Welcome back and thanks for being here! Just wanted to let you all know that I have never had so much inspiration to write a fanfiction before as I have this one. I am currently writing Chapter 30, so ya'll are in it for the long haul! As a thank you for your support, enjoy 2 chapters this week!

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Chapter 6

The following day Willow joins the rest of the Cadets for daily training. She scratches her forehead around her bandage, the scabbing under the fabric irritating her as it inflames and begs to be picked at. Willow listens to the others speak to themselves regarding the importance of this training. She hears Oruo express how the higher-ranking officers will be reviewing their performance and will make their decision on who will join their squad by the end of the week. Her ears peak at this information as she wonders what team she would like to join.

Both Hange and Levi are now eligible to lead their own squad and Willow thinks about which of them she would like as her leader. With Levi's encouraging words the night before, Willow is tempted to stand with Levi and his team, though Hange too has been very helpful and interested in her growth. She is unsure which of them will want to have her on their team, or if they will want her to be on their team at all. According to the conversation that Willow overhears between Oruo and Petra, any remaining Scout not chosen by a ranking officer will remain without a squad leader until they prove their worth to the officers. They will be placed on Kitchen duty or in the stables to take care of the horses. It is a position that Willow would like to avoid.

Willow also overhears Oruo discuss his interest in joining Captain Derrek or Captain Malik's team. He mentions that only the best Cadets are recruited into their Elite team, with Malik not choosing a new member of the team in over five years. She scoffs at how Oruo could think that he would be recruited as an Elite soldier on his first week within the Scouts, but keeps her opinion to herself.

Petra mentions that she wants to join Levi's squad, noting his ability in taking down the Titan so quickly and hoping to learn from him. She visibly swoons as she speaks of Levi and his talent and it is clear to Willow that there are alternative motives towards her desire to join Levi's squad.

She hears their voices hush and as she strains her hearing to be able to catch onto what they speak of; she realizes that they speak of her. "Who do you think will take her?" Petra asks in a hushed voice.

"Ah," Oruo groans, "They are just going to want her for that little show of hers," he mentions in a nasty tone. "It isn't her talent or drive they want. Just her puppeteering trick. What a joke," he releases and Willow tightens her jaw, digging her nails into her palms as she keeps herself from saying anything.

After a few moments of waiting around, the Cadets are asked to line up as Malik goes over the training courses that they will be participating in. He discusses the various endurance tests, long-haul training, and high intensity vertical maneuvering that they will be expected to complete over the course of the week to prove their strength to the ranking officers choosing their teams. The crowd stirs, complaining that this is the same training they were expected to complete in the Training Corps, but Malik is quick to correct them, telling them that this training is not to prepare them to be Scouts, but rather to prepare them to function within a team and survive. He tells them that it will be the most difficult training that they will ever enter, causing the mood of the crowd to shift.

Malik separates the crowd into teams and they begin their training. Willow overhears Hange speaking with Derrek who tells him that Commander Erwin and Section Commander Miche have travelled to the Capital with information on Willow's development. According to Derrek, the Commander aims to request more funding for the Scouts with the promise that the Titan threat will be eliminated with Willow's involvement in the Scouts. Willow hears the excitement in Hange's voice as the idea of funding brings new hope in her tone.

Willow tears her eyes off of Hange and Derrek's conversation and moves back to the task at hand. Willow is paired with Petra and a short and stocky Cadet with buzz cut hair named James*, though their scoring is entirely reliant to their individual performance. They are chosen as the first team to go, while the other teams stand behind them, waiting for their turn.

Their first order of business is to effectively complete an obstacle course using only ODM gear. Malik mentions the scoring system of the obstacle course, noting that the objective of the course is to touch all targets and reach the end of the course at the fastest pace. He mentions each different target the Cadets will face.

"Black targets are grappling points, where if you effectively attach your hook, you will earn one point. There are ten total black targets on this obstacle, earning ten possible points," he says as the Cadets look at the black painted wood.

"Next are red footholds," Malik continues. "With ten footholds scoring one point each, you will need to place your foot—left or right—on this foothold to score the point," he says pointing at the red footholds.

"Five green targets are located throughout the course," he says as the targets are large and in plain view. "Hit the target and you earn one point, knock the target down, and you earn two points per target hit. You will need to strike the target with considerable force to knock it down," he warns them. "Earning a potential total of ten points if all targets are knocked down, however, failure to strike the target altogether results in a loss of two points per missed target."

"If you are to touch the ground, you will lose five points per touch," he proceeds, "So stay in the air," he says with a sideways smile. "Lastly four paddles are hidden throughout the course, that will come down at any given moment. Striking the paddles will gain you four points, and failure to strike the paddle will not result in points lost," he informs them, "However, if the paddle hits anything other than your sword, you lose ten points," he says stressing this heavy loss of points.

