Chapter 37
After the battle, it takes Reiner and Willow three days to recover from their wounds. Willow had lost consciousness shortly after taking down the last of the enemy's weapons, and Reiner tore her unconscious body from the Female's nape. He carried her back to the train where he placed her to rest in her cabin.
Reiner convinced Officer Magath to allow them to stay in the port until Willow regained consciousness so he could show her the Sea.
Despite being a Marleyan and knowing that he could tell Reiner that they were not on his schedule, Magath understood the sacrifices that both Reiner and Willow forewent, and granted the delay in their next battle.
Willow's eyes flutter open as she groans into consciousness. Her head feels heavy and she feels completely drained from healing her destroyed body. She grunts as she lifts herself into a seated position. She glances around the room when her eyes reach the blonde in the room slumping over her desk as he snores softly, sitting in the chair uncomfortably.
She looks at him quizzically as to what he is doing in here with her, but figures that he must have been worried about her after the stunt that she pulled. She wonders how long ago that was, figuring days must have passed since then.
She pulls the sweat soaked covers from her body, guessing her body must have developed a fever as it battled against the wounds that she sustained. She notices that she is in nothing but a bra and her underwear and looks around for her clothes.
Reiner begins stirring at the sound of her moving in the room and his eyes are soon on hers. His sleepy golden eyes look onto her and she feels exposed to him, lifting the sheets of her bed to her collar as she clutches onto the fabric.
When his brain processes that she hides her body from him because she's partially clothed, he quickly lifts himself from the chair, scratching it with a loud scrape against the floor as he stands and straightens up, turning away from her.
"Uh, sorry, your clothes were tattered in the blast," he explains as he stands stiffly in the corner of her room, eyes facing the wall. "I had new ones brought up, they are on that chair there," he says pointing at the chair in the room, but keeping his eyes on the wall.
"Thanks," her voice rasps as she reaches for the clothes.
"I didn't mean to linger," he tells her, hearing her dressing herself. "I was just worried for your recovery, and I had fallen asleep at your desk reading one of your books," he tries to explain his presence in her room as red-hot embarrassment heats up his face.
"How could you fall asleep when the source material is so riveting?" she teases him and he finds a smile touch his lips. "You can turn around," she tells him and he turns around slowly, seeing her sitting on the bed as she tugs her off-white coat over her shoulders.
She wears white pants, black boots, a white button-up shirt and the off-white overcoat that is issued to each Warrior with a yellow armband that distinguishes her as a Warrior in training. Once they have proven themselves as honorary Marleyans, they will be issued a red armband and he can finally return to his home.
"Can you walk?" he asks her eagerly. "I have a promise I owe you."
Her eyes glisten and she lifts herself up to her shaky legs, "the Sea?"
"I convinced Officer Magath to stay at the port for a bit. The city has been evacuated so we can go now if you'd like?"
"Yeah," she breathes as she steps towards him. He smiles at her and leads her out of the train.
"It's the Female Titan!" she hears someone call out as they depart the train. She turns her head to see a group of Eldian soldiers running towards them. When they reach her, they stop dead in their tracks, quickly bowing down towards her respectively. "You're awake! We were worried, Ma'am," Elias speaks up with a wide smile on his young face.
"Oh," Willow releases with a chuckle as the boy looks up at her wide-eyed and excitedly. She watches as the boys—no older than sixteen—all look at her with awestruck gazes. She has helped them countless times in battle at this point, and the three of them have taken a liking to her.
"That was amazing what you did back there!" Elias speaks up.
"The way the Armored launched you into the air and you engulfed that airship into your Titan form!" Felix adds.
"Or when you turned for a third time and saved us and the Armored!" another blonde of the group, Henri* says. "All that training you've been doing paid off!"
"Thank you," she smiles at them all, feeling sheepish at their compliments.
"Alright everyone, we can continue this another time," Reiner tells them as he places his hand on Willow's shoulder and turns her from them.
