AN/ Hey guys! As always, thanks for the reviews, favs, and follows. Enjoy!


Shadis walked around the cadets and asked who they are, doing a harsh initiation.

"Who are you!?"

"I'm Armin Arlert from the Shiganshina district sir!"

"Why did you join the Training Corps?"

"I wanted to help humanity sir!"

Lyla thought it was a good answer. She looked at Armin. He was trembling but didn't step back or drop his head and look down. He was holding his ground quite well. Lyla almost smiled with pride but kept her face straight.

The initiation went on and there were a few interesting trainees. One, Lyla remembered his name as Jean, was honest and stupid enough to say that he joined to go to the inner walls. And then there was that freckled boy named Marco who said he wanted to serve the king. But the one who most shocked Lyla and made an impression was Sasha Braus. She was eating a potato and was the type of girl who thought with her stomach instead of her head.

Wow, so stupid. Lyla had never seen someone so dimwitted as that her entire 19 years. Eventually Sasha ended up running laps around the camp.

"Hey, that potato girl is still at it," Jean said in awe.

"Well, she is from the Daupa village. You know they hunt as a living so I guess they got some stamina. But her face was graver when Instructor Shadis said there was no dinner than when he said to run till death." Connie chimed in. Just then a canvas covered wagon pulled by from far off.

"What's that?" A girl answered Lyla's question, "They're the trainees who failed. They asked to be transferred to the wilderness."

"It's only the first day…"

"It can't be helped," Eren said as he went to the rails. "If you're weak you fail. How could you want to go back to picking rocks and cutting grass?"

On the way to dinner Lyla said, "You should be careful when saying such things. You know it could make people feel uneasy or offended."

Dinner was filled with stupid questions about titans and Eren fist fighting with Jean, which gave Lyla a headache. She eventually intervened and cut out the fight.

"Now shake hands like good friends," She instructed. Both did as told with sour faces. Lyla then took Eren out. Mikasa was about to follow.

"Um..!" Jean stuttered. Mikasa stopped in her steps and looked around.

"I haven't seen you around. Um… you have really pretty black hair," Jean spluttered out with a red face.

"Thank you," Mikasa replied dryly, then proceeded in going out the doors. Lyla caught all of this with the corner of her eyes.


The next morning Lyla was deep in thought as they made their way to practice the 3DM Gear preparation devices.

'Jean's reaction yesterday, I'm positive that he's into Mikasa.'

The red cheeks and the abrupt compliment about her hair, he was surely into Mikasa.

"Oh dear… He has no idea that she is obsessed with Eren," Lyla mumbled to herself and Shadis shouted, "What did you say Peltner?"

"No, nothing sir."

"Then hurry up and hook yourself to the device."

"Yes sir!" Lyla did as told and soon she was dangling in the air. Lyla could feel her heart racing.

'Whew, I hope I don't flip over and hit my head.'

But unlike her worries, it was easy for Lyla to keep her body straight. Actually, it was quite comfortable. She heard a dull thud and a slight 'oomph'. She turned her head only to see Eren hanging upside down. Lyla could hear the other trainees snickering at Eren and she proceeded to glare at them to make them shut up.

Eren was crushed after the training. Armin consoled him whereas Mikasa said a few sharp things. His mood was still down on the way to their barracks. Lyla was a little worried, but Eren had determination so he would be able to master the gear at some point. She just hoped he was able to do that within the next five days, before they took the gear aptitude test. Lyla took a deep breath and gazed out of the window into the night sky.

"What a beautiful moon…." She mumbled. She was missing Carla and Grisha and her old life. She felt lonely. Lyla remembered the day the walls were breached and felt a new flame of determination burn inside her.


Eren's attempt to master the gear were still going bad and even Lyla was now getting anxious. There was only two days left and Eren was still hitting his head on the ground. He asked others for help but most of them refused. A bald cadet named Connie even went as far as saying,

"Weren't you the one who said 'If you're weak, you fail'?"

Lyla tried to answer back with a sharp reply but couldn't, after all, he did have a point. That's why Lyla told Eren to be careful in saying such things. She closed her eyes to prevent herself giving Eren the 'I told you' look.

However, two cadets were kind enough to actually help out Eren, well actually just give him some motivation. Reiner and Bertolt, who were best friends, secretly took Armin and Eren to somewhere. Lyla who spotted them, silently followed.

'What? Isn't this forbidden area? Where are they going?'

They stopped at some kind of lake and Lyla arrived a little later and hid behind a faraway tree. She couldn't exactly make out what they were saying but caught something about 'going back to our hometown'. She followed them back to the training grounds and pretended nothing happened. Though Eren seemed more determined after that.

