Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Author's Note: So this is something I put together when I was bored. It combines scenes together from “some place to be at peace” and “pictures on the wall” by bacondestiny, and chapter 9 of my story What If. So I would recommend you go and read those first. This was just something that I put together for my own amusement, though I suppose it does make sense on its own as well.

"What am I to you?"

The words came out of his mouth automatically as he looked down at Mikasa, feeling resigned to what he knew was coming.

When he first received his future memories at that ceremony, and saw what he would do, and what he would become, he'd been horrified. Surely that wasn't the only way. There had to be something else, some other means that his people would be allowed to live in peace, some way to get the world to leave them alone. Surely he didn't have to become the worst mass murderer in all of human history in order to ensure his people's safety.

Surely.

But as things unfolded, it only became clearer how hopeless their situation with the outside world truly was. The only country that was even willing to talk to them was Hizuru, and even then it was only because they had something to gain from it. All the others were seemingly content to think of them as evil devils. After all, Paradis had served as a useful scapegoat for the past century, why change that now?

But what had pressed down on him even more than the geopolitical situation was his future memories. As the years passed, one by one they'd come to pass, each happening exactly as he had seen them when he'd kissed Historia's hand.

That moment with the boy had been no exception, playing out exactly as he'd foreseen. Even when he tried to alter the outcome, even when he tried to leave that boy behind to whatever fate those men had in mind for him, he hadn't been able to. Just like Reiner, he had been unable to stop himself from acting the part of the hero, knowing full well he would one day murder the person he was saving.

And now, here he was, asking Mikasa what he meant to her, and she would tell him that he was just family, unable to be honest about her true feelings. And then, like clockwork, they would be interrupted by the boy's father, and then their friends, and he would have no choice but to keep following the awful path that had been laid out before him until the horrible end…

"I...I love you."

Eren froze, and Mikasa's face came into sharp focus.

"What?" He breathed, certain he had misheard.

Mikasa's cheeks were very red, but she repeated herself. "I love you. And not just as family. But...but as something more."

Eren's eyes widened, and it felt as though a dreadful weight had been abruptly lifted off of him.

Maybe the future wasn't written in stone after all.

Before he knew what he was doing, he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers.

Mikasa let out a squeak, clearly not expecting that, but after getting over her initial surprise she wrapped her arms around his neck. He pulled her in close, his hands on her waist, savoring the feeling of holding her.

After a moment, they broke apart. Mikasa looked flustered, and Eren had to admit he did too, but the joy he was feeling far outweighed any awkwardness.

He rubbed her arms. "Mikasa...if you could have anything in the world right now...what would make you most happy?"

She looked down, her face still very red. "Um...well...if I could have anything...if I were being completely honest...I'd like to spend your last four years with you, just the two of us."

"I see." Eren smiled, then began to pull on her hands. "Well then, let's go."

She blinked. "Go? Go where?"

"Away. Somewhere far away. There's a railway station to the south of here, and I've still got some money on me. We'll find someplace remote on the continent to settle down and do exactly what you just said. Just the two of us."

Her eyes widened in shock. "Oh. But, what about-"

"I know. But...I love you too Mikasa. I'm sorry I wasted so much time dancing around this. But not anymore. I just want to live my last few years in peace. Please."

"...okay."

And with that, their path is decided.

As Eren led her away, he felt as though he were floating. Yes, there would still be some regrets, yes there would still be some bloodshed, and there would be consequences for abandoning everything. But right then, as he held the hand of the girl he loved more than anyone else, he didn't care.

He wouldn't have to become the monster he'd seen in his memories, and he would forever love Mikasa for diverting him from that awful fate.

Sasha pokes her head through the door. "We're going to bother Eren and Mikasa."

Armin looks up. "Oh? Are they back?"

She shakes her head. "Kiyomi said they were by the refugee camp. Mikasa left to go get him like half an hour ago, we just want to make sure they haven't gotten into any trouble."

"Never put it past them," Armin mutters, standing. "Alright, let me get my jacket."

He, Sasha, Connie, and Jean head down to the refugee camp on the outskirts of the city, just visible from the edge of the Azumabito house. It's something of a walk, and Armin half-expects to run into Eren and Mikasa coming up on their way down. "This place is so big," he says sadly.

"Yeah," Sasha agrees. "I hope those two didn't wander off too far, finding them in here will be hard."

"I'm sure they haven't gone far," Jean says. "Let's just walk around the edge here."

"Mikasa!" Connie calls. "Ere—!"

"Idiot!" Jean says, drawing his arm back from slapping his head. "Marley knows Eren's name. Try not to shout it."

"Ah," he says, sheepish. "Right."

Jean rolls his eyes.

Sasha asks, "Do you want to split up? We'll cover more ground that way."

"We might just end up with the same problem," Armin points out.

"Exactly," Jean says. "I trust Eren and Mikasa to not get themselves killed without supervision, but you and Connie on the other hand—"

"Hey!"

"Keep talking about cars like they're magic, Sash. See where that gets you."

Sasha blows a raspberry at him.

"Let's head that way," Armin says, nodding to the left. "Maybe they went to look at the beach."

"Ooh, romantic," Connie says.

Sasha laughs. "Oh, I hope!"

Jean rolls his eyes. "Let's go."

Armin trails after them. He's not sure it's necessary to even be looking for them—Eren and Mikasa are the two most powerful people he's ever met, they're obviously fine; they'll be back at the Azumabitos whenever they're ready—but it's nice to just be outside. The other side of the sea. Isn't this what freedom is? It's not what he pictured, but it's what's real.

After a minute or so, during which Eren and Mikasa fail to appear, Sasha says, "Hey! That's the kid who stole my wallet!"

Sure enough, the kid from the market this morning waves to them, then grabs the arm of an older man who must be his father. Armin and the rest pause their walk as the man hastily readies a tray with steaming drinks and scurries over to them. He says something that they have no way of understanding, but makes it clear he's offering them the drinks.

"Oh, that's—" Jean starts to say, but Sasha and Connie have already grabbed a glass and started chugging it down.

Jean pinches the bridge of his nose.

Armin bites back a smile and take a glass, just to be polite. "Thank you," he tells the man.

"Shukraan yak," he says, with a bow. He waves his arms, clearly inviting them back to the tent that his family—the boy and a younger child, and a woman who must her their mother—is in.

"I'm sorry," Armin says. "We're trying to find our friends." He makes vague hand gestures along with his words, trying to convey that they have a task.

The man squints at them, then raises his hand up to about Eren's height, then lowers it a few inches to Mikasa's, waves a circle over his face and smiles.

"Have you seen them?" Armin asks, hopeful. If they can find those two, then maybe they can spend the evening with this family and their hospitality . . . it'd be lovely.

The man starts talking, then quickly grows frustrated and shouts back at his tent, "Miriam! Hal ymkn 'an tati 'iilaa huna, habi?"

The woman, with the smaller boy on her hip and the older kid holding her skirts, comes over to them. She and her husband exchange a few words, and then she says, in broken, accented Eldian, "Boy? Pretty girl?"

"Yes!" Armin says. "They're our friends. Have you seen them?"

"The boy bring Ramzi," she says, patting the boy from the market's head. "Girl . . . come after?"

The boy, Ramzi, babbles something, gesticulating wildly. He mimes crying, then makes, of all things in the world, a kissy face, and points back the way they came.

Miriam laughs. "Your friends—cute? Happy?" She shrugs and points the same direction as her son. "They went there."

Armin nods, a disbelieving smile fighting its way onto his face. "Thank you," he says. He takes a healthy swig of the cup and puts it back on the tray, turns to his friends and says, "Let's go, guys."

"Wait a second," Sasha says, grinning as she puts her cup back. "Did that kid just say that Mikasa and Eren kissed?"

Connie laughs aloud. "I can't believe it! I was right!"

"You don't know that's what he said," Jean mutters as they start walking.

Sasha jumps up and down, clapping. "Oh, don't be bitter, Jean, it's a bad look on you."

They start jogging back the way they came. "I'm sure we just missed them," Armin says. "They're probably back at the house. Oh, I need to catch them! I need to give Eren a shovel talk."

"Me, too. You owe me ten bucks, Springer," Sasha whoops. "I told you they'd get together before we were twenty!"

"I didn't have enough faith in Eren, I guess," he laughs. "My bad."

They make it back to the house quickly. When they burst in through the back door, Hange, Levi, and Kiyomi are talking calmly with teacups in their hands; they look up expectantly. "Where are they?" Levi asks.

