A/N: This is something I started writing after I finished season 3 and only just now got around to completing- it ignores literally everything revealed about Eren's actions in the mess that was the last bit of the manga. I didn't want to leave this unfinished because regardless of canon, I still love these two with all my heart and I know there are others who do too.
The wagon rocks beneath them, wheels bouncing along on the uneven dirt path. Ahead of them, the sky burns.
Historia is trembling, whether it's from fear, anticipation or some other such emotion, she doesn't know.
Her hand rests on the seat next to her, fingers tapping away with an uncontrollable nervous energy.
Her father's titan is wreaking havoc on anything in its path, leaving behind a burning and broken landscape in its wake.
They have to stop him.
Right now, that's the only thing that matters.
A warm hand covers her own.
She feels a sharp shock that has her flinching, but no vision accompanies this touch.
The hand is snatched away just as quickly.
Historia turns questioning eyes towards Eren.
"Sorry," he says hastily. "I didn't think."
"Eren…"
He doesn't look at her this time and Historia frowns.
She doesn't have the luxury of figuring him out currently. Not with the monster that was once her father on a rampage.
...she's not entirely sure she wants to, she realizes with a jolt.
His father is the reason Frieda was taken from her.
Grisha Yeager murdered Frieda.
Brutally.
Not just murdered. Torn apart. Dismembered.
Historia will live with those images in her head for the rest of her life.
None of that is his fault.
Her frown deepens. Of course, she knows that.
Eren didn't murder her sister, Grisha did.
She takes a breath and shoves the thought forcefully away from her.
She has no time to feel miserable and conflicted over this.
Not with her father wreaking havoc as a titan.
He must be dealt with first.
Anything else can be dealt with after.
/
"Historia…"
If she's being honest with herself, he sounds broken.
What he saw in his father's memories is as much a shock to him as it is to her.
She tries to tell herself she doesn't care. That she wants nothing to do with the son of her sister's murderer.
"Don't talk to me, Eren," she says. She tries to pretend she doesn't hear the way her own voice wavers, but she does.
Everything is hitting her at once.
Her family's death, her lineage…
She's the queen.
She's the queen.
All of her leftover confidence from her father's defeat has been bled from her, leaving her feeling completely drained.
She knows what she is. So does everyone else.
An illegitimate daughter.
The throne is hers because of the circumstances of her birth. Not because of her qualifications.
He doesn't leave her.
Not yet.
"Historia…" He tries one more time.
"Please," she says wearily, shoulders dropping into a slump. "I can't talk about this right now."
She leaves him behind.
/
Historia seeks him out later in the day, after she's given her feelings time to settle.
Her resentment has boiled down to the point of being nonexistent. She's allowed herself to reflect.
Whatever she's feeling… she knows he's feeling something that mirrors it closely. He's just as much a victim as she is. He didn't ask for any of this.
Finding an opportunity to slip away had been… difficult- people are talking about her coronation and Historia is finding it all too much to deal with- but she'd managed it.
He's seated, apart from everyone else.
Even Mikasa, normally glued to his side, is nowhere to be found.
It's something of a relief- she's not sure she wants to face the other girl's open hostility when she's still working through… everything.
All she wants to do is talk.
She approaches him silently.
"I was hoping to find you alone," she says by way of starting off.
"What?" Eren looks momentarily stunned, before he dismisses her. "It's fine."
"I remember every bit of it," he confesses quietly. He can't quite bring himself to look her in the eyes.
Historia fidgets across from him. She squeezes her eyes shut.
He's recounting how her sister died. Of course, she doesn't want to hear it.
This is as hard for her to hear as it surely is for him to remember.
"Stop talking," she says. "I don't want to hear anymore."
She dares to look at him.
His expression is pained, but accepting.
Should she choose to curse him right now, he would take it from her.
She chooses not to.
"Your father killed one of the only women who ever made me feel loved," she says quietly. She drops her gaze, staring at the ground in front of her.
Frieda… Ymir…
Did she have to lose them both?
Was that really how cruel the world was?
Eren is silent.
Historia takes a shuddering breath, letting her eyes fall shut, and tries to regain her composure.
"But you didn't," she finishes. "None of that was you."
Her fingers twitch. She wants to reach out and take his hand in a reassuring hold, but she realizes she's afraid of what she might see.
It stays down by her side.
"I don't blame you," she says simply.
