𝟹𝚛𝚍 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙿𝙾𝚅

"We shall now begin the enlistment ceremony for the 104th Training Corps! Unfortunately for you, I, Keith Shadis, have been assigned to be your instructor! I have not the slightest intention to welcome you!" he introduced himself.

"As you are now, you're all mere cattle who exist to fatten up the Titans! You're nothing more than that!" he insulted all of them.

"We'll take you useless degenerates and make something out of you over the next three years! We'll drill the methods of fighting Titans into you!" he proclaimed.

"In three years, when you find yourself before a Titan, will you still be mere prey?! Or will you be an honorable wall that protects its king? Or perhaps a glorious soldier of mankind that exterminates the Titans?!" he began to ramble on.

Keith Sadies, the commandant of the 104th Cadet Corps, is psychologically breaking down the new cadets as a rite of passage to break them down so they can rebuild them as soldiers.

As an officer and his attendant pass by, they notice Sadies does not subject a few cadets to this abuse.

The officer simply notes that their expressions distinguish them from the rest of the group as being present to the fall of Wall Maria two years earlier.

These cadets are shown to be Annie Leonhart, Mikasa Ackerman, Reiner Braun, Bertholdt Hoover, Eren Jaeger, and Ymir, though Armin Arlelt is ironically not spared.

Keith Shadis passes by Y/n but went back to check her expression. Noticing the boiling anger, he brushed her off and walked past her.

"Like that one over there. She may look like she doesn't care, but in her eyes, you can see her burning hatred." the officer pointed at the young lady with h/c hair.

As their commandant continues to go down the line, he notices Sasha Braus eating a stolen potato.

Everyone is stunned at her complete lack of tact in eating the potato at that exact moment.

"What the?" Y/n mumbled to herself, staring at the young lady eating a freshly steamed potato, in disbelief.

As Shadis attempts to understand why she is eating the potato, Sasha splits her potato in half and gives him a piece before smirking, saying that they can share it.

Later, Eren, Armin, Marco, Connie, Mina, and Y/n watch Sasha do her punishment, which is running until exhaustion.

Y/n noticed that this punishment did not faze Sasha as much as when she was told she would not be given any dinner.

"What's that?" Eren questioned, staring at the covered carriage with people inside.

"The dropouts. They opted to be transferred to reclaimed land." Mina answered.

"What? But it's still only the first day." Armin argued.

"It's only natural. The useless have no choice but to leave." Y/n finally spoke up.

Marco, one of the cadets, remembered that Eren and Y/n were not asked to state their name and birthplace.

Eren revealed that he, Y/n, and Armin are from Shiganshina District.

The rest of the group was surprised. Connie began pressing them for details of the Colossal Titan.

This leads to other cadets crowding around Eren at dinnertime and he describes the appearance of the Colossal and Armored Titan.

Eren describes the Armored Titan as an average Titan. Since Y/n was there as well, they wanted to hear her opinion as well.

"What's an average Titan like?" one of them turned to Y/n who sat next to Eren. This caused everyone's attention to divert to the said girl.

"I-It...looked like...it..." Y/n stuttered, remembering the face of the Titan that attacked her and her sister.

Her hand trembled as she tried to hold her spoon. She wanted to seem unaffected, but the memory of seeing her sister made her pause.

She couldn't think at all, her lips quivered as she tried to mutter a word out. She couldn't even make a sound.

Mikasa frowned at her while Armin stared at her worriedly. Since Y/n was a female, along with Mikasa, it was only natural for them to get along well.

Armin and Y/n have been friends since childhood and were always there for each other when the other needed support.

They became friends when Y/n saw him getting bullied and she has been standing up for him ever since that day.

Eren, on the other hand, was also a childhood friend of Y/n, along with Mikasa and Armin.

Both of them share the same thoughts and their relationship resembles one of a brother and sister.

So seeing Y/n in such a state made him angry at those who asked her to begin with.

Why did they have to ask Y/n as well? Couldn't they just leave her alone and ask me? They don't have to pester her.

Such thoughts ran through Eren's head. Eren didn't want them to ask her any more questions. Both Mikasa and Armin didn't want that as well.

