Disclaimer: I do not own Attack On Titan or anything related to it...
Chapter 6
Dawn broke on the island of Paradis. The sun peered through the clouds and shined its golden rays through the curtains, providing both light and warmth to the people.
Eren woke up to a shuffling sound. He stretched his limbs out with a groan. He looked around his room to find Connie putting on his clothes. "Good morning Eren." Connie greeted.
"Good morning to you too Connie." Eren greeted back with a yawn as he rubbed his eyes off sleep. "You're up early considering you slept in late."
"Yeah, I'm just in a happy mood today." Connie smiled. "I'll meet you down stairs." he added as he left the room.
Eren got out of bed and stretched a little bit more. He had a small smile on as he did some jumping jacks to get his body active.
He couldn't help but think back to what Armin had told him the previous day, 'You won't know their decisions until you talk to them'. What Armin told him kept playing in his head on repeat. He felt like a small weight had been lifted off his shoulders after their talk the previous day. Armin was right, he needed to have a talk with them. "How the hell do I do that?" he groaned as he grabbed his towel and toothbrush and headed to the bathroom.
For Connie, he descended to the dining room to find Armin, Floch, Jean and Sasha already having their breakfast. He sat at the table and grabbed a loaf of bread. "So, how was everyone's day yesterday?" Connie asked as he poured himself some tea.
"It was awesome!" Sasha enthusiastically answered. "I spent the day with Ma and Pa and the rest of my family. Plus I even got a new sister."
"Congrats Sasha. You didn't tell us your mom was expecting." Jean said.
"Oh, she wasn't pregnant." Sasha said to the confused looks of her friends.
"Wait, if she wasn't pregnant, then how do you have a new sister?" Connie asked in a confused tone.
"When there were titans inside Wall Rose, they attacked Kaya's village. I found her in her home sitting in shock while a titan was eating her mother, so I took an axe and sliced the titan's nape but it wasn't deep enough. I took Kaya and we ran with the titan chasing us and luckily we ran into my pa with some other villagers on horses. She had lost everyone she knew and she was all alone, so my parents took her in. And she just asked me if I could be her sister." she explained as she was close to tears.
"Sasha, are you okay?" Connie worriedly asked his best friend. He was concerned as it was rare to find Sasha close to tears on something that didn't have food involved or her friends' safety.
"I'm okay Connie. As a matter of fact, I'm more than okay. I just got a baby sister!" she shouted happily.
"And I'm sure you'll make a great big sister." Connie told her with a soft smile.
"Thanks Connie." Sasha thanked him as she reached out and gave him a hug.
"What about you Armin. What did you do yesterday?" Sasha asked as she let go of the hug
"I just had lunch with Eren." he answered as he took a sip of his tea while nervously looking at his friends.
"That's right, you asked him to join you for lunch." Floch said as he had forgotten about it.
"So, did you find out what's been troubling him?" Jean asked.
"Yes." Armin answered with a small nod and kept quiet.
"And?" Connie inquired after while of Armin being quiet.
"And he's fine." he answered as he took another long sip. A cold sweat ran down his brow at the stares his friends were giving him.
"You're hiding something." Jean said while glaring at him.
"No I'm not." Armin said in a high pitched tone and quickly covered his mouth in embarrassment.
"You totally are." Sasha said as she stood up and slammed her hands on the table. "Spill it." she told him.
Armin took in a deep breathe to steel his nerves. Connie, Sasha and Jean waited with bated breath in anticipation at the edge of their seats. "It's not my secret to tell." Armin said.
"What do you mean it's not your secret to tell?!" Sasha yelled at Armin.
"Eren told me something that he wishes to remain a secret. When he's ready, he'll tell you. All you need to know is that it's nothing to worry about." he told them.
"But you can tell us right." Sasha pleaded with him.
"No Sasha. It's his secret to tell." Armin told her only to be rewarded with a pout.
"But you can't keep a secret. You said it yourself when we had that cooking competition." Jean said.
"Guess I'll have to work hard to keep one this time round." Armin cheekily told him.
"Come on Armin, we promise we won't tell anyone." Connie pleaded with him.
"I can't take the chance guys." he told them. "And I told you, he'll tell you when he's ready." he added as he took a bite of his bread.
"He's right." Floch interrupted as he looked at Sasha and Connie.
"Sorry. I completely forgot you were here." Sasha said only to receive a glare from him.
