The Training Corps. After Eren sacrifices himself for Armin. Mikasa struck with grief and in a rampage. A friend lost. Or so they thought.
Mikasa P.O.V
"A titan is still a titan." Jean is talking but I'm feeling too much to even process his words. I've just lost Eren. The sheer amount of blood alone is a lot to handle but I'm stronger than I was when I was just a girl. Titan blood and their bodies evaporate, humans do not, but I'm holding on. I can resist. Right now, Eren is all that's on my mind. He saved Armin but was so reckless in doing so. That idiot. He didn't have to do that, at least not in the way he did.
Between him being taken from me and watching this titan turn on its own... well I have no words. We all just stand there in awe watching its body begins to disintegrate into the air, it's being disappearing slowly but the steam rising with mild urgency.
Wait. Is that-...
"What is it?" Jean asks bewildered, but none of us reply. It can't be. No way in hell. What kind of sick joke is this?
The air in my lungs feels like it's being sucked right out of my chest. My heart feels like it's stopped for just a brief, painful second. My eyes light up as I notice him within the nape of the titan's neck, freeing himself from it.
No words, only action. I throw myself down off the rooftops, my 3DMG guiding me to him.
Armin calls, "Mikasa!" I don't look back. It's him, it's really him. That idiot, I thought we lost him!
As soon as my feet touch the ground I bolt as fast as I can over to the titan corpse where he's resting still somewhat embedded in its exposed muscle. I can't believe what I'm seeing. Gasping for air I can feel my throat burning from the steam, but I keep pushing forward until I have him in my arms.
I hold him tight, wide-eyed and afraid that this is all a dream. He's here in my arms, please let it be. I don't care if he's a titan or anything of the sort. I'm the last person who could judge him for that. He's always been there for me and I for him. I'll protect him and we'll get through this. I promised I would!
I press my ear up to his chest just to make sure and yes! His heart is still beating. He's alive and here. I take comfort in the steady beating of his heart. I can't smell his blood either. Finding tears threatening to spill I listen a few seconds longer and I can't hold them back anymore. The floodgates open and the final few moments send me.
I don't just find myself crying but I'm wailing now. Eren is now safe with me. I cry out in pain, sorrow and happiness all at once. The others come over to investigate and help me get Eren out of this thing and away to safety. Armin comforts me as Reiner and Bertholdt free him. Annie and Jean keeping on the lookout for other titans or even other soldiers.
We make our way up to high ground to be safe and all I can do is hold him and cry some more.
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Armin P.O.V
It's Eren... He's regained the limbs he'd lost... I saw a titan swallow Eren whole. I saw...
The emotions of the past couple hours hit me hard, and I too begin to cry. I step closer to Eren and Mikasa and take his hand in mine. I thought I had lost my best friend and Mikasa... She nearly gave away her life at the news of the incident, risking it all over his death but here he is.
"What happened?" I squeeze his hand to reassure myself that he's here along with his arm. Regeneration? I know what I saw. It really did happen but somehow, he's back here, with us. Even if he survived being swallowed whole, his arm was severed. Now I'm holding his hand in mine still attached to his body.
"Did this mean that Eren did all this?" I hear Jean ask. I glance in his direction but I'm too afraid to answer. Eren did this to save us but how? What does this mean for him? For all of us? Will he be taken away? Will he be killed by the Military Higher Ups? What do we do now?
Mikasa.
What will happen to her if they do. I'm not enough for her. Ever since Eren told me about her condition... I remember the conversation as if we discussed it earlier this day.
We were just kids and didn't understand but we never judged each other. It was us against the world. It changed nothing. Mikasa was still the exact same as we had always known her. She was shy but a strong presence. Caring but not overbearing. Eren acts before he thinks. Assuming and not asking. I'm thoughtful but not forceful. No matter how right I may be in a situation I've started keeping it to myself. That's why our friendship is so balanced. Between the three if us, we could be the most functioning human being and equally the least.
When he told me about what happened with Mikasa I didn't know what to believe except that she was still our friend.
There was a fight on the street. A random man tried to steal from the butcher's stall at the market. Butcher took his knife and slashed at the thief. There wasn't any serious harm, nicked him was all. The MP Officers stationed at the market apprehended the man. When I turned around to see if Eren and Mikasa saw what happened, Mikasa was gone. Eren explained that they had both had to defend themselves, she fought harder than he thought she would the day he met her and she's probably feeling a lot of similar emotions she felt when she witnessed her parents murder. I said we should check on her, but he became a bit cagey. I push past him and head to our spot where I felt Mikasa ran to. It was just out of sight from people – no one would know you were there unless they started looking - by the canal that runs through town.
