Hey, here's Chapter 5, hope you enjoy it. I tried making it slightly longer and I hope the next ones will be longer. Tell me what you think about the pacing and if the chapters are too short or not.
The day has dawned on the Southern training camp and Jean wakes up with gigantic dark circles under his eyes. He stretches his arms for a long time before yawning loudly. He sat up and rubbed his eyes before looking around to try to get back to his lairs. He was extremely tired from last night. "They say the night brings counsel", he thought. He took the time to fix the roof of the lower part of his bunk bed. He stood there for two minutes, lost in thought. Suddenly, a sound he knew all too well snapped him out of his trance. If he could only remember one noise from his old life, it would be this… The zipping of an ODM Gear. He got up, rubbed his eyes a second time and noticed that the dormitories were absolutely empty. He was the only one who didn't wake up. He then heard many more zipping. Then he suddenly remembered what was happening. Oh, it's in the second day of training today!
He then heard Shadis scream through the wall of the barracks. He heard the conversation and there a bead of sweat ran down his face, as if all of a sudden, the fear he had of Shadis the last time had suddenly returned.
("First we'll evaluate what you have! Anyone unable to do this can't even serve as a decoy! They will be sent to the frontier." Shadis shouts)
Training in the use of the ODM Gear. This famous day when he learned to use what will become like a part of himself in the future, like a second skeleton. He thought "I completely forgot about that….Oh no! I am late !" He rushed to get ready by putting on his practice gear and nearly tripped over the foot of Bertholdt's bed before rushing out the door and running across the field to where the practice started. place.
He arrived completely out of breath and saw that everyone was already gearing up, some were even already training, including Mikasa and Annie who mastered the ODM to perfection. Jean caught his breath and tried to avoid being noticed too much. He looked at Reiner and Bertholdt and saw that they clearly didn't look good unlike him who barely wanted to keep his eyes open. "The Shifters regeneration also covers sleepless nights I see. It would be useful to me anyway!" He looked through the crowds of recruits looking for Sasha and Connie, not seeing them anywhere. For his part, Shadis carefully observed the performance of each new recruit, remembering every detail in order to complete the report of the week. Suddenly, he saw Jean arrive and observe everywhere around him. Shadis then flew into a rage and shouted, "Kirstein! You allow yourself to sleep in and arrive late for practice. Is this how you want to protect your loved ones and save humanity? By being lazy future titan food."
Jean took fright, he remembered all of a sudden why the façade of Shadis as a strict and violent instructor frightened him so much. "Uh! Instructor, it's because"
He then came dangerously close to Kirstein, unknowingly preparing to reproduce a scene almost identical to that of Jean's previous timeline. Jean felt it coming, he started to shake and as Shadis was about to sanitize his biggest headbutt at Jean, the latter nodded to his left to avoid the blow and as a reflex from his close combat training in his past life, he violently pushed Shadis to the right, almost knocking him backward. Annie watched the maneuver attentively, intrigued by the way Jean had just mastered and destabilized a man a head taller than him. Jean jumped from what he had just done and could immediately feel that he was going to regret this gesture.
Shadis regained his balance just in time and stood stunned and confused because it had just happened. It was the same for everyone around except Annie and Mikasa, still as jaded as usual. He turned back to Jean and stared at him with an annoyed, accusing air, absolutely mad with rage. Jean wanted to disappear on the spot. Everyone was looking at him, he even heard Thomas and Eren talking to each other.
"It's going to be expensive." says Eren
"Do you think he's going to kill him?" replied the blonde.
Armin stared at the scene without saying a word and his gaze met Jean's. Shadis approached Jean and shouted "Cadet Kirstein. What did you just do?" he shouted, approaching his face dangerously to that of the young teenager. Jean tried to calm his tremors and looking at Armin he couldn't wonder how he would have done in his place. He then crossed the gaze of Annie who watched the scene impassive. It gave him an idea. "It's a defense technique that my mother taught me to teach me how to protect myself from the criminals of Trost. Women use it to protect themselves from stalkers in the middle of the night!" he exclaimed.
