Chapter Text
It was a fine spring morning when Eren crossed the city gates. The streets of Troy were filled with curious commoners watching the caravan, for they would never have another chance to see half of the Greek kings and their most formidable warriors reunited in one place. Eren was not a king himself, but he was the most feared and famous man amongst the greeks, and despite the mighty ego his position has granted him, he chose to leave it outside those tight walls, taking with him only one of his Myrmidons: Jean, his right hand on all matters concerning the war and, according to the whispering thongs, his lover. Whether the rumors were true or not, it wasn’t anybody’s business, ‘cause Jean was all Eren needed at the moment, which was not to spill blood, but to present terms and conditions, and he wouldn’t manage to remain calm without his voice of reason whispering in his ear, especially if he lays eyes on the spartan queen during the meeting. Without Jean there to restrain him, he would simply throw Historia over his shoulders and carry her back to her husband.
She was the reason why Eren left his kingdom in Thessaly and dragged his legion of Myrmidons with him. While half of the men left their homes to answer the calling of Karl Fritz, king of Mycenae, Eren was there because he swore to protect Historia, and he was no oath-breaker.
“She was kidnapped, I’m sure of it.” Eren murmured to Jean during the walk to the royal palace. “No sane person would ever leave Sparta over a city surrounded by walls that smells like cattle.”
Jean laughed. “Maybe she’s no longer sane, Eren, or perhaps she’s saner than any of us. Tell me, if you were Menelaus’ wife, and a Trojan princess came to your doorstep promising you the world, wouldn’t you leave everything behind and run away with her, even if it means to live inside these walls?”
Eren grunted as he imagined the horror of being converted into some king’s wife, and wondered if Jean had a point. Maybe Historia truly loved Ymir. However, even if it was true, Eren knew there was something stronger than love bonding Historia to her husband and to the spartan kingdom.
“She wouldn’t leave her daughter behind.”
Jean would have said that children of arranged marriages are better loved by their fathers than their mothers, but Eren knew the queen better than he did, and if he said she wouldn’t abandon the little girl, Jean wouldn’t argue.
“We’ll have the chance to ask her own version of the facts, it’s better than speculating.” Jean stepped back and gave in, trying not to irritate the Myrmidon.
The duo entered the palace alongside the rest of the Greek delegation, led by Armin, king of Ithaca, dragged to war by a forced loyalty to Fritz, for he knew the consequences of not attending the mycenaean king’s demands. Among all the Greek leaders, Armin was the only one Eren trusted and respected.
Inside the throne room, Armin bowed to Priam, king of Troy, as a sign of respect and recognizing that they were under his domain, an act repeated by some, but not all, and this group of insubordinate men included Menelaus, the spartan king fooled by the trojan princess.
“I want my wife back.” Menelaus declared before Armin could even start the negotiation procedures, defying the trojan’s court's good will and the Greek delegation’s patience, already tired from the trip and the complaints of a spoiled man who couldn’t control his own wife.
“Good morning to you too, Menelaus.” Levi, the crown prince of Troy, said haughtily, standing next to his father’s throne. “Sit down and let the king of Ithaca do the talking, as it was previously agreed.”
Menelaus was going to retort, but Armin squeezed the king’s arm and made him sit on one of the chairs saved for the visitors, taking his place next to him. Eren sat beside Armin, followed by two other kings, and Jean stood behind them.
“Good morning, Prince Levi.” Armin said in a softer tone, as if he was apologizing for Menelaus’ behavior. “We are grateful to the king and the queen for welcoming us into their home.” He made sure to show his respects to the queen too, he valued his physical well-being way too much to ignore Kuchel in front of her son, loyal to the bone to his dear mother. “But I must say that, even though king Menelaus might have expressed himself in a wrong manner, he speaks the truth. We want Queen Historia back.”
“Queen Historia does not wish to return.” The prince answers.
“With all due respect, your highness, what she wants doesn’t matter. King Menelaus’ honor was attacked by princess Ymir, we demand reparation.”
