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· 。ﾟ☆: *. ☆彡
SHE COULDN'T QUITE BELIEVE THAT it had come to this.
The airship rumbled beneath her body, the familiar vibrations of the engine numbing her fingers as she placed them against the wall in the hopes of grounding herself. Her legs were weak, knees unsteady as she leaned her forehead against the cool wall in the hopes of ridding some of the warmth that had accumulated in her face. Disbelief danced upon her tongue, leaving behind a bitter, metallic aftertaste that reminded her of blood.
Blood. She was practically covered in it, whether it was visible or not. She had spilled so much of it and seen so much of it spilled. Her white hair was constantly stained an eerie, vivid pink that plastered it to her face and her clothes were saturated in crimson that caused them to stick to her skin, hugging her body in a way that made her feel claustrophobic. She carried around the blood of the lives she had taken, the guilt of it too thick to wash away in water. The glass emptiness of the eyes of the dead haunted her every time her eyelids fluttered shut, but reminders of the murderer who had killed them followed her every time she opened them. She was. She was the murderer.
"Hey, kid." She looked up at the sound of someone calling for her. Familiar, dark eyes met her bright golden ones that stood out like a beacon against the black of her new uniform.
"You ready? We're almost there." She pushed herself off the wall, her fingertips falling down to brush the familiar metal of the ODM gear strapped around her waist. The weight of it around her waist comforted her, if only a little. It was a familiarity, something that grounded her through all the changes that were happening around her.
Her hands tightened around the blades strapped to her, a quiet, metallic clink filling the air when the silver band on her left hand came into contact with the handle. She gripped it so hard her knuckles turned white - a colour akin to that of the hair that fell from her head.
"Yeah," she replied, giving the shorter captain a nod of her head.
"I'm ready." Her voice was hollow sounding, just as empty as her eyes had been since the day he had left. She was going to see him again. But she wasn't quite sure she wanted to.
Levi Ackerman noticed the hesitancy in her face. His lips tightened as he took a step forward towards the girl, having to tilt his head slightly to look up at her.
"If you're going to let emotion cloud your judgement, you can stay on the ship. There's no room for error, no time to make mistakes." Her gaze hardened as she nodded quickly.
"I know, Captain. I can do this." That same, metallic taste entered her mouth again, only this time, it grounded her. She clasped the silver ball on her tongue between her teeth and tugged at it, to remind herself why she was there.
Levi watched her for a moment longer, catching a flash of silver from between her lips as her tongue darted out momentarily. The action seemed to knock her back into reality as she straightened up, her golden eyes flaring.
The remaining soldiers from the one-hundred and forth cadets that had gone on to join the Survey Corps watched their leaders quietly, acknowledging the way the tall woman with the long, white hair and the short man with the cropped, black hair nodded to each other as a sign of respect.
She turned, her eyes surveying her fellow soldiers as her face tightened, any previous sign of hesitancy reduced to nothing. She was a mere machine - a weapon that had been beaten and bruised into submission. A shell of the woman full of life that she had once been.
"One last thing, Captain Feuerbach," Levi said.
"Do what you have to do to bring him back. This isn't your Eren anymore - this is a criminal and we're all in danger. You handle this like a scout, not as someone who used to know him. Not anymore."
A tension settled in the air. Silence followed Levi's words as the girl's golden eyes met Mikasa's. She stared back at her impassively, her lips pressed so tightly together to restrain the words she dared not utter. She couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for the girl. She only felt sorrow for him.
