FicWad

CHAPTER I
It’s been a year since I went to the Cadet Corps. Can’t say it was all sunshine and rainbows, but I was doing pretty good. Training, talking to cadets, training, training again and then sleep. That was a schedule for everyone here, but we all expected that and were somewhat prepared. Turned out it was pretty easy to get used to the company of others, especially when you share your views on life. Alongside Eren, Mikasa and Armin, I’ve made friends with Reiner and Bertholdt, fellows from a small village in the mountains; Connie, not-so-sharp guy, also from a village; and infamous around the camp Sasha Blouse, going by the name of «Potato girl». The problem is, that now I’m just as infamous, being the main henchman of the superior troublemaker of the camp, on whose conscience were many hungry soldiers. Allow me to tell you how this all happened.
As we all learned later, after the unpleasant acquaintance between Sasha and Shadis, the latter made her run around the camp till the evening, no dinner. This execution was spectated by many of cadets, but as the time went people got bored and proceeded to meeting each other. Along with that came the first conflicts, like between Eren and Jean, the guy who became a cadet only to join the Military Police. He was quite literally an opposition of Eren, so it was expected of them to become somewhat of rivals. Me and other fellows had to stop them from beating the shit out of each other so that our first night in the camp doesn’t end in a fight. When the sun set and it got darker outside, I decided to go for a walk. Leaving our barrack I saw a body lying on the ground not so far. The body turned out to be Sasha Blouse, who seemingly has suffered through her punishment. Looking around it didn’t seem to me like someone was gonna do something about her. Coming closer to check if she didn’t stretch her legs, I started talking.
«Hey, are you alive?» I patted her on a shoulder. «Sasha, right? You good?»
«Food...» a faint voice reached me. «I beg you, give me food...»
Food, aye? She is in such sorry state exactly because of the food, but she’s the boss now. She skipped dinner after all. I’ve had some bread left, for my habit of eating before going to bed. I went back to the barrack, took the bread and returned to the body lying just where I left it.
«I’ve got some bread here,» I said sitting down next to the girl. «Sorry, that’s all I got.»
She didn’t move. I walked around her and saw that she opened her mouth slightly. That’s weird, but I get it, she was running the whole day. After a whole day in the field I also couldn’t lift even a cup of tea. I put some bread in her mouth, luckily she could at least chew on her own. I was taken aback when the girl jumped to her feet, snatched the bread from my hands and began devouring it greedily.
«Ohh, thanks a lot!» Sasha said. «I would’ve died here if it weren’t for you!»
«N-no problem.» I muttered still being confused by her sudden awakening. «Name’s Albert by the way.»
«Sasha,» she introduced herself as we shook hands. «Nice to meet you! Well, it’s late, so I’m off to our barrack. So long!»
I’ve given her just one piece. Didn’t know you could charge up a man with only one piece. Here’s the power of bread before my very eyes! After such weird interaction with no less weird girl, I fell asleep pretty fast.
That’s how it began for us. Potato girl came to me the next morning, thanking me for help. I was glad, since I didn’t expect to earn someone’s affection that fast, not to say that of a girl! I guess it would be polite to mention, that Sasha’s really pretty. Brown hair perfectly matching her brown eyes on sweet rounded face. Actually, the girls in this camp were all gifted with immense beauty. Mikasa, for example, who got half of the guys in love with her. The other half was ready to die for Christa, petite girl with blonde hair and deep blue eyes. I guess this place will become a lot more interesting, when the cadets get to the love affairs.
So, Sasha. Sasha was interesting, let’s put it like that. However, some may call her a weirdo. The girl was ready for anything just to get some food. Training, constant conflicts with camp authorities, she would suffer through all of that just to get food. One couldn’t count how many times she was caught trying to steal some food from the storehouse or to rob someone in the dining hall. I suppose she wasn’t expelled solely because of her results during our trainings. She comes from the village of hunters, so her physical condition was in great order, despite constant hunger. Unfortunately, everything turned out so that I was complicit in the majority of her misadventures. This girl always managed to engage me in her food-stealing operations and I always had to cover for her, since it was she who was always being caught. Her strive for food was turning her into a wild beast and she was ready to slam her head through the storehouse’s door just to reach it. My part was to pull her away, when I saw the instructors or just watch her being dragged to Shadis’s tent for another portion of scolding. And every time that happened I would go there and try to patronize him so he wouldn’t destroy Sasha on the spot. One could call me a goodwill ambassador from Sasha to Shadis.
