the other side of the sea - reiner braun x reader.

Joined Forces.

I'm sitting beside Pieck on the ground, while Magath speaks to Hange Zoe and Levi Ackerman. Piecks not looking at anyone, her gaze is locked onto her feet and the grass beneath them. I don't know what to say or do right now for her.

I haven't had time to process Porcos death and I'm trying to hold off my grief as long as possible. I need to channel my energy to stopping the rumbling. There is time for despair later.

"Is he alive?" Pieck asks, I don't need her to clarify to know she's asking about Reiner. "I dont know." I reply.

"Levi Ackerman. The man who went toe to toe with one of the Nine all on his own." Magath observes. "Not sure how you plan on dodging a bullet, given the shape you're in."

"I couldn't dodge a punch right now." Levi chimes in.

He looks like hell. His face is heavily bandaged and he's strapped to a cart being lead by a horse. "And yet, I still chose to come here and put myself at your mercy. Shoot me, or hear me out. The choice is yours." He finishes. Magath lowers his gun and decides to listen to what Levi and Hange have to say.

"If you two are planning to kill Zeke, does that mean you already know where to find him?" Magath asks. Hange perks up, "He'll be with the founder. The fact that this is happening indicates Zekes royal blood is in contact with Eren. Or rather, the founding titan."

I tilt my head up to look at Hange. "I never would've guess that you would be this knowledgeable about titans, Hange. I don't suppose you've laid eyes on the founding titan?" I ask.

"All I know is that it's humongous. But we have to try to stop it. We have to give ourselves the best possible chance. Our only option now is to join forces, so what do you say?"

Magath looks at the two of us. "You want my opinion, commander?" I ask. He nods.

"What other choice do we have? We either die trying alone, or die doing nothing apart. We lost a lot of good soldiers today. We lost- we lost Galliard. We need to make sure their deaths mean something." I look over to Pieck. "What about you Pieck?" I ask. "Yes. Let's do it." I look back to the commander and he nods in agreement. He looks over to Hange. "Okay. What's the plan?"

...

A few hours later, after Hange has gone through the plan multiple times, Pieck takes Magath and I to a rendezvous point where we are to meet with the rest of the scouts. Once there, Hange and Levi will meet up with us. Pieck is going to that huge building in the inner wall and one of the scouts, Jean, is going to fire 4 gun shots. Once he does, Pieck is going to pretend to eat him, along with 2 of the Marleyan traitors, and bring them back to us. Hange said that the rest of the scouts will meet up with us in the forest to talk about next steps.

Once we arrive to a small clearing alongside a pond, I take a seat next to Levi's makeshift cart. My body aches with every movement. I think I hurt my shoulder after I fell off that roof, and my leg has seen better days. It's becoming harder and harder to move, but I have a feeling I am going to need as much energy as I can get in the coming day, so I decide to stay back for this part of the plan.

"You one of the warriors or something?" I hear Levi ask from beside me. I shake my head. "Tried to be. Didn't make it."

"Lucky you." He replies. I let out a sarcastic chuckle. "If I was I might be able to help out my comrades right now." Levi turns his head to look at me.

"Your comrades are responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people, so I'd say you're doing okay." I look back at him. "So are yours." I turn my head to look the other way and decide this conversation is over, he silently agrees.

...

I am woken up by the sound of Piecks footsteps shaking the ground. I open my eyes and see a tall blonde woman and a man who I vaguely recognize. I learn that the woman is Yelena and the man is Onyankapon. They were Marleyans who were helping Paradis in secret.

Pieck opens her mouth and the scout, Jean falls out. He falls into the water and throws up. He's the guy that threw the thunder spear at Falco, the guy I ran into. I look around, scanning the area for Reiner and come up short.

I force myself up and walk over to Pieck who is currently being asked about her dental hygiene by Hange. Once they're done I go over to my friend.

"You alright?" I ask. "Fine." She says in her  rough, raspy titan voice. There's time later to talk about our feelings I guess. I can't imagine what she's going through right now, just losing Porco like that. Having to watch it happen. I'll never get that image out of my head for as long as I live.

"Alright. We need to get a move on if we want to meet up with the rest of the scouts. They were in charge of bringing the rations and I'm starving!" Hange announces. Magath and I strap into the seats on Piecks back, the rest of them either mount a horse or get in a cart.  We ride for a little bit before we reach a small clearing in the woods. I can see a small flicker of flame casting shadow on the trees around us. The others must be there already.

Once we make it I hop down off of Pieck and help Gabi and Falco get out. I begin to unhook some supplies from Pieck when I turn around to see 3 people standing by the fire. They must be the rest of the scouts.

They're staring daggers at me, I don't know what to say. These people helped destroy my home, but that's how they see us too. We need to work together right now, there is no time for this. I look each scout in the eye. "Thank you." I say.

A guy with short hairs eyes widen slightly and a blonde boy looks a bit surprised as well. The girl and Jean don't react. I hear rustling in the trees behind them, they all turn to look but then turn back around soon after. I look over their shoulders and feel my body shudder in relief.

Reiner.