It had been several weeks since Eren, Mikasa and Armin had applied for the 104th cadet corps, and they were all preparing to leave for the corps. However, before they said goodbye to Carla, the three decided to stick around and wait for the caretaker that Keith Shadis said was coming, who was supposed to be here today. While waiting, Eren was lying on his bed, reminiscing over the years that had led up to this point. The fall of wall Maria, his mother's legs being crushed, the pictures Armin showed him and Mikasa of the outside world, all of it fueled his drive to wipe out all the titans with his bare hands. However that wasn't all he was doing while waiting. He was also having a conversation with a new friend of his.
{Hey Eren,} Gigan said. {How come you never told your family about me?}
Eren rolled over on his side as he replied, "Well, what am I supposed to tell them? That I suddenly started hearing a voice in my head one night, and that said voice belongs to you?"
{Fair point… So, you never did tell me how you gained hybrid powers.}
"That's because I still have no idea what you're talking about when you mention it! Even when you explained it to me, it still doesn't make any sense, because I'm not 'part monster,' I'm all human! I always have been!"
{Okay, okay, I'm sorry. You don't need to get so aggressive with me.}
Eren sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just really frustrated is all. That caretaker should have been here by now, and I have no idea why he isn't."
Meanwhile, a young man was riding down the road in a carriage. He was sent out by his colleague, Keith Shadis, to go care for a woman named Carla Jaeger while her children were out training in the 104th cadet corps. While he was riding however, his horse suddenly stopped in its tracks when a man in a cloak suddenly stepped in front of the carriage.
"Excuse me," the young man said. "I'm on official business here, could you please move out the way?"
The cloaked man remained silent. The young man grumbled and got off his carriage to scold the mystery man in person, when suddenly, a strange mist began to surround him, scaring the horse in the process. A hand suddenly lurched out of the mist and grabbed the caretaker by the collar, and he stared in horror as the must itself began to take the shape of a man. The man made of mist glared daggers at the caretaker, however the cloaked man suddenly held out his hand, prompting the man of mist to drop the caretaker, then float over to the cloaked man's side and take on a fully human form.
The cloaked man walked over to the caretaker and removed his hood, revealing his black hair, soul piercing stare, and black eyepatch. He then crouched before the caretaker and leaned in close before speaking in a calm and ominous tone.
"I'm sorry, but I will be caring for Carla Jaeger from here on," he said. "Now run along. We're done here."
"Y-y-y-yes sir!"
The caretaker quickly hopped back on his horse and rode off back the way he came at high speeds. The man with the eyepatch and his superpowered associate looked at eachother, both amazed at how cooperative the man was, but grateful for the lack of any scuffle nonetheless. The man with the eyepatch nodded to his associate, who proceeded to turn back into his vapor state and disappear into the woods while he began walking down the path.
As the sun set on the city of trost, the impatience in the Jaeger household was no longer exclusive to Eren. Mikasa, Armin, and even Carla, were also beginning to wonder what was taking the caretaker so long to get there. Even if he were arriving all the way from the other side of Trost, it shouldn't be taking him this long to get here. Thankfully, a knock was eventually heard on their front door. Eren went to open it, and sure enough, the man at the door introduced himself as Carla's caretaker.
"It's about time! What the hell took you so long?!" Eren shouted, "This had better not be a pattern for you when you're taking care of my mom!"
"Eren! Don't be so rude," Carla chastized as wheeled herself up to the door so she could greet the man herself. "I'm sorry, sir. He's just tense about my well-being."
"Oh no, that's perfectly fine. I understand. I was delayed on my way here."
"Well, I would like to thank you for taking the time to care for me until my children return. Mister…?"
"Serizawa," He said. "Daisuke Serizawa."
Carla welcomed Serizawa into their home and introduced him to Armin and Mikasa, who showed him to the room he would be residing in. After getting Serizawa settled in, Eren, Mikasa and Armin said their goodbyes to Carla and then departed for training. As they dissappeared into the distance, Serizawa wheeled Carla back inside.
After unpacking his belongings, Serizawa prepared to make lunch for Carla, who decided to take this opportunity to get to know her caretaker.
"So, , how long have you and Keith known eachother?"
Serizawa hesitated a bit before replying, "Um… not that long actually. He and I only just met recently infact, so I was a bit surprised when he came to me."
