AoT Changes - Chapter Nine: "Paradise"

It was a breathtakingly beautiful view, from a completely different world. The dimensions seemed to be infinite, or at least, that was the impression given by the crystals. They mirrored their surroundings and each other in astounding grace. The reflections and glow flew through the clouds. The weather was particularly interesting in that environment, it was a never ending cycle of condensation and precipitation. As the white cotton-like clouds slowly rose up near the limitations of that reality and liquified themselves again in a very thin rain. An almost invisible rain that was constantly charging the entire area with electricity. The slow and graceful waters ran down in the current. It was all peaceful, the calm waters, the thin rain, all the colours and light gracefully coordinated by the crystals and the dissolving clouds, all forming beautiful rainbows. A sanctuary. Never once disturbed by human life. At the very center of this unique dimension was a giant, ancient-looking tree. All calm rivers seemed to run to its direction, and all the cotton clouds seemed to diverge towards it. Even all the lights coming from all the crystals seemed to have that tree's illumination as their main purpose.

A peaceful land. It was all quiet, like it always was. When all of a sudden, there they were. For the very first time, the limitations of the sanctuary had been breached. For the first time that beautiful hidden paradise was receiving human visitors. Very small humans in fact.

Chapter Nine: "Paradise"

The Castle

Part One: A Happy Ending

There was a bright blue light that blinded the dimension and confused the crystals. The small boy and the even smaller girl came crashing in from above. He tried to hold her close, so they could jump again, but they were falling too fast. He lost her grasp and they hit the water. The river was somewhat shallow but deep enough to break the fall. The small children rose up again to the surface, they were both momentarily unconscious. The currents slowly carried the children with them and peacefully deposited the small beings in the riverside. They were both slowly waking up again.

Azzy couldn't think straight, the pain in his head was killing him. The young boy had a deafening high-pitched sting in his ears and his headache was making it impossible for him to process any kind of thought. He held himself on some tree roots near the river, hoping for the moment to pass and the pain to go away. Ymir opened her bright green eyes, she was awake and recovering from the quick drowning. The four-year-old coughed a little and tried to situate herself. She looked up to the beautiful clouds and the crystals and smiled. It was a magical place and she could feel it. That's when she remembered she didn't arrive there alone and noticed she truly wasn't alone.

The small girl let out a scream, she was terrified. The boy was covered in blood, from head to toe, like a creature from nightmares. The terrified scream brought Azzy back to his senses. He opened up his dark blue eyes and stared straight into the small girl's bright green ones. Staring right into her soul. The boy was very confused and it took a couple of seconds for him to realise what was it that the little girl was terrified of, it was him. He finally noticed the scars all over his body and how he was bleeding profusely.

That would explain the lightheadedness, he had already lost a lot of blood and was feeling very weak. Azzy had no idea where they were, or when they were. He was struggling to regenerate and he didn't know why. He didn't even know how he got hurt in the first place. The six-year-old tried to stand up but it was hard, he was in a lot of pain. The girl took that as a warning, she was too scared. She was terrified the blooded monster would chase her so she quickly rose herself up and started running. She ran away fast. It took all the strength Azzy had to follow her. He ran much slower than her, limping and struggling to keep on his feet. "Wait!" He shouted at her with a weak voice, he just wasn't strong enough at that point to keep up. The boy knew it wasn't wise to run blindly like that in a land they didn't know. There could be danger around them. He desperately wanted to tell Ymir that, not realising the girl had already detected danger and that's why she was running.

The girl saw a giant tree in the distance and felt relief. She could hide there. So she sped up her pace to get to that safe place as quickly as she could. The boy was running slower behind and he felt the danger, for some reason he knew this wouldn't end well. Azzy wanted to shout for the girl to stop but he couldn't find his voice to do so. He put all his strength to get closer to her and to stop her. But he wasn't fast enough and he couldn't reach the girl in time. The girl looked into his eyes one last time. There was fear in her eyes as she turned back again. She kept running. Ymir ran straight into the ancient cave, into the tree. She quickly fell down the hole and disappeared into nothing.

Azzy kept running. The boy also ran straight into the tree, but he didn't get the same reception as Ymir. As soon as the boy arrived at the entrance of the cave a strong, invisible force stopped him. It impeded the boy from going through. It was like that portal was sealed for him. The impact of the running boy with that forcefield was too strong. The collision sent the boy flying backwards. He was thrown way up in the air and very further away from the tree. Azzy was conscious throughout all of it. As he reached the peak of his trajectory he knew how up in the air he was, and how weak he felt. He was already badly hurt and had lost too much blood. He had already used the remaining of his strength to run after the girl. He felt powerless, but he knew he was too high up. And that he would fall very fast and hit the ground very hard. Azzy knew he would die from that fall. There was no escaping it. He had a fraction of a second to think of all that. A fraction of a second to decide he didn't want to die. "Not right now and not like this," he thought.

This would be dangerous, but it was his last straw. Azzy built up as much energy as he could around him - as a matter of fact, the heavily charged rainy surroundings really helped him build the energy he needed - He knew how dangerous it was to try to jump without completing his regeneration, but he had to try. Before this, the boy couldn't even perform a simple space jump if he had a paper cut in his finger. That was his main weakness, therefore, it was a secret. All of that happened in a fraction of a second: the boy was thrown away from the portal. The strength of that impact threw him too far up in the air, almost to the clouds' reach. And he fell, very fast. The boy was about to hit the ground, he was about to die. When he finally built enough energy to jump away from that dimension. And in a flash of blue lightning, the boy disappeared.

The boy was gone and all was silent again. The peaceful sanctuary no longer had humans to bother their secluded existence.

-Year 859 - Paradise Island - Somewhere in the Railroad:

"Cool!" Azzy exclaimed. He pointed to the outside, trying to show his sister the lightning storm that seemed to be forming in the distant fields, many kilometers away. The boy was fascinated by it. The young mind was intrigued, because the skies seemed clear from where they were, in the train. But down in the distance the weather had completely shifted and the young boy stared at all that lightning, and the darker clouds, spellbound. Sunny tried to follow her older brother's eyes, the little girl squinted and pressed her face against the window, trying to see it.

The young family was arriving on the island, completely unaware of the tragedy that would befall them in less than 48 hours. And how it would stain their lives forever.

- Year 859 - The Boy was Lying on a Field

[Southern Maria Region]

The rain was pouring heavily. The boy woke up with a shock, he could feel the pain all over him, he had scars from head to toe. He had lost too much blood and he was having trouble regenerating. The lightning coming from him was out of control. He had brought with him some remnant energy from that odd World, and that was causing an unexpected precipitation in an otherwise very sunny day. The young boy had no idea that was the same lightning storm he was puzzled by two days before. He had no idea this had actually happened only five minutes before, as the train passed by near those fields. The boy had come back to the right place, but 48 hours before time, and the worst part was: he had come back alone. Azzy was confused, his mind couldn't properly reach where he just was and what had happened there. All he could remember were those bright green eyes staring at him, and then disappearing. The boy started to cry, he felt incredibly sad but he didn't know why. He had just lost the love of his life, but he didn't know that yet. He lost her to time. Because Time will always have its way.

≃2000 years ago

[Nine Years before the first appearance of The Titan]

The small girl was sleeping peacefully, she could feel the soft grass touching her cheek. She could hear the wind shaking the leaves in the trees. The moonlight was gracefully shining and illuminating those woods. It was a beautiful scenery. Ymir woke up, she was a little confused, she sat up right in her pretty adorned dress and started to wonder. She remembered the boy and the crystals, the clouds, the river and the tree. But she felt it was all a dream. Ymir thought she was in the open woods near the garden, inside the palace. She knew she shouldn't be there, her mother always told her and her brother not to go play near the woods. They should always stay in the castle - that was what the twins called their playground - "Ezra," the small girl said to herself. She remembered how she left her brother to play with the boy. They had never been apart before and now she felt like a piece of her was missing. She thought she needed to apologise for abandoning him to play with a stranger. The small princess gracefully stood up and started to walk around the forest. Looking for her home. The brightness of the moon made the place quite magical, and not even a little bit scary.

The more she walked Ymir started to realise the palace wasn't there, maybe she wasn't walking in the right direction. The small child walked for hours, she started to get desperate. "Mom!" She shouted. "Mom!" Ymir desperately shouted in the woods. The child was losing her voice, but she kept desperately shouting for her mother in that cold night. But her mother couldn't hear her, she was all alone. She was all alone in that forest.

-Year 859 - Mitras, In the Palace's Garden:

"Ymir!

Ymir!

Ymir!"

Historia cried helplessly into the wind. She couldn't bear the thought of losing her daughter. But the nightmare was real, she shivered in the cold night and felt like the wind and the trees were laughing at her. "You will never find her!" They hissed. That forest felt so haunted at night. Still, Historia kept shouting and shouting. "Ymir! Ymir! Ymir!" The mother had no idea how far away her daughter was from her. She didn't know yet, but she had lost her little girl forever. The mother still had hope, so she kept shouting.

-.-

- Year 867 - Hizuru - The Azumabito House

The sunlight blinded his eyes. He was there again. He could hear hundreds of metal sounds, swashing, clicking and clattering. Soldiers yelling and dying. He could see all that pain and confusion near him. The spears, the swords, arrows and explosions. Somehow he was transported there, to that battlefield, in the middle of a war. And it felt like a very old war. The boy was extremely confused and fearful about it all. Suddenly he felt a strong punch in his face that made him lose balance, he felt he was being strangled and immobilised. Azzy came back to his senses, it was all a very good distraction.

"How are you doing this?" He asked his sister, Sunny's yellow eyes shone even brighter. The girl gave him a smirk. She had her arm around his neck. It took a couple of seconds for him to realise - and admit - she had taken him down.

"Just tap out," Sunny replied, gloating. The small girl had told her brother she could beat him, and he only laughed about it. Azzy tried to get out but she only strangled harder, so he gave up and tapped out of the fight, while he could still breathe.

"So, that was humiliating," Levi commented, while munching on a cookie and sipping his tea. He was standing in the corner of the room, watching his young pupils. Like he did, every summer. It was the end of their lesson for the day. Azzy stood up, feeling a little embarrassed. He cleaned himself and fixed up his clothes, looking for some dignity. "It's not fair," the fifteen-year-old protested. "She looks too much like a girl now."

"And was it fair when she was even littler?" Levi objected.

"I mean, when we both were and I didn't care as much," the boy tried to justify himself. "Oh, please," Sunny rolled her eyes.

"That is not it," the uncle interjected. "You are not focusing, you seem to have too much in your mind," Levi observed.

"That is true." Sunny concurred and smirked at her brother again. Az had promised he wouldn't tell anyone about her gift. The lesson was over, so she left the gym. Azzy stood there, a little reflective about those memories.

"Now, let's work on your focus with something more challenging," The uncle suggested while picking up a very sharpened sword and signalling for his nephew to choose his.

"The lesson is over," the teenager protested. "Not for you." Levi replied, lunging towards him and almost piercing the boy's chest. Azzy startled, he moved backwards and grabbed a sword. It only took a couple more advances for him to realise this wouldn't be a typical fight, his uncle was not holding back on him. At every strike he felt like his arms would dislocate with the strength of the blows, his uncle was going at it full strength. He held on the grip tighter and wondered how come those swords were handling all that without breaking or bending. Azzy started to feel nervous about the level of aggressiveness Levi was in.

The uncle grabbed a second sword, fighting with one on each hand was more his style. The boy was doing his best to defend himself, but it was getting harder and harder to do so. Levi swung both swords at him and he barely blocked them on time, the uncle still kicked him and he fell to the floor.

"See, Az," Levi approached him, slightly jabbing one of the swords in the floor, near the boy's face. "I'm using what I have. If I want to win I need to use my abilities and give my all." He advised as the boy moved away from him and clumsy went back up to his stance, pointing his sword forwards again. The blade was shaking, because so was his arm. "I don't care about winning," the boy replied.

