THE AFTERMATH OF WALL MARIA'S FALL
She blew on her cup of tea before sipping it.
From the day she got her power, she started to hate heat or hot things. She just felt like shit whenever she ate something warmer than normal.
What will I do today? She asked herself mentally, watching the other clients of the bar she was in.
That's what she always asked herself these days. She had no idea why and how she was alive. She had no idea about where she was. She had no idea about what to do other than steal and eat to survive. Yes, survive. She wasn't living, she was surviving.
She was reborn among suffering and death. She knew that all the misery that she was witnessing had something to do with her returning to life.
Maybe it's some kind of sacrifice, but why? Why would so many people die just for me to wake up from that nightmare? She asked herself, before the bartender called her.
"Hey Ymir," She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, "do you want a refill?"
She was a regular client in this bar, so at a certain point she had had to introduce herself, even if she didn't want to. The bartender's name was Kevin, he was actually a friendly guy who seemed to care deeply about his customers... unless said customers created trouble for him.
She shook her head at him with a smile, "I think I'm done for now... but if you let me stay at this table for a bit more time, I may just change my mind." She told him calmly.
"Sure, no problem. As long as no customers need that table you can stay there." Kevin told her accommodatingly.
Ymir gave him a grateful nod as she returned to her musings.
Nothing particular happened for the rest of the day, but when she went to sleep, she dreamed of a light brown haired kid who plead her to return to him.
When she woke up the next morning, she cried without knowing the reason.
It wasn't the first time something like this occurred, she always had these brief dreams since the day she returned human.
Everytime she woke up from these dreams she was left with a feeling of distress and regret.
She had no idea about why she had these dreams, but they made her feel more alive that she ever felt in these last months.
Sometimes she felt like she was living a life that wasn't hers to live.
She hoped to find a purpose someday.
October 17th, 846
Annie watched as Bertholdt pushed the spade under the log.
The boy was sweating profusely, his slender torso gleaming in the sun.
He continued to push until the log was eradicated from the soil, after that he kneeled on the ground, inhaling deep breaths of air.
"Good job," she remarked in a monotone voice, "that was the twentieth of the day for you, though Reiner is at the thirtieth." She informed him before they heard a fierce shout far to their left.
"Was that...the...last one?" Asked Reiner, his brawny body covered in sweat, panting after uprooting a log.
"No, there is still one left." She replied with the same monotone voice.
The blond boy growled while his friend stood up and headed towards the last log.
"No, I'll get it... you rest." Reiner commanded, immediately standing up with newfound vigor.
His taller friend didn't find it in himself to argue, and lied back down on the ground.
"So...Annie, now that we're alone and we've done our job...do you intend to tell us what you discovered in the last few days?" The blond boy asked, wearily looking at the farmers 20 meters from them.
The blonde girl glanced at him and then at Bertholdt.
"The current king on the throne is a fraud..." the two boys looked at her in shock, "...he doesn't have any kind of power, he's just a pawn they use to divert attention from the real king who is in hiding." She informed them, stopping for a moment to let the two boys process this information.
"The members of the government are all puppets without authority, but they're probably not eldians or subjects of Ymir..." she continued.
"...it is likely that they're a different race from the eldians who sucked up to Karl Fritz a century ago, and that they've been given power in exchange of their loyalty to the Founder."
Reiner pondered on this new information with a frown. "So...the government and the king are just figureheads..."
"That's great!! This means we only need to watch the government more closely to find the true king of the walls!!" Bertholdt presumed optimistically.
"It's not that easy..." Annie told him, "...we don't have any way to get close to the government, and they would never accept servants that they can't trust...especially after the fall of Wall Maria."
Reiner nodded, agreeing with Annie's statement. "That's right, the members of the government may be figureheads, but they're not complete idiots, unfortunately for us, this means they won't accept any refugee among their household."
Bertholdt nodded mutely, "Yeah, sorry. I talked too soon."
Reiner looked at him silently, "Look, I know that you want this to be over, I want it too, Annie wants it too, but we have to be smart about it. You have to be smart about it...okay?"
Bertholdt nodded, "S-sorry." Reiner just sighed while Annie looked away.
They stayed in silence for a few minutes as Reiner cut off the roots from the log.
"I was thinking... that maybe we should breach Trost, so that the Founder comes to fight us." Annie said slowly.
Bertholdt glanced at her alarmed as a pregnant silence permeated the three warriors.
If we decide to breach Trost, then I'm going to be the one who'll do it...it will be just like that day... Thought the dark haired boy, sweating nervously.
"Do you think that the Founder will reveal himself?" Reiner asked curiously.
It is unlikely, the Tybur family said that the king of the walls made a vow to renounce war, so maybe the Founder wouldn't fight even if his subjects were dying. Reiner thought.
