The Turquoise Cure (Eren X Reader)

Chapter 12: The Fall of Trost (pt. 2)

Your hair streamed behind you as you flew past the houses and shacks of Trost District, following the war-splitting scream. It only got louder and closer, and thus more painful for you, the farther north you traveled. Your fingers were shaking as they clenched around your blades, a new fear entrenching itself deep in your gut.
Suddenly, the scream ceased. Your heart sank; what could this mean? You dismounted and landed on a rooftop, surveying your surroundings. There was a 10-meter class titan about 300 meters away, and you could see it walking further away from you as you watched. You squinted, peering towards other nearby rooftops, and your stomach lurched as you saw a limp, small, blonde-haired body lying across the sprawled tiles where the titans had just left from. You didn't bother to look out below, for if you had, you would have likely spotted the leg and arm belonging to one particular special boy to you, yet you saw nothing as you darted towards the rooftop where Armin's lifeless looking body lay.
You landed very harshly and roughly a few meters from him, and you sprinted to his body as the tiles beneath your feet skidded and flew off of their shacklings. "Armin," you breathed, bending down to check for his pulse. You found it, however, unimportant, as he was clearly alive, and somehow, seemingly unscathed. Armin was whimpering and crying as he turned away from you, still lying on his side, curled into a tight cocoon. "Armin," you said again, rubbing his back gently with your non-bloodied hand while you wiped the new and fresh blood collecting on your palm onto the back of your jacket. "I need you to talk to me," you said, slowly rolling him over to face you; he weighed seemingly less than usual, as if he were a hollow shell that contained no mass or matter at all.
He sniffed, trying to get ahold of himself, but as his blue eyes pierced yours for just a second, he broke down again, wailing and screaming into the broken and battered tiles. You struggled to remain calm; if you started to freak out, surely he would (even worse than currently). You rubbed the upper part of his back as he sobbed into the shingles, his body racked with heartbreak. You could feel him swallowing to suppress vomiting, and you continued to rub him soothingly. I know that it's not the time to be coddling him, but obviously something terrible has happened. Looking up to view your peripheral, you saw no immediate threat, so you turned your attention back to Armin, who was managing to swallow enough of his sobs to sit up and try to speak.
"Armin," you repeated again, trying to pull him up to speak to you at eye level. Meeting your eyes seemed to make him break even further, but you were losing your nerve and were growing more nervous the longer you awaited to hear what had happened. "You have to tell me what happened," you began, "because whatever it is, we can get through it." The last possible thought on your mind was that Eren had caused this despair within Armin, that he could have possibly been stewing in a titan's stomach as you lay, unscathed on a roof with his best friend, fishing for answers. He swallowed deeply, collected himself, then muttered, "Eren's g-g-gone."
For a few seconds, the words didn't penetrate your brains you heard and felt nothing. His words were fruitless and bore no meaning. As if you had no idea whom Eren was, you rubbed Armin's still writhing body and said- in the most calm and indifferent voice that you could feign- "It's going to be okay." He cried even harder, his body racked with another fit of tears. "I-it's all m-my fault; I'm s-so s-sorry!" He started to bawl again, his tears pattering onto your thighs, intermingling with the drying blood.
As you half-carried Armin through the air, you felt numb. Looking for the other trainees, you felt like you were an out-of-body spirit, as if you were witnessing the events of the world from above, but were separate from them. Eren is dead. Your head throbbed painfully and your chest lurched. Eren's hands clutching yours outside of the cabins at 4:00 am while you talked about your night terrors; his face peering down at you proudly as you won your first hike trek at camp; his lips on yours as the two of you ranked in the top 10 together such a short time ago- the taste still never left your mouth. You and Armin dropped off into a roof where a couple dozen other trainees were standing, murmuring and exchanging confused thoughts. Nobody seemed to be injured, but there was a vast and massive chunk of the group that was not there- surely gone forever.
You propped Armin against one of the high turrets on the roof, the eyes of many trainees staring after you. "I'll be back," you said, squeezing his hand lightly. He nodded, resting his head between his knees to hide his tear-sodden and wet, red face from the others. You saw Mikasa dismounting close by, and you purposefully swerved the other way. I can't explain this to her. You knew that it was unfair and selfish to ask Armin to explain Eren's death not only to you, but to Mikasa too, but your body aches from the loss of him, and you could feel yourself tottering on peg legs. You will never see him again. Your stomach lurched. Eren lying in a field with you shielding his body, blasting a chunk of your hand away; Eren soaring through the camp trees by your side, smirking his bastard smirk as he promised to beat you this time; Eren kissing your forehead as you lay on his chest under the stars, sharing the same air and the same emotions. Gone forever.
You leaned over the side of the side of the roof gasping for air. You wanted to vomit; you wanted to heave until your heart was wrenched from your chest, but nothing came up. It was well into the evening, and it had been quite a long time since you had eaten. Perhaps it was for the best. You hung over the side of the roof for several more minutes, dangling in-between the altitudes and the desire of flinging yourself down into the alleyway beyond, until a large hand patted your back. You turned, wiping from your mouth the beading saliva that had formed during your childish attempt at ridding of yourself of the present.
