"Hey Brat, get up." Groaning at the agitated voice, she pulled the blanket over her head and snuggled into it further.

"Five more minutes," she sleepily mumbled.

"How are you comfortable on a fucking floor?" He couldn't understand it at all. There was no support and it must have been incredibly filthy.

"I don't know, Levi. I just am."

"Tch, just be ready in ten minutes." She heard him leave the room before she sat up, stretching out her limbs.

"Why can't I just sleep? I'm sure it's some ridiculous hour of the morning." Rubbing her eyes, the girl looked on Isabel's neatly made bed to see the clothing they had gotten for her. It was a pair of black slacks with a plain white button up shirt to go with it. One more thing that went along with it; an extremely confusing set of belts. She stared at the brown pieces of material; the more she looked the less of an idea she had as to where to start.

"What am I going to do? I only have a few minutes, and this is really confusing."

"I thought you might need a hand with those." Slightly startled, she turned to the doorway to see Isabel grinning at her, "They can be a real pain in the ass."

"It's as though you read my mind." She laughed quietly; Isabel also chuckled at her comment and picked up the belts. One step at a time, Isabel instructed her on where each strap went. It took a few attempts, each of which Isabel laughed quite loudly. Watching the newcomer reminded Isabel of her when Levi had first shown her how to dress herself in the complex belts. Soon enough, the belts were all on and tightened.

"Thank you Isabel."

"Don't worry about it; I had a lot of trouble with them when I first tried them on." Isabel reminisced for a quick moment before bringing her mind back to the present moment. The new girl grabbed the pair of knee high boots and pull them onto her feet.

"I can see how." She took the mirror which was lying on the floor in her hand and groaned at her hair's appearance: it was a complete mess.

"Don't worry, I can fix that for you!" Isabel smiled with confidence.

"Really?"

"Yeah; I used to have long hair so I had practise. It'll be easy." The brunette nodded and turned around so that Isabel could easily do what she had to do. She played around with the girl's hair for a while before she had it in a braid that reached the top of her chest. "I'm all done. Now, let's get out there before Levi gets even more annoyed." She nodded and followed Isabel out of the room.

"It's about time you came out. What were you doing in there? Taking a giant shit?" Her cheeks flared up at how blunt his words were and she hesitantly took a seat at the table.

"Levi, there's no need to make her feel uncomfortable," Farlan sighed at his friend's behaviour. Levi simply clicked his tongue and took a bite from the loaf in his hand. "How are you feeling?" Farlan asked the newest addition to their little group.

"I-I'm okay. My head still hurts a little bit, but it's nothing." Her head was actually still aching quite a lot, but she didn't want her new friends to worry any further than they already were. She just put on a smile and took a bite of her breakfast.

"That's good."

"Do you remember anything now, Brat?" Levi was getting impatient with what he believed was an act. Despite thinking that, he kept her with them to find out the truth behind her apparent amnesia. She shook her head in response to his question and looked down.

"N-no, I can't remember a thing," her voice shook as she spoke, "I only remember the events of yesterday."

"Don't be too hard on yourself," Farlan tried to comfort her. Though he didn't completely understand how she felt, but he felt something for her. He wasn't sure if it was pity, sympathy or something else, but he it was something. He'd taken it upon himself to try and make her feel slightly welcome seeing as Levi wasn't entirely helping.

"Hurry up and eat." She hadn't realised that she had only taken the one taste of her bread. It was possible the staleness had put her off.

"What are we going to do about a name?" Everyone looked to Levi after the sudden question, but no one was surprised he'd ask.

"We have to think of something. We can't have Big Bro calling you Brat forever can we?" Isabel laughed. She chuckled lightly only to receive a glare from Levi which made her freeze in her place.

"How about we give you a name? Once one of us thinks of one we'll let you know and see if you like it." Farlan's proposition was entirely reasonable, and the group nodded.

"That sounds good to me. Thank you Farlan," she said with gratitude and a small smile. "I've finished eating."

"Let's go then," Levi said as he stood. The other three stood up and followed him into the furthest back room of the small house. He stood in front of some metal boxes that she didn't at all recognise. "This is the maneuver gear that we use. If you can't use this, you're going to just be dead weight. I don't intend on having another mouth to feed in this place for free. You can't learn this, you're out." Her face paled slightly at his words. If she couldn't do this, she died; it was as simple as that.

