sunspotted | inbox | seasonsrpg

The dream is always the same. It always starts with the Beast titan collapsing, its fall rattling the buildings, rattling the entire world, and Galliard and Pieck left alone on the battlefield. Time folds in on itself, and Galliard turns to see Pieck plunging towards the ground, her Panzer armour burning and twisted, her titan mangled. With the bitter, horrible certainty of dreams, Galliard knows she's dead, that the thunderspear blew her apart from inside her titan, and he's the only one left on the battlefield.

He surrounded then, dark shadows looming up all around him, and they're all gone, they're all dead, Pieck burning in a building's shadow, Reiner crushed under collapsing buildings, Zeke sliced into pieces by Levi's blades. He's alone, and the Attack Titan looms above him, filling the sky, filling the world, and his titan's arms and legs fall apart under flashing silver knives. He's lifted into the air, the crystal jammed back in his mouth, and Galliard tries to twist out of the Attack Titan's hands but he's caught, he's trapped, and the hideous pressure builds on his face until the crystal shatters and pours down his throat and...

And he wakes up.

The room is dark, Marco a slumbering hulk under the blankets beside him. Galliard sits up; he's wet with sweat, his heart thundering so hard he's amazed that it hasn't woken Marco up. He runs a hand through his hair first. It's not on fire, thankfully; every time he has the dream here, he's afraid that he'll wake up and be surrounded by those white flames, the ones that bake with heat and burn even him. It hasn't happened yet, but the fear of lighting the bed, and possibly Marco, on fire is almost as bad as the dreams themselves.

No fire tonight. Good.

Galliard gags then, barely managing to muffle the sound behind one hand. When he takes his hand away from his mouth, it's dark with blood. The shards... his throat is full of crystal shards again, shredding and bleeding the lining of his throat. Worse yet, they're wedged between his teeth, stuck there and waiting to fall down his windpipe and drown him.

He gets up as quietly as he can and staggers towards the bathroom. There's only one way to deal with this that he's found, only one thing that makes it feel like the shards are gone. The fact that they aren't really there at all is something he can repeat to himself for hours, but it makes no difference. They're there, they're real, and if he doesn't get them out, they're going to lacerate his mouth and suffocate him on his own blood.

Marco doesn't wake up right away; given that he's spent a majority of his life sharing a room with some other person, whether his sisters or his fellow trainees, he can sleep through a lot of movement and noise.

That's not quite been his normal lately, however. Part of the reason he stays with Galliard some nights is the inability to fall asleep without noise; sometimes it's just because it's easier than going through the whole process of cleaning them off and then heading back to his. The point is, he's used to Galliard's heat beside him, and the lack of warmth has him finally drawing awake, sleepily patting the area where he should be.

He finds it damp and empty, and that gets him opening his eyes; the benefit of training and siblings means that he can wake up fast when concerned. He sits up, seeing the damp sweat spot, and no sign of Galliard in the room itself.

"Galliard?" he calls out, his voice feeling too loud in the emptiness of the room, and he lets his eyes adjust to the darkness before he pushes the blankets back and slips off the bed. He rubs at his eyes a little bit before he walks forward.

There aren't any lights on that he can see, but he thinks he hears what might be sobbing? It's a strange, pained rhythmic noise. When he steps out into the hallway, though, his foot lands on something, and Marco pulls it up with a hiss. What the hell is hanging out in the middle of the hallway?

His foot feels wet, and when he crouches down it takes a second for his eyes to focus on what he sees on the floor as he picks it up. He realizes, very quickly, it's a tooth, still wet with blood and a bit of flesh clinging to it.

Marco drops it immediately, alarm ringing through his body. It's just one tooth, and if it's Galliard's he'll be fine. But as he stands again, he realizes he can hear clattering coming from the bathroom, which is also the source of the strange noise.

Filled with dread but determined to help if he can, Marco walks up to the door. He almost knocks, then decides even if he finds Galliard in the midst of something embarrassing that's preferable to leaving him alone if something is going on. Marco's instincts are telling him something is very, very wrong.

He twists the knob and pushes the door open. "Galliard?"

quest board this time wanted to remind me about the place i died in.

freaking hilarious.

maybe im taking it harder than i should but it really sucks.

[Most likely he's sensitive to the whole death topic due to the mission in the manor.]

[ He might be, but Marco certainly wouldn't want to relive his own death so he can't blame him for the feeling. ]

I'm sorry, Jean, it's not easy to be reminded of that kind of thing.

[ He should know! ]

You don't have to do the quest, you know.

i know. i probably won't.

probably.

i do have some morbid curiosity.

