I sat at the kitchen table with April and Kay, sipping my cup of coffee in silence when I heard a knock on the front door. I was dressed and ready to go; today I was joining the trainee camp for who knows how long.

"That must be my ride." I sighed as I got up. Kay handed me my bag which contained some of my personal belongings I decided to take with me, not that I had much.

"Thanks." I said as I opened the door, a man stood next to a carriage with two horses in front, whoever arranged this wasn't close-fisted. When I turned around to face Kay he pulled me into a tight hug. "Be safe Jaclyn. I'm serious, I can't afford to lose you." He confessed quietly, whispering into my ear.

A faint blush appeared onto my cheeks, a bit startled by his words, it was heartwarming hearing him say that. I knew he cared about me but hearing him say it was another thing and that didn't happen too often.

"Yeah yeah, don't worry idiot, I'm not planning on dying there, ok?" I tried to shake his worry and the tinted color of my cheeks away.

Next was April who leapt into my arms. "If you need help sis..." She left the sentence unfinished.

"I know kid." I gave her a tight hug before letting go. "Oh, and stop calling me sis." I turned and waved them goodbye.

Ethan couldn't make it; maybe he was handling a job or some personal issues, oh well, it was none of my business anyways. I never got in his way and he never got in mine, besides annoying the hell out of me and being a cocky smart-ass that is.

Kay and April stood outside, leaning against the house and watching me get into the carriage. Was April tearing up? God this felt way too dramatic for my liking.

"Don't worry, stupid!" I yelled my words of comfort as the man kicked the horse that started to gallop. I watched the house fade into the distance, Kay and April became little dots on the horizon before completely fading away into nothing. I yawned, stretching my arms and back as I sat against the wooden seat, finally able to relax my muscles. The client, whoever it was had everything perfectly outlined into detail, when returning home yesterday from shopping and my little encounter with the thief, there was a uniform delivered which fitted me perfectly. They signed me in and now got my ride ready to the camp. The one that planned this put a lot of time in it, leaving little room for error. I wonder why this person or people wanted Levi gone, but then again, one thing I learned from doing jobs like this; never question the clients' intentions, simply follow orders and everything will follow according to plan. But this was clearly an exception and I told Kay to make sure we find out who was behind this and above all, why.

I looked outside the small window, it was still early morning as the sun made its way up into the sky, clouds turning from pink to white as the sun climbed higher. The carriage was abruptly brought to a standstill. "We're here." The man who drove me all the way here opened the door signing for me to step out. I gave him a little tip and thanked him goodbye.

Looking around all I saw were a few cabins, a watchtower and a large open space. This was it? "This is where I'll spend my next few months?" I complained in annoyance to no one in particular.

"Next few months? More like a year, if you're lucky." A rough voice behind me concluded. I jolted up at the sudden presence of the person behind me. I turned around to see a man standing with his hands placed onto his hips. He was dressed in a long green jacket, the trainee logo which I recognized with the swords, stitched onto it. His eyes seemed oddly deep sunken into place and he was completely bald besides a small goatee. He looked at me with narrow intimidating eyes, as if awaiting my reaction.

I didn't care to give one.

He pulled his eyebrow up and simply said, "Put your bag in the cabin and stand in line."

"Which cabin am I supposed to go?"

"I don't care; find a bed which is still free. Now hurry cadet!" The man pointed towards the cabins as his voice picked up volume.

I wandered around several cabins, all the beds I came across had bags on it, meaning they were occupied. I growled under my breath, already irritated on this damned early morning. There were a lot of people hurrying past me heading outside to stand in line with the others, they are all trainees on their first day here, just like me.

"Are you still looking for a room? There's one free bed left on mine." A boy smiled at me kindly. He looked quite cute, probably something like a year younger than me.

"Yes I am, thanks." I tried my best to return his smile.

I followed him as he led me to the room, it had two bunk beds and there was one other boy sitting on the bottom bed and one girl on the bed above him.

Time to show off your almost non-existent social skills, I thought to myself as I managed to force a somewhat believable smile onto my face. "Hey, I'm Jaclyn." I introduced myself, handing out my hand as they gladly took it. They didn't seem too bad; both looked like the types who took this serious unlike some other squealing trainees goofing around the place.