Annie reacts vaguely, she simply thinks that it could be interesting to know. If women in high-crime districts have developed their own defenses, she should be warier if she ever finds herself scouting districts for information. Nevertheless, his grip vaguely reminded him of a Western Continent martial arts technique his father had taught him. She found it a bit surprising how this long-faced recruit had rebelled against his instructor. It reminded her of the day she crippled her father to make him pay for his intensive and violent training. His desire of him had not failed to do the same to Magath during training.
Reiner chuckled without making too much noise, he found this instructor much too loud and irritating. Probably an ounce of Marcel's personality taking over, after all he and Porco had a lot more trouble with authority. Bertholdt stared at the scene, a bead of sweat running down his forehead. He couldn't help feeling uneasy for this recruit, he remembered his speech the night before. After what he just did, it's clear he can't save humanity. Even as Titan Colossal, Bertholdt will do everything possible not to upset Instructor Shadis. He was already quite subversive with Magath. Krista watched the scene worriedly as Ymir sported a smirk on her face, eager to see how it would end.
Marco watched the scene attentively and hoped with all his heart that it didn't get out of hand.
Shadis stared at Jean with wide eyes and took the time to register the information. He sat up and exclaimed loudly, "Cadet Kirstein. A good soldier must have discipline. This is the most important element when it comes to having to respect the chain of command. Why didn't you wake up at dawn for practice?"
Jean tried to answer, amazed that Shadis hadn't shooed him away, and exclaimed "Sorry Instructor! It was a mistake on my part and it will not happen again!" he cried, bowing on his heart. Shadis looked around, and told himself that in order to prevent the recruits from slacking off and starting to fear him no longer. He had to find a way to threaten and blame Kirstein so the others wouldn't try to lay hands on him. Nevertheless, the guts of this cadet begin to impress him. He then shouted "Cadet! You are going to demonstrate your skills in mastering the ODM Gear. I hope for you that you will master from the first shot otherwise you will immediately go before the disciplinary council and will be stripped of your activities as a soldier. I hope you have an innate talent for this, otherwise, I don't see how you will be useful to me. You will then join the cannon fodder in the withered lands without any warning!"
Most of the recruits barely managed to hold back their gasp. Marco seemed more and more worried and Jean was just as worried. He took a long look around and tried above all to ease his stress. He suddenly noticed that Sasha and Connie weren't there either. "Oh no ! That's not true.." he thought. "These two fools haven't woken up either….If he notices, he'll most definitely send the three of us to the withered lands and if that happens, our chances of changing anything are wasted. …" Jean thought. "What a bunch of idiots!". He analyzed the solutions at his disposal and saw only one…"I'm going to have to obey him…Mastering the ODM won't be forgotten, I hope…". He walked over and grabbed a piece of equipment to put on almost automatically, far too naturally. Jean's eyes widened at that…"Shit." he thought.
Shadis was surprised at this. He looked at Jean attentively. Jean thought "I don't have a choice anyway…I need the attention to be on me to allow Connie and Sasha to slip into the group unnoticed by Shadis…The last thing we need is to be fired from the army… Tss, if only we had woken up on time." He stood near one of the structures set up so that recruits could train for the ODM. Annie had just finished impressing the gallery and gave way to Jean. She walked past him and their eyes met briefly. The other recruits whispered among themselves.
"Do you think he'll make it?"
"No chance, unless he can perform like these two girls…"
"He's screwed… The instructor is going to send him to work right away in the Withered Lands."
