Hey all, I hope everyone is staying safe and is healthy in these difficult times.
I believe I can class that Aprils fool chapter as a moderate success (but one that could be improved upon for near year *nudge nudge*). Hopefully, I didn't lose any readers due to that prank but if I did then that's just the costs of April fools.
Anyway, onto the real chapter. Now I know some of you will be disappointed by the fact this chapter isn't the Reiner PoV, and I am as well, but as I started writing it just didn't feel right, so I decided to do this instead. Basically there is going to be three chapters showing most of the main cast's reaction to what happened in chapter 24.
The first (this one) is Hisu and the gang starting to deal with Reiner and Historia's identity reveal. The second chapter will be Erwin and Levi dealing with Eren's kidnapping and Reiner. And the third will be Armin and Mikasa dealing with Bert's 'disappearance', Reiner's unveiling, Eren's kidnapping and Historia (because nothing is ever easy for our main characters.)
At the end of the third chapter most of the cast (except Eren and Petra ofc) will be united again and they will have a slightly muddled picture of what happened with Reiner. THEN I will do the Reiner PoV which will hopefully tie lots of things together and begin the early set up for the endgame.
Also, this chapter is dedicated to Connie because he is a good boy who doesn't deserve all the crap he's been through in the manga.
Scout Ranch - Wall Rose Territory
Moments later
At the age of fourteen, Marco Bott may have not lived a long life, but he was no stranger to fear.
When he was a child, he had been afraid of the dark and had kept a candle burning in his room late into the night.
When he had signed up to become a cadet, he had been so nervous that his signature was barely legible from his shaking hands.
When he saw the face of the Colossal Titan looming over Trost and its foot smash through the outer gate, he had been so scared that for a few moments he had seriously considered deserting his post and fleeing the city.
And, when the adrenaline coursing through his body had worn off after his first expedition as a scout, he had snuck behind a wall out of sight of his friends and promptly threw up, emptying what felt like week's worth of semi-digested food onto the grass
But none of his past experiences with fear could have prepared him for the total heart-wrenching terror he felt in that very moment.
"SHIT!" "OH MY GOD!" "RUUUNNN!"
The cacophony of terrified wailing rang in his ears, as he was shoved back by the writhing mass of fleeing recruits.
It had all happened so fast. The MPs, the fight, the plan, the shot.He had seen it all, glancing out one of the windows to fulfil his adhoc role of second in command. He had seen Reiner get hit and fall to the ground, blood pouring from his chest, and nearly screamed out in terror, before IT happened.
The small orange spark which shot out of Reiner's chest, the blinding flash of light which engulfed his body, and the spiralling cloud of dust that had been kicked up in the explosion's wake. And as the dust cleared, Marco saw it for the first time in his life.
The Armoured Titan.
Marco had desperately tried to maintain control of the terrified, unarmed recruits, but his efforts had failed before they even began. How could he have succeeded after they had all witnessed the guy, many of them considered to be an older brother turn into mankind's worst enemy before their very eyes?
He was shoved back into the corridor by a stampede of teenagers attempting to flee out the back, even as he tried to shout out orders for everyone to remain calm.
And then the scream started.
It was a sound like no other, a hideous, blood-curdling cry which pierced into the very soul of anyone who heard it. Glass panels shattered and hands were thrown over ears in a futile attempt to block out the noise. It was so loud that Marco couldn't even hear his comrades screaming in his ear as they charged past him.
A hand closed around his forearm, and before Marco knew what was happening, he was yanked aside. Looking to his left, he came face to face with a pale-faced Connie whose mouth was opening and closing, yet no sound could be heard over that deafening screech.
Marco allowed himself to be dragged away by Connie, too stunned to do anything else.
Connie pulled him through an open door just in time to see Sasha, with the bow and quiver they had found thrown over her shoulder, all but shoving Kris- Historia through the open window. It was almost a comical scene, but no one found it funny.
"GO!"Connie shouted, just loud enough to be heard over the screams. Sasha nodded and dived through the window after the short blond.
Connie shoved him forward toward the window, but it was at that point when Marco finally found his voice again, and he pushed back. "W-wait! The others! We can't leave them!"
Connie simply pointed out the window with a shaking hand. Turning to look, Marco could see at least a dozen recruits running for their lives in different directions, having clambered out of windows to escape the building.
"Oh." he breathed out, a cold sweat forming on his back. He suddenly felt very alone.
"MOVE!"Connie screamed at him after proving his point, practically shoving Marco through the window, much like Sasha had done to Historia. He landed on his back, hissing in pain when a broken shard of glass stabbed into his palm, and awkwardly rolled to his feet.
He saw Sasha running towards the woods, dragging the girl called Historia by the hand and he took off after them, swiftly followed by Connie.
As he ran for life, deafened by the scream and the sound of his own blood roaring in his ears, something beyond his understanding forced Marco to look back. Maybe it was just morbid curiosity or some instinct rooted deep within mankind's collective psyche, to look towards the source of such a loud, harrowing noise.
Whatever it was that made him do, Marco looked back and instantly wished he hadn't.
Even with the ranch between them, the plate covered behemoth was clearly visible, its upper body towering over the thatched roof like a man's would over a child's doll's house. Its terrible bellowing could be heard for miles, and it seemed like the very foundations of the earth were shaking as the beast jerked around, violently shaking its head and wildly lashing out at the open-air with its thick tree-trunk like arms.
A few muted pops could be heard over the relentless din of the screaming, followed by tiny sparks appearing on the Titan's carapace. Gunshots, some part of Marco recognised. The MPs were shooting at it.
The Titan didn't even notice the impacts as it stumbled about, and drew its arms back to its face. Impossibly, the screaming grew even louder as the Titan plunged its clawed fingers into the exposed flesh between its armour jaw and plated cheeks. Boiling Titan blood and billows of scorching steam poured from around its embedded fingers, as the Titan started to tear at its own face.
