Disclaimer: I do not own Attack On Titan or anything related to it...
Chapter 7
Hange sat down in her office going through some documents with a smile. Across her table sat Levi slowly drinking his tea in silence. After the previous night, she was more than happy, she was ecstatic. "Wipe that creepy smile off your face. You look like a clown." Levi told her.
"Come on Levi, even you have to have some semblance of happiness since we got a considerable number of recruits."
"Yeah, new recruits that are a bunch of softies who've never seen a titan before. Bet they still think that they are just dumb eyed bastards."
"We all thought the same at some point." she admonished him.
"Face it Hange, these kids only know how to take on the dummy titans. They couldn't handle an abnormal even if it was sawed in half. One of them would probably be eaten while the rest shit and piss themselves." Levi said in a bored.
"That's why we're going to train and lead them. Even though you were one of the best soldiers we've ever had right off the bat, there were still somethings that you weren't accustomed to and you had to learn the hard way." she said.
"I guess you're right." Levi sighed as he remembered of Furlan and Isabel. "Well, let's just see what this lot has to bring on the table." he added and went back to his tea.
Hange went back to her work writing on a paper while humming a little tune to the annoyance of Levi. "Can't I just drink my tea in silence."
Hange put her quill down and folded the paper and put it in an envelope and sealed it with a stamp. She stood up and looked outside the window to see some kids playing with a ball. "Do you ever think about how our lives would be if the colossal titan never attacked wall Maria?" Hange suddenly asked.
"What brought this on?" Levi sighed as he rubbed his temple in frustration.
"Just a what if situation. How different would our lives be if they never attacked?" she quietly asked.
"We'd still be clueless idiots marching to our deaths and the people would be ignorant and we'd still be following a bunch of old bastards who only cared about lining their pockets." Levi flatly answered.
"And I'd probably be dead. Most likely killed by Sonny or Beane or I'd end up working in a bar working for tips." she said with a dry chuckle.
"Or you could join the Garrison or Military."
"I'd probably end up going beyond the wall on my own to find a titan. Or maybe even jump off it to escape the boredom." she said she opened the window to let in some fresh air.
"Well that would be a shitty life compared to now. I'd rather live in the present." Levi told her.
"I suppose you're right. We wouldn't know as much as we do now and we wouldn't have known about Eren or Mikasa or the others."
"Speaking of which, where are they?" Levi asked. "I thought you told them that we'd have a meeting when we came back yesterday."
"I did, but I'm sure they'll be here soon enough." Hange said before someone knocked on her door. "See. You can come in." she added as the door opened.
"Speak of the devil" Levi muttered as Armin, Floch, Eren, Sasha, Connie and Jean filed in the office.
"Well good morning everyone." Hange greeted.
"Good morning commander." they greeted back.
"You can take a seat." she told them.
They each took a seat on the chairs that were there leaving one empty.
"Why were you late?!" Levi suddenly asked giving each of them a glare.
"We were waiting for Sasha." Armin answered.
"Hey, it's not my fault. I told Mikasa to wake me up but she didn't." Sasha said.
"Speaking of which, where is Mikasa?" Hange asked as she pointed at the empty chair.
"One of the recruits said that they saw her leave early. She didn't say where she was going." Floch answered.
"I'll deal with her later." Hange said ending the argument.
"Well let's get to business. We now currently have a huge number of new scouts, which means you'll have more responsibility handed to you. We'll have train them and still keep the Survey Corps functional." Hange said.
"I honestly didn't expect that much but I guess there are some people who are just as suicidal as us." Connie said to the chuckles of the other privates.
"We got 120 new members as scouts. Far more than I was hoping for which means we'll have to train them to think like scouts. You will all have a specific section in grooming them." Hange said.
"Wait, did you just say section? Does that mean-" Sasha said before Hange interrupted her
"No Sasha, I'm not promoting you section commanders...I'm promoting you to sergeants. First we'll have to train them and assess their strengths and weaknesses then we'll group them to the section that suits to their skills.
Sasha, you'll be training them in long range shooting. We might have been slicing titan napes at close range all these years but you'll have to teach them how to shoot and adapt to long range warfare." Hange said.
"I promise I won't let you down." Sasha said with a determined smile.
"I'm sure you'll do well." she told her with a nod.
"Armin, your duty will be to teach them all our strategies and coming up with new ones. No matter how unorthodox they may seem. As of now, you're our best strategist and tactician and I'm sure you'll thrive in this position."
"Thank you Hange." Armin thanked her.
