9. Not Alone

"What the…?" Eren muttered in horror as the gigantic face of a colossal-sized Titan loomed over the Wall Maria. He was confused-people were running around frantically and the voices were blurred together, everybody shouting and yelling too much to make any sense of the noise. Debris and dust surrounded everything he could see, and a sudden thought sparkled into his mind.

"Mom!" He shouted, his eyes widening in horror. He scrambled up on his shaky legs and began running toward the direction of his home, desperately hoping that his mother was alright, the debris hadn't hit her or the house. He faintly heard Armin shouting behind him, yelling him to get back.

"Eren!" His blond friend yelled, "What are you doing? We need to evacuate!"

"My mom!" He yelled back, "My mom might be hurt!" He didn't care if his friends didn't follow him. He didn't care if the titans were going to kill him now. He just needed to check that his mother was safe. As he ran and ran, he was vaguely aware of the sound of footsteps behind him-it was probably Mikasa who was following him. Armin was the smart one-and Eren was the impractical one. And Mikasa would do anything Eren did. She would protect him from everything she can manage. He had often found that quite a bit irritating-but now he was grateful for it. He was scared. He was scared for his mom, he was scared of the titans that were probably invading the city at the current moment by the broken wall, and he was scared for himself. But he ran anyway. He ran to the opposite direction to where his instincts screamed at him to run, and he was grateful for Mikasa-no matter how selfish of him that may be. So, with Mikasa at his side he fought against the flow of bodies toward his home, and he sighed in relief as he entered his neighborhood that seemed undamaged-except for his house. A cry tore itself from Eren's throat as he stared at his home, or at least what used to be his home, crushed by a huge boulder that used to be part of the Gate, with his mother under it. Desperation carried him forward until he fell in front of his mother, who seemed to be unconscious. Eren tightly clutched his mother with his small hands and shook her with all his might, just hoping, just willing for his mom to be alive.

"…Eren?" Carla Yeager's voice came out in a hoarse whisper as her distant, pain-racked eyes found themselves in the sea of green. Tears were streaming down from the boy's beautiful teal-green eyes, staining the grime-streaked face.

"Mom! Just wait a moment, w-we, Mikasa and I, will lift the boulder away so we can run away with you. Just hold on a second, just a second…" Eren pleaded as he moved to one side of the boulder and leaned against it, straining his weak arms and body to push it away. But of course, the boulder didn't move. It only sat silently on top of the house, refusing to move.

"Eren! Mikasa! What are you doing here?" Carla yelled through her painful, short-breathed gasps,

"You guys should be at the evacuation boat, not here! Go, run, Eren, Mikasa! I can't run with you anyway-my legs are crushed under the boulder, I can't run…"

"Then I'll carry you! If you can't run, I'll drag you onto my back and carry you with me! Mikasa, help me! Push the boulder harder!" Eren argued threw gritted teeth, refusing to obey his mother. Mikasa said nothing, only strained more against the cruel boulder.

"Eren, why do you never listen!" Carla cried, tears forming around the corners of her eyes. She turned to Mikasa, desperation clear in her voice.

"Mikasa, you're the sensible one, please run! Take Eren and run! Titans are coming from outside the wall…please…" She begged, yet the Asian girl, too, refused to run away. A low, echoing step ran through the ground as the titans began nearing toward the house. As Carla sobbed silently, almost devoid of all hope, the metallic sound of iron clinking together rang through the air like a ray of sunlight in middle of a storm.

"Hannes!" Carla shouted with relief as a blond man wearing a leather jacket with a pair of roses embroidered on it approached her and the children, 3D Maneuver Gear and swords in his hands.

"Please, take Eren and Mikasa and run! Titans are coming, please rescue my children-oh please-oh please…"

"Armin said that you guys will be here. Don't worry, Mrs. Yeager, I will kill the titans and rescue all three of you!" Hannes crowed with his Gear in hand just as a Titan with a disgusting sick smile plastered over its face appeared. He began running towards the titan and hundreds of thoughts began passing through his head as the distance between the titan and himself grew shorter and shorter.

I can definitely rescue just Eren and Mikasa without endangering anything else, but how about Mrs. Yeager? No, I will-I will kill this titan and rescue all three of them. I will pay back my debt of when Mr. Yeager cured my family from the disease before. I will KILL-

Hannes froze in horror as the titan's smiling face shadowed him, and suddenly he wasn't so sure. Fear began eating up on his heart and brain and his legs began to shake slightly. The determination was gone, replaced with fear and doubt. The blond man hesitated, making a choice.

Then he turned around.

Instead of killing the titan just as he promised he would, he turned back and began running away, scooping Eren and Mikasa into his arms as he ran. Eren, surprised, began struggling, but Hannes had too strong of a hold on him and he couldn't escape.

"What are you doing? Let me go! Mom is-Mom is still in danger!" Eren cried, reaching toward his mom, but Hannes kept running, kept running away, farther and farther from Carla. Carla, on the other hand, saw Hannes running away with her children and tears began streaming down her face with relief.

"Thank you…" She murmured. "Thank you, Hannes…" She raised her head again and began shouting.

"Eren, Mikasa, survive! You get that? Survive no matter what happens. Survive!" She yelled, and as they faded from her sight, her strong mind collapsed and she began crying now not with relief but fear.