“Which is exactly what we’re trying to do here, to offer something and make amends instead of spilling blood.” Levi kept talking on his father’s behalf, who had been merely listening to the conversation. “But we won’t do so by returning a woman to a man she didn’t choose, we can compromise by…”
“But blood has already been spilled.” Armin said over the prince. “King Fritz offered his wife as a sacrifice to Artemis so we could be here today, our victory has been written with the queen of Mycenae’s blood.”
Priam’s hall fell into a morbid silence, shocked by the cruelty of Karl Fritz. Offering animals as a sacrifice to the gods, and even unimportant humans as prisoners and slaves were one thing, but a queen… the power that lay in such a big sacrifice was enough to put the fear of defeat on every Trojan heart.
“His own wife!” Priam spoke for the first time. He wasn’t exactly faithful to queen Kuchel, but he held her in the highest of esteems for giving birth to his eldest son and heir, and the thought of murdering his woman was inconceivable.
“Yes, his own wife… Ymir.” Menelaus savored the taste of his dead sister in law's name. It could only be a joke of the gods that the queen of Mycenae and the princess of Troy shared a name. “May this be your warning.”
The once calm and emotionless face of prince Levi was now taken by wrath, his hand going instinctively to the hilt of the sword hanging on his belt waist.
“You dare to threaten the princess in the presence of the king?” Levi grunts, deciding to make Menelaus a wifeless and headless man, but he was stopped by one of the Greek guards, initiating a yelling mess from both sides.
Unlike the others, Eren remained calm, surprising Jean and himself. None of those people mattered, only Historia, and all he wanted was to speak with the queen privately. If she truly was a victim, he would find a way to get into the palace in the dead of night to rescue her and send her back home to her daughter, killing princess Ymir in the process as retaliation. But if being there was a choice she had made, then he would go back to Thessaly with Jean, leaving Fritz to fight that pointless war without the Myrmidons.
“That’s enough!” Armin yelled, done with his seemingly never ending patience. “We demand to speak with Queen Historia, alone.”
“No.” Queen Kuchel denied, her face as neutral and calm as her son’s was moments ago. “If you wish to speak to her, it will be done here where we can assure no harm will come to her.”
“But…”
“Here, or nothing.” Priam cut Menelaus off, siding with his wife.
“Right.” Eren spoke loudly for the first time, making that decision alone, for he was certain he wouldn’t be able to talk with Historia if they didn’t cooperate with the trojans. “Bring her here.”
Kuchel nodded, turning to her left to speak to a girl in the back of the hall, who went unnoticed through the negotiations’ mess.
“Mikasa, go get the spartan queen.”
Mikasa bowed to Kuchel and walked away, taking Eren and Jean’s attention with her. Eren was mesmerized by her appearance, but Jean was the one enraptured by the pain of having his heart pierced by one of Eros’ arrows, the very feeling he experienced when he saw Eren for the first time. Jean couldn’t believe such a woman was real, nor could he understand how she was so different compared to the rest of the trojan court, and yet so similar to prince Levi. Was Mikasa a princess too? He never heard about a daughter of Priam other than Ymir and princess Sasha, but if they resembled Mikasa even just a little, then queen Historia wasn’t mad after all, neither was she abducted, she simply reacted as any sane human being would in front of a beauty send by the gods.
Eren’s thoughts towards Mikasa weren’t as introspective as Jean’s, and had much more to do with desire than actual love, but those were pushed to the back of his mind once Mikasa returned to the hall with her arms linked to the one person he was there to see.
Although blessed with divine beauty, the only sort of feelings inflicted by Historia into Eren’s heart were those of tenderness and friendship. He loved her not as Ares loved Aphrodite, but as Apollo loved Artemis, as a sister and a friend he must protect against the cruelty of men's world. He desperately wanted to walk to her and check if she was ok, but before he could do anything he felt Jean’s grip on his shoulder, and noticed Armin doing the same with Menelaus to restrain the king.
“Wife.” Menelaus greeted her, trying to contain his agony and anxiety to find out if he had been deceived just by Ymir or if Historia actually cheated.
“Husband.” she answered, never meeting Menelaus' gaze nor letting go of Mikasa’s arm, as if the girl was there to protect her against a possible attack. “How is our daughter?”
“Deeply missing her mother.”
