This chapter is a two parter. I wanted to make a sit-down with the three shifters before moving forward too much. Hope you enjoy anyway.
The man stood up and announced, "For the safety of people in this room, none of you will be able to get out of your seat until the clip has ended."
Levi still managed to stand up but brought the rest of the couch with him. Mike, Hange and Erwin were tilted forward unexpectedly. "Wait, are you saying the Titans are in this room with us?"
The man chuckled, "I'm saying that I'd rather none of you do something you'll regret later."
Levi narrowed his eyes but the screen started fading in and sat down, much to the relief of his couch-mates.
Armin walked away, chin in his hand, looking thoughtful. "There's been nothing like this in five years." Mikasa and Sasha walked behind him. "Why is it all happening now? This world is getting more and more out of hand."
"Wall Maria broke 5 years ago. Has Wall Rose broken?" asked Gunther.
"If you shut up, it might tell us." Levi drawled.
"Eren." Reiner's voice stopped Eren. "Have a minute? We need to talk."
Eren turned around to face Bert and Reiner, "What about?"
Mikasa walked away from the three. "Five years ago, we demolished the Wall and began our attack on humanity," Reiner casually told him.
Food and drink spat out of most of the Scouts mouths.
Levi choked on his tea. Armin's glass of water slipped through his fingers. Sasha had dropped her plate of roast potatoes. Ymir turned, wide-eyed, to the shifters.
Silence reigned in the room. Annie and Bertholdt stared at Reiner incredulously. Reiner's jaw had dropped.
Everyone else either stared at the screen or rubbed their ears, not entirely sure what they just heard.
"Oh no… What if there's a Titan that dug a hole underneath the Wall?" Hange theorized, looking up.
"The hole will be hard to find in that case," Moblit said, standing next to them.
"Ooh, imagine a titan that can dig" Hange murmured to themselves. Even they weren't sure they heard Reiner correctly.
"I'm the Armored Titan and he's the Colossal Titan." Reiner jerked his thumb over to Bertholdt.
...
Annie's brain had stopped working, as her mind was struggling to understand just what was going on.
Bertholdt squeaked as everyone turned towards the three warriors.
"I... don't know what he is on about." The sweating waterfall from his forehead suggested otherwise. "I barely even know Reiner."
"Right now," Hange said, "we need to focus on getting Ymir back safely."
Armin and Sasha followed them.
"Even with our horses," Moblit said, "we still have to worry about Titans."
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Eren asked Reiner.
Mikasa paused and turned around.
"We aren't even paying attention." Hange yelled. Levi couldn't stand up, no matter how hard he tried. If this was true, those bastards were going to get a butter knife up their-
"Why are you telling him, Reiner?" Bertolt grabbed his bicep, voice quivering.
Eren shook with rage and confusion. "Reiner... what are you saying?" asked Krista. Bertholdt squeaked again as he debated if he was going to be able to make it to the bathroom. Reiner was still struggling to understand what his future self was doing.
"Our primary goal was to ensure all of humanity was wiped out," Reiner pulled his arm away from Bertholdt. Mikasa listened behind them.
Annie facepalmed.
At this point most of the Scouts were holding knives and forks, getting ready to charge at the warriors.
"But now there's no need for that," Reiner went on.
"Uh…" Eren remained clueless.
"Eren. If you agree to come with us, we won't have to destroy any more of the Walls."
"Understand?"
Eren could not understand why he was standing there like an idiot.
Krista was shaking her head, it wasn't possible. Reiner and Bert, they couldn't be... titans.
"Huh? No, wait!" Eren snapped, annoyed. "I don't understand at all!"
"I'm saying… Why don't you just come with us?" Reiner suggested easily while Bertolt listened with enormous eyes. "I know this is sudden, but we need to go now."
"Right now?" Eren repeated, face reflecting in the puddle with blood staining its edges. "Where will you take me?"
"I can't say that yet. But… Well, it's something like our hometown."
Bert smacked the back of Reiner's head, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" he screamed at his best friend. Annie was taken aback by Bert's outburst.
Reiner stuttered, which annoyed Bertholdt more. "DON'T FUCKING STUTTER. ARE YOU ME? WHY DON'T YOU TELL THEM ABOUT MARCO TOO!" Bert slapped his hand to his mouth and muffled his scream.
