Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin / Attack on Titan nor its characters.
"You can't keep running away, Eren. What's the truth?" The blonde demanded, cornering the brunette.
Never in his life would he have imagined being cornered like this, especially by someone he once considered a best friend, and now, whatever they used to have, was gone. His heart was racing as the blonde's eyes fixated on his emerald orbs intensely. But Eren couldn't blame him either way. He knew he was doing this for the sake of Mikasa, although he did not understand his methods as to how. Armin and Mikasa were close friends as well, and probably had a tighter and much more inseparable bond at this point as compared to his own bond with the blonde.
Ever since that day. The day where they were discussing tactics on taking down the enemy. That day, was a dark day. A day where opinions turned into a hurricane of non-stop nonsensical arguments. And though they did come down to a final conclusion for the scheme that the majority agreed to, the shouts, and criticisms and most of all—betrayal, still happened.
Especially between the two of them. And all of which, was never forgiven. The look on Mikasa's face that day, the terrified and fearful look when both of them attacked each other verbally had stuck closely to Eren's heart, remembering the most trivial details of that look she wore. That look which caused the guilt in his heart to rise up rather high. If only if he had set away his selfishness during that day then maybe he wouldn't have seen that look, and he would not be in this mess. But it was all already said and done.
"Eren." Armin's sharp words seemed to have stabbed him in his chest mentally since Eren winced just by hearing his name being called by Armin's sharp voice. "Why can't you exactly make her happy? Why can't you tell her how you feel? Why—"
"Because I don't know what to feel damn it!" Eren yelled in response, taking a few deep breathes as Armin closed his eyes for a second, thinking he was prying too ruthlessly and gave Eren a moment to cool off.
"Must I really tell you?" Armin continued, his voice not as sharp earlier, but neither could it be considered soft. "You're in love with her, and she's in love with you." Armin sighed. "And you're afraid to face that emotion because you're afraid you'll break her once you leave this world in 3 years or so." Armin added, a trace of pity lingered within his words. Although Eren recognized the slight trace of pity in his tone, he only ignored it.
"Armin. I don't—"
"But you do." Armin said, cutting him off mid-way as he crossed his arms. "Even way before all this happened, the way you looked at her… and the way she—"Armin seemed to be hesitant to complete his sentence, but he did any sounding reluctant. "— she used to look at you too." He spoke finally. 'Used to' those words were a direct hit to his heart, the fact that Mikasa could no longer see. "And moreover…" Armin spoke, interrupting his thoughts. "That scarf of hers that you not only gave but, wrapped around her, is clear evidence of the special bond you have with her Eren, and even when it got dirtied, torn or whatsoever, she'd spend her time sewing it back together."
Eren stood there, quite speechless, not knowing how to respond on such a claim. So what if he did love her? Confessing to her about it would be cruel since the time that he had left was running out, fast.
"Armin... I know what Mikasa is like, she's may be the type to keep to herself but she's an open book when she's with me…"Eren sighed quietly. "And she doesn't love me the way you think she does, she's just… treasuring what she has left while she can… but love? It's an overstatement and—"
"That's when you're wrong, Eren." Armin interrupted shaking his head in disappointment. "She may be blind but…she isn't see through. Deep down, she has her own secrets going on." Armin sighed before looking up at the distressed brunette. "She isn't as transparent and easy as you think, Eren."
"Well you see…"Mikasa started off, biting her lip hesitantly before continuing, "I know all of you… are hiding something from me, even you, Levi."
"Mikasa…I—"
"Don't 'Mikasa' me, I want to know what everybody's hiding from me. You are—you were my formal captain. So I thought you'd tell me the truth. 'Make a choice with no regrets?' right?" She spoke, quoting that phrase from him. "I won't regret knowing so, please. I want to know...I keep having these nightmares on what has happened and its traumatizing and bothersome, so—"
"I can't." Levi cut her short, replying with a flat tone, which seemed to have ticked Mikasa off.
"Everyone's hiding something from me! Why can't you tell me?!" The raven cried out, she hated this secrecy. It's not like she can force it out from anyone, knowing they'd just lie to her, after all if they wanted to confess the truth her, they would already yet they didn't. Not her squad, not her friends… not even Eren.
"…I shouldn't be the one telling you, it should be that brat." Levi sighed.
