I WILL PROTECT YOU

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎

3rd POV

Whistling to call any horses, Jean stood on top of a rock. Few trees surrounded them, after running away they came here, having no other place to go since they only had one horse. Near Jean, Reiner wrapped bandages around Armin's head. "How's your maneuvering gear looking, Armin?" He asked. The tiny blonde sat in front of Reiner. (He looks so small compared to Reiner's buff build) Checking his gear Armin replied.

"It's okay...The clasp released as intended, so it seems it's not broken."

"I see...I'm glad to hear it. But what do we do? We only have one horse." Glancing over to Jean, Reiner tied the bandages. "If Jean's horse comes back, the three of us can move, but..." He muttered. Jean pulled out his fingers from his mouth, a bit of saliva drooled down his chin. He gave a look at the horse next to him.

Reiner's horse returned, so why didn't mine? Wiping his chin he stuck his fingers back into his mouth and whistled. We can't stay here any longer. In the worst case, we'll have to leave someone here...

Once more removing his fingers covered in saliva he looked at Reiner and Armin.

But how would we decide who to leave? Armin, since he's wounded? Reiner, since he's big and would have trouble riding with someone else? Or should I run and try to find my horse?

"Damn it!"

Why the hell do I have to think about this?! We made it through that fight alive. This isn't fair...

As Armin sat down on the grass he thought about the titan. When he was down on the ground, with the titan kneeling next to him. The look they had in their eyes...Something about it set off Armin.

"Armin!" Reiner called, pulling Armin out of his small trance. "Are you still out of it?" He asked, resting his hand on his knee. Armin nodded his head.

"Yeah, my head's still a bit fuzzy..." Armin said, fumbling his hands around as he put on his gear.

"I see...But we must decide. It's a hard choice, but someone will have to stay behind." Reiner said as he stood up, what he said caught the attention of Jean. He turned around to face the two blondes. "Wait!" Armin said, getting up he picked up the main unit of his gear. "First, let's fire a smoke round...If the formation continued straight ahead, the row 4-3 team should be nearby."

Shooting a purple smoke round, someone in the near distance rode past it. "That's the single for an emergency...But I can't imagine they'll understand our intentions just from that." Jean said, putting his smoke gun away he walked off.

"Armin, we can wait another three minutes. By then, we must decide-"

"I'll stay!"

Armin cut off Reiner. It shocked him. "But there's something I want you to tell them for me...Preferably to Commander Erwin alone-" Armin started to say before he got cut off by Jean. "Wait, Armin...You should tell him yourself." Looking over to Jean they saw him covering his eyes from the sun. His lips curved up when seeing what was coming towards them. "Looks like someone's here...And with two horses!" He pointed out.

Gasping, Armin looked ahead. There, Krista came towards them with two other horses galloping beside her. A worried look was on her face.

"Is everyone okay?" She shouted to them. When getting to them Jean recognized one of the horses she had with her. "Hey...That's my horse. Woah! Calm down, Buchwald." Jean laughed, bringing his hand to pet them. Soon enough Reiner got on top of his horse while Armin went to get onto the other.

"He ran toward me, terrified...Did you engage the titans? Armin, what happened to you? Are you okay?" Krista asked when noticing the bandages around Armin's head. The boy nodded his head with a smile. "Yeah, I think so."