"You've gotta break, before you can create…clear out the old to make way for the new…"-Edith M. Brown Diary, 850

Spring 850
Old Scout Regiment Headquarters

Hanji and Eren's one-sided conversation was suddenly cut short by the doors to the mess hall slamming open. There stood a panting Moblit who had clearly just run a fair distance if his heavy breaths and red cheeks were anything to go by. "Sergent Hanji! Come quickly! The test subjects are dead! Both of them were killed!"

Spring 850
Scout Regiment Titan Experiments, Trost Headquarters

"AH! SONNY! BEAN! HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED?! SOMEONE TELL ME THIS ISN'T REAL!" Hanji screeched buckling to her knees as she stared upon the steaming Titan corpses, only a few bits of flesh remained on the bones.

"They were such valuable specimens" Eld commented on the tragedy, Hanji's cries drowning out their quiet conversation.

"Is this a soldier's work?" questioned Gunther.

"Yeah, but they haven't pegged the one responsible yet. They were killed just before dawn, apparently. By the time the guards got here, the bastard had cleared out on ODM gear"

"Whoever it was must've had a lookout to warn them about the guards"

"Oh dear, someone's gone stark raving mad, haven't they?" said Oluo watching Hanji breakdown.

"Ugh!" muttered Petra as she elbowed Oluo hard in the ribs.

"How did…how did this happen?" Eren muttered as he watched on, trying to hide beneath his green cloak.

"Let it go. This is a matter for the Military Police" Levi stated, cutting off Eren's train of thought before he walked off to take care of something else. Edith stood on Eren's other side, practically drowning in her cloak as she watched the situation unfold. If someone really wanted them dead, why did they wait this long? Why not kill the Titans when they first arrived? Was Hanji close to figuring something out? Edith thought.

"What is it you think you see? Who do you think the real enemy is here?" Erwin asked suddenly popping up between the two new recruits. Edith jumped at his sudden appearance muttering a curse under her breath as she spared a glance at the Commander. "Ignore me, loaded question"

What the fuck was that all about? Edith thought as she turned to watch Erwin and Levi exit without so much as a glance backwards.

Spring 850
Old Scout Regiment Headquarters

After the odd start to the morning, Edith stood in the yard raking up the dead leaves that littered the path. It wasn't the most taxing job, but Edith couldn't do much with only one arm, so here she was.

The sound of squealing children broke her from her thoughts just in time for her to eat dirt as a pair of arms latched themselves around her legs and a second body tackled her to the ground with a yell.

"AUNTIE PIP!" chorused the young laughing voices as she fell face first with a yelp. Rolling over with a groan, Edith pushed herself upright just in time to receive a mouthful of mismatched hair, honey blonde on the left and dirt brown on the right.

"It's good to see you, too" Edith smiled spitting out strands of hair as the two pulled back.

"Look Auntie! Look! I lost a tooth!" cried the brunette poking her tongue out gap in her front teeth.

"So you did, Jules"

"Mama says the tooth fairy's gonna give me money if I put it under my pillow tonight!"

"Maybe you should take out the rest of your teeth and then you'll be rich!" teased the blonde.

"Oh yeah!"

"Ah ha, best not, John" interjected Edith, smiling slightly at the image of a gummy five year old, "Hey why don't you two go say hi to the horses?" she suggested glancing over the twins' shoulders to see Peggy waddling down the path with her bag full of tools with Levi beside her.

"HORSIES!" cheered Juliet sprinting off towards the stable, all too happy to forget about her aunt in favour of her favourite animals. Her brother not too far behind.

Without the added weight of two five year olds, Edith easily got to her feet, dusted off her pants and joined Peggy & Levi where they had stopped to watch the two children run across the yard towards the stables. "They'll be fine out here, right?" Peggy worried as they watched Petra try to corral the children away from being trampled under foot.

"Those two? They're tough as nails, they'll be fine" Edith easily replied.

"I know, but still…"

"Peggy, they'll be fine…Been drivin' the hubby a bit nuts though, have they?"

