Here is the second chapter, dunno what else to say here except to say it's more of a calmer tone for this one.
The door to a dusty wooden cabin creaked open, inside walked multiple boys all carrying bags over their shoulders; the cabin was spacious with double bunk beds lining the walls and gathered in the centre with unlit candles lining the walls to light the place once it became dark.
As all the boys entered, they hastily picked a bed, pairing themselves up and hurriedly choosing the top or bottom bunks and throwing their bags and unmarked military jackets on to their chosen beds.
Armin sighed as he carefully placed his items down at the end of his top bunk while Eren haphazardly threw his on his bunk; this was their first day of military training and they had all just been put down by their new Commandant Sadies, who took particular interest in vocally attacking the young blonde.
"Don't let it get to you" Eren said sitting cross legged on his bed as he pulled his unmarked jacket over his lap and putting a small box, they had been handed along with the jacket next to him, "It's probably just an initiation thing they do" he reassured opening the box.
Inside were three small patches and one large patch of the cadet badge along with some sewing equipment, they had been told to get all four patches sewn on to their jackets correctly before dinner or else there would be consequences.
To Eren this didn't make much sense, why wouldn't their first task be some sort of training exercise involving running laps like that girl who had been eating a potato during their introduction was already doing outside; he looked over to Armin who was setting up his jacket and box similar to how he had so he took a moment to voice his confusion, "Hey Armin, does this make any sense to you, I mean why would we be doing this instead of proper training?"
"Actually, it makes quite a bit of sense to me" Armin responded looking up at Eren, "For one this is a skill we'll need to be able to do in the military regardless of regiment, all the patches have been hand sewn on, have you ever taken a close look at Mr Hannes jacket" he added casually as he skilfully pulled out the needles and threaded the needle.
"But I think there is a second reason; look at how many are taking this so casually" he said looking around the room, and the other boys most were chatting away happily not even thinking about their task while very few were actually trying to do it, "I think the point is to wheedle out those who will follow orders and those that will slack of the second they aren't watched" he revealed.
Eren raised his eyebrows in realisation, that made quite a lot of sense, even if this won't get them kicked out it'll mark out to the Commandant who's going to try and who's doing this for the easy life, "It's actually pretty clever" Eren said looking down at his jacket while he tried to thread the needle.
"Here" Armin said taking the needle and thread from his hands and showing him how to do it, "It's really easy once you get used to it" he said with a smile, seemingly now fully recovered from his berating by the Commandant.
"Would you be able to teach me how to do this Armin, I've never really sewn anything in my life" Eren asked, he wasn't ashamed to ask for help in menial tasks like this especially if he was only asking his close friend to help him.
Armin nodded in reply, they began with the large patch on the back, as they began their work a new voice piped up from beside their bed, "Hey, could you guys give us some tips on this as well?", they turned to look to the side of the beds where two heads the popped up over the side of the bed, one a boy with blond hair with pronounced sideburns and light brown eyes, the other with ash blond hair and bluish grey eyes.
"Sorry, should probably introduce ourselves first" the blond said with a chuckle, "I'm Thomas Wagner" he said with a smile.
"I'm Milieus Zerumusuki" the ash blond boy said after smiling at them as well, "We're you bunk mates on the bed below, we overheard that you seemed good at sewing so we'd thought we'd ask if you could help us out too, as we're totally lost" he revealed with a chuckle.
Armin smiled at them, "Sure thing" he said beckoning them to come up.
As they sat across from the two other boys Armin opened his mouth again, "I'm Armin Artelt and this is…" he indicated over to Eren.
"Eren Yeager" he said with a smile and a head nod happy to know there were at least some other guys here who wanted to become soldiers.
As they began, they couldn't help the idle conversation break out, "So, are you two friends from before training?" Thomas asked noticing they seemed to pair up immediately when they entered the cabin assigned to the boys,
"Yeah, me and Armin have been friends for years all the way back to when we were kids" Eren answered threading his needle through the jacket, "What about you two?"
Milieus and Thomas looked at each other and chuckled, "Yeah we've been friends a while" Milieus said, "Not childhood friends like the two of you but a few years at least" he added with a light punch to Thomas's shoulder who chuckled in response, "Do you just know each other here or anyone else?".
"Yeah, we know some others but they're over in the girl's cabin" Armin answered finishing his back patch and moving on to one of the shoulder ones, "Two others to be precise, Mina and Mikasa".
"Wow, you guys really came prepared having a group of you to get through this" Thomas commented, "Though I do wonder what's going on in the girl's cabin right now" he wondered aloud.
