A/N: SO! I'm finally updating this fanfic, and I'm so happy to update it. c: I was actually going to update it a few days before Christmas, and then I got distracted with Christmas. And then...I was back at college and was busy with that, and everything. ;; But I had spent some of time just sitting down and working on this chapter! And now I'm finally updating it because it's summer, yeah! Anyway! Here it is. Thank you for reading and reviewing and whatnot, I greatly appreciate it. And I'm also very glad that so many of you are enjoying this so far!

I promise I will try my best to update a lot quicker and make the other chapters a lot longer than this one. This one isn't as long as the rest because as I was really tired while writing it and I kept getting distracted, but I DID want to update, so I just went ahead and posted it.

But like I said, I hope you all like it and thank you for reading, favouriting, following, and reviewing!

"I said I want you to make a choice. Me...or them?"

Jean couldn't stop his mind from repeating that over and over again as he looked to Marco, then to his other "friends", and then back to Marco again. He shook his head a little, trying to move closer to the freckled male, but his friend just took a step back again. "Marco, please... Don't make me choose. I can't-"

"You can! You're just deciding not to!" He finally raised his voice, causing Jean to flinch slightly. Never in his years of knowing Marco had he heard him yell at him. He knew now just how serious this was to him. "I don't understand why you're deciding that you won't choose. I thought it would be easy for you. I mean, I was sure you would pick me, I've been your friend for years, Jean. How long have these...criminals been your friends?" He stared at him, brows furrowing. And he noticed the look he was getting from the criminals, but at this moment and time, he didn't really care.

Marco just wanted his friend to pick already.

"This isn't a hard choice, Jean."

"As much as we hate to agree with him, he's right. This isn't a fuckin' hard choice." One of the criminals spoke up, watching Jean and then narrowing his eyes a little when the brunet looked at him.

"It is. You aren't the one choosing," he hissed, glaring back at him. "But, really. If I do have my answer in my head, what will you do if I go with Marco? Will you try and find me? You know what I'm capable of. And now that you know Marco has powers, you know what he is also capable of-"

The man laughed a little and shook his head as he moved closer to Jean, towering over him. "Are you threatening us?"

"Yeah, I am." Jean growled back, staring up at him before then turning to look at Marco, who was just staring at him. He opened his mouth to speak to his friend - could he even call him that now? - but nothing came out as the sound of gunshots rang out through the air. When they had stopped, Jean had his eyes shut tightly, but he then slowly opened them when the sound of the gun clattering to the ground could be heard.

The first thing Jean done was look down at himself before then turning around to look at the other three men when he heard them talking, noticing how panicked they looked.

"What did you do?" One of them asked his friend, eyes wide.

"I didn't mean to do it! I just wanted to scare them!"

Jean raised an eyebrow, wondering what on Earth they were talking about, and then he heard Marco groaning his name from behind him. He looked to where he had been standing, now seeing him on the ground, his hand on his stomach, blood seeping through his fingers. Luckily, he had only been hit once.

Unfortunately, it was really, really bad.

The brunet quickly rushed to the older man's side, gently moving his hand away from his stomach to look at his wound before then placing his hands there again when he hissed quietly. "Hey, hey. Look at me, Marco. You're gonna be fine." He said quickly, eventually hearing the voices of many police officers coming up into the room they were currently in.

They had clearly heard the gunshots and decided to just head on in.

Thankfully, since Jean was sitting with Marco, they didn't think he had anything to do with the bank robbery. Plus, he had been wearing a mask when he entered, so as far as they knew, he was a different guy who had entered with Marco.

Jean was also thankful that there had already been an ambulance waiting outside, just incase someone had gotten hurt.

And someone did.

His best friend. Jean didn't know how he would be able to forgive himself, because if hadn't of done any of this, Marco wouldn't be going to hospital with the possibilty of losing his life. And it was all Jean's fault. He...would have to explain it to his mom. To Jaeger, Mikasa, Armin - he would have to explain it to everyone they knew, because it was his fault.

On the way to the hospital, he called his mother, told her...just a few things. He said that something bad had happened and Marco had been injured, when his mother started panicking, he simply said that he would explain everything when got back home. After he had finished the call with his mother, he texted their friends, asking them to meet him at the hospital and he would explain things there.

But...he didn't know if he should tell the truth or if he should lie to them.

If he told the truth, would things be okay? What would happen if he lied?

Jean didn't know what to do, and it was at this moment in time that he wished he had just stayed home with Marco. That he hadn't lied to his best friend. His best friend who was now on his way to the hospital and Jean didn't know if he was going to be okay.

But, he was sure they would be.

.

.

.

Jean thought wrong. Things weren't fine.

Well, things might have been fine if Armin, Mikasa and Eren weren't there. And maybe also Connie and Sasha. Besides Jean, they were the closest to Marco, and they weren't handling things well.

