" Eren, are you excited to meet the Ackerman's," Grisha asked as he looked back and stared into the cold eyes of his son. Eren just nodded silently before turning back to the window and ignored his dad the rest of the way.
Grisha just sighed at his son's reply. Grisha felt his stomach tighten up as he led his horses in front of the house. Grisha got out of the front seat followed by Eren who said nothing as he followed behind his father. Grisha raised his hands to knock on the door but halted when he noticed that it was open slightly.
Grisha gave the door a slight push and was shocked to see the dead bodies of Mrs. and Ms. Ackerman. Grisha shut the door picked up Eren who was still shocked at seeing the dead bodies. Grisha sat Eren down in the carriage before giving him a hunting knife.
As the gallops of the horse left Eren's hearing range, which was pretty far for a child, or a human, Eren hopped out of the carriage, not fancying the idea of waiting two hours for Grisha to return, the time it'd take for the man to make the roundabout trip back to the nearest settlement and back. Eren walked back into the house neglecting the two corpses on the ground.
' No more blood or signs of a third body,' Eren surmised checking the house for signs of the Ackerman girl. ' Whoever did this must have taken her,' his blood boiled at the thought. Eren walked around the back until he found footsteps leading into the forest, there were three pairs of footsteps and none were small enough to be a child's, but after further speculation, he noticed one was much deeper than the others meaning she was being carried or the man was very large.
Not entertaining the idea of waiting for his... for Grisha, Eren made his way to the forest not looking back. After following his preys track's for a good mile he saw a cottage further ahead. Its curtains were drawn but he could see the light from inside.
The front door was open. Eren walked silently into the cottage, hearing talking in the room on the far side of the house, Eren took some time to gather his thoughts, he walked silently towards into the kitchen and grabbed a second knife for contingency, as he came toward the room he saw an open door next to it and checked it. ' A broom and some string,' Eren held back his sadistic smirk before grabbing the broom tying his extra knife to the end and placing it in an easily accessible spot for his plan.
Allowing but a small smile Eren got into character. He walked towards the door and opened it.
" You little brat what the hell are you doing here," One of the two prey in the room yelled at Eren. Eren looked around the room and assessed his options. ' Two pigs and the Ackerman girl,' He thought before he tearfully looked up at the man.
" I-I got L-lost in the woods then I saw your lights, c-can you help me," Eren asked meekly stuttering to add icing to the cake as his voice shook with faux fear. His prey shared a look at the pig silently asked for directions to the other who was sitting in the chair for instructions, the pig ran his finger across his neck.
" It's okay, I'll get you home kid," His prey said as he kneeled down in front of Eren who still had his hand behind his back concealing his blade. His prey put an assuring hand on Eren's head to give the boy false hope.
" Thank you but I've suddenly remembered the way home so you're no longer needed," Eren said in a cold voice as he stabbed the beast in his jugular before dragging the knife out of the side of its neck spraying blood everywhere before removing the man's hand and kicking his body back a good four feet. Eren closed the door and ran into the broom closet and grabbed his pseudo spear. Eren crouched down and hid off to the side of the wall as he heard the other beast yell in anger in the other room. He waited silently until he heard the door open.
" You stupid fucking brat, you just signed your fucking death wish," His newest prey screamed as it looked around with the ax raised high, ready to kill Eren. Eren ran from his hiding spot and aimed his blade at his prey's neck before thrusting with all his might driving the blade through the man's throat and pushing back causing the man to drop the ax and grab for his throat.
Eren grabbed the ax before staring at the man with cold jaded eyes. Eren sat on his preys stomach and began stabbing it in the chest repeatedly before stopping seconds after his prey went still.
Eren walked up to Mikasa who was staring up at him with teary slightly frightened eyes. Eren felt his heart rate rise before helping her sit up and cutting the ropes on her hands. " I'm guessing you're Mikasa," Eren asked silently, she nodded lightly. Eren's eyes narrowed slightly when he heard something in the front room that sounded like footsteps. ' Another beast to slay' He thought to himself as he dropped the knife and rushed to the side of the door with the ax in hand.
Eren calmed his breathing as he reared the ax back in preparation to maim and kill whoever stepped through the door. As soon as Eren saw a footstep through the door he swung the ax with all his strength.
" Ahhhhhh, YOU STUPID FUCKING BRAT I'LL KILL YOU!" The large beast yelled as the ax cut through his leg like a hot knife through butter. The now enraged one legged pig grabbed Eren by his throat and threw him on the floor before toppling over unable to balance on one leg. The beast grabbed Eren by both ankles and dragged him to him, high off pain and rage the best began punching him a couple of times in the face and then began choking him.
" Th-The Knife, you.. have to fight, if you don't fight you lose.. you can't win if you don't fight so… choose!" Eren managed to choke out loud enough for Mikasa to hear causing her to look down at the knife. ' H-He wants me to kill him,' Mikasa thought in shock as she grabbed the knife with shaky hands. ' Is the world really such a cruel place,' Mikasa thought to herself as she started remembering the natural selection of the world. Eren's words play over in her head like a broken record. ' I chose… to fight!' Mikasa's grip on the knife tightened to the point where the wooden handle gave way to her grip and she yelled and charged at the man who looked up and turned in her direction in shock.
Mikasa shoved the blade deep into the left side of his chest unknowingly stabbing the pig in the heart. It slumped over onto Eren who pushed him off with deceptive ease. Eren sat up and coughed violently before rubbing his sore throat. Eren stood up and patted the dust from his backside.
