Violent sobs wracked Eren's body, causing Mikasa to tighten the blanket around them. Twinkling stars and a smiling moon did nothing to ease their pain. They had just lost everything. The boat swayed them back and forth softly, like a lullaby. Mikasa rested her head on Eren's shoulder, biting back tears. She just wanted to sleep, wanted this to all be over. She hated this life, her family just kept on dying. Sleep was about to take her over when she noticed Eren had stilled. Mikasa buried her face in his shoulder, knowing what was coming.
His voice filled the air, making the world seem warm. Mikasa had heard Eren sing many times, with many different songs. He sung for his father's patients who couldn't make it, he had sung for neighbors and children and pets, but never had she heard a song this sad. Sometimes Eren would break into a small fit of sobs before continuing with his song. Normally when Eren sang, people would scoff and roll their eyes. I was seen as an old superstition, something no one should practice anymore. But now everyone on the ship was silent, listening to his words. Even if they couldn't understand them, their meaning broke through. Other voices began to join in the song, ones Mikasa had never heard before. She looked up and saw a woman holding a pair of shoes once worn by a small child, an elderly man who looked so utterly alone, children crying their verses. All their voices rang up and joined with Eren's, all mourning the loss of their loves and lives.
Mikasa noted, all these people looked similar to Eren, despite having never seen them before. Brown hair coupled with piercing eyes and olive skin, a variety of noses that were all similar in some way. Mikasa finally truly understood, more than she ever could have before. This singing, this beautiful passage of souls, was that of a culture. One forgotten and ignored, except by those who still live by it. Mikasa's family may have forgotten her original culture, but she could tell Eren would never leave his. Within the next year, Mikasa had Eren teach her all the songs and their meanings. It wasn't her job to do, but she wanted to understand him, to help him mourn.
She found herself softly singing these songs much too often.
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Mourning Songs
FanfictionGrisha taught Eren to mourn the dead, but Carla taught him to sing for them with hope and respect for who they were. Her culture had made an art out of mourning, so many songs and rituals and burning sweet smelling things and offerings, but when the...
