1. Training Days Pt 1: Call Me Nap

Year 845

Annie Leonhardt's head was a swirling cyclone of different emotions, and every one of them could be traced back to the events of the past day. Her perpetually empty face managed to hide it from most of the people who passed by, but that did nothing to help her in the slightest.

"You're sure you can still go through with it?" Bertolt asked, as if she had a choice.

She nodded, trying her hardest to compose herself. The others would be back soon, and she would have to leave soon after. She wasn't sure how she would make it through the gates and into Wall Sina's interior, but it was almost certain that her target was there.

"Are you still thinking about Marcel?" His question had an obvious answer. Of course she was thinking about Marcel. All four of them were still thinking about Marcel. But they couldn't let his death weigh them down, for doing so would mean certain failure.

"I just want this all to be over," she replied, her body present and her mind anything but.

"I feel the same way." In his own painfully awkward way, Bertolt Hoover was trying to comfort her. She felt bad about it, but it wasn't like she was forcing him to do it. Still, Annie was in no position to be receiving any sympathy from him. He had been the one to destroy the gate, after all. He knew exactly how shitty their way of life was.

"Bertolt…" Annie began slowly. "What if I find him, and he's like us?"

"That shouldn't change the plan at all," he answered with one of the most inhumane thoughts he could have possibly concocted. "As long as I can find the Coordinate, along with Reiner and-"

"That's not what I asked."

Bertolt bit his lip. "I don't know what to say. Would you rather have her do it? She's willing to."

"I wish she had died instead of Marcel" was all Annie could say in response.

Year 847

"We now begin the enlistment ceremony for the 104th Trainee Corps! I am Keith Shadis, and I had the misfortune to be assigned to train you bastards. And I'm not here to welcome you at all! Right now, you're mere cattle, fit for nothing but Titan food! In three years, we'll take you useless pieces of crap and train you. Give you the means to fight the Titans. In three years, when you stand before a Titan, will you still be food? Or will you be a noble wall, shielding the king? Or perhaps, one of humanity's glorious soldiers that slay Titans? You will decide!"

The training grounds were located in a flat, open area, but the head instructor's words still seemed to echo in the mind of the boy of thirteen years standing at the end of the formation. He had arrived on time, maybe even a little early, however he had chosen to remain closer to the rear out of simple force of habit. The boy preferred to stay out of sight when in the company of strangers, and all but one person present qualified as such.

His given name was Napoleon, but he was known to most as Nap. As Keith Shadis droned on and on, the boy began to grow as tired as his nickname suggested. Nap may not have felt the need to be there, but he understood the importance of the initiation ritual for the other trainees.

The youngest of his peers were merely twelve years old, while the oldest barely reached fourteen. These were the prototypical "soldiers" that the Titans had forced humanity to resort to training from the ground up. They were little more than children, youths who for the most part had never laid eyes on the horrendous creatures that they would someday have to face in battle. These boys and girls had no clue what they were truly up against, and the black-haired boy was no exception. He did not let that notion interfere with his outward expression, however, as his ability to hide his emotions would be tested in full once Keith Shadis made his way over to him. But that would not be for a long while.

"You, there!" Shadis called to a small, blonde-haired boy near the front of the formation.

"Yes, sir!" The boy's salute was perfect, but his eyes betrayed his fear of the imposing bald man. He couldn't be blamed, as the head instructor of the 104th Trainee Corps was the closest thing to a Titan that he would see until he actually encountered one for himself.

"Who are you?" The routine question was barked out by Shadis.

The young boy trembled visibly, but managed to hold his ground long enough to answer "Armin Arlert, from Shinganshina."

The expression on the head instructor's face had not changed for even an instant throughout the introductions, but the boy named Napoleon would remark afterwards that his own amusement reached a peak at this early point.

He had heard it all before, and he knew exactly what the instructor's objective was. His own grandfather had put him through the ringer when the boy had first told him of his intention to join the military. Nap had never thought the old man capable of such a thing, but then again, he had barely known him prior to two years ago. The man that so many people looked up to was nothing but a stranger to his own grandson, until the events of Year 845 changed that entirely.

