It was getting warmer with each passing day. The sheep seemed happy, the spring wheat had been sown and all was looking well for the three kids on the farm. And so, by Frieda's permission Ymir had decided to take Eren and Historia on a little vacation by one of the lakes. The two seemed really eager for that and soon the day had come for their small excursion.

"Oh, I can't wait to see it!" Eren exclaimed happily as they were trekking through the forest.

It wasn't that far away, so they were going there by foot.

"Have you ever even been to one?" Historia asked, trying to hold back her own excitement.

"No" the boy responded dejectedly "but I certainly imagined it! And it was great!"

Ymir rolled her eyes. This little crazy fellow always had the wildest imagination. Even though he could be annoying, the freckled girl admired his selflessness and unyielding character.

"What about you, Ymir?" He asked her "have you ever been to a lake?"

The girl had seen lakes in the past. Mostly outside of the walls. She had even seen the ocean once. This memory though, was way too painful for her to remember, for its unique beauty.

"No, not really" the freckled female replied "oh, look! It's right there!"

She pointed her finger in the distance. The forest was already thinning out and right now, she could already see their destination. The two kids started running happily towards the huge body of water.

Ymir never expected that their joy could bring her this much satisfaction. With slight hesitation, she followed suit.

As Eren ran to the shore, he didn't spend much time with removing his clothes, and soon, the boy jumped right into the water.

"Woohoo!" He cried out, splashing around "Historia, this is so fun, come on in!"

"A-alright!" The girl responded apprehensively, walking behind a small rock "just give me a moment!"

Ymir looked at the overjoyed boy. Indeed, he was growing up. His muscles had filled out more and he grew several inches ever since they had first met. Moreso, in her opinion, he was quite pretty and even though she didn't see boys in that way, she had to admit that it was nice to look at him.

"I'm ready!" She heard from behind the rock that the blonde was using to cover herself while changing.

The moment Historia walked into their view, Ymir's mind stopped responding.

The girl shone in the sunlight like the brightest star. Her perfectly shaped figure was beautifully amplified by her frilly, swimming dress. Her blonde hair was dancing with the small waves of wind, giving her the true look of a goddess.

"How is my dress?!" She shouted at Eren with a small blush.

The boy seemed to be equally pleased by the sight as Ymir was. His eyes looked like saucers and he couldn't bring himself to look away.

"Yeah…" Eren simply muttered, as if he was entranced.

The freckled girl didn't waste any more time. She quickly discarded her excess clothes and, just like Eren, jumped into the lake only in her undergarments.

This caused a huge splash, that brought Eren out of his stupor.

"Hey!" The boy yelled as he turned to face the smug Ymir.

The freckled girl looked at him in triumph, before turning to face confused Historia.

"It looks great!" She exclaimed "now, get in here!"

"Okay!" The blonde replied, while entering the lake.

The trio spent the evening, splashing around in the water. It was actually really fun for Ymir and the female thought again of what she had told Historia a while ago. The two kids really grew on her in the time they've shared, and she genuinely wished that they would never have to face the suffering she experienced.

"Where did you even get this dress?" Eren asked the blonde once they were sitting on the shore, around a small bonfire.

"Frieda got it for me" the girl responded, trying to hide the crimson of her cheeks "someone from the capital specializes in sewing them…"

"It's amazing" the boy admitted "I've never noticed that you are so beautiful…"

Ymir was smiling as she listened to the exchange. She wished for them to be happy, and they seemed to be finding out just how much they enjoyed one another. Only a part of her felt depressed with that thought. That was because if the two actually got together, she would never get to experience the same feeling.

Suddenly, she heard a clicking sound from behind. As the three teenagers turned around, they saw a group of men, holding them at gunpoint.

'Bandits. Crap…'

"Which one is the Reiss heir?!" One of the gunmen, supposedly the leader, asked them.

Ymir turned to look at the two kids. Historia seemed to be beyond terrified, while Eren was gritting his teeth in anger. As far as the freckled girl knew, in the past he bravely stood against a pack of wolves. She knew he wanted to be the hero. To sacrifice himself so that they could live. But it simply wasn't his day.

