A/N: I'm going to be honest, I don't really like FanFiction dot net. The whole uploading process is a bit cringey and troublesome. So all of you waiting patiently for a chapter here then I'm going to have to apologize. I've actually updated up to chapter five on Archive on Our Own. I'll be doing my best to continue to update here, but I can't make any promises. The plus is, I'm going to make the FanFiction dot net a little bit more exclusive content here. Better grammar and a few additional dialogue, how nice :D

Minor Note: Italics mean Sasha is speaking. - WINGS OF FREEDOM - is a section divider.

Disclaimer: Don't own crap.

T-t-that's me... confirmed Sasha, flattening her ears. How did you…

If she could cry, she would have definitely broken down crying. Dogs couldn't cry, at least in the way humans do emotionally. Sasha could only feel the pain, but could not express it. Feeling her heart burn, she whined before dropping down on her belly, hiding her nose under her paws. The emotions were overwhelming. Seeing her upset, Mikasa began to rub in between her ears.

"Do you remember the accident you were in?" Mikasa asked, pulling up her scarf so most of her face was hidden..

What about it? Sasha asked, her voice quiet in Mikasa's mind. She still had her nose under her paws.. Did you read it on the news?

"Actually…"Mikasa's voice trailed off. "Do you remember who you saved?"

Not really. Sasha responded, pulling up her head to look at Mikasa. Everything about it sorta blurry. Like a bad dream or something.

Mikasa tightened her hand into a fist and swallowed. "Could you try?"

Sure...I guess. Sasha squinted trying to rack her memory.

Although confused, Sasha thought back to the accident. Unfortunately, all the memories she had possessed when she was a human were blurry, difficult to remember. One could describe it as looking through stained glass. All faces and memories were jumbled up and distorted; sometimes even beyond recognition. She had trouble remembering her friend's faces, even Connie's. Heck, she couldn't even recall her father's face, which was the most troubling of it all. Sasha almost gave up, but seeing Mikasa's face, she just had to try a little harder. It was a dark-haired girl, right? She was pretty too…and wearing a red scarf. Flashing open her eyes, Sasha stared at Mikasa with disbelief in her eyes.

It was you… Sasha said, eyes widening in disbelief. I saved you…

"Correct." Mikasa said quietly. It took a moment or two for Sasha to see why the dark haired girl was so upset.

It's not your fault, Mikasa. Sasha said sternly, pawing her arm, trying to get her to look at her face. Don't beat yourself over the head with it.

"But you died." Sasha heard her muffle through her scarf. "Haven't you thought about it? Your life is over. All the things you planned to do are gone, because you had to save me."

It was my choice, Mikasa. Sasha barked, the real life noise startling Mikasa enough to look at her. Sasha couldn't help but growl a little as she told Mikasa the next few things. I could have just allowed you to get hit, but for reasons I can't tell you now, I decided to help you. It's not your fault, it was my decision and I decided to go through with it. It's none of your concern whether or not I died or not.

Mikasa's face stayed the same as she stared back at Sasha, a rather stoic expressionless look that would probably make Mr. Levi nervous. A moment later, She closed her eyes and sighed tiredly. "I understand, Sasha Braus."

Sasha's ear's perked upon hearing her old name and she instinctively wagged her tail. No one had called her that in a long time. It was really nice having someone call her that after so long. The dog pound employees had called her different things like 'buddy' or 'honey' and things like that, but they never really had given her a proper name. It was nice, really really nice. Maybe there was still a chance as a human.

You know my name. Sasha barked, panting and wagging her tail.

"What kind of person would I be if I didn't know the name of the person who saved my life?" Mikasa said, a slight smirk creeping into her mouth. Then she frowned again, staring at Sasha with serious black eyes. There was a moment of silence. "Thank you, Sasha. For saving my life, I really mean it. I'm forever in your debt.