Meeting Jean's steely eyes, you looked down at your blood-spattered boots. "I heard," he said, reaching out to touch your arm. You yanked yourself away from him, not wanting to be touched. Your skin felt like it was burning from the outside in, and the flames were lapping at your chest. Your sadness was mingling into anger, and you could feel yourself ready to make an unnecessary and horrible rude debacle with Jean. "I'm sorry," he said, stepping backwards, "but you need to do something about Mikasa." You wrinkled your brows in confusion, which hurt your face that was stinging with the effort of avoiding tears. You curtly nodded before striding to the other end of the roof, where a congregation of trainees was swarmed around Mikasa, swords raised in the air, and a dangerously reckless and stupid glint in her cold, grey eyes.
"I'm a stronger fighter than any of you!" Mikasa shouted at the crowd, at a loss for what she viewed as their cowardice. "You can just sit and watch if you want to, but I'm going to kill these things and get to the commons!" As if the wind has blown a leaf, she was tearing backwards off of the roof. How you got to her so fast, you'll never know, but you hand clutched her shoulder and jerked her backwards and onto the roof before she had propelled even an inch into the air. She stumbled, but caught herself, glaring at you with a look of determined foolishness. "What?" she said sharply, anger flashing across her normally carefree face. "I know what you're trying to do," you said, trying to keep your voice steady to show her that you were not the enemy here. "I'm upset too," you said as your voice began to crack, "but we can't just ask all of these people to die." Although you hadn't heard the majority of her soliloquy to the crowd, you had caught the gist of it. "Let's go- you and me-," you said in a rush before she could turn you down. "We can clear the commons and get the supplies we need." As if she were too occluded in her mind to consider your offer, she merely nodded her head "yes" and flew off. Before leaving, you turned on your heel to the crowd gaping before the scene that had been almost confrontational between you and Mikasa. "LISTEN UP!" you shouted. "NONE OF YOU ARE TO FOLLOW US! THERE IS NO SENSE IN ALLOWING ALL OF US TO BE SLAUGHTERED. STAY HERE IF YOU VALUE HUMANITY, AND COME WITH ME IF YOU WISH TO THROW YOUR LIVES AWAY FOR A FUTILE CAUSE!" The tears burned your eyes and slid down your cheeks. You turned and flew from the building before Jean could get any closer to you.
Not even halfway to the commons, you could tell that your gas was waning, as was Mikasa's. You had expended way too much just catching up with her in the first place. Your kind kept flashing back to your not-so-motivational speech with your peers only minutes earlier. What was I thinking? Obviously, it didn't matter, because you could hear the tell-tale whirring of wires and gears clanking that signifies that the trainees were following you and Mikasa regardless. Eren didn't think that this cause was "futile." Imagine if he heard you saying that. You dug your nails into your left hand, which signified it's protest and hot blood streamed from it and streamed the shingles below.
Not even 400 meters away from the commons, you felt yourself lurch downward so unexpectedly that you were shaken from your thoughts. You hadn't paid much attention to where you were going, but you simply knew that you were approaching the commons by the stinking of rotting flesh and naked bodies that burned your nostrils like the singeing of hair. "Mikasa!" you yelled forward to her. She turned her to look at you as you flipped onto a roof, your gear digging into your hips and grinding against the tiles as you fell. She dismounted on the adjacent roof to you, still saying nothing. You tapped your canister, knowing the apparent. "I'm empty," you said solemnly as you chucked it over your head and into an alleyway below. "DAMN IT!" You gets yourself for screaming and causing a scene; he was Mikasa's brother for God's sake. But still- how could he leave you? How could he break his one fucking promise? You knelt onto your hands and knees and punched at the tiles, sending them flying away. The debris got caught in Mikasa's eyes, and you barely had time to look up as you saw her falling, stead-fast, into the looming, dark alley below. "Mikasa!" you shouted. "I'm sorry!" You looked down and saw her lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious, staring up at you with a gazed expression. "Leave me," she said, tears welling in her eyes. "I don't want to do this without him." You jumped off of the roof, crashing down onto the hard stone street and ripping fresh holes in the knees and elbows of your uniform, new blood splattering on the roads. "I don't either," you said, sitting her upright and holding her cold, shaky hands. "But we have to. What would Eren have thought of us?" For a while, Mikasa looked far away, as if entranced, but after what seemed like forever, she nodded her head and embraced you in a hug.
As the two of you dusted yourselves off and dabbed away some of the blood from your cuts, you began to walk to the exit of the alley that ended in sunlight. "Stop," you suddenly said, grabbing Mikasa tightly. As if confirming your thoughts, a set of thunderous steps were getting closer and closer. You both looked up and down the alleyway, desperate for an escape. Then the beast emerged, completely blocking the exit with it's massive body. "15-meter class," you said, pushing Mikasa behind you. "You still have your blades?" Mikasa nodded withdrawing hers as you did yours. "On the count of three, we run for the Achilles' tendons, alright?" you tried to convince her. "Are you sure of this?" she asked, walking forward nevertheless. "Absolutely not."
"One..."
"Two..."
"Th-..."
THUMP THIMP THUMP WHOOSH (I stg don't make fun of me pls- author)
Your body was flung off the ground and slammed into a building, your ribs feeling smashed and mangled beyond belief. Your chest felt as though a grenade had exploded within it. The lights in your eyes diminishing, all the while the stars growing ever brighter, you looked up to see a massive, muscled, and almost emotion-containing titán punching and throttling the other. Only one thought passed through your mind as you blanked out, disappearing into the in-between of present and absent.
I know it's him.

Author's Note
I know that this chapter is super boring and probably completely precedentes, but I'm un-creative and doing my best 🤡