Hey guys. Welcome back to another chapter of HSF. I hope you enjoyed the previous chapter because I sure did have fun writing it. I hope ya'll are great in this quarantine time and I hope this little fic is doing you a favour and saving you from the boredom. Fun fact: The Battle for Rose was actually supposed to be one huge chapter but I felt it would be too much so I broke it down. Hope it still flows nicely though.

Anyways, I won't spend much time talking here. Enjoy.

THE BATTLE FOR ROSE II

With the hiss of gas, Mikasa shot herself forward, keeping her eyes locked on the beast ahead. The titan was very close to the park now, but they had managed to catch up to it.

You won't survive this time.

Mikasa pulled out a pair of blades from the holsters in readiness to take down the beast. She just had to use enough gas and she'd beat it before it could crystalize itself.

"Mikasa wait," Levi called from his position flying beside her, "you shouldn't attack it."

"What, why?" Mikasa asked, somewhat surprised by the sudden order. As far as she knew, they were pursuing it to attack it, so what was he talking about.

Levi pushed himself a little further until he was flying in front of her. He then turned so he could look her in the eyes, "From what you told me back when we first got here, dealing with that titan is no walk in the park. Attacking it is going to be risky, especially for you, considering the fact that you're already injured."

"Seriously?" Mikasa asked. She could understand his reasoning but she wasn't in agreement with it, "So what do you expect me to do then? You can't just expect me to sit back and watch while people keep on risking their lives out there."

"Like hell I'd ever let you laze your fat ass around."

"…Excuse me!"

"Relax Mrs. Ackerman. It was just a joke," Levi responded before glancing back in the direction of the titan, "what I really need you to do is to distract the damn thing."

"Distract it?"

"Yes, distract it,' Levi confirmed, "I want you grab its attention so I can ambush it," he explained before his expression morphed into a rather grave one, "I need to make it pay for nearly killing my squad member-and for making my boy cry."

"…understood," Mikasa nodded before Levi turned away from her and returned his focus what was in front of them. She couldn't help but ponder about the fact that Levi had the exact same intentions as Junior. This was another thing to add to the long list of what they had in common that Mikasa had been personally making. She was definitely going to bring this up if Levi got into one of those moods when he starts asking if Junior was really his son.

"Mikasa now!" she heard him shout, snapping her out of her thoughts. She then nodded before jetting towards the titan. She went high enough that she landed right on its head.

"Hey, don't even think about attacking those people without taking me down first!" she called out to it, but got no response. She then decided to sink her blades into its skull to perhaps catch it by inflicting pain, but to no avail. Instead of the titan reacting to her, it only started to sprint towards the park, forcing her to hop off of it.

For some reason, the titan wasn't even interested in her. It seemed to be solely focussed on getting to the park, puzzling her in the process. However, it didn't take her too long to realise what it could be after.

"Levi, I don't think distracting it will work!" Mikasa called out to him, "it's only interested in getting to the park. I think it's after Irene!"

"Tch, damn bastard doesn't learn huh." Levi snarled before looking back at Mikasa, "Okay then, change of plans. Let's immobilize it before it can get any closer!"

"Understood!" Mikasa nodded before looking back at the titan. It was moving extremely fast, almost too fast for her to catch up to.

As though sensing her uncertainty, Levi called out to her, "Let me give you a boost!" he said before shooting forward and Mikasa, already knowing what he was going for, followed suit.

In a quick motion, Mikasa grabbed onto Levi's arms and he spun her with enough force that it sent her flying at even greater speeds, the wind blowing more violently in her hair as she added the force of the gas and pushed her even farther.

When she got close enough, Mikasa shot the hook at one of the cars on the ground and propelled herself downwards, slicing at the spot above the heel of its left foot, erupting a screech from it before it lost its footing and headed towards the ground.

The titan landed on all fours on the ground, breathing heavily as it tried to regain its composure.

It's been weakened. Now's my chance.

With a grunt, Mikasa shot herself forward, towards its nape, blades held tightly in her hands, itching to finally put the damn beast down—permanently.

"This is it!" She said, readying her blades. It was right when she close to stabbing it, that she noticed a large shadow looming over her and when she looked, there was a giant hand right above her.

However, it was as soon as the hand appeared that she noticed a blur and the hand fell onto the back, leaving nothing but a stump in its place.