"Oh you have no idea. Dan's about this far away from getting them leashes and walking them around town like dogs. Lost John in the fish markets the other day, what a nightmare"

"As scintillating as this conversation is, don't you have something else that needs to be done?" Levi drawled cutting through their conversation.

"Right. Well, where's Hanji?" muttered Peggy as she glanced around her for the scientist who was standing behind them with red-rimmed eyes, "Oh there she is"

"Right, you know the drill. Shirt off" Peggy ordered laying her tools out on the table next to bed that they had pulled out slightly from the wall.

"Usually you buy dinner first" Edith teased as she expertly shrugged off first her tan jacket, slipped out of her ODM harness and pulled off her pale tunic; dumping the clothes in a pile one bed over. It seemed to irritate Levi something fierce as he folded the shirt and jacket up before placing them aside.

"Oi! Bra too" Reaching behind her back and with a practised hand, Edith unhooked her grey sports bra and dumped that next to her neatly folded clothes before lying down flat on the bed, making sure that her socket lined up with the bedside table that they had cleared and moved over to place the new prosthetic arm on.

"Ball or belt?" Peggy asked gesturing to the two gagging instruments laid out next to the tools.

"Belt" Edith replied trying to get comfy.

As she got herself situated, she could practically feel Hanji's and Levi's stares rove across her body as she shamelessly revealed herself to them. She knew what they would see. First their eyes would be drawn to the large metallic socket that was connected to her right shoulder, where some of the nuts and bolts ended just above her breast.

Next their eyes would travel down her torso where a large bite scar was present. One that was far too large to be human and far too wonky to be a large animal, which left only Titans. The scar covered the majority of the right-hand side of her torso and although the scar had faded over time, it still served as a strong reminder about that day.

And finally there were a small smattering of old scars from bootcamp that surrounded the crossed circular brand-like scar that rested on her left breast, just above her heart."Alright, let's get started" declared Peggy, tools in hand. Edith placed the belt into her mouth and waited for the pain to come, her eyes staring up towards the ceiling as her thoughts drifted elsewhere.

About an hour or so later, Edith was yanked out of her nap with a jolt of pain. "Son of a bitch!" she cried jolting upright, spitting the belt from her mouth and clutching to the socket as she blinked blearily at her friend.

Next to Peggy, Hanji was clutching onto her shirt, clearly trying to calm her wildly beating heart. She had not expected that. "You'd said you'd warn me when you'd connect the nerves!"

"Nerves" Peggy deadpanned.

"Bite me"

"Looks like someone beat me to it"

"Oh ha ha" Edith replied sarcastically as she laid back down on the bed and placed the belt back in her mouth.

"Oi Grumpy, hold her down" Peggy gestured to the slightly blushing Levi who in turn came to stand in the space between the wall and the bed and gently placed his hands on Edith's shoulders, trying to look anywhere but the young recruit. Sometimes Edith forgot that not everyone was open about the human body as she and most medics were. They almost seemed prudish in comparison.

"Right, Hanji. Come here, you're gonna learn how to connect wires to nerve endings" That was all the warning Edith had before the first nerve was connected. She groaned at the sharp sting of pain, screwing her face up as she bit down on the belt in her mouth. She knew that the stings of pain would eventually fade to a dull ache, before disappearing all together, but that didn't mean she had to like the process.

It seemed to take forever for all the nerves to be connected by which point, Levi had had to press down harder to hold her in place and the procedure had started to take its toll on Edith. By now, Edith had sweat gathering on her brow, she was almost whining her way through the pain, her nervous jelly legs had turned into pins-and-needles and tears had gathered in the corners of her eyes.

"And that's the last…one" said Peggy tightening the last bolt before stepping back and admiring her handiwork. Edith waited until she felt that Levi had let go of her shoulders, before she unscrunched her eyes and blinked several times as the light blinded her temporarily.

Sitting upright with her legs crossed, she pulled the belt from her mouth and ignoring the saliva cover teeth-indentation, she stretched out her sore mouth before moving onto her new arm.

"How is it?" Peggy asked as she put away her tools.

