A/N: Hey everybody, back from my small respite with a new double length chapter just for you guys! I did want to split the 2nd OVA into 2 chapters because minor spoiler Lukas isn't participating in the cook off lol, but then that would have made my entire 104th Arc into 11 chapters which is unacceptable for the sanity of my head. So here we are, special shoutout to my Guest reviewers, I see you guys, and you are appreciated! Any who, enjoy the chapter and i'll see you next time. ~Scipias
CHAPTER 8 – THE 104TH TRAINING CORPS: OBSERVATIONS
The first thing that caught his eye was just how overbearing Wall Rose was. Marco Bodt had always been able to see the marvel of human engineering from his village of Jinae, the boy's home only being a half a days walk north from Trost itself, but the sense of scope given off it from being next to the walls base was something else entirely. Even with the main roadway of Trost being cleared for the recruits as they passed through the gate, Marco could see the hustle and bustle of the city, horse-drawn carts moving cargo, locals peddling their wares at stalls hugging the road, and folks generally being upbeat and happy.
"This is awesome!" Connie exclaimed from in front of the boy, "This is the first time I've been in one of the walled cities."
"There'll be lots of tasty food to eat!" Sasha added.
"Yep. Home sweet home!" The two spun around to look at Lukas, who patted Jean on the shoulder beside him, "We'll give you the grand tour once the exercise is over."
"Really!" Sasha and Connie responded in unison excitedly.
"You know." Jean scoffed, interrupting the conversation "If you join the Garrison, you can stay here as long as you like."
Marco saw the black-haired boy roll his eyes, "Jean don't be a dick."
"No." the gray-haired teen clapped his friend on the back and laughing in response, "We can come visit them when we're in the Military Police!"
Sasha and Connie squinted in annoyance, and Lukas sighed in response pointing at his friend, "Don't mind horse-face here." the boy looked at the two in front of him, laying a hand on each of their shoulders "Sasha, given your instincts you're a shoe in for top 10, and Connie, well…I hate to say Jean's right."
"Hey!" the bald teen responded in shock.
Lukas smirked rubbing his hand on Connie's bald head like a crystal ball getting a chuckle from Jean, "I'm kidding Cueball, I'm kidding."
Marco smiled at the exchange, the boy had expected to make some acquaintances during his time in military training, but he found himself quite pleased at the small group of friends he'd been absorbed into. They all had their quirks, and Marco who considered himself at least decent at reading people, could figure he understood the lot for the most part. There was Connie, who was playfully swinging at Lukas while the latter rubbed his head like a fortune teller; he wasn't the brightest candle but was friendly and good hearted. The bald boy was also determined to make the Military Police to protect and provide for his family which like Marco's own reasons was noble in nature. There was also the tendency for the shorter teen to cause mischief and make bets, the latter of which seemed prevalent as to Marco's knowledge the bald teen held a bet with Lukas on whether or not Jean would make a move on Mikasa, and at the same time held a bet with Jean on whether or not Lukas and Sasha would get together.
The freckled teen looked at the brunette girl currently trying to hide a slight blush on her cheeks. Marco didn't have to look far to see the reason, in Lukas's commotion messing around with Connie with his right hand, his left hand had innocently fallen from Sasha's shoulder to the small of her back. Marco's face remained unchanged, but he found the action amusing. With most people, the brunette was polite, more polite than even Marco was usually, minus the fact that her stomach was a bottomless hole, but with people she knew or was comfortable with, Sasha was caring, playful, just as mischievous as Connie, and when provoked, very competitive.
"Oi Schmitty." Jean said still laughing, "Can you see the future yet?"
Marco looked at the gray-haired teen, on the outside Jean was many things, stubborn, cocky, hot-headed to name a few, but the freckled boy knew Jean a lot different if you looked deeper. In reality Jean was a loyal friend to those he trusted, had a good sense of right and wrong not hesitating to open his mouth if he didn't like what he saw, and most surprisingly of all, levelheaded and able to take charge in pivotal moments. Of course, to Marco's knowledge, the only two people able to see that were himself and Lukas.