Annie Leonhart was a girl who liked to keep to herself and preferred to remain invisible in crowds and in the girls cabin it was no different, she skilfully weaved between the other female cadets making a beeline for a bed in the far dark corner of the room.
They were all making idle conversation with each other making it easier for her to remain unnoticed and once she reached her goal, she immediately took the top bunk and put all her stuff on the far side, as far away from them as she could get, she didn't like talking and often preferred to let her actions speak for her and her putting herself as far away from the others as possible should be an obvious clue to leave her alone.
As she set herself up for the sewing task, she could already overhear the other girls talking about her but she didn't care, normal girls would breakdown or get sad hearing others talk about them in mean fashions but not Annie, she had more important things to do and couldn't be bothered to waste time on trying to prove something to the others, so if they wanted to talk shit about her they were more then welcome to, she didn't care.
Her curiosity did briefly get the better of her as she glanced at the girls all making friends, hardly any of them were getting on with the task, Annie herself didn't really want to do it but she simply had nothing better to do, she wanted to go train, but she wasn't sure of a place she could go to be uninterrupted yet, so she had to make do with being in a gossip hell hole.
She began hearing a creaking below her, casting a glance down at the mattress she'd figured that one person must not have gotten the hint to leave her alone but quickly glancing around she realised that there were exactly enough beds for the number of girls in the cabin, including the one doing laps.
But all the beds hadn't been claimed yet so whoever had taken the beds below her must have been some kind of loner too, but she hadn't bothered to really look at any of the girls before getting here so she couldn't even guess who it could be.
She looked to the bedside and debated leaning over to look who it was, slowly she set her items down and leaned towards the side.
"HEY!" a double pigtailed girl exclaimed shooting her head up from below making Annie jump back in shock at her sudden actions, "Looks like I'll be your bunkmate, names Mina Carolina!" she continued throwing her bags up before jumping up herself.
Annie was completely taken aback and couldn't even form words as this Mina got herself sorted out, "Who are you?" she asked keeping her bright smile.
"A-Annie" was all the answer she gave, "Why are you here?" she asked with a glare recovering from the sudden actions of Mina, inspecting the girl she couldn't figure her out in a glance, she obviously wasn't a threat that was easy to figure out but what was up with her.
Mina cocked her head to the side, "To become a soldier…?" she trailed of gaining a quizzical expression.
She was an idiot, Annie groaned rolling her eyes, "No, I mean why are you on my bed?" she asked again indicating to the space around them and the other bunking opportunities, "There's plenty of choice and you come to me".
"Ohhhh, I getcha now" she responded with a laugh scratching her cheek, "That's an easy answer, my friend Mikasa is below us but she want's to bunk alone but I don't want to be far away from has as she's like the only person I know here so I'm up here with you, and don't go saying you don't want me here cause I could see it from the look on your face you wanted someone to come to you" she smiled with glee.
Annie was wide eyed at the speed she could talk, she somehow had the ability to just go on and on without breathing, shaking her head she looked back to her sewing work, "Well you saw wrong, I want to be left alone, go bother someone else" she hissed.
"Well about that…" Mina chuckled indicating around them and all the bunks now being filled with the only ones available being next to either Mikasa or Annie making the latter groan in annoyance knowing she was stuck next to this annoying girl.
"Why don't you just bunk with your friend, I want to bunk alone too" she muttered briefly glancing to Mina who looked at her with her bright smile.
"Well for one, Mikasa has a reason for wanting to bunk alone and two, I think you need a friend; all the others have paired off here" she smiled before leaning over the side her double ponytails dangling over with her, "Mikasa, want to come up here for a bit?" she offered much to Annie's annoyance.
Mikasa was leaning against the wall quietly working on her jacket when she glanced up to Mina seeing her upside-down smile first along with her dangling ponytails making her look quite silly, "I'm fine Mina…" she muttered not really wanting to socialise right now.
"Oh, come on, I'm sure you could use some pointers on sewing anyway" she indicated to Mikasa's fingers which were already had little needle marks on the tips where she'd caught herself trying to sew the badges on, "You can sit on the far end if you want to keep a bit of distance" she smiled.
Mikasa looked at her hands then back to Mina before nodding, in the small about of time she'd known the girl, Mikasa had learned she can be quite insistent and hard to say 'no' too so just agreeing now was easier than going through all the trouble of her whittling her down till she'd say 'yes' anyway.
Mikasa stood and made her way to the top bunk, taking a spot next to the ladder as far away from the other two as possible, not out of hatred of them or anything but she just liked to have her space having Haphephobia and all, but she was quite happy Mina had thought of her, though she wasn't sure about this new girl.
