Humanity's Hope || Levi Ackerman

104TH TRAINEE SQUAD

Marta hoped she wasn't next as she watched the spit rain down on her friend Jean's face as he was screamed at by their new Head Instructor, he was the second person so far that had received what the other Instructors considered a 'rite of passage,' breaking the new recruits only to mold them into the finest of soldiers. "Who the hell are you!?"

"Jean Kirschtein, sir. From the Trost District!" He shouted back at the man, trying to match his macho exterior by puffing out his chest that his right hand rested on in a salute but not managing to hide the fear in his eyes at the bald man with sunken in eyes, tired from all his past stresses, towering above him.

"And why are you here, cadet?" The question made Jean sweat profusely.

"To join the military police, sir, the best of the best." He replied with a smile to which Marta immediately regretted it for him. Jean's cocky attitude was something she was used to, having dealt with it for the past three years of their friendship but she wasn't so sure that Shadis would appreciate it.

Marta was right and she watched as her friend slumped to the floor having being harshly headbutted by the Head Instructor. "No one told you to sit, recruit. If you can't handle this, Kirschtein, then forget about the Military Police!" She would've laughed at her friend's expense had it been any other situation, but it would've been a big mistake with how close the two were, Jean and her had almost been brushing elbows before he had fallen. Marta had to resist the urge to cringe at the ex-commander's voice as he practically barked at the horse faced boy.

She didn't want to make the man any angrier, not like it could get any worse.

Marta's emerald orbs met his wide ones as Shadis examined her from head to toe with a pensive look on his face. She could understand why, he towered over her small stature so she must've looked like not much more than a child to him, one with the look in her eye which usually made him ignore a cadet. Marta didn't need to be broken but he continued anyway as a spark of intrigue made its way into his brain. "Are you going to introduce yourself, pipsqueak!?"

It was the moment she had been waiting for, the moment she had been dreading. After so many years of hiding in what she deemed 'peace and quiet,' Marta was ready to reveal herself and her identity to someone other than Jean and Marco in years.

"Marta Moller, from the Ehrmich District, sir." Shadis was right to be intrigued by the girl, her birth place and second name suggested a higher place in society. Then he remembered where he heard that name before, rumours of the bastard child of Elsa Moller, daughter of a rich merchant, running away a couple of years ago resurfaced in his brain and a flash of recognition passed across his softening eyes before they hardened again as he heard some gasps from the other cadets.

"Ah... Wall Sina scum, joining the training corps? I never saw the day. This isn't a place for fairies like you!" Marta almost flinched at the sheer loudness of his voice and the fact he was belittling her small stature which he towered above but was grateful that her introduction was over as she decided to tune out the rest. It wasn't hard due to the only thing she could hear being her heart thumping in her chest as Shadis moved onto scare Marco out of his wits. It was ironic that the last time she had felt as remotely petrified as this was the first time she met she freckled faced boy.

Marta let herself breathe in the fresh air for the first time in a week. She had spent the last few days of her cooped up amongst goods in the merchant carts which belonged to her family. The word 'family' seemed to hold no meaning to the girl as she thought about how she would no longer suffer the daily brutal beatings her mother had given her. But that didn't matter to her anymore as she jumped out of the cart and made her way along the streets of Jinae, it felt like she was finally free from her old life of abuse, both physical and emotional.