A/N:And here we are, last chapter of the training arc, Trost officially begins next chapter! As always thank you for everyone sticking it through with me, and as a precaution I want to add that this chapter will have some graphic depictions, and so will a lot of chapters following this, it is AOT and this story is also M-Rated so yeah. Anyways let you guys read on, hope you enjoy, and see you in the next one. ~Scipias

CHAPTER 10 – THE 104TH TRAINING CORPS: REFLECTION, THE NIGHT OF THE CLOSING CEREMONY

"Hands over your hearts!"

"Yes sir!" the 104th saluted, proudly answering in unison.

Only a spare number of elevated braziers lit the courtyard of the military headquarters of Trost, the flickering flames supplemented by the pale moonlight of the nighttime. Three years of preparation, and three years of training had come to this as the members of the cadet corps stood in formation, having reached the threshold of becoming fully fledged soldiers.

"From today, you will no longer be soldiers in training." One of the head instructors spoke. "You now have three choices; the Garrison, where you will be protecting the cities and working to reinforce the walls, the Scouting Regiment, where you must be prepared to take on the Titans outside the walls, and the Military Police, where you will protect the people and preserve order at the side of the king."

The instructor looked to the front of the formation were separated from the rest stood 10 recruits, the top ten in their class. "Naturally, the only ones who can join the Military Police are these top ten recruits." He paused for a moment catching his breath, "Tenth, Sasha Braus. Ninth, Connie Springer. Eighth, Marco Bodt. Seventh, Lukas Schmidt. Sixth, Eren Yeager. Fifth, Jean Kirschtein. Fourth, Annie Leonhardt. Third, Bertholdt Hoover. Second, Reiner Braun. First, Mikasa Ackerman."

…

"I did it!" Connie exclaimed, "I'll be in the Military Police!"

"Now we don't have to worry about food!" Sasha replied almost screaming.

The two sat at the table along with Jean, Marco and Lukas. The mess hall of Trost's Military HQ was much larger than the one at their training camp, and at least this night it was loud and raucous in celebration. It was well deserved though, the four of them all making the top 10 qualifying the lot for the Military Police.

"I can understand these two." Jean spoke up sitting alongside Connie, "…but how'd you end up placing behind Yeager Schmitty?"

"Does it matter?" the black-haired boy who sat beside Sasha replied, "I still qualified for the MP's and I didn't have to uh…brownnose like some people." The boy put emphasis on the last part leaning towards his gray-haired friend with the playful jab.

Sasha laughed at her…boyfriends joke as the two boys started to throw their usual insults at each other. The brunette was still getting used to calling him by that title, but otherwise she was happy, ecstatic even. While neither her nor Lukas had any previous experience with this sort of thing, the latter seemed to pick it up quite well. Lukas, while not boastful about their relationship, walked around with a sense of pride while with her, like she was the best this in the world, and just like he had when they were friends, the boy never seemed a tad bit embarrassed by her antics. Sasha really appreciated that, to her nothing about their friendship had really changed, while except maybe the physical part of it, and of course the flirting. The former was something the huntress wasn't accustomed too, the two agreeing to take it slow for her sake, not even having kissed on the lips yet. The girl from Dauper wanted that moment to be special, and to Lukas's credit the boy adapted fairly well to the stipulation, instead resigning to kissing her on the forehead which she thought was sweet. The flirting on the other hand, while always being genuine, had also been added to the long list of pranks and jokes the two played on each other, though Lukas admittedly was way better at it than she was.

"Sure, makes pranking him a whole lot harder."

"Mom…?" Lukas spoke in bewilderment beside her, "What are you doing here?"

A cold chill ran up Sasha's spine. The huntress lauded herself on being able to read faces pretty well, and the look from the older woman struck her as one thing, knowing. Lukas's mother only stood about an inch shorter than Sasha herself, but the woman walked with an imposing confidence that even among the masses of people who were now technically fully fledged soldiers marked her as the alpha predator, as the hunter, and she was looking Sasha dead in the eyes.

"Wanted to see my son on his big day." Rhia Schmidt responded happily, warranting a chuckle from Jean. The woman caught this and quickly rustled up the taller boy's hair, "Don't think I forgot about you too Jeanie-Weanie."

Connie laughed at this, earning the punch in the arm by Jean as Lukas eyed his mother inquisitively, "but how'd you get in here?"