Don't mention it. You kind of saved my life from living in the Dog Pound too. I guess I have to thank you for that. Sasha tried to smile, but ended up making a rather strange face that Mikasa softly chuckled at.

There was a slight pause.

Mikasa looked thoughtful. "I don't think we should tell anyone about this."

What? Me being turned into a dog? Sasha said, habitually tilting her head.

"I don't think people would believe me." Mikasa said, standing up and walking towards her bed, sitting on the edge. Sasha obediently followed her. "Plus I don't know how your friends or family would react to you being a dog. I think it's best to keep it a secret for now."

Okay. Sasha said, nodding her head. Back at the pound, Sasha had wondered if someday someone would figure out she was Sasha and had wondered what might've happened then. She was excited by the idea, but it was just a facade of false hope, something to keep her going after the monotonic days stuck in the kennel. Now that she was out of the stuffy place, she realized it probably wasn't a very good idea …But that means you can't call me Sasha.

"Why not?" Mikasa said, sending the dog a quizzical look. "There's dogs named Sasha in the world, I don't think it would be much a problem."

As much as I want to be called by my old name, don't. Sasha replied thoughtfully. If we happen to meet anyone who knew Sasha Braus, I'm afraid you having recently have gotten a dog named Sasha, it would seem disrespectful. Even though you and I don't have a problem with it, they might.

Mikasa blinked, seeming to be considering Sasha's words. "I see, good point." Mikasa fiddled with her red scarf. "What should I call you then?"

Didn't your friend, Eren or something, suggest a name? Sasha asked, padding to her own bed and sprawling out comfortably in the blankets.

The dark haired girl looked away. "He's not my friend, he's my brother." Mikasa corrected. "I believe he suggested the name, Titan."

Your brother? Sasha said, flattening her ears in apology. Sorry, you don't look much alike.

"It's quite alright. We're foster siblings." Mikasa waved her hand, quickly dismissing the idea. "So what about the name?"

Sasha was tempted to try press further, curious mostly, but even if she didn't ask about it now, she would probably end up finding out later on. If she was going to spend the rest of her life with Mikasa, she was bound to find out. Plus, Sasha didn't feel all to good about asking it now. Here was a dark-haired angel with a red-scarf that saved her from the kennel. Even if Sasha saved her from that fateful accident, asking about Mikasa's past so soon didn't seem like a good idea. Instead, the dog brought her her attention to the name that Eren had suggested earlier.

Titan is not bad. It has a nice ring to it. Sasha said happily, wagging her tail. So from now on, my name is Titan, not Sasha, okay?

"Okay, Titan." A smile tugged Mikasa's lips.

There was a steely ring to the name Titan. Sasha supposed that a powerful name like that would suit a male Doberman or something, but she liked the idea of having that name. It made her seem that she was big and powerful. Well, she was a rather large dog already so it fitted nicely until a person finds out that she's actually a girl. Oh well, she has always been rather tomboyish anyway. Plus, it sounded far away enough from her real name that no one would suspect that she was the reincarnation of a dead girl. Feeling satisfied with that problem out of the way, Sasha decided that it was an appropriate time to ask how Mikasa managed to locate her.

How did you find me? Sasha asked, resting her muzzle on top of Mikasa's lap. The girl responded by scratching the patch of fur on her nose. Sasha wagged her tail in response.

"A few days after you were killed, there was a funeral held." Sasha twitched her ear, but didn't say anything. "I wasn't formally invited, but I wanted to go because you were the one that saved my life after all." Mikasa said. She swallowed uncomfortably. "I got to meet all your friends. Some told me about how you were before you died and lamented that you died. Some of them seemed… really cross with me…"

Sasha growled, a bit to herself and a bit to those friends who were 'really cross'. It wasn't Mikasa's fault and she wished she could've told her friends her drastic decision.

Don't beat yourself over that again. Sasha said, snorting in contempt. They may be angry, but remember I was the one who died, not them. If anyone should be angry, it should be me, but I'm not. Just continue.

