Reiner x Reader (Post Manga OC)

After the Rumbling

Hello again everyone. I decided to write this out of imagination and drive. I need to finish my other work but wanted to see how this goes. Everyone please enjoy and leave feedback!
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It has been over six months since the rumbling occurred. Titans no longer exist and the boundary between Eldian and Marlian blood is all but non existence. There is still plenty of tension between Eldians and the rest of the world, but not nearly as bad as it had been.
The devils of paradis, or once they were, had been going to nations around the world to make peace. They didn't want anymore pointless wars and bloodshed. They wanted the world to except Eldians as normal people now that the founding Titan, as well as all the others were gone from the world forever.
Your brother, along with a few of his friends/military associates were gathered in a room with the members from Paradis, talking about why they despise them even still despite them stopping the destruction of the rest of the world. You were over by the window, looking out into the distance, ignoring the conversation. You didn't care about this. You didn't want war anymore or fighting. You didn't want to hate people you never met before, but your brother shoved his ideology down your throat everyday, explaining why they should be treated the way he treats them and what they've done. All you could feel was pity for them. They shouldn't have to suffer for things they didn't have control over. It was all in the past. As long as they didn't repeat their crimes, why did it matter now?
Your brother, about 6'1", short brunette, noticed you had stopped paying attention and in his aggravated state, he stood up and went over to you while the others continue to talk. He put a hand on your wrist, motioning you to come sit there with them and discuss.
You sighed. Not only did you not want to be involved in all of this, but you also didn't like being social in general. You'd been antisocial most of your life, only being able to talk with your brother (if you count him bickering and shoving ideology down your throat as real conversation). You were the silent type, always quiet and reserved. You were miserable living here with him. He made your life hell with his crap. Hell, you disagreed with him one time as children and he gouged your left eye out so badly that it never recovered, an eyepatch always covering your left eye. You had a scar under it over your eye, and you were embarrassed for others to see what your brother did to you. It wasn't visually appealing, to say the least.
Not wanting to argue, you followed your brother with a sigh, your face holding your dissatisfaction at being roped into this. You sat down next to your brother, trying to make yourself invisible to everyone else. Everyone seemed to grow quiet when you came to the table, a few of them eyeing you over before returning back to their conversation. However, two people from the table noticed your presence and continued to remain silent, both looking at you carefully, trying not to be creeps in the process. You hadn't been introduced to anyone, nor did you want to introduce yourself. You lifted your head up to look at your brother, only to find that he was still arguing with them.
'What an idiot.' You thought to yourself as you moved your gaze towards the other group. You noticed two people staring at you pretty intently, one bald and the other was a blonde male, both probably in their mid 20s, roughly the same age as you. One wore a stubble around their face, so you assumed he was older than the bald man. They both seemed to be looking at your patch, as most people who met you normally so. You sighed at this, wanting to excuse yourself again but knew that you'd only get yourself in trouble if you attempted to leave. Your brother wasn't the best type of person, that's for sure.
You made eye contact with the blonde and forced a friendly smile his way. He seemed surprised that you even gave him any notice, his face flushing very lightly as he smiled back at you. The other guy snickered, jabbing the blonde in the shoulder to put his focus back on the task at hand, which he did.
"So, what you devils want is for the world to suddenly just forgive you of your past doings and make peace with you?" Your brother laughed sarcastically. "What fools do you think we are? Marley attacked us numerous times with the help of the nine and we haven't received anything as repetance. You killed our people and now you expect us just to forget!?" Your brother stood up aggressively, looking at the group angrily. "Our nation will not fall for devil tricks. We don't care if you can't turn into titans anymore. You killed OUR people. Go to the next nation and try to win them over. It's likely they'll say the same thing."
You sighed at his outburst, grabbing his wrist gently, trying to calm him down. This had a complete opposite effect however. Instead, not only did he not calm down, but he shook your hand off and smacked your cheek pretty hard in front of everyone. It was loud. Small tears prickled your eye, but you forced them back, not wanting to break down over something small as a slap.
