Curse Of Latido | 𝘌𝘳𝘦𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘢 AU

4. The Search

Published on:
Sat, 30 Jan.
The year 2021

Chapter 4|The Search

Mikasa gazed at the vacant space, her eyes settled on an old dim vegetable sack that they had purchased that day, laid close to an unfilled pot. Matches were tossed all over the empty tent, with dirty sheets crumpled onto the concrete. Where could she be? Her legs stayed still while Eren moved over her, his finger brushing over the dusty tent texture. "Don't worry, she'll probably be back soon." Mikasa watched him wander around, running his hand through their belongings. "Mom keeps the place clean all the time." He turned back to her, picking up on her hints. Perhaps her mother didn't revisit their tent in any way. "Come on, let's take a walk. She might be close by somewhere."  Eren's father tagged the little ones to follow as they wandered near him and asked whoever passed their direction if they had seen her mother.

"No, I didn't see anyone." Said a lady, eyeing the man from head to toe as she shielded her young daughter behind her and slowly disappeared into the crowd. "A woman with braids?" the old man rubbed his white beard, "My, yes! She went nuts looking for her missing girl just the other morning." The old man bowed toward Mikasa. "Oh, you must be her daughter?"  Eren's father pressed the bridge of his nose, growing impatient at the dragging voice of the old man. "Yes, yes! That's her daughter. Have you seen the woman lately?" the man shook his head, "The last time I saw her was walking toward the center of town where all the markets are." His arm shook as he pointed to the targeted route. "Yesterday, around a quarter of the night." Mr. Jaeger nodded and pulled the children toward the main street to take a cart.

It's been a while since they strolled through the markets, stopping people and asking them about her mother, to which most of them reacted very crossly. Some just stared at them and walked away without answering, others gave them cautious glances while they talked, but mostly they just pretended they couldn't see or hear them, burying all of Mikasa's hopes.

Mikasa looked up at the sky, her eyes catching a large bird flying around in the clouds and letting out a high-pitched scream. She pointed her index finger upward, "Pico! That's Pico!" She jumped up, put two fingers to her mouth, and let out a whistle that sounded familiar to the flying creature. The sound was so loud that both Eren and his father covered their ears. They ducked in surprise as the winged creature flew toward them.

Pico approached the girl as she wrapped him by a delicate grasp, her heart shuddering in her chest. She shut her eyes, sniffing on the dark grey feathers. At long last, there's something that scents like home. Eren kept away from the ghastly winged beast, viewing Mikasa, "It doesn't look like a tamed bird, doesn't it? Maybe you're not supposed to—" She looked at Eren rubbing Pico's chin. "No, he's completely harmless, unless one of his friends got hurt." The young boy looked over his dad and whispered, "That's a wild bird!" Mikasa turned her attention back to her bird and pointed her pinky finger before him, "Pico, mom, where is she?" he bounced back, flapping his wings in place. Eren's eyes widened, observing Mikasa converse with the winged animal, making bizarre movements with her hands.  And he couldn't have been more confident about how odd that girl was. The bird rose to a higher level, still flapping its wings in the air, as Mikasa realized he needed her to follow him. She glanced over both Eren and his dad before standing on her feet and running after him. "Mikasa, wait!" Grisha pulled his son and went after her.

They followed Pico, who rushed forward, invading the districts. People peered at them out of curiosity while others shifted away from them. Why are they chasing a predator? Wasn’t the opposite supposed to happen?

Seeing the waterway ahead, Mikasa's feet halted, her hair blowing in the breeze as her nostrils invited the natural off-putting smell of fish. River? Water? What if her mom was bending somewhere near? She panicked, her eyes wandered around the place, before Eren yelled, “Dad, look!” He pointed at two bodies lying down on the ground in a corner a few feet away from the stream. She didn't move until she noticed her bird flew in the direction of the two bodies and bounced over the ground just before them. No. Could it be her mom? The three of them moved closer to the bodies. A soldier in a red suit and the other was a woman with grey clothing, like the one her mother was wearing.