Souls Of Sorrow || Eren Jaeger X Reader

Chapter 20 - You

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After the whole ordeal at the wall, the scout regiment joined with the military police in order to prove better effective going after Berthold and Reiner, plus the extra manpower was something we were lacking.

When the colossal titan had broken off from the wall, the steam it excreted was more powerful than we could have anticipated. It had taken out a number of soldiers, some with more serious injuries. Hange and Moblit were both completely knocked from commission, along with a few other more seasoned officers.

Jean has recovered from his concussion at Stohess, which had been driving Mikasa mad with worry considering he was having trouble walking for long periods of time. The soldiers from both the scout regiment, garrison, and military police are gathered in the courtyard, awaiting Erwin's order of departure.

The Commander is engaged in a conversation with my father, who has been keeping a close eye one of the priests of the walls. Mikasa had filled me in on everything that happened before I was sent off to watch over the southern district, and apparently the priest knows a lot more than we do.

Go figure it's the one guy I can't stand.

I lean against the wall underneath the large archway of the yard, my arms crossed and my head down. There's a few other soldiers milling about around me, but they're just military police who are complaining about having to go outside the walls for once.

The ranking system honestly never really made sense to me. Why would the most skilled people, the ones capable in combat, be the ones chosen to hide away in the interior. It's honestly kind of backwards, besides the King has enough guards as is.

I close my eyes and exhale sharply, thinking back to when I had attacked Reiner and Berthold. Their betrayal was honestly one I couldn't have seen coming, they were both always so nice, they were good soldiers. Sure, Berthold always kept to himself a bit more, but he fought well. And Reiner, he was always looking after everyone.

They were my comrades, friends to all of us. And they're nothing but liars.

Yet, how harshly can I really criticize? I cut them down with little more than a split second of hesitation. Given our past I would have thought...it would be harder than that.

No, Eren was in trouble. I did the right thing, I know I did.

I groan to myself and tilt my head back against the wall, running a hand over my face. I had taken the liberty to cleanse myself of Miche's blood and change into a new uniform since returning. At first sight of me, my father almost had a heart attack, then started criticizing me for my recklessness the second he saw I was okay.

Can't blame him, honestly. I looked like I was in pretty rough shape. Not to mention I haven't slept in nearly seventy-two hours.

"Ackerman!" Jean's voice pulls me back to attention as I look over at him, his boots scuffing the cobblestone as he walks. I hold out a fist and he bumps it with his. "How's it going, Kirstein?" I reply, tucking my arms back over my chest.

"Good, it was boring sitting around while everyone else was away," he replies, mimicking my pose and leaning back against the wall beside me.

I nod in acknowledgement, "yeah, getting hurt sucks. At least you had Mikasa for company, that must have been nice." I smile slightly, nudging him with my elbow. He coughs lightly and drops his head as he flushes, "yeah, uh, I guess it wasn't that bad."

I chuckle lightly at his embarrassment. "Speaking of which, she said you had trouble staying on your feet for awhile there, how's your head?" I ask, ruffling his hair. He grunts and swats my hand away, making me smile as he tries to fix it.