News seemed to travel fast these days, and everyone inside the walls pretty much knew about what had happened a week ago. The official news was that the armored titan had been captured thanks to the combined efforts of all the three military regiments. What everyone didn't know was that it only took eleven people to do it, and that it wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for the smallest male member of the 104th cadet corps.

Commander Erwin and his squad also managed to get Eren back, despite having to let Bertholdt and Ymir escape, but capturing them wasn't part of the plan so it wasn't a total loss in effort. They've lost, however, a number of scouts that day, half of the garrison members that accompanied them—Captain Hannes included—and all the MP's. So it was no wonder that they attributed the capture of Reiner Braun to the entire force. The public would have a field day if they knew that all those men they've lost were solely because of Eren's retrieval.

For the 104th, the week had been a tough one. Bertholdt and Reiner's betrayal had been a direct blow considering how every one of them had grown close to the two. It was hard to accept the truth of who they really were, and to have one of them locked up in chains beneath the city wasn't exactly the most comforting fact. No one was as inconsolable as Connie and Krista though, both of whom spent their days alone and detached from everyone else.

"Connie? Can I have a moment?" Commander Hanji called his attention from the mess hall of the military barracks at Trost where they were currently staying. He got up from his seat and followed her into the empty hallway. A little curious as to why he was being called.

"I have something for you," she said as she pulled out a rectangular object wrapped in white cloth from her coat pocket and handed it to him. From the feel, it seemed to be made of wood and glass and as Connie unwrapped the covering, his breath hitched at what he was staring at.

"We found it when we came back to your village. It was one of the only things still intact so I thought you should have it." She gave him a warm smile as Connie kept staring at the drawn portrait of him and his family. He remembered when they had this made. He was a little over ten years old and both his siblings were still babies. He looked at his happy face, and the smiling ones of his parents as he shad a small tear.

"Thank you commander," he said as he sniffed and wiped his eyes. Hanji nodded and was about to head back to her office when Connie called after her, "Commander Hanji?"

"Hm?" She turned around curiously, the light glinting off her spectacles.

"I understand it's not my place but...may I be allowed to see him?" he said shyly, his voice barely a whisper.

He was expecting her to say no and was completely taken by surprise when she chuckled, tucking her hair behind her ear as she spoke. "I was wondering when you were going to ask. Of course Connie. You're the reason we have him in the first place, it's only right that you are allowed to see him. He's all the way over at Ehrmich though, but seeing as your team doesn't have any assignments at the moment, you have my direct order to go and visit any time you like."

"T-thank you." Connie nodded and gave her a small salute before they parted ways.

It wasn't that he was afraid Hanji would say no to his request, it was more of the fact that he was afraid to see him at all. He was still letting his heart catch up to everything that just happened over the past week, and it wasn't until today that he's finally told himself that he was ready. Without wasting time, he immediately got his horse from the stable and set off for Ehrmich right away.

It was a half day's journey from Trost towards the southern walled city of Sina, and Connie arrived with plenty of time to spare. He parked his horse at one of the stables and decided to go get some lunch first. Compared to Trost, the cities of Wall Sina were vastly different in every way possible. The streets were cleaner, and the buildings all seemed to gleam in the sunlight. People around here all wore extravagant suits and dresses as if they were attending some huge formal gathering or something. It made him feel a little out of place with his scout uniform on, and the looks he was getting sure weren't friendly ones either.

He found a tavern near the south side of the city by following some MP soldiers he overheard a while ago talking about food. And true enough, the place was more or less filled with MP's. It struck Connie as weird how there seemed to be too many of them here, all drinking and playing card games at this time of the day. He wondered who was doing patrols then, if there were even any.

"Well it seems you scouts are really starting to pour in here huh? Welcome to Ehrmich sweetie, can I get you anything?" A warm voice greeted Connie as he sat down at one of the bar stools near the front. It was the only available seat really, and he really didn't want to share with the others.

"Umm, I'm sorry. May I know what you have here?" he said rather shyly, not wanting to look so much like an outsider.

The old lady's eyes seemed to twinkle when he spoke and smiled as she cupped her chin with her hand. "I knew you didn't seem familiar! I practically know all the scouts by face here now since there are only a handful of you, and when you came in I thought to myself, 'well here's a new face!'—and I was right!"