"Well, it's not like there were many other people to take care of me. I'm grateful that Keith was able to send someone over."
"I do find it rather peculiar that Grisha wouldn't be here. You'd think he'd want to be by his wife's side at all times."
"Oh? You know my husband?"
Serizawa flinched slightly. He was relieved that he was cooking with his back turned to Carla, as he was able to hide his reaction.
"W-well, Keith told me about him before I came over. I had also heard of his work as a doctor in Shiganshina."
"He certainly was something. I remember when a plague swept through Shingonshina and he alone managed to save everyone. Including my parents and myself."
Just leave out some of the specifics of how he was able to save her and her parents.
"You know, I'm not exactly a doctor, not anymore at least, but I do have some experience in medicine myself."
"Really?" Carla wheeled herself closer, "Keith didn't mention that you specialized in that field."
"That's because like I said, I'm not a doctor anymore. I've unfortunately had to give up on that life due to circumstances beyond my control," he said as he placed a hand on his eyepatch. "I am a scientist though, and I do still have the knowledge I've obtained from years of being a medical professional." He then looked down at Carla and an idea popped into his head. "Speaking of which, I could probably make something for your amputated legs."
Carla giggles, "Make what? Something for me to walk again."
"Why, yes in fact, I can," he then turned back to the meal he was cooking. "I'll start tomorrow once I'm able to gather supplies."
"W-wait, you actually can?"
Meanwhile, the man made of mist, whose real name was Huang Meng, floated above Trost, Mist from the hips down and human from the waist up, mapping out the area for any landmarks, any points of interest, any markets to get food and other such amenities, and crucially, potential hiding spots for his and Serizawa's target, Grisha Jaeger. And so far he has found none of that final category. No matter how hard Huang looked, he couldn't find where Grisha could be hiding from them. It was like after the night that they saw him visit Carla at the hospital, he just dropped off the face of the Earth.
While exploring the city, and avoiding the prying eyes of the public, he noticed a group of kids approaching the gates into Rose. He recognized the three from that day that Grisha visited Carla, realizing that it was Eren, Mikasa, and Armin, older but still clearly young, maybe 15 to 16 years old.
'Wait, I thought they'd be at least 18 if they're leaving so soon,' Huang thought as he saw them leave. 'Is the military really accepting child soldiers? How bad have things gotten after Ymir died?'
Although Huang wanted to follow them to find out more about what was going on in the military, he refrained from doing so, as he still needed to complete the job Serizawa set out for him. However, before Huang could get back to that, he heard someone screaming down below. After weighing his options, he decided that going to check that out wouldn't take too long, and would be a much less egregious distraction than following Eren, Mikasa and Armin all the way to the Cadet Corps training camp.
Huang landed by the river, where he saw a man being held at knifepoint by a group of thugs trying to mug him. Huang knew he couldn't just let this man get mugged, as Serizawa would be disappointed in him if he did, but he couldn't just use his powers on them, as the entirety of the Military Police and Garrison would likely want to dissect him if they found out about him. So he was going to have to rely on his own skills in hand-to-hand combat here.
The man reached into his pocket and pulled out all the money that he had on him, hoping it would satisfy them, however, the muggers decided that they couldn't have him running to the Military police and telling them about him. One of them then pinned him against the wall, about to slit his throat, however, he was distracted when he heard the other two grunting in pain behind him.
He turned around and saw Huang fighting off two muggers at once using nothing but what he had around him. He ducked and weaved out of the way of their slashes and stabs, then struck at every opening, he could find, even bashing one of them in the head with a rock, dazing him and leaving him on the ground briefly while he focused on the other one. The main guy dropped his victim and pulled out a second knife, telling both his men to back off. As the two moved away, the third one, who was seemingly their boss, looked down on Huang with a sinister grin on his face.
"You got some skills there, runt," he said, mocking the man's short stature. "I must say, I'm impressed. Name's Charles, and you?" He said in a disengenuously welcoming tone.
"Meng," he replied with a stern look on his face.
"Nice to meet you, Meng. I might actually remember killing you."
Huang dodged out of the way as Charles slashed at him, then went on the defensive as the two duked it out. Huang did his best to maneuver around his much taller foe but did receive the occasional cut and scratch from the knives. After a while, Huang was able to disarm Charles and force him to fight him hand to hand, which made the fight much more even, as Huang was able to use his hand-to-hand combat training to its fullest, attacking relentlessly and mercilessly while giving Charles, who by comparison had no formal training whatsoever, no opportunity to fight back.
