Good day everyone, I'm Warrior Candidate Tanya Jaeger, 6 years old as of this year (831). Officially, legally, a child soldier nearing the end of her first year in training.
Yes normally I should be in the first year of elementary school, but the closest thing allowed to me is the daily 4 hours of education the Warrior candidates receive at the local Military base.
The morning starts with morning light calisthenics, it is a habit that persisted through three lifetimes. Then eating the breakfast prepared by my loving mother Dina Jaeger, the woman who sells her child to the army to buy hope for her political ideology.
After my breakfast and a brief chat with the family, I put on my cadet uniform with my armband. Then leave for the Military base together with my loving father Grisha Jaeger, the man sells his child to the army to buy hope for his political ideology.
We split after crossing the bridge, him to his Doctor job in his cushy neighborhood clinic, and me to my military base for trench runs and hand to hand combat training.
Any spite one might notice from me is purely imaginary I should add.
It has been seven months since I joined the warrior program. It's a place reminiscent of the Imperial officer school from my previous life, just scaled down and worsened in every way to fit the Eldian children instead of the Imperial soldiers.
At this point, I have lived through almost three or four times the amount of education the average person experiences in their lifetime, through elementary school to University in Japan, through Mage Officer School to Imperial War College in the Empire. Nine months of training and studies passed by with little trouble with my experience. Though it is embarrassing as an adult to seriously stand on top of the competition amongst 5 to 7-year-old kids.
The first test has concluded a month ago. We are now in the second half of the year so the training has been ramping up recently. Warrior cadets go through training without consideration for age. Consisting mostly of physical conditioning, hand to hand combat training, marksmanship, tactical education, and history which is frankly just a brain-washing. None of which I am particularly worried about, to be honest. All of these I've had experience with, so it wasn't hard to be at the top of my class.
No the only worry I have right now is for my parents who might get caught as Eldian Restorationists.
After I became a Warrior cadet I could see something had changed in Grisha and Dina. They became even more fanatical in the way they talk about their long lost Eldian empire. Everything coming out of Grisha's mouth became something related to the warrior program or the usual Eldian Restorationist rabbles. They are happy of course since I am at the top of the class, but they are still desperate and paranoid since this the only chance they have had to do anything meaningful since the founding of the movement.
After becoming a cadet I insisted that I can't afford to risk myself going near the meeting places. The military might have someone who follows around cadets, or any kind of random checks to test loyalty.
So following my advice, my parents started dropping me off at my grandparents' place, having them look after me while they go out to "Attend a social dancing club" not the most convincing of lies but it worked on the senile pair.
During these evenings Grandpa would teach Marleyan version of history to me. Showing me illustrated books with impactful titles such as "the Fall of Lago, the devastation of Monte and the Ravaging of Valle" to name the memorable ones. While grandma would cook me cookies and try her best to read fairy tales to me in a loving way. These evenings are honestly enjoyable, compared to the usual evenings we have at Grisha Jaeger's household.
While thinking about such topics I arrive at the military base.
"Good morning, Mr. Simon" I greet the guard, giving a small salute. It's always important to give greetings
"..." Simon stayed silent as usual, when greeted he ignores me, but when not greeted he gets angry at me. Just another petty Marleyan guard.
Walking past the guard and the gate, I enter the Military base for another day of training.
After finishing my training for the day I take on the cleaning duties for the day. Cleaning the corridors outside the lecture room, which is a fulfilling task on its own when approached with the right mindset. I find the sanitation in this world lacking, especially in the Eldian ghettos. Most of these 6-year-olds can't really clean the place properly so it always bothered me to see sloppy cleaning work, so when it's my turn to clean I can scratch that itch fully. Plus it is a very meditative task when done right. Anyways, I had been enjoying my cleaning duty in an empty corridor when I overheard some officers talking to each other going down the stairs.
"Apparently there's been some suspicious movements in Liberio, it nothing concrete but groups of Eldians being spotted going home late in the evening has increased."
"Isn't that a bit too paranoid?"
"Yeah well, the guy guarding that section is a very paranoid guy, he told me when he was drunk." the guard's voice trailed off going down the stairs
Hearing such casual remarks had actually hit me with a realization that should have been obvious. The Eldian Restorationists will probably get caught soon, their numbers only kept increasing the past year, and knowing their crazy fanatical nature it's inevitable that they get caught. Also, the Marleyans are already on to them somewhat, if these guards are just casually talking about them, then who knows how many others know about them.
I realized that I had been avoiding thinking about this. But really there has to be some other Restorationist child in the Warrior Program right? It didn't cross my mind as I got used to seeing only adults in the meetings, but of course, there are some more kids in the program! Even if not in Liberio there should be some in the other 3 zones that the Restorationists operate in. If either the Restorationists get caught or if some warrior candidate kid rats them out then it'll be Jaeger family trip down to Paradise! After being tortured for who knows how long.