Rhia faked a look of shock, "You afford me too little credit Luka…" at this the boy squinted his eyes to which his mother relented, "You know I'm the military's favorite supplier of liquid courage, just so happens the higher-ups don't like to trouble themselves walking to the other side of the district for a little pick me up, so they like it brought to them, and all the better for me, they like it in bulk. So, two birds with one stone."

"Oh." Lukas replied.

Sasha could see the woman dividing her gaze between her son and the brunette herself, eyes drilling into her, reading her every action, judging her. Rhia gave her son a big hug as the boy got up, and she spoke once more. "On that note, I hope you four big strong men wouldn't mind helping a petite lady like myself move some caskets of wine off the cart outside, would you?"

Jean, Marco and Connie relented making their way to the entrance. Lukas followed but paused as he saw his mother take a seat across from Sasha. "Mom, what are you…?"

"Just gonna have some girl talk, nothing you'd want to listen too. You know hair, make-up…" the woman turned towards the brunette, "…boys."

Lukas remained still, her boyfriends face evident of worry and concern. Sasha while absolutely terrified now of the woman who sat before her, also knew that you couldn't let a predator know you were afraid of it if you wanted to survive. She had to tough it out and put her best foot forward so the girl from Dauper nodded reassuredly to the black-haired boy. He was hesitant in response, but as always, he trusted her and walked towards the exit.

Even after her son had left the building, Rhia Schmidt stared into the girl's eyes, not saying a word but her gaze cold, calculating, and inquisitive. It seemed an eternity before the older woman spoke a word.

"Rhia Schmidt." She held her hand out introducing herself.

The brunette clasped the hand, it felt distinctly feminine, but strong and calloused. "Sasha Braus." She replied.

"So how long have you been seeing my son?" the woman replied getting to the point.

The girl shuddered for a moment but answered, "A month."

"Hmmm." Rhia squinted at her, "He hasn't been an ass, right?"

"What…no!?" Sasha was surprised by the question, "Lukas has been real sweet to me, caring and protective too…like he always has."

The woman's face relaxed a touch, a hint of a smile coming from the side of her mouth, "Ah, that boy, just like his father."

The two sat in silence for a moment, the older woman's demeanor seeming to warm more, "So you don't have to tell me but…" she started, "have you two done anything yet…?"

Sasha looked at the woman confused, "What do you mean?"

"Physical dear" Rhia chuckled in response ", but from your response I'd bet that you haven't."

"NO!" The girl from Dauper flew back in embarrassment, her face flushed red, "We haven't even kissed yet."

"Nothing wrong with that." The woman gave a warm smile which calmed Sasha's nerves surprisingly. It was a genuine look, though different from that of the woman's son, "You want it to mean something, don't you?"

Again, Sasha looked shocked, "Yeah." She weakly replied, "how'd you know?"

The black-haired woman sighed, "I was young once, not exactly how I went about it, but given how much Lukas is like his daddy, I'd wager he's a romantic as well, which works well for you."

The girl sat for a moment digesting the information but then mumbled out, "So you're not…you don't…think bad of me?"

"Sweetie…" Rhia laid her hand softly on the brunette's, "When I saw you in my pub a couple months back, I could tell within five minutes that you two had feelings for one another. I'll be the first one to admit that my boy can be a hardheaded smartass who likes the occasional fight, mostly because he gets that from me, but he's also an equally hardheaded loyal kid who would go out of his way to make sure all of his friends are ok, and I'm proud to say he gets that from his father. How I saw Lukas with you that night, hell how I saw Lukas with you when I walked in was the happiest I've seen him in a long while."

Sasha smiled at that, though the mentions of her boyfriends' father piqued her interest. Lukas never mentioned him while talking with her, but she gathered the impression he was no longer in the picture. "Why wasn't he happy? Does…that have to do with his father?"

The girl was expecting some rash response from the woman, but instead Rhia sighed once more, a touch of sadness on the mother's face, "It's not for me to tell, but I suspect you'll find out sooner or later."

Sasha left it at that, then concentrating on her last shred of doubt, "So why this act…" she questioned, "if you had no problem with me at all?

"For one, I wanted to meet you anyway. Luka's never had a girlfriend and I wanted to meet the girl who wooed my boy. Seeing as you felled that massive boar in the forest and drained nearly a quarter of my weekly stock of bread in an hour, I was shocked which is a rarity for me, but I was not disappointed. Two, even though I was fairly certain of your intentions at first glance, I wouldn't be doing my due diligence as a mother if I didn't talk to you myself, and congratulations you just passed."