"You should," Levi attacked him again. "It's important. Especially when your life depends on it," he was instructing the boy while striking him multiple times. The boy could barely stop one of his swords, let alone two. He was struggling a lot. Levi continued: "You could have won. You could have beaten me multiple times by now."

"I don't think so," the boy replied, with a small and nervous laugh.

"I am limited. I am limited by space, you are not." The uncle explained. The boy opened his eyes wide, he couldn't believe his uncle was doing all that to force his jumping. Levi swung his sword at him again. "You can trick me," he added.

"No!" the boy exclaimed with anger, "use this room in your favour," Levi insisted. "I'm not going to." the boy firmly replied.

"You could literally stab me in the back and I wouldn't even notice it in time!" Levi laughed.

"None of that would be fair," Azzy argued. Levi sighed. He took a couple of steps back, slowing his attacks down. He stopped to fix his hair and continued the lesson, "you were born like that kid, you can't just keep hiding it. Use your power to your advantage," he advised again. "I already said no." The boy said defiantly.

The 'slowing down' and stopping for a moment to 'fix his hair' were strategical attempts, to throw the boy off guard. Levi quickly came in attacking in full force again, hoping this could trigger something. The poor boy wasn't fast enough to defend himself this time. It took a fraction of a second for him to realise what had just happened. Levi opened his eye wide, and swiftly removed his sword from the boy's side. Azzy was bleeding.

The boy looked down. "You stabbed me!" He exclaimed, confused and angry.

"You were supposed to jump," Levi replied, a little confused. He was sure his method would work.

"I told you I wasn't going to." The boy firmly complained to him again. Grasping his shirt where the blade had gone through, to stop the bleeding.

"Hmm, this is odd. I thought this was more of an instinct thing," the uncle held his chin, thoughtfully. He grabbed his white handkerchief and started to clean the blood out of his sword.

"Well, it is not. It's a very conscious decision. And I decided I wasn't going to do any of that a long time ago." Azzy angrily explained. He put more pressure on his wound, on his side, "I can't believe you stabbed me!"

"Don't fuss it, kid. It will just regenerate," Levi carelessly commented while cleaning the blood from his sword.

"That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt!" The teenager replied, he was enraged.

"Right, we should probably not tell your mother about it then," Levi added.

Azzy shook his head. "You are unbelievable," the boy replied, very angrily. He threw his sword on the floor with much force, the impact broke it in two pieces. Azzy walked out of the room. He was vexed.

Levi looked at the broken sword on the floor, while still cleaning his. "We should work on strength level next time," he commented to himself.

Later that morning, in the Balcony:

Azzy was used to going up to the balcony to think. It was a huge area of the house, completely covered in marble. The Balcony had a splendid view of the large city, and the ocean down below. The boy was used to playing around with a small ball, hitting it over and over around the giant marble columns and against the wall.

His sister walked into the balcony. The twelve-year-old crossed her arms, annoyed. "So, that's it then. No more sword-fighting lessons for me in the future. Thank you for that."

Az stopped hitting the ball and held it tight. "What are you complaining to me for? He is crazy!"

Sonnenblume sighed, she sat on the balcony and watched the city down below. The small girl was reflective, her brother sat next to her, holding himself in one of the giant columns. Sunny laid her head in the column behind her. Azzy watched his feet dangling in the high, there's always a small quantity of adrenaline that comes in when one puts themselves in such positions. A rush of blood to the head young souls enjoy very much.

The siblings were becoming used to having that particular place of the house for themselves. For their more private talks, as they were getting older and more mature. It was their fraternal spot.

"You know what I don't understand?" Sunny started the conversation. "The way you were talking yesterday."

"What do you mean?" Azzy asked her, still playing with the small ball, hitting it against the floor.

"When you were pondering whether or not to 'go back' to wherever it was. You were acting so odd," Sunny laughed, "it doesn't matter. What matters is: you were considering jumping again," she reminded him.

"Again?" Azzy was confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Yesterday! When we were talking in the library and you were messing around with all those books, like a crazy person." Sunny explained.

Azzy slowly shook his head. "I have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about."

"Ah, come on! Don't think you can trick me. I'm not in the mood for that," his sister admonished him.

"I'm telling the truth! Besides what you are saying is the stupid thing here. Why would I have considered 'jumping'," Azzy said condescendingly, gesturing in air quotes. He continued: "when I vowed never to do that again, when I was only seven years old? You are the mad one here."

"Honestly, I think you are too dramatic about all that," Sunny commented.

"Well, you have no idea what it was like, what I went through. I'm never doing any of that again and that's final." He said firmly. The boy had promised that to himself a long time ago. And nothing would change it. Nothing would change his decision, he was sure.

"Ugh," Sunny rolled her eyes. Her brother was being awfully dramatic. "So you are completely sure about that?" she decided to tease him.

"Yes." he replied with certainty.

"Completely? You're saying you would never use your powers again?" she asked once more.

"This 'power' is nothing but a curse. And there's nothing in the world that would make me use it again." Az replied very defiantly.

"What if you are in a life or death situation?" Sunny asked, joking but also worried about her brother.

"Then I'll just die." He replied to her loudly and with much annoyance. Azzy stormed out of the balcony. He passed his father, who was inside the house and was very confused by his son's dramatic yelling. "Die? What is this all about?" Armin asked him.

"Go ask Mr. Ackermann," Azzy responded, annoyed. He went up to his room.

Armin looked at the little Sonnenblume, confused. The girl only shrugged, she didn't understand it either.

-.-

After a couple of hours, Armin decided to go up to the boy's room, to check on him. Azzy was in his bed, in the dark. And seemed unresponsive. Armin thought about it, he knew how to wake his son, how to make him lively quickly. "Son, you need to go down and apologise to your uncle," Armin told him.

Azzy startled. "I need to apologise? He stabbed me!" he said very indignantly.

"It was an accident! I know you are upset but accidents can happen," Armin told him wisely.

"He didn't even feel sorry about it! That man is insane. Does he even have a heart?" Azzy complained.

Armin smiled, he went over and sat on the bed. "You know, he is actually a lot nicer now. I think he has a soft spot for you."

"You are definitely wrong about that." Azzy replied, crossing his arms.

"It's true. The old captain has gone soft. Imagine training with him if you were actually in the army? Back then," Armin started to reminisce. "He didn't hold back at all. And I hated fights! Unfortunately it was mandatory. Having the Captain as a teacher was torture! He seemed to really enjoy punching me in the face, he'd just say I had a very punchable face."

"He wasn't lying," Azzy replied in a dry tone. As Ackermanns would often joke.

"I didn't tell you this so you would agree," Armin complained, slightly admonishing him.

"I'm sorry, I was just being sincere," Azzy joked in a quieter voice.

Armin messed up his hair, "C'mon, let's go down. It's lunch time."

They walked off the room.

"No more sword-fighting lessons then?" The boy asked.

"Not for a while, your mother is a little angry with this whole situation," the father replied. Armin opened his eyes wide for extra effect.

"Yeesh!" Azzy let it out, the thought of two experienced Ackermanns clashing is always frightening. "So, it's over for good. What will I do for the rest of the summer?" the boy wondered.

"You can always come down to the Hangar and help me." Armin smiled with the thought. "You are getting older, maybe it's time I teach you how to fly."

Azzy smiled back at his father. Learning to fly sounded very fun indeed.

-.-

≃2000 years ago

[Three Years after the first appearance of The Titan]

There were arrows flying everywhere. Soldiers stabbing one another with spears and swords. The dead and mangled being stepped on by the desperate souls that were running. Running for their lives. It was the middle of a battle, a very typical battle between the new coming Eldian Kingdom and the well established Marlean Empire. The eldians were slowly making a dent on the thousand-year-old successful Empire of Marley, they were creating an empire for themselves. All thanks to the new gigantic monster they'd acquired. It made the marlean legions run screaming in fear, and it didn't spare any soul.

A brave marlean soldier walked in the middle of that chaotic battle. He was walking in the direction opposite to where the other marleans were actually running towards. He was walking straight to the Titan, very determined. The young man reached for a good sword he saw impaling a fallen soldier. He pulled it up from the corpse's ribs and kept walking. A little further down, he found himself another good sword jabbed on the ground, the man also took that sword for himself. Now he walked a little more deceptively as he was getting closer to the Titan and didn't want it to see him. Even with all the commotion of the battle, some marlean soldiers were noticing their comrade. They were waiting to see what he would do. That soldier was known for being extremely unpredictable.

Azymondeus walked low, hiding himself where he could. He was waiting for the perfect opportunity. "One meter across, ten centimeters wide," Azzy thought to himself, looking down to his swords and up to the Titan, he laughed. "I should probably multiply that by a ton!"

He hid himself again, this time making sure no one could see him. The young soldier looked up to the sky, concentrating. He had to get it right, he had to get it perfect. But then again, space jumps were always very easy for him. Az smiled. He was confident and ready. "Who needs ODM gear?" He thought to himself, gloating. "I can fly!"

That bright white light shone inside his eyes again, he quickly built up the necessary energy. He'd gotten much better at it over time. Az disappeared and rematerialised himself in the middle of the air, behind the Titan's head, in a blind spot. He hovered for a split second behind the giant beast and got his blades ready. Falling with style, he sliced through the Titan's flesh and got the girl out of there.

-.-

Suddenly all the marlean soldiers became mesmerised. The Titan was melting away, dissolving itself. There were cheers! Many who had previously decided to give up on their lives now decided to fight with everything they had. They could actually win this!

"This isn't good," Osmond told his brothers as they inspected what had happened with their Titan. The Eldian Princes were all standing in the nape, with their General. Looking down on the sliced flesh, it was completely empty.

"Where the hell did she go?" Torin asked, frustrated. He jammed his sword in the Titan's flesh with anger and disappointment.

"Do you think she finally took off?" Jari considered.

As the boys were arguing among themselves, Lud was thinking. He knows he'd noticed something strange before the Titan started to steam out. He was sure he saw a bright blue light. But he kept it to himself, now he was more concerned with his soldiers.

"It doesn't matter, Jari, we'll deal with her later. Now go and give the troops the signal to retreat."

The young prince nodded, obeying his General's orders.

"Retreat?" Torin interjected. "I give the orders here and no one is retreating. Eldians never retreat."

"You foolish boy!" Ludvík raised his voice and pointed at the battlefield. "Don't you see they are already overtaking us? Do you want to die today? We are retreating."

Torin looked around, his younger siblings seemed to agree with the general, he became mad. "Don't call me boy! I can't wait for Father to die so I can put you in your place." He told the general and spat on his face.

The General cleaned his face with his hand and held his scabbard aggressively. "I'll call you whatever I want. I've known you since you were in diapers, boy."

This was enough to put the arrogant prince in his place.

"We are retreating." Ludvík said again.

Osmond sighed, Eldia hadn't lost a battle in three years. "This should have been easy," he commented, crossing his arms.

The four of them could see their soldiers being slaughtered in the distance.

"We are very weak without her," Jari added.

"Precisely," Osmond replied. "Precisely what?" Lud interjected. 'This boy and his fancy words,' he thought.

The smarter prince explained: "I mean, Jari is pointing out the problem. We became too dependent on the wench."

-.-

There it was: that bright blue light again. The two teenagers reemerged in the middle of the sky, a couple of kilometers south to where the battle was occurring. The sixteen-year-old had passed out the moment she was prematurely disconnected from her Titan. But the sudden cold breeze and horrible feeling of gravity pulling her back to earth had woken her back up instantly. Ymir opened her bright green eyes wide. The knight was wearing full body armour, even then she could see his dark blue eyes under that visor and that was enough. She'd looked straight into his eyes and she knew exactly who he was.

