Saph's PoV

I grinned at Farlan. "Thanks for the help back there."

Levi watched the two of us with disinterest. Apparently, he had known of Farlan's plan to follow me. Gruffly telling me to put the gear on, Levi seemed to bear me no ill will because of the incident. At least no more than he had the first time he trained me.

"My pleasure," Farlan huffed, glaring at me through slitted eyes. He was obviously trying to look casual and relaxed as he watched me put on the equipment. "I hope you enjoyed that piece of bread."

Isabel was too wrapped up in studying my movements to recognize the barbed words Farlan and I were tossing each other's way. "What are you going to teach her today, Brother?"

Levi clicked his tongue as if he was annoyed with Isabel's constant inquiries. It was the way he inclined his head towards her direction that gave any indication he was listening.

"Balancing," was all he stated. "And I thought I said that you could only watch if you kept your mouth shut?" His abruptness might have made some people wary after knowing he was annoyed with them, but Isabel only nodded her head excitedly before joining Farlan on the sidelines.

After I clipped on the last strap, I went up to where Levi stood in the center of the cave. "I'm actually surprised that the guy didn't capture you, Farlan. I was sure that he was going to beat the shit out of you for following him."

Snorting in derision, Farlan answered my pointed question with his own deriding comment. "I may not be as strong as Levi, or as fast as you, but I have something no one here has." He tapped his head to emphasize his point.

"Big Bro isn't stupid!" Isabel shouted in protest.

Not wanting to point out that she hadn't said anything in her own defense, I shrugged my shoulders in a careless manner. Even though I tried to appear comfortable, having all three of them around me was making me shift uneasily from foot to foot. "What do you want me to do?" I questioned Levi.

Not saying a word, such a rarity with him! Levi demonstrated how he wanted me to hang between the two wires. Dangling there, he crossed his arms and with a frown on his face said, "It's easy to learn how to put this shit on, but actually using it is a different matter. Don't expect to be good."

It wasn't easy for me. No matter how much I wobbled or stuck my arms out, I always ended up swinging upside down with my fingertips dragging on the ground. "What am I doing wrong?" Levi only unbuckled the straps so I could collapse on the ground. Farlan gestured that he had no clue on the reason I was failing so hard, and Isabel continued to shout out unhelpful suggestions as I once again began to flipped upside down.

"Clear your mind! Pretend you are on your tippy toes! Stick your right foot farther than the left. Nevermind, try doing sticking your left farther than your right."

"You aren't helping!" I finally shouted at her. I was frustrated with my lack of progress. and mad that they already knew how to do it. Embarrassed with the fact that I kept failing in front of them, they who I wasn't supposed to show any weakness too, I sighed in irritation. We didn't know when the Scouting Legion is going to come. Leaving me behind in the Underground would be easier for them to do if I still wasn't able to use the 3DMG. Caught up in my thoughts, I hadn't realized that Isabel had ran out of the room until someone gave me a sharp kick in the face.

It was then did I realized how helpless I was hanging upside down. I needed their help to unbuckle the straps, but Levi was showing no signs of wanting to let me go. Putting my hands in front of my face, I prepared for another kick when he lifted his foot up. "Why did you do that?" I screamed. My whole face hurt, and I could feel blood running out of my nose.

"Apologize to her," he commanded, glaring at me.

Who? I glanced questioningly in Farlan's direction. Seeing the empty spot beside him, I tilted my body back towards Levi. "Do you mean Isabel?"

"Of course he means Isabel. Who else?"

"Don't yell at me. I don't know why you want me to say sorry to her!" I wanted to get down. I needed to get down. I didn't understand what they wanted from me, and they could easily kill me in this position. My confusion just heightened their irritation with me.

While Levi continued to huff at my stubbornness, Farlan cocked his head at me. "You hurt her. Don't you want her not to be mad at you?"

I let my fingers drag across the dirt ground. Trying to find a weapon or at least a stone that I could use to defend myself. "Why should I care? Actually, why should she care? It's not like she actually cares about my opinion or anything." I just needed them to work with me. Them hating me wouldn't be a problem if they didn't let their feelings get in the way.

"She is trying to be friends with you," Farlan started. "I mean you don't have to be best buddies with her, but you should at least be nice."

A nail hooked on the edge of a sharp stone. Beginning to work on digging the stone out, I blew some hair out of my face. "Why should I do that?" What does it matter if I was nice or not? Being nice is what gets people killed down here."

