sangfroid | eren x reader

ten

sounds of shoes clicking against shrapnel and cobble were barren against the sound of nothing. we advanced silently through the broken village. eren forcefully sauntered ahead as myself and Levi trailed behind, myself noting the destruction mentally as the quietness overtook me. not a single titan in sight, despite the extensive and portentous whole created in the wall all those years back - it was desolate even from the formidable creatures. erens eyes scanned the immediate area, searching for any clue of his childhood to gain whereabouts, but underneath the decay this proved hard. Levi released a sigh from beside me, however our legs continued to take us further towards the promised insight. in due course, erens eyes lingered on what appeared to be a tavern which sign still swung causing a creak to disturb us. the bar, despite not having a name, held a plaque praising a "Keith Shadis and his noble friend Grisha that frequented here" which threatened to fall off the wall with the minutest of movements.

"I know where we are." erens eyes dropped to the ground momentarily, eyes filled with sorrow, yet raised again as he turned course into a backstreet. myself and Levi eagerly followed as he twisted throughout the shrapnel. eventually, he paused in front of a mound of bricks with a boulder disrupting it, a wooden beam running across the mess. beneath the beam, I grimaced as a dark red staining of blood seemed to have sat.

"this is it."eren confirmed, eyeing the place.

"how are we meant to get into the basement?" Levi questioned, too following the scene around to find any way into the house - or what once was.

"it should be beneath here." eren motioned towards the stack of bricks seemingly sunken, however the wooden beam was positioned across it.

"y/n grab the other end, eren you try moving it south." Levi ordered as he stood above the spillage of bricks and placed his hands onto the wood. I grabbed the other end, getting into position to raise it despite its enormous weight. finally, eren nodded his head to signal Levi.

"lift!" he shouted, engendering me to use all my built up power to secure it. the wood moved by inches with thanks to eren, however the beam was no longer blocking our entrance. instead, a large rock from the wall was revealed where the ground caved in.

"fuck!" eren cursed upon seeing it, however Levi wasted no time in removing the bricks surrounding it. once the area was clear, he dropped into the barely open crater and placed his hands beside the rock.

"y/n, go round the other side."

the rubble crumbled underneath me as I hoisted myself into the pit, my footing loose however I did as Levi had asked. with both our hands placed hopefully onto the rock, we pushed enough for it to make way for eren. he slipped through the boulder and the wooden frame of the basement, myself following as Levi struggled to subside. eren now latched on, gathering momentum and then fully repositioning the rock with a mighty cry.

"nice one, jaeger." Levi praised as he entered the basement with ease, with the rock being completely out of his course. as the light flooded in, a single door was revealed with dust gathering around it. eren pulled his key from his chest, and raising it in his hands. he released a built up sigh from his lips, then pressed the key into the door. although a sound was heard, the key rattled and refused to unlock it.

"are you kidding me?" Levi suspired and flew his hands into the air, then running them down his face in annoyance. eren pulled back in realisation - "this was the key for the door leading to this one, which got knocked out in the blast." eren pointed towards a wooden beam which ran across where the ground dipped above us, signifying there was indeed once a door there.

"fuck this." I muttered, bracing myself to use the final drops of my body strength to run into the door. as I did so, eren stopped me from collapsing by grabbing my forearm, however the door in front of me flew mercilessly into the room. after I gained composure, my eyes scanned the completely bleak and barely lit space. Levi instantaneously took a candle from one of the shelves, creating a spark with materials he found across the desk and lit it. as the candle sparked, more of the room came into vision. although there was little the behold, a single desk took up most of the area besides a few bookshelves. some rolled up paper plans were pushed into the far corner, yet the majority of the shelves contained bottles, jars and various leather bound books. due to the lack of care, the place smelt distinctively of rotting and a stale like coldness. still present on the desk, as though time had frozen in its place, were a couple of written papers, a feather quill and a pot of ink which ominously signified the once presence of erens father. upon reading the sheets, they happened to be some sort of doctors report.