hey
did'ya see my post?
3-freaking-hundred plus
ohmygod
in celebration, I'm writing a full story of Kaelyn, from her beginning to following the manga
ALSO
nothing
haha let's just get to the chapter
credits to the anime and manga, obviously
fifteen votes/views for a new chapter!
"In the end, we couldn't find a single solider who used their gear without permission," Gunther sighed into his drink from his spot on the stairs. "Just who in the world...."
"Who knows.. I'm more worried about the recruitment ceremony." Eld's tired and worried voice rang clear between them.
"I heard Kaelyn and Erwin are in charge. Hopefully the limited time that she was there along with Eren will draw some recruits."
"Despite that, I wonder how many recruits would be eccentric enough to join." Eld quickly shot down Gunther's idea, thinking about all the crazy soldiers they already had.
Hanji...
Eren...
Even Kaelyn and Levi with their obsessive ways...
He shivered slightly. Would they ever get anymore normal soldiers? He though in despair.
"Oi, Eren! How many of your comrades are planning on joining us?" Gunther yelled over to the younger, brown-haired boy, who was staring off into space while he aimlessly fed a horse.
His head snapped up and his eyes darted in their direction, surprise showing before it faded away.
"Yes! Well," he trailed off before looking down. "They were. I-I'm not sure if they are anymore."
Eld began to open his mouth before he froze. "Assemble!"
He tossed his cup to the side before getting up and saluting, along with Gunther as Levi rode up. "We're going to the ceremony."
••••• •••••
Crowds of nervous cadets hovered around in front of a stage, their only light being of the burning torches on both sides.
Two figures stood before them, one somewhat familiar and the other giving the 104th Training Squad whiplash.
Before them, surveying the crowd critically with her hair tied tightly in a high ponytail, stood Kaelyn Bloom.
Mikasa's eye narrowed at the girl, disliking her nearly as much as the man who "disciplined" Eren.
"I'm Erwin Smith, the Commander of the Survey Corps. To my side, she will introduce herself later."
"Today, you are here to decide where you are to enlist. And to be blunt, we are here to recruit soldiers into the Survey Corps. I will let my comrade take over for now."
Erwin looked over at Kaelyn and she nodded stepping forwards, while Erwin disappeared behind and into the wings.
Whispers spread around the crowd and with a twitch of her eye, she glared at them all, instantly silencing them.
"Listen up, I'm Kaelyn Bloom, soldier and one of the Squad Leaders for the Survey Corps. During their recent attack, you learned how terrifying the titans can be, as well as how limited your own strength is." A few cadets looked down in shame, while others lifted their chins slightly.
Kaelyn slightly nodded towards those that did, before continuing to talk.
"However that battle brought mankind closer to victory than ever before. The key was Eren Jaegar."
Mikasa's eyes narrowed when she saw a woman backstage wink towards Kaelyn, causing her to scowl, then continue.
"By risking his own life for mankind, he shows unwavering allegiance to all of us. With his help, not only did we stop the titans' advance, but we've also obtained a key to discovering their true nature."
Gasps could be heard everywhere accompanied with eyes widening.
"We believe that the basement of his old home in Shiganshina holds answers about the Titans that even he doesn't know. If we can reach that basement, we will find clues to ending this game of cat and mouse with the titans."
"His basement?" Reiner mumbled, shock evident in his voice. "We're already that close?"
The speech continued, with a woman and a man coming out with a map, explaining the route, but also the consequences of joining.
Most listened, but as they did so, a small group of people were spacing out
Namely, the top ten and eleventh of ten 104th Training Squad.
"If you are willing to put your life in risk, you are to stay here. Please ask yourselves," the 104th flinched as her eyes landed on them, sharply piercing into their souls.
She continued, although it was like she was speaking exactly to them. "Are you capable of offering your lives for the future of humanity?" Her stern voice rolled over them like waves.
Before long, a small group of people stood before her.
