still enemies



You extended your arm into a dramatised wave: beginning to wander towards your friends who were all sat on your usual table in the Mess Hall.
"Good morning." You softly spoke with a fatigued yawn, sitting opposed to Reiner Braun.

"Did you sleep well last night?" Christa outspoke, leaning closer towards you with a refreshingly soft smile, "I tried to wake you, but you were so deep in sleep that I decided to let you lie in. You looked ever so peaceful."

"She was just tired after last night - all of that walking caught up to her by the time we returned home." Reiner replied for you, leaving out the part about you both meeting in the kitchen.

"What are you all talking about, anyway?" You nervously changed the subject to distract yourself from the previous night in the kitchen, "Your conversation seemed quite heated from across the Mess Hall."

"We're discussing the Armoured and Colossal titans," Armin Arlert replied with a surprisingly stern expression on his usually cheerful-face: "I had a theory - I could be wrong, but it was just a thought."

"Oh?"

"The likelihood of Eren being the only human capable of transforming into a titan is doubtful." He carried on, taking an unusual-pleasure whilst witnessing your face become riddled with surprise: "So, I'm beginning to question if the Armoured and Colossal titans really are just titans - or, if they're possibly shifters, just like Eren."

"You're implying that they could have been humans?"

The blonde nodded, pressing his index finger on the soft skin of his lips with inquisitiveness in his sky-blue eyes.

"What a terrifying thought." You whispered beneath your breath, your peaceful mood now shifted.

"Terrifying?" Reiner interrupted, "How, so?"

"They're human-beings that are capable of emotions and empathy," You explained with knitted brows, "And yet, they actively decided to kill hundreds of innocent people; they destroyed lives by destroying that wall. At least if they were titans, they wouldn't have the complexity to understand the detrimental impact of their actions. But as humans, they not only consciously did it once, but twice."

Eren sighed through his nose, running his fingers through his brunette locks with a suddenly desolate glare in his eyes: "I agree with Y/N. Their actions are unforgivable."

"Not to mention, unjustifiable." You added, "Any person who is willing to destroy the lives of that many people, deserves a worser fate than death."

"I think that's a closed-minded thing to claim," Reiner suddenly chimed in, Bertholdt's eyes nervously shifting between each of the soldiers: "If Armin's theory even is correct, you don't know their situation. They could have had a reason for doing what they did to the wall."

"I can't believe you." Your voice chilled your friends: your tone was devoid of emotions, "Reiner, I can't believe you're seriously trying to sympathise with them!"

"I'm not. Stop putting words into my mouth, Y/N."

"Then what are you saying?"

The tension of the table was rising; your friends grew increasingly silent as they watched you quarrel with your supposed-boyfriend. They each recognised the fury in both of your eyes from your previous fights as Cadets.

Reiner, attempting to steady his frustration, focused his piercing glare onto his lap: "I'm saying that some things happen for a reason."

"According to you, hundreds of people died unjustly 'for a reason'. What is that reason?"

Jean murmured your name beneath his breath, comfortingly tracing his fingers on the blade of your shoulder. He drew with his thumb in circular motions, recalling the time that Marco had done the to calm Jean's nerves following an argument with Eren Yaeger. He only hoped that it could calm you, but your wrath was not ready to subside.

"Are you trying to imply that our classmates died for a reason?"

Reiner fell silent, struggling to keep up with you. His caramel eyes darted between his friends in desperation for aid: all of them, apart from Eren (who was nodding with each word you exclaimed), were unsure on who to agree with.

"Think of it as an optimistic view." Reiner Braun lowered his tone.

"Optimistic? That view makes me sick." You scoffed, "Those two monsters have killed so many innocent lives, including Marcos. Whoever they are, and what ever their reason may be, they deserve to rot in hell!" Or, worse."

"Some things happen for a reason." Reiner repeated himself, his thin brows tied together with growing apoplexy in his tensed muscles.

"You're telling me that my best friend died for a reason?"

You rose from your seat, no longer finding pleasure in the company of your friends. You tilted your nose upwards whilst stiffly turning your shoulder to leave the Mess Hall. However, you were prevented as a finger clasped around your sleeve.

"Y/N, you haven't yet eaten." Mikasa, with a genuinely worried expression in her charcoal eyes, inputted.

"I've lost my appetite."

Reiners bronze eyes were locked onto you as he watched you leave the Hall, feeling a whirlwind of different emotions in his body after the words that had been exchanged.

'Monster' - that word especially had stuck in his mind.

"Shame on you, Reiner." A soft voice broke the silence as Reiner's body grew in heat, realising the voice belonged to Christa Lenz, "You know how passionate Y/N is about this - especially after the death of Marco. She loved him more than anything: and you knew that, and continued to argue against her."

"That was harsh of you, Reiner."

"You should have just let it go - you didn't have to try and prove yourself right." Connie agreed.