[Pause. Then another text.]

also sorry. i just reached for you on an instinct.

You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm glad you thought of me first.

If you want to take a look at it, I can go with you. Or, you can take Mikasa or Captain Levi. You shouldn't go alone no matter what, though.

don't worry. i won't go alone, that's the one thing you can trust.

but i'll think about it. if nothing else, the flowers really do seem useful.

also, let me know if you spot a quest you want to do together.

Galliard is too caught up in what he's doing to hear Marco's approach, and even if he had, he doesn't know that he'd have responded to it. He's so close, so close to getting the last of the shards out of his mouth, and once they're gone, he'll feel like he can breathe again. When Marco opens the door, Galliard doesn't even turn from the sink, too intent on what he's doing to pay attention to anything else.

He's turned the bathroom into an abattoir. The walls are splashed with blood, with the worst and heaviest of it around the sink. The sink itself is half-full of blood, its drain clogged, jagged white chunks floating in the mess. The mirror has gotten so splashed it's barely visible, except for a small portion that Galliard has clearly had to wipe clean more than once, its reflection distorted by a pinkish glaze over the mirror's surface.

Galliard stands in front of the mirror, his mouth and front dark red, a bib of blood and flesh chunks running down his chest almost to his waist. His mouth is steaming, and he's waving the steam out of the way with one hand, leaning in close to that one spot on the mirror that's still reflecting. His jaw is open as wide as he can get it--much wider and it would break too--and he's reaching deep inside the cavern with something dark and metallic.

Marco is frozen in the doorway, rendered speechless as his gaze travels over the bathroom. He's no stranger to the slaughterhouse, nor the sight of bodies by this point, but it's still horrifying to witness when the person is still moving.

His gaze is drawn to what he thinks is bloody water but rapidly realizes is just blood, jagged bits floating in it. It doesn't take long for him to realize that the chunks are teeth. His hand leaves the doorknob and comes up to his own mouth, covering it reflexively.

He's still staring at the sink when something snaps in Galliard's mouth, the sound of bone and flesh separating, and he winces hearing it, his body jumping a little. He tears his gaze away to look at Galliard, his eyes wide as saucers.

Galliard looks like some madman out of a horror story, a boogeyman they used to spook each other with over campfires during survival training. It's worse, when it's someone you care about with their own blood and gore running down their front.

The pliers catch on the last tooth, a molar that's always stubborn about coming out, a tooth that always seems to have the biggest, most jagged crystal shard jammed up underneath it. Galliard tightens his grip around the pliers and wrenches, his hand moving quick and sure, practiced. The molar cracks and separates from his gums; another tug, and it comes free with a wet, squelching sound.

Galliard removes the pliers from his mouth, loosening them to drop the broken tooth into the sink. It lands with a little splash, sinking momentarily into the pool of blood before bobbing back to the surface as Galliard carefully, reverently lays the pliers on the edge of the sink.

He turns to Marco then, and smiles at him. His mouth is steaming, but his teeth haven't grown back yet, leaving his mouth a ruin of blood and gaping holes.

"The shards are gone now." All the words slur together in a mush, and the effort of speaking through all the gore makes Galliard cough. He bends over the sink, hacking and spraying blood everywhere, spitting heavy clots out between gagging.

Maybe you can go if no one else seems likely to? But if they have plenty of other people doing it, you don't need to worry.

Well! It's not an official quest but I do have something I need to deliver to the winter segment: a teleportation crystal. Do you want to help me with that?

Marco is nearly sick when he hears the squelch; the only reason he isn't is he's seen and heard much, much worse. That doesn't make it easier to see this, something that seems to get worse the longer he looks at Galliard. A horrid optical illusion revealing more and more horrific details to his gaze. How many times has Galliard done this? Cleaned it up afterward - those movements are too sure to be the first time. Does the blood go away, or has Galliard wiped it down by hand every time?

Marco lowers his hand from his mouth, swallowing reflexively.

"I'm glad you got them out," he says, but he can't manage an entirely even voice; it wavers a little. He reaches out, carefully, to rest a hand on Galliard's shoulder.

maybe.

wow, really? sure.

[That seemed like an important mission. When did Marco manage to get that...]

Mmm, shouldn't be too dangerous to do! We're going to a spot that's been pretty busy with people, so there are guards, but no one has been from the science department recently.

It is winter segment, but not anywhere near the lake. Meet me at the gate?

At the Stormreach one or at the Coldreach one? But yeah, I'll be there.

Hey! Happy Birthday.

