...This will be the death of him.

Reiner was certain of this, every time he looked at you, something within his carefully built walls cracked. His heart, rotten and scarred as it was, yearned for the glances the two of you once exchanged, back when you were both in the Cadet Corps, not a care in the world.

But he didn't deserve them. It was unthinkable. Him, a bastard traitor who sold out what was most precious to him in the world, you, for the so-called good of his country? A country of murderers, liars and... and...

He saw you again. Now, side by side with him, just like many years ago. The chains of guilt wrapped around his beating heart coiled like a famished snake, tugging and pulling, forcing feelings he wanted six feet under back to the surface.

"Be careful out there," was all he said when he was informed of your newest departure for an important reconnaissance mission.