"Poor guy, I wouldn't like to be his place" says Samuel
Jean settled on the structure and made sure to balance automatically and without any difficulty. He almost got to be as good as Mikasa. This surprised the recruits. Mikasa and Annie stared impassively. Shadis tried, not without difficulty, to contain his astonishment, which is still a lot of promising recruits this year. While Jean continues to hold in perfect balance without providing the slightest effort, to the great fascination of Marco who looks at him, the stars in his eyes. Shadis decided to end the demonstration. "Caddie Kirstein. That's enough. You can dispose now."
Jean complied and gave way to Eren. Eren couldn't help but comment "That was really great!". Jean smiled, seeing this version of Eren congratulating him made him think that this time, their relationship was off to a better start…. "That suicidal lunatic," he thought as the recruits dispersed to continue training. At the same time, he saw Connie and Sasha arrive discreetly and put on without making the slightest sudden movement to avoid being spotted. Their eyes sported dark circles indicating the night before's lack of sleep. Especially Sasha who is having a really bad time sleeping after all the revelations last night. Their eyes met and Jean let out a weak sigh.
"Wow, those three are really, really good," Daz said
"The competition is going to be tough to reach the Top 10…" exclaimed Mina-Carolina.
Jean went to join Sasha and Connie who pretended to be there for a very long time. He moved closer to them and whispered, "You fools. Do you realize that we came close to disaster? If I hadn't saved your ass. All our plans would have fallen through. And now I have drawn attention to myself."
"Sorry Jean, I woke up before you but noticed you were still asleep so I was worried about Sasha and you know how hard she is to wake up." Connie exclaimed.
"I hardly slept the night before dawn…" she said, rubbing her eyes.
"It will be fine. Let's avoid sleeping this late in the future." says Jean. They didn't notice Shadis watching them from a distance.
Sasha opened her eyes and saw that Eren was trying in vain to balance on the ODM. "Uh… Jean, what do we do for that, do we intervene?". Jean and Connie also watched and their eyes widened. They watched Eren ridicule himself for a long time and Connie said "Wouldn't it be wise to make him fail?".
Sasha and Jean reacted the same way "Huh?"
Connie elaborated "Well yes. If he is prevented from passing this exam. He'll be fired from the military and not find out... you know what... It would prevent... you know what else from happening."
Sasha was flabbergasted by this idea and Jean was pensive. He said to himself that on the one hand this idea was not bad, but on the other hand "No it's not a good idea. Like it or not, one way or another. The Survey Corps will need him, especially from Trost. We will have to make sure that it goes our way. Preventing him from discovering his powers is a bad idea."
Connie "Okay but what do we do? Do we intervene then?"
Sasha "If he gets hurt and starts steaming up, you know who is in danger of triggering a catastrophe…." his gaze turned to two officials from the northern and eastern military camps who were chatting to each other while observing Eren's poor performance.
Jean realized that what Sasha said was totally true. It is absolutely necessary to prevent this from happening… "A single cut to this suicidal madman and Annie is doing us another 57th expedition…" he said to himself.
They were interrupted by Shadis who shouted "What are you doing? Eren Jaeger? Pick yourself up!" while squatting right next to Eren who had his head upside down
"Jaeger! If you can't even master the basics of using the ODM, you will be relocated. Can you hear me when I talk to you?
Mikasa and Armin watched the scene, speechless…If Eren finds himself forced to leave the army, they won't hesitate to join him. But any prospect for the future will have fallen through. Simple and poor refugees from Wall Maria will never have another chance to obtain any advantages other than by enlisting in the army.
Sasha watched him struggle and then saw Annie's and Bertholdt's eyes fixed on him. At any moment, Eren could get hurt and it would be screwed. She then looked at Mikasa and Armin's looks, looking desperate. Her instincts never deceive her, and she decides to act without consulting the two boys. "Instructor!"
Shadis sat up and turned around as all eyes focused on Sasha. "What is it? Braus?"
Sasha kept calm, after all this time she never stopped fearing Shadis. She swallowed her fear and shouted "Sir! His equipment may be damaged!" she said, surprising everyone as Jean and Connie's eyes widened at Jean's sudden initiative.
