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I was standing on top of the wall, helping up some of the others.
"Damn, it hurts." I heard Reiner behind me as I just kneeled down next to Eren. "You all right, Reiner?" Eren looked back towards him.
"Not by a long shot. A Titan nearly gnawed off my arm. That was pathetic. I thought I was done for." Reiner put his hand on his face, while Eren and I helped up Armin.
"Even someone as strong as you gets this way sometimes." Eren said, as we got Armin on to the top of the wall. "What are you talking about? This is the second time for me! Tell him, Armin. Remember that time I was almost crushed in that Titan's hand?" Reiner looked at Armin.
"Oh... back then." Armin remembered.
"That makes twice I've nearly died. At this rate, I'll be dead before I know it. I picked this path on my own, but being a soldier is rough. It's like a soldiers spirit breaks down before their body. Though, until we plug up this wall, there's no time to waste whining about it." Reiner put his fist on his forehead, and then put it back down.
"Yeah. You two have been driven far enough away from your hometown. I'm thinking, this is where we gotta draw the line." Eren said, and we all eyed Reiner and Bertholdt from the corner of our eyes as we walked off.
"He's right, Reiner. Our hometown! Let's return! Isn't it about time to go back? Compared to all of the trouble we've been through, what's left to do is nothing!" Bertholdt looked over to Reiner, and we all stopped in our tracks, looking back at them. "That's right. We're so close, and it's just a few steps until the end." Reiner looked at Bertholdt.
"What are you guys talking about?" Eren asked as we turned around to face them, and I looked back from the corner of my eye to see Mikasa help up Conny, and looked back forward at the pair.
"Is everyone clear? We'll deal with Ymir later. And Conny... I'll arrange you a Scout squad to investigate your village later. For the time being, I want you to focus on the mission to fix the wall. Got it?" Hanji approached Conny, and put her hand on his shoulder. "Got it!" Conny looked up at her, and she walked off.
"Still... I expected this place to be swarming with Titans." Hanji sighed as we noticed over the edge of the wall a Garrison squad, and we recognized Hannes.
"It's the Garrison's advance squad. They came to tell us where the hole is." Hanji looked down.
⋘ ──── ∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙
"There's no hole anywhere!" Hannes looked up at us as he got onto the wall while Eren helped him up.
"We spent the whole night looking for it. But at least between Trost and Krolva District, there is nothing wrong with the wall. We bumped into soldiers from Krolva and retraced our steps. We haven't seen any Titans the whole way." Hannes explained as he stood up.
"But, we know for sure there's Titans on this side of the wall." Armin said. "Did you actually look? Are you sure you're not drunk?" Eren looked up at Hannes. "I didn't drink! Wait, why are all of you here anyways?" Hannes asked, and there was a brief moment of silence as a breeze of wind blew through the air.
"If there's no hole in the wall, so be it. For now, we're falling back to Trost District!" Hanji turned around and began to walk off while I stayed with Mikasa, Armin, and Eren.
"Whatever you do, don't let your guard down. We're going back ahead of you." Hannes looked towards us, and dropped off of the wall, using is ODM gear to pick himself back up while I looked at the others. "So there's nothing wrong with the wall?" I questioned. "What could this mean?" Armin questioned, while Mikasa, Armin, and Sasha began to walk off while I stood next to Eren.
We started to walk, but Eren was stopped by Reiner, and we turned around to look at him.
"Have a minute? We need to talk." Reiner asked, while Bertholdt hovered behind him. "What about?" Eren looked up at him, and I nodded at Eren, and began to walk off.
*Play Shingeki St 20130629 Kyojin*
"Five years ago, we demolished the wall and began our attack on humanity. I'm the Armored Titan and he's the Colossal Titan." I heard Reiner, and I stopped in my tracks, turning my head so I was looking at them in the corner of my eye, and I gripped my blades, while I noticed Mikasa stopped as well.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Eren looked confused. "Why are you telling him, Reiner!" Bertholdt grabbed Reiner's arm.
"Our primary goal was to ensure all of humanity was wiped out, but, now there's no need for that. Eren. If you agree to come with us, we wont have to destroy any more of the walls. Understand?" Reiner explained to Eren, and pulled his arm away from Bertholdt's grasp.
"No, wait. I don't understand at all!" Eren panicked a bit.
"I'm saying... why don't you just come with us? I know this is sudden, but we need to go now." Reiner looked down at Eren. "Right now? Where will you take me?" Eren questioned. "I can't say that yet. But, well... it's something like our hometown. So, what will it be Eren? It's not a bad deal, right? You can easily avert this crisis." Reiner explained. "I wonder about that..." Eren looked to the side, and I heard Armin announce we're leaving.
I felt a few drops of rain come onto my skin, and more drops came out of the sky.
十二時間前 Twelve Hours Earlier
"According to this, there were two others belonging to the 104th Cadet Corps who came from the same area as Annie Leonhart. And those two are... Reiner Braun, and Bertholdt Hoover." I heard Hanji explain something as I walked back into the supply room with the extra gas.
