"You shouldn't have joined the Scouting Legion."

Jean knew he wasn't getting through to her, he never really could. If anything the girl would've followed him to the ends of the earth despite all the protests he threw at her, because she was just that loyal to him. Sasha Braus forgot about the Military Police and soon joined him in the Scouting Legion despite how terrified she was.

"You know, Marco wasn't the only one who cared about you, Jean."

"You were supposed to stay safe..." Jean found himself whispering, "You weren't supposed to go through this again...not again..."

He could feel the temperature change, he could feel the cool air of nighttime surrounding him. There wasn't a fear of Titans looming over in this branch that they stranded themselves on, but that didn't matter. Sasha Braus was injured and if she wasn't moved quickly she would die, and he didn't have enough gas to get them back to headquarters.

"Sasha..." He called out her name desperately, "please just hang on."

If only they weren't the ones sent out on patrol, if only that Titan hadn't snuck up on them. If only he had been faster. "Jean..." Her voice was just above a whisper, "'s goin' to be okay, get outta here and go back to the others..."

Jean growled at her, "No! I won't leave you, I won't let you die! You hear me?!"

"Jean!" She snapped, though her voice remained quiet; "'m not goin' to make it, but you still can. You have to go back."

"No..."

"'dammit why dontcha ever listen t'me?" She murmured under her breath, exhaling; "'can't wait on me, y'know..."

"Hanji'll patch you up," Jean shook, holding her to him; "she'll get you fixed up and you'll be back on your feet in no time."

"Jean..."

"Shut up Potato Girl," He growled again, "just shut up."

She looked at him sadly, "'m sorry, Jean."

"I said shut up!" Jean yelled, gripping her tightly, "You can't do this to me! To Eren or how about Connie?! Aren't you two supposed to fucking grow old and drink beer and reminince about something?!"

"'ll miss you-"

"NO!"

She laughed, a little delusional; "'can tell you'll miss me too..."

"No, I won't because there won't be anything to miss because you'll be here!"

"Jean..." She repeated his name, but said nothing else. She could feel her body begin to shut down, and if Jean didn't leave now she knew that he would either become titan food or be stranded until he starved.

"I'm not going to lose you too..."

The way his voice cracked broke her heart, if she was stronger than she wouldn't be in this predicament. But I'm not strong. As they laid there in the branch Sasha could feel herself slipping into unconsciousness; unable to hear the protests of her friend anymore. She was just so tired...

"Sasha!"

"Jean, I love you."

"Shut it potato girl, you don't know what you're saying."

The rest of the squad showed up fifteen minutes later, and luckily Sasha hadn't stopped breathing. The captain had dropped down next to him and began assessing her injuries as Jean watched helplessly; "She thought she was going to die..." He murmured as Connie began filling his gas tank for him, "Is she?"

"If I can help it she won't," Levi spoke quietly, lifting the girl in his arms despite Jean's protest; "Hanji will look at her when we get back to headquarters. We have to get moving."

"I-I can carry her, sir."

Levi gave him a look, "You look quite weak, you can barely hold yourself up let alone one of your comrades. She'll be fine, just hurry."

He could only nod as he followed them off the branch, watching warily as Levi placed her on a wagon next to Eren [who seemed to be missing his limbs again]. He had gotten his own horse, but he never was too far from where Sasha was. "How did you find us?" Jean asked Connie as they rode.

"You didn't see that Sasha had shot a flare?" Connie asked him incredulously, "We were a while away from you guys, how did you two end up so far from formation?"

"I...I don't remember anymore, all I know is that I was trying to save her..."

"Don't worry Jean," His friend assured him, "Sasha's one of the toughest girls I know! She'll pull through this, just you wait!"

"She was so sure...that she was going to die..."

"We all think that at times, but most of the time we're wrong; aren't we?"

Jean could only let out a half-hearted laugh, saying nothing as they finished their trek back to headquarters. Maybe they hadn't come in time, maybe they had run out of time to save her and there wasn't a thing Hanji could do for her. He wasn't ready to lose another close friend, not when he has so many things he's wanted to tell her.

How I love her.

When had things ended up so badly? He could remember a time during their training that they could at least smile. Despite Eren's angry rants, they would often share a few laughs here and there. He would listen to Sasha and Marco talk about their home towns, sometimes Sasha's accent would slip into her normal country one she tried to hide so much.

He would also see how Marco stared at her in awe, but the quiet shy boy would never make a move on her. 'She was Connie's girl' he would tell him, but seeing them together now it only seemed like Sasha was just like a sister to him. Their group of four had dwindled to three, and now he felt like it would be dwindling even more.

'It should be be...' He thought helplessly, 'It should be me.'

"Hey horseface, are you going to stay on your horse all night or what?"

Jean growled at the nickname, turning sharply to look at Eren; "What do you want Jaeger?"

"I just turned Titan to save your ass, I could at least get a thank you."

The taller male jumped off his horse, and in a moment he was in Eren's face. Who cared if Mikasa punched him out for it? He had other things to worry about, "I nearly lost her and all you can do is make jokes at me."

