One Year Later...

Shadis walked down the rows of assembled cadets, "Alright! Listen up maggots! For three days you will be surviving with a partner with nothing more than your wits, training, and a knife! Should you return to base, or if I catch you trying to steal supplies! You will be expelled from this program right then and there! Got that?!" Shadis yelled.

"Yes sir!" They agreed.

"Now! I will announce the pairings!" Shadis announced, "Eren Jaeger and Mikasa Ackerman! Krista Lenz and Ymir! Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover! Christopher Holt and Mina Carolina!"

'I'm going with Mina?' Alto wondered. And he couldn't help but be slightly jealous of Ymir. Ever since the day he and Historia, he'd come to view Historia as a little sister. Meanwhile, he didn't really know Mina all that well.

"You have 30 minutes to get with your partner and plan! Time starts now!" Shadis yelled.

Alto walked over to Mina, "I guess we will be surviving together." Mina said cheerfully. Alto simply looked to the side.

"You know you can at least talk to the person you're going to be living with?" Mina huffed.

Alto rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

Mina sighed "So, like do you know anything we can eat while we're there?"

"There's fish, some herbs I know make tea, and other animals." Alto said offhandedly.

"Okay, what are the threats?" Mina asked,

"There's a bear population." Alto sighed, "Listen. Planning isn't going to help, the best thing we can do is get out there, and face the music."

"It doesn't hurt to be prepared." Mina said

Day 1

Mina and Alto trudged up a portion of the mountain. Alto was keeping a significant pace ahead of Mina, who was quickly becoming tired.

"Lets find a nice place we can make camp before nightfall," Alto said to Mina.

"R-right." She panted.

"I think if I remember correctly there's a river somewhere around here." He stopped and listened for a moment, "Yeah. It's this way." He led Mina to a small river cutting through the forest.

"Okay. You need to get started on shelter. I'll find some vines so I can make us a net to catch fish." Alto said before heading off in the forest.

'Jeez. Talk about anti-social.' Mina rolled her eyes

Some time later that day...

"Alright! I'm finished!" She stood back and surveyed her work. Two huts made out of wood and leaves sat on the riverbank.

'Christopher still isn't back yet... so I better get started on making spears to hunt animals.' Mina thought to herself.

She picked up some left over wood, and began shaving it with her knife into small spears. Suddenly, a low growl emanated from behind her.

'Oh no...' Mina began to sweat as she slowly turned around.

Behind her was a large Grizzly Bear. And it didn't look happy.

'Don't panic... Don't panic Mina.' Mina tried to calm herself down. But that didn't work, so she did the only other thing she could.

She screamed.

Alto was just returning when he heard an ear-piercing shriek cut through the air.

'Mina!' He immediately began running, cutting through brush and vegetation. When he got to their campsite he saw Mina cornered by a bear and trembling. The bear crouched low, preparing to attack, then lept at Mina.

Mina couldn't do anything. She watched as the bear lept at her. Time seemed to slow.

'Is this it? How I meet my end?' She almost laughed, she'd wouldn't even make it out of training.

Suddenly, a fist cracked across the bears jaw, sending it flying into the river. The bear got up, and roared. Alto looked to Mina, "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah. I'm fine." She picked up her knife, and turned to face the bear. Alto got in front of her.

"Leave this to me," Faster than Mina could see, Alto whisked out his knife, and rushed the bear. At the same time the bear charged at Alto. However Alto slid between the bears legs, plunged his knife into it's underbelly and used his momentum to draw it across the bears belly. The bear came to a sliding stop in front of a trembling Mina.

"H-how did you?" Mina couldn't even comprehend it. In one swift stroke Alto had taken out a grizzly.

"I was lucky." He said nonchalantly, he wiped the knife on his shirt.

"What do you mean? That was a full grown grizzly!"

"It wasn't fully grown. It was probably less than a week out of the den and still learning how to survive on it's own. A fully grown grizzly would've learned to avoid humans, and would've been twice, possibly three times that size."

Mina was shocked. At first glance Alto seemed like an anti-social slacker, but now, after witnessing Alto kill a grizzly bear on his own. She would have to admit, there was something attractive about that.

"How do you know all that?" Mina asked.

"My older sister was a Cadet planning to go to the scouts. My grandfather was an MP, and my father was a scout as well. I come from a very militaristic family."

"Wow..." Mina said, to be honest, Christopher was kind of a mystery to the other Cadets, he was quiet and ate by himself. They didn't even know what branch he planned to join. And now Mina had just learned more about him in a single day than the other cadets had in a year.

"Anyway, we better get cooking." Alto said, beginning to skin the bear.

"W-were going to eat that?" Mina quivered at the thought of eating a bear.

"You ever had bear meat?" Alto asked.

"N-no..." Mina said.

"Neither have I." He tore off a strip of fur, and continued skinning. Alto turned to her, and saw Mina staring at Alto while simultaneously trying not to throw up.

"Instead of watching me you could get a fire going." Alto said, hacking off another piece of fur.

That night

Mina and Alto sat around the crackling fire. The bear meat being kept warm above the fire.

"This isn't bad!" Mina devoured the meat with relish, "Especially with meat being so rare."

"Yeah..." Alto had barely touched his,

"So. Christopher, where are you from?" Mina asked him,

"Wall Rose." He said blankly.

"What district?" Mina pressed.

"Krolva, at least, after what happened three years ago."

"What do you mean? If you're from Wall Rose then you couldn't have been in Shiganshima right?" Mina pushed on,

"It wasn't Titans. Goodnight Mina." Alto tossed his meat to the woods, and headed into his hut. Leaving Mina alone in front of the fire.

'It wasn't Titans.' The words echoed in Mina's head. That night, she resolved to find out what really happened to Christopher.


"Finish him Kenny!" Rod Reiss yelled, his eyes mad with glee.

Alto was surrounded, the assassins closed in on him. But instead of the usual faces, the assassins were his own family. Gertrude and Annabeth closed in from the front, William and Kyren from behind, his father and mother from the left and right.

They raised a strange assortment of weapons, knives, guns, paring blades. And they had only one intention, kill Alto.

"Guys it's me!" Alto whimpered, he was back in his ten year old self again. Suddenly, a large flaming hand grabbed him, facing Alto was his own Titan,

"Gertrude! Annabeth! Mom! Dad! Someone please!" Alto squirmed, kicked and struggled. But no one came, they all turned away and walked into the dark, Alto looked to the Flare Titan, it's mouth open wide,

"No! Please no-" The Flare titan's jaws shut and everything went black...