Year 850

Two years after joining the cadets

Reineer Brown: The mind and Constitution of a grass fed ox. Respected by his comrades.

Armin Arlette: Built like a daffodil, but academically brilliant.

Annie Leonhard: brilliant with a sword, but does not exactly play well with others

Bertholt Hoover: Heaps of talent, but too mild mannered.

Jean Kirstein: Head of the class on ODM. Also an insufferable smart ass with a hair trigger temper.

Sasha Browse: unusually fine instincts. Rarely shares them with her teammates.

Connie Springer: Good on the switchbacks, few sandwiches shy of a picnic.

Mikasa Ackerman: Model cadet. Excels at everything. In fact it would be no overstatement to call the girl a genius.

Eren Yeager: Lackluster in the classroom. Marginally better in the field. But driven by a sense of purpose that's almost terrifying.

Kira (No last name): a mystery and a half. Brilliant with swords and ODM. Second only to Ackerman. Often holds back though.

***

It was combat. Boring. Especially when I was paired up with Daz. The kid was one shock away from a heart attack, and already seemed as though he's seen nightmares beyond his years. Though he's lived in Trost his whole life, never even seen a titan.

He came at me and I flipped him, unlocked up the wooden dagger and pretended to vigorously stab him in the chest.

"Ow! Kira!" OK, I may have poked him once ... Very hard.

While he 'recuperated' I looked around for Armin. He was faring OK against Bertholt. And Mikasa was letting Historia win.

Eren however, was getting flipped by Annie. I shook my head, this kid was always in something. Never a boring day in his life.

They were talking. Weird. Annie never talked to anyone.

Daz tried to do a sneak attack and I swept my legs on the dirt, tripping him up. Annie then flipped Reineer. It was a particular thing. The hand on the wrist, a swipe to the chest and then jugular, and a swipe with the legs. I wondered how she learnt that.

I kept the details of the trick she'd used in my mind. For later.

***

Dinner, soup and bread. Again. Would it kill them to have some variety? Nothing fancy, just maybe something to put on the bread? Raw vegetables instead of watery soup?

Armin was prattling on about ODM experts, and Eren was listening to Jean's boasting. 'Let the momentum do the work for you' he was right. But I'd told him that.

Did I still like him after three years of being ignored?

Answer: Yes, sadly.

Oh god. Eren and Jean were fighting again. Why? I had a headache.

I looked up, and caught Annie's eye. I remembered the trick she'd done earlier. "Use that," I thought, looking at Eren, who was screaming something about a shirt.

Then it all happened at once, Eren grabbed Jean's wrist, and struck his chest, he kicked his leg and flipped him.

Annie's face didn't reveal much emotion, but her eyes widened slightly.

Jean sat up, rubbing his neck, "Dammit, what the hell was that move?"

"A little something I picked up this afternoon while you were busy with your thumb up your ass." Eren answered, "You honestly believe the Military Police are your ticket to the good life? Your not a soldier. Your a joke."

Silence. Everyone was waiting for Jean's reaction.

"Damn." I muttered.

Jean never got to react. The door opened and the creepiest voice I'd never heard spoke; "would something like to explain the little ruckus I heard just now?" Shadis asked, "I do hope everything's alright."

Mikasa rose her hand, "Sasha passed some gas, Sir."

Sasha gasped.

"Why am I not surprised? Control yourself, woman."

Sasha looked like she was about to die. Immediately after Shadis left, she yelled and Mikasa, but was willing to forgive her in exchange for her roll.

***

Of the original recruits, two hundred and eighteen cadets graduated, some with honours...

This was it. It was today. We were graduating!

I stood up in the front line. It was incredible... I'd made top ten. This was awesome!

"DO YOU HAVE HEART?" A captain called. I'd seen him before, but he never taught or trained us. I guess he was like a supervisor.

"SIR!" Two hundred and eighteen Cadets saluted.

"AS OF THIS MOMENT, YOU HAVE THREE OPTIONS OPEN TO YOU, CHOOSE WISELY!" he continued,

"THE GARRISON REGIMENT: WHO'S JOB IS TO REINFORCE THE WALLS.

THE SCOUT REGIMENT: WHO RIDES OUT INTO TITAN COUNTRY TO TAKE BACK WHAT WAS ONCE OURS!

