Their graduation ceremony took place by torchlight, long after the sun had gone down in the southern district of Trost. Commandant Sadies had told them three years ago that training would be a living hell. He had made good on that promise. Two-hundred-eighteen cadets of the 104th Southern Division had survived that hell, and he stood amongst the top ten. His reward, a ticket to the easy life, tucked safely away in the interior as a member of the Military Police. Though others would have given anything to have the opportunity he was afforded, it all seemed very trivial to him. Despite his best efforts he had come up short. The Southern Division did not come in first during the Joint Training Exercise, which meant no meat.

That night they talked about what they would do with their futures. Those who had graduated top of their class seemed happy to join up with the MPs. Eren was the exception, still convinced wholeheartedly that the scouts were where he belonged. Mikasa would, of course, follow him. As for (F/N), he wasn't really sure what he would do next. He didn't join the military with the hopes of becoming an MP, and he certainly didn't do it out of some sense of duty. Honestly, it just seemed like fun.

They had until the end of the next day to make their final decision. Until then, the new recruits had been assigned to help manning the garrison and reinforcing the walls. (F/N) was pushing a cart full of ammunition along the rails atop the wall when a tap on his shoulder caused him to stop. Turning, he found himself face to face with Sasha, a mischievous look in her eyes. Looking around, (F/N) abandoned his work and the two disappeared.

Both Sasha and (F/N) knew that there were plenty of ways to have fun, even more when they were together. Two heads were better than one. They certainly had double the pleasure, and in instances like this, triple the fun. Now Sasha was by no means stupid. She had fine instincts and a good head on her shoulders. Unfortunately, she didn't think with her head. The knowledge that the officers' pantry was stocked full of food just waiting to be freed was far too tempting a prospect for her stomach to ignore. But to get in, she'd need a key. To get the key, she'd need a distraction. And to make a distraction, she needed someone crazy enough to go along with her plan.

"You're one hundred percent certain on this?" (F/N) asked as the two hid next to the gate.

"Has my nose ever steered us wrong?" Sasha asked him. "There's ham in there, I know it."

(F/N) shrugged. "Alright, but remember, I can only guarantee five minutes."

"I'll only need two."

"Well, here goes nothin'. Geronimo!"

He ran into the street just as a wagon passed by. The soldier driving tugged hard on the reins, bringing the carriage to a screeching halt just narrowly avoiding running the boy over. As planned, the soldiers nearby ran over to see the commotion, and as one of the officers was busy scolding (F/N), Sasha swiped the key from his belt and disappeared behind the wooden door. 

"Can you guys keep a secret?" Sasha asked the others as the two returned to the top of the wall. "'Cause we totally just helped ourselves to the officers' pantry."

"Oh man," (F/N) drooled, "this is it. Today's the day I finally get a taste of heaven."

It was an amusing twist of fate, really. He wanted to save that taste of heaven for a time when it could properly be enjoyed. Now it seemed that time might never come. If he could go back in time, he would have sunk his teeth into the fatty cut before the opportunity was taken from him. He wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Next time he had the chance he was taking it, if he survived the upcoming battle. No. No ifs about it.

His gas tanks were full and his blades sharp. With a final tug on the straps of his harness he jumped off the top of Wall Rose followed by the other cadets of his squadron that had been placed under his command. With a light pull of the trigger, his ODM gear anchored itself in stone as he perched himself atop a steeple. Sasha, Connie, Hanna, and Franz landed just a few seconds later on the roof of the church.

Before them lie what used to be Trost. What was once a bustling hub of business and enterprise had been reduced to little more than a burning pile of rubble. It had only taken humanity thirty-seven minutes to gather its defenses, but already the Titans had spread throughout the city. The outer edge of the district was all but destroyed and now the goliaths were making their way inwards to feast on the fleeing citizens.

"Oh my God." Sasha's voice was so quiet that it was almost drowned out by the sound of her knees shaking.

"This is it, isn't it?" Connie croaked. His hands hung limply at his sides. Next to him Hanna and Franz had collapsed to their knees. "It's over. We're already dead."

"Shut up!" (F/N) barked. "This is far from over and we're far from dead."

"Come off it, (F/N)." Connie laughed morbidly. "Who do you think you're kidding?"

The (H/C)-haired boy looked over his shoulder to stare down at his peer. "Tell me, why'd you bother joining the military if all you were gonna do is roll over and let yourself get eaten? If you're gonna give up now, fine, I'll say somethin' nice at your funeral. But me? I've got other plans. Hear me?" He shouted. "Today is not the day I die! The only heaven I'm settling for is a ten-pound steak! Geronimo!"

Pulling his blades from their sheathes (F/N) swan dove off the steeple and swung towards two fifteen-meter Titans approaching from the west, laughing the entire way.

"Fucker's completely lost his mind." Connie said as he watched his friend run towards his death. "He's completely mad."

"Yeah, maybe he is." Sasha said, tightening her grip around the handles of her blades. "But he's also right!"

"Sasha! Wait!" Connie reached out for her as she too jumped off the roof, followed by Hanna and Franz. "Grr! Goddammit wait for me!"

The first Titan was dead before it ever saw him, the second too slow to react. He anchored himself into the Titan's flesh and rode its corpse to the ground where it landed face down with an earth-shaking crash. Shouting from his belly, he swung his blades down at the dead beast's neck. It's steaming hot blood splattered his face and uniform as he hacked at the weak spot over and over. This is what they got for taking his meat! This is what they got for taking his parents!

