"If Little Red Riding Hood has taught us anything, it's that you don't go picking the pretty flowers. It might just bite you in the ass" -Edith M. Brown Diary, 848

Summer, 848

104th Training Exercise, Trost Wildlands

Initially, the exercise wasn't supposed to be that difficult. We should have known better. For this exercise, the 104th cadet corps had been split in two groups. We were to make a round trip to our target location, the forest, and record any and all progress within the given time period. It was such a short distance, only 80Km return, nothing should have gone wrong.

In the first group, Marco was in the lead with Armin to record, whilst in the second group Thomas was to lead and Mikasa was to record. Both teams set out at the same time, and proceeded towards the huge forest. The groups were to meet up within the forest and trade information before returning to the starting point, using the opposite paths. Coming full circle back to the start.

The aim of this exercise was to evaluate everyone's ability to sustain themselves in the middle of a crisis. So with so little supplies, apart from the horses and basic gear, the cadet corps were left to their own devices.

Edith was glad that she had been placed in the group with Marco and Armin at the helm. Sure they were some of the quieter cadets, but Marco had good instincts and Armin had so much intelligence, it was almost terrifying.

Glancing around at her group, Edith tried to ignore the sweat sliding down her back or the way her prosthetic seemed to melt into her skin as she reminisced on the events of the past year while the horses trekked along the path. The 104th cadet corps had definitely grown smaller in numbers; many of the dropouts falling from the programme not long after they began to work on the ODM gear.

Most left because they couldn't take the stress anymore, more hands had been needed in the fields and not much had happened since the original appearance of the Colossal Titan & Armoured Titan. Others had been dismissed due to severe injuries acquired from the ODM gear. Like Gus, she'd fallen from such a height that even when healed, she'd never really be able to move the same again. Needles to say, Edith had had plenty of patients to practise on over the past year.

"So…we're not allowed to rush?" Marco asked, bringing Edith back into focus.
"R-right" replied Armin, looking up from his notes.

"We'd also be stupid if we did. We can take our time" added Jean.

"You don't know your own limit. Jean, if you're going to take it slow, then I'm going ahead" said Eren as he moved forward in the formation, until Edith blocked his path.

"Calm down. Not everything has to be done like that. Besides you don't want to tire your horse out right away, especially when we've still got a fair amount of land to cover" Edith scolded, walking in front of Eren, preventing him from moving any further forward, "Right, Jean?"

"Like I care" scoffed Jean, "Extra effort here won't get me into the Military Police"

"In any case, let's just get on with the exercise" Marco interjected as Eren fell back alongside Armin and Edith behind Marco.

On the other side of the path, the second group had stopped for a short break within a small canyon to let the horses rest and refuel, underneath the tall cliffs, shading them from the sun that sat high in the cloudless sky. "…if that's true, then we may not be able to get there before nightfall" said Thomas as he had Mikasa looked over the map again.
"Then, maybe we should eastward a little?" Mikasa suggested.

"On the other hand, it may also be too shady" replied Thomas, taking a swig from the canteen as the other cadets readied their horses to move again.

Back with the first group, Jean and Eren seemed to be grating on everyone's last nerve. There was only so much complaining one could take, it was a wonder they had held out this long. "Geez…even the lizard's moving faster than we are…" Jean complained for the thousandth time that day.

"Y'know it's rare to see that. They're pretty delicious too" Sasha commented, once again thinking with her stomach.

"What?"

"They really are. My family and I used to eat them; they taste like chicken"

"You can cook?"

"Of course I can! Piece of cake!"

"All right, then!" Jean cheered as he kicked his horse into gear and raced after the lizard.

"Hey!" called Marco as Jean rushed passed.

"If hunting for food is part of the exercise, then what's better than getting that lizard?!" Jean retorted.

"Don't do that!" Krista called to no avail.

"I'm going ahead" called Eren as he raced towards Jean, unable to leave the situation alone. Edith just sighed, they were going to make a mountain out of a mole hill again.

