I wonder if history will remember the 104th Trainie Corps, or if our achievements will merely be dust left to scatter in the winds of time. Like the era of Titan's was just the aftermath of a snowstorm, and all the footprints we leave are already melting. It's a scary thought, how quickly a burning light can be extinguished. Nothing makes that reality clearer than staring at a titan and understanding how insignificant we really are. Humanity is nothing but a bug crawling across the floor hoping it can escape the boot which is already coming down upon it.

Only some of us really can escape that boot. Some of us can take that boot and throw it so far away that the line of bugs crossing manages to make across.

The 104th was filled with a lot of bugs, but it also had the mutants.

From the start, you could tell who was strong and who wasn't. There was Mikasa Ackerman, who is and shall always be the strongest of the 104th. There was Reiner Braun and his shadow Bertrolt Hoover. And besides being strong, they were smart too. I always respected them. Reiner seemed like the kind of guy you'd follow to the death if you had to.

Eren Jaeger was certainly a strong soldier, if only in determination and will. He wasn't the greatest with gear, but his passion for the fight wasn't something to be overlooked. Annie Leonhart was another strong one, and a quiet one. She was...a mystery above all. Armin Arlert wasn't the best soldier, but he had a damn fine brain.

Of course, there's also me. I could be as good as Mikasa...with thirty years worth of experience under my belt and her becoming a drunken fool who can barely use gear. That's possibly the only way I could beat her. If she was having a bad day, and I was having the best day of my life.

Right when you saw her, you knew that she was a prodigy. Maybe it was the way she stood, like she knew what she was going to do and how she was going to do it. People would always aspire to be better than her, but aspiring was as far as you got.

Of course, I would never have known any of these people if it hadn't been for the military. I regretted disappointing James as I had. I know he wanted me to be a legendary man, the greatest boxer who ever lived, but I could not resist what I knew was my true calling. People out there needed help, and they needed a soldier not a polished boxer beating up other men.

The first day of training camp is also the worst day of training camp. This dude who looks like a classic storybook villain walks between the recruits, lined up in perfect formation, and yells at ones who look weak. It's both brilliantly comical, ridiculously mean, and genuinely effective.

I was one of the people who Keith Shadis decided had already been into hell and back. And yes, I have been to a hell. Once you've stood in front of a Titan and felt the strength of it's body. The way the ground shakes when it moves, and the beast's simple drive to kill. All it knows is kill, that's all the titan knows. There is nothing worse than a creature with only one purpose, because if it only has that purpose then there's nothing you can do to stop it from achieving that purpose.

Keith did pick on a boy who I recognized even if I didn't know yet. He was a refuge from Shiganshina, that much was obvious. But to Keith, Shiganshina didn't mean you were off the hook.

He stopped in front of the golden haired boy, and looked down at him. His eyes were cold and heartless, if there was even a heart left inside of him, "What is your name soldier?"

The boy trembled, his whole body shaking in fear. It felt like you could hear his gulp from kilometers around. With a voice laced with trepidation, he spoke, "Armin Arlert, sir!"His hand raised to his forehead in the salute, a second too late.

If Shadis hated anything more than someone who failed to salute properly, it was a scared person who failed to salute properly. His dark eyes glazed over with pure darkness and his mind must have filled with ways of torturing the poor kid. And then, amazingly, the sound of teeth crunching on the soft skin of a potato echoed through the valley. Everyone turned to look.

A girl with brown hair was staring forward, a single drop of sweat, gleaming as it slithered down her face. Her hand held the half-eaten potato as her jaw moved up and down, slowly devouring the vegetable that wasn't supposed to be. To Keith Shadis, such an act was an intolerable act of defiance that wasn't ever supposed to happen. Never. This kind of shit happened to other instructors, but no one insulted Keith Shadis.

Sasha Blouse had just made the greatest mistake of her life. Who knew it could be eating a potato?

Keith sort of whipped around and turned to face the vermin who dared to eat in his presence. One moment he was standing in front of Armin Arlert, but once he heard the sound of the potato crunching he was already in front of the girl. He was like a phantom that glided through space to find it's next victim. It's terrifying.

His face was even darker, if such a feat is even possible, "And who...are you?"His voice carried weight throughout the canyon, it's anger resonant.

"Sasha Blouse sir!"Trembling, her hand found her forehead. Keith was silent for a moment, and then his glanced around.

