Eventually sleeping beside Erwin became more of a habit than a necessity. I not only enjoyed his company, but for the obvious reason of sleeping without any bad dreams. I do not think that we intended to make it a routine. It just kind of happened that way. I would get into bed and I would lie awake waiting for him. I would dose off every so often as I waited. It varied on what time he would finally come to sleep beside me. Only a few times had I fallen asleep waiting for Erwin to come in. On those nights, nightmares would edge into my brain until I felt his presence beside me. It was comforting to know that I was doing the same for him as he was for me. He usually could not sleep (for what reasons he would not tell) and lying beside me allowed him to sleep.

On the nights neither of us could sleep, we would stay awake with each other. Sometimes we would talk and on other nights we would lie in silence. The next morning I would wake up alone. If I said I did not mind, I would be lying, but I knew Erwin had to keep his appearance as the Commander of the (infamous?) Survey Corps. As far as I knew, nobody knew about our nightly visits. At least no one said anything.

Every day I grew stronger. My body was gaining weight. I could finally walk on my own without the crutch (or anyone else's help). I was saddened at the thought, but there was nothing I could do about the white scars still left on my skin. I did what I could to not look at them while dressing or bathing. My hair was down to my chin now and back to its healthy honey color. It had been another 4 months since I arrived to the Survey Corps. Winter had flown by quickly. Spring was upon us.

Espyon became my full on teacher. Not just for reading and writing, but also for hand-to-hand combat. We would go to a secluded area in the castle or on the grounds and spar. At first she went extremely easy on me, showing the deflects and the counterattacks and frontal attacks. As my strength grew, our sparring became harder and more intense. Espyon usually beat me in our duels, but we still had fun with them.

Espyon grabbed my hand and pulled me up off the ground. "Try again," she encouraged. "Don't hold back, I promise I've been through worse beatings."

"I don't like that you're able to say that," I told her as I went to hit her again. She blocked my hand and made for my gut. I deflected it and twisted her arm around to get it behind her back.

"Ow! Ow! Okay, you win! You win!" Espyon cried out. "Ariadne, you win that one!" I let her go. "Just kidding!" she said and grabbed me then pinned me against the floor.

"Not fair!" I said, my voice muffled on the ground.

Espyon laughed and helped me up again. "These fights aren't suppose to be fair."

"Obviously not," I muttered, rubbing dirt off my face.

"Miss Ariadne!" Another soldier came up to us. "A letter for you," she said.

"For me?" I glanced questioningly at Espyon. "Who could it possibly be from?" Espyon shrugged. I opened the envelope and found it was an acceptance letter.

Dear Miss Ariadne,

You have been accepted to join the fight for humanity. On May 4th, please report to the nearest recruiter to register for training. From there, it will be determined whether or not the King and Humanity itself will allow you to continue your service be it through the Military Police, Garrison, or the Survey Corps.

There was more to the letter regarding how I should have joined the military when I was a teenager (which would not have been possible) and how many have made a great sacrifice and how I might have to make the same sacrifice some day. I was aware of what I was getting into. Especially since I had been living within the headquarters of the smallest branch. I was eager to join them.

"What's the date today?" I asked Espyon.

"The 2nd I believe," she replied.

"Good. Now, where is the nearest recruiter station? I have to register soon." I began to walk out of our little secluded area in the castle.

Espyon had to run to catch up with me because I had left so quickly. "Joining the military?" she asked.

I nodded. "I told Commander Erwin I would consider it and I'm following through with it. It's not like there's anything else I can do."

Espyon tightened her lips (something she did when she disagreed with something). "There are plenty of other things you can do besides the military."

"Like what?"

"Well you were a scientist in your world right? Can't you do that here?"

"Yeah, but-."

"And you know how to do a lot of useful things with language. And you're physically fit, you could train other people if you wanted."

I stopped walking. "You're trying to get me out of joining."

Hesitantly, Espyon nodded. "I'm trying to keep you alive," she said softly.

