Chapter Text
Thank God that orphans were so common in this fucking world.
Being a face in the crowd was one thing, and although I didn’t have a family to call my own, I was old enough to join the military oddly enough.
Okay, old enough to join military training. This place was a crap sack world, but I did feel comfortable knowing that Marley wouldn’t be fucking with Paradis any further as it stands now. I looked over to Annie Leonhart under the guise of checking her out. She was one of the Warriors of Marley, and an ‘enemy of humanity’ as Eren would put it.
I caught her looking at me, her eyes blue, bright, and beautiful. They were narrowed in disgust after I winked at her. I admit, she was stunning, and if Armin didn’t lock her down at least once during training, I planned on fully changing her mind about Eldians. Through my dick. Obviously.
But I was different in a way that was rare in Paradis.
When I got punted here, whoever did it forgot to factor in cosmic adjustments on the superficial level, so I could integrate easily. I had the language down pat, and people would know of me, I had parents that existed here, but they died when the walls first got breached, so my story made sense to others.
But, I was in my twelve year old body from my old world, which, in most cases, wouldn’t be a problem.
Except I am, as people from my old world would call, an African-American.
My features didn’t fit in like everyone else, and my darker skin was enough to have people either be wary of me, or tease me.
It wasn’t hard to make people stop fearing me in the orphanage, but for those who made fun of me? Violence worked just as well in this world as the last. It was oddly comforting. Even when people thought the world was confined to this small island, they found time to fight each other.
“You, frizzy hair! What do they call you, maggot!?” a loud voice interrupted my musings.
Putting on the well known salute, I snapped into place, “Sir! Leonidas Schwarz of Shiganshina, sir!” I could feel a few eyes look at me at that, but Shadis didn’t seem phased at all.
“Is that so!? Cadet Schwarz, I bet a titan never eaten someone like you before!” God damn it, here it comes. “Why the hell are you even here?! You could make a killing as a street performer!”
“Sir, there are enough street performers and too many titans to kill, sir!”
“Damn straight! Who knows, maybe you’ll slow them down as they choke on your hair Cadet! I’ve never seen anything like it before! Are you part sheep!?”
“Sir, no sir!”
“Are you human!?”
“Sir, yes sir!”
“That’s all I needed to hear! You’re here to fight and die for humanity, I don’t give a shit what you look like! You are not special Cadet Schwarz, do you understand?”
“Sir, yes sir!”
“Good. Row four, about face!”
That...wasn’t as bad as I expected. And while that thought entered my head, I felt it, the pull of something in my soul.
Bronze ticket, gained! Rolling...rolling…
[ Cat's Feet]
|Rarity: Uncommon Trait|
You almost always land on your feet when falling, in addition, you are immune to all fall damage, even falling down from space to earth will not hurt your legs.
The fucking Chaos Gacha. Had the bastard for years, and all I had to do was get yelled at by Shadis to finally get a ticket. Surviving the first episode should have been enough, damn it!
Whatever, this could work. I had three years to build up, and whatever happened during this time set the scene for the history of Paradis.
Fucking hell. All things considered, could be worse.
~
When I learned I would be sharing the barracks with Eren and Armin, I was prepared for whatever trouble they would drag with them. When I found out I would also be sharing a room with Reiner and Bertolt, I quickly realized that I was not prepared for anything at all.
Damn traitors, but they were essentially brainwashed into thinking them existing was a crime. If they had any sense of pride, they would abandon Marley and just join Paradis.
But that’s what this time was for. Reiner would realize that we aren’t demons at all, and even if they did abandon Marley, Zeke would be hot on their heels. Maybe even the bitch who has the Warhammer would show up, and even she was a tricky one to fight for Eren.
No, I had to play nice and bide my time. Maybe even change some things along the way.
“Ah, Leonidas, you’re blocking the door.” Armin’s voice brought him out of my head.
“...Sorry Armin. I was just thinking.” Moving out the way, I followed him inside. We didn’t have much to call our own, but this place was my home for the next three years.
