A/N:
Fun fact: I actually drew the cover art for this chapter (above). It is a scene that comes later in this chapter!:)
‼️I just want to stress the fact that this is in no way any type of indication of what Y/N is supposed to look like. I just wanted to capture the feel of that scene in a picture and if I left Y/N blank I feel like it wouldn't convey what I was trying to do😅. So I just based her on me for that picture lol; Surprise! Slight author reveal kinda? Hahahah
But on a serious note, whatever size, ethnicity, looks or whatever you feel like picturing for her: that goes!:)
Enjoy the chapter!
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Half a month had gone by, the days sorrow filled as a result of Sasha's absence, however the empty feeling got easier to handle and suppress for each day that passed. Now the focus was mainly aimed towards Eren, who've been imprisoned for insubordination ever since you got back from Marley.
"To think Commander Pyxis would go so far as to detain the volunteers", Jean muttered deep in thought. You were all seated inside one of the smaller common rooms, the atmosphere in the room as joyful as a funeral.
"Since they and the Scouts are so close, we weren't told in advance", Armin replied tired.
"Yeah. I'm sure he didn't have much choice"
"Still... They only did as told, just like us...", you heard yourself say, but no one really responded to that. Sure you should always be careful around outsiders in a world where everyone hates your guts, but surely you've both earned each other's trust by now... right?
"Until Zeke's intentions are made clear, it puts us in a real pickle", Jean continued, and this you whole-heartedly agreed on. You didn't trust Zeke's role in this for even a second. After all that damage he's done to you and your comrades, how can he switch up on Marley so easily in favour for you? It didn't make sense to you.
"Not to mention Eren suddenly being aboard Zeke's plan... Whatever the two of them talked about is something only they know", Marco chimed in, his serious voice laced with wonder.
"Hey", Connie, who've been stood looking at the night sky through the window in the corner of the room suddenly spoke. "Did that look like Eren to you guys?". You all turned to look at him, before bowing your heads down again. "Not to me. That wasn't Eren". You lifted your legs up to press your knees against your chest, seeking out your comfort position to help cope with the sudden creeping pain lurking about your heart. Whenever you thought about Eren, the image of his face in the airship popped up, and you were reminded of his dull eyes. That wasn't Eren. That was not your Eren.
"If he's made up his mind to side with his half-brother over us..."
"If he has, then what?", Mikasa interrupted him calmly, but the underlying warning in her tone was not to be mistaken.
"We've gotta be prepared to cut him down if necessary—". Your head whipped around to face him as Mikasa yet again interrupted him.
"I won't let you!", she hissed sharply, scowling at him from the corner of her eyes. Connie turned to face her with a surprised expression.
"Are you siding with them too, Mikasa?". His expression turned disturbed. She turned her head to face the ground again.
"I don't think it'll come to that. Eren cares about us more than anyone. You guys should know that", Mikasa argued quietly. You all looked away from her for a second. Of course you don't believe your years of friendship with him had been a lie or not meant anything to him, however something was... off. "Maybe that's why he's so hostile to anyone who isn't one of us... He cares too much".
"That's not it". You lifted your gaze to look at Jean sitting to your left. "No matter how strong you were, the old him tried to keep you off the front lines. But he made Armin destroy the port and pulled you into the fight. Hell—All of us too", he added, motioning towards you, Marco and Connie. "The ones he called important"
"I think that's because he trusts us", Mikasa continued to reason, with urgency in her voice. "If we hadn't gone, he couldn't have done it—"
"—And Sasha wouldn't have died", Connie said flatly, however it hit you hard. "Mikasa... When Sasha died, what did Eren do? Did he cry? Did he regret his actions?"
"What?", you croaked out, confused. Why was he bringing that up?
"Connie, stop", Jean tried to stop him, and you could feel the tenseness of Marco and Jean's bodies propped on each side of you.
"He laughed". It was only two small words, however they were enough to make it feel like the world had stopped.
'He... laughed?'
You seeked out the gazes of Mikasa and Armin, who both looked as dumbfounded as you felt, before moving it to look at Jean and Marco. They both kept their heads low with a sombre expression. Marco looked especially uncomfortable, probably nervous from keeping that fact from you after all this time. But what was he supposed to do? Heaven knows you hadn't been in the right state of mind to handle it, the last few weeks concidered.
