"Can I get in?"

Mikasa's voice startled Eren's nerves to the point he couldn't stop stumbling against the bed of his cell. Actually, he wasn't waiting for her, not that he were waiting for anybody else. In fact, he didn't want to talk to a single soul, after his argument with Armin...

But how could he say no to her? He turned back, recognizing that sweet and deep voice, the voice that had brought him back to life so many times before, right when he thought there was no way out; the voice of the girl that he once saved from living a damned life...

The voice of the girl who never left him behind, risking even her own life, just for his own sake.

He looked back to the spot where she waited for a soldier to open the cell when he said yes. So he nodded and she got in, the Military police soldier leaving the cell as soon as she was inside.

But Eren didn't dare to look her in the eye, afraid of starting another fight, or just stain her with the weight and darkness of his sins.

"Eren..." she called him, her voice weak. The candlelight marked the shadow of her profile in the wall, making him get lost in her blurred image.

"You shouldn't be here, Mikasa."

"But I want to."

He sighed. The brown-haired man looked as if he was carrying a huge weight on his shoulders. And he was; and she could see through that.

Because she knew him better than anybody else.

"What if..." he breathed, leaning forward against the wall so he wasn't able to look at her. "What if they think you're a traitor too just for being here?"

Mikasa took a step forward, hesitantly, because she didn't want to bother him.

"I'm not a traitor and you're not one either."

"That's not what they think," he finally said, turning back. "And you should stay away from me."

"No, I won't do that. That may be what they think but that's not what Armin and I think, Eren. You know that. You know that we are on your side."

Eren snorted bitterly, his hands in his head.

"Armin... I don't know about Armin anymore."

They both fell silent. Eren didn't move away from the wall, but Mikasa couldn't allow herself to end a conversation that hasn't even started. She knew him, she knew he was desperate, in the verge of despair; Mikasa knew that he needed a shoulder where to put his tears on.

And she was that shoulder.

Actually, she felt that she could be anything he needed her to be.

That was how much she loved him.

"Eren..." she called him again, her voice weak and heart trying to get stronger when he didn't dare to look at her. "Do you remember..."

"What?" he asked when he heard her sudden pause. She continued, taking a deep breath and clearing her throat as her heartbeat increased second by second.

"Do you remember that time when I made Armin and you fall to the river and you guys caught a cold?"

Mikasa's question bothered him slightly. He frowned, bewildered, thinking that this was not the right time to talk about something like that, much less about the past.

"Yeah... I do. But why are you -"

"I was so worried... You and Armin shivered a lot and all I could do was walk with you until we all got home," Mikasa giggled, as much as her sadness allowed her. "I thought you were going to tell aunt Carla what I did, but you guys just lied to her saying you both fell by yourselves when actually I was the one who pushed you both thinking that I wouldn't do any harm..."

"You didn't do any harm. We were just playing."

Mikasa sighed in relief when she heard him. His voice sounded smoother, calmer and even more relaxed; and maybe he was. Eren didn't know how much good her presence made to his poisoned soul.

"I know, but still... You guys didn't want me to get into trouble and you lied to aunt Carla so she wouldn't scold me," Mikasa paused. A slight gust of cold wind from the window made her shiver, and she covered her mouth with the edge of her scarf. "Those were good times, you know..."

This time, Eren turned back to look at her. Green eyes meeting dark ones, but not for a long time, as if he was afraid of her to see through his spirit and be able to watch all the dirt he thought that was inside him.

"Times that will never come back."

Hesitant, Mikasa pulled him by the edge of his shirt. She was waiting for him to get rid of her, but he never did such a thing, and instead he let her lead him until they made it to the bed and found a seat.

"I... I also remember that time when Armin gave me a flower and kissed my cheek... The day I turned ten. You started acting weird and ran home, leaving us alone after that."

Eren snorted, interrupting her.

"I was just... jealous, you know. He had an annoying ability to find the best flowers for you and mom and I could never surpass him. Besides, he kissed you before I could do it..."

He stopped, realizing inmediately what he had just said, their faces turning into a blushing mess. Mikasa's dark gray eyes traveled down to the floor to avoid his stare, but Eren couldn't help look at her with a subtle smile at the moment he remembered how beautiful and precious she was to him.

Eren couldn't help but remember all these times he had been about to lose her, all these times he had run away from her, not thinking about what she felt.

Maybe it was late to care about it.

Maybe it was too late to tell her that he never meant to hurt her and leave her alone.

But when she was by his side, Eren thought that he had plenty of time left to mend his mistakes and close his wounds, no matter how cursed he seemed to be.

With her, he felt there was nothing he couldn't do.