Lukas laughed taking his hand off Connie's head, turning the boy realized where his other hand had been and uttered a quick and embarrassed apology to Sasha before turning away. Marco gave a small smirk as he saw the boy try to hide an anxious look and slight blush on his face. The black-haired boy from Trost had always struck Marco as odd. Not in a bad way mind you, Lukas was always nice to him personally, and cordial to most people, if not a bit snarky. The teen liked to poke fun at people he was friendly with and seemed to always be receptive of new people he met despite their background. All that given though, Marco seemed to notice that the boy was aloof a lot of the time, his only real reason being there was seemingly to follow Jean into the Military Police. Lukas didn't seem to relish the fact that he had the possibility of making to the Military Police, honestly the boy seemed resigned to it, more indifferent to it than anything.
"Hey" Armin said from beside Marco, "Where exactly are your guys' houses?" the blonde posed to Jean and Lukas.
"Does it matter?" Jean looked back at the shorter boy.
"Aren't you going to pop home?" Marco himself added.
"Yeah, your mom will be happy to see you." Armin added innocently.
Marco saw the look of annoyance on Jean's face while beside him Lukas sported a smirk before speaking, "Yeah buddy, wouldn't want my mom figuring out you didn't visit home while you were here."
Upon hearing that, Jean deadpanned looking down, "Tch, Lukas your mom's a lunatic."
Lukas raised his eyebrow, "I wouldn't say that."
The gray-haired teen looked at his friend, "She literally threw a frying pan at someone."
"The guy was drunk!"
"At his head Lukas. She threw a frying pan at his head!"
Lukas rolled his eyes, "The guy was being an idiot too!"
"Uh" Armin muttered garnering the two's attention.
"My mom owns a pub, and she works it as a bartender." Lukas replied as Armin nodded in understanding.
Jean squinted his eyes at the boy and Lukas sighed, "…and she bounces it too."
"So, what you're saying…" Sasha spoke up from the head of the group, "is that you have a ton of delicious food at your house?"
Lukas rolled his eyes once more, "Yes Sasha…" he grinned sarcastically, "…would you like to come see it?"
The brunette smiled, "Don't mind if I do."
…
"Well, that escalated quickly." Lukas remarked beside him.
Marco was inclined to agree with his friend. The exercise had gone off without a hitch, at least for their group, but supposedly Jean's group which consisted of himself, Armin, and Annie, had gotten into a mix up with Sasha's group consisting of the brunette, Connie, and Reiner. Words were said, tempers flared, and suddenly the Commander of the Southern Region of Wall Rose, Dot Pixis, appeared out of nowhere. The freckled boy didn't see the logic of the Commander to have the two teams settle their argument thru the means of a cooking competition, but then again that was way above his paygrade. As the dust settled and the teams hauled off, all that was left was Lukas, Marco, and some other recruits.
"Yeah…" Marco replied, "That was…something."
The two stood in silence for a moment before Lukas continued, "So Shadis gave us the rest of the day off, you going to try and head back to Jinae, see your family?"
The freckled teen frowned, "Unfortunately no, with the second half of the exercise tomorrow, I wouldn't make it out there in time to make it worth it."
"Ah, I'm sorry Marco" Lukas replied sullenly, "I'm headed home to visit my mom right now, you're more than welcome to tag along."
Marco shifted rubbing the back of his neck, "I wouldn't want to be a burden."
His fellow teen chuckled, "I insist, I was planning on inviting everyone anyway. Get something in your stomach not made by the military."
The taller boy relented, "Alright, lead the way."
The two teens made their way through the maze of streets that made up the center of Trost. Marco noted how the shorter boy weaved in and out of the multitude of passing crowds excusing the two as they passed, no matter how crowded it got though, Lukas always seemed to know which direction he was going in, truly a sign of being a native of the district. As the two crossed the main roadway into Trost, they entered a less busy neighborhood of the city, calm enough where the two could walk side by side once more.
