Choices

Chapter 1

A boy with chestnut brown hair and green eyes looked at his God-Knows-What Soup. That was what the trainees called it. They had it every morning and every evening. It was like paste, it stuck to the spoons as if it didn't want to be eaten, as if it knew what was coming. As if it were alive.

He sat next to his adopted sister Mikasa Ackerman, and his best friend Armin Arlert. Mikasa had Black hair, and eyes to match. While Armin had blonde hair and eyes as blue as the sky above them. The two had gotten him out of trouble more times than he could count. They had kept him from getting ganged up on and even with small chores around the house from when they lived in Shinganshina.

They all ate in silence, all too exhausted from he day's training to talk. Armin's eyelids would slightly droop before jolting back up. And Mikasa had bags under her eyes , making her look even more lifeless ths she already did. Running twenty miles took its toll on everyone there. Especially when you're going uphill and climbing at the same time.

He forced the paste down even though it tried to stick to the roof of his mouth like peanut butter. As it went down, he grabbed his cup of water and took a chug. It had no taste just like the paste he was eating. They would get bread on Fridays, but of course it was stale. Sasha, a fellow trainee would beg every person in the dining hall for a small piece. And of course no one would allow her. They were just as hungry as her. She had a brighter shade of brown hair, which she kept in a ponytail and brown eyes, she was short and thin.

But occasionally Eren would give her a piece of bread, in which she would give him a sloppy smooch on the cheek and run back to her table where she would then scarf it down and almost choke on it because of the drieness. She would then lick her bowl clean, and leave the dining hall early to the girls' dorm without a word.

Jean, another Trainee, whose ego was severely over inflated, would make snide remarks about her after she left. Which made Eren mad. She was hungry. So what? Every person in the hall was. He hated Jean. They called him Horseface because his face was so unnaturally flat and long. His hair was brownish gray.

Eren and him had had more than one quarrel. Almost evry night there was one. Jean would laugh at his dreams and hopes for vengeance against the Titans. Which Eren would Kick his ass again. Repeatedly. Jean would go for a right hook, Eren would block it with is forearm then bloody his nose with his other hand. Done. That would be the fight.

He was brought out of his thoughts as he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around already knowing who it was. When he looked over her shoulder his assumptions were proven true. Sasha was there, her hair in the same ponytail, her eyes with the same look. A look of desperation and pleading.

Eren sighed as he picked up his weekly bread and tore off a large chunk, he cringed on the inside as he did so. It hurt giving up the food. But he knew it helped her. He handed the chunk of bread, in which she gave him a sloppy kiss and quickly walked back to her seat next to Connie, another trainee. She quickly finished, put her plate on a counter and left.

He went back to eating his paste. Looking at the bread at the bread, and the vacant are where he had torn it off. There was small talk going around the dining hall. It wasn't loud but then again it wasn't deathly silent either.
He swallowed down another spoonful of the Godforsaken garbage, it was horrible. As always. His water was low. But his paste was almost gone. He scooped his paste up, finished it and grabbed his bread and put it in his pocket. Saving it for later.

He grabbed his cup of water and chugged it down, then put his plate on the counter for another trainee to wash.

He silently left the dining hall, the screen door creaking as he opened it. He hated that noise. It made him cringe. He stood on the porch, the torch giving him light at least fifteen feet away before being swallowed by the darkness of the night. He waited for his eyes to slightly adjust before making the short treck to the dorm. The pat of his feet was the only thing he heard, echoing through the night.

He shivered slightly, it was getting cold out and he could see his own breath in front of him. He regretted leaving his jacket in the dorm before dinner. Continuing his walk, he ignored the cold and moved further foreward. Only a few yards away from the dorm.

Once at the door, he opened it silently and walked in, heading for the showers. He went inside, undressed and turned on the hot water and bathed for an unknown amount of time. The water cascaded down his body, making his hair matt down and cover his eyes.

I need a haircut, he thought. It wasn't very long but he hated it getting into his eyes. He knew a haircut wouldn't be for several more months. He then remembered that the oher male cadets would be playing poker the next morning. Damn it, he thought. He really didn't like their way of playing it. It was strange...

He finished his shower, put in his sleep clothes, and went to his bunk where he fell down and fell asleep. Not knowing that a pair of keen eyes were watching him...
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"Wake up, Suicidal Maniac!" Yelled the same obnoxious voice, every morning Horseface would scream. Every morning two hours before Shadis. It was insane. The guys all got up to play cards and talk about the girls. He wasn't the most respected among the guys. He didn't know why.
His name was Suicidal Maniac, because of his eagerness to join the Survey Corp. They had all heard his story, and respected it. But didn't know why he would willingly join the Survey Corp. Where there were no veterans...

"Wake up," Jean repeated. Looking down at him. Literally and figuratively.

"I'm up Horseface," he replied. Sitting up. He was tired. And the sun wasn't even up yet.

He slowly got up and got dressed in his gear and boots. It took him fifteen minutes, but he got his buckles all in, and his chest pad strapped and adjusted.

He joined the other guys at the table and they delt him in. Poker for the trainees was... different to say in the least, from regular poker. Hey would have a piece of paper. In which they would write down the debts and earnings of the games since no one had money at that time

"What're ye bettin' Eren?" Asked Reiner, after he asked if he wanted a hit, in which he declined . He leaned back in his folding chair. Eren looked at his cards. Then at the other people's faces, they had horrible poker faces. Especially Connie. The game was Blackjack. He had a ten and a nine. His chances were good.

"Today's breakfast paste," he replied. That was the only wager in the game, considering that was all they had to eat. Reiner wrote down his name on a paper, and what he wagered. Losers would give their bets to the winner of that game in the morning breakfast. It was like their Chips.

"I fold," said a boy with freckles and dark hair as he tossed his cards in the middle.
Many others did the same, until Reiner and Eren were the only ones in the game. At the beginning of this hand there were six people. Now only a third of that reamined. The two showed no emotion in their faces. They laid their cards down, comparing. Eren was the obvious winner. As Reiner had 17. And Eren had 19.
"Why didn't you fold?" Eren asked him, his eyebrow up in curiosity. Reiner now owed him his morning paste. Gross. But he wouldn't be so hungry during the afternoon.
"I'm desperate," Reiner replied sadly, his eyes drooping. He knew Reiner was upset, but it was his loss. He was eager for breakfast now.

He would collect when breakfast came. He couldn't wait. He wouldn't starve today. He got up and went back to his bunk and sat down, thinking what the day had in store for him. It was dark in the room. The only light was the dim lamp coming from the table. If Shadis found them them the whole 104th would be running laps like Sasha was on the first day. Only worse.

Wake up time came along and the guys' ended their poker games. They would get up the next morning and they would do the same thing. Everyday. Eren had never lost his breakfast. He had lost his lunch but rarely wagered his morning meal.

Eren found himself in the dining hall, eating two full bowls of paste. It was disgusting, but he would at least not starve. He put two large globs in Mikasa's bowl and Armin's bowl. Seperating it between the three. Each got a third. They took it eagerly.

"Thanks Eren!" They both exclaimed while scarfing it down. And so the daily training began and ended. The day went by fast. It was ODM training. The quickest end easiest training of the week. All of the Trainees were happy it was Friday. They usually got Saturday and Sunday off to rest. And they took full advantage of it. The guys and girls would sleep in an hour later.

The next two days would be for mingling, which caused lots of drama. Especially with the girls. They always had something. And so Saturday rolled around and Eren woke up to the blinding light of the sun. He rolled over and layed there for a while.
Saturday began... with its drama and angst of teenage gossip.