"You...want to join what?" A woman asks as she stares at her daughter in disbelief. 

 

"The Survey Corps." Her daughter, a small, fragile girl responds. Her mother lets out a forced laugh.

 

"Now why would you want to join the Survey Corps, Hayi? What about joining the Military Police?" 

 

"No, mother, I want to join the Survey Corps. I want to see what's outside the walls. I want to help humanity take a step forward. I don't want to cower in fear because of the titans." 

 

"Why don't you reconsider, hmm?" Her mother tried to persuade her, but Hayi had already made up her mind. 

 

"No. I'm joining the Survey Corps, and that's final. You can't stop me!" Hayi slammed her fist onto the table and ran out the door, leaving her mother at the front door, calling for her to come back. 

 

  Hayi had already ran to the city's center. She sat down on a flight of stairs and sighed. 

 

"Hmph, I bet dad would be proud if he was still here." Hayi pouted and drew circles in the gravel with her foot. Hayi really looked up to her dad. He too was part of the Survey Corps. He was one of the best soldiers in that branch. He would return victorious after each expedition. She remembered his smiling face clearly whenever she would run to him and wrap her tiny little arms around him. Sadly, he died when she was six. A titan had crushed him while it was running. Hayi stood up, her fist raised in determination. 

 

"I'll make you proud, father! Just you wait!"

 

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"Welcome to the military, you brats!" a man stood up in front. At a first glance, you'd think he'd be a kind man with his pretty boy looks, but his deep voice and harsh personality seemed to shock everyone. 

 

"I see all of you are brave enough to step into the military, some of you probably won't even last a whole three years! I'm commander Himchan! I'll be in charge of  your training!" Hayi gulped and kept her stance as she watched him wander around the group. 

 

"You!" he pointed at a tall, red haired boy. The red haired boy straightened up. 

 

"What's your name?" Himchan demanded. 

 

"Choi Junhong, sir!" the red haired boy shouted. 

 

"Where are you from?" 

 

"The Trost district, sir!" Junhong yelled back. Himchan nodded in approval and wandered around the group some more before setting his sights on Hayi. 

 

"You there, tiny little girl!" Himchan walked up to her and looked down at her. 

 

"What's your name?" 

 

"Lee Hayi, sir!" she yelled back in response. Himchan stepped back, taken aback at how loudly she could yell. 

 

"Where are you from?" 

 

"From Shiganshina, sir!" Himchan was silent for a moment, then neared his face to hers.

 

"I see potential in you, little girl." he said before straightening up and continuing on. Hayi exhaled, she was holding her breath without even realizing it. 

 

"He's a bit intimidating, huh?" Hayi heard a whisper from beside her. She turned her head slightly, a boy who was a bit taller than her looked at her with a smile. He had black hair and he seemed to have a strong build. 

 

"I'm Moon Jongup, I'm from Shiganshina as well." 

 

"Then you must've survived through that day as well." Hayi whispered back, her attention also making sure that Himchan didn't notice their little chat. 

 

"Yeah, I lost my whole family." Jongup said sadly. 

 

"I lost my mother." Hayi replied. 

 

"Why are you here?" Jongup asked. 

 

"To join the Survey Corps." 

 

"What? You'll be killed instantly!" Jongup half whispered-half yelled. 

 

"My father was in the Survey Corps, he died in a traumatic way, but he didn't die in vain."  Jongup fell silent. 

 

"I'm sorry...for your loss." 

 

"It's fine, I hope you can reach your goals as well." 

 

"Thanks. I think you and I will be great friends in the future." Jongup turned to look at her and grinned widely. Jongup's smile was dazzling and Hayi looked back to the front and smiled. 

 

"I think so too." 

 

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It was morning when Hayi and the rest of the girl's dorm was rudely awakened. 

 

"Get up, ladies! We need to perfect your training techniques some more before you graduate!" Himchan yelled as he strode back and forth in front of the door. 

 

"It hasn't even been five hours since we came in here and slept." A girl named Amber complained and hopped off the top bunk of the bunk she shared with another girl named Victoria. 

 

"Well, we're almost there, right? Just a day until we graduate and we can protect all of humanity!" Hayi said excitedly. She quickly got dressed and washed away the sleepiness from her eyes and exited the dorm while combing away the knots in her hair with her fingers. 