AND THE MP REGIMENT, WHO MAINTAIN LAW AND ORDER UNDER ORDERS FROM HIS ROYAL MAJESTY!"

"THOSE CADETS ELIGIBLE FOR THE MP'S HAVE ALREADY BEEN NAMED, THE REST OF YOU, PAY ATTENTION. THESE ARE THE TOP OF YOUR CLASS!"

Mikasa, me, Reineer, Annie, Eren, Jean, Marco, Bertholt, Connie and Sasha.

"We made It," I thought, "it's payback time."

I glanced at Eren. He was wearing a look of fierce determination. So did all the others. We'd done it.

***

It was the first celebration since we'd arrived as Cadets three years ago. Everyone was laughing and talking. The atmosphere was really happy.

But the people who were really celebrating were the top ten.

"MP's, here I come!"

"Three square meals a day for life!"

"You really going to turn your back on the MP for the scouts?" Thomas asked me and Eren.

"The scouts had always been my goal, I don't want the easy life, not with all the work I've put in," Eren said.

"Not to mention it was me who gave him the idea in the first place." I added, "we trained to fight titans."

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Thomas exclaimed. The people around us turned to him in confusion.

"Sorry," Thomas said, quieter, "Look at how many have died, that's like a fifth of the population. If that doesn't paint a picture, I don't know what will... This is our life now. We just have to deal with it."

Thomas lowered his eyes, everyone did. It was almost as if... They were mourning for our freedom.

"Yea, so what?" Eren asked. I looked up at him, "We buckle? We take it all lying down? Things have changed, maybe not a hell of a lot, but enough. They're not the mystery they were five years ago."

"Yes they are." I thought.

Eren seemed to falter for a fraction of a second, "There's still a long way to go, but we've made progress. Every battle we lost taught us a lesson, gave us the tiniest piece of what seemed like hope! You're telling me it's just better to cut our losses? Let all the death and destruction be meaningless? Just ball it up and accept it? Not on your life! Humanity's future lies outside the walls, and I'm gonna clear the way! I'll drive them all out. And as long as at least one of us can say that, I'm not done!"

Silence met his speech. He glared at them all, but they didn't budge. Eventually, he turned and ran out of the tavern.

"Eren! Wait! Armin cried. The three of us chased after him.

He was sitting a little way down the road, on a step. We walked over to him, " that was... Quite a speech you gave us there." Armin said.

"Yea, most of it was yours. All the stuff you used to say back in the day." Eren replied.

"Back in the day? Come on." I thought, rolling my eyes.

"Yea? Well... I'm joining the scout Regiment too!" Armin said.

"Wha-? Now your just being stupid." Eren said, "your not a fighter, your life is with books!"

"I'm sick of letting other people fight my battles for me." Armin muttered.

"Guess its the Scouts for me too then." Mikasa said.

Now Eren turned to Mikasa, "oh come on! You were top of the class! You'd be wasting your shot!"

"Get this straight, Eren. Where you go, I go. I made a promise to your Mom before she died. And I'm not going to just forget that. I've got your back whether you like it or not. So deal with it."

"... Yea... Well Mom's not here." Eren muttered.

"A lot of people I used to care about aren't here either." Mikasa said quietly.

All of this ... It all began when she died ... Mikasa's promise, Eren's rage against the Titans ... If only I'd saved her. It still haunted me every day...

"Kira? What about you?" Armin asked.

"Frankly, I figured we'd all go to the scouts the second you said you'd join the Cadets, Armin. I'm obviously going."

We all looked out at the sky beyond the wall, and, just for a moment, it seemed like back then, before Wall Maria was taken, before their mom's death, before the colossal titan. It was great.

***

"Check it out! The main unit of the scout regiment is back!"

"That's right commander Ervin, did you give those ugly bastards a thrashing?"

Over the last five years, Ervin had gone from captain to the head of the Scout Regiment. But he still stared straight ahead and ignored the crowd.

The entire 104 class were here, watching the famous Scouts go out on another reconnaissance mission beyond the wall.

There's Captain Levi!" One exclaimed, "they say he's like an entire brigade unto himself!"

"Can you feel the atmosphere?" I asked, "everybody's so excited. It's like the crowd just has a different energy."

"Well, we are going on five years without incident!" Hanna said, she had her arm wrapped around Franz's waist, "seems like a good omen."

"And you should see all the new cannon upgrades," Franz added, "this side alone ought to scare them all off."

