...Confessing...
As soon as Erwin and a bunch of the MPs arrived, you all set off for the forest.
The remaining three of the L/n Quartet were assigned to his squad for the time being, along with Hannes. Nearing the forest, bright light peaked out from the trunks. "I think I just saw lightning."
"Commander!" called out Armin. "We think someone's transforming into a titan!"
"Then we're out of time. Soldiers, disperse! The enemy has assumed titan form!" All squads got off their horses, swinging into the forest.
"Eren, come out, come out, wherever you are," you sang to yourself, scanning the trees. You unsheathed your blades, spotting a titan with a deformed face.
"No, Y/n! Wait a second!" shouted Connie as he landed next to it. "This is actually Ymir! It's her titan form!"
"What?!" You landed on the next trunk. "It looks nothing like her! At least Eren and Reiner's forms have abs and muscle! This one..."
Connie laughed. "Yeah, she's an ugly one, isn't she?"
"Ymir! Did you escape from Reiner and Bertholdt? Where'd they go?" asked Jean.
"Give us something to go on!" yelled Sasha.
"Come on, ugly! We're in a rush!" Connie stomped on her head a few times.
"Why is she looking at us one by one?" asked Armin.
"Maybe she's jealous that we all look better than her right now," you suggested as Ymir glanced at you.
"Ymir! You're alright!" Krista came swinging in but Ymir jumped off and consumed her whole and ran off.
"Get your ass back here, Ymir! Put her down!" The rest of them followed close behind. "Why don't you wait for a kiss until you're back in human form?!"
"She won't listen to you!" yelled Armin. "She and Reiner are on the same side!"
"So what, she wants to take Krista with them to wherever the hell they came from?!" You sped up. "Not a chance! I still have to find out how we're related! We could be sisters separated from birth or something! Then I'd get two sisters within two days!"
"Stop talking so much, Y/n!" yelled Mikasa.
Then the Armored Titan popped out of a lightning bolt and ran out the forest. You all got back on the horses and chased after it. Once at a nearer distance, you and Mikasa got off your horses at the same time.
Swinging in from different sides, she slashed Ymir's eye and you sliced off her ear. There he was, Eren, strapped behind on Bertholdt's back. Reiner cupped them into his neck area, blocking off you and Mikasa's blades. From his finger cracks, you caught Mikasa's glare, rendering Bertholdt frozen. Just like how you used to glare at little kids. Seemed she learned a thing or two from you.
It looked like Eren was trying to say your name through his gag. You stabbed through the cracks aimed at Bertholdt, but Reiner's fingers snapped your blade.
You landed on his neck and switched out new ones. Mikasa went for Ymir but Krista jumped in the way. As they yelled back and forth, you swung back to Reiner's cupped hands. Since blades didn't work against his armor, you tried punching it but it only made your knuckles ache. The rest of your friends landed on Reiner's hands with you, trying to talk through to Bertholdt but his brain was thicker than the titan's armor.
"Guys! Get down from there and take cover!" yelled Hannes. "That lunatic's leading the titans straight for us!"
A whole army of abnormals was being led in your direction by Erwin and his squad. "What lunatic? Put some respect to that man's name! He's a fucking genius! You go, Erwin!"
"Good god," muttered Jean from your side. "No wonder Captain Levi favors you."
You all jumped off and got back on your horses as Reiner charged straight into the horde of titans. Abandoning Hannes' orders, you flicked the reins and charged in the same way as the rest of them yelled at you to stop. Erwin closed in, riding side by side. He firmly nodded at you, validating you.
"All soldiers, charge! Mankind's fate is decided now! There is no future in which we reclaim these lands without Eren and there never will be! Go on! Recover Eren from the Armored Titan and retreat! Advance!"
Suddenly, a titan lurched out of nowhere, its mouth opening for you. But Erwin's horse knocked you out of the way and instead, he was caught by his arm. "Fuck! Erwin!"
"I said advance, goddamn it!! Eren's right in front of you! Do not falter!" Though Erwin was shouting at everyone, his eyes and blade were pointed directly at you.
You applied the right pressure points to make your horse go as fast as you could. The Commander himself literally just risked his life for you so that you could go save Eren. Now there was no other option but to succeed.
A titan grabbed Mikasa, making her scream out in pain. You had a mission that you couldn't abandon, so you searched for the nearest person around. "Jean! Now's your chance! Go save your girl!"
"I'm fucking on it! You go save your man!" He slashed that titan's eyes, freeing her.
Once you landed back on the Armored titan, Bertholdt already held out a knife. "Stay back! Or I'll transform!"
"That's bullshit! You'd kill Reiner and Eren and everything you did would go to waste! Now give Eren back!"
"If it means to secure our secret, then both Reiner and I are prepared to die!"
"Shut your damn mouth up, Barrett!"
"It's Bertholdt!"
"You were never a good fighter nor a good talker and you still aren't! Now go back to being that quiet, stupid loser with the stupid name as you always were!"
