Humanity's Jaegers (Attack on titan Male Reader)

That Day

Your lungs were burning as you ran for what seemed like miles, you don't know how long it had been since you had witness the death of your mother. It could have been only minutes yet it felt like a lifetime ago. Hannas had made good on his promise to get you out of there to some semblance of safety as he carried Eren and Mikasa towards the gate, however despite your best efforts to keep up you were starting to lag behind. The adult was a trained solider, albeit a lazy one, and you were only a child, at first it had been all too easy to run as adrenaline pumped through your veins. Now though it was getting harder to keep up.

Hannas turned a corner ahead and you lost sight of him, another swell of panic went through your young, tired and hurt body as you realised you were going to lose him if you weren't carful. Gritting your teeth together as pain shot through your body as you forced it to push harder, run longer then it had ever been physically up to. The titans seemed to be further off now as you'd run across half of shiganshina, yet terror plagued your mind. Every corner hid a Titan just waiting to grab you, visions of smaller ones dashing out of no where or massive hands reaching out only to pull you towards their open gaping mouths...

Hannas seemed to have gone now since you couldn't seem to catch up, you were following the path to the gateway but you caught no sign of them. Your lungs felt like they were burning up and the flames were liking the back of your throat, if you just kept running though you'd catch up surely...

It wasn't long before you collapsed to the ground, pain was aching through all your joints and you felt you going to pass out from lack of oxygen. Your chest was heaving to try and pull as much air into your lungs as possible while your heart felt like it was going to burst out of your chest, your stomach heaved and you felt like you were going to be sick. You tried to move your arms and push yourself into your feet but they felt like they were made of jelly, your entire body felt like it was going to melt from exhaustion.

Is this really how you die? Not with roar but with a whimper? Abandoned and forgotten, simply left behind by a drunkard carrying what remained of family to safety. It was almost laughable if it wasn't so bloody tragic, you'd survived the initial wave just to get ditched and left for a Titan toothpick! You would have cried, if it wasn't beyond your physical ability at this point.

"(Y/N)!" Came a familiar cry. Eren came galloping up towards you in a panic with Mikasa close behind as usual, Eren stopped towards you. "Come on get up!" He roared at you. You tried to raise your arms to push yourself up but you just couldn't manage it.

"I can't... I'm exhausted..." You panted trying to make your jelly limbs move, but now the adrenaline had worn off you just couldn't manage it.

"Yes you can! You have to get up!" Eren had an almost mad look in his eyes. "We've already lost one family member today and I'm not losing another! If we want to grow strong we have to push through the pain! I know your tired but it's not much further!"

"Eren I'm not... strong enough... You should... leave me... You were right all along, the titans were coming. Besides it's your dream... to advance beyond the wall."

"Shut up damn it! Get up already I'll drag you if I have to!" He put his hand out for you, offering to help pull up up. "One day I'll slaughter all the titans, with my bare hands if I have to. But I need you there with me! I'm not leaving my brother behind to die!"

It took a few seconds, but you managed to summon the strength to grab his arm. Eren pulled to help you into your feet but even with his help it took a supreme amount of effort. "We need each other (Y/N), all we have in this world is each other."

You nodded, to tired to speak as you began the slow walk to the gate, leaning on Eren for support. It felt like years before you reached the boat and years more for the boat to leave, time itself seemed to be shocked by the events of the last...