"What part of it was so funny to him? What part of Sasha dying? Explain to me, Mikasa. Why was Eren laughing? You know everything about him, right?". You pressed your knees even closer to your chest, your arms hurting from how intensely you were compressing your body, desperate to keep it from imploding.
"We'll talk to Eren", Armin shot in, quickly stopping Connie from going on with his accusing questions. "Just me, Mikasa and—", Armin looked over at you for a long, dragged out second. "—and him", he ended up saying. He must have seen it in the way you had to physically hold yourself together, that you weren't quite ready to face him yet. "The two of us will figure out his goal".
"But will it help? What if his goals are the same as Zeke's?", Jean asked him.
"Now that the military has titan serum, we've got options", he said, reluctant but determined in his tone.
"You don't mean--!", Mikasa exclaimed, shocked Armin could even imply something of that nature.
"The option of making someone we trust into a titan; who would then inherit Eren's Founding Titan". The room fell dead silent, and you could feel it in every fibre in your body that you weren't doing too good at the moment. Carefully , while sustaining eye contact with the floor, you got up from your seat and quietly walked out of the room with your arms crossed tightly against your chest.
~
The weather had started to get warmer, and you enjoyed a nice afternoon stroll around the perimeter of the Trost HQ. You would always try to get some fresh air whenever your mind felt troubled, which seemed to happen more and more as of late.
"Hey, wait up!". You stopped and turned around to see Marco running to catch up with you. Once he reached you he placed himself directly in front of you, out of breath. "I didn't see you at breakfast today"
"Oh. Just had a rough morning... Decided to take a walk". You hadn't realized you've been walking for several hours straight. "A rather long walk", you added with a weak chuckle. His worried expression softened, and he cupped your face.
"Well I'm glad you're able to clear your head somehow". He kissed your forehead, before looking like an idea struck him. "Say, are you hungry right now?".
You took a moment to see if you could feel any indication of hunger, and the second you let yourself aim your focus away from your thoughts, the feeling of your empty stomach took over your senses. He seemed to understand solely based on your widened eyes, causing a slight chuckle to escape his lips.
"Let me take you out to eat", he offered with one of those handsome smiles that never fails to make your heart flutter like crazy. His hand fell down from your cheek to meet yours, interlocking your fingers together.
"I'd love that actually", you beamed back, and he seemed taken aback by it at first. You'll probably never realize just how much he's been longing to see you smile like you used to. How much he's missed that look of carefreeness radiating off your very being. He let out a soft sigh and a gentle smirk as he peered down at your smiling self. He was slowly but surely getting you back. It would still take some time and healing, but he'll wait as long as he needs to let you process everything at your pace. What matters is that you're coming back to him.
"You wanna go to that café close by, or does the pub sound better?"
"The pub. I didn't realize just how hungry I was", you snickered as the two of you started walking in the direction of the pub. "I need some proper food"
"The pub it is then", he said and gave your hand a soft squeeze.
...
You were seated at a table for two in the corner to get some privacy. The place was rather busy for it being midday, the usual rush-hours being from around dinnertime till midnight.
You were already devouring your bowl of potato stew, Marco observing you with a soft smile and a look of adoration. You paused your excessive eating and looked up to see him looking.
"What?", you asked with the spoon still in your mouth. He chuckled.
"Nothing. Just trying to fathom how you still manage to look so beautiful while stuffing your mouth with stew". You smiled shyly, carefully putting down your spoon to gently pat your mouth with a napkin. He smiled at your reaction, taking a spoonful of his own food.
"Mom was wondering if we'd like to visit her next weekend since her strawberries are ripe and she needs help collecting them. I told her we'd have to wait and see because of how tense things are at the moment", he informed you, eyeing his soup as he stirred it.
"Yeah... I almost forgot she planted those", you said, thinking back to a year ago when the two of you helped her out with the expansion of her garden. "Hopefully we're free to help her so that she can start up that strawberry business she talked about", you said with a smile and Marco nodded in agreeance.
"Plus, a weekend away would be nice. A change of scenery every once in a while will do anyone good", he peeked up at you with a knowing look while you were paying attention to the spoon full of stew in your hand.
"And I've missed the woods honestly, it feels like we haven't been there in ages", you finally looked up at him. "Maybe this time I'll finally beat you in a race", you added playfully to which he laughed. It's become a regular occurrence for you to race each other whenever going to the woods by his village. For some reason you just couldn't seem to get there first, and it annoyed your competitive side like crazy, however the cute and triumphing smile on Marco's face whenever he realized he arrived just a split second before you erased every negative feeling. It was a childish and boyish charm you couldn't help but swoon over.