Thinking fast, Mikasa shot herself away from the titan and latched herself onto a building. She found herself watching as the blur, who she had just acknowledged to be Levi, continued to launch its attack on the beast.

The titan forced itself to its feet with its not severed hand and proceeded to try and hop away. Unfortunately for it, Levi wasn't planning on letting it go any time soon.

She watched as Levi took action by first spinning down its other leg, leaving a trail of blood geysers right after him. He then shot himself into the air as the titan stumbled and fell back on its back side.

Still trying to fight back, the titan leaned forward and flailed its hands around it in hopes of catching or at least swatting Levi away.

Big mistake.

In a swift moment, Levi shot towards it, spinning rapidly as he sliced around its right arm, erupting a shriek from it. Without wasting time, he went and did the same to the other arm, leaving it with no functional limbs in a mess of steam and blood.

Mikasa flinched at the sound of the titan's shrieks as Levi continued to brutalize it. They sounded less like threatening roars and more like pleas for help. Perhaps Levi could just get to killing the damn thing already.

Before Levi could instil more damage onto it, a loud shriek-like roar could be heard from the distance. The strange thing was that the shriek was extremely loud, so loud that Mikasa felt her ribcage vibrate, but then it didn't even come from the strange titan and there were no titans nearby.

Where is that coming from?

Mikasa found herself covering her ears as the sound was just too loud. Still, the sound could not be blocked out.

A long thirty seconds later and the roaring stopped. Mikasa brought her hands away from her ears as she tried to regain her composure. She looked to the ground below and saw that the titan was lying lifeless on the ground. She sighed in relief at the fact that it was dead. For good this time.

"Shit, my head."

Mikasa turned and found Levi standing behind her, a hand resting on his head as he panted. "How bad is it?"

"Not bad enough to be much of a problem," he responded before straightening himself up and walking towards the edge of the building, grabbing a fresh pair of blades as he walked. He then stopped when he looked at the ground below him. "It's dead?"

Wait, what?

"Wait, you didn't kill it?" She asked, walking up to stand next to him.

"No," he shook his head, "I didn't even cut its nape. That fucking noise messed me up," he said before sheathing his blades again. He then looked back up at her, "this is the same thing that happened to you back when you fought it, right?"

Mikasa nodded in response as she kept staring at the corpse on the ground as it slowly started to evaporate. Her relief immediately disappeared as she had just realised that the titan had somehow survived yet again. What was it that made that titan so special that it could just die and resurrect again? She had just messed up her back and used up a lot of gas for nothing?

"We should get back to the centre and reconvene with the rest of the squad," Levi spoke, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Oh oka…" Mikasa stopped when she felt the floor beneath her start to rumble. The two of them stayed silent, as though to listen to it and it kept on getting louder and louder with each passing second. It was only after the rumbling got strong enough to almost make her lose her balance that she realised what was happening.

There were titans—a lot of tians—running towards the centre. It was like they were all running after something in particular as they ignored all the scouts that were flying all over the place. They charged forward, the larger ones even stepping on and tripping over the smaller ones. Whatever they were after must've been pretty special.

"The more we stand here and watch, the closer they get to killing us all," Levi said as he started to approach the edge of the building, "Come on, let's get going before the entire city ends up being titan fodder," he said before flying off the building.

"…right,' Mikasa said, taking a moment to look back at the titans before following him.

"Hey kid, are you alright?"

Irene's eyes shot open before she sat up, breathing heavily. Her eyes darted around in panic as she tried to register the current situation in her mind. She remembered flying to check on the area on the South side of the park and now here she was, having woken up on the grass.

"Kid?"

She followed the voice until her blue eyes met a pair of ember ones belonging to a woman, a ginger haired, Garrison soldier "…What happened?"

"You were flying towards us when that loud roar was heard and you just blacked out in the middle of the air," the woman explained.

Irene groaned as she remembered the events before she blacked out. That loud roar had been so intense it literally knocked her out. She knew off a fact that that was a titan, but for some odd reason she couldn't decipher its meaning. All it sounded like was a call, but for what? All she could do was cringe at the memory of the noise. She would have of think about it once—if—they got rid of the titans.

"In case you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of trying to protect an entire city," another woman, whom she recognised to be Rico from the meeting, spoke. "So if you don't mind, save the daydreaming for a time when thousands of lives aren't on the line."

"Here let me help you up," the ginger offered a hand, which Irene took and used to rise to her feet with a bit of a struggle.

"Thanks," she said, dusting herself off.

