33Chapter Twenty
Crack. Zeke stumbled back, and when he regained his balance, all he could do was stare at the Colossal towering in the midst of leveled trees and fleeing soldiers.
He wasn't even surprised, though he'd have to act it.
I taught you everything -
The children. They were gone.
With a roar, Zeke noticed Sarah's conspicuous absence. So his own mother was done with him now, was she? Fine. He'd made it this far due to his parents' cruelty. He'd make it further. He had to.
"Sir, what now?" called a soldier made of more limbs than heart.
Zeke shrugged as a wicked smile spread across his lips. "This."
In a burst of energy, the Ape Titan emerged once more.
And then Zeke was punching through his own roof, through the home he'd made with Saskia, and hurling the gas canisters straight against Bertolt.
The canisters exploded against the Colossal's skin. The titan howled in response.
So you would still use me to transform the soldiers? Bertolt wanted to cry. He could never escape, could he?
Baring his teeth, the Ape watched as soldiers fell down, some gagging, some seizing, some remaining composed as corpses and others fleeing futilely.
"You murderer!"
"He trapped us!"
If only. Bertolt felt salt trickle down his cheeks. It wasn't fair. Whoever these soldiers were, they hadn't chosen their fate, either, had they?
The village exploded into bright light. The few who remained conscious howled as they became a fleshy swarm of gluttonous barbarians.
He knew what Zeke would choose next even before the Ape pointed at him, before the tiny newborn titans clamored over him, around him, devouring his feet and legs, climbing to his knees.
He also knew what he would choose next.
As Zeke watched in confusion, the Colossal collapsed, its ankles completely severed. And its eyes never left his gaze.
"We're in deep, deep shit," Hange gasped, slicing off a titan's hand. She didn't know how much longer she could last without needing to kill.
Saskia already had. She stood shaking by the steaming corpse of a titan who'd devoured one of the people she'd just saved.
She wanted to give up and die, torture herself until she died, but not now. Erwin wouldn't give up. Neither would Annie or Mikasa or Levi, or Hange.
But when a titan grabbed her by her hair, she still hesitated.
"Saskia!" cried Hange.
Decide, you idiot. Saskia almost laughed that she had ever been unemotional. She raised her blade and leapt away - into the steaming foot of a colossal army.
"Annie!"
"She's a little distracted," hollered Mikasa, gesturing at the five titan shifters running through the trees.
"Come on, everyone, let's grab the serum!" Hange soared back to the cases she'd stashed in the branches above. Levi, don't make me need to save you.
Connie shrieked as two titans grabbed him - one his arms, another his legs, yanking in opposite directions.
"Connie!" Historia dove for him, but a titan's hand thrust her backwards. Oh...
Her skull cracked against a tree branch, which tumbled to the ground along with her suddenly useless body. Connie...
A blurry titan leered at her.
"Ymir," she whimpered, gripping her sword. She wouldn't give up, not even now, until the end. But I'm the queen...
An enormous leg sent the titan flying away from her.
"Mikasa!" Historia shrieked. "You came!"
"Get off the ground!" Mikasa swooped down and grabbed Historia. "How bad are you?"
"I'm fine."
"You're not, and lying doesn't help us. Stay in the trees or I'll - I'll eat you myself!" Mikasa tossed Historia into the branches - albeit gentler than the titan had - and dove down to administer serum to a headless titan.
"Connie!" Historia made for Mikasa and tugged at the serum bag. "They had him!"
Mikasa's heart skipped. No.
"Careful or you'll drop it!" She shoved a syringe at Historia. "Find him."
She couldn't - not, not another friend - he had to be alive. And this she couldn't see.
Where is he; where is he? Historia zigzagged through a maze of titans to where she'd last seen Connie. "Connie!"
"He's here!" called Saskia, brandishing a needle down on the ground. "They dislocated his limbs, but he should be all right. I think we can spare some serum for him."
"I just grew a bit more," Connie joked with a wince.
Historia stared at her pointless needle. "I guess I should inject others."
