"Do you have heart?"
"Yes sir!" Everyone saluted.
"As of this moment you have three options open to you," The man barked. "Choose wisely! The Garrison Regiment, whose job is to reinforce the walls! The Scout Regiment, who ride out into titan country to take back what was once ours! And the MP Regiment, maintaining law and order under orders from his royal majesty. Those cadets eligible for the MP have already been named..."
Jason glanced next to him at Jean, and then Annabeth to his right. Eren was above Annabeth.
They were the only two demigods who made it to the top ten. Not that it mattered, they were joining the scouts, but it still made Jason feel warm with pride knowing he was in the top ten.
"...the rest of you take a look. These are the top of your class!"
Annabeth kept her eyes straightforward and her expression serious, but Jason glanced at his fellow graduates. This was it. They'd finally be able to wipe out the titans, and the demigods would be able to go home after the years of military training they had been put through.
Jason's heart ached with longing to see the familiar faces at Camp Jupiter and Camp Half Blood, but he'd have to wait a little longer.
Just a little longer.
~:~
Everyone cheered and toasted happily, smiles plastered on faces and a carefree atmosphere filling the room.
"Congrats on the top ten Wise Girl." Percy said, pecking Annabeth's cheek.
"Thanks Seaweed Brain. I'm just surprised I ranked above Jason." She glanced at the son of Jupiter.
"I'm not." Jason grinned. "You're better at hand to hand combat, better with the ODM blades, better at following orders, the only area I top you is in using the actual ODM gear, and I don't even use it."
"Hey! Annabeth!" A girl called. Annabeth's roomates, Tanya and Nya, came running up. "Good job on getting in the top ten!" Nya continued.
"Are you gonna join the MPs?" Tanya asked.
"No. I'm joining the Scouts." Annabeth replied.
"Us too! See you there I guess!" Nya waved as Tanya dragged her off to another friend.
"Are you insane!?" Someone shouted. Everyone turned to the source of the voice and saw a man crowding in on Eren. The demigods slunk closer to the situation, ready to intrude if things got violent.
The man flinched away at all the attention, but he returned his focus to Eren. "How many people have died? We're talking a fifth of the population. If that doesn't paint a picture for you, I don't know what will."
Jason adjusted his glasses and identified the man speaking as he said "This is our life now. We can't beat them."
And just like that, the positive vibe died. The smiles became scowls, eyes sparkling with happiness became eyes shining with fear.
"Yeah? So what." Eren growled. Everyone returned their gaze to him. "We buckle, take it all lying down? Things have changed. Maybe not a lot but enough. They aren't the mystery they were five years ago. There's still a long way to go, but we've made progress. Every battle we lost taught us a lesson, gave us the tiniest notion towards something like hope. You telling me it'd be better to cut our losses? Let all the death and destruction be meaningless?" Anger was beginning to slip into Eren's voice. "Just ball it up and accept it? Not on your life!" Eren made a fist. "Humanity's future lies outside the walls, and I'm gonna clear the way! I'm gonna take back what was ours! I'll drive them out, and as long as at least one of us can say that, we're not done."
A single tear fell from Jason's eye. Eren's words were truly moving. How did such a great boy end up in a place like this?
Eren grit his teeth, his eyes beginning to water. He turned and fled from the room, Mikasa and Armin running after him.
"Eren wait!" Armin cried.
Jason began to follow, but Nico grabbed his wrist.
"Don't." He said. "He needs to be with Armin and Mikasa. We don't know him well enough to go to him now."
"I've known him for two years!" Jason protested. "I can help him!"
"No you can't! Armin and Mikasa know what he went through because they went through it with him! We can't help if we don't know how he feels!"
"Stop it!" Hazel said.
"I can't stand it when people are upset Nico, you know that!" Jason exclaimed.
"And I also know there are somethings you can't help with!" Nico was getting close to screaming. "You would make them feel awkward, and not to mention the tension would force Eren into silence, or hesitance at least!"
"Cut it out guys!" Annabeth hissed.
"He's not okay Nico!"
"Don't go Jason!" Nico suddenly drew his sword. "I won't let you!"
Another tear dropped from Jason's eye. "You would fight to keep me from going?"
"I would fight to help Eren cope with his feelings." Nico growled.
Jason sighed. He couldn't fight Nico. He could probably eventually overpower the boy, but he was scary, and not to mention he was important to Jason. The poor boy had been through a lot, he knew how to handle sadness and anger better than Jason did for sure.
"I'm sorry Nico. You're right." Jason said.
Nico breathed a sigh of relief and sheathed his sword. "Good. You probably would've beaten me in a fight."
"Eh, I doubt it." Jason tried for a smile.
~:~
"Cleaning cannons! Congratulations, you're a soldier now! Your first honorable task is to clean the freaking cannons!" Leo yelled.
"Oh, shut it Valdez." Percy chuckled. "It's not like we're being asked to fight the giants again."
"Giants?" Connie glanced at Percy suspiciously.
"Uh, it's- I mean- What I- Crud."
