Where Feathers Fall (AoT Isekai)

Long before she faced him— the real him— she had a feeling this wasn't her story.

Not really.
 
She was a thorn in its side. A glitch in the script. Her name didn't belong on the records. Her face didn't exist in the training logs.

And yet, here she was. 

"Cadets, line up!" A deep voice cracked through the air like a whip, and with it, y/n's vision came to. But she's not in bed.

She's standing. 

Feet pulled together, hands at her sides and a stiff posture. Lines of strangers stand similarly to her left and right. There's a taste of iron in her mouth. 

Not her clothes.

Not her room.

Not her world.

Her breath catches. 

She snaps her head to the side, heart thudding too fast in her chest, she scans for something—  but what? Confusion swirls around her mind. The voice barks again.

"Eyes front!"

She obeys without thinking. Muscle memory. But not hers.

Realization hits her at once. 

A bald man paces down the line of boys and girls trembling in fear. The levelled ground hold a few old-fashioned buildings. Large mountains stretch out behind them, snowy peaks disappearing into the clouds.

In front of her, the brown jackets over white shirts— cadet uniform.

She'd seen this before— lots of times. 

Shadis. 104th Cadet Corps. First day of training. 

She must be dreaming. 

Attack on Titan. 

The boy beside her trembles. A soft face. He's not made for battle.

No. Why was she thinking this?

Shadis's voice roars again. "What's your name, maggot?!"

"Armin Arlert of Shiganshina District, Sir!!"

Her attention snaps to him. The blond boy, hair falling just above his shoulders. 

"Is that right?! What a dumb name!!" 

Y/n pinches herself. It stings. This can't be right. 

"What the hell did you come here for?!" The trembling boy beside her flinches at the booming voice that's not even directed at him.

"To make myself useful in the struggle for humanity's victory, Sir!"

It's exactly as she knows it to be. Every single thing. It feels real. Too real. Dreams don't feel this real. She looks around, catching unfamiliar yet familiar faces. Marco with his freckles. Bertolt as he towers over everyone else. Reiner's blond head not too far away. She spots Ymir next to Armin.

Keith Shadis moves on to the next cadet, and Armin releases a deep exhale.

Her fingers turn clammy — she's quick to notice it. With a wipe on her uniform, she takes a moment to observe herself, finding that she's wearing the same uniform. How'd she get here? From her real life. . .?

A sharp pain cuts through her head. She squeezes her eyes shut.

". . .a rite of passage. . ." Two voices phase out, as a pair of feet appear in front of her. She glances up to face a glare from the instructor. 

"And you, what's your name, slacker?!"

"Iris." Her mouth moves on its own. Her name isn't. . .

"Iris?!" The headache only seems to intensify with the instructor's shout. 

"Just Iris, Sir!" 

"An orphan, are you?!"

A lack of last name would imply that. "Yes, Sir!"

"No wonder your mother left you, look at you!!" Y/n blinks at him, unsure of what to make of that. "You don't even look like you belong here!!"

With that, he walks on.

He's right. She didn't belong here. The pain is a clear reminder that this isn't a dream. But she's heard of cases where people live in delusions so real that it's hard to distinguish from reality. Extreme delusions. She remembers the symptoms from. . .

Another headache pierces through her skull, and the entire world seems to spin for a moment. She barely manages to catch her balance. 

Why couldn't she remember anything?

She feels the panic slowly creeping in. She digs her nails into her palm, snapping herself out of it instantly. Now isn't the time to panic. 

Recognition spikes with every name that the instructor terrorizes out. 

"Is your heart on your right side, Connie?!" Said boy groans while being shaken around. Sasha takes the potato to her mouth then, catching the attention of Shadis.

Iris— why did she say that? Her name is y/n, not Iris. It feels familiar, though. . .like she's heard it before. She's said it before too. The memory is just in the back of her mind, yet the more she digs for it, the farther it seems to get. She has a life too, a real life. . . a modern world. . . right?

Why couldn't she remember anything?

"Listen up, scums!" Shadis stands in the front with a frown, addressing the group. "You brats just hopped out of your mother's arms and may expect comfort here! You're wrong! There will be no comfort, there will be no mercy, and most importantly," He glares at the direction of what y/n could only assume Sasha to be in, ". . .there will be no tolerance for disrespect!! From today onwards, you are now a solider— I expect you all to act like one!! If I catch any one of you behaving like a child, I'll personally see to your wagon making a beeline for the fields!!"

"Now," He barks, pointing a wrinkly finger to the side, "For the first training of the 104th Training Corps, I will pluck out the weeds among you. Run until I tell you to stop! Single File, Now!!"