Birds in a Cage (Male Reader X Attack on Titan) Book 1

The Scouts

Y/n Pov~

I lean against the wall of the room I was told to wait in and look out the window, the piece of parchment in my jacket pocket feels incredibly heavy. I think about the other night and shake my head in anger with myself, "Stupid bastard......" I curse myself and trail my fingers across the lightened, softer skin of my right index finger that hasn't seen sunlight since that day many years ago. I look back outside the window and see the cadets start to pour into the courtyard where they will decide which branch of the military they will serve. I probably have a couple minutes before the ceremony...... maybe I missed something I hope as I pull the piece of parchment out of my jacket pocket, open it and begin to read it again.

Erwin Pov~

I open the door to the room I told Y/n to wait in and enter, expecting to see him waiting patiently but am surprised to see a grim look on his usually chipper face as he reads a piece of parchment. "It's time" I speak up, making him look up from the paper, sigh and nod. He halfway folds the paper and throws it to the side, walks past me and makes his way to the ceremony area. Curiosity fills me of what was on that piece of paper that could get one of my most trusted soldiers so distraught. I walk into the room and pick up the parchment he threw away, I unfold it and begin to read.

Y/n

I'm sorry for leaving like this but I can't keep up this façade anymore. Now that I'm no longer your student, I can finally speak my mind and finally admit that I've always hated you. The only reason I acted so friendly towards you was to manipulate you into getting me into the top 10 of the class so I can get into Military Police so my goals can be achieved. You were nothing but a tool to make my goals a reality and now that I'm heading into the interior, I never want to hear from you or see you again.

Annie

I crumple up the parchment and throw it into the blazing fireplace, "Hasn't the boy suffered enough?" I shake my head and leave the room and head to the ceremony area. I see Y/n standing at the door that leads to the stage, a blank look on his face that reminds me of the face his fellow Captain makes when he doesn't want anyone to see that he's in pain. I place a hand on the young Captain's shoulder, earning his attention, "You don't have to do this if you don't want to" I offer him a way out but he shakes his head no. I nod my head okay and start to open the door where the cadets wait for us, "You know what to do?" I raise an eyebrow, "Tell them the truth" Y/n says blankly and I nod my head in agreement.

We enter the stage and stand in front of dozens of cadets as they stand at attention for us. "My name is Commander Erwin Smith of the Survey Corp. I am here to try to convince you cadets to join us in the Scouts but I don't believe in lying to you. I'm not going to tell you that you'll excel in the Scouts, few do and even fewer live to talk about it. I'm joined by Captain Y/n Rosenwald of the Survey Corp, who is going to give you an eye opener of what it means to be in the Scouts" I gesture to Y/n and step away so he can stand in the center of attention. Y/n steps up to the center of the stage and looks among the crowd of cadets, his gaze lands on one in particular. A short, thin girl with blonde hair tied into a bun, but as soon as his eyes land on her, he looks away and looks forward, not looking at any of the cadets. "I'm not here to convince you to join the scouts, that's Erwin's job. I'm here to make you fear the Scouts, as everyone should" Y/n states blankly, earning concerned looks from the cadets. "On my first mission into Wall Maria, I was nothing but a cadet who knew less than you do now. We made it to the Forest of Giant Trees, recently renamed, The Titan Forest and as soon as we broke through the first tree line, they were on us. I was on the left side of the formation, in a squad with some friends I made in training. As soon as we heard the first smoke flare be fired in the forest, it was already too late. Out of nowhere, an abnormal who walked on all fours fell out of a tree, ripped my friend Anton off of his horse and bit him in two, and crushed another friend of mine Amelie in the process. Our commanding officer panicked and tried to turn around but before he could even make his horse turn around, another titan scooped him up, crushed him and devoured him. It was at this point that my comrades started panicking as well because we were leaderless and they didn't know what to do. And to be honest, I didn't know what to do either...... it was only when another titan appeared and tried to eat my friend Simone that I finally reacted. I pushed her out of the way and was grabbed by the titan, if lifted me up to its mouth and tried to eat me, luckily, I didn't drop my pairing blades when it grabbed me so I grabbed my blades tight and I spun as hard as I can, severing the titan's fingers and freeing myself. While the titan recovered, I got behind it and killed it, earning my first titan kill by nearly being devoured. After that I don't remember much, adrenaline had kicked in and I went blank. Apparently, I lead Simone through the forest, cutting down titan after titan while they devoured our comrades. When the smoke cleared, we found the remaining commanders and fled back to Wall Rose. Officially, I killed thirty titans that day but according to the 4 friends I had that survived, it was double that" Y/n recollects his first mission in front of the cadets as they stare in horror of his first mission, the mission he carried out without even being fully trained. "And yes, that day haunts me to this day. That is what a mission with the Scouts is like, nothing short of blood, death, confusion and chaos" Y/n shakes his head. I start to worry that he's scared the cadets too much but he nods his head and looks back to the cadets, "But that's the price of Freedom. We need to reclaim Wall Maria, we need to retake what was lost to us and even further beyond that, we need to go beyond the Walls and see what's out there. Because if we can't do that, as a friend of mine once said, we're nothing but cattle, sitting around, waiting to be eaten by the titans" Y/n finishes and steps away so I can speak.