Hiiiiii I'm not dead. Just uninspired lol
I've been sitting on this fic for a long time. I'm talking close to a year. I'm actually publishing this out of necessity. I have a really emotionally heavy levihan centric ready to go, but this needs to come out before it for the tiny bit of background that it provides. It's not a lot but it's some lol. And it's an excuse for me to publish more of my work I suppose.
Here ya go!
"Look at all this snow!" Ina exclaims as she steps into the courtyard.
"Ina! Where'd you- goddammit you tiny person. Come here!" Eren runs after her.
"Put your goddamn coat on!"
"It's not that cold out big brother!"
"Um this is not up for debate munchkin." Krista and the others finally catch up to them.
"Ina. Sweetheart. Babycakes." Sasha pulls Ina back inside. "If your parents find out that we let you play in the snow without a coat and gloves and a hat, do you know… just how many funerals you'd be going to?"
"But-"
"Put the damn coat on!" Jean doesn't give Ina room to protest.
Ina groans. "Fine!"
Ina hates this coat. It's noisy, and stuffy, and she gets so gross and sweaty any time she wears it. They say she'll get used to it. That not wearing a coat is foolish. Ina lived her whole life so far without a stupid coat. She's survived this long. What the hell is she going to do with a coat?
She pulls the coat on and zips it, already feeling suffocated. Then tries to make a run for the snow again.
"Slow your roll." Connie takes her arm and pulls her back inside.
"What now?!"
"Relax! God you're a weird kid." He kneels a places a knit cap on her head and gloves on her hands.
"Papa says what makes me different is what makes me special." Ina brags.
Eren rolls his eyes again. "He also said getting you in winter gear would be like pulling teeth."
"Ugh Whatever, I'm dressed! Can we go now?" Ina runs out to the courtyard, falling back into the powder fresh snow to create a snow angel.
Jean puts his gloves on. "If she catches a cold or gets a fever we have to keep that shit under wraps."
"Well, we have Armin and Mikasa under quarantine. So she should be safe, right?" Krista reminds them.
"She's probably gonna be out here all day, though. So this weirdo is destined to get sick." Jean argues.
Connie and the others prepare to brave the cold. "They'll be back tomorrow, dude. We best hope she doesn't."
"What kind of freak of nature is this kid anyway. I've already lost feeling in my toes." Sasha shivers.
"She's lucky we like her so much." Eren pulls his cap down over his ears.
"Hey peanut, is this the only reason you wanted to come out here? To lay in the snow?"
"I never got to play in the snow before! Can't I have my fun?" Ina sits up and gives them her poutiest pouty face.
"Don't look at us that way!" Krista yells.
"I got the perfect payback." Connie kneels and starts collecting snow. "Know what a snowball fight is, pretty?"
"A what?"
Ina doesn't have much time to clarify before something cold and wet hits her right in the face.
"Snowball fight!"
It takes a few more snowballs right to the face for Ina to catch on and start firing back. Putting her all into every single throw.
She takes them out one by one.
"Alright, we surrender!" Eren throws his hands up, not before Ina hurls a snowball right at his chest. How a tiny little snowball made him feel like he was being punched in the chest, Eren isn't sure.
"Truce! We call a truce!" Krista calls out. "You win this round, peanut."
"You idiots. You're no match for me." Ina dusts the snow off herself.
"Hope you had fun because that was the last snowball fight we're ever having with you." Jean ears are still ringing.
"Hey, don't be mad that you're all a bunch of weaklings." Ina teases with a snicker.
"I think someone's gotten a little too comfortable around here." Sasha has a devilish look in her eyes.
"Yeah. I think the munchkin needs to learn her place." Krista smirks, exchanging a look with all of her comrades.
"Dogpile!"
"Okay! Okay!" Ina giggles. "You guys win!"
"Serves you right. You tiny person."
Eren and the others release Ina.
"Alright, munchkin. We're all played out. You ready to go inside yet?"
"What! No way, the sun's still out. Why would we go inside?"
"Your face is like bright red, kiddo. You're not cold at all?"
"I told you babies that I don't get cold. I'm sweating like crazy. In fact-"
"If you take that coat off, we're sewing it to your goddamn clothes." Eren threatens.
"Fine." Ina rolls her eyes and stands.
"Hey… what's that?" Ina points a gloved finger to what looks like a white, sparkly field. She's never seen it before, it's as though the snow created a whole new place. It's so beautiful.
"That's the pond mini-me. It's frozen over." Eren explains.
"Cool!" Ina runs toward it. Goddamn she's fast.
"Guys. Guys!" Krista sounds alarmed. "She can't tell where the pond starts. Ina!"
