Pairing: Eren/Mikasa

Setting: Right before Mikasa sees Eren emerge from his Titan form for the first time.

Words: 740

Rating: K

Notes: I always loved this little moment for Mikasa because girl is feeling so much at once and her emotions just can't even take it. She doesn't even try to hide it, she just cries and cries because Eren is back in her arms.

November 11 – Heartbeat

Mikasa heard someone calling her name, but for some reason she couldn't take her eyes off the titan dissolving in the road below her. It was the one who saved her, the one fighting the other titans. She knew it was stupid but she couldn't help feeling an attachment to it; its presence was so warm to her. She knew she should run, but she couldn't move. She her eyes refused to leave.

The steam began to clear and suddenly Mikasa couldn't breathe. She heard her pulse pounding in her ears and she could feel her body moving on its own, down from the roof tops and to the street. Her feet hit the ground before she knew it and she was running. She was running and she couldn't stop herself. She knew that hair, she knew that body, she knew that face; Mikasa knew it better than she knew her own.

It was impossible. Armin saw him die and God, the look in Armin's eyes when he told her. She knew. She knew Eren was dead, but her arms reached out and she caught Eren's body before he hit the ground. He felt so familiar in her arms. His skin was warm to her touch, his head heavy against hers. She knew him; she had held him many times before. She blinked as she gripped onto him. This couldn't be happening. Eren was taken from her.

Yet he was still here.

He was the titan who saved her, who saved them. She had no idea how this was possible…how he had done this. They were going to kill him all over again when they found out what he could do…that he was-

No.

He was Eren and that was the end of it. He was her Eren; nothing would change that. Not even death. Her stomach churned. He wasn't moving at all in her arms. He just slouched against her, not speaking, not stirring. What if…

With her own heart pounding, Mikasa slid her ear down to his chest.

There is was; that steady beat she knew so well. The one she used to fall asleep to at night when she was afraid. The one she used to listen to when they would slack off in the meadows. The one that meant Eren was still with her.

Her grip tightened on him as tears began to spill from her eyes. He was alive. Eren was still with her. She thought she would never see his face again, never hear his voice, never hold him again but he was here.

It took her a moment to realize her voice was crying out in sobs as she held him as close as she possibly could. Nothing was ever going to keep her from him again and he was gonna need it once the military found out what he could do. He saved her. He saved them but she knew that wasn't going to matter but nothing really mattered right now.

She buried her face into his chest as she clutched on to him, her tears staining his shirt. She knew people were coming, she could hear them over her cries, but she didn't care. Let them see her but they had hell coming to them if they thought she would let them touch him.

Mikasa felt a hand grasp onto her shoulder as knees hit the ground next to her. She didn't have to look over. Only one other person would have come to be with them. Armin's head fell against Mikasa's arm and Eren's shoulder.

"Is he…?" Armin asked his voice hoarse, his hand reaching out to grab a hold of Eren's.

"He's alive," she said, choking back her tears. "He's alive." She could still hear Eren's heartbeat as she held him, his soft but steady breathing against her neck. People around her were starting to make a fuss. Shouting things. Accusing things.

"Help me move him," she spoke softly before standing up, taking Eren's dead weight with her. Armin moved with her until they had him huddled in the corner of the wall. Armin took a hold of Eren while Mikasa crouched down in front of him.

"No one is gonna to take you from us again," she said. She met Armin's large eyes before standing in front of them, her back to them facing the crowd that had begun to form. They'd have to go through her first.