Starting from this chapter, the fic will be Rated M

Heidi, thank you so much for proofreading this yet again~

LAWLESS


Chapter 4. Death


It was midday and the sky was overcast, just like how it looked at dawn. Historia closed her eyes and rested her temple on the cold damp glass of one of her room's windows.

"Eren…" she murmured, while in her lips a smile outlined. "Who would have thought about that?"

Historia couldn't completely believe it yet, but Armin himself had bothered to go and personally explain to her the situation, so it must be true: Eren had run away with an unknown girl, illogical as it seemed to her. Illogical because they were talking about him, the most awkward and uninterested in romance boy that could have ever existed.

She moved away from the window and her sight descended to the small rectangle of paper she was holding between her fingers. It had been folded again and again until it ended up in its small size.

Eren didn't understand a thing about romantic affairs, at least not when someone tried to involve him in one, but he used to make a small attempt to empathize with the matter when it was about the romance of someone else. Like Historia's case.

The girl was pleased and, at the same time, sad after receiving Armin's news. Although at the beginning Eren's well-being had concerned her, Historia was happy for him and for his sudden rashness. However, she saddened as she realized that the secret missive written by her own hand won't reach her addressee, given the messenger got involved in an improvised idyll.

Historia clicked her tongue, reproaching herself. She shouldn't be so selfish. It was better to celebrate the fact that her friend was experiencing an infatuation for the very first time in his life.

I must be glad for him and try to help him with anything I can, she told herself, just like how he has helped me.

The blonde went to the chimney where a big amount of orange embers were still glowing. A servant had stoked them in the early morning.

Historia grasped the rectangle of paper. Since no one could take it to her addressee anytime soon, the best thing to do was to get rid of it before someone else could find it and discover her private matter. The Kingdom of Paradis must not know that their one and only heir to the throne - the only alive daughter of the Reiss family - was not interested in the slightest in men.

Maybe one day I should do what Eren did, she thought as she appreciated how the flares devoured her intense words engraved with black ink on the paper. Run away with Ymir. Simply flee far away from here.

"Princess…"

She was called from the other side of the door. It was one of her maids.

"Come in," she said, not taking her eyes off the few ashes that were left from her letter.

"Princess, I am sorry for the interruption," the woman did a small reverence, "But Your Majesty is waiting for you. It is time for dinner."

Historia took a deep breath and smoothed her dress. "Thank you, I will be there immediately."

Her father - the King - didn't even take a look at her with his big eyes, not until she quietly sat at the table.

"Historia," Rod Reiss called her after taking a sip of his red wine glass, "A policeman has sent me a report, is it alright if we listen to it together?"

She looked sideways at her father, since he didn't use to ask for her opinion or her views about things as ordinary as the readings of Kingdom's reports.

"It is alright, father," she said, a bit taken aback.

Rod nodded and studied her for a while.

"You do not seem very affected by what has happened," he commented, pursing his lips slightly, "I thought you and Eren were… close."

Historia's heart took a small leap on her chest. Shit, that subject again… what should she make up this time?

"Ah, we are," she clarified with a feigned smile, one of those that seemed so natural on her. "But not close to the point you are imagining, father, and you're aware of what just happened…"

Rod scrutinized her again, serious.

"I am glad you both are not close to that point," the King admitted without any relief reflected on his demeanor, "In any case, you know it is not proper of princesses to have secret affairs with low-born people, and that includes Eren Jaeger. Despite the special treatment we have with him, Eren is nothing but another employee."

Ah, that lecture again.

Historia kept her smile as she sat up straight.

"I know it well, father," she said, trying to sound sweet, "You have nothing to worry about. Eren is just my friend."

There was a moment of silence after the blonde's affirmation.

"Eren is coming back soon, these kind of affairs do not usually last long. He will come back when he gets bored. He just should be infatuated," her father commented out of nowhere before he sipped a bit of wine, "He must come back soon. He knows it."

Then Rod asked for the policeman to come in. He brought a special report, the one that the King himself asked for. The reason was that, on the day after the masquerade's ball, they discovered that the mysterious girl with whom Eren had disappeared had managed to access the event by making use of an official invitation. That invitation was in the name of Julia Auttenberg, an almost sixty year old woman who resided in the Stohess district.

Historia's eyebrows raised when she learned that detail, so she focused all of her attention on the light haired man of average build that was solemnly reading the report.

