Darkness...

Silence...

Everything sound around you sounded faint. All you could hear was a slow beating of your heart syncing with your breathing. 

You listened closely. 

Sounds of boots hitting the ground, circling around you. You listened closely once more. Your eyes quickly widened. 

"Each of them are going for an attack!"

The sensations got stronger, but you tried your best to remain calm and focus. 

One to the left. One to the right, and one from behind. They're all attacking at once. 

You concentrated hard to try to predict their next moves. 

"The one from the left is going to attack first!" Just as you predicted, you felt movement towards you. 

You dodged it quick with a duck and used your legs to sweep him off his feet, making him land harshly on the ground. 

"The one on the right will attack next!"  

You dodged his fast strike and delivered him an elbow to the head, making him collapse onto the ground.  

"The one from behind will--" 

*BAM!*

You were hit and stumbled back a bit. 

You felt the sensation go towards your face, time seemed to slow as you somehow managed to dodge by quickly stepping back. 

The sensation kept trying to aim forward, but you kept trying your best to dodge. Earning a few hits in the process. 

You began to grow tired as you felt the force of your body get pushed back. 

You were getting pinned down. 

"Shit!" You were going to lose!

You reacted quickly and even surprised yourself, you managed to maneuver yourself around the body, allowing the body of your opponent to fall against the ground. 

You fell with them but managed to land on top, pinning him awkwardly. 

"Haa...haa..." You let out harsh breaths. 

You barely survived that...

You took a breather before slowly getting up. 

You removed the eye patch from your right eye (your left eye is kept closed) and looked to see Reiner, Eren, and Bertholdt on the ground. 

You couldn't believe it; you didn't think you can actually do the dare. 

During spare training, Reiner wanted to test your skill. He talked about how he knew someone back from their village that had a similar fighting style as yours. 

"She was able to take down three people at once. Blindfolded too." He spoke. 

"No way, seriously!?" Eren exclaimed. 

"Yeah."

You looked at Bertholdt, his eyes were on you. But he quickly looked away once the two of you made eye contact. 

Why was he looking at you...?

"Hey, Y/n." Reiner suddenly appeared in front of you. 

"Can you do that?"

"Hm!?" You made a confused noise. 

"Yeah, think you can take us all at once while blindfolded?"

"Reiner!" Bertholdt exclaimed. 

"What, just wanna prove something."

"Prove...what?" You thought. 

"Isn't that too much? Is that even allowed?" Eren asked. 

"Commander Shadis isn't over here. Let's quickly try before he comes over." Reiner was not letting this dare go. 

"You up for it?" Eren asked.

You grew nervous; you didn't want to be a pushover but at the same time didn't want to act like a coward. 

But you were curious. What exactly did Reiner want to test? Him and Bertholdt were hiding something, or more like they knew something you didn't. 

You wanted to know why. 

You nodded. 

"Alright! Let's get to it then!" Reiner immediately went to get ready. 

Bertholdt followed in suit nervously while Eren stared at you with bewilderment. 

"You seriously accepted the dare just like that!?" He asked. 

You raised an eyebrow at him in a teasing manner. 

"Scared you'll lose?"

"Hey! Don't give me that look! Fine! Whatever!" Eren huffed and walked over to where Bertholdt and Reiner were standing. 

And now you were here. You took the dare and managed to do it. 

Barely though. 

You then heard a few awes and looked up to see a small crowd surrounding you all. You began to grow nervous. 

"Did you see that?"

"See what?"

"She took out all of them at once."

"Really? No way!"

"Amazing!"

"I saw the whole thing! She was so fast!"

The people around began to clap and cheer, catching you by surprise. 

Your cheeks grew red from embarrassment as you quickly looked down at your feet. You never received this much of attention before. 

But you were surprised yourself. You never thought that you'll make it this far. When you first started your training when you were about 11-12, you were nervous. 

Scared you'll be weak, scared you'll never make friends. But now, you were 14-15. You unlocked a hidden strength you never thought you had. You were able to show so much potential. 

Joining the scouts might have been the best decision you could think of. 

Eren was the first to get up. 

"Nice job, Y/n. You managed to beat all three of us."

Reiner smirked. 

"Somehow I knew I saw potential in you."

Bertholdt smiled nervously at you. 

"Good job."

You noticed Reiner and Bertholdt exchanging looks, like they were confirming something. 

What did they just confirm?

The tiny crowd continued to talk excitedly and you were dying from embarassment. 