"No. Give it to me, and get this one to the trees so we're not trampled." Saskia grabbed the black bag and took off, leaving Historia with little choice. Which, given that she was now seeing double, safety was probably a good decision.
Steam soared towards the horizon, but Bertolt's titan was nowhere to be seen. Reiner's anxiety spiraled. What was he doing, wasting time by keeping titans from eating these soldiers while his best friend might be dying?
"Eren!" Erwin burst into Saskia's sight, and she nearly cried with relief. But now was not the time for tears.
"He's given orders not to kill the titans if possible," Mikasa hollered from Eren's shoulder. A titian leapt at him, and before Eren could even turn around to fight, she had lopped off its feet.
"We need to find Zackley. And Zeke," growled Levi, who insisted on staying by Erwin's side, and right now, Erwin saw little reason to forbid him. "Before they run."
A titan dove for him, but Annie's crystal fist sent it spinning away.
Levi looked up at the Female Titan as Saskia soared over to heal it. "I never thought I'd say this, but remind me to thank you."
Erwin couldn't help but grin at the irony - and, if he were perfectly honest, pride in Saskia's calm, battle-ready actions.
"Stop!" A young child's voice rang in Erwin's ears.
He spun around to see a Colossal reaching for the Cargo Titan and at least twenty children clinging to its back.
The Armored Titan dove in front of them, his eyes taking in his siblings and the rest of the children from the village. But where is Bertolt?
Eren's titan waved the colossals away.
"Sarah!" Saskia grabbed the titan by its face, ignoring the searing heat. "What is going on? Did Zeke turn all the villagers into titans?"
"Yes," Ingrid snapped.
"All the villagers are gone," the titan said in a low voice. "But they aren't the problem."
"Then what is?" Erwin demanded.
"Hundreds of soldiers," said a towheaded boy.
"What soldiers?" Saskia eyed him.
"They're called Marleyans, not that that means anything to you," Sarah said. "But it will, if we live."
"It means more than you know," Erwin said grimly.
Sarah's eyes flickered. So Ymir had come clean? Could even the most corrupt change? Could Zeke?
"Sarah, get the children over to Historia Reiss - the tiny blonde girl in the forest trees. She can look after them," Saskia said. She had a feeling she knew where Erwin's plan was headed, and Sarah might need to stay away.
The titan's eyes went dull. "Of course."
"But we can help," protested Ingrid.
"Not a chance, brat," Levi snapped. Behind him, the Armored Titan grunted in agreement.
She glowered in response, but remained seated, much to Reiner's relief.
"Levi," Erwin said, staring into the thickening steam.
"Yes?"
"Hange will lead your squad to find Zackley. You, Eren, and I are going to find Zeke Jaeger."
Saskia glared at him. "Sorry, but I'll be joining you."
Erwin hesitated, a move uncharacteristic. But this was Saskia, Levi knew.
"It may not be best."
"I say it will. I know him better than any of you." Saskia stared hard into his eyes. "Don't try to protect me."
"Then it is your choice," Erwin said quietly. He wanted to protect her - she shouldn't have to see Levi slaughter her former husband - but he wouldn't stop her if she felt compelled to.
"Thank you."
The Armored Titan tapped its foot.
"I think Reiner might join us, too."
"That's what I hoped."
"Not that we've ever been able to stop him, anyways," muttered Levi.
"Marley again?" Ymir emerged from a steaming titan corpse to take up position besides Historia, who was comforting a child who'd just emerged from a titan's body.
"You're not stopping Zackley?"
Ymir watched the battlefield, watched the mule titan slip away in the chaos. "I don't have the heart to end it. I could, and maybe I should. But I don't want to. If that makes sense."
"You started it. I understand," Historia said.
"Besides." Ymir indicated the many panicked titan rescues, whether Marleyan soldiers or Eldian victims. "I think I may be of some use helping them."
Historia bit back a smile, and from a few feet away, Connie dissolved into laughter. "You are a bleeding heart after all, Ymir!"
"Are we crazy?" Flocke squinted through the smoggy battlefield. "I don't see anyone other titans, besides the colossals... Hitch?"
Hitch took a step away from him, into the vapor.
