It was a silent walk down the dark path back to the Jager's home in Shinganisha. Eren, the boy who had saved her life an hour ago from those monster. The boy who had hatred gleaming in his eyes as he stabbed two of the traffickers to death, now wore a sorrowful look as he glanced behind him to check to see if she was still okay, while he gently held her hand. Mikasa had become emotionless after she witnessed her parents being murdered right in front of her. But after Eren had wrapped his scarf around her and comforted her, her emotions came flooding back. Now there was a light tinge on her face every time Eren checked behind him. She would just look away and not dare to meet his gaze.
"You alright?" Eren asked quietly as he stared at her. Mikasa just looked at the ground and nodded meekly. Eren knew she wasn't truly okay, so he gave her soft little hand he was holding a comforting squeeze as they kept trudging on through the night.
They got to the Jager house around 10 o'clock. Mikasa stood beside Eren as they waited for Grisha to open the door. When inside, they started to take off their shoes and coats when a women, who Mikasa inferred to be Eren's mother, came into the room.
"That took a lot longer than I thought. How was the-?" Carla asked but stopped herself short when she saw the little oriental girl, who was taking off the black trench coat Grisha gave her to wear on the walk home. The three of them turned to look at Carla but Grisha was the one who speak up first.
"Eren, why don't you take Mikasa and go get some dinner and I'll talk to mom." Grisha said as he hung his hat on the rack by the door.
"Okay Mikasa, come on, let's get some stew." Eren quietly said as he gently grabbed onto her wrist to lead her into the kitchen. Grisha waited for Eren and Mikasa to get out of earshot before he told Carla what happened.
When inside the kitchen, Eren went over to the stove and poured two bowls of stew for Mikasa and him. He then told Mikasa to take a seat at the wooden dining table, which she did. Then he placed one of the bowls and a spoon in front of her and the other bowl and spoon across from her and then took his own seat. Mikasa stared at the stew and hesitantly picked up her spoon after a few moments, which Eren noticed.
"Don't worry, my mom makes the best stew. I think it tastes better after you spend a day in the cold weather. Kinda warms you up, you know?" Eren said with a reassuring smile.
The stew did look good, but Mikasa still felt a little queasy after witnessing the events of that night. After some hesitation, she dipped her spoon in the stew, brought it up to her mouth and blew on it until it was cool enough to eat. Mikasa's great table manners were a far cry to Eren's, who took the bowl in his left hand and used the spoon in his right hand to scarf down the stew.
After they were done eating, Carla and Grisha entered the kitchen and they both wore sorrowful looks on their faces. "Eren, if your done eating, why don't you go get some blankets and a pillow out of the hall closet and make up the spare bed, while I get Mikasa cleaned up?" Carla said to her son in a soft tone.
"Okay mom." Eren simply replied as he made his way up the stairs to the spare bedroom. "Okay Mikasa, come over here so we can get you cleaned up." Carla said as she motioned Mikasa over to stand next to her by the kitchen sink. Mikasa did as she was told while Carla dunked a white cloth into the sink that she filled with water.
Carla then knelt down to Mikasa's height and began to gently dab her face with the wet cloth. "Grisha told me what happened, I'm so sorry you had to go through all that." Carla said in a sorrowful tone as she dabbed at the small patch of dried blood that formed at the corner of Mikasa's mouth, where the trafficker punched her unconscious.
"Your really pretty." Carla said after a few more moments of cleaning the girl's face. "Thank you." Mikasa said in a stoic voice without showing any emotion. "I know it will take some time to heal but now you got us to take care of you." Carla said while giving Mikasa a small smile, trying to cheer the girl up a little.
"Yeah and if you need anything at all, don't be afraid to ask me or Carla. I'll go into town tomorrow after I'm done with work and buy you some new clothes to replace your old ones." Grisha said as he poured himself a cup of coffee from the coffee pot sitting on the stove. Mikasa gave them both a faint smile as Eren came down the steps and stood next to his father.
"The bed is all ready if you want to go to bed now Mikasa, but I think I'm gonna stay up a little later." Eren said, trying his best to sound mature in front of the girl.
"No, you both should get some sleep after the day you had." Grisha said as he shot his son a stern look. Eren didn't retort and just sighed as he turned to go back up the stairs. "Goodnight mom, goodnight dad." Eren said as he climbed the first step.
"Where do you think your going mister?" Carla said in a stern voice that made Eren stop in his tracks. Eren groaned as he turned around and started walking towards his mother.
"Mom, I'm too old to be kissing my par-" Eren said but was cut off by Carla. "Non sense, you are never to old to be kissed by your mom." Carla said in a warm tone as she bent down and placed a kiss on her son's forehead.
"Goodnight sweetie." Carla said as Eren started to head for the stairs once again with a blush spread across his cheeks. "Okay Mikasa come on, I'll show you where you can sleep." Eren said as he motioned Mikasa to follow.
"Thanks for dinner , I really appreciate it." Mikasa said before following Eren up the stairs. "Your welcome dear." Carla said in a warm tone as she watched the children climb the wooden steps.
Mikasa walked quietly behind Eren down the hall until he stopped and opened a door on the right. He then motioned for Mikasa to enter. She stepped in and looked around at the cozy, little and somewhat dusty bedroom. "Sorry about the dust, we haven't used this room in a while." Eren said as he stood in the doorway.