But what if I report the Restorationists myself?
Wait, it's possible! The reason why I never thought of it is because a year ago I was just another Eldian child. If I reported them back then, I would've been sent to Paradis with them. As a reward maybe they would skip the torture and give swift death. But now I'm the top Warrior Candidate! Commander Theo Magath had been giving me praise for my test results and loyalty essays! I'm a potential asset to them, and if I report the Restorationists then my value should increase even more!
But there are still risks involved. The way I go about the report is crucial. But I also have little time, as who knows when they'll get caught or get ratted out by someone else before I do it. Matters like this are best done as soon as possible. I will report directly to Magath, he should be in his office this evening.
I finish up what little was left of the cleaning duty quickly and head to the library. Finding a seat I started to write down a report on the Restorationists. While thinking of responses to questions Magath might have for me.
I did not expect to ride a car for the first time in this life today. It is a fancy product of Marleyan technology that any sane Eldian doesn't dare touch. Even most Marleyans families can't afford a personal car. Most who ride cars are either rich or they work for the government, like the military in this case.
I submitted the written report to commander Theo Magath. A report that was hastily written but I still deem it worthy enough to show it to a superior.
The report was properly written, containing purely technical information devoid of personal opinions and emotions, properly stated purpose, and main body containing every detail I could remember about the Restorationists, including a long list of names of members, locations for gathering, items in possession, and related groups in support of the Restorationists. I made sure to make the report as valuable as possible, leaving out some information that is inconvenient for me though, it should be impossible to tell so it should be safe.
After reading through the report and asking me a few simple questions commander Theo Magath decided to bring me along to arrest my parents.
This brings me to the present, standing in front of the Jaeger household with soldiers around me and commander Theo Magath next to me.
"Is this your house cadet Tanya Jaeger?" said Magath
"Yes sir, my parents should be at home right now, my grandparents are visiting," I said
"Have your guns at ready, according to Tanya's report Grisha has one smuggled handgun. Don't kill him, we need to get answers from him" said Magath
A soldier gives a brief nod and starts banging on the door
"Open up! this is the Marleyan military!"
An old man with terror in his face opened the door hands shaking. It was my grandfather.
"We are here to arrest Grisha Jaeger and Dina Jaeger for suspicions of treason," A soldier said to the old man, ignoring the shocked old man he rushed into the house followed by the rest of the soldiers.
My grandfather looked at me, shocked out of his words.
"Stay close to me," said Magath while pushing me in the back, motioning me to go in with him.
"LET ME GO! ON WHAT GROUNDS ARE YOU MAKING THIS ARREST!?" Grisha yells from the living room further in.
"Shut up you Eldian scum!" a soldier punched Grisha in the face while another was pushing him to the ground, handcuffing him.
"You are under arrest for suspicions of treason, as reported by your daughter," said Magath
From the ground looking up, blood dripping from his nose, he looked at me. His face still filled with his usual fanaticism, but gone were the baseless confidence, replaced with something far weaker.
"wha-wha-Tanya!?" said Grisha
It seemed like it was the first time he was properly looking at her daughter. And confused at what he saw.
"Tanya!? What did you do to her!?" said Grisha
Now directing his barks at everyone who is not his blood. It was replied with a kick to the face from a soldier nearby.
"I'm fulfilling my Duties," I said
After a little bit of screaming from the Jaeger couple, they were shut up by the soldiers. Handcuffed and lead into the car to drive them for some nicely worded questionings I'm sure.
As for me, the now soon-to-be-orphaned Tanya awaited a lot more questioning. A week stay at the military base, and a letter inviting me to the Tybur Estate.
*AN*
And we are going farther away from the Canon! Well, Tanya replacing Zeke was already a big change to the Canon but Tanya meeting Willy! I wanted to keep the world of AoT as canon as possible, and just throw in Tanya to see what happens. I have the plot planned out roughly, but man it is *hard* to write stories. Working on actually writing stories makes you really appreciate well-told stories. I've been re-reading Youjo Senki and Attack on Titan so many times writing this, I still can't get everything feels just right. But I told myself that I should stop rewriting over and over and just keep moving forward, otherwise it will never end. So, hope you guys enjoy the ride!
Thank you to everyone who Reviewed, Followed, and Favorited this story. I didn't expect this story to have any attention at all so seeing people getting interested in what I wrote was such a good feeling. Being an absolute beginner at writing brings back the feeling of being a beginner at art, and it makes me feel very happy to get this excited about something again.
2/16 did some editing on this chapter finally