The Guardian's Tale (AOT fanfiction)

-Descent-

Suddenly, a flash of lightning shot through my eyes and I froze. I placed a hand over my eyes and I fell to my knees as flashes of what seemed to be memories flickered through my eyes. 

There he was...Marco. I attacked him...no...the person these memories belonged to attacked him and pinned him against the roof of a building. Marco called out for help and Annie landed on the roof, in front of us she asked what was going on. 

"Reiner's acting crazy ! Get him off me !" Marco yelled, clearly distressed. 

As a Titan approached, Reiner ordered Annie to take off Marco's ODM gear but she was clearly frustrated and upset. She asked why she had to do it but Reiner asked questioned her loyalty to them. He then ordered her to prove she hadn't gotten attached to this 'evil race'. Once Annie had removed Marco's ODM gear, they abandoned Marco alone on the roof. 

"Just wait...why do this ? Why are you in such a hurry to kill me ? I don't get it...how come ?!" Marco asked with a strangled voice. "Why aren't you even willing to talk to me ?! WHY ?!" As Reiner turned around, I saw the Titan grabbing Marco and I heard his last words. "Jean...Yuki... NO ! I promised !" 

I watched, unable to turn away, as Marco got devoured. Not wanting to see any more, I bit my lip and snapped back to reality where Jean had his hand on my shoulder, trying to talk to me. I could feel warm tears streaming down my cheeks and bile come up in my mouth. Those...those were Reiner's memories...he killed Marco. I removed my hand from my eyes and threw up, trying to shake out the memory of Marco getting eaten. I brushed my hand against Marco's handkerchief and then my ring. What...was I supposed to do ?

"Yuki ! What's wrong ?!" Jean called out. "HEY ! TALK TO ME !"

"M-Marco..." I turned to him, tears still streaming down my cheeks. "Marco...his last words...were addressed to us."

He didn't question me further and simply helped me get up and pulled me into a gentle yet tight hug. When he let go, I looked over at the Armored Titan and my eyes widened in horror as I saw that his nape blown open and Reiner's partially decapitated body was peeking out from the back of the Titan's neck. The rest of the Scout Regiment cheered and Jean was laughing nervously but I noticed that, just like me, Conny and Sasha had begun crying. What was wrong with me...this man was a criminal...he'd killed Marco yet I...loved him...why ?

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU CRYING FOR ?!" Jean yelled at us 3. "STOP ! GET UP ! WE STILL HAVE WORK TO DO. DON'T CRY FOR HIM ! HE WOULD'VE DONE THE SAME THING TO US !"

Hange must have been worried that Reiner had survived because she ordered us to get ready for a second round of attack. Mikasa and I noticed that Armin was awfully quiet and when we asked him what was wrong, he pointed out that we didn't have the chance to negotiate. Suddenly, before I could think about it, the Armored Titan lifted his head and let out a deafening roar before letting his head slump forwards. He...he was alive. 

Hange called for us to blow Reiner's body to bits but I felt that something was off. Reiner couldn't have used the last bits of energy he had to roar for nothing...which means that it was probably Bertholdt's signal. I then spotted something falling from the corner of my eye and when I turned around, I noticed that it was a barrel. 

"SECTION COMMANDER WAIT !" I halted her. "We need to fall back for now. See that barrel ?" I pointed upwards. "I'm sure Bertholdt's inside and if he transforms we're done for."

Hange ordered us to move away and we all obeyed. Shit...we weren't fast enough. If he transformed now we'd still be caught in the explosion. 

"REINER !" I heard Bertholdt yell.

When I turned around, he had burst out of the barrel and used ODM gear to get to Reiner. We stopped on a rooftop and Hange handed me a thunder spear when I spotted someone gliding through the houses and I swore under my breath. So he'd come to finish the fight huh ?

"Section Commander Bertholdt's coming this way." I signaled. 

Hange then took notice of this and ordered Armin to take command of Levi squad and protect Eren. However, Armin left and said something brief to her before stopping Bertholdt dead in his tracks. The hell...was he trying negotiate ? Armin asked Bertholdt if he was willing to negotiate and I placed a hand over my eye. Why would Bertholdt negotiate ? Before I could think further, Bertholdt yelled out an answer, shocking all of us.

"If I agree to talk, would you all be willing to lay down and die ?!" He replied. "We only want 3 simple things : Eren Yeager, Yuki Uchiha and the death of everyone in the walls. That's the harsh truth of our situation. All of your fates have been decided !"

Armin then tried pushing him, asking who decided that and Bertholdt replied it was his own call. Bullshit...there was someone else...the man inside the Beast Titan. Armin tried the trick he used before, lying to him about Annie being tortured. This time though, he must have realized it wasn't true because he called out Armin's bluff and claimed to not care about Annie's situation. As Armin tried to leave, Bertholdt landed to the roof in front of him, blocking him off.

Well shit...he didn't come to play now did he ? As the two of them continued talking, I jumped off of Eren's shoulder and moved in between rooftops as quietly as possible. Good thing he was prepared...cuz we were done playing. I leaped up behind him and tried to go for the killing blow but he got his blade up fast enough to block me. Shit...I only managed to cut off his ear. 

He kicked me off the roof and went to finish off Armin. However, Mikasa and I must have gotten the same idea because we both threw one of our blades at him, forcing him to retreat. As Armin was about to head after him, I placed myself in front of him and explained that we didn't know when he was going to transform. 

"I don't think Bertholdt intends to do that just yet..." He replied. "He must've seen how badly wounded Reiner is. Transforming now would probably kill him. Our best bet is to take Reiner hostage and fight Bertholdt with our blades."

"From the looks of him...it seemed like he had a plan." I pointed out. "Not only that...he seemed more determined than before. Almost like an entirely different person." My eyes starts burning brighter. "But it doesn't matter. Different or not, his fate will be the same."

As we were about to head back, lightning seemed to course through my veins and I knew exactly what to do. I threw Armin and Mikasa to the ground and bit my hand, creating the same rib cage with crystallized muscles covering it. Apparently my gut feeling was right because not a moment after, a huge explosion came and Bertholdt had transformed. I ripped off the flesh connecting me to the Titan part and we finished heading back to the others.

"Guys !" Jean exclaimed. "You ok ?! Where's Hange Squad ?"

"We're fine." I replied, jumping onto Eren's shoulder. "But...they were right underneath the blast zone."

We watched in horror as the Colossal Titan loomed over the town and by the looks on everyone's faces, I could tell they realized that all 7 of us were the only ones who had survived the blast. As the Colossal Titan started throwing around burning debris, burning the district, Jean asked Armin for a plan.

"Look...I may be fireproof but the rest of us aren't...we need a plan Armin." I commented.

He suggested to fall back to Commander Erwin for new orders but I pointed out that if Bertholdt approached the wall, it would be a disaster. If the Colossal Titan threw burning houses on the other side of the Wall, it would trap the Scouts between fire and the Beast Titan. 

"You're right !" Armin exclaimed. "Our only hope is to beat Bertholdt right now and we won't get help...so we'll have to do it with the people we have here !"

"Well this is turning into one shitty ass day." I mumbled before Jean whacked me behind the head.

TO BE CONTINUED !