Chapter Text
He knocked on the door, scared, nervous, fearful. He had mixed emotions about what could happen. Was she hurt? Was she kind? Why was he fighting for a girl whom he'd never met? All he knew was that he wanted to save her.
Gathering all his courage, he opened the door. He saw a man jump up, and race over.
A tall man looked down at the boy. The man looked angry, to say the least.
"Oh, I-I'm sorry." He said, trying to keep calm.
"Don't move from that spot you little vermin! How'd you even find this place!?" The man yelled at him.
"I, uh, well, the woods, I got lost, and, I saw this cabin, and-" The boy stuttered. The man looked back into the room, before relaxing a little bit. He turned back to the boy, an almost reassuring look on his face.
"Lost in the woods huh? A kid your age shouldn't be out here in the woods to begin with." The man smiled, bending down to ruffle the boy's hair. The boy caught sight of who he was looking for, tied up, and shivering on the floor. She looked disinterested, not really taking notice of what was going on. Knowing that she was here, he gripped the knife he held behind his back tighter, getting ready to strike. "Big bad wolves will be able to pounce on you from outta nowhere." The man continued, completely oblivious to what was about to go down. "It's alright now, you'll be safe here. My buddy and I will be happy to take you-" He coughed, his sentence being cut short as the boy drove the knife into his chest. And so the fight began.
The boy's expression quickly changed from scared to angry. "I appreciate that sir." He said, without wavering. "And I'm the last thing you'll ever see." He ended, before drawing the knife out and removing the man's hand from his head. The man fell to the floor, revealing the boy to the other occupants in the room. A slight breeze could be felt from the coldness outside.
"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" A man inside the room shouted, jumping up and sending his chair flying. The boy ran to the nearest door, closing himself in.
"Get here you little bastard, get back here!" The man grabbed his axe and opened the door. He looked confused at first, before the boy ran forward with a knife attached to the end of a broom, like a spear. He pierced the man, causing him to fall back to the ground.
"You're an animal, you hear me!? No, you're a disease!" The boy shouted, sitting upon the man and stabbing him over and over again. The girl rolled over and gasped, shocked to see a boy her own age, killing a fully grown man. "This is what you get you son of a bitch! This is what you get for being who you are! Die! Die!" He said, not showing any signs of stopping. Fire pulsed through his veins, pushing him on. He wasn't aware of the two sets of eyes fixated on him, unsure of whether to class him as a threat or their saviour.
The boy stopped, taking a few deep breaths before wiping the sweat off his brow with the back of his sleeve. He turned to the girl, who stared back at him with panicked eyes.
"The hard part is over. You're safe now." He said, getting up to go cut the girl free.
"Anyway, Mikasa right? My name's Eren. I'm doctor Jaeger's son. I met your parents once or twice while I was with my Dad. We were stopping by your house today for a check up." The boy, Eren, told the girl, Mikasa. She rubbed her wrists, them being bright red from the ropes chafing them.
"You came here to save me?" Mikasa asked him, sitting up and looking him right in the eyes.
"Yeah, come on. We'd better go and wait at the bottom of the mountain for my Dad." Eren said, standing up and offering a hand out to Mikasa.
"But what about her?" Mikasa said, pointing at the other remaining person in the room.
Eren's eyes went wide when he saw the other girl. She looked around his age, maybe younger, but she didn't look too good. Her eyes were dull and lifeless, and her cheeks hollow. Freckles were scattered across her cheeks and she had piercing blue eyes which reminded him a lot of his friend Armin's. The white shirt and brown trousers she wore were ripped and dirty, and her black hair looked as though it hadn't been brushed in weeks.
Eren walked over to her cautiously, as if the girl might jump up and bite. Mikasa remained seated. She figured Eren was better at dealing with people. He already made Mikasa feel safe. She was sure he could make her feel safe too.
"Hey. Can you speak?" He asked the girl. Her blue eyes looked up and locked with his.
