♡ Eternal Bond ♡ {EreRi | RiRen}

Chapter 19: We're In This Together

When she received no reply or protest, she took it as an agreement and pushed the door open slowly with a soft sigh. The room was bathed in total darkness as the lights were all out and even the curtains were being drawn shut. It took her some time before her eyes finally adjusted to the dim settings and she caught her brother's soft tuft of hair peeking out from behind the bed.

Setting the cocoa on the nightstand, she walked over to him in slow steps and stopped right beside him, still keeping a comfortable distance from him. She knelt down.

"Eren... won't you tell me what's wrong?"

Mikasa took things gentle; Eren looked so fragile to her at the moment that she felt like he would actually break if she came on too aggressively. Again she was met with no reply and that made her inch toward her brother slowly.

"Ere-!?"

And, that was when Mikasa found herself in a state of shock when she felt a familiar warmth envelope her.

It's been...so long... so long...

For the first time in years, Eren was hugging her like how they used to when they were young. Mikasa's eyes pricked as she returned the warm embrace. She knew that Eren had always wanted to put up a strong image in front of her as the male of the pair since she had grown up to be undeniably stronger than him... He hadn't opened up to her in a long time and when he finally did now, it made her both elated and worried at the same time. She was so very happy for him to finally allow her to become his pillar of support... but at the same time, the fact that something had broken the strong façade he put up... made her heart ached that what he was going through must really be horrible.

Her hands caressed his back comfortingly.

"It's alright, Eren... I'm here for you right."

She felt a small shift from him and finally, Eren buried his face into her shoulders, small sobs wrecking through his frail form. This made Mikasa's breathing pick up. She didn't care who was the cause of all this, or whatever reason they had...she would exterminate them all for causing so much pain to Eren. She was quite skilled with a knife, if she did say so for herself... All those years of cooking for both Eren and Armin had given her quite the skill in slicing up meat... whatever meat it was.

"Eren... tell me what's wrong. Did someone hurt you?" she asked with concern clearly laced in her voice.

A small shake from his head was the reply she got. And then, Eren finally spoke up with the faintest of voices that she almost missed it.

"It's... all my fault."

"What? What is your fault, Eren...?"

She heard another soft sob before he continued, "People always suffer because of me. I caused so much pain to everybody... To m-mom, to dad, to you, to Armin, and... to Levi." His voice has cracked through his sentenced and was laced with deep sorrow. He cried, and her shoulders were damp by now... but she only tightened her hold on him.