After so much, Jean hadn't exactly been wishing for sleep so he'd left the lamp in the corner burning long past midnight. The small flickers made the shadows of his low tent dance like ghosts against the fabric. His pillow waved, the pile of clothes in the corner swayed and the small rucksack they'd given him rolled. The solitary amber light source hit the coarse material and made it glow. The air was cold and bitter from night and the sounds of rustling people spanning the entire camp furled into each other to create a low grumbling roar. If you combined that with the noise of the faraway trees and animals Jean hardly needed the flame to keep him awake.
Ever since his dream, Jean had tried to stay up until his mind was too exhausted to create any more. His body was weary but alit by his growling obsession. Every time he moved, it was out of determination. Every time he spoke, it was to further his plan. Jaeger and Ackermann had been useful enough. Apparently the security of their own regiment had been lax recently due to the preparations. Once again his thoughts managed to deepen the scowl etched into his face. This was such a pointless charade. All of the effort for, what, convincing a bunch of idiots that the titan still existed? That the Scouting Regiment can actually do their job? That humanity had a chance in this war? Jean highly doubted either of the last two could be proven by watching some soldiers flaunt their abilities to a crowd. It was all a bunch of…
There was a crack outside. Jean lurched upright off his mat-bed and scanned around the area, his eyebrows set into a straight angry line. He reached around – for what he didn't know – and kept his eyes on the entrance but then the shadow outside came close enough for Jean to make out the silhouette.
His finger pressed to his lip, Armin ducked his head under the material and crawled inside. Jean was seething.
"Arlert, what are you..?" he began to hiss but Armin, as foolish as he was, shushed the soldier.
"Jean, you'll have to be quiet. People are sleeping."
Brown eyes narrowed. "So? You're awake and you don't seem to be respecting that rule."
"Yes, well, I knew you would be awake. I don't think I've disturbed any others though."
"How..?"
Armin pointed to the dim lamp resting on the grassy floor next to Jean's hand. The hand curled up into a fist, something Jean didn't mind Armin noticing seeing as he was so observant. Maybe he would catch a hint eventually.
"Listen, Arlert. Whatever you've got to say; I don't care. Go back to bed."
"No, Jean."
Jean stared. Since when was Armin so assertive?
The blonde lowered from his crouch so he was sitting on the bed of green blades and staring straight and fearlessly into Jean's eyes. He wasn't quivering even the slightest, but Jean suspected this stranger in front of him was the product of several days' confidence built up into one. He leant forwards and played with the grass below but his eyes did not flicker from Jean's. While in the brown you would find fire, in the blue Jean found ice.
"Jean, I need you to give me some answers. I understand that you don't owe me anything-"
"You're right. You don't." Jean crossed his arms and glared but Armin folded his arms in kind.
"But, you have to talk to me. I...I saw you. You were crying, a-and you haven't slept since. I don't know what you've been through, but I want to know; maybe I could even help. Why are you here? Why did you abandon the Military Police to come here with me?" Armin's eyes finally lost their strength and fell, looking at anything other than Jean's eyes. His voice dimmed and his hands tore at the grass more frequency.
"W-Was i-it...because of...Mr Bott?"
Jean's pupils shrank. His breath left him and his muscles began to shake the rest of his body despite the soldier clenching his jaw and arms to stop it.
"Eren, Mikasa and I were told about it by this one MP we met – I think he came down with some people from Wall Sina – and he told us about an incidence and-"
"Shut the hell up, Arlert!" Jean almost whispered. The words had become wisps on the wind in pursuit of his stolen breath. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"I think your reaction just proved that wrong," said Armin.
The brunette growled but its fierceness was muffled by his still prevalent grief. "Yes. He was murdered. I...I'm here to track the bastard murderer down. I know it was a Scout, Armin. The thief used ODM gear to escape and I definitely saw a green cloak. Whoever it is, they're here and they won't be leaving. I promise."
A different kind of fear now kindled in the blue. He leant forwards, closer to and imploringly at Jean. "I don't think you'll find the criminal here. The Scouts don't really allow their members to wander off and even then you would have to find a Scout who could get to Wall Sina and back without resistance."
"So you think I'm wrong?!"
Like prey faced with a predator, Armin yelped. "N-N-No!" Then in a much smaller voice, he said, "Well, yes. I don't think it's the right conclusion. No-one Eren or Mikasa knew could have done it at least and you just can't-"
Jean was done listening. Marco would not go unavenged. The Scouts would not come out of this unpunished. The taut muscles that pulled his hand into a fist and locked his mouth so he could barely talk snapped upwards. His knuckled curled round and Jean punched Armin in the face. The young supervisor flew back with a dull, sickly 'thud' and drops of his blood fell into the air like the reverse of rain.