"Ina Stop!"
By now she's run far enough that the wind is louder than their voices. They sure are doing a lot of yelling.
"Stop!" She heard it that time.
Ina slows to a stop and turns around, all her brothers and sisters are running toward her. They look very worried. She hears a cracking noise, but isn't really sure where it came from.
Jean shouts at her. "Ina! Don't move!"
"What's wrong?" They're starting to worry her.
"Stay where you are, Ina. Just stay there."
"What happened?"
They all stop about 15 feet away from her. Why won't they come closer? Why can't she move?
"What's wrong? Tell me what's happening!" Ina cries.
"Ina, listen to me. Look at big brother." Eren steps forward slowly while the others stay Put. "Keep your eyes on me."
"You guys are scaring me." Ina feels her face getting warm and her eyes welling up with tears. She's so confused.
Another cracking sound. Ina still can't tell where it's coming from. But it's much louder. And for some reason, she loses her balance and slips. When she hits the ground, it's not soft like a pillow. But hard like stone. It just makes more cracking noises.
"What is that?!" The noises are really starting to freak her out. Ina starts to crawl towards Eren, who stopped moving when the cracking noises started.
"Ina don't move!"
"Big brother, something's wrong. I want to go inside now."
"You're okay. I just need you to do exactly as big brother says, Alright?"
The little girl nods. Still unsure what could be wrong.
"I'm scared… what's happening?" Ina tastes the saltiness of her tears.
"Ina, look at me. You're going to be fine. I want you to start crawling towards me."
"Why can't I get up?"
"Because it might break the ice."
"Ice?! What ice?!"
"Ina, listen! You're going to be fine. Come to big brother. Come on."
"I don't want to fall in!" Ina sobs. "Eren… I don't want to fall."
"You won't fall. I'm right here, Ina. I'll catch you. Come here." He reaches out as far as he can without taking another step. One wrong move from him could disturb the very fragile ice beneath her.
Ina starts to crawl, very slowly, toward Eren. The cracking starts again. It's getting louder. It's right under her. Ina screams and stops again. The cracking noise doesn't go away.
"Big-" Ina shrieks as the ice beneath her completely crumbles and she sinks into the frigid pond. She can't swim. They know she can't swim. Eren lunges forward and dives in after her a second later.
He resurfaces with Ina in his arms a moment later. They can't tell if she's still conscious, but her eyes are squeezed shut and her face is already a frightening pale blue.
"Pull her out!" He yells through chattering teeth. The rest of the 104th step right up to the border between the snow and frozen pond and reach out to Eren and Ina.
Eren shatters all of the ice between him and his friends so he can wade to shore and push Ina forward.
"Hurry up! Grab her!" Krista and Sasha pull Ina out of the water while Jean rips his coat off to cover her right before they make a mad dash for base.
Connie helps Eren out of the water and they take off after the others.
Eren will be fine. He knows this. But Ina was blue. She was blue. After mere seconds of being in that water.
They rush Ina to the infirmary.
"Blankets! Get some blankets!"
"Get her out of this wet stuff!" They make quick work of her coat and clothes.
Sasha is having a meltdown. "Oh god you guys, she's fucking blue what the fuck do we do?!"
"Eren, come here! Warm her up. Take all this off." Krista starts clawing at erens soggy coat.
"I'm serious! Take it off! She needs direct body heat right now!"
Eren smacks her hands away and removes his coat. "Alright, alright!"
Connie is about to follow Sasha to meltdown-land but tries his best to focus on the task at hand. The current task, making sure Eren strips. "Everything man, come on we don't have time for bullshit."
"Are you guys sure?" Eren hesitates with his underwear.
"Now Eren before I fucking kill you!" Krista explodes. "If it's cold and wet it has to go!"
"Hold her! Hurry up! She needs your body heat!" Krista places her in eren's arms. She's cold as ice and Eren can barely feel her heart beating.
"Cover them up. Come on, get all the blankets. All of them. Eren hold her to your chest. That's the warmest part of your body." Krista wraps Ina's hair in a towel.
"Guys work on her extremities. We need to get her blood circulating. Be gentle okay."
They start massaging Ina's hands, arms, legs, and feet. Applying gentle pressure to get her circulation going.
"Why won't she wake up?" Sasha cries.
Krista tries to offer comfort. "Sasha relax. She's in shock from the cold. Eren got her out in less than 30 seconds."
"Shit, They're going to kill us! They're going to kill us." Sasha can't seem to stop crying.
Connie smacks Sasha on the back of the head. "Massage now Contemplate our murders later!"
"Check her pulse sites guys." Krista instructs.
