"Freya used to talk about graduation goggles…I finally know what she was talking about"-Edith M. Brown, 850

Spring 850
Final Exam, Trost Forest

Rain poured down in buckets as the cadets of the 104th cadet corps thundered through the forest, their cloaks doing little to shield them and their packs from the rain. Edith trailed after the group, thankfully not last but very close.

As a field medic, it was expected of her to carry more than the standard gear, but even with the strength training they had done during medic training, her stamina was still shit. She tried to pull her focus away from her harsh breathing and the thundering horse Shadis rode; but found that it was hard when Shadis began to yell at the stragglers behind her.

"YOUR BOOTS WATER-LOGGED ARLERT? LET SEE SOME HUSTLE! GEAR TO HEAVY FOR YOU SON? WELL DROP IT! LEAVE IT IN THE MUD! THE TITANS WILL HAVE EASIER WORK DIGESTING YOU WITHOUT THE EXCESS BAGGAGE!" he shouted over the rain, before catching up to the rest of the group, taking notes as he did so.

"Seriously?" called Reiner as he fell back in step with the shorter blonde. Armin glanced up at the taller blonde, breath coming out in harsh gulps as Reiner took pity on him and swung Armin's pack over his shoulders so that he was carrying two. "Focus on staying upright. We are being graded on this, y'know"

"Thanks. But, uh, won't they demerit you for helping me?" Armin wheezed.

"Yeah, if they find out. Just make the cut and we're even, alright?"

Reiner Braun: the mind and constitution of a grass-fed ox, respected by his comrades.

"I'm no ones burden! You hear me!" Armin cried as he ran forward, pulled his pack off of Reiner and pushed further up the group, leaving Reiner and Edith at the back.

Armin Arlert: built like a daffodil, but academically? Brilliant.

Further in, the canopy was so closely knit together that it blocked out the weening rain. Perfect weather to test the cadets. Cadets flew left, right and centre as they sliced at the napes of the wooden Titans.

Annie Leonhart: gifted with a sword, but does not exactly play well with others.

Bertolt Hoover: heaps of natural talent, too mild mannered.

Jean Kirschstein: head of the class on ODM, also an insufferable smart-ass with a hair trigger temper.

Jean leapt from the branch, pressing on the gas as he launched forward towards the next Titan, blades at the ready. His smirk fell from his face as Connie cut down in front of him, "Way to lead the charge!" Connie called, hopping from tree to tree "You don't care if I steal your thunder, right?"

"YAHOO!" called Sasha as she swept in and cut the nape before Connie could even get close, enjoying the bounce in the recoil as she flew skywards.

Sasha Blouse: unusually fine instincts, rarely shares them with her teammates.

Connie Springer: agile on the switchbacks, few sandwiches shy of a picnic.

Mikasa was no more than a blur as she cut through the first Titan, rebounding off of the tree and getting the second. Eren was hot on her heels, however his cuts were shallower, something that pissed him off greatly.

Mikasa Ackerman: model cadet, excels in everything. In fact it's no overstatement to call the girl a genius.

Eren Jeager: lack lustre in the classroom, marginally better in the field. But driven by a sense of purpose that is almost terrifying.

Further along, Edith had unlatched her wires from the canopy, letting her free fall towards one of older cadets who had been reluctantly pushed from their tree. When she had a hold of the cadet, she latched a wire into the canopy above her and used the wide swing to bring them up onto a large branch.

There she set to work, checking the patient cadet for any injuries. Thankfully he had only received a dislocated shoulder and those were relatively easy to reset.

Edith Brown: shit stamina, poor bedside manner. But medically? Brilliant.

At dinner that night, Edith sat with Armin, Eren and Mikasa as she and Armin discussed everything from the final grades to the ODM gear. Mikasa would put her two two cents in now and then, but Eren wasn't listening at all. So it was only natural that he jumped up from his seat and leapt at Jean, once again trying to shove his ideologies down Jean's throat.