"All together, you are eligible to earn a perfect score of 42 if all targets are hit and/or evaded," he calls out. "This high score with a time of 1 minute 10 seconds is the fastest recoded time, with only one Cadet successfully completing with a perfect score on their first time," Malik says with a victorious smile on his lips.

"Malik also failed to mention that he added a fifth paddle when Levi tried. But he still managed to avoid hitting it by skating on the ground," Derrek calls out, making Levi smile at the addition of Malik's cheating.

"Hey, it still counts as a flawless score on my end!" Malik calls out with a playful growl.

"Yeah, but Levi also finished in… oh what was it again? I can't remember…" Derrek says playfully.

"Shut it," Malik warns him with annoyance building in his tone.

"Oh yeah, he finished in 48 seconds, that's right!" Derrek mentions with a wide smile that makes Levi himself chuckle at the growing frustration of Malik.

Willow swallows hard, looking at the wild contraption that looks more like a death device than a training opportunity. How could Levi complete every hit, and dodge every attack in less than a minute in this thing? She knows that she is not as proficient in vertical maneuvering as the others, not to mention that she is still hurting from her crash to the ground in Levi's arms, with her head still bandaged from the deep wound. She wonders if her injury will affect her score. She knows that she will get nowhere near a perfect score, but figures that she has to get well enough to gain the attention of Hange or Levi. She will not allow the other Cadets to continue to believe that her place here has been secured over a simple trick anyone is capable of performing. She will show them that she belongs here just as well as anyone else.

Willow watches as Petra enters the course quickly and sees the girl is proficient with her ODM gear. She is not nearly as fast as Levi, but she is quick and precise enough to hit the first three black grappling targets with no issues. She swipes down, hitting on her gas heavily as she shoots up to the first foothold. She moves effortlessly, dodging the first paddle, but does not turn back to hit it. Willow smiles at her ability as she continues to grunt through the course. But as Willow celebrates for the girl, she overshoots for the next black target to miss the swinging paddle. She turns to hit the paddle when she loses balance and skates her food on the ground, rendering her minus one point for the missed black target and minus five for scraping the ground. This clouds her concentration and she completely misses the next foothold, preventing her from getting enough momentum to hit the target, leaving it upright and only scoring her the single point. Petra shakes the frustration from her head and ends up finishing the rest of the course flawlessly, though no longer attempting to hit the paddles.

Petra flies out of the course breathing heavily as trickles of sweat bead against her forehead. Her chest lifts wildly as she lets out a built-up laugh. "Man, that was tough!" she calls out with a smile.

"Good job, Petra." Levi tells her with a nod and she blushes at his compliment.

"You scored a 34, with a time of 4 minutes and 12 seconds," Malik says with a nod of his head. "Impressive, Cadet," he says with a smile.

"Thank you, Sir," she returns with a smile.

James is next, taking his stance and readying himself to begin. "Oh, I forgot to mention," Malik calls out as James is about to enter. "In case you thought it would be easy to memorize the location of the footholds and paddles," he begins with a sinister smile forming on his lips. "The placement changes every time," he states as he cranks a lever while James' face falls at the realization that his concentration on Petra's performance is useless to him now.

Malik starts the clock and James jumps in immediately, he is faster than Petra, but he is also sloppier than her, missing the second black target and overshooting the first red foothold. Unlike Petra, he does not hit the ground, and is able to stay afloat and hit the green targets with enough force to knock them down. He narrowly misses the final paddle, with it grazing against the top of his head as the hairs on the back of his neck lift at the proximity, but he does not attempt to hit any of the swinging paddles, since attempting the hit caused Petra to touch the ground. He skips two footholds and a black grappling target to launch himself quickly to the end of the course, with hopes to gain a better time rather than a higher score.

James shoots out of the contraption with heavy breaths. "Whew, that was a close one!" he announces as a large triumphant smile reaches his lips.

"Nice job, Cadet," Malik states with less enthusiasm, valuing precision more than speed. "You scored a 32 with a time of 2 minutes and 48 seconds," he takes note of James' performance and looks up at Willow. "Your turn, Cadet," he calls up to her.

Willow swallows hard taking in a deep breath and shaking the nerves from her hands. Levi looks up at her with a pressed expression, knowing that she is nowhere near ready for this course, seeing just how much she was fumbling on the field, and considering the head injury she sustained. Although he keeps his mouth shut, knowing that regardless of her performance, he will attempt to recruit her for his team based on her blind devotion towards killing Titans.

Willow looks down to see that Hal and Colin have joined the rest in watching her. Her eyes catch Hal's and he seems interested in how this will all play out. She notices a subtle shake of their hands, figuring they are placing bets on her performance, and she shakes the image out of her aching head.

