Childish Games

Childish Games - Thirteen

-Chapter Thirteen-

It felt like it had been quite a long while since their last expedition outside the walls, and Jean wished it had stayed that way. For a few days now they had been taking frequent trips outside of the walls, and, since nobody had died as of yet, Levi was beginning to get cocky about it. 'I want everyone to follow the plan right down to the last detail.' He said, shooting that trademark glare at everyone he locked eyes with. 'I don't care if you have itchy balls or a hair in your nose, you stop for nothing.' Jean heard Marco scoff and glanced across at him, eyes wide and his mouth dropped open in the slightest. He feared for the boy's life. What the fuck did you do that for? And shit shit shit shit ran through his mind as he glanced between Levi, and Marco, then Levi again, and back again. The short man walked up to Marco and tried his most intimidating stare, which still managed to send chills down both of their spines, despite them having to permanently look down at the fun-sized adult. 'What might you be laughing at?' He seethed, his teeth barely parting as he spoke.

'Nothing, corporal!' Marco responded, standing up straight immediately, and if Jean didn't know any better, he'd think that Marco did so in order to be even taller than Levi himself. Then again, who was he kidding? Of course Marco would do that. Jean barely managed to hold back a smirk, but he went unnoticed by Levi, and the darker haired male spun on his heel and walked back over to stand beside Erwin and the other higher ranking officers. 

After just a few more minutes of relentless scolding and drilling the plan into everyone's minds, all of the people involved in the expedition donned their gear and prepared to leave the respectable safety of the walls they spent their lives in. Some days, Jean wished he had never been exposed to the reality of the Titans. He would have been happy enough spending his life in a house with his mother, and eventually a family of his own, as opposed to fighting these god awful sacks of shit. Though, he supposed he could be thankful for at least one thing that came from his current role in life. Meeting Marco. He probably wouldn't have met the freckled ball of sunshine if it weren't for their work in the fight against the Titans.

----

Levi sighed as he hitched himself up onto his horse, refusing to show any struggle at pushing himself up so high. He wouldn't give Jean the satisfaction to call him out for his stature once more. He secured the tie of his cape around the front of his neck, ensuring that he wouldn't lose it during transit, just as Erwin sashayed toward him and casually leaned against his horse, only causing Levi to nudge the horse's reigns to the left a bit, if only to make the blonde man stumble and trip over his own feet.

'The fuck do you want?' He said, not looking at Erwin until it became apparent that he would get the silent treatment unless he made eye contact. 

'Smile for me.' Erwin deadpanned. Levi blinked, raising an eyebrow at him.

'...What?'

'Smile. Then I'll talk.' Levi was beginning to get irritated by this rally of short exchanges, and so he sighed and shot the most sarcastic smile ever at Erwin, who frowned in return. 'I said smile.' He probed, and Levi scoffed.

'I did smile, now what did you want?' He pushed. Erwin sighed as he gave up and looked between Levi, Jean, and Marco. 

'Why do you give those kids shit but not the others?' He asked, causing Levi to raise his brows again.

'I give Jaeger enough shit for the whole lot of them. Why? Are they jealous?' He teased, but Erwin shrugged and uttered a 'maybe' beneath his breath, which had Levi scoffing. 'Get to work, you fucking lump. We're leaving in five minutes.'

----

Jean checked the security of his equipment on his horse, and that all his 3DMG was working, one last time before Levi called out that they were ready to leave. He rode side by side on his horse with Marco next to him, advancing through the town like the soldiers did when he was little and he'd look up at them, blissfully unaware of what they were heading out to do. It felt like mere seconds before they broke into a full on gallop, straining both themselves and the poor horses to get away from a Titan that caught onto them near instantly. Though the Titan wasn't the only thing he was concerned about. Somehow, he'd managed to find himself in a situation where it was just himself and Levi. Balls.

'Kirschtein!' Levi yelled, 'Don't just run, at least do something useful!' He said, just before he himself shot up from his horse in a cloud of white gas. Jean reluctantly followed suit, but he knew it was always wiser to take on a Titan in a pair rather than on your own. He propelled himself upwards and latched onto the Titan's shoulders with his grapples, pulling himself up and releasing the hooks so that he was left literally flying above the Titan. Right. All I have to do is go down and slice its neck. He thought. He got a clear line down to the back of the Titan's neck and shot his grapples out to fix onto either side of it, pulling himself down and moving his arms ready to take a swing and deliver a fatal blow. However, the Titan had other ideas, and lifted its arm up when it felt the hooks in its neck, clearly not a fan of the feeling, it flailed and backhanded Jean a good couple of kilometres away from where he initially was. How fucking rude. He thought, though he didn't have much time to think that as his body collided with the ground and not only rolled, but bounced as well, battering near every inch of his body. Before he could even try to sit up, he opened his eyes and he was greeted with the face of that Titan that had knocked him over, and it was all he could do to lie there and accept defeat, trying to think of every reason he had to live, but he struggled to find any. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable; but it didn't come when he expected it to. So he waited a little longer. Still nothing. He opened his eyes to see Levi standing over him, tutting as he loomed over him. 

'..Corporal..' Jean choked out, finding it rather difficult to talk, as he had most certainly been winded at the very least, most likely broken bones, but he chose not to think of that side of things. 

'You call that useful?' Levi scoffed. 'Get up.' Jean inclined himself to try and sit up, but winced as his body protested, sending pain shooting up his chest. He rolled onto his side as he began to cough, groaning as he recognised the taste of blood in his mouth, and he knew he wasn't lucky enough to have just bitten his tongue. 'Tch.. I would leave you if we had more Titans to worry about.' He muttered, 'But I have no excuse.' He positioned his fingers in his mouth so that he could whistle loudly for his horse, which came over as soon as it could, from the distance that it was. 

'I don't see how.. This is going to work..' Jean said, but he was soon interrupted by the sound of hooves near them again.

'Ah, just on time.' He heard Levi call out. 'I need someone to go back to the walls with this idiot.' His foot moved towards Jean, and he would've kicked him if it wasn't for his obvious injuries already.

'Jean..?' His eyes shot open instantly, as he forced himself to sit up a bit, looking around for the source of that voice. Marco's voice. Marco. Marco. In the face of death, when counting what he had to live for, he failed to find anything. Which meant he had failed to think of Marco. He felt his heart drop, along with his whole being, as he locked eyes with Marco and saw nothing but concern and affection reflected in them. 'Jean, can you hear me?' He asked, obviously having noticed his eyes threatening to fall to a close. Jean nodded and offered a weak smile, opening his mouth to try and speak but he stopped when Marco told him not to strain himself. He nodded again and felt himself being pulled onto a cart they'd brought out with them, so that he could have a flat surface to lie on, Marco sat in the back with him to ensure he didn't fall off, and Berthold entrusted with the horses' reigns, guiding them back to the walls as Jean gradually felt himself grow wearier and drowsier.

'Mar..co.' He choked.

'Polo.'

Then everything just went black.