Armin landed right above them. He tried his talking method but still, nothing worked. You could pinpoint the exact moment in his eyes when an idea struck him. A deranged one at that. "So you guys are okay with this? Leaving your friend to the wolves?" Bertholdt froze in place. And so did Reiner. "Do you even know where Annie is? Way up north in the Utopia District. Being tortured. The silent treatment can only go so far."
As he talked, his eyes kept flickering to you. You got into your stance, ready anytime to strike. That little genius was buying time by lying to them about the one person they could possibly care about. The girl who you forced yourself to not care about anymore.
"Mustn't waste such an important specimen like Annie. She's too precious to have a peaceful death," he said with this unhinged, manipulative look in his eyes. No wonder the four of us are perfect together. We all have something messed up about us.
"Shut your mouth, you devil's spawn! I'll kill you!"
You lunged for him, his knife gleaming, but someone beat you to it. Erwin, with one arm chewed off, sliced the restraints that bound Eren to Bertholdt. You dove down without hesitation, catching Eren right in your arms, unaware of the tiniest bit of ache in your abdomen.
He pulled off his gag and kept his other arm wrapped around your back. "Y/n! You came for me!"
"You dumbass! In what world do you think I wouldn't come for you?!" You landed back on your horse with Eren behind you, arms wrapped around your waist. "Shit, I just realized I haven't even named my horse yet."
"All soldiers, retreat!"
As you all rode back, Reiner started tossing those abnormals over. A sudden gust of wind, not even a titan, tumbled over your horse, throwing you and Eren across the grass. Then it galloped away. "Whatever! It's not like I was going to name you anyway! Go die, you stupid horse!"
You tried getting back up but immediately fell back over, feeling a sudden, burning pain in your core. Your hand went to your stomach, feeling a wooden hilt. You glanced down. A knife was inside you. There was blood. A lot of it. And it was dripping onto the ground, painting the little bluebells red underneath you. "Ah, fuck..."
"Y/n! Y/n, you okay?!" Eren slid to his knees beside you and gripped your shoulders. His breath hitched when he looked down. The front of your shirt was already staining in your blood. "Youâyou were stabbed?!"
"By that son of a bitch Benny. And I didn't even land a hit on him." You grabbed a hold of the knife and pulled it right out, hissing as the burning sensation only became greater.
Eren gasped and pressed his hand onto your abdomen. "Why did you do that?! You're not supposed to pull that out! It'll only worsen the bleeding!"
You blinked. "It will? Oh, whatever. Help me up."
"No, you can't move right now, or you're just going to bleed even more!"
"It's okay. I'm fine. It isn't that deep of a cut. Is it just me or is the air running out or something?" You tried taking in fuller breaths but there just wasn't enough of it. Just as you balanced yourself on one foot, you tumbled right back over. Eren caught you, hugging you close, your cheek pressed against his chest.
"I'm sorry! This is all my fault-"
"You know I hate it when you blame yourself for something you didn't even do. So unless you can do something about it, don't even bother." You meant to shout, but it came out much quieter than you expected.
"I'll carry you. I'll get us out of here-"
Stomping cut him off. As the smoke cleared, a titan with a deranged, gummy grin approached you two.
"What are you smiling at, you ugly thing?" You also meant to shout that, but somehow your voice just couldn't get any louder.
Eren's breath hitched. "It's her. The one who ate my mom."
Her hand came slamming down and Eren bent over, shielding your body with his. But Hannes slashed off its thumb. "Can you believe this crazy luck?! Eren, get Y/n out of here as I avenge your mother! This is the least I owe her!"
You gripped Eren's shirt. "That man is weaker than a goddamn mouse. He's not going to do shit. And neither can I right now so I don't know, turn into a titan or something."
He nodded. "Right. That's the only way right now." He carefully set you down, laying on the grass. You turned over to your side to get a better view, telling your pain to fuck off. He bit down into his hand. But lightning didn't strike. "What?!" He bit down even harder. "No! No, this can't be happening! Why now?!" His teeth dug deeper and deeper until blood poured onto the ground.
"Okay, stop. Stop. It's not working. So stop." But your voice was becoming weaker and he didn't hear a thing. You flipped onto your stomach, pressed a hand against your bleeding abdomen, and began crawling to him.
Hannes cut out her ankle and she collapsed on her knees. But in the next moment, Hannes was right in her grasp. And she brought him to her mouth. Then his blood splattered everywhere. He was looking at the two of you when the light left his eyes. The titan collapsed onto her back, chewing his remains in her mouth.
Eren fell on all fours. He started laughing. And then he was screaming. An agonizing, animal scream of defeat. "Look at you!! You haven't grown up one goddamn bit!! You're still as useless as you've ever been!!"
You reached out a hand on his thigh. He glanced up, tears brimming his eyes. "Stop that. I'm going deaf."
"This is all because of me," he croaked out, pulling you in and resting your back on his lap. "You wouldn't be hurt right now because of me. Everything happening is because of me. I'm so, so sorry-"
"I'm going to punch you if you apologize one more goddamn time," you said. "I don't want to hear it. Not when you're looking like this, sounding like this." The smiling titan was struggling to get itself up. The titans were nearing your friends. Time was tight.
