As Shadis finished reading the medical profile of Nicholas Meier he unlocked the drawer on his desk and slipped the file to the very bottom, closes the drawer, locked it and hid the key inside the plant pot inside his office. "It always pains me to turn away recruits, but this is for his own good, and partly mine. If he died in training on my watch the noble families would be calling for my head."

He then stepped out of his office, intent on making his way to the supply depot to tamper with the thigh clasp on two of the harnesses required for the aptitude test so that Meier and Yeager wouldn't be able to balance with it.

When Shadis arrived at the supply depot and began to tamper with the two sets of gear he thought about what would happen if they managed to balance with the broken gear, "If they do manage to balance with this gear I'll have no choice but to let then stay, it all depends on how determined they are to succeed."

He finished with the two harnesses and put them on the pile at the very left making a mental note of which pile they were on so he could hand them out.

As he stepped out of the supply depot he saw a figure heading for the forest, so being the most feared man in camp and it being almost two in the morning he decided to scream at them, "HEY YOU, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING", the figure turned round for a second before turning and running into the forest to escape the wrath of Shadis.

"GET BACK HERE", Shadis yelled as he began to give chase, following the figure into the forest, he followed the path into the forest until he reached a clearing in the trees, he looked around for a bit before giving up and stalking off so he could get some sleep for the night.

However if he had looked up into the trees, about 15 metres above him, Nick was standing on a branch waiting for Shadis to leave so he could think about what Frieda had said to him in his sleep.

(Earlier)

When Nick woke up, instead of being usually tired since he was a terrible morning person, he felt energised amd ready for the day, but he noticed he wasn't in the bunkhouse next to Thomas, no he was back in his room in Mitras.

He knew that he was sleeping as he usually talked to Frieda in his sleep in his room.

He looked around and saw Frieda about 5 feet away from his bed, but she wasn't facing him like she usually would, instead she faced the wall, signalling that something was wrong with her.

"Frieda, whats wrong?" He tried with and recieved no response.

"Frieda?" He tried again while getting up this time, again no response.

Slowly he put his hand on her shoulder since unlike when he was awake he could physically touch her while he was asleep.

He slowly turned her around only to see tears streaming down her face with her eyes red and puffy from all the crying she seemed to have been doing.

"Frieda, what's wrong?" He spoke again lowering his voice to sound soft and caring.

No repsonse. Again.

He slowly put his hands on her tear stained cheeks, making her look at him, "Frieda look at me", she finally looked at him with her sparkling blue eyes and he spoke again, "Whats wrong Frieda?, does it have something to do with Krista?"

"Yes" she whispered.

"Do you know her?" He questioned.

"She's my half sister"

Nick's eyes widened at the revelation of who Krista was, "But if she's your sister, why isn't she a Reiss?"

"Her actual name is Historia Reiss, I can only guess she changed it because she is the illegitimate daughter of my father."

"So you knew her?"

"Yes... But she doesn't know me." She replied with, surprising Nick a bit.

"You erased her memories, didn't you?", it was a statement rather than a question.

"I did it to protect her, but seeing her here, makes me think I shouldn't have, maybe then she wouldn't have to pretend to be someone she's not"

"Maybe, but you can't change the past, all you can do now is support her for the future."

"How am i going to do that?" She questioned, "I'm stuck inside your head, not hers."

"You say that as if you were put here against your will, but if my memory serves me correctly, you did this yourself" he teased.

She pulled her head out of his hands and buried her face into his shoulder, wrapping her hands round him in a hug, holding him tight against her, he wrapped his arms round her waist, holding her close.

"I know" she whispered.

She put her right hand on his chest feeling his erratically beating heart as she pulled back a bit to look into his eyes again and then spoke to him with an almost pleading voice, "Just promise me you'll look out for her, okay."

"Anything for you" he replied with.

She blushed a bit before replying, "You make it sound like you would follow me to deaths door just to bring me back"

"That's because I would Frieda, I would follow you to the end of this world to bring you back."

"But why?" She asked.

"You already know why" he countered with as she felt his heart beating faster every second.

"Can you say it?" She asked.

He managed to supress the red tint rising to his face before replying, "Why?, you already know."

"Because I've never heard you say it, I want to hear it so I know it's true."

"I can't just say that Frieda" he replied with, "Do you even realise how hard it is to talk to you without becoming a flustered and blushing mess?"