"Hitch?!"
"Look!" She turned to hiss at him, and just then, a broken hand grappled for her.
"Look out!" Keith Shadis knocked her out of its path.
He screamed as the horned titan dug its claws straight through his heart.
And then the scream stopped, and Hitch would have given anything to hear it continue.
"Commander!" Rico jumped in front of the 104th graduates. She wasn't surprised that the horned titan would be found among flat land unfit for 3DMG, but she was surprised how terrifying she found it.
And how far removed they were from Squad-Levi-Led-By-Hange.
Reiner had no plans to fight Zeke. He would, however, find Bertolt - or what remained of him - if this was the last thing he did.
The Female Titan sped beyond him.
What?
But Annie was faster then Reiner, and she too had no plans to let Bertolt die.
Mikasa was not pleased to be separated from Eren. The last time she had, she'd nearly died. Suppose one of them did die this time?
"Armin?" She blinked at a shadowy figure emerging from a titan.
"I'm more use planning, and I can't do that in titan form," Armin wheezed with exhaustion. "He's got Shadis, to the left! Your flare -"
"Got it." Mikasa fired a black flare and grabbed Armin. "Is anyone else near?"
"Unfortunately, yes." Hange materialized besides her. "Looked like Hitch and Flocke and Rico are all in his sights."
"Fuck." Jean caught his breath.
"Armin, ideas?" Hange barked.
Armin paused. "Um..."
"Now, Armin!" Sasha cried.
"He'll expect Mikasa to kill him, so we need to use her to distract him." Armin paused.
"Great. We'll distract, while Jean kills him."
"Me?" Jean swallowed. I have to.
"You. Mikasa will pretend to sneak up behind him from one side, and you take the other," Armin said.
"Two sneak attacks. I like it," murmured Hange.
Erwin couldn't believe what he was seeing. A colossal-sized army of regular titans devouring the kneeling Colossal, and an Ape Titan laughing at the Colossal army Eren brought with them.
The Armored Titan roared. Bertl, we're here!
But no - A titan latched on to Reiner's leg. Fuck!
Levi's blades sent the titan's head flying. "Go get your friend."
"You're here at last," snarled the horned titan.
"You talk a lot for someone whose mighty form resembles a goat," Sasha called.
Hitch giggled, giddy with terror. She'd been fine 'til now - but now they were too close to freedom.
Rico glanced at Hange, who slyly nodded back. When Darius struck out at her again, she simply flew back instead of launching another counterattack.
"Ooh, planning something, weakling?" Darius taunted Armin as Mikasa whirred towards his neck.
"How are you, Eren?" sneered Zeke.
Eren's titan stopped. The Ape Titan's broken rage seemed almost ... childlike, and eerily familiar.
Do you have any idea what you've done?
They weren't people! They were animals who just happened to look human!
Except now his brother, his brother looked like an animal, but he was human, and Eren still didn't know how.
The Horned Titan spun around and for a moment, Armin thought Darius really had bit off Mikasa's leg. But she was safe, albeit barely, and he could breath again.
And as she spun for his eyes, Jean was next to his neck.
Bertl, please be alive. Reienr shoved titans out of his way, ignoring their attempts to devour his hard skin, ignoring the chance that he could crush them. All that mattered was Bertolt.
Annie howled to draw more titans towards her, but many remained distracted by the colossal in front of them.
Reiner grappled with Bertolt's head, which had nearly been chewed off. His neck - two more titans were shredding it. Please be intact.
And then he was screaming.
I can't kill - you have to - this is awful - you have to!
Marco, help me.
"Zeke, stop, please. You can make it out of this - if you just listen," begged Saskia.
"You hate me!" the titan screamed.
"I hate what you did!" she screamed back. "And maybe you; I don't know! But I know I don't want you to die!"
"Everyone has lied from the start! Why would I want to live? Ha, ha, ha!" The titan doubled over. "Don't you dare tell me you're not waiting for me to die so you can move on with him!"
Erwin ground his teeth.
"I'm sorry," Saskia admitted. Not sorry enough to take it back, but sorry he'd been hurt.