"Put your eyes back where they belong soldiers!"The entire squad...corrected their eyes, although we were still looking out of our corners, "Where did you get that...potato?"

"I, uh, found it. In the kitchen."Keith nodded his head.

"Give me it."Sasha did, and he threw it as far away as possible, "This, trainees is the kind of behavior I will not tolerate here. You are all dismissed, but know that if I ever catch you doing something even half as horrible as this, you may understand that I will probably order you to run for three days worth of kilometers. So go, and think about what you've done, even if you haven't done anything ."And that was it, that was that day. Future days would get worse.

For training can only be described as one thing - intense. Let me explain, this isn't like you go for a three mile run when you feel like it. You don't do ten pushups and then call it quits till tomorrow. For the 104th, training was a way of life. We all knew the stories of people who had died during training, but of course we all also assumed there were rumours.

I still believed they were rumours for the first couple of days. Most people probably still believed they were merely rumours. I guess that's how the system is supposed to work, Keith Shadis's whole plan. Lull us into believing they were rumours with a couple of days of light training, and then hit us when we weren't on guard. Dastardly. It was such a mean thing to do. And I love it.

He worked like that for a lot of the time I knew him. He kept you looking in one direction while he punched you in the other. He fought us the same way you'd fight a titan, don't let it know where you're hitting from. Or, don't let it know you're hitting at all.

The first trial of our strength and will was the gear tests. You can't be a soldier if you can't use the gear, because you can't punch a titan to death. Well, maybe one of those small ones. If you really trained, there might be a shot.

Anyway, we weren't all being trained to fight small titans hand-to-hand. We were being trained to kill so efficiently that neither the titan nor us knew we had killed it. And being able to use gear is required to do that. So, he tested us with a stationary 3DMG trial. We had to balance in a set of pre-prepared gear. If a person couldn't do that, they had to leave. I didn't have any trouble with the gear. Well, that's a lie. I had a bit of a kink at the start, not me related but gear related, but I smoothed it out.

Others didn't have any problems balancing at all. In fact, some people looked like they had been sitting in that gear for their entire life. They did not wobble in the least. It was like watching a rock, but slightly more exciting.

And then the passion filled boy came up to the stand, with his face contorted in the most determined stare I'd ever seen. Eren Jaeger looked like he was facing the ultimate titan, one that when killed would cause all the others to disappear. And to him, that was true. This was a test of no longer his passion. This was a test of skill. Although he would not admit, he feared that he was incapable of doing the most simple task he will ever be asked to do. But even though it so simple, the futures of countless people depend on the results of those who accept the task.

His foot crunched along the ground, each one in rhythm with his heartbeat. His face was stone cold, even as the anxious tore him apart. He planted one foot solidly in the ground, and locked his gear into place. His eyes did not look at us, but rather ahead into some distant void. Today, he promised, I will take the first step to vengeance. Today, I will have the power I need to kill every titan. Today, I will prove I can beat them!

And then he was lifted up and promptly fell on his face.

I would've laughed, but it felt wrong.

Anyway, the face Eren was making when he was on the ground was the highlight of my day. He was just in total shock. He just couldn't accept that he had failed.

Of course, Eren was not the type of person to submit to defeat. If you told him he was beaten, he said not yet. If you told him he had lost, he'd say he's still alive. If you told him he was wrong...he would turn his back on you and pretend you didn't exist.

Well, alright, the last part is slight exaggeration. Eren isn't that insane. You can correct him on many things but correcting him on a few certain topics will place you in his ire.

With a failure like that, especially with the humiliation of it having seen by Mikasa, and Armin, and, uh, everyone else. That's the sort of thing that Eren gets angry at. If this had been a person insulting him, he would've gone for their throat, and the gear should thank the stars it didn't have a throat.

Because to Eren Jaeger this was no longer a test of will. This was an act of defiance by the 3DMG. There was no backing down now.

Eren found me at the lake. I had been looking out to the water, admiring the glittering of the last rays of sunlight that bounced off the water into my eyes. Reiner and Bertrolt followed him, along with Armin close behind. It was an odd sight, I hadn't expected those four to hang together.