Armin cried out and held his face in both his palms, rolling on the dark grass while Jean watched with a furious indifference to his pain.
"Do yourself a favour, Arlert: shut up and leave! Don't. Tell. Anyone! Or you will be in even more pain. Got it?"
He couldn't answer with words anymore. Armin gurgled in a painful attempt to stop crying and, while wiping the blood from his nose, he scrambled away with difficultly. His eyes flashed with the glint of water but other than that Jean didn't read the shorter's expression. However, he didn't let his eyes off him. A blonde head was soon swallowed by the darkness outside until he was just as insignificant and unseen as every other person in the camp. When he saw no-one else, they might as well have not existed.
They stayed that way for a long time. However, the day of the actual show came startlingly soon. The gradual build-up of incoming people seemed to explode into endless hoards of people from all across the three Walls. The different looks, the different colours in their clothes, the different classes. They all melted together into something loud and obnoxious and uncontainable.
There was a hum in the air that manifested in a strange atmosphere, unable to be categorised into either tension or anticipation. It showed itself in different ways depending on who the eyes fell onto. The tourists buzzed around Shinganshina and the surrounding camps, pursuing the stalls and generally chattering; the regular citizens ambled around in their now alien streets, commonly too poor to partake in the activities set aside for the Interior citizens yet couldn't help but marvel at the finery; and the military were dotted around the walls and streets, keeping all their eyes out for danger and looming everywhere.
Technically Jean was one of them but he was avoiding them as much as he could, forcing his way through the innumerable people with an aura of unmistakable danger that warned most people away. All the others were shoved aside with no thought.
The timer was counting down with even more urgency now. It seemed impossible. How could he only have an hour left? An hour to figure out what he was going to do. His insistence on ignoring his plans for the sake of his sanity had now left him on a precipice without any way up or down. Jean was trapped...unless he could take advantage of his surroundings.
Jean stopped. He turned his head and gazed down the stone staircase he'd been climbing. Scouts lined the Wall but other soldiers took up the bulk of the patrols. Of course, Jean grumbled mentally. They'll all be preparing. The rest of his body followed his head and the solider started running back down. The plan forming in his mind was rudimentary at best but it had worked before.
The Scouts wouldn't be near the gates yet. The bulk of them would be getting ready out of the public's sight so all Jean needed to do was find that place. The street leading out of Shiganshina and into the titans' territory was scattered with people chirping about but as he sped in and out of the long stretch, Jean caught someone's eye.
He didn't think to stop, however, it had been one man with two others: a scarlet-haired person wearing goggles and a very short man with a short black haircut leering around at whoever he could see. The person who'd spotted Jean was a tall blonde man. All three were draped in green with the heavy ODM gears weighing by their sides.
Even in that brief moment he later dismissed, Jean could sense the importance surrounding that trio by the gate.
Back inside Wall Maria, the vast green hosting the almost uncountable crowds plunged Jean's mind into panic. In the early days Jean could have noticed a Scout by their distinct cloak but now it was too easily washed away in civilian fashion. He wandered along the foot-trodden paths in the field, his eyes darting around erratically, then a crack of hope broke through the confusion.
"Jaeger! Mi...er, Ackermann!" Jean called, cupping his hands over his mouth but not waiting for their response. He ran over to the two Scouts who appeared, on closer inspection, to be arguing. Neither looked happy to see Jean but that didn't matter. In fact, it made his proposal seem all the better.
Eren's eyes darkened once he recognised the voice but when he spoke, it had a pleased lilt. "What d'you want, Jean?"
Mikasa's expression was equally dark. "I'm sorry but we don't have the time."
"Yeah. Starts in less than an hour, doesn't it?" Jean enjoyed his height because at moments like this he could easily look down on the two of them, casting a shadow of power which was perfect for 'negotiation'. Brown irises moved to Eren and his many injuries without any care for subtlety. "Do you think you'll be up for it, Jaeger?"
The brunette flashed his teeth and held up a fist. It shook without any real strength, weakened from the long gash running down the forearm. Jean's expression flickered. The wound didn't fit anything titan. Were you so bad you actually managed to cut yourself? Jean couldn't help but wonder with an incredulity so strong he was close to being impressed.