“What about?”
I looked at Armin, the small boy currently meek and shy, would be one of the driving forces behind Paradis gaining it’s own freedom. He’d commit atrocious acts all for his friends. The last thing I needed was to be on his bad side.
“Everything. I mean, I’m really in military training.”
He nodded with me, “It’s hard to imagine, but yeah, we’re really one step closer to being full fledged military!”
He was eager, honest, and I didn’t like the way his smile made forget how bad this world was gonna be.
Eren walked in, seeing the two of us talking. “Leonidas,” His eyes intense, “You were there the walls broke, right?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“And you still want to kill titans? To join the survey corps?”
“What makes you think I want to join the Survey Corps?” I asked, no mention of them coming up once all day.
“Because you said specifically to kill titans. No other branch of military actually go to the outside.”
“Hmm, fair enough. Yeah, I want to join them. Some may call them suicidal, but I have a feeling that they can do great things.”
Eren nodded at that, his intense eyes still on me. “Good. Can’t be caged in like sheep.”
We continued talking, and when Reiner and Bertolt walked in, that’s when I noticed it. The stares, the assessment, the question of how someone like me ended up in Paradis.
Reiner, ever the socialite, asked about it.
“So your skin, is it like, natural?”
I could hear Bertolt slapping his hand on his forehead.
“...yeah,” I eventually answer, “It doesn’t come off in the shower if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“So, do your parent’s look like you or is it like...too much sunlight?” Reiner asked, continuing his line of questioning.
“...My parents. Do you want to actually talk or are you gonna ask about my skin the whole time?”
Bertolt interrupted the two of us, “Sorry about Reiner, he’s nice but he can be a bit of an idiot.”
“It’s no problem. I get it, I’m unique.” I flash a pose, “Not a lot of people like me around.”
And as the room was exasperated by my antics, my mind was reeling.
The outsiders, these Warriors of Marley, were trying to get a read on ME. They’ve probably seen plenty of people who looked like me, they’re just trying to blend in with everyone else. A smart move, one that probably just came to him based off of how Bertolt reacted. I understand their need to blend in.
He’ll let them play their game, but for now, he had to live with them. The last thing he wanted was to die in his sleep because he was too suspicious.
No, all he had to do was play the waiting game. Maybe even kill some titans along the way.
~
The first real day of training was spent trying to figure out if any of the recruits had the capacity for ODM gear.
I admit, I was nervous. I don’t know how much of my skills from the old world would translate to the anime logic that was ODM. I was fully expecting to eat shit.
But I didn’t. Be it my one ability from the Gacha or something else, it was easy to balance myself the whole time. My body just didn’t want to fall over.
I looked over to Eren, who once again ate shit. It was a shame, but he’d be fine, I don’t see any reason to interrupt his arc.
That is until he started harassing me in the mess hall.
“Leonidas, you gotta tell me your trick! Mikasa isn’t spilling.” He said, intensity and desperation in his eyes.
“There’s no real trick Yaegar, just focus on not falling.” I stood up to prove his point, “See, you’re used to having the ground under your feet, so when you take away that, you can’t adjust.”
I raised one of my legs off the ground, “So all you have to do is just pretend you have ground under you and go from there. It’s an adjustment but it’s possible.”
Armin and Mikasa nodded as I continued, “Just keep at it, you’ll get it down before you know it.” I felt someone nudge me out the way, my body automatically fixed itself so I wouldn’t fall.
“In case you’ve forgotten Schwarz, this training is meant to weed out the ones who can’t hack it.” the smarmy voice of Jean Kirschtein taking over the conversation. “Some people have it and some people don’t. Eren here just doesn’t”
As the two of them started to argue and fight, I looked towards Armin. “That’s normal for him, right? Do I need to jump in and help?”
He sighed, “If you try to jump in, he’ll just fight you too. He doesn’t like people fighting his battles for him.” Armin looked as Jean and Eren fought, “Besides, Mikasa would jump in if it gets too serious.