Flesh was torn, muscles gouged, and plates cracked and snapped. More and more blood poured out, as the Titan continued to claw and strain until finally with a sickening meaty squelch the Titan ripped off its own lower jaw with such ferocity that it lost its footing and stumbled backwards, right on top of the ranch.
The proud timber building they had been hiding in only moments ago splintered like matchsticks, smashed to pieces under the Titan's enormous weight, and launching razor-sharp debris out in all directions. Chunks of wood and shards of glass came hurtling toward the fleeing recruits like a deadly hailstorm. Some recruits screamed and cried out in pain as they were battered by debris. Others, like the boy Marco glimpsed out the corner of his eye, didn't even have time to shout as he was smashed over the head with a flying stake. The boy crumpled to the ground, his body unmoving as blood quickly pooled around his head.
So much blood and destruction, all from one Titan. All from Reiner.
Marco managed to tear his horrified gaze away from the monster thrashing about within the wreckage, and didn't look back.
The four of them had run like hell. As fast and as far as they could. Deeper and deeper still into the woods, running until their legs burnt and their lungs felt like they were about to explode. They had run until the terrible screeching of the Titan could no longer be heard, leaving them surrounded on all sides by only the eerie stillness of the woods and their own laboured breathing.
"What. The hell. Was that?!" Sasha demanded to know, each word bitten out in between large gasps of air.
As soon as they stopped running, Historia fell to the ground, winded and wrapped her arms around her knees. The others gave her space as she hid her face away, which she was grateful for, even if it was done due to their distrust in her. She didn't know if she could answer any of their questions right now with the jumbled mess of emotions warring inside her head.
She had been so sure Ymir had revealed herself when the lightning struck, but then the ground started to shake, and that scream started, and she knew it couldn't be her. Ymir's Titan simply wasn't big or loud enough to make those sounds. So when she saw the Armoured Titan as Sasha dragged her away, it had filled her with equal parts relief and fear. Relief from knowing Ymir hadn't revealed herself, but fear from knowing she had been out there when Reiner transformed.
'Ymir,' She hugged her knees tighter, 'please be okay.'
"A Titan… It was the Armored Titan… How the hell was it inside Rose?!" Connie wheezed out, wiping a shaking hand over his sweat-soaked brow. Even for a trained soldier such as himself, that punishing dash over the uneven ground of the forest had put even the worst of Shadis's training runs to shame.
"It wasn't a Titan." A cold voice said, and it took Marco a moment to realise it was his own.
He was resting his head against a tree, heavily breathing and staring down at his feet, feeling a decade older than he had that morning. In the span of a few minutes, Marco's worldview had been brutally turned on its head. He had seen the regiment he had once been so eager to join viciously attack his older comrades, threaten a group of teenagers, then shoot a friend who turned out to be mankind's mortal enemy.
Despite joining the scouts, Marco had still held the MPs in high regard, naively believing them to be the right and just defenders of the King and the people. But now he wasn't sure what to think anymore.
'Is that who I would have become if I joined the MPs? A violent thug beating up and shooting? Is that what service to the King entails?'
Marco let out a shaky breath, as he felt the disbelieving gazes of Connie and Sasha burning into his back. Of course, they wouldn't believe him, they hadn't seen it as he had.
"It wasn't a Titan." He repeated slowly, his bloody hand shaking by his side.
The usually jovial duo of the 104th shared a quick look, before turning back to Marco. "Dude," Connie blurted out after a pregnant pause, "You heard that screaming, right? And we all saw it as we ran. It was a Titan, man, the Armoured fucking Titan!"
Whatever reactions the two friends were expecting from Marco, laughter was not one of them. Even Historia looked up at the low, bitter chuckle which escaped the shaking freckled scout. It sounded so distinctly wrong in the deep dark woods that it sent a shiver down their spines.
"I saw Connie. By the Walls, I saw." The bitter laughter took on a slightly hysterical note as Marco spun round to face them. "I saw him die. I watched the MPs shoot a bloody hole through his damn chest. I saw him fall and die, but he didn't! Hejust turned into that… that… thing, just like Eren! IT'S HIM, IT'S ALWAYS BEEN HIM!"
"W-what? Marco, please, calm down." Sasha started, taking a small, hesitant step back. She found her hand drifting towards the bowstring crossing her chest, as Marco crazy ramblings grew into a shout.
In all the time she had known him, he had been nothing but kind, level headed and, frankly, normal. Yet here he was, laughing and raving like a madman in the woods, denying the existence of the Titan they had all seen and heard.
It frightened her.
"What do you mean, who are you talking about? Who's 'him'?"
"Reiner!" Marco finally snapped, shouting out the name like a curse. "I saw him change with my own eyes! He's the Armoured Titan, like Eren!" The memory of Reiner's fall and transformation slammed back into his mind's eye. The mental anguish and pain it caused were too much for Marco to bear, and his legs buckled and brought him to his knees.
Marco managed to keep himself from face planting on the floor by pressing his injured hand into the dirt, holding his body upright, as his other arm wrapped around his stomach, trying to fight back the wave of nausea threatening to overwhelm him.
'Oh, God. Reiner...'
How could he do this? How could he betray them all like this? Did those years of training mean nothing to him? All that blood, sweat and tears they had shed together?
They had shared a barracks for years, his bed only metres away from people like Armin and Eren, whose home and family he had destroyed. He had listened to their horror stories of the fall and still had the audacity to keep looking them in the eye.
'You bastard… you treacherous bastard...'
At hearing the shouted name, Sasha recoiled as if struck, and Connie's face when ghostly pale before colouring with anger. "You think this is some sort of joke, Marco?! " Connie snapped, taking a step towards his doubled over friend. Still massively on edge from what had happened, Marco messing around and accusing Reiner, their friend, of being a Titan pissed him off something fierce.
"This ain't funny, and it's not a joke! There's a fucking Titan inside Wall Rose, so stop screwing around! I'd expect that sort of shit from Ymi-" He trailed off, as Historia tensed up at the aborted name. Ymir had been outside when that Titan appeared, she could be dead for all he knew, same as Reiner.