"She's on her feet again. Great," Rico said before looking at the ginger, "now come on Petra, we have a job to do and I believe she has, too."

"Of course," Petra nodded at Rico before looking back at Irene and offering her a good luck before running after Rico.

"Well, I guess I better get back to work," Irene said before grabbing onto her gear to prepare to take to the sky.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

"Seriously…" she groaned when she heard the beeping sound. Did her gas really have to start finishing right then—at that exact moment? How inconveniencing. She was definitely going to have a chat with Section Commander Hange about the capacity of the gas tanks because someone was definitely going to end up in an even worse situation than the one she was in.

Irene's train of thoughts came to a halt once she felt the ground vibrate, violently beneath her feet.

What's going on?

The sound of hissing gas tanks could be heard before Mrs. Ackerman and the Captain came and landed right in front of her. "Captain, do you have any idea what this vibration is?"

"Titans," he responded, "a lot of them, and they're heading this way."

Titans? Wait… could it mean that…

"Smith, where's Meyer and Leonhart?" the Captain asked her, snapping her out of her thoughts once again.

"Oh, no one has seen Doug ever since you sent him on his punishment," Irene answered, recalling that Doug had, indeed, been sent away by the Captain to do some punishment because of how he looked earlier. "As for Annie…" She then looked in the direction of the building that Annie had been stationed on. There was no sign of her anywhere. Had she ran off too?

"Tch, you know what. Forget it. I'll deal with you guys later," the captain started, looking completely annoyed, "Right now, there's a horde of those nasty sons of bitches on their way here. We should focus on protecting the citizens. Come on." He said before he started to walk towards one of the buildings, Irene and Mikasa followed suit.

As the two Ackermans shot themselves onto the building, Irene took a moment to re-acknowledge her low gas supply before finally shooting herself onto the building to join the two.

As she walked up to stand beside them, she got a clear view of the titans running towards the area. There were much more than she had originally thought, easily out numbering the number of Scouts fighting them, "there's like over a hundred of them."

"And there's less than fifty of us," Mikasa responded without turning away from the scene, "but that hasn't stopped us from fighting."

As Irene continued to watch the titans, she also took notice of the fact that they were falling to the ground one by one. Unless she was just seeing things, she was certain she could see black blurs flying around them as they ran towards the centre. They must've taken advantage of the fact that the titans weren't focused on them anymore.

Smart.

"Erwin must have brainwashed them the same way he did when he got them to join," the Captain was the one to comment before he unsheathed a pair of swords, "enough staring at the damn beasts, we're supposed to be fighting them," He said, prompting the two also unsheathe their swords.

"Ready when you are, Captain," Irene said, holding onto her blades tightly as she prepared herself to go airborne. Even if she would most definitely be running on fumes when she got to attack the titans, she was still going to give it her all out there. All she had to do was find a way to be more economic with her gas, but then how would she be able to do that when she was going to be fighting titans.

"Are you sure about that, Smith?" The Captain's voice brought her back to reality.

"What do you mean, sir?"

"Your gas," he started, glancing at her gear and then back up at her, "it won't even last you ten minutes out there," he continued, "are you sure you want to risk it?"

"…I have an option?"

"You have the option to not get yourself killed," he deadpanned, "so what will it be, Smith?"

Irene went silent. She had the option to sit back and let what was left of her gas remain idle while so many people out there were fighting, some of them with probably less gas than her, but they were still fighting. Most people would jump at such an opportunity but being the kind of person she was, the blood of Commander Erwin Smith flowing inside her, Irene would much rather fight the titans regardless of the fact that she's most likely be airborne for only a few minutes, "Captain, I'm going to…"

"Stay here and take cover," the Captain finished for her.

"…But Captain I"

"would much rather fight the titans regardless of the fact that you may not even last a minute in the air?" he completed. Was the Captain secretly psychic or something? Because there was no way it was by chance that he'd be able to know what she was thinking. "Kid, you're going to have to sit this one out, and that's an order."

Before Irene could even bring up her argument, the captain had already gotten off the building, Mikasa not too far behind him, leaving the blonde on her own having been ordered to sit it out.

What happened to me having an option?

She sighed as she watched the onslaught before her eyes, the titans still reducing as the Scouts fought them with whatever resources they still had left. She still wanted to go out and fight alongside her fellow Scouts. If she was given that opportunity, she'd definitely give it her all.