"Is it always this busy?" Marco half joked.
Lukas shrugged, a small smile on his face, "More or less. Don't tell me you're getting winded already?" he joked.
"No" the taller boy sighed, "But I can see how you and Jean got so agile living here."
The shorter of the two responded, "I suppose."
The freckled boy looked up, "No doubt you two will make it into the Military Police."
The shorter boy ran his fingers through his short mop of black hair, "Now don't be going and selling yourself short. I'd bet if me and Jean are making the top ten then you'll be up there with us."
Marco was caught somewhat off guard by this, "You really think so?"
Lukas looked at the taller boy almost shocked as the two rounded a building onto a side street, "For sure. You're a good leader, class-wise you're only second to Armin, and you have decent ODM scores. I'd be lucky to serve with you."
The taller dark-haired boy looked down at him confused, "Why do you say that?"
"You really need to have more confidence in yourself Marco." Lukas started chuckling very briefly, "But yeah, everything aside, at the end of the day you want to be the best you can be to serve the king and the people. I think that's admirable."
Marco smiled at his friend, "Well I know Jean wanted to join the MP's for a safer life in the interior, but I can't imagine you joined just to follow him?"
Lukas sighed rubbing the back of his neck, but before he could answer another voice radiated out from a little ways in front of them.
"Is that you Luka?!" a middle-aged woman sporting light brown hair in a ponytail rushed up to the pair, "Oh…look how you've grown."
Marco assumed that the woman was Lukas's own mother for a moment as the boy embraced the older woman, "Mama Kirschtein its great to see you!"
The two released one another and before the older woman who had been identified as Jean's mother had a chance to acknowledge Marco himself, Lukas stepped in, "This is Marco Bodt, he's a friend of both me and Jean."
"Oh" the woman exclaimed, shaking Marco's hand warmly, "It's nice to see the two of you are making friends. Have you seen my Jeanbo today Luka, he hasn't come home yet?"
"Yeah" Lukas smiled anxiously, "Jean got assigned with some important work after the exercise this morning."
The woman looked downtrodden for a moment but then replied proudly, "Always a hard worker that boy."
Marco looked to see a pained expression on the boys faced, shamed for have lying to his friends' mother, "But he should be finished with his work by now. More than likely he'll be at the Garrison post in the middle of town."
Mrs. Kirschtein looked at the boy hopefully once more, "That's good, I'll have to drop by and visit him." the woman then looked down at the shorter boy's stomach, "Oh Luka, what have the been feeding you, sawdust? You're so thin."
Lukas smiled almost embarrassed, "Mama K, I assure you I'm fine."
The older woman rustled the boy's hair, "Nonsense." She opened the bag she had been carrying, "Don't think just because I made my Jeanbo something that I forgot to make something for you too Luka."
The freckled boy looked to see the older woman pull out a small box from her bag, contents still radiating heat. He looked to Lukas who at sight of the box Marco swore he saw the boy's eyes water just a touch.
"Is that…" Lukas mumbled, almost drooling, "…an omelet?"
Jean's mother smiled warmly, "Of course my boy. You and your mother are like family."
Marco observed as his friend took the box as gently as a newborn baby, the boy smiled, "Thank you so much, if I run into Jean before you, I'll tell him to come visit you."
The older woman put her hand on his shoulder warmly, "You do that, now you and your friend best be on your way now, your mother closed up shop early to spend time with you, and you know you don't want to keep her waiting."
"Don't I ever." Lukas smirked as he and Marco bid goodbye to Mrs. Kirschtein and made their way further down the street.
After a few moments in silence Marco spoke upon again, "All that emotion for an omelet?" he joked.
"Absolutely." Lukas replied without missing a beat, "Despite the fact that that woman is a godsend, her omelets are enough to turn the average person into Sasha."
"So, what happens if you give that to Sasha?"
"I pray to the founder I never see that day." Lukas laughed, "But really she'd have to kill me to take this away!"