Shadis used a single hand to forcefully turn Armin's body, as the other trainees in his row quickly followed suit. The instructor then proceeded to the next trainee that caught his eye. This one was a boy with skin the same shade as his, with a shaved head and a grim expression. If he hadn't known any better, the trainee called Nap would have mistaken the boy for a younger version of Shadis himself. That only led the instructor to berate the unfortunate child even more.

"You there! You think you're funny? Who are you?"

The miniature Keith Shadis stuttered as he made his reply. "L-Langston Sten… I mean… Pyrite, from the Inner D-District!"

The Inner District, also known as Mitras, was the Capital of the land within the walls. As a child, Nap had spent a good amount of time in the interior of Wall Sina, and he had quickly grown tired of it. It was likely that Langston Pyrite felt the same way.

"Is that some kind of joke? Why is a brat from the Inner District here?" Shadis screamed at the terrified boy, who began to stutter out of sheer nervousness.

"I-I want to protect my family at all costs! I don't want the things that happened to the citizens of Shinganshina to happen to them, sir!"

"And you think you can stop that from happening? Know your place, worm! You can do nothing to prevent the Titans from eating every human being left in this world, do you understand that?"

"Yes, sir! I understand!"

Nap's inner turmoil contrasted his outward appearance as much as his pitch-black hair contrasted his golden eyes. Those eyes had been trained on the pair of bald figures, but he lost interest in the affair as quickly as Langston gained confidence. He watched with his typical bored expression as Keith Shadis resumed his rampage.

"Row four, about face! Now listen up. I've seen some shit in my time. But you here… You maggots are the sorriest pieces of shit that I have ever seen. You're in for three years of hell, and you'll all be lucky to make it out alive."

Shadis continued onward, punishing new recruit after new recruit. Nap began to fidget against his better judgment, as his boredom escalated.

"Thomas Wagner, from Trost District!" said a nervous-looking blonde boy standing near Armin.

"Mina Carolina, from Karanes!" came the answer of a cute black-haired girl.

"Victor Paulus, Klorva District!" was belted out by a trainee so incredibly short that Nap couldn't even see him from his spot in the back.

As Shadis made his rounds through the petrified trainees, it became apparent to the new recruits that the instructor was blatantly passing by several of the other newcomers. Nap first noticed this behavior when Shadis walked right past a brawny blonde male with a determined expression, as well as the dark-haired beanpole positioned next to him.

There was also a lanky freckled girl with dark brown hair and eyes full of mischief, who didn't receive a second glance from the instructor. He repeated this behavior with a smiling girl with dark brown bangs, and a seemingly unapproachable boy with piercing green eyes.

Shadis also passed by a girl with dark eyes and even darker hair, whose appearance gave Nap the oddest sense of Deja vu. It seemed almost impossible that he had seen her before in his young life, but he couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity that emanated from her.

The only face that was truly familiar to Nap belonged to a girl with blonde hair that covered one of her icy blue eyes, and this girl was also off the hook from the tirade of their instructor. One look into the eyes of any of these recruits gave away the reason. These trainees had already been through hell, and Shadis, being the former leader of the Survey Corps, understood this. His next target showed no such sentiments.

"Who are you, maggot?"

"Jean Kirstein, from Trost," the sandy-haired boy smugly replied.

The boy at the back of the last column of trainees began to chew on the inside of his cheek. It was a habit that Nap had attempted to break with the help of his best friend, but even she had not been able to do it. This was a failure that still haunted the both of them.

Nap watched as Shadis gave the arrogant Jean Kirstein a swift headbutt before yelling a few last words and moving to his next victim.

"Who are you, smiley? What are you doing here?"

"Marco Bott, Jinae City, Wall Rose South District!" replied the grinning freckled boy.

Truth be told, the golden-eyed boy was pleased that at least one of his fellow trainees was able to maintain a happy face throughout this ordeal. Of course, that was irrelevant when it came to the instructor's job. Nap watched as he left Marco to deal with the grin that had been wiped off his face, and proceeded to a scrawny boy with a head practically devoid of hair.