Up ahead, Jean bared his blades as he came upon his prey, the lizard well within his sights. "Gotcha!" he cried as he swung his blades down on the lizard, only for them to be blocked at the last second. Glancing up he found that Eren had been the one to stop his kill.

"What are you doing?! This isn't a game!" Eren thundered as the lizard used that moment to escape.

"We don't even have an instructor! This training won't get us anywhere!" Jean roared back. That seemed to be the last straw for Marco as he leapt from his halted horse and marched over to where Jean and Eren were still going at it.

"Stop it! You're acting like brats!" Marco scolded.

"I don't want to hear that coming from you!" Jean retorted, still fired up from his shouting match with Eren.

"Jean! Get a hold of yourself!"

"This is all bullshit!"

"If we delay, it will have to be reported!' Marco shouted back, before turning to Armin and lowering his voice, "Please, don't record this yet, Armin"

"G-Got it" replied Armin.

"Write down: Jean Kirschtein tries to find food during the exercise, but gets interrupted by Eren Jeager" Jean adds sarcastically.

"What did you say?!" Eren demanded.

"I hope the others are doing better than we are" Edith sighed, watching on as the situation unfolded.

"That wouldn't be hard" Hannah replied from her right.

"Yeah, those two are like rubber and glue" added Connie as the two in front continued to bicker and Marco tried to mediate.

Suddenly, Sasha shouted "IT'S DELICIOUS" effectively breaking up whatever Jean and Eren had been trying to say and ending the argument there. Everyone snapped towards where Sasha sat at the back of the formation, where she had a glazed look in her eye. The same one she had whenever she thought or talked about food. So pretty often.

"…Let's go" Marco sighed, thankful for the interruption.

"O-okay" acquiesced Jean as Marco made his way back to his horse and Sasha continued to mumble about the lizard.

Later that evening as the sun began to set, the second group returned from their interrupted hunt to find their campsite laid completely bare. No supplies, no ODM gear. Nothing, except panic-stricken cadets. Shadis had made sure to put the fear of God in each and every one of them about what would happen if they ever misplaced their ODM gear, let alone lost it completely.

"Are you sure?" Mikasa asked her fellow cadet.

"There's no doubt about it. This was where we put it. Everything that we kept safe here…our ODM gear is gone…" he replied, still staring at the bare ground before him as he tried to comprehend what was going on.

"Over here" Annie called, gesturing towards a used fire pit where the blackened logs still lay.

"They've been gone for quite a while" Reiner stated as he held one of the cold and blackened logs in his hand.

"It's the same as what we found over there…How many people are involved?" Mikasa questioned aloud.

"Also…over here too" Annie pointed towards a trail of prints that led away from the campsite.

"Carriage tracks…" muttered Reiner.

"And there's a few of them" added Bertolt.

"There's no information about residents inhabiting this area" said Annie.

"It's probably a band of thieves" mused Reiner, "It seems they found out where the weapons were placed and stole them while we were gone. They must've gathered the ODM gear to make black market deals"

"So we're being targeted?" Thomas asked.

"If we had caught them, we would have been helpless to stop them. You should probably be happy that you're still alive" replied Mikasa.

"Should we stop the training and report this?"

"No, our target's right ahead of us. Speed up the exercise, tell Marco and his team about this and then get back to the training grounds" said Reiner.

"So this is what squad rations taste like…" mused Jean as he munched on his bland food along with the other cadets as they sat around the campfire. They had set up camp in a small ravine, with the horses tied to a few trees up on the bank.

"It would have been better if we'd caught the lizard" Sasha sighed wistfully.

"Enough. No more talk of lizards" said Marco, trying to stop an argument before it began.
"And after all that effort of trying to hunt one…" Sasha continued.

"Well, we are supposed to hunt titans, right?" Jean spoke up.

"And what do you mean by that?" Eren demanded jumping to his feet, "Why did you even join the training corps?"

"To live something better than a humble life, at the very least" Jean replied as he calmly got to his feet and faced Eren head on.

"What did you say?!" Eren roared, insulted at the boy's obvious lack of respect for those in the other corps, "Some things can be tolerated and others can't!"

