It had been a while since Eren had seen Marco, but when they had bumped into each other between classes he had insisted that they grab lunch together. For all the discomfort between Marco and Jean, Eren still considered Marco to be a close friend.
"We haven't had lunch together in ages, I thought you might have decided that we couldn't be friends anymore after what happened with Jean." Marco gave Eren a half-hearted smile.
"Never! I knew that the both of you needed some space to process everything and I figured I might as well try to get to know my new old friend."
"Well, circumstances aside, I am glad that you and Jean are friends now."
"It's nice. I have missed you though."
"Yeah, same."
They lapsed into a calm silence and Eren couldn't help but be distracted by the world outside the cafe windows. The sky was bright blue and the leaves were turning and the air was crisp and cool and refreshing. He could see construction paper cutouts of pumpkins and bats in windows and smiled; Halloween wasn't too far away. After a moment they both got up and cleared their plates before going outside again. They walked together as they caught up with one another, chatting about classes and their respective theses and complaining about how many first year students still needed directions to some of the buildings.
"Excuse me?" The voice was tentative and came from behind them. Both Marco and Eren turned around to face the woman who had called out. She was young and blond and Eren couldn't quite put a name to her face. I think she's a first year bio student?
"Can we help you?" Marco's smile was angelic even though the two of them had just been complaining about first years not knowing where things were. Eren couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"We have a few questions."
It all happened in slow motion. Eren could see Marco's puzzled expression turn to shock as someone grabbed him from behind and shoved a rag over his face; he struggled a moment before his body went limp. Eren could feel arms coming from behind him as well and was unable to react in time; it was all happening and he couldn't stop it. He was forced to face the woman as he was grabbed and went wide-eyed in shock and recognition. She was flirting with me on the bus the other night. Eren fought against the haziness in his mind as he and Marco were dragged into a van, trying to gather as much into his memory as possible. He had long since learned that anything could be useful later on. Just before he went unconscious he saw his assailant. And that's Eyebrows Guy from the bar.
Everything went dark.
.
Mini-chapter with a cliffhanger to start off the new arc! There are a couple more chapters to transfer but the formatting is going haywire. I'll just post the ones that I haven't transferred yet when I finish the new chapter.