The Turquoise Cure (Eren X Reader)

Chapter 36: Crystal Skies

    "Ready?" Levi, asked, clutching the smoke bomb in his arms as you held the opening with your fingers braced waiting for the time to come when you'd need to open it. "Yes," everyone said in unison, Connie's and Armin's voices quivering as they readied themselves. "Let's go," Levi commanded. At once, you flung the door open, and Levi and Hange dropped the smoke bombs down the staircase that awaited you. It looked long and winding, with next to no light in the immediate decline, but as you slowly braced down the stairs, you saw a luminescent glow begin to take over at the bottom. Sasha threw down the ignition to the smoke bombs before you down the stairs as you ebbed closer. You couldn't hear anything yet other than the ignition richocheting down the stone steps, but a loud explosion met your ears as it collided with the smoke bombs, bathing the staircase in a haze of green, red, and yellow smoke. 

    "SWITCH TO MANEUVERING!" Hange shouted as you reached the foot of the stairs, racing after the cover of the smoke. "What the hell?" you heard Mikasa hiss from behind you. Looking all around you as you rose from the smoky bottom of the cavern, you realized where the glowing luminescence of the stairs had come from. The cave was entirely encased in thick, sparkling crystals that looked exactly like the kind that Annie had used to harden her titan's skin and encase herself in. "Is this-?" Armin began to ask, but a loud shot rang out, bouncing off the shining wall next to him and springing back and forth. "They're here!" Sasha shouted, perching herself up on a high ledge of the cavern with her bow and arrow. The smoke made everything so hard to see, but you heard a swishing sound rise from behind you as you glided down the cavern. You turned and felt a stinging pain in your cheek as a bullet grazed it, hot blood pouring down and littering the shining, magnificent floor. You reached out your left arm, ignoring the balance you'd need to stay in the air, and grabbed the man by the neck while he struggled to reload. He was skinny, and he had a half-grown in mustache that suggested poverty. His eyes were wide and full of terror as he dropped his gun mid-flight, the two of you plummeting down together. You squeezed the gas on your right side, positioning yourself to fly headlong into one of the pillars supporting the cave. You slammed him into it, turning as he let out a pained scream. 

    "(Y/N)!" Levi shouted, stabbing a woman through the chest as she launched herself at him. You turned, dodging a bullet that ricocheted off of one of the pillars. "We have to get to the end; Hange can lead them." You nodded your head curtly, not wanting to leave the others, but knowing all the same that you had to. Surely, Kenny was where Eren and Historia were, guarding them and making their rescue impossible. You turned, sending the blonde woman you had fought days ago flying into a pillar as you kicked her in the gut. You headed towards her to finish her off, but Levi swung in front of you insisting, "not enough time." The two of you rushed off together along the smoky cavern, but the earsplitting thump against the crystal made you turn your head. It was unmistakable: Hange was plummeting to the ground, her glasses reflecting the intense fluorescence of the walls around her, the cracks visible even from far away. You turned further, daring to go back, but Levi grabbed your collar, somehow maintaining his balance, and insisted to continue. 

    The further you ventured down the cavern, the fewer of the Military Police you met. "He must have not expected us to leave them," you whispered, more to yourself than to anyone else. "Will they know to come back here when we get Eren and Historia?" you asked Levi. "No," he said, staring at the glowing door about 400 meters away. "They'll get out; I told them to. We'll have to go after." Suddenly, you were stopped, no longer hovering above the ground, the whirring of your ODM gear a drone in your ear. There was silence except for the frequent gunshots, clashing, and thumps heard about a mile away from where you now were. The gunshots began to ebb away as you held out your hand to the doorknob, your blades in your left hand and Levi bracing to go. "Are you ready?" he asked, his eyes determined and focused. "I-"