Across from Edith, Marco protested as Armin picked up the board to add the conflict to the report. "Geez, can't they let it go?" complained Hannah around a mouthful of rations.

"They're like dogs with a bone, not to mention they both know how to push each others buttons" replied Edith next to her, "It's like dinner and a show" Krista remained silent as everyone watched the argument escalate.

"You think that when a real titan shows up the results of training hard will pay off? Good jo-" taunted Jean, only to be cut off by Eren as he latched onto Jean's lapels and heaved him towards his face.

"That's enough from you!"

"Stop it!" cried Krista, launching to her feet.

"How about we actually hunt lizards? You'll feel better after that" Sasha added still not letting it go, but trying to help defuse the situation.

Edith snapped towards the forest at her back, eyes narrowed as she searched for the thing that caused the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Unnoticed, her body had tensed as she clutched tightly to the ration bar in her hand.

She flinched slightly at the hand that landed on her shoulder as she turned to face the person. It was Krista. "Is something wrong?" the short blonde asked, a look of concern plastered across her face as the other cadets focused on the escalating skirmish behind them. Mentally shaking herself, Edith gave Krista a smile as she glanced back at the dark forest. "Could've sworn…It's nothing, probably just an animal" she replied.

Edith turned back to the skirmish at hand and tried to ignore the feeling of being watched, unsure of how to bring it up to the group. Maybe she was just overreacting? It could have just been an animal like she'd told Krista, but by the look on the blonde's face, she didn't quite believe her either.

Edith sat atop a large boulder that overlooked not only the ravine, but several meters in front of her as well. Down below, her comrades were sawing logs wrapped up tight in their sleeping bags. Eren even seemed to be spooning Jean it was so cold. She would definitely be using that as blackmail later on. Shivering against the cold, despite the saddle blanket that reeked of horse, wrapped around her, Edith let her gaze wander back over the forest cloaked in darkness, the only ones awake were her, the nocturnal animals and Krista, whom she had spotted nestled against one of the horses by the water's edge.

Try as she might, Edith hadn't been able to shake the feeling of being watched, even as the night wore on so she had volunteered to take first watch. First watch had turned into second watch and then third, until eventually she had sat here throughout the night, freezing her ass off as she watched over her friends as they slept. She felt a surge of protectiveness wash over her. Once again, she thought about how young these kids were; sure she wasn't exactly an elderly herself, but still. It almost felt like she was watching over her younger siblings again. Gods, she missed them.

It only took a moment for Edith to close her eyes, wiping away the tears that had formed when she thought of her lost siblings. And a moment was all they needed. The footsteps she had stupidly written off as a passing animal, revealed themselves to be someone with a rifle digging into her shoulder blades.

"Don't move" the masculine voice rasped as she froze, her eyes drifting down to a small puddle by her feet. Thanks to the full moon igniting the forest in its glow, she was able to see that the figure behind her was a rather large man. He wore an everyday tunic and pants as well as a white sack with eye & nose holes cut out of it. Off to her right, down in the ravine, she saw that her fellow cadets were being surrounded by men similarly dressed as this one. Each had rifle's in their hand and were holding them at gunpoint, demanding that they hand their ODM gear over, so they could be sold on the black market.

"Stand up" the man ordered, his rifle still digging into her back as she did as he ordered. Edith felt rather than saw the rifle leave her back for a few moments so that she could move down from the boulder.

Edith seized the moment. Thinking quickly, she clapped her hands together and transmuted her prosthetic into a lance which she used to run her attacker through as she spun on her heel, narrowly avoiding the rifle. There was a beat of silence before she removed her arm from the man's chest and he fell to the floor with a gurgle, where he twitched once or twice before death claimed him.

A yell of anguish sounded from behind her as she spun to face her new attacker. This man appeared shorter than the one at her feet, but was dressed in a similar fashion. However the bandit held no qualms of keeping quiet as he fired sporadically at her. Quickly ducking behind the boulder, Edith clapped her left hand to her right shoulder as she tried to staunch the blood that was dripping from the wound. Thankfully, the bullet had only grazed her, bouncing off of the metallic socket of her prosthetic instead.