Kaelyn's voice was quiet, apart like a whisper, but it held strength and sternness. "Could you die.... If given the order to do so?"
"We don't want to die!" They chanted loudly and Kaelyn firmly nodded as Erwin walked up behind her.
"Now then, I accept all of you into the Survey Corps. This will be a true salute! Into it, pour your hearts!"
"Sir!" Some of them stood proudly, like Mikasa and Reiner. Others were crying, like Sasha and Krista. And then, there were the ones like Connie and Jean, who have already accepted it.
"You've done well to suppress your terror, newbies." Kaelyn said, a slight smirk on her face.
Erwin nodded. "You are all brave soldiers. You have my greatest respect."
••••• •••••
"Salute!"
Thump went their hands against their chests. "I'm Squad Leader Ness. And this is my favorite horse, Shallot. She likes biting hair, so be careful if you go bald. Nice to-"
At that exact moment, he happened to have his bandana bitten, causing him to lose balance.
His cries of struggle, however, fell upon on deaf ears of his new squad.
"We will be here, right in the middle of everything. Once we exit the the gate, we are to spread out." Kaelyn explained to her squad, which laid out in a small clearing in the forest.
"Wait, why are we being separate soldiers? Wouldn't it be harder to regroup afterwards?" Yvonne exclaimed, sitting upright from her spot in a tree next to Felix.
Kaelyn nodded while re-crossing her legs on a stump. "Right, but we're the elite. We will be meeting in a clearing similar to this one, 1 kilometer from the nearest squad passing at that time before joining the remainder of the Corps."
Phoebe looked slightly nervous before signing and grinning. "Alright then!"
Amare smiled at the girl before turning himself towards Kaelyn. "So, how many newbies did we get?"
Kaelyn sighed. "Roughly twenty."
Amare smiled.
"Not bad for a "suicidal branch", huh?" He said, complete with air quotations and everything.
Fritz nodded stiffly and Felix frowned before throwing his shoe at Fritz, causing the lanky man to loose his balance and fall off his own tree.
The second-in-command glared up from his spot on the ground. "Felix, what the hell?!"
Felix's brown eyes twinkled mischievously behind his glasses as he roared in laughter, having to use Yvonne as support so he wouldn't meet he same fate as Fritz.
However, Yvonne wasn't in any better of a situation, her loud snorts echoing in the air.
Fritz growled before Phoebe laughed at him. "Fritz, calm down. It was just a joke, lighten up."
"Tch, whatever." And with that, he set himself down below Amare.
"Oi, what's the deal with that Titan-shifter guy anyways? What's his name... Oh yeah, Eren." Felix called over to his superior, once his laughter had calmed down.
Kaelyn's eyebrow raised as she lifted her sight from a pile of documents on her lap up to the burgundy boy. "What about it?"
"Petra from Levi's squad said she saw him staring at you while he did chores." Felix smirked. "Does the little boy have a crush on his superior?"
Kaelyn's eye twitched. "Petra....!"
Amare laughed. "Well on the brightside, you'll definitely be the dom-"
A thick folder connected to his head, sending the man tumbling into the ground with a boom.
Felix and Yvonne couldn't seem to take all of the excitement and they simultaneously fell off their own tree in laughter, sending Phoebe into a fit of giggles and Fritz even chuckled.
Kaelyn smirked. "If you even got one document dirty, Amare, you have to clean out the closet in our wing."
The other four shuddered.
In the short amount of time that they had stayed there, only a month or so, the community closet for the squad had been piled up with books, blankets, towels, and Kaelyn's personal favorite, extra First- Aid.
Despite it being neat, it was everywhere and you could barely walk into it.
Amare lifted his head with a smirk.
"Oh, no, I wouldn't want to disturb you and Ere-"
This time it was a thick book, leaving an imprint on the man's forehead as he was knocked back down once more.
The light shone off of Kaelyn's glasses as she stood up.
