A/N: Hello, everyone! Welcome to the first chapter of a new story. Thanks to anyone who is reading this because your viewing this story is a reason for this gal to keep writing!
As the title suggests, this is a crossover between Fallout and Attack on Titan, two of my favorite things in life. I'm so pumped for Fallout 76!
Special thanks to my good friend, Dr. Archangel. He is the one who made this new story possible. You all should check out his YouTube channel, especially his Attack on Dragon and Fallout Ghoul series. They are both seriously awesome!
I hope you enjoy this first chapter!
The early lights of dawn craftily crept their way into the steel aircraft carrier still floating in the Tidal Basin of the Potomac River, or simply known as Rivet City to all who inhabited it.
The brunette teen grumbled in annoyance as what little sunlight entered his room decided to grace his face with its brightness. He sat up slowly, stretching and yawning. Despite his early awakening, he was at least grateful for a safe place to rest his head. That was a difficult blessing to obtain in these times.
A knock boomed from the other side of the steel door that divided his room from the lobby.
"Eren? Come on, we need to head out while it's still early."
"I'm up, Armin. I'll be out in a sec…" Eren replied groggily.
Eren quickly rose to his feet, the bed squeaking in protest at the weight shift on top of it. The young man grabbed his boots that he had placed on the floor beside him. After quickly slipping them on and tying the laces tightly, he snatched his book bag up from its place in the corner to set it on the bed, ready to be fetched later on. Lastly, he reached under the pillow to retrieve his switchblade from its hiding spot and tucked it into his pants pocket. Eren learned early in life that you could never be too careful out in the wasteland. Therefore he made it a habit to keep some form of defense right beside him at all times.
Once he had all of his possessions together, Eren walked out of his room, shutting the large metal door behind him. He made his way to the lobby of the Weatherly Hotel where he noticed Mr. Buckingham, the Mr. Handy that managed the hotel, hovering about the room. By the exit, he spotted his blonde haired companion, Armin.
Eren walked over to his friend. "Ready to go?"
Armin nodded. "Whenever you are."
The two left quietly, carefully walking toward the marketplace in silence, not wanting to awaken any of the sleeping residents aboard the ship. It was only after they were in the market did they feel it was alright to talk.
"Gary's Gulley is open now. Let's grab something to eat there before we leave." Armin suggested.
Eren shrugged. "Might as well. We'll at least be full and energized in case we get jumped outside."
The two young men approached the older man named Gary, who was sweeping around his area of the marketplace. After making their order for some of his famous mirelurk cakes, Eren and Armin took their seats at a nearby table. It wasn't long before their meals were ready and in front of them.
"Hey, Armin…" Eren started as he chewed on his piece of mirelurk. The blonde haired boy glanced curiously at him. "What do you say we loot a few stores outside of D.C.? I was thinking up north."
"Well...I don't know about that…" Armin replied, hesitation in his voice. Sure, looting a few stores could prove valuable. You never knew what you might find in one of the many destroyed, crumbling buildings. If it wasn't for the fact that D.C. in general was crawling with super mutants. The giant, green colored mutated monsters were all over the place, lying in wait for any human to come across their path.
"Come on, Armin." Eren tried to persuade him. "You have that car that you rebuilt from all those scrap parts you've been collecting. We'll be in and out before any of those crazy downtown fuckers even know what's going on."
Eren waited as Armin thought deeply about it, chewing away at his breakfast before he finally agreed. "Alright."
"Awesome."
"But…" Armin added. "We have to go around downtown D.C."
"But Armin….that'll take so long…"
"The last thing we need is to get caught up in a horde of super mutants. Remember what happened last time?"
"That wasn't my fault!"
"Regardless...we only go if we can go around D.C."
Eren was kind of disappointed at the condition. It was such a long trek to go around D.C. when they could just drive through it and get there faster. What a waste of time that could be spent rummaging. However, Armin did have a point. With all the debris and destroyed buildings in D.C., they could easily find themselves at a dead end and get swamped with super mutants.
