⊱ ────── {⋅. ✯ .⋅} ────── ⊰
"MAEVE?" SHE TURNED TOWARDS THE VOICE FROM UP ON THE ROOF. It was Jean so she quickly anchored her hooks into the roof and flew up.
"What are you doing here?" He looked down at her uniform. He noticed that she was wearing the same uniform as the Yeagerists. The Yeagerists relied on the new uniform considering that there were gun holsters. It seemed like was a lot that he missed in such a small time frame.
"I'm a Yeagerist now, as the new look?" Maeve pointed towards herself.
"What are you talking about?" Jean furrowed his eyebrows. Upon the other roof stood the rest of the gang, trying to make their way over. It was difficult to advance with all the Marleyan soldiers shooting.
"Forget it, I only did it to stop Eren." Maeve patted his chest. She walked away from him and looked ahead, trying to spot where Eren and Porco had gone.
"Great, how am I supposed to stop that." Maeve pointed at him.
Jean walked over and looked at where her finger was facing. Eren was tossing around Porco, using the Warhammer power to his advantage.
"You're not going anywhere near them." Jean pulled her shoulder back.
The chances of her managing to even get near them were slim to nothing. She'd be dead just trying to get over there. Even if she managed to reach him, how would she speak to him?
Jean was right, she turned towards him to apologize for pushing his hand off when he pulled her back. A bullet went straight through her shoulder sending her tumbling into Jean's arms.
Without thinking he pulled her down onto the roof, covering her body with his. The bullets continued to fly towards them on the roof.
"Get off," She cried from underneath him.
He was stupid for trying to save her before himself. She tried her best to shove him off of her body but her right arm was too weak to lift him off. Armin swooped down and shot the man, killing him. He fell off the roof and landed on the floor.
Jean rolled off of her, laying his back against the roof. "Are you okay?" Armin asked them both. Connie rushed over to help Maeve back up to her feet. Jean slowly followed after, getting back up by himself.
"Yeah, it's just a little scratch." Maeve reached up touching the wound. She winced slightly but forced a smile to try and convince them it didn't bother her. Armin reached forward checking her wound. He was careful to not touch it but he inspected it well.
"There's an exit site, as long as we stop the bleeding you should be fine." He mumbled. "Well, aren't I lucky?" Maeve said sarcastically. Mikasa looked at her, she gave her a stern mother look. She knew it meant for her to shut up and take this seriously.
Maeve was taking it as seriously as she could but the odds were against her. She no longer sees a point in biting back her tongue.
"You need to get out of here before Zeke screams." Jean was worried, the longer she waited the less time she had.
"There's no point, I wouldn't reach far enough to avoid his yell." Maeve waved her hand.
"I'm sorry," Connie apologized to her.
"Apology accepted," She smiled giving him a thumbs up. Connie didn't get the chance to explain why he was sorry but he was for what he said that night to Jean. About Jean trying to get in her pants, it was wrong for him to say something so rude about his friends.
Whatever his apology was for, she didn't want to die before he could relieve the guilt he was harboring. Plus now wasn't the time to discuss apologies.
"You have to stop, Eren." Maeve breathed out getting right back to her point. "Stop him from what?" Mikasa asked. With their backs turned away, it left them vulnerable.
Maeve had noticed a man back up on a different roof. Pointing his gun straight at Mikasa. She grabbed her friend shoving her down and shielding her. The bullet had gone straight through her arm in the process.
"Shit," Maeve cursed feeling the shooting pain go up to her arm. To her luck, it happened to be the same arm. Jean pulled his gun out and shot the man, easily taking him out.
"You idiot," Mikasa yelled at Maeve for taking the bullet for her. "It would've been you," Maeve yelled back at her. Mikasa pinched the bridge of her nose as Maeve held the new wound tightly. Unlike the bullet hole in her shoulder, the one in her arm had no exit wound.
"I'm going to bleed out here before Zeke can scream." Maeve groaned.
"Maybe if you hadn't tried to sacrifice yourself." Mikasa rolled her eyes.
She wanted to strangle her friend for arguing over being shot but she knew it was due to the high tension. Mikasa wasn't truly mad at Maeve for taking the bullet.
Instead, she was mad that Maeve was going to quite literally die before Zeke would scream if she kept it up.
