Basic training had started. Edward was sitting in the mess, eating his dinner when the fight broke out between his new friend Jean and Eren, the guy he'd been told to look out for. "Those two will either become fast friends or sworn enemies," He thought to himself, as they shook hands and parted ways. Less than a minute later, he saw Jean giving Eren the look of death as he walked off with Mikasa. "Sworn enemies it is then," He thought to himself as he went back into the mess to grab something more to eat. As he walked past a table, he heard some trainees telling stories, one of which stopped him dead. ".. Steiner managed to break out somehow, and lead the police on a chase through the city. The only clue they had to his escape was that the walls had been blown apart from the inside, and-" "What did you say?!" Shouted Elric as he lept to the table. 3 trainees, Mina, Harold and Thomas, were sitting there, and Harold had been telling the story. "Well, it's the story about the 'Mad Alchemist', or so he was called, from about 30 years ago. Apparently, he destroyed several buildings and was only taken down when 10 members of the Police shot him in an alley."
Edward walked away, leaving the 3 wondering what his deal had been. 30 years had passed in this world, but it had only been a few seconds between Steiner vanishing and him falling unconscious. If this was all true, then time was going different, and maybe he wouldn't have such a strict schedule to try and get back. Hell, he might even be able to find some information on restoring the body of Alphonse and himself. First thing though, he'd have to get through the training.
The next day, everyone was testing the 3-Dimensional Manoeuvre gear, and it looked like many people were getting it done easily. Edwards turn came up, and it was time to shine. He was already pretty good at balance, being able to ride pillars of earth upside down while using alchemy, and his training with his Alchemy Master has made his body very strong. He strapped on the gear, and was hoisted up. It was surprisingly easy to just hang there, so he wound up swinging back and forth to get a good feel for how the gear worked. He was winched down, and then Erens turn came up. Eren immediately fell over, unable to stay upright for any length of time. It even seemed as if he was among the worst failures. Edward felt sorry for the guy, everyone knew by now Erens life goal was to kill titans, and here he was being disqualified before he could even start. Later that night Eren was going around asking for advice. Edward decided to help out. After all, he knew what it was like to have a goal you'd give anything to accomplish, and he knew just how far Eren might end up going. "Listen Eren, I don't know if I can help you at all, but I'm willing to give it a shot." He said, when Eren walked up to him. "Thanks Edward." Eren replied, a small glimmer of hope in his eyes. "Come on, lets go for a walk."
As they left the cabin, the two of them walked out into the forest near the training grounds. "Listen Eren, if you can't keep yourself balanced in your mind, there's no way you'll be able to stay upright in the gear. Tell me why you want to kill titans so badly, maybe talking about it will help centre yourself," Edward said, simple wanting to break the silence that was growing.
Eren thought, and then replied, stating "I saw one of those things eat my mother, back when the wall fell. I couldn't do anything about it, so I resolved to get strong enough about it to do something. That's why I'm joining the Survey Corps, so that I can kill the Titans, and free humanity from these walls."
"Damn," thought Edward, "He's like me. He was powerless as his mother died, and now he wants to do something about it. At least he's not trying to bring here back like we did."
"Well, my stories pretty similar." Ed replied. "My mother died from an illness, and so my younger brother and I tried to get stronger too. I screwed up, and wound up getting my brother hurt. I'm trying to join the Police to find a way to help him, as they've got access to the most resources." "It's not a complete lie," he thought, "Everything I said was true, just missing a few bits."
Eren was at a loss. Here was someone else who'd lost everything, but was now living to help his brother. He couldn't be angry that Edward wanted to join the Military Police, but he couldn't bring himself to feel a similar way. "Listen Eren, you have a sister right, Mikasa? Even though she's adopted, she's still family. Try to live for the living, not the dead. Or you might end up hurting more people than you know." Those words, as they came out of Edwards mouth, fired up Erens rage, and he spouted back "You know, I am going to live for those who are still alive. I'm going to kill the Titans, and free humanity from their tyranny!"
