I love yo faces.

Chapter Six
The Fall of Shiganshina – Part 3

Year 844
Within Wall Rose

"You're absolutely insane."

Klara opened her eyes to see Hanna standing on the branch below her. The girl was clinging tightly to one of the sticks jutting from her perch.

It was their second outing into the training forest, and everyone was still trying to get the hang of things. Most of the cadets couldn't go more than fifteen feet off the ground without completely panicking. Klara, however, had landed on one of the higher branches, and was hanging on by her legs as she watched the chaos below.

"To be fair," she started, holding a hand up. Or was it down? "Have I ever done anything to make you think otherwise?"

Hanna sighed.

Klara smirked then, watching her friend's eyes widen in fear as she realized what she was about to do.

"No!" Hanna shouted, clinging to the stick further. "No no no no!"

Only encouraged by Hanna's pleas, Klara released her legs from around the branch, flipping down and landing on Hanna's perch. It was a surprisingly elegant move, leaving her neither off balance nor falling to the ground. Klara was incredibly proud of herself. Even more so when Hanna dropped down and clung to the branch with her arms and legs with a very loud shriek.

"Wonderful day, isn't it?" Klara said, mockingly stretching.

"I hate you."

Klara held her hand out, helping her friend up. "C'mon, it's not so bad."

"Maybe for you, but I prefer buildings," Hanna replied, glancing down. "All this open space makes me nervous."

"There aren't many trees where I grew up," Klara admitted, looking around and taking a deep breath. The scent of pine and dew filled her lungs, and it calmed something inside of her that she hadn't realized was agitated. "I always wanted to see a proper forest."

Hanna blinked. "You've never seen a forest before? The way you go around, I thought you lived in one."

"No. Always acted like it though. Slept on the roof of my house more often than my bed."

Her friend shook her head. "You were made for the Survey Corps, Klara. Or maybe they were made for you."

Klara winked.

"Lange! Tifft!" Nelek shouted from down below. He looked even smaller so far beneath them. "Return to formation!"

Smiling, Klara glanced at Hanna.

"No…don't."

Klara leapt from the branch with an echoing 'woop!'

Year 845
North of Shiganshina – Within Wall Maria

Her blades ran across the nape of a four meter with ease, ending whatever life it possessed as she landed on the ground. Her footing stumbled, however, and she collapsed into the dirt without ceremony. One of her blades snapped in two, and she stared at it, watching the steam slowly fade the blood away.

It had been two days since they left Shiganshina, and she was exhausted. Her legs trembled, her muscles burned despite all her physical training, but her mind would not allow her to sleep. All she saw were the bodies; all she saw were his eyes.

Someone landed beside her, and Klara found herself looking up into the dark eyes of Levi. His gaze reminded her of Jonas in a way, though the look didn't come from disinterest. Eyes that had seen too much, perhaps. He wasn't a squad leader, he hadn't even been in the Corps long according to other veterans, but he held a certain authority that no one questioned.

"Klara, is it?" he asked, though she had a feeling he would not have cared much if she said no.

She nodded, standing slowly. Levi was one of the shortest men she'd ever come across, falling well below her height, but the way he carried himself made him seem larger. She'd heard others mention that he was the best fighter anyone had ever seen, and had been recruited straight from the streets by Erwin.

It was intimidating.

"Have you slept at all?"

Klara shook her head, rubbing the back of her neck. It had been feeling off ever since she escaped the house in Shiganshina. She'd even blacked out briefly, before coming to with a girl sobbing on her shoulder and an ear of corn jabbing into her back. Did that count as sleep?

His eyes narrowed a fraction. "Do you enjoy putting lives in danger?"

She blinked, taken aback. Klara found herself straightening, as if under inspection.

"That last kill was sloppy and reckless. You're lucky there wasn't another titan around to eat you. The Scouts depend on the strength of those to their left and right, and if there is one weak link, it all falls apart." He paused, looking her over, unimpressed. "Play hero again, and I'll take you down myself. Now, fall back."

She'd received kinder words in training.