"'Course. I'll defeat all the titans!" Eren boasted proudly, to Mikasa's unease. Her face darkened further and her pale hand wavered over Eren's shoulder, so close to comforting him yet restrained in the memory of before.
"Eren...please. Please don't." The softness in her voice was dismissed by Eren with a jerk away but it was not overlooked by Jean.
"Because," Jean continued, "you don't look like you'd survive one minute out there, Jaeger. The moment Mikasa takes her eyes off you, you're going to die. You know that, right?"
The Eren he knew from training would have continued to live in denial but something must have sobered him. It could have been the fact Jean's words were the truth but it wasn't like Eren to actually recognise that. Eren faced away awkwardly and Mikasa met Jean's gaze.
"Jean. Wha..?"
"Mikasa, it's the truth. How the hell is he planning to take down a titan when he's one bandage away from bleeding to death? I doubt that you'll be allowed to look after him, y'know. They'll have the more talented soldiers in the spotlight. The others..." He glimpsed back to Eren. "...will probably be hidden in the back, away. Away from everyone else in case they screw up."
"What're you doing, Jean? Did you come over just to insult me 'cause you know you chose the wrong one? Want the attention, do you? You can shove off, you-"
Mikasa put her hand on Eren's chest. It was a warning gesture emphasised by the accidently force she applied so it was more like a curt push. She didn't say anything to him but instead addressed Jean. "What are you implying?" she asked.
Jean hesitated, yet it might as well have been a mere breath. He straightened up and his expression hardened, confident. "It's simple; I want to take Eren's place."
"What!? Not on your-"
The young woman once again interrupted her friend. "Why? Why are you doing this for him?"
Although he wasn't confident how to look, Jean pretended he did. "I don't want this show to be ruined. I'm pretty sure a death of one of the Scouts would put a bit of a damper on the festivities, and the commanders' plan."
Finally, the anger in the sea green ebbed for confusion to replace them. "Plan? What plan?"
Jean arched an eyebrow. "It seems pretty obvious to me," he said, a corner of his mouth twitching. "This is all to scare the public so they can continue needing the military. Didn't Arlert explain this to you?"
Eren's eyebrows knitted together. "What? Why would we need to scare the public? They're scared enough of the frigging titans! Nah. They're not going to be scared, not after we're done. Haven't you heard? Captain Levi's gonna be fighting. It'll be great!"
Thankfully, at least Mikasa understood. Jean waved arrogantly with his hand, trying to rile the injured soldier up even further. "Hey, Ackermann, you could just knock him out. Then this would go a lot faster."
Mikasa frowned. Eren retreated, his eyes wide and nervous. "Wh-Why d'you think you'll do any better, Jean? You've never seen a titan. You're not even a Scout. You're just a lazy MP!"
Jean shrugged. "Yeah, but I've got one thing on you; I've got all my body parts intact and working. You on the other hand..."
"I was fifth place!"
"Barely, and goodness knows it wasn't your skill that got you that far. It was only because you were the only one dumb enough to care."
"Still..!"
"And, Jaeger, I don't even have to fight them – not that I couldn't – because I can actually use my gear instead of prating around or whatever you were doing."
"Mikasa!" Eren searched for support, however, it was not what he found.
Her face was still in thought but tinged with enough concern to make Jean's insides light up with triumph. This was going to work!
"Eren..." she began slowly, focusing on her words. "Give your jacket and gear to Jean."
"WHAT!?"
"Eren! Please. I don't want you getting hurt."
"So what? You trust Jean over me?!"
"No, but you haven't healed enough."
"I'm fine!"
"Just give him the jacket, Eren! This might be the only thing that can save you. You know the Commander; he only needs as many people as the plan dictates. You can stay safe with Armin."
"I won't! I'm needed." He threw up his arms in frustration but that gesture sent a jolt of pain running through his body. That was the final straw. The ODM gear tipped his balance and Eren would have fallen if not for Mikasa's hand flicking out at the last moment, but the damage was already done.
"Don't do this, Eren. You're not fit enough. Everything will be fine if Jean takes your place. Nothing will be lost. You'll be fine."
Eventually Eren managed to stagger back into an upright standing. Everything had drained from his face, leaving it like chalk. The moment of exertion had caused a surprising amount of pain in the brown-haired soldier and it left him completely defeated.
A shivering hand rose to his brown collar. Eren tore the jacket off and threw it at Jean's feet. With aching, paining, and angry hands Eren unbuckled the straps tightened around his waist and chest until the metal equipment clattered to the ground. Jean had to hide his victorious smile.