And here I am again with some more words to write and a brand new story to continue. My writing mind just doesn't want to stop right now, and I shall embrace that!

Another thing for this story, in certain moments of the series nothing really changes with Ross being there. I will borrow some ideas and scenes from the game 'Attack on Titan 2' for some extra scenes that involve the OC. In this case, David Ross. I have a ton of little ideas for him, and a lot of major ones, but those only come into play way after this training arc. Until then, enjoy my take on these coming events.

Beta: CrowSkull

Soldier of Humanity

Chapter 2- Copycat

On the first day of training, the literal first day, right after they were put into formation and asked the reason as to why they wanted to join the military to fight the titans, they were running. And they were forced to keep running. In the beginning, it was rumored that this was to rule out the weak right away. Getting rid of anyone who wasn't strong enough physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually so as to not waste time trying to train someone who was just going to get themselves killed or quit anyway. Ross was a farm boy before Shiganshina fell, and after that, he spent his time taking up physical jobs to both keep himself in shape and to pass the time until he was comfortable enough to enlist himself into the army. What drove him now was the eagerness to avenge his friends and family who died in the attack, like how he imagined so many others who were also from Shiganshina.

Their goal was to run a single lap around the entire district that the training corps site was located in. Which counted for approximately thirty miles. Right now, he had managed to keep up with the head of the pact, who he remembered from the formation calls to be named Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, Eren, Mikasa, Sasha (Surprisingly, he would have thought that she would have taken her sweet time given that she had to run two laps because of a certain potato incident) and some more he couldn't remember off the top of his head. Currently, David was in fourth place, panting for breath as he desperately continued to pump his arms and legs to force his body to keep running. He knew that if he stopped to walk or to even take a break, his body wouldn't let him start to run again. So many others have already fallen for that trap, and he couldn't let that happen to him as well.

The leader of the pact, the girl who has been in the first place the entire time, Mikasa, didn't look tired at all. David couldn't help but to keep glancing at her as he tried to catch up with her. Her form was perfect, her strides were long, and he couldn't imagine how physically peak she was to be able to run fifteen miles and easily be able to run fifteen more. He wondered how that was even possible, she was only fifteen years old and he was eighteen, and just from looking at Reiner and Bertholdt, they were likely as old as him or slightly more so. Yet they were all being left in the dust by a girl.

"Hah… hah…" Desperate panting that didn't belong to him came from his right. David looked over, watching a shorter boy with brown hair and green eyes trot along beside him. Like everyone else, he was drenched in sweat, but the way his eyes looked compared to everyone else told a story of a lot of pent up anger. That one was Eren, he couldn't forget that as he was stationed right next to him in the formation. He too was staring - nay, glaring into Mikasa's back, and was really trying to catch up to her with all the strength he had. He was giving it his all the entire time, which felt like a mistake since they had to run so far so why would he waste all his stamina so soon?

"I can't stop…" Eren muttered to himself as he kept running, slowing down ever so slightly as the fatigue started to get to him. "I have… to keep going… I have to… kill them all!"

David widened his eyes, remembering that unforgettable scene of his mother dying in his arms while a boy not too far away vowed to kill all of the titans with his own two hands. Ross often prided himself with having a very good memory, and when he looked back to compare the two boys, and couldn't deny the resemblance. It was the same boy. One who had lost his mother as well, he figured. David looked back at the other boy with interest as he started to lag behind, his eyes started rolling back, closing for a little too long, his form was atrocious and he could tell that his feet were hurting just by looking at him. Pushing yourself was good, but doing it too much would just lead to getting yourself hurt.

Letting out a conflicted sigh, David slowed down, keeping pace with the green-eyed boy to his right. Curiously, Eren looked up at him, a question being asked through his eyes. David replied, "Stop running on your toes," he said through his own pants. "You're just hurting your feet that way. Land on your heels, then push yourself off your toes. Heel to toe." he explained quickly. Eren looked at him and then back down to his feet. He followed his advice, and already, he was starting to speed up again.