Malik yells out, telling the girl to begin. She jumps into the contraption, attaching onto the black target and propelling to the next target in mind. Her eyes fixate on the next black target, preparing herself to attach onto it, when the first paddle comes down and smashes into her forehead, slamming her into the ground with force and a loud thud. A synchronized shout mimicking a painful groan comes from the crowd that winces at the pain Willow undoubtably endured.

Willow groans, looking up at the sky as dizzying stars appear in her vision while blood seeps through her bandages and trickles down her face at the reopened wound. She gets up and grapples onto the paddle, and striking it to gain her points. She jumps from the paddle and attaches to the second black target, and lands her foot on the first red foothold, staying there for a moment to regain her wits as her vision dives and spins.

"Are you alright, Cadet?" Malik calls out, seeing just how much blood is spilling from her head wound.

Willow places her hand on her head, saturating her fingers in hot blood. "I'm fine," she shouts in frustration, not wanting to look like a fool in front of everyone. She swallows down the growing lump in her throat and looks up to the remaining obstacles of the course. She grapples onto the third black target and launches herself at the first green target, taking it down and landing onto the next red foothold. She turns and propels onto the next black target when the second paddle comes down. She slashes at it, and though she successfully hits the paddle, she does not dodge it, and it comes smashing into her stomach, propelling her back into the green target that she crashes her back into. She falls to the ground on her hands and knees, immediately vomiting blood on the ground.

Petra releases a gasp and Levi steps forward, running towards the girl who heaves on the ground between her hands. "That's enough," he grunts to Malik as he approaches her. "Are you okay to get up," he asks her from behind the beams of the obstacle course.

Willow shakes her head slowly, digging her fingers in the dirt as she lifts herself shakily to her feet. "I am not finished," she tells him between clenched bloody teeth, looking around for the next grappling target.

"Are you an idiot?" Levi asks her with frustration. "You're getting your ass kicked. You continue and you can get yourself killed," he says with a sharp tone.

Willow does not respond to him and grapples onto the next hold. She swallows hard as she launches herself to the next green target and hits it with so much force, that it falls from its hinges.

Levi exhales an angry groan and approaches Malik. "Make her stop," he commands him in a low tone. "Tell her she's finished and can complete this another time."

Malik watches Willow with devoted eyes, "I don't think that is going to stop her," he says with a skeptical tone.

"She isn't much use to us dead," Levi says between clenched teeth. "She already has a concussion and god only knows what internal damages she's sustained."

Malik's eyes focus on the girl as she continues to push through the course. The next paddle comes down quickly after the second and she cannot dodge it, and instead holds onto it, stabbing it and holding on so not to fall to the ground again. She grapples from the paddle and hits the next target with ease, launching herself to the next foothold. She takes a second to catch her breath, feeling dizzy as her world begins spinning around her. She begins rocking back and forth as her body begins shutting down.

She jumps from the next foothold and launches towards the next target feet first as she kicks it down, the next paddle comes down and she rolls to avoid it, slashing it as she passes it, but tumbles to the ground in an effort to avoid it. She looks up, wiping the blood from her brow as it seeps into her eyes and obscures her vision.

She swallows hard, looking up to the sky for the next foothold. She hears snickering coming from Hal and the other Elite as they watch the show, placing bets as Willow struggles though the course. She hears them laughing at her state, hearing off handed comments about how she will not make it to the end, only igniting a fire in her to prove them wrong.

Willow grapples onto the next hook. She looks around for the next foothold and sees a clear path of two more footholds, one target and one grappling hook until the end. She knows the final paddle is hidden somewhere within her course and knows that she will need to avoid it. She takes in a deep breath, feeling her insides screaming at her as she does so. She shakes as the fatigue of her body crashes through her. She jumps to the foothold, and attaches to the last grappling hook, hitting the last foothold on her way to the end of the course. She knocks down the target and releases her grappling hook to fall freely as the final paddle falls where she would have been. She attaches her hook back to the black target she was just on and doubles back to hit the paddle just before she hits the ground. She slashes the paddle and launches herself out of the course to tumble down at the feet of the officers.

She shakes as the pain crashes through her body like waves against the rocks. Her chest is on fire, but she swallows hard and looks up at Malik bruised and bloodied. "How did I do?" she asks him with labored breaths.

Malik looks down at her with wide incredulous eyes while Levi watches her angrily, seeing the shit condition she placed herself in. "Well…" Malik says looking down at his notes. "You hit every obstacle and gained every point there was to gain."

"Willow, are you alright?" Levi asks her, noticing just how pale she is getting.

"What was my score, Sir?" she asks avoiding Levi's inquiry about her health.

"Considering the demerits from hitting the ground and paddles, you earned… negative three points," Malik tells her with pressed brows. "15 minutes and 19 seconds," he says looking at the timer.

She nods simply, swallowing down the blood in her throat. "I will do better next time, Sir," she tells him strongly.