"Hey!" Eren said, pushing him away; "You're not the only one losing her, you're not the only one who lost Marco! And besides, who says Sasha's dead or even dying?!"

"You could at least show some worry-"

"I said I turned Titan for you two!" The brunette snarled, "Do you have your head so far up your ass that you don't care to listen?!"

"Shut up, just shut up!"

Eren sighed, trying to keep his anger in check; "Listen, Jean. Sasha's in bad condition, but that' doesn't mean she's dying. We have to have faith in her as her comrades...as her friends. We can't loom over the fact that she could die, and she could...but if we did that then we might as well have already given up on her."

Jean hated to admit it, but he was right. He had to have faith in Sasha, after all her recovery was entirely up to her. "I'm sorry, I just..."

"You love her." Eren stated, though not in a way to rub it in his face; "I understand, I would be going crazy if anything were to happen to Mikasa...and I always know that something could...even though she is strong."

"Sasha's strong too."

"I know, she could probably kick my ass."

Jean laughed then, "Probably."

She tried to picture what death was like. As a child even she would picture her death, she had wished it had been quick and easy. But for Sasha Braus that wasn't something that did come easy, and it wouldn't come now. Days after being rescued she finally woke up, only to find the company that surrounded her were people she barely even knew aside from one of them.

"Ah! You're awake!" One of them stated, after a moment Sasha recognized her to be Hanji Zoe; "We thought you would never wake up, but your friend's faith in you seemed justified after all."

Sasha blinked a little, trying to remember what happened. She only remembered snippets, being held by Jean and being yelled at him for some reason. I'm not going to lose you too.

"You probably can't speak right now," Hanji continued, "but your friends will be happy nonetheless that you woke up. I know Jean's been here more than anybody, he even got you flowers you lucky girl."

The younger brunette could only stare at her leader, not sure what she was babbling about. It wasn't that she couldn't talk, it was just that she didn't know what to say. She had expected to die, she wasn't supposed to be here.

"If only Levi would do that for me..." The babbling continued, she heard something more about her Captain and then something about Titans. She shuddered. She didn't want to hear about Titans for another month, she could pretend for a while that they didn't exist. She would be happy if they didn't of course.

"Oi, Shitty Glasses you're boring her to death."

The voice of her captain startled her a little, looking towards the door she saw him. Immediately she attempted to sit up, not wanting to be laying while in his presence; "C-Captain Levi-"

"Lay back down, Braus." Levi spoke coolly, "You'll only tear your wounds."

"Y-Yes sir..."

Levi watched as the girl laid back down in her bed, knowing she was confused as to how she even survived. He had to be honest himself, he had expected her to be dead-as well as Kirchstein but they both were as resilient as their comrades. Perhaps that's what made them so strong.

"Is she awake?"

The Corporal turned to see Jean, with another boquet of flowers in his hand. "She's awake, but you're going to make a mess with those flowers."

"Oh shut up, Levi." Hanji scolded, "The place looks better."

Jean said nothing as he walked over to Sasha's side, worried that she was injured beyond repair still; "You're as resilient as ever."

He was granted a smile, "All those flowers, you must be dwindling the flower population."

"The world can survive without them for a moment."

Sasha laughed softly, breathing out shakily; "Jean..."

"When you get better, I'll make you the best damn omelet you've ever tasted."

"Hm...yeah, I suppose I can hold you to that."

Before the two could continue, the squad leader intervened; "Sasha has a lot of recovery ahead of her, so say what you need to and then it's lights out."

Without another word the two leaders left, leaving them alone. "Hey Sasha?"

"Hm?"

Jean fiddled with his fingers, "Do you think...we could...go steady?"

"Go steady? What do you mean by that?"

"Seeing you almost die scared me," He admitted, looking away as if he was ashamed; "and I thought I wasn't going to be able to tell you what I always meant to tell you."

"Hm? And what's that? That you think I'm still potato girl?"

"No! I love you!"

There was silence for a moment, Sasha seemed to stare at him with an incredulous look. "Jean?"

"I love you, okay? I don't remember when I started to, but I do." He shook a little, "Maybe it was because after Marco died, I silently vowed to him I'd take care of you."

"What does this have to do with Marco?"

"Well, he was fond of you y'know? He always pinned ya to be Connie's girl or somethin'."

Sasha blushed quietly, "I didn't know...I always thought..." She laughed nervously, "I always thought you two had somethin' for Mikasa."

Jean could only laugh nervously, but he said nothing in return.

"I love you too, Jean."

There was silence, but neither of them minded. Sasha was too caught up in her own thoughts as she reached over and grabbed Jean's hand gently. She recalled a time when her and Jean didn't get along too well. Marco had essentially brought them together, and she knew why Jean had tolerated her over the years.

But Marco was gone, something they'd have to live with. And she was alive, for however long that'd be she didn't know-but she was. She had Jean to help guide her through, and knowing that her love was validated seemed to make her feel better about surviving. "Why are you blushing, Potato girl?"

She laughed softly, "I thought if we went steady, you'd stop calling me that, horseface."

"I'll stop calling you that," Jean chuckled, "if you stop calling me horseface."

"I can do that."

~Fin~