"We got her!" Floch exclaimed, looking out of the window "Armin! Mikasa got her!"

"We're falling down!" Armin yelled back, desperately clutching at the rudder "I can't stabilize it!"

The redhead watched as the giant body of Frieda's titan impacted with the ground beneath. The flying boat was already dangerously close to the surface and if they didn't act fast, a disaster could happen.

"We have to jump!" Floch shouted, turning towards Armin.

"I can save this…"

Without bothering to wait for the blonde to comply, the redhead jumped over to the pilot's seat and grabbed the genius boy.

"Hey!" Armin exclaimed, while Floch was pulling him towards the doors.

"You'll rebuild it!" The young soldier affirmed pushing the blonde out.

Just as one of the wings fell off, the redhead jumped down and pulled the string, deploying the parachute.

"Hey, how are you doing?"

Floch looked up from the corner he was slumped in. Mikasa was standing there, smiling.

"I'm as good as I can be" he replied, gloomily "I never knew things could be so different…"

The oriental girl looked at him sadly, before sitting down by his side.

"I never expected them to be so, either" she explained, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"How's Armin?" Floch asked, with hesitation.

"He's a little angry that you pushed him out, but otherwise, I think he'll thank you later for saving his life."

"Too bad we couldn't save the flying boat" the boy stated, "did they collect the parts, yet?"

Mikasa just chuckled at his question.

"With bigger things at hand, I'm surprised you're worried about some scraps" she said, leaning her head on his shoulder.

Indeed, they had greater worries. Mikasa hadn't understood it quite well at the time, but the implications of what Kenny told them before, were extremely dire. The titans, being their greatest enemies actually turned out to be their very own people. And the rest of humanity outside walls, was fine, and wished for their complete extermination.

"I guess you're right" Floch spoke, turning to look at her.

Their relationship was something that happened unexpectedly. Both of them were forced to make those decisions quickly and under pressure, so realistically, the pair didn't really know where to go from here.

"I promise you" the redhead spoke again "one day, we'll live in that house by the river."

"I know" the oriental female replied.

The couple looked themselves in the eyes. It was moments like this one, that they could truly focus on one another. Without anyone scorning them, with no unfortunate circumstances that could separate them, Floch could let himself be lost in those beautiful eyes of hers.

"You're beautiful" he spoke melancholically.

The female looked away, with scarlet on her cheeks.

"I'm filthy" she said softly "haven't had a bath in days…"

"You're still beautiful to me" Floch said with a smile.

Slowly, she turned to look towards him again. As he brought his hand to her face, for the first time in years, she felt at ease.

Then, he kissed her.

All the pent-up emotions were released at once. Soon, the couple was making out with so much desperation and longing that all their other thoughts disappeared. It didn't matter that the queen was imprisoned, and the military was in the process of establishing new rule. It didn't even matter that they've finally managed to fulfil Mikasa's lifetime goal.

The only thing that mattered, was that they had each other. Slowly, Floch pulled the oriental girl into his lap. The intensity of their ministrations picked up, when Mikasa put her hands around his neck. As the kiss deepened, the redhead felt his hands lower down her backside.

He heard her moan into his lips. Both of them were new to these sensations, so in a way, it felt clumsy. However, they let themselves be guided by their emotions and soon the two were entranced within their mutual love.

It felt as if it lasted for eternity. No troubles plaguing their minds, no worries creeping into her heads, no infuriated captains yelling at them…

"You two again?!"

The shout startled the couple, and they both looked at the newcomer.

It was Levi. He looked pretty worn out and was glaring at them angrily.

"Have some decency" the captain said, looking away "this is a public place."

The flushed teenagers picked themselves up from the ground. As embarrassment washed over them, they tried not to look at one another.

"Come on, let's go" Levi spoke, before turning around.

As the two followed the short captain, Floch finally asserted their surroundings.

The battle for Mitras had been won by the scouts. Some of the rebels and quite a few MPs perished, but those numbers weren't exactly high. As far as he knew, the general population was pretty confused with how the things were going.

The truth about titans proved to be too difficult to keep secret, as Erwin's claim about sending the reports to news outlets, was quite true. The newspapers didn't necessarily keep quiet about all this, and just the next day, all the information gathered within Frieda's office was released.

Commoners didn't really know what to think. They knew the previous queen as a wise and righteous woman, who saved them from famine. To suddenly hear that they've been lied to and manipulated, throughout the last hundred years, gave them really mixed feelings.

The reaction from nobles and other officials was an entirely different story. Some of the enraged landowners even demanded for the old queen to be restored, though most decided to keep quiet and wait for Historia to be crowned, to see how much they could benefit from this.

Right now, the trio was walking through the ruins of the front part of the royal palace. Much of the building was destroyed during the combat, and rubble was everywhere. The remains of the barricades were still in place, though palisade had been already decommissioned.

"There you are" they suddenly heard.

Upon turning around, Floch noticed Rico Brzenska, standing next to a stockpile of ammunition.

"What you did was quite impressive" she said with a small smile "thank you…"

"It's nothing, really" Mikasa replied, flustered "we were just doing our part…"

"Oh, come on" Floch exclaimed, throwing his arm around the Ackerman girl "you were the one who had dealt the final blow…"

The oriental girl looked to the ground with an even stronger blush. The redhead smiled at that. He had another thing to make fun of her, in private.

Rico, on the other head slumped over the stockpile.

"What will happen to us, now…?"

That question was hanging above them throughout the entire day. No matter what they thought, eventually an answer had to be provided.

Seeing that the atmosphere got heavier, Levi decided to ask the garrison officer about something else.

"Where is Erwin?"

Rico looked up at the short captain.

"Right now, they are having an emergency meeting of the royal council" she explained, after a moment of hesitation "the princess and her friends are there too, along with Kenny Ackerman and commanders Zackley and Pixis."

"Oh…"

"Yeah" the female officer spoke, looking to the side "the nobles aren't thrilled with the new rule, to put it lightly…"

All of them had one distinct thought within their mind. For the scouts, the rebellion was the only way to prevail, yet garrison wasn't in such a situation. Moreover, it turned out that the queen's plan to deal with Marley and the rest of the world, was in fact their best chance.

"Do you think…" Floch started, verbalizing their common reservation "do you think that what we did was…"

Suddenly, Levi glared at him, stopping the boy in his train of thoughts.

"Wrong? Redundant? Unnecessary?" The short captain finished for him.

The redhead looked down to the ground. Even though he fought in this rebellion and was just as responsible as everyone else, he couldn't shake off the feeling that what they did was extremely reckless and rash.

"I'm just saying…" he started once again.

"I don't know" Levi answered.

The other three looked at him in surprise.

"What's right, what's wrong, we can't really be sure, right now…" the captain finished.

"I guess only time will tell…"