Our drill sergeant is going around the rows picking out random people, stripping them of their identities and turning them into blank slates so that they can become warriors to face the Titans. It's a rite of passage and it's the only way to produce soldiers. It's absolutely terrifying but it works. He does skip a few of the recruits because some of us have already seen hell. We know what's out there, we know the obstacles and we'll give them hell in return. You can just see it in their faces. I'm one of these hardened people. I fought way before any of them did but no one knows that. Not yet at least. Keith is now in front of someone I recognize.

Jean Kirsten. One of the few characters I like in the series and a capable leader when he's not being a coward. Keith asks him why he's here and he answers that he wants to join the Military Police Brigade and live in the Inner District. It's easy and safe but it won't always be the case. No matter how far you go inside the Walls, no one will be safe.

"So you wanna live in the Inner District?" Asks Keith

"Yes sir" Jean says with a smile on his face. Keith headbutts him hard which causes Jean to go on his knees in pain.

"If you can't handle that, you'll never make it to the Military Police Brigade" Keith told him. He then goes on to torment some of the others breaking them down and destroying their dreams. Jesus this guy is intense. He's currently berating Conny for an incorrect salute until something catches his eye.

Oh shit.

He sees Sasha eating a hot potato hoping that she is not being seen. Unfortunately for her, everyone could see her. If I was near, I might've been able to help but I'm next to Eren a few rows down. She's screwed.

"Hey you. What the hell are you doing?" He asks her menacingly. She doesn't even know who he's talking to. She thinks it's someone else. Oh how wrong she was.

"You. I'm talking to you! Who the fuck are you?" Keith exclaimed to her. She swallows the bite she at hard and salutes with the potato in her hand.

"I'm Sasha Blouse from Dauper, in the Wall Rose's southern district, sir!" Sasha says to him with confidence.

"Sasha Blouse" he repeats as he looks at her "what's that you are holding in your right hand?" He asks her scarily calm.

"A steamed potato, sir! I came across it in the kitchen, so I picked it up!" She informs him. I don't know whether to be scared or laugh at that answer.

"You mean you stole it? Why? Why are you eating the potato now" Keith asks her.

"I wanted to eat it while it was still warm so I figured it was now or never sir" she says to him. I literally about to crack in laughter.

"No... I don't get it. Why are you eating a potato." he reiterates. She looks very confused.

"Are you asking why people eat potatoes in general, sir?" Sasha asks him. She is so naive but one hell of a hunter if I remember correctly. Everyone is just stunned at her question. My body is shaking from me holding in my laughter. Then Sasha realizes something. She rips the potato in half and offers it to him.

"Take half for yourself, sir" she tells him. Keith's stunned face is priceless. Keep it together, John. Keep it together.

"Half?" He asks as she smiles.

Few moments later, it's in the afternoon. Sasha has been running for five hours. Her stamina is impressive. Keith told her to run until she dropped while also being denied food. A cruel thing to be honest. In the distance is a wagon of dropouts. They couldn't handle Keith's methods and so they left hoping to find some other way to contribute to society. I would call them cowards but you know how self-preservation works.

"The weak have no choice but to leave" I hear Eren comment as we saw the wagon. Marco, Conny and Mina look at him when he says that. "They'd prefer picking up rocks and pulling out weeds than to stand and fight"

"That doesn't make them weak, Eren. They are only human. It takes great courage to do what we are about to do. Just because they are not with us doesn't mean that they won't find a way to help. Maybe they will be the ones to make sure we have a home to come back to when this is over." I reason with him. He nods in acceptance to that while everyone else is amazed to my reasoning. Marco Bott then asks us a question.

"That reminds me. We never heard where you are from or anything" he asks.

"We are from Shinganshina, same as Armin" Eren responded to him. Everyone just looks shocked at the news.

"Then you were there that day too? Did you see it? The Colossal Titan and the Black Titan?" Conny asks us in excitement.

"I only saw the Colossal Titan" Eren then looks at me "John saw them both. He was the last survivor to see what happened."

I didn't say a word as I look into the distance. Memories of blood, mutilation and rage are rattled inside my head. It was a day to remember for sure. Few minutes later, people start to surround me and Eren as we are eating.

