Two years had passed, the refugees of wall maria had been suffering since they arrived in wall rose. Food was short, winter had rolled in once they arrived three years prior, and the government had declared that all male citizens of wall maria over the age of twenty were to serve in the military and attempt to retake wall maria. However, out of the twenty-thousand sent, only one hundred had managed to make it back. Aila had suffered the past three years, she survived on hard bread that she had to ration out each week. She slept on the cold hard floor of a warehouse with tens of other refugees, and was forced to farm and attempt to grow crops in winter. Aila had decided the moment she heard Eren's words, that he was going to wipe out all titankind, that she would enlist into the military in three years when she turned sixteen. And so she did.
Aila stood in a line of cadets awaiting for orientation to begin, next to her left was a tall, slender, yet tan skinned woman with shallow piercing eyes and short brown hair. She had freckles that were hardly visible but visible up close, her stare was ice cold. And next to her right was a short girl with black hair split into two puffy pigtails resting on her shoulders, her eyes were full of light, life, and nervousness. Aila however, had matured into a beautiful young woman. She had golden brown short hair, her bangs split down the middle and separated at the sides of her face. Her eyes were yellow, slightly shallow, but had some determination in them. Her skin was a white tan tone, her muscles clearly defined through clothes. She stood tall for once, she had grown up to be taller than expected.
"ATTENTION!", the drill sergeant had shouted. The cadets stood with chins high and saluted. "My name is Keith Sadies! And you will grow to hate me! These next three years will be grueling and hellish! Right now all of you are weak, spineless titan fodder! But I will change that and mold you all into proper soldiers!", the commandant had shouted. He then began to walk down the aisles of cadets, some he passed, some he stopped at and drilled into them. He had gotten to the third row of cadets and began to shout once more, "What's your name maggot?!" "Sir! Armin Arlert sir!", Armin had nervously answered while saluting. "That's a ridiculous name! Why the hell would your parents curse you with such a dumb name?!" "It was my grandfather sir!" "Well cadet Arlert! Why are you here?!" "To be at service to humanity and retake our land sir!" "That's lovely to hear! You'll be a nice snack for the titans! Row three set face!", the commandant had screamed while grabbing Armin's head and rotating it to behind him.
Sadies was now walking down Aila's row, however Aila did not break her composure, in fact she felt no nervousness at all while awaiting the commandant's drill. He walked passed some cadets on her row, some he drilled, then, he made it to her, and stopped. "Cadet what is your name?!", saluting, Aila shouted, "Aila Brandt sir!" "Brandt huh?! And why are you here maggot?!", Aila clenched her fist as her memories of that day began to flood her head. Her brows furrowed, "To retake my homeland of Shiganshina and kill the armored titan sir!", the commandant's eyes glowed, he saw the determination in them. "That's a big goal you've got there! You must train hard to obtain it cadet Brandt!" "Sir!", she saluted once more before he moved on to the next cadet.
Sadies had made it to a certain cadet, small, shaved head, and... dumb. "What is your name shrimp?!" "Me? Uh- Sir! Connie Springer of Ragako village sir!", the cadet responded while saluting, but he had saluted with the wrong hand! The commandant did not take this lightly, he grabbed both sides of Connie's head and lifted him off the ground, "First thing the system should've taught you was the salute! Is your heart on your left side Springer?!", unable to answer, Connie hung there in the commandants hands. CRUNCH! Everyone's heads turned, a cadet was eating a potato while in formation! "Hey.. you there... what do you think you're doing?", the commandant asked, jaw dropped, while dropping Connie. He began walking towards the cadet, unaware of the mistake she had made, the cadet looked around and took another bite. "YOU'RE OFFICIALLY ON MY SHIT LIST! WHAT IS YOUR NAME?!", swallowing the bite she had taken, she saluted, potato still in hand. "Sasha Braus of Dauper village sir!" "Sasha huh? What is that you're clutching in your right hand?" "It's a steamed potato, I saw it in the mess hall awaiting to be eaten so I gave it shelter in my stomach!", Aila could barely keep her composure, she was holding in her laughter. The commandant began to speak again, "But why... why would you eat that here, here of all places?" "It looked very delicious and it was getting cold," "Why.. why would you eat that potato?" "Are you asking why people eat potatoes sir..? I'm surprised you don't know sir", the area went silent, jaws were dropped everywhere. She sighed and grabbed hold of her potato once more, splitting it into two. Handing one small piece over to the commandant, she said, "Here sir, have half" "Have.. half? Really?", he replied. Sasha smiled into an proud smile. He then smacked both pieces away and screamed at her once more, making her run around the training grounds until the sun went down and she lost a weeks worth of provisions.