"Mrs. Julia Auttenberg confessed to have given the invitation to Margot 'Protz or Pretzel'. Mrs. Auttenberg stated she doesn't exactly remember the girl's surname, but she specified that Margot was a relative of an 'old friend' of hers. I quote in her own words, 'First, I decided to not assist to the party the night before because I won a few extra pounds after my husband's death and, unfortunately, the dress that I had sent to tailor for the event didn't fit me anymore.'" The policeman read, as he nervously took the sight off the paper, "Your Majesty, if you allow me, I will omit some words of the testimony so I do not disrespect you, nor the princess. The problem is that the person in charge of the investigation transcribed Mrs. Auttenberg's testimony in its entirety."

Rod shrugged, "I don't see why that is a problem. It sounds perfect to me," he said, unconcerned, "I prefer to hear the complete report. Keep reading."

The policeman nodded and, after clearing his throat, he continued with the task.

"'I couldn't go to the party if I looked like a sausage. It was then when I remembered beautiful Margot, a poor girl that I knew was madly in love with the handsome and young Doctor Jaeger. I sent a servant to contact her, so he lent her my invitation, and I recently learned that her plan of conquest worked. I love it, I'm pleased that she has achieved it.'" Shaky and flushed, the policeman took a very deep breath before reading what followed, "'Everyone deserves the opportunity to have a good romp with the love of their lives. Especially this girl who was crazy, I mean crazy for Eren Jaeger. I wonder, who hadn't done crazy things for love? I declare myself guilty for being accomplice of this terrible, awful crime. Young people fucking? Such atrocity!'"

Historia was open-mouthed. She took a look at the slightly offended expression of her father and at the countless sweat drops in the red face of the policeman.

Incredible.

This was amazing.

"Your Majesty, the investigation and writing was done by the official Reiner Braun, from the Stohess' division," the policeman informed solemnly, though his big awkwardness was evident, "I will request a sanction for officer Braun, since he was in complete acknowledgment that this report was requested by the King himself and-"

"It is not necessary," Rod said, carefully massaging his temples, "I'm not going to sanction someone that transcribed a declaration in its entirety, someone who did his job well."

"What is going to happen with Mrs. Auttenberg?" Historia asked, suddenly concerned.

Rod glanced at her with curiosity and then answered, "She was imprisoned, of course."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Mikasa was training by herself, as she liked. She was in a room with almost spotless white walls, in which there were some training implements that only she and Levi made use of. From the cellar hung two leather-wrapped sandbags that had been patched several times.

The girl booted quickly and powerfully at one of the bags before she could manage to hear the knock at the door. When she leaned her foot on the floor again, she heard Luther's voice from the other side. He was asking her if he could get in. That it was an important matter.

Before answering, Mikasa put on a white shirt since she trained only with a cotton brassiere – that way she could mitigate the heat generated by the intense physical activity.

"Come in, Luther," she said as she kicked the sack again, "What happened?"

"You can take me down already. Seriously, I'm fine. I can walk alone." Eren said briskly with a certain weariness in his tone.

Mikasa turned around, intrigued.

Luther raised both of his hands in the air in a gesture of innocence while Mikasa approached both of them, taking off her black gloves and dropping them to the ground. Her initial expression of amazement because of the state of Eren's face had already come back to her typical, neutral demeanor.

"Who beat him?" she asked coldly as she studied Eren's face, whose right side was swollen and purplish.

"It was Bernard," Luther informed, stepping back, "I think Levi's already giving him a lesson."

Eren brought a finger to the bruised area to verify the swelling, though he could perceive it within his field of view.

"Ah, crap," the brown haired boy whispered, still a bit stunned by the hit. Then he ran into the inquisitive eyes of Mikasa, "I need water, a mirror and to go to my bedroom. I mean that dungeon in which my stuff is in."

Luther gave him a clean knife with a wide and cold blade.

"Thanks, this will do for now," Eren said to the guy, putting the cold metal on the swollen area that hurt like hell.

"You're welcome, Doc," replied Luther, who then did a farewell gesture and left so the two young people could be alone.

Eren started to walk to get to that damn dwarf windowless place in which he slept. In all that underground area - where the Ackerman hid - there wasn't even a single window. It really was a nest of rats.

However, Eren had noticed that in some rooms, like the mess hall, the air leaked through small air ducts. In his room there wasn't even one miserable air duct though. It really was a dungeon.

He noted that Mikasa followed him close, in silence.

He clenched his jaw. He was annoyed because of what happened and for having already been there for about three days. He needed some sunlight and fresh air, and a damn mirror so he could examine the bruise in detail. Besides, he wasn't feeling comfortable. He was thirsty and wanted to be alone.