Levi stepped on the hand that wasn't working on getting the stone. My bones began to bend as his boot dug down into my skin. Afraid that he was going to break my hand, I threw the stone at Levi's head. Quickly, he leaned to the left to avoid the blow. While Levi had avoided getting hit in the face where I was aiming - with the stone, it clipped the side of his head.

Enraged, Levi ripped off the material that was holding me up. When I collapsed to the ground, I tried to instantly run away. Being upside down for so long though, made my head begin to swim as I righted myself.

"Levi she-"

His cold voice stopped Farlan from continuing. "She's going to get us killed. We at least know what the Survey Corp's goal is. This girl is just dragging us down. I'm not even sure if she can get prepared enough to not get eaten. Who knows. She might even run off after we get out of here to let us deal with the consequences. We owe her nothing. She owes us nothing." It was the most he had spoken since I met the trio.

"That's true," I admitted. I knew Levi didn't trust or like me, but I had inferred Farlan was the leader of the group. That wasn't the case. If Isabel liked me, I thought the two of them would be more accepting of my presence. That assumption might cost me everything. It was odd, Levi seemed willing to do terrible things to survive, yet he had friends. Since Levi had people he cared about, his emotions could get in the way if unexpected trouble happened. Out of all three of them, Levi was the one who could beat me in a fight. I wouldn't be able to barter with him if his friends lives were at stake. I couldn't claim that just the two of us could escape with the money, he would never abandon the people he cared about. Knowing this, I couldn't predict Levi's actions because of his emotional involvement with Farlan and Isabel. Farlan was smart enough to know the logical advantages to having me on the team so I had thought I was in the clear. My outburst at Isabel was easily fixable if I just pretended to like her for a little bit. Being genuine wasn't part of the deal.

"I will say sorry to Isabel," I spat with my nose wrinkled. "My motive for doing this means I'm working with you. Shouldn't that be good enough?"

"Lets just try to get along now," Farlan said cautiously. "After we get through this one job, we can go our separate ways. Don't ruin our one and maybe only chance, Levi."

Too caught up in our anger towards each other, neither Levi or I noticed that Isabel had returned to the cave. "What's going on, Brother? Farlan?"

"It's nothing, Isabel, you should begin to head back to the house." Levi's eyes flirted in her direction before returning back to me, and he slowly inclined his head towards Isabel.

Standing her ground defiantly, Isabel began to stomp up to me. "Did you hurt my brother?" Levi's hand flitted up to his cut ear, returning the arm to its original position, I could see some splotches of blood covering his fingertips.

I gingerly touched my nose. "He actually kicked my face first, but yeah I did throw a rock at him." The exit wasn't close, but if I was able to surprise them, I might be able to get away. "He wanted me to apologize to you, Isabel. It was my own fault that I had gotten so angry. I shouldn't have yelled at you." Maybe this was my chance.

Approaching me, Isabel crossed her arms against her chest. "I'm fine. Who you should be saying sorry is Brother."

Startled out of my concentration of escaping, my eyes widened. "Will you forgive me then?" She was being difficult but it would be worse if Isabel hated me. This might ease my relationship with Levi too.

"Only if you mean it."

I could fake that. Pretending was easily becoming a specialty of mine because I hadn't known that being with other people could be so tiring. Three years was a long time to go without any close human contact. "Levi? I'm sorry that I threw a stone at your face." And missed.

"Now, Levi, do you accept her apology?" Farlan goaded enjoying his view of the situation from the sidelines.

Not amused, Levi brushed it off. "Just actually do your one job of learning how to use this equipment."

"You make it sound like I'm trying to fail," I growled.

Ignoring me, Levi sighed and walked out of the cave.

Isabel began to totter after him. "Wait for me Big Bro!"

In the distance, I could see Levi trying to shoo Isabel back to where Farlan and I were at. Guess he wanted to be alone. Didn't mean he couldn't have told me what he wanted me to do while he was gone.

As if noticing my befuddled expression, Farlan piqued up, "He's expecting you to be able to do it by the time he gets back." The lack of communication from Levi must make Farlan an interpreter a lot.

While I wanted to complain, I didn't and once again set up the gear to try and balance again, I was stuck trying to complete this task. This time, however, I was able to maintain some semblance of steadiness. How Levi would love saying that the kick was helpful. "Why did he head back?"

