Exasperation painted over your face as you intensely stared into the War Chiefs' face gnashing your teeth together. If there was anything you hated most, it was being lied to. Although you could claim yourself as a hypocrite because you often would lie about your whereabouts when Reiner asked because you didn't want to concern him.

"What?" You spat out as tears of irritation glossed over your E/C irises. You jutted forward slightly before being blocked by Yelena's arm. She looked down at you with creased eyebrows and a small frown on her face.

"We're moving the date up. We've found an opportunity to pull through with this plan sooner." Zeke explained once more through the cigarette held between his teeth. He crossed his arms over his chest, avoiding your gaze. "I know you're angry but the sooner we do this, the less problems we'll have."

You pushed her arm away sending her a small infuriated gaze. Yelena's eyes slightly widened as her shoulders tensed at the unexpected look you had given her. She dropped her gaze to the floor, the color in her eyes growing darker.

"That's complete bullshit. I would've understood if it was a couple days but the date was pushed up an entire fifteen days?" Your fingers curled into fists, your nails digging into your skin. Your body had already felt like it was on fire so you didn't even notice that your fingers had penetrated your skin enough to make it start bleeding.

Yelena immediately fished out her handkerchief from her pocket upon seeing the crimson fluids pour from your hands. She hesitantly grabbed your wrist and pried your hand open but before she could tend to the wound you harshly pulled your hand away.

"You're bleeding—" She said in a rushed voice but was silenced by your fiery gaze.

"Does that really matter right now?" You laughed bitterly bending your fingers in and out, staring at your tainted skin. "This is unbelievable. I need more time Zeke!"

"I have my reasons Y/N. Unless you want to be killed here I suggest you comply to my decisions. It won't be my hands doing the killing, it'll be the soldiers in this internment camp." He took off his glasses and knitted his eyebrows at you with impatience coursing through his veins. Zeke's dull colored hues burned at your skin.

"And I didn't lie to you. I just seized an opportunity for your sake." He continued, leaning his body over the wooden desk. "Why can't you get that into your head? I'm doing you a favor by bringing you back to where you belong."

You opened your mouth to lash out at him again but a wave of realization hit you. Immediately you closed your mouth, clenching your jaw in pure agitation. Admitting it was hard enough, but Zeke was right. You couldn't be picky because he was doing you the favor of bringing you back home. He had every right to rat you out to the Marleyan Government but he's kept his lips sealed.

Did you even have the right to be angry with Zeke? After all, he was the one who was helping you.

You withdrew a deep breath, bringing your eyes to your shoes. Your mind was now merely a blank slate. You swallowed the thick lump in your throat to suppress the tears that were begging to be released from your eye sockets. The tall blonde dropped her hands to her side, a empathetic look appearing on her pale face.

Zeke took the burnt out cigarette out of his mouth, tossing it inside a pile of ashes. He regained his composure, the creases on his face disappearing in an instance. "Ten days. That's all you have."

The reminder felt like blades cutting into your heart. You silently nodded, blinking your tears away. Without another word you turned on the heels of your shoes and placed your hand on the knob, turning it slightly and pulling it open all the way. Your heart nearly dropped when you found Reiner's tall figure standing on the other side of the door.

You stumbled back, pure fear taking over your body. Horrified and unable to think, Reiner copied your exact moves. His eyes were shaken with disbelief as he lost the ability to even process what he had just heard. Tears stung at the corners of his eyes as he snapped back to reality. He glowered at the taller blond balling his fingers into fists.

Zeke however, only showed disappointment in his face rather than fear. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and puffed out a breath of air. "Well shit. The two lovers are here." He tapped his foot on the ground once.

Your body was frozen in shock as the color in your face was drained. Your jaw hung ajar staring at the man before you. Anger, betrayal, and all sorts of negative emotions took over him. The most painful one of all, heartbreak. His shoulders heaved up and down unevenly with his breath growing unsteady.

"Reiner," You timidly reached out to him but for the first time he had struck you, swatting your arm away from him. You flinched at the sudden sensation of pain traveling up your arm.

He didn't spare you a single glance. Instead he refused to take his eyes off of Zeke. "What are you doing with Y/N?"

"I'm killing her." He deadpanned with his lips pressed into a straight line. As soon as he noticed Reiner's veins begin to pop out of his arms he put his arms up in defense. "That was a joke; I'm actually trying to prevent that from happening."

