Let this be our prayer
Chapter 12
You know when you've met someone and over a short amount time it feels like you've known them for a lifetime.
Maybe some bonds work that way.
And maybe some were made that way.
Eren felt this way whenever he was with Mikasa.
There was just something about her that felt so familiar.
It had only been a couple of days since he met his friend, yet it felt like she was always at his side waiting for him to acknowledge her.
The feeling was strange, but it's the only way that he could describe it.
Currently they were in Mikasa's dorm, her roommate, Annie, in a class at the moment.
"I thought Shinganshina was supposed to be a warm place. Has it been like this before, Eren?"
"Sometimes, but it's kinda weird for it to be like this. It'll pass in a couple days."
"Hope it passes soon. Never got cold like this in Trost."
Both college students found themselves lazing on the couch, some random sit-com they weren't even watching, and complaining about the weather.
God, college has messed them up.
When Mikasa excused herself to answer her cellphone, Eren merely let out a small groan as she left.
The brunet yawned and nearly bit his tongue when he heard Mikasa yell and come running into the living room, frantically looking between Eren and her bedroom door, ultimately leaving him alone and running into her storage closet to pull out a duffel bag.
Eren cautiously got up and went over to his friend's door, leaning on the frame, watching her make a mess of her once clean closet, "Uh, Kasa, what are you doing?"
"I'm packing to go to Trost, mom told me Levi isn't feeling well." She shoved clothes into the already full duffel bag.
Making his way over with a sigh, the brunet gently took the sweaters from his friend's hands, guiding her to have a seat on the edge of her bed, kneeling down in front of her, "Okay, take a deep breath. Just do as I do."
For several moments, the two practiced breathing motions until Mikasa had calmed down after twenty or so minutes.
"Now, calmly tell me what happened."
The female nodded, "Mom called and said that Rico had called them saying that Levi had been feeling unwell the entire day in his office, and that she had arranged for my parents to pick up my younger brother and stay the night with them. Rico knows whether or not if he's doing okay, and because she called that means there's something wrong with him. Eren, I have to go and see if he's okay."
With all the stories he'd heard about Mikasa's older brother Levi, it wasn't really all that much of a surprise that she wanted to rush to his side; the girl held him in the highest regards.
He needed to choose his words carefully otherwise his friend would no doubt be making her way back to Trost.
"Look, Mika, the fact that someone already looked out for him, Rico was it, already proves that he's in good hands. She obviously could tell he needed some time alone and figure out what was weighing on his mind and not making him feel well. And judging from the things that you've told me, he doesn't want you to worry right now. Even though I don't know Rico or Levi as well as you, I know they would easily tell you to go back home or not."
Eren reached up and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, his smile understanding.
"Come on, Kasa, try and rest. Once you're a little better, call your mom again with a level head, okay?"
Mikasa nodded, crawling towards the head of her bed, pulling the covers up, and burrowing herself in them.
The brunet carefully placed his friend's phone in his back pocket so she wouldn't be tempted to call anyone while she was supposed to be resting.
He was almost out the door when Mikasa called out to him. Eren turned from his place at the door, "Yeah?"
"I'm...still cold."
Eren left out a gentle puff of air through his nose, "Hold on a sec."
He went into the living room and picked up his red scarf laying on the armrest of the couch.
"Sit up." He told Mikasa when he walked back into the bedroom.
The girl did as she was told, letting out a surprised noise as she felt Eren's scarf wrap around her neck gently.
"Here. This should keep you warm."
He guided his friend back down onto her bed.
Mikasa smiled up at him, "Thank you, Eren...for being a good friend and for the scarf...I feel...safer with it on..."
Eren felt a small laugh escape before it registered in his mind, "Of course. I'll wrap it around you as many times as it takes for you to always feel safe, Kasa."
He ruffled her hair before he finally left, the door gently closing behind him.