Annie looked at the two girls who in her eyes had barged into her space, but she paid particular interest to the new girl Mina had brought up who'd she's assumed was Mikasa since she came from the bunk below, "Oh I forgot, Annie this is Mikasa, Mikasa meet Annie" Mina piped up clearing the questions.
Annie eyed her up and down while Mikasa did the same, Annie could tell there was something different about this girl and she didn't like it, looking into her eyes she only saw the eyes of a fighter much like her own, if the hair were the same, she could say she was looking into a mirror image, it almost made her respect her somewhat, almost.
Mikasa was seeing the same, across from her was a fighter, while they may fight for different things, they both had that instinct in them, they stared into each other's eyes, silently sizing each other up while Mina just looked between them in an almost comical head turning action.
"I think I just started a rivalry" she thought twirling one of her ponytails while letting out a nervous chuckle being caught between the two of them.
Many hours later the sun was setting and Eren, Armin, Thomas, Milieus, and a new boy Marco were stood outside the meal hall watching the now dubbed 'Potato Girl' still going through her laps, "Think she'll collapse?" Eren asked aloud leaning on the banister.
The five of them had finished their jackets before anyone else so now were stuck idling wating after the commandant came in to check and finding hardly any of them had even started the task he'd assigned, he was for a better word 'impressed' that the five were done and told them to wait outside the meal hall, "Nah, I bet she's got the stamina" Thomas spoke up as she went past again.
"Yeah, she'd have probably collapsed already if she didn't" Milieus commented leaning his side on the banister and crossing his arms.
"Any idea's what lap she's on?" Marco spoke up feeling like the odd one out as the others seemed to know each other to some level.
"How many was she meant to do, 100 wasn't it?" Armin asked getting a nod in response from the others, "At a guess then given the time I'd say somewhere around the 70's" he guessed waving his hand for emphasis.
"Hey guys!" Mina exclaimed throwing her arms around Eren and Armin bringing them into a tight hug, "What's up?".
They both chuckled at her sudden entrance, "Nothing, just watching the Potato Girl do her laps" Eren answered looking back to her noticing that she'd began to pant from exhaustion.
Mina looked around at the other guys who were surprised by her entrance, "Mina Carolina, nice to meet ya" she said with her signature bright smile.
Armin looked round, "Thomas, Milieus and Marco" he pointed to each individually who all gave their own little hand wave, "Why are you here Mina?" he asked next noting it was only her who'd turned up.
She looked back to the boy, "Oh yeah, the Commandant had let some of us out for finishing our jackets, the other should be turning up soonish" she said looking over her shoulder seeing a group of girls approaching, "You guys the same?".
She got a nod in response, "Only the five of us had actually started when the Commandant came him, he was furious with the other boys" Thomas chuckled leaning against the wall.
"Well actually I think some of the other boys had but they didn't get very far" Marco pipped up with a smile as the other small group of girls arrived.
The group had a the same about of members as the boys did "Eren, Armin, are you alright?" Mikasa asked stepping up to them but keeping her hands close to her body noticing the new people around.
"We're alright" Armin answered looking to her with a smile as idle conversation broke out around them, "How's the girls dorm?" he asked making a mental note of the other girls around assuming a comparable situation to the boy's dorm had happened.
"Hectic, they spend most of the time talking instead of doing anything" she answered glancing at the few girls who were around, "The Commandant wasn't impressed when he came to inspect our progress" she looked at the number of boys and drew the same conclusion.
"Wow so few of us actually did the task, that's pretty bad" a young lady called Christa spoke up from the back to her much taller friend who was stood beside her like a bodyguard.
"Meh, it's not our problem, we get to eat that's all I care about" the brown-haired Ymir responded before throwing an arm around the younger lady's shoulder, "And you of course" she chuckled out pulling her closer in a one-armed hug.
"How do you think the other guys are doing?" Milieus wondered aloud looking over to the boy's cabin where he could barely make out some figures by the windows, "Think they've even started yet?".
"They've probably started, though I'd bet it's not going well" Thomas said looking over to the cabin.
"Knowing they won't be eating without finishing will probably help them get a move on" Marco chuckled getting the other two to do so as well "How long it'll take them however I'm not quite sure".
"Oh yeah you guys I need to introduce you to someone" Mina said briefly stepping away to return with Annie in her grip, "Meet my bunkmate Annie" she said with her smile and indicating to the blonde who look incredibly pissed off.
In fact, she was, Mina as getting increasingly on her nerves and this was bringing her to her snapping point, Annie wanted to slap that smile of Mina's face but restrained herself as she didn't want to draw attention to herself but with this double ponytailed idiot around that attention seemed inevitable.
