Attack On Titan: Dreams

"Don't... Don't go..." she whispers brokenly. "Don't go again... Please.... Please stay with me..."

Eren presses his lips into a soft smile, leaning his forehead against hers. Her arms slacken slightly, and as she loosens her grip, her lips brush against his, hesitant yet full of longing.

"Hey... Don't cry... I'm here... I'll always be here with you..."

Tears mingle between them as her lips meet his more firmly, her eyes shut, losing herself in the warmth of his kiss.

"Ereh... My Ereh... Take me.. with you" she breathes against his mouth, her voice shaking as she deepens the kiss, desperate to hold on to the moment.

"Take care.... Mikasa..."

When her teary, charcoal-blue eyes flutter open, she finds herself lying in her bed. The world around her feels cold and quiet, save for the rapid thrum of her heartbeat.

Her arms instinctively tighten around the small figure nestled against her chest—a child whose small face is buried in her embrace.

Her lips press tenderly against his soft blackish-green hair. The silvery light of the moon casts an ethereal glow across her tear-streaked face as she begins to weep uncontrollably.

Her mind darts back to the bitter reality, shattering the fragile fragments of her dream.

"Umm... Mama?" the small child stirs, his voice soft and groggy. His bright green eyes—so much like his father's—blink open and find hers, brimming with sorrow.

Mikasa freezes, trying to compose herself, but her son, so young and yet so perceptive, gazes at her with concern. "Mama... Are you crying?"

She shakes her head quickly, forcing a small smile even as her voice trembles. "It's nothing, honey... Mama just misses Papa..." she whispers.

But Rin, as small as he is, wiggles free from her grasp and moves closer. His tiny arms wrap around her hair as he pulls her into an embrace, his earnest heart trying to soothe hers. She presses her face into his small chest, her tears soaking into his shirt.

"Me too," Rin whispers, his voice breaking the silence. "Rin also misses Papa a lot."

Mikasa cries harder at his words, her heart breaking anew knowing that Rin never truly got to meet Eren. Only when he was in her belly, Eren placed a gentle kiss at her swollen skin before setting of towards his doom.

Rin clears his own tears in understanding, his small hand patting her hair in a gesture far too mature for his years. His love and warmth keep her grounded, even as her heart aches with the weight of her loss.

"Don't cry, Mama... I know Papa wouldn't like it" Rin whispered against her long hair.

"Umm..." she murmured, her voice barely audible. She gently pulled her son into a hug finding solace in his warmth, her exhaustion taking over, as she drifted back to her dreams—dreams where she was reunited with the one she loved most, her most cherished, Eren.

Eren... the soldier who had stood as humanity's final shield in the Battle of Shiganshina. The man who fought to the last breath against the Armored, Colossal, Beast, and the Attack Titan. He had given everything to ensure their victory, and while humanity succeeded in reclaiming Wall Maria, the cost was unbearable.

The price was written in blood, in the names of those lost. Almost every Scout had perished, their lives extinguished in the fire of battle. Jean, Connie, Sasha, and Ymir—all gone.

Even humanity's strongest soldier, Captain Levi, had fallen. His final stand, a desperate bid to take down the Beast Titan, ended when he was confronted by the wrath of Willy Tybur's Attack Titan.

The survivors of the battle were few, their numbers barely a whisper against the roar of the losses. Some soldiers of the Garrison Regiment survived, their survival owed not to bravery but to orders that kept them far from the slaughter. Among the Scouts, only a handful remained: Hange Zoë, Floch Forster, and Erwin Smith.

But none haunted Mikasa as deeply as the news of Armin's demise, his body burned beyond recognition. And then there was Eren—the last man standing. Her husband. The father of her child.

He had driven the Titans away, forcing them back and ensuring humanity's survival. But victory had come at the ultimate cost. He hadn't returned to her, to the life they had promised to share. The aftermath of the battle had claimed him before he could hold her again, before he could meet the child growing within her.

All that returned to her from that fateful day was a single, fragile piece of paper. It was a letter Eren had handed to Hange moments before throwing his life away for humanity.

"Sorry... Sorry Mikasa... But Eren... He couldn't make it..."

The grave news had barely settled when Hange placed the folded paper in her trembling hands. Mikasa's knees buckled, and her vision blurred as the weight of the truth crushed her. Eren was gone. The man she had vowed to protect, the one she thought invincible, had made the ultimate sacrifice.

Her world collapsed. All sound faded into a deafening silence, save for the echoes of her own heart shattering. She clutched the letter tightly to her chest as if it could somehow hold his presence, his warmth. And then, she fainted, consumed by the overwhelming grief that swallowed her whole.

For days, she cried endlessly, her tears flowing like rivers that would never run dry. Her grief was unbearable, a storm with no reprieve. Yet, amidst the wreckage of her sorrow, one fragile anchor held her: the life growing within her. The baby, their child, became her reason to keep breathing, to endure the crushing void that Eren had left behind.

When she finally opened the letter, the words written in his hand melted her heart and unraveled her all over again. Each stroke of ink felt like his voice whispering to her, reaching out across the abyss of death to remind her of his love and resolve. His words were tender yet resolute, a reflection of the man she had always known him to be.

"Mikasa," it read, "if you're reading this, then It must mean that I couldn't make it back and my work as a soldier and as a scout is complete. I'm sorry for leaving you like this, but know that my sacrifice for humanity was worth it. Mika... I need you to live, not just for yourself, but for our child. Protect him, love him, and show him the world we fought so hard to save. You'll always be my home. And even if I'm not there, I'll always be with you. I promise. I promise I'll always come in your dreams like you used to in mine."

Her fingers trembled as she continued, the ink blurring beneath her tears.

"My cute Mika... Across all of the realities, histories and existences, we found each other, bounded souls, entwined in harmony. Juxtaposed to the ever grinding hatred of the outside world, we stand here in camaraderie, blissfully ignorant to the stride of all others, so long as we are together. Keep smiling for me Mika... Live a long happy life. I love you and I always will."

She wept for days, her tears an unrelenting storm that left her hollow, but she endured. It was hard—unbearably so—yet she pressed forward, finding her strength in the fragile, precious life growing within her. Each step was weighted with sorrow, yet carried the faintest glimmer of hope.

Months passed, and the moment finally arrived. She gave birth to a boy—a tiny miracle who became her reason to keep breathing. Eren had told her once, in a quiet moment of tenderness, that their child would be a boy.

He had dreamt of it, a blissful vision where he called him Rin. She held on to that dream as fiercely as she held on to him, and so she named their son Rin, a piece of Eren that would live on in her arms and in her heart.

Even in the quiet of her grief, she found a new purpose. Rin became her anchor, her guiding light in the darkness, reminding her of everything she had loved, lost, and vowed to protect.