Edward chuckled, and said "Just as long as you make sure you don't end up dead. Nothing worse than a life wasted hunting for revenge."
Edward remembered Scar, the Ishvalan who sought revenge for the murder of most of his people. He had wound up killing many who'd had nothing to do with the acts, and every time they met, Scar had only seemed more empty. He didn't want to see that happen to Eren, someone with a life to live and people who cared for him, but it looked as though Eren was thinking about it more now, not just in terms of revenge. "Well, that's about all I can help you with," Edward said, as they reached a clearing, "Just clear your head, and centre yourself. Don't rush at it without thinking and you should be fine."
The next day, Eren succeeded in remaining upright for several seconds, before falling. The drill sergeant had him trade his gear with Edward, and it turned out that Erens gear had been faulty. Training proper was starting, and it was going to be a gruelling 3 years.
Close combat, Edward Elrics speciality. Fighting another person one on one, dealing blows while attempting to avoid the blows of others. When it started, he thought he'd found something he'd love, but it turned out that he was one of the few who were taking it seriously. People wouldn't fight him properly, because they were just slacking off, and he could hardly practice properly alone. So he often wound up just sitting down somewhere, watching everyone slack off. As he was watching, he saw Eren and another trainee, a guy called Reiner, challenge the girl called Annie. What surprised him was that she was able to flip both of them over themselves, easily defeating the both of them. He grinned evilly, and walked over to her. "Hey, Annie, I saw how you took those two down, and I'd like to go a round." As he said that, people started to slowly crows around. Edward had gained a reputation for being a pretty good fighter from the early days, and the rumours that he threw a member of the Military Police into a wall hadn't helped things. Annie sighed, and said "All right then, I don't really have anything better to do." As Edward dropped into a fighting stance, Annie followed suit. The first engagement was fast. Edward launched several kicks and punches, none of which connected, but Annies counters were also all blocked or dodges. Annie remarked "You're good, who taught you?" Edward replied with a simple "My master was pretty damn harsh. She left me and my brother on an island in the middle of a lake for a month before she agreed to train us," before cartwheeling and launching a kick which Annie barely avoided. The fight continued for a few minuted, with neither combatant making much headway, until the Drill Sergeant walked in shouting "Break it up, Break it up!" The fight had drawn so much attention that everyone had stopped training, as people had even started placing bets with their desserts of who would win. As everyone dispersed, Edward laughed, saying "You're really good. I'd love too keep sparring with you," presenting a hand to be shook. Annie agreed saying "You're definitely better than you first looked." As they did so, Annie wondered about how Edward could move so easily while wearing armour. She didn't say anything though, as everyone has secrets after all, herself included.
3 years had passed, and the training of the 104th squad was over. The top 5 had surprised no-one, with Mikasa coming 1st, Reiner coming 2nd, Bertolt coming 3rd, Edward coming 4th, and Annie coming 5th, The 6th and 7th were a bit of surprise, with Eren just beating out Jean for 6th. 8th was Marco, followed by Connie in 9th and Sasha in 10th. Everyone was celebrating their completion of the training. In a few days, they'd be choosing their path for the future, and everyone was discussing what's they'd be doing. First,however, they'd be serving a day on the Walls, a task which no-one relished. Edward, Eren, Connie, Sasha, Mina, Thomas and Samuel had been assigned to the small stretch of wall on the outer Trost Gate, cleaning the cannons and making sure they were working. "What, is everyone joining the Survey Corps?" exclaimed Edward. Connie, Thomas and Sasha had all just proclaimed their intent to join the Survey Corps, and spirits were high. Sasha had stolen some meat for lunch, things were calm, and he was soon going to have access to all the information he could get his hands on regarding this world, especially about the stories on Arnold Steiner. As he grinned, lighting struck from no-where, and a monstrous face appeared over the wall. It was the Colossal Titan he'd heard about, and as he was wondering where it had come from, the pressure wave hit.