"Ok, so where do you think our files are?" I asked Terrence as we walked down the cold stony corridor towards our dorms

Terrence shrugged as he pulled his arms tightly around his chest to keep the midwinter chills from going down to the bone.

"They could be anywhere, but we should check our dorms first. If they're not in there, I imagine that they have either been destroyed or put into Erwin's office, so that our lie falls apart," Terrence whispered the second part

I winced at the thought of our lie falling apart. If that were to happen, God knows how Erwin would react or how we could get out of it. Our lie was a lucky shot in the dark and it worked, but that doesn't guarantee that the next time we get into shit, we'll be ok.

If the Minute Man interfered with our lives again or one of us managed to fuck up, I'm scared to think about what would happen. I mean, we don't have a Doctor Who like figure to look after us and help get us out of difficult situations. All we have is our bond of friendship and training to help us get by.

The sensation of being watched had become so minimal, that I barely thought about it. One would probably expect for me to fly off the handle and get a sense of paranoia every time I moved a limb, yet I felt nothing. Perhaps it was something in the technology being used that made me not care. Maybe some form of opioid that had somehow been introduced to my body or maybe I had been hypnotised to not care about being watched. Either way, I didn't care.

What I did care about was getting the reports onto Erwin's desk to prevent us from being verbally assaulted by Shadis and Erwin.

Once we were at the fork in the corridor, we both stopped.

"Right, so we'll check our rooms and if they're not in there, then we'll try the common room," Terrence said

I nodded in agreement.

"I'll catch you later," I said as I turned heel and went left to the girl's dormitories.

This time, I went into a different room with only four beds inside, especially given to those who have served for over two years. It would only be if I did something truly amazing that I would be given my own room which admittedly ticked me off as privacy is something I only get if I'm showering or going to the toilet, so my own space would bring some form of peace of mind and order.

Upon entering the room, I noticed how slightly disorderly everything looked. The girls I shared a room with were lovely, don't get me wrong, but they were ever so messy since the Survey Corps don't really bother with room inspections like the Training Corps did.

I would never describe myself as an orderly person. Ever. But I do like aesthetically pleasing living space and I think that overrules everything. That's not to say I don't have empty bottles of alcohol or dirty clothes shoved into drawers or under my bed, which I do. I just don't like the dirty clothes or rubbish on the floor surrounding my area, like the other girls in my room seem to.

I walked over to my neatly made bed in the right corner by the window and knelt down on the cold stone flooring and peered under my bed before grabbing my bag that contained all of my belongings from Shanghai and pulled it out.

I quickly pulled out the skirt and tights I had remembered to pack as well as my books, phone, laptop, and other bits and pieces before realising the documents were nowhere to be found.

"Shit," I muttered to myself as I quickly shoved everything back into my bag before shoving my bag back under whilst hearing a few bottles crash into each other. Not enough to smash into millions of pieces, but enough to make a lot of noise.

I huffed before getting to my feet.

Before I could do anything else, I noticed something on my bed.

Could it be?

YES IT FUCKING WELL COULD!

My report. All two sides of parchment lying on my bed!

I wasn't going to question how it got there as all I knew was the Minute Man had something to do with it and that was all I needed to know. There were already too many questions that the Minute Man had set in my mind, but I had to focus on my present situation than worry about what 'he' was up to.

Never before had I felt so glad to see the drab looking paper with equally depressing contents in all of my time here. I quickly snatched it up and scanned the contents before letting out a squeal of delight before running out of my dorm, only to run into a hard, solid object and fall back.

"Ungh?" I said unintelligently as I fell onto my backside, only to be pulled to my feet by familiar strong arms.

"Sorry, you found the report?" he asked

I held up the pieces of parchment triumphantly.

"Awesome, let's get these bad boys to Erwin," Terrence said before tugging me by the arm down the twisting corridor to Erwin's office.

The entire journey was silent with only the violent wintery wind raging against the castle walls echoing through the cracks and our storming boot clad feet hitting the polished wood flooring. Every twist and turn in the corridor was met with another empty doorway as the lecture was still taking place and the squad leaders that didn't need to be in the lecture was collecting squad reports and readying them to send in whilst sneaking in a swig of whiskey every once in a while to dull the pain that came with the blow of the last mission.

