Chapter 2- First impressions

I had conditions to this whole recon corps thing, of course. Even if they had captured me, I wasn't going with them until I got some things in order at home.

When i demanded that they take me back so that I could take care of a few things back at the village first, their leader was skeptical.

"How are we supposed to trust you after this mess? If you tell me what kind of things you need to do, I might consider."

"I have to make sure they all know where I am and what to do while I'm gone. You can sit in with anyone I talk to, and you can monitor what I do. But you beat me fairly, and I agreed to go with you; I may be a criminal, but I hold my word."

He looked around at his injured comrades, "All of you go back and take the wagon to headquarters. Leave two horses,"

All of his men seemed against it and protested for his safety, "Erwin, that's too risky, you know how much of a danger she is,"

"Don't worry, if she makes a wrong move, I'll kill her on the spot." Something about the tone of his voice made me believe him. I must have not been all that valuable of a recruit to the corps.

He pulled me up from the ground and pushed me forward so harshly that I almost fell right back down, "we're within walking distance, lead the way, Durant."

I expected the remainder of the walk through the forest to my village would be silent, but Erwin seemed to want to fill the time with small talk. He continuously asked me about my skills with 3DM gear, if I had ever fought with the weapons that the scouts had (which I had not), and whether or not I had ever even seen a titan. Once he realized he would mostly be getting one word answers, he decided to tell me about the other 'recruits' he picked up.

Aparently the other three were from the underground, which meant they might have had a worse life than I have, honestly. The underground, as far as I have heard, is brutal. They must be pretty hardcore criminals if they were put on the recon corps raydar all the way from there. Personally, I wasn't looking forward to being with them.

"You wouldn't think that the leader would that good in combat; he's a pretty small guy- actually he's about your height," He laughed.

"Maybe you shouldn't underestimate people, it could get you killed," I sighed, maybe joking about killing this guy wasn't my best idea in this situation, "Anyway, there will be a clearing in a second, my village will be there,"

As we reached the clearing I could hear the voices of some of the farmers, though we were still a little while away from the center of the village. I hadn't thought about what to tell them. It wasn't like I could pass it off as he was just passing though- I did have my hands tied behind my back, its not like it would go unnoticed.

"Stop, wait," Erwin's hands flinched towards his blades at my outburst, "If you don't untie my hands they'll all ask questions."

"Thats not my problem-"

"Yes, but I guarantee by the time we get to my office the entire village will have gathered there by then if you leave me tied; I doubt you want that kind of backlash. Plus, my closer associates won't take kindly to me being arrested so abruptly. They also know how to fight, and there's only one of you right now." He sighed, but looked like he might be considering it, "Erwin, if I can get the important people in a room and explain the situation, this will all be over quickly enough. I don't want trouble, I already agreed to go with you."

He reached to untie me and tucked the rope under his arm, "If you try anything-"

"You'll kill me, I get it,"

I walked through the bushes and greeted the people farming, trying to brushed off Erwin's presence the best I could and continued towards my office. On the way we passed the house that Trajan and Hayden were building.

"Hayden! You and Trajan meet me in my office. Find someone to get Lillian and bring her to me when we're done talking." I saw Hayden narrow her eyes at Erwin. She was already suspicious, I just hoped that Trajan could calm her down like normal.

"Those are the only people I need, lets go to my office to wait."

I lead him to the small wooden, one room house, and closed the door behind us, "I want you to take all of the weapons in this room and hide them. I can't promise Hayden won't try to cause trouble."

As i began to point out the locations of all of my weapons, which was extensive, Erwin questioned, "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"The village needs this donation, I personally don't want to keep it from them," there was a knock at the door and Hayden and Trajan followed, "Good, we need to chat,"

Trajan smiled handsomely and threw himself into the chair behind my desk, "Who's your friend, Sandy? More competition for me, playing hard to get again?" He laughed, and I couldn't help but smile.

Trajan was always close to me, and despite the fact that I knew he had always be interested in Hayden, he constantly flirted with me. I suppose it was mostly to make her jealous, but it was fun none the less. He was fairly attractive as well: tall with silky brown hair down to his jaw and a constant smile on his face. He was almost the opposite of Hayden, they matched pretty well.

"No, but I have some news for you two. I'm leaving today, after this meeting, actually," they both became tense and started questioning, "If I go with this man and join the Recon corps for five years, he'll give this village a donation to help us out. Drorf need the money more than it needs me, so thats what I'm going to do."

It was silent for a few second, "What the hell, Sandrine?" Hayden question, "You can't fucking do that, what if you die? What help will you be then?"

Erwin stepped in, "Either way, your village will get the donation,"

Hayden scowled, "Shut the hell up. Sandy, don't fucking do it- I swear to god."

"This is my choice, it's what I'm going to do. Regardless of whether or not you're happy, you'll live with it," I sighed, "In fact, both of you will be put in charge during my absence. I have a file written up about a path I was planning to take to lead the village, you can follow it, but i won't be upset if you don't. This is all in your hands now, please take care of everything my parents worked for."

Trajan stood up, his usual smile was gone from his face, "Sandy, what about Lillian? How is she going to take this?"

I tried to smile, "Well, I was going to leave her to you two. She loves you guys, she'll be comfortable with you."

They all stayed silent for a moment, then Trajan leaned forward and wrapped his arms around me, "I'll miss you Say, you stay safe out there,"

When he let me go I looked over to Hayden brooding in the corner, "Hayden, I have to do it, you don't understand-"

She stormed her way to the front door, "No, you clearly don't understand. Try not to die, will you,"

The door slammed shut after her and Trajan began heading out too, "I'll let Lillian in, see you in five years, Sandrine,"

Erwin stood awkwardly and glanced over at me, "Who's Lillian? There was nothing else in your file about any other family."