Shadis, him, took fright. Her eyes widened like never before. "How…how did she guess?" he thought. He had to hide it and contain his surprise. If his superiors learn of this, he will be stripped of his duties.
"Arlelt. Trade your gear with Eren!" he said, not without doing it reluctantly.
"Yes! Sir"
Armin carried out the order and exchanged his equipment with Eren. Eren then tried again while all eyes were on him. Sasha, Connie, and Jean moved closer to the crowd and stood near Mikasa, Armin, Reiner, and Bertholdt. Eren then tried on the new equipment and much to everyone's surprise, and much to Shadis' dismay, he managed to balance himself.
"Your equipment was defective. The fitting on your belt was damaged. I've never heard of this part getting damaged. I'll have to add it to the maintenance checklist". Shadis said lying.
"Then did I pass?" Eren exclaimed.
"You're fine. Start training."
"I did it, I really did it!" he exclaimed, overjoyed. He turned his gaze to Mikasa, a big smile on his lips.
Reiner exclaimed "I guess it all worked out"
"He's looking at us, as if to say "See!""
"No" Mikasa interrupted them "He's relieved because he thinks we won't have to be separated now" she said while the 3 boys looked at her, confused. Jean meanwhile lowered his eyes with a sad look.
Mikasa turned to Sasha right next to her "It's thanks to you. Thank you for reporting the problem to the instructor."
Sasha was taken aback and answered, "Oh but you're welcome Mikasa."
Mikasa wondered "Do you know my name?"
Sasha, Jean, and Connie were surprised at that moment, yet another misstep on Sasha's part. "Haha yes of course, how not to know the name of the girl who masters the ODM like no other…" she said, stressed.
Mikasa looked at her and made an expression that could almost look like a smile "Thanks again, what's your name?"
"Sasha" replied the reddish-brown-haired girl.
"How did you know his gear was damaged?" Reiner asked.
Sasha was taken aback… She didn't even know when was the last time she had spoken to Reiner, the Battleship titan. Probably during their pursuit in the precincts of the Maria Wall when they called them to account. Although, the last time Reiner personally spoke to him was before when Ragako's Titans invaded Wall Rose.
"Haha, my hunting instincts never fail me!" she says.
Connie whispered to him, "Next time, we'll consult before we do anything, okay."
Armin "And you two? What is your name ?"
Jean replied, "Me it's Jean, he's Connie."
Bertholdt "You three seem to know each other well. Are you childhood friends?"
Jean replied "Yes, yes, almost" not noticing that Ymir was discreetly spying on their conversation.
Springer, Kirstein, Braus. Your services have been of great help to today's community. But know that you still need to be punished for the lack of discipline you have shown today. You will give me 5 hours around the Camp and this while running! And Braus I know you stole food from another cadet's plate yesterday! You will make me 2 hours longer than the other two."
The three of them exclaimed in surprise, those who thought they had been discreet, they should most likely work on their discretion as much as possible. Connie told herself that it was done for not being noticed from the first day. His gaze shifted to the multiple cadets, some of whom they hadn't seen for so long. His gaze crossed that of Thomas, Mylius, and Mina Carolina before laying his eyes on….Daz and Samuel. His gaze darkened when he remembered how things had ended between them last time.
Sasha meanwhile, was devastated…The same story repeats itself, the same mistakes, again and again…So his instincts had deceived him once again. Once again, Shadis and his eyes everywhere managed to catch her in the act.
Jean stared at Shadis, one thing was sure for him is that they had royally messed up their introduction and had been noticed by everyone. "This performance at the ODM will make Shadis keep an eye on me….". he thought. "We must avoid Sasha and Connie showing their abilities immediately, although the three Marleyan warriors managed to pass unnoticed in this way…Better that we were not more remarkable than that.".
Shadis continued his tirade "Springer, Braus! Everyone is already moving on to exercise. Your turn." he said.
