Author's Note: Yeah I'm sorry for the delay in chapter 2 but everything else is going pretty good. Once again, hope you guys enjoy the story so far, and well yeah. Chapter 4 will be up next week Friday.
Disclaimer: I don't own Attack on Titan but I do however own the characters.
-Flashback-
'Thoughts'
"Speaking"
It has been a full week since the cadets had arrived to the training grounds, the training was to start today. Everyone had been forced awake by loud ringing that echoed throughout the area at the break of dawn. The trainees had been briefed on what would happen had they skipped out on the morning workout, anyone who had skipped would have been sent to the fields. Everyone stood in the center of the grounds, waiting for their orders, more than most moved somewhat sluggishly.
A loud voice helped awaken everyone, it was one that managed to annoy most. "C'mon guys! Wake up! It's time for our training!" Leon was currently yelling at his roommates in an attempt to wake them up from their sleepy state. Hikari brought a hand up to eyes, trying to rub the sleep away from them. "Shut up." He muttered knowing that it was a fruitless attempt to try and silence the loudmouth. "Oh don't be like that Hikari! I mean c'mon, you did say I wasn't going to become the best Soldier and I'm going to make extra sure to show you what I'm capable of!" This caused Jack to sigh, 'Trying to impress Kishi like he's his alcoholic father. How annoying.'
"Whatever, just try not to be so loud, people are staring." Davis chimed in, his pupils barely even visible as he'd been squinting more than usual. "So what if people are staring?! Everyone's going to know who I am by the end of all of this, might as well give 'em a peek at the best, am I right?" Davis ignored Leon, eyes trained on Aiden and his group, he shot them a pleading look. 'C'mon!' Nick stood there with a small smile etched onto his lips, he found Leon annoying but had enjoyed the misery that Davis' and his friends were dealing with. Kalim stood beside Nick both his arms were crossed over his chest, making eye contact with Davis for just a second. Kalim simply shook his head and chuckled.
"Oh guys look! It's Hikari and his friends! Let's go talk to them!" Aiden's high pitched voice rung throughout the air, his volume nearly matching Leon's. This caused his roommates to look at him with a panicked look. "Nah, they might be talking about something important." Nick hoped to god that Aiden would just let it go but to his dismay the boy was already greeting the others.
Both Leon and Aiden high-fived each other, Davis couldn't help but smirk knowing that the other two would be follow him 'If we have to suffer than so do they.' Kalim and Nick sighed before walking over to the other group and acknowledging them. "So you guys pumped for today?" Leon asked the newer group to which Aiden responded. "Hell yeah! We plan to come out on top!" His screaming was beginning to hurt Hikari's ears. "So, Hik-" Aiden was interrupted mid-sentence by a booming voice.
"Alright maggots! Listen up!" It was the commander, he appeared before the trainees alone, Hikari assumed that the other instructors were searching through the dorms, trying to find anyone who hadn't bothered to show up. "It's the commander." Jack muttered, he never would've thought that he'd be happier to hear that man's voice. "Today we start your training! My colleagues decided on starting you runts off easy, despite me being against it. Ten laps around the area, no breaks until you've finished it. If I find you haven't done anything or if you lied about finishing the laps I'll break your legs to ensure that you won't have to run again! Alright?!"
The large crowd of teenagers tensed everyone yelled in unison. "Sir, yes sir!" It took a few moments before the commander turned and signaled over to one of the teachers that had arrived throughout his speech. "Then move out!" At that command everyone began to move, Leon took off, running as fast as he possibly could. "About time!" He yelled before taking off, leaving behind his group. Hikari shook his head, and watched as Aiden followed close after Leon with both Nick and Kalim by his side. 'They're gonna exhausts themselves before the end of the workout.' Jack scratched the back of his head observing everyone's movements. "So we're running then?" He asked Davis to which Hikari responded. "Jog, you'll just waste your energy if you try like they're doing."