Willow smiles back at them, waving as she walks with Reiner, seeing a hope in their eyes that she has not seen in so long. In the years that she fought for the Marleyans, and even in the final days of her career within the Scouts, she has not seen hope in a soldier's eyes in a long time, so to see their eyes light up with happiness and optimism makes her heart flutter with purpose.
Reiner escorts Willow through the crumbling city before them, and she keeps her eyes on her feet, unable to look onto the decaying city, as it reminds her too much of her last memories of her own home. However, as they walk amongst the city, Willow can feel a freshness in the air and the heavy taste of salt licking her skin.
She can hear the distant crashes of the waves against the rocks as they approach the water and she feels anticipation tugging at her chest as she is closer and closer to the Sea. She glances up at Reiner who has a softer look on his face than she is familiar with. He does not have his signature grimace furrowing his brows, but instead looks at peace in this moment with her. She finds herself smiling up at him and when he notices her lingering stare on him, he looks down at her as their eyes reach one another.
A smile tugs on his lips when he sees the look of excitement in her eyes and he cannot wait for her to see the endless water that he has promised her for years.
She looks up at him as they turn a corner and his golden eyes pull from her gaze to look over her head. A larger smile reaches his lips and he looks back down at her. He nods his head at her, signaling her to look behind her and she suddenly feels the tug of nervousness pull at her chest as everything that she has been working towards for the past three years finally comes to a head as it stands behind her.
She swallows hard, looking into Reiner's golden eyes as the sun radiates off of his stare and ignites his hair into a fiery beauty. She watches him for a while until she gathers the courage to turn around, hoping that the sight lives up to the expectations that she placed on it all those years ago.
Willow opens her eyes and when she sees the sight that stares back at her, her breath gets caught in her throat and her mouth is left agape as she looks onto the endless water before her. She feels her hands shake at her sides as her eyes widen in an attempt to drink up the view more.
She is stricken by the sight before her; the sun is lowering in the sky as it reaches its setting point, painting the sky with reds, oranges, purples, and blues. The fiery redness of the sun reflects against the darkening water with an endless stream that points out towards the horizon. She wonders how far the water goes, knowing that somewhere out there beyond the horizon is the island of Paradis and the life that she left behind.
Her legs begin to move towards the water, landing from the streets of the city to the soft sand of the beach. She continues to walk towards the water, wondering how far the island is from where she is now. She remembers being on the boat for some days, and figures it must be far. She can't help but think of all the people that she left behind and wonders if they ever managed to see the Sea.
The high tide of the current sweeps in against their feet as Willow looks down at the clear blue water.
She begins walking into the water without a cognitive thought in her mind. Reiner watches her with puzzled eyes, but his expression turns to panic when she continues to stiffly walk straight for the waterline.
"What are you doing?" he calls out to her but she continues to walk into the water. "Hey, be careful! You can be swept away by the current!" When he notices that she is not listening to him, or is too gone to hear him, he can't even think to remove his overcoat or boots before he runs after her as she continues to walk into the water in a trancelike state.
The waterline reaches Willow's neck when Reiner catches her. He grabs onto her shoulder, pulling the fabric of her drenched overcoat as the current of the Sea drags them farther in. He pulls her into his arms and swims them back into a depth that they can both stand in.
"What the hell are you doing?" he asks her, flashing his gaze between each of her blue eyes, searching them for some sort of understanding of what is going on in her mind.
She looks up at him, as if the daze she was trapped in has passed and she recognizes him finally. He pants heavily from the panic he just endured trying to stop her from drowning herself as their eyes continue to lock onto one another.
A sense of understanding sweeps over her and she realizes that whatever she left behind on that island will never come back to her. She has crossed the Sea and she is here now, with Reiner, who crossed the Sea with her. Everything left behind on that island doesn't seem to matter anymore after all these years.
Willow looks at Reiner, seeing the prominent line between his brows grow at the worry he carries for her actions as he waits for her to answer his question or make a move to get out of the water. She examines his face, never once really looking at him beyond his hard gaze, and she realizes after all these years that he's always been the one to stay.
