Meme: wherethesunmeetsthemoon "put three characters in my ask box and I will write a fan fiction with each in it: Ace (OP) Castiel and Marco (from snk)"
Titans. Those fucking Titans, I swear to god one day they'll pay for what they did to us. To you, Marco…
One day…
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"Jean?"Armin nudged his friend, "Hey, Jean, Commander Erwin's given us the green light. We're heading out now," the boy spoke again, his tone more weak and tired than soft.
The man in question nodded and got to his feet, "Thanks Armin. Where are we headed anyway?" he asked as he patted the dirt from his bum and looked into the horizon. The sun was setting, leaving a beautiful evening twilight that hung in the sky –giving more life to the clouds and casting enchanting silhouettes of various trees and small hills alike. Such irony.
"It's getting dark, and we're a bit too far from Wall Sina, so the whole Scouting Legion's headed for the old HQ right now."
"You mean what's left of us," Jean added without realising how bitter and hollow he sounded. He didn't mean to be a jerk to Armin, he was just… tired. So very tired of it all.
"Jean…"
"Say, Armin. What did we join the Recon Corps for?" he asked out of the blue, startling the young blonde.
"T–To help save humanity… right? I mean, we have Eren now, and we're closer to discovering what these Titans want and where they come from…" Armin's voice trailed off as he fumbled with his cape.
Jean let out a bitter laugh and with one swift movement, pulled himself onto his trusty steed, "Right Armin, I don't know why I signed up for this shitty army for too either." And just like that, he rode off with the rest of the group in complete silence.
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That night, the troops led their horses back into their respective stables in silence, cleaned up in silence, ate in silence and hopefully drifted off to sleep with ease. Jean was still standing under the rickety shower that Reiner had managed to fix and missed dinner completely –his body was clean but his hands were bruised red from all the scrubbing. It won't go away, he kept muttering in tears. Marco… the blood… it won't go away no matter how much I wash my hands… The water stopped flowing and Jean stood there, stark naked and completely barren from all forms of emotion only to realise it after the bathroom had gone cold.
Exiting the shower, with a towel draped above his head, he grabbed his boots and slung them haphazardly over his shoulder. Jean walked past the dimly lit dining room, only to find Squad Leader Hanji, Krista and Sasha attending to the wounds on some of the troops. Captain Levi and Commander Erwin sat side by side; Erwin had his arms crossed, and sat completely still with a map clutched in his right and Levi didn't so much as flinch when Hanji pushed his injured ankle too far to the side. He looked towards the two Leaders –the ones responsible for this whole damned expedition altogether– and wondered if they were truly emotionless, or if the outcome of having lost so many troops throughout the years had just drove them insane altogether. It was only their first expedition and Sasha and Krista looked like they'd already been driven to the edge.
Night finally fell when Jean pulled his door to a close. The candle on his nightstand went out but Jean didn't give much thought to that –the wind and cold night air was all he probably thought about. Heavy boots along with the dirty laundry from today's expedition tossed carelessly aside, Jean stood in the middle of his small room, alone with his cape clutched loosely in hand. A few minutes went by before the worn cape fell crumpled at his bare feet and Jean decided that it was time to stop staring into space and get some sleep. Morning would soon come and they'd probably had to go through the terror that was today all over again. The tired man pulled the covers over his aching body –bruised by those damned harnesses for their gears– and drifted off in a soundless sleep.
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Marco, he heard again for the third time this night. The man shifted his gaze from the peaceful moonlit scenery towards the other mumbling in his sleep. A wistful smile pulls on his endearing freckled features as his form glided over from the window ledge, hovering closely just above Jean.
"Yes, Jean?" Marco whispered, fully aware that his other half wasn't able to hear him. Jean would never be able to see, or touch him ever again.
Marco, he repeated for the fourth time now, this time with a swish of an arm that passed right through Marco's glowing form. Marco watched intently as Jean's eyebrows furrowed into an unpleasant frown, those thin lips quivering and his breathing becoming more ragged. He bit down on his lower lip and swirled around Jean a few times, unable to do anything to calm his sleeping state. By this time, Jean was tossing and turning, clutching onto his shirt like his chest had hurt in the worst possible way. Marco heard a few other names –ones from their squad– , some swearing and his own name again a few more times.
But all he could do was watch. Many times, Marco had tried to ease Jean from those nightmares. He would reach out to hug Jean, only to have his whole self pass through the man like he was nothing. He could interact with other objects like the shower handle or the candlelight and the cape, but he couldn't even put his arms around Jean to comfort him.
"Shhh, it'll be OK Jean. I'm here," Marco whispered again and again with tears disappearing just before they touched Jean's face. His hand phased through Jean's hair and Marco tries to remember what that texture was like as he whispered calming words into Jean's ear, hoping that it would help. He put his hand against Jean's and eventually (with his help or not) the fist unclenched itself and the man drifts back to a soundless sleep.
"Shhh, it'll be OK Jean. I'm here," Marco cooed softly one more time.
I'll always be here.