Disclaimer: I do not own Gate: Jieitai Kano Chi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri while Shingeki no Kyojin is the property of Hajime Isayama, I only own the OCs I create. Please enjoy reading this story.
And Thank you
"Hi!"=Yelling/Title
"Hi"= Speaking
'Hi'=Thinking
"Hi" = Flashback
'Hi'= Flashback thinking
Hi=Intro
"Hi!"= Flashback Yelling
Hey guys,
It's Jackie Robinson, I would like to say thank you for reading this many chapter of my fanfiction and I hope that you have find this one to be good as well. I'm also sorry for the long wait, I've had trouble balancing my schedule due to a recent increase in my work schedule that has caused a derailment of my normal schedule. I also understand your concerns about masses of text and have tried to divide it up as much as possible, please feel free to critic me if it's still not very good, I also apologize for that in advance due to the large amount of things I have to describe. So sit back and enjoy chapter 7 of And thus the French Foreign Legion Fought Here.
Sincerely,
Jackie Robinson
Chapter 7
September 14th, AOT Universe, Eldian Military Training Camp 13, Early Morning
When Sasha Braus had heard the previous morning that she and rest of cadets of the 104th would be woken up at 6:30 am and given a total of 45 minutes to prepare for breakfast she'd conjured up a general depiction about the manner in which the whole this would be conducted. First she had assumed that there would a small grace period allowed for herself and her fellow cadets in order to proper allow for the gradual adjusting of such a schedule, with a great deal of care and patience by those in charge as compensation. To say that she was the only member of the corps that had pieced together such a peaceful, and hopelessly naïve, image as to what awaited them the following morning would be entirety incorrect. Which is why that they received said following morning was all the more unfortunate. For it was to be the following morning that the cadets of the 104th Training Corps were to receive the wake-up call that would serve as just a taste of the reality that was to come.
Sasha had been laying in bed in a deep peaceful sleep, dreaming of enjoying a meal of the freshly smoked meats she and her father often prepared back at their home. She sat in front of a large table with a large ham in front of her, a gift from her father for some reason or other that she was too zoned out to pay attention to at the current moment, she was just about to begin her hardy meal by harpooning the poor meat item when a loud blaring noise suddenly interrupted her dream. She tried, albeit briefly, to continue the dream via beginning her feast but found that the loud noise was interrupting the sense of smell she'd previously had in it and as such could taste nothing. It was with this that she reluctantly allowed herself to open her eyes, officially waking up, before being confronted by the sounds of her fellow barrack mates groaning in response to hearing the same loud noise.
It was after a few minutes of enduring the noise that Sasha realized that it was not the loud blaring of a random instrument but rather from a sort of trumpet, she recognized it from the fact that the sheep herders that made most of the clothes in the village used to communicate with their sheep dogs as ways to signal when to move the sheep or bring them in. When the bugle sound inevitably came to an end there was a temporary sigh of relief as most of the cadets within the room looked to maybe return to sleeping, but this was also not to be as almost instantly as this thought crossed Sasha's mind the loud sound of a fist pounding on the door could be heard; reaffirming that the time for sleeping was officially over.
"Hey, you lot up and Adam! Grab your clothes and head to the showers, I'll be back in 10 minutes and anyone I find here will have to do 50 push-ups before they can go to the showers!" a person, presumably the cause of the banging on the door, shouted as loud as they could before the sound of footsteps could be head moving away from the barrack. With little choice Sasha proceeded to rise from bed, grab her uniform, put on her boots, and make her way towards the showers so that she could get clean and get fed before the training that she had willingly signed up for began. However, if she had thought that adjusting to her new schedule would be as easy as that she was sorely mistaken and as she stood in line she was beginning to regret spending so much time pondering as to what this supposedly "new" menu of food would be before she had gone to bed.
'If I just close my eyes for a few seconds, maybe I won't feel so sleepy' she thought, failing to notice the fact that she was swaying now or the fact that she was already developing bags under her eyes. Taking her own advice she proceeded to briefly close her eyes in an attempt to appease her body's demands for at least another moment of rest before fully taking on the day, a decision which left her vulnerable to the coming count that was making its way down the line causing her to miss her pre-assigned number.
"19..." There was a short pause after the statement of the number and it provided enough of a pause for Sasha to realize that it was implied that she was next, but sadly not enough time for her to take action to prevent the repercussions of her not speaking in time.