"Levi doesn't want to get blood on anything, so he is going back to clean himself up."

"He's really weird about cleaning things."

"Don't let him hear you say that."

All tension began to leave my body as I realized I had finally gotten the hang of it. I couldn't help but feel a little excited to show Levi my accomplishment. "Guess I showed him."

Isabel came back. I was expecting her to be dragging her feet all huffy, but she looked smug as she stared me down. "Bro knew all along that you could do it, so he's not going to be surprised or anything. I was way faster at learning how to do it too, so don't be too proud of yourself."

Snorting, I lost my concentration for a second. Swinging my arms wildly, I hissed as I felt myself began to tip forward.

Not acknowledging my fierce battle with the 3DMG, Farlan raised an eyebrow at Isabel. "I thought you were going to help Levi clean up?"

"I was, but he said I need to watch her to make sure she didn't run away." Isabel got a sour look on her face and spoke gruffly, "I'm not a babysitter though, so don't expect me to watch over the brat."

Rolling his eyes, Farlan clicked his tongue at Isabel's attempt to mimic Levi. "You need any help getting down?"

"No." While I slightly struggled with unbuckling myself, getting help would have been more embarrassing. "Since it seems that Levi is done and I can now balance-"

"Without falling on your face," Isabel added. She must still be miffed from me yelling at her.

"I'm going to head home."

A grin appeared on Isabel's face as she got an idea stuck in her head. "Why don't you stay the night with us?"

Farlan and I both stiffened. "That's not a good idea, Isabel." Levi might slit my throat in my sleep. He has threatened to do it enough times.

Relieved at my refusal, Farlan joined in. "We don't even have enough beds, Isabel, you two could have a sleepover some other time."

"Okay!"

Satisfied that she wasn't going to mope, Farlan waved at me. "See you tomorrow, Saph."

"Bye."

When I first saw the three of them flying through the air, it seemed like a easy adrenaline filled ride. I hadn't considered what it would actually be like to have two wires pulling you forward. You didn't float easily from building to building, you got flung harshly forward. My eyes began to water as I sniffed furiously to keep my nose from running. Even though I had been doing this constantly for days, the fear of hitting the building flat on had made me cautious enough that I preferred to run along the ground and only use it when it was completely necessary. Legs and arms pumping, I sprinted to keep up with Levi and Isabel. Farlan had decided to check around to see if the Survey Corps were going to make their move soon or not.

"You've gotten better," Isabel shouted gleefully as she did a front flip. "Soon we will have to race to see who is faster."

I jumped off of the building I was running on top of and propelled myself above her. "I still prefer using my own legs to get around."

"You would be Titan food if you just did that to fight them," Isabel shouted fighting to soar higher than me. "Don't worry though, Big Bro and I will protect you from them."

While I was confident that Isabel had grown fond enough of my presence that she would try to make sure I didn't die, Levi gave no inclination that what she said was true. If he had to choose between anyone or me, he might just go with anyone other than me. Other than Erwin of course, but that's not much of a consolation.

My body instinctively rolled as I hit the ground. Pointing myself in Levi's area, I pushed the handle. It only took a few seconds before I was near enough to him that we could converse without worrying about Isabel hearing us. "I'm not staying in the Survey Corps long enough to actually have to see a Titan."

"Neither are we," Levi responded. Uncharacteristically, a small smirk appeared. "We are just going to steal the paper and then get our reward, it'll be easy." I could feel his stare boring down on me. "Then we will never have to see each other ever again."

Yep. He still hated me. Even Farlan had warmed up to me slightly. I had been forcing myself to be nice and helpful. All Isabel had needed was a smile and a few snatches of conversation before she thought we were great friends. It was fine if they distrusted me, as Farlan and Levi continued to do so, but Farlan had enough sense to put up a front of me being in this together. Levi would only wrinkle his nose in disgust whenever he saw me, like I smelled bad. I had been forced to clean up my appearance more than ever because of his obsessiveness with tidy things. Soap had to become an object I was familiar with if I wanted Levi continue to teach me.

Pulling out of my thoughts, Isabel was quickly catching up to us with a panicked look on her face. "The Survey Corps are coming."

Stunned, I was almost sent crashing into a wagon as we began to dip lower and lower to the ground. "Well then lets get this over with."