Chapter 4
In Between The Lines
Disclaimer: I don't own attack on titan, all copyrights go to the creator, whoever that genius may be. So yeah... I don't own it, I wouldn't be writing this story otherwise.
XLine BreakX
The bright rays of the sun enlightened the entire sky, and marked the beginning of a new day for the people of Wall Maria. The loud shouts of roosters woke up many people who were currently enjoying their peaceful sleep.
The sound of birds chirping was heard in many places and slowly the atmosphere that was cold due to the night started getting warm, due to the warmth that the sun rays were providing.
As the sunlight spread around the area, the various buildings, shops and offices in Wall Maria, were now visible as the darkness of the night vanished.
"You were dreaming again, Cain."
A young boy of 10 years old opened his teal-green eyes as he got up and held his hand to his head, dark brown hair falling across his forehead. He glances up to see a girl his age gazing at him with an stoic expression.
"What are you doing here, Mikasa?" Cain Yeager asked quietly. The girl didn't reply and grabbed the carrier of sticks. Gazing at her for a bit, Cain stood as well and grabbed his carrier and the two left the field to return home.
"Why were you crying, Cain?" Mikasa wondered as they began their walk, now traveling through town. Cain's brow twitched and he gave a scoff.
"Ha, like I would cry! I'm not a baby Mikasa," Cain told her, but she just kept her gaze on him causing him to huff. "Don't tell anyone I was crying alright? It'll ruin my rep."
"I won't, but…" Mikasa shook her head before going on, "If you don't know, maybe you should talk to me about it." She suggested.
Cain looked at her strangely, "Eh? Why would you want to know? It's not like it matters or anything." He suddenly shuddered when he saw the icy glint in her eye.
"It. Is. Important." Mikasa glowered and she jabbed his chest with her finger to emphasize.
"Itai! What the hell, Mikasa! That stings!" He rubbed the spot he had been jabbed and sighed, "... It was just another dream about Onii-san." He muttered with a sad look on his face.
Mikasa eyes softened and she placed a hand on his shoulder, "It's okay, Cain. You'll find him soon."
Cain smiled with a determined glint in his eye, "Yeah, I will."
"What were you crying about now, Cain?" Both kids looked up to see a man in a guards uniform which was a light brown leather jacket with two roses on the back, and white pants with brown boots and a black under shirt. The man had short cropped blond hair and a light mustache, he was intoxicated too.
"Hannes-san?" Cain muttered as he and Mikasa stopped. "Why would I be crying?! Ugh!" Cain gagged as he covered his nose. "You reek of alcohol!"
He looked taken aback. "I'm not that bad!"
"Your drinking again?" Mikasa asked, turning to Hannes.
"Um, yeah," the man answered sheepishly scratching his head, not because of the question but because of Mikasa's stare. It made him feel a bit guilty. "We've been on guard duty all day, and we started to get hungry and thirsty,"
Cain and Mikasa still didn't ease up on the gaze. "What? It's not that big of a deal to have a little alcohol in our drinks." This seemed to annoy Cain as he growled a bit before speaking.
"If your drunk, how are you supposed to fight?" The boy asked and this earned a somewhat surprised look from Hannes, and a sharp glance from Mikasa.
"Eh? When are we going to have to fight?" Hannes wondered.
"Are you serious?! The day is going to come when they break the walls down and come in!" Cain shouted causing Hannes to flinch a bit and scratch his head.
"Dammit Cain, don't be so loud," The man said with a grumble.
"Ha, you got spirit kid, if they end up breaking the walls, we'll do our jobs," One of the guards behind Hannes added with a smirk. Cain gritted his teeth and shook his head. "They haven't broken the wall down in the past 100 years,"
"Still! My dad said that its times like these when we are in the most danger! Mikasa?! Don't you agree?" Cain demanded, looking to his adopted sister figure.
Mikasa turned her eyes to the wall with a longing gaze before she sighed. "Let's just go, Cain. Don't waste time with lazy drunks." With that said, she continued the journey home, leaving everyone gawking.