Eventually, Huang was able to leg sweep Charles and send him toppling to the ground, and then climb on top of Charles. Huang then proceeded to pummel his enemy relentlessly, blood oozing out of Charles' nose and onto Huang's fists and he slammed them down again and again. However, just as Huang was about to beat Charles to death, he was suddenly stabbed in the back by one of Charles' men. Huang fell to the ground in agony as the blade sank into his spine and blood began to gush from his mouth. He toppled over onto the ground and his ears began to ring and his vision became blurry. Huang clenched his eyes shut in frustration as he knew what he'd have to do to survive.
Just before he did though, his eyes widened as he heard Charles strangling the guy that stabbed him. While he couldn't hear it clearly, he could tell that he was apparently mad that the goon stole the greatest fight he'd ever had from him. Huang then narrowed his eyes and activated his powers. The knife within him suddenly fell to the ground and Huang began to rise up off the ground, his back surrounded by vapor, and his ripped up, bloodstained coat falling to the ground as all his injuries began to heal. Charles looked back at this display and smiled with astonishment.
"Well I'll be," he said with an excited smile on his bloodied face. "Looks like our fight ain't over yet."
"No." Huang held out his hand, which suddenly became a massive cloud of vapor that blasted out with enough force to slam Charles into a brick wall and then pin him there. "It is."
Huang then tightened the vapor cloud so much that it crushed Charles' entire torso, killing him instantly. He then finished what Charles started, suffocating the goon that tried to kill him, before looking to the third goon who was on the ground trembling. He slowly floated closer to the goon, then pressed his forehead against his.
"Tell anyone what you just saw, and I'll do the same to you."
The goon nodded meekly and crawled away while babbling nonsensically.
Huang sighed and looked around, realizing that the person he was defending was already gone, likely having left while he was fighting Charles. Huang sighed and flew back up into the sky minutes before the MPs could arrive to see what had happened. While flying away, Huang chastised himself mentally, wondering what Ymir would have thought of him if she saw what he had become.
"HEY, MOPTOP!"
"Sir!" Armin responded with a salute.
It had been a few days since Eren and the other had arrived at the training camp, and they were going through the initiation ceremony. Keith Shadis, their family friend and now instructor, had intentionally skipped over Mikasa and Eren, knowing that this was nothing to them, but he knew that Armin was more delicate than those two, so this routine would be needed for someone like him.
"What do they call you, maggot?"
"Armin Arlert, from Shingonshina, sir!"
"Wow, seriously? Why would your parents curse you with such a dumb name?"
"It was my grandfather's sir!"
Shadis leaned in close and raised his voice once more. "Cadet Arlert, what is a runt like you doing here?!"
"I want to help humanity overcome the titan scourge, sir!"
"That is delightful to hear! You'll make a nice snack for them!" Shadis placed a hand on Armin's head and turned the boy around. "ABOUT FACE, MAGGOT!"
Keith went around, sharing similar treatment with most of the other cadets, but skipping over the ones who have clearly seen what the titans can do firsthand. This next recruit was not one of those people.
"WHAT DO WE HAVE OVER HERE!?"
"JEAN KIRSTEIN, SIR! FROM THE TROST DISTRICT!"
"AND WHY ARE YOU HERE CADET!?"
"To join the military police! The best of the best!"
"That's nice… so, you wanna live in the interior I take it?"
"Yes, si-" Jean was then headbutted by Keith and fell to his knees while clutching his forehead.
"NO ONE TOLD YOU TO SIT RECRUIT! IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE THIS THEN YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT JOINING THE MILITARY POLICE!"
Not by a long shot.
After a few more recruits, however, he happened upon one recruit that one unlike any of the others. She wasn't very noteworthy physically. Brown hair wrapped into a ponytail, average height, bit on the skinny side, but not by much. It'd be hard to single her out in this crowd was it not for one thing in her hand. A potato. A potato that she was currently in the process of eating. Keith dropped the soldier he was scolding while in a state of utter disbelief as he just stared at her.
"Hey, you. What do you think you're doing?"
The girl did not reply. Instead, she opened her mouth and took another bite of her potato.
"YOU ARE OFFICIALLY ON MY SHIT LIST! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?"