"Alright, I guess that's fair enough." Eren agreed to Armin's suggestion. "Alright, I'm gonna go get my stuff after I finish eating."
After devouring their breakfast, Eren and Armin returned to their respected hotel rooms to retrieve all their belongings. Back in his room, Eren reached under his bed, pulling out a 10mm pistol. He pulled it out of its holster and inspected it thoroughly, opening the bolt action to check the clip. He was satisfied to find that it was fully loaded, moving on to check on his other three clips. All fully loaded. Pleased, he turned the safety on and slid the pistol into the holster.
After putting it inside his bag, he took out his padded leather armor. He quickly strapped it on and grabbed everything he owned. Without a glance back, he headed out of the Weatherly Hotel, making his way toward the bridge that led out of Rivet City.
Outside, he could hear Armin as he revved up the car, sitting just across the bridge from Rivet City.
Eren quickly arrived and hopped inside the car, swinging the back pack into his lap. Once he was settled, Armin shifted the car into drive, and the duo drove away from Rivet City toward their destination, the north side of D.C.
Much to Eren's dismay, Armin drove around D.C. as he said they would. This would be a long ride just to get there. With a sigh, Eren reached into his bag and pulled out the 10mm pistol, drawing back the safety.
"Where'd you get that?" Armin asked out of curiosity. "I've never seen you with that before."
"I stole it from Flak and Shrapnel's a few weeks ago." Eren answered nonchalantly, taking aim on his side of the car into the barren wasteland.
"What?!" Armin exclaimed in surprise. "Are you serious?!"
"Calm down, will you?" the brunette retorted without a care in his tone. "After we loot the stores today, we'll make plenty to pay them off with. Besides, they haven't missed it yet. So don't worry about it. Have I ever let you down?"
"...Should I mention the time of what happened at the science lab?"
"That was an accident!"
They continued to chatter as Armin drove on to the location marked on the paper map in Eren's hands. After a while of conversation, they decide to turn on the radio. Changing the station from the Enclave station which was always on loop, Eren turned the dial until he found the only other and better station, Galaxy News Radio. It was on break from the usual assortment of music, however the dj, a man who called himself Three Dog, was starting an announcement.
"What's up, wastelanders? This is Three Dog, bow wow! And you're listening to Galaxy News Radio! Bringing you the latest news from the Capital Wasteland.
This just in...Those Brotherhood of Steel guys have been seen headed north of D.C. Looks like they're going to take out some of those Frankenstein mutant freaks that were spotted holed up in GermanTown police station. Now remember, wastelanders. If you ever run into a good ol' Brotherhood Knight, be sure to give them a thank you. And if you wanna really help them fight the good fight, give them any caps, food, or ammo you can spare. Those guy's could really use 'em!
Until next time...this is Three Dog, oooooooowwwwwww and you're listening to Galaxy News Radio. Bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts. Now here's some music."
"Dammit. I hope they don't leave too soon." Eren commented at the announcement, looking at the map to see where the next turn was. "I was hoping to join them soon. Oh, take the next right."
"How come?" the blonde asked as he turned, scanning the area as he continued driving.
"Because the Brotherhood are leaving for the Commonwealth soon. I want to join them before they take off."
"But why... Why do you want to join them?" Armin clarified. "Does it...Is it….because of your parents?"
Eren immediately became silent and seemed preoccupied as he continued studying his map. Armin raised an eyebrow, curious if Eren had even heard him. He quickly realized that Eren might just want to drop the subject altogether. Armin remained quiet as well, not wanting to push his companion any further.
"Yeah…." Eren finally answered, mentally shoving away the thought that tried to resurface. "Those damn super mutants…"
"Sorry...I should have realized-"
"Anyway, let's just get to the stores. Maybe we'll find some useful junk today." Eren quickly interrupted, effectively ending that conversation.
"Got it." Armin meekly replied, feeling a little guilty for bringing up such a sore subject as he continued to drive north.
