"I really don't understand this at all...", Eren muttered, a hand to his forehead, starring down at his math test on the desk. "It's really easy Eren", Armin admitted, blinking.
"What idiot got the idea to include letters in math?", Eren sighed. "That's what you get for being up late playing video games" Mikasa pointed out softly.
"I wasn't playing video games last night!", Eren hissed. "Mom told me Auntie said you were up all night playing Minecraft", Mikasa said back. Eren frowned.
"Do our mothers always have to play the gossip girls just because we're dating?", he asked. "Obviously...Eren, we were given three weeks for this test", Mikasa told him softly.
"Well, the teacher did fall asleep...we could help you a bit", Armin suggested, noticing the teacher had drifted off in at his desk. He was a substitute teacher so he wasn't all that invested.
Mikasa sighed softly, setting her pencil down. It had a butterfly eraser on it. "After class you can come study with me in the library on break...for NEXT week's test", she offered.
"But what about this test?", Eren asked. "You're on your own", Mikasa replied simply, looking back at her notes. Eren paled, devastated. "That's so cold...what if I bought you ice cream?", he offered.
"Mom, dad, Sebastian and I just had ice cream last night", Mikasa answered. Eren grumbled. "I'll do it for ice cream, Eren!", Sasha spoke up. "Sasha, you're more behind than Eren is", Armin pointed out.
Sasha pouted but then she blinked. She looked towards the door. "Sasha?", asked Mikasa, noticing. "Am I the only one smelling that?", she asked, looking a bit uncomfortable.
"Smelling what?", Armin asked as Eren also glanced up. "I can't really describe it...its faint but it smells awful", Sasha admitted.
"Now that you mention it...there has been an odd odor for the passed few minutes", Mikasa agreed. "I kinda smell it...is it gasoline?", added Eren worriedly.
"OI TEACHER! Wake up!", Sasha hollered then, throwing her pencil over at his desk. The teacher jumped a bit. "What..?!", he asked.
"Do you smell that?", Sasha asked him. The teacher paused. "I'm sure its just an electric issue they're fixing, oh look at the time, okay students, break time for one hour then you can come back for your grades", he said, unphased.
"I guess that makes sense", Eren said. Mikasa got up, making sure her books were all in her black bag, which had a blue butterfly on it.
"I'll be in the library, I have to finish my essay on Orca habitat for Rico's class", she said. "We'll catch up", Eren said, he and Armin had to turn in homework to a class upstairs. Sasha was going to head to the cafeteria for an early snack.
Mikasa nodded, she blushed a little and kissed Eren on the cheek before hurrying out. Eren blushed a bit, as Armin grinned a bit.
"What are you smirking about?", Eren asked him, a bit embarrassed. "I'm just relieved to see you two finally be a couple, it was obvious since we were kids", Armin replied, grinning.
Down the hall, Mikasa entered the library. It was mostly empty, and it was next to a storage closet. She scanned the shelves for some books on whales and when she found what she needed, she sat down at a table, opening one of the books.
She began taking notes, scanning through the pages.
A floor up, Eren and Armin were on their way to turn in their homework. "I can't believe Sasha's spending her break eating snacks when lunch is in just another two hours", Eren chuckled.
"She can't really help having a big appetite..I think its a bit cute", Armin admitted with a slight blush. "Damn Armin, I wouldn't take you for being into redheads", Eren teased, ruffling Armin's hair. "Oh come on..! It's not like that...", Armin said.
"Suuuure, so when are you asking her-"
Before Eren could finish his sentence, there was a sudden BOOM that shook the entire school. Some windows broke and students all instantly ducked down in shock and horror.
Eren and Armin both ducked down onto their knees as well, before the shaking stopped quickly. "What the hell...", Eren started shakily, as Armin pulled himself up. Eren followed.
"An earthquake..?", Armin asked anxiously, when suddenly they heard some yelling from near the stairs. "EVERYONE GET OUT OF HERE! THERE'S A FIRE DOWNSTAIRS!", a girl shouted fearfully.