Davis nodded alongside Jack and the three took off at a slow jogging pace, Jack in between both of his roommates. A familiar female voice picked up from Hikari's left, it was one that he hadn't heard since his first day at the training grounds. "Hey, dumbass. Seen Leon?" The comment caused him to grit his teeth for a second as he turned his head only to see that Artemis was jogging alongside him. The other two guys shot Hikari a glance before averting their gazes. "Yup…" He sighed, she brought a hand up to secure that her glasses hadn't fallen off of her face. "Move maggots, move!" They heard a voice echoing in the background. "Where'd he go?" Artemis questioned Hikari still curious to know where her friend was located at.
"Retard ran off." Jack answered the question for him and she nodded. "I hope he knows that was a bad idea." Davis muttered and Artemis shrugged. "I would've done the same thing if I were missing as many IQ points as him." Her comment caused the boys to snicker. They continued on their journey, following the enormous crowds of people. An hour passed as they had just hit the eighth lap, the blazing hot sun sat at the highest point in the sky. The horde of people that had once been together dispersed, quite a few of the trainees had fainted, their bodies dropping down on the ground only to be picked up by instructors on standby. Hikari still jogged alongside Jack and Artemis, Davis had been left behind as he needed to catch his breath. Jack's breathing was heavy, and Artemis was beginning to stumble while Hikari was beginning to feel pained within his ribcage area. They had trotted ahead of Leon and Aiden as the two had ran out of gas halfway throughout the exercise. The three just figured that the two morons had learned their lesson and just decided to take it slow. Nick and Kalim were however nowhere to be seen. Davis had mentioned that throughout the few days that he spent hanging out with them, they were quite athletic.
"We're so… Close to finishing…" Hikari panted, somehow they managed to continue going past lap nine, his long brown hair dampened, beads of sweat were falling down his body, his uniform dirtied by all the moisture. Davis had managed to catch up to them sometime throughout the eighth lap, though no one was speaking to each other as they were all just trying to keep themselves from stopping. The commander had gotten atop of a horse sometime throughout the exercise, and had kept close to Hikari's group for whatever reason. "Move maggots! Let's go! Get your asses in gear!" Everyone within the area just began to ignore him, his voice dulling in the back of their heads.
Jacks face lost color, his clothes were in the same exact state as everyone else's. Something he saw in the distance help brightened his mood, he saw Kalim and Nick alongside several others, and they had stopped to rest within the shade of the tree that symbolized the end of a lap. A duo yelled from behind them, their synchronized screaming only seemed to get closer. "HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!" Footsteps pounded against the ground, the sounds were beginning to sound much like the hooves of the commander's horse. Two familiar faces had zoomed right past the group of four, they were running at full speed, both of which were making exaggerated movements.
When the group of four got to the finish line they heard Leon's boasting about how he beat Aiden to finish line. "Man Aiden, you suck at life. Though screaming really did hurt my throat." He muttered before greeting Artemis. "Oh hey! Did you see how I beat his ass at racing?" Leon pointed over at the boy who had just barely lost. She pushed past Leon and pressed her back against the tree, her hands placed on her knees and her head hung low. "Huff… Huff… Huff…" She was trying desperately to gather control of her breathing. Davis dropped down on his back, his chest rising up and down rapidly. Hikari and Jack had pushed past the tree, Nick just watched the two curious to know what they were up to. They darted into the cafeteria. "What're they doing?" Nick asked Kalim, who to which just shrugged. "How the hell should I know?" The commander head over in the direction of a couple of other recruits who were still running the lap, though he tilted his head a smile traced over his lips for a few seconds. 'Intelligent the both of them.'
The two emerged with several plastic bottles, they slowly made their way to the others before distributing the water bottles equally. Everyone that was in the area thanked the two somewhat surprised with the fact that they were being generous. "How'd you know there was water in there? Also how'd you know you guys know you wouldn't get in trouble for it?" Artemis questioned the two and Jack shrugged. "We didn't." Hikari uncapped his bottle before chiming in after Jack, "Yeah, we just guessed." Everyone had some time to relax, cooling off and waiting for the next set of instructions. At the current moment the Commander, Valenzo, was hounding some of the other cadets in an attempt to keep them from finishing the exercise.