They came crashing down from above. Az reached and tried to hold her close again, so they could jump out of that dangerous free-fall. But they were falling too fast, he lost her grasp and they hit the water. Luckily there was a river there. His heavy armour made him sink much deeper than her, and Az struggled to find his bearings and it took time for him to find his way back to the surface.

Ymir rose up from the waters as fast as she could, that situation - being under water - was bringing terrifying memories to her. She looked for the margin and quickly made her way there. The young and gracious lady sat on a rock to dry herself, she was freezing but she didn't let it show. She watched carefully as her old friend walked out of the river. Ymir was charmingly drying her long and blonde hair as she watched him take out the pieces of his armour, the enemy's emblem was all over it. She thought about it all, giving him a calculating look, she finally spoke: "I'm assuming you want to talk."

He looked at her for a quick while, puzzled. The eighteen-year-old only let out one unimpressive: "Huh."

"What?" Ymir asked.

"I expected you to be more frightened," he explained. That whole situation: being cut out from the Titan by a stranger, the dimensional travel, free-falling into a river… none of it seemed to faze Ymir.

Ymir rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. She looked at him with annoyance.

"You can recognise me?!" He startled with the realisation. Az was ready to explain who he was and where they had come from. The superficial and slightly romanticised version, of course.

"Of course, I can." Ymir told him in a dry tone. "It's not everyday one is chased by a blooded demon," she added.

"We don't need to talk about that," he replied with embarrassment. Az looked up at the sky with sadness. "I'm sorry, about everything," he pleaded for her forgiveness.

Ymir looked up the sky too, she looked down around the trees with wonder, thinking back to that time. "I remember when you came into the palace." She had gone to her younger self, inside her head. She remembered meeting the boy, she remembered looking at him for the first time, from behind her mother's dress. Ymir was a very timid child, but somehow the boy had made her come out of her shell. "There was just something about you, I was infatuated by this charming boy, with his blue eyes and clever ways. I fell into your spell and I regret it."

Azzy sighed. "We were just kids, I-" He paused and continued very timidly: "I was just trying to impress you… All feels very stupid now," he confessed. Az regretted trying to jump with the girl that time. He regretted that more than anything! They ended up in a very different place from where he was trying to take her. It was actually the first time Azzy had jumped to somewhere he hadn't been before. Or so he thought. Azzy couldn't remember, but he had been to that dimension before, and so had Ymir. It was their safe place.

"It really does," she agreed with him. The whole situation felt very stupid for them, now that they were more mature. "I'm assuming there's no way out of it, otherwise you would have already taken me back and undone all this mess," she concluded. Ymir was never hopeful she would one day be home again. She had grown up in that strange time, and she had become conformed to the laws of that strange land. She felt set in her ways.

"It doesn't seem to be," he disclosed. Azzy sighed, he decided to confess: "I tried everything. We are trapped here," he told her with much sadness.

"We? Are you saying you can't leave either?" Ymir was confused, she always thought the boy was free to go wherever he liked, and that he had left her there out of his own intent.

"Yes," he came closer and sat down next to her, "and I knew that before I came here. But I had to come anyways," he told Ymir.

"Why?" She couldn't understand.

"I promised your father I'd take care of you," he revealed.

Ymir was taken by that, she didn't think of her family very much. "That is very sweet," she commented.

"Do you remember then? You seem to remember the day we came to visit," he asked.

"I didn't remember much at first. I grew up here feeling like a shell of myself. It was only when- " Ymir paused, reflective. "When I died and came back, I started to remember everything. I have so many vivid memories of those days," she looked up to the sky, wondering. "I had a great childhood, I was very happy."

She noticed her friend became quite shy and a little red in the face, he seemed embarrassed and sad.

Azzy looked down to the ground and at the river margin. "You probably never noticed this, but I was there," he told her with a timid voice.

"Where?" Ymir asked.

"That day, when you fell and- and drowned… I wanted to save you, and I tried many times, but it never worked." He divulged. Az let out a small laugh. "We don't get along very well, we never did."

"You and who?" She asked.

"Time," he explained. "It never wants to go my way, even with everything I can do. I should be able to rule it. But I'm just another passenger, I understand that now," he laughed. "I finally understood it, with time," he joked.

Ymir became a little reflective. "How did you even know where to find me?" she asked her old friend.

"Time." Azzy joked again. "When I first got here, you were just a child, and you probably don't remember. You were chasing piglets." He smiled with the memory. "By your looks I concluded it hadn't been very long since you had gotten there. You saw me and ran off, which is understandable," he joked. "And I stopped to case the place. That tree was there, the same one from that odd dimension. I believe it works as a portal, that's what made you come back so far into the past-"

"How far?" Ymir asked, she was only a child when she'd gotten there and hadn't had much history instruction, so she couldn't properly point out the Age they were in.

Azzy scratched his head, if she didn't know it already, this was about to be a big shock. "Two thousand years… give or take," he replied.

Ymir stood up fast. "Two THOUSAND years? Are you saying I am two thousand years away from my family? I- I," she stuttered for a moment. "I knew I was in the past, but I had no idea I was this far back," she confessed with much stress. Ymir embraced herself, she was shaking with the cold and with that realisation. Az came near her, he gave her his cape, it was still somewhat wet but it was better than nothing.

She sat back down, in silence and he proceeded talking. "I couldn't properly approach the tree. It was the same as last time, there's something around it that stops me from getting close. That is actually why I couldn't follow you the first time," he explained and continued: "That's when I committed yet another stupid mistake: I decided to jump. It was just supposed to be a space jump, so I could see around where I was-"

Ymir interrupted him, confused. "What do you mean by 'jump'? Are you talking about the thing you do when you disappear and reappear?"

"Yes." Azzy continued. "It was an oversight, I should have thought it wasn't a good idea since I was so far in the past and in somewhere I've never been before," he sighed. "But I had just become too used to doing that… it's just my nature," he justified himself, Ymir squinted a little. Azzy embraced himself. "It's easier than walking," he said, joking. "Sure," Ymir replied, still squinting.

Az continued: "What matters is that I wasn't supposed to travel in time again, but somehow I did. And I noticed that when I saw you again, you were much older and the tree was there. I saw everything, I saw how you fell and what happened afterwards… I tried to stop it but I failed time and time again."

"So you were there?" Ymir asked. "The day I died?"

He nodded, confirming it. "But you didn't really die-" Az commented and was abruptly interrupted by her. "I did." Ymir said with conviction. "I know I did."

She looked up the sky again, it was becoming quite orange and a little pinkish. That meant the sun was setting and night was falling. Ymir sighed, very reflective, she continued: "It's the worst feeling in the world. I remember that vividly too, I remember thinking all I wanted was to live. I really wanted to live-" Azzy gave a small laugh. "What's funny?" She asked indignantly.

"Nothing, is just-" Azzy tried to find a way to explain the irony he was feeling. "It wasn't very long ago that I finally realised I might never be able to feel any of that. It never hit me before, growing up. But the way I am, all these strange things I can do. I might not be able to die."

"Are you saying you are immortal?" she asked.

"Maybe. I don't like thinking about it too much, it makes me feel empty," he confessed.

"Well, I'm actually happy for you. I don't wish that pain to anyone. It still haunts me to this day," she told him, perhaps to ease his mind.

"I don't think I would mind it as much," he replied.

"Are you saying you want to die?" she asked with worry.

"Sometimes," he replied.

She became more worried. "Have you ever talked about this to someone before?" Ymir was concerned, maybe her friend needed some counselling.

Azzy laughed. "I have actually! Not too long ago." He smiled at her. "With your brother."

Ymir smiled back, she started to wonder about her family again. How they were so far away from her. "I can't imagine how he is now," she said.

"Extremely dull," Az joked.

Ymir smiled again. "Did you two become friends?" She asked, Azzy thought for a moment. "In a way… Maybe?"

She laughed. "You like him! Are you afraid he's going to know?" she teased.

"I'm glad you can never tell him," Azzy swiftly joked. He didn't have time to think of the words coming out of his mouth. Ymir became quite sad with the thought of never seeing her brother again. She looked down to the river, staring into the water, trying to hold back her tears. Azzy felt extremely guilty by that stupid outburst. "I- I didn't mean to say that, I apologise."

They stayed in silence for a while. The lost princess was very reflective, she was thinking about her life and the meaning of it all. "Mother said we were born special, Ezra and I," Ymir said with wonder. "She said we would know more when we'd be thirteen," the young soul smiled with the thought. "And I'm glad for my gift! It saved my life," she joyously declared.

Azzy was thoughtful about it, somehow he thought that was not the case. Titans shouldn't exist yet, Ymir was the first. She hadn't been born special. Dying in that pond, underneath the earth, that's what made her what she was now.

He scratched his head, confused. "Still, bringing Titans to an era that didn't have them yet was not a good thing. This is all very messy," he remarked. "Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled that you found a way to survive. But why did you keep using that power? Why keep transforming?" Azzy questioned her.

"I wanted to help my people. That's what I was born for," she stated with grace.

"They are not your people yet," Az pointed out.

"That doesn't matter. I was born to be a queen, their queen. I'm fulfilling my duty, that is my destiny." Ymir declared. "I am the daughter of History, quite literally!" she added, with a laugh. "What is your destiny?" Ymir questioned her friend.

"I have no idea," Azzy replied with uncertainty.

"Why did you join the enemy army?" she continued her questioning.

"Well, I was hoping to level the playing field. You lot were massacring then, I just thought I could help a little. Besides, I don't think like you do. I don't consider these people my people, we are too far back," Az explained.

"Well, you only think like that because you didn't grow up here, like I did. And I think you're wrong, about this and the Titans thing," Ymir replied, slightly scolding Az.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Titans always existed. At least, that is what the marleans believe," she joked. Ymir looked up to the sky. "They believe Titans live up there, giant and ancient beings who were up there even before the Earth was made. They believe those Titans have the power to punish them," Ymir looked down and smiled at him. "Marleans believe those Titans granted me their power to inflict pain on them," she gloated. "Their soothsayers saw all this coming a long time ago. The fall of the Marlean Empire and the beginnings of a brand new one. We are 'the terror from the north'," she said with pride.

"You seem very proud of all that," Azzy commented.

"I am." Ymir swiftly replied. "I'm doing my part, for my people. I was born in the heart of a triumphant, wealthy empire. And now I am actually helping Eldia get to all that. It feels extremely rewarding. We were nothing but a small village before, constantly having to defend ourselves from the raids of the marleans. Now we are quickly becoming a very prosperous Kingdom. Of course I am very proud." She stated with grace.

Azzy scratched his head, "Well, that's actually why I wanted to talk to you."

"You think I should stop?" Ymir asked.

"Not exactly, I-" He looked up at the stars, the sun was setting and the starry night sky was beginning to show. "I think we could work together." he proposed.

"To level 'the playing field', like you said before?" Ymir had an idea of where he was going with all that.

"Yes. These battles in this time, they can be extremely brutal. And innocent people don't deserve that. You said yourself Eldia was a village constantly being raided. There's no need to do that to the enemy," Az stated. "I think it's fine to destroy armies. But we should leave the regular folk out of that."

"You wish to avoid loss of civilian life?" she asked.

"I wish to eradicate those evil ways completely. On both sides. Let soldiers kill only soldiers. No village raids, no slaves, no killing children!" He replied very passionately.

Ymir became very thoughtful about it, she'd being a slave herself. She still was, she hadn't realised that yet. Ymir always thought the Fritz family had embraced her as one of their own. Because she was. It was her family in a way. In a very distant way. She thought they cared for her, but for them, she would only ever be that: a slave. And their wicked ways would never change. Those two young and naive souls had no idea what they were getting into. There was no way to bring that evil family and their empire to more civilised ways. Those cannibals were about to bring to the Earth one of the more horrific eras it had ever seen. And the Earth was crying about it.