"After the funeral, I started having this incredible heartache." Mikasa continued, acknowledging Sasha's request. "Perhaps it was guilt, but I feel that it was too painful to be normal. During my sleep, I started having dreams, flashes of the girl who saved me. Soon the girl was replaced by a dog. I tried to continue my life normally, but I kept hearing the faint barking and fractured thoughts." She looked a bit frustrated. "Eventually I figured out those were my savior's thoughts and barking; your thoughts and barking."

So you went to find me. Sasha concluded. She hadn't known that her frantic barking the first few weeks was actually heard by anyone. In fact, the dog hoped that Mikasa wasn't able to get anything coherent out of her thoughts. That would be embarassing. You said earlier that it took three weeks for you to find me.

"Yes, sorry it took so long." Mikasa said, hanging her head slightly in apology. "I had spent time going to different shelters and pet stores, trying to find you. Today I finally pinpointed your whereabouts to Homes for Doggies, the name of the shelter you were in. When I heard you speak to me with your thoughts, I knew it was you."

And to find me, you had to scare half the dogs at the kennel. Sasha said, amused.

She shrugged. "I wasn't very good with dogs before." Mikasa replied sheepishly. "Every time a dog and I locked eyes, I would scare them away, though it never really happened with people. I figured that if I find the dog that isn't afraid of me, it'd be you, because you were still human. That and hearing your thoughts."

That seems like a really unethical method for the other dogs if you ask me. Sasha sniffed.

"Perhaps it was." The dark haired girl, lifted her hand to scratch Sasha's head. "But I don't really care. All I care is that I finally found you."

The girl and the dog stayed that position for a long time. Sasha locked eyes with Mikasa, wondering what she was thinking. Her face was firm, unreadable, with black eyes that seemed to threaten anyone who dare hurt anyone she loved. Sasha could only guess that she had been through a lot, especially the past month. There was really no other explanation for the reason why Mikasa looked and seemed like a rather cold person. Another thing that Sasha noted was that she was quite pretty, much prettier than an average girl Sasha has ever met. Sasha wondered what it would have been like if she had known Mikasa before her death. Yawning, Sasha began to close her eyes in fatigue.

"Let's go to sleep." Mikasa said, standing up, startling Sasha awake. "I like to sleep and wake up early."

We'll be great friends then. Sasha said. Strangely, she has always been a morning person, which Connie found utterly disgusting. There was a pang of pain in her heart as she remembered her friend. She wondered what he was doing now and whether or not he was thinking of her.

Walking to the side of her bed, where the light switch was located, Mikasa switched off the lights and instantly the room was enveloped in darkness. Sasha had her dog night vision, so she could see almost perfectly as she could in the light. Everything was very much the same. Something she noticed as a dog is that everything was a shade of blue and brown. Even though she could still remember colors like Red and Yellow from her distorted memory, she couldn't see them anymore. She hadn't known that dogs were this type of colorblind. Sasha had always assumed it was black and white. Despite her different perspective of vision, it felt normal enough that the canine didn't notice the difference. Her eyes quickly adjusted th the darkness and Sasha twitched her ears as Mikasa moved around in bed, the shuffling of sheets and pillows ringing in her ears.

Hey, Mikasa?

There was a slight paus. "What?"

You can call me Sasha if we're alone or something….I like hearing my real name. Like maybe once in a while…I mean, if you want to of course.

There was an extended pause.

"Alright….Good night…Sasha."

Sasha smiled in her mind. She wondered if Mikasa could feel it too.

Good night, Mikasa.

- WINGS OF FREEDOM -

In the next few days, Sasha found herself to be quite content with her new life with Mikasa. The dog had been correct in her assumptions that she would find out about Mikasa's past when she started living here. Apparently, Mikasa, Eren, and Armin lived alone together after somehow all their parents had died in a series of unfortunate events. Currently, they were under custody of Armin's very distant, but fairly wealthy, Aunt. She had become their legal guardian after Eren's parents, presumably the ones who were last to pass away. Apparently, once a month or so, she would come to visit to check on them, but most of the time, the three were on their own. Armin's Aunt was a well known make-up artist and had to be out of the country very often. She couldn't scrounge much information about this supposed Aunt from Mikasa.