Though, if she was being completely honest with herself. It wasn't entirely only about wanting to fight for people. Another part her was doing it with herself in mind. Ever since she went to stay with her father and joined the Scouts, she felt like she was a part of something. When she spent time surrounded by the other Scouts, hanging out with the people she called friends, having made so many memories together. All of that made her feel amazing. It made her feel like she finally belonged somewhere.

Being ordered to stand down, for reasons unknown definitely wasn't doing her any good. Right now, all she felt was left out and all that did was remind her of… no she wasn't going to think about it. This was neither the time nor the place for that. She was on the battlefield, not her bed so it was completely unnecessary for her to start bawling her eyes out. Besides, she only acted this way when she was living with him.

Ugh, why did I have to think of him?

Irene's mind began to wander even deeper. This was definitely the last thing she wanted to think about, not now of all times especially. However, it was like her mind just kept on doing whatever it wanted to do.

"You stay away from me!"

"Come on Irene. Just listen to me."

"And why the hell would I do that. Ever since you showed up, you've done nothing but ruin my life. First you show up brainwash my mom until you steal her from my dad. Then you decided to take me away from him and try to force me to live as part of this 'happy family' of yours. Then you came up to me, promising to take me to my dad and then you do this to me. For once, I trusted you and then you go ahead and take advantage of me, turning me into some sort of lab rat. Why would you do that to me!"

"Irene, please calm down. This is not the time to do this. Right now it's dinner time and everyone's waiting for us downstairs. Let's just go down and have a nice family dinner."

"Family dinner? There you go again, trying to make me do stuff that you want and act like everything's magically alright. Listen to me and just leave me alone. I don't want to be anywhere near you, or that 'family dinner' of yours."

"Hey, what's going on in here?"

"Ugh, Marie. She's being difficult again… do something."

"Irene, what's the matter with you. Your father…"

"Mom, for the last time. That man is not my father!"

"Irene, don't say things like that."

"And why shouldn't I, mom? I'm just stating the truth. My father is out fighting for thousands of lives, ours included. This man, is not my father. He's just a jealous, greedy, lying homewrecker that couldn't just accept that you were happy with someone else!"

"Irene!"

"Mom, for once would you stop defending him! You don't even… ugh! Get out of my room!"

"…Irene, calm down."

"Get out!"

It took being shoved to bring Irene back to reality.

"I heard you Scouts were crazy, but I had no idea this was how insane you really were" Mackenzie, the one that had shoved her, said.

"What's going on?" Irene asked looking around, somewhat confused.

"There's no time for explanations right now," Mackenzie said, offering a hand to help the blonde up, "but I think you'll get it sooner or later."

Irene took the blonde's hand and rose to her feet. It didn't take long for her to notice the large figure lying flat on the roof, covering the exact position she had been standing on.

Did I zone out that much?

She looked around and noticed that the titans had actually started running into the centre, Scouts trying their best to fight them off.

"Listen Irene I've got a job to do saving the citizens down there, and I think it would be pretty cool to if you got back to doing yours too," She said before jumping off the building and propelling herself back into the traffic.

Irene looked back and noticed a titan in the air above her. Without the training she had received as a soldier, Irene would've been a pancake.

She propelled herself onto the air and allowed the titan to land on the roof before coming back down, stabbing its. Immediately after killing the titan, another one jumped and actually hopped over the building s and landed in the park, erupting numerous screams from civilians and soldiers alike.

With one thought in mind, Irene rushed to jump off the building and propelled herself towards the titan. She was going to have to latch onto its neck for a clean cut. Those citizens weren't going to make it if it somehow survived her attack. She had to take it down in one go.

As Irene planned her attack, she hadn't noticed that the beeping from her gear had ultimately ceased and once she latched onto the titan's torso, she was surprised when her gear didn't propel her forwards, but immediately braced herself as she hit the ground.

"You can't be done now. Not now of all times," she groaned as she got up. Right now her gas was done and there was a titan in the centre of the park. The worst thing was the fact that she couldn't do anything to stop the damn beast.

As if things couldn't get any worse, titans started to flood into the park area. Scouts trying their best to fight them. Unless she was hearing things, Irene swore she could hear the continuous beeps coming from the Scouts. They weren't too far off from ending up in her situation.

"Help me! Help me please!" she heard a man shout and immediately turned to see a Garrison soldier being gorged on by a titan.

"Please not my kids, spare them please!" a woman shouted from somewhere behind her.