"Just keep coming up with those tactics of your's and you'll have them eating from the palm of your hand." Levi told him giving him a nod.
"Connie, when you said that you were good with math, I decided to have you handle our finances. You'll be responsible for every coin that comes in and out of our coffers and do the regiments taxes. Of course you'll have some help from me to help you out wherever I can, but you'll also be helping the others with their cadets when needed." Hange told him. "I trust that you are up for the task?" she asked him.
"I'll give it my all." Connie answered with a full salute.
"Good to hear, because if you do happen to embezzle the regiment's funds, I'll be forced to personally take your head." Hange told him with a sardonic smile.
"Duly noted." Connie gulped.
"Floch and Jean, you'll be working together on this. Your jobs are to teach them about the thunder spears and also improve their ODM skills. I believe you'll be best suited for this as I know that you were the best in your classes when it came to ODM usage. But most of all, you'll be continuously applying pressure and putting them through mental warfare. They're rookies, so they will need to toughen up and learn how to respect the hierarchy. I want you two to push and challenge them and put them through tough situations to see how they'll react under pressure. They'll most likely end up hating you, but you'll be the ones with the final say when it comes to rating all the recruit's performance." Hange informed them.
"I suppose we can work together despite our differences." Floch said as Jean gave a curt nod agreeing with him.
"That's good to hear." Hange told them as she fixed her glasses.
"And finally Eren, as you are our resident titan who most likely won't end up causing extreme casualties; no offense Armin." "None taken." Armin said. "Your task will be training them to take you down." she added earning a shocked look from Eren and the others.
"You want them to kill me?!" Eren slowly asked her.
"She said take you down not kill you." Levi answered him. "Most of these kids think it's all about the glory when taking down a titan while they've probably never seen one. They need to know how to defend themselves when they come face to face with another titan shifter. We don't need them freezing up on the battlefield when the beast titan shows up." he added and went back to drinking his tea.
"Levi's right. I've seen countless new recruits die on their first expedition because they froze up in fear. That's why you'll be the first titan they'll see and try to take down. We are the only ones who've come close to defeating a titan shifter that's why they need to know how to handle themselves should we fall. They won't be perfect, neither are we but it would leave us better defended if more than only a handful knew how to take them down." she added.
"And they get to see a titan that's not hell bent on killing them, so that's better than anyone's ever had for their first time." Connie said a Sasha shuddered recalling her first titan encounter outside the walls.
"And we can train them to distract them while one of us eliminates them, but I believe it would be better if they also came up with their own ways of taking one down." Armin added his thoughts.
"They can take down an entire country of titans if they want to. But no one takes down monkey face but me." Levi said with finality. "He's mine to kill!"
Eren took a deep breathe and looked at Hange. "I'll give it my all to prepare them for what's to come, but I won't go easy on them." he told her.
"I wouldn't want it any other way." Hange said with a smile. "As for Mikasa, her job was to train them in close combat and hand to hand with Captain Levi and Eren helping whenever needed since he's improved tremendously in a short period of time, but I'm sure she'll know sooner." she added.
"Well, since you now know your jobs, I think this meeting has run it's course. Let's head on down for breakfast." she told them.
They all filed out of the office and headed down to the mess hall to see the new recruits mingling and talking to each other while eating. The hall slowly began to fall quiet as they recruits started to take notice that their commander and superiors were at the front looking at them.
Hange cleared her throat and greeted them. "Good morning everyone, I take it you had a pleasant night. As you all now know, I'm Commander Hange but you do not know the names of my fellow officers. Well on my left are Sergeants Braus, Springer and Kirstein while on my left are Sergeants Forster, Arlert, Yeager and my second in command; Captain Levi. We are thankful that you chose the scouts and we expect both hardwork and cooperation from you." Hange said as she got several nods from the recruits. "Now I'll let Captain Levi say a few words of inspiration to you all." she added as she took a few steps back all the while the others turned their heads towards Levi not expecting him to give a speech.
Levi gave Hange a glare as he took her spot on the front while the new recruits started to whisper to each other.
"That's Captain Levi!"
"He's humanity's strongest soldier."
"He's kind of cute."
"My little sister's taller than him."
"How the hell is he second in command when he's clearly younger than us."
Levi scanned the recruits with a cold glare putting a stop to the whispers. " HEADS UP AND SIT UP STRAIGHT!" Levi ordered the recruits.
"My name is Captain Levi Ackerman and I am the Survey Corps captain. I am assisted in my duties by the sergeants you see before you. You may have chosen the Survey Corps either out of bravery, glory or you're just as suicidal as the rest of us but know this, you are not a scout. That's what me and my fellow scouts are here for. Our mission is to train each and every one of you to become scouts.
