(Image used above is from Pinterest- https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/848295279783132256/)
MIKASA
"Someone wanna tell me why this son of a bitch is ignoring us?" the squad leader shouted as he attempted again to gain the attention of a large Titan barrelling down the streets towards the evacuation point.
"It's an abnormal! Stop trying to figure it out!" another soldier shouted as he too attempted to gain the beast's attention.
"He's too fast there's no way we will overtake it before it reaches the gate" a female soldier cried out in panic below me as I followed the Titan just ahead.
"Just stay on him" Dietrich ordered. If we left this one any longer, then it would be on top of the evacuees in minutes.
I'm not going to let that happen.
Shooting my hooks for the Abnormal's neck, I grappled and clicked my ODM gear to reel myself closer to its neck. Once in the range of its nape, I embedded my blades into the flesh and carved out the weak spot before allowing myself to fall with the beast and landed on the back of its head as it crashed within meters of a large crowd of civilians that should have already passed through the inner gate.
"Excuse me what is all this," I asked incredulously from my perch on the Titan's dissolving head. The gateway had been blocked by a horse-drawn supply wagon and a fat man with two bodyguard type lackeys next to him. Was he preventing the evacuation? Everyone in the crowd turned to stare at me, their faces masks of horror and fear. This wasn't right.
"Couldn't have asked for better timing! Force these useless morons to push my wagon" the fat man roared "I'll pay you handsomely"
My friends were fighting so that these people could flee, I had watched soldiers be eaten to give them time. Was this man soft in the head?
"Seriously? Soldiers are dying back there. Laying down their lives for you, all because this is taking too long" I said in utter bewilderment, was he really so blind as to the danger he was in?
"Yeah, that's their jobs. You expect me to shed a tear because you got to fulfil the duties they signed on for. They're supposed to be willing to lay down their lives. Don't get all high handed on me just because you finally got to earn your damn keep after all these years"the fat man quipped and my blood boiled. Earn my damn keep? People were dying because of this bastard's greed. I gripped my blades tighter as I jumped down from the Titan ready to do something foolish, this snake was moving one way or another.
"Yeah, no arguing with that. Your absolutely right sir" I snarled as I stalked towards the fat man, he either moved, or I was going to move him in pieces.
"Guess it's what you call the greater good. Still, sometimes it's not the life or death of a soldier that makes the biggest difference" I growled as I raised my blades.
"Don't you even dare! Your commander and I are old friends. One word from me, and you'll be court-martialled".
Oh, try me.
"That word going to come from beyond the grave" I threatened as I raised my blade and pointed it at him. One of his guards barrelled at me, and I sidestepped his attack and cracked the flat of my blade across his head, stunning him before barrelling towards the fat man and raising my sword over his head.
"No, wait!" he begged pathetically.
"Sir maybe we should err..." his other lackey gestured to the wagon. A few heartbeats passed, and I kept my stance, making sure the fat man knew how deadly serious I was.
"Pull the damn wagon out" the fat man relented. His lackeys raced forward and pulled the wagon out of the gateway, and the people began to flood through to safety, cries of relief and gratitude filling the air.
"Your amazing" a small girl with large eyes said to me, and I felt my chest swell with pride. Her mother came behind her and picked her up before turning to me, her eyes full of tears.
"You've saved our lives, miss, all of us are in your debt" she sobbed. I sheathed my blades and saluted as any good soldier would have before turning and engaging my ODM gear to re-joining to the elite squad.
Passing over the rooftops, I spotted another Titan heading towards the area the civilians were still passing through and withdrew my blades. Flying through the air, I made short work of the monster before landing on the rooftop next to Dietrich.
"Good work Ackerman I'm impressed" he nodded to me, Looking down at the blades in my hands, I noticed they were no longer sharp.
Careless, now I couldn't use them anymore.
"I did what I could here, sir, but thank you. I need to be a bit more careful in the future, I inadvertently dulled both of the blades" I drawled as I unclipped the blades and let them slide down the rooftops, "I'll do better next time"
"What on earth have you had to live with to be so nonchalant?" Dietrich muttered and I looked at him sharply, "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for".
What had I lived with?
Green and grey eyes wide with panic as the light was knocked out of them flashed in my mind. Grey eyes, unseeing, as blood poured from his stomach. Black hair pooling on the floor as her throat smiled red.
