𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖘𝖚𝖗𝖛𝖊𝖞 𝖈𝖔𝖗𝖕 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖇𝖊𝖑𝖎𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖓𝖌
︓︒︑∘∗✧∘︑︒⚬∙︓⋅⠄✯∘⠄✧⠄

❥๑━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━๑❥

The sun was beating on her golden skin as she stood still with the other cadets that day. It was barely the first day and they were already having their asses ripped by one of the captains. The smell of sweat and dust did not mix well with the heat of the sun but Pariza pulled through.

Her father, the late Lieutenant Cyrus Al Ghul, used to always tell her things about the Survey Corp. From what he experienced as a cadet in his younger years, that is. And she was always excited to tell her friends what they've seen. And they would always listen happily. More so Eren, who had already set his mind on joining ever since they would always go into town to watch the troops return from an expedition.

She remembered seeing her father amongst the soldiers, on his all black horse, as he kindly grinned at some of the kids in the crowd. And whenever he saw Pariza, he would wink at her and his smile would grow wider.

From that moment on, she knew she wanted to achieve what her father has fought for. She wanted to be like her parents. Strong, skillful and brave.

And after their deaths, she didn't want to give up on their dreams. On her dreams. So she joined the Training Regimen, wanting to show that she can help bring peace to humanity.

"Hey, you!" Keith Shadis, Leader of the Military Training Corps, yelled as he stood in front of Armin, her best friend. "What do they call you, maggot?!"

"Armin Arlet, from Shiganshina, sir!" Armin yelled back. And though he was keeping his composure, she could see the tinge of shock in his big blue and gorgeous eyes.

Pariza, being right next to him, side glanced at him but stopped, in fears that she would be next if she didn't look forward.

"Wow, seriously? Why would your parents curse you with such a dumb name?!" Shadis yelled at him.

Her father used to tell her that Shadis would only pick on the ones that he thought were weakminded or looked weak. Just to see if they could brave through his harsh words. In a way, he would weed out the ones that weren't cut out for it by doing this.

If they couldn't take a few harsh insults, they didn't belong in the military.

Pariza didn't blame Armin for feeling a little scared. Keith Shadis was a very intimidating figure. She didn't want to be picked on by him. But alas, life had a funny way of showing it's love for people.

Because after their exchange, he turned his attention right onto her.

Well, he was about to walk pass her but stopped when his eyes landed in her bright periwinkle blue eyes. Keith paused, narrowing his eyes at her, sruverying her entire face as if looking for something out of place.

It made her nervous, to say the least. She was wondering what he was going to say to her. Was he going to make fun of her looks? Her name? The silence was killing her.

"You!" He yelled, nearly making her jump. "I've seen your face before, what is your name, cadet!?"

"Pariza Al Ghul, from Shiganshina, sir!" She yelled back, holding her composure as best as she could.

Keith hummed, looking over her face once more. "You Al Ghul's daughter?!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Hmm.....you better not be a trouble maker like he was, ya hear?!"

"Yes, sir!" She shouted before he moved on.

Once he was gone, she felt her chest expand as she let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. She glanced at Armin, who looking right at her with the same expression. They both agreed that he was scary to deal with and they didn't want to get on his bad side. Ever.

By the time the introductions were done, it was time for them to eat. Pariza sat in between Eren and Mikasa while Armin sat on the opposite side of Eren. There was a small crowd of people surrounding them and that made her uncomfortable.

She just believed in personal space, you know?

After hearing that they were survivors of the Fall of Wall Maria, everyone was suddenly curious as to what happened as if they really saw the colossal titan.

"His head stuck out of the outer wall." Eren said, having no problem with retelling that day.

Pariza shifted uncomfortably as she listened to him retell that day. It was a day she did not like reliving and she wished that they wouldn't pester them with questions about Wall Maria.

Mikasa sensed how uncomfortable she was and wordlessly placed both of her hands on one of hers, trying to comfort her as she encased her hand in both of her cold ones.

It was something she would do to calm her nerves whenever they were kids. And it always worked.

"So, what were they like?" a young man asked, making Eren pause and drop his spoon. "And you father was Lieutenant Al Ghul? Was he as cool as he seemed?"

Pariza jumped at the mentioning of her father like that. "Um...I-"

"Come on! That's enough with the questions!" A freckled faced boy named Marco interrupted them. "Obviously, she's uncomfortable with the questions and crowding them isn't going to help them at all."

