CHAPTER 2: The past's haunting
Mikasa Ackerman was nine years old. She had just witnessed her parents get murdered and was kidnapped by their murderers. They were human traffickers. She was tied up in a cabin, lying on the stiff ground. It was raining outside.
"Do you really think we can sell this one? We went into a lot of trouble killing her parents," one of the men asked.
"Take a look at her face."
The man flipped Mikasa over harshly, causing Mikasa to hit her head on the ground hard enough that her nose began to bleed a little, and it gave her a headache. The men couldn't care less.
"Pretty, but she's just a kid. I'm not interested in that kind of stuff," the man said.
"I didn't ask for your opinion idiot! She's Ishvalan! There used to be a race of people known as the Ishvalans, but most died out in a huge war. She'll sell for a fortune, that kid," the other man said.
"Unnn…it hurts Mom…" Mikasa said as her mother finished putting these strange tattoos on her arm.
"These tattoos have been passed down for generations in our family. They hold a one of a kind alchemy in them. Someday, when you have a child, you can pass it on as well!" Mrs. Ackerman said cheerfully.
"Say Mom…how do you have children?" Mikasa asked.
"Well…ask your father."
"Say Dad-"
"I'm hazy on the details myself. But I know! Mr. Jaeger should be here soon! How about you ask him?" Mr. Ackerman interrupted.
"Knock knock!"
"Well! Speak of the devil!"
Mr. Ackerman opened the door, but was stabbed when he did. He fell to the ground.
"Pardon the intrusion. Look, don't cause any trouble unless you want your head split open with thi-"
Mrs. Ackerman picked up a knife and charged at the men.
"Mikasa! Mikasa! RUN!"
"M-mom?" Mikasa looked terrified.
One of the men pulled out his axe, and sliced Mrs. Ackerman's head. Mrs. Ackerman fell to the ground, using her remaining moments to reach out to her daughter.
Mikasa began trembling.
"Hey brat! You better behave! Or else you get THIS!" the man that killed Mikasa's mom said, punching her.
Everything went black.
"…you told me to run Mom…but where? A place without you and Dad…is a place too cold for me to survive…" Mikasa thought, her eyes glazed over, and the place where one of the men punched her getting redder and redder with blood.
"Knock knock!" one of the man opened the door. A young boy around Mikasa's age with brown hair, emerald green eyes, and dark brown clothes, and a maroon scarf, was standing at the door with his hands behind his back.
"How did you find us, brat?!" the man shouted. The boy's eyes filled with tears, but Mikasa could tell they were fake.
"I…I got lost in the forest and saw this cabin, so…" he trailed off.
"Oh! You know, kids shouldn't be out here! There are scary wolves in the forest, and-URK!" he was interrupted when the boy stabbed him with a knife.
The boy used the knife to kill the other man in the room too. He cut Mikasa's ropes off.
"I'm Eren Jaeger. My father is Dr. Jaeger. I was tagging along with him to your house for a check up, but…" the boy trailed off.
"There were three of them," Mikasa said. Suddenly, the third kidnapper came into the room. He grabbed Eren by the neck and lifted him up.
"Did you do it?! Did you kill my partners?! You did didn't you?! I'm going to kill you, you little brat!" the man said.
"F…fight!" Eren said to Mikasa.
"Fight! If you win…we live…if you lose…we die…you can't win if you don't fight!" Eren croaked. Mikasa picked up Eren's knife.
"I…I can't!" Mikasa said. Suddenly she realized she had seen the same thing, over and over again her whole life. But she always…looked the other way. That's right. This world…is cruel.
It hit her that living was like a miracle, and Mikasa stopped shaking. She was in perfect control.
Fight!
FIGHT!
FIGHT!
Mikasa charged at the man, and stabbed him in the back.
"Do you have any idea what you've done!?" Grisha, Eren's father, yelled at Eren. They were right outside the cabin. The raining had stopped.
"I took care of some dangerous beasts! They only happened to look like humans!" Eren said.
"Eren!"
"The MPs never would've gotten here in time, and you know that!" Eren argued. Grisha took a deep breath, and turned to Mikasa.
"Mikasa. Do you remember me? I met you several times when you were still little…" Grisha said.
"Dr. Jaeger…where do I go from here? It's cold…I have no place to go home to anymore," Mikasa said with sad, broken, eyes. Eren felt something stir within him.
Eren uncoiled his maroon scarf from round his neck. He wrapped it around Mikasa. Mikasa looked up, surprised.
"You can keep this. It's warm, right?" Eren asked. Mikasa reached her hand up and felt the soft materiel. She was touched.
"It is…" Mikasa said, a tint of red on her cheeks.
"Mikasa, come live with us," Grisha offered. Mikasa's eyes widened.
"You've been through a lot. You need plenty of rest," Grisha said. Mikasa stood in shock. Eren tugged at Mikasa's sleeve.