After fifteen minutes passed the instructor had returned, beads of sweat sliding down his shiny bald head. At the moment he stood in the midst of those who actually managed to finish the exercise. To Valenzo's surpise about a fourth of the crowds original population could no longer continue, those people having passed out and what not. "Alright onto the next training step!" He yelled silencing any conversations that had been taking place. "We will move onto the next step of the training." Valenzo went on to explain their training which consisted of multiple sets of various different workouts. After that workout ended anyone who remained was sent to retrieve water before they pass out like the others. About a fourth of the original starting population remained. Leon chugged down a bottle of water before gasping for air, sweat trailed endlessly off his body. "Wasn't too hard." He laughed, Aiden had throughout the process given up, having nearly passed out by the second set of pushups. Kalim, and Nick had been amongst the first few to finish, though they hadn't been as out of breath as everyone else.
"Hey, you okay?" Jack asked Artemis who was currently heaving, trying her hardest to keep her breakfast in. She signaled for someone to get her water, to which Davis complied, quickly having handed her a bottle. Hikari lay down on the cafeteria floor awaiting further instructions, his breaths in quick short pants. Slowly uncapping the bottle that lay within his hands he'd bring it over to his lips before downing the liquid. A fairly short boy with darker skin and short brown curly hair made his way over to the group. Thick black glasses lay on the bridge of his scrunched up nose. "Boooy that work out has me dead." He laughed all the while looking at Kalim and Nick, the three exchanged looks and words. "Did James, Peter, and Mikey make it through the training?" Kalim inquired about his friends to which the stranger nodded. "Mikey and Pete are gettin' water, and I think James fainted throughout the workout." Nick laughed, "That's what he gets for being a fat bastard."
Hikari kept an eye on the new kid, for whatever reason he found him odd. "Anyways, Stanley, how'd you do?" Nick butted in, Hikari figured that they knew each other before having come to the training grounds. "Eh." He shrugged signaling that he was okay, the most noticeable thing about the kid was that he wore an orange shirt underneath the uniform jacket and though it had been drenched in sweat, it was still a bright, attention grabbing color. Two other boys stood beside Stanley, both of which were somewhat chubby. Peter was somewhat darker than Stanley, his jet black hair was slicked back stuck together with all the sweat that had clumped his hair together. The boy beside him was known as Mikey, he was a little bit taller than Peter, his lightly tanned skin gleaming with moisture. "I'm so tired damn it." Mikey muttered before running a hand through his short black hair.
Leon yawned before glancing over at the boy that lay on the ground a small, cocky smile traced over his lips. "Hey Hikari, what's wrong? Can't handle it?" He laughed when said boy threw the now empty water bottle over at him. The plastic container just bounced off of Leon's arm and the two exchanged an uneasy glance. "What else can he have in store for us? Less than half of us made it through the first day." Hikari wished for nothing more than a clean shower, he hated being sweaty, it brought him great discomfort. 'I'm so tired damn it.'
Twelve groups entered the cafeteria within the fifteen minutes that Leon and his friends used to relax. Five minutes passed before the commander entered the room, he seemed to be coated with sweat like everyone else. Valenzo cleared his throat managing to catch the attention of everyone, he'd stood in the center of the building, his hands held behind his back. "Alright well I just wanted to say a few words. You guys did great today, you're the only ones who managed to go through the entire training without quitting or passing out. I commend you for that. You guys are as of right now candidates with the greatest chance for Humanity. From this day on we will practice these exercises every morning. You lot will be pushed farther than the other cadets. After which you'll be introduced to new activities. Anyways… Dismissed!" He yelled before turning and leaving the cafeteria, a few murmurs broke the silence before Leon screamed out in happiness. "Hah! I told you! Humanity's Number One Soldier!"
Hikari decided to sit atop of one of the wooden tables throughout the commander's short speech. He looked over at Savage and let out a small sigh, 'Fantastic… Fuel his ego, tch… Troublesome.'