Till the End

by Scipias

In the year 847, Lukas Schmidt and his best friend, Jean Kirschtein, travel from their hometown of Trost to enlist in the military, with the hopes of eventually being able to join the Military Police. As tensions heighten, and people die though, will he discover secrets of the past, or be able to make an impact on the future?

3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – The 104th Training Corps: Fight & Flight

"WE'RE LOSING HIM!"

"Slow down man."

"HE'S BLEEDING OUT!"

"Connie…."

"WE ALMOST GOT HIM!"

"For fucks sake Springer slow down!"

"BUT WE CAN SAVE HIM!"

"CUEBALL I SAID SLOW YOUR DAMN ROLL, YOU'RE HURTING THE GUY!"

"Oh…sorry Armin."

Lukas craned his head back in annoyance rolling his eyes. He, Connie, and Armin were situated in one of the many rooms that served as a classroom for the recruits. Currently, the teens group, and around a dozen other groups of his comrades were in the midst of first-aid drills, and Connie, in his haste, or what Lukas would call his stupidity, had used nearly all of their dressing, wrapping up nearly the whole upper half of the quiet blonde boys' body so tight that the bookish teens circulation was nearly cut off.

Schmidt looked back down at his mummified comrade, "You ok?"

Armin, who's only visible parts of his face were his mouth and a single one of his eyes nodded, "Yeah…I think so."

"What in the walls?!" The trio turned to see Krista, who had been appointed the recruit supervisor for this exercise.

Without pause Connie turned his head to see his dark-haired friend pointing at him, "Oh thanks a lot man." He deadpanned sarcastically.

"No problem" Lukas nodded turning to the smaller blonde girl, "Any chance we could get more dressing and bandages?"

She gave him one of her trademark smiles, "Well since you asked so nicely." She then turned to Springer, hands on her hips, and an annoyed expression on her face. "You're coming with me though Connie, if any of the instructors ask why we need more medical supplies, you'll be the one explaining to them why."

I don't think I've ever seen Krista annoyed before.

Frankly, Lukas thought that even annoyed Krista didn't look like she'd harm a fly. Albeit after some more thought he reckoned he shouldn't be in the business of underestimating people anymore, case in point smaller blondes. He unconsciously rubbed his bruised right side recalling his most recent "sparring session" with Annie. The girl had taken an interest in using the teen as a "training partner" after the latter proved "almost barely confident" in her words at defending himself, and although those sessions were few and far between, the bruises said otherwise.

Oh, how I do love my life as a human punching bag.

Lukas saw Connie dip his head in shame as he followed Krista out of the room. At that, Lukas turned around and started to help Armin out of the poorly wrapped dressing. He hadn't talked to the blonde much during his time at the training, the developing rivalry between Eren and his friend Jean kind of left that trio out of his sphere most of the time, but even from his short time reacting with the bookish teen, Lukas knew he was a decent guy, not to mention incredibly smart.

"Looks like Eren and Jean are fighting again." The blonde broke the silence between the two.

The Trost native looked over his shoulder to see the two in question, viciously trying to have at each other, only separated by the timely intervention of one Mikasa Ackerman. The argument seemed to have been instigated by one of them applying a head wrap to the other too tightly and the tension seemed to rise from there. Lukas could hear a number of expletives, followed by the almost assured use of "shrimp" against Eren, and "horse-face" against Jean.

The dark-haired boy chuckled before turning back to the task at hand. Before long Armin spoke out again, "Who do you think started it?"

Lukas shrugged, "Who's to say, Jean could've been bragging again, or Eren could've been preaching again, take your bet."

Armin sighed, the two having finished unwrapping the dressing of Connie's botch job, "You know he's not that bad, Eren I mean."

The taller teen nodded his head taking a seat next to his blonde comrade. "I know." He took a breath recalling all the times he interacted with Jaeger without his friend being there. "Why? Did you think Jean was a bad person?"

The bookish teen was almost thrown off by the response, anxiously blurting out, "No no, I didn't mean that at all!"

Lukas smiled reassuring the blonde, "It's alright. I know Jean can be abrasive at the best of times, but deep down he is a good guy."

Armin recovered, his voice calming once more, "I don't doubt, it's just you two seem so…."

