She sighed, shoving back her black hair to tie it in a loose bun.
"Well, guess that's where my fatigue comes from."
Armin wanted to go over there, to hug the girl and tell her that her fatigue wasn't caused by the hours she had spent working down there but by the countless nights she did the same, not giving her body the chance to recover.
And her endless worrying about her brother only added to the dark bags under her eyes. She was trying so hard to keep it together and Armin respected her greatly for not snapping at any moment.
Just when Armin turned to move, turned to help his friend, he forgot the knife in his hands that he was still clutching in his fingers. Only at the edge of his consciousness did he feel how it slipped. How his fingers went over the handle down to the blade, freshly sharpened by himself.
He hissed when a sharp pain drove through his left hand and he reflexively let go of it, letting the piece of cutlery fall into the water of the sink.
"Armin! You okay?" Eren ran up to him, inspecting the injured hand.
"I'm fine, Eren. Stop worrying about me." He drew his hand back with an apologetic smile and felt a guilty pang in his heart when he remembered how Eren hadn't even winced whenever he had been hurt outside there – in the woods.
He carried those scars with him every day.
And here Armin was – whining about some minor injury that would probably heal in a day or two.
"I will simply get some bandage so it won't get infected.", he assured his friend and left the sink to make his way out of there to get upstairs where he would find something to get on his wound in their room.
Sighing he closed the door behind himself.
I will make it, Eren. One day...I will be as stronghearted as you are.
Eren POV
Eren watched his friend leave, an uneasy feeling in his heart.
"Don't you think that he is acting strange?"
"He is afraid. We all are.", Mikasa answered him, washing off the dirty knives Armin had left behind. Eren huffed, balling his fists with a petulant noise.
"It's ridiculous."
"What is?"
"To be afraid of them."
Mikasa shook her head, her eyes concentrated on what she was doing with her hands, trying to avoid getting hurt as well.
"It would be stupid not to be. You know yourself that underestimating the enemy is dangerous."
"But who is the enemy after all?", he mumbled and helped his sister. "What do you think about what he said?"
"About that party?"
He hummed approvingly.
She shrugged her shoulders, the scarf around her neck hiding her chin and her mouth when she tugged it up. The clothes given to them weren't enough to keep the cold away and without anyone cooking food or getting a fire lit in the kitchen it was as frigid as one could imagine it to be.
"We could do it in the other room, where we usually eat together.", Eren pondered and bit his lip thoughtfully. "If we got rid of the tables and the chairs there would be enough space to dance."
"Eren." Mikasa never sounded dejected, never did he hear any hopelessness in her voice. But the exhaustion that lay within it made his toes curl. "What would we even be celebrating? The anniversary of the beginning of your father's gruesome reign?"
He grabbed her wrist and she halted in her movements, waiting for his next words. He looked her in the eyes, trying to convey the desperate will to win to her.
"We will celebrate that there is still the chance to have a future without war around every corner. We will celebrate that I have the power to change the fate of children like us."
"But how do you know that you have the power? Eren, I will always follow you wherever you go. But what if it just isn't enough? What if..."
He loosened his grip on her hand.
He pressed his lips together and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply through his nose.
"I can't ask myself those questions, Kasa. I can't afford to.", he admitted quietly. "How can I lead my people to a life in peace and confidence when I doubt myself in the first place?"
She didn't answer. Eren didn't expect her to.
They went on with their work, not talking to each other.
Armin hadn't returned.
And while he helped his sister with her chores he wondered where the little ball of positive energy had gone off to.
(Wuhuuuu we're planning a party! And poor Armin seems to be worried about something...)
YOU ARE READING
Coming for your heart
Fanfiction|| Book 1 || Eren Yaeger had to flee from his home when he was only six years old. With his mother and his adopted sister he tries to forget anything related to the King and the secrets they left behind. Many years later war comes for Eldia and Er...
Chapter 24
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