Chapter 4: Restoration of Mankind
Bertholdt locates the hole that he made on District Shiganshina on the day he became the colossal titan. They venture in the small village within the walls. As they walk, they look around the demolished houses, dried bloodstains, some rotting flesh and bones.
Fortunately, Reiner takes them to the gate he destroyed as the armored titan, without the presence of any enemy titans. On the way to the river, their eyes widen. Annie despises the scene and turns around. Bertholdt follows Annie but Reiner can't help but to inspect the scene.
Burnt bodies, dismembered organs, dried blood stains and the rotting corpses of soldiers are messily scattered all around. Reiner is intrigued by the body of a little boy. He carries it and puts it beside 2 other bodies. Together, he stands before a dead family. His tears started to run through the cheek.
His sight begins to backfire as he sees illusions of him as a little boy. Together with 2 persons, a lady and a man, he happily walks with them hand-to-hand. Reiner begins to kneel down and hit his head. Until a cracking sound echoes on the air, Bertholdt and Annie notices that Reiner is missing.
They get back to the scene only to find Reiner disposing of some of the bodies and dropping them into the river. "Hey! Reiner, we better get there fast, don't forget we're in Titan Territory now" Bertholdt said. Reiner silently follows them with a grim face.
Suddenly, Reiner stops walking which makes Annie and Bertholdt anxious. "There are Recon Corps nearby" Reiner whispered. Bertholdt pulls Annie and Reiner into a nearby bush. Just as expected 2 soldiers with their unusual machines walk past the 3.
"Save Me! Help!" A voice screamed. Bertholdt and Reiner look around only to notice Annie missing. Reiner is shocked to see Annie scrambling around from a distance, attracting the attention of the 2 soldiers and 10 meter titan. Annie runs away which causes the 2 soldiers to use their maneuver gears. They chase Annie only to get swiped the 10 meter titan ahead. One is eaten but the other one manages to kill the titan.
However, as he lands on the ground, he is stabbed by Annie using his own sword. Reiner and Bertholdt are unnerved by the freaky scene. The blade burying deeper into the man's chest until his body stops moving. Annie starts de-attaching the machines around the man's waist. He gives the machine to Bertholdt and orders Reiner to retrieve the other from the half-bitten body of the other man.
Reiner feels something odd as he de-attaches the bloody machine of the corpse. He stares gravely at the flowing blood on his arms. However, he is interrupted by Bertholdt. Incidentally, while Annie is about to hold on to Bertholdt's back, Bertholdt snaps the trigger causing hooks to shoot out from the machine. Before they knew it, Bertholdt is helplessly dangling from a tree.
"I think I'll go with Reiner for a while" Annie said as she rides behind Reiner. The 3 of them swing their way through the vast wasteland as they encounter and escape countless numbers of Titans both large and small.
After hours of conquest and slaying monstrosities, The 3 of them finally reach their destination, the inner wall, Rose.
The 3 of them successfully climbs the wall but disposes of the machine quickly as they reach the peak of the large wall. Reiner, Annie and Bertholdt looking over the horizon as they see a fruitful civilization inside. However, Reiner spots some people coming their way which makes him anxious and he pushes Bertholdt causing him to fall but he is then pulled by Reiner as Annie continuously scream for help.
The people coming their way and quickly run to their location. The males quickly rush to aid Reiner who in turn adds weight to Bertholdt to make it look like a critical rescue. Seconds later, Bertholdt is pulled up and everyone is showered in sweat, even Reiner. "You were pretty heavy there boy!" An elder male said as they take the 3 kids down.
The people takes them to a elder lady of the town who has just finished cleaning the backyard of a certain house. Upon seeing the children, the elder lady smiles like she has seen the children long ago. "This lady here, has cleaned few of her houses and property just to be given to stray kids like you, you should be thankful to her" a man said as Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie share turns in going around the house. Annie comes to create a short bond with the lady as they talk for a while.
"Hello, What's your name?" The elder lady said as she approached Annie with a glad smile. Annie dismisses her but can't help to give a little attention as the lady sits beside her. "A-Annie, Annie Leonhardt" Annie replied in a blunt voice. "Such a beautiful name for a beautiful girl like you, I bet your parents had a serious reason for leaving the 3 of you behind" The elder lady said in a gentle voice. "Heh! You can say that!" Annie said as she smiles back to the elder lady.
