in the middle of the chaos | jean kirstein x fem!reader

31 | in the middle of the crystal cave

"What are you doing playing the tragic hero?" Jean asked. Eren looked up at him. "When have you ever been able to accomplish anything all by yourself?"

"Don't be a scaredy-cat," Connie added. "We've already survived worse than this."

"I'd rather not make a habit of it, though!" Sasha continued.

"I thought you're past your cry-baby days, Eren!" Y/n said. Her eyes were starting to hurt the more she kept them open, but she looked at Eren. "You can't give up now!"

Connie looked ahead. "Well, it's still not gonna be easy to get out of here." The ceiling continued cracking.

"I'll take Eren." Mikasa stepped forward.

"We can't afford to take it slow for you, so hold on for your life," Jean said as he looked at Historia, who only nodded.

"It's useless," Eren said. "We'll never make it out."

"So you won't even try?" Historia asked. "You want to just wait and see if we burn to death before the ceiling falls on us? Is that because we're humanity's enemies?"

"You know, I don't like how often it comes to this, but . . . Eren." Levi looked at him. "You've got to make a choice."

Eren gritted his teeth. Peeking out, Y/n noticed the tears streaming down his face, mixing with the blood dripping from his forehead. In his usual Eren-esque-style, Eren yelled as he grabbed a vial from the ground and ran ahead, ignoring Mikasa's calls.

A huge yellow orb blew inside the cave — Eren's transformation — blowing wind in every direction. Y/n's hair whipped back, her eyes squinting at the bright light. Eren's Titan emerged.

Something was different.

Eren's Titan was crouched down, crystals escaping from him and crawling around the cave, holding it up. Upon Levi's command to hide under the Titan, Y/n rushed forward along with everyone else, barely managing to stay on her feet due to the gusts.

Boulders. Crystals. Explosions. The cave was caving in now, but they'd made their way under Eren's Titan, taking refuge unsee all the rubble. Y/n covered her head as she crouched between Jean and Sasha, waiting for it all to end.

Silence.

It took a while before everything calmed down. Her ears were still ringing despite the noise being gone, and her body still shook despite the ground being still. She heard the whirring of ODM gear and she finallu opened her eyes to access the damage.

"That's what I call hardening," Levi spoke. The group had moved in front of Eren's crystalized Titan now, watching in wonder, wondering how that was even possible. Has Hange seen this? "Even after cutting you away, the Titan hasn't disappeared. Pretty impressive, huh?"

"That bottle . . ." Eren took a sharp breath before looking back at Levi. "Oh, yeah! Right before I turned into a Titan, I drank that 'Armor' bottle."

"Yeah. You couldn't do it at all before now, but you used the hardening power. And saved all of us. In the blink of an eye, you devised and built all this," Levi observed. "Yeah, the construction looks shoddy, but I bet that's how the walls were made, too. In other words, it's possible to plug up the hole in Wall Maria now."

Y/n's eyes widened. There's hope?

"A lot of enemies and allies have died that way and getting this far hasn't been pretty, but for as ugly as it's been, look at the position we're in now."

"Captain!" a female voice broke the silence that had fallen around the group and everyone looked up, seeing Sasha and Connie lowering themselves on their ODM gear. They announced they'd secured a way up and it wasn't long before they were out of the cave.

At least, what used to be a cave.

Now there was a massive crater in the middle of the meadow, one created by Rod Reiss' Titan. At the end, Y/n hadn't seen just how huge he'd become, but as she looked in the distance, she saw the huge body dragging itself on the ground, steam and dust surrounding it, and her question was answered.

She felt like throwing up.

Y/n felt a hand wrap around hers. She didn't need to look to know it was Jean, who gave her a quick, reassuring squeeze. It wasn't much, but right now, knowing she wasn't alone in this fight was enough for her.

In moments like these, she couldn't help but wonder what they would've been doing at that moment had they gone to the Military Police. Had they chosen the easy life, the carefree one. No need to think about something out of your reach, Y/n, she would tell herself, but she couldn't help it. She was tired mentally, physically — she just wanted to go and sleep. But she couldn't, not when crazy, power-hungry, hidden kings were out in the loose.

Eren, Historia, Levi and Hange were in a cart led by Armin, while the rest of the Squad was supplied with horses. Y/n held a torch in her hand as she rode behind the cart, her eyes unfocused as she followed blindly.

Her eyes refocused when everyone came to a stop, noticing Commander Erwin had joined them on his own horse. "Everyone all right?" he asked.

"Hange's our only casualty," Levi said.

"Seems like nothing too serious," Erwin assessed, then turned to the others. "Well done, everyone."

"I've got a whole lot to report, but first . . ."

"What is that?"

"It's Rod Reiss." Erwin gasped at Levi's news. "I think we'll need your call on this, Commander."

"Regardless, we don't have time to stand here and chat. Return to Wall Sina."

Y/n's eyes widened and she shared a look with Sasha, who seemed just as surprised.

"You're going to let that big ass crawl right up to the wall?" Levi questioned.

Erwin looked over his shoulder. "To Orvud District, actually. That's most likely where it's headed."

Y/n's mind shut off again once they took off. They were riding past Rod Reiss' Titan now, the smell of burning flesh filling her nose and making her gag. I'm going vegetarian after this, she thought, her eyes stuck on the humongous body of the Titan. Her left hand clutched the reigns of her horse, her right the torch. Right now, they were her only lifelines. How are we going to fight this thing?

"Y/n, don't lag behind!"

Her gaze snapped forward. Jean had been the one to speak, his gaze stern as he did, though Connie and Sasha had turned to look at her as well, their faces curious and tired.

"Sorry!" Y/n called back immediately and willed her horse to move faster, catching up to Jean, who was the last in the line. "Got lost in thought."

She noticed Jean bite the inside of his cheek before he yelled over the hooves of the horses and the Titan. "Just stay near me, okay? It'll be fine."

He knew her so well.

Normally, she would send back a remark, tell him she was an independent woman or something like, but she didn't have the energy for that, not when she knew what was awaiting them in Orvut District "Alright!" If anything, she'd rather have Jean close by, too.

It'll be okay. We'll make it out. All of us will.