 

"Hayi!" Hayi could hear Jongup's footsteps approaching up behind her up to her. Without warning, Hayi grabbed onto Jongup's arm and threw him forward with ease. He landed on the ground with a thud. Hayi giggled and offered her hand to Jongup who was rubbing his head. 

 

"What was that for?" Jongup frowned. 

 

"Got to be prepared, you know, we're graduating in a day, I've got to be at the best of my abilities and then I can join the Survey Corps!" Hayi said. Jongup nodded. 

 

"You know, I've been thinking." Jongup said as he got into his fighting stance. 

 

"I also want to join the Survey Corps." Hayi stood up straight. 

 

"I thought you wanted to be with the Stationary Guard." Jongup lunged towards Hayi and attempted to bowl her over, but Hayi dodged easily. 

 

"I did, but you know what? I've always wanted to lead a life of adventure." 

 

"Just adventure? What about saving the world?" Hayi asked.

 

"That too." Hayi smiled at Jongup. 

 

"I think I hear Himchan calling us, it's time to train with our 3D maneuver gear out in the forest! I'm totally going to win this time." Hayi said, referring to the exercises in which we practiced with fake Titan figures. 

 

"Hayi, please, I'm totally going to break your winning streak." Jongup adjusted his 3D maneuver gear around his hips and held his blades tightly. Hayi strapped on her 3D maneuver gear and ran off to where the rest of the trainees gathered. 

 

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"Hayi-six, Jongup-one!" Hayi yelled as she flew through the air and sliced off another piece of the fake titans' block on it's neck. 

 

"Come on, Hayi, you're clearly in front of me, I think that we should start and go at the same pace, just to make it fair." 

 

"No way, Jongup, in real life, we have to kill as many as possible!" Hayi said and shot off into the distance again. Jongup watched as Hayi easily sliced through the blocks on the titans' necks. He frowned and released the wire cables from the 3D maneuver gear, catching up to Hayi. 

 

"Jongup!" the sound of the cables retracting came from beside him. He looked to see Hayi standing on a tree branch. Jongup soon landed beside her. 

 

"What's up?" Jongup asked. Hayi gestured below them. A group of green cloaks were seen, different symbols etched onto each one. 

 

"They're here to evaluate us." Hayi whispered. Jongup looked down, seeing some familiar faces in the crowd. In the group of Stationary Guards, Four women observed the trainees with great interest. 

 

"Hey, that's Captain Hyosung, she's the best of the best. The other three women behind her are part of her squad, Sunhwa, Hana and Jieun." Hayi explained. 

 

"Then we have the Military Police." Hayi pointed to a group of seven men.

 

"That's Squad Leader Zico. Then we have Taeil, Pyo, Yukwon, Kyung, Jaehyo and Minhyuk." Jongup looked at the other six. Three were watching the trainees while the other three were being scolded by Zico for not staying focused. Jongup sighed at the sight. 

 

"Being part of the Military Police must be so boring." Jongup said. 

 

"No kidding." Hayi huffed. 

 

"Then, finally, we have the Survey Corps." Jongup looked over at Hayi and her eyes seemed to sparkle when she mentioned the third and final military branch. 

 

"Hmph, Corporal Levi didn't come, I was hoping to impress him, maybe he would've taken me in early." Hayi placed her hands on her hips. Jongup snorted. 

 

"As if." Hayi shot him a glare and looked down at the largest of the three groups. 

 

"That's Squad Leader Chaerin, then we have Bom, Dara and Minzy right behind her. Those guys behind her are pretty strong as well. Jiyong, Seunghyun, Daesung, Taeyang and Seungri. They're second best to Levi's squad." 

 

"C'mon, stop loitering, let's show them who's the best in among the rest of the trainees." Jongup hopped off the branch and released his wires and started to swing through the trees. Hayi joined soon after and whipped out her blades as she approached the first fake titan. She held her blades up and slashed down through the neck, leaving a clean mark on the fake titan's neck.

 

  She saw Jongup soar through the branches and cut every single fake titan, not even missing one in his path. Hayi whirled around and landed on the side of a tree for a split second before launching herself off and flying through the air, slicing two of the fake titan's neck in a row. Hayi glanced down at the Survey Corps, smiling to herself when she saw that she had caught their attention, in fact, she caught the attention of all the branches. 

 

"Did you see that?!" Seungri exclaimed. 

 

"No way, we saw her first, Seungri!" Hyosung growled. Zico shrugged. 