When he reached his room, Eren saw that Mikasa passed by and didn't come in behind him. He didn't care, anyway. He took his medical case, put it carefully on the bed and opened it. He took out some things and rummaged inside of the case until he came across a cloth bag. There were some small glass jars in it and he chose one of them, the anti-inflammatory unguent. He sat on the bed and made the pot spin between his fingers, absentminded.

The youngest of the Ackerman soon came back to the room. She put a bowl with water on the nightstand along with a clean cloth and gave Eren a simple hand mirror. He received it a bit half-hearted, because he wasn't sure if he really wanted to look directly at the ridiculous swelling that his face must have had.

"Thanks."

Eren started to palpate the skin and his cheekbone. His face contracted in pain when he touched the most sensitive areas, but felt a certain relief when he corroborated that there was nothing broken, even though he already expected it.

He stood up, washed his hands and his face with the bowl's water. He dried it using the cloth and then began to apply the ointment gently.

Mikasa was looking at him curiously, without saying a word, so Eren started to feel more uncomfortable than he already had been. It was always awkward for him when someone stared at him a lot, as if he happened to be some kind of weird bug that they just came across with.

Eren was about to tell her to please leave him alone, when he realized that she changed the focus of her attention to what was beside him; his open medical case on the bed.

"Hey," Eren said to her as soon as he saw her hand approaching the case's interior, "Don't touch my stuff."

The girl stopped her hand in the middle of the way and it seemed as if Eren's words hurt or offended her, because her eyes were slightly watered. Her demeanor changed dramatically and her lips parted.

Suddenly, Mikasa stuck her hand in the case and took out one of the medical tools. It was the one made of wood, with a trumpet-like shape and a flat circular base.

"This…" she murmured as her hands were trembling.

Confused, Eren stood up and moved closer to her. He carefully took the object from her shivering hands. Mikasa seemed really affected and vulnerable for some reason.

"It's a fetoscope," he pointed out with a calm voice, attentively observing her strange reaction due to the encounter with the object. He didn't understand what was happening to her, "You put it on a pregnant woman's belly. It serves to listen to the baby's heart and-"

"I know!" Mikasa blurted out, suddenly irritated, "I… already know."

"Hey, what's wrong?" Eren was worried and was about to grab her by the shoulders, but she moved away before that happened and his fingers only brushed the trail of air on the spot she used to be in.

She abandoned the room immediately and Eren felt that he must go after her, even though he was still startled because of her sudden mood swing.

"Mikasa, wait!" he called her as he passed by the doorstep and reached the corridor, but she was already gone.

Eren almost ran into Levi, who seemed distracted looking at the darkest point of the hallway, in which there was no flaming torch.

The man half-shut his stare and directed it to Eren.

"What was that?" Levi asked with certain unease and annoyance.

Eren shook his head.

"I don't know," he admitted as his sight descended until it reached the medical instrument that seemed to have triggered everything, "She found this and reacted in a strange way."

Levi didn't take the object Eren was offering him. He had no idea what it was and what it was for. It could be filthy.

"The hell is that?" it looked like a musical instrument. An odd looking wood trumpet, or something similar.

"It's a fetoscope. It is generally used on pregnant women. When Mikasa saw it, it seems she started to go through… an emotional shock," Eren realized finally.

Levi's face went from looking annoyed to reflect astonishment and then some concern.

"Of course…" the man said, suddenly recovering his usual demeanor, "Go back to your room, you look like shit."

Ignoring Eren's confusion, Levi turned around and swiftly walked out.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Levi thought that maybe the boy had inherited that thing from Grisha Jaeger and that Mikasa remembered it with clarity.

He quickly left the common underground area and went towards a thick wooden door, which divided that area from the passageway that led to the basement of his home. The darkness was absolute when he shut the door behind his back, but he walked firmly and briskly through that pitch dark place. It was a walk he had done a million times. Meters beyond, he found the entrance that connected him directly with the basement, from where he arrived to a room naturally illuminated by the Sun - that dazzled him for some seconds.

He lived in that house alongside Mikasa and, from time to time, Kenny as well.

He climbed the impeccable polished wood steps until he reached the second floor and stopped in front of a closed door. He leaned one ear on the surface and, sadly, he confirmed that things went wrong. He could hear some of Mikasa's stifled sobs.

Levi breathed deeply. He grabbed the doorknob and rotated it, preparing himself for what was coming… But when he got in the girl didn't attack him nor charge against him while holding a knife, like she did sometimes a few years back, when she was going through that period of great mental and emotional instability.

This time, Mikasa had only closed the curtains and was sitting on the floor, holding her legs against her chest. She was leaning a side of her face on one of her knees. Her crying eyes were looking at the newcomer.