"I thought you weren't the sort to fuck around like this!" Connie corrected.
Marco's head snapped up, "I'm not screwing around, Connie! I saw it!"
"Bullshit! Reiner is not a Titan! That's fucking ridiculous!"
Now it was Marco's turn to get angry. Rising to his feet on shaky legs, he glared at Connie as his hand curled into a fist. "I know what I saw! You think I want it to be him?!"
"I think you were seeing shit!"
Marco moved forward until the two teens were almost faced to face, automatically sizing each other up as they had been taught in bootcamp. Marco knew he had Connie beat in the height department, standing a whole head taller than him, and he used that to glare down at him.
"I know what I saw." He repeated coldly, blood dripping to the ground from his clenched fist.
"That's enough! Both of you!" Sasha ordered, getting in between the two boys and pushing them away. Of all things she thought she would be doing today, stopping a potential fight between Connie and Marco of all people was not one of them.
"We shouldn't be fightin' each other. Not when there's a Titan, or Reiner, or whatever, back there! We need to work together!" She pleaded, her hands still firmly planted on their chests to keep them apart.
"Don't tell me you believe this shit, Sash? This is Reiner we are talking about!" Connie asked hotly, fighting to get his anger under control. He had very nearly done something he would have regretted had Sasha not stepped in, and judging by the look of shame on Marco's face, he wasn't the only one.
Sensing the situation defusing slightly, Sasha allowed her hands to drop but maintained her position between the two just in case. "I-I don't know, Connie." Just saying the words drained Sasha emotionally. "Reiner was outside when it happened, and Marco said he saw it, why would he lie?"
She wanted it to not be true, desperately so. She wanted Marco to be wrong, and Connie to be right, but she just couldn't shake that sinking feeling that had been growing within her ever since Marco had said Reiner's name.
"I'm not saying he's lying, just confused and seeing things." Connie protested, knowing in his heart of hearts that Marco wasn't a liar, leaving him miss-seeing things as the only possible explanation for what he was saying.
"I'm not the only one who saw it, Connie," Marco spoke quietly, his own anger having burnt out, and replaced with equal parts shame and sadness. "You can ask the others if we find them. They all saw it."
Connie turned away and ran a shaky hand over his hair. "I can't believe this… are you two even hearing yourselves?! You're saying that Reiner, our friend, is a Titan. A Titan that destroyed Maria killing tens of thousands of people and attacked us during the expedition. Have you lost your minds?!"
"I don't want it to be true, Con." Sasha answered quietly, looking down at her feet.
"Coulda fooled me…" She flinched at the heated retort, already feeling like she was betraying Reiner for even considering what Marco said, and now she was hurting Connie because of it.
"Connie, I-" Whatever Sasha was going to say was cut off as the expert hunter abruptly straightened up and fell silent. Years of practice had honed her senses to an uncanny ability, allowing her to pick up and assess tiny sounds that most others wouldn't even hear.
Sounds like a faint, distant thudding noise, growing steadily louder.
Sounds like footsteps.
Turning about at the stillborn sentence, Connie's eyes grew wide as Sasha quickly wiped off the bow and started notching an arrow. "S-sash?"
"Shhh!" Sasha hissed scanned the darkness of the woods with her sharp eyes. "I hear something."
A hush fell over the scouts, as they all listened in trying to determine what it was that Sasha heard. It took them a few moments, but soon they heard it as well.
Something, or someone, was heading towards them.
Sasha brought up the bow and aimed it in the vague direction of the steps, trying to control her unsteady breathing. Her fingers trembled around the string as the sound seemed to be echoing off the trees in multiple directions.
'It could just be the others who ran and followed our tracks.' She cautioned, her mouth painfully dry. 'But if it's not and they reach us… It could be the MPs, or… him.'
Her quiver held twelve arrows, and Sasha had never failed to bring down an animal with more than three before. But what was coming was no wild animal, it was a person, it could even be multiple people, and Sasha had never fired an arrow at a human being before.
Could she really do it? Take a life, even if it was in self-defence?
"Calm down, Sasha. Take a deep breath and steady your hands." Her father's words from many years ago played in her head. "I know it seems cruel at first, but we never hunt for fun. We only hunt for food and safety. To keep food on our plates and wolves away from our home. We hunt to sustain the things we love, Sasha. Can you do that? Can you hunt to protect the things you love?"
"...yes, Papa." She remembered her own answer well, spoken with all the seriousness a six-year-old could muster as her father placed the training bow in her hands.
"Good. Then let's begin."
Sasha's breathing slowed and steadied, and the tremble in her fingers died down. Safety for those she cared about, she could do that… she would do that.
The footsteps grew louder, and they could hear the runner's heavy panting as they approached. With the newfound calmness and conviction in her heart and mind, Sasha focused on the sound. It was definitely echoing, but the panting, while erratic, all had the same tone and depth to it. It wasn't multiple people as she had fear, it was just one.
The bowstring strained against her fingertips, pulled back to its limits. Sasha took a tiny, almost imperceptible step to her left and adjusted her aim higher. A human heart was further up than a deer's after all.
There was a crack of a branch breaking underfoot, and it was just what Sasha had been waiting for. A definite direction of her target. Taking a split second to point the bow in precisely the right direction, she loosed the arrow without hesitation.
The wooden shaft cut through the air at a blinding speed, slashing through dense vegetation with ease. The intended target had just burst through a bush into their clearing and was tilted forward mid-stride when the arrow soared past her, mere millimetres from the back of her head, but still passing close enough to severe a few strands of singed hair, before the arrowed continued its journey into the darkness.
The target let out a strangled cry of shock as she felt the soundwave caused by the soaring arrow smack into her ears, unbalancing her and causing her to topple forward and crash to the ground. The pale, freckled face of the target rose up from the dirt and shot a blistering glare in the direction of the archer.
"Fucking hell, Potato girl!" Ymir shrieked, "You nearly shot me!"
The familiar angry voice caused Sasha to freeze and blanche. The arrow she had already started to notch for her follow up shot slipped from her fingers. 'Oh shit.'