"Oh," Armin says. "Are they—not back yet? We ran into some people who'd seen them, they said they were headed back this way."

"They're not," Levi says, standing up.

"They also said they kissed!" Sasha says, throwing her hands into the air. "Go Mikasa, right?!"

Levi closes his eyes and sighs tiredly, like this is deeply unfortunate news. "The last thing we need right now is for either of them to be distracted."

Hange, on the other hand, claps and grins. "I dunno, Levi, maybe they'll be less distracted now that they've finally stopped dancing around it."

"You shut up," Levi says, pointing at them. "You said they'd been headed this way?"

"According to the refugees," Armin says. "If they're not here . . . ?"

Levi sighs again, pinching the bridge of his nose like he's in real pain. "What do you think the odds are that they found a hotel room for the night?" he asks weakly.

Connie and Sasha burst into loud laughter, and Hange tries to mask their snickering. Armin presses his lips together, and Jean crosses his arms. Kiyomi looks shocked, open-mouthed and pale.

"Ten more bucks on it," Sasha says.

"No," Connie says. "Not taking that."

Undeterred, Sasha turns to Jean. "You?"

"No."

She shrugs. "Should we call off the search party, then?"

"I'm sure they're fine," Hange says.

"They'll be on shit-shovelling duty for a week when we get back," Levi says. "And if Jaeger gets that girl pregnant, I swear . . ."

Armin joins Connie and Sasha in giggling like children. He can't help it. He's happy for them—they both deserve this; he's so glad that they're finally eeking out some happiness from this cruel world. As temporary as it might be, it's better than none at all.

Levi sends them all off to bed and threatens that anyone who makes noise will be joining Mikasa and Eren on shit-shoveling duty when they're back on the island. They head up to the guest bedrooms—nicer rooms than Armin has ever slept in—the accommodations for military guests at the palace weren't this good. Armin has one all to himself now—he and Eren were supposed to share, as were Mikasa and Sasha, but . . .

Sasha leans in close to him and says, "How much do you want to bet they'll try to convince one of us to switch bedrooms."

Armin smiles and shakes his head. "I'm not doing it. As much as I love them, I'm not bringing Levi's wrath down on myself."

She giggles. "Who wants to wake up early with me and see if we can catch them doing the walk of shame?"

"If you think Eren's going to be anything but obnoxiously proud of the fact that he finally bagged Mikasa . . ." Connie says.

"As he should be," Jean says.

"I'll get up with you, Sasha," Armin says.

"Same," Connie says, and Jean sighs and agrees too, a moment later.

They're married within the hour.

Running, hand-in-hand, away, away away away, from the future he was sure he was trapped in and everything that carried with it, along the side of the refugee camp-and they'll all live now, maybe things will be hard, maybe things won't get better, maybe they'll die, but it won't be all of them, and it won't be his doing-he spots what is obviously a makeshift church.

Eren stops running. "Hey," he says, and points with the hand that's not clutching hers. Mikasa, who still looks faintly like she's been hit with a hammer, follows the line of his finger. "This is sudden, but so is everything else-do you want to see if they'll marry us?"

"I," she says. "What?"

Eren might have taken that tone, that disbelieving blink, as rejection just a few minutes ago, but not anymore. He's giddy with this-with her, with the weight that has been lifted off his shoulders. There's still some to bear, there's still blood on his hands, and abandoning their lives and their duties and their friends will have consequences, but after the burden she just lifted from him, that all feels like a feather. It's so easy to brush off for right now. "That's a church. I bet they have a marriage ceremony. Do you want to get married?"

"Oh," she says, shaking her head. "That makes much more sense. Um. Yeah. Yes!" She bursts into a giggle. Eren hasn't heard her giggle since they were ten years old. He feels like he's flying.

He lets go of her hand long enough to cup her cheeks and kiss her-her angelic, perfect, beloved face, her lips and cheeks and nose and eyelids-and then he grabs her hands and pulls her backward through the tents.

The man Eren pegs as a priest speaks some Eldian, and they're able to explain that they're-eloping. Which is actually exactly what they're doing. Eren laughs when the thought occurs to him; he hasn't laughed, actually laughed, for joy and nothing else, in so long. The priest is happy for them-their wild joy is infectious, maybe. But more likely this is just a fine man who is happy to cater to young love, and he'll remember this night fondly whenever it crosses his mind for as long as he lives, which should be a long, long time. Or at least Eren won't cut it short. He rounds up a few witnesses, lights some incense. They don't have rings, so Eren grabs two blades of thick grass and ties them into circles. Following the priest's-his name is Nasir, Eren will remember it for the rest of his life-broken instructions, Eren slides one onto Mikasa's left hand fourth finger, and she does the same to him.

She's glowing in the light of the lanterns, flushed and confused and happy. Her lovely baby-pink suit is wrinkled; her hat is gone, there's dirt and grass on the hem of her skirt, and her bangs are falling all in her face. Eren has loved her from the first moment he saw her, in her nightgown on that filthy floor. Maybe even before that, maybe from the second that he realized that something had happened to this girl who he had never met and a monster roared to life in his chest, prepared to raise hell and move heaven to save her. Had he done that? Somehow manipulated it so that he'd found her? Had he sent the love he feels for her now to his younger self to make sure there was no chance where he left Mikasa to that fate; made sure he wouldn't go through life without her? He doesn't really remember the stretch of time between his father telling him to hurry along down the mountain and knocking on the door. He remembers the feeling of his knife cutting open a monster's throat; remembers charging at the second one with a spear made of a broom and a pocket knife and tackling him and stabbing him over and over again. He remembers the stricken terror on Mikasa's pale little face with her busted lip and bruised jaw. He remembers the crushing pain and panic as the third man held him by the throat, remembers the way the world grew black around the edges so that all he could really see was barefoot Mikasa as she snapped from a shaking waif into a warrior. He remembers the hours they'd waited outside until eventually his father and the Garrison soldiers found them, where he spent forever coaxing flames out of damp wood to keep her warm, and then just holding her hand in silence. He remembers the feeling of his head exploding off his body and the earth quaking before him under the weight of millions of titans on the march, remembers the awful ruin and the craters and the puddles and the charred remains as he crawled after them on hundreds of ribs-but all of that is so far away. It's so far away that he'll never see it again. All he can see is Mikasa, smiling up at him.

Nasir says something. He's been talking this whole time, giving them a blessing, but these words have a ring of finality to them and Eren hopes that they mean, "You may now kiss the bride," because he can't wait another second. He grabs her by the waist and pulls her in. Mikasa wraps her arms around his neck and smiles against his lips. It's chaste, really-they've gathered more of an audience, and she's still so baffled by everything- she doesn't know what was at stake; he's not sure he wants to tell her but he probably should, for the sake of their marriage. Their marriage.

He pulls back and says, "Hello, Mrs. Jaeger."

"Oh," she says breathily. "Hi. I like that."

Eren buries his face in her shoulder. She smells like the perfume Kiyomi had insisted on giving her. Like strawberries and clean linen. She feels like every good thing in the world. Like salvation for him, for his soul, and for everyone around them.

Maybe that's why everyone seems so happy. They know, somehow. People are cheering, beginning to break into a song he can't understand, and throwing ripped-up blades of grass at them. An older woman babbles something at them, gesturing, and then mimes dancing. Who is Eren to argue? He's nobody right now. He's just a boy in love, who's destined to spend the rest of his life in peace with the girl he loves beside him, like any other boy in the world. It doesn't matter what's flowing through his veins or lurking in his bones or rattling around in his head. What matters is what he has in his arms.

They all wake with the crack of dawn to wait in the sitting room by the back door, drinking black coffee and whispering jokes. They make goofy predictions and come up with jokes to tell when they finally come in, draw lots over who gets to give Eren the shovel talk first, and debate who made the first move. It's fun to have something to gossip about, and they can't wait to ruthlessly tease their friends when they finally get back.

. . . Except the door never opens.

By midday, they've passed from amused to annoyed to concerned. The joking dies off, replaced with genuine worry. Levi makes them go to the hearing they'd intended to to gauge the opinions of Paradisian Eldians and they learn nothing good. When they get back to the Azumabito estate, Eren and Mikasa have still failed to appear.

"Something couldn't have happened to them, right?" Connie says. "There's no way. We'd have known if Eren transformed, and if he was hurt . . ."

"Maybe something happened to Mikasa?" Jean posits, rubbing his forehead. "And Eren is looking for her?"