Why do I have to suddenly think of you now?
******************************
"I'm finished momma what do you think did I do good?" I smiled as I handed my needlework to Momma.
"Oh, darling its absolutely fantastic! Excellent work" momma laughed and lifted my work to get a better look at it.
"Aww thank you" I smiled proudly.
"We've kept this style of embroidery a special family secret for heaven knows how many generations. One day when you have children of your own, you'll be able to pass this secret on to them" Momma sighed happily. What did she mean? If I'm a child, how can I have children of my own? How would that even work?'
"Huh, I don't understand. How can I have children?" I asked puzzled.
" Ahhh.... honey, why don't you explain?" Momma laughed as she looked over to my daddy. His face was going red.
"Yeah, please, Daddy?" I begged.
"Eerrr well I'm not sure I'm really an expert on the subject. But you know what that nice Dr Yaeger scheduled to pay us a visit today maybe you can talk to him."
"Is he coming with him too?" mommy sighed. She had that little v on her forehead when she wasn't happy. Why wasn't she happy?
"Rowan? I assume so, he always does" daddy smiled softly to mommy and looked to say something else when three loud knocks sounded at the door.
"speak of the devils" Daddy laughed "Just a moment".
"We were just talking about you doc-" daddy made a strange noise which caught my attention. Stumbling backwards, he smashed into the kitchen table before falling to the ground. Five men came into our house, stepping over daddy as if he wasn't there. Why wasn't he getting back up?
There was a fat man who looked around our house with his nose wrinkled. Next to him was a man with a scary look on his face, I knew he was a bad man, and another man with big green eyes. Behind them were two more men who looked like each other, though they looked scared. Why where they afraid?
"Sorry, I hope we're not interrupting" the fat one sneered. The fat man's friends fanned out around the room, with the bad man stepping forward, a big sharp weapon in his hand. Momma was shaking next to me; her hand was slowly reaching for the scissor on the table.
"Let's take this nice and easy. I don't imagine anybody wants their skulls split open by this little gu -" Momma jumped over the table and ran at the bad man with the scary weapon in his hand, scissors raised in her hand, she tried to jab them in his eyes but the man blocked Momma's hands.
"Bitch is outta her mind!" he snarled as he struggled against Momma.
"Run Mikasa! Run as fast as you can!" she shouted. What was going on? I don't understand! Why wasn't daddy getting back up?
"Stop it your scaring me"I sobbed.
"I want you to be scared. Move it!" she screamed as tears flew from her wide eyes.
"But...." I stumbled backwards in fear. "Dad?"
Please get up.
"Screw it you ain't worth this crap!" the bad man brought his scary-looking weapon down on Momma's neck and blood squirted all around her before she dropped to the ground just like Daddy had and didn't get back up.
"You stupid bastard! The plan was to only kill the father!" the fat one shouted at the bad man, shoving him hard.
"She was nuts! Am I supposed to let her gouge my eyes out!" the bad man shrugged as if it was nothing while the two men behind him who looked like brothers stared at my Momma on the floor.
"For fuck sake just bag the kid!" the man with the bright green eyes shouted at the bad man as he shoved rope into his hand.
"Fine!" the bad man snapped before stalking over to me.
"Hey, let's not give me any attitude all right. If your feeling feisty this is what you get" the bad man smiled down at me before he hit me over the head.
***************************
"Aha, all I'm saying is she better go for a decent price. I didn't get blood on my hands for nothing".
The talking voices woke me up as my head hurt, it hurt really bad.
"Look at her face and tell me what she is worth" the fat man said and I opened my eyes to see the bad man and the two men that looked alike standing over me looking down.
I wasn't at home anymore.
"Sure, she's cute in all but just so young. I wouldn't go for her myself" the bad man shrugged.
"Then I guess we're lucky you aren't the one we're selling to. Plenty of folks would pay a premium for her, she's exotic. What they used to call an oriental. You know about all that right? Back when there used to be different breeds of people. A bunch of them from the far east came scrambling here for safety. The old perverts in the capital really go for that sort of thing. This little beauty is going to fetch a mint at auction. Its great business since she's the last of her kind, all the rest of her people died out." the fat man by the dirty window drawled on, the room was old and dusty like no one had been here in forever.
"Tell me another one it's not like she's pureblood or anything. Her old man wasn't oriental" one of the lookalikes scoffed.
