Chapter Seventeen
"What did she say, exactly?" Saskia crouched over her catatonic sister.
"She said all this was the fault of Darius Zackley." Armin rubbed her shoulder. "It's okay, Annie: Saskia's here."
Annie stared ahead, unfocused.
"What are you thinking of? What's wrong?" Saskia waved a hand in front of her sister's eyes.
Annie blinked, but otherwise didn't respond. Saskia's panic rose. As far as she knew, Annie had never lost her composure before.
Behind them Eren shoved through the 104th crowd. "Hey, Annie! Give me that, Jean."
A stream of water hurtled through the air. Annie jerked and sputtered.
"That was mine," Jean protested.
"Not anymore," Ymir quipped.
"What's wrong?" Saskia asked again, wiping the water out of her eyes.
"Annie, are you okay?" Armin held her hand.
"Annie, we don't have time for games anymore. We can cry and freeze up later, but not now. Now you need to tell us what you're thinking!" Eren shouted.
A trace of a smile formed on Annie's mouth. Oh, Eren.
"How long…"
"You were in that trance for at least half an hour," Hitch said.
"Ten minutes," said Armin.
"Oh." Hitch flushed.
"I just … had memories I don't remember … having before."
Historia's breath caught. "Like what?"
"A battle. Titans eating my village. Which never happened – I was born with the Warriors…" Annie pressed a hand to her forehead.
"Were you?" asked Historia.
Saskia cringed. "Of course."
"Do you remember the name? The name of the town our parents were from?"
"No; they never talked about it." Saskia felt nervous. She was the one in charge of knowledge, yet she didn't know such a basic fact?
Armin glanced at the paper she had been reading. "It was Frosina, wasn't it?"
At the name, Saskia felt an eerie presence settle over her. Why, why, why did the name sound familiar?
"It couldn't have been. Titans were there when we were children, remember?"
Frosina…the name brought back hazy skies and grinning titans – and copious flies…
"Names," said Armin.
"What?" Annie turned to him.
"The name seems to be bringing back your memories. I don't know why." Armin's eyes flitted to Saskia. "You're remembering now, too, aren't you?"
Behind the crowd of the 104th, Erwin pressed his lips together. A protective frown, Sasha noticed with some relief. Zeke couldn't win this.
"I – I think so. Flies and –"
"Blood," Annie said flatly. "And titans."
"And an ape titan…it wasn't Zeke, though. Couldn't have been." Saskia swallowed hard. "He's too young."
"So was Annie. And Reiner," Armin reminded her.
"I know," Saskia said, narrowing her eyes.
"Was Zackley there?" Armin prodded.
"Yes," Annie said. Clearly, she recalled more than Saskia, who felt a twinge of jealousy.
"We need answers from Darius," Erwin said.
"Please no," Jean said suddenly.
"Pardon?" Erwin stared at Jean.
"No more torture, please." How could he explain that Sannes' screams still rang in his ears at night? Killing people, even as titans, was killing him. "We can't use the tools our enemies use to survive. There has to be another way."
Saskia hesitated. She wanted to believe this young man, wanted to agree, but what other choice did they have? They were desperate.
Her eyes met Mikasa's and recognized the shame, the realization that in their desperation, humans would break any law of humanity for a greater good. How could they retreat from such a fall? They would have to break gravity.
She saw Erwin's face and realized he, too, knew everything, that he'd allowed Darius' reign of terror and countless deaths for the greater good. And the result was simply suffering on a beautiful man.
"We can't do this."
Erwin's heart pounded.
"Armin, please tell me you have an idea." Connie grabbed his friend's arm.
"Half of one."
"That may be enough," said Annie, her quiet strength returned.
"Your plot to kill Nile failed." Erwin leaned against the cell. "He'll be healthy in time to help Marie with their new child."
"Titan serum, heh?" Darius shrugged.