Sasha squinted, "What did it for you?"

Rhia smiled warmly, "You didn't just care that he was happy in the here and now, despite how I could've responded to what is a sensitive issue, you asked why he hadn't been happy."

Sasha smiled at that too, but before she could respond the older woman spoke, a devilish grin appearing on her face, "And the final reason for this whole charade…is that I enjoy messing around with my son. I'll admit the look of concern in his eyes that he had for you was admirable, but the fear that was there too…" she exclaimed. "Even after all this time, I still got it!"

The brunette let out a little laugh in response, and innocent question that had been bugging her having come to mind, "Ummm, this may sound like a weird question…" she started garnering the woman's attention, "but how do I make him uncomfortable?"

Rhia Schmidt immediately smiled at the girl, "I knew I liked you!" she exclaimed, "Having trouble getting one over on him, aren't ya?

"Maybe…?"

The woman nodded in response, crossing her arms, "Well Lukas has developed a very shameless attitude, likely because I terrorized him most of his childhood, but there is one simple thing that's seemed to throw him off all these year…"

The older woman leaned over the table and whispered into Sasha's ear. The girls mouth dropped, her response dumbfounded, "IT'S THAT EASY!"

…

Jean Kirschtein walked down the corridor leading from one of the headquarters many storerooms back towards the main mess hall, Lukas at his side. After finishing moving the load of casks brought to the place by the latter's mother, the duo convinced the group of boys to partake in a celebratory shot. Having grown up in a pub, Lukas knew how to sneak a few sips from a cask and make it seem like it hadn't been tampered with and because of this, it hadn't been the first time the duo had tried pulling this stunt. The plan had gone off without a hitch, the boys hadn't been caught but Connie understandably didn't understand the difference between wine and vodka, the latter of which the boys had found a smaller supply of while moving the stock. The spirit, even in its minor amount had made the boy sick, and Marco being the good Samaritan he was took the bald-headed teen to the bathroom to puke back out the substance.

"I don't see what his problem was?" Jean spoke, "Wasn't even that strong."

Lukas shrugged chuckling, "Connie's smaller, probably hit him harder."

The two boys laughed as they reentered the mess hall. Jean saw his friend's gaze shoot to the table they'd been seated at, relief washing over his face after seeing the brunette girl still sitting there, seemingly nothing happened to her. Jean kept a blank expression, he didn't understand his best friend's fascination with Potato Girl, though he'd be lying if he said he hadn't picked up on it early on, he'd also be lying if he said he hadn't bet Connie that the two would get with each other dropping a week's load of lookout duties on the bald-headed teen once he won, after all, Connie was a horrible better. No, Lukas was either nonchalant about everything or dead set on one thing, and either way was easy to read, at least for Jean. That wasn't to say he wasn't happy for Lukas, as much as Sasha annoyed him, which was still a considerable amount, his best friend had a knack for getting him to warm up to people, and although he wouldn't admit it, getting people to warm up to him as well. Yes, with the exclusion of Marco who the grey-haired teen could even admit was his friend, Jean could see himself tolerating Connie, and even Sasha, at least for Lukas's sake.

"You boys took your sweet time." Rhia spoke up as the two sat back down at the table, "where's your buddies?"

"Connie and Marco had to run by the bathroom real quick." Lukas responded to his mother.

"He's not wrong…"

Something caught Jean's vision at that moment, the boy's eyes shifting to see Sasha seated beside Lukas once more lifting her arm behind the teen's head outside of his friend's vision. As the girl's hand approached her pointer finger extended towards Lukas's ear. In that moment the gray-haired boy realized that the brunette's finger was wet with what looked to be…saliva. As Jean pieced together the situation, a moment later Sasha shoved her finger into Lukas's ear. The reaction was immediate as Lukas squirmed into a shock and fell into the empty bench beside him, both Sasha and Rhia bursting out into laughter, and even Jean giving a small chuckle, despite the look of defeated annoyance plastering his friends face.

"Traded notes I see." The boy said flatly, still laid back on the bench, "See that talk went well."

"Extraordinarily…LuLu" Rhia laughed emphasizing the last word, "I like this one." The older woman motioned to Sasha, "You hurt her, and I'll take you out of this world a lot more painfully than I brought you in!"

