Tittle: Too Late
Summary: It's only when you lose it that you realize how it important it was. ErenxMikasa. Character Death. Christmas gift for noyoucommoner~ Hope you have a great Christmas! Some OOC of the characters
AN: This is my first time writing a one-shot so please give constructive flames. I do not own SnK or anything related to SnK. This is set in an AU where the Levi squad didn't die in fight against the female titan but merely suffered extensive damage. Unbeta so pardon my horrible grammar and spelling '
'Thought'
"Speech"
If you were to be offered a second chance... Would you accept it?
If you could restart everything from the beginning… Would you grasp that chance?
So many 'if you's in the world but all share the same thing... It's too late.
Emerald eyes slowly open before shutting at the harsh rays of sunlight filtering through the shade of the tall tree. A soft breeze went past and grass sway gently as a picture of content was painted. The owner of those emerald orbs groaned as he forced his tired body upright, the last expedition was especially harsh, seeing that he had been forced to seal up his titan abilities, something about not overly-relying on them. The disturbance of the air current to his side alerted him that he was no longer alone but he didn't bother turning his head to check the identity of new-comer.
"Eren. We have to go now." her monotone voice rang softly beside his ears. To others, the affection was easily overlooked, but not to him. "Yeah..", he replied, standing up and dusting away all the dirt from his uniform, who knows what Levi-Heichou will pick on next, being that clean freak that he is. "Let's go Mikasa." he said, finally acknowledging her presence as he walked away, not waiting for her because he knew she would catch up. She always did.
"Eren! Mikasa! Over here!", the sharp voice of the last member of the Shiganshina trio greeted them as soon as they entered the headquarters. Armin beckon them over to the spot that he had reserved for them, "Where were you guys? Briefing is about to start in less than a minute." He asked, trying to get some sense of what was going on however judging from Mikasa's blank expression and Eren looking anywhere but at him… Looks like he wasn't going to get any answers.
"Attention! Hey everyone, look to the front!", the loud and cheerful voice of Major Hanji worked its magic and all chatting ceased at once. The commander could be easily seen with his tall stature and it was without a doubt to everyone in the Scouting Legion, that when you can spot the commander, it is a safe bet to assume that corporal will be within sight as well. The imposing blond took his place on the centre of the stage, his fist clench tightly over his chest, that salute that had been drilled into them ever since their trainee days. "I hope everyone has rested well. Very well, let us begin."
-Time skip-
Mikasa held up her beloved scarf as she adjusted it against her neck snugly. 'Today.. I will tell him today…' Thoughts of confessing ran through her mind everyday but when the moment came, she always fall herself falling short. She sighed as she started searching for the one plaguing her thoughts. 'Today.', she decided. Ten minutes of searching later, she finally found him as she exited the back of the abandoned castle leading to the empty field. "Eren-", she called out, only stop short as she spotted him laughing and waving his arms wildly as he and Petra emerged from the stables. Whatever words she wanted to say disappeared and the small smile that she had on her face dropped.
"Oy! Mikasa!", he yelled, without noticing anything different as he spotted her and ran towards her. "Did you hear? Petra-san said that Levi-Heichou has finally allowed me to join the next scouting team! I get to go on the next patrol with everyone!", he said excitedly the moment he stopping running. Mikasa nodded her head and kept her silence as Petra slowly walked up towards them and petted Eren on his head. Eren turned towards her and beamed at her. The sight of this made Mikasa's stomach uneasy as she observed their interactions. The seed of doubt was planted within her. 'Perhaps.. This is the kind of girls Eren prefer?', Mikasa's mind whispered, 'Someone like Petra, who is kind and helpful and also very feminine. The opposite of you.'
"Oy! Are you okay?", a hand waved in front of her face, shaking her out of her thoughts, "Mikasa are you okay? Want to go take a break or something?", Eren asked worriedly. He had been so excited at the prospect of being able to go on patrol duties with everyone, especially Mikasa. He still couldn't make sense of anything regarding his feelings towards Mikasa and so, he confided everything to Petra who nodded patiently and told him that things will reveal themselves sooner or later. She took this opportunity to announce to him that he would be joining their future patrols.