"Why'd you keep him alive, Darius? We know you didn't care about humanity, and your sadism was surreptitious. But causing public chaos? Now, you had to have had a plan, old man." Dot Pixis strode in.
"Did I?" Darius grinned. "I'm old. Maybe I'm just losing my mind."
"Losing your mind looks a lot more like feeling pain than causing it," Erwin said.
"Is that so."
"Bring them in," called Dot.
"New toys?"
"People will never be toys." Erwin watched as Bertolt and Eren's attempted kidnappers, the thugs who'd abducted Annie, and the infamous scarred woman filed in. "Which is why these men and women will not be charged. In fact, Margot Sturm, the noble you hated enough to torment for weeks, has set up housing and jobs for all of them."
Darius shrugged again. His hires stood before him terrified. "I've won already."
"You can't win unless we know what kind of game you're playing," Erwin snapped.
"Frosina ring a bell? An Ape titan child, perhaps, killing a village in Wall Maria twelve years ago? The nobles covered it up and wiped your memories?" Dot crossed his arms. "Did that make you bitter? Determined to wipe out not only the nobles and the traitor titan shifters, but the corrupt military police as well, just for revenge, and God damn the fact that humanity's facing extinction?"
"He didn't seem upset at the shifters," Eren's kidnapper piped up. "He seemed…excited."
"Like a man buying a prostitute," spat the scarred woman in agreement.
Erwin grimaced as Darius chuckled.
"You're trying to play us off each other, are you? That's a dumb plan even for you, Erwin." Darius smiled. "Are you finally worried for your life? Because you've finally found a woman to call your own?"
"She doesn't belong to me," Erwin said coldly.
"Oh, right, another man." Darius's eyes sparked at Erwin's stony expression. "The noble Erwin Smith, in love with an enemy? Or, perhaps, the butcher Erwin lusting after an adulteress slut? Tell me, which is the better story? The first will be told, but we all know which one is more true."
Darius stood. "You said so yourself, didn't you, that day? You're more like me. You prioritize yourself over humanity…and your whore over marriage vows."
Erwin felt like choking the man. You're lying!
He felt like a boy again, when the military police told him about his father's accident. Forced to nod, forced to mourn a lie.
"Don't think anyone's missed that bruise on her…hmm, ample breasts." Darius licked his lips. "Tell me, was it you or her husband who left it?"
Now Erwin was certain the man wanted to provoke a confrontation. He said nothing, but glared silently. This man reminded him of Zeke, pure and simple, only much sicker.
In the shadows, Saskia shook and pressed a hand over the bruise Zeke had sucked two days before. Was something wrong with her, that she didn't much regret using her sexuality? So she used her brain, so she told a lie, so she used sex to save lives. What was the difference? Was one more moral than the others?
Annie clasped Saskia's hand as Armin nodded in encouragement. Behind her, Hange ground her teeth. The smartest of humanity had gathered to observe, along with the one who needed her memory back. But for now, they supported Saskia, and for once, she knew she needed it.
"Tell me, Darius, why does Annie Leonhart remember you as a child? In a destroyed town?" Pixis cleared his throat, buying time for Erwin to compose himself. "I remember Frosina. Burned to ash shards. Yet the child remembers titans."
"Child?" Darius scoffed. "How many people has that child murdered? Would you really trust her memory?"
Armin's arm tightened around Annie. It wasn't her entirely fault. It wasn't. The world was too complex for simple blame.
I did it. I had a choice, even if it wasn't much, Annie wanted to whisper, too spill the worlds and be freed of the guilt she'd never shed.
"Over you?" Pixis snorted.
"Maybe it's time for you to consider that humanity may not be worth saving." Darius threw up his hands. "Look around. Trapped in the walls and we still can't understand or agree. Me, the leader of our hope, still a torturer, and you all underneath me looking the other way. You're just as much to blame for the nobles' deaths."
"We are," Erwin agreed. "And I'll remember their faces until I die."