Thankfully, new recruits were coming in soon, of course, not many would be coming in to the Survey Corps, but over five years in here had taught me how much one life truly means.

Once we got to Erwin's office, Terrence knocked on the door.

"Enter," came the muffled voice

Terrence pushed the door open and we both stepped in.

"Hill, Baker. Take a seat," Erwin said as he gestured his head for us to sit down opposite him

Terrence and I took our seats in front of him before sliding our reports on the desk before him. Erwin glanced at them before looking back up at us.

"Now, before we discuss your reports, I want to discuss something with you two about your past training,"

Oh God, not this again.

I took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly in an attempt to calm down my racing heart. I didn't want to have to lie again and make things up, but it seemed that Terrence and I had no choice. Just because we were good at it and it brought an adrenaline high, that doesn't necessarily mean I enjoy it.

"And what would that be?" I asked without a waver in my voice

Erwin glanced between Terrence and I and… smirked? I've never really seen happiness as an emotion I associated with Erwin.

"I have a proposition for you two. You are free to decline and not have to face punishment, but I will reward you for your efforts if you do decide to go through with this," Erwin started

Terrence and I inched closer, as we both seemed to know what he was going to ask us to do. Something I was going to turn my back on for good reason but still slightly missed. I mean, he just said 'past training' followed by 'proposition', any idiot can put two and two together to know what he was going to say next.

"In the royal capital, there is a hidden underground city built long ago as a safety precaution in case titans got through the walls. Now, this particular city is home to a multitude of criminal organisations but there is one group that has piqued my interest for a while as rumour has it that they have been sent to kill me,"

My eyes widened.

"By who?" I asked

"Nikolas Lobov. You two have probably heard about his attempts to shut the Survey Corps down to no avail. So he believes that sending these criminals to kill me will end the Survey Corps once and for all,"

"Now, my proposition: I want you two to keep an eye on this group, don't get too close, but observe them and I want you two to make the judgment call as to when we strike,"

"Strike?" Terrence asked

"We will make join the Survey Corps, where you two will keep a further eye on them. However, since you will be working for me, I want you two to join my squad and keep an eye on them from afar as they will be put into Flagon's squad,"

For a moment, I thought I was going to scream in delight. It was basically a promotion as everyone knows that Erwin is next in line to be commander and that those in his squad are some of the most talented soldiers in the Corps. And he was asking us to join him.

The mission he was giving us also sounded… amazing. I could already feel the adrenaline rush pumping around my body, making me shake with excitement and I loved it. Hopefully this time, I won't be anywhere near a brothel, but one cannot be too sure.

"I will have to convince Flagon to let you two go as he seems very much attached to you two and doesn't hesitate to sing your praises,"

Terrence and I were internally screaming at this point. I knew Flagon liked to boast about having us in his squad, but he boasted to Erwin about us? And Erwin actually wanted us to do a mission for him and spy on a criminal organisation for him and send off information to him? This was the dream. It wasn't exactly getting sent back to the 21st century dream, but it was some form of hope.

"Once I have permission from Flagon, you two will start training with my squad and for one week per month, you will be going down into the Underground and keeping an eye on the group. Now, I do expect you to sleep down there for the whole week, but in return, I will give you three days' rest in the capital, all expenses paid for you. Do you consent?" Erwin explained

I've had to stay in some shitholes on missions back in the day, so the underground couldn't be too bad, right? Even then, three day's rest in the Capital would be awesome as we could possibly find out who our teashop owners are and gain connections from there.

I nodded and smiled.

"I'm in," I replied

"I'm in too," Terrence said with a wide grin on his face

Erwin seemed pleased with himself as he straightened his back.

