Eventually, you were all gathered inside Wall Rose. Refugees all alike, all from Wall Maria. That is, all who survived, anyway. Over 10,000 people were estimated to be killed. You didn't see your parents at all and had to assume they were to be part of those thousands.

You were wandering around the area where the refugees were trying to get food. There had been foot shortages already, and not everyone could have food. You had the option to eat the bread you had received from earlier that day, but you had noticed a toddler cry out for food out of hunger and gave it to her. She needed it more than you did, and it's not like you're going to die from skipping one meal. But, then again, who knows when you'd be able to eat again?

You rounded a corner, and you noticed the three kids from the boat. Eren was arguing with Armin, but you couldn't tell what it was about or who started it. You watched from a distance discretely as they carried on until the girl they traveled with lashed out and punched Eren and then continued on talking to him.

"Staying alive is what matters most," You caught her saying.

You sighed as you leant against a wall. She's right, you thought, That's all we have to do. Stay alive, don't be eaten, don't starve. It sounds so simple, but in reality, it's so complicated.

You glanced at the three one last time before walking away, deciding to mind your own business. It wasn't your place to interject, and you felt you'd be impeding on what an already seemed to be a close group of friends. You didn't want to be so selfish as to try and be friends with them, even though now you were completely alone. What friends you did have, you could not find. You were alone in the world.

Weeks later, you became one of the many forced to try and grow food in the wastes, not that you minded. It was better than sitting around and doing nothing, which only made you anxious. It was cold and tiring, but you had to do your part and chip in to try and lessen the food shortage. It was hard, and you missed your parents, but there was no time to grieve for yourself.

During the next year, 846, the government sent most of the refugees to take back the Wall Maria. Almost no one came back. They sent about 20% of the population to their deaths. However, as bad as it was, it eased out the burden on food.

The day you were old enough, you signed yourself up for the military. You weren't as excited to join as you thought you'd be, rather, you were absolutely terrified. What if you didn't make the cut somehow? Was there a certain place you had to get in to get into the Scouting Legion? What if you died on your first mission? What if-

It wasn't long until you knew you had to stop asking yourself such questions. You were determined to not feel so much self doubt and just put your all into it. You would help no matter what.

Anyways, the year you waited to be sent to basic training, you continued to work the farms the best you could, trying to build some sort of strength before you left so you could survive and not be sent back.

Eventually the day came to go to the Cadets. You were to be apart of the 104th Trainees Squad. You were surprised to see so many people in the entrance ceremony. You had expected there to be fewer.

You stood as attentively and sharp as you could, feeling slightly intimidated by the instructor, Keith Shadis. He said you had the misfortune of having him as your commandant, and he didn't welcome any of you warmly.

This will be pleasant, you groaned sarcastically in your head, feeling worried. But, you kept a straight face. You would let no one see how you felt at this moment.

His speech continued on, which was even more yelling and so on, but he was being realistic about everyone being titan bait at that point. If you went to fight now, no doubt you would probably die. He then went around to various cadets and yelled to them questions and in which case they responded to the best of their ability.

He yelled at Armin at first about his name. Poor thing. Shadis continued on with other cadets. He even headbutted a kid named Jean. Ouch. He yelled at another kid, Connie, for his salute, and then a crunch distracted him.

A girl with long brown hair tied back was eating a potato in front of the commander.

You glanced over at her, worried for her own sake. By the look on Shadis' face, she was in for it, big time. All of you speculated the scene occurring, curiously and anxiously. She offered him half, and he gave her laps.

He was finished after that and dismissed you all. You gave a sigh of relief that he didn't ask you anything or yell at you. You went to the girls' cabin and leaned against the railing, watching the poor girl, Sasha, run her laps. You glancing behind the training field, you saw the dropouts leaving already.

The thought of dropping out did cross your mind. Maybe you weren't as cut out for this as you thought. But, you made a promise to yourself. You would do this and do whatever you could to help mankind. You couldn't do that if you stopped now. It was only the beginning.

