Empty.

That was it.

Eren struggled long to pinpoint what about Annie's quarters felt so odd. An emptiness well beyond the average utilitarian feel of a military member's home. He wanted not to care, his blood still boiled from their last interaction after all. But, more fully armed with curiosity, he pondered the meaning of it.

This was more than a lack of identity through her home and belongings. It was as if she set about eliminating any clue her residence could hold to herself or her character. Every piece of furniture clean and useful. Few drawers and cabinets for anything to be stored. Nothing left out of place. Nothing on the walls but a faint glow cast by the windows. The couch Eren sat on felt as if it was the first time it was ever used. Annie's home stood as a bold denial of individuality.

The boy sighed and returned his attention to Annie and Reiner, both fast asleep. Reiner had sprawled out on the floor while Annie had laid herself out like a cadaver on the bed, hands neatly resting on her navel.

Eren felt a wave of envy wash over him, all he wanted in that moment was to be in his dreams. Or, at the very least, he wished he could join Annie in hers. He still held onto his ongoing issues with her but all he wanted to do was make things alright again. The literal weight of the world could rest on his shoulders but all he really worried about was how to make her happy.

*Knock Knock*

The intrusion startled Eren slightly, his eyes shot up, but then relaxed as he found Annie and Reiner hadn't stirred.

"It's open." He said, as loud as he was comfortable to shout.

The door opened, spilling moonlight around the visitor's form. Eren squinted as his eyes compensated, slowly making out facial cues and details. His eyes grew wide as the man walked in and shut the door behind himself.

"Dad…"

Grisha said nothing as he removed his coat, offering a half-smile to his son. He laid his coat on the floor before approaching eren.

"May I sit?" Grisha inquired.

"Uh, yeah." Eren mumbled, still struggling to compose himself.

Grisha sat down next to Eren and ran his fingers through his hair worriedly, staring ahead at the two sleeping shifters. A few minutes passed in silence, but Eren was grateful for it. He wasn't sure about the nature of the visit but hoped the mountain of questions could be put to rest one way or another. He began searching his mind for words when Grisha chose to speak:

"It's good to see you."

"That's hard to see." Eren said after a pause, coldly.

"Is it?"

"Is it a requirement around here to have zero heart?" Eren asked, disgusted. The entire conversation had played out in his mind many times over. He felt ready for anything, but his racing pulse introduced doubt. Nevertheless, Eren continued, his signature conviction radiating through the room:

"I'm far from blind to the stakes here but over the past few weeks I've run out of excuses to make for you. 'He's just busy with something, he'll make time to see me as soon as he is able'. 'Somebody is probably keeping him away to make sure I can focus on my role'. 'He's probably just caught up in his research for the sake of humanity…'

Eren trailed off as he realized he'd made his point. He had worried about having the nerve to confront the man but the words came to him easily. He studied Grisha's face as he spoke, relieved to see the pain in his eyes. He didn't want to hurt the man but he needed to know whether he cared enough to be affected by his speech at all.

"I can't tell you how much it hurts to put you through all this. Nobody asks to be a savior of their race. I've made peace with you hating me a long time ago."

"Did you not hear what I just said?" Eren exclaimed. "I'll spell it out for you! I'm asking for you to explain yourself. I want to know why I'm not important enough to you to make an effort to rebuild what we've lost. Why do I only now get to have this conversation with you?"

Grisha left few clues to be read on his face, Eren wasn't sure if he'd struck a nerve that time or not.

"I don't have an excuse, son." Grisha's voice shook. "I own everything I've put you through but the truth is that I'm a coward. You're looking at a man afraid to face his own son. I did everything for a just cause but seeing what you've been stripped of has been a difficult thing to face. I wish I could tell you that I had monumental things to do, but the only thing that stopped me from seeing you sooner is how terrified I've been of it."

Eren felt his preparations fall apart around him. He had expected to hear all sorts of rationale to explain Grisha's absence. But there it was, the answer he couldn't predict, thrust upon him in gritty detail.

"So there it is." Eren spoke nearly under his breath. "Why did I need to be kept in the dark about so many things?"