Connie couldn't help but smile at her cheerfulness and asked her for whatever she usually served at lunch there. He was surprised to see a plate with a whole chicken leg and some baked potatoes when she came back. Even the food in the inner cities were amazing, much to the old tavern lady's delight.

"So, is your place usually this packed at this time of the day?" he asked casually after taking a bite from his chicken leg. Man it sure was tasty.

"Oh yes. And you wouldn't believe how packed it gets at night during supper. I usually have to open up the second floor just so everyone fits!"

No wonder all the MP's died outside the walls last week. Looking around, they all seemed like inexperienced, wealthy, lazy bastards who absolutely felt like they had nothing to worry about. He couldn't believe he even ever considered joining their ranks before.

After paying and thanking the old lady for his meal he went out again, towards the military branch of the city where they were holding Reiner captive. Upon arriving though, he was surprised to see that the soldiers forming guard around the place were mostly scouts. The few MP's that were here looked to be rookies. Boys and girls of his age. So he guessed all those people back at the tavern were the higher ups then.

He proceeded to ask one of the scouts on duty where Reiner was, and told the man that he was here under Commander Hanji's orders. He was then led inside the edifice and down one of the stairs that led to the basement. There were more guards stationed here now but all of them were MP's, holding rifles and leaning over the walls looking bored out of their minds. They passed through two heavy wooden doors and a final metallic one that seemed to open only from their side. They weren't kidding when they said the place was heavily fortified, but to Connie it seemed the doors were doing a much better job of holding their prisoner rather than the guards themselves.

Upon entering the final door Connie found himself standing in an enclosed windowless room, separated in half by a jail cell. On one side of the division were two MP's, one of which was dozing off in a chair, while on the other side of the room inside the cell was Reiner.

Connie's heart leapt at the sight of him. He was kneeling on the ground with his head hung low. Both his arms were raised at his sides and chained to the wall. His legs were shackled, and it looked like even his face was muzzled. But those weren't even the most the disturbing parts, because the man Connie was looking at from beyond the bars looked nothing like the Reiner he knew. He was bruised all over, his pale skin slick and purpled, and his blonde hair was matted and drenched in sweat. He looked smaller too, and Connie wondered how they even fed him like that, if they fed him at all. He still had that muscular build but it looked weaker, hollowed.

"May I be alone with him?" Connie asked the chief scout that came down with him, his voice echoing in the room.

The chief gave him an incredulous look upon hearing his request and shook his head, "I'm sorry soldier. We're under strict orders never to leave him unguarded and—"

"You're not leaving him unguarded. I'm fully equipped in my ODM gear and as far as I know, I'm the reason he's even here in the first place. So with all due respect sir, I think I can handle myself to be alone with the prisoner for a few minutes." He was surprised to have said that so assertively, not knowing where his arrogance and spite was coming from. Even more surprising though, was that the chief actually nodded and signalled for the two MP's to leave the room with him.

"You have ten minutes," the chief said before closing the door behind him, leaving him alone with the blonde.

Connie took a deep breath and finally noticed the stench in the room. It just occurred to him that to them, Reiner was more like a prisoned animal rather than a human and that's exactly how they treated him. He approached slowly, and found a set of keys by the table in front of him. Of course those idiots would just leave this lying around. He picked them up and unlocked the gate separating them from each other and walked closer. His heart was beating so fast and he wanted to vomit at the sight of him, and it wasn't even the smell that was doing it. Standing closer, he was finally able to see the true extent of what they'd done to him, and he didn't like what he was seeing.

"Hey," he said coldly, waiting for the blonde to acknowledge his presence. When he didn't budge, Connie slowly knelt down on the ground and faced him. On this angle he was able to see his face more clearly, and all the marks of beating he took there. Reiner didn't even look like himself anymore. Gone was blonde adonis that made you turn twice when he approached. No more was the golden boy of the 104th cadet corps.

