Chapter Text
Mikasa fights a shiver, passing under the wet brush of the woods. It’s weird, she thinks, how quiet it gets. Before the outbreak, birds would chirp, the sounds of the land abundant and loud.
Now, it's silent. She hates it.
She’s been hiking for hours, and judging by the sun’s position in the sky, it’s almost dusk. Probably time to make a camp somewhere.
She’s tracing the lands south of the farm house, back to the direction they came from—back toward where Eren first found her. In the time that she’d snuck out, she’d killed roughly 10 infected.
It wasn’t any trouble, save for the twinge in her stomach when she’d turn, but even that was manageable.
She was hoping she’d come across the tarp that she’d taken refuge under, what seemed like an eternity ago. She could rest there and then look for footprints, or follow the direction she thought Sasha had run it in when they were separated.
She tries not to dwell on the guilt in her chest, for leaving Eren at the crack of dawn. She doesn’t want to think about how mad he probably is. He gets dramatic sometimes.
She tells herself he’ll understand. After all, he had done the same to everyone else when he went out looking for her.
She walks for an hour more, until she’s too tired.
Mikasa looks up, taking note of a tall cedar in the forest she’s been scouring. She decides to climb it, reasoning that sleeping high up will keep her out of the way of any zombies that decide to mosey on by.
It takes awhile to climb to the middle-top section of the tree with her stitches, but she manages it. She settles against a thick branch, facing away from the trunk and towards the rest of the forests. She digs through her pack, careful not to fall, until she pulls out a paracord.
Mikasa wraps it tightly around her stomach, and then throws it around the branch he sits on, securing herself.
Night falls, and she sits and waits.
***
The sound of a twig snapping is what eventually wakes her. For a second she freezes, startled as her mind grapples with where she is and how she got there.
She’s still secure in her place in the tree, her breathing slow and steady, silent as the grave. Moonlight filters through the branches at the top of the tree, casting a dim hazy glow.
It must be the middle of the might.
She stays perfectly still, waiting for another twig to snap. It’s either an infected or an animal, she muses, but still—it never hurts to be careful. Slowly, her hand reaches into her pocket and settles on the small knife she’d taken before she left.
She squints her eyes, scanning the ground below her with sharp focus. It’s hard to see everything with the dense tree branches surrounding her, but she has enough visibility to see any impending danger.
Snap.
Somewhere below another twig breaks.
Her breathing stops as the hairs on the back of her neck rise.
It’s a footstep, heavy despite trying to be light. Mikasa’s hand tightens around the handle of the knife.
She cranes her neck, trying to get a better look.
A figure walks below a nearby tree, turning their head every which way. Except for up, that is. Mikasa's stomach drops, and she’s grateful she’s concealed so high up.
She can tell by the way they’re moving that their human–not infected. Somehow that’s scarier. She can’t make out their face, but judging by their build and dark clothing it's a man. Older than her by a lot.
She watches them stealthily, as they make their way through the forest, holding a hatchet out in front of them. Given that he’s armed, Mikasa’s mind races.
One of them .
She wonders if it's one of the guys who raided their compound. And, if that's the case, she wagers they probably came across Sasha as well. You can’t get very far by foot these days.
She waits until the figure walks further into the inky black of the woods, and then begins to unfasten the paracord tethering her to the tree before she can second guess herself. She slowly and quietly opens her pack, shoving the rope into it. The longer it takes her to get down, the further the figure will go, but she can't risk drawing attention to herself. She can’t risk any sound.
It takes her a while given her wound, but eventually she’s able to climb down from the tall cedar. Her boots land on needles and leaves, but she manages to avoid making noise.
She pauses for a moment, taking in the darkness around her, before heading in the direction of the stranger. She needs answers, and this is the closest thing she’s gonna get.
***
His knuckles are bleeding. Tiny wood splinters stick out of the skin of his hand, but Eren could care less.
“I don’t think you’re gonna beat the tree, bud,” Jean calls over from the log he’s sitting on. He picks at his nails in the darkness.
Eren shakes his head. “We need to keep moving.”
“No, you need to sit down and rest,” mutters Levi from the log. “We’ve been walking for 12 hours.” Even in the low light of the forest at night, Eren can still make out the scowl on the older man’s face.
He should have gone alone. He wishes he did, but there was little he could do to stop Levi, much less Jean, from tagging along. Armin and Connie stayed behind, holding down the fort. Still, Eren hated the idea of sacrificing time that could have been spent looking for Mikasa.
She left you.