"Enough fighting," Armin snapped. Mikasa dropped her head down and mumbled an apology to Armin.
"Your arm," Jean whispered. She looked down still seeing the blood trickling down her fingertips.
There wasn't much she could do so she unbuckled one of the straps on her gear. She bit down on one end and pulled it tight, groaning from the pain. While doing this Armin and Mikasa killed off any approaching enemies.
"What are you doing?" Connie screamed. He winced seeing the wound ooze even more from the sudden pressure. After a few seconds, it stopped, slowing down the blood. Jean untucked his shirt, ripping a piece off the bottom and tying it on her shoulder.
"What a waste of a good shirt," Maeve said sarcastically. She groaned and reached for his waist, digging her fingertips into his skin as he tied it tight.
"You need to stop eren before he touches Zeke." She mumbled.
Jean didn't get to respond because Armin had heard her. Mikasa had finished off the last person and returned with him.
"Why would we go against Eren?" Armin's guard had gone up. He wasn't sure what Maeve was planning.
She never really got to explain her outfit or plans to them. "If I was against you guys would I be here?" They stood quiet.
"He wants to activate the rumbling." Maeve breathed out.
"If he wants to activate the rumbling then Eren's on our side." Armin wasn't sure why it was a bad thing to her that Eren hadn't abandoned them. To him, Eren activating the Rumbling was a win because then it'd buy them time.
"No, he wants to flatten the Earth." That wasn't the case though, Eren was going to go overboard. "What are you talking about?" Jean furrowed his eyebrows.
Soldiers poured in, if they stood there any longer then they'd be trapped. Maeve took off on her gear but her right arm was too weak to handle the force. She fell onto a lower roof onto her arm. Maeve screamed and clutched her arm tightly to her chest.
She got up to escape but an anti-titan rifle pointed in their direction. It fired blowing up a house, Maeve flew back and landed on the ground.
In a way, it helped her get closer because in front of her was Zeke. She got up quickly running forward.
Colt came running up with Falco dragging behind. A thunder spear was off on the side so she took off to the side to grab it. Just as she made it halfway to the thunder spear the soldiers up on the wall shot down at her. She leaned down getting ready to cover herself even if it wouldn't do anything against their anti-titan rifles.
Reiner threw himself down shielding her from the bullet. His armor chipped away from the bullet but it left her safe. "Reiner," She breathed out. He looked at her before he was yanked back before she was able to reach out to him.
Eren had ripped him away flinging him across the city. From being too weak to fight back from taking the hit that ruined his armor, he was now at a disadvantage. Eren was careful to not step on Maeve before he ran off.
She got back up and grabbed the thunder spear. The adrenaline was pumping through her blood allowing her to carry it.
"Maeve," Jean yelled.
In the distance, Jean stood there. Shocked that she was standing in the middle of everything. He took off without hesitating. Jean's mind was only focused on getting her away from there and somewhere safer.
"Maeve," He screamed again.
"Stop," She held out her bloody hand out to him still holding up the thunder spear on her good shoulder. Jean didn't stop, instead, he ran at full force toward her.
Maeve only had one shot at this, if she could get Zeke from where she was from then that would stop him from yelling. That would also mean that Eren wouldn't be able to touch Zeke.
The window was closing, Jean would reach her and put himself in danger. He'd be in the crossfire and too close for when she would turn into a monster.
So much was happening at once, that it was hard for her to wrap her head around everything. Her feet remained glued to the ground. The ache in her arm was now returning, she looked down at it. It had gone sickly pale in a short amount of time.
It was now or never, she brought her arm back. With full force, she was going to launch it straight for Zeke's head. Off on her side, Eren was running towards him.
Zeke was still inside his titan so she knew that this was it. He would scream any second now before Eren can reach him. She threw the thunder spear, and the second it left her hands Gabi released her shot.
The world had stopped moving as the bullet made its way straight for Eren's head, blasting it off. Maeve screamed as she watched his head fly through the air, blood splattering all over the place. The blood landed all over her face and the ground around her.
There was no time to process what she had seen or stop swallowing the bile that was rising because Zeke screamed. Her eyes widened knowing what that meant. The plan had gone wrong and instantly she felt electricity flow through her veins. It felt like it was eating away at her nerves but the pain was short-lived.