Everyone went back to their training on their own, while Sasha and Connie prepared to take the test, Jean grabbed them and took them, arms around their shoulders, and whispered to them "We've already been noticed too much, we have to avoid to make the situation worse…Do as much as possible to look like a beginner during the exercise". In return, they both nodded and headed for the scales.
A few minutes later, while his two friends try to make fun of each other to avoid attracting attention. Jean stared at them in the distance, thinking about their situation… They had already wasted too much time and absolutely had to start taking action before the 4-day vacation in 6 months. "At least we can start talking concretely about the plan during their penalty run around the camp."
"You blew us all away earlier."
Jean was taken out of his trance immediately and turned around to see that it was Marco who had spoken to him.
"Oh it's you Marco, that was nothing, I just took inspiration from Mikasa and Annie" answered Jean.
"However, after your speech yesterday, and given your performance, you could very well join the Military Police if you finish in the Top 10."
Jean was taken aback by this question…It reminded him of a question that had plagued him in his previous life…If Marco had been able to survive Trost, would he have joined the Survey Corps or the Military Police, and with his passion for King, the false king, how would he have reacted?… All that, Jean was determined to find out this time. Nevertheless, the question that Marco asked him is good to take into account…. Not having made the same presentation as the last time, only his mother and those around him think that he wants to join the Military Police. What to answer, when deep down inside he would still like to be able to live a quiet life in Mitras, but he knew that was not possible. He knew the truth, and as Hange said in his previous life, it was not enough for him to close his ears to escape all this burden that he must carry for billions of lives. But….He shouldn't say too much.
"I'm not sure which army corps I want to join to be honest, Marco…"
"You could come with me to the center, it will be great to serve our King…"
"What do you like so much about defending the King?"
"It's thanks to him that we won't all starve and that the titans haven't all eaten yet, without his interventions, my village of Jinae would have been devastated…And then there's King's Day, or he distributes plenty of food to the needy."
"Marco, I don't think it's a good idea to dedicate your life to just one person."
"Huh? Why do you say that" replied Marco, confused.
"In the end, what you choose, you always do for yourself and your own interests, whether you like it or not. For me, for example, it's to have a clear conscience. And you, what advantages did you derive from helping the king?
Marco looked thoughtful, he told himself that Jean was not totally wrong and replied to Jean "The security of the interior….and the comfort too." he said, with a semblance of shame in his eyes….As if he understood what Jean meant by that…That he was perhaps mistaken and that his admiration for their King was in reality only a way to escape his own fear and selfishness of wanting to live like the Aristocrats.
Jean noticed this immediately without Marco having to say anything. "Don't worry, it's normal. In the end, the most important thing is not to regret your choices. I'll leave you, Sasha and Connie are done, we'll have to start running" He waves to her in the distance as he walks away towards his two time-traveling friends. Marco meanwhile looked at him and remained pensive.
A little later, while the meal is served in the refectory. The trio stopped near a shack after running for more than 4h45 minutes without stopping, they were out of breath and slowly caught their breath. Their veteran stamina would have kept them going longer, but they needed to clear things up and start planning their moves. Sasha knew exactly when they had to stop.
"It's the perfect time, at this hour, the others are eating and Shadis is doing paperwork and writing up his reports." she says.
"And how can you be so sure?" asked Connie
"The previous time, I took the opportunity to tap into the vegetable reserves of the superiors…I managed to go unnoticed this time." she replied. "Besides, having to go to dinner again destroys me from the inside, but hey, it's for a good cause, right Jean?" she said before turning to him, who was sitting on an empty crate.
"Yes, we absolutely have to start talking about strategy. Sasha, you did well to intervene earlier, the problem is that you acted without consulting us, we must absolutely avoid acting alone if we want to change things. he said
"I know…But if he had injured himself and his regeneration had activated…We would have found ourselves in a very complicated situation…" she disputed.
"Reiner would most definitely freak out and transform." Connie said, aware of the Warrior's psychological issues.