"Now that's sorted, I want to discuss the supposed nature of the group you will be observing. From speculation, I've come to the conclusion Lobov has hired a notorious criminal that goes by the name of 'Levi' and is often seen with two other people: A brown haired male and a red haired female, as well as others that are part of his group, yet those two are closely affiliated. I trust if you ask around, you will find them, but keep your distance and blend in, those are my only orders for the mission, but we will speak more about it closer to the time, understood?"

"Yes, Sir!" Terrence and I responded in unison

"Good, now don't speak a word of this conversation to anyone else, this is strictly business between you and my squad and I. You two are dismissed for an early lunch,"

"Thank you, Sir," We replied before standing up and leaving the room

Once we had left the room, we walked in the direction of the dining hall, all the while chatting excitedly about the promotion. We weren't stupid enough to run our mouths about a mission where anyone could possibly hear us. Instead, we let ourselves relax.

It was too cold for training and Christmas was fast approaching, meaning that everyone was to relax until the New Year. Of course, we still had to do things like cleaning, chopping wood for the fire, and helping to plan with the next mission just to name a few. However, it was a bad idea to go out in a snow storm in mid-winter, so we were allowed more days off to swan off into the closest town or visit family for a few days. Then once it hits 1st January, its back to training.

Once we got to the mess hall, we were served a warm and thick soup with a large wholemeal bread roll, a baked potato, a side plate of rice, and a rarity: a rock cake.

Around Christmas, we get a bit more funding from generous sponsors, so we can afford to make 'delicacies' like rock cakes, even if they are slightly burnt and hard, it was comforting to know that even if we were titan fodder, we were still worthy to have indulgences every once in a while.

Yet at the back of my mind, I was wallowing in self-pity. Back in SOSO where we were able to cater for ourselves in the shared apartment or eat in the dining hall if we couldn't be asked to cook anything (or special occasions), I would have felt extremely underwhelmed and slightly insulted if I were to be given a rock cake. Even the meal before me of mostly carbohydrates and no meat would make me question the sanity of whoever made up the meal.

How times change.

Once Terrence and I had made our way to our usual table near the centre of the room, we sat down and started to tuck into our piping hot meal.

The soup had been thickened with flour, yet not properly as there were still clumps of flour lurking along the base of the bowl, giving it a slightly lumpy wallpaper paste texture. The rice was slightly overcooked and was lumpy and honestly, a bit nauseating. The potato was slightly undercooked with a tepid centre. The roll was doughy and needed around ten more minutes in the oven. And the rock cake lived up a bit too well to its namesake as it took quite a while to find a way to sink my teeth into its warm, scone-like goodness.

All in all, a decent meal with very little complaints.

Of course, I did indulge if I ever got chance to go into town and occasionally bought myself something from the bakery to tame my sweet tooth. But this was… I don't know how to describe the feeling, but warming with hints of nostalgia and melancholy would be one way of putting it.

Although the excitement of being put into a new squad with a mission was heavy in our minds, the one topic we had to talk about with no one else around was of course the others in the capital with the tea shop.

"I can't believe after all this time there were others," I found myself murmuring as I gnawed on the outside of the rock cake

"I know. It's really fucking weird that after eight, nearly nine years of being here, we hadn't known of their existence until now,"

"When the Minute Man 'oh-so-kindly' decided to tell us that there were people like us in the capital owning a fucking tea shop," I muttered hotly as I fumbled with the scrap of paper with their address scrawled on it

Terrence clasped his hands and thought for a minute.

"You think we should find them after our mission in the Capital?" he asked

I nodded

"Of course. We have three days to find them, talk to them, and create a link in the Capital. Even if Erwin will pay our expenses, we'll just say I found out about some distant relatives who insist on paying for us, meaning we save the Survey Corps a bit of extra money,"

"Good plan," Terrence said before taking a chunk from his rock cake

I noticed movement from the corner of my eye and quickly shoved the paper in my pocket before looking over to the door to the mess hall, only to see countless amounts of cadets' pile in and gawp at today's lunch. The intense look of surprise at the rock cakes sent a tight smile to my lips. They worked hard and deserved a small treat and rest before the start of the New Year. Obviously, they deserved more than an extra half an hour in bed and an undercooked rock cake, but it's the small things you really start to appreciate when you live in a world of shit.