By the time he'd finished his rampage the Titan's corpse had already evaporated. The stone street bore scars from his now chipped blades. "Stupid." He muttered to himself, changing the dulled metal out for a fresh set of sharp edges. "Don't let yourself get carried away. Keep ahold of that rage unless you want to turn into your father, and we all know how that turned out."

"He's talkin' to himself." Connie said to the others as they landed next tom him. "You all see him talkin' to himself, yeah? That's the first sign of losin' it."

"Shut up, Connie." Sasha snapped.

"Hey, guys." Hanna said nervously. "We should get to higher ground. It's not safe down he..."

"Look out!"

Franz tackled Hanna to the ground as another Titan reached its hand around the corner of a building. It's long, spiderlike fingers pinched together around the tall boy's ODM gear, dragging him back towards the hand's mouth.

"Franz!"

Snapping out of his daze, (F/N) quickly launched after the helpless recruit. Bringing both blades up over his head, he threw his entire body forward and lopped off the hand from the wrist just as it was about to round the corner. Hanna ran over to the severed hand and struggled to pull the fingers open from around her lover. It would have been less effort to just wait for the hand to dissolve. Even if she had the strength to pry apart the Titan's severed grip, it would have been a short-lived celebration. Laying on its back, the creature started pushing itself with its feet, sliding along the ground with its jaws spread wide, ready to feast upon the two green recruits.

"Move!" Connie yelled, grabbing Hanna and zipping away.

Sasha barely managed to take Franz by the hand and pull him out of harms way, meaning the abnormal crashed its head right into a building. He was lucky to have made it out of that situation alive, but not lucky enough to make it out in one piece. As soon as they were on a rooftop Hanna immediately ran over to her boyfriend and dropped to her knees beside him, tearing her sash to fashion a tourniquet around the bleeding stump at his shin.

"We have to get him to a medic."

"How?" Connie shouted; his face distorted with panic. "In case you haven't noticed, we're kinda up to our necks in shit."

"We need to keep moving." Sasha said.

Hanna shook her head. "We have to get him to a medic." She said again. "He'll bleed out if we don't do anything."

"Then leave him." All four looked over at (F/N) who hopped up on the roof, steam rising from the street behind him. "He's dead weight at this point. Trying to save him will only slow us down, and that'll be the end of us."

"(F/N)," Sasha argued, "we can't just..."

"He's right." Franz said. His face was white, and he was covered in sweat. "There's already nine more Titans on our scent." He nodded in the direction of the lumbering beasts that had their eyes trained on their prey. "You guys need to get out of here."

"No!" Hanna shook her head furiously as tears streamed from her eyes. "I'm not leaving you."

"Hanna..."

"Don't you remember what we promised?" She cried. "We're making it through this, together!"

"I won't let you die out here because of me! (F/N)'s right, I'm dead weight. Always have been if we're bein' honest." He chuckled. "But I can still buy you guys some time to get out of here."

"No!" Hanna shrieked, latching onto his arm. "There has to be something else we can do."

"Like what?"

Slowly turning her head from Franz, the redhead looked up at (F/N). "We can fight." She choked out. "We're not going to roll over and let ourselves get eaten, isn't that right?"

(F/N) looked down at the girl compassionately. "There's nine of them."

"And you killed three in just a handful of minutes." She said. "You're strong. Stronger than the rest of us. If you were to stay and fight..."

"But why would I stay and fight?" He asked. "Even if we do manage to kill the nine Titans coming for us, more would still come. How long could we fend them off for? How long until your boyfriend bleeds out?"

"How can you be so heartless?"

"I'm crazy, not heartless." (F/N) said coldly. "But even I'm not crazy enough to try to fight a battle so obviously lost."

"What if it was you?" Hanna asked accusingly. "What if you were the one being abandoned? What would you think then?"

"Don't try to guilt me, it won't work. Unlike you, I was smart enough to end any relationship I had before things got real. I didn't want the people I care about laying down their lives on the gamble that I might make it out alive. And I'd say Franz is thinkin' the same thing."

"He's right." Franz said again. "Please, Hanna."

(F/N) sighed and shook his head. Walking forward he placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Come on." He said gently. "Don't deny him his last wish."

Hanna looked back at Franz whose face was slowly getting more and more pale. "Please." She whispered. "Don't you have anyone you care about? Anyone you'd die to protect?"

He was about to open his mouth to respond when the sound of someone blowing their nose caused him to turn his head. Sasha and Connie were standing there with tears in their eyes, the auburn-haired girl wiping her nose with her sleeve. (F/N) clenched his teeth and rolled his eyes.

"Dammit." He grunted through his teeth. "Alright fine." Everyone looked at him in disbelief. "But the second things go sideways we're pulling out, got it?"

Hanna nodded quickly. "Got it." She said quickly.

"Alright. You stay here with Franz as a last line of defense. Sasha, Connie, you're with me. We stick together. Back each other up and take 'em out one at a time. Understand?" They all nodded. "Good. Okay, let's do this."

"Wait!" Hanna looked (F/N) in the eye. "Thank you."

He turned his back on her and looked out at the horde of Titan's growing closer. "Don't thank me yet."