Willow thinks about everyone on the island that left her. She thinks about Levi, who left her in the clearing in the woods. Or Hal, who left her to be the hero she never wanted. Even Erwin left her in the end when they were supposed to out-survive everyone else.
Everyone has always left Willow, but Reiner decided to stay, he decided to take her hand and guide her across the Sea.
She places her hand on his cheek and before Reiner can react, she moves her face in and presses her lips against his. She isn't sure what she is doing, or what she is thinking in this moment. But all she knows is that it feels strangely right.
His lips are hard and unwelcoming at first, never once in his wildest dreams did Reiner expect an action like this from her. He recovers from the shock of her move, shaking the surprise from his head and begins moving his lips against hers in a feverish attempt to keep the kiss from stopping.
He can taste the salt on her lips from the Sea as his hands lift from the water to hold her face with his right hand and entangle his left in her dampening hair. He turns his head to the side driving their kiss deeper as his lips pry open hers so he can slip his tongue against hers. She lifts her legs under the water, wrapping them around his waist and tightening them around him to hug him closer to her.
Reiner groans as she presses her body closer to his, closing the gap between the two of them. Reiner begins stepping out of the water, wanting to focus on her and not keeping them afloat in the water. He lifts her onto the shore, but when they are no longer in the water and her weight is distributed against his arms, he tumbles and they fall crashing into the shore of the beach.
Willow giggles as they hit the ground and Reiner looks down at her with wide eyes, never once hearing her laugh like that, or at all for that matter. He loves the sound of her laugh, and wants nothing more than to hear it again. She looks up at him and before she can say anything to him, he crashes his lips back to hers, wanting to savor this moment of her salty kiss forever.
The sand of the beach sticks to her wet hair below them as his weight is pressed atop her. She separates her legs and opens herself up for him to close the gap between them once more. Her shaking hands move to his coat, tugging at the drenched fabric of his overcoat that sticks to his skin. She moans against his lips and he eats up her voice as the sensation builds between them.
Her hands move down his chest and to the black belt of is overcoat as they desperately fiddle to remove it. Reiner pulls his lips from hers to look down at her hands struggling to remove the belt. Her eyes flash up to his, brows furrowing at him with questioning of why he halted their kiss. She stops tugging on his belt, feeling the embarrassment of rejection brush against her blushing cheeks as her heart races and beats against her chest.
"Don't stop," he commands her, seeing the reservation in her eyes.
She smiles at this confirmation, knowing that he wants this as much as she does and feeling confident in their mutual attraction towards one another.
With newfound confidence at the knowledge that he desires her just as much as she does him, her hands steadily take hold of the belt and expertly unclasp it from his waist. She tugs the wet fabric of his overcoat off of his body that it sticks to and discards it to the sandy ground next to them. She moves to his black tie, unlacing it from his neck and tossing it aside.
A groan lifts from Reiner's chest, rumbling against her as he presses his lips to the crook of her neck. She feels a building sensation between the two of them as Reiner's hands begin exploring her body, tugging at the wet clothes that latch onto her skin.
She works on unbuttoning his white shirt, while he makes quicker work of hers. She tears off his shirt, while he stops unbuttoning at her navel, leaving the shirt on as he focuses to alleviate the pressure building in his pants.
Reiner lifts himself off of her, pulling his arms out of his button down that she was unable to pull off because of how drenched it is, and then he moves to his own pants, hands shaking as he laces his thumbs around the button. He unzips his pants, relieving the strain of the wet fabric around the growing arousal of their actions.
He looks down at her when he's shirtless and moving to her own pants, seeing the tangling in her brows and suddenly becoming self-conscious of his actions. "You're sure?" he asks her knowing what he wants the answer to be, but feeling the need to ask her nonetheless.
They've been close with one another for the past three years and he can't deny that every waking moment he thinks of her and watches her. He's worked to protect her and keep her safe while they fight alongside one another, that he's naturally devolved feelings for her, but he never expected the feelings to be reciprocated by her. He of all people didn't deserve that from her. Not after everything he did to her. And yet here he was, laying atop her with his hands on her hips, waiting for her to stop him.