"Look, they have rock cakes! My mum used to make these when I was a kid!" one cadet jabbered to his friend

"I call on the crustiest one!" another yelled

"I want the one with the most raisins!" another cried

It was in that moment, we saw the various teenagers acting younger than their age, but still catching up with their youth. It's no secret that some of these kids come from rough backgrounds and have come here as a form of escape and a chance to fight for what they believe is right, so seeing them now turn from titan fodder to children at the dimmest glimmer of luxury was heart-warming, but at the same time, five years has taught me that a lot of them will die, which really fucking sucks.

In these moments, all you can do is passively observe and cherish the moment.

The bright mood created by these kids (and some of the adults) made it easy to just relax a bit. Sam, the youngest member of Flagon's squad came and sat next to us, beaming brightly as he gazed at his rock cake.

"Can you guys believe we get rock cakes today?" he jabbered excitedly like a five year old showing off a new toy

"I know, it's pretty cool, eh?" Terrence replied

"It's honestly been so long since I've had one. I think it's been three years," he said as he seemed to skip the courses and go straight for the rock cake. The sound of teeth hitting the hard surface of the cake made me wince slightly, yet he didn't seem to mind it.

As Sam gnawed happily on his rock cake, I noticed Erwin's squad coming into the dining hall and going to the back of the queue whilst chatting lightly with each other. Except for Mike, who was notorious for not saying much but having amazing technique in the field. That and his sense of smell was impeccable. According to rumour, he could smell a titan from miles away, that's how Erwin's squad has survived for so long.

I had to admit to having a slight crush on the guy. Even if he was slightly weird and around nine or ten years older than me, I couldn't help but feel a bit flustered every time I saw him and I sometimes couldn't help but imagine different scenarios in my head about interacting with him, but alas, he probably wasn't interested in me. After all, I still look like a teenager, despite the fact I'm approaching my twenty ninth birthday. Every woman's dream, right?

Terrence noticed my gaze and sniggered. Since we're closer than close best friends, I may have told him about my crush on the guy, much to his amusement, before proceeding to mock his height and his social inability to hold a long conversation. Plus he claimed that Mike went behind him in the showers and took a long sniff of his neck. After telling the story, Terrence started sniffing my neck in the same manner before exclaiming: 'You smell like horses and desperation', causing me to hit him several times.

"If only he knew," Terrence sighed

"Who?" Sam asked

I went slightly pink around the cheeks.

"It doesn't matter," I replied quietly

Terrence laughed some more whilst clapping his hands together like a seal on ketamine, causing me to fall into a fit of splutters at Terrence's odd impression. He had probably thought of something really disgusting and crude (which is what makes up a majority of our jokes). That o he realised I might be a bit of a mess working with someone I had a slight crush on. Ok, maybe not slight, but it wasn't like Terrence's obsession with Ariana Grande.

Just then, the girl from Erwin's squad, Maisie, made eye contact with me and smiled. That was odd. I've never really interacted with her except the occasional 'Hiya' in the corridor or 'you did well' after a mission. Did she know? Possibly, yet I wasn't going to approach her about it. Not until Erwin made it official that we were in the squad.

After we finished lunch, we got up and put our trays on the side before walking out of the lunch hall. Due to the fact that we didn't have anything else to do for the rest of the day thanks to the freezing and icy weather conditions making it too dangerous to train and Flagon hadn't assigned us to cleaning duty or filing some of his reports, we had the rest of the day to potter about and maybe chill out in the common room.

On days when we have nothing else to do, we are allowed to change into civilian clothing which was often a relief as the 3DMG belts are compulsory parts of the uniform and I often find that the belts have a habit of digging into my skin and irritating me as the day goes on.

"I wish everyday was like this," Terrence sighed

"What, having your superior given your letter of resignation by a creep in a suit before finding out that every move we make is possibly being watched by a huge audience is something you'd want to live through again?" I asked jovially

Terrence tutted.