"Good point there! The mother would have been a nice addition, right! Too bad she's in pieces!" the fat man pointed at the bad man angrily.
"Give me a break! What was I supposed to do? She was putting up a fight" the bad man threw his hands in the air.
"So, you couldn't have just knocked her unconscious," the other lookalike asked incredulously. They continued to argue over the top of me as my body began to become more numb.
So cold.
The door of the cabin creaked open slightly, and all the men in the room jumped to their feet, knives drawn.
"Oh, I'm sorry" a small voice drifted through the room, I tried to look, but I couldn't see anyone in the doorway.
"Don't move from that spot you little vermin! How did you even find this place?" the bad man snapped as he stormed over to the door and blocked my view.
"I was... the woods. I got lost, and I saw your cabin and..." it sounded like a boy, a boy that was scared like me.
Please don't hurt him too.
"Lost in the wood huh, there are wolves out there that will pounce on you, a kid your age shouldn't be out there on your own-"
"What makes you think he's alone?" a soft voice that was definitely not a boy cut of the bad man who hurt my mother and I saw his body jump upwards as if he had been startled.
"What the -" the bad man gurgled sickeningly, and his body began to twitch.
"I appreciate the concern but were not stupid and I'm the last thing you will ever see!" the boy who had sounded scared before didn't seem afraid anymore. The bad man tumbled to the floor, blood squirting for his neck, to reveal a brown-haired boy with a dark red scarf around his neck, clutching a knife and a taller girl with the most colourful red hair I had ever seen. She too was holding a blade though she was angling it strange.
"What the hell do you think you're doing!" the fat man shouted and looked to the lookalikes who were staring at the bad man's body wide-eyed. The dark-haired boy pulled the door closed again blocking them from view, a scary look in his eyes.
"Hey you little bastards get back here, you two get the girl and try not to kill this one!" The fat man ordered as he ran for the door and grabbed it. No sooner had he opened it he was falling back into the room with a broom sticking from his chest and the dark-haired boy wielding it like a spear. Riving it clear from his chest, the dark-haired boy then removed the knife he had strapped to the top of the broom and jumped onto the fat man, stabbing into him wildly.
The two men left in the room made to run at the dark-haired boy, but the redhaired girl blocked their paths as she planted her feet firmly and bared her teeth, blade raised ready.
"Kill the bitch! " one of her soon to be attackers snarled and the taller of the two men rushed her, but she side stepped and brought her blade across his chest, recoiling in pain the man stumbled back, but the girl delivered a hard kick to legs forcing him to his knees and she quickly slashed the blade across his throat as soon as he was below her head level and he dropped to the floor, clutching his throat as the blood welled over his fingers.
Not wasting a moment, the redhaired girl ran at the last man and Jumping seconds before colliding with him, she wrapped her legs around his torso and began stabbing down into his face in powerful strokes. Blood arced across the ceiling before he could raise his own blade to defend himself and The man dropped to the floor as the girl rolled when she connected with the ground, twisting into a crouching position ready for her attackers if they were not dead as her eyes darted wildly as she looked for any movement.
Suddenly, the girl's body jerked as if she had been hit and she threw away the knife in her hand with a cry of horror before furiously rubbing at her bloody hands as tears rolled down her face. Her eyes meet mine, and I could see she was as scared as I was.
"You're an animal do you hear me! No, you're a disease! This is what you get you son of a bitc-"
"Eren!" The redheaded girl ran over to the dark-haired boy and pulled him from the bad man he had just been stabbing and They both fell back on the floor, with the girl clutching the boy from behind, her arms squeezing him tightly as they both panted, covered in blood .
"He's dead. You can stop now". the girl soothed as she cried.
Releasing her hold on the boy, the redhaired girl got to her feet and slowly made her way over to me and I couldn't help as my crying turned into sobs. Crouching down in front of me, she began to stroke my hair softly.
"Ssshhh the hard parts over, your safe with us now" she whispered as she pulled me up into a sitting position and the boy came up to her and handed her his knife. "Don't move while I cut your bindings okay?"
Feeing my wrists, the girl placed the blade on the floor as I brought them forward and began to rub the rope burns.
"Your Mikasa, right?" the girl asked gently. My voice was stuck inside my throat, but I managed to nod my head.