Such a cruel thing to say to a woman away from her infant child for nearly two months, but the spartan king was only interested in making his wife feel guilty. Eren, in the other hand, was searching for any signal that could make him understand if he was looking at a woman fleeing to commit adultery or a mere prisoner, but he found it impossible to see the truth behind Historia’s words since her gaze remained on the ground and her tiny body was nearly disappearing behind Mikasa.
“My queen.” Eren saluted and bowed to her quickly. “May I ask how you came this far from home?”
“On a ship, my lord.” The queen answered, finally daring to look into someone else’s eyes, for while Menelaus caused fear into her heart, Eren brought only comfort. “Princess Ymir has offered me safe passage and a discreet escape, and I have accepted.”
“Woman…” Menelaus groaned, rising from his seat in an attempt to reach for her, but Eren was faster to put himself in between the rulers of Sparta, his heart aching when he saw Historia completely hidden behind Mikasa’s body to protect herself from her husband.
“Touch her and the war is over now, you disgusting pig. I’ll serve your head to your brother on a silver platter!” Eren threatened the spartan king in front of the whole trojan court, not once measuring the consequences of his words.
“But there’s no war to be fought here, my lord. As you can see, the queen came to us willingly.” Prince Levi intervened, exchanging one warning look with Mikasa, which she understood as a signal to take the queen back to her chambers.
Eren watched Mikasa take Historia’s hand and disappear through the same door they came from. He could tell his friend was comfortable and safe around the Trojan girl, but the amount of time he stood on that court wasn’t nearly enough to decide if the rest of the family were treating Historia with the same kindness or just trying their hardest to tend to a luxury of princess Ymir. In any case, he was going to speak to the queen alone, whether it was an official visit with Priam’s approval or sneaking into the palace in the dead of night.
“You will return my wife, Priam, or I’ll come back with my brother to tear down these walls and put your daughter’s head on a stake.” Menelaus announced his decision, knowing he would only have his wife back by force. “You have until tomorrow’s first light.”
The king of Sparta turned around and left with his guards, leaving no room for the trojans to argue.
“I’m sorry, your majesty, but war is already at your doorstep, and the only way to avoid it is returning the queen to her husband, whether she likes it or not.” Armin bowed to Priam and Kuchel one last time before following Menelaus on his way back to the beach.
Eren and Jean were next to follow, returning to the coast to find a thousand Greek ships anchored and hundreds of camping tents being set up. King Fritz's tent was already finished, and it was expected of all leaders present during the negotiation to go to him and report the situation, but Eren refused, there was only two possible fates for him, and nothing said by the king of Mycenae could change that. He rather spent his time doing something more useful helping his subordinates to raise his tent.
“What was that in the throne room, Jean?” Eren asked while dirtying his hands with sand and seawater, firming wood stakes on the ground.
“What was what?” Jean seemed genuinely confused.
“Don’t play the fool around me, I noticed the way you stared at that girl… what was her name again? Mikasa?”
Jean laughed over Eren’s insinuations. He wanted to accuse him of unnecessary jealousy, but that would be a lie, he did tremble beyond the sight of the trojan girl, as if he were in the presence of Aphrodite herself.
“I looked at her the same way you did, Eren.” Jean responded defensively. “Don’t lie to me and say she didn’t make you feel something, which by the way would be a best case scenario. We are past the age of marriage, we need a wife, we could easily have her in the case of Troy losing the war to us.”
It was Eren’s turn to laugh at the hastiness of his lover. “Not even the olympian goddesses are allowed to marry more than one man, I would be the husband and you would be the lover, or the other way around. Besides, don’t you think it is a little careless to wed a woman you only saw once and hadn’t even spoken with yet?”
“Marriages have been done for much less, take your queen as an example.” Jean pointed. “And I knew I wanted you the moment I laid my eyes on you, I didn’t need useless social conventions to be sure.”
Eren felt the nostalgic itch on his heart, remembering a teenagehood shared with Jean, missing those days where they fought with no reason other than trying to hide the fact that they were deeply in love with each other. He stopped working for a second and pulled Jean by his robes, stopping inches away from his warrior’s face.
“If she’s in our destiny, may it be fulfilled, we won’t have to do anything, she will come to us.” He whispered as if he were making a prophecy, sealing it by breaking the distance left between them with a shameless kiss, right where the whole Greek army could see. “Just try not to court her by annoying her as you did to me, my love. That might work on men, but it won’t work on women.”
