"..Eren? Hey, Eren!"

Eren looked back down from the sky, and felt a sharp pain at the back of his neck, sore from looking up for so long.

"Wha..?" He muttered, in a daze, rolling his neck.

After so long, the Survey Corps were finally given a break, be it from fighting Titans or humans. The military finally had peace after Historia was crowned queen, and the people had accepted her quicker than Erwin had expected. Historia's first request as queen was to build an orphanage, and here Team Levi was, taking care of children.

"Have you been listening at all at what we were talking about?" Mikasa asked, slightly scolding him.

"..Eren? You're spacing out." Armin said anxiously. "Are you okay?"

"Is that box too heavy for you? Do you want me to carry it?" Mikasa offered, though she was already carrying two boxes already.

Eren shook his head, moving out of her reach so she wouldn't grab the box he was holding. Mikasa was right, the box was a bit heavy, but he couldn't just give it to her, when she was already holding two times as much as he was. Showing weakness wouldn't help him at all, even if they were on break.

"I'm fine, Mikasa." Eren told her. "But can I ask you two a question?"

"What is it?" Armin asked.

"..D'you know why the sky's blue?" Eren asked, turning his head away from them, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Well, I'm sure a mint green sky would be quite a funny thing to see." Mikasa said bluntly. "But it's not just blue. It's grey when it's cloudy or raining, and it turns shades of blue and red at sunrise and sunset."

"That's not really what I mean. I want to know why it's blue when it's a nice, clear day. Doesn't looking at the sky make you feel happy?" Eren asked, looking back up at the sky, that was now fading from a sky blue to a deeper shade.

"Wow, you've been on break to long, Eren. You're starting to get poetic. Hey, how about asking for Squad Leader for some paper and you can write some heart-wrenching poetry while we're here? You don't want to waste that talent." Jean walked up from behind them with a smile on his long face.

"Shut up, horse-face." Eren said.

"Suicidal bastard." Jean shot back.

"Jean, don't call him that." Mikasa interrupted, as Eren angrily opened his mouth. "Eren, you shouldn't call him that either, that's rude."

"Mikasa! The mature one, as always, How about I hold your boxes for you? Those look pretty heavy." Jean offered, his voice a bit deeper like how it always was whenever he was talking to Mikasa. He was obviously trying to impress her, which made Eren want to roll around on the floor laughing, because it sounded so ridiculous.

"No thanks. You'll need way more muscle to carry even one. What are you holding, clouds?" Mikasa peered into the box the dirty-blond boy was holding. Inside, there was just a few kitchen supplies. "Thought so."

Jean blushed furiously and ran off. "Seriously, he's getting very annoying." Mikasa grumbled.

"Hey Eren." Armin had to walk a bit faster to keep up with Eren and Mikasa's pace. "Why do you want to know why the sky's blue when it's clear?"

"Well..don't you feel happier when you look up at it?" Eren asked, looking back up.

"Yeah, I do." Armin smiled, him and Mikasa looking up too. "It's also the colour of the sea, according to the book."

"So it is. Then we will be able to easily recognize it when we see it." Mikasa murmured, making Eren actually smile when he heard her use the word 'when' instead of 'if.'

The three of them had set down their boxes, gazing up at the sky as it turned from light blue to deeper, darker colours and shades. Nostalgia and excitement kept washing over Eren, thinking of defeating all the titans, and imagining that the sky he was looking up at right now wasn't the sky trapped in the walls, but the endless sea with nothing to cage them in.

"I wish we could always be like this." Eren muttered softly, and Mikasa nodded in agreement, but none of them took their eyes off the sky. It was like they could see the whole world.

When daylight was finally fading, Armin spoke. "I know why the sky's blue. It's from all of our feelings of wanting to escape these walls. Maybe the sky really was a different colour before, like what Mikasa said, but it's determination to get out of here that changed the sky."

"Maybe you should start writing poetry." Eren nudged Armin jokingly, and Armin smiled wider.

"Maybe I should." Armin said. "Maybe I should.."

But what really changes the colour of the sky..

Is the happiness of sharing the same dream and being together with our friends.