"Knock before coming in," she scolded him with a tremulous voice as she carefully dried the tears that still rolled down her cheeks.

Levi slowly sat beside her.

"Forgive me for coming in like this…"

The girl remained silent for several seconds until she slowly nodded. Levi only ignored that rule when he suspected that she was going through a mental breakdown. This time, however, didn't seem to be exactly the case… or maybe yes? Mikasa had no idea.

The encounter with the fetoscope had caught her off guard, so much that she was about to start to cry like a child in front of Eren, so she ran away as soon as she could recover a bit from the impression. She ran away because she didn't want him to see her cry nor witness her vulnerability. She ran away in order to avoid undesirable questions from someone she barely knew.

But well, she thought, this was what she deserved for being intrusive and stubborn. Eren had told her to not touch anything.

Mikasa brought her hands to her head and slightly pulled her hair in the process.

Everything is going to be fine, she said to herself, it's already been more than ten years.

Mikasa, do you want to hear it too?

She gasped, surprised, and felt that her heart got smaller inside her chest. That question resounded in her head as if she was hearing it in the present, as if Grisha Jaeger was standing right there and now in her room.

To top it off, she suddenly noticed something rattling against the window. She looked up, scared.

It had started to rain.

Levi looked sideways at the profile of the youngest of the Ackerman, who was looking towards the window as if it was going to explode at any moment.

It was raining again.

Those were the first winter days. The chimney was burning and Doctor Jaeger was on one of his house calls in that distant and cozy cabin, located in the mountainous area of Shiganshina.

A woman was leaning on the bed with a joyful expression. Her bulging belly covered only by a white cloth camisole. Meanwhile, the doctor was listening to the unborn using a strange instrument made of wood. On a previous visit he had explained to the family that the instrument - named fetoscope - was utilized to hear the heartbeats of the baby, besides that it was also useful to determine the position of it inside the womb.

"Mikasa, do you want to hear it too?" the doctor gently offered the device to the child.

She nodded and hurried to approach the bed, delighted.

Mikasa rested her ear on the extreme of the device and a big smile took over her lips. She was hearing the heartbeats of the little guy that was living inside there. It was also possible for her to hear some weird sounds. Sounds that she had no idea what they could be.

She softly caressed the tense skin of her mother's belly and let out a giggle of excitement when she perceived some movement under the palm of her hand. Everybody laughed with her. Mikasa blushed because now she was being the center of attention.

Her mother, with her eyes bright from rejoicing, tenderly stroked her arm.

"Is he going to be born soon?" Mikasa asked in a little voice, embracing the womb and trying to hide her face in a timid gesture.

"There are still a couple of months left," her father said. He was now sitting at the foot of the bed, near his daughter, "We must be patient."

But Mikasa only wanted the baby to be born soon. Two months were too many days and weeks, right?

At a short distance, Grisha smiled at the vision of that family united. The Ackerman of Shiganshina will add a new member in less than eight weeks, and the expectation of that birth made them all very anxious, especially Mikasa, who could not wait to have a little brother to love and take care of.

"Next week I'll be able to bring Eren with me," Grisha informed once he noted that the girl separated from her mother.

Mikasa's dark irises sparkled at the hearing of his words.

"Really?" she asked, thinking that she would have to wait seven days for it to happen.

"That's right," the man confirmed, adjusting his eyeglasses as he gave her an affable smile, "I think you and him can become good friends, Mikasa."

It was raining again.

Five days after Doctor Jaeger's visit, Mikasa was sitting at the table performing some needlework with her mother, while her father was finishing washing the dishes and was putting some things in order to get ready for Levi's imminent arrival.

Kaspar Ackerman didn't want his wife to make any physical efforts, since her health wasn't the best at that moment.

Someone knocked at the door.

"Oh, Levi is already here!" he cheerily announced to her wife and daughter.

Kaspar dried his hands with a dishcloth. When he opened the door he caught the sight of three unknown men. He immediately tried to close the door back, thickly. His heart was racing as he feared for his family.

"Run!" he yelled as the loud noise of a shotgun blew the lock, some splinters and the fingertips of his right hand.

Mikasa had her eyes wide open. The shot had terrified her and she couldn't move. Her mother managed to stand up when the three subjects burst into her home. The sound of the rain and the heavy wind from the exterior found their opportunity to leak into the home too, managing to strip it of its warmth.

The girl's skin bristled as she saw how her father was able to hurt one of the intruders with a knife. Sadly, the man managed to hit him in the face with the butt of a shotgun. Within seconds, her father ended up being violently riddled before her horrified eyes.