{…}
Queen Historia’s heart couldn’t find rest as the night came. No one had spoken of returning her to Menelaus, prince Levi himself forbade anyone to even mention that option, but she feared that the men of Troy, scared of fighting an actual war, would step over the prince’s authority and take her by force back to the Greeks and beg for their mercy.
“They will have to pass through me first.” Princess Ymir assured her, keeping her in the safety of her arms and her room.
“No man in this city is mad enough to go against Levi’s orders, that is certain.” Said lady Hange, the prince’s wife.
Ymir and Hange weren’t at the negotiations. The princess was strictly forbidden by the prince from attending it, and Hange thought she hadn’t much to do around kings and warlords discussing somebody else’s fate. The only other woman who found herself in the presence of the Greek delegation, besides Historia and queen Kuchel, was lady Mikasa.
Mikasa pretty much became Historia’s shadow since the queen’s arrival, following her around to nearly everywhere in the palace, especially if Ymir couldn’t be there to protect her.
Daughter to a late brother of queen Kuchel and a princess of a distant asian kingdom, Mikasa lost her parents very early in life and was sent to the trojan court to be raised by her aunt, but it was her cousin Levi who willingly took all the responsibilities of caring for a, at the time, ten year old girl. More like him than any of his siblings, both in appearance and personality, Levi grew so fond of his cousin to the point of declaring she would be his heir if Hange couldn’t give him a child until the end of her fertile years.
For that reason, Mikasa was always with the prince, taking an important role in the royal matters as if she was one of them. Some of the commoners started thinking she might be one of his sisters, or even a bastard daughter, though Levi was too young to be her father. Soon enough, her privileged position encouraged many trojan lords to court her, but she rejected them all, claiming she was going to take the virgin’s path and serve as a priestess in Apollo’s temple. When those lords accepted they would never wed the prince’s protégé, they sent their daughters to compose Mikasa’s entourage, but she rejected them too, never accepting the way they treated Hange by trying to diminish her and her personality just because she was a little different from the other women. Mikasa never gave a second chance to anyone who dared to hurt the feelings of her cousin’s beloved wife.
“Don’t give up on your privileges because of me, my darling.” Hange used to say, trying to convince her to surround herself with other women, for she knew the solitude of being left out and didn’t want Mikasa to go through the same fate. “My husband is the only friend I need.” To which Mikasa responded: “And you are the only friend I have”.
Which wasn’t entirely true, princess Ymir was also part of her small circle of affections. Ymir, unlike Hange, wasn’t rejected by the noble women of Troy, but shunned away from their company by their husbands, who feared losing their wives in case of them spending too much time with a princess whose nature as well known in and out of the palace corridors, which came to happen, but they never imagined that the fulled husband would be an ocean away.
Historia came to turn the trio in a group of four, and out of the four of them, she was by far the most suitable for life at court, though “suitable” wasn’t the right word to describe a woman who laid with other women, a crime the four of them were guilty of. Mikasa was considered a virgin because no man had ever deflowered her, but the other priestesses at the temple adored her, especially a young maiden called Louise, always blaspheming around declaring that her love for Mikasa suppressed her love for the god of sun; even Hange couldn’t deny those allegations, anyone from her hometown could testify she used to be the joy of many courtesans before she met the prince of Troy. Together, they were the strangest entourage of all courts.
“I do not wish to be the reason why Karl Fritz will tear down the walls and reduce this city to ashes.” Historia whimpered, letting her fear turn into guilt.
“And you won't.” said Mikasa, her back turned to them while she lit the candles to illuminate the moonless night. “Fritz has already conquered half of Greece, he has been waiting for a reason to attack us for years…”
“And now I gave him a reason! I’m the worst woman who ever lived!”
“No!” Mikasa turned to the bed where the three of them were sitting. “Stop blaming yourself for the decisions made by a man capable of killing his own wife in the name of a war he isn’t even sure if he will fight. Besides, we are hoping that Levi and the king will find us a way out of it without having to lift a sword.”