The bland scenery of scorched trees and rusted cars fly by them for a while as Armin zoomed the automobile across the barren wasteland. Eventually, Eren caught sight of a few of bloatflies buzzing around the landscape. He pulled his pistol out again and shot a couple for the sake of target practice, shooting a couple but missing one. However, the bloatfly simply buzzed away from the ones that had been shot.
Far away in the distance, Armin could faintly see a pack of rabid mongrels closing in on what appeared to be their dinner for the night. Who appeared to be a nearby unfortunate wastelander. However, he wasn't moving and seemed to have a severe wound in his abdomen. He was possibly already dead, and if he wasn't, there was no chance of bringing him back.
As they close in on their destination, the loud noises of laser rifles and a horrid animal clashing filled the ears of the two men in the car. Looking in the direction of the sounds, Armin and Eren both take notice of a few people clad in Brotherhood power armor as they took down a massive deathclaw with their laser rifles, probably roughly a mile off from the road.
Other than the sight of the nearby wildlife and the occasional battle in the distance, the hour long car ride was rather uneventful. Eren was so relieved when they finally arrived at their destination. No sooner had Armin stopped the car had Eren leaped out of it, stretching his arms and legs from being inactive for so long.
"That took long enough." he groaned, stretching his arms in front of him. "Shit, I was getting antsy."
"But we didn't run into any trouble now, did we?"
"We could've handled whatever came at us. Besides, the excitement would have helped the time go by a lot quicker…." Eren mumbled.
Armin rolled his eyes at his friend's complaints as he reached inside the back of the car, grabbing a couple of bags. "Alright, let's head over to that Super Duper Mart. Maybe we can find some food and medical supplies."
"Cool. Then next let's head over toward...I guess we can go over there toward that gun store? Maybe there are still some weapons left in it…?"
"Sounds like a plan. Let's go in and get out then. We don't know what could be lurking around here." Armin said as he headed toward the abandoned store with a couple of bags in hand. Eren grabbed a couple of bags from the back seat for himself and started to follow Armin.
However, his ears suddenly picked up something over at the diner nearby. It sounded like crying and some kind of laughter. He glanced ahead of him at Armin, who hadn't appeared to have heard the strange sounds. Eren pondered for a moment, wondering whether to say something to his friend. Deciding that he can handle whatever is lurking around himself, he softly and silently makes his way over to the diner.
As he approached the front of the rundown, half-destroyed building, he noticed that the glass of the doors had long since been blown out. Luckily for Eren, he could silently sneak his way inside without detection.
He slowly walked inside, carefully watching his steps so he didn't walk on or kick something and alert whoever, or whatever, to his presence. As he rounded the corner to where the old kitchen area would have been, his eyes discovered the scene of a couple of adult men. Their hair was oily and wild, their faces wild and crazed appearing, they were filthy and held themselves like an animal would. Cannibals.
On the steel table in front of them was a girl. Eren thought she was probably about his own age. Her hands and feet were tightly bound at each corner of the table. She couldn't move though she was trying, seen by her slight struggling.
"Your sweet cheeks are gonna be delicious. Never had an oriental. I wonder how you'll taste" The first cannibal suddenly spoke, pondering aloud as he licked his chops sloppily and chucked.
The girl continued to struggle against her restraints, but no matter how hard she fought, it got her nowhere. The two men had her securely strapped onto this table, leaving her completely unable to escape. The ropes held her so tight she was barely able to even move.
Eren felt his blood boil at the sight before him. He had seen many horrible sights. Everyone had in this world. But it didn't matter how many times he saw it, he still could not fathom how a person could do something like that to another.
He couldn't sit still and just watch it happen either.
The other cannibal let out a sound of pleasant satisfaction as he pulled out a big cleaver from one of the drawers. The first one smirked as he lifted his own cleaver up. The girl could do nothing except stare up in horror at their cruel devices as one of them lifted his high in the air, preparing to chop off one of her arms they had been eyeballing.
She finally found it in herself to shut her eyes, waiting in mortification for the dirty cleaver to lodge itself into her arm.
