Mikasa Ackerman wouldn't hurt you if you didn't get in her way. She wasn't a sadist or a murderer. She didn't kill for sport.
In fact, of the three Ackerman siblings, she considered herself the least evil. She wasn't like Kenny, who inflicted pain for its own sake. Nor Levi, who'd never once expressed care for any human being, as long as she'd known him.
Mikasa was just very goal-oriented.
Sometimes, in order to reach her goals, she had to lacerate flesh or shoot people in the face. But, hey—was she really going to feel guilty about that? It was the universe that was cruel—not her. In every kingdom, in each realm of nature, the strong preyed on the weak. Who was she to argue? No. She was just playing by the rules.
And so, when Ymir started asking questions, Mikasa answered appropriately.
"I heard the target's a little girl," Ymir said. The newest addition to the pirate gang, Ymir, was an excellent navigator, which was a plus. She was also incredibly crass, which was another plus. But underlying her tough exterior was a kind and empathetic woman… and that, well. That was a major drawback.
"If she doesn't put up a fight, she won't get hurt, probably." Mikasa said.
The two of them were sitting in the back of an open-roof automobile, as it chugged up the gravel-dirt road to the little cabin on the hill. Some of the Shiganshina townsfolk had mentioned that they'd seen a light falling from the sky, around this area. In the front seat, Kenny's large black hat fluttered in the wind. Petra drove.
"I heard the girl's cute." Ymir just wouldn't shut up.
"Cute girls die the same as regular girls."
"Yeah, but it'd be such a waste. We should kidnap her instead. How come we never kidnap people anymore? When I signed up, I thought it was gonna be a simple kidnapping-and-ransom gig. You know, pirate stuff. Instead, it's just been Crystal this and Crystal that. Laaame."
Petra, from the front seat, said: "Well, Ymir, once we get Laputa's treasure, we won't need to be pirates anymore. We'll be able to do whatever we want."
"Speak for yourself," Ymir said. She folded her arms across her chest. "I prefer a life of crime."
Kenny chimed in. "I gotta second Ymir on that one."
"See?" Ymir poked Mikasa. "How bout it, Miks? We put her in a sack and take her up to our place. She can stay with me. I got space in my room. Don't worry, I'll take care of her. You wouldn't even notice."
"No." They'd arrived at the cabin. As the automobile pulled to a stop, Mikasa pushed its door open. She stepped carefully down onto the rocks. "If she's here, we take the crystal. If she puts up a fight, she dies."
"Damn, Mikasa. Poor little thing probably doesn't have a choice. Have a little compassion, would you?"
Mikasa could feel the weight of the switchblade in her belt, pressing against her hip, aching to be held. She glanced at Ymir. "There's only so many people in this world I actually care about," she said. "I don't have time to spare, or the room in my heart."
"Ooh, Mikasa thinks she's so cool," Ymir muttered to herself as she stomped around the side of the little cabin to check for a back door. "I don't have the time to spare or the room in my heart. Oooooh. So edgy."
Little pebbles and pieces of gravel crunched beneath her boots. As she turned the corner, she collided with two young boys coming the opposite way. She let out an "oof" in surprise.
One of the boys had brown hair, and when he looked up at her she saw he had green eyes. Just like the emeralds we're gonna find in Laputa, she thought. The other kid was wearing a hood and had his eyes downcast and away.
"Hey, buddo, you seen a little girl around here?" she asked. "Like, around your height but with blonde hair?"
"Sure, there's lots of girls like that in our village," the brown-haired kid said. "You mean Suzy, or Alexandra, or Barbara, or Yelena, or —"
"Uh, hold on, not someone from your village. Maybe someone new?"
"Someone new?" The boy looked up at her with a clueless smile.
"Whatever. Never mind." Ymir shook her head and muttered to herself. "Thanks for nothing, kid."
"No problem!" he chirped back, and a second later he and his friend were dashing off down the hillside in the direction of the village. Ymir waited for them to get some distance, and then cautiously entered the cabin through the back door.
There were lots of lame pictures on the walls, and in the main room, a large wooden skeleton of an aeroplane. Whoever lived here must have fancied themselves an engineer. Ymir scanned the room idly. Books, pictures, and blueprints. Yawn.
Wait a second.
She approached one of the pictures—something about it had caught her eye. But it wasn't a picture at all—it was a photograph. "Hey, guys," she aired, to no one in particular. "This Laputa place we're looking for. It's a floating island in the sky, right?"
A grainy black-and-white photograph of a floating island, half-covered in cloud, hung in its frame in front of her. What were the odds?
"Ymir!" Petra said, emerging from one of the side rooms. Clenched in her hands, a light blue silk dress. "We need to tell Mikasa. She's in disguise!"
Ymir looked at the dress, looked at the photograph, looked back at the dress, and then remembered the two kids she'd just run into outside.
Oops.
"Quick, tell Mikasa!" she parroted back. "The girl's in disguise!"