Days of the future and past and present and beyond.

There were two types of people in this world. One who covered up their wounds and let it fester. Thought that pain was a fair compensation, and healing was an unfair interest. The other, who let the wound opened, and over time, dried enough to scab over. A scar was formed, ugly and demanding, but no longer did it ooze puss.

Then there was Mikasa, who would rather carve another wound into the scar, just to feel something. Because if she still could scream, to hear her own voice in this always echoing world, she was still alive.

And those who were alive could still bleed, bleed, and bleed—

They went out right after finishing their simple breakfast of bread and milk. Eren told the Royal Guards to stay behind and help the innkeeper with anything he needed, to the old's man reluctant gratitude, and held Mikasa's hand as they wandered the seaside town.

It smelt strongly of salt, reminiscent of their first journey to the ocean, although now volcanic ashes floated in their midst too. The Rumbling had been just a few hundred miles from their coast, the Colossal steps creating carters in the ocean bed as they made their first walk across the continent. There were fewer small carters scattered in the brick pavement too.

They pretended they were from large construction trucks, and the ashes were from a nearby factory. It was easier that way, somehow, pretending. Mikasa still looked around the bustling town. Eren didn't.

"Look, an ice cream stall," Mikasa pointed out.

"Do you want some?"

"Do you bring money?"

Eren touched his pockets and laughed. "No. Must've forgotten it in the rush to get here. Maybe I can get it free right now and have the guards pay it later."

"That's an abuse of power on your part," she said, lifting the hem of her skirt when they walked over a puddle. "I didn't have a chance to say this before, but thank you for coming here. I wouldn't know what to do if you—"

"Not your fault, Miki. You… You'd always brought me back before, now it's only fair if I do the same."

Fair. If only he'd known.

She watched her reflection on the dirty surface of the water, a sudden urge bloomed to splatter it everywhere, making everything around them dirty. The shiny cobblestone, the pristine tablecloth of that cafe, the blade of honeysuckle—

"You did give Armin a hell of a trouble. I don't know what excuse he'll give to the council," he continued.

"I should bring him back something. A souvenir. Oh, and maybe, a wedding gift for him and Annie. There should be something ocean-themed I can buy here."

Eren stopped in his track and looked down. "I heard you're their Maid of Honor."

Mikasa nodded. She almost forgot it. It seemed so long ago since Armin had asked. "And you…?"

"I don't know what I am to them anymore. I offered Armin the palace's ballroom if he wants, but I don't think Annie would want that. Or to see me around, that is."

"Annie's… Annie. She got her reasons." Mikasa tugged his hand. "Come on, I think I know where to go."

In the outer district of that seaside town, near the riverbanks, a flower shop lies silent and dark. Weeds growing instead of flowers, dust covering the windows of the once open door. People would walk past it and stirred their children away, as if a meter distance would make any difference to avoid whatever tragedy that place seemed to hide. Sometimes, a few brave kids who felt the need to prove something to the world would try to break inside. A vengeful ghost, a weeping widow, a virgin spinster, the tales whispered. They didn't prove anything in the end. Nobody ever did. Every mayor who ever stood on the podium for their campaigns always promised to make a park in that space, but years go by, and the building remained.

It was said, through the wrinkled lips of the town's elders, that a woman once lived there. Beautiful as the roses she nurtured, strong as the tree bark in her backyard. Lords would stand before her and kneel. Orphans would stand beside her and eat. The entire town would stand behind her and cheer. A savior, the shieldmaiden, whose eyes had seen the world and fingers had touched the sky.

There was a locked cabinet inside, where records spanning two thousand years ago withstand, telling the heroic story of that woman singlehandedly saving the town from a disaster. There was also a medallion, chiseled with the royal emblem, signifying the peace treaty between the Crown and the woman's clan. And burrowed deep, was a pair of pink baby socks, which was never clad in the feet it meant to.

"This shop was her legacy, they said she died here after fighting a war."

"What war? In Paradis? But Paradis didn't exist until… when was Paradis built again?"

"Doesn't matter. What ever happened to her?"

"… no one knows."

"This is it," Mikasa said.

Eren frowned at the abandoned small shop Mikasa had led them to. "This place looked old… ancient, even. But Paradis is only a hundred years old—"

"A hundred years after the Walls were erected. We know nothing about the civilization before. This entire town seemed older than Shiganshina and other cities."

"I supposed so. You're sure?"

Mikasa smiled at him, and Eren was too captivated by her smile that he didn't notice her eyes changing hues. Green, like his, like the blade of honeysuckle sprouting from the cobblestone near the café.