I nodded, watching while the two knuckleheads fought each other.
This was gonna be a long three years.
~
Eren got the balancing for the ODM gear down pat, because of course he would, this was his story. I gave him a thumbs up as he had his celebration. In truth, I fully expected to be thrown right into using ODM gear after that, but this isn’t the anime or manga, this is real for me.
Something that isn’t mentioned too much in those mediums is how rigorous the training is to actually use the ODM gear, because not just anybody could use those things. It made sense as Shadis explained it, to withstand the shock of being flung around, landing, and even carrying the gear on your person required a level of strength that the average person didn’t have. And as a wet behind the ears cadet, I didn’t have that, neither did most of the 104th.
As such, one of the very first things we did as a corp was running.
Not to say I was the pinnacle of health back in my world, but I was definitely healthy enough to keep ahead of the pack, with a few exceptions of course.
Mikasa and Annie were in a league of their own, Ackerman genes and the Marley military regime letting them pave the way forward. Behind them was Reiner and Bertolt, the other Warriors of Marley, and a few others I didn’t quite recognize. Then came the pack, where I was firmly in front of.
There was no need to rush, better to pace myself so I didn’t fucking barf out the little food I already ate and make a fool of myself.
The running was oddly therapeutic, and gave me a chance to mentally plan what I was going to do for the foreseeable future.
Aside from surviving the next few years in the military, I was going to abuse the fuck out of this Chaos Gacha, and although I didn’t know the exact actions to activate it, it seems that at the very least, the longer I lasted here, the better my chances are at getting something good.
If I can at least make it to Trost, I could really start changing things up from there. Hopefully the Gacha had some sort of transformation ability, something to even the odds against the titan-shifters.
Fucking Marley. If they left well enough alone, the plot wouldn’t have happened. Who cares if they don’t have the founder, or the coordinate, or whatever it’s fucking called. Leave the island devils alone and you won’t get your cities stomped on, it should be as simple as that.
“You alright Leo? You’re scowling.”
My thoughts were interrupted by Reiner who slowed down a bit to run next to me, and while Bertolt gave him a strange look, he waved him away, looking back towards me. “Look, I’m not sure what Annie did to you, but I don’t think giving her the evil eye will help.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, and I could see Annie looking back at the two of us. “Nah, I’m not mad at her. Even if I was, the last thing I would want would be her finding out. She could, uh, totally kick my ass.”
It was Reiner’s turn to laugh, he gave me a light slap on the back, “If it makes you feel any better, she could kick my ass too. It’s always been that way.”
“Is that so?” I said, hopefully not letting any venom enter my voice, “Have you guys known each other long?”
“We grew up in the same village in the southeast, known her for felt like my whole life.” There was a look in his eye, a gentle one that I didn’t expect from him, even if he was feeding me a half-truth.
“Really? I didn’t know you two were that close. Or three? I know you mentioned growing up with Bertolt as well when we first moved in the barracks.” I said, curious, I wanted to see how much he would tell me.
“He’s basically my brother. When I said I wanted to go to join the Military, he was right next to me. Annie said that she couldn’t let us go out there without her keeping our heads on.”
“She said that?” I said with genuine surprise on my face, “I didn’t think she had a soft spot for you two.”
“Well, she didn’t say it exactly like that,” Reiner started rubbing his chin as he ran, “There was a lot more kicking and cursing.”
“Now that makes more sense.”
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. When it’s time for combat training, I’ll make sure that Annie throws you around.”
“HA!” I brought my voice down to a whisper, “I love a girl that could beat me up. If she throws me around, I’ll thank her.”
He snorted at that. “Sure buddy. And when she kills you, I’ll make sure to speak at your funereal.”
As the two of us paced ourselves among the cadets of the 104th, laughing and ribbing one another, it was easy to see how Reiner just got into everyone’s good graces in the short three years they had together in canon.
Almost made me forget the fact that he was an enemy of humanity.