"That's the truth." Hanna grinned.

"What? So your in denial now that your a couple? What's that about?" I asked slyly.

"Wow wow wow! it isn't what it looks like OK?" Hanna blushed and looked away.

"Yea, stop it Kira, it's embarrassing!"

"She does that all the time." Eren glared at me, "where's the wifey at, Eren?" I asked innocently.

Eren grumbled something to himself.

"Hey hey! Lookie here!" Said a familiar voice.

"Mr Hannis?" Eren asked.

"Word on the street says they let you graduate yesterday, either you've grown up or standards have plummeted."

"Your one to talk! Do the core of Engineers keep their new chief in the drink?" I asked. Hannis flicked my forehead, "watch it."

He looked at Eren and Mikasa. "I'm sorry if this is out of the blue, but I want you to know your mother's death still haunts me."

And me. I thought. My face went red. It wasn't Hannis's fault.

"Me too, but it wasn't your fault." Eren said.

Hannis blinked.

"We were shooting in the dark then, but that'll never happen again. We know what we're dealing with now."

So intense. I shook my head.

Eren ran away again, though this time it was because we were late for our shift up on the wall. As soon as we realised this, we chased after Eren. Me and Mikasa were still faster than him.

***

"What the hell you mean you're joining the scouts?" Eren asked Connie. I'd just arrived from bringing over a bucket and some rags to wash the cannons.

"Your joining the scouts? What about the MP's? That was like your whole thing!" I exclaimed.

"Forget about it. A guy's aloud to change his mind, OK?" Connie said, not looking away from the cannon he was polishing.

"I think your speech yesterday lit a fire under him." Mina said. I looked back at her, "you think so?"

"Ain't nobody talking to you! His little temper tantrum had nothing to do with it!"

"Uh huh." I said, rolling my eyes. I did that a lot when I was around idiots.

"Take it easy, its not like your the only one." Thomas said. We turned to him.

"What? Are you serious?" Eren asked.

Thomas scratched his sideburns, embarrassed.

"Hey, guys? Can you keep a secret?" Sasha asked as she arrived, "cause I totally just helped myself to the officer's pantry!" She held up a roll of ham.

"WHAT?" we all screamed at her.

"Sasha, they could throw your butt in the clink for that!" Thomas exclaimed.

"What is wrong with you?"

"What isn't wrong with her?" Connie sighed.

"It'll be fine guys," Sasha said, drooling, "I'm willing to share. Can you imagine the sandwiches?" Her breath became ragged.

"Put it back!" Thomas stormed.

"Do you have any idea how rare meat's been since the Titans overtook wall rose?" Mina asked.

"Uh, a little bit, yea."

We didn't answer. How could we?

"Just think of it this way," Sasha opened a crate and put the roll of meat in, "pretty soon, we'll have all the land we need for livestock."

Marco took a deep breath, "I would really like a slice please!" He gushed, his eyes closed.

Hey! If he gets one so do I, just so you know ..." Connie blushed.

Me too!" I called.

"I'm in on it too!" Mina said.

"But -" Eren tried to say.

"Come on! If they see us slacking off we're in for it." I said, picking up a rag and running it over the mouth of the cannon.

"See you at lunch," Mina called back carelessly.

I looked out at the land that Wall Rose once protected. We'd get it all back. One way or another.

"Mankind didn't start this fight, But we're going to finish it."

That ... That wasn't me... It was in my head ... But ... It had to have been spoken. I looked around. But no one looked like they had. It was Eren's voice.

"D-did you-" I began, but I never got to finish.

Lightning came out of nowhere. There was an explosion. We were all pushed back, we fell, we were falling. I activated the ODM gear and hung from the wall. What was that?

I shot upwards, running along the wall as the ODM gear reeled in the cords, and I landed on the wall. My blood went cold.

The Colossal titan was standing in front of me, leering at us all.

"I'm going to put a stop to this!"

It was Eren again. But he was too far away for me to hear him... What the hell was going on?

"THIS IS IT, PEOPLE! DO OR DIE!" Eren swung out his blades and was shooting towards me, "TAKE OUT THE COLOSSAL TITAN! THIS IS IT! DON'T LET IT SLIP AWAY!"

He skidded to a halt in front of me, "you ..." He hissed at the titan, his voice like acid, "its been a while."