"I think you have a very noble proposition," Ymir commended her friend. She thought how proud her mother would be, if she knew her daughter was helping to save children from evil. Like the queen herself had done. Ymir thought of the smile on Historia's face, even if she would never see that again, she could still dream it. Her mother would be proud. "I will help you." She declared.

"Good." Azzy told her.

"How is it going to work? Are you going to act as some sort of a spy for us?" she asked.

"Precisely," Az replied. "I can help you surprise Marley time and time again. And completely exterminate their army. If you can promise me Eldia will only attack that, the Army, and nothing else."

"Agreed," Ymir said, and extended her arm for them to shake hands. It was a deal.

Az shook hands and smiled. "We can play them. Make those higher ranks only concentrate on the battlefield. I'll teach you how to deceive them whenever they start to make more wicked plans," Azzy told her very proudly, he was very good at manipulation. And playing with weaker minds was fun for him. "We can steer them in the right direction."

"Okay," she agreed.

"But we need to make sure none of this is discovered. It will ruin things if anyone finds out what we are up to. And I mean anyone," he warned her.

"It will be our secret," she smiled at him, flirting a little with the charming knight. Ymir wouldn't keep that secret for very long. She would eventually tell Fritz about it. How she had her own marlean spy. The wicked man would then make plans of his own. The evil-doer had nasty plans of his own and he would later play with those naive souls.

Azzy put his hands on his hips. "This will be fun!" he declared, very happy about it.

Ymir smiled at him. "I'm glad you haven't lived here long enough to lose your civilised ways," she joked, wondering how long it would take for him to lose to savagery like any good man would under the circumstances of that broken world. 'You might be pushed too far one day,' she thought.

The two friends had an agreement. Now Ymir had to go back to camp, she refused to 'jump' with him. "It's enough of that for me," she explained. So they had to walk through the forest for a while. Az would space-jump up the trees to see ahead from time to time, to be sure they were going in the right direction.

Ymir started to get tired. "Are you sure we are going the right way?" she asked, a little annoyed.

"Of course, it's somewhere in -" he paused, looking around, "this way," he pointed generally south.

"You are not very good at this," Ymir complained, she gave up: "can't you just do your thing and take us there?" She asked, the teenager was tired.

"We are close." Az stated. "I can't risk showing my powers, I've never actually been to the camp, only seen it from the distance, doing 'my thing' could go very wrong and we could end up in the middle of everyone," he explained.

"Great!" Ymir said ironically. She kept complaining, she mumbled about having to walk through the wilderness. "I really wish we were in the future right now. With all the roads and buildings. All those cities! This place is just one big forest, I miss civilisation! I miss all those nice people living in those nice constructions! It was all so perfect!"

"Until your father destroyed it all," Az mumbled under his breath.

"What?" she didn't hear what he'd said.

"Nothing, we are almost there," he replied.

After a few more minutes of walking they finally reached the edges of the eldian camp. They could see the torches, the tents and the soldiers walking in the distance.

"Finally!" Ymir exclaimed. She turned to him to say her goodbyes: "When will I see you again?" she asked, flirting a little.

"Right. You will know when I come for you, so we can better plan things-" Az was explaining to her very seriously when he noticed her smirking. "What?" He asked.

Ymir was slightly rocking back and forth. She stood up on her tiptoes and smiled. "This whole 'level the playing field' inquest, was it just an excuse you made to finally talk to me? After all these years?" she asked him, playing with her hair. Still flirting.

"No - I... I-" he stumbled, trying to think, feeling quite embarrassed. "I didn't- I," Az kept stuttering. She leaned in and gave him a kiss, their first ever kiss. Azzy opened his eyes wide. He was petrified, he didn't know what to do and he couldn't even enjoy it, not enough and not as much as she did. The poor teenager couldn't even blink, he just stood there, like a chump.

She pulled away slowly and smiled at him. Ymir looked at the moon and turned back to him with her own proposal: "Tomorrow is a full moon, I bet the reflection looks beautiful in those waters, come to take me there again," she said and leaned in again, kissing him on the cheek. I'll wait for you," she added. And left him there. Ymir looked back at him again, she was very charming. He looked at those bright green eyes, completely infatuated by that pretty girl. Azzy was slightly shaking and cold sweating, the boy couldn't even move his legs. He was still in shock by that immense show of affection. He hadn't been expecting that from the princess, it put his life in a different perspective. She had opened his eyes to a brand new world.

-.-

Back in the camp, Ymir now had to deal with the King and his family. She knew it wouldn't be easy, but she was pretty confident she could get away with it. She had a meeting in the King's tent, - the largest on camp, of course - with King Fritz and his three eldest children, they were usually the ones who made most of the decisions. Torr, one of the princes, was pointing out Ymir was missing from the nape and how the marleans must've had figured out where the Titan's weakness was.

"That is absurd. I don't have a weakness." Ymir interrupted him defiantly.

"How do you explain your disappearance then? No one saw where you went," Elke challenged the young girl.

"Exactly. I already told you. I woke up in the middle of the woods," The teenager explained again. "It must have something to do with the gods who gave me this power," Ymir played them. "I believe they meant to protect me, so they used their powers to send me to the distant woods."

"Protect you from what?" King Fritz asked, he'd become curious about that part.

"Some unforeseen evil," Ymir was vague in her lying.

Torr sighed. "None of that matters. There were thousands of witnesses out there, most of them enemy soldiers. And they all saw our monster being defeated for the first time. They saw the Titan can actually be defeated. Some of them could have concluded the weak point is the nape. Hopefully they didn't see what was in it. If they ever find out we're depending on a little girl we are toasted," the prince stated with much logic.

"I'm not a little girl, I am sixteen," Ymir hissed at him.

"Shut up," Elke told her defiantly, reprimanding the young girl.

"Now, now, Elke. We don't need to be like that." Fritz told his only daughter.

"Retreating was a mistake. Like I told you, father, and Torr just confirmed. There were too many witnesses there. Too many enemies who went back home with knowledge about our weaknesses. We should have slaughtered them all then and there." Torin gave his point of view.

"Don't be naive, Torin. You embarrass me sometimes. If the numbers Lud told me were right, our army would lose very quickly. You would be slaughtered yourself. Was the General lying?" Fritz asked.

"No he wasn't." Torr swiftly replied. "The marleans took the upper hand as soon as our Titan fell. We became outnumbered quickly," he was carefully explaining to his father when he noticed Torin was giving him an ugly look. "I know all that because I was there, fighting in the front. You always hide in the back like a coward. Near the Titan, with the small ones," Torr told his brother defiantly. - The 'small ones' was how he would always refer to their younger siblings, the younger princes. - Torin didn't like his brother calling him a coward, and that wasn't the first time.

The two princes were ready for a customary brawl when their father interrupted them. "That is enough. I think we have gathered enough information about this whole incident," Fritz told his children. Incident was a light word to describe the weight of what had occurred that afternoon. Eldia had lost to Marley for the first time in three years. It was a huge embarrassment for the new kingdom.

"What are we going to do about all this, father?" Elke asked the King. She was worried about it. And of course, she blamed the wench. The princess would never trust that little witch, she knew Ymir was hiding something, and she wouldn't let that go easily.

"For now, we can only wait and see. Let Marley play their next move. And be ready to advance, like we always do." the father told her, very wisely.

"Can I go now?" Ymir asked, the teenager was bored with all that interrogation.

"Yes, darling, I'm sure you need some rest after such an odd day," Fritz replied, with a bit of sarcasm. He too could see through her, like Elke could. He knew Ymir was hiding something.

Ymir left the tent. She walked around the camp, under the moonlight. The girl had a happy expression on her face and she couldn't help but laugh from time to time. She was thinking about the boy, she hadn't seen him in such a long time! That was a very lovely afternoon, by the river and under the stars. Ymir was hoping to see him again soon, very soon. She smiled with the thought.

"Did you have a fun time today?" An old voice asked her in a quiet tone. Ymir went back to reality. Ludvík was very near her, sitting on a rock, sharpening his sword. She hadn't even noticed.

"What do you mean?" She asked back casually, looking around to confirm there was no one near them.

"Who was that boy you were with? The one who brought you back to the camp, I saw you arriving, coming from the woods," Lud questioned her. He had seen them kissing, but he decided to omit that detail.

"That is none of your business," Ymir replied with annoyance.

"He was wearing marlean armour," Lud pointed out. "Are you thinking of changing sides?" He questioned her loyalty.

"Sides? I don't take sides. I live only for myself." Ymir replied with anger. "And I can do whatever I want." she added.

"You have your duty, like all of us here have ours. There's no need to be selfish with this gift the gods gave you. You are young so I'll let this slide, but I'll tell you this: whenever these selfish thoughts come to you, just think of the villagers. All those people you are helping to protect. And of how much you are helping Eldia to grow," he advised the young girl in a fatherly way.

"Don't ever think you are allowed to lecture me. I have my own mind." Ymir hissed at him, she was mad.

The old man sighed. 'Teenagers never understand how we are more experienced than them, and how we only want what is best for them,' Lud thought to himself. "Fine. I just hope you won't end up with your heart broken. Be careful, my dear. For your own sake," he advised her again.

Ymir turned her nose up at him, and left his presence. She didn't take his advice, not even a little bit. And Ludvík was right. She got her heart broken in the end.

-.-

- Year 867 - Early Autumn - Hizuru

[The Azumabito Residence's Airstrip]

"Tower this is Eagle, I'm all set and ready to go," the boy said with a deeper voice, over the radio. Azzy had jumped into the pilot seat and started to fool around with the controllers.

It was early morning and his father was about to set out for a trip to the continent. Armin was attending a regular political meeting, he wouldn't be away for more than a day but even so it was customary for the whole family to go down to the airstrip and say their goodbyes before takeoff. The boy'd had a few flying lessons over the summer and he felt confident he knew more than enough at that point. He kept playing around with the control panel. Imitating his father and feeling quite the pilot.

"Do you even have a notion of what you are doing?" Armin leaned over and jovially questioned his son.

"Sure, that's the altimeter," he pointed at one of the round instruments in the control panel. "This is the air pressure," he pointed at another. "Quite important," he added.

"That's the altimeter," Armin pointed to another instrument. "This one is the airspeed," he corrected his son.

"Right..." Azzy squinted a little.

"You'll get the hang of it. We can go for a few runs tomorrow, now I need to leave or I'll be late," the father explained.

"Can I go with you?" the boy asked excitedly.

"Hey, not fair! If you get to go, so do I!" Sunny exclaimed from the outside.

"None of you are going, you both have classes today," Mikasa told the two. "Come on," she added, gesturing to the boy. Azzy left the inside of the aircraft, frowning. He'd completely forgotten about classes.

"You heard your mother, summer is over." Armin told the teens. "And no pranking the tutors!" he added while putting his gloves and helmet on.

"And how are we supposed to welcome them?" Azzy mumbled to Sunny. "I know right," she replied.

"I'll see you at dinner," Armin told Mikasa and gave her a small kiss on the lips.

"Don't be late." she replied. "And call when you get there!" Mikasa added, reminding him, Armin would always forget to call.

"I will." Armin smiled. He entered his small aircraft, ready for the journey. He popped back out with a warning. "And behave today, you two. I don't want to hear complaints when I get back!"

The two teens nodded solemnly. Sunny had her fingers crossed behind her back, they were already planning some shenanigans.

The mother and her two children watched as the aircraft started to rise up the sky. It was always a very pretty thing to witness, especially with the sunrise. Sunny smiled with wonder as she watched the small plane slowly disappear in the horizon, following the star she was named after.