Cain was the first to recover, frantically running after her. "O-Oi! Don't leave me behind!"
XLine BreakX
"Cain, I don't think you should join the Survey Corps,"
Cain paused in his walking and looked towards his best friend with an incredulous look, "What? You think it's stupid don't ya?"
"I don't think it's stupid but…" Mikasa stopped due to the interruption of the town bell ringing.
"The Survey Corps is back! The front gate is opening. Lets go Mikasa, the real heroes have come back!" Cain grinned as he grabbed onto her hand and ran towards the front gate.
When they arrived there was a crowd blocking the way, making him growl as he hopped onto a pile of wood to get a better look. He winced when he felt his hand enveloped in a tight grip. Looking towards his right he saw Mikasa standing beside him with her hand holding his.
Glancing around he realized they were higher then everyone else, which was the perfect view because he could see the Survey Corps coming. Cain was grinning widely as he watched them stride along, he glanced to Mikasa however to see the oriental had a serious look of distaste on her face.
Looking back towards the corps out of confusion, his eyes widened when he finally zoned in on the shaken and...guilty looks on their faces? Though their weren't actually any injuries, which surprised him, they all had haunted looks on their faces. Cain could feel the tension and see the shaking in their postures.
"Moses! Moses!" Everyone turned their attention to the aged woman who stepped out of the crowd in front of one soldier. "Moses! What's the matter? Are you alright?" The woman said, her voice full of worry and angst.
The soldier, whose former expression of guilt turned red with embarrassment, shuddered at the memory of the flaming Titan he encountered earlier yesterday.
"H-he's alive..."
The mother blinked in confusion, "Wha..."
"He's alive."
"Moses what are yo-"
"EREN YAEGER IS ALIVE!"
Cain stood there stunned, his body stilled in shock. Beside him, Mikasa's eyes lit up at the proclamation, a small grin of childish delight painting her usually stoic face.
Others weren't so positive.
"T-The demon lives?" One, a Wallist, stuttered.
"Its alive!"
"We must purge it!"
"Kill the demon!"
"SHUT UP!"
All eyes turned to a furious Mikasa in shock. Her eyes almost glowing with murderous hatred, a cold expression of pure malice that stunned everyone, even Cain, with the sheer ferocity in her eyes. The look on her face sent a chill up there spines.
Cain recovered first, glaring at Erwin, "Where is he? WHERE IS ONII-SAN?!" Cain was only half aware of all the eyes on him.
"He isn't with us."
"Don't lie to him!" Mikasa hissed, earning everyone's attention. Cain turned to his sister figure to see a snarl on the girls face. "Eren isn't dead!"
They all then looked back towards the commander who looked away from them, his sharp eyes dulling with an expression of guilt.
"He will return with Captain Zoe tomorrow morning."
Cain's eyes lit up before grabbing Mikasa's hand and walking away, not noticing Erwin's sharp gaze on his back.
He had to tell his parents after all.
XLine BreakX
"Cain, have you changed your mind about joining the Survey Corps?" Mikasa questioned, but the boy ignored her as they made their way home.
Mikasa would glower at being ignored if it weren't the fact that he was coming back.
Her hand snaked its way up to her scarf, black and plain, to anyone else it was nothing special.
To her it was more important then anything else in this city.
She sniffed it, the nurturing scent of honey and oak soothed her nerves.
I miss you Onii-sama...
XLine BreakX
"OKAA-SAN!"
Mikasa sighed as she followed Cain into their home. Really, she could understand his enthusiasm, she was feeling pretty good herself, but was it so hard to not scream when she's right next to him?
Quietly, she slipped past Cain and went upstairs to her room, but not before glaring venomously when she saw Grisha Yeager.
She left quickly, otherwise she'd drown under the tidal wave of utter loathing rising in her chest.
She was going to have to sleep in Onii-sama's room tonight.
XLine BreakX
"Eren wake up. Your mothers taking me out to the market." An Japanese accented voice pierced the sacred serenity of the morning.