"But if you really did love love me, you would say it, wouldn't you?" She teased at him trying to get him to say it.

He swallowed the lump in his throat before he began to turn a bright shade of red as he began to take the path towards telling Frieda his feelings for her, even though she already knew, he couldn't just say it, he was scared that she was leading him on only to crush his heart like in his dream on the evacuation boat.

"Frieda I... I lo-" he managed to stutter out before Frieda put her left hand on his cheek before leaning in to kiss him.

He thought his heart was about to explode with what had just happened, but before he could react and kiss back she pulled away leaving him with a furious blush on his face.

"That's all I needed to hear" Frieda came out with after she regained her breath.

"Frieda" he started with.

"Mmm" she hummed leaning her head against his cheek.

"How is this going to work?" He asked with a small hint of nervousness is his voice.

"What do you mean?"

"Well... you just kissed me, so I'm assuming you like me to some degree as well, so I was wondering how we are going to work with you being in my head."

"I didn't think about that" she admitted still holding onto him, "But we can try, on one condition"

"Whats the condition?" He asked.

"Promise me that if the time ever comes that I'm not here anymore, that you'll find someone who makes you happy in this world."

"Okay" he muttered.

"Say it" she demanded.

"Okay. I promise."

And with that she leaned up to kiss him again, but this time letting all the sparks fly between them.

(Present)

"I can't believe i went from making out with Frieda to running away from Shadis in the space of 10 minutes" He thought to himself as he began climbing down the tree, confident that Shadis was now gone so he could make his way back to bed for the aptitude test tomorrow.

(The next day)

"LISTEN UP MAGGOTS" Shadis' voice boomed across the camp, "TODAY WE'RE DOING THE APTITUDE TEST, IF YOU CAN'T BALANCE, YOU'RE NOT FIT ENOUGH TO BE BAIT." He shouted, effectively terrifying most of the recruits.

"IF YOU CAN'T BALANCE, YOU WILL BE SHIPPED BACK TO THE FIELDS."

"Except me, I'll look like an idiot if I don't pass" Nick thought.

"Come on love, don't think like that, I'm sure you'll pass" Frieda spoke with a smile on her face.

"I didn't know we were using pet names already" he teased.

"Well maybe if you hadn't woken up so abruptly last night I could have used them then" she shot back with.

"It's not my fault Thomas kicked me last night" He whined internally.

"Guess we'll have to finish out activities some other time then" she flirted, knowing fully well that he would take the bait.

"Only if you finish first" he flirted back with, hoping she got the reference.

"You sure you could keep up with me"

"Babe I'm an Ackerman, I could take anything you throw at me"

"Even the wrath of Shadis?" She asked.

"What do you-"

"MEIER YOU SHITHEAD, ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING, I SAID GET YOUR ASS UP HERE"

"Right, sorry Sir" he said as Frieda giggled to herself.

As he got himself strapped into the machine he was ready to pass and start his training to reach his goal.

"Lift him up" Shadis spoke.

As he was lifted up off the ground he felt a slight vibration in the left side of his hip, he managed to stay upright until he reached the top before losing his balance and falling upside down.

"This can't be, Am I not fit to be a soldier?, No I'm not gonna give up that easy" he thought as Shadis was speaking to the others.

"Look what we have here" Shadis yelled, "The pretty boy from the interior can't handle the gear, looks like you'll be going back to Mitras to be coddled by your parents"

"Lower him" he continued with, but before the cadet could lower him he interrupted with a shout.

"NO, I CAN DO THIS", as he shouted this Shadis wondered what he was going to do with his thoughts, "If he pulls this off I'll have to keep him here."

Nick used the momentum from his dangling to right himself as the cadets stopped laughing for the moment. He could still feel the slight vibrations coming from his left side, to counter this instead of distributing his weight evenly across his body, he leaned to the right raising his left hip slightly upwards to take the weight off the left side if the harness a bit.

This however was putting an increasing pressure on his core as he had to tense his stomach muscles very hard in order to keep still and not fall over.

The cadets watched in awe as he was seemingly balancing only on his right side, seeing his shirt wrap tightly over his abdominal muscles clearly showing off his thin but muscled torso.

Shadis watched intently with a single bead of nervous sweat streaming down his forehead, hoping against all hope that he would fall so he wouldn't run the risk of looking after the noble for the next three years.