"But you still believe in humanity. Because you can't afford to look any other way. Such a scared little boy."
"I believe…in humanity," Erwin began tightly, "because I looked into a father's eyes, and I saw the pain that haunted him. The pain he'd put his two daughters through. I saw everything they'd suffered and sinned through in his eyes, and I still saw someone worth saving."
The room was silent. Hange bit back a smile.
Why was that the first thing he thought of? Because it related to Saskia? Damn, she had found her way into his damned soul.
Finally, Darius forced himself to laugh. "That's quite a noble goal for a butcher."
"You call him a butcher, but I don't see him rejoicing in another's pain," Pixis said firmly.
"Ah, but he knows he is one all the same." Darius sneered at Erwin.
"And we know why you're excited about the shifters," Hange called, sauntering into the light. Time to introduce a little chaos and shut this villain down.
"Oh, do tell, Shitty Glasses. That is your name, correct?"
"Wrong, but I don't care."
"Isn't it obvious?" Armin added, hurrying out to stand besides Hange. He glanced back at Saskia, who nodded her agreement.
"Oh?" Darius waited.
"I think you saw the nobles wipe our memories." Saskia held the document aloft. "I'm guessing the Beast Titan climbed over the wall and turned a nearby village – Kruger, correct? – into titans. You bravely fought and subdued them, and we Leonhardts were the only survivors."
"Then the King came, didn't he? He erased their memories, but somehow you were immune. You saw the real enemy and made a deal with the Beast Titan." Armin was mildly impressed that his voice didn't shake. "You wanted Annie and Bertolt and Eren to bring them back to your side."
Darius smirked. "You're quite clever…but wrong. Like all humans."
Saskia sized him up. "I see. You're just distracting us."
Darius stilled.
"You are working with Zeke. You are working to end humanity for your own foul nihilism. You think that'd be satisfying? Well, many of us want to live." Saskia approached his cage, shaking with fury this time. "You're probably even planning on betraying Zeke, aren't you? So you can end it all."
Darius pulled his lips back to reveal his perfect white teeth. "You're got a smart little slut, Erwin, don't you?"
"Don't call her that," spat Erwin.
Saskia fought her frozen fear. Move, dammit. She ought to defend herself, too. In a blaze of anger, she kicked through the rusted bars.
With a crack, Darius stumbled backward, gripping his shin.
The satisfaction in his eyes horrified her. What have I done? "Annie!"
"What was that?" demanded Mikasa.
"An explosion," Levi said grimly. Before she could open her mouth again, he took off for the prison.
Hange.
Erwin.
Hange.
"Wait for me!" Eren bolted after Mikasa, but Ymir tackled him.
"What are you doing?" he shrieked.
"Get on your 3D gear. That's a titan explosion, and you know it." She shoved the equipment in his face. "Reiner and I'll bring stuff for Mikasa and Levi. Those fools."
"They're not fools – they just care about people!" protested Connie, racing towards them.
"Love makes people risk more," Ymir said. "Including me. Stop looking at me that way. I never said it wasn't worth it."
Now she knew why she suspected Zackley from the start. It left her cold inside.
Historia, I'm sorry I didn't tell you.
"Your majesty, you shouldn't help," Hitch protested in the background.
"Oh, don't pull that Erwin speak with me. I'm helping," Historia fired back. Ymir bit back a grin, even if she couldn't face her girlfriend.
The 104th rose once more above Mitras, over wealthy houses and scrambling citizens, and soared towards the smoldering remnants of the prison.
The roof had collapsed, not unlike the Reiss chapel. Charred brick and stone smoked, but nothing moved, nothing breathed.
"There's no titan here," cried Eren.
"Where are the others?" Reiner eyed the half-collapsed wall. One move and it could crush anyone still alive.
"A titan shifter could disappear immediately, remember?"
"But Annie wouldn't." Annie had always sympathized with them. Not Annie.
