Wings : Attack on Titan x Reader Scenarios / Imagines ▼

[That Day :: Reiner]

(F I V E  Y E A R S  B E F O R E)  

After your triumphant victory over the school-renowned Reiner Braun, you found yourself falling into a new pattern: waking up earlier, having a quick breakfast, and - if it wasn't raining - going for a light jog. A small part of your mind knew that you actually hated running, for the most part. Another part would quietly remind you that the only reason you were doing any of that was because of that day. As far as you were concerned, that wasn't luck - that was an undiscovered talent, and you were determined to unlock the rest of your potential.

As you rounded the corner behind your stop, your hair bouncing along behind you, you slowed your pace a bit and gazed around. You stopped, eyes narrowing and mouth twisting into a confused frown. There was something off about the courtyard this morning.

It took you a few moments to realize what it was, but when it hit you, it only made things even more complexing: there was hardly anyone around. The quietness was so foreign to you that you began to question whether you were even at the right school. Of course, you were, but...this was such an unfamiliar sensation. Half the people who'd usually crowded the patio were nowhere in sight, and the remaining half were speaking barely above whispers.

Most of all, of course, you noticed the absence of the self-proclaimed king of the school - the same boy you'd somehow beaten. Reiner.

Almost immediately after you stepped foot into the eyesight of the few remaining colleagues, they dropped their hushed conversations and rose to a chaotic wave in front of you. Their questions spilled out like water until you were drowning in a sea of noise; a sea of confusion, and you had to grasp the support pillar behind you to prevent it from swallowing you up entirely. A few more moments of this and you accidentally shouted, "Shut up!"

Surprisingly, it worked. Feeling the pressure slowly beginning to alleviate, you let your tensed hands relax, and took a step forwards. "What is going on?" Your sharp eyes scanned the agglomeration. It was as though you were someone else entirely now - that since Reiner wasn't there, you had, somehow, acquired the new title of ruler.

It was a few moments of murmuring before a boy you recognized from that day a week ago took a step forwards. He - who you couldn't remember ever seeing without his expression being reminiscent of an infuriated serial killer - looked even angrier than ever before. You couldn't help but steal a small, fearful gulp of air as soon as his lips parted.

"What happened to Reiner?"

"H - huh?" The inquisition had caught you completely off-guard.

The boy grabbed something from his pocket before, quite literally, shoving it in your face. "Don't act like you don't know."

Once more, you found yourself pressed against the support beam, making yourself as tiny as possible. Your gaze - which, under normal circumstances, would have been searching for an escape - couldn't help but catch on the paper in front of you. Messy handwriting was dotted across it. It seemed like the author had done it in a hurry. But as you continued down the page, that fact grew more and more irrelevant as the note's content sunk in.

Leaving town right now, might not come back for awhile. Going to miss you guys. Even [y/n]. Who probably knows why I left in the first place. Won't miss getting out of dodgeball, though.

- RB

You were only growing more clueless by the second. Why would you know why'd he'd left? And why had he left, for that matter? It was all odd - you'd seen Reiner around many times before, and he'd always tell his pack of followers whenever something had happened, no matter how dumb it had sounded. And now you had been given the burden of telling everyone where he was? Why you? You didn-

-Your train of thought was abruptly ended by an explosion of laughter. Disconcerted, your brows lowered and your eyes flicked back up to the boy, only to realize that he wasn't there anymore. He'd rejoined the rest of the crowd, chuckling and pointing at you.

"You looked so scared!" One of them giggled, covering up her face with her hands.

The boy from earlier then managed, between fits of hysterics, to say the sentence that clarified just about everything for you. "He must've been so scared of having another class with you that he ran away!"

It took a moment for you to realize that they'd all just been joking - they'd all assumed his absence was due to his own embarrassment. Yet no matter how much you wanted to believe that yourself (it did, after all, make you seem pretty awesome), you couldn't. There was still something wrong.

You didn't know what it was. Not then, at least. The only thing you were sure of was that nothing seemed quite right.

Of that, you were positive.