Armin has been extraordinarily friendly to her. The blonde seemed happy to have her around and never seemed intimidated by her at all. His cheery presence often made her happy too. At breakfast, lunch, and dinner times, Armin was awfully generous about sharing his meals with her. Mikasa had asked her politely not to beg for food because she felt that Armin and Eren were underweight as it is, but Sasha couldn't turn down an offer that they made. He would often times feeding her scraps of food to her, which happily accepted much to MIkasa's dismay. Sometimes, upon seeing her, Armin would call her name and ask her to come over. If she did, he would scratch her head until she got bored and walked away. If she didn't, he smiled anyway and would either continue doing what he doing or he would come to her to pet her. She also really liked sitting by his feet while he read stories. On occasion, he would actually read to her. Sasha could still read herself, but her lack of apposable thumbs made things like reading much more difficult; so having Armin read to her sometimes was an enjoyable passtime. Sometimes, when Mikasa and Eren disappeared somewhere, she and Armin would visit the coffee shop, where they would sit on one of the tables outside. She would lie down and sleep by Armin's feet while he studied or read books.

Eren on the other hand was a little bit harder to socialize with in her opinion. Although Eren seemed proud of the fact that he indirectly named her Titan, he seemed a little nervous to be around her, probably because she was a pretty big dog. Mikasa said that her adopted brother had a slight affinity towards large objects and creatures. The dark-haired scarf girl seemed upset when telling her this tidbit about information, so the German Shepard didn't ask. They rarely interacted much on a daily basis. However, on the weekends, Eren would go play on his Xbox or PS4. Sasha would sit on the couch next to him and would watch. To be quite honest, Sasha thought Eren was one of the worst gamers she had ever seen. She and Connie had played so many games in the past, she herself had become quite good at it. Gaming was a fun passtime that she was going to miss doing. Paws don't make for great substitutes for hands. Consoles were almost useless to her, except for chewing maybe, but Eren would never forgive her if she had chewed his PS4 console. Sasha knew how expensive it was and would sympathize if she had found it broken one day. The canine would just have to settle for watching Eren play. It was almost tiring a for her to watch Eren monotonically repeat the stages, but one things for sure, it was definitely funny seeing Eren raging. His determination usually pulled through and when he did finally complete a level, Sasha would celebrate with him.

Mikasa was the one Sasha found herself mostly hanging around with. Every morning, the two would wake up early and go for a light jog around the apartment. Jogging around the block was refreshing. For some reason, she seemed to be much more energetic as a canine. She could easily keep up with Mikasa without expending too much energy, so running around, even aimlessly, was a fun thing to doo. During the weekend, Mikasa would work on her homework, in which Sasha would often rest nearby watching TV, reading or browse the internet, with Mikasa's help though. Sasha still had to get used to doing stuff as a dog.. Something Sasha noticed was that Mikasa never seemed to take off her red scarf. She didn't know why and every time she tried asking her about it, the dark haired girl would shut her down, telling her that there will be a time and place for that. Sasha guessed it was connected to her past. The dog had overheard one time that Eren was the one who gave her it.

The food was definitely better. As it turns out, Mikasa was a pretty good cook. Although Sasha was sure that she could probably cook better when she was a human. Sometimes Sasha would throw in a tip or two to help make it taste better. Mikasa seemed irritated at first, but soon learned that Sasha knew what she was doing and that following her advise would lead to better meals for her 'family'.

"You know a lot of things about cooking." Mikasa whispered to her one day when she was preparing dinner.

Yea…cooking was my hobby, you know, before... Sasha said, sniffing the air. Stew a bit more and add some more curry cubes. It smells like the curry is too watery.