Nodding his head, David ran ahead, he wasn't going to hold his hand the entire way, and honestly he didn't think Eren would want that anyway. He, for one, wanted to catch up with that Mikasa girl. He wanted to become as strong as she was, and set her as a goal or a benchmark to surpass one day. And so he sprinted, heel to toe like he just taught Eren, and kept running for as hard and as long as he could. They were at the twenty-ninth mile soon enough, and still Mikasa didn't look tired at all! David, Annie, and Reiner were the only ones who were even close to her with the rest of the training corps a good long distance behind them. He was beyond tired at this point, the sun was starting to go down now, his feet felt numb and his knees were hurting. Sweat had caused his long black hair to get out of place and fall over his eyes. He stared through them, giving up on trying to fix it while running and just wanted all of this to be done and over with. He saw their Instructor Keith Shadis in the distance with a stopwatch, one hand on his back, and watching them intently as they made their way toward them.

Now was the time to dig deep. It seemed that everyone else thought the same thing, as everyone, excluding Mikasa, started running at their top speeds. Ross was just ahead of Reiner, with Annie slightly ahead of him, but his eyes were on a bigger beast. Mikasa still just ran without a care in the world, if anything, she looked bored. David would have thought that was amazing if he wasn't on the verge of collapsing. Right now, he was irritable, and his more competitive side was showing. Somehow, he thought of Eren, who was far behind them now but without a doubt still running as hard as he could. He was putting so much effort into this first run, even more than he was, and yet he was still so far behind. It didn't feel fair. David forced himself to run even faster, blitzing ahead of Annie for a moment and surprising even himself with his speed.

Mikasa was still the first to cross the finish line, but he was a close second. She didn't seem to expect it as Keith gave her time to her, a time of five hours and thirty-two seconds. David came just a few seconds after her, and as soon as he passed Keith, he dropped to his hands and knees, and threw up everything that he ate that afternoon for lunch.

"You broke the record for this run by an hour, Ackerman," Keith commented, completely ignoring the way David continued to throw up his guts. "Good job. With ten more like you humanity might just stand a chance. "

Mikasa nodded her head uncaringly. She shrugged his shoulders and saluted the Instructor, who nodded at her in turn. "You as well Ross, don't worry, I didn't forget you." Shadis remarked. "Good job pushing yourself at the end. Throw up in the middle of a fight however, and you're Titan chum."

"Y-Yes sir…" David said as he pushed himself back up to his feet, only to immediately stagger and begin to fall to his side. A pair of strong hands caught him, however, and Ross looked up to see who it was.

"Are you okay?" Mikasa asked him, her deep onyx eyes staring at him blankly.

"I…" David's pride wanted to tell her yes. But his legs didn't allow that. "I don't think I can walk right now… so no."

"I'll help you." Mikasa said, easily taking his weight on her shoulder as she put her head under his arm. "Thank you, by the way."

"Huh?" Ross blinked his eyes, confused. "What do you mean? I should be the one thanking you."

"You helped Eren." Mikasa said, as if that explained everything. "He doesn't like it when I help him, so I'm glad someone else did."

"Oh," Ross snorted. The two of them must have known each other, pretty well at that if she was that concerned for him. "Well, the favor is definitely returned right now."

"Hm." Mikasa merely hummed. "What is your name?"

"David Ross," he answered. "Just call me Ross though. I prefer it."

"Okay, Ross." Mikasa replied. "My name is Mikasa. Let's go wait in the chow hall like the instructor said."

"Food does sound good right now, yes."

"Hmph."

It took two hours for everyone else to catch up, and another two more before Sasha was allowed to pass out and be dragged into the barracks by two female soldiers. David sat at one of the tables near the back of the chow hall across from Mikasa as she sat next to Eren and Armin next to him. Eren thanked him for the advice earlier, and he told him not to worry about it.