-.-

- Year 859 - City of Mitras - Paradise Island

[Inside The Palace]

Mikasa was in the palace's garden, enjoying the sunlight and the view. The bright sky and the green of the trees and hedges, complemented by thousands of flowers, of many colours. The scenery painted a very nice picture.

"So, are you enjoying your time?" Eren asked, approaching her with a nicely wrapped box and a wide smile. "I bet you missed this place," he added, sitting by her side.

"I know what you want," Mikasa replied.

"What do I want?"He asked her back and smirked, teasing his sister.

"You think you can convince us to move back to the island," she replied.

"Well," Eren nonchalantly stretched himself. "I think it's easier to convince you than Armin," he admitted.

"We can't live here, Eren, it won't go well," Mikasa explained.

"So we built that entire Lighthouse for nothing? It was hard work, you know?" Eren scratched his head, that was an incredible and gigantic construction he'd helped Armin build.

"We are considering going there at the end of the trip, to see how things are," Mikasa conceded. "We did leave in a hurry. But even then, there's no point in living there now. I like Hizuru and I enjoy living in the city."

"But wouldn't it be nice for us to grow old together?" Eren argued. "Now that we know that we can?" he added. The one thing Eren was happy about the curse being broken was that now he would be able to live a long life, and so would Armin.

Mikasa was a little perplexed by the way he was talking, it was like she was supposed to neglect every wrong doing of his from the past. But that's just how families work, one has to forgive and forget, if only for the sake of love. She was thoughtful for a moment.

"Don't you want to come back to the Island you were born into?" he asked. "I don't think it's a good idea," she replied.

"Come on, it's odd seeing Azzy already so big, and I didn't even know Sunny before now. And you didn't know my children either. Don't you want them to grow up together and be friends?" Eren kept budging.

"They seem nice," Mikasa tried to change the topic and focus on the children. She looked over at the kids playing around 'the castle' - that is how the twins called their playground - Historia was supervising them.

"They are nice." Eren replied and added: "And I'm sure yours are too, and I would be glad if they could know each other."

"It's always good isn't it? When there's more than one," Mikasa stirred the conversation away again. She continued: "I wasn't sure if we would have another one and then Sunny came along and it was all the more brighter. They make each other company. It's nice. Now you!" She laughed. "You got the double package, all in one go. It must be nerve-wracking sometimes," Mikasa commented.

"It was more at the beginning but we always had extra help. And it's like you said, they entertain each other. They play well together, the two are very good friends." Eren replied.

"Wait until they become teenagers, they will drive each other mad," she joked, giving him a loving look. Eren scratched his head. "Well it didn't help that you kept acting like you were mom all the time, when we are both the same age," he complained, sounding like a teenager again.

"Maybe it would help if you acted more like your age," she replied. "Well, I'm glad we're both past that." Eren acknowledged. "And about all that, I got you something," he turned to his side and grabbed the small wrapped box to finally give it to her.

Mikasa smiled, she carefully unmade the bow and opened it. "I told you I would get you a new one," Eren said, smiling. Mikasa took out a very pretty blue and white striped scarf. "Thank you," she responded and wrapped the scarf around her neck, "how does it look?" She asked, posing with it. "Perfect." Eren replied and smiled.

"That's a very nice fabric," Mikasa commented, "it feels… Middle-Eastern, how did you get this?" she asked. "I have my ways," Eren joked. Paradise was closed for outside trading for over four years now. "Well I liked it very much, thank you," Mikasa said, stroking the nice fabric.

"You're welcome." Eren replied. "That's the least I could do, I know you probably burned the last one," he added.

"I would never. It was probably lost somewhere in that mess," Mikasa replied, wondering about it.

Eren finally decided to bring up their last proper conversation. "You know I didn't mean it right? When I said all that," he was timid about it.

"I always had a feeling you did mean it, even if only partially," Mikasa responded, she was being sincere. Eren sighed, he was thoughtful for a moment. "I did hate you, I hated you a lot," he confessed. "But that was when we were kids, I've matured since then," he tried to explain. "I see," Mikasa replied, a little unsure.

Eren tried to explain further. "You've got to understand it was hard for me, when you came into the house it was all about Mikasa: 'Mikasa was obedient, Mikasa washed the dishes, she went to bed on time, she made her bed without being told, she helped around the house, Mikasa, Mikasa, Mikasa'. All of the sudden it was like my parents loved you more than they loved me. And I was their real kid." he pointed at himself, then sighed. "I know it all sounds very stupid now, but I was just a bratty kid. And you were stealing everyone's affection, even Armin's! And he was my best friend." Eren stood up and pointed at himself again. He continued more softly: "It always made me loathe you a little, I almost regretted saving you that day."

'That day,' Mikasa hadn't thought about it in a while, she started to bring all of that to the front of her mind again. "I used to think about that sometimes, you know I'm very grateful you were there, but sometimes I wonder if you pushed yourself very far or if it was just your nature," she reflected on it. "And I always think about the rain," Mikasa added with wonder in her eyes.

"What about the rain?" Eren asked, he was confused.

"I'm saying the rain never stopped that day," Mikasa explained.

"What do you mean?" Eren asked again.

"Those horrible men, they wouldn't have gone out in the rain, and have taken me with them," she speculated about it.

"Are you saying you think those stupid MPs would have arrived there in time? Are you saying what I did was useless?" Eren became angry.

"I'm just saying I always wondered," Mikasa justified herself.

"Even if that's true, it doesn't mean those men wouldn't do bad things to you, in that cabin," Eren brought her to reality again and Mikasa started to feel a little smaller, she hid her face under the scarf, he continued: "that's the one thing I could never bear in this world, evil men ready to do evil deeds, I always wanted to rid the world from scum, even when I was still at that age."

"I know that," Mikasa said, coming out of the scarf a little. "And I agree with you, horrible men deserve to die." She decided to bring up the more serious matter, unspoken so far. "But, Eren, what you did wasn't just that. You killed the innocent, the children and the defenceless, and I'm sorry, but I'll never forgive you for it." She declared to her brother. Mikasa continued: "If you wanted to get rid of the world's entire military, Armin and I would help you in a heartbeat." She smiled. "He would actually enjoy it, you know that, he would make all the plans for you and I'm sure you would both succeed. But you didn't, and you even made him wipe out most of the marlean naval defence so it could make things easier for you later on, in your plan. You tricked him and I know he hates you for doing that."

"Even if the marlean military hadn't been damaged like that, I know my Titans would still prevail in their destruction, they were built for it, they were built to never be stopped," Eren retaliated, gloating a little.

"We stopped you, and there were only 10 of us. And we didn't have much to work with, but we still prevailed in the end," Mikasa responded with grace.

"That was the one hiccup in my plan, to tell you the truth, I knew I should have eliminated Armin for it all to work, and that was my biggest failure." Eren finally confessed. "Eren!" Mikasa yelled, reprimanding him. Eren continued: "I love him, and that was my one true mistake, I should have ended his life when I could."

"Stop talking like that!" She demanded, nervous about his words, but Eren wanted to let his feelings out, he had never spoken out loud about any of it before this. "That's just the truth and the reason I failed." He sighed. "I considered killing Hange as well, I knew they would both be the biggest problem to me."

"Well, that you did." Mikasa stated in an angry tone. "I don't know what happened to her, don't blame me for something when neither of us knows what ensued." Eren lied. "She was never found, something must've happened," Mikasa added. Hange's death had been a mystery for the Alliance, no one knew what had happened to her or where her remains were. Eren stayed silent, reflecting about it.

"You should have killed Pieck too then, she was the one who came up with most of the plan, Armin only complemented her ideas," Mikasa gloated. Eren shook his head. "That was an oversight, those two should never have met, let alone join forces against me," he complained.

"Well they did, and it was amazing to watch," Mikasa gloated again, she continued: "still we didn't succeed it completely did we? Over half of the world's population still died an unfair and gruesome death. I regret not seeing what you were up to early enough, and stopped you right then and there."

Eren became angry again, he decided to give his customary speech: "There's where we differ. You lot ruined everything, now there's half of a scum population out there! Human scum that outnumber our holy Eldians. And they all hate us! They shouldn't exist anymore! While they are out there we are still in danger. Why can't you understand that?"

"That was never the answer." She replied firmly.

"Then what is?" He snapped back at her. Mikasa was thoughtful for a moment.

"What would your mother think?" She asked him.

"Your?" Eren asked back.

"Our mother," Mikasa corrected herself.

"You stopped referring to her in that way, after she died. I never understood why," he commented.

"Because it made it a little easier, to distance myself, after everything," Mikasa disclosed. Eren became more reflective. "Right. Sometimes I forget you were there that day, by my side, and you saw her die too." Mikasa interjected his philosophising ways. "You are avoiding my question," she told him.

"Do you really want to know? I don't care. My mother wouldn't approve of my beliefs, but that doesn't matter. She was naive and so are you," He snapped again. Eren didn't want to think about his mother, that was still an open wound.

"You think I'm naive, just because I don't agree with you," Mikasa argued. She continued: "you are forgetting one thing. I'm not your sister am I? And I'm only half-Eldian. All those people of the outside world, I'm a part of that," she declared. "Your clan sided with us all those years ago," Eren tried to interject. "And for what? Just to be hunted down by whoever in the royal family who changed their mind about foreigners inside the Walls, and what about my father's family? They were all killed," she argued.

Eren tried to defend his views once more: "That kind of oppression is the same our people suffered outside of the Walls, so maybe you should be more understanding-" Mikasa interrupted him. "And what's more. You act like you're pure blooded-"

"I don't-" He tried to justify himself midway through her speech. Mikasa continued: "-when we both know your father was mixed-race too, he came from outside of the Walls. Just admit it, Eren, you are an outsider too. Those humans outside that you are trying to condemn, they are your ancestry as well, they are a part of you."

"You are starting to sound just like Armin," her brother complained.

"Well, we've been together for a long time," Mikasa replied. She looked around the garden, her eyes stopped when she saw small Ezra, he held a pretty daisy in his hand. The boy ran through the garden to give it to his mother, Historia smiled and thanked him, holding her child very close. Mikasa observed it all from afar, she noticed how the boy was kind. She thought about it. Mikasa smiled. "I can't wait for the future," she said to Eren, smiling.

"What about the future?" Eren asked.

"When you won't get your way," she stated, gracefully standing up. Mikasa left him there, confused and thinking to himself. Eren stared at his small son in the distance, not sure of what Mikasa meant by that.

She had left to meet Armin, who was coming down into the garden with a small Sunny in his arms. The toddler had just woken up from her nap. "Nice scarf," Armin commented. Mikasa gave him a look and took the girl from his arms. They both noticed Azzy and Ymir being awfully playful around the sweets table. "Those two are getting along well," Armin joked, Mikasa gave him another look, this time of disapproval.

In those days, there was constant political talk, after the war. Some political minds considered the union between these two families was the best way to appease things in the world for a while. The Tybur boy was also a hizurian descendant, most world leaders, specially the ones supporting Hizuru and Marley felt he was the perfect fit for the future Eldian queen. Mikasa and Armin dismissed that idea completely, as they thought it was too maddening. The other parents weren't as bothered by it. And with this first amicable meeting between them, most of the more optimistic commentaries in the newspapers commented about that possible union, in the future. Of course, they were being too optimistic.

"Good luck," Mikasa told Armin, she left him there to deal with Eren, and went to take Sunny to the playground. She then sat next to Historia. "Ezra is very sweet," Mikasa commented to the Queen.

"Yes," Historia smiled, she smelled the sweet flower again and then put it behind her ear. "He's always giving me flowers," she commented while playing with her own blonde hair. "Was Eren ever like that?" she asked Mikasa, very curiously.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Mikasa replied, they both laughed.

"He was quite the opposite, always butting heads with his mother. They'd had a fight right before she passed, it all seems very silly, thinking back to it. I think he regrets that more than anything," Mikasa commented. They were both reflective about it for a moment. She continued: "it's different from us of course, always aiming to please our mothers."

