Hey, it's me, the author.

Thank you for reading my fic! I haven't written anything like this in a long time so I'm still a bit rusty, but it's been a cool ride!

I think this is the last chapter before things really start to take off and we get the ball rolling.

Let me know if you have any questions, a couple of suggestions , about the story and characters!

In the meantime, enjoy!

SUNDAY - DAY 16 - 7 AM

The sunlight shines into Mya's new room, forcing her to open her eyes while she lay in bed with the warm covers over her. The room was nice and cool because of the stone walls, making her first night at the castle more pleasant than she had anticipated.

She moved from her side onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.

Today was the day she would start her new training.

Erwin's words echoed in her head:

"You will leave tomorrow at eight am to begin your maneuver gear training."

The clock across her room showed that it was 7:01.

She sighed and rose from the bed.

Mya put on some pants and a simple dress-shirt before heading down to eat a quick meal in the kitchen. She wasn't sure where everyone else was, but the castle seemed to be very quiet.

After cleaning her small plate and then setting it down on a cloth to dry, she glanced outside where Kathryn's garden was. Nobody was there.

She turned around and looked at another large clock in the dining room that read 7:45.

It was time.

She left the kitchen and stepped outside of the main entrance. Immediately, she spotted two people she recognized who were getting their saddles ready for use. As the large doors closed behind her, they turned.

On the right was Asher, dressed in his usual military attire. And on the right was Captain Levi, who was wearing not his uniform, but a simple grey, v-neck, long-sleeved shirt and dark pants.

Next to them was a third horse who was currently saddle-less. Twilight.

Asher looked like he wanted to say something, but was holding his tongue.

"Hey. Hurry and saddle up," said Levi in a monotone voice.

Mya nodded and quickly did so.

They rode their horses down the dirt road, off the path to a secluded area located in a grassy terrain a few miles away.

After tying their horses, Asher and Levi unloaded bags that were on their horses and started to walk up the grassy hill.

"Asher. Help put her gear on then find me," said Levi before heading up the hill by himself with blades attached to his sides.

This time, Asher explained more throughly the process of putting on the various belts and straps and why they are important. As he helped her adjust her equipment, she recalled the first time he had helped her a few days ago and how she was so nervous that she didn't bother to pay attention to how everything fit her.

After they were done, he attached the blades to her sides. The straps around her shoulders seemed a bit tighter than last time as they carried the blades weight. She ignored it as they headed up the hill together.

They reached the top of the hill and then walked into the woods ahead of them. Mya looked at the beautiful blue sky, the sunlight hitting the clouds so gracefully that it looked like a stunning painting. She continued to look at it as the branches from the trees above grew thicker, allowing only rays of light through their greenery.

Soon they saw the Captain standing a ways away, waiting. They walked to him and stopped.

"This looks like a good place to start" said the Captain. "First, I want you to show me what you can do, then we can go from there."

".. Okay," said Mya with a bit of hesitation.

She had not used the gear at all since her first day that she ever came across it. Now she was expected to remember ... everything. She should have seen this coming, why didn't she practice the night before?

She looked down at her gear, almost panicking.

Think, she told herself. Remember.

But before she could admit that she needed a reminder, Asher suddenly spoke.

"Captain, I could help her review what I showed her last time. I don't think she's been able to access our gear since several days ago."

Mya looked up at Asher. He did not have all of his gear on like the rest of them. Perhaps he was hoping to stay mostly in the ground. She recalled his fear of heights.

The Captain seemed a little annoyed.

"Alright. But make it quick."

He walked away into the shade as Asher turned to Mya.

"Let's go over here"

He lead her over a few feet away and began instructing her. He quickly showed her how to position her feet, release the hooks that shot out from her gear, and how to land.

"Okay? Got it?"

Mya felt panic welling up inside of her, but as she aimed her hooks at the tree, she managed to snap out of it.

As she lunged forward, she immediately started to falter, but before she felt like she was going to fall, Mya repositioned her body in the air and swung around the tree, landing perfectly on a large branch 30 feet above. She let out sigh of relief.

It was almost like riding a horse. Muscle memory.

She had managed to remember everything. So far, anyways.

She looked down and spotted Asher who gave a satisfying grin and a thumbs up. He quickly turned and ran off away from Mya.

As Mya looked around, she saw how nice and large the branches were around her. It was a pretty great place to practice maneuver gear.

A few moments passed and Asher still hadn't come back yet. She looked across at the nearest tree to her left. It was a long ways away. Was she supposed to come down? Or continue practicing by herself?

She glanced down, and felt her body loose its balance for a brief second. She immediately grabbed the neck of the tree, gasping out loud, and then sighing in relief when she realized he was safe.