 

"Her abilities are way to good for us." he said to Kyung. 

 

"Hayi!" she turned to see another trainee, Chen, who gave her a thumbs up and smiled at her. 

 

"Hogging all the attention, now are we?" Chen teased. Hayi smiled back. 

 

"Are you jealous?" Hayi asked with a teasing tone. 

 

"Maybe just a little, but I'll beat you one day!" Chen said and propelled himself forward into the branches. Hayi scoffed. 

 

"Yeah, right." Hayi said and sliced off another piece of the fake titan's neck. She landed on a branch nearby and leaned against the thick trunk to catch her breath. She looked down to see the military officials of the three branches following the trainees on their horses. Very few of them stopped to look at the other trainees, more than half of the eyes were on her. Jongup landed beside her and changed his blades. 

 

"They're all interested in you. Look at the gleam in their eyes." 

 

"No kidding, they all look really desperate as well." Hayi pointed out the hungry looks in Hyosung and Chaerin's eyes. The military police seemed quite interested in another group nearby. 

 

"Trainees!" Himchan hollered from below. Hayi and Jongup both swung down from the branches and landed in front of Himchan. 

 

"We have the three branches from the military evaluating you, so hopefully, they've all found their targets." I looked over to the groups behind Himchan and all their eyes seemed to glide over to me. I caught Chaerin's eye and smiled. She smiled back and nodded her head to me. 

 

"We've seen enough for today." Chaerin said. 

 

"Survey Corps! Let's go!" she announced and lead her horse and the rest of the Survey Corps out of the forest. 

 

"Stationary Guards." Hyosung commanded. Sunhwa, Jieun and Hana immediately turned and galloped closely behind each other. 

 

"Alright, Military Police, let's go." Zico murmured and the Military Police slowly made their way out of the forest. The One Hundred and Fifth Trainees Squad were left mesmerized by the presence of the Military's greatest. 

 

"Definitely going to join the Survey Corps! They're so brave and amazing!" Hayi exclaimed and clasped her hands together.  Jongup nudged her. 

 

"Training's done! Let's go back and sleep so we can be ready for our graduation tomorrow!" Hayi nodded and walked back beside Jongup to the cabins. 

 

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"Good evening, trainees of the One Hundred and Fifth Trainees Squad, I am Lee Chaerin, one of the Squad Leaders in the Survey Corps. Very few of you are brave enough to join us and if you are, then I salute you. If you aren't then, you trainees may be the weakest of the group, afraid to face death and afraid to sacrifice themselves for the sake of humanity." Her words struck Hayi and she clenched her fists. 

 

"I will help humanity and I'll make father proud." she whispered to herself. 

 

"I'll make this sweet and short for you all. You may die during your time in the Survey Corps, but your death will not be in vain. If you do not choose the Survey Corps, then I will accept your selfish choice. It is up to you, now, trainees to decide your fate. Leave now, if you do not wish to join the Survey Corps and wish to live the rest of your life without adventure." Silence loomed over the crowd of trainees. Then, one by one they started to file out of the crowd, leaving only a few of the trainees, saluting and unmoving. Chaerin smiled at the sight of me and nodded. 

 

"Congratulations, you brave souls, welcome to the Survey Corps."

 

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"Jongup!" Hayi called as she poked him in the cheek. Jongup stirred but murmured something incoherent and opened one of his eyes slightly, letting the light filter in and saw Hayi's face hovering above him. 

 

"Let's hurry up! We have to get ready to go!" Hayi said. Her excitement was showing and she shook me harshly. Jongup groaned and stretched. 

 

"So much power in such a tiny body." Hayi giggled and Jongup heard the door to his room shut. Jongup sat up, ruffling his hair and looking out the window. He slid off his bed and wandered over to the small water basin sitting in his room and splashed water onto his face. Jongup soon was wide awake and grabbed his uniform and started to change. He heard a knock at his door and Hayi's sweet voice was heard. 

 

"Hurry up!" she said. Jongup quickly pulled the pair of brown boots on and ran to the door and opened it. Hayi stood there in uniform and she tossed a green cloak with the Survey Corps' symbol on it. Jongup thanked her and put it on. 

 

"I can tell you're excited." Jongup pointed out. Hayi nodded and pulled her hair into a bun. 

 

"Hey! There you are!" Kyungsoo, one of the trainees that graduated with us waved us over. 