"No more talk of this."
Somehow that made the squad erupt once more at Amare's state and Kaelyn sat down, satisfied.
••••• •••••
Torches lit the stable as Jean gripped Eren's shoulders tightly. "We're.... We're seriously counting on you, okay?
Before Eren could answer, a voice entered the conversation.
"Why is it that every time I see the two of you together, you're fighting." Eren's eyes widened even more, if possible as he spun around and saluted quickly. "Kae- Ahem, Bloom-heichou!"
He mentally berated himself for using her first name in front of others.
The older girl nodded towards Eren and he dropped his salute. She arched her eyebrows. "Quite a congregation for after hours." Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"You can finish whatever you need to in the morning, brats." Mikasa looked furious and was about to retaliate, but froze when she saw Eren chuckling quietly.
"Eren...?" She said quietly in confusion, and although the others didn't, she could feel their confusion as well.
But what pissed her off, was when a tiny smile graced the older girl's face when she noticed Eren laughing.
Eren stopped, however, when he felt everyone's eyes on him and he blinked, confused. "What?"
Kaelyn smirked. "Everyone, back to your bunks."
"Oi, you can't tell us wh-" Jean and Mikasa began to rage before Eren surprised them once more.
By interrupting them.
"You guys are my friends, but seriously. Listen to heichou." He dropped it once he saw the surprises gasps.
Mikasa's jaw dropped and Sasha fell backwards into the arms of Connie, who just barely caught her.
Jean glanced at Kaelyn, the seventeen year old having an almost invisible smirk.
One-by-one, they all shuffled out of the stables, Jean and Mikasa not forgetting to throw a glare at the glasses girl, who merely looked down at them, disinterestedly.
As soon as they all left, she scoffed and turned to leave before she saw Eren still standing there, looking awkward.
"Eren, why are you still here?" She said flatly.
"I- um..." He stuttered, trying to think of any excuse. I can't just tell her that I wanted to know why she was here in the first place, that'd be rude and seem like I was stalking her or something..
Before he could even think up an excuse, she sighed. "I'll tell you what. You don't tell Hanji where I went, I won't tell Levi."
Green eyes widened before they returned to their normal size. "Wait, why is Squad Leader Hanji after you?"
Twitch went Kaelyn's eye for the fourteenth time today.
Suddenly, her eyes widened and she quickly darted into a stall.
His mouth opened to question what she was doing, but suddenly Hanji burst into the stables, looking like she'd outrun a hoard of titans.
Her crazed eyes scanned the room, only to drop on the terrified teenage boy.
She lunged forwards and possessively grasped his shoulder, shaking them.
"Eren, where's Kaelyn? I can't finish my experiment without her there as bait'"
A bead of sweat dropped down Eren's neck. Now I know why she escaped.
"Actually, uhhhhhhhh, no!" Hanji slumped down onto the ground in despair before her head snapped up.
"Say, aren't you supposed to be back in your bunk?"
Eren chuckled awkwardly. "Kaelyn assigned me to continue cleaning, apparently I didn't do a good enough job earlier."
Hanji nodded before she quickly stood up. "Say... Eren...." "No!" he cried and Hanji pouted before exiting the stables.
A minute or two of silence passed by before Eren glanced over at where Kaelyn was crouched. "U-um, Kaelyn? She's gone."
Kaelyn quickly stood up, brushing off herself and looking relieved, as she nodded towards the boy. "Thank you, Eren."
Without another word, she exited the stall and begin to walk away, before she turned on her heel with an arched eyebrow.
"Are you coming or not, Jaegar."
It wasn't a question, for they both already knew the answer.
The night was surprisingly cold for the time of year, and Eren was surprised that he could see his breath in the air.
"K-Kaelyn... where are we going?" He asked as they left the castle grounds.
The forest was dark and animal sounds could be heard, yet none came near the two as Kaelyn turned onto a small trail, looking as though it was usually only taken by one.