As she collected herself, she heard a noise from behind her. It sounded like wires being retracted. She turned to the left to see the Captain on the side of the tree across her.

"Alright," he said plainly, "try to keep up."

He fired his grappling hooks far ahead and propelled himself forward, nearly disappearing from view into the tall trees.

Mya followed, releasing more gas in order to catch up a bit.

The woods became a blur around her as she felt the wind in her face. It was like she was flying. She looked up and saw the Captain several feet ahead of her, positioned a bit higher than she was.

He leaned a bit to the side, as the forrest came to a curve. Then he re-fired his hooks, and swung sharply to the left.

Mya focused on what she needed to do. As she gained speed, she re-fired her hooks as well, winding around the corner after him.

The Captain glanced behind him.

Mya caught his eyes staring at her, feeling a bit proud that she hadn't managed to slam into a tree yet.

He turned his head back around and released more gas from his gear. As he went further ahead, he re-fired his hooks again, but this time there was a lot of extra wire. She watched as he let himself fall downwards before swinging back to the height he was at before.

It was only a matter of time before they were going to run out of wide space to maneuver, but the Captain seemed to be picking up speed.

Only a few feet before he could hit the branches, he fired his hooks again and launched himself through a tight opening in the trees. He kept his arms close to his sides as his feet faced forward, the branches blocking out most of the light as he passed through the opening.

After passing through, he fired his hooks again, yanking him upwards towards the highest part of the trees, without breaking through the branches that covered the sky from view. He swung around a tree before landing on a large branch.

On the other side of thick barrier, Mya had watched the Captain pass through the tunnel of branches, but could not see what was on the other side.

She sped towards the small opening, reminding herself that she needed speed, but not too much in case she needed to stop quickly. She retracted her hooks as she entered the tunnel- the shade making it difficult to see ahead- then fired her hooks out again as she spotted a tree at the end of it.

The metal device carrying her blades scrapped against a few branches, causing Mya to veer off-course, banging into some other branches, a couple hitting her leg and bruising her knee. She gritted her teeth, but managed to pull through the rest of the tunnel and then out into the opening where light was more present.

She swung up towards the rays of light breaking through the branches and then onto a branch.

She looked around and saw the Captain standing on a branch further up and away.

He looked down at her as she waited for his next move.

"Let's head back" said the Captain.

Then he wizzed past her, back towards the way they came.

"...So, it seems like you understand how to shift your weight accordingly. Your stance when you land needs improvement, and your speed could be better. Otherwise.. not a bad first trial," said Levi as he sat on a stump with his gear off as Mya listened sitting on the grass.

Asher stood over to the side against a tree as the Captain reviewed the flight and where there needed to be improvement.

"Now. I want your main focus to be on three things: agility, perception, and trusting your instincts. Always expect things to go wrong, because they will. If you can expect it, then you can be prepared for it."

"Know your body's strengths and weaknesses. Don't get cocky. If you think you can't do something, you can't, because you're already doubting yourself. If you hesitate for too long debating on something, you've lost time, and either you or a comrade, will pay for it. Just practice and only do what you know you are capable of when using this gear, or you'll hurt yourself."

He stood up from the stump.

"I'll have Asher take it from here until break"

Asher stood up straight and nodded at the Captain as he headed into the trees.

"Okay, let's suit up again and see if you remember how to put your gear on.."

Mya thought she recalled how to put on correctly, but found she needed a few reminders. Once they were both suited again with their gas tanks and blades, they sped off into the woods until they reached another area of the forrest. Mya found her gaining more confidence with every turn. With the wind in her hair and newly acquired abilities, she couldn't help but beam as the summer air danced around her.

She glanced over at Asher, who seemed to be busy watching her stance. She remembered his fear of heights, and realized that he didn't seem very worried.

Okay, maybe just a little bit now.

"Mya. Tree!"

Mya looked forward again and saw she was only a few feet away from slamming into a giant tree. She veered to the left, and reshot her hooks out again.

This, of-course, would happen the two seconds she got distracted.

"Thanks!" She yelled back as she looped back around next to Asher.

"Keep focused ahead!" Asher yelled back.

Mya nodded and kept staring straight ahead.

She could see that it was getting more well-lit the further they went, the trees thinning out.

Soon she realize that ahead of them lay a meadow. She got excited but felt a twinge of confusion. Where where they suppose to-?

"Stop at the last tree straight ahead!" Asher yelled.

They both came to a halt, each clinging to a tree opposite each other at the very edge of forrest. The forrest continued, but it looked like the meadow was at least a mile long, too long for grappling hooks.