I blinked. I supposed that was right. She had been keeping me alive ever since I arrived here. I felt ashamed for not acknowledging that. I put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm not going to die anytime soon," I assured her. "Not if I have you for a friend. And hey, maybe someday I'll be able to repay the favor." I smiled, hoping that would put her mind at ease.

She did not return my smile, but instead continued walking. "I don't want you to be in a situation where you would need to repay the favor."

For the next couple of days, Espyon reluctantly gave me some things I would need to have when I arrived at the recruiter's office. Somehow, she made a birth certificate for me along with an education certificate stating I had graduated from school. She even had a packet of paper with my medical history from the past 10 months I had been here (including some information she made me tell her). How and where she came up with these, I was unsure, but I trusted her and took them with me on the morning of May 4th to the recruiter's office.

Espyon came with me, dressed in civilian clothing instead of the regular uniform. The recruiter looked us up and down when we came into the building. "Why are you here, Fuchs?" he asked with a smile while looking at Espyon. "You've already gone through training."

She pointed to me. "Signing my friend up," she replied.

"Ah, I see," he said. "Papers," he ordered from me. I handed him the documents. He looked them over and signed them here and there. "Welcome to basic training, Ariadne Sloan. You're now becoming a part of humanity's strongest."

I was unsure whether or not I should thank him or not. I definitely thanked Espyon for coming with me (and for the papers) and then she left to return to the castle. I stayed at the building for an hour until a convoy of carriages arrived to take us new recruits to the training grounds. It was a similar journey that I took when I first arrived in this world: bumpy and uncomfortable and over several hours.

I looked at the other recruits on my carriage who sat near me. They really were of all ages. Some of them were at least in their 40s. Only a couple that I saw were nearer to my age. A few of them were talking with each other, making light conversation while the rest sat in silence. I adjusted the long skirt I was wearing (even though it was just fine) and sat back a little in my seat. I was so bored.

"Hi," a voice said to the right of me. I turned to the person sitting next to me. "I'm Joseph," the man (boy?) said. He had light orange hair with brown freckles dotting across his face. His large green eyes stared openly into my own. His face made him look very young. "What's your name?" he asked friendlily.

"Ariadne," I replied.

"Nice to meet you," he, Joseph, said holding out his hand. I shook it. "How old are you? I'm 23."

I was surprised. "Really? I didn't think you were that old. I'm only 20."

Joseph laughed lightly, a odd snorting sound. "I get that a lot," he replied. "I've had a baby face since I was 13."

"Well, I can see that," I said, laughing lightly as well. "So, why did you join late?" I figured people might ask me this question so it would not hurt to do it myself. I had to fit in somehow.

He shrugged. "Well, to be honest, I need the money to take care of my mother. She's sick, you see. Got something that takes special medicine to heal, but I need a bigger income in order to pay for it." He scratched his nose. "What about you? Why'd you join later than normal?"

I was not going to lie to him, but I was not going to tell him the whole truth either. As far as anyone knew, the Titan Shifter the Military Police killed was found within the walls not out. "I ran into a couple of Survey Corps members any they seemed pretty cool so I figured I could join them."

"You mean to join the Survey Corps?!" he asked with shock. "Do you have any idea how many of them die? Are you wanting to die?" He was not quite shouting, but he might as well have been.

I shook my head. "No, I don't—"

"Ariadne, if you want to live, you won't join the Survey Corps!" He was staring intensely at me. Several people had turned their heads towards us. "Tell me you won't join them!"

"Okay, fine, I won't," I lied.

"You still haven't changed your mind have you," he said after a while.

"No," I said quickly.

He pouted for a moment. "Fine," he said crossing his arms. "Your funeral." It was not the last time I would be seeing Joseph. I decided I liked him after our encounter in the carriage. He had a certain spunk I liked in people. Eventually we would become good friends, especially while in training.