However, this didn't stop the other side from getting enraged with your brother, the other blonde (Armin) speaking first. "You call us devils but you have the nerve to smack her?! She didn't even do anything. If anything she was trying to get you to calm yourself so you can start thinking rationally. We get that your nations have been attacked in the past, but we are all done with fighting."
Your brother glared at Armin. "I am thinking rationally. I'm thinking about what's best for my people! You devils are the problem."
You rubbed the side of your face, slowly getting up from the table again. This just pissed your brother off more, his hand on your wrist. He wanted you to stay there. However, you didn't want to be humiliated any further by him. You didn't agree with anything he was saying. He was acting like a child. You shook his hand off your wrist as you walked back over to the lonesome window and sighed. Your brother ignored you and continued back to the conversation. After some back and forth screaming and arguing, your brother got up and left the room, along with the rest of his friends/military associates. You stayed by the window, looking aimlessly out it into nothing. You heard the sound of chairs moving and shifting. You assumed the other group was exiting, but you were wrong.
You heard one of them groan dissatisfied with the entire interaction. "Man that guy is an asshole. I hope the next one isn't anything like this guy. I wanted to beat the shit out of him." The male (Jean) sighed.
The bald man (Connie) chimed in. "Yeah. If we could have gotten away with it I would have too. Especially after THAT happened." He narrowed his eyes towards where you were. You took no noticed and continued staring out the window. "What kind of person smacks someone who didn't even do anything? Especially a woman." He grumbled that last part. "Wish I could have beat the shit out of him for it."
"If we get involved in personal conflict, we'll never solve our own." Armin replied, trying to focus on how to resolve their current situation.
Reiner continued to stare at you. He wanted to come over to you and speak with you, just to see if you were ok. However, his friend dragged him back into the conversation and away from you, sorta.
"Seems to me you were quite bothered by it as well Reiner." Connie chuckled and whispered in his ear the next part. "Just go talk to her, stop being a chicken."
Reiner glared at him in response. "I'm not, I just don't want to intrude if I'm not welcomed."
"Sounds like you're being a wuss. Just go talk to her man, she probably needs a friend anyways."
Reiner sighed and got up. He wanted to strangle Connie for being obnoxious, but he also enjoyed Connie being himself. Reiner walked towards where you were slowly, stopping when he was next to you.
You still hadn't taken notice to his presence as you stared out the window. You wished you could run off from this place. You hated this life. You wished someone could set you free from the prison. This life was hell for you. Your thoughts were interrupted by a gentle hand on your shoulder. You turned your head towards the person it belonged to. Once you realized it was the blonde from eariler, you smiled softly (not faking it).
He was the first to speak. "Um. Just wanted to check on you. He hit you pretty hard so..." he rubbed the back of his head nervously.
"It's fine. I'm used to it by now." You sighed. You were being honest, it wasn't out of the blue for you to get hit, whether it be by your brother or his friends.
"You shouldn't be. That's no way to treat someone."
"Tell that to my brother. He's always been like that."
"That's your brother!?" He scoffed. "That's even more reason not to hit you. If I did that to anyone I would be getting my ass beat."
You shrugged. "It's not the first time and it won't be the last time either. I hate it, don't get me wrong, but I've learned to live with it."
"Why though? You shouldn't subject yourself to that treatment."
"Because I have to."
"No, you don't." He grabbed your wrists gently. "You don't have to let yourself get run over by him, or anyone else for that matter."
You sighed, not fighting his grasp. "As long as I'm here I have to put up with his shit. If it isn't him it's someone else."
Reiner looked at you, then over to his group. He wanted to take you away from this hell you were living in, but didn't know how to. He looked back at you to find that you had tears in your eye again. "H-hey."
"Sorry. I guess it just slipped out." You moved one of your hand to rub your eye, wiping it. "I appreciate you caring, but it's what I have to do. The more I fight against it the harder it is for me."
Reiner sighed and walked over towards the other blonde, whispering something in his ear. This earned Armin's response immediately.
"Absolutely not. If we take her back with us they will know immediately that it was us."
Reiner looked down saddened, balling his fist. "They are treating her no different than us. She doesn't belong here. She belongs away from here. Armin, that was her brother. Her own brother hit her. Who knows what else they've done to her." He scoffed at the thought. "Makes me wonder what happened to her that made her get that patch."
