!BIG SPOILER WARNING!

1 - DESERTERS

„Mikasa."
„Huh?"
„…what... What am I to you?"

Eren looked down into Mikasa's eyes.
His expression was soft, but also a bit concerned. A touch of sadness also joined his eyes, and he was nervous about her answer.
Mikasa's eyes widened when she heard his question.

She opened her mouth and closed it again, she blushed and she felt nervous, why was he asking her this?
"Y-…you… you are…", she started, and her face went even more red.
Suddenly, her mind went blank. Her expression softened as the nervousness faded out of nowhere.
Everything around them went quiet and Mikasa felt like there was only Eren and her left on this planet. Her first instinct was to answer out of panic. He was family. Wasn't he?
"Mikasa… tell me.", Eren said and didn't stop looking in her eyes for a second.
"…you. You are…."
Mikasa smiled warm, all of a sudden she wasn't afraid anymore.
"You are my everything. My beloved. My dear…", she answered and grabbed her red scarf with one hand to pull it up a bit.
"You saved me. You wrapped this scarf around me… all I want is to be by your side."
When she realized what she just said, she blushed heavily again and pulled her scarf even higher.
"I-…! I mean… I…", she started to stutter. Where did those word come from, all of a sudden?
She wanted to tell him he's family. But something pushed her to reveal her true feelings for him.
Eren stared in her eyes, his gaze changed between Mikasa's eyes and he opened his lips to say something, but he closed them again for a warm and soft smile.

That wasn't the answer he saw in the paths. And he was glad it wasn't "Family".
Eren leaned down and pulled the scarf he gave her when they were children down again to lean in even closer: "And I'm yours…", he whispered before he kissed her gentle and pulled her closer by her hips. Mikasa's eyes widened when she felt his lips on hers.
She dreamed about this so often, but in reality, he felt even better.
Eren pulled back as Mikasa didn't respond to his kiss and he started to worry that he went too far.
But before he could say something, Mikasa laid a hand in his neck und pulled him closer again for another soft kiss.
Two single tears rolled down her blushed cheeks, she never imagined this to happen.
"Hey…don't cry, did I do something wrong?", Eren asked with a dark but soft voice as they separated.
"No… no, I'm just so happy.", Mikasa said and the taller boy wiped away her tears of joy.

"…"
Both just looked into the others eyes for a moment, what should they do now?
They just arrived at Marley some days ago.
And they wanted to start a war against them, to save and protect Paradis.
Protect their home.
Everyone met so many people on the foreign land, saw so many new things, some locals even offered them a place to stay the night. Everyone was having a good time around them.
They ate and drank together in a village made of tents.
"Let's run away.", Mikasa said all of a sudden.
"What?!"
"Let's just run away! Just the two of us!"
Eren's eyes widened, was she serious?
They would leave everyone behind. Their friends, their home, everything.
"Let's live the few years you have left in peace.", Mikasa said with a certain voice.
Eren knew he had to make a big decision in this moment.
As he saw the future in the paths before, he was able to predict so many situations and behaviors in the past.
But this situation now, it was new. He didn't know what she would do next.
Was it, because she was an Ackermann?
He didn't know. But the real question was – What was more important?
To save Paradis, his friends and gain freedom? Or Mikasa?
"… yes. Let's run away. Just the two of us."

Eren and Mikasa were running, her hand tight in his one, they had nothing but the clothes they wore and some money in their pockets.
Eventually, they reached a place the people here called a train station.
Large horses made out of steel, which blew steam in the air stopped there for people who wanted to travel. Hanji went nuts when she saw one for the first time, she wanted to learn everything about it.
Both smiled a bit at the thought, when they remembered her reaction.
"2 Tickets please.", Eren said to the ticket seller, who tilted his head a bit in confusion.
"Okay Sir, but to which destination?", he asked and Eren looked over to Mikasa who stood beside him. She looked back with the same questioning expression on her face.
"Uh… which are available?", she asked, and the man raised an eyebrow.
"You don't know where you want to go?", he asked and both Eldians blushed ashamed.
"Alright, look at this and come back when you made a decision.", he said and gave them a small map.
"Thank you.", Mikasa responded and they sat down to check the map.
"…something far, far away.", he said and Mikasa nodded.
"Yes… somewhere, no one will find us.", she said and they found a spot which seemed to be very far away from Marley. It also seemed to be not very crowded, here they would be able to live alone.
Mikasa and Eren looked at each other and nodded with a determined gaze.
So they went back to the ticket seller and Eren showed him the station they wanted to travel to.
As they couldn't read the graphic characters of Marley, they did it that way.
"Switzerland? I hope you brought time with you.", the man said and gave them the tickets, told Eren the price and he paid as requested.
"Time? What do you mean?", Mikasa asked a bit confused, and the man answered: "It takes about 36 hours and 3 switches to get there." – "Good.", Eren said, and the man was even more confused.
Mikasa took Eren's Hand again in hers.
He felt so warm, and she loved the feeling he gave her by physical touch.
As both confessed now, she wanted to always be the closest as possible to him.
He smiled to her as he felt her hand, tightened the grip shortly and both looked down on their tickets afterwards.
"Okay, uh… I think 'platform' is the thing we need to search for?", she asked and looked around.
"There! There are numbers written on the wall!", the raven-haired girl said and Eren looked up.
"Yes. We need to go to number 4.", he said, and they found the right one after a short while.
It took a while before the train arrived. The door opened and the couple stood right in front of it.
"…we can't go back afterwards. You know that, do you?", he asked, and both continued to stare at the train.
"Yes. But we are already traitors now. Deserters.", Mikasa answered.
"I could tell them it was my idea. That I forced you. So, they won't punish you."
Eren started to worry.
"Eren. Listen.", she said and looked up to him.
"All I ever wanted is to be by your side. I told you this before, do you remember?", she said with a soft smile.
"It was always us against the world. From the very beginning. Don't worry about me. I know you want to protect me. But I'm okay, Eren. I'm with you.", she said and tightened her grip around his hand.
"…", there was nothing more he needed to know. She was certain, so he could be certain, too.
"Let's go.", he said, and both made the step into the train at the same time.

