The Cost of Becoming a Warrior

Chapter 2- I'm sorry, everyone

The deal was sealed, and Marco had been working with the warriors to come up with a plan for the past 2 weeks since the incident at Trost. He had been spending more and more time with the warriors as they work together on a plan to get Marco to Marley. Marco also figured that it'd make it hurt less to betray everyone if he distanced himself from them as much as possible, even Jean, no matter how much it hurt to do so. It's not as if Jean didn't notice this either, and no matter how much he denied it, it hurt to see his childhood best friend basically ignoring him, and for seemingly no reason, had he done something to annoy Marco?

So, one day after lunch, in the mess hall, Jean went up to Marco when he was alone and decided to ask him about it. "Hey, Marco, why are you ignoring me, and since when were you so close with Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie?" Jean asked, trying not to sound overly hurt or pushy, since, it could just be him overthinking, of course Marco is allowed to just have other friends and spend time with them after all. Marco felt like he had to put on a fake, 'tough-guy' persona, so he just shrugged off Jean's concern "I'm just hanging out with some friends, I don't have to hang around you all the time yknow" it pained him to speak to Jean this way but he knew he had to do it if he was ever going to survive, and it hurt even more when Jean was visibly hurt by the way Marco was speaking to him, he'd never been this....blunt. What Marco said wasn't particularly rude, he just never expected it from Marco. Jean sighed "You're right, I was just wondering if I did anything to hu-" "OH MY GOD! NO YOU FUCKING DIDN'T! STOP BEING SO DRAMATIC!" Marco suddenly burst and interrupted, he regretted it as he was yelling but his mouth was moving faster than his mind could keep up, besides, this made everything easier, Jean probably hates him for this. It was followed by silence as Jean just hung his head down and walked off, this wasn't the Marco he knew, but he didn't feel like pressing the issue further, he was clearly not in the mood to talk. Marco watched with sad eyes, full of guilt, he had never hurt Jean like that in their 10 years of friendship, not on purpose anyway, but, what he was about to do was going to hurt Jean much worse than those words ever could, so he just let him walk off, even though it hurt to.

It had been a few weeks since then, and the plan to take Marco to Marley was set in stone as the 104th get ready for their first expedition outside the walls with the Survey Corps. Surprisingly, most of the top 10 decided to join the Survey Corps rather than the military police, 9 out of the 10 of the 104th top 10 graduates ended up in the Corps. Marco hadn't spoken to Jean since his outburst in the mess hall, and the guilt kept getting worse as the day that he was going to go to Marley kept getting closer, but he knew he couldn't make it up to Jean, as it would make what he was about to do even harder than some petty argument. It didn't help that Jean, Armin, Marco and Reiner were in the same place in the formation, so they'd be spending time together before Marco goes for good. Commander Erwin Smith interrupted Marco's train of thought, thankfully, as he announced "SCOUTS! THE 57TH EXPEDITION BEYOND THE WALLS IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!" as the gates started opening, the once bright-eyed new scouts were now looking very scared, as the reality of what lies ahead hit them. Marco was quiet, he was also terrified, but for a very different reason to everybody else around him. The gates were fully open now as Commander Erwin was heard again "SCOUTS! ADVANCE!" he commanded as everyone followed him out the gates, it was finally happening, the 57th expedition outside the walls had begun.

The expedition had been going on for around an hour now, and Marco and Jean still hadn't spoken a word to eachother despite both being put in a squad together. Armin sighed, clearly frustrated at his comrades "Are you 2 gonna grow up and actually ta-?" His scolding was interrupted by a horrifying sight, an abnormal titan sprinting towards them at full speed, Arlert had never seen a titan that fast, not even in all the books that he'd read about titans. That wasn't the only thing that was unusual, this titan looked...female? All titans spotted as far back as could be remembered were supported to look more 'male' or gender neutral, so this was definitely an abnormal, so, as instructed, Jean set off a black smoke signal to signal the spotting of an abnormal titan. Reiner and Marco shared a look as Reiner subtly nodded as Marco nodded back. "I'm going for it!" Marco stood up on his horse and used his ODM gear to get close to her. "MARCO YOU MORON! LET ME COME!" Jean followed, wanting to assist his friend, they hadn't spoken in weeks but Jean still cared deeply for Marco and wanted to make sure he was safe, after all, they'd been basically inseparable since they were in diapers. So he followed to help him fight whatever the fuck this was running at them.

Marco sped towards the female titan, maintaining eye contact the entire time. Annie, who was piloting the abnormal knew what she had to do and was ready to do it. Marco originally went for the ankles, but something strange was happening...the skin around her ankles was..crystalising? Marco didn't know what was happening and before he had chance to react, he already had swung his blades at the strange substance that appeared around Annie's ankles. There was a shattering noise followed by screams, blood curdling screams that sounded like the victims of the Trost incident and the original fall of Wall Maria 5 years ago. Reiner and Armin watched on in horror and Jean rushed to a now injured Marco "MARCO! MARCO?! ARE YOU OKAY?!" He panicked and lifted him up to see a horrifying sight, a shard of titan hardening had gotten in Marco's left eye, impaling it completely, and the friction from sliding across the raw, dry dirt had tore all the skin from the left side of his face and down to his neck. The blood was dripping everywhere and it was all over his uniform. Annie froze, she used her hardening powers without thinking and it had now hurt Marco, badly, had she fucked everything up? No, if anything this was a good thing, it makes this look not staged despite that being the case, besides, he can heal his injuries once he eventually inherits a titan after all. Marco couldn't move from the unbearable pain he was in, all he could do was smile softly as Jean, probably for the last time in a while, hugged him. Jean cried out for medical help, but nobody was coming, they were basically completely alone in a big open field, all they could do was sit and wait for Marco to be eaten, they couldn't get away fast enough on their horses, it seemed hopeless.

A huge shadow appeared over Jean and Marco, almost hiding Marco's injuries, as the female titans hand reached for the pair as Jean, despite knowing there was no way in hell it'd work, tried to get them both away, using his ODM gear he attempted to grapple onto some nearby rocks, but it was far too late for that, Annie had already grabbed the injured Marco as Jean's face went white and his eyes widened, brimming with tears "MARCO!" He tried to get up to Annie's nape, but it was too late, Marco was thrown into the female titans mouth. "MARCO! MARCO! LET HIM GO YOU BASTARD!" Jean screamed, he knew it was hopeless, he saw how fast the titan was and he saw that she could protect herself against attacks with their blades, and besides, he's probably already dead in her stomach. all he could do was watch as the female titan took off, with Marco devoured. Jean, completely unaware of what was going on, just knelt to the ground, completely crushed, his best friend has just been killed in front of him. Marco, on the other hand, was alive inside Annie's mouth, just as planned, as he listened to Jean's screams, regret, guilt and shame clouding his mind and distracting him from the pain he was in for a while, but, this was it now, there was no going back. "No changing my mind now...I'm sorry...everybody" He thought as he stared at the roof of Annie's mouth, thinking about his family and his home, everything he'd ever known, as a single tear rolled down his cheek. He hated what he had done. But it was too late now. They'd be in Marley in a week, that's what Annie said anyway. His life as he knew it was over, he was now a Marleyan soldier and a warrior...whatever that meant.