Mission Success: A Different Story

Anixety

Bertholdt watched as Pieck sauntered over to the nearby sofa. He had no idea how much she and Porco had heard, but prayed that they would keep it to themselves.

He had been anxiously waiting for the day Magath would call this meeting. He was a kind, understanding man, but was still the Commander. He had given them a month to readjust from Paradis, but Bertholdt knew he wanted answers.

Reiner sat on his left, and Porco sat across from them, relatively close to Pieck on her sofa. Moments later, Zeke entered with Magath right behind him. Magath had that authoritative aura about him that sent shivers down Bertholdt's spine.

Bertholdt quickly glanced over to Reiner, trying to see if he was still "Warrior Reiner". Reiner had had a few minor slip ups, nothing a swift pinch or tap couldn't fix, but Bertholdt didn't know the triggers that brought out "Soldier Reiner" and that worried him.

"Good afternoon, Warriors. I hope you all ate something?" Magath started.

General nods of affirmation went around the room.

"Good. I'm sure you all know the meaning behind this meeting," the Commander continued.

"We are here to discuss the failure of the Paradis mission. Reiner, Bertholdt, tell me, how did you fail the mission?"

Bertholdt took a deep breath and listed as Reiner began to speak.

"We lost both Annie and Marcel, but we did capture Eren-"

"Yes. Now, did you capture the Founder?"

Reiner crossed his arms and bowed his head. "We...don't know."

Magath nodded sternly. "Exactly. You brought us a boy that can turn into a Titan without knowing if he was the Founder. That is one of our main problems. The other major problem lies in Marcel and Annie's fates. How did those incidents come to pass?"

Porco shifted his gaze to Reiner, fixing him with a cold stare.

"Marcel and the rest of us were ambushed by a Titan. Marcel sacrificed himself to save us from being eaten."

"I concluded as much, seeing how...," Magath looked over at Zeke with a raised brow. Zeke cleared his throat.

"Her name is Ymir. She was the Titan that ate Marcel, and inherited his Jaw."

"Yes. Ymir. I can understand her being brought back to Marley, but the blonde girl...?"

"Krista, sir. Her name is Krista," said Pieck with a small stretch. Magath nodded and continued.

" I see no reason why Krista was brought to us."

Reiner opened his mouth to respond, but Bertholdt beat him to it.

"Krista was important to the government somehow. The Church was   also keeping close tabs on her, sir."

Magath narrowed his eyes at Bertholdt.

"Go on."

Bertholdt gulped, feeling all the eyes in the room on him.

" We don't know why she was so important to them, but Annie found lots of high ranking Church folk in contact with the crown and some close noble houses that spoke of her."

"And where is Annie now?" Magath pressed, leaning onto the table, almost learing at the green eyed giant. Bertholdt began to sweat.

"Annie was captured after a mission, where the military somehow found out about her identity as the Female Titan. We are not sure of her status, but from what we heard...she was being tortured."