"I have no time for your shitty jokes Zeke." Reiner lowly growled taking one step towards him. "I'm going to ask again; what are you going to do with Y/N?"

"We're helping her go back to where she belongs." Yelena finally slipped herself into the conversation with little droplets of sweat dripping down the side of her head. She was nervous to be talking up to Reiner because he was the Vice Chief.

Reiner's eyebrows creased further, clearly unconvinced with what she had just said. "Why? I don't understand why she would—"

"Stop." Zeke put the palm of his hand up to pause the boy mid-sentence. "What you're about to say is going to be very inconsiderate towards Y/N. You're keeping her here for selfish reasons and eventually she'll get found out here."

"And that could mean death for her." He finished off his sentence in a stern tone.

Reiner's arms dropped to his sides as he turned to you, eyes softening with guilt at the sight of you so terrified. He was so caught up in his emotions earlier that he hadn't even realized that he had hit you. "Do you want to go back? After everything.. you still want to leave?" He choked on his words as a lump formed in his throat.

Your body was trembling with fear under his gaze. You bobbed your head slowly in response, bringing your eyes to the floor. You wrapped an arm over your chest and wrapped your fingers around your other arm to try and stop it from shaking.

"I was supposed to die six months ago. I sacrificed myself for the sake of my friends but you came back for me. Why did you save me?" As you spoke your voice became a hushed whisper in the end as a lone tear traveled down the side of your cheek.

Zeke exhaled with annoyance in his voice before walking himself out of the room, eyeing Yelena and signaling for her to follow him out. She immediately nodded and rushed out of the room trailing behind the War Chief. It was only you and Reiner left in Zeke's office.

"Why are you even asking that?" His voice cracked. "I wasn't ready to lose you Y/N. Even before your accident you treated me like a human being after finding out about my darkest secret. I wanted to protect you and give you a chance at a future because I love you."

"How am I going to have a future here when I'm an enemy to your people? Inevitable government mandated death only awaits me here. I don't want that— Being killed by the very hands of my enemies? I'm not going to let that happen to me. I don't want to die a shitty death. So please," You spoke softly, grabbing his hand in yours. "Try to understand why I'm doing this. It doesn't mean I love you any less. God, you're the most precious human being in the world to me. If they find out that you were the one who saved me, what do you think would happen to you? Surely you'd face punishment."

Reiner's shoulders sunk in defeat. He bit down on his chapped lower lip as the tears began to cascade down his cheeks like a waterfall. There was no way he could argue with what you said; everything you said was reasonable and true. He couldn't find the strength to be angry at you. If he was in your shoes he would've probably done the same.

Your lifted your hand to gently caress his cheek, wiping his tears away by brushing your thumb against his skin. His body trembled under your touch as she sniffled quietly, unable to speak any further.

"I've considered staying here but after taking some time to think about it, I think this is the best solution. Seeing you get hurt because of me is the last thing I want to see. You can't convince me to stay because I've made up my mind. Okay?" Your voice wavered as you fought the urge to breakdown.

He nodded weakly, letting his forehead fall onto your shoulder. Reiner's eyes continued to pour as he silently sobbed into the fabric of your shirt, wetting the polyester top. You couldn't be bothered by the slight discomfort of having a wet spot on your shirt because your mind was too shaken up to even care.

Zeke was generous enough to give you both all the time you needed to calm yourselves down in his office. He waited outside in the lounge area with his back pressed against the wall, lighting another cigarette that was held between his teeth. Yelena was already long gone as Zeke had dismissed her from her duties.

Nine o' clock had struck the clock. You slowly opened the door and exited the room with Reiner following behind you. The bearded blond took the cigarette out of his mouth and exhaled quietly as he watched you and Reiner leave the premises. He kept watch just until you both were no longer in his field of vision.

Zeke quickly rushed into his office and seated himself back onto his chair. He popped open a container of ink and took out a feather pen. He dipped the tip of the pen in the ink before bringing it the calendar on his desk. He crossed out the date for today before puffing out another cloud of smoke.

"Ten more days." He breathed out.

—

authors note;
tysm for 3000+ reads!
many thanks to you all. i cannot
put the amount of gratitude i
have into words. in honor of reaching
another milestone ive made sure to make this
chapter a bit more lengthier than usual.

so warning: things are going
to start picking up from here. i only
intend to let this story run on for
twenty chapters at most.

as a senior student in high school with
finals coming up, i want to finish this
while i still have the time to do so. so please
understand why im rushing though this