MANGA SPOILERS IF YOU DIDN'T READ THE SUMMARY

I've read time travel stories for Attack on Titan before, and they were always super interesting, but I noticed that there aren't that many for post-rumbling, where all the characters have been shaken up quite a bit by recent events, and so I decided to do that! Also, Mikasa is my favorite character, and I ship eremika hard, so I just had to do a Mikasa focused time-travel fic that has tons of fluff, angst, drama, and intrigue.

Enjoy! -Y

"...Will you make me one more promise?"

Mikasa tugs at him in melancholic despair, not knowing what he is going to say, but knowing that it wouldn't make her happy. Though, she supposes, her happiness was forfeit a long time ago.

"When I die... throw the scarf away"

Mikasa's face doesn't move, because, for some reason, she expected him to say that. She remains in his embrace, looking beyond his shoulder into nothing in particular. Her head realizing that none of this makes sense, but also that it doesn't really matter. Nothing ever made sense.

"You have a long life ahead of you..."

"So forget about me"

"Be free..."

His voice sounded like it used to, back before the basement, back before the curse, what felt like millennia ago. Except it was somber, a bit louder than a whisper. This wasn't real. Eren looked so beautiful, so pure, so strong, as if he was there just to be with Mikasa, and she knew that was just too good to be real. So when he said those words, a part of her felt relief, because at least this wasn't a fake. But, at the same time, he was hugging her... it had been so long since he hugged her, she can't even remember it. She remembers hugging him... when he came back to life, out of the neck of that angry, unshakeable titan.

She knows her love can't be expressed, so she doesn't bother. These are her last moments with him, so she doesn't want to waste her breath. It felt like he never understood her... he always thought of her as a nagging sister, or an Ackerman slave. But there's no time to express her sorrow. Instead, she takes him in. Instead, she indulges in his embrace one last time. One last time...

"Please..."

"Mikasa"

"Forget about me"

His voice loses its strength. Its purpose. All that remains is its desperation. She can feel the soft wind die, and the chirps of the birds and the bugs leave. She feels a crack shoot into her ears, which doesn't make sense, but she can feel herself react, even though she's standing still in his arms.

"I'm sorry", she finally says. Tears ghost her eyes, but they refuse to fall.

She finally realizes what she is going to do. She hears Eren say it, but hears him stay silent at the same time. She looks down at his shoulder, her despair now replaced with unfathomable pain, but resolution as well.

"I can't."

She's doing it. She's still in Eren's weakening embrace, but she knows that she's pulling the scarf back out. That damned scarf. The zenith of her love, of her devotion, of her strength, of her weakness. Without thinking, she wraps it around her neck like she has countless times, the memories of the day he saved her life jabbing at her soul.

He saved her life. And there was nothing she could do to save his.

Eren doesn't speak, but he tells her, and soon she feels herself relaying it to no one in particular.

"Eren... is inside the mouth"

And her innermost terrifying thought, the truth that she would so desperately trade anything for, anything in this titan forsaken world, ruptures out of her throat.

"I'll kill him"

"Everyone back me up"

She opens her eyes to see herself falling, stomach lurching once it processes the information, which gives her an agonizing sense of nostalgia, recognizing the familiar feeling to zipping on the ODM gear as she had done with startling efficiency since she was a trainee. The feeling most intense when fighting the female and armored titan, fighting harder than she thought she could, to save Eren.

He saved her life. And there was nothing she could do to save his.

But that's not true... she can save his life right now, she can save him from this cruel world. And so, without thinking, but thinking millions of thoughts, she enters the destroyed mouth.

"Forget about me"

She won't.

Because if she does, then she might as well die. Because he was who showed her that this world was beautiful.

This world is cruel.

She can't process the horrifying picture in front of her, his head dangling on a bony string, rapidly approaching her vision as she pushes her weak legs to keep moving forward.

His face, despite all odds, was the same as hers. He was sorry, but relieved, and in so much anguish, just like her. Too occupied with looking in his eyes, and blocking it out of her mind and heart because she just can't, she doesn't comprehend that she's brought the blade completely through his bone.

Instead, anemoia washing over her soul, she sees his head down, sitting on the wooden bench, and she feels herself kneeling down towards him. The marks on his cheeks and under his eyes deepening, which should make her want to vomit. It should make her want to cry, want to hug him, and die with him.

But, despite all the horrors of this cruel world,

All she feels is love.

"See you later... Eren"

She presses his cold lips to hers, an act that should leave her in embarrassment, wonder, and tears, but all she feels is love.

Mikasa opens her eyes, the warmness of blankets and nearby candles enveloping her. The nighttime chirping of crickets is all she hears, and when she realizes she can see, a small, worried boy is standing over her bed. And when she realizes she can feel, an uncontrollable stream of tears fall down her cheeks.

There you have it. I know that this chapter was quite short, which will not be the norm for this story, but I felt that I needed a chapter dedicated to describing the inconceivable pain Mikasa was in during this most recent chapter of the Attack on Titan manga. I may come back and edit this to take into account the final chapter that is coming out next month, but if my predictions of the chapter simply explaining Eren's motivations for everything and wrapping up the story are correct, then I shouldn't have to. Thank you for reading! And If I made you tear up, then I succeeded! Rest assured, this will not be an overly angsty story, this was just a vital scene needed to set up Mikasa's character in this story and set the stage for the time travel. Please leave a review if you enjoyed and let me know why! -Y