The red scarf (MikasaXEren)

Chapter 12

Armin was making his way through the forest trail, looking for his team like everyone else was. His mind was focused.....and so was the rest of him. His body was in full alert, his eyes fixed on every tree, bush, or rock that he passed.
He was determined. Annie was not going to get away with what she had done. He rode swiftly on his horse. Looking every where his eyes could see.
His eyes moved. Left. To right. His ears were also on full alert. Trying to catch everything past the horses clopping. To the every brush of the trees, to every branch breaking. To every voice he could maybe find. And he did find one. A faint "Armin"could be heard somewhere amongst the forest. ARMIN! He heard again. This time a little louder. The blondes eyes widened.
"That sounded like Eren!" He said to himself. He quickly turned his horse around, following the direction of the voice.
"Eren!!!" Armin called out.
"Eren! Where are you!"
He was now riding through the trees and off the path, swerving his horse around the trees. Jumping over every log or rock that was in his way. Still moving swiftly. Unfortunately, Armin did not have a lamp. The only way he could see in the depths of the woods, was the moonlight and his good eyes. His hair blew in the icy wind, making his face cold. With the speed of his horse, and the cool breeze, Armin was having trouble seeing now. The cool air blew into his face, forcing him to close his eyes. His horse came to a sudden halt and stood up on his hind legs, neighing.
"Whoa! What is girl?" Armin said.
The horse was calming down a little now but still neighing. There was a thick wall of thorns in front if him that his horse almost ran into. Armin sighed and got off his stead. He pulled out his swords from his maneuver gear and began to slice his way through. Chop!
Chop! The horse was beginning to act skittish again. Armin didn't know why.
"What's wrong girl? Do you see something?" Armin said to his horse, turning around. CRACK he suddenly heard behind him. A branch snapped. He stood still.....listening. A Brussel of leaves could be heard from his right. But you could barely hear it. The wind blew through his hair once again. Armin still remained very quiet.
Who was it? Was it Annie? Was in Reiner or Berthroldt? Maybe it was Eren. He thought. Armin wanted to call out but he was afraid of who would answer. A growl was now heard from behind his back. It wasn't a human. Armin quickly turned around a tightened his grip on his sword. A wolf was standing a few feet away from him, now showing himself. His teeth were white as day. And his fur was grey and black. His eyes were a bright yellow that stood out in the darkness of the night. They glistened in the faint moonlight. Armin gulped. It growled again more fiercely this time. He gripped his maneuver gear tightly now. The wolf charged at him and he wasn't ready to give up a fight. Armins horse started to act out and ran through the trees. The wolf went right for Armin but he quickly dodged its attack. The wolf turned back around and charged at his leg. Biting it hard. Armin cried out as he fell onto a pile of leaves. He took his sword and sliced it towards the wolf, making him let go of Armins leg. Armin swiftly got back up to his feet. His leg bleeding, but he wasn't about to give up. He eyed the animal that now had a gash in the side of his leg. The wolf sneered at him. Arm reached his sword out to stab at it, but it moved away quicker. His blade now stabbed into the ground. He tried pulled the gear out if the ground but it wasn't moving. He could hear it barking behind him. Suddenly the wolf pounced on him and had him pinned down on his back. Armin held the other sword in his hand was was trying to push it off him with it. It was the only thing that blocked the wolf from reaching Armin. His hand was no longer in reach of the one in the ground. The wolf barked and snapped at him trying to get to Armin past his sword. Armins free hand was reaching for the other blade but he couldn't quiet reach. They made eye contact. It was almost as if the wolf had human eyes. You could see emotion in them, like he was just another person. Armin knew he had to kill it in order to escape, though he did not want to. It was either the wolf or him. His hand reached again as the it was fighting harder to reach his face. Armins hand finally reached and he pulled it out of the ground
"Uuuuahh Get off!!!" Armin cride out. and knocked the wolf on the head with the handle.
It stumbled back and off of him. Giving Armin a chance to get back to his feet. The bite mark on the side of his leg ached as he stood. The animal once again came back for a fight and jumped in the air towards him. Armins senses were now at its fullest. He remained in the same position, almost as if it was in slow motion Armin waited for the right moment. Waiting for it to get as close as possible, before quickly spinning around..the animal barely brushing past his shoulder.. and slicing the wolfs neck while it was still flying past him. Knocking it back in the direction it jumped from. The wolf now laid there on the ground, unconscious. Bleeding from its wound. The wind once again blew through his hair and hit Armins gash on his leg. Making it sting. Armin looked down upon the wolf. He had just killed an animal that was just trying to survive. Just like him. Although it tried to kill him. He looked pitying to it. Sad for it.
"I'm sorry" Armin said to the animal.
"I didn't want to kill you. But here it's killed or be killed.....I'm sorry."
He didn't know why he felt this way. Maybe it was because he had never planned on killing anything in his life. Except Titans. His horse suddenly came tromping back after it figured out it was okay. Armin sighed.
"Scaredy horse..." He said to it.
Armin! He heard once again. This time it was closer.
"Eren!"
He turned around and quickly began running through the trees, pushing branch's out of the way. Taking one last look at the wolf laying on the ground. It took him a couple minutes, but he finally found out where the sound was coming from. He saw Eren sitting on the ground holding a scarf. Mikasas scarf.
"Eren!!" Armin said.
"What happened?"
Eren just sat there and sighed not showing his face.
"I don't know..." He replied.
"I don't know what happened to her, but all I could find was her scarf? They must have went this way.... I don't know if she is alive or not. What if they killed her....this is all my fault..."
Eren was still looking down. Not showing his face. When Armin heard Eren say this was his fault it made him angry. Armin knelt down quickly beside Eren.
"Listen, this isn't your fault. Stop blaming yourself for everything! And Mikasa is NOT DEAD. She to strong for that. She would never let them kill her."
Armin placed his hand on Erens shoulder. Eren lifted his head up. He could see that he had been crying. His eyes were red and his cheeks were stained. Erens eyes glanced down at his leg.
"Your bleeding..." Eren said.
"I know, a wolf attacked me. But it's okay now. What happened to your horse?"
"It's ankle is broken..." Eren replied.
"Do you think it can still walk?"
"Maybe..."
"We'll come on, Eren."
Armin got up but Eren did not.
"Are you alright?" Armin said to him.
Eren suddenly look up at him.
"I'm sorry!" He said.
"I just don't know what to do! I don't know where she is and it's Killing me!!! What if she killed her!? To get back at me!!?"
Armin sat down again beside him.
"Eren, I thought it was my job to worry like this?" Armin said to him.
Eren laughed a little through is worrisome expression.
He tried to smile a little not wanting to cry in front of him. Armin got up and reached for his hand. They were now both standing.
"Well...what do we do about my horse?" Eren said.
Armin blew a whistle and the horse got up from its feet. A little shaky, but he seemed to be able to walk just fine.
"Eren, I need you to leave the scarf where you found it?"
"What!!?" He replied.
"We need it as a marker to where they could of been, I'm sorry, we will get it back after." Armin said picking up Erens unlit lantern.
Eren slowly placed the scarf back to where he found it. Not looking away from it. Please be okay...

