stars & moons - jean kirstein

part 11

Reiner

"I love you, Reiner." Lunar soft voice rings in my ears as I slip the plated silver ring along her slender fingers. When I look at her glistening green eyes, it's obvious to me that I couldn't have been any happier, that nothing else in this world would compare to my girl. After never telling each other of the love we feel for each other in our hearts, to being able to say it as many times a day as I please in our little cabin in the woods that overlooks a pond full of ducks and fish.

I bring my never deserving hands over the cheeks of the woman that I will spend the rest of my life with, stroking her as tears fall down her eyes, "I love you, Lunar. Forever, until I run out of all the breath in my body."

A sharp gasp ripples through my body as I my eyes shoot open. Cold sweat sticks to my bare chest as I quickly sit up, scanning the room as I do so. It's the familiar beds of the hospital where I've managed to find myself frequently over the years. My head throbs.

"Sweet dreams?" Porco's voice says, as if mocking me. A bottle of Marleyan wine dangles from his bandaged hand. His ever-perfect hair is slightly ruffled, his eyes slightly drooped. Although, his familiar smirk is stuck to his lips.

"What...what happened? How long have I been asleep?" I ask, rubbing my frontal lobe harshly in attempt to relieve the pain in my head. My brain racks to source any kind of memory of the attack, the last thing I remember after Eren promises to seek the revenge he has always longed for was telling Lunar I loved her. My head continues to throb.

Porco and Pieck make eye contact with each other, a knowing look between them both. Porco blinks before he takes a sip of the liquid in the bottle, "Two days. Liberio is destroyed, we couldn't fight them off." He looks at Pieck, "Zeke is with them; we assume he was working with the people of Paradis to release the power of the Founding Titan and to launch the attack. He's a dirty traitor."

My mouth widens in in shock, unable to process the idea of Zeke working with them. But it's not the only thing on my mind, "Gabi and Falco; I heard them calling to me. Are they safe?" I plead, wanting so badly to know where Lunar is but sucking the desperation back into my chest.

Pieck speaks now, "They followed the people of Paradis up onto the ship; we don't know anything more." She looks down at her feet momentarily shifting, "Only that Lunar went after them." I stand up from my bed, throwing the blanket to the side. She went after them. Are they all dead?

Pieck stands as well, "Reiner- " She begins, but I swiftly cut her off.

"Where is Commander Magath?" I ask, pulling on a shirt that rests on the back of the chair next to the bed, quickly doing up its buttons. Pieck and Porco exchange looks again, "Where?" I repeat, sterner this time.

"In his office," Porco says, another swig being dragged down his throat.

Without another word I'm out the door, already hatching a plan in my head to get them back.

*

Lunar

The only thing I can think is that I must be dead. I don't remember ever falling asleep, only that my mind and heart haven't stopped racing. A light cotton blanket rests over my body, uniform completely creased from having no other change of clothes. The orange sunrise basks through the window of my room, indicating it's still the early hours of the morning. My eyes sting with exhaustion; I rub them in attempt to get some kind of relief.

I sit up observing the space around me now being in sunlight. For a prison cell, it's fairly large with a concrete floor and bed. Dreadful memories over the past twenty-four hours quickly rush through my brain like a slideshow on the repeat. My home was massacred, people I love injured, comrades killed, Zeke's betrayal and the gunshot that killed that girl on the airship.