A whole day passed, and the young couple got out of the train to make the last switch on this long travel. Both were tired and hungry, so they decided to use the time they had before the last train arrived to go get some food.
"Do you have some money left, Eren?", Mikasa asked as Eren searched for some in his pockets.
"Not much… we needed most of it for the tickets.", he sighted, so Mikasa searched her jacket for some leftover money.
"Ah! Here!", she smiled happy as she found a bank note in her jacket.
"Oh, bless the holy walls, I thought we wouldn't get anything to eat!", Eren laughed and so they started to search for something to eat.
Eventually they found a bakery where they bought something and took it with them to the platform where their last train was supposed to arrive.
Mikasa took out some of the food to give it to Eren, before she took her own out of the bag.
"Mhh~! It's really good!", she smiled happy as she took a first bite.
"It really is!", he smiled and both had a really relived expression on their faces as their stomachs got finally filled again.
"When we made us a home I will go fishing, so we will never have to be hungry again.", the green-eyed boy said with a happy smile on his face.
"I'd love that, Eren.", Mikasa smiled happy and finished the bun in her hand.
"And I will create a garden with many vegetables for us. Like my mother did.", she said with a nostalgic expression on her face. She loved the way she and her parents used to live, until their life was put upside down within a second. Before she could fall into darker memories, Eren got her back into reality: "This would be great, we would be able to care completely for ourselves!"
Mikasa looked up again to see into his eyes: "Oh! Y-…yeah, that would be perfect."
Their last train was announced, so they got up and went into the train which just arrived in time.
"We will be there soon.", Eren smiled slightly and Mikasa nodded while she had to yawn.
She cuddled up to him, laid her head on his shoulder and Eren laid his arm around her, so she was able to rest in a comfortable position.
"We'll make us a home, like you always dreamed of.", he whispered and kissed her hair softly.

Finally, the train stopped at the final destination.
Eren had napped a bit and opened his eyes, as a voice told everyone to get off the train.
"Mhn…", he looked down to Mikasa who had fallen into a deeper sleep.
"Hey… Mika. We arrived.", he whispered softly to wake her up.
Eren kissed her forehead lovingly and stroked his hand over her side.
"Huh?" Mikasa opened her eyes slowly as she felt his kiss and touch.
"We have arrived. We need to get out.", Eren said and smiled a bit.
"Come on, let's get out of here. And start a new life."
Mikasa nodded, stretched and took his hand again before both got up and off the train.
Everything looked kind of different to what they saw in Marley. It was much greener, and the houses were way smaller. It wasn't a big city like Liberio, even the towns inside the walls on Paradis seemed to be more crowded.
"It's…it's beautiful.", the raven-haired girl said with shimmering eyes.
"Yeah…yes, it is.", Eren responded, and they got out of the small train station.
"Let's make us a home."

A few days later Mikasa and Eren found themselves inside the big woods of the foreign country they escaped to. It was beautiful, there were big and many different trees, the gras was so green, it was almost fake, the sky was blue and big mountains were seen around them. Three different rivers came out of the woods to flew in a big lake, right beside the spot where they decided to make themselves a home. They hiked 3 days with big backpacks, filled with clothes and important items they got in the city, to get deep inside the woods, so no one would ever find them.
Or to make it very difficult to find them, at least.
"Okay… Mikasa? Are you ready?", Eren asked, and she nodded with her thumbs up.
"Alright…", he mumbled and bit his hand hard.
A lightning stroke with a big bang and the Attack Titan appeared with a loud roar.
Eren started to rip some trees out of the ground and ripped of the branches.
They started to build a wooden cabin, just like the one Mikasa and her parents used to live in.
Mikasa helped by connecting the tree trunks Eren prepared, it worked very well.
It took them two days until it was ready to use. Eren's Titan power was a really big help.
Eren released himself out of his Titan-Form and jumped down to the ground, were Mikasa stood in front of the finished cabin.
"I think this will be okay, huh?", he smiled and wiped the sweat of his forehead.
"Mikasa?", he asked, as she didn't respond.

"Mika, are you okay?", Eren worried and walked around her to be able to look in her face.
"Hey! Is everything okay? Did I hurt you, or did you hurt yourself?!", Eren asked a bit in panic as her face was covered in tears and she started to sob.
The brown-haired boy took a step forward to pull his girlfriend into his arms.
He hold her tight and laid a hand on the back of her head, while his other arm was wrapped tight around her waist.
"Talk to me… did I do something wrong? Do you want to go back?", he asked anxiously.
Mikasa buried her face on his shoulder and sobbed a bit louder as she tightened her grip on the shirt on his back.
"Mika…please…", he whispered and kissed her hair softly.
"Ngh…n-…n-…no…", she started to talk between her sobs, "…i-..it's…it's just…"
He was patient and continued to hold her tight.
"It's…it's just li-…like the one I-…I used to li-…li-…lived with my…my parents….", she finally said and Eren was glad, a big load fall of his mind when he heard her words.
"It's okay… it's fine. Let it all out…", he whispered with a slight smile on his lips.
"…thank you, Eren…"