She clenched her teeth as she waited for the telltale click of an empty gun to meet her ears, before she launched herself over the boulder towards the bandit. Once more, she raised her lance-arm and swung it down on her attacker, cutting cleanly through his flesh as if it were made of butter. The blasted rifle fell to the forest floor and his decapitated body followed soon after. Edith transmuted her prosthetic back to its original form and tried to wipe his blood from her face as much as possible, before her actions seemed to catch up with her.

Leaning over, with her hand on a tree she closed her eyes as sh expelled the small contents of her stomach onto the forest floor. Sina! She had just killed two men! Sure they had learnt about killing techniques and the after effects during training, but they weren't really expected to use them. Except maybe against Titans, but even then…Standing upright, Edith coughed at the acidic taste in her mouth as she wiped away the trail of vomit from the corner of her mouth. Skirting the puddle and bodies on the ground she shakily made her way towards the voices of her comrades in front of her.

The unarmed cadets stood with their heads bowed as they listened to the wagon rattle away down the trail with not only their gear, but Krista as well. Eren stood at the head of the group, a large bruise blossoming on his cheek and shaking in anger & guilt over what had just happened. They should have done something! He should have done something!

"Everyone…if we attacked together, then we could do something!" He began, hands clenched at his side.

"That's your opinion" replied Jean, still upset about the graze on his cheek "I don't agree. Actually, because of your crazy behaviour everyone was in danger" There was a beat of silence as everything still seemed to seep in, before Armin spoke up after having done a head count.

"Where's Edith?" he asked.

"Huh?" replied Jean.

"She was on watch last. So where is she?"

"Yeah, actually where is she? She should've let us know when we were about to be attacked. Otherwise why bother having a lookout at all?" Jean complained as he crossed his arms and ignored the look Armin was sending him.

"I was busy Kirschtein" came Edith's voice as she stumbled from the undergrowth and came to a stop next to Eren "But thanks for the concern" Her tone was cold as she stood before them, arms crossed with blood splattered across her shirt and prosthetic arm. Edith watched as Jean and many of the other cadets paled at the sight of her, she knew she probably looked a right mess.

"Are you okay?" Armin asked as his eyes roved over her short stature. Next to her Eren clenched and unclenched his fists, his knuckles turning white as he did so.

"I'm fine. Most of it's not mine and a bullet just grazed me. Nothing to worry about" Edith replied calmly, "So what now?"

"…This exercise is over" muttered Marco, a look of resignation on his face.

"So we're just abandoning Krista?" Eren demanded, still not looking at the group.

"That's not it" Marco rushed out, "But with just us, we can't do anything. That's why, we should ask the instructor…"

"What if we don't make it? I won't accept this as it is! I'm gonna save Krista for sure! I'll do it alone if I have to!"

"Eren…" Armin muttered as Eren raced off, unable to look anyone in the eye as tears of anger glistened on his face.

Edith turned and watched Eren march off into the forest. That boy had a hero complex the size of Shiganshina; it was only a matter of time before it got him in trouble. "Eren!" Jean called as he raced off after Eren and grabbed onto him, preventing Eren from going any further, much to the surprised of everyone gathered.

"All of our horses are gone! How were you going to find her?" Jean demanded.

"It's none of your business!" Eren snapped.

"It is! I'm going with you!" That seemed to snap Eren out of his anger, the shock written clearly on his face as Jean continued. "I'm not going down without a fight" Eren certainly seemed to be prepared to go about this rescue attempt alone, if the shock on his face was anything to go by when the rest of the group joined the two by the water's edge. "None of us are" Edith added. Determination was written across each and every face.

"In any case, how are we gonna find these guys? We might not make it even if we split up" Connie questioned.