"Don't go…" She pleaded, looking at the spot where Hannes, Eren and Mikasa had been.

"Don't leave me here alone…" Carla felt the huge, hot hand enclose around her and roughly yank her from under the boulder, almost ripping her legs in the process. She feebly struggled to escape, hitting the titan's rough skin with her fist. Her legs dangled uselessly under her, and she closed her eyes and muttered her final prayer before the titan bit through her abdomen.

"Dear God, please protect Eren, Mikasa and Armin-"

"If, if we pushed the boulder a little more, if you didn't take us then, then I could have rescued mom and come here with her…!" Eren cried atop of Hanne's shoulder, hitting him with his fist with all his might. Mikasa plopped down on the floor, her legs no longer able to support her. Her eyes were blank as her mind replayed the scene where Carla was being eaten by the Smiling Titan. She was murmuring something-something Mikasa couldn't hear…

"Mom…Mom…" Eren sobbed, tears streaming from his beautiful teal-green eyes. He had stopped hitting Hannes, but he was still crying, his weak, fragile body shaking pitifully.

"Eren…" Hannes softly called. Tears were streaming down his face also, dripping onto his brown jacket and staining the material into a darker shade.

"The reason…The reason you couldn't save your mother was because you were weak…" Hannes choked. He seemed to be struggling to speak. But he still spoke on, pouring the truth on top of the two powerless, crushed children.

"The reason I couldn't face the titan…was because I had no courage to!" He confessed, his yellow eyes directly meeting Eren's sea-green eyes.

"I'm sorry Eren…I'm so, so sorry…"

Mikasa blankly stared at them all, at apologizing Hannes and despairing, crushed Eren. Her own stream of tears rolled from her eyes, dripping onto the dry, dry ground.

That's right…She thought, that's right….the reason I couldn't save Mrs. Yeager was because I was too weak to do so. Just like a year ago. And I again let my dear ones die. Because I was too weak. Because I was too weak, Father and Mother and Uncle Levi died. And Mrs. Yeager now died too.

Because I was too weak.

"But sometimes, if you couldn't protect everybody you wanted to protect, then you just have to do your best to protect the remaining people." A voice whispered into her head. Yes. That's right. Uncle Levi told her that, didn't he…?

"If you couldn't protect everybody you wanted to protect, then you just have to do your best to protect the remaining people." Mikasa murmured.

"But what if there's nobody left to protect, Uncle Levi…"

But she had. But she had people to protect. She had Eren and Armin.

She wasn't alone in this world.

And she would protect them with her own life.

Armin paced around the dock, his bright sky-blue eyes searching his surroundings for his friends. The dock was crowded with hundreds of people pushing against each other to get into the boat, and all Armin could do was stay still in his spot, much less move around trying to look for his friends. He chewed on his lips nervously, standing on his tippy toes to get a better look around him. He breathed a huge sigh of relief as he saw a tall blond man usher two kids-one brunette boy and a raven-haired girl-toward the dock. The blond boy waved his hands frantically to get their attention, smiling widely as they trio approached him. However, his smile turned into a frown of concern as he saw that Eren's face was streaked with tears and Mikasa's eyes were as blank and empty as ever.

"Eren, Mikasa, what-" Armin started, then paled as he remembered. He, too, turned sober and grim.

"I'm sorry." He quietly apologized, but then was startled when Eren turned on him with a glare of fury.

"Sorry? What do you got to be sorry for?" He demanded, "You shouldn't be sorry. The titans should be sorry! They-They killed my mom. They ate her. And I-I only argued with her until her last moment…" He stopped speaking, a white-hot anger and determination blazing from his eyes,

"I swear that I'm going to kill all the titans! I'll annihilate them all! I'll exterminate them so not a single one remains!" He swore, almost spitting out the words between his teeth. His fists clenched so tightly they were white. Nodding, he hugged his brunette friend, and quickly led them on board to the ship that would carry them toward the inner part of Wall Maria.

"The ship's leaving; raise the gate!" The commander of the ship commanded, and the big, heavy gates started to raise, and the clamor of the people who hadn't yet gotten into the ship increased, the sound of shouting and desperation everywhere.

"No! At least let my child on board! Just my child…"

"I'll pay money to get in! I'll pay money, you hear? Just let me on!"

"Get off! I was here first, you stole my spot!"

Armin wanted to close his eyes and block his ears to what was happening. He just wanted to shut the world out but he was looking for one more person. As the ship began to move, and the stairs between the ship and the ground was lifted, his eyes searched even more desperately.

"Oi, you better sit down or you'll fall into the water." A low voice whispered into his ear. Armin jumped slightly, turning towards the man.

"You were able to get on board! I didn't see you get on, so I thought-"

"But I am here. I don't want to die, you know." Levi replied.

"Sit. It'll take a while to get to the dock of the Inner Walls."

A/N: I am so sorry that I did not update for a long time. You have my uttermost, heartfelt, utter apology. My Betareader went out of contact so I couldn't get my chapters proofread. So please forgive me if the chapter is a bit worse than usual. I wanted to give my readers only the best of my works possible-and I'm sorry that I can't. Please enjoy and reviews are greatly appreciated!