"Yeah I wouldn't count on it love. I'm basically half Ackerman the way I'm zooming past you", he said smugly, like it was a fact, and you were quick to swoop some cream from the top of the blueberry muffin you'd ordered for dessert onto your finger and planting it atop his nose. "Hey", he looked at you puzzled.
"You may be fast, but your reflexes aren't", you teased while licking off the residue on your finger with a smirk. You saw him eye your suggestive action a little too intently, before clearing his throat and wiping the cream off his nose with a napkin; his face beat red. You giggled softly at his sudden sheepishness, picking up your spoon to resume eating what was left of your stew.
...
The sun was starting to set once you finally exited the facility. Marco draped his arm around your shoulders, pulling you in close to kiss the top of your head.
"You ready to head back?", he asked you with a smile. You eyed the vast building in the distance, feeling rather icky by the thought of going back there. You've missed allowing yourself to feel happy, especially in Marco's presence. You can' even remember the last time you and Marco shared such a carefree moment as you did at the Pub after returning from Liberio. You often feel guilty if you smile or even feel remotely happy in any way. It's a stupid thing to convince yourself that what you feel isn't what you should be feeling, but you couldn't help it.
Now, it felt as if you went back to HQ, everything that continues to trouble you and your friends would come crawling back and devour this joyful feeling currently taking a hold of your heart. You weren't ready to let this night end yet.
"I don't want to go back just yet...", you said low with your head bowed.
"Oh. That's fine, we can hang around for a bit. Where do you wanna go then?"
"It doesn't really matter", you answered, beaming up at him. "Wherever is fine". You were grateful he was up for extending this spontaneous date night, even though you both had to wake up early the next morning. He still had his arm draped around you as you started walking, letting your feet take you to your next mystery location.
The evening was quiet, but you found yourself walking towards the only noise that was to be heard in the silent town. As you got closer you were able to properly pick the different noises apart.
"Is there a band playing tonight?", you asked Marco excited, though he was no wiser than you on the matter. He shrugged with a smile that only grew larger and larger, moving his arm away from your shoulders in favour of grabbing your hand, eagerly dragging you with him as he ran towards the city square.
(Song I based this part on: 'Irish Party In Third Class, by Titanic Orchestra'. If you're one who's comfortable and able to read while listening to music I HIGHLY recommend listening to this while reading the next part!:) )
There was in fact a band playing, and you almost felt like your heart was about to implode from the overwhelming excitement suddenly taking a hold of you. You loved whenever Trost arranged festival type nights like this, inviting bands to play at the town stage as well as allowing for various types of stands to stay open until way past midnight. The centre of the square was packed with dancing pairs and families, their laughter mixing in with the lively music. Above you hung strings of petite lanterns between the buildings framing the square, illuminating the place with whimsical lighting. You stared up at it in awe, failing to notice Marco smiling down at you as he took in the sight of the warm light making your skin glow.
He took a step to place himself directly in front of you, before bowing down with one outstretched hand and the other placed behind his back.
"Would the lady care for a dance?", he asked formally, peeking up to give you a small wink. You giggled at his gesture, reaching out to grab onto the hand reaching for you.
"I sure do", you answered with a curtsy to match his action, and he kissed the top of your hand before straightening up his stance. With a sweet smile he started walking backwards towards the crowd, not breaking eye contact as he lead you in with him. Once there, he put a hand on the small of your back, pulling you in close. The fingers of your linked hands intertwined, and you placed the other one atop his shoulder.
(skip to 1:27 of the song)
The music became even livelier as the musicians moved on to the next part of the song, and Marco started to lead the two of you along with the rest of the crowd; pairs of two all lined up in a vast circle formation collectively moving counter clockwise with light, skipping steps.
For every jump and spin the two of you did you both let out laughs of pure joy, your chest and stomach tingling from the exhilarating spins. Your smile only got wider and wider as you felt the air run through your hair, and Marco's heart couldn't help but skip a few beats as he looked at your delighted expression. He spun the two of you around faster a few extra times to try and make you laugh that beautiful laugh he adored so much, and to his delight it worked. You laughed out of pure surprise, even letting out a slight squeal. Opening your closed eyes you met his gaze beaming down at you, and your grin softened as your eyes practically turned heart shaped. Marco had a slight blush covering his cheeks, making his freckles stand out; and oh how you loved his freckles.
