Mikasa walked silently behind the Survey Corps member who was leading her towards Levi.
He didn't mean it. He was just angry, maybe I should just back off a little. But… if something were to happen to him…
"The captain will see you now," the man said to her as he stood next to the door of an old, small cabin. They had gotten there faster than she expected. She looked around, observing her surroundings. There was nothing but towering trees all around the sides of the back of the cabin; in front, there was a never-ending footpath embossed with carriage tracks and multiple footprints of different sizes, all going different directions.
She opened the door gently and stepped inside. It was small, but cozy on the inside compared to the cold and dark on the outside. A single candle emitted a soft warm glow, illuminating the tiny cabin. There wasn't much in there: just a large wooden desk towards the centre back and a chest on the left side of the room, tucked into a corner, and of course behind the desk, was Captain Levi, humanity's strongest soldier. He appeared to be writing something. He either didn't notice Mikasa in the room, or he just refused to acknowledge her, but, either way, Mikasa was growing impatient. She needed to see Eren, but then again, a small part of her didn't want to. Maybe it was best to wait till tomorrow.
"You wanted to see me sir?" Mikasa finally decided to speak, after what seemed like hours to her, but was in actual fact, a few seconds. She couldn't figure out why he wanted to see her at this time - I mean, couldn't it just wait till tomorrow? She was tired and her head was hurting; she just wanted some rest. Upon hearing her speak, Levi put down his pen neatly on the desk and looked up at her.
"Yes. I take it you already know about Eren and his little 'assignment' tomorrow?" he asked her casually.
"Yes sir" she replied. Maybe he'll ask me to come along too, she hoped. That way, she could guarantee his safety.
"Then you must know that it is essential we do this right the first time."
"I don't actually know of the assignment but…for you to ask him to come so quickly after he's recovered, it must be important."
Levi watched her as she spoke - she wasn't looking directly at him. Levi knew his gaze could be a little daunting for some, but she sounded indifferent to him, and he couldn't work out if she was against the idea or just not interested. He decided it was just Mikasa being, well…Mikasa.
"That's right. We have our suspicions of others like Annie amongst our group, and this is the only way to draw them out. Commander Erwin has allowed us to go ahead with this mission before we continue to Zhiganshina."
Why was he telling her this? And at this time? He said they suspected their group, which she was a part of, to have more titans. He must trust her to tell her this, but still, something was bothering her about this.
"We all know how attached you can be towards your…friend. However, we can't let emotions get in the way of this..."
Mikasa looked up at him as soon as he hesitated to address their relationship, blushing slightly without realizing it. The candlelight flickered between the two, their shadows titan-like on the walls. His gaze was intense and she wished he would drop it; it was making her uncomfortable.
"...Which is why I'm assigning you to a different mission," he quickly concluded, finally dropping his gaze.
"But sir!" Mikasa's eyes grew wide.
This is unacceptable! How can he not let me come along?! If there were others like Annie in their group, there's no doubt they will try to finish off what Annie had planned and take Eren with them! And others? So there may be more than one? If Squad Levi couldn't protect him from just one, who knows what could happen this time!
"I don't think that's-"
"Sadly this is not your choice to make. You're coming with me to tend to a different matter, and we leave in a few hours before sunset so… get some rest while you can".
"But what could-!"
"Oi Mikasa!"
Mikasa snapped out of whatever she was thinking, not realizing she was thinking out loud and was now staring into the face of a now standing Levi. He placed his hands on the desk and leaned forward so he was closer to her, ensuring that he was making himself clear.
"I'll see you in a few hours," he finally spoke, in a stern voice. "Get some rest."
Mikasa decided it was probably for the best not to argue with the Captain, and so, accepted that she would not be with Eren tomorrow. All she could do, was hope.
"Yes sir," she replied quietly, and quickly exited the cabin. The wind slapped her face as she stepped in to the cold night air, her hair flowing violently in the blustery weather. She spotted the run-down building not too far in the distance and began her trek back.