"A fire?!", Armin cried, as Eren's eyes widened in horror then. "Mikasa's downstairs!", he yelled, hurrying towards the staircase.
"Eren, wait!", Armin cried, and as they looking down the flight of stairs, they could see smoke and flames rising up from below.
"EVERYONE UPSTAIRS TO THE FIRE EXIT! DO NOT GO DOWNSTAIRS!", a teacher was telling students urgently. Students hurried upstairs to the fire exit. On the roof was a flight of stairs on the outside, leading down to the ground.
"What happened?!", Sasha asked the teacher, hurrying over. "We think a bomb went off near the library, we're not sure yet, just hurry!", the teacher replied.
"Mikasa was in the library...!", Armin froze, as the color visibly left Eren's face. He then glared, and hurried down the staircase. "EREN!", Armin yelled, seeing his friend vanish in the smoke below the stairs.
"Armin, hurry to the roof!", the teacher hurried over. "My friends are downstairs!", Armin replied fearfully. "The fire department's on their way, but its too dangerous for us to go down!", the teacher insisted, forcing Armin to escape with him.
Eren coughed against his sleeve, making his way down the staircase. The smoke was so thick he couldn't see anything in front of him, and the flames only got bigger the further he went down.
When he made it to the bottom, his heart sunk. It was like the entire bottom floor of the school had been transformed into the fiery depths of Hell itself.
Walls were burned through, the ceiling was caving, everything being engulfed in flames. As Eren moved forward, he noticed drops of gasoline on the floor, plus the smell of it was overwhelming.
He moved carefully but quickly, making his way to the library. He coughed roughly against his sleeve, his heart racing. "MIKASA!", he called, the raging fire was so loud.
He saw the library ahead, and hurried over. He winced, hissing in pain, burning the side of his leg on his way but he didn't care.
If the bomb went off near the library...Mikasa would have been in its range. As he approached the library's doorway, he had to stop to cough hard and as he did, he caught a glimpse of a figure laying on the floor right outside the storage closet.
His heart sunk, his eyes widening seeing it was Marco..one of his classmates. Marco's body was burned straight through, one of his arms off. The freckles and gray hoodie gave away it was him. He was completely motionless.
Feeling physically sick, Eren staggered slightly. His thoughts returned quickly to Mikasa.. He hurried into the library, which was completely set ablaze.
The amount of books made the fire even bigger in this room. She has to be alive..she has to be...this couldn't happen, not like this.
"MIKASA!", he called for her, and suddenly he heard a weak cough. He turned, and his heart sunk down to his gut, his eyes widening.
Trapped under a heavy book shelf that was burning through, Mikasa was laying on her stomach. She had mild burns on her face, and most of her body wasn't visible because of the shelf. She was near a blasted through wall.
Her eyes were closed and she was deathly pale, unable to move. "E-Eren..", she coughed hard, smoke filling her lungs as she winced painfully, panting.
"MIKASA!", Eren hurried over to her, falling to his knees. "Shit, shit, shit, okay! Hold on!", Eren was panicking in his head, seeing how stuck she was. The fire was getting bigger, and her lungs were filling with smoke by the second.
He gripped the book shelf, and began to pull up. He grunted, gritting his teeth...it was so insanely heavy and it didn't do as much as budge. "Come on..! COME ON DAMN IT!", he pulled, and just as he started to feel only a slight give, a sharp pain shot up his damaged arm and he yelled out.
"F-fuck..!", he had to stop, before looking down at Mikasa. She was getting worse by the second, her coughing transforming more into choking as she wheezed, struggling for air.
Her eyes opened slightly, seeing Eren struggling. Eren glared shakily at his arm.
"NOT NOW DAMN IT! NOT NOW!", he attempted to pull again, grunting as he ignored the searing pain in his arm.
