Word Count: 1,182
"Come on, Eren, we have to keep running," Mikasa cried, dragging the boy in question by the arm behind her as they ran. "The lab's going to explode any minute now!"
"Mikasa, I'm sure we're far enough away, if you would just slow down long enough to let me transform-"
"You transformed forty-five minutes ago, you are not capable of doing anything if you transform now. Please just trust me on this," she begged, tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes.
Honestly, he should have been grateful that they even got out of that lab alive. After the mission to retake Shiganshina had gone horribly wrong and the few surviving Recon Corps members were captured, they were taken far, far beyond Wall Maria. They were dragged through forests and fields, mountains and meadows, over hill and dale as they hit the dusty trail.
They were eventually brought to another wall, the fourth wall if you would, outside of which was an enormous research lab near the ocean.
As it turned out, they were all part of a huge scientific experiment on human psychology that took place on an enormous artificially created island between two landmasses none of the Corps had ever heard of: Greenland and Europe, and it was funded by a thing called… Germany? It didn't matter right now.
Inside the lab (They weren't allowed to visit the ocean; Armin was devastated), they'd been asked a thousand mundane questions before getting placed in solitary confinement.
How she even got all the way out here with Eren in tow and Armin setting up a bomb behind them was frankly still a little muddled to Mikasa, but she didn't have time to question what the hell had just happened. All that mattered to her now was getting Eren out of this place alive and back to Wall Maria. Where they could be safe, where they could be a beacon of hope in this desolate world.
She wasn't sure where their comrades were, but they had Hange and Armin. Mikasa knew they were in good hands.
"Mikasa-"
"Eren." Mikasa suddenly stopped, pulling him aside. She wasn't sure if they'd be affected by the explosion of the lab, but if he kept grumbling like this, they'd be found anyway. "Please just shut up and do as I ask. I know I'm not your mom, but I love you too much to just have you die on me for something as stupid as you talking too much."
She was crying more openly now, but her intuition suddenly spiked and something told her the bomb was going to go off soon. Without warning, she yanked Eren close to her and hugged him tightly to her chest as a loud explosion suddenly went off and she felt a wave of almost suffocating heat suddenly blast into her face. Her eyes were closed tightly, thank goodness, but she could still see the light created by the bomb by seeing yellow and pink on her eyelids. Whatever Armin had just detonated, it seemed very powerful.
Her ears were ringing and she couldn't hear a thing; she was sure her ears were bleeding at the noise, though that may have just been a hallucination.
When she opened her eyes at last, black spots danced in front of them and the lab was on fire. The smell of burning flesh and blood filled the air, though that was already something they were used to at this point as soldiers.
She let go of Eren and gave him a once-over. Ash was settling in his hair (and probably hers as well, when she thought about it) and he seemed to have a few spots of blood and smudges of dirt here and there, but for the most part, they both seemed fine, save the fact that they were both probably partially deaf now.
The ringing in Mikasa's ears grew louder and she could feel a headache coming on in the back of her skull. She shook it off and yelled at Eren again to follow her.
He looked confused for a moment, but when she grabbed his hand and started running, he took the hint.
They ran for what felt like forever, the adrenaline of it all tiring them but dragging them forward all the same. If they stopped it felt wrong and they pushed themselves to continue, farther, faster, in order to reach the fourth wall. To reach Wall Maria, Shiganshina. To their home.
Eventually, their humanity got the best of them. When they reached the fourth wall just before dawn the next day, they collapsed in a heap at the base, exhausted and overwhelmed at the events of the last few days.
Mikasa tried to say something, but still couldn't hear herself, though the ringing in her ears and the migraine had subsided. So she tapped Eren on the shoulder and reached for a stick to draw in the dirt with.
Do you think anyone else survived? was the first thing she wrote, then looked hopefully at Eren, who shook his head. He gently took the stick from Mikasa's hand and scrawled:
What now? It's just the two of us.
We can start anew, Mikasa replied. Run off, never look back. Even with Historia as queen, I don't think we can lead the Corps on our own. It would probably be best if everyone thought we were dead. A lump rose in her throat as she continued writing. There's no one left who really cares anymore, anyway.
She unceremoniously tossed the stick to the ground when she was done and covered the lower half of her face with her scarf.
Eren reached over and grabbed the stick again, scratching out his previous question and replacing it with:
You wanna do that? It would be dangerous. And we can't just abandon humanity like that, doomed to just be lab rats for all of eternity.
What would we do if we returned? Mikasa countered, getting a second stick.
I dunno. Settle down, fight titans, go on with living, I suppose.
You're the one who spat at the soldiers for being more complacent than cows. We'd probably be labeled as a waste of time and resources if we returned to the walls like this; do you really want to live like that?
Eren frowned. She did have a point, after all.
Nobody exists on purpose. Nobody belongs everywhere. We're all going to die eventually, Mikasa continued, then with shaky handwriting wrote, Run away with me?
Eren peered at her curiously and she could feel a blush rising on her cheeks. She reached over to scratch out that last part when he caught her arm and gently pried the stick from her hand and tossed it away.
He shifted into a squat, as though he might need to jump up and run at any moment. With his own stick he wrote very neatly in the dirt:
Yes.
Author's Note iv. Why yes, that was a Rick and Morty reference at the end of that, I'm glad you caught it. This was written before chapter 82 came out, so it's a little old. It was another request from CaptainKalatar on Tumblr, under the prompt, "Things you said when it was over." Heh, I just dumped my headcanon/theory on the location of SnK/AoT in the beginning. Anyway, if you like the story so far, follow or fave, then you can get alerted on uuuuppdaaatesss~ Whoo. Leave your thoughts in the reviews, if that's what you're into, and as always, have a greaaaat daaaaay~~