"Of course. She leads me here."

They found the locked cabinet. It reminded them of the basement in their house in Shiganshina. Eren draped his arm around her, a sense of protectiveness surged through him inside the desolate building, and together, they opened it.

A bundle of paper, a medallion, and a baby sock. Just like the stories had told. They didn't suspect or question anything—and later after everything was over, Eren would regret that—and for now they decided to let the winds of history carried them away.

It didn't occur to them that they might be reading lies. At least, to Eren.

Mikasa had already known long ago because after all, this was her story too, and she'd make sure Eren would never know the truth.

Pretending. It was easier that way.

A volcanic eruption threatened to level the whole village. They had heard it coming, the distant explosions and the soft hiss of ashes traveling from door to door. The merchants closed their shops and went away seeking a safer market. The villagers, not so fortunate, could only close their doors and barricaded the windows. They'd thought it was an attack from the neighboring island, the rumbling was the horses' hooves and the smoke was a cannon's residue.

They'd never thought once that nature itself had come to unleash its wrath. To what, they weren't sure. But nature didn't care. It gave them life, now it took them back.

The first explosion was a few miles from the coast, earthquakes rattling the roots and tsunamis eroding the corals. The very foundation of that village, of that island, the Paradise, gone in just a few seconds.

Men kissed their wives, women soothed their children, children cling to their toys, elders screamed prayers, nothing, nothing except braving against death.

That was until the baker's daughter, a simple maiden by the name Seraphina, knocked away the flying boulders and blew away the columns of dark clouds, and cut apart the waves.

Tall as the sky, bright as the sun, strong as the Earth itself, the maiden who gained the mysterious power birthed in the Paths.

"The Tenth Titan," Eren said. "The last."

"Seraphina named it the Sigma. A cumulative of all Titan powers."

"Not because she had the power of all Titans, that only belongs to the Founder, but because the Sigma is supposed to bind all nine powers together. To keep it close, to protect them."

Mikasa smiled. "Seraphina Ackerman was weak, but in that moment of hopelessness, of realizing she had everything dear to her to lose, her power awakened. The Ackerman clan was never born from an experiment with Titan science. That was just a lie to make the Crown looked more in control of their best soldiers. The clan was born out of the desire to protect their loved ones. We… were never slaves."

Eren gazed at her. "You never were. A fine line between duty and servitude, but Mikasa, you were never that."

"It might be. A fine line indeed. Seraphina made an agreement with the Crown to protect her power and her people from being hunted down," she continued as if she didn't hear Eren's unspoken apology.

"The Crown, the Fritz dynasty, only just discovering Ymir's power, agreed to leave the Sigma power alone in exchange for the Ackerman's loyalty as their warriors. It was a ruse, of course. They wanted to understand its power first before acquiring it."

"Seraphina wanted her village, her clan, to be powerful without any Titan power. To be independent. They made their first fortress here, in Paradis, made something out of nothing, and build the first civilization."

"So, this is your home, your real home, isn't it Mikasa?"

Mikasa nodded.

Then, the Great Titan War happened a decade after. Various houses, each with their respective Titan power, scattered across the continent of Eldia, fought for the throne. It was a dirty war, full of corrupted alliances and pointless sacrifices, truly what made them devils. The Crown was soon outnumbered and overwhelmed in their effort to uphold their authority. Thus, they seek the Sigma's power to help them, the only neutral party in the war.

Seraphina looked at the King's pleading, yet cunning, eyes and turned away. Her hand rested delicately on her pregnant belly. She couldn't shift, not with her baby on the way, and even if she could, she would still refuse.

"The Sigma stands alone," she told him. "It will not take part in the bloodbath. You promised us that."

The following week, the King's guards rode to Paradis and shackled her under the offense of treachery to the Crown. Her clansmen fought in her defense, but Seraphina calmed them before more violence could taint their home.

No more. No more war.

Seraphina allowed herself to be brought to an underground facility, thinking that the King would apprehend her after she gave birth and held her newborn as a hostage to force her to fight. It was understandable, she thought. There were worse ways to die. At least her baby was safe.

She didn't expect they would open her womb and yanked the fetus out of its mother.

"Now, shift and help me win this war," the King ordered. "I took your baby. If you refuse, I will take your power and your people's lives as well."

Clutching her bloody (how would they look like? will the baby have my eyes?) and empty (yellow is a good color for the nursery. we should decorate more) stomach, she could still feel the fluttering heartbeat of her baby, and Seraphina made her choice.

No more.