"Here, this is the key to my old house. You kids can use it anytime, Just take care of it often" The elder woman said as she leaves with the group of people leaving Annie, Reiner and Bertholdt. Inside the house was not very dusty like what they expected. All the rooms are cleaned and organized. No signs of dirt and it looks like the house has been set just for their arrival. "Wow! This is much better than the streets" Bertholdt exclaimed. "It is….but nothing like home right?" Annie said. "Yeah! Nothing like home!" Reiner added.
As the three of them set up their things upon the house, a squadron of men march outside. Reiner, Annie and Bertholdt hurriedly ran outside to see what the commotion was all about. "The 34th expedition will commence!" A man on the front shouted. All the soldiers in their horses all raise their swords and prepare as the gates of the wall open for them. "You see them Bert? The 3 of us will be like them in no time" Reiner grinned at Annie and Bertholdt. "Like….what's got into you Reiner?" Bertholdt asked in a confused way. "Isn't that what Marcel wanted us to do the first thing we get here?" Reiner replied back. "That's enough you two! The only problem here now is…..how are we going to make a living?" Annie rudely slided between the two.
"Uhm….I guess this village is much like our hometown though so it should be easy" Bertholdt replied. "Yeah Berth, you could always bake the freshest bread in town" Reiner teased him. "Hey! Don't bring that up!" Bertholdt pinched Reiner causing the 2 to start a friendly rumble. "Yeah, Like you almost burned the first muffins that you baked" Annie cut in. Bertholdt succumbs into a weird silence as the 2 laugh around him like nightmares revolving around his head. Bertholdt completely goes paralyzed and doesn't talk for the rest of the day.
Annie decided to go out the market and buy food. Reiner, left with Bertholdt, tries to talk him out. "Hey! Are you still mad about a while ago" Reiner smirked. "I didn't burn it…it….it burnt itself!" Bertholdt mumbled in defense. After a while, there was no answer. "Heh! Cat got your tongue eh Reiner?!" Bertholdt smirked. However, there was still no answer. How Bertholdt's mind felt embarrassed when he finds out that Reiner is asleep and that he was talking to thin air all along. "Hey! Bert! That's…..that's not FAIR!" Reiner over reacted.
Meanwhile…..
In the marketplace, Annie was about to buy food when suddenly *OOMPH!*, A girl bumps on her. Annie is not much of a feisty girl so she dismisses it. "I'm…sorry" The girl slowly said. Annie still dismisses it and keeps on looking at the apples. "I'll buy 5 please!" A boy bumped in. The boy annoyed Annie quite a little bit that she made an annoyed face. The girl sees it and proceeds to approach the boy. Then suddenly *CLINCH!* The girl pinches the boy on the ear. "Ow! Hey Mikasa! What the hell are you doing?!" The boy struggled. "You can't just go bumping girls all over the market…this is like the 40th girl you've bumped since we got off to buy food" Mikasa explained slowly. Annie kept looking at them with an awkward face. "What in the world are they doing? Do they know each other?" Annie kept on her mind.
At the end of it. Mikasa apologizes for her brother Eren and gives Annie an extra apple. "No Apple for you Eren" Mikasa exclaimed slowly. The 2 of them wandered off with Eren going buffoon about the apple while Annie stare at them in awkwardness.
Annie reaches home and is about to open the door. A crowd of people quickly build up with a group of soldiers maintaining orderliness. The 2 weird children from the market a while ago seems to be in line. Annie seemed interested to check it out but as she was about to go, Reiner and Bertholdt barge out of the house. "Hey! Annie can we come?!" Bertholdt and Reiner exclaimed. Annie sighs deeply and makes an agreeing look.
While in the line Annie becomes seperated with Reiner and Bertholdt because of the crowd. While on the other side of the line, Annie spots the boy he met on the marketplace a while ago quarreling with a member of the Recon Corps. The recon corps was about to punch the boy causing Annie to get hesitant as she wants to help them.
