Hello readers!

This is my last installment to this loosely tied string of drabbled. Thanks for your readership and for checking out my EreMika one-shot a few weeks back! If you haven't already, take a read when you have a chance.

I was a little sad with AoT's conclusion, but even more appreciative of the great fanfiction out there to fill the void and give us a happy place.

Hope you enjoy this one.

Disclaimer: AoT is not mine, not even in the slightest.

She sat up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily.

It was dark, the moonlight only barely shining in through the window. She felt a little disoriented; it took her a second to process her surroundings.

With her left hand, she clutched at the scarf that had left her grasp as she slept. Her right hand reached out to pat the spot next to her, looking for him.

She exhaled with relief. He was there. In their bed. With her.

Eren stirred at her touch and reached back out to her. In a second, he was pulling at her waist to bring her closer to him.

"M'kasa, wha' happened? You okay," he mumbled out sleepily, head buried at her side as he continued to clutch her.

Her heart was still pounding. She hadn't had a nightmare in so long. And this one...well, this one felt too real. She had woken with an ache in her chest and an empty feeling she had not experienced since she had lost her parents.

"It's nothing. Sorry for waking you."

She ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair.

She sighed in contentment. He was real. The emptiness and ache within her dulled.

"Mmm, doesn't seem like nothing," he said, head now coming to rest in her lap.

"It's nothing, I promise. Just a nightmare," Mikasa said softly.

This time Eren sat up, the weight of his movement causing their bed to creak. He reached over to the nightstand by his bedside to turn on an oil lamp.

As the room was filled with warm light, she could see the concern in his serene green eyes when they met hers.

"Talk to me. Don't treat me like I'm the kid you have to protect. Treat me like the man who wraps your scarf around you every morning and night," his brows furrowed.

She half-smiled. Eren was right. Years of being together and Mikasa still hated to disturb him with her anxieties.

"C'mon, you can tell me. What happened in your nightmare," his voice was gentle as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, giving her a light squeeze.

Warmth washed over her. She released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

"I...You left. You died," she managed as her eyes darted around the room, searching for words to describe what her nightmare had shown her.

He let out a sound as if to urge her to continue.

"But it was terrible. You were attacking the world, Eren. We had to end you, e-end you to save the world. It was the most painful thing I've experienced. You were gone, Eren. You left me when you promised me you would wrap my scarf around me forever," she looked back at him; she knew an accusing expression was on her face.

Tears were stinging at her eyes now, and that same ache in her chest came back with a vengeance.

Wordlessly, he pulled her in closer and wrapped his other arm around her. Her face was buried in his chest. She was now enveloped in him, his scent intoxicating her. It soothed her in a way she could never quite understand.

Eren placed a firm kiss at the crown of her head. Mikasa once again felt the warmth of his love wash over her.

They were silent for a long moment.

"I'm sorry," he said finally.

She shook her head vehemently and looked up at him, upset that he could think he had anything to be sorry for, "You have nothing to be sorry for, Eren! It was just a nightmare. I-I didn't mean to make you feel at fault..."

His green eyes, somehow lighter in color in the dim light of their bedroom, glazed over with somberness. The lips she had grown to know very well were curved in a frown. He leaned down to give her another kiss, this time on her forehead.

Even years after first getting together, his kisses -especially sweet, comforting forehead kisses- still made her blush from time to time. He must have caught her blush because the corners of his lips tilted upwards just a bit.

But his eyes, no, those didn't hold a smile.

"I'm just sorry, Mikasa. I'm sorry for everything I've done in this lifetime and...and others that haven't made me worthy of your dreams," he shut his eyes and held her tightly.

She almost couldn't breathe with how strongly he held her, and she couldn't fully understand what he meant. Sometimes he did this. Said things that confused her, that caused her to wonder whether she was living in a dream. But she felt him solid against her and knew it was all real.

Mikasa wanted to tell him that he wasn't in her dreams because he was the dream. Anything with him, any life with him, was her dream. Her subconscious mind had no reason to imagine his love when she had the pleasure of living it each and every day.

"I love you, Mikasa. I hope you know that I've loved you all along."

"Mm, I know. My Eren," she responded softly.

He leaned to place a tender kiss on her lips.

She smiled and closed her eyes. That was all she needed to hear to drift back to sleep, content and loved and in her beloved's arms.

"Mikasa?"

She woke with a start. As she opened her eyes, the sunlight caused her to squint and bring a hand up to shade her eyes.

In doing so, she was able to make out the person whose voice had called out to her.

It was Armin. He had arrived with Jean and Connie.

She surveyed her surroundings. She was on his hill, under his tree, next to his gravestone.

Eren...

Her heart ached, and an empty feeling washed over her. Instinctively, she brought her hand up to her scarf. She guessed she had dozed off right into a memory of him again.

"Ar-are you okay," Armin asked tentatively, coming to sit down next to her, "Nightmare or dream?"

In her letters to him, she had told him of the times Eren appeared to her in dreams and nightmares that teetered somewhere between memory and fantasy. Her friend worried for her, but she knew he understood a part of her would mourn for her beloved each day. If she could no longer protect Eren, then she would at least always keep his memory with her.

"Mm, a little bit of both," she finally said, "but it was almost a reprieve from missing him."

"Oh," Armin gave her an understanding look and patted her arm.

Jean and Connie plopped down on either side of the pair and glanced quietly at Eren's gravestone. They sat in comfortable silence with her; she was sure they knew words would have no impact.

Mikasa nodded slightly in acceptance of the reality of her grief. She brought her knees to her chest and hugged them as she looked up at the sky, watching as birds flew through the clouds.

She sighed and looked back at the small gravestone they had placed so carefully over his grave three years ago. The ache in her chest had dulled, but it was still there, ever the reminder of his absence.

Mikasa nodded to herself again.

Yes, nightmares and dreams would have to do until she could be by Eren's side again.

Thanks for reading! Until next time.

I'll likely be posting a one-shot based somehow around the manga ending sometime in the next few weeks.