The girl introduced herself as Ella. She had an oval face, thick brown hair tied up in a ponytail, while bangs covered her forehead and a bit of her eyes, it almost looked like she was trying to hide under all that. I managed to get a glimpse of her eyes which are light brown of color.

The boy sitting on the bottom of the bed had introduced himself as Yuza, he had a rather long face, his piercing blue eyes stood out in contrast to his charcoal black hair that was straight and just long enough to reach his shoulders. He had perfect, straight white teeth and for just a second I found myself fascinated by his looks.

God, Jaclyn what are you even thinking?

Somehow he really reminded me of Kay. I wondered what his reasons were to join.

"That's yours." The boy who lead me here pointed at the other top bed as he pulled me out of my so out place thoughts.

"Yes, thank you." I smiled genuinely at him as I threw my bag on the bed.

"We need to join the rest outside." Ella remarked, jumping off the bed and heading outside, walking next to Yuza. I walked together in silence with the boy who was kind enough to offer me a place.

"Oh, I didn't even ask you for your name." I realized out loud.

"I'm Jonah, nice to meet you Jaclyn." He smiled.

"Likewise."

We stepped outside and joined the other trainees in line, the sun now high up in the sky as I enjoyed its heat on my skin. Something that was still precious to me ever since I got out of the underground.

The man in the long green jacket who had spoken to me earlier stood in front of us. All trainees now stood outside in 5 rows, there are probably around 80-90 of us here I roughly guessed. The man was randomly picking out people, asking them their name, where they came from, throwing in an insult here and there before continuing his little interrogation. He also then asked for a motive.

Most of them responded with something like, 'fighting for humanity, or 'to contribute to humanity's victory'.

What a pretty dream they must be living in. The human race never, but I mean never, won any battle against the titans. What was going to be different this time? I unwittingly let out a small chuckle at the thought.

All at once the heat of the sun was gone, blocked by a shadow, leaving my body cold since it was still spring and temperatures weren't that high in the early morning. The man in the green jacket stood before me, squinting his eyes. "What's so funny?!" He screamed at me more like a statement rather than a question.

Clearly I am unimpressed by his harsh tone but saluted for him like I saw everyone do. Who thought that me, Jaclyn, would ever salute for someone, especially authority figures. Guess it was something I should get used to since I was considered to be the lowest of the lowest, regarding rank.

"Nothing sir!" I shouted back.

Was this man even able to talk at a normal voice level?

"Name and hometown!" He yelled back at me again.

Guess not.

"I'm Jaclyn Rosenthal from the city Kaizuka, sir!"

Suddenly it was eerily quiet; all eyes from fellow trainees were directed to me in disbelief. I could hear people around me whispering 'isn't that the dangerous city? The underground city? She shouldn't even be up here, I bet she's from a family of criminals.'

My jaw clenched painfully at the last comment. Yes, I happened to be one, not that they knew, but the people living in the underground weren't all criminals like the 'upper-class' people claimed it to be. It was the harsh judgment that made something inside of me roar with anger, fucking privileged bastards actually thinking they were better. And then again, what do you expect when you're given no chances, it's either fight your way out or stay submissive to rot away in that hell hole.

I shot the guy who dared to say it out loud an angry glare but my attention was immediately brought back to the man standing in front of me, as he this time asked his next question in a normal tone of voice.

"Kaizuka, the city in the underground, huh? He looked at me with an expression I could not place, it looked like something between confusion and slight admiration as his facial features softened.

"Yes, sir." I now firmly but calmly replied.

"Motive?" He asked.

"To prove that the people from the underground deserve better. We're capable and strong people, something that the people from above still won't acknowledge. I hope that by succeeding to join Survey Corps, they will consider people from the underground to become soldiers too, sir."

I lied, but not entirely. Everything I said in my little speech like answer was true; I hated how everyone looked down on us, both literally and figuratively. But the real reason I was here was a bit different from that.

Only if they knew.

He nodded as he put his hand on my shoulder and I removed the fist from my chest. "I wish you best of luck, Rosenthal." He encouraged me.

I guess what I saw earlier in his eyes was something more like admiration rather than confusion. Not that I really cared much about it.

...

