Chapter 3: The Fight

There are no rules. Reiner and Zeke will brawl inside of the walls, the border of Shiganshina acting like a boxing ring. The fight lasts as long as it takes, not until death but right up until that point when the other combatant can't physically put up a fight. Reiner seems confident. Me, not so much.

He and Zeke stand on either end of Shiganshina, allowing themselves enough room to transform. I stay atop the wall as the unwilling spectator and official. I honestly don't know how this fight will go down. I've never seen Zeke's titan in an actual hand-to-hand fight before. He's strong but so is Reiner. Reiner's titan is built more for that kind of fighting and tanking blows and, try as I may, I can't picture Zeke's titan faring well against him. Zeke's only ever stood on the sidelines hurling boulders at the enemy. His titan isn't very agile either. It sort of just plods along slowly with those tiny legs and that massive torso. And those noodle arms may be perfect for throwing things at high speeds but I can't see them landing any serious punches.

I don't know if there's supposed to be a signal or anything to mark the start of the fight but Zeke's side flashes before Reiner's. I'm worried he'll get the drop on Reiner and hurl a volley at him before he's fully transformed but, in a surprising show of sportsmanship, Zeke waits until Reiner is ready. I scan the area around Zeke. At the start of the fight, he had chosen the side closest to the outer breach, a calculated move on his part. That's where the most debris is, allowing him plenty of ammo. Looking at his side now, I notice some things that I don't remember being there before. Small collections of boulders have been conveniently placed around corners of houses and tucked into alleyways. These boulders can't be debris from the wall. They're too round-looking and they aren't crushing any buildings like they had been flung by the force of a colossal foot kicking the gate in. Reiner and I had spent enough time playing hide-and-seek to know some of the sections around the breach fairly well. Perhaps they were placed there by Zeke while we slept in the night. Or perhaps they were rolled into place by someone due to return to report to Zeke about the movements of Eren and the Scouts before conveniently departing before anyone got wise. Someone who perfectly fits Pieck's description. Goddammit. I should have at least considered it; Reiner and I should have considered it.

The bastard, it seems, will do whatever it takes to go through with his plans that he'll resort to cheating? He doesn't care about Annie or any of us for that matter. All he cares about is Eren and the Coordinate.

I won't be able to warn Reiner about the treachery but it might not matter if he can quickly close ground on Zeke, not allowing him any time to throw any of his cheater's boulders. Reiner just has to stay close, suffocate Zeke's movement, and leave zero openings for any kind of projectile barrage and he just might be able to come out on top.

Reiner has probably come to the same conclusion as me in regards to how he'll handle Zeke. As soon as he's fully transformed, he charges at Zeke with a head of steam, throwing up cobblestones with each heavy stride. Zeke isn't fazed.

"Oh Reiner, is that the best plan you could come up with? Always trying to solve your problems by running at them head-on?" Zeke says, his voice booming in his titan form.

He does some kind of brief calisthenic routine, stretching his arms over his head, before casually grabbing a medium-sized chunk of debris from his corner—medium for him but massive for others. He doesn't immediately go for the boulders. It's like he's trying to hide the existence of the boulders for later. It would be better if he just fully committed to his deceit instead of trying to create an illusion of fairness.

He rolls the chunk of wall around in his hands, almost like he's shuffling a deck of playing cards until it's ground to his liking. Reiner doesn't have much ground to cover and he's nearly upon Zeke now who sends a volley of boulders Reiner's way. He throws it the same way he threw his pitches at us when we played baseball. The way his arm snaps when he releases is what gives the rocks their speed and devastation. Reiner raises his arms in an X to cover his head and shoulders. He takes the full brunt of the barrage, stopping mid-sprint. He remains standing. The rocks that missed Reiner tear up a cluster of rowhouses along the main street. Zeke grabs a boulder from his secret stash this time but Reiner is upon him now. He wraps his arms around Zeke's torso and manages to get one of his noodle arms trapped in his grip. Zeke's right arm—his dominant hand—is still free, the boulder held high above them.

Reiner lowers his hands along Zeke's waist in an attempt to grab at one of his legs so that he can get him on the ground. Surely, he's noticed that Zeke still has the boulder in his hand. But I don't think Reiner is all that concerned about it. Perhaps he thinks he can withstand a direct strike until he's knocked Zeke over. Zeke brings the boulder down hard across Reiner's face. Reiner doesn't react. Zeke keeps smashing the boulder against Reiner's face until it's nothing but dust and the armor covering over the left side of Reiner's head is knocked clean off, exposing the red flesh underneath.

Reiner's nearly got a hand around the back of Zeke's left leg. If he can sweep it out from under him, Zeke will go toppling over and Reiner can rain hell on him in a hail of hardened punches. There aren't any boulders within reach for Zeke to grab hold of. I start cheering from the wall.

"You can do it, Reiner! That's it!" I shout, thinking of Annie.

He's almost had Zeke right where he wants him. But that's when, with his free hand, Zeke jams a long middle finger through Reiner's right eye. Reiner lets out a shriek of pain. Zeke doesn't let up. He shoves the finger deeper inside the cavity, twisting and jerking. Even from where I'm standing I wince like I'm the one whose eye is being gouged. Reiner grabs at Zeke's arm which loosens his grip somewhat allowing Zeke to wriggle out of the tight hold. Reiner is sent staggering backward, his vision compromised. Zeke swipes up another boulder and grinds it up quickly, letting it loose at close range, peppering the armor on Reiner's front with holes. Reiner doesn't have time to cross his arms and block. He collapses onto one knee. Stand up, Reiner! I shout in my head. Stand up and fight! Please! Zeke waddles over until he's towering over Reiner. He doesn't dare to look up at him. With both hands, Zeke brings the boulder down hard across the weakened side of Reiner's face, like he's delivering the final knock-out blow. The force of the strike sends Reiner to the ground and he doesn't get back up.

I don't give myself another second to think before I start grappling down to the streets. I'm running to Reiner shouting his name as steam billows from the slab of his fallen form. He had enough strength to open his nape but he didn't have enough left to pull himself out. He's burning hot. The red fleshy tendrils around his eyes snap as I pull him from the nape. He's breathing which is good, I guess. His head must be ringing from all the boulder-strikes he took to the head.

"What happened?" he asks.

"You lost," I reply.

"Oh."

"You did alright, buddy," I say to him, "Your only mistake was believing that Zeke would play fair."

Zeke stomps over so that he's directly overhead. Smug bastard. He squats down and looks down on us, looking perfectly content with himself and his ill-gotten victory.

"Looks like I win," he says, "As per the terms of our agreement, we'll be going forward with my plan. Annie comes second."

I want to tell him off. Hurl all kinds of curses at him. That he isn't human. That I could take him on myself and obliterate him straight to hell. Reiner flinches in my arms. In my anger, I must have been gripping him too tightly. I loosen my hold on him. Both of us look up at Zeke.

"Recovering the Coordinate is our priority, as it should be," Zeke says. He emerges from his nape and wipes the condensation from his glasses.

"And if we just wait here, it'll come to us."