The brunet sat in his friend's living room, idly turning Mikasa's phone in his right hand, and the other nursing a cup of lukewarm coffee.
He decided to get something warm to drink to calm his nerves, well more like Jean convinced him when he called the other to talk to calm down.
Jean even offered to postpone their date if he was still worried about Mikasa; luckily Eren said they would be fine and that Annie would look after her in his stead if anything happened.
When he messaged Annie, his heart was still beating rapidly from calming down his friend, and the blonde must have understood his inner turmoil enough to not say anything on it.
Placing his cup on the coffee table, Eren looked down at Mikasa's phone and reluctantly punched in her pin number.
He opened up the camera app and changed it to a video.
Eren took a deep breath before he began speaking, being mindful of his voice as to not wake up Mikasa.
He then gave a nod once he saw it was recording, "So, I don't know you personally, but Mikasa has talked a lot about you. She really looks up to you, ya know? When she got that call from her mom earlier, she looked real worried. It took a friggin miracle to calm her down and not make the trip back to Trost."
The brunet took a shaky breath, "I really thought she would start crying when she heard you weren't feeling too well. Mikasa really loves you and while she might try to hide it with tough love sometimes, I know she would easily drop everything and rush to your side even if you only got a goddamn paper cut."
Rubbing the back of his head, he kept speaking, "And I know Mikasa is really important to you too. But just from the stories she's told me, she knows that you would just try to hide everything and not tell anyone what was wrong. Your brother Farlan must agree too. I practically had to wrestle her phone away so she wouldn't message her younger brother to check up on you. Even if your entire family is worried, sometimes you just need some alone time to figure things out. Which now that I think about it takes back my previous statement about needing to not bottle up your feelings. I'm not a straight A student if you couldn't tell."
Eren paused when he heard the bed shift from his friend's room, keeping silent for a minute before continuing, making a mental note to try and somehow edit that out later. "My point is, I hope you get better. Cause if not, I'll gladly drive Mikasa down to Trost and knock some sense into you. Which, honestly, I don't think Kasa would mind. And..I guess I wouldn't either. I'd get to meet you. Still feels kinda weird to send your friend a video message to her brother who you've only heard about through stories."
"Yeah, so, I hope you get better. And I hope to meet you sometime soon, Levi." He gave a small wave towards the camera before he hit stop.
The brunet spent several minutes editing his video and then another minute to find the right number.
He stopped for a moment and stared at the picture that was registered to the number and name of Lee.
It must have been taken when Mikasa was a child.
She was held in a teenagers arms, the male looking significantly like her.
His black hair was combed to the side, showing his shaved side, otherwise piercing eyes looking at the child fondly, his lips pulled into a small smile, and his face clear of any blemishes, proving he would be a real looker when he got older.
Mikasa looked so happy in the picture, having a wide smile and cradling a small black alpaca to her chest.
He must have spent some time looking at and only snapped out of his stupor when the phone gave a small ping letting him know his video was ready to send.
Eren attached the video in a message format and hit send.
He got up and plugged in Mikasa's phone to her charger by the kitchen table and went back to try and watch television.
"Come on, Armin, lemme look at your notes."
"So you can take a picture and cheat on the test? Don't think so Jean."
There was a loud groan that was still somehow heard from the pillow that was used to cover the blonde's face, "You're so mean to your best friend's boyfriend."
Armin sighed, looking up from his advanced placement math book and then at Jean, "Just because you're dating my best friend doesn't mean I should help you cheat on a test you should have otherwise been studying for."
Jean lifted his face from the pillow, giving his best puppy dog eyes, "Alright, if you won't let me look at your notes, will you at least help me study for it?"
The only person in the world who could ignore a look like that was without a doubt Eren. Unfortunately, he wasn't as strong as his best friend. "Fine. Get up and bring everything with you over here."
Getting up from the bed he was laying on, Jean quickly got all his things and gently nudged Armin over as he set his things down.
"Alright, so I'm having trouble with this..."
