_{「 Eren…! 」}

_「 —_{Will you just get off my case!? 」}

          _{They had been but mere trifling words,
                    an exchange uttered so effortlessly from the human tongue.}

          _{And yet, they were words with honed double-edged blades,
                    cutting far deeper into her than the wounds she bore since young.}

_{「 Wh… What are you— 」}

_{「 Mikasa, I’m not a kid anymore!! Quit acting like I’m such an invalid! It’s always like this; I try to fight my own battles, and you keep trying to get in my way! 」}

          _{The weight of those words that have long since passed,
                    deny it she might, carried an inkling of truth.}

          _{Because no matter how vehemently she would cling to that hope,
                    the memories of past do nothing but dwell back in her youth.}

_{「 So stop screwing with my life and get your own, damn it! 」}

_{—And the truth was that, just as death was inevitable, without recourse, the people she thought she could not live without, could still live on without her.}

                                                   _{「 … 」}

It happens to everyone as they grow up.
You find out who you are and what you want,
then you realize that the people you've known forever
don’t see things the way you do.
And so you keep the memories,
but find yourself moving on.

_{… Ah. She should have realized it sooner. Growing apart was a part of growing up.}

                                                   _{It was natural, wasn’t it?}

_{And yet, she had turned a blind eye at it all. Because letting go of the one person that gave her so much hope— no, the one person who was her hope himself, was far too hurtful.}

_{The heavy regret remained instilled in her heart; in her mind, in her soul. And even in her final moments; even as the remorse reeled in her mind like a blaring mantra; even as she watched the crimson fluids flow down to the grass beneath her… she still found herself unable to let go of her fondest memories.}

                                                   _—Red.

_{It was a beautiful color… Just like the warmth of the scarf he’d given her that day.}