“But if they don’t…”
“Then Mikasa and Ymir will join the Amazons and fight alongside them and the Trojan army against the Greeks, while we both sit here with queen Kuchel to watch the war behind the walls because that is the order of things.” Hange’s words were hard, but true. “But you will remain here because you’re one of us now, and we protect our people.”
Historia sniffed and rubbed her eyes to prevent the tears from falling again, finding some comfort in the words of her companions.
“It’s getting late.” Hange said as she slipped off the bed. “We should all sleep a little earlier, tomorrow our destinies will be sealed, I want to be present this time.”
Hange and Mikasa said their goodbyes to Ymir and Historia, leaving them in their shared room and going to their own.
Given the situation, the couple could be considered a lucky one. If she was any other king’s daughter, Ymir would be severely punished by her father and sent off to marry some lord or prince at the ends of the world, and Historia would be returned to her husband with a good amount of gold and a big apology. But instead, Priam surprised the whole city by supporting his daughter and welcoming the spartan queen with open arms, even Levi, considered by many to be the voice of reason, forgave the princess and did his best to make Historia feel protected under their roof.
Ymir, who was ready to flee the city with her lover as soon as the ship landed, couldn’t understand why the king and the prince had shown themselves so permissive to her will. Not once she believed it was out of love, a daughter to a second wife weren’t that valuable for Priam to risk his kingdom; and Levi, more fond of the cousin who had his mother’s blood than the sister who had his father’s, wasn’t the type of man to easily accept such an insult to the institution he respected the most: marriage. Whoever, here they were, preserved by the walls, the king, his heir and an army loyal to them. Perhaps it wasn’t their love that was protecting them, but Aphrodite’s.
“She must really like us a lot.” Ymir thought to herself.
“Who?” Historia asked.
“The goddess of love.” Ymir smiled, softly taking the queen’s face in her hands. “She looks like you.”
Historia blushed and tried to hide her face on Ymir’s neck.
“You’re making that up!”
“I’m not!” The princess’ smile grew bigger by watching the queen’s reaction. “She came to me, in my dreams, and at the foot of the Trojan mountains. I chose her and she gave you to me.” Three goddesses have come to her, escorted by Zeus himself. Two of them offered her the world, but Aphrodite promised her the love of the most beautiful woman who ever lived, and that was much more important to Ymir. “And I would have chosen her a hundred times more if that was what it takes to have you with me.”
Failing to find the words to respond to that, Historia lifted her head from Ymir’s neck and kissed her princess. In those days, the queen found it a lot easier to express herself through jesters rather than words. Maybe because she never got to do it like that, she always hated Menelaus’s touch and any other man’s for that matter, and in order to repel it, she declared her false love with false words and behaved as someone who would rather have a chaste passion. Or maybe that was just the effect Ymir had on her, so drunk by her lover’s presence that her senses failed her and her voice disappeared, not giving her much of a choice other than touching the Trojan girl. In any case, it only took one kiss to make her melt in the princess's hands.
And that’s what happened. The world became smaller and disappeared around them, as if no one else existed. But that mix of sensations made them vulnerable, to a world of men capable of war just to tear them apart, and to the intruder who none of them noticed until his sword was dangerously pointed to Ymir’s throat.
“Eren!” Historia yelled, scared and surprised with the warrior’s invasion, thinking that if it were any other Greek soldier, they would both be dead already.
“Don’t scream, Historia.” Eren ordered in a whisper, trying not to cause a scene and attract the guards to the room. “For the love of all the gods, put your clothes back on.” He wanted to turn around or close his eyes so he wouldn’t see the queen’s half naked body, but if he did so, the trojan princess would escape and call for the guards, and not even a warrior such as himself could fight his way out of the palace alone against so many men. “You’re coming with me.”
Ymir grunted and moved beneath his blade, and in response he pressed it against her neck forming a thin line of blood, not even close to kill, but enough to scare.
“Eren please, stop!” Historia begged, fixed her dress back on her body and grabbed his fighting arm. “Please don’t hurt her!”
“What?” Surprised with his friend’s reaction, he loosened the grip on his sword, but regretted right away, he felt somebody else’s cold blade against his neck, giving Ymir the distraction she needed to break free of him.
