Destiny of Paradise

ODM

Sam

"Sam Jaeger! You're up next!" Commandant Shadis yelled through the crowd. He then moved on to the next group. I stepped forward, away from Ryan, who stood next to me. A pyramid made of three thick wooden bars with two slots wide enough to hold arrow heads sat on the two side bars. We had been told to bring our assigned ODM wires with us for this exercise. I strapped in the base, and an assistant cadet placed both wires in their respective places in the bars. Another five

"Ready?" The cadet asked. I nodded at him and took a deep breath. A group of dozens of cadets all laid eyes on me as the assistant began to turn a crank. My feet rose above the ground, and my core began to tighten to an insane degree. I took a deep breath and remember everything I had taught myself in Wall Sina.

I balanced quite easily. I barely swayed, and I only did at the very beginning. After about two minutes, Shadis came back and told the assistant to lower me. Ryan was up next. I was worried at first, but he did even better than I did. He didn't even sway. He wasn't even worried. It was incredible. I truly didn't expect that from him.

I had looked around to see how everyone else way doing. Mikasa was doing as expected, Armin struggled but was able to stay upwards, but Eren... was hanging upside-down. It wasn't that hard to hang, so why was he having trouble? I thought, out of anyone, Armin would be the one hanging, but not Eren. Shadis was over there scolding him, leaving everyone else to hang, but none of them seemed to mind. They were all able to do it with very little problem, so waiting wouldn't really inconvenience them.

It didn't take long before he went around again, and the last few people got put into the air. Most were able to succeed. Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie succeeded, so that was good. Obvious, but good.

As everyone began to walk back to the mess hall, I couldn't help but wonder how Eren couldn't do it. He was in relatively good shape, so he should be completely fine. He doesn't have vertigo or anything.

As web entered the mess hall, Eren pulled Mikasa and Armin aside, and the three both exited back outside.

"I'm worried about him." I told Ryan.

"What happened?" He asked.

"He couldn't hang." I answered.

"How? It's not that hard." Ryan responded. "Did Armin?"

"Yeah, that's the weird thing." I answered. "Eren is far more physically capable than Armin, but he failed while Armin succeeded."

"Could it be something with his gear?" Ryan asked.

"There's a possibility, but not a very high one." I responded. "If something was wrong with his gear, then the Cadet Corps really has fallen off. Each piece of gear is carefully inspected. I doubt one could get passed them."

"Could Shadis have messed with his gear?" Ryan questioned.

"Why would he do that to Eren?" I asked. "Does he have some agenda against Eren?"

"I don't know." Ryan sighed as he sat down at a table.

"Anyways, I saw that you and Annie went and had a little... private talk." I raised my eyebrow at him.

"What are you implying?" He asked.

"Come on, why won't you admit you like her?" I groaned. Ryan's face turned slightly pink, something I haven't seen in forever. "Oh, you like her so much."

"I do not!" He yelled as he covered his face. I laughed loudly and leaned back into my chair.

"You have some competition in Bertholdt though." I told him. He just scowled at me. "Y'know, I wish we could live like this forever." I sighed.