"He'd have come and gotten us," Armin argues. "And frankly, something happening to Mikasa is even less likely than something happening to Eren. Nobody would try anything with her—she looks like a rich girl from Hizuru, and even if they tried, she can handle herself."

"If someone had kidnapped them, we'd have gotten ransom by now," Hange says. "And again—I cannot imagine that anything happened to Eren or Mikasa and the entire city didn't immediately know about it."

"So then where are they?"

Lurking in the doorway, Levi says, "Every hour they make us wait is another week of stable duty. If I find out they're just screwing themselves stupid . . ."

"Be nicer," Hange says, although she's clearly stressed as well. "Maybe they found something. Maybe they have some sort of plan. Eren can be irresponsible sometimes, but do you honestly think Mikasa would let him get away with disappearing in Marley unless it was for something important?"

"I think that girl would cut off her own foot if Eren asked her to," Levi spits. "I think they're young and reckless, and Eren's been a headcase for ages. If they've done something stupid—"

"What do you think they've done?" Armin demands, defensive.

Levi levels him with a look. "I don't know. But I have a feeling that I'll disapprove."

Jean grabs his hat. "Should we go back down to the refugee camp? Ask around some more?"

"Sure," Armin says. He stands up stiffly. He can't believe anyone is implying—they're implying what, that Eren and Mikasa just ran off? That's ridiculous. Armin knows them better than anyone; they'd never.

Hange takes Armin and Connie into the camp while Levi takes Jean and Sasha along the sides. Armin's party spends two hours questioning the refugees as much as they can, but they get far less out of them than they'd gotten last night. Miriam's limited Eldian was better than ninety-nine percent of the refugees', and to those few who understood what they were saying, when they try to describe a dark-haired Marleyan boy and a pretty Hizuran girl, they're met with blank stares.

When their watches read five o'clock, they head back to the road that leads back to the house, as they promised the others they would do. Because they're responsible and communicate clearly. Armin's stomach flips and flops. Something has happened. Something has happened.

When they see the path, Levi, Sasha, and Jean are standing there. Levi and Jean are stone-faced; Sasha looks sick.

Armin's stomach turns to lead.

"Guess what," Levi says dully. "We found a little church. Father Nasir was happy to tell me about the sudden wedding they threw last night for a young couple made of a Marleyan boy and a Hizuran girl."

Hange presses her hand over her mouth. Armin's knees threaten to give out.

"He also informed me," Levi continues, "That after the ceremony, this couple continued heading south. Which is the direction, you'll be thrilled to learn, of a passenger train station for a railroad that operates across the entire continent."

Armin staggers. "They didn't—" he says.

"They did," Jean says, cold. "They left us."

He shakes his head. "They'd never! They wouldn't—"

Leave me, he thinks. But—

A kaleidoscope of images whirls through his head. Eren and Mikasa coming back from their basement, the awful, jagged, negligible distance between them; Eren and Mikasa sleeping curled into each other when they were kids in the labor camps even in the summer months; Eren and Mikasa far away from him on the field where Eren first used the Coordinate; Eren and Mikasa when Eren first introduced her to Armin, the way he'd held himself up taller and angled himself in front of her; Mikasa trying to die when they thought Eren was dead and sobbing her heart out when he emerged from his Titan; Eren losing his temper for the first time in the courthouse when Mikasa was threatened, ready to throw himself on their swords; Eren and Mikasa staring at each other under a tree on Historia's ranch just a few weeks ago, looking at each other like there was nothing else in the entire world they'd ever want to see.

Eren leaves them behind, but Mikasa has always been able to catch up to him. Sometimes Mikasa stays with him, and sometimes they both do, but he remembers racing up that hill when they were children; Eren rocketing forward and Mikasa half a step behind him to let him win, while Armin was left trailing after them. When they were children, every day when they were done playing, Eren and Mikasa ran home together, without him.

But—that's different. They lived together, back then. And they never left him without saying goodbye, without a "see you tomorrow!"

They wouldn't leave without saying goodbye, he thinks. They wouldn't leave me. They wouldn't.

"I don't believe it." He shakes his head.

"There were thirty witnesses," Jean tells him.

"Fine!" Armin snaps. "So they eloped, whatever—that doesn't mean they abandoned us. I'm sure they're coming back."

"Do you hear yourself?" Jean says, sneering. "I don't know about you, but fucking off in the middle of the night, eloping, and hopping on a train, without a word to anyone, doesn't scream "planning to come back" to me."

Armin throws his hands up. "Do you think this was a plan? Maybe—maybe they were impulsive, but . . . They'll be back."

"How many times have you known Eren Jaeger to turn back from a decision?

Armin flounders. The only thing that comes to mind in that moment is the night before their return to Shiganshina, when Eren had admitted to Mikasa that he'd been jealous of her strength, and that seems unlikely to help his case.

Hange swallows a few times. "If they do return," she says, "We'll have no choice but to punish them for desertion. If they fail to appear within the next few days, or without sufficient explanation, punishment may be corporal."

Sasha turns away.

"We can't look for them," Levi says. He looks down at his hands. "They could be anywhere on the continent right now. We don't have the time or the manpower. We need to get back to the Azumabito house and try to come up with a plan."

Connie stalks forward stiffly to the rest, and Hange follows. She puts a hand on Armin's back to guide him forward—he might not have come if she hadn't.

They wouldn't, he thinks. They'll come back.

By some stroke of fate, Mikasa still had her coin purse on her. Kiyomi, of course, had given her a heftier allowance than the rest of them. Enough for some news sets of clothes and some tools and supplies and whatever groceries they can't hunt or fish or pick or grow for themselves immediately. The closest village to their cabin is nearly nine miles away. They only ever make the trip when they need more flour or soap, really. And Mikasa's getting better at making soap. They trade herbs Eren recognizes from his father's teachings and fish from the river when they realize it goes just as far as coin. The villagers are decent folk-and their blood won't splash on this ground and dirty his hands or his soul-but they keep to themselves. They have no quarrel with the young "Mr. and Mrs. Krueger" who settled into the old Weber place, but little desire to befriend them. Thank God Mikasa is Hizuran, really. Eren can pass for Marleyan, but Mikasa saves them from too much suspicion.

Cleaning up the cabin takes ages. It'd fallen into disrepair in the thirty-odd years that it'd been abandoned. They have to clean our decades' worth of dust and spiderwebs, fix up the broken windows, fix the chimney. The plumbing works fine, thankfully-neither of them would know a thing about that. They have to buy a new mattress and pillows and quilts. It gets much colder on the Marleyan mainland than it does on Paradis; they have to stock up on firewood.

It's a quiet, peaceful routine. Eventually, immediately necessary measures get taken care of. They learn how to relax again. For the first time, there's nothing forcing them to get out of bed-no school, no labor, no training, no mandatory wake-up, no missions. Some days they barely get out of bed-though they're not exactly idle-except for rushed meals and baths. Some days they can't get up and going fast enough. Like they're little kids again, they play tag, they swim in the river, they race each other and make games and challenges out of chores and find shapes in the clouds and make flower crowns. Unlike when they were little kids, roughly half of these activities seem to end with them having sex. A definite improvement.

They keep a garden. Eren tries to figure out woodcarving. Mikasa makes a lot of bread. A wild chicken wanders into the yard one day while he's out fishing, and when he comes back his wife has named her Eloise and is making a pen for her. Eloise lays an egg a day; Eren thinks it's worthwhile to get another chicken or two, but they're putting it off until the next supply run. They make a picnic table overlooking the breathtaking view. Evidently, they don't hammer the nails in deep enough, because when they have sex on it immediately after they think it's done, it collapses under them. (Spare him the nailing jokes, please. Mikasa, who thought the whole thing was hilarious, made plenty. Apparently, along with superhuman strength, the Ackermans also have a genetic predisposition for inappropriate jokes.)

It's a good life. The summer goes by quickly, but they have so many days that unfold in a lazy golden haze. It's just them, their own private heaven, and Eren wouldn't change it.

Armin stared down at the letter, his hands trembling, his stomach twisting into knots.

Every time he thought things couldn't get worse, they did.

It had been several months since their trip to Marley, and Armin found it hard to believe that at the start of that trip he'd felt happy, optimistic even. He supposed the novelty of the new sights and sounds of the outside world, and all the interesting technology, food, and people they'd seen had distracted him from their situation.