"No! Leave him alone!"

"I'm sorry mommy. I'm sorry for being such a bad girl. Please forgive me!"

Irene winced as the cries started to become many. The titans had already started to overrun the park and were gorging on every person they could get their hands on.

"Hey everyone calm down!" she heard a soldier shout, "no ma'am, don't leave your car!"

"Help!"

Irene felt herself getting overwhelmed by everything that was going on around her. So many people were dying. Soldiers and civilians were being devoured whole. The titans didn't seem to be concerned with the type of person regardless of age, gender, race. Everyone was being eaten alive.

She could see her fellow Scouts running out of gas and crashing all over the place. Others being eaten alive by the titans or just being crushed by their gigantic frames.

"Oh my leg! My leg!"

"Let go of me! Please!"

"Eren! Eren no!"

Make it stop.

Irene could do nothing but watch as everything unfolded before her eyes. Humanity was actually losing right now. All that training, all going to waste. After dedicating an entire year to preparing to bring down these vile beasts with some complicated gear and learning so many different skills doing training. All that amounted to nothing. And there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

Unless…

"No!" Irene shook her head. She wasn't supposed to let that side of her come out. Especially when so many people were around to see her. What would people think if she just revealed herself like that? There had got to be another way to deal with this.

Right?

"What the!" Irene shouted before dodging an incoming titan's head. She looked back to see a Scout standing atop a titan corpse, unaware of the one currently approaching him from behind. "Adam watch out!" she shouted but was too late as the sneaking titan already grabbed him and brought him to its mouth.

"No…" Irene muttered, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. So many people were dying out there and she had somehow ended up spectating everything unfold when she already knew she could do something about it. She couldn't help but start to mentally condemn herself for how selfish she was being. She could do something about this, but she didn't. Why? Because she was afraid, afraid that people would never see her the same way once she decided to let a part of her out and there was nothing that would convince her otherwise as her own mother had acted that way to her before.

"Calm down sir, we're just trying to get you to safety."

"No, that thing stepped on my car! My family's in that car!"

"Come on, everybody! Give it everything you've got!"

"Mommy! Leave my mommy alone!"

"Scouts, do not yield. Do not feel defeated when the battle isn't even done!" a familiar voice shouted, catching Irene's attention, "Thousands of lives are dependent on us right now because we are their best chance at survival. In as much as we'd hate to believe it, their lives and the lives of many to come rest in our hands. Therefore, I urge you to keep on standing your ground. I urge you to keep on fighting!"

Dad.

Then there was her father. A man who got something done as soon as he set his mind to it and never stepped down regardless of the number of adversaries in front of him.

She glanced around and saw him take down a titan, his face; stoic and determined, showing no signs of fear or doubt at all. His ability to keep himself held together was one of the things she had come to admire about her father and it was one of the reasons she tried her best to be like him. To be able to look death in the eye without so much as batting an eye is something she would definitely love to be able to do.

Yet here she was, afraid because people would judge her for her secret. Because she was scared of being looked at differently because she was ashamed of who she really was.

"Josh, no!"

"I should've just become a farmer. Not this. I can't believe how stupid I was to listen to that man!"

"Die, you disgusting son of a bitch!"

Even after the encouragement, people were still getting injured, people were still dying. No, she couldn't just watch while all this was happening. She was being selfish, only thinking about herself when there were so many people worth much more than keeping her abilities secret. She had made a choice. It was a hard one, but if it meant seeing people safe again, that people could be as happy as they were mere hours ago, then she was going to do it.

She wide straightened herself out as she braced herself for what she was going to do. She took a moment to glance around in order to remind herself why she was doing what she was about to do. There were things more important, lives at stake and she knew doing this might—just might—give everyone a shot to survive.

She lifted her hands to form a cone over her mouth and inhaled deeply. Still feeling a bit uncertain, Irene decided to glance around and it seemed like everyone was too preoccupied to have even notice anything else when they were fighting for their lives. They wouldn't even notice her doing it.

Realizing that she had exhaled already, Irene readied herself again and inhaled, she didn't know if anyone would see her but she hoped for the best.

Well here goes.

Sharp blades ripped off skin as Mikasa flew through the air, having just sliced another titan. When she and Levi had decided to join the fight to keep the titans at bay, they had discovered that there were way more titans than they had expected and even less Scouts than they originally had.