Klara nodded lamely and marched down the road.

They'd managed to secure some tents and had set up temporary 'barracks' behind a line of cannons. It mostly consisted of blankets on the cold ground, but it was better than nothing. Klara turned in her gear and headed straight for one of the tents.

There was no rhyme or reason to the layout, no separation of men and women. Scouts just entered the tents and fell where they would, which was precisely what Klara did. She collapsed onto a pile of blankets – letting out a sigh of relief when they weren't occupied – and laid there, all her muscles suddenly unable to function.

Her eyes stayed open for as long as she dared them to, afraid of what she might see when she closed them, but before she knew it, it had grown dark outside the tent. She must have slept. At least it was peaceful, and Klara found herself turning over in hopes of catching a little more.

What she found was Luka staring at her. He smiled warmly, but his green eyes had dulled in death.

"It's a good thing you were there to save me."

Klara sat up, gasping, hands desperately grasping for equipment that wasn't there. Only after confirming that Luka was not actually beside her did she take a deep breath and relax, bringing her head into her hands.

"Seeing ghosts too?"

Isak was sitting on the other side of the tent, having procured a chair from…somewhere. He'd been whittling down a block of wood with his knife. It hadn't taken any particular shape yet. Maybe it never would.

"How long have I been out?" she asked, ignoring his question. Talking about it wouldn't make it go away. It would just make her think on it more.

"Half a day, I think? I was supposed to switch out with you, but Levi told me not to bother and took your shift instead."

He talks about risking lives, but when did he last sleep?

They were all dead on their feet. There were only so many of them, and they'd lost a handful to injury. A few had died as well, lost legs that had bled out, some were eaten whole. Their plan to lure the titans coming through the wall to the patch of forest they occupied was working, but there were simply too many, and their reinforcements too few.

"I shouldn't stay here," Klara said, getting to her feet. She swayed as she was overwhelmed with dizziness, her body very much not prepared to function again.

"Hey!" Isak called as she felt a steadying pressure on her arm. "There's no need to do that. No one is going to blame you for taking a little more time."

"I will," she replied resolutely, squeezing her fists and locking her knees until the sensation passed.

Isak followed her out into the dark. The temperature had dropped significantly, and a fog licked at their ankles, making the path hard to see. Klara found herself wrapping her arms tightly around her. She'd gotten her coat back from the boy when he was evacuated, and received the name Elias in response, and Nanaba had supplied her with a cloak, the origins of which she chose not to think about, but the cool air still cut through her like steel.

They walked over to the supply tent, where soldiers had been dropping off their ODM gear. Even with the extras they'd been given and the ones they'd managed to secure from Trost, they were running dangerously low on functioning sets. Many broke or jammed, so soldiers coming off duty would have to trade off with those coming on. A handful of scouts who'd been injured, but not seriously enough to evacuate, had taken to cleaning and fixing the gear. They had managed to bring a few back from the brink, but not enough to keep up with the demand.

At the very least, they had been given a steady stream of gas.

Klara picked up a belt, fiddling with the latch. "I had taken my grandfather's old gear. I don't even know which is his anymore."

"Hope he's not sentimental," Isak said, lingering near the tent flap. He stared out into the darkness, eyes narrowed. "They're out there somewhere, just watching. And we can't even see them."

"Try not to think like that," a soldier offered, tightening a screw on the winch of the gear he had in his lap. He had a bandage wrapped tightly around his head and ankle. "Going down that road has driven veterans mad."

"Then what do we do?" Klara asked.

The man shrugged. "Accept you're already dead and move on."

Isak's eyebrows nearly touched his hairline. "Hope I'm not actually part of the Corps now. You're all insane."

"Everyone says that until they need us."

Hoofbeats in the distance caught their attention. Klara and Isak exited the tent to see bobbing lights approaching from the distance. Erwin and Mike were returning from Trost, alone. They'd left to update command on the situation, and to get more men.

"This can't be good," Isak mumbled under his breath.

Erwin barely gave his horse a chance to fully stop before jumping down. "Mike, Nanaba, round up the men on patrol. We've been ordered back to Trost."