"We already told you, we saw it" Eren told the group of people. They start to ask a series of questions about the events of the attack.

"How tall was the Colossal Titan?" Asked one of them.

"Tall enough to look right over the wall?" Eren replied.

"What about the Black Titan? What was it like?" Another person asked. Eren looked at me to answer, so did everyone else. I just sigh. Might as well give them something.

"The Black Titan was as he is described. A Black looking Titan. He was at least 15m when I saw him. His eyes were glowing a fiery orange with a look of rage. He wasn't angry at us but rather at its own kind. He killed many of them and saved a good amount of people in the process. He even saved my life when I was trying to protect my family." I said to them. They were in awe about that. "He even spoke to the guards and whoever was left when he was facing the Armored Titan and the Female Titan who were as smart as him" This really got everyone's attention. No had heard of a Titan speaking before.

"What did it say?" Asked Mina. Everyone is waiting for a response.

"One word" I said to them with a long pause before I finished "Run"

This sends chills down their spines. A Titan who told a group of soldiers and survivors to run for their lives when he knew he wasn't going to win. He bought the people time to escape. Despite losing, he saved many lives.

"What do normal Titans look like?" One of them had the courage to ask. This catches Erens attention and he smiles an evil grin.

"The Titans are no big deal. Once we master the three dimensional maneuvering gear, theyll be no match for us. We finally are about to become soldiers. I'll join the Recon Corp and purge the world of all of the Titans." Eren says with confidence until we hear a voice.

"Dude, are you nuts? Did you just say you want to join the Recon Corps?" Jean asks him.

"He is." I answer for Eren "So will I. We have the courage to fight them outside the walls while you just want to live at peace inside of it." I get up from my seat and stand in front of him. He's a bit afraid of my imposing figure.

"You haven't seen what the Titans can do. They are being lead by the more intelligent Titans with the exception of the Black Titan. They will come down on the Walls of this place and tear it down. Brick by brick. The Black Titan might not be there to save us if that happens. You are training to fight for the wrong reasons. If we don't fight, we will die. You will only be delaying the inevitable and when the day comes for when you do fight, you will be too scared to even lift up your blade. Time to decide Jean. Are you going to be a coward or a warrior?" I finished talking and leave the cafeteria. Eren follows me and so does Mikasa. Jean starts to think about what I said until he sees Mikasa. He's mesmerized by her.

"Hey there" he calls out to her with a blush "I-I didn't see you around, so... Sorry, I just think your black hair is gorgeous" Jean said to her. He's not wrong she has beautiful hair but I like it short.

"Thanks" she says to him in a monotone voice as she continues to walk away. Jean just stares at her until he fixes himself and goes to chase after her.

"Nice job telling Jean off John" Eren compliments me.

"You were very calm and levelheaded despite the emotional topic" Mikasa adds.

"I appreciate it guys. Mikasa I think you should cut her hair. It could be dangerous for you if your hair gets caught by something. Besides I think youll look cuter with short hair." I said to her. She blushes when I say that.

Over the years, Mikasa has gotten very close to me and her attraction to me had grown exponentially. She even confessed to me a while back which surprised the hell out of me but it was during a time of great stress for all of us so emotions were running a bit high. She was afraid that I would reject these feelings but I didn't. When I accepted them, she had a very rare happy smile on her face. She looked better when she smiles like that but in this world it's hard to maintain that. We even kissed once. It was more chaste than anything else but it still counts. So I guess we are a couple. Not really sure though she's very stoic. Hard to tell with her sometimes

"If you think so,then I'll cut it" Mikasa said in agreement.

Jean was watching this in despair. The crush he had on Mikasa was shattered for she had eyes for somone else.

Conny passes by him and he wipes his hand on his back.

"What the fuck did you just wipe on me" Conny yells at him trying to figure out what Jean did.

"My faith in others" Jean responds in a tone that basically said he was giving up.

Few minutes later, Sasha had just finished her running for the day. She is both tired and hungry. She almost faints to the floor until I catch her.

"Whoa there. You don't look so good" I told her. She is so exhausted that she can't even respond. I help her sit down at the steps of our dorms.