"Private Braus!" a loud voice shouted, causing Sasha to physically feel a tremor go up her spine forcing her to stand up straight at the declaration of her name.
"Y-y-yes Drill Sergeant" she replied in the tone of someone who knew that they had placed themselves in a position that could result in them being put though the ringer and was now bent on getting out of that position as fast as possible.
"What did I say that this morning's first exercise was?" the sergeant in question; a rather middle aged man with white skin, blue eyes, and what looked to be dirty blond hair hidden under his hat asked as he began to slowly lean forwards towards her.
"T-that we were going to sound off" she replied, sweat already beginning to form on her brow under the man's gaze.
"And what was your number?" the sergeant asked, slightly leaning closer to her.
"20" Sasha replied, secretly hoping that the current conversation was not going where she thought it might be.
"SO THEN WHY THE HELL DID YOU NOT STATE YOUR NUMBER WHEN YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO!?" the drill sergeant now shouted, now almost face to face with her allowing for her to have little choice but to look him straight in the eye. There was something frightening about the man's eyes, their darkness, their passion, the way that they seemed to bore their way past your own eyes and into your very soul. It unnerved Sasha and made it so that she'd begun to sweat unconsciously on her brow as well as force her mind to run almost a million miles per hour in an attempt to give a reason, any reason, as to why she'd failed to follow such a basic order. And naturally this meant that in her hast to find and explanation she failed to examine it properly and make sure it was not simply a lame excuse.
"WELL?" the drill sergeant asked again, his voice have not changed its volume or its tone.
"W-well you sir, I sort of nodded off and before I knew it you'd already reached-" she began only to be cut off by the sergeant in question.
"Oh okay private I completely understand, we can't properly move forwards until your wide awake" the sergeant declared causing Sasha to experience the briefest moment of relief before hearing what he said next.
"Seeing as to how Private Braus is oh so fatigued I guess that we have no choice to continue doing this exercise until she gets it right, then we'll know she's awake won't we" the drill sergeant declared causing a series of groans to erupt from the line of Cadets.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" the sergeant shouted, causing the whole line to straighten up again before giving its reply of.
"Yes, sir!" with that the sergeant proceeded to calmly walk to the beginning of the line before beginning the count again, and this time Sasha didn't fall asleep.
September 14th, AOT Universe, Eldian Military Training Camp 13, Afternoon
To say that Armin was relieved when he sat down for lunch at the camp mess would be one of the greatest understatements of the entire day, for the past few hours it had had been the only thing on his mind. To say that the previous drills that the young civilian turned soldier in training had been forced to endure since the morning were tedious would have to once again have made a complete understatement as well as providing a tip as to how little knowledge one had about military training. Like the rest of his fellow cadets Armin had been roused from his bunk at 6:30 in the morning and given time to shower, dress, and eat breakfast before going out to perform the first of many drills to come and like most of the cadets he hadn't been fully awake during the entire ordeal.
However, the whole thing hadn't really begun to become frustrating until the entirety of the Corps had been divided up into several different division, battalions, companies, and squads all of whom had been instructed to organize in a sort of rank and file manner for a sound off. Despite the best attempts of Armin and others in their division the group had been forced to repeat the drill nearly 2 dozen times, as the drill sergeant charged with overseeing demanded that they not be dismissed for the next drill until they had gotten it perfect.
"This is training you for battle" he had said as he paced in front of the them at the end of the inspection "and you cannot afford to be sloppy or slow in battle, such failures to adapt or react will cost you your life on the battlefield; I guarantee it!"
With memory fresh in his mind all Armin could do was to let out a sigh before proceeding to pick up the standard issued spoon that came with his soup to begin eating. As he set his spoon into the deliciously warm looking liquid the couldn't help but notice the many ripples that came from the contact and it was then that he realized that his hand was shaking.
'From fear, anticipation, or the realization that I've long since passed the point of return and the only way out is through a ceremony for graduation or a dishonorable discharge' Armin thought to himself before allowing the soup to fill his spoon and shoving it into his mouth, his eyes closing whilst donning a smile of contentment at the taste. However, he was ripped from his silent musings by the sound of a platters being set down at his table and opened his eyes to find Eren, surprisingly accompanied by Reiner & Berthold, sitting in front of him with similar food on their plates.
