Red Swan

The World is Cruel

"Eren?"

I looked at my brother with shock and despair. I was feeling conflicted in that moment, I was still a little angry at Reiner for being the reason we were in this mess, but I didn't want innocent people to die because of his actions inflicted on us.
"You gotta think about who will be in the crossfire, people who have done nothing wrong to anyone." I tried to remind him.

"That will be an unfortunate consequence..."

I was afraid he would say that...

He looked at me, studying me, "Do the others know I'm here?"

"No, but they're trying to figure out where you are. I told them I was coming to look for you by myself." I was intentionally leaving out that they were on their way to stop him from doing something stupid; I didn't know if they would find me and Eren here, but I never underestimated my comrades.

"Why did you come here?" he sounded both demanding and suspicious.

"To see if you were alright and alive, why else would I come looking for you?" I was starting to get mad.

  "To try to get me to come back."

I was close to getting angry, "Is that so terrible? Wanting my brother back?" my hands balled up into fists because I was getting furious.

  "No, I suppose not." Eren replied with flatness. I didn't understand why he was being so cruel.
He looked at me with an expression I couldn't quite figure out, but deep down I had a feeling it was not good.
"Greta, I'll need your help again." Eren told me. "With what?" I asked with hesitation.

"We need to find Reiner and confront him."

"We?" I didn't want to be involved in whatever scheme he was conducting. "He needs to know the pain he put us through all those years ago, he can't just get away with it. Reiner needs to know how it feels." Eren's desire for vengeance and violence was scaring me greatly.

I was in a stupor, not knowing what to say.

"What will that achieve?" I asked, fearing for what the answer might be.

"Revenge, and freedom."

Eren's definition of freedom was clearly different from mine. I was in a deeper conflict in that moment.

There was no stopping him no matter what I decided.

I knew the others would be in on the plan, but it would be one of the hardest decisions I would have to make.

"Okay."

Eren smiled. "I knew I could count on you." His smile was hollow and emotionless, as if he had forgotten how to smile. It was scary. 

"Oh Eren, please don't forget Mom's promise." I pleaded. As my hands trembled, my heart beat in fear. My stomach started churning. "Sadly, little sister, Mom's not here anymore." Eren said that with such a lack of emotion that it seemed to me he didn't care about our family anymore. The whole reason why he wanted to kill all the Titans was for avenging our mother. 

In a quiet voice, I said, "You're right, that's an unfortunate truth." In a whisper, I added, "Please, remember what you're fighting for." This experience seemed to alter how I viewed everything. I felt like an outsider watching events unfold.

"Greta, listen to me. Reiner took away everything we held dear, and we can't just take it. I'm sorry for breaking my promise to Mom, but sometimes revenge is necessary." Eren told me, his words scaring me more and more.  "The only thing I'm good for is hurting people, and I learned to accept that. So that's why I'm going to destroy Liberio like Reiner destroyed Shinganshina." Eren looked at me, "I'm doing this because I have to, not because I want to."