The girl pulls the boy back together with another boy who has a blonde hair. Annie leaves the line with Reiner and Bertholdt not noticing her disappearance. She hides on the street side as she sees the boy quarreling with the girl. Annie's eyes widen as the girl punches the boy to the ground and forces the bread into his mouth. "If you don't eat, you'll starve to death" these are the words that Annie heard while spying. However, "Oy! Annie, we got ourselves some rations! Can we go home now?" Reiner said while panting after running. Annie acts as if she didn't see or hear anything as she walks with Reiner and Bertholdt home.
That night after dinner, Annie wanted to be alone so Reiner took Bertholdt downstairs to sleep in the sofa and floor. Annie thought of her dad as she sat along the window looking at the sky. She holds her hands to the air as a cold breeze blew. Suddenly, Reiner and Bertholdt appear beside her and they smile. Annie goes in and turns off the light as the 3 of them sleep on the large bed.
Early next morning...
"Hey! Neighbor! Wake up!" An eecentric young man shouts out in front of the house. Reiner wakes up first and opens the window. He looks down only to see a young boy waving Hi to him. The boy looked happy, his eyes glistening in the sun and his freckles describing his face.
"Be there in a minute!" Reiner replied back. As Reiner opens the door, another boy faces him. The boy seemed bored and silent as he glared still at Reiner. The eccentric boy barged from behind the other boy and gladly handed over a pot to Reiner. "Eh? What is this for?" Reiner asked scratching the back of his head. "It's my family's thanksgiving gift since you are our new neighbors!" The young boy gladly replied.
"The name's Reiner!" Reiner said as he handed out a handshake to both boys. "I'm Marco and this is my friend Jean!" The young boy cheerfully said. "Come on Jean! We still have 10 more pots to give!" Marco exclaimed as he pulled Jean away and made him hold a heavy basket. Reiner took the pot in and murmured to himself "Is it always like this inside these walls?"
Annie and Bertholdt follow downstairs and they see Reiner preparing the table. "What's with the pumped attitude today R einer?" Annie said as she yawns. "Yeah! You never really acted like this before right?" Bertholdt smiled. Reiner could only sigh as he smiles back and they eat their breakfast. Breakfast was some kind of war. Annie and Bertholdt are going tug-of-war over a piece of chicken leg when Reiner suddenly lunges at them and bites the chicken leg off and then bursts into a laugh. Annie lunges at Reiner and proceeds to hit him with the spoon while Bertholdt proceed to pull Annie away. The 3 of them laugh it out until they finish eating.
Suddenly, someone knocks on the door. Annie opens it and a man dressed on military uniform confronts them. "What is it sir?!" Bertholdt asked. "We are here for the early registration of people who want to get in the Recon Corps" The man announced. "This is our chance!" Reiner murmured to Annie and Bertholdt. "We want in!" Annie gladly replied as the 3 of sign in their registration papers.
After the man leaves, Annie sits on the sofa and sighs. "This is it! For the next 3 years, we'll be trained to become Humanity's guardians!" Reiner gladly shouted. "Reiner, don't forget our other priorities!" Bertholdt cut in. "Yeah , yeah! I know, find the coordinate, catch the beast Titan and destroy the wall that surrounds the District Trost" Reiner said he rolls his eyes over. "How about you Annie?" Bertholdt asked as he turns around only to see Annie asleep. "She's still ASLEEP!" Reiner and Bertholdt said hysterically.
"Oy! Annie, are you sure you want to enter the Military Police?!" Bertholdt sain in concern. "It's none of your business, I want it, I do it" Annie said grumpily as she despises the worried Bertholdt. "Let her be Bert! She can take care of herself anyways!" Reiner grinned. "Don't worry, I'll make it" Annie glared at Reiner. "Oi! Oi! Stop fighting you two!" Bertholdt cut in.
"Hmmph!" Annie exclaimed grumpily as Reiner goes out. Bertholdt looks at his friends with worry and approaches Annie. "Annie, you know Reiner's just worried about you, right?" Bertholdt said with a serious face. "But I wanna prove myself!" Annie sobbed which made Bertholdt guilty. "Hey! Now now! Annie, today's not the time to cry!" Bertholdt exclaimed as Annie, from sobbing, continues to cry on the sofa freaking Bertholdt out.