"You three seem to know each other." Ross remarked in an effort to spark a conversation. "Are you three all friends from before?"

"Yes," Armin replied. "Eren, Mikasa and I are all from Shiganshina district."

"Really? I used to live on the farm right outside the district," Ross explained. "I sometimes went inside the wall to get some extra supplies for the farm my mom and I worked at. But I never lived there."

"I remember you." Eren suddenly remarked. Causing them all to raise an eyebrow at him. "On the boat going out of Wall Maria and into Wall Rose. I saw you holding someone missing an arm."

"I…" Ross put down his fork, looking down at his food. "That was my mother. She died when the wall was breached, a rock landed on our hose, crushing her arm. I cut it off to try and save her, but…" he sighed. He didn't plan on telling anyone that story so soon into training, but since it was Eren, he figured that he might as well. "It didn't work out."

"I lost my mom in the fall too." Eren remarked, looking at him with determination. "I saw you that day on the boat, holding your mom and crying. I know your pain," he said. "Which is why I am going to make sure no one has to suffer the pain of losing their mother again. It's why I want to kill all the titans. It's why you want to kill the armoured one, right?"

"Eren, that's enough." Mikasa berated him.

"What?" Eren looked at her, confused.

"Can't you tell that he's really uncomfortable talking about it?" Armin pointed out.

"It's fine," Ross said, playing with his food absentmindedly. "It was a long time ago. It's not that bad anymore."

"No, its-" Eren was cut off by someone suddenly putting their hands on the table beside them. That person asked Eren about Shiganshina, about the Titans, and what it was all like. Then another one came, and another one and then another until there were a dozen people swarming them and asking the same questions over and over. Ross quickly became more uncomfortable and made to leave. No one tried to stop him as he took his food and finished it somewhere else. When he was done, he stood up and made his way back to the barracks and to an open bed, claiming it for himself. He was glad that he did, there were only a few people back there. The bunk that was next to his was the one in the corner of the building. It belonged to two other guys, a brolic blonde guy and his taller and more lean friend with darker skin and hair. Reiner and Bertholdt, he remembered them from the run.

Reiner looked at him and smiled politely. "You're the one who damn near caught up to that monster girl at the end of the run. Are you gonna be able to keep your food in your stomach tonight? You're sleeping next to me tonight, so I'd hope so."

Ross laughed. "I hope so. I'm surprised that I was even able to make it here. My legs are killing me."

"At least you're not like the potato girl," Reiner replied. "I heard she wasn't even allowed to eat dinner because of that."

"She'll get to eat in the morning at least. I doubt it'll be hard to fall asleep tonight for anyone." Ross pointed out.

"I hear tomorrow we are going to start training with our gear right away." Reiner said. "So we have that to look forward to. I also hear that a lot of people gave up on the first day."

"I don't blame them." David said. "A thirty-mile run is not something the average person can do. I'm surprised a bigger guy like you was even able to keep up."

"Hah!" Reiner barked out a laugh. "I worked out a lot where I lived. I had to get strong so I could be a warri- a soldier," he corrected himself.

"Well, I'm sure there's still more room to grow while we're here." David said. Yawning loudly as he leaned back on his pillow. "I for one am going to get the sleep that I need. So I guess we'll be seeing each other in the morning."

"You're going to be the first person I look at when I wake up." Reiner pointed out.

The rumors were true. Although the next batch of training was not nearly as difficult as the thirty mile run, it was still tedious and a test of fortitude. Every single member of the 104th training corps was made to put on their 3D maneuver gear for the first time with minimal instruction. The gear itself was almost eighty pounds in total with all the extra gas canisters attached to them. Though for this exercise, it only weighed about forty. They had to learn how to balance between two vertical anchor points in the form of two tall metal poles sticking out of the ground. At first, it was extremely disorienting to stay right side up, as the other cadets lifted him into the air with levers, his body immediately wanted to fall forward, and when he tried to correct himself, his body then wanted to fall backwards instead. Everyone but one person fell a few times before they were able to get it right, everyone but of course, Mikasa.