Jean saw Lukas roll his eyes as Sasha bent over his form and poked his cheek, "I win!" she said sweetly, but before she sat back up the girl took an audible sniff, "Why does your mouth smell like the camp infirmary?"

Before either of the boys could mutter a response, Jean felt his scalp get grabbed harshly, Rhia turning the teens head towards her before taking the aroma in herself. The older woman let go of Jean's head as harshly as she had grabbed it, her eyes narrowing, "Oi shitheads, so that was what was taking you so long huh?"

Jean saw Lukas develop a shit-eating grin, "Ma it was barely anything, they won't even notice, just like they won't notice that you watered all their alcohol down."

Rhia held her angered expression, "I should whoop both your asses right here, drinking and then assuming I'd undercut my customers."

Lukas looked at his mother with a blank expression, "Ma, you've had me filling up casks with water from since I was 8, no one drinks water at a pub…" the boy pointed at Jean, "Hell, you had Jean helping me half the time too."

"It really was barely anything Ms. Schmidt." The gray-haired boy added.

"Shitheads, really too smart for your own good aren't ya?" the older woman's gaze softened, wiping a strand of her black hair from her face, then rising from her seat "I'm an enterprising woman!"

Lukas smiled, "Of course mom."

"Anyways…" the woman rounded the table then giving her son another hug, "Should probably go get my payment from the officer's mess, you two come around tomorrow when you get the time huh?" Rhia motioned to Sasha as well.

"That would be great!" the brunette exclaimed.

"I expect to see you too, Jeanie-Weanie!" Rhia added ruffling up the taller boy's hair once more.

Jean scoffed out a reply and the woman still smiling, sauntered off out of the mess hall. The trio went on with small talk for a while, Marco and Connie returned and Sasha occasionally tried to wet willy Lukas but to no avail. Eventually the noise in the room changed as attention shifted to the side of the room. The gray-haired teen looked to see Eren speaking to Thomas, the latter amazed that the teen from Shiganshina despite making the top 10 planned to turn down the opportunity to join the MP's in favor of joining the Scouting Regiment.

"Tch, fucking insane idiot."

Thomas argued the boys point mentioning that the reclamation mission had decimated 20 percent of the wall's population, to which Eren went on a tirade about how none of that mattered. It was during this that the gray-haired teen glanced across the table at his friend. Jean's demeanor changed as he saw Lukas's face, blank, not blinking, and staring into nothingness. The taller boy then put two and two together given the conversation and suddenly he felt a pang of concern for his friend. Before he could interact though, Lukas got up quietly and made his way to the door leading outside, and Jean knew there was nothing he could do.

Soon after the boy saw Sasha take notice of her boyfriends' sudden departure, the girl also noticing the look on Lukas's face. Taking action, the girl started to get up until Jean grabbed her by the arm, "Sasha, wait."

The brunette looked at him confusedly, if she wasn't already concerned, she would have been by the fact that Jean had actually acknowledged her by her own name, "But…"

"He'll be fine." Jean responded solemnly, "Lukas just needs some air."

Sasha looked down for a moment, Marco and Connie now having taken notice of their friends exit. The girl looked back up at Jean and spoke softly, "Lukas's dad, is that what this is about?"

Jean closed his eyes, a touch of annoyance building in him. He hated thinking about that day, after what he and Lukas saw, it changed him, but it broke his friend, and rightfully so. The teen didn't want to tell this story, but he knew Sasha wouldn't take that for an excuse, and honestly if he were in her position' he'd do the same. Sighing he dropped roughly onto his seat, the table's eyes on him.

"Anyone of you tells what I'm about to tell you to anyone…" Jean began with a cold and serious tone, "…I will beat the living shit out of you."

With that statement, the two other boys complied, and Sasha slowly sat down once more. Jean cleared his throat and continued, "Lukas's dad, Daniel Schmidt, was one of the higher-ranking members of the Scouts."

Connie mumbled out silently, "Was?"

"The…headstone…" Marco added, "that was…"

"Yes." Jean replied, pausing for a moment "It was five years ago, the reclamation mission to take back Wall Maria had been gone for around two weeks and the Scouts had been assigned to assist the mission."

Jean shook his head, memories rushing back to the teen, as the trio looked at him, "When the bells rang, Lukas and I had been walking back from school, stupidly we had thought the mission had somehow succeeded." He gave a pained laugh.

Sasha spoke up, "When Thomas said only 20% of people came back that day?"