I tried to smile and ignore the fact that I would be leaving the most important person in my life behind. When the door opened I heard her little squeal as she ran towards me.

"Mommy!"

I picked my daughter up and put her on my hip, giving her a little kiss on the nose.

I gave birth to Lillian about two years ago, maybe a little less. Her father was a military policeman, not that I was aware at the time. Apparently, he moved into the village, pretending to be a poor former merchant, in order to gather intel on my weaknesses and crimes. He had stayed for about a year before we became close. And then he got me pregnant, still without revealing who he really was. A few weeks after Lillian was born, he told me: I kicked him out immediately. I don't know where Cooper Beckers went after that, and I don't care to. The only thing I have to remember him by is Lillian; she took his trait of curly hair, but she got my everything else. Brown hair, green eyes, pale skin- it was all mine.

"Lillian, mommy has something to tell you," I sat her on my desk and took her plump little face into my hands, "I have to leave for a little while-"

Before I could even finish my sentence, the tears began to swell in her eyes, "Mommy, no,"

"It will be okay, I promise. And its not forever, only for a little while and I can come back. You see, mommy has to make some money for the village, and when I do that, you and everyone else will have food and toys and books. This is good, Lillian," She reached out and wrapped her arms around my neck, "But for now, you're going to stay with Uncle Trajan and Aunt Hayden, okay? I know you like them. I love you sweety."

I pulled away from her and wiped a couple of tears from her cheeks.

"I love you too, mommy,"

After I hugged her one last time, I sent my daughter to go find Trajan. Erwin cleared his throat.

"Ready to leave then? We have to get back to headquarters soon. You can pack some things, but you won't need much.

I nodded my head and opened one of my desk drawers. Inside was a beat up pencil drawing of Lillian and me that Cooper had done before he left, I stuck it in my shirt pocket and made my way out the door.

"Erwin, how old are the other people you're bringing in?"

As he began to lead me down the path to find the horses left to us, he said, "Around your age, I think. One of them might be younger."

"Do they have any family?"

"I don't believe so, why are you asking?"

"I'm just curious, I want to know about who I'm going to be stuck with."

When we found the horses, Erwin informed me that there would be a carriage waiting for us about a mile away to take us to head quarters. The others would be there too.

I guess I had expected them to be more frightening, calloused and aged by the experience of such a dangerous life in the underground. But they all looked like kids: not dangerous, not buff, not experienced criminals, just kids. The three were obviously around my age, and didn't seem as upset as would be expected in this situation/

The girl, the one I had to sit next to, had bright and wide eyes. She even smiled at me, although mischievously, and was the first to introduce herself, telling me proudly that she was Isabel Magnola.

"Sandrine Durant," I didn't try to sound enthusiastic, mostly considering the situation, but she smiled at me none the less.

"It'll be nice to have a girl around for once. I've been with just these two for so long!"

I glanced at the other two on the opposite side of the carriage. On looked just as welcoming as the Isabel, he gave a small smile and nodded his head in my direction. The other one, however, didn't even glance at me; he kept his arms crossed and his gaze locked on the wall above my head. He looked so upset, I almost took it as constipation.

"Thats Farlen and bro-"

The dark one across from me cut her off, "Levi, Levi Ackerman" he said in a deep voice, "Stop talking, would you? We're not here to make friends." Isabel didn't argue with him, just obeyed and kept her mouth shut, as did Farlan.

I inspected the three for a moment. This 'Levi' was their leader, it was obvious from that little outburst, but that didn't make much sense to me. Farlan looked much larger and stronger, making him a better candidate; I wouldn't fight Farlan if I could avoid it, but I would jab Levi a few times just to annoy him. Levi's demeanor remained closed off and cold, but I wished to know more about the three and he wouldn't stop me.

"So Levi, you're the little leader here aren't you?"

The three stared at me for a moment, looking almost surprised that I had the audacity to speak after Levi condemned conversation.

Levi raised an eyebrow, "What about it?"

I could feel the tension begin to rise as I tried to smile at him, "Just trying to start conversation. If we're going to be comrades-"

Levi slammed the foot that had been crossed over his leg down and leaned to get close to my face, "We are not comrades, we will never be comrades. You're not one of us. So shut up you dirty fucking tramp, and fucking stay out of our way."

Now I understood why he would be the leader; I was taken aback and had to regain my composure.

Attempting to not seem too shocked, I snapped back, "Fine, when you and your little friends fuck up and turn into titan feed, don't expect me to fucking save you. I'll gladly watch you die in the worst way, then kill the titan afterwards so I can tell everyone I did my best to save you. Don't come fucking crying to me if they get killed, and don't ask for any favors."

"Bro why do you always do this?"

"Shut up, Isabel."

I didn't know how close we were to headquarters, but I planned to stare directly at Levi, as he did the same to me. His blue eyes were piercing and narrowed, but I never looked away; I would have to get use to the sight of my enemies- inside and outside the walls- if I wanted to survive the next five years.

A/N; Yay, Chapter 2! Please review if you have any comments on the story so far, and fav/follow! There will be more interaction with Levi in the next chapter and beyond that. And I figured that is goes without saying it, but this will story will end up having spoilers. Especially right now for A choice with no regrets. So if you haven't watched that you really should.

Thanks for reading!