Because Of You

Chapter 50

Carmen stood proudly in front of all the new recruits. She was dressed in her usual scouting uniform, wearing her black shirt below her brown jacket - she didn't bother wearing her cloak, she wouldn't be needing it anyway. However, despite her attempt to present herself as powerful, some of the recruits looked at her in pure boredom.

She could tell that most of them would have rather stayed in the interior, meaning she had the misfortune of trying to convince the stubborn trainees that their devotion to the scouts was imperative. Just by looking at them, she began to realise why Levi dreaded teaching them so much, they looked unbothered by her authority. That would have to change.

"Listen up!" She yelled, most people quietened their conversations, other than a few who thought they were above her. "I'd rather not repeat myself, Romanov and Jeckles." She singled them out, forcing them to wonder how she'd figured out their names.

The hours she'd spent memorising their profiles had worked in her favour, she knew exactly where to strike when targeting her recruits. Romanov and Jeckles silenced themselves, eager to see what Carmen had to offer them. When she finally had their attention, Carmen took a deep breath, preparing to begin.

"My name is Carmen, and I'm here to make sure you bedwetters don't get eaten when you finally step outside the walls." She introduced herself, watching a few of them grimace at her bluntness. "I'll be honest, from what I've seen so far, none of you would survive an encounter with a titan. Some of you, may even have to restart your training entirely."

Some of the recruits began to murmur, questioning even enrolling in the scouts to begin with. All of them knew the reputation of the woman in front of them - she was the strongest - which only meant that her words struck them with more force than anyone else's.

"However, I have 4 months to change that." She looked around the group, trying to see if any of them were doubting either themselves or her confidence. "We'll start with endurance."

A loud groan interrupted her, all eyes quickly darted between the instructor and the culprit - expecting a reaction. However, Carmen wasn't like the other instructors that they may have encountered. She wouldn't just give up and allow the new scouts to die on the retaking of wall Maria. Instead, she wanted them to thrive - each and every one of them had the capabilities of becoming a fierce, strong-willed, and determined soldier. She just had to stress that to them.

"Anything to say, Henderson." She questioned the man who had loudly interrupted her. Henderson shook his head, ultimately a little scared of the woman leading him. "Can anyone tell me what happens when you lose your horse in titan territory?" She looked at the group.

Hesitantly, a girl put her hand up, lowering it when Carmen nodded in her direction. "You get stranded. And then you're as good as dead."

"Precisely." Carmen agreed. Although it was a grim image, she knew it was best to get it into the reluctant recruits' heads. "However, there has been occasions in which scouts have managed to survive after losing their horses." The group looked at her sceptically, she could understand why. It was difficult to believe something so strange. "This was purely down to endurance and wit."

"But, how?" The same girl as before wondered, Carmen remembered her as Shelly.

"Timing." Carmen answered. "Titan's are inactive at night, so scouts are trained to hide in treetops during day and run as fast as they can at night. That's why endurance is so important - your window of opportunity only lasts a few hours, and in that time, you could be forced to run miles while carrying your ODM gear."

The scouts nodded, understanding what she meant and why it was so important. "And what happens if you run out of gas?" Cox, another newbie, added.

"If there are any corpses nearby, then take theirs. But if not, then ditch your gear, it'll only slow you down." She explained to them, as she allowed them to mumble a few things to one another. The woman was grateful that she could help them, despite it being so minimal. "Now, you can probably guess what's coming next." She announced as they regained their silence. "The average scout takes under 20 minutes to run 5 kilometres, by the end of my training, I want all of you to do the same. We'll start now, you can practice running in your own time after that."

Within seconds, the group saluted and then set off. They knew the route from Levi's brief training sessions, so Carmen simply took out her pocket watch and waited. Her eyes wandered to the building, lingering on one of the windows as a figure appeared behind it. He'd been watching her, suspecting that training would have been too big of a step for her.

Carmen waved, knowing it was more likely that he watched her because he cared rather than not trust her. Levi waved back, and Carmen nodded, it was her way of conveying that everything was fine, and she was okay with training the scouts.

It was strange for her to be respected so easily, she assumed it was her reputation playing a part however liked to think she had a way of communicating with them. She taught Petra and Oruo a few things in the past, it was always enjoyable, maybe she was fitted to train the recruits too?

It took approximately 21 minutes for the first few soldiers to reach her again, they were panting heavily and one of them even dropped onto his hands and knees. Carmen tilted her head as she observed the two boys, there was some sort of rivalry between them, a hatred that she managed to pick up on when the two first started the run by sprinting ahead.

Their approach to the exercise wasn't smart at all, in fact, it jeopardised their entire run. "Marlowe, Floch?" She walked towards them, showing them the watch. "21 minutes, it's good." The two boys smiled, before glaring at one another. "However, you started with a sprint, you need to pace yourself. When you're outside, you could be a dozen miles away from the base, you'll wear yourself out." Their smiles fell at her advice, and suddenly Carmen felt a little guilty. "You're dedicated, thats exactly what Erwin needs." She added, hoping it would be enough to convince them to continue their hard work.

The woman outstretched a hand to Floch, who was still breathing heavily on the ground. Although he was confused, he took her hand and allowed her to pull him up from the ground. He had so many questions about her, Marlowe did too, she was an enigma with so many rumours surrounding her that no one knew what to believe.

"Excuse me, can I ask a question?" Marlowe wondered.

"Go ahead." She prompted him.

"Is it true you took out over 50 enemies while the scouts looked for Eren and Queen Historia?" He asked, he had heard a few things when helping the scouts with Hitch, but at that stage, some of them were beginning to worry at how long Carmen had been absent. Clearly, they were wrong to doubt her.

"Thats true." The assassin replied, glossing over her will to defend the girls she killed. To her, they weren't enemies, they were victims. Victims that she brutally slaughtered because they got in her way.

"How many titans have you killed?" Floch then asked, a few of the other recruits finally began to reach the finish line as he spoke.

"161." She said back. How could she forget? She remembered talking about it with Oruo before he... it was a competition to them, which she was massively ahead in compared to his kill count. Though, that didn't stop him from bragging about it. "Regain your breath until the others get back, after this, we'll be moving onto the horses."

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Just establishing how much she cares about the recruits before they retake wall Maria 😊