"You look like shit you know that? You even smell like shit." Connie forced out the words, diverting from his true thoughts and what he really wanted to say. It was hard for him to see him like this. In the past week he was so convinced that he hated him. That he thought he deserved everything that was coming for him and that he was glad they captured him. But now...now he wasn't so sure.

"I came all the way from Trost just to see you. And you're just going to ignore me?" he said flatly, trying his best to sound annoyed. But in actuality, he already expected this kind of treatment from him. He kept staring at his battered face while Reiner just kept his gaze down. It was sickening, and Connie didn't know if it was from seeing him, or from seeing the condition he's in. Finally he started with what he really came here to say.

"Why didn't you kill me? That day in Trost, why didn't you finish me off?" His voice shook, and he felt his body shaking as well. He couldn't hold it back anymore, he had to let it out even if Reiner couldn't talk back.

"And at the tower...why did you risk your life for mine, huh Reiner? Why couldn't you have let me die? Even before—way before all this—I almost died that day in the woods all those years ago, remember? But you still saved me. Why? Goddammit, why?!"

He was done trying to hide the pain in his voice and slammed his fist on the ground as he started sobbing, his shoulders shaking from emotion. And all the while Reiner didn't even move. He was as passive as ever.

"Do you have any idea what they're planning to do to you?! If you had just let me die then you wouldn't be in this mess! There'd be no one to distract you from your plans, and you wouldn't be sitting here getting tortured to death! So why Reiner?! What's so damn special about me?!"

At that he moved, Connie heard the chains clink as the blonde pulled his head down even more, hiding his face from him. Connie wiped the tears off his face and swallowed the lump in his throat before facing him again.

"Look at me," he said quietly, his frustration building when Reiner still didn't move.

"I SAID LOOK AT ME!" Connie placed his hand on Reiner's chin and shoved his face up to his, eyes tearing up again at what he was looking at.

Reiner was crying, and if weren't for the muzzle covering half his face then the expression he was making would paint a full picture of agony. His tears were streaming down and pooling on the ground, and his eyes had so much pain in them than Connie has ever seen before. The chains linking him to the wall were slightly moving, going in rhythm with his body while he sobbed. He look utterly destroyed, and it was the one side of Reiner he wished he never had to see.

"You deserve all this," Connie said amidst the tears, his voice breaking. "I hate you...I hate you."

He kept saying it over and over, the next always sounding weaker than the last as he gripped his face tighter. But as he said those words, memories of his times with Reiner flashed through his mind. The first day they met, skipping rocks on the water, sleeping with him on the stable floor, swimming in the lake, and realizing how much he loved him on that tower. It was overwhelming, and soon he couldn't even speak anymore.

"Why? Why can't I—" he tried to say but ended up choking on his words. He quickly let go of him as he wiped his face again before standing up to leave the cell.

The officers came back a minute later with Connie waiting by the door, looking the same as he did when he came in ten minutes ago. He didn't wait for them to escort him out and started walking back on his own without another word. He quickly left the basement and the hold and went out to face the warm afternoon light. He wasted no time, and walked briskly to the stables to get his horse back. He wanted nothing more than to leave right then and put as much distance between him and Reiner.

"Connie you should eat, your food's getting cold," Sasha said beside him over at dinner, making everyone at their table look. Since when has Sasha ever not attempted to steal someone else's meal?

"I'm not really hungry. You can have it if you want," Connie said as he slid his plate towards her, his voice detached and empty. Sasha eyed the untouched meal in front of her for a few seconds before vigorously shaking her head and sliding it back to him.

"No. You haven't been eating much lately. Don't make me force that potato down your mouth."

Connie looked at her and saw the slight worry in her eyes so he went ahead and started eating. He couldn't taste anything, but if it eased her worries then so be it. It's been two days since he went to see Reiner, two days since he started dreaming about him every night getting tortured and beaten. He couldn't eat because everytime he looked at food or even smelled it, he was reminded of how little the blonde was being fed and how they're making him crap all over himself like an animal. It made him sick.

At the same time it made him feel disgusted with himself. Why was he even thinking about the state he was in? Reiner was a murderer. So many lives were lost because of him. He should even consider himself lucky that he was down there. They could've done a lot more worse things than that but at least he was alive...for now.

