Disclaimer:I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin / Attack on Titan nor its characters.

Taking a deep breath, Levi looked up to the brunette, clearly seeing the rage he held inside of him. "Zeke is with them. The mastermind." Levi said, though before the brunette could even react, he continued, "What do you suggest we do?" Levi asked, he figured enough that with his plan screwed, he might as well hear suggestions. Plus, Eren was no longer a kid— and being Armin's friend, he should've at least picked up some habits of his when the blonde would voice out his strategic plans.

"I do have one." Eren spoke, calmly but coldly. "You're going to despise it though."

"I know, but we don't have the time, and we don't have many options left."

At that, the brunette began to quickly explain the plan he had in mind.

"Given the fact we have no idea where the hell they went, we have to split up." Eren started, before he assigned groups. Eren with Sasha and Jean's and Connie's group, but for one reason or another, he had a gut-feeling they'll be the ones who'll track them down first, and because of that assumption, he needed humanity's strongest. Plus, as much as he hated to admit it, Jean's a good leader so to say, and Connie had certain tricks up his sleeve—he was certain that if they were the ones who managed to track Mikasa down first, they'd be able to manage it.

"And if you find them, escort Mikasa out safely, and like the original goal—get the serum." Eren stated simply. "Now, for the shitty part." He grumbled.

"I want to kill Zeke." He stated, his eyes then staring down at Levi with such determination, with such rage. "Ehhhh? What if he kills you first?" Sasha questioned worriedly, which Eren only gave a shrug. "As long as Mikasa makes it out fine… I couldn't care less."

Despite his words, a sudden guilt filled emotion filled his heart. After all, he'd be breaking the promise he had with Mikasa. Then again, to be honest that wasn't exactly his priority at all— his priority was keeping Mikasa safe. Unlike him, Mikasa had a long life ahead of her, it'd be cruel to take that away from her. If anything, dying by protecting Mikasa didn't sound all too bad if it came to that. He just wanted her safe, happy. Even if he wasn't by her side.

"Oi. Brat." Levi snarled. "If you want to kill Zeke, fine. But to say you won't come back alive this early, it sounds like you're already planning to die. I don't know what your intentions are, but listen, if you think that'll make everything fine, think twice. That other brat wouldn't like it."

"I know, I know." Eren groaned, clearly sick and tired of his nags. "But there must be a reason why he assigned those crooks to have kidnapped Mikasa... isn't that right? I mean… why'd he even hire such idiotic criminals? Definitely, they're his pawns, he probably plans to discard them. Back to the point, he probably took Mikasa to lure us into his trap." Eren explained. "Like a negotiation… I don't know what it is but I know if I or anyone who doesn't agree, it'll come to the point where I have to…" Eren bit back his lip, unwilling to say the rest.

Levi seemed a little surprised he had figured up that much, "You've really grown, brat." He sighed. "Fine, but I don't want any unnecessary deaths… got it?" The cadets nodded, before they went their separate ways in search of the raven. While searching, Levi gave a certain look to the brunette—and Eren need not ask what it meant.

'You already know, Captain… that death is such an inevitable thing.'

'Fight…!'

'If you win, you live. If you lose, you die.'

'The only way to win is to… fight!'

The memories of the past slowly flooded into the raven's mind. And it seemed to have triggered something within her. She remembered that day so vividly, where Eren had given her another chance to live. Where she learnt the world was cruel. Where she learnt how to fight.

'Why am I remembering this now…?' Mikasa thought silently.

"Hello." A familiar voice called out. In the dark abyss that had consumed the raven, she turned and for the first time in what seemed like forever, she could see. But what she saw, was what terrified and confused her.

She saw a nine-year old girl. She saw herself, her nine-year old self.

"W-What? Am I really in a d-dream?" Mikasa stuttered, taking a step back in fear.

The world around her was dark, nothing. All she saw was that nine-year old self of her, covered in blood from those… crooks from before.

