Roman Holiday

Roman Holiday. Part One.

Your hand was holding tightly onto your mothers arm as you stood at the gates. The soldiers had returned today, that meant your brother and cousin would be coming home. Should be coming home. In war anything could happen and where your mother assured everyone who would listen that Reiner was strong and would make Marley proud you couldn't help but worry. The warriors' mission to Paradis proved that even titans could be taken down, it wasn't something your mother ever accepted but you did. The idea that something could have happened to Reiner or Gabi and they wouldn't come home wouldn't leave you.

As much as you wanted to believe, you knew your brother, you'd seen him wake up from nightmares and listened to him talk when he had a little too much to drink. No one but you seemed to actually notice that he wasn't the same, he wasn't as strong as your mother boasted. Not that you'd ever say anything to anyone, not even your mother. You'd tried to bring it up before, ask if she thought he was okay and she scolded you for doubting him when he was strong enough to be a warrior. Something she enjoyed reminding you, you weren't.

Those fears were erased when the gates opened and you watched Gabi walk in smiling. Relief filled you and you let yourself relax, even smile when she ran to your aunt and uncle. The other warriors filed in as well and your eyes locked onto a tall blonde but your mothers voice took your attention away from him. As Reiner walked towards you, you couldn't miss how tired and worn out he looked. But still he smiled as he walked over to you, hugging you both.

As soon as he let go of you, your mother was fawning over him. Walking towards your home you listened as she talked about the beard he was growing. He hummed and agreed quietly when she gave him time to speak. You were silently by your brothers side, the man still comforting to you. Reiner was the prize sibling and you knew that, he was the warrior, he was the reason you wore the red arm bands. You hadn't wanted a titan, you'd never have voiced that to anyone but you were thankful you weren't chosen and upset that he was. Upset that you'd lose your brother in two years now.

When you were in the warrior program you'd failed spectacularly at the physical tasks, but your mind was where you shined. That was why when you were pulled out of the warrior program you were sent to learn with medics and hopefully you'd become a doctor when they deemed you ready. Hopefully that would be soon, they were letting you work with people on your own recently, with you researching titans more you could be placed with the warrior's yourself. You were proud of that and you tried to talk to your mother about it, if you did well you could get a red arm band on your own, but Reiner had already done it and that was what mattered to her.

The dinner that she'd planned with your family ended up worse than you'd expected. You'd been hoping for a calm dinner, getting to talk to Reiner and Gabi after them being gone for so long but that hadn't happened. You had to listen to your mother talk about how proud she was that Gabi would be the one to take the armor, that her niece would eat her son. Then your uncle asked about Reiner's time on Paradis and it ended in your mother blowing up. You'd heard him slip up like that before, not often but enough that as soon as he was asked about it you knew it was going to end badly, just as it did.

You'd silently helped your mother clean up, she wasn't in a talking mood and Reiner had long retired to his room. As much as you wanted to talk to your mother the look on her face made it clear she didn't want any conversation. However when your eyes lingered too long on your brothers door she spoke. "Leave him." Quickly your eyes fell to the plates in front of you as you washed them. "He's not thinking right. He needs to get used to being out of war."

You wanted to laugh, he'd not been thinking right for a long time but she didn't care about that. Not until he effected her and their image. But it was always easier to agree with her and let it go. "Gabi was lucky. She got to know what it's like before she has to take on a titan." Reiner's titan. You didn't want to think about that, you couldn't think about him being gone.