"I don't doubt that, Cadet." Malik says seeing the fierceness in her eyes. "Go to the infirmary," he commands her, "We will come get you when the next course is ready for you."

"Sir," she says saluting him with a wince. She turns from him and heads away from the course. Her eyes shoot over at Hal who watches her between thick black brows and strands of hair that fall in front of his eyes. She wants to sneer at him for laughing at her, but before she can, he turns from her and takes money from Colin with a satisfied smile on his face. Her eyes expand at the sight, realizing that he bet in favor of her finishing the course.

A few hours pass and Willow joins the others in training, despite the doctor's insistent commands that she immediately begin bedrest for her various wounds. Upon joining the others, Willow lies to her Captains and tells them that she was cleared to continue with training. While they set up the next training course, Willow learns that she was the only Cadet to score negatively on the previous course, but she was also the only Cadet to successfully hit every single obstacle.

Willow watches as Hal and the other Elites keep their eyes on the Cadets training. They speak amongst themselves, placing bets on who will drop out or end up without a squad, with Willow on the top of most of their lists. She does notice, however, that Hal seems to have trust in her ability to complete the course.

Derrek introduces the next course, informing them all that they are to hike atop a mountain to the south of the Walls where an abandoned castle remains. Inside the castle is a golden coin they are to return to any of the high-ranking officers. The first to locate the coin and return to the officers wins the course. Derrek mentions the hike is more than a three days trek and they are to pack their own supplies. Equipped with each Cadet is a red smoke gun that any Cadet needing immediate evacuation will shoot off the smoke signal and wait for the officers to evacuate them, though doing so would result in failure to complete the course.

"Once the golden coin is returned a green smoke signal will be released," Derrek explains. "Remaining in the castle from there are silver pieces. Each of you will take a silver piece, signifying that you reached the castle, and make your way back to basecamp. Your scoring will depend on your return time and your ability to effectively do so without the use of the red smoke signal," he says looking at each Cadet. "Despite this mission being a team effort, there is only one gold coin to be retrieved so in the end, there will only be one winner."

A Cadet raises his hand and Derrek calls on him. "With us venturing beyond the walls, is there a chance we will encounter a Titan?"

Everyone stiffens at this comment and Derrek nods in acknowledgement of the question. "This location is situated in an area seemingly dormant of Titan activity," he says shifting his weight. "Now I know 'seemingly dormant' is not really the phrase you would like us describing the area you will be in, so to effectively project you all from any Titan activity, the Elite soldiers will be doing routine scouting to ensure safety of everyone. Feel free to ignore us if you see us within the trees, we are just there to ensure your safety. If you do in fact spot a Titan, use the black smoke signal to inform us of your location and we will return with a purple smoke signal to provide you with our location."

"Does anyone else feel like this is a terrible idea?" Oruo mentions under his breath as he approaches Petra and Gunther who keep their eyes on Derrek.

"We are expected to work with our teams," Gunther responds under his breath. "I say we bring all three of our teams together and persevere with strength in numbers."

"Won't the Elites see us and break us up?" Petra asks quietly.

"No rules against merging teams," Gunther says. "Plus, you have Willow on your team and she looks like she is going to fall over dead any moment," he says quietly as their eyes glance over at Willow who looks paler than she did before.

"Yeah, you're right," Petra says with worry sparkling in her amber eyes.

"I am not carrying her down the mountain if she dies out there," Oruo grumbles as he looks over at the skinny girl who loses her strength with every second that she stands.

Derrek tells them they have an hour to pack and meet in the courtyard where they will be released to the wild. Willow packs her bags quickly, giving herself enough time to review if she has everything. She packs a few supplies, and despite knowing that she is in no shape to complete this course, she needs to impress the high-ranking officers and prove to her peers that she will not get a free pass for joining their squads because of her control of the Titans. She will earn her spot with whichever squad she has been chosen for.

Once the hour is up, Willow joins her team at the front gate. Petra watches her carefully, examining her frail body as Willow stands straight and tall. She feels Petra's eyes on her and with a heavy sigh she says, "If you have something to say, then say it."

Petra swallows hard at Willow's harsh tone. "You don't look well," she releases, watching Willow for a reaction but gets none. "If the doctor gave you different orders from the ones you told Malik and Derrek, we as your team need to know if you weren't properly cleared," she says strongly. "You can put us in just as much danger if you fall over unconscious or something."

Willow keeps her eyes off of Petra and onto the wall that she waits to lift and release them into the woods. "Don't worry," Willow says with a labored breath. "I will not be your burden," she promises her as the officers join the group.

"Be safe out there!" Derrek says with a wide smile as he sees everyone accounted for. "And may the best Scout return with the golden piece!" he calls out as the gates open, and everyone pushes their way out of the wall.