"Why are you giving up?" The little girl had spoken softly, though it definitely seemed eerie to the present Mikasa.

"Is it because you can't see? That's not an excuse to break your promise to Eren, is it?" The little girl spoke, as she took a few more steps towards Mikasa who froze.

'That's right… I promised him I'd come back alive…to come back to him.' She had thought silently.

Suddenly, the world spun before her, causing the raven to collapse onto the ground. Her sight becoming blurry as she felt all sorts of painful stings around her body, causing the raven to let out a few screeches.

'I'm losing it I swear—'

"There's not much time left…" The little girl spoke as she kneeled down next to Mikasa, leaning forward as she whispered the next three words that Mikasa wouldn't even dare to forget. "Get up. Fight."

Back into the present, Mikasa felt the crook's finger tracing up her cheek again. And by instinct and the sudden rage that boiled in her, she turned her head before biting his finger ruthlessly, sinking her teeth mercilessly—and it'd have bled if he hadn't backed away in sudden fright as he let out a yelp.

"Y-You…!" He yelled in rage before he clenched his fist. "I ought to teach M'lady a less—"

"Oi, Boss Zeke wants to see you." One of his men who had entered the room had cut him off. Clicking his tongue in agitation, he glared threateningly at the raven. "I'll finish you later." He hissed before leaving the room.

'Z-Zeke?!'

Looking around, it was still dark—pitch black. Letting out a weary sigh, she only shook her head at herself for having gotten her hopes high. 'As if a miracle of getting my vision back would ever happen. Now…'

Lost in her own thoughts, the raven knew even if she freed herself, though possible—it was proven difficult to escape with her eyes blinded. Though, once realizing that Zeke was the mastermind… she had no fear that he'd hurt her. Having already figured it was a trap to lure Eren and the rest… she could only hope they wouldn't fall for whatever he was plotting.

"Did you hear that?" Sasha had asked, having heard a yelp by a familiar voice.

"No doubt… follow me." Eren grumbled before rushing to where the yelp had echoed from.

As they ran, they glanced in window by window, hoping to catch a glimpse of them—eventually they did. But… the other traumatizing things inside that inevitably caught their eye would forever remained stained in their memory.

Blood… Corpses.

And all Eren hoped was that one of them wouldn't be Mikasa.

Carefully and cautiously, the three entered the house. Examining the corpses closely, it seemed to be the crooks, and fortunately, none of them were Mikasa. "We'll split up to check the other rooms… if he's around, just scream and—"

"Talking about me?" Zeke cackled, who now stood a few feet behind them, holding Mikasa loosely by her collar after having dragged her out of that confinement room. "Eren…?" She called out softly. Much to Eren's relief, she didn't seem hurt, though that relief was soon consumed by rage.

"Let. Her. Go." Eren hissed, drawing his gun out slowly, taking a few steps towards his half-brother cautiously.

"Hey, Hey. I'm not asking for a fight. Put that gun down and I'll give her to you." With that, grudgingly, the brunette dropped his gun to the ground, and as promised, Zeke threw Mikasa into Eren's now opened arms.

Holding back his tears of relief, he quickly took off any restraints on Mikasa by force before pulling her into a tight embrace. "You're safe…" Eren whispered softly, stroking her hair as he spoke. Mikasa had no words, no words to express her joy once she finally found herself in Eren's arms once again.

"You madman." Levi had hissed. Ignoring the emotional moment before him, he stood in front of them as he glared directly at Zeke after glancing at the corpses around him, which definitely caused the male raven to wear a rather disgusted look at the mess before him.

"They were in the way. And so are you." Zeke spoke coldly as he took his gun out swiftly, pointing it at Levi directly, and Levi was about to do the same till a certain brunette stopped him. "Captain. Didn't we come to an agreement?"

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Levi took a step back. "Don't do anything reckless." With that, Levi grabbed the other Ackerman, helping her up before pulling to a side where Sasha was. "W-What are you doing?!" Mikasa stuttered, shocked by their actions. What exactly did Eren mean by agreement?