The girl gulped down the chunk of potato in her mouth and then saluted him, the potato right over her heart.
"SASHA BRAUS FROM DAUPER VILLAGE, SIR!" She shouted back at him.
"Sasha Braus, hugh? Tell me, what's that in your hand?"
"A STEAMED POTATO! IT SAT THERE IN THE MESS HALL BEGGING TO BE EATEN, SIR!"
"The theft, I understand, but why eat it here of all places?"
"It looked quite delicious, and it was getting cold, so I gave it shelter in my stomach, sir!" She said this without a hint of humor in her tone. This girl seemed to genuinely think that this was the correct response to the question as if she somehow didn't hear the part where Keith said "here of all places".
Keith's fist tightened behind his back as he held back with… not anger, but utter bewilderment and disbelief as he tried desperately to understand her logic. "Why?" he asked. "I can't understand, why are you eating that potato?"
Sasha raised an eyebrow. "Are you asking why people eat potatoes? I'm surprised you don't know, sir."
Everyone was staring at Sasha, in a mix of awe and shock at her brazen idiocy in the face of their instructor. Said instructor was now absolutely livid and glaring daggers at her. Sasha then had an idea to ease the situation and broke off a small piece of the potato before handing it to Keith.
"Here sir, have half," She said with reluctance. Keith took the potato and just stared at it.
"Have half? Really?"
Sasha gave him a slight smile in response.
Hours later, Eren, Armin, and a few other cadets, Connie Springer, Marco Bodt, and Mina Carolina, were watching as Sasha ran around the entire camp again and again. Eren commented on how she didn't seem nearly as bothered by this as losing meal privileges. While they were watching her, they noticed the dropout carriage carrying them away, and Armin was surprised that there was already one.
"It's only been one day," Armin said.
"That's how it is," Eren replied. "If you can't handle the pressure, you gotta leave." He then scoffed at their decision. "I can't believe anyone would rather pull plants than fight."
"Hey, I know about some of us, but you never mentioned where you were from, Eren," Marco commented, prompting Eren to pat his lifelong friend on the shoulder.
"The same as Armin. Shingonsina."
"Oh wow…" Marco said with a shaky tone of voice. "That means…"
"You saw it," Connie said. "The Colossal one. You were there that day, did you see him?"
"Yeah. I did."
Later at lunch, Eren was bombarded with questions about all the strange things that happened that day.
"So, was it true that there was a flying titan that drove away the other titans?" Marco asked Eren. "The same one that appeared over Trost again last night?"
"It was definitely bigger than the 'Colossal' Titan, but it definitely wasn't one. It was more like some metal dragon thing," he replied while eating his dinner. "And it was less like he scared them away, and more like he lured them away with a weird noise he was making."
"A dragon? I've heard of dragons in fairy tales when I was a kid, but never thought they were real," Connie said.
"And the Armored titan?" Mina asked. "The one that broke through Wall Maria?"
"Is that what they called it? In the confusion, it just looked like another titan to me."
Everyone was amazed, and one person spoke up and asked what they were like. That question made Eren think back to that horrible day, with all the titans slaughtering the people like animals. The horror of it all made Eren cover his mouth as he felt the urge to vomit. However, after hearing them trying to apologize, he attempted to put on a brave face in front of them all.
"Those stupid titans. They're really not that big a deal. If we focus on mastering the Omnidirectional Mobility Gear they give us, then it's titan payback time," Eren said. "I've waited years for this day, and all of a sudden, the reality is sinking in: I'm gonna join the Scout Regiment, and then I'll send the titans back to hell. I'm gonna butcher them all…"
'Not just that,' Eren thought. 'But I also have a secret weapon. With Gigan on my side, the two of us will be unstoppable. We'll show the titans what happens when man and kaiju work together, and take back the world that they stole. A knight fighting alongside a dragon to slay giants. Bet your bedtime stories never told you that one, Connie.' However, Eren's train of thought was interrupted by another person speaking up from the other side of the mess hall.
"Hey, are you crazy?" Jean asked with a hint of smugness in his voice. "Not that it's any of my business, but isn't signing up for the survey corps kind of like a death wish?"
Eren sat up and turned his attention entirely over to Jean. "I guess we'll see. Or at least I will. You seem content to hide in the interior with the MPs."
"Look, I'm just being honest here. I think it's better than being some loud-mouthed, braggadocious, tough guy wannabe who's pretending he's not as piss scared as the rest of us."
