𝗦𝗨𝗡𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗢 𝗦𝗨𝗡𝗦𝗘𝗧𝗦 | 𝙀. 𝙔𝙀𝘼𝙂𝙀𝙍

𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲

"Let him go, Bertholdt," I seethe out from beside Jean, Connie, Sasha, Armin, and Mikasa as we clutched onto the Armoured Titan's hardened skin as he sprinted away from the rows and rows of Scouts riding horseback behind us. Bertholdt doesn't say anything. 

I'm about to talk again but Connie cuts me off.

"Guys, really? This is some kind of joke, right?" He says towards Reiner and Bertholdt while rubbing his head with his eyes wide and uneasy. "No way this is you. You've been lying to us this whole time? We were supposed to be comrades!"

"We still are!" Sasha yells from beside Connie. "This is just all a big misunderstanding!"

I let out a huff and crawled myself closer to the little opening where I saw two silhouettes, one struggling behind a taller one.

"You don't really think you'll get out of here, do you Bertholdt?" I ask in a cold tone.

"She's right, no way in hell would we allow that," Jean says as he comes up beside me. Jean begins to talk about all the memorable moments the cadets had with Bertholdt, bringing up things like Betholdt's iconic sleeping positions, hoping to trigger something within the traitor to make him hand over Eren out of something like guilt.

"How'd you do that Bertholdt? How'd you lie to all of us when we were a family," Jean asks with a gloomy expression.

"Yeah, Bertholdt, all these years we spent together, all the times Eren and I confided with you, speaking about how you and Reiner killed our families- you just sat there, comforting us, but the whole time, you were at fault," I say bitterly, but some of my hidden sadness comes out in my tone.

"Was it all just an act to you?" Connie speaks up. "What about all the times we've talked about surviving this together; about growing old and looking back at all of this while going out for drinks. Remember?" I would've slugged Bertholdt right now if I was able to at the sight of Connie's disheartened face.

"Was it all bullshit Betholdt? Was everything you said and did a lie?!" No answer. I slammed my hand on Reiner's hand that blocked me from Eren and Bertholdt. "Fucking answer you traitor! You don't just get to be silent in all of this! Tell us why you killed all these people; tell us why you made so many of us orphans! Tell us why you betrayed us- your fucking friends!" No answer.

"Answer us Bertholdt. Was this all a lie?!" Jean yells out from beside me, his calm facade gone.

"We don't have time for this," Mikasa tells us. "We need to focus on getting Eren back, not asking him to explain his choice."

"No!" My eyes whip from Mikasa to Betholdt who was still holed up on Reiner's neck. "You're wrong! Who chooses this?!"

Bertholdt then goes into a big speech, saying how none of this was his choice, saying all of what he did with us as cadets was never a lie, but I didn't give a shit. Nothing could change my thoughts about him and Reiner. They caused the deaths of my parents and so many more. They deserved to die.

"All of what we did as soldiers, was not a lie. We genuinely thought of you as our friends! And I know, I shouldn't be allowed to ask forgiveness but, please, I beg of you... if we were comrades... someone finds us!" I'm confused by his last exclamation, but I just brush it aside.

"You're right." Betholdt pauses at the sound of my hostile tone. "You're right, you can't ask for our forgiveness. I don't know about them but, you'll never get any mercy from me. As soon as we have Eren back, you're dead." I climb up close to the open space between Reiner's fingers.

"You hear that Bertholdt? I'll fucking gut you the next time I see you," I say and I see my friends visibly shiver from the animosity in my tone. "Now, give him back."