"I'm Eren, and this is Aurora, I'm Doctor Yaeger's son " Eren smiled but the blood on his face made him look scary.
"Eren go check those men and see if they have any papers on them for the military police" Aurora gestured to the dead men scattered around the room, though her eyes would not look at them.
"I met your folks once or twice with Dr Yaeger when you were very little, you probably don't remember me" Aurora spoke gently, her voice strangely soothing, as she checked my face "Dr Yaeger, my brother and Grandfather are out looking for you. We were all stopping by your house today for your check-up...we saw..."
She closed her eyes and took a deep sigh before opening them again, she had kind eyes, One grey and the other green.
Green eyes ...where was the one that had green eyes?
"What happened to the other one?" I asked. There had been five, the one with the green eyes wasn't here.
" What other on-" she was cut off by the large man behind her striking her over the head, blood splattering across my face as she fell forward and hit the ground with a deafening thud and I slid myself backwards away in fear as the large man loomed over Aurora's limp body.
"Aurora!" Eren cried as he ran for her, the knife in his hand again when the large man kicked him in the chest and sent him sprawling across the room.
"This all your doing isn't it. You and the redhaired bitch." the large man snarled as he stalked over to Eren and dragged him up by his hair. Screaming in pain, Eren tried to kick and claw, but he was no match for the large man's strength.
"Answer me you little bastard?" the large man grabbed Eren's throat and slammed him against the wall as Eren began to struggle to breath "You did this! I'm gonna kill you then kill the bitch next but not before I've had my way with her, you hear me boy, Im gonna make you watch first and then Im going to kill you! Your both gonna die here!"
"Ta..take him out" Eren gasped, his face was beginning to turn a strange shade of red as his eyes popped out of his head "Fight! Kill or be killed. Fight for your life! It's the only way!"
"Who the hell do you think you are you little brat?" the green-eyed man snarled as his smashed Eren against the wall again.
"The only way to live is to fight!" Eren grit out as he clawed at his attacker, his struggling getting weaker and weaker.
"I can't! I don't know how to do this!" I cried in a panic; the bad man was hurting him like he had my parents. I cried harder because I knew I couldn't stop it but something suddenly changed as the feeling of everything clicking into place ran through my body. I remember now. I had seen it all before, many times since the day I was born. It has always been around me; I just chose not to see it. I always looked the other way. The world is a cruel place, and it's my home, I've always been a part of it.
My body wasn't shaking anymore. I wasn't afraid. I knew what to do. I knew how to save Eren. Picking up the blade, I felt stronger than I ever had before, a cry of rage tore through my throat as I rushed at the man in front of me and plunged the dagger with everything I had straight through the man's back, I felt alive. A low groan left the man's lips as he dropped Eren to the ground before slumping forward and sliding down the wall. He did not move again.
Letting go of the dagger that was buried to the hilt in the dead man I felt my legs begin to shake and Just as I was starting to fall, Eren caught me and helped me to stay on my feet. As soon as I was steady, he let me go and rushed over to Aurora's still form before rolling her onto her back and staring at her face, tears falling from his large teal eyes.
"Aurora! Eren!" a very tall boy with red hair burst into the room and froze in shock as His eyes darted around the room before landing on Aurora who was lying still on the floor her face pale and an anguished cry escaped his throat as he ran over to her and dropped to his knees beside her.
"Eren! Is she?" the boy cried. I could see his face now, he looked like Aurora, the same face just more boyish, but his eyes were different. His face broke out in relief after he placed his fingers to her neck for a few moments.
Grandfather! They're in here!" the tall boy shouted as Aurora began to stir.
"Ri..aann...Er...een. He..llpp th...em" Aurora groaned out in pain, her eyes were rolling into her head as she tried to stand up, blood had stained the top of her head where the bad man had hit her making her bright hair redder. The older boy that looked like Aurora pulled her into his lap and clutched her head into his chest while he stroked her hair. Daddy stroked my hair like that when I had a nightmare.
"Shh shh shh, you're okay, they're okay. Ssshhh" he whispered as he rocked her slightly, tears in his eyes as he looked over at the bodies behind us.
"Pick your sister up boy, and take her from this place" A huge and scary looking man commanded from the doorway. Walking to stand over the top of the redheads, he looked upon Aurora before looking around as small smile spread across his face. He had the same eyes as Aurora, but hers had been kind, his were not.