"Next! Who are you?"

"Connie Springer of Ragako Village, Wall Rose South District," said the recruit.

Connie's shiny head reminded Nap a bit of his grandfather, who had lost his hair at a fairly young age. The boy had inherited his grandfather's golden eyes, and he sincerely hoped that he hadn't also inherited the man's early-onset baldness. He very much liked his thick hair.

The attention of everyone present was diverted from Connie by a loud crunching noise that came from his left. Nap turned toward the sound in time to see a brunette with her hair in a messy ponytail swallow a piece of what looked like a potato.

As Shadis forgot all about Connie Springer and went to deal with the potato girl, the black-haired trainee's mind wandered off on its own. Slowly but surely, it was sinking in for Nap that he would never be able to return to the life that he had once known. And it was somewhat difficult for him to decide whether or not that was a good thing.

He hadn't been the biggest fan of life in the Inner District. There were moments when he had enjoyed himself, but overall it had been a rather dreary experience. Life in the interior could hardly be considered life, and during the eleven years that he spent there, the boy had never felt the thrill that he experienced when he finally stepped outside of Wall Sina.

It had only been two years since he left the Capital, but those two years had easily been the best ones of his young life. He had finally gotten to know his grandfather while living in the territory encompassed by Wall Rose, and the stories that the old man told had enlightened him in ways that no school ever could have. And, of course, he had met her.

Nap lazily gave another look toward Shadis and the potato girl, then began to use his tongue to feel the spot where he had been chewing on his cheek. He poked and prodded it as Shadis continued to be befuddled by Sasha Blouse, unable to make up his mind on whether this girl was fearless or thoughtless. Nap put the thought behind him, and watched as the dumbfounded instructor continued to question Sasha in a puzzled voice.

Like Connie Springer, this potato girl kept bringing the boy's thoughts back to his grandfather. It was easy to imagine him having a similar conversation with his instructor back when the old man was a trainee, but involving alcohol instead of a potato. Even in his youth, the boy's father's father had possessed an affinity for all kinds of intoxicating beverages. Luckily, Nap had not inherited this trait.

The eyes of the trainees remained locked on Shadis and the girl as she handed him a small portion of her potato as a peace offering, and the boy at the back knew that something must be done if the instructor was to retain any sort of authority over them. Shadis had to regain control before he lost them for good. His response did not disappoint.

"I'll give you two options, Sasha Blouse. You can choose which one suits you best. Option one: you can finish that potato while running laps around this training ground until you pass out."

Nap heard gasps from the other trainees as they were reminded of their instructor's true nature.

"Or, you can choose the second option, if you prefer." He stuck his hand that was holding the piece of potato into Sasha's face, and watched her eyes widen as he crushed it in his grip. "You can skip dinner."

The crowd of trainees grew silent as they awaited Sasha's response, but the boy in the back knew enough at this point to easily deduce her choice. Sasha Blouse would spend the next six hours circling the training facilities with nothing but the boiled potato in her unsatisfied belly.

One after the other, the trainees melted under the pressure of their instructor's gaze, with each one reacting differently than the last. Their names all began to blend together in the ears of the unbearably weary trainee with the eyes like twin suns.

"Hannah Diamant!"

"Nack Tius!"

"Floch Forster!"

"Jericho Grimm!"

"Christa Lenz!"

"Ava Miller!"

"Ellen Isaac!"

"Hilde Schultz!"

Eventually the exasperated Keith Shadis reached the end of the long line of trainees. The tall boy's unkempt dark hair hid a portion of the right side of his face, and the part which was visible seemed to tell Shadis that the boy wished he were doing something else, anything but standing there with the rest of the recruits. His golden eyes seemed oddly familiar to Shadis, and the look in them told him nothing about the boy's past. All in all, this recruit was rather unassuming, and it was only the fact that he was the last one Shadis had seen that made him stand out at all. The instructor marched right up to the boy and stared him down.