"Can't you just tell us who it was? You saw them, right?" Sasha asked, the worry showing on her face.

Jean had told them what had happened. Well, not everything. He'd missed a few details out, and when he opened his mouth to reply to Sasha's question Jaeger was suddenly grabbing him by the front of his shirt, their faces inches apart. "This is all your fault. If you had kept your promise to him, none of this would have happened."

"How do you know about that-"

"He told Armin, who then told me." He hissed, "You better hope he lives, because if he doesn't- Well, you'll be living with that pain for the rest of your life. You'll be living with the reminder that you killed Marco-"

"Eren."

The green-eyed male slowly let go of Jean's shirt when he heard Armin saying his name. He then pushed away from him, walking back over to the other four. Bertholdt, Reiner, Annie, Levi - Marco's coworkers, they would have been there too, but they couldn't make it at that moment.

Jean didn't actually know what was happening with Marco, all he knew was that he had been losing a lot of blood and he wasn't sure if he was going to survive. He didn't know how deep the bullet was and he didn't know if they'd be able to help him in time, but he sure as hell hoped so.

Unfortunately, all that was running through his mind was what had happened and what Jaeger had just said to him.

"You'll be living with the reminder that you killed Marco."

Jean looked at the group of friends before then slowly leaving to stand outside for a bit, despite the fact that it was cold out there. Not long after he left the building, Armin joined him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Jean. Eren didn't mean what he said, he's just-"

"...did he tell you what happened between him and Marco?"

Armin stared at him for a moment or two before then nodding slowly, looking down. "Yes, he told me, and we're working through it. I'm just glad he told me the truth instead of keeping it a secret."

Jean also looked down when Armin said that, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He sure wished he had told Marco the truth from the beginning instead of keeping things a secret. God, he was such a bad friend. Actually, he was just a bad friend. "I didn't mean for this to happen, Armin," he whispered. "Any of it. I just felt needed when I was with those guys, y'know? And then when I saw Eren and Marco together I felt heartbroken, I needed to go see those guys again, despite what I promised Marco."

"Wait. Why did you feel heartbroken?"

"Because...y'know... he doesn't like me the way I like him and-...why are you staring at me like that?" Jean grumbled, brows furrowing a little when he noticed the way Armin was looking at him. He then frowned when his blond friend chuckled a little, shaking his head.

"Jean, he did feel that way. He would talk to me about it all the time. The reason he had...done what he had done with Eren was because they were both drunk. You don't think it meant anything to them, do you?" He asked, looking back at him. And the look Jean gave him before looking away let Armin know that he did think it actually meant something to the both of them. "Every time Marco called me he would tell me about how he felt about you. He said he hated the feelings because he was sure you wouldn't feel the same way, and he didn't want to talk to you about them. As far as he knew, you were into girls."

"Oh."

"Yeah..."

Things went quiet between the both of them after that. Jean had only went quiet because he was thinking about how stupid he had been. He should've just came clean and told Marco how he felt about him, maybe then things like this wouldn't have happend. His best friend wouldn't be lying in a hospital, while no one else had no idea what was going on. What was going to happen to him.

"So...you really have powers then?" Armin asked after a while, and Jean opened his mouth to ask who had told him, but the blond just simply smiled at him. "Eren told me. He said that you and Marco have them. Do you know why?"

Jean shook his head, "Uh, no. I wish I did, though. I mean, why is it just me and Marco? These powers have ruined our friendship, got Marco seriously injured. This isn't something I want anymore." He murmured, looking down at the ground again.

"Your friendship isn't ruined, you guys are still friends, but...probably not as close. You just have to work on that when Marco wakes up."

If he wakes up, Jean's mind supplied.

The two of them went quiet once again and then went inside. However, just as they walked inside, they notice one or two doctors went to the room where Marco was, and Jean couldn't help but panic. He quickly walked over and grabbed one of the nurses who had been in the room. "H-hey, what's going on? Is he okay? Please tell me he's not dying. Please, I-"

"Sir, please calm down." The nurse frowned, glancing down at the ground before then looking to Jean. "We're just...having a little bit of trouble, and we're trying our best that we can, but we're afraid he might not make it. I-"

Jean didn't hear anything else that she had said after that. All he could think about was Marco, the times they spent together, all the times Jean had lied to him. All the times he should have apologized to him, and now...he might not get that chance to.

Because Marco was in hospital and it was Jean's fault.

Marco was flatlining and it was Jean's fault.

Everything was Jean's fault, and now he didn't know what to do. He wouldn't know what to do without Marco. Without Marco, Jean wouldn't be where he was in life, and he had never been able to tell him that.

He...wouldn't even be able to tell him that he loved him, that he always did.