We found her soaking a cloth in the water, drenching it in water. I thought that maybe she was feeling faint, and a cool cloth would help. At least that's what I thought until she lifted the drenched rag that dripped a dark colour. Confused I stepped closer to her as she hid within herself. Eren didn't say anything, just kept tugging at my arm. I looked at him and he tilted his head back towards the town square, but I shook mine in response, no words exchanging between us. I approach Mikasa and place a hand on her shoulder. She was chewing on the cloth. Liquid dripping from the pressure of her lips on the towel. It was faint but the hue was there. I know blood in water when I see it. I'm forever helping Eren clean up with water after his scuffs. I smile and sit down next to her. Eren comes over and takes his place on the other side of her on the embankment.
She sighed a painful one. The kind of shaky breath you can tell is filled with so many varying degrees of emotions. "I can explain," she offered. My curiosity piqued so I listened to as much as she was willing to share. I didn't poke, I didn't prod, I listened with understanding in my heart and logic in my brain. She explained from her appointments with Dr Jaeger to her incidents with Eren helping her out. Spilling the information as it was clearly too much for her to contain. Eren wrapped an arm around her and gave her a comforting squeeze, looking at me as he did so. You can see that all he wants to do is protect her. A sentiment we both share. It didn't take a genius to see that she was terrified of what I would think but she has no control over her genetics.
We spent the rest of that day together until the sun began to set, working as a team, figuring out how Eren and I could best help her so that she wasn't struggling. Not alone at least. Summarising methods to fight her instincts.
Though we're both here for her that's exactly what it's been taking: both of us. She has great control now but since joining the Training Corps we knew it would be a challenge for her. Eren wants to join the Survey Corps and we won't let him do this alone. We too want to fight, but it's bloodshed of humans that's going to prove to be harder for Mikasa.
Although Eren regenerated his arm. It's giving me an idea. A twisted one, but an idea, nonetheless. Maybe he can help her more than he knows.
For right now though, we stay together.
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Mikasa P.O.V
"No way, I'm not doing that to him!"
"Come on, Mikasa, it makes sense and depending on how his body regenerates it could be sustainable. It's better than stealing from the fricken military."
"As if they've noticed the missing meat Armin! I'd rather that than use our best friend as a source of flesh for my stupid cannibalism!"
"They haven't 'noticed' because we've been pinning it on Sasha and since she's already a food addict of sorts - and everyone is aware - she herself hasn't even questioned it when she's received disciplinaries over it. She believes it to be true too!"
"Then what's the problem with continuing this way?"
We bicker back and forth, seemingly like it won't end. He's the voice of reason in our little trio but right now I don't want reason. I want to not feel like a problem we have to overcome.
"Don't call it that! You didn't choose to have to live this way." Armin's expression is becoming heavily exasperated.
"Still cannibalism. You can't change what it is," I cross my arms over my chest in defence more than defiance to his words. I want to curl up and turn the world off for a minute. Just a minute would make all the difference.
"Regardless, people are catching on. I reiterate - thank the world Sasha has a possession of food because we really are burning through the supplies. This is a better way from every angle, and I know Eren would-"
"SHUT UP! JUST-..." I find myself taking a second to compose and sigh before continuing. "Just stop for a minute, please. I can't do that to him. He still feels pain. Even if he's somehow always been some kind of titan shifting human, I've seen him get into enough fights to know that he definitely feels pain. He still needs to recover."
I know that in theory Armin is right, but I can't hurt him. I want to protect Eren, but first and foremost, I have to protect him from myself. What if I lost control of myself. This isn't a simple cut and a little blood. This is flesh. This is the primary source I need. Granted, I've not been able to bring myself to consume human flesh. Dr Jaeger would provide me what I needed because he had connections to the underground. People without names or faces. No story to tell anymore. Unclaimed bodies that funeral homes couldn't keep. He took them for biological study of the human body. That's what he told them anyways. I've been starving. Still strong enough to keep functioning but not strong enough to ignore all the fallen soldiers around me in the recent slaughters from titan attacks.
I love Eren too much to do that to him. I value him and everything he's done for me. I nearly lost him - I should have lost him if not for this revelation. Yet, Armin is looking me in the eyes and suggesting this as a 'solution'. I don't think I can, even if I wanted to. My heart isn't going to let me.
"Please just try talking to him about it," as if I'd be able to. Rumour has it that the Survey Corps are going to Eren's trial and might take him for 'observation'. But that's just what they are: rumours. I think Ymir heard them when sneaking between dorms looking for something to do and overheard some Garrison Soldiers talking about it.
Even since the incident of Eren being labelled a danger due to the titan mess, the Training Corps are under strict rules for the time being until they can eliminate any other threats. Not that Eren really was one to begin with. That's the thing with people, you're human or a monster. I would be in the monster category if they knew. Eren will always be a human in my eyes. To the people however, he's a monster. They just don't know him. He wants to destroy titans more than anyone. Even for his monstrous form he's still a human. We saw him emerge from the nape still a human. He was exhausted, scared, confused, feeling so much. On that same note: I have emotions, feel pain and love, and protect those around me I care about most, even now, protecting the people within these walls from the titans...
Aren't I human too?