"Oh hey guys, how've things been?" Armin asked, a question which earned him frustrated glances from Eren and Reiner as well as a disinterested one from Berthold.
"How do you think we've been, you were in the same division as us" Reiner answered, causing Armin to raise his hands and subconsciously lean back in response.
"Just wanted to know, I mean that training wasn't easy" he began only to have Eren jump in this time.
"Of course it wasn't easy, it was utter torcher" Eren interrupted, attempting to sit up to make his declaration only to wince as he his back was forced into the previously stiff position it had dawned for past few hours. After the roll call the drill sergeant had begun to instruct them in the manner of marching, specifically instructing them on how amazingly bad they were at anything related to marching before vowing to not let them continue onto the next drill until they had at least become somewhat descent at it. Nearly 3 hours later the large group, having taken a few breaks, was still attempting to walk together in sink whilst standing perfectly straight and was still nowhere near being somewhat descent at it.
"Well at least there was a bit of logic behind it, after all as the sergeant said 'a unit which marches together, can think together, and ultimately fight together'" Armin replied, taking the only anywhere near positive remark made by the drill sergeant during the entirety of the afternoon and hoping that he could believe in by getting other to. So far however, the plan wasn't working.
"So, that doesn't mean he has to make us march the whole afternoon!" Eren responded, his gaze still aimed at his food due to his desire to avoid as much back pain as possible.
"What do you think we'll have to do after lunch?" Berthold asked, finally breaking the silence which he had been shrouded in for the majority of the conversation. Truth be told the same question was currently resting on Armin's mind, though unlike Berthold he lacked either the confidence or the naïve curiosity to cause the question to escape from his mind onto his lips. And whilst he did let out a mental sigh of relative relief at the knowledge that there was someone else at the table who had the same concern as him, it did little to answer the question and as such fully extinguish the curiosity within his subconscious. For a few moments there was silence over the four of them as they let their own varying levels of interest in the matter propel them to indeed be interested in an answer, but found that their lack of knowledge or imagination in regards to the subject silence them. Eventually however, it was Reiner who broke the silence.
"Well whatever it is it can't get much worse than this now can it" he stated causing the others at the table, except Armin, to nod in agreement.
"I know that they haven't been here long, but yesterday did you all see the way in which the soldiers that the outsiders sent conducted themselves?" Armin asked, causing all three to look at him again.
"If you mean the way the never can be found without their sawed off muskets over their soldiers or a revolver on their hip then yes I most definitely have" Reiner responded before adding "its most unsettling".
"No I mean the way they march, the way they respond to orders, the way their are given orders have you noticed anything like that?" Armin asked only to be meet with more blank stares.
"What're you getting at Armin?" Eren asked, his tone conveying a desire for Armin to get to his point.
"Well what I mean is, from what I've seen it looks like the way they act and the things we're being taught may have some overlap in the sense that they may be slowly teaching us to function like the soldiers who guard us so thoroughly" Armin explained, causing Reiner to let off a hearty laugh.
"If that is indeed the case then all the mindless marching we did to day might have some greater purpose" Reiner began before adding "but if I were you Armin I wouldn't bother looking at it that way, not yet at least".
"I guess you're right, it's probably just me being over observant" Armin added before turning his attention back to his now cold soup and scooping another spoonful and placing it into his mouth. Little did any of them know the fact that the one member of their group that should've been there was in the midst of inquiring upon a similar subject, and as such closer to putting together the greater picture than they were.
September 14th, AOT Universe, Eldian Military Training Camp 13, Afternoon
"Alright Private Ackerman what is it?" Cesar asked as he pulled the small canteen from his waste and took a swig of it's cool contents that he'd placed into it earlier that morning. Cesar was many things but able to maintain patience when called away from meal times by things or people he saw as trivial was most certainly not one of them and as such the current meeting he found himself in was nothing short of pouring gasoline on the fire of impatience which had first been stoked due to the general exercises forced upon his personal cadets during the morning.
Private Ackerman, known as "Mikasa" by her friends, had asked him if it was possible for the two of them to meet behind the mess hall before lunch was over and, seeing as how it was obvious to anyone with eyes that Private Ackerman would be good at playing the role of enforced in her unit, Cesar had agreed under the condition that they grab lunch first. Now, fifteen some odd minutes since they had begun their journey through the lunch line they, while more specifically Cesar, had wolfed down their meal before meeting at the pre-decided rendezvous point much to their dissatisfaction.