"Wait—what do you mean—"
"Just… listen Mikasa, for a moment." Mikasa remained silent and nodded, noticing his tone that went serious, and knew she should at least lend him a listening ear.
"I called you out here, not just because you're blind but rather…" He hesitated, taking a second to reflect if the words he was about to speak were too harsh for the girl.
"Just say it, I don't care how harsh it is." Mikasa sighed, taking note of his hesitation.
"Eren and Armin, they don't have much time as you know ..." Levi started. "Especially Eren... and I just wanted to tell you to treasure what's left, and do the things you want with them before it's too late and you start regretting it." Levi then turned to see how Mikasa was doing, to only see a dulled expression, though it seemed calm enough for him to continue talking. "Why are you telling me this?" She asked flatly.
"Because I have had friends who died before me, and I regretted not doing things with them, not telling them the things I wish I could've, like how much they meant to me." Levi grumbled remembering the life he had in underground town, it was definitely horrible, disgusting and most of all—filthy. But, he had the two friends he'd never trade for anyone that had helped him through his worst. Isabel Magnolia and Farlan Church.
"Anyway..." Levi continued, shaking off his thoughts, after all this was about her, not him. "I don't want any of my squad members regretting unnecessary stuff, plus, those two brats recently had a fallout right?"
Flinching, Mikasa nodded her head. "Whenever I saw you three, Eren was the one who looked like the one who connected you two… now it's your turn... it is unfair for you to be the person who is now 'in charge' of re-connecting the bond you three shared, but nothing's ever fair."
"It's a cruel world…" Mikasa sighed softly. Was there even any beauty left in this world? Even if there wasn't she couldn't see it either way. Levi went silent, letting Mikasa asorbed on what he had just said.
No regrets...
Treasuring them…
"It may be cruel but beauty isn't only something that you can see." A voice spoke, not Levi's. It was too chirpy to be his.
"Hanji? I thought you were busy being 'unconscious' there?" Levi grumbled, clearly irritated.
"You're so mean as usual!" Hanji laughed as she placed her hand on Mikasa's shoulder.
They weren't close, but they shared some sort of bond. Which definitely strengthened during one of the many crucial moments in their lives, the decision of who should be the one to be injected with the serum and have his life be saved. Just that though sent shivers down her spine, and it seemed Hanji had took notice of it before Levi could.
"It's fine Mikasa, and just like what Levi said, treasure what you have, especially time. Doing things before you regret them. And maybe, you'll understand the depth of the meaning behind beauty." Hanji lectured as Levi rolled his eyes at the fact she was just summarizing what he had said and only adding her phrase which had seemed to be ripped off from Mikasa, since he had heard her say something similar as to that when they were in the battlefield... on that day. And yet Mikasa's thoughts seemed to have clicked better just by the fact her expression didn't looked as troubled as before.
"Yeah… Thank you, you two. "Mikasa said, cracking another smile which faded too soon. "But… why can't you tell me what made me blind..? Don't I have the right to know..? And these nightmares are just..."
Although the female raven couldn't see, she could tell the two were giving her a pitiful look as the atmosphere around her felt depressing and had turned into a sympathetic one.
"Because Mikasa… well, all I can say for now is, shouldn't you have more trust with your lover?" Hanji smirked, her seriousness fading away with the satisfactory smirk on her face.
Mikasa went flustered within a second as those words escaped Hanji's lips.
"Oi...Hanji..."Levi growled, a warning for her not to push it, though he did agree with her.
"L-Lover? What d-do you—"
"Pep talk is over. I'm pretty sure you'll understand what this shitty four eyes meant." Levi concluded before standing back up, before helping her up. "I won't hold you up here any longer, your friends are probably waiting..." Levi spoke, but before he could've led her there, she halted in her steps.
"Let me apologize first... for that time... about Erwin and...I'm sorry for overreacting and nearly—"
"All is forgiven." Levi responded in a genuine forgiving tone.
"Yes, it is."Hanji spoke, in a similar tone as Levi's, just sounding more pained as compared to Levi who was better at concealing his own grief.
With that, Levi scanned his surroundings till he saw the brunette and blonde arguing, groaning softly to himself which Mikasa didn't seem to question as to why once she heard the arguing as they got closer to them. A frown upon her face as both of them edged closer to the noise that had sullen Mikasa's mood, leaving Hanji behind to wait for Levi once he was done guiding Mikasa there, busy being deep in her own thoughts of Erwin, someone who was a close friend of hers.