He chews on the inside of his lip and punches the trunk of the tree again.
***
Mikasa lays on her stomach in the grass. Thorns and bramble scratch at her abdomen from the position she’s in, but she doesn't care. Not when she’s got eyes on a building.
More like a fortress.
It had taken hours, and the sun had already risen, but Mikasa had managed to stalk the person this far, lingering in the shadows, maintaining her distance. So far, her steps had gone undetected.
A large wall, made of logs, sharped at the tops, surrounded the perimeter of the building. Torches lit the tops, and it looked like makeshift guard stations were posted at the corners of the wall.
She could make out 2, maybe 3 figures guarding each post.
This wasn’t some farm.
This was an actual compound.
She had watched from afar as the figure had approached the entrance of the wall, and a thick gate made of the same wooden logs was lifted. As the gate opened, she saw the inside of the wall.
Tents and buildings, piles of weapons, barrels of food littered the courtyard-like area.
Her stomach dropped as she looked beyond. Women, maybe 4 or 5, chained to a post.
One of them had familiar brown hair.
Sasha.
Fuck.
She wasn’t prepared for this.
She wasn't prepared for any of this. She squeezes her eyes shut, the familiar sting of tears an unwelcome feeling. Fuck.
She didn't ask for this. Didn’t ask for any of this shit. This life.
She takes a breath, the wound in her chest throbbing slightly.
She doesn't have many options. And then again, there seemed like only one real choice in front of her.
Eren. Please understand .
***
The rays from the midday sun beat down on the back of his neck, sweat forming on his brow as they make their way through the woods. Loose hairs fall from his bun.
He wipes blood on his jeans as Levi pushes the body of an infected out of the way. He’d lost track of how many they’d killed in the past hour alone.
“You guys,” Jean calls from a couple paces behind them. Eren turns.
Jean points to the ground, which was mostly dirt littered with twigs and leaves and deadfall.
“Footprints.”
Sure enough, there are tracks in the dirt. Boots, Eren muses.
Big shoes. Bigger than his own.
And then—
“ Shit ,” Levi calls, looking at the dirt ahead of them.
“What?”
Levi clicks his tongue. “I'm guessing these belong to her.”
Eren jogs over, his mind reeling in an instant. “Huh?”
He and Jean look down to see Levi's, and Eren sucks in a breath. Her footprints. Boots smaller than his own, trailing behind the prints of the larger ones.
“Maybe…Maybe she followed them, whoever they are,” Jean murmurs.
“We need to follow them,” Eren mutters, pushing past both of them.
Gods, Mikasa. What have you done?
Dread coils within him, like a weight threatening to pull him underwater. Neither Levi or Jean say anything, following in step behind him.
***
Hours later, they reach the end of a tree line, and then, beyond them, a massive wooden wall.
“Jesus,” Levi spits. He’s standing behind Rene and Jean and gabs them by the backs of their collars, tugging them down. They lie flat, ducking behind bushes. Eren spits a leaf from his mouth.
Jean starts to grumble and Levi kicks him. “You need to shut the fuck up, right now,” he says, his voice barely above a whisper but as serious as Eren has ever heard him.
Levi brings a finger to his lips. Eren has learned by now to listen to him. He watches Jean’s wary eyes from where they are hidden in the brush.
Levi speaks up. “I want you to listen to me very carefully. They’ve got guards. Armed, at the top of the gates. Maybe two posts. I guarantee you the second you step up and out past the treeline they're gonna gun you down.”
Eren listens to him, but his voice sounds far away. He squints his eyes, trying to make out the guards Levi mentions. Sure enough, burly figures, men, clad in dark clothes, stand at the top of each side of the spiked wooden gate.
One holds a bow and arrow, the other clutching what looks to be some kind of semi-automatic weapon to his chest.
Jesus fuck.
Levi shakes his head, cursing under his breath. “It’s them,” he says.
Jean’s face pales. “They guys from before? Who raided the gym?”
Levi rolls his eyes. “Yes, dipshit. You think this just so happens to be another compound, that coincidentally is guarded by assholes blindly following a doomsday prepper? It’s them. I know it.”
Jean swallows, and Eren continues staring. They’d followed Mikasa’s footprints nearly up to here, until they stopped abruptly. Her footprints ended at the treeline. Which could only mean one thing.
“She’s inside,” Eren murmurs, his voice cold. “She must have— they must have taken her.”
“Maybe they have Sasha,” Jean whispers.
Levi grimaces. “We don't have enough ammo for the firefight that this is gonna turn into.”
