The group moved through the grasslands of Paradis. Darkness covering them during their trek. They had come a long way from the sea behind them. According to Marcel they were about a few more hours from the wall.
"What are we going to do when we get there? We can't just stroll right in." Annie nagged.
The group had grown irritable from the long trip.
"You have anything cooked up in that brain of yours y/n?" Marcel asked patiently.
He was the oldest of the group and had become the peacekeeper. In his few extra years of life he seemed to have learned a great deal of leadership skills.
"I haven't worked out all of the details but I think I know our best course of action." She replied.
"Let's hear it." Reiner encouraged.
The rest looked at her quietly, waiting for her to go on.
"The people of the walls likely have no concept of titan shifters. We can use any of the nine in front of them and they'll have no reason to suspect any of us. Therefore I suggest Behrtoldt use the colossal to simply kick open the gate of one of the outlier districts, allowing Reiner inside where he can penetrate the inner wall. Losing their outermost wall will cripple them. Amidst the chaos it should be easy to slip inside the walls and live as refugees." She explained carefully.
"Hm. That should work perfectly. Well done y/n" Marcel replied. "Then it's settled. We attack the wall tomorrow."
A cloud of anxiety hung over the group.
"How can we be sure the king won't unleash the power of the founder?" Behrtoldt asked hesitantly.
"Have you no faith in Marley? We have to have faith. We were all chosen to be warriors. This is what we trained for." Reiner scolded.
Marcel's demeanor changed.
"Reiner I'm sorry." He began.
We stopped in our tracks, looking at him perplexed.
"You were never meant to be a warrior. I wanted to protect Porco. I made him look bad to the army so you would be chosen. I'm sorry." He choked out, suddenly emotional.
We all looked on in horror.
Reiner went pale.
"But how- what?" Reiner started.
The ground began to shake underneath them.
Startled they all looked around frantically for the source.
Out of nowhere a titan appeared behind Reiner.
It closed in on him in the blink of an eye.
Before it had to chance to close its mouth on him Marcel shoved him out of the way, sacrificing himself.
"No!" Y/n cried out as Marcel was devoured in front of her eyes.
The life left the eyes of her best friend.
His blood stained the earth, soaking into the dirt, as the titan took off away from them.
Y/n collapsed to her knees, sobbing.
He was still a child.
Annie rushed over to her struggling to pull her to her feet.
"Y/n we have to go. It's not safe." She urged.
Reiner ran to y/n, throwing her over his shoulder.
"We can't lose you too." He said through gritted teeth.
"Marcel." She choked.
The group fled toward the wall.
They made it to higher ground before stopping the recollect themselves.
Reiner set y/n down onto the ground. She held her knees to her chest. Her eyes filled with pain.
"What do we do?" Behrtoldt gasped, trying to catch his breath.
No one answered right away. His question hanging in the air.
"We have to go on." Y/n replied, not breaking her 1000 yard stare.
"She's right." Reiner agreed.
Annie snapped to look at them. She was hunched over with her hands on her knees. She was breathing heavily and battling nausea.
"We have to go back. We can't go on without Marcel." She argued.
"And tell them what? That we have nothing and lost the jaw?" Reiner demanded.
He'd grown impatient.
"They'll kill us." Y/n whispered.
She was right.
The shifters would be devoured and she'd be executed like a criminal. They couldn't go back empty handed like this.
Y/n thought back to the promise she'd made Porco. Without Marcel it was even more important that she made it back to him.
"Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!" Annie cried. "Why us?"
The image of Marcels' last moments repeated over and over in y/n's mind.
"Let's go." Reiner said flatly.
They all looked at him but no one moved.
How could they? After what they'd just been through.
"I said let's go!" He shouted.
Startled the other three began to move.
Annie held her hand out to y/n, once again helping her to her feet. The two leaned on one another as they followed Reiner into the darkness.
This time without Marcel.