"All of us?" Nanaba asked, appearing from the darkness. She sported a bandage on her wrist. "What about the perimeter?"

"It's been breached. We already encountered several titans on the way back," Erwin admitted with a frown. "The government is evacuating all of Wall Maria. This land no longer belongs to us."

They'd gathered everyone together as fast as they could, loading the wounded and dead onto wagons and departing the area before the sun rose. The horses were only able to walk, having been put through as much as their riders, and no one wanted to risk losing the creatures so far from safety. Thus, the going was slow, and the horizon was beginning to lighten into pastels well before they had reached Trost District.

As soldiers who'd been fighting longer than the others, Klara and Isak had been permitted to ride as well. They lingered near the latch of a coverless wagon, staring at the sun as it began to rise.

"Why did you join up, Isak?" Klara asked, watching the beautiful sunrise with a frown. It felt like they were being mocked.

Across from her, the boy shrugged. "I had nowhere to go and nothing to do; I figured I may as well get three square meals a day while going nowhere."

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

She smirked. "Baby."

"You're not that much older than me," Isak said with a snort. His face turned pensive. "Suppose I should be grateful. Not knowing what to do with my life just saved it."

Klara felt her frown deepen, having nothing to say in response to that. With the tension of everything slowly washing away, she found her thoughts beginning to assail her from all sides. Where was her grandfather? What about Matteo? Was he dead too? Was he under those bricks, just out of sight?

She felt sick.

"You signed up to join the Corps, didn't you?" she heard Isak ask. Klara turned to him, seeing a knowing look in his bright eyes.

"How did you guess?"

"You fit right in," he replied with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "You went after those titans with such…determination. No one fights like that and chooses not to do anything with it."

"I didn't at first," Klara admitted, tucking her legs in. "I froze, and I watched a woman get eaten. She fought for her life, and I watched her die. Who does that?"

Isak said nothing after that.

The convoy continued on at its slow pace. Klara drifted off at some point and woke to Wall Rose rising before them. She knew that all the walls were the same, yet something about Rose felt more imposing.

Once always open, the gate to Trost District had been shut, and only after a long wait did it begin to creak upward. Lining the wall above were dozens of Garrison soldiers, all looking down at them. They'd brought cannons to the top and stood ready to open fire at any second. Klara couldn't see their faces, but she knew they were afraid. She could only imagine what sort of rumors had been spread over the past couple days.

Hundreds of people lined the streets as they came through. Residents and refugees, injured and whole, all watched the Survey Corps march along. They were not filled with the hatred that she'd seen back home. No, they were scared and crying and calling out for any information. Some desperately clung to soldiers as they passed by, asking them questions that they could never hope to answer. Others simply shouted.

"Have you seen my son?! He's just a boy! He's only ten!"

"My wife! Where is my wife!? She was part of the Garrison at Shiganshina!"

"Where is my father?"

"My husband!"

"My daughter!"

They cried out names and places, descriptions and ages. Klara felt it all wash over her, unable to grasp any of the details. There were so many missing, and so many who would remain that way. She couldn't hope to remember all the faces she'd seen in the rubble; she didn't want to.

Across from her, Isak wouldn't look up from his lap. Occasionally, she saw a tear fall.

After an agonizing trip through the city, they finally made it to the headquarters of the Survey Corps in the center of town. Somehow, the area was packed with even more civilians, all calling out to them. Military Police had been deployed to keep them back and allow the column to get through without issue, but that didn't stop their voices. It made Klara feel small. She just wanted to curl up into a ball and cover her ears with her hands; she just wanted them to go away.

"Klara!" a voice rang above the din, making her ears twitch. "Out of the way! That's my granddaughter! Klara!"

Head shooting up, Klara immediately scanned the crowd, searching for the source of the voice. And then she saw him, bickering with a soldier who was far shorter than him. His head was bandaged and his clothes were dirty and torn, but her grandfather was alive.

"Opa!" Klara shouted, leaping from the wagon. Her body never felt so alive. She could have run a hundred miles if it meant reuniting with him.