"In that case, we'll just have to find a higher spot! When you get lost in the mountains, climb upwards. If you get lost in the forest, climb a tall 's what my father told me" replied Sasha. It didn't take long for the group to round up what little supplies they had with them and haul ass up the nearest mountain. Once at a higher outcropping, many of the cadets sat down or bent over trying to catch their breath.

"Hey! Over there!" Jean pointed towards a pillar of smoke rising up through the canopy. Pulling out the collapsible telescope, Eren peered through and watched as the bandits packed up camp.

"What do we do? We'll be too late at this rate" Eren asked as he passed the scope to Jean; who watched as Krista was loaded into one of the wagons and handcuffed to one of the bars holding the canvas roof on.

"They have rifles on them. We're gonna get shot" worried Marco.

"I have an idea" Armin piped up, before sliding down to join the others gathered around the map, "They're probably going to sell the stolen goods. If that's the case, they'll probably find a wide exit around this area. We'll ambush them before they get there"

"It'll be hard since we have no horses" Connie warned.

"It's possible, if there's a wide exit when we leave the forest" explained Sasha. The next thing Edith knew, they were skidding down the mountainside, supplies slung over their shoulders, ready to put their plan in motion.

Hiding in the canopy bordering the trail, Edith went over Armin's plan once more as they waited for the wagons to arrive "After clearing the forest, the road divides into two routes. One road goes to a wider exit and once they enter there, we don't stand a chance"

"They're here!" Edith called quietly as the two wagons came into view.

"Here goes!" cried Connie as he gripped tight to the rope tied to his tree, before taking a running start and swinging up to meet Sasha. Sasha gripped tight to her rope and leant out to grab onto Connie's hand before hauling him over the branch she was standing on. In doing so, the tree he had just been standing on fell forward, blocking the path.

"And if it all goes well? Which carriage are Krista and the ODM gear in? How can we tell?"

"If we hear a rattling sound, we'll be able to tell. If the equipment is in the first carriage, I'll pull once. If it's the rear I'll pull twice. If both, I'll pull thrice"

Down by the roadside, hidden from view, Marco and Armin lay waiting for the carriages arrival. Marco gripped tight to the rope in his hand, waiting to pull it when he needed to. The rope itself was attached to a branch up in the canopy; which in turn was tied to another tree and so on, all the way over to where Jean and Eren sat next to a couple of empty tin cans that were to act as cow bells when Marco pulled the rope.

As the wagons approached Marco closed his eyes, listening closely to the sounds of the wagons. As the last of the wagons passed, Marco snapped his eyes open and yanked hard on the rope once. The sound of the tin cans rattling together echoed throughout the forest as Eren and Jean leapt from the trees down into the wagons.

"Who the hell are you?!" demanded one of the bandits as Jean ducked his arms and tackled him out of the wagon before going for the driver next.

"You!" cried the second bandit as Eren tossed him to the floor before shoving him out of the wagon as well. Krista watched with wide eyes as the armed bandit next to her aimed for her friends in the following wagon.

As luck would have it, the wagon Eren and Jean occupied hit a rock, tossing everyone about. The bandit who fired the rifle, missed the boys completely as the driver was tossed to the road. The bullet in question then ricocheted off the following wagon and cut Krista down from the bar, where she landed in a heap on the wagon's floor.

"Damn! Next one won't miss!" grumbled the bandit as Krista leapt forward and grappled with him, her hands still bound.

"Krista!" Eren called, gripping tight to the box of ODM gear as Jean took the reins. The bandit fired again, trying to get Krista off of him and instead hit the following wagon's wheel, sending it crashing into a nearby tree.

"Are you all right?" Jean groaned as he pulled himself upright.

"Yeah, somehow" grunted Eren as got up.

"Jean! Eren!" called Connie as he and the others caught up to them.

"We're all right!" called Jean, "And so is the ODM gear"

"But they've still got Krista!" Eren added.

"After them!" Marco ordered, standing to his full height.

Once fully harnessed, the group launched themselves after the remaining wagon, hot on its trails like bats out of hell. "Sasha, do you have a signal flare?" Armin asked, another plan forming in his mind.

"Y-yeah I do…" she replied.