"How long has your country existed?" Mikasa asked, causing Cesar to dawn a face of surprise.
"What are you talking about?" Cesar asked in response posing what many language teachers would no doubt consider the cardinal sin within the art of conversation, that being the answering of a question with a question.
"How long has your country existed?" Mikasa asked, repeating the question with the same calm tone.
"Well, strictly speaking, the French Republic has existed since roughly 1791" Cesar answered before adding "but the nation of France as whole has existed since its invasion by the Franks in the 5th century, so I guess you could say that it's been around for a long time".
"Then may I ask you a question?" she asked, causing Cesar to raise an eyebrow in interest.
"If you mean in addition to the two that you have already asked, then yes by all means fire away" Cesar answered causing Mikasa's eyes to fall to his feet before he heard part of the question be forced out from between her teeth.
"...were you?" she asked, her question sounding more like a growl than any truly traceable pattern of speech.
"Excuse me?" Cesar asked in response, causing Mikasa to lower her head before repeating the question for a second time.
"If your people have existed for that long, where were you?" she asked, her voice starting to crack. It was easy for Cesar to simply hear the amount of emotion that laced the young girl's voice, it sounded as though it was thick enough to cut with a knife as well as sounding as though it was chocking her with every moment she was deprived of an answer.
"What do you mean?" Cesar asked, wanting to poke and prod into what he perceived to be a mother load of years of pent up frustration dying to be let out.
'What the heck, if I want her unit to avoid massive casualties I'll need to get her as an enforcer a role she can only properly fulfill with a clean conscience' Cesar thought as he donned what he perceived to be the look of an unfazed lawyer to hid the amount of curiosity he actually had towards her statement.
"Why did you wait so long to come and help us?!" Mikasa asked in a tone of voice which bordered on demanding as she raised her eyes to meet his.
"Where were you?" the words once again being thrown at him like some sort of Buddhist mantra before Mikasa began a long tangent of questions.
"Do you know much we've suffered? How much all of humanity has suffered? How many millions have died?" she asked.
"No" Cesar replied giving the most honest answer he could think of, a fact which seemed to drive the young girl's quest for answers on.
"Exactly, so if your people care so much now why didn't you help us in the past? Where were you?" she asked again, not letting the topic go.
"Killing each other" Cesar answered, causing Mikasa to almost instantly be taken back.
"W-What?" she asked, stunned by the answer in general as well as the calmness with which it was delivered.
"You asked what we were doing and I said 'killing each other' specifically just getting over killing 16 million of each other" Cesar replied, his face not having changed.
"Who killed 16 million people?" Mikasa asked, her tone now beginning to lose its firmness.
"We people of earth, France included, but that's nothing roughly 21 years later we started another war that killed over 60 million people; it was caused by the man who masterminded the killing of at least 11 million people and would see the rise of dictators who would kill at least 100 million people" Cesar replied causing Mikasa to, for the first time in a long time, break her façade of emotionlessness.
"Why?" she asked, her mind now racing a million miles and hour, trying to reason why anyone one would mastermind such a slaughter.
"Because they saw the people they were killing as the 'other', and sometimes as 'lesser' beings than themselves" Cesar answered before briefly pausing to continue on.
"The reason we weren't here helping you is because we were busy killing each other to forge and defend the same type of cultural cohesion and understanding that your people have managed to do over the last few centuries; which means that we needed to have a hostile force to unite against, for you it was these so called titans for us it was each other" he finished, causing her to sport a look of shock trying to grasp it all. Trying to grasp whether or not the man in front of her was telling the truth was lying, exaggerating his evidence to create some sort of sympathy, or if he was telling the truth. Part of her wanted to declare him a liar regardless as to whether or not he could provide evidence to back his claim, because to begin to contemplate the reality and magnitude of the slaughter he was describing was to awful to comprehend.
"If you're wondering whether or not I'm telling the truth when your division is given leave to come to my world I'll take time to show you all of the war memorials in France to the victims of these wars and genocides" Cesar said, snapping her out of her thoughts to look at him as he turned around to take his leave.