Jean added "I agree, we may have come very close to disaster but from now on none of us must take too hasty initiatives without informing the others and without we consult before. Is that understood?" he said
"Like crystal," Connie replied.
"Don't worry, it won't happen again…But something is bothering me."
The two boys looked at her, confused.
"The way Shadis looked at me when I called out to him about how old Eren's gear was, makes me think he knew that."
They were both taken aback by this assumption.
"You mean Shadis knew beforehand that Eren's equipment was damaged?" Connie said.
"I saw his look, it's clear that he seemed disturbed, almost annoyed…" she answered.
"It's possible….After all Shadis knew Eren's parents….." he replied.
"And the way he told his story last time, he seemed to be jealous of Eren's father." she says
"Huh?" exclaimed Connie and Jean. "But what makes you say that?" Connie exclaimed, "We're talking about Eren's late parents here anyway!"
"Huh? You forgot my predatory instincts. You can see that kind of thing, as much as Mikasa's crush on Eren…..Or yours on Mikasa" she said while she smirks and looks at Jean with playful eyes. Jean blushes immediately and reacted "Hey! Who do you think you are? Go choke on your potatoes and stop assuming how people feel!" he shouted as she and Connie snickered. Jean smoked inside and Connie then thought of Shadis.
"What do you think happened to Instructor Shadis in our previous life?" he said
Jean calmed down and looked at him "The last time we saw him was in Shiganshina. He helped us get rid of the top-ranking Titans." he said
Connie smiled "Nevertheless, he always did his best to protect the recruits. That's probably why he's so strict. he said, thinking back to all the times Shadis lectured them in their previous lives.
"Without a doubt." Sasha said smiling "That doesn't mean he has the right to torture me like he does! No dinner tonight! It's so cruel".
Jean regained control of the conversation. "Okay, that's enough, now we have to think about how we are going to proceed." he said. Connie and Sasha looked serious at that moment. The three of them looked at each other at that moment and understood that this time it was serious. They were going to have to take the weight of the whole world on their shoulders. Connie and Sasha waited to see what Jean would come up with and the latter checked that no one was around.
"Our biggest worry right now is the Warriors. In 3 years, after the ceremony, they will destroy Trost. We have to prepare for that." he said.
"Why not prevent them from doing harm immediately?" asked the bald boy.
"Because we have to act carefully and take advantage of our information. Knowing in advance each action of the enemy is an advantage to take into account. We must not risk that one of the three will turn into full Mitras or that Bertholdt will blow up the camp. " he said in a serious tone.
"But you have to keep an eye on them." added Sasha, pretending to know where Jean was coming from.
"Indeed, that's why we will have to watch them." he said
"WHAT? But you're sick, it's extremely risky?!" Connie protested.
"I can do it." Sasha said.
Jean looked at her, knowing that she had understood where he was coming from.
"But that is out of the question! Imagine they catch you! You can't do anything against them. You risk ending up like Marc…." he said before interrupting himself, his stressed gaze on Jean.
"Don't worry Connie. It will be fine," he replied.
Sasha then added "Connie, of the three of us, I'm the one who has the finest hearing and who has the instinct of a hunter, spying on a prey for hours, that knows me. I can spy on them from afar without them realizing it. It's not a clumsy and clumsy idiot like you who will succeed in completing the mission" she said mockingly, thus prompting a "HEY! Who are you calling an idiot? from Connie.
"It will allow us to follow their actions and make sure they don't try anything new compared to last time. And then that brings us to our first big problem…" he announces, thus arousing questioning looks from his two comrades.
"We have no way of stopping them if they freak out…" he said.
"Where are you coming from?" replied Connie.
"We have to be able to neutralize one if necessary. As a last resort. But the problem is that we don't have the material for it. Thunder spears haven't been invented yet and no syringes either… Without all that, we're completely helpless at the moment." he concludes.