 

"We're all waiting, we even prepared our horses for you." he said. He broke into a run and Hayi soon followed with me trailing behind them. We were assigned to Chaerin's squad and were placed on the right flank of the formation. We swung ourselves onto the horses and followed Chaerin out towards the walls. 

 

"Everybody ready?" Chaerin asked. 

 

"Yes, ma'am!" we all called out. Chaerin nodded to Jiyong and drove her heel into the horse's sides, making the horse run faster. With all of us keeping up to her, we were out of the walls in no time. I looked around and felt the breeze in my face. I was finally out. The freedom that I felt was wonderful and I looked behind me at Jongup who was smiling widely, his smile always made my heart flutter. 

 

"It feels good, huh, trainees?" Dara asked. 

 

"Yes, ma'am." I replied. Dara laughed. 

 

"No need to be formal, just call me Dara, okay?" 

 

"Okay." I replied. Soon, a red flare was shot up into the sky and several more followed. 

 

". A titan already?" Taeyang cursed and loaded a flare and shot it up into the sky. 

 

"Let's keep going, it seems to be near the back." Chaerin commanded. 

 

"Yes ma'am!" As we rode on, thunderous sounds were heard in the distance. We all looked back and saw a five meter titan running and grabbing at the squad in front of it. The squad reacted quickly, one sending out a red flare and the others cutting it in different places, attempting to weaken it. Eventually, Sunggyu, the squad leader managed to slit the back of its neck, sending the titan to collapse and start deteriorating. As we rode on, many different flares were sent out at the same time. A black flare, signaling a deviant-type titan was approaching along with several other red flares declaring that many titans were in the area. Soon, they all saw a green flare shoot up into the sky, indicating that they keep going straight. 

 

"Deviant!" someone who was nearby shrieked. A black flare was shot and soon a deviant was running towards the squad nearest to them and stomping around, heading towards the centre. 

 

"Minzy! Seunghyun! It's heading towards us! If Soohyun's squad doesn't manage to kill it, I want both of you to be prepared." Chaerin ordered. Minzy and Seunghyun both kept their eyes on the deviant who was currently trying to defend itself from the oncoming flood of soldiers. Hayi saw Kevin launch his 3D Maneuver Gear into the forehead of the deviant and flew up, temporarily perching on it's face before launching himself onto the deviant's head before the deviant smashed it's own face in.  

 

Another person from Soohyun's squad flew up and landed on the deviant's shoulder. Hayi saw that it was another trainee. The trainee stabilized herself on the shoulder and attempted to launch her 3D maneuver gear so she could slit the back of its neck. The deviant reached up to its shoulder and Hayi watched in complete horror as the trainee was captured and Kevin tried to cut off it's arm. But it was too late, the deviant had already taken a bite and blood had sprayed from the trainee's half eaten body. Kevin seemed to freeze in mid air as he saw the scene in front of him. 

 

"Kevin! Get back!" Soohyun ordered. Kevin snapped out of his daze and managed to get back down onto the ground where his horse had stopped to let him get on. The deviant had eaten the rest of the trainee and was clearly looking for more to eat. Soohyun's squad had disappeared and it's next target was Chaerin's squad. 

 

"Get ready!" Chaerin yelled. Minzy and Seunghyun readied their blades and watched as the deviant ran over to our squad. In a flash, Minzy and Seunghyun had launched themselves at the deviant, showing no mercy and slashing it's limbs. Hayi looked at Chaerin who stood up on the footholds of the saddle and took out her blades. 

 

"Jongup! Shoot a flare!" Chaerin yelled. 

 

"Yes ma'am!" Jongup replied and took his flare gun and loaded it with the black powder. He covered an ear and shot it straight up in the sky. 

 

"Seungri, Jiyong, Dara Taeyang and Jongup, attack! Hayi, stay with me until I say when we may attack!" Hayi looked back at Jongup who nodded at her.

 

"I'll be fine." he mouthed. Hayi hesitated before she nodded back and turned to back to Chaerin and followed her closely. The whirring of the 3D maneuver gear and blades slicing into skin was heard. Jiyong yelled orders as the others yelled back in response. 

 

"Hayi, we want to launch an ambush on the deviant, do you hear me?" 

 

"Y-yes ma'am!" 

 

"Since I've chosen you, you'll carry out the ambush with me. I think you've got the right skills for it. When I say go, we'll launch ourselves to the forested area over there." Chaerin gestured to a clump of trees in front of them. 