The titan howled in laughter.
"Zeke!" Eren Jaeger emerged from his titan. "You're my brother. You tried to save me once, remember? At Shiganshina."
"I needed your coordinate," the titan replied, baring his teeth.
"Zeke, you're human. So am I. Let's face each other in human form." Eren fought tears.
"You, the favored son of Grisha Jaeger, think you can appeal to my humanity? Ha!" Zeke swept out a hand - and felt a familiar sensation on his neck.
No - he'd lost sight of Levi again –
With a scream, Jean plunged his blades into the Horned Titan's neck as deep as he ever had.
And the titan screamed back, screamed enough that the remaining Colossals swarmed for it, and Eren wasn't there to stop them.
"Get away!" Mikasa snatched Jean off Darius' neck and pulled him back to safety.
Armin watched the horrible, 50 foot colossals feeding on a dead titan. "Is it...is it over?"
But he wasn't going down this time. Zeke spun around and kicked Levi square in the jaw.
"Bastard!" Levi's eyes burned with the blood of a hundred thousand. Of Mike, of Nanaba and Petra and Gunther and Oluo and Eld. Of Carla Jaeger.
Eren darted forward as the two struggling men hit the earth, one still half attached to his titan's neck. "Zeke, please, remember your humanity! I've killed people, too, I know how it is!"
Zeke's eyes focused on him. He felt so out of control, so lost. "You can't."
"Stay back!" Erwin yelled, just as Saskia shrieked.
Eren lifted his head to see the Colossal Titan's knees separate from its body, and its colossal form fell straight for the three men.
Both Eren and Levi found themselves shoved out of its path by two enormous, hairy hands -
The colossal form vanished, but not before Eren saw a deformed Ape Titan crushed beneath it.
Bertolt's bloody form, as limbless as he had been in Shiganshina, rolled away.
Saskia saw his eyes move, and that was enough for her. She rushed forward to the Ape Titan - and the equally mutilated body that had been squashed out of its neck.
"Zeke?!" She couldn't help herself. She had to shake him, to make certain.
His eyes cracked open. He looked too weak to heal at the rate his body needed.
She still cared. A little. He half-smiled, through cracked teeth that weren't regenerating.
"Zeke. Why would you do that?" Eren was crying. "You're a good person, after all."
"No..." Zeke scoffed. He didn't even know why he had. Instinct. Suicide. A plea for redemption, redemption in any form besides the horror he had lived.
"Just a regular person, then," said Saskia, grabbing his hand. She hoped Erwin would understand; she didn't love him, but no one should die alone.
Eren grabbed Zeke's other hand as the brother he never really knew lost his struggle to breath again.
And next to Erwin's side, Saskia noticed a weeping Sarah.
"Jean?" Armin watched his friend dry heave over and over again. They were supposed to use the serum to heal the colossal now, heal people from a century ago, but Jean was beside himself.
"I can't believe – I can't believe I did it. With you, with everyone," Jean gasped. With Marco. He laughed. "Do you know, if it weren't for Marco, I wouldn't even be here?"
"Nah, you would've turned decent and come back like me anyways," Hitch said.
"I don't know. Maybe you always had a decent person in you…I don't think I did."
"Or maybe you needed him to bring your decent side out." Hitch thought of Marlowe. Would she have been different without him? Undoubtedly. Happier, maybe, but she would never surrender the pain to have known him.
Armin grinned to himself. He was going to enjoy the time for existential crises now.
"Bertolt! Bertolt!" Reiner shoved Annie aside and grabbed his limbless friend.
"Hey," croaked Bertl, only half-conscious.
He was met with Reiner's lips on his, despite the blood.
"Bertl, you're alive." Reiner choked back a sob, leaning his head on Bertolt's chest.
"I didn't expect to be."
"You had to be. I needed you." Reiner wiped the blood from Bertl's face. "You're my best friend, and I love you."
Bertolt gasped. He still felt weak and helpless, a silly fucking torso, but ... Reiner loved him. "What do you mean by love?"