After several hours of travel, just as the sun was high in the sky, we arrived at the training grounds. It was basically a barren wasteland with cabins and other small buildings. There were already people engaged in hand-to-hand combat, people working out, people going in and out of the cabins, and another group of people gathered around several sturdy poles, watching individuals balancing between the two with the contraptions on their hips (I still was unsure of the name of the contraptions). It may seem like there was a lot of people, but really there were not. It was just really busy.

We were all ordered off of the carriages and into a jumbled formation from oldest to youngest. I stood beside Joseph to my left and another woman to my right. A very tall man wearing the military uniform made his way through us all. He stopped at some and yelled insults at them among other things. I noticed he only skipped a few.

He stopped in front of me and stared fiercely down at me. "Why the hell are you here?" he asked harshly. "Did you get cut off of mommy and daddy's inheritance?"

(Did I look like a rich girl?) "Sir, no, sir!" I yelled as the others had done.

"You still haven't answered my question, cadet! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE?"

"COMMANDER ERWIN RECOMMENDED ME HERE, SIR!" I answered. "I HAVE NO OTHER EXPLANATION OTHER THAN MY OWN WILL!" Geez, I fit into the military regime rather quickly.

The man paused. "Commander Erwin?" he said confusedly. The man shook his head. "Interesting," he mumbled as he moved on to yell at Joseph.

I did not move from my spot nor did I listen to hear what he yelled at Joseph. Should I not have mentioned Erwin? Did I just get him in trouble in some way? This world was still too confusing in how it worked. I had not been outside of the Survey Corps headquarters much to experience anything significant.

The woman beside me (who was not shouted at) whispered to me out of the side of her mouth. "Psst! Hey, are you the same girl on the carriage who wants to join the Survey Corps?"

"Yeah, that's me," I replied. I glanced at her. She had frizzy, short mouse-brown hair. She had sharp hazel eyes that seemed too big for her face. She was much shorter than me by at least 10 inches.

"You say the Commander Erwin talked you into joining the damn Survey Corps?" she continued.

"Yes," I replied. "He did."

"How the fuck did you come into contact with him?" She looked me up and down. "You didn't offer him any kind of services did you?"

"No," I said a little too defensively.

She chuckled lightly. "It's alright. I wouldn't blame you for wanting to if you did." She licked her mouth seductively. "He is a looker, ain't he?" Before I could say anything in reply, we were all ordered to go through customs and get our uniforms. "I'll catch up with ya later!" the woman said as she pushed her way through the people. I did not get her name, but I figured I would get it later.

The uniforms were similar to the ones the soldiers wear, but the insignia had two swords crossing each other. After we received our uniforms, we were assigned a cabin, boys and girls. By this time, it was too late in the day to do anything so the superiors allowed us to chat and go to the mess hall and eat. I sat with Joseph and talked with him for a while. I did not see the other woman anywhere.

That night I was so tired, I immediately went to bed after dinner. I told Joseph I would see him the next day before entering the cabin. It was basically deserted so I quickly undressed and got into some pajamas then got into a bed. It was so weird falling asleep without anyone beside me. It was almost scary.

"Who the hell is screaming?!" someone yelled. It was the middle of the night, pitch black in the room. I had awoken with a start. Sweat covered my body, making me shiver.

Someone turned on a lantern. I rubbed my eyes as they adjusted to the sudden brightness. "It was you, wasn't it?" The woman from before looked accusingly at me. "Listen, sister, we're all tired and upset about leaving our families, but get yourself together!" She pointed a finger in my face. I could see other women in the cabin sitting up in their beds and watching us. "You've got nobody here that's gonna baby you! Now, get your shit together and go the fuck to sleep!" Angrily, she turned around and went to her own bed then shut out the light. I could already tell I was going to make good friends out of my cabinmates.

Well this shall be interesting. Ariadne can have some good sarcastic comments every once in a while.

I figured I could go ahead and update this since I had this done. Plus, adding in more characters is always a blast. :)

Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Leave a review down below if you liked! Thanks for reading!