Historia shot to her feet. "Ymir?!" She shouted, daring to hope this wasn't a dream.
"Historia!" Ymir called back, quickly rising to her feet. That was all it took for Historia to start running towards her.
The two lovers collided into one another, in a tight embrace, both relieved beyond words to see the other. Ymir smiled at Historia, lightly running her thumb across the small cut she had picked up on her cheek during the rapid flight through the woods.
Historia looked up at Ymir with tears in her eyes. She smiled back at her girlfriend for a moment, then delivered the hardest punch she could muster straight to Ymir's shoulder.
"Don't ever do something so goddamn stupid again, you hear me Ymir!"
"Ow!" Ymir moaned, gingerly rubbing her shoulder having been rapidly, and thoroughly disillusioned of her hope that her return would be met with a heartfelt kiss or something similar. "I was just trying to protect you from the MPs!"
"You should have done that by staying with me!" Historia fired back. "You could have been killed!"
"I would have been fi-" Ymir stopped, realising that was a lie. Had she been just a little bit closer to Braun when he changed, or if that MP had been a faster shot and aimed for her head, she might have died. She knew next to nothing about the true extent of her abilities; could she recover from bodywide third-degree burns or a bullet to the brain?
'She's right. I was stupid. So much for playing the hero...'
"Look, I-I'm sorry, alright. I didn't realise, I was just doing what I thought was right." The rogue shifter apologised.
Having vented most of her frustration and anger, Historia buried her face in Ymir's other shoulder, feeling her warmth and inhaling her scent to make sure she was real. "I thought I lost you." She sobbed quietly.
Ymir rubbed the shaking girl's back, trying to comfort her, now feeling like a world's worst girlfriend. "Hey, it's alright, I'm here now. You can't get rid of me that easily."
"I know. But if you do that again, I'll kick your ass. I swear." Historia half-laughed, half-sobbed.
The others stood around awkwardly, quietly waiting for the two to finish their private moment. Sasha, after subtly retrieving the arrow that had slipped from her hand, stood extremely still trying to blend into the background, hoping that Ymir would be in a forgiving, or at least understanding, mood about her near-skewering.
Connie, on the other hand, let out a huge sigh of relief, genuinely happy to see the abrasive freckled girl. Never before had her irksome face been such a welcome sight. And since she was outside when the Titan appeared, hopefully Ymir could put this ridiculous Reiner theory to rest.
"Ymir," He blurted, unable to wait any longer. "You're alive!"
The scathing look Ymir gave him caused his mouth to snap close with an audible click. Rising to her feet, and helping Historia up with her, Ymir huffed and rolled her eyes. "No shit, moron. Any other brilliant observations?"
As Ymir started to tear into Connie, Marco found himself staring at her. She had been standing right beside him until he shoved her, and Marco had seen her being blasted away when he transformed at a blistering speed. Part of him assumed that the blast had killed her instantly, or at least caused serious catastrophic injuries akin to a full-speed 3DMG accident.
Yet, Ymir seemed to be fine; her clothes may have been ragged and charred, and it looked like some of her hair had been burnt, but physically there didn't seem to be a single mark on her. Not one cut, burn or bruise.
She must have been the luckiest person on Earth.
"Ymir," he called her name, interrupting the growing verbal sparring match. "How did you get away? You were right next to him."
Connie's head swivelled to level another glare at him, but Marco ignored it. Ymir had seen it as well, hell, she probably saw more than he did. She would be able to prove that he wasn't insane as Connie believed.
For the briefest moment, her grey eyes met his, and Marco saw it in her eyes. Vindication. Something he found no pleasure in, but something he knew needed to happen.
Ymir looked away and grunted. "I got lucky. Braun shoved me away before he changed, and the explosion sent me flying out of reach. Then I ran after you lot."
That was all Ymir was willing to say, and they all knew that unless Historia asked her directly, she would not elaborate further. But she didn't need to, for she had already confirmed the dreadful truth.
Sasha shuddered and looked away, and Connie stumbled back soundlessly moving his mouth. Both of them felt like someone had just plunged a knife into their chest and cruelly twisted it. Marco took no pleasure from their reaction or his own vindication, wanting it to be as untrue as they had hoped, but knowing they deserved the truth, even if it was painful. He refused to be the third friend who lied to them today.
"No… No!" Connie's anguish was clear to hear. "I don't believe it, I don't believe any of this bullshit! If Reiner was a Titan," Connie sneered the word as he scowled at Ymir, "why the hell would he bother pushing you out the way? Well?! Why would a Titan do that?! You and Reiner hate each other!"
"I don't know!" Ymir snapped back harshly, "But it happened, so you need to deal with it because throwing a hissy fit ain't gonna change shit! Or maybe you'd like to go back and see for yourself? You could ask some of the bodies I had to run past what happened, would you believe them?!"
"Fuck you!" Connie furiously spat, wondering how he could have ever been grateful to see her stupid face. Just once, just fucking once, could Ymir not be such an insufferable bitch?!
A hand grabbed him, fingers wrapping around his clenched fist and pulled him around to come face to face with Sasha. A few strands of her reddish-brown hair had slipped from her ponytail and hung down over her ashen face. She said nothing as she squeezed his hand, drawing his eyes to hers.
Those light brown orbs which were usually so bright and full of life, constantly shining with boundless energy, were now dull and bloodshot as if she had been holding back tears.
Despite it only lasting a few seconds, the loaded gaze felt like an age for Connie, and he could feel his resolve weakening. Then, with deliberate slowness, Sasha lightly shook her head, never breaking eye contact.
For all of Marco's insistence and Ymir's spiteful bluntness, all it took was Sasha simply saying no to bring Connie's wall of anger and denial crumbling down, leaving only the pain behind. The pain of betrayal, the pain of loss.
Reiner was his friend, one of his best friends. Connie trusted him, cared for him, fought alongside him. Loved him as a friend and a brother. How could he do this to him, to all of them?!
"I can't…" Connie started to say, before choking up, unable to finish his grief-stricken cry.