The alluded just groaned in response, turning sideways. The girl that came to take the sleep of the boy in the bed sighed in exasperation and walked to his bed. Shaking her head with a disappointed frown, the girl made her way towards the bed with an expression that could have rival an exasperated mandrill. She could just shake him awake but she elected to take the whole bed cover from the bed in a single motion from her hands. The now visible boy grunted in vexation covering his head with the pillow.
"Mikasa, its too early" Cain whined, his voice muffled from the pillow.
The girl acknowledged as Mikasa, pop across his bed and started to pull his feet with her right hand, having a difficult time pulling Cain out of bed.
"Knock it off, let me sleep." He retorted irritably answering with the pull of his feet to the opposite direction.
Mikasa's hand flew to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Alright, but you have to wake up later."
"Alright, alright. I'll be up when you get back." Answered Cain with another muffled yawn.
Slowly at first, Cain removed the pillow and sat upright stroking his tired eyelids with his fists while yawning. His brow tightened in a deep thought while ridiculously he stood there for things to make sense. He let her head drop into her hands and groaned irritably at her laziness.
Jade looked at the retreating back of Mikasa with groggy eyes, a tuft of his dark hair sticking up from having been slept on the pillow the whole night and half of the day. He sleepily slid herself out of the bed and stumbled across the floor almost tripping his legs against the nightstand in a direct trip to the bathroom.
Mikasa turned to the bathroom door. "Don't take too long Cain, Grisha left this morning so you'll be by yourself." All she received in answer was subdued tired mumble and the shower starting to pour water.
Cain stood against the door scratching his head for a few moments, cracking her neck he sighed and slid down the door. His eyes misted over and soon enough he was shedding crystalline tears.
"Okaa-san, Otou-san... Why?"
His parents had been no where near as thrilled as he was when he told them of his brothers eventual return. In fact, they were the opposite. His mother had lost it, berating him for 'Listening to the lies of scum' before locking him in his room for the rest of the day. His father had remained quiet, shoulders dropped and an emotion on his face Cain could only decipher as guilt. In the end, both had refused the possibility that their dead son wasn't so dead.
"Onii-San is alive and he'll be here today."
A low moan and a face palm later, he left the bathroom and went into his room, falling back onto his bed in a pitiful heap.
As Cain wiped the tears of his eyes he felt something off.
The breeze that met his face was missing.
BOOM!
Cain's eyes widened when he saw a blast of yellow lightning strike just outside the wall. The force and impact was so much the whole city shook, causing people to stumble or fall. He felt his body vibrate from his feet up.
Cain stood up and watched as people started to go see what had happened. Running down stairs, Cain looked out the kitchen window to get a better look at what was going on.
His eyes widened however, when he caught sight of a steaming red hand gripping the wall. Realizing what it was, Cain quickly ran to the front and grabbed his shoes.
Looking back towards the hand, he and everyone else saw the head of the thing that fueled his nightmares as a child.
"T-Titan?!" His body locked up with fear as the Titan raised a full ten meters above the walls. He snapped out of it too late when he felt a shock wave slam into him, knocking off his feet.
Cain wasn't fast enough to react when he saw a large bell-belonging to the Wallist Church-come careening into his home. He barely had a chance to move before the roof collapsed, colliding with his legs.
Intense pain accompanied the impact, Cain felt every nerve and fibre of his being convulse and burn. This lasted only a moment before everything seemed to simply cease to be, no pain or anything else for that matter seemed to happen. Cain felt like everything simply disappeared, leaving only his addled mind to try and figure out what happened.
'What happened?' Cain thought, feeling nothing. 'Am I… dying?'
XLine BreakX
"TITANS!"
In the madness that surrounded her, Mikasa Ackerman ran; as fast as her small legs could carry her, lungs burning with the need for air, near hysteric sobs escaping her lips. Even in a state of emotional shock, her pace didn't falter, not with the stink of death tearing at her heels.