"You look hungry" I said to her "I got some food here if you want" she then goes berserk and tackles me to the ground. This isn't Sasha anymore but a hungry beast starving for food. She is immensely strong. I think she could very well be a Titan. I take out some bread to which she snatches from my hand and devours it completely. She is still hungry and I give her more. To which she starts to eat and gets up off of me to sit on the ground. I can see her calm her down. She's realizing what she is doing.

"Bread!" She exclaims with joy. It's kinda cute.

"I was able to save you some. I figured that you would be hungry so we got you something" I said to her. She is confused by the "We" part. On cue, Historia makes an appearance from the shadows with a bowl of soup and a bag of water.

"Umm... I think it would be best to wash that bread down with some soup and water" Historia says with a cute voice as she puts down the soup next to Sasha. She was one of the people listening to my story of past events. She was inspired about my words of being a warrior. We talked and she is as caring as she was in the show. True innocence made manifest. I just hope that she would be able to survive the future conflict that's coming.

Sasha looks at both of us with awe.

"Are you Gods?" She asked us frantically wondering if we were real.

"Hey, what's going on here?" A voice said and I look and see it's Ymir. Another Titan shifter. If I'm not mistaken, she is in love with Historia and will die for her if need be. Oddly enough she is cordial with me when we met. She seems to have a positive impression of me maybe it's because we share a common goal. To protect the people we care about, no matter the cost. Although we are civil with one another, we are not friends. Not yet at least.

Her voice shocks Historia and Sasha to look at her direction.

"Well she looked hungry so John and I figured to give her food when she came back" Historia reasoned to Ymir. Sasha was busy eating the food to say anything.

"Seems like you were trying to do a good deed" said Ymir

"We did" I said to her "sometimes an act of kindness can go along way" she just stares at me. I don't think she's ever been shown such kindness let alone see it. It's probably foreign to her. Sasha then passes out after eating her food. It's incredible that she was able to last this long.

"Whatever" she said dismissively "let's just carry her to bed." Sasha was surprisingly heavily when she's asleep. What is she made of? We all went to bed after that.

Next day was our aptitude test to see how well we could handle the 3D gear and maintain our balance. Keith warned us that this who fail will be sent back to the reclaimed lands. Some of us have a talent for it. Mikasa, obviously, was a natural. I was doing just as good. It wasn't really hard actually. Eren, on the other hand, was having difficulty. It was kind of funny. Later that day Mikasa, Armin and I were helping him try to balance himself.

"Ok it's time to focus on the basics" I told him while he was strapped to the device.

"The goal is not to be perfect. The goal is to keep yourself centered and to rest your weight on the waist and the sole belts" Mikasa explained.

"Just stay calm and you could do it." Armin told him.

"Alright, I think I can do this. Lift me up guys" Eren tells us . We do just that and then he instantly is flipped over, hitting his head hard. He pretty much goes unconscious for a few minutes. We take him to the infirmary to oath him up.

In the cafeteria, some of the cadets want to make fun of Eren but I make sure that doesn't happen. Meanwhile, Eren is in a daze about his performance. Mikasa and I jog him out of it.

"Look don't worry about it. You still got until tomorrow to get better" I reassure him. Eren still look depressed.

"I'm so pathetic. I won't be able to kill the Titans at this rate" Eren lamented.

"So you're gonna give up. After everything?" I ask him bluntly. He just looks at me "You came here with a purpose just like I did. And you are just going to give up when the going gets tough? No I don't accept that and neither will you. We survived the greatest tragedy in history to be here so that we can fight these things and make sure we reclaim our home. I'm sure Mom still misses the life we had and now that we are training we have to make sure we get her back the place we lost. Nothing about this will be easy, Eren. We can get through this together" the other cadets hear me says this to him. After a few long seconds, Armin talks

"And what if we fail? What if after everything, we lose?" he asks me in fear.

I can understand why he is asking this. He doesn't think we will succeed in fighting the Titans. Even Eren has a look of rare doubt when the question is asked. The Eren I know would still be resolute in his mission and never question it. Right now, he is terrified that he is useless. Everyone around him is more skilled than him and he feels that he might never be able to be a soldier. The cadets are wondering what I am going to say.

I look at Armin and Eren with determination.