A pile of debris slid off and the scarred woman Hitch remembered slithered out.
"You!" shrieked Hitch. "Where are they?"
The woman gave Hitch a sour look, reached down and hoisted another thug out.
"Look out!" Historia sprang forward as a slice of roof toppled towards the two.
"Fuck!" Ymir gasped in relief that all three were okay.
"Crystals." Jean raced forward. "Annie put up a protective shield. Like you did for us, Eren!"
"They're buried under there. He got away. That titan man." The scarred woman scowled.
"Man?" Eren exclaimed. For sure Armin wasn't the cause of this.
"Our commander-in-chief," said Ymir tightly. Of course, of course.
"Zackley is a titan shifter?" shrieked Eren.
"Do you shifters never end?" growled Levi.
"It's not that surprising," said Jean.
Mikasa grabbed a blade from Reiner. "We have to stop him."
"Stop him, or save our comrades." Levi grabbed a section of the dilapidated wall. "I've made my choice. You make yours, Ackerman."
She saw the trust in his eyes, the pride. She'd survived a mission on her own, helped save both their commander and an enemy.
She couldn't imagine more pride from her own father.
"You can't lift that on your own." Mikasa grabbed the other side of the wall. "On three."
Zackley was shouting at Zeke, words and fists flying. The Ape Titan practically cowered before him.
Saskia blinked to regain consciousness. A part of her was disappointed this wasn't heaven. For a moment – that brief moment when she jumped in front of Erwin and the bright light and the heat and the force tearing her apart – she'd been so sure.
Erwin's broad shoulders were straight above her. She must be lying on his lap. Ha.
He's so beautiful, she thought dazedly, reaching up to run a hand through his golden hair. I should check if he's alive…
Vaguely she became aware of Annie saying her name.
"Do I have to say it again? Saskia, wake up."
"She's definitely concussed. Probably aggravated from the injury she had a few weeks ago." Hange bent over Saskia. "Thank you, Annie."
"No problem." Annie snorted at her transformed arm and leg. Her leg should have crystalized enough to save the witnesses, but too much debris had separated them from the crystal protection on her arm. They couldn't see each other at all.
"You're a hero," Armin whispered. He was crouched near Annie, despite the steam coming off her arm. After all – thinking of Bertolt – he'd endured worse.
"You'll get burned," she said. Hero? Pah.
"I'll heal fast." Armin smiled at her, and Annie couldn't resist a brief smile back. He made her feel…regenerated.
"I'm awake," Saskia announced.
"Oh good." Hange put a hand on her shoulder.
Erwin's face beamed down at her. Relief, admiration, kindness. He didn't see her as a duplicitous slut.
She was so relieved – and concussed – tears began to leak down her cheeks.
"It's okay, Saskia," he murmured.
"I married Zeke," she choked out.
Erwin felt a sharp pain in his heart. You saved my life over and over. "Don't let him get to you."
"He's a foul beast," Pixis agreed, uncomfortably. Romance was not his forte.
Saskia's tortured eyes were eating Erwin alive. No one should judge her. No one. "Saskia, if you were the only remaining human left, I would still ride out to defend you from the titans."
He felt everyone's eyes on him – her sister, Arlert, his scientist and his fellow commander. So now they knew his weakness, his heart. Good.
"And I'd do the same for you," she murmured, closing her eyes.
Hange cleared her throat.
"Oh. I forgot. Stay awake." Saskia straightened up, Erwin's arm tight around her for support.
"What do I do?" Eren felt lost. Go after Zackley? Battle that traitor?
He'd abandoned Armin before to the enemy. No way was he abandoning him to the damage the enemy had done.
"Reiner, let's take that pillar over there."
"We'll all help." The scarred woman grabbed the thug's hand. "We owe that titan child our lives."
Child. Ymir felt tears prick her eyes. We're children, all of us. Why are we fighting?
Was it possible to be her age and still a child?