"It..." Y/n's voice cracked as she tried not to cry. Marco took notice of this as he suggests they no longer question them and force her to bring up things she would rather not bring back.

However, Eren simply attributes this to an eagerness to begin his training and kill all the Titans with the Scout Regiment.

Y/n sighed in relief when their attention diverted to the young man seated next to her.

Jean Kirstein interrupted Eren and mocked his decision to join the Scout Regiment.

Eren does not appreciate Jean's desire to join the Military Police simply to live in the interior walls, and the two prepare to fight each other.

"Oh my..." Y/n mumbled, staring at them with her blank eyes. Armin, who sat across from her, just stared at her.

The bell, signaling the end of dinner, rings, breaking the tension and the two drop their disagreement with each other.

"What a waste of time. Geez, why'd they have to ask me such questions? If they really wanted to know what a normal titan looked like, they should hurry up and graduate and die to one." Y/n scoffed, standing up from her seat and getting ready to leave.

One of the guys who were standing by the door blocked her path from leaving to go to the dorms.

"You're pretty cute." he flirted, giving her a wink. Y/n was unfazed as she didn't even bother to look at him.

"Thanks." was all Y/n said before trying to brush off the guy. The guy became persistent, blocking the whole doorway.

"Come on, take the hint, would you?" Floch continued with his flirting. Y/n glanced at him.

"Oh, you finally looked at me. You have pretty eyes." he complimented, reaching a hand out to caress her cheek.

Y/n's instinct got the best of her as she grabbed the guy's wrist and squeezed it. She made sure to send him a death glare.

"I appreciate it. But I didn't come here to flirt with a swine like you." she let go of his hand after she noticed the pain in his eyes.

Armin, who had been by her side ever since that...day happened, noticed Y/n's change in attitude.

She was no longer the cheerful girl that brightened up his day when he got bullied by other kids.

Y/n became cold, always glaring at others who she wasn't familiar with. She would mostly ignore people who tried to make a conversation with her.

But she wasn't that mean, she would sometimes reply to them if she knew they had nice intentions, but her responses were short and empty.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

The next day, the cadets begin practicing with the Omni-directional mobility gear.

Eren utterly fails to keep himself steady, Armin manages to do it, and Mikasa does it perfectly.

Y/n just stares at the ground, her body was perfectly balanced, just like Mikasa.

The commandant glanced at Y/n before walking past her, a sign which means, 'She's good to go'.

ODM training is a rigorous process that allows humans, which are limited to two-dimensional movements, to adapt to movement in the third dimension.

Great physical and leg strength, coupled with spatial recognition abilities, as well as the mental strength to not waver amid the panic, are crucial qualities.

Eren takes extra tutoring from Armin, Y/n, and Mikasa, who can control the gear pretty well, especially Mikasa and Y/n.

He knocks himself out and Mikasa, Y/n, and Armin help him to recover.

At dinner, other cadets mock Eren's performance, especially after he pledges to kill all Titans.

"Eren." Mikasa gripped Eren's shoulder, which seemed to wake him up from his little daze.

"Don't pay them any mind. You still have tomorrow to get the hang of it." Armin encouraged.

"How pathetic. At this rate, exterminating them is-" Eren got interrupted by Mikasa, who cut him off.

"You shouldn't aim for that anymore. You shouldn't aim to be a soldier. After all, throwing away your life isn't the way to fight." Mikasa said.

"Look here. On that day, I witnessed everything that happened. Do you think I'm gonna give up because of something like this?" Eren inquired.

Armin and Y/n stared at the two people arguing. Y/n sighed as she stood up from her seat when the bell rang.

Armin followed after her, Eren tagging along. Mikasa is left in the cafeteria, talking to herself with Sasha sitting next to her.

Back at the dorm, Connie and Jean do not offer any suggestions to Eren and instead, they mocked and taunted him about his declaration yesterday.

Y/n barges in the dorm, surprising the guys staying there. She simply walks past them and approaches Armin.

"Y/n? What are you doing in the Boys' Dorm?" Eren questioned, noticing the jacket in Y/n's hand.

"I came to return Armin's jacket." Y/n replied.

"Thanks." Y/n thanked him quietly, handing him his jacket back.

He allowed her to borrow it since she had a habit of not being able to sleep without a familiar scent with her.

