"That place looks like an old-timey castle! How could this be the secondary HQ?" Eren questioned, bewildered.
"Well, before the loss of Wall Maria this was a central area in the epicenter of many important places. Now, it is too far away from the Wall, or any river system to be an ideal Headquarters." Levi rolled on, completely uninterested in Eren curiosity about the place he would be living in for the next two years.
"How are we going to get water then?" Eren bothered Levi with another question.
"Why can't you be more like the girl here and be silent, honestly if I knew you were going to complain and ask questions the entire trip, I would have knocked you unconscious first. We get supplies from Command, who sent couriers to deliver our water everyday, but if you don't leave me alone I'll make you go get the water." Levi threatened before finishing the final leg of their journey and hopping off his horse.
"Eren, some of your questions were really stupid, were you just messing with our new Captain?" Annie asked once Levi was out of earshot.
"Ha, it was rather funny seeing how much he could take before he exploded. I must say, he is more in control of himself than I previously thought, something bad must have happened in his past to make him like this." Eren replied while tying up his horse to the stable near Levi's and Annie's.
"Might wanna watch out, shorty actually looked pretty strong. And the way people treat him with so much respect and fear, just saying that you might wanna pick your targets a little bit better." Annie stated with a smirk.
"Yea, whatever. You wanna come with me and explore the HQ, or do you have better things to do." Eren asked.
"Please, I've put up with you for the last six hours, I need a little recovery time. I'll see ya later." Annie said while walking away.
'Geez, even after all these years, she still wants to be a loner, eh whatever, let's see what this HQ has to offer.' Eren wistfully thought to himself.
A few minutes later, as Eren was walking around a corner, he bumped into someone.
"Hey kid, what do you think you're doing, bumping into someone like me?" The man asked.
"Sorry sir, I wasn't watching where I was going." Eren quickly replied in order to stay on this squad's good side.
"Damn right you weren't watching! If you had any common sense you would- Ah!" The man cried out as his accidentally bit his tongue mid-speech, and blood went flying.
"Sir, are you okay?" Eren frantically asked.
"Oh don't worry kid, he does this all time. He forgets how to talk when he's trying to intimidate or gets excited. What's your name, rookie?" Another man shows up with blonde hair.
"Eren Jaeger, sir!"
"No need to be so up tight, Eren. We're outside of training, so you can just call me Eld. The man who bit his tongue is Oluo. We were handpicked along with a girl named Petra and another fellow named Gunther to join Levi's Special Operations squad awhile ago. So, if you're going to be in our squad, I want to know that I can rely on you to watch my back." Eld calmly replied.
"I won't let you down, Eld."
"What number did you graduate as?"
"I was number one."
"Oh? The top rookie wanted to join the Survey Corps?"
"Yes sir, another one of my classmates who was ranked fifth is here as well."
"Wow, two out of the top five went to the Survey Corps! Who would have guessed?"
"Actually sir, all of top five signed up for Scout Regiment."
"Haha, good! Maybe this crop will actually help us retake the land we lost after the fall of Wall Maria. Anyways, back to the topic, I want to have a little spar with you so I can see what you're made of." Eld stated before settling into a fighting stance.
"Right now, sir?"
"Titans will not wait for when you are ready, and neither will I. Begin!" Eld yelled before charging at Eren.
Eren sidestepped the charging man, and lashed out with a right hook to the man's face, but it was swiftly avoided by a roll. When Eren tried to follow up on the assault, Eld calmly let him get close before lashing out with a kick to the knee caps. Eren faceplanted after the hit, but got right back up, and faced Eld with determination set in his eyes. He was going to show this guy how good he was.
A few minutes later, Eren was tied up on the ground sporting bruises all over, but was still wriggling to get out of the bindings. Eld stood over him looking much better, Eren barely managed to get even a couple glancing blows in.
"Alright kid, you can stop struggling now, the fight's over." Eld said before untying the rope securing Eren's wrist together.
Upon seeing Eren's downcast face, Eld decided to let Eren know the true purpose of the test.
"Good job, Eren. You'll do fine around here."
"What? But I barely managed to hit you, you're just so fast." Eren bitterly replied.
"Eren, this test was to test your resolve, not your fighting skills. I couldn't care less about how well you can fist fight since we will be dealing with Titans anyway. This test was designed to show me when you would finally give up; however, I don't think you understand the concept, and the makes you okay in my book. You should be proud that you even managed to hit me at all, I have one of the best hand-to-hand fighting skills in the Survey Corps. Only Levi is actually better than me in this squad, and he's just a monster all around. Seems like only Petra can get him to calm down. Well anyways, I'm off, good fight Eren." Eld said before exiting.
"Wow! You sure can fight pretty well." A woman popped up beside Eren.
"Ah! Who are you?"
"Ha, sorry to scare you, Eren. I was just watching that fight with Eld, and I'm pretty impressed. My name is Petra, by the way." Petra said with a smile, it seemed like she was the upbeat member of this little group they had.
"Nice to meet you Petra. I guess that means there is only one more member of this elite squad left."
"Who all have you met so far?"