"No, I mean a relaxing day where we don't have to worry about the next expedition or training. I know it's something that we signed up for and were more or less made to do, but I like having a break once in a while," Terrence's face then lit up like a child in a sweet shop "Hey, why don't we get some of that special tea you made last year and make a blanket fort in the common room?"

I felt a smile tug on my lips and I nodded.

"I'd love to!"

The tea in question wasn't one that I had brewed and left for a year, but I assembled the tea leafs and spices off the market to make something similar to a chai. Although we had to drink it black thanks to the abundance of milk on the market, it was still comforting to drink in the winter.

Once we made it into the common room, I gave Terrence the key to my dorm, knowing that the other girls wouldn't be in there plus I was too lazy to go back down to the kitchen to make the tea myself.

"Really?" he asked

I nodded.

"I'll make the fort," I replied sweetly with an equally sugared grin to which Terrence responded by huffing and nabbing the key off me

"You know I still love you!" I called after him

"Fuck you!" he responded

I waved him off before walking over to the cupboard that held all of the extra pillows, blankets, and bedsheets (titans, gore, death of friends, and lack of support from family, among other factors has the chance of causing PTSD, which in turn can lead to nocturnal urination) before taking out a generous amount of pillows and blankets and throwing them onto the sofa. I then went over to the table and wooden stools in the corner of the room and took two of the stools and brought them over to the sofa.

As I was doing this, I started humming along to a tune that could only be found on Terrence's playlist as it was from a few years after my 'death'. I couldn't place words to the tune, but I remembered something about pineapples being mentioned throughout the song. Strange but catchy, I swayed as I hummed and brought the stools over to the sofa and waved out the folded blankets before throwing it over the sofa and stools. I then added an extra layer over the previous blanket before going under the structure whilst still humming and started arranging the pillows into a comfy position.

Once that was all done, I made myself comfortable under the structure and waited patiently for Terrence to come back with the tea.

I grabbed a blanket and surrounded myself with mounds of pillows, letting myself get cosy in my cocoon.

It wasn't long until I heard Terrence's gait come close to the structure in the middle of the room before peering in to the fortress of pillows and blankets, holding two steaming mugs of spiced tea that smelt so strongly yet so pleasantly.

"Oi, budge over," he said as he made his way in passing me a mug

I shuffled over and let him take a seat next to me.

For a while, we sat in complete silence, with the mugs of chai and warm blankets keeping us in a comfortable silence that didn't need to be broken by idle conversation. I rest my head against Terrence's shoulder and sighed contently as I snuggled deeper into the blankets. I wanted to stay like that forever, no titans or other people, just me and Terrence, and maybe, just maybe, I might invite Mike into our fortress if I feel like it. That was a fantasy that would never come true.

"God, I feel like such a kid," Terrence murmured

"Same," I felt a melancholic smile make its way onto my lips "My brother and I used to make blanket forts in the living room when my dad wasn't at home. We'd watch cartoons with a box of cereal between us and a mug of hot chocolate. When dad got home, he'd join us in the fort and watch cartoons with us,"

Terrence wrapped his arm around my shoulder and squeezed it slightly.

"That sounds like heaven," he whispered

"Yeah, it was," I whispered as I felt tears sting my eyes

My brother was around eleven years older than me and back in the day, I remember thinking he was the coolest guy to grace the face of the earth because he would happily sit and watch cartoons with me and help me with my homework and even explain his homework in a way I could somewhat grasp. Yet he wasn't. In fact, he was an outcast, not so much a victim of bullying, more not really being able to spend time with people his age. It's actually sad thinking back to it that my father and I were the closest thing he had to friends.

That's why it shocked me when he left to travel the world without me and my father.

I remember sobbing my heart out when he didn't come and help me after I was placed into care. He was supposed to always be there for me, yet he wasn't there when I needed him the most.

I guess it's understandable. I mean, my father started showing subtle signs of Alzheimer's when I was around three years old, but it wasn't until I was eight, when he accidently set the house ablaze that both my father and I were put into care and I was put later into the hands of SOSO.