A scout is characterized as one who portrays the highest of military virtue, he OBEYS orders, RESPECT'S his seniors and STRIVES constantly to be the BEST at everything that he does. Discipline and spirit are the hallmarks of a scout. We will train you in everything that we know even after some of you have given up on yourselves.
A scout also has to be clean, so if I happen to find your quarters filthy, you'll be cleaning the stables. Next to the horse shit, you'll feel right at home.
But do understand this, this isn't fun and games. Countless lives have been lost...and it is up to you to bring meaning to those lives. The same was asked of them and will be asked of those to come. Remember that you are the ones who keep the memories of the fallen alive. If you feel like you can't handle that, the door's wide open for you."
The room was silent for a while as the recruits took in what they had been told. One girl stood up and saluted to Levi. "When I chose the Survey Corps, I knew that it wouldn't be easy. I wanted to be able to make a difference but I see it's more than that now. I will not let their sacrifices be in vain and their lives will have meaning once more, this I promise." she said with determination written all over her face.
"It seems we actually have someone with balls in this miserable lot." Levi said as he gave her nod. "What's your name cadet?" he asked.
"I'm Christine Ermund from Calaneth District, Captain." she answered.
"If you don't feel the same way as Ermund, the Survey Corps isn't the place for you and it would save us all time if you'd just left." Levi said to the murmurs of the recruits.
Slowly, the recruits stood up and saluted to Captain Levi. "You just might fit in well here." Levi told them as he saluted back.
Hange took a step forward and clapped. "Well, after that speech, I believe that we should get back to our me-." she said but was interrupted by a man entering the building.
Everyone turned to look at the stranger who was currently sweating up bullets from the stares everyone was giving him. "Excuse me, I'm sorry but I have a delivery for Mr Yeager." the man said as he showed the envelope in his shaking hand.
"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" Levi coldly asked the man with a glare.
"I'm sorry b,b,but it's from the queen and,and sh,sh,sh,she told me it was urgent." the man stammered
"Sergeant Yeager, please receive your delivery." Hange told Eren as he went to take his letter. "And next time remember to have some manners and knock first before you enter a building." She told the deliveryman earning a quick nod from him.
"Have a good day." the man quickly said and ran out of the building as Eren went back to the front.
"Well, that was awkward." Hange said to some light chuckles from some recruits. "Tomorrow is when your scouts training begins so you have today to get to know your fellow recruits and make acquaintances, friendships and partnerships." she added with a bye and grabbed her breakfast and went back to her office with Levi in tow.
The recruits went back to their meals while Armin and the others took their breakfast. As for Eren, he quickly opened the envelope and read the letter. He put the letter in his back pockets after reading it and walked towards his friends' table.
"I've got to go guys, we'll meet up later." He told them.
"Is something wrong with Historia?" Sasha worriedly asked.
"She just wrote that she wanted to meet. I'm sure it's nothing worrisome." Eren reassured them as he left the hall.
Despite the letter telling him that Historia wanted to talk, he couldn't help the anxiety from creeping in. He knew that she wanted an answer on her proposal but didn't know how to handle the situation. He didn't know what to tell Historia since he hadn't yet had a talk with both her and Mikasa yet concerning their predicament.
Eren was so lost in his thoughts that he suddenly found himself in front of the castle gates. He walked in the castle heading for Historia's office. Every footstep he took felt heavier than the last. He felt like he'd rather walk with another giant boulder on his back and it would still be lighter than the invisible weight he felt bearing down on him.
He arrived at the door to see a military police standing guard. "I'm here to see the queen, she asked for me. Eren Yeager." he told the guard.
"Wait here." the guard told him as he entered the office to relay the message. The guard shortly came back and told Eren he could go in.
Eren could feel his heart beating out of his chest and his blood rushing to his ears. He took in a deep breathe and muttered to himself, "Here goes nothing."
He opened the door and walked in seeing Historia seated on her seat. But what surprised him was that one of the visitor's seats was filled by Mikasa who was drinking some juice. The door closed behind him eliciting a small yelp from him. He couldn't stop himself from gulping loudly in his nervous state.
Historia stood up and gave Eren a warm smile while Mikasa smiled at him with a small blush on her pale cheeks. She offered him the chair next to Mikasa.
"I'm glad you could join us Eren. We have much to discuss."
Next chapter will be the important talk between our main characters. How will they handle this scenario? It will probably take some time for the next one to upload. looking forward to your feedback and reviews. Til' next time.