Jean dragged a stone away from the area where the witnesses had emerged, glimpsing the remaining witnesses but no Annie, Erwin, or Armin. "She made the crystal semicircle-shaped so they could escape!"
He held his arm out to grab the hand of Eren's kidnapper.
There must be too much blocking the others' escape.
Follow the leg.
"Here!" Flocke waved through a pile of dust. "I think I feel steam!"
Armin was the first one hoisted up, and Eren nearly tackled him with a hug.
"If you want to, you should," Levi barked to Mikasa, who, with a shaky laugh, promptly threw her arms around Eren and Armin.
"Whew, that was a revelation!"
"Four-Eyes!" Levi shoved Hange. "Don't put me through that again." His eyes landed on Erwin. "You either."
"I'm still Commander, last I checked," Erwin said ironically.
Levi paused. Erwin, Dot, Hange…the kids and Saskia…their faces were blank, almost giddy. "They're in shock. Sit down, all of you, until you can tell us what's going on!"
Historia was about to offer any comfort she could give, but Ymir's face in her peripheral snatched her attantion.
Tears streamed down Ymir's face.
"Ymir? What's wrong?"
"Darius didn't get us into this," sobbed Ymir. "I did."
"Am I supposed to be shocked?" Annie emerged at last, yanking her arm free from her partially transformed titan.
"What do you mean?" Mikasa clenched her jaw.
Ymir squirmed. "R-reiner. I got you into this, too."
"We've got your back," he replied, big brother once again. Maybe, this was his real identity. Big brother.
"Let's head to the military headquarters and leave the Military Police on cleanup duty. Excepting Hitch." Erwin shook his head to clear his mind. "Ymir, we have much to talk about."
Not long ago, he had gathered around this table to plan for Shinagashina's invasion with Darius Zackley. Now, Erwin, Levi, Hange, and Dot were the only senior officers available. Squad Levi, a rather dizzy Saskia who'd insisted on coming, Hitch, Ymir, Annie, and Reiner made up the remaining people.
"Well, Darius was always working for the titans. I remember – I remember them fighting – at Frosina. Darius and the Ape Titan. Darius was shaking his fist at the titan. Scolding him like child – and the titan was cowering – do you think he was just young and impulsive?" Saskia grasped at Annie.
The visions she's seen during the explosion, when she thought she would die, when she'd grabbed Erwin's broad shoulders to keep him from falling from the sheer magnitude of the blast… "Do you remember?"
"Yes," Annie said dully. Cowering, and shaking. The Ape Titan. The image nauseated her, but oh, she could never forget it again.
"So Zeke wasn't supposed to attack inside Wall Maria," suggested Armin. "He did."
"Impulsive youngsters." Levi rolled his eyes.
"And that's how he recruited us," Saskia concluded. "Reiner…"
"I don't think that's how he recruited me. My parents – they let me go," stammered Reiner, sweating at the rate of Bertolt. They gave me up. Don't make me say it, please. "My memories are intact."
"Up 'til now, so were mine," Annie said.
"I can't – I can't cope right now." Reiner clapped a hand to the side of his head.
"You'll be okay. You might not be a good Warrior or Soldier, but you're a good man to me," Armin hurried to say.
Reiner shot him a grateful smile.
"So now I'll start." Ymir rubbed a hand across her forehead. "Historia, I told you how I was cast out of my village."
"Yes, of course." Historia hurried to her lover's side, but her lover wouldn't even glance at her.
Maybe she's here for the last time.
Ymir gulped. "Do you know what I did to survive?"
"Became a titan?"
"No. Well, yes. But when I found out they wanted me gone, I went to a scientist first. I gave him all the inheritance I could steal and him to make me more powerful than anyone. So he did." Ymir drew in a broken breath.
"What do you mean?" squeaked Historia.
"I mean, I took on the power of the first titan."
"What." Levi frowned. Next to him, Hange was dead silent, locked in thought.
