's favorite commander. As everyone drank cool water, Hange lay on the grass and started telling a long story about something. Maya wasn't sure because something had caught her eye. It was the horse again.
It stood in the grass behind the stables and grazed peacefully. It's tail swishing back and forth. It's dark coat glistening as the sun rose into view.
It looked up as if it would tell it was being watched and made eye contact with Mya. Mya stood by the well and stared back.
Suddenly it was clear that the horse was trotting over to Mya. Mya panicked. She couldn't let the others see her with a random horse. She quickly tried to think of what to do as she walked behind the well and sat so that she was hidden from view. Her heart pounded as she looked over to her left at the group. They were all sitting in the grass listening to Hange talk. Everyone seemed so relaxed for once.
Then something wet touched Mya's forehead. The horse had found her and was sniffing her up and down for carrots.
"Heyyyy-no, I-please, you can't be here right now-"
The horse continued to sniff around Mya as she tried to shoo it away. Then someone yelled something:
"Beauty-no!"
Hange had stopped telling the story and had seen the horse.
She walked over to where Mya sat next to the bourse.
"Noooo, Beauty. That is not food. Sorry about that. He doesn't get this way around many people." Hange said to Mya as she stroked him.
She helped Mya up.
"His name is Beauty. You can pet him probably since he likes you so much. It's not the name I would have chosen, even though he is beautiful. He looks like more of a Cornelius to me. But he's not mine to name."
"Does that mean, if we get a horse... we can name it?"
"Sure! But you can't get too attached. It's a sad fact, but we have lost more horses than ever before. Sometimes though, you might find that special one that just always manages to pull through."
Mya stroked Beauty's back softly. Beauty nuzzled her hand in case a carrot was hidden in it. Mya giggled.
Hange's head shot up as she spotted something. Or in this case, someone.
"Heeeey Misterrr!!! Is this your hourrrrsssee?!" Hange yelled with sarcastic enthusiasm to a person by the stables.
Mya looked over and saw a man with short, black hair wearing an outfit similar to Hange's leaning against one of the stables several feet away from them.
He didn't look nearly as enthusiastic as Hange.
After a moment, he uncrossed his arms and made a gesture with his index finger: "come here".
"Ooo-kay..," Hange said, giving in. "Go on Beauty! Go back to your owner. Or 'Mr Sour-Puss' as he's better well-known." She pushed Beauty toward the man.
Beauty galloped over and stood next to Mr Sour-Puss. He gently took his bridal and lead Beauty behind the stables.
"So! Let's get back to the story! C'mon! Join us!"
Hange lead Mya over to the group that had spent the last few minutes chatting amoungst themselves and rolling in the grass. It was the first time in awhile that Maya had seen trainees so happy and free.
With many of them being so young, they finally got the act their age. Hange sat back down at the head of the circle.
"Now, where was I..?"
"Ughhhh" people replied back, but broke into laughter because a day off was a day off.
Mya smiled and for once felt included. She listened to Hange tell the rest of the story of a time when she found a titan that lived all alone in the woods outside of the walls and never moved. And how for a full months she visitor to study it. It's was long and boring, but her voice brought in the life the story needed to be interesting.
After a few minutes, Mya looked off to the side of the group and spotted the man from earlier with his horse. He was walking him towards where their cabins were.
He must be headed to the main fort.
As he got further away, Mya noticed that he wore a cape over his shirt. It had a strange symbol on the back she couldn't make out. It looked familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
After a moment, she looked away and listened to the rest of Hange's tale before it was time for lunch.