"Well, you were right to it," Historia replied with a somewhat dry smile. "Your mother was a good person. I just didn't know any better."

Mikasa looked around the garden again, she thought it was best to move away from the topic of mothers. "I like what you've done with the place," she commented. The garden was very different from when they were younger, it was a lot more beautiful and full of flowers.

"Thank you. And what about the outside? Do you like what I've done there?" Historia asked. She was referring to her ruling; her friend thought about it for a moment. "I haven't been here long, but the people seem happy. And it seems everything is under control. I'm sure they like you, but then again they already liked you enough before-" Mikasa stopped herself, she knew this whole 'amicable' visit would be hard. It was impossible not to bring up the absurdity that had split them apart. "I'm sure you only want the best for your people." She changed her tone slightly.

Historia looked into the horizon. "I just want my people to be safe and looked after," she expressed.

"And you would go to the ends of the Earth to achieve it," Mikasa complemented her, Historia nodded.

"I think I can understand that," Mikasa conceded.

"But you still don't agree with my methods," Historia added; the two of them became silent.

The children were all cheerfully playing in the castle. That playground was full of all kinds of toys but Ezra wouldn't let go of a small toy dinosaur his father had given him. He felt it was quite precious.

Dinosaur fossils were a hot commodity and were all over the scientific community in the previous century. Of course Eldia was not involved in any of that, even so it called his father's attention. Eren had purchased the small trinket from the same rogue merchant he'd bought Mikasa a new scarf. He instantly knew the boy would like it, Ezra had a particular interest for odd-looking creatures.

The toddler ran around, always holding the stuffed toy close to him. Sunny noticed the unnecessary attachment and decided to have some fun. The three-year-old whisked the small toy from the boy's hands and ran away laughing.

"Give it back!" The young prince demanded. He had his hand extended, he wanted his prized possession back. Sunny only laughed at his face. She climbed up the tower and stayed there, taunting. Ezra went up but she'd already gone down again, he had to keep chasing the girl, as she wouldn't stop. Sunny was full of energy and she had found herself a new toy.

The other pair was a little more concentrated in the edge of the castle. "Real sand?" Ymir asked. The boy had asked her if the sand in the playground was real.

"Yeah... you know, from the beach?!" Azzy insisted, he didn't understand what was wrong with his question.

"The beach? I don't know what that is," Ymir explained her confusion.

The boy grabbed some of the sand in his hand and let it go slowly, analysing it. He couldn't believe the princess didn't know what a beach was! But at the same time, that gave him an idea.

-.-

"So, Hizuru!" Historia said very jovially. "How do you like it there?"

"It's nice," Mikasa replied. The Emperor gave us a house," she said casually, but bragging a little.

"Oh, so you have a title, that's fun!" Historia assumed.

"Not really, Kiyomi's branch has the titles," Mikasa explained.

"Why wouldn't you get one? It's not like you are illegitimate," Historia joked about herself.

"I don't mind, I don't really care about any of that," Mikasa replied.

Historia thought for a moment. "Do you feel at home there?" she asked.

"It depends. On where I am and who I'm dealing with." Mikasa explained. "Some people there are wonderful, but some can be unkind."

"I thought so. You are still eldians in the end," Historia commented.

"But I still enjoy living there. More than I thought I would. And the kids love it! And that's what's important," Mikasa told her friend.

"True. That's what truly matters, they are more important than anything else," Historia concurred. They both looked at the children playing around, smiling and having fun. The mothers were very joyful and proud.

"I would do anything for them," Mikasa divulged, and it was true.

"You know, it was quite a decision for me," Historia confessed. "I know how for you it wasn't, you were always a mother," she commended Mikasa.

"But it still was scary," Mikasa replied. 'It was terrifying,' she thought to herself.

"It was for me too. But in the end, I knew I had to have them," Historia said with a smile. The two mothers didn't notice; but at that point only two of the children remained playing in sight, the other two were already deep within the woods.

"And it makes sense for your role," Mikasa added. "It showcases you are the mother to your people."

"Yes." Historia agreed. "But I didn't have them only for the role, of course," she added. "Of course not," Mikasa agreed, a little sarcastically.

"I wanted my turn, to show myself I could do it properly. I had such a dreadful childhood, I wanted to make my own family and do it right," the Queen explained.

"And it makes sense in a monarchy for the royal family to be exemplary," Mikasa concurred. "When did you decide it would be with Eren?" She decided to ask something she had never asked before.

Historia smiled. "If it were for my father, Eren would be dead," she told Mikasa. The Queen sighed and continued: "I knew I didn't want him to die, in spite of everything. He isn't to blame for any of his father's sins and- And I know my father thought The Founder should be returned to our bloodline but I didn't want to kill Eren. And in a way, I felt it was right, The Founder belonged to him, he was able to use it in a way my family never could." Historia stated very proudly.

Mikasa stayed silent, she didn't agree. She knew how much pain and destruction Eren had caused with those powers, she thought about for a moment. Historia didn't seem to be the most stable person either. 'Who knows? Maybe it would've been even worse if the power was passed to her!' she thought to herself. "None of it matters anymore, all those powers are gone," Mikasa said out loud, reminding her friend.

Historia was a little thoughtful about it, but the friends couldn't keep going with their conversation. One of the nuns had approached the queen very nervously. She told the mothers one of the servants had seen two of the children running towards the open forest area. Mikasa and Historia were both very startled by the sudden news.

-.-

Armin had finally gone over to talk things with his best friend, after his wife had wished him 'good luck'. He had been avoiding Eren since they'd arrived in the palace, the day before. - Especially after a quite odd and uncomfortable dinner, on that previous night. - But Armin couldn't avoid him forever. He slowly approached Eren, in the garden, and joined him in observing the kids playing around in the distance. Eren was attentive to them and had his arms crossed, so Armin awkwardly crossed his arms and started observing the children as well.

"She looks so much like your mom," Eren commented about Sunny. The little girl was having a jolly time in that playground, she was smiling and seemed like a very happy and curious child.

"I know," Armin agreed. "Even her mannerisms. It's a little frightening to watch sometimes. But she acts a lot like Mikasa as well," he added.

"You mean she punches you?" Eren joked.

"Not me. Others, especially her brother," Armin joked back. They laughed.

"Poor thing," Eren commented, he knew the feeling, to be punched by one's sister. "So, Mikasa said you are going to the Lighthouse after this," Eren said, trying to sound careless about it.

"Perhaps, but I'm not sure yet. I'm not sure I want to," he disclosed.

"Why not?" Eren asked.

"That place brings me memories of a much better time," Armin replied, somewhat bitter and saddened.

Eren sighed. "You really think I ruined everything, don't you?" he asked.

"Do you really want to start arguing about that? Because I don't think that is the best idea," Armin carefully advised.

"You know that paradise we had wouldn't last forever, if I hadn't intervened our island would have been completely destroyed," Eren justified himself, "You!" he pointed at Armin's chest. "You know that better than anyone."

Armin hit his finger away. "I had to walk around that destroyed land, we ran out of places to bury the dead. It was difficult for those civilisations, to rebuild everything. It still is! I wanted to help them. And I'm still helping." Armin sat down. "I want to help them," he finished the discourse, thinking of how over time he'd become used to cleaning up Eren's messes.

Eren sighed. He'd forgotten how weak minded Armin was, way more weaker than him, he thought to himself. He sat next to his friend and grabbed his shoulder. "I know it was hard for you and that there were attempts against your life. And yet you still stayed on their side, when we both know they don't trust you."

Armin stood up again, a little agitated. "Of course there were. And yes! Most leaders out there still don't fully trust me," he responded with anger. "I was the Colossal Titan, of course they thought I was somehow at least partially responsible for your mess!" he angrily pointed at Eren's chest.

"Was?" Eren asked. Armin rolled his eyes. "The curse is over, Eren. Get over it. We are not Titans anymore."

Eren stayed quiet for a moment. Thoughtful. He looked over at Ezra, his son was playfully running around in the distance. "You always hated being a Titan," he commented to his friend.

"Well, I didn't have any say in the matter," Armin bitterly replied.

"Still, I never got why it was so important for you to act as if you're like them!" Eren laughed. "When your family is the oddest bunch there is. You wanted to be human and kept rejecting the fact that you are a Titan, and yet you married an enhanced eldian and your kids! Well, Sunny seems to be on the normal side so far but on the other hand-"

"Please don't talk about him," Armin interrupted his friend with a warning. He didn't like Eren commenting about Azzy, he would always find a way to be a little unkind about his nephew, ever since the boy had been born.

Eren stayed reflective again, watching the children playing in the castle. "Don't you think it's funny, how we shared a host?" he asked Armin, giving out a small laugh.

"I don't want to talk about that," Armin replied, crossing his arms.

"Why not?" Eren teased, in quite an evil way.

"Lara was a good person and she didn't deserve to die like that, you killed her," Armin explained, he was annoyed, Eren was pushing his buttons.

"It is unfortunate, but I needed that power and she was in the way," Eren explained his motives in a very dry manner.

"You sound just like Karl," Armin told him, and that hurt Eren a little. He decided to change his tactics. "I was surprised to see you in her memories," he evilly teased his friend. "Tell me, why were you in the Castle?" Eren asked.

"What do you think? I was looking for you!" Armin replied with anguish. "I was running out of leads and I knew those people were powerful enough to have kidnapped you," he explained.

"Did you and your cousin Willy get along?" Eren interjected, taunting him again.

"Of course not. He threatened to destroy the whole island and advised me to stay in Marley so I could be spared," Armin replied.

Eren stood up, indignantly. "And I'm the genocide maniac? Which is worse? The wish to kill enemies or to bring one's own kind to demise? He sickens me. Do you really think I was wrong to eliminate them?" He asked Armin with much anger in his voice.

Armin's mind was elsewhere, reflecting about that time, before the rumbling, when Eren had completely disappeared from their sight. "I was desperate! I looked for you everywhere, thinking you were trapped in a dungeon somewhere, in pain. Just to find out you had ran off on your own, just to follow up in that stupid plan of yours." He snapped. That stung Eren a little, he'd always admired Armin's strategic abilities and hearing his friend call his ultimate plan 'stupid' hurt him a little. "You are right, maybe we shouldn't talk about this," Eren told Armin.

-.-

The mothers were both very nervous and concerned. The Queen was organising the guards and servants to search the open woods. "I'll go with you," Mikasa stated, very concerned for her child.

"No. You have to stay here," Historia replied sternly. "Someone needs to watch these children," she pointed at Ezra and Sunny, who were still playing around, completely unaware of what was happening.

Mikasa tried to interject, she felt she'd had more training and was more equipped to search the woods. It was of no effect, Historia was beside herself at that point. "This is my land and I know these woods better than anyone," she told Mikasa in a firm tone. "Don't move. Stay here and watch him," the Queen ordered, pointing at her heir. "And I swear, if something happens to my son too, I will rip your heart out myself." Historia threatened her in a very menacing way, she was out of her mind.

The Queen walked alone into the woods. Mikasa stood there, she looked at the children carelessly playing. Her heart was beating fast and she felt like she couldn't move. It was that evil cursed Fritz blood in effect on hers, or maybe it was just her worried mind playing tricks on her.

-.-

"I'm saying there's no limit for what we could achieve if we could only harness that power," Armin told his friend very cheerfully. He was explaining how beneficial it would be if Paradise exported samples of the iceburst stone to be analysed and later even possibly commercialised.

"Oh," Eren objected to his friend's enthusiasm. "So is that why you are here? To make a deal for your new hizurian friends? I thought you actually wanted to see me."

"Of course I came here to see you," Armin replied and continued: "But there's no reason we can't discuss important matters. Eldia is struggling as it is, a deal like this could help the island a lot."