At this point she had killed several of them and, yet, when she looked around, she still saw a lot of them approaching the centre. She was running out of gas and blades and the fact that they didn't seem to be ending didn't seem to make things any easier.

She had caught a glimpse of her husband taking down a titan not so far away from where she was. Judging by the look on his face and how rough he had gotten with killing them, she could tell that he was equally frustrated.

Can't you all just die already?

Mikasa once again sliced at the neck of another titan, sending it to the ground while she perched up on a building.

"This is my last pair," Mikasa said as she replaced the blunt blades with her last pair of sharp ones. When she looked around at the number of titans, she knew her blades wouldn't last her through all of them. Still, she was going to fight. She had people to protect and she wasn't just going to sit back while they were in danger.

"Time for round four," she said, readying herself for flight, she had already set her eyes on a particular titan, about ten metres, not too far from where she was. She was going to take that one down first. Now all she had to do was wait until.

It was a loud voice that made Mikasa freeze in place. It wasn't a titan because the sound sounded nothing like any titan's roar she had ever heard. So what was it? All she could tell was that it came from the centre. Well, away from that, she still had a titan to kill.

When she looked back at the titan, she found herself surprised to see that it had stopped walking and was just standing there. She looked around and saw that it wasn't the only one that had stopped dead in its tracks. It was like they had all been taken control of by some spell.

They all looked hungry, but stayed in their positions, even one of them that currently had a scout hanging above it's open mouth had frozen in place, the Scout staring down at it.

The hell is going on here?

Apparently, she wasn't the only one who had been dumbfounded as all the other scouts had stopped to look at the frozen titans. It was unusual to see the man eating beasts suddenly so still, yet it was somewhat a relief to many of the Scouts as a good number of them started to use the moment to catch their breath. If the titans were going to give them some sort of break, they may as well just take it.

Erwin: Soldiers, take advantage of the situation. Take on the titans now that they've been immobilised. Let's not waste this opportunity.

Alongside the other soldiers, Mikasa took into the skies, already beginning to take down the titans. Erwin was right, they were better off fighting now and resting later than having to suffer once they started moving again.

It didn't take long for the sound of other gears was heard and the Garrisons had also taken to the skies, joining the Scouts in taking down the creature that was currently at the top of the food chain.

Everything went by quickly, titans falling onto the ground, in varying amounts, as the soldiers took them down. Eventually, the last of the titans were taken down, signalling that their battle had been won. Fort Rose was still standing and many of its inhabitants would live to see another day.

About an hour had passed since the battle had ended and the fort's inhabitants had already started to get back to their business. Many people had already started heading back to their homes—or what was left of them—while others had continued to head back to the northern part of the fort. The Garrisons had gotten to work, taking away all the corpses or what was left of them away while the grieving citizens were trying their best to keep it together.

As sad as it was, nature had taken its course. People had died, leaving behind countless families without anyone to care for them. As sad as it was to see people break down the way they did, there was nothing that could be done about it. Life just had to move on. Everyone just had to move on.

"Eren, how's your head feeling?" Mikasa asked from her position seated across Eren, keeping a concerned gaze on the brunette's bandaged head. If a Scout had not died, then they had suffered an injury of sort. Luckily, none had lost any of their limbs.

"It's fine," Eren spoke, wincing a bit from the pain he probably felt. He then frowned, "but there are others that are suffering worse than I am because those…bastards decided to make a meal out of them. I swear once I get back out there."

"Relax honey," Historia said from beside him, "we've just barely survived and you're already thinking about fighting them."

"Classic Eren for you," Armin sighed before looking at Mikasa, "how're you feeling, Mikasa. I don't see any bandages on you?"

"Oh, me?" Mikasa asked, having somewhat forgotten about the back injury she suffered not long ago. But now that it had been mentioned, the pain started coming back again, "just a small back injury. Nothing serious."

"I'm glad to hear it," Armin smiled at her before frowning, "it's sad seeing how many people have died today."

"How many exactly have died?" Eren looked at him.

"Well, according to what I've heard from the Garrisons, about fifty civilians and ten Garrisons," He started, "as for the Scouts, no exact number had been determined but all that I know is that we're less than thirty now."

"Less than thirty?" Historia asked, looking somewhat terrified, "that's terrible."

"I know right," Eren answered, "how are we even supposed to fight like this."

"That's the problem with you. All you ever do is think about fighting," Historia complained.