"Another thing to remember: the forest is the safest place for maneuver gear. If you're out in the open where there are less things to grab onto, you could run out of options very quickly, " said Asher as he looked at Mya with a serious look on his face.

"If.. that's ever the case ... that is ..." Asher brought down his gaze.

Mya looked down.

"Asher. What was it like the first time you went outside of the walls?"

Asher looked up at Mya.

"It was ... very exciting. I had never even considered what the outside must look like. But when I saw it, I knew that I wanted to know more about it. It had this mysterious quality to it. Completely new and so wide ... it gives you such a rush."

Mya stood against the side of the tree with her hooks tightly bolted onto it as she listened.

"And ... what about ... when you saw titans for the first time?"

Asher's face hardened.

"I was told they were god-awful, and they are, but ... they're simply," he paused, trying to think of the right word. " ... disgusting creatures. And I just want to get rid of them before they get rid of us".

Mya looked at Asher's expressions that turned from hate, to anger, to defeat.

SUNDAY - DAY 16 - NOON

The main fort was stirring with commotion as Mya walked past the training grounds with Asher. It was time for break and they were headed to the cafeteria.

Mya was grateful that she was able to eat at the castle for the past couple meals, and thought she was fine heading back to the place where she had encountered those terrible men. But as they inched closer to the building, her stomach lurched with the fear of encountering them again.

She glanced at a group a girls that were standing several feet away next to a fence. One seemed to be watching her, and as soon as she looked as the other girls, she realized that all eyes were staring at her. The girls turned and huddled together, their back to Mya.

Weird, she thought to herself as she walked on.

Soon they were inside of the building and in the cafeteria. Mya could feel her heart start to race as she stepped towards table full of plates.

Before she could carry the plate to the cook, Asher grabbed the plate from her hands.

"Ah, ah, ah, I'll get it. You grab the beverages."

Mya wandered over to the several cups that were available. They usually only had three options: water, milk, and for the daring, tea.

She grabbed two cups of water and looked out into the sea of tables.

Each table seemed to be crammed with people, and it was all very loud. People were laughing, shouting, even singing it sounded like. Where was she going to find a place to sit? Let alone for one person?

"Mya! Come over here!" said a friendly voice coming from a guy.

Mya saw a table where several young men were gathered and it took her a second to realize the one who called her was Joe, Asher's friend with bright, blonde hair and blue eyes, from before.

She sat down at their table with the waters.

"Soo, I heard it was someone's first day of being in the big leagues. What do you think? Asher giving you hell yet?"

"Well, not yet," Mya said, trying to joke and make herself comfortable.

Joe laughed.

"Well, congratulations on moving ahead. Who knew that Commander June actually knew what he was doing when he sent you to us? I wouldn't say it's unlikely that he's taking credit for discovering your talent and letting the whole military know about it. He did always want a star pupil of his own to show off. But the closest he's got is some guy who was arrested last month for possessing some drugs, and you. "

"Hey Mya, want some green beans? We're sharing them amongst ourselves here. They say if you have something good, you better share it or else someone will take it from you. Oh, and it's John, " said a man with short, honey-brown hair, who had a bit of weight on him, and visible bits of food that remained in his very, thin facial hair.

"We call him Johnny" said Joe, passing Mya a single green bean.

"Brothers ... ," said Asher in a deep voice as he arrived with two plates that beamed with steam because of how warm they were.

"Brother," said Johnny in an equally deep voice as he scootched aside to give Asher more room.

Asher handed Mya her plate filled with mashed potatoes, lettuce, carrots, and two loaves of bread. She passed him his drink.

"My brothers, it has been too long... since these cheeks have graced a chair."

Everyone one gave Asher a weird look as he sat down at the table.

"And somehow i didn't miss your weird sense of humor," said another man with black hair cut in a mop-top look, wearing glasses who sat on the other side of Joe at the end of the table.

"Humor gets weird when you've seen as much as we have though," replied Asher as he bit into his loaf of bread smothered in mashed potatoes.

"But you always make it weird" said the man in glasses.

"And I will continue to as long as I keep seeing weird shit. Mya, this is Brian by the way. Don't tell him any jokes because he won't get them"

"As long as they involve your butt, I don't want to hear them," said Brian in return, who seemed to have finished eating while everyone else was either still snacking or just starting.

"Yeah, yeah.. so Ash, how did the morning go?" asked Joe.

"Did the Captain let you talk at all?" said Johnny, with a smirk on his face.

Mya ate her food as she ease-dropped on their conversation.

"Well, it was good. I think he realized what went wrong last time, and gave me the reigns for longer than I was expecting. We were out for at least three hours."

"Yeah, was that a few months ago when that happened?"

"Three months maybe. I have it shoved away in here somewhere. Not that I want to remember it clearly anyways.."