"Good. It's a lot lighter than the last one, what's it made of?" Edith asked as she rolled her stiff shoulder.

"Beryllium. The same stuff your blades are made of"

"Really?" Edith began clenching and unclenching her fist, checking mobility before moving on to flexing her fingers.

"Mm. We had a bunch of scraps come into the forge, figured they'd work a treat. Which means that not only is it a lot lighter than the last one, it's also more durable"

"Cool"

Hanji and Levi stood next to the carriage as Peggy leant out the window giving the duo some final instructions about Edith who was sound asleep in the infirmary bed back in the castle. "She'll probably sleep through the rest of the day, and she'll be fine to start regular work in a couple of days, nothing too heavy until then. Other than that she should be fine. If you have nay other questions, write me"

Both Hanji and Levi nodded as the carriage pulled off down the path. Inside across from Peggy lay John and Juliet in a bundle of limbs wrapped around each other fast asleep. They had worn each other out (and Petra too apparently) playing in the yard while she was busy.

They had just barely been awake to say goodbye to Edith when it was time for them to go. Smiling at her two eldest, she placed a hand on her swollen stomach and watched the world go by, content with what she had.

"That whole inspection and they didn't turn up one person who used their ODM gear without permission. Tch, who could've done it?" mused Gunther sipping from his mug.

"Beats me" replied Eld, "Right now, I'm more concerned with the recruitment drive tonight, how many recruits are crazy enough to join the regiment with the highest casualties?"

"HEY EREN! YOU KNOW IF ANYONE IN YOUR CLASS IS THINKING ABOUT JOINING THE SCOUTS?" Gunther called over to Eren who was currently feeding the horses.

"Yeah, there are a few…or at least there were. I'm really not so sure now" replied Eren before joining the others on patrol under the watchful eye of Levi.

The following day, Edith met up with her fellow rookie medics to learn about how things operated in the Scouting Regiment and where they would be placed within the expedition formation.

"Our training began in ernest the next day, however the lessons were rarely combat oriented with and emphasis on memorising Commander Erwin's long range scouting formation. Despite being such a precisely detailed and meticulously calculated formation, Eren Jeager's position was somewhat less than clear…"-Trials of a Rookie,Armin Arlert

"You rookies will be interspersed throughout the formation, the majority of you will be situated here. Between the wagon defence squads and the Scout support squads on either side. You will tend to the survivors, collect bodies, relay signals and messages if needs be" stated Peter Williams, the head field medic, pointing out the different locations on the diagram.

"…Moving on from the theoretical lessons, us medics were also sent out to gather and collect herbs from the surrounding forests…Something I hadn't done since boot camp"-Edith M. Brown Diary, 850

In the wee hours of the evening, Edith returned with the other rookie field medics to find the courtyard was a lot more crowded than when they had left. The rookie soldiers were here. "Hey Eddie, we'll see you inside, okay?" called Piper Mellows, (a tall blonde girl from Karanese) as Edith made her way over to the 104th recruits.

"Okay, see you guys then" waved Edith, "Hey guys!" she greeted, readjusting the strap on her bulging satchel as she came to stand next to Eren in front of the large group.

"Edith! You're here!" smiled Armin.

"I did tell you"

"No you…oh, that's what you meant" Edith shifted in her spot as she felt Mikasa murderous glare focus itself on her.

"So if this is everyone, where's Marco?" she asked looking around the cheerful group. That killed the mood rather quickly. Everyone's faces dropped into expressions of despair as Jean spoke up.

"Marco's dead" he muttered looking down at his shoes.

"What?" said Eren.

"I wish I could tell you he died nobly or heroically but the truth is I don't even know how he went out. He died alone and there was no one there to see it happen"

"Oh" Edith quietly added twisting her hands through the hem of her tunic shirt.

Thankfully the sombre mood was cut short by Ness who held a pile of new Scout cloaks for the rookies. "LISTEN UP! YOUR UNIFORMS ARE HERE!" Watching her classmates don their Scout cloaks made the situation all the more surreal. This was no longer a dream, it was a reality.