"Like I kissed you right now." Reiner looked at the ground. "And I never told you, and I should have; I really should have."
"You're telling me now, right?" Bertolt's heart pounded. "Don't stop."
"Stop loving you? Supporting you? Never. If you'll - you'll have a dual personality who forgets who he is."
"Forever." Bertolt had always wanted to tell someone that. And now he got to tell the best person of all.
"Armin? What is it?" Mikasa hoped he wasn't afraid of heights. Armin really had no room for error 50 feet up. They'd have to get off the titan before it collapsed to yield the human within, but he was frozen now. He hadn't even injected yet.
"Look." Armin's mouth was open, and he pointed over the trees and hills.
There, in the very horizon, something blue sparkled, something very unlike the land she knew.
"The ocean." In that moment, Mikasa felt certain the ocean had always been her calling, too.
"So you're...you're like my stepmother?" Eren wasn't sure how to take Sarah's expression.
"Almost." Sarah hung her head. "There's a lot you don't know. But now...you're my the only piece to my family left."
"Then - then my girlfriend would love you. She was almost like family, too - she lived with us for a year before Shiganshina fell..." Eren paused. "Uh, it's not as strange as it sounds."
"I can tell you about Grisha," offered Sarah, desperate for any child to love her now. She had just lost him, and he needed to be lost - but by God, it hurt.
She'd ruined her son, she and Grisha had, long before he'd become the Beast Titan. Did she deserve any warmth.
Eren smiled at her with his warm, guileless eyes. His mothers? "I'd like that."
"Wait." He paused. "Saskia…if you're like my sister…"
"I don't think I am, anymore," Saskia said, swallowing hard.
"You're still a daughter-in-law to me," Sarah whispered. She'd lost everything today. Why not fight to keep the rest?
"Mom…and Dad…" Vera bit her lip.
"We haven't found them yet," Reiner said. His voice cracked. Some of the titans he'd killed to save Bertolt – some of them might have been his parents.
"We can't give up!" insisted Ingrid.
"We have to be realistic," Armand responded.
Reiner sniffed. His siblings shuldn't be orphans. It was all his fault –
"Reiner." Bertolt struggled to put a half-formed arm around his friend – his lover. "Perhaps…we should take them. With us."
Reiner's mouth opened. "Well…we might still be damned…"
"Pah!" Ymir loped into the conversation. "Historia will pardon all of you."
"We don't deserve it," Bertolt said.
But still…he dared to hope.
Gretchen, you're gone too - I'm sorry.
He wanted to live, he realized. For her. For Marcel. For everyone he'd killed. He just wasn't sure he should.
"Yes, you do." Ymir rolled her eyes. "You're human."
Reiner snorted.
"Speaking of parents…" Bertolt nodded at Annie, who was busy crying into Saskia's shirt. Their father, like Reiner's parents, would never come back.
And how many had he taken?
If he had the chance to make sure Reiner's siblings grew up with two guardians, he had better take it. And maybe, somehow they could learn why others would forgive them.
The ocean...Zeke...a stepmother...The titans were over...
And the ocean was blue and real, and dreams were reality, dreams were real, real, real.
Eren slumped to his knees, crying into Armin's legs.
"Eren!" Mikasa ran over to him. "Are you okay?"
"I – I – I think he's just overwhelmed," Armin offered, to which Eren nodded. "I just showed him the ocean!"
"It's beautiful outside the walls!" Eren wailed.
"Hey."
Eren looked up to see Levi glowering down at him.
"Hi Captain," he said weakly, wiping away his tears.
Levi scuffed his boots against the dewy grass that sparked in the sunlight. "You did good, brat."
"T - thank you," stammered Eren.
"That doesn't mean I'll forge the rumors I've heard." Levi was far more comfortable now that he held Eren up by his hair. "You might have saved humanity, but if you hurt my cousin, I'll slice you up like the titan you can be."
Eren's face was bright pink. "It wasn't like - I won't, I promise!"
Levi dropped Eren and jabbed a finger in his face. "You treasure her, hear me?"
"Aw, does Levi have a soft spot," Hange teased from behind him.