Shiganshina District-her home, was drowning in pandemonium. The wall had been breached by some gargantuan monstrosity and now everyone was being slaughtered, eaten, and devoured. And because they mere humans-without power-were left at the merciless hunger of the Titans. They were too few and the enemy too many.
All around her, the town fell to madness. She didn't care much. The death of her adoptive mother-the only one aside from two others she cared for-was only too easy to remember. There hadn't been a cry or scream, just a sickening squelch as a meteoric mass of brick ground her body into the earth. She was trying desperately to not fall apart. But the hysterical terror reduced her to little more then a frightened wreck. So she ran. It was only her protective instincts that were leading her towards home. Towards Cain. She was a kid! She couldn't fight these creatures and Cain definitely couldn't! What could anyone-
She turned the corner and her heart skipped a beat when she saw her home.
Or rather, her collapsed home.
"C-Cain...CAIN?!" She screamed as she dashed towards the wreck that had been a house. Was Cain okay? Maybe she was out of the house and was looking for them?!
"M-Mikasa..." The weak moan causes as her hopes died abruptly. With strength beyond her, Mikasa heaved the chunks of the rubble and her heart plummeted as she dug him out, revealing his legs were stuck under the roof debris and his legs were more than likely destroyed.
"No!" Mikasa frantically began to lift with all the effort her body could put forth, muscles screaming with overexertion. The drag of wood against flesh tore at her hands but she didn't notice, too focused on saving her little brother.
"Titans are coming in. Eren! Take Mikasa and run!" Cain ordered as the ground shook with the heavy steps of Titans entering the district.
"I won't leave you!" Mikasa hissed through her clenched teeth as her grip tightened. She knew it was impossible to lift it but she'd never give up.
"My legs are freakin' mush! I couldn't move if I wanted to!" Cain yelled. Even though he was young, he knew he was pretty much dead. Even so, he wouldn't lose his sister too.
"I can't! I can't leave you! He'd never forgive me!" Mikasa yelled with hysteric tears in her eyes.
"He? What are you-" Cain's voice died in his throat as he saw a Titan looming over them, a grotesquely large grin on its disgusting face.
His breath hitched when he realized something was flying. In a feat a human could never reach naturally, a blur of white, black and blue spun right past the Titans neck and into the building parallel, the brick wall buckling under the intense pressure, and leaped to the ground with finesse, a cloud of dust obstructing there view of there would-be savior.
There minds went blank with shock as the Titan, who seemed unaffected prior, suddenly swayed in its place, stumbling on its own feet as it began its descent towards earth. Its face went slack and unresponsive before roll off its shoulders, followed shortly by two portions of its neck disturbingly similar to sliced ham. The body fell last, the steaming corpse crashing into the earth with enough force to shake the entire street.
"Too easy."
Both pre-teens visibly jumped at the soft declaration. The dust settled and what they saw stunned them for two entirely different reasons.
He-the giant of a man was most definitely a me-wears inhumanly pale, black hair shadowing his face, pointed ears poking out of the raven locks. His chest was bare if one didn't consider the leather straps across his chest, a black cloak attached to his shoulders and matching pants ended
But what really caught their attention were the massive swords-too similar to the ones knights wielded in fairy tails-colored an elegant mixture of black and blue, each easily twice their height in length yet he held them like they weighed nothing more then mere sticks.
His eyes turned to them, black and acidic neon green eyes piercing them. Mikasa let a smile grave her face.
It was Eren Jaeger, if there was anyone Mikasa cared for more then herself it was him, it was because of him after all that she was still alive. He taught her many things including her most important life lesson in this merciless world which was to always fight to survive in this world.
"He'll be fine." Were the first words she heard out of his mouth. Then he turned his attentions upon her. Perhaps she'd been in a trance too long because she didn't remember him being in front of her.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
Trembling, Mikasa managed a nod.
"You've grown up," He observed with a small smile. "So very different from the little girl I remember, Mika-chan." Mikasa felt a deep blush reach her cheeks.
"Eren-kun~!"