Eren looked up from his phone when he heard the front door of the apartment open, "Hey Annie."
"Eren." Came the blonde's reply as she set down her bag by the door and made her way into the kitchen.
"I made some dinner since I ended up staying over longer. Hope you don't mind."
Annie poked her head out from the kitchen, a gleam in her eyes, "You made hamburg steak."
The brunet couldn't even help the grin that made its way onto his face, "Consider it compensation for being here longer."
"You're a good man, Eren." She then turned and no doubt went to dig into her favorite meal.
Thank you Bertolt and Reiner.
He stayed on his phone a while longer until he felt the couch shift beside him.
Annie had a very content look on her face.
"Enjoy?"
"Yes. Thank you."
They sat there for another solid while until the blonde tapped his shoulder, "Hmm?"
"...Thanks for calling to tell me Mikasa wasn't feeling well. I would have been..."
"Worried?"
Annie slowly nodded, "Mhm. I know I've only known her for a couple days, but, she's really good, and...my friend."
If there was one thing that Eren was absolutely certain of, it was that Annie didn't really make friends easily. Bertolt and Reiner were the primary reason any of them could really call her a friend.
Eren offered her a smile, "I'm glad she's your friend. And thanks for looking after her this weekend."
"Yeah. Is there anything I should know when I'm taking care of her?"
"I'd say just make sure she talks to her family calmly. We really don't need her running out the door and back to Trost, unless it's serious of course."
The blonde nodded, "Where is she anyway?"
"Her room resting up. I need to check on her anyway and see if she needs anything."
Eren excused himself while Annie continued watching television.
Opening her door gently, the brunet quietly walked over and placed a hand on Mikasa's exposed shoulder, frowning when it felt too warm to the touch.
Before Eren could say her name and wake her up, he listened closely and could hear her straining to breathe.
"Mikasa? Mikasa, wake up." He started to shake her shoulder in an attempt to wake her up.
Slowly, she began to wake up, "E-Eren?"
Placing his hand on her forehead, the brunet hissed at how hot it felt, "God, Kasa, you're burning up. Annie!" He called over his shoulder, "Get the thermometer from the bathroom!"
He heard Annie's feet pad on the carpet as she went to get what he needed.
"Got it."
Eren took it and placed the thermometer under her arm and nervously tapped his left foot as he waited.
"She okay?" Annie stood by his right side as she looked down at her friend worried.
"I don't know. She wasn't showing any signs of having a fever earlier."
After two minutes, Eren removed the thermometer from under Mikasa's arm, "Its 102. That's high."
"I-It...hurts t-to...b-breathe...a-and I c-can't...m-move my b-body well..." Was the raspy reply they both heard.
The brunet brushed aside her black bangs, "When did you start feeling bad, Kasa?"
Both waited for a reply and never got one as Mikasa lost consciousness.
"Eren, we need to get her to a doctor."
"Which doctor? It's ten o'clock at night. Even the urgent care is closed."
"We have no choice but to take her to the hospital. There could be something worse happening under the fever."
Glancing down at his friend, hearing her strained breathing, the young man really didn't have a choice.
"Alright. Get her purse with all her identification, car keys and her phone. I'll carry her."
"Be careful." Annie told him as she ran out of the room to get things ready.
Pushing the blankets off from her body, Eren tucked his arms under and lifted, cradling the girl to his chest.
With help from Annie, the young man got their friend safely into the car and neither spoke as they made the trip to the hospital.
Once they were at the hospital, Mikasa was quickly admitted and both were told to stay in the waiting room for any further update.
They were advised to contact family because even thought they were friends of the patient, they really couldn't release any information.
While Annie went to get them both some tea and coffee respectively, Eren paced back and forth in the empty waiting room, wondering how he could break the news to Mikasa's parents.
Because of the time difference, it would no doubt be much later in Trost than it was in Shinganshina.
Unlocking her phone, Eren found Mikasa's dad's number.