Again, David wondered how Mikasa was able to do it so easily while being able to look bored about it at the same time. Her friend Eren was miserable, literally hanging upside down while the blonde one Armin even managed to get it right. He couldn't see anyone else he knew by name, but Mikasa wasn't too far from where he was training. He watched as she didn't even use her hands for balance, her body was relaxed, knees slightly bent, chin resting on her collarbone as she gently bounced up and down without going forward or backwards. All the while he struggled to even stay up right. She had to be doing something that he wasn't, was she just more relaxed? Was that the secret? Curiously, David wanted to test that theory. He let out a long sigh, he let his body go limp in some areas, he turned his body ever so slightly and put his legs beneath his body. It felt like an odd position, unnatural like the human body wasn't meant to bend in such angles. He dealt with the discomfort, and after thirty seconds of tiny corrections, David was almost as relaxed as Mikasa was, hanging from the anchor points easily and to his surprise, almost effortlessly. Again, his eyes turned to look at Mikasa to see if she was doing anything else that he missed, only to find her staring right back at him, her face blank and without emotion. Embarrassed, David let out a sudden gasp, making him lose concentration and falling backward, hitting his head on the sand beneath him.

"You had it for a good minute there Cadet Ross!" Keith screamed at him as he stomped over. "You should spend less time looking at Mikasa and more time working on yourself, you sorry bastard!"

"I-I wasn't-"

"Shut it! Get yourself back into balance right not Cadet! You want to kill the Armoured Titan, right!?"

Ross struggled to try and right himself back up but it was too difficult. Hanging upside down with his head and shoulders on the ground and then trying to get back up that way was almost impossible. That was why the cadets controlling the lever system released the tension so that their comrades could fix themselves without going through so much effort. However, when those cadets went to do that for him, Keith stopped them.

"Hold it! I want to see if tall, dark, and pretty here can pull off a miracle," Keith said as he went around to where Ross's head was at, and then crouched down to glare into his face. "You have one minute to get back up from this position! If you don't, you're cleaning the entire horse stables by yourself! Maybe that way, you'll learn to stop staring at girls!"

David growled but didn't dare talk back to the instructor. He continued to struggle, trying to find some way to pull it off. It was going to take a lot of core strength and that was something he just didn't have right now. Groaning desperately, David almost accepted his defeat. That was until he heard a dozen other cadets gasp, and the sound of someone hitting the ground.

While upside down still, Ross looked over to see Mikasa dangling in the same position he was in, and then in the next few seconds, she threw her arms up and her legs down, using that momentum to aid herself in getting back into balance. David saw that and then looked back up at the sky. Keith was looking her way as well, scoffing at the realization of what she was doing. David then threw his longer arms forward with all his strength, and then his legs down, and pulled up with his core on nothing but air in an effort to get back up.

And he did. David panted as he almost fell forward because of the maneuver. But he managed to maintain his balance and returned to the same position that he had copied from Mikasa. The instructor walked out from behind him, letting out a seemingly disappointed breath.

"Very well, looks like I'll have to find someone else to clean horse shit tonight," he said as he walked off, headed toward Eren as he continued to struggle with the same issue. However, after watching Mikasa and him manage to recover from that same position, he started to replicate them. Once, twice, three, and then a fourth. Eren was then also able to temporarily regain his balance. Only to fall over again, this time in his front. He would have hit his head had he not pushed out his hands to catch himself, but the entire effort was applauded by all of his comrades.

