Mikasa had sad eyes full of fresh tears, as she walked, hand-in-hand with the new, brown haired, member of her family, to her new home. She was exhausted, more psychologically than physically, and all she wanted was to get somewhere where she could rest, and just let her emotions to soak in. She felt like her heart was just ripped out, torn to pieces, and put back in. She was hungry, tired, and in a lot of pain.

While Mikasa was walking, she tripped, falling to the ground. Eren turned around quickly, kneeling at her side and exclaiming, "Mikasa! Are you okay?"

Physically, she wasn't really feeling that bad. But if someone asked her about her psychological state, she would say, 'No. No, I'm definitely not okay. I just lost my whole universe. I just lost my home. I just lost the only thing I know, and now I have to start all over again. How could I be okay?'

But what Mikasa answered was a nod, stumbling up, and continuing along. It was a long walk, a very long walk (it probably felt longer to Mikasa than it really was,) and the truth was Mikasa never actually had been this far away from her home before. See, her parents didn't like her going far. She always considered them overprotective, always acting like people would kill to get their hands on her.

The sad thing is that it actually ended up as Mikasa's reality. She lost…everything from that one thing she thought could never possibly happen, was what made that horrified look on her face as she watched her parents collapse on to the ground, soaked in their own blood, and broke her inside.

Thinking about it, she would never be the same. Some part of her was too shattered to be fixed. She knew that this would never heal. She knew it would haunt her forever; forever imprinted in the Asian girl's heart.

They had finally arrived at he new home. When the three walked in, a black haired woman with grey eyes, who looked quite surprised for the extra company, greeted them.

"Welcome h-who's this?" Carla asked, kneeling down to look at Mikasa face-to-face.

"Carla, meet the new member of our family, Mikasa. Eren, how about you help Mikasa get some dinner, then set up that old mattress we've been keeping in storage ready for Mikasa to sleep on while I talk to your mother?" Grisha said. He'd rather talk about what happened without Mikasa having to be reminded.

Eren nodded and pulled Mikasa into the kitchen, helping her into the chair, and scooping out some soup into a bowl for her. Mikasa hadn't spoken on the whole way back, and Eren was quite worried about her, especially her mental state. He kept thinking back to when he first saw her, tied up on the ground. She had beautiful, inky black eyes; but they were so dead, just empty pools with no life in them. He was absolutely positive that she gave up on life, and just…broke. Her heart, her soul, her mind…it was all broken. She didn't see a reason to live anymore. She didn't want to live anymore. She was just…done. That's when Eren promised he would put some life back into those eyes, that he would do his best to help her, fix her shattered self.

He was never going to stop trying to help this innocent girl.

Mikasa stirred her food around. She wasn't hungry. She felt awful. She felt like throwing up. Every time she closed her eyes, or as much as blinked, gruesome memories would flash before her, making her lose her appetite.

Eren said softly, "I'm going to go set up your bed, okay?"

Mikasa nodded, pulling her scarf up to cover her nose again. Eren was not aware of how much that one piece of cloth meant to her…right at the moment when she felt like she was going to be alone forever, living out on the streets as an orphan with no reason to live, with no family, no place to call home.

Then suddenly she was warm. Suddenly, she had someone she wanted to protect, to stay with until her last breath, to keep any sadness and pain from hurting him.

The one thing that Eren could figure out is that he put some life in her eyes when he coiled that scarf around her, which is what he wanted. Then, they invited her home, and the one thing that her eyes were saying to him as they filled with tears, was… 'please hold me.' And he would. Forever and ever.