The thin watery smile Sasha gave him was more comforting than it had any right to be. "I know… I know." The whispered acknowledgement was all she said, but nothing else was needed. She knew him too well.
Even as she was still composing herself, Historia watched everything with a growing sense of shame. She had forgotten how devastating Reiner's betrayal had been on Sasha and Connie, and how much it had hurt them. They didn't have the cold comfort of a past life to shield them from the pain and had to live through each raw and painful second for the first time.
She wanted to say something; to comfort them, or apologise to them. But it was because of her, her father and his MPs that they had to find out about Reiner this way, so hearing from her was probably the last thing they wanted.
Historia knew that them finding out about Reiner was inevitable, but she had hoped it would come after he had been dealt with, to at least save them from having to witness it first hand.
'I'm sorry. It shouldn't have been this way… but we need to keep moving. The MPs aren't going to stop while Rod is still alive.'
Fortunately for Historia, she could always rely on her girlfriend's appalling sense of timing and her unyielding bluntness to express the things she was too ashamed to say.
"Right, if we're all done dealing with our monthlies can we move on and decide what we're going to do next? Because I'd rather not spend the rest of my life hiding in a forest from a Titan and the MPs, especially with you three." Ymir lazily draped an arm over Historia's shoulder, trying to sound bored and indifferent. But the tightness of her jaw and visible tension in her stance betrayed how on edge she truly was.
As crude as it was, Ymir's question helped to drive home the full weight of the situation the young scouts found themselves in. They were lost deep in the woods, alone and unarmed except for a single bow, a handful of arrows and their bare hands. One of their number was being hunted by the MPs for reasons as yet unknown, and all the while the Armoured Titan, now revealed to be one of their closest and most trusted friends, was now loose within Wall Rose.
Their oaths and commitments as soldiers commanded them to return to the ranch, and fight. To do anything and everything in their power to defend humanity against its most hated foe, even if they had no gear.
But for Sasha, Connie and Marco their old loyalty and bonds of friendship pinned them in place, crippling them with indecisiveness. For all the righteous fury and anger that should have been burning within their hearts against Reiner for his ultimate betrayal, they couldn't bring themselves to go back and face him. Everything was just too recent and raw.
"We can't stay here." Sasha quietly murmured, finally letting go of Connie's hand. She saw everyone looking at her and quickly stared down at her feet, both embarrassed and ashamed of what she was about to say. "And… I don't think we should go back."
It was a treasonous statement, one of desertion and cowardness made in a time of emergency. By military law, they could be court-martialed for even suggesting such a thing, and if they went through with it, they could all face the firing line. Hell, if the court was especially dogmatic, they were already guilty of desertion by fleeing the ranch.
But even with this threat hanging over their heads, the young scouts (for various reasons) found they didn't really care. The courts and a firing line sounded more preferable, and survivable than facing Reiner right now.
"I-I know somewhere we could go." Connie murmured morosely, his voice still thick with emotions. "There's a village to the north-west of here, maybe two, three hours by foot. We could stop there, get some supplies, maybe even borrow some horses. We'll be safe there."
'And maybe we can get some answers about what the fuck happened today.' He thought bitterly, sweeping his gaze over at Krista, or Historia, or whatever the hell her name was now.
Sasha and Marco looked relieved, and while Historia said nothing, she did give a small nod of agreement. Ymir, however, looked cynical.
"How do you know that?" She demanded, her hackles still raised. "And how can we trust them not to rat us out if some more MPs come knocking? Cause I ain't in a trusting mood right now."
Connie coolly regarded her for a moment, too despondent and dispirited to grow angry. He just didn't have it in him to argue with her again so he simply answered her question with four simple words.
"Because it's my home."
Ragako Village - Wall Rose Territories
Ragako was a typical rural village in every sense of the word.
Less than two dozen houses of varying sizes and designs were smattered about, radiating out from the communal well and the small market square which hosted a handful of stalls selling fresh produce, bread, cloth and other mundane but vital items one might need to live a simple village life.
The fact some of these stalls were left unattended except for small signs telling potential customers to just leave the cash in the box while the owner was grabbing some lunch only added to the atmosphere of an incredibly tight knitted community.
Ymir had openly scoffed at the signs, but a hard glare from Connie and, surprisingly, Sasha had stilled her reaching hand before she could swipe an apple.
Several children were kicking a ball around on the main street, laughing and shouting in the way that playing kids did. But when the children noticed the slowly approaching group of scouts, they stopped and stared, curious as to who these rare visitors to their village were. It only lasted a few moments before one of the kids broke ranks and sprinted full pelt toward the group.
"CONNIE!" The girl screamed joyously, leaping into Connie's outstretched arms and wrapping her thin arms around his chest.
"Heya, Sunny. How have you been?" Connie smiled down at the long locks of blond hair, subtly trying to blink away the wetness in his hazel eyes as he hugged his sister. "You've gotten bigger since I last saw you."
The little girl looked up a brilliant, beaming smile on her face. "I've been great! Mrs Lunda's cat had kittens, and she and Ma said I could have one! They're soooo cute!" Sunny then buried her face in Connie's chest. "I missed you." she mumbled.
"I missed you too, sis." Connie kissed his sister's forehead, trying to remember the last time he saw her.
'Probably visitation day last year. Fuck, has it really been that long?'
It was strange to think about really, so much had changed for Connie in the last few months that last year felt like an eternity ago.
Last year he had wanted to join the MPs.
Last year he had never even seen a Titan with his own eyes, let alone fought one.
Last year his biggest concern was keeping off Shadis's shitlist and trying to avoid being assigned with Annie for hand to hand combat.
Now his biggest concern was fleeing for his life from the MPs trying to track them down and from someone he had once considered to be an older brother.
Other things could change so fast, but at least his family stayed the same, even if his little sister had shot up like a tree.
"Who are they? Are they soldiers too?" Sunny whispered, having warily eyed the four strangers her brother had arrived with over his shoulder.