Jean nodded, "They all looked like ghosts." The boy sighed, "But we didn't know that at the time. Lukas idolized his dad, and honestly so did I, so when he suggested we run here to surprise him, I agreed."

"I'm surprised they let you guys in?" Marco questioned.

"They didn't." Jean answered, "We got into a lot of trouble back then being in places we weren't suppose too so when we saw a small open window at ground level leading into the basement, we slipped right in."

"But…" It was Connie this time, "doesn't the basement act as the morgue more the Garrison infirmary here?"

Jean nodded once more, "There wasn't many bodies they recovered in the first place during that mission, but if anyone survived, it would have been Schmitty's dad, or so we thought. The man was imposing the few times I saw him using ODM, and we were pretty sure he was part of the Special Operations Squad at some point."

"That's why you and Lukas are so good at ODM huh?" Sasha remarked.

Jean gave a weak smile, "We used to run, and climb buildings so much just to emulate that you know?" the gray-haired boy chuckled softly, "Lukas even stole his dad's ODM once. We didn't get far of course, hit the side of a building so hard Lukas broke his wrist, and I dislocated my arm."

The door slammed as the group looked up to see Eren storm out, seemingly also upset, quickly followed out by Armin and Mikasa. For once Jean didn't pay them any mind and instead continued on, "We had heard a person coming in, so we hid. One of the Garrison had rolled in a dead body on a gurney, but luckily he left soon after that."

Jean took a long pause before continuing, his eyes almost watering, "We didn't know why we decided to look at that body, but…I can't ever forget what we saw."

The gray-haired teen squeezed his arm into a fist looking down, "There was no color to the body, a bit of blood was still coming from his dads' mouth, but below his waist, there was…nothing. They put a sheet over that part, but even then, you could see how much was missing."

Jean scanned the table, Connie looked absolutely terrified, Marco looked down visibly shaken yet saddened, and Sasha faced away, eyes towards the door, and a hint of tears in her eyes. The Trost native cupped his face in his hands and steadied himself. After a moment he calmed and looked back up eager to finish this tainted memory, "I don't know how long we stood there before they caught us, but even as they took us away, Lukas still had that same shock on his face. I wasn't allowed to go to the funeral, and the next time I saw him he seemed like he recovered but I could tell his attitude had changed. Sure, it changed my outlook, you wonder why I can't stand Eren, but for Lukas, it hurt him a lot, it still does, and I can't imagine it'll never not hurt him."

…

Lukas stood leaned up against the side of a building looking up at the night sky. He had calmed himself once more, and now stood in reflection. Tomorrow he would have to choose a path, and even now at the 11th hour the teen was conflicted. He and Jean were supposed to follow each other to the Military Police, and now they were both top 10 all they had to do was sign the dotted line. What's more was, Sasha was joining the MP's, and the black-haired teen was quickly finding it hard living a life without his food loving girlfriend. Even Marco and Connie had both made the cut, his two friends also with intentions of joining the Military Police. Despite all the contrary though, Lukas still felt that pang, despite everything, despite being terrified of the alternative, despite being within a stones throw of the location where five years that image of his father was burned into his memory, it was another image of his father telling him that he wanted to do it, that he need to.

The teens internal struggle was halted by the sudden appearance of the trio from Shiganshina, who had walked out only a moment ago and sat down the way from him, unaware of the teens' presence. For awhile they seemed to have a personal conversation until a shooting star caught everyone's. With that Lukas approached garnering the trio's attention.

"That was a nice speech you had back in there." The boy spoke directly to Eren.

The shorter teen scoffed, still visibly upset, "What does it matter to you, you'll be joining the Military Police like everyone else."

The Trost native looked at the sky once more, "My dad was in the Scouts…" the taller teen sighed, "I think he would've like you Eren."

Eren's face perked up, his eyes surprised at the revelation, Armin look at him inquisitively, and even Mikasa looked somewhat surprised.

It was the smaller blonde who then answered, "That means…"

Lukas nodded, "He didn't come back."

With that the teen took his leave, the trio sitting behind him stunned into silence. Lukas passed through the door into the mess hall once more and not a second later he felt a figure collide into him, familiar brunette hair flooding his vision, and a pair of arms gripping him tightly into a hug. He returned the gesture laying his head into Sasha's shoulder. A minute later a familiar voice called out to him from a couple tables over.

"Lukas, you alright?" Jean spoke, concern in his voice.

"Yeah." He muttered just loud enough for his friend to hear.