The air around me seems to get colder and I let out a shiver. In front of me is a bright blue light. The sand beneath my feet crunches as I try to take a step forward and look around.
My hands are shackled to the ground.
Ymir is nowhere in sight.
I call her name, but she doesn't appear. My feet meet the chains that restrict me as I try to break them, but they don't break. They clink and jingle, creating a haunting melody that no one will ever hear.
"Y/N."
I turn around to the source of the voice and I let out a sigh of relief. "Eren," I say, letting out a sigh.
He takes a step towards me and looks down at the chains that bind me. "You must remain here until my plan is finished."
"What?" I look at him, puzzled. Is there where souls come when they have died?
He frowns. "I..." He looks down. "I can shift my energy, my soul, into my head. My plan will continue on in a few minutes."
"So you're basically invincible?" I let out a dry laugh, knowing that would be impossible.
But he nods. "Yes. But that's not the point of this conversation. I wanted to talk to you."
I knew time passed by differently here. What felt like hours or minutes in the Path was actually just a few seconds in the real world.
"You didn't have to chain me for that," I let out a nervous half-hearted laugh.
His eyes shift to the shackles and then at me again. "Tthey won't let you get back to your body. Not until they come off."
"So you're keeping me captive here?" I asked him a question that I already knew the answer to, and I felt stupid for having hope.
"Yes."
"Why?"
He bites down on his bottom lip, a look of conflict in his eyes. He takes a slow step towards me. "Because... I told you. I don't know if you die, if you live. I don't know what you'll do. So stay here."
"I can't stay here," I shake my head apologetically. "I care about you but I care about my friends too. I can't let them die. There's people I need to save, Eren."
"People will die whether you interfere or not."
"You don't know that," I try my best to remain calm, but my heart felt like it was going to explode. "You don't know what my role is, in all of this, you said that yourself. It could be anything."
He blinks a couple times, and then turns his back to me. The shackles break off of my now-sore wrists and I step towards him. "If you leave," he breathes. "I won't talk to you, look at you, or even think of you ever again. You will be nothing to me. Nothing at all."
"That's selfish and hypocritical. Especially considering how you're literally becoming a murderer. You're what I hate. And yet, here I am, trying to save you over and over." My throat feels raw, burning.
He doesn't turn to look at me. "I guess we both have our own goals," he murmurs.
"Did you ever even mean that kiss?" The question shoots out of my mouth. And I've realized I've become more impulsive over the past few days.
He stays silent for a while, then turns around to face me. He stares at me, there is no emotion in his eyes. I find the answer within the depths of the grassy meadows that are his eyes. I find the answer before his lips move to tell me, "no."
I let out a small scoff. No amount of knowing could actually prepare me for his answer.
"Then why force me to stay here?"
"You mistook my actions for affection," his voice remains monotone. "I want to keep you out of my way because you may complicate things."
I nod slowly, trying to deflect what he had just shot my way.
We both remain quiet, and I refuse to look at him. I refuse to look at those emotionless eyes. They're make me feel so useless, so demeaning.
"I can't believe I thought felt something for you at some point," I scoff again, glancing at him to gauge his reaction. Something in his eyes shifts but his face remains the same.
The corner of his mouth twitches. "So you're saying you don't anymore?"
I shake my head. "I'm saying I never did. That I was just lonely and depressed." I look him in the eyes as I say it. "When I look at you, I see nothing. I feel nothing."
"And when you kiss me?"
The question catches me off guard. My throat burns and I bite the inside of my cheek to keep my lips from trembling.
"What did you feel when you kissed me?" He asks again, obviously impatient for my response. He was frowning now, his eyes burning holes into my face.
"Nothing." The word feels like acid as it leaves my mouth. "Nothing," I repeat, but the second time was for myself. To believe in it. To affirm it. I feel nothing for him. I feel nothing for him. I feel nothing for him. I feel nothing for him.
He nods, seemingly unbothered. "I'm glad we feel the same," he takes a deep breath and clises his eyes. When he reopens them, he looks at me head to toe, his gaze slow and steady. He meets my eyes again and he lets out a shaky breath, his eyes turned up as if he was a little sad. "Don't ever show me your pleading, pathetic eyes. They're... Disappointing. I never liked them."