The sound of gunshots suddenly fired through the air. One of her attackers instantly fell onto the floor dead, a hole in between his eyes, blood pooling in the floor beneath him. The one that was towering over was shot through one of his arms, tightly gripping the cleaver still in the other. He quickly spun around, ignoring his prey for the moment, to find the one who had just shot and murdered his companion.
Eren stood in the opening of the old doorway, no longer hiding. He was ready to slaughter for that disgusting filthy. Putting his gun back in the holster, the teen braced himself; Eren didn't want to waste any of his scarce bullets on such low down scumbag.
The remaining cannibal suddenly charged forward at Eren, raising his cleaver high in the air in an attempt to chop any part of him that he could. But Eren was quicker than the cannibal was. He swiftly dodged out of the cleaver's path and then deftly sprang forward to tackle his assailant. Before the cannibal could regain his bearings, Eren had snatched the cleaver out of his filthy, murderous hands.
The young girl's eyes shot open as soon as she realized that the agony and pain she was anticipating hadn't come. Then the sounds of gunshots and crashing and struggles filled her ears. She dared to scan the room to figure out what was going on. One of the men that had captured her lay on the floor, his eyes wide open with a bullet hole in between them and blood pooling around his head. Her eyes turned just in time to witness a teenage boy her own age on top of one of her captors as he violently cleaved the cannibal in his head. He repeatedly brought the cleaver down on her captor's head, without hesitation and without mercy.
The room fell hauntingly silent when it was finished, no other noises other than the young man's hard, deep panting. He raised his arm to wipe the sweat and blood spatter off of his brow. He suddenly seemed to remember the girl bound to the table and turned around to face her. She laid there silently and still, her face unreadable at the moment.
"It's okay…I got you." he calmly and gently told her, approaching her cautiously as if not to frighten her. He tossed the cleaver away and held his hands out so she could see he had no weapon. Well, other than the gun holstered at his side.
Truthfully, she was a bit wary of him. He just murdered two men in front of her. But then again, he didn't seem to be hostile toward her. Maybe he was even trying to help her. It was rare though, for someone to risk their own life for someone they didn't even know.
The raven haired girl remained deathly silent though her eyes didn't deviate from Eren as he pulled out his switchblade and began cutting the straps that restrained her. Once they were cut, he yanked them off of her before he assisted her to slowly sit up.
"What's your name?" Eren asked her in a quiet and gentle tone, returning the switchblade to his pocket.
"..." She didn't answer, letting silence fill the room for a long moment as she rubbed at the raw, sore spots on her wrists. Then she finally spoke. "There's still one more..."
Eren didn't have much time to react to her words. He drew his pistol but before he could turn around, he was fiercely kicked in the head, sending him sprawling to the other side of the room.
"Did you do this to my friends?!" A third half crazed cannibal shrieked as he towered over Eren's crumbling form. His filthy, calloused hands reached down and close fingers around his target's neck. Eren was yanked off the ground, trying to pry the dirty hands that were constricting around his throat, cutting off his oxygen.
"I'm gonna kill you for this!"
Eren was quickly losing his ability to breathe. He had to shoot this bastard before he was killed. He patted his holster, finding it empty at his side. Where did it go?
He had accidentally let it slip out of his hands when he was kicked in the head. It had to still be close to that girl he had freed. His eyes scanned over to find her frozen frame, staring in horror at the scene before her. And next to her was his gun.
"The gun…Grab the...gun." Eren barely managed to gargle out. "Shoot him, or we're both dead!"
The young girl's eyes fell upon the gun on the floor. Hurriedly, she bent down to pick it up and aimed it at the cannibal as he strangled the young man who had just saved her. Her trembling hands shook, her finger hovering over the trigger to shoot the murderous individual before her, but she couldn't find it in herself to pull the trigger.
"But...I...I can't..."
Eren's vision began to turn dark, his consciousness slowly beginning to slip away from him due to the lack of oxygen. But suddenly the loud bang of a gunshot rings in his ears, the smell of gunpowder passed through his nostrils. The hands that had been constricting around his throat suddenly disappeared. He fell to the ground, gasping. Eren opened his eyes just as the dead cannibal landed on the ground, a bullet hole through his temple.
