In the small district of Shiganshina, by the river stood a young girl with a red scarf wrapped tightly around her neck to keep her warm. She had beautiful short black hair and dark bluish eyes. She wore a soldier uniform and a green cloak with the Wings of Freedom engraved on the back. Her name was Mikasa Ackerman.

In her hand, she held a small glass bottle with a small piece of paper in it. She looked at the bottle and thought back to the past week. Memories she did not want to remember flashed through her mind as the chilly winter breeze blew harder.


"Mikasa! You wanna try this?" A brown haired boy with sea-green eyes called to her. He waved to her with a glass bottle in his hands by the river.

"What is this?" Mikasa asked.

"It's a myth my mom told me. Basically you write your wish on a piece of paper, you put it in a glass bottle and throw it into the river. Your wish may just come true." He replied.

"Eren, I don't think it's gonna come true. It's just gonna fall to the bottom of the river and be lost forever." Mikasa replied. Eren looked at the river disappointedly. "But what does that matter? I have Eren who already grants me my wishes."

"Oh, thanks." Eren blushed and sat down next to her.

"What did you wish for?" Mikasa asked.

"For Mikasa's boobs to be bigger." Eren joked.

"What?!" Mikasa screamed.

"I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding." Eren laughed. "I wished for Mikasa to be happy and safe forever." Mikasa blushed and smiled.

"Then stay with me forever. That'll make me happy and safe forever." Mikasa replied, making Eren blush.


"Eren, you were there for me when I needed you the most." Mikasa whispered to herself. "You saved me from those kidnappers when we were nine years old and you gave me a home. You wrapped this scarf around my neck to keep me warm and you taught me a lesson I would never forget."


"You fucking animal! Die! Die! Just die! This is what you get! This is what you deserve!" Eren plunged the knife into the kidnapper man's chest over and over again. Mikasa opened her eyes and gasped at the sight. "Don't you dare stand up again!" After minutes of stabbing, Eren gasped for breath. "It's alright now. don't worry." He said to Mikasa.

"Are you ok? Does it hurt anywhere?" Eren asked as he cut the ropes binding her arms. Mikasa didn't say anything until he freed her hands.

"There were three." She muttered. The two turned their heads to the sound of footsteps and saw a man with shocked eyes. Eren tried to grab the knife but was kicked to the corner in the stomach.

"Did you do this?" The man growled and grabbed him by the neck. "Did you do this?! I'll kill you!" He screamed. Eren turned his head to the frightened Mikasa.

"Fight!" He said, shocking Mikasa. "You gotta fight! Lose and you die! Win and you survive!"

"What the fuck are you thinking, you little shit!" The man shouted and tightened his grip on Eren's neck.

"If you don't fight, you can't win!" Eren fought for breath. Mikasa was still too frightened to move. Finally, she picked up the knife with shaky hands.

"I…I can't do it!" She panted with tears streaming down her eyes. She stood there, frozen, until she realized she'd seen this scene play out many times in front of her, she just pretended she didn't see it. Mikasa realized that this world was full of cruelty. That was when she felt at ease, like she could control her body and be able to do anything. She stopped crying, she stopped trembling, she was focused. She took a deep breath and plunged the knife into the kidnapper's gut.

The Military Police Brigade arrived a few minutes later, along with Eren's father. By then it was already night time. Eren's father, Grisha Jaeger, hugged his son before looking at him with anger in his eyes.

"Eren, I told you to wait at the base of the mountain, didn't I? Do you have any idea what you've done?!" Grisha scolded.

"I put down some dangerous beasts. They were just animals in human clothing!" Eren replied.

"Eren!"

"Look how long it took for the Military Police Brigade to arrive! They'd have gotten away ages ago! You wouldn't've made it in time!" Eren shouted.

"Even if that were true, you were just lucky, Eren!" Grisha shouted back. "I'm criticizing you for not considering your own safety!"

"But…I wanted to save her as soon as I could." Eren looked down with tears in his eyes. Grisha gasped, then stood up.

"Mikasa, it's me, Dr. Jaeger. Do you remember me?" Grisha asked. He received no reply from the young girl. After a moment of silence, Mikasa finally spoke up.

"Dr. Jaeger, where do I go from here? I'm cold. I don't…have a home anymore." Mikasa began to cry. Eren unraveled his red scarf and gently wrapped it around her neck.

"You can keep this. It's warm. Does it make you feel any better?" Eren said. Mikasa gently touched it.

"It's warm." She whispered.

"Mikasa, you can make your home with us. You've experienced too much pain. You need to rest." Grisha suggested. Eren took her hand and gently pulled her away.

"Come on Mikasa, let's go home." He said with a small smile.


Mikasa looked up to the sky, it was starting to rain but she didn't want to put on her hood. She looked at the bottle again, then looked up at the gloomy gray sky.

"Eren, you've always been by my side ever since then. We were inseparable. You were there for me when I need you most, and I vowed to myself that I would be there for you too."


"Mikasa, how are you feeling today?" Eren sat on Mikasa's bed while the little girl opened her eyes.

"I'm ok." Mikasa replied as she slowly sat up.

"Mom made you breakfast. Here." Eren sat the tray on her lap.

"Thank you." Mikasa replied.

