The Turquoise Cure (Eren X Reader)

Chapter 27: The Battle of Stohess

    "(Y/N)?"
    You recognized Levi's voice immediately among the din now building all around you. People were screaming, running out of their houses and clutching their small children to their chests, dragging the larger, more reluctant children by the wrists as they struggled to see what was going on.
    Your knees felt shaky and weak, but the anger that Annie was continuing her goal of destroying the walls made your body tense. You looked up to see Levi staring incredulously at you, Erwin trotting over by his side.
    "How the hell-?" Levi started to hiss, but you cut him off. "Look, we don't have time for this," you said so harshly that it sounded like a growl, "I'm not in the best shape right now," you motioned to your limp and awkwardly bent left arm, "and my gear is gone, but you need me to stop her." Erwin looked to Levi for a split second, then, you felt you could see the steel blue of his eyes practically vibrating with thought. He had always been a strategist, been able to see things farther ahead than anyone else. A small grin crept across his chiseled chin as he motioned to a crate some hundred meters away. "I have a few spare gears in there," he smiled, "I expect that Jean will need some too." Confused, but daring to waste more time, you said, "Where's Eren?" Levi inhaled then quickly spat, "He was supposed to be with Armin and Mikasa to trap Annie, you see, we got the tip off you gave us before you disappeared, but I'm assuming it hasn't gone well." He motioned to the smashing sounds coming from where the lightning had struck. "I'm useless- I hurt my foot trying to keep Eren under control; Mikasa and I had to knock him out to keep from going after you, then he went through some bizarre half-transformation. Needless to say," he hurried, "if you think that you can handle it, go on now- we haven't got all day." You nodded curtly, then scurried away toward the crate. You struggled to pull your gear on with one arm, then felt a reassuring hand help you pull the clasp into place. "Welcome back," Levi said, patting your back as you nodded curtly. Then, forcing your bent and broken arm down to balance your ODM gear, you grunted and felt yourself propelled into the air, a bit unsteady, but soaring nevertheless right into the commotion.
    The rooftops were a blur as you spun, stumbling clumsily through the air, every few feet you flew. You had to bite the inside of your cheek to keep from screaming as the pain in your swelling arm reached breaking point. It didn't take long to reach the site of Annie's wreckage though.
    You saw her, standing tall, stamping her feet powerfully through the ground. You took a guess that there was some tunnel system below the ground, but thinking that Eren, Armin, and Mikasa could be down there made your stomach lurch. They're okay; Mikasa can get them out of anything... Suddenly, as you were preparing to attack Annie, a small, green-clad blue shot out from the side of the tunnel straight towards you. You descended so that you sloppily landed on the ground in front of the figure. To your pleasure, Mikasa was peering down at you as you straightened yourself up. "No fuckimg way," she breathed, stopping in her tracks, "how-?" "DUCK!" you screamed, shoving her out of the way as a massive chunk of rock went soaring above your heads. Annie had seemed to notice the commotion. Another figure darted out closer to her end, and the blonde, stringy hair falling out of the cloak's hood informes you that it was Armin. He dashed away, then used his gear to launch himself onto a building, all the while fleeing from Annie.
    Mikasa helped you to your feet, wincing as you shouted in pain as she pulled your left arm. "(Y/N)," she whispered, "how is this possible?" You managed to utter a low chuckle. "You guys just suck at looking I guess." You smiled so that she knew that you weren't mad, but she still looked guilty and apprehensive. She seemed ready to speak when you interrupted her. "Where's Eren," you said, the urgency in your voice palpable. "He's in the tunnel, trying to transform," Mikasa said; she sounded agitated, almost embarrassed. "Why can't he transform?" you asked, looking towards the tunnel anxiously as Annie continued to stomp and tramp on it. "He hasn't been able since he thought you- you know- died," Mikasa said, pulling you behind a squat building as Annie turned her head to look towards the pair of you. "I don't know why, but-," you were already cutting her off. "I know you hate it when I interrupt," you started, already straightening your gear and moving your blades so that they were accessible to your right hand, "but I've got to sort him out. If I couldn't take her when I was well," you looked down at your body, weaker and bloodier than ever, "then I doubt it's going to be one of us who takes her down." Mikasa tried to stop you, but you were already dashing towards the tunnel.
