The Swords We Yield - ◈ ARMIN ARLERT X OC ◈

Chapter 16 - Lost Puppy

"Jacob!" Gen exclaims jolting up onto her knees, towering over him. His eyes have closed again, but his breaths have sped up. Suddenly he opens his eyes again before throwing his arm over his face, shielding his eyes from the beaming afternoon sun.

"Jacob? Are you ok? How do your injuries feel?" Gen overwhelms him with questions.

He lifts his arm slightly looking up at Gen, before quietly muttering, "Water." He coughs, dropping his arm back to his face again. Gen doesn't waste a minute and quickly runs off to get him some.

"Hey." I mutter.

Jacob lifts his head to see me sitting behind him while still lying down. Letting out a low grunt he responds, "When did the sun get so damn bright?" He asks, raising his head to look around him, "Thanks for the concern, where the hell are we?" he asks while attempting to sit up. I quickly help him into a sitting position before replying.

"We are on Wall Rose, about 100m that way of where the colossal titan fell." I explain pointing to the left. He nods his head rubbing the back of his neck. I remember tending to the gash that stretched the length of his upper neck and go to warn him.

"Jacob wait the-" I begin going to pull his arm away.

"Ow!" He cries, quickly taking his hand away from his head, "What the hell?" He asks himself, trying to look over his shoulder to the wound.

"You're injured! Don't touch it, it will get infected!" I scold him, wacking his arm away while still being cautious of the burns that cover him. He stops for a moment looking around, he studies the injured soldiers surrounding us before fixating his eyes on the horizon.

"What time is it?" He mutters under his breath.

I hesitate for a moment before replying, "It's- It's 2pm" I reply quietly, knowing that isn't the answer he wanted to hear.

"That means-" He trails off, snapping his head in my direction. "I've been out for 5 hours!" His body stiffens for a moment, his expression unchanged.

"Jacob?" I ponder tilting my head to look at him. "Hello? Earth to Jacob?" I sing, waving my hand in front of his face. Suddenly he jolts up, making me jump in my skin and topple back down onto the floor. He storms over to the end of the wall before abruptly stopping at the very edge.

"Jacob!" I warn, stumbling up and jogging after him. Reaching his side, I lean out in front of him to look at his face, his eyes are still fixated on the horizon as he continues to ignore everything I say.

"They took them didn't they?" He whispers, dropping his head. My eyebrows burrow as I attempt to decode his statement.

"Who took who now?" I ask looking up at him. He snaps his head at me before responding, "Reiner and Bertholdt! They took Eren and Ymir!" He exclaims with frustration.

"Oh right!" My eyes widen as I finally catch on.

"Well? Did you guys at least try to stop them? Did you lot do anything at all?" He accuses me with a furious gaze.

"Well-" I begin, I try to think of the reason why nothing was done. Why didn't we try to save our comrades, but nothing comes to mind. We were all too busy trying to save ourselves, that Eren and Ymir didn't even cross our minds when they should have been our biggest priority. I can only imagine how outraged Mikasa would be hearing this from Armin. "No, we did nothing." I mutter looking down at my shoes, "We did nothing at all." I whisper to myself. I hear Jacob scoff beside me, I sense him lift his arms, analysing his bandages and bruises.

"I guess this was your doing." He states. Keeping my head down, I glance up at him as he holds his forearm while flexing his fingers.

"Yeah." I mutter looking back down at my shoes.