Out in the streets, Reiner takes a stroll. 3 children, about 1 year younger than him, passes by him. Their smiles and laughs takes Reiner to some of his memories back on his hometown. Suddenly, a weird boy bumps into him. Reiner doesn't really care but when he kid talked, Reiner was shocked to find out he was actually a girl. She is wearing a hood which covers almost all of her head and she seemed to worried. "Who are you?" Reiner gently asked. The girl said nothing but bit her lips and clutched whatever she was holding.
Suddenly, from the street behind the girl appeared a band of armed men holding bayonets and guns. The hooded girl quickly went around Reiner and hid behind his back. The group of men quickly came to ask Reiner. "Have you seen a little girl come around here?" The biggest man asked intimidatingly. Reiner confidently answers *no* which makes the man suspicious. "Who's that girl behind you?" The man asked. Reiner doesn't know what to say back causing the man to suddenly grab the girl by the arm.
The girl screeched which surprised Reiner. Reiner quickly swipes the man away which knocks the other men behind him. "Hey! Don't touch my sister! She's still under medication!" Reiner screamed which attracted bypassers to what is happening there. The men, embarrassed, only made furious faces before marching back to search for the girl they were talking about.
"It's ok now!" Reiner gladly said. However, before he could say another thing, the girl already ran away which left Reiner confused. As Reiner turned around to continue walking, Jean and Marco stops him on his stroll. "Oi! Reiner! Would you mind coming for dinner?" Marco annoyingly asked. "Ugh?" Reiner made a confused look. "Pfftt... Stop it Marco, the guy must be pretty busy considering he has 3 siblings to take care off all by himself!" Jean cut in with a wide glare. "Then why don't we go eat dinner with them tonight?" Marco happily asked. "Would that be ok to you Reiner?" Jean closely interrogated him. "...Of course" Reiner couldn't refuse the offer since they don't have a job on the meantime. "Then we'll be around 8:00 PM, see ya!" Marco screamed as he and Jean run back home.
Reiner sighs and smiles as he looks at the sky. "He's right, I have to take care of my siblings" Reiner said to himself as he proceeds to walk back home.
At the house...
Reiner comes in the house only to witness Annie knife to knife with another juvenile seemingly older than them. A juvenile girl and another boy is on the corner holding Bertholdt down. Reiner's nerves come down seeing the scene as memories of Marcel's death crash back to him.
FLASHBACK
Annie stopped sobbing a few minutes which relieved Bertholdt when suddenly. sounds and bumps are hear upstairs. Bertholdt hears this and quickly goes up to check it out. As Bertholdt walks up, he catches a glimpse of a young blonde boy searching through their things. "Hey! Who are you?!" Bertholdt screamed. The boy, seemingly surprised, points a knife against Bertholdt. Bertholdt makes a grim face as he proceeds to headbutt the boy. However, the boy elbows him down but Bertholdt pulls him towards himself causing both of them to fall downstairs.
As the loud fight ensues, Annie quickly snatches a knife and goes to check Bertholdt out. However she is intercepted by a girl also with a knife. Annie quickly subdues the girl by kicking her hand and elbow locking her head. Annie stands up pointing the knife on the girl only to witness Bertholdt held at knife point by the other boy.
Bertholdt, wounded manages to prick the other boy's leg with a thin pencil causing the boy to lose grip on him but the other girl headbutts Annie causing Annie to lose grip of her and drop the knife. The girl punches Bertholdt down and subdues him. Annie walks backward to get her knife only to confront another boy holding a knife.
"You stay out of this!" The boy said to the other juveniles as he challenges Annie to a knife fight. The boy slashes forward but misses giving Annie a chance to punch him on the back. As Annie is about to stab him, he kicks her away. As both of them stand up, they charge at each other and the boy has his knife pointed on Annie's neck and Annie has her knife intact with the boy's kneck.
Suddenly, the door opens revealing Reiner who is shocked by the scene...
END OF FLASHBACK
"Oi! Annie! What's happening?!" Reiner asked with a shocked voice. The man uses the interruption as a chance to push Annie away and grab what seem to be his siblings but Bertholdt gets a hold of him and knocks him toward the ground. Reiner snaps out of his shock and proceeds to subdue the boy. Annie elbow-locks the other girl and Bertholdt punches the other boy to unconsciousness.
