Alright-y, super short chapter, I know. BUT it connects a lot of my themes together, so hopefully, it makes sense?

Thank you so very much RachelGarfield12 for your review, I'm sorry I got you in trouble lol. And thank you too AriaNiel, I am so very glad you liked the chapter, despite the hints of a pairing you don't like!

That was my intention, really; as fun as it is to ship all its wonderful characters, SnK is in its essence such a beautiful story that appreciating it should be easy, no matter what ship it has or doesn't have. Not sure if that makes sense, basically, canon SnK has little to do with romantic shipping so I tried to keep it the same way here in my story!

Well. Hope you guys enjoy this one!

Moonlace

Before the Fall...

Aunt Carla had just returned from one of her shopping runs when Mikasa first noticed it. She was helping her put away the purchases, and in one of the shopping parcels, found several sprigs of dried white flowers that brought her up short.

"What is it, dear?" Aunt Carla asked her, wiping her forehead after hefting a heavy sack of flour onto its proper place in the larder.

For some reason, Mikasa couldn't form a coherent sentence. "These flowers…"

"Oh, those!" Aunt Carla laughed. "You don't normally find them in the marketplace. They grow best up in the mountains."

Mikasa couldn't tear her eyes from the flowers, which still smelled amazing. "My mother… my mother used to make a tea, I don't remember what they're called…"

Aunt Carla paused her flurry of activity. "Moonlace tea."

Recognition thundered in her beating heart. "Yes."

Aunt Carla stepped toward her hesitantly, then placed her hand gently on Mikasa's head. "Shall I make some for you?"

How kind of her. Mikasa nodded slowly. "Only if you'll have some."

Aunt Carla laughed merrily. "Of course I will!" She resumed stocking the larder.

Later that evening, as Eren struggled over sums Aunt Carla had set him (Mikasa had finished hers), they set about making the tea.

She washed the flowers by force of habit. "Remove the buds, Mikasa. They make the tea bitter." Aunt Carla told her as she cleaned the kettle.

"Yes, Aunt Carla."

As the tea steeped, Aunt Carla reached over her and added cloves, and small pieces of cinnamon bark. "They add to the flavour," she explained. Mikasa made careful mental notes.

When the tea was finally ready, Aunt Carla carefully poured it into their special patterned teacups instead of the plain ones. When Mikasa looked confused, Aunt Carla just smiled. "It's a special occasion, after all. How long has it been since you had this?"

"I don't remember," Mikasa admitted.

"I see." Aunt Carla paused before handing over the teacup. She looked anxious. "Either way, Mikasa, I'm… I'm not certain this is how your mother made it. I hope you don't mind."

Mikasa only shook her head. "That's alright." It was very heartening to see Aunt Carla try so hard to keep her happy. She hoped she knew she didn't have to try at all.

They took their first sip, Aunt Carla still watching her anxiously over the rim of her teacup. "Well?"

Tears filled her eyes, whether from the steam or from the warmth inside her, she couldn't tell. "It's perfect," Mikasa mumbled.

Aunt Carla beamed at her, the same brilliant smile Eren gave her every now and then. "I'm glad."

They drank the rest of the tea in silence.

When they were clearing up the teacups, Mikasa asked quietly, "Can we do this more often?"

"Of course! You know, it's supposed to be very soothing for the nerves, Moonlace tea." With an airy flip of the dishcloth, she continued, "So I'll definitely need it tomorrow. Uncle Grisha is leaving to the Inner Walls, which means I'll have to deal with Eren all by myself!" She chuckled heartily.

"I'll help," Mikasa smiled.

"I know you will." She ruffled her hair. "Now, shall we see if Eren has finally bested Math or not?"

...and After the Return

Bright white Moonlace spilled from the overturned basket, the blood on the floor seeping into its pristine white petals. Blood continued to pool from the woman's head, and the ominous growling recommenced outside.

The cold settled into Mikasa's bones and her teeth began to chatter. She knew that woman on the floor, she knew her right to the very center of her cold bones-

Boom.

The ground beneath her shuddered and she froze. Those… Those were footsteps.

Boom.

The windowpanes were trembling, the woman's silky hair moved, but there was no wind.

Boom.

The woman sat up.

Mikasa opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out. The woman stretched out her hand -an accusation, and Mikasa scampered backward.

Boom.

Lightning flashed as the earth trembled and the woman's hair was suddenly bright yellow, her big, dead eyes were blue-

Boom. ROAR.

Lightning flashed again and the woman's hair was dark again, but it was longer, slung into a loose ponytail that dripped something, something red-

Boom.

She was wrong, her eyes weren't blue, not blue, not blue, they were green, big and sparkling and green with pain, with anger-

Boom.

The woman opened her mouth and screamed but a roar came out instead and Mikasa saw that it wasn't a woman at all, it was a boy, it was him, and Mikasa wanted to look away but she couldn't, she couldn't blink, she couldn't move, she couldn't even scream…

Blood trickled down his forehead and from his nose and his roaring mouth, pouring heavily over his accusing green eyes-

Lightning flashed and suddenly he was covered in blood, but no, he wasn't covered in it, he was the blood, he had no skin, he was burnt skinless and he had nothing, not a single eyelash, and when he blinked, his eyes again were a deep, reproachful blue-

When she woke up, Mikasa could at first feel only relief.

And yet, tears streaked her cheeks and the cold from the nightmare remained with her.

And yet, she could not shake the pain, the horror, the absolute guilt that the nightmare had left her with.

And yet, she could not forget the various dead eyes and the accusation in them. She saw them everywhere -in the darkness of her cell, in the water in her jug, in the moonless sky outside the barred window…

For the first time in all the years she'd been dreaming that dream, she felt like she hadn't woken up at all.

A/N: Sooo, where do I begin?

kapert : If you're still reading this, you were wondering in your review for chapter 15 about how Mikasa had tea-making memories, so here's the explanation! I'll be honest, I was seriously bummed that I hadn't thought of "paths" before and didn't incorporate them in my story! Lol, well, this was already written, so yeah.

If it wasn't obvious from Carla's words, this tea-making session happens the day before the fall of Shiganshina (the series begins the morning-of). So, yes, I'm sure in the trauma of the moment, you can't blame Mikasa for forgetting, hmm?

The nightmare scene is in the prison cell where Mikasa and Eren are incarcerated after they return from Shiganshina.

The nightmare itself was always going to be this way, I especially wanted to illustrate the intense guilt Mikasa must've been feeling at that point because she gave up on Armin too early (Flocke mentions this in the ceremony-thingy), which is the last apparition in the nightmare. So yes, if you were wondering, Mikasa does blame herself for not saving her mothers (I am certain Carla is her unofficial surrogate mother by the end) and is terrified of not being able to save Eren. Which literally makes this her worst-ever nightmare.

Why am I pointing out all this terrible angst, you say? Because, if I'm sinking into a bottomless pit of despair while fangirling over this series, I'm taking y'all down with me. :)

Thank you all so much for sticking with the story! I'm really glad I got to share this little effort of mine with so many of you! We have one last chapter left, which is longer, no worries. As always, let me know what you think of the chapter, and thanks for reading!