Someone that she wished could've lived a little longer.
"What do you mean by that? I've lived with her for so long, I know who she is and—"
"You don't know every side of hers, neither do I. You don't even know how you feel, Eren." Armin sighed, being rather straight forward towards him.
"I know how I feel, and maybe a small part of me does love her, but the rest of the parts is the opposite. I can't be her everything." Eren argued back, clenching his fist slightly, trying to supress his anger. He didn't really wanted to have this conversation with him right now, especially when it involved Mikasa.
"Why can't you just be a little more honest with yourself? And with her—"
"Armin. You made a promise to me about that, I expect you to keep that promise. And Armin, can you just shut up for a second or I swear I'm going to lose my m—"Before he could've completed his sentence, Levi called out his name as he approached him with Mikasa whom he guided towards them.
He then let go of her hand, placing it in Eren's palm. "That's Eren." Levi told Mikasa who nodded in response. "And you two, I have a piece of advice before I go. "Levi spoke, referring to Armin and Eren. "Make a choice with no regrets." He stated before turning around to leave, when Mikasa called for him to stop, halting him in his footsteps.
"So what choice are you going to make? Now that the war is over…are you going to continue fighting or..?" Mikasa questioned, seeing that the war was over, Levi didn't have any other purpose to continue fighting as far she knows, now that the titans are gone, other than to go and work with the people who defended this place if he wanted to continue 'fighting'.
"Choice?" Levi scoffed, taking her question as a joke. "My fighting days are over for now, to say the least. Now that all the titans are extinct, excluding the shifters." He turned and then fixed his eyes on the pony-tailed woman who was still sitting on the bench, reminiscing on memories. "Now that I'm free, I'm going to treasure every moment of it."
With that, he started to stroll off to where Hanji was. "Till next time, you brats."
"Eren. Armin." Mikasa called as her other hand reached out to find Armin's, Armin grabbing her hand gently when he noticed she was searching for his.
"Yes?" they both spoke, in sync.
"With the time you both have left… I want to explore the world— or at least this place, which is outside the walls, with you two… please" Mikasa requested as she brought both hands close to her chest, her expression softening to a lovingly one.
"Please…just put aside your differences, for me, for this friendship..." Mikasa pleaded softly.
"I know I can't see. But, regardless… I still want to see the 'world'. Through your eyes." Mikasa added, and although it seemed that she was directing the last sentence at both of them, they both knew, 'her eyes', were Eren's.
"What do you mean by that?" Eren gulped nervously a little uncertain of what she was exactly saying, so was Armin.
"Describe the beauties of the world with me, I've seen the world before... this, so elaborating whatever you've found while exploring to me can't be that hard…please. "She begged again. Although she was unable to see, she still wanted to know what the outside world was like, and maybe she could find out what Hanji meant by the depth of the meaning of 'beauty'.
Was it exactly the way it looked like how Armin's books described them to be? She didn't know.
Eren's eyes softened at her words, quick to give in. "Of course Mi—" For once the brunette was willing to put aside his selfishness for the sake of her.
"No...I can't Mikasa." Armin spoke cutting Eren's words, again, though sounding quite reluctant at that.
"Wait—why?" Mikasa questioned, her voice breaking—no. It was already breaking earlier—it was just broken now.
"Just hear me out—"
"Oi. Armin. Stop screwing with me. Stop screwing with her." Eren hissed protectively, as he stared at him menacingly with his eyes.
"You were going on and on about Mikasa happy, and you do this? What kind of idiotic, pathetic and useless friend are yo—"Eren hesitated in his words when he noticed Armin wasn't focusing at him, he was about to burst at that until he found out his focus was on Mikasa instead. Who was trying her best not to cry, although her watery eyes stated otherwise.
Sighing, Armin gripped Mikasa's hand tighter. "Alright, I'll go." Armin said, giving in before letting go of Mikasa's hand, his focus back on the brunette. "Are we cool, for now?" Armin asked as he stuck his hand out, which Eren replied with a nod as he used his vacant hand to shake his. The other hand, holding Mikasa's closely.
And though the 'friendship' that Eren and Armin had agreed on between each other was temporary , the raven couldn't help but grin to herself, knowing that it wasn't just going to be temporary, and that this was the start of mending what had been torn for so long, a mending of something that'll be permanent.
And that's something she can be very sure of.