"Haaa..." You didn't really like the attention. 

"What's going on here!?" a booming voice yelled. 

Everyone went quiet and saluted as Commander Shadis made his way towards the scene. 

"It's Commander Shadis."

"She's in trouble."

"I don't think she did anything wrong."

You immediately tensed as his tall figure approached your slightly smaller one. You shivered a bit. Knowing you can't greet him with words, you saluted nervously. 

He ignored it and looked to see Eren, Reiner and Bertholdt (who were both still on the ground). 

"What happened here? What did you do?" he asked in a demanding voice. 

Sweat dropped from your face as you gripped your chest tightly. You frantically looked at Eren for him to help you. He quickly got the message. 

"W-wait! Sir! Y/n doesn't talk!" Eren tried to say. 

"Did I ask if she could talk or not!?" Shadis snapped at him. Eren grew quiet. 

"No! And I'm sure I wasn't talking to you either!" he turned his head towards you. 

"As I was saying. What's the meaning of this? Did you cause this...?" he asked dangerously. 

"..." You swallowed thickly. Your lips remained shut as you could feel yourself internally screaming. 

Everyone was staring at you, you wanted to cry. But you held your tears back.

"Haa...haa..." All you can do was let out small whimpering sounds. 

"What is it? Cat got your tongue?"

"Nu-uh..." You shook your head while humming. 

"I have to admit. I'm a little impressed. Seeing that you were able to take on three opponents and win."

Huh...?

"If you think you're so strong. Then why don't you try sparing with me?"

Your whole world fell. You!? Spare with him!? You can't do that! He's your commander! Isn't that a violation or-!?

"If you don't, I'll make you run till sunset." he got into his stance. You flinched. 

You heard about Sasha that running till sunrise was an absolute hell. No way you were going with that punishment!

He was really serious about this...?

Oh no, you might be in trouble. 

The crowd around you got larger, curious faces were peaking through. 

"What's going on?"

"Is she going to fight the commander!?"

"No way! The poor girl would get pummeled!"

"He'll probably make her run laps after he's finished with her."

Fear struck you as the whole air seemed to grow more tense and suffocating. What can you do? 

"Well, are we going to start or what?"

You flinched and swallowed thickly. 

"I'm shaking all over! I don't know why though!? I shouldn't be scared! I shouldn't be!!!"

You took in a deep breaths. 

"Deep breaths, Y/n. Deep breaths. Panicking is not going to let you focus."

You slowly went into your stance, not feeling completely calm. 

You exhaled slowly, your eyes not leaving Shadis' form. 

 He wasn't moving yet. You stood still, awaiting his next move. 

Just then, he quickly started approaching you. 

It caught you off guard. He's coming in fast! 

Just then, he swung at you, which you quickly dodged. He kept throwing punches at you, making it harder to dodge. 

His swings are a little faster than the others! You were quickly losing confidence. 

After dodging a couple of swings, Shadis tried to sweep you off your feet. But you jumped back order to avoid it. 

That's it!

He goes to swing at you a couple of times before trying to take you out of the leg. You need to find a way to counter the attack!

Just as you were thinking, you got punched in the face, hard!

You lost focus. 

"Dammit!"

You fell to the ground and gasps erupted from the crowd. 

"Y/n!!" You heard Eren call your name. 

Reiner and Bertholdt looked at you, seemingly a bit worried. But also expecting something.  

"Oh crap. She really is going to pummeled!"

You weren't completely down though, just on your knees. You rubbed your slightly swollen cheek as something bursted inside of you. 

You were pissed. 

"He actually went for it and hit him. So he's serious about this."

You slowly got up and faced him with a glare. 

Fine then...

"So be it..."

You quickly rushed towards him, catching him by surprise. He tried to stop your dash with his fist, but you ended up dodging it. 

One punch after another and one kick, you were dodging his every move. 

"He's getting tired. He can't keep this up."

He threw a hard swing at you again and you ducked down. Right then and there, you were in the zone. 

Before Shadis can launch another move, you swung your leg hard against his lower body, making him grunt. 

He fumbled and lost balance, allowing you to sweep your leg from under his and make him fall to the ground.  He landed on the ground. 

Your eyes blinked a few times before you realized what just happened. Your body went into fight or flight mode, you chose to fight and hold your ground. 

And win...

Everyone stared in absolute shocked and wondered how. 

Then...reality hit you. 

You have just beat...Commander Shadis. 

You couldn't believe it...