"different?" the dark-haired boy cut him off.

"yeah"

"You're not wrong" Lukas said shifting in his seat, "but on the contrary I could say that about Eren and yourself?"

"That's true I guess."

"And it works out don't you think?"

Armin nodded.

The taller teen cleared his throat, "But I'll give it to you, me and ol' horse-face did become friends under some odd circumstances."

The blonde's brow rose, "How do you mean?"

"Well…" Lukas started, "it all started with a fight."

"Between?"

Lukas chuckled, "Each other…"

…

(YEAR 842, TROST DISTRICT)

Lukas was hungry, even more so than usual as he shuffled into the school cafeteria for lunch. The 8-year-old had woken up late for school that day, and in his rush had forgotten to grab something to eat for breakfast. Drifting through the rows of tables, he glanced excitedly down at his bagged lunch. His mother had packed him a jelly sandwich and an apple, a simple lunch, but one he always appreciated, much more so today.

The dark-haired boy's enjoyment was short lived though as he failed to look up soon enough at another child walking in the opposite direction. The collision proved destructive, his counterparts own lunch falling from a broken bag to the floor, and its contents making an audible splat on the wooden foundation of the lunchroom. The two boys looked down to see the remains of what Lukas thought was an omelet. The child, only marginally shorter than his schoolmate, had barely looked up for a second, seeing a scowl upon the other child's face, before feeling his own lunch knocked from his hand. After a similar splat, that Lukas could only assume was his jelly sandwich, the boy felt his body well with anger, and seeing his counterpart, his foe, exhibiting the same reaction, the boy spit out.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR YOU JERK!" Lukas busted out.

His counterpart, a boy sporting shorter greyish hair, took a step forward, pointing at the ground "YOU KNOCKED OVER MY LUNCH!"

The black-haired kid threw his arms up in the air, "YOU SHOULD WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING THEN!"

"NO…YOU SHOULD WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING YOU MIDGET!"

Lukas was taken aback by the insult, "YOU'RE BARELY TALLER THAN ME HORSE-FACE!"

The other boy did a spit take, "WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME!?"

"YOU HEARD ME!"

Not a second later, both the boys had thrown punches at each other, the fight escalating from there.

…

The two boys walked down the steps of the school, sporting a combination of black eyes, fat lips, bruises, and ripped and torn clothing. Both given demerits and required to have a parent sign them by the next school day the two walked shamefully out of the school in silence, not saying a word as the two went separate ways.

Lukas continued down the street, staring at the demerit in his hand, the piece of paper garnering his full attention. Thoughts of the death sentence that awaited him filled his mind, a beating, miles beyond what that other boy, Jean, had inflicted was in his near future, he could already see it. A shutter went down his spine as his train of thought was broken by a noise behind him. He turned around to see that a ways down the street, a larger kid and a known bully at his school was tormenting some other kid. As the black-haired kid focused in on the situation a little more, he noticed that that tormented kid was the jerk he had gotten into the fight with, the boy Jean.

The bully laughed as he pushed the grayish haired kid to the ground, "Whatcha going to do mommas boy?"

Lukas didn't know if it was lack of self-preservation, pity, or a kind of respect of the kid he had gone toe to toe with, but the shorter kid found himself doubling back. Using all of his strength he turned the larger bully around and landed his fist into the kid's stomach.

"Ugh where did you come from brat." The bully coughed, hunched over from the hit.

The shorter boy felt a sense of accomplishment, but that was soon overshadowed by the bully who had recovered faster than expected. Lukas felt himself get tackled to the ground, the big oaf trying to pummel his face in while he tried haphazardly to block the strikes with his hands. The assault couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds but to Lukas it felt like forever. It had taken the bully a few good hits to the smaller boy's credit but finally his defense broke. The black-haired boy flinched as the bully cocked his arm back to punch the defenseless kid. The moment passed though, and shocked, Lukas looked up to see that Jean had jumped on the back of the bully, trying to choke him, but also hanging on for dear life.