Jean feels the pulse points on Ina's ankles. "Both ankles check out. Weak, but they're there."
"Her brachial and radial are fine." Sasha hiccups.
"Eren?"
"Apical is fine. Her heartbeats getting stronger, I can feel it."
"Hear that Sasha? She's fine. Ina's going to be fine. Just keep doing what you're doing." Connie tries to calm her down.
Sasha just nods. Still a crying mess.
They should have been faster. They shouldn't have let her get so far ahead. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!
Ina starts coughing up water, her body jerking and trembling in eren's arms. Eren leans her forward while Jean grabs a basin for her.
"Good, good girl. Get it all out." Krista pats Ina's back.
Ina's gasps are loud and strained. She looks around her, completely unsure where she is. She can't feel her body. She's so cold. Something's not right. Who are all these people? Why are they touching her?
"Ina? Ina, it's okay. You're okay. We've got you."
That voice is… familiar.
"Eren is just warming you up okay?"
Eren? She knows an Eren, doesn't she? Ina wants to say something. Although It's difficult to breathe, let alone speak.
Sasha finally gets her attention. "Shh, Shh, it's okay, babycakes. It's okay. Look at sissy. Look at me, Ina."
Why is sissy crying? What happened?
"You're okay. We're getting you warm. We're taking care of you."
Ina nods. She curls up, trying to do whatever she can to stay warm. Her body is freezing, but it's pressed up against something extremely warm.
"Goddammit Eren hold her tighter!" Sasha yells.
Ina feels someone's arms around her ribs. Encasing her in warmth.
"Frostbite check!" Krista announces. "Extremities. Go!"
"Fingers are good."
"Toes are getting color back."
"We're not out of the woods till she's nice and pink." Krista is really taking charge of the situation. Keeping everyone calm and on task.
The scouts work diligently for at least two hours. With Krista checking on her progress every 15 minutes.
"Alright, her colors coming back. We can just let Eren warm her now. Get more blankets! Sasha get a grip. You and Connie make some tea and something hot to eat. Jean get them some clothes. Eren, how are you?"
"I'm fine but she's still shivering."
"Ina, munchkin can you hear me?" Krista leans forward.
"I- i- I'm c-c-cold…"
"Big brothers going to warm you up, sweetie. Stay close to him." Krista switches out the wet towel on Ina's hair for a dry one.
Ina nods, curling up again now that they've released her arms and legs.
"You're okay, Ina." Eren rubs her back and shoulders "stay with big brother. I'll keep you warm."
Jean returns with clothes for Ina and Eren a few moments later. The minute Eren lets Ina go she whines and clings to him.
"She's still in shock guys. It's okay." Krista explains. "Ina, baby, we're just going to put some underwear on, okay?"
Ina shakes her head. She can't do it. Big brother is the only thing keeping her warm. It's too cold.
"It's just for a second Ina. Just one second." Eren coaxes.
"We'll make it work." Krista grabs the clean underwear from Jean and hands them to Eren.
"Ina, you don't have to move. It's okay. Just be fast, Eren."
It takes a little effort, but he manages somehow.
"Please tell me you brought some clothes for me." Eren begs Jean.
"Stop whining. Here." Jean throws Eren some boxers and grey sweatpants.
Thank god jean put being a jackass aside for one damn minute. Even though they're buried beneath a million blankets, Eren feels awkward as fuck being completely naked. It made sense why he had to strip bare. But damn, the military didn't take away all of his pride.
What's worse, imagine if someone came in here and saw this huge mess. It's been a long time since Eren actually cared what people think of him. But he'll be damned if people start calling him a pervert.
He's saving Ina's life. People better not get that shit twisted.
Holy fuck what if someone had the wrong idea and took that bullshit to Captain Levi? Eren doesn't even want to think about that.
"Give me two seconds okay, peanut? Hold on to Krista."
Krista unbuttons her shirt while Jean looks on in complete fascination.
"Grow up, Jean, they're breasts. All women have them."
Krista rolls her eyes as she pulls Ina to her. She knows her body is nowhere near as warm as eren's, but it should keep Ina at bay for a few seconds.
Eren scrambles into his boxers and sweatpants in record time. It feels good to be back in clothes.
"Alright, come here mini-me." Eren opens his arms for her and Ina scurries right back to him. Allowing Krista to button up Her shirt again.
"You better erase those sick fantasies before I kill you in your sleep." Krista threatens Jean.
"Oh seriously, Jean? Now of all times?"
Eren can't for the life of him understand how Jean found the time to divert his attention to Krista's chest when Ina was fucking blue not that long ago.
"I'm human!" Jean defends.
