Souls Of Sorrow || Eren Jaeger X Reader

Chapter 21 - You

The titan misses us by inches, a cloud of debris overtaking us in the wake of it's landing before settling.

I push myself up to my hands and knees, coughing on the dirt and dust that enters my lungs. There's an aching in my scarred ribs, just my luck we landed on my fucked up side. Blood is dripping onto the ground between my hands and for a second I think I've busted my nose, then I feel a sting in my lip and remember a grappling hook went through it.

Honestly I'm lucky that was all it hit. I could have lost an eye or worse.

I hear people calling out to me in frantic tones, but there's a ringing in my ears that muddles their voices together. I grunt under my breath as I reach over and grab Eren's shoulder, shaking him a bit.

"Eren, come on we gotta go!" I shout, or at least I think I'm shouting, my own voice sounds faint.

"Eren!" I call again, this time his name sounds clearer. He groans, rubbing his head a bit as he sits up. His eyes flutter as he blinks dust from his eyes and tries to focus on his surroundings. His gaze meets mine and he reaches out, taking one of my hands in both of his. "Are you really okay?" he asks frantically, eyeing my bloody lip.

My breath catches as I feel the warmth of his hands and I quickly pull mine away. "Yeah, fine. Come on we should-"

Loud, rhythmic thumps cut off my words. The ground trembles and shudders as footsteps echo through the earth. Both Eren and I turn to look at an approaching titan, it's massive figure a silhouette in the dust clouds its shrouded in.

The armored titan is still hunched over somewhere amongst the haze, titans trying to get a bite out of the tough epidermis.

I glance around, my horse long gone. I shift my gaze to Eren, his expression completely horrified as the titan nears. I follow his stare to its face, the giant humanoid wears a permanent, twisted smiling expression.

"No..." Eren murmurs, eyes wide and...afraid. I've never seen him afraid before. The smiling titan approaches us and reaches down to grab Eren, who seems too out of it to comprehend anything.

"What are you doing, you idiot? Get down!" I shout, grabbing his shoulder and pushing him aside. My side screams at me to stop moving and I grit my teeth, making a move for my swords anyway. A hand grabs my arm, pushing me out of the way as I had done Eren. Hannes blocks the titan's attempt to grab me, cutting off its fingers.

He turns to look at Eren, a grin plastered on his face. "Can you believe this luck?" he holds his swords brandished at his sides as the titan looms back over us. "Your mother will finally have the vengeance she deserves!"

Eren had told me how his mother died, well he told everyone. She got caught under a boulder that had been broken off the wall in the first titan attack. It landed on their house and her legs were crushed so she couldn't move. Then a titan found her, ate her alive while Eren had to watch. So, this is the titan that did that? This really is luck.

"Hannes, wait!" Eren shouts. Hannes looks back at him for a brief moment, smiling, "I owe her this much, kid." he turns and deploys his gear, cutting at the titan while trying to avoid its attempts at grabbing him from the air.

I exhale sharply, pushing myself to my feet. My head swims for a moment and I stagger, using my swords to steady myself. "Oh...damn," I grunt out under my breath. I feel a wicked headache coming on, coupled with the bleeding lip and the rib pain, my chances aren't looking too hot.

"Y/n! You're in no shape to fight." Eren tells me, grabbing my wrist to try and make me sit back down. I glare up at the titan Hannes is currently preoccupying, tightening my grip on my sword hilts. "I can always fight," I reply firmly.