Levi's Daughter

22

A red smoke round went out.

"Titan at three o'clock! Send up a flare!"

"Signal flare from the back of the right wing!"

"Send up a response flare!" Erwin ordered. "Have the right wing temporarily join the center! Our time limit is approaching. Follow the shortest route possible!"

Riku and Niko could sense that Erwin was stressed out at the news that Sakura had been taken.

Like him, they would do anything to get her back.

~~~

"Reiner, you got any water?" Ymir fanned her face with her one hand. "At this rate, I'm gonna die of dehydration."

"I know, it's a serious problem." Reiner replied. "But we can't get our hands on any right now."

For the millionth time, Bertolt caught eyes with Sakura. It was clear that he was at least a little bit guilty for kidnapping her.

"Yeah, no kidding." Ymir closed her eyes. "We're up shit creek here."

"I think it started yesterday morning." Reiner reminisced. "The Titans have been keeping us busy around the clock. Haven't had any time to eat, drink, or even sleep. Well, at least the wall was all in one piece. But good grief, can we at least catch a break? We can worry about promotion and stuff later."

"Reiner!" Bertolt's eyes widened.

"Hey, I'd say we've earned it." Reiner looked at his friend. "We did pretty well, considering the crazy situation. I think they could spare us soldiers a little recognition for that, you know?"

"Excuse me, good sir, but what the hell?" Ymir broke the silence.

"Whats the problem?" Reiner asked. "I'm not saying I wanna jump straight to Squad Leader.'

"That's not what I'm talking about." Ymir told him.

"Oh yeah, where'd you get that cannon from?" Reiner remembered. "You really saved my bacon back there. And then Krista patched me up. She's gotta have a thing for me, right?"

"Hey."

"I've actually had some special feelings -"

"Hey!" Eren's shout cut him off. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Huh? What're you so mad about?" Reiner genuinely looked confused. "Did I say something bad?"

"If you wanna die so bad, just say so!" Eren yelled.

"Hang on, Eren." Ymir threw her arm out in front of him. "There's obviously something wrong with him. Right, Bertolt-san?"

"It's like he has a split personality right now." Sakura commented, eyes flicking between Reiner and Bertolt.

"If you know something, then speak up already." Ymir nodded, in agreement with Sakura.

Reiner looked up at Bertolt, who avoided his eyes.

"Reiner, you're not a soldier." Bertolt corrected. "We're...warriors."

"Reiner, control your breathing." Sakura spoke quietly, noticing his breath becoming ragged, and his body shaking. "Remember where you are."

"Right. That's right." Reiner took a small breath, sitting down.

"Huh? What's wrong with him?" Eren asked.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think I know." Ymir guessed. "I thought it was pretty strange for the guy who destroyed the wall to risk his life to save Connie. He was contradicting his own actions, but he didn't realize it. I don't know how he ended up like that, but here's my guess. He was once a warrior on a mission to destroy the walls when he started living a fake life as a soldier. At some point, he lost sight of which one was the real him. Or maybe he couldn't handle the weight of his sins, so he tricked himself into thinking he was a soldier defending the walls in order to keep his mind balanced. Either way, the result is that he's torn his heart in two, and planted false memories in his mind. Judging by Bertolt-san's face, I reckon there's been a lot of times where Reiner acted against his mission. That's pretty incredible! For a guy as honest as you, that takes -"