The Empire of Titans

A Giant Man, A Small Shadow

' Bertholdt is worried. Today's training has been particularly hard – the Marleyan officers have made the aspiring warriors run longer, fight harder, and shoot further, and they are all literally exhausted. It's late, later than usual, when the day comes to an end, and they're allowed to go back to the internment camp. Marcel and Porco are already gone, Annie is about to follow them, and Bertholdt would really like to do the same, but he knows he can't. Not just yet.

Reiner is nowhere to be seen, and Bertholdt is pretty sure he hasn't gone home yet. Today's been hard for all of them, but especially for Reiner. He's ranked last in all the tasks that had been set for them, and Porco had seized the opportunity to tease him even more. Bertholdt had seen Reiner swallow back his tears and keep running when he was obviously about to collapse.

Sometimes, Bertholdt wants to tell those boys off. He wants to stand up for Reiner because he doesn't understand why they keep picking on him. Sure, Reiner may not be the best at climbing or the agilest, but he has this strength in him that Bertholdt has noticed since the first day.

Reiner has a purpose, something to push him forward, and his determination is to be admired. Not laughed at. He never says anything, though, no matter how much he wants to. Bertholdt is not this kind of guy. He doesn't stand up because he doesn't know what to say to them. He doesn't have any witty or salty comments to make, and he doesn't want the others to hate him, too. But he's there afterward to help Reiner up, to listen to him vent about those morons, and he hopes it's enough to make Reiner his friend.

He heads for the changing room. No one has bothered changing before going home; they're all too tired, and Bertholdt has a feeling that Reiner went there to hide. He pushes the door open. It's dark inside, and at first, he thinks he's been wrong.

There's no one here. But as he's about to walk back, he hears a muffled sound and listens up. It's faint, but it's definitely someone crying. At first, he doesn't know what to do. He thinks of leaving as quietly as possible, but he can't bring himself to it. If the roles were reserved, Reiner wouldn't leave him.

"Reiner?"

The cries stop at once, and he hears someone move frantically in the dark.

"It's me." He feels like he needs to reassure him before searching for the light switch. When he finally finds it, he sees Reiner sitting down on the floor, looking up at him with red, swollen eyes.

"Bertholdt? What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you."

Reiner looks at him with big eyes, apparently taken aback that someone might be worried for him.

"Are you ok?" Bertholdt asks.

He knows the answer to this question – people rarely cry because they're okay, not like that anyway - and feels stupid for asking it in the first place. He should have said something else; he should have thought more before opening his mouth.

If the roles had been reversed, Reiner would not have sounded so weak; he would have demanded an explanation, and that's what he should have done. 'Oi Reiner, talk to me, what's the problem?' That kind of thing would have been acceptable. 'Are you ok?' is lame and definitely not something Reiner would have said.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Reiner says, sniffing.

Bertholdt doesn't know what to answer. Probably, Reiner doesn't want to talk about it. Or maybe he's waiting for Bertholdt to insist. He has no idea of how to interact with people, and Reiner doesn't make things easy for him. He scratches his nose pensively.