"If that happens" I start to say "Then we do that together too"

Eren, Armin and the cadets who have been listening were in awe at my declaration. Alone, a soldier can't make much of a difference but if that soldier was surrounded by his comrades fighting beside him then maybe it could turn the tide. It's the only way to succeed. The only way to survive.

We soon head back to our respective dorms. I give Eren some tips on how to stay balanced. Bertolt then asks us a question with Reiner next to him.

"Both of you are from Shinganshina, right?" He asks me, Eren and Armin.

"Yeah" Armin answers the question.

"Then you know firsthand how dreadful the Titans are. Why would you want to be soldiers" Bertolt asks us.

"Your right" I say to him "the Titans are dreadful. Worse than that probably but there was one that was different from the rest. The Black Titan. He fought against his kind and helped save a lot of lives in Shinganshina. He saved my life. I became a soldier to fight the Titans so that I can protect my family and not waste the second chance the Black Titan gave me."

This seems to satisfy his curiosity for my reasoning in being here. Armin is the next to speak

"Unlike John or Eren, I didn't see the horror caused by the Titans. But when I saw the monarchy's insane attempt to recover the wall, I just couldn't stand by and do nothing. John also was the one to inspire me to be here too." He said while giving me a smile of appreciation.

"I see" Bertolt says in understanding. Armin asks him and Reiner about why they joined up. Bertolt told them their story about living in a village and then hearing the Titans come and killing almost everybody there. I knew the story already to which I knew was a lie. Unfortunately, I don't have any proof. What I would give for the Internet right about now. Bertolt even talked about how most of these people don't know the experience of facing the Titans. They are only here just for social status.

We then go off to a hilltop and see the view of a river in the forest. It truly is a magnificent site. It's so tranquil it makes you think about life in a way. If this war wasn't going on, I wouldn't mind living here with my family.

"Hey, your name is John Yeager right?" Reiner asks me cutting me off of my thoughts.

"I am" I answe him.

"I can tell that you have the spirit of a warrior in you and that your heart is good. I have faith that with you in the battlefield, we may have a chance" he compliments me. Despite his allegiance and actions, Reiner is a good man at heart.

"I hope so but I can't do it alone. As long as we stick together, then we can all go home and be free from this nightmare" I said to him. He smiles and nods at that. Agreeing on going home and being at peace. We all go back to the dorms and get ready for tomorrow.

Today is the day. Eren is strapped to the belts of the machine to simulate the 3D gear. Every cadet is watching. He is visibly scared and nervous. I know he will succeed.

He starts getting lifted up to balance himself. He is steady and everyone is cheering for him. He has done it and the equipment isn't faulty like canon so this is truly a remarkable moment. Once he gets set back down, he runs up to me and hugs me in thanks for my help. I missed these happy moments he had.

Hours later, all of us are wearing 3D maneuver gear and soaring in the air. It feels extraordinary. Pretty soon I land on a branch of a tall tree looking at the sunset in front of me. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin join me. We have determined looks on our faces. Today was only a taste of the obstacles ahead. Tomorrow will be the real training.

I'll save as many people as I can in this war and I will have my family by my side to achieve that.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Whew, this took me a bit to write. So John is training up for war. He has inspired his family members to join him in this fight. He has also attracted the attention of a good portion of the cadets. His charisma and determination are what define him. He'll be the one to shake his comrades from fear and gain the will to act. He'll do his best and he hopes that it's enough.

Now to clarify somethings. The Black Titan is a legend for what it did in Wall Maria. Those who were there are not afraid of him. They revere him for slaying his kind and saving as many as he could before the Wall was destroyed. However, many still fear him and most disbelieve that he did what he did. So I'm curious guys, when should John reveal to the world that he is this Black Titan. Should it be when Eren becomes a Titan for the first time? When he is protecting Eren from being killed by the soldiers who saw him shift? Or when the Female Titan makes an appearance again?.

I prefer the second option because John is the type of character to protect anyone he cares about even if the world will come at him with everything they got. Plus I want to shock the hell out of the soldiers when this legendary being appears before them. But what do you guys think.

Also Harem list update:

Mikasa, Sasha, Historia, Ymir, Annie, Petra and Mina

Those are who I'm adding in the harem. Now let me know who else you want in and I'll consider it.

I hope this chapter was enjoyable for you guys. This is me signing out.