The battle between the two Titans that followed that catastrophe was the longest in history. The Founding managed to hold its stand but realized soon after that it could not control the Sigma as it could with the other eight Titans. Blinded by rage and grief, Seraphina clawed her way to the Founding's nape. The battle spanned days, and in the last day, the King found out the real reason why the Sigma was different than the rest. Different and dangerous. He couldn't defeat her.

The King brought some time, but Seraphina was faster, and she thrust her fist into the King's heart. In his dying state, he transferred the power to his daughter and died, the first time the Founding was ever defeated. The King told his daughter to eat the Sigma, but the princess was also a mother, and her gentle heart was sympathetic to Seraphina's loss.

"One mother to another," the princess approached the dying woman. "The people cannot know that the Founding Titan can be defeated. The Crown must remain strong. And the Sigma must remain a secret."

"You have to go to my house, the flower shop," Seraphina said.

"A flower shop? You didn't match my image of an innocent flower girl."

The other woman playfully splashed water at Mikasa. "You must think I'm an adulteress or something, with the way I seduce your lover."

"He is not my lover," Mikasa scoffed. "You're the one who thought so."

"Well, he is coming to fetch you here, like right now he is riding with his guards, so there must be some degree of caring from him to you."

"Eren always cared for people. Sometimes, too much, too strong. I didn't know how to handle it. I was always the one who cared for him—"

"And now you're confused. You didn't expect him to love you back."

"We're not here to talk about my love life," Mikasa turned to her. "What happened after you die?"

"I don't know. It seemed so long ago, but also like it was yesterday. Time isn't linear here. I liked it that way. I got to meet my… descendants, to put it simply. You, my grand-something-daughter."

"It sounds creepy when you said it."

"Well, to answer your question, the Sigma disappeared after my death. Either it passed on to another Ackerman, or returned to the Paths, I don't know. All I remember was the way it comforted me in my last moments. They said I did a good job."

"You did. It was a pity history didn't remember you."

"I wouldn't want it anyway. It's better this way," Seraphina smiled, green eyes glimmering with mirth.

"And our clan?"

"They fulfilled their duty to the very end. Protector of the Crown. It was the part of my bargain with the princess. The Sigma remained a secret, and our family was sworn to protect that secret."

"Until now."

"Until now," Seraphina picked a seaweed from her dress. "The Rumbling changed everything. Dawn to a new era. That's why the Sigma awakened yet again. It called to you."

"But I didn't receive any power. Nor does Levi."

"Not yet. The Sigma… It told me that its true goal is to destroy all Titan powers and return them back to the Paths. Humans had turn greedy with power. Humans need to survive without power like they once did It was only right."

"But how? Kill all the shifters? You know I cannot do that."

"The Sigma had another alternative. A bloodless one. I think you know what I'm talking about."

Mikasa looked up to the sky. It was a bright day, the sky spanning wide. "I think I do. But I don't know if it's the right thing."

"Wherever we go, whatever we do, sacrifices will follow. We've protected this island for centuries. You've protected Eren for years. Which one, Mikasa, which one is more important?"

"You can't expect me to answer that. A world against one person. It wasn't supposed to end like this."

Seraphina let out a soft bitter chuckle. "But it is."

"I swore to protect Eren. That's who we are, isn't it, bound to protect the people we love?"

"Sometimes," Seraphina smiled. "Protecting doesn't mean saving. We're protectors, Mikasa, not saviors. You need to do what is right, what is long overdue, for us and for him."

It was already night when they strolled back to the inn. Eren had shrugged off his jacket and put it around her to fend off the chills, while she massaged her temple gently using one hand. The other was holding an ice cream Eren bought for her.

Eren brushed off her bangs, "Headaches? Do you want to stop for a while?"

Mikasa shook her head. "I'm fine. It's just a lot of things to take in."

"Yeah." He didn't know what else to say. "It is."

"A mother who lost her child. It's a tragedy. Do you reckon there's a lot of pregnant women who died during the Rumbling? Their babies squashed to lumps. Did you see it from up there?"

Eren didn't need to see Mikasa know her expression. She'd always been like that since the war like she didn't realize the words that came out of her mouth, because that was how people dealt with regret. Always speaking the unspoken.

And Eren knew. She didn't mean to kill him with her words because after all, it was true and imminent and unescapable, but he would gladly welcome death for what was worth. He killed millions for freedom (or was it?), and now his conscience hunted him down for sport.

Mikasa was punishing herself, and he too, always. They were doomed that way, inevitably.

But pretending was easier, and Eren swiped a trail of ice cream from her lips with his thumb. "No. I was way too high. Your ice cream is melting."