Seeing her heading for him, the soldier relented and allowed her grandfather through, and then she was in his arms, holding him without any intention of ever letting go. He was gripping her too tightly, clearly in the same mindset, but Klara didn't care. He was there; he was alive. So much had been taken from her in the past couple days, but she still had her grandfather to return to.

Reluctantly, her grandfather pushed her back, taking her in. He brushed the hair from her face and the dirt from her skin. There were tears in his eyes.

"You're alive," he sobbed, smiling. "You came back to me, Klara."

"Of course I did! I told you, I couldn't leave you alone," she replied, smiling. How sweet it felt. "I'm sorry, Opa, but I lost your gear."

"What is that hunk of metal compared to you, Klara?"

During the excitement, she noticed another individual walking toward them, wearing a pair of glasses, though one of the lenses had cracked.

"Matteo!" she shouted, jumping into the arms of her friend. He stumbled against the force of her hug, but recovered quickly, holding her just as tightly. She felt him shake in her grip.

She pulled back to look at him. "Are you okay? Were you hurt? What happened? Why are-"

Klara froze, unable to say the words.

Why are you alone?

Matteo's smile faded, and he looked at the ground. "I…I'm sorry, Klara. Debris was falling everywhere. I didn't see it, and…Luka, he…he pushed me out of the way. I tried to help, but everything was so…so…"

Klara put a hand on her friend's shoulder, squeezing. "I found him, Matteo. There was nothing you could have done. But at least I know what happened now."

It didn't help at all. Somehow, it made her feel worse, but people always said knowing meant closure. At least her friend looked relieved. She imagined a weight had been lifted from his chest.

Hating the distance, she hugged him again, and then her grandfather. They were alive. Her true home had made it out of the fire.

"You!"

Klara turned to the sound of the shout, coming face to face with the captain she had confronted in Shiganshina. He looked so different somehow, wilder. Something about his look put her on edge.

He grabbed one of the Military Police guards lined up on the road. "Arrest this soldier!"

"Sir, I don't have the authority to-"

Ignoring the poor soldier, the Garrison captain quickly wrestled the rifle from his grip. Klara barely got Matteo behind her before she was staring down the barrel.

It wasn't fear she found gripping her. Just an annoyance, frustration. She was tired; she was hurt. All she wanted was for things to make sense again, yet every direction she turned appeared more desperate than the last to drag her away from any sense of normalcy.

"Turn yourself in, Cadet," the captain ordered. He was shaking, the barrel wavering on her. All around them, the shouts had gone silent. The crowd was watching carefully, on edge. If he fired, there would be a stampede. "I won't ask again."

"What is the meaning of this?!" her grandfather demanded beside her. Klara stuck her hand out so he wouldn't come closer and in range of the rifle. "Have you taken leave of your senses?!"

"This cadet ignored a direct order!" the captain shouted back. "And assaulted an officer! This will not be allowed to stand!"

"Look around you! Everything is in shambles! We must work together!"

"This chaos is precisely why we cannot ignore the rules we have in place!" the captain continued, readjusting his grip. Was he nervous or simply tired? "We can't fall apart now! We must restore order!"

They continued to yell back and forth, while Klara just watched the rifle. The captain's trigger finger kept hovering dangerously close to the well, and she could only imagine that one wrong word might set him off. At that close of range, the bullet might very well go through her and into Matteo.

That was something she could not allow, no matter what they decided to do to her.

She began to lift her hands in surrender. "Please, I don't want any more trouble. I'll go with-"

Klara was interrupted when someone stepped in front of her, the wings of freedom emblazoned on their cape staring up at her.

Erwin Smith was protecting her.

"Klara Lange is a member of the Survey Corps. Her punishments fall under my jurisdiction, not yours," he spoke calmly, but with authority.

"She wasn't under your care when she attacked me!" the captain replied. Klara could still glance at the man from over Erwin's shoulder, but kept herself from moving any further, her hands clasped into fists. Her fingernails were starting to cut into her skin. "Stand aside and let me serve justice!"