Mikasa panted shakily, it wasn't just the smoke filling her lungs making it hard for her to breathe...there was a sharp, restraining pain in her ribs. Because the bomb was only the next room over from the library, Mikasa had instantly been crushed by the book shelf and when it happened the pain in her ribs began.
It was extremely painful just to breathe...and there was something else wrong. There was such an intense amount of pain in her side...
The pain she was in had sent her naturally into a state of shock. But in her shock, she could see how badly Eren was struggling. She knew if he stayed here too long, he would die. The smoke was getting thicker, and the flames were getting bigger.
"E-Eren...", she started, her voice hoarse. "Hang in there Mikasa! I'm getting you out of here..!", Eren replied shakily, still struggling to even budge the shelf.
Mikasa's eyes softened. "Eren..please...just go..", she said then weakly. Eren froze, his heart feeling like it stopped at her request.
"Get out of here...please...", Mikasa pleaded, before coughing hard. "I'M NOT LEAVING YOU! HOW COULD YOU SUGGEST THAT?!", Eren yelled horrified and angrily, as he continued to struggle.
"Your mother already lost...her husband...she would be alone...my parents have...each other and..Sebastian...", Mikasa coughed, struggling in between her words, tears appearing in her eyes.
"NO MIKASA! YOU ARE NOT GOING TO DIE! I WON'T...LET YOU!", with a sudden rush of adrenaline, Eren managed to lift the heavy book shelf several inches up.
"HURRY MIKASA!", he yelled, grunting, struggling bad to keep the bookshelf up. She just had to crawl out. Mikasa gritted her teeth painfully, but she wasn't moving.
"Mikasa, come on..!" Eren used his good arm to keep the heavy shelf up, and reached out his bad arm to take her hand and pull her. But as soon as he pulled only slightly, she screamed out in pain.
Eren froze, he managed to push the bookshelf up slightly higher and what he saw made his heart sink. Stabbed into Mikasa's side, just below her ribs was a large sharp piece of wood. The size of a small tree in fact, most likely fallen from the ceiling.
There was blood everywhere, the wound deep, large and gruesome.
"Mikasa...!", Eren cried horrified, realizing not only was she badly hurt, she was stuck. In the most dangerous way. He couldn't even see the other end of the wood, and if they stayed any longer they would either be burned or suffocate from the smoke.
There was a loud creaking noise above them, Eren looked up to see the rest of the ceiling was about to collapse on top of them.
"Shit..!", Eren knew if he didn't do something fast, they'd be crushed to death. He moved slightly under the shelf, and used his upper back weight to keep it propped up.
He grunted, sweating, he wouldn't be able to hold it like this for long. He gripped Mikasa's shoulders, she was almost unconscious at this point, barely breathing. He swallowed hard...he didn't want to do this but he had no choice.
Just as the ceiling began to collapse, Eren pulled her with all his might. In a flash of a few seconds, he managed to pull her out. They both collapsed back, the falling ceiling missing them by only an inch.
Eren panted, sweat dripping from his forehead, holding Mikasa's limp form in his arms. He looked down at her, his heart sinking. The piece of wood had been completely ripped out, but it left a large open wound that was bleeding nonstop onto the floor.
She was unconscious, and very still. "Hang in there...!", using his last bit of strength, Eren lifted her up, carrying her out of there.
He narrowly avoided the fire inside the library, and he could feel his damaged arm starting to give out. He coughed violently, struggling to breathe himself as he saw a clearing towards the front doors of the school.
Outside the school, sirens were blaring from fire trucks and ambulances. There was a large group of people watching anxiously, as some fire and rescue dogs were taken up to the roof to go inside.
Several cars were pulling up, as frightened parents arrived. Sasha's dad hugged her close, so relieved she was okay, while Armin's grandfather did the same with his grandson.
Another car pulled up, and before it even came to a full stop the passenger door flew open. Akane stepped out as fast as she could, not even bothering to close the car door as she made her way through the crowd of students.