And just like clockwork, Jean rose to the bait. Edith and most of the cadets tuned the familiar skirmish out. After three years of the same thing, it was starting to get old; Jean would say something pretentious, Eren would deny it and state why his opinion was superior and then the two would dissolve into shoving squabbles like two toddlers.

I wonder where everyone is going to go? Edith thought as she continued to eat, Eren would undoubtedly go into the Scout Regiment and Armin and Mikasa would follow him to the ends of the Earth. Jean was deadset on the Military Police, but other than that, no one really broadcasts where they want to go. Maybe they still don't know?

A sudden thud brought her out of her musings and Edith turned in her seat to see Eren standing over Jean who lay on the floor. There was a beat of silence as everyone froze, listening to the approaching footsteps and the squeaky creak of the mess hall door.

Jean and Eren hurriedly retook their seats as Shadis cracked the door enough for his voice to float through "Would someone care to explain the little ruckus I heard just now?" he questioned, "I do hope everything is all right"

No one answered for a moment, too scared to speak up until Mikasa raised her hand slightly and ignoring the panicked faces of the two boys near her replied to Shadis. "Sasha passed some gas, Commondant" The reaction was instantaneous. Sasha gasped in embarrassment, Eren and Jean stared at the tables in relief and many cadets tried to hold their snickers in.

"Why am I not surprised. For the love of God, learn some self-control" replied Shadis before he left the hall.

Of the original recruits, 218 cadets graduated. Some with honours.

"DO YOU HAVE HEART?!" The cadet Commander bellowed out towards the cadets gathered in formal rows filling up the courtyard.

"Sir!" chorused the cadets, saluting him as they did so.

"AS OF THIS MOMENT YOU HAVE THREE OPTIONS OPEN TOO YOU, CHOOSE WISELY! THE GARRISON CORPS WHOSE JOB IS TO REINFORCE THE WALLS. THE SCOUT REGIMENT WHO RIDES OUT INTO TITAN COUNTRY TO TAKE BACK WHAT WAS ONCE OURS AND THE MILITARY POLICE CORPS, MAINTAINING LAW AND ORDER UNDER ORDERS FROM HIS ROYAL MAJESTY. THOSE CADETS ELIGIBLE FOR THE MP HAVE ALREADY BEEN NAMED. THE REST OF YOU TAKE A LOOK, THESE ARE THE TOP OF YOUR CLASS!"

The top ten cadets who lined the floor in front of the stage stood proudly, arms crossed behind their backs as they faced their comrades. From left to right stood Krista Lenz, Sasha Blouse, Connie Springer, Marco Bott, Jean Kirschstein, Eren Jeager, Annie Leonhart, Bertholt Hoover, Reiner Braun and Mikasa Ackerman.

The day had finally arrived, graduation was here.

The next day, after the informal graduation ceremony, the cadets took advanced of their free day and mingled with the public as they watched the Scouts return from yet another expedition. "Look! It's Captain Levi!" called an older cadet, "They say he's like an entire squad unto himself!"

"Feel how excited everyone is? It's like the crowd just has a different energy now" Eren beamed as he watched his heroes move passed.

"Well, we are going on five years without incident" replied Hannah, "Seems like a good omen"

"And you should check out all the canon upgrades! The sight alone outta be enough to scare 'em off!" added Hans.

"That's the truth!"

"Are you in denial cause you're a couple?!" Eren demanded.

"What?! No! It's not like that!" Hannah and Hans denied, both turning beet-red as Armin chuckled off to the side.

Later that morning, the cadets were split into groups and ordered to begin the menial tasks such as clean and prep the new wall-mounted canons. "What? The hell you mean, you're joining the Scouts?!" Eren questioned, shocked by Connie's revelation, "What happened to the MP, that was your whole shtick!"

"A guy's allowed to change his mind, okay!" Connie defended as he cleaned the base of the canon.