Annie closed her eyes and whispered, "fucking idiots."
Jean whirled around, rage in his eyes. His voice barely came out as a whisper but held so much anger, "what about Marco?"
Reiner's heart hammered in his chest while Bert continued to scream behind his hand.
Mikasa had yet to move from her spot and further behind her, Armin and the other Scouts kept walking.
"So?" Reiner shifted closer to him. "What will it be, Eren?"
"Uh…"
"It's not a bad deal, right? You can easily avert this crisis."
"I wonder about that…" Eren's eyes flitted over to Mikasa, who appeared murderous.
"That's terrifying." Connie murmured trying and failing to diffuse the tension. Not even Sasha paid attention, she could barely control her anger herself. Thomas, Mina, Hannah, Franz. All dead because of them.
Armin waved his arm, Sasha next to him, and called out, "Hey! We're leaving!"
What the hell? Eren folded his arms, eyes closed, face lifted up to the sky. He opened his eyes, tired, watching the rainfall. And here I thought I had enough to think about yesterday…
"What the fuck happened yesterday?"
"Fuck that, what the fuck is happening now?"
"I won't show you what happened yesterday because it doesn't matter right now. I'm going to let you all talk but I need to talk to the three warriors for a bit."
Eren glared at the man before turning around, and stared with a burning rage at the three warriors. The man seemed oblivious to the anger of the Scouts and clapped his hands, "Right then, Annie, Bertholdt, Reiner. Care to follow me upstairs?" The three warriors quickly stood up and followed the man, taking care to avoid the murderous glares of the other Scouts.
The man walked up the stairs and into a room with the shifters names on them. The room was rather spacious; it contained three double sized beds, a carpeted floor and a few beanbag chairs. Bert sank into one of the beanbag chairs, holding his head in his hands. Reiner slumped onto the floor while Annie remained standing. The man locked the door and with a wave of his hand, brought up 4 glasses of water for himself and the others.
He sat against the door and waited for the others to speak. Three minutes of painful silence later, Reiner finally spoke. "Why did I say all those things? Am I going insane?" his voice was muffled as he spoke into the carpet.
The man sighed, "You were suffering from a split personality Reiner. You don't know if you're a Warrior of Marley or a Soldier of the Walls." Reiner winced in pain as Bert kicked him in the side. "I knew we should've turned back when we had the chance. You could never have replaced Marcel. You are nothing but..."
KICK
"A selfish"
KICK
"Fucking"
KICK
"Bastard!"
Annie raised her arm and caught Bert's foot before he could kick Reiner again. Reiner took the beating, knowing it was worth it. Annie held onto Bert's leg and kicked his other one causing Bertholdt to keel over in pain. "Beating Reiner won't do anything for us. We have a group of very angry people down there and going against each other won't help anyone."
The man watched Reiner, waiting for a certain sign. The sudden shift in personality from soldier to warrior. He smirked when he saw it happen and sat back to enjoy this.
Reiner abruptly stood up and looked at Bertholdt, "Don't hate me because I'm better than you, maybe if you got rid of that dumb haircut you'd be able to think for yourself more instead of relying on me for everything. I mean you couldn't even tell Annie your damn feelings for her in time and now she's shacking up with that blonde, coconut headed moron, you Eldian prick."
He then wheeled on Annie, "As for you. I'm sick and tired of you, you blonde haired bitch. The only reason you were even sent to Paradis was because you were too damn stoic to be around everyone else. The only good thing you bring to the team is a titan with a nice body, far better than the one you have now. I've had enough of your shit."
Bert and Annie glared angrily at Reiner while he did the same to them. It was silent until the man giggled before laughing his head off. The three warriors looked at the man. After a few minutes of hoots and howls, the man stood up, "You know, I always hated you guys for what you did. In the end, after all I had done, after all those people I had killed. I realised how young you all were. And for that..."
The man lifted his hood off his head, shocking the three warriors. "I'm sorry."
The man had long black hair tied back, his features were sharp and defined. His eyes...
"E-Eren?"
His eyes a dull green, as if all life had left it.