He selected the number and slowly sat down as the phone rang.
Someone picked up after the fifth ring, "Mmm, Kasa, what are you calling so late for?" The man's voice was slightly slurred with sleep.
"Excuse me for calling so late, sir. But are you Kenny Ackerman, Mikasa Ackerman's father?"
The man on the other end immediately woke up more hearing a male voice as opposed to his daughter, "Yeah, I am. Who is this?"
"My name is Eren Jeager, I'm Mikasa's friend from college. I apologize for calling so late, but I wanted to call because Annie, her roommate, and I had to take her to the hospital."
"Holy shit." He heard bed sheet rustle, "Is my baby girl okay?"
The young man sighed, "Unfortunately I don't know. Earlier at her apartment, I went to go wake her up and see if she needed anything, and I took notice that she had a high fever. Since there's no doctor's office or urgent care open, Annie and I decided to bring her here since we didn't know if it was just a fever she has. The doctors won't tell us anything since we're not family and they told us to call you."
He heard Kenny get up out of bed and waking his wife up, "Thank god you called, kid. Really, thanks for taking Mikasa there. I'll get the family together and out to Shinganshina. You tell the doctor's we'll be on our way."
"Of course, sir."
"Really, Eren, thank you for looking out for my daughter."
"Yeah, Mika is a good friend of mine and I'd easily do this again."
After wishing her father a safe trip, Eren placed the phone down in his lap.
"How'd they take it?"
Taking the cup of coffee from the blonde, Eren sighed, "As well as any parent getting a call from their daughter's friend letting them know she's in the hospital."
Annie cursed under her breath as she sat down beside him, "When are they getting here?"
"He said more than likely late in the morning or early afternoon."
Placing her hand on his shoulder, Annie leaned in close, "We did the right thing. All we have to do is wait."
Eren nodded, placing his hand over her's, "Yeah."
All they could do now was hope Mikasa was alright.
Armin slowly moved out of his bed, glancing over at his couch from his open bedroom door, nodding to himself once he saw Jean was still asleep.
The big idiot insisted on sleeping over, so the blonde made him sleep on the couch, making his small job just a little more difficult.
Moving to his laptop that was charging on his desk, Armin carefully pulled out his chair and sat down, being mindful not to tap on the keys too loudly, not wanting to wake Jean up.
He opened up his email and made sure the one he sent out was deleted from the recipients own mailbox.
Eren Jeager, or should I perhaps say Eren Yeager?
Like it really matters, you know both names are yours anyway.
How many years has it been now that I've last seen you? Two thousand maybe? Who really even keeps count anymore?
It's so foreign seeing you live a normal life and not being met with complete disgust. Who knew the titan shifter would get the normal life he wanted? And here I thought I would get the pleasure of killing you again in this life!
It's a real shame the corporal isn't with you. I would do anything in this world to see that broken look in his eyes at seeing you murdered at my hands again.
Whose hands you might be asking? Come now, cadet Yeager. You should know by now. You've had two thousand years to figure it out!
Ah, that's right. You don't remember in this time line. You're just as useless now as you were back then.
Humanity's last hope? Please, don't make me laugh.
Cadet Yeager, you better hurry and find your captain. Someone might just snatch him up. And that someone, is closer to him than you think.
He knew how wrong it was to mess with his best friend, and then hack into the other's email just to erase it and make him believe he was seeing things.
But if it would mean that he could keep the reincarnation of Eren Yeager alive and well, away from Levi Ackerman, the same man Eren was trying to find, then so be it.
It didn't take him long to realize humanity's strongest was alive and living in Trost, and that their Mikasa from the past was the same Mikasa they recently met.
She was safe to keep around as she didn't posses any strange behavior that she remembered things from the past.
Armin only wanted to keep his friends safe.
That's what he told himself as he began typing out another email to Eren.
"I'm only keeping you safe from harm Eren."
End of chapter 12.