" Are you hurt anywhere Mikasa," Eren asked in his normal stoic voice although there was worry lacing his tone. Mikasa nodded shakily as the weight of her first kill caused her to run to the other side of the room and threw up for a while before spending another couple minutes dry heaving. Mikasa was almost embarrassed to turn around thinking that he would look at her in disgust. Mikasa shyly turned around and was met with his jaded unjudging eyes.
" Are you okay Mikasa," Eren asked in his usual empty tone but it was laced with worry. Mikasa gave a shaky nod as she hugged herself. Eren sighed as he went and put his arm around her shoulder and led her outside. Mikasa shivered slightly in his arms when the cool outside air caressed their skin catching Eren's attention. Eren stared hesitantly at his red scarf before unwrapping it from his neck leaving him feeling naked and vulnerable. Eren wrapped the scarf around Mikasa's neck.
As the two made their trek out of the woods Eren carries Mikasa on his back the entire way. Eren was surprisingly unbothered by the closeness, he usually doesn't like being touched but she radiates a warmth that soothed him, almost like… his mothers. By the time the two were settled into the carriage Mikasa was fast asleep on Eren's lap
" Don't worry mom I'll protect Mikasa with my life to make it up to you," Eren whispered to himself as his eyes watered slightly before he blinked away the tears and bit his lip. Mikasa shifted in his lap slightly. Eren only had to wait a few minutes before the sound of galloping met his ears. ' Late as always,' Eren thought with disdain.
" Eren, thank god you're safe did you-," Grisha stopped talking when Eren glared at him before nodding his head down toward his lap. Grisha looked down at his son's lap and saw an extra head. Grisha then looked back to his son who nodded answering Grisha's unasked questions. " Tell me what happened, all of it, every single detail," Grisha ordered angrily as he glared at his son who did not seem affected by his father's glare. Eren could no longer hear himself speak but he felt his mouth move.
" -ren er-, Eren," Eren lazily opened one eye as he stared up at Mikasa. Mikasa shifted slightly under his emotionless gaze. Eren put his hands on both sides of his head before using them to flip onto his feet. He reached down and picked up his stick pack before turning and walking back in the direction of his house. Mikasa sighed before jogging to catch up with Eren.
" What were you dreaming about," Mikasa asked Eren who just turned his head to look at her.
" What makes you think I was sleeping," Eren asked Mikasa, who now felt stupid. " I was dreaming about when we first met," Eren said normally not at all bothered by being honest. Mikasa's face flushed lightly.
" Hey Eren Mikasa how ya doing," The two looked up and saw a drunk Hannes smiling and waving at them. Eren's look betrayed no emotion as he looked forward and ignored the drunkard. Mikasa nodded to the man who just laughed awkwardly at being virtually ignored by the two kids.
" Mikasa let's go this way," Eren said silently as he walked towards the gate to where the Scouting Regimen were coming back from a mission outside the wall. Eren watched the injured men walk down the path with their heads bowed in failure and shame. Eren and Mikasa left shortly after and elderly mother was handed the arm of her deceased son.
After getting to the house and disposing of the firewood Eren sat down at the table in the seat farthest to his father as Mikasa made food in the kitchen. Grisha looked up from his magazine toward his son who had deliberately not sat next to him.
" Eren, Mikasa, I will be gone for the month on business, so be safe," Grisha said as he stood and started walking towards the door. Grisha stopped in front of the door before walking back to Eren. " Take care of this for me," Grisha said as he put the keys to the cellar around Eren's neck. Grisha rubbed Eren's head before walking out of the house.
Eren Idly fingered the key on his neck before moving it under his shirt. " Let's go find Armin," Eren said not bothering to look at Mikasa to see if she would be coming or not. Eren heard the door shut behind him and footsteps speed up to catch him. Eren and Mikasa walked silently down the path to Armin's house. Both he and Mikasa both heard the sounds of yelling and laughing coming down from one of the back roads and he took off running in that direction.
Eren's vision was drowned in red when he saw three kids beating up on and laughing at Armin who was clutching a book in his hand like a lifeline. One of the kids saw Eren and froze in fear causing his friends to look towards them too.
" Oh fuck it's him run," The biggest kid said as he turned and tried to run only for Eren to yank his hair back throwing him to the ground and hitting him in his head. The other two boys were shaking in fear as they were cut off on both sides by two of the strongest and scariest kids in the village. Eren grabbed one boy by both of his ears and pulled his head down into his ascending knee breaking the kid's nose and squirting blood everywhere. Boy number three tried to run the other way while Eren was distracted but got knocked out when Mikasa punched him in the temple.
" You know you guys didn't have to do that for me right," Armin said softly as he sent a pitying look at the three incapacitated boys. Eren just shrugged his shoulders and cracked his knuckles and Mikasa tightened her precious scarf around her neck. Armin just sighed at his odd friends.
" Let's go Armin I want to hear more about outside," Eren spoke in his usual emotionless voice as he basically dragged Armin and Mikasa to a small peer. For the next couple hours, they sat together reading the book on the outside world.
" I'm tired of living in these walls like cattle, someday one of those savages are going to tear down that wall and with it the false sense of peace that these people so ignorantly believe they've achieved," Eren spoke carelessly his voice thick with hatred for everything around him, the titans, the people in the village walking around like nothing's wrong while basically living in a cage, and those damned walls. Armin and Mikasa shared a worried look at their friend who was glaring at everything but them.
After Eren's speech, a bolt of lightning struck something outside of the wall. Eren's eyes widened as flashes from his past assaulted him. The three friends all stood up and watched in awe and horror at the large titan standing behind the wall. The wall below the titan exploded outwards.