Eren breathed a sigh of relief as Hange interrupted Levi's sneer with her own kiss.
"Aw yeah, Cap's getting luckyyyyyy," teased Hitch.
"Ignore them," muttered Hange, digging her mouth into his. And he would never not listen to her again.
"Does it feel real?" Saskia traced the rings on the stump of a fallen tree. They were back in Wall Rose, spending the night in Trost before searching for more titans tomorrow.
This stump…this tree…it'd been there longer than the walls. Before this hell.
There was a life before hell, and in a strange sense, that assured her of life afterwards. Even as they retreated one last time to Wall Rose, past Maria That Was, where they could heal the former titans, where they could tell Pixis and Nile the outcome. Their retreat this time was a retreat in triumph.
"No. I don't think it ever will." Erwin sat beside her. How could he say he fully expected to fight titans and lose his friends before his eyes, over and over again, every night he slept?
"We'll never be the same. It sucks. But in some ways that's also good."
They were supposed to be searching for any more titans, but everyone knew they were rejoicing in one night free outside the walls, one night safe.
"What are you feeling?"
Saskia glanced at him. "You're bold." She dropped her head. "The truth is, a myriad of emotions. Relief. Ecstasy. Sorrow. Misery. Shame. Hope. And mostly like the memory of him – of him screaming at the end – and the knowledge that maybe he finally, finally understood what it means to be human – that's something I can't ever forget. I'd be afraid to forget it, frankly. Does that bother you?"
"No." Erwin took her hand. "You can talk to me about anything you feel or think, Saskia."
With Zeke, she could only mention thoughts, and then only some. With him, with Erwin, there was freedom. Saskia nodded. "And I offer the same to you."
But feelings were so complicated. Right now she was craving his love and comfort, yet haunted by guilt.
Saskia shivered, and Erwin drew her closer. He didn't need to say anything. But she did.
"Remember your suggestion last night? Or, perhaps it was mine…"
Erwin glanced around the secluded woods. "Are you sure? You're free to do whatever you like, or to not do it."
"I'm sure." She dug her lips into his and playfully pushed him to the earth.
Erwin chuckled. "Suppose someone sees?"
"Mmm, they already think I'm a slut anyway."
His eyes widened as he leapt to his feet. "Saskia, no. Don't ever call yourself that again. Please. You're not."
"You're too kind." She embraced him. Maybe he was right. It would take time to heal enough to tell.
Under the cover of twilight, they crept back to his apartment.
"I feel like a trainee stealing pudding again," Erwin said with a grin as the door closed behind them.
"Oh, did you?"
"It was Mike's idea. But Nile and I were more than willing to help. As I recall, I was the most successful."
He was still uncomfortable talking about even small accomplishments like that. Would they ever heal?
Maybe. Maybe not. But they could help each other.
"That sounds amusing." Saskia wrapped her arms around his waist and lowered him onto his bed.
His heart pounded. "I haven't…I haven't done this in a long while."
"We'll go slow," Saskia suggested, smiling down at him, tracing his chest. "If you still want…?"
He nodded. "I do."
She moved his hand to her shirt and heat exploded inside him. "How's this?"
She helped him unfasten her buttons and toss the fabric to the side. His fingers caressed her pearl breasts, down her navel, to her skirt.
She giggled as they fumbled for the clasp around the garment. "Finally."
She was so beautiful naked he nearly gasped. His eyes roamed over her, taking in the swell of her breasts and large thighs, the parts he was honored to see.
Saskia blushed, and desire burned within him. He liked this blushing, emotional woman.
"Okay, commander." She lay down upon him, a teasing smile on her lips. "Now it's your turn."
Erwin trembled. For someone who had just commanded a battle, he felt oddly terrified. Suppose she thought him grotesque?
"You're beautiful," she breathed, running a finger along his eyebrows, her other hand on his hips. "I love you."
"And I love you."
She looked at him, deep into his eyes, and all she wanted was Erwin Smith – body, mind, and soul.
He sat up, Saskia wrapped around him, and helped her remove his shirt. Her eyes glowed at the sight of his bare chest, and she smiled into his eyes.