"Wouldn't you need it for tonight as well?" Armin asked, hesitant to take his jacket back.

"It lost your scent, so wear it and let me borrow it tomorrow again." Y/n replied.

"Also, I heard what you said about Eren. Like I said earlier, those who are useless have no choice but to leave. I meant that. Eren is not useless. At least he wants to contribute instead of hiding in the palace like a coward." Y/n scoffed eyed Jean as she said that.

"Goodnight." Y/n whispered, leaving the room.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

Afterward, Eren is back at the practice rigging as Shadis lets him try to balance himself on the Omni-directional mobility gear one last time before he will be shipped to the landfills.

At first, it appears Eren can maintain his balance and his peers begin cheering, but just as quickly, Eren flips upside down again.

"Commandant, may I say something?" Y/n raised her voice so that she could be heard. Everyone turned to her.

"Go ahead." Shadis replied, glaring in an intimidating way. She was unfazed by it, though.

"I recommend checking his gear." Y/n suggested.

"Huh? And why should I listen to you?" Shadis questioned, marching his way over to Y/n.

Y/n wasn't planning to submit to his intimidation. Instead, she wanted to give a little intimidation herself.

"It'd be a waste if you let him go just because he can't do something simple. Who knows, perhaps Eren would become a great soldier." Y/n shrugged.

Shadis groaned, annoyed by the fact that she was right. He had no choice but to follow her orders, despite being the commandant in charge.

He has Eren put back on the ground and after a few moments of contemplation, has Eren switch gears with Thomas Wagner.

Eren easily keeps his balance and Shadis reveals his gear was defective, impressing everyone as Eren could keep his balance, even for a while, with the broken gear.

"How did you know it was defective?" Armin questioned, turning to Y/n with a hint of shock.

"It looked a bit broken." Y/n shrugged.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

Year 845, the Colossal Titan that suddenly appeared, along with the Armored Titan, destroyed everything as easy as it did the wall.

Subsequently, the Titans, having then been liberated from 100 years of starvation, overran humanity once again.

Wall Maria, was abandoned. And with a fifth of its population and a third of its land lost, mankind had its territory reduced to Wall Rose.

It's been two years since the four had joined the Cadets. And at the moment, they were out training in the rain.

𝙺𝚎𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚜'𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅

"Too slow! Pick up the pace, you blockheads!" I ordered.

"What's wrong, Arlert? You're falling behind!" I informed, slowing down the pace of my horse to scold him.

"Can't handle the weight? Should you alone be unburdened? If this were the real deal, you'd be meat for the Titans." I went back to the others, who were at the front.

"Hand it over! At this rate, you'll be joining the dropouts. Today's training is being graded." Reiner Braun said. Braun decides to help Arlert by picking up his bag.

Reiner Braun. He has both a robust physique and mental strength. His comrades also have great trust in him.

"I'd rather die than be a burden!" Arlert grabbed his heavy bag back from Reiner and jogged faster to get ahead of him.

Armin Arlert. He lacks physical strength but demonstrates prodigious aptitude in academics.

We then moved on to slicing the vulnerable parts, their napes, of the Titans.

Annie Leonhart, Bertolt Hoover, and Jean Kirstein all launch to a fake titan and sliced its nape.

Annie Leonhart. Though her slashes are flawless, she's a lone wolf that has difficulty working with others.

Bertolt Hoover. He has exceedingly high potential but lacks assertiveness.

Jean Kirstein. His three-dimensional maneuvers are top-class, but his hotheaded nature tends to cause trouble.

"Thanks, Jean! Following you was a good call!" Springer cockily stated, but it seems like the nape of titan had already been sliced through.

"I got it!" Braus laughed.

Sasha Braus. Though she has unusually good instincts, her character is unsuited for cooperative action.

Connie Springer. He's skilled at handling tight turn maneuvers but is somewhat dim-witted.

I was now observing Ackerman and Jaeger. The two are doing very well. They managed to cut into the nape.

Mikasa Ackerman. She's completely proficient in every aspect, deserving nothing less than an unprecedented evaluation of generations past.

Eren Jaeger. He doesn't possess any particular talent, but he's improved his marks through pure effort.

And he has an extraordinarily strong sense of purpose.

