Curse Of Latido | 𝘌𝘳𝘦𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘢 AU

24. For The Nation's Glory

Published on:
Sat, 22 May.
The year 2021

Chapter 24|For The Nation's Glory

In the vast clear sky, the sun, a flaming fireball pulsing its heat above their heads. They had been walking for hours since last night, and now that it was noon, they decided to set up camp. Jean took the tents out of the bags and both Reiner and Bertholdt helped him set them up. Mikasa tied the reins of the horses to a tree. There were not many trees around, it was almost a desert, the earth was dry, just like their thirsty mouths, a few bushes here and there and that was it. No more greenery. They had filled their bottles from some stream they had passed on their way. They had also picked a few fruits from the trees. Anything they could survive on would do them good until they reached their destination.

Eren helped Armin set up their tent, despite everyone telling him to rest because he wasn't fully healed yet, but Eren was so stubborn that he naturally refused. He crouched down, pulled on the rope and pounded the long nails into the earth. Suddenly a knot formed in his stomach, he threw the hammer away and hurried to a corner by a lone tree. Splatters of vomit spilled under his feet. Eren bent down and squeezed his stomach as he gagged even more, the smell of his vomit made him throw up again, his stomach forcing all the acid out.

Jean came up to him, "you okay there, jerk?" He flinched when he saw the red color on the floor, "Shit, Mikasa?!? Are you dying, Jaeger?" He frowned, holding Eren's shoulder.

"Fuck off...I'm not in the-" Eren dropped to his knees and Jean shouted even louder, "Mikasa!!!"

She dove toward them and put his arm over her shoulder. They walked slowly to their tent that Armin and Bertholdt had set up.

Mikasa unbuttoned his shirt and his red swollen back bulged before her eyes. "Damn it, Eren. Lie down on your stomach."

"What, why?" He asked, grunting at his stomach. Mikasa began to heal his back. The swollen pores where the thorns had stabbed him thudded and yellowish sticky fluids bulged out in a shade of green. "Mikasa, it hurts!" He groaned, through his teeth, before letting out a suppressed breath, clinging to the fabric of the sleeping bag beneath him.

"Bear with me a little longer," said Mikasa, using her water to rip out the pus.

Jean poked his head through the zipper of the tent and slid the rest of him inside. "Is he all right?"

Eren ripped his eyes open and jerked to his knees, his grasps ignited with fire. "Calm down, Jean already knows..." Mikasa lowered his arm, "put it out, you'll burn the tent!"

"What, he what? When...?" Eren put out his fire before lunging at Jean, grabbing him by his shirt, and sneering: "If you get one word out of your mouth, I will kill you, Jean, do you hear me? I'll fucking kill you!"

"Get off him!" Mikasa snatched his grip away from Jean. "It's all right! Just calm down, right now."

"Mikasa," he took a long breath, "Mikasa, he can speak up...!!!"

"I won't. I promise, I... I just don't understand. How could that happen?"

"You don't have to understand anything. Just shut the fuck up and you'll live."

"Oi! You think I'm scared of you, piece of shit!"

Eren lunged at him and grabbed his shirt once again, "You think I give a fuck whether you're scared or not?!" His voice was low, and croaky. Hands trembled as they released Jean's shirt. Eren dropped to the ground with his face, trembling and shaking violently. Fear plunged through him like waves of lava, until he no longer felt his limbs.