Before she could see where the thunder spear had landed she became a monster.
The last thing she saw was Jean's terrified face. He got thrown back a few feet. Maeve was now a mindless titan standing in front of him. Just when he thought she hadn't noticed him, he was mistaken.
She lunged forward going after him, Jean quickly got up rushing away with his gear. He watched as she stood there. Still in the middle of the clearing, she looked over at Reiner who laying on the floor.
Without hesitating Maeve ran over to Reiner, biting into his nape. While Falco charged for Porco who stood out in the open, ready to sacrifice himself.
The titan gnawed at what was left of his armor, trying to eat him. Reiner began to drop his armor. If he was going to die then he'd let her be the one to kill him, he didn't have much time left. In his eyes, it wouldn't have made a difference plus he couldn't have imagined choosing himself over her.
Just before she could bite down on his nape the cart tian jumped down and pulled Maeve off of Reiner. Sending her flying a few houses down, her body crushed everything in its way. Reiner reached back feeling his nape. If Maeve had succeeded in taking the armored titan, she would've never forgiven herself for killing Reiner.
He knew this but was willing to take the chance if it meant she'd survive. In the distance, Maeve stomped around the town searching for victims to eat.
"Jean," Armin screamed. Jean turned around to look for Armin. The reason Armin called for Jean was to warn him about the titan running straight for him. Jean turned around almost too late, he dodge the mouth. Giving him time to fly off the roof and escape.
He landed with a thud, nearly being knocked to his feet. Normally he wasn't like this, no he was never like this. Jean wasn't being careful, he was struggling to stay focused. It was too hard to move because the one thing on his mind was the fear he saw cross her face.
The split second was when Maeve knew it was going to happen before it did. People were killing the titans, trying to save the civilians. Jean looked around trying to find Maeve, hoping no one got to her yet.
Armin lands next to Jean on the roof. "We have to move." Armin grabbed Jean, helping him land on the next roof over. Mikasa and Connie were already there.
"I never imagined he'd slaughter everyone like this." Jean breathed out. "That's what Maeve was talking about," Armin mumbled. Connie had picked up Falco along the way. Jean brought Falco to his lap and tied a piece of material across his mouth.
"All of the enemies that threatened us will be crushed. The same ones that have labeled us devils. So this is just something they brought upon themselves, right?" Jean looked up for Armin's approval.
Armin stuttered trying to figure out the correct thing to say. "But this is too far, a massacre on this scale has never been done before." Armin panicked. This is what Maeve had tried to warn them about. Eren was going to wipe out the entire planet.
They failed her and they failed themselves for not stopping it in time but even then would it have been possible?
"Eren's sacrificing life outside of the walls, which means the only ones benefiting from this massacre are us." Jean thought back to that day on the train. It was the same day that they had finished the tracks.
Maeve sat beside Sasha and Jean the entire way back. Jean wondered if she had ever thought back to that day. Probably not because she was too afraid of what would happen next.
"How come you guys aren't sitting next to me?" Connie crossed his arms across his chest and pouted. "No one likes you plus you stink." Sasha scooted over closer to Maeve.
"I don't stink, you idiot." Connie lifted his arms trying to smell his armpits. "Why are you sniffing your pits," Jean whined and Sasha snickered.
Maeve didn't say anything, she rarely did in the beginning. Afraid she'll overstay her welcome and be kicked out. What she never realized was how easily she was able to fit in.
Sasha leaned her head against her shoulder, cuddling into Maeve's side. "If only we had more time left, Zeke has less than two years left. I only have five." Eren looked down at his lap.
Everyone looked over at him, clearly sad at the thought of losing their friend. Maeve looked up at Mikasa, she was the only one who didn't look at her. She knew it would hurt Mikasa the most. It was no secret that Mikasa loved Eren.
For someone to not notice, they'd be a fool. "We have to decide soon, who's going to inherit my titan," Eren said. Without hesitation, Mikasa was the first to speak up. "I will," Mikasa met Eren's eye.
"You know you can't, we don't know much about the Ackerman family. Plus you have that whole deal with the Hizuru. There are too many reasons for you to not inherit his titan." Jean told Mikasa. Eren nodded his head agreeing.