"No it's fine…I really appreciate all this, thank you." Mikasa said as she looked back at Eren. "You don't have to keep thanking us Mikasa, it's the least we can do." Eren said as he gave Mikasa a reassuring look. Mikasa didn't say anything and only nodded as agreement.
"Well if your alright, then I'm gonna go and let you get some sleep, okay?" Mikasa simply nodded so Eren replied. "Okay, well I'll be right down the hall if you need anything. So goodnight Mikasa." Eren then turned and closed the door on his way out.
Mikasa just stood their in the silence of the night. Now that no one could see her, her stoic expression became a pitiful and sad one. Her thoughts of the events of her parents murder came racing back to her. How could she go on without them, they were the only loved ones in her life and now they were gone forever.
She then was snapped out of her thoughts when she realized she was still standing in the middle of the room. She walked over to the bed side table and blew out the lit candle sitting on top of it. She then pulled back the covers on her new bed and got in
As she laid there in the darkness. She thought to herself how she was very grateful of the Jager's for what they had done. But she knew in her heart that Carla could never replace mother and Grisha could never take the place of her father. Those titles were forever taken and would never be uttered to anyone again. They were not her family.
She let a single stream of tears run down her cheeks as she whispered. "Mom, Dad, I'm so cold and lonely inside." Mikasa finally fell asleep a while later but it was not a peaceful slumber. She was having a nightmare of her parent's being murdered over and over again with her being unable to move or even scream out.
Suddenly she was shook awake. Mikasa sat strait up in her bed with a gasp. "Mikasa, you were tossing and turning. Were you having a nightmare?" A voice said next to the bed. Mikasa looked over and saw Eren's face illuminating from a single lit candle he was holding.
"Oh…its you Eren…yeah, I was having a nightmare." Mikasa said as she wiped the sleep from her eyes and looked back towards Eren again. After he heard she had a nightmare, Eren's usually serious face softened.
"Was it about your parents?" Mikasa just nodded in response. "Yeah I know what you mean. I couldn't even fall asleep." Eren said as he said down Mikasa's bed towards the bottom, facing away from her.
There was a short silence until Mikasa broke it. "Why did you come over here?" To this Eren looked towards Mikasa then blushed a crimson red. "I-I thought since what happened, I-I took it upon myself to check on you and see if your alright." He mumbled. There was another short silence before Mikasa replied. "Thank you."
"No problem…hey, how about I sit in here for a while, I mean-just until you fall asleep?" Eren asked as he started blushing again. Mikasa simply said "sure" as she tossed back her covers.
She then scooted over and leaned back against the wall the bed was sitting against. Letting her legs stretch across the bed and her feet hang over the edge. She motioned to Eren, who did the same next to her. After they were comfortable, Eren asked.
"So what do you wanna talk about?" Mikasa turned her head towards Eren and replied. "Uh, I don't know, whatever you want to talk about I guess." Thre was a slight pause before Eren spoke up again. "Well, have you ever played hide and go seek tag before?"
"No I haven't, there wasn't many other kids where I lived, what is the game about?" Mikasa asked. "Oh it's really fun, me and Armin play it all the time, maybe we can play it some time." Eren said with an eager grin. "Who's Armin?" Mikasa asked with a curious expression.
"He's my best friend, me and him do everything together…hey I think I know what we can do tomorrow." Eren said excitedly. "What's that?" Mikasa asked. "I'll take you with me to where me and Armin usually meet up at and I'll introduce him to you, I mean if you want?" Eren asked.
"Uh sure, that's fine with me." Mikasa replied. "Okay, I think you will like him, he's the smartest guy I know. I hardly ever see him without a book in his hands." Eren stated proudly.
For fifteen more minutes they, well mostly Eren kept on talking about about everything and anything that came to mind. Mikasa listened to his every word. Which helped her keep her mind off of her parents. She would constantly give Eren short replies with a "Yes" or "mmhm" to show she was listening. After a while, she started to get sleepy and Eren noticed she had become unresponsive.
"Hey, if your getting sleepy, I guess I'll go back to my room now." Eren said as he looked next to him to see an exhausted Mikasa. "No, please don't go, I don't want to be alone." Mikasa mumbled in a tired and groggy voice. It was true that Eren wasn't her her family by blood and Mikasa knew that. But if he could bring her comfort and keep away the nightmares, maybe he could play the part.
"But Mikasa, we can't sleep in the same bed, my parents will-" Eren was cut short when Mikasa's head fell limp against his shoulder as she went into a peaceful slumber. Eren looked beside him at the sleeping little girl who had had finally a look of serenity and he smiled to himself.
"Alright, you win. If you need someone to lean on then I'm here for you." Eren whispered the last part to himself and then chuckled lightly as he realized that he was fulfilling his promise quite literally. But this promise that he made to himself wasn't a joke at all. Eren knew he would be damned before he would let anybody hurt Mikasa ever again.
Eren smiled as he pulled the blanket that was at the bottom of the bed over both of their body's. "Night Mikasa." Eren whispered as he made himself comfortable, but made sure not to startle Mikasa in any way.
He soon drifted off into a peaceful sleep of his own and soon the only noise that could be heard in the room was the soft breathing of sleeping children.