The World that the Girl Saw

The World Through A Little Girl's Eyes is the second chapter in the second volume and the sixth chapter overall of Shingeki no Kyojin.

Summary
Finding the dead bodies of Mikasa's parents, Dr. Jaeger instructs Eren to wait for him downstairs as he calls the police.

In an unknown location, Mikasa is shown tied up and laid out on the floor. Turning her over to get a good look at her face, her captors discuss the prospect of selling her in an underground market. Taking note of her "oriental" ethnicity, they imagine the price they could receive. Recalling the events, they remember her father was not asian; only her mother. One of the assailents reprimands the other for killing the mother, saying they could have gotten a higher price for her. The other defends himself by replying that he had no choice because she was resisting. The missing chain of events that occurred before Eren and Dr. Jaeger's arrival are then revealed.

Expecting the doctor, Mikasa's father opens the door when they hear someone knocking. Opening the door, one of the two men stabs him in the abdomen. Immediately grabbing the closest available weapon, Mikasa's mother lunges at the two men and tells Mikasa to "get out of here". Too frightened to move, she watches as her mother is struck with a hatchet and drops to her knees. With the parents dead, the men close in on Mikasa and threaten her not to give them any trouble. She wonders to herself where she could have gone if she had fled when her mother told her to.

Meanwhile, we see Eren opening the door to the kidnappers hideout. Suprised, they ask what he's doing here. He explains that he was walking in the woods and got lost. One of the men squats down and appears to be attempting to console him. Before the man can finish his offer to escort him out, Eren slits his throat with the knife he'd been concealing. Mikasa stares in disbelief, wondering if this is actually happening. With one of the men now dead, the other rushes toward Eren who is now behind the door he just entered from. As the man opens the door, Eren reveals a makeshift spear he has created from a broom handle and a knife (implying that he knew the situation before he entered the room and planned ahead). Charging towards the man, he thrusts the homemade spear into the upper right side of his chest, laying him flat on the floor but still alive. In a rage, Eren jumps on top of the man and using the knife from earlier, stabs him repeatedly, yelling that he had it coming.

With the second man bleeding out underneath of him, Eren now gains his composure. Wiping his face, he walks over to Mikasa cutting her ropes and trying to comfort her. He introduces himself and explains that he came with his father for the examination. Interrupting him, Mikasa reveals that there was a third man who then appears in the doorway. Shocked and angry at the sight of his friends, he attacks Eren, kicking him in the ribs and pinning him against the wall by his throat. Struggling to get the words out, he tells Mikasa to fight, otherwise they'll die. Mikasa grabs the nearby knife, but can't bring herself to take a life. However, seeing Eren gasping for air, triggers a flood of memories that lead her to realize that the world is a cruel and callous place. With this, she stops shaking and calms herself, gaining "perfect self-control". Now knowing what she needs to do, she rushes toward the man with such force that she twists and breaks the floor board beneath her feet, piercing his heart from his back.

With the police now at the scene, they are astonished at what the children were able to do. Eren's father however, is less than pleased. Hugging and chastising him, he asks him if he realizes what he's done, to which Eren replies, "Merely put down some rabid dogs! Sometime they just happen to look like people!". He tells Eren that he was lucky; the police might not have made it in time. When Dr. Jaeger tells him that he threw his life away so easily, Eren tells him that he only wanted to save her as quickly as possible. Still traumatized, Mikasa tells Dr. Jaeger that she needs to go home, asking for directions. Feeling the gravity of the situation, Mikasa says that she's cold and that she has nowhere to go since she's now homeless. Eren responds by wrapping his scarf around her neck with Dr. Jaeger extending an offer for her to come live with them.

Back in the present, Mikasa is shown dispatching of titans with relative ease and wondering when the withdrawal signal will sound. No sooner had the thought crossed her mind, when the bell rings. As her teammates are preparing to climb the wall, Mikasa heads to the front, thinking of Eren.