The Cost of Becoming a Warrior

Chapter 3- 'Home' bound

Marco's eyes opened, a throbbing pain coming from the side of his now bandaged face, and his head hurting like hell.  As well as that, he was...wet? What the hell happened?  How did he get so hurt? How did he lose his eye? Wait, where was he? He jolted up and looked around frantically, it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, he felt heat on his face as he looked over and saw a roaring campfire and some empty metal cups...did he drink that..? He didn't remember anything apart from his name. "So you're finally awake huh?" Annie said, drinking from her metal cup. Marco looked at her, who was this girl? Her face seemed familiar, but yet, he had no clue who she was. "Uh..who are you? Where are we? What happened?" Marco asked, sounding scared, he didn't know what the fuck was going on. Annie widened her eyes, why was Marco acting so weird? What the hell? Does he not remember? She tried to think back to what happened at the expedition as she looked at his now scarred face. Slowly but surely, Annie realised what had happened, he must've lost his memory when he hit his head when she accidentally activated her hardening ability. She remained calm, not wanting to scare him. "Oh..I'm Annie, I'm your comrade, I found you hurt so I saved you. We're from the same town so, I offered to take you home and our commander agreed. " She half lied, she technically did save him and is taking him home, just not to HIS home. He must've lost his memory, I guess that makes shit easier for him...he won't have to be forcefully brainwashed, rather just 'relearning stuff he already knew' as far as he was concerned. She felt relieved on his behalf, to be honest, she couldn't even begin to imagine how they'd treat him otherwise. 

Back at the barracks, Jean was a complete mess. It had been 5 days since Marco was ate and he couldn't stop replaying the image of his limp body being tossed into that abnormals mouth whole and swallowed. "Why the fuck didn't I help Marco sooner? Why am I so fucking useless? He died because of ME. I killed my childhood best friend." Jean sat in his barracks with his ears covered, thoughts like these playing in his head over and over again, they had been getting louder and louder by the day. Armin, his roommate, sat with him, not quite knowing what to say except offering comfort and assuring Jean it wasn't his fault. "Jean...there was nothing any of us could've done...that titan was faster than our gear could dream of being and she could also-" "SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" Jean screamed as tears streamed down his face as he kept his shaking hands over his ears. He knew Armin was trying to help, but it was failing. Jean had accepted that Marco's blood had now metaphorically stained his hands forever. Armin stayed quiet, he knew Jean wasn't trying to be rude, he was grieving, so he nodded gently and left him alone for a while, he placed a glass of water by Jeans bed and walked out of the room to give him space to grieve. 

Annie sighed and handed Marco some warm soup as he rubbed his head. "Eat up. We have a long journey home, we're setting off in the morning" she mumbled as Marco nodded and ate the soup slowly. "My face hurts" Marco said as he opened his mouth to eat, which made the left side of his face hurt even more. "You scraped all the skin off the left side of your face and your eye got impaled, I'm not surprised. But I bandaged you up as best as I could, you'll get proper treatment when we get home." She assured him as Marco nodded "Uh, thank you for taking care of me, Annie" he smiled as she nodded, feeling a pang of guilt for taking Marco away from everything he'd known and lying to him, just to save her own ass, but she had to, and besides, he agreed to it, and the warriors had told him the full truth, so it's not like they fully decieved him. 

The next morning rolled around as Annie stretched. "Stay back, you don't wanna get caught in this." Annie warned as she pushed a confused Marco back as he stared at her "Uh, caught in what?" He asked, wanting her to elaborate. "You'll see!" Annie yelled as she ran to a safe distance before flicking her ring? Marco couldn't tell what she was doing from where he was, but before Marco could even think about it further, he was blinded by...lightning? What the hell was going on? Marco watched in awe as Annie...grew? What was going on? The lightning eventually went away, but, Annie was no longer there, there was a giant titan in front of him. Before he had time to process what he was seeing, he was picked up by this monster as panic rushed through him and he started trying to get away. "Oi! Don't be scared moron, it's just me!" Annie's voice was heard, as Marco looked in the direction of the sound and saw...Annie...standing in the nape of whatever this was? "THIS THING IS YOU?" Marco yelled, his mind completely blown. She sighed and nodded. "Don't worry, we're gonna be home in a few hours, so sit tight." She said before going back inside the titan as it started running. Marco clung on for dear life, but looking around at the view, not like there was much to see, it was mainly just grass and rocks, but it was nice enough to look at. He looked at the titan that was carrying him, this thing really did resemble Annie, it was almost terrifying. 

A few hours later, as they approached something that resembled...a dam? Annie's titan put Marco down before the human Annie slid down her titan and landed next to him. "Well we're home, follow me." She wandered towards the dam as Marco followed, he didn't recognise this place at all, but this must be his home. Annie gave Marco a green cloak as well as...a yellow armband? "Put these on, they won't let us on the boat otherwise." Annie explained as she pulled on a red armband and helped Marco with his and helped him put the cloak on with the hood up. "Now...follow me and act natural." She walked towards a boat as Marco followed, nervous, for some reason, why was he nervous to go home? A guard approached "You 2 looking to go back to Marle-?" He noticed Annie's red armband and looked at her face as his eyes widened, "Annie Leonhardt?! Is the mission over?! Where's Reiner, Bertholdt and Marcel?!" He asked, clearly enthusiastic to see her, they must know eachother. She sighed "No, the mission isn't over. I came here to report that Marcel was eaten, which means that the Jaw now belongs to an unknown owner on the island." She explained as the guards face dropped "Oh my god..well, thank you for reporting this." He sighed and nodded before looking at Marco and noticing the armband, as his face almost recoiled in a slight disgust. "Why are you with an Eldian...? Why are they here anyway?! We haven't been sent anybody to transform today." Marco frowned and looked at the armband on his arm. Annie looked at the guard "I need to explain to you in private" She asserted, dragging the guard out of earshot of Marco, who was just left standing there. The guard looked at the young warrior confused as she took a deep breath and stayed quiet. "He's from Paradis. We were together in the same class, and when the walls were breached again he overheard Bertholdt and Reiner talking about their titans, the morons weren't paying attention to their surroundings." The guards eyes widened "He's an Island Devil?! Why is he he-?!" His mouth was covered by Annie "Shut up and listen will ya?! He made a deal with us. In exchange for sparing his life, he agreed to come to Marley and join our side and become a warrior.His name is Marco Bodt. Protect him and let him enrol in the warrior programme, ok?" The guard growled "You think I'd help island scum?! What about when they find out where he's from?!" He argued, angry he was being asked such a thing. "They won't. HE doesn't even remember where he's from. In the plan to get him here I used my titan hardening and hurt him badly, he lost an eye and I'm sure you noticed the scar on his face by now, he also hit his head, all he remembers is his name. He'll be no trouble, he has the armband, he'll blend right in, so what's the issue?!" Annie glared. The guard groaned "Fine. I'll help him." He spat and walked off "Ah, Mr Bodt was it? Follow me to the boat, we'll get you right on home." The guard faked a smile. Marco nodded and looked at Annie and waved "Thanks for getting me home!" The oblivous Marco smiled and waved as she waved back before running off, it was done, finally. The guard helped him onto the boat as they set off for Marley as Marco looked at the beautiful clear blue sky. Finally, he was going home after what felt like forever.