Meanwhile the rest of the squad was already asleep. Jean snored loudly across the room from Eren. In between the two, Armin had drifted off into his own world. But Eren couldn't sleep. He laid there silently, wanting to partly punch Jean square in the face and make him stop that atrocious sound or to leave the room altogether, and to just clear his head. He could hear the wind slashing viciously on the fragile looking window. It had started to rain soon after, and he decided to stay put, having no energy to get up. He turned on his side, his arm resting under his cheek, that same arm, which Mikasa had furiously grabbed.
I'm thinking about this way too much. There's no way Mikasa could hate me. I'm always getting angry at her and besides, she should know better than to underestimate my skills as a soldier. Heck, I'll show her, I'll show her tomorrow how strong I am and then she'll leave me alone!
Eren kept telling himself this as he fell asleep, making him eager to wake up the next day and to start their expedition. He didn't know what he was meant to be doing exactly, but Hanji said she would explain everything to him in the morning. And besides, Mikasa was just…Mikasa: his overprotective sister. She was family and words were nowhere near enough to make her leave him.
Just before he drifted off to sleep, he could hear her voice: "Eren! Show Mikasa that you can protect her!"
"Don't worry," he told her. "I will."
~The following morning~
"Are you okay Eren? You don't look like you got much sleep," Armin asked him with concern as they walked over to the large dining room to have their breakfast. It was a little after sunrise, and everyone was awaiting squad leader Hanji Zoe to arrive and discuss their task for today.
"What are you talking about Armin? I'm great," the green-eyed boy replied with a grin.
"Huh? Eren, you seem really up for today's mission and you don't even know what it is?" Armin looked at him surprised - but only slightly, for he knew Eren and his thirst for revenge on the titans was great. However, today he seemed exceptionally excited, as if he was going on a hunt for his early birthday presents or something.
"It doesn't matter what the task is," he gleamed. "I'm up for it. And once we get to that basement, this will all be over; and I'm going to get us there."
They sat themselves down at the table opposite Sasha and Connie.
And then I'll show Mikasa that I can protect myself and bring an end to the titans reign; she won't have to worry about me anymore.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized something was odd about their seating arrangements. He took a look around the room, giving it a quick scan. There were a few rookie soldiers standing around by the back wall and two on the end of the tables eating silently. Two seats away from Armin, who was sat by his right, were Ymir and Christa, who were holding their own private conversation. Opposite Armin, Connie had fallen asleep, his head tilted back with his mouth slightly open. Next to him, opposite Eren, Sasha kept sneaking food off Connie's plate and onto hers, thinking no one would notice.
"Hey, where's Jean, Reiner, and Bertolt? I can't see them anywhere?" Eren asked, still looking around.
"That's because they left a little earlier with commander Hanji to check if it was safe for us to leave," Sasha explained after she stuffed the rest of Connie's bread into her mouth.
"And Mikasa? Did she go with them too?"
He peered around expecting to find her walking towards him and telling him to eat up, whilst also giving him a lecture on keeping safe and not being too reckless when they head out.
"Hmm..."
Sasha stopped eating to think, staring at the ceiling, finger to chin.
"Now that you mention it...I haven't seen Mikasa since yesterday," she finished.
"Really? She didn't come back last night?"
Armin seemed worried. Eren's eyes grew wide as he remembered their conversation yesterday. He called it a conversation, but he was pretty much shouting at her for trying to look after him.
Did she really get that upset and just leave? She couldn't have, that just wasn't like her.
"Eren, what's wrong?"
An apprehensive Sasha came into view as his eyes refocused to his surroundings.
"Uh, n-nothing I just remembered…Captain Levi wanted to talk to her last night and she went to see him…that was when I last saw her…" he trailed off looking down at his food.
