─ 𝐀𝐒 𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 ─

➤ the fall of shiganshina

        𝐑𝐄𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐙𝐄𝐃 as he finally came to a stop at a tree. It was then that he realized Milo, Annie, and Bertholdt were no where to be seen. "Milo? Bertholdt? Annie? Marcel..." With great force, Reiner slammed his head to the ground, grabbing fists full of his hair as he cried.

He lost his friend, and it was all his fault.

While he was too busy crying over the loss of his friend, Annie, Milo, and Bertholdt finally caught up to him. Annie released Milo's hand and walked over to Reiner, panting. One kick to his stomach was enough for Reiner to stop.

"Aah...?!"

"Not bad," Sweat poured down Annie's face. "That's the...first time...I've ever...lost to you...in a foot race."

Bertholdt slumped to the ground while Milo stared emotionlessly at his feet. He couldn't believe Marcel was actually gone.

"If we had immediately gotten a hold of the titan that ate Marcel, we wouldn't have lost the Jaw titan. But you two ran, and I didn't know what to do, either."

"Same..." Milo said. "God damnit...He's not coming back." And for the first time in a while, Milo cried.

Reiner's heart ached. He hated to see Milo like this. "But there weren't supposed to be any titans yet! They said they'd be closer to the wall..."

"Not all of them..." Tears poured out of Bertholdt's eyes. "It's not like every titan is going to be acting exactly according to our plans. Didn't you learn that...?"

Reiner's eyes widened. He was about to speak but Annie beat him to it.

"Enough. Let's go back..."

"Huh?" Reiner asked.

"We'll find Jaws, then we'll go back. That titan will probably have turned back into a human somewhere by now...and it's not as if we can complete the plan to retake the Founder without Marcel's leadership. The plan...has already failed."

"Annie's right." Milo stood by the girl. "This place isn't safe, anyways. A titan could show up at any time."

Seeing Milo follow Annie, Bertholdt stood up and followed them as well.

Reiner couldn't bear to see Milo leave him. He already lost his friend, how could he lose him too?

"Wait!"

The three turned their heads to Reiner, waiting to see what he would say.

"No...we can't go back. We'll continue the plan."

Bertholdt and Milo kept quiet. They didn't know what to say, but Annie did.

"True. You can't go back like this. If you go back to Marley now, they'll strip you of the armor for this disgrace. The next warrior will eat you. Not that it makes any difference to me."

"And you're so sure that'd only happen to me?"

"Hm?"

"Are they going to hold just me accountable for the four of us running away? Are you three really confident that you'll escape being purged?"