"So, you have the honor of being the last peon to be dealt with today. What's your name, and where do you come from?"

The boy saluted like all of the others. He stared right back at Shadis and recited his reply as if he had done it a thousand times.

"Napoleon Pixis, Inner District, Wall Sina."

The instructor's eyebrows shot up his forehead. "Pixis? As in Dot Pixis? What kind of joke are you trying to pull here?" The boy was quick with his answer once again.

"Yes, sir. Dot Pixis is my grandfather, but I'd rather not be compared to him."

Keith Shadis pondered the boy in front of him for a few seconds, before opening his mouth for all trainees present to hear.

"All new recruits, head to the barracks for your room assignments. After you filthy animals have settled in, report promptly to the dining hall. You had best enjoy the food that you are given, for you will all be food when you face the Titans! Am I clear?"

"Yes, sir!" came the resounding reply from the trainees as they quickly scampered off in the direction of the distant group of buildings that would house them over the next three years. Shadis then turned his attention to Napoleon Pixis, much to the boy's chagrin.

"So the grandson of Dot Pixis is a trainee under my instruction. Or should I say, the former grandson of Dot Pixis? From this moment on, you are nothing! You're below the dirt! You're only worthy of being stepped on by those stronger than you. I would be surprised if you even survived these three years. Just imagine the look on your grandfather's face when he hears about the fate that you're sure to meet. And let this be the last I ever speak of him."

With that, Shadis turned away from Napoleon and strutted off to meet with the other instructors.

Nap Pixis let out a deep sigh as soon as he could tell for certain that Shadis was out of hearing range. It had almost become second nature to him by this point to hide his emotions under stress. Keith Shadis was among the more perceptive men that the grandson of Dot Pixis had ever encountered, but Nap could tell by his reaction that even he was unaware of the knots that the thirteen-year-old boy had felt in his stomach when the instructor was speaking to him.

As Nap set off in the direction in which the other newly christened trainees had gone, his stomach knots began to loosen and he was able to calm himself down. That ordeal was over, and all that he needed to do until sunset was settle into his bunk and find out what grimy food was served at his quarters. The sun was nearing the end of its descent as he reached the run-down wooden shack that he would spend the next three years lodging in, if he didn't meet the end that his instructor had in mind for him.

The youths outside of the building had gradually filed inside as Nap approached, and when he finally got there, only a handful of trainees had yet to be assigned. He recognized the pair at the back of the line from their introductions, and they both turned around to meet him as he strode up on his impressively long legs. He wasn't particularly excited by the prospect of making any more friends, though he figured he could use more than the one he already had.

"Hey there! Sure took you long enough to get here, didn't it? What did the instructor chew you out over?" asked Connie Springer, casting a sly smile at the taller boy.

Nap shrugged. He wasn't exactly sure why Shadis had deemed his introductory scolding important enough that no one else could stick around to hear it, but he knew that the instructor wouldn't call the other recruits away without a reason. He pushed that thought aside for the moment and confessed to Connie.

"He really didn't say anything to me that he hadn't already said. The same old crap about being less than dirt and fit only for Titan food. It all kind of starts to sound the same after a while."

"It seemed like he recognized your name from somewhere," remarked the freckled boy next to Connie, Marco Bott. "Have you met him before or something?"

The golden-eyed boy figured that he would hear similar questions for the rest of the night. He wasn't exactly eager to make friends, because making friends meant revealing things that he would have rather kept hidden. There was only one person that he had shared everything with, and she was the one that he trusted with his life.

"I've never personally met him," was all he had to say, and while the other boys continued to trade questions with him, he never gave them too much information. That just wasn't his way.

He entered the dining hall late that evening, once again arriving after most of the other trainees. The food on his tray was far more bland than the stuff he was used to, but he knew that he would become accustomed to it over the next three years of his life. Either that, or he would just starve to death. Putting that thought in the back of his mind, Nap scanned the room for a few seconds before taking a seat next to the only truly familiar face in the room.