Looking back, he should have known something was wrong. Eren had been acting off the entire time, as though he was only half aware of his surroundings, while his mind was occupied by something else.

And yet, even knowing that, he still couldn't quite believe it.

The first sign of trouble had come earlier that day, when they'd seen the blatant hostility the Marleyan citizens had toward a refugee child. If that was how they treated refugees, how much worse must they perceive the island devils?

Things only got worse at the conference the following day. They'd hoped they would be able to speak to the organization that advocated for the well being of the Eldian people. But their hopes had been dashed when it became clear that even the people who defended Eldians thought the islanders were evil devils.

But the worst part of the trip came when they realized that the worst possible thing had happened: Eren and Mikasa had run away.

At first Armin had been convinced that it had all been an impulsive mistake on their part, and that Eren and Mikasa would come to their senses soon enough. He fully expected them to turn back up at the Kiyomi residence, or on Paradis after stealing a boat, not too long after the rest of the Scouts returned to the island.

But as the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months, it became clear that they weren't coming back.

They didn't have the manpower to try to find them on the continent, and while Kiyomi had discreetly sent some of her agents to search for the pair of them, they hadn't had any luck or found any leads at all.

Which led to the letter that Armin was holding in his trembling hands, his eyes burning with unshed tears as he was filled with despair and fear.

The letter was from Kiyomi, and while it was very polite, professional, and complimentary, the message was clear: Hizuru was withdrawing its support from Paradis.

And reading between the lines, it was fairly obvious that they were going to go to Marley and tell them that they had lost the Founding Titan.

It said that they would keep Zeke's involvement a secret, but considering that Armin wasn't sure if they could trust Zeke that was such a small comfort as to be entirely meaningless.

Armin could sort of understand where Hizuru was coming from. The only reason they'd been interested in helping Paradis was because of Kiyomi's connection to Mikasa, and because they held the Founding Titan, and the various threats and opportunities that came with that.

But with Eren and Mikasa gone, both of those benefits had left with them, and now Hizuru was taking the safest bet by siding with Marley.

Armin let the letter slip from his fingers and float to the ground.

How could they do this? How?! Didn't they know that without the Founding Titan the island was virtually defenseless?! Did they not care about what happened to their people?!

Did they not care about what happened to him?!

Armin's head fell into his hands, tears leaking out of his eyes. He felt angry and hurt and afraid. He couldn't believe that he had meant so little to them that they would abandon him to this nightmare.

He may be the God of destruction, but that counted for little in the face of the threats lining up against the island.

The only things that had prevented Marley from launching a full scale invasion had been the Founding Titan, and the fear of the rumbling that came with it, the abundance of pure Titans on the island, and their various wars with other nations. All of those obstacles were now gone.

And if the latest information from Zeke was correct, the Tybur family was about to rally the leaders of all the major nations in the world into a global coalition against Paradis.

Armin squeezed his eyes shut in a vain attempt to stem the flow of tears.

What on earth are we going to do?

It's not a perfect fairytale happily ever after.

Mikasa regrets it, sometimes, he thinks. Sometimes, he almost does. But Mikasa-she doesn't know what would have happened. There's a difference between her listening when he broke down and told her what he would have done in the safety and seclusion of their bed, the scent of baking bread in the air and the fire crackling across the room, and knowing. She'd told him early on in that conversation, that he would never do such a thing, and that had only set him sobbing harder because he would have. She'd corrected herself quickly, but it doesn't make him feel better. He has nightmares about walking over a dead, flattened world. He had been so high that the Wall Titans had been like Eloise to him. He's been able to see beyond them, the hordes of people who couldn't outrun his apocalypse. And then he'd walked over their pulped remains.

To Mikasa, that's something that would and will never happen. All she knows in her bones to be real is this world that they have here. She doesn't know that there was any other version of the night they ran away. A world where she had told him he was family and then the old man and their friends had interrupted them, where Eren had nothing to run to when he wanted to run away, and so continued down his awful path.

So it's harder for her to ignore the consequences that their selfish decision to run away has on their friends. "Their" decision. He chose to run, she just chose to follow him. She was so shocked that night that she would have done almost anything he asked, and it's possible he took advantage of that.

She tries not to let him know, but she's dead worried about Armin, Sasha, Historia, Jean and Connie, Captain Levi and Commander Hanji, and all the rest. Eren has no idea what will happen to Paradis, only that it's not likely to be anything good. Armin must be tearing his hair out looking for them. They must be either wanted for desertion or presumed dead. Maybe both. Floch and Zeke are out there somewhere waiting for him. Historia's baby gets closer and closer to due, and it's unlikely that she'll be allowed much rest before she's told to have another. One of those kids will eventually grow up and eat their mother.

The people of Paradis, his closest friends, the land to which he owes his loyalty, will be under attack soon. Whenever he wanted to, Eren could leave, could track down Zeke and unharden the Walls and unleash the Rumbling, save Paradis.

But he won't.

He doesn't know if it's right or if it's wrong. It's definitely selfish. Sometimes the thought of what will happen to Paradis saps the strength from him, leaving him feeling like a hollow shell with guilt sloshing around in his gut, eroding his insides. Sometimes he thinks of the way things are for his people and he gets so angry he thinks he could find it in himself to do it. But then Mikasa smiles at him and all that rage is wiped away. They've made their bed and now they're going to lie in it; there's little use in talking or thinking about it.

It's not like that for Mikasa. Her soul isn't on the line here. Arguably, by choosing him, she damned Paradis. She saved the world, but it's so hard to see a negative. In the other world, she would have been the one to stop him; she'd be remembered as the savior of humanity and she'd be beloved by what was left of the world. But now she feels like she's just damned their home.

But at the end of the day, this is their home now. These four walls and the river and the chicken that follows her around hoping for bread crusts. A village that feels as far away as Paradis or Hizuru. It's each other, as it has been for most of his life. And when the stars come out, they see the pair of them in their bed, guarding each other from nightmares and living peacefully with the choice they made.

The devilish silhouette appeared through the red curtain like a shadowy demon, it's greedy hands reaching out and grasping the air. On the stage below, Willy Tybur was addressing the crowd, explaining the dangerous threat that Eren Yeager posed to the entire world.

Reiner watched the speech with a grim frown, knowing it was all bullshit. He'd been one of the few people who'd been privy to it, but a reliable source close to the Tybur family had revealed what was going on with the island. Apparently they had been discreetly trying to find a diplomatic way of dealing with the rest of the world. But after this had gone nowhere, it seemed that the holder of the Founding Titan, Eren Yeager, had disappeared, along with another member of the Scouts, Mikasa.

Reiner was surprised to hear this, as Eren hadn't struck him as the type to run away. But it had been four years. Maybe after learning the truth about the outside world, and learning that he had an expiration date in the not too distant future, it had all become too much for him, and so he and Mikasa had run off together.

Whatever the reason, Paradis had lost the Founding Titan, and while Marley had discreetly sent some covert agents to search for Eren and Mikasa (though the odds of actually finding them were pretty slim) they had been very careful to make sure this information did not reach the general public.

Because after the conflict with the Mid Eastern allies, Marley's image with the international community wasn't looking too good. So in order to restore people's faith in them, and to unite the various nations, they needed a common cause, a common threat. That threat was Paradis island.

And the only way they could get the world to rally behind Marley against Paradis was if they lied, and pretended that Paradis still had the Founding Titan, and was thus a real and imminent danger to the rest of them.

As Willy Tybur's speech went on, he brought up the threat of the rumbling, and how it could be unleashed by Eren at any time.

Reiner had to admit that Eren seemed like someone who would be capable of unleashing the rumbling. He'd meant it when he'd said that Eren was the last person in the world who should have that kind of power, and if he had still been with Paradis, the threat Willy Tybur was presenting to them could have been very real.

But with Eren gone, it was just another lie meant to bolster the world into action.

And judging by the reactions from the crowd, Reiner could tell that it was working.

"I declare war on the enemies of Paradis island!"

The crowd burst into applause, and Reiner belated joined in, even if he couldn't agree in the slightest.

Without the Founding Titan, Paradis didn't stand a chance, and knowing that an island full of innocent people was going to be slaughtered to satisfy the world's bloodthirsty need for a scapegoat made him feel rather sick.

He really shouldn't have been as surprised as he was when Mikasa got pregnant.

