He Lies Within the Sea (eremika)

Chapter Eight

She woke up with a gasp, finding herself in an unfamiliar surrounding. The seat she was resting on gently vibrated as the car made its way down the road. Mikasa was being driven home, but the last she remembered, she had walked to the cave with Eren. What they spoke of was a nebulous cloud in the back of her mind- unable to be accessed, to be remembered.  Her eyes darted to the driver and passenger seat of the car, and she found that only the driver seat was occupied- by her mom.

From the sight of the town around them, Mikasa saw the familiar sight pass by- the sight that she saw each time she drove home. Her mother was taking her home, but what had become of Eren? What had become of her? Her nose caught a trace of the sea on her, sending chills down her spine. Her irrational fear was only becoming more irrational ever since she started associating with Eren, and she could never understand why. Was it because he was a denizen of the sea? Did his being a mermaid bring about a strange reaction? Her head pounded with questions, but Mikasa brushed them aside for another day.

"Mom," she called. Her voice sounded strained, as if she'd been screaming. "Where are we going?"

"Home," her mom answered directly. "You know you shouldn't go near the sea, and yet, you did anyways."

"I've done it before," she defended. "I am perfectly able to handle my fear by the sea."

"You passed out."

"What?"

Her mother paused. The car ran over a bump, causing Mikasa's headache to throb. "Mikasa, there's... you shouldn't strain yourself so much," her mother finally replied, considering her words carefully.

"Maybe I was already getting sick," Mikasa pondered. She didn't want to doubt her mom- to believe she was hiding something- and she didn't. She had an undying, impermeable trust in her mother, and her words were the truth - no questions asked. 

"Perhaps," her mother replied idly, paying attention to the curve of the road. They were driving through the dirt forest road, speeding past the shivering bare trees among the tall pines. Mikasa looked out of the window, thinking of her walks home after school with Eren. Oh yeah! She thought. I forgot about Eren!

"Mom, what about Eren?" she inquired. Her mother's jaw tightened. 

She sighed, "I told him to go home." There was something she didn't want to tell her daughter, but she figured the boy would tell her anyways; she didn't want to chip the wall of trust her daughter had built. A mother had to protect her daughter, but she could only protect Mikasa as long as she trusted each and every word of hers- and she did, blindly. 

"D-did you offer him a ride?" she questioned. Mikasa undoubtedly knew the truth of the boy, but she was testing to see if her mother had been a little courteous to him and possibly discovered the truth. She couldn't have someone learning Eren's secret, not after she swore to protect it.

"I know he's a mermaid," her mother responded calmly. "He can find his own way home."

Mikasa's heart sank, and she felt her body freeze. She'd just been thinking of protecting his secret, yet her mother knew of it. She trusted her mother- so much- but she didn't know if her mother would be willing to keep his secret; her mother cared only to protect Mikasa, and hiding a mermaid's secret was taboo. 

"Wh-what are you going to do?" she wondered. Worries swam freely through her mind, and she feared that perhaps her mother might blame Eren for Mikasa getting sick. She'd always been told to keep her distance to the sea, and perhaps her mother thought that the sea had given her a fever. Mikasa was no mind reader, and she knew little of what went through her mother's mind. In fact, when her mother acted so guarded and cold like this, Mikasa felt a distance between them- albeit a necessary one.