I was about to turn my attention to another batch of cadets until h/c-colored hair passed by me.

My eyes widened as she sliced the napes of three titans all at the same time. She even managed to leave a deep cut.

She barely managed to dodge a tree, and yet, she dodged it so gracefully. It was as if she managed to bend her body at the right time and it was as if she knew what she was doing.

Y/n Voland. Her abilities are similar to Ackerman's but their movements differ very greatly.

Voland moves in a way that shows that she's familiar with her surroundings.

She moves with grace and her body seems to be very flexible since she can dodge objects in a short amount of time.

Very similar to her older sister, Lada Voland. I have heard of what happened to her yesterday.

It was certainly an unfortunate incident. She was one of the best soldiers we had with 8 solo titan kills and 24 assists.

Her only issue right now is communicating with others. If this goes on, she won't cooperate in operations that require teamwork.

The only people she talks to are her childhood friends, Arlert, Ackerman, and Jaeger. She sometimes talks to Leonhart, but it's quite rare.

Voland balanced herself onto a tree branch and crouched down to listen to her surroundings.

Is she trying to listen for any movements?

Oh, she's standing back up.

She stood back up and just as she was about to jump off the tree branch, she slipped on a wet leaf.

She didn't have time to react so she completely forgot about her ODM gear that she could use to help her in that situation.

She fell and her body was now in the arms of Arlert, who just gave her an awkward smile.

"Are you okay, Y/n?" Arlert asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay, just slipped. Thanks." Voland thanked the young man. Arlert placed her down and they decided to look for fake Titans together.

𝚈/𝚗'𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅

"Why does your body bend like that?!" Christa whined, laying on the ground, exhausted from getting beaten again.

"You're still not gonna give up?" I sighed.

"Not until I defeat you!" she shouted, standing back up and approaching me with a wooden sword.

I kept dodging her attacks effortlessly. She huffed, sweat trickling down her forehead as she stared at me.

"How is your body doing that?!" she complained, trying to hit me with the wooden knife.

I grabbed her wrist and placed her other arm behind her back. I also kicked her in the calves, making her go immobile for a few seconds.

She dropped down onto her knees and collapsed on the ground, not being able to move her legs.

"Wh-What the?" Christa stammered, trying to get up but her efforts were in vain.

"I kicked a part of your legs that should make them go numb for a whole minute." I explained.

"Why are you not tired at all even though I kept attacking you?" she questioned, noticing my relaxed face.

"It's my fighting style." I told her, grabbing the wooden knife in her hand, claiming my victory.

My fighting style is quite annoying, to be honest. This is why I tend to win all the time when we have our sparring.

All I do is dodge my opponent's attacks while making sure not to move so much since it will exhaust me.

They'll eventually get tired and collapse, but when they don't, I use that chance to make my move.

In conclusion, I tire them out until they can no longer move or until they can't stand up properly, and then I attack.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

"There's no other way. Omni-directional mobility gears were only required for a minority, the Survey Corps, before the fall of Wall Maria." Armin said.

"At such times, Omni-directional mobility gears decline in use. And so, by saying..." he continued to ramble on.

While we are eating dinner, Armin explains that the system is an incentive for cadets to familiarize themselves with the little-used Omni-directional mobility gear to me.

Eren seems to be focused on Jean's discussion with Marco on the efficient use of gas in the Omni-directional gear and how much of an advanced technique would allow him to be ranked higher and join the Military Police.

Eren insults Jean's shallow reasoning in wanting to join the Military Police and the two almost come to blows.

When Mikasa breaks up the fight, Jean is jealous of the attention Eren gets from her and tries to punch him.

That's too bad, it's pretty obvious that Mikasa likes Eren. I'm sorry horse face, but if Eren's around, there's no chance.

As Eren gets ready to retaliate, using Annie's disarmament technique, I believe. He quickly ends the fight to resolve the situation.

Annie and I share the same bunk bed. She sleeps on top while I sleep on the bottom. We have a few conversations before sleeping but it was always short.

During sparring time, there are times where we would spar each other and it always turns into a tie.

She always attacks while I dodge her every blow. It's not like any of us loses, the fight just never ends.

"I heard a loud noise a moment ago. Anyone care to