Mikasa nodded her head and followed Sasha's instructions exactly. She stirred the contents in the pot and added more curry cubes into the mix. Sasha had watched intently, feeling somewhat jealous that she was no longer able to cook. At least, she could teach and watch Mikasa how to cook. That was almost good right?

I wanted to become a chef when I grew up. Sasha reminisced. She had wanted so badly to become a worldwide Chef. She had the talent for it too, says everyone.

"I see…" A grim expression crept into Mikasa's face. Sasha stopped wagging her tail, fearful that she had something to upset her friend, but then the red scarf smiled and looked at the dog that lied down near her feet on the kitchen floor. "I bet you would've been a great cook, the best maybe."

Thank you. Sasha had said, wagging her tail. I think I would've too.

Weekdays were the time that Sasha felt the loneliest. Mikasa, Eren, and Armin all had to go to school on the weekdays. Fortunately, she wasn't confined to the apartment by herself. Armin had installed a special chip in her collar that would open the automatic dog door, allowing her to go outside the apartment. At lunchtime, an automatic dog food dispenser would activate at a designated time. Even though the dog decided that she hated dog food, she was so hungry that she didn't mind it on the weekdays. Sometimes, Mikasa would mix a bit of leftovers into her food to make it more appetizing to her. Sasha was tall enough to push the buttons on the elevator by standing on her hind legs and with her paws, so she didn't have to worry about using the stairs. It was funny, riding an elevator with a dog, so she had become well known by other apartment residents as 'the dog that uses the elevator'. The thought of using the flight of stairs was exhausting to her, despite the fact that she had a lot of energy. The dog could go wherever she pleased, as long as she wore a collar to indicate that she had an owner. If she didn't, she would be confined to a kennel again until Mikasa came to go get her again, which the latter was not fond of doing. Because of her frequent appearances around the place, Sasha became quite popular around the neighborhood, especially with the kids who enjoy tugging her ears and tail. She loved to visit the elementary kid's school yard during lunchtime. Kids love giving her snacks and their teacher has gotten fond of her too.

Sasha would first follow the three to their school Wall Maria High (WMH for short) and waited at the gate of the school until they were out of sight. She had met many other students at their school, some of them calling her the new 'Hachiko', which she silently hoped that she wouldn't end up having the same fate as him. During school hours, Sasha wandered about the neighborhood, exploring new areas, meeting the people. Mikasa's neighborhood was considerably wealthier and rather nice looking. She had considered traveling back to her former house and to her own school, but she figured that it was too far from where she lived now and that she wasn't sure how her emotions are going to react to seeing her old life in person. Plus, in her heart, she wanted to leave all that behind, but she knew that one day, Sasha would have to confront everything about her past. There was a reason why she came back right? She decided that she would go try to interact with her old life as soon as she felt ready and strong enough. At three in the late afternoon, when her owner's school ended, Sasha would wait by the gate and would joyfully reunite with the trio upon seeing them.

No, life was good. Sasha wasn't really planning to try to learn what had happened in her old life after she left. Even though she was dying to know how everyone was faring in her old life without her, she really felt safe and content around Mikasa, Eren, and Armin. To be truthfully honest, she was sort of afraid to find out.

Fortunately or not, fate has it's way around these kind of things. And so Sasha and Mikasa's blissful living came to an end.

A/N: You might've noticed a change in still between the first chapter and this chapter. I decided to update and fix a few things in this chapter to make it bulkier and interesting to read. I want to remind everyone that the AO3 version of this is available up to Chapter 5, but it isn't the updated more better version here. I'm still going to continue to update here, just a bit slower. I'll be adding the rest of the chapters (the updated and clean version) here in a few days. A small note, this is actually a filler chapter to connect with the events soon to come, which is why it doesn't seem to lead anywhere. Rest assured, the next chapter (if you haven't read it already on AO3) is a real doozy :D

Until next time!