In It For the Money

VII

Third
Most of the area had been picked clean by Blaze's team, which made looking for the civilians easier. As they searched they came across the remains of several people, all torn into by the weird creatures laying nearby or somewhere in the small village town. As they ventured forward, turning every stone and moving rubbles from doorways, they still hadn't found the people.

Y/n breathed in softly, lifting a large pillar of wood from one entryway and heard a shaky, anxious cry for help from within. The shock he felt almost made him crush himself under the heavy beam. He called out to Leon and Blaze. Neither male replied to his yell, which confused him. He turned his head to the inside and managed to pull some rubble under the beam to temporarily hold it in place.

With that being secured he stepped inside the nearly collapsed home, eyes scanning the darkness as they adjusted. "Hello?" He heard something shift, claw on the stone as he drew one of his pistols. He slowly made his way, as quiet as he could be as his feet kicked the small concrete crumbs that littered the floor. As he entered the room, gun first as head slowly peering around the corner.

His body froze with fear, there was a man with his hands held firmly around a woman's throat. He threw curse after curse at her and Y/n didn't know what to do. So he did the first thing his mind came to, he aimed his gun at the man and properly stepped inside.

"Let her go!" Y/n's voice echoed through the room as the man snapped his head to confront him.

"This doesn't concern you! Go home!" He turned back to the woman, hands clasping tighter. Her eyes flashed at Y/n's, an innocent and pleading brown. His eyes flickered with concern as he rushed over and grabbed the man's shirt.

"I said leave her alone!" Y/n snapped, hitting the man in the face with the butt of his gun. This knocked the man out, giving the poor woman time to recover.

"T...Tha...nk you..." she mumbled out after a little while. "For saving me..." The male turned to her and smiled a little, putting away his gun.

"That's just what I'm here for ma'am." He replied cooly. He heard a loud crack and an angry noise from outside of the room, then the deafening noise of the beam falling. His head snapped towards the door, having the perfect view from his spot to see where the pillar was. Standing inside the home, the shattered beam behind it was a large beast.

He heard Leon and Blaze shouting his name from outside, frozen in place as the giant creature scanned the area around it. A hand clasped over his mouth and he was yanked roughly to a room deeper within the house. He looked desperately to figure out who it was, realizing after a moment that the unconscious man had yet to move. This left him with the woman, who locked them in the room.

He went to open his mouth, but was hushed by the woman. She peeked through the keyhole in the door to watch as the beasts loud footsteps echoed in the home. He could hear his heartbeat and he was damned sure whatever that thing was could hear it too.

He felt the ground beneath the two shake and vibrate as it drew closer. His heart raced faster and faster in his ears until suddenly. It stopped. "Y/N!" Hearing Leon's yell was a mixed blessing. His face drew blank and he felt the weight of the door as it was harshly shoved in when the mighty beast raced towards Leon.

In only a moment the woman had tugged him to his feet, leading him away. His blinked, looking towards where he'd heard Leon's call. "Leon!" The woman stopped at the broken beams, Blaze's hand reaching down to help her up. Once she was up he reached down for Y/n, and he was about to grab on before he turned. Leon was being pinned down, and with a strange impulse he ran towards the beast and shot at it to draw it away from the dirty blonde.

"Just go!"

"I can't leave you!" Y/n yelled back, taking in a deep breath as his eyes narrowed down on the creature. With the slight distraction Leon rolled away from the beast and got to his feet with ease.

"Know how to use that thing?!" Leon called out, looking at the male worriedly.

"I haven't missed yet so I guess!" Was his reply, which brought a small smile to Leon's face. No matter how hard he tried to get rid of it, the damned thing kept coming back. Finally he snickered and shook his head.

"Okay." With such he shrugged his shoulders and aimed at the beast's weak points. After a moment it fell to the ground, laying limply. The two men exchanged glances before Y/n burst out into a cheeky grin as he raced to Leon's side.

"Did you see us Leon? We did great, right?" He looked deeply into Leon's intoxicating blue eyes, getting lost in their sea. Leon simply half smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We did fine I guess." He replied, which shattered a bit of the shorter male's joy. He frowned, beginning to peer down at his feet. Leon didn't notice as he approached Blaze, grabbing his hand and climbing up. Y/n stood there another moment, starting to walk before glancing back at the beast then remembering the man. He went back for him, finding his unconscious body still unharmed.

He dragged him over, lifting him for Blaze to grab hold of. Right as his hand clasped around Leon's, he was ripped from the male. "LEON!" Y/n yelled with fear, being hardly slammed into the home wall so hard he crashed right through. His body rag dolled across the open field and lay at the feet of a member of Blaze's team. The man looked down with horror, unsure if the male was alive or not.

The creature Leon and the male had taken down crawled from the newly formed hole, howling with rage. The team scrambled, not having time to grab the male. The beast raced over him, attempting to slaughter the team. Leon and Blaze raced around the house, the dirty blonde freezing in place. His eyes fell on the limp body of Eren and the small puddle of blood beneath him. He swallowed thickly, stumbling forward for a moment.

But wait, it got worse. The limp male slowly began to move around, wincing at the stabbing pains he felt. He tried to sit up, yelling out and laying limply again. "Fuck... fuck..." He tightly closed his eyes. Once he opened them again his blurry vision embraced Leon hovering over him, shouting at him. His brow creased, confused as he tried to move again. Along with the jolt of pain he felt, he could also feel Leon's warm and calloused hands push him back into the ground.

"Stay still... you're injured.." He grumbled, sounding heavily disappointed and distracted.

"I'm sorry..." Y/n replied weakly. "Am I..." Before he could finish the world around him went blank. He found himself in the deep pool of water, feeling it ripping at his arms and legs. He could feel it drowning him, pulling deeper and deeper until his head was submerged.

"Y/n please... wake up!" He heard Leon's voice, breathing slowly as his eyes opened once more. "Oh thank god..." Now his vision was much clearer. He could make out Blaze's worried form from behind Leon. He smiles tiredly, "what's so funny you dickhead?"

"You really do care about me..." Y/n responded peacefully.

"Yeah because my no death streak would have been ruined!" He snapped, anxiously drawing back when he saw how it demolished the smile.

"Where's that... thing?" He asked, weakly glancing around himself.

"We finally killed it... are you alright?" Blaze asked, watching the male's eyes turn to him.

"I think so..."

"He's fucking bleeding Blaze! He's clearly not fine!" Leon retorted angrily.

Y/n sighed softly, forcing himself to sit up despite Leon's scolding. "Yeah yeah old man, I heard you." He stood up and stretched, looking around himself quietly. "I don't feel hurt...?" He questioned, patting around his back anxiously. Leon lifted the back of the male's shirt and was surprised to find no entry wounds when he swore the blood was pouring from the male.

"I don't understand... you were bleeding out!" Leon yelled, stepping back and letting the male's shirt go. Y/n simply shrugged and looked away, rubbing his right shoulder.

"Did we search the whole area yet?" He asked, turning to see Blaze confirm that they had completed the search and found several others. He led the two back to a chopper, Y/n climbing inside tiredly. He leaned back against the seat as Leon sat beside him. He talked with Blaze for a moment, thanking each other for the teamwork before the helicopter took off. Y/n yawned softly and stretched like a cat, leaning his head onto Leon's shoulder.

"Get off me you're dirty..." Leon snapped, the male leaning away with a frown.

"Sorry..." The h/c haired male hung his head slightly, biting his lip.