Note: Hey Guys! I'm just writing this. I got bored between the chapters and wanted to write something, so voila! This one starts a big slowly, but I promise the chapters and plot will get better. This takes place between chapters 87-88. Also in this chapter there's some minor Jean X Mikasa moments.
Eren grumbled when he woke up on the grass, rather than when he'd last woken up in what had seemed like (again) a prison cell. "What the...? Why're we here...? Armin? Are you okay?" He asked.
Armin was staring at the ground.
"I can't believe any of this shit!" He hissed.
Eren had never heard Armin swear before.
"Armin...? What's happened to you…?"
Armin shook his head.
"Bertholt...impossible." He muttered. "There's no way I'm a Titan, and th-there's DEFINITELY no way I killed..no way I killed and devoured Bertholt!"
Eren's eyes averted.
"Armin...I'm sorry…I know that even at the end you still kind of saw him as the friend he use to be. Just like you thought you'd sacrificed yourself to save us...he sacrificed himself, though unwillingly, to save your life."
The boy's eyes teared up.
"He didn't have to die! None of this needed to happen!"
Mikasa walked over to join them. Her greyish blue eyes were slightly wider than usual, as though she were emotional that day. "No. It didn't, but what's happened isn't our fault. We're not done, Armin. A thousand soldiers went out to battle, and nine of us are left...in our world, that is. However, we all mingle in this world. Perhaps you can track down Bertholt."
Armin hesitated.
"I already have. We've...talked. Even s-seeing him makes me nervous now, knowing that I killed him. It wasn't his fault..."
"It WAS his fault, Armin." Mikasa growled.
"No. I believe he wasn't doing it out of choice. I believe that he was forced to do it. Maybe by Reiner, maybe by someone else. At the battle though, when I confronted him, although his words were harsh, the look in his eyes was filled with guilt and regret. He was ashamed of his actions." Armin decided.
Mikasa's eyes returned to their emotionless state.
"Then it is time for us all to stop grieving." She said.
Then Bertholt and Reiner appeared.
Bertholt eyed Armin nervously.
"A-Armin." He greeted his former comrade.
Armin slowly turned to face him.
"Bertholt...I've said it before, I'm so sorry for what happened!" He gasped.
Bertholt turned his gaze away.
"It's over now." He reminded him. "It's done. T-Truth to be told...you know, and I know too...that I deserved to die like that...I tried you burn you to death. I wiped out thousands of human lives, innocent people...I broke the Walls, I sh-shattered the p-peace...You aren't the bad guy in th-this situation."
Armin's blue eyes were wider than normal. He'd never truly recovered from what had happened.
"You're dead...Sasha's dying...what about Reiner?" He asked. "What happened to Reiner?"
Bertholt shrugged.
"I don't know. I know that he isn't dead. Not yet, despite all your attempts. I can only a-assume that he will die within the next few chapters...we lost Annie, I'm gone...Zeke still needs Reiner to be his Warrior and champion." He said.
Eren stepped forward.
"You colossal bastard! You killed so many of us, for FUN!" He hissed.
Bertholt looked down.
"Yes. I killed for fun. Isn't that what you do?"
"No, I kill for revenge, and I only kill TITANS!" Eren shouted.
Reiner burst into the clearing and thrusted Bertholt behind him.
"Leave him alone!" He snarled. "He's suffered enough already!"
Eren glared past him at the taller Warrior.
"No amount if suffering will be enough for him, for all he's done! For all EITHER of you have done!"
Mikasa stepped forward and took Eren's hand.
"Eren. Stop being foolish. It's over. Bertholt is gone, and soon Reiner will be too. Then it's only the Beast Titan."
Eren rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, ONLY the Beast Titan, who has taken down FIVE HUNDRED soldier singlehandedly! Who lived in a fight against Captain Levi!"
Mikasa's gaze was unflinching.
"Eren. Armin. It's time to leave the matter."
Armin was fine with that. Eren, not so much. After some insistence from Mikasa and Armin, he finally settled down. Well. As much as Eren Jaeger could.
Jean joined them.
"What's going on over here?" He demanded.
Mikasa spoke before Eren could start up again.
"We've just finished dealing with an...issue." She said.