Petra giggled at Eren's confused expression, "Rest well the two of you. The two of you are on patrol duties tomorrow with squad 3.", with that, she left the couple alone. Eren's expression brightened up at the thought of slaying more titans and cheered loudly while Mikasa watched on with a small, fond smile hidden by her red scarf. "Let's go back inside...", she turned around and left as well.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The day that Eren had been anticipating soon came and due to his excitement, Eren wasn't able to sleep a wink at all. He was the first to reach the mass hall for breakfast while reserving seats for Armin and Mikasa, whom he was sure, will be arriving momentarily. And sure enough, a few moments after he had sat down, Armin and Mikasa entered the hall. "Morning Eren! I'm surprised that you actually came here before any of us.", Armin greeted while Mikasa nodded her greeting.
"Morning! I can't help it! I'm too excited!", Eren retorted back as he stuffed his mouth with food. "Hey, how are the scouting duties performed normally?", he asked curiously.
"Well... Basically we just patrol the borders in small groups to see if there is any increase in titan activities and after that we report back to HQ. It's a routine duty Eren.", Armin briefly explained as he started on his own breakfast, albeit much more slower compared to Eren. Eren nodded his head in understanding as he went back to his own breakfast.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Alright! Let's go!", Eren yelled out in excitement as the group comprising of Mikasa, Armin, Sasha and a few other more senior members of the Scouting Legion, got onto their horses and ready to leave the castle grounds. "Eren, calm down will you." Armin shook his head as he softly berated him as he got his horse to trot beside Eren's with Mikasa's horse on the other side of Eren, flanking him.
"He's right rookie, it may be routine but if you want to live, you better keep your guard up and don't take this lightly.", one of the seniors, Fedrick, warned as they headed out of the castle. "All right! We will go for full-speed for 20mins before slowing down, is that understood!", he yelled at the entire group. Collective nods was his answer as he turned to face the front .
-x-x-x-x-x-Time Skip 2 Hours Later-x-x-x-x-
"Shit! Shit! Shit!", Eren yelled as he dodged the crashing arm narrowly. 'I thought we were only supposed to observe!', he mentally scream as he keep moving through the forest that they were patrolling moments ago. He had gotten separated from the team earlier on when they were ambushed by a hoard of 8-meters class titans. In his haste to get away, he failed to notice the arm swinging from his left. "Wha-!", he shouted in surprised as he was grabbed and held tight.
"Eren!", he heard a familiar voice as he struggled to break free from the titan's grasp and within moments, he felt the pull of gravity grasping on to him. 'Mikasa!', he thought as he realized that Mikasa had saved him. Again. He gritted his teeth in frustration as the feeling of helplessness overcame him. 'Why am I always relying on Mikasa to save me? Why?! I said I would protect her but now… No. I will fight. I will protect Mikasa.', he thought determinedly as he tried to use his 3DMG. To his horror, it appears that his gear had been crushed when he had been grabbed by the titan. He remembered Hanji's warning about his changing to a titan and honestly right now, he couldn't give a dam about it. Consequences be dammed if he had to stand while watching Mikasa fighting with her live on the line.
He bit into his hand and light that signalled the titan transformation shot out, a loud roar emerging from the steam emitted. There stood Eren, in all of his naked titan glory. 'Kill. Kill. KILL EVERYTHING!', the worst case scenario had occurred. Although he had been able to successfully transformed into a titan, Eren wasn't able to retain his human mind-set and now, there was no Levi to stop him from rampaging everything within sight.
He stormed through the forest and Mikasa raised her head in alarm. Titan Eren was going the wrong way! He was heading deeper into the forest – the opposite direction of the location which their castle was. "Eren!", she called out as she dodged the attack of incoming titans, "Don't get in my way!", she yelled as she made quick work of the titans that had gathered in that short span of time and chased after Eren.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
When she had finally caught up with Eren, it had been quite awhile later and in her haste to catch up with him, she had not regulated the amount of gas that she used and now it was at dangerously low levels. She nimbly leapt onto Titan Eren's and sliced off the flesh at his neck. 'One problem down… But how are we supposed to get out of here alive…', pessimistic thoughts filled her mind but that didn't stop her reaching into the scalding steam and pulling out that person who meant the world to her.