"Humanity isn't dead!" Ymir burst out. "I even decided to divide myself into nine titans, to rule the world with justice – justice like not killing a girl just for loving another girl! So I did…I did that, and then I realized the consequence."
"We were powerful. Too powerful, and people were dying, and people called out for my blood and I knew they deserved to have it, so I killed myself. I was supposed to stay dead." Ymir raised her head, revealing red-rimmed eyes. "I intended to suffer and die; I really did!"
"So you cause the entire world to be devoured?" Eren was repulsed.
"Accidentally," Annie reminded him.
"No. The world lives." Ymir leapt to her feet. "I swear to all of you; Zeke's camp is just a farce!"
"A farce?" Saskia narrowed her eyes. "I lived there."
"On broken memories." Annie defended Ymir again.
"It's a camp for the Warriors who were selected to live overseas, on the island we now live."
"Island?" Armin's eyes danced. Sea? The sea?
"Yes. We called it Paradi in my day."
"We'll deal with you later. Why do the Warriors want us dead?" Erwin looked at her as one might look at a cockroach.
She deserved it.
"Because my people – the Eldian race, we called them."
"Eldian?" Saskia frowned. "I know this part. Eldians are the race of the walls. They conquered, pillaged, and raped a group called the Marleyans." She rubbed her eyes, trying to ignore her pounding headache. "I…I thought this was a myth."
"Well, it's not," Ymir said.
"But…it has to be. The legend says this war went on for almost 2000 years, until the Marleyans stole seven of their nine titan powers and forced the Eldians to live in ghettos."
"Ghettos for those who aren't on Paradi. Paradi was made to be paradise, I think," pled Ymir.
"Paradise? Where we're food for titans, where we suffer and die knowing nothing?" roared Eren.
"Sit down, Jaeger," snapped Levi.
"2000 years?" Reiner gaped at Ymir. "You're 2000 years old?"
"Does it matter?"
"You lived for 2000 years as a titan." Pixis raised his eyebrows.
"N-no, not exactly," stammered Ymir. "I told you I killed myself, and I did. Marleyans found my grave and used that fucking cursed medical serum – similar to the stuff your father developed, Eren – to revive me. I was young again, the same age as I had been when I was kicked out. I was – I was so horrified."
"And so were they. They wanted me to be the powerful titan again, so they could use me in their wars. Instead, they realized all they got was a preteen girl and they sent me back to hell – they made me a titan on Paradi, attacking my own people…until Marcel."
"Because they're all are our countrymen. The titans. They're people who disobey the Marleyans, who fight for Eldia." Ymir finally met Eren's eyes. "Anyone who disobeys is turned into a titan and sent here, and they fucking suffer. Like your father."
"My father?"
"Zeke told me his story, his real story, when he found out who I really was."
"How does he know my father?" cried Eren in frustration.
Ymir turned to Reiner and Saskia. "Did none of you really wonder why Zeke never killed me?"
"He told me you had connections. I trusted him." Apparently, two could play the betrayal game. Saskia felt anger, and then more anger towards herself for being a hypocrite.
"Eldia itself was a sadistic empire." Erwin felt life humming in his heart. History existed, people existed outside, his father was right.
"But they're being hurt now!" exclaimed Eren. "We didn't oppress them."
"It doesn't matter. We can't continue this fight." Erwin looked to Saskia. "This is a cycle of humanity ruining humanity. We must stop it. Even if it means throwing our lives away."
"What!" Eren tried to jump up, but Mikasa held his right arm and Levi his left.
"I didn't sign up to throw my life away for nothing," Hitch erupted.
"It's not for nothing," Reiner hissed.
"You didn't even sign up," Connie groaned.
"Well, I'm going to."
"You. Historian. How much did you know?" Pixis turned to Saskia.
"I knew the legend." Saskia felt empty. Had all she learned been lies? Or perhaps lies were smeared throughout history and science, and people were forever burdened with the knowledge that they would have to believe some lies. "Not that it was truth."