"Can I borrow it?" Armin launched the green signal flare into the sky, before following after the others.

"This bitch! I said quit it!" roared the armed bandit as he tossed Krista to the floor once more.

'Don't kill her! She's our bounty!" called the driver.

"So that's how it is. Thanks to your friends, we've lost our score! You'll have to take responsibility!" Krista stared down the barrel of the rifle as it remained trained on her and she watched as the bandit's finger twitched over the trigger, ready to be pulled. All of a sudden, an ODM hook fired into the opening of the wagon, knocking the rifle from the man's hands.

"Damn!" cursed the bandit as he pulled a second rifle from the floor and began firing at the cadets flying behind them. Eren and Jean found an opening and went for it, flying towards the wagon, twisting and turning to avoid the incoming bullets. Both pulled blades from their sheaths and zoomed forward, overcoming the wagon and swinging down on the harness that kept the horse and cart tied together.

Without its engine, the driver was forced to pull the break. The wheel sparking as the wagon went end over end before it came to a smokey stop at the base of the mountain. The group of cadets joined each other and made their way over to the upturned wagon, intent on freeing their friend when they all froze at the sight before them. Krista struggled against the tight grip on her as a blade was held to her throat. None dared to move, the crazy look in the bandit's eye saying more than he ever needed to. "Throw away your weapons!" demanded the elder bandit, rifle trained on the group, "Do as I say! Hand over the ODM gear! Hurry up!"

With clenched teeth and white knuckled fists, the cadets slowly began removing their gear, tossing their blades to the ground. Behind the group, Armin remained garbed in his gear, his eyes shining with hope were trained on something behind the bandits, something the others had yet to see. "Shit! You've gotta be kidding me…" grumbled the bandit holding Krista, "How did this happen to me? Even if we run away from the Titans…What can you do out here where nothing can be risked? Don't burden others. I should've taught my daughter that much…" Krista stared up at her captor, pity welling in her heart.

"Hurry up!" ordered the elder bandit just as two blurs swept into the clearing, knocking the rifle clean from the bandits hands. They each went for a bandit, their blades stopping millimetres from their jugulars as Krista shouted, "DON'T KILL HIM!"

"…I see" muttered Mikasa as she and Annie let the quivering men fall to their knees, a trail of blood falling down their necks from where the ODM blades had knocked them.

"Looks like you went through a lot of trouble" Annie commented, her gaze resting on Krista as the rest of the cadets joined the group.

In the end, the gang of thieves were arrested by the Military Police. Without taking any notable causalities, the incident was over. Although the exercise was suspended, we still had to submit out records of the incident, in all honesty and without pretence.

Armin stood before Shadis, saluting him as he read through the report. "May I ask a question?" Armin asked the serious man.

"What is it?" replied Shadis without looking up from the report.

"Should we have returned when our ODM gear was stolen? Or were we right in pursuing those thieves?"

"There's no need to answer that. But…whether you're a soldier or a civilian, we all decide how to respond in the face of distress. Return, go after the criminal…Which one is the most important in your opinion, Arlert?"

"T-That's…"

I couldn't answer it. Perhaps…meeting those thieves during the process…was imposed upon us as part of the exercise.

Edith sat on the steps of the infirmary, a mug of water wrapped in her hands as she stared out at the setting sun. To her right sat Krista who had been cleared of her check up and Ymir who refused to leave Krista's side. Today had been an eye opening experience. Sure, the boys had a hero complex a mile long, but their hearts were in the right place. Jean clearly saw Eren as an annoying younger and vice versa, Sasha seemed to come alive in the forest as if she belonged there, Connie could be quick witted as well as fast, Marco had good instincts and Krista had more heart than any of them combined.

They were almost like a weird family. Marco could be the father, Jean & Eren were the brothers, Sasha was the fun aunt, Connie was the younger brother and Krista was the baby. Which left her as either the mother or the elder sister. The thought brought a smile to her face either way.

"What 'cha thinking about Ed?" Ymir asked with her arm wrapped around Krista.

"Not much"