"Yeah." She said quietly.
"I'm Eren, and this is Mikasa." Eren continued.
"I know. I heard." She replied.
"So, what's your name? Do you have a family? Can we find them?" Eren asked. Suddenly the girl's face changed, going from no emotion to a lot of emotion. She looked frightened, her eyes filling up with tears. She used all her effort to sit up, shaking as she fell back against the wall. Using her boney arm, she wiped her eyes and looked down at the ground.
"My name's Aria. And I don't have a family anymore. They don't want me." She sighed.
"Oh." Was all Eren could say in reply.
"What happened to the third guy?" Mikasa asked, just as there was a click at the door. Aria's eyes turned fearful, as Eren lunged forward for the knife. The guy had lightning fast reflexes, and picked up the situation pretty quickly. He kicked Eren in the stomach, sending him flying across the room.
"This is all your doing, isn't it?" The man asked, picking Eren up by the neck and holding him above his head. Mikasa gasped, seeing the boy who'd just saved her in need of saving. Aria sat in the corner, unsure of how to save him.
"Answer me you little bastard!" The man yelled, becoming frustrated. He was confused. His friends were dead, but the only people here were three nine year olds. Surely they weren't capable of murder.
"Let him go!" Aria cried, not wanting for her hero to die. More importantly, if she or Mikasa didn't do something soon, all three of them would die.
"I'm gonna kill you! You're gonna die!" The man said angrily. Eren's eyes were squeezed shut, but he opened one and looked at Mikasa, then me, then back at Mikasa.
"Take, take him out!" Eren spluttered as the man continued to strangle him. Mikasa's eyes went wide. Aria looked around for something she could use as a weapon, or something to at least distract the man from Eren.
"Kill or be killed!" Eren said, closing his eyes as he struggled for oxygen. "Fight for your life! It-It's the only way!"
"Just who the hell do you think you are, you little brat!?" The man shouted at Eren.
"The only way to live, is to fight!" Eren gasped.
Mikasa started shaking, before grabbing the knife and standing up. She held the weapon with both hands, the blood from the other men gleaming on it as she pointed it in the direction of the man, who she was expected to kill.
"I-I can't! I don't think I can do this!" Mikasa said, sounding upset. Aria attempted to get up, but crashed back against the wall. She couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten, or'd had anything to drink. She was probably only days from dying.
Mikasa glanced back at Aria. The frail girl, struggling to fight, even though she physically couldn't. Mikasa turned back to the man. Eren's gargles for air filled the room. She had never had to do something like this. She hadn't seen death before.
Random thoughts filled her head. One from just a few days prior was so vivid, she felt like what was happening in the present was just a nightmare. Her mother had been gardening with her, and a praying mantis had been found feasting upon a monarch butterfly. It was something that interested her at the time. The butterfly was a lot bigger than the mantis, yet the mantis had won. Sort of like Eren. He was small. But he had been winning the fight.
Suddenly everything changed. She stopped shaking. It was almost as if something had awoken inside of her. She felt as though she could do anything.
Clutching the knife as hard as she could, she let out a warrior cry as she ran forward, the man looking back just as the knife pierced through his back, straight into his heart. He collapsed, leaving Eren free of his grasp. Eren fell to his knees, gasping to get his breath back.
Mikasa looked at the dead man, then back at the knife she held in her hand. She dropped the knife, and rushed to Eren's side.
"You're okay, right? Eren?" Mikasa asked, grabbing his shoulders.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." Eren coughed, before standing up. Aria felt relief rush over her. She wouldn't have to experience any more torture or loss. The two kids she barely knew were okay. Somehow, that made her feel good for once.
"Eren!?" A man with glasses and a similar face to Eren's opened the door, running in.
"Oh god. Eren, what have you done!?" The man covered his mouth with his hands, looking at the dead bodies on the ground. Mikasa was glad to see the man, whom she knew was Dr Jaeger, Eren's father. She remembered him vaguely from when she was younger. Aria didn't know the man, but considering he knew Eren and they didn't seem scared of each other, she figured he wasn't dangerous. That being said, she could judge people pretty well. Seeing people's true colours was easy for her.
