Attack on Titan: Survival and Dedication - Male Reader

CHAPTER THREE - PART ONE

SURVIVAL

Year 824
Lubnatsi's frontlines
350 kilometers South of Marley

War was an essential part of the world. It could be compared to a forest fire, how it cleanses an old canvas for new life to take its place.
Conflict with other nations was inevitable. Marley held all the cards, they could make any play, and gain any reward. And by that logic alone, every conflict slowly became a gamble, and war was a great motivator.
The Middle East has banded together, forming one whole allied force consisting of several nations and their respective militaries. They fought for the same reasons anyone else did. They safeguarded their secrets despite an agreement world leaders made to share everything.
They suffered from a drought. People began to starve. They were all lies, of course. They tried to hide it for some time now, but keeping such a military a secret was impossible.
With their advancement in military might, Marley grew worried. They tried settling this matter diplomatically, as they had done for the past few hundred years. But alas, their armies moved on their borders and Marley was forced to act. Another war was at its tipping point.
Their numbers are staggering, their technology superior, but what they lacked when compared to the Marleyan Military was a fiery determination.
General Calvi has deployed the Eldian shock troops, an elite and almost suicidal force created for one purpose alone. To fight.
Victory wasn't theirs to take. Glory was a dream. And honor was the motivation for keeping such a monumental machine moving. All the Eldian shock troopers wanted was recognition and to be redeemed of the sins of their fathers, and their fathers before them.

Yvonne heard each breath she took through her gas mask. Each became longer and faster as they approached flashes of fire on the horizon and thunderous explosions echoing over an almost flat land.
She could hear a faint whistle through the chaos, then, shortly after their artillery ceased their barrage, a whole drove of Eldians screaming as they charged through the frontlines. She was part of a single company of young men and women who would bolster the ranks and replace those inevitable losses.
"Yvonne." The trooper heard her name to her five o'clock. Turning her head, she saw another face of leather, rubber, and glass looking back.
"How is it?" Gerhard asked as he gestured to his white collar.
"Looks fine." Yvonne said. She put her eyes forward and tugged on her collar, checking the seal on her mask.
  "Get a good look at it!" Her commanding officer shouted at the tip of their company. He was an Eldian with centuries of war in his blood. Unlike other officers, he constantly praised them, saying if they weren't destined for bloody glory they would have become fine Warriors.
"This is our home!" He continued to shout. "We earned the right to live here! Now they have the gall to encroach on everything we've built! And now it's our duty to protect it! Am I right, ladies and gentlemen?!"
The shock troops gave a resounding response of pure animosity. They screamed without fear, shouted insults as if their enemy could hear it, and smiled with excitement.
The sun began to slowly creep up on the battlefield, marking a new day where, hopefully, their penance would end.

"How long have we been hitting them?" Gerhard asked a fellow Eldian.
The rolling artillery was fired back up and the former company had taken the enemy trench. The distant shells pounding Mid-East positions traveled along the earth, shaking Yvonne's fresh cup of coffee.
"It's been a week at this point." A young woman wiped the lenses of her gas mask, ridding it of dirt trickling down from the ceiling.
"The next trench is their fallback point." Their officer added. "We take that, and we'll force them into a retreat. However, it's the most well-defended. I don't expect us to follow the artillery."
"What would you do, sir?" A trooper asked.
"A night raid." He hummed. "Another artillery strike just before sundown will leave them vulnerable. After a couple weeks of hard fighting, they're sure to be on shaky legs."
"I think today might be my day." Gerhard murmured to Yvonne.
A gust of wind cooled Yvonne's sweat-slick face as she removed her gas mask. She was a young woman, no older than twenty like everyone else in her company. Their officer was the only exception.
She pushed a hand through her scalp, rustling the stubble of black, dirty hair covering it. And her eyes, as cold as ice and bright like the sky, only shared a short glance with Gerhard.
"We can only be so lucky." She said, sipping her coffee.
"You don't believe me?" He asked. His brows furrowed with an iron will, stifled anger, and many other emotions they shared.
"I'll believe it when I see it."
"Hmph. Just you wait..."
"That's enough." Their officer said, his voice low and calm. "Pay attention now. It doesn't matter what's on the other side. Our mission is clear. We take that trench by any means necessary. Honor and glory can wait, our enemies cannot."
"How long have you been waiting, sir?" Another trooper asked. Yvonne recognized her voice. The high and almost innocent sound belonged to Belinda. Unlike the rest of them, she cared for their carrier pigeons and was the youngest at just fifteen.
"Forty-five years." Their officer said with a humored huff. "How old are you, Gerhard?"
"Nineteen, sir."
"Hmmm. That would make me... sixty-one."
It wasn't common for shock troops to live for so long, let alone an Eldian man. Yvonne could see it in his eyes, the deep desire everyone carried. He wanted to die, and whether it be some miracle or misfortune, he couldn't.
"Then it could be your day, sir." Gerhard said.
"A man can only dream." He chuckled.