    No sooner had you entered the tunnel, Eren's squating form sitting next to a pile of rubble than you called out his name. He turned to look at you, his eyes dawning with amazement, and he began to get up hastily and quickly. You wished you had never said anything, you wished so desperately that you hadn't distracted him. Because at that very moment, Annie had  landed a perfect blow right on top of Eren, after he'd taken so much as one step towards you. You watched as the rubble overlaid him, burying him like a washed away stone. It seemed to happen in slow motion, the way the pieces of debris fell, impaling him, pinning his body to the ground just to be pelted with more immense rocks.
    For just a second, you saw your brother, his tiny form being hit- just so precisely- with the fatal boulder from what felt like so long ago. You saw the blood dripping from underneath it, the crunching sound that you hadn't heard on that day, but that you were hearing now. You felt frozen in place, and for the first time in your life, you didn't think that you wanted to move- you didn't want to fight, to make an effort. You just wanted to stand here, not thinking, not observing, and simply failing to exist.
    You saw the graves that had haunted your dreams, Eren's in particular begging you to move. You saw Annie's begging you to help her. Petra's, Eld's, Gunther's Oluo's, Marco's... the graves extended before you. You felt yourself falling off the wall again... "Remember; Remember..."
    You had ran to Eren's side as you pulled yourself dazedly from your trance. The pain in your arm was gone as your rugged on the boulders, ripping them from his body, the blood becoming ever thicker as you got closer to him. "EREN!" you screamed his name, begging to hear him speak, or mutter, or anything. He was completely still. His eyes blinked lazily for one moment before they closed again. You placed your head to his chest, desperate for a heartbeat to permeate your ears. It was so faint, so infinitesimal that it was barely there, but it was there. "Eren," you said, pulling his head up to look at you as you crouched over his body. "Please, please wake up. Look at me, please, it's me, it's (Y/N), it's me, I'm here." His eyes, those beautiful turquoise eyes were lazy, dazed, and bleeding as they struggled to focus on you. Your (e/c) eyes never blinked as you stared at him, begging for recognition. "(Y/N)," he whispered, his voice so faint that you almost didn't recognize it as his own. His voice had once been so boisterous, so loud and confident, but was now as small as that of a tree's leaves whispering in a breeze.
    You gripped his hand as you struggled to pull it from the rubble that was gradually beginning to engulf him again as smaller boulders tumbled from the ceiling. A large stomp flung you from his body, but you returned just as quickly as you had been expelled. "Fight," he whispered to you, his hand giving yours such a small squeeze that you were almost sure you had imagined it. "I love-," but what he loved you never knew. His eyes lit up and he jumped up so quickly that you gasped. He shoved you from his body so hard that you were flung backward several feet. He stared at the ceiling, and it was only then that you realized where his adrenaline had come from. The ceiling caved further, a large wooden support stabbing him straight through the chest. You shouted, tears streaming down your cheeks, paving furrows through the dirt and blood caked to your face. You ran to his side again, to see his vacant expression and frozen body. "Fight, Eren," you whispered in his ear as you bent low to kiss him. His lips were still warm, but there was no reaction. "Please fight, please, whatever it takes, just please fight."
    You planted another kiss on his lips that now had blood spurting slowly from their edges. You scurried out through the hole in the ceiling, pain forgotten, and swung through the air like mad straight towards Annie.
                                     EREN POV
    "Fight, Eren."
    "Please fight, please, whatever it takes, just please fight."
    (Y/N)...
    Where are you going?
    Please don't go...