Armin furrowed a brow at Reiner. "Why do you care so much about her anyways? You don't even know her."
He had a determined look in his eyes. "I know I don't but she shouldn't be treated like that Armin. C'mon, they won't even notice she's gone."
Armin sighed. "I know I'm going to regret this immediately. But if anything happens, this was your idea so you're taking responsibility Reiner."
Reiner was beaming as he came back over to you. "Is it alright if you come back with us? I don't feel comfortable leaving you here."
You forrowed a brow. "Why do you care so much about me? You don't owe me anything."
"I know what you're going through. It's not fair for you so I want you to get away from it."
A small blush crossed your face. You weren't sure how to respond. You didn't understand why he cared about your situation. You were a stranger. Even if you both had similar issues you doubt he could fix this by bringing you along. Granted, your brother probably wouldn't care. He'd probably would be relieved. Unbeknownst to them, you were a half-devil. You were half eldian and your brother (or half brother) hated you for it. Your father had been killed for his idiocy as he had slept with a captured eldian woman and gotten her pregnant in the process. You had only been kept alive because of your bloodline but that was it. Other than that you were a tainted, worthless piece of trash to your mother and brother. He would beat you all the time as a child and your mother didn't bat an eye to it. In fact, she sometimes encouraged it. They told you that you were a mistake and a devil spawn. They treated you horribly even now. Escape would also mean you wouldn't have to deal with it anymore. Part of you feared the repricussions that you leaving would have on them though, not just on you. "I never got your name."
"Reiner. What's yours?"
"Y/N. Um... Are you sure about this though? I don't want to cause you guys any problems."
"We can handle ourselves pretty well, so there's no need to worry about anything. Besides, with how he treats you I don't think he will really freak out about it. Or at least he gives off that type of vibe."
"Heh... I hope so. He gets pretty... angry so to speak as you could tell. He's always been like that."
"I'm sorry..." Reiner looked down, his eyes saddening.
"Oh no. It's ok Reiner. I know how to deal with it is all. Just shitty upbringing I guess. I suppose most Eldians have to deal with similar so I try not to think of myself as a special case for abuse." You laughed, trying to play the entire conversation off as a joke, but Reiner wasn't laughing. His eyes locked onto yours instantly.
"No. I mean, we were treated like scum and still are, but not this badly. Hell, even back in Marley they didn't beat us this bad unless we violated laws or something similar." He took a few steps closer, examining your bad eye. "If you don't mind me asking, did he do that too?" He pointed at your bad eye.
Your good eye darted to the corner of the room, avoiding Reiner's gaze entirely. He noticed this instantly and put an arm on your shoulder.
"If you don't want to talk about it it's fine. I just don't want something worse to happen to you."
"Reiner..." you mumbled, your eye still loooking away from him. You were holding back your tears. You didn't get it. Why was he so nice? Apart of you wanted to say no to his offer because you didn't want to endanger them, but you couldn't deny the sweet aroma of the freedom presented to you. It was too tempting to refuse anymore.
"Ok. I'll go with you guys." You finally gave in to the blonde. His face lit up, a smile forming at your response.
"I'm glad you changed your mind." He turned around. "Let me go tell Armin that you're coming with us before we leave. I doubt there's any other reason keeping us here at this point. I would probably gather your belongings soon while Armin and the others work on rooming accommodation." With that he walked towards the short blonde from earlier. You watched the two talk, Reiner explaining what was happening as you turned out the door into the hallway. Your quarters were not far, as your brother made you stay here instead of at their home. They wanted nothing to do with an Eldian after all, especially in their house.
As you went in your room, you shut and locked it, turning towards your bed and your drawers. You didn't have many clothes as it was, so you gathered what you had in a bag before stopping in front of your door again. Your heart was beating so fast. You had so many thoughts going through your mind. You would finally be free soon. You had been set free thanks to Reiner. You owed a lot to him. It didn't help that he was super attractive as well, as that might have swayed your judgement in the end. Perhaps this was more than just a chance encounter. Maybe you could finally live a long, happy life, whether it be with someone or not. Right now all you knew is... you definitely owed Reiner for sure.

To be continued.......