"Eren. . . he. . he. . . AGH!" Armin had collapsed onto the ground sobbing uncontrollably. He lay there as if the life had been driven out of him in a swift of a punch. I remember just looking at him, frozen still waiting for him to continue.

"Armin," I whispered. "Tell me, what happened?" Please no, please don't let him say it. My vision began to blur, clouding the image of Armin's trampled looking form. He looked like a doll left discarded in ruins.

"Eren is gone, Mikasa," he wailed at the top of his lungs looking at me straight in the eyes, despair stretched at every inch of them. "H-He d-died trying to save me. . . The titan swallowed him, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

I couldn't move, my breathing stop, my figure frozen in place, just looking at Armin.

No. No. No, Not Eren, of everyone not Eren. Why couldn't they have me instead? Please not him. I wanted to fall there and sob at the skeletal dread that branched its way inside me, spreading throughout my limps and chest. I wanted to scream at the sky, scream out everything. Mom. Dad. Mrs. Jaegar. EREN!

Instead I turned and looked at the others behind me. They all looked at me with pity as the idea of Eren's demise seemed to process throughout their minds. Even Annie seemed to have something fall in her stone-like eyes. I felt a hand on my shoulder that seemed to calm me a little. I turned to see Jean looking at me sternly, as if to see my reaction. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, waiting for my reaction. I just stared at the ground and didn't utter a word.

Yes this had happened. Eren is. . . gone. He is gone. Nothing can bring him back. Nothing. I began to repeat this to myself again and again. I heard the sniffle that must have belonged to Armin. Armin, I thought. He saw it, it was much more terrible for him. He loved Eren as much as I did. I turned to Armin and crouched toward him and looked him in the eyes.

His eyes widened staring at my face in shock. My inners burned in shame. Armin was scared of my reaction, as if i was expecting to come at him with my sword and slash him in my pain. To be honest, some small part of me wanted to do that very exact thing. I wanted vengence. I wanted him to feel the pain that Eren was feeling. . . no, felt. . . felt.. . Eren felt it.

I looked at Armin, giving an attempted of a smile to calm him down. There was no time to dwell at what had happened. The Titans were entering the city in a quick pace and we needed to act fast.

"Armin, take a deep breathe." Armin didn't respond, he just kept staring at me in horror, dried tears glistening on his sunken cheeks. What did he expect, me to kill him in my sorrow. No not with that look in his eye, no he was hoping. I merely looked at him, trying to hide the terror in my heart. "This isn't a time to be emotional."

There is no hope left in this terrible world, I thought to myself as I grabbed Armin's hand to raise him. Eren's demise has proven that, this is a terrible world we live in indeed.

We all turned our heads quickly to the source of the noise. Titans! The head tower was surrounded with them, they crawled and bit at every turn, trying to grab as much prey as possible. DAMMIT! That is where the gas tanks are. It seemed that this was the realization that was going through the minds of the many stationed near me. Soon cries of panic began to spread amongst the crowd.

"NO THE TITANS ARE COMING."

"Dear lord what's going to happen to us, they would have eaten everyone."

"I don't wanna die, what do we do."

My teeth began to grind cutting the soles of my already sour gums. Pathetic why did they join if they were going to panic like this. That was it though, panic, it was creeping amongst our minds, destroying us slowly. I got up taking Armin's hand to raise him to his feet. I turned to Marco, glaring at everyone around me.

"If we take out the Titans at the Headquarters, we can replenish our gas supplies and climb the wall. Does that sound correct?" I looked straight out at the towers, at the wrinkled skin, the searing red of the mangled bodies, the yellow of the blades that we call teeth. Marco looked at me quizzically. Then, suddenly realizing what I was saying his brow furrowed.

"Yeah, but Mikasa even with your abilities, there are still too many for us to handle on our own."

"We can do it," I snapped, giving him a sharp glare. Everyone's eyes turned to me, lost. . . confused. Marco and Armin stared at me, horror stretched throughout his expression.

"I'm strong, stronger than all of you. I can still kill many more Titans. Even if I'm alone. You're either incompetent or you're spineless cowards. Your pathetic, you can sit here and suck on your fingers. Yeah, do that," I scuffed. As expected the others began to clutch their weapons and got closer.

"What are you saying Mikasa?"

"You want to fight all those Titans by yourself?"

"Yeah there is no way you can do that!"

Haha how pathetic, I thought. I merely glanced at them, keeping my expression blank. Eren would have said the same thing. . . No. No.

"If I can't, then I'll just die. But if I win, I live," I turned to glance at them one last time. "Unless I fight I cannot win."