Mikasa offered the cone to him. He licked the top. It was just cold. He couldn't taste flavors anymore.

Like the night before, Eren and Mikasa watched the dancing flames quietly in each other arms. He made sure to hold her strong, bleeding himself all over her, the arm on her waist, the hand behind her head, the legs between hers, the lips on her hair. Even if the world collapsed, Eren thought, he wouldn't move one inch away. He did that once and look at the consequences.

Mikasa played with the strands in his tied hair. "Why?" she asked.

He scrunched his eyebrows, and there was this new desperation—persistent and burning. "Why what?"

"Why now? Why love me now?"

He didn't answer.

"Is it because you're finally free? Because we're at peace now?" she continued. "Or is it because you pity me for my loss?"

"I don't need a reason to love you. I just did. And it isn't now, it's always, it has always been."

He was lying, they both knew it. He didn't tell all of the truth. Mikasa understood, she'd been doing that for him in the past, and it was only fair for him to do the same now.

"What happens after this?"

"We'll go back to the Capital. Armin and I will protect you. We will eliminate the cult and the rebel and everything that stands in our way."

We're protectors, Mikasa, not saviors.

"There will be no more threats. No more."

No more, Seraphina had said.

"Okay," she replied. "No more."

Eren kissed her cheek softly. "And then we can live in the hills of Shiganshina if you want it. Like we used to dream. I'll build you a cabin, with a backyard barn, and you can even have your own garden. We'll have an extra bedroom for Armin. Large bed, for Annie too, if she wants to come."

"What happens with you being the ruler?"

"I'll go visit the Capital once a week. Armin can rule in my name. He's better suited for that anyway."

Mikasa smiled. "And then?"

"And then we live."

Eren dropped his head lower to claim her lips. He nudges her lower lip and brushes his tongue with hers. It was tingling and Mikasa giggled.

"Stop, it feels funny."

"You're funny. It's okay. We can practice more later. Let's sleep, you look Captain Levi-tired."

"Says the man who's been dropping his eyelids for hours."

"The tea you made, it's really relaxing. I feel like I can sleep for days."

It was Mikasa's turn to kiss his cheek. "I know. Good night, Eren. That cabin you said, it's a nice dream. Dream of us, alright?"

He dozed off before answering. Mikasa's heart clenched.

Mikasa untangled Eren's limbs, kissed his forehead, and got up. The room was cold. She brushed her messy bed hair and laced up her boots.

She contemplated on bringing her scarf or not, but in the end, she did. She wrapped it on herself because this time, it wasn't about him, it was about her.

Mikasa left at the first daylight, whispering a thank you to the past and an apology to the future, because the next time she saw Eren, she would have to kill him.

"You said we're protectors," she replied to Seraphina. "What should I do?"

"There was this power, this technique, that only the Sigma can do. It can seal another power in an eternal slumber. It was what the Sigma did to itself when cornered by the enemy. And after some time passed, the power inside that seal will disappear. Returns back to the Paths."

"You want me to seal Eren."

"It's not about what I want."

"He told me about the dream he wants us to have in the future. It is my dream too. Is it so bad to want it now more than ever?"

Seraphina opened her mouth, but the waves were too loud. Their time was ending.

"But I can't have that, can I? Ten thousand dreams still won't save our love."

Note:

I know this chapter is kind of confusing with the different timelines so here is the explanation: Eren and Mikasa scenes are linear, they went to the shop, discovered the scrolls and read it, returned back to the inn, and Mikasa left. All of Mikasa and Seraphina's conversation happened when Mikasa was still stranded in the ocean, before Eren got to her in the last chapter. That's why there are hints that Mikasa already know all of the stuff in the scrolls before going with Eren. The description of the flower shop is a random timeline, it's just a conversation between two passersby. The history of Seraphina and the Sigma Titan are all flashbacks. I hope this clear thing out! Sorry again if this chap is super confusing, believe me it's the hardest chap to write. But that being said, we've reached the somewhat turning point of the story (?) because things can't go back now.

Now that I've been re-reading my previous chapters, I'm kinda mindblown lol. I originally wanted this fic to be just 3-5 chapters with only focusing on a what if post rumbling EM relationship with possessive bitch Eren and rebellious Mikasa, BUT IT GREW A PLOT. Jesus.

But well, the responses I got from you guys are all amazing and I really took all the suggestions seriously, so thank you for that! I feel like maybe I'll take a short break after this chapter because wow this one took me 2 weeks to write HAHA

Thank you for all the love! I'm floating in Mikasa's makeshift moon. See you next chapter!

Love,

Oyip xx