"Yes sir" the tall boy scoped Aurora up into his arms, her body flopping limply like one of my rag dolls as her beautiful hair spilled over his arms as he carried her from the room. Would I see her again?
"Eren, did Aurora kill this night?" the scary man asked almost hopeful, "Did she do any of this?"
"Yes sir, those two men" Eren pointed to the two lookalike men dead in the centre of the room before pointing to the green-eyed man in the corner, "Mikasa killed the last one".
"Eren, Mikasa. I need you to listen carefully, Aurora was never here. You two are children and will not be punished for this, Aurora, on the other hand, is an adult. She would be sent beyond the wall if they knew she was here. Do you understand?" the scary man stressed as he gave Eren and I a pointed stare.
"Yes, sir, she was never here. Right Mikasa?" Eren nodded at me, encouragingly.
"Yes, sir "I whispered.
"Good. I must leave now. Your father should be outside soon. You did well here, boy, those men were animals and needed to be culled" the scary man patted Eren's head and then mine before quickly leaving the room and true to his word it was mere minutes when a man I faintly recognised burst into the room and gasped at the gruesome sight.
"Eren! Mikasa! My god" Dr Yaeger grabbed us both and dragged us outside as the Military police arrived.
"Damn it, son! I made it clear I wanted you to wait at the foot of the mountain. Do you even understand the magnitude of what has happened here today?!" Dr Yaeger shook his son violently.
"Sorry, dad I'm not gonna feel bad for what happened. They were animals disguised as humans who needed to be put down" Eren stood his ground.
"Listen to yourself, your lips are moving, but I can hear Rowan's words!" Dr Yaeger snapped.
"Dad, by the time the military police got here, they would have been long gone, and you know it! We knew we couldn't afford to wait. Rowan said -"
"I don't care what Rowan said! That's not what I'm arguing about! You both threw caution to the wind and survived by pure luck. You're strong yes, and so is she but your both too damn young to be so casual about gambling with your lives!"
"But I –we didn't know how else to save her" Eren whimpered and Dr Yaeger sighed before turning to look at me.
"Mikasa, remember me? We met a few times before when you were just a tiny little thing" Dr Yaeger spoke softly as if to a frightened animal. I did remember him, but I didn't care. I needed to go home; I needed the only place I knew where to belong.
"Yes, Dr Yaeger" I whispered "So urm sorry. Can you just tell me how to get home? It's cold, I'm tired. There's really nowhere else for me to go"
I wrapped my arms around myself tightly trying to stave off the cold and Eren sighed deeply as he started to unravel his red scarf and move to wrap it around my head and shoulders.
"Don't worry, you can keep it. Aurora can knit me another one. It ought to keep you warm right?" Eren smiled.
"I think so" I snuggled my face into the warmth that clung to the fabric and inhaled his scent. It was comforting.
"Mikasa how would you feel about coming to live with us," Dr Yaeger asked softly"I can't even imagine what you've been through, but I do know you need your share of rest".
Did he really mean it? Wouldn't I be a burden?
"What's the problem?" Eren reached inside the coat wrapped around me and gently tugged on my arm "don't worry or think about it. Come one we've got to get home."
"Okay" I cried softly as I followed him to my salvation.
******************************
The worlds a cruel place, I learnt that the hard way that day. Eren and Aurora had saved me, and I had learned my first lesson with Eren's help. If you want to live, you fight, and if you don't fight, then you die. It was that simple. He had been there every day after, always be my side. Through him, I met Grisha and Carla, who raised me as their own. Through him, I met Aurora, Rian and Armin who became my family. All had given my life a new meaning, a chance at beginning again. All because of Eren.
"That's it we're done. Let's scale the wall" Dietrich commanded, but I knew I had other places to be. If my job was done, I was going to find Eren and Armin and damn the consequences. We had evacuated the city, but the Titans were still coming through, I would not leave them to die out here.
"I should help the vanguard withdraw sir" I saluted Dietrich before engaging my ODM gear and sailed over the rooftops towards the vanguard ranks, not bothering for his permission.
"Ackerman wait!" Dietrich's voice echoed across the empty streets, but I did not look back for if I looked back, then I would be lost.
It's a cruel world that we live in, but I have a place in it. Eren as long as you're in my life I can fight till the bitter end.