Eren only shook his head. He had no interest in helping Hizuru or any other country for that matter. "I see no benefit for the island in this whatsoever," he pointed out.

"It is beneficial. This kind of trading could help our economy a lot! You always act like you're the only one who cares about this island, but I care about it too, and I want what is best for it. Not to mention how much we could achieve for science and in more technological advancements just by harnessing that power," Armin explained.

"I don't care about any of that. Why won't you go bother someone else asking for their energy source?" Eren suggested. "That amount of energy, we couldn't find anywhere else!" Armin replied.

Eren smiled evilly. "You and your scientist friends could always try using that son of yours as a battery, and see where to go from there," he joked.

"Please don't joke about him like that." Armin retaliated in an admonishing tone.

But Eren kept the taunting tone. "It's not my fault if you feel like you have to impress the authorities of those doomed countries. What is your job even? Are you some sort of merchant? A noblewoman's husband? I know you don't have a proper military position at their side. What do you even do?" Eren asked.

"I'm a political adviser," Armin replied.

Eren laughed out loud. "That doesn't sound like a real position. Boy, am I glad I didn't betray my country. I stood for Eldia's defence and I earned the highest military position in the kingdom," he gloated.

"By fucking the Queen," Armin added, under his breath.

"Historia and I see eye-to-eye on things that truly matter. And we fight together for what is right. So what if we built our love out of our mutual strong beliefs? So what if we are actually passionate about things and about each other? Should we be like you and Mikasa, bonding over dead parents and moping together about everything? Everyone agrees there's nothing more boring and pathetic than you two as a couple!" Eren let it out, very angrily.

"Pathetic?" Armin was baffled by his words. He held his fist tight. The two old friends were ready for a physical conflict when they heard a shout coming from the woods. They both decided to calm down and go investigate the shouting. As they got closer, they noticed many Royal Guards walking around the forest and shouting their children's names.

The two friends walked back to the playground. When Mikasa saw then, she immediately told them to watch the two toddlers. "Stay," she ordered. Mikasa left them there and went straight into the woods.

"Stay." Eren repeated. "Does she always treat you like a dog?" he asked Armin sarcastically.

"I believe she was talking to the both of us," Armin replied with a hint of annoyance in his tone. He took the small Sunny in his arms and Eren grabbed the little prince by the hand. The two friends decided to take their younger children inside, to be firmly supervised by some nuns. So they could go back to help with the search.

"I'm telling you it will be fine," Armin said as they walked down the steps, back into the garden.

"You sound too confident on it," Eren replied, complaining a little.

"He never disappeared for more than two hours, they'll show up soon enough," Armin was confident he understood his son's powers completely. "Besides, this could even not be what is happening, they could just actually be there in the woods," Armin pointed at the forest area.

"Well we should go look then. And I hope you are right about this," Eren replied as they both walked into the woods.

Armin was wrong and the two hours passed. More than two, actually, and the children were still lost.

"Ymir! Ymir! Ymir!" Historia shouted in the dark woods, the night had fallen upon them. The Royal Guards and many of the Palace staff were helping in the search, the dogs barked down the old trees and nothing. The children were still not found. Mikasa stared at the moon with much sadness, she looked at Historia in the distance, she knew exactly how that mother was feeling in that moment. Mikasa was feeling that same desperation too. She knew it well, she had felt it many times before. But her boy had never been away from her for this long, and this was making her more and more worried and anxious. But she knew, in this situation, all she could do was wait. Deep down Mikasa knew her baby boy would always come back to her.

-.-

The two friends walked down around those woods, together. Eren looked around in every corner of it, trying to see if there was any movement, looking for the children. Armin was following him, he noticed his friend was distracted, instead of looking around the trees, Armin was looking up at the sky.

"What are you doing?" Eren asked his friend, Armin had an odd looking notebook with him and he was writing odd things on it.

"I am charting the stars," Armin replied.

"How is that supposed to help?" Eren confronted him and whisked the book from his hands. He looked around the graphs and odd notes, he couldn't make sense of any of it. "Why are you wasting your time with this?" He asked.

"I always chart the stars whenever Azzy disappears. I've been doing that since he was a toddler," Armin disclosed.

"Why?" Eren was confused.

"My biggest theory is that his odd ability has something to do with them," Armin explained.

"I still don't understand how this helps us," Eren replied, complaining.

"If I'm right, we can predict where he would reappear," Armin stated his theory.

"How?" his friend asked in disbelief.

"First, we need to find a pattern," he explained, looking around his little book.

"And have you found one?" Eren retaliated.

"Not yet," Armin confessed, saddened.

"So it is useless!" Eren replied, confirming what he had said before. He sighed and sat down on a rock, with both hands in his face. "I can't handle this right now," he let it out. "Your stupid bratty kid. This is all his fault."

"I already asked you, please don't talk about him. Especially like that," Armin pleaded. "You can be very unkind sometimes. And he is not to blame, not like that-"

"Right," Eren interrupted. "I should blame you then. You brought him to this world," he pointed out.

"Eren-" Armin tried to interject.

"You really shouldn't fuck someone while still regenerating," Eren complained.

"Oh, no." Armin raised his hands defensively, very embarrassed. "I'm not talking to you about sex."

"That's what people say anyways, and you are just confirming it," his friend was just pointing out something he had heard around before.

"No. I'm not." Armin stated firmly. "When he was born," he started to talk about his son, "the way he was," Armin said in a smaller voice. He continued: "Everyone wanted to find a way to explain why, and they found all kinds of odd ways to go by explaining it. But they were all wrong, very wrong," he said with certainty, but Eren didn't seem very convinced. "I know my son better than anyone, believe me when I say it." Armin doubled down on it, and yet Eren still doubted his words very much. He didn't trust the boy's odd abilities and he was even more angry about it now.

"No you don't know him. You don't know anything at all!" Eren exclaimed with anger. "For what we know he could be in some odd dimension in the middle of nowhere right now. With my child!" He shouted. "Or at the bottom of the ocean!" Eren shouted again, desperate.

"That's not how it works. He can only go to where he has been before. I already told you this," Armin argued back.

"Exactly. And how did you get here?" Eren couldn't believe this wasn't obvious to Armin. "You came by boat. Didn't you have to cross an entire ocean? What if he took her there? What if they drowned?"

Armin was silent. Eren had a point. The situation was completely out of their control.

"There's nothing we can do. We have to wait. All we can do is wait," Armin replied, very saddened.

"It sucks, doesn't it? Feeling completely useless, without control. Without being able to solve things ourselves," Eren confessed to his friend. He was feeling very fragile at that point, they both were.

"I'm sorry about what I said earlier, about you and Historia," Armin decided to apologise.

"I didn't know you felt so strongly about that," Eren replied.

"I don't know." Armin sighed. He put his small notebook back in his coat. He crossed his arms and leaned on a tree, near Eren, who was still sitting in that rock. Armin continued: "I always felt like that was when we grew more apart. When you started spending more time with her, and with all those people surrounding her."

"Well, I was finding people I had more affinity with. Besides, you were already married at that point, so of course we grew apart," Eren explained.

"To Mikasa." Armin interjected. "And it's not like our group dynamic changed much after that," he argued.

Eren sighed. "Maybe that's the point, maybe I felt like it was my time to move on and find my own home, build my own life," he explained.

Armin was a little reflective about all that, about their past. "I always felt that Historia and those people were the ones who changed you. But Mikasa doesn't agree with me. She says you were always who you were, we just didn't want to see it," he told Eren.

"Sometimes I wonder that too, I don't know what drew me closer to you. I'd always see this kid being beat up at school and I kept wondering if I should do something about it. I always wanted to defend you," he explained. They both smiled. Eren continued: "Of course, I would be surprised whenever you would win a fight by arguing, from time to time. That was unusual."

"And I still won it by arguing years after that," Armin reminded him.

"But you have to admit that doesn't work every time," Eren pointed out.

"Please, let's not fall into this discussion once again," Armin pleaded.

"So you can complain again about my wild and violent side? No thank you," Eren replied. "I was born this way and I don't really care what you think of me," he lied. Eren cared about Armin's opinion of him. Their bond was still very strong, in spite of their drastically divergent worldviews.

"Mikasa is the one who says that, but I never wanted to believe it, and I still don't. I want to believe there's still good in you," Armin replied very solemnly.

"You always talk as if I were a monster," Eren retaliated, with a hint of pain in his voice.

Armin looked down, "you made yourself one," he quietly replied.

Eren laughed. "At least I made myself one and I'm proud to admit it, you were always a monster and never wanted to admit it or even think about it," Eren told his friend.

"Don't talk like that," Armin admonished him.

"See?" Eren replied with an evil smile.

"You said you wanted to protect me from the bullies and you yourself just became one," Armin pointed out.

"Oh please," Eren replied with annoyance. "Like you didn't like inciting those fights. And you enjoyed yourself whenever Mikasa came to beat them up. You've always been a provocateur, Armin. C'mon! Who do you think you are talking to?" Eren exclaimed, laughing. "You were always a devil, just like the rest of us."

Armin stayed silent. Eren smiled at him again, an evil smile. He put his arms around Armin's shoulders. "We are both monsters, you and I, and we could do a lot of damage together," he offered.

"I'm not interested." Armin firmly replied, removing his friend's arm from around him.

Eren became angry again. "Good luck with your 'peace agenda' then. But don't come crying to me when it all comes crashing down." He warned.

Armin walked away from him, they decided to keep their search in separate trails.

-.-

The boy was laying on a field, he had arrived there two days before he had ever left. The lightning storm that had surrounded him was quietly going away and his wounds were slowly closing in again. The boy had lost a lot of blood and he was deep in a coma, half dead and full of hallucinations. It all felt like a terrible nightmare.

The villagers from that area took the sickly boy to the hospital. They all thought there was something evil about him as they all got small shocks when coming in contact with the boy. They thought that odd electricity was otherworldly and curseful.

It was the early morning, the day after the two children had disappeared. And an eccentric doctor had showed up to the palace with his prized possession hidden inside his carriage. The odd man demanded to see the king.

Eren went down to the side entrance to meet with the man. He was carrying his toddler son in his arms, Ezra was sound asleep on his shoulder, he felt very safe there. Eren startled when he saw what the man had brought him.

"So, I recognised the boy right away," the odd doctor said, showing Yeager the comatose child. He could recognise the boy from the newspapers. "And knowing he should be at the palace, either means there's two of them. Or there's something unusual going on," the curious doctor raised some suspicions.

"There's nothing unusual going on," Eren assured him.

The man looked into that cart and at the boy's state. He went over and passed his hand over the boy's forehead, to demonstrate. "Isn't the lightning to be considered a little unusual?" he questioned.

"I'm sure any abnormality can be handled by his parents," Eren replied. He removed one of the rings of his fingers, one of the more valuable ones, and gave it to the doctor. "Let's keep this between us," he told the man. The old scientist could buy a lot of things with that melted gold. He gave his king a smile full of teeth and went on his merry way.

-.-

Historia was up on the rooftop of the palace. She had her small binoculars on, the mother scanned the woods from up there. She had been doing this for hours. It was the early hours of the morning, and the sun was starting to rise. She had been there all night, desperately searching for her child. Eren came in to meet her, he was carrying a sleeping Ezra on his shoulders.

"It's freezing up here. How are you not bothered by it?" Eren asked her, the mother didn't even notice the cold, she was too worried and desperate about her child. Historia gave him a half-smile. "I'm glad you are keeping him around with you. We can't lose this one out of our sight!" she commented about the boy on his shoulders.

"He doesn't want to be away from me, he is scared and confused. And he keeps asking about his mother and about his sister. I think he might be getting a little sick." Eren told her. Historia sighed. She caressed the boy's hair, he was feeling a little hot, maybe he was coming down with a fever, she thought.

