She found him in the cemetery.
Apart from her slow and cautious footsteps and a gentle breeze, it was silent here; a welcome reprieve from the screams of the afraid, the dying, and the anguished that had been the constant symphony of their lives for so long.
It was over.
But it was far from over.
As she walked through the final resting place of the countless fallen, Mikasa understood this.
She understood this well.
Far too well for a girl of only sixteen years.
Mikasa Ackerman understood that there was no possible way to neatly bandage the pain and suffering of humankind by the simply saying "it's over".
With each step, she remembered.
Every one of her comrades killed in action.
Every one of her fellow citizens slaughtered.
Her family.
Her family.
It would never be over for them. They never saw the end.
They only saw their ends.
Children who never grew up.
Parents who never saw them grow up.
Moments that were never allowed to happen because everything had happened too soon.
Death.
Death everywhere.
Yes, the deaths due to the Titans had ceased with mankind's victory.
But Death had wrapped its cold and unforgiving fingers around humanity long ago. A hold that would never break free. A hold that would grip mankind regardless of circumstance. Regardless of victory or defeat.
Far too many had been taken by Death this time.
They would never be given back.
All that remained were bodies, if they were recovered. And memories, if they were remembered.
As Mikasa walked through the cemetery of the remembered and forgotten alike, she wondered how she had made it through alive when so many died.
She looked at each tombstone as she passed it.
Friends.
Strangers.
Named.
Nameless.
Dead, all the same.
Finally, she reached him.
He was at her grave again.
He sat cross-legged on the bloodstained ground, lost in thought.
Lost in memories of her.
His mother.
The figure who had been her mother as well.
Her death had been long ago, one of the first casualties of this Titan War.
There had been no body to recover, like so many others cases, so the best they could do was mark her life in memory.
Because they had never forgotten.
With the constant motion of the military, they had never been truly allowed to grieve.
But now that the war was over, reality had come crashing down. Hard.
She was dead too. Alongside all of the others who were vanquished.
Mikasa knew she'd find Eren here, at her grave once more. He came here often.
So did she.
So she too sat down, taking her usual spot next to him.
He didn't react.
He continued staring.
The silence continued.
But oh, how loud the silence could be.
It too screamed.
It was the silent screams of those lost, and those who had lost.
"REMEMBER ME!" the dead yelled endlessly.
"REMEMBER ME."
"REMEMBER ME."
It never ended.
But as Eren, without looking up, gently laced his callused and scarred fingers with hers, Mikasa knew why she had to keep fighting, even after the fighting was "over".
Even after all of the terrible deaths she had witnessed, even after all of the tears she had shed, she would keep living.
To mourn alongside him.
To cry alongside him.
To remember alongside him.
To live alongside him.
Because Death had allowed them to live on and see the end.
She would not allow any alternative.
Because Mikasa knew that someday, even though the war was over for now, she would find him in this cemetery.
And he would find her.
But she would always, always be alongside him.
Because that was where she belonged.
"We will."