Once they were dismissed, Aila and the other cadets headed to their dorms to change out of their uniforms to relax. Each dorm had a room shared by four people, Aila shared her dorm with Mikasa, a girl named Annie Leonhart, and Sasha. It made Aila feel relieved to know and have a familiar face in her dorm, and plus, Annie was quite intimidating. Once Aila had gotten to her dorm, she put her belongings away and decided to introduce herself to her dorm-mates. "Hey Mikasa, long time no see.", Mikasa turned around and saw Aila, she stood silent and stared, "Ah, that's right. You probably don't remember me, I mean I understand, it has been a wh-", she was cut off. Mikasa had ran up to her and hugged her tightly, this was rare, she hardly ever hugged anyone, including Eren and Armin. "M-Mikasa? What's the matter?", Aila looked down at Mikasa, and saw tears streaming from her face, she was shocked, she's never seen Mikasa cry. "I-I'm so glad.. I had thought you died in Shiganshina!" "N-No.. I survived but-", she choked. Remembering the horrors that unfolded before her three years prior. She began to shake, she covered her mouth, trying to stop herself from vomiting. Tears began to stream down her face, she was hyperventilating, she couldn't stop the flashbacks. They were as clear as day, she felt as if she was back on that day. She let go of Mikasa and ran out of the dorm towards the bathrooms.
She slammed open the door and ran into the first open stall, falling to her knees, splurging into the toilet bowl. She could hardly breathe, she couldn't see anything aside from her memories. "M-Mom.. dad... I'm sorry, I promise I WILL avenge you.." , BAAM! Someone had burst into the bathroom, "Aila?! Aila?! Where are you?!", it was Mikasa. Aila snapped out of her trance, she weakly said, "H-here..", Mikasa busted through the stall, seeing Aila laying on the ground only being held up by her head, her breathing was finally regulating and slowing down, she could almost see clearly now. Mikasa bent down and held Aila in her arms, "Are you ok? You look horrible! Can you breathe?" "Y-Yeah, I'm ok I just.. I needed to throw up, I didn't want to throw up on you haha", Aila replied with a weak smile across her face. Mikasa helped her stand, putting Aila's arm around her neck while hold onto her back. "Can you walk?" "Yeah, I just need to drink some water or something", she responded. Mikasa nodded and the two began walking out of th restroom and towards their dorm. Mikasa reached to open the door, but the knob turned on its own, opening the door for the two. There she stood, Annie, "I thought I heard footsteps heading this way so I was going to check to see who was coming in", the short blonde stated coldly, she stepped aside, allowing the two in.
Mikasa laid Aila down on the bottom bunk of a bed, "T-Thanks.. both of you", Mikasa smiled a little. Annie headed towards the bed, she sat on the foot, "No worries, had Mikasa here not run after you I would have, you looked like you were going to pass out" "Well I almost did, thank you for the concern", Mikasa's smile faded, "Aila, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to bring back painful memories... I just missed you so-" "It's alright", Aila said cutting her off. Annie rested her feet on the bed and crossed her arms, "So, what caused that anyways?, Mikasa shot Annie a piercing glare. Aila sighed, she sat up and stared into her palms, "I just, had a panic attack is all, I remembered that day, three years ago, I lost.. everything...", Aila saw a hand hold and caress hers, she looked up to see Mikasa holding her hand. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to" "No.. it's ok, I haven't told anyone what happened, I think I should", Mikasa squeezed her hand, nodding in understanding. Annie stayed still and silent, curious about what her story was. "When the colossal attacked, I was right by you, Armin, and Eren, I was on my way home when I saw you guys. I was going to come over and say hi but... that's when it happened", Aila frowned, clenching her other hand. "The colossal had appeared, before I knew it, I was pushed back by the force of the wall breaking and lost you guys. When I could see clearly and stand, I realized my parents were still home, so I ran towards my house.. but when I got there..", tears began to well up in her eyes, Mikasa now sitting next to her wrapped her arm around Aila to try and comfort her. "W-When I got there, half my house was crushed, my father had been crushed by the rock on top of the house, my mother tried to lift the rock but.. it was no use...", Annie gripped onto her jacket, still silent. "When my mother realized it was too late for my father, she grabbed hold of my hand and we began to run, but once we got into the inner wall.. my mother collapsed to her knees because of my father's death, but a soldier from the Garrison came up to us and told us to keep moving. However.. once she stood up, the inner wall broke too, and a boulder came flying, the soldier managed to throw me away but... he and my mother were crushed under it. Once I came to, I looked over and- and I saw the boulder with blood splattered from under it.. and my mother's a-arm... sticking out from under it", once Aila finished talking, she looked up to see Annie AND Mikasa holding her. Mikasa was crying, "A-Aila I.. I'm so sorry.." "It's ok Mikasa.. it wasn't your fault...", Aila began to sob, but she soon said through her tears and teeth, "That's when I saw it.. that monster... the armored!", Mikasa let go slightly and looked at Aila's face, her eyes widened, "I will kill it.. I HAVE TO BE THE ONE TO KILL THE ARMORED!", Annie too backed up slightly, hiding her face with her hair. "That's why I joined the cadets... because I WILL take back our home and I WILL kill the armored titan that took EVERYTHING from me!", Mikasa held Aila's hand and looked her in the eyes, "Ok.. I will help you, I promise", Aila squeezed her hand back, nodding in agreement. However, Annie stood up and walked towards the door, but before leaving she stopped at the door, "Aila", Aila looked up to see Annie facing the door, hiding her face, "I will also help you get your revenge, you can count on it.", and with that, Annie left the room, crying.