"We're home!"
For the first time in years, the familiar declaration wasn't met with a response. Rolling his shoulders, ten-year-old Eren Jaeger let his schoolbag fall unceremoniously to the floor. He kicked off his sneakers and padded down the hallway towards the kitchen, not bothering to wait for his adopted sister to follow. She always did, anyway. Perhaps their mother was absorbed in some new recipe and had simply tuned them out.
"Mom?"
Eren's voice echoed shrill and hollow throughout the empty kitchen. A foul smell invaded his nostrils, directing his attention to the stove. He scrunched his face in disgust. What once must have been a rich, simmering meat sauce was now hardened and encrusted to the pot. A wooden spoon lay forgotten on the countertop. Eren immediately grew suspicious; his mom never neglected her cooking. The television was also on, another indicator that something was off. Carla only watched TV in dire circumstances, like states of emergency, but nothing had been broadcasted at school.
Before Eren had a chance to see what was playing across the screen, an ear-piercing scream sounded from upstairs. Whirling around with a start, he realized Mikasa wasn't with him. He was out of the kitchen in seconds, taking the stairs two at a time.
"Mikasa!"
He had just reached the landing when he was suddenly on his back, the wind knocked clean out of him. He briefly registered the loud crack of his head hitting the wooden floor. As he gasped for air, pain reverberating throughout his skull, he found himself gaping into the distorted face of what used to be Carla Jaeger.
"M-mom?" he whimpered.
Her skin was sickly pale, pulled taut and harsh across the jutting bones that constructed her once-delicate features. White lips were drawn back in a snarl, exposing pointed teeth that looked as though they could crunch through bone. A horrid, decaying scent wafted from her mouth. What commanded Eren's attention, though, were her eyes. They were completely black – the most cavernous, empty black he had ever seen – and sunken deep into the sockets. Dark shadows encircled the orbs, decorated with spidery purple veins. Eren had never felt such terror in his life as he looked into those empty eyes. He was utterly powerless as they seemed to pull him in, to attempt to swallow the essence of his very being.
Eren had only been pinned down for a few seconds, but he lost track of time as the full effect of his concussion began to set in. He allowed his eyes to roll back in his head as a warm and pleasant drowsiness started to envelop him. Just as he was about to fall unconscious, Carla let out an inhuman shriek. Her head jerked forward and her eyes bulged from their sockets as a geyser of dark crimson blood sprayed out of the back of her neck. She fell heavily on top of Eren, jerked several times, then stilled. Eren blinked hazily, and in his stupor was able to make out the shadowed figure of Mikasa standing beside them, breathing heavily and drenched in blood. Tears streamed down her face. He weakly wriggled himself out from underneath his mother's corpse and sat up, ignoring the throbbing in his temples. He didn't bother to wipe the blood from his face.
"Mikasa…" His normally high-pitched voice was nothing more than a hoarse whisper. He cleared his throat harshly. Mikasa crouched motionless beside him, her arms wrapped around her knees. She said nothing.
"Dad…we have to find Dad…" Eren was surprised by the calm in his voice, despite the fact that his entire body was violently shaking. He glanced over at his mother. Her black eyes were open and unseeing, a thin crimson stream trickling from the corner of her mouth. A pair of her own sewing shears protruded from the nape of her slender neck, soaking her pretty black hair with blood. Impossible, he thought. That's not Mom.
A small sob roused him from his thoughts; Mikasa was now leaning over their mother, her small, pale hands gripping the fabric of Carla's skirts. She buried her face in the material and began to sob. A burst of realization hit Eren with enough force to make his breath hitch. The last time he had seen Mikasa cry had been over a year ago, when her addict father – his estranged uncle – had dumped her on the Jaeger's doorstep, begging them to take her in. He had pled with Grisha, his older brother, knowing that he himself didn't have the means to support both a child and his drug habit. His wife, Mikasa's mother, had died several years earlier due to an overdose. Mikasa hadn't been with the Jaegers for a month before they received news that her father had committed suicide. Grisha and Carla had struggled with the task of telling the young girl, as she had already been through so much, but they ultimately agreed she deserved the truth. The pain he had seen in Mikasa's eyes had led Eren to vow to protect her with his life, though she seemed to end up doing most of the protecting. The Jaegers were all she had left.
And now, Carla was gone.
Suddenly, Eren's composure disappeared. His stomach churned and he vomited violently, hot tears pouring down his cheeks.
"Momma! Momma!" he sobbed hysterically, balling his little hands into fists and slamming them into the ground. As he screamed his throat hoarse, his head began to spin. Utterly exhausted, Eren gave in and collapsed to the floor in an unconscious heap, where he would remain for the next few hours as the sun set and darkness embraced the house.
Mikasa cried.