the (he)art of a titan || Eremika || ✔️

Part V

With a final flourish, pulled back from the memory, Mikasa finished the last loop of her flower crown and held it up proudly. She had made it as large as she could with the materials she had in order for it to even be seen on the head of a Titan.

"A crown," she announced, setting the beautiful accessory on his head, "for the Titan Killer King."

Titan Eren gave her a look and she relented, placing her own, much smaller crown on the top of her own head. "And one for the Queen."

Without a warning, Eren stood up causing Mikasa to grab onto his hair to prevent herself from falling off his shoulders. Then he began to walk deeper into the forest until they came upon a stream where the Survey Corps members would bathe and wash their clothes during the daytime.

Eren crouched down and leaned forward to look at his reflection in the still water. Though the sky was darkening, they were still able to see a decent image looking back at them. He let out a grunt of approval in admiration of their matching flower crowns. Mikasa smiled softly, which was reflected in the water.

They spent a few minutes in silence, just looking at themselves in the cool blue of the silent stream. The water was occasionally broken by a passing fish or a stray leaf, but for the most part, they could clearly see their own expressions.

"How are you feeling, Eren?" Mikasa asked, because as much as she knew human Eren and his obvious, emotional expressions, his Titan expressions were much harder to gauge.

Eren rumbled in thought for a few seconds before using his pointy Titan finger to dig a hole into the soft mud that lay near the stream. He then lifted his finger and made another hole right beside the first. For his final action, he placed his dirtied finger under the two indents and dragged it to form an upward curve.

After careful observation, Mikasa realized that Eren had drawn a smiley face and laughed. "Eren, why don't you just draw what you want to say? You're a natural!" she exclaimed and Eren huffed, not knowing if she was just teasing him or being honest.

"Draw Armin!" she said excitedly.

Eren drew a circle around the smiley face to form Armin's face and dragged a line down from the head. He then added stick hands and legs to create the most basic figure.

Mikasa hummed in approval. "Now draw Sasha."

Eren thought for a moment before adding a long blob of a ponytail to the Armin stick figure and a wobbly circle in the stick hand of the stick figure.

"Is that supposed to be a potato in Sasha's hand?" Mikasa asked.

The Titan nodded and Mikasa laughed. "That's perfect! Okay, now you draw someone and I'll guess who it is!"

Enjoying the game, Eren drew a stick figure with rectangular glasses.

"Hange!" Mikasa correctly guessed.

Then he drew a very small stick figure, adding another figure beside it for reference.

"Captain Levi?" Mikasa choked out in between laughter. "He might kick you again if he saw that!"

For the final one, he forwent the stick figures and drew a wide circle, adding four rectangular legs on the bottom, a long neck on top, with a circular head and a mane to boot. To finish off the picture, he added a bushy tail to its back.

"A horse?" Mikasa asked, exasperatedly, "Really, Eren? I know you think Jean looks like a horse, but I just don't see it!"

Eren growled and wiped the moist ground with his hands, clearing the dirt of any drawings and stick figures.

"Maybe we can create an easy code for you," Mikasa suggested, realizing that talking about Jean was probably dampening his mood, "so instead of writing out the difficult kanji, you can draw what you need to tell us."

Eren grunted in agreement, and Mikasa announced that they would update Hange and Levi in the morning. She waited for Eren to leave his form, but he continued to stay in his Titan form.

"Maybe Hange is right," Mikasa mused, "Eren, are you unable to leave your Titan form?"

Eren shrugged, not too concerned with the fact that he may be stuck in his giant Titan body.

"So we should just wait until you tire yourself out?" she asked, to which Eren nodded.

"Okay, Eren." Mikasa nodded determinedly. "Then I'll stay with you until then."

He made a high pitched noise at that and Mikasa could almost hear human Eren yell at her to not be stupid.

"It's fine, Eren," she cajoled. She leaned against his neck and curled her body in, blinking slowly to fight the sleep away. "Besides, you're warmer than any bed in our cabin."

Eren relented, not that he had much of a choice, and he continued to practice his lettering. Maybe it was something that developed over time, but he felt as if his brain definitely worked slower when he was a Titan. He wondered if he spent more time as a Titan, then maybe eventually, he could learn to be more precise with his movements and even learn how to speak. He could get stronger. Strong enough to fight back. Strong enough to protect the people he loved.