"Dad…?" Mikasa whispered as the most important man of her life collapsed on the floor, now covered in a bundle of blood and torn fabric.

In a shocked state, the child was taken by the arm by her mother, who pulled her until they got to the master bedroom. The girl managed to glimpse one of the strangers giving her father one last and unnecessary shot in the head.

Miyuki Ackerman tried to open the windows but they were stuck. The wood was swollen due to the humidity of that time of the year. The pale woman managed to break the glass using a chair, but by then the intruders had arrived at the room unhurriedly.

One of them asked her to calm down, raising both of his hands to show her that he was unarmed.

"We don't want to kill you," the guy claimed. He was wearing a wool cap. "If you stop resisting we can put an end to this soon. We will take both of you to a warm and clean place."

"Look, she's pregnant," said the short-haired blond who had given a shot in the head to Kaspar Ackerman.

The three criminals exchanged looks and murmurings, so Miyuki used the moment of distraction to cross herself between her daughter and the intruders. She introduced a hand in her apron's pocket and strongly wrapped her fingers around the handle of a sharp sewing scissor.

"Mikasa," she claimed the attention of the child with a mutter, "Flee through the window, now," she said in a firm voice before unexpectedly pouncing against the man who was within reach.

There was not much she could do. Her belly didn't allow her to be faster and the strength failed her, so the blond man managed to grab her by the arm and prevented her from hurting him. Miyuki gave him a stomp and continued struggling as much as she could against one of the murderers of her husband.

Meanwhile, the cap guy asked her to calm down and to stop attacking his mate.

"Mikasa!" she screamed again when she noted that the third man was approaching the stunned child.

Mikasa finally reacted to the cry of her mother and tried to run, as fast as her little legs allowed her, up to the broken window, but the bandit that was going after her grabbed her by the dress and pulled her back. She jumped as she could on the bed and the cloth of her dress got torn. She threw a ton of desperate kicks, one of which hit the nose of her captor.

On the small lapse in which the girl was released, she managed to cling to the window frame with the intention to climb it up. In the process, a narrow and sharp piece of glass buried in the palm of her hand.

Mikasa's scream enabled her mother – who was about to lose the battle – to bury the scissor in the cheek of the murderer, even though her initial target had been the neck. She also tried to scratch his eyes and face while on the adrenaline rush.

"Bitch!" the guy cried. Burdened by the panic he vigorously pushed her, making her lose her balance. He promptly took his arm and fired.

"No!" roared the man wearing the wool cap when he heard the bang and saw the disaster, "What have you done?!"

The blond man, whose wound in the cheek was bleeding profusely, let his shotgun fall to the floor, panting.

"It was her or me, and none of you helped me!" he defended himself, giving a reproachful stare to his mates, "There was no use on asking her to calm the fuck down. You had to help me contain the damn woman!"

Mikasa was terrified looking at her mother, who was now lying on her back on the wooden floor. Somehow, she noticed that her captor was now carrying her and was taking her away from the only escape route she had. She was feeling faint to the point of not being able to pose any resistance and her eyes were stuck on the red stain on her mother's belly. The stain contrasted dramatically with the white camisole. On the ground, the bright and thickened blood created a puddle that was gradually increasing its size.

All her family was dead. Her father, her mother and the baby that would have been her brother, so Mikasa thought that maybe she was going to die too… If she wasn't dead already.

She must be dead because she could only perceive the coldness... and it seemed that her heart was not beating anymore. She couldn't feel anything else but the cold.

She was cold.

Her eyes were not capable of shedding tears and from her mouth words could not escape. Her ears had lost their capacity to listen and her lungs their capacity to breathe.

Mikasa Ackerman contemplated her mother's snowy face one last time before everything went black.

Outside - despite the torrential rain - Levi had been able to hear the unmistakable sound of the shots. He hurried the pace of his steed.

He got off the horse a few meters before arriving at the cabin and encouraged the animal to keep running. In a swift move, he took out a couple of knives from his belt and then located himself in one of the corners of the wooden structure.

"There's someone outside," noted the blond haired intruder as he saw the steed that passed by the front of the cabin with an empty saddle. He left his shotgun on the table and loaded his gun.

The cap guy took his own gunshot and prepared it, then he closely followed his mate and ordered the third one to tie the arms and legs of the child in the meantime, so they could transport her easily.

"And do it quickly," he added while he aimed the gun at the rushing water, "Because we'll leave once we finish the nosy."

The blond murderer of Mikasa's parents jogged until he trespassed the doorknob. Out in the open, he turned to the right aiming the gun at every moment.