Pariza gave Marco a grateful smile while Mikasa just blinked at him, still holding her hand in hers. But before the crowd could disburse, Eren lifted his head and smirked.

Both girls knew where this was going already. So they silently waited for him to say what was actually on his mind.

"Titans aren't actually that big of a deal!" He proclaimed determindly.

Pariza just sighed, tuning out most of his words in favor of looking at the other cadets. She noticed a girl near the far back. She had blonde hair and sharp facial features. But she was beautiful, nonetheless.

She looked incredibly bored with her surroundings. Like she didn't even want to be here. And for some reason, Pariza was very much intrigued with her. Then again, she's always been a curious person.

"I'm joining the Scouts Regiment, then I'm sending the titans back to hell!" She heard Eren proclaim with much fire in his voice and passion in his big and bright eyes. "I'm going ot butcher them all."

"Hey, are you crazy or something?" an angry boy, named Jean, says as he looked at him as if he was stupid.

"Eren is brave for wanting to join the Scouts." Pariza spoke up, not liking how he was looking down at him. She's heard that he was from the Trost District. So he had no idea why Eren was the way he is. She's seen what happened to his mom and that was enough to make anyone vengeful against the titans.

"Just because he wants to rid this world of titans does not mean you he's crazy. I think it's admirable of him."

While Eren smiled a little, thankful for her, Jean sneered at her. She may be one of the most beautiful girl he has ever seen but he was still allowed to think she was just as crazy and stupid as her friend.

"If you want to hide like a coward, then that's fine but don't look down on those who want to actually fight for freedom." She continued.

"Who the hell was even talking to you, small stack?" Jean spat at her venomously. "Why don't you stay in your place and shut up?"

Pariza jumped at his words, feeling a very small pang of hurt. Which Eren saw, sending him into overdrive. Not much could hurt her feelings but he was still very much protective of her.

"Don't talk to Pari like that!" Eren shouted angrily, abruptly standing up. "Just because you're a coward, you don't get to talk to her like she's beneath you!"

"Look, I'm just speaking honestly." Jean said, casually resting his chin on his hand. "It must be nicer than being, say, a loser who acts tough but is actually scared shitless."

"Last time I checked, you must be the scared one if you're so comfortable hiding behind the MP's." Pariza shot back calmly. "So why don't you stay in your place which is, say, with the other cowards who has no idea what a real titan look like?"

She heard a brown haired girl nearly choke on her bread as she tried to hide her laughter.

Pariza may be small, often quiet and reserved but what she wasn't going to do was let someone insult her or her friends. So he deseved every word she said in her eyes.

Which only angered him even more but Eren stopped him before he could say anything to her. "Say something back, I dare you." He threatened just as the bell rung. Indicating that lunch was done.

"I like that little beauty." a tall and broading looking blonde guy, named Reiner, chuckled under his breath as he looked at Pariza. "She's got a lot of fire for a small girl like her."

He and his friend, Bertholdt, watched with amusement from across the mess hall.

"Yeah, she does."

As they were about to leave, Jean stopped him. "Hey, I apologize." He said, which would have seemed genuine if he wasn't so bad a hiding sarcasm. "Sorry for calling you both names and dismissing your career choices. Let's be friends, kid. What do you say?"

Eren looked at his hand after he offered a hand shake to him. But just because he could be erratic and often hotheaded, it didn't mean Eren was a stupid person. So he didn't believe his words.

But because he didn't want to get in trouble for fighting, he shook his hand. "Right." He said sarcastically. "Yeah, I'm sorry, too."

After that, he began leaving with Mikasa and Pariza following close by. But the two of them were stopped yet again, by Jean.

"H-Hey!" Jean stuttered out, causing them to pause.

Mikasa and Pariza both turned to him with blank faces. Waiting for him to speak.

"I-I just wanted to say," Jean stuttered out, his face growing redder by the second as he looked away, scratching the back of his head. "You two have very pretty black hair."

Pariza blinked at him before smiling a little. A compliment was a compliment. So she was thankful for it.

But Mikasa remained stoic as she moved an arm around her friend's waist. "Thank you." She said for the both of them before guiding Pariza out of the room.

"Wow..." a shaved head boy, named Connie, mumbled as he watched them leave. "That Pariza Al Ghul has to be the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

She surely was. Everyone else who heaard him wholeheartedly agreed with that statement. For no one has ever seen someone with golden skin and light eyes like that before.

So she was enchanting to everyone she met. Whether she knew it or not.