Disclaimer: I do not own or make money from the anime/mangas of Attack on Titan or Death Note

AN: Yes I have read the AOT manga to the current chapter, so I do know what goes on. Yes, i'm ignoring it :D

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Suggested listening: Attack on Titan OST (mainly track 8, 5, 2, 15 )

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-Return-

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Titans.

What an odd concept. Practically myth now.

It had been nearly seventeen generations since the last Titan had been seen. Life had moved beyond the security of walls and civilization began to flourish once more. The three legions that had protected humanity had been disbanded and their memory survived in the memorials and in books.

Despite this, certain areas had been put aside for use as grounds for Training squads.

Only the Training Squads were more of a summer right of passage done by those who wanted to challenge themselves...or those who were thrown there by their parents. They had a special intense program for the rowdy ones.

A slender blond adjusted the strap on his thigh once more, wishing the damn thing would stay put. He let out a sigh as it slipped the second he began to walk. Fuck it. He brushed the hair from his eyes and decided that if he was going to be forced into this, he needed a hair tie.

The acrid stench of smoke followed the wind and he rolled his eyes. Matt was going to get caught, again, if he did not smoke somewhere a little more private. Mihael Keel—known as Mello—followed the smell until he caught up with the one person he could tolerate in the entire situation.

Mail—Matt—Jeevas.

As usual, he broke uniform with the striped shirt underneath his jacket. The instructors had long since given up on making him change it. Matt was in the top three of the students currently enrolled, Mello being above him by only a small percentage. Surprisingly he had never been bothered by that.

It was the frail sheep Near—Mello would never call him by his birth name despite knowing it—who number one; though how he managed it Mello did not know. A fact that pissed him off more than it should.

"Yo." Matt wiggled the fingers of his free hand in a half-assed wave.

"I am stealing your stash of chocolate when you get kicked out of the bunks again." Mello told the younger boy. Granted it was only by a few months, but he never let Matt forget it. The two of them knew each other outside of training and were close friends despite the rather vast differences in personality. Mello being bold, aggressive and determined. And Matt, well he was lazy and unmotivated.

"I wont get kicked out of the bunks. But if I do, you really think I would leave the chocolate with you?" Matt mumbled around the cigarette.

Mello detested those things. The stench clung to everything around so even when not lit up Matt smelled like an ashtray. Though he would be damned if he attempted to throw them away again after the last time.

"Put that thing out and lets go." Mello nudged Matt as he got closer and ignored the heavy groan his friend gave. This was their third week in so he should be used to the early mornings by now. As well as the "no smoking" policy.

Mello felt something poke him in the back and narrowed his eyes, daring Matt to do so again. He knew exactly what Matt was doing, and what he was doing it with. It was not first and probably not the last time Matt would poke him with one of the foam "blades" from the 3D Maneuvering gear. "You are lucky we are in the same squad and that I don't yet have the real thing." Mello reminded his friend, though some days he wondered at the sanity of that choice.

"Well if you make it in there I will be too. Imagine how that poke will feel then." Matt said, smirk heavy in his tone.

"Do and die Jeevas." Mello snapped, turning to the grinning redhead.

The two of them were only third week trainees, and this was their first summer. They wore the same gear down to the straps and boots that the upper years did; the only difference was that the blades sheathed in the holsters were made of foam. If they were on the range and doing titan "kills" they would be soaked in a special paint that would only come out with heavy contact. Such as if he were to hit Matt's cheek with one now, there would be lime green paint across his face. Only third years and Elites were allowed access to real blades. Or those good enough to enter timed competitions that required the use of actual blades.

That was the only thing that had Mello wanting to make it at least another year. He wanted to see what he could do with the real things. Though Mello supposed he had to make it to the actual testing of the 3D Maneuvering gear.

So far they had done the balancing test—those that failed were given other work to do around the grounds, or sent home if they had come voluntarily—as well as been sorted into squads. Because the 3DMG was so expensive to make there were movement classes, virtual classes and other exorcises they had to endure before being allowed to fully use it. By the end of the week at least his squad would be doing live practice—minus real blades. In fact Mello was surprised they hadn't been allowed to the week before. It wasn't all that hard if you had any sort of balance. Today they were doing the final practice on cutting techniques. It was a bit hard to do using a trampoline to jump and slice at the fake titans necks, rather than using the gear. A little embarrassing too.

"Hey Mel, where are the instructors?" Matt asked. He motioned to the empty section designated for their years class. A few other trainees loitered with the same questioning gaze.

"That's odd. Usually at least instructor Yagami is here before us." Mello narrowed his eyes. Was this another of their tests? They had done such things in the past to see who followed the rules. Suffice to say Mello would never get caught in one of those traps again.

"Oi, have you seen any of the-"

A terrified scream pierced through the air, followed by shouts and a thunderous crash that shook the ground. Instantly there was chatter around them. Some laughs—because really, could they have made the sound effects any worse?—and a few nervous jokes. The shouting did not stop. And the monstrous sounds of heavy footfalls increased.

Matt glanced at him and Mello nodded. They were going to investigate. If this were a test, and they did nothing it could count against them. Neither of them believed it was anything else.

Rushing forth with their foam blades at their sides, they headed towards the second year bunks where the sounds originated from. It was complete chaos as they tried to get closer. Trainees, tear streaked and screaming, pushed at them, shoved at them like they weren't even there. The terror in their eyes was enough to make Mello's blood go cold.

"Shesh...they are really trying to scare them aren't they?" Matt commented blandly. Mello detected a hint of doubt, and it made him nervous. But there was no way it was real. It couldn't be.

"No! No please! Don't-"

"Linda!"

Mello stopped short of the bunks with his eyes glued to the figure that slowly rose to its full height. Taller than any of the building there, bulging stomach and freakishly large mouth—stood a titan. A girl, Linda, from Near's squad was held tightly in one of the enormous fists. In slow motion Mello watched as the struggling brunette was brought closer and closer to the titans mouth.

A sickening crunch.

Sprays of blood.

"Matt." He whispered.

A titan... a real titan.

"We need to leave. Matt?" He glanced over to see the redheads jaw had dropped and he was frozen. Mello smacked his arm, hard.

It jolted Matt enough to get his attention. "The elite training grounds. We can get real gear and blades there." That, in Mello's mind, was the only way they were going to survive. This was no game. No training exorcise.

For whatever reason, the titans had returned.

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-End First Part-

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AN: So here was the first part (of two), what did everyone think?

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Review?