Sighing, you decided to take a walk after a while, and you noticed that Armin and Eren seemed popular already. You hadn't really talked to anyone else in the cabin. However, you knew you should, so you made it your goal to get to talk to some of the others that night.

During the time you continued to walk, you accidentally bumped into Armin.

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't looking to where I was going," You apologized.

"No, don't worry," he shook his head and smiled slightly, and then his expression changed.

"You were the one on the boat with us, weren't you?" He asked, "You're from Shiganshina."

You nodded. "Yeah, I was there, sadly, I guess," You gave a light chuckle.

"I thought so," He said, "(f/n), right?"

You and Armin started to walk to the mess hall. You were talking together, and although you had seen him quite a bit after the fall and destruction of Shiganshina, you didn't really know much about him.

At the mess hall, Armin went on to find Mikasa, and everyone surrounded Eren, wanting to hear his story. You sat at another table, watching with a few other cadets, occasionally mentioning something to someone next to you or making a side comment to them.

Since he was from Shiganshina, he was able to describe to everyone the Colossal and the Armored Titans.

Someone asked, "What are ordinary titans like?"

Eren gasped and dropped his spoon. You could tell by the look on his face he saw something worse, much worse than anything you saw. Marco stuck up for him, saying to stop asking things for now. Then Eren interjected, saying titans were 'no big deal.' From across the room, you gave him a skeptical look.

Then you found out something interesting. He wanted to join the Scout Regiment, too. Not many people did, and you were surprised he was one of the few, like you. Then Jean started sassing off about it. Eren just glared, retorting him. You sighed to yourself.

Thankfully the bell rang, and you cleaned up your food, now ignoring the scene, and went back to your bunk to lay down. Other girls came in and chatted, you listened, but then came lights out. You stared at the ceiling when you heard rustling beneath you. Krista, another of the cadets, the girl bunking beneath you, was climbing out of bed and pulling on her shoes to leave.

You sat up and leant over the edge to ask what she was up to on impulse.

"Krista, I don't mean to be rude, but we're supposed to be sleeping, aren't we?" you asked her quietly.

"Yes, but..." She pulled out a cloth and unwrapped it. "I was going to try and get this bread to Sasha. I saved it for her. She would probably want this after running for so long."

"I see," You replied, "Good luck, and watch out for Shadis. I didn't see anyone sneak off tonight, okay?" You winked jokingly.

She smiled as she stood to leave, "Thank you."

Now, after weeks of running and push-ups and the building up of your strength, you had to head out bright and early. Nothing you weren't used to, but this time, you were able to see how good your omni-directional mobility skills were. You were nervous about not being able to meet their expectations, because if you weren't able to, you'd be carted back off into the fields.

As you stepped up to be hooked onto it, you looked over to Armin, and he gave you a small nod and a smile, which made you feel better. Then he turned his attention back to Mikasa. Krista waved over to you also as she stepped up and you returned it.

As they began to pull you off the ground, you clenched your stomach muscles, throwing your arms out next to you to balance yourself. You wobbled quite a bit for a few seconds as you panicked a bit, but you forced yourself to calm down and take a deep breath. You were able to steady yourself.

You felt so relieved at this. They had you hang there for a few moments, seeing if you could keep it for a longer time, which you did, occasionally having to rebalance yourself and almost falling several times.

Once they lowered you back down, you got off it shakily and happily and went to stand back with everyone else, watching, and occasionally chatting and making small talk with someone as you watched.

Mikasa did absolutely amazing. You were slightly jealous as it came so easy for her, but then there was Eren, who was completely upside down. You watched him, feeling pity since he had so much determination and he, well, kind of sucked.