The girl with a ponytail and a bow had noticed her looking, and waved at her. Sunny had to resist the urge to wave back, remembering what Mummy had told her about stranger danger. Sunny always thought she worried too much, after all, there were no strangers in Rakago. She knew everyone, and they all knew her.
"Yeah. They're my friends from bootcamp." Connie smiled, quickly glancing at his friends before turning back to face his sister again. "Listen, Sunny, where's mum and dad? I need to talk to them about something, it's important."
Sunny scrunched up her nose and frowned. Connie was using that same tone of voice that Mummy and Daddy used when talking about adult things that they refused to tell her about. It was weird to hear Connie talking like a grownup, but she supposed that being a soldier made him an adult as well.
"Mummy's at home with Martin, but Dad's away. He's in Krolva for the week, helping Uncle Samia move house." Sunny informed him, her frown deepening at the odd look of relief that flashed across Connie's face. Did he not want to see Dad or something?
"Good… that's good." Connie breathed out, waving for his friends to follow them. "Come on sis, let's go surprise Ma and Marty, shall we?" Before Sunny could answer, Connie had grabbed her hand and started walking toward the Springer household, his friends in tow.
As they were led through the quaint village, Sasha walked a bit faster to catch up with Connie and his adorable button-nosed sister. "You know, I never realised how close Ragako was to Dauper. We're practically neighbours." She said with a smile, falling into line with the siblings. Ragako might be missing the familiar sounds and smells of the forest, but it still reminded her of home.
"Imagine if we were actually neighbours. We probably would have burnt the village down before we were ten." Connie lightly chuckled, picturing it in his mind.
"Ha, yeah. But at least I could have taught you how to hunt properly."
"I'm not that bad." Connie weakly protested.
Sasha raised an eyebrow. "You managed to catch yourself in your own snare trap… twice!"
Sunny looked back and forth between the two bantering teens. She didn't know who this girl was, but she had seemed friendly, and Connie did say she was his friend. Maybe it was okay to talk to her?
"You know how to hunt?" With childlike innocence, Sunny blurted out her question, unabashedly staring at the bow the girl had slung over her shoulder.
The auburn-haired girl smiled down at her and proudly patted the bow. "Yep. I've probably been hunting since you were still in your baby clothes, Sunny."
"You- you know my name?" Sunny asked, eyes widening in surprise.
"Oh yeah, Connie told me all about you and your brother back in bootcamp." She nodded with a toothy grin, before dropping her voice into a stage whisper, "Don't tell him I said this, but he missed you two so much. Cried like a baby for weeks."
"Really, Sasha? Really?" Connie groaned as Sunny broke out in a fit of giggles. She liked this Sasha, and now that they knew each other's names they weren't strangers anymore, right?
Reaching out with her free hand, Sunny latched onto Sasha's sleeve and gave it a light tug. "Could you teach me to hunt? I'll be better than Connie, I promise!"
From a few paces back, flanked by Marco and Ymir, Historia watched the trio with a ghost of a smile. She was sure that had this been any other day she would have been openly squealing at how adorable the three of them looked, holding on to each other as they walked down the street. But with everything that had happened today, Historia's troubled heart only permitted that small smile.
Countless questions were flying about her head, each one demanding an answer. Was coming here the right thing to do? Her father and the interior squad wouldn't think twice about burning Ragako to the ground if they suspected they were hiding her from them. Her mere presence here was endangering the lives of everyone in this village.
'We can't stay here long.' She decides, not wanting to put Connie's home and family at risk. No one deserved to go through what he did a second time, even if he didn't remember the first time. 'I need to find Armin and Mikasa. Together we'll think of something.'
Marco had been quiet since the incident in the woods, his mind still a thousand miles away as he walked through Connie's village. He had tried to keep his eyes fixed forward but had nevertheless found himself occasionally glancing over his shoulder as if expecting to see Reiner or the MPs appearing behind them at any moment.
The action did little to soothe his rampant sense of paranoia and fear, but at the very least, he was more in control than he had been in the woods.
Connie had apologised to him during the walk, and they had made up in the way only guys could. As they neared the two-hour mark of their journey here, Connie had fallen into lockstep with him, and after several minutes of awkward silence, the shorter teen had broken the tension with an odd question.
"So... who would've won?" Connie had asked, referring to their near fight with a weak grin.
Despite everything, Marco found a tiny smile forming on his face at the inane question. "Well, I've got you beat on height and weight, but you scored higher in CQC training." He had answered with a shrug, "But either way, Sasha probably would have beaten us both if we started."
"Ha, yeah..." Connie snorted, wholeheartedly agreeing with Marco's assessment of Sasha kicking both their arses. Afterall she had been the one who had twisted his arm into apologising now rather than leaving the divide between the two boys to widen and fester.
"Hey man, listen…" Connie took a breath, anxiously rubbing the back of his head. "I'm sorry for being a dick back there, you didn't deserve it. I just didn't want to believe it ya' know?"
"I understand, Connie. I- I didn't want to believe it either." Marco had replied softly, painfully aware of Connie's reasonings.
"Thanks, Marco…" Connie trailed off, letting out a sigh of relief. "So, we good?"
Marco nodded, "Yeah, we're good."
They walked on silently for several more minutes, the awkwardness now significantly reduced, and Marco thought there was no more left to say when Connie clicked his tongue.
"Hey, what do you say to next time we get a few free minutes we spar and find out for sure? That way we wouldn't have to worry about Sash smacking us around."
For the first time in hours, Marco's smile was warm and genuine. "You're on."
Ymir, on the other hand, had received no such apology, but that wasn't a surprise. Frankly, she wasn't really a believer in excuses or apologies, and attempting to do so would only result in more mockery. But, unless it was something truly serious, Ymir didn't hold grudges. Sure, she would remember them but only for the purpose of potential goading or ribbing later down the line, but otherwise, it meant little to her. After all, words were just words to her, and getting upset over them was a waste of her time and energy.
But to her immense frustration, some of Connie's words had stuck with her. Not the insults or the shouting but that simple question of why. Why had Braun pushed her away? Why had he tried to save her?