"Then who else?" Mikasa whispered. Jean leaned back against the cart. "Me," He was confident in his answer. Jean believed he was the one that was able to fit the role best. Maeve looked up at him and frowned.
She brought her hands to her lap and fiddled with them. It was a tough position to be in, they were all still kids and worrying about what would come after their friend's death. Maeve wondered if this is how it felt for the warriors, impending death looming over their heads.
For a split second, she worried about Reiner back home, he was her friend and she'd lose him too. Maybe before she ever got back home to see him one last time. Jean noticed her inner conflict and placed his hand on hers to stop her from fidgeting.
She smiled and dropped her hands back down. "I'm way smarter than Eren and I'm no suicidal butthead so who's better than me?" Jean beamed. "Are you stupid? We can't afford to lose someone like you, you should aim to be the leader of the corps." Connie rolled his eyes.
"I'll take over Eren's titan." He pointed towards himself. Everyone's mouths gaped open at Connie's proclamation. "What do you think, Eren?" Connie smiled.
Eren went to speak but Sasha beat him to it. "That's a horrible idea, you're too much of an idiot." Sasha shook her head. "Huh?" Connie furrowed his eyebrows. "I will inherit it." She said confidently.
Connie stared at Sasha, she was beginning to sweat. The thought of inheriting Eren's titan horrified her to no end. "Guys," Eren whispered but went unheard.
"That doesn't make any sense," Connie said. Sasha tilted her head to the side, confused at whatever point Connie was trying to make.
"You just said we can't give it to an idiot but you're an even bigger idiot than me," Connie whined as he pointed at her. "What?" Sasha said. "We can give it to Maeve." Connie blurted out, this time pointing at Maeve.
"What?" Maeve screamed. "What?" Sasha jumped back, she looked at Maeve and then at Connie. "What?" Connie was confused now, he didn't even know if Maeve was able to inherit a titan.
"I'm not, I don't think that I," She stuttered. "Maeve can't even inherit a titan, she's Marleyan." Mikasa pointed out. Maeve pursed her lips agreeing with Mikasa. No one knew that she was also Eldian yet. "That doesn't mean we can't try," Connie said.
"Hey, are you trying to say something?" Maeve quirked her eyebrow. Connie smacked his hand against his stomach as he laughed. He had only commented to rile her up.
"Connie you sure talk a lot, I say we sacrifice you after I inherit the titan," Sasha said.
Connie stuck his middle finger up at Sasha, she stuck her tongue up to retaliate. "I'm not planning on handing down my titan to any of you." Eren cut them off, not allowing Connie to get the last word.
"Why not?" Jean asked Eren. He looked down at the cart floor, his cheeks turned a rosy pink. "Because you're important to me, more than anyone else." He struggled to get out.
Everyone looked away from Eren. "So I want you to live long lives." He was too afraid to look up and meet their eyes after confessing. It was the same for everyone else, they all looked away. Except for Jean who caught a glimpse of Eren's flushed face.
"Huh? Why are you all red? What's going on here?" He yelled. Eren mumbled an apology. "Jean, it's the sunset. It's making everyone read." Armin quickly made an excuse to help diffuse the tension.
Maeve looked back, at the sunset. If only they could stay like this forever and forget about everything.
Jean missed moments like those, in the beginning, it wasn't necessarily similar but it was easier to have better days. Now they could never go back to that, not with Eren who started the rumbling, and Maeve who was now dead.
"We have to get rid of the pure titans," Armin yelled at Jean. It was hard to make out what he was saying from the sounds of the colossal titans stomping the Earth.
It took Armin to repeat his words a few times before Jean picked up on what he said. He followed behind Armin, heading toward the fort. "Are there any survivors?" Jean yelled. The recruits looked at him and nodded their heads.
"All of you move to the top of the fort. We'll gather all of the titans and take them out with thunder spears." Jean told the recruits. He landed on the fort beside Mikasa and Armin, they handed him thunder spears.
"Thank you," Jean grabbed them. He commanded them to line up around the fort, trying to get everyone to bait the titans. "All at once, fire," Jean yelled. At his command they all jumped off the fort, throwing their thunder spears.
