"So…this is it." Eren's soft voice cut through the thick silence that was overhanging them.

"…Hm." Jean breathed, not looking at him-as if his face was too much of a reminder of everything to gaze upon.

"Eren." Armin pleaded again. "Come back with us."

Eren opened his mouth, then hesitated and shook his head. "…Sorry, Armin. I have responsibilities."

Rivaille merely nodded, not looking at either of the soldiers that he himself had once so proudly commanded.

"Do me a favor, Rivaille." Irvin suddenly said, looking at the short man.

"..Yes?" Rivaille raised an eyebrow, curious despite himself.

"…" Irvin dug for something in his pocket, then emerged with a sculpted wooden carving. It was a horse. Well, more of a horse-fish, Rivaille reasoned, taking the small figure in his hands. And as he held it up to the sunset, he noticed that it was glowing with a faint light-a halo of quicksilver, but as Rivaille reflected back on that time later, he concluded that it was the futile product of his own imagination. "What do you want me to do?"

"Throw it in the ocean." Irvin decided firmly; the tone of his voice suggested that he had been thinking of this for a long time. "So that I can somehow place my mark there-forever."

Rivaille chuckled bitterly, gently placing the figure in his knapsack. "Nothing lasts forever, Irvin."

"Eternity." Eren suddenly piped up. "Hm?" Rivaille looked at him in question.

"That's something that can happen, right?"

"..Eternity and forever are the same things, brat."

"No-" Eren cut him off. "Forever is time that never ends. Eternity is forever to you-yourself. Everyone has a different feeling and conception of that."

Rivaille didn't say anything, just looked down at the gritted ground, speckled with dark drops of the titan's blood. Armin's hair was caked with gore, and Jean didn't look any better, cloak soaked with the dark liquid.

"Then, Irvin." The man turned to face him. Rivaille smiled sadly. "You have to do something for me."

"Yes?"

"…Go back to Hanji. Get married. Have kids. Be happy, for me." Rivaille drew a deep breath. "I wish you the best."

Irvin laughed softly. "You're talking like we'll never see each other again-" He stopped. "Wait. You will come back, right?"

"I-" Rivaille didn't say anything more, just looked down. "I don't know."

"….I understand." Irvin said after a long moment. Then-"I wish you the best of luck, too." Irvin held out his hand to Rivaille, and the corporal took it, feeling the familiar grip that still hadn't changed after all these years. He used to count on that feeling to keep him sane-when he was half delirious with fear and grief through those early days-thinking that he was alone-that no one would understand.

"Rivaille." Eren said softly, as Rivaille let go of Irvin's handshake and turned to face him.

"We're going, brat." Rivaille snapped.

"….." To his surprise, Mikasa walked up to Rivaille and unwound her scarf, handing it to him "This is yours now." She said quietly, not looking at the man.

"Keep it, Mikasa." Rivaille deftly returned, handing her the bundle of cloth. "This is yours to keep."

Mikasa gulped, taking a deep, shuddering breath. But she nevertheless took the offered fabric, clutching it closely to her chest.

Rivaille started walking further on into the forest, not looking back.

"…Goodbye." Eren choked out, before running away after the smaller figure.
Armin and Jean waved, but as soon as they were out of sight, Armin started sobbing, and Mikasa watched as Jean hesitantly pulled him closer, wrapping the cloak around the smaller boy.

She looked at Irvin, only to find a serene smile on the older man's face.

And as she took in the scene, turned to see the empty forest path, she didn't feel seventeen.

She felt eight again, feeling Eren wrap that impossibly warm scarf around her neck, see him smile at her with gleaming eyes that shone on someone else now.

Her eyes watered, and for the first time in forever-she let herself cry, not feeling the wetness that dribbled off her cheeks and into the wet grass, but painfully acknowledging the fact that despite what she tried-she was still human to the core. Somewhere inside, a small child knelt, holding the brim of a overlarge summer hat, and smelling the warm scent of dirt and sun, watching her mother as she hummed happily while pulling potatoes out of the ground.

Goodbye, Eren.

Armin looked on in surprise as Mikasa started choking and coughing, a strange combination that somehow made sense at that moment. Her eyes were half closed, squinted against the blazing sunset, and shallow breaths kept moving through her throat, in and out in and out and in and out again-and tears would keep falling off her cheeks, but she made no move to wipe them away.

Armin hesitantly held took her hand, rubbing soothing rings on it like he'd seen his father do when his mother was feeling sad or sick. She looked in surprise at him,

then, to Armin's surprise-

Started crying harder.

~X~

Mikasa's POV

I thought of you again,

yesterday.

Staring out at the window that was coated with a fine screen of early dew; trickling down the cold glass-

somehow, I thought-

Maybe, if I touch it-

I'll see your face again.

.

There have been times, I admit, when we both fought.

For the sake of my childish superiority-

you went along with a gentle smile on your face.

Where we both swore not to talk,

when I ignored you with a foolish and triumphant stubbornness,

You just laughed quietly and held my hand.

.

I always thought-

Someone who makes you laugh that hard-

who makes you smile so much that your face might freeze that way-

Surely they get the benefit of doubt, right?

.

Hey, you know?

You gave my pathetic life meaning.

The soft angelic light that glowed in the room shone,

only for you.

.

Once, we both had a beautiful dream of an eternal forever.

Where did that naive hope go?

"We'll be together forever."

Linking pinkies together and running out into that dark street, we laughed like there was no tomorrow.

.

I wanted to make that time sincere-

Because, you, who had grown up already, knew-

anyone can just string painful words along and slap on a label called emotion.

.

"I realized yesterday,"

You began, sighing.

"Even if you pick up the fallen petals, that beautiful flower will never bloom again."

You duck your head against the cold winter air.