She looked at the two boys she'd be brought over too, one was a small blond boy who gave a shy wave which was responded to with a glare making him retreat a bit, the other was a dark brown-haired boy who seemed to be focused on other things which made a pleasant change to everyone seemingly paying attention to her.
Bizarrely, Annie couldn't see to look away from this one, she didn't know what it was, but she was almost transfixed onto him, "Armin and Eren" Mina helpfully said for Annie which she only partly heard being so fixated which Mina noticed gaining a sly smirk "Taking in the view eh?" she teased this snapped Annie back from her thoughts.
"What? No!" she snapped breaking Mina's grip and turning to storm off from the annoying girl heading inside the meal hall which had just been opened for them.
Mina looked on but let out a small laugh at Annie's actions, "Aww that's actually really cute" she said with her smile.
"You probably shouldn't go antagonising her Mina" Mikasa spoke up, "You don't know her, she could be very dangerous" she continued as they all began to walk in.
"Nah, I don't think she is" she beamed back putting her hands behind her head, "I think she's just misunderstood, everyone had their reasons for being the way they are" she cast a knowing glance to Mikasa.
They all went in aside from Eren who was looking into the distance so focused on something he wasn't aware of them moving, he could swear he saw something glinting in the distance a mere moment ago, but he couldn't see it happening again, "Eren, are you coming?" Armin spoke up shaking his friend's shoulder.
Eren shook his head and looked around to him, "Yeah, sorry just lost in my thoughts" he said before following Armin inside, taking one last glance over his shoulder before heading in.
The food they were given wasn't the best in the world but at least it was something to eat, Eren idly picked at his bread noticing the other cadets slowly filtering in finally finishing their tasks and collecting their food, "Eren eat up" Mikasa insisted pushing his tray towards him slightly.
"I am Mikasa" he calmly responded but glancing at Mikasa wearing her usual caring look towards him which he hated but he bit his tongue for now as he ate a piece of bread continuing to people watch.
There was nothing interesting however, there was some guy who looked like a horse bragging about something to Marco and some kid with a buzz cut but neither really looked interested in what he was saying but Marco was being politer about it.
There were two other guys sitting away chatting with each other, one was a buff looking blond guy who seemed to be doing more of the talking between him and the other guy who was incredibly tall, probably the tallest of the class, down the table from them were a few others but only three really stood out some kid whose hair was auburn making him stand out on his own compared to everyone else's dark or blond hair, another guy who looked to be about middle aged but still was a cadet somehow and a guy who's black hair was styled back in quite the spiky fashion and had a pretty decent height to him.
As his eyes went around the room, they eventually settled on a table in the corner where Annie was sat away from everyone else, what took him off guard was the fact she was staring right at him with a glare but the second she realised he was looking at her she snapped her head away suddenly finding her food more interesting.
Eren looked at her feeling a bit awkward but for some reason just couldn't tear his eyes away from her, it was like he was in a trance "Eren what do you think?" Armin asked shaking him from his fixation to look at his friend.
"Sorry what?" he asked completely oblivious to the conversation that must have been going on.
"What do you think of the people here?" Armin asked with an eyebrow raised wondering what was wrong with him.
"Or are you too busy ogling to answer" Mina suggestively wiggled her eyebrows to Eren across the table, making him face away from her, he figured she must have followed his eyeline to see him watching Annie.
"It was nothing" he hastily said before looking back, "What do I think of the people here, I don't know, they don't seem to take anything seriously though" he muttered looking at them all, "None of them know what the Titans are like".
"Oh yeah you guys are from Shiganshina aren't you" Mina said a bit too loudly than she meant too gaining the attention of everyone.
"Wait, you're all from Shiganshina?" Thomas said looking round.
"You've seen the Titans first-hand?" Buzz cut said coming over to make sure he heard right.
"Yeah, what about it" Eren said taking a sip from his drink as a crowd gathered around suddenly making them the centre of attention.
"Did you see the Colossal Titan? What was it like?" Milieus asked leaning in.
"Like a big skinless human, with steam coming of it" Eren answered treating this as coolly as possible.
"I heard it was so big could have just stepped over the wall" Christa asked putting her hands together while looking at him.
Eren looked at the group, they'd obviously just heard over the top stories about what happened and drawn their own conclusions, it was only right he told them what was real, "No it wasn't that tall, I saw it myself, it's head barely came over the wall".
"His hands were massive too they gripped onto the wall so he could steady himself before he kicked right through the gate" he answered truthfully, there wasn't a single part of the day he couldn't remember perfectly.
"Straight through the gate did you say?" Marco asked.
