Breathless •Eremika (Love. Me. Now. Or. Never.)

XVI: Don't Need You

"Eren, stop crying, here are the paper towels," Mikasa returned after ten minutes, a bunch of crumpled up towels in her hands. She plonked down in the passenger seat beside Eren, her eyes narrowing. She rested a hand on his hunched-over back tentatively.

"Don't touch me!" Eren half-screeched, his face buried in the crooks of his elbows. Mikasa sprung back, appalled by his reaction.

"Why?" she whimpered, her voice annihilated.

"You left a bra at Levi's place. Your bra!" he howled, still refusing to show his face.

"What?" she contemplated, "Oh. So that's where it went."

"You were with him that night!" he managed, his breath hitching, his chest rising and falling rapidly.

"Why? Are you jealous now?" she bellowed, "Well, I didn't see you around protecting me from other boys."

"For goodness's sakes, you did it with him!" he wheezed, short on breath. There was a ticklish sensation in his throat as blood began to bubble out. He had to calm down.

"Of course I did it with him, Yeager. Baby's don't actually come out of cabbages," she suppressed her volume, mortified, "I thought you didn't mind. If you mind, why are you still supporting me then?"

"I had hardly thought of it that way, Mikasa! But now that I have to confront the truth, it hurts me!" he groaned, choking on his own tears.

"You know it has nothing to do with you. It's my future, not yours," she cried, the dam of tears eventually breaking. Eren curled in on himself more at her harsh words. "If you're not going to help me but instead judge me like everyone else is, then I don't need you anymore. I do not need your love nor care." Did she go overboard?

Eren had stopped breathing as hard and his gulping had ceased, "B-But before you go, I can p-promise you one thing. You'll know the reasons behind my doings v-very soon. Very v-very s-soon."

Mikasa felt something weigh her head down, guilt, or her own scarred conscience, "I don't want to know anymore. But before I go, I can promise you one thing too." She drew in a raspy breath, "I'm aborting the child. This is final."

She saw Eren twitch in displease, but he uttered no sound. She knew he strongly objected her planned abortion.

"I'm going to hitch a ride home. I think we need some time away from each other right now. It's best for the both of us." With that, she swept her belongings into her duffel bag and swung herself out of the car, clearly irate.

Without casting a single forlorn glance back, she slammed the door shut and left Eren. Alone. Alone to face his own fears in life.

~

"For your petite size, you're a pretty big loser," a boy with a gruff demeanour scowled, pushing Armin painfully against the brick wall. They were in the school hallway, where passing students either crossed their arms to watch them as if they were some sort of a freak-show or cheered them on, chanting a low 'fight, fight, fight.".

Mikasa's head whipped around, seeing Armin caught in a headlock against three others who were towering over him in ease. She was at her locker, organising her books for next period. To announce her fury, she purposefully closed her locker door with more force than necessary, causing the entire rack to tremble.

The crowd encircling the four formed a little gap, allowing Mikasa through. The show had only just begun.

"Oh shit, it's her," one of the boys muttered, clamping a hand over Armin's mouth to muffle his screams. Mikasa blinked, tapping the tip of her shoe on the floor impatiently, hoping to intimidate the throng of people to disperse. Her reputation in this school was established based on the fact that she mastered the skills of martial arts better than anyone else.

Everyone was waiting for her to spring into action, like she usually would. But this time, she held back. She didn't want to. She was pregnant. She didn't want a miscarriage. Yet nobody else knew.

The three boys and Mikasa stood their grounds, unyielding, with Armin still attempting to writhe out of the choking grip on his neck. She had never felt that defenceless before. Eren was not at school, again. No one, whose physical abilities matched hers, was there to assist her.

"Let. Him. Go," a voice spoke up. It wasn't Mikasa's for certain. A blond-haired girl was scissoring her way through the onlookers, her facial features contorted into a sinister snarl, her lips arched up.

"Annie," Armin gurgled, clawing feebly at the arms of his attacker.

Annie casually rolled up her sleeves, her feet positioned in combat stance. She levelled her fists with her head, cracking a joint or two. The entire hallway was muted by her sudden intervention. Mikasa's fists were balled, her knuckles whitening.

She had prayed that someone would extricate her and Armin from this more-than-sticky situation, yet she had never wished for Annie. People had always told her to be careful what she wished for.

No one's mind, except for Mikasa's, could register what exactly was occurring as Annie swung her leg up deftly, connecting the heel of her boot with Armin's attacker's cheekbone. A blood-curdling crack wetted everyone's ears. He toppled to the ground, too taken aback to make a sound, holding a hand to his shattered face.

Armin numbly crawled to the lockers, his legs disobeying his orders for them to run and bring him out of here. 

Mikasa knew, from her martial arts training, that Annie would most likely go for the back of the neck next. No. It would be a fatal blow. "Stop it, Annie, you'll end up killing him."

"You don't get to speak," Annie drew her fist back, pondering over Mikasa's words, "You don't get to speak here. You did nothing."

The mob around them had already parted their ways, seeing that the wrangle was over. The boy on the ground was hoisted up by his two friends, on his way to the nurse. There were only Mikasa, Annie and Armin left in the derelict hallway.

"I was trying to do something before you just leaped in! I'm Armin's closest friend-" Mikasa retorted, holding her chin high. Armin, remaining fused to the lockers, whimpered from the tension.

"Don't say that ever again. You did nothing for him. You just watched on like the rest. I don't care how you protected him in the past, but from now on, I'm his protector," Annie's brows were furrowed together, infuriated, "He's mine."

The terms Annie were using were overly possessive. His protector? Mikasa thought. She had never regarded herself as 'Armin's protector' but rather as 'Armin's friend'. Who was Armin to Annie?

If it weren't for the fact that her pregnancy was causing her queasiness again, she would've retaliated, or verbally spat something venomous in return. At that particular moment, she only craved Eren's presence. He would have bitten back for her. Or would he? Had the argument from yesterday night turned tables? Nevertheless, he would have done something to hinder the fight.

"Don't approach Armin ever again," Annie warned, resting the back on her finger on Armin's supple cheek to caress it, "You've failed your duty as a friend. Now I'm filling in your spot."

Filling in her spot? Mikasa's jaw hung open. Was Annie trying to wedge herself in between her and Armin's friendship?

"Now go, Mikasa," Annie gave a wave of dismissal, her focus diverting to Armin, who was as shocked as a fish out of water, "I'm his protector now and if I see you within a meter's radius of him, you're dead."

No one had ever dared to threaten Mikasa. She was definitely the first. If only she wasn't bearing a premature life within her, she would've snapped back at her offender. She loathed the baby and she loathed Annie.

Hanging her head in utter shame, Mikasa opted for the only option, which was to leave, before things got more out of hand.

She was beginning to miss Eren. Despite the fact that she was physically stronger than him, he was her yardstick, her refuge and the only place she could call home. He was her protector.