After about ninety seconds of the greatest abdominal workout of all time, Shadis spoke saying "Well, well, well, it looks like you're not completely useless after all Meier, but why were you balancing on your right side?", he asked not wanting to act suspiciously because of the broken belt.

"The left thigh clasp is broken, Sir", he replied while being lowered and then handing the defective equipment to the Instructor.

Shadis tugged on the gear, clearly showing the bent thigh clasp, "Looks like we have a natural", he spoke before lowering his voice so only Nick could hear, "Don't expect the training to be easy, just because you can balance, doesn't mean you can fly, NOW GET BACK IN FORMATION SHITHEAD" he screamed in his ear.

As Nick got back into formation he looked around to see Krista smiling sweetly at him while telling a brown haired freckled girl to "Be nice", he averted his gaze from the duo to see Eren, hanging upside down like he was except he couldn't right himself.

"WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION YEAGER?" Shadis yelled at the broken looking teen before he was lowered to the ground before Shadis yelled again, "FOR ALL OF YOU THAT FAILED TODAY, YOU HAVE UNTIL TOMORROW TO PASS, OR YOU'LL BE SHIPPED BACK TO THE FIELDS"

(2 hours later)

Nick finally had some training to look forward to after lunch, hand to hand combat training, his mother had been adamant about teaching him how to defend himself, because of potential criminals and kidnappers looking to make quick money could easily snatch him up. So at the age of 8 he began the training with his mother, which consisted of learning the proper stance with both fists raised to protect the face facing outwards for faster punches, elbows tucked in for effective blocking techniques, dominant foot behind the other, with him standing on the ball of his feet so he could swing with greater power in his legs.

His training also consisted of how to dodge attacks, how to use harder bones to block blows from softer bones, from learning how to throw both larger and smaller opponents to pinnning and effective submission moves such as the armbar, rear naked choke, triangle choke, and Nicks personal favourite the kneebar, because even if they got out of the kneebar they most likely would have a heavy limp and would make it easy to take his opponent down.

He also learned early on not to hit his opponent with his foot, but rather his shin so the blows would deal more damage.

When Shadis was explaining how to properly disarm and flip an opponent with a knife he used Marco as an example and flipped him surprisingly easy.

When they were put in pairs Nick was paired with a girl called Hannah, because as Shadis put it "Anyone could be your opponent in the real world".

"Do you want the knife first?" Asked Hannah.

"Sure, but you better be ready" he shot back with.

She tossed him the knife and just as he caught it he rushed at her, hoping to catch her surprise as he swing the wooden knofe at her, she just about got out the way but before she could react he was upon her again and swept her legs so she fell on her back and he just touched her throat with the knife.

"I win" he spoke, "It's your turn to be the bandit now" he said as he helped her to her feet and passed her the knife.

As soon as the knife was in her possession she swung at him, but he expected that, stepping back to avoid the blow, she came forward again and swung but he grabbed her wrist and twisted her arm above her head before spinning her around and grabbing her other wrist forcing it behind her back.

"Do you submit?" he spoke, all she did was stamp on his foot as he shouted in pain, she used the loosened grip swing at him but he leaned back, grabbed her arm before jumping and twisting his body to get her on the ground for an armbar which he locked in before speaking up, "Do you submit?"

"Yes" came her pained reply, as he let go another person spoke up, "Do you get off hurting girls when you fight them Meier", he turned around to see Emily standing there, with a wooden knife in her hand.

"No, why do you ask Emily" he calmly replied.

"Because we're going to fight, and I'm going to beat the shit out of you for getting my sister eaten by titans."

"Alright then Schön, bring it", he spoke as he got into his stance waiting for her to make the first move, he could see the hatred in her eyes as she dashed forward, intent on hitting him as hard as she could, she swung straight for his face, so he stepped to the side, her momentum carrying her forward as he stuck his foot out and she tripped, face planting into the dirt.

"You cheat" she yelled, furious that he had tripped her over like that, by now a crowd had gathered to watch the fight in the midfle of the circle, she got up and rushed towards him again, swinging for his stomach this time, he grabbed her forearm, moved in before flipping her over his body before grabbing the knife and holding it against her throat as he sat on her stomach before whispering to her, "Your sister was my friend too, how do you think I felt when she died, oh and she wasn't eaten, she bled out in my arms, if you don't believe me, ask Armin, he was there too." And with that he got up and walked off leaving Emily stunned, "Have i been wrong this whole time, I'll ask Armin later to see if he's telling the truth and if he is i guess I'll have to apologise for being a huge bitch towards him."