"That would be me" Ymir stated while standing up "the name's Historia…"

"Tie her up!" The leader commanded, while pointing his gun at the young female.

The horrified looks of her companions actually made her feel better. Knowing that they cared for her enough to be worried about her wellbeing, was very heart-warming. Unfortunately, they didn't know that she was the most dangerous person right there…

"You're going with us" the leader spoke again.

As the others were tying her up, he looked towards her two companions.

"Tell your lady that if she wants to see her again, she'll have to pay!"

Ymir just rolled her eyes. Essentially, she was fulfilling her duty as their bodyguard, but it still baffled her how stupid those rogues must've been to just trust her words about being the heiress.

"Alright, shall we move this along?" The freckled girl asked with annoyance.

"Shut up!" one of the gunmen cried out as he pushed her forward.

As she turned around to give Eren and Historia the 'not so really last' goodbye, she saw that Historia was on the verge of tears. It really pained Ymir to see the girl like this. Trying to reassure her, she gave the blonde a wink.

This small action made Historia look at her with confusion. The freckled girl didn't get to see anything else as she was violently pushed forward.

The bandits led her through the forest for a few minutes. Ymir supposed that they were taking her to their hideout and so she decided to postpone the grand finale a little bit.

Finally, they came over a small cave. She could make out a few crates, an ammunition storage and a few barrels, probably full of ale.

Once they were right before the entrance, they painfully threw her to the ground.

"Leave us alone" the leader spoke to his subordinates as he was standing tall above her "I want to have some fun with her, first."

Time for the showtime.

"Oh, trust me" Ymir retorted, biting on her lip, hard "I'm going to enjoy this way more than you…"

A blast of energy erupted from her spot. Bones and flesh appeared out of thin air around her. On her titan's face, a bony mask formed, with powerful set of teeth. Claws protruded from her form's fingers as she took her stance against her foes. The bandits were all thrown back by her sudden transformation and as the steam was starting to thin out, they were looking at the horrifying sight before them with fear.

Ymir didn't waste a single moment as she jumped right at them. Screams filled the air as she was clawing through the bodies of the thugs that destroyed one of the nicest days in her life. After dealing with all of the other bandits, she turned to look at the leader.

"STAY BACK!" He cried out in dread, holding his gun up.

As he pulled the trigger, she could feel something of a mosquito bite on her skin.

"MY TURN!" The shifter girl exclaimed as she jumped right at the man, with open jaws.

His spine had no chance against her sharp teeth, and soon, she found herself spitting out the remnants of the deceased bandit leader.

'Disgusting' the freckled girl thought as she exited her titan's body, accompanied by a huge cloud of steam.

Ymir sat in the middle of this carnage that she had created. She didn't regret killing those men. They definitely had it coming. Threatening Historia and Eren like that…

"Ymir!" She suddenly heard.

As the freckled girl looked up, she could see her two companions, running up to her.

"What happened?" The blonde asked with a little shock, once she saw the corpses laying everywhere around.

"A bunch of wolves came here to settle a little dispute with those nice fellas" Ymir exclaimed, before pointing towards a cave "I hid there…"

"What were you thinking?!" Historia exclaimed with worry "why were you pretending to be me?!"

Ymir looked over Eren. He seemed to be just as worried as his blonde friend. She smiled towards him.

"I wanted to look cool and be a hero" Ymir said with a smile.

Historia's face went crimson at that. Truly, seeing such a sight was all worth it.

"You idiot!" The blonde yelled at her "you could've died!"

The freckled girl decided to ignore all the yelling for now and looked around. Indeed, she made a huge mess and her best idea on how to deal with all this was to just leave it.

"Okay princess, now you listen to me" she exclaimed with authority "I can take care of myself, get it? Currently, we have to leave before those wolves come back."

The blonde looked crestfallen, so Ymir just took hers and Eren's hands and started leading them away from the 'now deserted hideout'.

As the trio was walking away, for some reason, the freckled girl could feel pride within her. Like she had done something admirable that only she could do. It was probably the most joyful feeling that she had ever felt in her short life.

Holding on to that feeling, she strode forward along with her two best friends.