Eren shakes his head. “I’m going in there.”
He sees red. His heart is clamoring against his chest. If she’s in there, alive , Eren is going to find her.
“I’m going to get her.” He pulls a handgun from out of the pocket of his pants.
Levi grabs his shoulder before Eren can move further. “Calm the fuck down, lover boy. Think about this for a second. The minute you stand up with that thing, you’re dead. Then you're not helping anyone, least of all her.”
Jean nods. “We need a plan.”
“We need a distraction ,” Levi says.
Eren gives him a look. “You were in the marines, you tell us what to do.”
Levi shakes his head, the muscles in his jaw tensing. For a moment, he’s quiet, the gears turning in his head, and then he speaks. “If we can somehow take out the guards without making noise, we at least have a shot.”
Eren mulls it over in his head. “Won’t more guards just come?”
Levi blinks. “We need to wait until it’s dark. Take out their torches so they can’t see. Stay quiet and out of sight. Until then, we scour the perimeter. See how big this place is.”
Jean nods, and Eren realizes he’s right. So they’ll wait. “We go in the dark.”
***
By the time they haul her out of the cellar, she’s positive her nose is broken. There’s a steady trickle of blood pouring from it, the warm liquid staining her throat and chest. Her head swims, and her vision is still slightly blurry.
She spits on the ground as two men carry her under her armpits, her legs dragging limply behind her. Her spit is red, she notices, as she recalls the last hours.
She rose from her position in the brush, crouching, one hand on her knife, the other on the gun she brought. She thought for a moment, and then placed them back in her pockets.
She’d watched them for nearly an hour before making up her mind. The gate hadn’t opened again, but it didn’t matter. She knew the only way to get to Sasha was to go in.
Doing that and keeping her life wasn’t exactly guaranteed, but she didn’t care.
Slowly, she approached the edge of the trees.
She knew who they were, and she’d seen what these people had done at the gym. There was little likelihood of her coming out unscathed. But, she had to try.
She stumbled out of the trees, feigning a limp.
Instantly, the guards looked down at the sound of her crashing through the brush, approaching the gate.
“STOP,” a deep voice called from the post above. Mikasa raised her head. A gun was aimed at her head.
She had to act a part.
“Help,” she croaked out, her voice broken. “Help me,” she called. “I’m lost.”
The guard didn’t lower the gun. “Shut the fuck up. Hand where I can see them.”
She raised them, pretending to tremble. “Help,” she groaned. “Water, please.”
On the other side of the gate, she heard voices. Scattering behind the wood in a panic. “Boss,” one of the guards called out to someone she couldn't see. “It’s a girl.”
Please don't kill me, she thought.
She heard more commotion and then, wood groaned in front of her. She heard the clanging of a chain and watched, trying her best to tremble, as the gate rose.
On the other side were nearly ten men, clad in black and leather. They were grimy, old, each holding a weapon capable of ending her life in the blink of an eye.
Gods, she thought.
“On your knees,” The one in front called. “Get on your fucking knees.”
She knelt, and he approached her with a bag in his hands. In a swift movement, he tugged the bag over her head. She knew not to struggle. Not to jeopardize this plan when Sasha was so close.
Mikasa is shaken out of her reverie when one of the men carrying her slaps her across the face. It stings, but she refuses to cry. She doesn't give them a thing.
Slowly, she realizes they’ve dragged her back outside, and the light from the setting sun burns her eyes. She’s back out in the clearing, where the tents and stands and crops are growing. They approach the post where the four other women are chained two.
The other three are sitting or lying down, slumped over in the grass with their eyes closed. Mikasa is faintly aware of Sasha’s eyes as they widen when the two guards dump her in the grass next to her.
“Mikasa…Mikasa,” Sasha yells. “Mikasa—what…what the fuck?”
She scrambles, pulling on the chain connected to one of her hands. Mikasa tries to speak, but one of the guards places his foot on her back, and she’s forced back to the ground. Wordlessly, they take her hand and cuff her to one of the chains until she’s locked up, just like the other women.
There is nothing but darkness in their eyes as they walk away.
Mikasa slowly sits up, using her one free hand to guide her. Sasha nearly knocks her over. “Oh my God,” she hears her pant, like she’s out of breath.
“Oh my god , you’re alive. You’re alive,” She says over and over, holding Mikasa tight.
Mikasa smiles as best she can. “I am. We’re getting out of here.”
Sasha’s eyes are frantic. “I—how? How did you find me? Are you hurt? What happened?”
Mikasa takes a breath, and then begins to recount her story.