"You should rest today." Eren stated and placed a hand on her forehead to make sure she didn't have a fever. "I'll come back later to check on you."

"Mm." Mikasa mumbled as Eren closed the door to her room.


"Eren, I will never forget that day when the Colossal Titan broke through Wall Maria, we survived together along with Armin. I will never forget when we enlisted in the Training Corps.


"I'll be back inside Wall Maria and kill off all the Titans!" Eren muttered angrily.

"Eren, you're not serious, right?" Armin asked uncomfortably.

"I've never been more serious!" Eren shouted and jumped off the ledge he was sitting on. "I'm not like those people who only act tough when protected by the wall! I don't need this crap!" He threw the bread at Armin.

"Eren, what are you doing?!" Armin asked, flabbergasted.

"Doesn't it piss you off?! We can't do anything against the Titans because we live off of such pity!" Eren shouted.

"It's impossible! Nothing can defeat them! Our only choice is to live inside the wall. If you do anything rash, you'll die the same way my parents did!" Armin shot back.

"So that's why you're sucking up to these people?! Do you have no shame?!" Eren shouted back.

"That's all we can do right now!"

"That's just an excuse! Just continue living like livestock, you weak piece of shit!" before Armin could say anything, Mikasa punched Eren to the ground.

"If Armin is weak, then so are you and I. We couldn't even escape the Titans or leave the city by ourselves. Even the food we eat is from someone else. There's absolutely no chance of us weaklings taking down even one Titan. What's important is staying alive, just as your mother said." Mikasa grabbed the bread and shoved it into Eren's mouth. "Eat. Eat and stay alive. I won't let you starve to death."

Armin looked at his grandfather's hat and cried. It was all he had left of the family he dearly loved.

"The Titans are to blame." Eren growled. "If only we could defeat them, we would regain our place in this world." Eren sat down next to Armin. "Armin, I'm enlisting in the Training Corps next year. I'll become strong enough to fight them." Armin wiped his eyes and looked at the hat once more.

"Me too." He said.

"I'll join you too." Mikasa said.

"Mikasa, you don't have to." Eren stood up. "You were the one who said survival was most important."

"Yes, and I'll be there keeping you safe." Mikasa replied.

"Mikasa…" Eren blushed. "If only you'd let me keep you safe instead."

"You already did." Mikasa looked down at her feet. "It's time I returned the favour."


"I did so many things that probably made you hate me. I wanted to protect you, I wanted to help you. But you always wanted to do things on your own. You never went down without a fight." Mikasa looked at her hands, which contained the small bottle. Her hands began trembling as the memory she didn't want to remember the most overtook her mind. "It was on our first expedition outside the walls as recruits of the Survey Corps, that was the last time I ever saw you."


The Survey Corps were engaged in a fearsome battle. Swarms of Titans appeared out of nowhere and came to feast on the small humans. Mikasa swiftly cut the napes of Titans, then looked over worriedly at Eren's direction. Eren killed on Titan, but another was coming from behind.

"Eren!" She shouted, but did not pay attention to behind her. A huge fat hand came out of nowhere, grabbing her body and crushing her ribs.

"Mikasa!" A pair of blades sliced the Titans fingers. Mikasa fell to the ground. She felt like a thousand knives were being pierced into her ribs. She looked up to Eren. Just as he went for the nape, the Titan's other hand snatched him, enclosing his arms inside its giant palm, making him unable to cut open the Titan's hand.

"Eren! Stop it!" Mikasa cried as she tried to stand up, but fell back down due to her ribs. She had to fight, she had to fight, but it was too late. The Titan's giant mouth crashed down on Eren's body. Red blood dripped down its body as it continued to happily munch on its afternoon snack. The Titan then spat something out. Mikasa looked at it and gasped. A head with brown hair and sea-green eyes and blood spattered all over it.

"Eren…why…why…" Mikasa held the head in her arms. Tears streamed down her eyes as she held it tight. The only thing left of her savior, her life-purpose.


"Eren, I didn't even get a proper chance to thank you for all that you've done for me. I didn't get to tell you…my feelings. I vowed to myself that I would protect you but I didn't. I failed." Mikasa gritted her teeth as tears pricked her eyes. She glanced at the bottle. "Eren, I regret being so mean to you. I regret not being able to protect you. And now…" She placed the bottle in the river and watched into flow away.

"Please, little bottle, grant me my wish and please don't take too long to take away my tears and regret. Please, let my feelings arrive to the one I wish for them to arrive to." Mikasa watched as the bottle as it disappeared with the running water. She fell to her knees and cried as the rain poured down harder.

"Please, little bottle! Please don't take too long to take away my tears and regret because what I want most is in that message! Please little wish!" She cried out to the sky.

What did you wish for? A voice rang in Mikasa's head. She gasped and looked around to see if anyone was there, but there was no one. What did you wish for? The voice said again. Mikasa looked to the other side of the river, where a mirage of a familiar boy dressed in a soldier uniform with brown hair and sea-green eyes flashed before disappearing quickly. Mikasa smiled sadly.

"…that we could meet again in our next life. It would be really nice…" Mikasa replied. "It really would…"


I know it's a little short but I hope you liked it :D BTW I don't own the image. Credits to the owner :D