The music got progressively faster, and so did the crowd. Marco tightened his grip around your waist as to not accidentally get separated in the midst of the fast movements. He laughed as the two of you tried to keep up with the rest, having almost bumped into several pairs of people more than twice already. The pair to your right upped their pace even more and you squealed again as you almost stepped on the woman's foot.
"Sorry", you couldn't help but yell with a laugh, trying to make yourself heard over the music and other peoples laugher, and Marco pulled you with him to skip and turn even faster.
"How are we even going this fast?!", you asked loudly, your wide smile never faltering.
"I have no idea! I don't even know how to stop at this point", he laughed.
Everyone stopped moving in a circle to start spinning in one spot. You both grabbed both the other's hands and started spinning around as fast as you could, squealing and laughing as the force of the spin got more and more intense. Just as the band played the last note of the song you tripped over your own feet, pulling Marco down with you as you fell to the ground. The crowd around you erupted into cheers and applause, praising the band for their excellent performance, while the two of you snickered sorely on the ground.
"You okay?", he chuckled, lifting himself up from where he was laying on top of you with a slight groan. You just giggled, carefully sitting upright. Marco rubbed his sore wrist with a sweet smile watching you calm you laughter.
"Yeah", you sighed happy, accepting his hand offering to help you up off the ground. Your butt was actually a bit sore now from the impact, but the adrenalin still present in your body reduced the soreness for the time being. "Just a slightly harsh fall, but I'm okay. You?"
"Never been better", he replied sweetly, and it was your turn to feel your heart skip a few beats.
The band started playing another song, but the two of you agreed you've had enough action for one night, opting to start moving back towards HQ. You felt giddy and happy, finally ready to face the vast castle-like structure you call your home, again. The faint sound of the band could be heard all the way back as you silently walked hand in hand. Both of you had been replaying your time at the square in your mind over and over, forcing the happy feeling to stay even though you were closing in on the most tension-filled place in all of Trost. No, scratch that; You'd even dare say in all of the Walls. No one there is smiling. Everyone is busy and walks around with millions of unanswerable questions on their mind. It's exhausting. Therefore you intended to cling onto the memories of tonight for as long as you could, so you wouldn't get sucked into the despaired and hopeless mindset that seemed to be plaguing anyone who stepped foot inside that building. You longingly thought back to the time it wasn't like that, but had come to terms with the fact that it would stay this way for quite a while longer...
"Hey", Marco spoke up before you could continue walking towards the main entrance. "I just wanted to say that... I had a really good time tonight", he grabbed both your hands and angled his neck slightly forward to seek out your gaze. You smiled up at him.
"Me too. I've missed this... Missed us", you admitted, and Marco tightened his grip on your hands ever so lightly. As stated, you'll never truly fathom how much he's missed seeing you like this. All he's ever wanted is for you to be happy, and he knew that was something you only could achieve yourself and at your own pace.
He were quick to bend down further, connecting your lips with his while pulling you in close with one hand on the back of your neck, and the other at the small of your back. You let out a little squeak as he caught you off guard, but quickly relaxed into it, draping your arms around his neck.
You stayed that way for a while, completely captivated by the other and the closeness you've just now noticed you've lacked for what felt like ages. The two of you only pulled away when your breathing became too heavy for comfort, leaning your foreheads against each other as you caught your breaths. Marco's eyes flicked up to look into yours with such a sweet and gentle expression you felt your heart clench the same way it does whenever your see a cute puppy.
"I love you", he said emotion filled between his breaths, tightening his grasp around you before pulling your head in to rest in the nook of his neck; his arms wrapped protectively around your waist and head. You let yourself nuzzle into it, letting out a soft sigh.
"And I love you"
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A/N:
First of all; thank you guys so much for 10k total reads! I feel so lucky you enjoy what I write, it means so so much!💕
I missed writing about Marco and Y/N. The rest of the story/season is literally just sad, so I've got to squeeze in happy moments whenever I can😩. This chapter was short and sweet, but I really wanted to get something out for you guys; I'm sorry it's been a while since i last posted. I'm still adjusting to balancing schoolwork with writing, so be patient with me<3
Thanks again for reading, I appreciate every single one of you lovely people! Have a great day!
~Jen