A Land Of Monsters And Men

Close To Heaven

In the dead of night, Reiner and Bertolt made it back to Wall Maria exhausted and with low spirits. They exposed their identities, failed to capture Eren, and failed to bring you with them.

"DAMN IT!!!" Reiner slammed the side of his fist against the concrete. "To hell with them all!"

Continuing to smash his fist onto the ground; the rage and disappointment numbed his body; the only pain he felt was internal. There was no one else to blame but himself for being weak, smashing his fists against the same wall they destroyed was his way of punishing himself.

They murdered, lied, and manipulated their way to the top only to fall back empty-handed.

"I should have been stronger!"

His hands couldn't close to fists due to the damage that fractured his wrist and hand.

"I failed! I failed everyone! I failed myself!"

He became a warrior so that his father could finally be with them.

"You unworthy bastard!"

To have the honor of being a Marleyan citizen meant everything to little Reiner, despite all his efforts to appease his father.

There was nothing that showed pride in seeing Reiner; the reaction to seeing his son as a soldier was the opposite.

The fool was more worried about his own damn life. He chased out little Reiner from his shop stating that if anyone found out he was with an Eldian that gave birth to his illegitimate son, they would execute him and the current family he now had.

The honor of being a Marleyan held nothing that Reiner expected. It only furthered a better life for what little family he had.

That was enough for him.

Loyalty to Marleyan had crumbled after he had destroyed wall Maria.

If it wasn't for his family being in Marley the most ruthless and feared land, Reiner would have left with his family.

There was no other choice but to proceed with the lie that they were the righteous cause to defeat the Devil's of this island.

Being hidden among the children that suffered from the downfall of Wall Mari, Reiner waited alongside Annie and Bertholdt to join the military.

A place where he would share a roof under, sleep by their sides, eat, suffer, and train with brought a conflicting reality.

They were no different from Eldians or Marleyans.

Everyone was a person.

"Nothing but scum..."

His intention was to succeed in his mission of catching the founding Titan as well as wiping out all of humanity within the walls.

This mission was meant to end all of the bloodsheds. It was to show the world that the Eldians of Marly were nothing compared to the Eldians in Paradis island.

No one would understand their reasons for doing this. There was so much more to this mission that no one would understand.

No one would ever understand or even forgive them for what they have done. Titan shifters don't live long; their lifespan is 13 years. Not enough time to be married or have children.

Not enough time to do much of anything.

His Faith would only end with someone else eating him for the power.

That or the painful abstraction of spinal fluid.

There was no other purpose for him, nothing else to focus on.