A Second Chance (Marco x Fem Reader)

Chapter 69

"And me?", Annie asked after a short pause, but Jean wasn't able to answer her because Pieck suddenly made an appearance in her titan form, her demeanour was urgent.

"Stop. Seems like something happened", Magath said once he spotted her. Pieck emerged from the nape with a hiss.

"The harbour.. The Yeagerists have captured it!". You all looked at her dumbfounded. "They must have gotten there first by steam engine. They are prepared for battle. The place is covered with soldiers, all bearing anti-titan weapon and gear... They've figured out we want to prevent the rumbling and they plan to stop us before we can".

You stayed quiet, trapped in a whirlwind of thoughts.

'Damned Floch must have caught on when Mikasa and I didn't show up for the execution...'

"Fuck", you cursed under your breath, propping your face against the palm of your hands. This just made things a lot more complicated for you.

...

"Here". You looked over at Marco, who was handing both Reiner and Annie each their ODM gear. He wore a relaxed smile. Both of them, Annie especially, looked uncomfortable as they accepted it, and you knew exactly what they were thinking as they thanked him with a shameful expression. Marco then walked back over to you, putting on some gear of his own. You smiled at him, proud of him for how maturely he was handling this, though you suppose he had been dealing with it already back when you all first joined the Survey Corps. To think he had to live alongside them for months after what they did, not able to tell a single soul in order to keep himself and the people around him safe. It made your heart sink.

He returned the smile, closing in on you to check your gear. He always did that; making sure everything was in order and that you were ready to go; safely.

"How do you do it?", you ended up whispering as his face was mere inches away from you while he tightened a loose strap. He moved his gaze to face yours, seemingly thinking about your question.

"I... I don't know, really. Might just be because I used to do it everyday for months, or it may be because there is something in me telling me there's more to it than I can ever know...", he paused upon seeing your furrowed brows. "Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm okay with what they did, it really ruined me in certain ways for a long while... But... I'm still very much an advocate for conversations. I'm sure they have a story worth listening to". You didn't know how to respond to that. Marco truly was too good for this world, radiating a certain kind of kindness you've only ever witnessed him possessing. You could probably learn a thing or two from him should you ever dream to come to terms with what Reiner and them did.

"I see", you smiled sincere. Marco leaned towards you while cupping your cheeks, placing a tender kiss atop your forehead. You truly basked in this calm before another inevitable storm. Who knows what will happen after today? After an hour even... Nothing is promised anymore.

"We have to kill them all at once. It's the only way to secure the ship", you heard Annie say to the others, and you quickly joined them to be a part of the planning. "We'll use the power of all our titans as well as all of your weapons to do that". You stayed quiet, internally weighing the pros and cons to her plan. Did you really want the Yeagerists to die? They committed treasonous acts towards the military, yes, but you suppose their reasoning was because they did what they thought was best for this island solely... You've surely done that before... Not to mention that you've known some of these people since your days of training. Connie was the first one to speak up.

"Hey, wait a second"

"Why", Annie asked monotone.

"An indiscriminate attack on the harbour will even cause the Azumabito to get caught in the crossfire", Mikasa said.