The cap guy – who seemed to be the group's leader – followed him closely with the intention to turn to the opposite direction, but he noticed that his partner abruptly stopped his march and that his head swayed to the back because of the speed and strength in which a knife had just pierced his eyeball. Only the wooden handle of the knife that had given him an instant death was at sight.

The leader of the bandits immediately fired his shotgun, even though he couldn't see anyone in front of him. It was only possible to see the rain.

Levi approached furtively the confused bandit from behind. He grabbed him by the jawbone and, in a brief movement, he slit his throat. Levi entered the cabin straightaway and found the body of his uncle.

"Kas…" he said in a gasp of surprise.

He frowned and directed his glance to the interior of the cabin. He took out the small gun he carried in his belt and quickened his pace, wishing that Mikasa and Miyuki were still alive, despite the darkness and ominous silence that overtook the place and that seemed to indicate the opposite.

He strongly gripped the gun. Could there be another intruder in the first floor?

The answer was delivered by a gunshot that Levi barely dodged thanks to the guy showing himself one second before. Now Levi knew that there was someone in the master room, and that there was no time to waste.

Levi got into the room zigzagging. The intruder unsuccessfully fired again, creating an instant in which Levi took advantage to aim at his head. What was left of the window blew out due to the flight of the bullet that went through the intruder's skull.

After giving a short and painful look at the wounded body of Miyuki, Levi ran towards the girl that was tied from hands and feet on the bed.

"Mikasa," he called her, but she didn't react. He put a finger on the skin of her throat.

There was a pulse.

Fine, now he just had to release her, take her out of there and put her under protection. Levi didn't care if another guy showed up because he would simply get rid of him, just as he did with the other three.

"Levi?"

He turned around immediately after hearing the weak feminine voice.

"Miyuki…" he whispered, astonished, as he got close to the woman lying on the floor.

He observed her womb wound and the pool of blood that was surrounding her. It was unbelievable that she could still be alive.

"Levi, is Mikasa okay? Is she alive?" she asked feebly as she sealed her eyelids, afraid of a possible negative answer.

"She's alive," the young man replied.

The icy, pale and bloody hand of the woman looked for his hand and Levi corresponded the gesture, thinking that it could be the last time that he would ever hold Miyuki's delicate hand.

"I can't believe that this happened…" the woman suddenly said, with a broken voice, "This can't be real."

The image of the bloody corpse of Kaspar Ackerman invaded Levi's mind. He gasped for a bit of air and squeezed Miyuki's hand.

He could feel a lump forming in his throat.

"It was our fault. Our mistake," she continued. Levi could see how the tears started to roll down her pallid and fading face, "I… I only wanted her to have a tranquil life, and… and look at what happened… Her father is dead!" she said in between disconsolate sobs, putting the shaking palm of her hand on her womb, "And soon I'll die as well… Levi, I don't want to die. It's too soon… I- can't… leave her so soon."

Levi saw the woman's hand weakly raising towards Mikasa.

"Mikasa, wake up… Mikasa!" she called her, trying to sit up, but it only made the blood leave her body gushingly.

Levi helped her to get into a more comfortable position, even though it would only accelerate the obvious outcome. The head of the woman soon fell on his chest. She was already too feeble to even keep it straight.

"Thanks…" Miyuki smiled with difficulty, "Thank you, Levi. Thanks- for being here."

The young man didn't know what to say so he just hugged her softly, perceiving how the thin feminine body was getting more and more numb.

The woman was shivering.

Seconds after, life abandoned Miyuki Ackerman's body.

Levi put the corpse back down on the ground, trying to evade the vision of the belly that stood out. His jaw tensed. Breathing, he stood up.

There was no time to mourn. He had to take the girl out of there. When he moved towards the bed, he realized that Mikasa had her eyes half-opened. She was already awake.

"Mikasa," Levi called her but, again, the girl didn't react.

She was awake. The eyes of the little eight year old girl seemed so dull that they barely reflected the light of the sunset that slipped through the broken window. Her eyes, usually shiny, were now fixed on nothing. Dead.

In complete silence, Levi released Mikasa from her ties and covered her with some blankets. He lifted the child carefully and cradled her in his arms before leaving the place.

The outdoors didn't seem so hard and merciless, not when comparing it to the interior of that cabin.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It had already grown dark when Grisha Jaeger was finally heading home. He hadn't seen his wife since that morning and his son since last night, and today he had a very long day.