"Yep, one foot in one go straight though, didn't even seem to bother him, I don't know what happened to him after however, we had to run for our lives when the Titan's poured through" he responded swirling his drink noting he'd become the only spokesperson for the three Shiganshina members.
"What did they look like, and how many were there?" the auburn kid asked.
"Big naked humans, except most of their faces were hideously disfigured in some say, weird teeth or stupid smiles; as for how many I couldn't tell you, when I say poured in, I mean poured in they basically blotted out the hole with how many there were" he said leaning his head on his crossed fingers.
"Wasn't there another weird one, the Armoured or something?" Horse face asked from the back keeping his arms crossed.
"Yeah there was, didn't see much of him but what I can tell you was he seemed unstoppable, when we were in the boat riding away I heard so many cannons firing from the gate, I presume at him but none of them did a thing, in one charge he came right through the second gate like it was nothing" Eren sighed and leaned back, "And when they say Armoured they mean damn well Armoured from what I saw on the boat he was covered in the damn stuff, didn't look like there was a single weak point on him".
Eren looked around at the amazed group not one of them knew what to say even the ones who didn't seem interested before like Annie and the buff and tall guys had turned their attention over to Eren's story time.
"How close did you get to a Titan" Ymir asked looking at him side on.
"I…" Eren began when images of his mother's death flooded his mind, he quickly stood up his eyes wide and they all looked confused, "I don't want to talk about it…" he whispered before walking out of the hall.
"What the hell?" Horse face asked, "It was a good question…"
"Think you could answer it" Mikasa said walking close to him, "Try answering it after watching your own mother get eaten alive by a Titan" she hissed before running after Eren with some food and water for him.
No one could say anything in response, even Mina was lost as to what to do, slowly they all returned to eating but nowhere near as much conversation was taking place anymore.
Outside Mikasa was running after Eren who was walking back to the cabin in silence, "Eren!" she called out making him stop to look at her.
"What Mikasa?" he asked an almost uncaring look on his face.
"Are you okay?" she asked walking up to him with her voice laced with concern.
"I just really want to be alone right now Mikasa" he muttered walking away again.
"I've also brought some food and water for you if you want it…" she said sounding like she ignored what he said.
"I'm not hungry anymore" Eren muttered realising Mikasa was slipping into the side of herself that he really hated.
"Eren…"
"Just stop!" he snapped looking back at her, "I want to be alone; I don't need you babying me like you always do!" he hissed turning away from her and taking a breath, "If you want to do something for me then cut that hair of yours, it'll just get caught in something" he muttered but still showing a bit of care though he didn't sound it.
Mikasa reached up and lifted a few strands of her long hair that went down her back, she knew he had a point, but he didn't have to say it in such a harsh tone, she knew he didn't understand why he was so protective of him; it was a promise she made to his mother so long ago and she would honour it especially after losing her own parents.
She looked up to speak to him again only to see he'd walked off towards the cabin again leaving her in the dark alone, or so she thought.
"Water…" a dry voice spoke out beside her, out of the darkness the Potato Girl appeared looking mostly dead before falling forward expecting Mikasa to catch her, but she simply stepped back allowing her to fall to the floor face first.
Mikasa watched the girl before remembering she had brought some water with her, knowing Eren was gone for the night she kneeled and poured a bit of the water over the girls panting and dry lips, she immediately shot up and snatched the water from Mikasa and chugged it all down.
Taking a refreshing breath, she looked at Mikasa with pleading eyes, "Wouldn't have also brought any food as well would you" she asked with a nervous chuckle, with the most uninterested look Mikasa presented the small loaf of bread towards the girl who drooled at the sight before scoffing the food down in record time.
Her eyes went wide as she realised, "Hehe, sorry I'm Sasha by the way" she said extending her hand towards Mikasa who leaned back from it.
"It's fine, Mikasa and I don't like touching" she said before standing up and turning to walk away.
"Hey sorry to keep bothering you but could you also show me to the girl's cabin, I don't actually know where it is" Sasha laughed nervously rubbing the back of her head and standing up walking over to the scarfed girl.
Mikasa sighed quickly realising that the only free bed was the one that was paired with her and she'd already turned down Mina's offer to bunk with her making her feel embarrassed to ask her to come back, "Fine, just follow me" she muttered walking off not setting a pace for Sasha to follow, if she didn't keep up it was her fault.
Sasha smiled before jogging up to walk beside her much to Mikasa's displeasure and slight surprise.
That's chapter 2, more of a casual one I know but I didn't want to throw too much out all the time, this is mostly for the introduction of all the Side Characters.
Got attached to any yet…