But she doesn't, and instead she places her hand on his cheek, bringing his face closer to hers as her lips tangle with his once more. "Yes," she mumbles against his lips. And that's all he needs to push forward and take her as his own.
His lips move to her neck as he kisses her wet salty skin, feeling the moan vibrating in her throat against his lips. He places his hand firmly on her breast over her bra, kneading the mound in his grip as he hungrily traces his tongue down her collarbone and to her chest.
Reiner's hands move from her breasts to her pants, remembering that he needs to get these off of her. He quickly unbuttons the fabric of her clothes, tugging them down her wet legs. She watches him with lidded eyes that convey the content of this moment, that just drives him even more.
He pulls his own pants down and crashes his lips against hers when they're both bare. He tangles his fingers in her sandy hair, grabbing her from behind her ear and turning her head at each angle he wants her at.
He eventually builds the arousal between the two of them, heating the space between them that he can no longer wait to have her. He glances down at her once more, waiting for her to stop him and to come to the realization that this is too good to be true, but she still doesn't stop him and when she bites her lower lip, he sees that she's just as impatient as him.
He holds himself against her exterior, hands shaking as he presses himself inside her. She inhales and her voice hitches as he groans at the feeling of her clenching around him.
She grabs onto his chest, digging the pads of her fingertips into his bare skin as his muscles protrude. He begins thrusting slowly at first, allowing her walls to accept him and wrap around him. Her eyes close as a red blush kisses across her cheeks and nose while the setting of the sun lights up her hair and skin into a golden glow.
He places his forehead against hers, swallowing hard against staggered breaths as he continues to thrust into her building core.
She wraps her legs around his waist, pulling him closer and begins thrusting against him to drive him deeper inside her. She looks into his golden eyes, and he looks back down at her with wild disbelief in his eyes.
How did this happen? How could she want a waste of a man like him? Yet here she was, accepting him inside her, blossoming before him with heated passion as if he deserved this.
Reiner closes his eyes, relishing in the feeling of her contrasting against him. He swallows hard as his throat closes and dries. He feels himself building to his climax, and before he can press her hips down to stop her thrusts against his, he begins shaking. His hands plant firmly in the sand next to her head and her thrusts drive him prematurely to his high. He shuts his eyes and his nose scrunches at the euphoria that builds between them.
He groans as he reaches his climax, shaking between her legs as he spills his seed inside her. His breath hitches as he inhales in staggered breaths, "I'm sorry," he says between breaths, "I couldn't…" he tries to say more, but her hand reaches his cheek, brushing it with her thumb.
"It's alright," she smiles up at him genuinely.
He leans down, placing his head on her chest, hearing the wild beating of her heart as they lay there in the afterglow of their actions. Reiner closes his eyes, focusing on the sound of her heartbeat, wishing he can stay here forever.
Four Years of Service
Reiner's eyes focus on the curly mess of golden hair that accompanies him in his bed. She's turned away from him, sleeping softly as the early morning light peaks in through the window of the train. He watches as her bare back lifts and falls with her steady sleepy breaths. He focuses on the line of her spine, digging down her skin and past the sheets. He wants to trace down the line of her spine, but worries his touch will wake her.
Since their visit to the Sea a year ago, Reiner and Willow have spent every night with one another in either of their cabins of the train. They aren't always intimate, but both have become dependent on the other's presence to have a good night's rest. Since she's joined him in his bed, Reiner hasn't had a nightmare about his past regressions, and he's grateful to her for the quietness she's gifted him.
He thinks about how peaceful he feels in this moment. Usually after their battles, in the night they embrace one another, driven by the overwhelming relief that they both returned unscathed. These moments with her are their most emotional, as the realization of their mortality drive them closer to one another. But it is the morning after that Reiner relishes the most, because these are the moments of true tranquility, as he's still processing the afterglow of the night before, while relishing the quietness before the rest of the camp stirs for the day's events.
Reiner is happy. He is happy for the first time in a long time.