That small death on your hands-has your time frozen still?

.

The sky glowed through the trees with a soft light-

laughing for all the eternity that cried.

When we both danced to that Tarantella of separation.

Now I can't stop wondering-

If I hadn't pretended to be strong, would everything have been fine?

.

You gave me that scarf, remember?

When you did, I felt like I had everything in the world.

But somehow-did you know that you weren't coming back?

Is that why you smiled so sadly?

.

And that story that we listened to-

Me laughing along in the bright sun-

You quietly humming with a smile-

We still laughed together, yeah?

At that moment, I thought-

This kind of happiness should be illegal.

.

You made the world round, so that no one would cry in a corner, didn't you?

And even now, you lament tearfully that there's nothing that you can do anymore.

.

My head resting on the corner of your bed, I closed my eyes.

"I used to believe that crying was only for the weak, and that only the strong could survive."

I admitted, feeling so pathetically human in that moment.

Your hand ghosted the top of my hair in a movement that could've been classified as affectionate.

Those brilliant red ribbons that marked our time together-

have become dull and faded now.


The things that had hurt me to much in the past seem childish now.

Is this what it means to grow up?

YES YES YES THIS IS A REALLY SHORT CHAPTER. QAQ I know that it's disappointing, that you basically learned no plot moving details-but I just wanted to take a step back and reflect on the character's emotions and other things-(yes I know, you guys have permission to hit me with shoes now.) *cowers in a corner*

BUT I HAVE AN OMAKE! *holds up white flag*

Omake-PARODY PARODY PARODY ALERT

Slight mention of HakuXZabuza

Slight RivailleXEren

Naruto! And SnK! Crossover! :3

"Argh!" Rivaille fell out of the titan's mouth-which had grown suspiciously slack. He had slipped for a second, lost his concentration in battle-which he never did, so something must've been in the coffee that Hanji slipped him that morning-wait. Why would he ever take a drink from Hanji?

"Oof!" He felt a weight on his back, and whipped around, only to see Eren's mussed hair appear behind him. And as he looked up for the titan-it was gone. There was no titan. And as he looked around in suspicion, all the trees of the forest were gone too-nothing was here except for mist and something that felt like concrete beneath his boots."Brat?!"

"Corporal!" Eren cried, trying to stand up straight and brushing strands of grass quickly off his back. Grass? There was no grass here. The only grass was back in the forest-

"Eren! Why the fuck are you here?"

"…I was worried." Eren admitted. "So I…climbed in the titan's mouth after you-"

"Isn't that how you got 'eaten' last time?" Rivaille snapped, eyebrows furrowing. "Climbing in and throwing that blond kid out?"

"Hey! I didn't die, did I?"

"That's beside the point!" Rivaille exclaimed. "Wait-" Eren breathed, raising a hand. "I think I hear something."

"….Without someone to live for, who are you, really?" A muffled, soft voice spoke. Rivaille and Eren crept towards that source of voice, and saw a brown haired girl, mask half on her face-wait, how the fuck did the mask stay there-and a blond person who was dressed in outrageous colors, on all fours. "Keep that up kid, and you'll be stuck in that position forever." Rivaille hissed quietly.

"I was his tool." The girl continued. "But now-" She closed her eyes. "I've failed him. So, Naruto-kun," She opened her eyes. "Kill me."

"This is fucked up!" Eren screamed, and Rivaille hastily slapped a hand over his mouth. "Why would she want to die on purpose?! All the titans out there could kill her in a second! Live!" He ripped Rivaille's hand away. "Live, and live on! This world is still sweet!" He wailed-

the girl stiffened and turned slightly. "Who's there?"

"Live! The world still needs you! You are not useless!" Rivaille gritted his teeth. It was too late to stop Eren now.

"…but, I've failed-"

"Titans could eat you! Live now! In this moment!" Wow, Eren was really getting into it, wasn't he?

"Live!" He cried again. "And never look back!"

"brat, that doesn't make sense-"

"You're such a pretty girl too, you have to grow up and have all my children!"
Rivaille's eyebrow twitched-what the fuck?!

"No!" A low voice echoed through the space-hell, Rivaille didn't even know where he was-

"Haku is mine-"

"Master Zabuza!" The girl cried, looking panicked. "I'm sorry! I have failed you-"

Wait. Za-bu-zaba? Zu-zu.

The blond idiot was still crouching there, looking bemused.

(um, this is the parody part-if you don't like parody, and you love the Haku dying moment in Naruto-if you guys have watched it, don't read this part. THIS IS HORRIBLE WRITING QUALITY, just warning you!)

With a great slash of his mighty sword, Zabuza killed Naruto and Sasugay-Rivaille helped take down Kakashi-even though he had no idea what was going on-

And Haku decided to live again, because he still had to help Zabuza get dressed every day-those bandages were a pain to put on-

And finally, when they were about to go, Haku turned to face them, smiling.

"By the way, I'm a guy."

Eren fainted and Rivaille was sure he would never be the same again when he woke up and started blabbering something about-Am I gay!?

They all lived happily ever after.

The end.

Never mind, I think you guys hated the OMAKE too, right?

I'm also planning on making some chapters about Irvin and Hanji's past-YES I SHIP THEM. *sobs harder* EVEN THOUGH THEY BARELY HAVE ANY INTERACTION IN THE MANGA-*heroic pose* I WILL WRITE THE FIRST HANJI IRVIN FANFICTION! ….None of you will read it, will you? *bangs head* I'm sorry-even though it's probably impossible..I hope they become canon. But it seems like the only canon couple now is Ymir and Christa…-.-

So, the question of the day!

What do you guys think about Hanji X Irvin?

Reviews will make Rivaille and Eren agree to do a BL movie together-