Levi, ignoring her words held her back tightly, so did Sasha. "H-Hey..! You must be joking… E-Eren! You said you'd… c-come back alive…" Mikasa shrieked as tears began to stream down her cheeks, as she attempted to struggle free, yet to no avail. Even without anyone telling her, she had a feeling deep down that whatever that agreement was, it certainly didn't guarantee the brunette to be alive by the end of this fiasco.

Ignoring the raven's pained words, Eren managed to focus back at Zeke. "Where's the serum?" Eren snarled. Zeke only let out a rather psychotic giggle. "Now, now brother. That isn't so important." He smirked.

"Join me."

"What?"

"I said join me. The survey corps is 'gone', after all those fools think that peace will last forever! Hah! What idiots they must be." Zeke scoffed. He had a mad, insane look in his eyes. It made the brunette wonder what sort of 'torture' had made him lose a few screws up in his most likely messed-up brain. Considering during battle, he seemed like a rather calm and collected sort of person, and now, a madman—at least in Eren's ferocious eyes.

"Well, you must be a bigger idiot for thinking that I'd join." Eren grumbled in agitation as he pulled out another gun and aimed it at him.

"Die."

Though before even Eren could've pulled the trigger, he heard some… odd muffled noises coming from the other room, which caused his sudden instinctive hesitation. Before he could even ask, Zeke's wicked grin answered it all. "So, you've noticed." He snorted, before he dragged out two familiar faced people who were currently tied up into the room. Jean and Connie. And then proceeding with no hesitation, he pressed the mouth of the gun against Jean's head. "Shoot me, I dare you."

Eren hesitated, he hadn't expected… this.

How did he even kidnap them so quickly? How?

One thing's for sure, despite his loss-of-sanity state, the brunette was sure he had pulled some shitty manipulative tricks on them—that wicked grin earlier had already explained it all after all.

"You see, Eren. If you're not by my side, you'll be an enemy. An annoying, enemy. A nuisance. A person who's trying to play hero blocking my way." He hissed. "I don't need that."

Eren took a tiny step back subconsciously, maybe he just wasn't ready to die yet—wasn't ready to leave her. He had known the risk of his current plan, which was him losing his life. He couldn't have cared less then, but now hearing the raven's cries and pleas in the moment… he wasn't so sure. But, if it guaranteed humanity's safety… Mikasa's safety. There'd be no doubt he'd lay down his life for that. Because of that, he knew he ought to sacrifice his life for the better.

"Why'd do this…?" Eren asked, wondering what the hell his motive even was for such crazed and unnecessary acts.

"For power, little brother." He snorted as his finger started playing around the trigger, and in no doubt was Jean frightened, but he wore a look which clearly expressed his willingness to die if it was for the better, similar to Eren's 'motives'. Though, the brunette didn't seem to have any intentions of letting anyone die… though he was unsure about himself. "You should be happy I decided not to shoot that girl. Wouldn't want you to be too angered." He grumbled, though for the most part, Zeke had a gut feeling if he were to do so, Eren would have transformed into a titan despite being in an underground city which would've restricted his movements. After all, anger was such a powerful emotion… a dangerous one at that. And in the brunette's case, anger was definitely, definitely a dangerous trigger.

Gritting his teeth, he dropped his other gun. Zeke only rolled his eyes, still having his gone pointed to Jean, he spoke, "Drop them all, I'm not stupid." He scoffed.

Grudgingly, the brunette emptied his jackets which contained quite a few amount of weapons before tossed it to the side. He then looked up to Zeke, with a glare—though he was greeted with a similar glare from him.

"I said, all." He hissed, Eren hesitated and was about to give him a confused look until Zeke was about to pull the trigger.

