I had this idea, and it wouldn't leave me alone. This is set after the cadets are inducted into the scouts, but a week or two before they leave for their first expedition. I really love "characters read the books" type fics, so I decided to do something similar. Enjoy!

The drab gray sky outside matches the mood of the cadets: dull and bored. Usually, rain was no deterrent to training—they need to be adapted to working in all weather conditions—but not even Levi is strict enough to make them risk getting struck by lightning. So instead, the newest members of the scouts are indoors, safe from the rainstorm, and working on cleaning out one of the many dirty, disorganized storerooms in headquarters.

Although at this point, very few of the cadets are actually still cleaning or doing anything productive. It's been several hours since they first received their assignment: most of them have grown bored and are just pretending to work while chatting or daydreaming. Connie and Sasha are poking around in one of the boxes to see if it contains anything interesting (or in Sasha's case, if it contains food). Reiner and Bertolt are sitting in a corner talking in low voices. Ymir is leaning against the wall, debating joining Jean and taking a nap, while Krista scolds her. The only three still working are Eren, Armin, and Mikasa. Eren, because Levi had told them to clean until dinnertime; Armin and Mikasa because, well, Eren is still cleaning.

"Ah-ha!" exclaims Connie, pulling an old, leather-bound book out of the box he's been pawing through. It's been there for quite a while, if the dust on the cover is any indication.

"Find anything good?" Ymir asks, pulled out of her daze by his sudden excitement. When she sees what he's holding, her face falls in disappointment. "Really? You got us all worked up over some old book?"

"Maybe it's full of old recipes!" suggests Sasha, practically drooling at the thought.

"No, wait, Connie don't blow on it, you'll get dust everywhere!" Krista complains.

Her warning comes too late. The cloud of dust that erupts fills the room and sends everyone into a coughing fit. "Will you guys quit messing around?" Eren snaps, eyes watering, finally distracted from his obsessive cleaning. "Some of us are trying to work over here!"

"Sorry, just trying to get a better look at the cover!" Connie apologizes, before frowning. "There's no title? Huh." With the dust gone, they have a full view of the faded and cracked brown leather covering the front of the book, but there's no words to hint at or describe what they might find inside. "Guess we'll just have to open it up!"

He turns to the first page, Ymir looking over his shoulder, despite her claims of disinterest. "Sharle Inocencio," he reads aloud the words printed in neat cursive on the first page.

"Isn't Inocencio the name of an old noble family?" Krista asks. When the others look at her, she blushes. "I read about it somewhere a while back."

"Wait, Sharle?" Ymir asks. She grabs the book out of Connie's hands. "Don't tell me that you've been poking around in some unsuspecting girl's diary! That is so typical of you!"

"How the hell was I supposed to know that it's a diary?" Connie shoots back. "And you're not one to talk, anyways."

Ymir just smirks at him. Then she notices what's written right under the girl's name. "'To whomever may be reading this: this is the story of the first soldiers sent to kill the titans, and the creation of the Device that allowed those brave souls to have a fighting chance against the horrible creatures that lurk outside the walls. I hope to honor their courage and sacrifices by making sure that their noble deeds are remembered. Sincerely, Sharle.' Interesting." Ymir rarely finds herself caring about anything, but that description has definitely piqued her curiosity.

"Well, it sounds to me like she wanted people to read it," Connie points out, folding his arms across his chest.

"Oh please, like you knew that when you started nosing around in it in the first place." Ymir scoffs.

"What do you suppose she means by 'the first soldiers sent to kill the titans?' Hasn't humanity always been trying to eliminate the titans?" asks Reiner, his focus shifting from his conversation with Bertolt to the discovery of the diary.

"Yeah, and what's this 'Device?' Do you think she's talking about ODM gear?" Krista chimes in. "We never learned very much about how or when it was developed in class."

"Or maybe she means the snap blades?" Eren suggests. The slightest mention of killing titans has always been enough to get his attention. Even Jean, groggy from having just woken up, seems intrigued by the contents of this mysterious book.

"We could always read it and find out?" Connie gestures to the book. "What?" he snaps, when everyone turns to stare at him. "It's pretty obvious she wrote this hoping that someone else would read it someday."

When everyone still seems unconvinced, he sighs and tries again. "And besides, it says that this is about the scouts' first mission against the titans. There could be useful information in here! Don't you guys want to be as prepared as possible for the upcoming recon mission?"

Eren and Armin are nodding thoughtfully at that last part. "It would be nice to go in with a little more information than what we've got," Jean says with a sigh. "And I'm sick to death of organizing this musty old room."

"C'mon," Connie wheedles, sensing their crumbling resistance. "It's not like we're wasting any training time, and taking a few hours off from cleaning won't hurt anyone." He doesn't care about either of those things, but he needs to play to his audience.

"I suppose there's enough girls around to make sure you're not reading any parts that you shouldn't." Ymir shrugs. Connie sticks his tongue out at her.

"Sounds like it could be useful," Eren and Jean say at the same time, then scowl at each other. Armin nods in agreement.

Mikasa's face is as blank and unreadable as always, but she doesn't seem angry, so Connie takes it as assent. She's usually happy to go along with what Eren and Armin want, anyway.

"I think it sounds fun!" Krista says with a smile.

"Definitely better than just sitting here," Sasha agrees. "I do wish it was about food, though." She elbows Connie in the side when he laughs at her.

"Couldn't hurt," comes Reiner's assessment, and Bertolt, as unopinionated as ever, seems happy to go along with his friend.

"Excellent!" Connie cheers, wrestling the diary back from Ymir and turning to the first page. "788," he reads off, before realizing that that must be the date. "No wonder this thing was so dusty, it's almost 60 years old!"

"So, humans only learned to fight the titans 60 years ago," Reiner notes. "That's depressing to think about."

"I suppose with all the chaos, it must have taken mankind a while to learn how to fight back," Armin says. "Although 40 years is a long time."

"Maybe the diary will have some answers," suggests Eren. "Keep reading, Connie."

"That's what I'm trying to do," complains the shorter boy. Taking a deep breath, he reads the first sentence as dramatically as possible. "We went to see the titans today."

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

lmao balancing that many characters is such a mess, why do I do this to myself? I forgot Jean at one point and had to add him back in lol. Anyway I'm planning on using as many lines from the manga as I can, but since it's set up in the form of diary entries I will obviously have to do some of my own embellishments.

The diary entries will be bolded for clarity.