A Cruel, Yet Beautiful World (Eren x Mikasa) AoT AU

Chapter 9

As the sun began to shine its warm embrace upon a small forest, a raven haired girl was striking a sand bag hanging from a tree. The sack had seen much better days in the past, as has the girl who was hitting it. She had on old, faded clothes; sticky sweat covering her face; as well as scars all over her body. However none of this mattered to them, the only thing that was important to her right now was becoming strong. The only way for her to become strong was to keep on fighting. They continued to viciously hit the bag until their blows finally proved too much and it ripped, spewing out sand. They then picked up a small rag from the floor and rubbed the sweat from their face.

As this was happening, an amber eyed teenager wearing a small, green cloak began to approach the girl. She had a warm smile on her face and was holding a large mug with water. They cheerfully cried out, "Hey Mikasa, I heard you working out hard outside and thought that you might be a little thirsty."

The raven haired girl took the cup from her hands, before greedily drinking it all in one gulp. She then handed it the cup back to the teenager before turning around to hang up another sand bag.

The amber eyed girl was a little caught off guard by this however quickly shook out of it. She then cleared their voice to get Mikasa's attention, "So, um... I thinking about going to the market in Trost later to buy some vegetables and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me? While we're there we can buy you some new clothes since y'know... you've already outgrown the ones you have. Oh, we can also get some-"

"I'm busy Petra." Mikasa coldly said to the girl without even turning to her.

The ginger haired teenager then looked to the floor disappointed before saying, "Oh... ok." She then began to walk away, leaving Mikasa alone to train. 

Petra was heartbroken to see Mikasa become so cruel and callous. The girl has been like this ever since Eren died and all her attempts to raise the girls spirits have failed miserably. It was difficult for the amber eyed teenager to see the girl still in such pain.  As the scout walked away, she remembered something, the girl then turned around to say, "Levi said that he wanted to see you."

Mikasa was confused at this and turned her head before asking, "He is already back from the interior? What does he want with me?"

"I don't know, but from the way he asked me to to tell you I think it might be important." Petra replied before continuing towards a wooden cabin.

The opal eyed girl groaned after Petra left to go to the cabin. She then walked away from the sand bag and towards the small, wooden house nearby. The girl opened the door and saw the young scout sitting at a table pouring himself a cup of black tea. Mikasa approached the table and impatiently asked, "What did you want?"

Levi shot the girl a dirty look before taking a long sip from his cup. He then sighed, "I just got a response from the Military High Command about the request I made for you to join the Survey Corps and Special Operations Squad."

Mikasa was caught off guard by this and asked, "And... What did they say?"

"They denied it." The grey eyed man said before going back to his tea.

This shocked the raven haired girl and caused her to cry out, "W-what?"

"They told me that they still want you to join the cadets." The man shrugged his shoulders.

Mikasa angrily gritted her teeth as she spoke through them, "Why?!"

Levi sighed again, "The high command said that enrollment and morale amongst the new recruits has been at an all time low. At the rate they are going, there will not be enough people to replenish the soldiers being lost. They predict that within a year and a half there will be too few soldiers for the Survey Corps to even go on expeditions. They are hoping that you joining the regiment will breathe new life into it. Show the soldiers and society that the military can still protect them as well as that the Survey Corps is not a lost cause."