He grinned and rolled over, pinning her beneath him.
Saskia squeaked. "Oh, I see, Commander." With a smirk, she bewitched him with a kiss before rolling him back over. "Ooh!"
They had nearly fallen off the bed.
Erwin chuckled. Finally, he felt ready. He guided her hands to remove his pants.
Their kisses intensified more and more; their hands roamed free, exploring each other.
As their bodies merged throughout the night and he craned his neck to press his lips against hers, she knew he felt the same way about her. Freedom, for her, wasn't an absence of walls; it was Erwin.
Erwin panted as Saskia wiped sweat from his brow. "Saskia…"
She wrapped her arms tight around him, happiness and hormones racing through her body.
"Are you tired?" He watched her eyes flicker closed.
"Yes. And very content."
"So am I. I just … you should know that sometimes … I have nightmares." Erwin stared ahead.
"You should, for what you've been though. All of us should." Saskia's eyes misted over. "But we'll wake up safe and I'll be here for you, and you for me, and you can wake me anytime."
"I know." Erwin laid his head upon her breast and closed his eyes, for once unafraid of sleep.
Epilogue
Two Years After the Reclamation
"Sometimes I still can't believe this," Erwin said, marveling at the three infants Saskia was somehow managing on their bed.
She smiled up at him. "I know; they're actually sleeping. All at one."
"I was thinking more that…they're beautiful." Erwin slipped Sophia out of his wife's arms and settled next to her.
Noah, named after Erwin's father, had quickly been dubbed the "Eren" of the triplets. He stirred but didn't cry for once, to Erwin's relief.
Erwin didn't even have to worry about his brother, Mike, the one who could sleep through any tantrums his brother or sister had.
"Levi and Hange are visiting today. Before we head back to Mitras."
"I wonder how they'll cope with Mitras." Erwin nodded at the triplets.
"Probably about as well as Levi's coping with his impending parenthood."
Erwin chuckled and leaned over to kiss her.
A few hours and a mandatory cup of tea later, the four friends – and three children – were in a modest carriage on their way to their final stop before Mitras.
Saskia looked outside and smiled with anticipation at the storm clouds swirling ahead. The babies might hate thunder, but she relished the excitement.
Not that they'd had much a chance to rest from excitement. Not that they'd had much a chance to rest from excitement. The Marleyan government had returned all Eldian prisoners in exchange for the elimination of all titans in Walls Rose and Sina – though they didn't realize elimination meant healing, and Erwin had made no effort to inform them.
Still, further negotiations with the Marleyans carried enough tension to smother a person, especially with Queen Ymir's widely circulated identity.
Now that all the Eldians had regrouped on Paradi, negotiations with the Marleyan government were carried enough tension to smother a person.
But at least there were negotiations. Slow, sure, and imperfect, but the world was so vast. How could Saskia not feel hope?
Hange groaned.
"Please don't upchuck," Levi said nervously, gripping her hand.
Erwin laughed. "Helpful, Levi."
"I'm trying!"
"I think he's more nervous than I," Hange said with a weak grin.
Hange leapt out as soon as they'd reached their destination, gulping in the salty breeze. Levi was right behind her.
Saskia rolled her eyes at Erwin, who helped carry Mike and Noah out.
"Oh my Walls they're here!" Sasha dove at them like an excited puppy. "Connie, look! Can I hold one?"
"Please don't get any ideas," Connie said quickly, heat rising to his face.
Sasha giggled. "Jean, come see."
"I'm fine over here," said Jean.
Erwin approached him. "Thank you."
"Yeah, I haven't ruined the Survey Corps yet since you took leave." Jean shrugged. "Well, now we're actually surveying, so the danger's practically unreal."
"Give yourself credit," Erwin said seriously. "You're a natural leader."
"It's hard," Jean admitted.
"I know." Erwin dared to show the pain of his decisions for one split second, deep in his eyes.
Jean squirmed.
"Look." Hitch, now Nile's second in command, laughed and held out Noah. "Isn't it cute?"
"Babies," he said simply. "So?"