"And you have a plan to remedy this?" Sasha asked. At the same time, Ymir and Christa came out of the canteen in the distance to go for a walk. Sasha was not surprised, although Shadis forbids nightlife after dinner, Ymir has always been one to disobey the rules without getting caught. And she always succeeded by taking Christa with her. Jean stared at Christa for a long time, Ymir noticed the trio and stared at them in turn, making them look away.
Jean continued "Yes. We have to get all this material. This is our number one goal at the moment."
"And how are you going to do it?" Connie said, curious to know.
"This is how we will proceed, in 6 months, during our 3 days of rest we will go to the Chapel of the Reiss Family in the enclosure of the Rose Wall, north of Orvud. We will take the opportunity to sneak into the tunnels made of hardening to extract the maximum. We will try to get our hands on the syringes Rod Reiss is keeping." he said, solemnly, in a tone almost reminiscent of Commander Hange.
"Wow, do you realize this is extremely risky?" said Sasha, worried. Connie, meanwhile, was speechless.
"Indeed, but we absolutely need all of this if we are to have any chance of making a difference." replied Jean.
Connie added, "You realize we might run into Kenny Ackermann. You want us to take care of him alone…"
"Not to mention his Anti-Personnel Squad." added Sasha.
"We will make sure to act at the right time. And then it's true that Anti-Personnel weapons could come in handy…" he thought, insinuating something that didn't sit well with either Sasha or Connie.
"Guys, this time too, we won't have any other choice, at one time or another we'll have to….." he interrupted himself, giving way to a long silence shared by the three.
"We're going to wait for King's Day, which is right at that time, and we'll take advantage of that to complete the mission." Jean concludes.
"It remains to be seen how are we going to make thunder spears without a plan and without equipment…And where are we going to store the syringes and the rest of the equipment? Not in our dorms anyway?" said Connie skeptically.
"Obviously not… We'll have to find an abandoned place unknown to everyone. Utgard Fortress might do the trick." answered Jean. The fact of evoking this place brought back very bad memories to Connie who frowned.
Sasha, on the other hand, had a flash of genius… She had a ready-made solution for storing equipment out of sight, but she was well aware that she could hardly reveal it, not immediately anyway...
Jean concludes "For now, that's all we can do to try to change things, planning the rest would be suicide because, from the moment we start interfering, things will start to become unpredictable. …. We have to try to follow the pattern from last time. Until we reach the outside of the walls anyway."
"But do you realize that means exposing hundreds of soldiers and civilians to the danger of multiple attacks? Including Ragako." Connie protested.
"I am fully aware of this and thought about it for a long time today, but the conclusion I have drawn is the following. It is up to us to prevent as many deaths as possible, whatever the cost.".
"This is Marco and my family we're talking about here, Horse Face," Connie replied, visibly very annoyed, thinking of the tragic fate that had awaited his mother, father, and siblings in the previous timeline and the way which Jean was insinuating risking exposing them to this pissed him off.
"Do you think I don't know maybe? But it is the only solution for the moment". challenged Jean, visibly very upset too.
Connie and Jean stared at each other for a long time, when was the time they were so at odds, Jean wondered.
Sasha very embarrassed by the situation tried to calm the troops. "Come on, let's not argue. All this will happen in 3 years, we still have a lot of leeways, don't we?" she said, smiling in a forced and awkward way.
Jean concluded "So it's concluded, we're going to proceed in this way, we have six months to thoroughly prepare the operation. For now let's continue to show our evidence without overdoing it. The three of us shouldn't get past the Warriors trio."
"Or even Mikasa or Eren" Sasha said mockingly.
"Mikasa impossible. As for Eren, he is no match for my veteran skills." he said, self-absorbed, almost getting a chuckle out of Connie.
Sasha observed in the distance "We should go to our quarters now, the cadets leave the mess hall and they shouldn't notice us as outcasts." she said.
"You're right, let's split up." he said.