In a flash, I'm back to my body. The shotgun in my hand is still there, my finger on the trigger. Gabi looks up at me, stunned. There are no more bullets in the chamber.
A bright light emits just a few feet away from us and I have to shield my eyes in order to save my sight. The ground shakes beneath me, making me nauseous. The walls crack and crumble, debris flying everywhere. I shield my head instinctively as I'm knocked to the ground due to the sheer violence at which the ground shook.
A tiny hand clutched my arm, and I realized it was Gabi. She looked at me, fear in her eyes. And for a second, my heart shattered for her. I pushed her down onto the ground and huddled over her, shielding her from the debris that fell from the walls. She clutched my shirt tightly.
"W-what... is that..." Gabi breathes, looking over in the direction of the walls. I follow her gaze to see a huge, skeletal structure, moving forward with hoards of Colossal Titans.
"That's Eren," I whispered, getting off of her. I sit on my knees as I watch his new form drifting on the horizon. "That's Eren..." I say again, in disbelief.
He wouldn't have initiated the Rumbling if he wasn't truly on our side. No, not our side. He despises me. He is on Paradis' side.
"My family..." Gabi whimpers. "He's going to kill them."
I stay silent. She is still a child no matter what she has said or done. She was influenced by others, she has no free thinking yet.
"Listen to me, Subjects of Ymir," Eren's voice rings out and I shiver as I'm once again in the Paths. I don't want to hear his voice. I don't want to see him. I close my eyes shut.
"I am Eren Jaeger. The walls of Paradis have been let down and the Colassal Titans have been set free. My goal is to eradicate the people that want Paradis extinct. The titans will trample everything beyond the island." He spoke slow, calm, and all of a sudden I'm back in my body.
Gabi looks up at me, stunned. "D-did you hear that too?"
I give her a nod and get off the ground, dusting myself off. I don't have a plan of what to do from here on out, but I know I must find and gather my friends. "We need to get Reiner and Falco," I tell Gabi.
She nods as she gets up, calling out to Falco.
I walk over to Reiner's titan, towards the nape. He lays there in a daze, staring up at the sky.
The smoke and fog from the catastrophes that took place on the island casts a reddish-orange hue on everything. I wave away some smoke and cough as I bend down to look at his face.
"Are you hurt?"
His bloodshot eyes drift to my face slowly and he blinks. "I'm still alive..." He sounds rather disappointed.
I let out a sigh and offer him my hand, which he doesn't take. He gets up on his own. His face looks thinner, his beard a little more grown out than it was before. The marks under his eyes make him look like a true Warrior.
I exhale, looking down, trying to find the right words to say.
He scoffs and turns away from me, looking towards Gabi. He limps to her, one of his legs are obviously injured. "They must have taken Falco away," Reiner explains. "When you first transform and come back, your memories are shot."
"What? Who took him?!" Gabi exclaims.
"Jean and Connie, they wouldn't let someone as important as Falco just lie there," Reiner explains. He has a point. Jean was right there. Reiner grimaces and clutches his stomach. "Not one of the Nine Titans..." He groans and falls to the floor, and I notice the rapidly growing blood stain on his side.
"Are you okay? Are you out of energy?" Gabi inquires, kneeling down in front of him.
"My armor came undone, for some reason. And then I took a hit of the wall..." Reiner huffs, trying to get back on his feet with shaky arms and legs. "I couldn't stop him..." Reiner murmurs. "Eren's going to destroy the entire world."
I sigh and bend down, carefully hoisting one of Reiner's arms onto my shoulders and pulling him off the ground. "We can think of how to stop him later. You need to heal first," I say as I strain under his weight. He may look thinner but he's certainly still just as heavy as before.
He doesn't protest as I walk him towards an abandoned home, Gabi taking the lead. She opens the door for us and I lean him against the wall, sitting him down. "I'll go find some sheets and food," I tell him and turn away.
I walk around the house, going to the bedrooms first. Pulling sheets off beds and gathering a few blankets and pillows, I carefully make it down the creaky stairs.
I hear hushed mumbles from Gabi and Reiner, so I decide to sit down in the stairs and let them talk. They were probably waiting for me to leave so they oculd think of a plan.