"The same justice that you brought to the people of Shiganshina?" Erwin asked. The silence that fell afterward left Klara holding her breath, convinced she was about to see a man murdered.

"Wha-what has she told you!?"

Klara heard the captain readjusting the rifle again.

"She did not need to tell me anything. You've been stationed at that outpost for the last few years. I've seen you myself. If you had been doing your job, you either would not be here or you would be with the rest of the Survey Corps, as Klara and your men are," Erwin explained matter-of-factly. "You were charged with guarding the people within the walls of Shiganshina, and instead you fled to safety, while those in your care died. Now you stand here and threaten to shoot one of the few people who decided to fight back for the sake of humanity."

Hearing herself described in such a way made Klara feel ashamed. She looked down at her boots and just wished the whole experience would come to an end.

"There was nothing we could do! We were overwhelmed!"

"That isn't true."

Klara glanced over to see Isak standing beside Erwin. From that angle, she could at least see his face, and it had turned steely in its determination.

"I was fleeing with the captain along with two others when Klara found us. She'd already been fighting. You could see it in her eyes," Isak admitted. "If it weren't for her, the gate would have been overwhelmed earlier than it was. We followed her and people were allowed to escape."

"I was there!" a voice called from the crowd. People parted to reveal an older man holding a young boy by the shoulder. "A titan chased us through the street and she killed it! Not a soldier, a cadet, just out of training!"

"We saw her and the others guarding the gates when everyone else was gone!" another voice shouted.

"She returned to rescue others in the dead of night!"

"She's a hero!"

Please don't call me that.

Klara felt her fists grow tighter.

"Put down the rifle, Captain," Erwin said.

There was a beat.

"I cannot stand here and let her get away with this!" the captain shouted again, standing his ground. "We have rules, and rules must be obeyed! I will not allow the Survey Corps to hide her and-"

His voice was cut off as she heard the telltale sound of physical violence.

Klara took a chance and peeked from behind Erwin. There she saw Levi, who had appeared from practically nowhere, taking down the captain with well executed hits to his chest and kidneys. He had the rifle in one hand, pointing it upward to ensure that if it fired, no one would be hit.

With one final kick to the face, the captain fell to the street.

Levi turned to Erwin, unimpressed as always. "Try betting your life on someone less crazy next time."

He tossed the rifle to him, which the commander easily caught.

Things began to settle down. Erwin gave the guard his rifle back, turning around to head back to their headquarters. He gave her a quick look that she could not read.

Her grandfather put a hand on her shoulder, attempting to escort her away, but Klara could not help but take one last look at the Garrison captain.

He was on his knees now, leaning forward with his head lowered. Blood was dripping from the broken nose Levi had clearly given him. She could hear him sobbing, and it pulled at something in her chest.

Klara took a tentative step forward, and then another until she was standing right before the captain. He glanced up at her, his green eyes filling with a burst of anger before that faded as well and his head lowered again.

She knelt before him on one knee.

"I did not want to fight them either," Klara admitted quietly. People were watching them, and she did not want them to hear. "I don't blame you for running, truly. It's what any sane person should do."

"I did not join for this," the captain confessed. "How could anyone want to join for this?"

She did not have an answer for that. Instead, she offered her hand. The captain stared at it for a long time, then at her, attempting to decipher her reasoning. When she remained, he slowly accepted her hand and allowed himself to be helped up. She slung his arm over her shoulder and gripped his waist on the other side, helping him limp up the street.

Now the expression on Erwin's face rang loud and clear: complete and total shock. It was not as obvious as the others, whose mouths had dropped open, but she could still see it in the way his eyes brightened and his eyebrows rose. He was a man not often surprised, but it seemed she was a woman whose expertise was just that.

She understood their confusion, but the answer was rather simple to her: they hurt him, so they may as well help him, no matter the circumstances.

There were far fewer of them now, after all.

Erwin was not unaccustomed to late nights. He often was so absorbed in his work that he did not notice the passage of time. It was only when he was interrupted that he noticed the sky had turned dark and his candle had become a stub.