Jean stepped towards her and slid his arm around her shoulders.
"If anyone could settle any kind of issue, of course it's you, Mikasa! You're brilliant, unlike JAEGER!"
Eren clenched his fists, wanting to punch Jean, but tried his best to hold it in. Mostly because Armin was holding him back.
Mikasa brushed Jean's arm off.
"Don't try to flatter me, Jean. And you CERTAINLY shouldn't insult Eren." She warned.
Jean rolled his eyes.
"Yeah yeah, whatever. All that."
Bertholt looked at his former comrades.
"W-Wait a minute...the rest of you are alive. I'm...I'm DEAD! How are we in...in the same place...?" He asked, confused.
Reiner shrugged.
"My best guess? This is that place Isayama-Sama lives in. What did he call it...? Real life or something like that. I guess since we're all just his characters, between the chapters, this is where we hang out. Hey, I wonder..." He glanced at the scar on his arm, made from cutting himself for his transformation so many times.
Bertholt noticed his best friend's gaze drift to his transformation spot.
"NO, Reiner!" His voice was commanding, insistent, something no one there was use to, coming from Bertholt Hoover.
Reiner looked up at the taller Warrior.
"Why not? It's just an experiment. I'm going to die anyway, remember? And while we're here, Isayama's still writing the next chapter, so TECHNICALLY speaking, none of us can die here." He explained to the best of his abilities.
Bertholt still looked uneasy, but stepped back.
"G-Go ahead then…I trust you, R-Reiner…"
Everyone stepped back except for Eren, who stood glaring at the Warrior he'd thought was a friend, who'd turned out to be his greatest enemy of all time. Reiner grabbed one of the swords and drove it into his own arm. There was a flash of lightning and an explosive sound, but instead of transforming into the Armoured Titan, his true self, when the smoke cleared, Reiner still stood there, the sword impaled in his arm. His muscles were tight and tensed up with pain.
Bertholt shook his head.
"I didn't think it would work..."
Reiner growled to himself.
"Dammit!" He complained.
Eren relaxed. He wouldn't need to fight Reiner in this world as well as their own.
"Good thing for you." His voice was tense and tight. "Otherwise we would've had a fight on our hands. Again." His eyes glowed maniacally with a thirst for battle and revenge.
Reiner was only slightly put off by Eren's strange (not-so-strange) behaviour.
"Yeah well, just wait 'till when Isayama brings me back into the fight! I'll POUND you! All of you!"
Jean laughed out loud.
"When? Don't you mean 'if' he brings you back to the battle? You're limbless and blindfolded, weakened and Zeke has you. I HIGHLY doubt that you're coming back. Face it, Reiner. We've won. Nothing you can say will counter that."
Reiner grinned.
"There's one thing."
Jean slammed his hands on his hips.
"Oh yeah? And what might that be?"
"You haven't won yet. I'm not dead." He said. "I'm still alive. Until you kill me, it's not over."
Jean stepped forward.
"I could finish it here! Now that you don't have your Titan form..."
Reiner smirked.
"By all means, my friend, try."
Eren narrowed his eyes.
"Don't do it, asshole!" He hissed. "You'll get YOURSELF killed instead! Don't be an idiot!"
Mikasa shook her head.
"Leave it, Jean. You'll only get hurt. If Isamaya-Sama is still writing the story for us, we're not even here right now. None of what we're doing is actually happening. You could cut his head off at the nape and he would still appear in the manga. You can't finish it here." She reminded him.
Jean looked only mildly annoyed.
"O-Of course, Mikasa...I'll leave him be. Just for YOU. Not for HIM!" He spat, glaring at Eren.
Mikasa waved off the last comment.
"Good. Now that we have that settled, can we just relax for a while before the next chapter comes out?"
Jean laughed.
"Since when do we have time to relax?" He asked.
Mikasa flicked her gaze towards him.
"Since we got a break in the chapters. Embrace this chance, Jean. We may not have it again."
They all sat down and Mikasa stared up at the sky. Despite words of relaxing, worried thoughts clouded her mind.
NOTE: Sorry if this chapter was boring. The next few will be better, I promise! :) We didn't get a lot to go on this time around, and I wish I'd started this earlier, but I didn't.