The Swords We Yield - ◈ ARMIN ARLERT X OC ◈

Chapter 15 - The Unconscious

"What do you mean you don't know! If you know what neurocardiogenic- something means surely you know when she will wake up!" He spits at me.

"I don't know because its duration depends on the individual! Their weight, age, height, blood type!" I begin listing all the variables that affect the duration.

"Well surely you have some frame of reference! A general idea? Something!" He cries, gently placing her head in his lap.

"Well she is young, fairly light, short..." I trail off trying to get an idea of how long she could be out and the severity of the episode.

"Given we can get her to eat something of substance and drink some water it should only last 10 minutes or so." I finally mutter considering all of her symptoms. Armin and Jean look at me with blank expressions on their faces, "Well come on, let's get her some food and water!" I exaggerate making them snap out of their focused gaze.

"Right!" Armin mumbles under his breath, standing up.

"You stay here with her incase she wakes up." I instruct Jean as I stand, "There is a high chance she won't know where she is or what happened so you need to be here to tell her!" I explain before following Armin's lead. I walk behind Armin as we quickly return to the cartens of supplies. Stopping next to them I drop to my knees, cracking one open.

"We are looking for water of course and something that will fill her up. Something like bread or crackers, possibly potatoes but I doubt they would have packed such things on a mission like this one." I ramble while locating a flask of water.

"Will this work?" Armin asks next to me, rummaging through the box next to mine. I look up to see him holding a package of dried wheat and rice crackers. Filled with relief, I take Armin's arm, pulling the package closer to get a better look.

"Yes! This is perfect! Good find Armin!" I exclaim looking up at him. He stares back at me with a small smile. I quickly let go of his hand, grabbing the flask of water before standing up again. "Come on, let's get back to Rosette and Jean. She might start waking up soon." I explain, Armin nods his head and we begin walking back together.

"Did you find anything?" Jean questions as we reach him. I nod my head holding up the flask, his shoulders relax as he lets out a long breath. He looks down at Rosette's unconscious body gently pushing away the hair in her face, "Please be ok." He says just above a whisper. Suddenly, her eyes snap open and her body jerks into a sitting position as she gasps for air. I drop beside her quickly holding her shoulder trying to comfort her as she breathes unevenly, she frantically looks around before settling her gaze on Jean.

"Want some water?" He asks completely calm and composed, completely different to how he was no more than 30 seconds before.

"Was I- did you-" Rosette mutters in broken sentences, "Uhm, yes. I would like some water." She finishes, her eyes still fixated on him. Without noticing, Jean had taken the flask from my hand and passed it to Rosette. She quickly snatches it from his hands, screwing off the lid before inhaling as much water as she can. She drops the flask from her mouth wiping away the water dripping from the sides of her mouth. She looks behind at Jean glancing down at where her head had been before snapping back to look in front of her.

"How long was I out for?" She mutters picking up the lid of the flask.

"Less than ten minutes." I reply looking at her, she quickly glances over at Armin and I. I give her a small smile as she studies my face, her expression slowly softening.

"Oh, Zariya I'm- I'm so sorry." She begins, choking on the words as her eyes swell up with tears. I get stabbed with a sudden sensation of hurt as I am brought back to what she said before. I think about Nick and all the times he helped me when I needed him. All these years I have just been trying to help everyone else to make up for the times I wasn't able to help him.

"It's fine. Sometimes things are..." I hesitate for a moment, "just too hard to talk about." I finish looking down at my bandaged hands.

"I told you you should have eaten something more," Jean teases on the other side of Rosette, I continue to look down at my hands gripping them into tight fists until I feel the sensation of my nails digging into my palms. Don't cry, don't cry.

"Ha-ha, very funny." Rosette responds with displeasure. I relax my fingers quickly looking back up at them with a small smile but they are too busy drooling over each other.

"Mikasa." Armin exhales beside me scrambling to his feet running to the other side of the wall. I snap my head in Mikasa's direction to see her sitting up. I feel my shoulders drop as I see her finally awake again, I quickly stand up looking back down at Rosette and Jean. Rosette nods her head in Armin's direction with a smile, reassuring me she will be ok. I nod my head in response before jogging after him, I watch as Mikasa grabs him by the collar making me stop in my tracks.

"Armin! Eren! Where is he?" She shouts, pulling Armin forward. I continue to watch from a fair distance away, this is going to be hard for Armin to explain. I think to myself reflecting on the events that happened five hours ago.

"Zariya!" I hear Gen's voice call from behind me. Turning on my heels I face her as she sits beside Jacob's still unconscious body. She hasn't left his side for the 5 hours he has been like that, even when I was tending to his injuries.

I look back at Armin and Mikasa for a moment longer before jogging over Gen and Jacob. Once I have reached them I plant myself in front of Jacob, before analysing the grazes and burns that still cover his face.

"I haven't seen you much." Gen mutters, fiddling with the sleeve of her jacket.

"I know, I'm sorry I haven't had the chance to check in with you guys. I have just been super busy with helping with the wounded and then Rosette fainted and-" I begin to ramble.

"It's not a matter of 'checking in' Zariya." Gen interrupts me. "You don't just check in with friends, you are supposed to be there for them when they need you most." She states, looking up at me. I take in a sharp breath knowing I have upset her.

"I know Gen, I'm sorry but Adam asked for my help. What was I supposed to do? Say no?" I mutter sitting down in front of Jacob.

"It's- it's not just that..." Gen trails off, "I'm just saying, just then if I hadn't called you over, you would have gone with Armin and who knows after that. I just wonder when we would have crossed your mind and when you would have come to see us." Gen states in an uneven tone refusing to meet my eyes.

I drop my head looking down at my shoes trying to think of the right thing to say, she is right, I hate that she is always right.

"I am so sorry that I made you feel forgotten or as if you guys aren't my priority. I never meant to make you feel that way. You and Jacob are so important to me and I would never intentionally do anything to hurt either of you." I apologise for resting my hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, I know." Gen trails off the words getting stuck in her throat. I abruptly throw my arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug. She hugs me back and we stay like that for a while before I pull away. I sit back down looking at Jacob again.

"So how has he been?" I ask Gen, gesturing to me.

"He's breathing has been steady and he hasn't moved apart from a small twitching in his left eye that happens every so often." Gen tells me holding her chin in her hand. "I'm really scared, Zariya. What if he doesn't wake up? Or what if he does and he doesn't remember who he is? Or who we are?" She breathes worry seeping through her voice.

"Gen you can't think like that. I know we have no idea what is going on in his head right now but we can only hope for the best. Don't let your mind wander down that dark tunnel, trust me I've been there before and it's hard to navigate your way back out." I explain to her, my eyes fixated on the horizon. I reflect on the dark places my mind went to after Nick died, the nights I'd wake up screaming from the dreams I manifested in my mind. Gen stares at me blankly, I shift my eyes to look back at her smiling softly.

A loud gasp escapes Jacob's mouth as he flutters his eyes open. Finally, he is awake.