Annie curtly acknowledged his presence, which was about what Nap had come to expect after the two years that he had known her. The blonde girl always preferred to let her actions speak for her, and the first day of training hadn't changed her one bit. Still, she was the first real friend that Nap had made outside of Wall Sina, and they both knew how much they had in common.

"You're late." If nothing else, Annie was direct with what little speech she chose to give.

Nap had always found Annie's cold outer shell to be ironically comforting. He had been drawn to her because she seemed genuine, and she didn't put up a false front just because other people were around. There were no games with her. Still, there was a lot that he didn't know about Annie's past, and there was just as much that she didn't know about his. Other than that, though, he told her everything. She was the only person he could be totally honest with.

"It's not like you to care about that, is it?" Nap asked halfheartedly. "I know how much you like a challenge. Why don't you try and talk to someone else for a change?"

"I'd rather not take a test that I know I'll fail. I thought you knew me better than that, Nap."

He had expected as much from Annie. Though she loved a challenge, she disliked coming out on the short end of one. Annie had always pushed herself to the limits and overcome them. That much had become clear to Nap over the past two years. Ever since Annie appeared in his life by chance, he had admired her tenacity. Though she didn't always show it on the outside, Annie was a fierce and competitive person. Nap still had yet to beat her in a fight.

Nap's eyes searched the room as he absentmindedly chewed his own piece of bread. Most of the tables were sparsely populated due to the large crowd surrounding one near the center of the room. He noticed the uninteresting Marco toward the edge of the pack, and easily recognized the voice of Connie Springer coming from the very front of it. After a few seconds, Nap caught the general topic of conversation.

A boy from Shinganshina was being hounded for information about the Titans that had destroyed the walls, and he seemed to be eating up every second of fame he could get. Nap turned his head to Annie, who didn't give the slightest impression that she was hearing any of it, but he knew her better than to believe that.

Nap had never seen a Titan up close, and he had never been truly afraid of the beasts that lurked outside the walls. Even when his grandfather brought him to the top of Wall Rose to look down on the monsters, they hadn't upset the boy any more than the alcohol that the old man had offered him. To Nap, they were nothing more than an obstacle.

All of that being true, he didn't expect his career in the military to be an easy one. After living in the midst of the Garrison during the past two years, he understood just how much of a threat the Titans were to humanity, more so than most of the other trainees. There was still a lot that Nap didn't know about the Titans, but that wouldn't stop him from achieving his goals.

"I'm going to join the Survey Corps and exterminate all of the Titans in this world!" the boy at the center of the crowd said sadistically. "I'm gonna slaughter them!"

"Hey, what are you, crazy?" An obnoxiously loud voice came from an adjacent table, and Nap turned to see the brash sandy-haired boy from before, Jean Kirstein, leering amusedly at the hidden Shinganshina boy. "Did you just say you were gonna join the Survey Corps?"

Quickly losing interest in that affair, Nap turned back to Annie only to realize that his friend had already left the room. He shook his head and began forcing himself to finish his dinner.

"I never thought you were the type of girl to sneak out late at night with a boy, Annie."

"Shut up, Reiner."

Her patience was wearing thin, but it was important for the two of them to catch up. After almost two years of working on their own, the four warriors had finally found their way back to one another. However, if Annie wanted to keep her identity secret from the boy she had been assigned to follow, she could not afford to get caught speaking so intimately with Reiner.

"Easy, I was only joking," Reiner said, a little too innocently for someone who was responsible for thousands of deaths. "What's got you so riled up?"

"I'm taking a risk just by talking to you," replied Annie. "Now, is there anything I need to know?"

It was still their first night as trainees, and the two of them had found it relatively easy to sneak out. If any of the instructors or other trainees caught them, they could have always said that they were meeting for different reasons and let everyone think whatever nasty thoughts they wanted.

"You're starting to worry me." The tall boy shook his head disapprovingly. "Don't tell me you actually went and made friends with that boy. You remember why you're here, don't you?"

"You don't have to lecture me," she said sharply. "As much as you want to be Marcel, you're still you. I know what I'm doing, and I haven't forgotten why I'm doing it."