 

"The others will probably have injured it enough and we can finish it off. Do you understand?" Chaerin asked. 

 

"Yes ma'am!" 

 

"Good." Chaerin urged her horse to go after and balanced herself and held her blades up as the forest neared. 

 

"Ready your blades." Hayi pulled out her blades and managed to balance onto the footholds of her saddle. Chaerin hesitated a little longer before yelling.

 

"Go!!" Chaerin called and she quickly launched her wires out and flew up to the trees. Hayi followed her and landed beside her. They watched as the other part of the group came in with the deviant, then Chaerin waved her hands to signal that they should stop. Taeyang have the deviant one final slash to the leg and disappeared into the trees. 

 

"Go!" Chaerin yelled and launched herself at the deviant. Hayi jumped off the branch and released her 3D maneuver gear, where it buried itself into the titan's torso. There was a rush of air and soon Hayi was grappling onto the stomach of the deviant. Hayi prepared to jump off and launch her gear once again. 

 

"Hayi! MOVE!!" But it was too late, her reaction was slow and before she realized it, the deviant had me and was holding her tightly by Hayi's torso. She screamed as the deviant started to tighten its grip around her. She felt the lower portion of her spine begin to snap and she could barley feel anything anymore. Her vision started to get blurry and she heard Jongup's cries as she felt herself being lifted. A hot wall of stinky air hit her, Hayi soon realized that she was going to be eaten.  She felt her lips tug up to a small smile. 

 

"It was a good life." she murmured to herself. 

 

"The memories I had made, the friends that helped me through the hardest times. I guess I'm going to be joining dad now." Hayi let herself relax and closed her eyes. She accepted death and was not afraid. 

 

"This. Is. It." she murmured and braced herself for what she thought would be her last breath before being snapped in half. 

 

"HAYI!" a voice screamed and she heard a slicing sound, then she started to fall. She felt herself drop onto the thick and soft grass with a thud and she laid there, in a daze. Her breath coming in as shallow gasps and voices were calling her name and screaming for her to get up. Without realizing it, she soon fell unconscious.

 

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"Hayi." Jongup called gently. Hayi straightened up in her chair and turned to smile at him. He peeked through her bedroom door and stepped in. 

 

"You're back!" Hayi exclaimed. She managed to turn herself around in her homemade wheel chair. She adjusted the blanket on her lap and tucked loose strands of hair behind her ear. 

 

"How was the expedition?" Hayi asked. 

 

"I killed quite a few on my own this time. I'm part of Levi's squad." Jongup winked at me and smiled.  

 

"Congratulations." Hayi said, a bit of jealousy crept into her voice. 

 

"I brought you flowers." Jongup said as he presented a bouquet of yellow daisies from behind his back. 

 

"Oh! Thank you! They're beautiful!" Jongup walked up to her and placed the bouquet into her hands. Hayi admired them before placing them by the window. 

 

"You know, I'm really proud...of you, of course." Hayi started off. 

 

"I'm sure you would've been ten times better than me." Jongup interrupted and patted Hayi on the head. She pouted and playfully smacked his hand away. 

 

"It's been how many years since our first expedition?" Jongup wondered out loud. 

 

"Five years and you haven't been eaten yet." Hayi teased. Jongup smiled and pushed his hand into his jacket pocket. 

 

"I've been waiting for this moment, you know." Jongup said. Hayi looked at him with a confused face. Jongup took his hand from his pocket and gulped. He kneeled down on one knee and looked up at Hayi with a glint in his eyes. Hayi covered and felt tears form. 

 

"It's been how many years since we've known each other?" Jongup asked. Hayi took a deep breath before replying. 

 

"It's been eight years." she replied. 

 

"Eight years of waiting until the time was right. Three years of wondering if I could keep you alive. For three years, I would lay in bed and vowed to protect you from any harm. I kept my promise, even though you've become crippled. You may seem worthless to others, but to me, you are my life. Lee Hayi, will you be mine?" Jongup murmured. Hayi couldn't hold back anymore tears and she reached down to cup Jongup's face in her petite hands. 

 

"Yes, ever since you first talked to me, ever since you first smiled at me, I knew that you were the one. I accept, Moon Jongup." Hayi didn't bother wiping any gears away and just sat there, letting her eyes drift around and memorize each and every feature of Jongup's perfectly sculpted face. 

 

"Just promise not to die, okay?"