Eren got up from his table and glared down at Jean. "Are you trying to pick a fight?"
Jean shrugged. "Alright, sure. It makes no difference to me."
The cadets gathered around the two as they stood off against eachother. Armin tried to encourage them to stop, but his pleas were drowned out by everyone else in the mess hall egging them on. Thankfully, before any blows could be shared, the bell rang, signifying the end of dinner. Jean sighed softly before holding his hand out to Eren.
"Hey, I'm sorry," he said with a calm smile. "It was wrong of me to call you names and dismiss your choice of career. We good?"
"Yeah, I guess we're good…" Eren replied, not returning the smile, but returning the handshake. He then left with Armin, and Mikasa was soon to follow them.
As MIkasa passed by Jean, he found himself enamored by her beauty, unable to take her eyes off her. Before she could leave, he approached her and began stammering incoherently, before finally blurting out, "You have really pretty hair…"
"Thanks," she replied. She then left.
As she walked away, Jean rushed outside in hopes that he had a chance with her, only to see Mikasa talking to Eren. They were still close enough that he was able to hear what the two were saying.
"I can't believe you let your emotions get the better of you, Eren," Mikasa said. "You almost started a fight on your first day here! What would mom think of this?"
"You don't need to tell her about this," he replied. "She doesn't need more things to worry about."
Mikasa stopped and grabbed his hand, holding him in place.
"Eren, I promised your mother that I would look after you. I don't want you to think that I'm constantly meddling in your business just because I want to, because I'm not. I'm just trying to honor your mother's wishes."
"I know, I know! But if I am to fight for you, mom, and the rest of humanity, I need to be stronger, and that means being able to do things by myself."
Mikasa sighed. "Alright, I won't say anything this time. Just… remember why we're here and who we're doing this for, okay?"
Eren gave her a nod of reassurance. "I will. Thanks for talking some sense into me. She'd be proud if she were here to see that.
Mikasa blushed slightly at that and smiled softly. Jean's heart sank watching their interaction, and it only sank further down as their conversation continued. As the two were walking away, Eren noted that Mikasa's hair would probably get in the way of ODM training, and that she should cut it, to which she agreed.
As Jean watched this interaction, Connie walked by him. Without saying a word or even looking at Connie, he silently rubbed his hand on the back of his jacket.
"GAH!" Connie shouted as he started reaching at his back. "WHAT THE HELL!? What'd you rub on me?!"
As Connie continued to struggle, Jean just muttered, "my pride…"
Later that night, while everyone else was asleep in their cabins, Sasha was huffing and heaving as she stumbled her way to the nearest lit torch, having finally finished running across the entire camp. After reaching the small circle of light, she collapsed onto her stomach, seemingly unconscious and drenched from head to toe in sweat. However, as someone began approaching her from the darkness, Sasha's eyes snapped open and she lunged towards the person like a starving animal.
The girl approaching Sasha fell on her butt, then watched in utter terror as Sasha began eating the bread she was holding with only her teeth while standing on all fours. Eventually, Sasha came back to her "senses" when she realized what she had in her mouth.
"IT'S BREAD!" She screamed, startling the short blonde girl watching her.
"I-I'm sorry there isn't more," the girl said. "It was all I could take besides this water."
Sasha stared at the girl in astonishment as she offered her some of the water, then got down infront of her and began praising her like a goddess. As she screamed, a third girl approached the two with one eyebrow raised.
"Hey, what are you two doing?" She asked while rubbing one eye. "You're gonna wake up the whole camp if you keep screaming like that."
"S-sorry Ymir," the smallest of the trio said. "I just wanted to give her something to eat because she was running for so long."
"I see," Ymir said. "So you're trying to be nice, Christa?"
As she said that, Sasha fell over into Christa's lap and began to fall asleep.
"What's the point of breaking the rules for potato girl? That act of mindless kindness gets you nowhere."
Christa stayed silent.
Ymir sighed. "Whatever, let's just get her to bed." Ymir then lifter Sasha up over her shoulders.
"W-wait, I'm confused. Aren't you being nice by doing that?"
"Nah. I'm helping her so that she'll owe me one in the future."
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the camp, Eren was sitting alone behind his barracks. He slightly overheard what was going on because of Sasha's screaming, but he was more focused on a conversation he was currently having with someone else.
