A Love Like War (On Hold)

Chapter 3

Bertholdt's POV~

'Who was she talking to?' That was the question that lingered on my mind ever since the night I last saw her. 'She was alone back then... wasn't she?' I continued to ponder at the thought as I tried to recall if she was in fact alone when I followed her that night when Jean suddenly spoke up, shattering my train of thought.

"Oi, has anyone seen the brat?" he asked no one in particular as he continued walking with us along the halls of the Scouting Legion's headquarters.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen her since the battle at Trost." Connie said thougtfully. "You don't think... those things got her... do you?" he added in a grim tone.

"I doubt it. That little brat won't go down as easily as you think." Ymir voiced out in a bored tone. "Besides, the last time I saw her was when we were gathering the bodies of those who weren't so lucky... She was staring at Marco's body with a stupid look on her face." she shrugged.

I couldn't help but clench my hand into a tight fist at the metion of the man's name.

Marco Bodt... He was the one who had the courage to approach and befriend her first. The man who she always chose to go to whenever something seems to trouble her or to just simply talk. The man who was always around her after the sun sets. The man whom her mesmerizing sapphire blue orbs seem to always follow whenever they were apart. The man that she loves....

And I've always hated the man with every fiber of my being because of that.

Call me cruel and heartless but I was really glad that the man was already dead and gone. It wasn't his fault that she fell in love with him, I know that, but I simply can't help but despise the man for taking her away from me. For being able to do things that I couldn't bring myself to do.

"You don't think she followed Marco to the afterlife, do you?" Krista suggested making me freeze on the spot as the thought set my mind in a whirlwind of emotions that I didn't know I was capable of feeling all at the same time.

'No way... She wouldn't go that far would she?' I thought desperately as fear slowly crept into my mind at the possibility of her words. 'She wasn't planning to commit suicide back that night when I last saw her, was she? Or was it her spirit that I saw then?' my thoughts continued and I could almost feel my knees buckle up from dread when I suddenly caught sight of her out of the corner of my eye.

"Who'd ever follow that freckled idiot to the afterlife aside from horse-face Kirschtein over there?" she said with a hint of annoyance in her voice, which earned a gasp of surprise from Krista and a smirk from Ymir, as she made her way towards us from the courtyard followed by a fear-stricken Eren.

"Who the fuck are you calling a horse face you damn brat?!" Jean growled as he stormed towards her, his hands clenched into a tight fist.

"Was I whispering when I said that? HORSE-FACE KIRS-CHTEIN." she retorted playfully with a mischievous on her face.

I simply stood there, staring at her wide-eyed, watching her every move before it finally started to sink in that she was in fact alive and standing in front of me as she continued to throw insults at Jean who seemed to grow more furious from every horse related pun she threw at him. Watching her there smiling and laughing I couldn't help but feel so relieved that before I could stop myself I simply grabbed her by the arm and turned her around before enveloping her into a tight hug.

"You're alive..." I breathed into her ear and I felt her body tensed up. "I'm so glad... I thought you'd... " I tried to say but stopped as my body started to shake from fear on the mere thought of what could have been.

"I'm fine, Bertholdt." she said as she patted my back with her small hands as she tries to calm me down.

Hearing my name coming from her mouth was divine. And the feeling that I was having while I'm holding her in my arms felt so nice that I didn't want to let go until I heard cat calls and whistles as Reiner coughed and brought me back to reality.

"A-ah! I-I'm s-sorry!" I stuttered as I pushed her away and covered half of my face with my hands in an attempt to hid the blush that was probably already on my face. "I- I w-was j-just-"

"It's fine, Bertholdt." she said with a warm smile on her face as she looked at me. God, she looks beautiful when she smiles.

"T-thanks...." I stuttered in reply.

"I need to go look for someone for a bit. I'll see you guys later. Eren, make sure you report back to the Corporal later." she said as she turned her attention to Eren whose body started to shake uncontrollably as soon as her eyes landed on him. "well, see ya~" she said before leaving.

As soon as she had left, Mikasa and Armin rushed to Eren's side as they tried to calm him down.

"Eren, calm down. (y/n)'s not here anymore...." Armin said in a soothing tone as he began gently patting his friend's back.

"I swear, those two shorties went overboard last time. Especially, (y/n)..." Mikasa said in a deadly tone as she eyed the place where (y/n) once stood with steel-cold eyes.

"What did (y/n) ever do to Eren?" I asked before I could stop myself.

Mikasa and Armin simply looked at each other for a while before Armin breathed in and sighed.

"Well, you see. (y/n)... she...."