The rest of the table had fallen silent; Reiner's pupils shifted around each person, before he sighed.

He lifted his body up by his hands, murmuring out loud: "I'll sort it out."

ΰΌΊβ™°ΰΌ»

You ignored the sound of Reiner exclaiming your name, slamming the door to the women's dormitory behind you with pure-apoplexy coursing through your veins. Without a second of thought, he used his large shoulder to barge through the door.

"Y/N," Reiner growled, "What the hell was that shit-show?"

"Leave me alone." You turned your shoulder, your body deflecting his: "I don't want to look at you, never mind speak with you."

"Don't be childish."

"Childish?" Your voice only grew: Reiner responded by closing the door, preventing unwanted visitors from listening, "Get out!"

You stepped closer towards Reiner whilst your arms rose into the air, blinded by genuine aggravation.

"What?"

"I told you to get out, Reiner!" You took another step in his direction whilst Reiner did the same, his stern eyes fixed in yours: "Get out, before I force you myself!"

"You're going to force me?" Reiners arms crossed over his chest with an amused smirk, peering down at you menacingly, "What are you going to do - push me out? Hit me? You can try."

Your body leapt forward, raising your balled fist into the air.

However, as soon as Reiner realised that you were about to hit him, his fight or flight had kicked in. Reiner's large hand suddenly gripped hold of your wrist, pinning it against the wall behind you. Before you had the chance to use your free arm, he did the same to your other wrist; Reiner had pinned your body against the wall.

He had pinned both hands above your head; he pressed his body against yours, restricting your movements.

You squirmed, trying your hardest to break free. But, alas, Reiner Braun was stronger.

"Let me go!" You snapped, your teeth gritting together whilst Reiner glared downwards at you: "Get your hands off of me!"

"I'm not letting go of you until you calm the fuck down," The blondes intense grip of you tightened, causing a dull ache in your wrists: "Calm. Down. Y/N."

Your face became flushed as Reiner dominated you, barely having to use his strength to hold you down. The aroma of his fresh cologne melted into your senses, heightening your every thought. You swiftly became drunk with lust as his smell intoxicated you.

Yet still, you felt anger: you cursed, you squirmed, you grunted. But even whilst you fought against him, Reiner's hold of you did not decrease.

After a minute, or so, of fighting: you caved in. Your head sank down, no longer using your feet to prop yourself up as Reiner Braun was holding your weight for you. You sighed, your face contorting into real frown.

"Why would you say something like that, Reiner?"

His expression softened, the anger in his eyes subsiding at the sound of your frail whisper.

"How could you say something like that to me?" You winced, "That whoever broke down the wall and killed Marco, did it for a good reason?"

Reiner Braun fell silent, his guilt of the situation beginning to eat away at him.

"Marco was only fifteen - he had hopes, and dreams, and his intentions were always so pure. Marco was a good person." Your head was still lowered, eyes glaring down towards the ground, "Marco didn't deserve to die that day. He was strong enough to survive - it should've been someone, anyone, else."

"I wasn't insinuating that Marco deserved to die, because that would be a lie." Reiners shifty eyes locked into yours, struggling to remain in direct contact: "But, there are many things that we don't know. None of us know who those two titans really are, or where they're from, or why they did what they did."

Despite beginning to see his side of the argument, you didn't stop yourself from insulting the blonde: "You're a terrible person, and a terrible excuse for a soldier."

"Says you; you're the one who just tried to hit me." He offered a light-hearted smile, still keeping hold of you but loosening his restrictive grip: "Someone 'ought to teach you a lesson, because it's obvious that no one ever has."

You rolled your eyes with a small laugh, his eyes watching your lips curl into a mischievous smile.

"Are you going to put me in my place, Braun, or are you just talk?"

"Well, what do you want me to do to you?"

Your eyes bashfully deflected, before you muttered: "Please, let me go."

Reiner, noticing the sincerity in your tone, nodding his head. He released you from his grip, however, then something shocking happened that he wasn't expecting.

You hugged him.

You swung your arms around Reiner's shoulders, pulling his body down into a tight-embrace. You buried your face in the crevice of his neck, inhaling the sweet-perfume of his hair.

Reiner hesitated, genuinely taken aback by the fact that you had embraced him. He wrapped his lengthy arms loosely around your waist, instinctively pulling your figure against his. You sighed with relief that he had reciprocated, feeling his weight on your body whilst the leaned on top of you.

"I'm sorry that I yelled at you in the Mess Hall," You mumbled against his neck, "Especially, whilst Christa was there."

Reiner did not respond. He squeezed your body in his embrace, beginning to suffocate you of any air. He inhaled slowly, before loosening his arms.

"We should start getting ready," He whispered, releasing you from his fingertips with disappointment: "We both have an expedition today."

"Of course," You replied, still feeling flushed and over-stimulated by his sinful touch, "I'll see you on the battlefield."

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