On the fifth day they proceeded with the aptitude test. Mikasa and Lyla passed with flourish and Armin nearly made through. Now only Eren was left. Everybody watched Eren with tensed expressions. Shadis signaled to pull the ropes up. Lyla could see that Eren got nervous as his feet left the ground. He carefully balanced his body. Cheers erupted from the crowd.

'Well, seems like the hard work paid…off?' Lyla's eyes widened as Eren's body tilted back, smashing into the ground. Eren's eyes filled with despair.

"I…I still…!"

Shadis cut in, "Cadet Wagner, change your waist belt with Cadet Jaeger." After the change, Eren was able to balance perfectly.

"There was a fault in the gear." Shadis clicked his tongue. A wave of murmurs surged through the crowd.

"Then he just balanced on a broken gear?" Someone whispered in awe.

"Then the test results…?" Eren said in a quivering voice. Shadis's voice rang through the air,

"Everybody, train hard!"

...


...

The training was grueling. Though there were fun trainings as well such as horseback riding. But Lyla's favorite training was training with the 3DM gear. The first time she shot up Lyla felt like she was flying through the air. Using the swords weren't as hard either as she freely utilized them. It was as if someone taught her before how to use a sword. Of course her back hurt after training but nothing she couldn't handle.

Lyla searched through the forest for titan dummies. She spotted one on the right. Without any hesitation Lyla dived for it and spinning quickly, cut its neck clean. She landed on a nearby branch with a satisfied smile. Armin admired her work.

"Really Lyla you are amazing!"

Mikasa followed in Lyla's step, again successfully carving the nape out.

"Nice one Mikasa!" Mikasa smiled at Lyla's compliment. They can hear Jean shout from a distance, "Hurry up or we'll lose all of the titans to the others!" Lyla gave a slight laugh as she took off.

'Isn't there a way to cut off the nape quicker and cleaner? If I can spin faster…'

Lyla had an idea and when she spotted the next titan she adjusted her grip on her right hand sword, holding it the other way. In a blink of an eye the titan was taken care of.

"So I was right!" If she held one sword in the opposite way the center would tighten, allowing her to spin faster. Lyla unraveled her handkerchief for a cookie.

"Whoa! Give me one too!" Eren appeared from nowhere. Lyla sighed as she gave one to Eren. Really, how does he manage to show up every time she takes out a cookie? He bit into it and said with a hint of disappointment.

"It's not your special sugar cookie."

"I can't be baking cookies here. You know that."

"By the way, where did you get these cookies?"

"Where there's a will, there's a way." In truth, Lyla nicked some from the superior's kitchen but she couldn't tell him that.

Combat training was a bit boring. Lyla absent mindedly watched Eren get beaten up. She shook her head, 'Eren can never be an opponent for Annie. Even though it looks like she's slacking, she's actually a veteran.' Lyla thought like this as she taught Armin a few moves. Just then Lyla caught Annie's voice.

"Don't you think it's weird? Everybody's training hard and the best of us would head for the inner lands where it's safest."

Lyla wasn't surprised at this but Eren seemed shocked. Annie continued, "And these combat skills…isn't it pointless since you would be fighting with titans?"

'Then why is it Annie. Why is your face thinking differently? Your face says it's not pointless at all.' Lyla thought as she stared at Annie's face.

At dinner, Lyla was deep in thought. Only the top 10 could join the Military Police, and most of the trainees here would be aiming for it. Lyla wouldn't join the MP's even if she makes it into the top 10. She would join the Survey Corps along with Eren to kill titans, and to see the outer world. Then why should she actually try to be in the top 10? Wouldn't it be wiser to graduate 11th or 12th and give the chance to another trainee? Her thoughts were interrupted by the ruckus from around. Lyla lifted her head with a sigh. Jean and Eren were fighting again. Just as Lyla was about to get up to break up the fight, the door opened revealing instructor Shadis.

"What's the problem?"

Everyone froze. Mikasa raised her hand and said plainly, "Sasha farted."

Lyla looked at Mikasa in surprise. That kind of excuse would definitely…!

"Why am I not surprised."

Would suffice. Shadis disappeared with that.

...


...

For 3 years they trained like that. Lyla trained hard but performed less if it was a training that was graded. She was able to graduate as 11th.

"10th Krista Lenz, 9th Sasha Braus, 8th Connie Springer, 7th Marco Bott, 6th Jean Kirstein, 5th Eren Jaeger, 4th Annie Leonhart, 3rd Bertolt Hoover, 2nd Reiner Brauwn, and top graduate Mikasa Ackerman. These are the top 10 graduates. Now you are no longer trainees, you can now choose a Corps to join, the Garrison which guards the walls, the Survey Corps which explores the outer world, and finally the Military Police which guards the king. Of course only the top 10 graduates would be able to join the MP. No matter where you choose, until your death, Shinzou ow Sasageyo!"