Surely as a shifter himself, Braun must have known what she was planning to do with the knife. And, while her information might be over half a century out of date, Ymir reckoned he must have been sent to Paradise by Marley or perhaps some other nation to wipe the last 'free' Eldians out. His destruction of Maria was proof enough for her, yet it only made his actions more confusing.
'Why did he bother trying to help if his goal is to exterminate us?' Ymir thought, glaring at a passing villager who had stared at them a bit too long. 'Wait, 'us'?' She took a mental step back, stunned by her own choice of words. 'Since when did I include myself as one of them?'
A face flashed before her eyes, with eyes of deepest blue and a smile warmer than the height of summer sun, and Ymir knew the truth.
'Well damn,' Ymir realised with a wry grin, 'I've been domesticated.'
All three of them were so caught up with their own internal discussions, that they nearly collided into Sasha and the Springer siblings who had come to a stop in front of a well-kept modest-sized house.
Connie stepped toward the door and called to them over his shoulder. "Hey guys, just let me do the talking, alright?" After receiving a mixture of grunts and nods, Connie went to knock but then hesitated, freezing his knuckles about an inch before the wooden door. He turned to face them with an oddly strained expression.
"And, errr, don't tell the others what's about to happen, would ya?"
With his cryptic request issued, Connie took a deep breath and rapped his knuckles against the door.
*Knock knock*
They all heard someone yelping from inside the house as what sounded like a pan dropped to the floor. The metallic clatter was swiftly followed by a faint curse and a female voice shouting for them to wait a minute.
Connie nervously shifted his weight from foot to foot, as the sounds of his mother's footsteps grew louder as she approached the door, and Sunny had to stifle a giggle both from the anticipation of her mother's reaction and at hearing her say a naughty word.
The door was pulled open, revealing a middle-aged woman whose hands and apron was covered in a thin layer of flour. She had some mild wrinkles around her eyes, but no more than would be expected of a mother of three. Still, with the neat formal bun she had tied her hair into, Mrs Sala Springer radiated an image of a dignified older woman who took pride in maintaining a certain standard of poise and elegance, no matter the occasion.
"Hello." She greeted, expecting to see a neighbour or maybe one of Martin's or Sunny's friends, only for her eyes to fly open when she saw who it really was.
"Hi, Mum," Connie answered with an awkward grin. "Surprise!"
"CONNIE!" She cried out, just as gleefully as her daughter had done and pulled her son into a bone-crushing hug. "Oh, my sweet, sweet boy. I've been so worried about you!"
She certainly wasn't lying about that. Ever since Connie's letter had arrived informing them of his decision to join the scouts, she had been beside herself with fear. She just couldn't believe her darling boy had done something so foolish, especially when he told her he had been eligible for the MPs and had decided against it.
And say nothing of when his most recent letter had arrived, telling them he would be going on his first expedition over the Wall. She had cried herself to sleep that night, clutching the letter to her heart, genuinely believing that would be the last thing she ever received from her eldest child.
But now he was here, safe in her arms again.
"Ma, stop it." Connie protested, his face burning bright red as his mother peppered his forehead with kisses. "Honestly, I'm fine. See?"
Sala sniffled and wiped away a stray tear with the back of her hand. "I'm just so happy to see you, sweetie." She broke the hug and held him at arm's length, inspecting his face as if to verify his claim of healthiness. "What are you doing here? Did you get time off after your expedition? I wish you had written beforehand so your father could be here as well."
"Yeeah, something like that," Connie answered evasively, as Ymir let out a blatantly fake cough from behind. "Listen, Ma, there's something we need to talk about. Can we come in for a bit? It's important."
"Oh," The Springer Matriarch looked over at her son's compatriots, noting how they all looked a bit tense. "Of course, come in. I was just preparing some lunch if your friends are hungry?" She asked, waving the teenagers in after her children.
After a brief but touching reunion with his younger brother, Sala had asked Connie what it was that had him, and his friends so worked up as she put the finishing touches on the meal that she had fortunately made too much of for just herself, Martin and Sunny.
"While I'm over the moon to see you and meet your friends, Connie, I'm guessing they all have their own families they'd rather be visiting if you were on leave. What's going on?"
Rather than answer, Connie started to chew his lip and glanced at his siblings out of the corner of his eye. It was a small, subtle movement, but one she was well versed in. Her husband did a similar thing whenever he needed to tell her something he didn't think was appropriate for young ears.
"Sunny darling, could you take Martin to your room for a minute? I need to talk to your brother privately for a bit." Sala could already see the protest forming on her daughter's lips, and decided to nip it in the bud. "If you do it without complaining, I might bake some cookies for the two of you later, okay?"
Sunny pouted, her desire for cookies and curiosity about what it was her brother needed to say warred within her. Eventually, however, the promise of baked treats won out, and she pulled her reluctant baby brother out of the kitchen. "Come on, Marty. I can tell you all about the kitten I'm gonna get."
With the two children gone, Sala faced the teenage soldiers expectantly.
After receiving a few cautionary nods from his friends, Connie opened his mouth and started to explain. "You're right Ma, we're not leaving, we were on a training mission, just a few miles away, to determine which squad we would join. Everything was going fine until... something happened and we had run. And now people are looking for us. Bad people. We came here so we could hide from them for a while and maybe borrow some horses from Mr Apox if he still runs the stable, so we can keep moving and hopefully link up with the rest of our corp."
Sala pursed her lips at her son's 'explanation'. 'Honestly, is 'something' and 'bad people' really the best he can do?'
"Connie, I'm your mother, not a child, you can tell me the truth. Now, what happened, who's after you and what do they want? I want a real answer this time."
Once again, the teenagers looked at each other, but this time it seemed like the short blond girl sitting at her kitchen table received most of the attention.
She was a beautiful girl, even with those sad, downcast eyes, and Sala briefly wondered if this was the Sasha girl Connie spent so much of his letters talking about. He could do much worse if that was the case.