Levi grabbed a pair of the boxes and some other pieces of equipment. He started adjusting them onto her hips and a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. When he'd finished adjusting everything he stepped back and studied the girl, making sure everything was as it should be. She could feel the extra weight from the metal containers which felt extremely foreign. It didn't seem too heavy but it isn't the most comfortable feeling for her. She pulled out the two controllers which Levi had put in the belts she'd put on that morning. "I'm going to say this once so you better be listening. We're going to go outside and teach you the basics. You're going to learn how to move from building to building slowly. You understand that Brat?"

"Y-yes," I stutter.

"You're going to need to stop doing that too. People will take advantage of you if you don't appear strong. They don't give a fuck if you're nice or not. A woman is a woman and that's all the men down here give a shit about." She mentally cringed at the thought of someone touching her in such a manner as did everyone else in the room. The three of them didn't know this girl well but they felt responsible for her wellbeing and safety. Even so, if she couldn't help them at all, she was more of a burden than her worth.

"Sorry, I'll get that under control," she said as strongly as she could.

"Good; let's get this started. We can't have a useless brat around here for long." Isabel and Farlan slowly nodded and make their way outside the house. She took a step to follow them when she felt a grip on my wrist. She turned and froze when she saw Levi's stormy grey eyes staring straight into hers.

"Listen here, Brat. I won't have you causing any trouble for Isabel, Farlan or me. You're here because Farlan and Isabel took pity on you and I trust Farlan's judgement. If I see one wrong move from you, I won't hesitate to protect them." Not only were his words cold, but his eyes were especially harsh with their gaze. It would be a lie to say that the girl was surprised by his actions. She knew his emotionless mask was just there to make it seem like he had no weakness.

"Levi, I know we've known each other for a day but don't assume that I'd do shit like that. I owe you guys. You are the only people I know and causing you trouble is the last thing I want to do. Trust me." Her stare hardened at the man in front of her.

Levi definitely wasn't used to someone standing up to him let alone a 5'1 girl. He inwardly smirked. He was intrigued by her and where she came from but he wouldn't let her know that. He searched her eyes for any signs of lying. He had been suspicious of her since she woke up but during the time she had been around the others he had seen no threat from her. Her story of a girl not knowing anything still made him a little on edge around her.

"Don't make me regret it," he said sternly.

"I won't," she said as she pulled her wrist from his grip, "Let's go."

When the two made their way outside Isabel and Farlan were bickering over something that they had very little interest in. Levi simply wanted this training to start as did she.

The girl's mind ran wild. What if she couldn't do this? Would she really be sent to her death because of it? How could she do this with no knowledge of what she was doing?

"Now listen closely. If you can't remember this there's no hope for you," Levi put bluntly.

"Okay," she said confidently but it only came out as such to hide the rising nerves that were coursing through her being.

"It isn't that complicated, so even a brat like you should be able to understand this. The trigger for your middle fingers is used to launch and retract the grapple for each side. Pressing both trigger fingers down uses the gas to give you more momentum. You got it?" His explanation was quite simple and without too much trouble, the girl was able to grasp the concept of it. All she had to do was remember it. She nodded to him and he looked up towards a nearby building. "Watch." He launched his gear and swiftly flew up to where he had been looking at before.

She gaped in awe as she watched to which Isabel and Farlan smiled. They had both reacted similarly when they had seen it in action for the first time.

"It's amazing isn't it? Big Brother is the best at this around," Isabel boasted to the newcomer. It wasn't often someone hadn't heard of Levi and his strength, so whenever she got the chance she liked to boast for him. The stubborn man didn't appreciate the gesture too much, but much to his dismay she continued to do it.

"Isabel's right for once," Farlan smiled down at her.

"What do you mean for once? I'm always right!" Isabel pouted.

"Okay if you're always right then what's today's date?" he teased. Isabel froze in thought, trying to think of an appropriate answer but to her annoyance nothing came. "Exactly; as I was saying it's a good thing we have the best. It can take years to master this but hopefully you can get the hang of it a bit quicker with him teaching you."

"Hopefully," she muttered, still looking up.

"Are you willing to give it a try? It's risky, but if you do it then we know that we can skip a few stages," Levi explained to her. Her expression changed from one of awe to one of fear and panic.

"I-I guess so." She mentally slapped herself the moment she let that stutter leave her mouth. "I'll do it." Levi nodded down to let her know he heard and watched her movements carefully.

"It shouldn't be too hard for a shit like you." She furrowed her brows at his comment before grabbing the controllers from her belt. She hooked her fingers onto the triggers and took a step forward.

