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

25 | in the middle of limping

Her eyes fluttered open, only to be met with the bright blue sky above her. She blinked a few times, slowly starting to regain feeling of her body — her head ached, as well as her shoulder and right leg. She gathered enough strength to look to her left, seeing a passed out soldier with bandages around his head lying not too far from her.

What the hell happened?

It'd all happened so fast. The shock of the betrayal still hadn't settled in when the battle had started. Last she remembered, she'd tried to take on Reiner from behind, but he'd ended up swatting her away like a fly. She'd collided with the wall and then everything had gone black. She must've been so high up, how had she not died?

Then it hit her like she'd hit the wall — holy shit, Reiner and Bertoldt are Titans.

People she'd trained with for three years, who she'd relied on for as long; hell, Reiner had acted like a big brother to everyone. Now it turns out they were traitors? They'd been traitors the whole time? It didn't make sense. Why?

Her head was starting to spin.

''Y/n!''

She slowly moved her head to the right, catching a figure running in her direction. Jean almost slid on his knees as he fell down next to her, panting as a droplet of sweat rolled down the side of his face.

Y/n felt herself smile. She was glad to see he was alright. ''Jean—''

''Holy fuck, you scared me,'' Jean spoke as he tried to catch his breath. ''When Sasha got there and told me what'd happened — holy fuck, I'm so glad you're—''

''Jean.'' He shut up the moment he heard her quiet voice, his eyes remaining on hers. ''It's okay. Do you know what happened?''

Jean nodded and gulped. ''Sasha — Sasha said she saw you hit the wall and start to fall. Thankfully she and Armin were able to catch you in time, but you'd passed out and were bleeding from your head. They thought you were . . .'' Jean shook his head. ''Doesn't matter. They brought you up with the other injured. Your shoulder was dislocated but they put it back and your leg got hit by debris, but it'll be okay. You just need rest and you'll be fine.''

Y/n nodded, then winced. ''Fuck.'' Her head had started to pound. Her eyes met Jean's again. ''You know that—''

''Reiner and Bertoldt? Yeah.'' Jean sighed. ''It sucks, but there's no time to grieve about it or whatever. They got away and we're going after them.''

Y/n's eyes widened. ''When?'' She winced as she tried to sit up, her shoulder throbbing. ''My gear—''

''You're not going anywhere,'' Jean said as he put his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her back down. ''You're too injured to fight. You've been excused from the mission.''

''What?'' Y/n immediately pushed back Jean's hands, sitting up properly despite the pain through her whole body. ''No, I can't be. I'm not that injured, I have to—''

''Since when are you so courageous?'' Jean scoffed. ''You got thrown into the wall, Y/n. You're injured and you're counted as such. You can't come.''

Y/n's whole body filled with dread. ''And you?''

''I'm going.''

Y/n laughed. Her head was spinning, but she fought against it. ''Yeah, no. I'm coming, too, then.'' Jean placed a single finger over her injured shoulder and pain burst through the whole section, causing her to jerk back. ''The fuck?''

''Not injured, my ass,'' Jean said as he pulled his finger away. ''You can't operate your ODM like that. You're staying back. Squad Leader Hange already has a plan . . . we'll get them. It's okay.''