***

they were both riding slowly on their horses back to where they came. No one had really said anything the whole trip. Everyone was already back at HQ when they arrived.
"Where the hell were you two??" Levi said. As they walked closer on their horse.
"I was about to go look for you?" Hange said.
"Well Erens horse broke its ankle, and. well...I was attacked by a wolf?" Armin said.
"I knew it was to dangerous to do this at night." Levi replied.
"And nice work Armin."
Armin nodded his head. And smiled.
"But on the other hand Eren found Mikasas scarf, on a tree. We left it there so we could remember, and possibly track them down."
Everyone began to worry but was happy that they found something.
"Well that's a start." Levi said.
"Listen everyone, I know this isn't the time, but it's too dangerous to go out at night alone. We will have to wait for morning. So im afraid we will have to call it a night."
"What?! No! We need to find them now! Who knows where they could be by morning!!" Eren yelled. Jumping off his horse. Levi was leaning against his.
"You will listen to orders!!" Levi yelled back.
"No! We need to find her now!! They could of killed her by now!!"
Eren was now letting his feelings get the best of him.
"Jeager!! I know your upset but you can't right now it's to much of a risk. FOR EVERYONE." They were know yelling at each other's faces.
"Then I guess I'll have to go out myself if all of you are too afraid!"
"YOU WILL LISTEN to what I say brat!!!"
"I won't let the only girl I ever loved get taken AWAY FROM. Eren screamed.
"Well the only girl I ever loved WAS TAKEN AWAY FROM ME!! BUT I KEPT LEVEL HEADED FOR THE GOOD OF THE TEAM!!!" Levi screamed back.
Eren was getting in over his head. And levi was also.
"Well maybe I don't want the same thing to happen!!!"
"I don't care what YOU want!! Brat! I don't want it to happen to the rest of them!"
"Levi!! You can't-
"Yes I can!!! I won't risk these people's lives!!! There may be others on the line, but it's too risky to go out!! We're not prepared!!"
"Levi!!!- I-
"I LOVED PETRA!!!" Levi shouts at him. Everyone went silent.
"Do you think I don't know how you feel??!!! That bitch took her away from me and yes I was angry like you!!
But I kept it in for the good of the team!! NOW I won't risk your life also!!
But don't u dare think that I don't understand!!
No one said anything. This was news to everyone except Eren. Eren looked down in anger. Knowing levi was right.
Eren began to say something.
"I just want her to be okay....." He said quietly, looking down.
"I know how you feel...." Levi said.
Eren didn't know what to say now. Armin came down and stood beside him.
Erwin walked up to levi.
"I had no idea you loved her..." Erwin said. Levi still was leant up beside his horse, eyeing a flower that had blown underneath his feet. He ignored what Erwin said.
"Come on in everyone...." Levi began to walk inside and loudly pushed open the doors. Everyone began to follow. Eren still stood there besides Armin. Connie looked back at them going through the door. He had a sad expression.
He now closed the door behind them. they were the only ones standing out there.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me..." Eren said.
"It's alright Eren. We are going to find her okay?" Armin looked at Eren. Waiting for a reply. Another tear snuck out if Erens eye. He has never cried so much before. Armin hugged him while he quietly sobbed on his shoulder.
He had been through a lot. He needed a chance to just let it out.
"We ARE going to find them..." Armin said. That determination never left.... And never left Eren either.