The freckled boy didn't know what came over him in that moment, but he felt the need to poke fun at his shorter friend, "I don't know." He said with a smirk, "You've surrendered your food for less."
The teen squinted at him, "What are you implying?"
"Nothing!" Marco faked innocence, "Just haven't seen you that embarrassed touching someone on the back like that."
"Are you…?" The black-haired boy looked back at him with a confused and shocked looked on his face, "It was a mistake! I'm sure it was making her uncomfortable."
"Sure." The freckled teen smiled, "She didn't seem too uncomfortable when you carried her back to the female barracks after she fell asleep on your shoulder."
"How did you know about that?"
"So, it is true…?"
"Shit…it wasn't what it looked like!" Lukas shook his head resigned.
Marco laughed innocently, "Its alright Lukas, I'm just messing around with you."
The teen still held a confused and shocked look on his face, "WHAT!?"
The taller teen shrugged, "You guys said I should be more confident, but really if you want to talk about it, I'm not the most experienced in that area, but I'm all ears."
Lukas looked at him in stunned silence for a moment, "Fuck man…"
Marco looked concerned at his friend, "Ah man Lukas, I'm sorry."
"No man…you played me" Lukas's shocked face turned into a small chuckle, "…and you did it so well! I'm so proud of you. Mine and Jean's work has not gone to waste." He laughed.
Marco realized what was going on and laughed with his friend before Lukas got quiet once more, "But yeah you're right, I do like her, but its not something I want to talk about."
"Oh, ok" Marco replied.
"Not right now at least."
…
After a few more minutes of walking the duo rounded onto a slightly wider street, as they strolled further down, they heard a commotion from the front of them. Marco heard a slight chuckle from Lukas before looking to see a peculiar sight. Two adults, a female looking around in her late-30's with shoulder length messy black hair held up into a messy bun, was trying to reason with a larger man both height and width-wise, the latter seemingly drunk.
"I said it was closing time you tub of lard!" the woman berated him trying to guide the man out into the street.
The man looked off balance, as he slurred his words, "I'LL TELL YOU WHEN I'VE HAD ENOUGH!"
"Sure buddy." The woman turned scoffing about to head back into the building.
As the woman turned, Marco saw the much larger man raise his fist supposedly to strike the former. Before the freckled boy could even mutter a warning, the fist was barreling its way down towards its target. He would've winced but not a second later the woman anticipated the strike stepping to the side, like a flash the women's right heel seemed to disappear from the ground and reappear colliding with the man's head. Before Marco had anytime to process what happened, the drunk man was laid out on the ground, unconscious. The exchange had unsettled him, but as he looked to Lukas, his friend seemed completely unfazed.
"Hey Mom!" the boy exclaimed happily.
The woman who to this point had a cold, unfazed expression on her face seemed to warm at the sound of his friend's voice.
"Ah…I was wondering when you'd show up buster." She gave her larger son a huge hug lifting him a tiny bit above the ground.
The woman who was now confirmed to be Lukas's own mom turned to the freckled boy, "Rhia Schmidt, this hardheads mother." She laughed holding out her hand.
"Marco Bodt." He exchanged the gesture.
Rhia turned to her son, "Oi, where's Jeanie-Weanie? Don't tell me he was scared enough not to visit?"
The two boys laughed, Lukas responding, "Well yes, but Jean did have some business, but he should be by later."
"Good." She smirked, "He better be."
Marco looked down at the unconscious bar patron still laying face down in the street, "Should we…?"
"Nah." The woman shrugged, "I didn't kill him, so he should wake up eventually, or the MP's will find him and wake him up, whatever comes first."
The freckled teen smiled nervously, "Oh…ok."
The black-haired woman turned to her son, eyeing the box in his hands, "I see Jean's Mom got to you already."
"That she did, off to find him as we speak."
With a raised eyebrow the woman responded, "Better not try and avoid her again, that boy's more stubborn than you are Lukas."
"I'll take that as a compliment Ma, she told me you closed down for the day." The smaller boy shrugged.