"Heh," David chuckled to himself as he continued to keep his balance. "Good for you, Eren." He then looked back over at Mikasa, seeing that she was also looking at him. He smiled at her and nodded, silently thanking her for the help. She simply nodded back, then looked back over to Eren and watched as he pushed himself off the ground and back up into balance. Again and again, he kept gaining his balance and then losing it, which was something that he found strange. Once David got his balance, he was able to keep it unless he stopped concentrating or let himself fall over. Eren kept getting his balance and then continued to fall over, and he was doing the same thing as everyone else.

"Maybe his gear isn't working properly?" David said quietly. Looking down at his own gear and seeing it do its work as intended. Looking over at Eren again, he figured that had to be it. The gear was supposed to help you keep your balance. Not allow you to fall over again and again. Eren didn't give up, he never did, and kept trying regardless of how many times he hit his head on the sand. This went on for another minute before the instructor finally stopped him, demanding him to take off his gear so that he may inspect it.

It turned out that his hunch was right. Eren's gear was defective, and he received a new set from another cadet named Jean who was roughly similar in waist size to him. Once Eren put on the gear and tried again, he was able to keep his balance easily. Earning a wide arrange of applause from other cadets who were already finished with this trial. David didn't hear what Keith said after that, but whatever it was, it made Eren thrust his fists up into the air and cheer.

Later that night, Eren sat on his bunk beside Armin, favoring the back of his head, which was wrapped with bandages after all the times he hit his head on the ground during training earlier that morning. It was just the second day, but already some people like him were hurt. David couldn't make fun of him since he had a few welts growing on his head as well. But all that pain made it worth it as there wasn't a look of worry or concern on Eren's face whatsoever, very unlike how he appeared earlier during balance training. He looked like he was going to cry out of his desperate desire to be strong enough to compete with all the other cadets and get cleared to stay in the 104th cadet corps.

"I still can't believe that my gear was defective, don't those people inspect them before handing them over to us?" Eren said, annoyed. "If I got a working set like everyone else I would have been able to do it a lot faster!"

"There's only so much you can do about human error," Armin said. "People make mistakes, it wasn't like the gear was defective on purpose now, was it?"

"At least Shadis let you try again with that other guy's gear set," David pointed out. "You might have been screwed otherwise."

"Ugh, yeah, I guess I might have to thank Jean for being thin enough to match my size," Eren said with a chuckle. "Though, I have to thank you, Ross."

"Eh? Why?"

"I saw you fall, and then I saw you fix yourself and regain your balance." Eren pointed out. "Mikasa told me that you copied that move from her, so I copied it from you, and it all worked out."

"Oh, yeah, I think we all know that Ross got that from her," Reiner teased from behind them. "Got caught staring at her during training, I hear. I didn't think you'd be into monster girls, Ross."

"It wasn't like that!" Ross complained, throwing a weak fist at Reiner's shoulder as he leaned against his bunk. "I was trying to replicate her technique in balance training today, that's why I was looking at her. Don't tell me there's a whole rumor about that now, is there?"

"Hah!" Reiner simply barked out a simple laugh.

"Everyone knows." Bertholdt said, still lying down on the bunk above Reiner.

"Oh, great," David rolled his eyes, then looked back at Eren and Armin. "Just so you two know, it was nothing like what you might be thinking."

"I wouldn't care either way," Eren said with a smirk.

"And I understand, I watched it happen, after all." Armin remarked. "Actually, that reminds me of something she wanted to tell you but she couldn't find you after training was done."

"Yeah?" Ross found himself curious. "What would that be?"

"She's fine with you copying her technique and skills if it helps you," Armin relayed. "But she'd also rather have you just ask her for help instead of just staring at her."

"That makes sense. That's fair." David sighed. "I was being creepy, wasn't I?"

"Yes." Eren, Armin, Reiner, Bertholdt and even Connie above him all said at the same time.

"Then yeah, I'll just ask her next time." David said, sighing soon after.

"That also reminds me of something," Eren said next. "I wanted to say sorry for before, I didn't mean to pry too much about what happened during the fall of Wall Maria. Mikasa and Armin told me afterwards that not everyone is as open about it as I am, I guess I just didn't understand that before."