"You should respect his decision. If he can't tell you, then he can't." Floch told them. "And he did say that Eren told him that he'd tell you. All you have to do is wait. It definitely won't kill if you don't know." he added.
Connie and Jean gave a reluctant nod to Armin as Sasha crossed her arms and gave a pout. "Thanks Floch." Armin thanked him. He appreciated the gesture from his fellow soldier.
"It's nothing." he told him.
They were interrupted by the sound of the dining door opening. They turned towards it to see Eren and Mikasa heading for the table. "Good morning guys." Eren and Mikasa greeted them.
"Morning." they greeted back. Eren and Mikasa moved to take a seat and grabbed their breakfast.
"So what were you talking about before we came in?" Eren asked.
Connie suddenly found the ceiling interesting while Sasha stuffed her mouth with her loaf of bread. Mikasa gave a confused look towards her friends as they were acting strange.
"They were just talking about how everyone spent their day yesterday." Floch told him earning a grateful look from Armin.
"Yeah...that's what we were talking about. Nothing weird like sharing secrets or anything like that." Sasha nervously said causing Eren to look at her wierdly. "What about you Jean. How's your mom doing?" she quickly asked trying to change the subject.
"She's doing fine and she says hi." Jean answered in a bored tone.
"It's nice to know that your mom cares about us." Connie said with a sad smile. He couldn't help but remember his mom's warm smile and how she took care and loved him and his siblings. It hurt him to the core that his mom was turned into a pure titan and there was nothing he could do to help her.
"Yeah. She actually invited you guys the next time we're free. She said she wants to get to know my friends better." Jean told them. His attitude towards his mom changed when Eren and the others told him to be glad he had a mother. It took some time but he came to see their point. He was lucky that he had a mother while some of his friends lost theirs. He was grateful that he had friends that helped see how lucky he was.
The door suddenly swung open with Levi and Hange walking in. "GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!" Hange greeted.
"Do you have to shout Hange! Even the wall titans can hear you." Levi scolded her while covering his ears.
Hange walked towards the table and poured a cup of tea for both Levi and her a cup of tea. "I take it from your relaxed faces that your day off was good." she said as she handed Levi his tea.
"It was awesome Hange." Connie said. "I won 20000 coins at a den." he added.
"No way!" Sasha gasped as everyone but Levi and Hange looked at Connie with shock written on their faces .
"Yes way." Connie smirked while puffing his chest out.
"Hope you didn't cheat." Levi glared at him as he slowly drank his tea.
"Hell no!" Connie said. "I'm just lucky and good with numbers. Plus, if you're found cheating, they cut off your arm. And if you may notice, I'm quite attached to mine."
"So what do you plan to do with the money?" Mikasa asked.
"I honestly don't know. But I'm going to save it and think on what I'll spend it on." Connie answered.
"Just don't go spending it all at once." Armin told him. "What about you Floch? How was Utopia?"
"It was fine." Floch curtly answered.
"What about you Yeager. Did anything interesting happen yesterday?!" Levi questioned as he stared at Eren while sipping his tea.
"I just had lunch with Armin then ran some errands." Eren answered.
"Oh...then I guess the reports of two scouts starting a fight in a bar have to be lies and rumours at best." Levi said as he slowly set his cup on a saucer to the shocked looks of Jean, Sasha and Connie.
"What did you do Eren?" Sasha asked.
Eren closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "Some assholes were mistreating a waitress, so I stepped in and told them to stop it and things escalated from there." he said.
"You weren't hurt were you?" Mikasa asked while checking on Eren.
"I'm fine, there's nothing to worry about. They were a gang that the military police had on their radar for a while, so everything's okay." Eren reassured her and turned to stare down at Captain Levi. "I'm not going to apologize or anything like that. They were nothing but bullies and misogynistic pieces of shit. If I could, I'd kill them all."
The room fell quiet at Eren's statement. The others slowly gave a side glance at Captain Levi to see how he would respond. "Well it's a good thing you didn't end up killing them or you'd have been arrested." Hange said turning the attention towards her. "And it's nice that you defended a damsel in distress. Isn't that right Levi." she added.
"Tsk. I just wanted to see if you'd take responsibility for your actions or not." Levi informed them causing Armin to let out a sigh of relief.