One of his older patients, the one that apparently had reported a significant improvement after an infection, had died today. It didn't matter if someone was in their final years or their first hours - or days - of life, the death of any patient made him mourn and gave him a sense of impotence, mostly because they themselves or their families had put their lives on his hands.

Grisha raised his green eyes to the sky. It had rained intermittently during the last week. There were still some black clouds spilled here and there, obstructing the view to the star-filled panorama.

Because he was distracted, he submerged one entire shoe in a pool of water. He felt how his wool sock soaked and his skin froze.

"Ah, I have no remedy…" he said to himself with an awkward smile as he shook his foot a bit.

Carla was going to nag at him for not looking where he was going. It was the fourth time he got his foot into a pool that week and he only had one pair of dry boots left, the ones that he was going to wear tomorrow to go to the Ackerman's cabin.

"Doctor Jaeger, right?" asked a firm, feminine voice.

Grisha met a tall and blonde woman, who was flawlessly wearing the Military Police attire. She seemed to have wanted to sound friendly despite her brusque manner.

"Yes," he answered plainly. He adjusted his eyeglasses above the bridge of his nose, waiting for her to say something else.

"I have an important message for you," the uniformed woman spoke again, with less roughness in her tone, "Come with me, please."

Grisha frowned slightly and followed her, intrigued. The night was cold and most people had already sheltered themselves in their houses.

The woman took him to the riverbank, where a dark and hooded figure was waiting with his arms crossed. Only the water torrent could be heard. It was noisier than usual due to the recent rains that stirred it up.

The hooded man, who was gazing at the river, turned around and looked at him with certain apathy.

"Grisha Jaeger," the short statured and unfriendly-faced young man greeted him, "I'm afraid your appointment for tomorrow will have to be canceled."

Grisha widened his eyes. Only Carla and Eren knew about the house calls he did to the Ackerman family of the mountainous zone. Unless…

"Who are you?" he asked, alarmed.

"Tch," the frightening-looking young man shrugged, "My name is Levi."

"Levi, how do you know-?"

"Because they were part of my family," he replied with a grief that didn't pass unperceived to the man in glasses, perhaps he was an Ackerman too? "We were informed of the medical checkups that you performed, but it doesn't matter anymore… A couple of days ago, Kaspar and Miyuki were murdered by some human traffickers. The baby didn't survive. Mikasa is safe in our dwelling. She has already been checked by our doctor and from now on she'll be under our custody."

It was hard for Grisha to assimilate the harsh words he had just heard. It was difficult for him to believe that his friends were dead, and that Mikasa didn't just lose her parents, but that she also lost that little sibling for whom she has waited so much for.

Mikasa. The only family she had left now were the Ackermans that lived in the underworld and, because of that tragic event, from now on she will have to live under the tutelage of Kenny Ackerman, the Ripper.

It was not nor would it ever be an appropriate place for a girl to grow up, let alone for a girl like her. Grisha wanted to offer an alternative to Levi; to ask him to give Mikasa's custody to him, so he could offer her a home in which she could have a normal and healthier life than whatever the Ackermans could offer her in that… other place.

Nevertheless, Grisha knew that there was no way Levi would agree. They were her family, not him. Mikasa shared their same blood, she was part of their clan and only them could provide her the protection she needed twenty four hours a day, while a simple doctor like him would never be able to fight against an armed group of human traffickers.

The man knew that, because of her physiognomy, the girl would never be completely safe in his home, since more traffickers could come any time and fulfill their task.

Deep down, Grisha was actually aware that Mikasa's place was with the Ackermans.

"Oi, Traute," Levi called the policewoman, who had moved away a few meters to give them some privacy, "I'm leaving. Escort doctor Jaeger so he can arrive safely at his home."

She nodded slightly.

"Doctor Jaeger, shall we go?"

Grisha observed Levi, who avoided his glance and retreated.

When Grisha got home he found his ten year old son awake. He was sitting on the faded and old high-backed chair placed under a window, while he was holding the rag doll that Carla had sewn for Mikasa.

"Dad!" the child greeted him, bouncing out of the chair and running to take the doctor's bag away from his father's hands, as usual.

Grisha usually caressed his head and thanked him for his help, but this time he remained silent, with his sight fixed on the doll that his son had left on the table.

"Dad, are you okay?" little Eren asked, examining him with his inquisitive and bright green eyes, "Are you too tired?"

"I… I'm fine. I just happened to have a very long day," the doctor responded as he took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes, "Eren, what are you doing awake at this time?"

The kid frowned at the question.

"I was waiting for you. We have to talk," the boy said in a serious tone.

A smile formed on Grisha's lips, but his eyes couldn't disguise the grief that was imprisoning his chest. "All right, son, but first let me go for a bit of water."