He was, however, not used to staying up late for the sole purpose of avoiding sleep.

When he was a young boy, Erwin had often done just that. After he'd lost his father, he feared falling asleep. His dreams were cruel; his visions of his father distorted and taunting. Voices accused him from the darkness and he often woke drenched in sweat with a scream ready at the back of his throat.

But he'd forced himself to move on. When he took up his father's dream, Erwin drove the nightmares away.

He vaguely recalled doing something like this after his first encounter with the titans. Every time he had closed his eyes, he could see their twisted faces and hear the screams of those who had just joined with him, eager to fight their enemy. That, too, he had moved on from, or at least shoved away somewhere. He had no doubt that it would haunt him later in life.

If he made it that far.

This night, however, was something entirely different.

Erwin had always selfishly thought of himself as a prepared individual. He had a knack for seeing the bigger picture, and planning strategies accordingly, but even he had given in to the foolish notion that the walls would remain forever. At the time, he'd had no reason to question it, but an increasingly loud part of his mind insisted that he should have known.

What he did know, however, was that Wall Rose would eventually be a target too. Perhaps tomorrow or ten years down the road, but whatever came for Maria had no reason to stop as far as he could tell.

It was planning for this inevitability that helpfully kept him from sleep, and from writing letters to the families of the deceased.

Still, Erwin found himself restless and unable to focus. Soon, he was wandering the halls of their headquarters. The barracks were quieter than usual. One of the soldiers from Hange's squad had snored something terrible. He'd not made it back, and Erwin struggled to recall his name.

A light at the end of the hallway caught his attention. He was not the only one wandering at such a late hour. Nanaba had emerged from her room and was quietly inspecting the others.

"What is it?" he asked her.

"I thought to check in on the soldiers tonight given…everything," Nanaba replied quietly, sighing. "Klara Lange is no longer in her room. After everything she has been through, I think she is the last person who should be left alone."

He agreed. New recruits were unpredictable. Half usually died on their first outing, and half of those who remained were changed, and not usually for the better. To have encountered all that she had with no experience, it must have been overwhelming.

"Go back to bed, Nanaba," he said eventually, taking the lantern from her. "I have an idea of where she might be."

The veteran gave him a questioning look, but chose not to say anything, turning back down the dark hallway. It was only when he'd reached the stairs that she called to him.

"Erwin, this is a delicate issue."

He knew what she was saying, and almost smiled at the implication. Out of all his strong suits, he supposed tact had never been one of them.

. . .

The night was dark and cold. Cloud cover had stolen away whatever light the sliver of a moon might have given. They were well into fall, a terrible time for refugees to flock to the cities. There were already food shortages. This would clearly do nothing to help.

He searched for Klara a long time, hoping she hadn't seized the opportunity to climb one of the towers, but eventually he came across a lone figure sitting on top of the battlements.

None of the women in the corps were near her height, so Klara had been forced to borrow clothes from one of the men. They'd been baggy on her, but she made do. He briefly recalled her mentioning that she could go home and grab something before falling silent. He wasn't certain if she had spoken again after that.

Erwin stood just behind her and to the left, making certain his footfalls were loud enough that she would hear his approach. Though she did not react, he was confident she was aware of his presence.

Her legs had been drawn up, her head resting on her knees as her arms held tightly on; her hair was down and blowing gently in the breeze, so he could barely make out her face. Every once in a while, he caught a glimpse of her eyes.

It did not take long for Erwin to begin to wonder if he had made a mistake. As Nanaba had said, it was a delicate issue and he was painfully aware that he was well out of his depth. The only reason he'd decided to take it upon himself was because he knew her, though he supposed a one-night conversation hardly counted as knowing someone. Still, it was more than anyone else in the unit.

He'd offered her grandfather a place to stay for the night, but Tristan Durant insisted on remaining with the refugees. They needed some sort of leadership, and he needed a distraction.

While it was admirable, Erwin wished he'd chosen to be here.