Back at the mess hall, nobody was crowding around Eren like the first night. They all thought he was big talk now. You looked around for a spot as you grabbed your food. Armin offered you a seat next to him, and you nodded, taking a seat with the three of them awkwardly. You sat in silence, until Mikasa spoke up, snapping Eren out of his thoughts. Apparently, they went out to give him some extra practice, but he smacked his head on the ground quite hard.

"Eren..." She smacked his shoulder.

He winced.

"There's no point in worrying about it," Armin said, trying to encourage him, "You can just learn to do it tomorrow."

"I'm pathetic," he said, "There's no way I can wipe them out like this..."

Mikasa interjected, "You should just forget about that all together."

"What?"

"I'm saying you should give up trying to be a soldier," She continued, "Fighting isn't simply about throwing your life away."

"Hey, I saw what happened that day," He said defensively, turning to her.

"Eren, we all saw horrible things that day," You said quietly, interjecting between the two of them.

He glanced over to you and nodding sympathetically, realizing his mistake in his argument, but turned his attention back to Mikasa. "Do you really think you can convince me to quit?"

"But still, it doesn't matter how determined you are."

"Why not?"

"Because you don't get to decide if you're fit to be a soldier it not."

Eren backed down. You all continued on in silence. You were kindling a new appreciation for Mikasa. To you, she seemed to see things practically and how they were. You and Armin tried to break the awkwardness at the table by starting a conversation. You both knew it wasn't working, but you continued on anyways.

Mikasa spoke up as the bell signaled dinner was finished. "I'm not saying you should return-"

"Let's go Armin," he cut her off as he stood, Armin nervously agreeing.

"To the fields by yourself." She continued, not noticing Sasha sit next to her, "Because when you go-"

"Er, Mikasa..." You started.

"I'll go with you." She turned to where Eren used to sit, to find Sasha there, looking confused.

Sasha looked down at Mikasa's bread. "So what you're saying is, I can have that?" She pointed hopefully to it.

Mikasa picked it up, in a manner one would assume she is letting Sasha have it, began to eat it, and then left the two of you alone. A tad bit harsh, right?

You turned your attention back to Sasha, then back down to your uneaten bread. You stared at it, and you could feel Sasha's gaze flipping from you to the bread.

"Yes," You sighed to her.

She didn't even have to ask.

She quickly snatched it and stuffed it into her mouth. "F-fanks.." She managed to articulate through her full mouth.

You nodded, "Yeah, sure. No problem... So, hey, I'm going to go now, erm..." You said as you stood awkwardly, "So, see you back at the cabin," You waved politely.

She smiled back after gulping down her food as you left. Sasha was an... interesting person, you guessed.

When you arrived back at the cabin, the girls were talking back and forth to each other, some as pairs, and the rest in a big group. Mikasa sat back and listened to everyone.

You asked if it was okay to sit before you sat on her bunk with her, and you listened to the jabber together, most of it about the aptitude test. You felt it was difficult to start a conversation with her, as she was a bit distant and slightly intimidating.

"The three of you seem really close," You said warily, after choosing words carefully.

She nodded. "We've known each other since we were little."

You nodded. "You seem so lucky to still have your friends after everything back in Shiganshina," you said after a pause, "I don't know anything about what happened to mine."

She nodded, not saying anything, and so again you sat there in silence until it was time for the lights to be put out. You got off her bed, but she did tell you 'good night.' It kind of made you feel like you could be friends.

The next day, you were all gathered to watch Eren. He was able to try again. He was once again hoisted up. This time, he was able to hold himself upright for a few seconds, then he was back to hitting his head on the ground. Shadis made the decision to have Eren switch belts with someone else for the time being. This last time, Eren was able to do it and could stay upright, and he seemed pretty ecstatic about it.

It wasn't long till you were able to use the 3DMG, which felt absolutely amazing. It was almost like flying, which also sounds pretty cliche, but that was how it felt. Each time you practiced with it, you couldn't help but smile to yourself somehow. It was one step closer to being able to join the Scout Regiment.