"Of course!" she exclaimed with pride, "Had to watch my boy to see how he did."
Marco looked confused, "I thought the Garrison evacuated all the civilians for the exercise?"
Rhia smiled at the freckled boy, "The Garrison can't evacuate you if the Garrison can't find you."
The older woman ushered the two boys into the building, "Come on now you two, let's get something edible into those stomachs."
…
Marco was thoroughly stuffed, as he and Lukas sat along the bar at the latter's mother's establishment. The food wasn't anything out of the ordinary, mostly loaves of bread and soup, simple foods befitting the establishments actual purpose of serving alcohol, but the quality was head and shoulders a step above that which the military had been feeding them the last couple years. Rhia Schmidt stood behind the counter content as any mother would seeing her son after a long absence.
"So…" the woman started, a smile on her face, "You boys meet anyone?"
Marco was confused by the question until Lukas answered his mother in annoyance, "Mom…no."
The freckled boy blushed a bit as the woman feigned innocence, "What?!" she raised her hands questioningly, "Two young fetching boys such as yourselves, I mean I saw some cute ones flying around today during the exercise."
Lukas buried his head into the counter, "Please stop."
"There was those two blonde's in Jeanie's group?" Rhia pondered.
The shorter boy sighed, "Annie's not the personable type, and Armin's a boy!"
"Oh" Marco saw the woman shudder, "My mistake, my eyes must be failing me in my old age."
"Ugh…Mom."
"I saw this interesting black-haired girl with a red scarf too."
"Nope." Lukas deadpanned, still face down in the counter, "But Jean does like Mikasa."
Rhia rubbed her chin, "Interesting." She positioned her head on the counter close to her son, "I did see this brunette too, seemed to get into it with Jeanie's group too, she looked kinda cute."
Lukas groaned, but Rhia saw a little extra shudder at her last suggestion, the woman's poking and prodding having produced results, she backed off a tinge.
The woman smirked pulling at her sons' ear, "Don't give me that Lukas, I wasn't too older than you when your Dad started showing interest in me."
Marco's ears perked up at the sound of Lukas's father. The boy hadn't been too keen on talking about his family in the first place which was odd since he was usually pretty talkative, but even in the times he mentioned his mother he never once mentioned his dad.
"By the way, when are you going to go visit him?"
"Tomorrow." Lukas mumbled quickly, "Before we leave Trost."
Rhia posed no argument and the three maintained small talk for awhile before Lukas posed a question to his mother.
"Hey Mom, I need to talk to you…privately."
Marco didn't miss the serious tone on his friend's face and neither did Rhia as the woman excused herself and her son as the two walked behind the bar into a back room. Marco didn't think the exchange was out of the ordinary, some discussions we're meant to be private after all. Still some broken bit of the conversation made it to the main room, only because they were the only people in the establishment.
"…..not headaches…"
"…..sure?"
"….don't….what…is"
"Listen…..it…."
The muffled voices were soon drowned out by the crashing of the front door of the establishment behind him. Marco looked to see a triumphant Jean enter followed by many of their other comrades. The gray-haired teen hadn't taken five steps into the establishment before an old, hardened roll of bread flew from behind Marco's sight and beamed Jean right in the head. The teen held his head in pain, as Marco heard the voice of Rhia Schmidt sound from behind him.
"JEANIE WHY HAVE I HEARD YOU HAVEN'T VISITED YOUR MOTHER YET!?"
"Ah…why did you do that you hag!" the boy replied.
Marco looked to see the woman grab a frying pan from underneath the counter of the bar, "You best phrase your words very carefully Jeanie-Weanie."
The freckled boy saw his friend show a rare moment of fear wash over his face, "I'm…sorry Ma'am. I'm going to visit her here soon."
The woman put the cooking dish back into its place, "Good."
A chuckle came from behind Jean, its source being Eren, "Lukas, I like your mother already."
Lukas walked out from behind the bar, "I know right?" he chuckled.
The group filed in and Marco saw Lukas approach Jean, "So you won?"
