Yesterday's Enemy [AoT]

SEVENTY-SEVEN

'The Scouts have received a notable increase in manpower. A record amount of impressionable young Scouts, rife with dreams of seeing Havas. With the mission now just a year away, the people have begun to expect great things indeed.'

-An extract from a recent newspaper article detailing current events.

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SEVENTY-SEVEN

Wall Maria, South Region, Port Noaks, Noaks Survey Corps Base of Operations

The following morning, training began in earnest.

A rowdy lot the cadets were. Even walking down the halls of the base, Levi could hear them laughing and shouting outside. He emerged from the manor, and they immediately quietened, straightening into salutes.

"Alright, brats. It's my responsibility to make sure you kids don't end up a three-course banquet for the ugly bastards outside the Walls. Therefore, I will tolerate no bullshit." They all gulped nervously, suddenly mourning the loss of Commandant Shadis. "Your Cadet days are over. Now give me twenty laps; any whining, and I'll write the lot of you up for cleaning duty."

"Yes, sir!" The majority belted out, immediately taking off into the forest.

And then there were the stragglers. There were stragglers every year.

"Sir-" Gabriel began.

"Hyde, just because I'm courting your sister doesn't mean you have any leeway here. Get running, or you'll be scrubbing til' midnight."

He gave a panicked expression and followed the rest. Levi then turned his eyes downward. Of course, it'd be her; Elske was gazing up at him starry-eyed, her fists at the ready. "I want a rematch, sir!"

He sent a punch to her stomach, and the girl doubled over in pain. "There's your rematch. Laps, now." Winging like a wounded dog, she began stumbling into the forest.

Levi sighed, watching the children jog leisurely as if this were a hiking holiday in the woods. Lorelai was nowhere to be found this morning, sequestered away in the manor or in Noaks as she went about meetings with who knows who. He decided to go to the mess hall for a cup of tea while the cadets ran. Judging by the physique of most of them, it'd take them all morning.

Perhaps two cups of tea.

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Gabriel was running through the trees. It'd been twenty minutes, and he'd barely finished two laps!

Many of his classmates had already doubled over in exhaustion. Otherwise, they were nursing scraped knees and twisted ankles after tripping over branches or into ditches. The captain was certainly running a strict training regime this year. He doubted many of the rest would make it through.

As he ran, Gabriel had time to think on Lorelai and the war brewing in the north. She seemed to believe that there was no way through this conflict but charging in headfirst—a brave sentiment, to be sure, but Gabriel had long been acquainted with Lorelai's anger. For as long as he could remember, a vow of revenge had lived in her. Silent. Constant. He now wondered whether that vow and not a concern for their people had led her to this path. Time would tell, he guessed.

"Hey, kid—Levi got you doin' laps?"

Taken aback, Gabriel almost lost his footing but righted himself quickly. Emerging from the tree cover was one of the superiors he'd seen at Erwin's speech. He was young—a lot younger than the rest. Blonde hair, sly blue eyes... handsome.