'If it comes down to that… As long as Eren lives… I'm okay with it.', she thought as she carried the comatose Eren and started zipping back in the direction of their camp. It was as if some god above had taken mercy on them, the journey back to the castle had no titans, either there were no titans in the vicinity or they hadn't notice them…yet. 'Just a few more miles…', she gritted her teeth in determination as she continued to leap from tree to tree, trying to minimize the amount of gas that she was using now. During their journey back to the castle, Eren had woken up once but promptly fell unconscious again as the strain of the titan transformation was too much for his inexperienced human body. She could tell that Eren needed attention immediately, and so she quicken her pace, causing greater stress onto her muscles but it was okay, as long as it means Eren is safe, anything is okay.
Before she could react, a large hand came and swept them to the side, causing them to fly towards the left and landing painfully on the hard ground. "What… What's happening…", Eren muttered shakily, having been roughly woken up when they landed on the ground. "Mikasa!", he yelled in shocked as he realized that they were attacked again and the reason why he hadn't felt any pain, he had landed… on Mikasa. He quickly scampered off of her and looked at her in concern.
Mikasa shook her head, hiding the fact that her body was in complete pain, that fall hadn't been very gentle and it only made things worse for her already strained muscles. She tried to stand up but the moment she tried to move, pain erupted from her leg and she fell back almost immediately. "Mikasa!", Eren panicked as he moved forward to help her when the thumping on the ground reminded them of precarious their situation was. They were still in titan territory and now with Eren's 3DMG broken and Mikasa's leg injured, there was no way they could fight back.
"Come on Mikasa! I will carry you! Let's go!", he urged as he kneeled down before her, "Please! We don't have any time left! The titans could appear at any moment!", he added when he saw that she made no movement to move towards him.
"Why is it…that only in situations like this…would you be so gentle towards me…", Mikasa whispered. She shook her head, "Leave me behind and run away yourself Eren! If it is the two of us, we can't survive! Go!", she pushed him away. "Leave me behind as bait… With the titans distracted by me, they wouldn't go after you. Go!", she pushed him away as she shouted out at him.
"No! I'm not going to leave you behind! No matter what!", Eren yelled back. "Why! Give me one reason why not!", Mikasa retorted, the thumping grew closer and closer. "Because I love you! I love you Mikasa, that's why I cannot and will not leave you here behind."
Mikasa felt as though her heart could burst from all the happiness she was feeling now. But then the cruelty of their situation hit her harder than before. Why now of all times, she had always envisioned that when she confessed, they will be filled with happiness and perhaps…they will led a happy life together. But now…
"Eren. I love you too. I always have. I love you from the moment you saved me. I love you from the moment you placed that scarf on me. I love you from the moment you asked me to go back home together with you.", she said as Eren's eyes grew wider in shock as he processed her words. "But if you love me, then I want you to do something for me."
"What?", Eren quickly replied, 'anything to let Mikasa agree to leave with me…'
"Tell me your request Mikasa! If I can do it, I will do it!", Eren promised as he urged her. "Very well… I want you to leave me behind. To leave me here and head back to the castle by yourself.", Mikasa said plainly. "No! I refused! Anything but that!", Eren all but shouted out at her, "Don't ever ask me to leave you behind!"
Seeing that Eren refused to budge, Mikasa had no other choice, she leaned forward and gently placed her lips onto his – a chaste kiss. She lifted her hand and placed it on the side of Eren's face, "Please, let me be selfish just this once.", she pleaded as tears started to streamed down from her eyes. "I've always listened to you, ever since we were kids, so please Eren. I'm begging you. Please leave me behind and run away by yourself. My leg is probably broken and I will just slow you down. You are Humanity's last hope. Go please."
Eren slowly stood up, tears too flowing down. "Thank you Eren… For fulfilling this selfish request of mine. Thank you…for loving me.", Mikasa choked out as she removed the scarf from her neck and handed it to Eren. "You gave this to me… And now it's time that I returned it to its original owner."
Eren took it from her hands and held it close to him. Without turning back –because he knew if he did, he won't be able to run away alone- and ran in the direction of the castle. "Farewell Eren. I'm glad that you appeared in my life.", Mikasa whispered into the wind. The thumping grew louder until the sound came from right beside her. "You're too late you asshole. Eren is already gone.", she said as she stared at the deformed body of the titan, never once flinching. Not even when the darkness overtook her.
'That's okay, because Eren is still alive'
A/N: Crappy ending I'm feeling ashamed of myself now ;A;