Ever since departing from their home, Eren struggled to let his thoughts shift from his last moments with Pieck. Now that she was no longer by his side, he started to realize how much he missed her. His brain always grew restless whenever it was time to settle down for the evening. A small campfire gave the five companions some warmth as they sat around it. So far, they hadn't encountered any imposing problems in their mission – it was a strong start. 'Why did she kiss me on the cheek like that?' Eren asked himself as he stoked the fire with maple branches. 'What did it mean?'

"You are drifting, Eren." Marcel leaned over to pat his friend's shoulder. "Thinking about home again?"

"Something like that." Eren frowned gently, he could chew with his thoughts for the rest of the evening and still not get any further forward.

Reiner laid on his back, arms tucked behind his head as he stargazed. "Hey, don't let it get you down, you'll see Pieck again soon." He called the situation out for what it was, knowing that Eren's recent distractions had only come about since their departure from Liberio.

"It's not that at all!" Eren's cheeks flared pink, which he intended to blame on the heat from the fire as a merciful excuse.

"Ugh." Annie rolled her eyes and turned to lay on her side, facing away from the group. "Maybe if you all focused on sleeping rather than whining then we would be a step closer to getting back home."

"Annie is right, it is late." Bertholdt mentioned quietly and then he donned a small smile to Eren. "I'm sure Pieck misses you too."

Growing shy, Eren lowered his head to his lap and avoided responding. It was naïve of him, but he hadn't known just how observant his friends could be. They were able to read him like an open book. He shuffled down and rolled his head back against the straw pillow beneath him. He had always been so used to having a roof over his head, but there was something oddly freeing about sleeping outside, beneath a blanket of stars. He missed his mom, and his brother and Pieck, but he promised himself that he would see them again sooner rather than later. He shut his eyes and let his thoughts float away, comfortable to sleep for a while around the friends he felt safest with. They needed to look out for each other more than they ever had before.

As the night dwindled by, the five of them had some peace for a while. It may have only been a few hours, but it was what they needed since they were mentally prepared to face whatever hell was in front of them. Only, they hadn't anticipated that their mission would devolve into a nightmare so soon…

When Eren next opened his eyes, he couldn't tell what had awoken him. Maybe it was the coming of dawn, maybe it was the voices of his friends, or perhaps he was fully recharged. Either way, he found himself rubbing his eyelid as he sat up, yawning lightly. His blurred vision cleared within moments and he discovered that Reiner and Marcel were talking. They both appeared more demoralized than he liked seeing. "Hey, what's going on? Is everything alright?"

Reiner lacked confidence; he had gone pallid.

"I'm sorry, Reiner." Marcel's face softened, genuinely remorseful.

Eren's confusion doubled, he ruffled his own hair and curled his knees to his chest. "Guys, what is this about? Why the long faces?"

Scoffing, Annie busied herself with stamping out the remnants of their campfire. "It turns out that Reiner wasn't good enough to make the cut after all, Marcel pulled a few strings to help him out. It should have always been Porco instead. Can't say that I'm surprised."

"WHAT?" Eren sprung to his feet, fresh with energy. His wide eyes jumped between Marcel and Reiner; they were equally distressed. "Okay, look, it doesn't matter how things happened, alright? This is fate. We are in this together. And Reiner has already proven that he is worthy of the Armored Titan. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks." He declared. "The way I see it, Marcel gets to keep Porco safe, and we get one hell of a warrior out of it, that isn't a bad trade off."

"Eren is right." Bertholdt stood next to the smaller boy.

"Let's just continue with the mission, alright? We need to keep our heads clear." Eren's words were aimed more toward Reiner, he didn't want him dwelling on such a dispiriting revelation for the entire day – they couldn't afford any mistakes. They began gathering their jackets and their bags until an abnormal quake in the ground disrupted their efforts. "Huh?" Eren spun sharply, jaw dropping as a titan dug its way out of the earth behind Reiner.

All their heads turned, and they froze in terror – none more so than the Armored Titan targeted under the creature's jet-black eyes.

