A Second Chance (Marco x Fem Reader)

Chapter 35

"Bertholdt! Are you okay with this? Leaving behind your comrade and returning home?", he started saying, his voice gentle and curious. "You're abandoning Annie? You know where she's at? Far north, deep underground in Utopia District... Being tortured", he continued, his voice still gentle, but becoming more intrusive. You furrowed your brows as you listened.

'She's not being tortured though? What is he-... Wait a minute... He's manipulating him, isn't he?'

"It was her screams that taught us something. That even with her body healing, you can never get rid of the pain... They're taking special care to ensure she doesn't die, however, as we speak they're not giving her body any rest. They are torturing her every way they know how!". Armin didn't manage to go on further about Annie's supposed torturing story as Berthold screamed and turned to face him. This was your chance!

"You spawn of the devil!", Bertholdt yelled as you sent a hook right into Reiner chest beside him, quickly reeling yourself in. Before Bertholdt could register what just happened, you cut a long cut across his chest, slicing the pieces of fabric he had used to strap Eren to his back in the process. Eren plummeted down towards the ground and you meant to follow and catch him, when Reiner's right hand smacked you from behind, leaving you in the exact same situation as Eren was currently in. Luckily, Reiner didn't hit too hard, so you only lost your breath for a couple of seconds, but now your gear was all messed up, a whole vital piece of it missing. You watched as Mikasa managed to reach Eren just in time and you smiled to yourself.

'At least we won't both die this way. Humanity still has a chance'

You closed your eyes, kind of already accepted your fate as something crashed into you, hard. Jerking your eyes open, you were met with the pair of honey brown eyes and freckles you love so much. He didn't say anything as his focus went back to manoeuvring and dodging the titans still surrounding Reiner. Your gaze didn't faulter away from his concentrated face even once, not until you were both back on the ground safe and sound, him hauling you up on his horse with him.

"All soldiers retreat!", you heard Erwin order. He must have survived the attack. You looked around to make sure Myosotis were following you, which to your relief she was. You relaxed slightly, leaning back onto Marco's chest as he steered the horse in Erwin's direction. You could sense his tense demeanour calming down a little as you all put some distance between you and the titans. He leaned his head forwards, his mouth by your ear.

"Y/N, are you-".

*BOOM*

You flew forwards, hitting the ground hard. It took a couple of seconds before you managed to lift your head up off the ground, breathing in dirt and dust as you laid face down. In the distance you could hear Armin scream out Eren and Mikasa's names.

'What the hell just happened?'

"Y/N", you heard Marco's voice weakly call out from your left, making you turn your head around carefully to meet him. He was crawling towards you, gradually going faster as he regained more control of his body by the minute. You got up from the ground, sloppily moving over to him, reaching out your arms for him. As you got close enough he took a hold of your hands as you helped him stand up. Thick clouds of dust surrounded you, preventing you from seeing anything beyond a two metre distance from you. You both coughed as the dirt started filling your lungs.

"What happened?", you asked Marco. It really did come out of nowhere. Marco wrapped one arm around your waist as to support you, ignoring the fact that he was in need for some support as well at the moment, and started looking around.

"I barely saw it, but it seems like Reiner started throwing titans in our direction", he said and started moving with purpose, taking you with him. Once you saw his horse emerge from the thick dust clouds you understood what he was looking for. "We need to get out of here", he said as he crouched down beside his horse on the ground. The dust was beginning to disperse, and you could finally see what was going on around you.