We Are All Killers [Snk ~ Reiner x Bertolt]

Chapter 20: Fragile

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Reiner's POV

That wretched day was coming closer. Day after day, the deadline came closer. It approached us like a hunting predator. It stalked us like the plague. Until finally, we had two days.

Two fucking days.

What are we going to do with these two days? We've spent the past years worried about that day. We wanted to spend every moment to together until that last minute, but how can we do it with such a dreaded day hanging over our heads. It was an anvil waiting to crush us. It was heavy, and it casted a shadow upon us both.

We had barely talked to each other in the past few days. We mostly sat on the couch, holding each other. I would sometimes catch Bertolt crying. Sometimes I would join him.

What else could we do? We were dying. No. I was dying. I will do anything to save Bertolt. And if that meant throwing my life away, I guess I had no other choice, now did I?

"Reiner, what do we do?" Bertolt quivered.

I was startled by the question. "I wish I knew for sure what I should do, Bertolt, I really wish I did."

He clung on tighter onto me. "Sometimes I look back, and I hate myself for falling for you."

"I do that, too," I replied. "But then I begin to hate you for being so irresistible. And then I remember how wonderful you are, so I fall in love with you all over again."

Bertolt smiled slightly. "Even at a time like this. You can still be the same old you. I envy that."

I sighed. "It takes a shitload of effort and emotional pain. But it's worth it."

"I want us to die together," Bertolt muttered. "But not in this way. I want us to grow old together."

"I wish we live a happy ending as well," I stated. "But this world won't allow happy endings. It's sad, actually."

"I wish this all never happened," Bertolt whined.

"We were born in the wrong time," I said. "The wrong place, the wrong time."

"Now we have two days left," Bertolt said. "What the hell do we do?"

I could tell Bertolt was beginning to cry. So, I pulled him closer to me. The last thing I ever wanted to see was Bertolt suffering. I cared for him too much. In my arms was the man who I love. I didn't want to let go. I didn't want him to be sad. I just wanted him to be safe. I wanted us to be safe so we could live in peace.

"I don't want to leave you," I admitted to Bertolt. "But-"

"No," he interrupted. "You're staying right here. "Right next to me until the very end."

"Bertolt, that's asking for certain death for the both of us!" I pointed out. Was he beginning to lose his mind? "I don't want to put you in that situation."

"I don't want you to die either, Reiner," he stated rather aggressively. "I don't think it's fair if only one of us gets our way."

"Either way, I die," I asserted. "What's important is that you can save yourself."

"Correct, Reiner," came a different voice.

Bertolt jumped slightly in my arms as the TV switched to static, then everything became clear. On the screen was Zackley himself.

"I see you both are still alive," Zackley stated.

"What do you want?" I spat bitterly at him. I didn't care if he was the governor of this entire hellhole, I despised him.