Eren slumped on the bed, with defeat. The young man knew what it was about, and what his purpose there was. He was supposed to tell everyone what the fallen queen had done to him. Explain all her evil deeds, to the crowd of confused nobles. Yet, when the time finally came, everyone else had to do it in his stead.

Ever since he had regained his memories, the only time he told anyone about what happened that night, was during training, before fighting Frieda. Eren didn't really have any idea on how he should be feeling, right now. They have managed to dethrone the queen, however the hollow feeling inside him, stayed past that point.

"I'm sorry" he heard from the door.

Looking up, he noticed that Ymir was standing, just outside the room. She led him away from the meeting earlier and made sure that they would not be followed later.

"It's not your fault" Eren responded, as the freckled female walked closer to the bed "you didn't say anything. Besides, they needed to hear this…"

"I can imagine that it still hurts" Ymir spoke, placing a hand on his shoulder "you haven't really talked about it, you know?"

The young man looked her in the eyes, when she sat down next to him.

"What else is there to talk about?" He asked, trying to avert the topic.

Suddenly, something unexpected happened. Ymir took hold of his head and plopped it down in her lap.

"Uhm, Ymir…?" He asked, when she started to massage his temples.

"There is a lot to talk about" she said, not bothering to stop "maybe you think that nothing had really happened, yet you act as if everything changed. You shouldn't bottle those emotions up…"

Upon hearing that, Eren relaxed. Ymir's lap was very comfortable, and this nice feeling reminded him of what his mother would do when he was sad or upset.

As the time was passing, the young man finally decided to open up.

"It was totally unexpected" he spoke, all of a sudden.

"Yeah, what else?"

"She was scaring me, back then" Eren explained, looking up from the girl's lap "she was so forward…"

"I'm so sorry" the freckled female said with a sad face, leaning down, to place a kiss on his forehead "if I was there…"

"Nothing could be done" the young man interjected, turning his gaze away from her expression "she had told me that she's been wanting this for a long time. It was a coincidence we even brought her down…"

Ymir looked over Eren. He was really trying to downplay everything that had transpired between him and Frieda. It really pained her to see him like this. Normally brave and brash boy was now reduced to this sulking mess. She really hoped that time would allow for him to heal…

Over a month had passed ever since queen Frieda had been deposed. Many things have changed. Historia was crowned, the military police had been reinstated, works to rebuild the destroyed part of the royal palace proceeded. And soon, they would launch a long-awaited operation to reclaim wall Maria, along with the scouts.

Today, however, Ymir was supposed to check up on someone. As she walked through the dark corridors of the underground prison in Mitras, she started wondering if their course of action was necessarily for the best.

It sure looked better for some of them. Development and distribution of new technologies, sure sounded good for the people. With more working manufactories, they could supply and arm the continental rebels even faster.

However, something dangerous was seemingly lurking on the horizon. Surely, it was risky not to have Historia take Frieda's power. It created many, unwanted possibilities that could potentially hinder everything. Yet, the fallen queen's expertise in using the coordinate proved to be the decisive point in any discussion about her disposal. Besides, Frieda didn't seem to mind either…

But something wrong was about to happen, Ymir was sure of that… Whenever she thought about their future, there was always that looming dread that their relatively peaceful lives would be ruined just as easily, as the internal peace, all those years ago.

At last, the freckled female reached her destination.

She was standing in front of a single cell. Behind bars, there was a bed, a small desk and a few candles, giving some light to this dark dungeon. On a small chair, next to the table, there was a person, eating his dinner.

Upon noticing her arrival, the occupant turned to smile at the female.

"Hey" Bertholdt exclaimed happily.

She had kept her promise to the distressed warrior. After they've dethroned Frieda, the freckled female issued for Historia to transport him here, to make his living conditions better. It was a hard task, considering his powers, but so far, he was extremely cooperative.

"How are you doing?" Ymir asked, sitting on a chair outside the cell, probably brought here by one of the guards.

"Good enough" Bertholdt responded "how are things going outside?"

It was good to see him with his limbs regrown. Improper feeding had effect on the healing powers and once he was started to be fed properly, they kicked in again.

"We're going to take wall Maria, soon."

The boy furrowed his brow. It was obvious that he didn't like to hear his enemies advance, though even if he wished for them to stop, he couldn't do anything about it. Instead, he chose not to comment on that.

"How is your shared boyfriend?" He asked, trying to change the topic.

For Ymir, that was a tough thing to talk about. She would spend whole days with Eren, now that Historia was always busy, and it didn't really look like he was getting better.

"He learned how to control the hardening" she explained "he had set his mind on fixing the wall, so at least he's trying to do something…"

"That was to be expected" Bertholdt added "but… I'm asking about the other problem."

The freckled female sighed at that.

"He still hadn't registered that it was the same Frieda who made his life for the better" she explained slowly "I think he created two versions of the same woman inside his mind, so that he could cope with it better."

"Dealing with problems takes time" the warrior responded, looking at the floor "believe me, I know…"

Ymir most certainly knew and understood that. Witnessing first-hand, what was going on the other side of the sea, made her sympathetic towards the situation that Bertholdt had found himself in. Only a fool wouldn't consider the fate of the warriors of Marley, tragic. They may have become mass murderers, of their own people, yet the truth behind every crime that they've committed, was far more complex. After all, their own families, and by extension, other folks, were the hostages, held against them.

"I hope that after all this, I get to see my family, again" Bertholdt said, closing his eyes.

Family was something alien to Ymir. Sure, now she had Eren and Historia, but the traditional meaning of this word didn't exactly extend to them. And besides those two, nobody else could really be considered as her family.

"I guess there still may be some cultists on the island…" the freckled female spoke, jokingly.

Her life wasn't supposed to be much longer anymore. Getting a few kids, then grandkids, and having a nice, heart-warming group of relatives was never really her thing. But now, this looked like something desirable…

"Aren't you" the warrior started, with apprehension "like some kind of a love trio, with the other two?"

That question really put a smile on the freckled female's face.

"I guess you could say we are a triangle" she spoke, with a chuckle.

Bertholdt just shook his head at that.

"I still don't understand this weird relationship" he explained genuinely "I would never enter something even remotely similar…"

As the topic of discussion drifted off towards more light things, Ymir relaxed herself. In a way, it was getting better, the plan was going forward, and her closest people were safe.

It was only later, that Mikasa walked into Historia's office with a very peculiar report. One made by the royal medic, about a recent case regarding the fallen queen, Frieda Reiss.

A report that would shake them all, to their cores.