Shingeki no Oneshot

IX. The Arena (Jeanmarco)

written on — 21.8.14

inspiration — a hunger games crossover based off of this artwork by steffywolf on tumblr

word count — 1,400 

artwork — this artist made a comic to a part of this fanfic, and i based this oneshot off of that comic. check it out in the external link! 

THE ARENA

Annie's lips opened to let out a silent, everlasting gasp as she dropped to her knees, her chest falling forward not long after. Her blood had spilled out of her and Marco's axe was drenched; it didn't stop him from balancing the weapon over his shoulder as he walked over to Jean with a strange calmness. "Jean, are you okay?"

        "You–she–you killed–" The boy from District 8 shut his mouth as the sound of a cannon erupted in the air. He turned back to Marco. "You killed her."

        "I had no choice," Marco said, grunting as he wrapped Jean's arm around his shoulders. "Do me a favour and pick up my axe for me. I need to get you to safety."

        Jean remembered Marco's reaction to killing innocent people in the games. "It's irrelevant," he had said. "I don't think I'll kill anyone."

        The axe had been clean before he used it to kill her, Jean thought. He voiced this. "Marco, was Annie the first person you killed?"

        The freckled boy hesitated before answering. "Yes. You were in trouble and would have died if it weren't for me hiding in the shadows. I was planning to ambush her myself."

        "Gee, thanks." Jean winced, accidentally putting pressure on his injured leg. Marco removed Jean's arm from around his neck and helped him lean back on a smooth rock. "How bad is my leg? I don't want to look at it yet."

        What he didn't add was that he wanted to look at Marco's face for a bit longer. His brows furrowed in concentration as he inspected Jean's leg, his freckles standing out from the light reflecting off the water and onto his features. Next to Ymir, the girl tribute of District 8, the only two people he talked to in training were Sasha – from District 12 – and Marco.

        And, just maybe, he liked Marco. And he didn't want Marco to have to be a part of the games. Jean watched as the boy's lips pressed into a thin line. "It's pretty bad, but I have the medicine to fix it. Here."

        Marco pulls out a small box, a quarter of the size of his palm, and unscrews the lid to reveal a translucent, jelly-like substance. Jean's eyes widened. "But you... The only two people that have been given medicine are Eren and Mikasa. District 1."

        "Yeah, and I stole it off of them." Marco shrugged. "Eren fell asleep during while on watch and Mikasa isn't as light a sleeper as people might think." He scooped his middle and forefinger into the medicine. "Now hold still. I need to take the knife out and lather this on right away, okay?"

        Jean didn't have time to ask Marco why he couldn't apply the medicine around the wound first because the second he opened his mouth, he had to cover it with his own hand. Jean almost yelled out in pain at the feeling but remembered that no one knew where they were – not yet. "Marco, dammit, you didn't even give me a warning!"

        Despite the heavy air that hung around them and the arena, Marco couldn't help but laugh at the boy's shock. "I gave you the warning that I'd be taking it out," he said, "and I think that was fair."