"He meant titans." Hazel said. "Not giants."
"Oh. Okay." Connie returned to the cannon. "So, what Regiment are you guys joining?"
"Me, Hazel, and Leo are joining the Scout Regiment." Percy said. "You?"
"Yeah...I'm going for the scouts too." Connie sighed.
"What," Eren exclaimed. "The heck do you mean you're joining the scouts? What happened to the MP, that was your whole thing!"
"Don't worry about it." Connie replied. "A guy's allowed to change his mind okay?"
"I think you're speech yesterday lit a fire under him." Mina said. Eren's eyes widened in surprise.
"Ain't nobody talking to you!" Connie protested. He turned, his cheeks dusted with a pink glow. "His temper tantrum had nothing to do with it!"
"That's what they all say." Leo muttered, exchanging an amused look with Percy.
"Hey, take it easy." Another cadet said. "It's not like you're the only one."
Hazel recognized him as the man who had called Eren out yesterday, the one who had triggered his speech. The man blushed and rubbed the back of his head.
"What? Are you serious?" Eren said in disbelief.
"Can you guys keep a secret?" Sasha's familiar voice asked. Everyone turned to look at her.
"'Cause I totally just helped myself to the officer's pantry!" She revealed a foot of meat that had been concealed in her jacket.
Everyone's face contorted in horror, gasping aloud.
"Sasha, they could throw your butt in the clink for that!" Eren said.
"Seriously, what is wrong with you?" One cadet said.
"What isn't wrong with her?" Connie muttered.
Sasha's eyes got a far away look, and saliva dripped from her mouth as her cheeks turned bright red. "It'll be fine, I'm willing to share. Oh! Could you imagine the sandwiches?" She tensed up, relaxed, and trembled, giggling as she fantasized the meals.
"Put it back!" Eren shouted.
"Yeah!" Mina agreed. "Do you know how rare meat's been since the titans took Wall Maria?"
"Um, little bit, yeah." Sasha stepped forward and knelt down in front of a crate. "Just look at it this way, pretty soon, we'll take back all the room we need for livestock."
One cadet trembled, swallowed, and shouted, "I would really like a slice please!"
"Hey if he gets one so do I!" Connie hollered. "Just, so you know."
"Me too! I'm in on it too!" Mina said.
"I call the biggest piece!" Leo added.
"Uh, but…" Eren trailed off.
"Come on, don't just stand there! If they see us slacking off, we're done for!" The first cadet to ask for meat said as he resumed cannon cleaning.
"See you guys at lunch time!" Mina smiled, and she walked off.
"I can't believe she did that." Percy muttered. "She's going to get her butt whooped."
"I know right?" Hazel chuckled. "It's like she- hey, is the wind picking up?"
The wind was indeed blowing with a new ferocity.
"It's probably just Jason being annoying." Leo said. "Let's get back to- HOLY HEPHAESTUS!" A bolt of yellow lightning shot right behind Eren, and the sky was illuminated into an expanse of green and black. As soon as it faded, a huge, corpse like face was staring at Leo.
Hazel screamed and scrambled backwards. "T-T-T-T-TITAN!"
Eren whipped around, and at the second, the wall shook. Smoke billowed through the air in impossibly large amounts with incredible speed, knocking the cadets off as though they were insects.
"Aaaahhh! It's hot!" Eren screamed as he plummeted down.
Leo remembered his ODM gear half way down, and quickly fired a wire. It stuck in the wall firmly, and everyone around him did the same, except for one cadet, who had gotten knocked unconscious and was now plummeting down.
"Samuel!" Connie screamed.
Sasha suddenly released her wire and began rapidly running down the wall.
"Sasha!" Mina cried.
The red haired girl shot a wire at the falling cadet, and the sharp hook lodged itself in his calf. She fired her other wire at the wall, holding the both of them in place.
"Try not to move, understand!" She yelled.
Hazel looked up. A steaming, muscled red hand had closed on the top of the wall. She trembled in fear, knowing this was the being that had caused all the deaths Nico had sensed.
Percy's eyes were down, staring in terror at a hole in the wall. It was about fifty feet tall, tall enough for a titan to get through.
Oh my gods, he thought. This is happening, the wall's been breached.
"They're gonna get in." Connie said, his voice rising to a shriek. "They're gonna get in! THEY'RE GONNA GET IN!"
Leo's nose was on fire. He was shaking, looking back and forth between the breach and the massive hand clamped on the wall. How was this possible?
"THIS IS IT PEOPLE!" Eren suddenly screamed. "DO OR DIE!"
Everyone seemed to snap awake from their trance as Eren used his ODM gear to shoot up the wall. "MOUNTED CANNON SQUAD 4, TAKE OUT THE COLOSSAL TITAN, THIS IS OUR CHANCE! DON'T LET IT SLIP AWAY!"
"LET'S GO!" Percy yelled. He shot up the wall as well.
The titan's face was surrounded in a cloud of billowing smoke, it's red muscles glistening in the sunlight.
"You…" Eren growled. "It's been a while."