They hadn't been meticulously careful, nor did they have much in the way of birth control. His shifter abilities are meant to keep him at his absolute best, and while they still don't know shit about the Ackermans, it's not a stretch to imagine that she has something like that as well. And fuck, even if she doesn't, she's a healthy human woman who's been having a great deal of sex for the last few months. Really, he should have been surprised she didn't get pregnant sooner.

She's three months along when they figure it out. When her symptoms—fatigue, headaches, and the odd mood swing—begin to include violent bouts of nausea, Eren panics. Despite her insistence that she's fine, he takes her down to the village doctor. Doctor Möller listens to Eren for about fifteen seconds before cutting him off with, "Mr. Krueger, is it at all possible that Mrs. Krueger might be . . . in the family way?"

Both of their jaws hang open.

"I'll take that as a yes," Dr. Möller says with a smile. "Mrs. Krueger, if you don't mind my asking, when was the date of your last menstrual period?"

She tells him, looking dazed, and Möller nods and offers them congratulations. The words ring in Eren's ears. They keep assembling themselves in different orders, like there's a version of them that will make sense. Eventually what he comes to is I've knocked up Mikasa, and then Eren has to wrap his arms around her and put his chin on her head, or else he'll just fall over. Mikasa's arms come up and squeeze him tight. Is she cutting off his air? Or is he just about to faint? The floor feels wobbly beneath him.

Eren tugs her into a hug, her chin on his shoulder, and Mikasa wraps her arms around him and sways just a little.

"I'm happy," she tells him. "I know we didn't talk about this, but . . . I've always wanted a family of my own. Kids. And . . ." she trails off, but he thinks he knows what she's going to say.

I want a piece of you to hold onto when you're gone.

He's got less than four years left. He'll be dead when their baby is three. But if this is something that Mikasa wants, then hell, Eren is overjoyed to be giving it to her. "I'm happy, too," he says. "Holy shit."

Mikasa giggles. She laughs so much more freely now. She pulls back so she can grin up at him. Her hair has gotten longer; it's like they're fifteen years old and he doesn't know he's on a clock. But when they were fifteen she was the same height as him, and he couldn't lean down and kiss her like he can now.

Eren laughs against her mouth. "Holy shit," he says again. "We're gonna be parents."

"We're gonna be parents!" she echoes, squealing. She bounces on her toes. "I-oh, Eren. I'm really happy."

"Me too, sweetheart," he says. He picks her up, just 'cause he can, and spins her around. Her bright laugh is worth everything in the world. "Wow," he says. "Wow. You're pregnant."

She nods, grinning. "I'm pregnant."

Her face is blurry. Why is her face blurry? Then Eren realizes that he's crying, and so is she. He kisses her again. "We're having a baby?"

"You're gonna be a dad," she says.

"Shit," Eren says. "Woah."

"Congratulations," Möller says warmly. He's easily in Eren's top five favorite people in the world right now. Why wasn't he at their wedding? He talks some more, telling Mikasa important stuff. All of the information burrows deep into Eren's brain-keep her away from cigarettes and alcohol and overly hot water and chicken shit and anything that might hurt her back like chopping firewood and intense fishing and make sure she eats lean meats and greens and berries and that she rests if she's tired and doesn't get sick-but he barely registers it. Three months along, he thinks. They're gonna have a baby in six months. Not even a year after they ran away and they're gonna have a baby. A baby.

Somehow they get back to the cabin. Eren had panicked and bought three more quilts from Mrs. Bekker, and a gallon of strawberries, and that other hen they've been meaning to get. Mikasa names this one Clarice, which makes Eren realize they're gonna have to name this kid eventually, which makes him have to sit down for a minute. Mikasa very politely pretends she's not laughing at him.

(Eloise and Clairce get along fine. They have two eggs a day instead of one. Eren does, in fact, run back down to Möller to make sure that it's okay for her to eat eggs. It is, as long as they're cooked. Eren serves borderline burnt eggs for a few days until Mikasa revokes his rights to the stove.)

They build a crib. The cabin has two bedrooms, and one has just been collecting dust; it's easy to turn it into a nursery. Eren's figured out woodcarving enough that he makes the crib himself. Mikasa shreds one of the quilts he bought, sews it into a mattress, and stuffs it with duck feathers whenever Eren brings home poultry. The remaining scraps she turns into dolls. The crib doesn't go in the nursery, though-not for a while, until the baby is old enough to sleep through the night alone.

(Eren might not live to see that.)

Life goes on. Fall turns to winter. They spend the days in front of the fireplace, making up stories, or playing in the snow like they're kids again. Mikasa tries a million times to bait him into a snowball fight, but he's not fifteen anymore. It's less that he's concerned about hurting her and more that it's a joke they're both pulling on each other, and somehow watching Mikasa get exaggeratedly frustrated or innocent while she's pelting him with snow makes him happier than he ever could have imagined.

The baby grows. As soon as a month after their visit with Möller, there's a visible change in her stomach. Not dramatic, and you can't tell under a shirt, but she doesn't have the perfect rock-hard abs she's had she was thirteen. Two months later, Mikasa suddenly gasps and drops the duck she's breading, hands flying over her stomach.

Eren's at her side in an instant. "What is it?" he says. "Are you okay? Are you in pain? Are you dizzy? Sore? Do I need-"

"Eren," she says. "I'm fine. I just-" she bites her lip, smiling. "I think I felt the baby move, that's all."

Eren exhales open-mouthed, half a scream. "Oh!" he says. "Let me-"

She grabs his hand and slides it under her shirt, up over her slightly swollen belly. Eren keeps his hand there for ages, but even when Mikasa gasps again, he can't feel anything.

"It's easier to feel from the inside," she guesses. "I'm sorry, honey."

Eren laughs. "Don't be. There's a baby in there." Eren kneels down to press a kiss to her stomach. Something in the base of his neck tingles; he guesses just a chill; their house is kind of drafty. "Hi baby. Try to kick harder next time, okay? For Daddy."

"I'll blame you if this baby comes out crazy," she says. She picks the duck back up. "Hear me, baby? Don't try to kick Mamma."

"Oh, alright." He kisses her belly button and laughs when she shoves him away, rising. "We already know that any crazy he has he'll get from me. When he comes out with superstrength-that's on you."

"'He?'" she asks, quirking an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't-"

"I don't. I haven't." He shrugs. "Just a feeling."

"We should talk about names," she says. She's rolling the meat in bread crumbs again. This is one of his favorite dishes. His wife is such a good cook. Eren reaches around her to take a knife and the carrots and starts chopping.

"Shoot," Eren says. "I'm all ears."

"If it's a girl," she says. "I was thinking Carla, of course."

"Of course," Eren says. That's an obvious choice. "If she doesn't look like a Carla, there's also Faye and Bell."

"Bell?"

"For bellflowers," he says. "They grew in the field where we used to gather wood outside of Shiganshina. They were in the room I woke up in after fighting Annie. They grew in the field where I unlocked the Coordinate for you-I'm still not over the fact that you didn't realize you had kind of confessed to me, you know-"

"I know," she says. "You tell me all the time."

"Anyway. Yeah. Bellflowers. There were even some in the meadow in the summer, remember? I think it's cute."

She hums and leans over to kiss him on the jaw. "It's precious. I can't believe you remember the flora of those moments."

He tilts his head to kiss her forehead and nudges her gently with his elbow. "'Course I do. Do you have any ideas for boys? 'Cause, to be honest, I don't. The only thing that comes to mind is Levi, for some reason."

Mikasa snorts. "Hm, no. Levi would be disgusted to know there was a kid named Levi Jaeger out there somewhere."

"Fair," he says.

"Anyway," she pushes her bangs back with just her thumb to keep crumbs and meat juices from getting in her hair. "For boys, I was thinking . . . Armin?"

The knife lands on his finger, sinking deep into his fingertip. Eren hisses and Mikasa yelps, already grabbing it to kiss it better. With his other hand, Eren grabs a towel and turns on the faucet for just a second. By the time he's washed the blood off of Mikasa's lip, his wound is already just a fading red line. Mikasa has his hand clasped in both of hers and resting over her heart.

"So," she says. "Not Armin?"

"I . . . don't like the idea of naming him after him like he's dead," Eren says. "We know he's alive." At least, he had been as of a few weeks ago.

"That's fair," she says. "Then my second thought was Noah, after my dad."

He smiles. "That's cute. Yeah. I like that. Carla Jaeger the second. Noah Jaeger. They've got good rings to 'em, don't you think, Mrs. Jaeger?"

"I do," she says, and lets go of his hand. "Okay. Good talk."