"You're seriously going to Ehrmich tomorrow?" said one of the garrison soldiers at a nearby table, discussing something with one of his comrades.

"Yeah. We're rotating shifts with the current guards holding Braun there and I'll be part of the squad leaving tomorrow."

"Man, lucky you. Make sure you give him a hard punch for me. Damn, I'd give anything to stab that fucker in the face."

"Me too. Too bad we can't draw blood though. Otherwise, he'd probably lost all his limbs by now."

Their boisterous laughter was what did it. Connie's plate shattered on impact when his fork stabbed right through his potato. Sasha jumped beside him, and everyone else on their table was looking at his shaking figure.

"C-Connie—"

"Can you believe he was actually one of the top in his class? That fucker, I can't wait 'til they cut him up."

Sasha tried to calm him down but it was too late. Connie was already up from their table and storming down to the next, standing behind the talking soldiers with his fists shaking.

"Something wrong cadet? You look like you're—"

The man never got to finish his sentence, his face slamming on the table in front of him as Connie punched his jaw—hard. He was about to go for the other one when Sasha and Jean arrived at the scene to stop him.

"P-please excuse our friend! He's just a little wound up tonight. He hasn't eaten you see and—"

The man Connie punched suddenly jumped from his seat and tackled him to the ground. He was so much bigger than him, and was completely helpless from beneath his legs when the man straddled him and started to punch his face. The first blow was a real head turner, like literally. He tried to blink away the flashing in his eyes but the second punch came all too soon, making his ears ring. He was already anticipating the third blow but soon realized that it was never coming. He opened his eyes and looked up to see Mikasa holding the man's arms over his head at what looked to be a very uncomfortable angle.

"Hmm, I wonder what Commander Erwin is going to think when a much seasoned soldier is reported to be beating a kid twice as small as he is?" Jean said audibly from behind him, his hand holding his chin in mock contemplation. "Or maybe it's better if he never knew at all? I wonder…"

The man grunted against Mikasa's grasp and eventually sighed in defeat. He got up from Connie and stood back while Sasha helped her friend up. Just when Connie thought he was going to attack him again, the other soldier spat and turned away without another word, his friend following right behind going outside the mess hall.

"Well that was a stupid thing to do. You're lucky Mikasa was there or things could've turned a whole lot worse than it did," Jean said a little later after dinner when they were back in their room. He was his roommate now along with Eren and Armin, who both usually spent the evenings outside before heading back into their room. Connie was holding an ice pack over the right side of his face and tried to look at his reflection with a mirror. He really took a bad one there.

"I didn't ask for her help. Or for anyone's help—"

"What are you even trying to prove here, huh?!" Jean suddenly turned on him, his brows pulled together in annoyance. "He's gone Connie. He's not one of us anymore. And whether you like it or not, you're going to have to accept the fact sooner or later."

Connie looked at him and saw the pained anger in his eyes. There was no doubt in his mind that Jean blamed Reiner for Marco's death, but he never really showed it until now.

"We trusted him...we all did. We may not have had the same relationship as you two but he was still our friend...and he betrayed us." Jean's voice quivered as he turned away from Connie, pretending to idly fold the blanket in his bed. "And if you can't see that Connie, then you're even dumber than I thought you were."

Connie stared at the ground for a few more minutes and waited for Jean to leave for his bath. He didn't need the guy telling him how twisted he was for even feeling sorry for Reiner when he was still trying to figure out himself where his feelings stood in all this.

He loved him, he truly did. He's the first person to ever make him feel this way, and it broke him in every way possible. He should be hating his guts by now, he should be despising the blonde just like those soldiers from earlier. But why couldn't he? Did love really surpass that much hatred? Did it really overlook the faults of another no matter how great it was? Connie sighed and shook his head, he didn't even know if Reiner felt the same way towards him— and he probably never will. He faced his reflection in the mirror again, and felt a wave of guilt pass through. He's the reason Reiner was locked up. He was going to die because of him.

What the hell is wrong with me?

He placed his ice pack down on the table and stood up to leave. There was only one person he wanted to see right now before he made up his mind, and that was all his thoughts occupied themselves with as he quietly closed their bedroom door and walked towards Krista's room.