The World She Saw | Attack on Titan x Reader Fanfiction |

Other Eyes: Humanity's Comeback (2)

~Felix Altenberg PoV~

Felix finishes his diary entry before he goes to sleep like everyone else because tomorrow the real action starts. The Aptitude Test will determine whether one is capable of performing the 3D maneuver or not. This test will decide if Felix has what it takes to be a soldier, or if his journey will end tomorrow and he will have to go to the Borderlands after all...

Felix was intimidated when he saw how skilled some of his fellow recruits already were, like Mikasa Ackermann or Sasha Braus, who everyone just called potato girl. 

But it seems that the wheat has already really been sorted from the chaff. Some of them didn't manage to keep upright, like Eren Jaeger, who yesterday was talking so big about wiping out all the Titans and joining the Survey Corps. He kept hitting the ground head first, causing the others to laugh, remembering his behavior from the day before, as Felix did. But Felix doesn't mock him or laugh at him because so far he doesn't even know if he can do it himself, or if he'll end up with his face in the dirt.

And then it was Felix's turn. He was hooked into the device and then pulled upwards. At first, he was shaky and almost fell backwards or forwards, but somehow he managed to keep his balance. He didn't look nearly as elegant or relaxed as some of the others in his year, but he succeeded.

°•°•°•◇•°•°•°

By now it was late in the evening. Felix overhears Eren walking around the barracks asking all kinds of people for tips since he performed so poorly today.

"What's the trick to posture control?", Connie repeated Eren's question, "I'm sorry. I'm just a natural. You just have to feel it, you know?"

Felix thought about it for a moment. He would like to help, but he doesn't really know any tips. "I don't know how I did it myself. But maybe just stay calm?"

"Well, I would much rather like to know; how did you manage not to lose your mind after you embarrassed yourself so much in front of all of us?", Jean asks with a mocking grin.

Eren takes a step towards them with desperate eyes. "Come on, guys! You've got to help me. I'm begging you."

"Wait a minute. Didn't you say yesterday something like; Who is incapable, should better drop it? Yeah right, you said whoever isn't strong enough has no choice but to leave again," Connie recalls, while Eren looks increasingly more desperate.

"He looked like his life depended on becoming a soldier. He's really strong-willed," Felix says after Eren and Armin move to the next people who might be able to help.

"A pig head doesn't make him a soldier, though," Jean says cockily.

"Yeah, maybe..."

°•°•°•◇•°•°•°

And eventually, the day of the crucial aptitude test came. Felix noticed hours in advance how his legs began to shake again and again, although he was able to do it, but he was still afraid that his stomach wouldn't withstand...

In the end, however, everything went well for Felix. Even under the stern gaze of the Commandant and the curious looks of his classmates, he managed to maintain his balance and pass the test in the end. He was more than relieved.

After Felix, it was Eren's turn.

"Begin." the Commandant ordered after Eren was anchored in the device.

With a yes sir, Felix twists the handle, pulling Eren upward. After his troubles, he actually manages to hold himself up with great effort... At least for a short moment, before he falls again.

Shadies gives the order for him to be lowered back down, which apparently devastated Eren, as it is more than likely that he didn't pass.

"Altenberg, please exchange your belt with Jaeger," the Commandant suddenly addressed Felix, causing him to flinch. Every time the Commandant looked at him with his glaring eyes, his guts twisted...

"Yessir!" Felix immediately opens his belt and hands it to Eren.

And with Felix's belt, Eren manages it with ease. He himself looked completely flabbergasted.

"There was a defect in the equipment. No wonder you had such a hard time. One of the pieces of your harness was damaged. I've never heard of that part breaking before. I'll have to add it to the maintenance checklist," Shadies explains.

Eren was able to keep his balance with broken equipment. Felix was really impressed. He really didn't lack willpower. Maybe he really did have what it takes to be a scout....

°•°•°•◇•°•°•°

The aptitude test continued. One by one it was the turn of the others. Every now and then someone didn't make it, which meant that they could leave. After all, only someone who could master the 3D maneuver could become a real soldier. Even though Felix passed the aptitude test, he was still a little unconvinced of his ability. After all, it takes not only a good sense of balance, but also strength and stamina and, above all, a calm mind when flying at lightning speed many meters above the ground.

Once everyone was eventually done and the test was over, the recruits had to put the equipment away. Felix was just coming out of the storage room where he brought one of the gear to put it away when he suddenly heard Shadies yelling across the square. "Who the hell are you?! And what are you doing here?! Get out now!!!"

A girl, who had pulled the hood of her cloak deep into her face, which is why she cannot be identified, stood in front of the Commandant. Completely calm and collected, she answered him in an unfazed manner; " I apologize sir, the journey has taken longer than expected."

"What journey?!" he shouts again. The unknown girl is about to reply when Shadies seems to have remembered who she was, and he talks on now in a calmer voice. " So you're the one."

"I guess you already know my name, but I'll introduce myself once more," she explains as she pulls off her hood from her face. Now Felix could make out her face. Somehow she looked familiar, but he didn't know how....

Felix flinched briefly as she looks him straight in the eye, just at the moment he thought that. But a few seconds later she looked back at Shadies, which is why he now thinks he had imagined the whole situation after all.

"(Y/n) (L/n). It is a pleasure to meet you."

Felix is eager to continue eavesdropping on the conversation, but is stopped. "Hey, Felix! Give me a hand!", Jean, who was in the middle of carrying a crate into the warehouse, calls out to him.

"Yes!" he replies before running to him.

As Felix helps Jean carry the crate, his thoughts were still on that girl. If she had really looked at him, then maybe they really knew each other from somewhere. Her name seemed familiar to him, but maybe he was just imagining it... He did not quite know.

published: October 9, 2019
edited: March 21, 2023