Grisha cast out a long, lazy sigh. "I meant what I said all those years ago. About showing you the basement… But then the wall fell, and by the time I got to you there was no helping it. All you were concerned with was vengeance and all I could do was recruit Mikasa to steer you in the right direction."

The name stung Eren to the core; Mikasa…

"By the time I realized my error, the path was set. You needed to undergo life changing events to set off the second injection. We were set to deliver it the day I ordered the second attack. But our man was killed before he could give it to you. The chemical only activates in the presence of tremendous adrenaline and mental anguish. It was all designed to bring you to your current state back then."

"Mikasa knew the stakes and took it upon herself to seize a situation. I wish it could have been different but there's just no way any of you could have faced the imp without it. She knew she was dead either way and made a call that worked out. I know it's unfair and I know I should have been honest from the start and taken you straight here. I overestimated my handle on a complex situation and people have died because of it."

"What do the Imps want?" Eren muttered, barely keeping up with the pace of information. His mind was frantic to connect all the dots.

"The Imps are actually shifters as well, but they began as humans. There is a third party at play here. Somewhere, something is controlling them. We believe the enemy to shifters and humans alike is common."

"How can we know that at all?" Eren asked, skeptical. "When I killed that imp there was nobody inside…"

"There's no reason to believe that Imps aren't remotely piloted Titans. Your discovery has far reaching implications, none of us had ever considered such a thing possible. Couple that with the fact that everything about their existence is seemingly designed to dispatch shifters. Their strength and speed, their venom...They also never display fear of death, the exception being the one you killed. But we think it was afraid because it hadn't expected you to be the coordinate."

"Where could a common enemy be hiding?"

"We suspect overseas, the walls are on a massive island. They could be in any direction from it, over the years we've surveyed the entire outer area and there are no settlements of any kind."

"This all seems like conjecture to me, solid theory but more or less unproven. Pretty useless in the battlefield." Eren's disappointment drowned his words.

"That's true." Grisha said, matter-of-factly. "They're all only working theories right now. The only chance we'll have to learn more is when they inevitably attack. We're hoping with your help we can capture one alive."

Eren's heart sank under the weight of such a request. He cast an offended gaze to his father and spoke:

"I can do a lot of things but non-violence is unfamiliar ground. If you need someone to blow them up then I'm your guy, but I don't have the first clue how to restrain one. They still are much stronger and faster than I am."

"Well, we have an idea on that…" Grisha paused a moment, his face worrisome. "We suddenly have the luxury of sending titans to the front lines without risking the shifters inside. With casualties no longer relevant, our defense can afford to be as liberal as required."

"I see" Murmured Eren.

With a solemn nod, Grisha pushed himself onto his feet and stood. He lingered a moment as he studied Annie and Reiner, still both fast asleep.

"Oh, were we done?" The venom in the words was palpable as Eren's eyes remained trained on his father.

"I should have been at your side all along." Grisha replied. "But I happen to know that you never once asked for my whereabouts. Perhaps you had anxieties of your own about seeing me again."

Eren couldn't stand the fact that somehow Grisha had turned things around on him. As if the two offenses could even compare. But before Eren could defend himself, Grisha continued:

"I forgive you for that a thousand times over, I only point it out to find common ground here. Forgiveness may never find its way to me, I hope it does one day and I plan to make it all up to you in time. But I think we've waded through enough emotional baggage for one night. But I'll leave this with you…"

The man produced an envelope from his jacket pocket and held it out. Grabbing it, Eren studied it a moment; there was a wax seal, still intact, and a signature. His heart began to pound as he recognized the handwriting.

"Mikasa…"

Annie wondered why dreaming had become her only means of finding peace in her head. Thoughts swam through her mind unrelentingly while she was awake, but in here she had complete control. She opened her eyes and studied the abyss around her. Vast empty space, as far as the eye could see, in all directions.

Annie thought for a moment about that she wanted to see. Nothing. She had no idea what to conjure up. Sure, she could recreate the valley her and Eren shared but she wanted something all her own. For the first time she could be alone in her dreamscape. Eren had to stay up to keep watch and joining her, even awake, would leave him vulnerable.

'What if I…' She muttered as she closed her eyes. In an instant, she felt a warm glow against her eyelids.

