I was in an angsty mood, so I busted this one out…fits somewhere in the current anime timeline and after manga ch.112. I diverged a bit from canon, fyi.

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own AoT in any way, shape, or form.

Eren rolled over to place an insouciant kiss on her cheek before rolling back and swinging his legs off of the side of the bed. He stepped into his pants, pulling them up as he stood. She watched as he buttoned his shirt. Hungrily, dolefully. Her mind wandered to what they had just done.

The dim light of the moon shining in from her window urged her to ask him to remove the clothes and crawl back under the covers with her. She could see the tiredness in his eyes illuminated clearly now and wanted only for him to rest his mind of the turbulence that had been smothering him.

Mikasa's mouth opened to speak, to spill words out that might keep him there with her. Eren noticed and gave her a cold shake of the head. It was decided.

She looked down, wishing away the hurt in her eyes.

"Thanks," he said gruffly before walking over to her side of the bed to gather his boots.

She looked up as he sat on the bed, dangerously close to her bare waist as he slid his foot into each boot with care. He hadn't been as gentle with her.

Mikasa watched him move towards her and held her breath, hoping for comfort from him. She craved the warmth she had felt just hours earlier.

He cooly scooted closer to her at the edge of the bed now, fully dressed as he put his hand on her cheek. Rough, calloused. His hands against her skin had felt different from the way she had imagined to herself so many late nights alone in her room.

Now, flashes of their bodies together, of his hands roaming her, his hot breath in her ear, the hunger and ferocity in his eyes played in her mind in a taunting loop. After so long of pining, yearning she had finally given in to carnal desire and an affection for him that went unacknowledged until then.

"Eren…"

She had been surprised and relieved to hear his knock on her door in the middle of the night, her heart racing at the sight of him in the doorway. He looked almost regretful with the warm hallway light casting a shadow against his features. Nevertheless, she readily invited him into her bed. Their subsequent hours of passion had meant everything to her.

"I'm leaving."

Those hours had meant nothing to him.

She pulled her shirt on now, buttoning it haphazardly as his hand trailed the scar just below her eye and then down her jawline. His electric green eyes met her sober dark ones. There was an eerie satisfaction in his; she had to look away.

Her eyes shifted instead to the neatly folded, threadbare red scarf on her nightstand. How long had it been since a kinder, gentler Eren had first wrapped it around her?

Courage made its way through her when she thought of the promise he had made to her in a moment of near-death years ago. Mikasa stared hard at him and demanded, cried that he must give her a reason -anything- to convince her that what he was doing was right.

He pulled his hand away from her cheek and stood. There was a scowl on his face now.

She felt cold.

Regret filled her as quickly as rage had always filled him. She felt her heart begin to crumble as she watched Eren walk towards the door. His every step a brutal kick to her soul.

She leapt up from the bed and ran to him, clutching at his arm. Pleading, begging.

He turned to her, tears in his green eyes but an angry expression contorting his features.

She no longer recognized him.

"Tell me something," he spat, "Tell me something that'll make me stay. Give me a reason."

Something she couldn't recognize flickered in his eyes. She looked down, frozen. The words and emotions all jumbled in her head.

Another chance she would surely ruin.

"Eren...I thought...I don't understand why you came to my room," she said softly, "I, I don't want you to do this. I don't understand why it has to be this way."

She shook her head slightly, visibly trying to make sense of what was happening, "I want you to stay. With me. You're my home. You- I've tried so hard to keep us together, to keep you safe. What am I supposed to do now?"

Her stomach churned with the vulnerability she usually kept hidden away. She saw his jaw clench and that same indiscernible something flickered in his eyes. His hand was on the doorknob now.

"Not my problem." Harsh, detached.

She pulled his arm, knowing she had the physical strength to keep him there longer. But her emotional strength was gone. She couldn't make him stay when his resolve was to leave.

She could not put up her stoic facade as she always had before. Eren had crushed her.

"Why do you always go so far away?"

He looked at her, confused and irritated now. She pressed on, tears pressing their way to her eyes.

"I, I thought this is what you wanted. Every step, every fight has been for the hope you brought. I thought you believed in our fight! You used to believe in what was right, in standing by your comrades. After everything and all we gave for you! How do you justify leaving this way? How can you just abandon this team," she was practically sobbing now, "Me?"

Mikasa was still desperately clutching at his arm. She looked up at him through tearful eyes, hoping to see the boy who had saved her life. The boy that had placed her most precious possession around her neck. The boy who had sworn to wrap it around her forever.

That Eren was gone. Looking down at her was a man she did not know. One who had grown more reckless, selfish.

Or maybe, maybe her Eren had never really existed. She saw now the boy she had so blindly followed, whose love she had so tirelessly chased.

"Just forget about me," his voice was just a little softer now, "I'm -I'm not your pet, Mikasa. You can't trail me around to make sure I don't get into shit. Just figure out how to live your own life and let me do what I need to do. We're not tied to each other. We never were."

"That's not -not why I followed you. You're not just-," she said through her tears.

"I don't care. This," he gestured between them, "wasn't going to change my mind. You can't change my mind. I never planned to stay."

Eren's eyes flashed with pride, his lips tilted in the faintest smirk. His words hurt and he knew it.

Mikasa's heart broke. She let go of his arm and stood back.

Without so much as a second glance at her, he opened the door and threw a careless, "Goodbye, Mikasa," over his shoulder.

She could not watch as the door shut firmly, definitively behind him.

And just like that, Eren was gone.

Her body almost convulsed. She thought she might collapse.

Slowly, she made her way to her bed and buried her head in her pillow. It still held his scent.

In a flash, Mikasa threw it against the wall. Feathers exploded across the floor as sobs began to wrack her body.

And that is that. I'll likely post another separate one-shot and perhaps an addition to the 'Nightmares' story in the weeks following the final manga chapter. I have a few ideas sloshing about.

Until next time.