"Come on, Marlie! You can do better than that! Punch harder, you seem like a weak little mouse!" Shouted Chad, grabbing my fists each time I tried to hit him. He'd been training me to fight since we arrived at Wall Maria. It's been three months, and I haven't stopped training for the cadets.
"Well sorry! I'm trying as best as I can! And anyway, Luke said I was doing really good!" I said, pouting.
"Yeah, well Luke lied, he just didn't want to make you feel bad. Stand like this, and put your hands in front of your face. Like this:" Chad said, standing in a fighting stance. I did the same, and began to hit the pads on his hands. Everyone else was using fighting gloves, but I wasn't. I didn't need to, because for some reason, ever since I arrived at Wall Maria, I had felt nothing in my hands. I mean, I can feel when people touch my hands, just no pain. It's really weird, I can feel pain everywhere else though.
The next day, I was up super early. I was determined to be one of the first to enroll to the training cadets. I was up and dressed in my new uniform in five minutes flat. The thing about enrolling, was that you have to be twelve years old. And it was a great job that it was my birthday on enrollment day.
I left my dorm and met Luke, Chad and my cousin Fern outside. We all walked to the training center together and waited outside the doors. They opened at half past six, and it was almost time. When we arrived, there were four people there already. One guy was shouting at another, taller guy. He looked super angry.
"You bastard! You weren't there when it happened, why are you even training to be in the military?" He yelled. The other guy just stood there staring at him smugly. Then the shorter guy said something else and the taller guy flipped out. The argument went on for ages, and after a while, I couldn't take it anymore.
I stormed over to them, and punched them both in the face. The girl and other guy who were with them jumped back in shock.
"Hey! What was that for, short stuff?" The tall one said. That made me angry, and I wanted to hurt him.
"What's your name?" The shorter one said, wiping his bloody nose. The other guy just let it drip down his face.
"Marlie Rivers. What's yours?" I grumbled.
"I'm Eren Yaeger. These two are my friends -" He began.
"I'm Armin Arlert. And this is Mikasa Ackerman. Which part of the military are you training for?" The surprisingly attractive nerdish looking guy asked.
"I'm going to be in the Survey Corps. I swore to my mother, before she died, that I would wipe the Titans off the face of the earth." I said, balling my fists. I turned to the tall guy. "Hey, giant freak. Don't ever call me short stuff again, unless you really like hospitals. Or funeral parlors." I said to him.
"Hey, my name is Jean Kirchstein, thank you. Not giant freak. And whatever, you can't do anything to me. Your that small, you wouldn't even be able to take on a three meter class Titan." Jean said, bending down to my level. Bad idea, Jean. I stepped back, and kicked him in the face.
Eren laughed and so did Armin. Mikasa just grinned slightly. Luke came up to me and grabbed my arm.
"Marlie! I told you not to hit anyone, you'll make a bad impression!" He sighed. "Look, you've already made an enemy!"
"Who's that, your big brother?" Armin asked, moving some of his hair out of his eyes.
"No, this is my friend Luke. And they're Chad and Fern. Fern's my cousin." I explained.
He nodded, and turned to the doors. The swung open, knocking Jean down again after he'd just gotten back up off the ground. There was a man stood in the door way, and he looked really serious.
"Alright! I assume you're all here for training?" He boomed. We all mumbled our 'yes sirs' and he beckoned us inside. There were more people here than there was earlier on, and we all filed inside the doors.
"This will be your living quarters. Girls on the left, boys on the right. Go in there and unpack, be down in the yard for 10:30 on the dot! Anyone who is even a minute late will do 100 press-ups!" He said, dismissing us all. We all rushed into the dormitories, and looked around. There were nine beds lined up against the wall; four bunk-beds and a single bed. They were filled immediately. Me and Fern chose the bed closest to the door, I had the top and she had the bottom.
"Hey girls, listen up!" One girl shouted. "We're all going to get to know each other, OK? Come and sit in a circle in the middle of the floor. I'll start." Everyone obeyed and soon we were all sat in a circle on the floor. "OK. So my name's Ymir, and I'm here because Christa is here!" She said, cuddling the small blonde girl next to her. "Your go Christa!"
"OK, my name's Christa Renz, and I'm here because I want to help rid this world of Titans." She said, giggling. The next girl didn't even know it was her turn to speak. She was just sat there munching on some bread. "Excuse me, it's your turn." Christa said, nudging her.
"Oh! Sorry. I'm Sasha Braus, aaand I can't remember why I'm here." She said, with a mouthful of bread.
"I'm Annie Leonhardt. I'm here to join the military police in the inner wall." She said, not taking her eyes off the ground.
"I'm Mikasa. I'm here with Eren. I'll do whatever he does." Said Mikasa.
Next, it was my turn. "I'm Marlie Rivers. I swore to my mother that I would wipe the Titans off the face of the earth, so that's what I'm here for." I explained.