The girl opened her eyes to reveal her sanctum. The foggy, moonlit air brought a comforting humidity over her skin. She studied her footing, an eroded stone formation overlooked an ocean from a cliffside. Behind her led into a cave, it's depths lit with unnatural blue light from beneath the stream that meandered its way into a reservoir before a waterfall to the ocean. Auroras swayed across the air, but not in the stratosphere, all around her. Their glow danced in the air but obscured nothing.

Annie could cry, it was perfect. With a thought, her clothing faded away as she found her way to the pooling water. To her relief, the temperature was as she willed it to be; a hot spring. The rock formed a perfect seat in the water as she sank into it with a heavy sigh. Her long lost solitude had finally found her again, like bonding with an old friend. Nothing could bother her, nothing could ruin this…

"This is nice, Annie"

"What the fuck?!" The girl shrieked, eyes darting over to the boy standing across the creek.

"Oh shit… you're…" Eren looked away, vaguely pointing at Annie's figure in the water.

Annie's clothing materialized instantly as she fired back. "Get out of here! How can you be so stupid? You need to be watching Reiner!"

"It's covered, Ymir is here." Eren slowly turned back to Annie, relieved to find her clothed this time.

"Goddamn it Eren, why can't you stay out of my head just this once."

A little dumbfounded, he looked to the ground as the situation dawned on him.

"I'm sorry, I'll go. I should have known you'd want some space."

"Eren." Annie barked, annoyed but calming. "You can say what you came here to say…"

There it was, pressure mounted as Eren found himself on the spot. The boy stepped into the water and sat across from Annie, ignoring his saturated clothes. There was no turning back, he took a deep breath and spoke:

"I've given you something everyone wants. Nobody can ever appreciate your memories that you cherish. People will listen when you reminisce but they aren't' feeling what you do… That euphoric nostalgia that makes you sad that you can't relive it all, we're all truly alone with those feelings. They're almost unconveyable because we all accept that nobody will cherish them like you do. What could you possibly want more than to share your memories with someone capable of truly appreciating them with you instead of explaining it all to a brick wall. You've become incapable of misunderstanding me, for better or worse."

He paused a moment, losing himself in the teal Aurora around them. With a sigh, he continued.

"I know you didn't ask for this, and I know there's been trauma all around. But, I'm not the one who hurt you… I won't pretend to know what's going through your h" He stopped cold at the sight of tears in her eyes. "Wh-what?"

"I wasn't upset because of what you did."

Even in tears, Annie stayed still, eyes forward.

"I was Jealous. I was ten years old when they sent me to the walls. The last thing my father told me was that he was sorry and he was always on my side. What kept me going all these years was the thought of seeing him again. The last fiber of hope I had throughout everything has shown me where I stand and it hurts. I never got so much of a greeting, I saw him for the first time tonight and it was strictly business. And to have you stroll up, speaking to him on a first name basis, as if it's no big deal to be the disciple of one of the most important people in Arrah."

Annie took a deep breath, wiping her drying tears.

"It was wrong to lash out at you and I'm sorry, Eren. I just need you to come to terms with the fact that I'm monumentally fucked up right now."

Eren waded to Annie's side of the reservoir and sat next to her, a hand came to rest on her knee.

"I'm so sorry… I should have more empathy, I should have been more aware about anything other than myself. But I think you need to know something…"

Eren placed his arm around the girl and pulled. Only hard enough to gauge the situation; she leaned into the embrace, eyes still fixed vaguely into the distance.

"I've been in the man's mind and he is beyond proud of you. I'm not sure why he's been so distant, and this doesn't mean you should forgive him unconditionally. But, he thinks of absolutely no one more highly than you."

Eren felt her arm reach around him as she mirrored his embrace, resting her head against his. She said nothing, but she didn't need to. Annie still felt cheated out of her solitude, but this wasn't a bad compromise.

Author's note:

Back from the dead. I won't tell you I'm officially back this time, time will tell with these things. Developments in the manga have helped me plot out where this story will go, borrowing ideas here and there but injecting my own originality when I can muster it.

Hopefully I can ride this wave again, sorry that it's been so long. I'm sure a lot of you have probably forgotten most of all this. Anyway thanks for reading. Bring on the critiques, I'm sure my wordsmithing has grown rusty over the years.