"I didn't get the chance to thank you earlier," he heard Klara say. She was watching him all of a sudden, head just turned from its perch. "You put your life on the line for me. Although, I wish you hadn't. I'd rather be arrested than risk anyone being killed."

Erwin felt himself shrugging. "I didn't believe he would pull the trigger."

"I did."

She turned back to the view again. Wall Rose stood before them, tall and imposing, but as he gazed upon it, the behemoth felt so much smaller now, fragile, vulnerable. He'd gone over their descriptions of the event over and over again, and still struggled to process it, despite acknowledging it as the truth.

"Did you really assault that captain?" he asked.

"I might have swept his legs out and pinned him to the ground," Klara admitted, shifting. She almost sounded like she was smiling. "I just couldn't understand why they were running at the time. I couldn't tolerate it. Not after…"

Her voice trailed off.

He waited.

"I had to make a decision, and it got someone killed. I thought it was the right one at the time but…how could it be? How could anything I did be right if so many people died?"

Erwin tucked his hands behind his back, remembering the dozens of funerals he had attended. Members of his squad, members of the Corps. He'd asked himself the very same questions once. Sometimes, he still did.

"Every decision you made was the right one, Klara, regardless of the outcome," Erwin replied, stepping closer to her. He saw her glance over her shoulder at him, eyes wide and lost like a child. "Because you chose to make one. Many soldiers do nothing at all, and that is always worse."

She nodded once, looking back down but not entirely away from him.

"My room was so small. It felt like the walls were closing in," Klara admitted, curling up a little tighter. He noticed she was shivering. "I couldn't stay in there."

"We could always bring your mattress up here, if it makes you feel more at home."

Klara looked up at him, shocked. Then he saw her eyes light up with genuine happiness for the first time since they'd been reunited.

And then she laughed.

It was a loud, giggly thing that seemed to take control of her entire body. He thought for one moment that she might roll off the building entirely, but Klara remained on the battlement. Slowly, she brought her laughter under control, covering her mouth with her hand to silence herself.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be laughing."

Erwin smiled. "You'll find that everyone in the Survey Corps develops a strange sense of humor."

"Including you?"

"That was, perhaps, one of five jokes I make a year."

Her smile was soft, though it faded quickly. There was a distant look in her eyes.

"A piece of the wall tore through the upper floor of my home. I barely got my grandfather out in time before it collapsed," she said quietly, looking back to Wall Rose. "Even if we go back one day, I don't have a home to return to."

"Then rebuild it," Erwin said. He watched her look up at him again, and felt a swell of pride in his chest. "Retake what you lost to the titans and rebuild your home. Humanity has the means. We just need the people."

"You truly believe that, don't you?"

"I do."

Klara nodded once, slowly lowering her legs and standing. She looked taller than the last time they'd spoken.

"Then I will follow you, Erwin Smith."

Her salute looked silly in her baggy clothing, but he took it to heart nonetheless, and returned the gesture in kind.

They walked back across the roof in silence, the wind whipping at their clothing as it picked up. The clouds began to break apart, revealing the moon and what little light it provided. Erwin stopped when he heard Klara's footsteps fall silent, turning to find her staring up at the distant point.

"It was so dark that night," she murmured. She practically glowed in the moonlight. "What we would have given for just this much more."

Klara looked back at him, and he could see the tears shining in her eyes. "I often wondered what it would be like to see a titan up close."

She closed her eyes then, but it did nothing to stem the tide. Klara broke down right before him, burying her face in her hands as she began to sob, the weight of the last few days finally taking its toll on her.

Erwin watched her stumble, on the verge of falling until he rushed to her side and held her up. Before he knew it, Klara was clinging to his jacket, crying into his chest. He felt her convulse as the sobs racked her body.

Slowly, he felt his arms close around her, easing the shaking as he held her tightly against him. He had no words to say to ease her pain, and no idea as to how to help her through this. He'd suffered alone for years; he only hoped she did not have to do the same.

Well, now we're done with this portion of canon events. The next few chapters will be moments in between Shiganshina and Trost, so the vast majority of it is made up, although I do reference things that happen in the manga. Thanks for reading!