"I'm beginning to think we should have let her take your place after all."

"Then why don't you go complain to her about it? I'll even let you in there myself."

With an angry sigh, Reiner finally got down to business.

"We'll begin your training with the aptitude tests," Shadis shouted. "Those who fail at this test are not even fit to serve as bait for the Titans. They'll be sent back to the fields!"

If Nap was at all concerned about the test, he didn't show it as he was hoisted up by the two cables fastened to the belt at his waist. The balance had not come naturally to Nap, but he had worked hard and improved by leaps and bounds. It helped that he was an enthusiastic tinkerer, and his old gear had been constantly altered over his time learning from his grandfather, based on his intuition and preferences at the time.

He had constantly been reminded how lucky he was to have a grandfather like Dot Pixis, and he had certainly been appreciative of the old man, but Nap hadn't truly realized why he was so fortunate until that moment. The other trainees were learning how to use Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear for the first time, but he already had plenty of experience.

Nap was able to easily hang in the gear as the instructors surveyed the trainees. To his right, Connie, Jean and the potato girl all looked like naturals. To his left, Eren Jaeger was not quite so lucky. The boy who had talked so boldly the previous night about slaying Titans in the Survey Corps was getting a face full of dirt and an ear full of Keith Shadis. Nap couldn't help but feel bad for the kid, but on the other hand, he was only getting what he deserved after boasting about his prowess the night before.

"Please, you have to help me! I heard you were really good," Eren Jaeger pleaded.

Things had escalated so quickly, Nap barely knew what was going on. The last thing he remembered was Eren dragging him out behind the dining hall, much to Annie's secretive amusement. The boy still wore a bandage on his head, courtesy of his earlier failures with the test. As a contrast to last night, his table had been deserted other than him and two friends.

Nap racked his brain, but he truly had no clue how to help. It had taken him a chunk of time to master the gear, albeit at a younger age. He stared at the boy in front of him for a moment, wondering what Dot Pixis would tell him. Nap would have to step up his bullshitting game.

"Why are you here?" The question seemed to catch Eren off-guard, as Nap expected. "Why is it that you chose to fight and slay the Titans even after seeing what they're capable of? You're not like me. You know just how terrifying they are up close."

"I…" The shorter boy's eyebrows furrowed, and Nap saw an even deeper fire than when he had witnessed him confronting Jean the previous night. "I decided I had to kill them. Simple as that. I have to kill all of the Titans with my own hands."

Nap tried to speak up, but Eren wasn't finished.

"I know what you're going to say. Believe me, I've heard it plenty of times, but I'm not going to listen. I'm not going to give up."

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear." Nap gave a relieved nod. "If that's the attitude you came in here with, there's no reason to change anything. Just make sure that you're not getting ahead of yourself." Nap turned to stare at the distant Wall Rose on the horizon. He wasn't used to being the one giving advice, but he figured he would make it up as he went along, like his grandfather. "You know your own limits better than anyone else does, and if you keep insisting on breaking them down, well… You're going to find out what it truly means to be human."

Eren nodded, but he was still puzzled. "How does this relate to my aptitude test?"

Nap wasn't entirely sure, but he turned back to him and gave an awkward but reassuring look.

"Your aptitude with the Maneuver Gear isn't the only thing that makes you a soldier." He put out a fist and knocked it against Eren's chest a couple of times. "This is just as important. I can say with certainty that you have the will of a soldier. My grandfather told me that if the only tool you have is a hammer, all problems begin to resemble nails. Your guts are your hammer. Make sure everything is in place, and get ready to pound some nails come tomorrow. You want this more than anyone. That alone gives you strength, Eren Jaeger."

It was complete bullshit, but from the looks of things, the boy was buying into it. Eren nodded and smiled back at Nap, his eyes lighting up again.

"Thanks, I know exactly what I need to do now. You've been a big help. Napoleon Pixis, right?"