"Well excuse me, Historia," Eren retorted, "I'm just thinking about the future here. Unlike you, I don't want my kids entering a world where all they can do is be afraid."

Historia sighed, "there you go on about kids again."

"Hey, what can a guy do when he's been married for so long without even having a single kid," Eren answered, "I mean, look at Mikasa, we're practically the same age and she's already a mother of four."

Seriously? How do you people always forget?

"Hey, just because she's had a lot of time on her hands doesn't mean it's the same for everyone else."

A lot of time on my hands… ugh, that's it. I'm going to bed.

Mikasa rose from her seat, immediately catching everyone's attention. Before anyone could question the sudden action, "goodnight guys."

With that, the Half-Asian walked away from the group and began to make her way back to their shared room. Right now, she was exhausted and needed to get some serious rest, especially since her back was killing her. She was going to need a pack of pain killers to get through all that.

"Mikasa."

Mikasa stopped at the sound of her name and turned to meet Levi's gaze, "Levi?"

It took the man a moment to walk up to her and look her up and down as though examining her. He only brought his eyes to meet hers after he was done, "how's your back doing?"

"It's nothing serious. I'll be fine," Mikasa responded, calmly, "All I'll need is just a nice hot…ouch!" she said before hissing in pain, "what was that for?" she asked as Levi had pressed his palm against the small of her back without warning and it hurt her terribly.

"I was testing to see how bad it was," he responded plainly before sighing, his facial expression softening, "you should go and rest, alright. That fall you took for that brat has really messed your back up and I don't want things getting any worse. I want you to go and wait for me in our room. I'm going to talk to Erwin right now, but once I'm done, I'm going to come take care of you."

Mikasa smiled at the shorter man in front of her. Despite being cold and ruthless most of the time, Levi could be such a sweet guy sometimes. It was these things that he'd do that made Mikasa have a hard time staying mad at him whenever he pissed her off. He always knew just how to get her smiling again.

Mikasa then leaned in and placed a kiss of his lips for a few seconds before pulling away, "I love you Mr. Ackerman."

Levi returned her smile with one of his own, "you too, Mrs. Ackerman," he responded before turning around and starting to walk away, "see you soon."

"I'll be waiting," Mikasa called back as she also decided to continue on her journey back to their room. She was now excited for tonight. She was wondering what he could possibly have in store for her.

As she continued on her journey to her room, she continued to let her mind run on. She then remembered her family. She definitely had to make a call and find out how everyone was doing. Her dad, her mom, the kids, and…

"Junior!" Mikasa gasped, she hadn't seen or heard from her first born son ever since she told him to leave the strange titan to her. Her maternal instincts already going into overdrive as her eyes darted all over the place.

Where are you? Where the hell are you, Junior?

Levi could wait. Right now, she had to go grab her gear and go look for him. He wasn't dead, he was most likely just hiding in some building or went looking for his grandparents. Yes, that was the reasonable explanation.

"Papa!"

The little voice snapped the half-Asian out of panic mode. She looked around and to her shock, she saw a familiar little French boy running up to his father.

"Pierre?" Jean asked, from his position next to Marco after bringing his hunched form to sit up straight. He then looked around and completely softened up when he saw the child run up to him. "Pierre!" he shouted, hopping off of his seat and running towards his son, scooping him up with his arms ad bringing him to his chest, "Pierre, oh my God, Pierre I missed you so much!" Jean said, tears running down his face.

"I missed you too Papa," the toddler replied, hugging his father with all the strength his little arms could muster.

Mikasa felt her innards warm up at the sight before her. They both looked so happy with their tears and everything, and it all just looked so damn cute. She could definitely see the happy look on Marco's face and she could easily relate with him.

Now there was another question on her mind. Who had found him?

As if having read her mind, Jean popped the question, "Um Pierre, my little angel," he started, catching they boy's attention, "who brought you to Papa?"

"Oh, the nice man brought me to you."

"Which nice man?"

Pierre looked over his father's shoulder and pointed, "the nice man over there."

Mikasa, along with Jean and Marco's eyes followed the direction in which Pierre pointed and to their surprise, the nice man was

"Junior?" Jean asked, looking somewhat sceptical at the young Ackerman. The two didn't exactly get along, but it wasn't comparable to the relationship between Jean and Eren, so it must have been a bit weird—and awkward—for Jean find himself in this situation. Knowing Jean, he's probably battling with his pride right there. To everyone's surprise, his face softened, "thank you man, I really appreciate it."