He breathed in quick, shallow breaths, thanking whatever God there was that he lived through what could've easily sent him to his early grave. Suddenly, he remembered about the girl. He looked up to find her, standing in front of him. Her face was in absolute shock as she maintained her death grip on the gun. After a moment, she relaxed her hold on it, letting fall to the ground with a clang as she sank to her knees.
She quietly turned her head to glance over at a pile of bloody body parts in the corner of the room. Tears began to form and spill out of her eyes, running down her cheeks as she cried in sorrow.
As he listened to the sobs escaping her chest, Eren turned to glance at the pile of limbs before returning his gaze to her sobbing form on the floor. He realized that those people must be what was left of those close to her. Maybe her parents.
Eren stood there and let her grieve for a bit. After she sobbed for a while, her tears seemed to have all been spent. When she seemed to have let out all the tears she could, Eren walked over to her and held out his hand for her. She just looked at it at first.
"Take my hand..." he told her. "You can trust me. I promise."
She finally but reluctantly took his hand, and he helped her off of the floor.
Eren walked her out of the diner and the horror scene they had both just narrowly escaped. Leading her by the hand, he made a quick scan of the area. Over where the car was, Armin was loading the backseat with bags upon bags of food. Metal arms also revealed, from the looks of it, a deactivated Mr. Gutsy.
He turned to look at the girl. "Come on, he's a friend of mine. He won't hurt you."
"Armin." Eren called out to his friend as he walked toward the car, the girl in tow behind him. "Oh...where did you get the Mr. Gutsy from?"
The blonde hadn't turned around yet. "Well, if you hadn't wandered off, you would have seen where from."
"Oh, don't get so salty." Eren retorted. "I had to. Our new friend was in trouble."
Armin turned around at hearing the words 'new friend' to find the girl standing next to Eren. She remained silent as she held onto his hand, giving a small nod at Armin as their eyes met. "Oh….where did you meet her?"
"There were some cannibals in that diner." Eren answered, pointing behind him. "They had her strapped onto a table and were going to…. and I couldn't just let them...you know."
Armin nodded, the unspoken words and the look on the girl's face gave him the majority of the story of what horrors had happened. "So do we need to run or?"
"Nah. There were only three, and they're all dead."
The blonde sighed. "You seem to have a knack for getting into life and death situations, Eren…"
"What do you-"
"Your neck is bruised. Looks like someone tried to strangle you."
"Oh...well….yeah. The last one...snuck up on me. But she got my gun and shot him down. She saved my life." Eren replied with a grin toward the girl.
Armin walked up to her. "I'm glad you're alright, ma'am. I know my friend went in to save you, but I have to thank you for saving him."
She meekly nodded at his gratitude.
"So…" Eren spoke impatiently. "Are you gonna tell me where you got the Mr. Gutsy or not?"
"He was buried underneath some rubble in the pharmacy section. Why he was there, I don't know."
"Awesome." Eren replied. He eyeballed the backseat, full of loot. "Umm...do we have any room?"
"All the food, ammo, guns, and the robot took the entire back seat." Armin informed him, though he shot the girl an apologetic look.
"I guess we'll have to share a seat… I'm sorry, miss. I still don't know your name." Eren replied, also giving her an apologetic smile. However, she remained silent.
"We better get out of here though. Nothing is ever quiet for too long." Armin stated as he took the driver's seat once again while Eren took the passenger seat.
The brunette tugged at the girl's arm. "I know it's weird since you don't know either of us, but don't worry. We'll keep you safe."
The oriental girl had already decided that she could trust them. After all, this guy named Eren had rescued her. She sat down on his lap with a hint of embarrassment on her face. There was no choice, but it was definitely weird, as he had said. Especially inside this...thing. A car? Weren't most of those destroyed? Wait, didn't they explode?
"Isn't it cool?" Eren asked her, trying to start a conversation. "Armin found a way to rebuild….hey, what's the matter, miss? You look scared."
Armin sighed at his friend. "She's probably still scared. Plus, cars usually do what if hit by gunfire?"