"Thanks to the chaos five years ago, pretty much all of their family records are spotty or missing. However, during the long range scouting formation, their unit was given false information. They were purposely told that Eren was in the right wing." Hanji added, and I stood next to Sasha.
"O- The Female Titan attacked from the right wing! It's possible that they passed on the information to Annie..." Armin thought. "Hey, hold on a minute, Armin. You can't just--" Eren spoke, but was interrupted by Hanji. "I know that, Eren. By itself, that's not enough to prove anything. So just in case, I'd like to hear from you how these three interacted during training. Know anything?" Hanji looked at the 104th Cadet Corps in the room.
"I knew Reiner and Bertholdt were from the same place but... they didn't seem close to Annie." Armin said. "I agree. I don't ever recall seeing the pair talk to Annie that much. Well, Annie didn't talk much in the first place." Eren looked down. "When we ate, Annie would always sit alone and munch on food by herself. Oh, I got something! I heard a rumor she likes sweets, even though she looks so grouchy!" Sasha raised her hand. "I had never talked to Annie, besides the time we did hand to hand combat." I recalled. "I... don't remember." Mikasa looked down.
"As their comrade, I find this hard to believe. Set aside Bertholdt, who doesn't say much. Reiner is like everyone's big brother, and he's not devious enough to deceive us all." Eren put his hand out, explaining.
"I agree. Reiner gave everything he had when fighting the Female Titan with me. He would have gotten crushed in her hand hadn't he--" Armin paused, and widened his eyes.
"Reiner managed to escape, but... Annie suddenly changed her course, and ran in the direction of Eren. I... did mention that Eren might be at the rear of the center rank. But Annie was too far away to hear..." Armin recalled. "Did Reiner seem overly interested in Eren's location?" Hanji asked, while Armin remained silent for a moment.
"I only started talking about Eren's position... because Reiner was the one who asked about it first. Furthermore, when that happened, the Female Titan was staring at her palm. He might have written a message with his blades in her hand. Reiner could have..." Armin explained, and then a silence flooded the room.
"Why are you saying things like this? You--" Eren looked at Armin, but was interrupted by Hanji.
"Eren! No... everyone, listen up! Supposing that we find Reiner or Bertholdt, act in such a way to not reveal any suspicions. Of course, do not make any mentions of Annie Leonhart either. Regardless if whether they're Annie's accomplices or not, we need to lead them deep underground and confine them. Does everyone understand?" Hanji asked.
"Yes!"
⋘ ──── ∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙
"You're just tired, aren't you? Right, Bertholdt? You've been through so much, it's making you crazy." Eren put his hand on Reiner's shoulder. "Y-Yeah. Reiner's just really tired." Bertholdt nodded, visibly nervous.
"Besides, if you really were the Armored Titan that wants to destroy humanity... why would you be asking me in the first place? What did you think I would say? That I'd nod and say 'Sure, let's go?'" Eren scoffed, and the wind began to pick up pace.
"Oh, right. That's right. What was I thinking? Have I really gone crazy?" Reiner questioned himself.
"Come on, let's go." Eren began to walk, and the wind became so intense, the wooden flag broke off of the wall, and everything and everyone stopped while I was holding back on pulling out my blades as my hand was twitching. The thought of killing someone...
*Play You See Big Girl 1:30*
"I see... that's it. I've been here too long for my own good. It's been three long years, surrounded by nothing but idiots. We were just kids... we didn't know anything. If I only never knew that people were like this, I... wouldn't have become... a half-assed piece of shit! It's too late now, I don't know what's right anymore. But the only choice for me now... is to face my consequences for my actions, and as a warrior... fulfill my duty to the very end!" Reiner held his arm up, and showed it was healing.
"Reiner! Are we doing this?! Right here, right now?!" Bertholdt shouted.
"Yeah. We settle this, right here, right now!" Reiner began to run off, but as he did, Mikasa and I went for Reiner and Bertholdt. I took Bertholdt, and swiftly ran my blade through his throat. Not deep enough.
"Eren! Run!" Mikasa shouted and then was pushed off the edge by Reiner as I pinned down Bertholdt and was about to shove my blade through his throat, Reiner went for me, and I jumped up into the air to the side, as he missed me.
"Eren! Get out of here!" I heard Armin shout, and a yellow beam erupted on top of the wall as I tried to move Eren out of the way, but was thrown back by the impact. As I fell through the air, I landed on my feet, and carefully stood up, putting my hand in front of me to block some of the wind.
The Colossal Titan and Armored Titan appeared. The Armored Titan grabbed Eren, and the Colossal Titan grabbed Ymir who was flying away. The Armored Titan then hopped off of the wall, and began to slide down with Eren in his hand.
"Eren!" I heard Armin scream in the distance.
I heard and saw another yellow explosion, and I furrowed my eyebrows.