"Jean, you're still pretending to be a bastard!" Hitch stomped on his toes.
"Ow!"
"These are our Military Officers," Erwin mumbled.
Saskia smirked as she reached for a crying Noah. "Remind me who the children are?"
"We deserve it," Hitch tossed back.
"You do."
"Shall we?" Saskia nodded to the ocean ahead.
Waves rumbled along with the distant thunder. Reiner and Bertolt smiled at them just as Queen Ymir's recognizable voice bellowed across the beach.
"All rise for Queen Historia Reiss!"
Everyone rose, smiling as their kindhearted queen made her way through the crowd. The Doks with their new son – named after Erwin, which terrified him – Commander-in-Chief Dot Pixis and Garrison Commander Rico Brzenska; Squad Levi, Flocke and the entire Survey Corps; all of Historia and Ymir's orphans; Margot Sturm and even Flegel Reeves.
"Today we come to honor the birth of Carla Jaeger," Historia began solemnly. "In traditions from the East Sea Clan."
She held out her arms, and Mikasa and Eren held out their newborn. Behind them, Sarah's face shone bright as stars.
Historia took the tiny girl and saw herself reflected in her innocent eyes. Armin and Annie had provided the seawater, real seawater, to dip Carla in.
To Historia's relief, Carla only let out a slight mew at the water.
Historia rose and uttered the strange language of the Sea Clan. "As strong as the sea."
"As strong as the sea," the guests repeated back.
Mikasa smiled at her and reached back for her daughter.
"So? How is are you really doing?" Mikasa settled next to Saskia after the ceremony.
Saskia looked into her friend's eyes and let her mask slip. "The children help."
"It's going to take all our lives, isn't it?"
"Let me guess. He wakes up screaming about killing them all," Annie said tiredly. Like she woke screaming for Dad. He always vanished before she embraced him back. Those were the nights Armin awoke to Annie practically smothering him with cuddles.
"And then he hides from Carla." Mikasa sighed.
"May I hold her?" Armin's eyes sparkled as she handed Carla o him.
"Don't get too many ideas," Annie muttered, watching Armin bounce he baby on his lap.
"Excuse me?" Saskia eyed Armin.
"I'm just saying she's cute is all!" he said with a blush.
"We're all scarred, aren't we?" Saskia smiled sadly, watching a laughing. Eren and Jean approach them. At least, if nothing else, war had made enemies friends.
"Hey, Saskia, are you all babied-out, or do you want to hold Carla?" Eren smirked. "Since I mean she's like your niece in law. Sort of."
"That's still wierd for both of us," Saskia retorted, grabbing Carla.
"Not for me," Mikasa said. Eren. Carla. Saskia and Erwin. Armin and Annie. Levi and Hange. And all the 104th, really. She had so much family she could hardly contain herself.
Jean squeezed Hitch's hand. Sometimes he pretended to be Marlowe for Hitch and sometimes she was Marco for him, but last night they had been each other, and those nights were the best.
At the water's edge, Reiner and Bertolt were taunting Levi while Erwin tried to keep Hange from turning the triplets into a science experiment.
"But Levi won't let us do anything with whatever brat we have," Hange complained.
He caught Saskia's eyes sparkling at him. All the nights he'd woken up screaming or crying like their children, and she was always there for him. And he was there when she fought him off after mistaking him for Zeke.
He still wasn't quite sure how they would manage three children, or how they would continue adjusting back to civilian life whenever the negotiations with Marley concluded.
But he knew she would be there. She'd given him something to look forward to fro moment he'd accomplished his dream and everything he knew died.
"This world is so cruel," Mikasa whispered in Saskia's ear. "But even more beautiful, don't you think?"
Saskia smiled back at Erwin. "Yes."
o.o So here we are, at the end! Thank you so much for reading (and reviewing). It means a lot to me. I'm considering writing a short sequel about how Saskia and Erwin handle the Marleyan negotiations, Eren's unfolding relationship with Mikasa, his semi-stepmother, and peace, etc. But we'll see. Either way, you're awesome. Have a lovely day!
