The Return of Marco Bodt (Titan!Marco)

Chapter 20

The next day Marco woke up to see that Jean had already gone back inside. Today it was just going to be him and Hanji. After his last experience alone with her, he wasn't all that excited to be stuck alone with her again. Hanji didn't say much as she examined him closely which was just fine with him. Without Jean around and Hanji being silent and not needing him to do anything, he gave into his titan's desire to be lost inside of his mind for a while.

It began with him reliving living his childhood when it took a turn for the worst. Marco watched himself die again, seeing Jean's shocked face as the titan ate him. Then next thing he knew, he was among the titans wandering aimlessly around Wall Maria. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye so he changed the direction he was walking to follow it. Without realizing it, he had cornered a little girl in the alleyway between two homes. The girl backed against the wall, screaming for all it was worth. She screamed for the hope that someone might hear her and come to her rescue. But no such person came. Marco quickly reached down and scooped up the girl, swallowing her whole.

Hanji was startled as Marco reached behind his back, digging his nails into his nape, desperately trying to pull it open. "Hey! What are you doing?! Stop!" Hanji cried but her pleas fell on deaf ears. Marco pulled open his nape on his own, exposing his body inside. He pulled himself out of his nape, muscle sticking to his face as he fell down his titans back onto the hard ground.

He violently pulled the muscle off his face leaving nothing behind but shallow, red grooves where it had once been. He was breathing heavily, looking around him wildly. When he caught sight of Hanji he calmed down only slightly. "I-I've had enough. I think I did okay...Right..?" He asked. Not knowing what to do, Hanji nodded allowing Marco to go back to his room.

"How did it go?" Erwin asked when Hanji walked through the door to the meeting room later that day. Levi and Moblit glanced at her waiting for an answer.

"He was fine when he was with Jean. I did a few sketches of him when Jean went back inside because he had just suddenly frozen and didn't move. I thought it was strange but I took the opportunity-" Hanji was cut off by Erwin.

"How did he do when Jean wasn't around?" Erwin asked patiently.

"I don't know what happened. He froze for a while and then he pulled himself out of his titan but not like Eren usually did," Erwin raised an eyebrow, indicating for Hanji to continue. "He used his nail to dig into his skin and practically ripped apart his neck to get out."

"What the..." Levi said quietly. "Say, Hanji. What did you do to him the other day anyway? Everyone's noticed he hasn't been acting the same."

"I tortured him," Hanji said simply. "I used it as part of my research too. It worked well. I just cut off his limbs, waited for them to grow back, and then cut them off again. I stopped when he had enough."

"I think you might have gone a bit too far..." Moblit said quietly.

"Besides slapping Jean, he hasn't done anything violent to anyone besides himself since I did that research on him so we don't have to worry. He still wants to help us," Hanji said shrugging. "Let's give Marco tomorrow to rest and then we can go on another expedition."

"Sure. Meeting adjourned," Erwin announced.

Marco went down into the dungeon to see Jean waiting anxiously for him. "How did it go?" He asked gently.

"It went fine," Marco said, holding back tears. He didn't want to tell Jean this for the fear that he wouldn't think of him the same again but he needed to get it off his chest before he went crazy. "Jean...I ate someone when I was a titan."

Jean stayed quiet not knowing what to say before finally figuring something out. "You had no control over yourself. It wasn't your fault I promise you."

"I'm going to go to bed.." Marco said, dismissing any further conversation. He laid down on his bed, nervous about how the expedition would go and how his role in it would affect its success.