A silence veiled the night. The chirping of cicadas was absent, the only living sound the paced heavy breaths of the woman who clutched her balcony rail with a pale fist as she redigested the words of her old acquaintance.
'You know where Eren is?' Mikasa finally whispered, her words coming out hoarse.
'Yes.'
'Where?'
An unbearable delay followed and then a laboured sigh. 'Gone,' Annie said tonelessly, 'he was taken again two days ago.'
The words hit Mikasa with the force of a freight train. Whatever tiny sliver of hope had been reignited in her heart in those brief seconds was violently extinguished. With the darkness came the memory of seven years ago.
She saw the black van that had taken Eren away - watched his blown out eyes as he was gagged and lifted so easily off his feet by his two captors. She never knew what the last thing he had screamed against the gag in his mouth was. All she remembered was the desperation of his shout.
She was at least thirty yards away from the van, just coming back from college when she had seen it happen. Even as she dropped her books and sprinted full pelt across the burning asphalt on that last summer's day, she knew she was never going to reach him in time. The plateless van was already pelting away at 30mph by the time she had reached the street corner on which he was taken.
That memory from seven years ago, which she had forced so far down into herself, resurfaced so violently in that moment she bit her lip hard enough to burst it open. She had failed him. She was supposed to protect him, and she had failed. She had searched so desperately for him in those first years, tearing apart every dead end and useless lead she could without relent. But now, at least in the last few years, she knew in her heart she had given up. When she lost the pride of the Ackermans, she lost the belief in her own ability, and she lost faith in Eren's survival. But now, there was a chance. Mikasa gripped the phone hard enough to make the plastic casing creak.
'Who took him? Are the police following him? Annie!?'
'Yes, I'm still here. I can't say for certain who took him, but I do have a guess.'
'Who?' Mikasa pressed with urgency.
'And if I'm right,' Annie continued ignoring her, 'I can't involve the police-'
Mikasa lost her calm entirely. 'Annie, you bitch, listen to me! If you think playing with Eren's life to cover your own ass-'
'If I'm correct in my assumption and call the police, he'll end up dead.'
Before Mikasa could redigest the information, Annie spoke again. 'Come to the Blue Dragon Inn at midnight tomorrow evening. It's on the west side of town. Use the back door. We'll talk there.'
'The west side? Look, Annie, I'm not here to play any games. Just tell me where he is!'
A small beep in Mikasa's left ear indicated the call had ended.
She stood shuddering in the warm night air, gripping the plastic phone so hard it began to crack under her vice grip. What in the hell was happening tonight?
She glared at the peaceful dawn breaking over the starlit town of her upbringing. She spat hatred at its residents and hauled the phone with tremendous force over the balcony. The sound of shattering debris a few seconds later indicated her means of communication with Miss Leonhart had been promptly ended. She cursed her foolhardy rage, still shaking as the realisation of her new situation dawned upon her.
Under the glimmer of the white moon, she made the most impetuous decision in the last years of her dull married life. She wouldn't call the police that night. She would meet with Annie Leonhart at the Blue Dragon Inn the following night.
/