Never thought we'd meet again- snk short
Chapter 1 - I'm sorry Marco

Authors note: hey guys so something different to usual this time- it's my sisters birthday and she loves this anime so Attack on Titan everyone^^ I probably won't do more fics with this anime as its a special birthday thing but I hope you enjoy it anyway :-D so here it is- next chapter tommorow as always- HAPPY BIRTHDAY KT!^^

Jean stared at the steaming corse of the Titan, baring his teeth slightly in anger and disgust.
"Damn it." He cursed. All that fighting to stay alive, and this is how he dies. Because of a single, stupid Titan- and that's not even the one that's going to kill him. Still, it wasn't like he was going to regret his descicion.

This Titan had come out of nowhere, and he'd distracted it, allowing the rest of his group to escape. He'd managed to take it down, but he'd been reckless with his gas. It wasn't the first beast they'd run into, and now he was all spent up. He pulled the trigger on his blades. A lack of a hiss confirmed it. He was a goner. The others had left, assuming he was in tow. They probably think he'd been eaten by now- if they've looked back and discovered he's no longer there.

"Damn it..." He cursed again, barely a mutter. He was stuck out here. He slowly sank to the ground. So this was it... He had nothing left to do now, but to wait for another stupid Titan to come along and finish him. He'd be damned if he was going down without a fight, but there was no chance of him getting back to the refill and supply camp with his 3DMG busted. They'd get him, eventually.

He sighed, letting his blades drop, and stared ahead of him, at nothing in particular.
"I'm sorry, Marco." He said to the open air. "I couldn't kill off the Titans for you." He bent his head to face the ground. "I don't know if I've done enough to be proud of... I don't know if it was "the right choice"." He reflected, thinking about his lost friend's words that had never left him. That one conversation as they refilled their gas... it was no exageration to say it shaped his life. It gave him someone to fight for. A reason to slay every last only of the Titans... or at least have some significance.

Marco had died without anyone knowing, or seeing. His life and death had no real impact on humanity. He'd promised himself he was going to make sure his death did mean something. His death meant that he went on to join the Survey Corps- and it was within the Survey Corps he hoped to make a difference. So that Marco's death hadn't been in vain, and did mean something. So he carried on killing the Titans. Fighting in his name... or, at least, he had. It looked like that battle was over now. He was trapped on the ground, with useless gear. Awaiting an inevitable death. It wasn't a position that was new to him, but there was no Marco to zoom in and rescue him this time. No spare gear lying around to replace his own.

"I hope I made the right choice." He murmured even quieter. "But I thought it was "what must be done"." He again thought back to the things the freckled cadet had said to him... In fact, he found himself just thinking about him in general... Right from the beginning.

The first time he'd seen him (in training), he'd thought he was just an idiot. All his talk of offering his service to the king, and giving his body to the work of the military police- seriously?! He thought he was lying. No one actually believed all that patriotic rubbish the central government spat out at them- he was just looking for a cost spot in the interior, the same as he was. He just didn't have the gall to admit it... Or so he'd initially thought.

It turns out the Italian was genuine in his desire to help out the people and the greater good. Actual nobility. It was something so foreign to any of them none had believed it at first. But if there was one thing Marco wasn't, it was a lier. There wasn't a dishonest bone in him. He was genuine in everything he said and did... and perhaps that was what made the things he said all the more heartening. Whenever he said something to you, you knew he meant it. When he told you it was thanks to you they survived, you couldn't help but believe him.

He brightened up everyone with his boundless optimism, and always, somehow, knew what to say- even without realising it. Whenever he smiled (and he smiled an awful lot), it was nearly impossible not to smile back. He was just one of those people. He always brought out the best in others. He'd even brought out the best in him. Jean. The trainee whose only ambition was the cowardly, cosy interior. He accepted him, even though he down right boasted about abandoning them all for a safe life within the walls, like the selfish jerk he had been back them.

He remembered him saying once- on their first official mission, the first time he really took notice of the optimistic cadet- the reason he could jump was because he believed in him. He trusted his judgement when he gave the order- that was why he survived... and, though he never said it, when Marco gave the order to fire, not long after in the Titan overrun refill station... That was the reason he too could jump. That was the reason he could kill that Titan... because Marco had gave the order. Marco gave him the strength. He gave him the strength then, and he gives him the strength now... But now it was over. He'd failed him. No doubt he'd approve of his descicion to save his teammates, but he still couldn't help but feel he'd disappointed him.
"I'm sorry, Marco." He muttered again. "I've failed you."

He recalled that half eaten body he'd seen lying on the ground. The smile permanently wiped from his usually bright face. The downcast, dull expression was so foreign on his face, he'd barely recognised the body as his... But he'd know that freckled raven haired anywhere. There was no denying that it was him- although, of course, he'd refused to believe it. Marco. Dead. The words were just too incompatible with each other... and yet they spoke the truth... and the truth was inescapable, no matter how much you wished it wasn't.

Not everyone got as lucky as Eren, regrowing limbs like a human cockroach. Surviving the Titans bite. Some people... they just died... Like him, now. He was going to die. As much as he'd like to avoid it- there was just no getting back to the camp without gas or a horse.

Thud.

He heard and felt the vibrations through the earth, and his jaw tightened. His hands gripped his blades with renewed determination. Yeah. He was doomed. But hell if he wasn't going down without a fight.