Obviously, we’ve a got a lot closer to each other. We were known as «storehouse raiders» among the cadets, for people knew that if Sasha was storming the storehouse, I was somewhere nearby. It goes without saying, there were some conflicts because of that. After all, we were stealing the food someone else was supposed to get, so sometimes I had to protect Sasha from potential detractors. Sometimes we had to bribe fellows with food, so they won’t tell anybody about out latest robbery. But in general our criminal duo was prospering, despite some troubles.
As for our military affairs, it was... Well, it depends. There were natural-born geniuses, like Mikasa or Reiner, who performed the best. There were fellows like me, Sasha and Connie, who weren’t super-soldiers, but we performed solid. And there was Eren. Eren, who despite his thunderous declarations of destroying all the titans, wasn’t doing that good. The worst part for him was the omni-directional maneuver gear balance training. Mikasa succeeded on her first try, for me it took several attempts, but Eren couldn’t do it at all, smashing his head against the ground every time he got in the air. He’s stubborn at least, my head would already be split in half if I were in his place. There was supposed to be an exam this week, and if the rest of cadets including me were pretty much assured in themselves. However, that wasn’t the case with Eren. The majority of us thought, that this would be his last week at this camp. The rest supported him as best as they could. I was among them. He’s a good guy after all, just not as talented as he thought himself to be.
Among this fuss with the impending exam, our storehouse raids paused for a while. Didn’t make it any easier for me though, for I felt like it was a lull before the storm. She was gonna do something, I’m sure of that, she can’t just sit in one place without any food to consume, even with this exam. And that turned out to be true. I noticed that she became a bit too active; she tried to perform the best and cut the perfect figure before Shadis, as if she was trying to win his favor. Because of that my suspicion grew even stronger and now I knew something wicked was about to happen. What I also knew, is that I would be a part of it and there was no way out for me. Not that wanted to leave her alone though.
I guess it’s obvious now that I didn’t become the henchman of the camp’s most famous thief out of pure politeness. At first, I liked only her looks, but she seemed somewhat otherworldly... Turned out that she is. Calling her a firecracker would be an understatement. She’s a giant firework that’s ready to blow up this goddamn storehouse of food. I’m sure that if it wasn’t for me, she would empty it in one night. However, that’s what like I her for. This world is as unstable as it can be, you never know what happens the next day. The titans threat is still out there, lingering behind the Walls and we are soon to encounter them. And in this twisted world Sasha’s my ray of sunshine. Always positive, always ready to do some dumb shit for a reward of an additional portion of food. And I’m lucky to be by her side during all of those small adventures. But I guess this specific adventure isn’t going to be that small.
There were four days till the exam and my tension grew exponentially. What is this restless girl thinking of? Wouldn’t there be any problems because of it? Wouldn’t it be too serious? What if this time she does something so terrible, that she’ll be kicked out of the camp along with me? Hell no, I’ve got to learn at least something, a danger foreseen is half-avoided. That’s it, the next morning I’ll talk to her and learn everything I could. After the dinner I’ve had a small walk and went back to our barrack. Everyone was there already and I decided to sit down by Eren and Armin.
«Hey, guys. How you doin’?»
«Hey, Al,» Eren replied. «Doing bad. I still can’t catch that damn balance, no matter how hard I try. Everyone’s considering a moron now.»
«It’s not true,» Armin joined our discussion. «Nobody’s thinking that, we all see how hard you try. We know you’re not a moron.»
«Easy for you to say, Armin,» Eren objected. «I heard that horse-face Jean telling the guys from other groups what a loser I am. And he’s right! I can’t hold on for a second on those damn ropes.»
«Should’ve beat the shit out of him,» I said. «Like you always do. You keep trying no matter how many times you fall. That deserves some respect. You can’t pass this exam with respect only though.
«Wow, thanks, Al, you’re a real consolation.» Eren laughed.
«And I told you to get through the theory some more!» Armin exclaimed. «If you did exactly as the books said, you would’ve succeeded by now!»
«Actually,» I began. «Never seen Mikasa being that involved with the books, Armin.»
«She’s different...» Armin darkened.
«Shit!» Eren shouted. «She did it on her first try, and then there is me! There’s already a hole under that trainer in the shape of my head!»
«Well, you’ve got four more days, Eren» I said. «Train as much as you can and you’ll succeed on the exam!»
«Thanks, Al,» Eren replied smiling. «I’ll try my best.»
«Aight, boys, I’m gonna hit the sack» I said, heading towards my bed. «Till tomorrow!»
«Good night!» they said in unison.
I’ve been lying in my bed for about an hour, the lights were already out, when I heard a light knocking on the window closest to me. Leaving the barrack and walking around it, I saw Sasha standing there and smiling at me. I guess I’m about learn her plan right now.