I nodded at Fern and she began. "I'm Fern Rivers. I'm Marlie's cousin, and I'm here for the same reason." She said, smiling kindly at me. Her family had gotten out safely, and they were all OK. She was super upset about my mother though, because me and her are practically sisters, and my mum was like a second mother to her.
"My name is Willow. I'm here because my mother told me I don't fit in anywhere, so maybe I'd find myself in the military. " A girl said. I hadn't noticed her before now. She had jet black hair with a single white stripe down her fringe. I was so sure she hadn't been in here earlier on, but it must've just been me being ignorant to everything.
- Luke's POV -
"Hey guys, the girls are introducing themselves. Why don't we do the same, this feels so awkward." One guy said, laughing nervously. Everyone agreed and we sat on out beds. There were four bunk beds and a single bed, accommodating nine people.
"OK, my name's Eren." Eren said.
"I'm Armin."
"I'm Conny."
"I'm Reiner."
"Berthold."
"Jean."
"I'm Marco."
"My name's Chad."
"I'm Luke." I said.
"Sweet. We know each other's names." Marco said, smiling brightly. There was something about him. He glowed a little, if you know what I mean. He reminded me of an Angel.
Me, Chad, Eren and Armin all sat on a bed talking for a while. We exchanged stories of the attacks we'd experienced. Eren's mother had been eaten, Armin had also lost his grandfather. Chad lost his dad and his little sister, and I explained how I lost my family too.
"Hey, do you want to see if the girls want to go on a walk around the grounds for half an hour before the training starts?" Armin asked.
"Sure, let's go." I said.
- Marlie's POV -
There was a knock on the dorm doors, and I sprung up to answer it. I peered around the door, and saw Luke stood there with Chad, Armin and Eren.
"Hey Marlie. We were wondering if you, Fern and Mikasa wanted to go on a walk around the grounds for half an hour before the training starts?" He asked.
"Yeah sure! Is it OK if we invite another girl along, she seems lonely. Her name's Willow." I said, looking at Willow. She smiled and walked over to us.
"Yeah, that's cool. Come on then." Luke said, holding the door open for us all.
"Thank you good sir!" I said, booping his nose on the way out. He laughed and linked my arm in his. We walked arm in arm down the hallway, following everyone else.
The training grounds weren't even that big. It was just a couple of fields and a barn. Not including our dormitories. So we walked around it all twice.
Suddenly, we heard a shout from across the yard. "RIGHT! ALL YOU LITTLE BRATS, COME HERE AND LINE UP!" Soon, we saw hundreds of young people our own age flocking into the field where the guy was standing. In a few minutes, we were all lined up and facing the front.
"My name is Commander Shadis. I will be your trainer for the next four years, and you'd better forget all the feelings of sympathy you've had, because you're sure as hell not gonna get that from me!" He bellowed. "Now, I want you to start with hand to hand combat! I will demonstrate with my fellow commander. I will only show you once, and after that, you will practice with a partner until it is perfected. I will partner you all up, and don't come complaining if you're partnered with a member of the opposite gender. I expect you all to give it your best! Is that understood?"
"Sir!" We shouted.
"Good! Now, our first pair is; Eren Yaeger and Annie Leonhardt. Next, Armin Arlert and Conny Springer. Next, Marlie Rivers and Luke Evergreen." I looked at Luke and grinned. Commander Shadis continued to call out the pairs and dismissed us to our training. Thankfully, I already knew hand to hand combat.
"I'm not going to hold back on you, you know, Rivers." Luke said, grinning as he got into the fighting stance.
I took the stance too, and grinned at him. "And I'm not going to go easy on you, Evergreen. I'd like to see you beat me, Lukey!" I laughed.
"Challenge accepted." He said, grinning. I nodded and we began our practising.
I jabbed at him first, landing a punch on his nose. I laughed at his face, but I soon landed on mine. He'd roundhouse kicked me and I fell onto my face.
I got up and we began again. I practised a few kicks and punches here, and he practised a few there. It was pretty much like that all day.
At 7:00, we all went inside for our supper. The canteen wasn't that big, and it was dark too. But it just about squashed everyone in. Everyone had a seat, anyway. I sat with Luke and Armin, Chad, Jean, Fern, Eren, Mikasa and Willow.
Luke elbowed me in the arm. "That was pretty good out there. You almost killed me. Tired?" He said, smiling softly at me. I could tell he was tired.
"Thank you, Lukey. You were great too. Yeah, I am pretty tired. I think I'll go to bed now actually. Walk me to my dorm?" I said.
"Sure. I think I'll have a rest too. Shadis said we have to be up at 6:00am tomorrow. That's something we'll have to get used to, huh?" He laughed.
"Yeah. I had fun today. You're a pretty great partner. We're such a good team." I said, smiling. We approached the dorm and I opened the door. "Thanks for walking me here. Have lots of rest. Goodnight." I said, waving at him. He whispered goodnight too and I closed the door, and got into bed. I must've fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, because the next thing I knew, Shadis was yelling at us to get up again.