In the distance, Shadis led the rest of the titans over. "Just lure them to the fort," Shadis instructed his cadets. Armin looked over at Jean, he knew Maeve was in the upcoming herd of titans.
He wasn't sure if Jean would be able to do it. "You don't have to do anything," Armin said to him.
Jean shook his head, he wanted to be a part of this. All of it, even being the one who would give the final blow to Maeve. "It's fine, I can handle this." Jean didn't look back at him. He leaped off the edge, followed by everyone else.
That's when he saw her, Jean pulled his arm back dropping down his thunder spear. Armin noticed how close Jean was so he rushed over, knocking him down. They went tumbling back into the fort.
"I'm sorry," Jean groaned as he held his hand across his ribs. Armin crawled over, trying to get his breath back. "No worries," Armin slowly got up, wobbly from the fall. He helped up Jean, careful to make sure his ribs wouldn't sustain any more injuries.
"I have to go check on the others," Armin pulled away from Jean and rushed down the stairs. Leaving him with Onyankopon and Yelena.
"The flames have begun to settle, the Marleyan soldiers have almost been wiped out, and the pure titans are gone." He mumbled to him. Leaning against the brick wall, he looked down at the rest of the city.
"So, she's dead." Onyankopon didn't meet his eye, he didn't have to know what Jean was feeling. He didn't answer, instead, he looked down at his feet. Jean couldn't make out what he was feeling anymore.
He was overwhelmed with everything but there was no time to process any of it. The only thing he could keep moving forward. But could he do that?
Jean was the one who killed her, he was the one. He looked down at his shaking hands. Brought them up to his head, covering his ears. Trying to calm down all the noise around him.
The sounds of the titans crushing the Earth could be heard all around him. He wanted nothing more than to go back in time to that day on the roof.
Onyankopon watched sadly as Jean tried to compose himself. There were other things to worry about, he needed to remain strong and collected to help stop Eren.
Jean brought his hands down, tightening his fists at his sides. He looked back behind him, everyone was running around frantically but him, Onyankopon, and Yelena.
"Can you tell me what Eren's planning?" Onyankopon broke the silence.
"Exactly what it looks like." His voice was low, barely audible. Onyankopon hummed and turned to Jean. "My homeland is doomed," Onyankopon whispered.
Jean pretended to have not to have heard him. The Yeagerists walked up the stairs, dragging Floch with them.
"Floch, are you okay?" They rushed forward to help. Jean turned around slowly. "Seems like while I was busy dying as the walls came down, you were leading the titan hunt." His arm was wrapped around another Yeagerist, helping to keep him up on his feet.
"So you're alive," Jean glared at him. "Thanks for the concern. You of all people should know I can't afford to die." He pulled away and leaned against the wall.
Jean didn't respond, he watched Floch try to hold himself up. "It a shame that Maeve didn't get to the return of the Eldian Empire," Floch smirked. He clenched his fists tightly, fighting the urge to attack Floch.
That's what he wanted, to get the best of him. Floch knew the buttons he had to push to send Jean off the deep end. "She thought I'd believe that pathetic act of being a Yeagerist? At least you got to know she was willing to through her pride aside to see you one last time." Floch shrugged his shoulders.
Onyankopon looked over at them both, waiting for Jean to respond but he didn't. "How'd do you think she'd react to you killing her?" Floch continued to press.
"Is this why you came up here? To have a dick-measuring contest with Jean?" Yelena spat. Floch pulled out his gun, pressing it up against her forehead. "Woah," Onyankopon took a step back.
With his gun still pressed up against Yelena, he turned to Jean giving him a fake smile. "Why don't you go back to the annoying Jean you once were." Floch waited for Jean to react but it seemed like it wasn't going through to him.
"You won't even have to worry about someone like Maeve, you can find yourself a nice girl that'll treat you like a king." Floch continued.
Yelena groaned feeling the barrel bruise her skin. He remained quiet, his eyes flickering between Yelena and Floch. Jean took a step forward toward him. Taking this as a yes he pulled back his gun from Yelena tossing it over.
If things were going to get done then he needed to play the part.
"So glad to have you with us." Floch smiled.
⊱ ────── {⋅. ✯ .⋅} ────── ⊰
[A/N]: an update for jean's birthday, even if it's awful timing.