"Oh…"
"Yeah." Armin directed his next words at her. "But don't worry, that won't happen. I always make sure to drive away from any sort of conflict. We'll be fine."
The girl Eren had rescued sat in his lap, holding onto him as if her life depended upon it. Armin started the car and began to drive off, silence filling the front seat. After a few minutes, the girl finally spoke. "Mikasa…"
"Huh?" Eren asked.
"My name is Mikasa. Mikasa Ackerman." she whispered again.
He turned to look Mikasa in the face and said, "Well then Mikasa, I'm glad you're okay. I'm Eren."
"My name is Armin." the blonde introduced himself as he sped the car away from the scene. "It's nice to meet you."
Thankfully, the ride back to Rivet City was a uneventful as the trip leaving it had been. After her fear of the car exploding subsided, Mikasa was actually impressed these two had an actual working Pre-War automobile. She had never even seen one that hadn't already exploded before.
When they arrived back in Rivet City, Armin and Eren immediately went to the marketplace to sell some the goods that Armin had scavenged in the stores. Mikasa followed quietly behind them as they made a stop at each stall set up in the ancient aircraft carrier turned settlement. The guys both decided to keep a good portion of the food and Nuka-Cola for themselves. After all, the bottle caps off the Pre-War beverage was also the area's currency. The spoils of food that they decided to sell went to Gary's Gulley.
Armin had also found a few guns and some ammo in one of the stores, which they sold to Flak and Shrapnel. Along with the 10mm pistol Eren had stolen a few weeks earlier. Luckily, Flak and Shrapnel seemed none the wiser about the gun even being stolen from them and paid the teens some caps for it.
Armin decided to keep the robot. He wanted to try to bring it back to life. Eren figured if anyone could do it, it would be Armin. He had been tinkering with Pre-War tech for a few years and seemed to have a knack for it. He was the one to put that car back together and get it running again. He was the only one to ever do so as far as the Capital Wasteland was concerned.
After some trading, the three teenagers went back to Eren's rented room in the Weatherly Hotel. They managed to gather enough food for a small dinner of Nuka-Cola and some Fancy Lad snack cakes. Eren and Armin urged Mikasa to eat extra, telling her she would need her strength and that she should eat extra while there was extra. While she wasn't particularly hungry, she tried to force herself to so that they wouldn't worry.
After eating, Armin brought out a bag of things he had kept. He dug out a few of the pre-War books and comics he had managed to retrieve in good condition. There were various old textbooks, fictional novels, and popular comics. Armin chose to read up about Mr. Gutsy's design and make up while Eren had grabbed one of the Grognak the Barbarian comics. Mikasa looked through the assortment, finding a book that looked interesting enough and settled down with it.
The trio each read their books for the sake of some relaxing entertainment for the night. In the corner of the room, Three Dog's broadcast filled the otherwise silent room, reporting the latest news from the wasteland. Mikasa eventually lost the focus to continue reading, instead letting her mind wander as she absentmindedly stared at the page.
War was everywhere. Ever since those people back 200 years ago dropped all those bombs, there was no peace. Violence and bloodshed were the norm for the last two centuries. Such a norm was the reason her parents had been butchered in such a manner. The reason she had almost met a similar end...
"I guess I'll be taking my leave now. It's getting pretty late. And I'm tired."
Armin's sudden break in the silence brought Mikasa back to the present. She looked up at the blonde haired boy, who had stood up with his book in hand. He gave her a friendly smile before turning around to make his way toward the door.
"Alright. See you in the morning, Armin." Eren replied, tossing a wave in farewell to his friend.
"Sleep well, miss." Armin told Mikasa before opening the door and leaving the two of them alone.
"Sorry about this, but you'll be staying in my room tonight." he apologized, scratching the back of his head. "We're kind of tight on caps for a third 's room is kinda small…"
Mikasa nodded, not showing any sort of emotion at this news.
"I can go sleep in his room, if you want…"
" No, it's fine…" she quietly replied. "You've done more than enough already. Thank you."