"No problem," Junior responded, casually resting his hands in his pockets.

"Say thank you to Junior, Pierre."

"Thank you Junior!" the boy smiled before he was carried away by his father, giggling at whatever the man was saying to him. Smiles were spread across both Kirschteins faces.

She had to admit, it actually felt good to see Jean so happy after what he had gone through. And it seemed Pierre wasn't in too bad a shape. He was pretty tough for a toddler.

"Hey mom," Junior greeted as he walked up to her.

"Hey there, Nice man," Mikasa smiled as he approached her.

"Heh, really, mom," Junior started before coming to stand in front of her, "Mom, I wanted to say thanks."

"Thanks?"

"Yeah thanks," he clarified, "If you hadn't stopped me from attempting to kill that titan, I would've been dead right now, I would've never killed my first titan and most importantly, I wouldn't have saved Pierre."

Mikasa's smile got bigger, the pride she had for her son welling up within her, "see, you didn't kill that titan, but you sure did something great today."

"Yeah," he nodded before frowning, "also mom. I wanted to apologize to you. I acted like such an ass to you and I even got you injured when you were only trying to protect me. I'm really sorry mom and I hope you can have it in your heart to forgive me."

Mikasa raised her eyebrow at him, "Junior, no need for all that. I already forgave you the moment you said you didn't mean to," she started, "you're just a teenager and you guys are prone to do all this crazy stuff. I mean, when I was your age, I had literally beat up the entire boys' football team because they picked on your uncle Eren." When she saw his surprised face, she continued, "you did that because you wanted to do something for someone else and its normal for all of us to want to do something for someone we care about. We just have to learn to accept that there are things we cannot do for them and move on. Making mistakes is what helps us grow and from what I've seen, you've already grown from that one mistake you made."

Junior smiled at her, "thank you, mom."

"Anytime, Junior," she smiled at him, "though, you still have to apologize to your father."

Junior gulped, "wha… why? I didn't do anything wrong to him."

"Junior, you hurt the man's wife. Do you know how infuriating it is when someone lays their hands on your significant other?" she said, smirking at him. Though, she was being serious. She knew Levi would be upset with Junior for some time and that the best way to earn his forgiveness a little faster was to apologize to him, "you've gotta apologize to him."

"Ugh, fine," he grunted, "but what if he punishes me?"

"Honestly, you deserve it."

"...True."

"Alright then," Mikasa started before grabbing his hand, "come on."

"Where are you taking me?" Junior asked, allowing the Asian woman to guide him."

"You're walking me to my room," Mikasa answered plainly, "and on the way you're going to tell about how you found little Pierre when I sent you off."

"Ugh, fine."

As Mikasa listened to her son's explanation, her mind started to wander. Annie was right, life could be cruel. It could separate families, allowing people to die while their families remained grieving them. It could separate parents from their children for long periods of time, and wouldn't even be bothered whether or not the parent was depressed out of their mind.

In her life, she had come to learn that the world was a cruel place and there was no doubt about it. It made her gain the perspective that there wasn't much to live for in life when she was a teenager. It wasn't until she grew up that she found love, and had a family of her own that she started to realise that there was always a something to live for in the cruel world. Sometimes you may have to look for it, searching for years while other times they'd be in plain sight waiting for you to realise it. Even when you'd somehow forget about your life is worth living for...

"And then I just took it down, like I felt so badass. Man, I bet you and dad are pretty used to feeling like that huh."

Mikasa smiled at her son as he spoke. The boy was at one point as small as little Pierre, barely out of diapers running all over the place, making her and Levi question whether or not they were going to be able to raise that ball of energy well enough. Now when she took a look at him, he had grown so much it was unbelievable. He was a smart, responsible and overall amazing young man that never failed to fill her heart up with so much pride.

They still always found a way to remind you.

Hey there ladies and Gentlemen, lads and lasses, dudes and… female dudes. I would like to say thanks for reading so far and I hope I managed to entertain you all. So we got to see Pierre reunite with his papa and the Scouts (well most of them) managed to defeat the titans and Fort Rose got to see another day. On another end, Irene decided to use her powers to stop the titans. What happens now? Stay tuned to find out.

Honestly, it took a while to complete this but I'm glad to say that I'm happy so far that I've managed to post for you after a while. I really hope you're having a blast and I can't wait to hear what you guys have got to say.

As at now, all I can say is bye and I'll see you when I next update