"MIKASA!", she yelled, her voice terrified, looking for any sign of her daughter. "Mikasa!", Herrick followed, looking around frantically. Sebastian was still at his own school, which was a few miles down the road.
As the parents came to the front of the crowd, Akane bumped into Carla. "Akane!", cried Carla, looking distraught, shaking badly. "Carla, have you seen Mikasa..?!", cried Akane shakily.
Carla hesitated for a slight second, looking white. "Armin and their teacher are saying Eren and Mikasa are still in the building...", she revealed.
Herrick's eyes widened and his heart sunk, going pale. Akane froze, getting a sinking feeling in the pit of her gut as she visibly turned white as well.
"No...NO! MIKASA!", Akane was about to sprint towards the building's entrance, but a police officer held her back. "Ma'am, its too dangerous!", he said firmly as she struggled rather violently.
"MY DAUGHTER'S IN THERE! LET ME GO!", Akane screamed, frantically. "We've sent rescuers inside!", the officer said urgently, almost struggling to hold her as Herrick hurried over, still in shock.
"What the HELL started this fire?!", he demanded, shaking. "A student set off a bomb near the library, the student in question has been escorted to the police station", the officer answered as Akane had stopped struggling, but her eyes didn't leave the school's entrance.
She wasn't even hearing her husband or the officer, all she knew was her baby girl was inside that horrible fire. Carla was just as frozen, watching the doors, shaking badly. Over to her left, Gabi's parents were being escorted via police car to the station...meaning it was Gabi who started the fire.
Suddenly, the doors opened. Akane and Carla held their breath, and once the smoke cleared they saw Eren staggering out, carrying a motionless Mikasa.
He coughed hard, falling to his knees still holding onto Mikasa, his vision going blurry.
"MIKASA!" Akane cried. "EREN!", Carla and her were about to run over. "Hold on! Stay back, its dangerous!", the fire fighters quickly ran over first.
One took Mikasa into his arms, while the other carried Eren, both teenagers unconscious at this point. They hurried them over to an opened ambulance.
"Mikasa...!", as soon as Akane reached her unconscious daughter, who was on a stretcher, her face fell in horror, seeing the wound and all the blood. "Oh my god...", Herrick's voice trembled.
"Mikasa...oh my baby...", tears filled Akane's eyes as she gripped her daughter's limp hand.
"We need to transport her to the hospital NOW! She's in critical condition!", in a rush the paramedics got Mikasa and her parents into the back of the ambulance. Carla and Eren had to ride in a separate ambulance.
On the way to the hospital, Eren stirred weakly. He had oxygen on his face, hooked up to a heart monitor. His vision was slightly blurry, and he felt very weak.
"Eren...?", Carla asked shakily, tearfully smiling in relief that he was already awake.
She sat at his side, holding his hand. "M-Mom...?", Eren asked, his voice hoarse, a bit out of it. "I'm here sweetie, its okay, we're on the way to the hospital", Carla assured him, stroking his hair.
Eren starred blankly for a few seconds...but then as his thoughts returned his eyes widened. "Mikasa!", he ripped his oxygen mask off, sitting up quickly.
"Eren!", Carla cried, as the paramedic forced Eren firmly but gently back down. "Easy son! Easy!", the paramedic insisted worriedly.
"Where's Mikasa?! Please, she's my girlfriend, she's hurt!", Eren demanded frantically. "She's in the ambulance behind us, but we need you to rest", the paramedic explained.
"S-She's going to be okay?", Eren asked, slightly calming down. Carla's face fell, looking away. "We don't know Eren...she..she lost a lot of blood according to the paramedics..", she confessed, not hiding how grim the situation was.
Eren froze, his heart sinking. He winced then, clutching his damaged arm. He glared, shaking furiously. All he could do was wait until they arrive at the hospital...it was an agonizing wait.
In the ambulance behind, things were much more dire and grim. Akane was gripping Mikasa's limp hand, as Herrick rubbed his wife's back. Mikasa was unconscious on the stretcher, with an oxygen mask on.