"High-five for healthy communication," he agrees.

Paradis received word about Willy Tybur's speech shortly after it happened from Zeke, and they were informed that about half of the major nations in the world had joined hands with Marley in its coalition against them. It would take several months for them to figure out the logistics and gather their forces, but once they did, the invasion would begin.

A few weeks before the invasion took place, Hange, Levi, Armin, Connie, Jean, Sasha, Floch, and many other Scouts met in their headquarters at the port. Everyone looked grim and resigned, and not a single smile could be seen.

Hange lightly touched the map that had been laid out on the table in the center of the room.

"Okay, so if the intel we got from Zeke is accurate, the invasion force won't go straight for our port near the southern tip of the island."

She moved her hand. "Instead it will land on this stretch of shore on the southwest side of the island. Most of their forces believe that we still have the Founding Titan, and so will stick together as much as possible so that they can have extra concentrated firepower if the Wall Titans make an appearance. We can use this to our advantage. We won't be able to stop them from landing, as we have nothing that could counter the firepower from all those ships."

She tapped several trees on the map. "But once their forces move inland they'll have to pass through or at least by several forested areas. Our ODM gear and their unfamiliarity with the terrain will allow us to engage in hit and run tactics, especially at night."

The Scouts grimaced, knowing exactly what kind of hit and run tactics she was referring to.

Toward the side of the room were several modified dart guns full of Titan serum. Since the Marleyan army distinguished Eldian soldiers by forcing them to wear an armband, it provided a nice marker for them to know which soldiers could be turned into weapons against their fellows. So all they would need to do would be to swoop in, shoot darts into every soldier they saw wearing an armband, and then retreat and leave the enemy to sort things out amongst themselves.

It was a low and rather scummy tactic, but if the numbers that Zeke had provided them were accurate, they had no choice but to do whatever it took to kill the enemy soldiers, as they simply didn't have the manpower to make a more "noble" strategy viable.

Hange shifted her finger along the ocean on the map. "Once the ships have dropped off the bulk of their forces on the southwestern side of the island, they'll head for the port and attack it. While most of the Scouts will be engaged in slowing down their soldiers, Armin will use the Colossal Titan to destroy as much of the fleet as he can when they reach the port."

While the Colossal Titan would be able to destroy some of the ships, he wouldn't be able to destroy them all, and so would have to retreat shortly after transforming or risk getting killed by the naval bombardment.

At the same time that the Scouts would be responsible for harassing and delaying the enemy in the relatively untamed southern territories, the Garrison had already set themselves up at Wall Maria for when the invading forces arrived at the walls.

Shiganshina and the southern parts of Wall Maria had been evacuated, but the seriousness of the invasion had been downplayed in order to avoid a panic by the civilians.

One of the newer Scouts turned to Hange seriously. "Commander, be honest with us. Can we stop them?"

Hange stared at the map for a long time before answering.

"No. We can slow them down and make them pay for every inch. But in the end their sheer numbers and superior weaponry will win out."

She ran her fingers through her hair anxiously. "Zeke mentioned something about a plan he had to halt the advance early on, but he was incredibly vague about it, indicating that either he's not sure if he can pull it off, or it wouldn't make much of a difference even if he could."

Levi scowled. "And that's assuming the bastard is really on our side, something I doubt."

Hange placed both of her hands on the table, her gaze glued to the image of the port depicted on the map.

"The smartest tactical move would be to surrender or retreat. But neither of those are an option for us. They won't accept our surrender. They've already decided that we're devils, and they intend to kill us all indiscriminately. And where could we possibly retreat to? A handful of people could run off and blend into the masses of people on the continent. But we have more than a million people on this island. There's no way we could move them all to a safer place. We don't have the infrastructure or manpower to pull it off, and even if we did, the world would quickly be able to figure out where all the people of Paradis had gone, and go after them again."

An uncomfortable silence swept the room, and though nobody said it out loud, everyone's minds went to Eren and Mikasa, the ones who had abandoned them.

Armin looked away.

Hange pushed herself off the table and looked at them all grimly. "Even if it's futile, we have no choice but to fight to the bitter end."

The day the Great Allied Forces arrived on the island began quite dramatically. Countless columns of smoke appeared over the horizon, and before long more than a hundred ships came into view.

From a distant forest, well away from the beach, Levi and Hange were watching with a pair of binoculars.

Hange grimaced. "So, it looks like Zeke was telling the truth, both about where they would invade, and the kind of numbers they had."

Levi absently kicked a nearby root. "Like that really helps us."

With no enemy in sight, the ships reached the shore uncontested, and deposited countless soldiers onto the beach. The first ones to land immediately began setting up camp, a base from which they could proceed into the interior, while other soldiers continued to arrive from the ships.

As Levi watched them pour onto the beach, he could tell that the soldiers definitely numbered in at least the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, which was not reassuring at all.

He'd known how grim their chances were, but it was still unpleasant to see it confirmed so blatantly firsthand.

As Pieck walked into the camp that had been set up for her and the other Warriors, Pieck couldn't help but admire the impressive size of the coalition.

For the first time in human history, many nations from varying cultural and regional backgrounds were working together for a common cause, with Marley at the helm, once again taking the fight to the island devils.

What was more, most of the Marleyan army consisted of Eldians. Once their victory over the island devils was secured, the world would be more likely to accept the good Eldians, and no longer see them as a threat.

Pieck felt a twinge of guilt, since they had lied about the island having the Founding Titan, and they knew how little of a chance the islanders stood without it. Still, there was nothing else that could be done. It was the island's fate to be destroyed, to rid the world of the last remnants of the Eldian empire.

In the end it was all for the greater good.

Pieck glanced around the camp. In addition to herself, Zeke, Porco, and Lara Tybur were also there. The only Titan of theirs not present was Reiner. He'd seemed incredibly reluctant to go back to the island, and they needed one Titan to stay behind in Marley just in case something happened, and so he ended up being the one to remain on the continent.

Gabi, Falco, Udo, and Zofia were also not present, as Zeke had insisted that they had gotten more than enough combat experience in the recent conflict with the Mid East Allies, and they weren't really needed.

Lara Tybur was there to show that the Tybur family was willing to put its money where its mouth was and be more proactive in the world, and so for the first time in a century the Warhammer Titan would be used in war.

It would take some time for all the soldiers to arrive on the shore, and there wasn't much for her to do in the meantime. So Pieck enjoyed the calm breeze passing through the air, and took a moment to relax.

She noticed that Zeke looked slightly tense, but she figured it was probably due to his PTSD from that unfortunate encounter with the Ackerman four years ago.

It was nothing to worry about.

Several hours later, the ships had finally finished depositing the soldiers onto the shore. The camp was now much bigger and bustling with activity, as preparations were made before they would begin to march inland the following morning.

The camp was divided loosely by the nations the soldiers came from, while the Eldian soldiers were segregated from the rest, and made to do most of the work in unloading and setting up equipment and weapons.

Zeke was reading a book near the very edge of the camp, while Porco was quietly discussing something with Lara Tybur.

Pieck was sitting next to the members of the panzer unit, laughing and joking like old times. It was nice to be out of her Titan form, though she knew she'd have to assume it before long.

Carlo turned toward Pieck, his face slightly flushed. "Hey, um, Pieck? Could you help me with something?"

Pieck looked at him with a kind smile. "Sure. What is it?"

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "My girlfriend's birthday is coming up, a-and I was wondering if you had any ideas about what she might like me to get her."

Pieck chuckled softly. "Well, let's see. From what you've told me about her, I think she'd most appreciate…"

Pieck trailed off as she noticed something strange.

Zeke was running away from the camp as fast as he could.

Porco and Lara had also noticed this, and were staring at him in confusion.

Carlo spotted Zeke's retreating form and frowned.

"What is he-"

Then, without warning, Zeke screamed at the top of his lungs.

Pieck's eyes shot wide open, and an icy block of dread formed in her chest.

She'd heard that scream before numerous times. Which meant…

Levi and Hange stared at the beach in utter shock. One moment the enemy camp had been operating normally, then suddenly one section of the camp was engulfed by a massive light so big and bright it was like a second sun had appeared on the beach.

The wind from the enormous explosion sent shock waves in every direction, blowing over tents, knocking down equipment, scattering supplies, and sweeping countless soldiers off their feet and onto the ground.

As the light faded, they could see what had happened.

Every single Eldian soldier in the Marleyan army had turned into a Titan.

