His fingertips traced against the ridges of your spine, his spare hand interlocked with yours so tightly that it hurt. Reiner protectively held your body close against his, your chest touching his as you anxiously held onto your breath.

Your lungs began to ache.

You remained silent, hearing enemy soldiers swarm the neighbouring area as you stayed hidden within the shadows of the night. Bombs were hailing from the clouds, shattering onto nearby buildings with an apoplectic rage.

The aroma of his fresh cologne melted into your senses, heightening your every thought. You swiftly became drunk with lust as his smell intoxicated you.

"Reiner, I-"

He pressed his index finger against your lip before you had chance to finish your sentence, slowly shaking his head with a lour against his defined cheeks.

"Don't say a word." He whispered as you felt his minty breaths against the sensitive skin of your lips, "You want to live, don't you?"

Your body felt weak to his touch, melting into his protective embrace as Reiner Braun held you against the cold, brick wall.

"Yes." You softly whispered, your figure flinching against him with each gunshot as goosebumps arose onto your skin, "I want to live, Reiner."

FOUR YEARS EARLIER,

The early evening was beginning to dawn. The tangy-orange rays of sunlight from the setting sky were seeping into the large lecture room.

The sky was a wilting ebony - it was fading from a deep orange as the night took over. Reflections of rose-crimsons and charcoal-greys bounced off of the fields surrounding the Training Corps building. Freckled stars shon brightly amongst the setting sky.

Your eyes were scanning the view outside of the classroom window, pondering on where the night would take you following your final Titan Anatomy Lecture.

You sighed into the palm of your hand, hearing your professor ramble on at the front of the lecture room. The muscles in your face relaxed as you sighed.

"And that marks the end of our last Anatomy session," Shadis placed a piece of chalk against his desk with a bitter frown, "Any questions regarding our course?"

You glanced around the entire room, making eye contact with numerous classmates as silence filled the large lecture hall: everyone anticipating supper time.

You felt a breeze as Jean raised his hand from beside you: "I have a question." A prideful smirk stained his lips.

"If it involves graduation, it can wait until tomorrow." Shadis's glare intensified as his brow furrowed downwards,"I'm sure you all are ecstatic for tomorrow: I'm hoping all of you have put much thought and deliberation into which route you will be taking."

Your closest friend, Jean Kirschstein, shon you a pearly smile as you offered one back.

After some final comments and utterances from Keith Shadis, he finally excused the class to leave for the last time.

You arose from the birch-wood seat, nostalgia filling your body as you felt your knees weaken: worries about your graduation filling your brain. You pulled your coffee-coloured satchel-bag over your right shoulder: saying a quiet 'goodbye' to the pretty view outside before beginning to leave your classroom.

You glanced back over your shoulder to get one last look at the lecture-hall, before sighing solemnly as a warm voice called your name.

"Y/N?" The voice repeated itself as you were brought back into reality, "Are you coming?"

Your eyes darted towards the door, met with a genuine smile placed on freckled cheeks.

Your face eased at the sight; your muscles relaxed as you realised it was Marco and Jean waiting at the open doorway. Jean Kirschstein opened his arm to you, leading you down the endless hallways of the Training Corps barracks.

A careless sigh slipped from Marco's lips as he arched his neck back, "I can't believe tomorrow is our last day of training."

"And then it's finally time to join the Military police." Jean nudged you playfully with a teasing smirk, "Jealous of us, Y/N?"

"Oh, please." You replied whilst slyly pushing the fawn haired boy away: "I've been devoted to the Scouting Regiment since I became a Cadet, you both know that."

"I still can't help but feel uneasy when I hear you say that." Marco's hazel eyes nervously shifted off to the side, his right shoulder shrugging upwards whilst stopping in place; "Just the idea of you fighting real-life titans makes me shiver."

"Don't worry about me," You patted his soft hair, intertwining your fingers with his ebony-locks as a beam conjured on his cheeks, "It's my dream to follow in my fathers footsteps."

"Y/N Smith," You released Marco's soft hair from your fingertips as Jeans face loomed above your shoulder, "You are insane."

"Maybe."

