The Return of Marco Bodt (Titan!Marco)

Chapter 19

The next day Marco was acting normal again like nothing had ever happened. He smiled as he walked up the stairs leading to the main floor of headquarters. "How did you sleep last night?" Marco asked brightly. The enthusiasm in his voice had dulled a little but it was still there if only barely.

As a response, Jean just glared at him. He hadn't gotten much sleep since Marco emerged from the titan and had gotten even less since he started acting strangely. "Sorry.. Well..I just thought I would tell you but we are going on another expedition in a month and I need to learn how to control my titan form so Hanji is having me stay in my titan form for a few days to make sure I can control myself," Marco announced.

"Great. Another experiment," Jean said dully. "I wish you would give it up with the 'I'm going to serve the scouts' bullcrap. All they've done is hurt you and you're still intent on helping them."

Marco stayed silent, surveying his hand. He was still weak from the day before but he had healed well. "Jean...Do you think I..ate anyone when I was a titan?" Marco asked. "I can't remember anything between dying and finding you again...I'm scared of what I might have done in between then."

"Don't worry about it," Jean said quickly, trying to keep Marco from overthinking things. Marco didn't press on and continued walking down the hallway in silence. He went out back of headquarters with Jean following closely behind.

"Hello!" Hanji began excitedly. "Let's run through what we're going to do. Marco, I'm going to have you stay in your titan form for a while to see if you can control yourself with Jean on standby just in case you can't. Then, we'll take Jean away and see if you do well on your own. Got it?" Hanji asked, smiling brightly. Jean and Marco nodded as a response. "Perfect! Let's get started."

Marco walked a safe distance away from us before lifting his hand to his mouth. He hesitated, surveying Hanji and Jean with a nervous look on his face before biting down. Jean shielded his eyes, turning away as Marco turned into a titan. Once the transformation was complete he stared down at them expectantly. He kneeled down to get to eye level with them.

Jean found it hard to believe that this titan before him was Marco. The titan held all of Marco's traits but he had seen this titan do things that he knew Marco would never do. Jean ignored Hanji's squeals of excitement. "Why didn't we tie him up or something? What if he loses control?" Jean asked.

"He won't be tied up on the expedition will he?" Hanji said, letting Jean put the pieces together himself. Without thinking, Jean walked over to Marco before bursting into tears.

"What's...wrong...?" Marco said, struggling to get the words out. Hanji jumped in the air, cheering loudly as it was before thought impossible for a titan to speak. Realizing this wasn't the moment for it, she went quiet but still bounced on the balls of her feet barely containing her excitement.

"Don't you get it, Marco?! Haven't you realized that no one has treated you normally since you came back?! All you are is a pawn! Once the scouts are done using you or you mess up they'll kill you! You were better off dead...!" Jean screamed. Hanji watched in silence as Marco froze, staring at Jean in shock.

Marco gently wrapped his hand around Jean, slowly lifting him up to his face. Despite Jean's protests, he didn't let go. A small smile stretched across his face trying to convey to Jean that everything would be alright.

The day came and went without much excitement. Hanji brought out a few lanterns as she planned to stay awake all night with Marco. Despite being given Hanji's permission to go inside and get some rest, Jean refused saying he would stay with Marco as well. Like normal titans, Marco became sluggish once the sun went down. Jean wanted to pull an all-nighter but after all his sleepless nights, he gave in to the welcoming embrace of rest and fell asleep leaning against Marco's leg. Soon after Jean fell asleep, Marco did too.