If you don't have any plan for the day, can you come over? I have something I want to give you but its easier if you come to me rather than the other way around.

[He may have baked a cake. It's not perfect, but it's a cake. Mikasa helped, but most of it is Jean's mess.

But also the main gift is in Sunwaning.]

To: ~~Jean's important friend~~ Marco Bott

I am moving to a new address. I know you are not technically part of my squad, but you are welcome to reach out to me all the same, as needed.

Captain Levi

[ There's an address along with coordinates included for a house in Coldreach. ]

[ It is, in fact, the house he bought with Hange; he feels some ways about moving in without them, but in a way, it will serve as a shared memory, too. Besides, he himself only agreed to move because Hange and Erwin wanted more space, and the latter is still here. It's just as well that they honor their shared effort. ]

[ Reiner will receive a similar message, while Eren, Jean, Mikasa, Sasha, Historia and Falco get slightly warmer, more informal ones. ]

[Immediately after this.]

[Once Jean got the confirmation Marco was home, he made his way there... and promptly just attaches himself to his best friend (he and Reiner were pretty similar in managing their upset, it seems). Sure, he waited long enough to be inside, at least, but it was still faster than usual hugging.]

[ On Marco's end, he got a text out of the blue from Jean asking if he was around. He'd barely finished greeting Jean and letting him inside when Jean hugs him tightly. He's surprised, of course, but he's not unused to this; usually Jean is just more restrained in how badly he needs a hug.

Gently, he wraps his arms around his friend, raising a hand to stroke through his hair. ]

It's going to be okay.

[ Because Marco will make it okay - whatever it is. ]

What's got you so worked up, Jean?

[The hug feels good. Something he really needed after the day he's had. He sighs, a little out of tiredness, more so because of relief he finds in the hair strokes.]

I delivered a sword to Bertholdt with Reiner... but not before talking with Reiner about why I didn't want to do it in person. So now Reiner's hurting again and things are definitely not improving with Bertholdt.

[Not that he did a very good job at trying. Instead he just crashed the whole thing immediately.]

Might have coffee with him sometime, I guess.

[ Marco knows Jean was there when Bertholdt died, so he pauses for a moment, and then sighs softly. He hasn't spoken to Bertholdt since he arrived; less out of avoidance on his end and more because he just hasn't seen the other boy, by his own design. Still, he was always closer to him of the trio of Titan shifters. ]

Reiner needs time to hurt and grieve. You two have been friends for so long; I'm sure it'll work out.

[ He sounds confident, but he knows how much Reiner adores Bertholdt. He can only hope that Bert is here works in Jean's favor. ]

You needed it, didn't you? [ He reminds Jean with a small smile, sad. ]

[It's true they've been friends for a long time, now. Jean would give him time and space. Which ends up being a little too much time and space. Mostly because this time it was about Bertholdt, which was very personal for Reiner. Would he really be able to just forgive him? It's a worry that will stop him from contacting Reiner, in the end.

Would he feel the trust bond between them break? Would he lose another bond, but live with the fact the person was still there? Nothing had changed yet. Nothing was broken that far.

Marco's right, of course, about Jean's needs. He needed to say the things out loud, almost as if it was confession, and he needed to confront Bertholdt eventually.]

... yeah.

[At least he seemed to appreciate the rapier, at least.]

Do you mind if I stay for a bit?

[Extra nostalgic whiny Jean for you.]

I'm so bored. Really, what do people who don't train or even jog do on their spare time? I've been trying to draw, but I can't get the right mindset.

One silly fractured bone and you're forbidden to even run too fast.

On December 24th, a package is delivered by fairy delivery services. The package card says "From Jean. I hope this will bring some fond memories for you. I painted it from memory so feel free to tell me if I got it wrong."

Inside there is a painting. It's done as accurately as possible, but it's of 104th smiling about something in their cadet corps uniforms. Most of the focus is on Marco, Jean, Connie and Sasha but there's a lot of recognizable people in the background.

There's a small signature of Jean's in the right down corner.

[ On the Solstice, a package from Reiner is delivered. It contains a miniature sculpture of the Jaw Titan molded from a deep blue stone scattered with tiny white crystals, giving the effect of a night sky.

Marco may note that the Jaw Titan's proportions have been modified, giving it an cute "chibi" vibe.

There is also a note written in Reiner's neat Eldian script. ]

Marco,

Happy Solstice. I thought you might like this. Imagine his face if he knew his Titan could look so cute.

- Reiner

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action; sometime in January

cw: dental damage/teeth removal

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action backdated for whenever that thread happened

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