"Do you remember that night in the Training Corps?" he asked. "When you took care of me because I was sick? I promised you I'd grow strong enough until one day, you'd never have to take care of me ever again. And that I'll be the one taking care of you."
"I actually thought that was the fever talking."
"Well it wasn't. I meant it. And I haven't done a single thing. I haven't grown strong enough, and to this day you're still taking care of me. Until you ended up like this."
You rolled your eyes. "Talking like I'm about to die or something." The bleeding didn't seem to cease. But you were fooling yourself into believing that as long as your hand stays on your stomach, you'd stay alive. Because no way in hell were you going to go by a stupid stab by Bernie out of all people.
"Y/n, stop being strong for me. I'm supposed to be strong for you. I've been wanting to for years. Because Iâbecause I've always..." he trailed off to control his quiet sobs. Your breath hitched, eyes growing wide. He's not going to...is he? "Y/n, I've always-"
You put a hand to his chest, stopping him. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. "Eren, what are you doing?"
"I'm telling you something that I've been wanting to say for some time. I'm not dying without-"
"You think we're dying? You're kidding me. Are you giving up? Just like this?" He sniffed and avoided your gaze. "Okay, my horse ran away. We'll walk. Okay, Hannes died for us, we just have to keep living for him. And okay, you can't turn into a titan. Then we'll think of something else."
"But-"
"If I had lived my life thinking that way, I wouldn't have even become friends with you. I would've let the fact that no one wanted me eat me away. But I didn't. Because I always had this stupid faith in myself, and it has never let me down. Now, I need you to have faith in yourself too, even if you feel stupid about it."
His tears dripped from his chin to your shirt, purifying the blood. He said nothing, but you knew he was listening to your every word.
"And whatever you were going to say, or whatever I think you were going to say, I don't want to hear it right now. Not when you're forcing yourself to spit it out just because you feel defeated. I'd rather you keep it in for the rest of our lives if that's how it's going to be."
"But how can I?! How can I ever trust myself after this, even if we live?! I'll never be able to have faith in myself ever again-"
Never in a million fucking goddamn years would you have thought you'd ever do what you just did. You pulled his face down and kissed him. You, the avoidant, unserious, dense piece of shit. You. Though it was nothing more than a peck, it left you both in states that rivaled each other's shock. "Uh, I really hate hearing you blame yourself. So."
He could not form a single word with the muscles of his mouth.
You abruptly sat up, wincing at the spike of pain. "I don't want to talk about this with you right now. All I want is for you to stand up and fight back. Even if it costs both of our lives. Because there's no way we're just going to sit here and wait for that titan to finally learn how to stand up." You glanced back at him. His eyes never left you, never had. "Because I have this stupid faith in you. Always have. So go."
You waited in awkward silence until he got back on his feet. "I don't know what the hell just happened, but you're right. I can't give up now. Not when I've got my arms and legs. And my brain's still intact. I can still fight." The smiling titan was finally back on her feet. "So come at me!!" The titan swung her hand down and Eren launched a punch at her. His fist met with her palm, and she stopped.
She retracted her hand, as if his small punch actually did something. As he swung a fist again into the air, another titan jumped over you and lunged for her, bringing her to the ground. Like something had possessed Eren, with every punch, more and more titans came charging for the smiling titan, piling up on her like a mountain, chewing her flesh to her bone.
"Come on!" Eren reached his arms under your back and legs and hoisted you up, carrying you back to the rest of the Scouts.
You brushed a finger down the marks on his cheeks. "When did these get here? Did you know you could do that?"
"No," he said, shaking his head. Then the Armored Titan and Bertholdt came charging at the two of you in the distance. "Get away from us!! You bastards, I'll kill you where you stand!!"
Just like that, the mountain of titans climbed off of each other and charged for Reiner and Bertholdt. "Since when do they listen to you like you're their boss or something?"
"I don't know, but I could really care less right now."
"Eren! Y/n!" Armin came riding over with an unconscious Jean on his back. He was also holding the reigns of Eren's horse. Your horse was just deadbeat. Like your parents. "What happened-"
"Y/n!" Mikasa arrived and hopped off her horse. "What the hell happened to her? How'd you get yourself hurt again?!" She grabbed out some bandages from the bag on her horse.
"Please don't worry. It's embarrassing enough to be hurt," you said. "I can't even yell right now. And I really, really want to. This is so boring."
"Can you be any less serious?" She quickly wrapped a few circles of bandages around your waist and tied it off. The entire formation was heading back. You sat behind her, leaning forward on her back, since she was a steadier rider than any of them.
Your eyelids were feeling heavy, begging to droop. So the whole time, Eren and Armin kept you awake, talking about the dumbest things they could think of, stuff that they knew would interest you.
Like if there were titans that looked like animals. Or if there were animals under this "sea" they wanted to go to. Or if Mikasa would ever be interested in Jean, which she scoffed at and said nothing. But nonetheless, you didn't doze off once.
*
slow burn aint done yet yall
this chap gonna giv me diabetes
i love me some cheesy shit but i also love me some conflict