"REINER!" Alarm drove Eren forward, fight or flight kicking in, he raced for his friend. He wasn't thinking, he just needed to save him, consequences be damned. Everything swirled in slow motion as he reached his hand for Reiner.

So did Marcel, and he was a fraction closer.

The two boys collided in their attempt to save their companion, Eren was rocked one way, Marcel the other. Reiner's eyes blew in fear as the titan's hand closed around Galliard.

"No!" Eren lost his breath and dared to chase after Marcel, stretching a hand out to him as he was drawn to the opening jaws of the awakened titan. Reiner's instincts seemed to kick in at the same moment, he suddenly grabbed the brunette by the scruff of his neck and hoisted him to safety, forcibly dragging him away from the scene.

The group scattered, Reiner ordered Eren to run with him in one direction, whilst Annie and Bertholdt scattered as fast as they could.

"We need to help him!" Yeager howled, unable to wrestle from the vice-like hold that his friend had on his arm. "It's Marcel! We can't just leave him!"

"Use your head Eren, it's too late!" Reiner's legs moved powerfully, gaining impressive distance. Then again, he had so much adrenaline pumping through his system that he doubted a horse could even catch him right now. The shell shock ripped through him as he eventually slowed underneath a lone tree, he released Eren the second that he felt his stomach betray him.

The feeling in Eren's legs fled from him and he slumped to ground, grabbing angry handfuls of grass and dirt as he heard Reiner vomit at the foot of the tree. His heart wouldn't let up, he could have just as easily been the one eaten if Marcel hadn't gotten involved. "Annie…Bertholdt…did they…"

"We're here!" The Colossal Titan announced after he and Annie finally closed some distance to the pair. They all looked worse for wear, perhaps not physically, but their eyes were glazed and sunken from the horror they had witnessed.

"Well, this is just peachy…" Annie panted, with deadpan snark. "…our mission finally starts, and we've already lost Marcel and the Jaw Titan because of this moron."

"It's not his fault, Annie." Eren defended Reiner, frowning at the female shifter. "Last time I checked, none of us were clairvoyant, we had no way of knowing that thing would crawl out of the dirt."

"No, but it wouldn't have been a problem if he could've kept himself together for at least one second!"

"He froze! It happens!"

"Not for us! We can't afford to make mistakes!" Annie exclaimed, eyes narrowing. "We don't just get to be children anymore – we don't have the luxury of excuses!"

Even though Eren agreed with Annie to an extent, he simply couldn't bring himself to hold Reiner accountable for what had just happened. He swallowed and rose to his feet, dropping the blades of grass he'd ripped out back to the dirt. "Let's just take a moment to catch our breath, we need to–"

"We need to call this off and go back."

"We can't go back!" Reiner finally interjected, face hollow. "We have to continue the mission!"

Eren grimaced for a fleeting moment, but then he nodded strongly. "I agree, we can't return now, not after losing Marcel, or else we are all done for. Like it or not, we're still in this together and we are stuck with this now."

Annie gave a bitter laugh, shoulders sagging. "So we all suffer because of the weakest link?"

"If we fall apart at the first hurdle, then why the hell did we come all the way here? We took a hard hit, but we aren't down and out. Quit acting like this is the end, Annie."

"Reiner has compromised everything!" Annie's chest rose hard and fell even harder. If Eren hadn't been standing in between her and the Armored Titan then she would have beaten him into a pulp. She spun on her heels and marched.

Unbeknownst to her, her harsh words had lit a fire within Reiner. He marched by Eren and lunged for the Female Titan, tackling her to the ground, arms locking around her neck in a rear naked choke. "Reiner is dead." He hissed lowly, fighting against Annie's struggles.

It wasn't a sight Eren agreed with, but it was one he understood – they were putting the mission back on track. As he looked to his feet, ignoring the consciousness drifting from Annie, he realized that perhaps it was an act of mercy that Pieck wasn't here, he would never want her facing such gruelling danger when she was so small and soft. He stood by Bertholdt's shoulder and exhaled hard.

This wasn't going to get any easier.

Author's note: Thanks for all of the continual support for this fic! It is loads of fun planning what will happen next! We'll get to see some other familiar characters in the next chapter, I'll be writing that up soon! :D