He remembers happy moments when he was a child with his mother, and even moments terrorizing Porco or hanging out with Marcel, Pieck, Bertolt, and Annie while they were training as Warriors. He even had happy moments within the walls, genuine ones when his mind was not cognitively reminding him what he was truly there for. But there were always those reminders. Reminders that his father was never there, his training led to an inevitable and premature death, his friendships with everyone on that island were false and quickly fleeting. There were always reminders and as Reiner watches the blonde across from him, he wonders what he will remember to ruin this.
He thinks about how he doesn't deserve this. He doesn't deserve happiness and peace of mind. He doesn't deserve to smile with her after everything he's done. He thinks about Bertolt and Annie and how because of his incompetence, the tall brunette will never be able to embrace the woman he admired as Reiner embraces Willow.
He thinks about Porco, and how because of his incompetence, the man will never see his brother again.
He thinks about Willow, watching her as she sleeps. He thinks about the black-haired Scout that confessed his love for her, driving a desperate kiss in his last moments before he foolishly sacrificed his life for her. It's because of Reiner that he is dead, and he wonders if she still thinks about that black-haired Scout while she's in bed with his killer.
Reiner is pulled from his self-deprecating thoughts as he hears the shuffling of soldiers outside the locomotive. He shifts in the bed, moving his hand now to the line on her back that he's been contemplating tracing. The pads of his fingertips touch her spine softly as he traces down her back. She begins stirring as a soft moan escapes her lips.
He places his hand firmly on her shoulder blade as she wakes and he pulls her to turn around and face him. She blinks heavily as her sleepy eyes open; a subtle smile touches her lips when she takes in the sight of him. "Come on," he says with a rasp in his tone from his morning voice. "We have to get ready," he tells her and her lips turn downwards.
They join the rest of the soldiers in the training grounds where Magath waits for them. "Soldiers," he begins with a loud commanding voice. "Today we combine our forces with the other Marleyan soldiers and Warriors to take on Fort Slava. This is the last Middle Eastern stronghold, and if we win this battle, the last four years of work will all come to a head in this fight. Win this, and the Middle Eastern forces will have no other choice but to surrender to the Marleyan Empire!" he rouses them as the soldiers begin cheering. "Your families are waiting, Soldiers! Let's return to them with the honor of a battle won for our great nation!" The crowd cheers and Willow turns away from them, preparing her belongings as she prepares herself for the airship.
Reiner joins her, and before they can say anything to one another, Theo Magath approaches them with stern eyes. He approaches the two blondes with stiff movements before he finally begins to speak with them. "I will not be joining you on this fight," he informs them. "I will be joining the Warrior candidates on the field. So, make sure you don't land on me when you're headed our way," he jests but neither laugh at his dark humor.
Theo clears his throat and straightens his back, "You two have fought hard these past four years and have proven yourselves loyal to the Marleyan cause. It is through your hard work and dedication that you two have earned these," he says pulling out two red armbands and holding them out to the duo.
Reiner's eyes glimmer at the sight of the armband, having had his title stripped from him upon his return from the island. He has been working to return his rank back to him for the past four years, and to see all his hard work finally resulting in what he has lost.
Willow on the other hand looks down at the red cloth for what it is. It means nothing to her, and after all these years of reeducation and reforming her devilish ways, all she can see is a glaring red fabric placed on her arms to single her out against those who've been deemed worthier than her.
The two Warriors take hold of the armbands and replace them from their yellow bands. "Additionally, I have this," he says pulling out a knife from his belt. He looks over at Willow who watches him with flat eyes. "You've earned our trust," he tells her as he hands her the knife.
She looks down at it, taking it hesitantly in her hands. She looks up at him bowing her head slightly in thanks. Her eyes tear from his as she look down at the glint of the knife with a heavy anxiety building in her chest, thinking about how this will change the ritual that she and Reiner have built together after all these years.
A/N: Really curious to see what you all think about these two pairing up. Did you see this coming? Do you love it? Hate it? Let me know in the comments and let me know where you think the story is headed! Thank you everyone for your continued support!