"What're you waiting for? Let's go home. To our home," Eren said. Tears fell from Mikasa's eyes.
"Yeah…let's go home…" Mikasa said.
One year later…
Eren's mom died, and Grisha mysteriously ran off and never returned. Eren and Mikasa were left on their own. The two were already learning alchemy, and decided they were going to bring back Eren's mom.
"We just need all the ingredients that this book says. We can bring back your parents too, Mikasa!" Eren said.
"Really?" Mikasa asked.
"Yeah, of course!" Eren said. Mikasa smiled a little.
"Okay…"
"After so long, it's finally ready! After we bring back our Moms we can bring back your dad! Now, just put a drop of blood in here and we'll be good," Eren said, handing Mikasa a needle. They got a drop of blood each, and then they activated the alchemy circle.
There was a blinding light, then excruciating pain, and then…
Mikasa opened her eyes. There was a door in front of her, and everything else was white. Mikasa turned and saw a white human except it had no eyes and no nose. Just a mouth.
"Where am I!? Who are you?!" Mikasa asked.
"Me? I'm god. Or the universe. Or some call me the truth. Or everything. I go by many names," it said. The doors behind Mikasa opened and sucked her in. Mikasa saw so much, it was hard to take it all in. She wanted it to stop, it was too much…, but it also was teaching her amazing things. When she was thrown out the door again, she looked up at that thing that looked like a person.
"Let me see it again!" Mikasa said. The thing laughed.
"No. Also, you think that didn't cost anything?" it asked. Mikasa's arm suddenly disappeared and replaced the thing's arm. Everything went black, until…
Mikasa opened her eyes. She was bleeding from her missing arm. Her eyes widened when she saw the grotesque THINGS that was supposed to be his mom and her mom. They were bleeding, and their bones were on the outside of the body. One shakily reached out it's hands, and then it's arm collapsed as it died.
"N-no…this wasn't supposed to happen…Eren…! No…!" she muttered in horror, as she looked at the empty clothes on the ground.
She crawled over to a fallen suit of armor. Tears were streaming down her face as she pulled off the helmet of the armor.
"No…not him too…he's the only family I have left…my only reason…to live in this cruel world…" she said, absentmindedly sending a quick glance at her maroon scarf.
"Take my leg…take my other arm…take my heart…I don't care…just bring him back…" she said as she drew an alchemy circle out of her own blood on the inside of the armor. Her leg suddenly disintegrated and the armor came to life. She collapsed all the way to the floor.
"What happened?! I-Mikasa!" the armor exclaimed.
A week later…
Armin Arlert and his grandpa were watching over Eren and Mikasa. They were surprised a week earlier when Eren, who was a suit of armor, showed up holding a bleeding Mikasa with a missing arm and leg.
Mikasa was now in a wheelchair, only able to wonder how a week earlier she forgot that the world is cruel, that the dead stay dead, and that she thought she could get her family back when all she did was lose an arm, lose a leg, have her only family lose his body, and make both her mom or Eren's mom suffer a second death. Mikasa's eyes looked so empty. She wished she could change the past. Or that she at least couldn't feel the pain.
"Knock knock!" Armin answered the door. Colonel Mustang and Riza Hawkeye stood there.
"Grandpa!" Armin yelled. Armin's grandpa came over.
"Hello. Are you Mr. Arlert? We are here looking for the Ackerman and Jaeger kids," Mustang said. Mr. Arlert let them in. Riza sat down on a chair by the door and waited for the Colonel. Armin sat next to her.
"Hi. I'm Armin. Hey Mrs., um…are you gonna take my friends away?" Armin asked. Riza smiled.
"That's up to them. If they want to become a part of the military, then that's their choice," Riza said. Armin looked down.
"I…I just…don't know what I'd do if they leave…we've been friends for so long…" Armin said. Riza patted his head.
"They won't be gone forever if they decide to go," Riza said.
"I know…" Armin muttered.
"Hello. So you are Mikasa Ackerman and Eren Jaeger?" Mustang asked. The two kids nodded.
"We would like to offer you a job in the military. The Survey Corps to be exact," Mustang said. The two kids were silent.
"You two could sit here. Stay still and shroud yourself in darkness. Or, you could move forward. That's the only way you'll get through life. Move forward, and keep fighting," Mustang said. Mikasa stiffened.
How could she have forgotten? If you win you live, if you lose you die. You can't win if you don't fight.
"I…accept you offer," both Eren and Mikasa said at once. Mustang handed them a piece of paper.
"That has all the information you'll need. We expect you to get an arm and leg first, though," Mustang said.
"Sir, we should go," Riza said. Mustang nodded. The two went out the door.
"That was the saddest girl I've ever seen," Riza said.
"Is that what you saw? I saw fire in her eyes," Mustang said, thinking back to Mikasa's expression at the end, which sent shivers down his spine.