"With Captain Levi? Then you have nothing to worry about Eren! She's obviously gonna be safe...not that she needs any looking after of course," Sasha stated cheerfully, taking a big spoonful of her food.
"Yeah…"
Eren clenched his fist and then released it again. He could tell that he was getting angry, but what for? That she was with the captain possibly the whole night? And what on earth could they spend the whole night talking about? Or was it what Sasha had just innocently said: that she would be safe with him. Like no one else was strong enough to take care of her, not even Eren himself…
The door suddenly flew open as Hanji stood in the doorway, sunlight reflecting off her glasses, a distressed look upon her face.
"Okay everyone! Let's get going! There's been a change of plan so get to your horses as quick as you can," Hanji commanded.
Connie jerked his head forward as he suddenly awoke and hit his head on his now empty plate with a loud thud.
"W-what? Did I eat all my food already?"
"Of course you did. Haha...don't you remember?! It was delicious..." Sasha said nervously, drooling slightly as she said the last three words.
"Huh? But I'm still so hungry…" Connie put his head back on the table, still half asleep.
"Yeah...you're so tired your body can't even remember that you ate."
Armin looked at Sasha confused as she said this, she genuinely felt sad for him, like she didn't just eat two portions of breakfast as if it were one.
"But Sasha don't you remember, you-"
"Come on Connie, we gotta go!" Sasha grabbed the drowsy soldier from the table and dragged him to where the rest were now gathering to leave before Connie could understand what happened. Armin and Eren followed the rest and met up with Jean, Reiner, and Bertolt outside. They each grabbed their own horse as Hanji explained what had happened.
"We've got news that a vast number of titans are approaching us from the south," she told them. "It appears, Wall Rose…has been breached".
Everyone stopped and stared at the squad leader, bewildered before a barrage of questions were thrown at her. Everyone was talking over the other not knowing what to do or what this meant.
"Everyone calm down!"
The whole group stopped and looked up at the man on his horse, which neighed as it came to a stop just a few feet away from Eren and the rest, the survey corps' green-hooded cloak billowing behind him.
"C-Captain Levi?"
Eren looked up at him, squinting as the sunlight was bearing down on them. He looked behind him to see if anyone else was following Levi. There was no one else.
"Everyone grab your horses. There is no time…we need to make a move now," the captain spoke, looking rather calm considering the situation they were in. "We need to alert and evacuate all of the nearby houses and villages, understood?"
With a small nod and a "Yes sir" from everyone, they all got on their horses as Hanji told them to split up into four groups. Levi was just about to leave when he caught sight of Eren, who hadn't moved a muscle.
"Oi Eren, didn't you hear what I said?"
Levi stared down at him. Eren snapped his neck up realizing that everyone else had moved.
"Y-yes sir, it's just...I haven't seen Mikasa an-"
"Mikasa is fine," he answered before Eren could finish.
Eren breathed out, relieved. He was glad to hear it, but why wasn't she hear with the rest of them? And as though he had read his mind:
"I sent her to Wall Rose," Levi finished.
"What?! On her own?! What for?!"
Eren's words came out louder than he had expected. He knew he should trust Levi, however, with the titans appearing inside the wall and another group coming towards them, he couldn't understand why she would be left on her own. Anything could happen.
"She's more than capable of taking care of herself. As to why she went on her own: she wanted to. In fact, she insisted."
Levi couldn't see his face, but he knew that what he had just said hadn't helped in the least.
"However, I will be making my way towards her now, but I need you to follow instructions and start moving. Go with Hanji's group and avoid combat whenever possible"
Eren took in his words, understanding what he needed to do. He gave a quick nod and went towards the rest, listening to Levi's horse galloping off further and further away.
Captain Levi will be with her soon, so she should be safe.
But Eren couldn't help but feel useless. It should be him going towards her, after all she was his family. As he straddled his horse and took off with the rest of his group he looked over to where Levi had just been a few seconds ago.
Mikasa…please be safe.