"We didn't even know that humanity existed outside this place." Reiner rubbed his hands together. "I was never given that knowledge."
Had his parents known? Had they raised him for this from the very start? Had food been a mere excuse?
"None of us were." Annie wondered if Dad was still alive. What would he think, knowing his memories had been rearranged, that he'd been playing into a tyrant's hand his whole life?
"My guess," said Saskia slowly, "is that if Ymir is right, Darius doesn't work for Zeke. He works for Marley, and Zeke works for him. He's been working to overthrow us from the beginning. In every way to cause our suffering, because he likes it."
"That is the logical conclusion," said Hange, pushing up her glasses.
"So we have three objectives. End this war, end Darius Zackley, and end Zeke."
"What about the Marleyan government? Aren't Zeke and Darius nothing but Marleyan foot soldiers?" asked Pixis.
"Um." Ymir shook her head. "They're soldiers all right, but for Zeke at least, he's an Elodian ghetto-dweller. Where do you think Zeke got the idea to turn people against each other? He was raised in it."
She could feel Historia's eyes boring her. Yes, you made love to a two-thousand-year-old liar and demon dealer.
She should have stayed dead. All her talk about being proud to be Ymir was bullshit if she couldn't be with Historia.
"No wonder he despises Sarah." Saskia gasped. "But that means…Grisha didn't abandon her or Zeke. If he was a titan, he was sent away as a punishment." Had Sarah joined the program, had she come here looking for him? She wanted to cry for her mother-in-law.
"Grisha!" Eren pounded the table. "Was my father that psycho's brother?"
"Mikasa, you haven't told him?" Armin squeaked.
Mikasa dropped her eyes. She'd gone too far protecting Eren this time.
"He's your half-brother."
"So let me get this straight. Darius Zackley is a titan shifter, off to gather all the titans and destroy us all because of some old legendary race war."
"Yes," Erwin admitted. Three hours had passed since their meeting, and he still couldn't believe it. "He played us for fools."
"We are fools," Nile said. "But this titan wife catalyzed his transformation by injuring him in response to his insult?"
"That too."
"She seems like a good woman." Nile smiled slyly. Now that Lisel and Dasha were out with Marie, he enjoyed the peace of this bare, drab hospital room with his sad, brave friend.
Not that he wasn't happy to see his girls. In fact, he was so glad his heart hurt, and not just from his nearly healed wound. But they were exhausting.
"I see you're never too ill to poke fun at someone," Erwin said with a laugh.
"Never. Even when I thought I was dying, I had to stay alive to see which pretty lady captured the stone heart of Erwin Smith."
Erwin chuckled, but the stone heart was everything he feared.
Nile sobered. Damn, Erwin was so much more sensitive than expected. "I tease you, Erwin, but the truth is, when I thought I was dying…I had to stay alive for my family, yes…and because I haven't done enough good in this life. You, now, you could die and say you've done enough with a clear conscience. But not I."
Erwin inhaled. "You think I've done enough?
"I know you have. And I know I haven't."
Erwin opened his mouth, but Nile cut him off.
"And don't say you were selfishly pursuing your father's dream or whatever. You drove humanity closer to victory than anyone, and you deserve a fucking dream."
The two men fell silent.
"I never even saw the basement," Erwin admitted after a moment.
"Did you need to?" Nile asked.
"I don't know." Maybe. To complete the dream, if he could visit it once…
A face flickered before him. Maybe, he had a new dream now.
Nile smirked at his old friend. "Of course, maybe someday you will see that I was right about love."
Erwin laughed. "Do you want to hear about Darius now?"
"Not particularly. In truth, I want to reside in a country village with Marie and my girls and never fight another day in my life." Nile heaved a sigh. "Now you know. So tell me how you're going to save us all."
(Thanks for changing my plot outline SnK 86. :))