Her wound had been covered, the team supplying her blood through an IV.
"Her ribs are broken, we just won't know how badly until a proper X ray, she'll need surgery for this wound...", the paramedic said, checking Mikasa's IV.
Suddenly, the heart monitor began beeping frantically. "Heart rate's dropping!", the paramedics moved quickly, as Akane's heart sunk.
"Mikasa..?! Baby, stay with us! Come on..!", she cried fearfully and desperately, gripping her daughter's hand.
"What's happening?!", Herrick demanded fearfully. "She's stopped breathing!", the paramedic quickly got a manual resuscitation bag on her, and began squeezing the bag to provide air.
"Come on honey, come on...", the paramedic was tense as he squeezed the bag, supplying Mikasa with air as Akane and Herrick held their breath, watching.
Finally, the beeping returned to normal. Akane gave a shaky exhale, as Herrick sat down beside her, placing a hand to his forehead. Mikasa remained unconscious but she was breathing again, weakly.
Akane took her daughter's hand with both of her own, kissing it softly, pressing her forehead to it. Tears appeared in her eyes, as she exhaled shakily once more.
"Please...please don't take her...I'm begging you...she's still so young...please don't take my baby before me...please God...I can't do it...I won't do it...I won't bury my baby girl...not now...not ever...", she prayed quietly, releasing a shaky sob. "Oh Akane...", Herrick wrapped a comforting arm around his wife's shoulders.
"Please stay with us baby...please...just a little longer baby, we're almost there angel, hang in there just a little longer for us...", she pleaded, her voice shaky. Herrick could see his wife was trying to stay strong for their daughter, but her hands were visibly shaking. Finally, they arrived at the hospital.
Mikasa was in much worse condition than Eren, so they hurried her into the Emergency Room. By the time Eren was able to get out of the ambulance, he hurried inside to the waiting room.
"Where's Mikasa...?!", he asked fearfully, hurrying up to Herrick and Akane, who were both forced to wait out. "They just took her to the ER" Herrick replied, his arm wrapped around Akane's shoulders.
Carla hurried in quickly. "Akane! What's happening? How-How is she?", she asked worriedly. Akane swallowed hard, blinking tears from her eyes, trembling.
"We almost lost her in the ambulance...", was all she could say, her voice cracked. "Oh god..." Carla then pulled the distraught mother into a hug. Akane clung to Carla, sobbing shakily while Eren clenched his fists, glaring.
He then punched the nearby wall as hard as he could with his bar arm, creating a hole in it. "Eren!", Carla cried, but saw how badly he was shaking.
"This is all my fault...I couldn't get her out fast enough..I couldn't lift that shelf...if I wasn't so pathetic...she wouldn't be this bad...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...its because of me..your daughter...", he said shakily, tears in his eyes.
Herrick frowned worriedly, he then placed a hand on Eren's shoulder. Eren flinched slightly, and Herrick knew why.
"Because of you our daughter is in a hospital, and getting medical treatment..if you hadn't stayed in that school, by the time the fire fighters found her she would have...", Herrick swallowed hard, unable to say it.
Eren starred at Herrick, in shock at the father's kindness. Something he rarely experienced from his own father. "Eren...we should be thanking you...you carried our baby out of that building...she has a fighting chance now because of you", Akane added.
Eren bit his lip, tears still in his eyes. He didn't feel worthy of being thanked. He still felt it was his own fault...it was his fault Mikasa was so badly injured, and was currently struggling for life. If only his arm hadn't been damaged so badly he would have...
Eren froze then, as realization sunk in for him. No...this wasn't his fault. It was his father's fault. If his father had never broken his arm as a child...this wouldn't have happened. Not to this extent.
Just when Eren thought he couldn't loathe his father more...it happened. Mikasa was at death's door because Eren wasn't strong enough to get her out quickly. All because of what his dad did to his arm five years ago.
All Eren, Carla and the worried parents could do was wait.