I got a review from Hingabana.4 asking to try and extend this into a story. So I have the second chapter written, I just want to go through it tomorrow when I hopefully have this flu beat.

See you guys tomorrow

~Kit

When Mikasa awoke, she was next to a dying fire on an impossibly cold floor and all alone. Apart from the soft crackle from the fire there was nothing she could hear in the immediate distance.

She sat up and looked around her, the small fire illuminated the stone wall that was behind her as well as her 3D Manoeuvring Gear. Similar walls on the left and right indicated she was in the dead end of a corridor, but ahead of her stretched a dark gloom.

Mikasa strained her ears trying to ascertain any movement within the corridor. It's almost imperceptible at first, but then she hears it: The sound of rhythmic footfalls and they were coming closer.

They were hiding under the ruins of an old fort, in the tunnels that had been a rather fortunate discovery. But they were unsure if there were any breaches so Commander Irvin posted them in twos down the stretch they were occupying.

Silently she gets up and moves to her gear, quietly slipping it on. The footsteps are closer now, but they are softer than she expects for a titan. It has to be a deviant class. She slides two blades in, locks them into place and draws them.

Peering into the darkness, she can just make out figure shuffling towards her and she still feels that stab of primal fear. You have to fight. She tells herself. You have to save Eren.

She is about to storm towards the titan when she hears what sounds like a log hitting the ground, followed by a very audible "Shit!"

Mikasa stops. Titans cannot speak and definitely cannot curse.

It is with no amount of shock to see Jean emerge from the darkness. In his arms is a precarious stack of wood and she can see the furrow of his brow as he concentrates on balancing the logs. When he looks up and sees her, he blanches at her defensive stance and a log flies off of the pile and rolls to her feet.

"Y-You okay?" He asks. "I saw the fire was dying, so I went to get more wood."

He hefts the wood up as if to show her, a faint blush on his cheeks. She murmurs her thanks and turns around to go back to the fire. As she sits he deposits the wood down and begins to build up the fire again. It's not even ten minutes until the fire is roaring once again and he sits down next to her.

Mikasa wraps her scarf tighter around her throat and stares into the flames. The battle in the forest had been over before most people could comprehend what had happened, they had all scattered. Hannes, Armin, Jean and herself had given chase and the others had emerged sometime after them. They all could see Eren, bound and gagged with the tendrils of steam emerging from his stumps, but he was unconscious. They gave chase throughout the night. Reiner's titan form had just been able to stay ahead of them and just when he was beginning to tire, the sun started to rise.

Eren and the others had fled until they reached the next patch of forest. They would have given chase but the signal flare came for them to regroup. Commander Irvin made the instruction to hide in the ruins of the abandoned fort nearby. It had taken all of Mikasa's remaining strength to not disobey those orders and go chasing after Eren.

Armin had tried to get her to calm down, but he also tired and on edge and it was Jean who quietly told her his opinion. "We need to regroup. Reiner is probably exhausted from the chase but we have Ymir, who is incredibly fast and Bertholdt, who is incredibly huge, to worry about. You also saw that Eren has not yet regenerated all of his body parts and for whatever reason is still unconscious. We need to give him time to heal as well as rest ourselves." Out of the corner of her eye Armin nods and Conny is gaping at Jean as if he had spoken in a completely foreign language. "Also we have to now rescue Christa as well."

Commander Irvin had paired them off so that the perimeter was fully watched. Mikasa wasn't even aware that she was so fatigued until after she and Jean had set up their fire and she had sat down.

When she looks up out of the flames, Jean is also looking pensive.

"Jean, how far away is Eren?"

He looks at her. "Commander Irvin reckons that the forest is only about a half an hour in front of us. As soon as it's near twilight we will be making our attack."

She nods mutely and continues staring into the flames. Suddenly Jean moves in closer and places his hand on her shoulder and she looks at him in confusion.

"Mikasa, I swear to you we will save Eren."

For a split second Mikasa forgets how to breathe, it's not his words that get to her, but the look of determination within them. Eren has passion in his eyes, but Jean has determination in his. She knows that the passion was always in Eren's eyes but she can't remember when the determination started burning in his.

It is a full five seconds that she stares into his eyes before realising she has zoned out and she quickly breaks eye contact. Jean quickly leans back and when she looks at him again his cheeks are glowing a fiery red. She wonders if she has embarrassed him, probably judging by his cheeks and how long she stared.

"Thank you Jean." She says to him and she sees him nod his head once while staring pointedly at the wall.

They fall into an a strangely uncomfortable silence, punctured every so often by Jean either clearing his throat or opening his mouth only to snap it shut and curse lightly under his breath.

They are saved from the silence by the sound of someone else approaching.

A few seconds later Armin emerges from the darkness and comes to a stop in front of them.

"Commander Irvin says we are heading out in the next 5 hours. He says that we should try and sleep in two hour shifts, if any of you can."

Mikasa sees Jean nod.

"Thanks Armin." She says, there are dark circles under his eyes and she can tell that he is as internally stressed as she is.

Armin looks to Jean and despite his stress, manages to give him a grin. "Having fun Jean?" The colour drains out of Jean's face so quickly. His eyes dart to her and widen with fear as he locks eyes with her. She can see him relax as he notices the confusion that must be scrawled all over her face.

He turns to Armin, who still has a grin on his face and gives him a grin back. "Look I'd start being a little more quiet if I were you. Or am I allowed to speak freely about what exactly I saw?"