"I'm not sure... but I don't know what else we can do." Annie shrugged.
"Every time I go to the Interior there is a chance for me to be discovered... I feel like one of these days they'll capture me." The blonde girl murmured.
Bertholdt and Reiner silently pondered on what she said.
Since the day they've infiltrated inside Wall Maria, Annie has been traveling deeper into the walls to get information about the Founder. She used her titan form to travel to the Interior and to return. Reiner had qualms about this process, but he had no other choice. He still wondered how it was possible for her to have not been seen by someone during one of her outings.
Reiner thought they had no other choice so he told them a plan he had been preparing for quite some time. "I heard that many boys and girls have joined the military because of the food shortage..." he paused for a moment, "for the last months I've been thinking that maybe we should enlist." Annie looked at him with slight surprise as Bertholdt watched him silently.
"That will consume much of our time..." Annie muttered.
"Yes, that's why I never brought it up... but with what you discovered, I see no safer way of proceeding with our mission." Reiner stated, jaw tight.
"Safer? How can it be safer?! We'll be surrounded by aspiring soldiers who'll butcher us if we're found out!!" Annie exclaimed.
"That's just a small chance," Reiner remarked, "if we hurt ourselves, we can safely regenerate our wounds at a normal pace, furthermore, I doubt that some kids will know that we're titans just by looking at us."
Annie looked at Reiner silently, "What would we do after?"
"We'll get close to the Interior... and as we'll get more information, we'll consider doing what you proposed."
"If we decide to do what you proposed, we'll only breach Trost. We can't trust the government to take care of the population anymore... especially after what they did." Reiner added, face hard, thinking about the suicidal operation to retake Wall Maria.
Annie and Bertholdt nodded in agreement, before the dark haired boy asked his two friends an unexpected question.
"What do you think the Marleyans are doing right now?" Annie and Reiner glanced at him silently.
Reiner swallowed, "I don't know for certain, but they're most probably worried about 'their' warriors..." he answered quietly, pausing for a moment, "The Warchief is surely keeping up the act...Pieck and...Porco too."
Annie and Bertholdt looked at the ground gloomily, thinking about their friends.
Reiner noticed and spoke again, "We'll find the Founder and return. We won't die here, understood?!"
His two comrades didn't answer him apart from nodding faintly.
Reiner looked at the ground.
He desired to complete the mission and protect Bertholdt and Annie with all his heart, even if it costed him his life.
But he wondered who would care about his worthless life.
How many people would be saddened to know that Reiner Braun died?
The only one who he was sure would, was Bertholdt. The blond and the dark haired boy have been friends since the first day of the warrior training, when Reiner wasn't good at anything. Bertholdt had helped him greatly, and Reiner always felt a strong connection to him even though he tended to admire Marcel more than him. Bertholdt would probably be lost without Reiner, just as Reiner would be lost without Bertholdt.
Then there was the Warchief, he was almost like the father he never had. Reiner was the only warrior candidate who trained with him almost constantly, and he believed that Zeke was the likely reason he was chosen for the Armored Titan instead of Porco.
It was a mistake. He thought in his mind.
Reiner idolized the Warchief, but he knew that Zeke was completely focused on his objective. The Warchief would be saddened by Reiner's death, but he would move on.
Then there was Porco, he remembered the time when the two of them were as thick as thieves. That changed when Reiner was chosen as the inheritor of the Armored Titan, and Porco was forced to stay in Marley until his turn to receive a titan power arrived.
Porco was upset with him. But the day, Reiner, Marcel, Bertholdt and Annie were sent to Paradis Island, he had plead all of them to come back alive, even Reiner. He had cried for the first time in their presence, showing the affection and vulnerability that he harbored for them.
If there was a chance me and him could go back to being friends, it was blown away when Marcel died. Reiner thought sadly.
Well it didn't matter anyway, Reiner had survived, now it was his duty to complete the mission, and make sure that Marcel's death wasn't a complete mistake.
No matter the cost.
—
(Author's note)
I'm sorry for the wait of this second chapter. I know it's short but I can already tell you readers that the first parts of this story are going to be very slow as I will show special friendships, (That weren't shown in the anime or the manga) between some characters. Armin will have a slight change of personality as I never liked him very much until chapter 112 of the manga where he showed pure fury. And I promise that almost all of the characters will have a presence (small as it may be) in this story.
Anyway, I know that not many people will read this story but I don't care. The reason I'm writing this story is because I couldn't find a good fan story about almost all of the characters of AoT. Though it will take much time, I intend to finish this story which will have both same and different events from the anime and the manga.
Having said that, if I made some grammar mistakes or if you want to give me advice on how to write. Please feel free to review and inform me. Follow and favourite the story too, even if it may seem trivial for some of you, knowing that people are liking the story encourages me a lot.