"I had to. I had to save them Dad." Eren told Dr Jaeger. Dr Jaeger looked around the room, wondering what his son meant by 'they'. He thought there was only Mikasa. He was shocked to see a malnourished young girl that looked like she was on death's door slumped against the wall.
"Can you hear me? I'm Dr Jaeger, Eren's father. Can you talk? Are you okay?" Dr Jaeger said, crouching down so he was level with the girl.
"Dad, she can talk. She's not dead." Eren sighed.
"Damnit Eren, look at her! She looks like she could pass out at any minute! She needs medical attention! Go see if you can find some water and food." Dr Jaeger ordered. Eren went off to look around the house, Mikasa trailing after him.
"Shit. I'd better call the Military Police and tell them we've found you guys. There's a phone just up the hill. I'll be right back." Dr Jaeger told the girl, before running back out of the house.
Aria looked around the room she'd come accustomed to. She hadn't been there very long. Three, maybe four days? She couldn't remember. She hadn't had anything to eat or drink since she'd arrived, and the pains of starvation had kept her from getting much sleep. She glazed over the dead men. She hated them, for the way they'd treated her, for the way they'd treated Mikasa. From what she'd heard, the men had been planning on selling the two to the creeps from the capital.
She'd been to the capital once before, when she was a lot younger and her mother was still alive. She would've been around four, because it was just after her brother had started school. Her mother had bought two small silver chain bracelets with a small, silver magnolia flower charm on them. She then told them about her family, the Magnolia's. Even though Aria and her brother had taken their father's surname, the Magnolia side of the family was important to both of them. A lot of the Magnolia family had gotten mixed in with some bad people from the underground, but her mother had always said, "As long as you can be a good person, it doesn't matter where you come from. Your past doesn't determine your future".
Aria smiled for the first time in weeks, possibly months at the silver chain with the magnolia on her left wrist. Wherever her brother was, she knew he would be wearing his bracelet too.
"Where'd Dad go?" Eren asked, walking back into the room, snapping Aria out of her train of thought. He was holding a few bread rolls, and Mikasa had a bottle of water.
"Went to call the Military Police." Aria said, her voice slightly raspy from lack of water.
"Okay. We found some bread and water. They don't have much food here. Did they feed you much?" Eren asked her, sitting down beside her. Mikasa sat down on the other side of Eren.
"They didn't.... feed me at all." Aria said, closing her eyes in exhaustion.
"The Military Police said they'd be here soon, and they want us to wait outside. It's getting cold, I'll light a fire. Eren, is the girl asleep?" Dr Jaeger asked his son.
"My name's Aria." Aria whispered.
"Okay. I'm gonna carry you outside. You're suffering from malnourishment and dehydration, and I don't want to risk you passing out." Dr Jaeger told the girl. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her frail body. She let out a happy sigh, feeling warm for the first time in days. Dr Jaeger carried her outside, sitting her down beside an unlit campfire.
"Eren, help me look for wood to start a fire. Mikasa and Aria, you two stay here." Dr Jaeger said, before walking off with Eren.
"I thought I was gonna die." Mikasa whispered, shaking as she recalled the events that had occurred that day.
"Back in the cabin?" Aria asked, curious. There had been lots of points she had thought she'd die in her life. When she got ill like her mother, when her father would beat her, when she was sold to the three men, or when she felt like she was about to starve.
"No. Back at home." Mikasa sniffled.
"Oh. I'm sorry about your parents." Aria said, unsure of how to reassure Mikasa.
"Ma jumped up to protect me. She told me to run. But I didn't do anything. Just like back in the cabin. I'm weak. When I didn't run I could've died. And if I'd waited a moment longer in the cabin to stab that man, you, me and Eren would've died, and it'd be my fault." Mikasa wiped away the tears appearing in her eyes.