Lukas stumbled to his feet as the bully finally shook off Jean, the kid falling to the ground behind him. Having the realization that even with the two of them that this was a losing fight, the smaller boy figured something decisive had to be done. Though unweighted by the grey-haired boy, the bully was still catching his breath, and coming to terms with his decision, Lukas charged the bully. Getting a running start, the black-haired boy swung his leg, landing his foot directly into the bully's groin. The larger boy dropped to his knees, a loud groan exiting his mouth. Suddenly, Jean seemed to appear from nowhere, throwing a punch into the downed bully's jaw. The larger boy fell to the ground like a bag of bricks, clearly out for the count.

The boys look at each other for a moment, no one had witnessed their fight but the two unconsciously knew they shouldn't stay there, not wanting to get caught holding the bag. The two ran off, making it a few blocks before turning on to one of Trost's main roadways. Catching their breaths, the boys leaned up against a building but exhausted quickly slid down it, the two sitting on the street now. They sat there in silence for what seemed to be awhile but in reality, was only a couple minutes. Then breaking the silence, Lukas started chuckling.

Grin on his face he blurted out, "You clocked him straight in the jaw!"

After a moment the grey-haired kid joined into the laughter, "Yeah...and you kicked him straight in the privates." Jean could barely get his words out, "Did you see his face?"

The shorter boy made an impression of the bully's face after the kick and the two went into screaming laughter. After the two settled down Jean turned to him, in a serious tone he spoke," Thank you...you didn't have to do that."

Lukas nodded, "You're welcome." The shorter boy extended his hand, "Lukas."

The other boy paused a second before returning the gesture, "Jean."

The boys conversed briefly before getting back up. Realizing that both had to go their separate ways, they looked at each other."

Jean rubbed the back of his neck almost nervously, "So…see ya tomorrow midget?"

Lukas held a confused look for only a moment before reverting back to a small smile, "Yeah…see ya tomorrow horse-face."

…

(PRESENT DAY)

"And we've been friends ever since." Lukas ended.

"Wow" Armin said with a weak smile, "Hard to believe you were that hot-headed."

The dark-haired teen smirked, "Honestly that was the exception" He shifted in his seat, "I've never been opposed to getting my hands dirty, but I do try to avoid it when possible."

"And how does that work with Annie?" The bookish teen replied, a look of innocence trying to hide a small grin.

Lukas gave him the side eye, and chuckled, "Arlert's got a sense of humor, who would've thunk" Sighing, he rubbed another one of his many bruises attributed to the quiet girl, "It doesn't." he smirked.

Armin smiled as they sat there in silence for another moment. The two watched as Eren and Jean had begrudgingly gotten back to the exercise, this time under the watchful eye of Mikasa.

"My parents used to tell me that life happens wherever you are, whether you make it or not." Lukas sighed, "I can't say why I did any number of things that day, but I know, given the opportunity, I wouldn't change any of it." He turned to the blonde, "Would you?"

Armin smiled and nodded, "No." the blonde glanced at Eren and Mikasa across the room, "No, I wouldn't."

…

"Oi, Lukas"

It was about an hour before dinnertime when Connie called the black-haired teen over. His bald-headed friend was standing just outside the boy's barracks talking to Jean, and Marco.

"What's up Connie." Lukas said as he walked up, nodding to his two other friends respectfully.

"I was just telling these two how I got some one-on-one time with Krista…" the bald-headed boy smirked.

SMACK!

Lukas's open palm collided with the back of Connie's head getting a laugh from Jean, and a look of concern from Marco.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" the boy from Ragako village screamed.

"You know what that was for." Lukas said flatly.

Connie rubbed his head, "Well as least I've spoken with Krista longer than Jean has with Mikasa."

SMACK!

This time it was Jean's hand hitting home on the same spot-on Connie's head.

Marco spoke up, "Connie please stop."

"Yeah man" Lukas added, "Don't make it 3 for 3."

The bald-headed team stood there now vigorously rubbing a visible welt on the back of his head. Thinking he would stop the other three turned, but as they did Springer spoke once more, looking at the black-haired boy.

"Well at least I don't have to compete with a potato."

SMACK!

Before the three boys could turn around to respond, Connie what knocked to the floor by another well place smack to the back of the head, this time from Krista of all people. The three stood in shock from seeing who was considered the nicest of all the cadets, practically divinity incarnate, then apologize to the boy and walk off without another word. Lukas scratched his head while Marco tried helping Connie to his feet.

Wait... Connie didn't even make any sense?!