Both Eren and Mikasa easily fit inside of the bed. Under the covers, the two were silent as they both quickly felt the fatigue of the day settle in and claim them to sleep.
The only sounds audible on board the steel ship were the hissing sounds of steam and the creaking metal. The occasional footsteps of security would walk up and down the hallways. However, it was in the middle of the night that Eren awoke to an unfamiliar sound, a small voice in restless slumber.
His eyes slowly opened to find Mikasa beside him, groaning in her sleep. She gently tossed and turned while letting out small whimpers of distress. Her actions let him know that she was having a nightmare.
He gently reached over to put a hand on her shoulder and shook. She didn't wake up as he had hoped, only groaned louder and recoiled from his touch.
"Mikasa…" he called out quietly. "Wake up, Mikasa."
Her eyes suddenly flew open, filled with tears. Panic and fear dominated her face as she stared at Eren. For a moment, she just looked at him confused before suddenly throwing her arms around him, burying her face in his chest.
Eren initially stiffened at her embrace, quite surprised at what had happened. However, he understood that she must be scared after what all had happened today. And being in a new place, all alone with two boys she'd never even met before in her life. He quietly wrapped his arms around her, tightly comforting her and letting her know she wasn't alone anymore.
The sun once again graced Eren's eyes with unwelcome light, forcing him to wake up. He was still for a moment, wanting to just continue to sleep. His eyes shifted downward, suddenly remembering about Mikasa sleeping with him last night. Her arms were still around him, as his were hers. Her eyes opened only a few moments later.
"Morning." Eren said.
"...Morning…" Mikasa groggily replied. She gave a small yawn. Looking down, she realized that her arms were still around Eren. She quickly let go of him, her face a little red from her embarrassment. "Um...sorry about that."
"It's alright." Eren assures her, getting out of bed first to stretch.
Mikasa then got out of bed, the cold metal floor harshly greeting her bare feet, causing her to flinch in a chill.
"Mikasa."
She looked up to meet Eren's eyes.
"There's a sink and a clean towel in the corner over there if you want to clean up. Afterward, we can go meet Armin for breakfast."
"Alright...Thank you."
"Don't mention it. I'll be right back...I need to...errr...go down the hall for a sec. Oh yeah. There are bathrooms just down the hall if you need to use one."
"Alright."
Mikasa didn't take long to wash her face off so she waited until Eren returned. After taking a short trip to the women's room herself, Eren led her to the marketplace. Armin was against a wall reading a small book as he appeared to wait for them.
"Morning, Armin." Eren called out.
Armin looked up and quickly bookmarked his page, tucking the book at his side. "Morning to you. Morning, Mikasa. Did you sleep alright?"
"Yes, I slept fine." she answered quietly.
Armin gave her a friendly smile. "That's good then. Hope you're hungry. Gary's Gulley makes some relatively delicious food. And it's even warm."
"Which is a good thing since it's the only place near here with food." Eren threw in, his eyes at another stall of the market. "Uh..excuse me for a sec. Go ahead and order."
Eren walked over to the only clothing store, Potomac Attire, to take a closer look at what had caught his eyes. A red scarf lying on the table. It was in decent shape, too. No holes, not very dirty. He approached Bannon and gave him the caps for the scarf. Eren quickly returned to where he had left the other two, taking a seat next to Mikasa.
"Here." he said to her, holding out the scarf to her as she looked at it, confused. "This is for you, Mikasa."
"For...me?"
"Yeah." Eren confirmed, taking her hands and placing the scarf in them. "Mikasa, I promise that you'll be safe with us. We're not ever gonna let you get in danger. And we won't ever hurt you. We'll always be here for you, okay? You can count on us."
And for the second time that day, Eren found himself being hugged by Mikasa. She tightly squeezed him in her arms.
"Thank you." she whispered in gratitude to Eren.
She turned toward Armin on her other side,also giving him a tight embrace. "Thank you both."
"Yeah, no problem." Armin told her, patting her gently on the back. "We'll always be here for you, Mikasa."
A/N: Thanks for reading! See you next time!