The Guardian's Tale (AOT fanfiction)

-Monsters pt.4-

"Is Section commander Hange here ?!" A man asked as he burst through the doors of the dining hall. "The test subjects...Both of the Titans have been killed !"

(..............)

As we got to the experimentation sight, 2 Titan skeletons were laying on the ground, steam still coming off of it. Eren and I stood in the middle of the crowd, watching with our hoods over out heads to hide our identities. 

"Let's go. The rest is the Military Police's job." Levi, who was standing next to us said.

"Yeeees sirrrr." I sighed as I realized I was still shorter than him.

"What do you see here ?" Commander Erwin asked as he leaned between Eren and I, making me jump. "Who do you think the real enemy is ?" He asked as he stared at the Titans intently. "Sorry, that was a strange thing to ask." He apologized as he walked away.

Eren and I looked at him as he walked away. What did he mean by that ? Was he asking who the enemy was between the Titans and the murderers ? I touched Marco's handkerchief, still tied to my arm. Marco...if only he was still here...maybe I would never have been in this situation.

(............)

Eren and I were feeding the horses and stroked my horse's fur. I had decided to call him Arashi, which meant Storm in Japanese, which people had renamed "the old language". 

"Hey Yuki !" Gunther called out. "Is there anyone in your class who's thinking of joining us ?"

"There are yeah." I turned to the horse I was feeding. "Well there were. I'm not sure about now."

Captain Levi informed us that we were going on patrol and warned Eren and I that we weren;t allowed to fall behind. We quickly mounted out horses and headed off. When I looked over at Eren, I saw he was quite tense so I gave him a small smile to reassure him. It was just a routine patrol, nothing to worry about. I stared off into the setting sun and smiled. I hadn't seen that sight in years.

(...........)

The next morning, we were informed that for the upcoming operation, Eren and I would be on standby, in the rear of the center rank with the rest of the Levi Squad. Our goal was simply to leave and come back as this expedition was meant to be short and serve as a test run to see if they could get us all the way to Shiganshina or not. We then rode back to HQ where Eren and I spotted the others.

"Hey Mr. Oruo, can we go talk to our classmates for a minute ?!" Eren asked as he grabbed my wrist. 

When he agreed, we ran towards them, yelling Mikasa and Armin's names. Instantly, Mikasa grabbed our hands, her face full of worry.

"Eren, Yuki, have they mistreated you in any way ?" She asked. "Like studying and examining every bit of you ?! Or putting you through mental anguish ?!"

"N-No not at all..." Eren answered as I shook my head to agree with him. 

The others happily greeted us and Reiner pulled me in for a tight hug as he kissed my forehead, making me blush as I looked away. 

"Then just...Jean, Annie and Marco joined the Military Police ?" Eren asked.

I let go of Reiner and gripped Marco's handkerchief. Then, I spotted Jean behind me, shaking his head to tell me that he was going to be the one to tell him. I nodded and placed a shaking hand over my mouth as I imagined Marco's mutilated body just laying out on the street. 

"Marco's dead." Jean said coldly as I threw up.

"What did you just say ?" Eren asked, distressed. "Did you just say Marco's dead ?"

"He is...Jean and I were the ones who found him." I answered as I wiped my mouth. "And mark my words I'm gonna kill the son of a bitch who did it." I felt Reiner's arm twitch as I said that. "We don't even know how he went out. He died alone...without anybody knowing or seeing."

"Oye gather round rookies !" A voice called out. "Your uniforms are here !"

Eren and I already had one and we watched as the others' capes flew in the wind. My heart stopped as I saw Marco among them. He turned towards me, extended his hand and gave me his usual bright and warm smile. I smiled as I felt tears sting my eyes but as soon as I reached for him, he vanished. I jumped when I felt a hand touch my shoulder.

"Yuki...Yuki are you alright ?" Reiner asked, shaking me lightly.

"Y-Yeah I'm..." I looked at him and smiled. "I'm fine."

(........) 

I sat on my horse, next to Eren and the rest of the Levi squad. Thirty seconds until the gate opened, this was it. I looked at the rest of the Scouts, then back in front of me as I clenched my horse's reins. I saw two children looking at Eren and I and I slightly turned my head sideways.

"Wow ! It's the Scouts ! The marks on their backs are called the Wings of Freedom." The older boy said. "So cool !" They exclaimed as I Eren nudged me and I gave them a small smile.

"This is it !" A black haired soldier yelled as Eren and I looked back in front of us. "Humanity is now about to take another step forward ! Show us what you're made of !"

We all lifted our blades in the air and yelled as the gate opened. 

"FORWARD !" Commander Erwin yelled before we all charged forward. "Now commencing the 57th Exterior Scouting Mission ! Move out !"

TO BE CONTINUED !