It happened so fast it was hard for Eren to tell what was going on around him. Ymir got up and ran to the door, but before she could scream for help, Historia grabbed her lover’s hand and pleaded on the Myrmidon’s behalf. Meanwhile, he faced the trojan girl who had stolen Jean’s attention earlier that day. Mikasa never returned to her chambers, the instincts that turned her into the warrior worth a hundred men combined were screaming for her to remain at Ymir’s doorstep because she might be in danger, and at the first sign something was actually wrong, she came back to the princess chambers, armed only with a dagger and the courage of women.
But she never expected danger to come in the form of Eren Jaeger, legendary leader of the Myrmidons, lord of Thessaly and son of the immortal nymph who bathed him in the waters of Styx to make him invincible… she also wasn’t expecting for the warrior’s green eyes and brown hair falling down his shoulders to steal her attention for a few moments, time enough for him to disarm her and put her under the mercy of his sword.
“That’s enough! Stop this right now, both of you!” Historia was crying, begging like a queen should never beg. “Eren, Mikasa, put down your weapons, please.”
Eren obeyed within a second, for that was his queen and most beloved friend, and his heart broke at her suffering. Mikasa, seeing his sword on the ground, let go of her dagger too, tainted with thessalian blood. Only then Eren felt the burning pain on his left shoulder and saw his robes painted red. Mikasa had cutted him and he didn’t even notice until now.
“You are hurt, my lord.” The queen seemed calmer, but stubborn tears were still escaping her eyes.
“Just a minor cut, my queen, I am well.” Eren answered, going back to his soldier posture. “And I’m here to check if you are too, and if you aren’t, I’ll take you back home.”
She wiped her tears away and smiled softly at him, then she walked to the warrior and hugged as an old friend, to Mikasa’s surprise and Ymir’s disdain.
“Historia!” the princess couldn’t accept what she just saw.
“Calm down, my love, Eren will not harm me” She assured before breaking away from his hug. “And certainly won’t take me away against my will.”
Eyes blue as Zeus’ skies met the green orbs as Poseidon’s domain, talking through silent agreements a lifetime at court and a long friendship taught them to. They understood each other without even saying a word.
“Hisu.” Eren used the nickname from their childhood when he was incapable of saying her name correctly. “Did you really come this far from home willingly? Nobody forced you?”
“I spent a lifetime being forced to do things I never wanted and nobody seemed to care, but in the moment I broke free from all of those things, kings raised armies and crossed the sea just to put me back on the chains of a marriage imposed upon me without my consent. Are you one of those men, Eren?”
“Never, my queen, but my sword was sworn to your protection, and the tale told all over Greece is that princess Ymir kidnapped you from your home. Should I have remained in the safety of my palace, at the risk of breaking my oath to you instead of trying to find out the truth of it?”
“You wanted the truth and now you have it, now get the fuck out of here before I call the guards.” Ymir threatened him, jealous of the closeness and intimacy between Eren and Historia.
“I’ll only leave by the order of the queen.” Eren retorted.
“In this case, the queen commands you to go back to your ship and sail back to Thessaly.” Historia said both with the authority of her position and the softness of a friend. “Go to your warrior and be happy with him as I am happy with my princess”.
Eren smiled. What of your daughter? he wanted to ask, but maybe Jean was right, a child born of a forced marriage was more of a torment than a comfort to a mother, and he didn’t have the intention of making her feel guilty for finding love somewhere else.
“Then my work here is done.” Eren declared. “I won’t make war against the trojans.”
He held Historia’s face softly and gave her a chaste kiss on the forehead, saying goodbye to a friend he probably wouldn’t see again anytime soon, but he was relieved to know she would be happy.
Before going, Eren looked behind, to Mikasa, finally understanding the reason why Jean was so drawn to her. She truly was a beauty sent by the gods, but the fact that this formidable warrior was now one of the few people (and the only woman) who could say to have made Eren bleed, that was even more fascinating than her looks. Mikasa belonged in the battlefield, not the temple.
“A warrior's armor would fit you better than a priestess dress, my lady.” He told her before disappearing through the same window he came from, making Mikasa blush from cheek to ear.
And Eren kept his promise not to bring war to Troy.
But war came anyway