I've always wondered about what happened to him as he went silent after he got on his first plane to Delhi. Around the time I was sixteen, and I had come to terms with the fact that my father was not getting better, I used all of SOSO's resources to track my brother down, yet the furthest I ever got was a plane ticket from China to a small remote island off Thailand that was run by some dictator that nobody really cared about, the trail runs cold after he arrived there, one hundred and seven days after he first left us.

It's strange how comforting situations like lying comfortably in a pillow fort with your best friend can lead to every layer of your emotional well-being getting ripped from you as these memories surface.

I was about to open my mouth to have a long winded heart to heart with Terrence about something he had heard many times in both the Training Corps and here, when a face peaked through the entrance to the fortress. That face belonging to Masie of Erwin's squad.

"Oh, do you mind if I join you?" she asked as I quickly detangled myself from Terrence

"Sure," Terrence replied

Maisie came in and sat across from both of us, giving both Terrence and I a warm smile.

"So, Erwin told us that you two are definitely joining the squad and joining us on the Underground mission, pretty cool, eh?" she said with the excitement of a Labrador puppy

My eyes widened and I sat up straight.

"We are?" I asked

"Yup, but don't tell Erwin I told you because he still hasn't told Flagon or you," she said

"So, how is it official if Flagon doesn't know or approve?" Terrence asked

Maisie giggled

"Erwin got Shadis to agree," she replied simply

I sat up straight, all wallowing left from years ago had drained since Maisie entered to fortress. Getting Shadis to agree meant Flagon was going to be doubly pissed as it wasn't him that signed us off.

"No fucking way!" Terrence gasped

"I know, right? Erwin will be talking to the two of you in the next couple of days to settle this properly, so before that, how about we get to know each other? I mean, we'll be in a squad together and I am second in command, meaning I have the next most authority to Erwin, meaning, I want to get to know the two of you properly," gosh, she reminded me of the weird kid in the other squad with the obsession with befriending and studying the titans. The amount of enthusiasm was uncanny.

So for the next hour, we learnt all about Erwin's squad and about Maisie herself. I got to ask questions about Mike and working in the squad and Maisie gushed about Erwin and told us her family history in return.

Yet all of it was useful. The more we trust, the better we work together, the quicker we get rid of the titans.

…..Three weeks later…..

The carriage jutted and bounced over every uneven cobble as the horses trotted at a fast pace through the streets of the Capital.

Every landscape of the city outside the window looked like something out of a Dickens novel as the snow had dusted every surface of the ground and everyone was dressed so smartly in period clothing. Yet Terrence and I had not been graced with the luxury of pretty period clothing.

Instead, we were dressed in cheap gaudy clothing that would help us to blend into the Underground society. Unfortunately, that meant dressing me in a slightly provocative manner and having Terrence be my pimp. Thankfully, this wasn't like Shanghai and I wouldn't have to 'lie back and think of my nation', yet there was something sickly about taking up the role of a prostitute. Again.

The task was simple. Observe and write down any habits or traits we notice about him that might help us to capture him and drag him and his mates to the Survey Corps. Also, we had to keep a keen eye on anyone associated with Lobov making contact with this Levi bloke.

Erwin had gone through the plan so many times that it had been drilled in. Stay for a week Underground. Stay close to Levi for as long as possible. Look out for Lobov. Assess his talents. Et cetera, et cetera.

Once the carriage stopped, I gave Terrence's hand a quick squeeze as we got out and handed the driver the money as we looked down at the entrance to the Underground city.

"You ready?" Terrence asked

I gulped in one last breath of fresh air.

"Ready" I replied as I stepped forward into the doorway, engulfing myself in darkness.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

A/N: I'm so sorry it's been so long since I updated and it's not the best of updates, but this is the ball rolling chapter and the next will DEFINITLY have Levi in it.

School is starting to get in the way of everything (as it does) and due to the fact it's my last year of sixth form, I'm having to do all of this coursework, revision, personal statement, as well as find time to sleep and relax.

If you have any comments or criticisms, you are always welcome!

(Btw, the song Charlotte was humming to herself whilst making the fort was Pork Soda by Glass Animals, just in case any of you were wondering!).