At the mere mention of the King's name Eren tensed and looked on the ground to hide the fury written on his face, his hands clawed in his towel.
"My mother warned me to get ready to leave this place if we have to.", Jean continued, not noting Eren's demeanor or simply dismissing it as a general reaction to anything related to the King.
"I don't know anything about that political stuff. But I know that mom isn't one to worry without any reason."
"I have to go." Eren left without minding Jean's shouts.
His family was waiting for him.
---
Dinner was strangely quiet.
Normally Mikasa would praise their mother's food. Or they would talk about the trouble Eren had caused again, laughing at how he would try to defend himself but end up laughing, nevertheless.
This evening, however, was different from their usual behavior.
His mother was barely eating something, staring at the food with tired eyes. Her hands lay beside her plate as if it was too strenuous to lift them.
Eren watched how she smiled at Mikasa when she asked for a second. He wondered if this time she only asked out of politeness. To lift the mood.
Every time Eren was about to raise his voice, to say something, courage would leave him to do so. Whereas he always knew how to be loud and annoying and generally not one to ignore, he now sat in front of his family while opening and closing his mouth like the fish they had as a pet as children.
"How is Armin doing?", Mikasa finally broke the unbearable tension in the kitchen. I gave her a thankful smile.
"He is fine. Some guys were trying to be dicks about his books. I solved it for him."
"You shouldn't get in fights, Eren.", his mother said and even though it sounded as if she were about to chastise him, he was just glad that she was saying anything at all.
"Armin is a fragile mind. He's got a head too big for this shitty world that's clamping down on the rule that ignorance stands above everything.", he defended himself with a raised voice. Typical for Eren but as everything turned out to be different that evening and the smile that his mother usually wore on her face when he was being a brat about something absent, she only sighed and stood up, taking our plates with her.
After all neither Mikasa nor Eren had shown much appetite, poking and prodding at every bit of hard vegetable they wouldn't be able to stomach anyway.
Their mother tried her best with every meal and he was just glad to have something to eat. But her efforts made the food not necessarily better.
"I should teach them a lesson they won't forget, those..."
"Language, Mikasa.", their mother said. But even those words sounded strained and as if spoken with all the power she had left.
The siblings exchanged worried looks, not used to their mother's quiet comportment.
"Mom, what's wrong?", Eren finally dared to ask with an uncertain note in his voice. "Is it because I got into trouble again? I promise, I will try to stay out of it as good as I can."
He saw his mother's trembling form bend over the sink. In other households it would be the first thing to get and stay dirty. As always his mother was unlike any women in Shiganshina as she kept the whole house tidy all the time, with Eren's and Mikasa's help.
The strength she showed in her daily life, dealing with her teenage boy and a teenage girl different from all the others while keeping their life together like a gear...Eren respected her immensely and was all the more worried when his mother lowered her head and spoke through the hand she pressed on her mouth: "No, darling. It isn't your fault."
"What isn't my fault? Mom, tell us what's going on!", he implored and rose from his seat, hands pressed down onto the table. "Please, if you have something to say..."
He faltered when he heard a strange noise coming from his mother. Mikasa also looked at her concerned, brows furrowed and head tilted.
"Mom...?", Eren asked again and stepped around the table to reach for his mother's shoulders. They were...quivering. She pressed her hand harder down on her mouth, the other clamped down on the brink of the sink until her knuckles were as white as the apron she wore.
"I'm sorry, Eren. I'm sorry, Mikasa.", she whispered and Eren halted in his steps, his hand just nearly touching his mother. "You should go off to sleep."
Mikasa followed her brother, watching their mother like someone would watch a wild mare they planned to tame.
"Mom, you can tell us what's wrong.", Eren urged her, slight panic interlaced in his voice. He hadn't seen his mother in this state since the first nights they had been staying in that house in Shiganshina.
He touched his mother's shoulder hesitatingly, waiting for any reaction. She sobbed quietly into her hand, sounding so desperate it hurt his heart just listening to it.
"Mom..." Mikasa sounded as helpless as she had when they had first taken her in. Without a doubt she felt as insecure as himself. He glanced at his sister and forced a reassuring look on his features.
"I'm so sorry, kids.", their mother sobbed. "A mom should never break down in front of her children like that. I'm sorry I'm not strong enough."
Eren embraced his mom and rested his head on her shoulder, looping his arms around her waist.
"Then I'm gonna hug the living daylights out of you.", he croaked and she laughed breathlessly against his head, kissing his scalp tenderly.
"My darling, aren't you too old for this?"
"I was told that moms will always have the right to hug their sons."
Mikasa watched them from afar until Eren said with a muffled voice: "If you don't join us right now this is gonna be hella embarrassing and I won't be dealing with that."
A second later the smaller frame of his sister squeezed herself between them and Eren laid an arm around her.
They stayed like that for an endless time, caught in their own bubble of love and calmness until a knock on the door interrupted their moment.
Eren was the first one to free himself from the hug, sending the door a questioning look.
"Are you expecting anyone?", Mikasa asked him. Eren shook his head.
Their mother wiped over her face with some cloth and went to open the door. With a hand raised over the handle she looked back at them and gestured for them to hide. Confusion in both of their expressions Eren did as he was told and dragged his sister with him upstairs as soundlessly as they could.
She opened the door...