"So, Gigan, I've been wondering, why do you help humans?"
{Well, that's… kind of a long story. Too long to tell you right now. What I will say, is that it has to do with an ancient human civilization that sank into the ocean centuries before I became what I am today.}
That answer only left Eren with even more questions. Gigan was from the ocean? There was a human civilization that sank into the ocean? How did it get to the ocean in the first place? How did it sink? So many questions… but Gigan was right. There was no time to answer them all. As they spoke, he could feel himself drifting off to sleep where he sat.
{I'll tell you more about it some other time. For now, you should get some sleep. You have training to do tomorrow, and I have patrol to do tomorrow.}
Eren yawned and nodded, wishing Gigan a goodnight before going back into his cabin, being careful so as not to wake up his roommates.
Meanwhile, Gigan made one last trip around wall Maria to make sure that there were no breaches for titans to get through, and silently wished that Battra weren't a factor so that he could slaughter them all. After finding no breaches in Wall Rose, Gigan took a seat in the middle of a titan forest and went to sleep. It had been so long time since he had a true nap, not counting the 20,000-year coma he was in. Folds of metal draped over Gigan's visor as all of his non-essential systems shut down and he began to drift off to sleep.
Come the next morning, the day of ODM training had begun. Keith informed the students in no uncertain terms that there was no place for those who couldn't perform. If the students failed, they would be shipped to the fields. The majority of candidates immediately got the hang of it. Some were struggling a bit more than others, but all of them were shown to be apt in the use of the ODM gear. All accept one… Eren.
"WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION, JAEGER!?" Keith shouted as Eren hung upside down, dangling back and forth. All of the cadets were shocked at Eren's incompetence, some of them snickering to themselves, others felt pity, but most were just wondering how anyone could be this bad with the gear.
'Why am I…? What do I…? How do I work this thing? This can't be happening!'
Eren continued to attempt to practice with the ODM equipment, with Mikasa and Armin trying to give him advice on how to use it properly. Despite their attempts to help, however, he continued to fail, fall, and hit his head again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and aga-
Crack! "GYAAAAAH!" Eren screamed as he felt Mikasa squeeze his shoulder to get his attention.
"Stressing yourself out won't solve anything," Armin said. "You still have time to practice tomorrow."
Armin's words of encouragement fell on deaf ears, as Eren simply wallowed in his own self-pity.
"I'm pathetic," Eren said. "How am I supposed to be strong enough for my mom if I can't even stand up straight with ODM?"
"You don't have to," Mikasa answered. "Your mom would be happy knowing you could come back to her sooner-"
"YOU DON'T GET IT!" Eren slammed his fist onto the table in frustration. "The whole point of this was so that I could protect her for once instead of the other way around, by making this world a safe place for all of us to live freely, without fear of the titans wiping us out the moment we step out of our cage! She might be happy knowing that I got kicked out, but I'd never forgive myself for this failure."
"And I'm saying you don't need to do so. She wouldn't care either way if you get kicked out or kill them all. She just wants her son to be alive and be there for her."
In the middle of Mikasa's own speech, the lunch bell rang, and Eren and Armin decided that they could seek help from the other cadets. Meanwhile, Mikasa just kept talking.
"Please, understand, I won't let you return to the fields by yourself. Because wherever you go, I'll go with yo-" As Mikasa turned to look at Eren ang give a dramatic conclusion to her speech, she saw Sasha sitting next to her, her mouth hanging open slightly as she was at a loss for words.
Mikasa, having lost her appetite at this humiliating mistake, didn't even give Sasha the time to say anything. She shoved a loaf of bread into the girl's mouth and then left, using her scarf to cover the blush creeping onto her cheeks. Sasha hummed happily as she feasted upon the bread that, in her eyes, was given to her.
Who knew she'd meet so many generous people here?
While Eren was desperately trying to find someone to help him learn how to use the ODM gear, across the world, his super-powered cyborg companion, Gigan, was still on the hunt for Ymir, this time visiting Antarctica, thinking maybe she hid there so no one would find her. Deep in the Icy fields of Antarctica, Gigan began using his scanner to check for any lifeforms that were in there. They were all the ones you'd expect to see: Penguins, Orcas, Elephant seals, Leopard Seals, JMO-7, but no Ymir…
{Wait, back up!} Gigan said.