The three of them separated and headed for their dormitories as the hour of the curfew was fast approaching.
A little later, as night fell on the Southern Training Camp. Sasha was lying quietly in her bed, waiting for the night to fall and especially for the other girls to stop talking to each other and finally decide to go to sleep. "People who have a balanced sleep pattern indulge in way too much," she thought, trying to close her eyes. She thought back to the plan and how dangerous it was and wondered if it was a good idea. She tried to question Jean's directions as little as possible, but still, rub shoulders with Kenny Ackermann on her own. And when it comes to the wolf, its distant cousin comes up to you. Mikasa approached Sasha and said "Hi. By the way, I wanted to thank you for pointing out that Eren's gear was damaged earlier. " she said in an expressionless tone. Sasha answered "Don't worry, it's normal." then an idea came to him. "I advise you to take good care of Eren to prevent him from getting hurt, because considering how daredevil he is, he might get hurt….VERY….SEVERELY." she said, a hint of mischief in her voice.
Mikasa looked worried and realized the many ways Eren could end up hurting during training, she actually had to be more vigilant. "You're right. Thank you, and…huh….Good night." she says.
"Good night" replied Sasha who fell asleep almost immediately. That way at least they won't have to chaperone Eren. Well, not right away.
In the boy's dorm, Eren and Armin were talking on the bed with Reiner and Bertholdt. Jean stared at them thinking "That could be a problem, that…." says to himself "Like what even by preventing Eren from making a fool of himself, we can't prevent the bond weaving between those." Curious to know how this was possible, he got up and went to see them.
"Hey, you? What are you talking about ?" interrupting them in their conversation.
"Oh hi Jean, we were just talking about how we can get better at ODM Gear. You're on point," Eren said with as much gusto as he was addressing Reiner and Bertholdt. It almost makes Jean quiver with shivers. Eren who admires him…He doesn't know what to think about it.
"It's true, how do you manage at the ODM like Mikasa?" said Bertholdt.
"Every time we ask her, she tells us she doesn't know and it's almost like second nature to her. She was the one who scared the boys who bullied us when we were young."
"By the way, Eren, were the three of you there that day in Shiganshina?" asked Reiner.
"Oh no…." thought Jean "I needed more than that…."
Eren replied in the affirmative and started to tell the 3 people present, without knowing that Jean already knew the story in depth and breadth. Bertholdt exclaimed "I'm sorry for you" with a guilty expression very easy to notice when you have all the pieces of the puzzle. Jean stared at him for a long time when he was interrupted by Armin who asked "And you two, are you from Wall Maria too?" he said. There Reiner proceeded to tell the fake, trumped-up story they concocted for their cover. Armin and Eren seem empathetic with this story which looks so much like theirs while Jean on his side wonders if Reiner himself did not believe in this false story. There's so much nothing going on in his head.
Jean then noticed that Connie had been staring at them from her bed since earlier. He waited for the end of Reiner's story to slip away and join him, trying to avoid making too much noise by waking the already sleeping cadets.
He walked over to his bed and sat down next to Connie. They were silent for a moment before Connie broke the silence. "Excuse me for the scene earlier, I was taken by the emotion….I don't want to put my family in danger and see them in…..this state….. a new time."
Jean answered "Don't worry, it's normal. I understand, but it's really the only way to make sure our plan works. But I promise you we'll save them, your family won't end up a titan, not this time." he said
Connie smiled as night fell on the dormitory. Jean, Sasha, and Connie know that long months of training await them and that they should, on top of that, calculate every detail of their operation in the Rod Reiss Chapel if they don't want everything to fall by the wayside. the following.
Re: (Guest ) Thanks for the tip, it helped a lot to correct the mistakes in the previous chapters and the next ones.
Re : (Traitor of all traitors) Yes that's their mission and for now, Jean feels like he has to diminish the impact of the timeline, scared to make something as bad as the Rumbling happen.