The gray-haired teen rubbed his head, "Yeah."
Lukas shrugged, "Guess you didn't need my cooking expertise after all?"
Jean scoffed, "Cooking expertise? Schmitty you can't cook to save your life."
The shorter friend looked genuinely shocked, "That's preposterous!"
"Really?" Jean squinted smirking, "How's your eyebrow doing growing back?"
"That was a freak accident!" Lukas responded insulted.
"No, it wasn't sweetie." Lukas looked behind him to see his mother, "You wonder why I never want you to cook for Mother's Day."
It took awhile for the shock of this realization to leave Lukas's face, recovering the boy turned back to his friend smirking, "You used the omelet, didn't you?"
"Yep." Jean snidely remarked.
In a flash Marco saw Sasha appear from the crowd, grabbing Lukas from the collar and pushing him down to the table angrily.
"YOU KNEW WHAT JEAN WAS GOING TO COOK?!"
"I had an idea?" the boy answered confusedly.
"This is a betrayal of our friendship…how could you!" even Marco could tell the brunette was in some sort of crazed rambling, but the freckled boy also noticed that the teen laid out on the table didn't seem to be defensive or even confused anymore, he was blushing. Marco looked around to see that no one else seemed to notice except Rhia who had a small knowing smile on her face.
A few moment later, he saw the brunette realize the position the two were in, her face blushing quickly too as she hurriedly released Lukas from her grip. The girl recovered quickly turning around.
"I guess…I could forgive you for this betrayal. You weren't sure after all."
Marco saw Lukas recover quickly as well straightening out his clothes, "Uh yeah…ok then."
…
Marco hurried through the streets the following day looking for the location the 104th Training Corps was supposed to be mustering at before returning to the training camp. As he winded through the maze that was Trost the freckled teen was surprised to come across a small cemetery. More surprisedly he recognized a familiar figure; one he had seen not the day before crouching in front of one of the graves. The taller boy stood there for a moment conflicted on what he should do, but then resolved himself to go speak to his grieving comrade and friend. Before the boy could take a step though he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't" Jean spoke to him quietly, "He's alright…just needs a moment."
Marco complied with his friend and soon enough Lukas exited the cemetery and gave the two a reassuring nod.
"Till the end?" Jean muttered.
"Till the end." Lukas replied.
…
Rhia Schmidt stood wiping down her bar top preparing her establishment for the day's events. The older woman liked the quiet, it was calming before the hecticness of the day, but her usual roll was slowed by the nagging feeling in the back of her head. The mother hated lying, and even more, she hated lying to her son. Lukas was a good boy, personality like his father, looks like him as well minus the hair, but despite that, he didn't deserve what was happening to him, what she no doubt case. Rhia couldn't get the vision of the blotch of skin on her sons' collarbone, not to dissimilar to a bruise out of her head.
The woman was knocked out of her dread by a loud continuous scream somewhat in the distance but increasing in volume as it approached. Rhia didn't have to ascertain the source of the noise, she knew what it was, rather who it was, and shook her head in annoyance waiting for the inevitable.
Sure enough, a few moments later, the door blew open, the force almost knocking the wooden slab off its hinges. Rhia looked mildly at the figure now standing in the doorway.
"IS HE HERE?" the figure panted, "DID I MISS HIM?"
"Good Afternoon to you too nutcase" Rhia deadpanned, "Lukas left with his Corps a few hours ago."
"AWWW" the person whined, "DAMN IT!"
The older woman chuckled a bit, "Any more crazed, and you might have been mistaken for his family."
The figure shrugged smiling, "I thought that's why you made me his godmother."
"You know…" Rhia replied sarcastically, "really starting to question that decision."
"Yeah, I'm sure." The figure snorted, "How'd he do?"
Rhia Schmidt gave a genuine smile, "He's a natural." She felt a tear welt up in her eye, "There was a moment I could've sworn he was Danny."
The figure looked down saddened, "I miss him."
Rhia sighed, wiping the tear from her eye, "I do too."