The second they appeared, most of them barreled through the camp and headed for the ships just off of the shore, while others began to tear through the rest of the camp, crushing, stomping, and devouring any soldiers that got in their way.

The non-Eldian soldiers had dissolved into an unorganized mass of screaming terror, utterly unprepared for the sudden appearance of thousands of Titans in their midst.

The mass of Titans that had gone after the ships swarmed them like ants on a piece of cake that had been left on the ground. The bigger ones clambered on the sides and ran along the decks, while the smaller ones tore the doors open and forced themselves down into the lower decks, crushing and devouring any soldiers that tried to flee.

The ships tried to fire upon the Titans, but their efforts were futile. For every one they managed to successfully hit, another ten took their place, and in their panic many of the ships ended up shooting each other in their efforts to take down the Titans.

Once the ships were overrun and all the soldiers still on board killed, the Titans returned to the shore and joined with their brethren in wiping out all the soldiers unlucky enough to have been part of the invasion force.

Pieck, Porco, and Lara had wanted to go after Zeke, but had been unable to, as several dozen Titans had run right at them, forcing them to transform. And while they were able to kill many of them, in the end their sheer numbers had overwhelmed them, and one by one they were captured, and had all of their limbs bitten off.

Less than thirty minutes after Zeke screamed, the beach had fallen silent, the sandy shore stained with the blood and desecrated flesh of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. The entire invasion force had been slaughtered, and the surviving Titans stood along the shore motionless.

Using several of his Titans, Zeke carried what was left of Pieck, Porco, and Lara to the nearby forest where the Scouts were waiting for them.

Hange, Levi, and the other Scouts looked down at Zeke in astonishment.

Lara had been knocked unconscious, but Pieck and Porco were still awake.

"You traitorous bastard!" Porco roared, and would have said more if the Titan holding him hadn't covered his mouth.

Pieck looked down at him in utter disbelief. "Why? Why Zeke?"

"That's a very good question." Hange said weakly.

Zeke let out a long sigh before answering.

"For Eren."

Levi looked at him bewilderment, while Hange tilted her head in confusion.

"Huh?"

Zeke grimaced. "Eren and I are both victims of our father. We just wanted to live normal lives, but that despicable man forced his own plans upon us. In Eren's case he forced the power of the Titans upon him, cutting his lifespan and placing an enormous responsibility upon him."

Zeke shook his head. "I don't know why Eren ran. Maybe the pressure became too much for him. Maybe he was tired of being used as a weapon. Maybe he couldn't stomach the thought of how many people he would have to kill in order to protect this island. Whatever the case, he decided to run off with the love of his life, and live out the rest of his days quietly."

He smiled softly. "It was undeniably selfish of him. But at the same time I can't fault him for wanting to carve out some happiness for himself in this cruel world. But even though he left you all behind, I'm sure he's worried about what will happen to this island. And that's why I did it. Even if he's living in a remote area, sooner or later he'll hear about how the invasion against Paradis failed, and that will help ease his conscience. Without the Founding Titan my dream is impossible, but at the very least I can ensure that my little brother will be able to live and die without regrets."

Hange, Levi, and the others were left stunned. They knew that Zeke had taken an interest in Eren, but they never suspected how deep this connection ran.

"WHAT?!"

Pieck's unexpected shriek pierced the air like a foghorn in a library. Everyone flinched and looked at her, and saw her looking more furious than anyone had ever seen her.

"You betrayed your comrades whom you've known for years for the sake of a brother that you met only once and spoke with for less than five minutes?! Are you fucking insane?!"

Zeke glanced at her, a look of pity on his face. "While helping my little brother was the main reason I did this, it wasn't the only one. The fact is Marley is a corrupt and selfish nation that deserves to be taken down a peg, and I have allies who were counting on me to defeat Marley. With their invasion force completely wiped out, Marley is going to be in a very tough spot for the immediate future."

Zeke turned back toward the others. "In any case, I trust my actions today make up for what I did four years ago?"

Hange slowly nodded. "Yes, I'd say so."

Levi threw his hands up into the air. "You know what, fuck it, I don't even care anymore."

Levi stalked off, a strange mix of emotions on his face.

As several stunned Scouts escorted Zeke back to their base, it slowly began to sink in for Hange.

They had won. They had survived.

They actually had a future.

Oliver looked up when he heard the door open, and a surprised smile lit up his face. "Ah, good morning mister Kruger, I haven't seen you in a while. How's the wife?"

Eren nodded. "She's fine. She was feeling rather tired today, so I came here by myself."

"I see." Oliver grinned. "Doctor Möller told me the good news. Congratulations!"

Eren smiled softly. "Thanks."

Eren walked down the aisles of the small store, picking up the usual supplies he needed for their home.

Eren was quite fond of Oliver and his little store. Part of it was that he provided just about everything that they needed, but part of it was that he was one of the few people who kept tabs on what was going on in the outside world, and would often pass it on to his customers.

By this method, Eren and Mikasa had learned about Willy Tybur's speech and the global coalition Marley was rallying against Paradis.

Learning about this had made Eren angry and worried, and part of him was tempted to abandon the life they were building and go back.

But the thought of the rumbling always held him back. He didn't want to go back down that path. He didn't want to drown the world in the blood of his victims. He didn't want the images he still saw in his nightmares to become a reality.

And while Mikasa was obviously worried about Armin and the others too, after he'd confessed to her the reason he'd had them run away, she'd understood and been incredibly supportive.

For better or worse, they had made their bed, and they were going to lie in it.

Eren headed to the front of the store to pay for the supplies he'd picked up.

Oliver leaned on the counter. "By the way, I don't suppose you've seen the papers?"

Eren shook his head. "No, I haven't. Did something happen?

Oliver nodded seriously. "Yeah, something big happened. Apparently the coalition Marley led against Paradis was completely wiped out."

Eren's eyes widened in shock. "Really?"

"Yeah. And now Paradis is engaged in peace talks with other nations, with the holder of the Colossal Titan heading up the negotiations."

"Is that so?"

"They said that the only reason they wiped out the invasion force was because they were coming to kill them all, and I can't really fault that kind of reasoning. And they claim that as long as they're left alone they won't destroy the world. Personally I don't trust those island devils, but at the same time things have been relatively peaceful for the past century. Probably best to let sleeping dogs lie."

"Yeah."

"Anyway, Marley is in big trouble for having led the world into this ill fated invasion under false pretenses. And with a good chunk of their military wiped out, and having lost all of their Titans except for the Armored, they're going to be in hot water for quite a while."

"I see."

Oliver leaned back. "Well, don't let me keep you. Take care."

"Thanks, you too."

Eren walked away from the village in a daze.

They'd done it. He didn't know how it was possible without the Founding Titan, but they'd managed to defeat Marley and keep the island safe.

He still felt guilty about leaving them all behind, but at the very least he could rest easy at night now, knowing that his decision hadn't damned Paradis.

It also made him incredibly glad to know that Armin was alive and well, and was doing what he'd always wanted, namely working toward peace.

And he was sure Mikasa would be glad too.

As his home came into view, the first thing he spotted was Mikasa sitting on the porch, her hands resting on her protruding belly.

She looked up, and a bright smile lit up her face as she raised her hand in greeting.

He waved back, a warm smile coming onto his own face as well.

As he stepped onto the porch he wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace, and she leaned up and kissed him.

A moment later they broke apart, and Eren looked down at her happily.

"Mikasa, I've got some great news."

Noah Jaeger comes into the world with great fuss. He's born bloody and covered in weird gunk and squirming, and Eren's world narrows to a single point the moment he pulls him from Mikasa's body.

"Hey there," Mikasa croaks. The labor had been awful for her, and Eren had spent the entire time, all nineteen hours, on the verge of transforming because the animal part of him was looking to track down and kill whatever was making his wife scream like that.

Her dark, bloodshot eyes are trained on their son's perfect face as he lowers him to her chest. Noah is kind of purple and scrunched, but Eren can already pick out some of his own features on his face. The nose, the set of his mouth, his eyebrows. His hair is black like Mikasa's, and his ears are all tiny and cute like hers'. He's perfect. He's perfect. If Eren had ever had any doubts, the sight of their baby boy banishes them forever.

He thought he knew what love was. His parents, his friends, Mikasa. But this-this is like nothing else. This is like the polar opposite of the horror he'd gotten when he kissed Historia's hand, times a thousand. It's like the ocean rushed into his head, but the ocean is joy and happiness and primal protectiveness and roaring pride. "Hi, Noah," he says, choking back sobs. "Mikasa, sweetheart, you did so good."

