|𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠e𝐥𝐲 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞| ᵃʳᵐⁱⁿ ᵃˡᵉʳᵗ

|5| For Marcel

*Warnings: Death, Language, Violence*

-MARLEY-

The day had arrived, the sky was bright blue as the boat sailed off from the port. Everyone's family were waving from the mainland, even Y/n's. Reiner looked off into the crowd, his mother clearly standing there waving him away. He was deep in thought, so Y/n didn't bother to talk to him. They were in their uniforms, but with a red armband instead of yellow. She didn't like the colour yellow every much, but red wasn't any better.

She glanced over to Marcel, who was waving to the crowd also. Though he turned as if he felt her eyes on him and they met. He sent her a warm smile and she returned it. He knew how much she hated Marley, and she knew how much he wanted to fight for it. It seemed that no matter what she does, or how much she means to him, she is always second to Marley. She was fully aware that if it were between betraying Marley or her, he'd betray her. She was always the second choice, but Marcel was her first. She'd burn Marley down for him, but he'd hate her for that, and she'd hate herself too.

- PARADIS-

The boat ride was long, but once they arrived to the island they took horses out and began their journey too the walls. One night they were huddled around a campfire, Y/n sitting particularly close to Marcel. "It's tough to cover much ground, moving at night," Marcel said, poking the fire with a stick.

"Yeah, especially when it's this cloudy," Reiner added. Y/n noticed Bertholdt's worried face as she scanned her eyes over the group.

"We're sure the king wont use The Founding Titan?" he asked, almost on cue. "I don't get it, if we blatantly attack his walls, then..."

"What's the point in asking now?" Reiner interrupted, "just put your faith in Marely's research." Y/n rolled her eyes at his statement as she leaned into Marcel further. He put an arm around her shoulder in response, though not taking his eyes off Reiner and Bertholdt. He had a very serious look in his eyes.

"That's right, there's no turning back," Marcel added. "When we reach the wall tomorrow, we'll have to-" He hesitated to finish his sentence.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Reiner asked as everyone went quiet. "Don't tell me you're feeling hesitant to kill these devils? They're a threat to the entire world. But the greatest nation in the world chose us to save it! To punish these devils for their crimes!"

"I'm sorry," Marcel put his head down. "Listen Reiner, the truth of it is you were never supposed to be chosen. I influenced the army's decision by making my little brother look bad, and putting you upon a pedestal." Reiner stood there with wide eyes, his face full of shock. "Sorry, I only did it so he would-" tears rolled down Marcels face -"be safe. I'm sorry, Reiner." The rest night was filled with an awkward silence, that no one wanted to break.

-

The next day was going as planning. They were walking through the vast opens fields when it happened. Y/n saw it all, she was right beside him after all. But it happened so quick she didn't even realise what went down until she was finished running after Reiner with Annie and Bertholdt. Reiner was throwing up next to a tree as they caught up.

"Not bad, you just beat me, in a long distance race, you've never done that before," Annie said between her large breaths.

Y/n was beside her, hands on her knees her chest puffing up and down. Her eyes were wide as she remembered why they had ran away. "Marcel..." she whispered to herself as she quickly looked behind her, in hopes too see him running to catch up with them. All she saw was the grassy field, and a tear fell from her eye.

"If we had transformed and defended ourselves, we wouldn't have lost The Jaw Titan," Annie said, her deep inhales slowly coming back to a normal pace.

"Marcel..." Y/n whispered to herself again. Why would Annie say it like that? Lost The Jaw Titan? We lost Marcel...

"Ah- well, shit!" Annie panted. "He's gone for good now."

"There weren't suppose to be any titans this far from the walls," Reiner stated in slight panic.

"We need to go back," Annie added, glancing to Y/n who silently had tears dropping from her chin. "Let's track down Jaws and leave. The titan that ate Marcel should be human again. Come on, without Marcel to lead us, this mission's doomed." Annie and Bertholdt started to walk away, Annie grabbing Y/n's arm knowing she's too in shock to think about moving anywhere.

"We can't!" Reiner called out, "we can't go! We got to continue the mission as planned!"

"Oh yeah, if you go back now you'll be stripped of The Armour, the next Warrior will eat you. Though that isn't really a problem for me." Annie responded.

"You think it would just be me, the three of you ran away too," Reiner said. "Why would I take all the blame? What makes you so confident that you wont get eaten right along with me? Going after The Jaw isn't a good idea anyway. If they use it's power to run that it's, our titans are way too slow to catch up to it."

"But how would someone learn to use it that quickly?" Bertholdt asked panicked.

"You mastered The Colossal on your first try!" Reiner shouted. "You tell me! Anyway, we go back to the dock as failures and we're doomed. We need The Founding Titan, there's no going home without it."

"You know, if you had even been a fraction this composed when that titan came at us, we wouldn't have had to lose The Jaw Titan, or Marcel! So, you think the three of us will be blamed for running after you, huh!?" Annie stomped towards him and kicked him right under the jaw, causing him to spray blood out of his mouth. "Well then why don't you come clean to Magath?!"

Y/n and Bertholdt watched from a distance, him putting a hand on her upper back as tears continued to spill down her cheeks. The first boy who ever loved her, dead. Right in front of her eyes. It wasn't Reiner's fault was it? He'd never do anything like that, she thought as she tried to soak in all the comfort Bertholdt was giving her.

"It's your fault this happened so own up to it!" Annie started kicking his face in with the heel of her boot. "We're not heroes, dumbass! The Marleyan's just see us as weapons! Understand, they lied! It doesn't matter if they're Marleyan or Eldian, they're all just in it for themselves! And guess what!? We're the same! I gotta get home alive! If you feel guilty about yourself then die! Take all the blame and die!"

More tears rolled down Y/n's cheeks. She couldn't help it, her lover died, her best friend was kicking the shit out of her other one telling him to die, and she and Bertholdt weren't doing anything to stop it.

"Come on, Annie," Y/n sniffed as she shook her head, sharing her disapproval for what she had done to Reiner. Though before anyone could do anything more, Reiner had gotten up, blooding pouring out of his face and tackled Annie to the ground, holding her in a headlock.

Reiner said something to Annie, but Y/n couldn't quite make it out. Though she didn't waste a single moment more before she started to pry Reiner's arms off of her. She was slipping out of consciousness quickly. "Reiner! Let her go!" Y/n screamed. She never managed to get him off, and she didn't want to use her abilities unless it was highly necessary. She knew Reiner was going to let go eventually, but she hated hearing Annie's chokes and seeing her mouth drool as her eyes went bloodshot and watered down her face.

But he did let go, and they decided to continue to the walls.

-

After they had broken through, Annie and Y/n snuck in through the opening in the walls and hid with the other residents. Eventually they ended up in a temporary shelter in Wall Rose. Y/n, Bertholdt and Reiner were awake and waiting for Annie to rise. Once she did, Reiner brought everyone close together.

"Annie, Y/n, Bertholdt, I'm sorry. I'll be the Warrior I should've been- for Marcel."

-

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