As he walked away he heard a cold and enotionless voice talk to him, "Who taught you how to fight like that?"

"My mother did, Why?" He asked now seeing it was Annie, his first official friend in the cadets.

"Your fighting style is similar to mine, but it was my fathers own technique that I was taught" she responded with.

"Is that so" he jested, "Maybe we should fight some other time to see who's the better fighter"

"Maybe we should" she agreed before walking off without saying another word.

He couldn't see it, but for the second time in as many days Annie Leonhart had smiled.

(After Dinner, Boys Bunkhouse)

"Come on guys, you gotta help me, whats the secret" Eren pleaded with Connie and Jean, desperate to pass the test tomorrow.

"Wow, he must be desperate if he's actually asking Jean for advice" Nick thought.

Eren please calm down" urged Armin to his now desperate companion, "Eren's been trying to use the gear but he can't get his balance right."

A smirk made its way onto Jean and Connie's faces, "What's the trick to having balance?, I don't know, maybe I just have natural talent" Connie spoke, clearly making fun of Eren.

"I'm still tring to figure out your secret. You've failed every possible, aside from strangling yourself with the wires", spoke Jean, clearly enjoying the fact that Eren was basically begging him for help with the gear.

"Come on guys, I'm begging you here" Eren spoke with desperation rising in his voice.

"Wasn't it you who said that if you couldn't handle the pressure you have to leave or was it-"

Nick decided to intervene before it got outof hand, "Have you considered that your gear is broken like my gear was"

"That's what I was thinking, but I couldn't find anything wrong with it" said Armin.

"You should keep practicing, but also ask Shadis to check the gear if you still can't work it."

"Y'know Nick, for a guy from Sina, your not so bad." Said Eren, clearly appreciating the advice given to him by the Sina native.

"Thanks, I appreciate it" Nick replied.

With that Eren walked off with Armin to the practice area to try some more before voice called out, "Hey, Armin, wait up", Eren and Armin both stopped and turned around to see who it was that called out.

"Oh hi, Emily was it?" Asked Armin.

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about something Armin. Alone" she added hinting for Eren to leave.

"O-Okay, Eren I'll meet you at the practice area" he said signalling for Eren to leave them alone.

"Alright, but don't take too long" Eren spoke as he walked off to meet Reiner and Bertholdt at the practice area.

"What did you want to ask?" Armin spoke, turning to face Emily now.

"I wanted to ask if you saw a red haired MP the day the wall fell, Nick said she bled out, but my family were told she was eaten by titans, so you could probably tell why I was angry at him yesterday and today."

"I did actually, Nick was there too, she was bleeding a lot at the time on the evacuation boat, he was talking to her, Oh and he was crying a lot as well, if that helps."

"It does, thank you Armin", Emily thanked him and began to think about how she would apologise to Nick in the morning, "Not that I deserve his forgiveness after how I acted towards him" she thought to herself.

(Later that night)

"That was sweet of you to help Eren while those two boys made fun of him" Frieda spoke as she walked towards him.

"I didn't want to see him get kicked out, we need people like him who are willing to fight titans so that others have a chance at living in the future"

"You're so nice" she said giving him her sweet smile while brushing his hair to the side with her hand.

She leaned up to kiss him like she had done the previous night, but unlike their first kiss she had her hands wrapped around his neck pushing his lips harder against hers, she forced her tongue into his mouth intent on winning the battle this time and make him submit to her. However he fought back by closing his lips around her tongue and pulling away, slightly stretching her tongue in the process. He grabbed her thighs pulling her up as she tightly wrapped her legs around him as he kissed, licked and bit her neck, with the intent of making her moan for him, as he pulled back Frieda grabbed the bottom of his shirt, hauling it over his head, as he leaned her against the wall she let go of his neck running her nails down his torso, earning a slight moan from the man holding her up.

He set her down so he could take her shirt off in one swift motion by grabbing the bottom of her shirt and teasingly lifted it slowly over her head. After the successful shirt removal he noticed that she wasn't wearing a bra as he pushed himself against her, their bare chests rubbing together as her hands ran down his torso going underneath his shorts, desperate to finish what they had started the night before.