He scanned over a certain area, and deep below the ice was the kaiju known as JMO-7, colloquially known as Destoroyah.
Gigan shuddered upon seeing that Destoroyah was sealed away in the ice, and yet, despite cold being, his one known weakness, still had stable vital signs. Gigan immediately began changing his heat ray but stopped when he remembered that Destoroyah was not a kaiju to be trifled with. If there was one monster Gigan was more worried about releasing than him, it was Destoroyah. It was better to just leave him the way he was now than to risk dooming the entire world in a vain attempt to kill that which he and Ymir working together couldn't defeat.
More than that though, it was unlike Ymir to hide out somewhere where there was someone so dangerous right beneath her, so he deduced that she probably wasn't there, and fled before he made things worse.
As Gigan continued to scour the world, he came across a ship out in the middle of the ocean with no clear affiliation with Marley or Eldia. Pirates, perhaps? However, this pirate vessel was in danger, as Gigan saw a giant tentacle rising from the water, ready to drag them under. Gigan revved up his chainsaw hands, ready to tear the monster below the water apart, but was stopped by a voice approaching him.
[I wouldn't do that if I were you,] Battra said.
Gigan gritted his teeth. {But that Gezora is about to kill those humans! I have to save them!}
[Remember our deal, Gigan.] Battra flew up to Gigan, his purple eyes locking with Gigan's red visor. [I gave you permission to kill only the monsters that were encroaching on human territory. The ocean is not, has never been, nor will ever be 'human territory', and as such, that Gezora is well within its rights to feast upon them.]
Gigan tried to come up with a counterargument, but he was already too late, as the Gezora reached up out of the water and crushed the boat, snapping it in two, before dragging it and its occupants into the water. Gigan held back the urge to weep for the lives lost, while Battra looked down at them, satisfied with what had been done.
{Why…}
[Hm?]
{Why keep them alive if we can't save them from these horrible fates?} Gigan looked up at Battra, his arms shaking and his teeth gritted. {Why do we have to let innocent people suffer and die when all they want is to be free and explore the world they were born in?}
[Because humankind must never forget their place in the food chain again.] Battra turned away from Gigan. [As the guardian of this planet, it is my duty to make sure that no creature on this planet rises to dominance ever again. I made a mistake with the dinosaurs, wiping them all out, but just because I will not make the same mistake with humans does not mean I intend to let them overpopulate and exploit the world once again.]
With that, Battra flew away, leaving Gigan alone, feeling utterly useless…
"COME ON!" Eren shouted desperately. "I HEARD FROM EVERYONE YOU'RE REALLY GOOD! BERTHOLDT!? REINER!?"
"Sorry kid," Reiner replied. "But if it's advice you want, I'm not really your guy. There's really no special trick to just hanging there."
Eren sighed softly and Armin suggested that it might come to him tomorrow. However, before he could leave, Bertholdt stopped them to ask them something.
"Didn't you say that you were from Shingonshina?"
"Yes, that's right," Armin said as he and Eren sat back down.
"Then you two should know the horrors the titans commit, even with that large creature out there. So why on Earth do you want to go through that again?"
"Well, I didn't see the things Eren saw," Armin said. "I just couldn't stand idly by as the government sent the elderly to their deaths during the failed 'territory retrieval' operation. So, I came here so I could become strong enough to fight the titans so that untrained citizens didn't have to."
Armin then asked a question to Reiner and Bertholdt. "What about you two? Where are you from?"
"Oh, Reiner and I?" Bertholdt answered. "We were both from a mountain village just southeast of Wall Maria."
Armin and Eren gasped in shock as they realized what that meant.
"Yeah, unlike the more prosperous river towns, ours didn't receive word right away. The titans were on us before we even knew what was happening." Bertholdt paused for a moment before continuing. "It happened at dawn. All our livestock were acting wild and out of control. Soon after, we heard these strange rumblings that kept getting closer and closer, and I eventually realized that those rumblings were the sounds of death getting closer and closer. Eventually, I looked out my window, and…"
Bertholdt paused the story there, and Armin gulped nervously.
"After that, everything is just a blur… We all just panicked and…"
Reiner placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Hey, easy there. You're just getting yourself worked up again."
"Sorry…" Bertholdt looked back to Armin and Eren. "What I'm trying to say is that the four of us aren't like the rest of… them."
"Them who?" Armin asked.