Mikasa openly gaped as a brown haired woman clad in simple white and clothing ran down the street with a gleeful expression on her face. Her ire only rose when the woman wrapped her arms around her big brother and they met in a kiss.
When they parted it was Eren who spoke, his expression tightening when his eyes caught his brother. "We need to get him out of here. Now."
Hanji's expression matched his at the sight, "Your right. Can you lift the debris up so I can get him out of there?"
Eren didn't bother with a response, instead he set his blades into the ground and grabbed the roofs edge with one hand and lifted it with a grunt, grabbed his brother, who had fallen unconscious from probable blood loss, and pulled him out, careful not to bother his mangled legs. He tore the pant legs and refashioned them as best he could into bandages to halt any further blood loss.
"Hanji, please carry my brother and both of you follow me. We must get to the ships or Cain is as good as dead." Eren whispered softly, the inklings of sadness leaking into his voice as he pulled up the hood of his cloak.
With great care, Hanji gently picked up the crippled child with a grim expression and together, she and Mikasa broke out in a run led by the sword wielding hybrid.
XLine BreakX
Even in such a grim atmosphere, both women couldn't help but be awed by the efficiency and brutality he cut down Titans. He jumped across the walls like some kind of ninja and shredded anything unlucky enough to cross the path of his monster-sized swords, seemingly unfazed by the movements that were otherwise impossible.
As he motioned them under the gate, ignoring the confused glances of the military as the portculis ponderously edged ever closer to closing. Eren spared Mikasa a glance and with a jerking sensation she found herself secured against his back. On instinct her fingers dug into the cloak and she sniffed it, the familiar sent putting her at ease almost instantly as she slumped against him.
She briefly recognized the woman-Hanji as she had told her-was in his arms, Cain cradled between the two in an incredibly cute manner if not for the large blades still in his hands, before the world blurred with a sudden torrent of speed.
Eren sneered as he kicked down guards unlucky enough to cross his paths, a majority were simply hiding on the other side. Humans. They act like heroes yet cower in the face of danger.
Huffing to himself, Eren focused as steam hissed out of his legs and jumped with enough force to fracture the earth beneath his feet.
His lips curled at the panicked cries as he landed on deck, knocking over anyone close to him. He did not heed there protests nor there exclamations of fear, they could not see his face and he had something far more important to do.
He set down Hanji and, placing down his blades, lifted Mikasa off his back and sat her on the ground next to him. Carefully sheath his twin Sternbrand and gently took Cain from her arms, "Hanji, he's losing too much blood. I want you to grab a first aid kit and a transfusion kit now." She nodded and made off into the crowd in search of what was needed.
She returned shortly after with both kits in hand and both set to work with diligence beyond there years. Through all of this, Mikasa couldn't help but feel useless. After all, what could she do? She was not a doctor and she had failed completely in regards to protecting Cain. Even so, she wouldn't give up, she chalked it up to Jaeger family stubbornness infecting her.
With the basic treatment done, Eren assessed his brother again. His pulse was steady but too fast, and a check of the pulse points revealed a very good reason he wasn't waking-his pressure was too low. Cain's lips and eyelids were too pale, and his skin tone was middling shocky. He'd live, most likely, if nothing happened to send him further downhill, and if he could rouse far enough to drink something, but, best case scenario, he'd be off his feet for a week and off his game for a month.
Putting away the first aid kit, and making a note to restock on sterile dressings, Eren's eyes fell on the transfusion kit. 'If there was ever a time for it...' He sighed.
"He needs blood."
There was a silence as the information was digested. Eren remained silent as he waited for one of them to recognize the implications of that statement.
Hanji's eyes widened in realization, "You couldn't possibly-"
"Yes," He cut her off sharply, "Its either that or he dies. He's lost too much and you know it."
"A...ano," Both heads turned to Mikasa, who blushed at the sudden attention. "What are you talking about?"
The elders of the group looked at each other and Eren sighed.
"I need to give him my blood."
XChapter EndX