The Guardian's Tale (AOT fanfiction)

-Pain pt.2-

I slowly opened my eyes and was immediately blinded by bright lights. My ears were still ringing a bit and my vision was still blurry but I guess at least it meant I was still alive. I slowly sat upright and felt an agonizing pain course through my whole body as my head begun to spin.

"Wha-" Jean cut me off by hugging me tightly, making me wince and let out a small cry of pain.

"You absolute fucking idiot !" He yelled. "You could've died !"

"You're welcome for saving your life." I joked, my eyes still half closed. 

"Yeah yeah whatever...you owed me anyway" He let go and looked away. "Thank you Yuki...really."

"How do you feel ?" Captain Levi asked as Armin and Mikasa both hugged me.

"Uh...as good as one can feel after being shot twice." I joked. "Anyway...what did I miss ?"

Captain Levi explained all about how they had to let Eren and Historia go. I then spotted Armin from the corner of my eye, he was paler than me and his hands were trembling. I asked him what was wrong and after a bit of silence, he finally spit it out. Apparently he'd turned around and shot the driver to save Jean but he said he didn't understand why that woman had her gun to Jean's head yet he shot before she did.

"You shot first because she hesitated." Levi said coldly. "It's simple."

Before I could hear the rest of the conversation, my ears started ringing again and I thought back to all the MPs I'd killed. I started feeling sick and placed my hand over my mouth before Jean reassuringly rubbed my back. Armin and I had something in common now. We were killers and the people we were, were gone for good. 

"I'll tell you why you pulled the trigger." Levi told Armin. "Because your comrade was about to die. Armin, Yuki. Everyone in our squad survived today because you got blood on your hands. Thank you."

Jean then pointed out how he thought it was wrong for us to fight other humans as he started changing my bandages. He was right. We became soldiers to protect people but now we were killing them. Levi simply responded by saying he had no idea who was in the right at this point and I looked over at him. Could uncle Kenny have been in the right by trying to kill us ? By trying to kill those he had raised ?

He then stood up and walked to the man tied up behind a crate. I looked over at Jean who had just finished changing my bandages and who was now wiping my blood off of his hands.

"Protecting our comrades...that's something to die for...something to live for and something worth losing ourselves for." I spoke up. "Someone out there pays the price to let us live...that's just the way life in this hell hole goes."

When Levi removed the gag from the prisoner, Mikasa pointed out that this was the man who almost sacrificed the live of hundreds of people just to get his cargo through the gate. His name was Demo Reeves and he was also one of the people who kidnapped the fake Eren and Historia. According to him, the job was forced on them by the Military Police and now that they've failed, they were going to plunder the Reeves company for everything it was worth and kill him, his son and his employees. 

"And you're just gonna lay down and take it ?" I asked as I limped towards him, my left hand draped over my stomach to cover the wound on my side. "There's a reason Trost recovered from that Titan attack you know ? It's largely because of jobs and money brought in by the Reeves company. So now tell me...if your company was to disappear, how many would survive the coming winter ?"

"So what ? You want me to join you ?" He asked cockily as Levi helped me stand straight. 

"No." Levi said coldly. "We just need to know where Eren and Historia are. If you're in contact with the MPs, I think I have a plan."

(.........)

The carriage conducted by Mr. Reeves containing 2 MPs came to a stop in front of us and as one of them got out to see if they had arrived, we all pointed our guns at him. Before he had time to scream, I hit him in the guts with my gun, sending him flying back into the carriage. Mikasa knocked out the other one and we led them inside and bound them. 

Jean handed me a crutch and told me to rest but the Captain said he needed me and led me into the cell where one of the MPs was detained. He told me to stand in a corner and  reluctantly obeyed and watched as the Captain started torturing the man. Seeing as he refused to co-operate, he told me to give it a go and I reluctantly walked over to the man. I whispered "sorry" under my breath and concentrated heat in my palm, slowly burning the man. Luckily for me, just as I was about to throw up, Hange and Moblit burst in. 

I excused myself and walked back up to the others, unlucky for me, I could still hear his screams. I silently put my crutch down and took a seat next to Jean, placing my head on his shoulder. I then looked down at my ring and my heart tightened. What if he never made it out ?

"Say Yuki..." Jean called out. "The Captain said there was something about you we didn't know...what did he mean ?"

"I..." I hesitated but knew I had to come clean. "My clan...wasn't just regular people. We were ranked higher than that...much higher. But then someone twisted our 'powers' and told people it was evil...eventually stealing our rightful place on the t-...I'm sorry I can't go any further."

The pain coursing through my body was too much to bear and I closed my eyes. I felt Jean place a hand on my head and I slowly drifted off into sleep.

TO BE CONTINUED !