Armin blushes. "So you saw?" It is more of a statement than a question.

Mikasa has no idea what either of them are on about and frankly she has never been this confused. She doesn't recall Armin ever having any secrets but she isn't so sure about Jean.

She remembers the fierce fights between Eren and Jean during their academy days, they were a little hard to forget considering she had to drag him away, but the reason that they seemed to fight had always eluded her. Both parties seemed to take great delight in antagonising each other, maybe it was because Eren knew of Jean's secret?

She couldn't even begin to guess Armin's.

"Well I had better get going. Conny is taking the first shift and I want to see if I can sleep."

"Bye Armin, rest well." She says to him with a small smile on her face.

Armin and Jean nod to each other. With a final wave Armin departs.

"What is that all about?" she asks Jean.

Jean practically implodes. "N-Nothing! Just a, um, joke between Armin and myself." Jean is now crimson from the tips of his ears to the bottom of his neck.

Mikasa knows he is lying. Jokes do not elicit such responses. She wonders if Armin will tell her.

"I'm sorry that I can't tell you." He blurts out. "It's just not all that easy to say."

She looks at him again, the blush is now just on his cheeks and his eyes still burn with determination, but there is something else blazing inside there. Whatever it is, it is setting her off kilter and making her body feel like it is burning too.

It is an entirely new sensation and not all together unpleasant.

This time it is Jean who breaks eye contact. He is digging in one of his side pouches and produces two field ration packets.

"Here." He holds one out to her. "You need to eat this to get your strength up."

It takes a second for this all to sink in, she is still off kilter and her body still feels all weirdly warm. She reaches an arm out and when her fingers brush his, she is hyper aware of the touch. Though his fingers are warm each point of contact causes that point to feel as though it has been burnt by ice and it tingles.

"T-thanks Jean." It is all she can manage to say and she quickly unwraps the ration, eating it quickly so as to distract herself.

She can hear the rustling of his packet as he also starts to eat. They eat in silence.

"You should sleep first." Jean says to her.

"I have already slept." She replies, looking in his general direction but not into those eyes again, she needs her mind to be clear.

"True, but you need it more. I-We all need you at your strongest. I promise that I'll wake you up when it's time."

Mikasa cannot work Jean out. He is neither the brute she thought he was, nor the coward, nor any of the labels anyone ever associated with him, with the exception of Marco.

She lies down with her back to the fire and closes her eyes. She is more exhausted than she realised, even the hard floor doesn't feel so uncomfortable. A few moments later she is asleep.

She is dreaming, she has to be dreaming. Why else would Eren be here? Why else would she be standing in the warm sunshine with the rest of the 104th training squad on what looked to be a day off? She can hear Armin and Eren discussing the huge body of salt water again and she still feels an uneasy twinge at that.

A little to her left she can see Jean chatting to Marco, who says something that makes Jean laugh out loud. It is strange to see him look so at ease.

A little past Eren and Armin she can see Conny pestering Sasha for some of her food, the latter point blank refusing to hand any of it over.

Here, in her dream, the world is still for a brief period.

She closes her eyes, enjoying the warm sunshine and the background chatter from those around her. This is the peace that she dreams of.

Her peace is interrupted by a shadow falling over her. She snaps open her eyes, this is often when her dreams turn into nightmares, when huge titans appear and she can only watch in horror as people are devoured around her. But there is no titan, only Jean.

His eyes are burning again and free from the restrictions of reality she can look into them all she wants. Her body gives the same reaction it did earlier, the burning sensations making her feel weightless and frozen at the same time. It really is an odd sensation.

He holds out his hand to her and she takes it as he helps her to her feet. He doesn't let go of her hand and continues to look into her eyes.

The world around them has stopped.

Lifting his other hand Jean cups her cheek, then slides his hand around the back of her neck and in one swift motion bring his lips down to meet hers.

Her body feels as though it would explode and instinctively she pulls her hand away from his to wrap it around his waist to bring herself closer to him.

Involuntarily she moans with pleasure and this only spurs her on. She is responding to Jean's kiss with passion and her other hand is stroking the soft, short hair on the back of his neck.

"….Mikasa? Are you okay?" A distant voice calls. "…Wake up! Are you having a nightmare?"

She opens her eyes to see a very concerned Jean leaning over her. He is kneeling over her only a half a foot from her face. "You were moaning in your sleep, were you having a nightmare?"

Her dream comes flooding back; she made those noises out loud? She looks up at Jean , her eyes move down to his lips and a small thrill goes through her see that her dream had recreated them perfectly. Her mind is screaming that he is close, too close. She can feel the heat on her own cheeks and wonders if he can see it?

"I'm okay." She manages to gasp out. Jean moves back and she sits up. "Perhaps it is your turn to sleep. I don't think I can sleep any further."

Jean moves back to his spot and begins folding his jacket up into a make shift pillow. He lies down facing her. "Don't hesitate to wake me, if you need anything." She can't tell if he is blushing or if the fire is painting his cheeks.

Then he rolls over and goes to sleep.

She waits five minutes to be sure that he is asleep before running her fingers over lips where there is a phantom tingle.

Mikasa added another log to the fire. She had a feeling that she would need to relive that dream at least once more.

Running her fingers over her lips once more, she smiles.

Right so let's hope I can do this whole thing justice. To those of you that follow my drabble series, I will update that on Saturday. Chances are with this flu, I'll have plenty of time to write.

Happy Wednesday everybody!

~Kit