I sat at the dinner table with Ella, Yuza and Jonah. Sometimes I joined the conversation but I was mainly listening, trying to avoid talking about myself since I had no real family, job or whatsoever, my life consisted of constant danger, sure they wouldn't even know existed, instead I tried to learn more about the people I was sharing my room with.

Ella's main goal was to eventually join the Military Police so she could safely live inside the most inner wall, Sina. I couldn't blame her, after all, most trainees shared that same goal and the luxurious worry-free life sure was tempting.

Jonah followed his father's footsteps and wanted to join the Survey Corps, apparently his father disapproved of him of joining even though he himself was a squad leader. Jonah told us he died last year during an expedition, so now he decided to join in the name of his father and his goal was to become a squad leader too.

Yuza hasn't yet decided what he would join; Military Police, Garrison or Survey Crops. He was here because he had lost his parents and all he owned, including his house to the destructive power of the titans within wall Maria. He is also the only person here that has seen titans first hand, in action. He was here rather as a necessity instead of free will, nevertheless he was determined and sincere. It was only two years ago when the titans broke the gate and invaded wall Maria, killing thousands of people. At that time I had just bought the house within wall Rose and news reached me several days later.

I glanced across the room, there wasn't a big age gap between me and most trainees as I expected it to be. Age varied from 15 to 24. Being 23 I was one of the elders but I wasn't in the minority. Jonah was the youngest of us at 20 years. Ella and Yuza were both 21 making me the of the three.

"You're Jaclyn Rosenthal, right?" A hoarse voice questioned. I turned slightly to look over my shoulder, seeing the boy who made the comment earlier on training grounds, was now standing behind me.

What the hell was he thinking? He'd better move the fuck away before I lose it, he isn't worth my time so I decided to ignore his soon sorry ass.

"Hey I'm talking to you!" He said this time louder, catching the attention of others in the dining room. Was he trying to create a scene or something?

"Get lost brat." I said whilst continuing eating my dinner in peace, taking a deep breath, I tried to contain the anger that was rising again from hours ago.

"Guess the people from the underground aren't even able to hold a decent conversation." He scoffed in a mocking tone, placing his hand on my shoulder.

Now the fucker stepped out of line, if you didn't live in the underground you had no right to talk shit about the people who did. That and the asshole made a big mistake by touching me. I grabbed his wrist that rested on my shoulder, stood up, threw him on the table and grabbed the back of his neck while my other hand pinned his wrists together behind his back.

"Listen closely you piece of crap, I don't know what the fuck your problem is, but I'll give you another one if you don't shut up. Now get lost." I hissed and let go of his wrists, kicking him back to his own table. All he managed after that were some curse words and threats that fell death to my ears before he left.

At least my message was clear.

Dinner was over and everyone headed to their cabins getting ready for the night, I took a shower, brushed my teeth and was the first to lay in bed while the other three were still up talking, getting to know each other better.

I had almost fallen asleep when I faintly heard someone say my name. "Jaclyn, are you still awake?" A voice I think that was Jonah spoke.

"Mmh." I groaned slightly annoyed while being pulled out of my sleepy state.

Don't ask about earlier I thought while I turned over to face them. Ella and Yuza sat on their beds opposite of mine and Jonah was sitting on a chair at the desk. Yuza continued to ask whatever Jonah was about to. "Where did you learn to fight like that?" He asked, looking at me thoughtful.

Of course, they had to ask.

I yawned and pushed myself up to my elbows. "What do you mean? I wasn't even fighting."

"What! You reacted so fast and got Carson down on the table in a second flat, that was amazing." Jonah's overly excited voice filled the room.

"Carson?"

"That's his name." Ella informed. She looked up to me, her long hair now hanging loose to her elbows, it was really long compared to me. I had bangs and my hair was cut to a length little below my jawline. Long hair just hangs in the way and it's not entirely ideal when fighting, therefore my hair was shorter but I liked it, it suits me better.

"I guess experience made me a better fighter."

Fighter... And killer.

No need to let them in on the details, right?

It was a simple answer but it seemed to hush them for now as they all nodded.

I turned around again and lay on the uncomfortable wooden beds with extremely thin mattresses. I closed my eyes again as the voices around me became vaguer, then not being able to place the words anymore, I drifted off as sleep consumed my mind like a dark cloud.