"But Private I would like you to do something" Cesar began before pausing and continuing "next time you look around at the level of advanced technology my people so effortlessly sport take heed not to forget to the immense amount of human sacrifice and the countless lives lost to achieve it, and then be thankful that we're gifting it to your people without requiring you to pay the same bitter price that we have"
September 14th, AOT Universe, Eldian Military Training Camp 13, Late Evening
Mina sat on the small bunk, now her temporary bed, that she had been assigned to as she calmly brushed her hair with one of the few items that she'd been able to bring to the training camp. The comb had been one of several gifts from her mother for her 9th birthday and was more or less and unofficial sign that she was an ever year closer to reaching the marital when she would be married, hopefully to a rich man so that she could properly secure her family a comfy future, and the life of relative obscurity that went with it. But that had been before; before the attack on the Shinganshina District had caused a massive population surplus to arise in Wall Rose's population which had resulted in many food shortages, before her father had been drafted with many others to reclaim the Shinganshina District, before he'd never returned and the family had fallen upon hard times. Finally before her mother, driven mad by the strain of having to raise Mina and her siblings by herself, had committed suicide forcing Mina to choose between a life of begging and possible prostitution or that of a soldier in the army.
At first the choice had seemed simple, seeing as how the pay for a soldier was much higher and more reliable than that of a prostitute, intending to avoid seeing combat by joining the Garrison or, if she was unbelievably lucky, the Military Police;but after the few days spent in the registration and transportation she was beginning to habe second thoughts during which she'd become a nameless cog in the merciless machine that was the Eldian military system. It was for that reason that when the strange outsiders who claimed to be their allies and were searching for recruits to form a new unit which they claimed to be critical to the war effort that after quite some pondering she'd elected to volunteer to join it, to possibly make friends but to mainly see to it the end of this horrible war as soon as possible. It was also for this reason that she was somewhat surprised that when she and the other members of her "special" unit had been called away to perform what their commanding officer had described as "basic introductions" to not just him but each other.
"Alright listen up" he'd stated as he'd begun to pace up and down the line of volunteers for the newly formed Auxiliary Air Corps.
"Our introductions yesterday were insufficient to say the least, so today I want all you to stand up and re-introduce yourselves to you fellow flight and bunk mates as you will be charged with eating, sleeping, and training together until we're deemed fit to be called to the front lines" he finished returning to the middle point of the recruits who had volunteered before pointing to Mina and adding "we'll start with you".
"O-oh, alright, my name is Mina Carolina and I come from the Calaneth District of Wall Rose" she replied as she stood up, causing her to become the focus of all those within the group.
"Tell me Student Officer Carolina who waits for you at home?" the man, Captain Cesar Khansari, had sked causing her to pause.
"Oh uh, well I have 2 younger siblings waiting for me" she'd replied causing the captain to raise and eyebrow in what was probably interest.
"If you have two siblings at home then why have joined the military?" the captain had asked again to which she had answered.
"Because this way I can send them money and if what your leader claimed was true, then I can help end this war quickly and end the loss of life that goes with it" she answered causing the captain to put on a smile.
"See this" he stated as he pointed to her "student officer Carolina's motivation is commendable along with her idealism and loyalty , and as long as she does not result in her becoming zealot for the cause she intends to fight for". With that Mina sat down as the next cadet in the line stood up in line and began his own introduction, as did the cadet after him, and the Cadet after that. Each riddling off their name, place of origin, and occasionally their reason for joining, each prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice to advance the success of humanity, and it's allies, in their war against the titans.
"Thomas Wagner, Trost District of Wall Rose"
"Ramon Toset, Orvud District District of Wall Sheena; I was sick of hearing about how we were losing the war and wanted to do something about it"
"Hannah Diamant, Krolva District of Wall Rose"
"Franz Kefka, Utopia District of Wall Rose"
"Achille Cousineau, Karanes District of Wall Rose; I heard that the military would give you a consistent income and I need the money"
"Alexio Barros, Shinganshina District of Wall Maria; my brother died in the defense of Wall Maria, the only way to make his sacrifice count is for us to win this war"
"Friedrich Ferdinand, Trost District of Wall Rose"
"Dario Alesini, Krolva District of Wall Rose"
"Antoni Bartosz, Utopia District of Wall Rose"
As these memories began to slowly fade from her mind Mina set down her brush and upon hearing the sound of the instrument that had woken up herself and her fellow cadets she did as her instructor had told her at the end of training and blew out the candle on her bedside table before climbing into bed and falling asleep.