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ᴀᴄʀ ᴏɴᴇ 104ᴄᴀᴅᴇᴛ
ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴇɪɢʜᴛ
ᴄᴏᴍʀᴀᴅᴇꜱ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅ
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THEY WARN YOU WHEN,
training begins, it will be grueling, and your former life will be stripped away so they can construct a new one for you. Morgan had believed she was prepared for this transformation, convinced that the exercises she'd undertaken with Jean and Marco were merely a precursor to the real challenge. But now, as her muscles tensed and nearly buckled, as tremors ran through each limb and sweat traced a path down her spine, she was forced to confront the reality.
It was an ordeal.
The oppressive heat offered no respite, and her shoes, fresh out of the box, already felt as though they were disintegrating beneath her.
For the last hour, their task had been to hoist weight dummies, each purportedly weighing around 80 pounds. For Morgan, just managing this feat was an effort.
"Use your shoulders, not your neck," came a voice.
His blond hair was cropped close, freshly sheared, and neat, catching the sun's rays in a way that made his hazel eyes gleam with a similar hue. Broad shoulders accentuated his sturdy build, and he towered over Morgan, who stood at a respectable 5'8". By comparison, with his imposing stature, he must have been around 6'2".
"Your neck," he said, demonstrating, "is going to give out if you keep that up."
Morgan could only respond with a wide-eyed stare, her bangs yanked into an amusingly awkward ponytail that stuck up defiantly. She was determined not to endure another reprimand for something as absurd as vision.
When Morgan finally got herself together, she did her best to roll the dummie onto her shoulders, but with how tight her muscles had gotten, they refused to relax, and she was scared if she even tried to, she would be done for it. And she wasn't ready to do another two hundred pushups
"Here," He let out a huff before sliding the dummy off her neck. "I'm Reiner." He nodded slightly as the dummy was now on her shoulder.
Releasing a breath that seemed momentarily trapped in her throat, Morgan mustered her voice. "I'm Morgan," she managed to say, her words emerging in a raspy whisper. She attempted to rise to her full stature but found herself faltering, her strength insufficient to stand tall or exude any sense of intimidation.
"Nice... Uh, hairstyle you've got there."
Morgan's tongue clicked against her teeth in irritation. "Shut the hell up." Her retort came with an edge, though she aimed to mask any hint of self-consciousness about the way she had hastily tied up her bangs, even if embarrassment colored her true feelings.
"Hey," Reiner's chuckle floated through the air, "I'm being nice here."
"More like a pain in the neck."
"I was the one that helped you out, yeah?"
"Don't care."
"Your neck will."
YOU ARE READING
𝗙𝗔𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗘𝗦 𝗕𝗘𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗬 , 𝗔𝗢𝗧
Hayran Kurgu"My knuckles were bruised like violets Sucker-punching walls, cursed you as I sleep talked" 𝑰𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉, All Morgan wanted was to rebuild what she had lost. "Spineless in my tomb of silence Tore your banners down, took the battl...