"I always loved when we climbed up to the roofs to watch the town from above -"

"And the day Armin almost fell... We had a hard time trying to save him. I almost had a heart attack."

They both giggled, so low that their voices were barely audible. She loved seeing him smile; he loved seeing her smile.

In all that chaos, laughing was just as relieving as scandalous.

"At least we could catch him." she said, with a subtle and cute smile drawn in her lips. When Eren looked at her, tears flooded his eyes.

"Yeah," he made a pause. He didn't know why, but it didn't matter how painful were the memories of their past, he didn't want to stop listening to her. "Mikasa..."

"Yes?" she said, turning her eyes to him, again. He was perplexed about how she had never stopped trusting him, how her eyes looked for his, as if she was always willing to understand him, despite of all the wrong he had done.

As if she was the only one left in his little world, a world broken by the curse he carried in his veins.

"I'm sorry."

Mikasa stared at him, not believing her ears.

"Sorry... for what?"

Eren sighed. He was trying to hold his tears back.

And maybe, she knew it.

"Sorry for everything I have done... For not being able to give you the peaceful life you always wanted. Because now that I look back, I've realized that all I have done has been pointless... Even I am useless."

She gasped, feeling all the weight of his shoulders on hers. Something was breaking inside her the same way his composure broke in front of her eyes. Something so strong at other's eyes but so weak when they look at each other, undressing their souls. Eren could see the tears in her eyes, and this time, he couldn't hold back his.

"You have never been useless, Eren. Never."

"I am, Mikasa. I just fucked everything up. Every time I try to save you and everybody else, I just screw it all. All this power inside me is useless, me having it was a mistake. Everything I have done has been a mistake. Maybe I just have to give up... Maybe it's time for some other to inherit my titans and let them do better than I can. I'm afraid of harming you and the others..." Eren raised his hand to stroke the scar in her cheek, making her lean her face at his touch. "I'm afraid of myself..."

"Eren..." Mikasa cupped his face in her hands tenderly. Her fingers were warmer than the howling cold air in the dungeons and he shivered after feeling her, realizing that her skin was the only thing able to soothe his demons. "I've always trusted you. You taught me how to never give up, you taught me how to fight when I thought everything was lost, and now is my time to remind you that night when you saved me, risking your own life..." Mikasa's voice threatened to shatter into thousands of sobs that remained locked in her throat. "Maybe it's time for you to remember that all what you have done is because you think we all deserve freedom, and that I will be always by your side."

When Mikasa finished her speech, Eren sobbed loudly, the two crying in silence as tears slid over their cheeks, making their eyes glitter and their hearts shudder.

"I'm not worthy of anything..."

"You are. You are worthy and loved -" he tried to interrupt her, but she didn't let him. "No matter what they say, no matter what they think. I know you, Eren. And even though I don't agree with everything you do, you know I'll always follow you... Till the end of the world."

They both cried. Eren cried his heart out until there was not a single tear left. He cried on her shoulder while she hugged him, because there was a violent storm in his soul he needed to pacify. His demons ate his brains until she kissed his temples, and the whole universe stopped falling when she wrapped her arms around him in a soothing lullaby.

Eren remembered that she was his home.

Mikasa remembered that as long as he lived, she would always have a place to return to.

And when their sobs were nothing more than scared ghosts of their anguished souls, he lifted up his head to look at her, wiping away the remnants of tears that stained her beautiful face.

"I'm sorry... I always make you cry..."

She shook her head, with a sad smile drawn in her lips, not letting go of his face.

"It's okay. I'm okay."

She heard him breathe as if he was about to say something that was coming out of his guts. Their noses and mouths so close that they can feel each other's breathing. Eren swallowed hard, because deep inside, he had craved for her lips and tongue for a long time.

"Mikasa, I -"

The cell door was opened. A soldier came out of the nothing to tell her that her time was already over. She tried to protest, but Eren grabbed her arm, stopping her. In such a situation, it was pointless to reply back.

"Will you be back tomorrow?" he muttered, pain marking the bags under his eyes. Mikasa knew that his question was hiding a 'don't leave me here alone' between lines and whispers. She nodded.

"I'll be."

He let go of the edge of her sleeve. Mikasa walked away, but she turned back to him before going out of the cell.

"What?" he asked, waiting for her to say something. She seemed to smile to herself.

"You should cut your hair off or you're gonna get in a vertical maneuvering accident."

In spite of all his pain and sorrow, Eren laughed, for the first time in what seemed an eternity. He laughed because she was with him. He laughed because he wasn't alone, because she was still there, as she had always been.

Mikasa's time was over and she was gone.

But her presence will remain with him till the day he could see her again, bringing to him all the calm he needed.

She would never leave him alone, no matter where he was.