Mikasa POV
They rode quietly through the darkness. The soft motions of the horse underneath her calmed her, getting her heartrate to slow down and her thoughts to stop swirling through her mind.
Snow brushed their faces and at some point Mikasa was sure it was leaving bruises on her uncovered face. She didn't bother to pull Eren's scarf up. The cold reminded her that she was still alive.
Accompanied by her brother and with bruises, cuts and swollen body parts all over her. But alive. She couldn't say that about the bodies they had had to leave behind.
Mikasa glanced over to Eren, who was sitting on his mare, its dark fur clad in a coat of white snowflakes like a thin blanket that sat on both of their bodies. His shoulders were hunched, his head hanging low. The mare was trotting along a path none of them could make out in the darkness, merely avoiding to run into the trees they passed by.
Hours had passed by since they had finally admitted to having lost track of Armin's traces or any hint that might show them where their friend was.
It was only when Mikasa whispered to him that they wouldn't be able to go on like that much longer, that Eren showed some kind of reaction. A nod was all she received and yet she saw the unfathomable guilt and regret in the small gesture.
Hours must have gone by when they finally reached the bottom of the mountain, leaving the forests covering it behind, only to face the woods that were the last border between the cold and dangerous lands of Eldia and the threats lingering behind the palace' walls.
Again, she looked over to her brother. Waited for his next move.
Going back was their only choice. Not that the king would care if some of his servants were gone but only inside the palace would they have all the chances to gather necessary intel on what might help them reach her brother's goal.
Their goal.
Not anymore, a quiet voice inside her head whispered and she shook her head, focusing her eyes on the giant trees, hovering above them like a wall of dark creatures ready to devour them.
Kou's death doesn't change anything, she answered that silent voice, that she knew was her own consciousness.
It couldn't change anything. Not with Eldia's threat well and alive on a throne that belonged to someone else and with all those people suffering on the battlefields because of a war neither of them wanted.
She took a deep breath and gently steered her horse over to Eren, who didn't even flinch when the icy winds of the approaching winter hit his face like waves begging him to turn around. Eren didn't outright avoid her stare. Maybe he hadn't even noticed her coming closer.
His eyes were dull; their sparkle dimmed.
"Eren, we have to get to the palace.", she said softly, reaching over to touch his arm. But just when her fingers touched his arm, he jerked away, scaring his horse into prancing a few feet away from Mikasa and her own mount.
She kept the slight jab in her heart and its pain from her face, looking indifferent. She took her hand back, resting it on the horse's locks, cold and wet from the snow. Her fingers had probably turned blue by now but she didn't care to check.
"Eren.", she tried again, more firmly this time. She told herself it was because of her concern and the urgency of arriving back in time, not the slight anger and disappointment of being the one getting pushed away.
Eren closed his eyes. His mouth was a thin line and if there would have been any more light, she could have made out the unusual paleness on his face.
He swallowed. Again. And again.
"I can't." He pressed the words out as if they hurt him by simply leaving his mouth. "I can't go back there."
She clenched her fists and sighed, urging her horse on to walk straight into the forest.
"You told me, didn't you?", she called back and held back any tear that might have escaped her eyes. "They will have died in vain if we don't reach our goal."
She didn't have to check twice if he was following her. The crunching of the other mount's steps was enough.
- - -
Armin POV
Shouts behind them. Next to them.
All around them. Armin dragged the boy with him, further through the snow while Armin battled his exhaustion. Every step seemed to be harder than the last one and his wet trousers were sticking to his legs. He slipped on the ice and bit his lip in the process, drawing blood.
Armin tightened his grip on the small hand that barely held on to his, those fingers way too fragile to withstand the deadly cold and the wind biting at their skin.
"Come on.", he breathed the words that were accompanied by a startled noise when the voices suddenly came closer. Too close.
Nononononononono...
The boy was becoming slower and slower and now and then he stumbled over roots and branches. His whines hurt Armin's heart but it couldn't be helped.
He jumped over a rock, partly coated in snow and hissed when he scraped his knee. The noise scared the boy even further, who cried softly and reached for his face to wipe away the tears that shined in them but the movement was enough to disturb his concentration.
Armin only heard a tiny crunch.
Then the boy was on the ground, screaming. Alerting those around them.
Armin whirled around, his eyes wide as he again thought to hear the voices coming closer.
The boy stared at his leg. It was stuck in a strange angle and as the child seemed to register that, it started crying even harder, holding up his arms in Armin's direction. Armin ran up to him, kneeling down to inspect the wound but the crunching sound of snow getting pressed down was getting dangerously near.
He hurled the boy up onto his back. "Hold on. Real tight."
"It- it hurts.", the boy sobbed and Armin's soul throbbed in pain but the panic rushing through his body kept him going. As soon as the child had his arms around his neck and his legs – after a pained outcry – around his waist, he willed all of his power into his legs.
They ran and ran all through the woods, with no path to see until the voices faded into the background.
But they were still too close. Still endangering them. Endangering the kid on his back.
Armin listened to the broken sobs and gasped in surprise when something jumped in their way. He stumbled back, painfully aware of the pain he caused the child when he grabbed those legs harder in fear of losing it.
In the darkness he couldn't make out if it was a wild horse or a deer but whatever it was, it was gone as fast as it had come, leaving them alone once again.
That's when Armin noticed the silence.
No steps.
No cries.
No sounds at all but the whispering wind using the leaves around them to communicate with them. Armin's heartrate was picking up with every second that passed. He stood still. Waited for...something.
It couldn't have been more than a few seconds. For Armin it felt like hours had passed when he finally took another step forward, the snow already reaching his calves.
The child was still crying but the sound had lessened; exhaustion and panic must have rendered him quiet and Armin felt like the worst person on earth to be thankful for that.
"We have to get somewhere safe.", he whispered, not sure if the child was listening to him. "And fast. Before they come back."
But where was he supposed to go?
For the first time since the cave he took a look at their surroundings.
Trees. Wherever he turned his eye, there were only those giant trunks, their crowns hanging low above them. How long had they been on a run? There was so much snow...
A sharp gasp made him aware of how tightly he was gripping the child's leg and gave him a hushed apology. He inhaled deeply and waited for the panic to subside. But no matter how many seconds went by, it was still shaking his bones.
Well, waiting won't do me any good.
Armin swallowed and took another step forward.
It was unbelievably hard at first to move through the snow. It was as if his body had already forgotten under what conditions he had tried to get away just a few minutes earlier.
A step. And another. Forward. Tumbling to the side. Tired eyes blinked, tried to make out something.
The boy clung to him, his hands fisted into his clothes.
For him. Just for him he had to try.
Armin blinked the tears away and bit his bleeding lip, fighting his way through a path only he would ever find.
There was no way out. Not yet.
"But...the crueler life and this world treat us...the more we appreciate the beauty in small, peaceful moments."
Those had been his words once.
But in the middle of nowhere, stuck in the cold and not knowing if Mikasa, Eren, Jean or all the other ones were even alive at that point with a homeless orphan on his back, he somehow found it hard to believe that those small moments would come again so soon.
A crack to his side.
Armin stood still.
And only the deer stepping through the snow was a witness to the piercing scream splitting the night apart.
(I'm stuck in a cycle of having motivation but no time and not having motivation but a lot of time. Still, you get this chapter so you won't have to be waiting for too long!
Eren obviously doesn't take the events well and I'm not putting it past him. But what about Armin and the child? What happened? Are they fine? And what about Grisha? Will he be there, waiting for his second son already?
Question for all of you: Which part of this story was the most emotional for you?
Hope you liked it!)