"Well, don't worry about it. It's okay." David replied. "I won't lie and say I wasn't uncomfortable at the moment but it's not like I'm going to hate you over it."

"That's good." Eren said, smiling at him. "But I was serious about what I said. I do understand your pain. My mom was eaten by a Titan during the invasion."

"Woah, should I be hearing this?" Reiner asked.

"No, I want you all to know." Eren said, then looked back at David. "Like yours, my house was hit by a part of the wall when the Colossal Titan attacked. My mom had her legs trapped under the rubble, and we couldn't save her."

"Eren…" David looked sadly at him, he felt pity for the younger boy. So young, younger than even him, and he had to see something like that. It was even worse than how he lost his mom. At least she was able to die in his arms relatively peacefully. Dying from blood loss compared to getting eaten alive, the former was far more preferable. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"We all lost a lot of people during that first attack." Armin remarked. "But the fact that we're still here and able to make more friends means that we all made it for a reason. That's the way I look at it, anyway."

"That's a good way of looking at things." Reiner commented. "I just met you guys, and you me, but we are all brothers in arms now. We'll fight the Titans and make sure they don't hurt anyone else. That's the promise we all made when we signed up for this, right Bertholdt?"

"Yeah." Bertholdlt replied.

"Sounds like a plan to me." David said. "Let's do our best to make sure no one else has to die. That begins with taking down the greatest threats to the Wall, the Colossal and Armoured Titan."

"Y-Yeah," Reiner scratched his temple, not able to look him in the eyes. "We'll do that. I never saw them before, though, do you know what they look like?

"The Collosal is easy," Eren said. "It's just a sixty meter Titan without skin. I never saw the armoured, though."

"I did." David said scornfully. "I can't forget it. It killed a soldier right in front of me while I was trying to escape with my mom. It has yellow plate-like armour that covers its body from head to toe that probably can't be cut through or pierced. Blonde hair, glowing eyes, about fifteen meters tall. To this day, I don't know why it didn't bother to kill me." As he spoke, everyone listened intently. Taking in every word to hear and remember his story. "It just looked down at me, and I looked up at it. I was frozen with fear, I had my mom bleeding out on the horse behind me, and I was still getting my feet in the stirrup. It just looked at me for ten seconds, and then it just moved away."

"That's not normal behavior for Titans." Bertholdt pointed out. "Why would it do that?"

"I don't know, maybe some Titans can feel pity?" Reiner shrugged his shoulders as he asked.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Ross." Armin said. "I am glad that you are alive though. Even if it doesn't make sense why that Titan let you live, at least you are here to tell us that story."

"Yeah, and you also enable us all to copy Mikasa." Connie laughed at his own joke, David joined in along with Reiner. "Shadis did say that if there are ten more of her the Titans are screwed, so I count about two more so far!"

They all shared a laugh together at that. As night continued to fall and the soreness from the exercises continued to wane on them all, they all decided to pack it in for the night and continue their training in the morning. It was just the second day, but over the course of twenty four hours, David Ross felt as though he had done so much already. It really did feel like a long day, much more than the twenty four hour limit each day had. He looked forward to the future, he felt like maybe the future wouldn't be so bleak after all.

All in preparation to join the Survey Corps, so that he could be as active as possible in his quest to avenge Tyler, his mother, and Mr. Opal. The Armoured Titan wouldn't get away with what it's done.

Thinking of that as he fell asleep, Ross couldn't help but hold an eager-filled smirk on his face.

And there we go. Chapter 2 of this story is done. Hopefully, I'm doing what I planned correctly. Though I am rewatching AoT again to refresh my memory about certain scenes and episodes, I also plan on making some slight changes just to make this story a little more unique. Like Eren beating the defective gear early, and not being near as hurt, as a result, is just one example.