"It wasn't your fault Mikasa. Everything happens for a reason right? If you had run, Eren wouldn't have come looking for you here and I'd still be in there, probably dead. You and Eren saved me, and none of it is your fault. You're strong. Stronger than me." Aria gave Mikasa a small smile.
"I'm not strong. Eren saved me. And by a fluke, I saved both of you. I saw you, trying to get up. You look as though you wouldn't have hesitated in killing the man. Why couldn't I? He helped kill my parents." Mikasa sobbed.
"You don't have to be physically strong to fight. Fighting isn't purely about being physically capable of winning a battle. As long as you have something to fight for, your chances of winning are as high as anyones." Aria said wisely.
"But what if I can't do it? What if I can't win? What if Eren and you died because of me?" Mikasa asked, scared as she relieved the murders in the cabin.
"I'll make a promise if you make me a promise. You stay strong and don't hesitate to fight for what's right, and I'll help you fight. I'll fight alongside you, and we can protect each other." Aria vowed, looking Mikasa dead in the eyes.
Mikasa nodded, her eyes filling with tears. "Okay."
"We found some wood. Hopefully the Military Police will be here soon." Dr Jaeger said, putting the wood down on the fire and fumbling around in his pockets to find his matches.
By the time Dr Jaeger got a decent fire going, it was dark, and the Military Police were busy inspecting the cabin. Mikasa and Aria stayed huddled up in Dr Jaeger's jacket, as close to the fire as possible, whilst Dr Jaeger drilled into Eren.
"Damnit son, I made it clear I wanted you to wait at the foot of the mountain!" Dr Jaeger said angrily. "Do you even understand the magnitude of what you've done here today!?"
"Sorry Dad, but I'm not gonna feel bad for what happened. They were animals disguised as humans who needed to be put down." Eren said strongly, not feeling bad for his actions. Mikasa and Aria watched in awe, as the boy argued with his father without concern of punishment.
"Listen to yourself!" Dr Jaeger shouted.
"By the time the Military Police got here, they would've been long gone and you know it! We couldn't afford to wait!" Eren yelled back.
"That's not what I'm arguing about! You threw caution into the wind and survived by pure luck. You're strong, but you're too damn young to be so casual about gambling with your life!" Dr Jaeger gripped Eren's shoulders even harder, emphasising his point. Eren's face fell.
"I, I didn't know how else I was supposed to save them." Eren said quietly. Dr Jaeger sighed before standing up and walking over to the two shivering girls.
"Mikasa, remember me? We met a few times before when you were just a tiny little thing." He said to Mikasa.
"Yes Dr Jaeger. So um, sorry, could you just tell me a way to get home? It's cold. I'm tired. There's really nowhere else for me to go." Mikasa said softly, scared of what would happen to her now that her family was gone. Aria tensed up, realising she had nowhere to go either. She couldn't go back home, not anymore.
Eren walked over to the girls and crouched down beside his father. He removed the red scarf from his neck and wrapped it around Mikasa.
"Don't worry, you can keep it. That'll keep you warm, right?" He asked.
Mikasa felt the scarf, tears welling up in her eyes. "I think so."
"Mikasa, how would you feel about coming to live with us." Dr Jaeger asked with a warm smile.
"What?" Mikasa said with disbelief.
"I can't even imagine what you have been through. But I do know you need your share of rest. Aria, you're welcome to stay too, we can try to find your family tomorrow. It's getting late." Dr Jaeger said, looking up at the black sky. The harsh winter breeze was biting at all four of them.
"Don't think about it, just come on. We gotta get home." Eren said, grabbing Mikasa's hand and pulling her to her feet. Dr Jaeger picked Aria up, knowing she was incapable of walking the long journey back.
"Yeah, okay." Mikasa started to cry.
The four of them walked off into the night, leaving the battle behind.
Little did they know that was just the beginning.