"First I met Levi, then Oluo, then Eld, then you."
"Gunther."
"Pardon?"
"The last guy is named Gunther, he's a pretty nice guy, unless you are a Titan that is." Petra contemplated before adding that part on the end.
"How powerful do you guys think you are? I mean, compared to the usual Survey Corps," Eren asked.
"Well, to sum it all up, we're the best of the best. A usual Survey Corps member will have between 5 and 10 Titan kills, but I have 58 kills. Levi has about three times as many as I have, but the others are only just below me. We are pretty strong." Petra said with a smile, it seems she takes pride in her work.
"What's it like to kill a Titan?" Eren angrily asked.
"Woah there, Eren. Why the anger behind the question?"
"My mother was eaten by a Titan before my very eyes five years ago. I had always wanted to join the Survey Corps to see the outside world, but ever since that day, all I can think about is killing Titans." Eren schooled his emotions after that, but Petra could see how distraught he was beneath his cracking emotional mask.
Deciding not to pry any further, she responded. "Well, to answer your question, kiling a regular Titan is actually pretty easy. When alone, they barely require any work at all to take down for someone of the Survey Corps. Like you've probably been taught in the academy, the only way to kill a Titan is by slashing the nape of the neck. What they didn't teach you at the academy was how to properly dodge the arm swipes that come your way. Titans won't stand still as you swing around to their back, so you need to be able to adjust to anything. Once cut, steam will escape from the wound, and the Titan will likely fall and die." Petra warned.
"Yea, that's a lot like what the Academy taught us, but they never taught us to dodge, just attack." Eren said.
"Tomorrow, I'll be changing that for you and the girl." Levi said as he walked up to the talking soldiers.
"Captain Levi!" Petra yelled and saluted, but the blush adorning her face made the whole act funny.
"Petra, I've told you before that you don't need to salute me." Levi drolled before glancing at Eren.
"Yes, Captain?" Eren nervously asked under the dead stare that Levi was giving him. For a short guy with no real muscular build, Levi was the most intimidating character he had ever met.
"Jaeger, you and Leonhardt will meet me and my squad at the entrance to the North Forest tomorrow at dawn to begin the advanced training. Tell the girl the same thing. Petra, come with me, I need to discuss something with you." Levi said before turning on his heel and walking off with Petra in tow. Before Petra was out of earshot, she turned around and wished him luck before resuming her walk.
Eren went back to the barracks to find Annie to let her know of the training. When he arrived, he was instantly on guard because he could feel the tension inside their room. Eren opened the door to find Annie and a man glaring at each other. When Eren didn't move for five minutes, Annie finally snapped out of her little staring contest and looked at him.
"What's up?" Annie asked, sounding like her usual amount of boredness.
"Uh… Levi told me to tell you that we have training tomorrow at dawn." Eren replied.
"Oh. Damn that's early," was all that Annie said before she locked gazes with Eren before walking out of the room. No one was able to tell that her heartbeat had increased upon seeing Eren staring at her so intently. 'I just need to get away for a bit, and when I get back I'll be more in control of myself. Stupid hormones acting up.' Annie bit out in her head.
"Um… what was that about?" Eren asked the unidentified guy he assumed would be Gunther.
"Tried intimidating the rookie, backfired right in my face. She's a strong one. Oh, that must mean you are the other rookie. What's your name?"
"Eren Jaeger, sir. And you must be Gunther?"
"Yes I am. Glad to know that stories of my success out here have made it back to the Academy to teach new recruits." Gunther said boastfully.
"Actually sir, Petra informed me of who you were only recently." Eren replied nervously.
"So the Academy doesn't record the heroic deeds of Gunther?" Gunther asked so melancholy.
"I'm sure there is a good reason for that, sir. Maybe they don't want recruits wanting to be like you and get themselves killed because they aren't you?" Eren tried to save Gunther some pain. Luckily, it worked.
"Ah! I'm sure you are right! No common recruit could match my skill with Titans.. in fact.." By this time, Eren had already left because he knew that this speech would be long and boastful, and he really wanted to find Annie. She had been acting weird all day, so he set out after her in pursuit.
Meanwhile, with said girl, Annie was busy exploring the HQ's abandoned upper floors. Since it was practically a castle, every room was built elaborately, and some rooms even had secret compartments to stash things or even people in the case of a seige. "I wonder what that kind of world that would have been like. To not have to be stuck inside these walls cowering like rats from the Titans. I wonder what it would be like to wage wars human vs. human, like the acient texts they read in school talked about." Annie asked out loud to herself, well not quite.
"It must have been scary," Annie spun around to see Eren leaning against the door frame, "not knowing who was your enemy. One thing good about this war against the Titans is that we know who the real enemy is, the Titans. There's always been human on human violence, but ever since the Titans first popped up, humanity seemed to unite against them." Eren finished before standing up and walking closer to Annie.
"Maybe it was better where you came from, but where I'm from there is a lot more violence. Homeless families all over the place, and it only got worse once Wall Maria fell. Once the wall fell, our already crowded streets became filled to the brim with the needy." Annie liked talking to Eren alone. It was the only time since her father passed away that she was able to find any means of comfort in another person.