Eren grabbed the doll again and mumbled some things between his teeth. Once his father sat on the couch before him, the kid looked at him and showed the fluffy toy.

"I don't know how to play with dolls," he admitted, frustrated, "And I don't know what other game to play with a little girl of eight. I'm already ten, I'm almost a man, do you understand me? I think I will get bored if I only have to stay still, just making ridiculous voices to animate this thing. Unless… we made up a good story or something. I don't know, can Armin go with us at least?"

Grisha contemplated his son in silence.

"Eren," he said gently, after some moments in which the demeanor of his son went from annoyance to concern, "Don't worry. Tomorrow we don't have to go to the house of the family from the highland."

The child frowned again.

"What? Why not?"

Doctor Jaeger slowly exhaled the air from his lungs and caressed his own chin.

"They had to move to a far district a few days ago."

"Oh…" it was everything that Eren could say.

Grisha observed how his son leaned on the back of the old chair. He could almost tell that the boy was relieved for not having to play with a little girl. Although at the same time he could notice his contrariety at the sudden news.

Eren had wanted to see that cabin located in the mountainous zone of Shiganshina. Grisha knew it because his son loved to get to know new places. In other occasions, Grisha had allowed him to go with him to the house calls of some patients that lived in less urbanized areas from the district but, this time, the highlands were a novelty for him.

"Dad," Eren said suddenly, "You look sad."

"I am… because I'm going to miss them," Grisha confirmed, trying to not let his voice crack, "They were very good people. I would have liked that you got to meet them… Mikasa is a very sweet and kind girl. She was so eager to meet you, Eren."

Eren stood up from the high-backed chair and went towards his father. He rested a hand on one of his father's knees, while with the other he strongly held the rag doll.

"Then we can go together to visit them, right?"

"I'm afraid we can't," Grisha murmured, putting a hand over the little hand that was resting on his knee, "They have gone far away, maybe a thousand kilometers from here… I don't know exactly where."

The child showed once again the rag doll to his father. Only then Grisha realized that Carla had already finished it. She had added a pair of dark buttons as eyes, she had sewn black wool hair to it and had designed a cute and simple pale pink dress that had a little red 'M' on the chest.

"But what are we going to do with this doll? Mom put a lot of effort into making it," Eren complained.

"I know, son," the man said, "We're going to keep it, your mother will understand."

"They could have told you that they were going to move, that way we could have given this to them before that so all mom's work wouldn't have been for nothing," the boy protested, letting the doll fall on his father's lap, "I'm going to sleep. Good night, dad."

"Good night, Eren," Grisha said, extenuated.

Afflicted, he contemplated the doll that Carla had done so lovingly for a girl that she didn't even know. A girl that not even her nor Eren were ever going to meet.

That was, at least, destiny's verdict at that very moment.


A/N: this chapter turned longer than what I expected, compared to the usual chapter length I tend to write, but I needed that everything I wrote was included in this fourth chapter. Short story; number 4 is associated with death in some cultures, like the Chinese and Japanese cultures.

For anyone that doesn't remember, Traute is Kenny's blonde subordinate in SnK manga and recently, thanks to the Q&A from chapter 78, we now know that her name is Traute Carven. I had another name for her in this story, but welp, better to stick to the official one. Regarding the names of Mikasa's parents, since there has not been any information in the matter, I had no other option but to invent them. In her father's case, it had to be a name that started with a K, so it followed the pattern of the letter (Kenny, Kuchel and Kaspar). I didn't name him Kevin or I was going to associate him with Backstreet Boys, you know?

Btw in January I had a lot of feels when I saw that they included dolls in the first chapter of Mikasa's part in "Lost Girls" manga because months ago, when I planned this story, I also wanted to include a doll :') besides Mikasa's mother pregnancy.

I want to thank everyone that has added this story to their favs and follows, or that added me to their fav authors. I want to especially thank the people that took their time to show me their support and left me a review in the past chapter: meimei1 (chapter 2 tho), naruto4sakura, momtaku (nsfow), HMSAOT, Guest (Dec 25), Guest (Dec 25), Guest (Dec 26), kelliab17, Guest (Dec 29), slayerxd117, MrsBohemian, Guest (Jan 11), meximan5, Skidzz, Guest (Jan 16), hana49 (as Guest) and GuyInLoveWithEreMika, thank you all very much!

I invite you all to check the lawless art tag on my Tumblr (kuchenackerman) so you can see my edits and Dani's fanarts for the fic, in particular the beautiful cover she did :'D

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter~