Another Time skip – The day before graduation
'Top ten…'Elliot thought to herself, the same phrase repeating over and over again in her head. She had no idea how this happened, she could barely kill a Titan, her attacks always too shallow…so, how in blue blazes did this happen? She stood at the end of the line, arms behind her back, perfectly straight, and eyes scanning over a crowd as Shadis announced the top ten for the 104th training squad. Elliot swallowed hard, tenth place, but still in the top ten none the less…she hadn't wanted to be part of the top ten. She dared a glance over at Marco, he was off to join the military police tomorrow but, unlike him Elliot wanted desperately to join the scouts. Elliot slowly allowed her eyes to trail over to Sasha who stood right beside her 'How the hell did I even manage to make it up here?!' Elliot thought to herself resisting a sigh of annoyance. She had been sure Shadis hated herself and Sasha, but then feelings didn't have a play in the ranking system she imagined. Not to mention the man seemed like he hated everyone.
It wasn't long after that Elliot found herself hanging out with all the other recruits, she gently had an arm wrapped into Marco's. They were currently with Eren, a boy she had barely spoke with in the three years of training. She knew of his determination, want for joining the scouts, and his hate for Jean, but not much outside of that. The current discussion right now? It was about how Eren was turning away the Military police to join the Scouts, same as herself, but she hadn't voiced that since the first day they joined…three years ago, even then she had simply stated she wanted to see the world. She was positive even Marco didn't remembered her want to join the Scouts. The blond haired male yelled out asking if Eren was 'insane' and Elliot lightly twitched against Marco...did that make her insane as well? She slowly glanced down to the leather strap that was settled on her wrist…if wanting to make her brother's dream come true made her insane, then so be it. All eyes focused on Eren and the blond male; however, it still made her uncomfortable…all the eyes of her peers focused in her general direction. She quickly looked up hearing Eren's speech about fighting rather than taking everything lying down. She unknowingly clenched her fists, a small smile forming on her lips and as Eren ran off, she couldn't help but, follow him and his friends, leaving behind a confused Marco.
Elliot ran off after them, finding them only after they had settled on a stair case, their eyes all turned toward her. She had barely spoken to any of them and one of them she had even shared a room with for three years of her life. She bowed her head to the three of them and apologized eyes still downcast toward the ground. "Y-You're not alone! I'm joining the Scouts as well! I wish to fight and regain the world that my brother always dreamed of," she spoke out, eyes still focused on the ground. She could feel the heat on her cheeks, but she tried her hardest to ignore it. "W-Why would you do that? Aren't you dating Marco? We all thought you were going to join the Military Police with him?" she heard someone ask her, a male voice, not Eren's, so that meant it had to be Armin. She slowly raised her head and smiled a bit at the smaller blond male. "Yes, I am dating Marco but, no, I've always had my heart set on the Scouts. I live my life for my brother," she said happily, her smile only growing as Armin and Mikasa also spoke about joining the Scouts. "Let's all look out for each other then," She said happily taking a seat with them on the stairs. She held a hand out toward Eren and introduced herself, then turned and did the same for Armin after gave her his name. She sat chatting with them a bit before Marco came up behind them, a bit of concern splashed on his face, but she quickly quelled his concern stating that she just wanted to make sure everything was okay with Eren since he looked upset when he left. She followed Marco back to join her peers, waving goodbye toward her new friends, the rest of the night was spent drinking a bit with her friends and laughing.
The next day Elliot woke up rather early despite finally having a day where she could sleep in. She quickly dressed into her uniform and got ready for the day before leaving her sleeping friends behind. She ran through the streets, a few people wondered around and the shops were just now beginning to open up. The cool air felt nice and despite the busy nature this street usually had the air smelled fresh. Elliot came to a quick stop, eyes settling on a familiar couple, her smile grew two times too big for her face. "Mom! Dad!" she called out and watched the couple spin around, her mother immediately brought to tears at the face of her daughter and her father even looked as if he might cry. It had been so long since she had last seen them. She ran toward them throwing herself against the both of them, her mother crying into her hair and her father trying to steady the three of them. "My gosh, you've grown so much and what happened to your gorgeous long hair?!" her mother cried out, pulling away a bit from her daughter to look over her. It was indeed true, Elliot had cut her long locks right before she was announced amongst the top ten, her white hair now cut in a bob. She had even grown quite a bit in the past three years, now easily the same height as her mom. "You look good Elliot. I half imagined you running back home after the first few weeks," her father spoke up a joking tone in his voice as he placed a hand on top of her head. "Oh yeah right dad! You know I wouldn't have run off tail between my legs like that! I made top ten!" she said happily jabbing a thumb into her chest and smiling proudly. "So, you're joining the military police?!" her mother shrieked happily about to pull her daughter into another hug, but froze when she saw the look that crossed her daughters face. Elliot bit her lip softly before shaking her head violently, white locks whipped around her face. "I'm joining the Scouts," she said softly not looking toward her mother, she feared the look of dread that more than likely crossed her mother's face. She heard her father sigh before she felt the warm embrace of her mother. "It's okay Elliot, we always knew you were going to join, but we just kind of hoped…you wouldn't," her mother spoke softly sobbing lightly into her daughters shoulder. They stood like this for a moment, her father watching over them until her mother pulled away and wiped her eyes. "So, who's this boy you wrote me about?! Do I see grandkids in the future!? Oh yes I do!" Marian spoke happily and laughed a bit as whatever little color her daughter had washed away from her face.
Elliot spent most of the morning with her family, but at around noon she had to part from them, she had duties to preform today, cleaning canons and what not at the wall. She hugged her mother and father good bye before running off to meet up with the others. It took her a little bit of time to make it to the wall and she had almost been late, she hunched over for a moment, huffing and puffing. A hand gently stretched out and grabbed her shoulder before screaming 'boo'. The young girl almost jumped out of her shoes before throwing a terrible punch at her 'attacker', said attacker was merely Sasha with the scariest look on her face. "Hey Eli, I need your help with something," she spoke the expression on her face not changing as she spoke, Elliot could only shudder a bit in response, but still nodded her head. This is how Elliot got stuck sneaking into the officer's pantry with Sasha. "Damn it Sasha hurry up!" she whisper yelled as she stuck her head out from behind the door looking down both sides of the hallway, the path was clear for now. "I-I almost…got it!" Sasha shouted from behind her but, accidently knocked over a few cans of something. "Shit run!" Elliot called to her friend not wanting to stick around to see if someone heard that crash, the young girls literally ran from the pantry throwing the door closed behind them. They ran together all the way back to their posts where they saw their friends gathered together talking about joining the Scouts. She was going to say something, but was quickly interrupted by Sasha. "Can you guys keep a secret?" Sasha spoke before revealing the meat and mentioning how she and Elliot helped themselves to the officer's pantry. The look the rest of them took on was rather funny, but the pinch to her cheeks that she received from Marco was not cool. "Ow, Marco what the hell?!" she shouted gently slapping his hands from her cheeks. "Seriously, what is wrong with you two?" he asked looking between the two girls, but neither of them answered, Sasha went on some weird rant about sandwiches whilst drooling and Elliot made a 'hmph' sound before turning her head away. "What isn't wrong with them?" came another male voice and Elliot glared over toward the short haired blond male, a frown on her lips. "I'll have you both know I'm perfectly normal!" she shouted pointing between Marco and the other male, playfulness in her bright red eyes.
She turned her attention toward Sasha though when she heard the woman speak about retaking the lands and livestock back for themselves. It wasn't long after that that Marco stated he would like some of the meat later, a gentle smile pulled at Elliot's lips as she gently reached out and grabbed his hand. She barely heard the others speak about taking some as well or how they needed to get back to work, not that she had done any work yet, unless you count stealing from the officers pantry as work. She tightened her grip on Marco's hand and in the next moment, that split second, the sound of a loud explosion rang through their ears and she turned to face the colossal titan…the very thing that caused her family's death all those years ago. She felt her eyes go wide, but she could barely comprehend the sight before her. She unconsciously gripped Marco's hand tighter before the monster of a Titan broke down the wall just as he had done to wall Marie. In the next moment, she was briefly aware of her body flying off the wall or how her hand had been forced away from Marco's. All she could see was her brother's strong back, her mother's limb flying from the titan's mouth, her father's talks about what he could see over the wall…somewhere Marco was calling her name. 'Live' the word ran through her mind louder than any person around her, the last word her brother had mouthed to her before he faded away. "I can't die here!" she shouted before quickly using her hooks to lock onto the wall saving herself from a deathly fall, somewhere beside her Sasha had just saved Samuel. 'Get your act together Elliot! What would your brother think?!' she thought to herself before Eren went off with his speech, she nodded in agreement watching as he took off. "Eren, I got your back!" she shouted after him before quickly flying after him, she ignored Marco's call from behind her…this wasn't the time for concern.
She used her hooks and quickly connected to the Titan, opposite of Eren but, was almost thrown off when the massive being moved his arm to both try and shake her off knock Eren off his opposite arm. He succeeded in shaking her off, her hooks having gone lose from the force. "Shit!" she shouted aloud before using her hooks once more to attach to what was left of the wall. She easily saved herself and was about ready to jump into battle once more when the Titan disappeared into thin air leaving Eren suspended in the air as well. She starred wide eyed where the Titan once stood…'what just happened?' was the only thought that ran through her head before she brought herself to the top of the wall meeting up with her friends, Eren landed soon after the rest of them. Marco moved quickly toward her, checking her for any injuries, but she merely waved him off. "It's alright Marco," she spoke softly half listening to the conversations around her. Eren was apologizing for the Titan getting away, but he had no reason to apologize. "Hey, at least you and Elliot did something, the rest of us were too afraid to even move" Marco stated letting out a somewhat disappointed sigh, but quickly turned his attitude around when Elliot gently grasped his hand. "It's okay Marco, at least this time we,re ready for the Titans," Elliot spoke gently before preparing to leave, they had to warn their superiors.