"I think the speech you said yesterday lit a fire under him" commented Edith as she came to stand next to Eren.

"Huh?"

"Ain't nobody talking to you! HIs temper tantrum had nothing to do with!" Connie cried.

"Take it easy, it's not like you're the only one" interjected Thomas who came to a stop next the group as he scratched his sideburns.

"What? Are you serious?" Eren breathed.

"Can you guys keep a secret?" Sasha questioned the group dreamily as she joined the group, "Cause I totally just helped myself to the officers' pantry!" The boys all stood in shock as she revealed the prime meat she had smuggled in her jacket.

"Sasha! They could throw your ass in the clink for that!" Eren protested.

"Seriously! What is wrong with you?" Thomas added.

"What isn't wrong with her?" Connie muttered.

"It'll be fine, I'm willing to share...oh! Can you imagine the sandwiches!" Sasha drooled.

"Oh nice! What does that bring the score to now? 20?" Edith asked, drawing the boys' attention.

"Score? What are you talking about? Are you saying she's done this before?" Connie demanded.

"Sasha's got sticky fingers and thinks with her stomach; of course she's done this before!" grinned Edith.

"That's not the point! Do you have any idea how rare meat's been since the Titan's took Wall Maria?" Samuel asked as Sasha moved to hide the meat away in the box for the canon ammunition.

"Little bit, yeah. Just look at it this way, pretty soon, we'll take back all the room we need for livestock"

That was all it took for the group to crumble and ask for their share of the meat. "Come on! Don't just stand there! If they see us slacking off, we're in for it!" Samuel reminded them as the group split up and went back to their chores.

"See you guys at lunch!" Edith called as she moved back down the wall. Edith had barely gotten to the storage unit two canons down when the unthinkable happened. It had been five years without a single incident, so why would anything change now? In that moment as Edith stared up at the meaty head of the Colossal Titan, she remembered the terror that had enveloped her all those years ago.

"Shit!" Edith cursed as she and the others were thrown from the top of the wall by the heat wave that radiated from the Titan. The heat was intense, it felt like it could have melted her skin clean off of her bones. Hissing at the sudden heat her prosthetic had absorbed, she reacted quickly; latching onto the side of the wall with her feet kicking up dust until she came to a stop just a ways from the top, her wires pulling taut.

Looking over at the others, she was relieved to see that they too had locked onto the wall. Connie's cry of "SAMUEL!" shattered that relief. Samuel had been closest to the blast and was continuing to downwards in his free fall.

It felt like Edith's heart was pumping in her ears as she realised she wouldn't be able to get to him in time. Thankfully, Sasha had always been a quick thinker and released her hold on the wall, running after him and sending out a wire to hook into his ankle, the other hooking into the wall, keeping them both in place. "TRY NOT TO MOVE! UNDERSTAND!" It was hard to tell if Samuel had heard Sasha or not, from the look of him, the news wasn't looking good.

Clutching onto her blades, Edith gripped her right shoulder, quickly pulling it away as she felt how hot the metal socket was. She had no doubt that it was going to scar. That was way too fucking close! She thought as she watched Samuel swing back and forth like a pendulum.

"Oh God, no! Not again!" Eren breathed, drawing Edith's view down to the hole in the wall where the gate had been kicked in.

"They're gonna get in. They're gonna get in. THEY'RE GONNA GET IN!" Connie screamed, terror present in his voice.

The group of cadets stayed locked on the wall, their souls filled with overwhelming terror. A trance which was shattered by the commanding voice of Eren as he swung back up towards the Colossal Titan. "THIS IS IT PEOPLE! DO OR DIE! MOUNTED CANON SQUAD FOUR! TAKE OUT THE COLOSSAL TITAN! THIS IS OUR CHANCE! DON'T LET IT SLIP AWAY!"

"You..." growled Eren as he alighted atop the steaming wall, staring down the Titan that started it all, all those years ago. It was time to make them pay. "It's been awhile"