"It was the MPs, Ma. Or at least people dressed like them." Connie answered quietly, folding to his mother's demand for clarity. "They attacked the older scouts looking after us and wanted to take Kr-Historia away. Someone we knew... scared them off, and the five of us ran here."
'So not Sasha then.' Sala corrected, only marginally disappointed, and regarding the blond girl again with a more attentive eye. 'What do the MPs want with a young girl like her? She can't be older than what, 14, 15? And what was that hesitation about her name? Well, I guess there is only one way to find out.'
"So, Historia, why are the MPs after you? I am going to assume you are innocent of whatever they accused you of, seeing as you have entangled my son in this mess. Otherwise…"
She let the remark hang, keeping her steely gaze firmly fixed on the girl in question.
Out the corner of her eye, Sala could see her son's face redden and his starting mouth opening, ready to speak on the blond's behalf. She raised a hand to cut him off, wanting to hear it from her and her alone.
Historia looked up at Connie's mother, and their eyes met. She was usually quite good at reading people, a skill she had picked up as Queen, but Mrs Springer's expression was totally unreadable, a stoic mask which displayed no emotion. But Historia could guess that she wasn't happy about Connie being caught up in her issues, and on that account, they were in agreement.
She could see the rest of her friends staring as well, all of them waiting for an answer. Only Ymir wasn't, and instead offered her hand under the table for her to hold. Historia gladly reached for it, lacing her fingers with Ymir's as she broke eye contact with Connie's mother and for the second time in her life, she told her friends about her past.
"My name is Historia Reiss, and I am the illegitimate daughter of a powerful nobleman called Rod Reiss and his servant maid. I was kept well away from the public eye to avoid a scandal and lived on a farm owned by him until I was ten years old. I never saw him, but he did summon my mother to go visit him… The first time I ever met my father was on the day Wall Maria fell; he introduced himself to me and told me to follow him outside, saying he was going to take my mother and me somewhere else." Historia took a sip of water to combat her dry throat.
"He was lying. I followed him outside, and we were quickly surrounded by MPs. He said nothing as they slit my mother's throat in front of me and only spoke up when they turned on me. He told them I was to be sent to the military to get rid of me."
Marco gasped, Connie baulked, Sasha looked horrified, and Ymir squeezed her hand. Mrs Springer's mask momentarily cracked, as her eyes grew large and her lips parted in shock. Such a thing was almost incomprehensible to the mother of three. How can anyone do that to a child, let alone their own child? What sort of monster was this Lord Reiss?
Historia continued, wanting to get this over with quickly, knowing she would still have to lie to her friends. She had to think of another way to explain her father's influence without telling them he was the true King because if Commander Erwin finds out, he might try and force her into becoming the Queen again. And she refused to go through that again.
"I spent a few years with the Wall cult until I reached enlistment age, when they gave me a fake name, 'Krista Lenz', and told me if I told anyone my real name there would be consequences. I don't know why my father sent the MPs to find me after all this time, but I do know he's an influential man within the Government and the Wall cult."
She looked around the table with a weak smile. "That's why I had to lie to you all. I didn't want my father to hurt you as well. I'm sorry."
'I guess Armin was right, the best and easiest lies are those wrapped in truths.'
Historia braced herself for the barrage of questions and tried to answer each question as honestly as possible. She could see Ymir looking at her strangely out the corner of her eye, and could practically see the question in her eye about how much of it was true.
She had already resolved to tell Ymir the actual truth about her father and tried to express that in her eyes, silently pleading with her to be patient and promising she would tell her once they were alone.
Mrs Springer eventually rose to her feet, noticeable paler than before. "I am so sorry for what you had to go through, Historia. No one should have to experience those things. You are more than welcome to stay here as long as you need, and I'll ask around the village for any supplies you kids may need. You'll be safe here, I promise."
'You can't promise that.' Historia thought even as she opened her mouth to thank the woman. "Thank you, Mrs Springer, and I'm sorry for dragging your family into this."
"Don't mention it dear, a friend of Connie's is a friend of Ragako. And Ragako looks after its own."
Hopefully, you all enjoyed this chapter, and don't think the characters were too OOC in their reactions to Reiner's betrayal (I feel that I made them all a bit more emotive than canon as they are all younger and not as hardened as they were during the canon reveal)
And as last chapter got the most reviews yet I decided to make the effort to reply to you all:
Traitor of All Traitors - Don't worry my friend, that was just a joke. Ships will remain AM and HY.
Miqila - You raise very good points, and I will try harder for next time :D. I'm glad you still found it funny even if it didn't fool you as planned!
Isil'zha BLZ - Mission accomplished then lol, hopefully, this chapter makes us for it!
Heir-to-Sunspear-23 - Haha, sorry for being so cruel but I promised a friend last year I would do an April fools chapter after I forgot to do it, and I try to be a man of my word lol.
Thunderstrike16 - Yeah, a fair chunk of the Eren and Petra bit (obvs not the sex stuff, but the teasing and storytelling) came from discarded chunks of chapter 19 which I had written then realised they didn't quite fit with the dark hopelessness of that chapter. As for their relationship going forward even, I'm not sure tbh. When I decided to save Petra, I planned for her become the maternal figure to Levi's paternal one for the 104th kids, but now I'm not too sure as she's only really spent time with Eren.
I guess I will leave it partially up to the readers and to how the story develops to decide what sort of relationship the two will have by the end, but either way they are going to be close.
Guest - Thanks, glad you like it! As for future Eren I don't see him coming back like AM and H, as I would be too tempted to make AM take turns kicking him in the nuts, but there is a good chance of a message or some memories coming through (Rod already unlocked some of Grisha's memories for Eren to see such as the blimp and with the attack titans future sight ability... well lets just say Eren might see things he doesn't expect.)
Popular Revolt - That chapter was fueled by excessive quantities of tea, acute cabin fever and inspired by the few joking comments made on the Arumika Discord. All of those things gave birth to that chaotic mess lol. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and you are very right, the world needs amusement and harmless absurdity more than ever.