Don't blame yourself.

Reiner opened his eyes. The open sky bellowed above him. Judging by the light blue color, it must have been early morning.

He rose to a sitting position, taking in his surroundings. He was on top of the wall, in his ODM gear, but not in his uniform. He looked to his left. Berthold was sleeping soundly next to him. He looked to his right. A body laid in the distance. He recognized the brown hair.

Oh right. Reiner had forgotten they had revealed themselves to the Scouts. They had tried to take Eren and Christa with them but then…

The titan-shifter held his head. The memories came back to him backwards. Them running away, Eren activating the coordinate, Erwin charging with all those titans, their friends pleading with them, the forest of Giant Trees.

The forest…

Even now, Reiner didn't understand what had happened. He tried to walk himself through it.

The boy Armin found outside the walls. I thought he was sent from another country, but he had those strange powers. And he survived in titan infested territory on his own without a horse. And he saved Berthold.

Reiner looked at the sleeping giant. Why did he save Berthold?

He had witnessed the argument between him and Eren, he knew what they did, and yet…

Don't blame yourself.

It was the last thing the boy said to him before he…

He put his head between his legs. How could he possibly say that? I broke the walls! I killed all those people! If it wasn't for me Eren's mom would be alive. They would ALL be alive!

He closed his eyes, squeezing his head. Was he lying? Then why sacrifice himself for Berthold? He barely knew him? I don't get it! I don't…!

He felt a hand grab his shoulder. He looked up.

Berthold's sleepy face couldn't hide his worry. "Reiner… Are you okay?"

Reiner gave a deep sigh, "I'm… I'm fine. Just thinking about what we have to do next."

Berthold gave a deep sigh of his own, "I know what you mean. Failing to capture Eren and Christa is one thing, but us leaving Annie behind. What if they decide to…" Berthold couldn't continue the thought. He didn't have to.

Reiner stood up, "We are not going to be eaten."

"How can you be so sure?"

Reiner looked to the distance. The rays of sun were visible above the horizon. "We have leverage."

He turned to his friend, "We have valuable intel on the enemy. We know the lay of the land, understand their military strategies, and even know key personnel for their operations." he gestured to the sleeping body in the distance, "We also have the Jaw Titan in our grasp. The Marlayen's are a lot of things, needlessly reckless is not one of them."

Reiner started stretching, "We saw War Chief Zeke within the walls. If we can find him, and explain what happened, he can talk them down from whatever punishment we will receive."

A plan was starting to form, "That's what we'll do. First course of action is to look for Chief Zeke. Then he can take it from there."

Berthold stood up, his ODM gear falling into place, "Okay, but you're forgetting something."

"What's that?" Reiner asked, stretching his arms across his body.

He pointed in Ymir's direction, "She said she would give herself up for us, but is she going to help us find Chief Zeke? What if we leave to find the Chief and she's not here? It's not that I don't trust her but…"

"God, Berthold, you are such a buzzkill."

The two boys looked towards the voice. Ymir turned her body towards them, her fist on her cheek, "I said I owed you guys didn't I?"

Berthold tried to defend himself, "Ymir, I didn't mean it like that, I…" She raised her other hand. She sat up, looking at the both of them. "Yeah, this isn't my ideal scenario either. But you two are just going to have to trust me. I…" She looked to the horizon, saying nothing.

Reiner balled his fist. People have been sticking their necks out for him as of late. He didn't like that.

"It's okay Ymir." He began, "You don't have to do anything. Just you giving yourself up is enough. Me and Berthold will deal with everything else."

Ymir gave him an angry look, she got up storming towards him. She put her face inches from his.

"Don't pity me. I made this decision. I'm helping you idiots whether you like it or not. Do you understand?" Reiner glanced at Berthold. The boy shrugged. He looked back to Ymir, gulping. Finally he nodded.

With a satisfied huff, she backed off, "Good." She crossed her arms, "So, what's the plan?"

Glad she wasn't upset with him, Reiner said, "First things first, we need to find War Chief Zeke. We need to contact him as soon as possible and brief him on…"

A loud stomach growl interrupted their conversation. Reiner's face flushed.

Ymir laughed, "I think your stomach disagrees with you, mister warrior."

Berthold relaxed, "I think the first thing we should do is find food."

Reiner, wanting to punch his stomach, agreed, "Yeah, let's do that."

It was mid morning when Reiner returned to Wall Maria empty handed. He had spotted a deer in the distance and thought about hunting it down, but then he remembered they didn't have anything to cook it with. He then searched the abandoned town area north of the wall, hoping for any preserved food of any kind.

Despite searching most of the houses, he found nothing but food covered in moss and overgrown vines. The place began to make him feel sick. So he left.

He was about to use his ODM gear to climb back up the wall when he noticed what he was standing in front of.

The hole he had created five years ago loomed over him. It was larger than he remembered, standing fifteen meters tall and about ten meters wide. A small rock fell to the ground.

He recalled Ymir's words the night before, If you hadn't come to bust up this wall… I would have never woken up from that nightmare.

Reiner didn't think anyone would have been glad about his actions. From what he saw in his time within the walls, no one had benefited from his actions. And yet someone had.

He picked up the rock. It was beige, the color of the wall. The color of his armor.

He didn't know how to feel about that. Actually helping someone. Actually being the hero he thought he could be.

He threw the rock away. This wasn't the time to think about these things, he had to rendezvous with the others.

"OW!" A voice exclaimed in the distance. Reiner looked into the hole realizing who he had hurt.

Inside the walls of the Shiganshina District stood Berthold and Ymir. Berthold was rubbing his head. Ymir was carrying something in her shirt. They both noticed Reiner at the edge of the hole. He waved at the two, "You guys find anything?"

Ymir, trying to hold in her laughter, replied, "We did! I think your war chief is staying here in Shiganshina. We found an abandoned camp in the center of the city, far from the walls." She pulled one of the items she was holding in her shirt, "I guess we are having tuna for brekfast."

Reiner called back to them, "Alright then we should return to the top of the wall, just to be safe…" But before he could finish, he noticed a figure suddenly standing behind the two. It was clad in a dark long robe, with a hood covering its face. Despite how close they were, the other two didn't seem to notice it.

Its slender pale arms rose out of the black robe above their heads. Reiner yelled, "Berthold! Ymir! BEHIND YOU!" Berthold raised an eyebrow. Ymir looked behind her. But it was too late. As soon as the hands touched the two titan shifters, they disappeared into thin air.

Reiner's eyes widened. He yelled in anger, about to bite his hand to turn into a titan. Instead, his mouth was met with the heel of shoe.

The speed at which the women attacked him shocked him. She kicked him with enough strength to send him flying through two abandoned houses outside Shiganshina.

Reiner's breath left him when he finally landed on a broken table inside some house. He was having trouble breathing when the woman approached him.

Her shoes clacked loudly when she walked, "Don't worry." Her voice sounded cold and lifeless, "They aren't dead. Just in my hands." She pulled out two small vases. Both had strange carvings Reiner couldn't understand.

"Find your leader, and tell him I'll wait for him on his boat in three days. Then, and only then, will he get his assets back." Her pale hands returned under her cloak, and she walked away.

When Reiner finally got his breath back, he slowly got up and ran outside the house. He looked around. Abandoned houses covered in moss surrounded him. No one was there. He began breathing heavily.

Tears went down his face as he fell to his knees. He grabbed his head and screamed in frustration. His scream echoed across Shiganshina.

No one heard him.