"Sooooo...whose excited for today?!" Hange exclaimed. "The recruiting ceremony is today and I'm hoping for an influx in new recruits." she enthusiastically added.
"Great, more teenage drama." Levi muttered.
"Don't be a downer Levi." Hange told him with a huge grin on her face which he ignored as he went on to finish up his morning tea.
"But are we sure that they'll choose the Survey Corps?" Sasha asked.
"We don't expect that many to join but we do expect a small increase. With the titans outside the walls all gone, most will join knowing that they won't end up getting eaten while on their first expedition." Armin informed.
"Armin's right. We need to boost our numbers." Hange told them. "And since I pulled some strings, the higher ups decided that the recruiting ceremony will be held in one place for all the cadet divisions. This gives us some leeway to speak to all of them at once. It saves both time and energy." she added.
"Which means you'll all be in attendance." Levi strongly added to her statement.
"And you'll also act as mentors to the new recruits, so be ready for some heavy workload for the next few months because we'll be setting up bases near the shore lines." she said in a tone brokering no argument.
"We understand Hange." Eren told her to the nods of the rest.
"That's good. The ceremony will begin at dusk at the barrack in Krolva District." Hange said. "So don't be late." she added with a glare.
"Yes Ma'am!" they responded in unison and stood up from their chairs with their cups and plates in hand and headed for the kitchen.
Hange watched as they all filed into the kitchen before slumping her head on the table. "Now I have to come up with a speech that's inspiring." she groaned. She turned to look at Levi sipping his tea. "You wouldn't mind becoming the commander for today?" she asked.
"No." he flatly answered and went back to his tea causing Hange to pout and drop her head in defeat.
That evening
The scouts stood on a dais that evening. Beside them stood several military personnel of both the military, garrison and cadet regiments. In front of them stood the new recruits nervously waiting for the ceremony to begin.
Keith Shadis stepped forward and looked at the crowd of recruits talking amongst themselves. He took in a long deep breath. " ATTENTION." he ordered resulting in a uniform sound of soldiers stomping their feet on the ground. Including Sasha.
"You came to us as nothing but maggots who weren't even worth horse shit. Weak and fragile degenerates who were nothing more than titan fodder. After three long grueling years of training, you are the ones who stood strong. Some of your comrades couldn't handle the pressure and left. Some even died. When you first came here you were all 1200 in number, but only 450 proved themselves worthy of being called soldiers.
As you know, you are to chose a regiment that you wish to serve in. The military police; where you are to maintain law and order in the walls and protect the Queen with your lives if need be. The garrison; where you are to man the walls and cannons. And finally the Survey Corps; the brave souls that venture outside the walls.
Be aware that only the top ten recruits of your classes will make it to the military police. The rest are to choose between the garrison and scout regiments. I will now let the Survey Corps Commander say a few words." he said as he stepped aside and let Hange have the stage.
"Good evening, my name is Commander Hange Zoë of the Survey Corps. I'll be honest with you and won't beat around the bush, the survey corps desperately needs new recruits after the massacre we underwent from the titans six months ago.
As you may know, the nations outside the walls currently see us as devils and considers us as an enemy and blight on the world. As the survey corps, it is our duty to protect our island from outside threats. We will be the ones who make first contact with the enemy.
The outside world's technology and military trumps ours by a huge margin. Upon joining the scouts, there are some of you who will die upon there first meet with the enemy. Those of you that do not wish to go on that journey, should consider the other regiments.
And as you know, our enemies are not titans but humans, but remember...it is a big step to take another human life. And it is not to be done lightly."
"Upon knowing the stakes at cost and weighing your options, those of you that wish to join the survey corps are to remain on their spots." she added as she looked around to see a huge number of them leave.
Hange silently waited for the rest to all leave. She looked at the remaining soldiers and gave a small smile. "To those of you that stayed behind, I hear by welcome you to the Survey Corps with a full fledged salute." she said as she placed her left fist behind her back and right fist on her heart.
" DEDICATE YOUR HEARTS!" she saluted to the unison response of her fellow scouts as they saluted back.
Hange couldn't help the smile on her face. With this, the survey corps would be able to come back from the precipice of death and stand strong. " Wherever you guys are watching, I hope you give me the strength for what's to come." she said to herself as she thought back of her fallen comrades, her eyes brimming with unshed tears of joy.
Another chapter done and dusted. Don't forget to read & review and follow & favorite. Til next time.