"Yea, same thing happened where Armin, Mikasa, and I were living prior to enrolling in the Military Academy. The overpopulation became so intense that they actually had thousands of our people leave in a bullshit attempt to retake Wall Maria that was only a ruse to kill off several thousand people, including Armin's grandfather." Eren replied, bitter at the ignorance of the Inner Walls where the order originated from.
"I'm sorry. We are two unfortunate people, but that only makes us stronger. Loss causes us to be more determined toreach our goal. I know your idiotic goal is to eliminate every Titan in the world." Annie said before she realized how that might have come out wrong.
Eren was struck speechless from the words of his friend. 'She was suppose to support me. She doesn't believe I can do it.'
"Eren I.." Before she could continue, Eren got right in her face. Annie's breath hitched at the close contact they were having and wished more than anything that their faces were closer.
"Whatever Annie, I thought you were my friend, but a friend would have supported my goal regardless of how foolish it was." At this point, Eren lost a bit of his composure and one lone tear shed it's way down his cheek. "I just want to avenge my mom, who was eaten by a Titan when I was ten. She was picked up by a smiling Titan right before my very eyes, and her blood… it went everywhere.."
By this time, Eren gathered his composure and was back to his usual self. "Anyways, I just came up here to ask you what you were up to."
"Eren, I didn't mean what I said like that…"
Eren cut her off with another question to steer her away from that topic. "What was that staring contest that you were having with Gunther in our room."
Annie, seeing that Eren really didn't want to talk about it, decided to humor his question. "He just barged in while I was about to undress without knocking, so I yelled at him. He got really defensive and started trying to intimidate me, so I just stared him down. He's pretty good at that; I think I'm gonna like it here."
"Yea, these guys seem like they're pretty strong. We're gonna get way better at killing Titans here." Eren smiled, glad that he was gonna be able to final avenge his mom and kill the Titans that led to her demise, ending with the one that started it all, the Colossal Titan.
"And soon enough, I'm gonna kick your ass for embarrassing me at the Academy." Annie said, getting right in Eren's face.
Eren looked confused for a second before realization dawned on him.
Flashback
"Alright recruits, everyone gather around the sparing ring for hand-to-hand combat. Does anyone here have any prior martial arts training?" Keith Shadis asked.
Only two hands raised in the air, Eren and Annie.
"Oh, looks like we have two participants. Both of you come to the center of the ring and face me." Shadis commanded.
Once both Eren and Annie arrived in the middle, Shadis hand them shake hands before facing off against each other to show the other classmates martial arts.
"Go Eren, kick her ass!" Someone yelled from the audience.
"Annie, fuck him up!" Jean yelled, jealous at Eren always beating him in everything.
The two competitors circled each other slowly, neither wanting to make the first move. Suddenly, as if a gunshot that only those two could hear fired, they both bolted forward, and in a couple seconds, there was a winner; the audience.
Eren had trapped Annie in an intimate position that resembled the missionary position, and it didn't help that since they were both 14 their bodies were going through puberty, which caused Annie to accidentally moan when their clothes made contact down there. Both fighters were sporting a blush when Shadis told them to get up. It didn't help that almost everyone in the audience was laughing hysterically at Annie's misfortune.
"Alright you two horny teenagers, get off my stage." Shadis chuckled before organizing up people in pairs to train them on hand-to-hand combat. Even though it was embarrassing, the fight was pretty awesome beforehand, and many people were ordered to imitate Eren or Annie.
Eren wisely chose to partner with Mikasa to avoid Annie's wrath, but on that day Annie swore to get payback.
Flashback End
"Still upset after an entire year?" Eren asked.
"Scared, Jaeger?" Annie knew that calling him scared would hook him, and she was right.
"Hell no, I'm up for it." Eren said.
"Good, cause it will be when you least expect it. Get ready Jaeger, payback it a bitch." Annie said before winking at Eren and walking out the door back towards the barracks.
'Either she's incredibly scary, or immensely sexy. Ugh, why does she affect me so much!?" Eren mumbled to himself before following her to get some rest for training the following morning.
Before Eren could get out of the main building, he was witness to Petra leaving a room while mumbling to herself. Her appearance looked incredibly disheveled, and she had a weird scent about her. Eren could smell sweat, but he had no idea what the other scent was. Upon nearing her, he could hear what she was mumbling.
Damn… stamina…huge…sore… morning.. were some of the words he could actually make out. Without disturbing her, Eren made his way around her and out the front door to head to the barracks.
After getting dressed into his sleeping attire, Eren crawled into bed across the room from Annie. Since there were only two rookies, they couldn't justify building another room just for one of them to have privacy, so that led to a little uncomfortable feeling for Eren, but he pushed it aside and focused on his duty as a soldier.
'Funny, now that I think about it, Annie smelled like Petra when I was able to get close and inhale her scent. I wonder what that means, maybe they use the same brand of shampoo?" Eren thought before he finally drifted off to sleep, excited to begin training with an elite squad the following day.