Despite your devotion to fight alongside your father, the Commander of the Survey Corps, you were admittedly nervous about the idea of leaving the safety of the walls. Especially following the humbling experience the previous day after finding out that you were not selected to be apart of the top ten of your class.

You tightened the leather fabric of your Cadet jacket around you: you felt a slight burn on your bare skin as the rough, old fabric rubbed your muscles. The worn-out leather scratched your skin uncomfortably, but at least the inconvenience would soon be over.

The three of you wandered down the narrow, lengthy hallways of the Training barracks; the same barracks you had lived in for the past three years of your life. The walk was admittedly quiet, silence filling the awkward air every few minutes.

Or at least, that was until you felt a large arm barge past you.

You winced as your feet tumbled over the cracked-birch floor, your body stumbling into Jeans; he cupped your shoulders with his palms to stabilise you.

Your pupils shot a piercing glare into the figure of who had pushed you so harshly, throwing daggers ahead. And as you realised who the figure belonged to, your wrath only grew.

Reiner Braun glared at you from over his broad shoulder, his bronze eyes glaring coldly into yours.

His blonde hair was freshly-cut; his short locks appeared soft to the touch as they caressed his smooth, pale skin. His messy hair stuck up from different places: he used his free hand to comb back the loose strands that hung over his forehead.

You could see the carvings of his muscles through the forest-green shirt that clung to his muscles. He still had his silver-metallic gear laced to his hips that complimented the bronze colour of his eyes. The muscles in his forearms tensed with apoplexy at the sight of you as he crossed his arms over his large chest.

But the thing that drew you in the most was his eyes: those golden, dark, solemnly empty eyes that lacked any emotion. They were highlighted by the deep, lilac marks under his pupils.

It was apparent that Reiner was returning from training: especially given the beads of sweat that were staining his temples, and the crimson flush on his cheek bones.

Reiner's slender brow arched downwards with his soft lips forming a snarl, "Watch it." Reiner bitterly murmured to you as Bertholdt followed a few steps behind.

"Do you mind?" You snapped whilst curling your fingers together with frustration, "You just pushed me, Braun."

"Did I?" His crooked nose scrunched, "Didn't see you there."

"Sure, you didn't." Your E/C eyes rolled upwards into your skull as he turned his shoulder to walk away - his large hands buried in his pockets: "It's not like you do it every time you walk past me, or anything."

You noticed as Marco slowed his pace to create distance between the three of you and Reiner; Jean waited until he and Bertholdt were finally out of sight to speak.
Jean whistled whilst brushing his fingers through his fawn hair: "He's still mad at you, I gather."

"You bet."

"I understand that the two of you have never gotten along," Another fatigued sigh left Marco's lips as you walked in between your two closest friends, "But don't you think this is getting excessive?"

"It's getting excessive?" A sound echoed in the winding halls as Jean cackled abruptly, startling you both: "It's been excessive! Ever since the first day of training three years ago, I've never heard them exchange one kind word."

Marco innocently laughed along, nodding to Jean, "They're worse than you and Eren."

You rubbed your temples with your fingertips, groaning to yourself quietly: "We've been fighting even more the past few weeks. Especially after that practical exam where Shadis paired us together and I accidentally went off-course: I still haven't heard the end of it."

"Reiner is a nice person," The fawn-haired boy admitted; wincing at the aggressive glare you shot him as he spoke, "And so are you. I don't get why you two just can't get along."

Marco raised his index finger with an optimistic beam, "Maybe if you tried to talk with him, you could become frien-"

"Oh, please!" Your guffaw interrupted the freckled boys sentence as his hazel eyes widened with alertness: "Don't make me laugh, Marco. You're supposed to be smart, aren't you?"

Jeans soft lips curled upwards with a care-free smirk as his arm stretched over your shoulder to pull you in whilst you walked: "You wanna head down to the Mess Hall?"

Your nose scrunched in response, "I was just going head to the dormitory to get some sleep."

"This early?"

"I want to get a good nights rest before the selection tomorrow night," You nodded your head, "Besides, if I wake up sooner I'll be able to have a shower before the rush begins."

Marco replicated your nod before beginning to open his muscular arms, "Sleep well," His lengthy arms wrapped loosely around your shoulders to bring you into an embrace, "And good-night."

"I'll see you both in the morning."