"The others here who have never seen the horror of the titans."
The group went on a walk in the night, Bertholdt leading the group with a lantern in hand. As they walked, Bertholdt discussed how most of the others were only there for show or because society demanded it of them, but admitted that he wasn't all that different, as he joined so he could be a part of the military police and hide in the interior, admitting that he didn't have the fortitude for much else. Reiner however sang a different tune, admitting that he wanted to take back the home that was taken from him no matter what. Bertholdt then asked Eren why he signed up. Eren then thought back to that day that wall Maria fell.
"I'm here to kill them, so we can all be free," he said. Bertholdt and Reiner looked back at him as he continued. "I won't stop fighting until we retake the freedom that we were all born with, and the world that's rightfully ours."
Reiner thought for a moment about Eren's words. They struck a chord with him for a variety of reasons and filled him with a mix of respect for Eren's resolve… and fear for Eren's possible ability to act on that resolve.
The four stopped at the foot of a cliff, overlooking a vast forest ahead of them and a glistening lake below them, reflecting the moon off of its surface.
"We'll take it from step one, belt adjustment," Reiner said. "By tomorrow, you'll be an expert." He looked back at Eren and smiled. "You have what it takes. I can see it in you. Am I wrong?"
"No, and with your help, I won't fail," Eren replied. "Thank you Reiner."
It was the moment of truth. The final ODM test. Everyone was there to watch this. Even Gigan was hovering out of eyesight, his vision zoomed in all the way so that he could watch while speaking words of encouragement directly into Eren's mind. Eren stood there with a determined look on his face, awaiting Keith to give the order to the cadets by his sides.
"Eren Jaeger, are you ready?"
"Yes sir!" He replied.
"Proceed!"
The cranks began to creak and tilt as Eren was lifted up into the air slowly but surely. Eren spread out his arms and legs just enough to find his center of balance and managed to stay perfectly straight up in the air. The crowd began to cheer for him, however as Eren looked down with pride, he suddenly began to wobble back and forth, and eventually tip over. Just when everyone thought that Eren had failed, however, he gritted his teeth tightly, grunting and growling with grit and determination as he used all his might to force himself back upright, then roared victoriously as he managed to get back into a balanced stance. Of everyone in the crowd, Keith was the most dumbfounded of all of them. Not only had Eren performed a maneuver that he had never seen nor heard of in his life, but he did so with a broken piece of equipment.
Everyone cheered once more, their cheering even louder and more enthusiastic than before. Even Gigan celebrated his success, especially after detecting the flaw in his equipment in the form of the broken clasp. Eventually, Keith had him lowered and Eren stood proudly in front of his instructor, who removed the belt.
"So, how did I do?" Eren said with pride.
"Better than I thought humanly possible," Keith said, coming as a shock to everyone. It was at that moment that he revealed the broken clasp to Eren. "Your equipment was defective, yet you managed to defy all expectations and stabilize yourself, even after tipping over."
After this, he had Thomas Wagner exchange gears with Eren and had him lifted again. Needless to say, Eren passed with flying colors and earned the respect of all the other cadets when they realized that he went through training with faulty gear.
'I did it, Mikasa!' Eren remarked in his head while looking down at her. 'You and mom don't have to worry about me anymore! I did it!'
Mikasa smiled back as she saw the look on his face, but felt a bit sad as she realized that he wouldn't need her anymore.
'Grisha, this day should bring you pride,' Keith thought. 'Your son is a soldier.'
Reiner Braun: The mind and constitution of a grass-fed ox. Respected and held in high regard by his comrades.
Armin Arlert: Built like a daffodil, but academically brilliant. In fact, it's no stretch to call the boy a genius.
Annie Leonheat: Gifted with a sword, but doesn't co-operate well with her teammates.
Bertholdt Hoover: Heaps of native talent, but too mild-mannered to do anything with that talent.
Jean Kirstein: Ahead of the class on ODM. Also an insufferable smartass with a hair-trigger temper.
Sasha Braus: Unusually fine instincts, rarely shares them with her teammates.
Connie Springer: Good with ODM, but a few sandwiches shy of a picnic.
Mikasa Ackerman: Model cadet, excels in all categories. Truly a model soldier.
Eren Jaeger: Stellar in the field, lackluster in the classroom, but driven by a sense of purpose that's almost terrifying, and clearly hiding something big.