The Warriors' Journey
A/N: For those wondering why I added the years – Years would have begun ticking upwards soon after this, so it was originally somewhat important. Didn't want to remove them out of respect for the unfinished rest of the story.
Anyway, if you're still reading this, I want you to know that I appreciate it!
Chapter 3 – Titans
Year 845
By the time Reiner's stamina had run out and he came to stop next to a lonely, large tree, Bertholdt and Annie were nowhere in sight. He was sweating and breathing heavily so he sank down to his knees and used the thick trunk to steady himself.
"Ah..." he let out as he looked back and couldn't find a trace of his friends. Reiner wasn't sure how long he had been running for but he couldn't make out any familiar landmarks or locations. Not like that was easy, even without a long sprint, on this forsaken island, in the first place.
By the time his breathing was beginning to steady again the full force of what had happened hit him. His mind was still spinning, everything had gone wrong, far too quickly.
"Bertholdt... Annie... Marcel..."
At the sound of his now dead friend's name coming out of his own mouth his face contorted in pained, horrified understanding. Reiner grabbed his head and went down into the grass face first while wailing incoherently.
'He was eaten by a Titan... whilst protecting me... because of me...'
'Have they all been eaten? I don't remember anything. My mind has gone blank. What should I do? I shouldn't stay here... I'll be eaten too... I'll die here, today...'
Reiner's pitiful thoughts were interrupted by a heavy kick to his midsection which forced all air out of his lungs and caused him to turn over from the force of the strike. "AAAAAAAAAAAH"
But any pain or similar feelings were quickly pushed aside when he noticed just who had attacked him. Annie and Bertholdt had caught up to him and both were still very much alive, if out of breath and sweating just as much as he was.
Annie was looking down at him with a mix of anger and disdain that seriously frightened Reiner, especially after the words that followed between heavy intakes of air. "...This is the first time... I've lost... to you... in long distance running."
Both of the other warriors were clearly extremely exhausted, confirming to Reiner that he had been running for a while. Bertholdt sank down to his knees and hands, trying to get his own heavy breathing under control again. Reiner was clutching his side, still looking up at Annie. The girl was the first to break eye contact, looking up at the crown of the lone tree instead.
"Just now.. if we had captured the Titan.. who ate Marcel.. we wouldn't have lost the Jaw Titan... But because the two of you ran away.. I got swept up in the flow of things..." Annie pointed out as she closed her eyes, a pained grimace spreading across her features. "Damn you... Marcel... is gone now..."
Reiner took a few moments to collect his thoughts again before meekly speaking up. "To think... that we would encounter a Titan in that sort of place..." Annie looked down at him again and confronted him again angrily. "Did you think that as long as we didn't approach the walls there wouldn't be any Titans? That's not always the case."
Bertholdt looked up at this and shifted his gaze onto Reiner, eyes filled with pain and sadness. "Didn't we learn... that not all Titans behave the same way?"
They had obviously been informed. Dealing with mindless Titans had been a big part of their training, yet reality was oh so different. Before Reiner could find a proper reply to his friend's question, Annie had turned on her heels. "We're done now... Let's go back..."
"What...?" Reiner couldn't understand what she was saying.
Annie looked back over her shoulder and a single, cold, blue eye zeroed in on him. "We will retrieve the Jaw Titan and go back. They should have transformed back into a human by now. Since we've lost Marcel's command, we can't retrieve the power of the Founding Titan any more. The mission has already failed."
With that definitive statement, Annie turned towards Bertholdt. "Even somewhere like here, a Titan could appear." The other boy wordlessly stood up and slowly started following the leading blonde, who was already starting to walk back the way they came.
Words Reiner's mother had uttered, just before they left for Paradis, came haunting him then and there. "If it's you, I'm sure you'll be able to complete the mission. I'm sure your father is also praying for your success."
"Wait..." Reiner called after the two other warriors, holding out his hand towards them pleadingly. "We can't... we can't go back yet! We have to continue with the mission!"
Bertholdt was silent at that but Annie glowered at him darkly. "For sure... You can't return like this. If you go back to Marley like this, you'll have the Armoured Titan taken away from you... and you'll be eaten by the next warrior. Not that that has anything to do with me."
"How can you be so sure that that will only happen to me?" Reiner asked in return and Annie was forced to pause while Bertholdt eyes widened a fraction.
"...What?"
"Will I be the only one to take responsibility for the fact that 'all three of us ran away'? Can you say with any certainty that you won't also be purged?" That realization stunned the other two but Reiner pressed on, still on his knees. "Plus... retrieving the Jaw Titan is not the best course of action. What If that person uses the Jaw Titan's power to escape? With it's speed, we could never capture it with our Titans alone. We'd need the Cart Titan."
"Surely they wouldn't be able to use it's power right away?!" Bertholdt asked nervously.
"You were able to use the Colossal Titan's power right away!" Reiner shot back. "Anyway! If we use all our powers pursuing the Jaw Titan and end up getting eaten ourselves... or we return back to the anchored Marley ship with this failure on our hands... Either way, we're done for."
A moment of silence passed between the three of them as Annie and Bertholdt were taking in Reiner's words, so he chose to continue, more calmly this time. "If we... want to return home... We need some sort of success... Without the Founding Titan... we can't go back now..."
Annie looked down, fighting down a whirlpool of emotions. "Why... If you'd shown even a hundredth of this ruthlessness back then, we wouldn't have lost the Jaw Titan... Marcel... And now you're threatening us? To cover your own back?"
Reiner could only stare at her for a few seconds before he managed to say something again.
"I don't know... I'm..."
Reiner was cut off by a foot hitting his chin, hard, before any more words could leave his mouth.
"ANNIE?" was Bertholdt's surprised reaction at the move but the girl in question had no intention of letting up this time. Her face was strained from pain and anger and she had every intent to let it out on the boy in front of her.
"You explain this all to Magath! Tell him 'I take responsibility for everything'" Annie demanded while continuing raining down kicks on her fellow warrior's face. "'Honorary Marleyan'?! 'Chosen warrior'?! Marley, Eldia, fuck them all! They're all liars! Only looking out for themselves! And I'm the same! I need to get back home! You should have died back there! If you're feeling sorry, just die! Just die, covered in your sins!"
With Reiner bloodied and beaten from repeatedly receiving a boot to the face, Annie finally let up, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. She turned to Bertholdt who was not looking too dissimilar with tears flowing down the tall boys cheeks. However he wasn't looking at her, his eyes fixed to the beaten form of Reiner, who had risen, blood dampening the blonde's hair and flowing freely out of a multitude of cuts.
Annie barely had enough time to turn back again before Reiner jumped towards her and tackled her to the ground. "Reiner... is dead..." he declared, while securing Annie in a choke hold.
She struggled in his choke-hold but he didn't relent. "ng..."
"If you say we need Marcel... Then I will become Marcel..."
Bertholdt weakly tried to stop his friends struggle then, as Annie didn't manage to free herself of Reiner's grip, her legs now unable to properly hit the boy holding her from behind.
"Enough... please... stop it..."
"This... This is the only way... for us to make it back home..." Reiner stated with grit teeth.
"Reiner... we got it... so... please..."
"Let's all... go home... together"