"Okay! Okay!" Eren shouted slightly—he didn't need Jean's death on his sub-conscience at all. He emptied his front pockets, and took out a few knifes in his sleeves. Zeke even wondered how the hell he had managed to hide such weapons in places like that without seeming uncomfortable. "Hands up." Zeke ordered rather arrogantly. Reluctantly, the brunette followed as instructed before growling as he spoke, "Toss them here."

With a shrug, Zeke tossed the two to the other side, though now his gun was aimed directly at Eren.

"One last chance, brother. Join me! In starting world domination! We'll easily defeat your blonde friend, and that traitor! Hah!" He laughed, referencing to both Armin and Annie respectively. "I know all their weaknesses… I know each and every one's weakness. Can't you see brother? We've been chosen to be shifters for a reason by father! Ha!" He continued, adding another hysterical laughter towards the end of his statement.

"Firstly, don't call me your brother." Eren grumbled, the thought of that sicko being his brother just encouraged vomit to spill out from his mouth. Now deep in thought, Eren wondered how this was going to work.

He had a gun in his back pocket, and thankfully, Zeke didn't seem to have noticed. But the questions remained, will he be able to reach it on time? Before Zeke shoots?

Thinking back about it, he had a sudden realization that maybe he didn't really want to die now, he wasn't prepared for it. Not yet, at least.

Despite having only two or three years left with Mikasa… it didn't erase the fact he still had time left to spend time with her.

It's not just her, it was everyone too.

Everyone—that he held close to.

'Is this selfish… my wanting to live…?'

"Fine, fine. Eren then." Zeke groaned, rolling his eyes. "So? Is it a yes or no? I'll even let you take the blind girl along and—"

"No." Eren responded simply, his emerald orbs glaring directly at him—into his corrupt and disgusting soul.

Flinching slightly, and oddly surprised—Zeke then let out a scoff. "I'm sorry we couldn't come to terms then." He spoke, before glaring at the others behind the brunette who seemed ready to attack. "One move from either one of you and I'll transform." He threatened.

Before the others could react, Eren spoke, "Don't move." He mumbled—the last thing he wanted was anyone's death, plus this was something he wished to deal with alone. Though, as he spoke those two words he didn't look back—he didn't wish to see the expression Mikasa was making, he could still hear the painful soft sobs that escaped her lips.

There was no turning back now.

'I just have to wait a little longer…' Eren thought to himself, if he moved just a bit he'd be shot in no time. Well, there was only a fifty-fifty chance he'd even survive this.

"You're being rather easy, I heard they called you a suicidal bastard? Explains this very well, hm?" He laughed, having assumed the brunette was giving up his life to make up for his sins. And after laughing, his expression turned grim. "Farewell, brother." He sniggered, as his finger unhesitatingly pulled the trigger—that was aimed directly towards the brunette's heart. Even if he was partially a titan, he was still human.

And like any human, death by a pull of the trigger guaranteed death if aimed properly.

Though, the moment Zeke had fired a shot, Eren had no hesitance as he fired his own after managing to pull out his gun in time.

And in that moment, everything went slow. As if time were giving a chance for the brunette to dodge the bullet approaching him… except, that wasn't the case. It was a fifty-fifty chance. And it seemed the darker end of that gamble was claiming its victory. As the brunette watched the bullet approached him, he closed his eyes—bracing himself for the painful impact.

'I'm sorry, everyone… I'm sorry, Mikasa, I couldn't keep our promise.'

He knew himself that it was too late to even move, too late to dodge… but it wasn't too late for an obstruction.

"MIKASA!"

Huh?

Opening his eyes, he suddenly saw the raven in front of him as if she were to protect him… to shield him.

And just like that, the raven's body started to tremble, the bullet had shot through her chest. And in a flash, she had collapsed to the ground.

"M-Mikasa…?" Eren stuttered as he approached her body shakily. "Y-You d-didn't just… T-This is some sort of joke right? M-Mikasa…? W-Why aren't you answering m-me?"

No response, from the raven. Cries, from the brunette.

Author's Notes: Hope this was okay... Leave a review please! I would love to hear your thoughts.