I just turned my eyes back to the lake, my left foot dipping in the water, and acted like I didn't care they had interrupted my peace and serenity. I had taken great pleasure in laying on the shoreline for a while very day., just enjoying the way the clouds moved overhead.. I knew I would have to leave now, as Eren isn't the type of person to let a man enjoy his relaxation time. However, when Reiner spotted me there he motioned for the others to head around to a more secluded part of the lake. I had hoped there were merely passing by, but I noticed that Eren was carrying a set of gear. I picked up my bags, one filled with my own gear, and headed towards the treeline, slipping behind the sight of others into shadows. I didn't quite want to leave the area, as it still felt like there was time to be had at the lake.

The sun hadn't yet fallen, although within the hour it would most likely ride underneath the horizon. Perhaps, I considered, I could migrate over to the other side of the lake? Although Eren can be...loud sometimes, I doubt he would feel the need to yell things to me across the lake.

So, that's how I found myself sitting at the other end of the lake, watching Reiner and Bertrolt instruct Eren how to properly use the 3D Maneuver Gear. That is also how I happened to be in exactly the right place, at exactly the right moment. Well actually, it could also be considered as the wrong place, at exactly the wrong moment.

"Angel Blase, how odd to find you here." Keith Shadis's voice entered my ears just as I was settling into a peaceful state of relaxation. I was startled, essentially leaping up to salute him.

"Sir! Um, if I may ask...what are you doing here?"He nodded.

"I was going to ask the same question," He moved to sit down on one of the many large, flat rocks that dotted the edge of the lake, "He's a determined boy, but how far can mere determination take a man who lacks any intrinsic ability?"

I was silent for a moment, and before I could reply he continued, "I know, it's out of my place to speak of such things to a boy. You shouldn't be burdened with the ramblings of an old fool. But really, Angel. Tell me, what are you doing on this side of the lake. It appeared that you were waiting for somebody."

"Well Sir, I wasn't waiting for anybody. I was just enjoying the moment. If that makes any sense." He nodded again, as he stood up.

"Well, Angel boy. I trust you not to talk about any part of this conversation. Let it be a… secret between the two of us." He went to leave, but stopped for a second, "Harrison Blase was a good man, I hope you know."

"You knew him?" I asked in response.

"Briefly, but I could see the man inside him. I hope you come to be at least half the man he was."

"Me too, sir."

He nodded, and then faded into the night the same as he had faded out of it. And then there was me, left alone sitting at the edge of the water watching a determined boy try to work past his failure to succeed. In a way, it was a beautiful sight. Seeing the pure strength of his mind trying to overcome the clumsiness of his body.

And in a way, it was a sad sight. How could such a determined person be a natural failure? Something about that doesn't seem right. Although seeing how Eren worked to improve, I was sure that he could pass the test with flying colors now.

And then I heard it, the crunching of a boot behind me. I spun around, the secret blade that I always carried around whipping out it's scabbard. I only caught a glimpse of the shadow that was creeping upon me, but that was all I needed to prepare for the monster that would soon come bursting out of the tree's to try to tear me apart.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone would be here. Especially not with a weapon." And all of the sudden I was embarrassed, because here I was standing as if my life was in complete jeopardy when the sound was made only by a girl. My blade found its sheath again, and I bowed my head slightly in an apologetic manner.

"No, it's uh...my fault. I guess I shouldn't draw blades without a reason." I laughed, trying to lighten the mood a bit. She was familiar, but not very. Her hair was black, and there was something different about her. I can't quite place it, but no one else really had the same type of face...maybe it was her eyes.

She stepped out of the tree line, very calm for a person who had just had blades drawn on her, "Mikasa Ackerman, and you?"

"What? Oh! Angel Blase."

She nodded, "That's a very Shiganshina name, you wouldn't happen to be from there?"

"Born, raised, and evicted there.. Not many people are very knowledgeable with Shiganshina names. I guess you must be from there too?"

"Me and Eren both."

"Ah, well, that's why he hates Titans like he does. You must know him well."

"Of course, he's my brother."

"Ah, well, you must be very close. I never would have guessed such a thing. You two look nothing alike."

"I'm adopted."

'Ah, well, you must be very grateful to his family. They must be proud of what you two are doing."

"They're dead."

"Ah, well, it must have been very hard for you two."

"Yeah." She wasn't really talking to me, she never was. No, she was watching Eren the whole time.

"Well, I, uh...guess I'll see you around."

"Goodbye Angel."

"Yes, I should go."And then I headed off back towards the dorms. To tell the truth, I'd had enough crazy for the night.