"I need you to come back down. You've been searching up here all night!" Eren pleaded.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do anything else. Not until I find her." Historia replied, firmly.

"They've found the boy." He told her, Historia startled. "He is downstairs, resting." Eren added in a softer tone.

Historia let her binoculars fall to the ground. The silence in that moment was immense, all they could hear was the sound of the broken glass.

"Alone?" The mother asked, dreading the realisation.

"Yes. He was found alone," Eren replied, saddened. "But I have our entire military out there searching and following every lead. From where the boy was found, every person he came in contact with. We are bound to find something soon." He was trying to appease the mother.

"Can't we just ask him?" Historia retaliated, a little annoyed.

"He is unconscious." Eren explained.

Historia gasped, she held her hand up her mouth. She felt guilty, she was so busy worrying about her child that she didn't think about the poor boy before now. "Are you saying he is hurt?"

"He was found half-dead," Eren disclosed.

"I'm sorry-" she felt like crying, this was too overwhelming. She felt the pain of that child and thought of her own again. "Do you think-?" She was about to ask when Eren interrupted her. "Don't go there. Don't think about the worst. We have to wait for him to recover, so we can know more."

It didn't matter, Historia was already dreading again the realisation she had been dreading that whole night: that her child was dead.

-.-

Mikasa was sitting next to the bed, in that dark room as the boy drifted away in mumblings and fever. "I'm right here, I'm right here," she told him over and over again. "You are not alone, I'm here with you. So stay here with me," she told the boy. Mikasa was afraid he would jump away from there and disappear again, she couldn't bear the thought. Even with the electrical shocks she received, she still held his hand tight and with her other hand she held a wet towel over his forehead. The boy was burning up.

The mother became very annoyed as the queen insisted that they tried to make the boy speak. Mikasa wouldn't let Historia get close as she felt her child was being threatened. Azzy was slowly recuperating but he refused to say a word, so the parents decided to leave the palace, before the situation got even more unsustainable. They left Paradise for good. After that day the family would never return.

On the ship back home the boy was slowly starting to feel safe again. He was all wrapped in a blanket, sitting on the deck, next to his mother. He wouldn't leave her side since the incident. Azzy laid his head on his mother's chest. "I'll never do it again," he finally spoke. "I'm never using this cursed power ever again." Azzy promised his mother and himself. He closed his eyes, looking for some peace within.

-.-

- Year 859 - Mitras, In the Palace's Royal Quarters:

Eren was very distraught by this dreadful day. He walked into the dark room, feeling the presence of something else there.

"I know you are here. Show yourself!" Eren demanded, but he had no answer. "It must have been very difficult to come back here, to this day-"

"It was." The voice finally replied to him. "This point in time is too convoluted, but I had to speak to you."

"Is that why you can't show yourself?" Eren asked to the wind. He kept looking around the dark room, to every corner, trying to find the devil.

There was no answer. "Talk to me! Isn't that why you are here?" Eren shouted. "Did you come to gloat about what you have done?" he asked defiantly. "You took her from me! I should have known. I should have seen it." Eren held his head with much regret. "Is that your punishment?" He asked.

"What happened wasn't a punishment. It was a mistake. Unfortunately, it is a mistake that can't be undone," the voice finally replied. "I came here to withdraw my old promise to you and make you a new one," Azymondeus explained.

Eren was curious. "What is your new promise?" the father asked.

"I will protect her. Wherever she goes, I will look after her," he promised. Eren could hear his voice more clearly now, he noticed how Az sounded much older than he could recognise. The voice continued: "And you know where she is going. You are the only one who truly knows her fate."

"Why? Why would you do this? Because you feel guilty about what you have done?" The father questioned him.

"Because I love her." He heard the voice finally declare in a lower tone, the sound waves echoed away with the wind.

Eren leaned over. He saw it over the dresser, written in sand: "I'll bring her home to you this time."

The wind slowly cleared away the words, slowly moving up the sand, so that only the word "time" remained. Eren angrily cleared the dust away completely, his heart was shattered into a million pieces, and there was nothing that could be done about it. He felt powerless.

-.-

- Year 867 - Hizuru - The Azumabito House

Sunny came to open the door, she noticed Onyankopon was quite nervous. He had his hat on his hand and was excessively turning it like a wheel. "Where's your mother? Is she through here?" he pointed at the direction of the drawing room.

"Yes, she's receiving Kiyomi," the young girl explained, it was customary for the older Lady to visit. "I didn't know you were coming today as well," she commented. Onyankopon seemed to not look at her, avoiding her eyes. He looked through the door and the corridor, nervously. "Can you go fetch your brother?" he told the girl.

"Why?" Sunny asked.

"I need to talk to your mother and you both," Onyankopon explained. The girl nodded and went into the house. The man paused and took a deep breath, cleaning the sweat of his face with a handkerchief. He put it back in his pocket and entered the room.

"Onyan! We weren't expecting you today," Mikasa said cheerfully when she sighted him.

"You are not looking very well," Kiyomi commented. "Did something happen?" she asked.

"I- I should wait for the children to get here first," he replied nervously, holding his hat.

"Well, I don't have any children, so he must be talking to you," Kiyomi joked to Mikasa.

Mikasa seemed a little clueless. She couldn't imagine what was it that her friend was so upset about.

The two teenagers joined them in the room, Onyankopon finally decided to disclose the critical information he had been sent there to divulge. He held his hat very tightly: "Mr. Arlert never arrived in Marley for- for the meeting he was supposed to attend-"

"What does that mean?" Kiyomi interrupted.

"What are you saying? I was a little worried when he didn't call but Armin always forgets to call," Mikasa said smiling.

"The contact with his plane was lost in the middle of the journey, approximately two hours after departure." Onyankopon divulged. That changed the semblance of Mikasa's face, she became more introspective.

"Where is that?" Azzy asked.

"In the middle of the ocean," Onyankopon replied, he sighed and continued: "With no land in sight is impossible to know where the plane ended up-"

"And what does that mean?" Sunny asked, interrupting the man. She was clever enough to understand where this was going, but she was hoping to be wrong.

He continued: "It could have been a simple malfunction, we started looking into it as soon as we were informed, but the fact that Armin never reached his destination, and - and, the coordinates suggest a very dangerous environment-"

"Are you saying the plane crashed?" Mikasa asked bluntly, she didn't like Onyan going around in circles.

"That is more likely, yes." he replied solemnly. "But not crash, exactly. It's probable something happened for the plane to lose altitude and drop. It probably plummeted into the ocean."

"Probably- probably. You keep saying that. You can't just come here and talk like that! If you don't know what happened in the first place! You shouldn't come here and upset everyone just out of hunches, it hasn't been enough time for any of this to have been investigated thoroughly. What do you want to upset my mother and my sister for?" Azzy told him very angrily.

"I'm sorry young Azymondeus, but we have investigated enough, I wouldn't come here if I wasn't sure," Onyankopon told the truth, the engineers had spent the rest of the morning and the entire afternoon trying to figure out what had happened with their dear friend.

"We understand." Kiyomi replied and held Mikasa's hand, for comfort. Mikasa was motionless, in complete shock.

"And I wanted to get here as soon as I could, to be the one to tell you. Before this family found this out in some other way," he added.

"That was very kind. The newspapers will soon be all over it!" Kiyomi commented. "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

Onyan looked to the side, he wasn't sure if divulging this would be a good thing or not. He took a deep breath. "After much investigation, we concluded an explosion must've been caused by a malfunction, that is the best explanation."

"An explosion?" Sunny asked with much sadness.

"That doesn't make any sense. Dad never flew without thoroughly checking every single thing. There's no way the Eagle would malfunction for no reason." Azzy pointed out, still sounding quite angry.

"That's a good point," Kiyomi said. "Sabotage?" She questioned, then whispered to Onyan: "Are we dealing with a terrorist attack here?"

"No need to whisper, you are being obvious enough," Mikasa admonished her, finally breaking her silence.

"We don't know." Onyan replied. "There isn't much that we can know yet."

Sunny was completely heartbroken. "Mom!" she reached for Mikasa to hold her. But her mother ignored her. Mikasa was trapped inside her own head. She stood up and left the room. Kiyomi held the young girl instead and Sunny cried incessantly in her shoulder.

Azymondeus watched his mother going up the stairs, he could see how deep in sorrow Mikasa was. And he was very angry about it all. "This was never supposed to happen," he thought to himself.

-.-

Later the next evening, in the Balcony.

Azymondeus was very reflective and very upset about this situation, it didn't make sense to him. He felt powerless.

"You can't just disappear like that," Sunny came in admonishing him. She felt abandoned. All of their father's military friends had arrived and were downstairs, together with the family, arranging things for the funeral.

"Actually I can." Azzy hissed back, crossing his arms. "And I'm not going to some stupid memorial."

"Please don't do this," she pleaded to her brother.

"What's the point? You all give up too easily. There's no point in having a funeral with no body to bury," Azzy pointed out.

"Do you want to go out there?! To the middle of the ocean to look for him?!" Sunny shouted back at him. "We can't do that!" She exclaimed.

"I can." Az replied in a very dry manner. "And I can do more than that." he added.

Sunny looked at him confused. She had no idea what he meant by that.

"I won't just sit by and let things stay as they are." Azzy said defiantly.

"What do you mean by that?" his sister asked him, very confused.

"I'm bringing him home," Azymondeus replied.

Sunny watched as her brother quickly built up the energy inside him and disappeared in a flash of blue light. For someone who hadn't used that ability in several years, it sure was fast how the boy quickly tapped back into his powers. Like pure instinct.

Azymondeus had made a small space jump, up to the roof. He stood there in the night, looking at the stars and the moon. Calculating. Sonnenblume watched as her brother ran across the roof and jumped out with much impulse. He had built enough energy, and his entire body was burning a bright blue light. He disappeared again, in the middle of the air. That bright light blinded the entire house and surrounding areas for a couple of seconds. Sunny stared at the moon and cried. Her brother was gone.

The boy had broken his own promise. For the first time in so long, he had jumped back in time. All Az wanted was to bring his father back to life, to bring his father back with him. Unfortunately he didn't know yet, that what he wanted was impossible.

-.-

- Year 741 - Paradise Island's Harbour

[In the middle of the Titan War]

"This place is breathtakingly beautiful, isn't it?" Karl asked his long life friend, who had just arrived on the Island. The 145th King had called upon the holder of Tybur house.

"Yes, it is. Quite a scenery," Armin replied. "But I'm sure you didn't call me here just to admire the view."

"No, I haven't," the King conceded. "I have great plans for this place, after all, it is where our people came from, initially."

"Yes, I've heard. You are offering refuge to our people in the middle of this war. Although many in our family are considering this a cowardly attempt for you to hide yourself away. I want you to know that I believe in you and I will support you in this." The naive Tybur declared to his friend and held him by the shoulder.

"Good. Because that is why I asked you here," Karl conceded.

"What do you have in mind?" Armin asked, curious but with some trepidation.

"I have plans to build a true paradise. Away from this dreaded war. For my people to be at peace. I want as many eldians inside this island as possible, so I can protect them." the King proclaimed very solemnly.

"So you want my family's support? So the eldians who follow us will believe in your plan?" Armin asked.

"I do not trust your family." Karl replied. "After this dreaded war I don't trust a single one of the eight families that should be by my side. But I trust you and I believe you will want to help me once you understand what I have in mind."

Armin was curious. "What do you have in mind?" he asked.

Karl smiled at him, an evil smile. "You'll know soon enough," he told him, grabbing his friend by the shoulder. "Let us get to Mitras first, my plan is quite confidential," he joked.

The two friends looked up to the Island again. It was a breathtakingly beautiful sight.

"Here we will build Paradise," Karl said.

End of Chapter Nine: "Paradise"

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