A Broken Promise

Marlowe took a swig from his drink, glancing at the Scouts around him that hungrily gobbled up their meat. His nose still ached and bled slightly from when Sasha, or "Potato Girl" as Conny and Jean so affectionately called her, had punched him. He eyed the small scraps of meat still present on the table, but refrained from taking any more. A look around the table told him that his Scout seniors needed and wanted it more than him.

A slight movement in front of him distracted Marlowe from his thoughts, and before he knew it there was Eren and Jean on their feet, trying to beat the shit out of each other. Was it the suicidal maniac comment? he asked himself.

"What the hell are those two doing?" he quietly said to nobody in particular. Nobody answered, so he watched the fight unenthusiastically. All around him, people at different tables stood up and walked over to the fight between the two Levi Squad members, various people cheering for either Jean or Eren.

"Should we let them keep going?" Marlowe heard Armin ask from behind him, barely audible over the noise of Jean and Eren's fight and the cheering of the other Scouts.

Mikasa made a small noise of affirmation and nodded from Marlo's right. "I think it's fine."

Marlowe watched as Eren and Jean kept swinging at each other, trading hits. They seemed to be equally matched, both managing to land a hit on the other not long after receiving one. He narrowed his eyes at the two men, examining them closely.

They're two sides of the same coin, he though, taking another drink. Eren and Jean both want to do what's right, but Eren is reckless almost to the point of insanity. He kind of reminds me of Commander Erwin.

Marlowe's eyes flicked back to Eren and Jean who were obviously regretting some life decisions. They were both looking pretty beat-up, and it was obvious from their slow, half-assed swings that they were tiring. Marlowe couldn't help but smile behind the rim of his cup at the two hot-heated comrades. Suddenly, a flash distracted him from his thoughts.

"That's enough celebrating," the strong voice of Captain Levi stated. Marlowe almost choked on his drink at the sight of how quickly Jean and Eren had wound up on the floor, Jean coughing up his dinner. "Go to bed and clean that up."

"Yes sir!" the Scouts shouted in unison. Marlowe drained what water was left in his cup and set it down on the table, sighing slightly as he stood up. He saw Conny rush over to Jean and Armin and Mikasa do the same to Eren, standing over them. Marlowe turned his eyes away, deciding that it didn't involve him and filing out the door with the rest of the scouts.

As he gazed out over the dark streets of the city, he let his mind wander. He thought of the mission tomorrow, and all the feelings associated with that. As eager as Marlowe was to prove himself, to be more than one person trying to make a difference in the military police, he was scared. He knew it was human to be scared, but it was still a little embarrassing to him. The only person Marlowe knew that was never scared was Eren, but in all honesty Eren wasn't fully human.

I wish Hitch had said something different.

Marlowe paused walking for a second, surprised by his own thoughts. Where did that come from? He had been thinking about Hitch a little more than usual because of her harsh words to him, but to think about her in the middle of thinking about the mission was odd for him.

"She made her choice," Marlowe muttered to himself, kicking at a loose stone in the pavement outside his temporary barracks. He wasn't usually a bitter person, but Hitch's determination to go against his decision to join the Scouts cut him deep for some reason. "The best thing is to forget about her."

"Marlowe?"

Marlowe stopped in his tracks and slowly turned towards the source of the voice. Out of the shadow of a nearby storefront appeared a shadowy figure in a black cloak. In a swift motion, the figure pulled down its hood, revealing the person underneath. Marlowe felt his breath leave him.