The Cost of Becoming a Warrior

Chapter 16- Confronting The Nightmare

It had been a few hours since Marco was recognised and outed now, he was still trying to process whatever the fuck had just gone on, but, he had a job to do, he had to be strong, he had to be a warrior. Somehow, he had managed to blend in with a group of scouts, despite obviously standing out in a crowd due to his eyepatch. He theoretically could just heal his eye and scar, but he had gotten used to it at this point, it was part of who he was. Not like it mattered, injuries were probably not out of place within the scouts. He was waiting for a signal from Pieck, who was currently with Eren Jaeger, trying to convince him to come up to the roof, so Marco could transform and catch him off guard. His transformation would kill the unsuspecting scouts who were all stood around him, the Marco from only just over a month ago would be happy at this fact, killing off the island devils who he was taught were the root of all evil in the world. But now, knowing that he was one of them, he felt incredibly guilty, to the point where he had a sinking feeling in his chest and stomach knowing that the strangers around them would be dead soon enough. His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice, "hello everyone!" Pieck called out to the now blushing group of scouts. Marco looked up at her and noticed that she was cuffed, but not only was she cuffed, but cuffed to Gabi out of all people. Thankfully, Pieck hasn't seemed to of heard about his true identity yet. This mission suddenly felt a lot harder, if he fucked this up even a little, he'd kill Gabi and Pieck. He may have been doubting his worth as a Marleyan Warrior, but his friendships with the warriors and the candidates were real, he had no doubts about that. 

Marco's titan crashed through the rooftop, managing to bite off Eren Jaeger's leg, but failing to eat him completely. Once again, he had failed, so, nothing new. As expected, his failure once again led to Eren gaining an advantage as he transformed into his Titan. Marco did the one thing he could now do, which was protect Pieck and Gabi as he stood over them, shielding them, using his Titan's body and limbs. "B-Bodt?!" Gabi yelled, clearly not expecting him to be here. Pieck rolled her eyes as Gabi accused her of betraying Marley. "Gabi, I don't trust Marley, not one bit, but, I trust the comrades I've fought alongside for years completely." she calmly explained as she motioned to the airships approaching Paradis, in those airships were Reiner and Colt, alongside some other Marleyan officials. 

Chaos had ensued, Eren, now possessing the power of the Warhammer Titan, created a protective fence of spikes around himself, impaling not only the Jaw Titan, but also the Armoured. This felt familiar to Marco, it happened to him once before in Marley, but that wasn't what he focused on, he couldn't help but look at Reiner. This was the first time that he had really seen him since learning what Reiner did to him. He now held a deep resentment towards him. He was desperate to confront him. He wanted to know WHY. Forcing himself back into the moment, he prepared to fight Eren once again. He promised himself he wouldn't lose this time. He would be back to fighting alongside his comrades, even if one of them almost killed him. He attempted to pull himself up off of the spikes that were impaling him. 

The fight was now over. Eren had ran off, and Reiner and Marco both decided it probably wasn't worth the chase, they were both too injured for it to be worth it. They sat together on a roof, unbeknownst to Reiner, Marco was filled with rage, not because he lost the fight, but because Reiner had acted like he did nothing wrong, acted like Marco was one of the warriors, let Marco grow to hate his own birthplace. "So...good job out there, Mar-" he was interrupted by Marco letting out all his rage, seemingly out of nowhere, "YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU COULD DO WHAT YOU DID AND ACT LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED! I KNOW WHAT YOU DID TO ME!" Marco screamed as he jumped on Reiner, grabbing his collar and choking him. Reiner widened his eyes, he immediately caught on to what he was talking about, how did he find out? He looked at Marco, he was sobbing, his face was full of rage and hate, whilst also being full of despair and sadness, and hopelessness. "WHY?! YOU TOOK ME AWAY FROM EVERYONE! MY HOME, MY FAMILY! I HAVE A LITTLE BROTHER GODDAMMIT! HE PROBABLY THINKS I'M DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!" Marco sobbed, he was finally letting it all out. Everything he'd been holding in for weeks. He gripped onto Reiner's shirt harder as he sobbed harder than he'd ever sobbed in his entire life. "YOU MADE ME ABANDON JEAN...J-ean..." his voice cracked as the grip loosened on Reiner's shirt, collapsing on his chest as he was overcome with emotion. Reiner gulped and stayed quiet, just staring at Marco as he cried into his chest. He felt horrible. He was convinced Marco would never find out, which was probably naive of him. He put Marco through hell just to save his own ass, he was selfish. Marco had every right to hate him. Marco slowly stood up and wiped his face, he had seemed to calm down, or that's what Reiner thought. "I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU! I'LL MURDER YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME!" Marco once again screamed, which was immediately followed by a punch in the face. Reiner fell backwards as Marco unleashed a seemingly endless stream of punches and kicks. Reiner had never seen Marco this angry, and would probably never see him this angry ever again. "I HATE YOU! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT THAT I'VE GONE THROUGH ALL THIS HELL! IT'S YOUR FAULT I LOST AN EYE! EVERYTHING IS YOUR FAULT! YOU MADE ME HATE THE PLACE I WAS BORN TO SAVE YOUR SORRY ASS! YOU'RE THE REASON I FUCKING HATE MYSELF!" Marco just kept going, his mouth moved faster than his mind, he was just unleashing his rage and inner hatred onto the man who brought him to Marley, the man who tried to murder him. 

In the midst of Marco's rage filled attacked on Reiner, he didn't notice the 2 arms come up, grabbing his shoulders from underneath them and pulled him off of Reiner. "MARCO CALM DOWN! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" a familiar voice yelled from behind him. It was Jean. Marco panted and looked down at his blood covered fists before looking back at a blood covered Reiner. His view was then blocked as Jean stood in front of him and held his shoulders gently "Marco...please calm down." he spoke softly as Marco looked up at him, tearing up. His scar hurt, he was tired, physically and mentally. Jean sighed and looked at Reiner and then back at Marco, "Cmere..." he said, engulfing Marco in his arms and holding him close as Marco sobbed into his chest. "Marco...I know what he did, I know he hurt you, but try calm down ok...?" Jean rubbed his back, trying to comfort him. "E...everything is h..his fault...it's his fault th..that I hated you...and everyone" Marco almost whispered, sobbing, he was no longer angry, he was just hurt and exhausted. Marco just wanted this nightmare to end. The nightmare that was caused by Reiner Braun.