"Just call me Nap," he said, scratching his jet-black hair with his left hand. Nap wasn't sure how exactly he had managed to help him, and he truly wondered if Eren was actually any better off after hearing what he had to say, but he was all out of advice for the Shinganshina boy. The two of them said their goodbyes, and Nap turned to leave as Eren stood deep in thought.

Turning the corner of the dining hall building, Nap ran headfirst into another trainee. Both of them fell to the dirt, and Nap quickly rushed to his feet, offering to help the embarrassed girl up. Immediately, he recognized her from the opening day.

Her shoulder-length hair was the same sleek black tone as his, and her gray eyes looked like endless pools that he could easily drown in if he stared too long. In addition to remembering her from the first day, Nap also recognized the dazzling beauty as one of the two trainees loyal enough to console Eren even after his brutal failure that morning. Brushing himself off, he began apologizing, for lack of anything better to do.

"That's my bad, I wasn't-"

"Save it, I'm fine." The girl cut him off effortlessly. "Where's Eren?"

"He's… Around back. Just standing there," Nap managed to get out, and without another word, the girl flew by him. Not stopping to think why, he swiftly grabbed her arm and spun her around.

Nap and the girl stared at each other for a few seconds that felt like years.

"I'm sorry… I... " He struggled to find the proper words to explain himself. "I have no idea why I did that."

The look she gave him could have killed thousands of Titans on its own.

"Yeah, sure you don't."

Just like that, the incredibly conspicuous girl turned and trudged off after Eren.

With his arm still outstretched and his mouth hanging open like the hole in Wall Maria, he watched her turn the corner and vanish. Nap had felt something different about her, even on the previous day, but it would undoubtedly take him more time than it was worth to figure out what it was. He shook his head and kept walking.

Nap returned to the bustling interior of the dining hall to find another unfamiliar black-haired girl sitting across from Annie, talking as if she made a living off of it. His old friend wore the same bored expression on her face, but he could tell that she was at least listening to and acknowledging the other girl. They both greeted him as he sat down next to Annie. The girl's gray eyes glistened in the room's dim light, and she smiled warmly while introducing herself.

"Hey, I couldn't help but notice Annie was sitting here alone. I'm Mina," said the girl, reaching her hand out to Nap while he adjusted on the bench to shake it.

"My name's Napoleon, but it's ridiculously inconvenient. Call me Nap."

"Napoleon, huh?" Mina's eyebrows rose. "What's the story behind that name?"

"My father was tired of all the men in his family having short names. His father was named Dot, and he was Stan. I guess I've disappointed him in that regard." Nap was shocked that he had revealed that much already to this girl, though from what he saw on her face, she didn't think anything of it.

"Well, it's nice to meet you," Mina said as she glanced at Annie, sharing some newly crafted inside joke that Nap was on the outside of.

"Yeah, same. It's a nice change of pace to meet someone who isn't terribly dull." It was Nap's turn to throw a look toward Annie, casting several meters of shade in her direction.

The blonde girl shook her head, and she and Mina sat in relative silence as they listened to Nap recount his meeting with Eren.

"He certainly says the right things," Annie sighed after he had finished. "He has a lot of courage. I respect that. He may just be an idiot, but…"

Nap and Mina looked quizzically at her as she trailed off, and the three of them passed the rest of the evening by in uneventful fashion before it finally came time to say their goodbyes, as Annie and Mina headed off in one direction, Nap in the other. The next morning would be the last chance for recruits like Eren to pass the test. Nap didn't even want to know what the boy would do if he failed.

Nap passed by Jean and Connie on his way out of the building, and walked down the dirt path as slowly as his legs could carry him. He was still getting used to the fact that he was officially a trainee, and though he had spent the past two years preparing for these two days, they had still hit him hard enough to make him feel completely and utterly exhausted. He chewed on his cheek some more as he walked.

Nap Pixis hadn't become a soldier because he was trying to save face. The choice had been his and his alone. Every decision he had made during the two years since he left Mitras had been made with only a singular goal in mind. It was a goal that he had inherited from his mother.

He was going to be humanity's savior.