"Who are you?! Why are you here?! What do you want?!" Reiner furiously said as he continues to tighten his grip on the boy's arms. "OK! OK! Enough!" The boy screamed out of pain. "We're thieves, homeless children! You understand right?!" The boy yelled as he proceeds to cry. Reiner, struck by pity, loosens his grip and orders Annie to let go of the girl and help the other boy. "Seriously?!" Annie exclaimed. "We'll forgive them for today, but the next time they threaten you two, I wouldn't hesitate to slit their throats..." Reiner said as he lets go of the boy and proceeds to stand up.
"You're gonna get it now! The two of you!" The elder boy said to his 2 siblings. Reiner watch the 3 of them quarreling over the thievery that happened. "We were hungry! And you're too busy to notice!" The younger girl said. "Look, I'm sorry If I'm not too much of a caregiver to both of you, But I promise, Once we receive our income, I'll take you both to inner walls to eat" The elder boy said with a smile.
Reiner watches with jealousy and pity as the 3 siblings leave by. "Oi! Reiner! What's gotten into you?" Annie asked. "You should worry him first right?" Reiner replied pointing to Bertholdt bruised to the ground. "I'll clean the living room, you get him to bed now" Reiner gently said which made Annie notice something wrong. However, Annie is too busy to know about it and so she assists Bertholdt upstairs.
A few minutes later...
*Phew!* Reiner has just finished mopping the floor and anything. He looks at the clock. "Hmmmm...It's nearly 8:00...Hey wai-" Before Reiner could finish thinking a loud slam of the door is heard. "Good Evening?! Marco gladly greeted with Jean holding the pots for dinner. "Sheesh! Marco, why the rude attitude?" Jean murmured. "Wow, this house of yours is pretty neat...Eh why are you looking like a janitor?" Marco said which distresses both Reiner and Jean. "Oi! Annie?! can Bertholdt eat with us tonight?!" Reiner called. "He'll live!" Annie philisophically replied which irritates Reiner. Annie comes down assisting a bandaged but STILL ALIVE Bertholdt. "Huh?! What happened?!" Marco worriedly asked. "He-" Reiner replied but, "He fell down the stairs." Annie cut in. Reiner can't do anything but to breathe deep.
Reiner cleans up the table as Annie proceeds to assist Bert on the table. Jean and Marco seated on the other side of the dining table. Jean and Marco put their pots on the table revealing, cooked fish, chicken soup and Sweetened Boiled Potatoes. Reiner puts a pot of rice on the table and everyone proceeds to eat.
"Hey! Let's get to know about each other more!" Marco suggested which makes Jean spit as he was drinking water. "Hi! I'm Marco Bott! I live on District Trost here in Wall Rose!" Marco cheerfully said. "Yeah! We already know Marco!" Jean opposed. "By the Way! He's my grumpy neighbor Jean Kirchstein" Marco murmured. "Oi! I'm not grumpy!" Jean opposed again. "I'm Reiner and these are my siblings, Bertholdt and Annie" Reiner gladly introduced. "Who wants to wash the dishes?!" Marco suddenly shouted with joy. "Not me" Jean opposed. Bertholdt and Annie join Marco in doing the dishes while Reiner attends to Jean on the couch.
"So, How do you manage those two?" Jean asked with a smirk. "I guess the 3 of us get along well" Reiner replied. "So that's it? I mean no special tactics?!" Jean rampaged as he looked Reiner close on the face. "Why? I thought special tactics were only used to raise soldiers and not siblings?" Reiner smirked. "Hey! How about that weird guy over there?! *Points to Marco* How is he related to you?" Reiner asked. Jean made a tiny glare before answering. "He's my eccentric neighbor back from childhood, I don't remember how I got tangled with him though" Jean sighed as he answered.
"It's already 10:30, It's late in the evening. We should be heading home now right? Jean?" Marco smiled. Jean takes the pots away from Marco with hesitant eyes. The 2 leave the house as Reiner, Annie and Bertholdt bid them farewell. "I'll go assist Bertholdt up" Annie said as she proceeds to help Bertholdt stand up and they go upstairs. Reiner slowly closes the door as he catches a glimpse of Marco and Jean walking away to the moonlight. The light inside the house goes off as the cool wind blows a peaceful gust throughout the walled city.