I'm no longer a friend to them, but a traitor.
"Nobody can stop Eren anymore. All we can do is run..." I hear Reiner's voice faintly. "And Y/N is no better than Eren. As much as she says she hates him... She'd kill for him. You need to get away."
"You think she'll turn on us?!" Gabi yelled out and Reiner made a hushing noise.
"I'm not sure. But, I feel like she would hand me over to the Scouts if it came down to it."
My heart sank. All I wanted was to make sure my friends were safe, and here Reiner was, my best friend, thinking so badly of me.
I sigh and bring him the sheets a while later along with a basket of all the food I found. I begin to fold the sheets to make a small bed. He definitely doesn't have enough energy to go to the bedrooms upstairs.
I help him lie down and pull the blanket over his body. Gabi had wondered off to the bathroom. I don't ask Reiner why she is leaving on her own when she exits through the door.
Instead, I prop him up, holding him against me as I fed him bread and cheese. His eyes are half lidded, and I know he needs sleep. He doesn't talk to me as he chews slowly. He keeps his eyes trained on the ground.
I raise a glass of water to his lips. When he's done, I lay him back down and draw the covers up to his chest, tucking him in as if he were a child.
"Are you not going to eat?"
His question makes me freeze my absentminded actions. I had begun picking up the food, wrapping it up for him to have later.
I glance at him, but he doesn't look at me. I clear my throat, "I'm not hungry," I tell him, and then continue to pack it up into a basket.
"Eat." His voice is gruff, there's a sense of demanding in it. And it brings me back to how we were as kids.
A smile cracks my face and I unwrap the food, beginning to eat it.
He sighs. "Why are you smiling like that? Have you finally lost your mind?"
I stop chewing and look over at him, the smile on my face fading. I shake my head, feeling guilty. "I was just thinking about old times."
He scoffs. "Like before you chose a stupid, maniacal man over me?" He lets out a dry laugh, which quickly turns into a cough.
I speak when he has stopped coughing, "whatever I did was the best choice to my knowledge, at the time. I chose to be liberated. I didn't choose a random man over you, my best friend."
He stays quiet for a while, and then responds to me in a low voice. "Best friend," he echoes my words. He sighs. "Please kill me now."
I click my tongue. "Stop being so dramatic. You're not going to die, sorry. As much as you hate living, I'm not letting you die."
He turns his head, staring at me directly with his tired eyes. "I could never hate you, you know."
I shake my head, looking away from him. "Don't give me that. I know you hate me. Don't lie."
He reaches his hand over to me, brushing my leg. "You're my family. I could never hate you." He repeats, his fingers rubbing circles into my leg. "I know you overheard what I said to Gabi. And I know you won't hold a grudge against me..."
"It's okay, Reiner," I tell him half-heartedly. "It's okay."
"Y/N..." He murmurs lowly. "I just don't know what to believe anymore."
I nod, keeping my gaze on the floor. "I understand. I get it. It's fine. I'm sorry for making you feel like I betrayed you. I didn't mean for my actions to come off that way at all. I actually... Felt oddly happy... When I found out you guys were invading Paradis. Because I missed you."
"That's why i could never hate you..." He drops his hand to the floor, obviously out of energy. "I know you. Everything you've been through. Every pain you feel, I feel it too. Y-you're..."
"Reiner..." I sigh, running a hand over my hair to smooth it out. "Please, stop." The more he talked, the guiltier I felt. The more the losses weighed down on me. The more everything hurt. The realer it all got.
"Come here," he weakly held his arm up, and I flew into his arms without hesitation, embracing him tightly. "We've both lost. Neither of us are in the wrong, I see that now."
"Don't ever think I'd choose someone over you, idiot," I can't help but feel tears prick my eyes. The weight of losing so many people was finally going to crush me completely.
But he held me up, he made me strong. I felt it in the way he stroked my hair weakly, the way he held my body against his. I could tell by the forgiveness and the tenderness in his eyes.
A contrary from the cold, hateful green eyes I had once been very fond of.
I hold him tightly. I don't think I'll ever let him go.
---
A/N
I shed TEARS writing the last scene LMFAO. I hope you guys felt the emotion because I put so much into it.