His eyes focused back in on his superior's back, her high tied hair swinging slightly back and forth as she walked.
"We'll be there soon," was all she said and with that, not another word was exchanged between the two teenagers.
Soon, they came upon a grassy hill and Kaelyn stopped right on the top of it, before plopping down.
Feeling prompted to do so, Eren followed suit and sat down onto the soft grass next to his superior.
It was quiet, with just the animal noises and sounds of nearby towns echoing in their ears.
"Why did you join the Survey Corps, Eren?" Her voice cut into him like a blade, causing him to choke on air and give the girl wide eyes.
A dandelion twirled in her fingers before she looked over at him and he was surprised.
The cold, hard, superior face that the girl once had was replaced by a tired and experienced one. However, her tone hadn't changed.
"I, well, wanted to-" "Yes, yes. Slay all of the titans. We all know." She swiftly cut him off.
"But how did you plan to do so? You have no experience, and even if you graduated fifth, those are rookie skills that everyone in the Military knows."
Eren's eyes widened even more as he drank in what she was saying. She continued onwards, eyes still piercing his.
"How will you achieve your goal? And what will you do afterwards?"
Those words struck home as he stumbled back and away before freezing.
Is she right.... Of course. I have no extraordinary skills besides titian shifting and I have no control over that. So how?
I don't know.
"That's why I'm extending the invitation to by my apprentice," she looked over at him, then her eyebrows knit.
He blinked once, twice, three times.
"A.... Apprentice." "Yes." "Seriously?" "Why else would I take you all the way out here?"
Eren pushed away his teenage mind.
"So, will you?"
Eren stared at the extended hand before without a doubt, grasping it and shaking it tightly. "I accept!"
A small smile graced her lips as she dropped her hands, and Eren did the same.
"So, heichou, what should we d- What are you doing?!" His calm voice suddenly shrieked loudly when he saw Kaelyn begin to unbuckle her pants.
She looked up at him before pulling something and in a second, was holding up her 3-DMG gear.
Eren once more pushed away his teenage mind.
With a smirk, she set it down next to her.
"Only idiots would sit around for hours in their gear, Jaegar." She said, a teasing tone slightly in her voice and Eren felt blood rushing to his cheeks as he copied her movements.
She then proceeded to look at the sky, and Eren felt surprised as he noticed all of the stars.
"They're all out, aren't they?" Kaelyn said quietly, and for once, it wasn't condescending, stern, or bored.
It was soft.
A few minutes passed in peace before Eren looked up from his spot on the ground, and over to his upright superior.
"By the way," he said quietly. "Your usage of 'brats' was spot on."
First a smile, then a grin.
A snort, chuckle, then full blown laughter.
Eren laid there, astonished, as his superior laugher for the first time since they'd met.
Her eyes were filling with tears and she fell onto her back still laughing.
She quieted down after a minute or two and smiled, brushing her eyes, before flashing the boy a bright smile.
"It was pretty good, wasn't it, Jaegar?"
Eren grinned crookedly at her, before looking back at the sky.
"Good indeed....." he said, as his heart went thumpity-thump, not knowing the same was occurring inside of
Kaelyn too.
After minutes of Eren attempting to point of constellations and Kaelyn correcting him in a strict, yet happy tone, he stood up.
"I should probably leave, heichou."
Kaelyn looked over at him before nodding and tossing him his gear, making him smile.
"Don't get lost, idiot. Practice starts here at 8 pm, got it?"
"Hai!" And with that, he set off.
As he did so, the memory of Kaelyj laughing and smiling made him smile himself.
Perhaps there is more to heichou than I thought.
Kaelyn watched the boy leave before turning back towards the sky.
"Orion.... Ursa Minor..... Ursa Major....."
just to let you know, Mikasa will not be a bitch
Mikasa is like Eren's little shield of protection and is one of my favorite characters
two words
character development