"And then, he just, went home. You guys put in all that work to train him and he just gives up."

"The guy had some problems that needed working out."

"... but rumor has it that Mya has the whole fort buzzing. I can't remember the last time that's happened," said Joe.

Johnny started chuckling, he tried to hold it in as he swallowed.

"I just think that," he chuckled again, "it's freaking hilarious how June thought you'd have no clue, how to use the gear, and then you show up and-" Johnny starts laughing out loud while trying to keep it together.

"Someone said his face turned white when the corps there saw that you did all of that. That's just soo good."

Mya didn't know what to do besides smile and nod.

"It's a good thing everyone saw it, or nobody would have believed it. I couldn't even believe it," said Joe.

"Yeah, where did you learn all of that, Mya?" said Johnny.

Mya looked down at her lap, not sure what to say. It was the third time someone had asked her that, so maybe they really thought she had maneuver gear stuffed away somewhere and had been training all her life until now. Just waiting for a chance to show off. But that simply just wasn't true.

"I.. I just picked it up. I think I was just so focused on not disappointing the Commander ... that I tried really hard."

Everyone at the table sat and stared at her, but she had nothing more to say.

"Wow..." said Joe.

"Wish I was that good," said Johnny.

"We still got a ways to go though, and we'll need to head back soon after we finish eating," said Asher to Mya.

"Yeah, well you better start eating then, or else she'll be waiting for you and you'll both be late," said Joe, staring at Asher's plate that was the only plate remaining that had over half of the food still on it.

The other guys chuckled.

Mya finished her cup of water and realized she had to use the restroom.

"It was nice meeting you, I'll be outside in the meantime," she said as she got up.

" 'Kay" said Asher with his mouth full.

Mya wandered down the hall to the restroom. Afterwards, she headed out the main entrance down the road that lead to the training grounds.

The sun beamed down from the blue sky, making her feel slightly too warm in the direct light.

She walked around the corner where the training grounds were and was curious to see what they would be doing now.

As she rounded a wooden building, she bumped into a girl taller than her, but looked to be around the same age.

The girl looked down at her and raised her eyebrows.

"Are you... Mya?"

"Um, who's asking?"

"The name's Tif. So, you're the one everyone has been talking about. I figured your face matched the description: a brown-haired girl claiming to be a new recruit so she could show off her skills and make herself look good."

"Tif" was not only a tall girl, but had muscle to her, complete with a summer tan and straight, dark hair that she had pulled into a thin ponytail. The more Mya stared, the more buff Tif seemed.

"So, am I right? Why not just tell me right here? We are alone, except for my friends who are going to watch me beat you to a pulp."

She laughed as she cracked her fingers while flexing her large, veiny arms.

Mya stepped back.

"I'm not pretending to be a recruit," Mya muttered.

"W-W-What? Speak up you idiot! Before you don't have teeth to talk with!"

Mya knew what she would normally do in a situation like this, but this time her feet were too heavy to move. She could feel her heart start to pick up speed. She had only seconds to think of something, but what?

Suddenly her brain began to think on its own.

'Don't hesitate.'

Don't hesitate .. to do what exactly?

'Remember: Agility.'

Agility. Why did that word sound familiar?

Mya found herself feeling focused. Everything seemed to happen in slow-motion. She could see Tif winding back to pull a punch. As she did, Mya's brain continued to remind her of what she had learned earlier that day.

'Remember: Perception'

Perception. Okay. Mya looked at her attacker's feet. Tif's body seemed to be shifting to the side to punch her, which would make her more off balance than if she kept her feet firmly on the ground.

'And Lastly: Trust your instincts'

Trust. Here we go.

It all happened in three seconds- Tif's arm trusting forward, ancipation, dodge, the grabbing the arm, along with the final slam into the dirty ground.

Mya stood there catching her breath as she stared down at Tif. Her attacker was now flipped onto her back, gasping in shock with her eyes wide open.

Mya couldn't believe what had just happened. She stood frozen in place for several seconds before straightening up and letting out a sigh of relief. She looked up at Tif's group that had been watching them. It was a group of four, who also appeared to be around the same age as Mya and Tif, but instead of looking as relaxed as they did before, they now looked fearful and stressed.

Mya turned back to Tif, and felt a new emotion creeping up inside of her. Her face shifted from surprise to anger. As soon as her glare reached the eyes of the others, they scampered off.

Mya looked down again at Tif, who seemed to be a bit out of breath. Tif now looked twice as fearful as her friends as she caught Mya's eye.

"Don't do that again" said Mya in a monotone voice. It was a new tone she never had the confidence to say out loud to another person, until now.

Then she wiped her hand on her pants, and walked off.