All I have to do is launch the hooks upwards and use a little gas as well as retracting them to move forward, she thought to herself. As she thought of those simple steps she gained a quick boost of confidence which she used to her advantage. Quickly she pressed the appropriate triggers and hooked the hooks into the building. She moved onto the second step and retracted the lines as well as pressing slightly on the gas. She wobbled quite a bit before she gained her balance and sailed smoothly through the air.

To her surprise she managed to land on the side of the building with only a slightly harder impact than what she was planning on. Most of the impact was absorbed through her bent knees, but it did hurt her ankle slightly as well.

"Good job!" Isabel yelled out from below. She looked down and smiled at her. She could remember that short lived moment of flying and adrenaline was rushing through her veins making speech something she couldn't muster up.

"You didn't fuck up like I thought you would. It seems you're good at using your head." Levi still showed his bored expression despite his somewhat positive comment. Underneath his façade, he was slightly impressed that the girl before him had the common sense which was easily needed to use the gear. It took Isabel months before she could do things to the extent that this girl had just done.

The girl sighed in relief until she heard something she definitely didn't want to; a crack. She looked to where her hooks were in the wall and saw a large crack forming. She had no time to react as the hooks lost their grip and she started plummeting to the ground. She tried to think of something but she couldn't; she couldn't even scream. This was her first time ever using the gear so she had no instincts associated with it unlike someone who had been using it for years.

She braced for the impact but it never game. Instead, she fell straight into a strong pair of arms. Looking up she was greeted with Farlan's warm eyes and a concerned expression.

"Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?" he asked inspecting her for any wounds. She struggled to get any words out. Her breathing was ragged and her heart was beating far faster than normal.

"Bring her inside and get her some water," Levi instructed his comrade. Farlan nodded and brought the frightened girl into the house. He carefully placed her on a chair when she shook her head and snapped out of her trance.

"Thank you Farlan," she said with a sweet smile which made his heart swell up. There was something about this girl that seemed to have everyone wrapped around her finger. Even Levi who didn't care for anyone's wellbeing, other than his own and his two friends, actually gave a damn about this girl. She was just so innocent compared to the corrupt world that they lived in that it was like a ray of light shining in the deepest depths of the Earth.

When Farlan came out of his thoughts he immediately went to grab a glass of water. She accepted it gratefully and took a small sip.

"How are you feeling Brat?" Levi asked after a long silence.

"I'm okay; that fall just stole my breath for a moment." She took a moment before taking another sip from the glass.

"Good. You did fine today; you might be worth a shit to us after all." A small smile appeared on her face at his words. She was relieved not only at the fact that she had a place to stay but also the fact that she wouldn't be burdening her new friends.

"That's good to hear," she sighed.

"We have to give you a name," Farlan said casually, "I wanted to call out to you but it was a little hard to do." She chuckled lightly before looking at the three people in the room.

"Annabel." All heads turned to Levi who was still looking at her. She gave him a confused look. Out of all the people here she would never had guessed it would have been Levi to suggest a name for her, let alone one that wasn't insulting. "I think it suites you. You don't have to fucking look at me like that." His glare turned cold the more she looked at him. She soon turned her attention to Isabel who was smiling madly.

"What do you think? I think Big Bro's right," Isabel asked in excitement. Why she was so excited was a mystery to the girl at the table; after all, the only thing that was going on was happening was simply picking a name to call her by.

She looked back at Levi and warmly smiled at him, "I really like it. Thank you Levi." Levi turned his head to look at the wall hoping that no one would notice the light pink blush that dusted his cheeks. He regained his composure and put back his usual stoic expression, giving her a simple nod.

"It's settled then," Farlan said. Everyone nodded and took a seat at the table. The table wasn't very big but it was large enough just to fit the four of them.

"You still need a lot of fucking training before you can help us with our work," Levi explained with an exasperated sigh, "As much as you need it, training every day would too big a strain on your body. Every second day should be enough." At that point he was just thinking aloud rather than explaining anything the Annabel. She simply nodded as he continued to talk. "Farlan will teach you about where we are and about the shit that's going on and I'll physically train you. With your strength as it is you're a liability."

"I'm fine with that. The better I am and the more, the better I can help you while I'm here. That's all I want to do," Annabel looked around at the people who had saved her and smiled again. She rarely took it off her face which made Isabel and Farlan happy. Levi couldn't exactly care less with how she looked unless it was inappropriate. Whether she had a smile on her face or not was not on his list of priorities.

Levi looked her over closely looking for any sign that he shouldn't trust her, but no matter how many times he looked and how much he wanted to find one, he couldn't. He clicked his tongue and stood up to leave the room.

"I'll take your word on it."