"Thanks," she groans. "Look at him, Eren, he's perfect."

"Yeah," he says. He settles on the edge of the bed, one arm around her shoulders and the other delicately taking the baby's impossibly tiny hand into his own. He smacks a kiss to Mikasa's temple without taking his eyes off Noah. "I love you," he says, from the bottom of his heart. He's loved Mikasa with a painful intensity since before he was old or mature enough to have any idea what to do with it; now it feels like that's doubled. Quadrupled. There's a tingle in his spine, like his bones are filling with light. Eren wouldn't be shocked if he started glowing right now.

Noah fusses lightly and opens his eyes. Eren feels like the wind has been knocked clean out of his lungs. "Hey there, buddy," he says. He wipes his hand over the green eyes that are copied directly onto his son's face. "Welcome to the world."

It's not a bad place, he thinks. Not all that bad at all.

They're careful, after Noah. He's not half as hard as babies were made out to be-yes he needs to eat every few hours, yes diapers are objectively a little gross, yes he spits up everywhere, but it's not like they mind-but he's still a lot of work, and they don't need another baby right now.

Noah's first word is "Dada," because Eren spent months trying to get him to repeat it and he totally counts baby babble. Mikasa lets him, because "Mamma" comes not a day later. He figures out "duck" soon after, and "Lo-ee" and "Kae-ee" for the chickens. He takes his first steps on the picnic table, Eren's hands hovering as Noah stumbles towards his mother. He only goes to sleep if someone is holding him, and he loves nothing more than to hear their voices. Mikasa singing a lullaby to their baby does something to his heart that he cannot explain; it rockets through his bones and coils into something indescribable.

Time goes by so quickly. It's unfair. The worst times of his life-the years after Maria fell, when it was just him and Mikasa and Armin trying to keep each other from starving-had seemed to stretch out forever. Their time in the military academy seemed like it dragged on and on. The years between reclaiming Shiganshina and marrying Mikasa were a black pit of desperation and despair, with no light at the end until Mikasa unexpectedly handed him the heavens.

Before he knows it, Noah is two. He's sweet-tempered and thoughtful, he loves fishing with Daddy and storytime with Mamma and playing catch and tag and helper. He would chase the chickens all day if they let him, and when they play "find shapes in the clouds," he comes up with stuff like "a fwog wif a wabbit tail" and "fiss wif fwee tails" and "a flat mouse running at us wif a sword." Every second with him, Eren feels like he's a plant soaking up light from the sun.

Noah is two and a half. They have a little half-birthday party-they take every opportunity to celebrate that they can. He's not going to live to see Noah's third birthday.

Mikasa starts clinging tighter to him at night. As their borrowed time started to run out, they're growing desperate again, like in the first weeks of their life here. They don't know how the curse works, and Eren can't bring himself to look. He's always thought it was slow deterioration sped up over a few weeks, but the longer it doesn't seem to happen, the more anxious he feels. What if he just collapses in front of Noah one day-or Mikasa? And Mikasa . . . he notices before she does, the early signs. The headaches, the fatigue. They visit with Möller again to confirm it: Mikasa is pregnant. Noah is thrilled and Mikasa is happy, and Eren is glad for them, but it's different than it was with Noah-they both know he's going to die before he has the chance to meet this baby.

"If it's another boy," Eren says once, voice shaking, "Don't name him after me."

Mikasa sobs against him and he feels awful for saying it. He rubs his hand over his baby. This one is restless, unlike her brother. The same intuition that told him Noah was a boy tells him this is a girl, and that makes it worse, somehow. Eren was blessed with a son already-but he'll never know his daughter.

(Closed eyes watch him from a place he can't get to, and an eager smile curls over thin, chapped lips.)

Except . . . he does.

Carla is born four months after Noah's third birthday. She's the spit and image of her mother, but Eren has known since before she was born that she took after him more. She's louder than her brother ever was, and fussier-but she's also easier to calm and happier. She's a bubbly little thing, and Eren loves her as ferociously as he does her brother. Noah adores her. All he wants to do, for the first six months of her life, is hold her. The next six months are dedicated to trying to teach her to play dolls and walk. And . . . Eren lives to see all of it.

Carla turns one. Noah turns four. Eren turns twenty-five.

He and Mikasa don't talk about it. It feels like maybe they've hidden from the curse, but as soon as they mention it, it will swoop in and take him. He only dares to voice it when Noah's coming up on five. Alone, shut in their bed, he whispers, "I think the curse is gone."

Mikasa flinches and curls tighter around him when he says it, but he doesn't crumble into ash. "Yeah," she says. "Can you still transform?"

"Dunno." He hasn't tried to in ages. Maybe his healing is gone? But the only "injuries" he'd gotten in years were marks Mikasa had left on him, and he never let those heal over fast anyway. "We can try it out tomorrow. What do you think did it?"

"I don't know," Mikasa says, her lips pressed to the meat of his shoulder. "But I'm-oh, okay."

Carla has begun to wail, and they roll out of bed to soothe her before she wakes Noah. Eren stumbles over to her crib while Mikasa sits down on his side of the bed, closer to the cradle. "Hey, princess," Eren says, picking up his daughter. "Are you okay? Look at her, she's fine, she just wanted company."

Mikasa smiles softly at them. "Daddy's girl," she says.

"Noah is a momma's boy, so it evens out." He rocks the baby back and forth, and she calms down easily. "You're not hungry, hm? Were you scared, sugar? Mamma and Daddy are right here."

And you're not going anywhere, echoes through his head.

Carla blinks up at him, reaching up her tiny baby fists and cooing. Eren smiles helplessly down at her. "Baby," he says. "You're just so tiny. You're just Daddy's little baby girl, aren't you?"

"Dada," she says. "Mamamamama."

"Mamma's here," Eren turns her to face her mother, and her little face lights up.

"Mamma!"

"Mamma," Mikasa agrees, reaching out to squeeze Carla's little foot.

Carla kicks happily. "No-o?" They're trying to get her to call Noah "Bubby" instead, because mixing up "No-o" and "no" can get exhausting, but no such luck yet.

"Bubby's asleep," Mikasa tells her.

"No," she says. Maybe "No-o."

"Yes," she says. "Princess, do you want Daddy to take you on a walk? Will that help you go back to sleep?"

"No," she says. Still uncertain.

"I've got her," Eren says. He dips to kiss Mikasa's cheek. "Love you. Don't wait up."

"Love you," Mikasa repeats. There are lines of worry around her eyes from their previous conversation, but her smile is soft and relaxed.

It's summer, and Carla loves nothing more than to be held as they walk around and talk to her. Eren explains, for the thousandth time, the forest and the river and the garden. Carla stubbornly stays awake, her dark eyes half-open and her little fist bunching and unbunching in his shirt. "I love you," Eren tells her. "You and your brother and your mother are the best things in my world. I love you more than anything." He bounces her a little as they walk. "And Mamma and I will keep you safe. You're safe. You've got your mamma's blood, you'll grow up strong, and nobody will ever take away your freedom. You're so loved. Even if I drop dead tomorrow, princess, you'll be the most loved little girl in the whole world."

Carla's cheek drops against him-finally asleep.

Eren takes her back inside and lays her in the cradle. Her hand automatically finds the little doll that Mikasa'd made for her when pregnant with her. She makes the same exact snuffling noises that Mikasa does. She's done it as long as he's known her. He wonders if Carla will still be making them at twenty-five. It looks like he's going to be around to find out.

He wakes up in the morning to the sound of Mikasa making breakfast and the kids "helping." He comes out to find his wife covered in flour, his daughter on her hip looking like a ghost, his son standing on a chair eating raw dough. Mikasa looks at him flatly and mouths "help." Eren laughs and picks up Noah. "That's not how you eat pancakes, buddy," he says.

"Yeah 't is, Daddy," Noah says.

"Mm, don't think so."

"Yes so."

"Do you want to help me get some eggs for breakfast?" Distracting Noah with the chickens works literally every time.

"Okay," he agrees easily. Instead of hopping off the chair, Noah leaps at Eren. Eren catches him easily and waves to the girls, who wave back, and goes out to the chicken coop that Mikasa had built in their first month here.

The sun is shining and the birds are singing, and summer flowers grow all around.

It's a good day to be alive.

Author's Note: And that's all I got. I know that the timing doesn't quite match, and some details don't add up, but I thought it was interesting.