Overprotective: AOT/KNB Crossover [Reader x Eren]

Chapter 18: We Can't Heal Old Scars

~from (y/n)'s POV~
Your cheek still hurt from where Shougo had slapped you, and your throat burned with every breath. You wanted to tell yourself to be strong, to not give in, that this bastard didn't deserve to see a single tear, but...
...but I'm shaking so hard that I can barely stand, and it's all I can do to not drown on my tears, because I'm so scared, I'm so scared...
...I'm so scared...
You'd never been a strong person. You'd attached yourself to groups of people and became a "friend," convincing both them and yourself of this fact. You'd laughed too loud, spoke too much...
You bought the trendy hat, but you didn't wear it quite right; you bought the fashionable jeans, but they didn't quite fit your form.
You'd tried to belong in the world of Others because you couldn't ever quite live in a world of just Yourself. You were the kind of girl who avoided mirrors, not because she was overtly ugly, but because you didn't want to look into your own eyes and despair at the lack of life and self-identity you saw inside those round orbs.
You'd tried to hard to build up a glass castle around you, but with one incident, it shattered and lay in wreckage around you.
You - finally all alone, finally forced to face yourself.
You had traded strength for insecurity, and where had it gotten you?
Trembling in an alley, doomed to repeat the past, scared and isolated and just wishing that you could find strength inside of you...
...but you weren't strong. You never had been.
***
Your shaking got to the point where your legs gave out from under you, but Shougo was holding you upright.
Sighing, he carefully laid you down. "Just too excited, huh? Well then, I guess I won't keep you in suspense much longer." He took off his jacket, and even though his back was turned and my blood was screaming Now is your chance to escape!, you were still so frozen in fear that you couldn't move. When he turned back to you, your face was anew with tears, and his was anew with a sadistic smirk.
"I won't be so unkind as to keep you waiting," Shougo sneered, and you shuddered, but you still couldn't move. In horrifying clarity, you saw him rip your shirt off as though you were seeing the scene from out of your body, looking down on the atrocity that was being committed.
"Don't...do this to me," you begged, tears still leaking out of your eyes, but Shougo just laughed, the laugh that had haunted you all this time...
"It's your fault for being weak, (y/n). The weak are meant to be broken," he said, yanking the rest of your shirt off, and you flinched, trying to shield your body with your hands, but he knelt on your wrists in order to immobilize your arms.
"I don't want this," you whispered, not talking to Shougo anymore. Even to your out-of-body self, you sounded resigned.
You'd given up. You were weak; you would be broken.
There was no changing the facts.
But then...
Someone else spoke, someone who was not Shougo nor yourself.

~from Eren's POV~
I was told by Hanji to meet up at (y/n)'s apartment after school, so I left a little early, giving (y/n) an excuse before walking out of school.
When I got to her apartment, though, Hanji answered the door.
"Where's (y/n)?" I asked, looking around.
Hanji shrugged. "I'm not sure. She hasn't gotten here yet. Maybe because we got a head start?"
I shrugged as well. "Probably. I'll just wait around here for now, if that's cool."
Hanji nodded and let you in to wait for (y/n), completely oblivious to what was happening that moment.

~from Narrator's POV~
"She said she doesn't want you on her," said a dark voice, but Shougo hardly paid attention.
"Go away," he snapped. "Can't you see that I'm busy right now?"
"Can't you see that I'm one second from smashing your face into the wall?"
A second later, Shougo was forced off of (y/n) by the newcomer, and sure enough, his face was shoved into the brick.
"Damn it," he swore, getting back to his feet on unsteady legs. "Who the f**k-"
The unknown person leaned closer to Shougo and whispered two words in his ear before taking a step back. "Forget about (y/n) and remember my name instead as the guy who beat the living hell out of you."
"Why do you even care?" Shougo demanded. "What's this stupid bitch have to do with you?"
That was when things started getting violent.

~from Himuro's POV~
Hanji texted me (how she got my number, I can only assume) to come meet up at (y/n)'s apartment, so I scheduled a day off from work. Well, technically, I had already asked for the day off months in advance, but it couldn't hurt to add Hanji's plans for the day to my own.
When I got there, though, only Hanji and Eren were home.
"She should be home by now," I said worriedly, pacing in front of the door, two steps inside the apartment before I'd stopped.
"I'm sure she'll be here soon," Hanji added quickly.
"Should we go look for her?" Eren asked, and the three of us thought in silence for a moment.
"Let's take a vote," Hanji suggested. "Rock-paper-scissors, only we can't use scissors since there's only three of us. If we get the majority rock, we'll stay here, and if we get the majority paper, we'll go search. Ready?"
Hanji threw a paper, Eren a rock, and I...

~from Levi's POV~
I didn't think much of it at first, but with every step, it bothered me more. Finally, "Damn it, that brat," I muttered, turning around and shoving my hands in my pockets angrily. If Hanji hadn't told me to make sure (y/n) came to the apartment after school, I probably would've kept going, but as it was, I didn't want Hanji to hate me.
Or at least, that's what I want myself to believe, that I'm just annoyed by Hanji and not concerned about (y/n).
No way. I really don't care about that idiot...
Not at all, especially not enough that I would waste time finding her when she got herself lost on the same path she walks twice a day...
With a sigh, I kept retracing my steps back towards the school.
Maybe it was luck that I saw the alley.
Maybe it wasn't.