"Go be human outside. Make sure Sasha hasn't drowned herself in the tea water." Krista scoffs.
Jean leaves with his tail between his legs. Try as he might, he doesn't think he'll be able to get Krista's black sports bra out of his head any time soon.
"B-b-big Big br-brother?" Ina's teeth are still chattering. Krista starts layering them with blankets now that they're both dry.
"Yes, Peanut."
"Why- why are you s-sss- so warm?" Her shivering is actually intensifying instead of the other way around.
"I don't really know. I think it's because of my Titan powers." Eren hugs Ina closer, trying to will his body temperature to rise even more.
"I'm c-cold. Really… cold."
"Krista… what's going on?" Eren doesn't want to freak like Sasha did. "Why is she still cold?"
"I told you, Eren, she's in shock. It's okay. We checked her blood flow, her extremities look great, her color has returned. She's fine. Just cold, and a little scared."
Eren trusts krista. She's the only person who managed not to lose their head today. If she says Ina is fine, then she must be.
"You really took charge today." He compliments her.
Krista shrugs as she starts collecting the wet linens. "Somebody had to. You need to move fast when it comes to dealing with the cold. Each second counts."
"You didn't seem scared at all."
"What?!" Krista stops whats she's doing for a moment. "Are you kidding? Eren, my heart is pounding right now. I am dying inside. You saw her turn blue right? She was blue." Krista still sounds calm even as she describes her internal panic.
"In fact I'm probably going to have a good cry when this is all over. But when it's over. Not now, while Ina needs us."
"I'm sss-s-sorry." Ina shivers. "I- I d-didn't l-listen."
"Don't be sorry, Ina. It's okay. You're okay." Eren kisses her forehead.
"Munchkin, can I put some more clothes on you?"
"I- I d-don't want- want t-to let g-go."
"We'll try again in a little bit, okay?" Eren pulls the blankets tighter around the both of them.
"Soups on!"
Connie, Sasha, and Jean return with tea and a bowl of steaming soup. Sasha still looks like a mess. Her eyes wide and teary and her face pale as a ghost.
"W-what's the- the matter, ss-sissy?" Ina can see just as easy and everyone else.
"Don't worry about her, look we brought you some tea!"
Connie leans forward with the warm mug and holds it to Ina's lips. Eren feels her shivering calm down after a few sips of the hot tea.
Ina smiles. "Mmm… it's papa's favorite."
"You bet." Jean switches places with Connie and starts to feed Ina little spoonfuls of vegetable soup.
"This is tasty." Ina smiles.
"Glad you like it. Feel any better?" Jean feels Ina's cheek, and is glad to note that it's warm and pink.
"Much better. I'm still… still cold. But… it… it doesn't hurt anymore."
"Oh god, it hurt?!" Sasha sobs.
"Out!" Krista points at the infirmary door.
"Sissy I'm okay." Ina says quietly as Sasha runs out the door.
"She was just worried, babycakes. Hey, can we dress you now?"
Ina nods, but doesn't move.
"Big brother, can… can I stay with you?" She's grown so used to his warmth. Ina feels strange without it. And not the good kind of strange.
"Of course you can minime!"
Ina shivers violently as soon as Eren lets her go. So they work quickly to get her in some pants and a wool sweater. She latches onto Eren as soon as she is free. Pressing her cheek to the center of his chest and wrapping her little arms around his torso.
"Stay… Safe… safe."
The others aren't sure if Ina meant to say that aloud. When it's clear she's starting to nod off, they don't disturb her. Eren sits back on the bed, taking Ina with him. He's able to free one hand so he can finally eat something and settle his growling stomach. Even in her sleep, Ina notices the absence, and eventually pulls his arms back so they're protecting her once again.
They sit like this for some time. Long after the early sunset. After the final dinner bell. After lights out. Soon enough, Eren finds himself nodding off. He scoots down on the bed to rest his head on the pillow and pulls another blanket over both of them. A still sleeping Ina seeks out his body heat immediately. She lays her back flush with his chest and curls into a little shivering ball, then pulls his arm until it's around her waist, her head resting easily on his other arm.
Eren doesn't mind being Ina's human body pillow for the night. He'd do anything for this little squirt. A long as she's happy, So is he.
He drifts off to sleep soon after. Thankful that his former classmates managed to 'forget' to lock him in the dungeon for the night.
This fic is only 4 chapters long. It gets intense in the middle but like my one-shots it's a little more lighthearted. I'm physically incapable of writing anything without angst, lol, but I make up for it with cuteness, adorable bonding, and fluff. This chapter is mostly fluff. You're all welcome hehehehe